The Kill

"Hodan was a formidable expert who cultivated the Wind Law. His attacks were decent, but after fusing the Sound Wave and Sound Music Mysteries, his soul attacks had become extremely bizarre." Hodan kept half his attention on guarding against Taier.

The Wind Law had always been renowned for its speed. And whether it was the Sound Wave or Sound Music Mysteries, both were soul attacks that were difficult to guard against, making them exceptionally troublesome.

The Soul Defense Divine Artifact Huoxie had given him allowed Hodan to ignore soul attacks from anyone below a Six-Star Fiend. But it couldn't defend against attacks from a Seven-Star Fiend, even though it could withstand three soul attacks at the Asura level.

But Hodan certainly wouldn't use it that way. Doing so would shatter the Soul Defense Divine Artifact. For now, he was only using it to weaken Taier's soul attacks, which was also the most practical approach in this battle. After all, Taier's soul attacks came one after another without end.

And this had the added benefit of allowing him to repair it after the battle. After all, crafting a Soul Defense Divine Artifact was extremely difficult. It required not only profound soul cultivation, but also the right materials.

"I wonder how Clisi found a Seven-Star Fiend like this. The gap between an ordinary Highgod and a Seven-Star Fiend is enormous." Hodan felt a headache coming on.

His offensive power only reached the level of a Six-Star Fiend, and he was certainly a step slower. Even escaping would be difficult. Especially against a Seven-Star Fiend of the Wind Element who excelled at speed, Hodan's chances of getting away were even slimmer.

"Die!" Hodan charged at Taier with his blade.

He couldn't escape, so he would fight to the death! Waiting helplessly for death had never been Hodan's style.

Hodan hadn't even considered invoking Huoxie's name. This was his tribulation, but also an opportunity. As long as he could survive it, he believed his strength would improve tremendously.

You had to go all in to survive. If he wanted to increase his strength quickly, he had to dare to take risks. Risk and reward went hand in hand. There was no safe path to enlightenment in this world.

Taier swung his spear repeatedly, filling the sky with its shadows. Hodan did his utmost to defend, but Wind Element attacks were famous for their speed. Many slipped past his guard and struck him again and again.

Although the attacks were all stopped by his leather armor, Taier's relentless blows still injured him through it. The downpour of attacks also slowed Hodan, ruining his plan to get close and fight Taier hand to hand.

Just then, the others attacked Hodan as well. Several blasts of energy hurtled toward him, with a hidden arrow streaking among them. It caught Hodan off guard. The arrow couldn't pierce the leather armor Huoxie had given him, but that wasn't the point.

The point was the soul attack clinging to the hidden arrow. The cold glint on its tip made it clear that it had been coated with Soul Poison, developed by Highgod masters who cultivated the Death Rule. The arrow turned into a stream of gray energy that shot into Hodan's mind and attacked his soul.

Suddenly, the necklace around Hodan's neck flashed with a faint light. A circular barrier appeared around his soul, enclosing it completely.

The arrow of gray energy struck the barrier and shattered like an egg hitting a stone. Huoxie's Soul Defense Divine Artifact had blocked the soul attack.

Hodan couldn't help feeling a lingering fear. Without the Soul Defense Divine Artifact Huoxie had given him, that soul attack alone would have put him in danger.

An arrow coated with Soul Poison, especially one reinforced with the soul attack of a Five-Star Fiend, would have been deadly if Hodan had been unprepared. Even a moment's distraction from the soul attack, amid the encirclement, could have left him utterly annihilated!

In the instant Hodan's attention wavered, a bald burly man raised a massive hammer and brought it down, thinking the soul attack had struck Hodan and that he had a chance to kill him.

Losing focus in battle was never a good thing. Fortunately, Hodan recovered in less than a ten-thousandth of a breath. A Five-Star Fiend's attack was still something he could handle with ease.

He first leaned slightly to dodge the bald man's blow, then thrust out with his blade. The spatial-cutting edge of Zhengdu filled the man with the breath of death, but he could no longer dodge.

The bald man's head exploded, and a Godhead drifted down.

A Five-Star Fiend had died!

"Jabar!" Taier cried out in anguish. He had gone to great lengths to recruit and cultivate these subordinates. They were the foundation for the force he planned to establish, and their oaths had made them utterly loyal to him.

They were all Five-Star Fiends, and every loss weakened him. He hadn't expected his moment of carelessness to keep him from coming to the rescue in time, resulting in Jabar's death.

