The old man you see with your phone is highly suspicious.

They also suspected that the Blood Duke, being a berserker, might just have wanted an excuse to have some fun fighting, but he didn't expect to be cut in half by the Space Slash in an instant.

Xue Dinglu silently put away his dimensional sword and looked at the Grand Duke who had been cut in half at the waist.

The bard had already fled when he sensed the danger, and the archers gave chase.

"Goodbye. If we have the chance, let's fight again. Next time, I will definitely force you to use your full strength..." The Blood Duke seemed to have finished speaking his last words before his entire soul disappeared.

Only a corpse, cut in half at the waist, remained on the spot; it was merely material to summon the spirits of heroes.

Chapter 331 The Prelude to the Great Expedition

"I might remember you, the guy who died the day before the Great Expedition while trying to find resources for his own descendants to plunder," Xue Dinglu said quietly, looking at the corpse broken in two on the ground.

For some reason, Xue Law thought of the story of Wancheng during the Three Kingdoms period, and the most expensive plagiarism in the world.

If this event were recorded in the history of that world, its historical status would probably be similar to that of the Wancheng Chronicles, and it would even be more amusing for future generations to laugh at than the Wancheng Chronicles.

Soon, the archer silently returned to the royal palace, holding a strange head in her hand.

"I killed that bard, and his head is right here." She casually tossed the unfamiliar head to the ground and silently returned to Xue Dinglu's back.

Soon, all of them were captured by the royal mystics, since their location was too easy to find. Whether it was the seemingly rational second son of the eldest prince, who was preparing to escape even in his anger, or the two who were impotently furious because of the betrayal of the heroic spirits, they were all stopped by the guards.

They were all pinned down in the center of the training ground, like bulls in heat.

Two of them glared fiercely at Lana, while the female pirate's host stared intently at her. The archer's host then launched into a string of vulgarities, including "biaozi, traitor, swordsman, and stinky wooden structure."

The prince, on the contrary, politely handed over the handling of these people to Xue Dinglu, saying, "It is up to you how to deal with these people, Lord Mad Viscount."

There was no other way; a wise man submits to circumstances. The prince had just thought he was about to face a tough battle, after all, the Blood Duke was an extremely strong hero in the records. Although he might not be among the strongest, he was definitely at the T1 level.

Their strength was only average. Even with the support of the royal mystic, he felt that the best outcome would be to exhaust all their strength to starve the Blood Duke to death, or to make the Duke back down while he secretly sent some people to kill their host while keeping the Duke occupied.

In this way, both the manpower was preserved and the incident was resolved smoothly.

Little did anyone know that Xue's hand was too fast. Although the battle lasted for a minute, ten seconds of that time were spent in the standoff and probing between the Blood Duke and Xue's hand. After the probing was over, the battle was truly over in less than a second.

If this were a shonen anime, it would definitely be a terrible one. The Blood Prince was going berserk and fighting Xue Lude with great enthusiasm just a second ago, constantly muttering that he hadn't had such a good fight in a long time and was so excited that he was raising the flag.

Just when everyone thought it was a close, even protracted war, the Blood Duke's upper and lower body suddenly separated the next second, and he fell into a pool of blood, uttering some incomprehensible words.

This scene made the prince's eyelids twitch uncontrollably, and he even felt an indescribable sense of dread.

"Hmm." Xue Dinglu responded calmly, then looked at Lana and the other two Heroic Spirits, "I'll leave the decision of how to handle them to you. I'm going to start trying the next Heroic Spirit summoning ritual."

Xue Dinglu seemed to calmly utter something extraordinary, while the prince beside him continued to twitch at the corner of his eye.

What he was actually more worried about was that this "mad viscount" must have had a grudge against the royal family in his previous life. After all, the forbidden research he conducted was to use the corpses and bloodlines of the royal family to try to summon the Golden Emperor. Before the master could successfully summon him, he was wiped out by the royal family more than a hundred years ago.

However, after spending some time with him, he even felt that this mad viscount was completely different from the one in history, and even seemed very easy to get along with. On the contrary, he not only did not hate the royal family, but also admired him.

