1731-1740

Chapter 1731: Cannot Afford to Take Him in

Almost a week after Liu Fu visited, Lin Huang suddenly sensed movement in his storage space. He spread his Divine Telekinesis within and found that the black card Liu Fu gave him was shining brightly.

The golden sigils on the black card lit up slowly, dyeing the entire card sparkly gold.

Lin Huang took it out immediately. "Has the banquet started?"

He raised his brows. He did not exert Odyl in instantly. Instead, he went to his bedroom in a flash and changed into slightly formal attire.

He told Sword 1 through voice transmission that he would be out for some time.

He then exerted Odyl into the card calmly.

As soon as he did that, the golden card disintegrated quickly and turned into a golden whirlpool before Lin Huang.

He did not hesitate at all and stepped right into it.

After stepping into the Dimensional Whirlpool, Lin Huang found himself inside a golden palace when he reappeared on the other side.

Many people had already arrived in the magnificent palace.

Lin Huang's appearance did not attract much attention from the crowd present.

He glanced around and he soon saw Liu Fu chatting with an old man with a head full of white hair.

The old man did not reveal his aura, but Lin Huang could tell from a glance that he had also surpassed lord-level.

He did not interrupt them. Instead, he got himself a glass of wine from the waiter's tray and walked around on his own.

It was not his first time attending such an occasion and was quite familiar with the proceedings.

However, someone called out to him through voice transmission suddenly just as he had just taken a step forward.

"Come over, Lin Huang. Let me introduce you to a senior."

Naturally, Lin Huang recognized Liu Fu's voice.

He turned around and looked at Liu Fu. He was waving at him.

The old man from before stood next to him.

Lin Huang nodded at Liu Fu and walked directly over to them.

"You brat. You saw me and didn't come over to say hi," Liu Fu mocked.

"I saw that you were chatting with this senior. It wouldn't be too late if I only came over after you guys were done," Lin Huang said helplessly.

"Here, let me introduce you guys. This is our Royal's senior—Mr. He Nanzhi. He's Royal's veteran dao-level powerhouse. He's not far away from elevating to major dao-level."

The old man with white hair had a straight back and looked high-spirited. He was checking out Lin Huang.

He forced a smile and shook his head when he heard what Liu Fu said. "Stop teasing me, you brat. I'm still far away from major dao-level. It's uncertain whether I'll get there at all during this lifetime."

"This kid is Lin Huang. He's a super genius from World No. D3587 that's under your jurisdiction. He killed upper-rank Lords with lower-rank lord-level combat strength. He just obtained Rank-S member authorization from headquarters not too long ago."

"Hello, Old He," Lin Huang greeted immediately.

He Nanzhi nodded lightly and then turned his head to look at Liu Fu. "Lin Huang… Is he the kid that you submitted the application for earlier?"

"That's right." Liu Fu nodded and smiled.

He Nanzhi turned his head over to look at Lin Huang again and said with a smile, "The younger generation will surpass the older."

"You're too kind, Senior," Lin Huang quickly said, humbly.

He was a little suspicious that the other party might have seen through his dao-level cultivation base.

The technique that he was using to conceal his aura came from the dao-level powerhouses' inheritance memory that the Nirvana Trees sent over.

Liu Fu had just broken through to minor dao-level. He could deceive him with this technique. However, a veteran dao-level powerhouse like He Nanzhi might have consolidated tens of thousands of Dao seals. It was totally possible that he sensed him using that unique technique to conceal his aura.

"The great world you're in is within Old He's jurisdiction," Liu Fu reminded Lin Huang.

"It's just under my jurisdiction for now. It's only a matter of time before Fellow Lin breaks through to dao-level himself. According to Royal's rules, World No. D3587 will be his sooner or later," He Nanzhi said while squinting.

Lin Huang could not see the change of emotion on his face. However, he had a faint feeling that he was telling him, "I know you're at dao-level now."

Liu Fu had a shocked expression on his face. "Old He, do you think so highly of this kid? I remember your comment for me from before was only that there was a chance that I'd break through to dao-level."

"He has much more talent and potential than you do," He Nanzhi said while chuckling.

"I remember that you indeed said that my talent and potential were lacking when I asked you to become my master back then," Liu Fu smiled and said. "You've given Fellow Lin such a high compliment. Can it be that you've finally decided to take in a disciple now?"

He Nanzhi raised his eyebrows as he listened to Liu Fu's words. He then looked at Lin Huang and said, hinting something while smiling, "I'd love to, but I can't afford to take him in."

"Can't afford to take him in?" Liu Fu had a confused expression on his face.

He thought he would match the two of them up to make them master and disciple. Never had he thought that Old He would have such a reaction instead.

However, Lin Huang understood him. This Old He had clearly seen through his concealment technique.

As they were both at minor dao-level, it was only natural that Old He did not dare take Lin Huang as his disciple.

"You guys can keep chatting. I'll go chat with Old Wang for a little bit." Old He found himself an excuse and walked toward the direction of another old man with his wine glass in hand.

"What does he mean? Why did he say that he can't afford to take you in?" Liu Fu looked at Lin Huang with a questioning expression.

"How would I know?" Lin Huang shrugged.

"Sigh, that's too bad. I thought Old He would be interested in you for your talent and potential." Liu Fu shook his head helplessly. "He's Royal's veteran dao-level powerhouse. Someone said that he had consolidated over 80,000 Dao seals many years back."

"He's been looking for a disciple to inherit his legacy. However, he has standards so high that he's never been able to find a suitable candidate all this time."

"I thought of matching you guys up. If you can make him your master, you would be able to accumulate many resources to get to ultimate-level lord-level."

"But I have no idea why he rejected that suggestion. Theoretically, he'd be very satisfied with your talent and potential. Otherwise, he wouldn't have said that it'd only be a matter of time before you'd break through to the dao-level."

"Maybe he was just being nice. I'm a junior after all. It'd be terrible for him to put me down." Lin Huang provided a reason that sounded reasonable.

"Oh, please. White lies aren't his thing. He doesn't care if you're a junior or not. He has always been a straightforward character. I wanted to make him my master back then, but he rejected me by saying that my potential and talent were lacking in comparison to my face. Among the Royalties, I'm not the only one who received such a comment. There were some ten people who were snubbed directly as well."

"Why do you think I invited him this time? I wanted to show him that his remark was wrong and that I've elevated to minor dao-level successfully now!"

"He's looking over here…" Lin Huang spoke through voice transmission softly.

Liu Fu shrunk his neck back in quickly and looked in He Nanzhi's direction carefully. However, he saw him chatting happily with the other old man.

Only then was he relieved, verifying with Lin Huang immediately, "Did he really look at us just now?"

"No, I was just kidding." Lin Huang smiled.

"Your joke isn't funny at all. I'm soaked in cold sweat now from that scare. I don't want that old man to hold grudges against me…" Liu Fu clearly feared Old He.

Lin Huang thought about it and decided not to tell the truth. He Nanzhi indeed peeped in their direction just now.

Chapter 1732: Exposed Cultivation Base

As Lin Huang and Liu Fu chatted for a little bit, new guests soon arrived, so Liu Fu went over to greet them.

Lin Huang was alone again. He began to walk around with a glass of wine in his hand.

It was his first time in the universe. Apart from Liu Fu, he knew nobody else here.

He had only seen He Nanzhi once.

Not only that, he was a senior. It would be inappropriate if he went over to talk to him.

Approximately half an hour later, the banquet had finally officially begun as all of the guests Liu Fu invited seemed to have arrived.

When the star of the event, Liu Fu, got on stage, he began to tell the story of his "bumpy" road of cultivation to the crowd.

Clearly, there were many exaggerations in his descriptions. Even Lin Huang who was not familiar with his past could tell that some parts of his story had obvious signs of "embellishment".

The people below the stage could not help but tease him a few times.

After all, many of the people present were familiar with his story. Some of them were even part of his story.

Lin Huang also noticed that there were actually not that many people who were invited to the banquet. There were about a hundred people or so.

Moreover, many of them were good friends with Liu Fu. Otherwise, they would not be teasing him over his elevation to dao-level.

If they were regular friends, they would definitely fear him after learning that he had been elevated to dao-level. They would not dare to speak like this.

Furthermore, judging by those friends' reactions, Lin Huang could tell that Liu Fu was a friend that people valued.

He had heard of something that he thought made sense on Earth in the past.

In order to know a person's true colors, do not look at what kind of house he lives in, the car he drives, or the clothes and watch that he wears. You should look at what kind of friends he is closest to. If something was wrong with the character of his friends, then there is a high chance that the person is not worth being friends with, because birds of a feather flock together.

Liu Fu did not mind their teasing. Instead, he proceeded to tell his story in a tone that was full of emotions. From him starting cultivation, to breaking through to dao-level, he had almost told his entire life story.

At first, everyone was a little bored by his story. However, since people began to tease him, they gradually found his story more and more interesting.

Close to two hours had passed by the time Liu Fu was done telling his story.

The emcee quickly moved on to the next agenda on the list after getting on stage.

Liu Fu's story was too long. It had affected the flow he had arranged for the banquet.

