Chapter 536 – Three Absolutes

“I went to Withered Sea City, but it was gone. Can someone tell me what happened?”

“Are you sleeptalking? Or are you trying to pull a trick on us? That’s Withered Sea City we are talking about, a city operated by three upper-ranking hegemonic powers. You must have gone to the wrong place.”

“I have a picture of my map and my current location. I even visited Withered Sea City once before. There’s no way I could have gone to the wrong place.”

As more and more players tried to visit Withered Sea City to rest, more evidence of Withered Sea City’s disappearance appeared on the official forum, stunning many players who were still doubtful of the situation.

!!

Withered Sea City occupied an island that spanned dozens of kilometers. However, in the images shared on the official forum, where Withered Sea City used to occupy was now a huge crater. It was also possible to see tattered remains of the city’s walls. It looked as if the entire city had been erased off the island, and this devastation sent shivers down the spines of all who saw it.

While everyone was wondering how Withered Sea City had fallen to ruin in such a short time, videos showing the process of the city’s destruction suddenly started to appear on the forum, one after another.

These videos were taken from varying distances, but they all had a common point.

The videos showed Black Flame, the Asura Sword Emperor, suddenly appearing above Withered Sea City with a War Goddess. Afterward, the War Goddess could be seen firing an arrow at the city, causing the city to become engulfed in a dazzling radiance upon impact. Then, when the radiance disappeared, so did Withered Sea City…

…

Boundary Sea, Abyssal Star City:

When the Mutated Frostflame Phantom Dragon landed in the courtyard of Zero Wing’s Residence, before Shi Feng could even get down, he heard deafening cheers and shouts coming from outside the Residence.

“Look! It’s Guild Leader Black Flame!”

“Oh my god! It’s the real deal! He’s too cool!”

“Hooray for the Tier 6 War Goddess! Hooray for Guild Leader Black Flame! Let’s see if those foreigners dare to continue looking down on us native players!”

The number of players queuing up outside Zero Wing’s Residence was several times greater than yesterday. Moreover, many of them were Tier 5 experts. And when these players saw Shi Feng appearing in the courtyard, they couldn’t help but get the urge to charge into the Residence. Fortunately, the Zero Wing members on duty were prepared for this situation as they had long erected a magic barrier at the entrance, prohibiting those without permission from entering.

Meanwhile, in the courtyard of Zero Wing’s Residence, the many executives of the Asura Mercenary Alliance who had long been waiting for Shi Feng’s return promptly surrounded him as soon as he got off the Frostflame Dragon.

“You’ve really given us a scare this time, Guild Leader Black Flame,” Liu Wusheng said with a wry smile. “Also, everyone’s already talking about how you destroyed Withered Sea City with just one blow, and many hegemonic powers have come to us hoping to join Asura. Hidden Soul is swamped with work right now.”

The individual strength Shi Feng had shown before was already astonishing, but the means he just showed was even more astonishing.

Originally, Liu Wusheng thought that whether it was Zero Wing or the Asura Mercenary Alliance, the best they could do was survive in the Miniature Ancient World. This situation wouldn’t change unless they could find a way to produce a large number of Tier 6 experts.

However, following the Tier 6 War Goddess’s appearance, the Miniature Ancient World’s status quo thoroughly changed. Now, many ordinary hegemonic powers have expressed their desire to join the Asura Mercenary Alliance, which put Liu Wusheng in a huge dilemma.

It was undoubtedly great news for the Asura Mercenary Alliance to have more foreign hegemonic powers join. After all, unlike individual players joining Asura, powers that chose to join the mercenary alliance would be required to enter an offensive and defensive pact. In other words, they would be standing in the same boat as Asura. This, in turn, would increase Asura’s strength and influence in the Miniature Ancient World.

However, the addition of a large number of foreign hegemonic powers would also weaken the position of native powers in the mercenary alliance. After all, the various foreign hegemonic powers were much stronger than the various native powers. This was true in both the Miniature Ancient World and the Greater God’s Domain. Every hegemonic power occupied a vast territory, with some even monopolizing an entire empire.

