Chapter 339: Shaking The World And That Ship That Split The Sky
Dead!
Ghost Hand is dead!
Everyone stared at Ghost Hand, lifeless in midair. The whole Chiyue Town fell silent. Looking at the dead Ghost Hand felt like a dream.
“How is this possible!”
“That was a Heavenly Human Realm Grandmaster!”
Ying Hu looked at Lin Qi, who was holding Ghost Hand up by his neck with one hand, and seriously suspected Ghost Hand was putting on an act.
As someone who stood at the peak of the Four Regions, a Heavenly Human Realm Grandmaster like Ghost Hand might lose to Lin Qi, but it should be impossible for him to have no power to fight back at all. Even if his own teacher came in person, killing Ghost Hand so easily would not be possible; if Ghost Hand wanted to escape, his teacher might not be able to keep him.
Yet Ghost Hand had been pinched to death by Lin Qi with one hand, like a chick. It was too shocking. To say Ghost Hand was not acting, who would dare believe it?
But Mond and the others beside him, as well as Luo Wu Shang and the other players, showed no trace of surprise on their faces. Instead, they looked as though this was only natural.
“As expected, this Hall Master Lin’s strength is a cut above teacher’s.” Mond looked at Ghost Hand, who had been killed with a single squeeze, and confirmed his previous judgment in his heart.
In the forbidden zone of the Mountain of the Dead, Luo Wu Shang alone had fought three abnormal Heavenly Human Realm Grandmasters without defeat. Even if her strength had not reached the mid-stage of the Heavenly Human Realm, it was likely very close.
According to the data from the Domain City, those three abnormal Heavenly Human Realm Grandmasters were not any of the grandmasters who had vanished in the forbidden zone. It was highly probable they had been corrupted in the Blood Condensation Realm and only then stepped into the Heavenly Human Realm.
Any one of those three abnormal Heavenly Human Realm Grandmasters might be weaker than Ghost Hand, but together the three of them absolutely had a chance to kill Ghost Hand.
With a disciple of Obsidian Martial Arts Hall being so powerful, Lin Qi as Hall Master definitely would not be weaker than a disciple. According to Mond’s guess, Lin Qi should at least have strength comparable to his teacher at the mid-stage of the Heavenly Human Realm, and might even be close to a Heavenly Human Realm High Stage Grandmaster.
Once a martial artist cultivated to the Heavenly Human Realm, each step up came with a huge difference in strength. The baseline of the early stage Heavenly Human Realm was only 600 tons, but the mid-stage was 1,200 tons, and the advanced stage was 2,400 tons. With each stage the physical fitness doubled, making the gap greater than that between the Blood Condensation Realm and Bone Forging Realm.
Now, seeing a Heavenly Human Realm Initial Stage Grandmaster like Ghost Hand casually crushed to death proved that Lin Qi’s strength was indeed close to a Heavenly Human Realm High Stage Grandmaster.
The players in Chiyue Town were all excited.
“The Hall Master is so strong! A Heavenly Human Realm Grandmaster, and he just said he’d crush him and really crushed him. That’s so badass!”
“The early Heavenly Human Realm minimum is 600 tons of strength. If the Hall Master can crush him easily, that’s at least 2,000 tons. I remember the Hall Master only broke through to the Blood Condensation Realm not long ago. This panel is insane.”
The players watched Lin Qi, who had crushed Ghost Hand to death in midair, and buzzed with discussion, curious how strong Lin Qi had become.
While the players in Chiyue Town were talking, Lin Qi in midair professionally searched Ghost Hand’s body. Through his mental domain, he did not miss a single valuable item on Ghost Hand.
“As expected of a Heavenly Human Realm Grandmaster of Smiling Skull, he really has a lot of good stuff.” Lin Qi glanced at the more than ten pieces of Energy Blood Essence in his hand and a smart watch marked with a golden flame emblem. He casually tossed Ghost Hand onto the ground and examined the smart watch.
