Lancelot has completely figured out the situation between the three fathers and sons of the Golden Kingdom.
The eldest prince was plotting to kill the second prince, to eliminate his younger brother who posed the greatest threat to him. He might even be secretly planning to force his father, the Golden King, to abdicate after eliminating the second prince.
The Golden King remained behind the scenes, using various means to fuel the flames and attempt to use others to do his dirty work. He planned to clean up the mess after the eldest prince killed the second prince.
As the kingdom's war god, the second prince's influence in the military is unparalleled, and he also has a great influence in the hunter community.
After the eldest prince kills the second prince, he will inevitably offend the second prince's faction. If he takes revenge for the second prince at this time, he can naturally inherit this terrifying political legacy. From then on, the Golden King will have complete control over the military and politics within the kingdom and will be able to truly be the only one in power.
As for the issue of succession after the deaths of the eldest and second eldest sons, it's really not a big deal.
The Golden Kingdom was newly established, and everything needed to be rebuilt. It didn't matter if the first few monarchs were a little weak, and the Golden King still had twenty or thirty years to live, so he could have more children.
You can't choose the best from among the crippled; surely all the other sons can't be useless except for these two?
Neither the eldest son nor the father are good-for-nothings.
Is the second prince really that simple?
Of course not.
To have climbed to his current position, the second prince is not only exceptionally brave and talented, but also possesses Transcendent intelligence; otherwise, he would not have been able to learn the troublesome magical syllables.
Over the years, the second prince has subtly integrated his subordinates into the bureaucratic structure of the Golden Kingdom, especially a considerable number of the middle and lower-level officials, who are all his men.
In addition, the second prince had planted many hidden agents, even within the royal palace.
Apart from a very small portion of information derived from fragments of the second prince's memories, the rest of this intelligence was the result of Lancelot's meticulous deductions based on various letters and documents found in the second prince's residence and secret chamber.
Several of the lists impressed him, making him marvel at the Second Prince's extraordinary abilities.
To be precise, these three men were all shrewd and intelligent, truly a model of filial piety and parental love.
The second prince's only flaw might be that he wasn't ruthless enough. He knew that his elder brother and father had long been dissatisfied with him and even harbored murderous intent, but he had been unable to make up his mind.
This is precisely the biggest difference between the second prince and the eldest prince and the Golden King, who are purely political beings; his sense of morality is much stronger.
The question is, can politics be moral?
Of course, that's a given!
The key is that politicians' morality must be controlled and must be used as a weapon; otherwise, it will only be a burden.
That said, while the second prince couldn't bring himself to harm his father and brother, Lancelot had absolutely no such qualms.
After being tricked by the Golden King and the eldest prince, Lancelot decided to set things right, eliminate these two treacherous officials, and guide the Golden Kingdom onto a glorious and righteous path.
Then, he would stand tall and proud before the Golden King, looking down at that hateful old face, and say, "Why is Your Majesty plotting a rebellion?"
After confirming the rebellion—no, I should say the 'suppression of the rebellion'— Lancelot began making various preparations.
He first installed a Eye of Secrecy on each of the high-ranking officials in the Golden Kingdom, allowing him to obtain various top-level classified intelligence by spying on them.
From this intelligence, Lancelot can deduce who can be cooperated with and who needs to be eliminated. Distinguishing between allies and enemies is the most crucial aspect of political struggle.
At the same time, in order to make up for the lack of high-level combat power, Lancelot prepared to seek outside help. Only by stepping out of the Golden Star circle could he catch the enemy off guard.
Before we can do that, we must find out the origins of the Crimson Shadow and the Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow.
Besides themselves, how did others manage to break through the cosmic storm and enter Golden Star?
This is information that Lancelot desperately needs to know.
So he took out the head of Feiyue Yilainuoke and, using the "Replication" ability of the Steel Feather Cloak, searched for fragments of memory in her brain that had not completely disappeared.
Unfortunately, these memory fragments do not include any footage of how the Crimson Shadow and her group entered Golden Star.
But it wasn't entirely fruitless.
The connection between Crimson Shadow and the Ashes Organization is found precisely in these fragments of memory.
As the number one terrorist organization in the Elven Plane, the Ashes Organization is notorious for its elusive nature and unpredictable whereabouts.
This is because, in addition to the fact that its master, the Guta Federation, is helping to cover it up, the organizational structure of Ashes itself is also an important reason.
