Chapter 79

Qing Shi Grand Hall.

Silence reigned.

All the haughty Evil Soldier envoys stood up, staring blankly at the young man seated in the place of honor.

“All right.”

“You may sit down as well.”

Lin Yuan waved his sleeve.

Instantly, the force that had compelled the Evil Soldier envoys to stand dissipated.

The entire Qing Shi Grand Hall reverted to normal, and if it hadn’t been for the change of the person sitting in the main seat, many an envoy would have thought the preceding events were an illusion.

“This…”

The various Evil Soldier envoys exchanged glances, cold sweat beading on their foreheads.

At this moment, whether to sit, to stand, or to flee, none seemed appropriate.

“Not sitting?”

With a smile in the corner of his mouth, Lin Yuan looked towards the envoys.

In an instant, it felt as if a great mountain was pressing down upon them; all the envoys felt an immense force bearing down on their shoulders, their faces turning deathly pale and their legs trembling as they took their seats on the stone chairs.

“That’s more like it.”

A satisfied expression appeared on Lin Yuan’s face.

The other Evil Soldier envoys, however, were caught in a maelstrom of emotion.

Since Lin Yuan had entered the Qing Shi Grand Hall, it had only been the span of a few breaths.

But in this short period, he had suppressed all the envoys to the point where they hadn’t even been capable of a smidgen of resistance.

It wasn’t that the envoys hadn’t tried to resist.

It was that they had resisted, to no avail.

How could this be possible?

Even more incredible to the envoys was the fact that they hadn’t felt the slightest hint of a Divine Weapon’s aura from Lin Yuan.

Meaning, Lin Yuan wasn’t an envoy of the Divine Weapons.

He wasn’t an envoy, yet possessed power that surpassed the envoys.

Such a scene, defying all logic, made the hearts of the envoys shiver.

“Who are you, exactly…”

Atop the Qing Shi Grand Hall, Qingwu, who had been thrown from the main seat by Lin Yuan, barely managed to climb up, his eyes filled with dread as he looked towards Lin Yuan.

That throw had nearly shattered all his bones and internal organs; had it not been for the protection of the power of his Evil Soldier.

He would be dead beyond dead by now.

“Did I speak to you? Why are you intervening?”

Lin Yuan glanced at ‘Qingwu’.

Boom!

A tremendous force descended.

Qingwu’s face turned scarlet, and with a thud, he knelt on the ground.

This pitiful sight sent shivers down the spines of the other envoys.

Compared to Qingwu kneeling on the ground, they, the Evil Soldier envoys, were at least seated on stone chairs; albeit also ‘compelled,’ it at least appeared far more dignified.

“I ask a question, and you answer it.”

“If there’s anything else to add, feel free to do so.”

Lin Yuan casually spoke as he adjusted his sleeve.

Next.

Lin Yuan paid no heed to the thoughts of these envoys.

He asked directly:

“Why have you instigated this decisive battle?”

Although Lin Yuan had his suspicions, he still wanted to hear what these envoys would say.

“It’s like this…”

One of the envoys, unable to bear the pressure, spoke out.

What a joke.

Although up to this point, all eighteen of them were alive.

But with Lin Yuan’s recently displayed overwhelming strength, the envoy had no doubts that Lin Yuan had the power to kill them all completely.

In such a situation, none of the envoys would display a stance of defiance unto death.

Some of them had already attempted to communicate with their internal Evil Soldiers, seeking to revive them.

Even if they still couldn’t defeat Lin Yuan, at least there was hope for a full retreat.

But aside from the beginning, when the Evil Soldiers attempted to release power to oppose Lin Yuan,

Right now, all the Evil Soldiers within the envoys seemed to have vanished, completely disregarding the pleas of the envoys.

“This was the will of the Evil Soldier lords.”

“The Evil Soldier lords told us that within a hundred years, those thirty-six Divine Weapons will take that one step, reaching the domain of the Father God.”

“Therefore, we must exert our full strength, whatever the cost, to prevent this event from happening.”

“Otherwise, there will be no place for us in the heavens or on the earth.”

…

The multitude of envoys started speaking one after another, revealing roughly everything they knew.

It matched pretty closely with what Lin Yuan had surmised.

After eight thousand years of nurturing and slumber, those thirty-six Nation-Protecting Divine Weapons were indeed on the cusp of reaching the Fourth Rank.

This also highlighted the difficulty of advancing from the Third to the Fourth Rank.

Those thirty-six Divine Weapons were the external manifestations of this realm’s fundamental rules.

Yet even so, to step into the Fourth Rank was arduous.

What more for ordinary beings?

“Ancient Godly Being…”

Lin Yuan pondered with a contemplative look.

‘Father God,’ as mentioned by the envoys, referred to the Ancient Godly Being.

Ten thousand years ago, an Ancient Godly Being offered mountains and rivers, smelted the four seas, and eventually forged a hundred Divine Weapons.

This was the origin of all the current Divine Weapons.

Therefore, whether it’s the complete Divine Weapons or the fragmented Evil Soldiers, they all refer to that Ancient Godly Being from ten thousand years ago as ‘Father God’.

For decades, Lin Yuan had been trying to uncover more information about this ‘Ancient Godly Being’ and had found very little.

Even when forcibly seizing information from an Evil Soldier, due to their fragmented essence, he could only obtain a few glimpses from after ten thousand years.

As for the memories related to that Ancient Godly Being from before ten thousand years, and how the Divine Weapons were forged,

It all remained exceedingly vague.

The Evil Soldiers only knew ‘Father God’ was great, but the more specific, detailed memories were absent.

Lin Yuan was quite curious about that ‘Ancient Godly Being’.

