Chapter 713 – Change of Laws, Beginning of Chaos
Along with this deafening sound, the entire Ark Continent was also covered with a white radiance. This light was as bright as the noon sun. Everyone in the continent felt their eyes sting, all of them called out in alarm as they quickly closed their eyes.
The Demon Dragon King's group were shocked at this white light. They were God-ranked experts, therefore, this light had no effect on them. What shocked them was what came along with the white light. A spatial crack appeared in the sky and was getting bigger and bigger. Then suddenly, land can be seen going through the rift. It seems like the land was causing the crack to expand. The tearing continued as the rift became as large as half of the entire Radiant Empire. Then the land slowly descended before it fell and caused a huge bang. This cause the entire Ark Continent to tremble.
At this moment, the Demon Dragon King's expression changed, he turned his head to the Lich and said, "White Ghost, try to feel it. The continent's suppression has vanished."
White Ghost stared, then his expression changed as well, he confirmed, "The suppression had indeed vanished. What is this all about?"
The Demon Dragon King was now quite pale as he replied, "The Divine Race, them and the Radiant Church had worked together to produce these two large magic formations, changing the Ark Continent's Law of Heaven and Earth. Later on, God-ranked experts entering the continent wouldn't be met with suppression anymore. White Ghost, you go back and report this to His Majesty. Ask him to organize all of our God-ranked experts and have them enter the continent. Otherwise, our plans would be placed into danger."
After hearing the Demon Dragon King, the Lich's expression changed, he immediately nodded and then turned around as he flew towards the spatial rift. The Demon Dragon King had a cold look on his face as he muttered, "Good, Divine Race, good job. But the ownership of this land has yet to be decided!'
Then the Demon Dragon King flew over his camp as he looked down at all Demons and said, "Fortify the camp. All 9th ranks for a group of ten each. If a God-rank comes attacking, then don't hesitate to link your souls and self-destruct. There should be no hesitation! Defend the camp to your full capability!"
This was basically a suicide order. However, there wasn't any changes to the expressions of these Demons. All of them nodded and without any pauses, all 9th ranks grouped themselves up into tens. Each group composed on combat squad. All of them were waiting outside the camp, in full anticipation for a fight.
The Demon Dragon King clearly knew that although God-ranked experts can be wounded by exploding 9th ranks, this only applied to those who had yet to comprehend a Domain. As for those God-ranks who had a Domain, 9th rank explosions were completely useless.
However, the strength of linked souls were different. The explosion of ten linked 9th ranks was almost equivalent to a God-ranked expert. The damage should be quite ample. Even if the other party had comprehended a level 2 Domain, he would still be unable to stop this kind of attack.
Zhao Hai's prior guess was correct, Domains were truly divided into levels. As for the levels, there were False Gods, people who just became God-rank and haven't managed to comprehend a Domain yet. Berry and Shue were among these people.
Then there were people like the Archer, Knight, and Assassin. Although they had comprehended a Domain, they weren't very flexible in using them, their Domains were limited when it came to form. They belong to 1st Level Gods, this was where God-ranks officially reach Godhood.
After that was the level of the Demon Dragon King and the Lich. Their Domains were flexible, and they had many forms to transform into. Their Domains also had an avatar form that can fight by itself. They were called 2nd level Gods, or Highgods.
On the top of all God-ranked experts were Saint Gods. Only a few people can reach this rank. Their strengths were extremely powerful. With one raise of the hand, they can turn Heaven and Earth upside down. When they stamp their feet, mountains move. They were the strongest God-ranks. Even in the Demon Realm, these people were extremely rare. It was said that everyone who managed to reach this level had gone to a mysterious place. Nobody knew where it was, only those who managed to become Saint Gods were able to know.
It was precisely because of the absence of Saint Gods that the top existences in the Demon Realm had become people like the Demon Dragon King, the Highgods. Even the Great Demon King would need to discuss with them whenever he needed something to be done, he simply cannot force them.
But the reason why these people listened to the Great Demon King was due to three things. First, it was because the Great Demon King was a good leader. Second, because the Great Demon King was also a Highgod. Third, and most importantly, only the Great Demon King had the means to contact the Saint Gods. Because of this, nobody dared to challenge the rule of the Great Demon King.