Fortunately, guests like Lin Huang did not really mind that.

As the emcee continued facilitating the event, nothing went wrong with the banquet. Everything went smoothly.

Although the entire banquet was somewhat dramatic, it finally ended on a successful note.

Just as Lin Huang was thinking about how to return to the great world when the banquet ended, a voice traveled to his ears.

"Fellow Lin, please come over."

Lin Huang was stunned. The voice belonged to Old He.

He turned around to look in He Nanzhi's direction. The old man he called Old Wang was standing next to him. He was clearly a dao-level powerhouse.

Lin Huang did not ask further seeing that Old He had nodded slightly at him. He walked over directly.

"This is Wang Xuanan, whom I address as Old Wang," Old He introduced, "This fellow is the Lin Huang that I mentioned just now."

"Hello, Old Wang," Lin Huang greeted immediately.

Old Wang looked even older than Old He. He was skinny with obvious wrinkles on his face.

If not for the fact that Lin Huang knew that he was a dao-level powerhouse as well, he might have thought that he was just a regular old man if he had bumped into him on the street.

Lin Huang was rather doubtful of his condition.

Theoretically, cultivators above true god-level would not look old unless they were close to the end of their lives.

Perhaps there were a small number of people who would maintain their old appearance.

He Nanzhi, for instance, was such a person.

However, nobody would show their full-blown aged appearance.

The reason being was that nobody liked such a appearance.

Therefore, Lin Huang guessed that there was a high chance that this person did not have a strange liking toward such an appearance, but that he was really near the end of his life.

However, that made Lin Huang even more doubtful. Theoretically, dao-level powerhouses who had broken through lord-level could live for a long time. It was nothing for them to live for tens of billions of years.

So how long exactly had this Old Wang lived for?!

As Lin Huang had such thoughts flying about in his head, Wang Xuanan was taking a good look at him.

Though his skin was old, his eyes were the only thing that were as clear as a newborn baby.

Only after checking Lin Huang out for a while, did he speak slowly, "This kid is quite something. He's great."

"What did you see?" Old He asked.

"Do you wish for me to die faster?" Old Wang said angrily, "I can't be looking at people as I wish like before now."

"You said that he's great, so I thought that you probed into him." Old He scratched his nose in embarrassment.

"Is there a need for probing? He merely used a small trick to conceal his cultivation base. You could sense the real strength of his aura as well." Old Wang spoke a little too quickly, which caused him to cough twice.

Lin Huang, on the other hand, felt a little awkward. As expected, his concealment technique was useless in the presence of real powerhouses.

He could not help but feel humiliated, being exposed on the spot.

"Is there any reason why both seniors here are looking for me?" Lin Huang could not help but take the initiative to change the topic. He just wanted to avoid the awkward subject as soon as he could.

"There's no rush. We'll speak when everyone has gathered." Just when Old He was about to explain things, Old Wang who was standing at the side took over the topic directly.

Feeling helpless, Lin Huang could only wait.

Old He might have been bored or something, so he began to chat with Lin Huang. "How many Dao seals have you consolidated now?"

"Over 3,100…" It would be terrible if he were to lie before the two of them since the truth of him being at dao-level had been exposed.

"So you've just broken through not too long ago," Old He added casually.

"Yes," Lin Huang responded. However, he secretly thought, 'It's not too long indeed. It has only been over half a year.'

Liu Fu brought two people along over to their awkward chat.

Lin Huang could sense that the two of them were at minor dao-level too.

The strength of their auras was slightly more powerful than Liu Fu's, but that was about it.

Liu Fu was clearly a little confused to see Lin Huang there.

"Lin Huang? I thought you went back."

"No. Old He was chatting with me." Lin Huang felt rather speechless. He knew that Liu Fu was asking Old He about his presence through voice transmission.

The awkward silence went on for a moment. Liu Fu appeared to have learned about Lin Huang's true combat strength from Old He, after which he looked over at Lin Huang with a shock-filled face. He yelled directly:

"You've been elevated to minor dao-level as well?!"

Lin Huang nodded helplessly.

"When did that happen?!" Liu Fu continued to ask further.

"Should be around the same time as you did."

"Alright. You guys can chat in private regarding whatever you want to talk about later. Let's talk business somewhere." Old He interrupted Liu Fu instantly when he saw that he was unwilling to let go of Lin Huang.

Chapter 1733: Private Meeting

A group of people sat together in a small, private meeting room.

Lin Huang's thoughts were flying as he sat on the couch. In reality, up until now, he had no idea what this bunch of people wanted to do exactly or why they included him.

"Liu Fu, introduce us." He Nanzhi was the first to speak after everyone took their seats.

Liu Fu nodded and stood up. "Everyone should already know Old Wang and Old He."

Including Lin Huang, all three of them nodded instantly.

"This is Qu Yu. We used to be in the same sect when we were in the great world. He's considered my senior brother." Liu Fu pointed at the man in the blue suit sitting on his right.

This person looked much younger than Liu Fu. He was in his early 20s and looked rather handsome.

He would be considered eye candy if he was on Earth.

Lin Huang could sense a sharp intent emanating faintly from his body. It was an aura that was exclusive to saber cultivators.

"I'm a saber cultivator." Ferocious gleams of light exuded from Qu Yu's fingertips. He introduced himself with that simple sentence.

"This is Zhou Ya. We've known each other since we were at heavenly god-level. We've explored many secret zones and ruins in the past," Liu Fu said while pointing at the lady in the black dress sitting on Qu Yu's right.

"Is it so hard to tell others that I'm your ex-girlfriend? We explored many secret zones and ruins in the past?! We've only entered a Lord's ruins once, okay?" Zhou Ya rolled her eyes at Liu Fu angrily.

"Err…" Clearly, Liu Fu did not expect Zhou Ya to say that.

After criticizing Liu Fu, Zhou Ya stood up in a sporting manner and ignored Liu Fu. She introduced herself to the crowd.

"My name's Zhou Ya. I major in skills of all elements, thought fire element is my area of expertise… Indeed, I've some grudges with this jerk from back then. However, don't mind that. I'm very professional when it comes to missions."

Liu Fu only spoke again after Zhou Ya was done and had taken her seat. He pointed at Lin Huang.

"This young man is Lin Huang. He's a friend that I got to know earlier. He has stunning talent and potential. Even Old He praised him."

Lin Huang nodded slightly at the couple of people.

"I major in Sword Dao. I'm also pretty good at some Divine Telekinesis techniques."

Liu Fu only looked at Old He and Old Wang after the few of them had introduced themselves. "I'll pass it over to the two of you now."

"Old He, be our host." Wang Xuanan leaned on a couch with his legs crossed. He did not plan to get up at all.

He Nanzhi did not reject him. He got down to business directly.

"Well, we gathered everyone here to invite you guys to enter a secret place as a team. This secret place is a mystic territory. It will probably open within three years."

"As the mystic territory's scale is rather large, there are some other organizations besides Royal who have received the news.

"On Royal's side, Old Wang and I will be leading the minor dao-level powerhouses. Apart from you guys, we'll invite other minor dao-level powerhouses from Royal as well. However, you guys will decide whether you want to join or not."

"Apart from us, there will be people leading major dao-level and lord-level powerhouses. So if you guys have any major dao-level and lord-level friends, you can get them to join as well."

"In principle, dao-level powerhouses can't attack Lords during the exploration of the mystic territory, nor can major dao-level powerhouses attack minor dao-level powerhouses. However, that doesn't mean that it's completely safe. You guys will still run into minor dao-level opponents."

"The risk is there, but the resources within the mystic territory should also be abundant. Therefore, you guys can decide whether you want to join or not. Just inform Liu Fu after you've made up your mind. He'll inform us."

"You can ask any questions that you might have now," He Nanzhi added in the end.

"I'd like to ask, what's a mystic territory?" Lin Huang was the first to raise his doubts.

In reality, he had learned much information about the universe from the inheritance fragments he obtained from the Nirvana Tree, including some information about mystic territories.

The reason why he asked that before everyone was because it was his first time in the universe.

He had to show them that it was his first time here.

Hearing that question, Zhou Ya and Qu Yu were puzzled when they looked at him.

Clearly, they thought it was rather strange that Lin Huang did not know what a mystic territory was.

"I've forgotten that it's your first time in the universe." Old He was stunned momentarily, after which he then explained patiently.

"The mystic territory is a phenomenon that occurs occasionally in the universe."

"Usually, it's a strange dimension that would appear out of nowhere. The dimension is covered in a layer of mist. If someone goes in while it's misty, they will go missing, including major dao-level powerhouses."

"Therefore, in order to explore the mystic territory, we have to wait for the mist to dissipate and for the mystic territory to be revealed completely."

"Each mystic territory contains abundant resources, but also contains great danger. The weakest monster in the mystic territory is at lord-level, and the most powerful one might exceed dao-level."

"Therefore, Lord is the lowest requirement to explore the mystic territory. Otherwise, it'd be akin to seeking death."

In reality, Lin Huang knew that information.

However, he was still nodding his head continuously as he listened.

