Chapter 0374: You Truly Don’t Deserve It!

“Young Master, the Lu Ning family’s headquarters is truly magnificent!” Ten months later, Huang Long and Bradd stood in front of the southern gate of Lu Ning’s headquarters, with Bradd gazing at the fortress.
After entering Lu Ning’s residence, Bradd had witnessed the “grandeur” of the foremost family in the Netherworld. Now, seeing Lu Ning’s headquarters, he couldn’t help but feel awed.
Back then, he ruled over the Ni Meng Mountains, with a powerful force and palaces spread over millions of miles. Yet compared to the Lu Ning family, the foremost family in the Netherworld, it paled in comparison.
Huang Long also sighed upon seeing Lu Ning’s headquarters, then turned with a smile and said, “Let’s go in.” His eyes flashed coldly as he added, “I’m sure many are waiting for me to return.”
A year ago, Huang Long and Bradd had already returned to Lu Ning’s headquarters. At the speed they used to travel to the Ancient Forest, it should have taken only five months. But it took ten months this time, as they stopped along the way to “relax.”
After entering the headquarters, Huang Long didn’t head to the Four Seas Residence but took Bradd straight to the southern part of the city.
In the southern part, the Tian He Hall was where all members of the Lu Ning family submitted their trial tasks. Of course, within this hall, direct descendants of the Lu Ning family could also issue tasks they needed, requiring other members to complete them in exchange for specific rewards.
When Huang Long and Bradd arrived at the Tian He Hall, the sun was shining brightly, and members of the Lu Ning family kept arriving one after another.
“So many people?!” Huang Long was puzzled. Usually, although the hall was crowded, it was never this busy.
“I didn’t expect the family to offer ten upper-tier divine mutated beasts as rewards just to collect these Wind and Thunder Beads!”
“Exactly! I heard the family hired a legendary alchemist to craft the Heaven and Earth Pill. That alchemist has strange demands—only ten Wind and Thunder Beads as payment.”
“What are these Wind and Thunder Beads?”
After entering, Huang Long figured out what was going on from the discussions among the disciples. It seemed everyone was attracted by those ten upper-tier divine mutated beasts. But like the others, Huang Long was also curious—what exactly were these Wind and Thunder Beads?
“Hehe, isn’t that Huang Hai?” A shrill voice rang out as Huang Long and Bradd headed straight for the trial task hall.
Huang Long turned and saw a young man with purple hair leading a group of disciples, his face full of mockery.
Daniel, Fei De’s brother!
Back then, Huang Long had ranked first in the trial on the Island of Trials. He had met him once when he went to the Tian Xiang Pavilion with Chester and Fat Frank.

Huang Long glared at the group before him. Daniel stepped forward, along with the other disciples, and stood in front of Huang Long. He then glanced at Bradd beside Huang Long and laughed, “Well, after going out on a trial, has our Lord Huang Hai brought back a high-ranking divine servant to show off?!”, saying this while pointing at Bradd and laughing heartily.

Huang Long and Bradd used secret techniques, so that on the surface, Huang Long still appeared to be at the peak of a mid-tier god, while Bradd was just an ordinary high-ranking god.

The twenty-odd disciples around them all burst into laughter after hearing Daniel’s words. Bradd frowned, a cold glint appearing in his eyes, but he ultimately held back.

At this moment, inside the Lu Ning headquarters, things couldn’t be as casual as in the Ancient Forest, and he didn’t want to cause trouble for Huang Long either.

“Do you have something to say?” Huang Long asked Daniel coldly.

Seeing Huang Long’s expression, Daniel instead stepped closer and examined him from all angles. “Hehe, does it really have to be something important? Well, I do have something to say.” His tone changed as he continued, “I really want to see how many high-ranking Divine Scale Cloud Lions you, Huang Hai, have hunted in these hundred years. Hehe, I hope you haven’t caught even one!”

Daniel continued to mock, “But it’s not surprising. Asking a mid-tier god to hunt high-ranking Divine Scale Cloud Lions is indeed quite difficult.” Then he turned to the disciples behind him and said with a laugh, “What do you think?”

The twenty-odd disciples behind Daniel all agreed and joined in the mockery.

Huang Long remained indifferent. “Are you provoking me?”

At the Lu Ning headquarters, conflicts among disciples were usually resolved on the competition arena. Of course, in special cases, they could be resolved in specific situations—such as when one party provoked the other in the presence of witnesses, allowing the other party to take action.

Daniel was stunned for a moment before bursting into laughter again, pointing at Huang Long. “Provoke you? What if I do?”, he said, looking at Huang Long mockingly. “But do you even deserve me to provoke you?”

“I say, Huang Hai, you’re not even worthy!” Daniel’s words, infused with divine power, echoed throughout the hall. Thousands of disciples in the hall turned to look in this direction.

A mere peak mid-tier god, in the eyes of Daniel, a high-ranking god at the peak of the Sixth Level of the Nether King, certainly wasn’t worthy of his provocation—insufficiently qualified!

