"Heh, we're only meeting for the first time and I've already been given two Earth-God Instruments?! Oh, Royal Dome sure is hospitable!" Chen Xiaobei laughed mockingly underneath his mask as he held both the Luminous Thunder Sword and Rising-Sun Mountain Breaking Axe in his hands.

Hospitable?!

When the imperial members of Royal Dome heard this derogatory remark, they nearly had a heart attack. Of all Royal Dome's population of tens of billions, they only had nine One-star Earth-God Instruments. They were national treasures of extreme importance!

To say that they had given two of their treasures away to a stranger as an act of 'hospitality' was enough to cause those old men to die of shock and anger!

"Idiots! Those two idiots' heads are full of shit! Even a three-year-old would not have lost it as quickly as they did! Dumbasses! Stupid!" shouted Second Wangye and Seventh Wangye behaving like ants on a hot stove.

The two Earth-God Instruments that had been 'given away' were their most important possessions! Losing it was even more upsetting than losing a wife to someone else!

"Heh. As the saying goes, one is not afraid of a godlike opponent but one is afraid of trashy teammates!" Chen Xiaobei was still hooting with laughter. "The both of you handed your Earth-God Instruments to two idiots? Not only did you lose the instruments, but you also caused their deaths! If you really think about it, you are the ones who are the trashy teammates here, right?"

"What… did you say…" All of a sudden, both the old men felt excruciating pain tear through their chests. They looked like they had just stomached a meal of hot dung.

Chen Xiaobei had pointed out the ugly truth – it was their carelessness, their underestimation of him that led them to this situation.

The princes also followed in their reckless footsteps and competed against each other for the credit of killing him.

When the Earth-God Instruments were given to them, both the Fourth Prince and Fifth Prince were so eager for the merit and recognition that they acted without considering the possibility of impending danger.

As a result, when things went awry, both princes panicked and lost it!

Their deaths by the Blood-Gods was something to be expected.

To put it mildly, Second and Seventh Wangye were the real culprits of the Fourth and Fifth Prince's demise.

If they had not underestimated Chen Xiaobei, if only they had warned and given the princes instructions, maybe the Fourth and Fifth Prince would still be alive! Or at least, their deaths wouldn't have been so grim!

Chen Xiaobei's statement alluded to the stupidity of both Wangye, causing them to lose all face. In their shame, they would not find it in them to even lift their heads an inch!

"Second brother! Seventh brother! You lost the Earth-God Instruments. You should retire backstage!" Third Wangye said.

Clearly, this carried a double meaning.

Its literal meaning was that both Wangye had lost their ability to fight and should retreat to somewhere safe.

The underlying message was actually – since Second Wangye and Seventh Wangye lost their most important gaming chips, they had also lost their positions in the crest of Royal Dome's pyramid. From now on, they would be second in line; their rank and status one rung lower than the rest of the other Wangye.

Power would forever be the unchanging truth, the deciding factor of all things!

Losing the Earth-God Instruments meant losing position, authority, wealth… that was the harsh reality. The cold, hard truth!

Second Wangye and Seventh Wangye wanted to scream in frustration but instead, they only stepped back and retreated obediently.

The plain truth was laid right in front of them. No words could ever change that!

"Let's attack together!" shouted Third Wangye as he unsheathed a sword. "That man in the black robe already has two Earth-God Instruments! We cannot afford to be careless! We have to win this fight! We're not allowed to lose!"

"Yes!" Ninth Wangye nodded. "We cannot lose! We have to take this guy down! We cannot bother our eldest Wangye!"

"Well, duh!" Sixth Wangye answered. "The crown prince has just died, and our brother had to watch his sons die one after the other before him! If we bother him over this small matter, we will suffer for the rest of our days!"

"Aren't you all too pessimistic, brothers?" Tenth Wangye grinned. "Excluding second brother and seventh brother, we still have seven demigods and seven Earth-God Instruments! On top of that, we have an abundant supply of Spiritual Qi from Royal Dome's Spiritual Channel! We have everything going on for us. How could we possibly lose?"

"With caution, you could sail for thousands of years*! Better not underestimate the enemy…" Third Wangye warned. Before he could even finish, Tenth Wangye was already charging towards Chen Xiaobei.

"Royal Dome Mystical Moon Slash!" shouted Tenth Wangye who took the lead with a silver pike in his hand.

The formation that controlled the Spiritual Channel below the ground began to move.

A rush of Spiritual Qi was released and the silver pike took it all in like a hungry horse.

Of course, only the imperial members of Royal Dome had control of this formation, keeping the Spiritual Qi from escaping and the enemy from stealing.

After absorbing about 10 million low-grade Spiritual Stones' worth of Spiritual Qi, the pike unleashed the strength of an Earth-God.

Then, Tenth Wangye swung his weapon and painted a silver arc across the sky.

From the top, it looked like a silver crescent moon thrusting its way into the blood-red ocean of fire.

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

The crescent moon was swift and strong!

Its shockwave alone crushed all the rocks and trees in its path until they were piles of dust.

Blinding silver light shoved into the red as if a silver moon had risen above an ocean of blood. It had completely changed the color of the skies and the ground.

Zing!

The silver moon's slash unforgivingly penetrated the domain of the Blood God's Deity-killing painting! Right now, the painting was only equivalent to an Eight-star Spiritual Instrument and was no match for Tenth Wangye's Earth-God Instrument. The silver moon then bulldozed its way in and the red fiery ocean was pushed backward!

Zing! Zing! Zing!

The silver crescent moon sliced through the guts of the Royal Dome soldiers trapped inside the blood-colored ocean of fire!

Although the flames were pushed backward, the soldiers that were not killed by the Blood-Gods had eventually died in the hands of one of their own leaders!

Such grievous deaths!

"See! That's such a simple fight! How could we lose? Hahaha…" Tenth Wangye won with a single strike. He threw his head backward and laughed as if he had everything under control.

It was now apparent that Tenth Wangye could not care less for the thousands of dead Royal Dome soldiers.

"That guy has our Earth-God Instruments but he doesn't have the Spiritual Qi to power them! That's like a tiger without its claws! What's the difference between him and a sick cat?" Tenth Wangye claimed triumphantly as he continued his pompous pursuit.

"I'm taking his head!"

Tenth Wangye tore forward; the long, slender pike in his hand sucking up the Spiritual Qi from the ground.

He screamed, "Royal Dome Heaven Fissure Strike!" and raised his pike over his head with both hands before thrusting it downwards and towards Chen Xiaobei's head!

The actual fight had only just begun!

Footnote:

With caution, you could sail for thousands of years: Better to be safe than sorry/ You can never be too careful.