Chapter 481: Invasion

Mogu tilted his head back, placed a hand on his crown, and let his fingers go slack.

The forbidden fruit fell, sliding down his gullet.

Mogu closed his eyes and let out a muffled grunt.

“THUMP-THUMP~”

“THUMP-THUMP~”

A heavy heartbeat echoed throughout the Home.

…

Towering ancient trees, gnarled and twisted. In the rainforest, absurdly large trees grew with wild abandon.

Here, every single leaf was wider than a rooftop.

A water-bound fortress was built upon the bent trunk of one such giant tree.

Inside the fortress, banners billowed and masts stood in dense ranks.

Killing intent permeated the training grounds.

Below the training platform, a row of Light Gates stood side-by-side.

Figure after figure emerged from them.

Humans and beasts alike.

Chen Jinming stood in the crowd, inconspicuous in his plain clothes.

Beside him was a giant golden beetle, over five meters tall and ten meters long.

Atop the golden beetle sat Xie Ya. With her wheat-colored skin and crop top, she was confident and eye-catching.

“Hey, what’s with that look? You’ve been scowling this whole time.” Xie Ya glanced down at the gloomy Chen Jinming.

Chen Jinming’s face was a sickly green. He glanced at Xie Ya, then lowered his head without a word.

Because when he’d returned, he found that his Bloodbone Flower was gone!

The treasure he had spent so much money and effort on had vanished into thin air before he’d even had a chance to properly have it.

It wasn’t just the Bloodbone Flower. Even the carcasses of the prey he’d hunted in the Oasis had vanished without a trace.

Chen Jinming said sullenly, “It’s nothing.”

Xie Ya glanced at him, then averted her gaze. “Fine, don’t talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Chen Jinming looked up at Yan Guihen on the platform. It was because of this sudden mission that his Bloodbone Flower had been lost.

But he couldn’t throw a fit. In a way, he couldn’t really say the Alliance of Realms was responsible for losing it. So he was left simmering with a nameless rage.

More and more members continued to arrive on the training grounds.

Chen Jinming took a step back. ‘I’m just here to fill out the ranks,’ he thought. ‘This is the Alliance Leader’s private business, anyway. It has nothing to do with me.’

“We toiled for so long, only for someone else to reap the rewards! This is a slap in the face of our Alliance of Realms!” Yan Guihen’s voice boomed across the training grounds.

He waved his hand grandly. “This time, I will not let my brothers and sisters fight for nothing! For every Extraordinary you field, you will receive at least one Marvel in return. A One-star Extraordinary gets one Level 1 Marvel, a Two-star Extraordinary gets one Level 2 Marvel, and so on!”

“The Alliance Leader is magnanimous!”

“Alliance Leader, do we get the Marvels before we leave or after we get back?” someone shouted loudly.

Yan Guihen answered without a moment’s hesitation. “Rest assured, payment will be settled in full before we depart!”

“A man of his word!”

“Just tell us who to take down, Alliance Leader, and we’ll do it!”

The chorus of flattery and shouts merged into a river of sound, echoing overhead.

Chen Jinming’s eyelid twitched. ‘This bastard is really putting up a huge stake.’

‘Even though the Alliance members here are sending their Extraordinaries, they’d never be the main force. At best, they’re just here to bolster the numbers.’

‘They’re fine for a fair-weather fight, but the moment things go south, they’ll run faster than anyone.’

‘After all, this is Yan Guihen’s personal business. Everyone joined the Alliance of Realms to ensure their own Homes could survive, not to throw their lives away for him.’

Chen Jinming thought for a moment, then rubbed his hands together, forced a smile onto his face, and stepped forward.

“Alliance Leader, I’m an Extraordinary myself. Do you think I could get in on this too?”

…

“HUMMM—”

Mogu, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, opened his eyes. He swayed his body gently, and every bone within him erupted in a series of sharp cracks and pops.

A powerful aura began to radiate from him uncontrollably.

Standing nearby, Cao Biansheng, Qin Ziwu, and the others instinctively took half a step back. It was as if they were watching a terrifying monster open its eyes.

Qin Ziwen narrowed his eyes. ‘I’ve only felt this kind of presence from the World Giant Beast on the last map,’ he thought. ‘But that Giant Beast’s aura was even more immense.’

In a clearing in the distance within the Home.

[Warning: An anchor point is attempting to lock onto the Home.]

[Warning: An anchor point is attempting to lock onto the Home. Expend Celestial List points to negate this lock?]

On Mogu’s chest, the anchor-shaped brand suddenly began to shine. A piercing red light shot out from it, landing heavily on the ground at his feet.

“Negate it? Not a chance.” Qin Ziwen kept his hands in his pockets, glanced behind him, and then turned his gaze forward again.

The crimson anchor hit the ground, and a massive, crimson gate was violently smashed into existence.

Behind the gate, countless silhouettes stirred.

A savage figure shot out, gripping a saber with both hands and thrusting its tip toward Qin Ziwen.

Qin Ziwen had just started to pull his right hand from his pocket.

A massive hand intercepted the blade from the side.

A cruel glint flashed in the saber-wielder’s eyes. He thrust, then flicked the blade upward!

“CLANG!”

Sparks flew as the blade bent to nearly a ninety-degree angle.

Five deep-blue fingers closed around it without mercy.

The blade groaned, unable to bear the strain.

“CRACK!!!”

The blade shattered, sending fragments flying.

The massive, pillar-like hand shot forward, seized the figure, and violently slammed him to the ground.

The man was flattened against the ground like a decal, reduced to a pile of soft mush.

Laughter boomed from behind the gate. “What a hard fist. What incredible strength.”

As the voice faded, a crimson centipede crawled out of the gate.

The centipede was massive, nearly two meters wide. Its crimson carapace glowed like a red-hot branding iron, and its hard, sharp legs moved section by section. After emerging from the gate, it coiled in place, its form swelling until it was nearly two stories tall.

“You’re the ones who stole our boss’s Heart of the World!?” a coarse voice bellowed, as a bald, burly man clad in heavy, phosphorescent black armor strode out.

Two others followed close behind. One took up a position next to the centipede, while the other sprinted deeper into the Home.

Qin Ziwen spared him a single glance.

The next second, the sky went dark as a magnificent structure descended from above!

“BOOM!!!”

The ground shook violently.

The Blood Sand Beast Fighting Arena materialized out of thin air, covering the area ahead. The man was instantly crushed, becoming part of its foundation.

“Now that you’re here, don’t run around. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee what might happen,” Qin Ziwen said, his tone detached.

“You stole my property, killed my man, and you still have the gall to be this arrogant.” Yan Guihen stepped through the gate. His face was unreadable as he glanced at the pile of gore on the ground before surveying his surroundings.

Finally, his gaze fell upon the Garden of Eden in the distance.

A flicker of surprise showed in his eyes.

‘What a massive tree.’

He subconsciously used Insight.

But the feedback he received was: Insight failed.

“A little interesting,” Yan Guihen murmured to himself. From the gate behind him, fully armed soldiers marched out and began to form ranks. Qin Ziwen could also see war machines among them, things like Bed Crossbows, Catapults, and mobile arrow towers.

“Are you a newcomer?” Yan Guihen asked abruptly.

Before Qin Ziwen could reply, Yan Guihen continued, “You must be. Otherwise, who would set the battlefield in their own Home? The relocation ability is nice, but with a one-week cooldown on buildings, how many times can you really use it? Wrecking your own Home in a fight isn’t worth the cost.”

“I won’t make things difficult for you,” Yan Guihen said grandly. “Return the Heart of the World and join my All Realms Association. After that, we’ll be on the same side.”