Lin Zhen's Territory

When the Black Pearl returned to Earth, a whole night had passed.

No one noticed the absence of a few pirates. The people's night of revelry seemed to have released all their pent-up emotions, and when Lin Zhen returned, the whole world seemed to be quiet.

Just as I was about to call some people to head to the Ancient God City, Chris sent me a message.

"Master, someone is looking for you in the Dimensional Universe. It's your friend Han Sha."

Lin Zhen was stunned for a moment, then entered the Dimensional Universe. He felt that Han Sha must have something important to say to him.

It was still the VIP room in the Asura Arena, where Han Sha and Jerry were both.

Upon seeing Lin Zhen arrive, the two of them stood up to welcome her.

"Hahaha! Welcome, welcome! Welcome, Sun Lord Lin Zhen! Congratulations on maintaining the integrity of your territory and driving out the foreign enemies."

Lin Zhen greeted the two Red Star Asura with a smile, and the three of them sat down.

First, Jerry exclaimed, "Lin Zhen, your growth rate is too fast. We once fought Anderson in the Asura Arena. I narrowly won by one move, but that was under the premise that Anderson had not Beastification. You were actually able to kill him in the real world when he was Beastification. This is something I never expected."

"I was just lucky."

"No need to be modest, everyone knows there's no room for luck in the world of martial arts." Jerry waved his hand. "However, we didn't call you here today to discuss this issue; we have more important matters to discuss."

Han Sha looked into Lin Zhen's eyes and asked, "Lin Zhen, have you ever heard of the Star River Giant Beast Alliance?"

Lin Zhen didn't show any surprise, but simply nodded slightly. "I've heard about it."

"That's good. Then you should know how huge the Star River Giant Beast Alliance is. It's a massive organization that spans 36,000 advanced Cosmic Nation. No single country in the entire universe can compare to it. That's the difference between a giant and a dwarf."

"The threshold for martial arts training is very low. Anyone who isn't too bad can become a martial artist. But to join our alliance, only true geniuses have a chance."

Lin Zhen nodded. "Do you two want me to join this alliance?"

Seeing that Lin Zhen didn't seem to take it that seriously, Jerry quickly added, "Yes, the two of us are responsible for vetting all the geniuses within the Sanjiang Star Region Federation and recruiting the best among them into the Star River Giant Beast Alliance. Lin Zhen, you are indeed a key candidate, but do you know how difficult it is to join us, and how enormous the benefits are?"

"Is it possible to obtain the Gene Serum?" Lin Zhen asked.

"That's right. If you agree to join, we'll test your genes and decide what kind of Gene Serum to provide you. After your body is genetically enhanced, your combat power will definitely double or even multiply many times over!"

"What do I need to do?" Lin Zhen knew there was no such thing as a free lunch, so it was better to ask clearly.

"It's very simple. Once you become one of us, we will assign you tasks. Although there are risks, the rewards are very generous. However, we cannot tell you the details of the tasks yet; we need to wait until you agree."

Lin Zhen pondered for a moment, "Gentlemen, as you know, I have just become a lord. There are still many things to do on my home planet, and I don't even know the details of my territory. I want to wait until these things are stable before considering other matters."

Han Sha and Jerry exchanged a glance. "We know you have a lot to do, but we hope it won't take too long."

"One year! I will give you my answer in one year."

"Okay, we'll come back to find you then."

********

The Black Pearl landed in front of the Ancient God City.

The secret passage leading to the Fourth Layer has been discovered. Lin Zhen followed the passage directly to the Captain's Room.

Stepping out of the Captain's Room, one is greeted by a vast desert.

Those pyramids that once stood tall in the desert have all collapsed and been dismantled into ruins.

Ya Xuan, the hero who crashed the War Fortress into the Sky City, did not die. He had received a warning from Lin Zhen and ran away.

Now he came to Lin Zhen's side and introduced to Lin Zhen, "Master, look at this desert. I led people to deliberately delay the search, but we still dismantled all the pyramids and tested every stone, but we still couldn't find the World Stone."

"Have all the stones been overturned?"

"I assure you, absolutely all of it, there are no stones under this sand."

Lin Zhen stepped into the void and slowly walked to the sky above the Fourth Layer of the Ancient God City. Looking out, all he could see was endless yellow sand, without a trace of any other color.

He stretched out his hand, Gravity directly sucked up a clump of yellow sand, then let it drift away in the air; sure enough, there were no stones.

After several repeated attempts with the same result, Lin Zhen was somewhat worried.

"Could it be that it's not on the Fourth Layer, but on one of the other three floors?" Lin Zhen asked again.

"That seems unlikely. Multiple pieces of evidence pointed to the World Stone being located in the desert on this level, but Diana destroyed the evidence to prevent others from discovering it. We just haven't found the key yet."

