Stone Soldiers

Hodan was thrilled to have gained the friendship of Huoxie. Finally, his safety was guaranteed. As long as he didn't provoke a Paragon, the children of a Chief Sovereign, or freaks like Beirut, his safety in Hell was secure.

Next, he would focus entirely on cultivation, striving to gain the strength to hold his own destiny in his hands as soon as possible.

Although Silvermoon Fiend had only benefited from Hodan's connection, he didn't mind at all. How many people dreamed of being able to associate with a Paragon?

Moreover, this was no ordinary Paragon. Before reaching the Paragon realm, this individual had already been able to clash with the Fire Element Paragon Bamo without falling into a disadvantage.

He would only be stronger after becoming a Paragon. Of course, to what extent, one would have to ask Huoxie himself.

After offering their congratulations, Hodan and Silvermoon Fiend asked Huoxie about the changes he had experienced since becoming a Paragon.

Huoxie did not hold back and told them everything. After becoming a Paragon, his body had been tempered by the Laws of the World and had truly reached the level of a Sovereign Artifact. Although it had been called a Sovereign Artifact body before, there had still been subtle differences.

Now, his body had truly reached that level; even if another Paragon channeled the power of a Sovereign, they would absolutely not be able to harm Huoxie's body in the slightest. At the same time, this Sovereign Artifact body provided him with roughly ten times the attack power, and when combined with his set of Sovereign Artifacts, Huoxie was absolutely invincible among Paragons.

After all, Huoxie was one of the few in this world to reach the Paragon realm with a body at the level of a Sovereign Artifact.

In truth, a newly ascended Paragon only fuses one more profound mystery and gains one more portion of Willpower than a standard Asura, which makes a Paragon roughly a hundred times stronger than an ordinary Asura.

However, every Asura who has fused their profound mysteries to the peak has their own unique ultimate techniques. Therefore, in a situation where neither side uses the power of a Sovereign, the attack power of a newly ascended Paragon is only about ten times stronger than that of a peak Asura.

The advantage is that a Paragon has no weaknesses. With the enhancement of Willpower, even a Thunder Element or Wind Element Paragon—who are naturally fast—would not be significantly faster than an Earth Element Paragon, who is not known for speed. Furthermore, under the enhancement of Willpower, their strengths become even stronger.

Of course, veteran Paragons also have their own ultimate techniques. With the amplification of these techniques, veteran Paragons are generally twenty or thirty times stronger than peak Asuras. It is no wonder that Paragons can slaughter Asura-level experts like cutting vegetables; if they were to face someone who had just stepped into the threshold of an Asura, it would be a massacre.

Furthermore, Paragons have one special advantage: they can perfectly control the power of a Sovereign. When an Asura-level expert uses the power of a Sovereign, it constantly dissipates. But for a Paragon, a single drop of the power of a Sovereign is enough to leave an Asura with nowhere to run and no door to enter.

By this point, Hodan and the others had a clear understanding of Huoxie's strength—it was absolutely dozens of times stronger than a standard Paragon. After all, his body was a Sovereign Artifact, possessing the terrifying power to overturn rivers and seas and tear the heavens asunder.

Based on his formidable body, Huoxie could unleash power far greater than a typical Paragon. After all, Huoxie had no need for defense and didn't even fear the recoil; he could engage in direct, head-on combat. It would not be an exaggeration to call the current Huoxie the number one person beneath the Chief Sovereigns.

After explaining this, Huoxie spoke to Hodan about his insights during his breakthrough. Perhaps because Huoxie's talent in the Fire Element was so high, he had always started by comprehending and fusing high-level profound mysteries. The final profound mystery Huoxie fused was actually the lowest-level Fire Element.

It was precisely because the Fire Element was so low-level that Huoxie had never paid it any mind. This caused him to be stuck at the peak of the Asura level for so long. It wasn't until Hodan mentioned "going with the flow" and "resonance" that Huoxie finally understood.

As the most common element in the world, the Fire Element is distributed everywhere; it is the most basic, yet the most important. Although it is a low-level profound mystery, it is precisely because it is so common that people often overlook it.

It is just like how humans need to breathe, yet rarely take the time to understand the air, at most checking a few important indicators.

It was through the resonance of the Fire Element that Huoxie was able to connect the fusion of all his profound mysteries and finally reach the Paragon realm.

After listening, Hodan couldn't help but sigh with emotion. Sometimes, it isn't a high mountain that trips you up, but a small pebble. At the same time, Hodan confirmed that while the path to becoming a Paragon can be used as a reference, it cannot be replicated.

After everyone finished congratulating him and sharing their insights on the Paragon realm, they moved on to the process of forging a weapon for Hodan.

Since Silvermoon Fiend's goal in bringing Hodan here had been achieved, and he had already gained Huoxie's friendship, plus he was busy with his duties as a city lord and the subsequent forging process had little to do with him—not to mention it would be quite boring—Silvermoon Fiend took his leave of Hodan and the others.

Watching Silvermoon Fiend's figure disappear into Flame Mountain, Huoxie turned and walked toward the cave on the rear right, not forgetting to call out to Hodan and the others, "Hurry up and follow, young man!"

Hodan followed Huoxie as they walked. After a while, they turned a corner and were met with a row of stone weapons.

There were blades, swords, spears, forks, halberds, and various other weapons. The one thing they had in common was that they were all crafted from stone.

Hodan walked up to these stone weapons and examined them for a long time before sighing from the bottom of his heart: "To be able to imitate these divine weapons with such coarse, hard, and brittle stone—not only is the form flawless, but the sharpness is also mastered to perfection. Moreover, although these stone weapons look the same, there is an indescribable, subtle difference. They feel even sharper than true divine weapons."

"Hehe, good eye. These stone weapons have been tempered by the high temperatures of Wanlian Mountain for countless years, and I often nourish them with my divine power," Huoxie's proud voice came from behind Hodan.

It turned out that when Huoxie saw Hodan mesmerized by the stone weapons, he had turned back to answer Hodan's questions.

"These stone weapons are now no worse than the primary combat weapons of a Seven-Star Fiend."

Hearing this, Hodan was shocked. He hadn't expected that these weapons made of stone could actually rival the primary weapons of a Seven-Star Fiend.

"By the way, do you have any requirements for your blade?" Huoxie asked Hodan.

"Hardness and sharpness!" Hodan answered without a second thought.

Huoxie stared at Hodan for a while before saying slowly: "Since ancient times, as long as one is a blacksmith, no matter how many bullshit restrictions they place on their work, everyone shares one common, unchanging principle: it is strictly forbidden for a weapon to be overly sharp!"

"Why? Isn't it better for a weapon to be as sharp as possible?"

"That which is too sharp is easily broken!"

"At the same time, the strength of a weapon depends on its master. If the weapon's own power surpasses its master, then even if the master has great strength, they will be unable to unleash their full potential because they cannot control the weapon in their hands."

"Conversely, if the master's strength completely suppresses the weapon, then even the best weapon cannot escape the fate of being destroyed. Isn't the best result for a person and their weapon to complement each other?"

"But what if the weapon is not just a weapon, but a part of the body? To an expert, a weapon is not just an extension of the arm, not just a partner in battle, but a living entity that coexists with them?"

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