Monster Paradise

After giving out all the rewards, Buried Heaven dismissed everyone else except for Lin Huang.

A moment of silence later in the meeting room, Buried Heaven spoke. “Do you know why we’re willing to break Death Sickle’s rules and make an exception for you to be a guest Gold Sickle?”

‘Because I’m outstanding enough?!’ Lin Huang really wanted to reply in this manner. However, he figured it would sound arrogant, so he changed his answer.

“I don’t know.”

“Your identity would be a threat to most organizations in the God Territory,” Buried Heaven said without mincing words, “There are very few individuals in the God Territory who would be willing to countenance the rising of a compelling human genius.”

“Then why doesn’t Death Sickle think the same?” Lin Huang did not think Buried Heaven wanted to have a falling out with him by saying this. If Buried Heaven had wanted to take action, he would have done so over a year ago.

“Because we’re looking at the issue from a higher dimension.” Although Buried Heaven did not say it directly, his next words revealed Death Sickle’s secret. “Humans and Protoss aren’t enemies. We’re even allies in the universe, with the same enemies.”

“The same enemies?! Do you mean the Abyssal creatures or the Bug Tribe?” Lin Huang asked immediately.

“It’s something even more powerful…” Buried Heaven said only this, unwilling to reveal more.

Lin Huang frowned and fell silent for a moment after hearing this reply. He knew that Buried Heaven would not answer him even if he proceeded to ask further. He changed topics and asked a question about something that he really wanted to know.

“Perhaps all these things you’re telling me can explain the friendly attitude that Death Sickle and yourself harbor toward me, but it doesn’t explain why Death Sickle is willing to break the rules to pull me into the core circle. No matter how you look at it, the Gold Sickle authorization that I’ve obtained would give me benefits that exceed what Death Sickle could get from me.

“Moreover, all of you should be aware that, as a human, I can’t wander in the God Territory forever. In the end, I’ll still have to return to my human world. Judging from the current relationship between humans and Protoss, no matter how successful I might be in the human world, there’s still very little that I could repay you with.”

“We’re not looking at the great world, but the greater universe. You have the potential to break through to mighty divinity-level (lord-level). As long as you don’t die, we’ll gain a great ally in the future. By then, even if you don’t bring us any returns, your existence alone can prevent many people from dying in wars. That alone is the real value that we see in you.”

From these words, Lin Huang finally realized Death Sickle’s stand. He had no idea what to say at the moment.

He suddenly thought of something else a moment later.

“Why didn’t you all give Virtuoso the same treatment? From what I know, his potential is certainly no less than mine.”

“He’s different from you.” Buried Heaven shook his head. He hesitated for a little bit but still decided to say it anyway. “He’s a reincarnation of an Almighty.

“An Almighty reincarnation might seem to have extraordinary potential, but there are actually restrictions. It’s very difficult for him to break through the level that he was born at.

“The potential isn’t the main issue. More importantly, we’re worried.

“We’re not sure if there’s anything wrong with Virtuoso’s past life. He’s been purposely hiding information on it. We can’t find any clues, we can’t differentiate whether he’s a friend or a foe. No matter how powerful he was in his past life, we dare not pull him into our core circle recklessly.”

What Buried Heaven said did indeed make sense.

Lin Huang thought to himself for a moment while frowning, but said nothing.

He was aware of Virtuoso’s background and knew that they were actually a reincarnated being. Their identity as Virtuoso was just a clone for them to disguise themselves as an Almighty reincarnation.

He also knew that Virtuoso was a member of the Club, just like he was. There was a high chance that they would not stand on the opposing side against Protoss and humans.

However, he could not tell Buried Heaven that.

Doing so would be tantamount to exposing Virtuoso’s background; it would also expose his own identity as a member of the Club.

On the other hand, he had also considered that Virtuoso probably had their own reasons to hide this information from Death Sickle.

Lin Huang pondered for a while but did not offer any opinions on the matter.

“If they could be slightly more candid, they might even be an extremely valuable ally,” Buried Heaven eventually commented.

“We’ll handle the matter of Virtuoso ourselves. You should focus on yourself first,” Buried Heaven looked at Lin Huang after saying this. “Your combat strength has elevated from first-rank True God all the way to sixth-rank True God this month. To be honest, that’s quite frightening. However, your combat strength is fairly low compared to your abilities. I personally suggest that you go into closed-door cultivation to catch up on your foundation properly before elevating to heavenly god-level. Don’t rush straight into heavenly god-level recklessly. If your foundation isn’t stable, the problem will worsen in the future and will even affect your elevation when you advance to a higher level.”

