Chapter 1176: The Second Heavenly Shell Race?

Lao Wang spent half a month staying at the Old Nissen Tavern. The Netherworld King was predicted to have appeared by then, but the reality was otherwise. Nonetheless, Wang Zhong was not anxious. According to the people at the Dragon’s Head Shore, the Netherworld King didn’t appear at fixed dates. He would appear once a month sometimes, or even once every two to three months. The only information about the Netherworld King that could be found in the market was from those few employees. The so-called latest news was actually the same few pieces of news. However, Wang Zhong was rather interested in some pieces of unusual news, such as those regarding that of the Earth.

“Hey, Old Black.” An Elf that was black from head to toe walked into the tavern with a smile on his face and headed towards Wang Zhong who sat at the same seat every day.

Wang Zhong smiled and waved at him. There were very few people in the underground world who could make Black Titans smile, but Black Elves were definitely one of them. Both races had been banished from the Land, and they had many things in common, which was rare here. Their friendly relationship even went back several generations.

“You seem extremely happy today. Did you make a fortune today?” Wang Zhong asked.

“I’m just a middleman who earns money by helping others run errands. How much can I earn from that? How can I compare to you Black Titans who come from rich backgrounds? You guys have your eyes set on the Netherworld King’s trade goods, but the price of one of those goods will cost ten years of our salary.” Brewwre the Black Elf laughed heartily and sat down beside Wang Zhong.

“More risk is involved when there is more money. So many people are fighting for the Netherworld King’s trade goods. Who knows how much the price of the goods will skyrocket to? The low- to no-cost business that you guys operate seems much more relaxing.” Wang Zhong smiled and poured a drink for Brewwre. There wasn’t any good-tasting alcohol here, just some low-quality beer. However, one shouldn’t expect too much. It was considered good if one had access to beer at all in a place like the underground world.

Brewwre the Black Elf was average in terms of power, but he was an influential local in Dragon’s Head Shore. He was very well-informed and familiar with Dragon’s Head Shore. He often did some low- to no-cost intermediary business and also helped some assassination organizations run some errands. A few days ago, when Brewwre was boasting in the tavern, Lao Wang overheard that there was a newcomer who was rapidly climbing up the assassin charts. This person sounded like an old friend of Lao Wang, and the latter had the intention of reaching out to this newcomer.

Lao Wang’s Black Titan identity was quite fitting to make friends with the Black Elf. After two rounds of beer, Brewwre was impressed by Wang Zhong’s wealth. He seemed to be expressing goodwill towards Wang Zhong and told him everything he wanted to know.

“Oh right, I have some information about the assassin that you inquired about last time.” The moment Brewwre sat down, he lowered his voice and spoke mysteriously in Lao Wang’s ear, “It’s a pity that I only found surface information such as his name. Old Black, you know that assassin organizations don’t reveal detailed information about their assassins. I had to tap on many old connections for this information…”

Wang Zhong smiled and threw 10 Gold Star Stones toward Brewwre. He had made ample preparations before coming to the underground world. Black Titans were known for their wealth here as they occupied many rare mine resources in the underground world and were considered to be typical tycoons.

“Hey, Old Black. That wasn’t what I meant.” Brewwre’s eyes lit up. He pretended to decline for a while before keeping the money. He smiled and took out a piece of paper. “This is a mission information report that I just obtained…” he said in a low voice.

Wang Zhong took a look at the densely packed handwriting on the paper. It was written in the Star Alliance language and was evidently a mission report regarding that assassin he was interested in.

This newcomer had joined the assassin organization less than a year ago and executed 37 difficult-to-the-point-of-crazy missions. He had a mission success rate of 100%, killing 21 Foundational Stages and 16 Void Cores. He was now ranked number 158 on the assassin chart.

Putting the Foundational Stages aside, to be able to become a mission target of an assassin organization, the 16 Void Cores were either vicious experts or had come from extraordinary backgrounds. Even a skilled assassin would need many days to investigate and spy on such a powerful target in order to find a chance to kill the target. However, this assassin was able to unobtrusively complete all these missions in the short span of a year. That was an incredible feat!

A small line of words at the bottom of the report was even more shocking. “Currently executing an SS-rank mission. Target is a Gold Core expert. Result of mission unknown.”

Although the result of the mission was unknown, it was definitely rare to find an assassin that was brave enough to try to kill a Gold Core expert among the countless assassin organizations. Not mentioning the difficulty of the mission, Gold Core experts were a taboo themselves. Assassins who dared to target them either had powerful backgrounds and were not afraid of dragging their Race into it, or they were lone individuals. According to the mission report, this mysterious assassin was clearly the latter.

