Ninety-Nine Becomes a Rare Treasure

Li Lingyue was grateful to only two people in her entire life.

One was you, who changed her destiny.

The other was her master, who had supported her growth, treated her like her own daughter, and was as close to her as a mother: Hua Wuyan.

“If I don’t avenge this, may I cease to be a sovereign!”

In the seventy-seventh year, at ninety-six years old,

the war between the Human Realm and the Dragon-Human Realm entered a brief truce.

A hundred thousand Dragon-Humans had established a stronghold east of Baishi Mountain, holding the line in the middle of the Great Wasteland, preventing the human side from crossing.

To strengthen their defenses, Heavenly Venerable Na, who was originally supposed to guard the breach, was reassigned here.

Heaven Exalt Lin, severely wounded by a Black Wind attack, had no choice but to fight despite his injuries.

With three Heavenly Venerables in formation, plus the Earth Venerables who could temporarily step into the Martial God realm, the Dragon-Humans suffered heavy losses, but the human coalition still could not wipe them out.

The human coalition remained stationed beneath the First Heaven Array on Cangqiong Ridge.

Thus far,

the star domain, after over two years of war, lay in ruins.

After two large-scale battles on the surface, the area east of Baishi Mountain was occupied by the Dragon-Humans, the land between Baishi Mountain and the Eastern Wasteland became a buffer zone, Cangqiong Ridge was the human coalition’s defensive line, and the five regions west of Cangqiong Ridge remained in human hands.

“Lingyue, I plan to sneak into the Dragon-Human stronghold to gather some intelligence,” you said to Li Lingyue, the Great Emperor of the Five Regions, as she came to inspect the military camp. “They’re neither attacking nor retreating—they’re surely plotting something. Dragging this out can only hurt us.”

Upon hearing this, Li Lingyue immediately replied,

“I’m coming with you! These Dragon-Humans forced my master to her death—I must avenge her!”

You comforted Li Lingyue,

“Your top priority right now is to focus on cultivation and become a Martial God as soon as possible.”

“But even if I become a Martial God, counting the Great Demon, Li Wentian, Shen Qi, the Dragon God, and the Phoenix God, we’re still one person short, aren’t we?”

“One short is better than two short… I’ve already had the believers in the Three-Headed Realm switch to worshipping you. Has it been effective?”

“It’s slow. You still need to keep explaining my situation to them. Ideally, you should cultivate the Incense Way to the point of ‘manifesting miracles.’”

Under Li Lingyue’s professional guidance in the Incense Way, your own cultivation in it improved.

You progressed from only hearing the voices of believers to occasionally appearing in their dreams.

In recent days, you had racked your brains to create a seventh Martial God.

The first method:

Sever your bond with the Ten Thousand Soul Banner and let it bond with Shen Qingshan instead.

Although you were unmatched in combat, your fundamental cultivation level was only a Martial King, elevated to a Martial Saint by the power of “Half an Emperor for a Thousand Ages.”

The strongest beings you could convert with the Ten Thousand Soul Banner were at most Martial Kings.

Even in practice, not every Martial King target could be converted—it depended on the strength of their soul.

The Dragon-Human race, in particular, had a high failure rate.

Don’t forget that soul refinement was the Dragon-Humans’ specialty.

A Dragon-Human Martial King’s soul could be considered equivalent to a human Martial Saint’s soul, or even stronger.

So, you had Shen Qingshan use the Ten Thousand Soul Banner—he was a Martial God. You hoped he could use it to convert Qingtai and Canxing, the two Earth Venerables you had imprisoned in the banner.

If you could make these two Earth Venerables work for you, they could forcibly possess Dragon-Human bodies and use the Super Soul Battle Technique to enter the Martial God realm, right?

Unfortunately, the all-capable Shen—Old Ancestor Shen—also failed this time.

“These two Earth Venerables resist fiercely. Even when I channel my full true qi into the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, it can’t overpower their ferocity.”

Inside the banner, Qingtai the Earth Venerable kept cursing,

“Fuck off trying to refine me? You’re still tens of thousands of years too early!”

This method failed.

The second method:

Support those who were half-step Martial Gods.

You brought out the Indestructible Incineration Art and the Star Source from the Shen family.

You also called on all major factions to give up their most precious resources to help those closest to the Martial God realm—like Shangguan Yingtai, Xiao Yunlei, and Dongfang Shuo—break through.

However, breaking through to Martial God was no simple matter.

They were still trying.

Over a year passed, and you noticed the Dragon-Humans were extremely quiet—neither rampaging nor sending spies for intelligence.

They seemed to have settled into their stronghold as if building a home.

You felt you had to figure out what they were doing.

With the Black Wind gone, you could only travel on your own now.

Although Li Lingyue had become a Guardian, the Spirit of the Earth had gone to recuperate, so she couldn’t borrow its power to teleport you across the human realm like Hua Wuyan used to.

“My love, go safely. Don’t worry about the rear,” Li Lingyue said.

You smiled and nodded.

By now, the prodigies of your generation, tempered by the fires of war, had all grown into major figures capable of standing alone, provided they had survived.

People like Wu Yue, Long Yang, and the Second-Generation Ancestor now held pivotal roles in their respective factions.

Above them were old seniors whose lifespans hadn’t yet run out.

In the middle was a generation of heroes who had matured as the pillars of society.

Below them were the new batch of juniors growing rapidly amidst the chaos.

If humanity could survive this tribulation, it would surely usher in a new era—brighter, progressing faster, and more dazzling than ever before.

In the seventy-eighth year, at ninety-seven years old,

you replaced “Chinese-style Succubus” with “Asian Black Magic.”

You replaced “Protagonist Halo” with “Playing Dumb to Catch a Tiger.”

Before investigating what the Dragon-Humans were up to in their stronghold, you made a trip to the Chaotic Crystal Sea.

You wanted to see the breach the Dragon-Humans had crossed through—where it was and what condition it was in.

Why did it seem they could no longer receive supplies from the breach?

With the “Ten Thousand Races’ Essence,” finding the exact location was easy.

Wherever the Dragon-Human aura hovered without dissipating, that’s where Dragon-Humans frequently appeared, likely guards watching the breach.

After flying over the sea for a while, you found the sea region where the breach was located.

“This is it,” you said.

You crouched on a nearby reef, waiting.

The Dragon-Humans weren’t an aquatic race—they would have to come up for air eventually.

Sure enough, by the next day, two dull-witted Dragon-Humans emerged from the sea, flying side by side.

“Whew! Xita! It’s finally our turn to take a breather!”

“The deep sea is no place for people! Come on, let’s go have a smoke!”

Their cultivation levels weren’t high—one at the Third Realm, the other at the Fourth Realm.

They flew to an island reef and pulled out a black disc-shaped object from their storage rings. Lighting it, they began inhaling the smoke, circling around the disc.

“Ahhh—pure bliss!”

You suddenly appeared and chimed in.

"What's that smell? Is it really that good?"

"This is top-tier Demon Dragon incense, a rare ninety-nine percent pure stuff! I... holy shit! Who the hell are you?!"