Chapter 284 - 283: Fear Comes from Insufficient Firepower, Gods Become Introverted

Li Jing’s journey home was a long one.

After all, he had travelled west with Serlina in search of the Ghost Clan Holy City for more than three hours.

With Li Jing stepping into the Late Sixth Realm and harnessing the Spiritual Power of the Spirit Soldier, he could cross an entire city of Jianghai every thirty seconds on average, almost traversing half of the Blue Star in the entire journey.

Traveling with the sword, Li Jing was much faster than before.

The speed of his Flying Sword Blue Edge, now an Immortal Item, was terrifying, far beyond that of a Spirit Soldier in his control.

Even so, it took nearly an hour to return.

When he came close to the location of the ruins west of the entrance to the Secret Realm, Li Jing halted in midair and put away his Flying Sword Blue Edge.

As for hiding his cultivation level, he was too lazy to bother.

At this point, he thought hiding was futile anyway.

But after all, the Immortal Sword was too ostentatious.

Just as he was about to move on, activating the Silent Shadow, Li Jing suddenly paused and looked back.

He remembered.

It seemed that he had forgotten to get his phone back from Quan Chang.

Well...

Leaving his phone as a memento for Quan Chang was not a big deal to Li Jing.

It was just a phone, which cost three or four thousand at most.

Because of Quan Chang’s trust, he had gained more experience from this Ghost Clan adventure than he had acquired in the Secret Realm, even propelling him to a level just one step away from the Seventh Realm.

This was not to mention the Consonance Heart, the only remaining one among the Ghost Clan, which he received as a gift from the Ghost Clan’s Ancestor Lao.

With all he had gained, what was the big deal about giving a phone?

The annoying part was...

His SIM card was still in the phone, and he’d need to report it lost and get a replacement to use it again.

With a rub of his brow, Li Jing turned his head and transformed into a shocked thunderbolt, moving forward.

Running back to get his SIM card was not even considered.

His urgency to return was not for anything else, but to gain some more experience and reach the Seventh Realm.

With the God-Human Race giving up the Ghost Clan Holy City, the only exit from the seal space would be the ruins west of the Secret Realm.

To return to Chongyuan Holy Realm, they could only go via this way.

A lot of pressure was bound to be borne by the exploration teams of various countries.

Although it seems impossible to gain much experience from the human camp, which can use modern strategic means to counteract, Li Jing thought there was a good chance to get 600,000 experience points.

...

After moving forward as a startled thunderbolt for a while, Li Jing stopped again.

In the distance, the mountains surrounding the ruins where the sealed space was located could already be seen.

Looking out at this moment...

A large section of the mountains that had shielded the ruins tightly had toppled over.

In the midst of the mountains, the ruins, which were already in a state of disrepair and decay, collapsed in chunks.

No.

To be precise...

The whole ruin had almost turned into ruins, with only a few medium-height walls standing lonely in the visible area.

Seeing this scene, Li Jing couldn’t help frowning.

The scale of the ruins here was far inferior to that of the God-Human Holy City, let alone the Ghost Clan Holy City, but it still occupied an area several times that of Jianghai City.

Looking at it now, the mountains surrounding the ruins had collapsed, and the inside had been completely leveled.

What...

Had the forces of the God-Human Race broken out and faced off directly against the exploration teams from the present world?

Impossible!

An hour ago, the God-Human Race was still trying to take on the Ghost Clan.

They had initially focused on the Ghost Clan and wouldn’t have been able to shift their attention so quickly.

At the location of the now flattened ruins and mountains, there was no sign of raised smoke, indicating that the event had occurred some time ago.

Could it be that before the Ghost Clan, the God-Human Race had first tried to break out from here?

That couldn’t be either.

Having come into contact with the present world people early on, the God-Human Race should be well aware that their strength could not be measured by the realm.

Before they tried to deal with the Ghost Clan, they would have no reason to focus a lot of energy on the present world people.

Li Jing continued forward with a tightly-furrowed brow, gazing upon the ruins turned to rubble in the distance.

Although he didn’t know what was going on, the present world people would definitely not suffer in a collision with the God-Human Race, the God-Human Race must not have been able to return.

Indeed, the overall strength of the God-Human Race was outrageously strong.

If it were a direct confrontation, no matter how many forces the present world people could gather and how much power they had, they would be torn to shreds in a matter of moments.

