Chapter 421: Starting From the Trash Realm

Li Ban left the small world that had helped hatch the dragon egg. He left the shell behind for a fated person to discover, a fortuitous encounter granted in exchange for borrowing the spiritual rhinoceros of heaven and earth.

Besides, he had plenty of things better than a dragon eggshell to feed Xiu Ye.

He continued flying toward the edge of the Shattered Realm. A few days later, relying on his memory, he finally found the world he had visited before.

The Trash Realm.

When he last left the Trash Realm, the Main Brain had mentioned that this world was on the verge of destruction.

At the time, Li Ban had only been a 4th Tier Spirit Awakening Priest, so he hadn't fully understood the changes occurring within the world.

But upon entering the Trash Realm again, he could distinctly sense the shifts in the world's vitality.

'Actually, observing these small worlds on the verge of destruction also helps a priest complete the transformation from a Wizard Embryo Fragment to a wizard embryo,' he thought. 'It is just a pity that a small world usually takes anywhere from a few years to over a century to go from showing signs of destruction to being completely annihilated. Very few priests have the time to wait around that long.'

With that much time, they would be better off finding a recently destroyed world and searching for shattered wizard embryos.

Almost a year had passed since he was last here. Upon his return, Li Ban discovered that the societal landscape had undergone massive changes.

Li Ban flew over the former site of Trash City.

The place had been reduced to ruins.

It had clearly endured a war.

Amid the rubble, he could still see numerous corpses and bones that no one had cleared away.

The skyscraper that once housed the Main Brain had already collapsed.

But when Li Ban inspected the building's interior, the state of the circuits told him that the Main Brain's Flying Shuttle must have left Trash City before the war broke out.

Or rather, it was precisely because the Flying Shuttle had left that Trash City was breached.

After all, in a world devoid of the spiritual rhinoceros, the Flying Shuttle's technology was vastly superior to that of any other faction in this small world.

With no old acquaintances left in Trash City, Li Ban flew toward the Northern Base.

Before he left the Trash Realm, Priest Zhong Ye's health had been improving. As long as he hadn't led their group into the battle for Trash City, they should still be alive and well.

Of course, the entire Trash Realm would cease to exist in another three to five years anyway. Whether the people here fought or merely eked out a living, their final fate would be exactly the same.

'This place is very similar to the Recycling Station. If I devour the world here directly, I might be noticed by the Great Wizards.'

Although the Great Wizards should be very busy right now, Li Ban didn't want anyone locking onto his position.

After arriving at the Northern Base, he took out the Zhuangsheng Ring.

Inside the Zhuangsheng Ring were the corpses of two black-robed priests.

He had saved them specifically to use as alternate identities.

Li Ban immediately entered the body of one of the black robes and soared high into the sky once more.

This time, he didn't conceal his figure. Many people spotted the black-robed priest flying high in the air.

Those who knew the difference between the Black Robes and the White Robes instantly grew alert. For the majority, however, their very first reaction to seeing a black-robed figure in the sky was to assume an enemy attack.

Ever since Trash City was breached, the peaceful, human-ruled world that people had so desperately longed for had never arrived.

The scarcity of resources had made war the main theme of this land.

After Li Ban's black-robed incarnation lingered in the sky for half an hour, someone finally couldn't hold back and launched an attack.

A crude artillery shell shot toward Li Ban, but the instant it drew near him, it simply vanished.

However, the people of the Trash Realm had seen the magical methods of priests before and weren't frightened by this.

On the contrary, because someone had taken the lead, even more people began using their less-than-advanced weapons to bombard the black robe in the sky.

Although these weapons were precious resources, if they could take down a priest, the treasures on the priest's body would more than make up for their losses.

Yet, what these people hadn't considered was that while they had some understanding of priests, their knowledge was far from complete.

They suffered from a classic case of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing.

The entire Trash Realm only housed 4th Tier and 5th Tier priests.

Even 6th Tier Star Glow Priests never came here.

Thus, Li Ban—a Dark Moon Priest who possessed a Star River—existed completely beyond the bounds of their comprehension.

More and more artillery fire rocketed into the sky.

But none of these attacks could even get close to Li Ban before they vanished.

As the barrage continued, a fist-sized black hole materialized in front of Li Ban.

But nobody on the ground noticed this slight change.

Just as the very first people to attack Li Ban halted their fire, hesitating over whether to continue, Li Ban raised a hand and unleashed a "Shockwave" at them.

A massive pillar of air blasted straight through their weapons, leaving a crater two meters in diameter on the ground.

Some cowered, but out of sheer terror, even more people kept attacking.

They had already shown hostility first. If they wanted to make peace now, it depended entirely on whether the other party would accept it.

Showing weakness after accomplishing absolutely nothing would only result in the enemy swallowing them whole without a shred of mercy.

At this moment, the Northern Forces—which had formerly belonged to Trash City but were now independent—also joined the fray.

Some of their members had observed the black hole in front of Li Ban, which had now grown to the size of a human head. Assuming it was an extremely dangerous explosive device, they attempted to communicate with him. When that failed, laser weapons were added to the battlefield.

However, whether they used lasers or gunpowder, none of the weapons could inflict any harm upon Li Ban. All the energy they generated was simply absorbed by the black hole.

Finally, the artillery fire ceased.

Whether they were merely trying to protect themselves or were outright hostile toward Li Ban, everyone stopped their attacks.

They finally realized that the offensive capabilities that allowed them to secure a foothold in this world were absolutely nothing in front of Li Ban.

From the two largest factions on the scene, two figures flew up into the sky.

The moment they approached, Li Ban could tell they were mere Spirit Awakening Priests.

Furthermore, these people likely still had no idea just how powerful he was.

The two Spirit Awakening Priests arrived in front of Li Ban.

"May I ask who Your Excellency is? Why have you suddenly appeared in our airspace?"

Li Ban shot the two of them a glance.

"From now on, this place is my territory."

The two Spirit Awakening Priests exchanged a glance, finding the statement somewhat laughable.

But before they could say anything in response, Li Ban's figure vanished.

The two stared at each other in dismay. After searching the area for a brief moment, they retreated to their respective camps.

A little while later, news that a strange priest had appeared in the sky, only to be driven off by their firepower, spread throughout the entire North.

However, some people were skeptical about the accuracy of this news.

Because everyone could clearly see that after that unfamiliar priest left, the black hole in the sky hadn't vanished.

Some even attempted to dispel or destroy the black hole, but without success.

In the end, the crowd had no choice but to leave the black hole suspended in midair, cordoning off a safe distance and dispatching personnel to study it.

Unfortunately, despite studying it for a long time, no one could figure out exactly what kind of entity this black hole was.

If they got any closer, even priests ran the risk of being sucked inside.

They immediately drew a cordon around it, barring anyone from approaching until they could find a way to eradicate it.