Volume 1 Chapter 17: Forbidden Zones

"Junior Brother, don't tell me you've become even more powerful?"

Li Mengzhi was supposed to feel nothing by now. But the sheer fact that this guy could become even stronger than his already outrageous strength is just too…

Just what sort of method did he even use? What sort of foundation does he have to achieve such an impossibility?

"Maybe."

Fang Zhaoge glanced at his amplification. It has finally reached the maximum. He indifferently looked at his little brother. You may be sacrificed, but fear not, for your sacrifice shall bring greater good!

[Current Amplification: 500x]

This is the sole reason he was willing to participate in this war. To spread the fact that his little brother is average…

Fang Zhaoge suddenly felt this sense of shame and anguish. His dignity and pride were stripped all because of his pursuit for more power. He couldn't imagine the consequences of keeping that cursed quality, Cultivation Renegade, in his hand.

Greed is the greatest enemy of cultivators! He solemnly recited the saying as if it was an oracle.

"I did nothing at all. Haah, Junior Brother, should I be called useless now?"

"No, not really. I feel revitalized every time I look at you."

Li Mengzhi giggled as Fang Zhaoge poised as a gentleman again. Her father truly picked someone interesting.

Now, unless those immortals are shameless enough to send yet another batch of even more powerful 'Immortals', the issue of foreign forces has basically been solved.

Fang Zhaoge reflected. In the cultivation world, strength is really the best solver of all. As long as he's strong enough, who the hell could refute him even if he claimed himself as the God of the gods of the gods of the immortals? Whatever outrageous title he happened to fancy?

Morality is basically nonexistent. Mortals were considered as ants. Lives were treated as whether they bring enough benefits or not. And the weak were considered disposable without any rights whatsoever.

These are the old tales of the cultivation world. Fang Zhaoge shook his head as he marveled.

It made one wonder how the current structure of society in this world could even have formed in the first place. And then he realized, it was the result of those cultivators who were actually responsible and did not utilize their power recklessly.

It was also the result of the union created to repel the outside threats like demonic beasts, Demons and invaders. That's how humans work. In the face of a bigger threat, extreme contradictions could be easily put aside.

It could still be applied even to superhumans like cultivators!

Maybe we're not that hopeless…

Fang Zhaoge was brought out from his brainstorming by a tug from Princess Shinmeng. Her noble eyes tilted to the ground, where countless people had gathered.

"Senior Brother, people are waiting."

"Waiting for what?"

Princess Shinmeng looked at him as if he was a naive person. She laughed lightly as she tugged him even harder.

"Waiting for the Overlord who repelled all the invaders, of course!"

Listening to this, Fang Zhaoge looked down at the excited cultivators and couldn't help but feel this sense of shame again. He did not even expand any worthwhile efforts, yet he was treated as if he had done something great.

It's indeed great, but he didn't feel like it because it was simply too easy!

In the end, he was pushed down by the combined forces of two beauties by his sides. He sighed, who would be able to resist their request in this situation?

The whole crowd was cheering out loud. The sight of an otherworldly Overlord with two goddess-like figures by his sides was way too stimulating! Although the Overlord mentioned his 'inconceivable' size, who cares about that?!

The majority of men puffed out their chests in pride. They're not inferior at all to the Overlord! While the women checked out their assets. Perhaps they should consider reevaluating their standards? That also meant a bigger chest and a protruding behind weren't that important either, right?

The celebration within the Scorching Sun Sect was only held for a few days. However, it was different outside. After all, the whole world was free now! The mortals cheered while the cultivators bowed to the direction of the Scorching Sun Sect for seven days and nights!

Multiple forces led by the Heavenly Emperor and the upper echelon of the Scorching Sun Sect bombarded the headquarters of each subsidiary force of the Immortal World efficiently.

Without their leaders, what could they do? Even those ancestors old enough to be twenty generations above the current generation were helpless against the Heavenly Emperor.

It has to be known that excluding the Overlord, the Heavenly Emperor is unmatched in this world! The only reason he refrained himself before was the backing of those forces. Now, with the Overlord, an abnormally powerful one at that, as their backing, what's there to fear?

Just a few weeks later, everyone from the subsidiary forces of the Immortal World had already been annihilated. Even the beings at the molecular level were extinguished.

Cultivators knew no mercy!

As for the resources, the Heavenly Emperor and the Scorching Sun Sect decided to split it 30-30. For the rest, they held a competition to decide which talents deserved the otherworldly resources coming from the forces of the Immortal World!

There are several reasons for this decision. However, the most important factor was the fact that the one who suggested it was the Overlord himself. He mentioned how important the integration of the world was in case other invaders threatened their homeworld.

As the supreme Overlord, who dared to refute him? Besides, the Heavenly Emperor also agreed wholeheartedly.

Cultivation world was cruel only when the upper echelon was filled with self-interest, selfish bastards.

With how good the Overlord is, how could their beloved hometown turn into a cruel cultivation world?

