"Whoosh!"
A beam of white light descended from the sky, whisking Su Wen straight out of the Training Arrow Realm.
"No!!!"
When the Monkey King sensed that Su Wen had left, his eyes nearly split with fury, and he let out a roar of rage and despair.
The God of Wealth had just left like that?
Why hadn't he gone into Monkey King City to explore?
The city's defenses were clearly lacking, and its main forces were depleted. All he had to do was enter, and he would reap rewards.
The God of Wealth had been right in front of them. They had made so many arrangements and even worked out multiple scenarios for what he might do.
Fortune had clearly been... within arm's reach!
But why had the God of Wealth gone to the city gate, taken a couple of looks, and left?
The God of Wealth's training was bound to have a result. Didn't he want to improve it?
They had made such enormous sacrifices, even going so far as to actually burn their life force to keep up the act, ready to fight to the death.
Na Nulie really had been beaten to the brink of death, gravely wounded and about to die.
They had paid such a terrible price, only to be told it had all been useless?
Couldn't they at least have been given a sliver of a chance at success?
Even if the God of Wealth had gone to the palace, foiled all their schemes, killed Na Nulie, and left unharmed, that would have been better than him not entering the palace at all.
At least if the God of Wealth had killed Na Nulie, it would have meant their plan had failed!
Failure was better than all their plotting, and everything they had paid such a terrible price to create, amounting to wasted effort!
"Leopard King, let's call a truce!"
"There's no need to keep fighting."
After gathering his strength and knocking the Leopard King aside with a palm strike, the Monkey King spoke dejectedly.
He no longer had any interest in fighting the Leopard King, nor any need to continue.
There was no point in continuing the fight, either.
Leopard King: "???"
Hearing the Monkey King's words, he was dumbfounded once again.
Then came a surge of fury. Damn it, did those damned monkeys of the Monkey Kingdom really think a fight to the death was a game of house?
Did they think they could fight when they wanted and stop when they wanted?
Did they really think the Monkey Kingdom had the absolute upper hand?
And there was no point? If there was no point, why had they been fighting just now?
They had burned their life force and fought as though their lives depended on it, leaving the Leopard King and his forces utterly bewildered.
Now that they had burned their own life force to fight back, the Monkey King was telling them the fight was over?
Had he brought his troops here to put on a show?
Boom-
All of a sudden, a pillar of starlight swept down from the heavens like a calamity from the sky, striking the northwestern part of the Monkey King's palace with pinpoint precision.
The next moment, the entire area under the Monkey Kingdom's influence trembled slightly from the attack.
The Monkey King's palace, which had taken a direct hit from the pillar, was reduced to dust that scattered through the air, leaving the ground as clean as though the building had never existed.
Such was the power of a Star Weapon!
The claim that not a blade of grass would grow within a thousand meters was merely one way the Star God had put it.
To ensure that Su Wen, the God of Wealth, would advance with absolute certainty and return safely after becoming a first-rank God of Wealth, how could the contingency the Star God had arranged be so simple?
The Star Weapon's three modes of use were merely its most basic application.
Once the Star Weapon was activated, and had even detected that the one who activated it had left, it would unleash its full power to achieve its user's goal.
Besides, didn't a range of ten thousand meters, or even a hundred thousand meters, contain multiple thousand-meter areas?
So it wasn't wrong to say that not a blade of grass would grow within a thousand meters.
After all, the Training Arrow Realms of Heavenly Mandate Bearers whose titles began with "God" were all different. Some really were so strange that they left people scratching their heads.
Of course, it would have been good if Su Wen hadn't used the Star Weapon he had given him.
But since he had used it, the Star God naturally had to provide the God of Wealth with one final layer of insurance.
Leopard King: "..."
After witnessing the Monkey King's palace vanish and Monkey King City fall into ruin with his own eyes, the Leopard King understood.
No matter how brainless he was, with this scene unfolding before him, he understood.
So he had unwittingly become embroiled in a fight to the death between the Monkey Kingdom and another force?
What the fuck?
The Monkey King and his people's strange behavior could all be explained now, too.
Hmm... maybe I should retreat?
He had a feeling the atmosphere nearby was a little strange, and a little oppressive.
He understood now, but not completely.
Before he figured out what was going on, he had better retreat!
With that thought, the Leopard King gave his subordinates a look, then hurried away with his forces.
The Monkey Kingdom's higher-ups looked at Monkey King City, now reduced to ruins, and fell into an eerie silence.
"God of Wealth status: returned." "God of Wealth training: completed." "Beginning inspection of training information and assessment of training grade." "Copper Coin Monkey killed: completed." "Black Coin Monkey killed: completed." "Silver Coin Monkey killed: completed." "Gold Coin Monkey killed: completed." "Purple Coin Monkey killed: completed." "Occupied: one small mineral vein." "Rank increased: first rank." "Life-form rank increased: second rank." "Destroyed: one small mineral vein." "Destroyed: four large city gates." "Destroyed: medium defensive fortifications." "Destroyed: five medium defensive formations." "..." "Destroyed: the Monkey King's palace." "Destroyed: Monkey King City." "Overall assessment: outstanding zero-rank God of Wealth, through your efforts alone, you plunged the powerful Monkey Kingdom of the training realm into extreme chaos and had a major impact on the Leopard Kingdom thousands of miles away." "Beginning assessment of God of Wealth training..."
In a space surrounded by a blanket of white, a stream of information began flashing before Su Wen.
Watching the information scroll past, he understood that it was scoring what he had done during his training.
But when he saw the long list of things he had destroyed, his gaze froze.
"Is... the Star Weapon really that powerful?"
Su Wen murmured softly. Before he had left, he had destroyed one small mineral vein at most.
He could understand the Gold Coin Monkey and Purple Coin Monkey listed above, too. It was only natural that the golden monkey had been killed by the Star Weapon's strike.
But destroying so many buildings, as well as the Monkey King's palace and Monkey King City, was a little ridiculous, wasn't it?
Although he hadn't wandered around inside Monkey King City, he had been able to see its grandeur from outside.
"It looks like there was more to what the Star God said about not a blade of grass growing within a thousand meters!"
Su Wen shook his head helplessly. Still, the arrangements with the white chess-piece Star Weapon offered a glimpse of how the Star God did things.
Of course, that was only his own shallow guess.
The Star God had considered things quite thoroughly to ensure that he completed his training successfully.
He could only say that the future supreme commander of the main battlefield truly lived up to his name!
He considered everything from every angle. Even if a Heavenly Mandate Bearer stronger than the Star God appeared in the future, Su Wen reckoned they wouldn't be as suited to being supreme commander.
Besides, how many people in the future could be stronger than the Star God?
The training weapon he had left for Su Wen at this stage could destroy Monkey King City, so his strength...
He didn't know what levels of power the ranks corresponded to, so he had no way to speculate. He could only say his imagination was lacking.
"Notice: the Heavenly Official of the God of Wealth's training realm is beginning to intervene..."
As Su Wen's thoughts wandered, an icy notification suddenly rang out.
The next moment, an illusory figure appeared before Su Wen.