1161-1170
Chapter 1161: He's Trending Again!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang offered acess to 330 trial zones as soon as he spoke. It was almost half of all of the ruins and sites in the entire gravel world. Moreover, the number surpassed the total number of ruins and sites that the Union Government owned.
The meeting room fell into silence once again hearing the offer Lin Huang gave.
The Union Government was mentally prepared for Lin Huang to definitely offer a high number but never had they thought it would be so high. Although Jiang Shan and the rest were mentally prepared, they were shocked when they heard the actual number Lin Huang offered.
If they agreed to that offer, it would mean that the number of sites and ruins that the Union Government could explore could be multiplied.
"If you guys need, I can pick those trial zones that have just been opened," Lin Huang added, "But there's something that I must tell you in advance.
"Although there are many Royal trial zones, there are also many Royalties' affiliate organizations. Therefore, it's very normal for you guys to bump into other organizations who would enter the trial zones the same time that you do. Even if those were new trial zones, the organizations under the Royalties might've explored and taken the resources.
"Royal doesn't prohibit fights in trial zones. One can even say that they encourage them. So, when your people bump into other organizations in the trial zones, don't show mercy when you have to fight. Otherwise, you'll end up being the one killed."
"I understand that. We'll pass that message down then." Jiang Shan nodded and proceeded, "I've looked at the list you sent to Guan Zhong yesterday, and we've discussed it and came to an agreement."
Jiang Shan read out while projecting a list, "The first condition is that you guys requested to have access to the union organization's trading channels. We're okay with that. It can be opened to Dynasty freely.
"The second condition is that you guys requested to enjoy the same privileges we offer to the union organizations. We can promise you that as well."
…
"However, we can't agree to give access to union information to Dynasty. The most that we can do is give Dynasty access to public information, not the access to the confidential stuff.
"The same goes for the access of books and documents of all sorts. We can only open a part of it to Dynasty. We can give access to cultivation books under god-level, but not to other books, documents, and confidential stuff."
…
"As for the access to ancient sites opened to Emperor Lin alone, we can do that for you but the duration will only be 30 days. The access will be revoked as soon as 30 days have passed.
"We can also give a month of access to the highest authorization in the Central Library to Emperor Lin. However, you can't transfer or record the methods in the books to others."
…
There were over 20 lists on the projection. Those were the conditions that Lin Huang and Bloody had discussed and listed.
Among the conditions, there were only merely a few that were completely accepted.
Most of the requests were not rejected by the Union Government directly. Instead, they accepted them with their own terms and conditions.
The Union Government's way of handling the matter was completely within Bloody's expectations.
In reality, Lin Huang could see where the Union Government drew the line in the list. Almost all of the conditions that touched the union organization's confidentiality were rejected instantly.
Huang Tianfu and Huang Baiyu were quiet. In reality, they were pretty satisfied with the first round of discussion with the Union Government. However, Bloody and Lin Huang wanted to fight for more.
Soon, Bloody who was hundreds of meters away contacted Lin Huang. "The Union Government has drawn the line. I think they've shown it on purpose to prevent us from putting the union organization's confidentiality on the table for the next few rounds of discussions. If that's the limit, we don't have to step across their baseline over and over again. We just have to compromise on some of the conditions as long as we get what we should fight for."
Lin Huang spoke again after communicating with Bloody on their consciousness for a while, "Chief Jiang, to be honest, I see your sincerity in working with us. However, there are some conditions that I hope to bargain with you.
"The first one, access to information. If you're only giving us access to public information, that has not much difference versus not giving us access to it at all.
"Everybody knows that most underground organization members have a Emperor's Heart Ring with a fake identity. Moreover, the fake identities are basically members of the union organizations including the Union Government, the Hunter Association, and Adventurer Paradise. We can look at the public information open to the union with a fake identity ring. Therefore, the first condition that you guys offer serves no difference compared to not giving us anything.
"We know it's pretty impossible for you guys to give elder-level authorization to us. After all, an elder-level authorization would fall under core authorization. However, we're hoping to fight for transcendent-level access, even if it's only holy fire-level."
Jiang Shan turned his head to look at his people after hearing that.
He then turned his head back to look at Lin Huang after a simple communication with the remaining seven people through voice transmission. "Please give us some time to deliberate."
"Please do." Lin Huang nodded lightly while picking up the cup and taking a sip of tea. He waited for them to discuss among themselves patiently.
Meanwhile, Bloody's voice came into his head again. "There will be two possible results later. One of them could be they're going to change the authorization. If that's the case, we'll pick something that they'll most probably disagree with. The other result would be for them to disagree to change it. If that's the case, there's no need for us to insist on this and compromise with another condition that we're eager to realize."
Approximately seven to eight minutes later, the Union Government finally came up with their decision.
Jiang Shan and the rest who gathered around fixed their attention back to the table. Jiang Shan finally spoke again, "I'm so sorry, we can't give you access. As for the fake identities that Emperor Lin mentioned, we'll look into it. The public union information is only open to union organizations. It's not for non-members to pry."
"Alright, since you guys have come to that decision, I won't waste any more time dwelling on that. Let's talk about the next condition." Lin Huang shrugged and skipped to the next condition promptly.
Both sides discussed back and forth for the entire day and finally came to a preliminary agreement. In reality, the progress was considered swift for a collaboration between top organizations.
After the direction and conditions of the collaboration came to an agreement, Lin Huang and the rest stayed another two days in First City to discuss the details.
Including the first day that was wasted, they spent a whole four days to finally officially sign the agreement.
Lin Huang and Jiang Shan decided to release a statement together as soon as the agreement was signed.
The statement that was posted on the Union Government's official account was, 'It's a historical day today! The Union Government is collaborating with the neutral organization, Dynasty!"
The attached picture was the last page of signatures on the agreement as well as a photo of the upper echelons of the Union Government and Dynasty.
Meanwhile, Lin Huang was much more casual with his statement. 'Happy collaboration []~(￣▽￣)~*'
The photo he attached was the photo taken with Lin Xin and the Union Government chief, Jiang Shan, as well as the cover of both agreements.
Lin Huang who was still trending on top ten rose to No. 1 within less than three minutes of the statement being made. He became the trending No. 1 again!
Chapter 1162: Give Me Your Report Within Three Days!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
To avoid having interviews with media, Lin Huang and the rest returned to Emperor City as soon as the agreement was signed.
Lin Huang browsed the websites on his Emperor's Heart Ring as soon as he returned to Emperor City. He realized all of the headlines on the news pages was the collaboration between the Union Government and Dynasty.
The comment section below the news was on fire. The number of comments were growing almost every second.
Although everyone knew that Lin Huang led Dynasty to the Union Government headquarters in First City three days ago, many of them looked down on Dynasty whereby they thought the discussion would most probably come to no avail.
After all, Dynasty used to be an underground organization back then. Many of their members were still on the union organization's blacklist until today. The two organizations were on different pages no matter whether it was in the past or now. Theoretically, it was pretty impossible for the Union Government to come to an agreement with Dynasty.
Although Dynasty was a top organization in this world, compared to the Union Government, they were on a different level. Many people thought that the Union Government would have everything that Dynasty had. Therefore, there was no need for the Union Government to work with Dynasty at all.
However, the outsiders had no idea that the bargaining power that Lin Huang offered was so handsome that the Union Government could not reject it at all.
Being a neutral organization aside, the Union Government might be unable to decline such tempting offer even if Dynasty was still an underground organization. Naturally, if that was the case, they would definitely not make their collaboration known to the public. Instead, they would only work secretly.
Apart from the news sites, the collaboration between the Union Government and Dynasty became the No. 1 or No. 2 topic on all the forums and social media sites. Lin Huang was even trending as No. 1 on some sites.
Clearly, people took note of Lin Huang and the collaboration between the Union Government and Dynasty.
Lin Huang realized that his personal social media account experienced a boost in fans again.
On the social media site that he paid the most attention to, his fans that were originally over 50 million had grown to 70 million and was still growing.
Within an hour of him posting the statement, there were over two million comments and at least 10 million likes on his post.
Lin Huang scanned through the comments roughly. Most of them basically supported what he did. Many new cultivators began following him because of the collaboration that had gone through this time. It proved that Dynasty was indeed a neutral organization because it was impossible for the Union Government to work with an underground organization. At least, it was impossible for them to do that publicly.
Moreover, working with the Union Government publicly would be the equivalent to drawing a line with the underground organizations. It was a different story from merely saying that Dynasty was a neutral organization like Lin Huang had before.