In his view, that ‘Ancient Godly Being’ was at least a powerhouse at the Fourth Rank, or even someone who had advanced far within that tier.

Yet how could such a formidable being leave not a trace of information, even if they couldn’t live for ten thousand years?

Gathering his thoughts,

Lin Yuan’s gaze once again fell upon the envoys.

“I need your help with something.”

Lin Yuan spoke in a gentle tone, smiling as he said so.

This speech left all the evil soldier wielders present scratching their heads.

With the strength that Lin Yuan had revealed so far, it wasn’t a stretch to say that he could match a real Divine Weapon, so what could possibly require their help?

“Please, go ahead, sir.”

The evil soldier wielder who first answered Lin Yuan’s questions spoke cautiously.

“I would like to borrow a look at the evil soldiers within your bodies.”

Lin Yuan said calmly, his gaze steady.

With these words,

a hush fell over the crowd once again.

Then,

“Audacious!”

“How dare you!”

“Mortal, you’re courting death.”

…

Terrible fluctuations of spiritual force burst forth from each of the evil soldier wielders.

One by one, the phantom images of evil soldiers emerged, especially the ‘Qingwu,’ kneeling in the grand hall, within whom a nearly complete ‘giant axe’ phantom loomed.

The Divine Weapon ‘Splitting Heaven Axe.’

Lin Yuan’s gaze lingered on the phantom of this giant axe for a moment.

During the great battle of a hundred Divine Weapons 8,000 years ago, this ‘Splitting Heaven Axe’ was second only to those thirty-six most powerful Divine Weapons.

Even in defeat, it had retained most of its original body.

Initially, these evil soldiers intended to avoid Lin Yuan’s sharp edge after sensing his strength, which explained why none of them had responded despite the evil soldier wielders calling out to them.

But who could have imagined that Lin Yuan would be so audacious as to want to borrow a look at them?

“Not bad at all.”

Lin Yuan’s gaze turned slightly fervent.

He had specifically come here not just to confirm his suspicions.

His main objective was to collect more complete evil soldiers.

If Lin Yuan planned to ascend to Fourth Rank by the essence of the rules, he had to comprehend a great number of evil soldiers, perhaps even real Divine Weapons.

Thus, the more powerful these evil soldiers were, the better.

….

Outside the Qing Shi Grand Hall,

Sikong Lun looked worried, pacing back and forth.

“The lord has been impulsive again…”

Sikong Lun fretted.

After he and Lin Yuan arrived at the location as per the evil soldier wielders’ guidance,

Sikong Lun planned to enter the hall with Lin Yuan.

After all, compared to Lin Yuan, he, Sikong Lun, had plenty of experience communicating with those evil soldier wielders.

Knowing what the evil soldier wielders wanted, even if negotiations broke down, he and Lin Yuan still had a chance to leave unscathed.

At worst, they would pay a price.

But Lin Yuan had asked him to wait outside and went in alone.

This only made Sikong Lun more anxious.

He was aware of Lin Yuan’s strength.

Strong enough to easily suppress evil soldiers.

But, the evil soldier wielders inside the Qing Shi Grand Hall, which one of them was easy to deal with?

Those gathered here, their evil soldiers had an integrity of over fifty percent.

Far surpassing that piece of the Holy Heart Realm fragment from before.

There was even an evil soldier with ninety percent integrity, extremely close to a Divine Weapon.

With such power, yet Lin Yuan had walked in so boldly, what if negotiations went south? It would surely lead to a great loss.

Sikong Lun admitted Lin Yuan’s abilities but didn’t believe that Lin Yuan would be able to gain any advantage in front of so many powerful evil soldier wielders.

“There shouldn’t have been a fight.”

Sikong Lun let out a slight sigh of relief.

Given Lin Yuan’s methods and the strength of the evil soldier wielders,

if a real battle had ensued, it would have been earth-shattering, not this quiet.

This was a small comfort to Sikong Lun.

But only a small one.

Because Lin Yuan had yet to come out.

Not coming out.

It meant there was still uncertainty.

A great battle could still occur.

As Sikong Lun anxiously waited,

a figure slowly emerged from the entrance.

“Sir.”

Sikong Lun was overjoyed.

Thankfully, the worst hadn’t happened.

“Mmm.”

Lin Yuan nodded slightly, a smile on his face indicating his good mood.

“Take care of the people coming out behind me.”

After Lin Yuan finished speaking, he departed straight away.

“Take care of what?”

Sikong Lun was somewhat confused.

What people?

He remembered that Lin Yuan had gone in alone,

There were no others in the entire Qing Shi Grand Hall besides Lin Yuan and those powerful evil soldier wielders.

Just as Sikong Lun was puzzled,

the evil soldier wielders, led by ‘Qingwu,’ stepped out from the entrance, their faces pale and their bodies trembling.

Having the evil soldiers forcibly extracted was tantamount to extracting their bone marrow and muscles.

If it weren’t for Lin Yuan thinking that the souls and spirits of the evil soldier wielders were innately strong and might be useful later, they wouldn’t have survived.

“You?”

Seeing these evil soldier wielders, Sikong Lun put together their demeanor and realized that the ones Lin Yuan wanted him to take care of were these evil soldier wielders.

“This…”

Sikong Lun swallowed hard.

With his intelligence, he, of course, understood that if Lin Yuan asked him to take care of them, it meant these evil soldier wielders had already submitted.

Otherwise, even if he wanted to, they would not have allowed him to do so.

But this…

Sikong Lun felt a profound shock.

He had just been worried about Lin Yuan’s safety, concerned about Lin Yuan being at a disadvantage against the evil soldier wielders.

And now, seeing the ashen-faced eighteen evil soldier wielders… Sikong Lun looked up at the departing figure of Lin Yuan like one looks up to a ‘god.’