351-360

Chapter 351: The 20 Card Draw

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lin Huang activated Boundless Vision as he rode on the Alexandrian Eagle while observing the Crimson-Eyed Elephant that was 10 kilometers away but he did not attack it.

"Xiao Hei, how many Double Reward Cards do I have?" Lin Huang asked.

"Two."

"Including the Sanguine Skeleton, the Blazecrystal Scorpion and the Molten Dragon that I killed by myself earlier, I should have seven cross-ranking kill rewards. Is that right?"

"Yes." Xiao Hei's reply remained short and simple.

"Two Double Reward Cards but I only have two hours to get the reward… It's not enough to go to seven places…" As not all the monsters were being located, some locations might need the Alexandrian Eagle to fly hundreds of kilometers away. Two hours of double reward time would only allow Lin Huang to kill four to five white flame-level monsters at the most.

"Master, you could actually pin the location of the seven holy fire-level monsters with the dimensional relic. As soon as the pinning of the locations is done, you can kill them accordingly. After each kill, you can use the dimensional relic to get to the next monster. That would save a lot of time on the road," suggested Bloody that had been hiding in Lin Huang's sleeve as it heard what he was saying to Xiao Hei.

"That's a great idea!" Lin Huang realized that his thoughts had come to a dead end. He had forgotten that he could pin the locations using the dimensional relic and wanted to get to each location with the Alexandrian Eagle instead. With Bloody's reminder, he only recalled that he could bookmark the locations that he had never pinned before. He got the Alexandrian Eagle to land near a crater as he did the pinning. He looked at the Crimson-Eyed Elephant that was far away.

"I shan't kill you now. I'll kill all of you after I have pinned all the locations!"

Lin Huang patted the Alexandrian Eagle and headed to the location of the next holy fire-level monster following the map. Three hours went by after Lin Huang was done pinning all the locations of the seven monsters. Looking at the Colossal Lizard that was far away, Lin Huang smirked as he crunched one Double Reward card.

"Let's seize this Double Reward Card to kill all of them!" Lin Huang exclaimed and patted the Alexandrian Eagle, heading towards the Colossal Lizard.

…

As Lin Huang killed the last holy fire-level monster which was the Crimson-Eyed Elephant, 53 minutes had gone by. He had used less than an hour to kill all seven holy fire-level monsters. Looking at the 14 Reward Cards that were added to his body, he stored the Crimson-Eyed Elephant carcass happily.

Among the seven monsters, the most difficult one was the first one that he had encountered. The defense of the Colossal Lizard was terrifying. Although it was only a double mutated white flame-level, Lin Huang did not manage to break through its defense using his normal attack. He had to put three Life Wheels of Life Power into Worldly Purification to kill it. The first monster used up more than 15 minutes of his time. Luckily, it was smooth sailing after that or else, he would have to use his second Double Reward Card to kill all the seven monsters.

Looking at the time, it was noon. Lin Huang sat at the bottom of a volcano and ate some snacks while getting Xiao Hei to arrange his cards.

"Xiao Hei, arrange all the cards that I've obtained in this ruins."

"You have received 16 cross-ranking Reward Cards and 20 card draws from the quintuple cross-ranking kills that you have yet to use."

"Let's talk about the card draw later. I want to see what those 16 Reward Cards are." Lin Huang knew that the number of cards was correct. As the Double Reward Card was not enough, he had not used that when he was killing the Sanguine Skeleton Spirit and the Blazecrystal Scorpion. He had only received a Reward Card from that. What he got from killing the Molten Dragon was a card draw instead of a Reward Card. So, the two cards added to his 14 cards totaled to 16 cards.

"The 16 Reward Cards are as follows: Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Card x3, Skill Removal Card x2, Double Reward Card x2, Life Power Storage Card x2, Advanced Card x2, Item Card x2, Provisional Transformation Card x1, Healing Card x1, Provisional Summoning Card x1."

Xiao Hei's calculation was quick and Lin Huang saw two new cards that he had never seen before, which were the Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Card and the Skill Removal Card. It was obvious from just the name of the cards but Lin Huang wanted to know the exact descriptions.

"Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Card"

"Function: When the card is activated, it allows you or your Monster Card to upgrade one rank higher temporarily."

"Remark 1: Each upgrade will be limited to one hour."

"Remark 2: Multiple cards can be used at the same time. A maximum of three cards can be used at once with three ranks of the upgrade."

"Remark 3: The time limit is still one hour even if multiple cards are used."

"Remark 4: Consumable. Each card can only be used once."

…

"Skill Removal Card"

"Function: User can remove one skill of his own."

"Remarks: Consumable. Each card can only be used once."

"This Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Card can temporarily upgrade you three ranks higher!"

Lin Huang thought the card was useful. "Too bad there's only three of them, that's too little."

After reading the descriptions of the two cards, Lin Huang decided to do the 20-card draw to see if he could get more Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Cards.

"Xiao Hei, I would like to activate the card draw!"

"Are you sure you would like to activate the card draw?"

"Yes!"

"I have randomly selected 360 cards for you. You may choose 20 cards from the 360 cards as your rewards."

"Warning! You only have one chance for each card. Once you've selected, you're not allowed to change!"

As Xiao Hei said that, hundreds of cards were formed in the air and arranged before him. There were 20 columns and 18 rows, totaling to 360 cards. All of them looked the same. They were all black with a flaming golden question mark in the middle.

Lin Huang had done card draws before and he knew that it all depended on his luck. There was neither any skill in picking cards nor any cheats. He could only choose following his gut feel. He spent ten minutes to pick all 20 cards, then the remaining 340 cards disappeared. The 20 cards that he picked were arranged into four rows with five cards each. They shed their disguise one by one and revealed what they really were.

"Congratulations! You have received Life Power Storage Card x3, Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Card x2, Double Reward Card x2, Advanced Card x2, Healing Card x2, Item Card x2, Mission Card x2, Provisional Transformation Card x1, One-time Skill Card x1, Flawless Card x1, Challenge Card x1, Epiphany Card x1."

Lin Huang was happy with everything that he received except for the two Mission Cards. Seeing that there were no new cards that he was not familiar with, he instructed Xiao Hei again, "Xiao Hei, calculate all my cards!"

"Provisional Transformation Card x8, Healing Card x8, Advanced Card x7, Item Card x7, Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Card x5, Life Power Storage Card x5, Double Reward Card x5, Treasure Card x4, One-time Skill Card x3, Mission Card x3, Flawless Card x3, Skill Removal Card x2, Provisional Summoning Card x2, Epiphany Card x1, Transportation Card x1, Challenge Card x2, Small Destruction Card x1, Skill Combination Card x1."

"Use Life Power Storage Card!" Lin Huang always had that card on his mind as this card allowed him to have four additional Life Wheels compared to the rest.

He had obtained two Life Power Storage Cards from the 16 cards and now he had just received another three from the 20-card draw. He was over the moon to receive five of them at once as that meant he could duplicate five more Life Wheels in his body. The Life Power Storage Cards broke into pieces and entered his body as Life Wheels. He could not hold his glee in anymore.

"Heh, I have 10 Life Wheels now!"

As he took out the Life Power Refill Card to refill his Life Power, he was surprised to see that the image on the Life Power Refill Card had changed from five Life Wheels to ten with the five newly added Life Wheels empty. After activating the Life Power Refill Card and filling up all his 10 Life Wheels, Lin Huang then looked at his two Skill Removal Cards.

"Activate the Skill Removal Cards to remove Super Robust and Blood Hunt ."

"Are you sure you would like to activate Skill Removal Cards to remove Super Robust and Blood Hunt ?"

"Warning! Once the skill is removed, it cannot be retrieved."

"Yes!" Lin Huang nodded without hesitation as the two skills were no help to him. He had Superhuman Strength for the increase of strength while Blood Hunt was useless to him since he had Bloody which was more helpful now.

"Consuming Skill Removal Card x2. Skills Super Robust and Blood Hunt have been removed!"

His Monster Skills that were once full had two empty slots now. Lin Huang thought about it and decided not to extract the Sanguine Skeleton Spirit's skill for now. With two empty slots for monster skills now, he reserved one for the Supreme Overlord while he wanted to keep the other one as he was not sure if he would encounter any monsters that were more powerful than the Sanguine Skeleton Spirit.

He smirked as he looked at the remaining seven Advanced Cards. He then summoned the Alexandrian Eagle.

"It's your time to level up, buddy." Lin Huang patted the Alexandrian Eagle's wings. It seemed to understand what Lin Huang wanted, so it then rubbed its head again his chest.

