Classic quotes from the Forum flashed through my mind, instantly igniting my urge to explore.
Without further hesitation, the God King contacted the Vice President, " God's Left Hand," through the battle group channel.
" Left Hand, I've discovered a Teleportation Array leading to the homeworld of the Divine Artifact Race. I plan to go and explore it. You'll be in charge of the subsequent resource recovery; you'll manage things while I'm gone."
"Understood, boss. The brothers are waiting for your good news!" Left Hand replied crisply and decisively, without asking any further questions.
The God King closed the dialog box and focused his gaze on the Teleportation Array.
Next, we need to figure out how to activate the Teleportation Array.
The parsed information only explained the purpose, but did not provide the startup method, and he was completely ignorant of spatial knowledge.
When faced with a problem, he turned to the floating Guiding Water Orb beside him and asked for Guidance: " Guidance, how do I activate this Teleportation Array?"
Guidance to open eyes:
[The core of the formation has been locked. It requires the infusion of the artifact's rules for identity verification and coordinate calibration. The method is simple: connect your consciousness to the artifact's rules and activate it directly.]
Verification is indeed required.
He took out the Dark Gold artifact rules from his Spatial Inventory, concentrated his mind, and tried to establish a connection with the rules in his palm.
With the spiritual connection, the rules in the palm of the hand radiate a warm glow.
He Control his mental energy to gradually connect with the artifact, and immediately saw the vast Star Sea runes within it.
After several attempts, he mastered the activation technique.
As the power of the rules continued to flow in, the originally dim and silent array lines in the Spirit Eye's vision lit up one by one, like blood vessels being injected with blood.
At first, it was a faint glow, then the light grew brighter and brighter, rapidly flowing along a complex trajectory.
boom!
The ground beneath my feet trembled violently.
The entire Rock Wall emitted a hazy glow.
Immediately afterwards, a dazzling burst of colorful light erupted from the core of the formation.
Red, orange, gold, cyan, blue, and purple—several colors of light representing different spatial phases and rule attributes intertwined and entwined, forming a colorful pillar of light with a diameter of over tens of meters, seemingly containing countless Stars flowing within it. It forcefully broke through the disguise of the Rock Wall and shot straight into the Dark Red sky of the independent space.
The moment the beam of light appeared, a powerful spatial fluctuation swept in all directions.
"Holy crap, what is this?!"
"Look at the sky!"
The sudden anomaly instantly attracted the attention of the Allied faction players who were looting nearby.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared in astonishment at the colorful pillar of light that connected heaven and earth, and at the bottom of the pillar, a figure suspended in the dazzling light.
"It's the boss!"
Where is the God King going to be teleported to?
The channel was instantly flooded with exclamations and curiosity.
Unsure of what exactly happened, nearby allied faction players began analyzing and scanning.
Realizing that this was Teleportation Array leading to Small World, they immediately became curious about the God King's upcoming journey and flocked to the live stream to watch.
At this moment, the colored light pillar became increasingly solid, and the speed at which the internal runes circulated accelerated.
A stable entrance to Space Passage slowly takes shape at the top of the pillar of light.
The God King stood in the center of the pillar of light, feeling the pull of the resonance between the rules and the formation, looking down at his brothers who were watching him, and then nodded slightly to the Left Hand of the vice-captain.
The next second, he stopped Resistance the pull.
The figure suddenly blurred in the dazzling light, transforming into a stream of Liu Guang that traveled along the path leading to the homeland of the Divine Artifact Clan through the towering pillar of light.
The passageway is filled with Liu Guang and spirals forward continuously.
The speed increased rapidly, and the God King felt the scenery around him turn upside down, with blurry colors rushing past him.
The rules of the artifact in his hand resonated with the passage, like a guiding light, ensuring that he would not lose his way in the complex space.
This constant movement lasted for an unknown period of time, blurring my sense of time.
It could be a fleeting moment, or it could be several minutes.
Ahead, at the end of the spiral passage, a grayish-white light, completely different from the dazzling lights inside the passage, rapidly magnified in my eyes.
"Arrive!"
The God King felt a chill run down his spine and focused his mind.
The next second, the Liu Guang enveloping him suddenly burst out of the passage exit.
Suddenly, the view opened up before him, and the intense light made him instinctively squint.
He fell from the sky, but with a push of his hand, he used telekinesis to stabilize himself and stand suspended in mid-air.
A foul odor wafted over, like the faint smell of rust from oxidized metal.