However, even if one was God-ranked in the Demon Realm, he couldn't just easily wage war against any Demon Army. Although God-ranks were indeed powerful, they were still completely susceptible to the soul-linked attacks by the Demons. Once Demons concentrated their strengths, the result was very astonishing.
Moreover, majority of Demons in the Demon realm grew up fighting. This made all of them fearless towards death. Once they were pushed too far back, then they wouldn't hesitate to blow themselves up. Because of this, in addition to strength, God-ranks also need influence in order to get respect. This was the reason why the Demon Dragon King was also the northwest king of the Demon Realm.
The Demon Realm had a certain understanding with regards to the Divine Race. Because of this, after the Demon Dragon King discovered the changes in the laws, he immediately issued a command of self-sacrifice to his men. There were plenty of God-ranked experts in the Divine Realm. The only way to push them back was through the threat of Demonic core explosions.
While he issued his commands, the Demon Dragon King was completely unaware that he was heard by Cai'er. Although Zhao Hai was currently healing inside Bubble while Laura and the others were busying themselves by relaying information to the various Patriarchs and Emperors of the Ark Continent, Cai'er was also listening to the developments in the Continent. Moreover, she had become stricter in her gathering of information.
When the Demon Dragon King said that the laws had changed, Cai'er's expression changed. She knew what this meant for the Ark Continent.
The reason why Zhao Hai was confident in going against the Divine Race and the Demons was because he was relying on the Ark Continent's law. The law that forbade the existence of God-ranked experts. Because of this law, Zhao Hai and the others would be able to become equals with the God-ranked experts. But now that the laws have changed, both Demons and Divines would be able to send out swathes of God-ranks to the Ark Continent without any repercussions. This would diminish the Ark Continent's means to defend itself.
Cai'er immediately relayed this information over to Laura and the others. When they heard this, all of them couldn't help but stop what they were doing. They weren't expecting the Divine Race to play this big move. Their hand was too great, it was akin to removing a huge advantage of the Ark Continent. At this point, what could the Ark Continent do in order to win?
While they were in shock, Laura being competent woman, managed to calm herself quickly as she said, "Don't be upset. Let's relay this news to the powers of the continent as well. Cai'er, immediately gather all assassin-class undead and see whether some of them are able to use a Domain. Then have them on standby, closely monitoring the movements of both the Demons and the Divine Race. Also, immediately tell the Buddha Emperor to hasten the evacuation, use the Space if possible but make sure that it doesn't get discovered, stick to using the spatial rights and have them sent to the Lyon Empire. Have the Dwarves, Elves, and Beastmen prepare their 9th rank experts as well as their Divine Artifacts, then move them to the Buddha Empire. Inform the Lyon Empire and the Rosen Empire to prepare their experts as well and have them sent to the Buddha Empire. These were the emergency orders that Brother Hai prepared ahead of time."
Among Zhao Hai's wives, one must say that the earliest one was Meg. However, with Meg's disposition, she wasn't fit to become a leader. On the other hand, Laura was Zhao Hai's second and also had the talent to be a leader. This gave her a high status compared to the other wives. Even Lizzy and Megan chose to listen to her. When Zhao Hai healed himself, Laura immediately became the default leader. Her orders were akin to Zhao Hai's own.
The women immediately nodded and started to do their jobs. While telling the powers of the continent, they deliberately hid the fact that Zhao Hai was injured. Instead, they told them that Zhao Hai was currently focused on finding ways to suppress the Demons and the Divines. All of these actions were done in order to keep the morale stable.
At this point, everyone in the continent were aware as to how strong Zhao Hai was. Moreover, the fact that Zhao Hai was God-rank was also relayed to the other powers. The fact that he had killed another God-rank was also relayed. This was to increase morale. But now that the Divine Race had descended, another wave of anxiety had appeared on the continent. If the fact that Zhao Hai being injured was revealed, then the continent would surely fall into chaos.
Laura knew that Zhao Hai was the Ark Continent's sole pillar of hope. Once Zhao Hai falls, the continent would surely fall alongside him. At that time, there would be no army that would have the strength to resist. Nobody would be able to stop the advance of both the Demons and the Divine Race.
Chapter 714 – Dao Lotus
Zhao Hai was lying down on the Blood Pond. To be honest, ever since he came to the Ark Continent, this was the first breakthrough that he had experienced by himself, all other breakthroughs were brought to him by the Space. This time's breakthrough made Zhao Hai sense a qualitative increase to his own strength. However, he didn't feel like he had reached his peak, his strength can still be promoted.
