Loot the headquarters and head to the border (5200)

"Hmm? Talent Crystal?"

Previously, when Cao Xing killed the Goblin King, it also dropped an identical crystal.

Judging by this, this Seed of Light was also a talent holder.

With a curious expression, Cao Xing took it out of his backpack.

This crystal was different from the Goblin King's talent crystal; its surface looked crystal clear, emitting a soft white light like a beautiful gem.

He quickly checked its attributes.

[Talent Crystal: Special Item]

[Item Effect: Can grant this crystal to a talentless Survivor, allowing it to acquire this talent ability.]

[Talent Name: Seed of Light]

[Grade: Grade A]

[Talent Crystal: Special Item]

[Talent Ability: Causes a talentless Survivor to fuse with this crystal, inheriting the identity of the Seed of Light, increasing light affinity by 50%, granting 80% immunity to light-attribute attacks (below divine level), and simultaneously gaining the ability to converse with the God of Light.]

(Note: This talent crystal is a special talent created by the God of Light using divine power and does not belong to normal talents. It can be destroyed to gain 100 points of divine power.)

(Note 2: After fusing with this talent crystal, one will be controlled by the God of Light.)

A look of sudden realization appeared in Cao Xing's eyes. "So that's how it is——"

"This talent crystal was created by the God of Light, equivalent to a capability he bestowed upon this Shen Shengjie."

"Grade A can already immunize 80% of light-attribute attacks. If this thing were Grade S, it would probably be 100% immunity. It's still quite formidable!"

Of course, Cao Xing also noticed the subsequent prompt.

"Will fusing with it subject one to the control of the God of Light?"

"This thing is rather similar to Démǔ's divinity fragments——"

"This kind of artificially created talent really has a huge gap compared to the innate talents we possess."

Clearly, this thing couldn't be used for other Survivors.

However, absorbing it directly would also grant 100 points of divine power, which was still pretty good.

Whether supplementing divine power for Malenia or for Balthazar's divine altar, it was a good choice. Thinking of this, Cao Xing put it away in his backpack with satisfaction.

As for the other two moon god orb fragments, they were also good items. Up to now, he had already collected 5 of them.

He was one step closer to gathering all 12 and exchanging them for the Moon God Staff.

Meanwhile, after finishing counting the loot from the Seed of Light, Cao Xing came before the statue at the back of the palace.

This statue looked like it was carved from a special kind of stone, and its entire body was jade-white.

Its upper body was bare, and it was half-bowed in a hugging posture.

Within its arms was a suspended sun, as if it were embracing the sun in its bosom.

"Is this the image of the God of Light? It certainly looks quite grandiose and righteous."

Cao Xing's gaze swept over the attributes.

[Dim Statue of the God of Light]

[Note: Because its divine power is exhausted, this statue has lost its function——]

"Is it already useless?" Cao Xing thought to himself.

Just moments ago, it was this statue that unleashed that terrifying strike, enough to instantly kill a Hero-level existence on the spot.

He had thought this statue might have some special use.

"Since that's the case, there's no need for it to exist anymore."

With that, he directly raised his staff, a wall of ice appeared, and then it exploded with a roar.

"Rumble——"

Under this wave of impact, the divine statue collapsed on the spot, turning into fragments all over the floor.

At the same time,

after searching the underground palace, the others also came to Cao Xing's side one after another.

Assam stepped forward to report: "My Lord, we have searched every corner of this underground palace. Aside from some food and cold-weather clothing, we haven't found anything special."

Cao Xing nodded slightly, not feeling particularly surprised.

This place should be the temporary headquarters of the Church of Light, so there indeed wouldn't be too many resources inside.

The biggest harvest was the items dropped after wiping out these more than one hundred Church of Light members.

Sarah also walked over at this moment. "My Lord, these are the items dropped by those people during the battle just now. Please review them."

Finished speaking, she handed over a small backpack.

Looking at that backpack, Cao Xing's heart stirred slightly with excitement.

After all, this was the loot from the entire Church of Light headquarters.

How many souls and Heart of Power items could be inside? It was truly something to look forward to!

He transferred everything from the backpack into his own dragon-patterned bag.

