Chapter 248: Action

In the Shanhai Realm, the Central Continent region.

Above a vast lake, a girl with a tranquil temperament held a golden longbow, frowning slightly in thought, sometimes drawing the bow to shoot an arrow, sometimes gently stroking the bowstrings.

"This Dual-String Sky-Splitting Divine Art is still a bit short of fusion... where is the flaw..."

The girl thought with some distress, "I'm almost mastering one aspect of the Void's true form, yet I still haven't learned this Divine Art..."

Suddenly—

A crack silently opened in the void more than ten kilometers away from her; a palm covered in black scales reached out from it, and a demon only one meter tall crawled out.

Though small in size, the aura it emitted was extremely terrifying; that immense pressure instantly drove away all the floating energy in the surroundings.

The girl turned her head abruptly to look, and her face immediately turned pale.

With just one glance, she confirmed that with her strength, facing this Void Demon, she would likely not last even an instant!

Even though she had already passed the ninth layer of the Yu Xingyuan, she was still incredibly weak before this Void Demon.

The Void Demon, radiating an endless aura of destruction, looked over.

Just a glance across the void.

A terrifying void fluctuation spread out from it; in just an instant, it could shatter her along with the space she occupied!

Just then—

A massive, mountain-like dark-red glazed cauldron suddenly appeared out of thin air, instantly completely enveloping the girl, easily blocking that destructive void fluctuation.

Immediately after, the dark-red glazed cauldron trembled across the void—

Silently and without sound, that Void Demon instantly turned into nothingness, not even a scrap remaining.

Only then did the girl sigh in relief and say joyfully, "Chairman!"

"Qiuyue, continue your cultivation."

A telepathic voice sounded in her mind: "Before you enter the Cangxue Divine Palace, remember to first pass the Star-Level Divine Office Trial."

"Yes." Yuan Xueqiu immediately replied respectfully.

Tens of thousands of kilometers away lay a steel city similar to Earth's twenty-first century.

On the rooftop of one of the skyscrapers, the Blood Cauldron King with bright red long hair sat cross-legged, his partial consciousness always merged with the source of the secret realm, quietly contemplating the mysteries of space.

Previously, Lin Qing's Blood Cauldron King avatar had been guarding beside Yuan Xueqiu.

But more than two hundred years ago, after he conceived a Five-Aspect Divine Art for the Blood Cauldron King avatar, sufficient to fully activate that five-colored divine artifact cauldron, he could unleash the power of that divine artifact with just a thought across the void.

Therefore, he no longer needed to guard beside Yuan Xueqiu at all times; placing the divine artifact there was sufficient.

"This child's talent is indeed high..."

Lin Qing observed Yuan Xueqiu from afar and couldn't help but nod slightly, "In merely three hundred years, she has nearly recognized one aspect of the Void's true form..."

From the fact that Yuan Xueqiu was able to detect the spatial fluctuation when the Void Demon appeared just now, one could see her attainment in space.

It could be foreseen that after Yuan Xueqiu passes the Star-Level Divine Office Trial, she will be able to transform into a Void Being.

Over these years, he had invested quite a bit in cultivating Yuan Xueqiu.

Yuan Xueqiu's talent was high, but without sufficient treasures for cultivation, she would not have reached this level.

Especially the inheritances of techniques like those of the Sky Archipelago, which originally did not allow outsiders to receive them; it was only because Lin Qing, as the Gravekeeper, paid enough points that she had the qualification to learn.

As for the improvement in her genes, it was bloodline treasures sent by the Marquis of Yuan Xue that allowed her to formally merge with the bloodline of the Sky Snow Falcon, bringing her gene index to around three hundred times the universal standard.

Combined with various secret techniques, this is how Yuan Xueqiu attained the strength of the ninth layer of the Yu Xingyuan.

"After this child passes the Star-Level Divine Office Trial, I will let her go to the Great Void Tomb to undergo the trial of the Flying Falcon City Lord's tomb."

