Familiar New God-level

Jie Ning flew swiftly in the direction of the Heaven and Earth Laws fluctuations.

Compared to his speed when flying back before, after becoming a god, Jie Ning's speed had undergone a qualitative leap.

The distance from which the godly fluctuations had spread wasn't particularly far for a God-level being, and before long, Jie Ning had neared his destination.

A familiar Life Fluctuation appeared in Jie Ning's perception.

But, 'What kind of unique otherworldly performance art is this.'

Jie Ning took a rough look—aside from over a dozen corpses in miserable states, there were still about a hundred living people on site, and every one of these survivors was above the Saint Realm.

In Jie Ning's perception, most of these people were basically among the strong within the Saint Realm.

However, aside from a few of Jie Ning's 'old acquaintances' standing normally, everyone else was lying on the ground in all sorts of strange poses.

Some poses were so awkward Jie Ning felt he could barely look at them.

Clearly, these people weren't doing this voluntarily.

Jie Ning could see that some of them were already drenched in sweat, whether from nerves or some other reason, but they were being forcibly pressed to the ground by some kind of power.

"A Divine Domain, huh." Jie Ning looked at the familiar figure before him and greeted with a smile, "Congratulations, Senior Gru."

Gru stared at him like he was a monster. "Jie Ning?"

He had just sensed a God-level powerhouse flying toward him and was wondering why the aura felt familiar.

In the blink of an eye, Jie Ning was already right in front of him.

"You... when did you become a god too?" Gru asked, utterly shocked.

Jie Ning smiled modestly. "Probably just a little while before you, Senior Gru."

"You really are..." Gru couldn't find the right words for a moment. "Don't call me senior anymore. Just call me Gru. You're way too terrifying."

"What? Jie Ning, you're a god too?" The group behind Gru overheard their conversation, and the atmosphere instantly exploded.

"But I remember Jie Ning only became a Saint a few years ago."

"Not just a few years—we saw him not long ago," someone sighed gloomily.

"Who do you think is stronger, Gru or Jie Ning?"

"Everyone, pay attention." Duke Darut turned to the group behind him and shot them a pointed look, his tone unusually stern. "Show some respect."

Catching the Duke's gaze, the crowd suddenly realized—Gru was an old friend, and their relationship was close enough for jokes. But Jie Ning had only recently become a Saint, and now he'd shot straight to God-level; he didn't have that kind of rapport with them.

Jie Ning caught every bit of Duke Darut's actions. He shook his head with a smile and said, "Duke Darut, everyone can just relax like before."

"Becoming a god just means my strength increased a bit. Everything else is the same."

'Just a bit stronger...' Hearing that, the group exchanged glances and suddenly felt like they didn't want to talk anymore.

"Alright, Grandfather, stop with your little schemes," Gru broke the silence. "Jie Ning isn't like you stingy old folks."

Duke Darut opened his mouth to retort, but then realized Gru was already a god—he had even less ability to argue with him now. A wave of melancholy washed over him.

Jie Ning found the Duke's expression amusing. Half his sense of belonging to the Dalut Family came from the harmonious atmosphere, and the other half from the easygoing, humorous dynamic among the Saints, led by Duke Darut.

Jie Ning decided not to tease the prideful Duke further. He looked at the Saints sprawled on the ground and asked Gru curiously, "What did these people do to offend you?"

The Saints, who had been pinned to the ground for a while, heard the topic turn to them and felt a mix of fear and regret.

One God-level was already terrifying enough, and now the Dalut Family had another one? If they'd known, they never would have come to fight over the Divine Spark.

To Jie Ning's surprise, Gru didn't seem particularly angry at the downed Saints. "It's not a big deal, actually. But look at that guy over there."

Jie Ning followed Gru's gaze and saw a corpse torn into pieces. "This is?"

"Hmph," Gru said, still a bit irritated. "Our group came just to watch the show and try our luck."

"When we saw there were already over a hundred Saints here, we voluntarily said we'd back out of the fight."

"You know, in this regard, the Dalut Family's reputation across the entire Bana Continent has always been solid. Everyone knows that when we say we're just watching, we mean it. We were planning to back off and leave."

Jie Ning's expression turned subtle. 'So you all came in a big group just to gawk?'

"But this guy named Qina saw he was surrounded by so many people, faked an attack, and threw a Space Ring at us to try to escape."

"I caught the ring and was going to toss it away, since I'd already said I wasn't competing."

