1091-1100

Chapter 1091: Chan Dou Wakes Up

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lin Huang summoned the Divine Sun Tree to look after the giant golden eggs which Bing Wang, the Witch, the Imp, the Malachian Fiend, and Thunder had turned into at the corner of the Emperor Palace. He then returned to the middle of the palace.

He took out Godheads and broken Godheads in a myriad of colors.

Among the 12 Godheads, Dynasty had collected seven of them while the remaining five came from the black market and the Wanbao Auction. Meanwhile, among the 181 broken Godheads, 83 of them came from Dynasty while the remaining 98 came from the Division 3 black market and the Wanbao Auction.

Lin Huang shoved all of them into his body without any hesitation. He then began a new round of refinement.

He remained extremely disciplined with himself whereby he would refine them 24 hours without stopping and rested every ten days.

On the 11th day, Bing Wang, the Imp, and the Malachian Fiend completed their elevation to mythical-level.

On the 12th day, Thunder and the Witch completed their elevation one after another.

As usual, Lin Huang did not check the five Monster Cards that had elevated. He fully focused on the refinement.

Throughout the month, Huang Tianfu and the other two implemented Dynasty's new regulations at full force. Up to a hundred newbies who were talented and full of potential were selected to begin cultivating the ancient methods.

The newly built mission zone and the Royal Market began running too.

There would be people announcing new missions each day whilst many members fought for those missions.

the Royal Market was even more crowded. Everyone traded the unused items in their storage for resources that they needed.

Many of the people refreshed the Royal Market's page a few times per day to see if there were any items that they needed.

Apart from that, the Dynasty leaderboard was out. The complete ranking was projected on the Emperor's Heart Ring's page for the Dynasty members who participated in the trial. The Dynasty internal forum also published the top 10 names and pinned the thread on top. Every Dynasty member, including the trainees, could see it.

The participants who ranked the top 3 received the relevant rewards, including Huang Tufu who was the Third Grand Duke.

Throughout the past month, Lin Huang had been in closed-door cultivation. He planned to refine the Virtual God rank-9 Godhead before coming out, but he was interrupted by a message that came all of a sudden.

It was Xiao Mo who had sent the single-line message: "Chan Dou is awake and he has elevated to imperial-level."

Lin Huang chose to come out of the closed-door cultivation as soon as he received the message. He walked out of the Emperor Palace and went to Xiao Mo's place immediately.

As he walked into the place after knocking on the door, he saw Chan Dou who was dressed in white pajamas, holding a cup of noodles. He seemed lost sitting on the couch in the living room.

There was a red chili in soup printed on the cover of the cup noodles. It was a commercial print with only a few noodles on it.

"Red Chili Noodles (Super Duper Spicy!!!)" was written on the picture with flames as an effect.

"He's been in a coma for over two months. I thought maybe he shouldn't eat solids just yet," Xiao Mo explained.

"So, you gave him cup noodles?" Lin Huang was speechless. It was extremely spicy noodles! Could a person who had just woken up from a coma two months even digest that?

"It tastes pretty good except it's a little spicy." Xiao Mo did not seem to find it odd.

"Go change. I'll bring you out for some proper breakfast." Lin Huang took the cup noodles away from Chan Dou who snapped back to his senses by then.

He lifted his head and looked puzzledly at Lin Huang. "Who are you?"

"Go change first. We'll talk later." Lin Huang patted Chan Dou's shoulder and turned around to look at Xiao Mo. He spoke after observing him, "Go and get changed as well. We'll go together."

"But my cup noodle…" Before Xiao Mo could finish speaking, a Viridian Wolf appeared in the room out of nowhere. It gobbled the cup noodles Xiao Mo had placed on the coffee table with its jowls wide open. It swallowed the plastic cup as well before it turned its head and gobbled Chan Dou's cup noodles up too.

The Viridian Wolf licked its lips, feeling unsatisfied although it was done eating. It then walked to Lin Huang, wagging its tail.

Lin Huang patted the Viridian Wolf's head and lifted his head to ask Xiao Mo, "What cup noodles?"

Xiao Mo was dumbstruck.

After the duo was done changing, Lin Huang recalled the Viridian Wolf and brought the two of them straight to the fat aunty's dumpling stall.

Apart from dumplings, the fat aunty made little wontons that tasted heavenly.

Lin Huang took a seat at an empty table. He ordered a bowl of wontons for Chan Dou and two servings of dumplings for Xiao Mo and himself.

Chan Dou, who had been looking around along the way, finally figured out where he was. "This is Emperor City in Division 1. We just came out of the Dynasty headquarters earlier. Who are both of you? Why am I here?"

"What do you remember before you got into a coma?" Lin Huang asked.

"I remember being captured in a room and someone torturing me with all sorts of ways every day. They even stuck a black monster that was like mud on my head, injecting disgusting toxins into my soul…"

"That was a Rotten Soul Beast." Lin Huang was relieved. "Theoretically, people who were attacked by the Rotten Soul Beast might experience a certain level of amnesia since their souls would've been affected by a massive amount of spiritual toxins, but your memory seems to be alright," he said and changed his appearance with his disguise skill. He transformed into Lin Xie, even changing his voice.

"I bet you know who I am now, don't you?"

Chan Dou blinked his eyes twice and looked lost. "Who… are you?"

Lin Huang was shocked. "I'm Lin Xie. Don't you remember me?"

"Lin Xie?" Chan Dou frowned. "This name sounds familiar, but I don't remember anything about you."

Lin Huang transformed back to how he looked like, feeling a little helpless. "It seems like I had a premature bout of excitement earlier. It seems like your memory has been affected after all."

"I'm sorry. I really don't remember who the both of you are," Chan Dou said guiltily.

"You don't have to apologize to him. You never knew him," Lin Huang corrected him.

Xiao Mo, who was sitting aside, nodded immediately. "Mr. Chan Dou, you didn't know me indeed, but I've heard of your name much earlier."

"Apart from being tortured, what else do you remember?" Lin Huang asked again.

"I remember going to the black market. I bumped into two imperial-level powerhouses who attacked me. Then, I was captured and tortured."

"How about before that? Before going to the black market?"

"My family urged me to elevate to imperial-level. They told me that the Union Government was providing ancient cultivation methods."

"Do you remember what happened before you went to the black market and your family urged you to elevate to imperial-level?" Lin Huang proceeded to ask. The part of the memory happened to be related to him because he was the one who had given Chan Dou the ancient cultivation methods and gotten him to pretend to have obtained them from the black market.

Chan Dou thought about it and shook his head eventually. "I don't remember."

"You should remember the people and the turn of events that happened at the Heaven Alliance."

"The Heaven Alliance?" Chan Dou looked perplexed again. "What's that?

Chapter 1092: The Amnesia of Chan Dou

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lin Huang's expression was rather grim after they were done with breakfast.

Chan Dou's amnesia was much more severe than he expected.

Not only had he forgotten who Lin Xie was, but he also did not even remember the Heaven Alliance. He could not even remember his teammates Tan Lang, Jian Fei, and Shen Tao who he knew for years.

That was not the most serious one. What was the most serious was that he had even forgotten everything about the Chan Clan.

Apart from knowing that his name was Chan Dou and that he was from the Chan Clan, he did not even remember what were his father and mother's names or how they looked like. He could not even remember where the Chan Clan estate was.

Lin Huang thought of using a Healing Card on him since his amnesia had been caused by a damaged soul.

He took out a Healing Card as soon as he returned to the Dynasty headquarters. A notification from Xiao Hei's system popped up after he aimed it at Chan Dou.

"The target is healthy. It can't be the healing target."

"What?" Lin Huang was puzzled after seeing the notification. He used another Healing Card, but the same notification popped up.

"Xiao Hei, is there a bug in the Healing Card?"

Xiao Hei fell into silence for a while and soon responded, "I've run a check. The card is fine."

"Then, why can't I use it on Chan Dou?"

"The card detects no signs of flesh or soul damage on the target."

"His soul isn't damaged?" Lin Huang was even more bewildered now. "Then, why is he suffering from amnesia?"

"I've no idea. The Healing Card shows that his flesh and soul are currently healthy."

"If Xiao Hei's detection is right, Chan Dou might've locked himself down, causing his amnesia." The stone tablet's voice came all of the sudden.

