Devouring the Stars: The Lord of the Sky

Chapter 177 The Demon Clan's Ambush

"Ding Ding-"

The moment Lu Jin accepted the invitation, two dazzling stars appeared in the air above the banquet hall.

The stars shone brilliantly, then gradually shrank, turning into two streams of light that landed on the arm guards of Lu Jinyou's dark blue armor, revealing two star marks.

"boom--"

At the same time, a hazy humanoid figure hovered in mid-air, emanating a terrifying pressure that did not spread far.

The humanoid figure of light and shadow lowered its head slightly, looking down at Lu Jin.

"Human Lingxiao, welcome to the Hong Alliance. From now on, you are an official member of the Hong Alliance."

A cosmic crisis lurks, and our race needs to survive. This requires our strongest to fight—to fight for the Hong Alliance, to fight for humanity! This is the mission of every strong human, and it is your mission too!

After saying that, the light and shadow gradually disappeared, as if they had never appeared at all.

'The Machine Race has no soul and cannot be enslaved by a soul; are they the original intelligent life forms?'

Recalling the previous light and shadow, Lu Jin thought to himself.

At this moment, the gazes of the nine Green Arrow King members fell on the two star marks on Lu Jin's armor arm guards.

As members of the Hongmeng, they naturally understood what the two star marks represented.

Apart from the Palace Masters, the Hongmeng City branch system divided all members into seven levels based on their real-world battle records.

One star represents an ordinary member, two stars represent a powerful figure among those who have reached the King level, three stars represent the pinnacle of the King level, and four stars represent either a beginner-level Universe Venerable or an invincible King level.
The so-called "strongest among the kings" refers to the peak of the kingship.

In other words, according to the Hongmeng City branch system of the virtual universe, the Lingxiao King in front of us has the strength of a peak king?

Realizing that the Lingxiao King before him was at the peak of the King-level, Green Arrow King couldn't help but feel a little strange.

According to the intelligence she had gathered, this King Lingxiao was rather unethical in his martial arts; any Marquis or higher-ranking Immortal from the opposing camp was within his hunting range.

Green Arrow King originally thought that Lu Jin, who was only at the initial level of King, was already somewhat lacking in martial ethics for disregarding the demeanor of a strongman and bullying a child from the opposing camp who was only at the initial level of Marquis.

But unexpectedly, Lu Jin used his peak King-level strength to bully the kids from the opposing camp, which was outrageous!
However outrageous it may be, since it was an Immortal from the opposing faction who was being bullied, Green Arrow King didn't show any contempt or similar feelings.

Green Arrow King said, "King Lingxiao, in the Hong Alliance, apart from the various Palace Masters, there are a total of seven star levels."

You joined the Hongmeng and immediately became a two-star member; that's extremely rare.

"It's just the culmination of countless years of cultivation."

Lu Jin waved his hand modestly.

I, Marquis Lingxiao, have been in seclusion for countless years, and recently emerged from seclusion with 'great mastery of divine skills,' going straight from the peak of the Marquis title to the peak of the King title. Isn't that normal?

Needless to say, this two-star rating definitely indicates that the virtual universe Hongmeng City branch system knows that he enslaved the demon race's peak-level king, 'Golden Toad King'.

With this record, the Hongmeng City branch system naturally classified him as a two-star member.

But things aren't looking good!
The Hongmeng City branch system directly rated him as a two-star, but aside from his exorcism ability, he only had the strength of a beginner-level King. Isn't this just harming people?!
Tsk~, it's best not to go to Hongmeng City for now, lest word get out that I, King Lingxiao, am at the peak of the King-level, yet I bully a mere Marquis-level kid without any sense of power.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the battlefields outside the region are a place where the strong prey on the weak; there are actually unspoken rules there as well.

The faction's powerful members are going too far, wantonly slaughtering the weak in their own camp, which easily provokes the dissatisfaction of the powerful members in their own camp.

For example, a peak-level demon king, relying on strength that was tens of millions of times stronger than a low-level Marquis immortal, wantonly slaughtered low-level Marquis immortals from the human race.

At that time, the peak-level or even limit-level kings of the human race will likely be unable to stand by and watch, and will take action to end the opponent.

If things escalate to a significant extent, the virtual universe army system will issue a kill order, offering a bounty on the life of that demon race member at the peak of the King level.