After giving a rough explanation on what a mystic territory was, Old He thought he would just reveal the information about the mystic territory they were entering this time.

"Judging by the scale and the energy fluctuations radiating from the mystic territory that was found this time, we roughly speculate that there are major dao-level monsters guarding it."

"Therefore, we're not the main force that's entering this time, but rather the major dao-level powerhouses."

"Our main mission is to gather resources, as well as kill any monsters that we can handle while we're at it."

"Naturally, apart from the mystic territory's local monsters, the explorers from other organizations will be our enemies as well. They're even more dangerous than the local monsters."

Lin Huang was slightly moved as he listened to the information about the scale of the mystic territory this time.

Major dao-level powerhouses were supreme powerhouses who had consolidated over 100,000 Dao seals.

He learned from the inheritance memories he obtained from the Nirvana Trees that major dao-level powerhouses did not only suppress minor dao-level powerhouses in terms of the number of Dao seals. There would be a qualitative change when they had consolidated a certain number of Dao seals. That qualitative change would transform the particles in their body further.

In reality, one could say that major dao-level and minor dao-level powerhouses were life forms of two completely different levels.

Just like the transition his life form went through when he was elevated to minor dao-level. He could totally beat up tens of thousands of his old self right now. There would be a similar transition when he got to major dao-level.

Therefore, Lin Huang did not think that the current him had sufficient ability to fight an even battle with major dao-level powerhouses.

Although there were rules in the universe where major dao-level powerhouses could not attack minor dao-level powerhouses in the mystic territory, in the end, rules were just rules, and there were countless people who would be willing to break the rules given the right incentive.

As long as one did it flawlessly without anyone finding out.

No matter what, Lin Huang would not entrust his safety completely to an insignificant rule.

He was of the opinion that his ability was the only thing he could rely on to protect him.

Chapter 1734: The Vastness of the Universe

Old He and Old Wang answered the questions everyone raised one by one in the small meeting room.

However, as it was the first time this particular mystic territory would appear, they had no idea what kind of situations would arise inside.

After the meeting ended, everyone soon left on their own accord.

Lin Huang was the only one who stayed. He was not exactly sure how he would return to the great world that he was in before.

He could not help but tease as he watched Liu Fu sending Zhou Ya off.

"Seems like someone hasn't moved on from his ex completely."

"How can that be?" Liu Fu denied instantly, "It's been over between us for a long time."

"Is that right?" Lin Huang shook his head while smiling. "Then why would you invite her to your upgrade banquet since you've already moved on?"

"I want to show her that I've elevated to dao-level as well!" Liu Fu said stubbornly.

"As well as inviting her to team up to explore this mystic territory?" Lin Huang smirked playfully.

"That's because I don't know much about dao-level after all. I only trust her and Qu Yu, so I asked both of them to come along." Liu Fu proceeded to explain.

"Alright, then…" Lin Huang smiled indifferently.

Although Liu Fu could tell that his smile clearly indicated that he did not believe him, he did not want to dwell on this topic.

"Say, what's with you exactly? When did you elevate to dao-level? Or were you disguised as a lower-rank Lord before?"

"I wasn't in disguise when I was at lower-rank lord-level. I really was a lower-rank Lord that time. It has only been a couple of months since I elevated to dao-level," Lin Huang answered with a smile.

"So you're saying that you elevated from lower-rank lord-level to minor dao-level in less than a year?!" Liu Fu looked at Lin Huang with widened eyes.

"You can say that." Lin Huang nodded.

"I'll be d*mned if I believe your words! You're full of nonsense." Liu Fu thought that what Lin Huang said was simply ridiculous.

"It's the truth no matter whether you believe it or not." Lin Huang opened his arms.

Liu Fu slowly calmed down when he heard that.

He thought of something suddenly, and could not help but say, "I almost forgot that your Goldfinger's ability specializes in combat strength elevation…"

Liu Fu covered his mouth as soon as he said that. "Err… Pretend I didn't say that."

He had seen Lin Huang's data from Royal. It recorded that Lin Huang's Goldfinger was suspected to be specialized in combat strength elevation and, therefore, he could elevate his combat strength faster than others.

However, it was naturally inappropriate to mention that before Lin Huang.

Lin Huang already knew that many people suspected that his Goldfinger was specialized in combat strength elevation. The reason being was that the speed of his combat strength elevation was indeed unusual.

It made sense that Royal's database included such recordings.

On the contrary, he was happy to see such a misleading result.

"I can't believe that you've elevated to minor dao-level so quickly." Liu Fu changed the subject immediately. "In reality, I invited you to the banquet with the goal of getting Old He a disciple. I thought that you would be a suitable candidate."

"I didn't expect that you'd disguised yourself so well to the point that I didn't notice your elevation to dao-level. Now that I think about it, I finally understand what Old He meant when he said that he couldn't afford to take you in."

"I actually didn't want to reveal my combat strength, but Old He and Old Wang saw through me, so I thought it was better not to lie any further." Lin Huang felt rather helpless.

He had merely wanted to attend a banquet. Never had he imagined that he would be invited to join an exploration team into a mystic territory.

"Will you be joining the exploration team into the mystic territory?" Liu Fu continued to ask.

"I definitely will. I've never been in one after all, so it will be a new experience." It had been some time since Lin Huang met a worthy match. Naturally, he would not miss out on the trip to the mystic territory this time. "However, I must prepare myself well before going."

After seeing Liu Fu hesitating to speak Lin Huang asked directly, "What is it? Just spit it out."

"You might not know much about mystic territories," Liu Fu spoke anyway seeing Lin Huang urging him, "Every time a new mystic territory appears, the first round of exploration is the most dangerous one."

"The reason being is that the environment and types of monsters are completely unknown. Moreover, the explorers who participate in the first round of exploration have powerful abilities. Some of the explorers even join in just for the thrill. As soon as they run into people from other organizations, they are ruthless in their attacks. They basically won't leave anyone alive."

"Usually, the exploration period when the mystic territory has just opened is the one with the highest death rate, far more than subsequent rounds of exploration."

"So I'm hesitating on whether to join the exploration team this time." Liu Fu expressed his hesitation.

"Aren't you one of the organizers?" Lin Huang felt rather speechless.

"Before the meeting, Old He only told me that he's inviting us to explore a mystic territory together. He didn't say that it would be the exploration of a new mystic territory." Liu Fu felt quite helpless.

"Otherwise, I would've rejected him directly. I've only just been elevated to minor dao-level."

Lin Huang understood now. The old man He Nanzhi might have been worried that many people would refuse to participate if he mentioned that they would be the people exploring the mystic territory for the first time. Therefore, he hid the information about that and only told them that it was an exploration into a mystic territory.

No matter how many people end up joining in the end, he would just lure them to the meeting first! It was better than being rejected from the outset.

"You can make your own choice. I shouldn't be making any suggestions regarding such a matter." Lin Huang thought about it and decided not to give him any suggestions.

He personally hoped that he would join. It would be more fun to have a person that he was familiar with going with him.

However, he would definitely feel a little guilty if Liu Fu listened to his suggestion, joined, and then died in the end.

"Oh yeah, how should I return?" Lin Huang changed the subject directly.

"Just crush the black card that I gave you. It'll send you back to the coordinates that you came from before automatically," Liu Fu explained, "This thing works both ways and it's disposable."

Lin Huang took out the card and fiddled with it in his hand for a little bit. He asked seemingly casually, "Who made this teleportation tool?"

"I don't know who exactly made it. There are many teleportation tools like this in the universe. Most of them should come from the Qian family."

"The Qian family…" Lin Huang learned about this family from the inheritance memories as well.

It was the wealthiest family in the entire universe, as well as one of the three wealthiest organizations.

He asked about the card because the teleportation card looked a little bit like Xiao Hei's form when he had just obtained the Goldfinger.

He continued to ask after secretly taking note of the Qian family in his head, "Do you have a star map of the universe? I'd like to know where the great world I'm in is."

Liu Fu projected the star map directly. "The universe is too vast. The complete star map of the universe lacks many details. You might not be able to find the world you're in. This is the star map for the Eastern Eight Zone we're currently in…"

Liu Fu dragged the star map to the northeast as he spoke. After zooming in tens of thousands of times, he pointed at one of the dense dots. "This is the world that you live in."

"These dots are the great worlds?" Lin Huang was shocked.

"That's right. This Eastern Eight Zone star map should be the most complete and most current version. They record and mark the serial numbers of over 98% of the worlds."

Lin Huang looked at the dot Liu Fu was pointing at. The serial number D3587 was displayed above it.

That was the serial number of the great world he was in.

"Can you zoom in even further?"

"This is the furthest it will go…" Liu Fu said while feeling rather helpless, "If you want to see things closer up, you can only look at the star maps of the smaller zones. I don't have one now. I'll get you a copy when I have the time."

"I'll send you this copy first." Liu Fu sent the Eastern Eight Zone star map to Lin Huang directly as he spoke.

"Thanks." Lin Huang was still immersed in the shock from before.

He knew that the great world was just a drop in the ocean in the universe. However, he had only realized the universe's vastness when he saw it laid out on the star map.