For some reason, the prince actually felt a sense of kinship with this "Mad Viscount." If it weren't for the time constraints, he really wanted to continue perfecting the Mad Viscount's experiment on summoning the "Golden Emperor," so that at least humanity could reliably summon the strongest Heroic Spirit in history before the Great Expedition.

The first emperor of mankind, a man known as the Golden Emperor, was said to be a giant, over three meters tall, and was clad in armor made of gold.

Even though the price of summoning that person is sacrificing a member of the royal family, the prince felt it wasn't a bad deal since sacrificing some royal family members every hundred years and then consistently drawing SSR cards was a viable option.

Unfortunately, time is running out. The Great Expedition will officially begin the day after tomorrow, and they will head to the Land of Judgment tomorrow.

"Ah, Your Excellency the Mad Viscount, if you need any props or materials, just tell me, and I'll get them for you tonight," the prince said finally, trying to appease him.

Xue Dinglu simply nodded calmly. He immediately returned to his room and began trying to summon the heroic spirits again.

After all, they had already lost two members, and according to past history, if a heroic spirit died before the Great Expedition, a corresponding host would be randomly selected to begin resummoning.

He didn't want this kind of spiritual pollution and distortion to affect more people, so he decided to reserve the spot for himself first.

Looking at the distorted human face shadow on the pseudo-Heart of the World, Xue Law felt that he might have found the source of this pollution.

The Ninth Apostle?

Or rather, what are the rules of this world?

He seemed to be able to determine the reason simply by meeting the demon faction's leader and followers.

After quickly drawing a magic circle on the ground with the cursed blood, Xue Dinglu calmed down, placed a wooden figure made of the divine tree inside, and began to summon a new heroic spirit.

"Summon Heroic Spirits, Unleash the Spell!" Xue Dinglu chanted directly.

The spell inscribed on the ground with cursed blood shone brightly. According to the mad viscount's theory, what he summoned this time should be the phantom of the Great Sage, right?

Xue's Law only believes that this spell summons a phantom spirit, not a real heroic spirit, because what is summoned is clearly an existence born from cognition, not the real hero in history.

Even though it was just a phantom, Xue Dinglu really wanted to say something to the Great Sage, at least to tell him about his current situation.

As the light faded, a face that seemed to be a fusion of human and beast features appeared before Xue Lude. Three rows of amber vertical pupils were arranged in a fan shape, and six pairs of dragon wings covered with barbs pierced out from the shoulder blades.

And on his shoulders, countless twisted and bizarre snake heads grew.

Xue's Law: "..."

Despite it being their first meeting, Xue Daolu immediately recognized who was standing before him the moment he was summoned.

Typhon, the progenitor of all demons!

In particular, its aura, which faintly reached level 5, and the murmurs it uttered.

"fry!"

Xue's Law: "..."

The distorted mental pollution was captured by the pseudo-Heart of the World. It seems that this Noble Phantasm has completed its mission. At least before it is digested, it cannot capture any more pollution and distortion.

This time, Xue Dinglu had no desire, either emotionally or rationally, to summon another Heroic Spirit.

If Zeus represents omnipotent reproductive power, then Typhon represents "the reproduction of beasts," that is, the reproductive power of any wild beast, magical beast, or monster. This is the authority and power that Typhon transmits.

That familiar reproductive power still blessed Xue Dinglu, which made him very uncomfortable.

Xue's Law even suspected that if the next time a Heroic Spirit was summoned, it might be the Breeding Poseidon, representing the reproduction of all aquatic animals.

In this situation, he had no choice but to stop and immediately contact the prince to search for the last remaining heroic spirit.

I don't understand why, even though I used cursed blood as the material to inscribe the magic circle, all that was summoned were a large group of powerful Greeks, who made up the majority of the force.

Although both Zeus and Typhon are powerful, their fifth-tier strength and ultimate reproductive power are astonishing. They are the kind of beings who can rely on their reproductive power to become the gods of any realm, no matter where they are placed.

If Zeus's catastrophe were to occur in this world, Xue's Law believes that the world would completely transform into a bizarre era where even the earth could conceive.

If Typhon's power were to erupt in this world, he felt that this world might truly become a den of demons.

The power of these two great beings is beyond the control of this human empire.

