Meng Lei quietly made up his mind.
“Where are we now?”
Meng Lei opened his eyes to discover that they were above an endless ocean.
“Master, we’ve just left Dragon God Empire and arrived at the Endless Oceans’ eastern waters!”
Klaus said respectfully, “We’re two hours away from the Golden Archipelago!”
“Two hours? That’s pretty fast!”
Meng Lei stretched, and then, he asked, “Have all of you picked your weapons?”
“Yes, we have, Master!”
Meng Lei then kept the rest of the half-divine weapons away.
Two hours passed in the blink of an eye, and the group finally arrived at the Golden Archipelago.
When one overlooked the area from high up in the sky, they would see innumerable islands dotting the vast, boundless ocean.
Spread all over the place, they looked just like green turtles floating on the surface of the ocean. They formed a massive chain of islands, providing a unique seascape scenery and a rather magnificent sight!
“This is the Golden Archipelago, Master!”
Bubbles pointed at the chain of islands and said, “The Golden Dragon-Lions have lived here for generations. They are the local tyrant of the waters here and control the life and death of billions of living beings here!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly and instructed, “Let’s go down and take a look!”
“Yes, Master!”
The islands were home to many people, including humans, as well as Beast People. However, they seemed to be completely out of touch from the rest of Heaven’s Vault Continent and appeared to be extremely primitive!
They lived in simple and crude straw huts and wore torn and tattered grass skirts and straw hats. They appeared to be living fairly hard lives!
On the other hand, the most magnificent and lavish building on the island was actually a grand, lofty, and towering divine temple!
There was a divine temple on almost every island. Many joss sticks burned within the temples and formed a flourishing sight while worshipers constantly went to and fro.
“The number of cultivators don’t even come up to 10% of the people here!”
Meng Lei shook his head. “The Golden Dragon-Lions’ reign is really a dark one!”
“How does ‘dark’ even cut it?”
With a sigh, Bubbles said, “The Golden Dragon-Lions are the most supreme local tyrants in the Golden Dragon-Lions. These islanders are just their slaves, servants, and tools that provide them with power of faith. They don’t see them as humans at all!”
“So, what’s the point of leaving a clan like that in the world?” Meng Lei shook his head and said, “Let’s go. We’ll head straight to the Golden Dragon-Lions’ base!”
“Yes, Master!”
...
The Golden Dragon-Lion Continent was the biggest, flashiest, and grandest island in the Golden Archipelago!
Rather than an island, it was actually more like a continent. It measured 7,000 kilometers from the north to the south and stretched on for 9,000 kilometers from the east to the west. The surface area spanned a size as big as over 50 million square kilometers. One could call it a continent on the ocean!
An incredibly huge palace complex stood in the very center of the Golden Dragon-Lion Continent.
The buildings were well-spaced, splendid, and majestic.
In the center of the palaces stood a Golden Dragon-Lion statue that was as tall as 100,000 feet. Fully forged from gold, it gave off an imposing and endless might.
At the moment, an infinite number of people were kneeling in the square in front of the statue. There were humans dressed in torn and tattered clothes, Beast People with animal heads and human bodies...
There were as many as a million people there!
With no exception whatsoever, every single one of them was bound and immobilized, making them look just like criminals who had been sentenced to be beheaded and were awaiting the executioner’s arrival!
In reality, however, they were no criminals but sacrificial offerings that the Golden Dragon-Lions had captured!
A million sacrificial offerings!
This was something terrifying!
Standing in front of the sacrificial offerings were almost 10,000 people from the Golden Dragon-Lion clan. With weapons in their grip and a stern look on their countenances, they were crowded around a single person.
Closer inspection would reveal that the man looked identical to someone whom Meng Lei had previously killed—yes, he was the Golden Dragon-Lions’ grandmaster, Thackeray!
“Reporting!”
A handsome and mighty-looking Sea Eagle suddenly flew toward him in the sky, and a brawny figure leaped off its back and quickly ran over to Thackeray.
“Grandmaster, we’ve discovered traces of strangers. We were unable to discern how strong they are, but they travel at a speed that’s as swift as lightning and far beyond what a Saint Domain is capable of. We suspect that they’re half-deities!”
The man reported aloud, “At the speed they’re moving, we predict that they’ll arrive at the clan’s ancestral home in an hour’s time!”
“Half-deities? That knave has indeed come!”
A cold glint shot forth from Thackeray’s eyes. He commanded, “Everyone, the clan’s moment of life and death has come. Hear my command—everyone is to return to their respective positions and activate the summoning rite!”
“Yes, Grandmaster!”
All the members of the Golden Dragon-Lion clan sprung into action at his command.
Among which, up to 1,000 Saint Domain experts darted to various corners of the square and arrived at their designated locations.
If one were to overlook the area from the top, they would see that their locations just so came together to form a gigantic magic circle.
Thackeray didn’t idle, either. He came to the very center of the magic circle and stood at the eye of the magic circle.
“Hear my command! Begin!”
With a roar and a swoosh of his sleeve, several golden threads shot out of Thackeray’s sleeve and slashed across the sacrificial offerings’ necks!
In a split second, the carotid arteries of all the