Naturally, there were criticisms in the comments too.
Some of them criticized them for standing on the underground organization's side, saying that Lin Huang and Dynasty were traitors to the underground organization. Some of them were condemning them for taking the union organization's side, accusing Lin Huang and Dynasty doing it as a show and just pretending on the surface. After all, they were still an underground organization deep down in their bones with a neutral organization's cover over their skin.
Lin Huang did not respond to those jokers. He only looked through the comments and skipped through the pages, not even bothering to read the details. It was not that he was a chill person, but he just thought it was not necessary for him to waste time on those jokers.
He closed the website after looking at a few pages of comments. He sat with his legs crossed and began cultivating Seamless.
However, he had no idea that the collaboration between Dynasty and the Union Government which he made possible had become heated discussions in many top organizations.
On the union organization's side, they were most curious about what bargaining power did Dynasty exactly have to make the Union Government agree to work with them. Moreover, some of the organizations heard some of the conditions and found out about the access the Union Government gave to Dynasty.
Some union organizations looked for the Union Government committee and deputy chief directly to object to the collaboration.
However, Jiang Shan and the rest were expecting to hear different opinions, so they carried out the solutions that they had prepared.
The underground organizations were also in heated discussions. However, most of them were discussing to take revenge on Dynasty. They thought that Dynasty working with the Union Government was a betrayal.
"They used to be one of the top three underground organizations and they're kissing the Union Government's a*s now?! Dynasty is just pure disgusting!"
"Who do they think the underground organizations are? They dismissed themselves just like that. Did we agree to that?!"
"They kept saying that they're going to the neutral side and we didn't say anything because we know it was just something that they'd say. I thought we could just laugh about it, but they're ignoring the other underground organizations completely just to work with the Union Government. We don't care about anything that you're trying to stir but this is just stabbing a knife into our backs!"
"Dynasty is too much! We must teach them a lesson this time! Especially that Emperor, we must teach him a good lesson. He has been stirring things up ever since he was appointed!"
Apart from the union organizations and the underground organizations, the neutral organizations were also in heated discussions about the collaboration between the Union Government and Dynasty.
This happened in Shadow Killer's headquarters in the No. 1 safety zone of foothold No.1A11 in Silhouette City.
"What Dynasty did this time is pretty interesting," commented a man in white as he smiled slightly while watching the news projected before him.
A shadow on the ground became distorted and slowly transformed into a big, black mouth. It then spoke, "We've collaborated with the Union Government hundreds of years ago. Besides the Union Government, we're also collaborating with the Hunter Association and Adventurer Paradise."
"That's different. We're collaborating with the union organizations secretly. Dynasty announced their collaboration to the world. They're not afraid of letting everyone know about it."
"Perhaps the current Emperor of Dynasty is a dumb*ass. It makes sense for him to do such a thing without putting any consequences into consideration," the big, black mouth spoke again.
"No, Dynasty's three Grand Dukes are all smart, especially Huang Tianfu. Not many in the underground organizations can compare to him when he does something with motive. It's impossible that he doesn't know the consequences of doing this. Even if that Emperor is dumb, it's impossible for Huang Tianfu to allow him to come up with such a stupid plan. Him going to the Union Government with the Emperor for the discussion proves that three of the Grand Dukes approved of that. So, the only possible explanation is that Huang Tianfu knows Dynasty has the ability to handle the consequences."
Meanwhile, in foothold No. 2A13 of Freedom City in the No. 2 safety zone, 13 people sat at the table in the meeting room at the neutral heretics headquarters.
Among the 13 of them, some of them were listening to music with earphones on, some were digging their nose, some were rubbing their feet with their leg up, some were biting their nails and some were sleeping while snoring…
The person who sat in the main seat was a man who wore a black robe covering his body and had a terrifying white mask on his face
The man removed his mask and revealed a harmless face that seemed like a baby's. He looked like he was only in his early 20s.
"Hey, can you guys at least pretend to be serious? We're in a meeting now!" insisted the black-robed man while slamming the table.
"Boss, you can just say what you've got to say. There's no need to slam the table. We're not deaf," complained the man who was rubbing his feet before he sniffed his fingers. He then revealed a disgusted expression.
"I'll chop your legs off!" the black-robed man growled fiercely.
'Boss, don't be angry. You look like a baby who is upset. That makes you lose all of your power." The middle-aged man with stubs had half of his little finger up his nostril. His voice was muffled when he spoke.
"It's all your fault! You guys always half-a*s everything you do. We were supposed to be the first neutral organization to collaborate with the Union Government. Now, Dynasty has done it first!" The black-robed man pointed his finger accusingly at the people.
"Boss, you can't blame us for that. We have everything that the Union Government has. What can we offer to work with them?" said the fatty who was sleeping and snoring earlier, yawning while looking sleepy.
"I don't care. We can do what Dynasty did! You guys figure out what can we offer to work with the Union Government when the meeting adjourns! I'll give you three days. Each of you will have to write a report! You know what's the consequence for not passing it up on time!"
Chapter 1163: Misery
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After the discussion with the Union Government was over, Lin Huang went back being a hermit crab on the second day he returned to Emperor City.
However, his Emperor's Heart Ring began vibrating when he had just started cultivating Seamless early in the morning.
The interference did not bother Lin Huang since he was not in closed-door cultivation. He did not turn off the communication function in his Emperor's Heart Ring.
The reason being he knew that the collaboration between Dynasty and the Union Government would definitely create a stir. He was most probably needed to handle it himself.
As expected, it was Huang Tianfu who was calling.
Lin Huang picked up the call peeping at the name popped up on the communication device.
Huang Tianfu's full body was soon projected before Lin Huang. However, he looked bothered.
"What's wrong?" Lin Huang knew that it was pretty impossible for Huang Tianfu to contact him if there was nothing important. It was a consistent relationship that he had built with Huang Tianfu.
"Misery has just sent an invitation. They'll visit us in three days."
"Misery?" Lin Huang could not help but raise his brow after hearing that.
Naturally, Lin Huang was familiar with the name Misery. It was the No. 1 underground organization in the entire gravel world.
He had no idea how powerful Misery was. All he knew roughly was that the No. 1 rank Misery had been sitting in for hundreds of years could not be shaken by Dynasty at all.
Among the top three underground organizations, Dynasty and Inferno had been fighting for No. 2 all this time.
"How powerful exactly is Misery? They can't compare with the Union Government. Am I right?" Lin Huang asked Huang Tianfu.
"Misery is a little like the enhanced version of Saint. Compared to Saint members who are avid believers of their god, Misery worships the Death God. The Misery followers believe that life is like cruising on a sea of misery, whereby death is the only salvation and relief. They think that killing is an act to help others to achieve salvation and relief, which also cleanses their own sin."
"If death is the only salvation and relief, why don't they commit suicide?" Lin Huang could not help but ask solemnly.
"Misery followers think that committing suicide is a depraving behavior. Not only will they not be salvaged or relieved, but they'll also drown in the sea of misery after they die and they won't be relieved forever. Any form of suicide isn't encouraged, including hiring someone to kill themselves or setting someone up to kill them. All of those are considered suicide."
"What double standards of logic." Lin Huang pouted. Killing others would mean offering salvation and relief, but committing suicide would put them in the sea of misery. No matter what, they had the right to an explanation whereby they could make up anything they wanted.
"Due to the high threshold to enter Misery, their members have a compelling ability. Basically, all of their members are genius powerhouses because they worship the Death God, which makes their followers fearless of death, resulting in them having extreme cultivation and battle techniques. Only a handful of people with the same combat strength are a match for them. Their average personal ability ranks No. 1 in the entire gravel world. There's a rumor saying that Misery has a way to get their members to virtual god-level. They might have more virtual god-level members than the Union Government does. Apart from having fewer members compared to the Union Government, Misery can definitely suppress the Union Government and all of the other organizations in other aspects.
"If their average personal abilities and top combat strength are more powerful than the Union Government, then indeed, their overall ability is much more powerful than Dynasty." Lin Huang nodded lightly and asked Huang Tianfu, "Has Dynasty encountered Misery before?"
"We don't have much contact, but we've encountered them a few times." Huang Tianfu nodded.
"What do you think? Are they as powerful as what the rumor says?"
"I personally think that the rumor is real," Huang Tianfu answered, "They have a minimum of three virtual god-level powerhouses and the most powerful one is on at least Virtual God rank-3."
"Naturally, Misery sent us the invitation right when we're in the middle of the heat. They want to show us who the boss is. The person who will come visit us three days later isn't someone to be underestimated. Master Emperor, should we get Mr. Fu…?"
