Chapter 109: The Gap Between Domain Lords
In the blink of an eye, four days passed.
Jiang Zhe could now see the outline of a massive floating continent—spanning 1.5 billion kilometers—through the ship's external simulation display.
Comparing it with the star map in his mind, he began to notice some clues.
The entire Ancient God World was divided vertically into four zones: green, yellow, red, and blood-red.
The yellow area, labeled the Outer Region by the Virtual Universe Company, contained numerous satellite cities, royal cities, and holy cities. At its center lay the very continent now before him—occupying a position much like the sun does in the solar system.
This continent was stationary. Around it, countless continental plates revolved in precise orbits, forming an intricate celestial system that had never faltered.
Judging by its position, it should be vertically aligned with the "Ruined Ancient God Temple" continent at the bottom blood-red zone.
Parallel on the horizontal plane, overlapping on the vertical axis.
This was clearly a very special place.
Jiang Zhe suddenly asked, "Colen, is the genuine Ancient God's Blood produced here?"
Colen frowned, pondered for a while, then, recalling past millennial festivals, offered only a vague reply.
"My lord, it may be just as you suspect.
I've never heard of the high-level leaders of the Holy City Alliance transporting anything to the Ancient God Arena during the festival.
But there is always a deity stationed on the continent, rotating every thousand years. Each hosts the festival once before handing off to the next.
So your suspicion is reasonable."
Jiang Zhe nodded thoughtfully and asked again, "Do you know where that immortal resides?"
"My lord, I understand your concerns, but there is no area on this continent where participants are forbidden to go, and the deities hosting the festival have no publicly known dwellings."
Realizing this was likely the limit of Colen's knowledge, Jiang Zhe didn't press further.
The rest of the secrets, I'll have to uncover myself.
Then his mind drifted.
How much stronger is an immortal god here compared to a domain lord?
Two hundred times? Three hundred? Even five hundred times their power might make them kings here.
There are already plenty of 'watered-down' immortals out there—let alone in a barren cosmic secret realm where innate talent is even weaker…
He did some mental calculations.
A Golden Horned Beast with 10 times genetic level could match the peak of human domain lords at the sixth stage.
Oriana, with roughly 88 to 100 times genetic level, could theoretically reach human domain lord peak at just the third stage.
But there was a critical issue.
Luo Feng's Golden Horned Beast had multiple secret techniques: talent secret skill (×2), body amplitude (×5), Blood Luo Force (×11), and the Nine Tribulations Secret Code (×3), stacking up to an instantaneous 330 times domain lord power—enabling it to contend with immortal gods at stage six.
Oriana couldn't replicate that.
Her personal talent, Divine Power (×3), wouldn't trigger for Oriana.
As for amplitude, Jiang Zhe currently had a ×1 body amplitude and ×15 soul amplitude.
The former was negligible. The latter Oriana couldn't use without a soul. She only relied on her exceptional law comprehension and her 100-million-kilometer world projection.
But these powers still fell far short of challenging even a weak immortal.
Suddenly, Oriana's voice echoed in his consciousness.
"Master, I've figured it out."
This snapped Jiang Zhe from his thoughts.
"So? Is it useful?" he asked expectantly.
"Yes, master. I can indeed increase my genetic level by assimilating mechanical immortals—just like how the mechanical race does it."
A look of joy crossed Jiang Zhe's face. His brows lifted.
"So you're now at 89…no, 101 times genetic level?"
"No, master. There's been no increase."
Before he could ask, Oriana dropped a problem on him.
"Dead mechanical immortals are useless to me. I need to reach the immortal level first. Then, by assimilating living mechanical immortals at the same level, I can enhance my genetic multiple."
Jiang Zhe frowned.
"Mechanical immortals are hard enough to kill, let alone capture alive."
"True, master. But I can disguise myself as one of them, making infiltration easier. Also, as a Mechanical Pioneer, I have absolute suppression over peers of the same race and tier."
Jiang Zhe laughed.
"Maybe our human race should award you the title Nemesis of the Mechanical Race?"
"Master—it's our title."
"Haha, right. Our title." Jiang Zhe grinned.