[Obtained: Archbishop Michael's Dominator Soul * 1]

[Obtained: Hero's Heart * 1]

[Obtained: Red-robed Bishop's Commander-level Soul * 3]

[Obtained: White-robed Priest's Chieftain-level Soul * 15]

[Obtained: Black-robed Priest's Leader-level Soul * 78]

[Obtained: Master-level Heart of Power * 24]

[Obtained: Expert-level Heart of Strength * 57]

A large number of Heart of Power and Heart of Strength items were collected into his backpack.

Next were some pieces of equipment.

[Obtained: Dawn (Orange) * 1]

[Obtained: Sky-Rending Great Saber (Orange) * 1]

[Obtained: Spirit Snake Coat (Orange) * 1]

[Obtained: Leaf-Patterned Cuirass (Gold) * 1]

[Obtained——]

These hundred-odd powerhouses contributed nearly a hundred souls, dozens of Heart of Power and Heart of Strength items, plus three pieces of orange equipment to him!

It could be said that these gains alone made the trip worthwhile!

The corners of Cao Xing's mouth curled up slightly once more.

He was even somewhat eager to fully digest all these gains.

Of course, matters weren't over yet; digesting these gains would have to wait until they returned to the territory.

Braum's voice sounded from the side.

"My Lord, I have piled up the corpses of these people together."

"Alright, I'm coming over now."

Cao Xing walked over quickly and stored that huge pile of corpses completely into his backpack.

In an instant, the ground was swept clean.

Thus, all the spoils in this underground palace were considered completely pocketed by Cao Xing.

He patted his hands in satisfaction.

Cao Xing sensed the external aura once more.

After all, the Old King was still fighting that Legendary creature of the Church of Light outside!

However, the combat auras of these two Legendary powerhouses had disappeared without a trace long ago after the divine aura of the God of Light erupted.

It looked like the Old King had gone off to pursue the opponent.

Cao Xing thought to himself, "These two powerhouses fought until they vanished without a trace. Who knows how the battle is going?"

Thinking of this, he shook his head and said, "Alright, everyone come over, we're getting ready to head out."

Just as everyone was preparing to regroup,

an aged figure clad in battle armor suddenly appeared beside Cao Xing.

It was precisely the Old King.

He was as elusive as ever, coming and going without a trace.

Cao Xing was slightly stunned, then asked, "Your Majesty the King, how is the battle outside?"

"Where is that Legendary creature of the Church of Light?"

The Old King shook his head and sighed, "That fellow got away."

"Got away?"

"Indeed."

The Old King said, "This fellow is a white-maned snow ape that the God of Light originally sealed here."

"Knowing it wasn't my match, it took advantage of the eruption of the divine power of the God of Light below to escape from here."

"However, although I can defeat this fellow, it would be a bit difficult to slay a Legendary without using a demigod artifact."

"Moreover——you should know about my body; every outbreak accelerates the loss of my vitality."

Cao Xing nodded slightly; this much he did know.

For powerhouses of their level, every battle consumed a massive amount of blood Qi, which was also vitality.

In other words, the number of times the Old King could make a move was already running low——

Thinking of this, his brows gradually knitted together.

The Old King said, "However, Lord Cao Xing can rest assured. This old fellow, just like me, doesn't have many years left to live."

"After breaking the seal this time, it will definitely find a way to live longer and won't have time to come make trouble for us again."

A moment later, the Old King changed the topic and chuckled, "That's right, Lord Cao Xing, this operation went very smoothly. The 30 strongholds I dealt with were basically all cleared out, wiping out the majority of the cultists."

"Only a small fraction of the cultists managed to escape. How about your side?"

Cao Xing also said with a smile on his face, "My side is about the same. All strongholds have been successfully cleared out,"

"and I incidentally wiped out the Seed of Light."

"In this way, the Church of Light basically won't be able to stir up any big waves."

A look of surprise surfaced in the Old King's eyes. "You even resolved the spokesperson of the God of Light?"

Cao Xing smiled and nodded.

A trace of a smile also surfaced on the Old King's face.

"Not bad, not bad. The Church of Light is indeed practically existing in name only now."

"However, our operation this time has also alerted the Velen Kingdom. Right now, a large army is pressing at the border, seemingly preparing to trigger a war between kingdoms."

"Are you interested in coming with me to take a look at the border?"

Hearing this, Cao Xing's expression stirred slightly.

With a formidable enemy currently at hand, the Blood Legion was about to descend and sweep across numerous kingdoms.

