Manifestation: God-Eater Rat Bloodline

"How are you?" Cyrus clearly hadn't expected that the two people he controlled today would actually turn around and assassinate him; this had never happened before.

However, he didn't pay much attention to Sean's attack. He had been wounded earlier because the kid had a divine artifact, but now that he was on guard, even if this purple sword was also a divine artifact, he wouldn't be injured again.

He only regretted that his comprehension of Death Law was still too low. He could only use soul-control techniques on people without receiving feedback on whether they were successful, and he could only control others through verbal commands rather than the exchange of soul power.

However, in this brief moment, the purple longsword emitted a peculiar aura. Cyrus felt as if he had instantly fallen into the bloodiest of battlefields, and a fear from the depths of his soul welled up.

"Ah!" The pain in his soul made him cry out. He realized that the purple longsword before him was no simple item; it was surely a divine artifact of even greater power.

Was the Radiant Church really this extravagant? Two level-8s, and both had divine artifacts, each more formidable than the last.

Knowing the danger, Cyrus naturally didn't dare to take it head-on. Taking advantage of the moment he was still somewhat clear-headed, he immediately retreated. As long as he retreated to a sufficient distance, he could easily handle Sean and the others. The only reason he was in such a predicament was that he had been too close and hadn't guarded against those he controlled; otherwise, he wouldn't have been so careless, and this divine artifact was too bizarre.

Seeing that the enemy intended to retreat, Sean immediately activated his level-16 Earth Magic gravity. Only a level-9 mage could typically cast 16-fold gravity, but under these extreme, life-threatening circumstances, Sean had actually succeeded.

The retreating Death Saint Mage was immediately stalled for a moment by the 16-fold gravity.

Under normal circumstances, even a physically fragile Saint-level mage wouldn't care about 16-fold gravity. But now, having already been wounded and having his soul injured by the mysterious aura of the purple divine sword, this brief pause was fatal.

The divine sword, imbued with purple light, easily pierced through the defensive barrier the Saint-level mage had set up before him. Before the purple divine sword, the barrier was as if it didn't exist, and the sword flashed into the head of the Death Saint Mage like lightning.

"Ah, you will die too." The Death Saint Mage wore a look of terror, knowing he couldn't escape. Thus, he unleashed his final soul attack. This was a unique ability of Saint-level mages; although he had only just reached the Saint level and the technique was imperfect, it was more than enough to deal with a level-8 warrior. It was only because he had been too careless that he hadn't used it sooner; otherwise, these two would have been dead long ago.

Unfortunately, there were no more chances. The soul attack was extremely fast, but it had no effect after hitting Sean. Under Cyrus's look of disbelief, Sean's battle qi surged through the Violet Blood Soft Sword, completely shattering the inside of his head.

Sean didn't know if this Saint-level soul could still enter the Netherworld after being attacked in the head by a high-level divine artifact.

"He killed a Saint?" Amidst the terrified gazes of everyone, the dozens of experts in black, including three level-8s, didn't care about the reason anymore and fled like lightning. No one dared to gamble with their own lives.

"How did you...?" Leilia was completely shocked. Sean had not only blocked the Death Saint Mage's soul control and soul attack, but had also easily counter-killed him.

"Let's go, no talking." Sean quickly helped the heavily wounded Leilia up and left the spot in a few leaps. As for the other members of the Radiant Church who had come out of the secret passage with them, he couldn't care less.

Being able to kill a Saint-level Death Mage was due to the massive amount of killing intent from the Destruction Law contained within the Violet Blood Soft Sword. As an attack-type divine artifact used for hundreds of millions of years by the peak seven-star Violet Blood Fiend, while it certainly couldn't compare to a Sovereign Artifact or a godhead weapon, it was far stronger than an average high-level divine artifact. The killing intent inside was still terrifying to a Saint-level expert.

In the original story, Linley had once used this killing intent to attack a powerful Saint-level expert, one far beyond the level of the Saint Mage before them, and it had achieved good results.

The one he had just killed must have been an ordinary Saint; otherwise, even with a high-level divine artifact, if he couldn't unleash its power, he would likely have faced certain death.

If another Saint came and guarded against his weapon, he would surely die. Now, no one knew if there were other Saints nearby, so they had to run immediately.

It was fortunate that he had a soul-defense Sovereign Artifact to block the soul attack; otherwise, he would have died. In the original story, Linley had relied on the Coiling Dragon Ring to block the soul attack from the Great Prophecy of the Yulan Continent's Radiant Church Pope. He had done the same just now—he hadn't done anything, and the Coiling Dragon Ring had blocked it on its own.

