Domain of the Gods

Morduo Mountain is a mining site in the western region of the Rhine Empire, possessing extremely rich Black Stone resources. Black Stone is an incredibly hard rock that carries certain anti-magic properties, providing a degree of suppression against magic. Many cities in the Rhine Empire are built using Black Stone, especially those bordering the Yulan Empire, which are almost entirely constructed from it.

Inside the Morduo Mountain mining site.

Countless gaunt and sallow slaves are still coming and going, digging for ore.

Guarding the slaves is a group of warriors dressed in black, the lowest of whom are level five warriors. This shows just how strict the security is here.

Deep within the mining site, there are quite a few stone houses, and the black-clad warriors guarding this area possess even higher, level seven strength.

Inside a stone house, the light is slightly dim. Sitting at a long table in front is a thin figure shrouded in a black robe.

"Lord Kuli, the new batch of slaves has arrived. There are eight hundred of them."

A black-clad warrior speaks cautiously to the robed figure.

"I know. Take them down to the bottom of the mine."

Kuli the robed man's voice is eerie, making one's heart run cold.

"Yes."

The black-clad warrior responds respectfully.

"Lately, the number of slaves purchased has decreased. The Master is already angry. Do you know what needs to be done?"

Kuli's eyes glow with a green light as he stares sinisterly at the black-clad warrior.

"I understand!"

The black-clad warrior answers without the slightest hesitation.

They have two sources for slaves, the most common being purchasing them through various channels, even including slaves from other empires. This is their primary source of slaves.

Normal slave purchases never attract any attention.

Moreover, they do not take every slave they purchase; there are certain requirements. They only need slaves who possess sufficient strength or a certain degree of magical talent.

However, there are not many slaves who meet these requirements, and such people have every opportunity to shed their status as slaves. Therefore, the number of slaves they have purchased is not particularly large, and it has not caused any major repercussions.

Besides this method, the other is to capture ordinary people who have talent or strength. This method is much more dangerous than buying slaves, so they are much more restrained when capturing ordinary people.

But now that there are even fewer slaves meeting the requirements, to complete the task, they have no choice but to find ways to capture more ordinary people. Or, secretly capture wandering warriors or mages.

"Hurry up, get in there!"

The black-clad warrior shouts and curses at the slaves, who have special shackles on their hands, occasionally swinging his weapon at those walking too slowly. "Faster!"

"Old Five, take it easy, don't kill anyone."

Another black-clad warrior leader reminds him.

Even though they are slaves, the lord at the bottom of the mine has no use for corpses.

"Don't worry, Boss, I know."

The black-clad warrior replies.

In the middle of the line of slaves, Edita is also disheveled and dressed in rags. Even those familiar with her would find it difficult to identify her at this moment.

Secretly observing the situation around her, Edita notes down the surroundings.

This Morduo Mountain is almost entirely covered in Black Stone, and she can clearly feel that the surrounding magic elements are much thinner. Even a level nine spell would have significantly less power if cast here.

It is precisely because of this that the black-clad guards here are almost all warriors.

Entering a deep mine tunnel, a glowing night-luminescent stone is embedded in the sides of the tunnel at regular intervals.

The tunnel slopes downward, and the ground is uneven.

As they go deeper, a faint, lingering smell of blood begins to appear.

Everyone starts to feel afraid in their hearts. Edita's expression also turns grave.

The investigation into the missing persons was not without results; the Morduo Mountain mining site was one of the key areas identified, and it is highly likely that the missing people were all sent here to work as miners.

But looking at it now, the situation is not optimistic. This smell of blood could not possibly be caused by the deaths of only a few dozen or a few hundred people.

Those missing people have likely been murdered.

The others are one thing, but if the Third Prince of the Empire has also been murdered here, then the Rhine Empire's royal family will inevitably experience an earthquake.

The group walks for nearly a thousand meters before entering an extremely vast area, where the light suddenly brightens.

This area is an irregular square with edges nearly a hundred meters long. There are other tunnel openings along the edges leading to other locations.

In the center of the vast area, there is a person sitting in silver-gray robes.

"Lord Motuoer, the people have been brought."

The black-clad warrior speaks respectfully to the gray-robed person.

The gray-robed person sits quietly on a stone platform, and the surrounding ore is covered in blackened bloodstains. A foul, putrid stench emanates from them.

