Chapter 1654: The Threat That The Soul-controlling Tablet Sensed
After agreeing to work together with Yang Ling, Lin Huang sent him back to the G.o.d Territory within him.
Unlike before when he had casually put Yang Ling back into the G.o.d Territory, this time, Lin Huang sent Yang Ling directly to the planet where Lin Xin and Hong Zhuang were. He even sent him directly to the courtyard entrance where Hong Zhuang was.
When Yang Ling opened the door and emerged before Hong Zhuang, she was utterly stunned.
She stared in Yang Ling’s direction and stood in a daze for a good while before she rubbed her eyes. She thought she was seeing an illusion.
When she opened her eyes again, Yang Ling had already come over to stand right before her.
Hong Zhuang could not control the tears from welling up in her eyes. “I thought you were truly dead this time…”
“I definitely almost died.” Yang Ling pulled Hong Zhuang into his arms, smiling.
Hong Zhuang hugged Yang Ling tightly as if she were afraid that he would disappear again. Her tears kept flowing as if a dam had broken.
The two of them did not say anything else. They remained where they were, holding onto each other, and stayed thus for a long time.
When Hong Zhuang finally stopped crying, she wiped away her tears and finally let go of Yang Ling.
He reached out and brushed away the tear stains on her face. “It must have been hard on you all this while.”
“I’m alright.” Hong Zhuang shook her head then asked curiously, “How did you manage to escape?”
“I didn’t escape at all,” Yang Ling explained with a smile, “Lin Huang killed Spy…”
Yang Ling very quickly related the events that had unfolded later.
Lin Huang had no idea what was going on in his inner world. After sending Yang Ling into the G.o.d Territory within him, he began busying himself with his own affairs.
“The Goldfingers I have now are Xiao Hei, the Soul-controlling Tablet, the Eternity Fire (Qi Muxiong), Yin Yin (Great Heaven), the Gate of All Realms (Mr. Gate), the Tiny Golden Man (Black Mountain), and the Brain of the Soul (Babble), as well as these two extra ones…” In truth, strictly speaking, Yang Ling was the only traveler that Lin Huang knew very well.
Although Lin Xin had a Goldfinger, the Emperor’s Heart, Lin Huang had not spoken with her at all regarding the matter of travelers—he had kept this from her all along.
However, he felt that it was probably time they talked about it now.
Lin Huang greeted Lin Xin with his consciousness via voice transmission, then teleported her out of his G.o.d Territory.
Lin Xin was delighted to finally meet her brother face to face again after not seeing him for such a long time.
“Come sit down, silly girl.” Lin Huang poured Lin Xin a cup of tea as he spoke.
He was thinking of how to bring the matter up.
Lin Xin sat down obediently. Noticing the tense expression on Lin Huang’s face, her initial happiness was now marred by a touch of anxiety.
“Big Brother, has something happened?”
Lin Huang fell silent for a moment, then looked straight at her and said, “Emperor’s Heart, please come out.”
“What…” Lin Xin was shocked when she heard this. She had never expected Lin Huang to find out her secret—that she had a Goldfinger. Not only that, he knew its name.
Just as Lin Xin was somewhat at a loss, a three-dimensional projection shone from the communication ring on her finger.
It was a lady who looked almost exactly like Lin Xin. Only two things were different—her hair was purple, and her eyes were golden.
Lin Huang was slightly taken aback when he saw what the Emperor’s Heart projected. He knew that this was how Lin Xin had looked in her past life.
Since the Emperor’s Heart had appeared in this form, it clearly had not told Lin Xin about her past life.
“Is anything the matter?” The Emperor’s Heart looked at Lin Huang in a rather unfriendly manner.
Before it had acknowledged Lin Xin as its owner, it had come to an agreement with Lin Huang. It would keep his ident.i.ty as a traveler secret, and Lin Huang would keep the Emperor’s Heart’s past a secret from Lin Xin.
However, now that Lin Huang had suddenly summoned it like this, it suspected that Lin Huang might be intending to break their agreement.
“Both of you know each other?” Lin Xin’s face was full of confusion.
Initially, she thought that her possession of this Goldfinger—the Emperor’s Heart—was a secret from her brother. She had never expected that her brother seemed to know her Goldfinger.
“I’ve seen it a few times before you claimed owners.h.i.+p of it,” Lin Huang explained immediately. He still did not wish the Emperor’s Heart to expose his ident.i.ty as a traveler.
After all, his soul had traveled into another body, so theoretically, he was not Lin Xin’s brother.
He was not sure how Lin Xin would react if she found out about that.
“We’ve only met two or three times, so we’re not well-acquainted.” Emperor’s Heart nodded in agreement with Lin Huang.
It turned its head to look at Lin Huang after it finished speaking. “So tell me—what’s going on, that you insist on summoning me out?”
Lin Huang sorted out what he wished to say first before stating, “You know that I have a Goldfinger—in fact, I have more than one.
“More specifically, I’ve obtained two more of late that I won’t be able to use. I think Xiao Xin can take a look and see if she might be able to make use of them.” Lin Huang took out the Goldfingers that he did not need as he spoke.
