Merit Points Delivered to Their Doorstep

Smart Watch not working?!

The old man's words prompted many people to immediately check their Smart Watch, only to find that the communication function was unresponsive, the Storage Space could not be opened, and all other internet-related function icons had turned into unusable gray colors, causing widespread lamentation.

Even Liliath and the others were somewhat frustrated after taking a look.

"The rules of spacetime are different in this area. Most of the other people's Smart Watch can only operate with the support of SkyNet. SkyNet cannot cover this area, so their watches only have some very basic functions. But here, I just can't connect to SkyNet; all other functions are retained," Sea Emperor explained to Gu Ding and his group.

"I've already made some special modifications to Gu Ding's Storage Space, and opened a separate entrance and exit, so he can access it freely without relying on SkyNet. As for the communication function, I can create a Local Area Network for everyone. Within my detection range, communication between everyone will not be hindered in any way. And my detection function is my independent ability, which has nothing to do with SkyNet."

Sea Emperor's words reassured everyone somewhat. After all, most of the team's resources were in Gu Ding's Storage Space, and communication wouldn't be an issue.

The fog surrounding the plaza finally dissipated, revealing a ruined city. Apart from the plaza floor and the Merit Hall, all other buildings were collapsed, and not a single patch of ground remained intact. Clearly, a fierce battle had taken place.

After the fog dissipated, strange squeaking sounds came from all around the square, followed by rustling noises. In no time, a large swarm of insects surrounded the entire square.

This group of insects was green with black spots, crawling rapidly on four legs, each with two strong forelimbs tipped with black spikes. They appeared to be poisonous. At this moment, the insects had their four legs firmly planted in the ground, their upper bodies raised high, over three meters tall, staring intently at the crowd in the center of the plaza from above. Thick saliva dripped from their sharp teeth, making a sizzling, corrosive sound as it dripped onto the ground. However, not a single insect stepped into the plaza, seemingly blocked by some strange force.

"This insectoid beast is only One-Star Common Soldier Rank, the weakest existence in this world." The Sea Emperor's voice reached Gu Ding and his group's ears. "Its two forelimbs have paralyzing toxins. As long as you don't get stabbed, you'll be fine. Its weak point is the junction between its upper body and abdomen, which is somewhat similar to the spine that supports the entire human body structure."

Upon seeing so many insects, most people were initially frightened, while a few stronger ones began to launch probing attacks.

The one-eyed man named Du Long unleashed a punch that crushed several insect beasts to death. Only then did he realize how weak the insects were, and he immediately mocked the crowd, "A bunch of cowards. These insects are utterly weak. I killed so many and didn't even get a single Merit Points."

Seeing how easily he killed them, the others finally moved as well, but after most of them tried killing a few, they found that they didn't get any merit points and lost interest.

One-Star Soldier Rank insect beasts only Merit Points to those whose cultivation is below One-Star Low-rank God. Among these ten thousand people, there are only a few. Including Gu Ding and his group, there are only about two hundred.

On the plaza, some powerful individuals who had failed to gain merit took to the air, intending to leave the plaza area and explore other locations where they could obtain merit. They had barely taken flight when the insects also flapped their wings and flew up, frantically chasing after the fleeing individuals. Two Two-Star Low-rank God were instantly surrounded and torn apart by the swarm of insects, perishing on the spot. This immediately made many people hesitant to act, fearing they would suffer the same fate.

"Regardless of merit, let's join forces and kill them all first, otherwise we won't be able to get out." Du Long's gaze swept over Gu Ding and his group, and after seeing them quickly eliminate the insect beasts, he rolled his eyes and appealed to everyone.

He personally flew towards the direction of Gu Ding Team and threw a heavy punch into Gu Ding and his team's attack range, clearly not wanting Gu Ding Team members to gain points first.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" Gu Ding naturally noticed that this guy was doing it on purpose.

"I already said, don't worry about the merits for now, let's all work together to kill him. I'm helping you guys now, can't you see?" Du Long's sophistry was so righteous and convincing, as if it were the truth.

"We don't need your help. Go to another available spot." Gu Ding realized that this guy was clearly looking for trouble.

"No need for help? You mean your team is capable of dealing with all the bugs around this plaza?" Du Long was clearly taking things out of context.

Gu Ding frowned, his gaze sweeping across the plaza. The insects formed a dense circle, numbering at least tens of thousands. A thought suddenly flashed through his mind. He immediately replied, "Even if that's what I meant, so what? You have a problem with that?"

