Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Upon Lin Huang’s order, in less than three minutes, more than 360 Sword Servants were all present and lined up in the square in front of the Great Heaven Palace.
The ten bodyguards, Sword1 to Sword10, stood in the first row while the remaining Sword Servants were arranged in the order of their serial number.
Lin Huang noticed that Sword11’s position behind Sword1 was vacant. Sword1 obviously also noticed it and his expression was rather sour.
Fortunately, except for the position of Sword11, there were no empty spaces for the other positions.
After everyone had arrived, the Sword Servants silently waited for the arrival of the new swordmaster. Except for a few who were distracted by Sword11’s empty position, most of them turned their attention to the doors of the Great Heaven Palace. After all, as far as they were concerned, these doors had not been opened for more than 300,000 years.
Everyone originally thought that the new swordmaster would have had to take some time to dress up, so they would have to wait.
However, after the arrival of the last Sword Servant, in less than ten seconds, the doors of the Great Heaven Palace opened on their own.
When the Sword Servants heard the sound of the Palace doors opening, all eyes were drawn to that direction and they stared intently at the great doors.
Lin Huang had not even changed his clothes. He wore his original black robe and slowly walked out of the Palace.
After he came to a halt, he glanced around the assembly. Only then did he uncover his hood, take off his mask, and reveal his true face.
With a faint smile on his face, Lin Huang introduced himself calmly to the group of Sword Servants, “Hello everyone, my name is Lin Huang.”
In reality, before he came out of the Great Heaven Palace, Lin Huang was a little nervous. After all, the three hundred over Sword Servants in front of him were all high-level heavenly gods and there were even quite a few who were peak ninth-rank heavenly god powerhouses. After he found a place to stand, however, he saw a lot of familiar faces and the feeling of nervousness left him. He had fought against the vast majority of Sword Servants in the crowd; they were no strangers to him.
“Hail Lord Swordmaster!”
All of the Sword Servants shouted in unison.
Many Sword Servants in the formation had battled Lin Huang. At that time their feelings were very complicated.
Most of them had doubts about Lin Huang during the Competitive Trial and felt that his chances of successfully passing the final assessments were slim. Lin Huang’s abilities at the time were indeed far from sufficient to obtain the Great Heaven inheritance; at best he was equivalent to a weaker version of Sword10.
However, at this present moment, the numerous Sword Servants who no longer had any restrictions on their combat strength could clearly sense that Lin Huang had mastered a variety of Rule Bending Powers and his Sword Dao had been elevated to the second level of Sword Dao true meaning—True Meaning Level! His ability now could not be compared to his ability then. It was no surprise that he had been able to pass Sword1’s level.
Just as Lin Huang smiled, not knowing what to say, Sword1 spoke.
“Lord Swordmaster, except for Sword11, all the Sword Servants are present!
“Sword11 violated swordmaster Great Heaven’s prohibition and defected without permission out of the Great Heaven Palace’s Trial space. As your subordinate, I will capture him personally and punish him according to the regulations!”
“I know about Sword11, I don’t consider him a defector.” Lin Huang looked at Sword1, and his words surprised most of the people that were present.
Because Sword11 had not been in the Trial space, Lin Huang, as a participant, could not have possibly seen him there.
“I met Sword11 in the Great Heaven Territory. For many years, he has been in the Great Heaven Territory gathering information about various sword cultivators. He chose Sword Dao cultivators whom he thought were able to stand a chance in obtaining the Great Heaven inheritance and allowed them to participate in the Great Heaven Trial.
“The information that I got from him allowed me to enter the Swordfiend Abyss. To a certain extent, my current position as the swordmaster owes a great deal to him.”
Sword1 was silent for a moment, then spoke to Lin Huang again.
“According to what my Lord has said, Sword11 cannot be considered a defector; he can only be regarded as fleeing. But even if he did flee, it still violated the prohibition issued by swordmaster Great Heaven and he should still be punished!
“I’ll catch him alive and let my Lord Swordmaster deal with him personally!”
Lin Huang pondered this for a long while and considered his words carefully before he spoke again.
“I will deal with Sword11 personally.
“By the way, because my combat strength is too low, Teacher Great Heaven has limited my authority. At present, I can only take Sword Servants with numbers higher than Sword300 out of the Great Heaven Palace’s associated space.”
Here, Lin Huang told a small lie and changed the original “Great Heaven Territory” to “Great Heaven Palace”. It was mentioned in the rules that once the Sword Servants whom he had yet to have control over entered the Great Heaven Territory, they could break away from his absolute dominance.
Therefore, after careful consideration, Lin Huang had decided not to allow this group of Sword Servants into the Great Heaven Territory for the time being to avoid unnecessary problems.
After all, this group of people had waited for more than 300,000 years—they could wait for another several dozen or hundred years more. It would not too late to let them out when he elevated to heavenly god-level. By then, even if he let them out to the great world, they would not cause any trouble, much less in the Great Heaven Territory.
“Only those with numbers higher than Sword300?” Sword8 was a little unhappy.
“At present, it can only be those with numbers higher than Sword300, but this authority will increase as my combat strength increases,” Lin Huang nodded and explained, “When I elevate to virtual god-level, the authorization to take numbers Sword100 and higher will be unlocked. After elevation to true god-level, the authorization for numbers Sword10 and higher will be unlocked. However, the authorization for the few bodyguards may have to wait a little longer; I won’t be able to unlock that until I reach heavenly god-level.”
Sword8 suddenly had a very sour expression on her face.
Someone from the back could not help asking, “Lord Swordmaster, did you just mention elevation to virtual god-level? Your current combat strength is not at Virtual God rank-9?”
“No, my cultivation method is not quite the same as ordinary people. At present, internally I do not yet have a consolidated Godhead; it’s just that the intensity of my aura is similar to that of a Virtual God rank-9,” Lin Huang nodded and explained, “However, elevating to virtual god-level should be fairly quick.”
His words stunned a great many people present. Many of them had thought that Lin Huang’s combat strength was at Virtual God rank-9. They had not expected that he had not even elevated to virtual god-level.
As for a few people such as Sword1, they had long since noticed the abnormality of Lin Huang’s combat strength and also guessed at this in advance, so they were not surprised.
However, Lin Huang’s low combat strength did not cause dissatisfaction among the Sword Servants; instead, it caused many of their eyes to shine. They began to look forward to the changes that Lin Huang would make after he came to power.
After some exchanges, Lin Huang divulged his follow-up plans to the assembly.
“After today’s meeting, I will take Swords 301 to 368 and leave the Inheritance Dimension for the Great Heaven Territory. After dealing with Sword11, I will bring them back to the great world.
“Because I have insufficient authorization, I can’t leave with the Great Heaven Palace for a while yet. After I leave, the Inheritance Dimension of the Great Heaven Palace will be closed to the outside world. Things here will be managed by the ten bodyguards together. In the coming year or two, I still have one personal matter that I have to deal with and I might not be able to return to the Great Heaven Palace for the time being. To avoid a long waiting period for everyone, I will adjust the speed of time of the Trial space back to 1:1 with the great world.
“After I have finished dealing with my personal affairs, I will formally establish a brand-new organization in the great world with everyone!”
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