Chapter 1735: Three Years

On the day Lin Huang returned to the great world from the universe, he gathered Sword 1 to Sword 12 again.

In the meeting room, he projected the star map of the universe's Eastern Eight Zone directly.

"What do you guys think this is?" Lin Huang glanced at everyone present.

"A star map?" The rest remained silent but Sword 8, who looked like a little girl, said while chuckling.

They remained silent as they did not think that the answer would be that simple.

"That's right. Guess where this is on the star map?" Lin Huang continued to ask.

This time, Sword 1 was the first to speak after hesitating a little bit, "It doesn't look like a star map of any known regions of the great world. I don't even see one star zone that I'm familiar with. Is this a star map of another world?"

Lin Huang nodded lightly. "Indeed, this isn't a star map of our world, but a star map of the universe."

"To be exact, this is the star map of the Eastern Eight Zone in the universe, which is the region where our world is at the moment."

"So those dots aren't star zones, but great worlds?!" Sword 3 asked with a shock-filled expression.

The rest reacted one after the other. All of them looked shocked.

The reason being was that there were at least billions of dots within the projected image.

In other worlds, this inconspicuous-looking star map contained billions of great worlds.

"Where's our world then?" Sword 8 could not help but suddenly ask.

Lin Huang moved over to the northeast corner of the star map quietly. He kept enlarging the image.

He only pointed at one of the dimmed dots after he enlarged it tens of thousands of times.

"This one. This is the great world that we're currently in. World No. D3587."

"Can you enlarge it further?" Sword 8 asked the same question that Lin Huang had asked previously in excitement.

"This is the furthest it can be enlarged…" Lin Huang gave the same answer Liu Fu had given him.

"This is the universe. The Eastern Eight Zone alone is already vast and borderless." Lin Huang glanced at them again. He could see the yearning within them. "There are more than three billion great worlds within the jurisdiction of the entire Eastern Eight Zone. Meanwhile, there are over 600 zones like the Eastern Eight Zone in the entire universe."

"Three billion great worlds?!"

"Over 600 Eastern Eight Zones…"

The Sword Servants present thought the vastness of the universe was beyond their imagination.

"No wonder there are so many powerhouses in the universe… Out of the billions of worlds, even if there's only one famous dao-level powerhouse in 100 million worlds, there would still be tens of thousands of dao-level powerhouses," Sword2 could not help but exclaim.

"The number of dao-level powerhouses isn't as low as that," Lin Huang explained while smiling, "At least judging by the great world's serial numbers, there are at least millions of dao-level powerhouses in the universe. The reason being is that there are over three million worlds with grade-S serial numbers. Even if a grade-S world only has one minor dao-level powerhouse, there would be over three million of them already."

"The alphabet before the serial number is the grade rating of the world?" Sword 1 noticed that nuance instantly.

"That's right," Lin Huang explained in detail, seeing that they were interested in that.

"The universe categorized the grades of the great worlds from low to high, namely E, D, C, B, A, S and SS.

"Grade-E worlds have no local Lords."

"The highest local combat strength of Grade-D worlds is restricted to lower-rank Lords."

"The highest local combat strength of Grade-C worlds is restricted to middle-rank Lords."

"The highest local combat strength of Grade-B worlds is restricted to upper-rank Lords."

"The highest local combat strength Grade-A worlds is restricted to ultimate-rank Lords."

"Grade-S worlds have powerhouses that have elevated to minor dao-level."

"Grade-SS worlds have powerhouses that have elevated to major dao-level."

"The numbers in the serial number mostly represent the sequence in which the worlds were found. However, it might also be the sequence after amendments."

"Then why is our world Grade-D? Didn't we always have middle-rank Lords?" Sword 3 asked, feeling rather confused.

"This serial number must've been given since our great world was discovered. Perhaps the highest combat strength within our world was only lower-rank lord-level when the serial number was created. Therefore, the grade-D rating hasn't been amended since then. If you look closely, you'll notice that the numbers in our world's serial number are pretty small. The universe should've discovered this great world a long time ago."

Lin Huang stated his speculation. He saw such a thing happening in the inheritance memories he obtained.

"If someone is elevated to ultimate-rank lord-level or dao-level, it should be amended quickly if it is reported to Royal."

There were many worlds in the universe, while there were limited staff responsible for the serial numbers and recordkeeping. They could not be monitoring which world had new elevated middle-rank Lords or upper-rank Lords at all times.

They would usually rely on report submissions. After the application was submitted, there would be staff in the jurisdiction reviewing the application. The serial number would only be changed if the application passed the review process.

The world Lin Huang and the rest were in should not have had anyone submit an application since the serial number was created. Therefore, the serial number had never been amended.

"It was said that there were only over 10,000 grade-S worlds in the universe when this system was first introduced. Now that there are over three million of them, most of the grade-S worlds only had their serial number amended when someone successfully elevated to dao-level later on," Lin Huang added on another piece of information.

"Are there really great worlds that managed to train dao-level powerhouses?" Sword 2 could not help but raise his doubts.

"There are. Great worlds have great differences in their innate environments. The legendary great worlds during the epoch of chaos were born almost the same time the universe was. Each great world was endlessly vast, while the resources found within weren't inferior to that of the universe. During that epoch, some living beings were born to be dao-level or even more powerful."

"Due to wars and other reasons later on, those great worlds during the epoch of chaoss collapsed one after the other and integrated once again, creating new great worlds and forming the great worlds of the primeval epoch…"

"The great world that we're currently in was formed by the many disintegrations and integrations of great worlds during the primeval epoch."

"However, there are still a small number of great worlds that have portions of star zones remaining from the primeval epoch. The resources available in such worlds are naturally incomparable to other worlds."

"Those people who are born in such great worlds are so lucky." Sword 2 had an envious expression on his face.

"Not necessarily. While the worlds with many powerhouses seem to have more abundant resources, in reality, the level of competition is more intense. Perhaps many geniuses and talents were killed before they even managed to stand out." Sword 1 had a clearer head.

"Sword 1 is right." Lin Huang nodded too. "Such great worlds definitely have levels of competition that are a hundred times more intense than ours. Although those who are selected in the end are definitely talents and geniuses, we don't know how many others died during their journey. Some may have had sufficient talent and potential, but lacked that little bit of luck and died prematurely. In our world, the death rate of such geniuses is much lower."

"Therefore, there's no need for us to be envious of them. Our world is pretty great. If we're running out of cultivation resources, we can always head out to the universe. As long as you have sufficient potential and talent, the resources in the universe are sufficient for you to cultivate to dao-level."

"Are you showing us this data because you are planning to head to the universe, Lord Swordmaster?" Sword 1 asked quickly.

The remaining Sword Servants in the meeting room stared fixedly at Lin Huang. They were eager to know the answer.

"Within three years. Three years would be the deadline," Lin Huang revealed the time limit he had set for himself.

Chapter 1736: Sword 1's Presumptuous Request

"Lord Swordmaster, I have a presumptuous request."

Sword 1 suddenly spoke up after a moment of silence after hearing the time limit Lin Huang gave himself to head out into the universe.

"Do tell." Lin Huang nodded.

"I hope we can make a thorough investigation on the Raiders' whereabouts again before we leave this great world. I want to see if we can locate that woman from before and avenge Swordmaster Great Heaven. I hope that Lord Swordmaster can give me some time and a certain level of authorization to accomplish this."

Sword 1 was referring to the female Raider who had a history with Great Heaven and was suspected to have interfered with his unification process, causing it to fail.

"Great Heaven can be considered my teacher. Moreover, the day I received his inheritance, I already promised you that I would help you investigate this matter when the time was right, as well as to avenge him."

"However, I've already killed all of the Raiders in this world. There was only one guy named Cunning Rabbit who had escaped to the universe. From what I know, he's a man. He shouldn't be the person we're looking for."

"Since you want to investigate, I'll support you. I'll give you half of the Sword Servants as manpower. After all, the Sword Alliance needs people to run it. If you need, you can get Sword 2 and the rest to help as well."

"No need. I need Sword 2 and the rest to hold down the fort when I'm away," Sword 1 rejected the offer, "I'll pick a group of people from the Huang League."

"You can use Heavenly Net's intel as you wish as well. I'll inform Yang Ling about it. He was a victim of the Raiders too. He'll definitely agree to help," Lin Huang added, "Also, you can use the information channels of the other organizations that are collaborating with Heavenly Net."

"Thank you, Lord Swordmaster." Sword 1 bowed deeply to express his gratitude. "I only need a year. As soon as a year's time is up, regardless of whether I discover anything, I won't bring this matter up again."

"It doesn't have to be a year. I'll give you three years. You can allocate time to investigate as you wish before we head out into the universe." Lin Huang waved. "Also, if you can't find her in this world, it means that she might've escaped to the universe."

"However, no matter where she's run off to, we'll find her sooner or later. It's just a matter of time!"

"We must avenge Great Heaven! Even if we spend thousands or tens of thousands of years to find that woman, we must take revenge!"

"Thank you, Lord Swordmaster!" The 12 Sword Servants present got up at the same time and bowed deeply.

