Chapter 1278: Peace Before the War Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio In the territory of automaton race. “Originally, we planned for the three races to join hands and capture the troop of human universe masters in one swift move. Then we will use them to force the human race to… but now, it seems like with the power of the three races combined, even if eventually we may achieve our goal, we will suffer great losses while trying to achieve what we planned. Seems like we have to depend on those vassal races.” “Humph! Vassal races! Those vassal races will never put their lives on the line if there is nothing for them to gain. It is simply impossible.” “No choice… The vassal races certainly do not match us in strength. By giving them some incentives now, in the future, we will be able to keep them within our realm of control. If the inheritance is further scattered into smaller portions… other groups of powers like the prison clan, the crystal clan, and the space beasts will all surge forward for a part of it. Then our race will not have much to gain.” “Mm.” ****** The prison clan, the automaton race, and the bug clan were all vassal races—just like the humans, who also formed a vassal race. Thus, they established the Hong Alliance! In fact, before the war started, the four pinnacle races did not have any vassal groups. Because when deploying a vassal race to war, the universe masters within the vassal race would be the ones taking the field. And these universe masters were no fools. They would not allow themselves to become ashes and dust willingly. Without anything to gain, there was no way they would pledge themselves to death. The demons and the three races were all convinced that once they got hold of the inheritance, there would be no need to share any of it with the vassal races. Yet this war… The results of this war had instilled fear in them all, which caused them to start trying their best to rope in other groups of powers. “Dream Demon Ancestor, Shock Demon Ancestor. News of the outcome of the war has spread. It is said that the humans were extremely powerful… We universe masters from the vassal races—perhaps only one to two, or two to three of us from each race—regardless of who will face annihilation, it will be a disaster for our race. We have to exercise prudence. Therefore, we have four conditions.” “Speak,” Shock Demon Ancestor said. “One, if we are to go to war with you, you must let us stay and fight together, you cannot split us apart. Two, if any of us are annihilated, the demons must treat the respective race with kindness. No shrinking of territory allowed. The territory of his race must not be compromised, and great beings from external races cannot interfere with the development of our any of our races. Three, after the war, if the demons do manage to gain that inheritance of the pulse of Duan Dong River, we do not ask for much. We only need information on the experiences of great beings on how they cultivated to become universe supreme masters. Four, if the demons were able to create a holy land universe, you must leave 10 percent of the space for us vassal races.” Obviously, the vassal races already had a round of discussions. It was apparent through the conditions they listed that they had conducted thorough discussions and did not dare to ask for too much. Like the experiences within the inheritance, they merely required experiences on how great beings cultivated to become universe supreme masters, because to them, so long as they had a universe supreme master emerging from their very own race, their race would have a true foundation! Shock Demon Ancestor considered for a mere moment and promised right away, “All right! You have my word.” ******* The demons, the bug clan, and the automaton race started a series of discussions with vassal races, using conditions to rope them in. They needed the universe masters of these vassal races to participate and help them pull through this terrifying and impending war! ****** The human territory was a very normal planet, but life on that planet was immeasurably prosperous, and it was the home of hundreds of millions of humans. Technology was very advanced, and skyscrapers were so high they seemed to shoot up into the sky. On the sky deck of one of these skyscrapers… Hua! A blurry figure gradually condensed to take a solid form. There he stood, cloaked in an elegant, long, purple robe, with a head of long, silver hair. His appearance seemed gender-neuter, and his beauty was second to none. He had eyes that sparkled like stars, and every star’s light was like the universe revolving. With a single wave, three figures suddenly appeared behind him: a rock life form that seemed as sturdy as a mountain, an adorable beast with yellow fur, and a being that was glimmered as though glistening water had converged to give form to it. “Island Leader!” these three great beings shouted at the same time. “Choose one spot, then stay there for the time being.” This purple-robed figure looked afar as his gaze penetrated through the atmosphere, through layers of time and space, to rest on an immeasurably vast piece of land suspended amidst the starlit sky: the headquarters of the Virtual Universe. “After seeing the demons’ loss this time around, the demons, the bug clan, and the automaton race will surely put in their utmost effort without daring to slack off… However, deep within their hearts, I’m afraid all those good friends of mine are all unwilling to be kept out of the limelight. I suppose the majority of them have already made their way into the human territory. Huge Axe is dead. Now, the human race’s greatest foundation is—the original universe!” The purple-robed figure laughed lightly and continued, “Getting from the primal universe to the original universe, one must depend on the universe passageway! This universe passageway was built when Teacher Origin was still around. Now that Teacher Origin has been eternally suppressed, no one is able to build another universe passageway, which is why this passageway that connects the primal universe and the original universe is extremely important. If this passageway is destroyed, for the human race to get from the original universe back to the primal universe, they would have to depend on the universe masters as their means of transportation. From what I know, there are two passageways between the original universe and the primal universe. One is within the headquarters of the virtual universe, and the other is in the primal secret region.” “According to the degree of defense,” whispered the purple-robed figure, “the first major war will be in the headquarters of the virtual universe. The second major war—which will be the final war—will be in that primal secret region.” ****** Within the entire primal universe, the combined forces of the nine top powers of the universe were not necessarily much stronger than the group of universe supreme masters who traveled alone. And before the imminent storm, this group of loners certainly had plans of their own. Apparently, the shocking results of the first war the humans fought had prompted them to put more thorough thoughts