# 1246
Chapter 1247: Battle for the God King
After hearing Lin Qiye's explanation, Jinian sighed helplessly.
"Thankfully, Gilgamesh's root cause has been removed, so recovery should be relatively quick... But what exactly is going on with Yerand?"
"I don't know. I still haven't found his root cause, and we can't communicate at all." Lin Qiye shook his head.
"...What a麻烦."
As the two were chatting, Sun Wukong sat silently to the side, glancing at Jinian from the corner of his eye from time to time, as if contemplating something.
"Brother Monkey, what's wrong?" Lin Qiye noticed Sun Wukong's unusual behavior and asked proactively.
Sun Wukong paused for a moment, then said to Jinian:
"You're special."
"Thank you, Great Sage, for the compliment!" Jinian's eyes sparkled like stars.
"...Are you sure he was complimenting you?"
"But Great Sage said I'm special! Doesn't that count as a compliment?"
Lin Qiye was at a loss for words for a moment. He turned to look at Sun Wukong, "Brother Monkey, what did you see?"
"She's very strong. Though she hasn't ascended to godhood, from a human perspective, she's still incredibly strong." Sun Wukong's eyes flickered with golden light as he spoke seriously, "Even I find her somewhat unfathomable..."
Jinian scratched her head sheepishly.
"Is that a compliment?"
"...It is."
After studying Jinian for a long while, Sun Wukong finally withdrew his gaze.
"When will you return to Great Xia?" Sun Wukong turned to ask Lin Qiye.
Lin Qiye pondered, "I can't return just yet. At minimum, I need to go back to [Utopia] first to regroup with my brothers, then find Sword Saint Senior... It'll probably take a few more days."
After hearing this, Sun Wukong fell silent for a moment, glancing toward the mist-shrouded direction of Great Xia:
"Since she has you company, as long as you don't encounter extreme situations while in the mist, there won't be much danger...
I want to return to Great Xia first."
Lin Qiye was startled.
He saw the faint glint in Sun Wukong's eyes, felt a stirring in his heart, and nodded:
"Alright, Brother Monkey, you go on ahead. With you guarding Great Xia, the country will be safer."
Jinian's expression gradually grew serious. She spoke as well:
"If Brother Monkey can return, that would indeed be good news for Great Xia in its current state."
Though it was just an ordinary sentence, from her words, Lin Qiye sensed a hint of tension... Could something have happened to Great Xia during these past few days he was away?
Sun Wukong hummed in acknowledgment. He rose slowly from the Somersault Cloud.
"Stay safe in the mist. I'll be waiting for you in Great Xia."
Sun Wukong patted Lin Qiye's shoulder, summoned an enormous Somersault Cloud, and vanished from their sight in an instant.
Lin Qiye watched Sun Wukong leave, then continued urging the Somersault Cloud forward, flying aimlessly over the sea.
He asked, puzzled:
"What did you mean by that just now? Has something happened to Great Xia these past two days?"
"More or less."
Jinian sighed and took the pixelated walkie-talkie from her chest, "Just yesterday, Zuo Qing took the initiative to contact me."
"What did he say?"
"You can ask him yourself. One of the reasons he contacted me was because he wanted to find you."
"Commander Zuo wants to find me?"
Lin Qiye was surprised.
This wasn't the first time [Nightfall] Squad had entered the mist on a mission, but it was the first time Zuo Qing had proactively wanted to contact him during a mission.
Lin Qiye took the pixelated walkie-talkie. After hesitating for a moment, he pressed the button:
"...This is Lin Qiye."
Static static static—!
A faint burst of static came from the walkie-talkie.
Lin Qiye sat on the Somersault Cloud holding the walkie-talkie, waiting for a long time. Still, there was no reply from the other end. Just as he was about to speak again, a slightly weary voice came through the walkie-talkie:
"Lin Qiye, this is Zuo Qing."
Lin Qiye's spirits lifted. "Commander Zuo, you were looking for me?"
"Mm... Yesterday, Jinian told me you went to fight the Olympian gods for the King's Treasury? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I made a clean retreat." Lin Qiye smiled helplessly.
"That's good." Zuo Qing paused for a moment, then continued, "Regarding the Norse Gods lately, how much do you know?"
Lin Qiye froze.
"The Norse Gods? What happened to them?"
"It seems you don't know anything yet... Let me go over it from the beginning then." Zuo Qing took a deep breath and slowly spoke, "Recently, Asgard has fallen into a succession crisis."
"A succession crisis?" Lin Qiye quickly thought of something, "Is it because of Odin?"
"Mm, not long ago, when Tianzun interrogated the Norse gods, exposed Odin's true nature, and expelled him, the position of God King was left vacant. Asgard has been in a state of rudderlessness ever since.
Normally, when the God King position becomes vacant, it should be inherited by Thor, Odin's son. But at the same time, Loki, the Norse god of mischief, suddenly announced his intention to claim the God King position, wielding a letter Odin left behind several years ago."
"Loki?" Hearing this name, Lin Qiye's eyes sharpened.
His grudge with Loki was no minor matter—the disappearance of Cangnan, the counterattack of the Egyptian gods, the crisis of the National Guardian Stele... one could even say all of Great Xia had blood feud with Loki!
If Loki were to ascend to the God King position and control Asgard, it was foreseeable what kind of disaster it would bring to Great Xia.
"Loki has a deep relationship with Odin. In terms of status and seniority, he has qualifications to contest for the God King position. Add to that the letter and the arrangements he secretly laid down years ago, there are quite a few in Asgard who support Loki becoming God King.
But at the same time, there's also a group who believes that Odin had already been controlled by the Cthulhu gods. The letter he left behind shouldn't influence the succession of the God King. Furthermore, given Loki's notorious reputation, many also suspect...
In short, all of Asgard is now divided into two camps, fighting and killing each other."
Lin Qiye hesitated for a moment, then spoke:
"Wouldn't this be good news for Great Xia?"
Civil war among foreign gods was something Great Xia welcomed. Previously, it was also Nyx's return that caused the Olympians to fall into internal conflict, greatly reducing the pressure on Great Xia in the war.
Now with Asgard in civil war, it meant that in the short term, the Norse Gods would find it difficult to threaten Great Xia.
"If it were just simple infighting, it would indeed be good news. But just yesterday, Loki announced that he is about to... break through to the Supreme God realm in Asgard!" Zuo Qing's voice was low and grave,
"Asgard's former strength came from Odin, the strongest being on the surface. That's why the most important criterion for the God King position in all of Asgard is actually the God King's strength—they are a god-nation that worships personal heroism.
Objectively speaking, Loki and Thor, both Chief Gods, contesting for the throne would give them roughly equal odds of winning. But if Loki truly breaks through to the Supreme God realm, breaking the balance between their cultivation levels,
Then this battle for the God King... would truly have no suspense."