1501-1510

Chapter 1501: Hunt and Plunder

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After successfully hunting down his first heavenly god-level aberrant species, Lin Huang continued to heading deeper into the Heavenly God domain.

With this first hunting experience under his belt, he had become more proficient with borrowing the god sequence chains within his inner world.

On top of his Divine Telekinesis, which was comparable to that of Heavenly Gods, he had telekinetic God Weapons equivalent to god sequence relics, as well as the borrowed god sequence chains. With these three things compounded together, Lin Huang's subsequent hunts for prisoners in the Heavenly God domain went smoothly.

His kill points were also steadily increasing.

Every time he completed a hunt, his points would skyrocket by a hundred points; those in second place with single-digit points were left far behind.

At first, everyone was shocked when they saw the name "Xiu Mu" suddenly earn 100 points. Many people even thought that he was just lucky and had encountered a weaker Heavenly God.

However, as Lin Huang's points dramatically increased again and again, everyone finally realized that not only was this dark horse lucky, but he actually also possessed top-tier abilities.

The initial doubts that they had about Lin Huang quickly vanished without a trace.

Of course, there were still a small number of people who suspected Lin Huang of cheating.

However, outside the secret territory, the numerous Heavenly God team leaders who were watching the surveillance video could see every single one of Lin Huang's battles very clearly.

Beginning with the first aberrant species, Lin Huang had overcome all obstacles in his path, directly confronting the heavenly god-level prisoners one by one and practically crushing them all, one after another. His performance thus far had utterly overshadowed the accomplishments of all other participants.

The several grade-7 organization team leaders watched, incessantly envious.

"Why do I feel as if he hasn't utilized his full strength yet? He seems unperturbed no matter what kind of opponent he faces."

"Do you guys think Xiu Mu possesses abilities equivalent to second-rank heavenly god-level?!"

"We'll find out immediately whether or not he does have abilities equivalent to second-rank." The Heavenly God team leader of God Capital stole a glance at Buried Heaven while keeping a poker face. "Given his current flight path, barring the unexpected, he's probably headed for Evil Eye."

When the Heavenly Gods present heard that, they hurriedly looked at Lin Huang's route.

Evil Eye was no stranger to all of them.

Evil Eye was a genuine Abyssal creature; to be precise, it had been born an evil spirit type.

Outside the Abyss, the tribe it belonged to was often called the Giant Eyeball Monsters.

This was because their appearance was that of a huge eyeball that had been surgically removed, but with hundreds of fleshy tentacles that were still connected to its lower body.

Evil Eye was no exception. It was just inherently a bit stronger than its other tribemates and had been a quintuple mutation from birth.

Its forte was using illusions to mentally manipulate others, and it was even capable of controlling other living creatures.

After being captured by God Capital and imprisoned in this secret prisoner territory, Evil Eye had even caused mayhem once. It had silently taken control of hundreds of heavenly god-level monsters—several of which were at second-rank—and tyrannized the entire Heavenly God domain.

Only after God Capital discovered what was going on did they send people to beat it into submission.

After news of the incident involving Evil Eye filtered out, several True God geniuses from various major organizations, who possessed heavenly god-level abilities, set their sights on Evil Eye as a hunting target.

When the secret territory was opened during that time, several top-tier True God powerhouses participated in the hunt for Evil Eye.

In the end, the hunt had been a dismal failure, and even the True God genius from the Combat God Temple had been killed on the spot.

The rest of the geniuses had been rescued by the staff of God Capital.

After this battle, there was an extremely long period where no hunter dared to attack Evil Eye.

In the following tens of thousands of years, there were several geniuses who also made attempts at targeting Evil Eye, but these attempts all ended in disastrous defeats—some even paid for it with their lives.

From then on, Evil Eye had utterly become taboo in the secret prisoner territory, and no one dared to even think of attacking it anymore.

This time around, however, when the secret territory was opened, this dark horse Lin Huang had set his sights on that particular hunting target.

In reality, the reason Lin Huang had targeted Evil Eye was very simple. It was only because Evil Eye was conveniently on the route he was taking, and it happened to be nearby. Lin Huang was too lazy to make a detour to find another hunting target.

The numerous Heavenly Gods outside the secret territory did not know that Lin Huang had targeted Evil Eye because of an odd reason like this. They thought that Xiu Mu had known from the very beginning how powerful Evil Eye was and had planned to hunt it down from the start, only so he could prove that he was stronger than all the previous top-tier True God powerhouses!

Of course, Lin Huang had indeed heard the story about Evil Eye.

The information provided by Buried Heaven had explained matters regarding Evil Eye very clearly.

However, in Lin Huang's view, this monster posed very little threat to him.

Lin Huang was also not aware that his decision had made Buried Heaven's heart sink a little, from where he was on the outside of the secret territory.

Although Buried Heaven had always been confident in Lin Huang's abilities, he was still not very optimistic about the outcome of this battle.

As Evil Eye was proficient in illusions and psychic-level techniques, cultivators with insufficient spirit strength would immediately fall prey to its manipulations and would be incapable of breaking free.

Although Evil Eye was only a first-rank Heavenly God, its spirit strength was comparable to that of a second-rank. With the additional compounded effects of two types of illusion-type god sequence chains, most second-rank Heavenly Gods with slightly weaker spirit strength would succumb to its power—what more Lin Huang, whose actual combat strength was only at first-rank true god-level.

However, Buried Heaven's expression betrayed no hint of his thoughts.

This caused some uncertainty among the spectators who had originally wanted to start up another wager.

At this moment, the team leader of God Capital suddenly spoke up after hesitating for a moment.

"I'll be the dealer for this fight; let's start another round of betting!

"Those betting on Evil Eye to win, place your wagers by my left hand; those betting on Xiu Mu to win, place your wagers by my right hand…"

The numerous Heavenly Gods present placed their bets one after another, and just like before, most of them chose Evil Eye.

Nonetheless, due to Lin Huang's stunning performance previously, the number of people who chose him increased visibly compared to before.

After almost everyone had finalized their bets, Buried Heaven stepped forward and once again took out his storage ring from earlier.

In this storage ring were not only the initial ten high-level god sequence relics that he had used as wagers but also all the wagered items that Buried Heaven had won during the first two games.

He picked the ring up with two fingers and placed it on Xiu Mu's side without any hesitation.

This was not because he had confidence in Lin Huang. It was just that to him, even if he were to lose, he would be losing nothing more than ten high-level god sequence relics. As for what he had won from the previous two games, the worst that could happen would just be him returning everything. As Lin Huang's team leader, he had never felt that 'Lin Huang losing' was an option, even from the start.

Inside the God Territory, Lin Huang sped along while checking the state of things within his body.

"I've hunted down seven Heavenly Gods, so seven more god sequence chains have been added within me. The number of rules has also increased dramatically by more than forty thousand types, making a total of more than eighty thousand types. My Divine Fires have become much stronger, and the area of the God Territory within me has expanded to more than five times its original size…"

This was different from with the Sword Servants, where only the rules that they had mastered were projected into Lin Huang's inner world. Lin Huang's hunt for Heavenly Gods was so he could directly plunder everything from the dead, including all the rules within their inner worlds, the power of their world wills, and even all the living things that were contained within their inner worlds.

It was just that Lin Huang was still unsure of how to advance to second-rank true god-level…

Chapter 1502: Advancement to Second-Rank

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Following the route from the memories that he had acquired, Lin Huang quickly found his next target—Evil Eye.

He already had an understanding of Evil Eye from the information provided by Buried Heaven.

Although it was a first-rank Heavenly God, Evil Eye had been born as a quintuple mutated evil spirit type. Moreover, at first rank, it had already mastered two god sequence chains.

Evil Eye's greatest forte was the two god sequence chains it had mastered—one was an illusion-type while the other was an enchantment-type. These two types complemented each other; not only could the effects be compounded perfectly, but they also made up for each other's shortcomings. When both these sequence powers were compounded, the effect exceeded even the compounded effects of many second-rank Heavenly Gods' god sequence chains.

This was also why Evil Eye had been able to control several second-rank Heavenly Gods when it had newly entered this secret prisoner territory.

However, even after Lin Huang had found out about this evil spirit type's forte, he still chose not to bypass it. Instead, he continued to follow his original route and even included Evil Eye on his hunting list.

In fact, this course of action was rather baffling to the many Heavenly Gods outside the secret territory.

Some believed that Lin Huang had chosen Evil Eye as his target because he wanted to prove that he was more powerful than all the previous True Gods.

However, Buried Heaven did not think this was the case. He did not know Lin Huang on that deep a level, but he did have a general idea of the other's personality. He knew that Lin Huang was not the kind of person who would do something unprecedented, just to make himself stand out. If he decided to do something, it was usually because he wanted to, which had nothing to do with how others perceived it.

This was also why Buried Heaven was more confused than the rest. Try as he might, he could not understand it—why would Lin Huang choose such a challenging hunting target?!

