Battle Frenzy

Ma Dong took the towel that his secretary handed him and rubbed it against his face forcefully. He quickly changed into the formal suit that an assistant brought to him, right there on the platform in the hall. He sprayed tequila cologne on himself, while his hairstylist did his hair at the fastest speed possible. He put on a pair of dark blue contact lenses to mask his bloodshot eyes.

In a matter of minutes, Ma Dong no longer looked like someone who had pulled all-nighters for the past few days. It was as if he had just woken up in his warm bedroom and taken a cold shower. He looked refreshed. Before he left, he looked at a photo frame on his desk, which contained a picture of him and Wang Zhong.

Lao Wang, your battle is going to happen in the Land two months later, but mine is right now!

Ma Dong grinned. He tidied a few strands of hair near his forehead with his fingers, feeling rejuvenated.

Brother, let us fight together!

A fierce battle that didn’t involve gunpowder was happening on Earth, yet Lao Wang was completely unaware of it. He had already disappeared back when the Machinery Race approved of the Civilization War. Ma Dong and the others from the Heavenly Gates did not manage to contact him. They only knew he was somewhere in the Internal Gates and had gone into isolated training. However, even Ma Dong didn’t know his exact location.

……

Heavenly Gates, the Land.

In an inner courtyard in the Seven Treasure Mountains, an enclosed space isolated all possible interruptions from the outside world. This courtyard occupied a huge area and contained an extremely vast weapon practice area. It was very rare to find a courtyard that was close to the source of the Heavenly River in the entire Land.

This courtyard belonged to the Heavenly Shell Superintendent. Frankly speaking, even she was not optimistic about the upcoming war between the Earthlings and the Blood Demon Race. However, the Heavenly Shell Race still hoped that this could awaken the bloodthirst of the Earthlings and that Wang Zhong could win one of the battles.

The Heavenly Shell Race had no comments regarding Wang Zhong’s impulsive decision. The current situation was that the disagreement between both parties was irreconcilable. In fact, having a victor in this war would resolve the uproarious conflict. This was aligned with the Heavenly Shell Race’s interests.

Taking into consideration their past relationship, the Superintendent let Wang Zhong borrow this place and hoped that he could prepare for the war in one of the best places in the Land.

What was done could not be undone. Since the Civilization War was set to happen, there was no way they could escape it.

Wang Zhong had been immersed within himself ever since he entered the meditation state. He didn’t care about what was happening in the outside world.

Such peace could only be found in the Heavenly Shell Courtyard as the entire Land had erupted into chaos.

It had been one and a half months since the announcement of the Civilization War, and heated discussions between various parties had spread news of this war to every corner of the Star Alliance. Whether it was high-level civilizations or low-level races, aristocrats or commoners from various races, everyone knew about the upcoming war. It was rare for such a matter to be publicized so widely in the Star Alliance, and this might not even happen once in an era.

Those who bet their money on Earth previously just treated it as a small investment to test the waters. It was to indirectly control the odds while hyping up the market and to test the depths of everyone’s pocket. More drastic action would happen later, but for now, it seemed that an overwhelming majority bet that the Blood Demon Race would win.

This was normal. Some argued that the Earthlings should pour all their assets into betting on their own civilization or that several individual investors would take the risk and bet their money on Earth to get high returns. However, it had only been three or four years since Earth had joined the Star Alliance. They were merely a level-4 civilization that had no money. Even if they exhausted all their assets, it would probably only amount to no more than a few hundred thousand Gold Star Stones. Even with the support of the individual investors, the money bet on Earth being the victor was merely a drop in the ocean in this huge market. The odds were in the Blood Demon Race’s favor, and it was normal for those odds to reach 10 to 1 in various cities and areas.

Other than a few gamblers who dreamt of striking it rich overnight, no one was optimistic about Earth winning. All sorts of information about Earth was being spread in the Star Alliance, and everyone could buy such information on the streets. Although Earth was a so-called level-6 civilization, merely three people could represent the whole civilization in terms of combat power. They were Aiolos, Mu Zi, and Wang Zhong. Furthermore, none of them had reached the Gold Core Realm.