…

After leaving the meeting room, Lin Huang soon told Lin Xin, Yang Ling and the rest, as well as the crowd of imperial monsters such as Bloody and Kylie, about the three-year time limit.

He wanted to get them to settle everything that they had yet to settle in the great world as soon as possible.

Within half a minute of him sending the message out, Yang Ling sent a video call request directly.

Lin Huang took the call.

"What's up?"

"You're going out into the universe within three years? Why is it so urgent?"

"Because I've promised my friend from the universe that I'd participate in an exploration of a secret zone at that time." Lin Huang did not say that it was a mystic territory, but rather a secret zone. The reason being was that if he did mention the mystic territory, he would have to explain to Yang Ling what it was. "I thought I'd seize the opportunity this time around and not come back."

"Are you saying that you'll bring us along to the universe?" Yang Ling asked.

If Lin Huang did not have such plans, theoretically, there was no need for him to tell them about the three-year agreement.

"I'd like to bring you guys along, but it's still up to you guys to make the final decision. You guys can come along if you want to, or stay if you want to." Lin Huang did not intend to force the decision upon them. Although he thought that Yang Ling's Goldfinger was very useful, as a friend, he should respect his wishes.

"Let's go then. I've never been to the universe." Which man would not yearn to venture out into a whole new world? Naturally, Yang Ling was no exception.

"However, there's some stuff that Hong Zhuang and I need to settle before leaving," Yang Ling added, "I might need to use some of Heavenly Net's resources to investigate something personal."

"You guys have the full authorization when it comes to managing Heavenly Net anyway. Just do as you see fit." Lin Huang did not mind that.

"That won't do. We must separate public use and personal use. If we're using it for personal matters, we need to inform you beforehand, or we'll be crossing the line." Yang Ling insisted. "Actually, it's not a big deal. We mainly want to borrow Heavenly Net's information channels to inquire into Hong Zhuang's younger brother's whereabouts to see if we can find him."

"Does she really have a younger brother?" Lin Huang was rather surprised.

"Don't you already know that?" Yang Ling felt speechless.

'Wasn't that a story that she made up to earn sympathy?' Lin Huang did not voice his thoughts out loud in the end. He could only keep them to himself.

"Alright, I got it. You guys go ahead and use it," Lin Huang agreed without hesitation.

After hanging up the call, Lin Huang was still not sure whether Hong Zhuang really had a younger brother.

Perhaps she did make up a story and, in order to go all the way, she got Yang Ling to try to find him.

No matter what, Lin Huang could not see through this woman.

Perhaps only this kind of woman could tame Yang Ling.

…

Not long after Yang Ling hung up the call, Bloody sent a message.

"Our arrangement with the Nephilic Judge Tribe over here is almost done. Kina has completely adapted to the Nephilic Judge Tribe's living environment, while the tribe is showing a high degree of acceptance of her. Not only that, she has been elevated to seventh-rank heavenly god-level. We happen to be waiting for the right time to send her to you to elevate her to lord-level."

Kina was the Pseudo Pure Spirit rank-5.5 dependent that Kylie had mentioned to Lin Huang previously. Kylie planned to leave her with the Nephilic Judge Tribe to replace her to prevent the tribe from descending into chaos when she headed out into the universe.

Clearly, they had settled Kina down completely over this half a year period.

Now they were just waiting for Lin Huang to turn Kina into his imperial monster and use a Combat Strength Upgrade Card to elevate her to lord-level before they headed out into the universe.

Lin Huang thought about it and soon replied to Bloody's message.

"There's no rush for now. All we've got to do is to elevate her combat strength before we leave. You guys are needed to push forward the Nephilic Judge Tribe's development as much as you can within the two to three years. When you guys are gone in the future, it might be difficult for Kina to do that alone. You guys must take that into consideration as well."

Bloody replied quickly.

"We've thought about that. We'll make the arrangements. In reality, the Nephilic Judge Tribe's improvement has been much better than we expected in all aspects. Most of the obstacles from before came from the elderly, but the younger generation can easily accept new things. I believe the elderly's perception will change gradually as new things surface that improve everyone's living conditions, as well as provide more resources. The Nephilic Judge Tribe's future will flourish. It only requires time."

Lin Huang was relieved when he saw Bloody's reply.

He replied anyway after thinking about it.

"I'm just worried that the Nephilic Judge Tribe's current state might regress after you guys leave…."

However, he thought about it and deleted the message before he was done typing the sentence. He sent Bloody a new message.

"Just make the appropriate arrangements before you guys leave. They'll have to depend on themselves in the future."

Chapter 1737: An External Strength Boost

Three years was Old He's estimated timeframe before the mystic territory would open. However, Lin Huang thought there was no need for him to return to the great world if he really were to head out into the universe.

After all, with his ability, it was rather meaningless to continue staying in the great world. He would seize the opportunity of the mystic territory's opening to leave directly.

Since he was only left with three years, he would settle everything that he had yet to do in this world as soon as he could.

Therefore, he informed everyone about the decision to get everyone to finish what they had yet to finish.

Meanwhile, the first thing that Lin Huang thought about was to locate Xue Luo.

In reality, he had always remembered that.

Xue Luo was the first Protoss that Lin Huang met.

Thanks to the impression Xue Luo gave Lin Huang, he never held any disgust toward other Protoss later on.

Since coming to the great world, he had never forgotten about finding Xue Luo.

It was just that, in the beginning, he did not have the ability to protect himself. As such, he spent most of his time and effort on cultivation.

When he became slightly more capable later on, he asked around on the black market, and ran an investigation with Bloody's assistance by using the Nephilic Judge's force. However, it was all to no avail.

Therefore, he had been putting this matter aside.

When he founded the Sword Alliance's headquarters in the God Territory and suggested that Yang Ling establish the Heavenly Net intelligence department, he actually had an important goal in mind. He wanted to borrow Heavenly Net's intel network to look for Xue Luo as well as the clan she originated from.

The information channels were limited as the Heavenly Net had just been established. However, Lin Huang gave them the mission to look for Xue Luo, her clan as well as her ex-husband.

Apart from Xue Luo, the Heavenly Net was also investigating who the mastermind behind Myriad Tribe Palace was exactly.

One could say that the Heavenly Net would become the busiest department within the entire Sword Alliance during these three years.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang had to start figuring out how he would strengthen himself further.

Firstly, the number of Dao seals in his Kingdom was far from the limit he could possess. He could refine more Kingdoms to borrow even more Dao seals.

That would require a massive amount of resources. He could only trade all sorts of resources for more Kingdoms on Royal's trading market.

Therefore, he could not rush into things using this method. He could only trade each time he had accumulated a certain amount of resources.

Secondly, in order to consolidate more Dao seals, he would need to unlock his Kingdom over and over again. That would require more Lords consolidating Dao seals in his Kingdom.

Although theoretically Lin Huang could elevate all of his imperial monsters to the limit of supreme-rank Lord at once, and they would possess 3,000 Dao seals directly, unlocking the major dao-level quota of having 100,000 Dao seals instantly, he did not plan to do so unless it was absolutely necessary.

He hoped that his imperial monsters could polish themselves as much as possible instead of obtaining elevation through an external force.

It would be more difficult to cultivate Lords in his Kingdom.

After all, it was nothing simple for one to achieve lord-level.

Even with sufficient talent, potential and resources, one would require sufficient time to grow.

After all, there were not many people in the entire universe who possessed cheat codes like he did.

The third way of becoming more powerful was to refine more Origin Energy fragments from the death spring.

In reality, that method would not strengthen Lin Huang directly. However, there were many memory inheritances within the Origin Energy fragments. If he obtained an inheritance of a powerhouse, it would increase his strength in the form of an ability boost.

However, most of the Origin Energy fragments that Lin Huang obtained came from Lords. The probability of receiving minor dao-level powerhouses' inheritances was low, and even lower for major dao-level. Moreover, most of those dao-level fragments contained redundant information. There were few useful inheritances.

Nevertheless, that was out of his control. He could only accept them passively and try his luck.

The fourth way was to depend on external augmentations; objects such as spiritual treasures.

However, Lin Huang could not afford spiritual treasures. He did not even have enough resources to trade for Lords' God Territories, let alone expensive spiritual treasures.

Fortunately, the few God Weapons he owned had evolved into spiritual treasures now.

He did not need to worry about dao-level equipment.

Apart from spiritual treasures, Lin Huang very soon thought about his Combat Souls.

His ten God's Figurine's Combat Souls had only been elevated to lower-rank Lords before, and their elevation had stopped since.

Their combat strength was clearly too low at this point.

If one optimized their God's Figurine's Combat Souls, in reality, they were comparable to clones.

However, as they would exhaust a great deal of resources, many would stop using God's Figurine's Combat Souls when they got to true god-level.

After all, if one had that many resources, they would rather use it on themselves.

Nevertheless, there were a small number of Lords and half-step Lords who would cultivate God's Figurine's Combat Souls.

Some Lords who reached a plateau thought that the possibility of breaking through further was low. There were also half-step Lords with no space to improve who thought that spending resources on themselves would be a waste. Therefore, they would start to cultivate their Combat Souls again.

