Chapter 281 - 280: Having a Mind, Requesting a Battle

Having confirmed that those at the Eighth Realm would not participate in the battle, Li Jing refrained from asking the Ghost Clan’s ancestral elder more questions.

Being overly inquisitive could easily lead to misunderstandings.

The loli-styled ancestral elder, with cultivation possibly at the Eighth Realm and presumably tens of thousands of years old, had no airs about her but exerted significant pressure just by her presence.

Especially with her childlike eating habits and her increasingly satisfied looks, they made Li Jing feel a prickling discomfort.

Among the descendants of the Ancient Gods that he had encountered, the Ghost Clan was undoubtedly the most rational and humane Alien Species.

Yet the descendants of the Ancient Gods had a peculiar habit of desiring to create a new race, and the Ghost Clan was no exception.

Nevertheless, they were somewhat restrained compared to other descendants of the Ancient Gods.

Sensing a potential threat to his chastity, Li Jing thought it necessary to curb his behavior lest the loli elder suddenly changed her mind and insisted on having a child with him.

After a satisfying meal.

The Ghost Clan ancestral elder, fulfilled by the modern food, tore through space and left. It was uncertain whether she went to the transported Ghost Clan Sacred Temple or was off seeking other reinforcements.

As for that, Li Jing didn’t concern himself.

With the Ghost Clan Sacred Temple gone, he also withdrew the Flying Sword Blue Edge.

Just as he was considering exploring elsewhere due to the absence of the Sacred Temple, Quan Chang arrived, maneuvering in the air, to handle the evacuation of non-combatant Ghost Clan members.

Upon returning and seeing the absence of the Ghost Clan Sacred Temple, and a dozen spatial rifts opening around the God-Human Race’s passage, Quan Chang looked over and projected her thoughts.

"Did the ancestral elder leave?"

"She just left not too long ago."

Li Jing responded.

Quan Chang nodded, her gaze settled on the God-Human Race’s spatial passage, seemingly deep in thought.

Seeing this, Li Jing didn’t disturb her and looked around.

Unnoticed, the entire Ghost Clan Holy City was now completely emptied.

Besides nearly a thousand Ghost Clan warriors led by Quan Huai nearby, the surroundings of the Holy City appeared like a quiet graveyard, devoid of any motion.

All other members of the Ghost Clan residing in the Holy City had departed.

Not even a single Giant beast remained.

Looking at the Ghost Clan who continued with their preparations near the God-Human Race’s spatial passage, Li Jing didn’t spot a single female among them.

At first glance, all the Ghost Clan present were male.

It was clear.

Facing a great crisis, the Ghost Clan chose to protect the Giant beasts relating to their clan and maximized the safety of the female clan members, vital for pure-blood continuity, leaving only the strongest males to bear the responsibility of confronting the God-Human Race.

Such choice, from any standpoint, was commendable.

For other clans, impure bloodlines with shapeless Giant beasts would undoubtedly be first to sacrifice.

Faced with a calamity, whether male or female, those in high positions would mostly hide behind.

Glancing at Quan Chang next to him, who clearly had no intention of leaving, Li Jing didn’t ask her the silly question of whether she would join in the battle or not, and said.

"I received news from a friend a while ago, the Human Race’s forces had already had a fallout with the God-Human Race when she left. However, the God-Human Race didn’t pay much attention to them. I have already reported the situation here, I presume they will organize an attack on the sealed space soon, they should be able to provide some assistance."

Hearing Li Jing’s words, Quan Chang nodded silently and looked over.

"The God-Human Race’s passage will probably stabilize by dawn tomorrow. Before that, reinforcements from all races will arrive, but the number is uncertain. This battle will be extremely tough. In the chaos, I may not be able to protect you. Although your skills are mysterious, your actual personal power is somewhat weak. If you want to survive in the chaos, you’ll have to rely on yourself."

"Don’t worry, I can take care of myself."

Li Jing responded, then looked at the preparations spearheaded by Quan Huai and others, and after a thought, he asked.