When he had entered within fifty meters of the radius covered by Ghost Hand’s spirit, he had immediately noticed the smart watch on Ghost Hand’s wrist. Considering the golden flame imprint, the smart watch was likely something from the First City. That was why he had not chosen to blast a Heavenly Human Realm beginner like Ghost Hand to pieces with one punch, but instead pinched him to death.
Now, all three of his cultivation methods had passed 50% entry-level proficiency. After entering a transcendent state, his panel strength was 745 tons, which could be said to be at the beginner limit of a Blood Condensation Realm supernatural lifeform. After an energy burst, the panel data reached nearly 1,500 tons, with actual strength exceeding 2,700 tons.
In terms of pure strength, he had already surpassed the baseline of a Heavenly Human Realm High Stage Grandmaster. A Heavenly Human Realm beginner like Ghost Hand was just a child to him. Killing him with a pinch was no challenge.
Lin Qi then returned to the martial arts hall and casually awarded Luo Wu Shang 100 million points and 50,000 contribution, plus 50,000 merit and three pieces of Energy Blood Essence. This delighted Luo Wu Shang, making her feel that abnormals were truly a good thing if a casually dropped treasure chest was worth so much.
The 100 million points and 50,000 contribution did not matter much to Luo Wu Shang. One hundred million points was not even enough to build a beginner mental secret tower. As for martial arts hall contribution, for the current version the highest hall identity was core disciple. Even with several million martial arts hall contribution, her status would not rise further; she would only be accumulating for when the identity cap was raised in the future.
However, the 50,000 merit and three pieces of Energy Blood Essence were very useful. With 300,000 merit, one could become a lieutenant and build an intermediate gravity chamber and advanced training room at the base, which was the foundation for strengthening the garrison. As for the three pieces of Energy Blood Essence, together with the five he had earned from Mond, if used well they could give birth to two more Blood Condensation Realm masters in the team.
Such rewards made many players envious, and they could not help curiously probing about what Luo Wu Shang had done to receive such generous rewards.
Luo Wu Shang did not hide it. She told everyone directly that she had handed over a treasure chest dropped by a forbidden zone abnormal. The reason for not hiding it was simple: treasure chest drops depended on luck. Even if she said nothing, others entering the forbidden zone would still get them if they were lucky. If they were unlucky, they might wipe out every abnormal in the forbidden zone and still not get one.
On the contrary, by telling everyone, she could help build Heavenly Might’s reputation. In the future, people would say the Heavenly Might team got a treasure chest in the forbidden zone and made a huge profit, so there was no need to conceal it.
“Senior brother Ying Hu, what do we do now?” A high-level Blood Condensation Realm youth looked at Ghost Hand, actually hanging at the gate of Chiyue Town, and could not help saying, “Smiling Skull has a total of four Heavenly Human Realm Grandmasters. Now that one has died here, the other three will definitely go crazy. If we cooperate with Obsidian Martial Arts Hall to head into the forbidden zone this time, and those three grandmasters want revenge, we might get dragged down with them.”
Lin Qi killing Ghost Hand was shocking, but this time Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had likely completely driven Smiling Skull mad. From now on, Smiling Skull’s actions probably would not care about the Four Great Domain Cities at all, especially in the Mountain of the Dead and the forbidden zone. It would not be strange for their three grandmasters to strike directly.
“This Hall Master of Obsidian Martial Arts Hall is really a madman. With such strength, just a little intimidation would make Smiling Skull restrain themselves and give some ground, but he insisted on killing Ghost Hand. This time we will act alone.” Ying Hu glanced at the hanging Ghost Hand, a throbbing headache rising.
He had seen Obsidian Martial Arts Hall’s strength. Lin Qi had crushed a Heavenly Human Realm Grandmaster like Ghost Hand with one hand. Even if his personal strength was not at the Heavenly Human Realm High Stage Grandmaster level, it was close. Even his own teacher would treat such a person cautiously. He truly did not fear Smiling Skull. Saying Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was now the genuine number-one faction under the Four Great Domain Cities would not be an exaggeration.