What was even more puzzling to him was the fact that Lin Huang had dared to challenge this Evil Eye. What on earth was he counting on?!

In the surveillance video, Lin Huang had swiftly intruded into Evil Eye's territory.

As a being whose spirit strength was at second-rank heavenly god-level, Evil Eye had detected Lin Huang's intrusion very early on.

If this had been the outside world, it would have been itching to attack Lin Huang ages ago.

However, there were rules in this secret prisoner territory. Heavenly god-level powerhouses were not allowed to attack participants first unless confirmed that they were the participant's hunting target.

Evil Eye still had lingering fears from its last suppression by God Capital and naturally did not dare to cross the line. If the other party was merely passing through, and it took the initiative to attack them, that would only cause God Capital to send another powerhouse to suppress it.

However, Lin Huang's intentions were very clear. After he had sensed Evil Eye's location, he turned his flight path straight toward it.

Evil Eye could not help getting excited by this.

It could clearly determine that the other was targeting it.

One must know that it had been many years since it had last battled participants from the outside world. However, it still clearly remembered just how delicious the participant that it had eaten previously tasted.

At the thought of the delicacy that was the Divine Power within a Protoss' body, it was so excited that it could not help its tentacles from swaying about.

Evil Eye had just gotten excited when it noticed that a figure had suddenly appeared not far in front of it. Fixing its gaze on the newcomer, it was shocked to see that this was the participant from just now.

As it could not take the initiative to attack, it could only suppress its excitement as it carefully took stock of the other party.

The strength of the other's aura was only that of an ordinary ninth-rank True God and was nothing special. Based on his aura alone, he was practically the weakest of all the hunters who had challenged it.

Evil Eye speculated that the other was either extremely arrogant or had some special technique up his sleeve. However, it thought that the former was more likely.

At the same time that Evil Eye was sizing Lin Huang up, Lin Huang was also sizing it up in return.

Evil Eye was a giant eyeball with a sinister crimson pupil, about three meters in diameter, just floating in the air. Attached to the back of the eyeball was a large slab of scarlet flesh with hundreds of tentacles extending from it…

It was definitely a horrifying sight.

Moreover, Lin Huang could clearly sense that this Evil Eye in front of him had an aura strength that was much stronger than that of the Heavenly Gods he had previously hunted. In fact, its aura was practically almost as strong as that of a second-rank.

'It seems the rumors are probably true but based solely on its aura, its abilities won't be weaker than most average second-rank Heavenly Gods…' Lin Huang made this deduction in an instant.

Sensing that Lin Huang's energy was locked onto it, Evil Eye was overjoyed and launched an attack without hesitation.

Both of its pupils suddenly radiated red light, just like a scarlet full moon lighting up the night sky.1 The hazy red glow shone silently, illuminating an area that was several dozen kilometers in radius.

Lin Huang was not exempt from being enveloped within the glow…

Being locked onto by the other's energy meant that the other party was targeting it, so Evil Eye had no hesitation in making the first move.

Initiating the first move under these circumstances was implicitly allowed according to the rules of the secret territory.

The rule of not being allowed to make the first move was only in effect when one was unable to confirm the participant's intention, as the other party could just be passing by. Once the participant's hunting goal was clear, however, the prisoner who was being targeted would be allowed to take action first.

The establishment of this rule was to mainly prevent bored fellows from mindlessly provoking the Heavenly God prisoners.

Those outside the secret territory witnessed Evil Eye suddenly attacking, while Lin Huang merely remained where he was without doing anything at all.

Numerous Heavenly Gods watching the fight felt their hearts sink.

Although many of them had bet on Evil Eye during the wager, most of them still hoped to see Lin Huang continuing to make miracles happen.

Even if he was not a member of their own organizations, it was still a good thing for the God Territory to have another gifted genius like this.

Most of them did not want to see Lin Huang killed here.

Despite that, all the Heavenly God team leaders also knew that if he failed to make the first move against Evil Eye, there would be practically no chance for him to turn the tables.

It would only be possible to break free from the illusions Evil Eye had put in place if the person's spirit strength was stronger than Evil Eye's.

"Xiu Mu hasn't moved at all for the last three seconds. He's obviously succumbed to the illusions. This battle has lost all its suspense," the Heavenly God team leader of the Combat God Temple murmured colorlessly.

"Senior Buried Heaven, should we intervene now?!" The Heavenly God team leader of God Capital asked.

Buried Heaven frowned slightly. He had not expected that Lin Huang could not withstand even this first testing round.

Just when he was deliberating whether or not they should wait and see, in the surveillance video, Lin Huang suddenly raised his head and looked at Evil Eye.

"Is this your most powerful technique? It seems what I expected from you was a little too high."

As soon as he said this, tens of thousands of scarlet gleams shot out from his sleeve cuffs and instantly engulfed Evil Eye.

In less than a moment, Evil Eye's corpse—now resembling a puddle of pulverized meat—tumbled down from mid-air and onto the ground.

Two god sequence chains, as well as a massive number of Rule Bending Powers, began surging wildly into Lin Huang's body, and the God Territory within him also started to expand once again…

The number of Rule Bending Powers soared from more than eighty thousand types to ninety thousand types almost instantly.

At this moment, Lin Huang sensed that the ninety thousand-plus Rule Bending Powers had begun to feedback a wave of special energy directed toward his own body and soul.

His Divine Fires surged again, and his Divine Power began to transform. Even his physical body and soul seemed to have been bathed in that surge of special energy, advancing to a new level.

By the time the transformation was complete, Lin Huang could clearly feel that he had become stronger once again.

"I've finally advanced to second-rank!"

Only at this moment did Lin Huang finally figure out the way to advance his levels as a True God.

Chapter 1503: Hunting Down Second-Rank Heavenly Gods

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"How on earth did he pull that off?!"

"I don't know either. Did he succumb to the illusions and then break free of them, or did he not fall prey to Evil Eye's illusions in the first place?!"

"His spirit strength can't be that much stronger than Evil Eye's, can it?!"

Outside the secret territory, the group of Heavenly God team leaders saw Lin Huang's sudden counter-attack, and their faces were filled with shock. Even Buried Heaven was no exception.

They could not figure out at all why Lin Huang was not affected by Evil Eye's illusions.

With Evil Eye's spirit strength and the compounded effect of its two god sequence chains, the illusions that it created would affect even a lot of second-rank heavenly god-level powerhouses if they were not careful.

However, what they did not know was that Lin Huang's spirit strength was stronger than Xie Lin's, and his spiritual dimension was guarded by a spirit-type God Weapon that was comparable to a top-tier god sequence relic. (TN: We believe this is an author typo, and that instead of Xie Lin, it should be 'Evil Eye' as the Chinese character for 'evil' is the same as the character for 'Xie'. However, we have opted to translate it as is.)

This made Lin Huang completely immune to all spirit-type attacks from low-rank Heavenly Gods.

Evil Eye's illusions had indeed been unleashed, but the God Weapon had made Lin Huang directly immune to it.

Lin Huang remained where he was after Evil Eye activated its illusions, not because he had been caught in them but because he was distracted with checking the God Weapon's immunity effect.

He found that when his spirit strength was close to third-rank heavenly god-level, the God Weapon was immune to all spirit-type attacks from first to third-ranks. Moreover, this function of the God Weapon would only continue to increase alongside his own spirit strength.

When encountering opponents like Evil Eye, whose only forte lay in psychic-type techniques, most others would not touch them with a ten-foot pole, but to Lin Huang, they were like a meal served to him on a silver platter.

Those in the outside world were baffled, but Lin Huang was in a very good mood.

Finishing off Evil Eye had Awwnot only allowed him to successfully advance to second-rank, but it had also allowed him to figure out the way to continue his advancement.

'Turns out, my advancement depends on the number of rules within my inner world… At first-rank, more than thirty thousand rules were consolidated in one go, and I was only able to advance to second-rank when the number increased to ninety thousand. I don't know how many rules are needed to advance to third-rank…'

Although Lin Huang grumbled about this in his heart, he was not at a loss, however.

Now that he knew what to do to advance his levels, there was no need to ruminate over specific numbers. Besides, all he needed to do was to continue hunting down Heavenly Gods and plundering the rules from their inner worlds. As long as the number was sufficient, his combat level would naturally increase.

He just had to let nature take its course.

After obtaining the memories from Evil Eye's corpse—which had now turned into a pile of rotting flesh—and storing the body away, Lin Huang continued to head toward his next hunting target.

Outside the secret territory, Buried Heaven—who had once again won a fortune—put away his storage ring under the envious gazes of everyone else.

Quite a few people were still having a discussion regarding the exact technique Xiu Mu had used to avoid Evil Eye's illusion attack.

Buried Heaven remained where he was with a neutral expression, not participating in any of the discussions because he also did not know what exactly Lin Huang had done just now.

However, this battle had finally eased all his worries about Lin Huang.

Being able to kill Evil Eye meant that Lin Huang's abilities were already sufficient for him to run rampant among first-rank Heavenly Gods.