"Quan Huai and the rest have been making preparations for a while, what exactly are they preparing for...?"

"They are not making preparations, they are familiarizing themselves with the surrounding space."

Quan Chang replied, projecting her thoughts.

"Our Ghost Clan inherits the spatial talent from the Mother God, which can only be utilized at the level of the ancestral elder, but with enough familiarity with a certain space and by burning our bloodline power as the price, we can freely traverse in a limited time."

With that, she continued.

"When the God-Human Race invades, it will be a fierce battle right from the start. We, the Ghost Clan, will fight on the front lines to reduce their main force as much as possible, then pass the baton to our allies."

Hearing Quan Chang explain, Li Jing was slightly moved.

Quan Huai and the others leading many Ghost Clan warriors busily around wasn’t for preparation; that was unexpected.

Upon scrutinizing Quan Chang’s calm telepathic voice.

He found that the Ghost Clan was extraordinarily straightforward.

What the bloodline power Quan Chang spoke of was, he didn’t know.

But since it was consumed by burning, it would surely debilitate the user once depleted.

This was purely a fight to the death!

They didn’t even hope to preserve any Ghost Clan strength in the resistance; they placed their hopes in the reinforcements from the other clans.

It seemed that all the Ghost Clan present, including Quan Chang herself and the nine Ghost Clan members at the Seventh Realm led by Quan Huai, had prepared to sacrifice everything once the battle commenced.

Li Jing didn’t know the extent of the sacrifice the Ghost Clan had made to seal the God-Human Race initially.

But Quan Chang’s design was a tad too risky...

Indeed.

Strictly speaking, there were no factions within the descendants of the Ancient Gods.

Yet placing hopes on others was a bit extreme.

After a brief silence, Li Jing surveyed the area and said.

"When exactly can the God-Human Race’s passage become truly stable, can you predict it accurately?"

"Of course."

Quan Chang nods.

With this response, a gleam of brilliance blooms in Li Jing’s eyes.

"In that case, leave the initial defense against the invading God-Human Race to me."

"Leave it to you?"

Quan Chang seems startled for a moment, and then realizes what Li Jing is planning, her expression turning strange.

"Your indiscriminate method is indeed peculiar, it doesn’t seem to be measured by your personal power, and even poses a great threat to me and others like Quan Huai. However, the space-crossing power of the God-Human Race at the initial stage of their invasion is far from simple as the last surprise attack. From the start, they will invade on a large scale, and even I do not have the confidence to protect myself."

Having said that, she sends a psychic message.

"Your method might indeed reduce the strength of the invading God-Human Race, but you are definitely not going to survive it. Furthermore, to avoid hurting our Ghost Clan’s personnel and reinforcements, we need to leave this place due to the wide-ranging influence of your method, it’s tantamount to us simply surrendering..."

Before Quan Chang finishes, Li Jing smiles.

"Trust me, no matter how many of the God-Human Race come, I can kill as many. I will survive and defeat their initial invading force."

"..."

Quan Chang is silent.

Li Jing’s words.

She does not believe them, nor can she possibly believe them.

Kill as many as come?

And survive?

There’s simply no way.

As a member of the Human Race, Li Jing is unbelievably strong.

Judging by his previous performance during the God-Human Race’s sneak attack, Quan Chang even has the feeling that she might not be his opponent in single combat.

But in a war between two races, where’s the room for single combat?

Li Jing’s indiscriminate method can only slightly reduce the strength of the invading God-Human Race.

What’s left, isn’t something he can handle...

But for some reason, looking at Li Jing’s relaxed yet slightly excited expression, a voice in Quan Chang’s heart says.

Trust him.

After hesitating for a bit, Quan Chang sends a psychic message.

"Can you tell me where your confidence comes from?"

"It’s troublesome to explain in detail."

Li Jing shakes his head and says.

"Since you can see that my World Thunder Punishment cannot be measured by my personal power level, you should understand that its upper limit is very high. With your ability to predict the stabilization of the spatial passage as a premise, I have ample time to prepare, even if a strong one like Ancestor Lao comes, I am confident enough to kill him."