This was the reason why in addition to lying down on the Blood Pond, Zhao Hai decided to be placed inside Bubble's body. The Blood Pond was made out of the blood of a Divine, the energy within it was tyrannical. However, Bubble was a master of water, this allowed him to control how strong the blood's actions was, nourishing Zhao Hai properly in the process.
Zhao Hai wasn't afraid of exhausting the energy in the Blood Pond. The Space had already recorded its energy patterns and could just recreate an endless supply of it in the future.
On the other hand, Zhao Hai wasn't aware that when he turned Shiying into an undead, his wisdom and intelligence was still kept intact. Shiying was a God-ranked assassin, he had a devious wisdom and formidable intellect, but he was now under Zhao Hai's side, because of this, Shiying gave Shue his Demonic Core. He wanted Shue to hand the core over to Zhao Hai to absorb.
Zhao Hdi didn't expect Shiying to do this. He still couldn't understand why Shiying, who had kept his wisdom, would do this. However, he wasn't afraid of of any harm. After all, Shiying was unable to have evil intentions towards Zhao Hai since the Space already suppressed him. Because of this, Zhao Hai agreed to absorb the Demonic Core.
What Zhao Hai thought was correct. Shiying was now an undead, and like what the Space said, he was like robot. A robot programmed to have perfect loyalty towards Zhao Hai. It was impossible for the undead to betray the Space's host.
Since Zhao Hai wanted to increase his strength, then Shying would naturally be willing to help, making him offer his own Demonic Core.
Now that Shiying had been turned into an undead, his energy source has now been shifted to the Space. Because of this, the Demonic Core had become useless.
The energy in the Blood Pond, although formidable, wasn't that abundant in energy. A Demonic Core was different, it was the source of a Demon's entire strength, the reason why they were so strong. Because of this, once the Demonic Core's energy entered Zhao Hai's body, Zhao Hai immediately felt immeasurable pain in his meridians.
Compared to Shue's pain, Zhao Hai's suffering was much more. However, Zhao Hai didn't move, he endured it as he kept lying down inside the Blood Pond, maintaining a peaceful state of mind.
This was the most painful time during Zhao Hai's promotion. However, this was something that he needed to experience. His previous promotions were too smooth, this made his soul unable to catch up. This was the reason why he had been injured during his fight with the Demon Dragon King.
The pain that he was experiencing actually helped in increasing his spiritual force. Now that his body and soul has been upgraded, Zhao Hai was now a more well-rounded powerhouse.
Zhao Hai continued lying down in the Blood Pond, not even aware that he has been wrapped up by a lotus flower that has entered the Blood Pond. This was something that Bubble decided to do. Naturally, this wasn't done in order to harm Zhao Hai. This was because Bubble felt that the lotus flower would have big use to Zhao Hai's current state. Now that Zhao Hai was focused on maintaining his peace of mind, he simply didn't have the capacity to talk to Bubble. At the same time, Bubble didn't dare to disturb Zhao Hai. Because of this, he made his own decision to absorb the lotus flower into the Blood Pond. Then, with his own strength, refine Zhao Hai along with the lotus flower and the Blood Pond.
Zhao Hai didn't know for how long, but he had started to feel that the energy that was rampaging through his body had become calm. And strangely, it seems like the energy was now following a strange and long journey. This route included all of his meridians, even the one in his forehead.
Zhao Hai gawked, he couldn't help but take a look at what was happening to his body. At his lower navel, a colorful mass has been absorbing energy from the outside. On his chest was a strange lotus pattern with the petals wide open. And on his head was a small projection of Zhao Hai, meditating. This projection had a silver hair that extended into the void, seemingly to no end.
This scene made Zhao Hai blankly stare. Zhao Hai was a fan of novels, and he was clear about what these things were. In China, these spots were called dantian. There was the Lower Dantian(Xià Dāntián), placed below the navel. The Middle Dantian(Zhōng Dāntián), placed at the heart. And lastly the Upper Dantian(Shàng Dāntián), at the forehead between one's two eyes.
