Swallowing the Stars: Heart of the Martial God

Chapter 118 Tianhua, it seems I misunderstood you.

Just as the family was chatting and laughing and preparing to go inside, a series of orderly footsteps came from outside the gate.

A group of guards dressed in silver armor escorted a middle-aged man as he walked towards them.

"Your Highness Ling Xuan." The middle-aged man at the head of the group quickly stepped forward, stopped three steps away from Ling Xuan, and bowed slightly in greeting.

Ling Xuan raised his hand to indicate that there was no need for formalities, and his gaze swept over the other party's armor: "No need for formalities, it is you who are inconvenient."

"Your Highness is too kind. The three young masters are all the king's personal disciples, so we will do our best." The middle-aged man straightened up, his face bearing a perfectly respectful smile, and his tone sincere.

“If the three young masters have something to do, then it is the Qianwu royal family that has something to do.”

"The three of them owe their current success to the guidance of the King," Ling Xuan said sincerely. "I will definitely thank him properly when I have time."

Ling Xuan recalled that before he participated in the Genius Battle, the Qianwu Kingdom Lord had given him guidance on the laws of space, which could be considered a teacher-student relationship.

“Dad, the teacher said he welcomes you anytime,” Ling Shuang said.

The middle-aged man's smile deepened, but he subtly changed the subject, "Speaking of which, Your Highness, do you plan to stay for a while this time?"

"I was planning to set off after finishing up the matters at Tianyuan Mountain, as there are still some unfinished business matters to attend to. Is there something wrong?"

His main focus should remain on his Zhouheng clone on the original star, before returning to the outer battlefield to continue his cultivation.

His World Lord level training is not yet complete.

Of course, he doesn't have to continue. After all, he's already fought his way to the original planet. When the time comes, his teacher can just wave his hand and it will be a piece of cake.
"To be honest, I do have something to discuss with you," the middle-aged man said with a smile. "This matter will also be of considerable benefit to you."

"But what about these ruins?" Ling Xuan looked up at the other person.

"This is the very ruin, said to have been left behind by a powerful figure before the Great Cataclysm," the middle-aged man explained.

“Yes, Father, the teachers all said this ruin is extraordinary. If the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance hadn’t prevented it, perhaps the Cosmic Venerables would be in this secret realm right now,” Ling Yu said.

"Even cosmic venerables want to come?" Ling Xuan pondered these words. If even cosmic venerables were flocking to it, then this relic must be extraordinary, probably left behind by a cosmic lord.

It could only have been left behind by the Lord of the Universe. The strongest beings in the universe can leave the original universe to survive during the cycle of the universe. Only those races that do not rely on the strongest beings in the universe will remain in the original universe and be buried here with the cycle of the universe.

Seeing that Ling Xuan was interested, the middle-aged man finally began to explain in detail the information they had obtained.

First, as everyone knows, entering the ruins requires a token, and this token is composed of 10081 parts.

When the ruins were created, they sprayed countless white lights across the entire secret realm, scattering them throughout the area.

These white lights are the tokens.

There is more than one token; it is composed of 10081 unique parts.

This resulted in many factions collecting numerous parts, but ultimately failing to assemble a complete token to enter the ruins.

Now it's a matter of who can collect and piece together a complete token first to gain the upper hand in the ruins.

Most people don't know what's inside the ruins.

They don't even know which era it was left behind; all they know is that this relic is of extremely high level, and most of the forces here are actually fighting over it for the sake of the cosmic venerables behind them.

The rules of the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance left those Cosmic Venerables with no way to enforce them. They could put pressure on the Immortals who guarded the secret realm, but they could not put pressure on the higher-ups of the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance.

Although the Qianwu royal family has not yet collected a complete set of tokens, once they have enough, only the realm lords will be able to enter; otherwise, they will be devoured by realm lords from other forces.

At this point, it comes down to which faction's realm lord is the strongest.

The core level realm masters of the five major forces all met their ends, but they did not all represent the five major forces in the competition. This is the tacit understanding between the five major forces.

The lower-ups were allowed to compete freely, but the upper levels maintained a harmonious atmosphere.

"I understand. Please take care of collecting the tokens," Ling Xuan said. "Your Highness, rest assured, we will handle the collection of the tokens." The middle-aged man breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Ling Xuan was willing to stay.

To be honest, the Qianwu Universe Kingdom is only at a mid-to-lower level in terms of top-tier Realm Lord powerhouses among the entire human race.

Even among the 1000 cosmic kingdoms, there are distinctions of high and low.