The present world had no Seventh Realm entities present, but in the God-Human Race, Seventh Realm entities were everywhere.

In a direct confrontation, the two sides’ strengths were completely unequal.

But speaking of a positional war...

To hold a space passage entrance, the present world wouldn’t lose no matter what.

The present world powers had been preparing for the past half month to prevent an attack from the God-Human Race.

Those preparations were not made in vain.

A few hundred Seventh Realm entities?

That’s not a problem at all.

With so many present world forces, a single strategic nuclear warhead from each one would be enough to drive the God-Human Race to desperate despair.

Strategic nuclear warheads, weren’t they all infused with Forbidden Skills?

In the Secret Realm, the powers did not have a shred of concern.

Since it was not on the Blue Star, they just needed to strike.

If they can’t even effectively block a door, then present-world people should give up on exploring the secret realms and pack up to go home early.

Looking at the state of the ruins reduced to rubble, it’s clear that it’s the result of being decimated by a nuclear attack.

Merely having the God-Human Race initiate a battle might seriously damage the ruins and surrounding terrain, but it wouldn’t annihilate it to such a degree.

...

Soon, Li Jing arrived above the ruined city.

As soon as he reached the place, he could distinctly feel the burning sensation in the air.

No mistake about it.

This burning sensation is the strong radiation left behind from a nuclear bomb.

Before he travelled, if he had been in such a high radiation environment without any protection, Li Jing would have been considering his own funeral preparations.

However, now he can completely ignore radiation.

In this world, the level of danger from radiation is just something as common as a natural environment.

Once present-world people reach the Three Realm cultivation level, they can become immune to radiation under the support of the spiritual qi in their body.

Those below the Three Realm, if they stay in a high-radiation environment for a long time, would only feel dizzy, unsteady and uncomfortable.

Environmental conditions like the Demon Miasma and dead air are more dangerous.

Without stopping at the outskirts of the ruins, Li Jing directly went to the centre of the ruins.

The deeper he went, the worse the destruction of the land became.

At the centre of the ruins, the whole place is charred and you couldn’t even find a complete piece of rubble.

Near where the sealed spatial passage should be, the ground has caved in forming a black pit with a diameter of tens of thousands of meters.

Seeing this situation, Li Jing didn’t feel too good.

What was in front of him was many times worse than the results of him unleashing a full-strength World Thunder Punishment.

But this is not the point.

The point is, the sealed spatial passage entrance was gone...

Yes!

It’s gone!

How the hell...

How did the God-Human Race manage to close their only entrance?

Li Jing was very troubled.

Just last night, Serlina had communicated with him, and at the time the Western Alliance had not made a large-scale conflict with the God-Human Race yet.

He had suggested to Serlina to try and attack the sealed space. As long as they did not provoke the God-Human Race to much, it would be fine.

It’s been less than ten hours since then, how did it turn out like this?

Looking down at where the entrance to the sealed space should be, Li Jing was very troubled.

With no entrance, doesn’t that mean that his hopes of advancing to the Seventh Realm are gone?

Doesn’t the God-Human High Priest want her divine punishment anymore?

Wasn’t she going to resist him?

With a heavy sigh, Li Jing turned his head towards the entrance of the Big Secret Realm.

Within a few breaths of time, he had left the ruins.

Following that, he saw excellent camps with various flags standing in the very far distance outside the ruins. These camps were defending the road leading to the Big Secret Realm’s entrance.

Obviously, this was a defensive line set up by present world people.

As Li Jing floated in the air, he used his full concentration to look over there.

Above the defensive line, there were not only flags of the Western Alliance and Daohe Alliance, but also the flags of various forces, including Longyu and several alliances from the North, fluttering in the wind.

In the most conspicuous position on the defensive line, the flag of White Hawk was fluttering.

Longyu and the Northern God Country were on either side of it.

Looking at the current situation.

The White Hawk as expected, raised the big banner, and became the big brother.

Both Longyu and the Northern God Country must have also received plenty of rewards from White Hawk, and have given them due respect.

The three super forces are located in the center of the defensive line.

Other forces have to stand on the sidelines.

Daohe?

They don’t have that qualification.

Supreme Church?

They don’t have the qualification either.

The Grull empire is not even worth mentioning.

The once prestigious big brother has long fallen to the point of only whining.

