by <unknown>
Even the previous two sisters treated them with respect and would not offend them because they were the ones controlling their bodies during battles. The two sisters could only revive them temporarily but not control them in combat, so they could totally choose not to fight for them.
However, this new master was completely different. It was like she did not care about their strength at all. She supported her boss even though it meant she would offend them…
You’re a Beyond Grade A!
The seven of them looked back and forth between the two of them. Suddenly, they thought of something, and their expressions became enigmatic.
Hehe, we’ve seen a lot of things and are very experienced. In this situation, either you owe him many favors, or the two of you… hehehe. These are the only possibilities for why you’re so loyal.
This time, Onicelu eased the tension and said, “You guys have slept for too long. Many generations have passed. Black Star is one of the strongest people in the universe. You guys might not be able to defeat him even if all of you fight him at the same time… Plus, the Underworld now only has the Lord of Death. The Lord of Life is still growing. Therefore, you guys can’t have physical bodies and can’t fight.”
Hearing this, the seven of them immediately threw away the thought of being tough and laughed.
“Hahaha… we were just joking with you, man.”
“That’s right. Don’t be so serious.”
“I can tell brother Black Star is talented and has a bright future just by looking at him. It’s our honor to work for him.”
“Exactly, if not because we can’t revive for now, we would showcase what we’ve got right here!”
Han Xiao narrowed his eyes, and his lips twitched.
That’s it?
What bullsh*t Hero Spirit Kings? You sounded so noble and all, but you’re just a group of people who gave up all your dignity to not continue sleeping! I shouldn’t have had any hopes!
Although he detested the personalities of these Hero Spirit Kings, he had to admit that the Underworld was extremely powerful. This was the biggest inheritance the two sisters had left, and the life and death Esper Abilities were the keys.
However, for now, since Aurora had yet to become a Beyond Grade A. The Underworld could not be put to use yet. Furthermore, reviving them required energy and had a time limit.
Compared to the Sanctums, the biggest specialty of the Underworld was that it was not only limited to the Beyond Grade As. Plus, it would not reduce their strength much.
However, the disadvantage was also very clear. Those who took this path could only work under the master of the Underworld forever and no longer had freedom.
While the few of them chatted, the countless Hero Spirits on the ground started to regain focus too. They started to modify the Underworld using the core energy.
On the desolate black earth, buildings rose from the ground one after another. The Underworld quickly became prosperous.
At this time, a notification popped up on Han Xiao’s interface.
_____________
[Inheritors of The Underworld] Completed!
You have received 50,000,000 EXP and +20 Onicelu Favorability.
You have received [Character Summon Card – ‘Underworld’ Onicelu].
Character Summon Card – “Underworld” Onicelu: [Thousand Soul Stream] – Become immune to all mind attacks. At the same time, absorb any mind attacks to recover energy and health. Uses: 0/1.
You have completed the bonus mission requirements.
+40 Onicelu Favorability.
You have received ability [Mark of The Underworld]!
Chapter 1236: A Path Never Thought of Before |
This mission is finally complete. It wasn’t even difficult, just took too long.
Han Xiao looked down at the back of his palm. A mark that was the same as the one on Hila’s hand was slowly appearing.
He looked up and saw Onicelu smiling at him.
“This is the Mark of the Underworld. You can use some of the Underworld’s power with it. Without your help, the Underworld would never have recovered to its peak. I don’t have anything I can repay you with but this.”
“I know. I’ll make good use of your body… ahem, the Underworld.”
Han Xiao coughed.
The Underworld was Onicelu’s body, so was this her saying, “I’ll repay you with my body”?
No, no, I’m a pure person…
Suppressing these weird thoughts, Han Xiao sensed the Mark of the Underworld. Black streams of air flowed out from the mark and circled around his hand.
This was the second secondary dimension that had a connection with him. Comparatively, the link with the Void Dimension had a higher level, as he could only use part of the Underworld’s power with this mark. Nonetheless, it gave him some bonuses.
At the same time, with this mark, he could choose to have the Mark of the Underworld absorb the souls of the enemies he killed and turn them into Hero Spirits.
When Aurora stepped into the territory of the Beyond Grade A and the Underworld regained the ability to revive souls, he should be able to summon Hero Spirits using the Mark of the Underworld. However, it would still consume Hila and Aurora’s energy.
This means that the more Hero Spirits the Underworld has, the more I’ll benefit from it, so I’m not working for free.
Han Xiao mumbled in his mind and looked at the other reward, Onicelu’s Character Summon Card.
The effects of [Thousand Soul Stream] were outrageous; being able to be immune to all mind attacks and even absorb them was completely overpowered.
Although he could only use it once, it was undoubtedly a trump card.
While he was looking through the mission rewards, the Underworld was undergoing a big change. Hila was speaking to the seven Hero Spirit Kings.
After the seven of them accepted their position, coming to agreements became much easier.
“From today onward, you’re all members of the Black Star Army, understood?” Hila said.