"Xiao Hei, activate two Advanced Cards to upgrade the Alexandrian Eagle into an epic-level card!" Lin Huang instructed.

Chapter 352: Unsealing Tyrant

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Time passed fast and six days soon went by. After breakfast, Lin Huang summoned his dimensional relic and went to the place where Tyrant was carrying out his unsealing early in the morning. It was the last day of Tyrant's unsealing. As he walked out of the dimensional relic, Lin Huang saw Kylie sitting at the same place. He remembered clearly that she was sitting in the exact same location a few days ago. It seemed like she had never stood up the past few days.

"Good morning, have you had your breakfast?" Although Lin Huang knew that the Monster Cards did not need food to survive, he asked that anyway. Kylie looked at Lin Huang's direction but she did not respond.

"Still so cold…" Lin Huang thought to himself while rubbing his nose. He walked to Kylie and sat with her while waiting for Tyrant to complete its unsealing.

Besides going after the double rewards on the first day, Lin Huang had been killing at least 40 holy fire-level monsters for the past few days. Ever since the Alexandrian Eagle completed its upgrade to the Viridescent Thunderhawk, Lin Huang had named it Thunder. It was now a complete gold-level with an improvement in speed which saved a lot of time for Lin Huang. He had been working hard these few days. Besides the time he spent sleeping, he spent more than 15 hours every day killing monsters. Sometimes, he would even eat while he was on Thunder's back.

While waiting for Tyrant to unseal, he gave himself a break. With the help of the massacre during the monster horde as well as the points that he had accumulated the past few days, he did not think that having a couple of days of rest would allow anybody to surpass his points.

As time passed by slowly, Lin Huang felt the ground shaking around one o'clock in the afternoon.

"Thunder!" Lin Huang summoned his flying mount and rode on its back. Thunder flew high up into the sky. Kylie sensed something strange as well, so she pointed the tip of her toes and flapped her six wings. As the both of them left the ground, the ground a couple of kilometers away cracked. A loud thud was heard and a golden glow shot up into the sky while the earth collapsed.

Soon, a gigantic body crawled up from the underground lava. It was a giant creature with gold armor spanning over 100 meters. Sunlight reflected off the gold armor, making it look like it was the center of the universe. Bright red lava that looked like countless streams flowed down its body and it looked like a hunk coming out of the shower. Lin Huang was shocked to see Tyrant's body that was now ten times bigger. Tyrant noticed Lin Huang and Kylie in the air and a terrifying smile appeared on its face.

"Master."

"Finally you have completed your unsealing." Lin Huang grinned.

Tyrant scratched its head and smiled.

"Will you be able to shrink your body?" Lin Huang thought of the key issue as it would be inconvenient if Tyrant was this huge whenever he summoned it.

"Yes, I can." Tyrant nodded.

"Shrink it to a size that's slightly bigger than a normal human then." Lin Huang thought that having a bodyguard with him would be good. Of course, he would need to get it dressed.

Tyrant shrunk its body to around 2.5 meters.

"Is this okay?"

"That's perfect."

"I'll get you a few sets of clothes so that I don't have to always keep you in card form."

Tyrant's eyes lit up when it heard the last sentence.

"However, I'll need to keep you inside to avoid attention for these few days," Lin Huang added.

Tyrant nodded in agreement.

After keeping Tyrant in card form, Lin Huang held the card in his hand. Its color remained blue. The unsealing did not complete its third upgrade as well as the sealing of the system. It could still be summoned. Tyrant still looked the same on top of the card, just that its size was slightly bigger. Lin Huang turned around to look at the card description.

"Monster Card: Tyrant

"Rarity: Epic

"Monster Name: Gold Armored Genie

"Type of Monster: Genie

"Combat Level: White Flame-level

"Skill 1: Golden Armor

"Skill 2: Super Robust

"Skill 3: Enhanced Regeneration (Advanced)

"Skill 4: Ultimate Explosion (Advanced)

"Skill 5: Ultimate Strength (Advanced)

"Skill 6: Megamorth (Beginner)

"Summon Authority: Activated

"Card Remarks: Trainable"

The Enhanced Regeneration , Ultimate Explosion , and Ultimate Strength were now advanced with an additional skill which was Megamorth . Lin Huang clicked in to read more about the skill.

"Megamorth (Beginner): This allows the user's size to grow ten times bigger as well as increase its strength.

"Remark 1: The skill will last for a maximum of one hour. User's size will go back to normal after an hour.

"Remark 2: After the skill ends or it is deactivated by the user, the user will go into weak form for as long as the skill was used and won't be able to battle."

"Ten times its original size! Tyrant is already more than 100 meters now, so ten times would mean more than 1,000 meters… It can totally be used as a battle machine!" Lin Huang imagined how big Tyrant would be and exclaimed to himself. He then kept the card and looked at Kylie.

"Thank you for being here. I shall treat you to something good after the training ends."

Kylie hesitated, then nodded. After recalling Kylie into card form, Lin Huang patted the Viridescent Thunderhawk.

"Thunder, we should get back to work now!"

Thunder flapped its wings and headed to the next holy fire-level monster with a white glow.

…

Time passed by with the killing of monsters for the last four days of training. At eight in the morning, Lin Huang summoned his dimensional relic and got back to the meeting point after breakfast. Luo Li and the other two examiners had been waiting since 9 a.m. was the official mission submission time. There were people waiting there and it was obvious that they had submitted their missions before the deadline. The three examiners looked at Lin Huang as he appeared, curious to know how many monsters he had killed during the ten days.

"Good morning, examiners, I'm here to submit my mission," Lin Huang greeted them and headed towards the staff. He was stopped by Zang Bing.

"I'll do the calculation for you. I'm curious about how many monsters you managed to kill," Zang Bing volunteered to calculate Lin Huang's monsters killed. Such a thing had never happened before as it was usually done by the staff.

"I want to know too." Luo Li came closer. Si Kongjian walked behind Luo Li without saying a word.

The participants were envious to see the three examiners surrounding Lin Huang.

"Alright, then…" Lin Huang raised his eyebrow without rejecting the three examiners while getting the monster carcasses that were as high as a hill out from his storage space ring. Many of the participants exclaimed when they saw the monster carcasses. Not because they were so many of them but because all the monsters seemed to be at least holy fire-level. Even the three examiners were surprised. As Zang Bing started to calculate, Luo Li and Si Kongjian stood aside and watched.

He took almost half an hour to finish calculating all the monster carcasses. Everyone was shocked, even Luo Li and Si Kongjian.

"There're a total of 383 monsters, all white flame-level. They were all killed using a sword and I can tell that it was done by the same person," Zang Bing concluded.

"You must have some crimson flame-level monsters with you, don't you?" Luo Li asked.

"A couple." Lin Huang smiled and nodded.

"How about blue flame-level?" Luo Li asked again.

"It's a secret." Lin Huang did not want to answer that.

"I will add in the 38,600 points into the system. Master Yi will announce the final points when you get out of here as well as the ranking," Zang Bing said to Lin Huang while getting a staff to collect the monster carcasses.

"I understand."

"Lin Huang…" Just when he wanted to leave, Zang Bing called out to him.

"What is it, examiner?" Zang Bing looked puzzled.

"You must have heard of us, the Demon Slayer Legion?" Zang Bing asked.

"Yes, I have." Lin Huang nodded.

"Are you interested to join us?" Zang Bing extended his invitation directly.

Luo Li was surprised when she heard what Zang Bing said. Si Kongjian frowned as well. Lin Huang was shocked and did not respond after a while.

"Little brother, it's a wise choice to join the Demon Slayer Legion," Luo Li advised.

"You guys have no idea who he is, do you?" Si Kongjian knew he had to interrupt this time.

"His identity?" Zang Bing and Luo Li looked puzzled at Si Kongjian.

"He's Mr. Fu's apprentice. A real apprentice, not a nominal apprentice," Si Kongjian told the truth. He had researched about Lin Huang after finding out about his identity.

"You mean this Mr. Fu?" Luo Li pointed into the sky.

Si Kongjian nodded.

"I didn't know that you're so powerful." Luo Li looked even more passionately at Lin Huang.

"Alright then, pretend that I didn't say anything…" Zang Bing gave up on his invitation.

"What's the deal with Master that so many people are so fearful of him?" Lin Huang found it strange as he did not understand why would everyone look terribly impressed whenever they heard about Mr. Fu.

Chapter 353: The Training Has Ended

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

All participants were on time to submit their missions at nine in the morning. Li Lang noticed that Lin Huang had submitted his mission, so he greeted Lin Huang and headed to the staff. Looking at Li Lang take out the monster carcasses, Lin Huang could not help but stare. As he took out more and more carcasses, many of the participants were watching. The monster carcasses piled into a couple of hills, much higher than the rest. It looked like there were at least 10,000 monster carcasses.

