I am the Clone of a Death Row Inmate

Chapter 157: Chapter 147: First Arrival at the Sovereign Country

Principal Zhou Wenshan was not only a Saint-level Overlord and the Guardian God of Dongli, but also a top evolution scientist.

When Su Ze thought about it, he wasn’t surprised that Zhou Wenshan had been invited to the conference.

With this Saint-level Overlord accompanying them, the safety of Su Ze and the others was guaranteed.

In total, four evolution scientists had been invited. Other than Liou Wenxin, the other three were all men over sixty years old.

Each had brought one of their own students along. Attending a top-tier academic conference like this was a rare opportunity to observe and broaden one’s horizons.

However, their students were also evolution scientists over forty, all of them well-known figures among the younger generation in the Dongli Kingdom. Only Liou Wenxin had brought Su Ze, a first-year evolution student.

Su Ze scanned the group. They were all prominent figures in the Dongli Kingdom’s academic circles. He politely greeted each of them in turn.

Everyone knew of Su Ze and had heard about him, and they all showed him goodwill.

They went to Dongping Airport together and boarded the plane.

Not long after the plane crossed the border of Lin Hua Country, it landed at an airport. Su Ze and the others disembarked as a group to undergo an identity check.

”All flights from the six kingdoms entering Lin Hua Country have to stop here for inspection. Only after everyone’s identity and entry qualifications are confirmed can the plane take off again,” Liou Wenxin explained to Su Ze.

”And if we don’t stop?” Su Ze asked.

”We’d be shot down, of course.”

Naturally, Su Ze’s group had no issues with their identities. They passed the inspection smoothly, and the plane took off again, heading for their final destination.

”Where are we landing?” Su Ze asked curiously, looking down through the window.

Su Ze still didn’t know where the conference was being held. He knew very little about Lin Hua Country, only that its territory was vast and it was teeming with powerful individuals.

From the limited geographical knowledge he had inherited from Zhao Lingxiao, he knew that Lin Hua Country was larger than the other six kingdoms combined.

Principal Zhou Wenshan answered, ”Several of Lin Hua Country’s universities take turns hosting the Lin Hua Continent Evolutionary Science Conference. This time, it’s at Lin Hua Noble Academy.”

Su Ze was slightly stunned. He hadn’t expected such a coincidence. He and Mr. Ya had clashed with teachers and students from Lin Hua Noble Academy back at the Thousand Heroes Tomb, and he had ended up feeding them all to spiders.

”Lin Hua Country isn’t like the six kingdoms. It’s full of hidden masters. You must act cautiously once we’re there,” Zhou Wenshan reminded him.

Su Ze nodded. Gazing at the cities passing below, he could tell even at a glance that Lin Hua Country was far more prosperous than the six kingdoms. Each city was comparable to one of their capitals.

’Surrounded by xenobeasts, how did Lin Hua Country manage to build such a prosperous nation, and still have the spare capacity to shelter the six kingdoms beneath it?’

With nothing to do on the plane, Su Ze pestered Liou Wenxin to tell him about the history of Lin Hua Country.

Liou Wenxin had barely begun when the other three old men on the plane, including Zhou Wenshan, took over the conversation, each adding their own part. The three of them launched into a grand discussion, starting with the rise of Lin Hua—the Legendary expert, founder of Lin Hua Country, and leader of the Human Race. They spoke all the way to the establishment of Lin Hua Country and the end of the Evolutionary War...

They also mixed in various apocryphal tales and legends they had heard.

Previously, Su Ze had only known that Lin Hua Country was named after the Legendary expert ”Lin Hua,” but not much else. Now, their stories were filling in this piece of history for him.

After the Era of Evolution began, humanity got off to a slow start. They suffered a crushing defeat in the Evolutionary War, and the territory they controlled continuously shrank.

About six hundred years ago, the six kingdoms were crowded together on the land that would become the Lin Hua Continent, though it wasn’t called that at the time.

At that time, the first batch of Saint-level Overlords had already emerged among the six kingdoms. Under the protection of these Saint-level experts, the six kingdoms barely managed to hold their ground.

At that point, only three hundred-odd years had passed since the start of the Era of Evolution, and the strongest xenobeasts were merely Tier 4 or 5.

However, friction constantly arose between the six kingdoms as they vied for resources and territory. Although the external threat prevented all-out war, they were plagued by internal strife and were completely unable to present a united front against their common foe.

Since they weren’t pulling in the same direction, humanity was consistently pushed back in the subsequent wars against the xenobeasts.

Each kingdom was afraid of suffering losses, and each was afraid of others gaining an advantage. A war fought like that was naturally impossible to win.

This went on for decades. The leaders of the six kingdoms had long been aware of the problem, of course. They held several rounds of negotiations to try and establish a united front, but the talks always collapsed due to conflicting interests.

This continued until a man named Lin Hua rose like a comet. During his time at the Extraordinary level, he traveled throughout the six kingdoms, gathering countless followers with his powerful charisma.

To this day, no one knows which of the six kingdoms Lin Hua originally came from. All that is known is that after ascending to the Saint level, he left the six kingdoms, established the Lin Hua Army, and led them in a century-long war against the xenobeasts.

In the process, the Lin Hua Army slew countless enemies. They fueled their war with war itself, using the extracts they obtained to continuously strengthen their forces.

As for Lin Hua, he successively became Blue Star’s first human Saint-level Sovereign, then its first Saint-level Legend, completing his sixth evolution.