“No problem. His Excellency Black Star’s words are absolute!” the seven of them promised. The change in their attitude was very smooth.
“Are they always like this?” Han Xiao was curious.
Onicelu whispered, “The former masters did not have any plans to expand the Underworld. Among the seven of them, two of them challenged the two sisters, got killed, enslaved, and tortured for a very long time. Their edges were rounded long ago. Three of them fled here, and two begged the two sisters to take them in… So, you can imagine what kind of people they are.”
“Damn…” Han Xiao’s mouth twitched.
From the actions of the two sisters, they were carefree and never thought of being responsible. The Underworld only had so many souls because these souls wanted to obtain eternal life. They did not care if the two sisters were reliable or not and begged to join, giving up their freedom. Clearly, they did not have much dignity left.
This explained how creating platforms was better than selling products.
The nature of all fortune was planting and harvesting leeks.
Although the seven Hero Spirit Kings joined for different reasons, after so many years, they could no longer let go of their eternal life. They did not dare offend the master of the Underworld. Plus, they were looking forward to the Lord of Life reviving them so that they could tour the outside world.
Currently, the strongest among the Hero Spirit Kings was a Primordial One called Rega. According to data, his Energy Rank was around 65,000 Ona, not a peak Beyond Grade A but above average. With an undead body, his actual strength would increase quite a bit.
Han Xiao thought for a moment, stepped forward, and asked, “Do you guys know anything about the Sanctums?”
In the past, he originally wanted to ask about the Sanctums from the Hero Spirits in the Underworld. However, he had already established a partnership with the Holy Accord and had been searching for the ‘keys’ of the Third Sanctum, so he no longer needed the He
ro Spirits’ help.
Plus, these Hero Spirits definitely did not know as much about the Sanctums as the Holy Accord, so Han Xiao was just asking to try his luck.
“Sanctums? I didn’t expect you… to know about this, big boss.”
The seven Hero Spirit Kings all looked over with a slightly complex look on their faces, as if they were reminded of something in the past.
“Before we entered the Underworld, there was a rumor among some of the Beyond Grade As. It was said that some people could occasionally sense a kind of special existence outside the spacetime of the universe. Some called it a Sanctum. However, most people never experienced such things, so there was no way to verify if it was true. It was always seen as a fake rumor,” a Hero Spirit King said.
“Some said the Sanctum is the staircase to the next level; some said that all the technology and knowledge of the universe is hidden in the Sanctum; some even said the Sanctum can bring people back to life. No one knows what’s real and what’s not,” another Hero Spirit King said.
Rega sighed, shook his head, and said, “We don’t know much really. However, during the exploration era, I remember that there was a group of Beyond Grade As who founded an organization and apparently wanted to use the Sanctum to revive in the future. We didn’t think that’d work, so we didn’t join them. They should have failed by now.”
Han Xiao raised his brow. “What’s the name of that organization?”
“The Holy Accord, I think.”
“…”
Han Xiao’s mouth twitched. He did not know what expression to show.
I knew it. They did not fail at all. Their plan was a huge success!
Of course, most of the merit goes to Oathkeeper. God knows why these revived Primordial Ones were so lucky to find such a reliable partner.
I’d better not tell this to these seven Hero Spirit Kings… They’ll probably never be able to be revived by the Sanctum after entering the Underworld. If they find out about this, they probably die of regret.
It’s better to let them think the Holy Accord organization has failed. Keeping this cruel truth from them will keep these leeks healthy…
No matter what, these Hero Spirits also achieved eternal life in another way. Although they took different paths, they reached the other side all the same.
All kinds of thoughts flashed through his mind. Han Xiao suppressed these thoughts and listened to Hila and the seven Hero Spirit Kings communicate.
The few of them chatted for a while. The seven Hero Spirit Kings bade farewell and left to manage the Hero Spirits.
Seeing that the seven of them had left, Hila turned and asked, “What do you think of them?”
Han Xiao smiled and said, “Although they don’t have the best personalities, their strength is real. The Underworld is an extremely powerful force. Although it can’t be used now, Aurora will eventually become a Beyond Grade A with how quickly she’s becoming stronger. By then, there won’t be many people in the universe who can be a threat to you two… Speaking of which, the Underworld is like an exclusive Universal Treasure for the two of you. Tsk, I’m quite jealous.”
In Han Xiao’s previous life, Hila had no chance to accept this inheritance, so it was wasted. This time, however, as long as no accidents occurred to the two of them, they would be more than strong enough to be in the top tier in the explored universe.
As soon as Aurora became a Beyond Grade A, these two sisters would become tremendously stronger.
“What about compared to you then? Will I be able to defeat you?” Hila’s eyes were glowing.
“What, you want to overtake me?” Han Xiao joked. “Don’t dream of it. I’ll still crush you.”
“Humph, I don’t believe it.” Hila grinned. “You never know till you try.”
She secretly decided not to do anything else after she returned other than push Aurora to train harder so that the Underworld could be used sooner.
After the official matters were over, Hila sensed the strong and firm presence of Han Xiao and felt an itch.
