Chapter 1101: Record-breaking Reward
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Congratulations to the Deputy Chief of the Heaven Alliance, Lin Xie, for entering the 74th checkpoint and breaking the Stairway Tree record!
"Congratulations to the Deputy Chief of the Heaven Alliance, Lin Xie, for entering the 74th checkpoint and breaking the Stairway Tree record!
"Congratulations to the Deputy Chief of the Heaven Alliance, Lin Xie, for entering the 74th checkpoint and breaking the Stairway Tree record!"
After removing the illusion, Lin Huang spent less than five minutes and successfully broke through the 73rd checkpoint of the Stairway Tree. The record-breaking notifications popped up on all the Genius Union members' Emperor's Heart Rings.
"Damn, he broke the record again. It's been less than ten minutes!"
"I've just posted a thread on the forum saying it's impossible for him to break through the checkpoint within a short period of time. I feel like my whole face is burning up. ε(┬┬﹏┬┬)3"
"The commenter above, is your face swollen now? ψ(｀∇´)ψ"
"There, there. I've gotten used to getting a slap in the face from Lin Xie. My face is thicker than the corner of the city wall now. (￣３￣)a"
"I think the commenter above is giving out some strange vibes…"
…
A few minutes after the discussions went on, another three Stairway Tree notifications chimed again.
"Congratulations to the Deputy Chief of the Heaven Alliance, Lin Xie, for entering the 75th checkpoint and breaking the Stairway Tree record!"
"Congratulations to the Deputy Chief of the Heaven Alliance, Lin Xie, for entering the 75th checkpoint and breaking the Stairway Tree record!"
"Congratulations to the Deputy Chief of the Heaven Alliance, Lin Xie, for entering the 75th checkpoint and breaking the Stairway Tree record!"
Everyone was speechless now.
The three notifications about Lin Xie in the morning flooded everyone's screens nine times.
Moreover, it was a system notification from the Stairway Tree which one could not block. Even if they were to log out of the Genius Union, they would receive the notifications on their Emperor's Heart Rings, so they were forced to look at the notifications.
Those who insisted that it was impossible for Lin Xie to pass the higher checkpoints again went completely silent after seeing the notifications.
However, Lin Huang logged out again after realizing that the 75th checkpoint was a monster stage.
The people in the Genuis Union thought it was strange for him to log out all of a sudden.
Most of them had the same thought pop into their head. 'Did Lin Xie fail?'
The first thing Lin Huang did after logging out was to look at his Emperor's Heart Ring to check the reward for breaking the reward.
He glanced through the nine public notifications and scrolled down. Then, he finally saw the rewards for breaking the record.
"Congratulations, Lin Xie, for breaking the Stairway Tree record. You've been rewarded with a bizarre seed."
"Congratulations, Lin Xie, for breaking the Stairway Tree record. You've been rewarded with a God-level soul crystal (Virtual God rank-3)"
"Congratulations, Lin Xie, for breaking the Stairway Tree record. You've been rewarded with a God-level soul crystal (Virtual God rank-3)"
"A bizarre seed and two God-level soul crystals. Not bad at all," Lin Huang murmured in satisfaction.
The bizarre seed was comparable to a unique god item. Lin Huang had obtained a Sword Spirit the last time he integrated one. He had no idea what he would get from the one that he had just obtained.
Meanwhile, he knew exactly what could the two God-level soul crystals do.
"With Virtual God rank-3 god-level soul crystals, one should be able to boost one God Figurine's Combat Soul to Virtual God rank-1. I can boost two of them with the two soul crystals."
Just when Lin Huang was going to summon his God Figurine's Combat Souls for elevating the combat strength, his Emperor's Heart Ring began vibrating.
It was the acting chief of the Heaven Alliance, Jian Fei, who was calling. Although Lin Huang thought it was a little odd, he accepted the video call request anyway.
"What's up?" Lin Huang asked directly upon seeing the projection of Jian Fei's chubby face.
"Deputy Chief Lin, congratulations for breaking the Stairway Tree record!" Jian Fei stepped back and revealed half of his body as he congratulated while smiling.
"It was just luck." Lin Huang smirked.
"Luck is just a part of ability. You're the only one in the Genius Union who made it. This proves your ability," Jian Fei proceeded to compliment.
"Just tell me whatever you're going to say, Chief Jian."
"Well, not only do the people from the Genius Union know about you breaking the record today, but it's spread to the entire cultivation world. Some media representatives contacted me, in hopes of interviewing you…"
Lin Huang got a rough idea of what Jian Fei was trying to say before he was done speaking. He wanted to seize the opportunity to boost the publicity of the Heaven Alliance with Lin Huang's fame.
"I'll agree to the interview, but I'll only do it with one media representative. There's no need to say the same thing to different media representatives. It's a waste of my time and others who are watching the news."
"Sure, I'll make the arrangements." Although Lin Huang had strict conditions, Jian Fei accepted it anyway. "Where should we hold the interview?"
"The venue…" Lin Huang thought about it and decided not to do it in Emperor City. He had been gaining too much attention lately, which was something he did not want more of. "Let's do it at First City in Division 1 then."
"There's a Stabubucks Coffee in southwest of First City's Union Square. Let's do the interview there."
"Sure, the media hopes to do the interview today. Do you have time today?"
"Yes, but the earlier, the better. I have something else to do after I'm done with that."
"I'll discuss with the media and I'll call you as soon as the time is set." Jian Fei hung up immediately.
Soon, he sent a message over.
"The time has been set at 1 p.m. We'll meet at First City's Stabubucks Coffee. The media that'll be interviewing you is The Pioneer."
"I'll be there on time." Lin Huang gave a simple reply. Naturally, Lin Huang knew about The Pioneer.
Although the media did not provide the most publicity, it was the Union Government's official publication. They rarely interviewed people who were not Union Government members.
However, it was beneficial to Lin Huang. At least, such an official media would not ask awkward and strange questions whenever they questioned people.
Seeing that there was still time, Lin Huang took out the two god-level soul crystals that he had just obtained. He then summoned the Destructive Divine Mammoth and the Ninetails Lynx. Then, he put the two soul crystals into their bodies.
The two God Figurine's Combat Souls began refining the soul crystals immediately.
On the other hand, Lin Huang set his alarm clock and began a new round of refining Godhead.
He did not integrate the bizarre seed that he had just gotten right away because he was not sure how long it would take for it to activate. He had too much on his plate right now, so he could only put it aside at the moment and figure out what to do about the bizarre seed after he was done with his stuff.
Soon, over two hours had passed and it was almost 12.30 p.m.
The alarm clock on Lin Huang's Emperor's Heart Ring began ringing, stirring him from his Godhead refinement.
He opened his eyes and realized that the two God Figurine's Combat Souls had yet to refine the soul crystals completely. He then left the both of them behind at the Emperor Palace, and summoned the Divine Sun Tree to watch both the God Figurine's Combat Souls before walking out of Emperor Palace. He headed towards First City.
Chapter 1102: The Five Princes Are An Era
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang stepped into the dimensional portal after disguising as Lin Xie with a demigod-level mask. He arrived at First City in Division 1.
He arrived at the southwestern side of Union Square immediately and found the Stabubucks Coffee that he had been once before.
After ordering a cup of coffee, he found an empty table under a gigantic sun umbrella. He browsed through the Genius Union forum while drinking his coffee.
Suddenly, he realised that almost all of the topics were about him.
He opened a few trending threads and read the contents. Compared to the judgmental comments before, most of them complimented him.
Lin Huang even saw a few familiar user names who used to condemn him frequently, but they were teasing themselves for having misjudged him now.
As he was reading the threads, a man wearing black leather shoes walked straight to his table.
Lin Huang lifted his head. He could not help but raise his brow upon seeing the guest. It was the vice president of Agency EA, Guan Zhong.
"May I sit?" Guan Zhong asked.
"Suit yourself." Lin Huang closed the Genius Union forum page while looking at Guan Zhong.
"Master Emperor, I never thought you'd come to First City with this identity of yours." Guan Zhong exposed Lin Huang's identity as soon as he sat down. Clearly, Agency EA had already found out that Lin Xie was Lin Huang himself.
