Golden-Eyed, Growth-Type Equipment

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

"Hmph! How dare you compare yourself to the Supreme Lord I revere!"

Garuda snorted coldly. He held his head high and his chest out, without the slightest trace of fear on his face. He took two steps back, glaring fixedly at Indra as he spoke in defiance.

The proud Golden-winged Great Peng would never submit to Indra!

"I'll find a way to break the curse myself!"

With that, Garuda spread his wings and took flight. His enormous feathers swept through the air as he soared across the heavens and flew out of the Heavenly Realm.

"Ah..."

The Priest Sage watched Garuda's departing figure and could not help shaking his head with a long sigh.

If he left just like that, would not his task of reconciling them fail?

Now, he could only urge Indra and the other gods to seek out Supreme Lord Vishnu in the Ocean of Milk.

"Indra, now that you gods have lost your strength, Goddess Lakshmi has vanished because of you, and the Asuras have likewise lost their strength, this is greatly detrimental to the development of the universe. You must quickly go and pay respects to the Supreme Lord..."

The Priest Sage spoke earnestly.

Indra listened to the Priest Sage's words and suddenly froze.

"Wait!"

Light gradually flickered in his eyes. He abruptly raised a hand and asked, "What did you say in the sentence before that?"

"You must quickly go and pay respects to the Supreme Lord?"

"No, the sentence before that."

"This is greatly detrimental to the development of the world?"

"No, the one before that!"

Indra waved his hand and continued.

Hearing this, the Priest Sage blinked and thought for a moment. "The Asuras have also lost their strength?"

Smack!

Indra clapped his hands together with a crisp sound.

Light shone in his eyes as realization dawned on him, and he muttered inwardly.

Since the Asuras have lost their strength, they probably won't be able to attack the Heavenly Realm. If so, I don't need to worry too much.

Indra felt slightly relieved.

But he still did not dare relax.

As far as he knew, this era was an age when all living things were flourishing. The mortal world brimmed with vitality, countless races competed and prospered, and Vishnu the Protector God had so far only manifested his first incarnation, Matsya.

The fish incarnation had dragged an ark through the flood and saved Manu, the progenitor of mankind.

His second incarnation, Kurma, had yet to appear because the gods and Asuras had not yet churned the Ocean of Milk.

The remaining incarnations after that had appeared even less!

"The current Asura King of the Netherworld is Golden-Eyed, the first generation of Asuras!"

"Golden-Eyed Asura possessed the strength to lift the entire earth. He imprisoned the Earth Goddess and caused seawater to flood the land. Vishnu only destroyed him after manifesting his boar incarnation, and even he was affected by the curse."

Maybe, perhaps, possibly... he's stronger than me!

Indra pondered inwardly.

The gods and Asuras were currently locked in constant friction, but the clashes were only small-scale battles between their subordinate gods and lesser Asuras.

None of the chief gods had ever fought the Asura King.

Indra could not gauge Golden-Eyed Asura's true strength either!

As fellow sons of Kashyapa, Golden-Eyed's power was in no way inferior to theirs. If Golden-Eyed underwent arduous cultivation and received a boon from Brahma, they would likely be no match for him.

I still need to get the boon first!

It's all Garuda's fault for wasting my Power of Arduous Cultivation!

Indra felt secretly irritated.

He had finally managed to cultivate arduously once while staying in the Heavenly Realm, and this fellow had come to interrupt him. What a nuisance.

"Indra!"

Seeing that Indra seemed to be spacing out, the Priest Sage called to him and asked worriedly, "What is it? Are you worried about the Asuras?"

Indra nodded and secretly glanced at Surya.

He truly was worried. He had to find a way to get the Sun God Armor from Surya.

But his current Power of Arduous Cultivation was insufficient. It would probably be difficult to use it to have Surya add the armor's many abilities.

It seemed he could only lower his demands!

"Indeed!"

"Golden-Eyed, the Asura King of this generation, is my half-brother by the same father. Yet I do not wish for them to attack the Heavenly Realm and see brothers slaughter one another."

"Garuda drove me to this point, so I had no choice but to cast that curse. I only hope it can erase his arrogance."

"As for the Asuras, if they truly attack the Heavenly Realm, I hope to bear it on behalf of all the gods. If the Asuras' power falls upon me, it may awaken the truth, goodness, and beauty within them!"

Indra put on a grief-stricken expression.

I hope doesn't mean I'll actually do it!

I'll get the boon first and talk later!

At this point, Indra changed the subject and pressed his palms together toward the Sun God.

"Praise Surya!"

"I still hope that you, Surya, can grant a boon to my divine armor. This armor has a total of one hundred layers. Each layer requires the Power of Arduous Cultivation from a thousand years to break through. Let me bear their power."

Indra spoke in a deep voice.

He did not ask for the original thousand-layer Sun God Armor. He only wanted one hundred layers, and he also removed its ability to kill an enemy instantly whenever a layer of divine armor shattered.

Upon hearing this, the surrounding gods all revealed expressions of shock, astonishment, and gratitude.

The Priest Sage widened his eyes in utter disbelief. He looked Indra up and down as though he were seeing him anew.

Was this really the troublemaking Indra he knew, the one who never feared making things worse?!

I thought Indra was as arrogant as I am. I never expected him to be so benevolent. The last time he came to ask me for the Sun God Armor, it was actually for this reason!

Surya thought to himself.

"Praise the Heavenly Emperor Indra!"

Agni could not help feeling a trace of reverence as well. He pressed his palms together and spoke.

The surrounding Water God, Wind God, Gandharvas, Heavenly Maidens, and other attendant gods immediately followed suit.

"Praise the Heavenly Emperor Indra!"

Amid the waves of praise, Surya smiled happily and also offered his praise.

Then Surya's expression gradually turned solemn.

"Indra!"

"Your arduous cultivation has not yet reached completion. This divine armor cannot be granted to you!"

Surya paused after saying this, then continued.

"But I once promised that I would fulfill any boon you desired!"

At that moment, streams of light seemed to rise from Surya's dark face. His divinity surged, dreamlike and illusory, as though the laws of heaven and earth had descended to bless him. He entered the special state of Brahman-Atman Union.

Surya slowly raised his right hand beside his head, his palm facing Indra.

"I shall grant you the Golden Solar God Armor!"

"This Sun God Armor shall be forged from your Power of Arduous Cultivation. For every thousand years of Power of Arduous Cultivation you gain, you may construct one layer of divine armor. Its strength and effects shall all be determined by what you grant to its construction."

"As you wish!"

The moment his words fell, a beam of golden light suddenly shot from Surya's palm.

Whoosh!

The golden light drifted gently through the air and landed upon Indra.

A suit of dark golden divine armor abruptly appeared upon Indra's body. It gleamed brilliantly, overflowing with radiant light. Images of the sun, stars, and lightning were engraved upon it, intertwining with one another to represent the friendship between Surya and Indra.

Indra's eyes lit up.

This was not the Golden Solar God Armor he had requested before, but in a certain sense, it was even more precious.

This Golden Solar God Armor was growth-type equipment!

I wrote this according to the chronological order of Vishnu's ten incarnations. In some versions, the Asura King during the churning of the Ocean of Milk was Bali. He was later killed by Indra, then revived and gained even greater power.

But Bali's timeline comes later, after Asuras such as Golden-Eyed, Golden Bed, and Triple City. So I wrote Golden-Eyed as the Asura King first.