Spoils of War 59

  When a lion chases a rabbit, it must use all its strength. This is the unyielding ambition of the strong to never stop striving.

  There are many times when strength is clearly stronger than the opponent, but it still loses to the weak. The root of the problem is often due to an imbalance in mentality. Those who have only brute force, like a nouveau riche, and lack the mental control needed to wield power, or those who cannot grasp their own heart, no matter how strong they are, do not deserve to be called strong.

  Lin Xu's move was a full-force strike, not to mention his strength far surpassed that of the unlucky Tianjin God. Just being pierced by the Seven Star Sword, whether intentionally or unintentionally, would be a fatal blow, and even a deity with higher cultivation than Lin Xu wouldn't be able to withstand it, let alone this victim whose cultivation was inferior to Lin Xu's!

  Lin Xuan smiled and said as he snatched the red hook jade from the hands of the alien god whose body was pierced by the Seven Star Sword:

  "This thing is pretty good, I'll keep it for myself, as for you, you can go die now."

  Having said that, Lin Xu's lips moved slightly, and a fierce "Broken Killing Divine Light" burst out on the body of the Seven Stars Sword, like a flame.

  This radiance was like a bonfire lit up in the dark night, and its single-body destructive power was naturally not comparable to that of an arrow with only a thread of aura attached. Immediately, this Tianjin god who had been pierced through his body let out a shrill cry, and then fell headlong.

  At the moment of Tianjin Sheng's death, his eyes still showed some unbelievable and uncloseable gaze at the eight-foot-long jade hook that had been taken away.

  Lin Xu didn't care about the thoughts of his sworn enemies, and with a slight curl of his lip, he said in a tone that was not without mockery:

  "The thing is good, but unfortunately your skills are too poor, and it's been wasted."

  If the Tianjin god who just fell to death has knowledge after death, he heard such vicious and sarcastic teasing, and he can't help but be killed again.

  Here is the translation:

  Just as Lin Xu was about to put away the hook jade and go deal with the two toothless tigers, the hook jade in his hand suddenly seemed to produce a huge surge of life force, struggling violently as if trying to break free from Lin Xu's control. Subconsciously, he tightened his grip on this treasure, and at this time, Lin Xu didn't care about anything else, and slapped more than a dozen seals onto the hook jade. Even so, this piece of hook jade was still jumping up and down like a living thing, as if it might break free from its restraints and fly away at any moment.

  "Wow, you actually want to run!"

  He muttered in surprise, Lin Xu carefully sensed the source of the power that caused Yu to go wild, and pursued it all the way into the vast empty space.

  Lin Xu couldn't help but sneer as he said:

  "It's a pity that such a treasure fell into the hands of a group of useless people, it turns out they borrowed it from someone."

  At this moment, a neutral voice that couldn't distinguish between male and female calmly sounded in Lin Xu's ear, emotionlessly saying:

  "Why doesn't the deity release its treasure, is it trying to make an enemy of me?"

  Upon hearing this, Lin Xu burst out laughing, tears almost streaming down his face, and replied with disdain:

  "This joke is really cold. This is my spoils of war. Moreover, can my territory be a place where you demons come and go as you please?"

  The other party did not expect Lin Xu to be so unceremonious, as gods are usually quite particular about their dignity. As the saying goes, "a gentleman never speaks ill of others", no matter what dirty tricks they may have played behind the scenes, at least everyone's words are always sweeter than honey; it is rare to find someone like Lin Xu who is so blunt and unconventional.

  "Hmph, alright then. In the future, I will definitely come to your doorstep to ask for your guidance."

  Seeing that the negotiation was not going to work out, the suspected original owner of the jade, a god, very wisely gave up trying to wrestle control from Lin Xiang. This wasn't because he was willing to leave the treasure with Lin Xiang, but rather because he truly didn't have the power to do so. It's worth noting that distance not only creates beauty, but also incurs massive transmission costs. When a god projects his divine power in a place far from his own domain, the consumption during transmission is almost a hundred times more than what is actually needed, like using a 100-yuan bill as if it were 50 cents. Even with an extremely wealthy and powerful background, one couldn't afford to squander resources like this. Therefore, even if he still had the heart to reclaim his treasure, he could only wait and see if there would be another opportunity to face Lin Xiang in person.

  "Excuse me for not seeing you off further!"

  Half in mockery, half in exasperation, Lin Xu's face turned dark as if it was about to storm. Whatever he said now would be fine, anyway, this unseen enemy had already been made. If he were to return the spoils of war obtained from the battlefield, it could have ended the feud between them, and Lin Xu might have seriously considered it, but the key was that the other side lacked sincerity in reconciliation.

  That deity who has never met, since willing to lend out his own magic weapon, gave it to those guys lying on the ground for a war of aggression. Without mentioning whether he is good or evil, this behavior itself is enough to prove his stance. The principle that the buttocks decide the head is also an unshakeable truth, and there is no need to say more nonsense. Since Lin Xu knew the outcome of things would be like this, why did he still want to return this not-so-bad magic weapon to its original owner?

  The three sacred treasures, the Yasakani no Magatama was easily taken by Lin Xu, and the Kusanagi and Yata no Kagami temporarily lost their power. The Heaven's Ford's group, which had been at a disadvantage and resisting desperately, suddenly collapsed the spiritual pillar that had been maintaining their morale.

