After getting over the shock of the pocket dimension, Ace, Linley, and Jordon agreed that as well as splitting the gems equally betweehree forces, Linley’s Baru would be permaly awarded two spaces in the pocket dimension, whilst Jordon’s Rohault Empire would be given three seats.

  It may have seemed unfair, especially as the pocket dimension could quite fortably fit 20 people, but Linley didn’t argue. Ace didn’t have to tell him about the pocket dimensioher did his master have to let him in on the secrets of ‘cepts’.

  Plus, with the brewiionship between Ad Amira, it was only fitting that Ace give what would undoubtedly be his future in-ws more bes.

  As for the other 15 spaces, five were for the Yin-Yang Pavilion. As his alma mater, Ace wouldn’t be Ace if he didn’t save a few spaces for them. Still, he would obviously leave the remaining ten spaces for his own people.

  Unfortunately, Aiden was the only actual expert who couldn’t be from the pocket dimension. As such, as soon as he finished with Ad the others, he immediately left to return to the Pavilion, where he told his wife and the rest of the Pavilion’s higher-ups about the pocket dimension.

  Within a day, Arianna led Cesar and her disciples straight over to Ace’s territory. The only disciple who didn’t arrive was Mathias, who unfortunately drew the short straw and was forced to stay in the Pavilion, along with Julius, to look after the younger disciples of the sect.

  At the same time, word reading like wildfire about the results of the battle betweewo alliances.

  Not only did it serve to elevate the already ridiculously high profiles of the Pavilion’s Acolytes – especially Killian, who was narded as the ti’s most powerful general. – It also highlighted the power of Linley’s Baruch Duchy.

  As it stood, in terms of all the mortal armies on the ti, everyone saw the Baruch Army as the stro. They may not have had the biggest – far from it, in fact – but they did have the best lineup of top-quality generals.

  After all, although not quite as strong as Killian himself, Hogg had also reached the level of a peerless general – a general who could stand on par with the likes of Olivier and Kaymin before they broke through to the saint realm, a general who could fight multiple generals on his own without losing – and they also had five other experts who had reached the level of a general, four of whom were supreme warrior desdants with the st being Zassler, a peak rank nine neancer.

  Still, everyone khat was only temporary. Within the few years, as Ace’s cssmates made a few more breakthroughs, each of them would iably reach the standards of a ‘peerless general’, easily surpassing those supreme warriors.

  But, the true focus of everyone’s discussion was Aiden Rohault. It had to be uood that after the i between the Pavilion and the O’Brien Empire a couple of years ago, the world had e to uand that Haydson – the man formerly regarded as the most powerful saint in the world – was anything but, with the likes of Fain, Desri, and even Byrius, simply too zy to fight over such a meaniitle.

  It was at that point that everyone uood, aside from the monstrous exception that was Arianna Qingya, who was sidered a deity because of her ridiculous power, the most powerful saints were the various prime saints, plus Mathias and his wife – Lauriel Hyde – whom, because of their prehension of the Edict of Destru and Violetfme Warrior Bloodline could easily fight on par with prime saints.

  But now, not only did Aiden kill Byrius with a single and effortless strike, but he also went on to easily suppress O’Brien’s eldest and most powerful disciple – Fain. At that point, everyone uood that despite only being a mortal, the most powerful man uhe deities was, in fact, Aiden Rohault.

  The rest of the world could only sigh in amazement. It was at that point that the standing of the Yin-Yang Pavilion became thhly unshakeable. With two “deities” standing at the helm as well as three “prime saints” – one of whom appeared to be invincible among saints – there was simply nothing the other major forces could do to stop them.

  The only good news was that the Pavilion seemed to hold no ambition with regard to fighting for territory or resources.

  .

  .

  .

  Over the few months, the whole ti seemed oddly peaceful, with none of the major forces making any movements.

  Still, even the ordinairy residents of the ti could feel the tense and fragile current state of affairs, allowing them to uand that this was merely the calm before the iable storm.

  That being said, those in the newly and formally established Gol Duchy, as well as those forces allied with them, seemed to be oblivious.

  Ad the others were training calmly within the pocket dimension, but that peace had to e to an end at some point, and today appeared to be that day.

  “Ace,” Cirulus called out as he hurriedly ehe pocket dimension.

  “Cirulus,” Ace ughed. “I didn’t expect to see you back so soon – you just broke through to the saint realm yesterday. I thought you’d want to rex outside for a little longer before returning.”

  That’s right, with the help of the pocket dimension, Cirulus had finally broken through to bee a saint. That was how he was able to ehe pocket dimension so easily without help from anyone else.

  “I wouldn’t have, if not for the information that just ended up on my p,” Cirulus expined, a surprisingly dignified expression on his face.