"Do you mean he might've locked his own memory?"

"Yes, the human brain has a self-preservation setting. To avoid certain information from being exposed, he might've locked this part of information deep in his memory during the torture," the stone tablet explained.

Lin Huang thought the explanation made sense. "What you said actually explains why he doesn't remember important people and things. He only remembers the insignificant things."

"If he's really locked his memory, what can I do to recover it?" Lin Huang asked again.

"There's nothing that you can do. You can only wait for him to release the memory by himself." The tablet had no other better idea to offer.

Lin Huang was concerned about bringing Chan Dou back to the Chan Clan in such a condition. Moreover, his combat strength had elevated to imperial-level black gold-rank out of nowhere. Lin Huang thought of bringing him back to the Heaven Alliance. He might recall something when he got there, but it was futile to do that now.

"Rest well for the time being. Get your health back and don't burden yourself too much. Don't force it if you can't remember something," Lin Huang comforted, "I'll contact Tan Lang, Shen Tao, and the rest these two days and see if they have the time to visit. Maybe you might remember something when you see them."

"I'll put you in the room next to Xiao Mo. Just look for him if there's anything you need. If Xiao Mo is busy, you can come to me directly. You have my number on your Emperor's Heart Ring. My name is Lin Xie."

After sorting things out with Chan Dou, Lin Huang talked to Huang Tianfu about Chan Dou for a bit.

In reality, as one of the three Grand Dukes, nothing in Dynasty's headquarters could be hidden from him. He already found out there was someone else in Xiao Mo's room the night when Lin Huang brought Chan Dou back, and he knew that the person was the chief of the Heaven Alliance, Chan Dou.

He knew very well that Lin Huang also bore another identity called Lin Xie who was the current the deputy chief of the Heaven Alliance. Therefore, he was not surprised when Chan Dou appeared.

Apart from telling him about Chan Dou, Lin Huang had also obtained a new batch of elevation materials, Godheads, and broken Godheads from Huang Tianfu.

After he returned to the Emperor Palace, Lin Huang did not go into closed-door cultivation right away. Instead, he disguised as Lin Xie and contacted Tan Lang who was the closest to Chan Dou.

Tan Lang was surprised to see Lin Huang calling. However, he picked up the video call request immediately. "Lin Xie, it's been a while. Hope everything is good on your side."

Tan Lang wore a black trench coat, and seemed to be more muscular than before. He had shaved his beard clean, making him look much younger now. His stiff character turned much gentler upon seeing Lin Huang's familiar face.

"I've been pretty good. You look like you've gained weight," Lin Huang teased while smiling. "Whoa, and you've shaved your beard. Do you have a girlfriend now?"

"We just got engaged recently," Tan Lang confirmed with a nod. "We haven't fixed the date yet, but I'll inform you guys when the date is set."

"Sure! How does she look like? Remember to send her picture to the group chat so that we know how she looks like," Lin Huang reminded while smiling.

"Sure!" Tan Lang nodded in a straightforward manner. "I'm sure you have something to tell me."

"I've found Chan Dou."

"He's… still alive?" Tan Lang asked carefully, afraid to hear what he did not want to.

"He's alive," Lin Huang responded.

Tan Lang was relieved to hear those two words.

"But something's happened to him," Lin Huang continued, "He's lost a part of his memory."

"Is it serious?"

"He doesn't remember me or you. He doesn't remember the Heaven Alliance or anything about the Heaven Alliance, including the members. Apart from that, he's also forgotten anything about the Chan Clan. He doesn't even remember what his parents' names are."

Tan Lang fell into silence for a moment and asked with his head lifted up, "Where are you guys? I'll go over as soon as I can."

"There's no rush. Please contact friends that Chan Dou is more familiar with. Since he doesn't remember you and me, it'd be great if he can recognize one of his friends," Lin Huang suggested.

"Sure, I'll do that. Send me your address, and we'll try to visit today."

"The address is Emperor City in Division 1. You guys can come straight to the Dynasty headquarters."

"The Dynasty headquarters? You're a Dynasty member?" Tan Lang asked incredulously. He had never heard of a Lin Xie among the Princes of Dynasty.

"Lin Xie isn't my real name. It's just a nickname to avoid my rivals." Lin Huang no longer hid his identity and he announced, "My real name is Lin Huang."

Lin Huang's disguise faded as he spoke. He looked younger as he regained his original appearance a moment later.

Tan Lang was completely shocked when he saw Lin Huang's real face. He could not speak at that very moment. After a while, he asked with a dry throat, "You're the Emperor of Dynasty?!"

Lin Huang nodded silently. "We'll talk about me when we have time in the future." He did not explain his identity further.

As he hung up the call with Tan Lang, Lin Huang sat on the throne in the Emperor's Palace and figured that it had been a while since he last logged into the Genius Union.

"It seems like I must drop by the Heaven Alliance before elevating to imperial-level."

Chapter 1093: Tan Lang's Visit

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

When it was almost past 2 p.m., Tan Lang brought a bunch of people to Emperor City.

Lin Huang heard the news immediately and instructed Huang Tianfu to invite them to the Dynasty headquarters.

Lin Huang greeted them wearing a white t-shirt.

There were a total of 13 people visiting this time, and Lin Huang knew five of them.

Apart from Tan Lang, Shen Tao, Jian Fei, Gu Fei, and the Bug Master Li Jia came along too.

He knew Shen Tao before knowing Tan Lang. Meanwhile, he was familiar with the current chief of Heaven Alliance, Jian Fei and the deputy chief, Gu Fei. About Li Jia, he only got to know him when they went into the Fallen God Land.

Lin Huang only learned from the True God consciousness Gong Sun that Li Jia possessed Divine Telekinesis like he did after Tan Lang and the rest left the Fallen God Land. Not only that, his Divine Telekinesis was even more powerful than Lin Huang's but he chose to hide it all the way.

Although he only had a combat strength of immortal-level rank-9 and barely looked threatening at all, his ability could not be measured by his combat strength.

However, Lin Huang did not behave differently and he treated him like his friend. He paused when he looked at Tan Lang and the other four of them.

Although Tan Lang had told everyone that Lin Xie's true identity was the Emperor of Dynasty Lin Huang, they found it a little hard to believe when they saw Lin Huang in real life.

"Are you really Lin Xie?" Shen Tao asked looking in disbelief.

"It was a disguise," Lin Huang said and used disguise skill to transform his face looking like Lin Xie. He then taped open Lin Xie's Emperor's Heart Ring and called Shen Tao's number, "A person can disguise into someone else but I guess you can't get a fake Emperor's Heart Ring?"

Each Emperor's Heart Ring had an exclusive code of its own. Moreover, it would be locked to the person as soon as ownership was claimed. Even if it were unlocked, one could only open the storage space. As long as the original host was not detected, the Emperor's Heart Ring network and communication signal would remain shut.

Such a setting on the Emperor's Heart was to prevent others from using the identity to carry out crimes.

For hackers who created fake identities such as Yang Ling, he would reformat the ownerless Emperor's Heart Rings to its default setting whereby everything in the ring would be erased, including the serial number. A new serial number would be assigned which was no different from a brand new one that came fresh from the factory.

Lin Huang could use Lin Xie's Emperor's Heart Ring to prove that his identity was real.

Initially, Tan Lang and the rest were a little concerned. They thought Lin Huang might have kidnapped Lin Xie and forced him to get them here. Now, it seemed like they had been overthinking.

"Mr. Fu was attacked by virtual god-level powerhouse before I came to the core zone. It has something to do with the Union Government which knew very well that I'm Mr. Fu's disciple. Apart from that, I offended some underground organizations such as the Purple Crow, the Saints, the Heretics, and more when I was in Division 7. My ability was too weak for me to be able to protect myself, so I disguised as Lin Xie for safety purpose. Since then, I've been using Lin Xie's identity in the core zone," Lin Huang explained briefly while smiling.

They looked shocked when they heard this revelation. They never thought that Lin Huang would have had such a difficult past.

Not only did he have to avoid the Union Government, but he would also have to avoid the top three underground organizations at all times. If he showed any flaws before he grew powerful, he might have faced disaster.

