Chapter 3373 Unexpected
They couldn’t see the face since the entire head was covered in a helmet. However, the helmet was badly damaged now. The head rolled in front of them.
After that, s.p.a.ce twisted, and Leng Yueyan and Ming Cangyue appeared behind Long Chen. Their bone swords were then sheathed on their backs once more, their movements identical. Now, the atmosphere grew tense.
Tuo Ming’s subordinates, as well as the ones brought by the hatchet wielder, gulped. They were dumbfounded. Their leaders were dead, so they had no idea what to do.
“It seems that I overestimated Tuo Ming. He didn’t even last half an incense stick’s worth of time. How disappointing.” Long Chen shook his head as if Tuo Ming had let him down. He had actually made such a grave misjudgment with his estimate.
“Alright, it’s now up to you. You all have two paths. Either pledge loyalty to the great and mighty divine masters, Leng Yueyan and Ming Cangyue, or heroically die, using your deaths to display your heroism and unbending natures. We’ll start from the bottom to the top. Those who want to live, step forward. Those who wish to die, stay where you are. Our archers will take your names in a bit. Thank you for your cooperation,” said Long Chen indifferently.
In the end, reality proved that people preferred to live. In particular, after one of the Earth tier Nether Kings stepped forward, the others also followed.
In truth, this meant nothing to them. It didn’t particularly matter who they followed. There was no need for them to throw their lives away.
After all, they were not from the NetherG.o.d race of the Netherworld. They couldn’t control their own world. As they couldn’t become divine masters, it was fated for them to find a powerful divine master as a backer.
In comparison, Ming Cangyue and Leng Yueyan had immense potential. Following them would definitely be better than following Tuo Ming.
Most importantly, as Earth tier Nether Kings, they possessed such power that they would receive preferential treatment wherever they went. They didn’t need to worry about being killed. It was just that all Netherworld’s experts had their own dignity. If Tuo Ming didn’t die and they surrendered, they would have to carry the label of traitor for the rest of their lives.
However, now that Tuo Ming had died, there was nothing holding them back from surrendering. There was a great difference. Long Chen could also be said to have given them face, not forcing them to make a decision before they could.
As a result, millions of experts ended up joining Ming Cangyue’s side. Furthermore, they were elites that not only replenished their losses in battle, but even strengthened them by more than two fold.
In this battle, Ming Cangyue’s side hadn’t lost a single soldier. The divine archers had truly shocked everyone. Changgong Hao had managed to win face for his race, and he instantly became Ming Cangyue’s most important general.
After taking them all in, Long Chen had Ming Cangyue quickly take over the territories of those two. Those newly joined experts also helped to express their sincerity. Hence, in just a day, both their territories entered their pockets.
As a result, the two of them gained control over even more of the Netherworld’s laws. They obtained even more recognition from the Heavenly Daos and would grow stronger.
After stealthily taking over other territories, their forces grew even stronger. The two of them were delighted.
Long Chen was truly their lucky star, bringing them one stroke of good fortune after another. They now controlled the cores of two more world domains. After that, they constructed channels between them and directly brought any idlers in the other two regions to this place to repair their grand formation.
The two of them had found this place as a piece of masterless wilderness. Before anyone else found it, the two of them had condensed a divine core, giving them more territory, more recognition from the Heavenly Daos, and more power.
This world domain’s core was also known as the divine core. It was like a lantern in the dark, or perhaps it could be considered creating a star in the cosmos.
When the star was ignited, it became a part of the operation of the Heavenly Daos. Whoever ignited it would contribute more merit and would be given control over its laws.
However, this so-called control was not absolute control. It was more like overseeing it. Ming Cangyue could borrow its power, but she couldn’t change its natural operation.
For example, when Ming Cangyue was controlling part of the Netherworld’s laws, she was only able to stealthily pull Long Chen from the proper path but didn’t dare to change the laws of the actual channel. One mistake and she would also be implicated.
Even a G.o.d was restricted by certain forces. It was like a pair of ancient hands were in charge of the operation of the world. G.o.ds could only seize opportunities and gain some benefits from that operation. But they didn’t dare to defy the heavens.
Through this understanding, Long Chen found that the world that they controlled was like a mirror or perhaps a duplicate. A superposition. It was connected to another world, but that world was something that they could only see, not interact with.
Long Chen asked Leng Yueyan about that world, but Leng Yueyan shook her head, not letting him ask about it. After all, Long Chen wasn’t a G.o.d. It wasn’t appropriate for him to learn about those things lest she caused unfortunate karma to befall him.
She only told him that the Netherworld’s NetherG.o.d race were overseers of the laws, but not the creators. There were many secrets within the nine heavens and ten lands that were not available for him to ask about.
Just three days after taking in Tuo Ming’s subordinates, an unexpected thing occurred that shocked Long Chen, Ming Cangyue, and Leng Yueyan.
Long Chen actually broke through to the eighth Heavenstage of Four Peak here. Long Chen was clearly from the immortal world. Theoretically, he needed to absorb the spiritual qi of the immortal world and rely on the help of the immortal world’s laws to advance.
However, it seemed that Long Chen wasn’t restricted by this requirement. He had been constantly consuming pills as usual. Seeing that the pills were absorbed quite well, he hadn’t paid too much attention to it. But he hadn’t expected to actually advance here. Even Ming Cangyue and Leng Yueyan had no explanation for such a thing.
When they first met, Leng Yueyan had used her sword to insert her own divine rune into his body to prevent him from being rejected by the Netherworld’s laws. That would prevent his realm from falling and affecting his cultivation.
However, that rune couldn’t possibly change a person’s entire const.i.tution. Furthermore, the aura within Long Chen’s body was still immortal spiritual qi. But he had still advanced. It was inexplicable.
This advancement made Long Chen think that the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art was a heaven-defying cultivation technique that could defy the laws of heaven and earth. However, that also seemed wrong. That was because nine star heirs only appeared in the immortal world. There were no nine star heirs in the Netherworld.
Even after racking their brains, they were unable to figure it out. Long Chen directly gave up and continued to cultivate in the Netherworld. He naturally wouldn’t give up any chance to improve himself.
Originally, Leng Yueyan and Ming Cangyue should have been in a rush to develop their new land, but Long Chen asked them to accompany him in training. The two of them truly cooperated with him. In an instant, he was filled with b.l.o.o.d.y holes. They didn’t give him any face at all.
Their cooperation technique was seamless. Even with Long Chen’s combat experience, he was forced back wretchedly.
Even though both of them suppressed their realms to the same level as Long Chen, Long Chen was left covered in blood after every fight. If it was a true battle, it was unknown just how many times he would have died.
Three days later, another explosion echoed within Long Chen’s aura. His aura explosively charged to the ninth Heavenstage of Four Peak.