“That assassin is very mysterious about his background. He has never revealed his real name to others, but from his physique and aura, he looks like an Earthling, a race that has been the talk of the town recently. His appearance is like that of a celestialoid with no wings. He is vicious in his attacks, very skilled at disguise, and possesses a spatial talent. It is said that even after using divine detection methods comparable to that of the Three Great Factions, his form of power still couldn’t be detected. He seems rather weak, but his assassin abilities are superb. Oh right, the way he walks is a little weird. He jumps and bounces about.”

Someone who suddenly rose to power two years ago? Whose physique and aura resembled that of an Earthling? Who was skilled at disguise and possessed a spatial talent?

Wang Zhong’s heart skipped a beat. He was around 70 to 80 percent sure of who the assassin was. However, he still found the Gold Core assassination mission unbelievable. Wang Zhong was already fairly surprised that Mu Zi was able to kill Elder Musin, a Gold Core expert. For Napier Mo to have the ability to do so after being in the divine territory for a mere two to three years, it seemed that he had a divine encounter too. Wang Zhong felt very reassured.

He maintained a calm expression and said, “Why do I hear about Earthlings wherever I go?”

“Haha, they are the talk of the town nowadays.” When talking about Earthlings, Brewwre wasn’t as cautious as when he was talking about the mysterious assassin. There were no restraints on exchanging information with others in the underground world. No one bothered to control public opinion unless it involved some secret insider information that was related to the business of assassin organizations.

“The Netherworld King has been a hot topic recently in the underground world. He is a big shot, and his identity is known as he has personally revealed that he came from the Earth. This mysterious assassin is suspected to be an Earthling too. Also, I heard that there’s a rising star from the Arena in the Land. He’s called Aiolos and came from the Earth too. His combat power is amazing. He was able to kill a Solid Core expert when he was merely in the Void Core Realm, and he managed to collaborate with Titans who are known to be arrogant. I heard that he has reached the Solid Core Realm recently and his opponents are now Gold Core experts. I’m not sure whether that is true, but this guy is a hot topic too. Of course, I think the Titans in the Land are inferior to you guys. They are too fake.”

Wang Zhong smiled but didn’t comment.

Brewwre continued, “Also, I heard that there’s an even more incredible Earthling in the Heavenly Gates. He’s called Wang Zhong and managed to enter the Celestial Honors Class. He has the powerful Heavenly Shell Race to back him up and defeated the new-generation leader of the Fire Demon Race in public. He is extremely popular among the higher-ups of the Land…”

Wang Zhong wasn’t too surprised that news about him had already reached the underground world. Representatives from various races had spectated his battle with Phumetheus, and he was already famous in the Land. It wasn’t strange that the underground world had heard of him. However, he didn’t expect Brewwre to have a piece of news that he did not hear about yet.

“What I have mentioned is just common news. There’s another piece of breaking news from the assassin organizations!” Brewwre inched his head closer and said mysteriously, “Old Black, have you heard of the Mirror World?”

“The place where criminals are exiled?” Wang Zhong had interacted with the Law Enforcement Association and was rather familiar with the places in the Land where major offenders were exiled. The Mirror World was one of those places, just like the Nightmare World where the Shell Shade Faction Elder was exiled. The Mirror World was a place of death where the most sinister criminals were exiled. Those who went there rarely survived.

Brewwre nodded vigorously. “I heard that there’s a ruckus in the Mirror World recently, and this piece of news has been blocked by the higher-ups. It is said that there are quite a few rebellion forces now. They have worked together to break out of the organizational structure of the Mirror World. There’s now some ‘central management committee’ that restricts fighting among the vicious exiled criminals. This has given the higher-ups in the Land a headache. As you know, the higher-ups meant for this sort of exiled land to be a place for those criminals to attack and fight each other. However, there is no internal conflict among the criminals, and it’s a peaceful situation there now. This is unacceptable! However, it will certainly take a lot of time and effort to deal with the rebellion forces in this land of exile. The higher-ups of the Land are not willing to dispatch their large armies. Hence, they can only issue missions to the assassination organizations in the underground world. They want to assassinate the leaders of the rebellion forces. This is how this piece of news wound up being circulated.”

Brewwre paused and gave a mysterious smile. He seemed to know what Lao Wang was the most interested in. “The leader of one of the most famous rebellion forces is very mysterious. He stopped everyone from asking for his name. His cultivation method and battle tactics are extremely similar to the ‘Buddha’ cultivation system that used to be very popular in the Land. Everyone calls him the Nameless Buddha. He is suspected to be an Earthling too!”