He established Lin Hua Country and united the six kingdoms without firing a shot. He then named the combined territory of the six kingdoms and Lin Hua Country the Lin Hua Continent.

The six kingdoms submitted so willingly for several reasons. First, they were compelled by the immense power of the Lin Hua Army. Second, Lin Hua did not interfere in their internal politics, granting them a great deal of autonomy. And of course, the most important point was that Lin Hua Country did not seize a single inch of their land.

The current territory of Lin Hua Country is all land that Lin Hua and his army conquered from the xenobeasts, bit by bit, back in those days.

At a time when human territory across the globe was constantly shrinking, Lin Hua was able to expand his own domains, a clear testament to his power.

After Lin Hua completed his sixth evolution and became a Saint-level Legend, he once ventured alone deep into xenobeast territory... A few days later, he returned to Lin Hua Country and announced the end of the five-hundred-year-long Evolutionary War. The Lin Hua Continent, he declared, would now enter an era of peace and stable development.

”The fact that we could grow up in an era of peace is all thanks to the legacy left by Lin Hua’s Legend,” Principal Zhou Wenshan said with emotion.

”Unfortunately, Lin Hua’s Legend never lived to see the golden age of peace he created. He passed away in the third year after the Evolutionary War ended, due to a relapse of old injuries,” sighed the gray-haired evolution scientist sitting next to Zhou Wenshan.

Zhou Wenshan shook his head. ”The death of Lin Hua’s Legend is still shrouded in doubt. Some say he faked his death to pursue a higher level of existence. Otherwise, with a powerful physique that had evolved six times, what kind of old injury could possibly have taken his life?”

”There is indeed something strange about it,” another evolution scientist chimed in. ”A new Saint-level Legend had just appeared in Lin Hua Country back then, and Lin Hua’s Legend passed away not long after. It seems more like he had found a successor and could finally entrust the Lin Hua Continent to the next generation.”

”Let’s hope so.”

...

After the plane landed, Su Ze and his group arrived at Lin Hua Noble Academy, where a teacher received them.

This teacher from Lin Hua Noble Academy arranged accommodations for them at a high-end hotel near the academy, then took his leave.

Su Ze could sense something subtle about the teacher’s attitude. He was polite on the surface, but there was a faint undercurrent of contempt. It seemed he was only truly respectful toward Zhou Wenshan.

But this wasn’t the first time Su Ze had experienced the arrogance of people from Lin Hua Country, especially those from this so-called noble academy. They all looked down their noses at everyone.

Su Ze didn’t mind. After a short rest at the hotel, he went out for a stroll with Liou Wenxin.

’It’s not every day I get to visit Lin Hua Country. Of course I have to go out and have a good look around.’

Lin Hua Noble Academy was located in a bustling area. Su Ze and Liou Wenxin wandered around, eating and shopping, and even bought a number of small souvenirs.

After walking around for a while, Su Ze felt that the biggest difference between this place and the six kingdoms was the prevalent martial culture.

What he saw most of weren’t restaurants or entertainment venues, but streets full of gyms for evolvers to train, combat rooms for them to spar and exchange pointers, and various shops selling Evolution Items.

Here, Evolutionary Technology and Life Pharmaceutical no longer held a monopoly on the market for extracts and evolution potions; countless other shops competed with them for business.

There was also a type of practical combat training room that Su Ze had never seen on the streets of the six kingdoms. Inside, various xenobeasts captured live from the wild were kept in cages.

Evolvers could engage in life-or-death battles with the xenobeasts here, but the fee was steep. They also had to sign a death waiver; the establishment was not responsible even if a customer was killed by a xenobeast during a fight.

And if one happened to kill a xenobeast, they had to pay a hefty compensation fee.

Even so, business was booming. Su Ze noticed many people who looked like students going inside.

’I have to admit, there’s a reason for Lin Hua Country’s strength,’ Su Ze thought. ’Just this atmosphere alone, this passion and drive to pursue power, is something the six kingdoms can’t compare to.’

Su Ze’s hands started to itch for a fight. His strength had increased significantly recently, and he’d been wanting to find an opponent to test his skills.

’How boring. You can only fight xenobeasts, and you have to pay whether you win or lose. The key is you can’t even kill them. If you do, you have to pay a huge compensation fee.’

The combat rooms dedicated to sparring between evolvers, on the other hand, were much more to Su Ze’s liking. Since he had this rare chance to visit the Sovereign Country, Su Ze wanted to see for himself the strength of Lin Hua Country’s evolvers.

”Come on, Sis. Let’s go check this one out.”

Su Ze pulled Liou Wenxin into the largest and most lavishly decorated combat room.

The interior was vast, with more than twenty huge arenas set up. The place was packed, and every arena was surrounded by a crowd of spectators.

Shouts, cheers, and conversations mixed together into a deafening clamor.

There were people fighting in every arena, many of them students from Lin Hua Noble Academy.

Su Ze’s attention was instantly drawn to one of the arenas. Of the two people fighting there, one was wearing the uniform of Lin Hua Noble Academy, while the other had a cloth wrapped around his head.

’A cloth on his head... ”A cloth on my head, richest in the six kingdoms...” One glance was all it took to know he was from the Great Desert United Kingdom.’

’He’s probably like me, taking advantage of the academic conference to follow his elders to Lin Hua Country and see the world.’

But from the look of the situation in the arena, things were not going well for him.