Seeing Longyu’s flag flying on the defensive line, Li Jing moved towards it without much thought.

However, as soon as he acted, the entire defensive line rang out with a harsh alarm.

Before he could react, thick objects one after another suddenly soared into the sky from various parts of the defensive line. After that, they changed direction in mid-air with a rocket blast and flew towards him.

!!!

Li Jing.

Missiles!

Dozens of them!

The target was clearly him!

How could he dare to collide with them?

What’s important is that these were clearly intended for deterring the God-Human Race.

Without a doubt!

These were not conventional tactical missiles, but strategic missiles equipped with nuclear warheads.

Faced with such a situation, Li Jing felt as if he had eaten stinky tofu.

What the hell did the God-Human Race do to make the present world people so sensitive?

The artillery defense line should have been upgraded to a missile defense line!

Grumbling silently, Li Jing quickly pulled out a Boundary Stone, channeling his spiritual power into it.

Run?

Absolutely no need to consider it.

Modern strategic weapons, all are of super high speed.

If he took out the Flying Sword Blue Edge and launched a Chasing Wind Sword Style, he could just barely reach the speed of sound. No chance of escaping, right?

The ability to detect him from such a great distance means that a high-precision anti-air radar likely was also set up, forming an extremely dense radar network.

This technology, unless absolutely necessary, would usually not be used in the Secret Realm.

Setting up a network of high-precision anti-air radars would require vast resources and costs, paralleling astronomical figures.

At this moment, he had been detected.

The missiles were undoubtedly locked onto him. There was no chance they would miss.

At this point, isolating himself in the Subspace was undoubtedly the best choice.

With spiritual power invested, the spatial boundaries opened up instantly.

Secluding himself in the Subspace, Li Jing exhaled a breath of relief.

There was no telling how comforting this sense of safety was.

Quietly, he took out Longyu’s communication earpiece and put it on, then casually took out his Management Bureau identification, as he reflected on himself.

He had to admit that he was somewhat overly dependent on his personal abilities.

Silent Shadow was certainly effective, there was no denying that.

With his late Six Realm cultivation level, probably only those with special abilities like Serlina, who built a spiritual world, could detect him in the Six Realm.

But in certain cases, Silent Shadow wasn’t applicable.

Like when facing a missile defense line with a high-precision anti-air radar network, it was totally useless.

Distorting cognition had no effect on the intelligently operated radar network.

Settling down a bit, Li Jing waited patiently in the Subspace.

Now that he had dodged into the Subspace, the missile had certainly lost its target.

But no one could guarantee if a missile that had lost its target would explode.

If he happened to exit right in the middle of the explosion, he might be toast...

After silently counting to sixty, Li Jing felt it was about time. He ended the energy accumulation in the Boundary Stone.

Consequentially, the Subspace collapsed.

Li Jing returned to the Big Secret Realm, then looked back.

Behind him, where the ruins were previously located, a magnificent mushroom cloud slowly rose into the sky.

It seemed that the missile defense line, after detecting the loss of its target, simply let over a hundred missiles saturate the location of the ruins.

Gazing at the enormous mushroom cloud rising in the direction of the ruins, Li Jing smirked.

Looking back at the defense lines formed by various national forces in the distance, the wailing alarm that was ongoing when he emerged was already lifted, clearly recognizing his Management Bureau identification.

To be on the safe side, Li Jing didn’t hurry to make a move, instead pressing the communication earpiece to connect with Qi Chen.

Longyu was participating in the defense lines. It was uncertain whether Jiang Yini was on the frontline, but the district head, Qi Chen, would definitely be there.

Indeed, the communication to Qi Chen was smoothly connected.

Before Li Jing could speak, Qi Chen’s voice full of complaints from the other side of the communicator rang out.

"Li Jing, why didn’t you keep your Management Bureau identification on you when you returned? Or at least contact me in advance? Do you know how much money was spent on that attack just now?"

Realizing Qi Chen had identified him through radar recognition information, Li Jing rolled his eyes.

"This isn’t my fault! How was I supposed to know the situation here would be so tense?"

Those dozens of strategic missiles; he wouldn’t bear the responsibility for that.

He couldn’t afford it, and there was no way he could pay for it, either.

It wasn’t his fault that he didn’t bring the identification and communication earpiece.

After all, these items are quite fragile.