Information about these three people had been circulated in the Land, such as Aiolos’s flawless battle record, Mu Zi enslaving the Netherworld King, and Wang Zhong defeating Phumetheus in the Life and Death Arena. Even news of Wang Zhong defeating Bayan, a Gold Core, in the underground world had been spread among the Star Alliance. However, this didn’t mean anything.

Aiolos’s flawless battle record was because his strongest opponents were merely Solid Cores. Although Mu Zi enslaved the Netherworld King, how scary could the Netherworld King be after he left the Netherworld River? The Netherworld King was still stuck in the body of a Solid Core. Wang Zhong was the only one that had the combat power of a Gold Core among all the Earthlings, and he was also the reason why Earth got promoted to a level-6 civilization. However, that was not a big deal.

To many low-level civilizations, they would consider any Gold Core to be a god-like existence. However, in the eyes of true experts, there would be huge differences in Gold Cores. If ordinary Gold Cores battled against Solid Cores from the Celestial Honors Class, they would probably end up in a tie, or even lose and get killed. On the other hand, an elite Gold Core could take on half of the Star Alliance with their individual power. An example would be the Blood Demon Ancestor from the Blood Demon Race. In terms of civilization strength, no other civilization’s technology or army could pose a threat to such a powerful expert, unless other king-level Gold Cores in the Land intervened. As long as the Blood Demon Ancestor had enough time, he could even kill a level-7 civilization’s army himself!

To such a powerful expert, any genius or monstrous Solid Core was no different from a three-year-old child. There could be vast differences in levels of power between Gold Cores. Because of this, some said that entering the Gold Core Realm was like a new starting point on a path to becoming a true expert.

Other than the huge difference in power between the top experts of the two civilizations, the Blood Demon Race dominated in terms of numbers too.

Did Earth even have nine people who were qualified to stand on the battlefield? Or were they prepared to fight nine enemies with just three people?

What a joke! Even the blind could tell that the Blood Demon Race would completely dominate the war and win it. Only those who were crazy over gambling and pinned their hopes on Earth being a dark horse would bet their money on Earth blindly and impulsively.

“Earth has high potential. Unfortunately, they only rose to power recently and do not have a truly powerful civilization background.”

“They are lacking in terms of top combat power and numbers. This will just be a one-sided massacre.”

“Only that Wang Zhong guy looks a little promising. If he encounters a weaker Gold Core, he might be able to win one match, but the Blood Demon Race probably won’t give him this kind of opportunity.”

“Earth relied on Wang Zhong to rise to power. It’s a pity that such a genius was not born in my race and that he doesn’t know how to keep a low profile.”

“Save it. I’d rather not have such a genius in my race. If not for the fact that he has the combat power of a Gold Core and is a student in the Celestial Honors Class, Earth would not have become a level-6 civilization. If Earth’s civilization level was two levels lower than that of the Blood Demon civilization, the Machinery Race wouldn’t have approved the upcoming Civilization War. He is too arrogant and full of himself for initiating this bloody war. He’s the source of this disaster.”

“Hehe, whether Earth rises or falls really depends on Wang Zhong, huh?”

“The value of Earth is probably just to create a grand event as entertainment for the entire Star Alliance.”

Before the Civilization War had been approved, many didn’t dare to openly discuss this matter as they were wary of the Heavenly Shell Race and the Earth that was rising to power. However, everyone had no scruples at all now and was publicly gossiping about this issue. The Earth was about to be defeated soon, so who cared whether they would offend Earth?

Even Earthlings themselves weren’t optimistic about the situation, let alone other civilizations. The higher-ups of the Patriarch Society were forced to support Lao Wang under Ma Dong’s pressure, but they only provided financial support as they couldn’t hide those from Ma Dong. However, other than a few die-hard loyalists, many members of the Patriarch Society had touched on their connections to other civilizations and were secretly preparing to migrate. The civilians on Earth were totally unaware of how strong the Blood Demon Race was and blindly believed in Wang Zhong, their battle god.

No one in the Star Alliance was optimistic about the Earth’s situation, unless they were out of their minds.

