Divine Beast and Innate Divine Ability

Hodan smiled, channeling the sharp edge of Zhengdu as he clashed intensely with Wot. Wot possessed a higher cultivation level and more extensive combat experience, but the edge of Zhengdu was far too sharp for Wot to touch lightly. Furthermore, Hodan would occasionally unleash his ultimate technique, Present World Delusion, combining material and soul attacks simultaneously, leaving Wot struggling to cope.

On the other side, Henry was the complete opposite. He had actually transformed into his true form, the divine beast Underworld Tiger. With his innate divine ability, Death Kingdom, combined with his masterful command of the Darkness Laws, he had decimated the five Five-Star Fiends, leaving them in total disarray. It seemed he would resolve his battle before long.

Seeing that the battle on Adam's side was becoming increasingly fierce and that he was on the verge of being unable to hold out against Alex, Wot stopped holding back, preparing to unleash his full power.

"ROAR!"

A roar that shook the heavens and the earth erupted. A giant ape-like beast radiating blood-red light hovered in mid-air. In the very center of the ape, Hodan could clearly see Wot standing tall.

Hodan was startled. A divine beast Heaven-Dominating Ape? Then, he saw the giant ape in the sky vanish, dissipating into a blood-red mist. This mist first spread outward, then rapidly contracted back toward Wot.

Innate Divine Ability: Heaven-Shaking Might.

This innate divine ability could instantly increase the user's attack power by more than tenfold. The only drawback was that it would leave the user in a long period of weakness afterward, during which Wot's strength would drop to the level of a newly ascended Six-Star Fiend.

Wot was already stronger than Hodan to begin with, and Hodan had only been able to contend with him by relying on his ultimate techniques and Zhengdu. Now that Wot's attack power had increased more than tenfold, how could he possibly keep fighting?

Wot's attack power instantly surged to the peak level of a Seven-Star Fiend. Although it was only a single strike, even an Asura would not have an easy time taking such a blow head-on.

His soul was screaming frantic warnings at him. If he took this strike from Wot head-on, even with his material defense divine artifact, Hodan would be severely injured. To be heavily wounded on a battlefield like this meant the outcome was self-evident.

However, Hodan would not retreat so easily; he intended to improve himself through crisis. Even if he couldn't win, he had to fight it out first. Pushing Present World Delusion to its maximum state, Hodan prepared to risk his life for one strike to test his true limits.

Wot did not use any flashy moves, choosing instead to suppress him with raw power. With Heaven-Shaking Might combined with the explosive nature of the fire element, the greatsword in Wot's hand slashed out hundreds of sword shadows in succession. Each one tore cracks into the very space around them. The sword shadows formed a lotus-like seal, completely locking down the space around Hodan, leaving him nowhere to run but to block it head-on.

"BOOM!" "BOOM!" "BOOM!" "BOOM!"

Several explosions rang out almost simultaneously. Hodan was sent flying by the blast. Indeed, with his current strength, taking a peak Seven-Star Fiend's strike head-on was still extremely difficult.

Hodan was smashed directly onto the surface of the mountain range below, sinking deep into the ground.

In an instant, Hodan stood up again. His face was pale, and he was spitting out mouthfuls of blood. He had initially wanted to go back up, but then he thought, Alex was just using them as cannon fodder. He had already exhausted a significant amount of Wot's divine power, so there was no need to risk his life for Alex. Besides, Alex seemed like the type to have plenty of hidden cards up his sleeve. With that, Hodan turned into a streak of light and vanished from Wot's sight.

Wot, having used his innate divine ability, was now entering a period of weakness and needed to recover. Seeing the speed at which Hodan had fled, he knew he couldn't catch him. Thus, he joined Henry—who had just finished off the Five-Star Fiends—in the battle against Adam and the others.

At this moment, Adam, who was fighting Alex, was in a miserable state. Adam was no match for Alex to begin with, but he had to hold Alex back with all his might so his brothers could eliminate the Fiends Alex had hired, allowing the three of them to face Alex together in the end.

Their battlefield had shifted to the sky above the mountain range not far from the Black Water Tribe. A gale was howling, and at that very moment, the trees below the mountain were being uprooted, the sky filled with flying debris that completely enveloped the two of them.

"POW!"

