Deep within the Grey Realm, in front of a grand hall constructed from white stone and unknown giant trees.
A slender young man with green curly hair stepped onto the hundred-tiered stone steps.
The young man’s expression was cold, his aura heavy; it was none other than Sim, who had a brief confrontation with Su Yuan in the Sha Ze Domain before!
Sim ascended the steps to the hall, producing a Divine Tree Token and an Identity Token.
The Demon Beast Guard on duty checked them and immediately bowed and stepped aside: "Please enter, sir."
Sim, expressionless, walked directly past the guard toward the inside.
The guard remained respectful, with not a hint of impatience in his eyes, but instead a strong sense of awe and envy...
Sim entered the hall, the interior was quite dim, with only some Firefly Flower Lamps growing on giant trees illuminating a bit of the space.
But for a master of Sim’s level, this was entirely sufficient.
Sim walked to the center of the area, where voices suddenly echoed from all directions.
"So you’ve come, Sim from the Sha Ze Royal Court?"
"Huh, you’re even more ordinary than I imagined~"
"Being able to defeat Charon, your strength shouldn’t be weak."
A closer look revealed nine other individuals standing in the surrounding darkness.
Among the nine, there were both men and women, tall and short, fat and thin, cold, defiant, violent, insane... their auras all differed, each scrutinizing Sim in the center.
And previously inspecting the 02 Spiritualized Divine Tree was indeed Ting Kun among them!
Although these people had different temperaments, they had two things in common.
First, each person had a differently colored and shaped pattern on the back of their hand.
Second... the aura of these individuals was extremely terrifying!
As Sim stood in the center, all kinds of powerful Star Power pressure suddenly swept out from each of the surrounding individuals, pressing hard on Sim.
If it were an ordinary Burning Sun level, they’d likely be unable to breathe.
But Sim stood calmly, unmoved except for his green curls slightly ruffled.
At this moment, a hunched old man leaning on a wooden cane suddenly walked out from inside the hall.
The hunched old man tapped the ground with the cane, the sharp clean sound etching marks; instantly, all the Star Power pressure pressing on Sim dissipated like bursting bubbles.
"Are you Sim from the Sha Ze Domain?" the hunched old man asked in a hoarse voice.
Sim bowed, "Yes, sir, it’s me."
On closer inspection, one could find that Sim’s face was slightly paler than before.
Evidently, though it appeared he was fine on the surface, Sim was not completely unaffected under the combined pressure of these terrifying individuals.
However, compared to those whose legs trembled or even fell, Sim’s performance was far superior.
The hunched old man scrutinized Sim, nodded, and said, "Follow me."
Sim responded and then followed the old man deeper into the hall, soon disappearing from sight.
Meanwhile, the people in the hall began talking among themselves.
Among the nine people, a red-haired man with a chest so muscular that it stretched his shirt suddenly spoke: "I’ve heard that the level of that new world outside seems quite high recently."
"It should be a high-stage world, probably not much worse than the world near us," responded a short-haired petite woman to Ting Kun’s left.
The red-haired man was quite surprised: "Oh? That’s really impressive, so it seems the humans there are also very strong?"
The short-haired woman replied calmly, "According to the information I’ve obtained, there are even Emperor Level beings, and more than one."
The red-haired man shook his head: "The Emperor Level is unrelated to us, are there any masters among the King’s Subordinates?"
Before the petite woman could answer, another man with triangular eyes and a sinister air spoke softly: "It seems there’s something called the Sky Patrol Department, supposedly there are quite a few formidable humans there..."
Hearing this, the red-haired man smashed his fists together, grinning: "Is that so! Evil Intent, hearing you say this makes me eager to meet them!"
The sinister man let out a chilling laugh: "Speaking of which, isn’t this Sim from the Sha Ze Domain? He should have had some contact with that new world outside."
"Hmm, we can ask him later... Of course, only if he succeeds in being chosen by the Spiritualized Divine Tree."
At this, the sinister man turned to look at Ting Kun in surprise: "By the way, speaking of the Spiritualized Divine Tree... Ting Kun, I heard the 02 Divine Tree is lost?"
Hearing this, the other people also looked over with solemn expressions.
Ting Kun’s expression was slightly heavy, but he did not deny it: "Yes, it was lost in the turbulent flow."
"Ha, what bad luck! That’s a top-tier Divine Tree, very rare to see! It was just completed its spiritualization, only to be lost ? What a pity, such a pity!"
Although he said this, the gloomy man’s lips curled into a smile, with no regret shown on his face at all.
The gloomy man laughed, "If that’s the case, those guarding the forbidden land probably all have to die, right?"
Ting Kun said coldly, "Before I left, I had already executed them all."
