Chapter 28: If You Can't Beat Him to Death, Then You Just Can't Beat Him to Death

  (This chapter has over 4,000 words this morning, and there will be a second update at midnight. I hope you all like it, please collect and vote to support)

  This question is very rude. If the gods really have self-awareness, then Lin Taiping would obviously be blown to smithereens. However, just as he guessed, that voice did not show any emotional fluctuations, but instead rose again without emotion after nearly ten minutes of silence.

  "Mortal, the gods have deigned to grant your impertinent request. Kneel devoutly before the altar and pray silently with a reverent heart, and you shall behold all the blessings that the gods are currently able to bestow upon you!"

  It's indeed the case! Lin Taiping let out a gentle sigh, he had been thinking from the start that if it was an equivalent exchange, then he should also have the right to make purchases. And now, reality has proven that he can indeed take the initiative to choose, rather than waiting for the random blessings of the gods.

  However, the so-called kneeling down in prayer and whatnot are obviously just a formality, so Lin Taiping didn't have any intention of kneeling down. He simply stood calmly on the altar, focusing his mind and silently thinking to himself: "Hmmm, I think... I need to see all the blessing contents..."

  After a moment of silence, it was as if he had heard his prayer. A silver-white light descended from the sky, enveloping his body completely, and almost at the same time, dozens of lines of dense text appeared one by one in his mind.

  Mortal, offer a sincere sacrifice to the sea god, and he will grant you elementary navigation.

  Mortals, offer a sincere sacrifice to the God of War, and he will grant you the primary right of racial transformation.

  Mortals, offer a sincere sacrifice to the gods of nature, and they will grant you the primary power to transform nature.

  In an instant, Lin Taiping saw dozens of blessings from various gods, involving more than a dozen deities, and including numerous blessing options such as Primary Navigation, Spell Mastery, Magic Replenishment, Combat Skills, Natural Transformation, Racial Transformation...

  However, it's worth noting that these divine blessings are all marked as elementary and the variety is not as many as imagined. And thinking back to what the hollow voice said earlier - "Mortal, pray silently with your devout heart, and you will see all the blessings that the gods can bestow upon you..."

  "For now?" Lin Taiping stroked his chin thoughtfully, as if he had thought of something. He raised his head again and asked, "Confirm this for me, what do I need to do if I want to get more powerful blessings from the gods?"

  This question obviously exceeded the authority of that voice's answer, so this time it didn't respond and fell into a strange silence. Lin Taiping couldn't help but wonder with a bad taste if he continued to ask, would the other side directly blue screen and die...

  "Alright, when I didn't ask." After patiently waiting for a moment, Lin Taiping finally withdrew his question with a strange expression on his face. Although he was a bit disappointed, at least through the conversation just now, he had already understood several secrets of the Gods' Ring.

  First, the Ring of the Gods indeed upholds the principle of equivalent exchange and allows for self-selection; second, the Ring of the Gods currently only provides primary blessings, and can only provide more abundant and powerful blessings after undergoing some kind of upgrade; third, how to upgrade the Ring of the Gods is still a mystery, and can only be discovered later.

  Is it a pity? It's a bit of a pity, but Lin Taiping isn't that kind of greedy guy. So after the initial sighs, he quickly gathered his emotions and temporarily gave up on upgrading the Ring of Gods, shifting to the main topic instead, starting to check out the blessings he could currently get. After all, in today's situation, quickly increasing one's own abilities was the top priority.

  After a moment, after reviewing the specific content of dozens of blessings, he finally stroked his chin thoughtfully and focused his attention on that blessing - "Mortal, offer a sincere sacrifice to the God of War, and the God of War will grant you the initial right to change your race..."

  Almost simultaneously, sensing his thoughts, the low and hollow voice sounded again: "Mortal, the gods have heard your devout prayers. Offer 150 magic crystals with a devout heart, and your wish will be fulfilled."

  One hundred and fifty? Lin Taiping was speechless, thinking to himself that these so-called gods probably didn't know that he just happened to have exactly this many magic crystals on him, which is why they came up with such an accurate number.

  It doesn't matter anyway, the original exchange of so many magic crystals was for a big loss, so after hesitating for only a moment, he immediately took out 150 magic crystals and threw them all into the altar.

  In an instant, all the magic crystals were reduced to nothingness in the altar's fierce flames. Accompanied by the low, rumbling voice, a gigantic statue suddenly burst forth with dazzling blue light, its left hand holding a spear and its right hand holding a shield.

