Chapter 1155: Big Words
w.a.n.g Zhong did not have the slightest change in expression on his face. With three artifacts pointing at him, he had no intention of evading. He just asked, “Is the Celestial Honors a.s.signment fake? If it’s completely fake, why was there a need to put on an act at the Ocean Empire Planet? You have chosen to kill me in this independent s.p.a.ce as you did not want anyone to find out, right? Why didn’t you do it when we were leaving the wormhole? Wouldn’t that have been better?”
“Hahaha. Master is thinking of this Celestial Honors Mission too simply.” Gelawentu laughed. “Every Celestial Honors Mission would undergo detailed checks. How is it possible for a fake one to be fabricated out of nowhere? If someone were to find out about such a thing, wouldn’t that lead to my Fire Demon Race being suspected of creating a fake Celestial Honors Mission? The mission is definitely real, just that there was a slight change in the content. The Ocean Empire Planet did not kill any Star Alliance Messengers, but rather, they killed you, Master. You are the first Messenger sent by the Star Alliance to Ocean Empire Planet.
“Originally, we wanted Master to take action against Ocean Empire Planet. The planet is not as weak as Master imagines. As long as we held back part of our strength, Master would probably have been directly killed by the powerhouses residing in Ocean Empire Planet. That was the best scenario. And even if Master could withstand the attacks, we would naturally find an opportunity to get rid of you during the fight and push the blame on Ocean Empire Planet afterwards. Then, my Fire Demon Clan will seize the opportunity to seek vengeance for Master in the name of justice… Hehe, Master, you have also seen the D-cla.s.s mechanical fortresses that covered half the sea on Ocean Empire Planet. Even though they are cla.s.sified as a mere level-4 civilization, they are actually very rich. To break away from the Star Alliance with such wealth would only result in trouble for them. It is worth it for my Fire Demon Clan to take action against them. In addition, it was precisely because of us, the Fire Demon Race, that the Ocean Empire Planet failed to advance to a level-5 civilization for two whole eras. Only by using such a method could we force them out of the Star Alliance. Otherwise, how would there be an opportunity for us to annex their world?”
Although he had some idea of such a case just now, after hearing of the conspiracy of the Fire Demon Clan preventing Ocean Empire Planet from rising to a level-5 civilization for two eras, w.a.n.g Zhong expressionlessly thought in his heart, The waters in the Star Alliance are really too deep. The upper levels in the Alliance determine the fate of those at the lower levels without mercy.
w.a.n.g Zhong could even imagine how Ocean Empire Planet got targeted by everyone for two eras, and now, they even had to escape the various troubles sent by the Star Alliance. He realized that if Earth rose too fast, unless there were a bunch of strong Gold Core powerhouses guarding the planet, it might end up in the same situation as Ocean Empire Planet.
“Your Fire Demon Race is truly…”
“My Lord, the Star Alliance is a place where the strong preys on the weak. For a weakling to have wealth exceeding what they should have, it is just courting death. If they had to find someone to blame, it should be the Ocean Empire Planet’s fault for being so high-key when they joined the Star Alliance. Otherwise, if they had kept a low profile and acted poor, they would also not be targeted by our Fire Demon Race,” Gelawentu said lightly. “This is fate, just like with Master. You are too high profile. It might be good for you to enter the Celestial Honors Cla.s.s, but you cannot forget that there will also be some enemies in the dark that want you gone.”
What a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. From the looks of it, the main goal of the Fire Demon Race was to annex Ocean Empire Planet and not himself. He had just chosen the wrong Celestial Honors Mission and ended up in such a situation. Coupled with the bad blood between the Blood Demon Race and himself, the bright future that he had in front of him now that he had entered the Celestial Honors Cla.s.s…
The Blood Demon Race had to make a choice between befriending him or getting rid of him now. As they did not know w.a.n.g Zhong well and were afraid that w.a.n.g Zhong was one that held grudges, they chose to get rid of him now when he was still weak instead of having to give him huge compensations when he became a strong powerhouse.
“You decided to kill a person from the Celestial Honors Cla.s.s just because of this? Isn’t it easier to find other scapegoats?”
