Abuxika lifted his eyelids and gave them a single glance, then closed his eyes again, returning to his quiet meditation.
"W–What?!"
Faced with the indifferent Abuxika, the three great Jie Lords led by Jiang Tianchen looked at one another helplessly.
For a moment, they truly didn't know what to do.
No exaggeration— even if the two Immortals of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire personally came over, Abuxika still couldn't be bothered to deal with them.
Whatever happened outside had absolutely no effect on Jiang Li and the others' massive looting.
"Break!!"
A towering mountain more than a thousand meters high shattered under Jiang Li's punch. With the strength of his current physical body, he was already no weaker than E-grade metal.
"Rumble!!"
The mountain collapsed, and the piles of universe crystals were instantly revealed.
"Haha, at least 3,000 square units!"
Leishen flickered, immediately collecting the universe crystals into his space ring. "Mine's full again!"
His and Hong's rings were both obtained from ancient civilization ruins; their capacity was far smaller.
"Jiang Li, here— take these."
Leishen flew to Jiang Li's side and dumped out a mound of universe crystals as tall as a hill from his ring. He raised an eyebrow. "So, how much have we taken in total?"
"About 170,000 square units."
Jiang Li glanced into his ring and added, "And over two hundred thousand Thunderstones."
To Jiang Li, who understood the situation clearly, the greatest value of this Jie Zhong Jie wasn't the universe crystals— it was the Thunderstones, whose energy fluctuations were nearly nonexistent.
"One hundred seventy thousand… that's worth roughly five hundred billion Qianwu coins…"
Even Hong, who was always calm and steady, couldn't help trembling after calculating that number.
Five hundred billion Qianwu coins— what did that even mean?
Converted to the old Blue Star's value… that could buy nearly three hundred of them!
"By the way, Brother Jiang, what's so special about these Thunderstones?" Luo Feng asked curiously.
Thunderstones had extremely small energy fluctuations, and the Virtual Universe Network didn't list any prices for them.
"Why think so much? If Jiang Li says they're useful, they're definitely useful. You two keep exploring, we'll keep digging, and we'll empty out this entire Jie Zhong Jie!"
Leishen urged repeatedly.
"Alright!"
Luo Feng responded loudly, full of energy.
Over the following two days, the Blue Star Four encountered six adventure teams. But everyone simply passed by— no conflicts occurred.
Virtual Universe Network.
In a stretch of void filled with cloud and mist, a dozen gigantic floating tables and chairs carved from boulders stood suspended in the endless sky.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
One figure after another appeared in midair— Jiang Tianchen, Basaha, and many others. As soon as each person arrived, they took their seats.
"I represent San Fu Shan."
"Baihu Lou."
"Beilong City."
After the various forces of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire took their seats, the massive man representing the empire opened the meeting.
"A Jie Zhong Jie has appeared in the Thunder World. It is currently the assessment world of the Universe Mercenary Alliance. Stronger than Star-level beings are forbidden from entering!"
"Who said they're forbidden?"
A cold voice came from the Baihu Lou representative.
"Heh… 'Special Envoy' Qiniya."
Jiang Tianchen gave Baihu Lou's representative a sidelong glance, then sneered, "Oh right— she has another identity. She is the personal disciple of the Third Legion Commander of the Qianwu Universe Nation."
"The… Third Legion Commander?"
Hearing those four words, the expressions of the other Jie Lords changed slightly.
An Immortal Legion Commander— that was not someone they could provoke.
"And at the entrance, there's another Immortal named Abuxika. I'm guessing most of you aren't familiar with him…"
Jiang Tianchen swept his gaze across the assembled Jie Lords. "He is a personal follower of Wanshan Zunzhe. His strength is close to Fenghou!"
"This…"
The other Jie Lords fell silent immediately.
A Fenghou Immortal?
And behind him was a Universe Venerable?
How were they supposed to play around with that?
"So. Forcing our way in is impossible."
The massive man from the Black Dragon Mountain Empire followed up, "Tianchen suggests that each faction send in a group of Star-level subordinates. They'll enter the Thunder World under the excuse of participating in the assessment."
"That could work."
"I agree."
"But— how many people will each faction send? How do we allocate the numbers? And how do we divide any treasures?"
With a high-ranking Immortal watching the gate, no one dared test the power of a god.
But the temptation of the Jie Zhong Jie was immense. If they didn't find a way to compete, they would regret it for life.
"Treasure will naturally depend on your own ability."
Jiang Tianchen sneered. "As for the number of people, you all can discuss it. Tell me the result when you're done."
San Fu Shan did not accept Star-levels, so naturally they would have the fewest. Jiang Tianchen immediately relayed commands throughout all divisions of the organization, purchasing vast numbers of Star-level Rank-9 slaves.
What worked best?
Slaves who were fearless and not afraid of death!
Very soon—
The major forces of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire reached a conclusion. The Sixteen Families, being the weakest, could send at most a ten-thousand-man squad into Thunder World.
The Four Great Organizations could send 100,000 each.
The Two Sacred Lands could send 200,000 each.
All others could not exceed 10,000.
In an instant—
Huge numbers of Star-level warriors were recruited and rushed toward Canglan Star. Meanwhile, other random adventure squads were expelled and forbidden from entering again.
"Holy— what's that in the sky?!"
"People! All people! How many are there?!"
Near the Universe Mercenary Alliance station on Canglan Star, a massive warship floated in the sky. From it, a black tide of people poured out like a flood bursting through a dam, covering the entire sky.
"What the—?"
Seeing the swarm of figures coming like locusts, Qiniya twitched fiercely. Everywhere she looked, they were all Star-level Rank-9.
"Qiniya…"
Jiang Tianchen crossed his arms, watching her. "They're all here to participate in the apprentice mercenary assessment."
"Hundreds of thousands, participating in an apprentice assessment?"
Looking at the sky-covering crowd of Star-level Rank-9s, Qiniya's facial muscles twitched nonstop. "Jiang Tianchen… you people really have no bottom line!"
At that moment—
Abuxika suddenly stood up. His figure flashed, appearing at the entrance. A blood-red formation shone coldly around him.
"Condense."
With that single word, the surrounding space froze solid.
"Lord Abuxika, they're all here to participate in the apprentice mercenary assessment. This doesn't violate alliance regulations, right?"
The scale-covered giant man stepped forward and bowed respectfully.
"It doesn't."
Abuxika replied indifferently, "Wait here."
As he spoke, a strand of his consciousness split off into the Virtual Universe to contact Jiang Li.
Virtual Universe.
After receiving Babata's reminder, Jiang Li entered as well.
"Your Highness, the Black Dragon Mountain forces have dispatched several hundred thousand Star-level Rank-9 adventurers into Thunder World. Would you like to come out first?"
Seeing Jiang Li, Abuxika bowed slightly.
Ordinary assessment worlds posed no threat to Jiang Li.
After all, he was a Star-level who had comprehended two laws.
But hundreds of thousands of Star-level Rank-9? That was a different story. Even two fists could not beat four hands.
"No need."
Jiang Li thought for a moment. He was still missing some Thunderstones. "Abuxika, can you delay them for one day?"
"Rest assured, Your Highness!"
Back in the villa garden—
Anmengz, Jiang Tianchen, Basaha, and the other Jie Lords didn't know whether Abuxika was awaiting orders from above, so they waited quietly.
"One day from now, the space seal will be lifted."
Abuxika dropped that sentence, then instantly returned to his seat on the stone bench.
"This…"
Jiang Tianchen and the others frowned, turning their gazes toward Qiniya.
Weren't they supposed to follow the Alliance regulations?
What's the meaning of 'wait one day'?
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