Chapter 289: Outer Member, Enemy

"I am the Fire Beast God of the Eight Directions..."

Amidst the discussions of the many inheritors on the Violet Thorn Island, the majestic voice of the Fire Beast God instantly resounded throughout this realm of space and time: "Inheritor Lu Qingshan!"

As soon as the voice sounded, an invisible force bound Lu Qingshan in mid-air, then propelled him continuously toward the Fire Beast God.

"Is this the control over a realm of space and time possessed by a Universe Master?"

Lu Qingshan carefully sensed this invisible force binding him; it was more miraculous than the control over time or space possessed by Universe Zifeng Zunzhe, being a power only a Universe Master-level existence could master.

The Fire Beast God clearly cultivated the Path of the Beast Gods, yet like the Universe Zifeng Zunzhe who had comprehended the source laws of time and space, he possessed the ability to control a realm of space and time.

At this moment, Lu Qingshan slowly flew before the Fire Beast God, attracting the gaze of countless strong ones on the Violet Thorn Island as if he were a star.

The Fire Beast God likewise looked down from above, and the gaze directed at Lu Qingshan contained a hint of kindness and friendliness.

At the same time, the strange force that had originally bound Lu Qingshan completely vanished.

"Wan Jie Zunzhe 'Lu Qingshan'!" the Fire Beast God called out.

Lu Qingshan stood in mid-air, then respectfully bowed and greeted: "I have seen the Beast God!"

"You have now fully comprehended the fifth layer of the Path of the Beast Gods and are qualified to become an outer member of my Zushen Sect!"

The Fire Beast God quickly spoke: "From today on, you are..."

But just at this moment...

Before the Fire Beast God finished speaking, an aura filled with destruction descended.

This aura was quite similar in power to the aura emanating from the Fire Beast God, yet it contained endless Lei Ting mixed within.

"Hahaha!" A voice like thunder rolled, echoing in the ears of Lu Qingshan and the Fire Beast God, while the other inheritors on the Violet Thorn Island did not hear it.

"Fire Beast God, such a genius should be allowed to choose which side to join himself! Is it not too unrighteous of you to assign him directly like this!"

As soon as the words fell, a figure radiating terrifying Lei Ting aura instantly appeared before everyone.

The figure's entire body was covered in green fur, each hair resembling a Lei Shen whip, while three hoofed claws trampled and suppressed endless space, and on the slightly spread wings, endless Lei Ting surged.

On the huge head of this towering figure, the most dazzling feature was a pair of massive eyes, like two oceans containing endless Lei Ting; it was the Lei Zhishou God of the Eight Directions.

"Lei Zhishou God!"

Seeing the Lei Zhishou God appear, the Fire Beast God could not help but exclaim in surprise: "Why have you come?"

It must be known that after the Eight Directions Beast Gods inherited the Beast God Zifeng Zunzhe position, their strength could no longer increase, so they usually spent much time in deep slumber or wandering through various Cosmic Secret Realms.

Except when assigned tasks, they generally did not care about the specific affairs within the Zushen Sect.

Therefore, the Fire Beast God was naturally very surprised by the sudden appearance of the Lei Zhishou God.

"Hahaha!"

After hearing the Fire Beast God's words, the Lei Zhishou God quickly laughed heartily: "If I had not appeared in time, wouldn't this little fellow have been assigned to Feng Tian's command by you?"

The Zushen Sect divides into formal members and outer members!

Formal members are almost entirely strong ones who have inherited the Zifeng Zunzhe position, including the Three Great Ancestral Gods, the Eight Directions Beast Gods, the Seventy-Two Divine Generals, and the Three Thousand Divine Envoys.

Although these strong ones are all the best among their peers, their numbers are extremely scarce.

While the outer members are of mixed quality, those with powerful strength among them are sufficient to rival, or even surpass, the Eight Directions Beast Gods.

Furthermore, after the Zushen Sect accumulated over long ages, the number of outer members is far greater than that of formal members.

Such as numerous candidate Divine Envoys, candidate Divine Generals, and Beast God inheritors whose Beast God inheritance has reached a very high realm, and so on...

Therefore, for many matters within the Zushen Sect requiring combat, they generally rely most on the outer members.

Among the many outer members of the Zushen Sect, they are divided into God-Protecting Divine Lords, God-Protecting Zifeng Zunzhe, God-Protecting Zifeng Zunzhe, and God-Protecting Envoys.

