The High Priest's room was simple. It held only a bed and a table, on which an incense burner sent up wisps of pale smoke. The scent was pleasant. Beside the burner sat a pot of tea and several cups. The High Priest clearly wasn't one to indulge in creature comforts; she could endure the loneliness of cultivation.
"Please, have a seat over here," the High Priest said. Then she poured Hodan a cup of tea. "Please, have some. It's a specialty of our Elven Race."
Hodan nodded and took a sip. He wasn't worried that the High Priest would try anything. She hadn't known he was coming, and he was far stronger than her. There was no reason to fear any tricks.
Hodan savored the distinctive tea of the Elven Race, sensing a special hint of life within it. "Excellent tea!"
"If you like it, I'll have some sent to you," the High Priest offered politely. Catherine took a jar of tea leaves from her Space Ring and handed it to Hodan, wincing a little. "It's difficult to grow this tea, and this is all I have left. Please take it."
The High Priest was clearly trying to build a good relationship with the unfamiliar Hodan, even giving away her treasured tea. After all, aside from Beirut and his family, a Mid-God was now the strongest person openly known on the Yulan Continent. He could decide whether Lowgods like them lived or died. Think of it as paying for peace of mind, Catherine told herself.
Hodan liked the tea, so he accepted it. But he didn't intend to take advantage of her. He planned to explain cultivation and the various Higher Planes to the High Priest. Such knowledge was commonplace in the Higher Planes, but to a native of the Yulan Continent, it was an invaluable treasure.
Hodan began explaining the basics: the ranks of gods, cultivating Laws and Mysteries, fusing Mysteries, and various cultivation issues. In short, it was best to fuse Mysteries of Laws while at the Mid-God level. Cultivation corresponding to a Rule was faster, and Rules had no specific Mysteries; once someone comprehended a Heavenly Law, the world would judge it and automatically help them advance.
The High Priest was a peaceful woman who kept to herself. In the whole story, she was little more than a background character, with no particular leanings. That was why Hodan was willing to tell her so much. She cultivated the Life Law, which was not among the areas Beirut was nurturing, so Hodan felt safe sharing his knowledge with her.
Would this cause unforeseen changes? Hodan cultivated the Fate Rule. The appearance of unexpected variables could help him comprehend the Fate Rule more easily. He could only welcome them.
"Oh, I forgot to mention something." Hodan smiled at the High Priest. "I'm the Plane Overseer of the Yulan Continent, this Material Plane. You can call me Hodan."
Catherine was astonished by the knowledge Hodan had shared. The High Priest had become a god through her own cultivation, without anyone to teach her. To become a god alone on the Yulan Continent, she must have had considerable talent. But lacking knowledge, she hadn't known how to progress and had remained a Lowgod for so long. Now that Hodan had pointed her in the right direction, she understood how to continue her cultivation.
The High Priest was deeply grateful to Hodan. He had not only shown her the way forward in cultivation, but also revealed how vast the world was. Even the home-loving High Priest had begun to think about traveling through the Higher God Plane. Catherine no longer regretted giving away her tea; instead, she was glad she had.
Seeing her expression, Hodan couldn't help warning her. "Until you reach the Mid-God level, you shouldn't go to a Higher Plane. Lowgods are at the bottom of the ladder in Hell. Mid-Gods have some ability to protect themselves, but if you want a decent life there, it's best to wait until you're a Highgod."
Hodan had good reason for saying so. With the High Priest's strength, going to a Higher Plane would be like walking into a trap. She had no way to protect herself, and a woman with such a lovely soul aura could end up as someone's slave. If she was lucky, she might be safe; if not, she could be enslaved.
Hodan also told Catherine that if she really wanted to go to a Higher Plane, she could find him in the Arctic Icefield. He would be responsible for sending her there.
Then Hodan asked Catherine what year it was on the Yulan Continent. In truth, he could have found out with a sweep of his divine sense. He had mainly come to see the mysterious High Priest of the Yulan Continent and learn some of its secrets. As a god who had lived for thousands of years, she knew plenty.