Seeing that many of the monster carcasses were burnt, Lin Huang could guess how he had killed the monsters. A few staff spent more than an hour to handle the staggering number of carcasses. There were a total of 14,560 carcasses including gold-level rank-3 and complete gold-level ones. After finalizing the figures, Li Lang smirked as he walked over to Lin Huang.

"You kept many nuclear bombs with you, didn't you?" Lin Huang raised his eyebrow when he saw Li Lang walking to him.

"Seems like I can't hide it from you." Li Lang smiled weakly in embarrassment. He had told Lin Huang that he was only left with five nuclear bombs earlier.

"I only kept two to myself for emergencies. I didn't expect to use them."

Yi Yeyu walked to them after she submitted her mission. All of the monsters that she had killed were holy fire-level. There were only more than 30 of them and it took less than two minutes for the staff to calculate them. She glared at Li Lang who was the center of attention, then regarded Lin Huang.

"What plan do you have after this ends?"

"It's still a long way to go before I level up to holy fire-level. I plan to take a break while slowly leveling up to complete gold-level and to finish up some errands," Lin Huang said, then he thought of something that he wanted to ask.

"Speaking of errands… Do you guys know where can I get dracaena?"

"Dracaena?! Why would you want that?" Li Lang's eyes flew wide open.

Yi Yeyu frowned as she looked at Lin Huang. She knew very well that dracaena was a herb to increase the dragonkin characteristics in a monster with dragonkin. Although what its effects were minimal, as long as it was used in massive quantities, it could upgrade a sky dragon to a dragonkin. However, there was a limited amount of dracaena around. It was so expensive that one could easily cost more than a normal grade-5 relic. Too little dracaena would show no effect; one would need tens to hundreds of dracaena to see anything. Also, as each monster had different types of bodies, the chances of increasing the density of dragonkin blood would vary. A normal rich family would not spend their money on dracaena as it was expensive and risky.

"Nothing, just asking out of curiosity," Lin Huang gave an excuse.

"There might be some in the troop warehouse but I'm not sure how many are there." Yi Yeyu glared at Lin Huang.

"There might be more at the chambers of commerce in Division7. I can hook you up if you need, but you'll need to pay for it yourself as it's too expensive. I can't afford to get them for you," Yi Yeyu added.

"Thank you in advance."

As they chatted, the calculation of the monster carcasses of all of the participants ended. Luo Li floated into the air and spoke, "All the participants have submitted their monster carcasses and our staff has finished all the calculating as well as tallying the accumulated points. Master Yi will announce the results after he gets the report!

"Now everyone can leave the ruins following our staff's arrangement. Don't go too far away while waiting for the results patiently. If any of you are absent when we announce your name, the reward will be given to the next person, so I hope that doesn't happen."

After the announcement, Luo Li got the staff to manage the crowd while the three examiners took out a fan-like object and connected them together to form a circle. The circle expanded and formed a round, black door that rose from the ground and opened slowly. A bunch of the participants stepped into the door following the staff's instructions.

"Is that one of the keys of the ruins?" Lin Huang asked as he queued.

"It should be a replica." Yi Yeyu nodded.

"Shouldn't the ruin key be exclusive? Why's there a replica?" Lin Huang was surprised.

"Every dimensional ruin should have an original key but it can be replicated." Yi Yeyu did not think it was strange.

"Isn't it normal to get a replicated key? If there's only one, what do we do if it's lost?"

"So, that means if I activate the ruin key, I might encounter the Saint members in the ruins." Lin Huang touched the ruins keys in his pocket and contemplated seriously.

"Luckily, I didn't activate it…"

Soon the three of them entered the black door and were sent to the plaza at the Union Government headquarters in the White Capital. Coming back to the White Capital made Lin Huang think that he had come back to civilization. He was not used to seeing buildings after spending 20 days in the barren Volcano Hell. As he stepped out of the door, Lin Huang's Emperor Heart Ring's signal and network were activated. Before the activation could be completed, Yi Donglai appeared with the Demon Slayer Legion.

Luo Li and the other examiners approached Yi Donglai and gave him a palm-sized metal plate of an unknown material. Lin Huang guessed that the metal plate was something like a computer tablet. Yi Donglai looked at the results and browsed the crowd. After his scanning stopped at Yi Yeyu and Lin Huang, he started speaking, "Congratulations for making it back safely! I shall not waste your time and announce the results now!"

"First prize goes to Lin Huang with 136,317 points.

"Second prize goes to Li Lang with 32,821 points.

"Third prize goes to Yi Yeyu with 10,287 points.

"Fourth prize goes to Shang Gong Hong with 10,133 points."

…

The top ten participants were soon announced. Besides Lin Huang, the remaining nine people were all leveled up to holy fire-level. Li Lang had used his own way and got into top 2 while the rest had accumulated around 10,000 points each. While Yi Donglai announced the results, the activation of Lin Huang's Emperor's Heart Ring was complete. It vibrated a couple of times but he did not look at it.

"Let's welcome the first prize winner, Lin Huang, up here," Yi Donglai invited and nodded to a staff. The staff with the reward that was covered in red cloth stood next to Yi Donglai while Lin Huang walked towards him.

"This is your reward. Reveal it!" Yi Donglai smiled at Lin Huang. Lin Huang nodded and removed the red cloth. A red monster egg was placed inside a golden box. The monster egg was slightly bigger than an adult's palm. It was red in color with plum spots as well as light spiral patterns. Lin Huang knew that was the phoenix egg that Yi Donglai had promised.

"It's yours now." Yi Donglai took the box from the staff and presented it to Lin Huang.

Just when Lin Huang was about to leave with the monster egg, Yi Donglai spoke again, "Young man, don't you want to say anything?"

Lin Huang was stunned, then he turned around.

"Thank you!"

He got down from the stage without turning his head after that. Because the monster egg was alive, he could not keep it in his storage space, so he covered the box and carried it with both hands. Many were envious of the box that he was holding.

The prize presentation went on after Lin Huang left the stage. As he returned to the crowd, he held the box with one hand while another started checking his Emperor's Heart Ring. Lin Xin had called many times. Lin Huang thought it was strange as she would not disturb him whenever he was out. She would usually call once and if nobody picked up, she would wait for him to call instead of calling him again and again.

As the prize presentation was still going on, Lin Huang could not call her back, so he started checking his messages. His heart skipped a beat when he saw that many messages were sent by Lin Xin. He then started to read the messages. The first message shocked him.

"Brother, Xiao Xuan is missing…"

Chapter 354: The Truth, Revealed

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Lin Xuan is missing!"

Lin Huang looked at the timestamp of the message sent. It was the day he had entered the dimensional ruins around five o' clock when Lin Huang had left with Mr. Fu and Lin Xin had left to school. Lin Xin found out about the missing Lin Xuan after she came back and attempted to contact him. Lin Huang then looked at the other messages that Lin Xin had sent. Some of them were asking him to reply soon while the others were attached with photos of their home.

There was one with a goodbye message that Lin Xuan had left on the writing board with his Emperor's Heart Ring aside. Lin Huang could tell that the handwriting belonged to Lin Xuan as he had seen his handwriting many times. The note wrote about his reason for leaving. Lin Xuan had regained part of his memories and he wanted to leave to look for more. Besides stating the reason for leaving, he briefed about the gunfighting technique. For Lin Huang to learn the skill by himself, Lin Xuan had recorded clips of the intermediate and advanced skills that Lin Huang had yet to master from the Gun Master game in the ring. Lin Huang could project the clips if he wanted to.

He ended the note with a few words of appreciation. He thanked Lin Huang and Lin Xin for taking care of him. Since he had regained his memory, there was no reason for him to stay anymore. He also asked them not to look for him.

After reading the note, Lin Huang thought it was possible that Lin Xuan had left on his own. The handwriting did not seem to be rushed, so it did not look like he was forced to write the note. The message was clear and it was obvious that he had given some thought before writing the note. Although Lin Xuan had learned all the words, it was impossible for him to come out with such mature content. The only reason for that was that he had really regained his memory. The note even included the gunfighting technique that Lin Xuan had been teaching him. Only him, Lin Xin, and Lin Xuan knew about this, no other outsider did. It was impossible that the note had not been written by Lin Xuan.