Lin Qing pondered silently, "By then, if she masters combined divine arts, she will have strength close to the eleventh layer of the Yu Xingyuan. Such excellence, combined with passing the Flying Falcon City Lord's inheritance trial, will yield even higher rewards for me..."

As the Gravekeeper, his duty was to find and cultivate suitable successors for the many tombs within the Great Void Tomb.

Once cultivation succeeds and the successor passes the trials set by the tomb owner before their death, not only will the successor become part of the Great Void Tomb and receive the inheritance left by the tomb owner, but he, the Gravekeeper, will also get a share, receiving certain burial goods as a reward.

The more excellent the successor he cultivates, the richer the reward.

Therefore, Lin Qing had done his utmost.

As for treasures to raise the gene index, those he could find were not as good as the bloodline of the terrifying life form Sky Snow Falcon provided by the Marquis of Yuan Xue, so he did not spend much effort on that.

Although the Sky Snow Falcon bloodline was powerful, it was also very difficult to merge; the Yuan Xue family had only one success in countless years, making it not universally applicable.

Moreover, the improvement of bloodline genes was mainly useful before becoming a Void Being.

For Void Beings whose terrifying genes were often thousands of times the universal standard, bloodline treasures that could have an effect were extremely rare, and their preciousness was even more astonishingly high.

"Perhaps in the future, going to the Relics of the Kings, or becoming a Primordial Realm Void-level citizen at the sixteenth layer of the Yu Xingyuan, I might also obtain treasures to improve genes..."

Lin Qing pondered silently.

Although over these three hundred years, his original body had been in the cultivation chamber of the Great Void Tomb, cultivating at a time flow rate of ten times and creating many divine arts, he had not yet reached his limit, and there was still a certain distance to the sixteenth layer of the Yu Xingyuan.

"Combining seven aspects into one divine art is truly difficult..."

Lin Qing gathered his thoughts and continued to deduce and design divine arts in his mind.

Over these more than three hundred years, he had long ago used the secret realm to penetrate seven aspects of the Void's true form and recognized all the mysteries of space.

In the more than three thousand years within the cultivation chamber, he had spent over ninety percent of his time conceiving the two perfect-level combined divine arts, World God and Primordial Annihilation.

From three aspects to four, from four to five, it was like building a high tower, trying step by step upwards.

Unfortunately, even with mere theoretical conception, just imagining a possible theory, the difficulty was quite high; after nearly three thousand years, World God and Primordial Annihilation had only reached the step of combining six aspects.

"If I combine seven aspects, I should have the strength of the sixteenth layer of the Yu Xingyuan..."

Lin Qing's original body practiced repeatedly within the cultivation chamber, while the Blood Cauldron King avatar sensed the boundless void sea through the source of the secret realm.

As for the Black Flame avatar, it had remained at the Star stage these years—who knows if there might be trials within the Relics of the Kings that only Star Beings can participate in?

In any case, breakthrough could happen at any time; there was no rush.

As for the Kaduan avatar, serving as a Scholar-type Divine Office, it was merely a common Divine Office and had long been useless; Lin Qing simply hadn't found a suitable replacement yet, so he kept it.

In fact, after his transformation into the Void, he still had one final avatar slot available.

It's just that he hadn't found a suitable fourth avatar.

For him now, unless it was a very special avatar, it wouldn't offer much help.

Moreover, it was best to wait until he became the Void Overlord before using that last avatar slot; by then, he could turn beings of the Void Overlord level into avatars.

There were indeed many terrifying beings born naturally within this Void Sea, but almost all of them were innate Void overlords.

"However..."

Lin Qing frowned slightly, flipped his hand to produce a miniature, delicate dark-green glazed Wang Zuo, and asked, "The Ancestor of the Tianyuan Seat has shown no reaction so far; what exactly is their stance?"

Three hundred years ago, to test the true stance of the Ancestor of the Tianyuan Seat, he had deliberately exposed that the identity of Master Jingguang was not the Tianyuan Seat Star God.