"Die!" Taier swung his spear repeatedly, surrounding Hodan with a barrage of attacks. The spear seemed to turn into countless bolts of lightning, engulfing him.

Seeing that Hodan hadn't taken much damage from his attacks, Taier realized Hodan must be wearing a Material Defense Artifact. But even Material Defense Artifacts had their limits. Unlike a Sovereign Artifact, they couldn't protect the entire body without ever being damaged. Even a Sovereign Artifact couldn't save its wielder if the gap in strength was too great; a person could still be killed through it.

It was like a child holding an iron shield while an adult struck it with an iron rod. Even if the shield remained undamaged and absorbed most of the force, the remaining impact could still injure the child.

Taier was trying to break through the Material Defense Artifact. Even if he couldn't, he could still shake Hodan to death through it.

The spear flashed like thunder, turning into myriad swimming dragons!

But Hodan noticed that Taier's attacks, though dense, were weaker than before and posed much less of a threat.

The countless spear images looked intimidating, but only to the weak. Against the weak, they could of course slaughter with ease. But against a strong opponent, scattered attacks were far less threatening than a single powerful blow.

His leather armor, combined with his High-God Artifact-grade divine body, reduced the attacks' force by a full fifty percent. They only left Hodan's blood and energy churning; they weren't enough to injure him seriously.

"Six or seven Wind Element Mysteries, all focused on speed. His soul attacks and material attacks are only a notch stronger than mine." Although they had only exchanged a few blows, Hodan had already figured things out.

In terms of material attacks, Taier was stronger than him, but among Seven-Star Fiends, he was definitely at the very bottom.

With his Material and Soul Defense Divine Artifacts, along with Zhengdu and his own trump cards, Hodan might be able to kill Taier.

But killing Taier wouldn't be easy. Wind Element experts excelled at speed, and his opponent also had fourteen Five-Star Fiend helpers!

He was still at a disadvantage!

One slip, and his strongest Fate God Clone might be finished here. So Hodan was exceptionally cautious, determined not to give the other side any opening.

At the same time, he had to create an opportunity of his own and make sure his next strike killed Taier. Otherwise, once they reacted, Hodan would have no chance at all.

Even now, Hodan hadn't considered using the token Huoxie had given him. With Huoxie's backing, he could certainly have survived this crisis unscathed.

No god could ignore a Paragon. Even another Paragon was no exception. Unless they were mortal enemies, a Paragon wouldn't mind showing another Paragon some respect rather than causing trouble for themselves.

But that would be disastrous for Hodan's growth. If it happened once, it would happen again. He would grow dependent on it, and once he did, his progress might slow—or even stop altogether. He could become like the natives of the Yulan Continent, relying on refining a Divine Spark to become a god.

Hodan couldn't accept that. The experience of countless predecessors on Earth had taught him: mountains could collapse, and people could flee; only power that belonged to you could truly put your mind at ease.

The two sides fought fiercely. Taier's group had the advantage in numbers, but killing Hodan wouldn't be easy. And Hodan couldn't easily kill them either.

The fierce battle naturally caused a great commotion, rousing the bandits of the Black Mountain Range. Now they stared at the scene in stunned silence.

"That's a spatial rift—a spatial rift!" a bandit Mid-God exclaimed dumbly. Anyone who could tear open Hell's space had to possess at least the strength of a Six-Star Fiend. How could low-level bandits like them ever have seen such powerful combatants fighting?

To the bandits who lived at the bottom, tears in Hell's space were something they had only heard about in legends.

"A group of Five-Star Fiends is attacking one Fiend! That Fiend is so strong—he hasn't even taken much damage!" The bandit Mid-Gods were all stunned.

"And there's even a Seven-Star Fiend! How can all those people still be unable to take him down?"

The bandits didn't know Hodan was relying on defensive artifacts to endure the attacks. They simply thought he was powerful.

Five-Star Fiends! Seven-Star Fiends!

Ordinarily, they rarely even got to see a Highgod. Most bandits would never encounter a single Five-Star Fiend in their entire lives!

And now there were more than ten Five-Star Fiends, along with a powerful Seven-Star Fiend.

"Quick, use the 'Floating Shadow Technique' to record this!" Some of the bandits reacted and started recording with the Floating Shadow Technique.

The bandits who cultivated the Water Law lit up as well and hurriedly used the Floating Shadow Technique to record the battle.