"Don't worry, I'll work something out." Naturally, Lin Huang would not alert Mr. Fu about a rare Godhead that was coming his way. "I hope they send many people here with higher combat strength so that the effect of warning our enemies will be more impactful."
After hanging up on Huang Tianfu's call, Lin Huang began cultivating Seamless without any distractions.
Meanwhile, outside the Emperor Palace, the access that the Union Government promised was granted one after another. Dynasty soon began giving all sorts of access to their members.
By then, the Dynasty members gained a new level of trust in Lin Huang.
On the other hand, Huang Tianfu was communicating with the Union Government's business partners to purchase broken Godheads and Godheads for Lin Huang.
Time flew by, and two days passed. On the evening of the third day, which was the day before Misery would visit Dynasty officially, a thread on the black market forum blew up.
The title of the thread was 'Dynasty Will Be Past Tense After Tomorrow'.
The thread seemed to have been posted by someone from Misery because apart from Lin Huang and the three Grand Dukes from Dynasty, only a few of the upper echelons knew that Misery was visiting. However, the thread revealed the invitation, saying that Dynasty had received the invitation from Misery two days ago and that they would visit the next day.
Although there was no photo of the invitation attached in the thread, judging by the descriptions, the thread starter obviously knew about the visit.
However, although the thread created a stir, not many people believed it.
After all, the contents of the thread were merely words. There was no proof to show that the exposé was real.
Although the news was unreliable, many people supported it.
They commented that Misery should teach Dynasty a lesson, show them the consequence of being a traitor.
Some were targeting Lin Huang, saying Misery should teach Lin Huang, the daring brat a good lesson.
Soon, the screenshot of the thread was posted on all the social media sites, causing heated discussions among cultivators.
Because Misery had been quiet for over ten years, many rookies had never heard of it. There was very little information about them on the Heart Network too.
Many people were asking the same question. "What kind of organization is Misery exactly?"
Some of the people from the underground organizations and some senior cultivators began researching about Misery.
However, many of the cultivators were in disdain after learning about some stuff that Misery did. They became supporting Dynasty.
"I thought it was some amazing organization, but it's just a radical terrorist organization. I really don't know why such an organization exists."
"Killing others is a relief to them but committing suicide is prohibited. Such double standards make me want to laugh."
"Such underground organizations are more disgusting as you learn more about them. It seems like Dynasty is better since they decided to get out of the dark and go towards the light. Great job!"
"What times are they living in to be sending an invitation out? Do they really think they're underground bosses?!"
"If this thread is real, I hope that Lin Huang and Dynasty will be able to brave through the disaster tomorrow."
Apart from the netizens, many organizations were following the issue too.
In reality, the top organizations knew that the thread was real without having to look at the proof because they had heard about it since the beginning.
Even the Union Government was following the matter.
"Should we do something about it?" Dongfang Bai asked Jiang Shan.
"This is a conflict between Dynasty and Misery," Jiang Shan responded calmly.
"What if they really put Dynasty to an end?" Dongfang Bai asked while frowning, "Wouldn't that mean that the collaboration we had would go to waste?"
Jiang Shan lowered his head to look at the projected screenshot.
"Since they've decided to collaborate with us, they should have the ability to bear the risk of working with us. If they didn't consider all the risks that might happen or if they weren't prepared for this prior to the discussion, we can only say that they're not the people we want to work with."
"I believe Emperor Lin and the rest should know very well that taking the first step to work with us isn't difficult. The tricky part is to maintain collaboration. If they manage to maintain it, everything will be smooth-sailing in the future. If they can't, it'll just be a dream."
Chapter 1164: A Thoughtful Lamb
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It was at the beginning of winter during mid-December in Emperor City. The temperature was between 5 to 10 degrees Celsius.
Many citizens began wearing thin coats while the cultivators donned long pants and jackets.
White frost could occasionally be seen on the damp ground in the morning while the nights were chilly.
To the commoners, 15th December was just an ordinary day. It was the same for most people in Emperor City.
However, almost all of the top organizations in the entire gravel world had their attention on Emperor City that was tens of thousands of miles away from them because something important was about to happen there on that day.
The underground organization that ranked No. 1 throughout hundreds of years was 'visiting' Dynasty.
Everyone who was following this matter knew that 'visit' was just a nice term. In reality, it was a fight.
It would not only be just a fight between Misery and Dynasty, but it was also a fight for order.
If Misery won this match, it would not only mean that Dynasty would be destroyed, but it would also mean that the old order could not be broken, and there would not be a second underground organization who would confront them for at least hundreds of years. There would also not be a second neutral organization who would work with the Union Government.
If Dynasty won the match, Misery would be defeated and a new order would be in place. By then, more organizations would become neutral and more neutral organizations would work with the Union Government. One could say that Dynasty would begin a brand new era as soon as they won the match.
That was the reason why all the top organizations were following this incident closely.
The minor organizations and cultivators who were following this matter did not look that far into the future. All they thought was that the match between these two top organizations would be interesting.
To them, Misery was the No. 1 giant while Dynasty was the latest talk of the town. This match had to be an intense one. In reality, they had no idea exactly how powerful Misery was, and neither did they know what trump card Dynasty was holding.
The three Grand Dukes and another two virtual god-level dukes were preparing for the day to come.
Meanwhile, Lin Huang had been shutting himself away in the Emperor Palace.
He was not nervous at all and had been cultivating Seamless throughout the past few days. He even had a faint feeling that his Divine Telekinesis was improving a little each day.
By the time it was 8 a.m., Huang Tianfu finally could not wait any longer and called Lin Huang.
In reality, he had sent Lin Huang a message past six in the morning. He told him that Misery would arrive before 9 a.m., but Lin Huang did not respond.
However, Lin Huang hung up the second the call was connected.
Huang Tianfu received a message a moment later.
"Alright, I'll get out after I take a shower and have changed."
The reason why he had been dragging and refused to leave the Emperor Palace until now was that he was 200 threads away from reaching 50,000 telekinetic threads at 6 a.m. As a man who had slight OCD, he only insisted on getting out after he had broken through to 50,000 telekinetic threads. In reality, he paced himself so he would only take two hours the most. He was sure he would not be late to meet Misery.
Lin Huang opened his eyes all of a sudden less than ten seconds after hanging up Huang Tianfu's video call request with his telekinetic threads.
He had finally consolidated the last thread for the 50,000 telekinetic threads!
Lin Huang only sent Huang Tianfu the message after recalling the telekinetic threads back into his body. He then got up and walked to the bathroom.
After washing up and changing, he walked out of the Emperor Palace feeling fresh. He lowered his head to check the time. It was 8.18 a.m.
"It's still a little early. I have time for breakfast," Lin Huang mumbled softly and disappeared in a flash.
He arrived at the fat aunty's dumpling store when he appeared again. However, he was speechless to see the long queue at the entrance.
"Such good business!"
"Master Emperor, haven't you had breakfast?" the fat aunty greeted him in a friendly manner. "What would you like? I'll get it for you."
The couple knew Lin Huang's identity, but they did not really understand what the Emperor meant. They thought he was a governor of some sort. Although they respected him, they treated him as an ordinary person since they were already familiar with each other by now.
Everybody else gawked at Lin Huang after the fat aunty said that.
A few of the customers were cultivators who came from foreign lands to check out the dumplings. They began taking videos secretly as soon as they saw Lin Huang.
Nonetheless, Lin Huang did not stop them when he noticed that since he had gotten used to people filming him secretly.
Initially, he wanted to cut the queue after hearing what the fat aunty said. He did not do that when he realized that everyone in the queue was staring at him in respect, and there were two kids in the queue too.
"Don't worry about me. I'll queue," Lin Huang said and went to the back of the line. Including the two kids, there were 14 people before him. He looked at the time to see that it was 8.20 a.m. He estimated the time and figured he could still make it, so he decided to wait patiently.
In the beginning, the speed of the queue went smoothly. However, a young lady could not make up her mind and took up quite some time. Later on, there was a kid who wanted to have fried buns and fried eggs. The fat uncle started frying the buns, leaving the fat aunty alone which slowed the line down.
It was almost 8.50 a.m. when it was Lin Huang's turn to order.
After ordering two servings of dumplings, Lin Huang turned around and realized that all of the tables were basically taken. There was only one seat left at a table for two. Nobody dared to sit there because there was a hunk with a scar on his face sitting at the table. He was bald and appeared fierce.
Lin Huang walked straight to him. "Is this seat taken?"
