Chapter 451: After the Battle

Although it hadn’t managed to harm him, just feeling this disintegrating, destructive energy was enough to make Lin Hui’s expression turn grave.

After receiving his teacher’s guidance, he now had a preliminary understanding that the intensity of Disaster Energy was closely related to its refined concentration and density.

In the process of refining Disaster Energy, he discovered that it actually partially conformed to the basic physical laws of reality, undergoing different qualitative transformations at set stages.

According to his teacher Qimei’s theory, these different stages were divided into five: free-roaming energy, high-energy aggregation, Materialization, Gelation and Separation, and spacetime distortion. In reality, there should be higher levels, but those were realms that even Qimei could not reach, so they were not mentioned for the time being.

And the impact from the explosion just now had far surpassed his own free-roaming energy stage, reaching the late stage of high-energy aggregation.

After a moment’s thought, Lin Hui tentatively sent an inquiry through the Purgatory insignia. “Senior Chaos Emperor?”

There was no response. It seemed the connection had been severed.

‘It seems a high-level expert from the Endless Divine Race has made a move…’ As they say, greed is the original sin. Lin Hui had no urgent need for cognition, so he hadn’t opened the Wind Calamity’s invasion gate at all. Consequently, the Divine Race experts who appeared later wouldn’t be able to track the traces of his Disaster Energy.

Compared to Purgatory and Haiming, who had opened such massive rifts… someone like him was likely considered negligible and completely overlooked.

As for who would win or lose between the other Calamities and the Divine Race, that had nothing to do with him.

A slight smile touched the corners of his lips. Lin Hui, carrying the bewildered Yan Qiushi, flickered and vanished into the torrent of the Wind Calamity.

Next, he would let Senior Chaos Emperor take the lead and manage the grand situation. Didn’t he want to feast? Now he could eat to his heart’s content.

He had long known that the greed of this Fusion Sect of Calamities was unrestrained, so from the very beginning, he had intended to let the others take the lead.

After all, his original intention was simply to resolve and suppress the trouble that was the Endless Divine Race—the ones who had disturbed her peaceful life. His main goals were to absorb enough Power of Existence and, while he was at it, clear his big sister’s name.

Now that his objectives were met, it was naturally time to make a quiet exit.

As for who would win or lose between the Secondary Calamities and the Endless Divine Race, he couldn’t care less.

Quickly tossing Yan Qiushi back to the Human Realm, Lin Hui went straight to the Jiuxiao Sect.

Inside the Jiuxiao Sect, the situation was rather lively.

The Ash Monarch, the Lady of Cold Night, the Purgatory Duke, and Zhang Xin Fan of Haiming had all gathered.

However, the notable detail was that they all wore ugly expressions. They were gathered in the open space in front of the Celestial Reversal Wheel, and as soon as Lin Hui appeared, all their gazes shot toward him.

It seemed they had all been waiting for him.

“You all look to be in high spirits,” Lin Hui said with a smile, his figure gently descending from mid-air to the ground.

“Lin Hui, you never said the Divine Race had an expert of this caliber?!” the Lady of Cold Night said coldly. “You must give us an explanation!”

SHING!

In the next instant, a flash of sword light streaked past her.

The Lady of Cold Night only reacted after the sword light had passed. She took a step back as an immense, freezing aura of the Extreme Cold Heaven surged from her body, but it was too late.

A slanted, bloody gash suddenly appeared right in the center of her cold, perfect face.

It was a sword wound.

A spray of blood flew out, and with it, a vast amount of the Extreme Cold Heaven’s Disaster Energy transformed into a spray of red, bloody sand that scattered on the ground.

“Ah!! You!!” the Lady of Cold Night cried out in pain.

“Scream again, and I’ll kill you.” Lin Hui’s voice directly cut off whatever she was about to say next.

His voice was calm, as if he were just casually catching up with an old friend. The emotion in his tone and the ruthlessness of his attack formed two complete extremes.