He did not need to worry about any slip-ups on Lin Huang's part anymore.

No one placed any bets during Lin Huang's next two hunts.

Lin Huang's performance was still stable and strong, and any opponents he encountered were eliminated within seconds.

In the short span of less than a day, he had already hunted and killed ten first-rank heavenly god-level prisoners, accumulating more than 1,000 hunting points and leaving everyone else far behind.

The other participants in the secret territory had practically become numb to this.

No one could have predicted that a dark horse such as Lin Huang would be so powerful that he could crush the prodigies trained by other organizations. Even several top-tier True God contenders with abilities equivalent to Heavenly Gods had been suppressed to the point that they could not even lift their heads.

After hunting and killing ten first-rank Heavenly God prisoners, Lin Huang's flight path once again aroused heated discussion among the many Heavenly Gods outside the secret territory.

"This route of Xiu Mu's—he's not trying to hunt down second-rank Heavenly Gods, is he?!"

"Looking at the direction he's moving in, it seems he really is heading toward the domain of the second-rank Heavenly Gods!"

"Is it because he feels that first-rank Heavenly Gods aren't challenging enough, so he wants to challenge stronger opponents?!"

"He was able to kill Evil Eye, which is enough to prove his abilities. I think it won't be difficult for him to hunt down regular second-rank Heavenly Gods."

"Judging from his previous performance hunting first-ranks, he probably still has a lot of energy left. I also want to see what exactly the limits of his abilities are."

Surprisingly this time, in regards to Lin Huang's decision, none of the Heavenly God onlookers raised any objections. Practically everyone was optimistic about the results of Lin Huang's next hunt.

Given the figurative slaps in the face that they had received previously, the two team leaders of the Combat God Temple and God Capital did not voice any more opinions. No one was sure if they were inwardly optimistic about Lin Huang or not.

As everyone was unanimously optimistic about the outcome, the next wager could not be started.

Everyone stared at the surveillance video. Lin Huang had been traveling swiftly for more than an hour, and had finally entered the territory of the first second-rank Heavenly God.

After an intense battle that lasted for more than half an hour, he successfully finished off his opponent.

Lin Huang's score increased by 200 points.

The Heavenly Gods who had been watching this battle were also debating about it.

This was because Lin Huang had only used one thunder god sequence chain from start to finish.

"Being able to kill second-rank Heavenly Gods is already not bad at all. It's considered on par with the previous record of a successful challenge by the highest combat strength."

"He relies entirely on the number of his telekinetic flying daggers to crush his opponents. This method is probably not that effective when going against a top second-rank powerhouse because there's a high chance of it being restricted by the opponent's speed or whatever other advantages they have."

"The strength of Xiu Mu's Divine Power, as well as the amount of his Divine Power, far exceeds that of an average True God, but no matter how strong he is in these two regards, there's still a limit. After all, he's only a True God. If he were to encounter an opponent who's able to take him on, the odds of him losing are also very high. The longer the fight goes on, the more disadvantageous it is to him."

While the numerous Heavenly Gods outside the secret territory were having their discussion, there was also uproar within the secret territory.

All the other contestants had been paying attention to the way Lin Huang's points skyrocketed.

Practically everyone noticed when his score went up by 200 points.

"If his score went up by 200 points in one go, does that mean he's successfully hunted down a second-rank Heavenly God?! Or did he kill two first-rank Heavenly Gods at the same time?!"

"This fellow has actually started hunting down second-rank Heavenly Gods already! It's still only the first day since the secret territory has been opened!"

"Hey hey, do you have to be so desperate?! I was initially planning on staying uninvolved and just minding my own business, but now I'm a little embarrassed about slacking off because of you."

"Is this fellow genuinely not cheating in some way?! Why have we never heard the name 'Xiu Mu' before this?!"

Naturally, Kylie and Bloody had also noticed Lin Huang's performance on the leaderboard.

Kylie, clad in battle armor with a battle spear in hand, stood stock-still on the spot as she stared at Xiu Mu's name on the leaderboard, making no movements at all for a long time.

Somewhere else, Bloody only briefly glanced at the leaderboard before putting the projection away, the corners of her lips quirking up slightly.

Chapter 1504: Advancement To Third-rank!

1

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After Lin Huang had successfully killed a second-rank Heavenly God, the geniuses of the various large organizations could not sit still any longer.

Numerous True God peak powerhouses who had mastered Rule Bending Power to Fullness-level stopped warming up and familiarizing themselves with their surroundings. They began advancing into the Heavenly God domain one after another.

They knew that if they did not start killing Heavenly Gods now, they would be utterly left in the dust by Xiu Mu. They would have absolutely no chance if they tried to catch up with him later.

As for the many True God powerhouses who were below top-tier, they were starting to step up their game to kill True God prisoners. They were working hard to better their final hunting points so they could obtain a higher ranking.

Including Xiu Mu, there were no more than ten peak powerhouses. Even if they were unable to beat these individuals, it would still be good to get into the top ten. If this did not work out, getting into the top twenty would not be that bad either.

As for those below true god-level, many Virtual Gods did not really have much to do with the Gold Leaderboard.

However, they saw that the points for first place on the Gold Leaderboard had already reached four digits. Meanwhile, things were still in single-digit numbers over here on the Silver Leaderboard, and there was only a difference of several points between the top ten.

This ignited everyone's fighting spirit.

After all, it was not the same as the massive difference in points on the Gold Leaderboard. The disparity in points over on the Silver Leaderboard had not yet widened to any considerable gap, and there were numerous top-notch powerhouses of similar ability, so the overall difference in ability was not very big. It was very hard to say who would take the top spot.

Outside the secret territory, the Heavenly Gods were enjoying the show.

Upon seeing that everyone's competitive spirit had been fired up by Lin Huang, they all felt that this was a good thing.

The secret prisoner territory was inherently a stage for individuals to showcase their ability and bring glory to their organizations.

All the team leaders of the various large organizations hoped that the trial participants they had brought along would give a stellar performance. After all, these trial participants were the central force of the entire organization and also its future.

Lin Huang was unaware of the changes that his participation had brought about in this trial.

He continued, as usual, calmly looking for his hunting target. After completing the kill, he then looked for the next one. This process was repeated…

For killing all the second-rank Heavenly Gods, he used a thunder god sequence chain from start to finish and did not use any others.

Although he only used one god sequence chain, there were tens of thousands of telekinetic flying daggers imbued with Rule Bending Power. The highest number of them used even reached eighty thousand, with victory achieved through sheer numbers.

This also perplexed the Heavenly God leaders watching outside the secret territory.

On one hand, they were astounded by Lin Huang's telekinetic control. On the other hand, they were also shocked by the strength of Lin Huang's telekinesis and the abundance of his Divine Power. Meanwhile, some of the Heavenly God team leaders were stunned by Lin Huang's wealth.

After all, god sequence relics used by Heavenly Gods were not cheap, and god sequence telekinetic weapon relics were even more valuable. Not only that, everyone could tell that this set of telekinetic weapons that Lin Huang used was not low-level.

There were even a few people who secretly speculated whether or not Xiu Mu might be a bastard son of either Buried Heaven or a Blood Sickle in Death Sickle.

In the secret territory, Lin Huang maintained an ongoing flow of killing second-rank Heavenly Gods.

For every second-rank Heavenly God that he killed, he could plunder about ten thousand types of Rule Bending Powers on average. After killing more than ten in a row, however, the Rule Bending Powers in his inner world had skyrocketed to more than two hundred thousand types, but his combat level was still not showing signs of a breakthrough.

He had been paying close attention to the number of rules in his inner world, all the way up until he killed the eighteenth individual. When the number of rules in his body increased to two hundred and seventy thousand, his combat level finally achieved a breakthrough.

He had advanced from second-rank to third-rank true god-level!

"Is it in increments of three?!" Lin Huang had a rough idea about the rules of his advancement.

When he evolved to true god-level in the beginning, there were more than thirty thousand rules within him. His advancement to second-rank used ninety thousand rules, and his current elevation to third-rank used two hundred and seventy thousand. Calculating based on this pattern, his advancement to fourth-rank should require eight hundred and eleven thousand rules.

With this calculation in mind, Lin Huang continued hunting.

However, his hunting targets also began evolving from second-rank Heavenly Gods to third-rank Heavenly Gods.

There was no particular reason for this, merely the fact that third-rank Heavenly Gods contained more rules within their inner worlds. Thus, it was more efficient to plunder them.

Realizing that Lin Huang's movements were out of the ordinary once again, all the Heavenly God team leaders outside the secret territory shifted their eyes to his video projection once more.

"This flight route of Xiu Mu's seems to be heading toward the domain of the third-rank Heavenly Gods…"

"This guy can't possibly be thinking of killing third-rank Heavenly Gods, can he?!"

"He's only mastered one god sequence chain and wants to kill third-rank Heavenly Gods. I'm afraid that's going to be a bit difficult." The team leader of the God Territory shook his head slightly, evidently not optimistic about Lin Huang's behavior.

