The Era of Gods

Chapter 291: Closing the Market

An army composed of three thousand Level 4 evil spirits, a thousand Fifth Level Evil Gods, two hundred Sixth Level fire sprites, and five thousand Maccot Firecasters emerged from a canyon, with the main force stopping at the mouth of the valley.

Karl sat atop a towering Nightmare Warhorse as he exited the mouth of the valley. When he saw that the sea less than a kilometer away from the valley was made up of countless black mud emitting an extremely evil aura, filled with constantly writhing evil spirit entities, the naked malice hit him in the face. Even though he possessed a Demon Overlord’s bloodline, he felt uncomfortable.

Being a collective embodiment of evil from another Crystal Wall Universe, the bloodline of a higher-level Demon didn’t make him feel kinship towards these evil thoughts; on the contrary, he felt even more disgust.

This was because these evil spirit entities could even absorb his evil thoughts, which greatly irritated Karl, who possessed a demon bloodline.

Looking up, he glanced into the depths of the dark sea and ordered his troops to walk along the coast going upwards, anticipating good things near a thick beam of clear light he saw ahead.

Not long after the beam of clear light vanished, Karl, disheveled, led his remaining soldiers out of the treasure house, but his face showed not disappointment, but considerable excitement.

At the same time, less than a kilometer from this place, two players appeared before a Dark Gold Treasure Box. Both sides faced each other with their troops across the treasure box for a long time and then simultaneously turned around and left as if giving up on the box.

Over ten minutes after the two disappeared, another troop appeared, spotting no one around, they charged at the wild guardian monsters of the treasure box.

Inside the Ruins of Myriad, all wild beasts, treasure houses, treasures, etc., appear in the form of dungeons. For example, a group of Level 3 Stone Men guarding a Golden Chest is seen from the outside as several Stone Man phantasms around a central Golden Chest, but this is just a facade. Any hero who gets close to these Stone Man phantasms will see a prompt.

For example: “A large group of Stone Men is guarding a Golden Chest; do you want to attack the guardians and seize the box?”

This “large group” is a description of the number of monsters, typically described using terms such as a few, a small number, a group, a large number, a large group, countless, and so on.

This setup is mainly because, in the later stages, the number of wild guardian beasts is too great, and low-level wild beasts spawn by the tens of thousands, which would not fit even in a small city.

Similarly, a hero’s troops can also be concealed, allowing only the hero alone or accompanied by a small contingent to be visible on the outside. Combat troops can be summoned at any time once the battle starts.

Before long, the phantasms that represented the wild beasts slowly vanished. The hero who had just managed to defeat the wild beasts was about to take away the Golden Chest when he discovered that two heroes, with their troops, were closing in from both sides. He picked up the chest and tried to run, but it was too late; he was surrounded.

The resources in the Treasures of Myriad are extremely rich, the least valuable among them being the Golden Chests. Any lower-level chests wouldn’t even be shown.

But the richness of the resources also implies extreme danger. If one is powerful, they naturally grow stronger, quickly widening the gap with others.

In just three months, some have managed to raise their heroes to Level 5, capable of controlling populations as high as a hundred thousand as well as the highest Seventh Level troops, rapidly increasing the gap with others.

As the heroes grow stronger, the resources on the map gradually get depleted. Players inevitably come into contact with each other, and in the competition for the remaining resources, they unavoidably enter a phase of eliminating each other, further widening the points gap.

By the sixth month, someone discovered the first Divine Treasure of Myriad on the map.

Countless heroes, upon hearing the news, gathered in front of a peak surrounded by a clear aura, full of caves like a beehive.

Almost all heroes who received the news of the first-found Treasures of Myriad rushed there, regardless of whether they had the strength to fight for it.

Here, players gathered by camp, and within each camp, they grouped by their respective colleges. Seven people from Radiance gathered together.

Dongfang Piaoxue looked towards the mountain pass with some surprise and said,

“Why isn’t Lin Xiao here?”

Everyone shook their heads; Shen Yuexin’s eyebrows were tightly knitted as she looked outside the mountain without saying a word.

At this time, students from other schools also noticed them. Not far from the Holy Crystal Super Academy, a student looked back and forth at them with a puzzled look several times before saying in an uncertain tone,

“Have you noticed that someone from Radiance is missing?”

His companions looked over and after a quick observation, one of them, who was more meticulous, understood and nodded,

“That Lin Xiao from Radiance, who is ranked first in this session, didn’t come.”

“Pfft!”

Someone suddenly laughed and said,

“Ranked first and couldn’t even pass the first stage, wouldn’t that be a laughingstock if word got out?”

The first to speak shook his head and said,

“That’s not necessarily true; maybe he didn’t come over at all.”

“Tch, who believes that.”

“I don’t believe that either. The most valuable thing in this Ruins of Myriad is the Treasures of Myriad treasure land for farming. Anyone capable wouldn’t miss it. I can’t believe he’d be indifferent.”

