Chapter 334 : Chapter 334 : Ascetic Monks
Lin Zhen’s battle in front of Constantinople had far-reaching effects.
Facing the siege of the three martial artists Yan Huang, Huo Luofu, and Laricus, Lin Zhen managed to kill Huo Luofu and Laricus first and seriously injure Yan Huang. People no longer had any doubts about Lin Zhen’s combat power.
Some even claim that he is the greatest genius of humanity since the God Transformation Calendar, but not everyone agrees with this statement yet.
However, one thing that worries people is that Laricus had embedded the Breaking Boundary Nail in Lin Zhen’s body, which would continuously suppress Lin Zhen’s Dantian energy and prevent him from advancing. In this case, would Lin Zhen lose his chance of advancing forever?
Moreover, people don’t know where Lin Zhen has gone. Since he left outside Constantinople, Lin Zhen disappeared without a trace, and no one could find him.
People speculated that he was healing, but the world is so big that he could be healing anywhere and no one would know.
However, it is certain that Lin Zhen is still alive because he made it to the Dark Star List after killing Laricus.
Laricus ranked thirty-second on the Dark Star List, and after killing him, Lin Zhen also ranked in the top fifty on the global Star List, truly advancing to the ranks of top-tier martial artists.
As long as this ranking does not change, it means that Lin Zhen is fine, and this has eased the concerns of many people who worry about him.
The Pope’s wedding did not happen, and the Holy See also calmed down.
There was one wave after another in Hua Xia’s withdrawal from the Gods Clan. Except for Ice City, there were almost no members of the Gods Clan left in the other major Base Cities. There were originally nearly 300 million believers in Hua Xia, but now there might not even be three million left.
Although other countries have not withdrawn as completely as Hua Xia, the number of believers is still increasing every day.
After Lin Zhen’s continuous turmoil, the number of believers in the Gods Clan has dropped from one billion to possibly not more than 300 million.
Moreover, this number is still declining, and it is unknown how long the Gods Clan, which now has only over 200 million people, can persist.
As for Yan Huang’s claim to lead the believers of the Gods Clan to conquer the world and Hua Xia, people sneered at this idea. If he couldn’t even conquer Lin Zhen, how could he conquer Hua Xia? He should save his energy.
As for Lin Zhen’s parents, they returned to Ice City, this time under the protection of the state.
The top leaders of Hua Xia declared that Lin Zhen’s family was under state protection, and anyone who dared to harm them would be an enemy of Hua Xia.
There was no opposition to this privilege in Hua Xia, as it was something Lin Zhen deserved.
It had always been Lin Zhen who protected them, and now that Lin Zhen was not there, they would protect Lin Zhen’s parents in his place.
An Ning handed over her business to her family to manage and personally moved into Lin Zhen’s house to live with Lin Zhen’s parents, taking care of them in the process.
The Holy See was silent, Lin Zhen’s whereabouts were unknown, and everything seemed to have calmed down.
In Constantinople, Yan Huang waved his arms a few times, and after ten consecutive days of treatment, his left arm had finally fully recovered.
Although his arm had recovered, the anger in his heart had not subsided.
They had lost a significant player in this battle, and he never thought that his alliance with Huo Luofu and Laricus would not be able to keep Lin Zhen, let alone lose two lives.
He no longer expects to conquer the world through doctrine; he wants to do it with strength.
Before his eyes, the Water Mirror appeared again in Yan Huang’s sight.
“Is your injury all right?” Shu Mingxuan asked.
“It has fully recovered. Even if I face Lin Zhen again, I believe I can win… ”
“Enough!” Shu Mingxuan waved his hand irritably. Yan Huang’s strength was indeed above Lin Zhen’s, but so what? In the end, he still lost. When the power gap is not significantly large, the importance of skill becomes very significant. Lin Zhen is indeed a combat genius – he successively killed Huo Luofu and Laricus, and even Shu Mingxuan had to respect that.
“Don’t talk about Lin Zhen’s situation for now. He’s been hit by that Breaking Boundary Nail, and he may never be able to advance again. Your current task is to find people as soon as possible, conquer Hua Xia immediately, and make this your top priority right now.”
Shu Mingxuan was indeed very anxious. He had contacted Xin Ou and Tu Ya again yesterday, and their arrival on Earth was only over a dozen days away. If they arrived and he has not achieved anything, then even if there were many gains later on, the credit would not belong only to Shu Mingxuan.
So, he must urge Yan Huang to conquer Hua Xia before Xin Ou’s arrival. This is the most crucial thing.
“Please rest assured, Lord Shu Mingxuan, I am about to leave for Iceland.”
“Mm, I’m waiting for your good news. You can make the situation more serious. Because you forgot yourself during the fight with Lin Zhen and revealed the Holy See’s intention to conquer Hua Xia, I heard that many people in Hua Xia are even preparing to unite to resist the Holy See. So, now it’s essential to get the support of those ascetic monks.”