In reality, he sensed that the hunk was a cultivator and had rather high combat strength. He was a transcendent on high immortal-level.
"N-No." the hunk had been filming Lin Huang secretly. When he saw Lin Huang walk over, he panicked.
"You can film me if you want. There's no need to hide," Lin Huang said after seeing the hunk cover his left hand with his right, revealing the camera shutter on his Emperor's Heart Ring between his fingers.
"Can I do that?" The hunk did not expect Lin Huang to be so easygoing.
"You guys would still film me even if I said no. There are already over ten cameras pointing at me now, so it doesn't make a difference if you're filming me too," responded Lin Huang and he began eating the dumplings with the dipping sauce.
The scar-faced hunk sitting across him could not help but ask when he had eaten half the dumplings, "Isn't Misery visiting Dynasty today? Why are you still having breakfast at such a time?"
"Is it 9 a.m. already?" Lin Huang peeped at the time and asked casually.
"But… shouldn't you be getting ready?" the scar-faced hunk asked again, "They're from Misery after all."
"What should I prepare?" Lin Huang asked him back. He then shoved the last dumpling in the first basket and began munching on it quickly.
The scar-faced hunk could not answer that question. He could not help but question again when Lin Huang devoured the second basket of dumplings a moment later, "Do you have the confidence to handle the crisis?"
"Crisis? I don't understand what you're saying. All I'm seeing is a thoughtful lamb hopping onto my chopping board."
Chapter 1165: Misery's Visit
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Three guests arrived at the guest lounge at Dynasty's headquarters at 8.50 a.m.
The person who was leading them was a young man who looked about 20 years of age. He wore a white robe and had long hair that reached his waist. His face was so beautiful that he looked like a lady.
Huang Tianfu and the rest sensed clearly that this young man's combat strength aura was imperial-level purple gold-rank. However, he was two years older than Lin Huang at the most by the looks of it.
Of the other two gray-robed men, one was muscular while the other was skinny and slender.
They stressed the Virtual Gods Huang Baiyu and Huang Haoyang out even though they did not release their aura intentionally. Huang Baiyu and Huang Haoyang could faintly sense danger from them.
The duo could see the fear in Huang Baiyu and Huang Haoyang when they locked eyes. The two gray-robed visitors were at least mid-level Virtual Gods. In fact, they might be even more powerful than that.
The white-robed young man had a slight smile on his face as he observed the people from Dynasty quietly.
He only fixed his eyes on Huang Baiyu and Huang Haoyang for a moment and peeped at Huang Tianfu, Huang Wunan, and Huang Tufu. However, the three perfect-stage demigod-level Grand Dukes did not interest him at all.
He glanced at the three Grand Dukes and then at the few Dynasty upper echelons. However, he soon looked away, losing interest after seeing that they were demigods.
A sense of disdain flashed through Huang Tianfu's eyes but he asked with a smile on his face, "May I know how to address the three of you?"
"I'm sorry. We forgot to introduce ourselves. Your humble one is Ku Zhen." The white-robed young man put down the teacup in his hand and said while smiling, "These two next to me are Jie Sha and Zhi Lu."
Huang Tianfu and the rest experienced a slight change of expression upon hearing that. They did not know much about Misery, but they knew that the members would remove their names and given nicknames since they joined the organization.
Meanwhile, although they had never heard of the nicknames Jie Sha and Zhi Lu, they knew that the nicknames that began with 'Jie' and 'Zhi' were the earliest batch of Misery members.
For Ku Zhen who had a nickname that began with 'Ku', he was like the Holy Son from Saint. In Misery's terms, they were called Bodhisattva. Those who would be chosen as Bodhisattvas would have to be at least supreme geniuses. They might even have abilities that were comparable with the Four Princes on the same combat strength.
"So, it's the Bodhisattva and two seniors." Huang Tianfu soon adjusted his emotions.
Naturally, the white-robed young man Ku Zhen noticed Huang Tianfu's change in emotions. He was quite impressed by his control. "I see you guys have done your homework."
Huang Tianfu looked calm, but in reality, he was panicking.
It was a few minutes to 9 a.m., but Lin Huang had yet to show up until now. Moreover, Misery obviously came prepared. He was afraid that Dynasty might not be able to go through this easily.
As the atmosphere in Dynasty headquarters was incredibly intense, many cultivators in the cultivation world began discussing Lin Huang again.
There was no other reason why that happened no other than the scar-faced hunk sitting across Lin Huang who live-streamed Lin Huang devouring the dumplings and airing their conversation.
"Emperor Lin, you gobbling those dumplings makes me want to eat dumplings too."
"Which dumpling store is Emperor Lin eating at? Please provide the address and the store name!"
"Can you gluttons be more serious? The babe behind Emperor Lin is quite pretty. Please provide her contact number!"
Naturally, some of them were talking about serious stuff.
"I feel like Emperor Lin really doesn't care about Misery. It doesn't look like he's pretending.
"He has a meeting with Misery at 9 a.m. but he's still eating dumplings at 8.55 a.m. How serious exactly is he?"
"Somebody took a photo outside Dynasty headquarters. The people from Misery have entered the headquarters. And he's here eating dumplings (｡⊙౪⊙｡)"
"Emperor Lin, it's time to go back to Dynasty. Otherwise, your lair will be gone!"
"Who cares about the lair? To a glutton, eating is the topmost priority!"
…
Lin Huang glanced at the time when he was done with the two baskets of dumplings. It was almost 8.59 a.m.
He stood up and walked to the fat aunty to pay his bill calmly. He then spoke to the scar-faced hunk and the rest, "I'm making a move. Enjoy your breakfast." He vanished from where he was as soon as he was done speaking.
It was 9 a.m. sharp when he appeared in Dynasty's meeting room in a flash.
He looked at the time projected on his Emperor's Heart Ring just when he managed to stand still. "Ah, I'm on time."
He turned off the projection from his Emperor's Heart Ring and walked straight to the main seat in the meeting room. He took his seat and began observing the three people from Misery.
The young leader who wore a white robe was so beautiful and angelic that he did not look like a man. He had imperial-level purple gold-rank combat strength but his ability might not be that low.
The other two men dressed plainly, but Lin Huang noticed they had combat strengths of Virtual God rank-5 and Virtual God rank-6. In this gravel world, they were considered supreme powerhouses whose combat strength ranked just lower than Mr. Fu's.
Lin Huang was suspicious of the duo's combat strengths because theoretically, demigods integrating a Virtual God rank-3's Godhead should be the limit. The success rate of integrating Virtual God rank-4's Godhead was almost zero. However, the duo's combat strengths were Virtual God rank-5 and Virtual God rank-6.
It would mean that either Misery had found a way to achieve virtual god-level or they had special techniques to integrate Godheads. A gleam of judgment flashed through Lin Huang's eyes as he thought about this point.
"Yours truly is the Emperor of Dynasty, Lin Huang. I would like to represent Dynasty to welcome all of you for visiting."
The three of them from Misery focused their eyes on Lin Huang as soon as he appeared.
Everyone was curious about this No. 1 genius of the era who was also the Emperor of Dynasty. Even Misery's Bodhisattva was no exception.
Ku Zhen squinted slightly as he observed Lin Huang. He was coming up with an estimation secretly, which was his ability to find out about someone through observation.
"He has just attained imperial-level, but his aura is rather odd. He doesn't feel like an ordinary imperial-level black gold-rank. He has compelling Sword Dao in him, so I'm guessing he has reached level-6. He has powerful telekinesis too. He's almost at the peak of imperial-level. That's strange. How come he's got no Imperial Censor aura?"
Ku Zhen nodded with a light smile at Lin Huang after his attempt to read him was to no avail. "I'm Ku Zhen. I've heard so much about you, Emperor, and we've finally met today."
"So, you're the Bodhisattva. You're too kind." Lin Huang was too lazy to do his homework but he had gotten Bloody to do it for him. Bloody researched Misery a bit, so it was only natural that she knew about the Bodhisattva.
Huang Tianfu told Lin Huang about the other two through voice transmission. However, upon seeing that Ku Zhen did not introduce them, they did not take the initiative to introduce themselves.
Lin Huang nodded quietly and lifted his head to look at Ku Zhen who was sitting across him. "I won't be beating around the bush so that we won't waste each other's time. I don't think you, the Bodhisattva, and the other two seniors happen to pass by the headquarters for nothing. You didn't state the reason in the invitation. So, why are you really here?!"