  “What is it?” Ace asked.

  “Please say that those bastards have tried encroag on our territain,” Wukong smirked. “This king has long been looking forward to finding a reason to stretch his legs.”

  “It’s not that,” Cirulus shook his head as he expined. “All the major forces have pulled out of the Anarchic region pletely.”

  Hearing that, shock could be seen on the faces of all those present in the pocket dimension, including the ever-calm Arianna.

  “Haha, isn’t that good news,” Faye asked jubintly. “Now we finally expand and turn our Duchy into a Kingdom. So, why aren’t you smiling?”

  “Because, whilst what you said is true, I’m more ed about the reasoning behind their pulling out of the region,” Cirulus sighed.

  “The reason?” Wukong sneered. “Isn’t it because they know they’re too scared of us to stay here and risk being forcefully pushed out?”

  “Not quite,” Cirulus shook his head. “I imagihat this was done in respoo the pressure pced upon them by the Pavilion’s current power and the potential you all have dispyed, but acc to the intelligence report I’ve received, the alliaween the O’Brien Empire, the Yun Empire, the Radiant Church, and the Cult of Darkness, has bee perma – all four forces have merged together uhe banner of the New Yun Empire.”

  “I’m surprised the Radiant and Churd Cult of Darkness were willing to put down their differences and obediently amalgamate,” Osiris sneered.

  “I’m more surprised O’Brien was actually willing to submit to Catherine,” Litered after taking a few seds to get over his surprise.

  After reag his current level, Linley’s viewpoint of the world had ged, as had his views on those so-called supreme experts that had ruled over their tihese st few thousand years.

  He khat all deities were currently strohan him, but aside from a select few, he no longer held the average deity in any regard. In his eyes, it was only a matter of time till he reached their level and eve on to surpass them.

  “Acc to the intelligehere were reports of cataclysmic disturbances in the skies above the O’Brien Empire a few days before this news was released,” Cirulus revealed. “If I had to guess, the higher-ups of the four forces had long since decided to band together; the only thing they couldn’t decide on ould lead – O’Brien or Catherine.

  Those disturbances everyone heard a were likely caused by Catherine and O’Brien fighting for and.”

  “I guess we finally know who’s the stronger of the two,” Alissa nodded.

  “It makes sense,” Arianna uttered lightly. “Unlike O’Brien, Catherine became a deity by herself over a thousand years ago. For her to do so in a pce like the Yun Pne speaks to her talent. After over a thousand years, it would be all but impossible for her strength not to have taken a siep forward.”

  Despite saying that, it was clear by her tranquil expression that Arianna didn’t put either of the two Demi-Gods in her sights.

  “What does that mean for us?” Joel frowned. “Will they use their newly bined force to go to war with us?”

  “Hopefully,” Ace grinned.

  “Hopefully?” Lauriel asked with a raised brow. “You sound a lot more fident than you should, sidering the circumstances.”

  “I’ve reached a bit of a bottleneck with my training,” Ace admitted. “Who knows how long it will take me to break through whilst staying in seclusion like this? Plus, since deities ’t get involved itles between saints and mortals because of Lord Beirut’s rule, we only have to worry about their saints.”

  “You say that as though you’re strong enough to deal with their powerful saints,” Kimika replied.

  “I’m not,” Ace smirked as he g Wukong and Carter. “But I won’t be the one fighting those peak and prime saints.”

  Carter merely snorted before reclosing his eyes and going back to his meditation. As for Wukong, he raised a brow as he responded. “Why does it sound like you intend on using this king?”

  “Why does it sound like you’re ed about seeing some a?” Ace quipped back.

  Like Carter previously, Wukong merely snorted. Still, there was a light of excitement and anticipation flickering in the depths of his eyes.

  “Kong? You pletely prehended your first mystery?” Lauriel and the others asked in disbelief.

  Nothing o be said about Carter. When using his pseudo-Godrealm, his power had long been at the prime saint realm. But Wukong was different. Even though he had started fusing two mysteries, as he was still a mortal, his power could only be relutly sidered to have reached the peak of the saint realm. But for both Ad Wukong to be so fident now, Lauriel could only guess that this fifth brother of hers had finally prehended his first mystery; after all, he had already said he would only break through to the saint realm after doing so.

  At which point, it was very possible for him to fight against a prime saint, despite only being an early saint himself.

  “Not yet,” Wukong shook his head helplessly. “This king’s still half a step from doing so.”

  “Then why are you and Ace so fident?” Lazerim asked curiously.

  “Because the prehension of this king’s fused mystery has deepened,” Wukong revealed with a pride-filled grin. “Still, the brat’s right. If this king is going to make another breakthrough any time soon, this king will need some external pressure.”

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