Chapter 288
According to the Master of Deep Earth City, Sir Haddock, Holy Light Religion has become an obstacle that could not be circumvented by Wang Lu and his team.
In addition to the bloodstained scroll incident, they have also occupied Taobao City, posing as its Master. In recent decades, it was actually only after Holy Light Religion managed to occupy Taobao City did they become the most powerful organization in the whole continent. Prior to that, their influence was restricted only in one country.
“There is no doubt they have received great benefits in Taobao City. Rumor has it that someone in Holy Light Religion has been recognized by Golden King’s Treasure House as something akin to an administrator. Although it could not arbitrarily call out treasures at will, the jurisdiction is still very alarming.”
Wang Lu asked, “Did the other forces just let them occupy Taobao City like that?”
Haddock lightly said, “They certainly not, but each of them has been beaten back so they could do nothing.”
Although what Sir Haddock said seemed to be an understatement, Wang Lu could imagine how bloody the battles were. Certainly, Holy Light Religion has sacrificed so much to occupy Taobao City, so of course, they would never let that place go.
However, Wang Lu’s purpose was not to occupy Golden King’s Treasure House—obtaining the key alone was enough for him. Thus, he didn’t need to have a life and death struggle against Holy Light Religion. The only issue was, would Holy Light Religion allow Wang Lu and the others to take away the immortal treasure level key from the Golden King’s Treasure House that they considered as exclusive property?
In view of the present situation, it was clear that Holy Light Religion simply wanted to get rid of the Nine Regions cultivators as quick as possible.
“Holy Light Religion does not deliberately target Nine Regions. But, in their opinion, the people of Nine Regions are undoubtedly heathens and infidels. And for Holy Light Religion, putting infidels on stakes as sacrifices are perfectly justified. They call it purification.”
Wang Lu sneeringly said, “Is that the kind of purification of ‘big fish eat small fish while small fish eat small shrimp’?”
Sir Haddock said, “In the teaching of Holy Light Religion, the world is filthy and filled with sin, and can only be saved if one is converted to Holy Light. As for the way of conversion, kneeling down and bowing politely is one way, being burned at a stake is also a way… In any case, to achieve your goal, you will inevitably have to deal with the Holy Light Religion.” After a pause, that middle-aged-looking Knight also said, “Of course, the strength of your several people is not enough to face off against such a colossus like the Holy Light Religion, but your sect certainly can.”
Wang Lu was curious. “Do you know my sect?”
Sir Haddock explained, “I certainly don’t know, but at least I know that for a Nine Regions cultivator as young as you who, in Western Continent term, haven’t crossed the threshold of high order profession yet can understand the universal law and achieve cultivation transformation, your background is definitely not ordinary.”
Wang Lu smiled, thinking that Sir Haddock was indeed worthy to be the Master of the city. Although he came from the Knight profession, he relied more on the mind rather than the physical strength of the body.
“Sir, do you want to use the strength of my sect to confront the Holy Light Religion?”
Haddock said, “I definitely don’t want to gain something without risking anything of my own, but rather making the best of a new opportunity. The Holy Light Religion is our common enemy, so of course, collaboration to defeat the enemy is better. Your sect definitely has formidable strength in Nine Regions, but here, you lack the local support. And although we have all kinds of favorable conditions here in Western Continent, our strength is not powerful enough. This means that we can make up for each other’s flaws, so why not cooperate? Of course, I know that this matter might not be decided by you, but I hope you can pass on my sincerity… Not only me and Deep Earth City, but this is also the common will of the more than thirty City-States in the Eastern Kingdom.”
Wang Lu nodded, acknowledging that Haddock’s argument was indeed very persuasive.
The support of local forces in Western Continent was undoubtedly very useful. However, if the price of this were to offend the Holy Light Religions who has astonishing power, it would be too big. Moreover, Wang Lu was very clear that Spirit Sword Sect, or even the Five Uniques did not have the interest in investing a lot of energy in the Western Continent.
After all, this was not Nine Regions, and did not have the world’s main path of the Nine Regions. This could be a very great place for experiential learning, but this was not home, and never will be. Therefore, they just needed to put on the cool eye of a bystander towards all kinds of dispute in Western Continent. There was no need at all to be somebody else’s powerful cat’s-paw.
Haddock’s idea was good, but he was seeing things through rose-tinted glasses.
Nevertheless, the idea of joining forces was not wrong.
“It would be very difficult to persuade the sect. But, is there a need for the sect elders to be involved in little things like this?”
Seeing that Sir Haddock slightly wrinkled his brows, Wang Lu smiled and then explained, “Taobao City has now become one of the important foundations of Holy Light Religion. But, the sovereignty over Taobao City, on the one hand, enabled them to dominate the others, while on the other hand, approved by the Golden King’s Treasure House. However, the latter is not without the possibility of wavering.”
Sir Haddock’s brows furrowed even tighter. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you mean.”
“In short, I am going to make Golden King’s Treasure House no longer acknowledge them. The inheritance left by Golden King has its own rules, thus, for Holy Light Religion to become its administrator, they must have pleased the Treasure House. Hence, as long as I can do better than them, wouldn’t I have the opportunity to win the position of the administrator? It is rumored that the thing that Golden King like to do the most is to let his warriors compete for reward; he is a kind of king that extremely encourages competition. This means that the Holy Light Religion administrator position is not hereditary.”