"At best, his abilities are at second-rank level. To kill second-rank Heavenly Gods, he relies entirely on the number of his telekinetic flying daggers to tire his opponents to death. If he wants to use the same tactic to kill third-ranks, I'm afraid that in the end, he'll tire himself to death." The team leader of the Combat God Temple also shook his head.

"It seems like no trial participant has ever challenged third-rank Heavenly Gods in the secret prisoner territory before, right?! Regardless of whether Xiu Mu succeeds in his challenge, just this attempt alone means he's surpassed all the trial participants before him." At this moment, the team leader of Xeno suddenly popped up to support Lin Huang.

"How do you know that Xiu Mu doesn't have other trump cards to play?" Divine Clapnet's team leader had a playful expression on their face. When they spoke, they even purposely glanced at Buried Heaven, who was not far away. Alas, they were unable to pick up any clues.

Out of the five major grade-7 organizations, four had already indicated who they were rooting for.

Seeing that many people were sneaking glances at them, the Heavenly God team leader of Precious Treasure Pavilion chuckled and spoke.

"I won't share my opinion and offend people. If any of these trial participants were to evolve to lord-level one day, they'll be a big customer of our Precious Treasure Pavilion. However, if all of you really want to keep arguing, I'm actually happy to be the host and open up a new round of bets.

"Let's raise the stakes for this round and only accept high-level god sequence relics—three items to start with!

"Those who are interested are welcome to play."

The moment the Heavenly God team leader of Precious Treasure Pavilion spoke, everyone fell silent.

These initial stakes caused the Heavenly God team leaders of several grade-5 organizations to shiver in their shoes. They did not even dare to speak, as all the high-level god sequences relics they had on them probably added up to only about three to five items.

As for the team leaders of the grade-6 organizations, they remained silent as well. For most of them, these were extremely cut-throat stakes.

As for the several grade-7 organizations, they too said nothing more.

It was not that they were unable to afford the stakes, but they were unsure whether or not they could win.

The two team leaders of the Combat God Temple and God Capital who had been humiliated by Lin Huang earlier were still slightly psychologically affected.

Although they had said that they were not optimistic about Lin Huang, they had a vague feeling in their hearts that this fellow probably had more trump cards to play. Perhaps he really might succeed in killing third-rank Heavenly Gods.

Although the team leaders of Xeno and Divine Clapnet said that they were optimistic about Lin Huang, their logic was also telling them that Lin Huang's chances of winning this round were not high. He had probably never even thought about successfully killing third-rank Heavenly Gods and just wanted to give it a try.

As soon as the Heavenly God team leader of Precious Treasure Pavilion spoke, no one responded for a while.

After a long while, seeing that no one was saying anything, Buried Heaven finally reached forward and took out the storage ring from before.

"I bet that Xiu Mu will win!"

Everyone instantly looked at Buried Heaven.

However, the Heavenly God team leader of Precious Treasure Pavilion did not take the stakes from Buried Heaven, scanning the crowd over instead. "Does anyone bet that Xiu Mu will lose?! If there are none, this round of bets can't be placed."

Still, no one answered for a long while.

Even the team leaders of the several grade-7 organizations were avoiding the eyes of Precious Treasure Pavilion's Heavenly God.

"If you all don't take part, then don't blame me." The Heavenly God team leader of Precious Treasure Pavilion spread their hands toward Buried Heaven.

Upon seeing this, Buried Heaven took the storage ring back and did not speak anymore.

Many of the Heavenly God team leaders were secretly speculating about whether or not they had been fooled by Buried Heaven—or did Xiu Mu really have the ability to kill third-rank Heavenly Gods?!

Chapter 1505: Stitch

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Stitch was an evil spirit type born in the Abyss. When it was born, it was puny, and its form was a puddle of flesh the size of a fist. It did not even have teeth or claws and could be called the bottom-most organism of the Abyssal food chain.

It still vividly remembered that its ascension had originated from devouring a section of bone fragment during its childhood.

It was a section of bone fragment with Divine properties. Perhaps this fractured bone fragment had slipped out of the mouth of a random God, who was being hunted by a stronger existence.

The remnants of the Divine properties within the bone fragment allowed Stitch's life form to miraculously transform during its childhood.

Not only did it completely break away from its original life form, but it also strengthened its inherent instincts.

It could swallow and transform the flesh of all living bodies, turning them into a part of its own body.

While this ability allowed Stitch to become stronger, it also caused its body to develop in increasingly aberrant ways.

Nine eyes of different colors and even different shapes grew from its head. It had plundered these eyeballs from other monsters and turned them into a part of itself.

Below its own head were several other pretty heads—men and women, Protoss, humans, and angels as well…

Meanwhile, there were dozens of wings of different shapes and sizes on its back.

Some had colorful feathers, and some had scales of various shapes. There were even some that resembled hairless bat wings…

In front of the bat wings, there were more than ten tentacles of varying thicknesses and forms.

Some were covered with sticky fluid, some were as smooth as jade, some had needles all over, and some had hidden poisons within…

Below the tentacles, there was a huge mouth full of fangs, dozens of them.

Further down were lower limbs of varying forms. There were forefeet and hind legs, but all of them had terribly sharp claws.

All its limbs and even the majority of its body structures, it had plundered.

On the whole, it looked like a toy that someone had randomly and even somewhat maliciously piled together.

Nothing on its body appeared to match at all, but the strange thing was that it could function perfectly.

Stitch had been locked up in this secret prisoner territory by God Capital for over ten thousand years.

However, as a third-rank Heavenly God, it had never been challenged by a trial participant.

Yet, on this day, it suddenly sensed a weak aura appearing within the boundaries of its territory.

"This aura… it's only ninth-rank true god-level?"

"It can't be a trial participant, can it?!"

"A trial participant is coming, a trial participant is coming…"

"A trial participant actually came to provoke us of their own accord, that's just too interesting for words!"

"Which part of their body should we collect?"

Stitch was beyond excited, its several heads conversing with one another, shouting and making noise.

A while later, the trial participant finally arrived.

Stitch carefully sized up this intruder, filled with curiosity.

This was a male trial participant, his entire body enveloped in black robes. His face, barely visible below the brim of his hat, was unshaven. He looked somewhat dispirited.

It was Lin Huang disguised as Xiu Mu.

"He's ugly. Don't collect his head."

"His hands look nice. Let's collect his hands!"

"His legs are also quite long. Worth collecting!"

The several heads argued and discussed among each other.

This was also a habit that Stitch had. Each time it killed its prey, it would take at least one item from the other party as a war trophy for its collection and make it a part of its own body.

Once they saw Lin Huang choosing Stitch as his first hunting target, the Heavenly Gods watching from outside the secret territory were all talking about it as well.

"Stitch isn't easy to deal with. Although it's not that smart, among Heavenly God prisoners, its overall ability can be ranked in the first tier," the team leader of God Capital commented by way of introduction.

"This is the legendary Patchwork Monster, right? I seem to remember this fellow mastered something like seven or eight god sequence chains but couldn't put them to use freely," the team leader of Combat God Temple enquired.

"Yes. It can rob other people of their god sequence chains. However, it can only use the power of three god sequence chains simultaneously at most. Also, its exploitation of sequence power isn't very good. Its combat method leans toward overwhelming others by force." The team leader of God Capital nodded.

"To an extent, the two of them restrict one another. This Patchwork Monster is skilled at hand-to-hand combat, and this can be restricted by Xiu Mu. On the other hand, this fellow's patience seems endless. If Xiu Mu doesn't have any big guns in hand, Stitch could very well wear him out." The team leader of Xeno also expressed their opinion.

As the few of them were giving their comments, some people stole glances at Buried Heaven, trying to see how he would react. However, Buried Heaven remained as expressionless as ever, and his face gave nothing away.

In the secret territory, upon seeing Stitch, Lin Huang could not help but take stock of it for a moment.

He had seen his fair share of monsters, but this was the first time he was seeing such a peculiar Patchwork Monster like Stitch.

Various organs of different types were matched up together on the same body, with no sense of harmony whatsoever to look at.

However, the really strange thing was that this Patchwork Monster's aura did not have any contradictions, anomalies, or chaotic areas, which gave others the impression that it was born like this.

"We've never seen a trial participant before!"

"We've decided to collect your entire body as a specimen."

"Although you're ugly, as the first trial participant who's challenged us, you're of great collectible value."

"Trial participant, you should feel honored. We rarely collect whole corpses."

"Yes. Under normal circumstances, we'll only choose one or two of the prettiest body parts for our collection."

"The remaining parts get thrown away!"

Several heads spoke in turn, and Lin Huang could not help being curious about whether each of his opponent's heads was operating individually, or whether essentially only one brain was functioning, and these heads were all mere puppets.

The information about Stitch had been mentioned in the material sent over by Buried Heaven.

Although the information in the material was not detailed, it was sufficient for Lin Huang.