"I'm just meeting someone here." Lin Huang took a sip of coffee while holding the cup with both hands. "You don't have to look at me like I'm a thief."
"I've heard about you breaking the record," Guan Zhong said while smiling. "Congrats."
"It's just a child's play," Lin Huang raised his brow, "Is there anything that you need from me?"
"We've decoded most of God Bless's information. I'll send it to you within these two days after I've sorted it out," Guan Zhong spoke while smiling.
"Did you come all the way here just to tell me this?"
"I just happened to bump into you. I came here to have a cup of coffee." Guan Zhong smiled while explaining, "I'm a regular here."
"Alright then. Is there anything else?"
Guan Zhong thought about it and could not help but say, "I have a personal question that I'd like you to answer."
Lin Huang roughly knew what he was going to ask right away.
"Did you kill Zhuge Feifan, Master Emperor?" As expected, Guan Zhong asked what Lin Huang was expecting.
"Why? Are you going to take revenge?" Lin Huang asked while smiling.
"No, I just want to know the truth."
"The truth doesn't matter. Zhuge Feifan is dead now and you're alive. This should be the end of the story," said Lin Huang to Guan Zhong while staring at him.
Guan Zhong was stunned to hear that and nodded in relief. "Thanks."
He had already obtained the answer from Lin Huang. Apart from him and Qian Rui, nobody else other than Zhuge Feifan's killer knew that Guan Zhong made Zhuge Feifan show himself the other day.
'Zhuge Feifan is dead now and you're alive.' Lin Huang's answer was precisely what Guan Zhong wanted to hear.
Guan Zhong stood up and left right after thanking Lin Huang.
Just when he stood up, Jian Fei and the media representative doing the interview, Xu Qingya, arrived at the same time.
Xu Qingya recognized Guan Zhong right away. A shocked expression flashed through her eyes when he saw Lin Huang who was sitting there nonchalantly drinking his coffee.
Seeing Guan Zhong leave with his takeaway coffee, Xu Qingya and Jian Fei walked straight towards Lin Huang.
"Hi, Mr. Lin. My name is Xu Qingya. I'm the reporter from The Pioneer." Xu Qingya walked to the table and introduced herself.
"Please take a seat." Lin Huang lifted his head and observed her in silence.
Xu Qingya had neat, short hair. She looked very experienced. She did not dress very formally or too casually. It was just right.
Jian Fei, on the other hand, dressed in a formal suit. He looked like he was getting married.
Lin Huang would definitely tease him any other day, but he thought about it and said nothing since Xu Qingya was next to him.
After Xu Qingya and Jian Fei took their seats, they ordered two cups of coffee and the interview began.
"I'd like to start the interview by congratulating Mr. Lin for breaking the Stairway Tree record. Today is the biggest historical moment the Genius Union has ever had since it was founded."
"Thanks." Lin Huang nodded courteously.
"Mr. Lin, can you tell me your current combat strength?" Xu Qingya went into working mode.
"Immortal-level rank-9. Many people in the Heaven Alliance know about this." Naturally, it was impossible that Lin Huang would say that he was on immortal-level rank-10. Since he had immortal-level aura anyway, nobody could tell if he was on rank-9 or 10.
"You've gotten to immortal-level rank-9 so soon? From what we know, Mr. Lin, you were only on holy flame-level last year. Am I right?" Xu Qingya had been wanting to ask that for a very long time. She could finally ask him face-to-face now.
"Indeed, my combat strength elevation speed is faster than the rest. If you want a solid reason, I can only say that I have rather good luck." Lin Huang created an excuse for himself.
In reality, Xu Qingya was dissatisfied with the answer. However, since he clearly did not want to answer the question, she gave up instead of dwelling on it, figuring it might be his cultivation secret.
"Mr. Lin, since you're already on immortal-level rank-9, you're close to imperial-level now. When do you plan to elevate?"
"I just told Old Jian about this a few days ago. I'll take at least a month or at the most, 40 to 50 days. I'm almost done with the preparation," Lin Huang told her directly.
"Does that mean you'll withdraw from the Genius Union and the Heaven Alliance automatically a month later?" Although Xu Qingya was not a Genius Union member, she had studied the system before.
"Yes."
Jian Fei took over the conversation as soon as he heard that. "Deputy Chief Lin did indeed discuss his elevation with us a few days ago. We've already come up with a new Deputy Chief candidate list together. However, even though he's leaving the Genius Union, Deputy Chief Lin will be a part of our the Heaven Alliance forever. Chief Chan has said this before. Every Heaven Alliance member is family. It's a fact that will never change even if someone were to leave the Genius Union."
"I heard Mr. Lin and Mr. Chan are pretty close in private. Is that true?"
"We're pretty close," Lin Huang confirmed while grinning. "Boss Chan is a charming man with character. He's always cared for me. I'm fortunate to be working with him."
"Many people on the Internet say that the Five Princes are out of date now. They say there's only one name among the most powerful young generation, and that name is Lin Xie. What do you think of that?"
"First of all, I don't think I'm the No. 1 powerhouse of the young generation. All people see is the number of checkpoints I've broken through on the Stairway Tree. I don't think it means anything."
"'Powerful' is a word with broad meaning. Having powerful ability is just a part of it. Some people might be more powerful than me on the inside, some people might be more intelligent than me, some people might have willpower that's stronger than mine. Being called a powerful person is just a shallow title."
"About the Five Princes, I don't think the Five Princes are just about Boss Chan and the other four. They're the sign of a new era, one that encourages us to look up and fight. This era is one it itself, irreplacable.
Chapter 1103: Ten Billion Points Are Still Points
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The interview with Xu Qingya went on for over two hours. The entire thing was more relaxed than Lin Huang expected.
Opposed to what Lin Huang was expecting, although Xu Qingya was very young in her early 20s, she was careful with her words. The entire interview sounded more like a chat with a new friend.
He had no idea that he surprised her even more.
She initially thought that Lin Xie was all about theories and might not have deeper a opinion on things. She took on this interview because Lin Xie was the trending topic in the entire cultivation world.
However, throughout the interview, Xu Qingya realized not only did he have powerful abilities, but he also had deeper knowledge and more insightful opinions than she expected.
Even Jian Fei's jaw dropped from the many things that Lin Huang said.
At the end of the interview, Xu Qingya finally went back to the initial topic. "Many people wondered on the Internet if you have techniques for killing monsters? Can you share that with us a little?"
"Techniques of killing monsters? Doesn't everyone do the same thing where we just annihilate them? Maybe I'm an Imperial Censor, so I've got the upper hand in this aspect. After all, I have very powerful imperial monsters and I can summon quite a number of them."
"How about your technique of breaking through checkpoints? Is there any strategy that you can recommend us?"
"I really don't. Boss Chan and the rest know that I never look at the checkpoint-breaking strategies. I almost never looked at the contents of the checkpoints before the 56th checkpoint, and I never looked at the strategies either since the 63rd checkpoint. However, figuring that it might be difficult to break through the checkpoint, I checked the contents from the 63rd to the 72nd checkpoint in advance."
"Why don't you look at the content and strategies?"
"Because I think it's unnecessary. Breaking through the checkpoints itself is a process to test one's abilities. To me, breaking through checkpoints with strategies can't test my personal ability. Perhaps I want different things than the rest. I personally hope to enjoy the process instead of treating it as a challenge. If breaking checkpoints is no fun to me, I'd rather not do it."
"So, why did you quit when you got to the 75th checkpoint today? Is it because the 75th checkpoint is more difficult?"
"No, the 75th checkpoint is a monster stage. I've already gotten the maximum points on the Stairway Tree today, so I'll have to do it tomorrow. After all, ten billion points are still points." Lin Huang answered while smiling.
"So, you logged out when you were on 71st checkpoint earlier for the same reason too?"
"Yes," Lin Huang said honestly.
"So, Mr. Lin, which checkpoint do you think you can get to? Is it possible that you'll surpass the entire the Stairway Tree?" Xu Qingya asked her last ultimate question.