Looking around.
As far as the eye could see, there was only an endless expanse of desolation.
The sky and the isolated space were similar, without sun, moon, or clouds, only a Deathly Stillness gray expanse, pressing low overhead as if it might collapse at any moment.
The earth is composed of countless gray-white, dark brown, and iron-black rocks, with an uneven terrain covered with dried-up riverbeds and wind-eroded Giant Rock.
You can also see bottomless rift valleys.
There was not a trace of green in sight, not even a hint of moss or algae.
Life seems to have been completely erased here, leaving only rocks and dust.
This is clearly the home world of the Divine Artifact Race: the Wrought Spirit Realm.
The scene before him puzzled the God King.
This is far too different from the world he imagined, a world capable of giving birth to a "civilization of divine artifacts".
Although the amount of spiritual energy in the air is acceptable for a Small World, the environment is extremely harsh, and it doesn't look like the birthplace of a glorious civilization at all.
This reminds us of how many Small World civilizations, in their attempt to Transcendence the constraints of their own world, often engage in rampant exploitation and destruction of their territories before venturing into other dimensions.
He felt that the Divine Artifact Race might have gone through a similar stage of development.
Just then, his keen eyes caught something unusual on the distant horizon.
At the edge of the gray-brown wasteland, a relatively regular raised area with obvious signs of human intervention can be vaguely seen.
However, the distance was too great and the details were too blurry; all that could be seen was that the hill was not naturally formed.
Some towering buildings can be vaguely discerned.
Intelligent life?!
Driven by curiosity, he immediately decided to fly over and take a look.
Lifted by telekinesis, his figure transformed into a faint shadow skimming close to the ground, hurtling toward the blurred outline of the gathering place on the horizon.
He didn't fly too high to avoid being too conspicuous, while keeping his Eagle Head Demon Perception fully activated, vigilant for any potential dangers.
The desolate land receded rapidly beneath my feet, with wind-eroded Giant Rock and occasional rift valleys resembling menacing monsters.
The closer you get, the stronger the metallic, rusty smell in the air becomes.
A few minutes later, the God King hovered a hundred meters above the gathering place, looking down.
The scene before him was different from the dilapidated ruins of a civilization he had imagined.
This is a large, roughly structured settlement.
The building used giant blocks of stone quarried from gray-brown rock formations, as well as a crystal with a faint flow of orange-red energy within it.
These crystals were cut into huge plates or pillars and stacked with megaliths to form fortress-like houses that are tens of meters high and have sharp edges.
The entire settlement is laid out in a ring shape, with a spacious plaza in the center. The ground is engraved with simple lines of diagrams, and giant crystal structures that rise like chimneys into the clouds stand everywhere.
The top continuously spews out scorching white steam and sporadic Fire Flower of energy, emitting a deep Roar. The heat waves and faint smell of rust permeating the air clearly originate from this.
The environment here is barren and lacks greenery, yet it is filled with a raw, primitive industrial feel.
In the brief moment he hovered and observed, figures emerged one after another from the fortress below.
They are large and robust, with an average height of nearly five meters.
His muscles bulged like granite, exuding an explosive sense of power.
Its skin is dark gray or dark brown, similar in color to the rocks beneath its feet, and has a rough surface, as if it were covered with a layer of natural stone armor.
They generally have rugged facial features, deep-set eyes, and pupils that shimmer with Dark Red glow in the light.
Their clothing was extremely simple, with most people wearing thick animal hides.
Although it has a humanoid body, its design is full of savage power.
These burly figures clearly noticed him, the uninvited guest, immediately.
They all stopped what they were doing, looked up in unison, and gazed in his direction.
In those pairs of Dark Red eyes, there was only pure confusion, as if they were examining a strange "object" they had never seen before.
The God King, however, sensed no murderous intent or hostility.
Immediately afterwards, some figures began to communicate with each other in low voices, pointing at him.
Then more people emerged from the building and gathered in the square and on the street, looking up at the view.
Their numbers grew rapidly, soon reaching several thousand, a dark mass, silently gazing up at the sky.
The God King hovered in the air, silently meeting the gazes of thousands of Dark Red eyes below, before activating his analytical scanning.
[ Sheath Race - Suspended Step]:
Hunting Level: 63.
Target Introduction: A special life form derived from the rules of the artifacts, naturally compatible with the artifact race, and the earliest symbiotic race and ideal host, capable of greatly supporting and amplifying members of the artifact race.