“This will be considered the second question.” Gelawentu laughed some more. “It is not exactly just because of this. I’m only a Solid Core. I have not become part of the core in the clan yet and thus do not know much about it. But the small grievances between you and the Blood Demon Race was insufficient for us to take the risk of killing someone from the Celestial Honors Cla.s.s. But from what I have guessed, it should be related to the Heavenly Sh.e.l.l Race.”
“Heavenly Sh.e.l.l Race?” w.a.n.g Zhong raised his eyebrows. This was certainly unexpected. The Heavenly Sh.e.l.l Race was also related to this incident?
“Master should know that the Heavenly Sh.e.l.l Race and our Fire Demon Race have been interlinked through marriage for countless eras. We have used the power of my Fire Demon Race to supplement their peerless pill studies for them to become a level-8 civilization. Our two tribes have always been good friends, but even the best of friends.h.i.+ps will gradually fade away. Now that countless eras have pa.s.sed, the two races have pa.s.sed the honeymoon period long ago. The Heavenly Sh.e.l.l Race has started to get close to the t.i.tan Race. The demons were never on good terms with them and always did not see eye to eye with them, so… With Master’s cleverness, you should know what all this would result in.”
Gelawentu did not elaborate further and stopped. Even though this independent s.p.a.ce was under his complete control, there were still some taboo topics and people that should not be talked about easily. This was a form of self-discipline. If he were to leak out on such topics and people here, it would just make it easier for him to do so when outside next time. Thus, when it comes to such taboo topics and people, one should not talk about it anywhere or to anyone. This was the most basic form of vigilance.
But to have said till this point, w.a.n.g Zhong had already understood what he meant.
To put it bluntly, the gratefulness and mutual a.s.sistance between the Heavenly Sh.e.l.l Race and the Fire Demon Race have already faded away years ago. Now that they were both in high positions in the Star Alliance, there would be differences in political opinions or interests between them. Once such differences arose, it would gradually acc.u.mulate, and the grievances for each other would become deeper and deeper. It had now reached another point of irreconcilability; otherwise, the Heavenly Sh.e.l.l Race would not have started to be close friends with the t.i.tan Race the past few years.
No civilization would be reckless when taking sides. Even the ordinary citizens in the hundreds of races in the Star Alliance knew that the two clans had a good relations.h.i.+p. This undoubtedly meant that the Heavenly Sh.e.l.l Race had started to be at odds with the Fire Demon Race. And w.a.n.g Zhong, a person who was on the side of the Heavenly Sh.e.l.l Race Supervisor, someone she personally promoted into the Celestial Honors Cla.s.s, would be seen as a threat by the Fire Demon Race. If he really became a strong powerhouse in the future, he would belong to the Heavenly Sh.e.l.l Race faction. It was thus unsurprising that the Fire Demon Race wanted to get rid of such a potential enemy first.
As for the crime of killing someone from the Celestial Honors Cla.s.s, as long as the matter was hidden well, what could anyone do without concrete evidence? After all, w.a.n.g Zhong was just a person from the Heavenly Sh.e.l.l Race faction, not someone actually from Heavenly Sh.e.l.l Race itself! The Heavenly Sh.e.l.l Race would not shed their pretense of cordiality with the Fire Demon Race and start a fight just for an outsider.
This move by the Fire Demon Race was well thought out. Not only did it prevent the Star Alliance from finding out any concrete evidence or allow the Heavenly Sh.e.l.l Race to make a fuss out of it, but this could also be used to test the bottom line of the Heavenly Sh.e.l.l Race — to test how bad their relations.h.i.+p had worsened and whether they had reached a point where they could flip and fight each other.
There were too many intricacies and hidden agendas in the plan. w.a.n.g Zhong felt terrified just by thinking of it. It was all part of the plan for him to be chosen as the scapegoat for the Fire Demon Race.
“Alright, Master. What’s the third question?” Gelawentu smilingly asked w.a.n.g Zhong.
But all he could see was the change in expression on w.a.n.g Zhong. Even with three artifacts pointed at him, his face could still change from the previous sore face to one that had a smile on it now.
“There is no need for that.” w.a.n.g Zhong laughed. “I didn’t ask the third question, so I don’t have to tell you my secrets. I am a very honorable person. Even to you trash, I will not break my promise.”
Gelawentu was slightly startled. Although he expected that w.a.n.g Zhong might go back on his words, he did not expect him to do it like that. Insulting him by calling him trash while saying he did not break his promise… Gelawentu’s face instantly sunk. “Are you toying with me?”
