Stepping In

"High God strength—even if they're not Demon-level experts, they probably wouldn't come here to mine Purple Crystals."

Vinson muttered, but the work that fell to him couldn't be avoided.

He had no choice but to step forward and speak politely, "Excuse me, what are you two doing in the Purple Crystal Mountain Range?"

Who knew whether this High God Demon had a good temper or not? At least being polite couldn't hurt.

"Mining Purple Crystals, of course."

Before Bamer could speak, Hermes cut straight to the point, "I know the rules of your Eighteen Families. Bamer, just give him an Azure Stone?"

"Yes, my lord!"

Bamer nodded in acknowledgment, then directly pulled out an Azure Stone and handed it to Vinson.

"Really here to mine Purple Crystals?" The Middle God from another family, following behind Vinson, transmitted a message.

"Mind your own business?"

Vinson shot the guy a glare.

"Anse, I advise you not to meddle. Does your Lucio Family still want to challenge the Baldivi Family?"

The Eighteen Families jointly controlled the Purple Crystal Mountain Range, while also monopolizing the output of Purple Crystals in the Hell Plane.

But this alliance had always been led by the Baldivi Family.

After tasting the sweetness of controlling Purple Crystal output, the families within the alliance inevitably developed illusions.

If I can do it, so can I!

"That's a family matter. You and I are mere Middle Gods, just parasites on our families. What right do we have to decide for them?"

The Middle God named Anse naturally refused to back down either.

But he wasn't wrong!

What qualifications did a mere Middle God have to participate in family decisions?

"Hmph~!"

Vinson transmitted a cold snort.

While the two were communicating via Spiritual Sense, Vinson had already handed two Emblem Tokens to Bamer and Hermes.

"This is the token! As long as you pay five thousand Ink Stones, you can each receive one Emblem Token.

"When you come out, just return the Emblem Token and you can leave safely. We won't ask how many Purple Crystals you've mined."

Taking the tokens, Hermes and Bamer turned and left.

What was there to say to two of the lowest-ranking members of the Eighteen Families? This was a one-time deal anyway.

This time, unless he let the Golden Space devour Purple Crystals to its fill, he wasn't leaving.

As for the occasional Mist Riot in the Purple Crystal Mountain Range?

Would Hermes be afraid? Don't forget what his true form was.

The endless mist indeed covered hundreds of thousands of miles, but the mist's height didn't reach tens of thousands of meters.

"My lord, according to the intelligence I gathered at the Demon Castle, one Purple Crystal costs about seven thousand Ink Stones. Are we really just here to mine Purple Crystals?"

A follower wasn't a slave.

Bamer often discussed and explored the mysteries of the Fire Element Law with Hermes.

Either way, both of them gained something.

"Oh~!"

Hermes nodded, "Since you've looked into it, you should know the real use of Purple Crystals."

"Of course!"

Bamer said, "Purple Crystals can nourish the soul. One Purple Crystal is roughly equivalent to one Soul Gold Bead."

"Right! That's why I never became a god through Fire—I was worried that splitting my soul would lower my innate potential."

This was also the truth, at least as he saw it now.

In the beginning, Hermes feared that splitting his soul would weaken it, bringing him danger.

After obtaining 'Silver Moon,' that worry lost its foundation.

Especially after Hermes killed Basim, he had enough money to buy Soul Gold Beads to restore his soul.

But Hermes didn't do that.

He exchanged all his Ink Stones for Earth Crystals, which were now stored as Earth Sovereign God Power in the Golden Space.

The Purple Crystal Mountain Range—he was going to come here anyway.

With a talent ability like the Golden Space, Hermes had no reason not to thoroughly explore its limits.

Devouring Divine Sparks had always been his highest pursuit.

"But the speed of refining the Purple Crystal is far too slow—nowhere near as fast as refining the Soul Gold Bead."

Bamer said.

"Slow? Not a chance."

Hermes smiled but offered no further explanation.

Followers could be trusted, but there was no need to reveal everything; the most basic secrets still had to be kept.

Besides, this involved the upgrade of the Golden Space.

What he truly yearned for was learning to refine Godhead Essence like Beirut.

Though Hermes's body was already explosively powerful, and refining Godhead Essence wouldn't grant much of an enhancement, a Godhead Weapon was genuinely tempting.

As for the Soul Gold Bead.

It was merely an extremely common commodity in the Demon Castle.

Compared to slaughtering hundreds of millions of lives on a Material Plane to refine a single Soul Gold Bead.

In Hell, raising lifeforms to refine Soul Gold Beads was hardly a secret.

It wasn't just tribes specializing in herding Holy Domain lifeforms doing it; even some large families without business sense engaged in it.

Why weren't Holy Domain beings considered people?

A large part of the reason came from this.

The good news was that the Bifu Continent was rich in a type of Soul Beast with formidable souls.

Using them to refine Soul Gold Beads had the lowest cost-to-benefit ratio.

The bad news was that raising Soul Beasts required extremely high environmental conditions, and so far, they could only be bred in specific areas of the Bifu Continent.

In Hell, incidents of refining Soul Gold Beads from Saint Domain Magical Beasts or even Saint Domain humans were common.

No one condemned it, and no one even found it cruel.

That was a cognitive barrier.

To the endless God-level lifeforms living in Hell, Saint Domain lifeforms that couldn't break through to the God level were no different from livestock.

Like pigs, dogs, cattle, and sheep in the mouths of ordinary humans on the Material Plane.

Don't think the Soul Gold Bead was cruel; even the Godheads once used as a universal equivalent in the God Realm were dug out from the heads of God-level experts, weren't they?

The world had always been this way; it wouldn't change because of one person's kindness.

"Let's go, we'll fly over slowly."

In the Purple Crystal Mountain Range, Metal Life could no longer be used.

The Mist Sea was prone to riots, and Metal Life flew too fast, making it hard to dodge danger.

Hermes and Bamer flew together, soon stepping into the edge of the mist in the Purple Crystal Mountain Range.

As they went deeper, the surrounding mist grew thicker and thicker.

Spiritual Sense was severely restricted, essentially losing its alert function.

But there was no trace of fear in Hermes's eyes; his true body was towering and immense, and he wasn't afraid even if the mist rioted.

As for being trapped?

Then let himself be trapped!

If he reverted to his true body, Hermes was confident he could stretch the mountain peak directly above the mist.

Then, whether to stay or leave would be entirely up to him, wouldn't it?

As long as a Sovereign God didn't act personally, with the soul defense artifact 'Silver Moon,' Hermes.

Was basically invincible.

"Whoosh~!"

Approaching the edge of the mist, Hermes flew ahead, his defenses ready to block any Purple Crystal that might shoot over.

Bamer followed closely behind.

Though his strength was inferior to Hermes, as a High God, he had enough confidence.

Their goal was clear: to delve deep into the Mist Sea and search for the legendary Purple Crystal Demon Caves.

As the two went deeper, the surrounding environment began to change.

The once calm mist started to surge, as if alive, swirling around them.

Hermes could feel the power contained within the mist; perhaps it was itself part of the Soul Mist.

He felt his Spiritual Sense was greatly restricted.

"Be careful, this mist is definitely not simple!"

Hermes warned.

Bamer nodded.