In the distant past, the Sheath Race and the Artifact Clan coexisted as equals, jointly exploring the path of rules.
As the artifact race's thirst for power intensified, relations Deterioration rapidly, eventually leading to a brutal civil war.
The defeated Sheath Race were stripped of their freedom and reduced to war supplies kept in their homeland.
Their history was erased, their wisdom suppressed, and they were left with only basic survival and labor abilities. Like livestock, they multiplied and Life Breath here, waiting to be conscripted and parasitized by the Artifact Clan when Conquest against other nations. Their clan name, "Sheath," was the Artifact Clan's way of marking the Sheath Race's fate as "sheaths of artifacts."
The tribe's current level of intelligence is suppressed, its social structure is primitive, and its consciousness has been branded, making it regard the holder of the artifact's rules as its master.
"Sword sheath?"
Upon seeing the analysis information, the God King immediately understood how this race Definition in the eyes of the Divine Artifact Race.
At the same time, a sense of absurdity arose in my heart.
In the real world, and in the general perception of players, weapons are tools, inanimate objects, stored in armories, and available for use by the user as needed.
However, in the worldview of the Divine Artifact Race, this logic is completely reversed.
Weapons have become self-aware masters, capable of controlling everything.
The hosts ( Sheath Race ), who should have been the users, became consumables and tools that were kept in captivity and even ready to be conscripted and parasitized at any time.
"What a distorted form of civilization," the God King thought to himself.
This shows that the war potential of the Divine Artifact Race is probably far more terrifying than he had previously seen.
The Sword of the Masses, Sword Fusion, Sword Burial Array, Sheath Race —many of these are war tactics that the Evil Sword Sect has yet to utilize.
Fortunately, the projection of Hyperdimension Divine Thought Projection brought the war to an early end.
Even if the Divine Artifact Clan has many hidden methods, they are meaningless in the face of absolute power.
The God King hovered in mid-air, below him were thousands of silent, Dark Red eyes gazing upwards.
The air was still, with only the low Roar of distant crystal chimneys.
With a thought, the Dark Gold artifact rules floated in his palm.
roar!!!
It was as if a Mars had fallen into an oil sea, instantly tearing apart the Deathly Stillness.
The nearest burly Sheath Race suddenly spread his arms wide, veins bulging on his neck, and roared.
Beneath his rock-like skin shone a molten red light, and his fiery Qi and Blood exploded from his body like steam, forming a surging, crimson ripple.
That roar became the fuse.
The second, the third— the Sheath Race members present raised their heads to the sky, letting out muffled roars from their throats.
Thousands of beams of Qi and Blood shot into the sky, converging into a turbulent crimson force field. The heat wave distorted vision, and the entire settlement trembled in the surging Qi and Blood.
The God King's eyes sharpened, and his telekinetic powers began to circulate around him.
But then he realized something.
Upon closer inspection, the Sheath Race members were still roaring, pounding their chests and tensing every rock-like muscle, making the bloodstains even more glaring.
What surged in his Dark Red eyes was not Battle Intent, but rather—a kind of frustrated anger.
Like a wounded and trapped beast in an arena, forced to bare its fangs to the audience, showing how sharp its fangs are, in order to decide whether it lives or dies in the next round.
The hatred almost solidified into a tangible form, but it was firmly locked back by the power at the level of consciousness, which is why it has become its current distorted appearance.
He understood.
This is not a demonstration, it's an exhibition.
A group of beings whose souls have been branded as "artifacts" are being forced to demonstrate their qualities as a scabbard to him, who wields the rules of divine artifacts.
Presumably, the Divine Artifact Race also used this method to select "hosts" back then.
The surface of the palm, shimmering with a subtle light, echoed the Berserk yet inescapable flow of Qi and Blood below.
A thought flashed through my mind: These guys probably harbor endless hatred for the Divine Artifact Clan.
Since equipping himself with the Deterrence System, his Perception of emotions has become incredibly acute, allowing him to discern the suppressed emotions within these guys.
But he harbored no ill will towards these creatures.
We didn't come here to hunt.
His consciousness connected with the rules of the divine artifact, found a rune that was emitting strong fluctuations and was mysteriously connected to the life fluctuations of the Sheath Race in front of him, and then extinguished it.
Suddenly, the deafening roar from below abruptly ceased without warning.
It felt like being choked at the same time.
