Planetary Level

March 15, 2057.

North of Northern Frontier Base City, in the Death Desert.

The desert was unusually busy that day, with fighter aircraft of all kinds flying in.

Some were saucer-shaped, others triangular.

It wasn't just the Limitless Martial Arts Hall and Huaxia Country that had sent people. The Thunder Dojo, the HR Alliance, and the other four countries had all come as well.

The news of Ancient Civilization Ruins was secondary. More importantly, this place had defeated two Councilors, Iceberg and Liu He.

Dongguan, Yang Bei, and Lu Gang arrived aboard a fighter from the Limitless Martial Arts Hall.

Over a hundred War Gods had gathered on the dunes, along with more than a dozen Councilors.

Dongguan and his two companions were utterly inconspicuous here.

The difference between War Gods and Councilors was obvious: the Councilors hovered in the air, while the War Gods stood on the ground.

Dongguan and the other Psychics could all fly, but there was no need to draw attention to themselves now.

The Sand Scorpions hidden beneath the yellow sand trembled. They couldn't understand why so many human "kings," normally a rare sight, had appeared.

"Shall we clear the area first?" Ister swept his Spiritual Force over the surroundings, immediately detecting the hidden monsters, and frowned.

"Of course. No problem." Jia Yi smiled.

This place bordered Huaxia's Northern Frontier Base City. Clearing it out would benefit Huaxia, so he naturally had no objections.

"All right."

"Sure."

"No problem."

Fighting monsters had been humanity's common cause since the Great Nirvana. Naturally, no one would object at a time like this.

Although this desert was called the Death Desert, there weren't many lord-level monsters here. Most were beast soldiers and beast generals.

It was extremely dangerous for ordinary warrior squads, but nothing much to War Gods.

Everyone spread out.

The War God Level warriors drew their weapons, swinging blades or sweeping spears, flushing out the desert's scorpions, lizards, and snakes.

Psychics such as Phantom Demon Katelan showed their prowess even more spectacularly. With a sweep of their Spiritual Force, they controlled weapons to reap the monsters, far more efficiently than the warriors.

The Councilors were even more eye-catching. Lightning, rays of light, flames-all kinds of elemental attacks mingled in a colorful display of destruction.

Dongguan pressed his forehead protector and used his Spiritual Force to control seven throwing knives, cutting down monsters.

Although he could control more, only seven could unleash his full power. Previously, it had been six; he had improved again recently.

As their Spiritual Forces collided, Catlan discovered that he was actually at a disadvantage.

"You're actually a High-level War God Psychic?" Catlan looked at Dongguan in astonishment.

Although Catlan's physical attributes had reached High-level War God, his Spiritual Force was still at the intermediate War God level.

For Earth's Psychics, improving was particularly difficult once their rapid growth period ended.

Dongguan nodded without denying it.

That startled exclamation drew the others' attention as well.

"A High-level War God Psychic?"

Even the Councilors turned to look.

Jia Yi nodded to Dongguan in acknowledgment.

Ister narrowed his eyes, but didn't pay too much attention.

He was a Planetary Grade Psychic, but he had relied on a fortuitous opportunity to break through, improving later. When his rapid growth period ended, he had only barely reached High-level War God.

The Councilors all began to attach greater importance to Dongguan.

Originally, thanks to his extremely high strength amplification, Dongguan had been the strongest below an Invincible War God, even though his movement and blade techniques were only at Perfect Level.

After confirming that he was a Psychic, they had judged that his Spiritual Force could compensate for his shortcomings, raising their assessment of his strength to Invincible War God.

But at the time, they had assumed he might only be a Low-Level War God or an Advanced General. After all, having Spiritual Force but never using it was strange; most likely, it wasn't strong enough.

Now that they discovered he was a High-level War God, they were naturally surprised.

But that was all.

He had already been an Invincible War God, the strongest below the Councilors. At most, he would now rise a few places among the Invincible War Gods.

He doesn't seem to have a Black God Set yet, Catlan realized, though that didn't make Dongguan any less formidable.

