Chapter 373: The Entire Plane Will Discover It

The Mercenary Guild is very rich — a bounty of up to a hundred million magic crystals for Seeing Ange's skeleton is still posted on the bounty board, and according to the rules, thirty percent of the bounty must be paid as a deposit, which cannot be touched.

This also means the Mercenary Guild needs to maintain a cash reserve of at least thirty million magic crystals.

Never mind whether it actually keeps cash on the books or takes it out for lending and financial operations — on paper, the figure has to be at least thirty million.

That's enough, after all. The Mercenary Guild's assets must certainly exceed a hundred million magic crystals, so with the figure on paper, even if they can't produce the cash on the spot, they can mortgage guild assets to scrape the money together.

That's the Mercenary Guild — the Mage Guild is a hundred times richer than the Mercenary Guild, like the gap between a farming landlord and a finance-running bank, because the Mage Guild produces magic crystals.

"For example, that so-called Element Converter — your Mage Guild produced it, right?" Lord Nai Ge Li Si said.

"No, no, don't talk nonsense, that's the handiwork of goblin engineers, nothing to do with us." Mi Sha hurriedly denied it.

Lord Nai Ge Li Si curled its lip — believe that and you're a fool. It might have believed it before, but now that the household has a goblin engineering grand master like Waligu, it knows that's impossible — goblin engineers are all raised by mages.

Either they're raised by an institution like the Star Academy, or they're raised by the Mage Guild. Without mages, goblins can't even carve magic patterns properly, let alone the mana circuits and energy cores inside — goblins are the workers, mages are the bosses.

The Mage Guild tossing the honor of inventing something like the Element Converter onto the goblin engineers' heads is mainly because a tall tree catches the wind — being too rich invites hatred.

Being rich would be bad enough, but now they can also produce 'money' — the hatred doubles.

Being rich and producing money would be bad enough, but every single one of them is also overwhelmingly powerful with countless followers, young girls in love, married women throwing themselves at them — hatred raised to a power.

But Mi Sha's father's title of Guild President isn't the richest part — what's richer is his identity as the master of the Mars Mage Tower.

Mars — clearly named in the style of the Stars, and indeed it does have inextricable ties to the Stars.

The builder of the Mars Mage Tower was precisely Mars's student, the lineage inheritor, a Level 7 fire mage — Joseph.

There are some beings in this world who don't have much talent for cultivation themselves, but their ability to talk nonsense is outstanding — they can't beat anyone in a fight, but they can't be out-argued either — for example… Red Star.

Lord Nai Ge Li Si is still slightly outclassed compared to Red Star — it can't out-argue Lightning.

Joseph is exactly the kind of fellow like Red Star — not very strong in cultivation talent, but first-rate at teaching students. Riding on Mars's reputation, he established the Mars Mage Tower at the foot of Mount Sulwei.

Over the past few hundred years, the Mars Mage Tower has grown into the top-tier mage tower of the main plane, and because of its ties to the Stars, it can also snag a few student-exchange slots.

Getting into a top academy like the Star Academy for advanced study is something every mage in the entire world dreams of. If you really can't pass the exam, the next best thing is to enter a mage tower with similar exchange slots and pursue advanced study by a roundabout route.

In the Mars Mage Tower, talented mages focus on cultivation, untalented ones actively take part in administrative work, and those skilled in political maneuvering try to join various mage organizations.

Over the past few hundred years, the Mars Mage Tower has worked its way into being an important component of the Pan-Continent Mage Guild, with its members embedded in every department of the Guild, so they have a great advantage during elections.

Mi Sha's father, Joseph VI, has already been re-elected eight terms — sixteen years — as president of the Mage Guild, with one term every two years, and election time is coming up again soon.

The position of Guild President is crucial — although it doesn't make money, and sometimes you even have to put money in — but it can tilt policy, sweeping all the benefits toward your own mage tower.

So over these years, the Mars Mage Tower, already very wealthy, has gotten outrageously rich again.

"The best businesses these past two years have been silkworm-silk magic cloth, World Tree branches, spatial jewelry, Holy Essence liquid — we've made way too much money, and some people are jealous and starting to compete with my dad for the president's seat," Mi Sha said indignantly.

Seeing Ange tilted his head, and Lord Nai Ge Li Si and the others exchanged strange glances.

Lord Nai Ge Li Si changed the subject and asked: "Then why did you come here? Is there anything fun in the swamp?"

Mi Sha shook her head: "Nothing fun, lots of mosquitoes, but it's quiet — those guys would never think I'd come to a place like this."

"Sigh, so annoying. Ever since I came of age, the people around me have become inexplicably weird. Before, they clearly agreed to be my guardians and followers, but now one by one they start preening and posing."

"And there are always connections trying to force their way in to be my followers. Once they're here, they don't cultivate at all, just dress up in all kinds of colors and sashay in front of me, disturbing my cultivation — so annoying."