  "You have offered sacrifices to the gods, and the gods are satisfied with your offerings. You will receive the blessing of the war god and possess the initial racial transformation talent. Please choose one of the three major races designated by the war god as the object of transformation, which can be sustained for a long time or reversed at any time."

  Is that so? Lin Taiping smiled, revealing eight white teeth. Looking at the literal meaning of this sentence, it seems that he can transform into other races at any time, and there is no limit to the duration.

  In fact, just as he had guessed, with the blue light gathering slowly in front of the altar, three seemingly substantial shadowy figures appeared out of thin air, representing the three races that he could transform into.

  The figure on the far left is a black dwarf carrying a massive battle-axe, the middle figure is a stone statue with dark wings fluttering, and the figure on the right is really unexpected, it's...

  "It seems, not bad at all?" Lin Taiping whistled softly and suddenly felt that these 150 magic crystals were worth spending, no matter which of the three races he transformed into, they would be much stronger than his current human body.

  What's even more worth looking forward to is that this is only the initial racial transformation talent, and later on, after paying out more magic crystals, you can get higher-level racial transformation talents, transforming into rarer and stronger races. Try thinking about it, if you could turn into a giant beast like the Mongolian giant beast, or transform into an evil dragon, or even become an immortal and invincible terror witch...

  "I like this, although it's definitely expensive." Lin Taiping was satisfied, stroking his chin, but soon he shifted his attention back to the three racial images in front of him.

  So, putting aside future evolution for now, the current question is which race should be chosen first?

  No doubt, if you want to gain power, the dark dwarf would be the best choice; considering the speed advantage, the stone golem is definitely at an advantage; however, the third image looks the strangest, and it's buy one get one free.

  "Alright, I'll take the buy one get one free deal!" A few seconds later, Lin Taiping suddenly had a weird expression on his face as he directly pointed at the third image, "And besides, strange things suit me best because I'm a weirdo myself..."

  With a loud rumble, the moment he touched that shadowy image, the entire hall suddenly shook violently, indicating that an extraordinary change had occurred outside, causing the hall to become unstable.

  Almost at the same time, a crimson light surged in like a tide, Lin Taiping only felt the light flashing before his eyes, and when he opened them again, he found himself back in the captain's cabin, losing balance and bumping into the bulkhead.

  At this moment, the entire sailboat was shaking violently, and the shouts of sailors came from the deck, interspersed with the sound of clashing weapons. The angry roar of the captain of the guard could be clearly heard: "Lower the wind sail, load the cannon, prepare for battle!"

  "What's going on?" Lin Taiping's heart stirred slightly, and he immediately pushed open the cabin door and rushed out. As he had expected, the deck was already crowded with people at this moment. The anxious sailors were busy working, the gunners were busy installing magic crystals on the magic crystal cannons, and fully armed warriors hurriedly came from the cabins to greet the impending fierce battle.

  Seeing him suddenly appear, the captain of the guard was first startled and then immediately came forward: "Lin, I think we have a bit of trouble. The lookout just told me that there is an unidentified sailboat rapidly approaching. Take a look in that direction!"

  "Honestly, I'm not surprised at all." Lin Taiping casually took over the telescope and looked towards the southeast direction, "In fact, if there were no pirates appearing, I would think..."

  In an instant, the wind howled!

  Lin Taiping suddenly turned his head, and instantly changed color slightly. Just behind him, not far away, the captain of the guard suddenly revealed a bloodthirsty grin, grasping a cruel green poisonous dagger, viciously stabbing over!

  He didn't even have time to dodge, Lin Taiping was directly stabbed in the chest by the dagger, and the severe poison took effect instantly, causing him to stumble backward with his hand covering his chest, his pale face crashing into the ship's rail.

  Unbelievably lowering his head, he took a deep breath, looking at the poisonous dagger that had entered his chest, and then looked at the captain of the guard opposite him, only able to weakly gasp: "So... so... you... and... Edward... are..."

  "That's right, Edward and I are in cahoots, and we've already pledged our allegiance to Lord BloodEye." The captain of the guard sneered as he stepped forward, revealing a mouthful of razor-sharp white teeth. "In fact, Edward is here with us. Dear Edward, aren't you going to come out and say hello to this poor fellow?"

