The Divine Domain

Morduo Mountain was a mine in the western region of the Rhine Empire, rich in Black Stone. Black Stone was an extremely hard rock with some anti-magic properties, which allowed it to suppress magic to a certain degree. Many cities in the Rhine Empire were built from Black Stone, especially those bordering the Yulan Empire. They were almost all constructed from it.

Inside the Morduo Mountain mine.

Countless gaunt, sallow slaves were still coming and going as they mined.

The slaves were watched over by a group of warriors dressed in black. Even the weakest among them was a fifth-level warrior. It was clear how heavily guarded this place was.

There were many stone huts deep inside the mine. The black-clad warriors guarding this area were even stronger, each possessing at least seventh-level strength.

The light inside one of the stone huts was somewhat dim. A thin figure shrouded in a black robe sat at the table in front.

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

A black-clad warrior spoke cautiously to the figure in the robe.

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

Kuli's voice was eerie and chilling.

"Yes."

The black-clad warrior answered respectfully.

"We've bought fewer slaves lately. The master is already angry. Do you know what to do?"

The black-robed man's eyes glowed green as he fixed the warrior with a sinister stare.

"I understand!"

The black-clad warrior answered without the slightest hesitation.

They obtained slaves in two ways. The most common was to buy them through various channels, even purchasing slaves from other empires. That was their primary source.

No one paid any attention to the ordinary purchase of slaves.

Besides, they didn't buy just any slave. They had certain requirements: they needed slaves with sufficient strength or some aptitude for magic.

But there weren't many slaves who met those requirements, and people like that had a chance to escape slavery. As a result, they didn't buy many, and it hadn't caused much of a stir.

Their other method was to capture ordinary people with talent or strength. This was far riskier than buying slaves, so they were much more restrained when it came to capturing ordinary people.

But now there were even fewer slaves who met their requirements. To complete their task, they had no choice but to find a way to capture more ordinary people—or secretly seize wandering warriors or mages.

"Move it! Get inside!"

The black-clad warrior shouted at the slaves, whose hands were bound with special chains. He occasionally swung his weapon at those who lagged behind. "Hurry!"

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

Another black-clad warrior, apparently the leader, cautioned him.

They were slaves, but the masters below the mine didn't want corpses.

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

The black-clad warrior replied.

In the middle of the slave column, Edita was currently disheveled and dressed like a wretched beggar. Even someone who knew her well would have had trouble recognizing her.

As she secretly surveyed her surroundings, Edita carefully memorized what she saw.

Morduo Mountain was almost entirely made of Black Stone. She could clearly feel that the magic elements around her were much thinner. Even a ninth-level spell would be considerably weaker when cast here.

That was why nearly all the guards in black were warriors.

They entered a deep, winding mine tunnel. At regular intervals along its walls, luminous stones had been embedded to light the way.

The tunnel sloped downward, and its floor was uneven.

As they went deeper, a faint smell of blood began to emerge.

Everyone started to grow afraid. Edita's expression also turned grave.

The investigation into the missing people hadn't been fruitless. The Morduo Mountain mine was one of the key areas they had identified. The missing people had likely all been sent here to work as miners.

But things didn't look promising now. A smell of blood like this couldn't have come from the deaths of only dozens or hundreds of people.

The missing people had likely been killed.

That was bad enough, but if the empire's Third Prince had also met his end here, the royal family of the Rhine Empire would surely be shaken to its core.

After walking nearly a thousand meters, the group entered an extremely spacious area, and the light suddenly grew brighter.

The area was an irregular square, with sides nearly a hundred meters long. Other tunnels at its edges led to different parts of the mine.

At the center of the open area sat a figure in silver-gray robes.

"Lord Motuoer, we've brought them."

The black-clad warrior addressed the gray-robed man respectfully.

The gray-robed man sat motionless on a stone platform. Dark, dried bloodstains covered the surrounding rocks, and a foul stench filled the air.

The gray-robed man raised his head and looked at the slaves entering. His eyes were reddened, making him look terrifying.

