Chapter 361: Eve of the Plane War (Part 1) (12)

Five days before the Gate of Creation opens.

South of the Gate of Creation lies the vast, boundless Silver Sand Great Gobi.

In a hidden, desolate valley, an unremarkable camp serves as the war camp.

Within the camp, besides numerous War Saints, all the mortal incarnations of the War Deity line have also arrived.

In total there are five: the 18th‑level War Lord Hai Ge Li Te, the 14th‑level Wilderness Hunter A Nuo De, the 14th‑level Eternal Defender Sai Ren, the 13th‑level Goddess of Love Ma Ge Li Te, and the 12th‑level Battlefield Medic Bi Ang Si.

In other planes, this is an immensely powerful force that can easily determine the rise or fall of a mortal kingdom.

But in the Lost Plane, the five War Gods are all uneasy, as if walking on thin ice over a lake.

In the camp, Hai Ge Li Te chews a piece of hard jerky, finding it laborious, and takes a sip of slightly sour light fruit wine.

"The fate of the multiverse has reached a terrifying threshold. Beyond this line, our power will become negligible."

The War Lord's tone is very calm, yet a faint anxiety glints in his eyes.

Wilderness Hunter A Nuo De says, "Lord, I don't understand."

Hai Ge Li Te whispers, "If I recall correctly, the woman Xi Sai Luo is searching for has a very special status and may be the key for Xi Sai Luo to fully inherit the imperial throne."

The sentence sounds simple, yet no one present truly grasps its deeper meaning, not even Hai Ge Li Te himself.

Goddess of Love Ma Ge Li Te asks softly, "Dear, how did you learn this? Did the Abyss bring it to you?"

Hai Ge Li Te nods, "That's right—the Abyss imprint in my mind."

"The memory is vague, without a clear beginning or end, but it tells me that if the chance arises, I must find a way to destroy that woman."

Eternal Defender Sai Ren asks, "Lord, do you intend to do that?"

Hai Ge Li Te shakes his head, "Of course not; our power is already insufficient to intervene in this dispute."

"I might be able to slay that woman, but after the kill, we would all have to die!"

He pauses, takes another sip of light fruit wine, and says softly, "But we cannot retreat lightly; if an opportunity arises, we also cannot just stand by."

"Because the outcome of this dispute will profoundly affect the fate of the plane worlds, including our own fate."

Battlefield Medic Bi Ang Si says softly, "Lord, I still don't get it. You mentioned a dispute—who exactly is fighting whom?"

Wilderness Hunter adds, "I was about to ask the same; right now Xi Sai Luo is besieging a mysterious ranger. Such a skirmish hardly qualifies as a dispute, does it?"

Hai Ge Li Te grins, "I didn't fully understand before either, but after days of investigation the truth has begun to emerge."

"If my guess is correct, that so‑called mysterious ranger is the Natural Emperor."

"He has already seized that uniquely‑situated woman and covets the lost imperial authority of the ancient Dawn Empire."

Upon hearing this, the four present Great Gods flinched, finding it unbelievable.

Wilderness Hunter A Nuo De, while drinking, is suddenly choked and coughs repeatedly.

"Natural Emperor Luosen—has he gone mad to dare challenge Xi Sai Luo for the throne?"

Originally, Xi Sai Luo had always been an extremely mysterious figure, staying behind the scenes and virtually unknown.

These days, he appears frequently, repeatedly displaying astonishing high‑energy might and clearly asserting his ancient royal lineage, leaving the Void Gods exploring the Lost Plane stunned.

The Great Gods can barely steady their minds, yet unknowingly they develop an inherent impression of Xi Sai Luo's invincibility.

Now, a mortal kingdom that was obscure just a decade ago dares to contend with such a terrifying figure, which the Great Gods find absurd and subconsciously deem the opponent wildly arrogant—essentially courting death.

Goddess of Love Ma Ge Li Te shows a worried expression, "Dear, what do you plan to do?"

The other two gods also look at Hai Ge Li Te.

Hai Ge Li Te remains silent, his lava‑glowing eyes fixed unblinking on the leaping campfire before him.

After a long while, he speaks, "First, we must make one thing clear: we must break free from the Abyss's control."

His gaze sweeps across each of the Great Gods' faces.

"In my memory, the Abyss is the darkest place in the world. It is filled with boundless conspiracies, endless greed, and absolute indifference."

"There, the only thing you can trust is yourself."

"When you sleep, you must keep your eyes open, grip your sword, and wear battle armor. When you eat, you must scrutinize everything you ingest, for any item may be laced with deadly poison."

"A minor figure who glances too long at a major one may be skinned. A major figure who says a harsh word to a minor one may suffer betrayal."

"Everyone's heart is filled with an indescribable, endless desire, driving them to commit all manner of incomprehensible madness."

"So, once I left the Abyss, I never thought of returning."

He takes another sip of light fruit wine and continues, "The current situation is that the lost Dawn Empire of ten thousand years ago may regain its glory because of this uniquely‑situated woman."

"The difference lies in who will wield that glory."

Having said that, the situation becomes very clear.

Goddess of Love Ma Ge Li Te asks, "Dear, whom will you support? Xi Sai Luo or Luosen?"

Hai Ge Li Te does not answer immediately; he surveys the four Great Gods again, "What do you think?"

Wilderness Hunter A Nuo De snorts, "Personally, I think Xi Sai Luo is better; he is of the Dawn Empire's royal line and should inherit this glory. That Natural Emperor is merely a nouveau riche; he could never match Xi Sai Luo!"

Hai Ge Li Te slowly shakes his head, "A Nuo De, the Natural Emperor is indeed a nouveau riche, but being a nouveau riche does not imply weakness."

A Nuo De shrugs, "Lord, fine, I admit I brought some personal bias."