"Fortunately, you managed to hold on. Now that you're the Emperor, the Union Government will have to think twice before doing anything to you, let alone those underground organizations." Tan Lang patted Lin Huang's shoulder.

Jian Fei looked rather awkward. He was worried that Lin Huang might call him out for being the acting chief of the Heaven Alliance. Now, it seemed like Lin Huang did not even care about being the chief of the Heaven Alliance.

If the Heaven Alliance were to be put on Earth, it could only be considered as the top university. However, Dynasty would be one of the top companies in the world if it were put on Earth. Why would a director from a top company want a place as the President of student affairs in a university?

Li Jia, on the other hand, seemed normal. He behaved just like an ordinary member of the audience enjoying the story just like everybody else. However, Lin Huang had no idea what he was really thinking about.

Lin Huang glanced through everyone, saying nothing while smiling.

Only he knew that he had the confidence to reveal his identity. He was not depending on his identity as the Emperor of Dynasty, but on his own abilities.

Just like two months ago, the Union Government had to let him go despite knowing that it was he who killed Zhuge Feifan not because he was the Emperor, but they knew his real abilities. If they came after him and ignored the consequences, they would definitely lose a bunch of top powerhouses.

Lin Huang knew that his identity was just a name. His ability was what set him apart from everyone else.

No matter how high a person's position might be, he would lose everything that came with his identity when he lost it one day.

Just like the presidents of some countries on Earth, their glory days were just the mere few years during their term of office. Their glory would fade as soon as they were done with their appointment. Some would even continue their lives like an ordinary person and were worse off than a wealthy man.

Naturally, a high position brought many benefits. You would not have to do many things on your own since you can get people to do it for you. A high position could even bring people connections and resources. Many people would come to you for your position to give many advantages. A high position brought huge influence to a person. When a person's position was powerful enough, whatever the person did or said might gain the world's attention.

However, no matter how powerful a person was, there was a limit. That was the reason why Lin Huang accepted the position of Emperor. Assuming such an identity gave him access to Dynasty's power. He could accomplish what he wanted to do which would take a massive amount of time and effort to do in the past like a piece of cake now."

"Let's go. We'll visit Boss Chan now." Lin Huang was unwilling to dwell on his identity and power. He led them towards where Chan Dou was staying.

On the way there, Tan Lang could not help but finally ask, "How did you find Chan Dou?"

Everyone kept their ears peeled as soon as he asked that.

"I suppose all of you have heard about the organization called God Bless which everyone has been talking about these past two months, haven't you?" Lin Huang asked.

"I think everyone knows about this recently. Looking at the notice the Union Government sent out, it's indeed a terrifying organization. They've been hiding from this world from over 700 years and nobody knew about their existence. Moreover, they've so many members who've penetrated so many organizations and some even became their core members and upper echelon." Shen Tao took over the conversation.

The Union Government had published a notice about God Bless's existence two months ago, so everyone present was familiar with the organization.

"They were the ones who took Chan Dou away." Lin Huang was half fibbing when he said that. "Their people attempted to assassinate me. I captured them and managed to ask them all about this unintentionally."

"I spent some time getting into where Chan Dou was captured. I managed to save him, but he had been in a coma and only woke up this morning. After I spoke to him, I realized a big part of his memory was lost."

Chapter 1094: I'm Sorry, I Don't Remember You Guys

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lin Huang told his half fib to the people as they walked. Soon, they arrived at the courtyard where Chan Dou was staying.

Lin Huang had arranged for Chan Dou to stay in the guest room where Dynasty hosted their guests. There were three three-story tall villas in the small courtyard.

The one that Chan Dou was staying in was just next to Xiao Mo's. Both villas were less than 20 meters away. The two of them were the only ones staying in the courtyard at the moment while the last villa was empty.

Chan Dou was checking the news on the Heart Network when Lin Huang and the rest walked into the courtyard. Hearing Lin Huang's chatter, he realized that Lin Huang had brought people to visit him. He turned off the Heart Network immediately and walked out of the room, eager to know if he could recognize any of the visitors.

Tan Lang and the rest saw Chan Dou from far away as they stepped into the courtyard. Without a hitch, they accelerated towards Chan Dou.

They walked to him while Lin Huang said, "See if there's anyone among them that you remember."

Chan Dou nodded and glanced through the 13 of them one after another. However, he soon turned to look at Lin Huang and shook his head sadly. "I don't remember any of them."

"Boss Chan, I'm Shen Tao. Don't you remember me?" Shen Tao asked with rather stirred emotions.

"Shen Tao…" Chan Dou frowned a little and glanced down to think. Eventually, he shook his head mournfully. "This name sounds familiar, but I really can't remember anything about it."

"Boss Chan, do you remember me? My name is Tan Lang," Tan Lang spoke calmly.

Chan Dou then turned his head to look at Tan Lang. He shook his head after looking at him for a while. "This name is a little familiar as well, but I don't remember a thing."

"We first met when you were 16. We went to a mission organized by the Hunter Association. I thought I was the youngest one in the mission at that time, but you were two years younger than me. You were less than 1.7 meters tall.

"I look mature, so no senior hunters troubled me. However, you looked like a kid and you were short, so a few senior hunters teased you. They said you were a baby and that you were a burden to them.

"I thought you would tolerate it, but in the end, you beat them up real good. Then, you walked to me and invited me to join your team, to be one of your teammates since I didn't tease you."

Tan Lang recounted the story of how he met Chan Dou as if everything had just happened yesterday. Even Lin Huang indulged in the story.

Among all the visitors, Li Jia remained calm from the beginning until the end. He fell into deep thought with his head hanging down after confirming Chan Dou's condition.

After Tan Lang was done telling the story, Chan Dou looked at him sadly. "Your story sounded like it indeed happened, but I'm really sorry that I don't recall anything that you just told me."

Tan Lang nodded, feeling helpless.

"It's alright if you can't remember now. Take it easy." Lin Huang patted Tan Lang's shoulder.

"If you guys have the time, you can stay for a few days to talk to Boss Chan. You might help him remember something. I won't keep any of you from doing your own things," Lin Huang said to Shen Tao and the rest.

"I'll stay since I've nothing much going on lately." Shen Tao was the first to respond.

"I'll stay too," Tan Lang responded immediately.

"Aren't you busy with your wedding?" Lin Huang asked.

"We haven't set the date yet. Moreover, this won't take too long."

"Alright, keep track of the time yourself," Lin Huang answered.

"I won't be staying. I have something to do," Li Jia said guiltily.

"Those of you who have something to do, go ahead. Don't feel obliged to stay," Lin Huang repeated.

"I'm not staying either," Jian Fei said to Lin Huang.

"Go ahead. I'll take some time to log into the Genius Union these two days." Lin Huang did not say anything further.

Among the 13 of them, eventually, only four of them stayed. Jian Fei and the other eight left one after another.

"The four of you will stay at villa No. 3 next door." Lin Huang pointed at the vacant villa as he spoke, "There are three rooms on the second floor and two rooms on the third floor. You guys can decide on your own. I'll get someone to send you guys the daily necessities."

"Sure! Thanks." Tan Lang showed his appreciation and pulled Lin Huang aside before asking through voice transmission, "What are you going to do about Boss Chan? Looking at his current condition, I'm afraid it'll take some time for him to recover his memory."

"I think it's better for him to stay with me before his memory recovers. At least, his safety is guaranteed at Dynasty," Lin Huang expressed his opinion.

"Why don't you just send him back to the Chan Clan?" Tan Lang asked, perplexed.

"Do you think it's safe at the Chan Clan?" Lin Huang asked.

Tan Lang fell into silence before nodding. "Oh yeah, many things have been going on at the Chan Clan for the past few months. Ever since Boss Chan went missing, none of the younger generation among the lineal descendants have the ability to replace him. On the other hand, three supreme geniuses among the other direct line descendants have been shining without Boss Chan. The entire Clan is in a mess. It's fine if Boss Chan's memory is intact, but in his current condition, he shouldn't head back indeed."

Lin Huang then voiced his concern, "It was most probably someone from the Chan Clan who revealed Chan Dou's whereabouts on purpose, resulting in him being taken away at the black market."

Lin Huang said that because from the memory of the God Bless's God's Messenger that he had obtained earlier, someone had revealed to them that Chan Dou was at the black market. That was how God Bless knew his location back then.