“Yes, I know.” Although Lin Huang said this, he knew better than anyone that there were no True Gods who could compare with him in terms of a stable foundation.

After the duo chatted for close to half an hour, Buried Heaven left after giving some words of advice.

Lin Huang also departed from Death Sickle’s headquarters soon after and headed straight to the Devil Hunter Star Zone.

When he got there, Mr. Fu and Kylie had gotten out of the Battlefield of the Dragon Abyss much earlier. Not only that, they had gone into closed-door cultivation.¹

Of their three-person team, Lin Xuan was the only person who remained at the Battlefield of the Dragon Abyss.

Meanwhile, the three-person virtual god-level team consisting of Chan Dou, Xiao Mo, and Huang Wuji had entered the Battlefield of the Dragon Abyss for the second time after replenishing their supplies.

After ascertaining that they were safe, Lin Huang did not bother with them any further, returning in a flash to the Great Heaven Palace.

Sword11’s training of Wu Hao had progressed very smoothly. Wu Hao had only just advanced to imperial-level, but he had mastered all of the mythical-level and below-mythical-level sword skills that Lin Huang selected for him.

He had even broken through to the first Sword Dao true meaning level—True Martial Level.

Lin Huang did not teach Wu Hao any higher-level sword skills. Instead, the millions of sword skills, mythical-level and below, that had not been picked earlier, he transferred into Wu Hao’s mind.

Even though this youngster was powerful in Sword Dao, this amount of sword skills was sufficient for him to train for a while.

After sorting out the matter of his disciple Wu Hao, Lin Huang entered the Great Heaven Palace.

Once inside, he sat down cross-legged and checked on the condition of his imperial monsters.

His three Supreme God rank-5 imperial monsters Killer, Blackscale (Symbiotic Creature of the Abyssal Fountain), and Ku Rong (Demonic Buddhist Holy Son) had elevated to heavenly god-level.

Among the Pseudo-supreme God rank-4.5 imperial monsters, Teng Ran (the Thousand Snake Sect leader) had elevated to heavenly god-level as well. However, Bai remained at ninth-rank True God-level.

The remaining ones—Grimace, Charcoal, Lancelot, the Bug Tribe’s Queen Mothers, and so on—had elevated to high-rank True God-level. Those with the lowest combat strength were at seventh-rank True God-level, while the one with the highest combat strength was Grimace, who had elevated to ninth-rank True God-level.

“I can start preparing materials for Grimace and the rest. Mythical-level rank-4 is indeed a bit too low…” Lin Huang glanced through the imperial monster card projections, and his gaze very soon fell upon Bai and Teng Ran.

He moved his fingers slightly, and both imperial monster cards turned into sparkles, which coalesced at the tips of his fingers.

The next second, the two cards once more transformed into sparkles and consolidated into two figures.

One figure had hair as white as snow, clad in a black robe with blood-red patterns that seemed alive. His eyes were red, and he had a blood-red crystal between his brows, his entire body shrouded by a faint red mist.

The other figure had blond hair, each strand giving the impression of being a spirit serpent that could swallow one up. His eyes had snake pupils, which terrified anyone looking into them. His appearance caused the very air around to turn a few degrees colder.

“Both of you are already Pseudo-supreme God rank-4.5…” Ten rank-4 Advance Cards appeared in Lin Huang’s hand as he spoke, but Bai and Teng Ran could not see them, “Pseudo-supreme God rank-4.5 is nothing in the great world. Therefore, I’ve summoned both of you today so I can elevate you to Supreme God rank-5.”

Bai’s expression was calm; he already knew this day would come.

Teng Ran, on the other hand, looked utterly startled. Although he had communicated with other imperial monsters during this time and knew that Lin Huang had methods of elevating the ranks of his imperial monsters, Teng Ran did not expect that he himself would receive such treatment as well.

Materials were not required for Pseudo-supreme God rank-4.5 imperial monsters; they could directly use Advance Cards to elevate to Supreme God rank-5. Therefore, Lin Huang did not mind Teng Ran having seniority among the imperial monsters under him.

He had his Goldfinger, Xiao Hei, anyway, so he did not have to be suspicious of his imperial monsters’ loyalty.

As he crushed the ten rank-4 Advance Cards in his hand, the cards coalesced into two golden gleams, which penetrated Bai and Teng Ran’s bodies respectively.

The bodies of the two swiftly transformed into two gigantic cocoons at a speed visible to the naked eye…