"I'm not sure about that because I've no idea about the checkpoint contents and difficulty after this, so I can't speculate. However, I personally hope to break through the entire the Stairway Tree before I elevate to imperial-level," Lin Huang responded while smiling, "In reality, I'd really like to know what will happen after I've broken through the entire Stairway Tree."
"I'll congratulate you for breaking through successfully in advance then. Smash through the entire the Stairway Tree!" Xu Qingya extended her arm while grinning at Lin Huang. "I've actually asked questions that I shouldn't have asked in the interview today. Nonetheless, your response has gone beyond my expectations. I've got a feeling that this might not be last time I'll be speaking to you. I hope to interview you again in the future for a nice chat."
"Thanks, I hope for that day to come too." Lin Huang extended his arm to shake her hand. He thought time had flown by quickly after the interview that lasted for over two hours ended.
Watching Xu Qingya leave with Jian Fei, he stepped into the dimensional portal and returned to Emperor City.
When he arrived at the Emperor Palace, the two God Figurine's Combat Souls, the Destructive Divine Mammoth and the Ninetails Lynx had refined the god-level soul crystals completely and elevated to Virtual God rank-1.
Meanwhile, Lin Huang went into his Godhead refinement mode again.
The next morning, he logged into the Genius Union after breakfast.
Lin Huang's body shrunk 1,000 times again at the monster stage of the 75th checkpoint. His Divine Telekinesis and Territory were also blocked.
The entire checkpoint looked like a peaceful, golden desert in his field of vision. He did not even see a single monster.
In reality, the monster on this checkpoint was a type of desert spider. Lin Huang had never seen a completely golden desert spider in the monster guide before. Therefore, he had no idea what its exact name was.
All he knew was that such a spider would usually hide under the gravel. They would attack whenever they sensed movement in the ground. At the same time while attacking, they would spit webs out to capture their prey.
The reason why Lin Huang knew that was that he had been attacked when he stepped into the checkpoint yesterday. A spiderweb had gotten stuck on his face.
However, the spider that was merely on imperial-level white gold-rank suffered even more than he did as he sliced it into 18 pieces with his sword.
"I can't fly on the the Stairway Tree, so I can only walk on the sand. I can't use my Divine Telekinesis and Territory, so I can't predict if the spiders are hiding under the sand. This checkpoint is risky to most whereby they might fall right into the mass of spiders if they're reckless, but this is a totally easy one for me."
Lin Huang summoned the Divine Sun Tree this time.
Although he could not use his Territory, the Divine Sun Tree stretched its branches out one after another hundreds of meters away. His tens of branches shot out like long whips, shooting golden sparks out in the desert wherever they passed by.
The sparks were dense, and there was one almost every meter. As the sparks lit up, the spiders that were burned shrieked devastatingly. Some of them got out of the sand and rolled on the ground. They attempted to put out the fire, but their efforts were futile.
Most of the spiders were burned to death before they made it out in time. The rest were obliterated to ash after struggling for less than three seconds upon getting out of the sand.
"Let's go all out today. Killing an imperial-level white gold-rank monster earns 10,000 points, so we have to kill a million of them in order to obtain ten billion points although not all the monsters are on imperial-level white gold-rank in this checkpoint," Lin Huang gave his order to the Divine Sun Tree.
The Divine Sun Tree went all out hearing that order. One must know that each monster it killed would turn into spiritual energy for it to absorb.
Lin Huang, on the other hand, followed behind the Divine Sun Tree and waited for it to obtain the maximum points for the day on the Stairway Tree patiently.
Chapter 1104: This Girl is So Tough
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After approximately two and a half hours, Lin Huang practically flitted through the 75th checkpoint to the 79th checkpoint. Realizing that the 79th checkpoint was a monster stage, he logged out again.
Although it had been the second day that he broke the record, everyone in the Genius Union was still in a mad hype since he had passed another four checkpoints again.
Due to his record-breaking feat for two days consecutively, the amount of members online multiplied. Even members who hardly logged in were online. Almost the entire forum was discussing Lin Xie.
After logging out, Lin Huang checked the Genius Union forum. He wanted to see if there was any new topic apart from discussions about him. In the end, he realized that all the topics were related to him after scrolling through a few pages.
The hottest thread of all was 'Exactly How Many Checkpoints Can Lin Xie Break Through?'
People were guessing any number under the sun. Many even said he would pass a few thousand or tens of thousand of checkpoints. Some gave a detailed analysis whenever they commented.
Lin Huang chose to ignore them after having a good chuckle about the responses that he read.
Some threads were wordy as if the content was useful, but Lin Huang realized that some of the responses were not even about him.
After logging out of the Genius Union forum, he then looked at the news page on his Emperor's Heart Ring. He realized that his photo was on the headline. To be exact, it was a photo of Lin Xie's face.
The title of the news articles was 'Lin Xie: The Five Princes Are An Era!'
Lin Huang knew who the writer was the second he saw the title. He clicked on the article. As expected, it was Xu Qingya who had written it.
In the article, she only wrote a portion of what they talked about. She wrote everything about him saying the Five Princes were an era without changing a single word. Although she tried her very best to be objective throughout the entire article, she could not help but reveal the admiration she had for Lin Huang.
Her article made many see the other side of Lin Xie, the No. 1 genius that was lesser known to the people.
Many people had the same impression as Xu Qingya did. They thought that such a powerful man would usually be dumb and think he was the best.
However, Lin Huang was humble throughout the interview, especially when it came to the comment on the Five Princes. Many were impressed by his humility.
Naturally, many people condemned that Xu Qingya had written all those just to butter Lin Xie up.
Some even said some horrible things and tried stirring things up by saying that Xu Qingya and Lin Xie were messing around.
Lin Huang frowned a little when he read that, but he soon saw Xu Qingya fire them back with her own identity.
"I didn't butter Lin Xie up. You'll find out about that in the video interview that I've just posted on my account. As for those malicious slander and rumors spread around affecting my reputation, just you wait for my lawyer's letter! I've already screenshot the evidence, so it'll be futile even if you guys delete your posts."
"This girl is so tough!" Lin Huang smiled while shaking his head. He had somewhat seen the other side of Xu Qingya.
After turning off the news page, Lin Huang opened his social media app and soon found Xu Qingya's account. He saw a video that she posted approximately half an hour ago.
It was the raw video of her interviewing him for more than two hours interview. After playing it, Lin Huang fast-forwarded the entire video and realized that it was indeed unedited. He realized he performed pretty well in the video.
Although the video had just been posted half an hour ago, there were positive and encouraging comments below it despite the fact that it was impossible for anybody to have finished watching the two-hour video by then.
Clearly, many of them finished the video by fast-forwarding it just like Lin Huang did.
"I was just a passerby, but now I've been converted to a fan. I thought Lin Xie was just a tough man. Never would I've thought he's intelligent on the inside too!"
"Little Sister posted the uncut interview to prove herself. She's very sincere about it! I support her!"
"I knew someone was trying to stir things up! Is it so hard to admit that someone is outstanding? People, I urge you to be kind!"
"I'm a converted fan right after watching this video. Master Lin Xie, you're the best!"
"Little Sister, you're the best! I support sending those jokers your lawyer's letters! Teach them a lesson!"
Lin Huang thought about it and liked Xu Qingya's video using Lin Xie's account. He picked nine pictures of the sea king monster having icebergs stuck in its mouth that he had taken on the 72nd checkpoint of the Stairway Tree and posted a collage of nine pictures.
Eight of the nine pictures consisted of the sea king monster's various angles. Meanwhile, the other one was a picture of Lin Huang with the sea king monster in the background with icebergs sticking out from its mouth.
The caption of the collage picture was '72'.
Since one's social media account was tied to their Emperor's Heart Ring, him doing that would mean verifying his identity. Lin Xie usually did not have any notifications on this social media account, but he gained more than ten million fans that day.
People started discussing as soon as the photo was posted.
"What does '72' mean?"
"This special effect of the sea king monster isn't too shabby. It looks so real."
"As a pro who has been Photoshopping photos for eight years, these nine pictures are real. Believe me."
"This sea king monster looks so embarrassed and innocent! Why do I feel like laughing?"
