"You're impressive. You actually managed to detect me." A voice came from the shadows. "You must have started fusing the profound mysteries of the Darkness Laws, haven't you?"
As the voice faded, a figure appeared in the darkness. His Divine Domain as a Middle God covered this small area, enveloping Sean as well.
"A Middle God? Of the Fire element?" Sean frowned. He had never heard of a Middle God of the Fire element on the Zhongyuan Continent.
If such a person existed, then under normal circumstances, he would surely have come out to compete for the Power of Faith.
Any god inevitably needed it. The Power of Faith was simply too important to the cultivation of gods.
Unless he had already determined that the Power of Faith was of little benefit to him. That was possible. For example, the Power of Faith from a single plane really wasn't much help to Six-Star or Seven-Star experts.
But aside from the Yulan Plane, the odds of a native of one of the other hundreds of millions of Material Planes reaching the Six-Star level were extremely low. Otherwise, how many hundreds of millions of Seven-Star Fiends would there be in the Divine Planes?
"I'm the Plane Overseer of the Zhongyuan Continent's Material Plane. You can call me Jinhuo." Jinhuo smiled as he took some tables and chairs from his Spatial Ring and gestured for Sean to sit.
"So you're Lord Jinhuo." Sean spoke politely.
Jinhuo said, "I, Jinhuo, have lived for countless billions of years. When I was in Hell, I left home and ventured out into the world. Later, I took on the task of overseeing Material Planes. I've visited quite a few of them and seen countless geniuses.
"But whether in Hell or in other Material Planes, I've never encountered a genius like you.
"You're only thirty, aren't you? To be honest, becoming a god on your own at thirty is difficult for an ordinary person, even in Hell. The only exception is the special method used by my Four Divine Beasts Clan. Even refining a Divine Spark usually takes decades."
"The Four Divine Beasts Clan?" Sean's heart stirred. He hadn't expected this Plane Overseer to belong to the Four Divine Beasts Clan.
"That's right, the Four Divine Beasts Clan." As Jinhuo spoke, blue scales appeared all over his body. An aura like that of the drop of Azure Dragon Sovereign blood essence in Sean's ring emanated from him, though the difference in strength was so vast that they weren't even in the same league.
Is Jinhuo from the Azure Dragon clan? And he cultivates the Laws of Fire?
But then again, the Four Divine Beasts Clan didn't strictly require everyone to cultivate the laws associated with their divine beast. Linley, for example, focused on the Laws of Earth and the Laws of Wind. With so many people in the Four Divine Beasts Clan, it was only natural that some would have other talents.
"That's right. I come from the great Four Divine Beasts Clan, the Azure Dragon clan." Jinhuo spoke with great pride.
"Sorry, I'm not familiar with it," Sean said. Under normal circumstances, a native of his Material Plane shouldn't know about the Four Divine Beasts Clan.
"Hahaha, of course you aren't," Jinhuo said with a hearty laugh. "Sean, are you planning to go to a Higher Plane or a Divine Plane? You're already a god. According to the rules set by the great Overgod, anyone who has reached the Saint level can travel to a Higher Plane."
"I won't be going anytime soon," Sean said. He would at least wait until he became a Middle God. Otherwise, even with the body of a God-Eater Rat, a Super Divine Beast, it would be far too dangerous.
"Good. If you decide to go, head to Tianluo Island in the depths of the South Sea. There's a teleportation array there that leads to the Higher Planes and Divine Planes," Jinhuo continued.
"But if you ever go, you can visit Youlan Prefecture on Blood Peak Continent in Hell. Our Four Divine Beasts Clan would be very happy to recruit a genius like you."
Jinhuo couldn't be bothered to recruit ordinary geniuses, but Sean's talent was simply extraordinary.
If someone like him survived, he would most likely become an Upper God, and might even become the fearsome Seven-Star Fiend. Even to the Four Divine Beasts Clan, a Seven-Star Fiend was an incredibly powerful asset.
Even if he didn't join the clan, they could still become friends. No one would turn down a powerful Six-Star or Seven-Star Fiend as a friend.
"The Four Divine Beasts Clan—judging by the name, you're a clan of divine beasts, right? Do you recruit people from other races too? Ordinary races?" Sean asked.
"Hahaha, we are indeed a clan of divine beasts, but we can't all marry and have children within the clan, can we? We have to find outsiders sometimes. Besides, many of our clan members fall in love freely, and the clan can't stop them," Jinhuo said with a smile.
"If you're willing to join our clan, we can introduce you to an outstanding female member. You can become partners, and once you have children, they'll be members of the Four Divine Beasts Clan. That would make you one of us, too."
"So that's how it works." Sean nodded. No wonder the Four Divine Beasts Clan had so many experts. This approach let them gain a great deal of outside support.
More importantly, they gained the exceptional talent of outsiders, while the children born from those unions became members of the Four Divine Beasts Clan.
In the Coiling Dragon World, talent was unpredictable, though it could be inherited to some extent. In other words, the children of a Paragon wouldn't all necessarily be geniuses, but they were still far more likely to produce a genius than ordinary families.
The same was true even on Material Planes. The descendants of talented people were also far more gifted than ordinary people.
And when a divine beast's bloodline combined with an ordinary bloodline, the offspring would inevitably be descendants of divine beasts.
Under normal circumstances, however, their divine beast bloodline would grow diluted until they were effectively an ordinary race. Even the second generation of a divine beast would have only the bloodline, without an Innate Divine Ability.
But the Four Divine Beasts Clan was an exception. Its descendants could not only use Innate Divine Abilities, but could also become gods directly through a single element. It was practically heaven-defying.
If they continued this practice over time, the Four Divine Beasts Clan would have more and more experts among its own members, all while using outsiders to strengthen itself.
No wonder only the Augusta Clan, which could adopt exceptional geniuses from Material Planes and raise them as its own children, could stand against the Four Divine Beasts Clan.
"You only need to know that our Four Divine Beasts Clan is the most powerful clan in the Higher Planes," Jinhuo said calmly.
"Fine. I'll consider it when the time comes." Sean made no promises, but he had learned what he needed to know.
The Four Divine Beasts Clan was still powerful. In other words, the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns were still alive.
That was the most important piece of information. At least now he knew he wasn't living in an era after Linley had risen to power.
"Good. As the Plane Overseer, that's all I wanted to ask," Jinhuo continued.
"But speaking as an individual, I'd like to ask you a few more questions. First, I don't know why, but the moment you appeared today, I felt that something about you was drawing me in. It's strange, but I don't think I'm mistaken."
Before you continue