Ambush

A metal lifeform streaked across the sky at high speed.

Hogg's Fate God Clone drove the metal lifeform at full speed toward Silvermoon City, while his Saint Domain True Body and Destruction God Clone remained in Silvermoon City, immersed in cultivation.

After returning this time, Hodan planned to keep his true body and Destruction God Clone together. Although that was dangerous and went against the spirit of playing it safe, Hodan was short on time.

Hodan needed pressure. Only greater pressure could help him grow quickly. Besides, with his current strength as a Six-Star Fiend, he could protect himself reasonably well while traveling through Hell. If things really came to that, he also had his connection with Huoxie to fall back on. Of course, unless absolutely necessary, Hodan wouldn't invoke Huoxie's name. Favors could be used up, and he planned to spend this one on the Four Divine Beasts Clan.

"The Four Rules are the hardest to cultivate. You have to explore them yourself and comprehend the world. It's especially difficult after becoming a god; every step forward is incredibly hard." Hodan abruptly opened his eyes. "I haven't slacked off these past few days, but I haven't made much progress."

When it came to the Destruction Rules and the Fate Rule, Hogg had not relaxed for even a moment these past few days. But these Rules had no system to follow; he could only rely on his own comprehension. Hodan really hadn't achieved much.

It was worth mentioning his Thunder God Clone. After such a long time, it had only fused the Thunder Element with the Swiftness Profound Mystery to a third of the way. Profound Mysteries became harder to fuse the further one progressed. After spending so much time to reach only a third, the Thunder Element talent was enough to drive Hodan crazy. What would it be like later, when he had to fuse three or five Profound Mysteries, and then fuse them all together?

But there was nothing Hodan could do. That was simply the extent of his Thunder Element talent, and it was difficult to cultivate other laws and Rules through the Thunder Element as well. He could only do his best to cultivate it. At least it was another life.

Fortunately, through his comprehension of the Destruction Rules, and with the support of his true body, Hodan had begun to grasp the Death Rule. He was making rapid progress, after all, death was also a form of destruction. One reason Hodan had brought his true body along this time was so it could experience death at close range. That was the only way the Death Rule could quickly reach godhood.

As for comprehending the Life Law, Hodan had a general idea of how to proceed. But his true body was currently focused on conquering the Death Rule. He would choose the Life Law only after completing that. Hodan firmly believed that cultivating Divine Clones for all Four Rules would bring unexpected gains.

"I have the strength of a Six-Star Fiend now, but even with Zhengdu and my ultimate move, I'm still some distance from the peak of the Six-Star level," Hodan thought.

Hodan had been born into a prominent clan. Although his strength hadn't kept pace, his perspective was far broader than that of the gods from the Material Planes.

That was one advantage of being born into a major power: he could make clear plans and set goals for his future. His cultivation also had fairly clear guidance, unlike the natives of the Yulan Continent, who knew nothing about the direction their cultivation should take and had to explore everything on their own. That could leave a person feeling lost about the road ahead.

Fortunately, Hodan didn't have that problem. His broad perspective also gave him a clear understanding of his current strength. He knew whom he could handle and who was still beyond his reach.

Hodan wanted revenge, but this level of strength was nowhere near enough. The Four Divine Beasts Clan had over a hundred Seven-Star Fiends alone, not to mention their patriarch, Great Elder, and other Asura-level powerhouses.

At that moment, Hodan's soul suddenly trembled faintly.

"Hmm?" Hodan furrowed his brow. A divine sense had swept over him. It was clearly a Highgod's. "It actually came from outside the range of my divine sense."

Hodan's expression suddenly changed. He realized he was surrounded on all sides. Fifteen Highgods had him trapped.

"Bang!"

A young man with green hair struck with his palm. The space rippled, and Hodan's metal lifeform exploded.

Hodan was instantly exposed in the middle of their encirclement.

"Hodan, you were the one who wiped out the Wind Valley Bandits, weren't you?" The green-haired young man, Taier, looked Hodan up and down coldly, greed blazing in his eyes. "Their wealth fell into your hands too, didn't it?"

Hodan had also noticed Clisi beside Taier. The moment he saw Clisi, he understood everything.