The Emperor's Heart Ring was the key showing that he left voluntarily as besides the person who wore the ring, nobody could take it off unless the finger was chopped off and the person was dead. From the photos, there were no signs of fighting or struggling in the house. With Lin Xuan's ability, he could definitely fight a person who was gold-level rank-3 and even a complete gold-level. He might not die even if he was to fight a white flame-level.

With all the signs as evidence, it was possible that Lin Xuan had left by himself. Perhaps, he had really regained his memory and had decided to leave. Lin Huang calmed down as he made those speculations. However, he did not remove the possibility that Lin Xuan was taken away. There were too many people with special abilities in the world. If Lin Xuan encountered a person who knew Puppetry Skill, the person could create a scene that looked like Lin Xuan had left home on his own accord.

As the prize presentation was still going on stage, Lin Huang got out of the crowd and called Lin Xin by the side of the plaza. Considering the prize presentation, Lin Huang did not video call her but a voice called instead. As soon as the call was connected, it was picked up immediately.

"Brother!"

"I've just left the dimensional ruins and I saw your messages." Just when Lin Huang spoke, he heard crying coming from the other side of the phone.

"Xiao Xuan…"

"I know, I'll get back as soon as I can today," Lin Huang comforted her. He only hung up the call after being able to lift up her mood slightly.

Lin Huang called Mr. Fu after hanging up with Lin Xin. The phone rang twice and Mr. Fu picked up with a lazy drawl, "You're so quick to come back. Has it been 19 days today?"

"There was a monster horde, so the training ended early," Lin Huang explained.

"Oh, is that so?" Mr. Fu did not seem to care about the results of the training and figured out the reason why Lin Huang called.

"You want to go home?"

"Yes, something happened at home," Lin Huang said without going any further.

"I'll come get you. Let's go home together." Mr. Fu hung up the phone without waiting for Lin Huang to say anything.

Soon, a green dimensional relic appeared and Mr. Fu walked out of it. His appearance had attracted the attention of Yi Donglai and the rest.

"Don't bother me, go do your stuff," Mr. Fu said as he appeared next to Lin Huang.

"You look serious. What happened?" Mr. Fu asked.

"Xiao Xuan is missing. I need to get back soon."

"Sure, let's go now." Mr. Fu did not ask further as he summoned his dimensional relic again and brought Lin Huang with him.

"Is he really Mr. Fu's apprentice?!" Luo Li was shocked to see the both of them leaving together.

A dimensional relic opened at the living room of Lin Huang's home. Lin Huang and Mr. Fu got out of the relic.

"Xin Er!" Lin Huang shouted upstairs. It was the weekend, so Lin Xin should be at home.

"Brother!" Hearing Lin Huang's voice, Lin Xin knew that he was home, so she rushed downstairs quickly.

Lin Huang was relieved to see Lin Xin alright.

"Have you had lunch?"

"Yes, I have." Lin Xin nodded and looked at Mr. Fu behind Lin Huang.

"Let's talk about the thing." Lin Xin looked away from Mr. Fu.

"Sure, how did you find out that Xiao Xuan was missing the other day?" Lin Huang got straight to the point.

"I saw something on the coffee table when I got back from school so I took a look and realized that it was a note from Xiao Xuan," Lin Xuan said while handing the writing board to Lin Huang from her storage space.

Lin Huang took the writing board. Although he had read the note from the photo, he still wanted to look again to confirm that it was Lin Xuan's handwriting.

"What else? Is there any sign of fighting in the house? Is there anything odd in Xiao Xuan's room?" Lin Huang asked.

"There's no sign of struggling and everything looks normal at home. But I think Xiao Xuan changed his clothes before leaving. His wardrobe was opened and a gray robe is missing from his wardrobe. The clothes that he was wearing the other day are now hanging in the wardrobe."

"He even had the time to change…" Lin Huang was sure that Lin Xuan had left on his own.

Lin Huang then shared his speculation.

"Looking at all the signs, it's very likely that Lin Xuan left by himself but it's also possible that he's been taken away."

"To be honest, besides the three auras of your family and mine, there's nobody else who came to this house within this month. There's no remaining aura of any Puppetry Skill or parasites. I think the kid left by himself," Mr. Fu voiced his opinion.

"If he was taken away, there's only one possibility. The person must be more powerful than I am. He managed to cover his aura so that I can't detect it. However, I think a person of such a level wouldn't want that kid."

What Mr. Fu said cut off the possibility of Lin Xuan being taken away.

"There should be transportation surveillance around your house. Get someone to show you the video. You should be able to see what happened that day," Mr. Fu reminded.

Lin Huang recalled that he could indeed do that, so he contacted the local surveillance department immediately. With his Gold Hunter identity, he was granted access and the video was sent to him within minutes.

Lin Huang played the video immediately. It started from the time when Lin Xin had gone to school 19 days ago until she finished school. He was sure that Lin Xuan was missing during that period of time. He fast-forwarded the video to noon and played it at regular speed when he saw Lin Xuan open the door. However, Lin Xuan disappeared as soon as he exited the door.

"What happened?" Lin Huang was puzzled.

"You'll be able to see it better if you play it 300 times slower," Mr. Fu reminded.

Lin Huang slowed down the video immediately and replayed it. This time, he saw Lin Xuan fly towards the sky after he got out…

"He really left by himself…" Lin Xin finally believed what Mr. Fu and Lin Huang said when she saw that.

"Don't be sad. You should be happy for Xiao Xuan that he regained his memory," Lin Huang comforted her.

"But why didn't he say goodbye before he left?" Lin Xin was upset.

"Maybe he thought it would be awkward to see us since he has regained his memory, so he chose to leave," Lin Huang said but he had no idea why Lin Xuan would do that.

"Since the truth is revealed, I shall make a move. Apprentice, rest and accompany this girl for a few days. I'll contact you again." Since everything was clear, Mr. Fu did not plan to stay and left with the dimensional relic.

Chapter 355: The Dracaena

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Two days had passed. As the weekends had ended, Lin Xin had gone to school as usual. Although she was still feeling down, she was much better than two days ago. After all, it was Lin Xuan's choice to leave instead of being forced. She felt much better after knowing that fact. Moreover, Lin Huang brought her shopping during the weekends which lifted her spirits.

Watching Lin Xin leave for school, Lin Huang was not used to being alone in the house now that Lin Xuan was gone. He would usually roast some meat for Lin Xuan early in the morning but he did not have to do that anymore. He took his time to finish his breakfast and sat down on the couch after cleaning the kitchen.

He put on Ye Xiu's Emperor's Heart Ring, which started vibrating not long after it was activated. Lin Huang turned on the contact page and saw that Liang Qian had called him twice when he was in the dimensional ruins. He recalled the time when he was in the Meteorite Desert, remembering when the comrades had died and the girl who was chased by the Saints. He then looked at the two messages that she sent and read them carefully.

The first one was sent on the second day when he had entered the dimensional ruins. It was an invitation to the funeral. The second message was sent on the sixth day he had entered the dimensional ruins and was a simple description of the funeral. She sounded calm but Lin Huang could feel her sorrow. He thought about it and decided to call her. After all, it was he who had promised to go to the funeral. He called after changing his facial appearance to Ye Xiu's identity. Soon, the phone was connected.

"Brother Ye?"

"I'm sorry, I just got out of a dimensional ruin two days ago and just saw your messages," Lin Huang apologized.

"Dimensional Ruins? No wonder I couldn't get through your phone the two times that I called." Liang Qian smiled lightly, not blaming Lin Huang for standing her up.

"It was the second day I entered the dimensional ruins when you sent the first message." Lin Huang smiled back awkwardly.

"Was the funeral successful?"

"Quite. Come to Sakura City when you have the time. I'll bring you to see them."

"Sure, I'll definitely visit you when I have the opportunity." Lin Huang nodded.

The both of them then talked about reforming Dian Feng before Lin Huang hung up the phone. It had been half a month since the funeral had passed and Liang Qian seemed much better now. Lin Huang sure hoped that she would get over this very soon. Lin Huang then recalled he had yet to redeem his training points.

"How do I do that?" Lin Huang thought to himself as he changed back to his own look and called Yi Yeyu in confusion.

"Morning." Yi Yeyu was having breakfast when the video call was connected.

"Why did you leave so early the other day?" Yi Yeyu asked after sipping some milk and swallowing the food in her mouth.

"I had something urgent at home."

"Is it settled now?" Yi Yeyu wiped her mouth with a serviette.

"It can be considered done, I guess." Lin Huang shrugged.

"That's great. Are you calling to ask about the dracaena?"

"Er… I'm actually calling to ask how to redeem my points… Do I go to the Union Government office or how should I go it?" Lin Huang did not know exactly how the Union Government worked.