These words, Li Jing speaks them confidently.

But with enough preparation time, he has that kind of confidence.

Now with the level six Cultivation level and the Breath of Immortal Spirit, the World Thunder Punishment in his hand can be considered beyond the meta.

With enough time to prepare in advance, he can surely reach the level of heavenly disaster.

So far, the World Thunder Punishment he has deployed has always been basic versions, never employing the versions that integrate the Nine Heavens God Thunder and the Five Thunder Righteous Method.

If it can’t reach the level of heavenly disaster, does it deserve his maxed-out forbidden skill?

You will experience a heavenly disaster when stepping into the Seventh Realm, but wouldn’t a level eight take some substantial damage from it?

If it can cause damage, then his World Thunder Punishment can surely kill.

One must know, the World Thunder Punishment triggers a million heavenly thunders each time.

This is not a problem of a heavenly disaster...

It’s a million heavenly disasters...

There are only two situations in which a level eight could survive under his fully applied World Thunder Punishment.

The first one.

The World Thunder Punishment has enough targets, each heavenly thunder has its own target.

There is simply no way this could happen.

If the God-Human Race have a million-strong army, why would the Ghost Clan still be struggling?

With the Ghost Clan’s strength, those who stay behind prepared to fight to the death are only nearly a thousand, mostly at the Fifth Boundary.

Facing a million-strong army, they are simply not enough to fill the gaps, let alone sacrifice themselves to reduce as much power as possible?

If they really have that many, Li Jing wouldn’t even need to consider killing the God-Human Race’s strong ones.

If he could harvest this wave of sprouting vegetables, he would likely aim straight for the Tenth Realm.

The other possibility is.

Within the range covered by the World Thunder Punishment, there are enough strong ones who can endure many thunder strikes without dying.

This is also impossible.

The God-Human Race must be clear about the Ghost Clan’s style.

The first to arrive will certainly be those who can match the Ghost Clan, ensuring the safety of the rear forces crossing the spatial passage.

Otherwise, they’re going to face a crushing attack, completely meaningless and amounting to sending themselves to their death."

The vanguard forces of the God-Human Race that will invade will certainly be guaranteed in both quality and quantity, there’s basically no doubt about this.

But faced with the World Thunder Punishment unleashed by Li Jing at full strength, those below the Sixth Realm would basically be wiped out by a single attack. Only those of the Seventh Realm or higher can withstand the pressure.

How many of the invaders from the God-Human Race are at the Seventh Realm?

A hundred?

Two hundred?

Even if they have one or two hundred of the Seventh Realm, how much of the World Thunder Punishment equal to heavenly calamity could they withstand?

As Li Jing speaks, his words brim with powerful self-confidence. He even claimed that given time to prepare, he could slay the Ghost Clan’s Ancestor Lao. Quan Chang shows slight agitation.

Could this really be done?

Looking at the fiery gaze fixed on herself, Quan Chang felt somewhat ill at ease. An emotion she could not comprehend surged in her heart, making her feel restless.

She didn’t know how she should respond to Li Jing at this moment.

She wanted to trust Li Jing, to take a gamble.

But she can’t just rashly hand over the Ghost Clan Holy Land. The influence is too great.

Quan Chang couldn’t make a commitment, something Li Jing had anticipated.

After all, she was a person in power. She shouldn’t make a judgement that could affect the future of the Ancient God’s Descendants just based on his words.

He takes out a Boundary Stone and injects Spiritual Power into it.

The spatial boundaries suddenly spread out, isolating him and Quan Chang.

Suddenly falling into the subspace, Quan Chang was stunned.

As a member of the Ghost Clan who had a talent for spatial manipulation, she quickly assessed that this was a temporary isolation space which could only be maintained for a certain amount of time.

She looked at the Boundary Stone in Li Jing’s hand with surprise and suspicion.

"This is..."

