To sum it up, the whole continent had become chaotic because of Meng Lei’s actions.
An invisible storm engulfed the continent as the three major empires started to be shaken at the core.
Of course, none of this was very important.
The three empires didn’t fear rioting slaves. The only thing that worried them was still just Meng Lei himself. The slaves didn’t possess any combat power. No matter how fiercely they struggled, it was no more than the mad barking of the weak.
On the other hand, Meng Lei was different—he loomed over them like a sharp blade that might cleave down upon them any moment!
In the Beast People Empire...
“Please, I’m leaving it to you, high priest!”
The Beast Emperor, as well as all the Beast People Empire officials, were all watching the old Fox-Man with hope and anticipation in their eyes. Now that things had come to this, they could only place hope in... the Beast God.
“Your Majesty, this old man will try his best!”
The aging old high priest let out a couple of coughs. Then, he slowly closed his eyes and began to build a communication link with the Beast God hidden in some obscure place.
As the Beast God’s most devout worshiper in Heaven’s Vault Continent, it wasn’t hard for the old Fox-Man to build a link to the Beast God. The Beast God would also usually respond to him, but this time...
A minute passed.
Two minutes passed.
Half an hour passed.
“Your Majesty, I’ve disappointed you.”
The old Fox-Man opened his eyes, a look of shame and guilt on his face.
“Old high priest, has the Beast God really abandoned his pious believers?”
The Beast Emperor’s eyes were filled with hopelessness. Dejected and lost, all the officials looked like lifeless grieving widows.
“Your Majesty, let me try again!”
The old Fox-Man let out a resigned laugh. He quietly set ablaze the power of his divine spirit and strengthened his senses.
Yet, no matter how hard or how many times he tried, the great Beast God simply didn’t respond. It was as if he had vanished into thin air.
In the end, the old Fox-Man could no longer persevere any further. He coughed up blood, collapsed to the ground, and breathed his last.
“Old high priest!!”
“Old high priest!!”
“Sob...”
A sad and sorrowful atmosphere filled the hall as the officials fell onto their knees. The Beast Emperor was filled with self-blame. “Old high priest, it’s my fault! It’s all my fault...”
Disregarding the sorrowful and despairing Beast People Empire monarch and officials for now and focusing on the old Fox-Man instead, a mysterious and mighty force descended upon him and brought his divine spirit away after he died.
When he opened his eyes, he was already in a beautiful, scenic, and picturesque golden divine nation. Power of divinity descended from above and re-manifested a physical body for him.
A brief moment later, a strong and muscular Fox-Man with a head full of black hair appeared—it was the Fox-Man himself!
As the Fox-Man looked at his hands and took in his young and strong body’s sensation, he became so agitated that tears filled his eyes, and he dropped onto his knees right away and kowtowed.
“O great Beast God! Thank you for your generosity and kindness! Praise be to you!”
“Those who believe in me shall gain eternal life!”
An awe-inspiring, majestic, and thunderous voice rang out in his ear. The old Fox-Man knew that it was the Beast God’s voice. At once, he lamented tearfully, “O great Beast God, please save your lowly people. They are currently in an abyss of suffering...”
The Beast God’s voice, however, completely died down and didn’t sound again.
“Beast God...”
The old Fox-Man fell limp onto the ground as a look of despair came over his features. He knew—the Beast God had completely abandoned the Beast People in Heaven’s Vault Continent!
In the Titan Empire...
“What do we do now, Your Majesty?”
“Think of something, Your Majesty!”
The Titan Empire officials were currently in a state of utter panic. In spite of that, the Thunder Titan Emperor was instead drowning his sorrows in alcohol, paying no attention whatsoever to the anxious officials.
“Your Majesty!”
Helpless, the officials could only request the Titan Empress to make an appearance in hopes that she could persuade the emperor.
“Oh, it’s the Empress? Come on, have a few drinks with me!”
“Your Majesty, how can I possibly still be in the mood to drink when a national crisis looms over us?” The Titan Empress said, “The officials are all in a panic and awaiting your directions!”