Chapter 1166: Sparing Nobody!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Huang Tianfu and the rest felt helpless. They thought they could test Misery for a little instead of turning against each other so soon. However, there was no way they could turn the situation around since Lin Huang said that.
Beyond Misery's expectations, Lin Huang went straight into the subject.
To them, Dynasty was at a loss. Usually people who were at a loss would not state their opinions in a discussion. Instead, they would beat around the bush to test where the one with the upper hand stood.
Since Lin Huang had asked about their intentions in such a straightforward way, Ku Zhen thought he saved a lot of his effort.
"Since you've asked, Emperor Lin, I shan't beat around the bush and I'll say whatever I have in mind."
Ku Zhen paused and continued when he saw Lin Huang nod at him, "We hope that Dynasty will cancel their collaboration with the Union Government."
Ku Zhen had been staring at Lin Huang when he said that. He wanted to see what kind of reaction Lin Huang would have.
Lin Huang only smiled lightly. "Don't you think you guys are sticking your noses into our business?"
"Misery is the underground boss. It was in the past, and it still is now. You guys working with the Union Government broke the underground organizations' rules. This is under our jurisdiction," Ku Zhen explained.
"Dynasty is now a neutral organization. We've got nothing to do with underground organizations. I don't care where you stand among the underground organizations, but you can't do anything to us," Lin Huang warned, not buying it at all.
"You guys can't dismiss yourself from the underground world as you wish. Dynasty will still be an underground organization as long as Misery hasn't given permission for you to do so. Dynasty will still be under Misery's jurisdiction. The notice you guys announced doesn't count. Such behavior isn't in line with our underground organizations' rules." Ku Zhen began denying Dynasty's power of statement.
"It's our business whether to dismiss ourselves from the underground world or not. It has nothing to do with other organizations. I don't care if Misery agrees with that or not, but we've already done that. It's a fact. The Union Government working with us publicly has proven that they approve of us as a neutral organization."
Lin Huang paused before speaking again, "If Misery has something to say about us dismissing ourselves from the underground world, you should've come to us when we announced it. You shouldn't be doing what you're doing now, telling us that we're breaking the rules after we've made the announcement four months ago."
"You guys only announced it with a written notice four months ago. Nobody would've taken that seriously. Do you think we should visit all the organizations that want to dismiss themselves from the underground world one by one? We wouldn't have come if you guys didn't work with the Union Government and broke the rule." Ku Zhen retaliated against what Lin Huang from through Misery's angle.
"Whether you agree with that or not, Dynasty is a neutral organization now and we've come to an agreement to work with the Union Government. Everything has been set, so you can't change the fact even if you've come all the way here."
"You can change the facts. I suggest you think it over again, Emperor Lin." A gleam of coldness flashed through Ku Zhen's eyes.
"We, Dynasty, will never take our words back." Lin Huang shook his head and declined immediately.
"Why are we still wasting our time talking to them?" Jie Sha, who was sitting aside, finally could not take it any along and revealed a ferocious expression. "Let's just kill them!"
The skinny Zhi Lu next to him held Jie Sha's arm and looked at Lin Huang calmly.
"You have two choices. One is to cancel the collaboration between Dynasty and the Union Government and dismiss yourself as a neutral organization. Release a notice within three days to inform the world. The second choice is to end Dynasty from this world entirely, sparing nobody's lives."
Huang Tianfu and the rest had a slight change of expression as soon as Zhi Lu said that.
Lin Huang was the only one who maintained a light smile on his face. He seemed to not take Misery's threat seriously at all. "You're pretty old. I can't believe that you're so immature."
Ku Zhen, who had been observing Lin Huang secretly, was suspicious of Lin Huang's reaction. His detective ability found out that Lin Huang did not fake his confidence. However, he could not figure out what kind of trump card did Lin Huang exactly possess.
'The only trump card he has now might be Mr. Fu. If Mr. Fu is at his peak, we might we scared of him. However, currently, Mr. Fu's ability is merely on Virtual God rank-4 or rank-5 at the most.'
"You're seeking death, brat!" Jie Sha yelled at Lin Huang before Zhi Lu could speak.
"Huang Tianfu, we forgive this brat for not knowing the rule. Are you guys unaware of the rule as well?" Meanwhile, Zhi Lu ignored Lin Huang completely and looked at Huang Tianfu instead.
Huang Tianfu and the rest looked terrible. They were really unsure if Lin Huang's trump card would work out.
At that moment, Huang Tufu was the first to stand up. "I support the Emperor no matter what his decision is! If you're going to fight us, we're all in!" He had returned from Division 3 just for this.
Never had Lin Huang thought that Huang Tufu would be the first one who supported him.
Huang Tianfu hesitated for a moment. Then, he said while sighing when he saw Huang Tufu standing by the Emperor's side, "The Emperor's decision is Dynasty's decision. I'm merely Dynasty's butler. Naturally, we'll do whatever the Master wants. As for the consequences, we'll bear it together."
Huang Wunan shrugged, feeling helpless, and walked to Huang Tianfu without saying a word.
While the rest looked conflicted, Jie Sha grinned all of a sudden. "Those who are against this brat's direction, you'll live as long as you stand your ground."
Lin Huang remained unbothered and did not comment anything on what Jie Sha said.
Apart from those who had stood their ground, Huang Baiyu, Huang Haoyang, and the other right demigods were the ones remaining on Dynasty's side.
Huang Baiyu was a little conflicted initially, but he walked up to Lin Huang after hearing what Jie Sha said. "I didn't agree with what Master Emperor is doing initially, but I can't take it when you guys are trying to break us apart."
Huang Haoyang also could not take it and finally piped up, "Although I'm unwilling to fight Misery, I respect Master Emperor's decision. Also, you trying to break us apart is just a cheap act. It always backfires. It's been hundreds of years since the last time I used this technique."
Ku Zhen and Zhi Lu could not help but peek at Jie Sha next to them as soon as Huang Haoyang said that.
Since Huang Haoyang stood his ground, the remaining eight demigods stood on Lin Huang's side without hesitation. None of them objected to the decision.
Lin Huang looked at the three of them across while smirking. He spoke again while having his eyes on Ku Zhen, "Bodhisattva, I've got a question for you."
"Do tell." Ku Zhen nodded lightly.
"You guys said that you'd end Dynasty if we rejected your suggestion, sparing nobody's lives. Is that a threat or will you guys really do that?"
Everyone could not figure out what Lin Huang was trying to do. Ku Zhen was stunned for a second and subsequently answered while smiling, "Of course, it's not a threat. If you guys insist on rejecting our suggestion, we can only end Dynasty to show others the consequences of betraying the underground organization!"
"I get it now. If that's the case, I'll give you guys a multiple choice question too." Lin Huang nodded while smiling hearing that.
Ku Zhen and the other two were puzzled to hear Lin Huang saying that out of nowhere.
"You have two choices. One is to leave now. I'll pretend that you guys were never here and pretend that whatever happened today never took place. Dynasty and Misery won't get into each other's business. We will live in peace.
"The second is to leave your dead bodies here and I'll go ahead ending Misery. Nobody from Misery will be spared. I'll eradicate all of you!"
Chapter 1167: Lin Huang's Trump Card
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Everyone was bewildered to hear what Lin Huang said.
Even Huang Tianfu and the rest had no idea what trump card he had to be saying that.
The people from Misery were shocked while Jie Sha and Zhi Lu were completely enraged.
"You imbecile! I'll catch you alive today and send you to the Ghost Prison after sealing you. They'll torture you every day with cruel punishments. I bet that'll teach you a lesson!" Jie Sha glared viciously at Lin Huang.
Naturally, Lin Huang knew what kind of place the Ghost Prison was. It was the darkest and cruelest place in the black market. Almost all the high-quality slaves in the black market came from that place. It was said that no matter how strong a person's will was, they would be turned into a slave physically and mentally as long as they stayed in the place for a long time. It was impossible for them to ever find themselves again.
However, Lin Huang grinned when he heard the threats. "Your suggestion sounds great, but I don't usually like to leave anything behind. I won't spare your life to prevent you from escaping the Ghost Prison. You'll just be wasting my time if I go after you should you be out there playing tricks again."
"I'd like to see if you can still be so high and mighty when I got you!" Jie Sha attacked as soon as he was done speaking.
He stretched his hand from where he was, and a huge golden hand arrived before Lin Huang in the next second. Seeing that he was going to get Lin Huang, Huang Baiyu and Huang Haoyang did not bother helping him at all.
However, the golden hand caught nothing but thin air. Besides Lin Huang vanishing, even Huang Tianfu and the rest disappeared.