I should remind Li Yao and Vina. Why would someone like this plot to murder Li Wei?

He knew that Li Yao and the others had bullied Dongguan when he was weak, leading to a conflict later, but it had been nowhere near a blood feud.

Hmm? He realized something. When Li Yao bullied Dongguan, Dongguan had already been a War God Level warrior. Even if he had only been a Low-Level War God, his Spiritual Force should have been able to reach High-level War God. How could he have been bullied?

The only possibility was that his Spiritual Force hadn't reached that level at the time, meaning he had improved it afterward.

And since Dongguan had issued that bounty, could his means of improving his Spiritual Force be inside the Ancient Civilization Ruins in this Death Desert?

Catlan's eyes burned with desire.

Under the sweeping assault of so many powerful fighters, the outskirts of the Death Desert were soon cleared.

Everyone entered the Despair Oasis.

Whoosh! Whoosh, whoosh!

Ister controlled his throwing knives to kill the snake monsters in the nearest trees.

A burly white man took a deep breath.

"The air here is wonderful. To think there's a place like this in the desert." He spoke in English.

"Let's head in," Catlan suggested to Ister. "With so many trees here, there might be a Spirit of Plants and Trees."

Neither Hong nor Thunder God had arrived, and the Third Speaker, Ice Snow Emperor Mohanderson, wasn't here either. Naturally, the strongest person present was the Fourth Speaker, Ister.

At Catlan's words, everyone's eyes also lit up with desire.

A Spirit of Plants and Trees—that really was possible.

Most places around the world that might contain a Spirit of Plants and Trees had already been explored. This Death Desert had escaped that fate because it held several King Level monsters deep within the desert, a long way even from the nearest city, Northern Frontier Base City.

Unexplored places had a high chance of containing all kinds of treasures.

"All right." Ister nodded and sent his throwing knives flying forward.

With Ister clearing the way ahead, the others explored to either side.

Compared to their pace in the desert, everyone slowed considerably.

"Why are there so many snakes?" someone asked in puzzlement.

"Didn't you see that picture? There's a terrifying snake king in the oasis. It's no surprise there are so many snakes."

Along the way, they not only killed monsters but also uprooted and split open trees to check for a Spirit of Plants and Trees.

They collected quite a few tree cores. These were valuable materials, but didn't qualify as a Spirit of Plants and Trees.

Like a swarm of locusts, they swept deeper into the oasis.

"Found one!" someone suddenly cried out.

It was a strange black vine.

When they harvested it, it flailed its tendrils as though resisting, but was still pulled out by the roots.

"What do you want?" Seeing the greedy gazes around him, the man who had collected it shrank behind Jia Yi.

"We're taking this Nine-Curved Waist Root." Jia Yi stepped forward, shielding Liu Jiang behind him.

Among those who had come, Jia Yi was the strongest apart from Ister.

Ister was still clearing the way ahead, so naturally, the others didn't dare object.

But this greatly increased everyone's enthusiasm, and the group spread out even farther.

Whatever good things they found, they kept for themselves.

Dongguan, Yang Bei, and Lu Gang formed a small team and searched in one direction as well.

"This one." Sharp-eyed Yang Bei spotted a pitch-black mushroom on the ground that gave off a faint fragrance, its surface covered in blood-colored patterns.

"That's Black-Blood Lingzhi," Lu Gang identified it.

"Whatever it is, let's just take it." Yang Bei reached out and picked the Black-Blood Lingzhi.

Next, Dongguan found a very large cactus. After splitting it open and extracting what was inside, the rich energy confirmed that it was a spirit of plants and trees, but none of the three could say what kind.

Boom!

Suddenly, a tremendous tremor came from ahead.

The treasure hunters all converged on that spot.

Soon, the building they had seen in the picture came into view.

It was an enormous Circular Tower nearly three hundred meters tall, topped with a golden glazed roof shimmering in five colors.

A gigantic python was coiled around it.

