Swallowed Star

So, in order to set off together, Luo Feng waited at Dry Wilderness Tribe. However, what Northern Wind—a warrior from this tribe—meant by “very quickly” was actually a long period of half a year.

In the virtual universe, at the peak of Thunder Island, a group of universe masters from the human race had gathered, ready to discuss their plan of action regarding the fourth most dangerous land, the “World of Jin.” Universe masters were steadily arriving, and the atmosphere was filled with enthusiasm.

“Have you heard that there is an existence in the World of Jin that transcends a true god?”

“I heard that within the World of Jin, there are many supreme true treasures!”

“Luo Feng, are there many universe supreme masters over there?”

Every one of these universe masters was extremely excited. Luo Feng was the only one from the human race who had entered the World of Jin this time. The other great beings were in no rush at all.

Hu!

Primal Chaos City Leader appeared. All the universe masters ceased to chatter as the place quietened down. Primal Chaos City Leader sat on the main throne with Luo Feng on one side and Darkness Master on his other side.

“Dear all,” he said. Seated on the main throne, his gaze swept across the crowd. “At this point, the World of Jin has been opened for some time. Other than our Hong Alliance, great beings from the various groups of top powers from Universe Ocean have also entered the World of Jin. The Hong Alliance has collected quite a bit of information; the other groups of powers have also gathered some information. After we have exchanged information and communicated with one another about certain information… Today, I will explain certain things before we decide on what approach we should adopt toward this World of Jin.”

“World of Jin…”

“Incomparably powerful!”

“But, in actual fact, it should be considered a fragment of the world of the ancient civilization,” Primal Chaos City Leader said. “The ancient civilization fell long ago. This World of Jin may be powerful, but its great beings who were natives of that world were eternally kept within the World of Jin. There is no way out alive. The humans… We are the true protagonists of this era.”

Luo Feng’s eyes lit up. In reality, when he had established contact with the World of Jin, he did feel the pressure, but now, hearing this… Indeed, the World of Jin could only be considered a large “cage.” The great beings inside—no matter how impressive they were—could not leave. Their era was a thing of the past. Now, it was his generation’s turn to be the protagonists!

“It, of course, will never truly be as powerful as the world of the ancient civilization in its entirety,” Primal Chaos City Leader said solemnly. “Yet it was, after all, a fragment of that world of the ancient civilization. To us, who are still very tender, this is definitely an opportunity not to be missed—and also, a challenge we should face up to. Now, from the human race, only Luo Feng stands alone in the World of Jin. Over there, universe supreme masters were known as ‘true gods.’ And the existences at this true god level… are aplenty. And of course, since these true god existences were considered to be supreme masters, they can occupy a small territory. But in the World of Jin, there are existences more powerful than true gods! So long as we can achieve that level, we can easily transcend reincarnation.

“Fighting! In the World of Jin, there is fighting everywhere. The core of the World of Jin is none other than its army—an army that belongs to a particular Majesty of Godly King. This army is formed by carrying out brutally stringent selection and elimination processes. Once a great being sets foot in there, all freedom is lost. He must adhere to military orders and undergo various cruel selection tests where the risks of annihilation are extremely high.”

Primal Chaos City Leader added most solemnly, “The various groups of powers of Universe Ocean have sent more than 200 great beings in, but solely from what I know, the number annihilated already exceeds 120!”

“What!”

“Exceeds 120?”

“So many?”

There were exclamations of shock all over the place, even Luo Feng was in shock. Primal Chaos City Leader had not mentioned anything about this to him.

“Yes.” Primal Chaos City Leader nodded. “In World of Jin, there are many tribes established in addition to the countless ancient tribes. There are many kinds of special life forms and various kinds of beasts entrenched in the wilderness. Walking about the lands in the wilderness is dangerous, as you may easily be attacked. The natives know of certain safe routes, but we don’t, which is why more than half the number of great beings were annihilated although they had spent less than half a year in the World of Jin after entering. No one has been accepted into the army yet! And already, more than half have been annihilated!