Thus, next to the sealed cross of Zeus, another sealed Typhon appeared.

……

Soon, Lana and the two female heroic spirits returned. Without asking them what had happened, she could tell their choice from the smell of blood.

"Everyone, go and rest. We're setting off for the Land of Judgment tomorrow," Xue Dinglu said.

Suddenly he felt like he had forgotten someone. That's right, the mystic, the last of their six master-servant teams, the one who claimed to be the original mystic of the empire.

He didn't show up at all during tonight's riots, and nobody even knew what he was doing.

However, if he could control his host through special means, that would be good too.

However, at this moment, in the laboratory of this mystic.

He stared fervently at the summoning circle of heroes, with his host standing beside him.

However, his original host, an ordinary boy from a commoner family, is now firmly restrained, his legs twisted, and blood from his lower body staining his crotch.

"Waaaaah, waaaah!" The commoner boy looked at the mystic in terror.

"Heh, the contract of the Heroic Spirit is corrupted, and you actually have desire for me?" The mystic stared at his host with a fanatical grin, a vial of blood beside him.

Its name is "direct male blood of the royal family," and that is the material he wanted.

When the prince saw the material today, he thought it was Xue's request, so after some consideration, he allowed it to appear.

"Indeed, my thinking was correct. This ritual for summoning heroic spirits is merely a toy of 'god,' and I have only become a pawn in fooling the god." The mystic stared madly at the center of the heroic spirit summoning ritual, at his host.

This commoner boy probably knew his fate. Even though all three of his legs were broken, he still writhed in terror, trying to escape the magic circle.

"Summon Heroic Spirits!" The mystic decisively began the spell.

In an instant, terrifying magical energy surged violently from his host, and a distorted figure instantly shattered the commoner boy's original soul, completely taking over his body.

As the light faded, the mystic's lips twisted in a grimace, for he had succeeded. A century into the future, he had finally fulfilled his life's prediction.

"What a pity, kid. If you hadn't ordered me to satisfy your lustful desires, I might have spared your life, or even made you bear the Emperor's contract." The mystic chuckled, licking his lips.

The figure within the spell stood up. He wore armor that radiated golden light, and his face was filled with vicissitudes and helplessness. Looking at the person in front of him, he said, "I have come in response to the summons. I am the Golden Emperor."

The mystic smiled, he had finally succeeded, it was in the bag! In an instant, he released a snake, which he controlled the moment it left the jar, thus establishing a contract with the Heroic Spirit, the Golden Emperor.

This action caused even the Golden Emperor to frown deeply.

Because he also discovered that the man in front of him was not human, but also a Heroic Spirit, but the true host of both of them was this inconspicuous little snake!

He somehow managed to exploit a loophole and successfully summon himself, and even managed to get a snake to contract with both of them at the same time!

The mystic smiled, bowed respectfully to the Golden Emperor, and said, "Great Emperor, I am the 22nd direct descendant of your second sister's branch. You may call me... Viscount Madman, Lumia!"

The mystic, speaking to the Golden Emperor, added, "However, in front of outsiders, please just call me the mystic, or you can call me... the scientist!"

"I seem to prefer biology to the occult, but unfortunately I can no longer research more rituals that combine biology and the occult."

……

The following morning, the prince, who hadn't slept all night, received a message from the intelligence agency below that no one had successfully summoned a Heroic Spirit that night.

He could only rub his temples, his head aching. This year had been unlucky, with casualties occurring even before the Great Expedition. But the good news was that the Mad Viscount was much stronger than the legends suggested, able to easily cut the Blood Duke in half. This power was beyond his imagination, comparable to the Golden Emperor recorded in history.

Legend has it that the emperor could kill demon spirits with stones, and no one could stop him.

I only hope that Lord Madman will be victorious at that time.

Today is the day we head to the Judgment Land, and tonight at midnight, the battle royale will begin there.

But looking at the four remaining heroic spirits—Xue Lude, the female pirate, the archer, and the mystic who always wore a smile—the prince still sighed.

Four against seven, the advantage is not ours...

But since things had come to this point, they had no choice but to bite the bullet and even have to trust "The Mad Viscount".