Chapter 357: A Great Surprise

When the last trial participant chose to give up, the preliminary round came to an end.

"The two hundred and thirty-one who passed the preliminary round may all enter the formal selection trial stage."

Xing Lian Hou stood before the two hundred and thirty-one trial participants who passed the preliminary round, swept his gaze across them, and said, "You are all elites of my Xing Lian Army. Whether you join the Expeditionary Army or the Garrison Army, you will all receive the position of Centurion."

Centurion?

One by one, the high-level Chaos beings heard this and showed no particular reaction.

With sixty thousand high-level Chaos beings in the Xing Lian Army, filtering out just these two hundred and some elites to serve as Centurions was naturally appropriate.

Although this military rank offered many benefits, it was not particularly attractive to the crowd.

"Of course, besides that," Xing Lian Hou added, "each of you will also receive one drop of semi-finished Star Spirit Stone Marrow."

"Semi-finished product?"

While the high-level Chaos beings felt joy in their hearts, they also felt some confusion.

"The Star Spirit Stone Marrow is nurtured by the special environment of the Star Spirit Grotto-Heaven in the Xing Lian Xianlian Shengxing, combined with Chaos power."

Xing Lian Hou explained, "And this semi-finished product Star Spirit Stone Marrow is a treasure obtained by me investing vast resources and treasures into the Star Spirit Grotto-Heaven to artificially accelerate its nurturing."

"The efficacy of this semi-finished product Star Spirit Stone Marrow is indeed inferior to the true Star Spirit Stone Marrow," he said. "It is difficult for it to achieve the effect of 'sudden enlightenment' regarding the improvement of comprehension and the speed of mental operation, but it wins out in having a longer duration of effect."

Hearing this, most high-level Chaos beings could not help but feel somewhat disappointed; they were mostly stuck at a bottleneck in a certain aspect of space-time mystery, and what they needed more was sudden enlightenment.

Therefore, only the true Star Spirit Stone Marrow might be useful.

And the peak experts cared even less.

They had already reached the final step; wanting to fuse various space-time mysteries into complete space-time laws was like an incredibly complex and clever puzzle, relying not only on comprehension but also on opportunity.

Even the true Star Spirit Stone Marrow was of little use, let alone this semi-finished product.

Only a few high-level Chaos beings who had not yet fallen into a bottleneck and still had immense room for improvement felt quite joyful upon hearing this news.

Lin Qing was also quite satisfied.

Although he also very much wanted the true Star Spirit Stone Marrow, this semi-finished product Star Spirit Stone Marrow was also quite useful to him.

At least...

the process of him integrating the two time mysteries of 'Future Body' and 'Descent into the Future' into space laws could proceed more rapidly.

If he had the true Star Spirit Stone Marrow, combined with the various future-rule-type strange treasures he had collected, breaking through the bottleneck would also be simpler.

"You need not worry."

Xing Lian Hou said, "Besides those who pass this trial receiving one drop of Star Spirit Stone Marrow, those who earn sufficient military merit in this war can also exchange for Star Spirit Stone Marrow from me."

Hearing this, one by one, the high-level Chaos beings felt a bit more expectation in their hearts.

For Chaos beings, comprehending space-time mysteries is the foundation of everything; this is the only way to achieve eternity.

Even without supreme secret arts, without supreme treasures of the universe, and without special bloodlines, as long as one masters complete space-time laws, one can achieve eternity!

"The formal selection trial still requires a little time for preparation."

Xing Lian Hou swept his gaze across them and said, "Please wait on Star Heaven Island for a while; the selection trial will officially begin in one hundred years."

The many high-level Chaos beings naturally had no objections; a mere hundred years was nothing.

After Xing Lian Hou's subordinates brought the semi-finished product Star Spirit Stone Marrow, they led the crowd to their residences on Star Heaven Island.

Star Heaven Island can be considered a cultivation treasure land of the Xing Lian Xianlian Shengxing, and Xing Lian Hou rarely opens it to outsiders.

If this war were not so important, Xing Lian Hou would not have allowed it so easily.

Inside a dreamlike illusory world, Xiao Ying Bo, wearing a simple white robe with an ugly face, suddenly appeared here.

Xiao Ying Bo swept his gaze around and spoke, "Tian Meng Hou, summoning me into a dream at this time, is there an urgent matter?"

Only to see a peerlessly beautiful woman with wings on her back appear before Xiao Ying Bo, who said indifferently, "Like Yu Gong has words for you and asked me to summon you here. Wait a moment; I will now invite Like Yu Gong into the dream."

After a long while, Like Yu Gong, with wings on his back, appeared within this dream realm.

"Like Yu Gong."

Xiao Ying Bo spoke directly, "Has something happened?"

"It is just some matters I need to tell you," Like Yu Gong said coldly. "Regarding dealing with Lin Qing, you may act freely. A few days ago, after I told Yuanchu Shen Di about this matter, Yuanchu Shen Di told me that within the Yuanchu Divine Kingdom and the Ten Thousand Seas Divine Kingdom, there are quite a few who hope that Lin Qing will simply die."

