"Your Excellency Chen Xu, has something else gone wrong?"
Hale asked hurriedly when he saw Chen Xu's expression suddenly change, thinking he had discovered another anomaly.
Chen Xu waved his hand. "It is nothing. I ate too fast and accidentally bit myself."
"Hahaha, there is no need to rush, Your Excellency. I cannot promise much else, but Yinglun can certainly afford this bit of barbecue."
Hale spoke politely, but in his heart, he did not believe for a second that Chen Xu had simply bitten himself.
What a joke. Could a titled powerhouse really fail to control his own movements?
Even if he did bite himself, an expert of that level would hardly care about such minor pain.
However, Hale saw through it but did not point it out. Since Chen Xu did not want to speak, he did not intend to press the matter.
Besides, his current task was to keep this young man company.
Her Majesty the Queen had given strict orders to establish a deep 'friendship' with this young powerhouse from Daxia.
As a high-ranking official of Yinglun, a veteran like Hale naturally knew what to ask and what to leave alone.
"Your Excellency Chen Xu, you can collect the rewards I promised before tomorrow. I will personally lead you to the treasury then."
"Oh! So soon?"
Chen Xu had thought he would have to stay here for a while to ensure the sea race did not invade again before receiving his reward.
He had not expected that simply letting Kunpeng swim around the island for a bit would earn him such a payout so easily.
It seemed this was the importance of differentiation.
While others were still fighting to the death on land, Chen Xu was already using his maritime strength to easily earn a large amount of foreign currency.
"Yes, the Queen specifically ordered it. Your Excellency helped us deal with the sea race so effortlessly, so Yinglun naturally dares not be negligent."
After the important matters were discussed, the two fell into silence again.
Hale wanted to initiate more conversation, but after throwing out several topics without receiving much of a response, he did not force it.
He simply attributed it to the arrogance of a young powerhouse. After all, if he had such strength at that age, he would be even more arrogant than Chen Xu.
In reality, Chen Xu was not intentionally ignoring Hale. Although he liked to show off, he did not have a haughty personality.
He was simply too busy communicating with Kunpeng's soul to respond.
'What do you mean you took in a new underling?'
'Merfolk. Singing. Sounds good.'
'And what do you mean a whole bunch of underlings of underlings want to follow you too?'
'Merfolk lead merfolk. Kunpeng leads Bone Kuns.'
After arguing with Kunpeng for a long time, Chen Xu finally understood what had happened.
The Sea God altars Kunpeng had devoured contained dense water-element energy and faith in the Sea God.
A special creation like the Bone Kun devoured everything, and the most ridiculous part was that it could absorb what it ate.
The faith of the Sea God accumulated within Kunpeng's body, and as quantity led to quality, Kunpeng had actually managed to plunder a portion of the Sea God's authority.
The unrefined faith on Kunpeng's body led the merfolk to mistakenly believe it was a new form of the Sea God. After all, gods are formless, and it was possible this was just a new preference of their deity.
The offerings from the merfolk completely stabilized that small bit of authority on Kunpeng.
Kunpeng's reconstruction of Valira's soul further convinced the merfolk that it was undoubtedly the Sea God.
Thus, Kunpeng became the first subordinate under Chen Xu to touch the mythic-tier level.
Although it only held a fragmented authority for now and could only be called a little Sea God.
However, if it could take in all the merfolk and then devour the original Sea God, it would successfully reach the Sea God Consummation stage and officially ascend to the mythic-tier.
'Kunpeng, ask your holy spirit about the situation of the sea race, especially the merfolk and naga worlds. Say you have just awakened from a deep slumber and want to know the current state of your believers.'
'Master, many words. Kunpeng, few words. Speaking, difficult.'
Hearing the message from Kunpeng, Chen Xu frowned and sighed.
There was nothing wrong with Kunpeng's intelligence, but it had trouble expressing itself.
When that senior Lord of the Undead created the Bone Kun, he had shaped it entirely according to the standards of a pet.
Therefore, he believed that linguistic expression should not be too refined.
Those who needed to express thoughts clearly should be servants like the Black Knights. As for a pet, it only needed to understand its master's intent and then give simple, enthusiastic responses.
