He quickly changed his thinking and left the Primary Material Plane to visit other planes within this Crystal Wall Universe.
First, he went to the four Elemental Planes and discovered many new things, but he didn’t find the anticipated treasures.
He then visited the Chaos Elemental Plane, but likewise found nothing out of the ordinary.
After that, he went to the place where all the filth of this world converged, a unique hellish plane where Demons and Undead gathered, and still, he found nothing unusual.
Throughout his journey, he encountered quite a few hidden True Gods but discovered no valuable intelligence.
It’s worth mentioning that the actual King of Gods from the Tidal Crystal Barrier System was currently being watched by Luan Wanqing’s True Body and another powerful figure from the opposing Insect Race. Lin Xiao searched the entire Crystal Barrier System and did not encounter this indigenous god king.
Next, he spent nearly half a year exploring the entire Tidal Crystal Barrier System and found nothing abnormal.
This puzzled Lin Xiao greatly, and he couldn’t make sense of it.
With no other option, he had to return and re-consult his father-in-law. As the first among Humans with Great Divine Power, being powerful and well-informed, he might know what was going on.
After winning over a dozen games of chess with his father-in-law, the old man, who had never had such a winning streak, happily pointed out to him, saying,
"It’s simple, you need to achieve Divine Enthronement in that world!"
Lin Xiao suddenly had an epiphany.
After bidding farewell to his father-in-law, he quickly created an Incarnation without a trace of Divine Power and sent it into this world. Under the care of his True Body and the True Gods of the world’s third Expeditionary Army, the Incarnation swiftly grew stronger. Becoming legendary and a Demigod, he estimated that it would take less than thirty years to begin trying to Ignite the Divine Fire.
Unfortunately, time was not on his side. After such an extended period of preparation, the Fifth War Zone and the opposing Insect Race forces decided not to drag on any longer. They had already determined how to contend for the Tidal Crystal Barrier System.
That was for each side to present ten nascent Sons of the God Realm who had achieved Divine Enthronement for less than a hundred years. Under the witness of the Main World civilizations’ wills, they would embark on life-and-death combat.
In the form of one-on-one duels, they would continue to challenge each other until all the contestants from one side were dead.
This mode of combat was extremely brutal because it tested not only individual strength but also the strength of one’s God Realm and Clan. Once defeated, the God Realm would inevitably be stripped and devoured by the opponent, a complete downfall for the Son of the God Realm.
Under the witness of the Civilizations’ Will, even Great Divine Power could not interfere with the battle, and defeat meant certain death.
Inside the conference room, the expressions of the high-ranking Generals were extremely grave. A presentation was playing in front of everyone, showing the profiles of all the young True Gods who qualified from the Fifth War Zone. They needed to select ten young elites who had been enthroned for less than a hundred years to participate in combat.
The outcome of the battle was not only related to the ownership of this Crystal Wall System but was also a matter of life and death for these outstanding military elites, making their decisions all the more cautious.
Zhang Yuanmou, aged 127, Divine Enthronement for 88 years, Medium Divine Power, God Level 10, Main Deity Position—War, core main Clan Silver Lin Dragon Snake Man.
Yu Changdong, aged 141, Divine Enthronement for 92 years, Medium Divine Power, God Level 10, Main Deity Position—Slaughter, core main Clan Blood Moon Werewolf.
Xu Dingshan, aged 138, Divine Enthronement for 86 years, Medium Divine Power, God Level 11, Main Deity Position—Earth, core main Clan Mountain Dwarves.
Wang Yuankui, aged 151, Divine Enthronement for 96 years, Weak...
The profiles in front of them were without exception those who had been enthroned for over eighty years. Aside from the three with Medium Divine Power, the rest were uniformly at God Level 9, and all of their Main Deity Positions were powerful and battle-proficient. Every core main Clan was fierce in battle, often an evolved or mutated version of their strong Clan, much more formidable than their kind.
There were actually quite a few eligible military elites, and three of them stood out as top elites, surpassing their peers. Strictly speaking, Shen Yuexin and Xie Yufei both met the conditions; they had not reached a hundred years since their Divine Enthronement.
```
Lin Xiao had always thought she was an old maid who had reached divinity hundreds of years ago, only to find out after they got together that this was not the case. In fact, she was only a little older than him.
It made sense when he thought about it. As the only legitimate daughter of Xie Tianyan, with a talent that was not inferior, how could she only have that level of strength after several hundred years? When they first met, she only possessed weak divine power.
Although the two of them met the criteria, no one present considered including them.
One was the only legitimate daughter of the top supervisor in their own organization, and the other was the legitimate daughter of the first great divine power, the number one force among humans, with an exceedingly noble status. How could they dare let them venture into danger?
