Candidates

Ji Juechen kept his word and agreed to the conditions Meng Xinghe had proposed.

With the help of Electrolux's necromancy, he transformed from a human into an undead Soul Beast, participated in the Reincarnation Plan, and after taking form and cultivating anew, joined the Blood God Legion, becoming Blood One of the Blood God Battalion.

Because Ji Juechen had fused his sword Martial Soul into a Heavenly Meteoric Iron Sword shaped like a fire poker, after taking form and cultivating anew, his Martial Soul was no longer an ordinary sword Martial Soul, but a Noumenon Martial Soul—the Heart of the Sword Dao!

Over those ten thousand years, Ji Juechen nurtured the Heavenly Meteoric Iron Sword fused with his sword Martial Soul into an Acquired Sword Embryo. Before he took form and cultivated anew, Meng Xinghe acted, using the power of Douluo Planet's Sky Authority to summon lightning tribulation and temper it. The Sword Embryo reverted from acquired to innate, becoming the divine artifact, the "Innate Sword Embryo."

Ten thousand years ago, although Ji Juechen possessed a heart devoted to the sword, his innate talent had only been a sword Martial Soul with level-three Innate Soul Power. Even so, he still cultivated into a Titled Douluo.

Ten thousand years later, that heart devoted to the sword had remained unchanged through the ages. Instead, it had grown even stronger through the passage of time.

The mutated Noumenon Martial Soul, Heart of the Sword Dao; the talent of Innate Full Soul Power; the foundation accumulated over ten thousand years; his natal divine artifact, the Innate Sword Embryo; and the Body Sect's Noumenon Martial Soul Awakening Secret Method—gathered within Ji Juechen alone, these advantages had created an unparalleled peerless genius, unmatched throughout the ages.

In terms of talent, Ji Juechen was stronger than Yun Ming; in terms of foundation, ten thousand years of accumulated foundation utterly crushed Yun Ming's lifetime of accumulation.

Thus, Yun Ming's title of "the strongest person in the world" in the original work had carried great weight, but in this golden age overflowing with prodigies, it was just a tiny bit watered down.

It was not that Yun Ming's talent was poor. It was simply that every person competing with him for the title of "the strongest person in the world" was an old monster living a second or third life. In terms of foundation, he fell far too short.

If Yun Ming had possessed talent like the Desolate Heaven Emperor's, that would have been another matter. Unfortunately, he did not.

"The Abyssal Plane and the Wild Holy Spirit Cult have always been colluding. Since I seized the plane's Sky Authority, the Wild Holy Spirit Cult has also begun colluding with Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect. Now that I have taken form and cultivated anew, and the grand event held once every five hundred years will arrive in five years, the Abyssal Sage King will likely launch a large-scale Abyssal Tide then. The Wild Holy Spirit Cult, Shrek, and the Tang Sect will not remain quiet either."

Meng Xinghe interlaced his fingers beneath his chin, his tone calm, carrying a hint of speculation.

After speaking, he turned to look toward one side of the long table. His gaze swept across it as he asked,

"How have the Wild Holy Spirit Cult's activities beyond the Federation been in recent years?"

The figures seated on either side of the long table answered one after another.

"The Wild Holy Spirit Cult has spent these years searching the oceans for Demon Empress's seal. According to the plan, it is not yet time for them to find it, so they have failed to do so. Nothing has gone wrong."

"The Deep Sea Altar remains intact and awaits the start of the plan."

"In recent years, the Wild Holy Spirit Cult's activities within the Star Luo Empire have become much more frequent. The White Tiger Duke's Estate has grown very close to them. They appear to want to overthrow the Star Crown Xu Family's rule over the Star Luo Empire and reclaim the imperial throne."

"The situation in the Dou Ling Empire remains as stable as ever. The imperial family, ostensibly independent, has long since become puppets. They believe their disguise is flawless and have been putting on an act with the Douluo Federation and the Star Luo Empire, unaware that we saw through their true colors long ago."

Once all sides had finished their reports, the meeting fell into brief silence.

After several seconds of silence, Di Tian was the first to speak. "Your Heavenly God Majesty, the traitor Titan Giant Ape has now been rescued by Shrek. Under normal circumstances, since we are prepared, we should strengthen the defenses around the seal where the other traitor is held."

"If the defensive force is too strong, their attempt to rescue the Sky Azure Bull Python will fail. If it is too weak, they will suspect that we deliberately let them succeed."

"How should we arrange the defensive force so that they can succeed in the rescue without becoming suspicious?"

Hearing this, Meng Xinghe did not answer immediately. Instead, he turned to Electrolux and asked, "Old Yi, how much force did Shrek dispatch to rescue the Titan Giant Ape tonight?"

Electrolux immediately gave the answer.

"Vast Sea, Heaven's Favor, Light and Darkness—three Limit Douluo; one Quasi-God; and two Demigods."

Shrek and the Tang Sect had a total of six Limit Douluo, three of whom were Quasi-Gods and three Demigods. This was public information, something even ordinary people could find with a simple online search.

After finding the Sky Azure Bull Python's sealing site, Shrek and the Tang Sect would not dispatch all their top combatants for the rescue. After all, Shrek City still had a Spirit Pagoda, and the Star Dou Great Forest was nearby. They needed to leave one or two top combatants behind to guard their home.

Just like this time, only three top combatants had been deployed, while the remaining three stayed in Shrek City to defend it.

Though they were creatures of different species, the Titan Giant Ape and Sky Azure Bull Python were as close as brothers. The Titan Giant Ape would certainly participate in the operation to rescue the Sky Azure Bull Python.

With the Golden Ancient Tree, around a year would be enough to fully restore the Titan Giant Ape's vitality after being sealed for thousands of years. If it only needed to recover its combat strength, around three months would suffice.

Therefore, the Titan Giant Ape would most likely not miss the operation to rescue the Sky Azure Bull Python because of its injuries.

Without Tang Hao, the plane's ruler, suppressing it, the Titan Giant Ape could unleash God Rank combat power normally. No matter how many Limit Douluo remained, compared to a God Rank combatant, they were merely incidental extras.

Taking that into account, the number of Limit Douluo was no longer important.

Who should go, then?

Meng Xinghe considered the candidates.

He did not have many ready-made God Rank combatants on his side, and it was not yet time to expose them. In that case, there was only one option.

"Di Tian, since you brought this up, I'll entrust this glorious task to you."

Meng Xinghe lightly tapped the tabletop with his fingers, his gaze falling on the somewhat stunned Di Tian.

"I will give you a divine artifact containing Sky Authority, allowing you to unleash God Rank combat power. Remember to make the act convincing when the time comes. You must lose narrowly, falling just one move short against the Titan Giant Ape, so they will believe this was a hard-won victory."

"Ah, does it have to be me?" Di Tian wore a thoroughly unwilling expression.

What he hated most were the Sky Azure Bull Python and Titan Giant Ape, those two traitors to the Soul Beast race. Being asked to act out a defeat against the Titan Giant Ape was truly more painful than killing him.

"Of course." Meng Xinghe gave him an affirming look and said,

"The Silver Dragon King and I have both taken form and cultivated anew. On the surface, you are our strongest combatant. If you do not go, should the Silver Dragon King and I go instead?"

"If we send someone else, they will suspect that we did it deliberately. But if we send you, they will only think that we have already done everything in our power to stop them."

Hearing this, Di Tian could only agree despite his unwillingness.

Personal emotions could not override the greater good. For the sake of the overall situation, this was the only way.