"Looks like we'll have to visit the mechanical territories someday."
"Unless you think we can capture 10,000 mechanical immortals on the outer battlefield," Oriana teased.
"By the way, does assimilating a regular immortal, a marquis, or a king all give just '1' point increase to genetic level?"
"I'm not sure, master. We'll have to test it."
"Alright." Jiang Zhe then asked, "What benefit do you get from devouring that dead mechanical immortal?"
"Power increase," Oriana estimated.
"In about three months, I'll fully digest it—just enough to step into the fourth stage of domain lord."
"Got it."
Jiang Zhe handed her some cosmic crystals.
"Make me a vial of Ancient God blood, just in case we run into any trouble."
After consuming the crystals, Oriana pinched her fingers in the air. Countless particles gathered, forming a glass tube. With another gesture, droplets of blood materialized, filling about two-thirds of the tube.
Colen sniffed it twice, his face showing shock.
"Incredible! This is truly our blood, indistinguishable in every way!"
Jiang Zhe used his mind power to float the tube over, then downed it in one gulp.
A warm current surged from his chest to his mind, trying to transform his psychic power.
If it were another psychic master with less than the universal maximum of ×100 mental amplitude, they would see a tenfold boost—up to the cosmic cap.
But Jiang Zhe had already shattered that ceiling, reaching over ×1500. The tiny E-class treasure couldn't possibly alter his massive spiritual power.
It merely tinted his mind power slightly blood-red, with faint scarlet patterns appearing on his cheeks and temples, adding the distinctive life aura of the Ancient God race.
"My lord," Colen warned,
"that aura will deplete. You'll need to drink a vial each month to stay undetected during the grand festival."
"We're almost at the entrance to the Ancient God Arena. I'll handle the negotiations there—it's just simple registration, no special proof required."
The ship landed in the floating port area.
Colen led Jiang Zhe into a massive aerial harbor nearly 100 square kilometers wide—showing the city lord's certificate, the semi-divine family token, registering some info, receiving travel permits.
As Colen promised, they easily secured access to the Ancient God Arena.
After bidding him farewell, Jiang Zhe piloted the ship through the port. Three patrol squads, each led by a peak domain lord, tried to extort them before he finally set foot on the arena continent.
"Oriana, send out clones to scout for any unusual areas and to track where domain lord participants gather."
"As for me…I'll be hunting these domain lords to continue cultivating my Life Blueprint."
Leo had already taken the Primal Umbrella and left Bear King City, spreading the light of the Enlightener in another royal city. On average, every few days a new domain lord-level powerhouse fell under its influence.
After all, who could refuse enlightenment that instantly deepened one's grasp of space and time laws?
At that time, they were all too young to understand that every gift of fate comes with a hidden price tag.
His Illuminator clones subdued their minds; Jiang Zhe himself conquered their bodies through violence.
With this two-pronged approach, the collection of source essence skyrocketed.
"There are still 183 days before the grand festival.
Time to indulge in the slaughter."
In the Ancient God Arena, the domain lord participants were far stronger than that old man Dalo, whom Jiang Zhe had dispatched with ease.
Earning the right to participate meant winning ten consecutive victories in the Holy City Arenas across the 44 holy cities.
Against peak Ancient God domain lords, Jiang Zhe was confident he could defeat them using his Hand of Time and Space and Void Core. But with his current shabby equipment, he could only beat them—killing was difficult.
So he focused on domain lords of stage five to seven. Their dual-law comprehension was weak, making them easy prey. None could outrun him once targeted.
In just over four months, Jiang Zhe had slain 745 domain lords of stage five and above.
His bloody reputation spread throughout the arena.
Even a domain lord inspector began to monitor him—Oriana spotted it. Yet strangely, that inspector never issued a warning.
Knowing it was time to stop, Jiang Zhe prepared to advance.
I've gathered enough source essence. Time to evolve to 22 times genetic level.
Deep in a dark underground cavern, Jiang Zhe visualized the 21 stars spread throughout his body, guiding them to fuse into a special energy that formed the 22nd star.
Then, a life force field emerged, forging and tempering his body—commencing the next stage of his evolution.
(End of this chapter)
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