"Did Master Lin Xie shove the two icebergs into its mouth? Err… Why do I feel like he should've shoved them somewhere else?"
"The commenter above, please mind your words. There are kids here."
…
Merely a couple of minutes later, the picture Lin Huang posted garnered tens of thousands of comments and over 80,000 likes.
After reading the comments for fun, Lin Huang turned off the app upon realizing there were more and more comments flooding in. He stopped checking the notifications. He then opened the notification page on his Emperor's Heart Ring and looked at the record-breaking rewards after scrolling past the numerous notifications.
"Congratulations, Lin Xie, for breaking the Stairway Tree record. You've been rewarded with a set of god relic telekinetic weapon.
"Congratulations, Lin Xie, for breaking the Stairway Tree record. You've been rewarded with a God-level soul crystal (Virtual God rank-3)
"Congratulations, Lin Xie, for breaking the Stairway Tree record. You've been rewarded with a Godhead (Virtual God rank-9)"
"Congratulations, Lin Xie, for breaking the Stairway Tree record. You've been rewarded with a Godhead (Virtual God rank-9)"
Lin Huang checked his storage space as soon as he read the notifications. Soon, he saw the set of telekinetic weapon rewards. It was a set of dark-silver flying daggers.
He played with it for a while, and took a fancy to it.
He took out the god-level soul crystal after putting the flying daggers away. He thought about it and summoned the Nightmare Tapir. He put the soul crystal into the Nightmare Tapir's body while waiting for it to finish the refinement patiently.
As for the two Virtual God rank-9 Godheads, Lin Huang sensed clearly that the number of Godheads he could contain in his body was now at full capacity. He could only set them aside for now since he could not put any more in at the moment.
After sorting out the few rewards that he had just obtained, he began a new round of refining Godheads.
Chapter 1105: The 80th Checkpoint
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Stepping onto the 79th checkpoint on the Stairway Tree, Lin Huang's body shrunk to 1/10,000 his regular size. He was even smaller than the size he had shrunk to before.
He had done a preliminary investigation when he entered the checkpoint yesterday.
There were no imperial-level black gold-rank and imperial-level white gold-rank monsters on this stage at all. All the monsters had a combat strength of imperial-level purple gold-rank. Moreover, compared to other monster stages, this checkpoint had various monsters everywhere instead of only a single kind of monster.
Lin Huang had already seen more than ten different monsters from the simple investigation yesterday.
Fortunately, this stage did not impede his territory or his Divine Telekinesis.
"Since my body has shrunk to 1/10,000 of my original size, it would mean that the initial 10,000 meters that I have to pass have now become 100,000 kilometers. In other words, I'll need to pass 100,000 kilometers that are filled with imperial-level purple gold-rank monsters to break through this checkpoint. Furthermore, imperial-level purple gold-ranks can sense my existence simply with their Territory." Lin Huang was stunned by this round of assessment. "I'll just have to bite the bullet then. Perhaps, the designer of this checkpoint doesn't want anyone to pass through his final assessment. I won't be able to break through if I've got no God Figurine's Combat Souls."
Lin Huang's current combat strength was immortal-level rank-10. Without his God Figurine's Combat Souls and imperial monsters, his ability would be the equivalent of a normal imperial-level purple gold-rank monster whereby nobody could tell who would win. However, he basically had to run away if he encountered a pseudo-mythical-level monster.
The success rate of passing 100,000 kilometers filled with tens of millions or even up to hundreds of millions of imperial-level purple gold-rank monsters was almost zilch. All of the monsters here would be able to sense his existence easily. As soon as a fight started, the other monsters around would flood the place, and he would not be able to run by then.
The settings of this checkpoint made it almost impossible for normal immortal-levels to break through. It would be rare for even imperial-level purple gold-rank powerhouses to pass.
Lin Huang only grinned but said nothing after that. He then summoned the Divine Sun Tree directly and ran through the checkpoint without using any fancy tricks.
The devilish Ant Tribe was burned to death!
The Golden-backed Centipedes were burned to death!
The Flying Grasshoppers were burned to death!
The Blood-striped Toads were burned to death!
…
Whatever encountered the Divine Sun Tree would be ignited and charred black. None of them even got the chance to get close to Lin Huang.
Even though that was the case, he took a day to arrive at the destination after passing through the 100,000 kilometers. He only broke through the checkpoint when it was close to midnight.
As he stepped onto the 80th checkpoint, he realized everything before him was different.
"This… isn't the Stairway Tree." Lin Huang looked around and realized he was in a city now.
People strolled on the streets. He spread his Divine Telekinesis and realized they were real humans.
"Is this an illusion?!" Lin Huang was confused. The first reaction he had when he saw the city streets and humans was that he might be in an illusion. However, Divine Telekinesis was always accurate unless the person who created this illusion was much more powerful than he was and deceived his own Divine Telekinesis.
"This checkpoints seems to be different from the earlier ones. Be careful," Bloody that was in his sleeve reminded him.
"Don't tell me I have to kill people in this round of assessment!" Lin Huang peered around and frowned a little.
At that moment, a black crack appeared in the sky all of a sudden.
Lin Huang sensed that something was off and lifted his head to gaze into the sky. He saw the crack was expanding at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye. Abruptly, his expression changed dramatically.
"Is that a Virtual Eye?!"
It had been more than three years since Lin Huang came to the gravel world. He had seen news of various Virtual Eyes opening on the Heart Network, but he had only encountered them a few times himself.
The people in the streets noticed the strange phenomenon that was happening in the sky. They began to panic.
Although he was temporarily teleported to this city, Lin Huang flew into the sky and summoned the Enchanted Fairy as well as the Divine Sun Tree at the same time.
He had no idea where he was. Whether this city was a foothold in the gravel world or not, the people here were real.
Lin Huang did not think too much about that. He just thought he should not ignore whatever that was happening.
Before the Virtual Eye in the sky could completely form, the Enchanted Fairy moved according to Lin Huang's command.
A gush of chilliness came out of her body and spread around. The water in the air froze wherever the chill passed by. Within merely some ten seconds, the Enchanted Fairy created a giant ice barrier that was 1,000 kilometers in diameter.
Although it did not cover the entire city, it protected the area that was closest to the Virtual Eye.
Just when the Enchanted Fairy was done with building the defense, the Virtual Eye in the sky finished forming.
There seemed to be a pitch-black pupil in the sky that was watching the world.
As soon as the Virtual Eye was formed, a mission box popped out of Lin Huang's Emperor's Heart Ring all of a sudden.
"The Stairway Tree's 80th trial has officially begun!
"Trial Mission: Protect the foothold.
"Mission Requirement: Protect the foothold for 24 hours. The number of deaths must be no more than 80 million people.
"The mission will be deemed to have failed if the time is less than 24 hours or the number of deaths exceeds 80 million people!"
Lin Huang was stunned when he saw the mission box popping out. He did not expect the Stairway Tree to have a new model. Nevertheless, he read everything in the mission box carefully.
Just when he was done reading the last word in the mission box, monsters came rushing out of the Virtual Eye like a torrent.
There were monsters of all sorts but all their combat strengths were on imperial-level black gold-rank.
Almost when the monsters came racing out, the Divine Sun Tree shook its branches a little.
In the next second, all monsters were lit in golden flames. They were soon drowned in the flames and turned into ashes.
Although the Divine Sun Tree did not miss out any monsters, Lin Huang looked rather grimly at the Virtual Eye.
Usually, weaker monsters would come out of the Virtual Eye first and the subsequent monsters that came out later would be more powerful.
However, the first batch of monsters that came as soon as the Virtual Eye opened was already on imperial-level. Although they were only on imperial-level black gold-rank, Lin Huang had a hunch that there might be demigod-level or even virtual god-level monsters appearing later.
Time was ticking. The Virtual Eye kept sending imperial-level black gold-ranks out. This went on for four hours and Lin Huang finally saw the first imperial-level crimson gold-rank monster advancing. Subsequently, the second, the third… More and more imperial-level crimson gold-rank monsters were rushing out of the Virtual Eye, replacing the first batch of imperial-level black gold-rank monsters.