"Alright then…" Yi Yeyu was embarrassed that she got it wrong but soon she regained her composure again.

"It's simple. Just log on to the Union Government official website and key in the serial number of your Emperor's Heart Ring. You'll receive a password, then just key in the password to log onto the website. As soon as you have done that, go into the personal hub at the back to find a restricted entrance. It's exclusively for all the participants of the training. There's an option for the military warehouse. Click on it to see the items that you can redeem. You'll be able to see your training points on top of the military warehouse. If you have redeemed any items, your points will be deducted straightaway. After you're done, click 'send' at the bottom and key in your address."

Yi Yeyu was detailed in her explanation.

"I understand now!" Lin Huang was following the steps as Yi Yeyu walked him through it.

"I have checked on the dracaena that you wanted, but there's no more stock in the military warehouse. I heard there's a pharmacist who redeemed all of them two months back," she added.

"Not even one?" Lin Huang was speechless.

"Not even one." Yi Yeyu shook her head.

"If you really want it that badly, I could contact a few traders for you but I don't know how much you want. If the quantity is big enough, I might be able to get some."

"Thanks! Check for me then, I only need nine." Lin Huang knew there was no other way to get dracaena besides this.

Although Yi Yeyu was curious about what Lin Huang was going to do with the nine dracaenas, she did not ask any further.

"Oh yes, I need to remind you about something. The military warehouse is open to outsiders for only a week. If you need to redeem anything, you need to do that within these few days or else, your points will expire. Also, no matter whether an outsider or a member of the Three Elite Divisions, the items that are redeemed from the Union Government military warehouse are not allowed to be sold. You can only use them yourself. Each item has a special serial number that can't be seen by the naked eye. If anybody sells them, the Union Government will know who did it. If any of the items cause any trouble, the Union Government won't let go of the seller easily," Yi Yeyu reminded again.

"I understand." Lin Huang did not know that the items from the military warehouse could only be used by them themselves. However, he thought about it and realized that some weapons, especially machinery, were difficult to be sourced outside. The condition was meant to address those who needed money to resell the weapons at a higher price to criminals.

After hanging up the phone, Lin Huang started looking at the items in the military warehouse. After some browsing, he noticed that there was really zero stock of dracaena. He then looked at other items instead.

"A grade-5 sword relic Dragon Slayer costs 33,000 points, while a grade-5 gun relic Sky Phoenix costs 45,000 points…"

Lin Huang redeemed a few relics and some other items, spending all of his points. After closing the page, Lin Huang was concerned about the dracaena.

"One dracaena will cost at least 30,000 Life Crystals or even higher, and nine of them will be at least 300,000 Life Crystals. Where do I get such a massive amount of money?"

Chapter 356: Fundraising

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lin Huang remembered clearly that he owed Yang Ling 16,000 Life Crystals when Yang Ling had applied for his residential permission in Winter City. Now that he needed more than 300,000 Life Crystals for the dracaena, he was worried about how he would get the money.

"Oh right, I almost forgot that I have some good stuff from the Molten Dragon earlier." Lin Huang patted his head in an act of chastising himself as he recalled that. He took out the stuff from his storage space ring to see what was worth selling.

Most of them were molten crystals that piled up to the size of a small hill. The molten crystal was a crystal mineral with fire attributes that was usually formed in spiritual lava. The more spiritual lava there was, the more of such crystals would be formed. Of course, there were different grades of the molten crystals. Those that were formed for more than 100 years would be beginner grade, ones that have been formed for more than 1,000 years would be considered intermediate grade and those that have been formed more than 10,000 years ago would be expert grade. There were also rare ones that were the mineral of the molten crystal which was the ultimate grade.

There was a massive amount of fire energy in the crystals. Humans with fire attributes could absorb the energy to convert it into Life Power. However, the main function of the crystals was not that. Instead, it was to provide a variety of energy to large-scale equipment similar to petroleum and coal on Earth. Most of the demonic crystal spaceships and trains got their power force from the molten crystals. In reality, most demonic crystal equipment used the molten crystals as their energy source. Compared to other crystals, the force of the molten crystal was more powerful with a simpler conversion process.

However, the usage of the molten crystals was less common than petroleum and coal on Earth as the number of such crystals was much lesser. As it was rare, not everybody could afford it. The beginner grade was affordable as one year worth of Life Crystal pieces could be exchanged for one kilogram of molten crystals while the same amount of intermediate grade molten crystals would require 10 years worth of Life Crystal pieces. For the expert grade molten crystals, one kilogram would cost 1,000 complete Life Crystals while the ultimate grade would cost ten times more.

The quality of molten crystal could be seen from the color. Those with dark red spots would be beginner grade while those that were a shade of wine-red without any spots would be intermediate grade. Those that were bloody red would be expert grade. It was said that all expert grade molten crystals were bloody red but Lin Huang had no idea how to tell them apart. However, based on the color, all the molten crystals in the storage space ring should be at least an expert grade but Lin Huang was not sure if anyone them were ultimate grade.

"This pile of molten crystal should be at least 70 to 80 tons. If there are all expert grade, they would be the equivalent to at least 70,000 to 80,000 Life Crystals. While the ultimate grade would be the mineral of the molten crystal, I heard it's rare, so I don't think there's any here." Lin Huang struck out the possibility of the existence of ultimate grade crystals from the pile that he had.

"If I manage to get 70,000 to 80,000 Life Crystals from here, I'll need another 200,000 more…"

He then looked at the relics in the storage space. There were more than 100 weapons and another 100 pieces of armor, all in good condition. It was obvious that the Molten Dragon treated them as collectibles. However, those were grade-1 and grade-2 relics. There were hardly any grade-3 relics. Lin Huang calculated all of them. He could get more than 100,000 Life Crystals if he sold all of them as second-hand items. If that happened, he would have 200,000 with him.

"I'll need at least 100,000 more…" Lin Huang then looked at the Emperor's Heart Rings in the storage space. There were thousands of them.

"It would be great if I could take out the items from these Emperor's Heart Rings."

"Master, don't you have a friend who makes Emperor's Heart Rings? He should be able to unlock them," Bloody, who was in his sleeve, heard his mumbling and suggested.

"Oh right, how could I forgot about Yang Ling?!" Whether Yang Ling could do it or not, Lin Huang decided to ask him anyway.

He changed his face to Ye Xiu again and called Yang Ling. The phone was trying to connect for almost one whole minute before Yang Ling finally picked up. In the video, the skinny Yang Ling was wearing gray underwear with serious panda eyes. He looked exhausted.

"I just went to bed, can't you let me sleep?"

"Nobody asked you to live like this. It's eight in the morning now. Why are you still sleeping?!" Lin Huang wanted to say, "Wake up and get high with me..." but that might reveal his real identity. After all, he did not know much about the travelers in this world. He was not sure if they were friendly. Since he was still young, he might bring trouble to himself for getting in touch with other travelers out of nowhere.

"What's up? Tell me quickly, I'm very sleepy." Yang Ling had to entertain Lin Huang as he was an old customer, so he could not afford to be rude.

"Could you unlock Emperor's Heart Rings that don't have an owner?" Lin Huang did not want to beat around the bush so he asked directly.

"You meant a dead person's Emperor's Heart Ring? I can unlock them but there must be at least 100 rings," Yang Ling yawned.

"Of course there's an exception where the ring owner is immortal-level or higher, then I can take the case."

"How do you charge?" Lin Huang asked immediately.

"You will get 70% while I'll get 30% of the items in the ring without any extra charges. If there's nothing that I want in the ring, you can pay me with Life Crystals." It was clear that Yang Ling had done that before.

"30%? Can it be less?" Lin Huang thought that 30% was too much.

"30% isn't too much. Without me, you get nothing out of the ring." Yang Ling looked obnoxiously at him.

"Moreover, I charge the same to everyone. Not only Division7, those who are in Division1 to Division3 pay the same rate."

"Alright then. How do you do it? Should I go to you?" Lin Huang agreed.

"Don't trouble yourself. Just send me the serial number will do," Yang Ling said.

"How many do you have? I don't accept less than 100 as it'll be too much trouble," Yang Ling added.

"More than 1,000, I guess. I don't have the exact number."

"So many of them! Did you dig their graves?" Yang Ling teased.

"What?! I didn't dig any graves, I just robbed a monster," Lin Huang said.

"Oh right, send me the serial numbers and don't send me photos just because it's more convenient for you," Yang Ling warned.

"What difference does it make?" Lin Huang planned to arrange the rings and take a picture as that would be definitely faster than sending the serial numbers one by one.

