The Era of Gods

Chapter 598: Chapter 598: Hunting the Elders Part Two

The greatest gain from this encounter was not only the mastery of Laws from killing two Ancient beings, but the unexpected contact with the will of the universe, granting me an authority.

Whenever I use the Judgement spell against the Ancient beings of this world, I will now receive an augmentation from the world’s will, causing my Judgement spell’s power to surge to the level of the Great Judgement Skill. This would easily enable me to suppress beings like The Furious One, who are on par with Ancient beings of Rank 3, or even stronger beings of Rank 2.

Currently, my strength is equivalent to Rank 1, and with the Great Judgement Skill, I can suppress most Ancient beings of the same rank.

Even Transcendent beings of Sequence Zero could be contested with the Great Judgement Skill.

From this, it’s apparent that the will of the Crystal Wall Universe seems to be dissatisfied with the chaotic state of the world and intends to cleanse these Ancient beings.

Given this, I feel that my upcoming plans need to be carefully revised.

Since this world intends to rid itself of these Ancient beings, and I’ve come across them, perhaps I can take this opportunity to hunt more of them down and obtain more Laws.

This would be akin to hunting True Gods in other worlds, except for the absence of Divinity, but the Laws embodied are truly tangible.

A month later, a carriage appeared near a city named Anta.

This city belonged to an Ancient god under the thrall of an evil Sect known as the Dark Shepherd, who mastered the Law of ‘Growth’.

While the Law itself is not dark, the True God who wielded it could not be deemed evil strictly speaking. However, as this being was not human and had a penchant for using human corpses as fertilizer to cultivate Tree Men, this habit was deemed exceedingly vile from the perspective of humans.

The Dark Shepherd, who could occupy a city, had strength surpassing The Furious One’s, roughly equivalent to Rank 2.

His career system is called Shepherd, and unlike other systems, there’s a significant difference in the naming of its ranks; starting with planting a transcendent Tree Man seed within the Shepherd’s body for symbiosis, career advancement then involves nurturing the seed’s growth until the individual and the Tree Man merge into one to form a new Transcendent Tree Man.

The Shepherd career system peaks at Rank 7, at which stage one can ascend as a Transcendent Ancient Tree of Rank 3.

The domain of the Dark Shepherd is a vast primeval forest populated by countless towering trees, most of which are true trees, but some are Tree Men transformed from the corpses of Shepherds upon their death.

Within this domain, the Dark Shepherd could harness the power of all the deceased Shepherds, and even the intrusion of an ant would not escape his notice.

Lin Xiao observed the ancient forest for a long time and confirmed that the Dark Shepherd had mastered not only the Law of ‘Growth’ but also other derivative Laws such as those of trees and reproduction.

These Laws are not strong but quite troublesome to deal with, especially considering this sprawling forest extending for hundreds of kilometers, making it incredibly difficult to eliminate the Dark Shepherd here.

Considering that the Law of ‘Growth’ seemed to be of little use to him, Lin Xiao pondered for a long while before ultimately deciding to leave.

After all, there was no obligatory transaction between him and the world’s will; benefits were obtained just by killing Ancient beings, but which ones to kill was left entirely to his discretion.

Two more months passed, and Lin Xiao appeared near a vast swamp, venturing in alone to eliminate an Ancient Dominator that dwelled within.

This was an Ancient Dominator born from a nameless ancient insect that had gained the Power of Laws. Its power was not much different from the Dark Shepherd, having reigned over this swamp for tens of thousands of years until it encountered Lin Xiao.

This creature had mastered a derivative Law of ‘Water’ called ‘Aquatic Beings,’ from the ninety-nine Basic Lower-Level Rules, which was not very useful to Lin Xiao. However, by slaying this being, he could obtain the Ancient Dominator’s corpse and cultivate powerful subordinates who could inherit a portion of the Ancient’s Strength.

In the following years, rumors slowly spread throughout the Ley Kingdom and its surrounding territories that a carriage carrying an ancient being was hunting other Ancients, with no less than ten having died at the hands of the carriage owner.

As time passed, the fame of the carriage owner began to circulate within the Ley Kingdom, with many speculating about this powerful entity’s identity and others seeking him out, hoping to gain formidable Strength.

One morning, with the early sunlight shining on a stone pillar, a python thicker than a human wrapped around it, basking in the rising sun’s rays.

A carriage emerged from the thick fog, appearing out of thin air in the Void without falling, pulled by a strange steed that flew to the top of the pillar, where it stamped its hooves, sending ripples through the air and blasting the python coiled on the pillar into pulp.

The strange steed opened its mouth to reveal sharp teeth with a ghastly smile, pulling the carriage to a halt on top of the pillar.

A woman with fair hands parted the carriage curtains to reveal a charming face, glanced around, and then retracted into the carriage. A female voice came from within:

“We’ve arrived.”

The curtains parted, and Lin Xiao, assisted by Li Mei, stepped out onto the top of the pillar. Looking down along the pillar, one could see the area was filled with serpentine creatures coiling on stone pillars and the ground—this was a world full of snakes.

