Chapter 682 – Switcheroo

WHOOSH

Yuan Hua returned with her new prisoner. She presented Hiiro in front of Kishin Douji, Golden Crow Sage, Sun Crow, and the Olympians.

The group of gods and sages sized up the player. They measured his cultivation base and stared at the strange HP bar and floating name, which had been hovering over Hiiro’s head.

“Interesting. So, this is a player,” Zeus waved his hand and tried to grab the hovering words. However, his hand passed through them as if they were a hologram.

“He’s comparable to a sage. How did you capture him, Yuan Hua?” Kishin Douji already activated his Chrono Domain and paused Hiiro’s movement. However, Hiiro could still move his eyes around and sense everything.

Yuan Hua revealed the truth. She narrated the event after Hiiro came out of the portal and fought against other players.

Hearing that players killed each other, the gods and sages laughed.

“They’re so stupid. Why are they killing each other? Do they even know who they’re fighting against?”

“That’s probably why they start with 100,000 players while we only have a few dozen sages and 1,000 gods.”

Hiiro’s pupils glittered as he heard the sensitive information. He looked around as he tried to remember everybody’s face.

As the group of gods chatted and gossiped about how stupid the players were, a 3-meter tall flame crow with three legs flapped one of his wings and pulled Hiiro closer to him with his Qi.

The Golden Crow Sage caught Hiiro and carried him with his beak. He then looked down at the others.

“I’ll sacrifice this fool to promote my cultivation base. No one can touch him.”

The laughter ceased. Kishin Douji and Yuan Hua glared at the Golden Crow Sage.

“Hold it, Golden Crow! This prisoner belongs to me. Yuan Hua brought him to me, not you.”

The crow sage glared back at Kishin Douji, “When we became allies, we agreed that we would share captives and treasures. Since this brat is equivalence to a sage, it’s better to sacrifice him to a sage so that he can become an unrestrained sage!”

“Whatever cultivation rank he was, he belongs to me. I haven’t agreed to give you anything yet, crow sage!”

Minghe also stood behind the golden crow. He brought out a blood scythe and hooked the blade around the crow’s neck, “Release my vessel’s prisoner, or our deal is off, Golden Crow.”

WHOOSH

WHOOSH

Sun Crow appeared behind Kishin Douji, and a miniature sun manifested over the latter’s head. Hades pointed his finger toward Sun Crow while Zeus enveloped a lightning formation around both Minghe and Golden Crow.

Suddenly, the gang got into a Mexican standoff situation.

Minghe, Kishin Douji, Sun Crow, and Golden Crow glanced at Zeus and Hades.

“What’s the meaning of this, Olympians!?” Golden Crow was enraged.

“What side are you on?” Minghe was also disappointed by the sudden betrayal.

Hades scoffed and stared at Hiiro, “Hand him over, and we can still be friends. None of you has the right to use him.”

Minghe and Golden Crow were stunned for a moment. Then, they burst into laughter.

“Do you even realize how fucked you are? Two lowly pseudo sages dare to threaten real sages? Are you out of your mind?”

Zeus and Hades sneered at Minghe and Golden Crow. Their eyes looked in the same direction as if they were looking at something or someone.

What came next surprised Minghe, Kishin Douji, Golden Crow, and Sun Crow.

Hades revealed their motive, “Lady Houtu! We were trying to hand the prisoner to Lord Hongjun. Please help us!”

The one behind them slowly descended from the sky while standing on top of a rainbow lotus platform. She was an empress in the red gown and a golden crown, who had the aura of an unrestrained sage.

Houtu was one of Hongjun’s hidden disciples, who had been in seclusion in the Fate Realm. Now, she participated in this game on Hongjun’s side.

The sage empress flickered her fingers, and all power of everybody was sealed. An invisible force released Hiiro from the Golden Crow’s mouth and carried him toward Houtu.

Houtu brought out an orb, and Hiiro’s body shrank. His body was sucked into the orb and got stuck there in the pocket dimension.

Houtu declared, “All prisoners from any faction must be given to Hongjun Lao Tzu first! None of you has the right to decide who will use the Sacrificial Altar next! By the way, Olympians, you should report yourselves to Jade Sage.”