And some of the disciples in the hall, after hearing Daniel’s words, began pointing at Huang Long and discussing him loudly.

The name Huang Hai, though only a century old, has grown increasingly famous over time—just as Huang Long and Boge once broke Marshall’s records. Over these hundred years, the story of Huang Hai challenging the Grand Elder Bishop has become a joke among the members of the Luning family during their leisure time.

Over the past century, those who could gather information about Huang Hai tried their best to learn more, and naturally, they also heard about his plan to enter the Ancestral Dragon Pool for the century-long trial.

“Is he Huang Hai?!”
“I heard he’s going into the Ancestral Dragon Pool, and his trial task is to kill a hundred Upper Divine Azure-Scaled Cloud Lions?!”
“I can’t believe he chose this time to submit his task. There are so many people here today—doesn’t he fear being laughed at if he fails the trial?”
“Who knows? Anyway, he’s just a joke. An Intermediate Divine who dares to challenge such an unparalleled warrior—what else wouldn’t he dare do? He probably doesn’t care about these things anyway!”

All sorts of discussions filled the grand hall.

Huang Long ignored the chatter around him and looked at Daniel coldly, saying, “Am I not qualified?” Then, a smile appeared on his lips.

Daniel was surprised by Huang Long’s smile when suddenly, a figure flashed before his eyes, followed by a terrifying force rushing from ahead.

“Five Peaks Qi Gang!” Then, Huang Long’s cold voice rang in his ears.

In shock, just as he was about to use his divine power to counterattack, his body jolted violently, as if struck by a huge wave against a rock. Daniel felt light and then flew uncontrollably backward.

Crack! With a scream, Daniel crashed into the wall at the far end of the grand hall and slid down it.

Silence—dead silence!

The chatter that filled the hall moments ago ceased abruptly. The entire hall was filled only with shock and disbelief. All the members, including the twenty-some who had been following Daniel, were gaping their mouths.

At that moment, golden light spun around Huang Long’s body, and his immense dragonly aura made everyone in the hall feel suffocated.

“An Upper Divine! Is this… is Huang Hai an Upper Divine?!”
“Weren’t he at the peak of Intermediate Divine status before the trial?! I heard he had just broken through from the later stage of Intermediate Divine. Could it be he broke through again?!”

All the members were stunned, speechless, at the sight of Huang Long, who now displayed the power of an Upper Divine.

They couldn’t believe it—absolute shock, even fear. In just over a hundred years, from the later stage of Intermediate Divine to now an Upper Divine?!

Moreover, even though Huang Hai had just reached the rank of Upper God, Daniel had already surpassed him by billions of years. At the peak of the sixth level as the King of the Underworld, he had no strength to fight back against Huang Hai, who had just reached that rank?! The disciples all felt their breaths quicken! Huang Long stood there, scanning the hall. Everyone present felt a surge of tension, and many instinctively stepped back. His gaze finally settled on Daniel. At that moment, Daniel slid down from the wall, blood dripping from his lips, his face filled with terror as he stared at Huang Long. What terrified him even more was realizing he could no longer activate his divine essence or summon his divine power; it felt as though his entire body was being shattered. “You truly are unworthy!” Huang Long said to Daniel, his indifferent voice echoing throughout the hall, in stark contrast to Daniel’s arrogant words earlier. Daniel felt the piercing gazes of the disciples, his face twisted in anguish, wishing he could vanish from the ground, filled with deep hatred for Huang Long. Huang Long ignored the others and led Brade toward the service desk. Upon arriving, he said to the still-stunned female disciple at the desk, “Please register this trial task I’ve submitted.” The female disciple snapped out of her daze and hurriedly replied, “Yes, it’s Huang Hai, Lord Hai!” Then she hesitated, “B-but if the trial fails, we have to…” Huang Long understood what she meant—if the trial failed, it would be recorded and displayed in the hall as a warning to the other disciples, a rule of the Luning family. With an indifferent expression, just as the female disciple spoke, a flash of light appeared in front of the desk. The disciples’ eyes widened again, just as they had when Huang Long flung Daniel aside. “Upper God Azure-Scaled Cloud Lion Prime Beast Crystals?!” “There are 125 of them!” In front of the desk lay 125 Upper God Azure-Scaled Cloud Lion Prime Beast Crystals, shining brightly. “Please register them. I need to return to my residence,” Huang Long said after a while, seeing that the female disciple was still frozen in place. “Yes, Lord Huang Hai!” she replied, now even more panicked and at a loss.

By this time, Daniel had already had one of his subordinates help him up. Seeing those 125 Supreme Deity-level Azure Scaled Cloud Lion Primal Beast Crystals, his first reaction was disbelief. He screamed, “Huang Hai, you cheated! This definitely can’t be something you hunted!” Just as he had claimed Huang Long had cheated in the trials on Huang Long Trial Island, Phaid decided firmly that Huang Long had cheated.