Instead, the trio from Misery was astonished to see a monster that looked like a tiger with a long trunk appeared next to the golden hand out of nowhere.
"Where did all of the Dynasty people go?" Ku Zhen did not see how Lin Huang and the rest disappeared at all, so he asked both of them.
However, Jie Sha and Zhi Lu did not see it clearly either.
"They must've been teleported away by this monster with some sort of technique," Zhi Lu explained while frowning. He subsequently said to Jie Sha through voice transmission, "Be careful. I can't sense this monster's combat strength."
However, the long-trunked monster mauled with its claw as soon as Zhi Lu spoke, crushing Jie Sha's golden hand instantly.
In the next second, the long-trunked monster vanished from where it was.
Jia Sha's pupils shrunk and he backed away immediately. However, the long-trunked monster appeared behind him as soon as he did that.
Then, he abruptly realized pain radiating all over his body. He held his head down and it dawned on him that his head was separated from his body.
Ku Zhen and Zhi Lu were shocked. All they saw was blood spurting out of Jie Sha's body and him being sliced into pieces.
Even the god relic on his body retreated back into his body from the single attack alone.
"What!?" Zhi Lu gulped. As Jie Sha's partner, he knew his ability very well. Although he had a slightly more powerful ability than Jie Sha, there was a limit to it. Since the monster managed to kill Jie Sha within a second, it would mean that it was easy for the monster to kill him too. Although it might not kill him in one blow, it could definitely kill him with two to three hits.
Ku Zhen was completely dumbstruck. Never had he thought the two people that he brought along would die. His mind went blank at that moment.
Just then, the long-trunked monster turned its head slowly and glared at its second target — Zhi Lu.
Zhi Lu had goosebumps when he locked eyes with the long-trunked monster like a terrified cat. He dared not move at all, afraid that any action he took would trigger the monster to attack him.
However, the long-trunked monster stepped out anyway and disappeared.
Zhi Lu did not see its movement at all, but he retreated quickly by instinct. He gripped his god relic battle sword in front of his body in a defensive stance.
Just when he was moving, he felt an immense strength shaking his battle sword. His right arm that was holding the sword was crushed!
The terrifying impact pierced through the battle sword and crashed into the god relic battle armor on his chest.
At the same time that Zhi Lu was thrown out, he felt the Divine Power in his body being drained. Without the support of Divine Power, the god relic battle sword and battle relic retreated back to his body automatically.
Although Zhi Lu was not killed by the attack, his Divine Power was drained fully and he lost an arm. Apart from that, the ribs under his chest were all crushed.
"Such insane ability! It has to be on at least Virtual God rank-8 or even Virtual God rank-9!" A glimmer of fear flashed through Zhi Lu's eyes. Never did he expect Lin Huang to have such a trump card.
However, he had no idea that the Nightmare Tapir held back a significant amount of his ability. In the dreamland that it had created, the Nightmare Tapir was just revealing peak-stage Virtual God rank-8 ability.
Therefore, Zhi Lu was not killed instantly by the attack.
If the Nightmare Tapir was to give his all, he might be able to kill a Virtual God rank-9 in one hit.
"How is Lin Huang controlling an imperial beast on such a level?" Just when Zhi Lu was having doubts, he saw a yellow silhouette appear above him in a flash.
He looked up to see a pair of cold eyes staring at him.
"Sh*t…"
Just when Zhi Lu thought that, his body was cleaved into pieces.
He saw his body separating from his head at the very last moment when he was still conscious. Meanwhile, his body that was sliced into pieces fell onto the ground pathetically.
Within three seconds, Ku Zhen saw two Virtual Gods being killed consecutively. His throat felt dry and constricted as his mind that had gone blank earlier was now in chaos. He could not understand how Lin Huang was controlling such a powerful monster at all.
As the Nightmare Tapir walked to him step by step, he felt like the Grim Reaper was approaching with every step he took.
Just when he was giving up hope, an idea popped into his head all of a sudden.
"Lin Huang! I'm only on imperial-level. You're being a bully, summoning a virtual god-level monster! Do you dare to accept my challenge to make this a fight between imperial-level?"
The Nightmare Tapir stopped walking after a moment of silence, and Lin Huang revealed himself next to it.
"Such prodding is so low." Lin Huang patted the Nightmare Tapir's head while smiling.
Upon seeing that, Ku Zhen was sure that the Nightmare Tapir was Lin Huang's summoning beast. His heart plummeted, but he had yet to give up his last hope of fighting.
"Let's have a fair match. You can do anything to me if you win. If I win, you'll have to let me go."
"I heard that people from Misery aren't afraid of death, but it seems like a Bodhisattva like you cherish your life," Lin Huang teased while smiling.
"I'm not scared of death, but death can be as light as a feather or as heavy as a mountain. I just hope that I won't die in vain," Ku Zhen argued.
Lin Huang continued smiling without saying anything. Naturally, he did not believe in a thing that Ku Zhen disputed.
"You want a fair match, don't you? I'll give you that."
Ku Zhen's eyes lit up when he heard his promise.
Lin Huang grinned. "You won't be fighting me, but him."
A man wearing a black cloak and a hat appeared next to Lin Huang as he uttered those words.
Chapter 1168: Mythical-level – Regal Sword Killer!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The man who was standing before Lin Huang was approximately two meters tall.
The hat he wore on his head was maroon and had black dragon patterns all over it. The massive hat covered his head under the shade. One could only faintly distinguish that he should be a man from his body.
He merely slung the black cloak on his shoulder casually, leaving his hands outside the sleeves. There were no patterns on the cloak, only golden dragon patterns on the edge of the collars and cuffs.
He stood there with his hands on his chest, as still as a rock.
Ku Zhen's pupils shrunk without him even realizing it the moment he saw the man in the hat. The person stood before Lin Huang quietly without moving and he could sense the suppressive aura coming from him clearly.
"His name is Killer. He's also a sword cultivator and has imperial-level purple gold-rank combat strength just like you." Lin Huang gave a simple introduction. "I think it should be fair enough to give you such an opponent. Am I right?"
As the Bodhisattva of Misery, Ku Zhen did not doubt his ability. He knew very well that his ability was close to invincible below virtual god-level. He was fearless even when he encountered a perfect-stage demigod. However, the suppressive aura that the human-form monster Lin Huang summoned before him was similar to a Virtual God despite the fact that they had the same combat strength.
'Can this summoning beast be a quadruple mythical-level?!' A thought flashed through Ku Zhen's head all of a sudden.
The only explanation that made sense for someone having same combat strength as he did but gave out such a suppressing aura was that the monster was quadruple mutated!
Ku Zhen could not help but seem a little troubled after coming up with this logical explanation.
He had only heard about quadruple mutated monsters but never had he thought he would see a live one. Although he had definite confidence in his ability whereby he was fearless of opponents under virtual god-level, he had no confidence of defeating a quadruple mutated monster.
He stared at Killer for a moment with his guard up. He turned away all of a sudden and began looking at Lin Huang instead.
"Emperor Lin, it's boring for me to fight your summoning beast. Why don't both of us fight? I hear that you're the No. 1 genius of the era. I've actually been wanting to spar with you. Such an opportunity is hard to come by!"
Lin Huang interrupted Ku Zhen amusedly, "I'm an Imperial Censor. The battle technique I love to use the most is to summon a bunch of imperial monsters to surround and fight my opponent. Are you sure you want to challenge me in doing that? I have a couple of imperial monsters like Killer."
Ku Zhen was speechless. Initially, he thought he would fight Lin Huang himself. However, he had just realized that as an Imperial Censor, Lin Huang would usually summon his imperial monsters to fight according to what he had just told him. Meanwhile, he did not even have the confidence to fight Killer alone. If it was true that Lin Huang had other imperial monsters with similar abilities, him challenging Lin Huang would be seeking death.
"How about this? I'll give you a chance to fight me if you manage to defeat Killer. I'll show you the rest of my imperial monsters and whether you win or not, I'll let you go." Lin Huang smirked because there was another thing that he did not say out loud. 'Given that you manage to survive being surrounded by a bunch of imperial monsters.'
Naturally, Ku Zhen managed to read between the lines. He was looking even more aghast now.
Initially, he could have left as soon as he defeated one imperial monster. The situation backfired when he attempted to play it smart by challenging Lin Huang himself.
Lin Huang ignored Ku Zhen's reaction and turned his head to say to Killer with a smile. "Kill him and I'll reward you with 300 sword skills. But if you lose, you'll lose three months worth of snacks."