Just like that, Houtu stole Hiiro from Kishin Douji’s group and flew away.

The Olympian crowd smirked and gleefully sneered at the group of greedy gods.

Golden Crow and Minghe looked at Houtu in resentment. Then, they glared at each other, blaming the other party for this incident.

“Had you obediently handed him over to me, this wouldn’t have happened!”

“Like hell, it’s my fault. You were the one stealing our captive! You guys too, Zeus, Hades! You turned this into a commotion!”

Zeus and Hades shrugged as if they had done nothing wrong.

The atmosphere between the groups became awkward. They verbally cursed at each other before they separated ways.

Kishin Douji, Yuan Hua, Karen, and many Heavenly Dao’s deities followed Minghe to another gathering place. They decided to ditch the Olympian Group and Golden Crow Tribe.

Meanwhile, the Olympians showed their true color as they went to join Hongjun’s group as if they had planned this.

As for the crows, they went out to the medium realm on their own along with their tribesmen. It seemed that they were about to do something stupid.

Yuan Hua had been observing the people from various factions. Upon seeing that everybody faction had a backup plan or had been scheming something, she turned to her husband.

“What do we do now? We’re isolated!”

Kishin Douji pondered for a moment. It only took him a few seconds to come up with an idea.

“Is it possible in this game to jump ship?”

“Jump ship?” Minghe and others were curious what Kishin Douji was thinking about.

“I mean, didn’t we receive the notification that Orochi joined forces with Mu-Nyang?”

“!!!”

Every deity here was not stupid. They figured what Kishin Douji had been thinking.

Kishin Douji noticed the changes in his colleagues’ expressions. He smiled.

“I think my annoying nemesis Devil should still be around on that side. We fought a million times, and I know him like a book. I’ll try to contact him and use him as a mediator for us!”

Minghe’s expression was bitter. He thought of how Mu-Nyang bullied him and stole the Blood Stellar Star away from him.

Although Minghe didn’t like Mu-Nyang, he had a feeling that serving the obnoxious cat might be better than serving the dictator Hongjun.

“I’ll go with you. At least, I should be able to protect you in case of emergency.”

…

While gods and sages from Hongjun’s side wondered around, Houtu returned to the radar control room to report to Hongjun.

“I’ve collected the prisoner, master.”

Hongjun didn’t look back at her. He stared at a screen, which had been following Minghe’s group and eavesdropping on their conversation.

Everything that they spoke was audible in this room.

“Houtu,” Hongjun’s voice was filled with killing intent.

“Yes, master?”

“Deploy available sages. Capture everybody that has been colluding with Minghe and Kishin Douji. We’ll use them as sacrifices to boost our men’s cultivation base. As for the prisoner, keep him with you for now.”

“What about the Silver Qi, master?”

Houtu referred to the Silver Qi Pearls, which she had obtained from the piles of items that Hiiro failed to collect earlier.

“Eat one of them and give the rest to your friends. But don’t give it to Jieyin and Jian Xian’s men. They already have their sources of Silver Qi.”

“Already? But I have never seen them fight the players.”

“They got Silver Qi and Entity Ores from the airdrops today and yesterday. They are secretly monopolizing the goods.”

“Should we arrest them and force them to give out the ores?”

“No. Leave them be. Let them think that I’m stupid so that they will obediently work for us for the time being. I’ll tell you when we will kill them.”

“Yes, master.”

“Now, go. Capture Minghe, Golden Crow, and others before they join our enemies.”

Houtu bowed and left without saying anything else.

…

Medium World

The Golden Crow Sage led his 20 tribesmen toward the north.

Sun Crow’s eyes followed his sage, but his expression was ugly. He voiced his concern.

“Where are we going, master?”

The crow sage didn’t hide his motive, “We’re surrendering to the players!”

“W-What?! But why?!”