Upon seeing that, Lin Huang had a preliminary guess of the Virtual Eye's monster pattern.
"The imperial-level crimson gold-rank monsters only came out four hours later. This pattern might continue later. If this is the case, demigod-level monsters may emerge during the last four hours, which is about 20 hours later!"
Chapter 1106: Waiting for It to Come Out
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang's head was clouded with thoughts as he watched the monsters that were rushing out of the Virtual Eye like a flood.
This round of assessment had reached a point where it was getting ridiculous.
If monsters streamed out for 24 hours continuously, it would mean that he would have to protect the foothold round the clock without stopping.
Judging from the current number of monsters and frequency, even a demigod-level powerhouse's Life Power would be drained in less than ten hours. If not for the Divine Fire in his body that was supplying endless energy for his God Figurine's Combat Souls, there was no way that he could bear it for 24 hours.
Moreover, looking at the pattern of the Virtual Eye at that instant, there would be more than just one demigod-level monster emerging during the last four hours. Even if he had sufficient Life Power, a demigod-level powerhouse might not be able to push through the last four hours. Under normal circumstances, only virtual god-level powerhouses might have hopes of passing this checkpoint.
This confirmed what Lin Huang was thinking earlier even more. Perhaps the person who designed this checkpoint on the Stairway Tree never wanted anyone to break through.
Lin Huang looked at the sky again as he shook off all sorts of thoughts that were bothering him.
Since earlier, he noticed that he had not been gaining any points despite the Divine Sun Tree killing the monsters on the checkpoint.
However, this gave him another benefit. The Divine Sun Tree could slay monsters endlessly and replenish his spiritual energy. Moreover, the killing would give him complete Monster Cards and Monster Card pieces.
In other words, apart from not obtaining any points on the Stairway Tree, he had at least 20 chances to kill monsters and receive the rewards.
The deal was a great one for Lin Huang. After all, he could only obtain ten billion points at the most each typical day.
Time flew by, and another four hours passed.
Just as Lin Huang expected, all of the monsters in the third batch were on imperial-level yellow gold-rank.
He was sure of his speculation earlier after seeing imperial-level yellow gold-rank monsters swarm out of the Virtual Eye one after another.
"Just like I expected, the monster's combat strength will increase by a rank every four hours. If that's the case, demigod-level monsters will definitely come out in the last four hours."
Hundreds of monsters would come out of the Virtual Eye each second, but none of them escaped the Divine Sun Tree's flames.
All the monsters began burning as soon as they stepped out of the Virtual Eye. They then turned into ashes within a few breaths. There was no exception.
With Lin Huang supplying endless energy, the Divine Sun Tree was not tired of killing at all because it could clearly sense its spiritual energy being replenished every time he killed. It was getting closer and closer to breaking through his combat strength.
The massacre soon passed for four hours, and the fourth batch of monsters finally came.
The batch of monsters experienced an increase in their combat strength. After the imperial-level yellow gold-ranks, imperial-level white gold-rank monsters now raced out.
However, such a boost in combat strength was nothing to the Divine Sun Tree at all. It shook its branches lightly and the imperial-level white gold-rank monsters would be ignited without exception and turn into ashes. Perhaps, their time of death was merely one to two seconds slower than the imperial-level yellow gold-rank monsters before.
At that point in time, half of the 24-hour protection period had passed and the Divine Sun Tree never let any of the monsters go at all.
However, Lin Huang had yet to relax. He was not worried about the first 20 hours. He was bothered about what would come out in the last four hours.
Time flew by and two to three hours passed again. Just when Lin Huang thought they were steadily dealing with this monster horde, a tremor came from the Divine Sun Tree.
"Is it… elevating to virtual god-level?!" Lin Huang merely sensed it when he noticed something off and he knew what was happening. The Divine Sun Tree had killed so many monsters that it had accumulated enough spiritual energy to elevate to virtual god-level. That was beyond Lin Huang's expectations.
However, Lin Huang was delighted to see that.
After recalling the Divine Sun Tree, Lin Huang glanced through the other eight God Figurine's Combat Souls apart from the Enchanted Fairy. He had his eyes fixed on the Death Butterfly, so he summoned it.
The little blue butterfly that was smaller than half a palm flew slowly into the sky. It looked so harmless and even looked kind of cute.
However, such a cute thing turned the imperial-level white gold-rank monsters into skeletons with merely a light flap of its wings. The skeletons then turned into ashes and disappeared.
It seemed like everywhere it flew through became hell.
Even Lin Huang was shocked and terrified every time he watched the Death Butterfly attack.
It would take a life away each time it attacked, and death would always be the result. It was even more overbearing and ridiculous than the Divine Sun Tree's flames.
At least, the Divine Sun Tree's flames would take some time to kill the opponents, but the Death Butterfly killed without anyone even seeing it advance. Every living thing would turn into skeletons and ashes.
Seeing Death Butterfly attacking, Lin Huang recalled what the stone tablet had said before. The Death Butterfly had a weaker combat ability compared to the other True Spirits that mastered the Death Rule. Lin Huang could not help but feel curious about how powerful the other True Spirits that mastered the Death Rule were.
Over an hour soon passed after he summoned the Death Butterfly. The fifth batch of monsters finally approached.
As Lin Huang expected, this batch of monsters all had imperial-level purple gold-rank combat strength.
However, none of the monsters could do anything when the Death Butterfly was around.
All the imperial-level purple gold-rank monsters turned into skeletons as soon as they stepped out of the Virtual Eye. They turned into ashes completely less than a second later. The entire process was no slower than killing the batch of imperial-level white gold-rank monsters earlier.
Lin Huang waited for the four hours to pass slowly. The wait was agonizing. He had finally come to the last four hours of the 24-hour protection period.
He slowed his breathing down while looking at the changing Virtual Eye in the sky without blinking.
Approximately half a minute passed. The monsters that were coming out of the Virtual Eye were all on imperial-level purple gold-rank just like before. None of them were on demigod-level.
Lin Huang glanced down to check the time. After confirming that the time was right, he looked even more puzzled now.
The time passed by on the 80th checkpoint of the Stairway Tree.
Lin Huang waited for almost an hour. The monsters that were coming out of the Virtual Eye had imperial-level purple gold-rank combat strength. It remained the same as it had been four hours before.
"So, I guessed it wrongly?" Lin Huang mumbled to himself softly.
Just as he said that, a powerful aura extended out of the Virtual Eye. He quickly lifted his head to look.
"This aura… It's clearly a demigod-level monster!"
A gigantic monster stretched one of its pitch-black claws out of the Virtual Eye. The claw was completely covered in a layer of black scales. The nail on the claw was 20 to 30 meters long.
The Death Butterfly was going to attack it before it could get out of the Virtual Eye. However, Lin Huang stopped it from doing so.
"There's no rush. We'll wait for it to come out. It might retreat its claw immediately if you attack now."
Chapter 1107: Do You Agree to Go to the Last Checkpoint?
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
A pitch-black claw with black scales stretched out of the Virtual Eye. Subsequently, a giant head poked through.
It was a massive dragon head that looked like it was made of black metal casting. It seemed cold and ferocious.
It was a dragonkin!
It had six screw-like horns on its head while its four eyes lit up like golden lightbulbs. Before it crawled out of the Virtual Eye completely, its four eyes were locked onto Lin Huang. It snorted in disdain after realizing that Lin Huang's combat strength was only immortal-level rank-9.
The Death Butterfly landed on Lin Huang's shoulder slowly, glaring fatally at the dragonkin. It looked like it was staring its prey down.
After more than two hours of killing, it realized that the spiritual energy in its body had been filling up. Meanwhile, this demigod-level dragonkin before them looked like it had an even more powerful spiritual energy than those imperial-level monsters that it had destroyed. In other words, the dragonkin looked delicious to the Death Butterfly.
Unfortunately, the dragonkin did not notice that it was practically being drooled over. After announcing its arrival with a roar, its entire body came out of the Virtual Eye slowly.
From the looks of it, Lin Huang figured this monster was at least up to 10,000 meters long.
It opened its jaws wide after getting out. Then, it released a roar that quaked the world as though it was announcing its arrival.