Zone TH002, the main war fortress of the Machinery Palace.

A private small-scale conference was ongoing.

However, judging by the number of people present, this was more like a private meeting that Chief Judge Lyune had initiated, rather than a conference.

Rhode D and Wanwan Min were present. As the two Deputy Presidents of the Law Enforcement Association, they were the future core leaders that the Machinery Race and Insect Race were grooming. They were about to graduate from the Heavenly Gates and were already starting to be involved in the decision making of several major events of the Law Enforcement Association and Star Alliance conferences. The most important event in the Star Alliance recently would be the Civilization War between the Earth and the Blood Demon Race.

Both of them were in charge of this matter now. They were continually reporting all sorts of information regarding this matter to the Chief Judge. They seemed somewhat unnatural when reporting on the various forces’ views on the upcoming war and the gambling odds.

Chief Judge Lyune had a rather relaxed expression. He was aware of Rhode D and Wanwan Min’s relationship with Wang Zhong. Putting them in charge of this matter was a test for them. As a law enforcer, their judgment shouldn’t be clouded by personal feelings.

For now, it seemed that Rhode D and Wanwan Min were doing a good job. They were fair and just in reporting the findings and conclusions of their investigations. They did not insert their personal opinions in their findings, but they were still lacking in terms of controlling their emotions. They would slightly deride a sentence or two when they were reporting, making their report seem imperfect. However, that didn’t matter. Growth was a process and took time.

They had also only learned the law enforcement techniques of the Law Enforcement Association. To put it plainly, they were still students. Once they were exposed to power and responsibility, these imperfections would be fixed automatically.

“Your Excellency, Wang Zhong mentioned Mo Wen from the Mirror World during the meeting. According to the law regarding Civilization Wars, the parties involved can receive special amnesty. Criminals can regain their freedom and fight for the survival of their race. However, no one from Earth can possibly contact anyone in the Mirror World. The current situation of the prison world has the Resistance Army simply refusing to interact with any member of the Star Alliance. Even if the Star Alliance declares a special pardon order, it probably won’t have any effect…” Rhode D hesitated while saying this. It would be a hassle to declare a special pardon order in the Mirror World, especially with the Resistance Army there. Rhode D knew that Mo Wen wasn’t very strong, but he still wanted to find another helper for Wang Zhong. He was just afraid that Chief Judge Lyune wouldn’t approve. Judging by the Chief Judge’s personality, he had always attended to matters in a strictly business-like manner, just like how he had approved of the upcoming Civilization War.

“How many days are there before the Civilization War? Hehe, there’s not much time left. You should take a trip there personally then.” Rhode D was surprised by Chief Judge Lyune’s reply. The latter had no intention of stopping him from helping and was even smiling. Judging by his tone, he had already prepared for this beforehand. “You can bring two more assistants along. By the way, there are two more places…”

He stretched his hand out and tapped on Rhode D’s forehead. With a ripple of power, a stream of information was entered into Rhode D’s brain.

“This… What is this?!” Rhode D’s expression froze.

The Chief Judge transmitted two pieces of information into his brain. Rhode D was shocked by these two pieces of information regarding Earthlings.

One of them was about Napier. Rhode D had heard of this person before from Wang Zhong, who had asked him to help search for Napier in the underground world. However, that person was an assassin who walked in the shadows of the underground world and was pursued by law enforcement squads all year round. This person was extremely proficient in counter-reconnaissance methods, and it would definitely not be easy to find this person in one or two months. However, all information regarding Napier was in his brain now!

The Chief Judge was amazing indeed. Both of them were higher-ups of the Machinery Race. As he was in charge of various investigations regarding the Civilization War recently, Rhode D also had the power to utilize all intelligence that the Machinery Race possessed. However, he wasn’t able to find any clues on Napier’s whereabouts, let alone the other Earthling who was even better at hiding his tracks.

If these two Earthlings joined in the Civilization War and were as strong as what the Chief Judge’s information made them out to be, then Earth wouldn’t be as disadvantaged. There would be a slightly better chance of Earth winning the war.