He knew that this monster could swallow up its opponents and rob them of the God Rule Power and god sequence chains within their bodies. He also knew that this monster had currently mastered eight god sequence chains already but could only simultaneously put three to use at most.

The reason why he chose Stitch as his first third-rank hunting target was because he felt that the number of rules within its body should be higher than that of an ordinary third-rank Heavenly God. Killing it would enable him to plunder more rules, and speed up his efficiency in advancing his combat strength.

However, in the eyes of the Heavenly Gods outside the secret territory, Lin Huang had undoubtedly picked a very tough opponent for himself.

Although Stitch's IQ was not high, it had concrete power to display. No matter how one looked at it, Stitch was still a first-tier powerhouse amongst the third-rank Heavenly God prisoners.

Almost all the Heavenly God team leaders watching the battle felt that Xiu Mu had not made a wise move in choosing such an opponent.

Chapter 1506: Seven Heads

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After sizing up the Patchwork Monster briefly, Lin Huang launched his attack straight away.

With a shake of his sleeve cuffs, tens of thousands of telekinetic flying daggers directly transformed into tens of thousands of blood-colored lightning bolts that shot out.

Stitch was a monster skilled at close-quarter combat, and Lin Huang's current persona was only a psychic, so he had to make the first move to avoid his opponent drawing him into close quarters.

However, Stitch's dozens of wings vibrated almost simultaneously. Even the vibration frequency and amplitude of these wings of varying colors and shapes were completely different. However, the strange thing was Stitch's flight speed was quite amazing. Even its agility far surpassed what Lin Huang had expected.

Wings rapidly vibrating, Stitch's figure swiftly slipped through the dragnet set up by Lin Huang's telekinetic flying daggers and actually managed to evade all the attacks.

Not a single one of the tens of thousands of flying daggers managed to strike its body.

Lin Huang was a little surprised by this outcome.

This was because, in the materials provided by Buried Heaven, there was no mention of the Patchwork Monster being capable of such speed.

It was not that Buried Heaven did not know about this, but when he was organizing this set of materials for Lin Huang and the others, it had not crossed his mind that someone might have the ability to kill third-rank Heavenly Gods. Hence, the introductory information for Heavenly Gods above second-rank was very superficial.

Outside the secret territory, as they watched Stitch easily dodge Lin Huang's telekinetic flying daggers, many Heavenly God team leaders could not help but glance at Buried Heaven.

The team leader of God Capital asked straight away, "Senior Buried Heaven, in the materials you provided to Xiu Mu, was there detailed information on Stitch?"

"No." Buried Heaven shook his head, expressionless. "I gave the same information to several True Gods. I didn't expect that Xiu Mu would go hunt down a third-rank Heavenly God either."

Upon hearing Buried Heaven's words, everyone immediately felt that the chances of Lin Huang winning this battle had become much slimmer.

There were even several Heavenly God team leaders who were starting to regret not having placed their bets to start the wager earlier.

In fact, it was not just Death Sickle, but the few major grade-7 organizations as well that had given more or less the same information to their own respective trial participants.

This was because, in the secret prisoner territory, there was no precedent for killing third-rank Heavenly Gods.

They had not felt the need to give detailed information on Heavenly God prisoners of third-rank and above.

In the secret territory, after witnessing Stitch's flight speed and agility, Lin Huang was only slightly surprised.

The information that Buried Heaven had given out on Heavenly God prisoners second-rank and above was very concise. Lin Huang had noticed this right from the beginning and had more or less guessed the reason behind it. Therefore, before locking onto Stitch as his target, he had mentally prepared himself.

He had immediately made the first move as soon as he arrived, because for one, in his persona of a psychic, he could not afford to be drawn into close quarters. For another, he was actually testing his opponent's speed, agility, defenses, and other aspects as well.

Although he was slightly surprised that none of the tens of thousands of flying daggers hit his opponent, it was still within his expectations.

Now that the first round of testing had shown results, Lin Huang did not hesitate at all. From his sleeve cuffs, even more telekinetic flying daggers transformed into blood-colored lightning arcs and shot out.

Ten thousand, twenty thousand, thirty thousand… they accumulated to one hundred thousand and still continued to increase.

The Heavenly God team leaders outside the arena were shocked by this.

"There are already more than one hundred thousand flying daggers, and they're still increasing. How much more can his Divine Telekinesis continue splitting?!"

"The attacking speed of those telekinetic flying daggers has increased as well. It's reached the level of a third-rank Heavenly God psychic…"

"What I find most frightening is that he can control over one hundred thousand flying daggers and still infuse them with sequence power. This level of Divine Power consumption is massive. Logically speaking, no True God would be able to do this. I can't figure out how he's managed to do so!"

In the secret territory, the number of Lin Huang's telekinetic flying daggers kept increasing until they reached one hundred and eighty thousand. Stitch was finally unable to dodge and was struck for the first time.

However, Lin Huang also noticed that the attack—which had been imbued with lightning sequence power and more than a hundred types of Rule Bending Power—had been blocked by one of Stitch's wings. This was a dragon wing covered in scales, and the attack bounced right off without making even a dent in the monster's defenses.

'Not only is its speed amazing, but its defensive power as well. There are even several wings specifically equipped with defensive functions. Their defensive power should be superior to other parts of its body…'

Lin Huang continued quietly analyzing.

The truth of the matter was with his actual abilities at present, it would not be difficult for him to kill this Patchwork Monster, but his current persona was Xiu Mu. Moreover, there were countless monitors constantly trained on him, so there were many methods he could not use.

He also knew for certain that at this moment, many Heavenly God team leaders in the outside world were watching the live broadcast of his battle.

He could only look at things from Xiu Mu's viewpoint and consider how he might win this battle.

In the void, close to two hundred thousand telekinetic flying daggers formed a giant net, enveloping Stitch again and again.

However, Stitch was slippery as an eel and kept dodging with lightning speed. Not only was it extremely fast, but it was also remarkably agile. Only as a last resort would it resist the attacks from the telekinetic flying daggers by using force.

After all, every single one of the telekinetic flying daggers contained sequence power. Although Stitch would not be injured if it were to be hit, it would still use up a lot of its Divine Power. Therefore, Stitch kept trying its best to avoid getting hit.

However, with hundreds of thousands of flying daggers in pursuit, it only had the energy to dodge and defend itself, and it could not find the opportunity to get close to Lin Huang at all.

Lin Huang also easily dodged the occasional long-range attacks launched by Stitch.

Just like that, both sides entered a stalemate where neither one could do anything to the other.

Lin Huang's attacks did not manage to harm Stitch, and conversely, Stitch did not have the opportunity to attack Lin Huang up close.

On the surface, it seemed as if Lin Huang had managed to suppress Stitch.

However, the line of Heavenly God team leaders outside the secret territory was becoming less and less optimistic about the outcome of Lin Huang's battle.

This was because Lin Huang's combat method would consume huge amounts of his Divine Power and put a massive burden on his spirit.

Anyone could tell that the longer this battle dragged on, the slimmer the chances of Lin Huang winning.

This time, even Buried Heaven felt that it was impossible for Lin Huang to turn the tables.

This battle situation where neither could harm the other lasted for more than ten minutes, but the corners of Lin Huang's mouth curved upwards almost imperceptibly.

'So that's it…

'The seven heads each have their own role. One controls limb movement, one controls the flight of the wings, one controls defenses, one controls attacks, and one controls sight and other senses, while yet another one controls the consumption of Divine Power, and the last controls sequence and Rule Bending Powers."

After more than ten minutes of investigation, he finally had sufficient understanding of his current opponent's every aspect.

'If I get rid of one of its heads, what will happen?' Lin Huang wondered to himself, but in fact, he had already more or less guessed the answer to this question.

Chapter 1507: Stitch's Weakness

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Outside the secret territory, the Heavenly God team leaders who were watching the fight were not optimistic about Lin Huang.

"It's been more than ten minutes, and still not a single scratch on Stitch's body. If the current state of affairs drags on, Stitch will still be fine even in ten days or half a month, but lasting for more than even an hour could prove to be a problem for Xiu Mu."

"His telekinetic threads are certainly split into a great many strands, but his micro-level control over them isn't quite up to par, and his attack method is too straightforward." The speaker was a Heavenly God team leader whose main cultivation path was telekinesis. "Actually, even without an advantage in terms of speed, it wouldn't be difficult to besiege a not-so-bright fellow like Stitch. However, even if he manages to hem Stitch in, his Divine Power will hardly be strong enough to subdue Stitch until its Divine Power is depleted."

"Xiu Mu was just too arrogant and chose the wrong opponent. If he'd chosen just an ordinary third-rank prisoner as a target, he might still have had a chance of winning."

"Do you all think it's possible for him to turn the tables this round?" The team leader of Divine Clapnet glanced around and threw out the question with a smile.

Everyone shook their heads upon hearing this.

Only Buried Heaven and a few other people remained silent, not expressing any opinions.