The Lady of Cold Night’s voice died in her throat. She didn’t dare to make another sound.

With a single strike, he had broken through her multiple, layered defenses. Even her Power of Calamity couldn’t protect her. Her body, tempered for ten thousand years, was like paper-mâché before him. Against such uncannily fast Swordsmanship, she didn’t dare gamble on whether she could block a fatal blow even at full power.

So, the best response right now was to shut her mouth. Although it was a loss of face, having lived for so many years, the Lady of Cold Night was certainly not the stubborn, single-minded type.

During their previous sparring session, she had noticed that Lin Hui was hiding his strength. But back then, everyone was holding back and not getting serious, all wanting to give face to the Wind Calamity. After all, a Source Calamity carried the most weight.

Furthermore, Lin Hui had yet to provide the specific coordinates, so everyone had been willing to give him some leeway.

But now…

This strike… it had been so fast that even she was completely unaware of it, only realizing she had been hit after the fact…

At this thought, a profound sense of danger rose in the Lady of Cold Night’s heart. She took a deep breath and retreated again, resolving not to speak and instead looking toward the others.

“Mountain Lord Lin has quite a temper,” Zhang Xin Fan said lightly.

“I’m usually very good-tempered, but I can’t stand it when some people don’t know what’s good for them and fail to recognize when to back down,” Lin Hui said with a smile. “At the end of the day, I’m actually an idealist. People like us are quite easy to get along with. As long as you indulge us, everyone can remain on friendly terms.”

The Lady of Cold Night’s full chest heaved a few times, but she still said nothing, acting as if she hadn’t heard him. It seemed her ten thousand years of cultivating self-control were not for show.

She remained silent, but Zhang Xin Fan spoke up again.

“Right now, the Endless Divine Race is fighting Senior Chaos Emperor, and the entire Realm has completely detached from the main Divine Domain. Our plan can be considered half-successful, but the follow-up has been cut off.”

He paused, looked directly at Lin Hui, and continued.

“From beginning to end, Mountain Lord Lin showed no intention of actively opening the gate to guide the Wind Calamity’s army in. On this point, don’t you think you owe us an explanation?”

“What? Have you all gathered here to call me to account?” Lin Hui raised an eyebrow. “I held back out of consideration for old friends, proactively yielding the profits to you. Can you dare say you didn’t gain any Cognitive Crystals this time?”

As soon as he said this, the others fell silent.

If they calculated it carefully, this trip was actually profitable for them personally. After all, they had obtained a batch of Cognitive Crystals and even gained a number of converted Divine Race fighters.

The key, however, was that their respective Calamities had suffered great losses. Purgatory and Haiming, in particular, had each unleashed at least a hundred million units of Disaster Energy, only for it all to be purified by the Endless Divine Race’s Divine Power. This purification of Disaster Energy was the truly painful loss.

Because of this, the backlash they received from their own Calamities also grew more severe.

When the positives and negatives were weighed against each other, they had actually come out with a slight net loss.

This was the real reason they had gathered to confront Lin Hui. They had misjudged the Endless Divine Race’s strength in purifying Disaster Energy. This race was completely different from others; not only were they internally extremely powerful, but their research into the Calamities far surpassed that of anyone else.

Among those present, the only one who hadn’t suffered any loss was Lin Hui of the Wind Calamity.

Seeing that everyone had fallen silent, Lin Hui’s attitude finally softened.

“Alright, alright, everyone. The fact that the Endless Divine Race is so powerful is, conversely, a sign. Once we crack this tough nut, the rewards we stand to gain in the future will be immense. They will far exceed those from all other Realms. As long as we work together, with all our realms joining forces, they are just a single race. Sooner or later, they won’t be able to withstand our corrosion.”

He said in a placating tone.

“Junior! Your main goal was to collect the Power of Existence, wasn’t it? You’re the only one who suffered no losses on this trip; in fact, you gained quite a lot.”