“Although the odds of Earth winning are still not high, it still has a chance of putting up a fight,” Chief Judge Lyune said. “This is the ultimate test for Wang Zhong and the Earth, and this is also one of the greatest opportunities for Earth. There’s only so much we can do. Find these people so that Earth can mobilize all its power in battling against the Blood Demon Race! If they can’t win against the Blood Demon Race, they are not qualified to obtain more power.”

Rhode D and Wanwan Min suddenly understood what was going on. From the beginning, the Chief Judge hadn’t given up on Earth or Wang Zhong! Just as Wang Zhong had guessed, the Chief Judge knew far more information about Earth as compared to anyone else in the Star Alliance. He even knew more than Wang Zhong, who was the “leader” of Earth, and still chose to lend a helping hand to Earth.

Lyune knew the Star Alliance way too well. A person in too high a position was liable to be attacked, which was Earth’s current situation. Earth would either rapidly rise to power or fall prey to the dirty tricks of other civilizations. It was bound to be attacked by open or covert means. The former was clearly easier to deal with.

The Civilization War with the Blood Demon Race seemingly forced Earth to the edge of a cliff, but at the same time, this was the best opportunity for it to grow too. If its civilization could pass this test, no one would be able to shake up its status easily in the Star Alliance. Even if there was only a 20% or 30% chance of the war ending in Earth’s favor, the benefits were worth the risk.

“Yes, sir!” Rhode D and Wanwan Min turned around respectfully and almost ran out of the small hall.

Chief Judge Lyune couldn’t help but laugh at how they dashed off.

These elites of the Law Enforcement Association were still young indeed. Why did the Machinery Race prize the Machinery Heart so much? The Machinery Heart was not only a test for other races, but also a test for the future leaders of the Machinery Race.

Rhode D was always there for Wang Zhong during his Machinery Heart evaluation test, and he could only learn how to control his emotions after he forged friendships and grasped the concept of emotions. These elites would only become mature Machinery Race leaders after they gained complete control over their emotions.

Chief Judge Lyune’s thoughts ran wild.

Not only had news of the Civilization War been circulated widely in the Land, but the underground world had caught wind of the news too, just that people in the underground world didn’t pay close attention to it as compared to the Land.

The Netherworld King was “gone”, and the various forces and civilians of the underground world couldn’t be bothered about the Blood Demon Race or Earth. The Land was a dog-eat-dog world, and whatever was happening there had nothing to do with them. Furthermore, news was usually passed on very slowly from the Land to the underground world. One month would already have passed by the time the underground world knew the outcome of the Civilization War. It was as if the people in the underground were just a bunch of smelly rats who could only lick the leftovers that the people from the Land no longer wanted. This feeling made the civilians in the underground world rather uncomfortable. They weren’t interested in picking up the Land’s leftover trash!

Everyone’s life was filled with stress and pressure, so everyone wanted to spend their time on enjoying the things they liked, such as the various theatre activities.

Recently, business had been particularly good for theatre entertainment. The Netherworld King incident had caused chaos in the underground world for a few months, and everyone had been terrified. No one had the mood to visit a circus or look at performances during that period of time. However, the Netherworld King had been captured by an Earthling and summoned to the Heavenly Gates, and he was extremely far from the underground world now. All the inhabitants of the underground world had never been so relaxed before. They even dared to spit into the Netherworld River in a leisurely manner when they passed by it, instead of bowing to it while keeping their guard up.

Once one felt relaxed and safe, he would feel more energetic and need somewhere to vent his emotions. Needless to say, entertainment such as theatre performances was very popular, and many new theatres emerged. Famous theatres such as the Tianyao Theatre even reached their maximum capacity.

“Ah, I’m sorry. The eggs for today are all sold out.” Tianyao was the happiest during this segment. At first, he thought that this idea of smashing eggs onto the clown would merely be popular for a month or two, but the audience hadn’t gotten tired of it even now. It was hard for a show to have a gig that had such long-lasting popularity, and he earned more profit from this gig as compared to some of the other tricks that he had invested a lot of effort in studying. Tianyao knew that this was not a coincidence, but a pattern. Many in the underground world had suffered a lot and were forced to suffer in silence. The reason why this egg-smashing segment could maintain its popularity was that the spectators could regain their self-confidence from spending money to smash eggs on an unlucky clown. “You guys are really going too hard on my unlucky clown. Let him go. He still has to go meet his lover at night!”