Two golden glaring beams of light lit up under the hat when Lin Huang said that while two electric arcs stretched from the glows almost at the same time.
Killer appeared before Ku Zhen in the blink of an eye.
"That's quick!" Ku Zhen's pupils shrunk. He did not see Killer's movements at all, so he could barely catch his movement trajectory.
He swung the long, narrow battle sword in his hand and charged.
At the same time, Killer stretched his big hand under the cloak. A huge, black sword appeared in his hand secretly. The blade alone was at least two meters long while its width was similar to the size of Killer's waist.
One could imagine how heavy such a sword was. However, it seemed like it weighed nothing in Killer's hand.
He held a sword up and charged the pitch-black sword forward like a lightning bolt. It collided with the long sword in Ku Zhen's hand in a heartbeat.
Ku Zhen's robe fluttered while Life Power charged out of his body. White mist lingered around his body.
However, Ku Zhen felt an immense strength coming from the sword during the point of collision. The intense impact made him shoot out without him having the ability to control it.
He felt that his right arm that was holding the sword had gone numb. He almost lost grip of the long, narrow battle sword in his hand.
Clearly, the opponent's strength was on a different level.
On the other side, Killer stood immobile like a rock. His cloak was fluttering with the flapping sound in the air while black mist coiled around his body. The only thing that could be seen were the two golden glows under the hat as he gazed in the direction where Ku Zhen had fallen in a condescending way.
The eyes under Killer's hat lit up before Ku Zhen fell onto the ground completely. His cloak was fluttering like boiling water all of a sudden before he disappeared from where he was.
Two golden beams flashed through the sky, and a black silhouette appeared above Ku Zhen. He had a slight change of expression when he noticed the golden glow approaching.
Killer was swinging his sword again while Ku Zhen's right arm that was holding the sword was still numb. He could not do anything.
If the sword touched him, even though the attack would be blocked by his god relic battle armor, the Divine Power in his body would be drained significantly.
An idea flashed through Ku Zhen's head as he thought about this. In a split second, he summoned a Combat Soul.
A bronze Buddha statue appeared, blocking Ku Zhen and Killer. The statue held up its palm which collided with the giant sword in Killer's hand.
As the statue flew backward, Ku Zhen bought himself time to escape, seizing the opportunity. Dust flew up as he landed on the ground, covering his body. Killer hovered in the air while sensing Ku Zhen's location with his Territory skill.
Meanwhile, Lin Huang who was watching the battle from far away raised his brow.
He figured that the Combat Soul that Ku Zhen had summoned to save him was clearly a God Figurine's Combat Soul because only a God Figurine's Combat Soul could have withstood Killer's sword attack earlier.
"He's only on imperial-level purple gold-rank. How did he manage to activate a God Figurine's Combat Soul?"
"That's nothing surprising. After all, he has Divine Power in his body," the stone tablet piped up.
"Divine Power… in an imperial-level purple gold-rank's body?" Lin Huang narrowed his eyes. "Which means his cultivation technique is different from the usual one in this world!"
"It's different indeed." The stone tablet explained slowly, "The cultivation technique he has is similar to an organization that used to be in the great world. The organization was called the Demonic Buddhist Sect. However, it was destroyed by a Heavenly God from an organization called the Buddhist Sect after existing for over a hundred years.
"The Buddhist Sect cultivates Reincarnation Dao whereby they would salvage souls for reincarnation. Meanwhile, the founder of the Demonic Buddhist Sect, the Demonic Buddhist Old Man, found a way to cultivate by engulfing souls from a Buddhist Sect's forbidden skill. He then created a new method — the Demonic Buddhist Telekinesis — with the forbidden skill as the foundation.
"This brat from Misery seems to be cultivating Demonic Buddhist Telekinesis. He must've engulfed quite a number of souls since his Divine Telekinesis is almost formed. Its intensity is even higher than your pseudo-Divine Telekinesis. Moreover, the shape of the inked relic in his body that's similar to a Godhead has formed. There's a sea of Divine Power in it. He'll be able to form it completely within half a year to a year. He'll get to destiny-level (virtual god-level) by then."
"So, are you saying that the Demonic Buddhist Sect that's been destroyed in the great world might be Misery's mastermind?"
"That's pretty impossible. The Demonic Buddhist Sect has been destroyed over 50,000 years ago while Misery has only been founded over 600 years ago. There shouldn't be any relationship between these two." The stone tablet dismissed such a possibility directly.
"Why is it impossible? What if someone from the Demonic Buddhist Sect survived back then and escaped to our world?" Lin Huang asked again.
"Well, that's possible," the stone tablet proceeded, "There's no need for us to guess on our own. You'll find out after you read the trio's minds later."
Chapter 1169: A Losing Battle
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Soon, Killer, who was in the air, locked onto Ku Zhen's coordinates with its Territory skill. He picked up his sword and swung it from where he was.
The black crescent-shaped sword attacks charged insanely at Ku Zhen one after another.
Ku Zhen dodged the attacks in the dust without stopping. He tried his best not to confront Killer's attacks as much as he could, appearing very clumsy.
His white robe was filled with dust and soil, and there were many tears on it too.
Lin Huang, who was watching the battle from far away, could not help but smirk. He knew what Ku Zhen was planning to do.
The goal was simple. He wanted to drain Killer's Life Power. Killer's attacks would drain Life Power tens of times more than he would. As long as he dragged it out long enough, it was sufficient to drain Killer's Life Power.
Naturally, Ku Zhen's plan would work theoretically.
The problem was that apart from the Life Power in his body, Killer would obtain Life Power from Lin Huang's side, and his Life Power was almost endless. Ku Zhen's plan was clearly a smart idea that would never work.
Of course, he should not be blamed. Most experienced powerhouses might do what Ku Zhen was doing when they encountered such a sword cultivator monster with powerful attack abilities like Killer.
However, Ku Zhen was unfortunate to have encountered Killer today.
Even though Killer's capability of draining the Life Power was tens of times more than his, if he compared who would drain their Life Power first, Ku Zhen would definitely be the one.
Unfortunately, Ku Zhen had no idea about that. He was thinking to himself while dodging Killer's attacks clumsily, 'Let's see how much longer you can attack like this! I'll let you brag for now, and I'll teach you a lesson when your Life Power is drained!'
Lin Huang was watching Ku Zhen running around like a dog that had lost its home in the dust gleefully. He did not plan to tell Ku Zhen that Killer's Life Power was impossible to be drained at all. He was watching a show, waiting for Ku Zhen to realize something was wrong.
Time passed in the dreamland.
Ku Zhen had been suppressed by Killer to the point that he only managed to attack a few times. All the while, he had been dodging and defending himself from Killer's attacks.
The Dynasty headquarters was in a mess in the dreamland. Apart from the Emperor Palace, a few god relic palaces, and the mothership that were in one piece, all of the other buildings had turned into ashes.
If not for the layer of defense covering the place, Ku Zhen would have escaped from Dynasty since the beginning.
Ku Zhen was persistent in his battle plan as he did not want to fight Killer head-on.
The battle went on for half an hour. Ku Zhen gave everything that he could to dodge the attacks. He would drain his Life Power to defend himself from those attacks that he could not dodge in time. Sometimes, he might be hit by the impact of the attack. In reality, those were draining his Life Power significantly.
He had drained more than half of the Life Power in his body throughout the half an hour. However, Killer who initiated the attacks did not seem tired at all.
Ku Zhen finally noticed something wrong. He realized that Killer did not exhibit any exhaustion at all. Theoretically, such a high-frequency attack that would be harmful should drain his Life Power significantly. However, Killer did not seem to experience a drop in his attack frequency and strength. On the contrary, it was even boosted a little bit.
The peculiarity made Ku Zhen suspect that Lin Huang might be using some special technique to replenish Killer's Life Power. He then raised his suspicion. "Emperor Lin, this is just a sparring session. Do you really think you should replenish your summoning beast's Life Power?"
"Oh, I forgot to tell you this. This summoning beast of mine is rather special whereby the Life Power in his body is endless, so it can't be drained," Lin Huang explained while smiling calmly.
Ku Zhen was speechless to hear that. He did not suspect the authenticity of what Lin Huang told him. Mythical-level monsters could not be measured in theory, thus it was not surprising for them to have a certain ability.
However, Ku Zhen realized that he had wasted half an hour after finding out about Killer's ability.
He was running around like a stray dog, not even daring to fight back because he was scared to lose his precious Life Power. However, he drained over half of his Life Power throughout the half an hour. Meanwhile, his opponent attacked him for over half an hour but none of the latter's Life Power was drained.
