The Era of Gods

Chapter 617: Chapter 617 Exchange and Contract

The giant formed by the black beetles opened its mouth and spewed out a stream of beetles, Lin Xiao’s sharp eyes could even see the sinister mouthparts of these soybean-sized insects.

He didn’t hesitate to draw his sword and thrust forward, as his wrist vibrated, the blade also vibrated at high speed, precisely shattering each beetle.

With more than ten times the strength and agility of normal people, combined with his own exquisite combat experience and skills, he easily countered the attack that would have thrown ordinary people into disarray.

In the Divine Realm, the masses of the Clan had gathered all their combat experience and skills in the ancient arena, which Lin Xiao had thoroughly mastered. After years of accumulation, Lin Xiao’s combat skills were unimaginable to ordinary people, and even the term Sword Saint couldn’t adequately describe his swordsmanship.

Driven to a corner, he had no choice but to go all out, even if it meant dying in battle, he would not make it easy for his opponent.

Thousand after thousand of black beetles were precisely killed, with no fish slipping through the net, which left Julian quite astonished, then he snorted coldly as the beetle giant collapsed, turning into a vast flood of beetles rushing towards him.

Lin Xiao quickly recited a spell, bestowing himself with a Zero Ring Wizard Technique: Air Shield, and a Zero Ring Wizard Technique: Wind Speed to accelerate himself, holding his sword vertically in front of him as he coldly watched the beetle flood surge forward.

Ten meters, eight meters, five meters, three meters… he took a deep breath and stepped forward, his wrist flicked, and in an instant, countless points of starlight exploded like fireworks, then dispersed like myriad stars scattered across the sky, numerous black beetles were dotted to death or sliced in half, piling up corpses of insects in front of him.

In just an instant of contact, thousands of black beetles were killed, and the death toll was still rising.

In that moment, Lin Xiao unleashed his true abilities; his superior sword skills in combination with a strong spirit strictly controlled the space in front of him, forming a silver galaxy with the sword light that staunchly blocked the incoming black beetles.

There is an idiom to describe someone’s formidable swordsmanship: “Not even a drop of water can penetrate.”

At this moment, Lin Xiao’s display of sword skills had reached such a level, and Julian had never seen such exquisite swordsmanship. He was so stunned at first that by the time he reacted, nearly a fifth of the beetles he had bred had died, causing him great distress, he snorted coldly and pointed with a ghostly hand.

The next second, Lin Xiao sensed a strong threat coming from behind him. Subconsciously, he sidestepped a few meters, but rather than dissipating, the threat rapidly approached. His keen spirit allowed him to detect the distortion in the air. The head of a transparent entity flickered in and out of view as it lunged to bite him, and he swiftly raised his hand to stab at the serpent’s eye with his sword.

“Ding!”

Amidst the sparks, the enormous head of the Crystal King Snake emerged out of thin air, a powerful torrent of strength burst forth, forcefully parrying the longsword in his hand and the remaining force struck his chest, knocking him into the swarm of black beetles.

The overpowering, absolute strength and physical prowess made it impossible for him to utilize any sword techniques or skills.

Whether overcoming technique with brute force, or overcoming brute force with technique, the premise is that the gap in strength is not too vast—the premise is being able to hit or injure the opponent.

“`

If you can’t hit your opponent, even the strength to uproot mountains can’t kill a mosquito.

If your attack is insufficient, no matter how much you attack, you won’t injure a single hair.

At this moment, however outstanding Lin Xiao’s swordsmanship and skills were, how could he fight if he couldn’t even break through the enemy’s scales?

Charging into the swarm of beetles, countless beetles pounced on him instantly; he immediately closed his eyes, nose, ears, and other senses to withstand the attack. Within moments, every inch of skin was stinging with pain, quickly turning him into a bloody mess.

Even though his physical body was far stronger than ordinary humans, a bite would still leave a mark; the beetles relentlessly bit and chewed through his skin, tougher than cowhide, tearing into his flesh.

Regaining his composure, Lin Xiao flipped over into a crouch, his muscles slightly trembling to shake off the beetles clinging to his body; he clenched his fist and punched out. The air for several feet around his fist violently shook, throwing off the black beetles caught in the severe vibration, toppling them about, and he took the chance to burst out of the encirclement. Before he could even stabilize himself, a transparent chain descended from the sky and locked him in place. Following closely, Julian’s figure materialized in front of him, stretching out a crystal finger that had become transparent at some point and pressed it against his forehead.

A gaping hole instantly appeared on Lin Xiao’s forehead, revealing a cracked skull with flesh collapsing around it as a pulse of gold-colored blood, which sent a shiver through Julian, gushed out. However, Lin Xiao’s face showed no sign of pain; on the contrary, his blood-covered face even sported a smug smile.

Julian, feeling an intense shudder in his heart, immediately wanted to retreat, but it was already too late. A vast divine majesty descended in that moment, solidifying everything within tens of kilometers.

Not far away, Mysterious Valley radiated brightly as a transparent dome that covered the entire valley appeared slowly with this immense divine power, and the massive face of a monstrous creature emerged in the valley, staring at the Vault of Heaven and emitting a silent roar.

In the center of this terrifying divine power, whether it was the black beetles, the Crystal King Snake, or the bloodied Lin Xiao and the pale-faced Julian, all were frozen like insects trapped in amber, unable to move.