"Of course there is. I'll have to key in the serial numbers myself if you send a photo. That's too much trouble and a waste of my time. I can copy the serial numbers directly if you send it to me by text. That'll save a lot of my time." Yang Ling was honest.

"You're such a lazy bum." Lin Huang was speechless.

"Thank you dear, for your compliment. I'm going to bed now. Bye!" Yang Ling hung up straight away.

Chapter 357: Unlocking The Emperor's Heart Ring

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After having breakfast and cleaning the kitchen early in the morning, Lin Huang returned to his room on the second floor. There was an opened golden box next to his bed with a bright red monster egg nestled in it. Lin Huang held the monster egg and started to insert his Life Power into it. Since the first day of bringing the monster egg back, Lin Huang had to do this once every day. It was now the fifth day.

On the first day, this monster egg could only absorb one Life Wheel of Life Power and did not need any more than that. On the second and third day, its need started to increase incessantly. It needed two Life Wheels of Life Power and three Life Wheels of Life Power on the second and third day respectively…

It was now the fifth day. Lin Huang inserted four Life Wheels of Life Power into the monster egg and found out that the monster egg's capacity for Life Power was still vacant, so he proceeded to insert more. Until the fifth Life Wheel in his body was empty, the monster egg rejected any more Life Power.

Lin Huang knew that the more Life Power the monster egg absorbed, the better its innate foundation was. It mirrored the same principle of having sufficient nutrient to positively affect the fetus's congenital development during a woman's pregnancy. There was only one Life Wheel in the body of a normal person. The Life Power inserted every day was limited and was not likely to satisfy the monster egg in general. However, that did not apply to Lin Huang as he had 10 Life Wheels in his body. Even if his Life Wheels were insufficient for the monster egg, he had three more Life Power Refill Cards. There were five Life Wheels on the card previously but since he had used the five Life Power Storage Card, the Life Wheels on the Life Power Refill Card had increased to 10 Life Wheels now.

The hatching of the monster egg would take one Life Power insertion for an egg that was not mutated, while those with single mutation would need two to three times. Meanwhile, those with double mutation would need four to six times while triple mutated ones would need eight to ten times. The one which Lin Huang was holding was a triple mutated monster egg with phoenix blood, so it needed eight to ten days to complete the hatching. It had only been five days and he was not in a rush at all.

As soon as the monster egg was saturated with Life Power, Lin Huang put it down and walked towards the balcony. He then summoned the Gun Master game pod. After entering the game pod and activating the game, Lin Huang built a personal training space directly and opened the virtual projection function while he imported the tutorials that Lin Xuan had recorded. Lin Xuan's virtual projection appeared in front of Lin Huang very quickly. The projection looked exactly the same as Lin Xuan himself. The projected figure took out a SilverPhoenix16 swiftly and demonstrated the gunfighting technique.

Although it was a recorded video and Lin Xuan knew that the speed of the video was adjustable, he went through it three times slowly. The first time was at the normal speed, the second time was to scrutinize the breakdown of the actions while the third was to reenact the parts which were harder to understand individually. After watching the whole tutorial set, Lin Huang started the practice the gunfighting technique…

It was the second set of intermediate gunfighting technique that he had learned from Lin Xuan. He only took two days to master the first two gunfighting techniques. The intermediate level gunfighting techniques were not exactly useful to him but he wanted to build a concrete foundation. That was why he decided to learn the intermediate level ones that he had yet to master.

Besides practicing gunfighting technique for the past two days, Lin Huang had been waiting for news. One of the anticipated news was about the unlocking from Yang Ling while another was about the dracaena from Yi Yeyu. He spent more than two hours to key in more than 1,300 serial numbers to Yang Ling two days ago. It had been two days but there was still no news from Yang Ling. There seemed to be no news from Yi Yeyu about the dracaena as well. Luckily, Lin Huang had found something to pass his time with, so he did not panic. The game pod was connected to the communication function of his Emperor's Heart Ring, so he was not afraid that he might miss their calls while he was training the gunfighting technique.

His phone rang when it was almost noon. It was Yang Ling who called.

"Finally, you call." Lin Huang shut down the game and walked out of the game pod while changing his appearance to Ye Xiu before picking up Yang Ling's video call. Yang Ling looked much more energized than he did two days ago.

"I have actually completed it at 3 a.m. two days ago but I guess you must have been sleeping, so I didn't contact you. I slept all the way till 7 p.m. and was busy with my ladies, then I forgot about you. I was too tired last night, so I slept early. I just woke up and contacted you immediately," Yang Ling smiled as he explained.

"You must be really busy ." Lin Huang shook his head.

"Do you need me to recommend some ladies to you? Tell you what you like, I'll definitely satisfy your needs," Yang Ling smirked as he talked about women.

"So, is pimping your part-time job now?" Lin Huang raised an eyebrow.

"Hehe… Just tell me, as your bro, I'll definitely get you a good one." Yang Ling grinned.

"No, thank you," Lin Huang declined straightaway.

"What's wrong? You're not young anymore. Do you plan to be a monk?" Yang Ling observed Lin Huang who was in Ye Xiu's body, which was his 25-year-old look on Earth. He looked matured.

"What's wrong with being a monk? It's better than you dying from having too much sex," Lin Huang shot back.

"Alright, let's talk business," Yang Ling giggled and changed the topic.

"You've sent me a total of 1,359 serial numbers. I've unlocked all of them and parked them under your name."

"Parked them under my name? Won't the Union Government find out about this?" Lin Huang frowned, hoping thatYang Ling was messing with him. If the Union Government found out about this, his Emperor's Heart Ring would definitely be sealed and Ye Xiu's identity might be put under investigation as well.

"Don't worry, there won't be any issue within three days but you'll have to transfer all the items within 72 hours. After that, all the information on the Emperor's Heart Rings will be returned back to the original owners, so nobody will find out about it. About the rings, find a place to destroy them." Yang Ling was an expert in this.

"So, how do I give you the 30%?" Lin Huang was relieved.

"I have taken a look and there's nothing worthy in there. You can calculate the value and convert them into Life Crystals, then transfer them to me." Yang Ling did not seem to bother too much about it.

"Sure." Lin Huang nodded.

After hanging up the phone, Lin Huang took out one of the Emperor's Heart Rings and tested it on his finger. It was activated.

"It's really been unlocked!" Lin Huang was over the moon. He opened his storage space immediately and started to transfer the items…

Chapter 358: Mystery

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

At first, Lin Huang was categorizing all items in the Emperor's Heart Rings and getting rid of the useless items so that his storage space would not be completely occupied. However, after a few hours, he only managed to clear more than 10 Emperor's Heart Rings. He looked at the time and figured that if he was to go on like that, he would not be able to clear all of them within three days.

Considering that he was not being very efficient, he decided to give up on categorizing for the time being. He wanted to clear all the items in his storage space ring before continuing. That made his progress much faster but he still took one and a half days to do it. He was done at past 10 p.m. on the next day. There were many items in the 1,359 Emperor's Heart Rings which occupied two of Lin Huang's Emperor's Heart Rings as well as a third of the one that Leng Yuexin had given him.

After putting all the Emperor's Heart Rings in the storage space ring, Lin Huang looked at the time and went to shower. Just when he got out of the shower, his Emperor's Heart Ring started to buzz. He looked at it and saw that it was Yi Yeyu, so he put on his pajamas immediately before picking up the video call.

"What took you so long to pick up my call. Are you doing something shady?" Yi Yeyu said and when she noticed that his hair was wet, she knew why he had taken so long.

"What shady business? I just got out of the shower, so I wasn't ready to pick up your call just yet," Lin Huang said while wiping his hair with a towel.

"Do you have news for me?"

"I have good news and bad news. Which one would you like to hear first?" Yi Yeyu smiled playfully.

"I only accept good news, so you don't have to tell me the bad news." As he wiped his hair, he could tell from Yi Yeyu's expression that she had news about the dracaena.

"Then, I shall tell you the bad news first." Yi Yeyu grinned.

Lin Huang shrugged his shoulders as he could not stop her behavior.

"The bad news is that all of the dracaenas in the traders' circle were sold out a month ago. I heard from the traders that they have zero stock of dracaena." That was really bad news for Lin Huang.

"Then, what's the good news?" Lin Huang figured she probably had some other way to get the dracaena.

"I heard they are putting up dracaena at the Mystery Auction." Yi Yeyu did not want to beat around the bush anymore.

"Mystery Auction?" Lin Huang was unfamiliar with the name.

"The Mystery Auction is the exclusive auction in Division7 for the noblemen where they only serve the royal families. It's an annual event in 43 days' time. All the items at the auction are high-end, so there won't be any items lower than a grade-3 relic." Yi Yeyu looked strangely at him when she was explaining the auction.

