‘The Marquis of Despair…’

　　Through his conversation with Xia Zehua, Lin Fan had already garnered that this was one of the districts helmed by one of the eight utmost beings of the ancient race.

　　This was the district that was once helmed by the Ancient One.

　　10,000 years ago, the Ancient One had fallen. With that, there was a missing piece amidst the eight utmost beings of the ancient race. But of course, the ancient race was never lacking in terms of powerful beings. It wasn’t too long afterward that a new being of the ancient race took over that position.

　　And of course, Lin Fan did not have to imagine to understand how strong these eight utmost beings of the ancient race must be.

　　Even though the Ancient One was taken down by the Supreme Being and the others, that was only because they had lured him down to the Xuanhuang World. Utilizing the power of the Heaven and Earth, they suppressed his powers to around 1% of his original strength.

　　But even then, that weakened Ancient One had managed to take down the Supreme Being and the others as well.

　　Seemed like this was a really rough path to walk on if one really wanted to conquer over the entire Ancient Saint World.

　　The eight gigantic districts were boundless realms of their own. Most common folks wouldn’t even be able to get out of a single district in their entire lifetime.

　　Those people who ascended into the Ancient Saint World would spawn at a designated spot.

　　As for the place where Lin Fan had spawned, it was determined by the Marquis of Despair.

　　If not for the fact that those people from the other races had rescued them from the ancient race, anyone who ascended into this place would only have death awaiting them.

　　Lin Fan had his own ideas about this as well. He too wanted to free this district. That was especially the case for the ascension point. If that point was always watched over by the ancient race, there was no way anyone could revolt against this tyranny.

　　But Lin Fan understood that he was definitely no match for the Marquis of Despair with his current strength. The only way forward was to continue getting stronger.

　　Lin Fan had wanted to barge through everything solo and have an easy life that way. But by the looks of things now, it did seem like certain things were better off with a party.

　　Now that he had just entered the Ancient Saint World, he was really unfamiliar with many things. Therefore, he had to tread forth with ease and caution. Since Xia Zehua and the others had ascended here for quite a period of time now, they were really familiar with the surroundings. If he wanted to level up, he might truly have to depend on their help for now.

　　“Brother Lin, what do you propose we should do next?” Xia Zehua asked.

　　“In my opinion, I think we should strengthen the party and increase its strength. Based on our current number of members, it will not do.” Lin Fan replied.

　　“Hmm, that makes sense. But how should we strengthen our party? There are not many other races who have members lying around all by themselves. And, there are many other parties like us all around the place as well. In fact, some of them are way stronger than us. Those guys may not decide to join us.” Xia Zehua commented.

　　Lin Fan rubbed his chin and started moving his brains. Suddenly, a spark flashed through his mind as he grinned, “We could head over to the ascension point and rescue those who have just ascended. We’ll have them join our party and raise their fighting strength. After that, we’ll look for other parties to combine together with for a joint attack on the Marquis of Despair. That should increase our chances of winning!”

　　“Oh! That’s right! Why hadn’t I thought of that?” Xia Zehua slapped his thighs excitedly.

　　“The ascension happens once per month! If we head over there to rescue those people who have just ascended and recruit them into our party, we can slowly raise their fighting strength!” The more Xia Zehua thought about this, the more plausible this idea seemed.

　　But alas, there was something Lin Fan did not tell them.

　　The thing was, what use were all these people who had just ascended? Their power levels were greater celestial full cultivation at best. In fact, they couldn’t even fight a single ancient race soldier.

　　As for grooming them and raising their strength level, that wasn’t something that could work either. That would waste too much time.

　　Based on Lin Fan’s personal thoughts, he wanted to raise his own power level in the shortest period of time. With his own absolute power, he would then ram his way through everything in his path.

　　Using brute force to take down anything in his way was something that Lin Fan was best at.

　　PSHEW! PSHEW!

　　Suddenly, the leaves ruffled.

　　Lin Fan, who had wanted to say something, suddenly frowned, “We’ve got company…”

　　“Okay…” Xia Zehua was stunned for a moment. He did not doubt Lin Fan’s words in the least bit as he looked around cautiously.