"This thing is called a Boundary Stone, a product of the fusion of science and Immortal Learning in the Big World. It can temporarily create a subspace isolated from the outside world. Compared to the living space created by the Ancient God’s Descendants with the Spirit Seed, this thing is nothing to write home about."

Li Jing said nonchalantly.

"But as a temporary shelter, it is sufficient. Your people of the Ghost Clan and the reinforcements from the other clans who will be arriving later do not need to leave the Holy City, they can temporarily move into the subspace. After everything is done outside, I will release you. If I fail to crush the vanguard troops of the God-Human Race, I will release you before I die, which won’t affect your original plans."

Having said that, he dissipated the spiritual power in the Boundary Stone and returned himself and Quan Chang back to reality.

Upon returning to the Holy City, Quan Chang looked at the Boundary Stone in Li Jing’s hand, seemingly still in a daze.

Just like Li Jing said.

Compared to the living space opened by her Ancient God’s Descendants, the temporary subspace created by the Boundary Stone paled in comparison.

The living space they opened not only existed permanently but also could reproduce life.

Moreover, the territory within it was so vast that it could be described as a Mini World that formed a world of its own.

However, the convenience of the Boundary Stone was simply too great.

Without the need to traverse spatial passages, this Boundary Stone could help one travel freely with just a thought.

The creativity of the present day Human Race in the Big World was truly terrifying...

Biting her red lips and hesitating for a while, Quan Chang sent a message through her thoughts.

"How big can the subspace created by this Boundary Stone be at its maximum?"

"In theory, the internal part can be infinitely large, but the area that it can isolate in one go is limited."

Li Jing shook his head and said.

"If you’re willing to trust me and hope to minimize the losses of the Ghost Clan, it’s best to give a heads up to the reinforcements that will arrive later. Let their main forces wait on the other side of the passage first. Only the sufficiently powerful main forces should come here first, otherwise it would be impossible to protect everyone."

"I understand."

Quan Chang replied, conveying her thoughts.

"We’ll do as you suggest. I’ll send a message to Ancestor Lao later, asking her to notify the other clan’s reinforcements."

Seeing that Quan Chang finally gave in, Li Jing was invigorated.

Finally convinced this woman!

Without thinking much, Li Jing smiled.

"A wise choice. Trust me, I won’t let you down."

Meeting his bright smile, Quan Chang slightly furrowed her brows.

For some reason, she felt that after her statement, his enthusiasm seemed to go up by more than a bit. His burning gaze made her feel increasingly restless.

What exactly is this sense of restlessness?

While she was still puzzled, Li Jing said.

"I’ll need at least ten minutes to prepare before the God-Human Race’s passage is stabilized. You need to give me advance notice."

"Ten minutes?"

Quan Chang tilted her head, her face filled with confusion.

Seeing her confusion, Li Jing realized that the Ancient God’s Descendants’ concept of time would not match his as a Present World person. He took out his mobile phone and handed it to her.

"This is a mobile phone. The time displayed on the screen is the current time. These sets of numbers represent hours, minutes, and seconds respectively, which conceptually represent the flow of time..."

...

As a powerful being in the Seventh Realm, Quan Chang’s comprehension was naturally not bad.

After Li Jing’s brief explanation, she quickly understood the precise division of time by the Present World People.

For Quan Chang, this was something new.

The concept of time does exist amongst the descendants of the Ancient Gods.

However, in their long lives, spanning tens of thousands of years, the concept is rather vague, and they only distinguish between morning, afternoon, and evening.

Hours, minutes, seconds?

They don’t exist.

They don’t even have the concept of "months".

They do understand the concept of an annual cycle.

But they determine the passing of a year solely by the changing of the seasons.

Even more peculiar to Quan Chang was the device called a cellphone.

This tiny little thing - barely imbued with any Spiritual Qi - could not only accurately calculate the flow of time, but also apparently had many other functions.

After Quan Chang agreed to lead the strike with a World Thunder Punishment, Li Jing was very considerate and patiently taught her about the functions of the cellphone.