The gray-robed person looks up at the incoming slaves, his eyes somewhat bloodshot and terrifying.

Seeing the bloodstains in the open area and smelling the nauseating stench of gore, the slaves trembled all over, not daring to step inside.

"Drive them all in."

The voice of the man in gray was somewhat aged and devoid of emotion.

"Yes."

The black-clad warrior responded cautiously, then ordered the other warriors to whip and shove all the slaves inside.

In the blink of an eye, the eight hundred slaves had nearly filled the underground mine.

"Do these people meet the requirements..."

The man in the gray robe looked at the slaves before him and asked casually.

"Reporting to you, my lord, these eight hundred people were selected from thirty thousand; all of them are capable of sensing magic elements."

The black-clad warrior said respectfully.

At the same time, he felt a pang of pity in his heart. Although these people were slaves, if they hadn't been bought by them, they might have relied on their own talent to shed their slave status in the future, perhaps even becoming nobles.

It was a pity; having been captured by them, all of that could only remain a fantasy.

"Very good."

The man in the gray robe nodded in satisfaction, then took out a crystal ball the size of a fist. Inside the crystal ball, wisps of golden light flowed, looking magnificent.

Looking at this crystal ball, the man in the gray robe's eyes were filled with fascination, his voice sinister, "It will be enough soon. With just a few hundred more people, I will have gathered enough souls. By then, even other peak Saint-level experts will be within my power to slaughter..."

"Even if I am targeted by the Saint-level experts of this empire, there will be no need to worry..."

This crystal ball was crafted for him by his teacher in the Plane Prison; it was specifically used to collect souls.

For experts who cultivate the Death Law, there are too many things that can be done with souls. Even to unleash many powerful and bizarre attacks, a great number of souls must be consumed.

Of course, the most formidable use is naturally to refine and absorb the souls to enhance one's own soul.

However, to achieve this, one needs a very deep understanding of the Death Law. With his strength as a peak Saint-level expert, he was not yet capable of that.

But he knew that his teacher was an incredibly powerful God-level expert who was capable of refining souls. His teacher could even refine souls into Soul Golden Pearls.

Soul Golden Pearls are something that anyone can absorb and use; it is said that even in the God planes, they are treasures of great value.

Experts capable of refining Soul Golden Pearls hold very high status.

Although his current strength did not allow him to refine Soul Golden Pearls, his talent for the Death Law was not weak, and he could use a large number of souls to unleash a move of immense power.

This move could be considered his trump card.

Back in the Plane Prison, his strength as a peak Saint-level expert was only considered bottom-tier, so he naturally lacked the strength to collect enough souls; he couldn't even unleash this move if he wanted to. But now that he had arrived at the Yulan Continent, he could fully collect enough souls.

However, the souls required to unleash this move not only needed to be numerous, but to ensure the power was sufficient, there were certain requirements for the souls themselves. The clearer the soul's perception of elements, the greater the power consumed.

Therefore, it had taken him quite a long time to collect these souls. Now that he was almost there, he was naturally somewhat excited.

"Offer up your souls to the great Motuoer..."

The man in the gray robe looked at the group of slaves, his voice sounding truly terrifying.

"Kill them."

The man in the gray robe waved his hand and said directly.

"Yes."

The black-clad warriors who had followed him in responded one after another, each drawing the battle blades from their waists.

The faces of the slaves turned deathly pale, and they scrambled backward to hide. Eight hundred people were forced into a corner by the dozens of warriors.

Edita was becoming increasingly grave, and a man with a dark complexion beside her said in a low voice, "Edita, prepare to move."

"Mm."

Edita replied.

"We strike together; we only need to severely injure the man in the gray robe!"

The man whispered.

To investigate the situation of the missing people, he and Edita had personally infiltrated the slaves, and after several transfers, they were finally brought here.

It appeared that this was one of the sources of the disappearances.

The empire had investigated for a long time and speculated that there were at least four level-nine experts; this was very likely one of them.

As long as they could capture this one, they might be able to follow the trail to catch the other three.

"Bang!"

The man exerted sudden force with both arms, and the shackles on his wrists were instantly shattered.

The strength of a level-nine warrior was truly terrifying.

Edita also began channeling wind magic at the same time, severing the chains on her arms. However, her heart sank slightly; the power of this low-level wind spell was nearly thirty percent weaker than it should have been!