Yan Huang nodded, indicating that he understood. He had also heard the news that many powerful martial artists in Hua Xia were preparing to unite and resist the Holy See, but since the Holy See had not taken any action, they had not either.
However, once the Holy See truly launches an eastern expedition, it is beyond doubt that a large number of martial artists in Hua Xia would resist.
No matter how many difficulties lay ahead, Yan Huang will continue on this path.
After ending the call with Shu Mingxuan, Yan Huang drove the Black Ghost straight to the northwest towards Iceland.
Iceland is located in the middle of the ocean and is not very large. Ocean giant beasts often land there, making it the most difficult place.
When the Black Ghost arrived above Iceland, Yan Huang couldn’t help but gasp.
A large group of monstrous fish was besieging a group of people.
The scene was appalling, with octopuses as large as small hills, sharks even bigger than submarines, giant sea turtles weighing hundreds of tons, and countless other fish species.
Among these ocean giant beasts, the weakest were at least S-level. Yan Huang noticed a huge octopus that was even a Quasi-SSS-level Mutated Beast.
This thing was even more formidable than the enemy of ten thousand men. If it landed on the mainland, it would definitely cause a disaster.
A huge swarm of monstrous fish surrounded thirty-odd white-robed figures at the foot of a volcano.
All thirty individuals wore white priest robes, which were extremely old and patched everywhere.
Each of their appearances was similar with white hair and white beards, all looking ancient and decrepit.
However, under the siege of the monstrous fish, these elderly white-bearded men exhibited unbelievable abilities.
The tall elderly man leading them, upon seeing the gigantic octopus attack, simply brought his hands together and said: “The first group, prepare! Judgment of Light!”
Ten white-robed priests on his left acted together, gathering light energy elements from their bodies, and simultaneously focusing them towards the leading elder.
The elder now seemed like a luminous body, as the intense light force grew stronger and stronger resembling a supernova about to explode, and furiously pushed his hands towards the octopus.
The massive beam of light, three meters thick, utterly destroyed everything in its path, vaporizing even the Quasi-SSS-level octopus.
Yan Huang was left dumbfounded by this move, these old men were too powerful.
Every one of them was a Star Realm expert.
Furthermore, there were basically no early or mid-stage Star Core practitioners, as most were at least at Level Seven or Level Eight of the Star Core Period.
In fact, Star Core experts were in the minority here, as the majority was in the Meteor Stage.
They ranged from Meteor Level One to Meteor Level Nine. Yan Huang saw that the leading tall elder had even attained the Comet Stage!
Yan Huang was secretly excited, as he had not expected there to be such a powerful expert among these ascetic monks.
If he wanted to see a Comet Stage expert in the world, he would have to look towards the Heavenly Star List, as there were almost none on the Dark Star List.
Moreover, these ascetic monks could clearly launch combined attacks. They could collect their forces through some secret method, which allowed them to easily kill Quasi-SSS-level mutated beasts. Yan Huang believed that if given enough people and a large enough formation, they might even have a chance to kill an SSS-level super mutated beast with a single move.
After killing the largest mutated beast, the ascetic monks began to make their move and to fight individually, swiftly slaughtering the entire group of ocean giant beasts that landed.
The tall ascetic monk extracted the Crystal from the mutated octopus, then looked up at the sky without saying a word, leading the group of monks to walk away in the distance.
Yan Huang hurriedly alighted from the aircraft, following the ascetic monks.
None of the monks paid any attention to Yan Huang. They walked for about half an hour, away from the coastline, and arrived at a group of thatched huts.
There were more than a hundred huts in total, with each inhabited by an ascetic monk. Yan Huang came here, but no one spoke to him. These ascetic monks seemed to be very busy.
They were either reciting doctrines, meditating, patching up their clothes, or preparing dinner.
Seeing that the monks were preparing for dinner, Yan Huang quickly approached the monks who were cooking and tried to curry favor.
“Venerable seniors, I am Yan Huang, the first Pope of the church, and the third Son of Light. Your lives here are too austere, let me help improve it for everyone.”
With that said, Yan Huang took out various meats, wines, and dishes from his Space Ring, which he had prepared quite a bit of.
However, none of these ascetic monks looked at his things, some even showed disgust and burned the piece of meat he offered them to ashes with a flame.
After several failed attempts, Yan Huang finally learned his lesson, changed his luxurious clothes, and put on his very first set of old priest robes from his early years. This outfit, decades old, no longer drew unwanted attention amongst these old men.
The expressions of the monks softened slightly when they looked at Yan Huang.
It was time for dinner, and each person had only a bowl of clear water and some vegetables in front of them. The ascetic monks sat devotedly and prayed, with Yan Huang following suit.
After the prayers were completed, Yan Huang also received a bowl of clear water and a piece of greens, which he slowly chewed.
Although conditions were extremely harsh, Yan Huang knew that he had gradually integrated with this group of ascetic monks. When he proposes his eastern expedition later, perhaps he can achieve good results.