Surprise flashed through the Emperor’s Heart’s eyes, but it did not say anything.
It could more or less guess how he had managed to obtain the two Goldfingers.
“You can have more than one Goldfinger?” Lin Xin was stunned to hear that.
“Yes, you can. It’s just that it’s something rather rare, so it’s difficult for an ordinary person to possess even one.” Lin Huang nodded.
Lin Xin turned her head to look at the Emperor’s Heart after she heard this. It seemed to matter to her how the Emperor’s Heart felt.
The Emperor’s Heart, however, was not bothered at all and nodded. “Yes, take a look at them. If they’re suitable, you can take them. After all, every Goldfinger has somewhat different functions. Some of the functions might just be the ones you need.”
Only then did Lin Xin nod and direct her Divine Telekinesis toward the two Goldfingers on Lin Huang’s palm one after the other.
A moment later, she raised her head and looked at Lin Huang. “Both of them seem like alright to me.”
Although the Emperor’s Heart’s functions were powerful, they emphasized more on various aspects of online networks. The immediate boost to Lin Xin’s combat abilities was insignificant.
Of the two Goldfingers on Lin Huang’s palm, one had energy storage and conversion abilities, which was equivalent to a weaker version of the Eternity Fire. The other one contained the ability to create mechanical devices. They were completely useless to Lin Huang.
However, Lin Huang seemed to be very interested in both Goldfingers.
She had even begun to conceptualize designing firearms and weaponry with this ability to create mechanical devices.
“Take both of them then.” Lin Huang tossed both Goldfingers to Lin Xin.
Lin Xin did not stand on ceremony this time and caught both of the Goldfingers. “Thank you, Big Brother.”
Lin Huang chatted for a little bit with Lin Xin after having settled the matter of the two extra Goldfingers. He then transported her back to the G.o.d Territory within him.
Right after he had sent her back, a voice came from within him all of a sudden.
“Lin Huang, I’ve thought it through…”
Lin Huang instantly identified that this was the Soul-controlling Tablet’s voice. He said in some astonishment, “What have you thought through?”
“All this while I’ve been obsessed with becoming the host’s only Goldfinger. However, it’s only now that I’ve realized it’s not very likely that true powerhouses among travelers would own merely one single Goldfinger.”
Back in the day, the Soul-controlling Tablet had requested that Lin Huang replace Xiao Hei before it would follow him because a traveler could only have one primary Goldfinger. This primary agreement was completely fair, whereby the primary Goldfinger was bound to the host for good or ill. As for the Goldfingers that made agreements with the host later, theirs would be more of a master-slave relations.h.i.+p.
Back then, Lin Huang had been unwilling to replace Xiao Hei. The Soul-controlling Tablet did not force the issue either. Instead, it had left a clone in Lin Huang’s body, letting Lin Huang find it a new host.
However, over the last few years, Lin Huang had hardly met any trustworthy travelers. Therefore, he had not been able to find the Soul-controlling Tablet a suitable host all this time.
The Soul-controlling Tablet had not been in a rush either. Since it was a Goldfinger, its lifespan was much longer than most living beings.
Now, however, it saw the ease with which Lin Huang obtained multiple Goldfingers—so many, in fact, that he could give them away as he wished. At last, it was beginning to realize that it was not so rare and unique after all.
“Do you want to make me your host?” Lin Huang immediately understood what the Soul-controlling Tablet meant.
“That’s right.” The Soul-controlling Tablet fell silent for a while before continuing, “But currently my primary form is still in damaged condition…”
“If you truly acknowledge me as your master, of course I’ll help to restore you fully,” Lin Huang promised readily.
“Then it’s a done deal.” The Soul-controlling Tablet was finally able to be at ease after hearing confirmation from Lin Huang. In reality, it had been worried that Lin Huang might reject its request. After all, it had rejected Lin Huang initially.
Lin Huang had not expected that giving the Goldfingers away would make the Soul-controlling Tablet feel threatened, causing it to be willing to acknowledge a master.
In a flash, he returned to the G.o.d Territory within him and appeared right away in front of the cliff where he had found the Soul-controlling Tablet.
He approached the cliff wall and pa.s.sed through it, emerging in the void that the Soul-controlling Tablet had created.
After a glance at the huge stone tablet, which was more ma.s.sive than all the stars, Lin Huang’s figure appeared on top of it in a flash, standing on it.
“Have you thought it through thoroughly?” Lin Huang asked, looking down.
“I have!” The Soul-controlling Tablet did not hesitate any longer.
The next instant, a black stone tablet as big as a human palm sank into the giant stone tablet beneath Lin Huang’s feet. This was the clone the Soul-controlling Tablet had previously left behind in Lin Huang’s body.
A moment later, the giant stone tablet began to shrink rapidly.
In the time it took for a breath, the huge stone tablet shrank from the ma.s.sive size of a star to the size of a palm.
It transformed into a stone tablet full of cracks and penetrated through Lin Huang’s brow.