In other words, her strength in this place was reduced by at least thirty percent. It was highly likely she could only exert the power of an early-stage level nine expert.

As the two broke free from their chains, they immediately drew the attention of the nearby black-clad warriors. "Watch out!"

"Hmph."

The man looked at the black-clad warrior in front of him and let out a disdainful snort before throwing a punch directly at him.

With a "thud," the battle blade in the black-clad warrior's hand was actually shattered by the man's punch, which then continued on to strike the warrior's head.

The black-clad warrior's head exploded instantly.

This sudden turn of events left everyone stunned for a moment.

The next second, the chaos among the slaves intensified.

"Old Eight!"

The leader of the black-clad warriors roared in fury.

However, because of the presence of the gray-robed figure, the black-clad warriors did not rush forward immediately.

The gray-robed figure's reddened eyes narrowed as he looked at Edita and her companion, showing no signs of agitation. "To think two more little fish were hiding in here..."

"It seems... the souls will be enough this time..."

"Hmph, you are wantonly capturing and slaughtering citizens in the Rhine Empire; this is a provocation against the Rhine Empire!"

The man narrowed his eyes, his voice filled with rage. "Surrender now, and perhaps I can grant you a quick death."

"Hehehe... ignorant and fearless."

The gray-robed figure laughed dismissively, staring at the two. "After today, even your entire empire will become nourishment for my soul... offer up your souls..."

With that, the gray-robed figure floated gently into the air, silently chanting an incantation. Moments later, countless gray-black elements converged, forming a special elemental containment zone.

Within the elemental zone, the rubble on the ground began to vibrate and flip over in a bizarre fashion, and then three Skeleton Generals clad in armor emerged, wielding long blades.

Green flames flickered within their hollow eye sockets, looking incredibly sinister.

"A Saint-level necromancer!!!"

Seeing this scene, everyone was struck with terror.

Even the color drained from Edita's face.

The intelligence gathered by the empire was wrong!

Level nine and Saint-level were two completely different concepts. Never mind four level nine experts; even forty level nine experts were not as threatening as a single Saint-level powerhouse.

A Saint-level necromancer, in particular, could summon countless undead beings to form an army, capable of easily wiping out an entire nation.

"Hehehe, prepare to meet death."

The gray-robed figure chuckled sinisterly.

Outside Morduo Mountain, in the sky above.

Fang Yun easily restrained a black-robed figure with his divine power, his tone casual. "It seems this is the place..."

The existence of Kawent Institute increased the world power, and for this reason alone, Fang Yun intended to use the Rhine Empire as the foundation for the early development of Kawent Institute. Therefore, anything that hindered the development of Kawent Institute was not to be tolerated.

Thus, after learning that many students from Kawent Institute had gone missing, Fang Yun had personally taken action to capture the leader of the black-clad warrior organization active around Dolan Prefecture City.

The leader was only a level nine warrior, which, in Fang Yun's eyes, was no different from an ant.

Facing Fang Yun, the level nine warrior had spilled everything he knew without holding anything back.

Afterward, he was brought to Morduo Mountain by Fang Yun.

Fang Yun released his divine sense, easily enveloping the entire area around Morduo Mountain.

A low-level god in a material plane could project their divine sense at least a thousand li, and powerful low-level gods could even reach ten thousand li. As for mid-level gods, they could reach at least one hundred thousand li, while high-level gods could reach a terrifying one million li.

Within the range of his divine sense, nothing could escape Fang Yun's perception.

After his divine sense probed the interior of the Morduo Mountain mine, Fang Yun was somewhat surprised. "Tsk, it's actually this female mage."

Fang Yun had a deep impression of Edita. It wasn't because this woman had been looking for him, but because of her talent. Familiar with the original story, Fang Yun knew very well that the Coiling Dragon World was essentially a world that valued talent. And this Edita had such immense cultivation talent that even Dixie was inferior to her when compared.

There were too many geniuses who had never appeared in the original story.

"...What a coincidence."

Within Fang Yun's divine sense, the gray-robed figure summoned three early-stage Saint-level Skeleton Kings, and then a divine domain instantly enveloped the entire scene.

The moment the divine domain descended, everyone inside Morduo Mountain became unable to move, and even the elements around the gray-robed figure came to a standstill.

The others didn't know what had happened, but the gray-robed figure was the first to react, his heart trembling uncontrollably. A divine domain!!!

A god-level powerhouse had arrived!