Jie Ning flew swiftly in the direction of the Heaven and Earth Laws fluctuations.
Compared to the speed at which he had flown back before, Jie Ning's speed after becoming a god had undergone a qualitative leap.
The distance from which the godhood fluctuations had come was not particularly far for a God-level expert. Before long, Jie Ning had neared his destination.
A familiar Life Fluctuation appeared within Jie Ning's perception.
But what was this bizarre form of performance art from another world?
With a rough glance, Jie Ning saw more than a dozen corpses that had died miserably, along with roughly a hundred living people. Every one of those still alive was above the Saint Realm.
From Jie Ning's senses, most of them could be considered powerful experts even within the Saint Realm.
Yet aside from a few of Jie Ning's "old acquaintances," who were standing normally, everyone else was sprawled across the ground in all sorts of strange poses.
Some of those poses were so awful that Jie Ning could barely bring himself to look at them.
Clearly, they had not done so willingly.
Jie Ning could see that some of them were drenched in sweat, whether from nervousness or some other reason, forced down onto the ground by an unseen power.
"Divine Domain." Jie Ning looked at the familiar figure before him and greeted him with a smile. "Congratulations, Senior Gru."
Gru looked at him as though he were a monster. "Jie Ning?"
He had just sensed a God-level expert flying toward him and had been wondering why that aura felt somewhat familiar.
Then, in the blink of an eye, Jie Ning had appeared before him.
"You... when did you become a god too?" Gru's face was full of shock.
Jie Ning smiled modestly. "Probably only a little earlier than you, Senior Gru."
"You really are too..." Gru could not think of a suitable description for a moment. "Don't call me Senior anymore. Just call me Gru. You're seriously terrifying."
"What? Jie Ning became a god too?" The group behind Gru heard their conversation, and the atmosphere instantly exploded.
"But I remember that it has only been a few years since Jie Ning entered the Saint Realm."
"Not just a few years. We met Jie Ning not long ago," someone sighed faintly.
"Who do you think is stronger, Gru or Jie Ning?"
"Watch yourselves." Darut turned and gave the group behind him a look, his tone unusually stern. "Show some respect."
Noticing Darut's gaze, everyone finally came to their senses. Gru had known them for a long time, and they had a good relationship, so joking around with him was no big deal. But Jie Ning had only recently entered the Saint Realm, and now he had swiftly become a God-level expert. He did not share such deep ties with them.
Jie Ning had seen Darut's actions clearly. He smiled and shook his head. "Duke Darut, everyone should just relax as before."
"Becoming a god only means I've become a little stronger. Everyone can act as usual."
Only a little stronger... The crowd exchanged glances, suddenly finding themselves unwilling to speak.
"Alright, Grandfather, stop with your little tricks." Gru broke the silence. "Jie Ning isn't like you stingy old fellows."
Duke Darut was about to retort when he suddenly remembered that Gru had become a god. It seemed that he had even less ability to resist him now. A wave of sorrow immediately rose in his heart.
Watching Darut's exaggerated expression, Jie Ning secretly found it amusing. Come to think of it, half of his sense of belonging toward the Dalut Family came from the harmonious atmosphere within the family, while the other half came from the relaxed and amusing way the Saint Realm experts led by Duke Darut got along.
Jie Ning did not continue provoking the prideful Duke Darut. Looking at the Saint Realm experts all over the ground, he asked Gru curiously, "How did these people offend you?"
Hearing the topic shift to themselves, the Saint Realm experts who had been pinned to the ground for so long felt both terrified and regretful.
One God-level expert was already frightening enough. Why had the Dalut Family produced another one? If they had known this would happen, they would never have come to fight over a Divine Spark.
To Jie Ning's surprise, Gru did not seem to have much of an issue with the Saint Realm experts lying on the ground. "It's not really a big problem. Just look at that fellow over there first."
Jie Ning followed Gru's hand and immediately saw a corpse that had been torn into several pieces. "This is?"
"Hmph." Gru was still somewhat angry when he spoke of it. "Our group had only come to watch the show and maybe try our luck."
"After seeing that there were already more than a hundred Saint Realm experts present, we voluntarily announced that we were withdrawing from the competition."
"You should know that the Dalut Family's reputation is well known across the Bana Continent. Everyone knows that when we say we're only watching, we truly mean only watching. We were even planning to move farther away and leave."
Jie Ning's expression turned subtle. So this huge group came all the way here just to watch the excitement?
"But this fellow called Qina, after seeing himself surrounded by so many people, actually made a feint and threw a Space Ring at us before trying to escape."
"I caught the ring and was originally planning to throw it right back, since I had already said I wasn't joining the fight."