Whenever Mi Sha brought this up, she was full of grievances.

"Mm, the reproductive instinct of living things."

"Spring has arrived, and it's once again the season for essence exchange."

"Oh right, Little Huang Long, can you still do that thing?" Duroken asked with a grin.

"I know what you want to ask — Nai Aili has already started learning the succubus's soul-coupling technique. If it really won't work, I'll reincarnate back then," Lord Nai Ge Li Si replied irritably.

The few old lechers muttered among themselves, shifting the topic to whether soul-coupling could produce dragonkin, and whether a body cultivated from its scales would count as 'it' or as 'its brother' — ethical questions of that sort — and no one paid any more attention to Mi Sha's adolescent troubles.

Mi Sha, feeling a bit lost, also breathed a sigh of relief. She figured it out — daughter of the Guild President or not, these people clearly didn't care, and even that strange person kept a proper distance, showing no intention of currying favor with her.

This was exactly what Mi Sha had hoped for. Seeing Ange was already a God of Magic, and could still transform into a Dragon God under Little Huang Long's 'summon' — his strength was higher than her father's.

The others were all overwhelmingly powerful too — even the strange person had the strength of a Sword of Truth. If her father came instead, he'd have to curry favor with these people.

Two hours later, by straight-line distance, they had already covered three hundred kilometers and entered deep into the swamp.

Mi Sha pulled out a map while looking at Lightning and Hermel in disbelief: "What kind of horses are you two? Three hundred kilometers in two hours? Even flying at my fastest, I'm only about this fast."

Lightning curled its lip, sidled up to Hermel's ear, and muttered a few words.

So Hermel stepped forward, flipped up its hoof, and knocked on its own forehead: "Horse what horse, your whole family are horses — unicorns, see?"

Lightning bumped it with its shoulder: "Unicorn is my line — when you say it, you have to swap 'unicorn' for yourself."

"Oh, Hermel, see!" Hermel knocked on its own forehead again, then puzzled: "Why don't you say it yourself?"

"Can't you see what's on top of my head? If I say it, I'd be hitting Big Cat."

"Makes sense."

Well, these two horses were also pretty weird. Mi Sha flew a bit farther, unfolded the map, compared it, and said: "Twenty more kilometers ahead and we'll be there — the Shattered Swamp."

Continuing onward, as they approached the Shattered Swamp, Big Cat suddenly perked up.

Duroken also said: "No wonder they chose this place as a base — this is a weak point of the plane. The plane barrier here is so thin that a sneeze from me could blast through it."

Everyone looked at him, and Lord Nai Ge Li Si urged: "Go on, sneeze, hurry up and sneeze."

Duroken said helplessly: "How come people nowadays have no sense of humor? Exaggeration, get it?"

"Pfft—" Big Cat, which had perked up, suddenly sneezed hard, and rings of iridescent ripples instantly spread out around them — all phenomena produced when the plane barrier is on the verge of shattering.

Lord Nai Ge Li Si exaggeratedly curled its lip, casting a disdainful sideways glance at Duroken: "Weak—"

Just then, Seeing Ange suddenly pointed at it, and a row of explosive fireballs rapidly gathered in his palm, blasting out in a compressed stream.

At some unknown moment, a tentacle had quietly reached out behind Lord Nai Ge Li Si, almost wrapping around it. The explosive fireballs kept bombarding the same spot, blasting it clean off.

He Mo Er tentacles and snake-lice leapt up from the swamp, surging toward Seeing Ange's group from all directions.

"Not good, we've stumbled into a monster nest," Duroken shouted.

"Defend, defend, protect Seeing Ange, let him cast at full power — his transformation has already been used, he can't transform again," Lord Nai Ge Li Si commanded loudly.

Normally everyone would bicker and talk back, but at critical moments, everyone still obeyed orders. Seeing Ange was everyone's core, but Seeing Ange could not possibly command a battle, so at critical moments, Lord Nai Ge Li Si represented Seeing Ange.

Duroken took out his Midas Rod, tapped it toward the muddy swamp, and a shower of golden light sprinkled down; the muddy swamp actually hardened into a single solid ground.

Duroken leapt onto this hardened ground, pressed his palms together, then pulled hard, and a light seal was immediately drawn out between his palms, growing larger and larger as his hands pulled apart.

When the light seal reached its limit, Duroken slammed a palm down, and the light seal imprinted itself onto the ground along with it.

Repeating this, within a few breaths Duroken had already imprinted three light seals onto the ground; a complex magic circle appeared on the ground, and under the circle's effect, the ground began to rumble and rise.

What rose was a hardened patch of ground about six meters in diameter, which only stopped when it reached a height of three meters; beyond its diameter, spikes thrust outward one by one.

"Flesh-Blood Grinding Field — once it touches flesh and blood, it will grow more and more solid. Come on up." Duroken said.

After completing such a magic circle and a three-meter-high platform, Duroken showed not a trace of fatigue, and instead looked slightly excited.

