Chapter 44: The Heavenly Secrets Must Not Be Revealed

At this very moment, Ji Ling and Ji Yun presented a stark contrast.

Ji Ling was capable of wielding the power of the Yinglong, turning the tide when the Eastern Theater of Operations was on the brink of complete annihilation.

Looking at Ji Yun, however, he had been easily provoked by a few words from a little Japanese punk. Lacking in strength was one thing, but he had also lost his sanity, launching attacks completely devoid of strategy. Even the blind bravery of a reckless brute possessed a shred of valor, yet Ji Yun’s strikes were driven entirely by his own narrow-mindedness.

Faced with such a comparison, one was truly in the heavens while the other was deep in the mud.

At this moment, Ji Tianxing suddenly found himself wishing that the Trojan horse program Ji Yun had installed in the Eliminator drone would fail and not kill Ji Ling.

Perhaps Ji Ling was the son worth cultivating, and even the one he could rely on in the future.

But now, it was too late for regrets.

***

In the Eastern Theater, Ji Ling stared intently at the firmament, inwardly startled.

He had to admit that this little Japanese punk named Omoki Takayoshi actually possessed some genuine strength.

Putting everything else aside, his divine contract rank of the Sovereign Grade placed him among an extremely tiny minority of divine contractors across the entire world.

Currently, the highest divine contract rank globally belonged to an Emperor Grade, Second-Tier divine contractor in the White Elephant Country, while there were only seven Sovereign Grade divine contractors in the entire world.

He had never expected that the Sakura Country would also possess one.

This came as quite a surprise to Ji Ling.

Moreover, Omoki Takayoshi’s Sovereign Grade rank wasn't even his most impressive asset.

The tag of the Sea God, Wadatsumi, that he had fused with was defying of the natural order.

He could summon an endless array of water avatars; as long as the opponent failed to find his true body, all efforts would be in vain.

Worse still, when someone brainless like Ji Yun launched a chaotic barrage of attacks, the ultimate outcome would be the complete depletion of his divine power, leading to an easy victory for Omoki Takayoshi.

Even if Ji Yun’s current divine contract rank surpassed Omoki Takayoshi’s, the same rule applied: failing to find the true body rendered everything futile.

Yet, this kind of tag was not invincible. As long as one calmed down and carefully observed the appearance of every phantom, flaws would eventually emerge.

The art of illusionary avatars possessed no power to alter destiny or deceive the heavens; flaws were inevitable. It was simply that as the contractor's rank increased, those flaws became increasingly difficult to spot.

For an utter moron like Ji Yun, who had been provoked for reasons unknown and thrown all strategy to the wind in a chaotic frenzy, a doomed defeat was the only thing awaiting him.

***

Ji Ling stared fixedly at the battle high above, attempting to pick out a single flaw from the dozens of phantoms. Without realizing it, he gazed so intently that his eyes suddenly stung with sharp pain. He drew a sharp gasp, and his consciousness was once again pulled into the chaotic expanse of his own mind space.

[Today, I temporarily lend you the Eyes of Creation to perceive all things!]

A voice resembling a resounding bell echoed through the chaos space.

Ji Ling was jolted awake with a start and hurriedly asked, "Who are you?"

[The Ancestral God, Yinglong!]

The voice replied to Ji Ling.

Overjoyed, Ji Ling never imagined that the deity he had contracted with would actually communicate with him!

"May I ask, Divine Lord Yinglong, what wondrous uses do these Eyes of Creation possess?" Ji Ling asked eagerly without a moment's delay.

[The Eyes of Creation can pierce the origin of all things, see through delusions and illusions, and possess infinite marvels...]

Feeling slightly embarrassed, Ji Ling asked again, "Then... why are they being lent? How about... you just gift them to me? Our affinity has already reached one hundred percent..."

[You greedy brat!]

[Very well. This deity has long foreseen that before midnight today, these Eyes of Creation will truly belong to you. This is your fortune, yet it is also your tribulation; you will inevitably have to suffer some hardship.]

Ji Ling opened his eyes wide in astonishment. "A tribulation? Hardship? What kind of hardship? Please enlighten me, Lord Yinglong!"

[Heavenly secrets... must not be revealed...]

Following those words, Ji Ling’s consciousness was forcefully expelled from the chaos space.

Ji Ling snapped his eyes open as if jolted from a deep sleep, and the sounds around him gradually grew clear.

"Ji Ling! Ji Ling, what's wrong with you?!"

Ji Ling turned his head, looking in a daze at Nangong Lingyue’s anxious face, behind which General Xu’s expression was equally worried.

"What happened?" Ji Ling asked blankly.

"You're asking me?!" Nangong Lingyue threw a punch with her dainty fist at Ji Ling’s shoulder in exasperation and said, "You suddenly passed out just now, and no matter how much we called you, you wouldn't wake up! And now you're suddenly fine! Tell me! Were you pulling a prank on purpose?"

Ji Ling shook his head helplessly.

It seemed that when his consciousness had entered the chaos space earlier, his physical body had simultaneously entered a state of hibernation.

***

"Ah, it's nothing. I probably suffered a bit from the heatstroke," Ji Ling glanced at the scorching sun high in the sky and spouted random nonsense.

General Xu let out a long sigh of relief, giving Ji Ling’s shoulder a shove. "You brat! You scared the hell out of me! You can't afford to have anything happen to you!"

"I'm fine, I'm really fine!" Ji Ling quickly explained, then fished a bottle of Huoxiang Zhengqi liquid from his military backpack, frowning as he drank it down in one gulp to dispel their worries.

When Ji Ling looked up at the sky once more, he was astonished to discover that among the dozens of Omoki Takayoshi’s phantoms, one of them was radiating a golden glow.

Ji Ling rubbed his eyes hard and looked again, confirming that he had not seen wrong!

This meant that the Eyes of Creation Lord Yinglong had lent him were real!

That Omoki Takayoshi radiating golden light must be the true body!

At this thought, Ji Ling immediately stood up, wanting to shout out loudly to warn Ji Yun.

After all, this concerned a divine battle between nations, and losing meant a loss of national fortune.

The more severely the national fortune diminished, the more the divine power of all deities within the country would drop, and the probability of being invaded by anomalies would also increase drastically!

Those small countries in the Black Continent, surrounded by black fog year-round, with some even having their nations destroyed by anomalous creatures and completely reduced to anomalous colonies, were victims of this very reason.

Ji Ling had no desire to let the entire Dragon Country take the blame for the infighting between their family just because of his own trivial grudges against Ji Yun.

Yet, no sooner had he stood up than Ji Ling stopped and slumped back down in frustration.

"What is it with you now?" Nangong Lingyue looked at Ji Ling’s expression, asking with some puzzlement, "All jittery and jumpy. Did someone step on your tail?"

Amused by Nangong Lingyue’s words, Ji Ling waved his hand, pointed at the empty bottle of Huoxiang Zhengqi liquid on the ground, and said, "It's... it's too bitter, hahaha!"

"You're a grown man! Taking some medicine makes it taste this bitter to you?" General Xu glared at Ji Ling. "Sit properly! Be steady!"

Ji Ling nodded hurriedly.

The reason Ji Ling had stood up only to sit right back down was because he remembered a rule of the Void Divine Battle.

To prevent interference with the divine battle, people in the outside world could hear what went on inside the Void Arena, but the people and deities inside the Void Arena could not hear a single sound from the outside world!