God's Figurine's Combat Souls that were cultivated properly would be equivalent to having assistants with the same abilities.

When encountering enemies, it might become a trump card to turn the tables in battle.

Lin Huang thought it would be a little difficult to cultivate the God's Figurine's Combat Souls to his level, but that it was doable to cultivate them to a certain level to his advantage.

…

Among the four main elevation methods, Lin Huang thought the fourth one was the only one where the result would be instantly noticeable.

He did not hesitate and started work.

He returned to his Kingdom with a flash.

He summoned his ten God's Figurine's Combat Souls and the Goldfinger Eternity Fire.

The ten God's Figurine's Combat Souls' God's souls were connected to Lin Huang's God's souls directly. There was ample space of growth for their God's souls.

Meanwhile, their physical strength was connected to their ranking. Their Pure Spirit rank-6 ranking allowed their physical bodies to bear the limit of supreme-lord level or even more powerful combat strength elevation.

After inserting a large amount of Origin Energy into Eternity Fire, it stretched ten golden tentacles out and connected to the ten God's Figurine's Combat Souls. It shared its energy with them to elevate their combat strength.

Lower-rank Lord!

Middle-rank Lord!

Upper-rank Lord!

Supreme-rank Lord!

The ten God's Figurine's Combat Souls' aura only stabilized gradually when they had elevated to the limit of supreme-rank lord-level.

However, the sharing of energy from Eternity Fire had yet to stop. It was still ongoing.

At the moment, Lin Huang noticed that the ten God's Figurine's Combat Souls had Dao seals lighting up on them.

He was unusually familiar with those Dao seals.

Many of them belonged to him, and there were some that were not consolidated by him, but instead were the Dao seals in his Kingdom.

Lin Huang widened his eyes. The ten God's Figurine's Combat Souls duplicated the Dao seals in his body directly.

After thinking about it carefully, he understood what was happening.

By nature, the God's Figurine's Combat Souls were his God's soul clones wearing the shell of God's Figurines.

Therefore, theoretically, the Dao seals that his God's soul could use would be applicable to the Combat Souls as well.

Lin Huang had not noticed that before. He had only noticed it now that all of the Dao seals and sequence power that the ten God's Figurine's Combat Souls used came from his Kingdom.

"It'll save them a lot of time and effort since they won't have to consolidate Dao seals all over again," Lin Huang mumbled softly.

As approximately half a day had passed, there were 3,000 Dao seals that lit up on the ten God's Figurine's Combat Souls.

They were glowing brightly at the moment. Like ten big suns, they lit up the entire sky.

It was only after the golden glow faded that Lin Huang realized that the ten God's Figurine's Combat Souls had broken through to dao-level.

They had 3,001 Dao seals on them, and the Dao seals penetrated their bodies gradually.

"I'll elevate them as much as they can take." Lin Huang proceeded to pour more Origin Energy into Eternity Fire's body.

He had consolidated more than a hundred Dao seals in the virtual realm, and he had encountered minor dao-level Raptors over a hundred times. He had killed thousands of minor dao-level Voids, obtaining enough Origin Energy to make thousands of dao-level God's Figurine's Combat Souls.

As Eternity Fire was receiving more Origin Energy, it boosted the energy transfer for the ten God's Figurine's Combat Souls.

Approximately three days later, the God's Figurine's Combat Souls had duplicated more than 10,000 Dao seals. It was only then that Eternity Fire.

"Has it reached the limit yet?" Lin Huang asked immediately.

"Not yet." It was the Ninetails Lynx who answered that question, "However, we're out of Dao seals that we can duplicate."

"Apart from the Dao seals that we can't use, we've duplicated all of the Dao seals, god sequence chains and god rules that we can use," Nightmare Tapir who was standing at the side spoke.

Lin Huang had only noticed that almost all of the some 120,000 Dao seals in his body had been duplicated by his ten God's Figurine's Combat Souls. Each Combat Souls had duplicated tens of thousands of Dao seals. As they had different cultivation directions, the repetition rate of Dao seals they duplicated was less than one-tenth. Therefore, each of them only had some 10,000 Dao seals in their bodies.

"Alright, that's all for this round of elevation." Lin Huang nodded while feeling rather helpless. He did not expect that he had restricted his Combat Souls from strengthening further.

Chapter 1738: I've Avenged You

The ten Pure Spirit rank-6 God's Figurine's Combat Souls had been elevated to minor dao-level. Not only that, each of them had duplicated over 10,000 Dao seals.

To Lin Huang, they were undoubtedly a group of amazing assistants.

Although they could not compare with him in terms of their abilities, they were sufficient to handle many minor dao-level powerhouses.

Lin Huang was satisfied with this boost of external strength.

However, he did not give up on his personal strength boost just yet.

He repeatedly explored the few conclusions he had explored. Very soon, he found a shortcut to the second strengthening method.

"I definitely can't cultivate Lords in my Kingdom to boost the number of the unlocked Dao seals within a short period of time. However, if time flow is accelerated by 10,000 times, I should be able to significantly shorten the cultivation time of Lords."

"Three years would be 300,000 years under 10,000 times accelerated time flow. It shouldn't be an issue to cultivate a couple of Lords."

The Great Heaven Palace could alter time flow. The most it could accelerate time flow in his Kingdom would be 10,000 times faster than the outside world.

Lin Huang thought he could use this bug to accelerate the time flow in his Kingdom by 10,000 times to cultivate Lords.

He had absorbed countless Kingdoms before. Most of them had local living beings, and there were quite a number of Heavenly Gods among them. He had converted them into a part of his Kingdom together with the other Kingdoms previously.

Three hundred years should be enough to elevate some high-rank Heavenly Gods to Lords.

He had only applied the time acceleration within the Great Heaven Palace previously, or only the Great Heaven Territory at most. It had never been applied to the entire Kingdom before.

He was looking forward to seeing the changes of some of his old friends in the gravel world 30,000 years later under the accelerated time flow.

As he sorted through his thoughts, he contacted the Great Heaven Palace directly without hesitation. He adjusted the time flow of the entire Kingdom so that it was 10,000 times faster than the outside world.

…

Lin Huang would enter the virtual realm every day for the next few days.

He already had sufficient confidence in his ability to start exploring the Abyss of the virtual realm.

At the same time, he was in a frenzy as he hunted Voids in the Abyss.

However, his targeted prey were at least supreme-rank Lords. There were even minor dao-level powerhouses.

Apart from obtaining a great deal of Origin Energy, the goal of hunting those Voids was also to obtain more Dao seals.

Although it would not unlock the number of Dao seals he could possess, it could boost the total number of Dao seals in his Kingdom. It was even faster than refining Kingdoms.

Moreover, as the Voids he hunted were of high levels, almost each one he hunted would increase the number of Dao seals in his Kingdom by 1,000.

Within a short span of one week, he had hunted hundreds of Voids.

The total number of Dao seals in his Kingdom had skyrocketed to over 300,000.

However, one day, Lin Huang suddenly realized that he could no longer refine more Dao seals.

"315,800 Dao seals… seems to be the limit. It happens to be a hundred-fold of the 3,158 Dao seals I own…" Lin Huang had previously guessed that there would be a limit to the number of Dao seals his Kingdom could refine. He had finally reached the limit. However, it was clear that the limit could be increased in tandem with the number of the Dao seals he truly possessed.

Although it came out of the blue, Lin Huang soon came to terms with the fact.

He figured that he would just stop hunting for the time being.

The Voids in the Abyss of the virtual realm might not have realized that they had unintentionally escaped death.

After Lin Huang stopped hunting, he summoned the ten God's Figurine's Combat Souls immediately and got Eternity Fire to strengthen them once again.

The God's Figurine's Combat Souls that had only duplicated over 10,000 Dao seals before had the number of Dao seals in their bodies increased to some 30,000.

Their combat ability increased significantly again.

Later on, Lin Huang finally settled down.

He only did one thing every day when he entered the virtual realm, which was to refine the Origin Energy fragments coming from the Nirvana Trees.

When he returned to the material realm, he would put aside his cultivation completely.

He would travel with his mind with his eyes shut most of the time.

His Divine Telekinesis turned into clones, wandering through all the planets in the entire great world.

This included those planets in his Kingdom; observing the changes in the Kingdom.

Sometimes, he would spare some time to give cultivation pointers to Lin Xin and the rest, his imperial monsters and Sword Servants.

Time flew by, and close to three years had passed.

The current Sword Alliance, including the branch in the human world, held a steady status among the grade-7 organizations.

It was not only active within the God Territory, but the three Saints and the seven sects in the human world also collaborated with the Sword Alliance.

The Sword Alliance's headquarters in the God Territory had tens of millions of members now.

Meanwhile, the branch in the human world had surpassed eight million members.

Although Lin Huang did not fight even once throughout the three years, more than one of the Sword Servants in the Sword Alliance had fought before.

A hot discussion would start every time a Sword Servant fought.

Not only the God Territory and the human world in the great world, almost all the realms found out that the Sword Alliance possessed at least ten lord-level powerhouses.