According to what Prince Su said, given the Star God's concealment abilities and the disguise techniques of the Reincarnation Secret Art, only the Ancestors of the Three Great Holy Lands within the Void Sea could see through him.

Therefore, once the Ancestor of the Tianyuan Seat learned of Master Jingguang's existence, they should be able to see that—

Master Jingguang was the Lord of the Shanhai Realm, 'Lin Qing'.

If the Ancestor of the Tianyuan Seat held no temporary malice toward him, they would not have sent the Void Overlord of the Tianyuan Seat civilization to deal with him.

—This would allow him to test the Ancestor of the Tianyuan Seat's true stance toward him.

"Three hundred and some years have passed with no movement; perhaps they still don't know? Or perhaps they know but don't care?"

Lin Qing narrowed his eyes slightly.

As long as he always kept one avatar in the Vacuum Great Tomb, even causal attacks across time and space or soul attacks could not completely annihilate his avatar, giving him a chance to start over.

Against such a terrifying existence as the Ancestor of the Tianyuan Seat, he must be as cautious as possible.

"I can only try again."

Lin Qing narrowed his eyes and said, "Over these years, that Villo has kept sending people to spy on me; it seems he is worried I will escape... Perfect, I'll test it."

He immediately connected to the Second Universe Network, entered the three-star mission release space of the Universe Star Patrol Alliance, and casually accepted a patrol mission requiring him to leave the Bai Ta world.

A three-star difficulty level, and he could earn some points along the way.

The Universe Star Patrol Alliance had an immense background; its resource channels were even higher than the upper limits of the Three Great Holy Lands.

Theoretically, with enough points, one could even exchange for the inheritance of a Level Three civilization.

In the future, when he refines Seven-Colored Divine Artifacts and even Chaos-Colored Divine Artifacts, the required materials will be incredibly precious and rare; collecting them will be extremely difficult, but then he can use the channels of the Universe Star Patrol Alliance.

Naturally, he must accumulate more points now, which will also serve to raise his 'Orderkeeper' rank.

He is currently only a one-star Orderkeeper, and the tier of treasures he can exchange for is not high enough.

"Whoosh..."

In the blink of an thought, Lin Qing's entire form turned to nothingness, and then he resurrected anew through the Black Flame avatar left in the Bai Ta world.

Bai Ta World, Tianze Group Branch.

"What?"

Villo looked at the new message just sent by his subordinate, his eyes growing slightly cold, "Master Jingguang has accepted a mission to leave the Bai Ta world? Is he guilty and trying to flee?"

In his view, Master Jingguang, as the disguised Tianyuan Seat Star God, would surely worry about being exposed once he learned he had to cooperate with the Void Overlord of the Tianyuan Seat civilization; under such worry, wanting to escape at this moment was quite normal.

"He cannot be allowed to escape."

Villo took a deep breath and immediately began sending a series of messages.

"Mr. Mo Feng, regarding the plan we agreed upon earlier, please take action."

"Kulen, have Squad One prepare to freeze Void-type Divine Artifacts."

"Feiyaqi, you also immediately lead people to accept a three-star mission from the Universe Star Patrol Alliance; the mission serial number has been sent to you."

"Nuo, keep a close watch on Master Jingguang's movements."

As the series of orders were sent out, the plan prepared hundreds of years ago was now fully activated.

"Huff!"

A massive Void Ship surged out of the Bai Ta world, cutting through the seawater on the vast Void Sea and sailing at high speed along a safe route.

In the Void Sea, only the space near secret realms is stable enough to open Void channels or wormholes.

And in over 99.999% of the Void Sea, it is very difficult to form Void channels and wormholes.

Even if resources and treasures could be consumed to stabilize a wormhole, the cost would be terrifyingly high.

Therefore, traveling to other secret realms in the Void Sea is simple, but going to other places within the Void Sea is extremely difficult.

One must either rely on natural wormholes or channels, or sail slowly across the sea using a Void Ship.

"Whoosh—whoosh—"

On the massive Void Ship, Lin Qing stood at the edge of the deck, looking at the turbulent primal energy seawater outside the invisible shield.

