Chapter 3149: Chapter 3149: A New Stage Ruler

Purified beings couldn't enter the palace of light at will. Otherwise, the giant lizard would have already hidden within the palace, when he found he stood no chance to defeat Zen.

The latter had just mastered the Great Sanskrit Light, but he couldn't create the circle of light—now, all he could do was wait for the next best opportunity.

Now that Yan was safe, there was no need for him to stay in the Dark Region.

When the four of them were ready to leave, some of the creatures hiding in the shadows surrounded Zen and knelt before him, kowtowing devoutly.

Otherwise known as the stage rulers, the purified beings had absolute strength, recognized as a spiritual symbol by many creatures.

Once the great lizard passed away, it meant new authority appeared in Stage Fourteen.

For a moment, Zen and the others paused. If they continued moving forward, the white light would annihilate all these creatures from the Dark Region.

“Get up, everyone. You can leave now,” Zen simply said.

His words had all the creatures standing up and bowing to him respectfully before retreating in all directions.

But something returned to Zen's mind—he pointed at a one-eyed monster that happened to be nearby.

He had seen the one-eyed monsters in Stage Thirteen—they had even tried to snatch away the Civilization Artifact. They seemed to be widely distributed on the Other Shore, much like the Royal Monkey race.

As it turned out, the one-eyed monster Zen pointed at was the leader of his race.

The appearance of a new stage ruler wasn't something that the races on the Other Shore would be pleased to hear about, but that wasn't something for them to decide. They had to spend some time understanding the temper and preferences of the new stage ruler.

But the last one was ruthless and tyrannical. Because the Royal Monkey race fawned over him for so long, the stage ruler tended to favor them.

For the one-eyed monsters, at least, the shift in power was a good thing.

The leader came forward and cupped his hands toward Zen. “What can I do for you?”

“I have some friends in the Dark Region. Help me take care of them,” Zen said flatly.

“May I know who you are talking about?” The leader's eyes lit up at Zen's order—it was an excellent opportunity to please the new stage ruler. It would be highly beneficial to satisfy any of Zen's requests.

“The Insect Master race.”

“The Insect Master race?”

The leader frowned in confusion before he realized that the Insect Master race was a small, unknown group under the Royal Monkeys' control.

If someone else had requested it, the leader would have probably considered the Royal Monkey race's attitude. But it was none other than Zen who had given the order.

“I will arrange everything well!”

The leader was overjoyed. This way, he wasn't only doing Zen a favor, but also taking the opportunity to suppress the Royal Monkey race. It was an excellent opportunity for the one-eyed monsters. Ɍ𝐀ΝòβƐ𝐒

Taking the order, the leader retreated.

Then, Zen and his group headed west. Upon arriving at the edge of the Dark Region, Zen asked Elvinia to pull out the black box. He then released the monsters from it, including the Shape-shifting Spirit.

“We're already in the Dark Region, so I shall fulfill my promise and let you go,” Zen said.

The monsters had been imprisoned in the iron house for countless years. Finally, they could taste freedom. All of them were excited as they explored their new surroundings. Some of them had come from the upper stages of the Other Shore, but their strength was suppressed after entering this lower stage. Given more time, though, they'd make a great splash in the Dark Region.

Soon, the monsters had scattered in all directions, save for the Shape-shifting Spirit.

“Why aren't you leaving?” Zen asked curiously.

The spirit remained still with a complicated look in its eyes.

Although it used to be a pet, it could fend for itself in the outside world. But for some reason, it felt that it should follow Zen. The one who opened the iron house was by no means ordinary, after all.

“I… I want to follow you,” it suddenly spoke up.

“Follow me?” For a moment, Zen was stunned, but he recovered quickly. “You can follow me,” he started with a smile. “But you know, I won't be staying in the Dark Region most of the time. I'm usually in the Light Region. You'll have to stay in this small space.”

It was the box emitting black light that he was referring to.

“That's fine with me,” said the Shape-shifting Spirit with a shrug.

For countless years, it had been imprisoned in the iron cage. The black box made no difference to it.

This spirit could turn into any creature—a useful skill for critical moments.

Once Zen let it enter the black box and put it away in Elvinia's space ring, they stepped out of the Dark Region.

Mercer and Miller had to wait quite a while in the cave before they could climb out—they didn't want to get caught in the battle of the purified beings.

Without seeing Zen for some time, all they could do was ride the Holy Beetles and leave. Nothing happened on their way back.

After they reported what had happened in the black marsh, all the Insect Masters were filled with fear.

“Didn't the benefactor go to find the Royal Monkeys? Why did he defy the stage ruler?” an Insect Master eagerly asked.

On the surface, the Insect Master race had always fallen to tragedy at the hands of the Royal Monkey race. In truth, it was because the stage ruler needed to devour the Dark Nether Bugs.

But most of the creatures of the Dark Region believed in the stage ruler, and the Insect Master race was no exception. While they carried some resentment in their hearts, it was more for the Royal Monkey race than the stage ruler.

“Challenging the stage ruler means courting death…” another respected Insect Master shook his head disapprovingly.

“I'm afraid that the Royal Monkeys will blame our race soon after. We will…”

Mercer and Miller's news put an extremely grim atmosphere over the Insect Masters. They were now all imagining soon being slaughtered by the Royal Monkey race.

Just as the Insect Masters seemed down, a set of noisy footsteps resounded from afar.

Afraid that the Royal Monkey race was approaching, they stared nervously into the distance.

From the darkness, over a dozen figures emerged in succession. They were the one-eyed monsters.

These creatures could fight against the Royal Monkeys head-on. Naturally, the Insect Masters felt far inferior to them. As the two races were far from each other, they never had much interaction.

“Are you Insect Masters?” a one-eyed monster suddenly asked in a low voice.

“Yes!”

several of them answered automatically.

“You don't have to be so courteous,” said the monster in a friendly tone. “The new stage ruler asked us to take good care of you. This place is too close to the Royal Monkeys' territory. Please follow us. We must lead you out.”

“The new stage ruler?”

“We have a new stage ruler?”

“Who is it?”

All the Insect Masters were completely dumbfounded by the news.

Even Mercer and Miller were stunned. They both had a good guess about who it was.