From the Abyss Invasion to the Blasting Star.

This meeting with the astral merchant Galmavi also allowed me to learn about the background and consequences of the astral merchants becoming a nomadic civilization through holographic projection.

Within the Astral Merchant Civilization, there are indeed some individuals who enjoy the life of astral wandering, but not all of them do.

Many individuals also miss their former homes.

If the initial predictions are correct, the Astral Merchant civilization was indeed forced to abandon its original planet and wander the Astral Plane due to the invasion of the Abyss, which polluted its home planet.

The Astral Merchant Civilization experienced three thousand years from its invasion by the Abyss to its departure from its home planet.

This time span breaks the record for resisting the abyss.

Before the emergence of the Astral Merchant civilization, the Elven civilization resisted the Abyss for the longest period, lasting seven hundred years.

According to the timeline of the previous life, the Elven civilization would have fallen during the Skeleton Monarch crisis.

Although the surviving elves will migrate to Moon Lake to live, it will be very difficult to rebuild the main city after its fall.

If no new opportunity arises, the time it takes for the Elven race to resist the Abyss will be fixed at seven hundred years.

Now that information about the Astral Merchant Civilization has been obtained, this record has been broken.

Three thousand years is almost the length of the history of the Great Xia Dynasty.

Lu Heng wanted to learn more about the Abyss, so he carefully studied the evolution of the Astral Merchant Civilization.

In the holographic image, we watch as the Astral Merchant civilization struggles against the invasion of the Abyss, as Homeworld gradually falls into ruin, and finally, they leave Homeworld in their ecoships.

After tens of thousands of years of wandering, the Astral Merchant Civilization gradually developed into a nomadic civilization.

Therefore, astral merchants possess an extremely strong ability to maintain ecological balance.

It is not easy for an ecosphere with a diameter of ten kilometers to maintain a long-term ecological balance.

Just as Lu Heng and Galmavi were talking, a light came from the direction of the Ecosphere's teleportation device.

A few seconds later, another astral merchant floated in front of the two.

“Human affairs are my responsibility, Galmavi, you have overstepped your bounds.”

Galmawi immediately put on a serious expression and retorted, "Azik, you have no right to interfere in my affairs."

The astral merchant known as Azik landed in front of Lu Heng and said in a slightly arrogant tone, "Human, my name is Azik, and I am the person in charge of human affairs, that is, number one."

Lu Heng looked at the two dissenting astral merchants with great interest and casually asked, "So, you founded the Creator Organization?"

Azik admitted, "I created it. Don't worry, I don't care much about this kind of organization, it doesn't matter if you destroy it."

Galmawi said with displeasure, "Azik, this is my jurisdiction, and I do not welcome you in."

Azik didn't turn around to see, and continued speaking to Lu Heng:

"Human civilization is evolving very quickly. At this rate, we can begin further contact."

"You killed the original administrators of the Creator's Organization, so I want to establish a new organization to be responsible for human affairs."

"I intend to appoint you as the new manager. The Swordholders you created are developing well, and we can directly use them as the organization responsible for human affairs."

"If you agree to my plan, I will arrange for people to join the Swordholders to carry out the follow-up work."

"Of course, you can also receive generous rewards. I'm sure you'll be satisfied with the resources I offer."

Lu Heng frowned after hearing his words.

The other party actually wanted to devour the swordsman.

In fact, the true background of the Swordholder has not yet been revealed.

Lu Heng has invited the elves, sirens, black iron dwarves, the Sykes civilization, and the Bansel race to join the Swordholders. These are all intelligent civilizations from another world.

Because the trans-world Council of Swordholders has limited binding force, the participation of civilizations such as the Elves and the Sirens was entirely voluntary.

If they are unwilling to contribute to the Swordholder, Lu Heng will not force them, nor can he force them.

Therefore, the Elven and Siren civilizations joined the Swordholders without signing any written agreements.

Lu Heng did not announce this information on Blue Star.

In reality, making it public wouldn't be of much use. If someone else were to approach Queen Orianna, even if they represented the Swordholder, they might not gain her approval.

In a sense, the Elf and Siren civilizations only agreed to join the Swordholders because of Lu Heng.

If anyone were to take charge of the Swordholder, the Swordholder's interdimensional structure would collapse.

Lu Heng has not disclosed the members of the Swordholder's otherworldly civilization, so the Astral Merchant is unaware of them either.

