Who Came Out on Top?

Return Sea, Moya Island.

The torrent of sunlight gradually subsided, wisps of green smoke rising from the scorched earth.

The sticky flesh moss receded, exposing rock layers gleaming with a glazed sheen. The survivors stared blankly up at the clear sky once more, their gazes converging on the young man suspended high beyond the heavens.

"What a loss!"

Li Qingshan's face darkened as he stared coldly at the cage formed by ten clusters of blue-white flames.

Inside the cage, the ten different alien races he had deliberately spared were now nothing but piles of ash.

"It really was a loss!"

Sheng Tian echoed him, stepping closer with a regretful expression.

"We originally wanted to keep them alive and find out where their islands were, but who knew there were restrictions inside their bodies?"

Li Qingshan shifted his gaze and stared straight at Sheng Tian before suddenly speaking.

"Just now, was it you who told me to leave them alive?"

Sheng Tian's scalp prickled under that stare, and he could not help freezing at the question.

"Hadn't you already stopped by the time I spoke?"

"No!"

Li Qingshan said coldly, certain of it.

"It was because of you that I decided to capture them alive and failed to personally cut them down!"

Ten ninth-rank aliens—an entire billion experience points had slipped through his fingers!

How could such a grave mistake have been his own? It had to be because of Sheng Tian!

"I..."

Sheng Tian stood awkwardly on the spot. He truly could not understand what there was to dwell on, much less why Li Qingshan was staring at him like he was some deadbeat debtor.

More importantly,

After that great battle, even his tiny urge to compete had long been beaten out of him. He had no confidence at all to turn hostile and question him.

Fortunately, Zheng Zicheng, Lu Bing, and the other eight chiefs promptly gathered around, each holding one of the Island Guardian Treasures that had been blasted away earlier.

"Chief Li, these are... your treasures!"

The ten Island Guardian Treasures flickered with faint blood-red light as they landed in his hands one after another.

Li Qingshan's expression finally improved somewhat. His fingertips brushed over the cracks as specks of sunlight burst forth, probing the intensity of the contamination within.

Very soon, a trace of disappointment flashed through his eyes, followed by a measure of realization.

"Just as expected!"

The Island Guardian Treasures were not Celestial Artifacts, much less comparable to the Heavenly Book.

Yet precisely because of that, they could be completely suppressed by the sunlight that had devoured the Heavenly Book's contamination!

In terms of the contamination contained in a single one, an Island Guardian Treasure actually held around one-tenth that of the Heavenly Book. But even when ten were stacked together, the power could not truly increase tenfold, much less withstand the sunlight controlled by the great sun.

Take that Blood Rot Clan divine son, for example. In terms of strength alone, he had already reached the peak of Star Zenith First Heaven. Yet after swallowing ten Island Guardian Treasures and transforming beneath that bloody great sun, he had still fallen a hair short of Second Heaven!

Meanwhile, after the "Day Abyss Dust Sand Sutra" completed its evolution and devoured the Heavenly Book's contamination, Li Qingshan's direct combat power had touched Second Heaven outright.

That was the fundamental gap between the Heavenly Book and the Island Guardian Treasures!

"Still, as long as they can be used, that's enough!"

A smile appeared in Li Qingshan's eyes. With a flip of his hand, he stored away the ten Island Guardian Treasures, then turned his gaze...

Once more, he stared fixedly at Sheng Tian without saying a word.

He had the contamination now, but there was still no sign of Myriad Manifestations Star Sand!

"I... uh..."

Sheng Tian felt utterly baffled, his scalp going numb as he found himself at a loss for words.

"Ahem!" Zheng Zicheng coughed dryly and reminded him,

"Brother Sheng, now that the battle is over, shouldn't we discuss the true purpose for which you invited us to Moya Island?"

"Right, right, right!"

Sheng Tian hurriedly nodded. His expression turned solemn as he bowed deeply to Li Qingshan and the other chiefs.

"Thank you all for stepping forward in righteousness and resolving Moya Island's crisis!"

"Chief Li, regarding the Ten Islands Alliance, Sheng was previously overestimating himself. I ask your forgiveness!"

As he spoke, he clasped his hands and said solemnly,

"Sheng Tian pays his respects to the Alliance Leader!"