“You have nothing to do now, so you want to do it with me?”
“The Underworld has just recovered. You still have many things to do. It’s best for you to make a list for the Hero Spirits. Leave the sparring for next time.” Han Xiao waved.
“Alright.” Hila had no choice but to endure the itch.
Han Xiao said a few more things, put on the King suit, and left the Underworld.
Returning to the office in Black Star Palace, Han Xiao changed into casual clothes, summoned Phillip, and added the Underworld’s data into the confidential plan documents.
While recording, he started to analyze the situation. Although this was good news, he still felt a little worried.
“With this, I have another powerful secret force in my hands. In the future, the two sisters’ position in the universe will most certainly rocket. They’ll acquire high positions in the Beyond Grade A Association for sure.
“When the Holy Accord comes out, the entire universe will find out the two ways of reviving—the Sanctum and the Underworld. The Beyond Grade As will have a choice between the two. However, for now, only Oathkeeper and I know that the Sanctums can revive them an infinite number of times; he others all think it’s only once. So, there’s a possibility some might join the Underworld because of this misinformation. As for the Supers below Beyond Grade A, they’ll only have one choice, the Underworld.
“These two reviving methods are both connected to me, so I’ll certainly become the focus of the entire universe and the three Universal Civilizations. The dynasty’s power is in the hands of the hawk faction now. The new president of the federation seems to be a muscular man too… Tsk, things are not looking great. The importance of the Sanctum and the Underworld is far above the Evolution Cube. The advanced civilizations will not let them go easily. I might become the starting point of a storm.
“When one grows to a certain stage, he’s not allowed to stop, or he’ll walk backward. The advanced civilizations will never stop targeting the Beyond Grade As…”
Han Xiao frowned and thought about the future.
Due to the extremely complicated and intricate profit relationships, way too many things had no solutions. Suddenly, a brief but daring idea appeared in his mind.
If he could make the Beyond Grade A Association and all the Beyond Grade As fuse together to form a new organization, completely splitting the ordinary people and Supers…
This might be a path he had never thought of before, a revolution that would turn the world upside down. Many people would die from it.
At his current position, he already had the ability to guide the direction of the universe. Many things that looked impossible were no longer unimaginable.
However, once he made the decision, quadrillions of lives would be affected. He only had a brief thought and did not plan to act on it.
The shadow of the World Tree still shrouded the explored universe. This was not the time to make this kind of plan.
“I shall decide after dealing with the exterior enemy. Sigh, I really don’t wish to take this step…”
Han Xiao exhaled, calmed the storm in his mind, and suppressed these thoughts at the bottom of his heart.
Right at this moment, his communicator rang.
Beep beep beep!
He took it out. It was surprisingly a call from Sylvia.
“Army Commander, the Crimson Dynasty has sent an official letter. They will be sending emissaries to inspect the progress of the cultural education of the Kunde Race. If standards are met, they can consider opening up parts of the sealed areas and allow some of them into the galactic society.”
“Oh? It has only been less than thirty years. This is quite a lot earlier than I expected.”
Han Xiao’s eyes lit up.
He still remembered the Kunde Race’s mission. Modo was already devastated, so only the cultural education part had yet to be completed.
Once this mission was done, he woul
d finally acquire the abilities he had been working for the whole time.
Chapter 1237: Sorokin“s Big Plan |
Usually, the cultural modification movement targeted at a large civilization would last for two to five generations. However, it had been less than thirty years since the Kunde Race started accepting the cultural transformation. It was still quite early to talk about letting them out.
The dynasty probably had a certain reason to do that in advance.
Han Xiao had a rough guess.
Although the Kunde Race lost, the billions of their remaining population were quite a considerable amount of manpower. Now that they were settled in the Black Star Army’s territory, they basically belonged to the army. Plus, while the cultural transformation was carried out, the Black Star Army was also promoting the benefits of the army, trying to make the Kunde Race loyal and yearn to join the army.
The dynasty probably did this to stop the Black Star Army’s advertising in the Kunde Race as soon as possible so that the Kunde Race would not completely become the army’s talent reserve. At the same time, they likely wanted to make the Kunde Race members who were not completely transformed cause some trouble for the army.
“Tsk, feeble trick…”
Han Xiao curled his lips.
He had only met Marbruce not long ago, and the response had already come so quickly. This was certainly backed up by the dynasty’s upper echelons. The dynasty’s attitude change toward him could clearly be seen from this.
Han Xiao did not mind it really. It was good news for him. He pondered for a few seconds and said, “Reply to dynasty. We welcome the inspection. Get someone to arrange a time with the dynasty. We’ll form an inspection team on our side and have them accompany the dynasty’s emissaries to carry out the inspection.”
“Understood.” Sylvia nodded. “One more thing, the Limitless Financial Group owes the Germinal Financial Group three months of payments. I told the finances department to talk to them, but they are not giving a reply. Would you like to ask them personally?”
“The Limitless Financial Group owes me money? Are they having problems with their capital flow?”