A Seven-Star Fiend was already among the pinnacle of Hell. The Eight Great Clans and the Four Divine Beasts Clan had lost hundreds of Seven-Star Fiends in their battles over the past ten thousand years, but those were the pinnacle clans of the Higher Planes, with foundations built over countless years.

Hell had 108 Prefectures and more than a thousand cities, each with a Seven-Star Fiend stationed there. That made only a little over a thousand Seven-Star Fiends. Even counting those who kept their identities hidden or possessed the strength of a Seven-Star Fiend, Hell had fewer than ten thousand in total.

Considering that Hell had existed for an immeasurable length of time and gathered god-level experts from countless Material Planes, the number of Seven-Star Fiends born was still astonishingly small. It was easy to imagine how rare they were.

That was why battles between Seven-Star Fiends were seldom witnessed. Aside from Prefect challenges, which took place in front of a crowd, these battles were usually fought in deserted places. And a Prefect challenge might not happen even once in countless years.

This meant that projections of battles between Seven-Star Fiends could fetch astronomical prices. Those facing an enemy Seven-Star Fiend were especially eager to study one, hoping to spot their opponent's weakness and defeat—or even kill—them.

If the bandits could record this battle and sell the projection to a major power or an official institution such as the Chief Sovereign Castle, they could easily earn a fortune beyond their wildest dreams—enough to escape the very bottom of Hell.

What's more, many could learn a great deal by observing a battle between Seven-Star Fiends in a projection. Even if they didn't sell it, it would make a priceless family heirloom, strengthening their clan's foundation and helping it nurture experts.

So the bandits who cultivated the Water Law recorded the fight with great care. Those without a Water Clone looked enviously at their former companions and asked them to remember them if they ever became rich. Those on good terms with the recorders, but without a Water Clone themselves, helped them find better angles so they could capture the battle more clearly.

Neither side paid any attention to the bandits watching. They were fighting for their lives and had no time for trivialities. Their priority was to focus on the powerful foe in front of them. Only those who survived would have the chance to worry about anything else.

"I can't keep this up. Unless I deal with Taier, I have almost no chance of winning. The longer this drags on, the worse it is for me." Every time Hodan nearly killed one of the others, only for Taier to interfere, he realized that picking them off one by one wasn't realistic. Unless he killed Taier, killing the rest would be extremely difficult.

Hodan was like a snapping turtle: he had strong defenses and decent offensive power, but he couldn't get his teeth into anyone.

If things continued like this, he would certainly be the one to die! Hodan had only become a god recently, and his divine power was limited. He couldn't sustain an intense battle for long, and he couldn't afford to divide his attention to draw divine power from the Divine Power Ocean during the fight.

Even if he could draw on divine power, it would be a drop in the ocean in a battle this fierce. And Hodan didn't have the trump card of Sovereign's Might, which could turn the tide.

Taier's scattered attacks weren't strong. Each time, they only made Hodan's blood and energy churn, but the damage accumulated. By now, Taier had shaken him into suffering serious injuries.

"I can't keep letting this drag on!" An idea struck Hodan, and he immediately settled on a plan.

As time passed, Hodan's situation grew increasingly perilous. He was like a small boat caught in a storm, liable to capsize at any moment.

As the situation increasingly favored Taier and his men, a smile appeared on Taier's face. In his eyes, Hodan was as good as dead!

His tense mind relaxed slightly. For an instant, both the frequency and force of his attacks dipped, though he quickly refocused and covered it up.

"Now!" Hodan's eyes lit up. The opportunity would vanish in an instant, but he still seized it. Ignoring the attacks rushing toward him, he pushed his speed to its limit and charged at Taier with his blade.

Dozens of blows struck Hodan in the back. The impact made him spit blood, leaving him more badly injured than ever before. But his gaze remained utterly resolute. He would fight for life in the face of death, and seek life by embracing death.

At that life-or-death moment, Hodan gained a new insight. As the dozens of attacks drove him forward, he seemed to merge with his blade, becoming one with it. He transformed into a massive battle blade, whose sharp edge tore a spatial rift several meters long through Hell.

"Not good!" Taier's expression changed drastically. He hadn't expected Hodan to take dozens of attacks head-on. He tried to swing his spear to block Hodan and slow him down, buying himself more time to respond!

But the dozens of attacks had driven Hodan forward too quickly! Taier couldn't react in time. Hodan's blade pierced straight into his head, which exploded instantly. A Godhead glowing with a green light drifted down.