Wayne Appears

To Gu Ding, Brave was merely an ordinary Four-Star Mid-rank God, nothing to fear. As for Du Long, he had already easily defeated him back in the Oul Ruins, and now, that guy was even less of a match for their group. Therefore, Gu Ding boldly chose to keep the appointment.

The uniformed personnel quickly led Gu Ding and his group to the palace. Apart from the Sea Emperor, none of the other members of Gu Ding Team expected that the Imperial Palace the uniformed personnel had mentioned was actually a real Imperial Palace.

"Looks like this guy named Brave is living a very luxurious life," Liliath said with a smile, glancing at the area covered by the palace.

The uniformed men and guards at the door heard this and glared at them with somewhat unfriendly expressions, but Liliath only glared back at them, and they immediately collapsed.

Those people were only at the Demigod Realm. With Liliath's soul strength, a single glance could easily trap them in an illusion from which they could not extricate themselves.

Seeing several of his men collapse, the uniformed officer in charge shouted at Gu Ding and his group, "What have you done?"

"Did you see anyone make a move on our side? And besides, isn't that a bit unholy of you?" Liliath retorted.

"These people are just unconscious. Take us to see Brave." Gu Ding's tone was irresistible.

The uniformed officer looked at Gu Ding Team with a wary expression. After checking the pulse of one of the unconscious men next to him, he stood up again and beckoned to Gu Ding and his group with an unfriendly expression, "Come with me."

Gu Ding and his entourage then followed him into the palace.

Upon entering the palace, Gu Ding heard a loud "bang" behind him as the doors closed automatically.

The palace corridors were completely silent, with only the sound of footsteps audible.

A long corridor stretched to its end. The uniformed man finally stopped in front of a large door, turned around, and said to the group behind him, "Lord Brave is waiting for you inside."

Gu Ding merely glanced at the team leader, noticing a flicker of smugness in the man's eyes. He said nothing, simply pushing open the door.

The group stepped straight in, and the large door behind them closed automatically again.

Gu Ding and the others didn't pay any attention to that, but instead looked at the dark-skinned man sitting in the center of the hall.

"Welcome to my palace." Brave's lips curled into a wide smile as he opened his arms in welcome, but he made no attempt to stand up to greet them.

"You must be Brave, right? What brings you here?" Gu Ding cut straight to the point. He felt he had no connection with the other party and there was no need to waste time chatting.

"Well, the Gu Ding Pirate Crew has been making quite a splash these past few days. So I'd like to get to know them." Brave paused for a moment, then continued, "Also, I heard from an old friend of yours that your crew is incredibly wealthy. As for us, we've been having some financial problems lately, so we'd like to make friends with you and maybe borrow some money to tide us over."

"The friend you're talking about, is it Du Long? Didn't he tell you that he ranked in the top ten in merit at the Oul Ruins and also possesses enormous wealth?" Gu Ding said with a smile.

Brave hadn't expected that Gu Ding knew it was Du Long leaked the information. And he truly didn't know Du Long possessed such immense wealth. The SkyNet all said that Gu Ding Team had acquired a huge fortune, but the rankings within the Oul Ruins weren't publicized, and how much the others had benefited remained unknown to outsiders. "So Du Long is quite wealthy. I really didn't know. But it's alright, I'll discuss the loan with him later. I just wonder, Gu Ding, would you be willing to be my friend?"

"Of course... I'm not willing!" Gu Ding gave a direct negative answer.

"Have you thought this through? The consequences of refusing me will be severe." Having failed with his gentle approach, Brave was now resorting to force.

"Then I'll say it again. I'm not willing." Gu Ding grinned. "I've already refused you twice, so let me see just how serious the consequences are."

"You're asking for it!" Brave was immediately enraged. He knew that no amount of persuasion would work, so he had to forcefully press the button on his seat.

The moment he pressed the button, a tremor came from the ground, and then dozens of black, arm-thick pillars rose rapidly from the ground, surrounding Gu Ding and his group like a prison.

"These thirty-six stone pillars are made of Ancient Era Black Jade Profound Stone and arranged in the formation of the Trapping Dragon Formation. Every second you are trapped inside, the array will automatically devour your divine energy and inject it into the thirty-six stone pillars, making the array that suppresses you even stronger. Also, the stronger your attacks, the faster your divine energy will be devoured," Brave explained smugly from outside.

Bigge gripped the hilt of the Four-Star Divine Object, drew the sword, gathered his strength for a long time before swinging it, and struck a black stone pillar.

