Since they had both discovered each other, Sean saw no point in hiding anymore. He flashed into motion, appearing in the clouds high above.
The biting wind howled at that altitude, making Sean's clothes snap and flap.
"Are you Sean of the Radiant Church?" The newcomer was a woman who looked to be around thirty. A membrane like flowing water covered her entire body. It was clearly the Laws of Water Elements; she had to be a Lowgod who cultivated Water Laws.
"Who are you?" Sean asked, surprised.
He hadn't expected anyone to recognize him the moment he emerged. His name might be famous, but ordinary gods had at most heard of him. They shouldn't have known what he looked like.
No one remembered the face of an ant. Before reaching Saint-level, a person was nothing to a god. Even at the peak of Saint-level, they were still just a slightly larger ant.
"How can you be a god? And you're using Darkness Laws?" The woman, a Lowgod who cultivated Water Laws, looked incredulous.
Then, as if something had occurred to her, she asked, "Did you reach Saint-level and then refine a Godhead with the Darkness Attribute?"
"Uh!" Sean was stunned. He hadn't thought of that explanation, but the woman had hit upon it.
It was true that this explanation made more sense: Sean could have reached Saint-level first, then refined a Godhead of Darkness, allowing him to go from level eight to godhood in just over a decade.
Of course, refining a Godhead couldn't have taken so little time either, but at least the explanation held together. It was more plausible than saying he'd reached godhood through cultivation alone.
Perhaps because Sean had never even considered refining a Godhead—and would have eaten one if he'd had it—he'd forgotten that possibility for a moment.
When Sean didn't answer, the woman frowned and said, "But refining a Godhead usually takes decades, or even a century. How did you do it so quickly?"
"I'm talented. Is that a problem?" Sean couldn't be bothered to explain. Now that he had a good excuse, he didn't want to complicate matters. He needed to find out who she was and how she knew him, so he asked, "Who are you? How do you know my name?"
"You're the most brilliant talent the Radiant Church has produced in the last five thousand years. Of course I know who you are," the woman said calmly. "I visited Shengyue City over a decade ago and had some dealings with the gods of your Radiant Church. That was where I heard about you. I even observed you with my divine sense. Before this, you cultivated Earth Laws, didn't you?"
"Are you with the Water God Sect?" Sean asked, narrowing his eyes.
When Sean had just reached level seven over a decade ago, something important had happened. The Water God Sect, another power on the Zhongyuan Continent, had come to visit the Radiant Church, which had welcomed its delegation with the highest honors.
At the time, Sean's talent was already famous, but his level was too low for him to learn much. He only knew that many Saint-level experts from the Water God Sect had come. He hadn't known whether any gods were among them, but judging by today's encounter, there must have been.
"Your talent for Earth Laws was impressive. At the time, there was no doubt you'd reach Saint-level," the Water God Sect woman said with a smile. "What a pity you refined a Godhead, and not one of the Earth Element. Your future is set. Still, you haven't done badly. A great many top talents emerge on the Zhongyuan Continent every few thousand years. Some are even more gifted than you, but only a handful ever reach godhood."
Super-talents from the Material Plane usually had little trouble reaching Saint-level if they had even a little support from a powerful organization. Their gifts were truly exceptional.
But the leap from Saint-level to godhood was a chasm. The mental strength and elemental affinity tested in childhood were only the most basic foundations of cultivation. Those who reached Saint-level were either super-talents or rare talents, yet those who became gods were one in ten thousand.
Countless Saint-level experts cultivated for tens of thousands of years without ever reaching godhood on their own. They had long since woken from their childhood dreams of being super-talents and now wanted nothing more than to obtain a Godhead.
So by ordinary standards, Sean might have been a super-talent in Earth magic, but his odds of becoming a god were still one in ten thousand.
Countless talents across the Material Plane were stuck at that hurdle. By becoming a god so early, Sean had already surpassed 99 percent of the other Saint-level experts. The only pity was that if he'd refined a Godhead of the Earth Element, his achievements might have been somewhat greater, since it would have matched his own element.
"That's not for you to worry about," Sean said indifferently. "I heard that when Shengyue City was attacked by the Darkness Church, the Water God Sect joined in too?"
When Shengyue City was in danger, Sean and Leilia had been too busy escaping to know anything. Later, they had hidden away so Leilia could recover, while also avoiding discovery, and hadn't gone out at all.
After Leilia recovered, she went out to gather information and learned many things they hadn't known, including that the Darkness Church had joined forces with the other sects to attack the Radiant Church.
The Water God Sect had been among them. The Radiant Church had once been the sole dominant power, but aside from the Darkness Church, its relations with the other major sects had been fairly good. At the very least, it had treated them with respect on the surface.
"So what if we did? Every sect spreads its faith. We're not friends—we're all just after the same thing: benefits," the Water God Sect woman said with a faint smile. "What, you refined a Godhead and became a Lowgod, and now you want to avenge the Radiant Church? You can only cultivate Darkness Laws now, anyway. Why not join the Darkness Temple?"
"Did you reach godhood on your own?" Sean asked in return.
Those who reached godhood on their own were indeed dazzling talents in the Material Plane. Even Sean couldn't say whether he could have done it without his incredible cheat.
"Of course," the Water God Sect woman said proudly.
"We're all after the Power of Faith. I understand why you went after the Radiant Church, but billions of people in and around Shengyue City died, including people I knew. Some of their deaths are on you." Sean stopped wasting words and shot forward, throwing a punch.
He hadn't attacked earlier because he'd been worried Leilia's information might be wrong. He didn't want to kill the wrong person.
In any case, he was still part of the Radiant Church and still needed its help to deal with the Darkness Church. It was unwise to kill an ally, and there was little to gain from it anyway—just a Godhead at most.
But now that he knew she was an enemy, he had no reason to hold back.
"You—" The Water God Sect woman hadn't finished speaking when she suddenly realized Sean was far faster than she was. Her Water Laws weren't suited to speed, but surely Darkness Laws weren't either. Why was he so much faster?
She had no time to react. Faced with a punch that fast, she instinctively swung to block it. Water Laws excelled at defense.
Sean's fist struck her arm like a bolt of lightning.
In an instant, her right arm was shattered, flesh and blood flying everywhere. The tremendous force traveled through her shoulder and into her body.
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