At this moment, a Heavenly God team leader suddenly let out a low exclamation.

"The flight trajectory of his telekinetic flying daggers has changed!"

Everyone immediately directed their gazes back to the monitor screen where Lin Huang was, only to see via the surveillance video that the flight trajectory of the telekinetic flying daggers—which had been frenziedly hot in pursuit behind Stitch—was becoming complicated and strange.

Stitch obviously had not adapted to this sudden change, and the number of hits it took began to increase abruptly.

Unlike their previous formation resembling a school of fish, the flight paths of the nearly two hundred thousand flying daggers had begun to become erratic. Some moved swiftly, while others moved slowly as if they had all fallen into an odd rampaging state, which made it completely impossible for Stitch to predict their movements.

In less than two minutes, the Patchwork Monster was surrounded by nearly two hundred thousand flying daggers, and the area within which to dodge also began to shrink rapidly.

At the sight of this, the face of the Heavenly God psychic on the outside of the secret territory turned red. He had only made one comment, saying that Lin Huang's grasp of Divine Telekinesis was not sufficient, and had ended up getting slapped in the face right the next second.

However, not many people paid any heed to his embarrassment, as almost everyone was staring at the surveillance video intently, wanting to know what would happen next.

Since Stitch was completely enveloped by the telekinetic flying daggers, its figure could no longer be seen from the monitor, but everyone outside the surveillance feed could still hear its furious howls.

Within the spherical space formed by the telekinetic flying daggers, Stitch tried to break free repeatedly but was blocked again and again.

It was like a trapped beast, struggling violently in alarm and fright.

For Lin Huang, however, the hunting for this prey was more than half completed.

His previous attacks had only been to test his opponent's speed, agility, defenses, weaknesses, various body functions, and other information.

Now that the investigation was complete, it was time for the actual hunt.

'Barring anything unexpected, its seven heads are probably its biggest weakness…' Lin Huang manipulated thousands of telekinetic flying daggers and began to attack the seven heads of the Patchwork Monster in front of him. He had secretly endowed two of the flying daggers with the power of two god sequence chains.

Just as Lin Huang had anticipated, if he targeted the heads of the Patchwork Monster, the other would rapidly increase its defense mechanisms.

Various techniques were used as defenses in an attempt to thwart Lin Huang's attacks and render them ineffective.

It had not been so obvious during the previous attacks, but right now, in this confined space, the Patchwork Monster was affected by its alarm and was increasingly protecting its heads undisguisedly.

As the telekinetic flying daggers approached, it dodged them with extreme speed, and several protective wings also went into defensive mode. It even stretched out its tentacles at the expense of injury to block the approaching flying daggers.

However, the trajectories of the telekinetic flying daggers were mysterious and unpredictable. Dozens of flying daggers searched for openings and broke through the Patchwork Monster's defense line, among them a flying dagger with two levels of sequence power.

After dozens of flying daggers bypassed the Patchwork Monster's heavy defenses, they went straight for its seven heads.

Just as the flying daggers were about to penetrate the seven heads, a thick layer of black scale armor suddenly appeared on the Patchwork Monster's seven heads.

The next instant, dozens of flying daggers swept through the air.

After striking against the black scale armor, the flying dagger with two levels of sequence power was only slightly hindered before piercing through one of the heads and causing it to explode. However, the other dozens of flying daggers with only one level of sequence power were blocked by the layer of scale armor, leaving only white marks on the black scales in their wake, unable to break through any further.

Lin Huang had already anticipated this.

He just raised his brow slightly, wanting to manipulate the flying dagger with two levels of sequence power into causing more of the Patchwork Monster's heads to explode.

However, right at this moment, the Patchwork Monster's remaining six heads simultaneously made a whistling sound.

A terrifying sound wave was unleashed, forcibly blowing away all the flying daggers that had broken through.

Lin Huang felt some slight regret that he had not been able to go a step further.

Outside the secret territory, the Heavenly God spectators could not see what was going on inside the cage of flying daggers, but they could still hear the whistling sound that the Patchwork Monster made.

The sound was brutal, but it also seemed to have an element of agonized whining.

"Is Stitch injured?!" Someone could not help exclaiming.

"This sound doesn't seem to be purely anger."

"Xiu Mu can't turn the tables again this time, can he?!"

In the secret territory, Lin Huang calmly looked at the Patchwork Monster who was standing opposite him.

'What was the function of the head that exploded just now, I wonder?'

He soon found out the answer to this question when the nine eyes growing from his opponent's head closed one after the other.

Lin Huang raised his brows slightly when he saw this. He knew that the other had lost its perceptual abilities.

Although he was not certain whether or not the other's lost ability would be allocated to its other heads, his opponent was in a state where its perception was obstructed, at least for a short while.

As long as he attacked before this ability could be transferred, he would have the upper hand in this situation.

In other words, Stitch, who had lost its perceptual abilities, had been put at a greater disadvantage.

It had been able to effectively dodge and defend itself from Lin Huang's telekinetic flying daggers all this time by relying on its perception. Now that its perceptual abilities were gone, the efficiency of its evasive and defensive tactics would drop dramatically.

Lin Huang was obviously aware of this as well. After confirming that the other had indeed lost its perceptual abilities, he launched a second round of attacks without hesitation.

The cage—made up of nearly two hundred thousand telekinetic flying daggers—accelerated its whirling within the void, and tens of thousands of flying daggers transformed into blood-red lightning arcs, joining in to besiege Stitch.

Originally, Stitch had been able to avoid more than 90% of Lin Huang's attacks by dodging them but after losing its perceptual abilities, more than 80% of the other's attacks scored direct hits on its body.

The efficiency of Stitch's defenses was originally well over 90%, and it could easily block most of the telekinetic flying daggers that pursued it. Now, however, the efficiency of its blocking had dropped to less than 30%. Seventy percent of the attacks easily bypassed its defense systems and directly attacked the remaining six heads.

The two telekinetic flying daggers with two levels of sequence power also found an opening and shot through, piercing two more heads easily…

Chapter 1508: Eclipsing Everyone Else

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Stitch let out another mournful howl as two more of its heads exploded, sounding even more desperate than before.

Outside the secret territory, the group of Heavenly Gods was astonished. They really wanted to know what exactly Lin Huang was doing to Stitch, but they could not see anything through the cage of telekinetic flying daggers. They could only use their imaginations to fill in whatever they could not see.

"This harrowing shriek clearly doesn't seem like it's nothing."

"What on earth did he do to Stitch for it to screech so miserably?"

"Did he shove something up Stitch's anus?"

"Does Stitch even have an anus?!"

…

With the destruction of two more heads, Stitch very quickly displayed the loss of more abilities.

Its wings began to retract one after the other, and its figure plummeted to the ground. Only a few of its wings still retained their defensive abilities, but they could no longer flap or fly.

Obviously, the head that controlled Stitch's flight ability had been destroyed.

Besides that, Lin Huang noticed that its Divine Power had also become unstable.

Every time one of his own attacks hit Stitch, the strength of the Divine Power it exerted to defend itself was different.

At times, its Divine Power was easily breached by the telekinetic flying daggers, while at other times, it directly repelled them.

With the loss of its flight ability, Stitch's dodging capabilities had been weakened to the extreme. Although Lin Huang's telekinetic flying dagger attacks did not have a hundred percent success rate, it was well over 95%, and Stitch was, therefore, unable to avoid most of it.

On another front, Stitch's loss of control over its Divine Power also caused its defense systems to start becoming unstable.

Lin Huang's flying dagger attacks caused increasingly effective damage.

The increase of various disadvantageous factors made the scales of victory tilt in Lin Huang's favor.

Within less than two minutes, Lin Huang's telekinetic flying daggers breached Stitch's defenses once more and pierced through another one of its heads.

With the destruction of this head, the god sequence chains and Rule Bending Power in Stitch's body began to go haywire.

Knowing that it was now in desperate straits, Stitch began to ignore the barrier of telekinetic flying daggers, trying to forcefully break through the spherical area created by the telekinetic flying daggers and attack Lin Huang up close instead.

However, Lin Huang saw through its plan with just a glance, and there was no way he was willing to allow it an opportunity to carry out its intentions.

Whichever direction it moved, Lin Huang would boost the telekinetic flying daggers in that direction with the power of a second god sequence chain, forcing Stitch back.

Every time it tried to force its way through, it was helplessly forced back in turn. Sensing that not much Divine Power was left within itself, Stitch howled in despair.

Lin Huang's figure floated in the air outside the spherical area formed by the telekinetic flying daggers, continuing to wait indifferently for the end of this fight.

He did not feel any sympathy for Stitch. After all, it was an evil spirit type from the Abyss.

Nevertheless, he still acknowledged Stitch's abilities.

Outside the secret territory, the Heavenly Gods who were watching heard Stitch's yowls again, but they had been slightly desensitized by now.

Excluding the first ten minutes or so, it had only been about twenty minutes since the fight had started. After Stitch had been trapped in the space within the telekinetic flying daggers, they did not even know how many wails it had let out by now.

