The Great Worm Lich

Chapter 498: Breakthrough

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

In the Red Mountain Harbor, thousands of aborigines rushed to countless fishing boats that they made from coarse wood floating in the harbor. They did this before sailing the Scorpion Island coastline heading towards the Black Reef Harbor 200 kilometers away.

By the time the fleet disappeared, a giant airship surrounded by dense birds had flown from afar.

Not long after, the wing-flapping sound of the dragon hawk began to grow louder, which eventually resonated through the sky. A few seconds later, thousands of chief warriors with feathers on their heads drove the raptors down from the sky and landed on the ground. Continuously, they leaped from behind the dragon hawk and kneeled onto the ground to bury their heads in the sand.

When the choresman who was kneeling beside Zhang Lisheng’s feet heard the strange noise from behind him, he could not help but secretly turn his head to take a glance. Just a glimpse, he was immediately dizzied by the shining glow of the smooth feathers under the sunlight. Baffled, his heart jolted without warning, almost stopped beating.

None of the Wizard Li tribesmen on the ground had fewer than three feathers. Even if the native choresman was not bright, he still understood that there was only one person in the Wizard Li tribe whom many chiefs worshipped.

“Great Island God, you’re the living legend of the Wizard Li. The source of glory and our only faith...” Like getting drunk on alcohol, his brain became dizzy and heavy for a while. When he slowly returned to his senses, his body was so overcome with emotions that he began to tremble. Adjusting his posture, he used a respectful tone that differed entirely from the ones he used yesterday and began to utter his praise, along with the prayers resonating on the beach.

Zhang Lisheng savored the songs of his believers in a pleasant mood, with a delightful smile on his face.

He knew that the Atlanteans would leave Scorpion Island this day. Thus, he had quietly released a dispatch to instruct all chief warriors who controlled a thousand troops among the remaining 900,000 Wizard Li expeditionary army. He ordered them to return beside him so he could reorganize the army.

This matter involved countless disputes in interest. Even if the one who carried out this matter was the Wizard Li headman, Tugra, he still had to rack his brain with all his might. He did so to come up with a plan with great difficulties. However, right now, the prestige that the young man had in the Wizard Li only required him to send a few commands.

After easily regrouping the Wizard Li expeditionary army, Zhang Lisheng felt that it was the right time to continue marching forward. The time was ripe to continue the conquest of the Scorpion Island sea region. This was, of course, coupled with a whole two weeks of rest.

With the giant scorpion that was 6000 miles long as his pedal, his conquest on the surrounding islands went exceptionally smooth.

The extreme combat power that the 900,000 elite armies displayed under Zhang Lisheng’s divine protection was not something that other ordinary Hellfire tribes could imagine or resist. No other island could stop the onslaught other than two islands that had an area of 40,000 square kilometers, under the ruling of two respective tribes. They simply could not delay the Wizard Li expeditionary army’s pace.

However, no matter how smooth the war situation was, wanting to conquer 60 islands with a total area of 1.2 million square kilometers was not an easy task. The time spent on the marching voyage alone already took months.

Finally, after spending half a year and sacrificing 420,000 brave believers in the war and shipwrecks, the young man obtained his wish. He conquered all territories within a thousand miles near Scorpion Island. One-fourth of the islands in the Hellfire sea region had fallen into his hand. At the same time, his Witchcraft’s Gate of Death’s cultivation had also made a breakthrough to Rank-11 Wizard.

With the death of millions of foreign world’s natives and the mourning of hundreds of millions of natives after the tragedy of the young man’s arrival, this finally pushed Zhang Lisheng to the last stage of achieving Grand Wizard. He recalled how his heart had stopped beating and how his skin had become so dry that it was inflexible. When he did so, the young man whose breathing had stopped could not help but muse over the difficulty of his cultivation path.

The island that was rebuilt from the dwelling of Tatania, the first coastal tribe where Wizard Li had built its totem pole on the Scorpion Island, was the most prosperous. In this vast port city called Wizard Li Lu, Zhang Lisheng sat alone in the enormous dark bark house near the totem pole. His eyes were open, dim, and dull as he muttered, “Even if this is ancient witchcraft, isn’t this cultivation too difficult? Making a breakthrough to Rank-11 Wizard actually requires an amount of negative emotion that is several times more than making a breakthrough to Rank-10 Wizard from Rank-9 Wizard! It was great that I disguised myself as a deity in the Hellfire sea region in the Shrimp World No. 2 and carried out an expansion of regime and religion. If I didn’t, then I wouldn’t have been able to meet its demand even if I launched a third world war on Earth! There were no more than 100 million people in the world during ancient times. Even if the Grand Wizards loved war, it was still impossible for them to collect the number of negative emotions I’ve collected now! How did they manage to make a breakthrough? Don’t tell me that they just relied on cultivation alone...”

While the young man muttered to himself, he suddenly remembered the close bloodline among the ancient wizards and himself and the old gods. A pang of realization hit him as he burst into a chuckle. “They’re the members of the same family that were only several generations apart from Nuwa and Fuxi, so how can I possibly compare myself to them? What is the use of letting my mind run wild like this? It’s more important for me to decide if I should transform the Manifestation Gu or not...”