The short-haired woman on the left couldn’t help but glance at Ting Kun.
The gloomy man laughed heartily, "As expected of Lord Ting Kun, truly swift and decisive, saving the trouble from above to issue orders~"
Hearing this, Ting Kun raised an eyebrow and glanced at the gloomy man, saying nothing more.
After a long while, a series of footsteps echoed again from the depths of the great hall, and it was Sim who walked back alone.
Everyone present focused their gaze on the back of Sim’s left hand, where a pitch-black mark had appeared!
"Oh, mastered the art of commanding soldiers?"
"This artifact seal... could it be the Void Black Thorn number 04!"
Seeing the black mark on Sim’s hand, everyone, including the red-haired strongman and Ting Kun, had their eyes narrow!
The Void Black Thorn number 04, which had been lying in the forbidden land for at least two or three hundred years, was actually obtained by this guy!
Upon carefully observing the black mark on Sim’s hand, at the center of the sprawling black thorns, a sharp long spear could be seen faintly.
Under the "Commanding Soldiers Skill," did the Void Black Thorn transform into a long spear?
Just thinking about it, everyone could faintly feel the astonishing strength of that long spear!
At this moment, although Sim showed no expression, as his gaze fell on the back of his own hand, a glimmer of joy that had not appeared in years flickered deep in his eyes.
The Commanding Soldiers Skill is an extremely important skill in the Imperial Court.
Although the Grey Realm’s Transformed Star Beasts have also learned the artifact refining techniques of other worlds’ humans, capable of creating some Star Devices.
But their level of artifact refining is not necessarily superior to the Ancient Forbidden Zone.
After all, most Star Beasts are not naturally inclined to this.
The low level of artifact refining made Star Devices, those items that could noticeably increase strength, quite expensive in the Grey Realm.
Either pay a high price to purchase from others, or venture into the human world to seize them.
Normal Star Devices are acceptable, albeit expensive.
But Legendary Star Devices are beyond what the Grey Realm’s refining techniques can produce.
For a power, a plane, or even a world, the true measure of its strength has never been average combat power but top-tier combat power!
The higher the tier of the strength, the more it determines the intensity of a power.
That the Grey Realm can’t forge Divine Artifacts is acceptable, after all, it is even extremely difficult for humans from various worlds to create them.
But lacking Legendary Star Devices, Pseudo Legend Star Artifacts, would be a huge flaw for the top-level strength of the Grey Realm!
Yet now, the Grey Realm does not lag too far behind because it relies on the unique "Commanding Soldiers Skill" of the Imperial Court!
Speaking of the Commanding Soldiers Skill, one has to mention another technology of the Imperial Court—the "Spiritualized Divine Tree."
The Spiritualized Divine Tree is a miraculous method that can transform "Spirit Plants" into "Plant Star Beasts."
Though this method has rather harsh conditions, it still greatly enriches the soldier types and combat power of the Imperial Court.
The Commanding Soldiers Skill was developed by the Imperial Court specifically to compensate for the lack of Star Devices, in combination with the Spiritualized Divine Tree.
Through the Commanding Soldiers Skill, the caster can deeply communicate with specific Spiritualized Divine Trees, and then turn them into "Divine Weapons!"
Depending on the quality, level, ability of the Spiritualized Divine Tree, and the compatibility with the commander, the form and grade of the Divine Weapons will vary.
For instance, a fifth-level Burning Sun Level Spirit Plant is very likely to materialize into a Pseudo Legendary Divine Weapon.
Furthermore, because the Spiritualized Divine Tree is a living entity, the Divine Weapons it turns into still have some growth potential, and the future is promising.
However, once contracted by the commander, the Spiritualized Divine Tree will completely lose its original form and permanently become a "Divine Weapon."
Although the Imperial Court found and cultivated these Spiritualized Divine Trees, the caster must have certain capabilities to be chosen by the Spiritualized Divine Tree willingly, as coercion is not an option.
And at this moment, without a doubt, Sim succeeded.
And what he obtained was the Void Black Thorn that no one had taken for more than two hundred years.
Now, in the great hall, with the arrival of Sim, there were exactly ten people.
And these ten people represented the strongest combat power below the King Level in the Imperial Court—the King’s Ten Weapon Masters!
All Transformed Demon Beasts can challenge the Ten Weapon Masters; if they defeat the opponent without using the Spiritualized Divine Weapons, they can replace them.
Now, Sim slowly walked to a corner of the great hall, to the empty spot on the right side of the red-haired strongman.
This spot originally belonged to the "Charon" that everyone mentioned earlier, but he had been defeated by Sim.
So now, this position naturally belonged to Sim.
The new member of the Ten Weapon Masters!