Once Hodan had gotten the information he needed, he left the mountain where the High Priest lived and flew toward the interior of the continent.
Hodan learned from the High Priest that it was the year 9977 of the Yulan Calendar. In the original story, Linley was born in 9982. Hodan swept his divine sense over the Kingdom of Fenlai and discovered that the Baruch Clan had fallen into decline. Hogg had only recently married, and Linley had not yet been born.
Hodan began wandering around the Yulan Continent. He couldn't be sure when Beirut would check on him, so he first traveled from place to place to wear down Beirut's vigilance. Once the time was right, he would carry out his plan. Of course, he didn't waste his time while traveling; he kept condensing Soul Seeds. As time passed, he condensed them faster and could control stronger people. During that period, his soul trembled twice, each time for about half a month.
As he traveled, Hodan experienced the customs and ways of life in different places, and once again felt the warmth and bustle of the mortal world. He saw fighters at arenas kill each other without restraint for fame and fortune. He saw street vendors work hard just to put food on the table. He witnessed the darkness of slave markets, and the joy of bedridden patients who had recovered and regained their lives.
This journey lasted three years. The many experiences stirred Hodan deeply, and his Fate God Clone advanced rapidly. In time, it reached the very limit of the Lowgod level. It needed only one final opportunity to advance to Mid-God.
Comprehending the lives and fates of different people really did help Hodan advance his cultivation of the Fate Rule quickly. He became even more absorbed in it.
As for his Thunder God Clone at the Mid-God level, it didn't have much time to cultivate, since it was on the Yulan Continent to divert Beirut's attention. Hodan also seemed to lack talent in the Thunder Element. He had only just begun to grasp the Violent Profound Mystery, and the Thunder Element and Swiftness Profound Mysteries he had already comprehended showed no signs of fusing.
Of course, Hodan also visited the War God's place of seclusion. When Hodan suddenly appeared in front of him, the War God tried to fight. But Hodan restrained him in place with a Divine Domain. The War God was nothing more than a Lowgod who had become a god by refining a Godhead. Hodan still remembered the look of shock on his face.
As for his duty as a Plane Overseer? What duty? Wasn't Beirut the one who ruled this plane? What did that have to do with him?
As for the Saint-level experts waiting to be sent to a Higher Plane, he could let them wait. They couldn't complain anyway. Besides, there weren't many Saint-level experts on the Yulan Continent, and they were all afraid of death. Hardly anyone wanted to venture into a Higher Plane. They only hoped to find a Godhead in the Necropolis of the Gods and become a god by refining it.
So it was hard to say whether Beirut had done the right thing by creating the Necropolis of the Gods to cultivate the natives of the Yulan Continent. Without Linley and Bluefire, the Yulan Continent would be a stagnant pool. Everyone would just hope to find a Godhead in the Necropolis of the Gods, and hardly anyone would try to become a god through their own cultivation.
Fain had reached the peak of the Saint-level, but because he hoped to become a god by obtaining a Godhead, he had been stuck at the final step for thousands of years. They had lost their ambition. Anyone capable of becoming a powerhouse had to believe they could reach the summit, like Linley and Bluefire.
Those who hoped to become gods by refining Godheads could only achieve so much. Their path forward was cut off, and they had no chance to climb to the peak.
At last, after another warning tremor in his soul, Hodan knew that Beirut wouldn't scan the continent again anytime soon. After all, Beirut was a lofty Chief Sovereign. Taking the time to check on him was already more than enough consideration for a member of the Eight Great Clans and a Plane Overseer. Hodan quickly swept the area with his divine sense, found a band of robbers, planted Soul Seeds in them, and left the scene at once.
After leaving, Hodan controlled the robbers through the Soul Seeds. From his experiments, he discovered that Soul Seeds could easily control robbers of such low strength. They carried out his orders faithfully, and he could also direct them with his divine sense to get things done. This reduced the risk of being discovered. Since the Soul Seeds had been condensed by his Thunder God Clone, they could only control up to sixth-level warriors. They couldn't even control third-level mages; their mental strength was too high.
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