On the third floor of Fiend Castle, where Four- to Six-Star Fiends came to accept missions, rows of luxurious rooms lined the hall. Hodan was in one of the rooms reserved for Five-Star Fiends, reclining comfortably on a sofa made from the hide of some unknown magical beast.
A staff member from Fiend Castle soon approached Hodan with a thick dossier and said, "Greetings, sir. I'm the attendant for Five-Star Fiends. What kind of mission would you like to accept?"
"A bandit-suppression mission starting from Silvermoon City. The destination doesn't matter," Hodan said. "A Five-Star Mission will do. By the way, I only want a Five-Star Mission that can be accepted by one person, not a group." As a Five-Star Fiend, Hodan could accept missions up to Six-Star. Once he completed a Six-Star Mission, he would naturally become a Six-Star Fiend.
As for the even higher rank of Seven-Star Fiend, only Six-Star Fiends could accept those missions. And every Seven-Star Fiend Mission targeted someone who was a Seven-Star Fiend or close to that level.
Hodan's purpose in taking this mission was to use the bandits as a way to create his ultimate techniques. They weren't good people, so he felt no guilt about using them for that purpose. Hodan wasn't some saint, but neither would he attack others without reason—and doing so could easily make enemies. These bandits were the perfect targets.
Even if Hodan couldn't defeat a Six-Star Fiend, he could still escape, but fighting one wouldn't help him create his ultimate techniques. So he chose a Five-Star Mission.
He chose a solo mission because he didn't want low-ranking fiends getting in his way. Besides, these were ultimate techniques, and he couldn't let others casually learn how they worked. Otherwise, they could easily find ways to counter them.
The attendant nodded slightly. He closed his eyes for a moment, then turned his hand over. The dossier in it was replaced by another, which he opened and began to browse. "There are 87 Five-Star bandit-suppression missions, sir, but only 18 can be accepted by one person. Please choose one."
As he spoke, he handed the dossier to Hodan.
While Hodan was choosing a mission,
in a cave in the Black Mountain Range, a young man in a red robe abruptly opened his eyes as he meditated in seclusion. "Damn it! Damn it! I, Clisi, will tear you to pieces!"
The young man in the red robe looked exactly like the leader Hodan had killed first. The only differences were their clothes and hair color.
"You actually killed my Darkness God Clone! Bastard! Unforgivable!" Clisi's face twisted into a snarl. He had two Divine Clones, one of the fire element and one of darkness. Now that his Darkness God Clone had fallen, only his Fire Element God Clone remained.
"A powerful expert who cultivates the Fate Rule, yet his soul attacks are terrifying." Clisi slowly closed his eyes. He could still remember how frightened he'd been by Hodan's soul cultivation.
He was definitely a Five-Star Fiend, and might even be a Six-Star Fiend.
Clisi's expression turned terrifyingly savage. "There's no way I can avenge myself alone. After all, all three of us brothers died at his hands."
At the thought, Clisi's face filled with pain. Through their blood pact, he had already sensed his brothers' deaths. The three of them had supported one another all the way from the Material Plane. They'd shared nearly a hundred million years of life and death, and had once dreamed of saving enough wealth to return to the Material Plane and travel through the other planes.
They had been away from their homeland for nearly a hundred million years, and the three brothers had missed it terribly. They had wanted to go home and see it again. They never expected to be parted forever.
"I can only ask Lord Taier to make a move." At the thought of his brothers' deaths, Clisi was consumed by fury.
Even now, Clisi couldn't hide his pained reluctance. Lord Taier was a reclusive expert who had cultivated in seclusion for a long time. A million years ago, he had already been a peak Six-Star Fiend. After so many years of secluded cultivation, no one knew how powerful Lord Taier had become. Even if he hadn't reached the level of a Seven-Star Fiend, his peak Six-Star strength was more than enough to kill Hodan.
Clisi had met Lord Taier through a fortunate encounter, and he knew how terrifying he was. Even if Lord Taier hadn't reached the level of a Seven-Star Fiend, he couldn't be far off. His peak Six-Star strength alone was more than enough to kill Hodan.
Getting such a powerful expert to act would naturally come at a staggering price. Clisi would have to spend nearly all the wealth he had accumulated over tens of millions of years.
The Space Ring Hodan had obtained was something Clisi had used to mislead others. He had transferred all his wealth to his Fire Element God Clone, leaving only a little for everyday expenses with his Darkness God Clone.
Clisi's wealth now amounted to nearly 30 billion. To take revenge, he planned to spend every last bit of it to hire Lord Taier.
Clisi knew that it would take at least a Six-Star Fiend to kill his enemy. And the only Six-Star Fiend he knew was Lord Taier. If he looked for someone else, too much time might pass, and he might never find his enemy again.
After all, Hell was unimaginably vast. By the time too much time had passed, his enemy might no longer be in Silvermoon City—or even in Yingxue Prefecture. Finding one person among a sea of people would be incredibly difficult.
Hodan took the dossier and browsed the various Five-Star solo missions. The farthest one was more than a hundred million li away, while the nearest was still more than ten million li away.
Suddenly, Hodan's gaze settled on a mission to suppress the Black Mountain Range bandits. The Black Mountain Range lay eight million li south of Silvermoon City. A vast plain stretched through the area, its terrain flat and home to many tribes. The Black Mountain Bandits often raided them.
The tribes had banded together to post the mission, but the Black Mountain Range's complex terrain meant that even after the bandits were wiped out, they would soon return. That was why the tribes' mission only called for killing the leader and scattering the bandits. This was a solo mission because it only required killing the leader, making it suitable for an assassination. But it was a long-term mission with a modest reward. Fiend Castle needed high-ranking missions to help fiends advance, though, so it kept the mission available.
Hodan didn't care much about the reward. Once you had too much money, it was just a number. Besides, he didn't yet have the ability to refine Inkstone into Sovereign's Might.
He planned to create his ultimate techniques while clearing out the bandits. They were a disruptive presence, so he felt no guilt about wiping them out. He might as well put them to good use on his path to the peak.
In the end, Hodan chose the mission to suppress the Black Mountain Bandits.
"Sir, have you decided to accept this mission? Then please give me your Fiend Badge." The attendant said no more. Hodan immediately handed over his Fiend Badge. The attendant turned his hand over, and a crystal radiating purple light appeared in it.
He brought the crystal close to Hodan's Fiend Badge.
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