Each of the key members of Ashes has their own unique way of contacting each other.
This contact information is like an ID card for a high-ranking member of Ashes. Without an ID card, even if someone tries to contact Ashes using this identity through other means, they will definitely be exposed immediately.
This naturally and significantly reduces the probability of the organization being infiltrated.
Now that Lancelot has obtained the contact information for Feiyue Yilainuoke and the Ashes Organization, many thoughts are arising in his mind.
Of course, these ideas can't be put into practice on Golden Star. The key right now is to figure out how Crimson Shadow and Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow entered Golden Star.
"Fortunately, I had a backup plan for the final melee at Cloud Summit Peak." Lancelot smiled and raised his right hand, gently waving it, and a blue light screen appeared.
On the screen of light, the figures of Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow and Arthur were clearly revealed.
It turns out that these two guys had been marked with the "Eye of Secrecy" by Lancelot and were under constant surveillance.
In the scene, Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow is hunting a tiger-like magical beast with eight tails with Arthur. Judging from the intensity of the aftershocks of the battle, this tiger-like magical beast has most likely just reached the Epic rank and is not yet fully familiar with its combat power. Under the combined attack of Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow and Arthur, it appears quite disheveled.
Seeing this, Lancelot decisively chose to intervene.
With the Concealment ability inherited from the ' Steel Feather Cloak Molecular Aggregation Insect ' activated, Lancelot left the Golden Royal City without alerting anyone, then transformed into a bolt of lightning and soared through the sky.
Trees broke, and the earth cracked.
The demonic tiger, its body covered in wounds and shrouded in a chilling aura, was baring its teeth and retreating. In front of it, a bizarre monster with a human body, a crow's head, and eighteen pairs of wings greedily scanned its surroundings.
"Hehehe, once I devour this demonic tiger, I will definitely be able to recover to the Epic rank." Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow laughed wildly.
Inside his body, Arthur happily said, "This time, there definitely won't be anyone causing trouble like at Cloud Summit Peak. Congratulations in advance, Ancestor!"
The Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow had already developed "Arthur syndrome." As soon as the latter finished speaking, it shivered, cautiously scanning its surroundings. Only after finding no one was around did it breathe a sigh of relief.
"You jinx! Can you please not speak at such a crucial moment!" While scolding Arthur, the Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow its attack, its wings flapping to unleash waves of chilling air that penetrated straight to the soul, continuously weakening the Demon Tiger's strength, speed, and will to resist.
Reprimanded by his ancestor, Arthur had no choice but to remain silent.
The battle lasted for about three more minutes, and the Demon Tiger was already quite exhausted; it was time to finish it off.
However...
As expected, an unexpected event occurred!
Boom!!
Thunder roared and crashed down from the sky, intensely powerful and domineering, accompanied by an overwhelmingly strong aura; a man like Thor descended.
The already weakened demon tiger was instantly reduced to charcoal by Lancelot's casual strike, collapsing to the ground lifeless.
Standing atop the tiger's head, surrounded by lightning and with his facial features obscured, Lancelot surveyed the man and the raven before him with a calm and dignified gaze.
The Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow is going crazy! Why is it so hard to just have a peaceful hunt?
Arthur was trembling with fear, not daring to utter a word, for fear of being beaten up by his ancestor who was in a rage.
Are you trying to steal my prey?
"I'm barely suppressing my anger, "the Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow asked hoarsely.
Sensing the ever-increasing rage emanating from Mouth of Gluttony, Lancelot asked with interest, "So what if it is?"
"Then... we'll just have to put on a show!"
The repeated unexpected events caused the usually composed old crow to show signs of completely breaking down. As soon as he finished speaking, a torrent of cold air surged out of his body. Nightfall fell, and the sky covered by dark clouds seemed to be filled with the cawing of crows. For a moment, the atmosphere became extremely stagnant, and even water froze!
Faced with the imposing presence of the Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow, Lancelot showed no fear, instead shouting, "Good!"
Immediately, a surge of "Haki" erupted, and the "Electromagnetic Field" and "Sanctuary" were fully activated. The energy that had been coiled within his body roared and awakened, like a majestic beast whose majesty had been touched.
Lancelot, with his aura fully unleashed, was like a blazing sun suddenly descending upon him.
Thunder rumbled and dragons roared.