But if Heavenly Human Realm Grandmasters went mad in the Four Regions with no scruples, someone like Lin Qi might not be afraid, but those beneath the Heavenly Human Realm would suffer miserably, not to mention facing three Heavenly Human Realm Grandmasters.
However, when Ying Hu took his people to leave Chiyue Town, he was surprised to find that Mond and the others from Mist Mountain Domain City had not canceled their cooperation plans with Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. They still entered the hall master’s lounge with smiles on their faces.
“Are these people crazy too?”
Ying Hu looked at Emilia and the others entering the lounge, people whose strength was not inferior to his, and felt that the world was becoming incomprehensible.
As peers from the Four Great Domain Cities, Emilia and the others could not possibly be unaware of what Lin Qi’s killing of Ghost Hand meant. For them to still cooperate with Obsidian Martial Arts Hall to enter the forbidden zone now was like completely ignoring the remaining three grandmasters of Smiling Skull.
However, what Ying Hu and the others leaving Chiyue Town did not know was that after seeing Lin Qi crush Ghost Hand with one hand, Mond and the others did not intend to cooperate with Obsidian Martial Arts Hall to explore the forbidden zone of the Mountain of the Dead. Instead, they planned to pay in Energy Blood Essence, hoping to accompany Obsidian Martial Arts Hall’s powerful team in the forbidden zone to cultivate. In other words, they wanted to pay Obsidian Martial Arts Hall for game boosting.
Hearing this, Lin Qi was stunned. He had not expected the forbidden zone to support such a business.
“Your request is not impossible, but in the forbidden zone the teams have exploration tasks and must protect you long-term, which will cost considerable manpower.” Lin Qi looked at Mond’s earnest expression, thought for a moment, and said, “How about this: we will establish a temporary camp in the forbidden zone as quickly as possible. If you want to cultivate in the forbidden zone, you can enter that temporary camp. One piece of Energy Blood Essence per person, valid until the end of the forbidden zone’s safe period. How does that sound?”
Letting Mond and the others follow the player teams to explore in the forbidden zone was absolutely out of the question. After all, he had the players searching for the First City in the forbidden zone. The matter of the First City could not yet be revealed.
But Mond and the others had provided him with a way to quickly acquire a large amount of Energy Blood Essence in the short term.
The cultivation environment in the forbidden zone was far better than in the Four Regions. The top-level factions sent many Bone Forging Realm and Blood Condensation Realm martial artists into the forbidden zone precisely to let them improve faster.
If he could provide a secure temporary shelter within the forbidden zone, it should be very popular.
“No problem!” Mond’s eyes lit up as he heard this. Without hesitation, he asked, “Can I reserve one hundred spots?”
“One hundred spots in one go?” Lin Qi looked at the overjoyed Mond and wondered whether he had accidentally said Energy Crystal instead of Energy Blood Essence just now.
One piece of Energy Blood Essence per person was a sky-high opening price he had chosen expecting Mond to haggle, considering the danger in the forbidden zone and that he could not promise one hundred percent safety. If they settled at three or four people per piece of Energy Blood Essence, he would already be very satisfied.
Moreover, building a temporary camp in the forbidden zone was something he had already planned to do.
The forbidden zone was too large. Even a depth of one thousand kilometers was just the outskirts. Without being able to use flying transport vehicles, having players resurrect outside the forbidden zone and run back in would waste too much time. So establishing a temporary resurrection point inside the forbidden zone was a must. Even if he did not do it, the players would.
Considering the opportunity to earn Energy Blood Essence, this temporary camp would obviously need to be better built, with players assigned garrison duties and responsibility for defending it.
However, what Lin Qi did not know was that Mond’s lack of hesitation was not simply for cultivating in the forbidden zone, but to buy safety.