"Gentlemen, the important business is done, let's drink to our hearts' content!"

Lu Jin raised his glass and addressed Green Arrow and the others.

The nine people were very accommodating and all raised their glasses.

Then, a lively banquet began, and the guests and hosts enjoyed themselves to the fullest before departing.

After the banquet, in reality, Lu Jin set off for the next wilderness area.

On land 006, the experts of the three opposing races have either fallen or fled, and there are very few immortals left who have been granted the title of Marquis or above.

For Lu Jin, the battlefield had few masters of the rank of Marquis or above, so there was no point in staying.

Fortunately, the entire Shattered Star Continent battlefield is very large. In addition to the main continent No. 001, which has a maximum diameter of 3.2 light-years, there are as many as nine landmasses with a maximum diameter of over one trillion kilometers, including landmass No. 006.

The fact that there are few skilled adversaries on land 006 does not mean that there are few skilled adversaries on other landmasses with diameters exceeding one trillion kilometers.

With the Azure Sky and Yellow Springs Wings flapping behind him, Lu Jin accelerated into the Dark Universe and headed towards Land 003, which was not too far from Land 006.

According to intelligence from the military system, the largest diameter of landmass 003 is 23000 trillion kilometers. There are no high-level immortals with the title of King among them. The strongest among them is only the low-level King, and their numbers are very small.

Of course, rank is not the only standard for measuring the strength of an individual's combat power.

A larger divine body, life genes superior to ordinary life forms, amplification secret techniques, remarkable talent secret techniques, powerful treasures, and so on—all these factors could potentially make a beginner-level Immortal King possess strength surpassing that of others of the same level or even comparable to a higher-level King.

The Dark Universe travel was convenient, and Lu Jin quickly arrived at Land 003 in the Shattered Star Continent region, tens of light-years away.

I was just about to follow the old routine and send an email to all the human faction immortals in the seventh island, Shattered Star City, of the virtual universe's outer battlefield plane, offering a bounty on the coordinates of the enemy faction's Marquis-level or higher immortal on land, number 003.

Fatty's voice rang out: "Master, 'Lord Li Qian' sent an email saying that a high-level demon king from Land 006 has come to deal with you, and has even put a bounty on your location within the demon camp."

Marquis Li Qian, a top-tier illusionist of the human race.

Although Lu Jin and he weren't very close, they had exchanged money.

The coordinates of the Zerg faction's newly ascended Immortal King that he had hunted down on Land 006 were given to him by this Marquis Li Qian.

When it comes to gathering intelligence, illusionists are the best.

The human faction with its virtual universe and the machine faction with its virtual world will both have their immortals become soul slaves if they are not blocked by the military system.

But the demon race and the insect race are different.

These two factions do not have virtual universes or virtual worlds; their only means of communication is voice calls.

If an immortal is secretly attacked by a stronger illusionist from another faction and becomes a soul slave, and this is not witnessed by others, neither the demon race nor the insect race will know that this comrade or ally has become a spy.

Therefore, among the immortals who roam the battlefields beyond the realms, illusionists possess the most comprehensive intelligence.

With the soul servants left within the opposing faction, the illusionist can know all the publicly available information about the opposing faction whenever they wish.

Lu Jin said, "Fatty, reply to thank Marquis Li Qian, and then send a bounty to all the human faction immortals in Shattered Star City for the position of Marquis and above, and King and below, for all the land insect, demon, and mechanical faction immortals.

High-ranking title of King?

Lu Jin didn't even frown.

The reason why he hasn't listed enemy immortals of the initial level or above as his hunting targets is mainly because, apart from the Divine Exorcism ability, he himself does not yet possess the ability to hunt down immortals of this level.

But this doesn't mean he can't do anything to immortals of the highest rank, such as King.

Similarly, even if the human faction within Shattered Star City is immortal, having the soul servants of the powerful members of these three factions is not a problem.

Universe Venerables are forbidden from entering the extraterritorial battlefield unless they cause too much trouble; otherwise, the three races will not break this rule specifically for them.

He has nothing to fear as long as the Supreme Being of the Universe does not appear.

Ultimately, as long as one is immortal, even if one is at the peak of the King-level or even the limit of the King-level, one cannot be considered a high-ranking member of a top-tier clan. As long as there is no large-scale annihilation, the four major clans do not care about such a small loss.

