When Lin Huang left the Great Heaven Palace, a mere three and a half days had passed in the outside world.
Lin Huang took a quick look at the date, then stepped through the dimensional portal and returned to the Devil Hunter Star Zone.
He had chosen the Devil Hunter Star Zone as his temporary station mainly because it was sufficiently far from the human world’s core zone and not under the jurisdiction of any major organizations. Moreover, it had sufficient resources and was quite suited for future development.
Another important reason was that the Sword Servants under Lin Huang’s command were mainly Protoss or members from other tribes. There were less than ten humans in total. If their identities were discovered by any major human organizations, things would become slightly problematic.
In no time at all, Lin Huang managed to locate the gathering place for Lin Xin and the others through a Divine Telekinesis scan.
This was a series of connected palaces constructed on a high mountain.
Lin Huang passed through multiple sword formations in a flash and entered the palace courtyard.
Almost as soon as he appeared, the Sword Servants sensed his aura and immediately hurried over to welcome him.
Only four Sword Servants had remained at this station; they were led by Sword12. Lin Huang noticed that Sword12 had disguised his combat strength as first-rank heavenly god-level, while the other three Sword Servants had disguised theirs as high-rank true god-level as well.
Lin Huang was taken aback at first but then immediately realized the reason for them doing so.
“Welcome back, Lord Swordmaster!”
“This gathering point that you’ve found isn’t bad at all,” Lin Huang commented, looking around and smiling.
“The Sword Alliance’s headquarters naturally has to be at least a bit more impressive,” Sword12 answered with a chuckle, his bald head gleaming.
“You’ve set up the Sword Alliance?” Lin Huang raised his brows at this.
Although he did return to the Devil Hunter Star Zone occasionally, over the last few months he had been busy with his own affairs. He had initially intended to found the Sword Alliance when he had time to spare since it was not urgent. He had never expected Sword12 to have already set it up. He did recall mentioning this to Sword12 during a casual chat previously, about wanting to set up the Sword Alliance in the Devil Hunter Star Zone.
“I thought I’d set it up first, so I registered at the Hunt’s station, then bought this piece of land as our headquarters,” Sword12 explained immediately, “In the end, because I was registered as heavenly god-level, the Hunt certified the Sword Alliance as a grade-4 organization right away…”
Lin Huang continued nodding as he listened.
Once his combat strength had elevated to tenth-rank, the Sword Servants’ combat strength had been unsealed to ninth-rank heavenly god-level. Their abilities had almost been restored to their previous peak.
However, to prevent attracting unwanted attention, on the surface Sword12 only displayed first-rank heavenly god-level ability. When he set up the Sword Alliance, the other Sword Servants also hid their true strength.
Since Sword12 was human, as well as a heavenly god-level powerhouse, it was a piece of cake for his application to be approved.
After doing some background checks, the staff from the Hunt had even approached Sword12 with the suggestion that he take up the post of the Devil Hunter Star Zone’s guardian. (Of course, they did not fully relinquish all the rights and authority.)
Every ten years, the Hunt had to reassign a Heavenly God to guard this remote zone; furthermore, nobody was willing to come here. If it were not a border that had to be guarded, the Hunt would have given up on this area long ago.
Although the entire star zone was considered to be fairly prosperous, the actual annual income was low, as half of the gross profit was to be given to the guarding Heavenly God.
Now, suddenly, a Heavenly God who was going to set up an organization there had shown up. The Hunt was more than happy to ‘rent’ out the piece of land. At least they would have a big part of the burden taken off their shoulders.
Sword12 agreed to this after some consideration. The reason was that if he became guardian, it would be of the greatest benefit to the Sword Alliance’s development in the Devil Hunter Star Zone.
To a grade-6 top organization like the Hunt, a small organization of less than ten members formed by a first-rank Heavenly God would be limited, no matter how much they expanded. They were not sufficiently powerful to become a threat.
The biggest beneficiaries of the Hunt’s generosity were Sword12 and the Sword Alliance.
This had even attracted a considerable number of true god-level powerhouses to try and join the Sword Alliance, but they had all been excluded by the test that Sword12 had set up.
“No wonder the other organizations on this planet are all gone…” Lin Huang finally understood why the handful of organizations that had been guarding the planet previously were no longer there when he had done a Divine Telekinesis scan earlier.
Clearly, they had given way to the grade-4 Sword Alliance organization and moved out.
Just when Lin Huang was done chatting with Sword12, Lin Xin appeared before Lin Huang in a flash. She too had sensed his aura.
“Big brother!”
Lin Huang lifted his eyes. Lin Xin was completely clad in form-fitting black training wear that set off her figure admirably.
He also noticed that her forehead and neck were beaded with tiny sweat drops. She must have been sparring with someone earlier.
Lin Xuan showed up right after Lin Xin arrived.
Obviously, Lin Xin had been sparring with Lin Xuan earlier.
Lin Huang only needed a glance to ascertain their combat strength.
Lin Xin had broken through to first-rank true god-level, while Lin Xuan had elevated to third-rank.
“Not bad, you two have broken through to true god-level.” Lin Huang nodded in satisfaction.
“I just broke through two days ago.” Lin Xin was over the moon at Lin Huang’s compliment.
In truth, even without her explaining, Lin Huang could also see this from her aura waves.
“You’ve improved a lot too. It’s only been a few months, and you’ve elevated two ranks.” Lin Huang looked at Lin Xuan.
He had come back here a few times over the last few months, but Lin Xuan had almost always been in the Battlefield of the Dragon Abyss, so Lin Huang could not tell how his cultivation progress was going.
“I’ve still got a long way to go compared to you.” Lin Xuan could vaguely sense the immense power concealed within Lin Huang’s body. As of right now, he regarded Lin Huang as the ultimate role model to pursue.
“Where are Chan Dou and Xiao Mo?” Lin Huang inquired. His Divine Telekinesis had not picked them up on the scan.
However, he guessed the answer as soon as the words were out of his mouth.
“Where else can they be?” Lin Xin pursed her lips in a little moue.
From beside her, Lin Xuan explained, “Xiao Mo said he won’t leave the Battlefield of the Dragon Abyss until he’s achieved Virtual God rank-9. Chan Dou said he wants to elevate to true god-level as soon as he can. Huang Wuji went with them.”
“It’s not a bad thing for them to be so ambitious.” Lin Huang nodded, smiling.
Right after that, he asked, “How about Old Fu?”
Ever since Mr. Fu elevated to second-rank true god-level, he felt that his cultivation progress had begun to slow down. Subsequently, he had gone traveling after bidding farewell to Lin Huang and the others.
However, there was a Sword Servant secretly following him. For one, it was to covertly ensure his safety. For another, it was to report on Mr. Fu’s recent activities.
“Everything has been going well lately,” Sword12 disclosed the information that he obtained, “He recently entered some ruins with a new acquaintance. It’s just a ninth-rank true god-level ruin left behind by a Heavenly God who failed to elevate. It’s not particularly dangerous.”
Lin Huang nodded after hearing that. To him, Mr. Fu was not merely his teacher, but family as well.
After reporting everything to Lin Huang, Sword 12 left with the other three Sword Servants.
Once the Sword Servants left, Lin Xin—inquisitive child that she was—hung around Lin Huang, wanting to know what had been happening to him lately.
Lin Xuan did not display any desire to leave either. He quietly walked behind the siblings, who were chatting while walking, and followed them into Lin Huang’s courtyard.