“Haha, does the clown’s lover look uglier than him?” A spectator from the crowd scoffed and laughed.

“I think you can add another gig tomorrow and let unlucky Napier’s wife go up on stage to get smashed by eggs too. She’s probably addicted to the egg smell on Napier from licking the eggs off him every day. Hahaha!”

All kinds of dirty language and laughter could be heard coming from the audience.

The theatre finally closed for the day.

Tianyao counted the big bag of Star Coins in his hand, seeming very content. The clown who was sweeping the ground with his butt facing him suddenly seemed very pleasing to the eye. Tianyao occasionally woke up in the middle of the night to find that this guy was not in the dormitory. He clearly sneaked out to play and violated the theatre’s rules. However, this was no big deal. Napier was his God of Wealth now, and it was fine even if he went out at midnight to find girls. Since he had to act as a clown in the day, he should enjoy himself at night. What would his taste be like? Since he was a clown, did his lover wear a clown costume too? How did he manage to get intimate with his lover, with such thick makeup? Wouldn’t his lover wind up tasting the bitter makeup powder on his face? Tianyao couldn’t help but laugh while thinking of what the audience had said earlier on.

He grabbed a handful of Star Coins from the money bag that was filled to the brim. He was about to call Napier, who was hard at work, to come over to claim his rewards. However, a silver beam of light suddenly shone at the main entrance of the theatre.

Right after, the locked gates were pushed open softly, and two silver figures appeared at the entrance.

Hold on, those two…

Tianyao’s eyes were wide open, and his face was full of disbelief.

Those two figures were from the Machinery Race?! Wait, the Machinery Race?

Tianyao couldn’t help but shudder. People from the Land would have mixed feelings of fear and hatred towards the Machinery Race, but to the people in the underground world, the name “Machinery Race” represented one thing — despair!

Everyone in the underground world was afraid of the Machinery Race, and this fear was ingrained in them. If they spotted anyone from the Machinery Race, even the higher-ups from the various Factions would shiver with fear. It wasn’t that they were cowardly, but no one in the underground world had a clean record, and something bad happened every time the Machinery Race appeared there. When they came to the underground world, they didn’t come to investigate; instead, they already possessed the concrete evidence to arrest someone!

Other than being scared, a criminal could only run if he saw a law enforcer.

Tianyao wanted to turn around and run immediately out of instinct. Frankly speaking, the Tianyao Theatre wasn’t involved in many illegal matters. However, before the theatre was built, Tianyao had committed many atrocious crimes in order to earn the capital to open this theatre. Tianyao was definitely not considered a good citizen even by the standards of the underground world.

However, the Machinery Race people had already started speaking before Tianyao could move. Interestingly, they didn’t glance at Tianyao at all but went straight towards Napier, who was still holding a broom.

“You guys are really late.” Napier had been sweeping the floor while bending over, but he was slowly straightening his back now. Although he was still dressed in his comical clown costume and still had his smiling clown makeup on, Tianyao could sense his bone-chilling gaze, making his teeth chatter so much that he forgot to run away.

“Only you two are here? That’s far fewer than I expected.” Napier smiled and didn’t seem panicked at all.

He was considered to be an enemy of the Machinery Race since he was an assassin. He knew that this day would come, just that he didn’t expect it to be so soon. However, it didn’t make sense that only two people from the Machinery Race would come for him. It seemed that their intelligence was inadequate. One of the Ninth Shade Faction survivors that he encountered at Gold Lightning Town the previous day was the fourth Gold Core that he had killed. If they knew that, they would have definitely sent more than two people to capture him. It would probably take an entire army from the Machinery Race to be able to capture him.

A bone-chilling murderous intent condensed at his fingertips. If not for the fact that he wanted to hear what the voices of Machinery Race people sounded like, these two people would already have become pieces of metal junk and scrap.