"Die!" Ister sent his throwing knives piercing toward the python.

They shattered its scales but failed to penetrate its body.

Hiss!

Flicking its tongue, the python shifted its body and descended from the Circular Tower.

One sweep of its tail cleared a vast swath of trees.

Only then did the Circular Tower reveal its full appearance.

There was a door at its base, five meters tall.

But it looked rather small in front of the enormous snake.

"There's another one inside," someone said.

A blue-green snake emerged from the doorway.

Its body was only three meters in diameter, but the sense of danger it radiated was no weaker than that of the larger snake.

"Humans, why have you invaded my territory?" After emerging, the blue-green snake actually spoke.

"Emperor Level. Definitely Emperor Level."

It wasn't because it could speak, but because of its aura.

When the blue-green snake appeared, Ister stopped attacking, while the black snake moved to guard its side.

Ister, Jia Yi, and more than a dozen other Councilors stared intently at them.

Hum!

A Blood-Red Triangular Fighter appeared in the sky, and a figure flew straight out of it in midair.

Black shirt, black trousers.

The moment he appeared, it was as though an eclipse had darkened the clear sky.

Hong!

"One at Fourth-Order Planetary Level, one at planetary level six. Not bad," Hong said indifferently, his voice cold.

The Thunder Dragon Emperor and the Eight-Clawed Beast Emperor in the ocean were both at Planetary Level Seven or above. With the ocean giving them home-ground advantage, he had been unable to deal with them.

Although these two snakes surpassed ordinary King Level monsters, they still didn't qualify as Beast Emperors.

The instant Hong appeared, the blue-green snake shifted its gaze.

It no longer watched those little fellows whose energy fluctuations were weaker than its guard's, instead looking at the newly arrived human.

His energy was similar to its own, but for some reason, the blue-green snake sensed extreme danger.

Watching the battle about to begin, quite a few people took out their phones and started recording.

This would surely be a clash of titans.

Ister and Jia Yi both prepared to join in and help.

They might be no match for the blue-green snake, but together, they should be able to kill the black snake.

Reality proved otherwise. A silver spear appeared in Hong's hand, and the several hundred meters around him turned into a black domain that engulfed the blue-green snake.

The black snake hissed furiously and charged at the pitch-black domain, only to be swallowed up instantly.

When the darkness dispersed, only two enormous snake corpses remained, each with a large hole in its head.

Holding his silver spear, Hong flicked the blood off its shaft.

"Let's see what's inside!"

Hong entered the Circular Tower first, and the others followed out of curiosity.

Inside the Circular Tower, a huge ring-shaped pool had been dug into the floor. At its center stood a raised platform bearing a Black Stone Altar.

Several cracks ran across the altar, and green mist floated above it.

"What a pity." Hong pushed it with one hand, making the altar shift slightly.

The green mist immediately drifted away.

Everyone took a deep breath of the drifting mist and felt their bodies fill to the brim.

What's this? Dongguan inhaled some as well, and the energy replenished his sea of consciousness.

Moreover, when Hong pushed the altar, the noise that had been troubling him all this time vanished.

During these months in Northern Frontier Base City, he had gone from finding it unbearable to gradually adapting to its presence.

Now it had suddenly disappeared, bringing an extraordinary sense of vitality to Dongguan's consciousness.

His body, Spiritual Force, and consciousness gradually synchronized.

Some kind of change slowly took place within his body.

A Miniature Planet gradually formed inside him.

At the same time, another was forming in his sea of consciousness.

Light converged on him, turning his entire body into a figure of light.

"Dongguan's breaking through."

Everyone's gaze focused on Dongguan.

The Councilors weren't particularly moved; after all, they had experienced it themselves.

The War Gods, however, were filled with envy.

"A new Councilor has been born."

"Light?" Hong narrowed his eyes.

At that moment, deep underground.

A spaceship lay quietly buried there, though no one knew how long it had been.

Suddenly, a form of light coalesced inside the spaceship.

"Scanning..."

"System malfunction..."

"System restarting..."