The Strange Youth

"Give me all the details!"

Pusiluo stared solemnly at the soldier before him and spoke at once.

After repeating the same thing for so many years, Pusiluo had grown almost sick of the job.

But when something truly unusual happened, he still took his responsibility seriously.

"My lord, here's what happened. This time, we went to a place called the Gorbachev Plane. It was much like the other planes we'd visited, only about half the size of the Yulan Plane."

"We sent in an advance team and dispatched several fighter jets. Then we began surveying the plane and used the Divine Domain radar to scan it."

"But the advance team was subdued by a man in blue robes.

"What's strange is that the man in blue was furious at first. He said something like, 'You even chased me to this plane? You won't leave me alone even though I'm the only one left?' Then he froze and said, 'Why are you only Saint Realm?'"

"The man in blue didn't kill them. He just asked who they were and where they'd come from."

"Following the contingency plan, the advance team acted defiant and said outright that the person backing us was someone he couldn't afford to offend. The man left after saying, 'Whatever you're planning to do to this plane, just don't bother me.'"

"Our Divine Domain radar detected that his domain was far stronger than a Lowgod's, putting him in the Midgod range."

"We were originally going to abandon this plane, but according to the computer's analysis, it seems to be a key junction. If we skip it, many of the planes beyond it won't connect."

"Are you certain he said 'this plane'? Those were his exact words?"

After hearing the report, Pusiluo immediately asked, his tone serious.

"Yes, my lord. The advance team has returned. What should we do—continue on, or abandon this plane?"

The soldier asked cautiously.

"You may leave."

Pusiluo didn't answer right away. He waved the soldier off instead.

"Yes, my lord. I'll take my leave!"

The soldier bowed respectfully and withdrew.

Once the soldier was gone, Pusiluo fell into thought. Judging from the report just received, that man had probably returned from a Divine Plane.

For one thing, Lord Huosi had spent the past several years selecting small Material Planes. Such planes usually had no gods, or at most Lowgods. They'd visited thousands of planes, and this was the first time they'd encountered a Midgod.

For another, the man had said "this plane" as if it weren't his home. He sounded more like someone who'd come from a Divine Plane—and had fled there after being hunted.

But if he'd come from a Divine Plane, he should have been at least a Highgod. How could he be a Midgod?

Even without knowing much about the Divine Planes, Pusiluo knew that returning from one was extremely difficult. A Midgod most likely couldn't manage it.

Pusiluo was baffled. No matter how he looked at it, something didn't add up.

Although Lord Huosi's Divine Domain radar couldn't yet detect Highgods, it had no trouble with Midgods.

Lord Huosi believed that practice was the sole test of truth. He'd even taken the radar to test it on Plane Guardians, confirming that Midgods couldn't detect its scans.

"So that man in blue really is a Midgod, and he fled back here after being hunted on a Divine Plane. But how did a Midgod get back from a Divine Plane?"

Pusiluo was at a loss. After thinking for a while, he gave up and went to report to his lord. He wasn't good at thinking, after all. He just liked fighting.

Meanwhile, Huosi and Adkins were studying the blueprints for an aircraft carrier in the laboratory.

"My lord, Pusiluo requests an audience!"

"Come in!"

Pusiluo's arrival interrupted the two of them, but Huosi knew he wouldn't have come unless something important had happened.

So he stopped his work and listened to Pusiluo's report.

"Oh? A Midgod?"

After hearing Pusiluo's report, Huosi raised an eyebrow and fell into thought.

Over the years, out of caution, Huosi had connected his teleportation arrays only to relatively small planes.

Although Huosi was now no weaker than an ordinary Midgod, there was no need to fight another Midgod to the death unless he had to.

There were plenty of Material Planes, so they could start with the small ones and avoid taking risks.

"From what he said, though, he sounds like the young master of some great clan who fled for his life."

Huosi thought for a moment, then spoke.

Generally speaking, it took a trillion Inkstones for a Highgod to travel from a Divine Plane to a Material Plane. It cost a little less for a Midgod, but the price was still astronomical.

In theory, a Midgod shouldn't have enough money to travel to a Material Plane.

Still, Huosi remembered a character who seemed to have been in a similar situation.

In the original story, Nisi's brother, Salomon, was just such a person. After his clan was destroyed, he fled from place to place with his sister and their wealth.

The Divine Planes were full of slaughter. No clan could prosper forever. Even the mighty Four Divine Beasts Clan had eventually been cornered in the Tianji Mountain Range. If not for Beirut, they would have been wiped out long ago.

That was why many clans sent their outstanding disciples away before their downfall, hoping they would become the seeds of the clan's revival.

Great clans amassed terrifying wealth—more than enough to pay for a journey through a teleportation array.