To put it bluntly, they would rather give up this world than risk sending them on such dangerous missions.
While the military had many elites, the expressions of the high-ranking military officers present were far from relaxed, because this time, it was the Fifth War Zone who had forcefully intervened. They were the ones at fault, so they had no choice but to make concessions in deciding the method of contesting for the Tidal Crystal Wall System.
In fact, this method was proposed by the Insect Race. They chose this method after considering several other options.
That is to say, since they were the ones to propose this method, it indicated that the Insect Race was confident they could win.
Therefore, even with three elites of medium divine power, victory was not assured.
To be precise, their chances of winning were not high.
So here was the dilemma they agonized over: failure meant total annihilation. These elites were the cream of the young generation in the War Zone. If they all died, it might be an overstatement to say that it would break the generational continuity, but the handoff would definitely be disjointed, putting them a notch below other forces of the same level.
The conference room was silent for a long time, filled only with the sound of people reviewing documents. No one spoke.
Lin Xiao kept silent as well. After all, he wasn’t leading this operation. He just needed to follow the arrangements.
Perhaps because of the prolonged silence, General Luan Wanqing couldn’t help but tap lightly on the table and say:
"The method of decisive battle has been set; it cannot be changed. We must accept it, or else it’s tantamount to admitting defeat."
His grave gaze swept over everyone at the round table as he spoke with a heavy voice:
"Losing is not to be feared; I’m not afraid of losing face either. But if we show cowardice before the battle, that would be truly disgraceful—so much so that the men of the Third Expeditionary Army may as well never show their faces again."
A hint of embarrassment flashed across the faces of the generals. Bai Huan, the commander of the First Brigade, slapped the table and said loudly:
"Damn it, when have we ever been afraid? We’ve fought the Insect Race before, and that’s all there is to them. Every elite in our Third Army is exceptional. We aren’t afraid of them."
It wasn’t that they lacked confidence; rather, this method of decision was proposed by the Insect Race, and normally, they wouldn’t dare do so without sufficient confidence.
But since General Luan Wanqing had spoken, whether they felt confident or not, they had to go through with it.
Setting aside their previous awkwardness, the generals began discussing who to dispatch, inquiring among themselves about any previously undiscovered yet suitable elite in the military.
At this moment, Bai Huan suddenly turned to Lin Xiao, who had been silent, and asked:
"Lin Xiao, I wonder if you have any suitable candidates in the Huge God Regiment you can recommend."
Lin Xiao laughed and said:
"How long has my Huge God Regiment been established? The older ones are over tens of thousands of years old, the younger ones don’t qualify, and the only three who do qualify are my girlfriends. Do you dare to ask for them?"
Hearing this, Bai Huan immediately waved his hands:
```
```
"Then forget it, I wouldn’t dare to accept it."
Several generals nearby heard and burst into hearty laughter, slightly relaxing the atmosphere.
Just at that moment, Mo Yu, the commanding general of the Fourth Division of the Third Expeditionary Army, regarded Lin Xiao with a strange look, stroked his chin in thought for a long while, then suddenly spoke up:
"If I’m not mistaken, General Lin Xiao, it seems you have achieved godhood less than a century ago, right?"
Everyone was stunned, and Lin Xiao himself was also taken aback before he nodded slightly and said:
"If we’re considering the time of the Main World, it seems to be less than twenty years!"
"Hiss!"
All eyes gleamed with interest.
"You want me to go?"
"Cough, cough!"
New n𝙤vel chapters are published on freeweɓnøvel.com.
Mo Yu gave a light cough, bowed his head in embarrassment, and didn’t dare to speak further.
Although both were division commanders, Lin Xiao headed an Independent Brigade. His status was half a grade lower than that of a corps commander but half a grade higher than a division commander, which put him above Mo Yu. This was akin to a junior offending a senior, a significant taboo.
Despite Lin Xiao having only recently risen to his position, being unaware of this nuance and not minding it personally, rules were rules.
With no one daring to follow up on that remark, the atmosphere became awkward once more.
General Lan Wanqing glared fiercely at his tactless subordinate, stood up, and offered a cupped fist salute to Lin Xiao, saying:
"I apologize, General Lin Xiao, this will not happen."
Lin Xiao also stood up and returned the gesture, saying:
"General Mo Yu has reminded me that indeed, I am included within that hundred-year span."
General Lan Wanqing, slightly embarrassed, said:
"General Lin Xiao, you misunderstand. You will not be included."