Suddenly, a voice that was neither male nor female rang out in the surrounding air. It was none other than the Chaos Emperor of Purgatory.

With a flash of golden light, the Chaos Emperor’s figure appeared before them.

His appearance at this moment was somewhat wretched. His left arm had vanished into thin air, and the burning Fixed Star on his back was dim and lackluster, as if he had expended a tremendous amount of energy. From the corners of the eyes on his golden, compassionate mask, two lines of bloody tears streamed down to his jaw.

“You overstate things, Senior.” Lin Hui’s expression remained unchanged. He wasn’t surprised that his use of the Power of Existence had been discovered; after all, this was a heavyweight on the same level as his own teacher.

“This junior was just picking up a few small things along the way. I can’t compare to you. Your Purgatory covered the entire Realm-sphere in one go… The vast majority of the Divine Race within were tainted by Purgatory.”

Lin Hui’s words were pointing out that Purgatory hadn’t played by the rules. It had found a domineering excuse to unleash its Disaster Energy in one go, encroaching upon the interests of the other Calamities and completely disregarding their agreement.

“Junior, are you questioning me?” the Chaos Emperor’s tone turned hostile.

“Dong Li, are you looking for trouble in my Jiuxiao Sect?”

Suddenly, Qimei’s figure appeared behind Lin Hui. His chubby face was still smiling, but his slightly narrowed eyes faintly revealed a hair-raising killing intent.

Dong Li?

The others’ hearts stirred. It was the first time they had learned the Chaos Emperor’s true name.

“Qimei, I have suffered considerable losses and am feeling angry. I was just saying a few words to your disciple. What? Do you have a problem with that?” the Chaos Emperor said coldly.

“Just a few words? Then that’s fine, it’s understandable.” The killing intent in Qimei’s eyes slowly faded. “It’s just that this disciple of mine is a bit psychologically fragile. You’ll need to be mindful of your tone when you speak to him.”

The Chaos Emperor snorted coldly. With a wave and a grab, a red light enveloped the Purgatory Duke, and he turned and flew away.

Qimei didn’t stop him. He merely gave the others a faint glance, then his entire body dissolved into Wind Disaster Energy and vanished.

Although the ones from Purgatory had left, the others remained motionless where they stood.

Logically, they could have used this opportunity to leave as well without losing face.

But neither the Lady of Cold Night, whose face had just been wounded, nor the passive-aggressive Zhang Xin Fan made any move.

As for the Ash Monarch, he hadn’t said or done anything since he first appeared.

Now, seeing that no one else was speaking, he finally opened his mouth slowly.

“As Mountain Lord Lin said, the Endless Divine Race is indeed a great treasure trove. It’s just that I fear the few of us alone won’t be able to crack it.”

“The Monarch’s meaning is… to call for more reinforcements?” Lin Hui asked.

“Correct. According to my calculations, only by fully mobilizing the power of the Calamity factions behind us can we possibly exterminate the Endless Divine Race,” the Ash Monarch nodded. “On my end, I can invite the other three great monarchs within the Realm, as well as my mother—the Ash Jade Grand Sovereign. Within the Ash, the Jade Grand Sovereign is already at the supreme level; there is no existence stronger than her esteemed self.”

“Is she comparable to Senior Chaos Emperor of Purgatory?” Lin Hui asked.

“They should be about the same, considered to be on the same level,” the Ash Monarch nodded. “Actually, my mother also made a move in secret this time. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to retreat unscathed.”

When it came down to it, his trip had actually been profitable, and it was also because his mother, the Jade Grand Sovereign, had secretly acted to protect him.

Looking at it this way, it was as if the Chaos Emperor of Purgatory had overtly drawn all the firepower of the entire Endless Divine Race.

No wonder he was in such a foul mood.

Purgatory itself already had a great effect on one’s temperament, making one fiery and explosive. Having also suffered a stifling loss this time, he was naturally even more displeased.