God-Protecting Envoys are generally those candidate Divine Envoys who have received the complete Divine Envoy inheritance but have not inherited the Zifeng Zunzhe position; besides this, there are also some Beast God inheritors who were absorbed early by the Zushen Sect's strong ones to become outer members, such as Luo Feng in the original work, who was absorbed as a God-Protecting Envoy by the Lord of the Nine Nether during the Realm Lord stage;

God-Protecting Zifeng Zunzhe are mostly outer members with the strength of Universe Zifeng Zunzhe or Universe Hegemons, such as those candidate Divine Generals and some powerful Beast God inheritors, and so on;

God-Protecting Zifeng Zunzhe are Beast God inheritors who have comprehended the complete Path of the Beast Gods and then broken through to the Universe Master level; such strong ones are not even numerous within the Zushen Sect;

As for the highest-ranking God-Protecting Divine Lords, they refer to the most powerful Universe Masters; any one of them can be called the strongest existence beneath the strongest in the universe, and none are inferior to the Hun Dun Chengzhu of the Human Race or the King Jin Zhi of the Meng Yao Zu, and so on...

The number of such God-Protecting Divine Lords is even scarcer than the Eight Directions Beast Gods.

Although the Eight Directions Beast Gods are formal members of the Zushen Sect, there are also God-Protecting Divine Lords among them who have relatively good relationships with each other.

Currently, the daily affairs of the Zushen Sect are presided over by the Fire Beast God, so naturally, after absorbing Lu Qingshan as an outer member, he wished to assign him to the command of Feng Tian Divine Lord, with whom he is on good terms.

But now the Lei Zhishou God has suddenly appeared, and the Lei Zhishou God has always been on good terms with the Nine Nether Divine Lord; this time, he clearly came to assign this Lu Qingshan to the command of the Nine Nether Divine Lord.

"Lei Zhishou God!"

The Fire Beast God quickly frowned and said: "Currently, the daily affairs of the Zushen Sect are handled by me; this little fellow comprehended the fifth layer of the Path of the Beast Gods during this period, so naturally, I am the one to arrange it!"

After hearing the Fire Beast God's words, the Lei Zhishou God had no thought of yielding in his heart.

If it were an ordinary inheritor, yielding him to the Fire Beast God would be fine;

But since Lu Qingshan obtained the treasure the Lei Zhishou God left in the Treasure Repository, the Lei Zhishou God has always ordered people to watch over Lu Qingshan.

Precisely because of this, he clearly knows that Lu Qingshan comprehended the fifth layer of the Path of the Beast Gods after receiving only six inheritances.

To speak honestly, the time Lu Qingshan took to comprehend the fifth layer of the Path of the Beast Gods was not very short;

Eighty million eras of time, among the many inheritors of the Zushen Sect who comprehended the fifth layer of the Path of the Beast Gods, can only be considered upper-tier, but not the fastest!

However, the number of times Lu Qingshan went to the Inheritance Place to receive inheritance was the least of all!

Besides Lu Qingshan, among other Beast God inheritors in the history of the Zushen Sect, even including those strong ones who have comprehended the complete Path of the Beast Gods and become Universe Zifeng Zunzhe, at least ten or more inheritances were received before fully comprehending the fifth layer of the Path of the Beast Gods.

From this, it can be seen that Lu Qingshan possesses very high talent in the Path of the Beast Gods, so naturally, the Lei Zhishou God is unwilling to give up.

Thinking of this, the Lei Zhishou God quickly spoke.

"Fire Beast God!"

The Lei Zhishou God smiled and said: "I know you have been in charge of the sect's affairs during this period, but this little fellow is someone I have been watching over for a very long time!"

"I believe you have already learned the data on this little fellow; shortly after he first arrived at my Zushen Sect, he opened the treasure I left in the Treasure Repository!"

Speaking to this point, the Lei Zhishou God quickly looked at Lu Qingshan, then smiled and said: "Little fellow, I am the Lei Zhishou God; I believe when you obtained the treasure on the twenty-first Shanfeng, you already saw my message, right?"

"You have now become an outer member of our Zushen Sect; by the rules, you are to join under a Divine Lord who protects the Sect!"

"The Beast God of Fire is on good terms with Divine Lord Feng Tian, so he wishes for you to join under Divine Lord Feng Tian; whereas I am on good terms with Divine Lord Nine Nether, so I wish to invite you to join under the Lord of Nine Nether!"

"The Lord of Nine Nether?"

After hearing this introduction from the Beast God of Thunder, Lu Qingshan was slightly stunned.

