At the exit of the Ancestral God Secret Realm's Bauhinia Island, a shabby E-class spacecraft traveled through the void at sublight speed. Chen Qing sat inside, bored, lightly tapping out an unfamiliar melody. "Spirit Butterfly, stop the ship in that open area ahead. Let's save them some trouble."
"Understood, Master."
The bait was set now. Unfortunately, who knew how many would come because of the treasure? Such good opponents, and yet some unknown dopey dog had ruined it. The treasure he'd put out was useless, too.
At Glory Plaza, King-Rank experts from many races had gathered in groups. In recent days, they had rarely discussed the God-Gifted Continent. Instead, they were following the matter of Venerable Beishan and Green Jade King. Even quite a few Venerables had asked about it. "I heard Venerable Beishan has set out. With a Venerable's speed, he'll find him soon, right?"
"Not necessarily. Green Jade King might find somewhere to hide. Then he'll be hard to find."
"Won't that make the Human Race furious? Hahaha!"
"Look, Seven Sword King of the Human Race is here. Why don't you ask him?"
"If you've got the nerve, go ask him yourself!"
"Seven Sword King, which corner has that old scholar of yours hidden himself in this time?"
As soon as the words fell, the plaza went quiet. Seven Sword King's face was black as charcoal as he looked coldly toward the Northern Territory Alliance. "King Huijing, are you looking to die?"
"Hmph. Calling yourselves kings is an insult to us powerful experts, and you still have the nerve to call yourselves a pinnacle race."
Seven Sword King turned away without responding to King Huijing, though he did feel a little resentful toward Green Jade King. But this wasn't the time to discuss that, so he looked at King Lishuo and the others instead. "Can you contact Green Jade King? And where's King Chaman? I haven't seen him."
"Only King Chaman has had contact with Green Jade King. We tried reaching King Chaman, but he hasn't replied. He returned to the Initial Universe for a clan mission, so we've already contacted the higher-ups."
"What did the higher-ups say?"
"They told us not to get involved."
After hearing King Lishuo's answer, Seven Sword King fell silent. Since the higher-ups had bestowed a title on Green Jade King, his strength was surely no issue. And according to the information from the Treasure Land, Green Jade King was definitely powerful. Otherwise, King Huijing and the others wouldn't all still be here; they would've set off long ago. After all, even the worst treasure on the main peak would be a Heavy Treasure—and not an Ordinary Heavy Treasure. It might even be a Supreme Treasure!
If they got there before Venerable Beishan, those aliens would be even happier. The blow to the Human Race would be even more severe.
But no matter how strong Green Jade King was, he was still only an Invincible King. He might be able to hold his own against an ordinary Venerable, but Venerable Beishan was an Intermediate Venerable. The gap was too great. Hopefully, he wouldn't bring shame to the race.
"Then we'll wait!"
In the secret realm, Venerable Beishan glanced toward the Land of Divine Gift and broke into a bloodthirsty smile. "Green Jade King, I hope you're smart. If you hide, every Venerable in the universe will become your enemy—not just the Human Race!
"The strong cannot be humiliated. That's not just an empty saying; it's a rule recognized by the entire universe."
With that, he didn't even choose a direction. He teleported straight to the Land of Divine Gift. As long as he showed up, even if he failed to find Green Jade King, it wouldn't be his fault.
"He's appeared!"
Chen Qing sat cross-legged in the void, his mind as calm as still water. He took in the world around him for several light-years, with a weapon he'd forged in the secret realm resting across his legs. "One, two..."
There were twenty-three Venerables in all. It seemed the City Lord trusted him quite a bit. There was no one from the Human Race or the Hong Alliance among them. Perhaps they wanted to gauge his strength, since he had Giant Axe's divine power crystal in his possession. They probably hoped to use this opportunity to take him away.
The Venerables watched from a distance. Chen Qing ignored them and quietly waited for the main event.
"Heh, you're actually waiting here to die!"
Venerable Beishan stopped hundreds of thousands of kilometers away. His single eye began to glow red, and he raised the Heavy Treasure iron staff in his hand. Chen Qing said nothing. He didn't even open his eyes. Spirit Burning silently activated, its surging power masking the fluctuations of World Power. The sword on his foot split into countless tiny blades that flew around him, drawing upon the laws to form a spherical Abyss, pitch-black and bottomless.
"Hahaha, what a treasure! It's a top-tier Heavy Treasure! Even if you burn your divine power, you still won't escape death!"
As his voice fell, Venerable Beishan ignited golden flames as well. The iron staff gleamed with golden light as it pierced through space and stabbed into the black sphere of water, sending ripples across it and even shattering the surrounding space.
"Not bad for an Intermediate Venerable. You're a little lacking in raw power. Domain, Quake Seal!"
The Abyss had looked ready to collapse, but it suddenly stabilized again. Venerable Beishan's single eye nearly bulged from its socket. To defend against his attack without relying on a treasure meant they were on the same level. If that were true, he'd become the Venerables' laughingstock.
"He blocked it! Looks like his Gene Level is quite high, at least a hundred times."
Watching the sphere of water gradually stabilize, Venerable Tianhua couldn't help sighing. Though he didn't want to admit it, Green Jade King really did have Venerable-level strength. An ordinary Venerable couldn't even do anything to him. The other Venerables began to consider their options. After all, Top-Tier Heavy Treasures were rare, and this could no longer be considered bullying someone weaker.
Chen Qing gauged the force of the attack. Fortunately, his domain was special, and combined with his Innate Secret Technique, Quake Seal, his defense was holding. But that was about as far as he could go. If he dragged this out, he'd be surrounded and beaten. He wasn't into that. And he couldn't use illusory divine power, either. He'd try to see whether he could use his special state of mind to imprint the Lotus Seed directly into Venerable Beishan's mind. Otherwise, so many Venerables were bound to discover that he was a World Lord.
The instant Chen Qing opened his eyes, Venerable Beishan's body went rigid. He suddenly lost all feeling of his divine power, as if he'd encountered a natural enemy and couldn't summon even a hint of strength. A voice suddenly rang in his mind.
One Flower, One World!
"No—"
Venerable Beishan's sudden scream startled the surrounding Venerables. Someone even cried out in shock, "What happened? Weren't they fighting just fine a moment ago?"
"Something's wrong. Look at Venerable Beishan's expression! What am I seeing? He only looked at him once, and an Intermediate Venerable was enslaved in an instant!"
"Another soul master. Let's go!"
In the Virtual Universe's Thunder Mountain, Chen Qing was summoned by the Chaos City Lord once more. Looking at the young man before him, the City Lord sighed. He was simply too young—only a little over three thousand years old, and not even a single Genius Battle had passed since his. "You've made a name for yourself with this move. The outside world now acknowledges that you have Venerable-level strength, and that you're no ordinary Venerable. Do you want to change your title?"
"Venerable Green Jade will do. If I change it, I'll do so next time."
"Very well. This time, the race doesn't even need to promote your reputation; the aliens have probably spread the news everywhere already. I even heard that letting them attack you while you sat there didn't work. Still, the aliens must have their suspicions now. They won't target the race for the moment, but they'll definitely target you personally. There are no rules in a war between races."
"I understand. But if I do run into them, there's no need to worry. I'm confident I can handle it."
The Chaos City Lord looked deeply at Chen Qing. Given his temperament, he wouldn't be blindly confident. It seemed he still had plenty of secrets. "Very well. But we'll also have to arrange for you to join the Hong Alliance. That'll give you another channel for gathering resources."
Before you continue