Chapter 461: Coming

The grassland where Samara was located was extremely vast, with over a hundred city-states scattered across it like stars. Each city-state controlled a large area of land, but in reality, they were sparsely populated, generally housing between thirty and fifty thousand people.

Samara was now twenty-nine years old. At ten, he had led guards to study in various city-states, and later entered the three great kingdoms in the surrounding area to study, a process that lasted fourteen years. At twenty-four, he returned to his hometown, gradually seized power, and eventually elevated his hometown to one of the city-states, harboring ambitious plans to expand his influence.

But all of this was merely a corner of the world. This grassland was just a tiny fraction of the lands where the gods were worshipped. Beyond it existed countless "Lost Lands," and not even the three great kingdoms had explored to the end—let alone the end, they hadn't even finished exploring their surroundings.

"On our side of the grassland, there are endless mountains and boundless seas. These three major regions are all referred to as the Savage Lands by the three great kingdoms. We are all considered barbarians, while outside the three great kingdoms are four other kingdoms, totaling seven great kingdoms and one great empire. This is the entirety of the lands where the gods are worshipped."

Samara shook his head with a sigh. "When I was studying, I was treated well in the grassland city-states and could peruse their classics and divine records. But when I went to the kingdoms, I was met with obstacles at every turn, facing discrimination and prejudice. I was frequently harassed and extorted, so I had no choice but to return after studying in only three kingdoms. That's why I didn't know the full scope of the lands where the gods are worshipped until I learned it from the envoys this time."

These things were of no consequence; Wu Xingfu didn't care about the issue of being "barbarians." Since he was here, this place would inevitably rise. It wouldn't change because of how others treated them, so he naturally didn't care at all.

Samara didn't care either. He was a hero by nature; even without Wu Xingfu's appearance, he would have led this settlement—which wasn't originally a city-state—to rise. He naturally didn't mind these things. He continued, "I met with envoys from two of the kingdoms. They came from different kingdoms, and it is said that all seven great kingdoms have sent envoys. Not just to our grassland, but to the endless mountains and boundless seas as well. Their demands..."

"Demands?" Wu Xingfu suddenly laughed. He shook his head slightly and said, "Go on."

Samara also smiled, his attitude equally indifferent. He said, "The kingdoms' demands are that every faction must provide grain, weapons, combat personnel, slaves, and sacrificial offerings according to the number of their city-states. Yes, every kingdom that comes knocking must be prepared a portion."

"Ha," Wu Xingfu scoffed, his face filled with mockery. "And what can they provide? A Throne of Ascension for every city-state?"

Samara shook his head. "They can recognize the 'legitimate' status of the city-states and grant titles based on their size, population, and influence. According to them, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—to possess a real fiefdom and a title recognized by the kingdom. Why wouldn't we hurry to offer up everything?"

Wu Xingfu shook his head slightly, his expression of mockery fading. Samara continued, "So I ignored their demands. However, through my exchanges with them, I managed to glean a lot of useful information. First, the suzerain of the seven great kingdoms, the only empire, is in a state of near-collapse. According to them, the imperial capital and its surroundings have become a dead zone. Eight cities and over a hundred villages were completely wiped out, with not a single person escaping. It was the remnants of the Tower of Gluttony from the Seven Towers that struck. At the same time, the four major military districts of the empire were wiped out by the remnants of the Towers of Envy, Wrath, Sloth, and Greed. Fortunately, a few people managed to escape and fled to the seven great kingdoms, which is how they learned the truth."

"Additionally, two of the seven great kingdoms were wiped out by the remnants of the Towers of Pride and Lust. Due to the scale of the destruction, these two great kingdoms have completely lost contact with the outside world. Now, only five great kingdoms remain in the lands of the gods, all of them panicked and fearful, which is why they sent envoys into the three Savage Lands, demanding soldiers, supplies, and sacrificial offerings."

Wu Xingfu asked in surprise, "They're that powerful? The remnants alone wiped out an empire and kingdoms? By the way, how large is the scale of a kingdom?"

Samara thought for a moment. "I only came into contact with three kingdoms, and because of the discrimination, I couldn't delve deep. Just from what I saw, these three kingdoms each have a population of over a million, vast territories, and numerous cities. They are indeed not something the grassland city-states can compare to."

Wu Xingfu fell silent. He asked again, "What does it mean to become a 'dead zone'? Are there that many people left among the Seven Towers' remnants? Or did they create many monsters?"

Samara smiled bitterly and shook his head. "That is not something I could know. I am also very concerned about what a 'dead zone' means, but the envoys themselves didn't know. They could only repeat phrases like 'invasion by demons from outside,' 'nothing left growing where they pass,' and 'a true demonic hell that cannot even be looked upon.'"

