Chapter 356 - Jing Jing’s Loyalty
As the daughter of the God King of Light, Elina had inherited his talent and commanded vast resources. She had also recently ascended into a God.
“You lowly undead! How dare you strut through the streets of the Divine Civilization and sully my faction? I will purify you,” she shouted at Jing Jing.
Her Divine Authority flared with blinding sacred light. Pure Light Energy coalesced in her hands as she prepared to end Jing Jing permanently.
Jing Jing showed no fear in the face of the lethal attack. “Hmph. We skeletons do not fear death, much less mere light.”
She invoked her Divine Authority. Bones sprouted from her back, fusing into thirteen razor-sharp spikes that hovered menacingly behind her. Each spike held enough power to kill a God.
“You are merely an undead, and yet you dare insult Princess Elina? Do you truly believe the Light faction is weak?” one of Elina’s followers barked.
Her followers unleashed their Divine Authorities and Divine Aspects to support her. Most were Demigods; only two were Gods. Still, their numbers were overwhelming.
Elina’s Divine Authority pressed Jing Jing back and cracked the bone spikes she had summoned. Jing Jing’s Divine Authority teetered on the brink of shattering.
Jing Jing was still Han Wu’s unit, so Qin Shuang had to protect her at all costs. She had already contacted Han Wu at the first sign of danger before unleashing her own power to help Jing Jing withstand Elina’s assault.
Elina’s frustration with Qin Shuang deepened. She believed that Han Wu’s refusal to join the Light faction was the result of Qin Shuang’s seduction and assumed that once Qin Shuang was out of the way, Han Wu would embrace the Light faction.
Determined, Elina intensified her Divine Authority and targeted Qin Shuang as well. She absorbed the power of her followers to amplify her strength.
Jing Jing and Qin Shuang were moments away from being smitten when Han Wu arrived. Seeing them in immediate danger, he became furious. He would allow no one to harm those close to him.
Without hesitation, he shot forward and unleashed his Divine Authority. The power of Death, Darkness, Destruction, and War erupted with unrelenting force. Its invisible, boundless energy severed Elina’s Divine Authority from suppressing Jing Jing and Qin Shuang. Han Wu alone pushed back the overwhelming power fueled by three Gods and several Demigods.
Shock rippled through the onlookers as well. Han Wu was still so young, yet his strength already surpassed that of his peers.
Elina kept her Divine Authority active, snarling, “Han Wu, how could you pity that bitch and that undead?”
Han Wu frowned. He could not understand her logic. Why should he abandon his own unit and friends? Was he expected to betray them for strangers? The idea was absurd.
He resolved to end it with True Demon King Transformation. His form towered above them, and his Divine Authority grew stronger until it obliterated Elina’s. The backlash injured her and her followers. Many staggered, dizzy, while some fainted instantly, blood trickling from their mouths.
Elina bore the brunt of the attack, but as the God King of Light’s daughter, she possessed Sacred Objects that softened the impact. Ignoring her fallen comrades, she pressed, “Are you really going to make the entire Light faction your enemy for an undead and the daughter of a minor family?”
Han Wu scoffed. “I am the Holy Son of Death. I am meant to be your enemy. Cross them again, and I will make you pay.”
Grasping both Qin Shuang’s and Jing Jing’s hands, he teleported back to his divine realm.
Elina watched Han Wu leave, her dissatisfaction simmering. Why did a man as extraordinary as him always treat her so coldly? Her beauty and talent far surpassed Qin Shuang’s, yet she could not capture Han Wu’s heart. She refused to acknowledge her own flaws, too proud and stubborn to reflect. In the end, she departed with her followers in defeat.
Han Wu returned to his divine realm with Jing Jing and Qin Shuang in tow. Qin Shuang basked in the familiar aura of his domain, but Jing Jing sensed something had changed. Though she had not officially returned as Han Wu’s unit, she detected the faint presence of a Will within his divine realm. It was so weak and delicate that it could not even suppress her own power.
“God, is this your Will?” she asked.
Han Wu was surprised at how easily she had perceived it. He recalled that Jing Jing had waged long campaigns in another civilization, establishing a foothold there, so sensing a fragment of his Will was hardly a challenge for her.
“Yes, that’s my Will. I obtained two tiny slivers from another civilization and have been using them for practice,” he explained.
Jing Jing’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “God, may I summon my companions into your divine realm to benefit from your Will?”
Han Wu frowned. His divine realm already held a vast number of skeletons, yet Jing Jing’s army was undoubtedly several times larger. As the God of Skeletons, she naturally commanded a massive force.
Another concern weighed on him. An overabundance of undead could destabilize a divine realm—the lifespans of other races might shrink dramatically, or the realm itself could regress under the undead aura’s corruption. If possible, he preferred not to allow her skeletons inside.
He changed the subject. “Jing Jing, let’s set that aside for now. There’s something more urgent you must handle first.”
After today’s events, Han Wu realized the streets of the Divine Civilization were perilous for a foreign God. To the native population, foreign Gods existed only to remain in their divine realms, exploited like labor slaves to fight for other civilizations. They believed foreign Gods should not enjoy the privileges granted to those born within the Divine Civilization.
“God, what do you intend to do about this?” she asked.
Han Wu scratched his head. He was a God, yet still only a first-year student. He was uncertain of what he could do.
Qin Shuang stepped in. “Han Wu, I think I might have a solution. I wonder if it could help.”
“Speak,” he said, swiftly and deliberately caressing Qin Shuang’s hands.
Though it appeared flirtatious, he was actually using Replicate to copy Qin Shuang’s Nine Martial Castes. With her power integrated, his own transformed into the Twenty-Seven Martial Castes, granting him nine additional forms.