216: Chapter 216 The Unity of the Four Realms, Secrets of the Eastern Realm

The smoke of battle in Jin City had not yet fully dissipated, but the suffocating oppression had already been replaced by a new light.

When Lu Sen and Chen Rou, escorted by the Wasteland Guardian and others, arrived at this scorched earth via the teleportation array, what they saw amidst the devastation was their son's upright figure, standing firm like an anchor in a raging sea.

And beside him was Yu Linglong, weeping uncontrollably like pear blossoms in the rain, yet tightly holding onto Head Pavilion Master Ye Lingxiao's corpse.

There were not many words; everything was understood without being said.

Lu Chen held a funeral for Head Pavilion Master Ye Lingxiao that, while not grand, was sufficiently solemn.

This father, who had endured in silence his entire life and ultimately sacrificed his life for his daughter, was laid to rest in a scenic spot on the outskirts of Jin City.

After the funeral,

Yu Linglong wiped away her tears, a touch of resolve appearing between her originally soft brows.

She found Lu Chen, her voice clear and firm, "Brother Chen, before my father passed away, he handed Jinbao Pavilion over to me. I want to stay in Jin City and rebuild Jinbao Pavilion!"

She paused, her eyes shining as she looked at Lu Chen. "From now on, every single gold coin earned by Jinbao Pavilion will be yours to use as you please, Brother Chen!"

Hearing this, a sharp light flashed in Lu Chen's eyes.

This was indeed the best way to solve his urgent need!

He possessed the [One Gold Mall System], and gold coins were his strongest foundation. Unlocking rule-based items required increasingly astronomical amounts of gold coins.

With Jinbao Pavilion, a global trading guild, backing him, he could save a lot of effort!

"Alright!"

Lu Chen nodded without any pretense. "However, Sister Linglong, your safety is of paramount importance. Rebuilding Jin City also requires strength to deter any petty troublemakers."

The next moment,

Centered around Jin City's central plaza, dense crowds of F-grade beast pets of various shapes and sizes seemed to surge out of the Void Realm, instantly gathering into a boundless beast tide!

The number was a staggering ten million!

These beast pets gathered into an army, and their momentum was enough to strike terror into the heart of anyone with ill intentions.

They were responsible for guarding Jin City and assisting in its reconstruction, and if necessary, they would be the most loyal killing machines.

"With them here, Sister Linglong, you can take charge of Jinbao Pavilion with peace of mind."

Having settled the affairs of the Southern Territory, a cold glint returned to Lu Chen's eyes.

It was time to settle some scores!

Alone, he first headed north, straight to the core of the Northern Territory, the "Summit of the Firmament" built against the mountain with the eagle emblem hanging high—Tianxiao City.

However,

when he stepped into this sacred city of class awakening, he found that although the originally bustling and noisy city was still filled with people coming and going,

the Tianxiao Peak headquarters in the very center of the city, which symbolized the supreme power of the Tianxiao Guild, was already deserted. Only some insignificant outer-circle members and an empty, grand building remained.

Right after, he arrived at Wuyao City in the Western Territory via a teleportation array.

The situation was exactly the same. The five elders of the Five Elders Association, who held absolute power in the Western Territory, along with their core staff, had long since vanished, leaving behind only the massive guild complex to tell of its past glory in the wind.

Lu Chen stood in the sky above Wuyao City, looking down.

"They ran fast."

He understood in his heart.

In the battle of Jin City, he had single-handedly wiped out the experts of Jinbao Pavilion and the three Tier 9 Bone King-class assassins of the Skeleton Shadow. The news could not be suppressed at all.

As long as the higher-ups of the Tianxiao Guild and the Five Elders Association weren't fools, they would know they were absolutely no match for Lu Chen. Staying behind meant certain death. Abandoning the foundation they had built over many years and fleeing overseas was their only choice.

"Since the people have fled, there's no need to keep this nest either."

Without hesitation, Lu Chen directly manifested his Incarnation as a thousand-meter-long fire Dragon, his prairie-fire Dragon flames sweeping across the sky!

"Roar!"

Accompanied by an earth-shattering rumble, the Tianxiao Guild's headquarters at Tianxiao Peak was shattered in half by a Dragon claw, and the iconic pentagram hall complex of the Five Elders Association was also reduced to scorched ruins under the violent thunder of [Thunder Punishment World Destroyer]!

In a single day, the headquarters of the two Nine-Star Guilds were wiped off the map by Lu Chen with absolute power!

After destroying the two guild headquarters, Lu Chen did not linger.

He sent word to his family and began to take control of Great Xia.

His mother, Chen Rou, chose to stay in the familiar Western Territory to oversee Wuyao City, the former seat of the Five Elders Association, with Bai Hui and Zhong Manman coming to assist her.

His father, Lu Sen, headed north to take over Tianxiao City in the Northern Territory, which had become a land without a master.

As for the Central Territory, Lu Chen personally paid a visit and handed the token symbolizing power to Lu Tie—the Lao Tie who had followed him from the very beginning—allowing him to officially and fully take over the Central Territory.

To ensure his parents and Lu Tie could quickly stabilize the situation, Lu Chen once again displayed his beast tide foundation, which could be called a "humanoid natural disaster," leaving behind an army of ten million of various types of beast pets for each of them to guard!

Such a massive force stationed there was enough to crush any defiance.

Thus, of the five territories of Great Xia, except for the Eastern Territory which had remained completely quiet, the Southern, Western, Northern, and Central Territories had all fallen under Lu Chen's control!

After taking control of the four territories,

Lu Chen gathered his parents, Lu Tie, Yu Linglong, and others, and issued a series of earth-shattering new decrees:

All secret realm resources would be made public to the entire populace and distributed based on need!

All advancement Divine Stones in every city would be opened up for free!