As a relatively recent cosmic nation, the Qianwu Cosmic Kingdom, with its ruler being a corrupt leader who had fallen multiple times, truly lacked the depth and foundation of the oldest cosmic nations.

Just like the Candle Dragon Empire is relatively ancient, far surpassing other medium-sized universe nations.

With Tianyuan Mountain erased, the struggles in the Qinggu Secret Realm have become slightly "gentler." Many forces are worried that they might provoke another realm lord from the core of the five major forces, who could wipe out their entire force.

Even if the powerful figure behind it is furious, there's nothing they can do about it.

In the third year since arriving at the Qinggu Secret Realm, the Qianwu Secret Realm has collected another 56454 token components. However, only 8421 of them are actually useful, which is still a short distance from the 10081 required to collect them all.

On Zhou Heng's side, he finally met his first opponent in this secret realm—a giant wolf with a huge body, more than ten kilometers tall, which was none other than Tianhua Venerable of the demon race.

"Tianhua, I've got my eye on this treasure. So, like before, please just give it to me obediently?" Zhou Heng's clone said with a confident smile and a teasing tone.

Upon hearing this, Venerable Tianhua's originally snow-white fur seemed to turn slightly "black" with anger. It roared furiously, "Venerable Xudao, don't be too arrogant! I just dealt with the Black Feather Lord of the Northern Frontier Alliance. I believe your fate won't be much better than his!"

Ling Xuan seemed to have heard an amusing joke, and after laughing a few times, he replied, "What a coincidence, I also just dealt with the Serpent Dragon Venerable of the Northern Frontier Alliance."

However, neither of them rushed to make a move.

Because they all knew that a third "guest" could be sent in at any time.

If a third person suddenly arrives while the two are locked in fierce combat, then someone else will be able to steal the victory.

A moment later, a beam of light flashed, and the third powerful figure was teleported over.

After recognizing the person, Ling Xuan couldn't help but laugh, "Hahaha, Tianhua, it seems your luck isn't so good."

Venerable Tianhua glanced at the newcomer, his face growing even darker.

"Right now, our Hongmeng is two against one."

The newcomer was Herodo. Upon hearing Ling Xuan's words, he shook his head helplessly and said with a wry smile, "What a pity, it seems this treasure is not meant for me."

He had fought against Zhou Heng's clone before and knew that he was no match for him.

If it were just a one-on-one fight with Venerable Tianhua, he might still have some confidence, but in the current situation, what he is thinking about now is how to leave this secret realm alive.

Seeing this, Venerable Tianhua's eyes darted around, and he tried to sow discord, saying, "Xirodo, I heard that you and Qijie fought against this Venerable Xudao before, and you were both defeated. In such a short time, your strength must not have improved much, and it would be extremely difficult for you to defeat him. Why don't we join forces and clear this Venerable Xudao out of this predicament first?"

Without a second thought, Hirodo decisively refused, saying, "You demon race, don't waste your time. Xu Dao and I are both powerful members of the Hong Alliance, how could we possibly join forces with a demon like you?"

Venerable Tianhua did not give up and continued to tempt him, saying, "Don't be silly, Xiluoduo. With such a treasure before you, why care about alliances? If the Hong Alliance can't accommodate you, you can join my Demon Clan Alliance. My teacher is the Dream Demon Ancestor, and he can make the decision for you to join the Demon Clan Alliance."

Upon hearing this, Hirodo sneered and mocked, "Hmph, fool, you talk as if you're going to self-destruct and hand over this treasure to me. Even if I kill the Void Blade, I'll still have to fight you for this treasure. If I kill you, will the Dream Demon Ancestor let me join the Demon Clan Alliance? If I don't kill you and you kill me instead, then I'll have betrayed the Hong Alliance, and my Golden Horn Clan will face annihilation in an instant."

Herodo knew very well that even if he died at the hands of the Void Blade Venerable this time, the Giant Axe Founder was currently in the Primal Universe, so he still had a chance to be resurrected.

However, if they betray the Hong Alliance, the Golden Horn Clan will face annihilation in an instant.

Humanity, with its frail physique, has risen to become the pinnacle of the universe. It's no wonder they're not some merciful, saintly organization. They're incredibly cruel to their own people, let alone to alien races like themselves.

"Hahaha, Tianhua, it seems I misunderstood you. With a brain like yours, there's no way you could be a human who infiltrated the demon race after being possessed. You're too stupid." Ling Xuan added insult to injury, following up on Xirodo's words.

These words were like a fire, completely igniting the anger in Venerable Tianhua's heart.

"Password."

(End of this chapter)