In fact, for Lu Qingshan, the moment the Beast God of Thunder appeared, he had already intended to accept the Beast God of Thunder's recruitment.

After all, the fact that he was able to obtain the treasure left by the Beast God of Thunder in that Treasure Land counted as a great favor.

Indeed, even after accumulating for tens of millions of epochs, the wealth he has gathered now cannot compare to the Nine Dragons Conquer Heaven Armor left by the Beast God of Thunder in the Treasure Land!

And now that the Beast God of Thunder mentioned the Lord of Nine Nether, his thoughts were even more firmly set in this direction.

After all, the Lord of Nine Nether's innate secret technique concerns the path of Divine Power; although he currently cannot, like Luo Feng in the original work, nurture a Nether Sea Clone, if he can build a good relationship with the Lord of Nine Nether, perhaps in the future he could obtain some information on that innate secret technique from the other party. At that time, combined with the Endless Divine Sea Clone, he might be able to walk the path of Divine Power through this.

On the other side, seeing that Lu Qingshan had not replied for a while, the Beast God of Thunder thought Lu Qingshan was hesitating due to the identity of the Beast God of Fire, so he quickly said: "Little one, you need not have any concerns. No matter whose banner you choose to join today, there will be no trouble for you afterwards!"

The Beast God of Fire on the side immediately said: "That's right! Little one, you need not worry in your heart; simply make your own choice."

Hearing these words, Lu Qingshan quickly turned and bowed slightly to the Beast God of Fire, then apologized, saying: "Thank you, Beast God, for your kindness, but this junior was fortunate enough to obtain the treasure left by the Beast God of Thunder in the Treasure Land, so I still intend to join under Divine Lord Nine Nether!"

Seeing Lu Qingshan bow to him, the Beast God of Fire was initially delighted in his heart, but he did not expect Lu Qingshan to directly refuse him.

However, he did not care too much; after letting out a cold snort, he left this place.

And after the Beast God of Fire left, the Beast God of Thunder looked at Lu Qingshan with a smile on his face.

"Little one, you need not have too many concerns in your heart!"

The Beast God of Thunder said with a smile: "The outer organization of our Zushen Sect has always been very free; normally there are absolutely no bonds, and only when our Zushen Sect encounters some matter that needs solving will we issue orders to outer members!"

"If you are unwilling to accept an order, you may directly state the reason; our Zushen Sect will not forcibly demand it, nor will we make you an enemy of the Human Race!"

"So, are you now willing to become an outer member of our Zushen Sect?"

"Greetings, Beast God!"

Lu Qingshan quickly bowed respectfully and said: "I am willing to become an outer member of the Zushen Sect!"

"Good!"

Seeing that Lu Qingshan had agreed, the Beast God of Thunder quickly waved his hand, sending a stream of light to Lu Qingshan's front.

This was a black token; after Lu Qingshan reached out and took it, it felt cold to the touch. On it were merely two characters composed of countless secret patterns. Although Lu Qingshan did not recognize them, he could understand their meaning: 'Zushen'!

"This is the 'Zushen Token'!"

The Beast God of Thunder quickly said: "After imprinting your Life Seal upon it, this Zushen Token can only be used by you!"

"Through this Zushen Token, you can contact many powerful figures within our Zushen Sect! And when our Zushen Sect issues orders, they are all issued through this Zushen Token; as long as one is within the scope of the Primitive Universe, contact can be made through this Zushen Token!"

"This Zushen Token is very special; do not lose it!"

"Yes, Beast God!" Lu Qingshan quickly nodded and replied.

"Very well!"

The Beast God of Thunder continued: "I have already informed Divine Lord Nine Nether of your information. From today on, you are the Divine Lord's Sect-Protecting Venerable of his faction! If other powerful figures seek you, they will certainly contact you through this Zushen Token!"

"Yes!" Lu Qingshan respectfully replied again.

"After becoming an outer member of our Zushen Sect, your authority within our Zushen Sect has been raised again!"

The Beast God of Thunder said again: "Shortly, you may leave Violet Orchid Island and proceed to the depths of the Five-Colored Aurora Lake to build an island of your own. As for the scale of the island, relevant information is already on your Zushen Token; go!"

As soon as the words fell, the Beast God of Thunder quickly vanished.

"I never expected that Wan Jie Zunzhe would attract two Beast Gods to appear!"

"Too amazing! Even if one completely comprehended the fifth layer of the Beast God Dao, one would not receive such treatment!"

"Two great Beast Gods personally descended! That Wan Jie Zunzhe's luck is truly too good; to be able to receive such treatment!"