“Directions? What kind of directions can I possibly give?”
The Thunder Titan Emperor looked completely drunk as he said, “The temple grandmasters are all dead, and even Horace, whom the Titan Spiritual God had dispatched, is also dead.
“The enormous Titan Empire doesn’t even have a single half-deity anymore. We are, but just meat on the chopping block now. What kind of directions is there to give at this point? We can just await death to befall us!”
“Even so, are you just going to do nothing and wait for the Meng Lei Empire to invade us, Your Majesty?”
The Titan Empress said in persuasion, “If that happens, we won’t have any way out at all!”
“What do you mean by that, Empress?”
The Thunder Titan Emperor looked at the empress out of the corner of his eyes.
“Since we cannot resist them, then why don’t we take the initiative to submit to them?”
The Titan Empress said gravely, “If we take the initiative to submit, we’ll at least be able to welcome a decent outcome, rather than ending up like the Dragons whose country has been ruined and the whole race annihilated. But if we do nothing and wait for the Meng Lei Empire to invade us instead, I’m afraid we’ll only see our people dead and our country ruined, while we ourselves suffer wretched deaths!”
“Wretched deaths?”
The Thunder Titan Emperor shuddered and instantly snapped out of his drunken stupor. He said, “Yes, yes, that’s right! We mustn’t wait for them to invade us! We mustn’t!
“Someone! Hurry! Assemble the officials! I’m going to submit to the Meng Lei Empire! I don’t want to die!”
In the Fairy Empire...
The Fairy Empress opened her beautiful eyes. She gazed at the many pairs of eyes filled with hope and anticipation, let out a wry laugh, and said, “Everyone, I have disappointed you!”
“Your Majesty!”
The officials’ countenances changed drastically, their hearts sinking to the very bottom in an instant.
Azshara’s voice trembled as she asked, “Your Majesty, what did Her Holiness say?”
The Fairy Empress’ expression was pained as she replied, “She wants us to take the initiative to submit. I am to lead the Fairies to take shelter in the Forest of Life, and from then on, we are never to take another step out of the Forest of Life ever again!”
“Take shelter in the Forest of Life? How would that do?”
Azshara couldn’t accept the outcome at all.
The Fairy Empire’s territory included the entire Fairy Forests. Its vastness in territory was in no way inferior to the Dragon God Empire’s, while it was only a tad smaller than the Beast People Empire’s. But what about the Forest of Life?
The Tree of Vitality gave off a vitality barrier and the range that the barrier covered formed the Forest of Life. It was the heart of the Fairy Forests and measured only about 1,000 miles in radius.
That bit of territory wasn’t even as big as a corner of the Fairy Forests. Yet they, the Fairies, had to give up the vast and spacious Fairy Forests to take shelter in the Forest of Life that only measured 1,000 miles in radius? Who would be able to accept something l
ike that?
“This is Her Holiness’ orders. There’s nothing I can do about it, either.”
The Fairy Empress let out a soft sigh, and then she ordered, “Dispatch envoys to the Meng Lei Empire at once and take the initiative to submit. On account of Her Holiness, I should think that His Majesty Meng Lei wouldn’t go as far as to take all our lives!”
“We mustn’t, Your Majesty!”
Azshara cried out, “The Fairy Forests are the Fairies’ home. If we give up the Fairy Forests, just how many of our clansmen would we have to abandon?”
“Regimental Commander Azshara, I know this is a painful decision to make, but have you thought about this? Should we not give up the Fairy Forests, the entire Fairy race shall completely vanish from the face of Heaven’s Vault Continent!”
A look of pain came over the Fairy Empress’ countenance as she asked, “Between the two, which do you think is worse?”
Chapter 265: The New Dragon Emperor, Filling Up The Imperial Harem
Compared to the other three major empires’ dismal states, the Meng Lei Empire imperial palace formed a completely different sight.
“Y-Your Majesty!”