Luo Wu Shang and the others had performed too brilliantly inside the forbidden zone.
With fewer than two hundred people, they had made history in the forbidden zone, defeating an abnormal army and forcing it to scatter, something even the Four Great Domain Cities could not do.
If Obsidian Martial Arts Hall really established a camp in the forbidden zone and sent a large force to garrison it, its safety would speak for itself. Such a safe cultivation site in the forbidden zone was something all geniuses in the Four Great Domain Cities could only dream of. For those who wanted to explore the forbidden zone, it went without saying.
As long as they were allowed to enter this camp, it meant they could explore much farther into the forbidden zone. If they encountered danger, they would not need to flee all the way back outside the forbidden zone, but could instead run to the camp. Their safety while exploring would instantly rise by a huge margin. One piece of Energy Blood Essence per person was something the people of the Four Great Domain Cities would fight to obtain.
Mond had even already decided to resell some of these spots to his old friends in Mist Mountain Domain City for a profit.
Soon Mond bought one hundred camp slots from Lin Qi. The camp, however, would not be ready until two days later, which suited Mond, as he needed time to prepare the Energy Blood Essence. Cheerfully, he returned to Mist Mountain Domain City, planning to make a big profit there.
As for Lin Qi, after Mond and the others left the room, he immediately posted the task of building a temporary camp in the forbidden zone to all players. He also at once handed the First City smart watch and pitch-black box to Luo Qi for analysis, to see whether they could get any clues. It was as if he had forgotten that just a short while ago he had killed a Heavenly Human Realm Grandmaster of Smiling Skull, shocking all the major powers of the Four Regions.
At first, they were astonished that Hall Master Lin Qi of Obsidian Martial Arts Hall could crush an early Heavenly Human Realm Ghost Hand with one hand, a strength comparable to the vice city lords of the Four Great Domain Cities. Then they decided that this Hall Master Lin was insane to dare kill a grandmaster of Smiling Skull.
Smiling Skull was already an extremely mad faction, entrenched in the Mountain of the Dead and giving even the Four Great Domain Cities a headache. They could only pressure and warn them because a Heavenly Human Realm Grandmaster in a frenzy was too disastrous. With one palm they could level a city; with a few sneak attacks they could exhaust a Domain City.
If all the grandmasters of Smiling Skull went mad, an entire region’s cities might disappear. Even if Smiling Skull’s grandmasters were killed afterward, the destroyed cities would not come back.
This was why the Four Great Domain Cities always turned a blind eye to factions in the Four Regions that had resident grandmasters, and especially why they did not want to move against Smiling Skull.
Now that Lin Qi had killed Ghost Hand, if Smiling Skull’s three remaining grandmasters went berserk and launched sneak attacks everywhere, the consequences would be unimaginable.
The Mountain of the Dead, in an underground space.
“Big brother, Ghost Hand is dead. This grudge cannot go unanswered!” A bald Crystal Race man, nearly four meters tall with a blood-red gemstone on his forehead, slammed the table, eyes full of rage. “I will go wipe out those Obsidian Martial Arts Hall strongholds right now!”
They had originally sent Ghost Hand to Chiyue Town to give Obsidian Martial Arts Hall a warning and pressure them to leave the Mountain of the Dead. After all, Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had provoked them first. Even if these grandmasters took action, the Four Great Domain Cities could not say much.
But they had not expected Ghost Hand to be killed. As a companion of many years, this was something he could never tolerate. Even if he could not beat Lin Qi, he would still turn Obsidian Martial Arts Hall upside down.
“We, the dignified descendants of the First City, have endured long enough in these Four Regions. It is time we let the Four Regions see that Smiling Skull is not to be trifled with!” A Crystal Race woman over three meters tall at his side nodded, agreeing with the bald man.
