Ascetic Monks
Lin Zhen's battle before Constantinople had a profound impact.
Facing the combined attack of three top fighters, Yan Huang, Kholov, and Larix, Lin Zhen was able to kill Kholov and Larix first and seriously injure Yan Huang. No one had any doubt about Lin Zhen's fighting prowess.
Some even claim he is the greatest genius in human God Transformation Calendar; this has been proposed by some, though others disagree.
However, there is one thing that worries people greatly: Larix has driven the World-Breaking Nail into Lin Zhen's body, which will continuously suppress Lin Zhen's Dantian Qi and prevent him from advancing. In this way, wouldn't Lin Zhen never have any hope of advancing?
Moreover, no one knows where Lin Zhen went. Since leaving outside Constantinople, Lin Zhen has disappeared without a trace, and no one can find him.
People guessed he went to heal his wounds, but the world is so big, no one could possibly know where he healed himself.
However, one thing is certain: Lin Zhen Lin Zhen is still alive, because after killing Larix, he has already made it onto the Dark Star Ranking.
Larix was ranked thirty-second on the Dark Star Ranking. After Lin Zhen killed him, he was ranked in the top fifty on the global Star Ranking, which meant he had truly advanced to the ranks of top-tier experts.
As long as the ranking remains unchanged, it proves that Lin Zhen is still alright, which puts the minds of many people who were worried about Lin Zhen at ease.
The Pope's wedding did not take place, and things quieted down at the Church.
The turmoil surrounding the withdrawal from the Divine Cult in X Country is escalating. Apart from Ice City, there are almost no Divine Cult members left in the other major Base City. Originally, X Country had nearly 300 million Divine Cult followers, but now there may not even be 3 million left.
While other countries haven't withdrawn as completely as X Country, their numbers are also increasing daily.
The Divine Cult originally had a billion followers, but after Lin Zhen's actions, the total number of followers is probably no more than three hundred million.
Moreover, this number is still declining, and it is unknown how long the Divine Cult, which now only has a little over 200 million members, can hold on.
As for Yan Huang's claim that he would lead the people of the Divine Cult to conquer the world and conquer X Country, people scoffed at it. They couldn't even conquer Lin Zhen, so how could they conquer X Country? They should just give up.
Lin Zhen's parents returned to Ice City, this time receiving protection from the state.
The top leadership of X Country announced that Lin Zhen's family is under the protection of the state, and anyone who dares to harm them is considered an enemy of X Country.
No one in X Country objected to this privilege, and it was something Lin Zhen was entitled to.
Lin Zhen had always been the one protecting them, but now that Lin Zhen wasn't here, it was their turn to protect Lin Zhen's parents.
An Ning even handed over all her business to her family to manage. She moved into Lin Zhen's house to live with Lin Zhen's parents and take care of them as well.
The Church remained silent, Lin Zhen was nowhere to be found, and everything seemed to have quieted down.
********
In Constantinople, Yan Huang waved his arms a few times. After ten days of treatment, his left arm had finally fully recovered.
Although his arm recovered, the anger in his heart never subsided.
The Church has suffered a great loss of face in this battle. They never expected that the three of them, including Kholov and Larix, would fail to capture Lin Zhen and even lose two lives.
He no longer expects to conquer the world through any doctrine; he wants to conquer it through strength.
The water shimmered before Yan Huang's eyes, and Shu Mingxuan's reflection in the Water Mirror reappeared.
"Are you alright with your injuries?" Shu Mingxuan asked.
"I've fully recovered, and I believe I can win even if I face Lin Zhen again."
"Enough!" Shu Mingxuan waved his hand impatiently. Yan Huang's strength was indeed above Lin Zhen's, but so what? He still lost. When the difference in strength was not particularly large, the weight of technique became very important. Lin Zhen was indeed a combat genius, having killed his Kholov clone and Larix one after another. Even Shu Mingxuan had to admit that.
"Let's not talk about Lin Zhen for now. He was hit by that World-Breaking Nail and will probably never be able to advance again. Your task now is to find him as soon as possible and conquer X Country immediately. That's the most urgent thing."
Shu Mingxuan was indeed very anxious. He contacted Xin Ou and Tu Ya again yesterday. There were only a dozen days left until they arrived on Earth. If he hadn't made any progress by the time they got here, then no matter how much he gained in the future, the credit wouldn't belong to him Shu Mingxuan.
Therefore, the most crucial thing is for him to incite Yan Huang to conquer the X Country before Xin Ou and Ou arrive.
"Please rest assured, Lord Shu Mingxuan, I am about to depart for Iceland."
"Yes, I await your good news. You can make things sound a bit more serious, because when you were fighting Lin Zhen, you got carried away and talked about the Church's plan to conquer X Country. I heard that many people in X Country are even preparing to unite and resist the Church, so you now need the support of those Ascetic Monks."
Yan Huang nodded to indicate that he understood. He had also heard the news that many experts in X Country were indeed preparing to unite against the Church, but they had not taken any action because the Church had not made any move.