With a "clang!" sound, Bigge was thrown back, a gash appearing on the web of his right hand. The stone pillar, however, remained completely unharmed. At the same time, Bigge also felt that the attack had indeed drained a significant amount of his divine energy.

"I'll do it!" Elsa closed her eyes, and when she opened them the next moment, they were bloodshot. She walked straight to one of the stone pillars and unleashed a series of powerful punches. After dozens of punches, her eyes returned to their original color, and she began to gasp for breath.

Liliath quickly helped her to the side, and everyone noticed that there wasn't even a single crack on the stone pillar.

"This formation is indeed very strange. After I threw dozens of punches in a row, the divine energy in my body kept flowing out like a dam breaking. I lost nearly half of it for no reason," Elsa said, describing the situation she encountered.

"I felt the same way when I stabbed just now," Bigge nodded.

Gu Ding frowned, and black Devouring Flame rose from his palm, spreading outwards. However, Gu Ding quickly discovered that the usually invincible Devouring Flame had extinguished automatically, and some of his divine source had also been lost. He immediately withdrew the flames. "Indeed, there's something to it. Sea Emperor, I need your help to break the formation this time."

"Although I don't yet have access to see the actual Trapping Dragon Formation in my database, this one is clearly simplified countless times. I just did a quick simulation and found six exits." The Sea Emperor's tone was clearly smug. "Now, do as I say."

The Sea Emperor's voice reached the ears of every member of the Gu Ding Team clearly.

"Gu Ding, take a step toward your one o'clock position. The others choose the same direction as Gu Ding and take the same step."

Liliath and the others immediately followed suit, turning themselves to face the same direction as Gu Ding, and then took a step.

"Take two steps at nine o'clock; one step at eleven o'clock; three steps at two o'clock... and finally, one step at twelve o'clock!"

The Sea Emperor announced twelve steps in succession, Gu Ding finally took the last step, completely leaving the area covered by the black pillar.

Brave was completely taken aback by Gu Ding's sudden appearance.

He tried to press the button on the chair again, but felt a sharp pain in his shoulders. He then realized that Bigge had appeared behind him sometime earlier. His arms fell to the ground and slowly dissipated. At that moment, a huge, Purple-Gold eye rose into the sky above the hall, staring intently in the direction where Brave was.

"From the very beginning, I knew you weren't Brave at all. You took over Brave's body across space and orchestrated all of this. Who exactly are you?" Liliath's words surprised everyone. Her eyes locked onto the other person, ready to attack at the first sign of trouble.

"I really underestimated you. In this team, besides the exceptionally Combat Strength, there are also individuals with special eyes. What surprised me most is that they can even break ancient formations." Brave remained completely calm.

"You must be Wayne, the true administrator of this area, right?" Gu Ding guessed the other party's identity. "No matter how weak Brave is, his cultivation is still that of Four-Star Mid-rank God. You can control him even across several universes. And the fact that he didn't struggle means that he willingly allowed himself to be controlled by you. The only person who could make Brave do this is his boss."

"Since you know, you should also know the consequences of killing Brave, right?" Wayne's identity had been guessed, but he wasn't in a hurry at all.

"Whether we kill Brave or not, the consequences are the same." Gu Ding shook his head. "Even if we let Brave go, you will still cause trouble for us because we have something you really want... Besides the huge wealth, what you really want is our secret to fighting across ranks."

Upon hearing this, a fierce glint flashed in Wayne's eyes. "That guy Du Long actually betrayed me!"

Gu Ding didn't tell Wayne that it wasn't Du Long who betrayed them, but rather that the Sea Emperor had seen everything. He nodded to Liliath, "Now we can send him away."

In the void, a beam of light shot out from the Purple-Gold eye, enveloping Brave, after which Brave let out a series of miserable screams.

"Gu Ding, I will definitely catch you!" With the last scream, Wayne's consciousness was finally completely expelled from Brave's body.

In the void, that eye had also disappeared, and the real Brave finally opened his eyes.

Liliath moved swiftly, her Purple-Gold eyes fixed on Brave's newly opened eyes. "Where Du Long?"

"In room number three." Brave's eyes instantly went blank. Before he was fully awake, he was completely hypnotized by Liliath.

"There's no need to go. He used Special Secret Method to see the battle scene here. While you were breaking the Trapping Dragon Formation, he used a space jump device to escape to other star systems." The Sea Emperor watched all of this happen but was powerless to stop it.

"Then take us to where you store your treasures," Liliath gave another order.

"Yes!"

Gu Ding calmly turned around, used the method taught by the Sea Emperor to collect the thirty-six black pillars, put them back into his Storage Space, and then followed the others away.