Soon, many immortals from various human factions within Shattered Star City received a mass message from King Lingxiao.

"Here he comes! The wealthy and generous King Lingxiao has finally arrived at Land 003!"

"Hehehe~, it's finally our turn to get rich!"

"Brothers, get the intelligence working!"

"Sigh~, when will King Lingxiao come to the 001 Main Continent! I know where the strongholds of several Marquis and Immortal factions from the three races are located."

Upon seeing the familiar email listing the coordinates of a powerful enemy, many Immortals on Land 003, whose strength was not particularly impressive, erupted in excited cheers.

The name of King Lingxiao had long been known among the immortals of the human faction in the Shattered Star Continent region.

For them, who weren't particularly strong, receiving the bounty from this tycoon was far more lucrative than risking their lives themselves.

While cheering, many immortals hurriedly sent Lu Jin the coordinates of the immortal masters from the opposing faction.

In just two minutes, Lu Jin received more than a hundred unique coordinates.

"Fatty, sort the targets represented by these coordinates by their strength, starting with the strongest and then moving to the weakest."

Lu Jin gave the instructions.

"Yes, Master!"

Fatty responded and reported, "First target: 'King of Rending Gold' from the demon race camp, possessing the strength of a newly ascended King-level Immortal, from the royal family of the demon race, the Golden-Treating Beast. Coordinates: XXX."

"Shh!"

With a flap of his Azure Heaven and Yellow Springs Wings, Lu Jin accelerated through the dark universe in the starry sky, heading towards the coordinates of the King of Rift Gold.

Unlike previous hunts, Lu Jin became more vigilant after learning that a high-ranking official had offered a bounty on his location.

If nothing unexpected happens, I will inevitably encounter ambushes by powerful members of the opposing faction when I go to the coordinates I received to hunt.

It's not that the human immortal who sent him the coordinates was a spy, but rather that a powerful figure from the opposing faction would deliberately have their own immortal, a Marquis, expose their location to lure him into a trap.

But aside from being more vigilant, Lu Jin didn't pay much attention.

Fishing? What if you find you've caught a great white shark? Let's see if you're pleasantly surprised or terrified!
Time flies, and six years have passed.

On the main continent number 001 in the Shattered Star Continent region, with a maximum diameter of 3.2 light-years.

"Shh!"

Ripples spread, and Lu Jin's figure emerged from the dark universe and appeared in the starry sky.

“Master, more than 3000 million kilometers to the northwest, there is a stone palace. Inside the palace is a wolf-headed, human-bodied puppet, which should be the Blood Flame King.”

Fatty reported the findings of the detector to Lu Jin.

Blood Flame King, born into the Blood Wolf Clan, an ordinary race of the demon race, was a newly appointed Immortal King and one of the strongest demons in the Shattered Star Continent region.

There are many different races among the demon races, and it's not just the Sirius Clan, which ranks among the eighteen royal clans, that is a wolf-type demon race. There are also quite a few ordinary wolf-type demon races.

After all, all wolf-like creatures in the vast universe can be classified as demons.

"Whoosh!"

Nodding slightly, Lu Jin flapped his wings and sped off towards the northwest.

Before long, hundreds of thousands of kilometers ahead of Lu Jin's sight, a stone palace stood atop a towering cliff.

"Frost Beast God, freeze!"

With a flick of his finger, 36 Azure Heaven and Yellow Spring Pearls shot out, accompanied by the fluctuations of the Water-Void Fusion Law. As the dark blue light bloomed, a phantom of a water beast god, tens of thousands of feet long, with scales and flesh completely solidified, instantly appeared and then rushed towards the stone palace in the distance at lightning speed.

Inside the stone hall on the cliff, a wolf-headed, human-bodied puppet sits quietly.

Within the world ring carried by the wolf-headed, human-bodied puppet, besides the Blood Flame King, who possessed the strength of a newly appointed king, there were also two enormous divine figures.

A giant white wolf, over ten kilometers long, with snow-white fur, emerald green eyes, and an aura of biting cold.

A giant silver-scaled serpent, over twenty kilometers long, covered in silver-white scales that radiated a hazy, luminous glow, its enormous body exuding an equally chilling aura.

"Cang Yi, is your plan reliable or not?"