Alex's gravitational space was terrifyingly powerful. The two inside were constantly using material attacks, but Alex's strikes, infused with the Earth Pulse profound mystery, caused the surrounding trees and rocks to shatter one after another! All the rocks and trees turned into dust, and even more terrifyingly, the countless trees and rocks below exploded one by one, turning the entire mountain peak into dust. For a time, the Black Water Tribe was shrouded in billowing clouds of dirt.

Adam roared, unleashing his strongest material attack directly within Alex's gravitational space. He could sense that his brothers had already eliminated the other Fiends and were coming to help.

The arrival of Wot and Henry gave Adam hope of defeating Alex.

"POW!" "POW!" "POW!"

Finally, the three of them joined forces and shattered the gravitational space. The three stood side-by-side in the air, facing the exceptionally domineering Alex.

Alex's expression remained devoid of emotion. He said indifferently, "Wot, worthy of being a Heaven-Dominating Ape, and Henry, worthy of being an Underworld Tiger. With your divine beast bodies combined with your terrifying innate divine abilities, those Fiends must have been killed by you already, right?"

Wot naturally wouldn't argue that he had let Hodan escape. He roared, "Alex, we know you are powerful, but with the three of us working together, you cannot take the Black Water Tribe. I advise you to retreat immediately."

Although Hodan had been defeated by Wot, it didn't mean he had left. Instead, he had waited near the site of Wot's battle with Alex. Once the four of them focused their attention on one another, Hodan quietly hid in a dense forest, channeling the Fate Law to conceal his aura.

Hodan felt that Alex's attack on the Black Water Tribe was not as simple as it seemed. Even if he wanted to gather wealth, there was no need to fight to the death against two Six-Star Fiends and a Seven-Star Fiend. Hell was vast; he could just go somewhere else.

Without a blood feud or massive profit, Fiends of the same rank would never start a full-scale war. And the wealth of a single Seven-Star Fiend's tribe was clearly insufficient to trigger such a war.

After all, it took time for a tribe to accumulate wealth, and most of that wealth was held by the Seven-Star Fiend themselves. Even if he occupied it, it would take many years to gather the wealth of a Seven-Star Fiend.

Furthermore, what use did a Seven-Star Fiend have for being in such a rush to gather so much wealth? Did he have the ability or the channels to extract Sovereign's Might from Inkstones?

Hodan sensed that there must be something fishy going on, so he wanted to stay and see if he could play the role of the oriole behind the mantis—seeking wealth in the midst of danger. In any case, with his current cultivation, he could still run if he couldn't win, and the reputation of Huoxie could also be put to use, couldn't it?

With Hodan's current mastery of the Fate Law, and given that they were in the middle of a battle, they didn't notice Hodan hiding on the sidelines at all.

Both sides were evenly matched. Hodan was waiting for them to both be injured so he could see if there was a chance to pick up the spoils. Setting everything else aside, the wealth of a Seven-Star Fiend tribe was something another Seven-Star Fiend would be very tempted by; otherwise, he wouldn't have issued a Six-Star war mission to hire Fiends to attack the Black Water Tribe.

Hodan now possessed over a hundred billion Inkstones in wealth, but no one ever complained about having too much money. Sometimes, money really could move gods; if it couldn't, it meant you didn't have enough. With enough Inkstones, even things like Sovereign's Might could be bought.

As for the mission? What was that? In this world, the only standard of judgment was strength. If you had strength, no one dared to disrespect you. Even if they were dissatisfied in their hearts, they would still have to greet you with a smiling face.

Seeing that Alex remained unmoved, the three of them exchanged glances and immediately flew toward Alex in unison.

Almost simultaneously, weapons appeared in their hands. In an instant, they lunged toward Alex, who was not far ahead. The three Six-to-Seven-Star Fiends had killing intent in their eyes, not holding back in the slightest.

Wot and Henry, disregarding the backlash that would worsen from using their innate divine abilities multiple times in a short period, transformed into their divine beast forms once again.

"Heaven-Shaking Might!"

"Death Kingdom!"

Alex instantly sensed the terrifying momentum of the three, and not daring to be careless, he immediately turned into a bolt of lightning and shot backward.

He wanted to avoid the sharp edge of their attacks first. Once their innate divine abilities wore off and they fell into a state of weakness, with his strength, wouldn't the three of them be at his mercy?