Thousands of Sheath Race warriors stood frozen in place, their boiling Qi and Blood still swirling around them, but the suppressed anger in their Dark Red eyes quickly faded, replaced by bewilderment, followed by an incredulous tremor.
The heavy shackles that had weighed on my soul, as if I were born with them, have vanished.
They found their minds lighter than ever before, a strange feeling called "free will" like clear, icy water flowing over a dried-up riverbed, bringing both sting and rebirth.
They looked at each other, each seeing the same shock and helplessness in their companion's eyes.
Just then, heavy footsteps echoed from deep within the settlement.
The crowd parted, and a particularly burly figure, nearly six meters tall, strode forward.
His skin was a deeper iron gray, weathered and worn, with a twisted scar on his forehead. His Dark Red eyes were more profound than those of the other Sheath Race, and they were now surging violently as he stared intently at the God King in the sky, his eyes filled with shock, confusion, and a barely perceptible glimmer of hope.
It clearly understood that the mark of the entire clan's soul had been erased by this stranger with a mere gesture.
The God King's gaze then fell upon this Sheath Race member, who was clearly their leader, and he asked the most practical question, "Does the Divine Artifact Clan still have any resources or wealth left here?"
The towering Sheath Race leader's chest heaved violently. He looked up at the God King, paused briefly, then raised his thick arm, pointing to the outline of a massive crater behind the settlement. "Yes, this is what the Divine Artifact Clan entrusted to us to protect."
He paused, then looked at the divine artifact in the God King's hand and added, "They're all hidden in the Burial Sword Abyss. The one you have can open it."
Upon hearing this, a smile appeared on the God King's face; this was the answer he had been looking for.
As for these Sheath Race members in front of us, they're not even enough to fill a tooth gap; killing them would be pointless.
"Lead the way."
The God King's voice was calm, yet carried an undeniable authority.
The Sheath Race leader trembled almost imperceptibly. Even though the shackles on his soul had been removed, he still subconsciously wanted to obey the God King who wielded the rules of the divine artifact.
After a brief hesitation, it turned around decisively.
"Get out of the way!" the Sheath Race leader roared at his people.
The gathered Sheath Race members silently parted to make way, their Dark Red eyes following their leader and the hovering figure in the air, their gazes filled with complex emotions.
The leader strode forward with heavy steps, each step leaving a shallow mark on the gray-brown rocky ground, heading towards the distant, jagged outline of the massive ring-shaped mountain range.
The God King maintained a hovering height of several meters above the ground, following behind at a leisurely pace.
He was lifted up by telekinesis, as if taking a leisurely stroll.
The barren land stretched out beneath my feet, the wind howling.
Along the way, one can see more rudimentary settlements of the Sheath Race, as well as crude facilities clearly used for mining some kind of grayish-white ore or smelting metal.
The smell of corroded metal in the air grew stronger.
As you approach the ring mountain range, the terrain becomes rugged, with huge rift valleys and wind-eroded rock pillars resembling a natural labyrinth.
Finally, they arrived at the foot of a vertical cliff in the crater.
At the bottom of the cliff, there is a huge cave entrance carved out, dark and deep inside, exuding a cold and eerie atmosphere.
Runes similar to those of Teleportation Array are engraved along the edge of the cave entrance.
"This is it, the entrance to the Burial Sword Abyss." The Sheath Race leader stopped, pointing to the divine artifact rules in his hand, his voice low. "We need to use that—to activate it."
The God King descended to the ground and walked to the entrance of the cave.
He could sense faint spatial fluctuations emanating from inside the cave entrance.
He took out the divine artifact, the rules, once again, and immersed his consciousness in it, drawing upon the power of the rules.
Dark Gold light flowed from the mark of rules, like a living stream, slowly flowing into the runes at the edge of the cave entrance.
A deep tremor emanated from within the mountain, as if a sleeping behemoth had been awakened.
The runes along the edge of the cave entrance lit up one by one, the light twisting and intertwining to form a swirling energy vortex in the center, beyond which lay unfathomable darkness.
"I can't go in," the Sheath Race leader said, a hint of fear flashing in his eyes.
The God King nodded, said nothing more, and stepped into the energy vortex.
The shifting light and shadows, and the feeling of spatial transitions, were much weaker than the previous interdimensional teleportation.
The next moment, he appeared in an incredibly vast underground space.
This place is like a hollowed-out mountain belly, with a dome hanging high and hidden in the darkness.
Beneath my feet was a hard, cold, black rock surface.