In Azik's view, the Swordholders are an organization in the human world that wields great power.

The Astral Merchants established the Creator Organization with the aim of creating an organization that could play a decisive role in the development of human civilization.

However, when the Abyss first descended three years ago, human civilization was too underdeveloped and did not receive much attention from the astral merchants.

Azik randomly selected an agent in the human world, established the Creator Organization, and then left it to its own devices.

The Creator Organization has now been destroyed, and human civilization now has a being whose combat power is close to that of a demigod.

In addition, the connection to the Reincarnation Source Matter caused the Astral Merchants to refocus their attention on humanity, leading to the events of today.

After hearing Azik's request, Lu Heng smiled jokingly and replied, "Swordholder, you can't afford it."

Azik looked surprised upon hearing this and said, "There's nothing that's absolutely unaffordable; the reason you can't afford it is simply because you haven't agreed on the price."

"Make your request. I want you to act as my agent for human affairs. We astral merchants are accustomed to cooperating through transactions."

"Everything in the world has a price, and I'm even willing to make a premium deal for you and the Swordholder."

Lu Heng realized that there were significant internal divisions within the Star Boundary Merchant Civilization.

At least there are significant differences between Galmawi and Azik, and the two sides are even somewhat at odds.

Before Lu Heng could respond, Galmawi spoke first: "Enough, Azik. Lu Heng is a guest I invited. You shouldn't have barged into my ecosphere without permission."

Azik tossed his cloak, turned and left, turning back before saying his last words: "Human, consider my proposal. Trust me, the reward you receive will make you grateful for my kindness."

After saying this, Azik stepped into the teleportation device and was teleported away.

Galmawi's expression was very unpleasant. After a moment, he turned around and said, "I'm sorry, my people have interrupted this meeting."

Lu Heng smiled and said, "It seems there are significant internal disagreements among you."

Galmawi did not explain the reason, but casually replied, "Every civilization has its disagreements. Azik and I just have different ideas, and our relationship is not that bad."

As he said, there are indeed disagreements within every civilization.

Because there are bound to be differences in thought between individuals.

There are too many factors that influence decision-making, such as knowledge, personality, thoughts, and beliefs.

Every individual has different ideas, so disagreements are inevitable.

The larger the civilization, the more numerous and obvious the divisions.

For example, the Sykes civilization had already established a system in which different factions participated in politics in proportion to their respective interests.

Even within the elven civilization, disagreements arose between the Orianna Intelligent Network and the Arcane Council when facing the crisis of the Skeleton Lord. The situation within human civilization is even more dire; had it not been for the successful implementation of the nuclear silencing plan, human civilization would still be in complete chaos.

……

The meeting ended with a slightly unpleasant little incident.

However, Lu Heng's overall impression of Galmawi was quite good.

After leaving Galmavi's ecosphere, Lu Heng returned to Blue Star along the guiding light pillar.

This contact with the astral merchants yielded quite a bit of information.

Lu Heng wrote it down and handed it over to the Abyss Archives.

Having witnessed the Astral Merchant's gradual descent into the Abyss, Lu Heng once again realized just how difficult it is to fight against the Abyss.

The Astral Merchants are not a purely technological civilization, but a unique civilization created by the combination of magic and technology.

Therefore, the methods used by technological civilizations to measure the level of civilization are not accurate enough when applied to the Astral Merchant Civilization.

However, judging from the process of the Astral Merchants fighting against the Abyss, the civilization level of the Astral Merchants when they lost their home planet was much higher than that of the Bisx civilization.

……

Over the next few days, Lu Heng helped Master Gulu prepare, and then teleported him to the Dark Iron Dwarf Kingdom to rebuild the Lava Crown.

The Dark Iron Dwarves are indeed gifted in mining and building.

In just one month, the ruins of the Lava Crown have been almost completely cleared, and the craftsmen have begun to plan the blueprints for the new city.

Upon his arrival, Master Gollum met with the Dwarf King Soreville Bronzeforge and quickly joined the work, discussing the construction plan for the demigod-level forge.

Lu Heng stayed for another day and, seeing that the Black Iron Dwarves were making rapid progress in their reconstruction, returned to Blue Star.

Two days later, new recruitment information appeared.

[Abyss Battlefield: 7-day countdown to recruitment.]