The silver-scaled serpent asked the snow-white giant wolf.

The snow-white giant wolf 'Cangyi King' said in a deep voice: "Bingmeng, the location of Xueyan's lair should be known by an immortal in the human camp. Let's continue to wait. It's only been less than two years. Lingxiao King will definitely come."

After a moment of contemplation, the silver-scaled serpent 'Ice Dream King' said, "Let's wait another year. If we still haven't seen it, we'll take the initiative to attack."

The longer time goes by, the more powerful people will inevitably notice him.

If other powerful individuals get there first, then we won't get any of the treasures on King Lingxiao's body.

Besides, although this fellow is far inferior to us, his winged treasure is extraordinary and extremely fast. Shouldn't we find another helper to prevent him from escaping?

During the conversation, Ice Dream King completely ignored Blood Flame King, who was at the initial stage of the King-level realm and whose divine body was over 600 meters long.

King Cangyi shook his head and said, "No need. You and I are both at the limit of the King-level, and we are also of royal lineage. Why should we worry about not being able to keep King Lingxiao, whose strength is at most that of an ordinary high-level King? Even if the other party has that winged treasure, it won't work."

Besides, their wings are mine, and their telekinetic weapon is yours. If we bring in another one, how will we divide the treasures?

"Too."

Ice Dream King nodded, abandoning the idea of ​​finding another helper, as it was a big no-no to not share the spoils equally.

Over the years, due to Lu Jin's incorrigible nature in issuing numerous bounties, nearly ten thousand immortals of the rank of Marquis or above have died at the hands of King Lingxiao among the three opposing races, including more than thirty novice kings.

As expected, Lu Jin's earlier prediction came true.

In recent years, many powerful figures from the three factions have been disgusted by his unethical behavior of bullying children, and have ambushed him more than a dozen times, each time with the participation of high-ranking officials.

Without exception, Lu Jin managed to escape from every ambush, and even some of the high-ranking kings who suffered serious damage to their divine bodies at his hands were defeated by him.

After all, one year in the outside world is equivalent to a thousand years inside the Time Palace.

Now that six thousand years have passed within the Time Palace, coupled with the intense battles his true self has endured for six years in the outside world, his understanding of the Water-Space Fusion Law is naturally far greater than when he first arrived at the outer battlefield.

With ambushes becoming increasingly frequent and none yet successful, the three races have attracted the attention of powerful Immortal Kings, who have taken notice of the Human Race's Lingxiao King on the Shattered Star Continent battlefield.

Two of them are Cang Yi, a king of the ultimate realm who comes from the Tianlang clan, one of the eighteen royal clans of the demon race, and Bing Meng, a king of the ultimate realm who also comes from the Menglin Snake clan, a royal clan.

Both demons had gathered information about Lu Jin and deduced that Lu Jin's psychic weapons and wings had likely surpassed the level of G-grade immortal divine weapons.

Although they believed that the possibility of it being a true treasure was extremely low, there was still a high probability that it was a treasure at the pseudo-treasure level.

Furthermore, the two treasures possess the attributes of water and space, making them perfectly suited for those who wish to achieve immortality through the law of water.

So the two demons, who already knew each other, conspired to ambush and kill the demons to steal their treasure.

The two demons made a pact: once the deed was done, the winged treasure would belong to King Cangyi, who was a warrior, and the telekinetic weapon would belong to King Bingmeng, who was the controller of it.

As for the armor?

Lu Jin's disguise was quite good, and with the Azure Spring Wings on his body, he was extremely fast.

In the nearly ten thousand hunts over the years, he has rarely been attacked by his opponents' secret techniques, which has led to no enemy realizing that his armor is also extraordinary.

"not good!"

Suddenly, the expression of the blood-red giant wolf Blood Flame King inside the World Ring changed. The wisp of consciousness attached to the puppet body outside sensed the terrifying aura rapidly approaching.

"boom--"

Before Blood Flame King could make any further moves, Azure Phoenix King and Ice Dream King saw their world rings shatter.

With a spatial shift, the two powerful demons, along with the Blood Flame King, appeared directly in the outside world.

Upon their arrival, the two demons, standing atop a massive, deep pit of ruins, sensed a powerful aura.

Looking out, one could see a blue-gold giant beast, tens of thousands of meters long, standing in mid-air above the massive pit ruins.