Although Zhao Hai knew about these three points from the start, he didn't mind them too much since he was practicing Battle Qi and Magic. He also thought that these three points were just something that was made up by the ancient Chinese. But now, it seems like these weren't useless at all.
Zhao Hai's strength was centered on his Lower Dantian. Moreover, he had discovered that this was where his body's physical strength came from.
Zhao Hai then used his Divine Sense towards his Middle Dantian, where the lotus flower was currently attached. Zhao Hai immediately investigated the lotus flower, this lotus was a treasure of the Heavens, it wasn't even from the Ark Continent. A lotus seed had fallen down from an unknown space and arrived in the continent. Then the seed was buried deep down as it was nourished by the Continent's energy.
Then after numerous years passed by, in the deep dark sea, the lotus seed suddenly turned into something like a small lake. Then that small lake slowly grew up and after many years, it managed to change its surroundings. The lotus roots continued to extend as it rooted itself on the surrounding rocks. Then when the lotus bloomed, Zhao Hai saw something that was very familiar to him. It was actually the same lotus that he saw from the Soul Sucking Reef!
The roots of this lotus had a ying-yang cross section. It's roots along the rocks and soil formed an eight trigrams pattern, a pattern that was very much in line with the Heavenly Dao. This lotus, in turn, had become the world's most important treasure, the Dao Lotus.
Bubble felt that this lotus would be useful for Zhao Hai, this made him decide to absorb it into his body, accidentally refining it and making it Zhao Hai's Life Treasure. This lotus flower seemed to agree to this arrangement as it didn't make any resistance to the refinement. One could say that the capabilities of this lotus was endless. It's benefit to Zhao Hai couldn't be easily described. Compared to the Divine Artifacts of the Beastmen, Dwarves, and Elves, this Dao Lotus was completely on another level.
Zhao Hai slowly drew his Divine Sense back. When he connected his Divine Sense with the Dao Lotus, he seemed to feel changes to himself, he had felt how mysterious the Heaven and Earth was. It seemed like he was in a state of understanding but also unknowing. But one thing that Zhao Hai knew was the fact that this Dao Lotus had a lot of functions. It can attack the enemy, it can defend, it can trap them, and it can even heal wounds. It was a treasure with tons of other uses.
The reason why this Dao Lotus was this strong was because of its growth. During its germination period up until it was absorbed into the Space, the lotus didn't experience any stresses in its entire life. This caused its roots to go in line with the Heavenly Dao, forming an eight trigrams pattern as well as developing the yin-yang symbol. This made it possible for the lotus to make use of all the five elements.
Having this magical treasure made Zhao Hai extremely happy. But he still continued to use his Divine Sense to scan his Upper Dantian. However, Zhao Hai didn't think that when his Divine Sense entered his upper dantian and scanned the little man, it was immediately sucked into nothingness. Because of this shock, Zhao Hai woke up. At the same time he also understood that this little man was the source of his Divine Sense. However, it seems like the little man's hair had no traces of spiritual force.
When Zhao Hai opened his eye, he discovered that he was still inside Bubble's body, lying down inside the Blood Pond. Therefore, Zhao Hai immediately said, "Bubble, take me out" Bubble's body shook as Zhao Hai exited, the Blood Pool has been restored to its original position as well. Zhao Hai looked at Bubble and said, "Bubble, who told you to place the lotus flower into the Blood Pond?"
Bubble quickly replied, "It was in my own discretion, Young Master. Did Bubble make a mistake? I really don't have an excuse to tell you, I just felt that the lotus would be fruitful in your current state, so I decided to absorb it and place it into the Blood Pond. Did I harm the Young Master?"
Zhao Hai laughed and then hugged Bubble, "No, no, what you did was right. Hahaha. Well done, Bubble, well done. You just made your Young Master very happy!"
At this time, Berry responded, she arrived hastily right beside Zhao Hai and said, "Brother Hai, how are you? Are you doing fine?" Shue also came over, looking eagerly at Zhao Hai.
Zhao Hai laughed and said, "I'm alright, not only alright, my strength has been improved as well. Hahahaha. I've made you all worried. Right, Berry, how long was I out?"
Berry quickly replied, "Not that long, only more than a day. But Brother Hai, while you were gone, something happened. The Divine Race had managed to establish two large formations. When they arrived at the Ark Continent, they also changed the laws of the Ark Continent. In the future, God-ranks would no longer be suppressed in the continent."