Lin Xiao, feeling the terrifying divine power with his blood-soaked, fierce face, struggled to form a grim smile:

“Since I’m dying anyway, might as well take a cushion with me to death!”

Just a moment ago, he had drawn a large amount of Divine Blood that contained the strength of the Titan Ancient Gods, which did not belong to the Wizard World, directly from the Creation Rubik’s Cube, instantly triggering a massive reaction in this world and bringing down the divine punishment.

Under this vast, abyss-like terrifying power, he could do nothing except think; he could only watch helplessly as this immense power infiltrated his body, decomposing his flesh and bones.

But the ones to die the quickest were these black beetles; despite their numbers, their individual strength was too weak, and they disintegrated into dust first yet still maintained their insectoid shape due to being frozen in place.

Next, the hard crystal scales of the Crystal King Snake cracked open, shattering into countless pieces like broken glass, with traces of red seeping out from the cracks.

Julian’s facial muscles violently trembled and bulged as if a snake was writhing under his skin.

As the terrifying divine power continued to descend, his skin began to turn yellow, then slowly to gray, to brown-gray, and finally to black. It became desiccated, cracked, and a snake-like muscle tore itself from his body and sprang free; his body seemed on the verge of collapse.

“`

Seeing his impending death, Julian’s fierce face showed a look of unwillingness. His pupils, now completely black, hesitated for a moment before turning resolute as he said in a deep voice:

“In the name of the True Underworld Ancestor!”

As his words fell, a force just as immense and terrifying forced its way through the overwhelming authority of the heavens, seizing the nearly collapsing Julian and whisking him away into the sky, disappearing from sight.

“No!”

Lin Xiao let out a hoarse roar filled with reluctance, but he was completely powerless and could only watch as Julian was taken away by this power emanating from an Ancestor of an Other Races’ Divine Realm civilization.

This invisible force had momentarily breached the power of the Wizard World, but it was only a temporary breach, insufficient to keep him alive. When the overwhelming authority of heaven descended once again, he would be reduced to dust.

Just then, near the entrance to the Mysterious Valley, streaks of light converged to form a face that couldn’t be made out clearly, looking in Lin Xiao’s direction. A strange voice echoed continuously in his mind:

“Exchange, contract!”

“Exchange, contract!”

“Exchange, contract!”

The words kept repeating, just these few, but Lin Xiao clearly understood their meaning.

He also knew that if he agreed, he could survive, but he would pay a hefty price.

But he had no choice, as long as he didn’t want to die, he had to agree.

Taking a deep breath, Lin Xiao said in a raspy voice:

“I am willing!”

As his words fell, the gigantic face at the entrance to the valley opened its mouth, and an immense pulling force drew him toward the valley mouth.

“Boom!”

The Vault of Heaven suddenly thundered with a clear sky thunderbolt, and a blinding column of lightning descended, engulfing him.

Seconds later, as the rolling thunder dissipated, a charred giant hole over ten meters in diameter but with no visible bottom appeared at the mouth of the valley. Lin Xiao was nowhere to be seen, and the overwhelming authority that had covered tens of kilometers was slowly fading.

Three years later, one day, in the southern provinces of the Wizard Empire, in Laisson County, a terrible tragedy occurred: an entire village died overnight, the bodies piled up and arranged in a chilling display, and the soaring grudges formed a powerful ghost that slaughtered several nearby villages.

But strangely enough, after slaughtering thousands in several villages, the ghost didn’t continue its massacre and instead disappeared without a trace.

This strange phenomenon attracted the attention of the Empire’s wizards based in nearby towns. Some wizards went to investigate, but no clues were found.

A month later, a wizard, young by the sound of his voice and draped in a black robe, appeared in Buzz, the largest gathering city of wizards nearby.

Lifting his hood, he vaguely revealed a scarred and fierce face as he entered the city and casually checked into an inn.

Entering his room, the young wizard removed his hood to reveal a scarred, fierce face. Had there been any acquaintance present, they would have recognized him as the once wanted young wizard from the Morning Star Spire of the Empire’s southern border province, known as Leng Lan.

However, with his now disfigured face, even Julian might not recognize him immediately if he were right in front of him.

Crushing the Notice document into a ball and throwing it in the trash bag, he washed up simply and lay on the bed, closing his eyes. Shortly after, his brow cracked open, and a transparent ghost struggled to emerge from his forehead and eyes, rapidly chilling the air in the room.

Lin Xiao opened his eyes and reached out a finger to press down on the frantically struggling transparent ghost. He took a deep breath, forcefully pushing it back inside. The split skin healed itself, though something beneath the skin still seemed to struggle.

“Phew, 48,000 souls!”

Lying on the bed somewhat haggardly, Lin Xiao let out a sigh of relief, but his furrowed brow did not relax.

Having made a deal with that terrible presence in the Mysterious Valley to survive, he had spent these years striving to fulfill the contract.

The contract was simple: as the price for being saved, he needed to collect a hundred thousand souls within ten years.

Although it was not limited to humans or other races, souls from creatures too weak like beasts certainly wouldn’t count.

In the past three years, Lin Xiao had wandered far and wide, collecting more than 48,000 qualified souls.

Well, 48,000 souls didn’t mean he had killed 48,000 people; he wasn’t that cruel. According to the agreement, powerful souls could replace a large number of weaker ones, so the souls he had collected over the years were mostly those of powerful ghosts, with one being able to replace dozens or even hundreds.@@novelbin@@