My guess is he either got eliminated midway, or now he’s too weak and ashamed to show up.”

Meanwhile, more colleges were also noticing the absence of an important person from Radiance. Even if they didn’t notice at first, they would as the discussion spread, and soon everyone around was aware.

The Academy of the War Throne’s six students, most of them were pointing and gesturing towards this side; although they weren’t openly taunting like Yi Lei, their expressions revealed they were secretly pleased.

Wu Zhonglin was also affected by this, but after a glance, he stopped paying attention and didn’t say anything. A companion next to him quietly asked,

“Boss, do you think he might have been… eliminated?”

He waited about ten seconds before he said, expressionless:

‘It’s not likely. Maybe he’s just held up somewhere. There’s still over half a year left for the Treasure Land, and he could appear at any time.”

He paused, then suddenly raised his voice to address everyone in his class:

“Don’t gossip about others behind their backs. Even if he has been eliminated, you’re still no match for him.”

Everyone fell silent.

“Hahaha, who would’ve thought that the top person of Radiance this year would be eliminated so early? Seems like Radiance has no one left.”

An otherworldly man with a mocking tone and arms crossed arrived in front of the Radiance group and said disdainfully:

“Such low standards, and yet he became the top person of the Shining High School Department. What a disgrace!”

The Radiance group frowned at his first sentence, and students from the other colleges also looked displeased. Although the taunt was aimed at Radiance, it was a slight to the entire HuaXia District. But since the otherworldly man didn’t specifically mention any other colleges, they felt it was not their place to respond.

Although sometimes they did not entirely respect each other, when faced with external enemies from other camps, the HuaXia District always stood united. Whether in ancient times or the present, they’ve always been united against foreign enemies.

Now that someone had come looking for a fight, they naturally couldn’t remain silent. Dongfang Piaoxue, ranking second, now stepped forward without hesitation. The usually graceful youth glared hostilely at the otherworldly man, cutting straight to the point:

“If you’re not convinced, let’s see who’s better. You say Radiance has no one; I, even more incompetent than the one you belittle, challenge you. Do you dare accept?”

He was careful not to overstate his claim.

The otherworldly man sneered at Dongfang Piaoxue, feigning or genuinely not recognizing him, pondering for a long while before saying:

Hey, since you know you’re that bad, what gives you the right to challenge me?”

As soon as these words came out, it was like a shell had exploded, instantly igniting everyone’s temper. Their fury soared, and they looked ready to tear the otherworldly man apart, who subconsciously took a step back.

But unknown to them, in the dark and filthy depths of a distant sea, Lin Xiao, who had just shredded a challenger and was about to rest, suddenly looked up into the distance, took a deep, intoxicated breath, and said:

“Such a delicious scent, this is… huh?”

His expression of surprise revealed itself as he opened his eyes:

“Dongfang Piaoxue? Little auntie? Li Xiushen? Has so much time passed? The

Treasures of Myriad has begun.”

“Damnit!”

He looked down at his current state and said frustratingly:

“How am I supposed to go back in this condition?”

Then, he became dejected again:

‘Even if I do go back, it’s useless. I don’t have any troops left. Am I going back just to be humiliated?”

“If I return in this state, how can I face everyone and my little auntie?”

It wasn’t that he couldn’t return, but he did not want to use the method at his disposal.

As the Lord with the power of ‘Wrath,’ he could sense the anger of all beings from afar-the greater the anger, the wider the range he could sense. Like with the Radiance students, he hadn’t been able to sense them before. But their simultaneous fury upon being insulted reached a threshold, allowing him to detect it. He could use the power generated by that momentary rage to construct a spatial waymarker and make his descent.

However, if he used this method to return, he would be beaten up by everyone present right away; they would certainly not recognize this monster as their team leader, and his little auntie definitely wouldn’t acknowledge this monster as her boyfriend.

“Such a headache!”

“Do I have to stay here eating mud forever?”

Looking at the black mud that was as filthy as sewage, he… didn’t actually feel disgusted. He even thought it smelled quite nice… ugh.

“When the time comes, will this incarnation be able to return? And if it can, what should I do then? Will my true body become tainted?”

A slew of questions irritated him to no end.

While he was fretting, the situation at the Divine Treasure of Myriad had also changed.

The two sides hadn’t come to blows.

Not because anyone had calmed down, but because at that moment, Wu Zhonglin chose to enter the Treasures of Myriad. His action had a domino effect that captured everyone’s attention. Naturally, they couldn’t start fighting.

With his breaking the stalemate, other people became restless. Everyone watched him enter the Treasures of Myriad and, after some hesitation, more people followed suit.

The Treasures of Myriad was different from ordinary treasures; it didn’t limit the number of entrants. In fact, there were no limitations at all with the Treasures of Myriad—no restrictions on numbers, strength, etc. Moreover, one could exit at any time,