# Procurement

Hodan headed straight for Black Annihilation Castle. Its main entrance was a hundred meters wide, with crowds streaming inside. It was easy to imagine how much business the castle did. Hodan took out a black hooded robe and pulled it over his face. It offered little protection, but it could block most divine-sense probes and keep others from seeing him. Of course, it was useless if the gap in strength was too great.

He ignored the dozen or so warriors standing beside the castle's main entrance. They wore tight black uniforms beneath black robes, and each had a distinctive black mark between the brows. Hodan knew they were members of the Black Annihilation Army.

The master behind the Kalosha Continent was Chief Sovereign Lord Black Sand, and they were inside Di Silvermoon City. Those Black Annihilation Army soldiers were just there for show. Anyone who dared to cause trouble here must have a death wish.

That was right: the black market at Black Sand Castle had been established by Chief Sovereign Lord Black Sand. The Kalosha Continent was unusual in that both its legitimate market and its black market were run by a Chief Sovereign. Of course, other continents also had cities with Black Sand Castles established by Lord Black Sand.

Hodan couldn't help but marvel at the benefits of strength. Chief Sovereign Black Sand acted as both merchant and referee.

Everyone who entered Black Annihilation Castle through the front entrance was there to buy goods. Those who entered through the rear entrance were there to sell their wares to the castle. Hodan had come to purchase supplies for cultivation.

On the first floor of Black Annihilation Castle, Hodan found that the main hall was one or two thousand meters long and wide. That was an astonishing size. Even tens of thousands of people could crowd inside without feeling cramped.

Hodan didn't waste time. He went straight to the third floor. The first and second floors were for buying cheap goods or small quantities, and with his wealth, there was no reason to linger there. Besides, he could tell that even if he bought something on those floors, he would soon have no use for it. There was no need to waste his money.

The staircase from the first-floor hall to the second-floor hall was wide, but the stairs leading from the second floor to the third were much narrower. Even the doorway was a full size smaller, and the crowds thinned noticeably.

Clearly, there weren't as many people looking for precious goods as there were on the first and second floors.

When Hodan reached the third-floor entrance, a black-robed attendant held out a hand to stop him.

Hodan knew the rules. He took out the High-God Artifact his parents had left him.

"Go on in." The black-robed attendant nodded when he saw the High-God Artifact.

As Hodan stepped onto the third floor, he immediately felt numerous gazes settle on him. Anyone who could enter the third floor had at least a million Inkstones. Even a Highgod would be tempted by such a fortune.

In Hell, once your wealth reached a certain level, you were bound to attract covetous eyes. If you wanted to quietly amass a fortune, spending hundreds of millions of years building up a million Inkstones, some powerful figure would probably just rob you outright.

The people who could enter the third floor were undoubtedly wealthy. Hodan knew that many lurked there, recording information about those who made transactions. When their targets left Silvermoon City, they would judge them by their strength and decide whether to rob them. It was one of the fastest ways to build wealth—as long as you didn't pick a fight with someone too powerful.

Hodan ignored their gazes. He wouldn't be leaving Silvermoon City anytime soon. Even if he did leave, he would only be going to the Plane Teleportation Array, which was within the jurisdiction of the Chief Sovereign's army. Those people would never dare make a move there, and anyone strong enough to do so wouldn't care about such a small fortune.

Hodan went to the nearest counter. A black-robed attendant sat behind each one. He approached a black-haired attendant in a black robe.

"Hm?" The attendant looked up and smiled faintly. "What would you like to buy?"

"I'll take one hundred and fifty Soul Golden Beads, and a complete set of Thunder Element Godheads," Hodan said. The stronger his soul, the faster he could cultivate. His soul attacks would grow stronger, too.

Hodan wasn't going to skimp on such a small expense. When you were strong enough, wealth was easy to come by. But if you had great wealth without the strength to protect it, you were just asking to die. In the Coiling Dragon World, there were no laws to speak of—only the naked law of the jungle, where the strong preyed on the weak.

As for buying a complete set of Thunder Element Godheads, he was preparing a fallback plan. If his Thunder God Clone died, and his Saint Domain True Body couldn't cultivate other laws or profound mysteries, at least he would still be able to defend himself in Hell. As long as he was alive, anything was possible.

Normally, there was no way Hodan's family would lack a Thunder Element High Godhead. But the family hoped that those who had cultivated on their own to become Mid-Gods would continue cultivating by themselves until they became Highgods. That way, they wouldn't waste their talent and could keep growing.

If he became a Highgod by refining a Godhead, he would remain one of the weakest Highgods for the rest of his life, with no future at all. So unless there were special circumstances, the family wouldn't grant its Mid-God members the corresponding High Godhead. It was also a way of spurring them on.

Of course, if someone truly believed they had no hope, they could apply to the family directly. But Highgods who became one by refining a Godhead wouldn't be valued by the clan. They would be assigned work such as refining Divine Crystals or guarding the family's property.

"While you're at it, price these things for me, too." After speaking, Hodan tossed the black-haired attendant a spatial ring. Inside were some artifacts, medicinal herbs, pills, and other things he had no use for. He could have gone through the side passage to the other side and sold them himself, but he didn't think it was necessary. The attendant surely wouldn't mind making a little extra effort after completing such a large transaction.

Sure enough, the black-haired attendant said nothing. He took the spatial ring, scanned its contents with his divine sense, and silently calculated their value.

After a while, the black-haired attendant looked up. "I'll give you five million Inkstones for everything inside. Is that all right?"

Hodan nodded silently. Black Annihilation Castle and Bauhinia Castle were both trading centers established by Chief Sovereigns. Their purchase prices were only seventy percent of the original value, but they were still fair. At the nearby Black Sand Castle, a black market, everything depended on your judgment and bargaining skills.

The black-haired attendant continued, "A complete set of Thunder Element Godheads will be ten million. I'll round off the change for you. One hundred and fifty Soul Golden Beads at a hundred thousand Inkstones each comes to fifteen million. That's twenty-five million in total, so you still owe me twenty million Inkstones."

Hodan said nothing. He took all the Azure Stone Slabs and chunks of Azure Stone out of his spatial ring and handed them to the black-haired attendant.

The attendant handed over the goods Hodan had bought, and the entire transaction was swift. But the people lurking on the third floor heard about the deal, their eyes gleaming. They had likely already used their Divine Clones to send the information to their backers.

After the transaction, Hodan had only about three hundred thousand Inkstones left. He didn't linger.

Hodan ignored the people following him and went straight to the reception desk of a seemingly luxurious hotel near Black Annihilation Castle. The decorations inside made him marvel. They were even more elegant than the ones in the world of Earth, and they seemed to carry the weight of time.

"How much does it cost to stay here?" Hodan asked.

The green-haired woman, whose pointed ears clearly marked her as a member of the Elven Race, smiled. "A stay here costs one thousand Inkstones."

Hodan was startled. No wonder this was a major city near a Plane Teleportation Array. The prices were steep.

Fortunately, just like on Earth, lodging here wasn't charged by the day, but by the year.

That made sense... A single session of cultivation or comprehension could last several months for a god-level expert.

Even so, one thousand Inkstones a year. They'd make ten million in ten thousand years—and that's just for one room. The hotel has plenty of rooms. Hodan was secretly astonished. Running a hotel really is profitable.

Every hotel in Di Yi City had separate, private courtyards for its guests. After all, god-level cultivators preferred peace and quiet.

"So, sir, would you like to stay with us?" the green-haired woman asked, watching Hodan expectantly.

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