Mid-God of Fate

Thinking of this, Hodan couldn't help but sigh; after putting in so much effort, it had all been for nothing. He couldn't even bind the Sovereign Artifact in his hand with a drop of blood, so what was he supposed to do, use it as a bomb? Hodan shook his head, casting aside this impractical thought.

As for taking it back to his own clan and letting his patriarch handle it, that thought never even crossed Hodan's mind.

First, Hodan had no way to explain the origin of this Sovereign Artifact. Furthermore, if he really took it back to the clan, it would mean he had exposed himself, which would bring a terrifying disaster upon the Renars Clan. Beirut wasn't specifically targeting the Eight Great Clans; he was merely helping the Four Divine Beasts Clan withstand the pressure from them. Otherwise, the Eight Great Clans would have long since been reduced to dust.

Now that Hodan dared to stir up trouble on his own turf, was he tired of living?

Second, the clan might see the Azure Dragon Ring and send even more powerful experts over, perhaps even the patriarch himself. After all, no god could resist the temptation of a Sovereign Artifact. Hadn't he seen Reisgyn, despite being the son of the Zijing Chief Sovereign, fighting in the Plane Battlefield for the sake of a Sovereign Artifact?

However, the Yulan Continent was a death trap. The Renars were the pillars of his clan, and Hodan could not allow his patriarch to enter this trap and drag his entire clan into a vortex of destruction.

Yet, Hodan was unwilling to leave this thing here. Even if he couldn't use it, he couldn't just leave it here to aid the enemy. Regardless of anything else, Linley possessed the bloodline of the Four Divine Beasts and was naturally an enemy to those of the Eight Great Clans.

Should he just take the ring away? Or perhaps banish it into the Spatial Turbulence?

Although Hodan held no malice toward Linley. First, Linley hadn't even been born yet; how could one hold malice toward someone who didn't exist? Second, Linley's values aligned with the mainstream of Hodan's past life; after all, Hodan had also grown up in a peaceful environment.

For a moment, Hodan held the Coiling Dragon Ring in his hand, unable to make a decision.

Or perhaps he could capture a Saint-level expert, force them to refine a Divine Spark, and then have them bind it with a drop of blood to exhaust the attack inside. That was one way, but it was impossible to implement this method on the Yulan Continent.

Hodan looked at the Sovereign Artifact in his hand, hesitating, when suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he thought of something.

He had a Fate God Clone, didn't he? And what could be more in line with the essence of fate than observing whether the protagonist followed the predetermined script of his life? As the person in the Coiling Dragon World whose fate was unfixed, there was surely nothing better than observing his growth to feel the wonder of fate more intuitively.

Thinking of this, Hodan's soul felt a sense of clarity, and his comprehension of fate began to rise rapidly.

Amidst this rapid ascent, the bottleneck between the low-level god and mid-level god stages of his Fate God Clone was shattered.

A peculiar ripple of the laws of the world descended, landing directly inside the small bamboo building where Hodan was located. Such occurrences were too common in Hell to attract anyone's attention.

Hodan closed his eyes, and abruptly—the low-level god Divine Spark of the fate attribute emerged from his head like a phantom, finally hovering above him. A vast amount of cyan-green light particles surrounded the Divine Spark. Under the control of the laws of the world, the Divine Spark began to undergo a slow transformation... a transformation from a low-level god Divine Spark to a mid-level god Divine Spark!

The cyan-green light particles dissipated, and the Divine Spark, now radiating a cyan-green glow, emitted an aura significantly more powerful than before.

"Hum~~"

The cyan-green Divine Spark spun rapidly before merging back into Hodan's body.

A moment later—Hodan opened his eyes, a flash of divine light flickering within them, causing the small bamboo building to suddenly brighten.

At this moment, Hodan's Fate God Clone had officially stepped into the mid-level god realm! The clone Hodan had left in Hell finally possessed a certain level of self-preservation.

The breakthrough of his Fate God Clone brought a wave of joy to Hodan, and he became even more convinced that his decision was correct. As for whether Linley would become his enemy in the future, Hodan no longer cared. As a transmigrator, Hodan was confident that even Hongmeng could not see through his fate; after all, Hongmeng's omnipotence was limited to the Coiling Dragon Universe.