Certainly, the resources of the Immortal World are several tiers above the Mortal's! There are many kinds of wondrous spiritual plants, pills and treasures! Shockingly, they discovered a pill recipe responsible for increasing one's talent!

All of them were identified by Li Mengzhi. With her knowledge regarding the Immortal World from her mother, there's nothing she could not identify!

With all of these factors, the prosperity of this world was basically guaranteed!

"Heavenly Emperor, does this world even have a name?"

Inside a cottage at the top of the Sword Peak, Fang Zhaoge leisurely sipped his tea as he looked curiously at the Heavenly Emperor, who was inspecting a coconut-shaped herb seriously.

"Before those subsidiary forces came, we used to simply name it the World of Seven Elements. It was named after the extreme climate and conditions of the Seven Forbidden Zones. But it has been long forgotten since those shameless things wanted the people to forget it, erasing any sense of belonging of the future generations to this world."

Fang Zhaoge's eyes lit up. So it was named after the Forbidden Zones!

"Heavenly Emperor, from what I know, there are the Eternal Arctic Domain and the Dark Haven. But how about the rest?"

The purple-eyed man calmly put down the herb, "Other than those two, there are the Endless Sea, the Hell's Peak, the Millennial Storm, the Dark Forest and the Heaven's Stairs. Each one of them is mysterious in their own way. It's not something we mere mortals couldn't touch."

Fang Zhaoge was speechless. Why did a mortal world even have those immortal sounding places? Heavenly Emperor glanced at him

"I know exactly what you're thinking. Isn't this just a mortal world, then why do those places exist? However, many don't know that those Forbidden Zones actually dominate over 95% of the whole world! Our territory actually just covered about 5% of the world!"

Fang Zhaoge widened his eyes. It was already so big, but it's only about 5% of the world?! Then how big the World of Seven Elements truly is?

"So what you're saying is?"

"Yes, perhaps our world is on the verge of advancing to become a true Immortal World! We don't know how our world was considered compared to other worlds, however, the fact that we have you as an Overlord and Princess Shinmeng was enough proof that our world is by no means ordinary!"

The Heavenly Immortal's regal purple eyes shined with pride. Actually, it was rare enough for a mere mortal world to have a talent comparable to those in the Immortal World, however, in their world, they have the Overlord who could utterly crush those so-called heavenly geniuses!

There's also the princess that would surely shine brightly in the Immortal World, and the daughter of the most powerful cultivator in history, who basically had the Immortal World like the back of her hand!

Each one of them could be considered as geniuses amongst the heavenly geniuses! And they weren't the only ones! There are many undiscovered talents out there.

At this, Fang Zhaoge sighed to calm down. This world is way too impressive. Just 5% was already so big, then how big are those Forbidden Zones?

"So you see, before I wanted to ascend, I actually wanted to solve the issues regarding these zones. If I asked for advice, which zone should I start from?"

The Heavenly Emperor turned serious, hearing the intention of the Overlord. He long has been having suspicions about these zones. Unfortunately, mortals cannot simply cross the zones.

But the Overlord was different! He was a mortal who treated immortals as if they were ants!

He began to speculate as he picked up the herb and fiddled around with it.

"Overlord could start with the Dark Forest. Although the environment was a little bit dark here, compared to other extreme climates, it was relatively better. Also, it's the zone with the clearest entrance to its main core area."

"Main core area?"

The Heavenly Emperor nodded, "Yes, every Forbidden Zones has an area where everything is sourced from. In the case of the Dark Forest, the core area is the zone itself, which is a forest. So as soon as you were within the vicinity of the Dark Forest, you already entered the main core area."

Fang Zhaoge quizzically asked, "So is that an important thing or…?"

"To find the main problems of these Forbidden Zones, our ancestors have made a manual about it. And one of the most important things was the core area. Where the main substantial portion of the zone was contained."

"Ah, so it's the key to figure out these Forbidden Zones?"

The Heavenly Emperor nodded, "And the restrictions more often than not unallowed mortals to go."

"Why? What would happen?"

"Because it's too strong, and if it happens, a mortal will die."

Fang Zhaoge scratched his head as the Heavenly Emperor shot him a puzzled look. I'm just making sure, that's all.

"What restrictions?"

"Restrictions... I don't know exactly how they could be depicted, but just know that they already exist before we the natives build a civilization here..."

The Heavenly Emperor's purple eyes wondered as he seems to be recalling something. Fang Zhaoge nodded and asked,

"So Dark Forest is it then?

"But wait. It's not so simple. The Dark Forest, despite its deceitful, simple name, is actually a zone with several times more pressure and gravitational pull. So still be careful, Overlord. I know you're powerful, but the Forbidden Zones are way more than what you could imagine!"

After they exchanged a couple of times, the Heavenly Emperor cupped his fists and disappeared from the Sword Peak, leaving Fang Zhaoge alone with his thought.