The Death Butterfly looked at Lin Huang, seeming to ask whether it could attack yet.
Lin Huang nodded tersely at it.
In the next second, the blue Death Butterfly flapped its wings. An invisible wave seemed to ripple in the sky.
The dragonkin's roar was cut short all of a sudden. Its four big, golden lightbulb eyes dimmed while its body that seemed to be formed of metal casting was rotting at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye. Merely three to four seconds later, its flesh vanished. Only a massive black skeletal frame remained. However, the frame lasted less than five seconds before turning into ashes and disappearing with the wind.
The demigod-level dragonkin did not even have the chance to attack and was killed without even realizing what hit it. Lin Huang could only witness how terrifying the Death Butterfly was.
After the demigod-level dragonkin came out, the Virtual Eye became normal again.
Imperial-level purple gold-rank monsters started coming out of it again. The monster horde came one after another like a flood.
"So, imperial-level purple gold-rank monsters are appearing again. Judging from the current pattern, the occasional demigod-level monsters will come out in the last four hours. I'm just not sure if an hour will be the right interval."
Lin Huang was rather relieved to see that the monsters that were coming out were imperial-level purple gold-rank monsters. He was a little worried that many demigod-level monsters would appear.
After all, demigod-level monsters were different from imperial-level monsters. When encountered some with a unique ability, his God Figurine's Combat Souls might not be able to kill them in one hit. Moreover, they had a higher chance of breaking Enchanted Fairy's defense with their Divine Power at full force. As soon as the defense was broke, a demigod-level attack alone could cause a major scale of death if it landed in the foothold. As soon as the number of deaths surpassed the mission limit, he would fail the stage. That was what Lin Huang was most unwilling to see happening.
However, Lin Huang's concern was unnecessary since no more demigod-level monsters emerged.
Time flew by, and another half an hour passed. A powerful aura came out of the Virtual Eye again.
Lin Huang lifted his head and looked at the Virtual Eye's direction in the sky. He frowned slightly. "This aura…"
He was wondering whether a demigod-level monster would come out every hour in the last four hours since the first one came out an hour later. However, that was not the apparent pattern at all because only half an hour had passed and a demigod-level monster's aura was coming out of the Virtual Eye again.
What surprised Lin Huang even more was that the aura this time seemed to be coming from more than one demigod-level monster.
A moment later, a dark-purple head came out of the Virtual Eye. The dark-purple body came out of the Virtual Eye completely before Lin Huang could take a good look at it.
Lin Huang looked closely to see a giant indigo centipede. It was thousands of meters long with three pairs of barely-there wings on its back.
Two indigo feelers at the top of its head moved in the air as it seemed to be sniffing out for aura. Brutality exuded from its three pairs of ruby-like bloody eyes on both sides of its head. Its mouth that looked like a scimitar below was twitching slightly, giving out chilling insecurity.
After the centipede came out, a gigantic spider crawled out of the Virtual Eye slowly.
The spider was bigger than any arachnid that Lin Huang had ever seen in his life. It was completely grayish-brown and had legs that were thousands of meters long. Its entire body seemed like a moving mountain supported by eight pillars.
Its head was filled with dense black eyes of all sizes. There were at least 30 to 40 of them. People with trypophobia would have goosebumps if they saw this creature.
The two monsters' aurae were clearly demigod-level.
Lin Huang could not help but scowl when two of them came at once. It was not that he could not handle two, but the pattern was unfathomable.
The first time a demigod-level monster came out was an hour since the new batch of the monster horde. Now, there were two demigod-level monsters half an hour later. The interval and quantity were unpredictable now.
Just when the two monsters locked their eyes on Lin Huang and the Enchanted Fairy as soon as they appeared, the blue Death Butterfly on Lin Huang's shoulder flapped its wings all of a sudden.
In the next second, the two demigod-level monsters' bodies began to disintegrate while they stared at it in shock. They looked like corpses being dissolved by all sorts of microorganisms with a fast-forward button.
In less than ten seconds, the two demigod-level monsters turned into ashes. The enormous bodies left ashes all over the ground.
After the second batch of demigod-level monsters came, the third wave rushed forward merely ten minutes later. There were three of them this time.
However, the fourth wave came merely a minute after the Death Butterfly killed the third batch of demigod-level monsters. Then, there were five monsters.
Seeing the batch of monsters coming, Lin Huang could not help but frown again. If the intervals shortened and the number of monsters was growing like this, there was a possibility that he would really fail this time.
Fortunately, Lin Huang's concern did not happen. The pattern finally stabilized whereby five demigod-level monsters emerged from the Virtual Eye every one minute.
The pattern persevered and the last four hours ended.
Lin Huang was finally relieved the moment when the Virtual Eye closed entirely.
Before he recalled his two God Figurine's Combat Souls, two notifications popped out from his Emperor's Heart Ring consecutively.
"Congratulations, Lin Xie, for breaking through the 80th checkpoint of the Stairway Tree!"
"Do you agree to go to the last checkpoint on the Stairway Tree?"
"The last checkpoint?" Lin Huang was stunned for a second but soon made up his mind almost without thinking. "I agree! Take me there!"
Chapter 1108: The Last Checkpoint
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang had no idea exactly how many checkpoints there were on the Stairway Tree before reading the notification about the last checkpoint challenge that the Stairway Tree system sent.
After all, throughout the centuries, the highest checkpoint on the Stairway Tree anyone had ever arrived on was the 72nd checkpoint.
However, now he knew that there were only a total of 81 checkpoints on the Stairway Tree and he had arrived at the last one now.
Although it had been two days since he last slept, Lin Huang accepted the assessment without hesitation.
Upon agreeing to the assessment, both of Lin Huang's God Figurine's Combat Souls and Bloody in his sleeve retreated into his body. Then, he shifted and appeared in the ruins.
He looked around to see building remnants everywhere. The land that he was standing on seemed to have been a bustling city back then. However, it was now a ruin where traces of war were left behind.
After taking a simple observation of his surroundings, Lin Huang summoned Bloody and Lancelot immediately.
"Lancelot, use your Territory skill to check if there're any living things around. Bloody, release your Leech Pods after confirming with Lancelot and construct a preliminary map."
Lancelot checked through the area with his Territory skill merely a moment later. "There's no living thing within my territory range. Not only are there no humans, but there aren't even any monsters around."
Just when Bloody was going to release its Leech Pods after hearing that, a crack appeared in the sky all of a sudden.
The human and the two imperial monsters lifted their heads to gaze up immediately.
"Is the Virtual Eye opening again? Is it the same trick as before?" Lin Huang was rather surprised.
However, a second, a third, and a fourth crack appeared in the sky just when he said that.
There were cracks almost everywhere in the sky. He was astounded to see at least hundreds of them. Furthermore, the cracks were expanding at an alarming rate that could be seen with the naked eye.
This reminded Lin Huang of the story when the gravel world was attacked 800 years ago. It was said that 3,000 Virtual Eyes opened all over the world when the gravel world was attacked back then.
Although that was way more than the number of Virtual Eyes he was looking at right now, the density of it then definitely could not compare with what was in front of his eyes.
"Alright then. I admit that I was wrong. This is a new set of tricks." Lin Huang felt like he had just received a resounding slap on his face having thought that this checkpoint was the same as the previous 80.
In the air, the cracks were expanding into the Virtual Eyes one after another at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye. They looked like hundreds of pupils of all colors and forms in the sky, staring at Lin Huang who was as tiny as an ant.
Lin Huang dared not be reckless this time. He recalled Lancelot and got Bloody to hide in his sleeve. He then summoned all ten of his God Figurine's Combat Souls, including the Destructive Divine Mammoth, the Ninetails Lynx, the Nightmare Tapir and the Divine Sun Tree that had elevated to virtual god-level.
A mission notification popped up on his Emperor's Heart Ring just when he summoned his God Figurine's Combat Souls.
"The 81st trial of the Stairway Tree has officially begun!
"Trial Mission: Survive.
"Mission Requirement: Survive the 24-hour monster horde.
"Remarks: The mission will be deemed to have failed if you die within the 24-hour monster horde!"
