Chapter 422

Translator: 549690339

By the time the Black Pearl returned to Earth, a whole night had passed.

People’s attention was not on the missing pirates, but on the night’s revelry, which seemed to release all their suppressed emotions. When Lin Zhen returned, the whole world seemed quiet.

As Lin Zhen was about to summon some people to go to the Ancient God City, Chris sent a message.

“Master, there is someone in the Dimensional Universe looking for you. It’s your friend Han Sha.”

Lin Zhen hesitated for a moment before entering the Dimensional Universe, feeling that Han Sha must have some big news for him.

They met in the VIP room of the Asura Arena. Han Sha and Jie Li were both present.

When they saw Lin Zhen’s arrival, the two of them stood up to greet him.

“Hahaha! Welcome! Welcome, Sun Lord Lin Zhen! Congratulations on maintaining the integrity of your territory and expelling your enemies!”

Lin Zhen laughed and greeted the two Red Star Shuras. The three of them took their seats.

Jie Li was the first to express his amazement, “Lin Zhen, your growth speed is too fast. We once fought against Anderson at the Asura Arena, and I narrowly won. But that was before Anderson underwent beast transformation. I never imagined that you could defeat him in the real world even after his transformation.”

“I was just lucky,” Lin Zhen replied.

“Don’t be modest, we all know that there is no luck in the world of martial artists.” Jie Li waved his hand: “But today, we did not come to talk about this. We have more important things to discuss.”

Han Sha looked into Lin Zhen’s eyes and said, “Lin Zhen, have you ever heard of the Star River Giant Beast Alliance?”

Lin Zhen showed no surprise but simply nodded faintly, “I’ve heard a little.”

“That’s good. Then you should know how massive the Star River Giant Beast Alliance is. It’s a huge organization that spans over 36,000 advanced cosmic nations. No single country within the entire universe can compare with the alliance. It’s like comparing a giant to a dwarf.”

“Martial artists can be trained with low barriers. As long as you’re not too terrible, anyone can become a martial artist. But to join our alliance, only true geniuses have a chance.”

Lin Zhen nodded, “Do you want me to join the alliance?”

Seeing that Lin Zhen didn’t seem to attach great importance to the matter, Jie Li hastily added, “Yes, the two of us are responsible for scouting all talents within the Sanjiang Star Domain Federation and absorbing the top talents into the Star River Giant Beast Alliance. Lin Zhen, you are definitely a key candidate. Do you realize how difficult it is to join us and how many benefits you can gain?”

“Can I get genetic fluid?” Lin Zhen asked.

“That’s right. If you agree to join, we will test your genes and decide what kind of genetic fluid to provide you. Once your body is strengthened by the genetic fluid, your combat power will absolutely double or even multiply many times!”

“So what do I need to do?” Lin Zhen knew there was no such thing as a free lunch, so it was better to ask clearly.

“It’s simple. After you become one of us, we will assign you tasks. Although there are risks, the rewards are also very rich. However, we can’t tell you the details of the tasks now, only after you agree.”

Lin Zhen pondered for a while, “Gentlemen, you know I have just become a Lord, and there are many things to do in my hometown’s planet. I don’t even know the state of my territory yet. So, I think I should consider other matters after these issues have settled.”

Han Sha and Jie Li glanced at each other, “We understand that you have many things to attend to, but we hope that this won’t take too long.”

“One year! I’ll give you an answer in one year.”

“Alright, we’ll come to you again then.”

The Black Pearl landed in front of the Ancient God City.

The secret passage to the fourth floor had been discovered. Lin Zhen followed the secret passage directly to the captain’s room.

Exiting the captain’s room, there was a vast desert outside.

The original pyramids that had stood in the desert had collapsed and were disassembled into a mess.

Ya Xuan, the hero who had driven the war fortress to collide with Sky City, was not dead. He had received Lin Zhen’s warning early on and left.

Now he was standing beside Lin Zhen, explaining, “Master, look at this desert. I intentionally delayed and searched for the World Stone with my men. But we still dismantled all the pyramids. We tested every single stone, but we couldn’t find the World Stone.”

“Did you turn over every stone?”

“I guarantee you, every single one. There are no stones under this sand.”

Lin Zhen walked slowly above the fourth floor of the Ancient God City, looking out at the endless yellow sand with no other colors in sight.

He reached out his hand, using gravity to draw a lump of yellow sand into the air, then let it dissipate in the air. Indeed, there were no stones.

After trying several times with the same result, Lin Zhen began to worry.

“Could it be that the World Stone isn’t on the fourth floor, but on one of the other three floors?” Lin Zhen asked.