The thought of it alone made him mad!
"No, my Life Power will be drained if I go on like this. I'll be the one who will be killed by then." Ku Zhen frowned and thought hard about it. He realized there was only one way to end this cycle, which was to fight with all his might!
After making up his mind that he had no second option, Ku Zhen clenched his teeth and leaped with immense strength. He got out of the dusty area and dodged Killer's attacks one after another as he charged towards Killer.
'He's fighting a losing battle.' Lin Huang's eyes lit up. He was excited to see the head-on battle between the two sword cultivators.
In the air, Ku Zhen managed to dodge all of Killer's attacks like a slippery loach. Soon, he arrived before Killer.
He smashed his long, narrow sword against the gigantic black sword in Killer's hand.
Ku Zhen was attacking out of rage. He held almost nothing back, even activating the Divine Power in the inked relic in his body. He wanted to destroy Killer unexpectedly.
Killer did not hold back either. As a quadruple mutated mythical-level monster, although he was only on imperial-level purple gold-rank, he could activate his Divine Power too. However, he did not usually do it because it brought more burden upon his body.
Ku Zhen activating his Divine Power triggered Killer to activate his too.
Inky black Divine Power flowed out like liquid and engulfed his entire battle sword in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile, Ku Zhen's Divine Power was white, completely contrasting to Killer's.
The different Divine Powers collided together through the swords.
Glaring golden glows of light shot into the sky from the point of collision in the next second.
It was only a small dot size of a sesame seed, but it began growing rapidly in the next second. Within almost two breaths, it turned into a giant, golden sphere with a diameter of over three meters. It then exploded.
The glaring golden light spread tens of kilometers away. Clearly, the defense in the dreamland did not block the peculiar scene out entirely.
The golden glow that exploded from Killer and Ku Zhen's collision illuminated tens of thousands of kilometers away like a sun.
Fortunately, it was just a dreamland.
If this happened in reality, one would wonder how many innocents would be involved in this battle and died from the impact of the collision.
Lin Huang's eyes lit up as he watched the phenomenon. He could barely look away from the golden sphere that erupted.
"That's my Killer. His ability has totally reached virtual god-level standard!"
Chapter 1170: Death is The Starting Point to The Other Side
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
A white silhouette flew out of the battle the moment when the golden light exploded in the air.
Lin Huang looked closely to see that it was Ku Zhen in a white robe.
In reality, Lin Huang expected that to happen.
Killer showcased his Virtual God rank-1 ability in this battle.
Although Ku Zhen's ability was also powerful, he was slightly weaker than a virtual god-level. He might be able to fight a perfect-stage demigod-level when he encountered one. In fact, he might even win, but that was the best that he could do.
However, Lin Huang clearly sensed that Ku Zhen's aura did not fade.
Although he had been suppressed by Killer in the collision, he was not dead. Lin Huang could even tell from his aura that he was not harmed physically.
Lin Huang looked at the layer of white glow that was spinning rapidly around his body. He plainly saw that the layer of Divine Power did not defend the impact of the golden glow by force. Instead, it was spinning quickly around his body and absorbed most of the impact.
"This guy is pretty good in battle."
Killer charged immediately since the attack did not kill his opponent, going after Ku Zhen again.
Ku Zhen did not choose to retreat. Instead, he activated his Divine Power again and went after Killer as he moved.
…
The white and black silhouettes collided again and again in the air. Circles of energy waves and strong winds were created.
The Dynasty headquarters was a mess in the dreamland. Apart from the areas that were protected by god relics, almost every inch of the land looked like it had been dug by excavators on Earth.
Although Ku Zhen had given up his battle model of not draining his Life Power, even initiating the attacks, the difference in the duo's ability soon began one-sided.
Ku Zhen would always be the one who would be shot out during each collision.
Killer would go after him again and again, but Ku Zhen was extraordinarily persistent.
He had the upper hand depending on the god relic sword in his hand and god relic battle armor. Together with his exquisite movement skill and unique charging methods, he managed to avoid being annihilated by Killer with all of the techniques that he had.
Desperately looking for opportunities to attack again and again, he would swing his sword whenever he found an opening. He was unwilling to lose any chance of winning.
"This guy has compelling battle talent. He's considered the top among supreme geniuses. He might be on par with Chan Dou," Lin Huang could not help but comment. He even began to be curious about other Bodhisattvas from Misery after watching Ku Zhen's performance.
In comparison, Killer lacked battle experience.
In reality, his ability was a level more powerful than Ku Zhen's. With his endless Life Power and Divine Power, theoretically, he should have the upper hand. However, he failed to kill Ku Zhen as they fought for more than ten minutes.
However, Lin Huang did not panic at all. He saw Killer improving throughout the battle with Ku Zhen, so he did not bother urging him. Instead, he was happy to see Killer practicing with Ku Zhen who was like a sandbag to him.
Time passed by, and Ku Zhen's will was decreasing. His Divine Power and Life Power were almost drained. Meanwhile, his opponent's Life Power was endless like what Lin Huang said. From the beginning until the end, his battle will did not dip even for a second and his attacks remained consistent.
Lin Huang, who was watching the battle, smiled as he watched Ku Zhen changed his battle model again. He began dodging Killer's attacks and refused to fight head-on again.
"He should only be left with less than a tenth of Divine Power in his body. The possibility of him turning the tables around is slim."
In reality, Killer's ability in the battle was not stagnant. As Ku Zhen's Life Power was dropping, he was learning continuously. His mythical-level learning ability allowed him to digest Ku Zhen's battle model in less than an hour. He had also found a way to counter him.
Killer's attack mode changed all of a sudden as Lin Huang watched in surprise.
His initial attack mode was quick and fierce. However, his attack this time became a mix of light and heavy, quick and slow, and even illusory sometimes.
Lin Huang's eyes lit up when he saw the change.
Ku Zhen was dodging even more clumsily since the change. While he tried to figure out why Killer changed his battle model, he felt more and more troubled.
A respectable Bodhisattva like him had become a monster's sandbag. What was more pathetic was that the monster was somebody else's summoning beast!
As Ku Zhen felt anxious, a black silhouette flashed by and stopped before him.
He looked up to see that it was Killer. However, his sword remained in the scabbard, and he seemed like he was not planning to attack.
"Show me what else you have. Otherwise, you won't ever have the chance again." Killer's voice was deep and a little husky. He sounded like a middle-aged man who was a heavy smoker.
Ku Zhen grinned ferociously just when Killer was done speaking. The narrow, long battle sword in his hand lit up. Almost at the same time, he disappeared from where he was. Lin Huang's pupils shrunk.
In the air, a white glow shot out like a lightning bolt, reaching Killer in almost the blink of an eye and targeting his forehead.
Nevertheless, Killer was calm. He twisted the giant sword in his hand. Then, it shrunk rapidly and turned into a long, narrow sword. It was even thinner than Ku Zhen's sword.
Killer only changed while swinging his battle sword after the sword experienced a change in form. Soon, he disappeared.
His black sword also flew forward like a lightning bolt. It was even a few times faster than Ku Zhen's attack.
Even Lin Huang could barely capture Killer's trajectory.
What surprised Lin Huang was that he saw the shadow of the sword skill Thunder Sting that he cultivated before in the swing of the sword.
Clearly, Killer had integrated many human sword skills with his own sword skills.
It was evident that Ku Zhen did not expect Killer to be able to change the form of the battle sword in his hand. Besides that, his sword was even a few times faster than his top speed.
The black and white bolts of lightning collided in the air. Before an explosion could erupt from the collision, Killer had activated the Divine Power in his body this time.
The black Divine Power was like a flood that broke out of a dam, suppressing Ku Zhen's charge of Life Power that was depleting.
Ku Zhen's heart dropped entirely when he saw the black Divine Power coming at him like a wave.
In reality, he was attempting to win by speed whereby he would severe Killer's head when he was unaware. Therefore, he held nothing back when he attacked earlier. He funneled all of the Divine Power in his body into it, causing him to drain the Divine Power in his body completely. Even the god relic armor and the god relic battle sword in his hand retreated back into his body because his Divine Power had been drained.
Without his god relics, Ku Zhen stood where he was calmly. He watched the black wave coming at him expressionlessly.
Seeing that he was going to drown, Ku Zhen opened his arms wide all of a sudden. He mumbled softly while showing a slight smile, "Death is the starting point to the other side…"
His entire body was engulfed by the black wave completely before he was even done speaking.