Clisi's entire fortune, combined with the wealth of the two leaders in Hodan's possession, amounted to nearly a hundred billion. That was enough to tempt even a Seven-Star Fiend. After all, Seven-Star Fiends who weren't good at accumulating wealth generally had only around a trillion Inkstones.

"Kill him and take back what belongs to us!" Taier barked. The spear in his hand shot toward Hodan like a bolt of lightning.

Hodan's expression changed dramatically. At such close range, he could clearly feel the terrifying power contained in that strike. Even space was shattered.

Taier was no weaker than Muli, the elder of Hodan's clan. He gave Hodan the same prickling sense of danger—the instinctive feeling that something was about to go wrong.

Taier was clearly a powerhouse on the level of a Seven-Star Fiend.

Hodan hurriedly met the attack head-on and was sent flying by the spear. Fortunately, he was wearing the leather armor Huoxie had given him, so he didn't suffer any serious injuries. He merely felt his blood and qi churning.

"His attack is so powerful, even stronger than my strongest attack. Taier is a formidable opponent." Hodan slashed with his blade, sending dozens of blade-shadows to meet the oncoming barrage of multicolored attacks. "The other fourteen are all Five-Star Fiends too. Clisi must have put a lot of effort into this!"

"Material attacks. Kill him," Taier sent to the other Five-Star Fiends.

"Yes!" The Five-Star Fiends all obeyed. They were Taier's subordinates, and since he was a Seven-Star Fiend, they naturally followed his orders without question.

"Boom!" Astonishing waves of energy surged out as the attacks of fifteen Five-Star Fiends roared toward Hodan from all sides. Their range was so wide that he had nowhere to hide.

Hodan didn't dare take so many Five-Star Fiends' attacks head-on. He dodged while striking to deflect them, and when he couldn't evade, he relied on his leather armor to withstand the blows.

"Ha!" A shout rang out. A burly, black-haired man wielded an enormous, pitch-black battle-axe. Destructive light flowed along its edge as he brought it down on Hodan from above with domineering force.

"The Destruction Rules?" Hodan's eyes narrowed sharply. He hadn't expected the brawny man to cultivate the Destruction Rules, the most powerful offensive Rule.

"Shhk!"

The space seemed on the verge of being split open by the great axe. The man was clearly a peak Five-Star Fiend.

"Looking to die!" Seeing the burly man charge in with his guard wide open, Hodan seethed with anger. Taier, the Seven-Star Fiend, was the one he feared, but that didn't mean a Five-Star Fiend could act so recklessly in front of him.

Though furious, Hodan showed no mercy. His long blade turned and seemed to vanish before the man's eyes. At the same time, he stabbed from a strange angle. The strike looked incredibly slow, but was actually so fast it reached the limit. As he closed in on the burly man, Zhengdu's edge flashed brilliantly toward his face.

"Bazeke, watch out!" Taier's expression changed dramatically. Bazeke was the subordinate most likely to break through to the Six-Star Fiend level, and he cultivated the Destruction Rules, the most powerful offensive Rule. Taier couldn't just let Taier die in front of him.

As he shouted a warning, Taier hurriedly raised his spear and thrust it toward Hodan's blade. Even Taier was startled by Hodan's strike; it was powerful enough to threaten him.

Hodan's blade was long, and Taier was not close to him. Otherwise, Taier would certainly have chosen to attack Hodan and force him to withdraw his strike to defend himself, rather than trying to interrupt the attack.

"Bang!"

Taier's spear struck Hodan's blade and knocked it off course. But the powerful attack carried on along the altered trajectory, crashing into the pitch-black great axe. The black-haired man was sent flying without a doubt.

The burly man, Taier, who had narrowly escaped death, was now sweating coldly. Just then, Hodan's aura had locked onto him, leaving him unable to dodge. In that instant, he had felt so close to death that he had begun to despair.

If Taier's attack hadn't changed the trajectory of Hodan's blade, he would already be a corpse.

"Everyone, be careful. Don't let your guard down!" Taier warned them.

Hodan couldn't help thinking what a pity it was. He'd been so close—just a little closer, and he could have eliminated the person who posed the greatest threat to him apart from Taier.

But there was nothing he could do. That was how battles went: the situation could change in an instant, and anything could happen. Hodan could only hold his blade across his chest and stay alert.