Zhao Hai stared for a moment, then he smiled and said, "These Divines are really good. This was surely not planned for a day or two. It seems like they had been on to this plan for a long time. It seems like they are the reason why the Ark Continent hasn't produced a God-ranked expert in such a long time."
Chapter 715 – Universe Grand Dao
Zhao Hai already had a faint idea about this aspect. But when he connected with the Dao Lotus and had a feel of the Heavens and the Earth, he was even more convinced about it. And with the report that he had received, he was now quite assured that the reason why there were no God-ranks that had ascended from the continent after all this time was because of an interference done by the Divine Race.
Zhao Hai knew that changing the Laws was very difficult. What is a law? Actually, it was a type of projection of the Dao. And this Dao was separated into Yin and Yang. If the things that are normal to the Ark Continent were Yang, then those suppressed by it were the Yin.
A combination of Yin and Yang becomes a plane. And the reason why this plane existed was because of the Dao. Now that the Divine Race had broken the Laws of the Continent, the entire plane where the continent resides has become unstable. This time, not only did the Divine Race break the laws of the Ark Continent, it also broke the laws of many other planes.
The universe is comprised of multiple planes. And the reason that these planes exist and was able to act independently was also because of the universe. Now that the balance of the Ark Continent has been broken, then it was akin to breaking a part of the universe. As for what influence this action did, Zhao Hai had no way to know. However, he can be assured that the effects wouldn't be small.
If the universe is composed of countless planes, then each plane would be like a domino that made up the universe. As long as it stood there and wasn't moved, then there wouldn't be any influence towards the other pieces. But once one domino fell, then all others next to it would definitely be affected as well. No matter how long or what effects it had, there will be events that would happen as a reaction.
However, Zhao Hai believed that the Universal Grand Dao has a way to repair itself. Just like how the Ark Continent had been punctured by the Demons and the Divine Race, in the end, it still managed to keep the continent's space intact.
Zhao Hai also believed that there was an avenue for the Universe to adjust. The Universe is all about balance, yin and yang. If the Ark Continent were to be destroyed, then another place somewhere would be affected in order to balance everything out.
However, Zhao Hai had no idea how long this adjustment would occur. And as to the changes that would happen in the Ark Continent, it was difficult to say.
Because of this Grand Dao, it was very difficult to change the laws of a plane. The Divine Race needed to prepare for tens of thousands of years. And if nobody from the Ark Continent were to ascend during that time, then their job would be much easier.
After all, compared to the Ark Continent, the Divine Realm's strength is leagues higher. They can definitely make a seal to inhibit the ascent of God-ranks from the Ark Continent. Setting wide-scale formations was easier done in the Ark Continent compared to the Divine Realm.
At this moment, Zhao Hai had an idea. He immediately convened all the 9th ranks in the Space. The majority of these 9th ranks were from the Carrion Swamp, there was also Origin Sword Saint who was invited by Zhao Hai. These people were among the oldest 9th ranks in existence. Zhao Hai had seen how strong they were. However, after all these years, they were still unable to reach the next step, this made Zhao Hai quite confused.
But now, he knew that this was a plot done by the Divine Realm. If this was really it, then it may be possible for these people to break into God-rank after going back to the continent.
These 9th ranks have trained inside Zhao Hai's Space for a long time. Although their strengths were increased, they were still yet to upgrade into God-rank. Zhao Hai wanted to try having them go back to the Continent and see whether they can be promoted to God-rank.
When these 9th ranks heard Zhao Hai's idea, all of them immediately agreed since. After all, aside from the Origin Sword Saint, all of these people were Zhao Hai's subordinate. At the same time, the Origin Sword Saint had been training for a long time, he knew that he wouldn't live for long if he wasn't able to break through to God-rank, therefore, he also agreed to the idea.
To these 9th ranks, their biggest wish was to reach God-rank. Only then can they have greater strength as well as longer lifespans.
Zhao Hai didn't have them exit directly to the battlefield. Instead, he had them go to the Black Wasteland first. In any case, the laws present there was the same as anywhere else in the continent.
After sending these people off, Zhao Hai immediately returned to the living room. He was inside Bubble's body for more than a day, so he was clueless about what was currently happening outside. The only thing he knew about was the change in the Ark Continent's laws. The reason why Zhao Hai was anxious to let the 9th ranks out was because he was eager to have them break through, only then would their strengths be improved.