In the Big Secret Realm, if something went wrong with these items, there wouldn’t be any place for a quick fix.

Qi Chen naturally understood this logic.

So he just complained a bit, then sighed.

"You should come to our Longyu camp for now. Don’t wander outside randomly, lest there be further misjudgments."

"Alright."

Li Jing agreed, cut off the communication, disabled Silent Shadow, then casually summoned a spirit weapon and continued moving forward.

His identification had been recognized, hence there was no point in using Silent Shadow anymore.

Unleashing Thunder Movement? Absolutely not an option.

He had performed a trick with Serlina earlier, using this technique. Now, if any of the forces obstructing the defense line saw it, his covers would be blown.

...

Soon, Li Jing arrived at the Longyu camp with his spirit weapon.

As soon as he landed, he saw Qi Chen, looking worried, standing in front of a tent in the heart of the Longyu camp, looking towards him.

With Qi Chen’s mournful gaze meeting his, Li Jing awkwardly smiled.

If it came to nitpicking, he definitely wasn’t at fault in this matter.

But the cost, after all, had been spent.

And it wasn’t just the Longyu clan involved in the expenditure, but all the forces that participated in building up the missile defense line, just to take a shot. Later, as the person in charge for Longyu, Qi Chen would inevitably have to offer some explanation to all parties involved.

Upon reaching the ground, he met Qi Chen and looked around.

"Is Commissioner Ji not here?"

"Sister Ji and Junior Sister Tong are at the defense line at the entrance to the Secret Realm. Director Jiang and other directors are behind, and only I am at the front line."

Qi Chen responded.

During his speech, he looked slightly unusual, sizing up Li Jing carefully.

His cultivation in swordsmanship had reached a point of enlightenment, enabling him to easily see through the cultivation level and even the nature of power within those whose cultivation level was below his.

The spiritual power in Li Jing was rather special, hence Qi Chen could not see through it.

However, now that he had witnessed him, he was able to easily perceive that the latter’s cultivation level had improved a lot since their last encounter.

Li Jing met his gaze, anticipating that he would detect the change in him, but he wasn’t overly concerned.

He didn’t care about it.

What could he possibly do if someone noticed?

He definitely couldn’t poke their eyes out to prevent them from seeing, right?

Glancing at the location of the mushroom cloud created by the recent explosion, which hasn’t completely dissipated, Li Jing withdrew his gaze and asked.

"What’s happening here? Why is the situation so tense? Have any powerful individuals from the God-Human Race emerged from the sealed space?"

"Yes, quite a few of them have come out."

Qi Chen replied.

"It’s a bit complicated to explain the whole thing, but let me give you a quick rundown of lead up and aftermath."

He then began to explain.

"In the sealed space, the Western Alliance had long since fallen out with the God-Human Race, Miss Serlina of the White Hawk should have already told you. The origins of the problem began with a few saintesses and male priests from the Supreme Church mysteriously disappearing. A Sixth Realm saintess even went missing, and after investigation it was confirmed that they had been captured by powerful beings from the God-Human Race and other alien species."

"Initially, other forces just watched on. Even though there were quite a few people who went into the sealed space from the Supreme Church, they didn’t dare to do much in the face of the powerful God-Human Race, who only played dumb and refused to admit anything. Later, for some unknown reason, the God-Human Race suddenly ramped things up, directly attacking the army of millions in the sealed space and kidnapping several Sixth Realm individuals from different powers. This led to the eruption of conflict."

"In the sealed space, the Western Alliance’s teams suffered greatly, resulting in a lot of people getting killed and many more captured, they had no choice but to withdraw. I only learned about these events when Miss Serlina came over to relay your message, and representatives from the White Hawk came to discuss matters. After discussion, we at Longyu and the Major Northern League agreed to assist White Hawk in forming a unified front in the present world, withdraw from the relics, and set up missile bases overnight to respond to the threat of the God-Human Race."

Qi Chen continued after giving his three-part report.

"Although the team from the Western Union took a big hit, they were relatively calm in that they didn’t insist on charging into the sealed space. Anyway, this morning, just before dawn, a group of pureblood operatives led by thousands in the Giant Beast Corps from the God-Human Race emerged. We don’t know exactly how strong they are, all we know is that they were nuked on sight."

After learning the ins and outs from Qi Chen, Li Jing fell silent.

