The Era of Gods

Chapter 601: Chapter 601 Turning Against Each Other

“What’s wrong? Is there something off with this Spatial Waymarker?” @@novelbin@@

Lin Xiao, Blood Demons, and Thor all looked at White Snake and asked.

With furrowed brows, White Snake answered:

“The Spatial Waymarker itself is fine, but the location it’s connected to seems to be disturbed by some force, making it unstable.”

“Discovered?”

Blood Demons continued:

“Where did you set the other end of the Waymarker?”

“In a Floating Island within Starworld; a place I’ve explored before. There are only a few Star Realm Beings wandering around, and no sign of other ancients within a great distance, not to mention a God Country.”

“And now?”

“Now it seems to be disturbed by some force, the connection is intermittent and unclear, as if a vast Starworld storm has passed through and caused the disruption.”

Without saying it, everyone understood that regardless of whether the interference was from a Starworld storm or something else, it meant that they could no longer use this Waymarker.

If it were just a storm, that would be one thing; the main fear, however, was that some powerful existence had discovered the Waymarker and laid a trap. If they weren’t careful, one wrong step could lead them directly into a trap, and the whole team would be finished.

The natives of this world were not like NPCs in a game; they too possessed high intelligence and could set up ambushes to hunt them down.

“So, what do we do now?”

Everyone exchanged glances. Thor, usually quiet, spoke up:

“A long time ago, I left a Spatial Waymarker. Although the transmission location is a bit far from the God Country of the Gods of Fear and Hatred in Starworld, it’s still much faster than us slowly making our way there. If you’re willing to pay a thousand Godforce Crystals, I will contribute this Waymarker.”

White Snake’s expression brightened:

“That would work.”

He looked at Lin Xiao and sincerely said:

“How about it? This will save us a great deal of time compared to traveling from here, and avoid potential dangers along the way.”

Lin Xiao hesitated slightly, and White Snake added:

“Of course, this screw-up is on me. I failed to hide the coordinates properly, so I’ll cover seventy percent of the cost of the thousand Godforce Crystals. How’s that?”

“I see…”

Just as Lin Xiao was about to agree, he felt his eyelids twitch and a sense of alertness arose within him.

“Something’s fishy!”

His gaze swept over the three. White Snake’s smile seemed genuine, Blood Demons and Thor displayed the same expression as before, which appeared to be quite normal.

But at his level of strength, a sudden feeling of alarm could not be wrong.

With a slight smile, he said:

“Let’s not, it’s better to be safe. Let’s build a new Waymarker and try again.”

White Snake’s face twisted with difficulty and he said:

“I had borrowed a large-scale War God Artifact for this operation, and the rental fees are substantial every day. This delay is something I cannot afford.”

Lin Xiao spread his hands apologetically:

“That’s unfortunate, but for the sake of our safety, a necessary wait is worthwhile.”

His expression unchanged, he glanced over the three and suggested:

“Let’s wait another month to see how things develop. Meanwhile, I’ll go prepare a Demigod Artifact to be fully ready. We’ll meet here again in a month.”

He turned to White Snake:

“You can afford to wait a month, right?”

White Snake pondered for a moment and then nodded:

“If it’s just a month, I can afford it. You’re right, safety is the most important. Shall we come back in a month?”

“Yes, we’ll return in a month.”

Using a weak spot in space, the group returned to the Primary Material Plane and back to Snake Country as usual. He returned to his temporary residence like before, and immediately communicated with his True Body through the Creation Rubik’s Cube.

Now back in the Fifth Level Yan Huang’s Super War Fortress, Lin Xiao quickly found Xie Yufei and sent her the information on White Snake, Blood Demons, and Thor, asking her to use the Fifth War Zone’s channels to investigate these three.

He hadn’t paid attention before, but now with an ominous premonition and careful consideration of the unusually appearing Blood Demons and Thor and their actions, he sensed that something was amiss.

Under normal circumstances, he would be considered paranoid, as he had no enemies in this world who would wish to harm him.

But when taking into account the recent demise of the Emperor of Myriad Forms, and his automatic entry into a competitive state with Phoenix and Shadow Wind, there was no guarantee that this wasn’t one of them targeting him.

Although directly attacking was forbidden, preemptively weakening an opponent was within the rules.

Given their status and the power backing them, finding out about the world where his Incarnation of God descended wasn’t difficult, and orchestrating a plot in secret would be easy for them.

In Lin Xiao’s current state, he had ascended to Weak Divine Power, commanded the Giant God Combat Team, and with support from the Fifth War Zone, he was still weaker than the other two but qualified to compete. If he could maintain this jaw-dropping growth rate, there might be a chance to overturn them in the future.

To nip the problem in the bud would be even better; if Lin Xiao were in their shoes, he would have done the same.

The intelligence department of the Fifth War Zone worked very efficiently, quickly identifying who the True Bodies of White Snake, Blood Demons, and Thor were, but found no connections between them and Shadow Wind or Phoenix. Even their subordinates or friends had no relations with the friends or subordinates of Phoenix and Shadow Wind.

It seemed there was no anomaly.

However, the intelligence department of the Fifth Level War Zone found no relationship whatsoever between White Snake and Blood Demon Thor.

The relationship was spotlessly clean, but it was this very cleanliness, the complete lack of any ties, that constituted the biggest problem.

