Intercept and Kill

A Metal Lifeform streaked across the horizon, flying at high speed.

Hodan's Fate God Clone was piloting the Metal Lifeform with all his might toward Silvermoon City, while his Saint-level original body and Destruction God Clone remained immersed in cultivation back in the city.

After returning this time, Hodan planned to bring his original body and Destruction God Clone together. Although this was dangerous and went against the spirit of staying low-profile, Hodan was short on time.

Hodan needed pressure; only greater pressure could force him to grow rapidly. Moreover, with his current strength as a Six-Star Fiend, surviving in Hell was not a major issue. If things truly went south, he still had his connection with Huoxie. Of course, unless absolutely necessary, Hodan would not invoke Huoxie's name, as favors were meant to be spent, and Hodan intended to save that favor for the Four Divine Beasts Clan.

"The Four Rules are the hardest to cultivate. One must explore them alone, sensing the heavens and earth. Especially after becoming a god, every step forward is incredibly difficult." Hodan opened his eyes abruptly. "Although I haven't been slack these days, my progress has been minimal."

Destruction Rules, Fate Rules—Hodan had not slacked off in the slightest these past few days, but facing these rules that lacked a systematic approach and relied entirely on personal insight, he really hadn't achieved much.

Here, one had to mention his Thunder God Clone. It had taken so long to fuse the thunder element with the Swiftness Profound Mystery, yet he had only achieved thirty percent. One had to know that the further one went in profound mystery fusion, the harder it became. Having spent so much time to reach only thirty percent, the talent of this Thunder God Clone truly drove Hodan mad. If he had to fuse three or five profound mysteries later, or even achieve total fusion, what would happen then?

But Hodan had no choice. The talent of his Thunder God Clone was just like that, and the thunder element was also difficult to use for cultivating other laws or rules, so Hodan could only do his best to cultivate his thunder element. At least it was still a life.

Fortunately, through his insights into the Destruction Rules and the support of his original body, he had managed to get started with the Death Rule, and he was gaining insights rapidly. After all, death was a form of destruction. This time, Hodan had brought his original body along so it could experience death at close range, which was the only way to allow the Death Rule to quickly reach the god level.

As for his insights into the Life Rule, Hodan also had some leads, but since his original body was currently focusing all its efforts on the Death Rule, he would only choose the Life Rule after completing the Death Rule. Hodan firmly believed that cultivating all four rule god clones would bring unexpected gains.

"I currently have the strength of a Six-Star Fiend, but even with Zhengdu and my ultimate techniques, I am still some distance away from the peak of a Six-Star Fiend," Hodan thought to himself.

Hodan was born into a great clan. Although his own strength hadn't kept up, his vision was far superior to those god-level experts from material planes.

This was the benefit of being born into a major power; one could have a clear plan and goals for the future. Even cultivation had relatively clear guidance, unlike the natives of the Yulan Continent who knew nothing about their path of cultivation and had to rely entirely on their own exploration, which made people feel lost about the road ahead.

Fortunately, Hodan did not have such concerns. At the same time, his broad vision allowed Hodan to have a clear understanding of his own strength. He understood who he could deal with and which figures were not yet someone he could provoke.

Hodan wanted revenge, but this level of strength was far from enough. The Four Divine Beasts Clan currently had over a hundred Seven-Star Fiends, not to mention their patriarch, the grand elder, and other Asura-level powerhouses.

At this moment, Hodan's soul suddenly trembled slightly.

"Hmm?" Hodan frowned. A divine sense had swept over him; it was clearly a High-God. "It actually reached outside my divine sense range."

Hodan's expression suddenly changed. He discovered that all directions had been blocked; fifteen High-Gods had surrounded him.

"Boom!"

A green-haired youth among them struck with a palm, causing the space to ripple, and Hodan's Metal Lifeform exploded.

Hodan's figure was instantly exposed within their encirclement.

"Hodan, you were the one who wiped out the Wind Valley Bandits, right?" The green-haired youth, Taier, looked at Hodan coldly, his eyes shooting out intense greed. "Their wealth must have fallen into your hands as well."

Hodan also noticed Clisi standing next to Taier. The moment he saw Clisi, everything became clear to Hodan.

Clisi had used all his wealth, combined with the wealth of the two leaders in Hodan's possession, totaling nearly a hundred billion in wealth—enough to make even a Seven-Star Fiend covet it. After all, Seven-Star Fiends who were not good at accumulating wealth usually only had about a trillion Inkstones.