Now that Lin Huang heard about the Chan Clan's internal conflict from Tan Lang, he figured that the other disciples might have exposed the information.

"Hmm, it seems like he really shouldn't head home." Tan Lang frowned slightly. He never thought the people of the Chan Clan would do something like that.

"His combat strength has elevated to imperial-level. He can no longer log into the Genius Union and return to the Heaven Alliance. He doesn't recognize any of his friends or remember where he used to live," Lin Huang continued, "In his current condition, it's the best for him to stay in Dynasty. Of course, I won't force him to stay if he chooses to leave."

After the chat with Tan Lang, Lin Huang did not stay at the courtyard. He returned to the Emperor Palace after bidding goodbye to them.

The first thing he did when he returned to the Emperor's Palace was to take out the materials that Huang Tianfu had passed him earlier. He got Bloody to sort them out.

Soon, Bloody was finished. "The elevation materials for the two Dark Crescent Snakes and the Warlord are ready."

Lin Huang nodded and put the materials away. He then began the elevation for the Dark Crescent Snakes and the Warlord.

As he saw the three golden eggs consolidate completely, he did not proceed with his closed-door cultivation to refine Godheads this time. Instead, he sat by the golden eggs with his legs crossed while clicking on the Genius Union page.

Chapter 1095: He Hardly Logged into the Genius Union Anyway

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

It had been a few months since Lin Huang last logged into the Genius Union. He had logged in back then to nominate Gu Fei as deputy chief.

He remained at the Heaven Alliance when he logged in again, and his name on the leaderboard lit up automatically.

Many people on the Genius Union noticed his log-in immediately. He had been ranked No. 1 on the annual leaderboard after all, so it was hard for anyone not to notice him.

His log-in attracted a stream of discussion.

"Come have a look, everyone. The Monster Killer is back!"

"Did he just recall that there's a place that gives out points such as the Stairway Tree?"

"I'd like to mourn for the monsters on the Stairway Tree for three seconds in advance!"

"Guys, please inform the monsters on the Stairway Tree not to head out at night."

…

At the Heaven Alliance headquarters on the 63rd checkpoint, Jian Fei, who had just logged in a few minutes ago, noticed Lin Huang's log-in immediately.

Before he could react, Lin Huang had appeared at his office door.

"Come in, I've just logged in too," Jian Fei invited Lin Huang in. "It's just been a few months and your combat strength has already reached immortal-level rank-9. Your elevation speed is terrifying."

"Nah, I just happened to have good luck." Lin Huang sat on the couch and lifted his head to look at Jian Fei. He went straight to business. "Chan Dou has elevated to imperial-level, so he has automatically detached from the Genius Union. It's time for you as acting chief to assume your position.'

"This is just a child's game to you." Jian Fei shook his head while forcing a smile. He was worried that Lin Huang would fight him for the position of the chief of the Heaven Alliance back them. It was only today that he just realized Lin Huang did not even care about the position.

"Even if it's just a game, you'll have to bear the responsibility as a chief and take this seriously." Lin Huang, on the other hand, was serious.

"I will. Don't you worry about that. Although I have limited abilities, wherever I am, I know what sort of people to trust." Jian Fei knew that he was not considered the best in the Genius Union no matter his ability or power. However, he was skilled in people relationships. Otherwise, Chan Dou would not have nominated him as the deputy chief of the Heaven Alliance back then.

"I logged in this time mainly just to say hi to you guys. I should elevate to imperial-level soon, so you guys should prepare to pick a candidate to replace my position as deputy chief," Lin Huang told him the purpose of him logging in this time.

"Approximately when will you elevate?" Although Jian Fei had seen this coming, he felt like he came from a different world from Lin Huang when he heard the latter say that.

"A month at the soonest. 40 to 50 days should be enough if it takes longer," Lin Huang announced his estimated time. He had the feeling that the day the Virtual God rank-9 Godhead in his body was refined completely would be the day he elevated to imperial-level.

"So soon?!" Jian Fei could not help but exclaim out loud.

Lin Huang smiled without saying anything. He was the only one who knew that he had been stuck on immortal-level rank-10 for months now.

"Make the arrangements as soon as possible. It's best to pick a suitable candidate before I elevate."

"Is there anyone that you'd like to recommend?" Jian Fei asked. If Lin Huang recommended someone, the person would have top priority since he or she would be replacing Lin Huang.

The first person who popped into Lin Huang's mind was Li Jia when he heard Jian Fei's question. However, Lin Huang erased the name from his list immediately. It would be too risky to nominate a person who even he could not see through to be the deputy chief of the Heaven Alliance.

"No, I don't know many Heaven Alliance members. Those with whom I'm slightly familiar with have basically elevated to imperial-level. I've worked with some whom I've met, but I don't know them very well, so I'm not sure about their characters and abilities."

"How about I bring Gu Fei and the rest here? Since you're here today, maybe we could set the candidate's eligibility terms," Jian Fei suggested.

"You guys go ahead to discuss this. I won't participate." Lin Huang rejected immediately because he knew such a meeting would take a long time. If he joined them, he might spend his entire day there. "Just send me a copy of the list when you guys are done the discussion."

"Alright then," Jian Fei responded weakly.

Theoretically, as deputy chief, Lin Huang must be present when nominating a replacement. However, there was nothing that Jian Fei could do since he wanted to push the responsibility away. Moreover, Lin Huang was the Emperor of Dynasty.

Jian Fei thought about it properly and realized it would not make much of a difference whether Lin Huang was there or not. Since he did not know much about the candidates, he could not voice his opinion. He would only be a passive member of the audience even if he were to be there.

"There's one more thing that I need to tell you. Don't tell the other the Heaven Alliance members about Chan Dou's return just yet," Lin Huang requested that all of the sudden.

"Why?" Jian Fei asked immediately.

"The Chan Clan will find out about it as soon as the news spread. They'll definitely come to Dynasty for him by then. The Chan Clan is in a mess with internal conflict rife at the moment. It's fine if Chan Dou hadn't lost his memory. However, since he's lost a big chunk of memory, the Chan Clan isn't a good place to be in at the moment," Lin Huang explained.

Jian Fei went silent for a moment and nodded eventually. "I won't tell but Li Jia also knows about this."

Lin Huang could not help but knit his eyebrows when he heard Li Jia's name. "I'll speak to him later."

After chatting with Jian Fei for a while, Lin Huang browsed through the Heaven Alliance member list online. It showed that Li Jia was offline.

He soon found Li Jia's number and called him. The tone only rang once before the video call was connected.

Li Jia was sitting on a couch, and he seemed to be inside a huge villa looking at the background.

"Should I call you Master Emperor or Master Deputy Chief?" Li Jia teased while smiling.

"Up to you," Lin Huang did not care what he was addressed.

"Alright then, Master Deputy Chief. Anything that I can help you with?" Li Jia chose to call him Master Deputy Chief eventually.

"I hope that you tell no one about Chan Dou's return," Lin Huang did not bother to beat around the bush.

To his surprise, Li Jia nodded without any hesitation. "Sure, I'll keep the secret for you."

Lin Huang, who was prepared to spend some effort convincing Li Jia, fell into silence at that moment. He did not expect his attempt to be so successful.

"Anything else?" Li Jia's projection in the video call asked while smiling.

Lin Huang thought about it and shook his head. "That's all."

He almost wanted to ask how did Li Jia obtain his Divine Telekinesis. However, he dismissed the idea after thinking it through.

After hanging up the call with Li Jia, Lin Huang said goodbye to Jian Fei. Nonetheless, he did not log out just yet. Instead, he climbed toward the trunk of the Stairway Tree through the branches.

He hardly logged into the Genius Union anyway, thus it made sense for him to obtain some points before leaving!

Chapter 1096: A Man Should Be Able to Bear Failures

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lin Huang had broke through the 63rd checkpoint of the Stairway Tree a couple of months ago after killing the last Bug Tribe Queen Mother.

Neither would the monsters attack Lin Huang, nor would he obtain anymore points if he were to kill them.

Without the attack of the Bug Tribe, Lin Huang spent less than a minute to pass through the 63rd checkpoint on the the Stairway Tree and stepped into the 64th checkpoint.

The 64th checkpoint on the Stairway Tree was called the Inhibition Waterfall.