Fatty Hart, Hudders, and the others gazed at Meng Lei with expressions of reverence, their countenances somewhat reserved and uncomfortable.
“What’s with the ‘Your Majesty’ this and ‘Your Majesty’ that? There isn’t any ‘Your Majesty’ here but just your friend and the person Meng Lei!”
Meng Lei had already discovered Fatty Hart, Hudders, Joseph, Jonah, Andrew, and the others hidden among the crowd during the ascension ceremony earlier.
He then summoned them into the imperial palace after the ceremony had ended. It had been more than two years since he’d last met them. To be honest, he really missed them somewhat.
“Your Majesty, you’re the monarch while we’re commoners. We mustn’t neglect proper propriety!”
They felt rather overwhelmed by the honor and spoke rather reservedly.
Meng Lei was still the Meng Lei they knew, but his status had undergone a tremendous change by now.
This was especially true after they personally witnessed him slaying a true god. It had given them a clear understanding of Meng Lei’s great strength and power. Who, then, could still bring themselves to behave like how they had in the past in front of him?
They couldn’t! And neither could they return to those days!
“Oh, you guys!”
Meng Lei felt rather resigned. He had finally experienced what solitude felt like.
When the disparity in strength or status between two parties reached a point so vast in size, even friends and family would drift apart.
Even if one had treated them as friends all along, that might not necessarily also be the case for the other party.
Left with no other choice, Meng Lei could only invite them to take a seat and try his best to bring up topics that would help to relieve the tension in the atmosphere. He asked, “Is everything alright in the village, Captain Hudders?”
“Yes, everything is fine!”
At Meng Lei’s question, Hudders jumped onto his feet at once. He said, “During the last couple of years, because the villagers have consumed the divine tree fruits that you bestowed upon them and coupled with the special care given to us by Lord Puhaman, the villagers’ lives have been improving more and more, and their combat power becoming stronger and stronger by the day.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
Meng Lei let him take a seat. Then, he said, “I see that you’ve also become a Ninth-Grade Warrior now. The energy flow around you is strong and solid. I believe you can break through to become a Saint Domain very soon!”
Hudders hastily said in gratitude, “This is all thanks to Your Majesty’s great blessings!”
In truth, he wasn’t the only one—Joseph, Jonah, Andrew, and the others had also improved tremendously.
Joseph and Andrew had become Eighth-Grade Warriors while Jonah had become an Eighth-Grade Great Magician. Compared to two years ago, they had become much, much stronger!
This didn’t count as much, though. The one with the truly dramatic improvement was Fatty Hart—during the short two years of separation, that fellow had actually already broken through to the Saint Domain stage!
The dragon might around him was pure and vast. Evidently, he had already awakened his Golden Colossal Dragon, and it was a high level of awakening at that—the kind where he could transform into a Golden Colossal Dragon!
“Looks like you haven’t been slacking off during the last two years!” A laughing Meng Lei patted Fatty Hart.
Fatty Hart hastily got up and said, “This is all thanks to Your Majesty—”
Dissatisfied, Meng Lei said fiercely, “Do you believe me when I say that I’ll smack you on the face if you call me Your Majesty again? Have you forgotten what you used to call me?”
“Your... O-old bro!”
Fatty Hart had a troubled look on his face.
“That’s more like it!”
Meng Lei felt much more comfortable now. He said cheerfully, “I’ve said that I would gift you New Dragon Island and make you the new Dragon Emperor of the Colossal Dragons if you could break through to the Saint Domain stage. I’m a man of my word, so New Dragon Island is yours now!”
“O... Old bro, that won’t do. That won’t do!” Fatty Hart shook his hands hastily. He said, “How can you take something said in jest back then so seriously...”
“Jest? I meant what I said!”
Meng Lei glared at him and said, “You’re unhappy because there aren’t any Dragons on New Dragon Island, right? Don’t worry, I have tens of thousands of Colossal Dragons at hand. I’ll send them to New Dragon Island for you later!”
“This... Is that alright?”