“I am indeed toying with you!” An aura that was completely different from an ordinary Void Core now faintly emanated from w.a.n.g Zhong, and the expressions of Yiheluo and the others changed slightly. They could feel that the other party had broken away from their spiritual constraint easily. w.a.n.g Zhong said coldly, “When it comes to status, you are just an errand dog of a level-8 civilization. How dare you yell in front of me without respect? So what if I am toying with you?!”
“F*ck!” As a dignified Solid Core from the Fire Demon Race and as someone who was a small squad leader in the Star Alliance, when had he ever suffered such an insult? Even though Gelawentu’s mental state was not weak, he could not help but become furious. “Kill him for me! Now!”
The three from the Blood Demon Race were ready to kill even without Gelawentu’s order. Before, they were careless and thus missed their attacks and failed to kill w.a.n.g Zhong. Now, they had unleashed all their powers, and only now were they worthy of being unfathomable peak Solid Core powerhouses from the Blood Demon Race.
So what if he could break away from the spiritual constraints set up together by three peak Solid Core powerhouses? Any high-level Solid Core could do the same. Anyways, the real killer move had yet to be unleashed.
Hong!
The magical artifacts in the trio’s hands suddenly gleamed and instantly lit the area up with brightness.
The light of the shortsword in Yiheluo’s hand grew more than ten times brighter in an instant, directly transforming into a shape! The shortsword that was only a few feet long turned into a huge sword shadow that was more than ten meters long and several meters wide. It contained power that far exceeded that of ordinary Solid Core powerhouses. The Spiritual Energy Value unleashed exceeded a staggering five million! Just the beam of light speeding towards w.a.n.g Zhong could already pierce him to death!
This was accompanied by two magical swords covered with powerful flames on each side. One looked as if it was a flaming arrow shot out of a bow, leaving trails of blazing fire behind it. The speed and killing power of this sword was astonis.h.i.+ng! Although it was slightly weaker than Yiheluo’s sword attack, with roughly a Spiritual Energy Value of four million, its elemental power in the attack was much higher. If it was used against someone with weak fire resistance, such an attack would be comparable to that of Yiheluo.
The other was shaped like a flaming blade that was around ten meters long, making it look overwhelming and overbearing! Although the flexibility of the attack was not up to par with that of Yiheluo, its power was definitely higher than Yiheluo’s attack. The Spiritual Energy Value of the attack definitely exceeded five million by a huge margin!
This was not the power a normal peak Solid Core would have. Ordinary peak Solid Cores would have a limit of around three million Spiritual Energy Value. Even though the trio of Yiheluo came from the Blood Demon Race, whose natural talents were not weak, they should only have an output of 3.5 million Spiritual Energy Value. Furthermore, having three million in spiritual energy did not mean that you could launch an attack that had three million Spiritual Energy Value. To launch such a terrifying attack, you needed to have a good magical artifact!
The three attacks came together. Obviously, they had excellent coordination and tacit understanding. The attacks arrived in front of w.a.n.g Zhong at almost the same time. Not to mention a Void Core or an ordinary Solid Core, even a peak Solid Core would be troubled when faced with such an attack. But a smile could be seen on the corners of w.a.n.g Zhong’s mouth. His mind was already connected to his fragment world, and in just a short flash, a huge black heavy sword had appeared in his hands.
Falling Star!
The three attacks came swift and fast. When Falling Star had arrived in w.a.n.g Zhong’s hands, the three attacks had already reached him.
w.a.n.g Zhong seemed unwilling to face the attack head-on and dodged quickly.
“Don’t dream of even avoiding it!” Yiheluo’s follow-up attack came first, without any delay, even though w.a.n.g Zhong had dodged the first attack. Only green afterimages could be seen, w.a.n.g Zhong’s evasion not affecting his attack speed. Because of the change in direction, it even allowed the attacks of his other two companions, which had been a little bit slower, to follow up and become synchronized with his!
But at this moment, Gelawentu’s brows wrinkled.
When faced with three different attacks from different directions and timing, one would normally feel more troublesome. However, w.a.n.g Zhong managed to dissolve the danger by adjusting his position slightly. This caused the three attacks to become leveled and synchronized. Despite allowing for the combined attack to become more powerful, it was in fact easier for him to evade and defend as the attacks now lacked variation.