Practically every howl sounded utterly miserable.

"Although I don't know what exactly Xiu Mu did, I feel that Stitch is about to lose."

"I feel the same way. Stitch is screaming so miserably."

"This sound reminds me of my childhood and the Swine Beasts in the slaughterhouse who were still struggling, despite being bound and hung up from their hooves…."

"Now that you mention it, I think I haven't eaten Swine Beasts in more than eight thousand years. Once I'm done with work in the next few days, I'll have an all-pork feast!"

In the spherical space encaged by the telekinetic flying daggers, Stitch had basically become a moving target.

Although it had been forcing itself to move its body around, this was practically useless.

Blood-red gleams flashed rapidly in the void, leaving wound after wound on Stitch's body.

Under the attacks of the telekinetic flying daggers, Stitch's Divine Power was also rapidly being depleted.

Lin Huang did not ease up at all. He had no intention of giving the other party any chance to take a breather.

The telekinetic flying daggers poured down on Stitch like a torrential rainstorm.

In the short space of less than five minutes, not a single inch of Stitch's body was left unscathed.

Another two of its heads had been destroyed one after the other, and only one final head remained.

This last head was in charge of its defense systems.

Stitch had lost all of its body functions and could not carry out even the simplest movements, completely becoming a stationary target.

Even so, Stitch still used its defensive wings, long since riddled with holes, to protect its last head.

Despite that, it was all in vain. In less than a minute, Lin Huang's telekinetic flying daggers easily tore through Stitch's last line of defense and pierced through its last head.

At this moment, the fatality notification finally appeared in front of Lin Huang.

Almost simultaneously, he also felt several god sequence chains containing massive Rule Bending Power surging into his body.

This round of hunting had directly skyrocketed the number of rules in Lin Huang's body by more than a hundred thousand types.

Even Lin Huang himself was a little surprised.

What he did not know was that while taking the limbs of others for part of its collection, Stitch would also devour their God Territories.

Now, however, all of Stitch's hard work had ended up going to Lin Huang instead.

The two hundred and seventy thousand God Rule Powers in his body had increased to nearly four hundred thousand in one shot.

"Given this sort of effectiveness, I just need to hunt three or four more monsters for my combat level to increase again," Lin Huang mused to himself.

Of course, he was aware that the main reason for the bountiful yield this time was because of Stitch's uniqueness. Other third-rank Heavenly Gods would not be able to give him the same amount of benefits.

With a slight gesture of his fingers, the telekinetic flying daggers that had formed the spherical space quickly returned to Lin Huang's sleeve cuffs.

With the spherical area gone, the numerous Heavenly Gods who had been watching the fight from outside the secret territory finally saw Stitch's body, now riddled with holes until it was practically a sieve.

A glimpse at the tattered state of Stitch's corpse was all it took for everyone to know that Stitch was as dead as one could get.

Although everyone had already anticipated this result from a few minutes ago, they still could not help being shocked when they actually got a look at Stitch's body.

'He really did it…' Even Buried Heaven silently whispered in disbelief.

For someone at true god-level to kill a third-rank Heavenly God was not something that had never happened before in the history of the God Territory, but the select few who had managed to pull off such a feat had gone on to become Lords without exception.

As for this secret prisoner territory, Lin Huang was the first participant to successfully hunt down a third-rank Heavenly God.

The team leaders of God Capital and the Combat God Temple, as well as other organizations who had top-tier True Gods from their organizations participating in this trial, all had peculiar expressions on their faces.

Initially, they were extremely confident in the participants under their respective commands, firmly believing that they would be able to put up a stellar performance during this trial and show off to all the other organizations.

The top-tier True God powerhouses under their commands also possessed the ability to hunt down first-rank Heavenly Gods and could even go up against many second-ranks.

However, after seeing Lin Huang successfully hunt down Stitch, they knew that the individuals they had brought along this time had become mere foils.

It was useless! This was an absolute defeat in terms of ability.

None of them would be able to hunt down a third-rank Heavenly God the way Lin Huang had.

Lin Huang's sudden appearance on the public radar had completely eclipsed everyone else's brilliance.

Chapter 1509: Death Sickle's Secret

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

On the Gold Leaderboard, Xiu Mu's hunting points had suddenly skyrocketed by four hundred points, which once more attracted the attention of all the other participants.

One must be aware that Lin Huang's name had been constantly at the top of the Gold Leaderboard, so even just a change of 1 point could be clearly seen by everyone—what more a surge of 400 points.

Upon seeing the 400-point change in his score, many people were taken aback at first but immediately came back to their senses.

The base points a True God earned for hunting down a Heavenly God was 100 points, and for each subsequent increase in the level of the Heavenly God being hunted, the hunting points obtained by the hunters would also be doubled. Therefore, starting at first-rank, the hunting points earned from low-rank to high-rank would be 100 points, 200 points, 400 points, 800 points…

"His hunting points went up by 400 points at once. Does this mean he hunted down a third-rank Heavenly God?!"

"It's probably not from killing two second-rank Heavenly Gods at the same time. According to the rules regarding changes in hunting points, no matter how close the times between two hunts are, each increase in a hunter's points will be displayed in succession. Even if Xiu Mu did hunt down two second-rank Heavenly Gods at the same time, his points should have increased by 200 points twice instead of 400 points at once."

"An increase of 400 hunting points in one shot… Well, those top-tier fellows probably won't be able to sit still at all now."

Several top-tier True God powerhouses were indeed quite agitated by this.

Previously, when Lin Huang was hunting second-rank Heavenly Gods, they had already been forced to start hunting Heavenly Gods before they had even fully adapted to their new environment.

To some extent, Lin Huang's actions at that time had already disrupted their hunting rhythm.

Currently, Lin Huang's success in hunting down a third-rank Heavenly God had thoroughly caused quite a few people to be psychologically off-kilter.

Originally, several of them had thought that during this trial, they would hunt down a few Heavenly Gods and put up a sterling performance in front of the major organizations. If they had a chance, they would try to fight for the top spot on the Gold Leaderboard.

Now though, without a doubt, Lin Huang's performance had drawn everyone's attention. Moreover, having the ability to hunt down a third-rank Heavenly God meant that he had basically secured the top spot on the Gold Leaderboard. No one else had the ability to compete with him.

No matter how hard they tried, other top-tier powerhouses could only fight for second place at most.

Actually, in the beginning, everyone did not regard a dark horse like Xiu Mu as a competitor. However, at present, this fellow who had appeared out of nowhere had just displayed terrifying abilities that completely overpowered everyone else.

Several people were disgruntled, but they also felt helpless at the same time. They could only silently sigh over their bad luck at encountering a dark horse that had suddenly appeared on the public radar.

Many of those who were not top-tier powerhouses felt a sense of schadenfreude. They could fully imagine the faces of those peak powerhouses at this moment.

They could not compete for the first place anyway, so they were happy to watch the commotion.

They only came here to participate in the trial, but they had ended up witnessing the mighty rise of a powerhouse who defied all odds. The rewards were absolutely fulfilling.

After leaving this place, they would have a new hot topic to brag about to their friends.

Upon consideration, this had certainly been a worthwhile trip!

Lin Huang paid no heed to the leaderboard at all. After he had finished checking the state of things within his body, he immediately stored away Stitch's hole-riddled corpse. Without lingering any longer, he swiftly headed in the direction of his next target.

The secret territory was only accessible for one short month, so he wanted to make the best of this time to increase his combat level as much as possible.

After successfully hunting down Stitch, he now had a general understanding of the third-rank Heavenly Gods' abilities in this secret territory. He had also fully planned out his following course of action.

There was no need to hunt down first-ranks and second-ranks, as the number of rules that he could obtain from them was small. Heavenly God prisoners who were above third-rank were also excluded as there was no need for him to further expose his true power. Being able to hunt down a third-rank was already odds-defying enough as it was.

If it were not for the fact that True Gods capable of hunting down third-rank Heavenly Gods had previously emerged in the God Territory, Lin Huang would have even given up on hunting third-rank prisoners.

It was precisely because there were people before him who had already done it that Lin Huang displayed his strength up to this level.

What Lin Huang did not know was that all these predecessors had later gone on to become Lords, without exception.

His performance had already garnered the attention of all the top organizations in the God Territory.

Even the team leaders of the several grade-7 organizations outside the secret territory had reported the news back to the upper ranks of their respective organizations the moment he had successfully killed Stitch.

Of course, Buried Heaven had noticed the behavior of the grade-7 organization team leaders, but he was unable to prevent them from doing so.

In reality, he felt there was no need to stop them either.

He was more cognizant of Lin Huang's background than anyone else, and he knew that Lin Huang was unable to join any other organization except Death Sickle.

This was because he was not a Protoss at all, but a human being.

Apart from Xeno, which took a neutral stance, every other grade-7 organization in the God Territory did not have a very cordial attitude toward humans.