Whether it was Phoenix and Shadow Wind wanting to target him or not, they would definitely disassociate themselves, which was, without a doubt, something within their capabilities and connections to achieve; there was no need to fixate on that.

It didn’t matter if they couldn’t catch any flaws in Phoenix and Shadow Wind; as long as they could catch a slip-up from White Snake, that would suffice.

A group of people with no previous connections, who had only occasionally interacted on this strange world’s channels and were unacquainted, suddenly coming together—this couldn’t help but seem abnormal.

However, earlier on, White Snake had introduced them to Lin Xiao as friends, which contradicted the findings, indicating a problem.

Compared to White Snake’s account, Lin Xiao trusted the intelligence department of the Fifth Level War Zone more.

Therefore, after reviewing all the gathered information, Lin Xiao concluded there was definitely something wrong with White Snake and Blood Demon Thor.

Having determined there was a problem, he certainly wouldn’t foolishly continue to follow them, nor would he consider setting up an ambush in return—that would be idiotic. In this world, he had no power to speak of, so on what grounds could he set up a counter-ambush? Maybe on the fleeting favor of the will of the world?

Half a month later, White Snake and Blood Demon Thor arrived at Lin Xiao’s temporary residence at the same time, barging in without even knocking and looking sullen at the sight of Lin Xiao, who was seated cross-legged inside the stone chamber.

“Have we been discovered?”

White Snake whispered,

“It seems like it. I told you not to play any tricks. We should just attack him openly once we enter the Starworld. With the combined strength of us three surrounding him, what could he possibly do to turn the tables?”

Blood Demon Thor snorted coldly and said nothing.

Thor’s expression turned ugly as he spoke,

“Since he’s been discovered, there’s nothing more to say. Find him and kill him.”

“Where should we look?”

“Right here!”

“Who?”

The three’s expressions changed drastically as they looked around the room. The figure they had thought was an illusion, Lin Xiao, slowly opened his eyes and gazed at them.

“Fuck, Shadow Rule!”

White Snake’s complexion turned particularly ugly, realizing Lin Xiao had overheard their entire conversation.

There might have been room for debate before, but not when he’d directly overheard them.

Being caught red-handed was frustrating, and even more infuriating when they couldn’t find the person in question. This was just an illusion that would shatter without their interference. The three exchanged looks. Suddenly, White Snake snorted coldly and dispelled the illusion with a wave of his hand, then spoke to the others,

“I have a way to deal with him, but it will come at a substantial price.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“Firstly, we’ll put a bounty on him in our name through our channels, and also hang a high reward among the native relationships we have cultivated over the years. As soon as he is located, we initiate the battle of the God Realm.”

“Sons of God Realm are forbidden from internal warfare, but we just need not kill his True Body; we need only to weaken and plunder his Divine Realm and severely injure his Incarnation of God, destroying this Godly Incarnation.”

“I’ll take care of the bounty among the natives. Who will deal with the channel bounty?”

White Snake looked to the others. Blood Demon Thor kept silent, his voice cold,

“You found me, and now you want to remain uninvolved?”

Blood Demon sighed and said,

“I’ll take care of the bounty. My reputation isn’t that great anyway.”

“We should increase the bounty a bit, after all, we won’t be the ones paying in the end.”

“I know.”

“What if he simply returns? We can’t stop him from going back directly.”

“He won’t. Anybody with a little pride wouldn’t return with his tail between his legs. He’s bound to take his revenge. He achieved Divine Enthronement at a young age—full of youthful vigor, how could he just slink away without a fight?”

White Snake confidently asserted.

Five days later, having left Ley Kingdom, Lin Xiao passed through a certain city and found his own bounty at the local Adventurer Association. A bounty set with several Law Fragments was highly attractive to the natives.

Not long after, a bounty appeared in the channel specifically targeting him: one large Primary Material Plane and several God Levels between five and nine, with any Godhood to choose from.

This announcement immediately drew out dozens of Sons of God Realm, previously in hiding, who surfaced and began to discuss what had happened.

White Snake and the others didn’t care that Lin Xiao could hear this in the channel. They blatantly lied, pinning on him the theft of a War Rule Fragment, and this instantly piqued the interest of several Sons of God Realm.

In any world, the War rules are incredibly powerful, and the Gods of War rank among the most formidable Deities in any realm. This allegation stirred the interest of many Sons of God Realm.

Logically, such a frame-up wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny, but also wasn’t easily dismissed; even if most Sons of God Realm didn’t believe it, there would always be some who were willing to give it a shot. Not to mention, the rewards offered were enough to sway some of the less successful Sons of God Realm.

Lin Xiao only watched for a moment before leaving a message,

“I did not steal the War Rule!”

Explaining was useless, but he couldn’t just not explain, whether others believed it or not wasn’t his concern.

Following that, Lin Xiao used his Extraordinary godhood abilities to Change Form and altered his appearance. As for the bizarre horse pulling his carriage, he let it go, blending into a caravan and quickly disappearing into the vast crowd.

He would lay low for a while, but he was actually seeking an opportunity.

Returning directly would mean they could only watch helplessly, but as White Snake said, anyone with a bit of pride wouldn’t just slink away. He would certainly teach them a lesson.

Of course, Lin Xiao was not one to act rashly. He would not have remained if he didn’t have confidence in his chances; otherwise, he would have fled already.