The voyage across the Void Sea made him recall the backward era of Earth, when ordinary ships still used mechanical power.

The reason navigation in the Void Sea is like this is that the space above the Void Sea is unpredictable, with cracks appearing and whirlpools forming at times; the danger level is far higher than the sea surface.

Even a Void Overlord would not dare to fly above the Void Sea for long periods.

Therefore, sailing on the sea surface is actually the safest.

The seawater condensed from primal energy appears turbulent, but in reality, it is the most stable place in space; when the Void Ship lands on the sea surface, partially adhering to the seawater, it also prevents being torn apart by shifting spatial whirlpools.

Moreover, directly absorbing the primal energy seawater can provide endless power, maintaining maximum sailing speed at all times.

Thus, this seemingly backward mode of navigation evolved.

A sailing speed of tens of thousands of kilometers per second seems slow, but by traversing those natural wormholes and spatial tunnels along safe routes, one can reach the destination as quickly as possible.

"Everyone."

On the deck of the Void Ship, a bald man in a silver tight-fitting suit stepped out. "Everyone is surely clear on this mission."

He spoke in a low voice: "But I must remind everyone, especially the One-Star and Two-Star Order Keepers, that the Void Pirates we face this time are a faction of the 'Azure Sea Marshal' among the Seven Marshals of the Void Sea, and are far from ordinary pirates."

Even though the Order Keepers present already knew this, the fearsome name 'Azure Sea Marshal' still made them subconsciously tense.

As one of the Three Evils of the Void Sea, capable of being placed alongside the Yu Xingyuan Demon Clan, the Void Pirates naturally pose an extreme threat.

The Azure Sea Marshal, as one of the Void Pirate overlords dominating and roaming the vast Azure Sea, plundered and looted at will; even those 2.8-level civilizations could do nothing against him.

And the Three Great Sacred Lands, standing aloof from the world, did not care about the Void Sea and naturally would not manage these Void Pirates.

Moreover, the Void Pirates were also very smart; they never provoked the people of the Three Great Sacred Lands. Some even suspected that among the Four Emperors and Seven Marshals, there were people from the Three Great Sacred Lands.

"Of course, this Azure Sea faction branch is just a group of pirates without even titles."

The silver-clad bald man said calmly: "With our lineup this time, it is enough to sweep away this newly appeared Void Pirate faction. At that time, we will follow the plan: I will deal with the leader, Flo; the five vice-leaders will be dealt with by the twelve Two-Star Order Keepers; and the ordinary pirates will be left to the fifty-six One-Star Order Keepers."

Hearing this, everyone felt much more at ease.

In this Universe Star Patrol Alliance cleanup mission, this Operation Commander was a figure quite powerful even among Three-Star Order Keepers.

And according to the intelligence, although the pirate leader Flo had decent strength and had created several Dual-Phase Divine Arts, he could not possibly be a match for this Commander.

For such a small pirate faction, even if it is under the Azure Sea faction, there was nothing to fear.

"A Three-Star Order Keeper?"

Lin Qing glanced at the silver-clad bald man and then paid him no further attention.

A strength of the tenth layer of the Yu Xingyuan is equivalent to a One-Star Order Keeper.

Beyond that, for every layer the Order Keeper's strength rises, if the merit is sufficient, they gain one more star.

With his current strength, he naturally did not care about the difficulty of a Three-Star mission.

What he cared about was—

"One, two, three..."

Lin Qing glanced at the stream of Order Rank Downgrade notifications floating before his eyes.

There were eleven notifications in total. Judging by the danger level to assess strength, these eleven people hidden among the Order Keepers each possessed strength exceeding that of the mission's Commander; even the strongest among them could be called a peak existence among Void Beings!

"So they have acted. Do they think I intend to flee?"

Lin Qing's expression did not change, but he pondered inwardly, "This is probably not all... To deal with me, they are truly trying hard. Just to deal with a newcomer who broke through into the Void a few hundred years ago, they deployed such a lineup?"

(End of this chapter)