Chapter 162: The Coming War

A dark mist shrouded the entire mobile island.

The powerful energy barrier sealing the entire island still enveloped it completely.

Before the tree house of the Old Man of the Strange Sea.

On both sides, the strong from the Northern Transcendent Association and the evil god and church faction remained in a standoff.

The many transcendent observers in the distance had long since dispersed.

Even with the standoff, the number of people was much smaller than a month ago.

At this moment, both sides were enveloped by the mist.

Except for a few standing guard, most of the others were sitting in meditation.

During the month-long standoff,

there had been multiple secret assassinations and conflicts between the two sides.

In response, the Old Man of the Strange Sea directly intervened and killed.

He even killed the transcendent masters who tried to stop him.

After killing more than ten people in a row,

both sides finally ceased their covert actions, and no one dared to make a move recklessly.

Now, the Elemental Forbidden Ground expedition was not yet over, so the standoff would naturally continue.

"Buzz..."

A milky white light and fluctuations of spatial essence bloomed.

Immediately, all the seated strong opened their eyes and stared intently at the pillar of milky white light before the tree house.

The results of the Elemental Forbidden Ground expedition, for which they had waited a full month, were finally about to emerge.

At this moment, everyone looked at the milky white pillar with some trepidation.

After all, this was a game that concerned the fate of the continent.

"The Elemental Forbidden Ground expedition is over."

The Old Man of the Strange Sea's voice boomed.

As his voice fell,

five figures emerged from the white pillar.

After the spatial essence faded and the white light dissipated,

Gunie quickly looked around.

What met his eyes were the familiar yet unfamiliar tree house, the mist, and the dense gathering of eyes.

Then Gunie glanced at the "Pandit Hirst" beside him.

Seeing Gunie looking at him, Pandit Hirst was slightly startled and immediately retreated warily toward the evil god church side.

This Gunie was terrifyingly powerful.

Even when he erupted with divine power, he was no match for him in one-on-one combat.

He was still in a state of exhaustion after the divine power eruption; if Gunie attacked him now, he would surely die.

With a slight movement of his eyes, Gunie looked at the chilling "Divine Envoy" level strong from the evil god side, who was staring at him gloomily.

Clearly, that strong was also on guard.

Gunie shook his head and gave up the idea of seizing the treasure; if he acted, he would certainly not end well.

Then, Gunie sensed a figure appear behind him and Nigel.

Just from the aura, Gunie knew it was the Divine Envoy strong from the Transcendent Association, "Osman."

When it was confirmed that only Gunie and the other four had returned, discussions immediately arose.

"Only five came back? There were over thirty when they went in."

"The mortality rate is terrifyingly high."

"Indeed, half died when they first entered, and only five out of over thirty returned—a survival rate of less than ten percent."

"The Elemental Forbidden Ground is what it is. In past records, even just retrieving texts had a terrifyingly high death rate."

"And this time, they were after the supreme Divine Crown, so the death rate is naturally even more astonishing."

Bringing Gunie and Nigel into the crowd,

Osman lightly waved his staff.

"Hum!"

A hemispherical light shield quickly bloomed,

enclosing Gunie, Nigel, Osman himself, and two other Divine Envoy strong.

"How was the harvest?" After doing this, Osman asked calmly.

"Very good," Nigel said.

Hearing this, the several strong relaxed their previously tense and solemn expressions.

"Good to have gains," Osman nodded slightly.

They had feared that the other side would have a huge harvest while they had nothing; if so, the North would face a catastrophe.

After a moment's thought, Nigel began to narrate slowly.

"In the final stage, we competed for the Divine Crowns in a giant castle. There were three Divine Crowns in total..."

When Nigel mentioned that Gunie had single-handedly withstood the attacks of seven people, including three who erupted with divine power,

the three Divine Envoy strong were visibly moved and looked at Gunie.

"How did this guy do it?"

They were well aware of divine power eruption—it was an attack close to the basic level of a transcendent master.

Yet Gunie not only blocked the attacks of those seven but also killed four of them.

"This is no longer something an ordinary transcendent caster can do," Osman thought to himself.

After a thorough look at Gunie, the three Divine Envoy strong exchanged glances.

They did not ask how Gunie did it; they only needed to know that such a transcendent belonged to their side.

Nigel continued, also sharing the information about the Faith Crown, Ancestral Spirit Crown, and other details that the Old Man of the Strange Sea had told them.

After more than ten minutes, when Nigel had finished recounting everything in detail,

the three Divine Envoy strong thought for a moment before acting.

Osman's face broke into a kind and warm smile, and he said gently to Gunie, "You did very well. Your great contribution in potions alone was enough to etch your name in history."

"And this time, you obtained the Divine Crown."

"Such merit cannot be measured by any words."

"Rest assured, the Transcendent Association will unconditionally help you achieve the position of god," Osman said firmly.

Then Osman also looked at Nigel. "You were already a top expert in our association and have comprehended the essence."

"Moreover, the Divine Crown in your hand is the Ancestral Spirit Crown. The Transcendent Association will also go all out to help you achieve godhood."

"Thank you, Senior Osman," Nigel said.

The matter of the Divine Crown was of great significance.

It was the path to the supreme, even to eternity.

Wealth could move people's hearts, let alone this supreme Divine Crown, which was thousands of times more precious than wealth.

Once obtained, one might achieve the eternal position of god.

Throughout history, how many in the Aoya Continent had sought to become gods?

Now that the Divine Crown had appeared, some with ulterior motives would likely stir in secret.

If successful,

it would be the supreme Divine Crown!

A treasure that could achieve eternity.

Osman naturally understood this, so it was necessary to give them sufficient affirmation and support.

Then, Osman waved his hand, and the white light shield about ten meters in diameter rippled.

Soon, five strong figures stepped inside from outside the shield.

As soon as these five entered, Gunie immediately sensed their terrifying auras.

Though they were well-concealed, Gunie could still feel them.

Among the five newcomers, four were Ancestral Spirits and one was a Divine Envoy.

Including Osman and the other two,

the Transcendent Association had directly deployed eight top-tier strong this time.

"Four Divine Envoys, four Ancestral Spirits," Gunie narrowed his eyes.

"The Transcendent Association's move is truly astonishing."

"On the surface, three, but actually eight. If it came to a fight, even the evil god descending might not gain an advantage." After scanning the eight strong, Gunie thought to himself.

"Everyone, you heard clearly just now," Osman said after the other five entered.

"Yes," they all nodded.

"War is likely coming," an elementalist in a gray robe said softly.

"Has war ever stopped?" someone retorted.

"True, the war with the South has never ceased, just never escalated."

"This time, the Southern churches have openly allied with those evil gods, preferring to let the world suffer their poison and countless people die at their hands rather than accept peace and surrender."

"Previously, we still held a sliver of hope that if they didn't resist, we wouldn't start a war, but would unify the North and South through peaceful evolution."

"Now it seems that was just our wishful thinking."

"Since the evil god side has obtained the Faith Crown, the Southern churches will spare no effort to help the evil god achieve godhood."

"Then we must fully launch a war that sweeps across the entire continent—a war between North and South."

"To completely eradicate the churches, these remnants of the era."

"And let our entire Aoya Continent step into the new steam age."