In this world, there were not many things left that could make him go all out; having finally found one, how could he not be excited?

Luther drew his sword, casually pulled out a sugar beet and held it in his mouth, not eating it for now — he'd eat it when tired, as it could replenish stamina. Dealing with these snake-lice did not require activating his potential.

The little angel wiggled its shoulders, and true wings grew out from its back; after slowly spreading them, light wings extended out from the wing roots, then it took out the Archangel's Staff, and also took out the Great Earth Sacred Hammer — one in each hand.

The little zombie began to armor up, forming a hoe in one hand — a sharp-beak hoe with a tip half a meter long, capable of piercing a snake-lice through in one strike — and a shield in the other hand. This was the little zombie's most practiced combat stance: charge, then hoe people.

Lightning shook its head, shaking the big cat off from atop it, revealing its single horn: "Come on, the Son of Lei Ting is finally going all out."

"Ptooey—" Hermol spat hard, and a ball of green mist shot out, streaking toward the snake-lice like a green arrow.

Once the snake-lice touched this green mist, it ran forward a few steps, then suddenly pitched forward and collapsed, its body melting apart.

Feti raised his hand forcefully: "Lord Seeing Ange, can you summon my main body over? I can take care of these monsters by myself."

Lord Nai Ge Li Si refused immediately: "No need. Just clearing some snake-lice, and we'd have you act? Has Mourning become so cheap? Or do you just want to play?"

Feti's arm was still raised, but his hand had already drooped down dejectedly: "I want to play…"

"Dream on." Lord Nai Ge Li Si curled his lip, turned to Seeing Ange and said: "Have Purple Bones and the others get ready, be ready to support at any time."

The Purple Bones Titans were not in the spatial realm, because they had never planned to deploy them in the first place — it wasn't as if they were going to attack the Church. Within the main plane, apart from the Church, Lord Nai Ge Li Si didn't think there was any enemy that would require their full army to sortie.

Having the Purple Bones Titans get ready was only a precaution. If it was all just these snake-lice, no matter how many came there was nothing to fear. Those tentacles — he didn't know what they were for now, but they didn't seem very hard either. What needed worrying about were those Aolong mages.

If a few more Aolong mages at Garigu's level showed up, they might need to deploy more forces.

The moment this thought arose, Lord Nai Ge Li Si wished he could slap his own mouth, because in the distance several tentacles had coiled together, lifting a few little dragon-people into midair, observing this direction from on high.

Turning to the big cat, Lord Nai Ge Li Si said: "Big cat, keep an eye on the situation. If the enemy uses spatial-dimension power again, remember to stop them."

"Aowu!" The big cat slapped the ground hard with its little paw.

"Alright, alright, I won't dock your snacks, okay?" Lord Nai Ge Li Si said irritably.

"Aowu!" The big cat slapped its paw again.

"What? Picking fees are going up? Up by one bean? You're taking advantage of a crisis, aren't you? That's a bad habit — I'll have Seeing Ange talk to you." Lord Nai Ge Li Si threatened.

"Ao~wu~" The big cat called cutely, patting its own furry chest, and never mentioned any price increase again.

"Hmph, a bully who fears the strong." Lord Nai Ge Li Si snorted smugly, then turned his head and saw Misha looking utterly dumbfounded.

"Is that beast-language? How amazing — I actually understood its last sentence. It seemed to be saying: 'No need to bother my lord, leave it to me, no problem.' Is that right? Oh right, what about me? What do I do?" Misha asked.

"Do you still have any Rebirth Phoenix scrolls? Use one." Lord Nai Ge Li Si said.

"Oh oh, yes — level-seven Phoenix scrolls are cheap, I brought a whole bunch. Leave it to me, no problem." Misha said, patting her chest.

Seeing Ange's turret let out a boom. After Misha released the Phoenix, Seeing Ange snatched a moment to catalyze it into an Ultimate Phoenix, which flapped its wings and pounced toward the enemy.

While everyone here was in a flurry blasting apart the massive numbers of snake-lice and tentacle monsters, in the Holy Heaven Kingdom, the Purple Bones Titans had already finished assembling.

Besides them, there were also two war treants shrunk dozens of times and coiled into balls; they planned to teleport to the swamp and then take root and unfurl.

Seeing Ange drew out the Heaven Scepter, channeled holy light and prepared to open a teleportation gate, but suddenly discovered the scepter felt a bit strange — some areas that he couldn't touch before, he could suddenly touch now.

Seeing Ange tapped a certain area in confusion.

Boom! A pillar of light pierced through space, descending from the sky, landing at Seeing Ange's location — the Heaven Staircase.

"Oh heavens, how could this happen? The Heaven Staircase? How did you summon the Heaven Staircase? This is the main plane!" Lord Nai Ge Li Si shouted in shock:

"Not good, quick, shut it down — the Heaven Staircase pierces through the planar barrier, the entire plane will notice."