Eternal Defender Sai Ren says, "I, on the contrary, think Emperor Luosen is the better choice."

"First, Emperor Luosen has been dealing with Xi Sai Luo for many days without a decisive outcome, indicating their strengths are comparable."

"Of course, Xi Sai Luo is bound to be more aggressive, since he is on the offensive, but he lacks overwhelming superiority."

"Second, Emperor Luosen governs a fully unified empire, whereas Xi Sai Luo's subordinates are either independent warlords or barbaric natives who have lost the ancient ancestral glory, having no prospect for development. Without development, they cannot oppose the Abyss."

Battlefield Medic Bi Ang Si says, "I agree with Sai Ren's view."

"After all, we are not judges; we have no right nor need to evaluate the legitimacy of succession, only to see who benefits us more."

A Nuo De shrugs, "If you put it that way, Luosen is indeed better, though it doesn't stop me from disliking him."

Goddess of Love Ma Ge Li Te says, "I also think Luosen is better."

"Because he is young, the pursuit and persistence in his heart have not yet faded. While Xisailuo has crossed ten thousand years of time, his spirit must be as withered as ashes; if he were to inherit the ancient glory, a new abyss would likely appear in this world."

Haigelete nodded slowly, his tone much more relaxed.

"I'm glad we could reach an agreement, because that's also my idea."

But this ease lasted only a moment before turning grave again: "But not everyone thinks that way; Atumen, the lackey of Gaomileer, is not."

"The god of destruction, Karl, has always been Gaomileer's lackey; he will surely support Xisailuo as well."

"As for the god of order, Taluosi, his attitude is ambiguous."

"So, once we choose to support Luosen, we will become mortal enemies of Gaomileer and Karl; from now on, we must be extremely careful in our dealings with them."

The gods all nodded in agreement.

Haigelete then looked toward the love goddess Margaret: "Atumen has been getting close to Xisailuo lately; I bet he intends to use Xisailuo's hand to deal with Luosen."

"Dear, find an opportunity to pass this news to our daughter."

"I will."

Just as the war gods unified their thoughts, the other divine clans were also making similar choices.

The Sun Lord Atumen went even further, directly finding a stand-in for Xisailuo.

This time, he did not come empty-handed; he brought the Extinction Law Sword.

He presented this second-tier divine artifact directly to Xisailuo's stand-in.

"Your Majesty, I know you certainly lack no mighty divine artifacts, but having one more is always better than having one less."

"This Extinction Law Sword, even in the Divine Realm's Splendid Glory, is a rare weapon; I offer it to you, hoping it may be of some aid."

Xisailuo's stand-in still wore a black robe, with a pure black rune mask on his face.

He took the Extinction Law Sword, examined it carefully, and smiled faintly: "I never imagined that my former mortal enemy would become my aide."

To be frank, he actually lacks divine artifacts, because the empire's strongest batch of divine artifacts are sealed within the Royal Creation Bureau.

Therefore, this sword helps him greatly, but he certainly will not reveal it.

On the other side, Atumen, who knows many of the inner workings, naturally understands this, but he certainly will not expose it.

He put on a full-face apologetic smile: "Your Majesty, there are no eternal enemies in the world; past grudges, after being blown by wind and sand for over ten thousand years, should have dissipated."

Xisailuo gave a derisive snort: "Dissipate? It's nowhere near that easy."

He stared at Atumen, a cold light flashing from behind his mask: "The only way to dispel hatred in the world has never been forgetting, but blood."

"So, I accept your sword, because it is useful, but you"

Before his words fell, a flash of blue-white Extinction Sword light suddenly appeared, directly severing Atumen's head.

Atumen had come as a mundane incarnation; when his head hit the ground, he did not die immediately, and even kept on smiling apologetically.

"If Your Majesty feels this can vent your anger, I will send more saints over for you to test your sword on."

Although he was smiling apologetically, he was fearless.

Xisailuo gave a snort.

"A petty trick of void life, daring to show off before me—truly courting death!"

As he spoke, he raised the Extinction Law Sword, jabbed it into the air before him; the front half of the sword vanished into the air, and when he pulled it out, the head on the ground was no longer smiling, but turned to shock and pain.

He strained to ask: "Your Majesty, I don't understand."

For this meeting, he had set up four layers of control stepping stones, thinking that even if the opponent saw through one layer, even a second layer would not harm him.

But he did not expect the opponent to ignore the stepping stones entirely, striking his true body and soul with a single sword.

Xisailuo gave a faint smile: "I understand this divine sword's use better than you, so I am truly grateful that you sent me this sword, for it has indeed helped me greatly."

Atumen could no longer hold on; his void soul collapsed, and his mundane incarnation completely lost vitality.

Xisailuo snorted derisively: "Antowanji sure raised a fine dog."

As for this Extinction Law Sword, it is indeed very strong, but in a normal law environment it cannot possibly exert its maximum power; it must be used by his true self in a high-energy law environment to unleash the true might of a second-tier divine artifact.

"Well then, Tirallilin, I'll be waiting for you at the gate of the Creation Bureau."

The best case scenario is naturally that his warriors successfully capture her alive, and then he takes this opportunity to inherit the Creation Bureau.

The medium case is successfully preventing her from entering the Royal Creation Bureau, giving him a full five hundred years of leeway.

That way, he can free his hands to properly deal with that meddling natural emperor.

The worst case scenario is that the powerful emperor escorts her through layer after layer of blockade, successfully arriving before him.

That naturally will not avoid a fierce battle.

"I actually hope to fight again."

In their previous encounter, he momentarily underestimated his opponent, ended up losing, and felt very unwilling.

This time he will give his all, determined to make his opponent taste the flavor of despair.

(End of chapter)