Apocalypse: Master of Soul Beasts

Same familiar surroundings, but the Demigod’s mood this time was very different.

The pessimism and despair from last time were gone; now, instead, the Demigod even had a faint bit of anticipation—Earth’s will could be called fair in reward and punishment, and this time he had taken the entire Earth as his home base, so Earth’s will shouldn’t be stingy.

Sure enough, the reward the Demigod most looked forward to materialized—Earth’s will bestowed upon the Demigod a second Origin Energy baptism...

Vast Origin Energy poured into the Demigod’s body. As his species innate talent surged and his power steadily grew, the Demigod felt as if he were soaking in a womb, blissfully floating, unable to extricate himself.

Until the slightly weary voice of Earth’s will rang out.

”Enough. Three hours from now, this Origin Energy baptism will end. While we’ve still got this time, I want to hear what arrangements you’ve made lately.”

This was what you’d call leadership inspecting the work—last time’s Yanjing overturning plan, the Demigod really hadn’t executed all that beautifully, and Earth’s will felt it shouldn’t just delegate all authority down to the Demigod.

At the very least, on some key points, it should also weigh in and make the call—and besides, it still had a strategist by its side...

Hearing this, the Demigod simply nodded, then began recounting what had happened during this period.

”All the major gathering grounds have already withdrawn to the tiered battle ground. Right now the entire Earth is our turf. Although this was forced by circumstances, it’s at least the best option for cutting losses.”

Head-on against Wen Yu he couldn’t win, so the Demigod could only pick up the scraps Wen Yu didn’t want.

”This time the Treasure Land Protectors put in a lot of effort. Without their help, the fighting would’ve become extremely intense. When I go back, I’ll bring a present to pay Protector Number 2 a visit.”

”And there’s Tang Haofei; he’s returned to the Antarctic Continent again. Oh, right, my lord—Tang Haofei’s sabotage didn’t cause much impact on you, did it?”

Only now did the Demigod pose a question to Earth’s will.

But Earth’s will only answered vaguely.

”It’s fine, it’s fine.”

It had no intention of revealing the extent of its injuries to the Demigod.

The Demigod neither confirmed nor denied; after finishing the good news, he moved on to the bad.

”Right now the Strengthen channels for the professionists under me are limited to the treasure lands. As for mutant beasts, we can only let them re-form the food chain. But that’s not a long-term plan; given time, the power of the people in the tiered battle ground will definitely far outstrip Earth’s natives. On that point, I’m trying to figure something out.”

The Demigod said he was thinking of a solution, but in reality he had no better way to deal with it. What he meant was, he wanted Earth’s will to come up with a move, give him some advice—or better yet, Earth’s will directly take action and pitch in.

But Earth’s will really had no desire to intervene. It could only say, ”Got it,” then motion for the Demigod to keep going.

”Eternal Sky City is already in my hands. Tang Haofei doesn’t seem to have any intention of taking Eternal Sky City back. The bad part, though, is that Eternal Sky City went through Yanjing’s Black Tortoise-style modification, and then Wen Yu’s Creation Energy invasion. If I want to fully bring it under my control, it won’t be something I can finish in a month or two.”

He had thought Eternal Sky City and what Yanjing left behind would be the main haul this time, but unexpectedly Lin Haifeng was ruthless—anything that could be carted off was carted off, anything that couldn’t be taken away but could be wrecked was wrecked, and for what couldn’t be moved or destroyed, like Eternal Sky City, even though the Demigod got it into his hands, he still couldn’t put it to use in the short term...

This ”home base” plan, while it sounded grand in name, in actual effect was just scavenging junk, picking up leftover wisdom...

”And there’s some intel about the tiered battle ground...”

The Demigod recited the intel gathered by spies in the tiered battle ground like he was reading a textbook. It was nothing more than how the fighting was going, what moves Yanjing was making, what moves Wen Yu was making—no matter how capable Wen Yu was, he couldn’t clear out all spies, and for this sort of widely known intel, it was enough that the Demigod just knew it...

Until the Demigod mentioned a minor incident that had happened three days ago...

”Lin Haifeng’s grandson-in-law Fang Yuqiong had a falling-out with Lin Haifeng. Three days ago during the demon plague, Fang Yuqiong saw the battle going badly and ran off alone. That enraged Lin Haifeng, and now Fang Yuqiong has already been stripped of military status and shunted into a sinecure.”

The Demigod relayed this little tidbit without the slightest emotional fluctuation—he was just treating it as gossip to listen to. But he hadn’t expected Earth’s will to actually speak up upon hearing it.

”On that point... can we make some ’use’ of it?”

The ”use” Earth’s will was talking about... the Demigod understood instantly.

He decisively shook his head.

”I haven’t interacted much with Fang Yuqiong; I’m not sure I can pull her into our camp. Plus I suspect this is likely a piece of ’idle chess’ Lin Haifeng placed—he might be deliberately trying to make me reach out to Fang Yuqiong so he can then use that to make some ’use’ himself. That old bastard has plenty of schemes...”

In terms of methods, the Demigod had a lot of respect for his old man. Anything involving Lin Haifeng, the Demigod felt should be handled with extra caution; even some ambiguous intel could be treated purely as entertainment or gossip.

Best not to cross swords with Lin Haifeng. Once you blunder into his traps, that’s when truly big trouble hits...

However, the Demigod underestimated Earth’s will’s confidence—or rather, he underestimated the cards Earth’s will could play.

”No, I think you should give it a try.”

Earth’s will first set the tone on this matter, then continued.

”You can mold a carbon copy and send it to the tiered battle ground, see if you can make contact with Fang Yuqiong. As for getting in, you can ask Protector Number 2 for help. Trust me, he’ll assist you.”

With the teleportation channels sealed, sending a carbon copy to infiltrate the tiered battle ground wasn’t impossible for the Demigod, just very difficult. But with the Treasure Land Protectors lending a hand, the difficulty clearly dropped a lot.

”But I still can’t guarantee whether this whole affair is staged by Fang Yuqiong and Lin Haifeng together... That’s hard to judge. If we walk right into it, I’m afraid the consequences might...”

”There’s nothing to be afraid of... It’s just a test anyway. Besides, as for your worry... I have a way to settle it.”

Earth’s will sounded very confident. Then it quickly sent a message to the Demigod, and after a moment, the hesitant look on the Demigod’s face slowly faded. He looked up at Earth’s will, confusion flickering in his eyes.

”You... can contact the Demon Tribe?”

”I can...”

The Demigod fell silent. After a long while, he finally nodded.

”Since you’ve said so, then I’ll give it a try.”