He looked at Xiao Ying Bo, "So, even if you kill Lin Qing and cause Light King's displeasure, there is no need to worry; at that time, not only the Lord of the Ten Thousand Seas Kingdom, but even Yuanchu Shen Di will protect you."

"Oh?" Xiao Ying Bo's eyes could not help but brighten.

Yuanchu Shen Di.

That is, the Yuanchu Divine Emperor—the reliance of Like Yu Gong in the Realm of Kings, the ruler of the Yuanchu Divine Kingdom!

Every Ultimate Existence is the most outstanding genius within the endless Chaos; those who can reach this supreme realm have almost equal strength.

Only the rulers of Divine Kingdoms are transcendent, controlling Divine Kingdoms formed from the universe's source, standing above the Ultimate Existences.

And this Yuanchu Divine Emperor Your Majesty has been contending with Light King Your Majesty for hundreds of billions of years; if he is willing to help, Xiao Ying Bo would naturally be even more secure.

Xiao Ying Bo immediately asked, "Why is this?"

"Because... he is a disciple of the Primordial Realm, and with such talent, his status must be extremely high."

Like Yu Gong said, "You should know that many treasure lands within the Chaos are sealed off by the Primordial Realm; even after the Primordial Realm perished, many treasure lands remain in a sealed state. Only the people of the Primordial Realm, and external subjects possessing the Primordial Realm's guiding mark, can enter or exit."

"After the Primordial Realm perished, the people of the Primordial Realm perished together; only the external subjects of the Primordial Realm who were scattered abroad are qualified to enter those treasure lands."

"These external subjects are mostly Eternal Existences, and some are even Ultimate Existences!"

Like Yu Gong sneered, "As the most outstanding disciple of the Primordial Realm, Lin Qing very likely possesses the ability to reclaim the guiding marks. These external subjects have enjoyed many treasure lands for only hundreds of billions of years; how could they be willing to let a small kid ride over their heads?"

He sneered mockingly, "Moreover, some Ultimate Existences once borrowed treasures from the Primordial Realm and have not returned them to this day; do you think they would be willing to return the treasures to a small kid?"

Xiao Ying Bo understood and could not help but laugh, "In that case, this small kid truly deserves to die; there must be many who wish to see him ruined."

"So, no need to hold back," Like Yu Gong said. "Ruinate him as soon as possible."

"A trivial matter."

Xiao Ying Bo nodded slightly. "If I hadn't feared alerting Your Majesty, the Light King, I would have sealed him away long ago. However... I only need to wait another hundred years. Once the selection trial begins, I can act with perfect justification."

Like Yu Gong nodded slightly and said, "I heard that Lin Qing has already broken through?"

"Yes, he likely broke through not long ago," Xiao Ying Bo said casually. "He hasn't even transformed his World God Body yet. It's not worth mentioning."

Like Yu Gong nodded slightly, unconcerned.

With Xiao Ying Bo's strength, even if Lin Qing transformed his World God Body, Xiao Ying Bo could suppress and seal him with a mere flip of his hand!

"Pity..."

Like Yu Gong sighed regretfully, "The Light King has not truly accepted Lin Qing as a disciple; he doesn't even count as a nominal disciple. If he were the Light King's direct disciple, it would be better. Only by watching his direct disciple be ruined before his very eyes could the Light King truly feel heartache, don't you think?"

Xiao Ying Bo couldn't help but shake his head. "If that were the case, Your Majesty, the Light King, would surely erupt in fury."

He also had another thought he did not voice—

If Lin Qing were truly already a disciple of the Light King, he would not dare to act so casually.

Even though the Ten Thousand Seas Divine Kingdom and the Heavenly Light Divine Kingdom are rivals, their conflict is not as great as that between the Yuanchu Shen Di and the Heavenly Light Divine Kingdom.

"Fury? So what?"

Like Yu Gong said indifferently, "Protected by the Yuanchu Shen Di, he would be unable to imprison or punish me. He would not dare to kill me. What can he do to me?"

Xiao Ying Bo smiled and said nothing.

The protection of the Yuanchu Shen Di alone was not enough to make Like Yu Gong so arrogant. The key was that the Present Realm God had publicly declared his protection of Like Yu Gong for countless ages, which shocked and made countless people envious.

And what great crisis Like Yu Gong solved for the Present Realm God remains unknown to this day.

But...

With the protection of the Present Realm God, not to mention Your Majesty, the Light King, even the immensely powerful semi-divine civilization of the Primordial Realm from those ancient times would not dare to defy him.

Even the mighty Primordial Realm was destroyed by the 'Ancestor of Old Days,' one of the Three Ancestors of the Yu Xingyuan.

The Three Gods of the Void Spirit Race and the Three Ancestors of the Yu Xingyuan Demon Race are beings of the same level!

If the Present Realm God so wished, he could also cause a semi-divine civilization to perish!

Let alone the newly emerged transcendent civilization of the King Realm.