According to the records left behind by the Heaven Alliance seniors, more than half of the powerhouses who had passed through the 63rd checkpoint could not step foot onto the 72nd checkpoint because they were stuck on the 64th checkpoint.

Breaking through the Inhibition Waterfall was almost impossible because the impact of the waterfall was immensely powerful. The speed of its flowing water was thousands of times faster than the high pressure water jet that could be used to cut metal pieces on Earth.

Ordinary immortal-level rank-9 powerhouses would be torn into pieces if they stepped in without any armor. Even if they had ancient relic armor on, it would strip their Life Power away.

Such a checkpoint was purely to test a person's physical strength and Life Power intensity. Moreover, the rule prohibited Life Power from being replenished. Everyone who went through the checkpoint would not be able to replenish their Life Power. There was simply no way around it at all.

However, such a checkpoint was an easy stage for Lin Huang.

He smirked slightly as he watched the misty, white waterfall before him. He did not even summon any imperial monster or God Figurine's Combat Soul. All he did was to put on black battle armor and dive into the waterfall.

The terrifying waterfall flow splashed on the demigod relic armor, but none of the impact touched Lin Huang.

It was as if he was taking a stroll after a meal as he walked towards the source of the waterfall.

After integrating the Origin God's Heart, all of the Life Power in Lin Huang's body had turned into Divine Power. He even had ten Divine Fire glowing and providing endless Divine Power in his body. Supplying the demigod god relic armor to work smoothly was a piece of cake.

However, although the relic armor bore most of the impact, the remaining force was still rather tough for Lin Huang and he could not move quickly. He felt as if he was walking against a strong gale. He looked like he was walking at a normal speed at that instant, but in reality, it was the fastest he could go as he fought the resistance.

After spending approximately half an hour passing through the 64th checkpoint, the next checkpoints were easy-peasy.

He slowed down when he encountered monsters again on the 67th checkpoint.

He summoned the Destructive Divine Mammoth and gained ten billion points which was the maximum points he could achieve per day. Just like that, he arrived on the boss stage of the checkpoint.

He then went all the way up to the monster stage on the 71st checkpoint. Figuring that he had gotten the maximum points he could obtain per day, he stopped and logged out of the Genius Union since it would mean that he would be giving up ten billion points if he passed the 71st checkpoint now.

Lin Huang had no idea that almost all the online members were watching him tearing through the checkpoints since the 64th checkpoint. He gained more and more audience members as the checkpoints Lin Xie hit only got higher and higher. The friends of those offline got them to log in to witness whatever miraculous turn of events that was happening.

Many people thought Lin Xie might make history this time. However, his checkpoint number halted at '71' on the first place of the leaderboard. It then dimmed.

Many of them thought it was a pity when they saw Lin Huang logging out.

"He's so close to stepping onto the 72nd checkpoint and breaking the record!"

"It seems like the monsters on the 71st checkpoint are much more powerful than we thought."

"It's really a pity that he failed this checkpoint. I wonder when Lin Xie will come back again."

Most of the people thought Lin Huang had failed to pass the checkpoint.

According to the limited records, it was a challenge to clear the monsters on the 71st checkpoint. The monsters on this checkpoint came from the Ant Tribe. Although their ability was just on immortal-level rank-9, the sheer number of them was insanely terrifying. It was at least ten times more than the amount of Bug Tribe members on the 63rd checkpoint back then.

If the Inhibition Waterfall on the 64th checkpoint made half of the powerhouses who passed through the 63rd checkpoint stuck, then the Ant Tribe on the 71st checkpoint would put all the remaining half to a halt successfully. Only a handful of people had ever passed through the 71st checkpoint and arrived on the 72nd checkpoint throughout the entire history of the Stairway Tree.

Only Lin Huang knew that the 71st checkpoint was no threat to him at all. He could break through it anytime he wanted. He logged out because he did not want to lose the ten billion points that were on his fingertips.

Just when Lin Huang gave up and logged out, he received messages from Yi Yeyu and Yi Zheng almost at the same time.

The duo's messages were rather simple.

Yi Yeyu: Holy sheet~~~ (typo)!

Yi Zheng: Oh wow, you're worthy of being called Dynasty's Master Emperor!

Clearly, both of them had logged into the Genius Union to watch Lin Huang clearing the checkpoints.

Lin Huang merely shook his head while smiling without giving a hint of response. He did not reply because he did not think it was necessary.

However, his Emperor's Heart Ring began vibrating all of a sudden merely two to three minutes later. It was Yi Yeyu calling.

He raised his brow and picked up the video call.

The first thing he saw were two long legs that were as fair as radish as soon as the video was projected.

He only saw Yi Yeyu's face after she stepped back a distance away later.

"It's mid-autumn now. Aren't you cold?" Lin Huang could not help but ask.

"It's none of your business!" Yi Yeyu hissed madly.

"Didn't you send me a message earlier? Why are you calling me now?"

"You didn't even reply to my message. Can't I call to talk to you?"

"The message you sent was pretty meaningless. I didn't think it was necessary to reply," Lin Huang mumbled softly.

"What did you say?!"

"Nothing." Lin Huang changed the topic immediately upon seeing Yi Yeyu getting out of control. "Are you with your brother?"

"No." Yi Yeyu pouted. "We logged onto the Genius Union at the same time because you were breaking through the checkpoints."

"Oh, I thought you guys are together since you guys sent the messages almost at the same time."

"I don't think you know the Genius Union has been crowded today because of you breaking through the levels continuously. You went all the way to the 71st checkpoint, and broke the the Stairway Tree record that's been there for a hundred years. I heard from my brother that the highest checkpoint recorded is the 64th checkpoint which was achieved a hundred years ago."

Lin Huang nodded while smiling. "The 64th checkpoint is rather difficult indeed."

"Is the 71st checkpoint difficult too?" Yi Yeyu could not help but query.

"It has a difficulty of its own." Lin Huang thought about it and nodded eventually.

"Don't give up if you didn't break through. You might just do it the next time," Yi Yeyu comforted him thinking that he had failed.

Lin Huang nodded while smiling, not bothering to explain. "Yeah, I think I'll succeed the next time."

"Keep up the spirit! Even if you fail the next time, you can try again. A man should be able to bear failures!"

Lin Huang was not sure whether to laugh or cry as he hung up the phone. Yi Yeyu thought he was upset because he failed the checkpoint, hence she called to comfort him!

Chapter 1097: I Bet Lin Xie Breaks Through This Checkpoint

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

As people in the Genius Union were discussing Lin Huang, he had begun his new round of refining Godheads and broken Godheads.

He shoved all six Godheads and 71 broken Godheads that Huang Tianfu had collected for him throughout the month. He only went to sleep after he refined until midnight. He did not push it this time and just maintained his regular daily routine.

The next morning, Lin Huang headed out for breakfast before it was 7 a.m.

The first thing he did after breakfast was to log into the Genius Union when he returned to the Emperor Palace.

Since he logged out at the 71st checkpoint last time, he remained where he was when he logged in again.

According to the very limited records left behind by the seniors, although the 71st checkpoint was a monster stage, the most difficult thing was the same as the Secret Forest on the 55th checkpoint whereby all the players would be shrunk to a thousandth of their actual body size.

Lin Huang, who was 1.83 meters tall, shrank rapidly to less than 2 millimeters as he entered this checkpoint.

Meanwhile, the Ant Tribe was native here, so their bodies would remain the same size.

All of the Ant Tribe members had combat strength of immortal-level rank-9 while their core members were triple mutated legendary-level. However, among the legendary-level monsters, they ranked the highest when it came to strength and defense abilities. Even with an ancient relic, an ordinary immortal-level rank-9 powerhouse might not be able to break their defenses easily.

There were very few pseudo-mythical-level monsters whereby their ratio was approximately one to a million ant monsters. However, since there were tens of billions of ant monsters, there were quite a substantial number of pseudo-mythical-level ant monsters.

Apart from that, there were at least ten mythical-level ant queens. Each of them were more skilled in battle than the Queen Mothers on the 63rd checkpoint.

Those reasons were why this checkpoint was a tough one to break through.

However, all sorts of monsters on different stages was the easiest to Lin Huang. No matter how many there were, he could kill them all as soon as his God Figurine's Combat Soul was out. There was no exception.