Since the last Bloodline Demon World Conscription was triggered by the Zero Civilization, and there is still one world to be found in the quest to find the Source of Reincarnation, that is the Shadow Demon World.

After seeing the conscription notice, Lu Heng prepared to summon the white light of the Zero Civilization to inquire about the situation.

Before Lu Heng could summon it, a white light shone from behind, and the surrounding space instantly froze.

Upon seeing the white light appear, Lu Heng knew the answer without even asking: "So this conscription was also arranged by you?"

Bai Guang: "Yes, the target world is the Nebula City of the Shadow Demons."

Lu Heng took a deep breath to calm himself down.

Because I don't have any memory of the Abyss Battlefield in the Shadow Demon World.

In other words, everything is unknown in this Abyss Battlefield.

Of course, it is only unknown for the time being.

Lu Heng said directly, "Send me all the information about the Shadow Demon World as soon as possible."

This request is very reasonable.

Bai Guang readily agreed: "Sure, after the conversation, the data will be transferred to your electronic device using human information storage methods."

Lu Heng added, "It would be best to give me a copy of the holographic image information."

Bai Guang: "Sure, this request isn't difficult."

Lu Heng thought for a moment and asked, "Do you know the scale of this recruitment?"

Bai Guang: "Uncertain, but the scale will be significant. The danger level of the Shadow Demon world will be unlike anything you've ever experienced before."

Lu Heng took a deep breath and asked, "Can you reach level 10?"

Bai Guang: "Very likely."

Lu Heng: "If it's level 10, wouldn't a human recruit be sent to their death in the past?"

Bai Guang: "There's a mode called [Survival Mode] in the Abyss Battlefield. Haven't you encountered it before?"

There are many modes in the Abyss Battlefield, and one of them is indeed the [Survival Mode].

As the name suggests, the Abyss Battlefield in [Survival Mode] is basically all about surviving.

The main quests and challenge quests in the Abyss Battlefield will be adjusted based on the recruiter's combat power and the world danger level.

The appearance of a "Survival Mode" battlefield in the Abyss Battlefield indicates that the recruit's combat power is insufficient to challenge the demons of the target world; all they need to do is try to survive.

Lu Heng had, of course, entered the Abyss Battlefield in [Survival Mode] and was very familiar with it.

Relatively speaking, if the goal is simply to survive, the level of danger is acceptable when entering a dangerous world.

Lu Heng then asked, "Is there anything else you'd like to say about the Reincarnation Source Essence?"

Bai Guang: "The Star Realm Merchant has contacted you?"

Lu Heng did not deny it: "Yes, I visited the Star Merchant's Ecosphere a few days ago."

Bai Guang: "They want to steal the Reincarnation Source Essence?"

Lu Heng considered for two seconds and replied, "It's possible, but I hope you won't ask about the details."

Bai Guang: "What are your thoughts?"

Lu Heng said coldly, "Actually, the Star Realm Merchant is right. Helping you find the Source of Reincarnation is to save your civilization. However, the reward you gave makes me feel that your determination to save your civilization is not very strong."

Bai Guang: "You should know that our world has been completely isolated from other worlds for a long time. And the matter within our world cannot be given to you, so the return we can give is not much."

"Of course, I will try my best to meet your request if it is within our capabilities."

Lu Heng reached out and asked, "What about the crystal core we talked about last time?"

As soon as he finished speaking, two crystal cores landed in Lu Heng's hands.

Bai Guang: "Two crystal cores. One is the one I promised last time, and the other was acquired a few days ago. I thought you might be interested, so I brought it to you as well."

Lu Heng didn't rush to check the crystal core's properties. After putting it away, he said:

"I will keep my promise and help you find the Source of Reincarnation. Once I obtain the Source of Reincarnation, I will return it to you."

"But I must say this first: if other civilizations obtain the Reincarnation Source Essence, I will reconsider whether to become hostile to that civilization."

Bai Guang: "Okay, you've already reminded me. I admire your honesty, and all the promises I made before stand by me."

Conversation ends.

The white light faded.

Lu Heng picked up his phone and sent a message in the team group: "It's time to get moving. Let's do something big this time."

"How to do it? How big?" Lin Zeyu replied quickly.

Lu Heng stated directly, "You go to the Siren World, Mu Yu to the Elf World, and I'll go to the Psykos Civilization. The Swordholders are officially assembled, our target: the Shadow Demon World." (End of Chapter)