As Zhang Lisheng pondered, he commanded the big, ball-like Manifestation Gu to roll out of his open flesh and landed on the ground. He lowered his head and looked down at his own zombie-like body. At once, he forgot about the wizard gu and pressed his fingers on his chest and limbs. Caressing his body, he smiled wryly, “I can’t even feel any pain now since I have not transformed for a long time after I’ve made a breakthrough in witchcraft. My blood is no longer flowing, and my organ is no longer operating. Other than the fact that I can still move, I’m completely like a corpse already. The ‘death’ recorded in the Resurrection in the ancient book should not be like this. At the very least, my heart should still be beating. Look at this f*cked up look of mine. Even if I put some makeup on, it’s hard to not be mistaken as a zombie when I return to Earth. People will think of me as a ‘living ghost.’”

As the young man thought about it, his agitation grew. He sighed and shook his head, no longer thinking about it, and just shifted his gaze onto the Manifestation Gu on the animal carpet.

During the first battle of conquering the last island in the Scorpion Island sea region, his Witchcraft’s Gate of Death had already made a breakthrough to the Rank-11 Wizard. It had been three days since he returned to the Wizard Li Lu, but until now, he still had not transformed this wizard gu.

This was because Zhang Lisheng felt that the Manifestation Gu that he nurtured was just too strange. Perhaps it was because this egg had fossilized before, so the ancient worm that would hatch out would be a defective one.

He thought about the idea of wasting his last transformation opportunity to obtain a big stone that could only roll around and return to its original size after being blasted. It felt like it was something too significant to lose.

Even if the young man had embarked on the road of ‘becoming a god,’ if a powerful ancient god had limited powers, then an Island God is definitely inferior. This had been shown before in many ancient myths and legends. Otherwise, Nuwa would not have died repairing the sky. The Aesir would not have encountered Ragnarök. Odin would not have had his left eye taken away by a wolf. If this were the case, then they would not have disappeared.

All of the few reinforcements were the cornerstone of becoming stronger. A smart person would never neglect the importance of their path just because they had come to possess a bright future.

“Since I can’t return to the Earth anytime soon, I’ll have more time to refine the wizard gu. Who knows, I may find a powerful bug... No, no! In Hellfire Archipelago, a mighty bug could only be found from the descendant of the spiritual monster. Then again, the number of insects transforming into a spiritual monster is just too low. I’ve never encountered any before. Well, except for that King of the Sierras that has fled to an unknown place... Manifestation Gu, Manifestation Gu... Speaking of it, it looked identical to the excerpt ‘With its round posture, it turns invisible when one looked at it and solidifies when one consolidated it. Its fortune lies in its rancid smell,’ stated in the Classic of Nature’s Treasure. Who knows, perhaps it’s not a defective insect...” Zhang Lisheng muttered to himself with a hesitant look. He had told the same thing to himself many times already, but he still could not make up his mind.

When the young man saw that he still could not come to a decision, a lightbulb suddenly went off above his head. When he thought of his accurate intuition, he pondered carefully for a while before standing up without warning. He strode out of the treehouse and went directly to the totem pole.

The stone pillar with seawater-like blue and soil-like yellowish-brown colors soared into the clouds. Zhang Lisheng looked up and reached out to gently press his hand on the stone pillar, before closing his eyes and emptying his thought.

Gradually, a faint fire began to beget out of the small place where he connected his palm to the Wizard Li totem pole. With increasingly fast speed, it spread out to its surrounding, and soon, it consumed the entire stone pillar with a blazing, burning flame.

At the same time, an invisible gush of energy ignited all totem poles on hundreds of Hellfire islands that had become Wizard Li territory. The power of devout faith of 80 million foreign world’s natives began to condense ceaselessly beside Zhang Lisheng.

When Wizard Li’s overlord obtained the nourishment of the massive power of faith, his soul elevated continuously. The rank of his Witchcraft’s Gate of Sacrifice started to advance, from Rank-7 Wizard, Rank-8 Wizard... When dawn arrived, his Gate of Sacrifice had already made a breakthrough to Rank-11 Wizard.

Compared to the cultivation of Gate of Death, Zhang Lisheng’s advancement on the Gate of Sacrifice was much simpler and quicker like a child’s play. However, if Zhang Lisheng had not become Wizard Li’s god, then he would never achieve this level of ease. After all, if he had not continued his conquest to accumulate an enormous amount of negative emotion, then all of this wouldn’t be possible.

When the sea breeze blew, and the sun shone from the coastline into the harbor city, the young man slowly opened his eyes and let his hand drop from the totem pole.

The fire on the stone pillar quickly dissipated. The blue and yellowish-brown color on the pillar mixed together.

When he raised his head to look up at the totem pole again, he saw a dense spread of Wizard Li Lu’s natives who were kneeling in the distant. Chuckling silently, he hurriedly walked back to the treehouse nearest to the stone pillar.

He stared at the Manifestation Gu on the animal carpet for a while and gradually closed his eyes. He intended to breathe out the air in his lungs, but when he opened his mouth, he realized that there was already no trace of breathing in his dry lungs.

“I’ve forgotten that I’m already ‘dead.’ Hmm, well, this saves time, I guess...” The young man laughed at himself and muttered. Abruptly, he took in a deep breath. Right away, the space around the ball-like wizard gu distorted violently. The Manifestation Gu transformed into a gush of fine colorless sand that he sucked in through his nose without leaving a trace.