The three years agreement was coming to an end. Sword 1 returned as promised.
Lin Huang knew the result of the three-year investigation without having to ask.
Apart from Sword 1, Lin Huang also welcomed some of his old friends throughout those three years.
His old friends from the gravel world, such as Leng Yuexin, Li Lang, the siblings Yi Zheng and Yi Yeyu, had broken through to heavenly god-level one after the other. Lin Huang brought them to the great world.
Under the 10,000 times accelerated time flow, almost all of the cultivators in Lin Huang’s Kingdom underwent a significant elevation in their combat strength.
Some ten Lords were cultivated throughout those three years. They were accepted into the Sword Alliance.
Although the 16 Lords only unlocked 16 Dao seals for Lin Huang, he was very satisfied with the result.
The Sword Alliance was flourishing in its development.
It had the deterrence of being the No. 1 organization in the God Territory.
However, Lin Huang finally received news from Liu Fu from the universe.
He knew that it was almost time for his departure.
A few days before departing, he gathered everyone.
Not only all of his Sword Servants, but Mr. Fu, Lin Xin, Yang Ling and the rest as well as his old friends such as Yi Zheng and Yi Yeyu were included.
Lin Huang only spoke after taking a glance at them.
“I’ve received news from the universe that the mystic territory that I’m going to is opening. I’ve decided to depart three days later. I’ll officially head out into the universe. From that point onward, I might not return for a period of time.”
“I know that most of you here might want to go out into the universe. However, I can’t just leave the Sword Alliance behind. This will still be our training base, as well as the root of our development in the universe. We need the Sword Alliance to stay, recruiting more talents and geniuses. We’ll then send them to the universe to strengthen our organization in the universe.”
“Therefore, I need a portion of people to stay behind and hold down the fort for me.”
Lin Huang knew that most of them definitely hoped to head out into the universe.
After all, it was a whole new world. Not only that, there would be more opportunities to develop themselves.
However, it was impossible that he would bring all of them along. He could not leave the Sword Alliance that he had spent a few years building behind.
Apart from commemorating Great Heaven, his initial intention of founding the Sword Alliance was to make it a training base, training more talents under him.
As a “training center”, the Sword Alliance had a purpose of existence.
The room fell into momentary silence after Lin Huang was done speaking.
At that moment, Mr. Fu was the first to speak up.
“I’ll tell you what I think.”
The people knew that he was Lin Huang’s master. Although his combat strength was only at true god-level, they dared not neglect him. They paid attention to him.
“Everyone knows that I’m nominally Lin Huang’s master. I’ve only taught him cultivation during his earlier years, and he soon surpassed me later on. Throughout the few years in the Sword Alliance, I’ve been accumulating resources, while my combat strength has only elevated to fourth-rank true god-level. After all, my talent and potential are limited. I can’t compare myself with you young ones.”
“I think, to me personally, this great world is vast enough. Of course, I’d love to go to the universe, but I don’t think it’s for me. At the very least, it’s not suitable for me to live in a place that has Lords everywhere like the universe, where just the impact from a battle alone might kill me. Of course, if it’s just a vacation, I’m more than willing to go.”
“Therefore, I’ve decided to stay. I’ll stay in the great world. You can see it as retirement or holding down the fort for you. I’d love to settle down here.”
“Master…” Lin Huang did not expect that that would be Mr. Fu’s decision.
In reality, to him, Mr. Fu was family.
Naturally, he wished to bring him along to the universe.
“With your talent and potential, you can go further than anyone. However, not many have the talent and potential to be with you until the very end. It’s not that I don’t want to go with you guys. It’s just that I’m really tired.”
“You can treat this as your hometown. Just visit whenever you have time. It’s not like we’ll never see each other again.” Mr. Fu insisted on his decision.
Lin Huang stopped advising him after hearing that.
The second who spoke was Chan Dou.
“I’ll stay too.” It was not only Lin Huang; everyone present who knew him was shocked by his decision.
After all, with Chan Dou’s talent and potential, the great world should not be his ideal destination.
“Don’t overthink this. It’s not that I want to stay in the great world forever. I just think I owe Lin Huang and the Sword Alliance too much. I think that I have the obligation to stay to do something for the Sword Alliance.”