At a time like this, a war between nations definitely cannot break out.

When the Old King said he would go take a look around, it naturally wasn't just a simple glance.

There is even a possibility that a Legendary battle will erupt once more!

And under such a chaotic battlefield, we might even be able to snatch a few benefits.

Cao Xing nodded without hesitation, saying, "Alright, then let's go take a look around."

This place was a full two thousand kilometers away from the kingdom's border.

Prior to this, even if Seraphis and the Spirit Vision Goshawk King advanced at full speed, it would still take two hours to arrive.

However, if blessed by that special method of the Old King, their speed could skyrocket over tenfold, allowing them to arrive in just a few minutes.

Thus, Cao Xing quickly said, "Everyone, come over and gather."

Inside the grand hall, one powerful figure after another walked over.

The crowd, having just fought a victorious battle, appeared even more imposing at this moment.

The Old King praised, "Not bad, there are many powerhouses within the Church of Light, yet your side actually didn't suffer any casualties."

"Truly a group of powerful warriors."

Facing the praise of a Legendary powerhouse, Assam, Braum, and the others all appeared somewhat excited.

After all, this was equivalent to an acknowledgment of their strength.

Cao Xing smiled.

Of course, the Old King did not know that these people all possessed the blessing of [Eternal Power].

This kind of battle at the same level was basically a massacre for them, and no deaths or injuries would occur.

Soon, everyone jumped onto the backs of the giant dragon Seraphis and the Spirit Vision Goshawk King respectively.

"Sit tight, we are ready to set off."

As the words fell, the two huge figures quickly flew up into mid-air.

As soon as they burrowed out of the subterranean palace, a strong wave of cold air struck once again.

Cao Xing swept his gaze around; this nearby area was originally an open valley surrounded by mountains on all sides, with no place to enter at all.

Yet now, several huge cracks had appeared out of thin air around them, as if someone had forcefully hacked out several passageways.

The ground was covered with various terrifying sword marks, and ravines thousands of meters long intersected vertically and horizontally.

Even those tall mountains in the distance were directly shaved flat.

Clearly, these should be the traces left behind when the Old King fought that giant ape.

The combat power of a Legendary powerhouse was once again unmistakably revealed!

At the same time, Seraphis was still leading everyone to continue ascending, reaching an altitude of ten thousand meters in the blink of an eye.

With another casual wave of his hand, the Old King blessed the Spirit Vision Goshawk King and Seraphis with two clusters of magical power.

Instantly causing the speed of these two flying creatures to surge by a huge margin!

Then, they flew rapidly together toward the direction of the border.

"Whoosh, the wind at high altitude is terrifying as ever."

The surrounding scenery retreated at lightning speed.

The movement speed of the giant dragon Seraphis per second already exceeded three to four kilometers!

Taking less than ten minutes, they crossed this distance of one to two thousand kilometers.

From afar, Cao Xing and the others saw a special scene appearing ahead,

On that dark land, there were two continuous patches of sparks.

It was as if they were two glowing rivers several kilometers long, only discovered after getting closer.

That was not some glowing river, but rather the scene of soldiers on both sides holding up torches and confronting each other in the dark night.

The atmosphere at this moment seemed extremely tense, with swords drawn and bows bent.

The main armies on both sides had already finished assembling, and behind them were a large number of war machines ready to go.

As an important location of a country, the number of stationed soldiers of the Ice Crystal Kingdom here had already exceeded one million.

Moreover, they were not those Tier 2 or Tier 3 rabble, but elite troops with at least Tier 4 strength!

Every single soldier and knight wore fine equipment, their gazes resolute and ready to plunge into battle at any time.

Meanwhile, the Velen Kingdom's army was equally not weak, with hundreds of thousands of well-equipped soldiers whose levels had all reached above Level 30.

In front of the Velen Kingdom's legion, there was also a special army.

That was a group of emaciated, tall creatures emitting a terrifying, gloomy and cold aura from their bodies.

As if they were able to freeze and devour all life!

These were precisely the wight army!

And it looked like their numbers were even more terrifying compared to the last time at Lake Doron City.

Directly reaching one hundred thousand!

The million-strong army was still in a state of confrontation.

Archbishop Sullivan in the crowd looked extremely anxious!

After all, according to the initial plan, he intended to pressure the Ice Crystal Kingdom's army to force them to withdraw their troops.