The two forces of life and thunder have merged perfectly.
Based on life, lightning was generated. In an instant, lightning covered the sky for tens of kilometers. A thousand-meter-long lightning dragon lowered its head from above. Lancelot climbed the steps, like God of War riding a dragon.
"Let's fight!"
The heavenly sounds rolled on, like the wrath of the gods.
An immeasurable aura descended, and the entire world was enveloped in the man's presence, bowing its head in submission.
Lancelot, unleashing his full power, displayed for the first time the formidable strength he had gained since leaving the Luolunsi Secret Realm.
Faced with an enemy of this strength, the Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow was dumbfounded.
The raging anger in his heart was quickly extinguished as if doused with a bucket of cold water, and he began to think about how to escape.
There's no way around it; if you're weaker than others, you have to back down.
Do you really expect a rogue who's lived for tens of thousands of years to risk his life for a mere demonic tiger and a pitiful amount of anger?
How could that be?! Don't be so naive.
As Lancelot sensed the rapidly diminishing rage within the Mouth of Gluttony, he grew bored. He had genuinely intended to fight the Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow to see the true worth of this so-called creature of the Underworld, but he hadn't expected to overdo it and frighten it.
At this point, Lancelot didn't mince words and went straight to the point. "How did you arrive on Golden Star?"
"Huh?" The Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow, who was about to run away, was taken aback when it heard this.
It looked at the arrogant and imposing man before it and asked, "Are you also from the outside world?"
Lancelot remained silent, which was tantamount to acquiescence.
Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow looked at him thoughtfully, without answering Lancelot's question, as if he was considering something.
"Speak quickly, and I'll leave immediately if you answer this question!" Lancelot said bluntly, not wanting to argue any further.
Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow shrugged. "Why should I tell you?"
Lancelot grinned, a truly ferocious smile. "If you don't talk, I'll hunt you down to the ends of the earth."
Upon hearing this, Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow's anger surged once more. He was actually being threatened by this guy who he could have killed with a single swipe of his claw!
It's tolerable... but I guess I'll just have to bear it; I really can't win against them.
The cowardly old crow eventually told Lancelot about the wormhole.
Having obtained the information he wanted, Lancelot kept his promise, transforming into a bolt of lightning and soaring into the sky, without taking the demonic tiger beneath him.
After he left, Arthur cautiously asked, "Senior, what do we do now?"
After a long silence, the Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow sighed, "Things have come to this... Let's eat first!"
Having said that, the Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow transformed its grief into strength, opened its massive jaws, and swallowed the demonic tiger whole. As it digested, it said to Arthur with a mixture of sorrow and indignation, "One day, I, your ancestor, will avenge this humiliation..."
Back at the mansion.
Lancelot produced the "Primeval Stone" he obtained through the "World's Bounty" after killing Feiyue Yilainuoke.
24 pieces.
After defeating an Epic Tier Two powerhouse, I only obtained 24 Primeval Stone.
But thinking about it carefully, it makes sense, since this is a resource that can directly upgrade the Steel Feather Cloak to Miracle quality.
The sheer power of their "Replication" capabilities alone is enough to demonstrate the true value of the Primeval Stone.
Holding a Primeval Stone in his hand, Lancelot examined it and pondered.
"The Ashes Organization has clearly been registered with the Plane Will, forming a ' World's Bounty ' just like the Black Mage groups. This proves that the Ashes Organization's planned or ongoing conspiracy will cause enormous damage to the dimensional rules..."
"The Primordial Evil God..."
In that instant, too many thoughts flashed through Lancelot's mind.
Activating "Listening to the World’s Voice," the Plane Will quickly descended, as if it had been waiting for a long time.
This unusual phenomenon further solidified Lancelot's suspicions.
It's all too much of a coincidence.
Whether it's the reappearance of the Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow, the appearance of the Crimson Shadow, the spatial wormhole, or the unique environment and history of the Golden Star...
Combine this with the memories of Gustavo and Logo.
Lancelot's gaze deepened. "Is it the Plane Will guiding things? Preparing for future calamities..."
"The Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow is a creature of the Underworld, and a dominant race at that. It is a natural enemy of the Primordial Evil God. Why did it awaken at this crucial moment, within the inherited weapon..."
"And then there's Arthur, whose luck is strangely good, and it all happened suddenly, without any prior warning. Is he... Child of Destiny?"