"But that 'Idel' guy tried to take the chance to get back at me." Gru pointed at another corpse, furious. "He and I were both at the Saint Realm Limit, and we'd had friction before. This time, he stirred up some people to attack us, and even dared to say..."

Jie Ning looked at the mangled corpse and could clearly feel Gru's rage at the time.

Gru stopped mid-sentence, as if remembering something, but Duke Darut explained from the side, "Gru's wife, Tina, was once Idel's student. But Idel always had designs on her. In the end, Tina married Gru, though Idel kept claiming Gru forced her..."

Boom. Duke Darut seemed to be hit by an unknown attack and went flying.

Gru looked as if nothing had happened and said casually, "...so I fought them, and Grandfather and the others helped hold off some of them."

"Oh, Grandfather, when did you leave?" Gru asked with feigned surprise as Duke Darut flew back, covered in dust.

"Hmph~" Duke Darut's lips moved, but in the end, he just let out a cold snort to express his displeasure.

Gru didn't mind at all and changed the subject, speaking with great enthusiasm. "...And so, he and I fought as equals for a long time—I can say it was the most satisfying battle I've had in these past few hundred years."

"...As we fought, my 'Explosive Truth' suddenly broke through to a new level, and I managed to kill that disgusting bastard. Then, I became a god." Gru first vividly described the thrill of his evenly matched battle with Idel, only to abruptly wrap it up with a simple conclusion.

Jie Ning had been listening to Gru's battle account with great interest, but the sudden godhood ending left him feeling like the story had fizzled out.

Fortunately, Jie Ning's strong mental fortitude allowed him to suppress his urge to complain. He shifted his attention to the Saint Realm cultivators lying all around and asked again, "So what about these guys?"

Gru said casually, "After I became a god, I immediately killed the one who tried to shift the blame onto me. As for the rest, I used my Divine Domain to pin them to the ground."

At the end, Gru still glanced at Qina's corpse with disgust. "If the Space Ring he threw me had actually contained a Divine Spark, I might have spared his life. But that despicable bastard threw me an empty Space Ring instead."

'Qina really deserved to die.' The Saint Realm cultivators on the ground cursed inwardly.

"Then that guy really did deserve to die." Jie Ning nodded in agreement with Gru, then looked at the remaining Saint Realm cultivators. "But how do you plan to deal with these Saint Realms?"

The hearts of the Saint Realm cultivators on the ground immediately tightened.

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 slightly shorter figure walked over and bowed to the two of them.

"These guys are yours to handle." Gru pointed at the Saint Realm cultivators scattered across the ground.

Jie Ning clearly noticed that as soon as Gru said this, the mental state of many on the ground seemed to relax significantly.

Gru also released his Divine Domain, but no one dared to flee.

'This Wolqi seems to have a decent reputation,' Jie Ning thought subconsciously.

"Yes." Wolqi accepted the task and walked toward the people on the ground.

"I remember you're called Kanoqi, right? I recall you're a follower of Duke Cuzan. Since we're all from the Korur Empire, how about you give..."

"Snorl, you're from the Dinar Empire. That's a bit tricky—you might have to give a little more..."

Seeing this, Jie Ning immediately understood—Wolqi was the one in charge of collecting ransoms.

But why was he so skilled at it...

And it was obvious that many of the fallen were very familiar with his business...

The Dalut Family's unprofessional impression in Jie Ning's mind seemed to deepen even further.

While Wolqi was conducting his one-sided 'negotiations,' Jie Ning followed Gru and the others to the side.

Gru waved his hand, and a series of ownerless Space Rings on the ground flew toward him.

Then, a Saint Realm cultivator in the group who had clearly comprehended the Earth Element Profound Mystery lightly stomped the ground, skillfully burying the corpses and bloodstains with rolling earth.

Aside from the somewhat disheveled appearances of the group, there was almost no trace of battle left.

Finally, the ground in front of them quickly smoothed out, and stone tables and chairs rose up before everyone.

Jie Ning could tell that this person was using the 'Earth Element Profound Mystery.'

It seemed his assumption that people in this world didn't use Laws and Profound Mysteries in everyday life was just his own prejudice.

Gru picked up the Space Rings and began tallying the spoils.

Suddenly, a black object emitting a cyan glow appeared in Gru's hand, and most of the people present quickly focused their eyes on it.

'That's a Wind Divine Spark,' Jie Ning realized instantly.

Thanks to Infinite Sword Demon and Gu Ruoyu for the monthly tickets.

If you have tickets, throw them at me!