Buddha? Suspected to be an Earthling? Refused to give his name? This was probably Mo Wen!

Although the news that Brewwre shared was just some speculations, Lao Wang could almost confirm the leader’s identity. According to some old news from the Holy City, Mo Wen and Mo Xingchen had been sent to the army in the Land because of their fake identities. Thereafter, it seemed that Mo Wen killed someone in the army for Mo Xingchen. This added to their crimes, and they were given more severe punishment. They were exiled, but the Earth’s current intelligence system was not able to track where they were exiled to. Wang Zhong only found out that Mo Wen and Mo Xingchen had been banished to the Mirror World after mingling with the Law Enforcement Association. They had to serve their sentence for an unbelievable period of 100 years.

Upon hearing that the rebellion leader of the Mirror World was seemingly Mo Wen, Lao Wang was surprised and happy. When he heard that the Mo siblings were exiled to the Mirror World, he didn’t have any hope that they could survive with their level of strength then. However, they managed to survive in the Mirror World, and Mo Wen became a rebellion-force leader? This was unexpected great news.

Having spent time at the Law Enforcement Association, Wang Zhong was very familiar with the exiled lands. These exiled lands had existed since the Star Alliance was born. Blood, cruelty, and killing were the main themes of these lands.

Throughout the years, these exiled vicious criminals would find themselves no longer willing to continue leading such dreadful lives. Under the leadership of the strong, they would change the meaning of the exiled lands with their own methods so that the criminals could get along with each other peacefully. This wasn’t a rare occurrence, and they wouldn’t dare to challenge the authority of the Star Alliance. They just organized themselves and made their own rules to have a relatively peaceful environment. The so-called rebellion was a term coined by the Star Alliance. This happened every era, but none had ever lasted.

From past to present, the Heavenly Gates had not changed their stance towards the exiled lands. The nature of these lands was the same as the underground world, but way harsher. “Exile” was a ruling class’s way of governing and dealing with dangerous individuals. Resolving conflicts and maintaining democratic rule was the bottom line of the divine territory.

Law Enforcement Association, Heavenly Shell Race, Heavenly Gates… Several names and the history of the rebellion forces in the exiled lands flashed past Wang Zhong’s mind. He wanted to find some loopholes. It was impossible for him to exempt Mo Wen from death just by relying on his connections with the Machinery Race and the Heavenly Shell Race. A rebellion force leader of an exiled land would definitely be on the assassination list of the Star Alliance. However, there were probably other ways to save him, just that they would be more complicated. All of the Star Alliance rules were seemingly flawless, but they actually had plenty of loopholes for the high-level civilization aristocrats to take advantage of.

“It has only been three years since this low-level civilization has joined the Star Alliance. However, they managed to produce so many rising stars. Earthlings are a force to be reckoned with! Old Black, not only you, but the entire underground world and the Land are also interested in Earth. Everyone has heard of the name ‘Earth’ by now!” Brewwre didn’t know what Lao Wang was thinking. Seeing him fall into deep thought, Brewwre thought he was having mixed feelings about the rise of Earthlings. “Previously, the Heavenly Shell Race rose to power with their pill refinery skills, but these Earthlings seem to be more impressive. All of them have outstanding combat power. I think this Earth is following the footsteps of the Heavenly Shell Race and becoming the second Heavenly Shell Race…” Brewwre shook his head as he said this.

Becoming the second Heavenly Shell Race?

Wang Zhong smiled. No one knew the Earth’s situation better than him. Even if the news on Mo Wen, Napier, and the others was accurate, this was not representative of Earth’s power. Judging the Earth civilization as a whole, the potential and talent of Earthlings were among the worst in the whole Star Alliance. Several famous experts had appeared in this generation, and they could support the future of the Earth, perhaps even increasing the level of the Earth civilization. However, the Earth civilization still couldn’t be compared to the Heavenly Shell Race’s. Everyone in that civilization could become alchemists! Everyone had the talent for refining pills! They had countless Gold Core experts! Even if there were a few outstanding geniuses now, how could the Earth, which had no strong background, compare to the Heavenly Shell Race?

However, there was no need to belittle themselves. Although they couldn’t be compared to the Heavenly Shell Race, the Earth had managed to make a reputation for itself. It had merely entered the Star Alliance for three years before becoming a hot topic. The attention that it attracted was something that other civilizations couldn’t get even if they tried for hundreds or thousands of years. They could be proud of these achievements!