Encirclement and Pursuit

Heavenly Realm, one of the four Supreme Planes, was almost the same size as Hell.

However, unlike the scenery found across most of Hell, the Heavenly Realm as a whole truly seemed filled with an ethereal charm.

Clouds and mist curled through the air, and the gentle breeze that occasionally swept through the Heavenly Realm truly gave newcomers the illusion that they had arrived in paradise.

If anyone truly believed that, they would be gravely mistaken.

One must never be deceived by the Heavenly Realm's outward appearance. Like Hell, it was filled with slaughter everywhere.

Gods would not abandon the law of the strong preying upon the weak simply because their surroundings were different.

On the contrary, the slaughter here might be even more brutal as they fought for better territory and greater resources.

Unlike Hell, the Heavenly Realm did not have so many continents.

The entire Heavenly Realm had only one supercontinent at its center, known as Fate Continent.

Beyond Fate Continent lay the Sea of Fate of the Heavenly Realm.

Although the entire Heavenly Realm had only one continent, its area was greater than that of Hell's five continents combined. Fate Continent alone occupied seventy percent of the Heavenly Realm.

The entire Heavenly Realm was controlled by seven Overgods of the Edicts of Fate.

Because they had previously achieved Ten Consecutive Wins in a Plane War, these seven Overgods of the Heavenly Realm possessed an additional portion of Willpower compared to other Overgods.

Punishment Valley was a vast canyon located in the central region of the Heavenly Realm.

White mist lingered in the canyon all year round, yet remarkably, the mist within Punishment Valley did not obstruct the vision of gods.

Punishment Valley was home to one of the Heavenly Realm's Plane Teleportation Arrays.

At the teleportation array, large numbers of Overgod soldiers clad in white armor gathered to maintain order.

A flash of teleportation light lit up, and Wyatt's Dragonfied form appeared before numerous gods.

Sensing the powerful aura emanating from Wyatt's Dragonfied body, the Overgod soldiers guarding the Plane Teleportation Array did not dare approach him in the slightest.

Wyatt narrowed his eyes as he looked at the cloud-shrouded surroundings.

"This is the Plane Teleportation Array in Punishment Valley. It isn't too far from Tianyun Mountain Range."

With that thought, Wyatt did not linger at the teleportation array. With a single flicker, he transformed into a streak of light and vanished from Punishment Valley.

Tianyun Mountain Range covered an area of roughly several hundred thousand kilometers. Such a size was not particularly large in the Heavenly Realm, but the mountain range was still extremely famous among the surrounding cities.

The depths of Tianyun Mountain Range produced a peculiar plant called Qingxu Vine. It took an extremely long time to grow, but once mature, it became an excellent material for crafting Death God Puppets.

Furthermore, Qingxu Vine's sap was incredibly poisonous and highly lethal to the vast majority of gods. Thus, many merchant caravans passed through Tianyun Mountain Range, and many tribes had been established within it.

For that very reason, Tianyun Mountain Range had also spawned quite a few bandit tribes.

Maclen was the leader of a large bandit tribe that had only recently risen to prominence within Tianyun Mountain Range.

However, the white-haired Maclen was in no mood to celebrate at the moment.

As he sped through Tianyun Mountain Range, his expression was extremely grim.

"Dammit, this scepter of mine has actually drawn the attention of experts of that level!"

Maclen was the protagonist Wyatt had seen in the Crystal Shadow back in Tianji Mountain Range.

In truth, Maclen was merely someone who had arrived in the Heavenly Realm from a Material Plane less than a thousand years ago.

When he had first arrived in the Heavenly Realm, Maclen had only been an ordinary Mid-God. He had simply been casually abandoned by the Overgod army in an ordinary tribe within Tianyun Mountain Range.

Heaven had treated him well enough. He had accidentally obtained the Scepter of Destiny, one of the Supreme God Tokens.

With the Scepter of Destiny in hand, Maclen discovered that he had suddenly gained formidable power.

Not only could he easily kill High-Gods, but after Refining Godhood and becoming a High-God, he had even slain one of those lofty Six-Star Fate Messengers.

At the time, Maclen had believed his good days had arrived. He immediately recruited a large number of subordinates and formed a bandit force in Tianyun Mountain Range, specializing in robbing passing merchant caravans.

But his good fortune did not last. Not long after the bandit group was established, super experts far stronger than Six-Star Fate Messengers suddenly descended upon Tianyun Mountain Range.

Those experts found Maclen and stated that they hoped to exchange something for the scepter in his possession.

That scepter was Maclen's most prized possession. Only with it in his hands did he possess such formidable strength.

Without the scepter, Maclen was nothing.

Thus, without even considering it, Maclen directly refused.

After Maclen refused, those experts did not give up. They said that the scepter was something a Paragon High-God desired.

Maclen, a native of a Material Plane who had only recently arrived in the Heavenly Realm, did not understand what a Paragon High-God represented.

He only learned from those experts that Paragons were invincible beings among gods.

Those experts also admitted that if Maclen handed over the scepter, that Paragon High-God might grant him benefits beyond imagination.

Moreover, according to those experts, that Paragon had an extremely terrifying background. He was a member of the Four Divine Beasts Family, known as the foremost family across the planes.

But the Scepter of Destiny was simply too important to Maclen. He truly could not imagine anything that could replace the Scepter of Destiny in his hand.

Unwilling to accept their terms, Maclen chose to flee Tianyun Mountain Range.

However, although he was a High-God who had Refined Godhood and possessed the scepter's enhancement, making him even stronger than a Six-Star Fate Messenger—

The weakest opponents he faced this time were Seven-Star Fate Emissaries, and there were even figures at the Commander level!

Had Maclen not repeatedly placed the Scepter of Destiny into his Spatial Ring and threatened to crush the ring, a mere Maclen would have long since been captured alive by those experts.

Several months passed, yet Maclen remained trapped within Tianyun Mountain Range. As news of the Four Divine Beasts Family continued to spread, experts from cities near Tianyun Mountain Range also kept arriving.

Many experts wished to leave a favorable impression on this newly ascended Paragon, perhaps even make that Paragon owe them a favor.

Including the elder-level figures from the Four Divine Beasts Family who had come to the Heavenly Realm, along with the Seven-Star Fate Emissaries and stronger experts gathered through the family's connections, there were now at least twenty of them by rough estimate!

"This Maclen actually put the scepter into a Spatial Ring and threatened us by crushing it. Killing him would be easy, but if the scepter Mr. Wyatt wants is lost, the loss would outweigh the gain. Keep Maclen trapped in Tianyun Mountain Range for now. This matter requires careful consideration."

In the sky above the southern region of Tianyun Mountain Range, a beautiful woman with silver hair, star-like eyes, and a moon-white fitted robe murmured softly to herself.

This beautiful woman was Lia, one of the few clan members of the Azure Dragon Clan within the Four Divine Beasts Family who possessed an exceptionally high talent for the Edicts of Fate.

Lia was the primary person in charge of the Four Divine Beasts Family in the Heavenly Realm. Her divine avatar of fate was also at the level of a Seven-Star Fate Emissary.

Just as Lia was considering a strategy, a purple light streaked across the sky. Moments later, it had arrived within ten thousand meters of Lia.

"It is Mr. Wyatt. I never expected him to come to the Heavenly Realm personally!"

After seeing the figure within the purple light clearly, Lia's eyes lit up, and she spoke with delighted surprise.

(End of Chapter)