'According to the current rule of the Stairway Tree, I'll pass this checkpoint right after I kill an ant queen. The chances of obtaining an ant queen's complete card is almost zero. However, there are up to ten thousands of pseudo-mythical-level ant guardians, so I should be able to obtain some complete cards from there.' Lin Huang knew that the possibility of obtaining a complete ant queen's card was low, so he set his target on the pseudo-mythical-level ant guardians instead.

Those ant guardians had ability nothing lower than the ant queen, they were even slightly more powerful than ant queens. Naturally, Lin Huang was happy to take the pseudo-mythical-level cards that were sent to his doorstep.

After crushing a Double Reward Card, Lin Huang summoned the Destructive Divine Mammoth and the Nightmare Tapir.

All of the ant monsters went into a deep sleep whenever the human and two monsters passed by.

Lin Huang did not get the Destructive Divine Mammoth to attack right away. Instead, he instructed the Nightmare Tapir to clear the path. His plan was simple: to kill all of the pseudo-mythical-level ant guardians without a single blunder.

As he was searching for ant guardians on the checkpoint, his log-in attracted many Genius Union members to watch him play.

"The Monster Killer has logged in again today!"

"Is he trying to break through the checkpoint today since he failed yesterday?"

"I think Lin Xie is rushing into it. He can totally wait for a few months and try again when his combat strength has elevated."

"Looking at the information left behind by the seniors, the difficulty of the 71st checkpoint has multiplied compared to the 63rd checkpoint. Lin Xie might fail again this time."

Almost everyone in the Genius Union was pessimistic about his attempt.

After all, there were tons of examples before this. In the history of the Genius Union, only a total of 13 people arrived at the 71st checkpoint. However, only three of them managed to break through the 71st checkpoint and get to the 72nd checkpoint.

However, a handful of the audience thought Lin Huang might be able to make it. Unfortunately, their voices were drowned in the others' ridicule and scorn.

Lin Huang's log-in this time caused many of the Genius Union members to log in again.

Some even seized the opportunity to open a bet. Some daring ones even open a 1:100 bet to attract people to place their wagers that Lin Xie would break through the 71st checkpoint.

"I bet 100,000 points that Lin Xie will break through the 71st checkpoint." A lady in a ponytail walked to the maker who set up the wager to be as high as 1:150. Her long legs and voluptuous breasts made many men gulp in a mix of lust and nervousness.

However, soon everyone saw a handsome man following not far behind her.

"Milady, are you sure you want to bet on him? You won't be getting back a single point if you lose all 100,000 points," a gambler next to her reminded out of kindness.

"Are the odds 1:150 here?" Yi Yeyu confirmed with the maker again.

"That's right."

"Then, I bet 100,000 points that Lin Xie will break through this checkpoint!"

As soon as Yi Yeyu was done speaking, Yi Zheng walked up behind her. "I'll bet 300,000 points that Lin Xie will pass this checkpoint."

The maker glanced at the siblings and muttered to himself before accepting their transfer, "Idiots!"'

Lin Huang, on the other hand, had no idea that him postponing his decision to break through the checkpoint had drawn so much attention. He even made the entire betting business of the Genius Union boom.

It was not that the Genius Union did not have such betting before, but it had never escalated this big.

After hanging up the call with Yi Yeyu yesterday, Lin Huang began the new round of Godhead refinement right way. He did not look at the Genius Union forum at all. Naturally, he had no idea about everything that was happening.

After spending over half an hour locating all the pseudo-mythical-level ant guardians, Lin Huang got the Nightmare Tapir to put over 10,000 pseudo-mythical-level ant guardians into a deep slumber quietly.

Notifications from the system popped up one after another as soon as the massive amount of ant guardians were killed.

"Congratulations, you've obtained complete ant guardian Monster Card (pseudo-mythical-level) x2!

"Congratulations, you've obtained ant guardian Monster Card pieces (pseudo-mythical-level) x2!"

…

After getting rid of the ant guardians, Lin Huang patted the Destructive Divine Mammoth's butt. "You can clear the scene now. Don't do anything to the ant queen yet. Otherwise, I'll lose the points."

The Destructive Divine Mammoth began its killing spree as soon as Lin Huang ordered it. It stomped both its feet one after another, crushing all the ant monsters.

Lin Huang's points on the annual leaderboard skyrocketed again! In less than ten minutes, his points experienced a boost by ten billion points, which was the daily maximum.

Seeing that his points had stopped growing, Lin Huang controlled the Destructive Divine Mammoth to kill an ant queen and he tore through the 71st checkpoint of the Stairway Tree.

As expected, there was no complete Monster Card after killing the ant queen. Although he saw it coming, he could not help but feel a little disappointed.

He wasted no time on the 71st checkpoint and headed off to the 72nd checkpoint while sitting on the Destructive Divine Mammoth's back.

Chapter 1098: The 72nd Checkpoint

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"He broke through! Lin Xie broke through!"

"Sh*t, the checkpoint number has changed. It's really the 72nd checkpoint now!"

"He's insane! The 72nd checkpoint is already the highest record in history. Does it mean he has matched an equal record now?"

"Did you guys notice that Lin Xie has gotten another ten billion points today? I'm suspecting that he didn't fail yesterday but postponed it on purpose and did it today for the sake of the ten billion points."

"That's something terrifying to hear. If what the commenter above said is true about Lin Xie killing monsters as just a game to obtain points, his real ability is indeed nerve-wrecking."

…

Just when Lin Huang arrived on the 72nd checkpoint, the entire Genius Union was in a heated discussion.

Not only were there a few folds more online members now, but even the entire Genius Union forum was also crowded.

All the hot topics were related to Lin Xie, and there were even more compared to yesterday. Naturally, Lin Huang had no idea about all that.

At that moment, he was putting all of his focus on the 72nd checkpoint before him.

According to the very limited records from the people who had broken through in the past, it was an endless ocean on the 72nd checkpoint.

Lin Huang's shrunken body from the 71st checkpoint remained the same. He was still in a micro body size which was a thousandth of his original size.

The 10,000-meter wide ocean before him became an ocean that was 10,000 kilometers wide since his body had shrunk by 1,000 times.

However, the difficult part of this checkpoint was to cross the 10,000 meters of water.

Looking at the countable records, there were three difficult points about the 72nd checkpoint.

The first was that this ocean had extremely low water density, and there was no skill that one could use to walk on it. Since flying was prohibited on the Stairway Tree, the only way to cross it was to swim.

The second point was that this ocean had many monsters with the lowest combat strength being imperial-level black gold-rank. Moreover, most of them existed in groups.

The third one was that as long as players came in, sea monsters would sense the players easily from a certain distance. As soon as they sensed players coming, they would advance immediately to attack. Theoretically, the longer the player stayed in this ocean, the more imperial-level monsters he would attract.

The most powerful players on the Stairway Tree all failed this checkpoint because they attracted numerous sea monsters not long after getting into the water. Furthermore, the arrival of the low combat strength sea monsters would attract all sorts of sea monsters of higher combat strength to swarm forth.

They would almost always encounter imperial-level white gold-rank monsters every time they were swimming halfway. There were even terrifying imperial-level purple gold-rank monsters. However, those players' combat strength was limited to immortal-level rank-9, so they could not escape from such monsters at all, let alone fight them.

'This ocean is totally the sea monsters' stage. No wonder those seniors couldn't break through it.' Lin Huang knew what the difficulty of this checkpoint was. 'Even if a person with compelling abilities could fight imperial-level purple gold-rank monsters with their immortal-level rank-9 combat strength, they could handle if there was only one monster. However, they would have to flee if they encounter ten or 20 of them.'

Watching the calm ocean surface standing at the border of the coastline, Lin Huang was well aware of the danger lurking beneath the peaceful water.

However, at that instant, to Lin Huang, such danger was no threat to him at all.

He stepped out after summoning the Enchanted Fairy. Perhaps he could not walk on the ocean, but he could easily solve it. All he would have to do was to build a bridge.

That was precisely what he was going to do.

As the Enchanted Fairy walked on the surface of water, everywhere she passed by turned into a path of ice.

Lin Huang followed behind her and walked on the frozen water.

