Alchemy Emperor of the Divine Dao

Lin Xiaoyang shook his head. He was also very confused by this.

Logically speaking, anyone with the slightest bit of sense should know that working together with Hysteria would be making a deal with the devil. The final result would definitely mean tragedy for himself as well because Hysteria's goal was to devour the entire Genesis World and replace it, becoming that supreme existence capable of controlling everything.

But if there had been no one stoking the flames, would things have progressed to this extent?

Even Sixth Tiers like Lin Xiaoyang, Zhou Heng, and Chu Hao could not find this main culprit, so what more could Ling Han do? The Sixth Tier elites that he knew were only limited to Lin Xiaoyang and the others. He could not suspect the three of them, right?

"The outside world is chaotic, so just stay here for the moment," Lin Xiaoyang said.

Ling Han gave it some consideration, and accepted Lin Xiaoyang's kind offer. The word outside was indeed chaotic, and without the appearance of any Heavenly Venerable Seals, there was no need for him to run here and there, so what did it matter where he cultivated?

"Thank you, Senior."

Ling Han moved, and relocated everyone from Ling City to here. He also found some means to inform the Rain Emperor and the others, who were still roaming around on their travels.

When everyone arrived, they built a new city in the vicinity of the Lin Clan. It felt good to benefit from the protection and favor of a more powerful supporter. Though this place was still more than 5,000 km away from Lin Clan, it was completely within the Lin Clan's range of protection, and was even in the central area at that. Hence, who would dare to attack them?

Even if everyone was certain that there was not a single Seventh Tier Heavenly Venerate that could extract himself and return from the Realm Battlefield, as long as a Seventh Tier Heavenly Venerate was still alive, who would dare to touch their place of enlightenment?

After everything was settled, Ling Han began to cultivate in seclusion.

Since he could not obtain more Heavenly Venerable Seals, he could only use a great amount of time to improve the rate of his cultivation.

Time passed very quickly, and soon 100,000,000 years had passed.

For Heavenly Venerates, 100,000,000 years was actually not very long. In fact, this actually could only be considered just a slightly longer period of time even for Celestial Kings.

However, a great many things had happened in these 100,000,000 years.

…A great number of Heavenly Venerates were slaughtered because Heavenly Venerable Seals caused a large-scale hunting down of Heavenly Venerates. To say nothing of Fourth Tiers and Fifth Tiers, even Sixth Tier Heavenly Venerates were in danger.

This was no false alarm. There were at least three Sixth Tier Heavenly Venerates that had been besieged and killed, dying helplessly.

When the news spread out, the whole world was shaken.

What was a Sixth Tier?

Aside from the Seventh Tier, there was no one stronger than them, and now those Seventh Tiers were all fighting against Hysteria in the Realm Battlefield. Under such circumstances, even Sixth Tiers had died, so how could this not be shocking?

No one knew exactly how those three Sixth Tiers had died. Some deduced that they had died because they had been ganged up on by over a dozen other Sixth Tiers, and some guesses were even wilder, saying that there had to have been a Seventh Tier that had secretly taken action, and that was what had led to those three Sixth Tiers not even having the chance to flee.

There had never been any solution to this. Hence, this caused all the great Heavenly Venerates to be even more uneasy, fearing for themselves.

According to incomplete statistics, the number of Heavenly Venerates that had died in the last 100,000,000 years had reached around 20%, which was many more than the wartime casualties at the Realm Battlefield.

Zhou Heng and Chu Hao had also relocated their own clansmen here. The three great Sixth Tier elites were standing guard here together.

At other times, a single Sixth Tier would be enough to suppress the ages, but the present circumstances were different. Even Sixth Tiers would have to gather together to protect one another because other Sixth Tiers had already joined in alliance, and solitary Sixth Tiers would only be eliminated one by one.

In truth, even with the combined forces of three great Sixth Tier Heavenly Venerates, it was not all that safe. In other Heavenly Venerable Tier alliances, the number of Sixth Tier Heavenly Venerates was at least seven or eight and more than a dozen at most.