When Zhao Hai entered the room, he saw Laura and the others being busy. Everyone looked thin and pale. When they saw Zhao Hai come, they immediately stopped what they were doing and came over. Zhao Hai looked at their faces and said, "Why do all of you look fatigued? Why are you still busy? What is going on outside?"
Laura, with dark circles under her eyes, forced a smile and said, "We're fine. But Brother Hai, how about you? Are you doing well?"
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, "Rest assured, I'm already fine. If the outside situation isn't that bad, then you should go and take a rest. You've been going at it for two days."
Laura nodded and said, "Everything is almost done, large thanks to Cai'er. Brother Hai, the defenders in Demon City have already retreated. At this moment, the Demons have gone into full defense. So we decided to move the army, there was no longer any significance in having them defend Demon City anymore. Also, we've already had the various armies enter the Buddha Empire. All of the refugees in the Buddha Empire are gone as well, we used spatial rifts to have them moved quickly. Now, the Buddha Empire is already going according to your plan. It has been turned into huge battlefield."
Zhao Hai nodded, "That's good. At this moment, we have more than 500 God-ranked experts. And I already had Little Wen and Origin Sword Saint's group exit the Space. Now that the laws of the Ark Continent has been changed, I want to see if there are some of them that are able to break through to God-rank. All of them are locals of the Ark Continent and still haven't broken through even while inside the Space. I think that their cultivation is still not compatible with the Space. So I might as well have them break through their cultivation outside."
Laura nodded, then she quickly replied, "Although they had their strengths improved inside the Space, they were still yet to break through. It's a good idea to have them go out and try breaking through. At this moment, there aren't any further movements coming from the Divine Race. I don't know what they are planning to do." Zhao Hai nodded, "Tell me everything that happened."
Laura replied, "Brother Hai, take a look." Then Laura turned her head to Cai'er and said, "Cai'er, let Brother Hai see the recording."
Cai'er nodded, then she played the scene of the two huge magic formation as well as the spatial rift caused by the descending piece of land. After that, a video of the conversation between the Demon Dragon King and the Lich was shown.
Zhao Hai calmly looked at the monitor until everything was finished. Then he had Cai'er show the map of the continent. At this time, there were a dense group of red dots on the Buddha Empire. Zhao Hai nodded and said, "I didn't think that there would be this much diversity in the continent's army."
Lizzy nodded as she said, "The current army of Demon City has fallen back to Rising Sun City. Rising Sun City, Lower Bank City, South Plain City, Water Wheel City, Broad Flat City have coordinated with themselves and had become one defensive line. Aside from the army in Demon City, there were also 200 thousand soldiers from the Buddha Empire, 50 thousand Beast Knights and 100 thousand infantry from the Lyon Empire, 50 thousand heavy infantry and 150 thousand normal infantry from the Rosen Empire, 200 Mages and 5000 archers from the Elves, and 50 thousand soldiers from the Dwarves. Altogether, there are more than 1 million troops separated amongst those five cities."
Zhao Hai nodded, Rising Sun City was yet another fortress not far from Demon City. The walls of this city were quite thick. Moreover, its infrastructure was very well developed. Establishing a defense in this City would be a very good idea. It had good strategic placement. Just like in Demon City, Rising Sun City would be a good place to besiege.
Then Lizzy added, "Then Ashi river's east bank has become another line of defense. There are two hundred channels connected to this river. Another 1.5 million troops are present here. Their main purpose is to either reinforce Rising Sun City and the other cities or aid them in their retreat."
Zhao Hai nodded, Ashi river is the Buddha Empire's second major river. It's main and side branches stretched through almost the entire Buddha Empire. With the help of Zhao Hai's Space, the river had now been turned into a defensive line.
Lizzy continued, "Then there's Hard Fang City, White City, Upper Bank City, White Oyster City, Golden Crown City, Ox City, and other cities close to them who made up the bulk of the Buddha Empire's defense. A total of 3 million troops are present on these places, 1 million Beastmen, 1 million Humans, 500 thousand Dwarves, 100 thousand Elves, and 400 thousand Fishmen who are in the surrounding rivers. Moreover, there are also troops present in the Imperial Capital."