"This sword of yours..." Leilia, carried on Sean's shoulder, looked at Sean's sword with a lingering sense of fear.

"It was given to me by a god-level expert. I'm not at liberty to say who." Sean found a random excuse.

When Shengyue City was attacked earlier, Sean had secretly manifested the Purple Blood God Sword; when fleeing for his life, a high-level divine artifact was still very useful.

"Understood." Leilia didn't press further. Sean's talent was high; it was normal for him to be favored by a god-level expert of the Church and taken as a disciple.

Besides, they were both the most brilliant geniuses of the Church; who didn't have their own little secrets?

Just like that, the two reached a tacit understanding and stopped asking about each other. Several days later, they had arrived thousands of miles away. Sean found a cave in an uninhabited mountainous area, drove out a bear, and then used Earth Magic to seal the entrance, leaving only a few small holes for air circulation.

After entering the cave, he activated his Earth Magic again, and the originally uneven ground gradually leveled out.

Feeling the slow change in the ground beneath him, Leilia said with some envy, "Your Earth Magic is truly practical. It's so steady; I keep feeling like you shouldn't just be level-8."

Although he specialized in Thunder Magic and warrior skills and didn't understand Earth Magic at all, he felt that his own level of control was far inferior.

"Just the most basic application. It's just that many Earth mages don't need to use magic this way," Sean said with a smile. Although he hadn't reached level-9, he had become much more proficient in the application of magic over the past two years. Changing the shape and structure of the land was indeed the most basic application of earth elements.

"That's true, not many level-8 or 9 mages need to flee for their lives like us," Leilia said. "What do we do now?"

"Let's hide here for now. After fighting that Saint-level mage, I feel like I have signs of a breakthrough. If I can reach level-9, we will be much safer in the future," Sean said. Although the Death Law had nothing to do with the Earth Laws, the life-and-death crisis had greatly improved his spirit, and he had even managed to cast a prototype of a level-9 spell.

Before the Saint level, breakthroughs relied on the accumulation of energy rather than the comprehension of laws. However, regardless of the type, it was easier to break through after experiencing various battles and life-and-death crises.

This seemed to be a limitation of the laws of heaven and earth; to break through, one had to fight. The many challenges in the divine planes were essentially for this reason. Otherwise, since one had infinite lifespan after the Saint level, one could just upgrade by meditating in seclusion, and the world's experts would never be depleted.

"Level-9, that's good too." Leilia nodded. The fact that the two of them had been able to kill that Saint was entirely because the opponent seemed to have just broken through to the Saint level, and because they had broken free from soul control, followed by a sneak attack with a divine artifact—a combination of many factors. Otherwise, they would have been the ones to die.

"Then let's prepare to stay here for a while." While speaking, Sean took out various daily necessities from his spatial ring, including tables, chairs, and beds, as well as plenty of food, which avoided the risks of having to go out to buy supplies or hunt.

As long as they stayed in this cave, there was still safety. Although the spiritual power of those above the Saint level could easily penetrate into the mountain, no Saint would be bored enough to penetrate every mountain they encountered with their spiritual power to investigate; they would be exhausted to death.

Furthermore, while the Darkness Church certainly had many Saint-level experts, compared to the vast area of the Zhongyuan Continent, they wouldn't be so extravagant as to send Saints everywhere to search for people without a target. As long as they didn't go out and weren't discovered by the endless stream of ordinary enemy scouts, they would be fine.

"That's fine, I'll recover from my injuries first." After saying this, Leilia took a medicinal pill from his spatial ring and consumed it. Soon, a very gentle energy fluctuation appeared around him.

"Life Magic." Sean's heart stirred. It seemed that the god-level expert of the Radiant Church behind Leilia's father must have been a practitioner of the Life Law. His ability to block the soul control of the Death Saint Mage must have been related to this.

However, both sides were tacitly aware and didn't ask too much. Clearly, everyone had their own secrets, especially those involving god-level experts, which was better for Sean.

Afterward, Sean also went to his room and went into complete seclusion.

Spring passed and autumn came. A year later, Sean opened his eyes; he had finally reached level-9.

Ignoring everything else, his soul power immediately returned to the Coiling Dragon book in his mind. He could finally view the plot after Linley reached level-9. He flipped to the 52nd chapter of the eighth volume.

In this chapter, Bebe had broken through to the Saint level, and its name had also turned yellow.

"As expected, once I reach the Saint level, I can manifest the divine beast bloodline." Sean was overjoyed and immediately used his soul power to communicate with the Coiling Dragon book to manifest Bebe's God-Eater Rat bloodline.

PS: Seeking monthly tickets.