"No, General, it is you who have misunderstood,"
Lin Xiao said earnestly:
"Before this, there’s something I ought to tell General, after coming to the Tidal Crystal Barrier System, I discovered a very strong resonance with this crystal wall system. If nothing goes wrong, there could be something in this world that is crucial to me. I had been wondering, if I could take this world from the hands of the Insect Tribe, what I should trade with the Third Corps. Now there seems to be a way."
"I can represent the War Zone in combat. After victory, I need to take away whatever in this world resonates with me."
"If the object of resonance is that ultimate treasure, we can discuss a trade at that time. I wonder if General agrees?"
After hearing everything, Lan Wanqing fell into silence.
After a moment, he looked up and said:
"If General Lin Xiao is willing, how could I disagree? We shall agree on this: If General Lin Xiao goes to battle and wins, you may take away any treasure from this world without any cost, except for that ultimate treasure. If it turns out that the object resonating with you is indeed that ultimate treasure, we may also choose to trade it for something else."
The deal was struck before all the generals, who all felt at ease again, filled with confidence for the upcoming contest.
A mighty deity who had been enthroned for less than a hundred years, and even more so, one descended from ancient gods, certainly had no equal.
Next came the submission of the list of names; then, it would be validated by the wills of both civilizations’ divine realms, ensuring the combatants met the criteria. Under the personal scrutiny of the God Realm’s will, deception was utterly impossible.
In the Void, the human manifestation of Gaia’s Will and the divine realm will of the Insect Tribe descended. Amidst both fleets in the central Void, a massive energy vortex was constructed, with a faintly attractive hollow at its center. This was a fighting space built jointly by the wills of both divine realms, with their simultaneous presence ensuring absolute fairness and no possibility of cheating.
Two small Void Ships from the respective camps flew towards the central vortex. Lin Xiao, sitting in the command hall meditating, led nine elite warriors from his army, positioned behind him on his left and right, all in high spirits and brimming with confidence.
As the Void Ship approached the vortex, it disintegrated, revealing Lin Xiao at the head of the ten human elites, standing opposite ten divine sons of the Insect Tribe’s divine realm, tens of miles away across the Void Vortex.
"Four of medium divine power, one of powerful divine power, no wonder they’re so confident!"
Lin Xiao’s gaze fell on the Insect Tribe’s divine son, who was comparable to powerful divine power, but he didn’t take it to heart.
Although both had been gods for less than a century, from the time of his enthronement to the present, Lin Xiao had less than twenty years of powerful divine power, whereas his opponent had been enthroned for at least seventy or eighty years. This amounted to an extra five or six decades in the Main World, equivalent to tens of thousands of years in a Different Domain, and normally one would be stronger than him.
But strength was never a matter of longevity alone.
The divine offspring of the Insect Race bore a strong resemblance to humans, though they retained some distinct characteristics from their Insect Tribe lineage.
It wasn’t that the higher beings of the Insect Race were human in form by nature; they simply maintained this shape for convenience. Their true forms varied depending on the species and were often large and ferocious insectoid shapes.
Lin Xiao made no attempt to hide his power. The aura of his powerful divine power made the faces of many Insect Tribe leaders lose their joy, replaced by solemnity and a hint of concern.
But it was too late to change the terms of the contest, which both sides had already agreed upon. The conflict had begun, and it was too late to replace anyone. They only hoped that their elite would be capable, for a loss would mean more than just ceding rights to this world—it could signal a generational gap in their power base.
As the appointed time drew near, a screen appeared before Lin Xiao, and a familiar panel that moved him surfaced in front of him.
"Who would have thought that after so long, there would be a chance for a battle in the divine realms!"
He remembered the last divine realm battle was during his freshman year, when he killed a child of the Void Divine Realm, and since then there had been no more engagements between children of divine realms from various civilizations.
He had thought he might not get another chance in his lifetime, but here he was, promoted to powerful divine power, and still he faced an opportunity.
This goes to show that one’s divine realm is of utmost importance at any time, acting as a foundation for divine offspring of any rank. While it’s mostly unused in later stages, when it’s needed, it’s a matter of life and death, not to be taken lightly.
Fortunately, having fused with several ancestors’ remains equivalent to great divine power, his God Domain Strength had already surpassed that of most powerful deities, truly ranking among the veterans.
What was even more pivotal was the extraordinary strength of his God Realm Kin; several kin were indeed legendary, with the two core main satellites being exceptionally formidable.
The method of the contest was a gladiatorial combat where each side would send out one individual at a time, and death was required before the next could enter; in other words, each round was to the death.
The victor could choose to continue or opt to rest.
But stepping aside was only a temporary measure—for the contest was a duel to the death with winner-takes-all rules. A temporary exit merely delayed the inevitable. Once other companions had their turn, or perished, they would have to re-enter the fray until one side was entirely vanquished.
```