One by one, the inheritors around looked at Lu Qingshan in mid-air, all unable to help but secretly transmit words to each other, each filled with envy and jealousy!

Lu Qingshan naturally could not hear the transmitted words of the inheritors below, but even if he had heard them, he would not have cared too much.

"Wan Jie Zunzhe, congratulations!"

"Wan Jie Zunzhe, congratulations on becoming an outer member of the Zushen Sect!"

Many Universe Venerables of the Hong Alliance nearby came up to offer congratulations.

After Lu Qingshan smiled and greeted everyone, he quickly returned to his own residence.

"I never expected that I would become an outer member of the Zushen Sect so quickly!"

Sitting in the living room of his residence, Lu Qingshan couldn't help but think silently in his heart: "Fortunately, killing is not prohibited among outer members of the Zushen Sect; otherwise, I truly would not have become an outer member of the Zushen Sect so soon!"

Among formal members of the Zushen Sect, killing each other is absolutely prohibited, but there is no such requirement among outer members.

Just like Luo Feng in the original work; when he was at the Domain Lord level, he had already become a Sect-Protecting Envoy under the Lord of Nine Nether, yet after killing King Wei Jing, he still fought against the Candidate Divine General 'Pei Feng Zunzhe'.

And the reason Lu Qingshan had such thoughts was naturally because of an enemy he had encountered earlier in the Zushen Sect Secret Realm.

"Green Robe Venerable!" A name of an enemy flashed quickly through Lu Qingshan's mind.

During the Immortal God stage, Lu Qingshan had also been killed many times by powerful figures on the Foreign Battlefield, but after his strength increased, he had also killed those enemies one after another.

And after entering the Universe Venerable realm, Lu Qingshan had only perished twice.

One of those times was naturally perishing in the Ancient Mystery Secret Realm at the hands of Meng Yao Zu's Suo Jin Zunzhe, and the second time was when he was killed by that Green Robe Venerable while taking a risk in the Zushen Secret Realm over thirty million epochs ago.

Green Robe Venerable was a Candidate Divine General of Man Tuo Divine General, also an outer member of the Zushen Sect, possessing the strength of a Universe Hegemon.

With Lu Qingshan's strength at that time, combined with another teammate who had ventured into the Zushen Secret Realm with him, even if they encountered an ordinary Universe Hegemon, they could easily escape.

For example, they had previously encountered the special life form 'Lan Zhu Venerable', but ultimately still escaped from the other party's hands.

But when they encountered that Green Robe Divine General, the other party directly absorbed them into his own Divine Kingdom.

By rights, although powerful figures can oppress and bind enemies within a Divine Kingdom by relying on the Divine Kingdom's own might while also buffing themselves, generally the gap is only a few times; once one is slightly careless, one's own Divine Kingdom will be destroyed by the enemy;

but within that Green Robe Divine General's Divine Kingdom grew a huge Divine Tree, making his Divine Kingdom incredibly stable.

After Lu Qingshan and his companions were drawn into the opponent's Divine Realm, the oppression and binding they suffered even exceeded that of ordinary Domain-type supreme treasures, and the Green-Clad Divine General, relying on this very move, slew Lu Qingshan and all his companions.

"If my memory serves me correctly, this Green-Clad Divine General should be the Mantuo Divine General mentioned in the original work!"

Lu Qingshan thought silently in his heart: "This person is on good terms with the Strongest World Tree; the Divine Tree within his Divine Realm must be the Tree of Life formed from a branch of the Strongest World Tree!"

"As for why he has not yet become the Mantuo Divine General, it is simply because the current Mantuo Divine General has not yet perished!"

"But now that you have encountered me, I am afraid you will never become the new Mantuo Divine General!"

"However, seeking revenge on that Green-Clad Divine General now is still too early!"

Lu Qingshan planned silently in his heart: "My most important task right now is to perfect my fifth combat secret technique as soon as possible using the complete Fifth Layer of the Beast God Dao!"

Over the past eighty million epochs, although Lu Qingshan's main focus was on comprehending the Beast God Dao, he had never relaxed his research into his self-created secret techniques.

In the initial period, he first used the Beast God Dao as a foundation to refine the many combat secret techniques he had previously created, and then began creating the fifth sword technique based on the Fifth Layer of the Beast God Dao.

Now that he has fully comprehended the Fifth Layer of the Beast God Dao, it is naturally time to continue perfecting this fifth sword technique.

(End of this chapter)