This was Snake Country, the dominion of an Ancient Dominator whose true form and name were simply ‘Snake’.

This place was already beyond the boundaries of the Ley Kingdom. After years of mass slaughter within the Ley Kingdom, he had stirred the vigilance of many Ancients there.

Considering that continuing the slaughter would definitely lead to being besieged, he decided to switch locations to recuperate and, incidentally, to enhance his strength.

This Ancient ruler named ‘Snake’ was originally a serpent. The area it lived in was teeming with snakes, but there were no Snake people, because this Crystal Wall Universe did not have the Snake people Race.

Lin Xiao had chosen this Ancient ruler as his target because the rules it mastered were exactly the same as his own, that is, Chaos.

The Chaos Rules themselves were very, very powerful. If one could fully master them, they would definitely be comparable to the Ancient gods with Powerful Divine Power.

But these rules were incomplete and had been divided among many Ancients. Lin Xiao was only in control of a small portion of them, even less than what ‘Snake,’ the Ancient ruler he was about to face, held.

Lin Xiao had a premonition that as long as he killed Snake and seized the Chaos it controlled, merging it with his own, he would break through the limit of Sequence 1 and ascend to the level of Sequence Zero, becoming the strongest being just below the Ancient gods of this world.

Just then, a dull thunderous sound suddenly came from the distance. An intangible force emanated from afar, causing the vast Snake Country to tremble, and countless snakes of all sizes scurried away in terror.

Following that, the Earth began to shake. The booming sounds approached from the distance, accompanied by powerful roars and vibrations, as a succession of gigantic pythons, as large as trains, slithered their way from afar.

Snake had discovered him.

But Lin Xiao’s gaze was not on these giant pythons; instead, he looked towards a distant direction. In the depths of the Snake Country, dominated by ten-thousand snakes, a super White Snake nearly a kilometer long extended across the Void in an ascension pose, pulses of power akin to the Chaos Rules he controlled radiated out continuously, stirring the entire Snake Country, and countless serpents charged towards him.

“It wants to exhaust your strength,”

Li Mei told him:

“I’ll hold off these snakes, you go and deal with that one.”

Lin Xiao nodded without hesitation and soared into the sky, heading directly into the depths of the Snake Country. @@novelbin@@

The Li Mei of the past definitely did not possess the ability to hold off so many snakes, but having followed him for years, offering insights and her body, she made him quite comfortable. Lin Xiao was never the type to freeload without giving anything in return. Naturally, he gave her benefits beyond her imagination, a portion of the Rules once controlled by an Ancient that he had slain.

The source of an Ancient’s strength was the Rules they controlled. As long as one controlled a portion of the Rules, they would naturally become an Ancient.

The Rule she inherited was ‘Cold,’ a subordinate branch of water-related Rules. Because it was incomplete, its upper limit was Sequence 2.

If she could find other Ancients who held the Cold Rules and seize them, it was not impossible for her to leap to Sequence 1, which would be equivalent to a True God of other worlds. This would be an enormous opportunity for Li Mei. If fortune favored her, perhaps she could use this chance to elevate her True Body beyond the limits of Humanity and ascend to True Godhood.

Cold was a subordinate branch of the water-related Rules, and if she could gather other related Rules, she could synthesize the powerful water Rule.

With her ability, ascending to Medium Divine Power was difficult; she did not dream so far. But even if it was only Weak Divine Power, a Divinity related to water was definitely stronger than other minor ones.

With a burst of intense cold air, Lin Xiao turned into a Meteor, crossing tens of kilometers to reach the depths of Snake Country. From afar, he saw the White Snake that spanned the Void still in the same pose, motionless. The surging Chaos Field, like a pulse, kept exploding and severely disturbed his perception. Lin Xiao vaguely sensed that the White Snake was up to something, but the interference from the Chaos Field made it unclear what it was doing.

However, as he rapidly approached, he could soon see with his naked eye—a Gate of Light stood erect in the Void in front of the White Snake, a force… that felt very familiar to Lin Xiao washed over him.

“…Son of the Human Divine Realm?”

The White Snake violently turned its head, and Lin Xiao was also stunned.

“Fuck!”

Lin Xiao had not expected that this White Snake was actually an incarnation of a Son of the Human Divine Realm, and the summoning Gate of Light was a Divine Realm Gate.

Clearly, the White Snake felt unsure about dealing with Lin Xiao, so it had opened the Divine Realm Gate, preparing to call forth the strong ones from its own Divine Realm and the True Body to face him.

The aura leaking from the Gate indicated that its True Body was a True God, and not a weak one at that. Although it had not reached Medium Divine Power, it was definitely above the standard Weak Divine Power. If the True Body, several incarnations, and many powerful beings from within its Divine Realm all surged forth, Lin Xiao really might flip his car here.

Since it turned out to be from the same Human Divine Realm, the fight was not going to happen.

With a long howl, the agitated Snake Country slowly calmed down. Li Mei and a bizarre horse-drawn carriage arrived to meet up with him.