The root of it all was the God-Human Race capturing powerful individuals from this world’s forces.

Why did they capture people?

There was no question about that, it was clear without thinking about it.

The God-Human Race sure knew how to play...

But they also shot themselves in the foot.

The forces of the present world were initially not that tense, but when a group of powerful individuals was captured and the Western Union’s team in the sealed space suffered a heavy loss, wouldn’t they be enraged?

A group of pureblood operatives leading thousands from the Giant Beast Corps came over and were nuked on sight. No wonder the God-Human Race chose to close the spatial passage...

The situation here is a lot worse than that of the Ghost Clan.

At most, the Ghost Clan has about three hundred Seventh Realm waiting, while here, the Eastern and Western forces formed a unified front in the present world and set up missile bases with a nuke tactic.

This, even the Eighth Realm wouldn’t be able to withstand.

The Eighth Realm can actually just wipe out a country with a wave of a hand.

In the face of the nuke tactic that fully translate the source of fear comes from insufficient fire power, what’s an Eighth Realm?

If he wanted to advance to the Seventh Realm, he would probably have to find another way...

As Li Jing was feeling regretful, Qi Chen asked.

"What about the Ghost Clan? Seeing as you suddenly returned, has the matter over there been concluded?"

"Hmm, it’s over."

Li Jing replied.

"The God-Human Race was repelled and closed the spatial passage. The passage here was also closed, they should not come out for now. However, the descendants of the Ancient God are likely to return to the Big Secret Realm as a whole soon, their personnel and overall strength are very strong, we should avoid any friction with them when withdrawing from the Big Secret Realm."

Qi Chen nodded at his words, saying.

"The descendants of the Ancient God, other than the God-Human Race, are not to be worried about, just avoid conflicts."

He then carried on thoughtfully.

"If we can make contact with the other clans of the Ancient God’s descendants who are returning to the Big Secret Realm, we may be able to conduct some trades before we leave the Big Secret Realm. The God-Human Race is bound to come back, and the war within the Ancient God’s descendants will continue. There is plenty of room for maneuver here."

The processes Qi Chen suggested could indeed be put into action.

However, Li Jing couldn’t be bothered with this part.

Trade, that’s a national-level matter.

He was merely a soldier and wasn’t qualified to be involved.

Even if he was to get involved, he wouldn’t know how much Longyu would be willing to pay for this opportunity.

"Chief Qi can consider these matters himself. I won’t be able to involve myself in such affairs."

Li Jing said.

"A few things to note, not all descendants of the Ancient God have the ability to communicate with people. The various clans within them also have different attitudes toward fighting with the God-Human Race. They may not be friendly when they encounter us humans. Moreover, the God-Human Race, along with other descendants of the Ancient God, also have a bad habit of developing new populations."

"Understood."

Qi Chen responded, then gave a sly smirk.

"We at Longyu are the country of etiquette. Since we’ve already established a unified front, I must convene representatives from various forces to announce this part of the information, and by the way, snatch some advantages."

"..."

Li Jing was speechless.

High-ranking figures indeed had black hearts.

Even those who came from the Sect’s disciples are no exception...

It was just some valuable information, and he was already thinking about using it to exchange for benefits.

Just as he didn’t know what to say, Qi Chen gave a small smile.

"Before our present world forces completely withdraw from the Big Secret Realm, the passage to the sealed space will most likely not open. There should not be any subsequent incidents for the time being. However, my senior sister may come to find you later as she has not yet completed the ’mission’ for Longyu."

Upon hearing this, Li Jing furrowed his brow, immediately understanding what he meant.

Considering the secondary phone card he had left behind, he tentatively offered.

"If necessary, I can take Commissioner Ji to the Ghost Clan Holy City to try and negotiate with them. I can’t guarantee they’ll be willing to negotiate, though. All I can do is lead the way."

"It’s enough just to have the opportunity to negotiate. If they decline, there’s no need to insist."

Qi Chen chuckled.

"I’m fine here on the front line. You go to the Secret Realm entrance camp, and when the time comes, my senior sister will naturally find you. If things go as hoped, I can promise to approve some merits for you."

Upon hearing that there were merits up for grabs, Li Jing’s eyes lit up.

Qi Chen was worried about his senior sister’s "mission", shouldn’t he ought to pitch in a little bit?

...