Driven Off

"Sean," Sean replied calmly. There was no point hiding his name; he couldn't keep it secret anyway.

In the Coiling Dragon World, appearances didn't matter much. They could be changed at will. But soul auras were different. No matter how powerful someone became—even if they reached the level of a Highgod Sovereign—they couldn't change the soul aura they had been born with.

As far as Sean knew, only the Bula Clan could change their soul aura, and they only had one chance. Once they changed it, the new aura was fixed.

There were ways to disguise one's aura, of course, but they were useless against powerful opponents, and no one could keep the disguise up for their entire life. Besides, Sean didn't know how to do it.

Too many people in the Radiant Church knew him. That meant the whole Zhongyuan Continent would find out soon enough.

Besides, he would need to draw on the Power of Faith to cultivate later. He needed his name to spread throughout the Zhongyuan Continent.

"Sean? The genius from the Radiant Church? How could you be...?" Patrick's eyes filled with disbelief.

Sean had just displayed formidable strength. His physical attacks were on par with Patrick's, but he was still only a Lowgod. His soul was far too weak to pose a threat.

So Patrick hadn't taken him seriously. The six-man formation from the Radiant Church was a much bigger nuisance.

But Patrick had heard of Sean. He hadn't paid much attention to him, but he knew the boy was only around thirty. What kind of genius could become a god in thirty years?

In theory, reaching Saint-level in one's twenties made someone a genius among geniuses. Then, by refining a divine spark, they might reach godhood somewhere between fifty and a hundred. But Sean was so powerful that he was clearly at the peak of the Lowgod level. He couldn't have become a god by refining a divine spark.

It made no sense.

The ten Lowgods from the Radiant Church had now gathered around Sean. They had known the truth already, but hearing Sean admit it himself still left them just as stunned and incredulous.

Among the troops below, the Saint-level powerhouses from the Radiant Church were even more speechless.

"Leilia, how did Sean become a god?"

Leilia was still trying to process the familiar figure in the sky when she heard her father, Toleya, speak to her telepathically.

"Father, I don't know either. When we went our separate ways, he was only level nine. It's been just over ten years!" Leilia didn't know what to say.

She had thought that breaking through to Saint-level with guidance from a god-level expert was an impressive achievement. She had even assumed that Sean probably wouldn't have reached Saint-level by the time they met again.

After all, breaking through to Saint-level was incredibly difficult. But she had never dreamed that Sean would become a god—and effortlessly slaughter one beneath the gaze of millions of soldiers from the Radiant Church.

Of course, even Saint-level fighters might not have been able to follow the clash between Sean and the other god-level experts. But the gods would tell the Saint-level subordinates or disciples they were close to about what had happened.

Sean's name was about to resound across the entire Zhongyuan Continent.

Elsewhere among the armies, the other Saint-level fighters had also learned what had happened. The Radiant Church had won the battle, killing six god-level experts from the Darkness Church in one fell swoop. Such a thing was rare even in the past million years, let alone in the present.

"Sean." Patrick's eyes narrowed. Ignoring the ten Lowgods around Sean, he charged at him with all his might and unleashed his strongest soul attack.

He was a Midgod, far stronger than a Lowgod, but overwhelming numbers could still put him in danger.

Soul attacks were especially dangerous. If the ten Lowgods struck his soul, he could die, even though he cultivated the Death Laws and excelled at soul attacks.

If his opponent had been any other Lowgod, he wouldn't have cared. If he couldn't kill them today, he could find another chance later.

But this was someone who hadn't even reached Saint-level a dozen years ago and had somehow become a peak Lowgod today. It was so outrageous that it seemed impossible, yet here he was, right before Patrick's eyes.

Patrick had no choice but to believe it. Sean's talent was simply monstrous.

And this kind of talent belonged to his enemy. He had to kill Sean while he was still a Lowgod. If Sean broke through to Midgod, Patrick might be the one to die.

The sudden attack didn't faze Sean. In truth, he had expected it.

If their positions had been reversed, he would have done whatever it took to eliminate a potential future threat while it was still in its infancy.

A Midgod who cultivated the Death Laws was unleashing his full strength in a soul attack against a Lowgod. It was essentially a single strike to decide life or death.

But Sean wasn't an ordinary Lowgod.

A soul attack shot from Sean's eyes. His black soul power collided with Patrick's, but it was clearly weaker. Even so, after Sean's attack was annihilated, Patrick's soul attack had lost some of its strength too.

The other gods around Sean reacted at once and launched soul attacks of their own. But they couldn't lock onto Patrick's soul attack—it was too fast—so they attacked Patrick himself instead.

After unleashing his strongest soul attack, Patrick quickly retreated, dodging the soul attacks from the other Lowgods. But they were too close. He avoided only seven of the ten attacks.

Three soul attacks struck him head-on. The aura of the Soul Golden Bead flared around his body once more, but even so, his expression changed drastically. The battle had already consumed much of his soul power.

Now he could only hope that his strongest soul attack had killed Sean, the unparalleled genius.

"This is impossible." Patrick's eyes were full of disbelief. His soul attack had struck Sean, yet Sean showed no sign of injury.

Even an ordinary Midgod shouldn't have come away completely unharmed, even if Patrick couldn't kill them, should they?

"Now it's my turn." Sean's expression changed. Gripping the Purple Blood God Sword, he shot toward Patrick like lightning.

Patrick's soul attack had struck the Soul-Protecting Sovereign Artifact in Sean's mind. It had shattered instantly, like an egg hitting a rock, losing more than half its energy. The remaining soul power swept around once, found an opening, and rushed inside.

Even a Midgod soul attack weakened by half was more than Sean could withstand. In that instant, he used the Coiling Dragon Ring to refine three Amethysts, and only then did he manage to block the attack.

In the Higher Planes, the strongest among Highgods could refine Soul Golden Beads directly. Ordinary gods couldn't, which was why Patrick and the others had only been able to slowly recover their souls earlier. But with the ring, Sean could refine them in an instant.

Without a Soul-Protecting Sovereign Artifact, an Amethyst, or a Soul Golden Bead, even a God-Eater Rat would be doomed if it faced a god of a higher level.

Of course, if Sean hadn't been able to protect himself, he wouldn't have come here to throw his life away. Fortunately, he hadn't needed to use Sovereign's Might. That would have been a waste.

"Hmph. We'll meet again." Patrick couldn't figure out how Sean had withstood his soul attack.

But this wasn't the time to find out. Sean's physical attacks were on par with his, and Sean wasn't vulnerable to his soul attacks. With all those Lowgods there as well, staying risked getting himself killed.

A Midgod was clearly much faster. Even with Sean right on his heels, Patrick simply attacked with his spear and clashed with Sean's purple sword.

Boom! The immense force sent them both reeling backward. Patrick used the momentum to flee like lightning.

But he noticed that his weapon had cracked.