Chapter 76: Staggering Progress So Far
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"Behave, Li Chen. That is all."
Cardinal Ming was a man of little words. But with his dazzling armor and the tendrils of light energy emanating off of it, there were very few who could match up to his grandiosity.
At least, that would be the case if not for the presence of the other nine Cardinals, all of whom wore similarly ostentatious attire.
With their long golden hair and whitish gold armor, the ten of them looked like nothing less than the ArchAngels of the High Heavens!
Nevertheless, now was not the time to marvel at the Ten Golden Cardinals. Instead, it was time to discuss the topic that everyone convened here for.
A Cardinal second to last on the left side stepped forth from his spot. Then, with a clear and concise tone, he interrupted the silence, saying:
"As most of you are aware of already, the Lightning Lunatic has died in his assignment. Furthermore, the entirety of Riversea City's population vanished overnight. They are presumably dead, and the Lightning Lunatic is confirmed dead."
"!!!" "!!!" "!!!"
Everyone here already heard of the rumors, but it was still a different kind of feeling to hear them come directly from the mouth of a Golden Cardinal.
Confirming their wildest speculations, they waited with baited breath, hoping that the Cardinal could elaborate on this mind-blowing revelation.
Luckily, they didn't have to wait long.
"The citizens of Riversea City, the people of the City Lord's Manor, even the members of the Devilduke Family and Water Nation—all have vanished without a trace.
If not for the fact that we saw the Lightning Lunatic's Life Crystal slowly shatter instead of instantly doing so, we would've assumed that everyone died due to some mysterious phenomenon.
However, with this not being the case, we can assume that the Lightning Lunatic did not get caught up in some Astral Fluctuation or Space Disturbance. Instead, it is almost 100% certain that he fell to the blade of an unknown expert.
As for the rest of Riversea City, well, it is speculated that their citizens died at the hands of this same expert.
But what we don't know is how an entire city, the Devildukes, and the Water Nation's Sixth Royal Battalion vanished without a trace. How they did so completely unnoticed by all surrounding areas is also an unexplainable mystery.
That is where you all come in…"
Cardinal Mao stretched out his finger and pointed at everybody in the room. Then, with an inexplicable voice, he said, "You all will drop everything you're doing and journey to the Fire Nation under the guise of foreign merchants. During this 'business trip', you will find out who or what caused the deaths of everyone involved in the 'Riversea Incident'.
After which, you will either kill or bring back the culprit. Now, we are aware that most of you are not in the Nascent Soul Realm, so we have taken out 10 Nascent Soul Rank Golem Suits from the Royal Treasury. With this state-of-the-art equipment, you will accomplish your objective, no matter the cost."
"B-But sir! What about our territories!?"
"Yes, there's no way we can just drop everything and journey toward enemy territory-!"
"That is enough from you all." Cardinal Mao shut up everyone's traps with a piercing glare. In a tone devoid of emotion, he said, "Cardinal Ming will be leading this expedition, so your safety will be all but guaranteed.
As for your territories and previous responsibilities, the Church has already found your temporary replacements. Come back from this mission in one piece, and you will receive rewards beyond your wildest imagination."
After observing everyone slowly but surely calm down, Cardinal Mao finished off his speech by saying, "You will do this for the good of the Nation of Light and the Church. This is all that needs to be said; now go and get your asses to work."
Following Cardinal Mao's speech, he, the Great Pope, and eight other Cardinals blurred from their spots.
Surprisingly enough, during that entire exchange, the Great Pope had not spoken a single word…
However, with the daunting presence of Cardinal Ming looming over them all, none of the high-officials were allowed to brood over the Pope's peculiarities.
"Go and gather your things; we leave at dawn. Be on time."
With these words, Cardinal Ming vanished as well, leaving everyone in the room to ponder the intricacies of this mission.
Why gather so many high-officials because of the death of a mere Half-Step Nascent Soul Realm Expert?
They were loyal and looked after their own, but this was definitely excessive…
"Maybe there is more to this than meets the eye… A threat to all of the Elemental Nations, maybe…-?"
Whack!
Li Gao was slapped across the head for speaking such nonsense. After which, Zhao Huang berated him for casually talking about drivel like that!
Li Chen soon joined in on the conversation, and then time passed for them all, with dawn rapidly approaching…
****
As the Light Nation and various other Elemental Nations moved toward Riversea City, the one who caused these big waves was strolling through the streets of Slothian City.
"Clones… I should definitely summon some more before I pass the Limit Half-Step Nascent Soul Realm…"
Lucifer and his little goth sister had already killed Fu Wen, meaning that they were the only surviving members of the Devildukes.
While entering Slothian City, which was a few cities away from Riversea City, Lucifer suddenly decided that he wanted to increase his Clone Force.
But before that could happen, he had to take a look at his system interface and see how far into poverty he was…
BLING!
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{[Infinite Clone System]}
[Host: Lucifer]
[Race: Human]
[Lifespan: 18/24,800]
[Qi Cultivation: Middle Foundation Establishment Realm (Late)]
[Body Cultivation: Peak Copper Rank (78.5%)]
[Battle Power: Half-Step Nascent Soul Realm (Limit)]
{[Clones:]}
[Half-Step Nascent Soul Realm Clones: 42+] – [Upgrade - 0/1.5 CE²]
[Peak Golden Core Formation Realm and below Clones: 350,000+] – [Can still buy lower rank clones] – [Various Clones] – [Collapse]
[Clone Essence needed to summon the highest Realm Clone: 0.5 CE²]
[Clone Essence Bank: 4 CE²]
{[Physique(s) and various external power augmenters:]}
[Cultivation Talent: Absolute Peak-Earth Rank (???)] - [Drugged to all-high hell on Pills (Using a relevant technique allows this to be possible)]
[Spiritual Roots: ???] (Rank: ???)
{[Mystic Confluence:]}
[3rd Order Mystic Physique] - [0/100 CE²]
(culmination of all previous Elemental Body's - affects bodily strength)
{[Prime Technique:]}
[Sword Slash]
[Peak-Mortal Rank] – [Upgradeable]
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