As an outsider soul, Hodan was also a person of unfixed fate to the Coiling Dragon World, much like Lei Wei in Stellar Transformations.

Hongmeng had seen countless people of unfixed fate over so many epochs—and one epoch was six quadrillion years—yet he had never waited for a life form that could grow to his own level.

Hongmeng only cared about those at his own level; as for a few mere individuals with unfixed fate, he wouldn't care. He cared even less about the struggles between such people. If one died, they were simply a loser. Had you ever seen anyone pay attention to a loser?

With a higher starting point than Linley, if Hodan were still afraid of competing with him, he might as well find a safe place to hide. How could he talk about reaching the peak or finding the way home? As for Linley becoming his enemy in the future, there was nothing to say; he would just fight. Their stances were different, and each was acting for their own clan or personal interests; there was nothing to discuss.

If Linley dared to block his path home, Hodan wouldn't mind sending him on his way.

Thinking of this, Hodan no longer hesitated. He returned the Coiling Dragon Ring to the original patch of grass and placed the Soul Seed back in its original position. Hodan wanted to see if Linley would obtain the Coiling Dragon Ring and walk the original path as described in the story.

As for the Soul Seed, its task was complete after returning the Coiling Dragon Ring. He would find an excuse to say goodbye, then stage an accident for it to die in a foreign land. Hodan would make arrangements for its family; after all, it had contributed to his breakthrough. However, he couldn't let Beirut perceive that Hodan had designs on the Coiling Dragon Ring, so he would have to ask it to remain silent forever.

Next, Hodan would implement another plan—the Purple Blood Soft Sword. He needed to finish this plan during the Yulan Festival, after which all his god clones would go into full seclusion to cultivate, striving to possess the strength of a high-level god as soon as possible.

The location of the Purple Blood Soft Sword was very easy to identify: it was in the Mist Valley.

The Mist Valley was located deep within the Magical Beast Mountain Range. The valley was surrounded by mist and contained a special plant—Blue Heart Grass.

"Blue Heart Grass, with leaves of deep green and a faint blue halo flowing over them. The grass feels cool to the touch, and when torn, it releases a bright green liquid that tastes refreshing."

The Mist Valley grew quite a bit of Blue Heart Grass, in a large patch, making it very easy to identify. Furthermore, because of the dense elemental energy in the valley, there were many magical beasts. Hodan scanned with his divine sense and found the Mist Valley, concealing his aura and figure before entering.

Because high-level magical beasts were no less intelligent than humans, Hodan didn't want to be seen by them, which would force him to silence them all and potentially cause complications that might attract Beirut's attention. After all, this was a sealing node for the Plane Prison.

This might not be of much use to those above the god level, but for mortals below the god level, it was absolutely impossible to detect Hodan, especially since he was a mid-level god.

As Hodan passed by the Blue Heart Grass, he curiously plucked a handful and tasted it. It was truly as the original story described, cool to the taste. But that was all; it had no other effect on a god.

Hodan walked toward the area where the elemental density was highest, where it was nearly a hundred times that of the outside world. The Purple Blood Soft Sword was there. If Hodan remembered correctly, a peak level-nine Spined Iron-Armored Dragon resided there.

As Hodan approached, he saw a massive magical beast. It was ten meters long and nearly three meters tall.

Its entire body was covered in pitch-black scales, arranged very tightly and regularly. Each scale was only the size of a palm, but the dense cluster of scales gave off an eerie feeling, making one's scalp tingle.

In particular, there were sharp, thirty-centimeter-long spikes along its spine, extending from the end of its back all the way to its forehead. It was that peak level-nine Spined Iron-Armored Dragon. This unique appearance gave Hodan the feeling of looking directly at Godzilla.

To avoid any accidents, Hodan used a soul shock to stun it.

Then, Hodan probed the top of the cave with his divine sense. He saw a massive black circular platform exposed on the ceiling of the cave. This black platform was embedded in the roof, and at this moment, part of the surface of this huge platform was still covered by rocks. The stones at the top of the cave completely obscured this black platform; otherwise, these magical beasts would have surely investigated it. After all, the intelligence of high-level magical beasts was no lower than that of humans.

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