At the same time, the chiefs all grew solemn and clasped their hands in greeting one after another.

"Zheng Zicheng pays his respects to the Alliance Leader!"

"Lu Bing pays his respects to the Alliance Leader!"

"Peng Xinghan pays his respects to the Alliance Leader!"

The Ten Islands Alliance was settled once and for all!

"Everyone, there is no need for such formalities!"

Li Qingshan raised a hand in a gesture of support, finally moving his gaze away from Sheng Tian and sweeping it across the chiefs of the nine islands and the people of Moya Island.

"The ten islands are branches of the same tree!"

"The Ten Islands Alliance does not exist for any one person's private gain. It is driven by the tides of the times, and it is the inevitable path for our human race to forge ahead in the Return Sea!"

"Today's calamity of the evil god is proof enough! If our ten islands continue to go their separate ways and cling to our own corners, we will eventually be divided and devoured by the evil gods, reduced to meat on the alien races' chopping blocks! Only by standing together as branches of the same tree and forging ourselves into an iron fist can we carve out a bright heaven and clear earth for humanity in this chaotic, treacherous sea!"

His words echoed through the skies, stirring and impassioned, sending the blood of Moya Island's million prodigies boiling.

Yet the chiefs of the nine islands could not help wearing strange expressions.

Divided and devoured by the evil gods? Reduced to meat on the alien races' chopping blocks?

Since when had humanity fallen to such a miserable state?

And standing among them, Sheng Tian looked at Li Qingshan's righteous, impassioned appearance, then recalled his determination to obtain "treasures" during the battle. Suddenly, he gleaned something different.

He seemed to understand why Li Qingshan had kept staring at him.

"Alliance Leader, in order to resolve Moya Island's crisis, you unleashed the great sun's radiance and fought many alien races. You must have expended a great deal!"

"Though the Alliance Leader says nothing, Moya Island cannot fail to show its gratitude!"

Sheng Tian spoke loudly. Light and shadow abruptly twisted in his palm, and chunks of crystalline jade marrow emerged.

"Time Crystal Marrow!"

Zheng Zicheng and the others stirred, staring at Sheng Tian's palm as they could not help admiring the magnitude of his offering.

A thousand pieces of Time Crystal Marrow equaled a thousand years at a hundredfold acceleration—an entire hundred thousand years of time!

Li Qingshan looked over as well, his expression finally improving somewhat, though he did not reach out.

"Chief Sheng, you are too polite!"

His words were neither warm nor cold. He neither accepted nor refused.

Not enough?!

Sheng Tian's eyes widened. Naturally, he understood the implication. Just as he was about to grit his teeth through the pain and raise the offer again,

"Time Crystal Marrow is truly too precious, and Li has never liked taking what others cherish..."

After pondering for a moment, Li Qingshan nodded.

"How about this? For my cultivation, just give me some Myriad Manifestations Star Sand instead."

"Myriad Manifestations Star Sand?"

Joy immediately appeared on Sheng Tian's face. Afraid Li Qingshan might change his mind, he hurriedly asked,

"Rest assured, Alliance Leader. Moya Island can still produce some Myriad Manifestations Star Sand. How much exactly does the Alliance Leader need?"

"Very simple..."

Li Qingshan looked down over the land, his gaze passing over the million prodigies. The corners of his lips rose as he smiled.

"One grain per person!"

At the same time, Blood Rot Island.

Streams of ghostly green data flowed along cold white tree trunks, winding upward and weaving a screen amid the branches and leaves.

At the center of the screen, an elegant middle-aged man paced before the camera. Looking at the battle-ready Xue Yan, he spoke with a faint smile.

"Little one, have you finally decided to betray the Netherworld and pledge yourself to me?"

Xue Yan's brows drew tightly together as he asked with suspicion filling his eyes,

"Are you truly Lord Beiao?"

"With the God Realm here, could it possibly be false?"

The elegant middle-aged man smiled first, then shook his head.

"Of course, the me here is only a backup."

"The Heavenly Demons are powerful, and the vast starry sky is being constantly invaded and devoured by the 'network'!"

"My lord's secret intervention in the Return Sea is precisely to evade the 'network's' eyes and ears, strengthen the God Realm upon this boundless sea, and one day contend with the 'network' to see who comes out on top!"