The people from the Blood Demon Race rarely knew how to fight using their brains, even if they were Solid Core powerhouses.
The Earthling was also not simple. To have entered the Celestial Honors Cla.s.s, his combat experience and awareness was not what a normal fighter could measure up to.
The three attacks could be seen to converge into one. Although the three magical artifacts were different, as the wielders were Blood Demons, the attacks had similar auras and complemented each other, enhancing the power of the attack further. Like a meteor, the attack doubled in speed and launched itself against w.a.n.g Zhong.
w.a.n.g Zhong’s movement speed was much slower than the attack, and thus, he no longer tried to dodge. With a flick of the wrist, he raised his heavy sword and lowered his body. Falling Star seemingly became an incomparably st.u.r.dy s.h.i.+eld that protected his back.
The alternating green and red spirals in the air landed on w.a.n.g Zhong’s heavy sword.
Ying~~~
The sonic boom instantly rippled and covered the entire enclosed s.p.a.ce, causing all sounds to be distorted in this terrifying sound explosion.
The three attacks rushed like a thick pillar of light, and the black sword seemed to have no resistance when confronting this terrifying attack and was blasted to the ground instantly.
BOOM!
The solid ground was smashed till cracks filled the entire floor. Yet, the beam of light still continued its attack!
“En? You actually managed to resist it?”
“What magical artifact is that?”
w.a.n.g Zhong’s feet were planted into the ground, and the heavy sword on his back was not broken under the combined attack of the three magical artifacts. Falling Star was considered a special level-7 magical artifact, and in terms of st.u.r.diness and strength alone, Falling Star was much stronger than most level-6 magical artifacts. However, it lacked auxiliary functions and was heavy and thus not easy to wield. With these two flaws, it was therefore a cheap buy among the level-7 artifacts.
Although the magical artifact was not broken, it was after all a weapon-type artifact and not a real defensive magical artifact. The heavy impact of the three attacks still landed on w.a.n.g Zhong. Even though w.a.n.g Zhong had activated his divine cells, at this moment, he still felt as though he could no longer handle it. The natural gap between a Solid Core and a Void Core was not so easy to bridge, let when facing three at once…
“As a Void Core, you still managed to resist the combined attacks of three Solid Cores.” A smile appeared at the corner of Gelawentu’s mouth. w.a.n.g Zhong was indeed a genius who managed to enter the Celestial Honors Cla.s.s. Normally, when faced with someone from the Celestial Honors Cla.s.s, one must treat the Void Cores as Solid Cores and Solid Cores as Gold Cores. As for those Gold Cores, they belonged to the elite group in the Land and could be compared with the elders of any race. As an Earthling without any background, entering the Celestial Honors Cla.s.s with a Void Core drew a lot of criticism from the upper level, but now, it seemed that he was indeed qualified to enter the Celestial Honors Cla.s.s.
w.a.n.g Zhong originally wanted to continue hiding some of his true strength, especially since the one from the Fire Demon Race had yet to even act. However, with the pressure from the three Solid Cores, he felt that he would lose if he still held back.
Boom!
w.a.n.g Zhong circulated his spiritual powers, and the originally illusory Void Core instantly shone brightly, transforming into a Core that was half ice and half fire. Two wings unfolded behind his body, and the black sword’s range was extended. Most importantly, his power level increased by many folds.
One’s normal state and one’s true form were on completely different levels. When the true form was activated, although there would not be much of a difference in terms of the quant.i.ty, there would be a big qualitative change in the spiritual influence.
“This is his true form?” The three Blood Demon a.s.sa.s.sins in the air noticed the change.
In fights where one’s strength was roughly the same, what mattered most was one’s natural talents and bloodline. Why did high-level civilizations always ride on top of the low-level civilizations? Even when they were of the same level, how could a Gold Core from a high-level civilization be stronger? It was because of the difference in the quality of their spiritual power! The higher the level of civilization, the higher the quality of spiritual power would be. The quality of spiritual energy consisted of many factors, such as the purity, the concentration, and the power out that came with it. Similarly, higher-level civilizations had much stronger and more variations of their true forms. When launching a similar attack that measured a million Spiritual Energy Value, the one from a higher-level civilization could cause destruction of more than ten times that of someone from a lower-level civilization. The pressure given off was completely different, akin to when a cat met a mouse.