"But that fellow Idel actually wanted to take the chance to get revenge." Gru pointed at another corpse, furious. "He and I were both at the Saint Realm Limit, and we had always had some friction. This time, he incited some people to attack us together, and he even dared to say..."
Looking at the scattered corpse, Jie Ning could clearly sense just how furious Gru had been at the time.
Gru seemed to think of something halfway through and intended to stop, but Darut unexpectedly explained from the side, "Gru's wife, Tina, was once Idel's student before she died. But Idel had always harbored certain thoughts toward Tina. In the end, Tina married Gru, but Idel kept claiming that Gru had forced her..."
Bang! Duke Darut seemed to suffer an unknown attack and flew away.
Gru wore an expression as though nothing had happened and continued naturally, "...so I ended up fighting them, and Grandfather and the others helped me hold off some of them."
"Huh? Grandfather, when did you leave?" Gru looked at Duke Darut as he flew back, covered in dust, his face full of "surprise."
"Hmph." Duke Darut moved his lips, but in the end, he merely snorted to express his dissatisfaction.
Gru did not care in the slightest and changed the subject, becoming more animated. "...That was how he and I fought evenly for a long time. It could be said that it was the most satisfying battle I had fought in centuries."
"...As we fought, my Explosive Truth suddenly made another breakthrough. I successfully killed that disgusting fellow, and then I became a god." Gru first focused on describing the thrilling battle between worthy opponents, then suddenly ended it in the simplest possible way.
Jie Ning had been listening to Gru's battle description with great interest, but that abrupt ending about becoming a god gave him the feeling of a poorly concluded story.
Fortunately, Jie Ning's strong mental fortitude allowed him to suppress the urge to complain. He shifted his attention to the Saint Realm experts on the ground and asked again, "So what about these people?"
Gru said indifferently, "After becoming a god, I immediately killed the fellow who had shifted the trouble onto us. As for the rest, I used Divine Domain to press them onto the ground for now."
At the end, Gru still looked disgustedly at Qina's corpse. "Originally, if the Space Ring he threw at me had truly contained a Divine Spark, I might have spared his life. But that damned fellow actually threw me an empty Space Ring."
Qina really deserved to die. The Saint Realm experts on the ground cursed inwardly.
"Then he really did deserve to die." Jie Ning nodded in agreement with Gru, then looked toward the remaining Saint Realm experts. "But how do you plan to deal with these Saint Realm experts?"
The hearts of the Saint Realm experts on the ground instantly rose to their throats.
Gru smiled. He had experience with this.
"Wolqi." Gru called out one person from the Dalut Family's group.
"Lord Gru. Lord Jie Ning." A somewhat shorter figure walked over and first bowed to both of them.
"I'll leave these fellows to you." Gru pointed at the Saint Realm experts covering the ground.
Jie Ning clearly noticed that the moment Gru said this, many of the people on the ground seemed to relax considerably.
Gru also withdrew his Divine Domain, yet not a single person dared to flee.
This Wolqi seems to have quite a good reputation, Jie Ning subconsciously thought.
"Yes." Wolqi accepted the task, then walked toward the people on the ground.
"I remember your name is Kanoqi, right? I remember you're a follower of Duke Cuzan. Since we're all from the Korur Empire, give me a..."
"Snorl, you're from the Dinar Empire. That's a little troublesome. You might have to pay a bit more..."
Seeing this scene, Jie Ning instantly understood. This Wolqi was in charge of collecting ransom.
But why was he so practiced at it...
And so many of the people lying there were clearly familiar with the business he handled...
The Dalut Family's unserious impression in Jie Ning's mind seemed to grow even deeper.
While Wolqi carried out his one-sided "negotiations," Jie Ning followed Gru and the others to one side.
With a wave of his hand, a string of ownerless Space Rings flew up from the ground toward Gru.
Then, a Saint Realm expert in the group who had clearly comprehended earth-element laws lightly stamped the ground. Rolling soil skillfully pulled the corpses and bloodstains underground.
Other than everyone's somewhat disheveled appearance, almost no trace of battle remained at the scene.
Finally, the ground before them rapidly flattened, and several Stone Tables and stone chairs rose up before them.
Jie Ning could tell that the man had used the Earth Element Profound Mystery.
It seemed his belief that people in this world would not use Laws and Profound Mysteries in everyday life had been a prejudice.
Gru picked up the Space Rings and began sorting through the spoils.
Suddenly, a black object emitting a cyan glow appeared in Gru's hand, and the gazes of most people present immediately focused on it.
This was a wind-element Divine Spark.
Before you continue