“Wait. Now is not the time.” A middle-aged man who had been cultivating, more than five meters tall with three dark blue gems on his forehead, opened his eyes and said calmly, “My Heavenly Human Realm mid-stage cultivation method is still a bit short of 100% proficiency. With just Heavenly Human Realm advanced level strength, I still cannot contend with those few old monsters of the Four Great Domain Cities. Once I reach 100% proficiency and have strength at the peak high-level Heavenly Human Realm, even if those old monsters join forces, I will still be certain I can escape. At that time, dealing with Obsidian Martial Arts Hall will be a trivial matter.”
“Big brother, you are about to break through?” The bald Crystal Race man was overjoyed.
The outside powers did not know that Smiling Skull’s leader was not actually mid-stage Heavenly Human Realm, but had already reached advanced level long ago, only using treasures to conceal his qi and blood to avoid attracting the Four Great Domain Cities’ attention.
If he could break through to the peak high-level Heavenly Human Realm, he would stand at the true summit of the Four Regions, able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the city lords of the Four Great Domain Cities. Creating a fifth Domain City in the future would not be out of the question.
“Soon. I already have an idea of how to break through, but I still need to conduct a large number of experiments. In this period, you should prepare more advanced healing potions and treasures that enhance recovery power. Spending more Energy Blood Essence does not matter.” The leader nodded, eyes gleaming with a smile.
“Alright! Red Moon Merchant Guild has recently developed many effective healing potions. I will buy them all.” The bald Crystal Race man, excited, turned and left the meeting room.
“The Hall Master of Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, is it?” The leader looked at the information and images in his hand, his gaze turning icy cold. “I will let you live a little longer. When the time comes, I will show you what hell truly is.”
…
Corpse Mountain Range Forbidden Zone.
A week had passed since Ghost Hand’s death, and Smiling Skull had made no move. The whole forbidden zone of the Mountain of the Dead had grown calm again. Large numbers of faction members entered the forbidden zone for exploration. The temporary camp Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had built six to seven hundred kilometers inside the forbidden zone had become the place every faction member wanted to enter to rest. But at the price of one piece of Energy Blood Essence per person, not everyone could enjoy it. They could only envy those who could rest in the temporary camp at any time.
“Big sis, we have already gone more than 1,500 kilometers deep into the forbidden zone. Could we be heading in the wrong direction?” Yi Ye Fu Yun looked at the map and at the abnormals and team members lying all around them, and could not help asking.
Their team had gone deep into the forbidden zone for many days. They had found several ruins, but nothing inside was truly useful to them, only some past cultivation methods for the Blood Condensation Realm or early or mid-stage Heavenly Human Realm, or expired potions and items.
On the other hand, they had killed many abnormals along the way, fighting more than a dozen large and small battles. They had even been wiped out five times. Yet the abnormals they killed were stingy and dropped no good loot, only piles of junk.
“We will explore another five hundred kilometers. If we still cannot find it, we will change direction.” Ye Qinglu looked at the team that had lost more than two-thirds of its members and also began to doubt whether the City Beyond the Territory lay in this direction.
The deeper they went into the forbidden zone, the stronger the plants and animals, and the more numerous and frequent the abnormals. If they failed to stop an abnormal from summoning its companions immediately, they would be wiped out, with no chance at all.
Another five hundred kilometers would be about the current limit of their team. If they could not find the City Beyond the Territory by then, they would have to change direction.
While Ye Qinglu and the others were resting and recovering their energy, a streak of fire suddenly lit up the distant sky, carving a brilliant flaming tail through it. Even the sun could not compare to that firelight.
“What is that? A meteorite?”
“It is huge!”
Yi Ye Fu Yun could not help being drawn to the fiery streak in the sky.
A normal meteorite that reached the ground would be lucky to be the size of a basketball, but this one, at a glance, had a radius of at least twenty meters.
“No, that is not a meteorite!” Blood Condensation Realm Ye Qinglu stared, a hint of astonishment in her eyes. “That looks like a spaceship!”