However, if the Church were to actually launch an eastern expedition, it would undoubtedly lead to a large-scale rebellion by warriors from X Country.
No matter how many difficulties lie ahead, Yan Huang is determined to continue down this path.
After ending his call with Shu Mingxuan, Yan Huang drove the Black Phantom straight towards Iceland in the northwest.
Iceland is located in the ocean and is not very large. It is often visited by Ocean Giant Beast, making it one of the most challenging places in the world.
When the Black Phantom arrived over Iceland, Yan Huang even gasped in shock.
A large group of strange fish is attacking a group of people.
Octopuses as tall as small mountains, sharks larger than submarines, giant sea turtles weighing hundreds of tons, and countless other kinds of fish—it's a truly awe-inspiring sight.
Among these Ocean Giant Beast, even the weakest is S-rank. Yan Huang saw that the giant octopus was even a Near SSS-Rank mutated giant monster.
This thing is even more powerful than One Against Ten Thousand; if it were to come ashore, it would definitely cause a disaster.
A large group of strange fish is attacking more than thirty people in white robes at the foot of a volcano.
These thirty-odd people were all wearing white Priest Robe, but the robes were so old and worn that they were covered with patches upon patches.
Everyone had a similar appearance: long white hair and a white beard, all looking old and frail.
However, the white-bearded old men's performance under the siege of these strange fish was incredibly astonishing.
The leader, a tall old man, simply clasped his hands together and said, "First Team, prepare, Judgment of Light!" when he saw the giant octopus lunging at him.
The ten white-robed figures on the left attacked together, their light Energy Element gathering and surging towards the old man leading them.
The old man was like a luminous body, his intense light growing stronger and stronger, like a Supernova about to explode. He shoved his hands out at the octopus.
The enormous beam of light was three meters thick, and it destroyed everything in its path, vaporizing everything, including the Near SSS-Rank octopus.
This move left Yan Huang somewhat dumbfounded; these old men were incredibly skilled.
Every person is at least Stellar Realm being.
There are basically none even in the early and middle stages of the Star Core Star Core; the minimum is at least level seven or eight.
Moreover, the Star Core Stage is rare here; most people here are in the Meteor Stage.
The levels ranged from Meteor Level 1 to Meteor Level 9. Yan Huang saw that the tall old man leading the group had actually reached the Comet Stage!
Yan Huang was secretly excited, never expecting that among these Ascetic Monks there would be a master of the Comet Stage.
Normally, if you want to see Comet Stage in the world, you can only look for it on the Heavenly Star Ranking, as there are basically no Comet Stage on the Dark Star Ranking.
Moreover, these Ascetic Monks are clearly capable of launching a joint attack. They can concentrate their power through some kind of secret method, which makes it easy to kill Near SSS-Rank Mutated Beast. Yan Huang believes that if they are given enough people and they set up their formation, they might even be able to kill an SSS-Rank super Mutated Beast in one move.
After killing the largest Mutated Beast, the Ascetic Monks began to fight individually, quickly slaughtering the group of giant sea monsters that had landed.
The tall Ascetic Monks dug out the crystal of the mutated octopus, then looked up at the sky, said nothing, and led a group of Ascetic Monks away into the distance.
Yan Huang hurriedly got off the aircraft and followed behind the Ascetic Monks.
None of the Ascetic Monks paid any attention to Yan Huang. After walking for about half an hour, they left the coastline and came to a cluster of thatched huts.
This cluster of thatched huts has more than a hundred rooms, and each hut is inhabited by an Ascetic Monks. When Yan Huang arrived here, no one paid any attention to him when he tried to talk to them. These Ascetic Monks all seemed to be very busy.
They were either reciting doctrines, meditating, mending clothes, or preparing dinner.
Seeing that the Ascetic Monks were about to eat, Yan Huang hurriedly ran up to the Ascetic Monks were cooking and tried to curry favor with them.
"Esteemed seniors, I am Yan Huang, the first Pope of the Church See and the third Holy Son of Light. Your lives here are too austere. Let me improve things for you."
As he spoke, Yan Huang took things out of his Space Ring —various kinds of meat, wine, dishes, and so on; he had prepared quite a lot.
However, none of these Ascetic Monks even glanced at his thing; some even showed Yan Huang and burned the piece of meat that Yan Huang had handed him to ashes with flames.
After several Yan Huang finally learned his lesson and changed out of his magnificent clothes, putting on his first set of old Priest Robe from when he had just come of age. After more than ten years, this item was finally no longer so conspicuous among the group of old men.
The Ascetic Monks' gazes towards Yan Huang softened slightly.
Mealtime was served. Each person had only a bowl of water and some vegetables in front of them. The Ascetic Monks sat and prayed devoutly, and Yan Huang prayed along with them.
After the prayer was finished, Yan Huang was given a bowl of water and a piece of green vegetable, which he slowly chewed.
Although the conditions were extremely harsh, Yan Huang knew that he had gradually integrated into the group of Ascetic Monks, and that when he proposed the eastern expedition, it might have a good effect.