Translator:
EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor:
EndlessFantasy Translation
In less than half an hour, the Overlordâs tiny surveillance bugs found more than thirty participants.
After watching the surveillance footage that the Overlord projected, Lin Huang noticed a familiar face.
However, that did not mean Lin Huang and this person were actually acquaintedâLin Huang merely knew of the personâs existence and had read up about him.
After finding out about the Virtual God rankings, Lin Huang had scanned through the leaderboard the first chance he got, then looked on the internet for information on some of the top-ranked people on the list.
In the projection, Shen Wushuangânumber one among the Protoss Virtual Gods and a sword cultivatorâwas the person Lin Huang had paid the most attention to and had looked up the most details for.
Shen Wushuang was the number one genius from the Combat God Temple and a sword cultivator. He was a non-Pure Blood Protoss. Rumor had it that his parents were both big shots in Xeno, a grade-7 organization. Yet, he did not join Xeno. The next day after he came of age, he inconspicuously signed up at one of the Combat God Templeâs branches. After joining the Combat God Temple, he had steadily made a name for himself without receiving any preferential treatment.
Due to his impressive talent and good looks, Shen Wushuang had many female fans in the God Territory with female non-Pure Blood Protoss forming the largest percentage of them.
There were even videos of him in combat on the internet, mostly taken by his female fans. Lin Huang had watched some of the videos too and thought that they were not exactly impressive. He could only say that among people of similar combat strength, Shen Wushuangâs sword skills were undoubtedly of the highest caliber. However, he still had some ways to go before he could become the Number One Virtual God.
However, in the few years after Shen Wushuang achieved rank-9 Virtual God, he rarely fought in public. The tasks that the Combat God Temple allocated to him were similarly discreet, as though he was intentionally hiding his real ability from public scrutiny.
Moreover, Shen Wushuangâs had fans stopped sharing his old combat videos to outsiders as well. The most recent combat video that Lin Huang had watched dated from seven years ago.
Therefore, when Lin Huang saw Shen Wushuangâs face in the projection, he could not help but wonder if the Shen Wushuang of today was worthy of his title as the God Territoryâs Number One Virtual God.
âOverlord, zoom in to his footage.â
Lin Huang pointed at Shen Wushuangâs face in the surveillance footage.
The footage, originally the size of a palm, was swiftly transformed into a big screen of about fifty inches.
In the video, Shen Wushuang was currently in a room that looked suspiciously like a storeroom and was locked in fierce combat with another person.
After concentrating on the video for a few seconds, Lin Huang could not help raising his eyebrows slightly.
âIs that a Sword Servant?â
In the video, Shen Wushuangâs loose long hair gave him a disheveled look. Meanwhile, his opponent was a middle-aged man sporting a beard. Despite his rather ordinary appearance, this man looked as if he was winning this fight with Shen Wushuang.
Both of them clearly displayed skills higher than Level-6 Sword Dao. Going purely by their accomplishments in Sword Dao, Lin Huang felt that they were no weaker than himself.
What prompted Lin Huang to think that Shen Wushuangâs opponent was a Sword Servant was that there was no such person in the God Territoryâs Virtual God ranks. If there had been, this person would have been in the top ranks; at least the top three. Yet, Lin Huang had seen all the pictures of the top twenty Virtual Gods and none of them resembled the person in front of Shen Wushuang.
Of course, the man could have been a resident of the Great Heaven Territory. Lin Huang considered this as well, but he was leaning more towards the assumption that the man was Great Heavenâs Sword Servant, who was also a trial BOSS in the Competitive Trial.
Judging by his ability to contain Shen Wushuangâs attacks, Lin Huang would not have been at all surprised if the bearded manâs actual combat strength was at Heavenly God level.
In the footage, both of them directed their Sword Dao through sheer will.
In the void, shafts of gold and black sword gleams clashed against each other, triggering explosions.
Every sword gleam that they sent out was almost on par with Lin Huangâs current abilities.
However, Lin Huang quickly noticed something strangeâhe suddenly realized that Shen Wushuang was a left-hander.
However, in the combat videos that Lin Huang had watched a few days ago, without exception, Shen Wushuang held his sword in his right hand.
âHas this fellow been hiding his real strength from the very beginning? Or has he realized in recent years that his left hand makes him more skillful, so he switched to cultivating with his left hand instead?â
The fight in the footage fascinated Lin Huang greatly, but it was purely a match of sword skills and Sword Dao. From beginning to end, Shen Wushuang did not utilize other skills and neither did the bearded middle-aged man.
The fight lasted for more than half an hour. When Shen Wushuang started showing defeat, Lin Huang saw his figure retreat frantically out of the storeroom-like space.
The bearded man did not chase after Shen Wushuang however. After he sheathed his sword though, his head suddenly snapped in the direction of the surveillance camera. The screen blacked out in an instant.
âDiscovered,â the Overlord explained.
âI know.â Lin Huang was more convinced now that his upcoming opponent was one of the 300 Sword Servants in this Trial.
Despite being restricted to rank-9 Virtual God abilities, a Heavenly Godâs detection abilities were far above those of a Virtual God. It was not too much of a surprise that he would have discovered the Overlordâs surveillance bugs.
Shen Wushuang might have lost the fight in the footage, but Lin Huang did not dare underestimate him. In the half-hour fight, Shen Wushuang had demonstrated enough of his abilities to prove that he was indeed the Number One Virtual God.
âThis bearded fellow in the footageâSword Servant or not, heâd make a great opponent. He didnât pursue Shen Wushuang when he retreated. Whatever his reasons for not giving chase, I guess he wonât pursue his opponents no matter who retreats anyway...â The thought of training with the bearded man arose in Lin Huangâs mind. After all, even if Lin Huang could not defeat him, he would not need to use any skills than a direct retreat. âIf I train with an opponent like that, heâd probably be a great help to me in assimilating what Iâve harvested from the first two stages.â
Most people would prefer to stay away once they realized how powerful the bearded man was. Yet, for Lin Huang, the man was the perfect training target.
âOverlord, plan my route from my current position to this bearded fellowâs location. If there are other participants in between, mark them for me too. I can take them out on the way and earn more points,â Lin Huang proceeded to make good on his thoughts.
Immediately, the Overlord created a route as directed and projected it to Lin Huang.
âTarget is currently located two hundred and eighty kilometers away. Based on the previously determined locations of the Trial participants, we ought to encounter four participants en route. This is calculated based on a ten-kilometer deviation along the route between us and the target. If we take a twenty-kilometer deviation, thereâll be nine participants.
âBasically, all the participants are moving around; Iâll be constantly updated on their positions. But thereâs still a problemâthe target can detect my probing methods, so he canât be tracked. Thereâs a good chance that heâs left his initial position.â
âIf heâs a participant, then heâs left for sure. But if heâs a Sword Servant, heâd most probably guard his own territory. No matter what, letâs go and find out.â
Naturally, Lin Huang hoped that the man would remain in the same location. It was hard to find a good opponent after all. If the man turned out to be a participant from the Great Heaven Territory, he would probably not stay in the same spot after a match. With his abilities, the man would be actively out hunting and would probably not linger in the same area.
Nevertheless, Lin Huang decided to go and find out.