"Auction for the royal families? Can you bring me there?" Lin Huang frowned and looked at her.

"I really can't bring you to the auction. My great-grandfather came up with a rule that none of our family members are allowed to join the auction." Yi Yeyu smiled awkwardly.

"Why?" Lin Huang was puzzled.

"You should know there are two families in the Division7 military department, don't you?" Yi Yeyu asked.

"What does this auction have to do with the Dongfang family?" Of course, Lin Huang knew that besides the Yi family, there was also the Dongfang family.

Yi Donglai left Division3 and went to Division7 that had just opened. He had volunteered to go there for some reason and become the first person in the Division7 military team. However, just when he was succeeding, a family from Division2 saw some advantages of being in Division7, so they trained the Dongfang family and placed them into Division7 military team too. Since then, the Dongfang family rose up and soon, they became the second biggest military family in Division7.

Due to the connection in Division2, the Dongfang family was interfering with Division7's military department, which the Yi family was unhappy about, especially Yi Donglai.

Of course, that was not the main reason for the conflict between the two families.

"The Mystery Auction wasn't built by the Dongfang family but by somebody behind the family. They have some shady business going on while the Dongfang family have been providing shady materials to the auction. My great-grandfather insisted on isolating them as the Dongfang family is shady."

"Do you mean drugs?" That was the first thing Lin Huang thought of.

"Shadier than that." Yi Yeyu shook her head.

"Human trafficking?!" Lin Huang got it immediately.

Yi Yeyu nodded in silence and spoke again after a while, "The Dongfang family has been capturing abandoned and missing kids secretly in Division7. Some of them will be sent to the auction. Of course, they won't be auctioning them off in public but underground instead. However, they will auction off a variety of sinners in public."

The so-called sinners were the Descendants of the Sin. The first generation mostly came from the mating of human-form monsters and women. Many of them were killed by the Union Government but some of them had lived. That was how the bloodline remained.

Speaking of the sinners, Lin Huang thought of Xiao Mo whom he had met at the Purple Crow training camp. Although the Union Government was strict about the killing of sinners, stereotyping was inevitable. That were not many organizations that would accept the sinners. Even the Hunter Association and Adventurer Paradise that were open-minded did not accept sinners, let alone other organizations. That was the reason why Xiao Mo had decided to join the Purple Crow as he did not have any other option.

"Trafficking sinner slaves...isn't that prohibited by the Union Government? Doesn't anyone care?!" Lin Huang frowned as he asked.

"The Union Government is busy with the battles out there. How would they have the time for this? Moreover, the people who are in this business must have some powerful background in the core zones. The Union Government has to give some face to some of the families in the core zones, so of course, they'll cover an eye when it comes to things like this. Even if anyone reported this, they'll just come up with some scapegoats. Those who are in the business will hide for 10 days to half a month and proceed with the business when the matter has blown over," Yi Yeyu explained.

"These people are evil!" Lin Huang thought of Wei Shan that he had killed earlier. There were too many bastards like him in this world.

"Let's not talk about this anymore since I can't bring you to the auction anyway," Yi Yeyu said.

"I remember that you're close to the Leng family, so you can talk to them. It's just a matter of bringing a person to the auction. It should be a piece a cake for them," Yi Yeyu added.

"Sure, thanks! I'll talk to the Leng family. I shall treat you to a meal the next time!"

Lin Huang had forgotten how many meals he had owed the people who had helped him.

"Bring more Life Crystals! If the demand for dracaena is high, the price should be high too." Yi Yeyu reminded him before hanging up the phone. It was almost 11 p.m. when the call ended. Lin Huang read the news in frustration until 1 a.m. and went to bed.

Chapter 359: Leng Yuexin Levels Up To Crimson Flame-level

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

It was past eight in the morning when the Silvertongue Bird visited as Lin Huang was cleaning the kitchen after dinner.

"Delivery! Please get your parcel!"

Lin Huang washed his hands and wiped them dry before getting the door. Seeing that the door was opened, the Silvertongue Bird looked up at Lin Huang.

"Good morning, your delivery is here. Please sign!"

Lin Huang grabbed a bunch of candies and glanced at the item list and the boxes that the bird was taking out before scanning his Emperor's Heart Ring. The delivery system in Winter City, a B-grade foothold, was much more advanced compared to the rest as one did not have to sign using their hand. Instead, they could just scan their Emperor's Heart Ring.

"Thanks!" The Silvertongue Bird flew away quickly. Lin Huang picked up the boxes and put them inside his storage space ring and lay them out again when he returned to the living room. The boxes were the items that he had redeemed from the Union Government's military warehouse using his training points. He could not wait to open them all.

"A grade-5 sword relic Demon Slayer, a grade-5 gun relic Sky Phoenix, a grade-5 defense relic Niello Armor…"

He had spent more than 130,000 points to redeem a couple of customary equipment from the elite troop. Although they were just equipment, they were all top-notch ones which were nothing less than most custom-made equipment. The examiner Zang Bing was a gold flame-level human who wore a customized Niello Armor. Without any special needs, Lin Huang could wear the armor all the way until he reached gold flame-level.

After redeeming three grade-5 relics, he was left with less than 10,000 points so he redeemed some explosive equipment and the rest were used for Life Crystals until he spent all of his points. It was 8:30 a.m. when he was done going through the items. He felt frustrated as he recalled the conversation with Yi Yeyu last night as he did not want to get in touch with the Mystery Organization but that was the only way to get the dracaena. He then convinced himself to call Leng Yuexin.

She picked up the video call a while later. She still looked as cold as ever with her short, black hair just like the first time they met. She did not seem to change the slightest bit since half a year ago.

"Morning, have you had your breakfast?" Lin Huang did not know how to ask for the favor upfront, so he started neutrally. Although they were friends, compared to Yi Yeyu, Leng Yuexin always kept her distance.

"Yes, I have." Leng Yuexin nodded and smiled after a while.

"You seem busy for the last six months," Leng Yuexin said.

"Yes, I've been busy working on my combat strength." Lin Huang smiled back and nodded awkwardly.

"I heard about you being in the Demon Slayer Legion training two days ago. You got first place?" Leng Yuexin asked.

"Yes, I did but it's nothing. All I got was a pet monster egg, but it hasn't hatched until now." Lin Huang did not expect her to know about this.

"Your speed of leveling up is fast. While it's a good kind of busy, don't push yourself too hard. Stabilize your combat strength before getting to holy fire-level." Leng Yuexin did not sound like she was talking to Lin Huang as a senior but more like dishing out advice from a friend.

"Yes, I understand. I won't be leveling up to holy fire-level in a short period of time." He had been occupied recently and did not have the time to think about leveling up at all.

"Do you need anything from me?" Leng Yuexin knew that he did not call just to chat.

"I would like to get into the Mystery Auction," Lin Huang finally revealed his purpose of calling, "There's something that I need and only they have it."

"Mystery…" Leng Yuexin frowned. She knew that Lin Huang came to her as only royal families of certain levels could get into the auction. Even regular royal families could not even get into it, let alone Lin Huang who was just an ordinary person.

"Is it too much trouble?" Lin Huang noticed that she looked troubled.

"It's not that. Mystery does filthy business. I've been there once with a friend and we saw something unpleasant, so it was the last time we visited the auction," Leng Yuexin explained.

"Then, it's alright since I'm not in a hurry. I don't really want to get in touch with the people in Mystery." Lin Huang did not want to force her to do anything that she was unwilling to. He wanted to unlock all of his monsters before leveling up to holy fire-level but he could also do it after he had leveled up. Moreover, besides dracaena, he needed to unlock the Ruthless Sword Master and the Viridescent Thunderhawk. Plus, Bloody had yet to achieve its full skills. It was unnecessary for him to focus on Charcoal for now.

"It's alright, I can bring you there," Leng Yuexin agreed anyway.

"I haven't been going out ever since I leveled up to crimson flame-level a few months ago. It's good to get some fresh air."

"You don't have to be at the auction for fresh air. I could go somewhere else with you since I'm quite free," Lin Huang suggested.

"Let's just go to the auction. Sometimes, we have to do things that we don't like. Besides, they have many things over there. Perhaps, they have the stuff that I'm looking for," Leng Yuexin insisted.

"Alright then…" Lin Huang knew she said that with the intention to just bring him around.

"Thanks, I'll treat you to a meal when we meet… No, I'm troubling you this time, so I'll handle all the fees!" Lin Huang felt generous.

