Trist

His goal had never been to merely match a Grand Perfection in material attack power, or to be second only to one in material defense.

It was true Grand Perfection!

With such heaven-defying talent, he could already rival a Water Element Grand Perfection—who was slightly weaker in material attack—when he had only fused four profundities.

So if he broke through to Grand Perfection, wouldn't Hermes directly become the number one under the Sovereigns?

There were over seventy Sovereigns, but only one person under them—Hermes.

Just thinking about it felt wonderful.

As for Sovereigns? Hermes didn't dare to think about that for now, because it wasn't a realm one could reach through effort alone.

It required refining a Sovereign Spark.

But since the dawn of heaven and earth, there had only been seventy-seven Sovereign Sparks.

Neither increasing nor decreasing.

Where was Hermes supposed to find one?

If he ever had an opportunity like Beirut's—to snatch someone else's Sovereign Spark—he definitely wouldn't let it go.

But there was one problem: Hermes was born in the Great Earth God Realm. If he seized a Sovereign Spark, how would he deal with the wrath of the Light Sovereign?

Completely unsolvable!

So Hermes simply wouldn't think about this problem, because it was nothing but unnecessary worry.

A fantasy born from nothing!

Where was there a Sovereign Spark?

Without a Sovereign Spark, how could he snatch one?

Deep within the Purple Crystal Mountain Range, ancient and mysterious power lay hidden.

When the purple light burst forth again, it was like a boiling tsunami, shaking the entire mountain range.

Endless black-red mountain rocks cracked apart under the influence of this mysterious force.

Rock fragments danced through the air, then recombined under an invisible power, forming enormous Purple Crystal Monsters.

These monsters seemed entirely made of black-red mountain rock.

Their forms were uniform, somewhat resembling lions.

Purple flames flickered in their eyes, as if they possessed their own consciousness and souls.

At one corner of the mountain range, a Bald Child stood atop a massive boulder, curiosity and excitement gleaming in his eyes.

He watched these Purple Crystal Monsters, the corner of his mouth twitching as he revealed a mischievous grin.

"This guy's pretty strong, hahaha, I'm going to go play with him~!"

The Bald Child's voice was crisp and loud. He didn't seem afraid of these powerful monsters at all—instead, he was full of interest.

He waved his hand.

As if summoning something.

Suddenly, a gigantic Purple Crystal Monster walked over from afar. Its body was even larger than the surrounding monsters, and every step made the earth tremble.

This monster stopped before the child and lowered its massive head, as if showing submission.

"Let's go, take me to meet this big guy!"

The child lightly jumped onto the back of the giant Purple Crystal Monster, gripping its spikes tightly.

"Roar~!"

The Purple Crystal Monster let out a low growl, then took a step and headed deeper into the mountain range.

"Rumble~!"

A massive horde of Purple Crystal Monsters surged forward like African wildebeests on the move, charging out of this naturally formed mountain hollow in the blink of an eye.

"Run!"

"The Purple Crystal Monsters are coming again!"

"Pfft~!"

A Lower God couldn't dodge in time and happened to be right in the path of the monster stampede.

He was directly smashed into a mist of blood by a lightning-fast Purple Crystal Monster.

"Thump thump thump~!"

Like ten thousand horses galloping, the Purple Crystal Monsters left only chaos in their wake.

Divine artifact armor was like paper, and ordinary divine artifacts that struck the Purple Crystal Monsters could even snap clean off.

Dozens of divine beings caught in the Mist Sea riot died in an instant, more than half of them gone.

Only a few Wind Element, Fire Element, and Lightning Element Middle Gods were still running, with several High Gods ahead of them.

"Only a High God—only a High God can stop these undying monsters."

A Middle God of the Fire Element cried out; he was the slowest among the few survivors.

His divine power of fire erupted, his speed no less than that of Wind and Lightning Element gods, but his endurance was worrying.

Right now, he cried out precisely because he had considered this.

He wanted the few High Gods running at the front to stop and hold the line.

But no one was a fool.

"Harold," the High God ahead said disdainfully. "Do you take us for idiots?"

"These monsters are literally immortal bodies. Even if we hold them off for a while, won't we all die in the end?"

"Boom~!"

There were only a few dozen Purple Crystal Monsters, less than a hundred, yet they charged with the momentum of a thousand troops.

"Crunch~!"

Harold—that Middle God of the Fire Element—ultimately failed to outrun the others.

A pursuing Purple Crystal Monster bit him clean in two.

"Crunch crunch~!"

In a grating sound, the Purple Crystal Monster inhaled, and Harold was swallowed into its belly.

"Pfft~!"

A black Divine Spark was spat out.

"Everyone look, there's an especially huge Purple Crystal Monster over there...

"No, wait—how is there a Dwarf sitting on its head?"

The sight of the Bald Child and the Purple Crystal Monster together stunned the dozen or so God-level experts running ahead.

Because this was a canyon!

Trapped by extreme gravity and unable to fly, they couldn't scatter and flee just yet.

They could only glance back from time to time, not hoping to outrun the Purple Crystal Monsters, only hoping to outrun the others.

That was how cruel it was.

"Dwarf?"

The Bald Child heard what that High God said.

His face instantly turned ashen.

"Charge! Charge! My little ones, kill him for me!"

"Boom~!"

Instantly, several Purple Crystal Monsters broke formation and charged straight at that High God.

They were much faster than the ones running at the front of the pack.

"Roar roar roar~!"

"Damn it, so it's this freak messing with us?"

The High God channeled his divine power with all his might, struggling to break out of the canyon.

At the same time, he blamed everything that had happened to him over the past hundreds of thousands of years on the bald Dwarf behind him.

"Kill, kill!"

The Bald Child's pupils gleamed; this was his only pleasure outside of cultivation.

"Damn it, damn it all!"

The High God was going mad. He hadn't expected that a loose tongue would earn him the Bald Child's special attention.

"Boom~!"

The Bald Child rode the largest Purple Crystal Monster, chasing a flock of panicked God-level experts.

From time to time, a straggler was killed.

"Hahaha~!"

"Run! All of you, hurry up and run!"

The Bald Child was impatient.

He wanted to find that "somewhat impressive" big guy.

And in his heart, he thought, "Since Mother didn't stop me, that means this is something I can do."

That was the Bald Child's logic.

"I was wrong, I was blind, I didn't see clearly—damn it!"

That Wind Element High God who had mouthed off earlier shouted as he flew.

"How are they still chasing me? We've already burst out of the canyon!"

He felt he was incredibly unlucky—aside from a few Purple Crystal Monsters that split off at the very start, the rest of the pack had never scattered.

That detestable Bald Child, seated atop the lead Purple Crystal Monster, kept his eyes locked on him without relenting.

"Damn it."

"They want me dead!"

Trist was on the verge of madness, but he had no power to change his situation.

"Hahaha, there seems to be a small valley ahead—whether I can shake them off depends on this one chance!"

He didn't bother thinking about who to blame for being trapped here for hundreds of thousands of years.

Right now!

Trist only wanted to survive.