"Kill him and take back what belongs to us!" Taier shouted coldly, and the long spear in his hand slashed toward Hodan like a bolt of lightning.

Hodan's expression changed drastically. Being so close, he clearly felt the terrifying power contained in that spear strike; even the space was shattered.

It was not much weaker than Elder Muli of his own clan, giving him a feeling of needles pricking his back—a primal instinct of danger.

This Taier was clearly a super powerhouse at the Seven-Star Fiend level.

Hodan blocked in a rush and was immediately sent flying by the spear. Fortunately, thanks to the leather armor gifted by Huoxie, Hodan did not suffer any serious injuries, though he felt his blood surging.

"Such strong attack power, even stronger than my strongest attack. This Taier is a formidable enemy." Hodan slashed with his blade, and dozens of blade shadows met the colorful attacks coming his way. "The other fifteen are actually all Five-Star Fiend level powerhouses. It seems this Clisi didn't spare any effort!"

"Physical attack, kill him," Taier transmitted to the other Five-Star Fiends.

"Yes." All the Five-Star Fiends obeyed. These Five-Star Fiends were subordinates Taier had subdued; since Taier was a Seven-Star Fiend, they naturally followed his orders unconditionally.

"Boom!" Astonishing energy fluctuations spread out. The attacks of the fifteen Five-Star Fiends whistled toward Hodan in a surrounding formation. The range was so vast that Hodan had nowhere to hide.

Hodan dared not take the attacks of so many Five-Star Fiends head-on. He dodged while unleashing moves to neutralize the attacks, and when he truly couldn't dodge, he relied on his leather armor to take the hits.

"Hmph!" A loud shout came. A sturdy, black-haired man holding a pitch-black, giant battle-axe appeared. The blade of the axe flowed with the radiance of destruction. Holding this giant axe, he slashed down at Hodan from high in the air with overbearing force.

"Destruction Rules?" Hodan's eyes narrowed sharply. He hadn't expected this sturdy man to be cultivating the Destruction Rules, which possessed the strongest attack power.

"Sss-sss!"

Faintly, the space seemed to be split open by the giant axe. Clearly, this was also a top-tier Five-Star Fiend.

"You're courting death!" Seeing the sturdy man slashing down with his defenses wide open, Hodan was secretly furious. Hodan was wary of Taier, the Seven-Star Fiend, but that didn't mean a Five-Star Fiend had the right to be so arrogant in front of him.

Furious at heart, Hodan struck without mercy. His long blade turned, seemingly disappearing in front of the man, while simultaneously stabbing at a strange angle. It looked incredibly slow, but it was actually fast to the extreme. As he neared the sturdy man, the sharp edge of Zhengdu shot toward the man's face.

"Bazeke, watch out!" Taier's expression changed drastically. Bazeke was the subordinate most likely to break through to become a Six-Star Fiend, and he cultivated the Destruction Rules, which had the strongest attack power. Taier naturally could not let Bazeke die in front of him for nothing.

While shouting a warning, he also hurriedly raised his spear to stab at Hodan's blade. Even he was startled by Hodan's strike; it was enough to threaten him.

Hodan's blade was not short, and Taier was not close to Hodan, otherwise, Taier would definitely have chosen to attack Hodan to force him to withdraw his move and defend, rather than choosing to interrupt Hodan's attack.

"Boom!"

Hodan's blade was struck by the spear, changing its trajectory. However, the powerful force continued, shifting the trajectory to slam into the pitch-black giant axe. Without a doubt, the black-haired sturdy man was sent flying.

The sturdy man, Bazeke, who had survived the ordeal, now had cold sweat on his forehead. Just a moment ago, he had been locked onto by Hodan's aura and couldn't dodge. In that instant, he felt he was so close to death that he had begun to despair.

If not for Taier's attack changing the trajectory of Hodan's blade, he would have already become a corpse.

"Everyone, be careful! Don't be careless!" Taier reminded the others.

Hodan sighed in his heart, "What a pity." Just a little bit more, and he could have wiped out the person who posed the greatest threat to him besides Taier.

But there was no help for it. The battlefield was like this—ever-changing, and any accident could happen. Hodan could only hold his blade across his chest, remaining vigilant.