“That seems unlikely too. At first, there was a lot of evidence pointing to the World Stone being in the desert of this layer. However, Diana destroyed them all to prevent others from discovering it, so we haven’t found the key yet.”

“Alright, let me think about it. You continue to search here with them.”

Lin Zhen left the pirates and returned to the Black Pearl.

He opened a map at the control panel. It was a territory map given to him by the Empire’s Interior Ministry. Within one light-year of the Solar System, all life planets and wormholes in his domain were marked.

Although a one light-year radius seemed extensive, it was not that huge in the vast starry sky, especially regarding the number of life planets.

In the Sun Lord’s territory, there were a total of twenty-one life planets. Eleven of them had technological civilization levels similar to Earth. Three of them had technology levels higher than Earth and between Earth and the Tianhe Empire. Additionally, two of them were in the ancient weapon age, two were in the primitive age, and three were in the initial stage of life.

“I have to visit all these territories. After becoming the Lord, the tax revenue from these planets will belong to me, which is a significant fortune.”

However, there was a problem: Lin Zhen had to arrive for inspection first, and that required a lightspeed spacecraft. If you could not even reach your territory’s planets, the emperors on those planets would not voluntarily give you the tax money.

“My battle with Anderson has already gone viral online, but none of the people within my domain have congratulated or surrendered to me. It seems they still don’t believe I can reach their territory!”

Lin Zhen paced slowly inside the Black Pearl, not expecting these people to think so. To traverse a one light-year distance, it was virtually impossible to do so without a lightspeed spacecraft, especially since no wormholes had been found in this region of the starry sky.

Why should we fear you if you, as the Lord, can’t even come to our place?

The Empire always turned a blind eye to such matters. They even took pleasure in the fact that lords had trouble managing their territories, as the tax revenue would then belong to the Empire.

Hence, cases where lords had territories but lacked actual leadership were quite common!

Lin Zhen logged into a Blue Bay Star forum through the Dimensional Universe.

Among all his territories, Blue Bay Star was the largest and most technologically advanced life planet.

The planet was roughly ten times the size of Earth, with a population of hundreds of billions.

Moreover, there were no Mutated Beasts causing trouble here. The cultivation civilization was quite advanced; although no Black Hole Period experts had appeared, Constant Star Stage experts were not uncommon on this planet.

After logging in, Lin Zhen found the members’ attitudes towards him, their Lord, were not friendly.

In their eyes, only the people of the Blue Bay Star were capable of managing this region of space. Earthlings, who they saw as country bumpkins, definitely should not be their leaders.

Although Lin Zhen already demonstrated his abilities, they were not impressed by what they saw in the videos. Many started to boast online, and it even became a trend among the people of the Blue Bay Star.

“I heard our Lord is only in his twenties. Is he suitable to lead us?”

“He is only at Satellite Level 9. I would not obey him when I am at Planet Stage!”

“What a pity, this Lord cannot travel across the stars to come here. Otherwise, I, Cao Yang of Azure Dragon Holy Nation, would let him know what a real fight is!”

“In the world of Martial Artists, the strong are respected. The decision of the Empire was too hasty. We should suggest a more powerful Lord in the Dimensional Universe.”

“Martial Artists from the Western White Tiger Holy Nation disagree! We challenge you!”

“Rubbish Lord, not worthy of our respect!”

After seeing a video of some so-called prince of the Azure Dragon Holy Nation tearing his portrait and urinating on it, Lin Zhen exited the Blue Bay Star forum.

“Those bastards, I will go to them eventually!”

Lin Zhen wanted to teach the Blue Bay Star people a lesson through the Dimensional Universe. However, that had no practical meaning. Without your presence, you had no deterrence, and no one would fear you.

“World Stone… How can I find it?” Lin Zhen muttered as he walked absent-mindedly, bumping into a soft body.

“Yue’er!”

“Lin Zhen, why are you so agitated? I called you, but you didn’t hear me.” Su Mingyue gently rubbed her chest as if Lin Zhen had hurt her when bumping into her.

Lin Zhen hurriedly apologized: “I was just too focused on thinking. Are you okay, Yue’er? Let me rub it for you.”

“No need… What were you thinking?” Su Mingyue pushed away Lin Zhen’s approaching hand and asked with blushing cheeks and blinking eyes.

“About something called the World Stone.” Lin Zhen explained, not expecting Su Mingyue to have heard of the term World Stone.

“World Stone…?”

Sure enough, Su Mingyue was confused. She tilted her head and pondered for a moment: “Does World Stone mean ‘a world in every grain of sand’.”

“A world in every grain of sand…?”

Lin Zhen suddenly froze, and at that moment, he thought of a way to find the World Stone.