Chapter 176: Looming Threat


    The Lord of Bones didn''t mind people waiting on him on their hands and feet, but he himself didn''t like waiting around for anyone or anything.


    Since he had the thought of confronting his old rival, and he knew exactly where she was, the man immediately set out to confront her in person.


    With his ability, the speed of Gwendolyn''s vessel could be considered only slightly faster than a crawling baby.


    Obviously, she still didn''t understand the meaning of carrying burden and slowing herself down, just like thest time. Why take these insignificant people along? He didn''t understand at all.


    The ''burdens'' had all rushed inside the vessel as soon as their ancestor appeared in front of them and gave her instructions, and the golden haired man couldn''t help but sneer. "Do you think I care about those pet insects of yours? No need to be so careful."


    Gwendolyn frowned. "Why are you here?"


    Staring down at the cold face of the blue haired woman from his position high in the sky, he couldn''t help butugh. "What''s with that unweing attitude? You think I can''t fight you in the open seas? Just because you have an advantage here? Heh how long has it been since you felt my strength?"


    Gwendolyn clutched her staff tightly as she gave him a gloomy look. "Come, if you dare, or get out of my way."


    The Lord of Bones immediately burst intoughter. "You know what? Your response has really amused me today, so I''ll just let you go."


    Gwendolyn sneered as she tapped her staff, and the ship continued moving on its previous course,pletely ignoring the Lord of Bones.


    As he watched her leave with a gloomy look on her face, the golden haired man chuckled in his mind. ''I still remember how I had been so scared of attracting her wrath thousands of years ago, when her power had still exceeded mine greatly. Ahh how exciting makes me a little nostalgic.''


    Had it been the Gwendolyn of the past, she would never have let him off for making such a remark. After all, even if she didn''t look for a fight with him, she still had her own pride.


    Challenging her like this in her own domain could be considered the highest form of insult for such a person.


    For her to leave like this, obviously, his personal strength was no longer something that Gwendolyn could look down upon. In fact, if one of them had to be wary of the other, it would have to be her, not him.


    And that wasn''t even counting the force hemanded  ''The Temple of Shinra''.


    In the beginning, it wasn''t something that he created or nurtured deliberately. Just another venture of his descendants who had worshiped him. Of course, he agreed with their ideals of uniting the people under his banner.


    But as it grew in size, The Lord of Bones realized just how greatly it could benefit himself.


    Even for someone at his level, to be able to channel and filter the most valuable resources of the whole world using such a giant force wasn''t something insignificant.


    The moment he realized this, he started actively strengthening the temple, and thus the faith of people in the Lord of Bones grew and grew, to the point where it was now almostpletely dominating the world, if not for a select few ces.


    If there was a ce he had the least influence in, though, it had to be the old world, but that had been quickly changing in the past few centuries.


    This problem stemmed from the fact that the ''Old World'' was separated from his continent by the ''New World'', and Gwendolyn was still an enormous thorn in his side, making it hard for his forces to expand whenever she could.


    The Lord of Bones smiled as he turned his gaze in the direction of the ''Old World''. "Maybe it''s time to pay a visit to some people who seem to have forgotten their ce, after all."


    Meanwhile, back at the academy, Evelyn''s life continued as before, though her approach to growth changed to being far more cautious than before.


    With the threat of the Terrans leaking her identity, she no longer took her friends out of the academy to hunt in the Wondend of Doom.


    After all, although it was technically the academy''s territory, any force that was willing to sacrifice enough strength could be waiting there in ambush.


    Instead, she turned to focus more on learning from the academy''s courses, as well as her own cultivation technique.


    Although the growth rate was far slower this way whenpared to reaping the energy from high-level monsters, Evelyn realized that it had its own advantages as well.


    The energy that was directly absorbed from the channels  be it the world channel or the throne channel  was only able to boost her stats directly, but it wasn''t able to enhance her understanding and overall abilities.


    Cultivating and increasing herprehension of her cultivation technique  Searing Soul  on the other hand, brought her more benefits in other aspects than it did in terms of experience.


    The first and most important of which was, of course, the level ofprehension she had of the ''Soul'' and how to use it.


    This would not only boost her abilities  since her most basic form of attacks relied on utilizing soul energy instead of spirit power  it would also allow her to unlock and understand new abilities more quickly.


    The experience gain, on the other hand, was also not that bad. Obviously, it couldn''t bepared to the massive boosts she could get from ughtering beasts, but thanks to the Searing Soul''s clones being able to cultivate simultaneously, it was still much, much faster than others.


    Evelyn soon realized that the best way to progress was to bnce cultivation and experience gain from killing beasts, at least for herself. It would allow her to gain new abilities, grow at a fast enough pace, and also prevent her from being too far behind in terms of the variety of skills she had.


    Meanwhile, she still had to make sure to keep an eye on the situation outside, in case she could catch any hints on how the Terrans were handling the matter, and what exactly they knew.


    Unfortunately, even though her friends tried their best to help, it didn''t yield many results. Even E, who was a confidant of the princess of an empire allied with the Terrans, seemed to be clueless about what they knew.


    Aside from that, she could only keep an eye on the forbidden cities, as their ess to the outside world was still quite restricted.


    With the absence of the Thousand Eyed God and its convenience to take people through the Wondend of Doom, it was no longer so easy to enter and exit the academy at will, after all.


    And even if Evelyn could, she wouldn''t take such chances at such a critical moment.


    Not long after she started her observation, however, Evelyn realized something strange.


    A force that had previously been dormant in their continent  the Temple of Shinra  seemed to be expanding rapidly.


    In fact, calling them dormant wouldn''t bepletely true, since they still had considerable influence before. Their Golden House, for example, was one of the most prominent forces that dabbled in the business of auctioning artifacts and other rare materials, with only one major force daring topete with them.


    And even their main prospect  the Temples themselves  were spread throughout the continent, providing healing and guidance to people who were willing to submit to the Lord of Bones, one of the great hegemons.


    Or as Evelyn now knew - one of the Thrones.


    That being said, they had never shown to have any ''other'' interests before, and most of the major forces had just assumed that the Lord of Bones couldn''t be bothered with their ''backwater'' ce.


    Now, however, as the Temples seemed to start teeming with more and more militaristic might, and even started sending scouting and conversion parties everywhere, the aristocrats and elites who had previously beencent couldn''t help but panic one by one.


    None of the so-called superpowers could remain calm in the face of such a great foreign force trying to meddle with their business.


    All but one of them, that is.


    Strangely enough, the Kingdom of Terrazyme not only didn''t seem to prevent, hinder, or even worry about the rapid growth of the Temple of Shinra, but they even encouraged it!


    With their seemingly tacit cooperation, and the timing of the whole thing, Evelyn couldn''t help but have a bad feeling.