At the same time when Lin Huang finished reading the notification, a deep voice shook the entire sky. "The trial has begun!"
Gigantic bug monsters began flying out of the Virtual Eyes that looked like pupils in the air. The bugs looked like airships.
The bug monsters were over 10,000 meters in length but they came in all forms.
Some of them looked like enormous whales that had been enlarged by a thousand times with thick bio-armors covering them. Others seemed like deep-sea jellyfish that had been enlarged by 10,000 times with countless tentacles that looked like strands of hair, making it chilling to look at. Some had turtle-like shells that looked indestructible.
Those gigantic monsters exuded terrifying perfect-stage demigod-level aura, and there were over 300 of them in his field of vision.
Nonetheless, he found it weird that those huge monsters did not attack him directly. They just hovered in place after getting out of the Virtual Eyes and did not come any closer.
Just when Lin Huang thought it was strange, a sea of bug monsters streamed out of the gigantic monsters one after another. There were so many of them that they covered the entire sky.
"Sh*t! Are those Bug Tribe battleships?!" Lin Huang reacted right away and ordered immediately, "Fight!"
All of his ten God Figurine's Combat Souls joined the battlefield as soon as he issued the command.
The Divine Sun Tree went through a major change after elevating to virtual god-level combat strength. Initially, it was merely a little sapling that was approximately a meter tall. Now, it had transformed into a ten-meter-tall tree with lush leaves.
It stretched his branches one after another. Everywhere the branches passed would turn into a sea of fire. The hundreds of gigantic bug monsters that resembled airships were burned and turned into ashes immediately.
The Destructive Divine Mammoth also had a change in its form after elevating to virtual god-level. Its black armor was thicker now while there was even armor growing on its trunk. At ten meters tall, it lost all of its cuteness it had before this.
It charged into the monsters and clashed with them all the way. Wherever its metal legs passed, it crushed all of the monsters into mush.
Since the Ninetails Lynx elevated to virtual god-level, it grew from a little white cat which was the size of a palm to a little white cheetah with slender limbs and a body just slightly longer than a meter.
It was fearless as it stood among the monsters. All of the monsters were sliced into pieces wherever it sprinted.
The Nightmare Tapir that had elevated to god-level, on the other hand, did not experience many changes. Only the patterns on its body changed. It lifted his trunk and released soundless wave energy. The invisible wave spread out intensely at a speed that was 1,000 times faster than the speed of sound. All of the monsters were dragged into dreamland as the wave enveloped them. They fell into a deep sleep within a few seconds.
Those monsters that had yet to elevate to god-level were no less powerful.
All the monsters turned into ashes whenever the Death Butterfly flapped its wings.
Whenever the Withered Flower shook in the wind and spread its fragrance, the monsters grew old and turned into skeletons.
A gush of chillness spread out whenever the Enchanted Fairy waved her sleeve, and countless bug monsters transformed into ice sculptures.
The Creation Clock slowed down its second hand. Many of the monsters seemed like they had fallen into a swamp, whereby their movements were a hundred times slower now.
The Life Power in the monsters' bodies would stop working whenever the Shackle Serpent's eyes lit up, and they would fall from the sky.
The Undead Styx smothered the sea of monster carcasses with its body. Then, the monster carcasses stood up again with their eyes pitch-black.
The tens of thousands of terrifying monsters in the horde were blocked by the ten God Figurine's Combat Souls forcefully. The battle was one-sided, and almost none of the monsters survived for more than half a minute.
Chapter 1109: Jaw-Dropping
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In the sky, the giant demigod-level Bug Tribe airships flew out of the Virtual Eyes that resembled pupils one after another.
Each of the giant airships had tens of thousands of Bug Tribe monsters which had imperial-level combat strength.
As the giant airships containing countless Bug Tribe monsters entered this world that looked like ruins, they leaped and charged toward Lin Huang as if they only had one target in their eyes.
Millions of monsters leaped from the sky almost every second. They were like a locust plague that blanketed the sky.
Nevertheless, the ten God Figurine's Combat Souls were extraordinarily courageous whereby they were almost suppressing the situation.
However, Lin Huang was not optimistic about breaking through this checkpoint since the battle was so intense as soon as it began.
One must know that the mission had begun for less than three minutes and there were already over a hundred million of monsters coming out of the Virtual Eyes. Moreover, all of them were on imperial-level and ranged from imperial-level black gold-rank to imperial-level purple gold-rank.
According to Lin Huang's speculation, this checkpoint should be the same as the one before whereby the longer the duration, the more difficult it would be. The monsters' combat strength would elevate later on and the frequency might increase.
Whether he could break through the checkpoint or not, Lin Huang thought he must seize the opportunity since he had a little faith. Just like the checkpoint before, he crushed 24 Double Reward Cards secretly which resulted in the reward adding up to 24 hours. He also crushed a Lucky Card.
Subsequently, a massive number of notifications about card pieces and occasional complete cards came through.
Monsters did not stop coming out of the Virtual Eyes, so the ten God Figurine's Combat Souls did not get to rest for even a second.
The Bug Tribe airships seemed to have a unique spatial technique installed in them. Even though the Bug Tribe airships were destroyed, the Bug Tribe fighters within them did not seem to be affected much. Instead, they shot out of the airships directly, saving their time of leaping out of the cabin door.
The Virtual Eyes had been sending Bug Tribe airships out at the same frequency, so a new batch of Bug Tribe airships would arrive almost every ten seconds.
Again, the ten God Figurine's Combat Souls did not get to rest for even a heartbeat.
Soon, four hours had passed. As Lin Huang expected, the frequency of the Virtual Eyes sending the Bug Tribe airships increased.
One airship would be sent out of a Virtual Eye approximately every 20 seconds. However, after the four-hour interval, the frequency shortened to ten seconds.
Furthermore, Lin Huang also realized that not only did the frequency multiply but even the combat strength of the monsters that were originating from the airships changed.
There were monsters on imperial-level black gold-rank to imperial-level purple gold-rank initially. However, there were no longer any imperial-level black gold-rank monsters this round. The lowest combat strength of bug beasts that participated in the battle was imperial-level crimson gold-rank. The number of monsters from each airship was pretty much the same as before, but the minimum combat strength had increased.
Nevertheless, such frequency and increase in combat strength did not affect the God Figurine's Combat Souls at all.
Most of the ten God Figurine's Combat Souls were attacking in a large range of area. However, they did not widen their attack range or increase their attack power. Only the frequency of the attacks multiplied.
The battle remained one-sided.
Although countless bug beasts were pouring like rain, they could not break through the Divine Sun Tree and the rest whose killing speed would destroy a large area.
However, the Death Butterfly experienced a tremor not long after the second wave of monsters came. The spiritual energy in its body had been filled, and it was elevating to virtual god-level.
Lin Huang recalled it back to his body without hesitation to allow it to complete its elevation.
Without the Death Butterfly's contribution, the remaining nine God Figurine's Combat Souls became slightly busier, but it did not affect their winning streak much.
Soon, another four hours passed. There was a change in the third wave of the monster horde.
The interval of the Bug Tribe airships being sent shortened again. From the initial ten seconds, it was cut down to five seconds now.
Moreover, the minimum combat strength of the Bug Tribe fighters coming out of the airships this time had increased again. It increased from imperial-level crimson gold-rank to imperial-level yellow gold-rank. Among the bug beasts that were rushing out of the giant airships, there were no longer any imperial-level black gold-ranks and imperial-level crimson gold-ranks to be seen. The lowest combat strength was imperial-level yellow gold-rank.
As soon as the third round of monster horde came, the Death Butterfly completed its elevation. Lin Huang summoned it again and sent it back to the battlefield.
The blue butterfly that was initially only the size of half a palm had minimal changes to its appearance. It remained the same size but its solid form had turned into a blue semitransparent spirit form, appearing as magical as an illusion. Its ethereal form felt otherworldly. In fact, it looked like a lousy Earth-made film effect which seemed fake.
However, the Death Butterfly experienced an obvious boost in its ability no matter what.