Once she understood more about it, Quan Chang was pleasantly shocked.

How could such a small thing have so many capabilities?

A snake eating game that doesn’t even need internet had her completely engrossed.

According to Li Jing’s explanation,

If you have what’s called a network connection, you would be able to communicate over indefinite distances, and it could provide all kinds of entertainment far more interesting than the snake eating game.

Initially, Quan Chang wasn’t that interested in the Big World.

However, after hearing Li Jing’s explanation, she suddenly became quite intrigued.

After learning about conveniences such as the Boundary Stone, and now the cell phone,

She could hardly fathom the richness and diversity of the Big World.

Li Jing watched as Quan Chang quickly became engrossed in playing Snake on the phone, and started to feel worried.

Everything else was manageable,

But Quan Chang was the High Priest of the Ghost Clan, a true person of authority.

She had only just woken up from her many thousand-year slumber, and was already getting distracted...

Looking at Quan Chang’s enthusiasm over the phone, who would have thought she was the same person who used to never smile?

She looked exactly like Ji Qing, hopelessly addicted to mobile gaming!

This situation wasn’t right, was it?

Luckily, Quan Chang remembered there were important matters at hand after indulging herself in the game. She put down the phone and closed her radiant eyes.

After a while, she opened her eyes and asked,

"I have already communicated with Ancestor Lao, who will explain to the reinforcements. Do you need anything prepared on your end?"

"Yes."

Li Jing responded, pointing above his head.

"This land above the Ghost Clan Holy City must be cleared completely. My World Thunder Punishment is a Thunder Skill, and it is unleashed from the sky. Even though it won’t be affected if there are barriers on the land, the Punishment will inevitably destroy the land as it descends. If consequent collapses occur, I’m afraid this Holy City would be buried."

As he said this, Li Jing added,

"Also, my World Thunder Punishment targets living beings. Every living creature residing on the land above the Ghost Clan Holy City needs to be chased away. Even if the Spatial Passage doesn’t collapse here, it could collapse elsewhere. What’s more, the fewer the living creatures around, the more concentrated the power of my World Thunder Punishment."

Upon hearing Li Jing’s explanation, Quan Chang’s expression slightly changed.

Li Jing claiming that he had the power to kill a strong one like Ancestor Lao, she was still skeptical to this point.

But after hearing his explanation, she roughly understood the characteristic of World Thunder Punishment.

This form of indiscriminate attack affects all living beings within its range - the damage of the attack is distributed amongst them.

But the fewer beings there are as targets, the more severe the damage they suffer.

This method was indeed intriguing.

Nodding, Quan Chang conveyed her thoughts.

"What is above the Sacred Temple is not the ground, but a consecrated treasure. It exists as a shelter parapet for my clan as they sleep, providing protection from the Cataclysm of Destruction. As it has been nearly completely damaged in the Cataclysm of Destruction and needs reconditioning, I will remove it now."

As she spoke, she took out a token and uttered a few mysterious sounds, raising herself into the air and supporting the ground above with one hand.

Suddenly, the earth shook.

The earth which was covering the Ghost Clan Holy Land began to rise as a whole, slowly moving away under the support of Quan Chang’s slender arm.

Upon seeing this, Li Jing looked astonished.

He had speculated that the ground above the Ghost Clan Holy Land had protective capabilities since he arrived underground.

After all, if it was just regular ground, the Holy Land of the Ghost Clan might have been buried at any time.

His guess was confirmed when he heard from Quan Chang that the entire ground was a damaged treasure from the Cataclysm of Destruction.

But the sight of Quan Chang single handily holding up the ground was beyond his expectations.

How vast was the ground covering the Ghost Clan Holy Land, Li Jing had no idea.

What’s certain was,

Its area was several times larger than that of Jianghai!

She was supporting it with her own power, but it was not about whether she was physically strong enough!

But then he noticed that Quan Chang did not seem to be exerting much effort at all.

It wasn’t that she was holding up the entire ground, but the treasure situated above, acting as a canopy, was moving away under her guidance.