The Era of Gods

After years of war, the surviving Nagas had all advanced to Level 4, including the first batch of newborn Nagas that were born in this plane. Now, the total number of the Nagas Clan had exceeded eight hundred, of which more than seven hundred and twenty adult Nagas were all at Level 4. The remaining eighty or so Nagas were children, unable to participate in battle to level up.

Compared to the slow growth of the Nagas, the increase in Fishmen was staggering.

The Grey Mist Fish People, also a kind of Fishman, could mate and reproduce with the native Fishmen of this plane. The Grey Mist Fish People were stronger than the native Fishmen and were favored by them, and in the later stages, with few adversaries left, Lin Xiao issued a divine mandate.

So…

The Grey Mist Fish People spent their days mating and eating. In five years, they had bred a massive number of Fishmen. Now, the number of Fishman Followers that Lin Xiao had exceeded five thousand, more than double what it was when he first entered this plane.

Among these Fishmen were 3,744 Level 2 warrior Fishmen, 1,250 First Level Fishmen, and the remaining two hundred or so were small, immature Fishmen.

Thankfully, the conquest of so many tribes harvested a significant amount of Faith value, or it wouldn’t have been enough for the upgrades that were needed.

However, harvesting so many tribes and causing them to change their beliefs did attract the attention of the Sea God. Also, given the proximity of the tribes to Yuyuan City, it was inevitable to draw the attention and alert of Yuyuan City.

Fortunately, Lin Xiao promptly sent envoys to Yuyuan City, expressing his willingness to accept the rule of the Merfolk Empire, and was also willing to dedicate the tribe’s faith to the Sea God, which resolved the crisis.

Of course, that was just the surface appearance. In reality, the orders from Yuyuan City could not reach the tribes, and dedicating their faith to the Sea God was simple, just having a portion of the Fishmen worship the Sea God sufficed. The primary faith in the tribe was still in himself.

Anyhow, nominal believers are still believers, right? The faith of the Fishmen was in a state of neglect before his arrival; the Sea God hadn’t harvested it for many years, not knowing if it was disdain or what. Less of it wouldn’t make a difference.

Anyway, Lin Xiao was just a passerby in this plane, having to leave once his mission was complete, without the need to consider future issues.

Over these five years, Lin Xiao had also been busy, conquering dozens of Fishmen tribes. Although most were poor, he had found some good things and took the time to clean them up with the Creation Magic Cube.

First, he completely disassembled the Giant Sea Snake, not taking anything else but extracting the intense poison from it, producing a full vat of black venom, and then refining and concentrating it until it was the size of an eyeball—a concentrated mass of deadly toxin.

This was a neurotoxin. Once contacted, it would quickly destroy nerves. He tested a tiny bit on a Lobster Man, who immediately turned green, became stiff, and was unable to move, indicating the poison was extremely potent.

But Lin Xiao felt this was not enough. He didn’t want the whole body; he only extracted the venom because his goal was not just to have a dose of concentrated toxin. He needed a super toxin that would be effective against Divine Beings and even Demigods.

Although the concentrated venom of the Giant Sea Snake was terrifying, it was not enough to pose a lethal threat to a Demigod.

Even the Deity Octopus, about fifty kilometers northeast of the tribe in the seabed canyon, with its tentacles reaching six to seven hundred meters, couldn’t be affected by the toxin. If the toxin were to spread throughout its enormous body, the effect would not be as strong. Plus, with the resistance of Divine Beings and their massive bodies and strong Vitality…

He needed a more potent toxin.

And that’s what he did. Over the years, he collected various toxic substances from the sea, including the ones exchanged from Yuyuan City, and indeed managed to obtain several types of toxic creatures and substances.

He put all these toxic items into the Creation Magic Cube to disassemble, refine, and purify them, blending them with other toxins. Ultimately, he concocted a very, very terrifying toxic liquid. A drop the size of an egg contained dozens of times the toxicity of all the venom in the Giant Sea Snake’s body.

Lin Xiao carefully preserved this toxin, as it was the key component of his crazy plan.

Now that he had a poison effective even against demigods, a problem lay before Lin Xiao—

Who should he target first?

If the toxin could affect demigods, it would certainly work on Divine Beings as well. Near the tribe, there was a Fishmen Demigod and a Deity Octopus. Who should he kill?

This dilemma didn’t last long, as Lin Xiao quickly made a decision to test it on the Snake People Demigod first.

He hadn’t yet witnessed the true might of a real demigod. Although he often saw the class advisor, that was in the Main World, where the advisor never showed his True Body in front of the students. He knew demigods were formidable, but he didn’t know exactly how powerful a demigod was.

So, he would explore this first to see just how powerful a demigod could be. If they weren’t as strong as he imagined, naturally, the reward for killing a demigod would be higher.

If the demigod’s power exceeded his expectations, then he would honestly go bother the Deity Octopus at the bottom of the sea.

No sooner said than done, he immediately gave the order, and the tribe began mobilizing the Fishmen Army.

The grand tribe of one hundred forty thousand Fishmen couldn’t remain as disorganized as before, and under his leadership, the Fish people tribe had started to transform into a state-like entity with a formal army.

From the Fishmen, he selected thirty thousand relatively strong individuals, divided into ten large squads, along with the Grey Mist Fish People squad and Naga squad, forming the military organization of the tribe. For this reconnaissance, he dispatched five large squads, comprising fifteen thousand strong Fishmen, plus one thousand Grey Mist Fish People, and a hundred Nagas.

Of course, there were also tens of thousands of Cannon fodder Fishmen.

As it was just a probing mission, there was no need for a full-blown attack.

Half a day later, the vast swarm of Fishmen once again appeared near the Black Water Swamp. Floating on the water’s surface, Lin Xiao looked up at the Black Water Swamp; at the former site of the Frogman Tribe, which he had wiped out years earlier, a new Frogman Tribe had emerged.

It seemed they had migrated from somewhere else, with a population of just over two thousand.

After observing for a while, he motioned for the Fishmen to head south along the boundary where the Black Water Swamp met the ocean. He didn’t strike at this Frogman Tribe but prepared to go further south in search of another Frogman Tribe located in another corner of the swamp.

This Frogman Tribe was situated in the southeast corner of the swamp, with roughly six thousand Frog People.

When night fell, with a grand gesture, the troops quietly advanced towards the Frogman Tribe.

Compared to the disarray of the past, the Fishmen had undergone several years of training. They could now form up in somewhat disjointed ranks, and when charging, they no longer screamed in chaotic outcries like before. They managed to approach the edge of the Frogman Tribe undetected.

Of course, the main reason was that the leading Nagas were too strong. Level 4 Nagas easily dispatched these mere First Level Frogman sentries in seconds.

What followed was naturally a sudden and overwhelming slaughter. A hundred Level 4 Naga Shark Hunters took the lead, charging into the Frogman Tribe, targeting the Frogman Leader who was trying to rally the Frog People, preventing them from forming any effective resistance..