“I’m Rhode D, and I’m here to help you leave this place.” This Machinery Race person didn’t start naming his crimes as Napier expected. Although the Machinery Race person’s smile was rather forced, it was incredible for a Machine to be able to perform an action that resembled that of a smile. This behavior was completely different from what the rumors about the Machinery Race made them out to be. “We are not arresting you. Please don’t misunderstand.”

As Rhode D said that, he took out two documents and passed them to Napier.

Napier understood what was going on upon reading the first few sentences of the documents. Napier knew about the upcoming Civilization War between Earth and the Blood Demon Race. Although the underground world didn’t have quick access to information, news was still being circulated around, albeit at a slower speed. However, there was a huge discrepancy between the rumored date of the war and the confirmed date on the document. He originally thought the war was taking place next month, and he was planning to hide himself in a merchant team and go to the Land next month. However, if he stuck to that plan, it would have been too late by the time he got there.

The Machinery Race… He originally thought they were going to arrest him because they possessed concrete evidence of his assassin identity. He didn’t expect them to be helping Earth to gather more warriors.

Interesting!

“But I’m an assassin.” Napier closed the document, his eyes sparkling. Although the Machinery Race was known for being honest, Napier didn’t trust them. Throughout his entire life, he had never wholeheartedly trusted anyone else other than Wang Zhong and Mo Wen. Furthermore, he was a criminal, and the Machinery Race people were law enforcers. Why would he trust them?

“That’s in the past. Your identity now is that of an Earthling warrior.”

“I’ve killed many people in the underground world, including Gold Cores,” Napier said. Since they found him, he didn’t want his assassin identity to be a burden to Earth.

Rhode D’s eyes lit up. It seemed that Napier was way stronger than what the Chief Judge’s data described him to be. This was getting more interesting. “Parties involved in the Civilization War will receive special amnesty. Your assassin identity is all in the past, and you don’t have to worry about it.” Rhode D suddenly lowered his voice, and a faint smile appeared on his face. “I know about the four Gold Cores you killed. In my opinion, you have eliminated a few public threats.”

Napier narrowed his eyes slightly. Immediately after, he cracked a wider smile in his clown makeup and laughed heartily.

“Sorry, Boss, I might have to take a long leave of absence from work.” He turned around and called out to Tianyao at once.

Tianyao was flabbergasted as he stood there with his mouth agape.

“I’ll be away for quite some time.” Napier smiled. “You’ll probably have to find another clown to substitute for me.”

Meanwhile, in the Sacred Arena…

Tsarilorhuan stood in front of a huge sealed iron door. He was holding a letter and appeared to be hesitating.

News of the Civilization War between Earth and the Blood Demon Race, including news of Wang Zhong, Mu Zi, and some other Earthlings, had been spreading all across the Land. Tsarilorhuan knew that the Civilization War would commence half a month later, but Aiolos didn’t know of this yet.

It was purely coincidental that he managed to hide this piece of news from Aiolos. After killing 200 Peak Solid Cores, no more Solid Cores dared to challenge Aiolos in the Sacred Arena, regardless of how much money they were bribed with. Aiolos didn’t have anyone to battle against. Also, since he had accumulated a lot of battle experience, he decided to go into closed-door cultivation. Two months had passed while he was in closed-door cultivation, and he wasn’t informed of any news from the outside world during this period of time.

The letter that Tsarilorhuan was currently holding came from Earth, and it was sent by a guy named Ma Dong. Earth had become a very well-known civilization in the Land now, and Tsarilorhuan had heard of Ma Dong before. Even without reading the contents of the letter, Tsarilorhuan knew what it wanted to convey. It probably appealed to Aiolos’s emotions and presented a logical argument on how they needed Aiolos to fight for Earth in the Civilization War.

However, should he pass this letter to Aiolos?

As brothers who had gone through thick and thin together, Tsarilorhuan knew Aiolos very well. He knew how much Aiolos valued brotherhood. Aiolos would definitely participate in the Civilization War if he knew of its existence. He would feel honored to die with his brothers in battle.