Hence, Lin Xiaoyang, Chu Hao, and Zhou Heng were still looking for new allies. However, the three of them were apprentice brothers, so they naturally could trust each other completely, but mere trust was a hard barrier to overcome if they wanted to take in a fourth person into their alliance. Moreover, other Sixth Tiers would also find it very hard to trust the three of them. After all, the three of them were a unit, so newcomers would fear that the three of them would turn on and screw them over with their combined efforts.

Precisely because of this, Lin Xiaoyang and the others were still looking for allies after 100,000,000 years had passed.

Ling Han came out of seclusion, and after finding out about the details of the situation, he began another extended period of cultivation in seclusion.

He did not like to live under someone else's protection, and there was only one thing that could ensure being able to have peace and safety in this chaotic world—strength.

At the beginning, Ling Han would come out of seclusion once every 200-300 million years, and then over 1 billion years, to find out what the situation was. However, the feedback he obtained every time was more or less the same—there was another great number of Heavenly Venerates that had been slaughtered. It was as if Heavenly Venerates had become common vegetables that could be reaped at will.

Thankfully, with the combined guard of the three great Sixth Tiers, added with the intimidation of Lin Luo, a Seventh Tier, it was extremely safe here all this while. There had not been one person that attacked them. However, no one knew how much longer this safety and peace could last.

After over 10 billion years, Ling Han finally advanced his cultivation level to the late stage of the First Tier. He firmed his resolve. In his next period of seclusion, he would not come out unless he had attained the Second Tier.

One billion years, five billion years, 10 billion years. Time passed swiftly, and in a flash, more than 20 billion years had already passed.

Ling City had long since developed, and the Rain Emperor, Yi, and the other elites had also returned one after another. Afterwards, even Ji Wuming, Huo Furong, and Shi Chanzi had joined Ling City. After all, they all came from the Celestial Realm, so they naturally would come together in the face of danger.

Ling Han had been in seclusion all this while, which made the Empress and Hu Niu feel very bored, so they, too, began their own seclusion. Hence, after the passing of many generations, the newer generations did not know that there were such people like Ling Han and the Empress at all. They only knew Heavenly Venerates like the Rain Emperor, Yi, Ji Wuming, the large black dog, and the others.

Just at this time, great news spread out. The Rong Clan and Ying Clan would be joining in alliance with the Lin Clan, Zhou Clan, and Chu Clan.

The ancestor of the Rong Clan, Rong Tianyu, and the ancestor of the Ying Clan, Ying Jiuyang, were both Sixth Tier elites. Once they allied together with Lin Xiaoyang and the others, their strength would definitely greatly increase, which would greatly improve their level of security.

***

Rong Yang, a Fourth Tier Heavenly Venerate, the son of Rong Tianyu, had cultivated for seven epochs, advancing from the Celestial King Tier to Heavenly Venerable Tier, and then attaining Fourth Tier. Though he was not as heaven-defying as Lin Youlian and Xin Qihu, he was frighteningly steady, and had similarly shown his astonishing natural talent in cultivation.

And now, Rong Yang was here on behalf of his father, visiting the Lin Clan to discuss the details of their alliance.

Ling City could just barely be considered a part of Lin Clan, so they naturally had heard of this as well.

"It is said that Rong Yang would marry Lin Piaoxue and affirm their alliance through matrimony."

"Hiss, Celestial maiden Piaoxue is going to marry? Heavens, I am about to collapse."

"What are you collapsing for? Even if Lady Lin Piaoxue does not marry Rong Yang, don't tell me that she would marry you instead?"

"F*ck, can't I even think about it?"

This news from afar had already reached Ling City, causing many people to discuss it spiritedly. The addition of a new Sixth Tier Heavenly Venerate as an ally was shocking news.

And amidst these heated discussions, a young man had also arrived at Ling City. His name was Rong Xinkuan.

"I heard that the master of Ling City, Ling Han, has obtained a Heavenly Venerable Seal before?" Rong Xinkuan asked the person beside him.

If Ling Han was present, he would be able to recognize this man immediately.

…Jiuwu Heavenly Venerate!

Jiuwu Heavenly Venerate nodded. "In the Realm Battlefield, Ling Han has indeed obtained a Heavenly Venerable Seal."

When he said these words, a sliver of cruelty flashed in his eyes.