Wu Xingfu pondered for a long time, only able to think of atomic bomb blasts, which could turn such large areas into so-called dead zones, to the point where one couldn't even get close. Otherwise... could it be that the Seven Towers were engaged in chemical research? Manufacturing biochemical weapons?

"Beelzebub, your true form is the Fly King among the Seven Princes of Hell, and you are also the demon king representing the Seven Deadly Sins of Gluttony. How exactly do you fight? What does your authority mean? Does it mean making enemies eat non-stop until they burst themselves?" Wu Xingfu asked.

The fist-sized fly tried hard to flutter its newly grown wings, then *thwack*, it slammed into Wu Xingfu's nose. Wu Xingfu was naturally unharmed, but Beelzebub was left dizzy. She rolled around on the dining table before saying, "I've said it countless times, it's a symbol, a symbol! I am Beelzebub, the Fly King, the symbol of Gluttony, the Lord of Void Causality!! Don't get cocky here. Once I recover my true power, I will..."

"Spend an entire day fishing by the river?" Wu Xingfu finished Beelzebub's sentence.

"I'll fight you to the death, ahhh!!" Beelzebub flew up again, slamming into Wu Xingfu's face.

After the commotion, Wu Xingfu didn't care about the remnants of the Seven Towers. His special nature gave him extremely high resistance to distortion, corrosion, and negativity. If anything, it was unclear who would be polluting whom. Compared to the mental and conscious level, it was physical damage—like that of an Arhat or Wang Wudi—that posed a greater threat to him.

Holding this thought, Wu Xingfu didn't take the kingdoms' demands or the threat of the Seven Towers' remnants to heart. He only hoped to obtain the Throne of Ascension faster so he could leave this Lost Land. He said to Samara, "Ignore these trivial matters. We will continue at our own pace. Continue expanding to the surrounding city-states. When you need me to kill their gods, send someone to notify me, and I will go and kill them. As for other matters, you can handle them."

Samara immediately bowed and agreed. "The Saint sitting in command is the greatest contribution. Without the Saint, everything we have now would cease to exist. As for other trivial matters, that is the duty of a subject; how could I dare to let the Saint do it for me?"

Samara busied himself, running around between the front lines and other cities to organize government affairs. He was as busy as a spinning top every day. Meanwhile, Wu Xingfu lived quite comfortably, practicing martial arts, eating, meditating, and chatting or bickering with the three little animals. He also had the virgin Yaoyao running over for "chance encounters." Wu Xingfu was quite tolerant of this girl who had shown him kindness and grace. Besides staring at him and having a head full of indescribable "lovestruck" thoughts, her behavior was otherwise normal.

Days passed one by one. In the blink of an eye, another three months had gone by. During this period, Samara occupied three more city-states, basically stabilizing at a speed of one city-state per month. Although with Wu Xingfu's combat power, it wouldn't take a day and a night—three days and three nights would be enough to sweep across all the grassland city-states—it still required manpower and resources to occupy, plan, and absorb believers. Absorbing one city-state's power per month was already a testament to Samara's superhuman ability.

During this time, news from outside the grassland continued to arrive. Especially in the third month, kingdom armies entered the grassland and captured two city-states, which triggered the vigilance of all the city-states. Although the force represented by Samara was also conquering everywhere, that was an internal war among the city-states. Apart from the gods being replaced, Samara almost didn't touch the interests of any class, so it didn't trigger large-scale turmoil.

But the kingdom armies were different. They had their own vested interest classes. After capturing the city-states, they almost wiped out the original ruling classes, which immediately triggered fierce resistance from the surrounding city-states. Even so, the kingdom armies didn't withdraw from the grassland. Instead, reinforcements appeared continuously from the direction of the kingdoms. Over thirty thousand regular troops had already been stockpiled in those two city-states, with over a hundred thousand civilians in the rear. This posture had already caused a huge uproar across the grassland.

Up to this point, the grassland city-states that had originally held hostility toward the Natural Purity God city-state coalition and had vaguely formed an alliance all made a sharp turn. They each sent envoys to meet, and these envoys even vaguely hinted to Samara that as long as the Natural Purity God city-state coalition's army arrived, they would assist in killing their own city-states' gods and join the coalition as quickly as possible, provided the coalition could counter the external kingdom forces.

All these trivial matters were still being handled by Samara. Wu Xingfu didn't care about them. When the time came, he could personally strike to wipe out the kingdom armies. Instead, he could take advantage of this opportunity to unify all the grassland city-states at the fastest speed.

And then...

In the middle of the night, Wu Xingfu opened his eyes.

A feeling of inexplicable palpitation erupted, and the source of this premonition...

... was in the Saintess Courtyard where all the succubus-modified bodies lived!

(End of Chapter)