The Blocking Bead

"Do I have to bind it with blood?"

Looking at the bead in his hand,

Hermes couldn't help remembering how he had obtained Silver Moon.

The scene was still vivid in his memory.

He would never forget it!

The High God bandit had silently delivered a treasure right to him, even though he had most likely become a god by refining a Divine Spark.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so weak.

It had taken just one punch. Hermes had thrown a single punch, and the guy had shattered into powder.

Sometimes Hermes wondered,

if he had attacked the bandit's soul back then, would that High God have been able to withstand it?

It was a bit of a perverse curiosity!

Mostly, Hermes wanted to find out the limits of Silver Moon's soul defense.

It wasn't until this mission at Zhelan Fort that he encountered Basim, who was at least a Five-star Demon and cultivated the Death Element, which excelled at Soul Control.

Combined with Bamer's Soul Attack, they hadn't managed to shake Hermes in the slightest.

Although Bamer was indeed no good at defending his soul, the Fire Element Law's Soul Attack was no weak thing.

Working together, the two of them had still been blocked by Silver Moon.

Fortunately, Hermes hadn't used a Soul Attack. Otherwise, he might really have missed out on Silver Moon.

But that was only a possibility.

Given how hooked Hermes had been on killing bandits at the time, he probably wouldn't have spared someone who was trying to rob him.

It was a matter of principle.

"Drip~!"

Blood, like liquid metal, dripped onto the earthy-yellow bead.

Binding by blood was an ancient and mysterious method that could establish a special connection between an object and its owner.

Hermes remembered that he had used the same method when he first obtained Silver Moon.

The canopy formed by Silver Moon had become an indispensable treasure to him.

Without it, things would have gone badly for him last time at Blocking Castle.

Now, facing this earthy-yellow bead, Hermes naturally wanted to try this ancient method first.

Perhaps he would gain another new treasure.

"Hum~!"

The earthy-yellow bead quivered lightly and slipped away from Hermes's palm.

It floated weightlessly into the air.

"It's working~!"

Before he could even react in surprise, an earthy-yellow Yellow Sand Domain enveloped the entire courtyard.

Hermes quickly controlled it with his mind, telling it to contract. In the end, it formed a miniature castle several meters in diameter.

With their Spiritual Senses connected, none of its secrets remained hidden from him.

He couldn't help marveling at the fact that the secret of Zhelan Fort had been hidden inside this inconspicuous bead.

"So that's why the huge Blocking Castle disappeared. It had shrunk back into this Blocking Bead!"

Thanks to his experience with Silver Moon, he was no longer surprised that a Heaven and Earth Treasure could be bound to its owner.

There was nothing else, only an extremely brief message.

"Blocking Bead!"

Hermes had heard Bamer mention it.

He had once read about Heaven and Earth Treasures shaped like weapons in a book.

There were even legends

that living Heaven and Earth Treasures had been born between heaven and earth.

But legends were only legends; no one could tell whether they were true.

Nor did anyone have the ability to find out!

Except for Sovereign Gods.

Because an immensely long time had passed since the beginning of heaven and earth.

After information had been passed down and reshaped over countless years, even the truth could become unrecognizable.

Even ordinary information

could turn into an outrageous rumor after being passed along ineffectively again and again.

How much more so for Heaven and Earth Treasures?

Only Sovereign Gods!

And they had to be the kind who had been born at the very beginning of heaven and earth.

They alone might have information about that chaotic era.

"Boom~!"

Realizing he could control the Stone Castle floating in midair with his mind, Hermes began studying it.

"Gravity Space, Earth Element, and it seems there's something else..."

Hermes closed his eyes and let his consciousness sink inside the Blocking Bead, trying to use his soul power to forge a deeper connection with it.

As his consciousness delved further, he sensed even more profound mysteries.

They were obscure and difficult to understand!

They were intricately connected to the Great Earth Law he was familiar with, yet they were also different.

More ancient, more profound!

It was as if the tiny Blocking Bead concealed the secrets of the universe's creation.

Back then,

when he had first seen the Yellow Sand Domain enveloping Blocking Castle, he had already sensed something amiss.

The Yellow Sand Domain contained the Mysteries of Earth Element and Gravity Space.

Hermes had thought that a Five-star Demon who cultivated the Great Earth Law was hiding inside Zhelan Fort.

But even after he had punched the gatekeeper, Basim, to death, the supposed Five-star Demon of the Earth Element had never appeared.

There hadn't been the slightest trace of one.

Although they had reappeared in the outside world deep underground,

as long as someone released their Spiritual Sense, nobody could evade detection over a short distance.

Besides, Bamer's Demon Squad had already searched the area once.

They really hadn't found a Five-star Demon expert who cultivated the Great Earth Law.

If there had been one, Basim wouldn't have needed to sacrifice all his Yellow Armored People and Black Heavy Armored People.

In the end, he had only succeeded by using Soul Control on Saba to launch a sneak attack.

Otherwise, with the cooperation of the Star Demons under Bamer's command, Bamer wouldn't have been caught off guard.

Hermes had been puzzled before, but now it all made sense.

"Could it be that all Heaven and Earth Treasures were born at the beginning of heaven and earth?"

Apart from the Mysteries of Gravity Space and Earth Element, he had also sensed several mysterious, obscure fluctuations.

He didn't know what they were.

"Could it be the Life Force Profundity?"

Unable to identify them, Hermes couldn't help making wild guesses.

As far as the Great Earth Law was concerned,

the Life Force Profundity was an extremely unusual mystery.

In terms of rank, it was only a middle-tier mystery within the Great Earth Law.

The power of comprehending the Life Force Profundity alone was far inferior to the Mysteries of Gravity Space and the Earth Pulse Profound Mystery.

It was also inferior to the Mysteries of Power, another middle-tier mystery. If it wasn't fused with anything else, it wouldn't even increase one's strength.

Unless someone broke through to become a Middle God or High God immediately after comprehending it.

And yet, Life Force was one of the most difficult mysteries in the Great Earth Law to comprehend.

Not because it was the hardest, but because there was absolutely no clue where to begin.

The Life Force Profundity seemed completely out of place among the other mysteries of the Great Earth Law.

And yet, it could be fused with them.

"Boom~!"

The Golden Threads covering Hermes suddenly expanded, blanketing the courtyard.

At the same time, Hermes didn't put away the Blocking Bead in his hand.

"Let me see if I can use the Blocking Bead's Yellow Sand Domain at the same time as my Mist Shadow Heavy!"

"Press it down for me~!"

Extreme gravity descended.

"Rumble~!"

Mist Shadow Heavy enveloped the area, and the artificial hill in the courtyard, as hard as an artifact, crumbled. Yet not even a sound escaped.

The commotion had no effect on Bamer, who was immersed in cultivation outside the courtyard.

Sound needed a medium to travel!

But the air that should have served as a medium for sound waves had been crushed down to the ground by the extreme gravity. The entire Mist Shadow Space had become a vacuum.

"Gasp~!"

Seeing this, Hermes sucked in a sharp breath. "The gravity is incredible. The gravity within my Mist Shadow Heavy has increased several times over, at least."

He hadn't yet fully fused the three mysteries of Earth Element, Power, and Gravity Space, but he didn't care much.

His Material Attack was already at the Seven-star Demon level. Did he need more attack power?

Not at all!

What he lacked was an absolute-control technique.