Chapter 1702: Love-Hate Relationship
The Myriad Tribe Palace's headquarters was located within the Pilgrim Star Zone within the God Territory's core zone.
It was less than three million lightyears away from the Combat God Temple's headquarters. They could be considered fairly close to each other.
Unlike the Nephilic Judge Tribe, whose growth and strength was restricted by its population, the standing of the Myriad Tribe Palace could be described as being like the sun at high noon. Among the top grade-6 organizations, their overall strength ranked steadily within the top three.
Although on the surface they only had three half-step Lords with top-notch combat strength, the Myriad Tribe Palace had members everywhere. They had at least three times the number of members than Death Sickle had.
Before Buried Heaven was elevated to Lord, and before Death Sickle was upgraded to a grade-7 organization, in the eyes of everyone in the God Territory, the Myriad Tribe Palace's overall ability was actually no lower than Death Sickle's.
That was the reason why Lin Huang had never dared to use his real identity over the past few years since arriving in the great world.
Clearly, his growth rate was pretty stunning throughout his period of incognito living.
The current Lin Huang was so powerful that he could end the Myriad Tribe Palace with a flip of his hand.
Leading a bunch of imperial monsters through the Gate of All Realms, Lin Huang's team appeared directly above Pilgrim Star Zone, the planet where the Myriad Tribe Palace's headquarters was.
The few half-step Lords guarding the Myriad Tribe Palace's headquarters sensed their arrival immediately.
"Who are you?"
A half-step Lord's Divine Telekinesis voice transmission sounded out.
Although they could not sense Lin Huang's team's exact strength, what they sensed was enough to tell that their appearance meant trouble.
The few Myriad Tribe Palace guardians became tense as if they were facing their mortal enemies.
However, even now, they had no idea who exactly they offended.
"You guys can attack now. Don't hurt the innocent." Lin Huang did not waste time and gave out the order directly.
He specifically reminded them not to hurt the innocent because there were quite a few non-cultivators living on the planet where the Myriad Tribe Palace's headquarters was.
Lancelot took the lead to attack the moment Lin Huang issued the order.
He stretched his hand through the air. Four half-step lord-level guardians were immediately enveloped by a black sphere.
Not to mention Charcoal and the others, even Lin Huang was stunned as he watched the technique unfold.
"What an epic technique..." Lin Huang realized from a glance that it was Mirror that Lancelot had used.
Mirror was usually a skill used as a form of defense to deflect damage.
Lancelot used a double-sided black mirror to envelop the few Myriad Tribe Palace guardians this time.
Not only would it defend against the exterior attacks, but there was a layer of defense inside as well.
He used Mirror as a cage to capture the guardians.
After all, Lin Huang had said at the beginning that he wanted them alive. Lancelot executed Lin Huang's order quite thoroughly.
The rest of the imperial monsters were dumbstruck.
Less than a second had passed since the battle began, and four half-step Lords from the enemy's side had been captured alive.
What was there left for them?!
Just when they were in a daze, a chant came to their ears suddenly.
They turned their heads to look. Ku Rong (Demonic Buddhist Holy Son) looked like a Buddha statue with a solemn face. There was a corona that rose above his head.
He closed his eyes slightly and performed a hand seal with both hands. A chant with unusual syllables came out of his mouth.
Just when the crowd was doubtful of what he was doing, the many cultivators in the Myriad Tribe Palace beneath started flying up. All of them pressed their palms together and looked sincere. They looked like monks who had been in seclusion for years.
They were even more dumbstruck now.
Who were they going to fight now?!
All the cultivators had been captured alive.
Naturally, Lin Huang knew what kind of technique Ku Rong used. It was just that he did not expect that he would use such a powerful move in such a place.
One must know that such Buddhist precepts were classified as weapons of mass destruction in battlefields. As long as his God's soul was powerful enough, even bug hordes numbering in the billions would have to yield wherever the chant spread.
Ku Rong clearly had locked on to all the targets with Divine Telekinesis first with his technique. It did not affect the non-cultivators on this planet.
Everyone, including Lin Huang, did not expect that the battle would end so quickly.
Less than a second the battle began, Lancelot and Ku Rong had both attacked consecutively and...
They subdued all the enemies instantly.
The remaining 19 imperial monsters did not manage to attack at all.
They thought that they would show off their skills before their master this time. They felt beaten now.
"Lancelot... You're too much!" Charcoal could not help but vent its dissatisfaction to Lancelot directly.
"Master wants them alive. This is the best way," Lancelot responded in all seriousness.
Lin Huang said nothing. He appeared in the camp of the Myriad Tribe Palace's headquarters directly in a flash.
He glanced through the buildings around that were rather extravagant and walked toward the palace right in front of him. He walked straight to the main seat right across the door.