Ahead lay mountains of supplies.
It lacked the dazzling jewels and ethereal atmosphere I had imagined.
What came into view were large quantities of metal ingots, refined to remove impurities, their grayish-white luster forming small mountains.
There were also neatly arranged crystal clusters, or crystal powder sealed in huge stone jars, and canned Spirit Plant plants.
What is more precious are the gems that contain sealed information; the information may be unused, but the gems have value.
He activated the Eagle Head Demon's Sweep, conducting a cursory investigation, and his brow furrowed slightly.
He was somewhat disappointed with these supplies.
Although the quantity was large, the quality was generally average.
This is clearly not the treasure trove of the artifact race, but more like their strategic reserve, or what could be called a revival resource depot.
These are the resources that the Divine Artifact Clan left in their home world as a precaution, to prevent any unforeseen circumstances.
In the event of a defeat in external conquests and a decline in the clan's fortunes, the remaining clan members might be able to quickly regain some strength and plot a comeback using these basic resources.
For ordinary forces, this is undoubtedly an incredible treasure.
But for him, these things were neither tasty to eat nor worth throwing away; their main problem was that they took up Inventory Space.
"Something is better than nothing; even a mosquito's leg is meat."
He adjusted his mindset.
As a player, you should be extremely greedy and ruthless.
These items were brought back to the guild to fill the warehouse; the lower-quality ones were simply Sacrifice —they were at least somewhat useful.
Without further hesitation, he began to work.
After multiple upgrades, the capacity of the Spatial Inventory has long been expanded to almost the size of a medium-sized warehouse.
He walked to the piles of supplies, his mental energy spreading out like tentacles, and took the supplies to his side. Using the storage function of his Spatial Inventory, he began a large-scale "packaging".
Mountains of metal ingots, heaps of crystal clusters, sealed stone jars—wherever the power of telekinesis passed, not a blade of grass remained, and the ground was completely cleared.
During this time, the Sacrifice interface was activated, and he continuously poured low-quality resources from his backpack into it, burning them into Sacrificial Power.
The entire collection process lasted nearly half an hour.
When the last batch of supplies was packed into their bags, the entire Burial Sword Abyss Treasury became empty, leaving only cold rocks and a faint trace of energy in the air.
The God King clapped his hands.
Although there were no surprises on this trip, looking at my almost completely filled Spatial Inventory, I still felt a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction.
He turned and walked back towards the energy gate he had come from.
Outside the cave, the Sheath Race leader remained silent, waiting.
When the God King emerged empty-handed, a hint of confusion flashed in his eyes. "A spatial artifact?"
"That's right, that's it. I'm leaving—you are free." The God King smiled and turned around, his psychic power surging slightly as he prepared to take off.
"Etc!"
A hurried voice came from behind.
The God King paused, turning his head slightly.
The Sheath Race leader's Dark Red eyes were fixed on him, churning with intense emotions. His rock-like chest heaved, then he pointed to the sky, his voice hoarse as he asked, "What kind of world is that place—the place the Artifact Clan yearns for—the place you came from?"
He paused, seemingly finding the question too vague, and added, "My strength—it speaks for itself, doesn't it?"
Upon hearing this, the God King raised an eyebrow, turned around again, and looked at the tall and robust Sheath Race leader with great interest.
After scanning the information, the other party's details came to mind.
The Hunting Level is only 79.
With this kind of strength, he could become a hegemon in Small World, doing whatever he pleased.
But in the Monster World, it's just a roadside monster.
Even a brainless person like " Snow Ridge Wilderness " can eat hundreds of them in one meal.
The other party looks burly and strong, but there are many Monster World that are much larger.
Leaving aside the moon-sized Mechanical Overlord, the two beasts at the village entrance each have many units that are as large as small mountains.
In terms of Sheath Race leader's ferocity, he doesn't even rank among the top.
Under the bewildered yet expectant gaze of the Sheath Race leader, the God King smiled and said, "To be honest, your strength in our land—is at best that of a little girl."
After speaking, before the Sheath Race leader could understand, the God King transformed into a pale golden Liu Guang and soared into the sky.
The speed was so fast that it left only a ripple of air spreading out in the spot, and a comment that left the Sheath Race leader stunned and bewildered.
"Loli?" The Sheath Race leader looked up at the God King, who had instantly shrunk to a dot. "Loli—what is that?"
"Is it a powerful creature? Or some special realm of power?"