Chapter 174 – Nation of Ancient Gods

Over a thousand players were clashing by the river next to the forest of towering trees and rocks.

If one were to inspect these players with an Identification Skill, one would find that in addition to being at Level 110 or above, these players were all geared in Epic Weapons and Equipment. Quite a few of these players were even in possession of Fragmented Legendary items.

At a glance, it was obvious that these players were split into two opposing groups. Of the two groups, the first group was composed of around 400 players trying to defend a caravan, while the second group was composed of around 700 players trying to rob the caravan.

Even though this battle involved only around a thousand players, Crimson Heart, Lin Yaoyue, and the others, who were spectating the fight from over a thousand yards away, couldn’t help but be shocked by what they saw. This was because even the weakest player involved in the fight was a Refinement Realm expert. Moreover, despite being only at the Refinement Realm standard, this expert managed to exhibit combat power rivaling the Void Realm experts, also known as peak experts.

It should be known that peak experts were rare existences in their God’s Domain, so much so that they would be given an executive position in any superpower. In first-rate Guilds, Void Realm experts would even be granted positions that allowed them to influence the organization’s decisions, their authority rivaling the Guild’s Vice Guild Leaders.

Yet, the peak experts they came to know as being rare had seemingly become no different from cabbages that were readily available. After all, every player fighting on the battlefield by the river had strength rivaling or surpassing peak experts.

Meanwhile, the clash between the two groups of players ahead was even more shocking than an all-out war between two superpowers in their God’s Domain. The battlefield’s terrain had even undergone significant changes because of these players’ battle.

“Isn’t the development of magic technology a little too advanced in this world? Has their manufacturing capabilities become so developed that they can afford to use siege weapons for measly caravan escorts?” Blood Hammer couldn’t help but doubt his eyes when he saw the dozen or so ten-meter-tall metal frames fighting on the battlefield.

Combat Puppets!

Combat Puppets could be regarded as weapons designed for the specific purpose of sieging cities. Even the weakest Basic Combat Puppet possessed strength at the Tier 3 Peak standard. In other words, even a Tier 1 player could instantly gain raw strength at the Tier 3 Peak standard so long as they got inside a Basic Combat Puppet.

Moreover, depending on the user’s ability to control a Combat Puppet, the Combat Puppet could also exhibit combat power far surpassing its strength level. It was akin to how ordinary experts and Refinement Realm experts could exhibit vastly different combat powers even when both of them possessed the same Basic Attributes.

However, Combat Puppets would typically only be used to siege or defend cities in the various worlds of God’s Domain. It simply wasn’t a resource that players could afford to waste on a simple caravan escort.

Yet, these players from the Stratified Abyssal Realm had not only dispatched multiple Combat Puppets for a caravan escort, but there was even an Advanced Combat Puppet among them.

Combat Puppets could be separated into different ranks. A few examples would be Basic Combat Puppets, Advanced Combat Puppets, Bronze Combat Puppets, and High Bronze Combat Puppets. Higher-ranking ones, such as Silver Combat Puppets, also existed, but they were extremely rare even in the Greater God’s Domain.

In the case of Advanced Combat Puppets, they could exhibit strength nearing the Tier 4 standard. Including their defensive capabilities that surpassed Mythic monsters, an Advanced Combat Puppet could effortlessly clash against a Tier 4 Mythic monster if piloted by a Refinement Realm expert. Needless to say, an Advanced Combat Puppet would have a very easy time dealing with Tier 3 players.

However, the team trying to plunder the caravan similarly had an Advanced Combat Puppet. Moreover, the player piloting it appeared to be much more skilled, allowing the Advanced Combat Puppet to exhibit combat standards at the Void Realm standard.

Even though Blood Hammer was a God-ranked expert equipped with a Fragmented Legendary Weapon, if he had to go up against an Advanced Combat Puppet with such a high combat standard, the only thing he could do was run away. There was no way he stood a chance against such an opponent, not when he was suffering from such powerful penalties because of the Stratified Abyssal Realm’s environment.

While Blood Hammer, Crimson Heart, and the others were awed by the Stratified Abyssal Realm’s magic technology standard, Shi Feng had his eyes glued to a boy with golden markings in his eyes and a crimson-haired girl wielding a divine staff.a

The boy looked like he was only around 17 or 18 years old. However, even when he was surrounded by a group of a dozen or so peak and apex experts, he still managed freely dance around his opponents while swinging multiple longswords. If not for two Domain Realm experts, who were also third-floor experts, limiting his range of movement, the boy would have long since killed the other peak and apex experts surrounding him.