Haddock repeatedly nodded. “Yes, that is indeed the truth. But to take the administrator position is easier said than done. Before Holy Light Religion, for years, no one can unify Taobao City and gain the recognition from Golden King’s Treasure House…”
Wang Lu lightly interrupted, “That’s because I’m not here yet.”
—
After the third day, Wang Lu and his team embarked from Deep Earth City. During this period, Sir Haddock, the Master of Deep Earth City, accepted Wang Lu’s proposal and cooperated with the implementation of Wang Lu’s special operation.
Sneak into Taobao City and subvert the authority of Holy Light Religion of the holy place.
Describing the battle plan in a single sentence was almost a joke. But, Wang Lu was very insistent, to the point of being stubborn. Moreover, Sir Haddock also didn’t want to offend a young genius from Nine Regions. Not to mention that during these three days, Wang Lu has also demonstrated his prowess.
Perhaps on the point of view of level, he hovered on the level just before Jindan, which was the threshold before becoming high order profession. And before Jindan, he has yet to congeal the world’s main path of Nine Regions into his body, thus the power that he could display in Western Continent was after all limited. For the cultivation transformation itself, the conversion rate was also not one hundred percent.
But even so, he was still strong. Even when Sir Haddock personally made his move to test him out, he was still helpless to do anything to Wang Lu.
As the Master of Deep Earth City, Sir Haddock was also a first-rate powerhouse among the thirty-six City-States of the Eastern Kingdom. Although he was still far from the level of legend, a common high order profession would not stand three or four moves from him. With his formidable physical strength of heavenly knight, a single sword swing would have a sword momentum powerful enough to destroy a city. Whether it was a magician’s strange spell, spirit master’s precious beast, or the elemental power of a shaman… all were cut through by his sword swing.
Using the standard of Nine Regions, he would be an expert of Yuanying Stage, more precisely, middle-level Yuanying.
However, even such a master was helpless when Wang Lu launched his original magical ability. Although not defeated, he also could do anything to Wang Lu. Wang Lu’s attack and defense were inherently intertwined. And although his past training made him more inclined towards defense, he was actually able to continuously weaken and disrupt the opponent by means of the power of broken swords, rendering Sir Haddock, with his absolute power, incapable of making his move. Once, Sir Haddock managed to make a direct clash, only to discover that his Great Earth Sword, that he most proud of, was unable to disintegrate Wang Lu’s three feet sword defense. Instead, the rebound shock made his arm tingle with numbness…
The single fight resulted in a draw, but when Wang Lu teamed up with another of his teammates, whether it was with Liu Li, Bai Shixuan, or Quan Zouhua… they quickly gained an overwhelming advantage, causing Sir Haddock to throw in the towel…
In fact, in theory, if Sir Haddock’s fighting ability was ten, then in his peak, Wang Lu would be eight or nine, while the others were not stronger than Wang Lu. If two people cooperated, at most, they would barely be able to suppress Haddock. After all, fighting power was not a simple addition.
In the actual combat, that overwhelming advantage naturally came from Wang Lu, the conductor who grasped the flow and intricacy of the fight.
With that in mind, Sir Haddock finally approved his plan.
“Individual fighting ability is fundamental, but not the key to victory. I am a professional adventurer, passing through layers upon layers of dangerous obstacles, and using limited strength is my genuinely unique skill.”
After acknowledging Wang Lu’s ability, Sir Haddock sent one of his deputies, Cliff, to travel together with Wang Lu.
He was a diminutive nightwalker—a high order profession in thief profession, who has accompanied Sir Haddock for many years, and once even explored the Golden King’s Treasure House together and assisted him in obtaining a crucial treasure, so that Haddock would later establish City State on the east coast and become the master of millions.
In terms of experience in the exploration of the Treasure House, he was almost equal to Sir Haddock. Sending him to be with Wang Lu showed how important Wang Lu was to Sir Haddock. At the same time, he also let them use a carriage marked with Deep Earth City symbol.
With the backing of the Master of Deep Earth City, no longer they encountered any trouble on the road. Not only the prestige of the Master of Deep Earth City was enough to deter the small-time bandits, everyone knew that intercepting foreigners from Nine Regions was one thing, but provoking the people of the Eastern City States was another matter entirely.
Half a month later, the carriage of the Master of Deep Earth City, carrying Wang Lu and his team, has crossed the Eastern City States, west into the central region of the Continent, and arrived outside Taobao City.
Taobao City was the paradise for the Western Continent’s adventurers. The ruin of the Golden King’s Treasure House was at its center, which, after thousands of years, has formed a huge City-State, with countless large and small towns and villages in its surrounding area. But all of these existed to serve the towering and imposing city at the center—Taobao City.
It was a city that was far more magnificent than imagined. In contrast, the Deep Earth City, which was the result of decades of hard work of Sir Haddock and has occupied the position of one of the trade hubs between continents, was incomparably small. The city population was probably around several millions! Previously, Taobao City has no single ruler. It was governed separately by several countries, which made it seem scattered and in disorder. Now, after being ruled by Holy Light Religion, it actually gave off an astonishing amount of pressure.
Standing before the city gate, Wang Lu seemed to see the endless sea of holy light…
And standing above that sea of holy light was the even higher Golden King’s Treasure House.
In his ear, it was as if he heard the laughter of this ancient king.
“Bastards, want my treasures? Then come and get it, I have put all my treasures in the King’s Treasure House!”