Lancelot recalled the description of the World Will in the legacy of the Earth Guardian.
The World Will is a general consciousness formed by the condensation of rules from a certain celestial body.
Specifically, it can be further divided into "Planetary Will," "planetary Plane Will," and "Astral Realm Will," among others.
They are collectively referred to as the World Will.
The World Will has no joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness; it consistently upholds the ruthlessness of heaven and earth, treating all things as straw dogs.
In the eyes of the World Will, the good and evil of living beings are irrelevant; the devil who slaughters all souls and the Saint who saves all people are of equal weight on the scales of Fate.
Heaven and earth will not send down thunder to destroy demons, just as they will not send down Angel to help Saint.
Because the evaluations of the two above are based on secular moral systems and do not involve the world's own rules.
Only one group will receive differential treatment from the World Will.
That is, those who attempt to break the "rules".
The World Will also tends to seek advantage and avoid harm; existence is its core logic.
Therefore, the profession of Earth Guardian came into being.
However, the World Will cannot directly intervene in any changes in world affairs; it can only guide them.
The method of guidance is called "Fate"!
Take a plane of existence as an example.
When a plane has been at peace for a long time, its primordial power will overflow.
This overflowing primordial power is not wasted, but is randomly injected into the bodies of lucky individuals.
Those fortunate enough to bear the power of origin will possess potential far exceeding that of others, raising their ceiling countless times higher.
They share a common name—"Child of Destiny".
Of course, titles like "Child of Fortune" and "Chosen Ones" also refer to this type of being.
This explains why, every so often, a "Great Conflict" occurs in a different dimension.
The so-called "era of great contention" is nothing more than a situation formed by the overflow of the dimensional origin, the emergence of outstanding individuals, and their mutual infighting.
Once the power of origin is exhausted, the "Great Conflict Era" will end, and the plane will enter a new period of accumulating power.
Besides the overflow of inherent potential caused by prolonged peace, which gives rise to "Child of Destiny".
There is another situation that produces a "Child of Destiny".
That is, when the plane itself encounters a major crisis.
In this situation, the Plane Will will forcibly extract the power of the plane's origin to create "Child of Destiny" to fight against the calamity.
Depending on the scale of the calamity, the primal power invested by the Plane Will's will varies, naturally resulting in differences in the quantity and quality of the "Child of Destiny" produced.
Among them, the most powerful "Child of Destiny" is also known as the "Child of the World," which, to put it simply, means the world's favorite son!
[Child of the World] possesses extremely high luck and immense potential!!
The saying "when the time is right, heaven and earth lend their strength" is perfectly apt when applied to the Child of the World.
They were the last resistance in their world.
If the [Child of the World] successfully saves the world and survives, there is a chance that they will become the [World Savior]. After leaving this world, they will still enjoy the blessing of luck throughout the entire Astral Realm and gain the favor of all the forces of order.
The World Savior is also a reserve Earth Guardian.
Or perhaps the original Earth Guardian were chosen by the Mother of the Stars from among a group of World Savior, and gradually grew in strength to become the Astral Realm Police.
That being said, not all of the "Child of the World" are saviors of the world.
As mentioned earlier, the World Will does not directly interfere with any living being, but only guides them indirectly.
However, indirect guidance inevitably carries considerable risks.
Just like raising a son, no matter how outstanding the parents are, they cannot guarantee that their child will succeed.
The same applies to the [Child of the World]; they too can fall.
If the [Child of the World] chooses to fall into depravity and deviate from the path of Fate in the process of saving the world, and instead chooses to Destruction the world, the worst-case scenario will occur.
No one understands the weaknesses of the World Will better than the [Child of the World]; internal breakthroughs always cause the greatest damage.
Furthermore, the [Child of the World] who Destruction the world will have an extremely small chance of becoming the [World Destroyer].
The [World Destroyer] is extremely dangerous, possessing the ability to directly devour the power of the world to strengthen itself, and is an absolute mortal enemy of the [World Savior].
In the Astral Realm, the [World Destroyer] and [Dark Mage] are the greatest enemies of the Earth Guardian, and have been fighting each other ever since their inception.
From the Inherited Memory his predecessor Tibeici, Lancelot learned that the Primordial Evil God, Diorus, was a [World Destroyer]. He had Destruction more than a dozen planes and was not far from the realm of Upper God. Otherwise, Tibeici would not have had to pay the price of his life just to banish him Eternity, and he could not even completely annihilate him.