However, the Ice Crystal Kingdom's side was even tougher than he had imagined.

The moment the Velen Kingdom's army moved, the Ice Crystal Kingdom side made preparations for battle.

And it looked like they were fully prepared to fight them to the bitter end in a bloody battle.

Clearly, the Ice Crystal King had already issued an order: before they wiped out the Church of Light, they must absolutely not let the Velen Kingdom cross the border by even a single step.

As for the Velen Kingdom side, seeing the Ice Crystal Kingdom be so tough, for a moment they actually didn't dare to continue launching a full-scale war!

At this time, Archbishop Sullivan did not yet know about the death of the Seed of Light and the destruction of the headquarters.

He came into a military camp.

Inside, two figures were sitting leisurely.

One was a middle-aged man wearing battle armor and looking to be in his early forties.

The other was a woman wearing mage robes that outlined her voluptuous figure, holding a staff.

The powerful magic fluctuation on her body even caused Sullivan to feel a sense of palpitation.

Moreover, it was this female mage who was sitting in the main seat.

Sullivan looked at the middle-aged man and asked anxiously, "Grand Commander, when can we launch the attack?"

"Right now, a large number of our Church of Light's strongholds are suffering attacks from the King's Legion."

"If we drag this out any longer, it will be completely too late."

However, that Grand Commander remained very calm. He shook his head and said, "Bishop Sullivan, do not be impatient."

"I received news that the Ice Crystal Kingdom has developed a batch of new-type war machines with powerful strength. If we rashly charge, I'm afraid we will suffer heavy losses."

"Currently, I have already sent frontline scouts deep into the enemy forces to investigate what this new-type war machine is."

Hearing this, Sullivan immediately anxiously asked, "What is there still to investigate?"

"We have as many as three Hero-level creatures here, plus a hundred thousand wight army, and Sage Aurora is also a Hero-level mage!"

"With a single forbidden spell from her, she can cause heavy losses to the Ice Crystal Kingdom's legion!"

Hearing this, the two people in the military camp still maintained their silence.

Sullivan seemed to understand something at this moment, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Since you are afraid of too heavy losses, then I will let the wight army charge first and take the vanguard for you, how about that?"

Hearing this, a trace of a smile also appeared on the Grand Commander's face.

"Since that's the case, that couldn't be better."

"Bishop Sullivan, once your wight army probes out the Ice Crystal Kingdom's trump card, we will immediately launch a general offensive!"

Sullivan let out a cold snort, said no more, and directly left the barracks.

Then, he came among the wight army.

Looking at the wight overlord beside him, he instantly gave the order, "Erzgal, charge over!"

"Roar!!"

A large number of wights took the lead, directly crossing the border line and charging toward the direction where the Ice Crystal Kingdom's army was located!

"Rumble!!"

And when the soldiers of the Ice Crystal Kingdom saw this scene, they also knew that the war was about to begin!

They all grasped the shields in their hands, pressed their bodies slightly downward, and made preparations to welcome the impact of the wight army!

"Everyone, defend our territory! We must absolutely not let these fellows break through the defense line by even a single step!"

"Kill!!"

The great battle was on the verge of breaking out!

Neat and orderly battle cries came over.

Watching closely, that group of the wight army was about to impact the border defense line.

By then, the battle between more than two million soldiers from both sides would also instantly open!

The entire battlefield would become a flesh grinder, with an unknown number of people killed in action.

And right at this moment.

A heaven-shaking sword light emerged, cutting across like lightning in the dark night!

"Whoosh!!!"

All the wights that crossed the border line were chopped into pieces by this single sword strike, without even a damage number appearing.

At least over twenty thousand wights were turned into nothingness under this single sword strike.

Dust filled the sky.

Right in front of these soldiers, a ravine spanning tens of kilometers horizontally and vertically appeared!

This sudden scene directly caused the movements of the million-strong armies on both sides to fall into stagnation.

At the same time, they also noticed the direction from which the sword light struck, and all looked toward the night sky.

At a glance, they saw two giant beasts lingering in the sky!

That was a deep blue giant dragon and a grayish-white goshawk!

And on the head of the Spirit Vision Goshawk King, a majestic figure was still standing.

He held a bright longsword in his hand, was clad in battle armor, and his full head of white hair danced in the air!