All schools would set up trial secret realms, and class awakening universities would be established to ensure that newcomers could have four years of systematic, stable growth and leveling up after awakening their classes!

The guild-governing System would be abolished, restoring the national regional administration System from a century ago, and all national policies would be formulated with the core goal of protecting and developing the people's livelihood!

The announcement of these decrees was like pouring cold water into a boiling pan of oil, causing an instant uproar!

The most overjoyed were the vast majority of ordinary citizens and low-level class awakeners. They saw fairness, they saw hope, and they saw the dawn of a new era!

Meanwhile, the guild elites who used to ride roughshod over others all had pale faces and exited the stage in dejection.

Since even the three major Nine-Star Guilds had been either destroyed or driven out by Lu Chen, what kind of waves could these small fry make?

They had no choice but to go with the flow and join the new order.

The citizens of the four territories called this day the "Beginning of the New Era"!

On this day, Lu Chen convened Great Xia's first national congress at the reorganized Jinbao Pavilion headquarters. High-ranking members of the Hunter Headquarters, including the Wasteland Guardian, Dong Tian, and Yuan Feng, were all present.

That the four territories could stabilize so quickly and implement the new policies was inseparable from the full support of the Hunter Organization behind the scenes. For this reason, Lu Chen specially granted them the right to participate in Great Xia's highest national policy deliberations.

The atmosphere of the meeting was harmonious.

However, Dong Tian had a look of worry on his face. He looked at Lu Chen in the main seat and said slowly, "Little Friend Lu, of the five territories of Great Xia, four have now been settled. Only the Eastern Territory... is still not under our control. And the Eastern Territory... is a special case. It won't be easy to handle!"

"Elder Dong, what are you saying!"

Lu Tie's voice was like a booming bell, his face full of dismissal. "With my Big Brother's current heaven-defying abilities, no matter how special that Dragon Radiance Guild is, can they really withstand my Big Brother's army of beast pets? We can conquer them in minutes!"

Yuan Feng shook his head, a look of reminiscence appearing on his face. "Kid Tie, this isn't a matter of strength. The Dragon Radiance Guild... they are actually Great Xia's final trump card, the spark left behind by the country's high-level leadership a century ago."

His words pulled everyone's thoughts back to the era when the disaster first began.

"At the beginning of the large-scale invasion of Invading Monsters, the national leadership had already foreseen some of the future changes. Thus, the highest authorities at the time made a top-secret decision—the Spark Project."

Yuan Feng's voice was low as he unveiled the long-buried secrets.

"They transferred the vast majority of the class awakening elites, top-tier resources, as well as complete scientific, technological, and cultural Legacies of that time to the Eastern Territory. They founded the Dragon Radiance Guild and adopted the most thorough isolationist policy, avoiding any unnecessary contact with the outside world, dedicating themselves entirely to gathering strength."

"Their ultimate goal was to wait until they were strong enough to sweep away all Invading Monsters and reclaim the land before lifting the blockade, leaving their isolation to rebuild the country and restore the complete sovereignty of Great Xia."

"This secret was only told to us by Senior Wang Rui through a stroke of Opportunity and coincidence back then. Therefore, no matter how turbulent the outside world is, those inside the Eastern Territory probably... know very little about everything that has happened in recent years."

As he spoke, Yuan Feng took out a simple bronze token. On the token was carved a lifelike five-clawed golden Dragon, and on the back was a vigorously written character, "Rui".

He handed the token to Lu Chen. "Little Friend Lu, this is Senior Wang Rui's identity token, and also the only token of passage to enter the Eastern Territory's barrier. Of course, with your current strength, forcing your way in wouldn't be difficult, but this old man still hopes you can use a relatively peaceful method to bring the Eastern Territory, this final spark, back into the Great Xia family."

Lu Chen took the token item; it felt warm to the touch.

He stroked the token, his gaze deep.

He had not expected that such a tragic and grand plan was hidden behind the Eastern Territory. No wonder the Eastern Territory had made no move despite so many major events happening before.

At this moment, the Wasteland Guardian spoke up, "Kid Lu, I've been to the Eastern Territory once before, so I'm somewhat familiar with it. How about I accompany you on this trip?"

Lu Chen looked at the Wasteland Guardian and nodded. "Thank you, Senior. However, before setting off, I still need to make some preparations."

Now that Yu Linglong had fully taken over Jinbao Pavilion, the massive treasury accumulated by Jinbao Pavilion over countless years was completely opened to her.

Without the slightest hesitation, Yu Linglong traded all the massive amount of gold coins stored in the treasury to Lu Chen.

Lu Sen and Chen Rou also gave the gold coins collected from the Western and Northern Territories to Lu Chen!

Lu Chen's eyes shone brightly.

Once his cumulative spending reached 1 billion gold coins, he would be able to unlock the sixth rule-based item!

Lu Chen began a secluded meditation to wholeheartedly contract beast pets.

Before long,

the number of Explosive Stealth Spiders reached 20 million,

and the numbers of his other beast pets each reached 10 million.

With this,

Lu Chen's beast pets reached a staggering 220 million, and this was not even counting the tens of millions of beast pets guarding the four territories.

Aside from Great Green and the other five main beast pets, there were also the newly promoted seventh, the S-grade Soul-Devouring Abyss Rat; the eighth, the A-grade Void Worm; and the ninth, the SS-grade Six-Tailed Illusion Fox.

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for reaching a cumulative spending of 1 billion gold coins. You have successfully and randomly unlocked a new rule-based item—heaven-stealing time bead, price: 1 Gold!]

When he saw the effects of the heaven-stealing time bead,

even though Lu Chen had seen countless wonders, his breathing still quickened, and he was shocked for a long time!

"To think such a Heaven-Defying item actually exists?"