That being said, whether they are World Savior or World Destroyer, in short, the Child of the World who are infused with a massive amount of primal power are extremely valuable. Whether for research, absorption, or sacrifice, they are all very useful.
Some evil forces in the Astral Realm deliberately disrupt planes, allowing the World Will to infuse them with primal power. After the birth of the Child of the World, they guide him to fall into darkness, Destruction the plane he resides in, artificially creating World Destroyer, and then absorbing them as members to strengthen their organization.
If the Child of the World do not fall into corruption during this process, they will be captured and used as experimental subjects or food.
Of course, this does not mean that the [Child of the World] of the evil faction will necessarily become the [World Destroyer].
In fact, when a plane is about to be Destruction, many of the Child of the World born have extreme personalities, lean towards evil, and will stop at nothing to achieve their goals.
However, this did not prevent the evil-type Child of the World from successfully saving the world.
This does not prevent them from becoming World Savior and receiving an olive branch from the Earth Guardian.
You see, while the Earth Guardian are of the Lawful alignment,... evil Lawful is still Lawful, isn't it?
You can't say a confession is invalid just because we used torture to extract it, can you?
In short, it's true that the Earth Guardian Astral Realm, but that doesn't mean they are all perfect, kind, and virtuous people.
Some of the Guardians are indeed moral exemplars and the moral benchmarks of the Astral Realm.
But there is another group that everyone fears.
Even Devil Clan would offer him a cigarette, evil gods would turn away at the sight of him, and demons would kneel down and call him "big brother."
He can be described as an extreme leftist within the "order" camp.
It's still unclear which faction Lancelot belongs to; he needs further development, as he hasn't experienced enough.
After the emergence of the World Will, various ideas converged in Lancelot's mind, colliding and sparking intense discussions.
By combining various intelligence reports, he figured out many things.
The reason why the Ashes members were able to activate the "World's Bounty" is that they are minions of "the Primordial Evil God, Diorus".
Their actions may not seem to violate the rules of the plane now, but in the long run, that's another story.
The World Will itself is the most powerful diviner. It must have sensed something to initiate the guidance of Fate, or even to think more deeply about it.
Could it be that, 30,000 years ago, after the Primordial Evil God was banished, the World Will sensed that this guy would one day return?
The reason why the Luolunsi Secret Realm was absorbed into the Elven Plane and became its subordinate demiplane was most likely to cultivate native Earth Guardian.
Why was the God Level Mage, the primordial god, Elven, born so soon after the "War of Gods and Demons" and rapidly ascended to godhood? This was undoubtedly guided by the World Will.
The only thing the World Will hadn't anticipated was that Elven suddenly perished in the interdimensional battlefield three thousand years ago.
If Elven, this God Level powerhouse, hadn't died, even if the Primordial Evil God returned from Eternity exile, he wouldn't dare covet Elven Plane.
After a long while, Lancelot, who had thought too much, slowly exhaled.
The World Will is still waiting.
Lancelot posed his question, "Where is the wormhole through which the Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow and the Crimson Shadow entered the Golden Star?"
The World Will was shaken, sending out a message.
"This intelligence requires 21 Primeval Stone."
Regardless of the circumstances, the World Will always operates according to its inherent rules, which may be rigid, but are the foundation of order.
Lancelot paid up 21 Primeval Stone without hesitation, and soon, a picture appeared in his mind.
It was a wormhole hidden in the darkness. Due to the influence of a special magnetic field, it was difficult to detect by any means of observation; one could only rely on luck.
"So, that's why Arthur, the Child of Destiny, appeared? And then, through the Zyra incident, he brought me here?"
Lancelot narrowed his eyes, even wondering if Zyra's serious injuries were related to him.
From a timeline perspective, it matches quite well!
However, it's hard to say for sure. The disintegration of the Crimson Alliance is an inevitable trend, and given Zyra's personality, she certainly won't stand idly by. Once she leaves the field, injury is unavoidable, and the probability of her demise is not small...
"Forget it, let's not think about that too much. Let's solve the problem at hand first!"
The World Will has already told him the coordinates of the wormhole; now, it's time to call in reinforcements.
"Golden King, you old scoundrel, take this Great Summoning Technique!"