When the slaves saw the bloodstains in the open area and smelled the nauseating stench of blood, they trembled all over and didn't dare enter.

"Bring them all in."

The gray-robed man's voice sounded old and emotionless.

"Yes."

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

In moments, nearly eight hundred slaves had filled the underground mine.

"Do all of them meet the requirements...?"

The gray-robed man casually asked as he looked at the slaves before him.

"My lord, these eight hundred were selected from thirty thousand people. Every one of them can sense the magic elements."

The black-clad warrior replied respectfully.

He couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Though these people were slaves, if they hadn't been bought by him, they might have used their talents to escape slavery someday. Some might even have become nobles.

What a waste. Now that they had been captured, all of that could only remain a fantasy.

"Excellent."

The gray-robed man nodded in satisfaction, then took out a crystal ball about the size of a fist. Thin golden strands of light flowed within it, creating a dazzling sight.

The gray-robed man gazed at the crystal ball, his eyes filled with fascination. His voice turned sinister. "It's almost enough. Just a few hundred more souls, and I'll have gathered enough. Then I'll be able to kill even other peak Saint-level powerhouses..."

"Even if the Saint-level powerhouses of this empire come after me, I won't have to worry..."

He had found his teacher in the Plane Prison and had the crystal ball made there. It was designed specifically to collect souls.

For experts who cultivated the Laws of Death, souls could be used for all sorts of things. Even many powerful and bizarre attacks required large numbers of souls.

Of course, the most powerful use was to refine and absorb them, strengthening one's own soul.

However, accomplishing that required a profound understanding of the Laws of Death. Even with his peak Saint-level strength, he couldn't do it.

But he knew that his teacher was an exceptionally powerful God who could refine souls. His teacher could even refine souls into Soul Golden Pearls.

Anyone could absorb and use Soul Golden Pearls. They were said to be valuable treasures even in the Divine Plane.

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

Although he wasn't strong enough to refine Soul Golden Pearls, his talent for the Laws of Death was still considerable. By using a large number of souls, he could unleash an extremely powerful attack.

That move could be considered his trump card.

But back in the Plane Prison, his peak Saint-level strength had only put him near the bottom. He hadn't had the power to collect enough souls, and couldn't even use that move. Now that he was in the Yulan Continent, however, he could easily gather enough.

Still, the move required not only a large number of souls, but also souls that met certain requirements if it was to be powerful enough. The more clearly a soul could sense the elements, the greater the power it produced when consumed.

That was why collecting souls had taken him quite some time. Now that he was almost done, it was only natural that he felt excited.

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

The gray-robed man looked at the slaves, his voice so chilling that it made their hearts tremble.

"Kill them."

The gray-robed man waved a hand and gave the order.

"Yes."

The black-clad warriors who had come in with them answered in unison and drew their blades.

The slaves' faces turned deathly pale. They shoved and scrambled to get away, but the eight hundred of them were driven into a corner by a few dozen warriors.

Edita's expression grew even more solemn. Beside her stood a dark-faced man, who spoke in a low voice. "Edita, get ready to act."

"Mm."

Edita answered.

"We'll attack together. We only need to seriously injure the gray-robed man!"

The man whispered.

To investigate the disappearances, he and Edita had personally infiltrated the slave ranks. They had been handed off several times, and in the end, they had been brought here.

It looked like this place was one of the sources of the disappearances.

The empire's investigation had gone on for a long time. They had concluded that there were at least four ninth-level powerhouses involved, and this man might well be one of them.

If they could capture him, they might be able to follow the trail and catch the other three.

"Crack!"

The man suddenly strained against the chains restraining his arms, snapping them in an instant.

The strength of a ninth-level warrior was terrifying.

At the same time, Edita used wind magic to cut through the chains on her arms. But her heart sank slightly. This low-level wind spell was almost thirty percent weaker than usual!

That meant her strength had been reduced by at least thirty percent here. She might only be able to bring out the strength of an early ninth-level mage.