"Okay, let me think about it first. You continue searching here with your men."

Lin Zhen left the pirates behind and returned to the Black Pearl alone.

He opened a map on the console. It was a map of his territory sent to him by the Imperial Internal Affairs Department. All inhabited planets and wormholes within his territory, within one light-year of the Solar System, were marked.

A light-year sounds like a lot, but in the vast expanse of space, it doesn't seem that big at all; at least, the number of habitable planets isn't that large.

Within the Sun Territory, there are a total of twenty-one inhabited planets. Among them, eleven have a level of technological civilization similar to Earth, three have a level of technology that surpasses Earth's but falls between Earth's and the Tianhe Empire's, two planets are in the age of cold weapons, two are in the primitive human stage, and three are simply in the early stages of the emergence of life.

"I want to visit all these territories. Once I become the lord, the tax revenue from these planets will belong to me, which is a huge fortune."

However, there is a problem here. Lin Zhen needs to go there to inspect first, which requires a Light-Speed Spaceship. If you can't even reach your own territory's planet, the emperors of those planets won't voluntarily hand over their tax revenue to you.

"The video of me defeating Anderson has been circulating online for a while now, but none of these guys in my territory have congratulated me or submitted to me. It seems they still don't quite believe I could reach their territory!"

Lin Zhen slowly strolled inside the Black Pearl. He didn't expect these people to think that way. A distance of one light-year is basically impossible to reach without Light-Speed Spaceship, especially since no wormholes have been found in this part of the starry sky.

If your lord can't even come if he wants to, why should we be afraid of you?

The empire has never interfered in such matters; in fact, they are happy if lords mismanage their territories, as the tax revenue will still go to the empire.

Therefore, there are many instances where lords have territories but no real leadership!

Lin Zhen logged into and browsed a Martial Artist Forum on Blue Bay Star through the Dimensional Universe.

Within his entire territory, Blue Bay Star is the largest and most technologically advanced life-bearing planet.

The planet is about ten times the size of Earth and inhabited by tens of billions of people.

Moreover, there are no Mutated Beast causing trouble here, and the cultivation civilization is also very advanced. Although there are no experts at the Black Hole Stage, experts at the Star Stage are not uncommon on this planet.

Lin Zhen logged into the forum and found that the people there were not friendly towards him, the lord.

In their view, only the people of Blue Bay Star are capable of managing this starry sky. What kind of bullshit Earth is this? Those rural landowners should never be their leaders.

Although Lin Zhen had already demonstrated his strength, which could be viewed through videos, they didn't take it seriously. Some of them made wild claims online, which even became a trend among the Blue Bay Star people to brag.

"I heard our lord is only in his twenties. Is he even qualified to lead us?"

"He's only a level nine satellite engineer; I absolutely refuse to accept him leading my Planet Stage!"

"What a pity this lord couldn't traverse the stars to get here, otherwise Cao Yang of my Azure Dragon Holy Kingdom would definitely teach him a lesson in swordsmanship!"

"In the world of martial arts, the strong are respected. The Empire's decision was too hasty. It seems we should make a suggestion in the Dimensional Universe to replace the lord with a powerful one."

"The warriors of the Western White Tiger Holy Kingdom are not convinced! We demand a challenge!"

"A worthless lord like him is not worthy of respect!"

When Lin Zhen saw a video of a so-called prince of the Azure Dragon Holy Kingdom tearing up his portrait and urinating on it, he left the Blue Bay Star forum.

"Those bastards, I'll get past them sooner or later!"

Lin Zhen even considered using the Dimensional Universe to teach these people from Blue Bay Star a lesson, but that was meaningless. If you don't go there in person, you won't have any deterrent effect, and no one will be afraid of you.

"How can I find the World Stone?" Lin Zhen walked silently, his attention not focused, and bumped into a soft, fragrant body.

"Yue'er!"

"Lin Zhen, why are you so clumsy? I called you and you didn't hear me." Su Mingyue gently patted her chest, as if Lin Zhen had bumped into her and hurt her.

Lin Zhen quickly apologized, "I was just thinking too much. Yue'er, it doesn't hurt. Let me rub it for you."

"No. What are you thinking?" Su Mingyue slapped away Lin Zhen's outstretched hand, blushing and blinking her big eyes as she asked.

"About something called the World Stone." Lin Zhen guessed that Su Mingyue probably hadn't heard of the term World Stone, so he explained it to her.

"World Stone?"

As expected, Su Mingyue was completely confused. She tilted her head and thought for a moment, "World Stone, does it mean that a grain of sand contains a world?"

"A world in a grain of sand?"

Lin Zhen suddenly froze. In that instant, he suddenly thought of a way to find the World Stone.