Lin Huang, the mysterious Sword Alliance master, had become an unfathomable existence to the people.

Lin Huang, who had clones all over the place, naturally knew of these matters very well.

Throughout these three years, everything that happened in the entire great world, no matter big or small, could not escape his notice.

In reality, the Heavenly Net never managed to find news of Xue Luo throughout these three years.

Lin Huang had tens of thousands of clones who investigated the matter for three years.

The final investigation revealed that there was indeed a small clan called the Xue family in the previous era in the God Territory. However, Lin Huang checked through all of the information he could find. It was proven that the Xue family was not the one he was looking for. It had nothing to do with Xue Luo at all.

Not only the God Territory, Lin Huang had even looked through all the regions in the great world, including the human world, Celestial Palace, Buddhist Land, dragon world and more. He did not manage to find anything.

It felt as if Xue Luo had never existed, nor was there ever a Xue family.

Lin Huang did not find Xue Luo, but he did not have to spend much effort finding information about her ex-husband according to the teleportation coordinates and based on the time spent in the gravel world and the great world.

That man called himself a Master God in the great world. He had many believers.

However, in reality, he was merely getting by in mediocre grade-5 organization in the God Territory. He was just a regular member. Meanwhile, his combat strength stopped at ninth-rank true god-level. He had not improved in years.

On a night when snow scattered across the sky, Lin Huang's clone barred his path.

The man with a head full of silver hair had his guard up as he looked at Lin huang.

His hair color seemed to have turned silver white permanently from the influence of Xue Luo's Divine Fire. However, he still looked cool and handsome.

"Do you still remember Xue Ling-er?" Lin Huang stretched his hand out and caught the soft snow that was like sand before him as he asked coldly.

The man quivered slightly, but then denied instantly, "You got the wrong person. I've no idea who this Xue Ling-er you're talking about is."

"Really?" Lin Huang smirked.

At the moment, the silver-haired man's eyes gradually looked empty. "Xue Ling-er was a woman that I met in the gravel world. I knew that she was a Protoss. I approached her on purpose, deceived her to win her trust, and obtained her Divine Fire…"

His eyes were focused again a moment later. "What did you do to me?"

"I merely let you recall your past." Lin Huang's tone was calm, but his expression had turned cold.

"Since I've confirmed that it's you, I'll take the thing that you owe Xue Luo on her behalf."

As soon as Lin Huang was done speaking, the silver-haired man knelt on the ground. His silver hair was turning black quickly at a speed that was visible to the naked eye, but his vitality was fading gradually.

"You owe her a life and a Divine Fire, so I'll take your life and Divine Fire." Lin Huang did not even look at the kneeling corpse. He held the white Divine Fire at the tip of his finger, covering it with a layer of Odyl and then placed it in a box. He put away the box in his space storage.

He lifted his head and looked up at the sky. Watching the soft snow falling from the sky, he muttered softly, "I've avenged you, Xue Luo…"

Chapter 1739: The Arrangement Before Departure

The three years agreement was coming to an end. Sword 1 returned as promised.

Lin Huang knew the result of the three-year investigation without having to ask.

Apart from Sword 1, Lin Huang also welcomed some of his old friends throughout those three years.

His old friends from the gravel world, such as Leng Yuexin, Li Lang, the siblings Yi Zheng and Yi Yeyu, had broken through to heavenly god-level one after the other. Lin Huang brought them to the great world.

Under the 10,000 times accelerated time flow, almost all of the cultivators in Lin Huang's Kingdom underwent a significant elevation in their combat strength.

Some ten Lords were cultivated throughout those three years. They were accepted into the Sword Alliance.

Although the 16 Lords only unlocked 16 Dao seals for Lin Huang, he was very satisfied with the result.

The Sword Alliance was flourishing in its development.

It had the deterrence of being the No. 1 organization in the God Territory.

However, Lin Huang finally received news from Liu Fu from the universe.

He knew that it was almost time for his departure.

A few days before departing, he gathered everyone.

Not only all of his Sword Servants, but Mr. Fu, Lin Xin, Yang Ling and the rest as well as his old friends such as Yi Zheng and Yi Yeyu were included.

Lin Huang only spoke after taking a glance at them.

"I've received news from the universe that the mystic territory that I'm going to is opening. I've decided to depart three days later. I'll officially head out into the universe. From that point onward, I might not return for a period of time."

"I know that most of you here might want to go out into the universe. However, I can't just leave the Sword Alliance behind. This will still be our training base, as well as the root of our development in the universe. We need the Sword Alliance to stay, recruiting more talents and geniuses. We'll then send them to the universe to strengthen our organization in the universe."

"Therefore, I need a portion of people to stay behind and hold down the fort for me."

Lin Huang knew that most of them definitely hoped to head out into the universe.

After all, it was a whole new world. Not only that, there would be more opportunities to develop themselves.

However, it was impossible that he would bring all of them along. He could not leave the Sword Alliance that he had spent a few years building behind.

Apart from commemorating Great Heaven, his initial intention of founding the Sword Alliance was to make it a training base, training more talents under him.

As a "training center", the Sword Alliance had a purpose of existence.

The room fell into momentary silence after Lin Huang was done speaking.

At that moment, Mr. Fu was the first to speak up.

"I'll tell you what I think."

The people knew that he was Lin Huang's master. Although his combat strength was only at true god-level, they dared not neglect him. They paid attention to him.

"Everyone knows that I'm nominally Lin Huang's master. I've only taught him cultivation during his earlier years, and he soon surpassed me later on. Throughout the few years in the Sword Alliance, I've been accumulating resources, while my combat strength has only elevated to fourth-rank true god-level. After all, my talent and potential are limited. I can't compare myself with you young ones."

"I think, to me personally, this great world is vast enough. Of course, I'd love to go to the universe, but I don't think it's for me. At the very least, it's not suitable for me to live in a place that has Lords everywhere like the universe, where just the impact from a battle alone might kill me. Of course, if it's just a vacation, I'm more than willing to go."

"Therefore, I've decided to stay. I'll stay in the great world. You can see it as retirement or holding down the fort for you. I'd love to settle down here."

"Master…" Lin Huang did not expect that that would be Mr. Fu's decision.

In reality, to him, Mr. Fu was family.

Naturally, he wished to bring him along to the universe.

"With your talent and potential, you can go further than anyone. However, not many have the talent and potential to be with you until the very end. It's not that I don't want to go with you guys. It's just that I'm really tired."

"You can treat this as your hometown. Just visit whenever you have time. It's not like we'll never see each other again." Mr. Fu insisted on his decision.

Lin Huang stopped advising him after hearing that.

The second who spoke was Chan Dou.

"I'll stay too." It was not only Lin Huang; everyone present who knew him was shocked by his decision.

After all, with Chan Dou's talent and potential, the great world should not be his ideal destination.

"Don't overthink this. It's not that I want to stay in the great world forever. I just think I owe Lin Huang and the Sword Alliance too much. I think that I have the obligation to stay to do something for the Sword Alliance."

"Also, as soon as I've succeeded in my unification and am elevated to Lord, I'll head out into the universe."

"Then we'll stay too. We'll go to the universe together when we've cultivated to lord-level," Yi Zheng and Yi Yeyu stated their opinion immediately as well.

Lin Huang felt melancholic to see his old friends' attitude on this matter.

In reality, Leng Yuexin, Yi Zheng and the rest had only reunited with him for a short time.

Moreover, although they were not considered powerhouses with their heavenly god-level combat strength, they were considered to be of normal standards.

Lin Huang interrupted things when he saw the half-step lord-level Sword Servants begin to stand up to speak.

"I welcome everyone here who would like to go to the universe with me. I hope that everyone who decides to stay is really willing to stay instead of being forced to stay."

"There's an opportunity for half-step Lords to elevate. I've found a way to fix your Dao seals to elevate you guys to Lords. This method doesn't have any side-effects. You'll be able to elevate to middle-rank, upper-rank and even supreme-rank lord-level like the others later on. Therefore, there's no need for you to make the decision of staying to retire because of the lack of elevation potential for half-step Lords. However, it'd still depend on your own hard work as to how far you'll go in the end."

"No matter what, you have to be willing to stay."

"I'm staying." The first person who spoke up was someone who nobody expected to again. It was Sword 2.

Even Lin Huang was stunned momentarily.

"Sword 1 took care of most of the matters in the Sword Alliance before. I hope that I will have his leadership abilities and share a portion of that burden in the future. Also, I've figured out that the Swordmaster actually has many helpful people around him. Apart from Sword 1, there are some who have abilities more powerful than mine."

"I think, as compared to the rest, the Sword Alliance might need me to stay."

"Of course, I won't stay forever. When the time is right, I'll get someone to replace me. I'll then head out into the universe and be by Lord Swordmaster's side."

After Sword 2 spoke, more Sword Servants took the initiative to stay behind.

In the end, there were 154 Sword Servants who chose to stay.

At that point, Lin Huang finally confirmed the list of the people that he would bring along to the universe.

After the meeting ended, the Sword Servants left one after the other. Sword 1, Sword 2, and a bunch of old friends were the only ones left in the meeting room.