If there was even a slight chance that Earth could win the war, Tsarilorhuan wouldn’t be so hesitant. However, Tsarilorhuan knew the strength of the Blood Demon Race very well since he was from the Titan Race, which was also a level-7 civilization. This wasn’t a war, but a one-sided massacre. Did he really want to be the one to tell Aiolos this news and send him to his death? Perhaps if he remained silent, the Civilization War would already have ended by the time Aiolos came out from closed-door cultivation.

Aiolos would definitely blame him and even fall out with him, but so what? At least his brother would still be alive, and he could persuade Aiolos to take revenge later. This way, at least someone from the Earth would still be alive to carry on its legacy.

Should he risk falling out with his brother to save his life, or support Aiolos’s brotherhood sentiments and let him dig his own grave?

He put his hand on the handle of the iron door but lowered his hand the next moment. This went on for a few more times.

While he was hesitating, the heavy iron door creaked and slowly opened. A burly and tall guy who was half-naked and drenched in smelly sweat walked out.

“Brother, did you come to welcome me because you sensed that I was coming out of closed-door cultivation?” Aiolos laughed heartily and seemed like his normal self. However, Tsarilorhuan could sense that he had changed. Aiolos’s voice was more piercing now, and his aura had clearly become stronger by a great deal even though he still hadn’t managed to condense his Gold Core. He even grew a head taller within these two short months! Tsarilorhuan had always thought that his level of power was comparable to that of Aiolos. However, he felt very small in front of Aiolos now even though he was a Titan and clearly had a larger build than him.

Tsarilorhuan was stunned. He had known for a long time that Aiolos was a natural warrior. The more he fought, the stronger he became. Cultivation was a path he chose in order to refine his combat skills, while fighting was his true instinct! He had accumulated a great deal of experience during his battles with 200 Peak Solid Cores. However, even so, he couldn’t believe how much Aiolos had improved. There was a significant difference between their levels of power now.

It only took him two months to achieve so much growth. How strong would he become in another few years?

“Huh…” Tsarilorhuan got distracted in that moment and subconsciously hid the letter behind his back. He suddenly felt that 20 years down the road, Aiolos would have the ability to challenge the Blood Demon Race and create a miracle!

“Is that a letter from Earth?” Aiolos said while smiling. He didn’t have to specifically look at what Tsarilorhuan was holding to know what it was, as if he could see through everything. “What’s there to hide? I already know.”

“Huh?” Tsarilorhuan was stunned. “But you were in a sealed room…”

“Someone directly contacted me by using his peculiar powers to talk to my consciousness. I already knew about the Civilization War when it was approved one and a half months ago.” Aiolos smiled and pointed at his head. He didn’t look scared or worried at all, and instead, his face was filled with excitement and fighting spirit. “Otherwise, how could I resist the urge to fight and manage to cultivate in this miserable room for two whole months? It’s so boring here. It’s about ten thousand times worse than when I was sentenced to half a year of labor in the Heavenly River Sandpit.”

Tsarilorhuan was flabbergasted.

Aiolos put his hand around Tsarilorhuan’s neck, who was still in a daze. He didn’t mention anything about the Titan attempting to hide this piece of news from him. “Haha, Brother, I’ve told you long ago that me and my other two brothers will become famous in the Land within three years.”

“Hmm…” Tsarilorhuan suddenly recalled that Aiolos did say so before.

“Now’s the time for me and my brothers to make a name for ourselves. No one can stop us.” Aiolos laughed loudly and said, “Brother, keep your chin up! It’s just the Blood Demon Race, no big deal. Don’t hesitate. It’s time to bet all your wealth now! I heard that the Insect Race’s betting odds for Earth are very high. Do you have no trust in me? Or do you not trust my other two brothers?”

Tsarilorhuan was dumbfounded upon hearing Aiolos’s long rant. Although Aiolos didn’t step out of the sealed room at all, he knew everything that was going on, including the Insect Race’s betting odds for the upcoming war. It was such a ridiculous idea to hide the truth from Aiolos.