A great number of demigod-level Bug Tribe airships turned into ashes from a slight flap of its wings. The entire process took less than three seconds, it was a few times faster than the killing speed of the Divine Sun Tree.
The remaining nine God Figurine's Combat Souls were much more relaxed as soon as it joined the battle again.
As usual, the third round of Bug Tribe attack went on for four hours.
Subsequently, the same thing happened to the fourth and the fifth rounds of monsters.
When the fourth round came, the Enchanted Fairy followed the Death Butterfly's footsteps as she had accumulated enough spiritual energy to elevate to virtual god-level.
When the fifth round of monster horde came, the interval of the Bug Tribe airships coming out of the Virtual Eye shortened to a second.
Furthermore, the tens of thousands of monsters in each airship were on imperial-level purple gold-rank. There was not even a single imperial-level white gold-rank monster.
Soon after that, the fifth round came. The Enchanted Fairy successfully elevated to virtual god-level and was summoned again.
The Enchanted Fairy that had been upgraded had few changes to her body. She was still wearing a white dress, and her skin was as white as snow. She was beautiful as usual. However, her black hair was now a piercing icy blue.
Furthermore, her ability was even more terrifying now. The air would turn into ice with a single glance of hers.
Apart from that, the Undead Styx had accumulated enough spiritual energy to elevate to virtual god-level when the fifth monster horde came. Lin Huang recalled him back to his body.
As the Death Butterfly and the Enchanted Fairy's combat strengths elevated, the pressure that was ever-increasing from the Virtual Eyes did not cause any solid threat to Lin Huang. The battle still remained one-sided.
One must know that Lin Huang's God Figurine's Combat Souls were powerful existences made of Protoss's figurines as their base besides being visualized from True Spirits. Each of them far surpassed quadruple mutated mythical-level monsters. They could fight fairly with Virtual God rank-3 powerhouses given that they had imperial-level purple gold-rank combat strength. Naturally, suppressing these imperial-level bug beasts was a piece of cake for them.
Now that some of his God Figurine's Combat Souls had elevated to virtual god-level, their abilities were advancing intensely. They did not even have to use 1% of their abilities when fighting those imperial-level bug beasts.
Another four hours flew by. The 24-hour period to pass the checkpoint was down to the last four hours.
The sixth round of monster horde came as expected.
Before the monster horde came, a low rumble echoed from the other side of the Virtual Eyes.
Lin Huang looked at the sky in puzzlement when he heard the sound. His jaw dropped when he saw the first giant that emerged!
"F*ck! How is this possible?!"
Chapter 1110: The Arrival of the Bug Tribe
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Immense things in irregular forms floated out of the Virtual Eyes in the sky. Each of them was at least 10,000 times bigger than the Bug Tribe airships earlier.
Some of the giant forms were slightly rounder, resembling potatoes. Some seemed like human molars or front teeth that had fallen off while some looked like peanuts. They had forms of all kinds.
However, the similarity they shared was that all of them had dense holes on their surfaces.
These holes had various shapes and sizes. Some were round, some were triangular, and some were even hexagonal. However, the shapes and sizes of the holes were the same for each giant. They were clearly not made by Mother Nature.
In reality, Lin Huang could tell what were those at a first glance. The strangely shaped matters were all Bug Tribe hives from different tribes.
"Are they relocating house? They moved the entire hive here!"
The 300-over hives of all forms covered the entire sky like hovering giant cities.
It was Lin Huang first time seeing such a majestic scene in his life.
If an ordinary person witnessed 300 beehives hanging above their heads, the first reaction would be to run.
However, it was a different story for Lin Huang. He gave a command before waiting for any of the monsters to fly out the hives, "There's no need to hold back. Do your best to attack the hives and see if you can destroy them or not."
The Ninetails Lynx was the first to attack as soon as he spoke. Its agile body turned into a white beam and shot through the sky. It pulverized tens of hives and returned where it was without anyone even seeing it. Then, it shook its head at Lin Huang.
After a while, rumbles that sounded like mellow thunder came from the sky consecutively.
Slices were made on the tens of hives consecutively. There were giant gullies that were hundreds of meters on the hives. However, the gullies were less than ten meters at the most and could no longer go any deeper, so they made no solid damage to the hives.
"The Ninetails Lynx has the most powerful attack ability among your ten God Figurine's Combat Souls. If this is what it can do, it proves that the materials that are used to make these hives are pretty tough. Using other physical attacks shouldn't have much effect on them." Bloody that had been hiding and observing the situation in Lin Huang's sleeve provided him such an analysis immediately. "Get the Nightmare Tapir to try using his spiritual attack then."
The Destructive Divine Mammoth and the rest attacked when Bloody was done speaking. However, just like Bloody speculated, physical attacks did almost nothing to the hives.
Even the Divine Sun Tree and the Enchanted Fairy's elemental attacks could not penetrate the hives. The most they could go was a few meters into the holes.
The Nightmare Tapir attacked as well. Even though he had elevated to virtual god-level, he could only drill some ten meters in after penetrating into the hives with his psychic energy. He was blocked by powerful psychic energy and could no longer go any further.
"I tried, but I was blocked by a powerful psychic energy. The most I can go is 13 meters and I can't go any further," the Nightmare Tapir spoke to Lin Huang and Bloody through voice transmission.
"A powerful psychic energy? Could there be virtual god-level monsters guarding the inside of these hives?!" Lin Huang was stunned to hear that.
The stone tablet's voice came slowly at the moment. "Stop overthinking. The hives do not only have resistance against physical attack, but they're also invincible when it comes to resisting spiritual energy because each hive is being protected by the Bug Tribe's will. Even a true god-level or even heavenly god-level powerhouse can't stick spiritual energy into the hives to try and damage it at all. The Nightmare Tapir could penetrate more than ten meters because there's only an oxidized protective shell on the surface of the hives. The shell isn't even the hive's real defense. It's not even included in the protection range of the Bug Tribe's will."
Lin Huang came to a realization after hearing the stone tablet's explanation. "If what you said is true, then attacking the hives must be a stupid thing to do, isn't it?"
"You said that yourself." The stone tablet smiled and explained further, "The standards of the Bug Tribe's construction are much higher than the standards you humans have when building your skyscrapers."
"Under usual circumstances, the hives with Virtual Gods inside are built with core construction material which is the same material as a true god relic. Only a powerhouse with the combat strength of at least heavenly god-level can destroy them completely."
"Even in hives with only a demigod inside, the core material used for the construction would be at least a god relic. They're basically indestructible if the opponent isn't on a minimum of true god-level."
"I think there's no need for you to waste your efforts attacking the hives at all. Just wait for the bugs to come out."
"The hives are their base camp, so their queens will basically be in there. If I don't destroy the hives, the queens in those hives will produce more bugs to join the battle. It would mean that I'd have to clear the bugs that are created in the hives over and over again." Lin Huang told the tablet the reason he had gotten his God Figurine's Combat Souls to attack the hives.
"Why don't you just seize the opportunity to kill more bugs since there're only four hours left? No matter how many bugs these hives are producing, to you, it's merely four hours of battling." The stone tablet went completely silent right after saying that.
Lin Huang realized that he was overthinking it. He kind of forgot that the 20-odd hours of battle was just a trial. He subconsciously treated this ruins as a place in the gravel world. His mind was so occupied on clearing the hives forever to prevent the bug beasts from coming out.
He recalled that it was just a trial upon hearing the stone tablet's reminder. He would be teleported out of this place as soon as the time was up. No matter whether this place was real or fake, whatever happened after this was none of his business.
Lin Huang shook his head to push the thoughts out of his head as he lifted his head to look at the sky again.
In the sky, there was an insane amount of bugs in countless forms standing at the surface of the giant hives.
Buzz…
Buzz…
Buzz…
…
A low buzzing from more than 300 sources came almost at the same time. The noise seemed to be coming from deep in the hives. They sounded like a signal that had been lowered. Each hive would have a slightly difference in key, but they did not conflict with each other and even harmonized perfectly.
The long and low buzzes echoed through the entire place.
At the same time, the countless bug monsters seemed to have received their leader's order. They leaped out of the hives where they were queuing and charged at Lin Huang.