"Master, you…" Mr. Fu was the first person that Lin Huang looked at.

"I know what you're trying to say." Mr. Fu smiled, feeling grateful. "No matter whether I go to the universe with you or not, we'll always be family."

"I really want to stay. I didn't say that just to save you the trouble. I just thought I'd start the conversation to tell you what I have in mind."

Lin Huang nodded lightly and said nothing more. He then looked at his old friends like Leng Yuexin, Yi Zheng and the rest.

"Given your current combat strength, it's actually sufficient to follow me out into the universe. Over there, there won't actually be lord-level powerhouses everywhere. It's just an exaggeration. True god-level and heavenly god-level are still the main combat strength levels."

"We've only been to the great world for less than a year. We haven't become familiar with this place yet, and you're bringing us to the universe instead. I don't want to go. I'd like to enjoy the great world for a few more years." Li Lang was the first to speak.

"Although true god-level and heavenly god-level are the main combat strength levels, we'd definitely slow you down if we go." Leng Yuexin spoke the truth.

Lin Huang would have liked to say that they would still slow him down even when they had become Lords. However, he only dared to think about those words. It would be terrible for him to say those words out loud and crush their self-esteem.

"We think so too." Yi Zheng and Yi Yeyu nodded. "Also, the Sword Alliance's resources are enough given our level of cultivation now. There's no need for us to head out into the universe. It's not too late for us to head out when we get to lord-level and run out of resources."

Lin Huang then looked at Chan Dou.

"Don't look at me. I hate owing someone a favor. Consider this to be my way of returning the favor by staying this time," Chan Dou said expressionlessly.

Lin Huang stopped encouraging them seeing that they had made up their minds. He then looked at Sword 2.

"Gather all of the half-step lord-level Sword Servants. Bring them over to the big meeting room on the first floor."

Chapter 1740: Frantic Last-minute Closed-door Cultivation

After gathering the 247 half-step lord-level Sword Servants, Lin Huang sent them into the Great Heaven Palace before activating the Flawless Card.

He only left the Kingdom after watching the Sword Servants transform into big cocoons one after the other successfully.

The Flawless Card would not only fix one's Dao seal, but it would also fix the missing Dao tattoos that had caused the Dao seals to be damaged.

Consolidating Dao tattoos was not a short-term process.

Therefore, Lin Huang chose to do it in the Great Heaven Palace with the 10,000 times accelerated time flow.

Over the next two days, the half-step lord-level Sword Servants got out of their cocoons consecutively and were elevated to lord-level officially.

It had unsealed 247 Dao seals for Lin Huang's Kingdom.

After settling the Sword Servants' matter, he received a message from Sword 1. "The Virgen of the Nephilic Judge Tribe is here."

Lin Huang had a secret meeting with Kylie and Bloody in a small meeting room in the Sword Alliance after reminding Sword 1 to keep it a secret.

Kina, who was going to replace Kylie to stay with the Nephilic Judge Tribe, came along with the two as well.

Surprisingly, the girl looked 60% to 70% similar to Kylie. It was no wonder that the Nephilic Judge Tribe would believe that she was Kylie's long-lost sister.

"Are you guys done with all the arrangements?" Lin Huang asked.

"We are." Kylie nodded.

"To prevent her from failing to handle everything on her own after we left, we've established a small circle of supporters among the Nephilic Judge Tribe throughout these past three years. They're young people who have the common goal of the Nephilic Judge Tribe's future development in mind. Although there were not many people, we've assigned them to different departments respectively throughout these few years.

"In the future, they'll assist Kina together to continue promoting the Nephilic Judge Tribe's development."

Although Kylie made it sound simple, Lin Huang knew that making progress on this matter must have been difficult throughout these years.

The reason being was that it was impossible for the Nephilic Judge Tribe's upper echelons not to notice the people who were close with the Virgen.

"As long as they follow the plan I gave Kina and don't deviate too much from the development outline, there won't be any major issues." Bloody was very confident in her plan. "However, we can't avoid minor deviations from occurring."

"I'll try my best to keep things in line." Kina nodded in all seriousness.

Even her tone and demeanor when she spoke was similar to Kylie.

"Have you made up your mind?" Lin Huang looked at Kina.

"I have." Kina nodded without hesitation.

As Kylie's dependent, she had an innate sense of admiration and adoration for Kylie.

To her, replacing Kylie to stay with the Nephilic Judge Tribe was a way to get closer to Kylie.

"Alright then." Lin Huang took action instantly after seeing Kina did not have a shred of hesitation at all.

A red gleam flashed from his sleeve. Before Kina could react, it had penetrated between her brows, leaving a tiny opening the size of a needle.

Kina's vitality faded instantly.

At the last second when her vitality had almost faded entirely, a new Monster Card was consolidated in Lin Huang's hand.

Lin Huang crushed the card casually. Kina's figure formed quickly.

Seeing the corpse with a red gleam between its brows, she was left in a momentary daze.

However, she soon snapped back to her senses. She suddenly realized that the man before her felt even closer than Kylie was to her.

"Master," Kina called out automatically.

"Come with me." Lin Huang waved and brought Kina along into the Great Heaven Palace.

In the palace, Kina saw the giant golden cocoons all over the place at a glance. Those were Lin Huang's Sword Servants that had just had their combat strength elevated not long ago.

Before she could react, the Combat Strength Upgrade Card between Lin Huang's fingers turned into stars and penetrated her body.

Her body was enveloped in a golden cocoon at speed that was visible to the naked eye.

After completing that task, Lin Huang returned to the Sword Alliance's headquarters in a flash.

Kylie and Bloody remained standing where they were. They only snapped back to their senses when they saw Lin Huang return.

"What did the two of you say to the Nephilic Judge Tribe?" Lin Huang asked again.

"I left a letter saying that I think my cultivation has reached a plateau, so I'm going to the universe with Bloody. I also mentioned that I entrusted Kina to them." Kylie's response was simple.

"Those stubborn old geezers from the Nephilic Judge Tribe must hate me to their bones," Bloody said rather helplessly.

"You don't owe them a good impression anyway." Kylie did not care about such things.

"They have had their guards up against me from the first day, worried that I might kidnap you. In the end, I really did kidnap you. Now those old geezers' speculations have come true. I'm very upset about that." Bloody was irritated.

"You shouldn't think that way. Instead, you should think that you're pissing off the old geezers by kidnapping the Virgen under their watch," Lin Huang teased with a smile.

Bloody rolled her eyes at Lin Huang.

"You definitely can't hide the news of you going to the universe for much longer. Those from the Nephilic Judge Tribe who aren't complete fools should connect the dots that you're going to the universe with their Virgen. Even without proof, they'll definitely stir up trouble with the Sword Alliance."

"Don't worry, they'll be the one on the losing end if they stir up trouble with the Sword Alliance." Lin Huang had sufficient confidence in the Sword Alliance's ability. "I'll tell Sword 2 not to bully the Nephilic Judge Tribe too much."

Kylie and Bloody knew that Lin Huang was telling the truth. They held no doubts regarding the Sword Alliance's ability.

Lin Huang did not stay idle over the next few days after making the secret arrangement with Kylie and Bloody.

Considering that there would be major dao-level powerhouses during the trip into the mystic territory, and that it would be dangerous to get his lower-rank lord-level imperial monsters to explore the place, Lin Huang gave the matter some serious thought and decided to gather all of his imperial monsters apart from Bug Tribe.

He elevated them all the way to supreme-rank lord-level.

Bai, Bloody, Charcoal, Kylie, Grimace, Lancelot, Tyrant, Thunder, Bloody Robe, Fiend, Scarlet Imp (Hellion Imp), Witch, Eclipse (Eclipse Boa), Crescent Moon and Dark Moon (two Dark Crescent Snakes), Death (Death Knight), Fallen (Fallen Knight), Warlord, Herculean King, Bing Wang, Killer, Evil Dominator, Ku Rong (Demonic Buddhist Holy Son), Blackscale (Symbiotic Creature of the Abyssal Fountain) and Nine Gloom (Silver-Armored Nine Gloom).

There were a total of 25 imperial monsters. Lin Huang boosted their Dao seals to 3,000 at once, elevating their combat strength to the limit of supreme-rank lord-level.

This unsealed close to 75,000 Dao seals in Lin Huang's Kingdom.

Later on, Lin Huang spent a long time consolidating Dao seals in the virtual realm.

When he had consolidated all of the unlocked Dao seals, he had increased the number of his Dao seals to a total of 78,385.

With that many Dao seals, he was already considered a powerhouse among minor dao-level cultivators.

Meanwhile, each of his Dao seals comprised millions of Dao tattoos.

His over 78,000 Dao seals could not be compared to the ordinary minor dao-level cultivators's 78,000 Dao seals.

However, Lin Huang did not stop cultivating just yet.

After increasing the number of his Dao seals, he began a new round of refining for the Origin Energy fragments coming from the Nirvana Trees…

He finally got out of closed-door cultivation officially when he reached the limits of Dao seals his Kingdom could contain, which was 7,838,500 Dao seals, from the Origin Energy fragments.