“An immature brat from a measly level-4 civilization who has yet to even grow up dares to challenge us Blood Demons in terms of true forms?!”
“Can this even be considered a true form? By growing just a pair of wings?”
“As expected of someone from a low-level civilization. Even though you are strong, you still can’t overcome the inherent limits of your low-level civilization.”
“The true form of a Blood Demon will only be stronger than yours!”
The killing intents of Yiheluo and the other two soared.
“Die!”
Hong!
Three patches of bright light erupted mid-air.
Three-Headed and Six-Armed True Form! Phantom Blood Demon True Form! Heaven and Earth Expansion True Form!
The three true forms were revealed instantaneously at the same time. Against someone from the Celestial Honors Cla.s.s, they did not think lightly of w.a.n.g Zhong as a normal Void Core. Now that there was a qualitative increase in both parties’ powers, the beam of light that held the shape of a sword grew bigger by many folds, causing its power to increase. It shot towards w.a.n.g Zhong’s black sword as if it was going to pierce through it!
But when it met with the black heavy sword, the originally fierce beam of light halted. It felt as if the heavy sword was extremely st.u.r.dy and unable to be moved. It felt like it did not even notice the trio’s joint attack. It casually deflected the attack toward the side, causing the attack to strike the empty ground beside w.a.n.g Zhong.
“What kind of power was that?!” Yiheluo was taken aback. What happened just now was very strange. Although the “quant.i.ty” of the power was not large, the “quality” was insanely high. At that moment, Yiheluo felt a sense of n.o.bility from that force. It was not because the power overwhelmed the combined spiritual power of the trio’s attack; the black sword deflected it. It felt as if the attack moved towards the side itself because of the n.o.bility of the power of the black sword.
The combined attack had been defended against, and it was too late to pull back. Yiheluo blinked for an instant before he saw a black shadow flash at where the attack landed.
Zeng!
w.a.n.g Zhong and the sword vanished together for an instant, and at the same time, an arc of black light could be seen across the sky.
The killing moves of the three from the Blood Demon Race were stopped at the same time. Their pupils dilated for a moment, and their mouths were left wide agape, unable to make a sound. Only faces of shock could be seen.
Immediately following that, rolling sounds could be heard.
Three heads were separated from their necks at the same time, and the three figures fell from the sky heavily towards the ground, leaving only a b.l.o.o.d.y mess.
The atmosphere became silent, as if the earth-shattering battle just now did not happen at all. Only three pools of flesh and blood on the ground could be seen. The entire process was so fast that even Gelawentu, who was watching at the side, could not react to it.
w.a.n.g Zhong stood in the air, with two huge energy wings spread out behind him, flapping slightly in the air. w.a.n.g Zhong’s eyes were expressionless, as if he had not just beheaded three people. His cold eyes stared at Gelawentu in the distance.
“What a good sword move.” After more than ten seconds of silence, Gelawentu slowly said, “It seems that the Heavenly Sh.e.l.l Race really values you, even granting you something far beyond what you should have… Is this a level-6 magical artifact? Or maybe a level-6 one?”
Gelawentu was not looking down on w.a.n.g Zhong. He had clearly come from a low-level civilization. Even though he had treated him as a peak Solid Core powerhouse, the attack that w.a.n.g Zhong unleashed just now was still too unbelievable. Gelawentu could not even feel how much power w.a.n.g Zhong had used. All he could see was that the three from the Blood Demon Race momentarily lost focus, as if something had disturbed their mental state and emotions. This was definitely caused by the black sword. And if the black sword was a level-5 or level-6 magical artifact, then it was not surprising for w.a.n.g Zhong from the Celestial Honors Cla.s.s to be able to kill three ordinary Solid Cores.
“You’re talking too much,” w.a.n.g Zhong voiced. “The next one will be you.”
“Me? Hehehe… AHAHAHA!” Gelawentu was startled for a moment before his wanton laughter echoed throughout the independent s.p.a.ce.
“As a junior, you have yet to even see how high the sky is, yet you dare to speak such big words! You’ve saved me quite a bit of effort by killing the three from the Blood Demon Race because, in my original plan, they were going to die together with you! Then, I would have pushed the entire blame on Ocean Empire Planet!”