God Capital was a pure blood organization and they even looked down on other Protoss who were not pure blooded, what more humans. The Combat God Temple had conquered human territory more than once and seized a lot of their lands. Divine Clapnet had even planted countless spies among humans and were monitoring their movements at all times. As for Precious Treasure Pavilion, to them, humans were just a type of tradable commodity.

Xeno took a neutral stance, but they were in no way friendly. They would cooperate with whomever they deemed profitable. They did have dealings with humans, but such individuals could only be regarded as business partners at most, and there was definitely no friendship between them.

Buried Heaven knew very well that it was impossible for Lin Huang to join any other organization.

This was because once his identity as a human was exposed, death would be the only option awaiting him.

In fact, for organizations other than Death Sickle, if they were to find out that Lin Huang was a human, most of them would consider Lin Huang a major potential threat and would even try to nip it in the bud.

This was because it was very possible that his existence might lead to the rise of humans in the great world.

The reason why Death Sickle had no such misgivings about this was actually related to a secret the organization had.

In reality, Death Sickle was essentially not a local organization from the God Territory but a branch of a certain organization in the universe.

Only a handful of people knew about this matter.

This was why it was possible for the Blood Sickles within Death Sickle to have a human in their midst.

This was also why Death Sickle could tolerate the existence of a human like Lin Huang.

Buried Heaven also knew of this secret and had therefore maintained a friendly attitude to Lin Huang since the beginning.

Although Buried Heaven was a bona fide Protoss, the secrets he had learned from Death Sickle had long since allowed him to see things from a perspective beyond race.

In his eyes, it did not matter whether Lin Huang was a human or not. The important thing was that he was a powerhouse with extraordinary potential.

Of course, Buried Heaven actually had his own little selfish motive.

He wanted to watch Lin Huang develop, then battle it out with him to his heart's content!

It did not even matter who won or lost!

As he watched Lin Huang's spectacular performance within the secret prisoner territory, he had a feeling that day was not too far away.

Chapter 1510: Play A Game With Me

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

In the secret territory, having killed Sitch, Lin Huang proceeded with the hunt.

Unlike the other hunters, all of his targets after that were now third-rank heavenly god-level prisoners.

For the other participants in the secret territory, successfully being able to kill a third-rank heavenly god-level prisoner might have been a matter of luck. However, they saw Lin Huang's hunting points skyrocket by 400 points a second and third time, respectively.

Only then did they understand that Xiu Mu did indeed possess such ability. He did not depend on luck at all.

The numerous Heavenly God leaders who were watching the battle outside could very clearly see for themselves and basically acknowledged that Lin Huang's abilities were almost on par with the standard of a top third-rank Heavenly God.

However, they did not know that what they saw was, in reality, only what Lin Huang wanted to display.

In the secret territory, under the continued stimulus of Lin Huang's achievements, the few top-tier True God powerhouses also began moving into the domain of the second-rank heavenly god-level prisoners, thus beginning a whole new challenge.

However, their hunts were far less successful than Lin Huang's.

For one thing, they did not possess the ability to dominate their opponents. For another, the convicts in the secret prisoner territory held the geographical advantage. Almost every hunt was a mutual battle of wits and valor, which was extremely time-consuming.

Lin Huang aside, the fastest top-tier True God powerhouse to complete the killing of a second-rank heavenly god-level prisoner spent over five hours just to do it. This excluded the time spent tracking down their opponent and the time spent traveling.

Among the top-tier True Gods, there was even a rather unfortunate fellow who happened to encounter a second-rank heavenly god-level prisoner that managed to overwhelm him. After the intense battle of close to ten hours, he had no choice in the end but to flee in defeat.

While many participants were still cautiously hunting prisoners to obtain points, Lin Huang's hunting points had long since shot up, leaving everyone far behind.

The number of rules and god sequence chains in his body was also skyrocketing as he went.

By the fifth day of entering the secret prisoner territory, the number of rules within Lin Huang had increased to over 700,000. He was getting closer and closer to a breakthrough to fourth-rank True God.

As usual, Lin Huang checked the number of rules that had increased within him after completing the hunting of a third-rank heavenly god-level prisoner. He put away the corpse and headed straight to where the next target was.

However, halfway through his journey, there was a sudden change of expression on his face.

The reason for this was because, within the sensing range of his Divine Telekinesis, he sensed two auras in the area where his target was located.

One of the auras was at third-rank heavenly god-level; that was clearly his target.

Meanwhile, the other aura was not strange to him. He had come face-to-face with that particular individual before entering the secret territory.

Lin Huang did not slow down, nor did he change his route; he continued hurrying along his intended path.

The Heavenly God team leaders outside the secret territory displayed various expressions.

Many were secretly looking at Buried Heaven.

This was because the individual that Lin Huang was about to encounter was none other than Virtuoso from Death Sickle.

None of the Heavenly God team leaders had noticed exactly when Virtuoso had headed to the Heavenly God domain.

Once Lin Huang had locked down his prey and his flight path had become clear, almost all of the Heavenly God team leaders only noticed—after they had checked to see who Xiu Mu's target was— that there was now an individual who had appeared out of nowhere beside the intended prisoner.

What puzzled the team leaders even more was that Virtuoso was standing less than two meters away from that third-rank heavenly god-level prisoner, but Virtuoso had not been attacked.

It was as if the third-rank heavenly god-level prisoner could not see Virtuoso, completely ignoring their existence.

Such an odd state of affairs confused the entire group of Heavenly God team leaders.

Actually, everyone present had heard of Virtuoso and was aware that this individual's talent and potential even exceeded that of Buried Heaven.

Not a single assassination mission that Virtuoso took on for Death Sickle failed. All the targets would mysteriously die, and even their manner of death was very seldom repeated.

However, nobody knew exactly what Virtuoso's abilities were, nor had anyone ever seen their face. In fact, no one had any idea whether they were male or female.

Some grade-6 and grade-7 organizations had even attempted to investigate Virtuoso, but their efforts were to no avail.

Virtuoso was like a person who had appeared out of the blue; utterly no traces of their past could be discovered.

After some time, everyone gave up wasting time trying to investigate Virtuoso.

However, everyone was aware that Death Sickle had a mysterious individual like that with stunning potential—one who had extremely powerful potential to become a Lord.

Although the numerous Heavenly God leaders were not clear on Virtuoso's background, they were familiar with what Virtuoso had done.

Virtuoso was merely a true god-level White Sickle member in Death Sickle, but he had killed over 20 Heavenly Gods.

Among this number were even a few second-rank Heavenly God powerhouses.

Therefore, nobody had much at all in the way of doubts about Virtuoso's ability.

If Xiu Mu had not shown up out of the blue, Virtuoso was, without a doubt, the strongest contender for the No. 1 spot on the Hunter's Gold Leaderboard.

Meanwhile, it was clearly no coincidence that Virtuoso had appeared next to Lin Huang's hunting target out of nowhere.

Buried Heaven could not help frowning upon seeing Virtuoso suddenly appearing in the surveillance video.

Since the opening of the secret prisoner territory, it was also the first time he had openly displayed any sign of emotion in front of everyone present.

'This Virtuoso fellow, I've warned them repeatedly, and still, they choose to do as they please…'

In the secret territory, Lin Huang and Virtuoso very soon encountered each other.

Lin Huang was not overly surprised to see Virtuoso calmly standing next to the heavenly god-level prisoner, who seemed to have no intention of attacking Virtuoso at all.

Lin Huang had heard of Virtuoso's name in the early days when he first joined Death Sickle as Xie Lin.

He had even seen the pictures of the targets Virtuoso had killed, as well as the autopsy reports. All of them had died in strange ways. At the time, he had already known that Virtuoso possessed extremely odd abilities.

At the same time that Lin Huang was sizing up Virtuoso, Virtuoso was silently scrutinizing Lin Huang as well.

The heavenly god-level prisoner, on the other hand, was ignored by them both.

The strange thing was that the prisoner was still standing where he was, ignoring the duo so close to him.

"From the looks of it, you've been waiting for me?" Lin Huang took the initiative to break the silence.

"That's right." Virtuoso's voice was still ambiguous in terms of gender. "I've been waiting for you for a long time…"

Lin Huang did not think Virtuoso had been waiting on him here for a long time. Virtuoso's words seemed to imply that they had been waiting for Lin Huang outside the secret territory, or even much earlier than that.

"Here we are now. If you have anything to say, don't beat around the bush." Lin Huang had never been fond of talking to people who spoke with hidden meanings. "Whatever you want to do, just say so outright."

"There are so many people watching out there, are you sure you want me to say it outright?" Virtuoso paused and said the last two words through voice transmission, "Xie Lin…"

Lin Huang's pupils contracted slightly. He had not expected that Virtuoso would have unmasked his identity.

"Just tell me what you really want."

Lin Huang was startled for only a moment, quickly recovering his composure. However, the expression on his face remained cold.

"If you want to know what I really want…" Virtuoso said with a hint of mockery, "You'll have to play a game with me first."