“We can’t fight Hongjun with our current strength. We’ll trick the players by pretending to surrender. Then, we’ll incite them to fight against Hongjun and other sages! When they are weakened, we’ll devour the player’s souls and raise our cultivation base, and we’ll kill both Hongjun and Mao Miaomiao after that! Fuck Pangu! Fuck Mu-Nyang! I’ll ascend higher than stopping at the Great Dao Sage Realm! I’ll be the sole ruler of the universe!”

“…”

The crows watched their master laugh and entered the player world’s portal.

As soon as they appeared in the player’s plane, a hundred missile turrets with colorful magic circles turned toward them. A thousand players also stood on the defensive wall, sneering at the invaders.

The Golden Crow looked at the player’s city and defensive structures in shock. He quickly abandoned his pride and lowered his head to the ground.

“I’m here to surrender to Great Players! Please don’t kill me and my family!”

“Huh?”

The Sun Crow was speechless. Previously, the golden crow’s ego inflated to the moon. And now, his presence was less than a pathetic mutt in heat.

What was this contrast?!

As his master bowed, the other crows lowered their head and kowtowed to the players as well.

The players on the defensive wall looked at each other in confusion. At first, they were eager to farm for EXP. But now, they hesitated if they should kill the flame crows.

Suddenly, the voice of Pan Mei echoed throughout the plane.

“Let them in. I’ll talk to them.”

The players paused for a moment. They soon opened the checkpoint gate and allowed the crows to tour their plane.

The golden crow was delighted. He slammed his head to the ground several times.

“Thank you! THANK YOU FOR SPARING US! We promise that we’ll do our best to help you!”

Despite the pathetic look of the crows, Pan Mei warned them and revealed his aura, “Don’t do something stupid, or I’ll instantly delete you.”

RUMBLE

The flame on the crows’ bodies was extinguished by the aura. Their feathers stood up as if they had goosebumps from fright.

They remembered this aura well.

This was the presence of a Great Dao Sage!

The players had a Great Dao Sage!

The red feathers of Sun Crow turned white in fear. The others also trembled, doubting their master’s sanity and audacity for trying to manipulate this great dao sage.

…

Chaos Realm’s headquarters plane

An army of Cathulhus and their little catopuses surrounded two intruders. Their menacing big pupils fixated on them, staring down at the two tiny beings as if they had spotted prey.

Kishin Douji had seen Cathulhus many times before. However, facing so many giant cats with tentacles at once was a nightmare.

Minghe was also in a similar situation. He sweated profusely as his PTSD kicked in.

While the two men were frozen solid by fear, Mir had transformed into a ginger giant Cathulhu. She smiled with her cat face and glared at Minghe.

“Surrender or else, munya!”

Minghe raised his hands over his head and knelt, “We’ve come in peace. We’re here to surrender.”

But Mir suddenly smirked. She seemed to think of something.

“Boys. Do you think they smell like fish, munya?”

“Huh?” Minghe and Kishin Douji widened their eyes.

The cats drooled and licked their lips, “They indeed smell like fish, munya!”

“Fish, munya!”

“Stinky fish, munya!”

“Delicious fish, munya!”

At that moment, Kishin Douji and Minghe knew – They F’ed up.

Fortunately, it was Mir’s prank. She slammed her giant tentacle on Kishin Douji and Minghe’s heads, knocking both men out in one hit. Then, she collected the two men and brought them to the flying sect island.

Several Cathulhus also followed Mir as she had instructed them. The cats expected a reward, aka fish and catnip crystals from Miaomiao’s dantian universe.

A few minutes later, they threw the two men into the sect’s courtyard.

“Two prisoners, munya! We want to exchange them for food and catnip crystals, munya!”

Miaomiao quickly came out of the sect’s main hall along with some of his wives. Fuxi and others also came to see the new prisoners.

When they noticed that Mir had captured Kishin Douji and Minghe, Miaomiao and others had a complex expressions on their faces.

Devil was also among the crowd. She frowned as she stared at Kishin Douji, who had been knocked out.

‘I fought this bastard 25 million times and struggled to kill him every time. But now, he is easily defeated by a group of cats. What the hell was I struggling for?! Why didn’t I join forces with Mu-Nyang or become his pawn earlier!?’