But for Chen Xu, Kunpeng was a powerful subordinate; keeping it as just a pet was far too luxurious.
Fortunately, the mythic-tier was not far off. Once it reached that level, the authority of the Lord of the Undead could unlock the ability to modify undead creatures. When that time came, he would have to properly upgrade Kunpeng's communication skills.
'Underling. Master. Communication.'
Just as Kunpeng finished speaking, before Chen Xu could figure out what the phrase meant, a soul link extended from Valira's soul, through Kunpeng's, and connected to Chen Xu's soul.
'Who are you?'
Valira, who had been chanting for Kunpeng, suddenly discovered the new soul link and subconsciously followed it to peek at the existence on the other end.
When she glimpsed Chen Xu's presence, Valira froze in place, her very soul going still.
Ancient, death, bones, soul, disaster—a complex weave of multiple auras intertwined. What kind of great existence was this?
Valira could not understand, nor could she think. Her reckless probe caused her soul to be suppressed. If her soul had not been modified by Kunpeng to carry Chen Xu's aura, she likely would have been dissipated instantly.
Chen Xu also discovered Valira on the other end of the soul link and realized what Kunpeng meant. It wanted him to communicate with Valira directly.
Noticing Valira's state, Chen Xu quickly restrained his soul's aura.
Valira waited for a while before slowly regaining consciousness.
After adjusting her emotions, she realized this soul link had been established by the Sea God himself. Since that was the case, it must be a task given to her by her god.
After a moment's thought, Valira cautiously sent out a message: 'Unknown great existence, Valira, a loyal believer of the Sea God, sends you greetings.'
'Valira? A fine name. I am the Lord of the Undead, the supreme overlord of the end of all worlds and the final destination of all living beings.'
'Great Lord of the Undead, I wonder what my humble self can do for you?'
After that, Chen Xu had Valira provide a detailed introduction to the merfolk and naga worlds.
Although Valira did not understand why this great existence was asking her about the merfolk world instead of asking the Sea God directly, she knew her place.
Considering this being was a noble existence similar to the Sea God and that the link had been provided by her god, she knew as a faithful believer that she had no right to question the divine.
She explained the merfolk and naga worlds in detail, as well as the war that broke out between them after the Sea God fell into slumber and the current state of their alliance.
After listening to Valira's narration, Chen Xu rubbed his temples. Ignoring the fact that it was already late at night, he pulled out his smart terminal and dialed Xia Qiming's number.
The ringtone sounded three times before the call was answered.
"Hello? What is it? Is there trouble on the Yinglun side?"
"Teacher Xia, I didn't expect you to be awake too!"
"Cut the crap. Get to the point."
Although sleep was no longer a daily necessity for high-level professionals, being harassed by a phone call in the middle of the night still made Xia Qiming somewhat annoyed.
Especially hearing Chen Xu's slightly teasing tone, he felt his temper rising.
"I was just trying to lighten the mood. I just obtained three pieces of important news: two good and one bad. Which one do you want to hear first, Teacher Xia?"
"Stop beating around the bush. If you have something to say, say it quickly."
"Don't be so impatient, Teacher Xia. I'm afraid you'll be even more anxious after you hear this."
"The first piece of good news is that the merfolk and naga have fought before. It was a brutal conflict with deep-seated resentment. The current alliance is a compromise by the merfolk queen, but there are many dissenters among the merfolk."
"The second piece of good news is that the Sea God is only the faith of the merfolk; the naga do not worship the Sea God. Furthermore, the Sea God has fallen into a deep slumber."
The fact that the merfolk and naga did not share the same faith and that there were irreconcilable conflicts among the lower populace was undoubtedly great news for humanity.
Moreover, the Sea God was in a deep sleep. The slumber of a god usually lasted a very long time, giving humanity ample time to develop. By the time the Sea God woke up, Daxia might already have several mythic-tier powerhouses.
After hearing these two pieces of good news, Xia Qiming's mood instantly improved significantly.
"So what is the bad news? Is there a mythic-tier presence among the naga?"
"No. The one who made the Sea God fall asleep might be the Hell demons. Furthermore, the reason the merfolk and naga fled their worlds is that there are still significant numbers of demons present there."
"What?!"
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