The both of them stepped on the ocean which began to tremble intensely. The ocean that was peaceful seemed to have turned into a rave party. Waves that were thousands of meters high were sloshing towards the duo one after another.

The Enchanted Fairy then activated her Territory skill. The temperature of the entire place plummeted as white mist lingered above the ocean.

The terrifying waves turned into giant icebergs of all shapes as soon as they touched the mist. They looked like they had been erected for hundreds of thousands of years.

Less than half a minute after overcoming the tsunami, the monsters beneath the ocean smelled Lin Huang's aura and came rushing in droves.

This proved that the monsters in the sea could still sense the players' existence even though there was no water around Lin Huang.

The first round of monsters were a group of Fiendish Piranhas with sharp teeth. There were tens of thousands of them.

These Fiendish Piranhas were as long as an adult arm. They had black scales and fangs in their mouth that looked like countless shape blades. The damage was estimated to be just as devastating as an ancient relic.

Although these Fiendish Piranhas had rather low combat strength whereby they were only on imperial-level black gold-rank, there were many of them.

Had some other immortal-level rank-9 powerhouse encountered this wave of attack, he or she might have been devoured with no flesh left. Even Chan Dou, who was at his peak, could only choose to escape because he would not be able to fight at all.

Naturally, Lin Huang sensed the Fiendish Piranhas coming. However, he did not worry at all and proceeded to run behind the Enchanted Fairy.

Sensing that Lin Huang was moving quickly above the ocean, the Fiendish Piranhas accelerated beneath the surface of the water.

Observing the ice above them, the Fiendish Piranhas collided into the ice directly. They knew that smashing the ice would make the target fall into the sea and become their prey.

Bang, bang, bang!

The Fiendish Piranhas smashed into the ice one after another. Muffled thuds came from the clashing of the almost indestructible fish heads against the bottom of the ice.

Subsequently, the Fiendish Piranhas' heads were deformed from the bashing. Some of their heads even cracked and brain juice flowed out. Although they were in a devastating state, their attack did nohing to the ice at all.

Sensing the fishes' commotion with his Territory skill, Lin Huang merely glanced at them with his Divine Kinesis. He saw a massive amount of fish monsters bashing the ice and turning into sorry-looking carcasses. They sank to the bottom of the sea slowly and he soon ignored them.

He expected this, so he was not concerned at all.

One must know that even a demigod could not fight the Enchanted Fairy's frost, let alone these imperial-level black gold-rank dumb fishes.

The Fiendish Piranhas' suicidal move caused all of them to die. However, it was just the first round of attack.

Nobody knew if it was Lin Huang's aura or the dead Fiendish Piranhas' flesh, but the second round of monsters came as soon as the Fiendish Piranhas died.

This round of monsters were fish monsters of a bigger size. They also had sharp teeth, but they were over a meter long and there were two subtle scarlet stripes on their dark green scales.

It was a fish monster called Scarlet, and they were thirsty for blood. Compared to eating flesh, they prefer to drink blood.

After this round of monsters noticed Lin Huang, they looked like they were charmed and they struck the ice fearlessly. However, the same fate that befell the Fiendish Piranhas happened to them too. In less than a minute, the entire group of fishes were killed.

Subsequently, the third, the fourth, and more rounds of monsters came attacking.

Apart from a minority of them who survived as a result of having tough heads, almost all the rest were killed. Those that survived escaped immediately, no longer daring to come after Lin Huang.

Chapter 1099: Salted Fish

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

As Lin Huang was running on the surface of the frozen water, the ocean beneath was filled with all sorts of sea monster carcasses. All of them had died from the continuous bashing into the ice.

"Are these sea monsters on Ecstasy? Why are they so crazy?" Lin Huang looked puzzled as he watched the sea monsters under the ice that were killing themselves over him.

He could clearly sense with his Divine Telekinesis that those sea monsters under the ice seemed to have lost their mind when they bashed into the ice. They ignored the ice blocking their way as well as their friends that were dead.

"I think the system set the monsters in this stage to go into a frenzy," said Bloody that was in his sleeve through voice transmission, "Maybe they only have one order in their head when they sense players, which is to attack them. They seemed to be hypnotized.

"Although they have imperial-level combat strength, monsters on this stage aren't gifted with normal intelligence. They're even dumber than the bugs that we encountered in some of the checkpoints. I suspect it's the Stairway Tree's system that set it that way on purpose to lower the difficulty."

"Why do I feel it's actually increasing the difficulty?" Lin Huang could not help but voice his opinion. "They go into a frenzy as soon as they sense the players and attack the players as if they've lost their minds. Moreover, during the frenzy, their speed and attack strength experience an obvious boost. They even gave up on attacking sea monsters of other tribes that were in their territory, whereby the players became their sole target. Isn't that more difficult?"

"It's more difficult on the surface, but in reality, the difficulty level is lower," Bloody shared a different opinion. "Look at these sea monsters. Under such a frenzy, their attack mode is the same. They know they can't break the ice wall, but they don't even try to figure another way around it. This stage is purely to test one's ability to break through it head-on. If these sea monsters have ordinary intelligence, they would've had more advanced techniques when going after the players compared to what they're doing now.

"Let's use the simplest strategy as an example. They don't even need to attack the players strenuously now. All they have to do is to find a key location where the player will definitely pass by and gather everyone there. The player will then fall into the trap automatically."

Lin Huang just realized that he did not think it through earlier after hearing what Bloody said.

As they chatted, a gigantic black silhouette was approaching rapidly beneath the ocean.

Terrifying waves rumbled on both sides of the ice just when Lin Huang sensed that something was wrong. The waves were up to 10,000 meter high now.

The Enchanted Fairy merely waved her sleeves, and the insane waves turned into two massive icebergs.

Meanwhile, the giant beast beneath the ocean had its mouth wide open as soon as the waves came. It was going to swallow Lin Huang together with the icy path beneath his feet.

However, the massive waves on both sides of the ice path turned into gigantic icebergs just when it opened its mouth, and it happened to bite into them.

Lin Huang heard cracks before gory blood gushed out of the sea king monster's mouth like a waterfall. Even a few of its teeth cracked and fell, creating turbulent waves on the sea.

What made Lin Huang not sure whether to laugh or cry was that this sea king monster's mouth was then filled with the two icebergs. Its upper and lower jaws were opened to the widest. Since the bottom of the icebergs were much bigger than the top, it could not even spit them out now.

At the moment, the gigantic sea king monster seemed to have two giant weights shoved into its mouth. It fell into an awkward situation whereby it could not bite into it, close its mouth and neither could it not swallow the icebergs.

Since the ice path beneath Lin Huang's feet was connected to the two icebergs, the sea king monster's entire head was stuck. It could not move despite attempting a few times by whipping its body about, but its effort was to no avail.

The sea king monster's eight big, googly eyes were staring at Lin Huang. It looked like it was going to cry. Nobody knew whether it felt wronged or if it was hurting.

Lin Huang even sensed that it was revealing a human expression of awkwardness and embarrassment. He was not sure if that was an illusion.

After chuckling at it without showing any sympathy, Lin Huang thought he should snap a photo of such a scene that was hard to come by for memory's sake.

He activated the camera on his Emperor's Heart Ring and took more than ten high-resolution digital photos of this sea king monster that looked like a crocodile. He even posed in many selfies with it as the background.

After taking the photos, Lin Huang left the sea king monster behind and ran towards the 73rd checkpoint behind the Enchanted Fairy.

He decided not to kill the sea king monster mainly because the funny incident would make him laugh for the entire day. It gave color to his rather boring checkpoint breakthrough.

Naturally, he would not let it go. It was fortunate that the Enchanted Fairy did not turn it into an ice sculpture.

Such a monster would not die even if it did not eat or drink while being stuck where it was. As for regaining its freedom, it depended on when the ice path beneath Lin Huang's feet melted. Eating normally again would depend on when it could spit out or swallow the icebergs in its mouth when they melted.

The monsters Lin Huang encountered since the imperial-level purple gold-rank sea king monster were getting more and more powerful.

It proved that the closer one was towards the 73rd checkpoint, the more powerful the monsters became.

After he broke through half the checkpoint, almost all of the sea monsters he encountered were above imperial-level yellow gold-rank.