　　“Righteous party…We’ve been waiting a long time for you guys.” Just then, a voice rang out from the woods. This voice had a chilling touch to it, as though it was really sinister.

　　“Who’s there?” Xia Zehua hollered. He was long used to attacks as such. But seeing someone like this who could hide and yet remain undetected, he was exceptionally wary of this situation.

　　The crowd gathered together and surveyed their surroundings warily as well.

　　“You puny little young one! Show yourself! Mu Liang will show you who’s stronger!” Mu Liang gulped down his saliva. The lone horn on his head shone brightly as ripples emanated from it. It was as though he was trying to sense the presence of the other party.

　　But to Mu Liang’s shock, no matter how hard he tried, he could not tell the location of the other party!

　　Evidently, a powerful being had arrived.

　　“Hehe…!” Suddenly, a figure emerged from the void with a creepy laughter. This figure was draped in long robes, as his blue colored long hair swayed in the wind.

　　Features wise, there was no difference from the human race. However, there was an unspeakable aura about him.

　　“Xu Wuxin from the Void World?” Looking at the figure that had emerged, Xia Zehua’s face changed.

　　“Seems like you know about me.” Xu Wuxin looked at the righteous party with a casual face, as though he did not take them into account at all.

　　“Hmph, you degenerate of the Void World! To think that you’ve killed your own father just to please the ancient race! How dare you sell out your own race? A scum like you, everyone knows of your infamy!” Xia Zehua hollered without holding back.

　　This was a big event that had just happened recently. How could anyone not know about it?

　　Xu Wuxin from the Void World had sold out his own comrades, leading to the capture of many people from the Void World by the ancient race. He himself was then promoted to a centurion of the ancient race.

　　“HAHA…!” Upon hearing these words, Xu Wuxin burst out into laughter. That laughter was extremely chilling.

　　“It’s survival of the fittest, where only those who adapt shall live. And all of you are really foolish to the point of stupidity…To think that you guys could be lured out with just a rumor that’s almost laughable to even imagine. Only an idiot party like you guys could believe in it…HAHAHA!” Xu Wuxin was still roaring with laughter.

　　“Huh…?” Xia Zehua and the entire party was stumped.

　　“Lord Marquis of Despair is so strong! How could he be injured! HAHAHAHA…!” Xu Wuxin looked at these guys from the righteous party with pitiful eyes. These guys were simply way too stupid!

　　Lin Fan sighed helplessly. He had not expected karma to act so quickly. If he had not bumped into this righteous party, these guys might already be cannon fodder right now.

　　But with him around, that was another story.

　　“Lord Xu! You’re strong indeed! To think that you could lure out these ant-like creatures with just a single lie!”

　　“Kill them all! We’ll obtain the blessings of the Heaven’s Will!”

　　…

　　Just then, soldiers appeared one by one out from the darkness.

　　In fact, one of them was a decanus.

　　Xia Zehua looked at these ancient race soldiers. His expression could no longer remain calm. If it were just a single Xu Wuxin, he would still have the confidence that he could get his entire party out safely.

　　But now that there were so many soldiers, this was really difficult to say.

　　But for Lin Fan, life definitely presented him with lemons on a consistent basis.

　　The time duration remaining for his BUFF was almost up.

　　He was still secretly lamenting in his heart that he had not cherished this BUFF properly, and had lost this glorious moment of his life.

　　But to think that these guys would present themselves on a platter!

　　‘No one here shall steal any kills from Yours Truly!’

　　Just then, Lin Fan stood forth and patted Xia Zehua’s shoulders.

　　“Brother Xia, don’t worry. Just stand back and watch.” Lin Fan replied calmly.

　　“Brother Lin…!” Xia Zehua replied with worry.

　　Lin Fan turned around and looked at everyone from the righteous party. “All of you listen up! No one is to snatch any one of them from me! All of them are mine!”

　　Xia Zehua, ‘…’

　　Mu Liang, ‘…’

　　…

　　‘Azure celestial lower level… Looks strong… But looks can be deceiving…’