  The gods who had lost their will to fight were no match even for mortals, they had no desire to continue fighting and only thought of how to escape.

  At that moment, the Tianjin gods drove up their own escape techniques and began to flee, like a swarm of wasps whose nest had been poked. Except for a few unlucky ghosts who stumbled into Lin Xu's hands and were killed on the spot, the rest of the fugitives who survived the hail of arrows from the dark army's crossbow array all fled eastward as they wished, leaving behind a trail of corpses. Among them were the remains of gods, the gradually disappearing bodies of the dark soldiers, and the bodies of the unfortunate water officials who had been caught in the battle.

  Successfully expelled the alien gods occupying Shuifu, although they were not completely annihilated, a crushing defeat was absolutely inflicted.

  Dà Jiāng Lóng Jūn áo Píng, as the landlord, once again recovered this water mansion located in the middle reaches of the river. Feeling greatly humiliated, he had the disordered water mansion slightly tidied up and ordered a banquet to be prepared to entertain Lin Xu and his subordinates.

  He changed into a brand new dragon robe that shone with pearls and treasures in the Water Mansion, and walked slowly to the main entrance of the Water Mansion. From afar, he bowed deeply to Lin Xuan and said:

  "Thank you, noble god, for not holding past grudges and coming to my aid in solitude. I am deeply grateful. Today, I have prepared a humble wine to repay your kindness. Mount Hua's god, please come in!"

  Upon hearing this, Lin Xu also retracted his smile and solemnly returned the courtesy to Ao Ping, saying in a deep voice:

  "Long Jun, you're right. A distant relative is not as good as a close neighbor. The principle of 'when the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold' must also be clear to you. We'll still have frequent interactions in the future, so let's skip today's banquet for now! Those defeated foreign gods may have retreated, but they're indeed powerful and have countless followers. You and I have only won a battle, not the war. The priority is to regroup and prepare for battle. Besides, this Water Temple has been ruined by them, why don't we schedule another meeting between you and Lin in the future?"

  For Lin Xu's polite refusal, Ao Ping felt a little disappointed, but he owed Lin Xu a great favor and couldn't say anything. Even if it was just this small matter, even if Lin Xu had done something more excessive, Ao Ping couldn't say anything, so he bowed his head and said:

  "Since Mount Hua's deity has spoken, it can't be helped. I'll take my leave now, farewell."

  After bidding farewell in front of the Water Gate, Lin Xu led his troops back to Huo Mountain. Long Jun'ao was busy cleaning up the remnants of his household, especially recalling elite soldiers from various garrisons to strengthen the defense of the Water Gate and prevent the invaders from returning.

  Lin Xu returned to the old mountain temple, but instead began to worry about how to dispose of the spoils of war. The eight-foot-long crystal jade hook that Lin Xu had obtained in this battle was a high-quality magic treasure, and in the time he had spent in this realm, he had never seen a higher-quality jade-like magic treasure. Good things are always liked by everyone, and it would be insincere to say that one is not tempted, but this jade hook had already been refined into a divine artifact by an unknown god, let alone Lin Xu, who was just a newly promoted deity. Even if those senior gods were to take action, it would be no easy task to deprive the original owner of their ownership without damaging the magic treasure.

  After some deliberation, Lin Xu made a decision that seemed absurd to others - he would thoroughly destroy the treasure. Lin Xu's thinking was exceptionally simple: since he wouldn't be using it anyway, he couldn't let it remain by his side as a potential threat. Being criticized by unrelated people for burning his lute and cooking his crane didn't amount to much of an issue.

  Destruction is always simpler than construction, building a skyscraper like the World Trade Center in New York takes at least several years, thoroughly destroying it only requires two planes and an average of 79 minutes of fire, which is enough.

  If Lin Xu were to be asked to create an artifact of the same level as the Eight Feet Qing Hook Jade, it would probably take him over a hundred years to complete this arduous task. However, to destroy an artifact that has lost its master's control and cut off its energy exchange channels with the outside world, Lin Xu's current power is more than enough.

  Even if it is a powerful existence like God, the individual strength can hardly surpass the overall unity, this is the power of law and also a kind of manifestation of the Great Way.

  In comparison with a special individual like God, the heaven and earth and all things are an integral whole, so relying on one's own strength is not enough to conquer the heaven and earth.

  The sun is one of the most powerful natural sources of energy in the universe, and planets like Earth are only able to harness about a billionth of the energy it releases. This amount is enough to sustain the billions of living things on our planet. If the Earth were to receive even more sunlight, it would likely become as hot as Venus, with an average annual temperature of 400 degrees Celsius. Although there are many stars that are larger and hotter than the sun, their distance from us reduces their impact, making the sun the most important star for humanity.

  In the world of Lin Xu, the sun that people are used to is not a physical entity, but an illusory existence like a projection. In fact, it is a light and heat source brought about by the distortion of the heavenly laws and the grafting of time and space, but the sun's nourishing effect on all things remains unchanged.

  Measuring his own strength, Lin Xu did not dare to make a move on the eight-foot qing jade hook. This level of divine artifact almost all have low-level intelligence similar to artificial intelligence, although it can't be said to be very smart, but once it determines that its own destruction is inevitable, whether it will come up with a self-destructive jade stone at that time is unpredictable.