1406 Closed-Door Cultivation

After breakfasting with Mr. Fu, Lin Huang returned to the Emperor Palace and immediately notified Huang Tianfu, Zhi Ji, and the Sword Servants that he was going into closed-door cultivation.

Once that was done, he immediately initiated the barrier around the Emperor Palace, entered closed-door cultivation, and began refining the Divine Fire in his body full-force.

Within half a day of Lin Huang's retreat into closed-door cultivation, the news of His Majesty's return filtered out from within Dynasty's inner circle.

For a while, this stirred up a heated discussion on social networking platforms.

After all, a year ago, Lin Huang had always been an influential figure in major social networking platform rankings and media news.

He had left the gravel world for a year and disappeared from public view the entire time. Now that he was back, many people recalled when the major rankings dreaded being dominated by the name "Lin Huang".

When Lin Huang vanished without a trace, most people did not actually know where he had gone. Then again, he did not disclose the news of his leaving the gravel world; only the upper echelons of the major organizations were aware of this. 

Although there were also opinions expressed on the internet that Lin Huang had gone to the great world, not many people were willing to believe it.

This time, however, the individual on the internet who provided the scoop on the Emperor's return seemed to be someone who knew about the details of the matter.

A post entitled "The Return of The Emperor" not only included the specific date of Lin Huang's return but also revealed that he had killed a true god-level monster upon his arrival.

In the beginning, replies to this post were all flames, accusing the original poster of making up stories.

However, the news of Lin Huang's return was verified later on. Not only that, but it was also revealed that the Union Government had asked the major organizations to form a virtual god-level team. However, the authorities had then sent a message stating that the crisis had been resolved

As more and more news appeared, both genuine and fake, everyone gradually began to believe that Lin Huang—who had previously dominated the ranks—had really returned after all.

More and more people also began to believe that Lin Huang had been to the great world.

As a result, a new round of discussion on Lin Huang began on all major social media forums.

One of the most discussed topics was, "What is this great world like—the one that Lin Huang had been to?"

On Dynasty's side, the upper echelons were practically harassed by the media for a spell.

In the cultivation world, the great world was originally a place that only existed in legend; no one had ever returned after going there.

However, Dynasty's answer to everyone in the outside world was just a single sentence.

"His Majesty has entered closed-door cultivation; we don't know when exactly he will emerge."

Only the Union Government, the Hunter Association, and other top organizations received certain information released by Dynasty.

This piece of information about the great world was part of what Lin Huang had mentioned at the meeting with Dynasty. Before he entered closed-door cultivation, he had specifically told Huang Tianfu that there was no need to conceal this news, as it would help the Union Government and the other top organizations to be aware of the kind of crisis they were about to face.

However, this piece of information also concealed the part that he had mentioned in conversation with Mr. Fu.

After receiving the news about the great world from Dynasty, all the top organizations immediately held a meeting at the first possible instance to discuss further developments and response strategies.

After that, practically all the organizations that received the news made similar decisions.

All imperial-levels, demigods, and Virtual Gods within the organizations began to frantically explore the wastelands and ruins, seizing cultivation resources on a large scale.

Dynasty and Misery were no exceptions.

Once they sensed the anomalies happening in the top organizations, other organizations all began to make inquiries, so more and more people became aware of the information on the great world.

…

While Lin Huang was in closed-door cultivation, Lin Xin was doing the same as well.

She would eat one Godhead every two or three days, and then eat another after the first had assimilated.

After she had eaten twelve Virtual God rank-1 Godheads in a row, she finally began to condense the Godhead within her...

Meanwhile, Xiao Mo had been in the Peaceful Ocean.

With the twelve Sword Servants, he had been searching for the hiding place of the Crow God's will projection.

The other Sword Servants also adapted to their roles very quickly.

Sword101 and Sword102 became Lin Huang's new bodyguards, and the two continuously kept watch at the entrance of the Emperor Palace.

The twenty Sword Servants who stayed in Dynasty and Misery also found their positions within the organizations. Some participated in various meetings with the upper echelons and even got involved in decision-making, while others did not care about anything and just focused on obtaining cultivation resources.

As for the group of people who formed the Sword Alliance, they began to spread out in various Safety Zones, using a variety of methods to search for young people with Sword Dao talent.

…

In the Emperor Palace, Lin Huang's refining of the Divine Fire went smoothly.

The proportion of Divine Fire being refined was steadily improving every day.

Almost a month later, ten pieces of fourth-rank Divine Fire tinder had been completely refined and integrated.

The Divine Fire within Lin Huang's body transformed again, and the Godhead quickly metamorphosized once more under the Divine Fire's refinement.

After successfully advancing to Virtual God rank-4, Lin Huang did not have the slightest intention of resting. He immediately took out ten pieces of fifth-rank Divine Fire tinder, threw them into his inner world, and started a new round of refining and integration.

…

On the same day, Lin Xin, who was only a few hundred meters away from Lin Huang, successfully condensed her own Godhead in another house.

Amid the sensations of advancing to virtual god-level, Lin Xin vaguely felt that she was dozens of times stronger.

"Have I become this much stronger after advancing to virtual god-level?"

Not only had there been an increase in her combat strength, but her physical body and spiritual strength had also transformed in nature. What surprised and delighted Lin Xin even more was that she seemed to have completely inherited the inheritance memories of the twelve Godheads.

She could even directly use all the skills of the owners of the twelve Godheads.

After elevating to virtual god-level, Lin Xin immediately thought of sharing this good news with her brother. When she pulled up her message page, however, she saw the message that Lin Huang had sent almost over a month ago.

"My brother has also entered closed-door cultivation... Then I'll continue with it to improve my combat effectiveness."

Lin Xin thought for a while and sat back properly.

She took out a Virtual God rank-2 Godhead from the storage space and threw it into her mouth...

…

One month had passed since the news of Lin Huang's return but he never made an appearance. The popularity of his name on major social networking platforms had long since faded. Since the media had not received the desired response, everyone's attention gradually shifted to other topics.

However, what most ordinary cultivators did not know was that while they had been engaged in gossiping, the information that Lin Huang had shared upon his return had allowed all the major organizations to enter an unprecedented state of combat readiness.

Even the organizations that ordinarily had conflicts with each other had temporarily put aside their issues. They began to work hard to improve the overall abilities of the organizations so they could survive the coming war.

The Union Government, the Hunter Association, and other top organizations were racing against time and did not dare to relax...