  "Of course, I'd be delighted." A shrill laugh suddenly rang out, and Edward emerged from the cabin with a self-satisfied smirk, puffing on a cigar as he swaggered over under the protection of more than a dozen sailors. "Dear Lin, I told you we'd meet again soon, didn't I?"

  So that's how it is? Lin Taiping ignored Edward's sneer, and now he was starting to understand why the port guard had investigated so many times but never found any evidence of Edward's crimes.

  "Right!" The captain of the guard sneered, rubbing his chin and spitting out a thread of bright red blood from between his teeth. "Unfortunately, you found out too late, and more unfortunately, you shouldn't have thrown those Minotaur heads onto the Black Pearl. That ship has already been taken care of by us, and when they catch up, all they'll be able to do is watch as you're gnawed into a skeleton by sharks."

  "So everything was premeditated?" Lin Taiping sighed helplessly and turned his head to look around the deck.

  At this moment, the sailors on the deck had all torn off their disguises, revealing their bloodthirsty pirate faces, and raised their curved knives and crossbows, surrounding them from all sides with extreme ferocity.

  The situation was already settled, and Edward couldn't help but laugh with his fat shaking wildly, yet his eyes gleamed with a sinister light: "Dear Lin, thanks to you, I've lost quite a bit over the past month. So now, how do you plan on making up for my losses?"

  Upon hearing this, all the pirates burst into loud laughter, and the captain of the guards licked his lips, grinning as he slowly drew out his great sword. "I suddenly feel that we can cut off his head, make it into a wine cup to give to Lord Blood-eye, and then..."

  Then how come he suddenly couldn't go on!

  At this moment, Lin Taiping, who seemed to be on the verge of collapse at any time, suddenly stood up straight and spiritedly, and even took the time to rummage through his pockets for a long time, finally finding the last cigarette left, which he lit with great leisure.

  He exhaled smoke rings with a carefree air, lazily yawning and gazing at the group of enemies opposite him who were as still as wooden chickens: "Alright, everyone, the show is over. Isn't it time for us to settle the bill now?"

  In an instant, the captain of the guard's smile suddenly froze on his face, Edward's eyes were about to pop out, and dozens of pirates were also stunned, stretching their necks with their mouths agape, like a group of ducks hung over a roasting oven.

  How is this possible? How can it be? The gods above, that was a dagger coated with deadly poison, and it accurately pierced the opponent's heart. Why, under such an attack, did that little white face manage to stand up again, looking like he didn't even have a scratch on him.

  "This doesn't matter, not at all." Lin Taiping patted the dust off his clothes and pulled out the dagger from his chest, seemingly feeling no pain. "What's important is what you think of my performance. You guys were watching me almost suffocate just now, did it feel good to see that?"

  No one answered his question, everyone was at a loss, but in this eerie silence, the captain of the guard suddenly snatched the crossbow and viciously pulled the trigger: "Damn it, what are you waiting for, take him down!"

  Upon hearing this, dozens of pirates finally came to their senses and hastily raised their crossbows in disarray, firing continuously without mercy.

  In the midst of the whistling sound, dozens of sharp arrows shot out like a stormy rain, Lin Taiping didn't even have time to dodge, and was already hit by dozens of arrows, being pinned to the ship's side like a beehive.

  "Still not dead?" The captain of the guard threw away his empty crossbow, looking at Lin Taiping who was riddled with arrows, and finally revealed a triumphant smile. "You little white face, even if you're a law enforcement officer, don't think you can survive such an arrow rain... what?"

  "Yes, at that moment, Lin Taiping, who was shot like a sieve, smiled and raised his head, as if he didn't feel any pain. He patted his long gown very calmly: 'Hey, you guys have shot my clothes to pieces, they're expensive, okay?'"

  Silence! Eerie silence!

  At this moment, looking at Lin Taiping smiling with eight white teeth, looking at him continuing to smoke with his left hand full of sharp arrows, looking at him pulling out the sharp arrows from his body one by one, all the people present were stunned, feeling a chill running wildly up their spine.

  In an instant, Edward suddenly let out a hysterical shriek: "Damn it, look at his hand, look at his left hand!"

  Following Edward's direction, the pirates turned their heads in unison and looked over. In an instant, when they saw that left hand clearly, almost everyone retreated in terror, their scalps numb and their hair standing on end.

  What the... What the... damn it, what kind of ghost thing is this?