"Bring them here," Lin Huang said to Lancelot and the rest through voice transmission after taking his seat.
When Lancelot and Ku Rong heard that, they immediately controlled the many cultivators to land in the palace.
The remaining imperial monsters quickly entered the palace too.
"Let them out." Lin Huang nodded at Lancelot lightly after glancing at the sphere made of four black mirrors.
Ku Rong, who was standing at the side, performed hand seals and chanted scriptures with his eyes shut.
Lancelot unsealed Mirror when he saw that.
The four half-step Lords saw bright lights before them but, the next second, they heard the chanting of scriptures. Their gaze turned empty all of a sudden.
Lin Huang only asked when he saw that, "Which one of you is Zos?!"
A middle-aged man with a moustache took a step forward looking in a daze. The remaining half-step Lords looked at him.
Lin Huang took a good look at him.
He looked like he was in his early forties. He had a mediocre appearance with a moustache above his lips.
To be honest, apart from him being 1.8 meters tall, this person's appearance was unremarkable.
"4815162342, you should remember this number, right?" Lin Huang asked expressionlessly.
"I do. It's a mini world's serial number." Zos nodded with a blank stare.
"Why did you order the Thousand Snake Sect to destroy this mini world's cultivation civilization over and over again?" Lin Huang finally asked the question.
"Because this mini world evolved from Alex's God Territory fragment."
"Who is Alex?" Lin Huang asked further.
Zos struggled for a second when he heard that question. However, he soon answered the question, "He's my junior brother..."
As time went on, Lin Huang and the rest listened to Zos talk about the story of a love-hate relationship between a senior brother and junior brother.
Zos and Alex were adopted by a cultivator from a young age.
Zos was two years older than him. However, from childhood until adulthood, he had lived in his junior brother Alex's shadow.
He started cultivating over a year earlier than Alex did, but Alex caught up to him within two months. Since then, the gap between their cultivation had grown further and further apart.
When the master who adopted them died, Zos was 19. He had yet to step into virtual god-level. Meanwhile, Alex who was 17 at that time was already at Virtual God rank-8.
Since their master died, the two of them parted ways (it was Zos who suggested this).
Initially, Zos thought he would no longer be in Alex's shadow after parting ways.
Never had he thought Alex would soon stand out in the great world.
He appeared on the Virtual God Leaderboard, and then broke through to true god-level not long after.
Zos did not expect that Alex's shadow would grow even larger after they parted ways.
He worked hard at his cultivation to catch up with him. However, he could only watch as Alex's back drifted further and further away.
Throughout the tens of thousands of years that passed, Zos would hear Alex's name every now and then.
He watched him being ranked on a variety of leaderboards along the way and accrue praise from the masses. His combat strength skyrocketed all the way to the heavenly god-level.
A piece of news suddenly came one day.
Alex had failed in his attempt to elevate to lord-level and had died on the spot!
At that time, Zos had only managed to achieve heavenly god-level through all manners of hardships.
When he heard the news, he locked himself in a room for over a month without stepping out.
He was not sure if he was happy or sad.
Theoretically, he would no longer have to live in Alex's shadow since he was dead. He was finally liberated. He should feel happy.
However, Zos could not be happy.
Nevertheless, he did not shed even a single tear for Alex's death.
On the other hand, the unusual emotions he held inside were festering throughout the month of locking himself in.
He hated Alex!
He hated the fact that he was more powerful than him in every way.
His appearance, charisma, cultivation... Every single aspect of Alex was much better than him.
He hated that he was loved and respected.
He had countless lovers and tens of thousands of followers.
He hated that he died young.
Which destroyed the possibility of him ever catching up to Alex...
Not long after Alex died, Zos focused all of his efforts on cultivation completely in order to break through to lord-level. He wanted to surpass Alex's highest combat strength when he was alive.
During his cultivation journey, he made some heavenly god-level friends, and built the Myriad Tribe Palace.
Soon after the Myriad Tribe Palace was built, Zos suddenly received a piece of news.
When Alex died, his God Territory collapsed. A few remnant fragments did not disintegrate completely.
Since then, Zos spent many years trying to find the few remnant fragments.
Eventually, he finally found the mini world No. 4815162342, which he suspected was Alex's God Territory fragment.
He was worried that Alex would be reborn in his God Territory fragment.
To prevent himself from being surpassed again, Zos made a decision.
"I'll destroy your cultivation civilization over and over again. Even if you reincarnate, you can only watch me surpass your highest combat strength in your past life by elevating myself to lord-level!"
However, Zos did not fulfil his wish in the end.
Many years later, he failed in his lord-level elevation. He could only go for the second best option, which was to become a half-step Lord...