Chapter 377
“Send word to the cities along the Panda Route. Tell them not to provoke him. Pull the martial artists out immediately if you can. If they don’t make it in time… well, that’s their misfortune.”
“Hah, easy for you to say. Your Bear Clan doesn’t live anywhere near here.”
The Black Bear ignored the complaint. “The Bear Clan from the Martial World is already dispatching three fourth-tier martial artists. During the Great Cataclysm of a hundred years, this is already our limit. You’d better figure things out yourselves. If our numbers fall short, the Bear Clan will just surrender. In the end, the biggest loss will be yours.”
“You Bear Clan—!”
“Bah! What, you’re not convinced?” The Black Bear snapped back harshly, then turned to the Realm Lord. “I hear the Realm Lord of Mortal Realm No.1 has already been killed? If you don’t want to die the same way, you’d better apply for more reinforcements.”
The Realm Lord gave a cold snort. “The affairs of the Realm Alliance are none of your concern. The number of fourth-tier powerhouses will not be fewer than your Bear Clan’s. Let me make one thing clear: once the real battle begins, if anyone dares to stab others in the back, don’t blame the rest of us for turning our faces and cutting ties.”
Everyone’s expression darkened. They all knew he wasn’t joking. In times like these, anyone who betrayed the alliance would instantly become a public enemy, and no race or faction would be able to shield them.
“Of course.”
“You have our word.”
The Black Bear sneered. “As long as you don’t sell us out, the Bear Clan won’t do such a thing. But as for you humans, hehe…”
The Realm Lord couldn’t do anything about such a shameless brute, so he simply ignored him and said, “Everyone, stop hiding your Vital Energy Arrays. As long as we can kill that panda, the things on him—and his secrets—will more than make up for our losses.”
“What!? Not only an unlimited supply of the origin you need to advance, but even the Super-Dimensional Mage Tower is being paid for by the Council?” Sandy was burning with jealousy.
She was sprawled atop Adam’s head, Sophia lying atop Sandy’s head, stacked like acrobats as they flew through the air toward the Realm Lord’s city. Along the way, anyone they met was slaughtered, every city they passed laid to waste.
But the people who died had asked for it. Seeing the hundreds of martial cores floating at Adam’s side, their eyes glowed green with greed, and they rushed in headlong. Adam had no choice but to send them on their way—adding more trophies to his collection.
“The personal chip is nice, but it’s definitely not enough. What kind of news did you stir up after I left?”
Adam generously shared all the knowledge that could be made public. It wasn’t worth more than a few Aether crystals anyway. Sandy’s eyes lit up after reading it. “Nuclear Blast Magic, huh? Looks so cool. Should I switch over and train in nuclear blasts, then advance to the super-dimensional level?”
“It’s possible,” Adam said kindly, “but your foundation isn’t deep enough. At the super-dimensional stage you’d be left with no follow-through. Julius is still stuck at super-dimensional, unable to find a path to True Spirit.”
“Shouldn’t you be refining more vital energy?” Adam added. “After all, our battles here still rely on it. I expect plenty of people waiting for us in the Central City.”
Sandy idly swung Sophia around with her tail, unconcerned. “With you, Lord Super-Dimensional Mage, why would I need to lift a finger?”
Adam: “…”
“Besides, the natives of this Mortal Realm could never withstand your magnetic and gravitational martial techniques. And don’t forget—I’m vicious. Everyone who sees me attack…” Sandy flicked her tail high, then tossed Sophia into the air, earning a series of screams. “All. Must. Die!”
Adam thought of Sandy’s reincarnated race, and he felt as though he had just grasped some terrifying truth. But he didn’t press her further. Whatever trouble came, Sandy wouldn’t just stand by and watch.
“I wonder how those three are doing. Hopefully they’ve realized something’s wrong and chosen the right path. By the way, your personal chip is pretty good, but I think it can be upgraded—like using a method that doesn’t cause energy fluctuations, so we can communicate between adjacent planes. That would make missions much easier.”
Adam nodded. “The Personal Chip Institute is already working on that. Once we get back, you’ll be able to buy an upgrade package.”
The function Sandy described, Adam knew, could be done with quantum entanglement and quantum communication technology. But monetizing the algorithm was difficult—it would take time.
“Che. Swindler.”
“He’s here!”
“Damn it! Another hundred meters and he’ll step right into the ambush!”
Two days later, the pair saw a massive city in the distance, with a pillar of vital energy piercing the heavens above it. Sandy pointed. “That’s the city where the Realm Lord lives. That pillar is the Ascension Passage. There’s something ahead—it’s your turn.”
The martial artists thought their Vital Energy Array was well hidden, but to Adam and Sandy, it was as plain as day. Trying to ambush them? They were far too naïve.
Adam twisted Garfield into the form of a massive two-handed war hammer, then gathered nearly a thousand martial cores around him. Magnetic and gravitational forces forced the resisting energies into alignment. His body bent into an exaggerated arc, and he swung the hammer down with all his might onto the clustered cores.
The strike drove the martial cores to the brink of detonation. They shot forward like artillery shells straight into the array.
Boom!
The moment the two forces touched, the martial cores exploded.
The thunderous blast tore a massive hole through the dense network of Vital Energy Arrays. The release triggered a chain reaction, brilliant radiance exploding across the sky.
“Well now, that’s quite the spectacle,” Sandy said. She patted Sophia’s head, signaling her to shift into a mountable size, then followed Adam at a leisurely pace.
Inside Adam’s body, his four martial cores roared to full power, pouring out vital energy to sustain his magnetic and gravitational fields. Under the combined force, the unleashed energy was all channeled in a single direction—straight toward Central City.
The enemy’s ambush had become Adam’s weapon.
Inside the city, the faces of martial experts twisted in alarm. The Realm Lord and five powerhouses from the Realm Alliance of the Martial World rushed to the array’s nodes, forcing them active to resist the devastating blast.
At the same time, the Realm Lord roared, “What are you waiting for!? Remember your oaths! Remember the price of betrayal!”
All martial artists of second tier and above, and every high-ranking martial powerhouse from each faction, surged out through the channels opened by the Realm Lord—blocking Adam’s path.
A Bear Clan expert shouted, “Panda! Speak your name! The Panda Clan has no such inheritance. Hand over your cultivation techniques and your secrets, and the Bear Clan will spare your life!”
Sandy whispered, “Over five hundred of them, with dozens radiating fourth-tier energy… Can you handle it?”
Adam nodded, ignoring the Bear Clan’s demands. Boundless Heavenly Fire burst into the sky, blazing fiercely. Bathed in its light, Adam raised his hammer high and brought it crashing down.