"Of course I have no objection. Anyway, I won't get any merit for killing these bugs. I believe everyone will be happy to watch you perform killing bugs, but please don't take up too much of everyone's time." Du Long didn't expect that Gu Ding would directly fall into his own linguistic trap.

"Don't worry, it won't take up too much of your time," Gu Ding said, as black Devouring Flame erupted from his palms and spread outwards from the plaza. The flames grew stronger and stronger, like giant waves of an inky sea, rippled outwards one after another, covering the entire perimeter of the plaza in less than ten seconds.

The agonizing chirping of insects was incessant, as streams of energy were continuously fed back into Gu Ding's body by the Devouring Flame, automatically activating the Myriad Manifestations Emperor Body. In just a few seconds, the Myriad Manifestations Emperor Body, already amplified three hundredfold, experienced another boost: three hundred and one, three hundred and two, three hundred and three hundred...

Everyone was somewhat surprised to see Gu Ding's move, not expecting Gu Ding to possess such an area-of-effect attack. However, area-of-effect attacks are generally not very powerful, and Gu Ding's cultivation level was not particularly high, so many people did not think this move would be effective.

In less than a minute, the chirping of insects completely ceased within the area engulfed by the flames, and the Black Flame retreated entirely back into Gu Ding's body. After the Black Flame disappeared, everyone was astonished to find that not a single insect corpse remained outside the plaza. The insect corpses and Insect Core had naturally been devoured by the flames, but to others, this was somewhat unbelievable.

Even the troublemaker, Du Long, was somewhat stunned. Gu Ding's ability was truly terrifying. Although those insects weren't particularly strong, their sheer number meant that even he would have needed considerable time to wipe them all out. But Gu Ding not only accomplished this, but did so in such a short time, and so cleanly at that—it was simply terrifying. For a fleeting moment, a murderous intent flashed in his eyes, not just for the Merit Points, but more so to nip this terrifying creature in the bud.

Gu Ding didn't pay too much attention to this at the moment. He focused more on the operation of the Myriad Manifestations Emperor Body within his body. After devouring these insects and beasts, the energy returned by the Black Flame allowed Gu Ding's Myriad Manifestations Emperor Body to steadily improve until the effect of amplification by four hundred times finally stopped.

Bigge instantly sensed the killing intent emanating from Du Long. He stepped forward and appeared beside Gu Ding, gripping the hilt of the two-star divine artifact longsword with one hand and staring coldly at Du Long.

"Hmph!" Du Long glanced at Bigge, sensing that Big's killing intent was no weaker than his own. Lacking confidence in victory, he snorted coldly and turned to leave.

Gu Ding knew that Du Long was strong, but if he pulled Du Long into his domain, Du Long's chances of winning at full Combat Strength were actually not high. This was because once someone was pulled into his domain, their Combat Strength would be suppressed to one-thirtieth of their original strength.

After Du Long left, Gu Ding checked the Merit Points record in the token.

[Merit Points: 58020]

[Details of kill count in this instance:]

[One-Star Soldier Rank: 11509]

[One-Star Special Type: 3]

[One-Star Elite: 1]

In just one battle, he gained over 50,000 Merit Points, something Gu Ding had never even imagined. He originally planned to take this opportunity to hone his combat skills, Du Long deliberately targeted him, which made him unable to tolerate it any longer.

However, swarms of this size are actually quite rare. A typical swarm usually consists of only one or two hundred insects, and some small swarms don't even have more than thirty. Of course, there are some large swarms, but very few exceed one thousand.

The reason the swarm gathered so massively just now was because everyone had been teleported to the same location. The convergence of a large number of human presences created a synergistic effect, attracting all the swarms within a certain range. Now that the population has dispersed, not only has the synergistic effect disappeared, but the human presences have also dispersed, making it unlikely that a large-scale swarm could gather.

Gu Ding had thoroughly cleaned up the insectoid beasts surrounding the plaza, leaving not even a trace of remains or bloodstains. Freed from the insect swarm's encirclement, everyone gradually left the plaza to search for their own targets.

But soon, someone noticed that a faint mist lingered over the ruins, seemingly greatly restricting the perception of the soul. The person with the strongest soul perception among the ten thousand, a member of the top group, also found that the radius of his perception range had been compressed to within a kilometer.

The Sea Emperor didn't use soul perception, so he wasn't affected by the suppression. This gave Gu Ding and his group a significant advantage over the others. Under the Sea Emperor's instructions, they quickly headed towards a small swarm of insects... (To be continued...)