The moment they broke free, the two drew the attention of the nearby black-clad warriors. "Watch out!"

"Hmph."

The man looked disdainfully at the black-clad warrior before him, then punched him.

With a bang, the warrior's blade snapped beneath the man's fist, which continued on to smash into his head.

The black-clad warrior's head burst apart instantly.

The sudden turn of events left everyone stunned.

The next moment, the slaves fell into even greater chaos.

"Old Eight!"

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

But with the gray-robed man there, the black-clad warriors didn't rush forward immediately.

The gray-robed man narrowed his reddened eyes and looked at Edita and the man, completely unperturbed. "So, two little fish managed to sneak in..."

"Looks like I'll have enough souls this time..."

"Hmph. You've been capturing and slaughtering civilians throughout the Rhine Empire. That's a challenge to the Rhine Empire!"

The man narrowed his eyes, his voice full of fury. "Surrender, and perhaps I'll let you die quickly."

"Heh heh heh... Ignorant fools."

The gray-robed man sneered at the two. "After today, even your entire empire will become nourishment for my soul... Offer up your souls..."

The gray-robed man rose slowly into the air, chanting an incantation under his breath. Countless gray-black elements gathered, forming a peculiar field of elemental energy.

Within the field, the rubble on the ground began to tremble and turn over in a strange manner. Then three armored Skeleton Generals wielding long blades emerged from the earth.

Green flames danced in their hollow eye sockets, lending them a sinister appearance.

"A Saint-level necromancer!"

Everyone was horrified at the sight.

Even the color drained from Edita's face.

The empire's intelligence had been wrong!

Ninth-level and Saint-level powerhouses were worlds apart. Forget four ninth-level powerhouses—even forty of them would be less of a threat than a single Saint-level powerhouse.

A Saint-level necromancer was especially dangerous. They could summon countless undead creatures to form an army and easily destroy a country.

"Heh heh heh. Prepare to meet your death."

The gray-robed man laughed sinisterly.

Above the area outside Morduo Mountain.

Fang Yun casually held a black-robed man in place with divine power and spoke nonchalantly. "Looks like this is the place..."

The existence of the Kawent Institute had increased the World Power. That alone was enough for Fang Yun to plan to use the Rhine Empire as the foundation for the institute's early development. So he wouldn't allow anything to threaten its growth.

After learning that quite a few students from the Kawent Institute had gone missing, Fang Yun had immediately captured the leader of the black-clad warrior organization active around Dolan Prefecture City.

The leader was only a ninth-level warrior. To Fang Yun, he was no different from an ant.

Faced with Fang Yun, the ninth-level warrior had blurted out everything he knew.

Afterward, Fang Yun had taken him to Morduo Mountain.

Fang Yun released his divine sense, easily covering the area around the entire mountain.

A Lowgod in the Material Plane could extend divine sense at least a thousand miles. Powerful Lowgods could reach as far as ten thousand miles. Mid-level Gods could cover at least a hundred thousand miles, while High-level Gods could reach an astonishing million miles.

Within the range of his divine sense, nothing escaped Fang Yun's notice.

When his divine sense probed the inner parts of the Morduo Mountain mine, Fang Yun was a little surprised. "Tsk, that female mage is here."

Edita had left a deep impression on Fang Yun. It wasn't because she was always looking for him, but because of her talent. Familiar with the original story, Fang Yun knew very well that the Coiling Dragon World was fundamentally a world where talent mattered. Edita's cultivation talent was so exceptional that even Dixie couldn't compare.

There were many talented people who had never appeared in the original story.

"...What a coincidence."

Through Fang Yun's divine sense, the gray-robed man summoned three early Saint-level Skeleton Kings. Then his Divine Domain instantly enveloped the entire area.

The instant the Divine Domain spread, everyone inside Morduo Mountain became unable to move. Even the elements around the gray-robed man came to a standstill.

The others had no idea what had happened, but the gray-robed man was the first to realize it. His heart trembled. A Divine Domain!

A God had arrived!