into their course of actions. ****** Within the primal secret region, in the human territory, Luo Feng, Darkness Master, and Peng Gong Master were enjoying their wine while seated in a circle. “The demons, the bug clan, and the automaton race are not making any moves for now!” Darkness Master suddenly put down his wine glass and said in a low voice, “Previously, when war was just declared, the three races participated. We have gone through a round with the demons… Who would have expected all three races to retreat? Besides, it has been half a month since their retreat, and there is still no movement from anyone.” Peng Gong Master shook his head and laughed. “After the outcome of our first war, the three other clans must have felt the pressure…! Once news of this preparation spreads, all the other races will know. Even if that’s the case, the bug clan, the demon clan, and the automaton race will surely have no need to vie for time.” Luo Feng nodded. “True. Previously, the war was a fast one. The three races wanted to crush us easily, expecting to achieve success in one swift move. Now, they do not dare hold such hopes, so naturally, they will be steadier in their advances. No one is willing to present the chance of winning to the other party.” “That’s right, the other races!” Darkness Master frowned. “But it is not just the other races. There are also those universe supreme masters who traveled alone.” Luo Feng put his wine glass down too. “Teacher Origin told us that, based on what he has observed… within our human race’s territory, there should now be a few universe supreme masters. It is just that they are not making any moves, so he has guessed that these must be universe supreme masters who traveled alone.” “Universe supreme masters who traveled alone!” Peng Gong Master and Darkness Master were both frowning. What terrifying existences! Monitoring the virtual universe and being able to force other races to retreat—only universe supreme masters were capable of these things. Since he was able to monitor certain information so easily in the past, Teacher Origin usually could not be bothered to monitor anything. But at that moment, the situation concerned the fate of his human race. Of course he would be keeping a close watch, just so he could keep abreast of the moves made by various groups and powers in the entire primal universe. “Fortunately, the outcome of the previous war was encouraging for us, turning the tables for the situation of our race,” Luo Feng said softly. “Now that we are in a much better position, we have several other powers wanting to join our force.” “Yes.” Peng Gong Master smiled too. “Misty Peak Alliance and the Thorn Ring Alliance are the two stronger powers. There are a few other groups that are weaker… various scattered races. All of them dared step forward to seek refuge with us; at the very least, these races do have universe masters. Now, the total number of universe masters who have come to join our force has reached 92!” “The situation is looking up for us.” Darkness Master nodded, too. Before the first war, even for the vassal races of the Hong Alliance, those universe masters were extremely sly and would never give up their lives easily for the humans. They were worried that the humans had no power of resistance, and so, even if they were to charge forward with all they had, they would still be sending themselves to their doom! This was why, before the first war, humans did not even consider enlisting the help of the universe masters of the vassal races. But now, the situation was different. The outcome of the first war had set their minds at ease. The vassal races of the Hong Alliance were willing to put in the effort to fight for the humans upon seeing that the humans did wield enough power to put up a fight! In addition to Hong Alliance, there was now a total of 92 universe masters joining the human camp. “Although we are still weak compared to the incoming United Forces, we do still have a shot with the power we have!” Luo Feng said solemnly. “Based on speculations, all five—including the demons, the automaton race, the bug clan, the prison clan, and the crystal clan—will be attacking us. For this current war, the most important task at hand will be to rope in the Northern Territory Alliance, the Ancestral God School, the Space Beast Alliance, and the supreme masters who travel alone. Out of these groups, if we could get any of them to take our side, our chances of victory will increase by leaps and bounds!” “The Northern Territory Alliance Master is a supreme master who travels alone,” said Darkness Master. He thought to himself for a moment. “Without his help, I think the Northern Territory Alliance will probably lack the clout to participate in the war. So the Northern Territory Alliance Master is the key. The Ancestral God School and the Space Beast Alliance… Their attitudes toward the situation are hard to fathom. These two powers are always considered to be more detached.” “Detached? When faced with the temptation of transcending a reincarnation era, how could they remain detached?” Peng Gong Master said with scorn. “The Ancestral God School may seem impressive now because it has the support of the universe origin. But once this reincarnation era comes to an end… all of them must leave the primal universe! By then, without the support of the primal universe, the power of the Ancestral God School will be greatly reduced. Then won’t the group of universe masters of the Ancestral God School and those three ancestral gods be required to consider the matter of transcending reincarnation? As for the Space Beast Alliance, that old beast god is always so vicious! You must be careful and not let your guard down. If there is anyone who is sincerely willing to help us, then there should be some attempt to contact us, but there is nothing at all.” Luo Feng also had to frown. True. By relying on the first battle, they could encourage some of the less powerful groups of powers and some scattered races to take a gamble and side with the human camp. After all, when it came to the true super groups, not one of them was willing to help the humans—not even one universe supreme master was willing to come to the humans’ aid. The humans were still in a grave situation. ****** While Luo Feng, Darkness Master, and Peng Gong Master were in mid-discussion, Luo Feng suddenly flipped his hand, and a transmission token appeared. “Mm?” Darkness Master and Peng Gong Master looked toward Luo Feng. “Ah.” Luo Feng revealed a trace of joy as he lifted his head to look at Darkness Master and Peng Gong Master. “Darkness, Peng Gong, I have something to settle. If this is settled well, it will be of great help in this battle. If there are urgent matters, find me directly through the virtual universe.” “All right, go ahead,” Darkness Master said. “Great help? Hurry up and go!” Peng Gong Master rushed him along. Luo Feng rose to his feet without further ado. His heart was filled with joy. After Huge Axe was annihilated, he had contacted Teacher Sitting Mountain Guest right away. Now, Teacher Sitting Mountain Guest was finally coming to the human territory to meet him.