"It's okay, you can treat me a meal as long as you bring me to somewhere with good food. I'm very bad at that. I see many people giving fake reviews on the Heart Network. I went to some outlets that have high scores but they were so bad," Leng Yuexin complained.

"It's not accurate to trust the scores. You have to look at the reviews but some of them are definitely fake," Lin Huang teased.

"If it's good, then it's good. If it's bad, then it's bad. What's the point of writing fake reviews?" Leng Yuexin shook her head.

"I'll handle that. I'm sure you will be satisfied." Lin Huang realized that his tone sounded like Yang Ling's especially the last sentence, so he diverted the topic immediately.

"There are still 42 days to the auction, so when do we meet?"

"I have pinned the location there on my dimensional relic. I can bring both of us there. I'll pick you up three days before the auction starts. Just send me your address. Let me book you a hotel room since you're not familiar with the place. You can pay me back when the auction is over." Leng Yuexin knew Lin Huang would not let her pay for the hotel room, so she suggested it herself.

"Sure, it's a deal." Lin Huang nodded.

"Oh yeah, I can lend you Life Crystals if you don't have enough for the items that you want," Leng Yuexin initiated.

"I should have enough. We'll talk about it if I really need more by then." Lin Huang thought that she was such a sweet lady.

"See you then."

"Yes, see you."

After hanging up the phone, Lin Huang started clearing the items that he had transferred from the other Emperor's Heart Rings. He was not sure if he could accumulate enough Life Crystals for the dracaena.

Chapter 360: Grace

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lin Huang spent the entire morning clearing most of the stuff that he did not need and placed all of them in one of the Emperor's Heart Rings of the deceased. After lunch, he started categorizing the items which he was working on, starting with the Life Crystals first. There were at least dozens of Life Crystals in each ring and some of them even had thousands of Life Crystals. He did not calculate the exact figure but there were a total of at least 200,000 to 300,000 of them.

Most of the rings contained a variety of weapons and relics. There were at least 4,000 to 5,000 gold-level weapons and armors. There were fewer relics but there were still at least 800 of them that were merely grade-1 and grade-2 relics. He would get at least a million Life Crystals if he sold all of the items. Besides, there were various elixirs that he was not sure about the expiry date, so he did not plan to keep them anyway.

The rest were some knick-knacks that seemed useless, so he got rid of them. He kept those with functions he was not sure of and decided to sell the rest of the items that he did not plan to use the weapons and relics. It was noon on the third day when he was finally done categorizing them.

It was a Saturday in the middle of May and Lin Xin would sit for her graduation exam in less than a month. After a week of adjustment, she had finally forgotten about Lin Xuan and focused on the exam. She even spent her weekends practising her battle and gunfighting technique in Gun Master.

Although she was not as talented as Lin Huang, her learning ability was amazing. She had mastered all 37 beginner level gunfighting techniques that Lin Xuan thought of as well as six techniques that did not require Life Power. She was almost invincible in the normal zone, so she decided to enter the hunter exclusive zone that was left behind by Lin Xuan. Although she was defeated more than she won, her abilities were improving fast. At the professional gun exam at school, she had achieved full scores for the past two months. She was also the top three in the battle assessment and culture studies, to the point she was labeled as the top student at school.

Seeing that she was busy on the second floor, Lin Huang summoned Bloody.

"Stay at home while I drop by the black market to handle some stuff."

Bloody nodded. Although it was not a monster that was good in fights, it was a complete gold-level double mutated monster with a high intelligence. Lin Huang would be more relieved to have it stay at home. After briefing Bloody, he changed his clothes and his features to Ye Xiu's. Riding on the Viridescent Thunderhawk, it took him less than ten minutes to arrive at the black market.

The Viridescent Thunderhawk landed on top of a six-storey building. Lin Huang recalled it and hopped into an alley. The Winter City black market was sprawling, occupying four streets. All of the stores were doing black market business. As the streets created a special pound (#) shape, many people, especially tourists would chance upon the streets by accident, so the area was developed into a mix of businesses. Although the profits one would gain from normal business would be better, many of the shop owners treated it as a hobby.

Most of the people in the streets were tourists and Lin Huang blended right in. As he browsed around the stores, he was looking out for his target. As he walked to the middle area, he saw an unique pavilion on the side of the street.

"Is that the Grace Pavilion?" He had finally found his target.

The Grace Pavilion was the biggest store in Winter City's black market with a solid word-of-mouth reputation. However, there was a rule where they would not entertain any business that was less than 100,000 Life Crystals.

Such a rule gave other stores the opportunity to survive. The owner of the Grace Pavilion knew very well that if he was to disrupt the business in the black market, he would definitely be boycotted. He knew that no matter how powerful he was, he could not monopolize the entire black market. That was why he came out with such a rule. Word-of-mouth was vital in the black market and that rule only increased its fame in the underworld. Not only did their business not slow down, it was even better than before.

Lin Huang walked towards the pavilion. It was selling jewellery on the outside with many visitors. Lin Huang then approached a female staff.

"Do you guys have campanula here?"

The lady staff looked at him and asked, "May I know how much you need, sir?"

"9.9 kilograms." Lin Huang smiled.

"We only have 8.8 kilograms," the lady staff hinted.

"Sure, I shall have 11 kilograms then," Lin Huang responded.

"Please follow me, sir." Since he managed to understand her hint, the staff brought him to an elegant room on the third floor.

"Thank you." Lin Huang nodded.

As the staff left, a young lady who was dressed in a mandarin-collared dress that brushed her knees entered the room a while later. Lin Huang's eyes lit up when he saw her, not because of her outer appearance, but because of the aura she gave off. She was very feminine and it was his first time seeing a lady like this.

"Hi sir, my name is Grace." The lady smiled sweetly.

"My name is Ye Xiu," Lin Huang stood up and greeted.

Judging by her name, the lady must be the owner of the store but he did not ask further.

"Please have a seat," Grace invited. She sat across Lin Huang and got herself a cup of tea. She took a small sip of the tea and looked at Lin Huang, seemingly not in a rush to talk business.

"Sir, you're new here. How did you come to know about the Grace Pavilion?"

"I found you guys on the network." Lin Huang did not think that lying was necessary.

"Do you know about our unspoken rule then?" Grace took another sip and put down the cup.

"I do, you don't accept business that's less than 100,000 Life Crystals." He finally understood why had she asked such a question. She was concerned that since Lin Huang was new, he might not know about the rule.

"Since you know our rule, what do you need from us or do you plan to sell us your things?" Grace's smile became friendlier.

"I have a bunch of gold-level equipment and relics to sell," Lin Huang finally voiced out his intention.

"How much do you have?" Grace's eyes lit up.

"I have around 5,000 gold-level equipment 1,000 relics as well as some other items. I'm planning to sell all of them."

"So many of them?" Grace was surprised.

"This place is too small to look at the items. Please follow me." Grace stood up and brought Lin Huang to the other room on the same floor. It was much more bigger than the previous one. It was empty like a warehouse with two men standing at the entrance like bodyguards.

"Sir, you can bring out the items now."

Lin Huang nodded and took out all the equipment which piled into a mountain. He then walked a few steps away and took out the relics which piled into a hill and then he put the rest of the elixir and items aside. Grace then waved to the two strong men.

"Come check the items."

The two men quickly calculated all the gold-level equipment. Grace took out a coffee table and a couple of chairs, inviting Lin Huang to sit while getting a lady staff to get them a pot of tea. Then then chatted while sipping tea.

As they chatted, Lin Huang asked about the location where information exchanged within the black market. The two men who looked like bodyguards were conducting the stock check rapidly, spending less than five hours to complete their task.

"There's a total of 5,381 gold-level equipment, among them are 3,067 weapons and 2,314 defensive items. There are 687 grade-1 relics, 411 grade-2 relics, 1,828 elixirs and 1,074 other items…"

Grace soon came up with a price.

"I've done the calculations. They're worth a total of 1,578,627 Life Crystals. Since it's your first time with us, I'll round it up to 1.58 million for you."

She then gave him a card that was half the size of a palm.

"Thank you so much." Lin Huang took the Life Crystal storage card without thinking twice. He was satisfied with the amount that he was offered. He had come up with an estimation before arriving and he thought it would be around one million Life Crystals with the exception of the price of the elixirs. It was great that he received 1.58 million.

"Please visit us again if there's more business in the future."

"Will do." Lin Huang grinned while swiping the card onto his account. He then returned her the card after seeing the 1.58 million Life Crystals credited into his account. Lin Huang left the Grace Pavilion as soon as his business was wrapped up and headed to the information exchange store that he heard about from Grace…