Fatty Hart blinked, a hint of excitement surfacing in his small, narrow eyes. Those were tens of thousands of Colossal Dragons!
“It would be a waste to just leave the Lost Continent as it is anyway, so I might as well make use of it. Besides, the tens of thousands of Colossal Dragons are living off me at the moment. They’re close to bankrupting me!”
Meng Lei patted Fatty Hart on the shoulder and said, “Just take it as you’re doing me a favor and properly manage them in my stead. How does that sound?”
“Since you’ve put it that way, it would be rude of me to decline any further, old bro!” Fatty Hart snickered, a wretched expression surfacing on his face once more.
“That’s more like it! Given your current strength, I’m afraid you won’t be able to suppress those Colossal Dragons, though. Every single one of those guys is awfully arrogant and rebellious!”
Meng Lei gave him a smile, and then he brought out a metal-elemental divine core. He said, “Take this and refine it. Once you’ve assimilated it, you likely won’t have any more problems suppressing them.”
“What’s this, old bro?”
Fatty Hart stared at the divine core. He could feel the terrifying divine power energy fluctuations coming from the divine core, and they made him incredibly fearful.
“This is a divine core.”
A smiling Meng Lei said, “One that has already been processed, of course. The original owner’s thoughts, will, memories, divinity, and so on have all been fully cleansed and removed. Only pure power of divinity and laws of nature comprehension have been left behind in it, so you can assimilate it with peace of mind.”
“A d-divine core!”
Fatty Hart shuddered all over, so astonished that he almost jumped. He would have at least heard of it even if he hadn’t actually seen one before! What was a divine core?
It was the sign of a deity!
Once he assimilated the divine core, he would make the leap to becoming a deity in one bound! A lofty deity high up above!
Just what kind of supreme treasure was this?
“O-old bro, this thing is too precious. I can’t accept it! I really can’t!”
Fatty Hart shook his h
ead vehemently. He said, “You’re already treating me with enough kindness, old bro. I’d be too greedy if I take anything else from you!”
“You sure say a lot of crap!”
Meng Lei snorted lightly. Then, he snapped his fingers lightly. A drop of blood shot out of Fatty Hart and landed on the divine core, upon which the divine core instantly embedded itself in between Fatty Hart’s brows and vanished from sight.
“Old bro, w-where’s the divine core?”
Fatty Hart was greatly alarmed.
“It has already integrated itself with you!”
A smiling Meng Lei said, “At your newly-promoted Saint Domain prowess, even though you’ll need a much longer time than a half-deity to completely assimilate the divine core, at least it’s still possible to achieve.
“Don’t run about carelessly from now on. Stay in the imperial palace and fully assimilate it for now, lest someone finds out and attacks you for the divine core.”
“Thank you, old bro!”
Fatty Hart’s eyes reddened as he said, “Old bro, my life is yours now! Be it the most dangerous of places or the most severe of trials, I, Fatty Hart, will not hesitate!”
“Relax, it’s not that serious.”
Meng Lei sighed. “To be honest, I also have my own selfish reasons for doing so. I’ll eventually have to leave Heaven’s Vault Continent and head into the vast Void someday. How lonely would it be to be all by myself? So, I’ll have to bring a few friends together with me, right? That way, I won’t be all alone!”
At this point, Meng Lei then turned to Hudders and the others. “All of you must work hard in your cultivation, too. When you’ve broken through to the Saint Domain stage, we’ll become deities and break through the void together!”
Joseph pointed at himself with a look of disbelief and asked, “Big Brother Meng Lei, am I also capable of becoming a deity?”
Meng Lei smiled and said, “Of course! Thus, all of you must work hard and strive to achieve the Saint Domain stage as soon as possible!”
“Big Brother Meng Lei, we’ll definitely work hard!”
As they ate, drank, and chatted about the past and embarrassing childhood incidents, everyone slowly relaxed and was no longer that reserved. Laughter and chatter went on without pause at the table...
Picking Up Attributes From Today c1-406 Page 165