Seeing this, the two demons exchanged a glance and saw the burning desire in each other's eyes.

After waiting for two years, I've finally gotten my wish!

The next moment, King Cangyi and King Bingmeng unleashed their divine power without hesitation, and a terrifying aura that shook the starry sky instantly spread out.

'Depend on!'

Sensing the two terrifying auras rising from the ruins ahead, Lu Jin took a closer look and immediately cursed under his breath, then activated the secret runes on the second pair of Azure Heaven Wings without hesitation.

In an instant, spatial fluctuations spread rapidly, and the entire battlefield space was instantly sealed off to prevent the opponent from teleporting away or teleporting over to unleash their ultimate attack.

At the same time, on the right wrist protected by the Azure Netherworld Armor, the golden vine mark twisted, and a small golden vine materialized.

Immediately afterwards, the golden vines rapidly expanded in size, while divine power burned.

In the blink of an eye, accompanied by the pervasive aura of terror, the area within a radius of millions of miles was filled with incredibly thick golden vines and countless enormous, serrated golden blades of grass.

Judging from the strength of their auras, these two demon kings who had been lying in ambush beforehand had a much stronger aura than the Golden Toad King after he burned his divine power.

Needless to say, these are two individuals at the pinnacle of the King-level realm, and they are from the royal families of the demon race, specifically the Sirius Clan and the Dreamscale Serpent Clan, both possessing six times the life force of their respective genes.

A powerful being of this caliber is no match for him, except perhaps for those who can enslave him with their supernatural abilities.

Faced with the choice between retreat and enslavement, Lu Jin chose the latter.

A soul servant at the pinnacle of the King-level realm is quite prestigious, and like the previous Golden Toad King, they could even be placed in the Great Luo Heaven for cultivation, and might even become a Universe Venerable in the future.

"The strongest star-eating herb?!"

Gazing at the sea of ​​golden vines that came into view and even completely surrounded him, the Silver Scale Serpent Ice Dream King couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

"run!"

With a fierce roar, the snow-white giant wolf Cang Yi Wang strode forward, easily breaking free from the spatial confinement's binding force by relying on its understanding of spatial laws, and turned to run away without hesitation.

Neither he nor Ice Dream King possessed the strength of a King-level expert; they could not possibly outlast the strongest Star-Eating Grass.

At most, due to the fact that members of the royal family are born with six times the life force, their strength is six times greater than that of ordinary kings.

The strongest Star-Eating Grass, though only at the peak of the King-Sealing level, is ten times weaker than the limit of ordinary King-Sealing.

However, the Star-Eating Grass's divine body is extremely tough, comparable to the limit of a King-level being. Coupled with the massive divine power reserves of its million-kilometer-long divine body, how could they possibly outlast the strongest Star-Eating Grass?

"Star-Eating Grass, don't let them escape! But hold back, just maintain the normal strength of an Immortal-level Thousand Vine Star-Eating Grass."

Lu Jin's consciousness gave instructions to the Star Eater.

The fact that even those at the peak of the King-level realm came to ambush him suggests that these two experts must have noticed something about the treasures he possessed.

These two individuals, who were both at the pinnacle of their abilities, recognized the extraordinary nature of the situation and took action accordingly.

Even if this battle defeats the opponent, there will still be other powerful figures at the limit of the King level, or even those close to the invincible King level, coming to join the fight.

After all, the value of such a treasure is self-evident, and they would come to verify it even if there was only a slight possibility.

In this way, after this battle, either King Lingxiao will leave the outer battlefield, or he will change his form and use other treasures to continue his training.

Perfect timing, he has multiple accounts, so Lingxiao King can temporarily log off and let the Water Qilin clone, this 'Netherworld King', take over.

However, Lu Jin was somewhat unwilling to accept that Lingxiao King had just left the show.

Let's go big!
You've both reached the pinnacle of being kings, and you're even members of the noble royal family among the demon race. You two must have some close friends with similar strength, right?

Summon more powerful demons over here, and I, King Lingxiao, will wipe them all out today!
"Swiss, swish -"

Upon receiving Lu Jin's command, the golden vine sea instantly boiled, with endless, enormous, serrated golden grass leaves sweeping towards King Cang Yi, King Bing Meng, and King Xue Yan.

(End of this chapter)