Golden Clarity Wine

When Silvermoon heard this, he quickly shot Hodan a meaningful look. After all, he had brought Hodan here to introduce him to Huoxie and ask Huoxie to help forge a weapon.

"I do, I do." Hodan snapped to attention and hurriedly took out the fine wine he had prepared in his Space Ring. He'd stocked up on it to build good relationships with all sorts of people. He wasn't just here to ask for a favor; with Huoxie's Paragon-level strength, plenty of people were eager to send him wine.

The bottle in Hodan's hand held Golden Clarity Wine.

Golden Clarity Wine was a renowned delicacy, famous throughout Hell. It strengthened the body and nurtured the soul, making it ideal for divine beings who had just broken through to a new level.

It also had the miraculous effect of speeding up the soul's recovery when it was injured.

Most importantly, the wine was distilled from dozens of Hell's famous wines. It preserved their benefits while removing their drawbacks, and its marvelous flavor had earned it the title "the finest under heaven" among wine lovers.

It took more than a hundred jars of wine to distill the small bottle in Hodan's hand. That single bottle was worth a hundred million Inkstones, and it held barely a dozen mouthfuls. Each sip cost as much as a Highgod's life.

Hodan had only bought about ten bottles, mainly to save his life if his soul was ever injured.

Watching the enticing golden liquor in the bottle, Huoxie, the old drunkard, swallowed so loudly it practically echoed through the heavens. He snatched the Golden Clarity Wine from Hodan and gulped down a mouthful. In an instant, he was lost in bliss.

Everyone around him caught the wine's crisp, clean aroma. It smelled so strong that even Hodan sneezed. "That fragrance is almost unnaturally potent..."

Hodan had never actually tried it himself. He'd kept it for emergencies, and even though his wealth was now close to a hundred billion, he wasn't extravagant enough to drink wine that cost a hundred million per bottle. Perhaps he'd get the chance to try some someday.

"Golden Clarity Wine really lives up to its name! Just one sip, and the crispness, fragrance, and richness... The best qualities of all those famous wines roll across your tongue one after another. And then there's that faint green edge in the aftertaste. What a marvelous contradiction..." As he spoke, he took another big gulp and closed his eyes to savor the wine.

Coming back to himself after savoring the Golden Clarity Wine, Huoxie turned to Hodan. "Young man, how much more do you have? Bring it all out."

Hodan took out the rest of the Golden Clarity Wine and smiled wryly. "I've only got nine bottles left. That's all."

Hodan actually regretted not bringing more. He'd thought Silvermoon was taking him to meet some ordinary senior, but he'd never imagined the man would be a Paragon-level expert. Hodan had plenty of other fine wines, but wine depended on the drinker. For someone of Huoxie's stature, what wine hadn't he tried?

Opportunities to get close to a Paragon-level expert were few and far between. Plenty of Asuras went to great lengths to cultivate relationships with Paragons, flattering and fawning over them. It was rare to get such an easy opportunity with someone like Huoxie, who loved wine. If Hodan let this chance slip by, he'd regret it for a long time.

Huoxie took the Golden Clarity Wine Hodan offered him and downed several more mouthfuls, finishing the bottle.

"Ha! I haven't had wine this good in ages. I finished the wine Silvermoon brought me last time long ago. And you—what's your name? I've drunk your wine, but I don't even know who you are."

Silvermoon felt a little embarrassed, too. As the lord of Silvermoon City, he had affairs to attend to. And unlike Huoxie, he wasn't stuck at the peak of the Asura level. He was only a Seven-Star Fiend, and he still had to cultivate. He dreamed of reaching the same Asura level as his elder brother, Purple Blood Fiend, one day.

When Huoxie finished the wine, Hodan quickly brought out all the fine wine in his Space Ring. He couldn't let an opportunity to build a relationship with Huoxie pass him by. He could always buy more wine later. As he handed it over, he replied, "This junior is Hodan. It's an honor that you'd drink my wine, senior."

Huoxie was a wine lover, and seeing Hodan keep handing him more wine made him like the young man all the more. He accepted each bottle without a hint of ceremony.

Meanwhile, Silvermoon introduced Hodan to Huoxie. He told Huoxie that, as far as he could tell, Hodan had cultivated the Fate Rule to the Highgod level in less than a hundred years.

Huoxie stared in shock and hurriedly confirmed it with Hodan. "You really cultivated the Fate Rule to the Highgod level in less than a hundred years?"

"Yes," Hodan replied calmly. "In fact, I was still a Mid-God in the Fate Rule three years ago. Big Brother Silvermoon can vouch for that!"

"Really?" Hearing that Hodan had reached the Highgod level in the Fate Rule in less than three years, Huoxie felt as if the Overgod were playing a joke on him.

Hodan replied, "Actually, I'd only been cultivating the Fate Rule for less than ten years."

But seeing how calm Hodan was, and sensing that the aura of time surrounding his Fate God Clone was less than a hundred years old, Huoxie believed that he truly had cultivated the Fate Rule to the Highgod level in under a century.

Becoming a god in ten years, a Mid-God in a hundred, and a Highgod in a thousand—there were such prodigies in countless Material Planes and the Higher God Plane, but few of them ever reached the pinnacle. The Mid-God level was the best time to fuse Profound Mysteries. If Huoxie hadn't rushed to become a Highgod, he wouldn't now be stuck at the peak of the Asura level, unable to become a Paragon. And that was with the elemental rules.

A Highgod in the Fate Rule after a hundred years? Unheard of.

The pace was certainly fast, but Hodan, who had been thoroughly exposed to online novels, didn't think it was all that remarkable. Some power-fantasy novels had characters reach the peak in just ten years.

As a transmigrator, with knowledge of what was to come and the chance to observe the protagonist, a Person of Uncertain Fate, what could be more in keeping with cultivating the Fate Rule? Hodan wished he could reach the peak right away—or simply leave the Coiling Dragon World and return to his ordinary life.

Not everyone could change the world. But when you went with the flow, you found your rhythm. A peaceful life was the world's true course.

By now, Huoxie understood Silvermoon's intentions. He wanted Huoxie to give Hodan some pointers and, if possible, forge a weapon for him. With Hodan's talent, as long as he didn't die, he was sure to become one of Hell's peak experts someday.

Perhaps he might even get a glimpse of the mysteries of becoming a Paragon. After all, the Four Rules had no concept of fusing Profound Mysteries. Even if Hodan couldn't become a Paragon, having another peak expert as a friend would still benefit Huoxie.

Huoxie was a peak expert at the Paragon level, but he wasn't a true Paragon and didn't possess the unique Willpower of one. He could only fight Paragons head-on because of his Sovereign Artifact-level body and his three Sovereign Artifacts. Without Willpower, though, he couldn't withstand the pull of the spatial rifts; he could still be banished into the Spatial Turbulence.

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