“If the final selections were made, it was said that the rate of annihilation would exceed 95 percent! Being part of the army, one can have access to the detailed guidance on cultivating to become an existence that surpasses a true god, but judging by the rate of annihilation, it is clear that throughout our entire Universe Ocean, there might not even be one who could finally achieve the level that surpasses a true god.”

Silence. The human universe masters who had been filled with enthusiasm and eagerness earlier all fell silent.

Even without being accepted into the army, many great beings were annihilated.

With the army in the picture… another batch of universe masters hoping to become universe supreme masters (true gods) would be further eliminated, and from true god to an even higher level, the army would not impart their information that easily, so the rate of elimination would be unimaginably high.

How cruel! Even Luo Feng kept mum. Indeed, it would be difficult. But he was confident!

“My human race already has the inheritance of the ancient civilization,” Primal Chaos City Leader said. “In that World of Jin, it qualifies to be regarded as a high-end inheritance. This is why we should not take the risk for now. We should just observe for the time being. With the passing of time, when more things about the World of Jin are unearthed, the secrets of the World of Jin will gradually surface… For those who earnestly want to go ahead, then only those with multiple bodies shall be allowed to venture into the World of Jin.”

“Hmm.”

“We have to be prudent.”

The universe masters started to cool down and were no longer as fervent as before. A true-blue great being was fearless—but not reckless.

Luo Feng also agreed with Primal Chaos City Leader’s suggestion. After all, based on what he had learned, there was no inheritance within the tribes. Should anyone want to become a supreme master, the only way was to be accepted into the army! This was the ironclad law of the World of Jin. Only upon being accepted into the army was one allowed to have the profound inheritance, yet even if they gained guidance, those returning great beings would not dare to impart anything within their tribes.

As for entering the army? It was too dangerous!

******

The tragic results of the first batch of entrants seemed to have poured a bucket of cold water over the various top powers. They had been filled with enthusiasm and eagerness earlier on, but the reality had awakened them from any wishful thinking.

Inheritance? Within the army, there was a profound inheritance, an inheritance that could allow them to transcend reincarnation, but were they able to survive the tedious selection process to get that inheritance?

Supreme true treasure? There were many in the army, but those were standard pieces of equipment made for true gods. How many true gods were there in the Universe Ocean? Not even 100. And if they were to join the army, more than 90 percent would be annihilated? Would there not be only less than ten true gods left in the entire Universe Ocean? Just to get hold of standard equipment? Just the thought of it could send shivers down one’s spine.

“No rush!”

“We can only enter once every era, so we can take it slow.”

“So what if the great beings who were natives of the World of Jin were very powerful? They are trapped in there for eternity. Those pitiful natives, still shouting about their loyalty to fight for their Majesty of Godly King. I think their Majesty of Godly King may have already been annihilated.”

The various groups of top powers from the Universe Ocean seemed to have realized how powerless they were, so they took it as they were the protagonists of their era, while their opponents were merely pitiful creatures trapped in a large cage. They believed as much purely to console themselves—to feel better about their plight. After all, they were all top-tiered existences to begin with, but when they were in the World of Jin, they became ordinary great beings. Who would not feel terrible when subjected to such an extreme change?

******

World of Jin, Dry Wilderness Tribe.

Northern Wind was shouting for Luo Feng. “Let’s go, Milky Way, let’s go. We must set off now.”

Luo Feng bade farewell to some friends he had made over the past half a year, then he speedily went over to meet up with Northern Wind.

“You must come back.”

“Trust me.”

“Do return.”

“If you don’t become a true god, you can forget about coming back to me.”

There was much hustle and bustle as a big crowd of tens of thousands of people gathered consisting of good friends or children who were eager and full of hope. These children yearned to join the army when they grew up. However, the baseline for joining the army was that they needed to be law masters.

“Come up quickly!” roared a true god wearing a helmet. On his helmet was a pair of horns, one of which was broken. “Hurry!”

A dark red, huge ship was suspended above him. This ancient ship exuded a powerful aura. Raising his head to look up, Luo Feng saw that this ancient ship was a supreme true treasure.