Especially when he was left with a tenth of his journey, almost all of the sea monsters that attacked him were on imperial-level purple gold-rank.

However, these sea monsters were not as fortunate as the sea king monster. The Enchanted Fairy turned them into ice sculptures immediately as soon as they approached the ice path.

Lin Huang spent over two hours to finally complete the ice path that was 10,000 kilometers long to him since he could not fly and his body had shrunk.

As he stepped out of the ice path and entered the 73rd checkpoint of the Stairway Tree, Lin Huang turned back to his original body size in the blink of an eye.

He stood on a field and turned around to look at the 72nd checkpoint that he had just passed.

He saw a white icy line that was only as thick as his finger. There were ice sculptures of all sizes and forms on the both sides of the icy line, seeming like exquisite art pieces.

Lin Huang tried his very best to see through the clouds above the ocean, peering at the sea king monster, whose mouth was still stuck, far away. It was still there and it had gave up struggling completely. Just like that, it was hanging on the white icy line like a salted fish an aunty was drying on a clothesline.

Lin Huang chuckled and turned around to enter the dense jungle on the 73rd checkpoint.

Chapter 1100: The No.1 Young-Generation Powerhouse

Translator:EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor:EndlessFantasy Translation

"Congratulations to the Deputy Chief of the Heaven Alliance, Lin Xie, for entering the 73rd checkpoint and breaking the Stairway Tree record!

"Congratulations to the Deputy Chief of the Heaven Alliance, Lin Xie, for entering the 73rd checkpoint and breaking the Stairway Tree record!

"Congratulations to the Deputy Chief of the Heaven Alliance Lin Xie for entering the 73rd checkpoint and breaking the Stairway Tree record!"

As soon as Lin Huang stepped onto the 73rd checkpoint, every active Genius Union member received the same three messages whether they were online or not. The messages were about Lin Xie breaking historical record.

The three messages that were like full-service notification in games were sent by the Stairway Tree system to all active members as soon as Lin Huang broke through the checkpoint without any exceptions.

Lin Huang's mind-blowing feat spread all over the Genius Union. The entire union was stirred.

One must know that everyone thought that the 72nd checkpoint was the final destination when Lin Huang arrived on the 73rd checkpoint. Whoever managed to make it to the checkpoint was already deemed to have achieved a grand victory. After all, there were only four people in history, including Lin Huang, who had ever arrived at the checkpoint.

Everyone in the Genius Union knew how powerful Lin Xie's ability was. Furthermore, he might even be Chan Dou's successor. However, almost nobody thought Lin Huang could broke through the 72nd checkpoint of the Stairway Tree today.

Now that he had broken through the impossible limit in the form of the checkpoint, everyone was floored.

"The Monster Killer has broken the record. Holy shit!"

"I must admit that the Monster Killer totally slayed today!"

"Everyone thought he was cheating when he obtained eight million points back then. When he obtained 100 million points, people still insisted that he cheated. When he obtained 100 billion points, the voice of doubt faded. He hardly logs in now, but he broke through the checkpoint that nobody has ever passed in a hundred years. Lin Xie has proved himself again and again that he doesn't need to cheat at all!"

"From today onwards, the most powerful young generation is no longer the Five Princes. There's only one name, and that name is Lin Xie!"

…

On the 21st checkpoint of the Stairway Tree, Yi Zheng was standing at the assembly point while looking at the first name on the projected leaderboard. His emotions were stirred.

"What? Are you envious of him?" Yi Yeyu walked to him from behind and tilted her head while asking with a smile.

"A little," Yi Zheng admitted while smiling with a nod.

"We kind of watched him grow up." Yi Yeyu also lifted her head to look at the first name on the leaderboard.

"To be exact, we can testify for his growth," Yi Zheng corrected her.

"Who would've thought this insignificant little guy would grow so powerful?" Yi Yeyu shook her head while smiling. "Not only is he the No. 1 powerhouse of the young generation, but he's also the Emperor of Dynasty."

"Whether he's the No. 1 powerhouse of the young generation or the Emperor of Dynasty, these identities won't be the last of him. He will go further and grow even more powerful." Yi Zheng knew very well that Lin Huang would not just stop there.

"Brother, until which checkpoint do you think he will get to?" Yi Yeyu could not help but probe.

"I think he'll get to whatever checkpoint that's available on the Stairway Tree," Yi Zheng added after he was done speaking, "Of course, he might not succeed today. He might do so tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or next month… If I have the talent and ability that he does, I'll definitely do whatever I can to pass through all the checkpoints on the Stairway Tree."

Just when Yi Zheng and Yi Yeyu were discussing, the other Genius Union members were talking about a similar topic too.

Compared to the time when very few people thought Lin Huang could pass the 72nd checkpoint, now most people thought he might advance even further. The question was that nobody was sure which checkpoint he would get to.

A minority of them was not on board with that. They argued that there was absolutely no reference about the checkpoints later on compared to the 72 checkpoints before. Without any references and strategies, everything was a completely new discovery. The difficulty of breaking through the following checkpoints would be relatively multiplied.

In fact, just like what these people expected, Lin Huang had no reference since nobody had ever gotten to that checkpoint before. He had no idea what was coming for him.

As soon as he entered the dense jungle on the 73rd checkpoint, Lin Huang realized he could no longer activate his Territory skill. He could not even spread his Divine Telekinesis and had lost all his detective techniques altogether.

Feeling helpless, he summoned Lancelot and got him to be the herald, opening the path for him.

Although Lancelot only possessed imperial-level yellow gold-rank combat strength, his ability was nothing less than imperial-level's. With his powerful defensive skill such as the Dark Mirror, he could handle most threats on the Stairway Tree.

Lin Huang noticed that something was a little off after following Lancelot for a couple minutes.

"It's a little strange that we haven't encountered any monsters on this checkpoint. We haven't even encountered any obstacles at all. Looking at the speed, we'll break through the checkpoint after this."

"This is a maze stage," Bloody spoke all of a sudden.

"A maze?"

"I just noticed that there are a few trees that are exactly the same as the ones before us. At first, I thought they're just trees that look alike, but later on, I noticed they aren't the only ones," Bloody voiced its observation.

"I then tried releasing four Leech Pods. Using me as the center point, they flew straight toward four directions, namely the front, the back, the left and, the right. However, I sensed that the four Leech Pods began to deviate from the original route as they flew less than ten meters away. They only deviated a little at first, but it got worse. They're circling at a specific point in the end."

"Although they're circling where they are, the surroundings where the four Leech Pods are observing are changing, providing an illusion. If not for my ability to sense their exact location, I might've been deceived by the illusion too."

"So, we've been in an illusion as soon as we stepped into this checkpoint?" Lin Huang squinted and instructed Lancelot to stop moving.

Lin Huang looked around his surroundings. He did not see anything out of the ordinary within his field of vision. Since he could not use his Divine Telekinesis and Territory skill, it was hard for him to realize it even if he really was in an illusion.

An idea popped into his head, and he summoned the Nightmare Tapir directly.

As soon as the Nightmare Tapir was summoned, there was some chirping not far away. The Nightmare Tapir looked around, swinging its long trunk and opening its mouth.

In the next second, the images around it were sucked into the Nightmare Tapir's muzzle like a tornado.

When the illusion was removed, the real surroundings were revealed.

It was a dense jungle, but not a typical one because there were no trees or bushes in this dense jungle. There were only white mushrooms with black human faces.

These mushrooms were of various sizes whereby some of them were two to three meters tall and some were only the length of a finger. The only similarity was that the faces on these mushrooms seemed to be asleep at the moment.

"So, was it these mushrooms that performed the illusion earlier?" Lin Huang looked shocked.

"I think they're the Demonic Mushroom from the abyss. It's an evil spirit type of monster that's an expert at casting illusion and hypnotization!" Bloody explained, "But these are just the stems, which are equivalent to clones. The main stem must be hiding."

"I don't think there's such monster in the monster guide, is there?" Lin Huang asked in confusion.

"Indeed, there's no such record in the monster guide. I saw it once in some other documents unintentionally," Bloody explained in response.

"Let's go then! Onward to the next checkpoint."

Since the illusion had been removed, Lin Huang thought he would not waste any more time clearing these mushroom clones. All he wanted to do was to break through this checkpoint as soon as possible to see what was next.