Tsarilorhuan could only laugh bitterly. Frankly speaking, he used to think Aiolos was the strongest Earthling, but the truth was that Aiolos’s flawless battle record against Solid Cores was nothing much compared to his two brothers…

It was pointless to try to persuade Aiolos now. Based on Aiolos’s personality, Tsarilorhuan knew that he wouldn’t be able to stop him at any rate. At this point in time, he probably shouldn’t talk about how powerful the Blood Demon Race was and dampen Aiolos’s confidence. It wouldn’t be too late to tell him all these at a more appropriate timing. What Aiolos needed now was support, and the least he could do now was to support his brother till the end, even if that meant losing all his assets!

“The three of you are getting more violent and crazier…” Tsarilorhuan laughed bitterly. However, he seemed full of fighting spirit in the next instant. “Okay! Even if you are crazy, I’ll go crazy with you!”

There were still nine days before the start of the Civilization War. Meanwhile, a grand party was going on in the Icebound District of the Extreme Ice World in the Fifth Dimension.

This was a grand party organized specially for Julienne. She had made history as she had broken the promotion records of the Ice Pole Faction. She became part of the top three within a few short months, while she was merely number nine on the charts previously. The Ice Pole Faction was a powerful Faction. The higher your ranking was, the harder it was to advance on the charts. It would be extremely difficult to advance one rank if you weren’t overwhelmingly talented and incredibly lucky, let alone being able to jump six ranks at once. However, this was not the only reason why the Ice Pole Faction valued her. Her “Ice Prince” was an important factor too.

Massive ice monsters were a trademark of the Ice Pole Faction. Much research had been done on them, and their combat power was stable. The elders of the Ice Pole Faction had been trying to make new breakthroughs, but their innovative work couldn’t hold a candle to Julienne’s perfect Ice Prince.

Her terrifying ice puppet was way too powerful. It merely had the physical body of a Solid Core, yet it managed to kill a Gold Core puppet!

It possessed such power due to the refining techniques involved in creating it and also to Julienne’s talent. Its unique physical body had a puppet’s ability to infinitely absorb ice-cold air, yet its fighting instinct was preserved too. It was able to harness the power of the Fragmented Ice Law, which was a deciding factor in battles and the key to defeating all sorts of opponents.

The higher-ups of the Ice Pole Faction were very satisfied with her performance. The two senior brothers that were ranked higher than her had escaped to the outside world under the pretense of executing missions. They had completely lost all courage to battle against Julienne and her terrifying Ice Prince.

Julienne was currently sitting on a chair made of crystal ice sculptures. Looking at the seniors and juniors who were starting to flatter and show concern for her, Julienne’s face was full of disdain.

Previously, these guys gloated over her misfortune when something went wrong with her ice corpse puppets. She clearly remembered their ugly faces and derogatory comments. If she hadn’t managed to find “Vlad”, these guys would have gotten their way and walked all over her.

Frankly speaking, the “survival of the fittest” principle applied to not only the Ice Pole Faction, but the entire Extreme Ice World. This cruel and dark survival rule applied everywhere here. The seniors and juniors around Julienne knew her disdain for them, yet they were still trying to suck up to her shamelessly. This had been the way of survival in the Extreme Ice World for the past thousands of years, and everyone was used to it. However, even if one got used to this rule, it didn’t mean that one approved of it. Julienne knew this, but it didn’t mean that she had to go along with it and put on some disgusting pretense. In this world, strength was everything, and this was the only survival rule that Julienne agreed with.

She felt irritated upon listening to all the flattery around her. She would be better off without this banquet.

She couldn’t help but turn around to glance at the “Ice Prince” who stood motionless behind her, protecting her. Julienne had seen and touched his body countless times. She was very familiar with it, as if it was her own body.

However, it felt different looking at the Ice Prince’s physical body from the outside as compared to when she was in it. When she entered his body, she could feel blood pulsing through his entire body. When she looked at the Ice Prince from the perspective of her own body, his handsome appearance seemed a tad stiff because of his unchanging expression. Nonetheless, this formed a stark contrast to the annoying people who were sucking up to her. It made her feel calm and peaceful whenever she started to get irritated.