The girl wielding the divine staff wasn’t an ordinary individual, either. Despite being an Oracle, she single-handedly stopped an attack of several hundred arrows and Spells with just a Contract Barrier, a Tier 3 Curse.

Thousand Sword Saint Wordless Ember and Dawn Saint Sleeping Quicksand! Why are these two people here? Could this be the nation of Ancient Gods?

When Shi Feng saw the boy and girl fighting against multiple opponents on the battlefield, the shock he felt was much greater than the shock Blood Hammer and the others felt when they saw the Combat Puppets.

During Shi Feng’s previous life, Wordless Ember and Sleeping Quicksand were legendary individuals in the Greater God’s Domain, and their titles of Thousand Sword Saint and Dawn Saint were known by all. Meanwhile, the Bloody Poem adventurer team they had established had caused many hegemonic powers to suffer major losses. Bloody Poem had even managed to defeat Heaven’s Brilliance, a top-tier hegemonic power, in a frontal confrontation.

Bloody Poem only had 10,000 members fighting against Heaven’s Brilliance’s army of millions during that confrontation. Heaven’s Brilliance had even sent as many as 100 Tier 6 God-ranked experts to deal with Bloody Poem. Yet, Bloody Poem had successfully defended its city and killed all 100 of Heaven’s Brilliance’s God-ranked experts. Because of this miraculous outcome, the battle was remembered as one of the legendary battles in the Greater God’s Domain.

Meanwhile, a large part of Bloody Poem’s success in that battle was due to Wordless Ember and Sleeping Quicksand. The two of them had stopped the majority of Heaven’s Brilliance’s God-ranked experts by themselves. Because of their outstanding performance, Wordless Ember became known as one of the Ten Great Sword Gods in the Greater God’s Domain, while Sleeping Quicksand became known as one of the Ten Great Oracles. The Seven Luminaries Alliance, the oldest neutral power in the Greater God’s Domain, had even conferred the title of “Saintess” to Sleeping Quicksand.

The Seven Luminaries Alliance was one of the strongest powers in the Greater God’s Domain. Its hands reached across the entire Greater God’s Domain, and the organization’s main purpose was to evaluate Tier 6 God-ranked experts. Moreover, any Tier 6 God-ranked expert could join the organization, regardless of whether they were a member of another power or not. In addition to having no restrictions placed on them, Tier 6 God-ranked experts who joined the Seven Luminaries Alliance would also be given the position of Elder as soon as they joined.

The people who held the most authority in the Seven Luminaries Alliance were the Senate’s Twelve Grand Elders and the Tier 6 God-ranked experts who had been conferred titles by the Seven Luminaries Alliance.

However, receiving a title from the Seven Luminaries Alliance was an incredibly challenging task, and the alliance had given out titles to no more than ten God-ranked experts in the last century.

Yet, Sleeping Quicksand managed to not only receive a title from the Seven Luminaries Alliance, but also became the youngest God-ranked expert to receive a title from the alliance.

After the rise of Wordless Ember and Sleeping Quicksand, others quickly found out that they originated from a Stratified Abyssal Realm. Meanwhile, after the various powers investigated this Stratified Abyssal Realm, they quickly discovered that it used to be a nation inhabited by Ancient Gods!

According to rumors, Sleeping Quicksand had acquired an incredibly powerful Ancient God’s Legacy during her time in this Stratified Abyssal Realm. Hence, the Seven Luminaries Alliance had conferred her the title of “Saintess.”

While Shi Feng and the others were spectating the battle, the two teams fighting in the distance quickly noticed their presence as well.

“Friends over there, do you mind lending us a hand? Our Purple Light Trading Firm will repay you generously afterward!” a middle-aged man defending the caravan shouted when he saw Shi Feng’s team.

Meanwhile, as soon as the middle-aged man finished speaking, a fierce man from the team trying to plunder the caravan shouted, “A measly team of 20 dares spectate Death Curse’s operation? You people must be tired of living!”

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As soon as the fierce man finished speaking, the plundering side’s Advanced Combat Puppet promptly turned toward Shi Feng’s team and fired its magic cannon at them.

Immediately, a black beam of light tore through space and flew straight toward Shi Feng’s team. The beam was so quick that it crossed the thousand-yard distance and enveloped Shi Feng’s team in the blink of an eye …