“Also, as soon as I’ve succeeded in my unification and am elevated to Lord, I’ll head out into the universe.”
“Then we’ll stay too. We’ll go to the universe together when we’ve cultivated to lord-level,” Yi Zheng and Yi Yeyu stated their opinion immediately as well.
Lin Huang felt melancholic to see his old friends’ attitude on this matter.
In reality, Leng Yuexin, Yi Zheng and the rest had only reunited with him for a short time.
Moreover, although they were not considered powerhouses with their heavenly god-level combat strength, they were considered to be of normal standards.
Lin Huang interrupted things when he saw the half-step lord-level Sword Servants begin to stand up to speak.
“I welcome everyone here who would like to go to the universe with me. I hope that everyone who decides to stay is really willing to stay instead of being forced to stay.”
“There’s an opportunity for half-step Lords to elevate. I’ve found a way to fix your Dao seals to elevate you guys to Lords. This method doesn’t have any side-effects. You’ll be able to elevate to middle-rank, upper-rank and even supreme-rank lord-level like the others later on. Therefore, there’s no need for you to make the decision of staying to retire because of the lack of elevation potential for half-step Lords. However, it’d still depend on your own hard work as to how far you’ll go in the end.”
“No matter what, you have to be willing to stay.”
“I’m staying.” The first person who spoke up was someone who nobody expected to again. It was Sword 2.
Even Lin Huang was stunned momentarily.
“Sword 1 took care of most of the matters in the Sword Alliance before. I hope that I will have his leadership abilities and share a portion of that burden in the future. Also, I’ve figured out that the Swordmaster actually has many helpful people around him. Apart from Sword 1, there are some who have abilities more powerful than mine.”
“I think, as compared to the rest, the Sword Alliance might need me to stay.”
“Of course, I won’t stay forever. When the time is right, I’ll get someone to replace me. I’ll then head out into the universe and be by Lord Swordmaster’s side.”
After Sword 2 spoke, more Sword Servants took the initiative to stay behind.
In the end, there were 154 Sword Servants who chose to stay.
At that point, Lin Huang finally confirmed the list of the people that he would bring along to the universe.
After the meeting ended, the Sword Servants left one after the other. Sword 1, Sword 2, and a bunch of old friends were the only ones left in the meeting room.
“Master, you…” Mr. Fu was the first person that Lin Huang looked at.
“I know what you’re trying to say.” Mr. Fu smiled, feeling grateful. “No matter whether I go to the universe with you or not, we’ll always be family.”
“I really want to stay. I didn’t say that just to save you the trouble. I just thought I’d start the conversation to tell you what I have in mind.”
Lin Huang nodded lightly and said nothing more. He then looked at his old friends like Leng Yuexin, Yi Zheng and the rest.
“Given your current combat strength, it’s actually sufficient to follow me out into the universe. Over there, there won’t actually be lord-level powerhouses everywhere. It’s just an exaggeration. True god-level and heavenly god-level are still the main combat strength levels.”
“We’ve only been to the great world for less than a year. We haven’t become familiar with this place yet, and you’re bringing us to the universe instead. I don’t want to go. I’d like to enjoy the great world for a few more years.” Li Lang was the first to speak.
“Although true god-level and heavenly god-level are the main combat strength levels, we’d definitely slow you down if we go.” Leng Yuexin spoke the truth.
Lin Huang would have liked to say that they would still slow him down even when they had become Lords. However, he only dared to think about those words. It would be terrible for him to say those words out loud and crush their self-esteem.
“We think so too.” Yi Zheng and Yi Yeyu nodded. “Also, the Sword Alliance’s resources are enough given our level of cultivation now. There’s no need for us to head out into the universe. It’s not too late for us to head out when we get to lord-level and run out of resources.”
Lin Huang then looked at Chan Dou.
“Don’t look at me. I hate owing someone a favor. Consider this to be my way of returning the favor by staying this time,” Chan Dou said expressionlessly.
Lin Huang stopped encouraging them seeing that they had made up their minds. He then looked at Sword 2.
“Gather all of the half-step lord-level Sword Servants. Bring them over to the big meeting room on the first floor.”