“Back when Uncle Northern Rock was in the army, he had made a great achievement,” Northern Wind said with great excitement. “Thus, he earned himself this battleship. With this battleship, we will be much safer on our way to the army base. When I get to the army, I will ask for a bigger and more powerful battleship.”

Luo Feng said, “We should get something better. Much better than this.”

“Yes, something much better.” Northern Wind nodded.

The true god with a helmet, who was gathering his fellow tribespeople, turned back to look. With one wave, he gave Northern Wind a firm pat on his shoulder. His pat was so strong that Northern Wind’s body actually trembled slightly. “Well said. You are doing better than me! Wind! From our family of the Northern name… By far, you are the most outstanding one. Don’t put us to shame.”

“Yes, Uncle,” Northern Wind replied right away.

Luo Feng was a little taken aback by what he saw. How terrifying! One casual pat from this true god who had appeared so suddenly! He was worried that if that had been his shoulder instead, he would not have been able to dodge in time. This was undoubtedly a powerful true god—one who had survived the brutal stages of selection and even worthy enough to earn a reward. What might be a casual pat on the shoulder to this true god, from how Luo Feng saw it, in terms of how impressive its strength was, Luo Feng’s guess was that it would have reached the level of ninth-tier as the top.

“Let’s go!” Northern Wind called out to Luo Feng, who also following Northern Wind into the battleship.

One after another, powerful warriors from the clan were entering the battleship. Some started to howl loudly; apparently, it was a way to show that they were filled with boundless fighting spirit.

A short moment later…

The interior of the battleship was very simple. The huge cabin could house 800 lofty bodies, where each and every one was consistently at a height of 10,000 kilometers. There might even be some who were as tall as 100,000 kilometers tall, but none dared to make any reckless moves.

“This time, from my Dry Wilderness tribe, there will be 800 warriors joining the East Army!” Northern Rock True God stood in the forefront as he spoke in his forceful voice. “This time around, other than our tribe, there will be another brave soul joining us on our adventure—Milky Way! Given Milky Way’s power, among all 800 of you, none is comparable at all. If there is someone here who can get into the army and catch up with Milky Way, I will give this battleship to him!”

Suddenly, many warriors looked toward Luo Feng, and there was an air of provocation.

Luo Feng felt a sense of helplessness. He had become a benchmark. He might have sparred with quite a few great beings these days, but these 800 warriors came from different regions of the entire tribe, so there were many whom Luo Feng had yet to cross paths with.

“What are you all staring at?” roared the gigantic Northern Wind, who stood beside Luo Feng. “Even I am not Milky Way’s match! Let alone all of you!”

“What?”

“Even Northern Wind yourself is not a match?”

The simple-minded warriors who had been more provocative earlier on instantly looked at Luo Feng differently. Many of them were in shock and felt a newfound admiration for Luo Feng. The whole World of Jin was always respectful toward powerful great beings.

Northern Rock True God shouted, “All you young fellows! I’m not afraid to tell you all that back when I was still a law master, I joined the army with a batch of 800 fellow tribesmen, but in the end, only 21 of us made it back alive! And only three of us could finally become true gods! I truly hope that all of you here can be stronger than my batch.”

Instant silence.

Everyone knew how brutal life in the army was, but they were all gathered for the purpose of joining. And now, hearing what Northern Rock True God had to say, the pressure on them grew even heavier.

“True god? Not only must we be true gods, but we must become true gods of the void space!” Northern Wind bellowed.

“True god of the void space.”

“True god of the void space!”

Warriors of the other tribes suddenly started howling one by one. This was their dream. That was every warrior’s dream, and the entire Dry Wilderness Tribe only had one true god of the void space—it was none other than their tribe leader! All of them yearned to become an invincible true god of the void space.

Luo Feng stood aside in silence, with fists clenched, as he listened to the ongoing conversations. A true god of the void space? Based on the information he had, above a “true god,” was a “true god of the void space”!

Northern Rock True God’s lips curved upward as he saw the upsurge of fighting spirit from his tribe’s warriors. Then he shouted, “Let’s set off.”

Hong!

The ancient battleship swept past like flowing light and rapidly disappeared into the sky.