So it was perfectly normal for the young master of a clan that had fled to hide in a Material Plane.

But even if a clan was destroyed, its chosen heir shouldn't be a Midgod, should he? Wouldn't even an exceptionally talented Midgod have someone to protect him?

When Salomon fled, two old men had accompanied him, both to protect him and to cover his escape.

As it turned out, they'd done a good job of covering his tracks—he'd simply run into someone who knew him.

Or perhaps the young master's protector was already dead, and after barely escaping to a Material Plane, he'd been too afraid to flee any farther.

If that was the case, what should Huosi do? Leave him alone and abandon the plane, or go take a look?

Huosi thought it over for a while and finally decided it would be better to investigate.

Whatever the case, this plane was a key junction and couldn't simply be abandoned.

If they gave up on it, their expedition through the Material Planes might have to stop altogether.

At the same time, on the Gorbachev Plane, on the northwestern plain.

The blue-robed figure hesitated for a long time in front of the teleportation array. At last, he sighed and turned away.

Sean Barbary was the young master of the Barbary Clan on the Water Divine Plane, and the youngest son of its patriarch, Barbary.

Barbary had become a father late in life, so he doted on his youngest son.

Sean didn't disappoint him. His talent was among the best in the clan.

He'd become a Midgod in just a hundred thousand years and was hailed as a clan prodigy. His father, Barbary, was very fond of him.

Not everyone was Linley, able to transcend and become a Controller in just a few tens of thousands of years.

Becoming a Midgod in a hundred thousand years was already a fine achievement.

But his good fortune didn't last.

One day, Sean Barbary went shopping in the city with his wife and happened to run into members of the Four Divine Beasts Clan.

He'd long heard how domineering the Four Divine Beasts Clan was, so he'd wanted to avoid trouble and keep out of their way with his wife.

But when Xius Reding of the Azure Dragon Clan saw Sean's wife, his eyes lit up. He proceeded to make a few lewd remarks.

Sean Barbary felt his blood rush to his head. He didn't care who the man was and couldn't help cursing him out.

That infuriated Xius Reding. The Reding Clan had never feared anyone, so he immediately started shouting back at Sean Barbary.

The only reason they didn't fight right there was that the Chief Sovereign had forbidden combat in the city. Otherwise, the Reding Clan would probably have ignored the rules and attacked.

Later, the two sides nearly arranged to fight outside the city. Fortunately, Sean's father, Barbary, heard about it and rushed over in time. He slapped his son and forced him to apologize to the other man.

Sean thought the matter was over. He'd apologized, and even his father, Barbary, had smiled and tried to appease the other side.

Who could have guessed that not long afterward, Isaac Reding, the leader of the Four Divine Beasts Clan on the Water Divine Plane, would come to their door and declare that Sean would be executed?

Barbary was an Asura, yet when faced with Isaac Reding, a Seven-Star Fiend, he had no choice but to swallow his anger and plead as politely as he could.

But Isaac wouldn't budge. He said it was a matter of the Four Divine Beasts Clan's honor and couldn't be allowed to pass. He even threatened that if Barbary stood in their way, his clan would have no reason to exist.

Barbary fell silent for a long time. Over and over, he thought about slapping the Seven-Star Fiend before him to death and fighting the Four Divine Beasts Clan to the bitter end.

But in the end, he gave the order with great difficulty: Sean Barbary was to be cast out of the clan and handed over to the Four Divine Beasts Clan to do with as they pleased.

Sean didn't hate his father for the decision. He would have made the same choice in his place. It was the only way to save the clan.

As patriarch, Barbary had to think of everyone. He couldn't bring ruin on them all to save one person, even if that person was his own son.

Fortunately, Barbary still cared for him. He secretly sent someone to warn him to flee at once.

As soon as Sean got the message, he took his wife and hurried away from the clan, leaving the Water Divine Plane through a teleportation array.

But the Four Divine Beasts Clan's people were all madmen.

After Sean used a teleportation array to reach the Fire Divine Plane, he was soon discovered and surrounded by members of the Nimo Clan.

His wife died in the battle. With her last breath, she urged him to run.

Tears filled Sean's eyes. He almost decided to fight them to the death right then and there.

But remembering his wife's last words, he eventually fled alone, hoping that one day he might be able to avenge her.

Sean traveled back and forth, fleeing from the Fire Divine Plane to the Celestial Realm and then the Underworld, until at last he escaped to a Material Plane.

Then, after living for years on the Gorbachev Plane, Sean had come to believe he was safe—until a gigantic door suddenly appeared in the sky. He was completely bewildered.

When the strange door opened, several objects resembling small Metal Lifeforms came rushing in. Sean went pale, thinking the Four Divine Beasts Clan had come to hunt him down.