Depending on how the situation was handled, even Asura’s founding powers, such as Witch’s Sin, might have to worry about getting pushed out of the mercenary alliance’s inner circle of power.

For this reason, Mysterious Moon hurriedly sent Lin Yaoyue and Zhuo Yalin, who were relatively close to Shi Feng, to inquire about Shi Feng’s plans for the future. The Hundred Flower Palace had also sent Crimson Heart and Cleansing Rue for the same reason.

Originally, after experiencing the Miniature Ancient World’s four months of accelerated development, the various founding powers of Asura believed that they had already caught up to Zero Wing’s pace. They even thought they could already stand at the same height as Shi Feng.

Yet, in reality, not only did the gap between them and Shi Feng not shrink in the slightest, but it had even widened by a lot.

“Foreign hegemonic powers have asked to join?” Shi Feng wasn’t particularly surprised to hear Liu Wusheng’s words. Nodding, he said, “Tell Soul that she can let them join, but in addition to requiring them to dispatch personnel to safeguard Asura’s cities long-term, they will also only receive one-third of the contribution points that early alliance members receive when contributing talents to the alliance. And if they want to access the Primordial Tower’s second floor that’s still off-limits to the public, they will have to pay double what early members are paying.”

“Okay. I’ll notify Hidden Soul right away,” Liu Wusheng said, feeling a little relieved when he heard Shi Feng’s arrangement.

The Asura Mercenary Alliance was established with the primary goal of serving Zero Wing. When Witch’s Sin and the other native powers initially chose to join Asura, they had done so because of the potential they saw in Shi Feng and Zero Wing. And as they had predicted, they did achieve rapid growth after joining the Asura Mercenary Alliance.

But this growth came at the cost of a large amount of Asura Contribution Points.

On an even playing field, there was no way native powers like Witch’s Sin could outcompete the various foreign hegemonic powers when it came to earning contribution points. But if the acquisition rates were tweaked in favor of old members, it would be more or less possible for them to compete against the newly joined hegemonic powers.

However, what Liu Wusheng didn’t know was that Shi Feng had always planned to prioritize nurturing the Miniature Ancient World’s native players. After all, all of them came from the same world. If the Miniature Ancient World’s native players grew strong, it would become less likely for their civilization to get eliminated in the Greater World.

…

Meanwhile, after Shi Feng finished arranging the Asura Mercenary Alliance’s future development and management issues, Gentle Snow suddenly entered his office in a hurry.

“Guild Leader, an elven Sword Saint from the pseudo-apex power Azure Fang says she wants to meet you,” Gentle Snow said. Then, she hesitantly continued, “The other party claims that she is Azure Fang’s Third Vice Guild Leader Aurebeth, but apart from Azure Fang’s Guild Emblem, she has nothing else to prove her identity.”

Since adventuring with Ink Qilin, Gentle Snow had come to learn a lot about the Greater God’s Domain. So, she was very much aware of how terrifying a pseudo-apex power could be.

Take the Scarlet Merchant Alliance, for example. Even in a place such as the Crystal City of Secrets, where titled experts occupied the lowest level of the city’s social hierarchy, the players operating in the city would still actively make way when encountering the Scarlet Merchant Alliance’s members.

Now that someone claiming to be a Vice Guild Leader of Azure Fang had come knocking on Zero Wing’s doors, if the situation wasn’t handled correctly, Zero Wing might find itself with another powerful foe.

“An elven Sword Saint named Aurebeth?” When Shi Feng heard the name Gentle Snow mentioned, he couldn’t help but feel as if he had heard it from somewhere before. Yet, he couldn’t remember where he had heard it from. “Do you have her picture?”

“Here is a video clip I recorded,” Gentle Snow said as she shared a short clip with Shi Feng.

In the recording, a two-meter-tall elven woman with gray hair could be seen standing in the lobby of Zero Wing’s Guild Hall. The woman looked young, no more than twenty-one or twenty-two years old. Even though the video had clearly captured the woman, one would fail to notice her presence if one wasn’t paying attention. It was as if the woman did not exist in this world.

Meanwhile, Shi Feng couldn’t help but be stunned when he saw this gray-haired elven woman.

“Why is one of the Three Absolutes here?”