Hanjin's Thoughts

The Radiant Plane, located in the deep seas of the Divine Realm, is home to Aowei Island.

Aowei Island has a population of nearly one million and serves as the gathering place for the core members of the Augusta Clan.

Surrounding this sea area are 81 subsidiary islands, housing a total population of over one hundred million clansmen.

Ordinary clansmen occasionally have geniuses among them who join the core territory to become core clansmen.

This is the residence of the Augusta Clan, the premier family of the Radiant Plane.

At this moment, in the clan's grandest hall, a figure in white robes sits cross-legged on the ground. His sword-like eyebrows and the scarlet mole between them reveal his identity.

Hanjin Augusta, the most outstanding son of the Radiant Sovereign Augusta, is the patriarch of the Augusta Clan, an Asura-level powerhouse who possesses three Sovereign Artifacts and maintains a friendship with the Fate Paragon Magnus.

Although the Four Divine Beasts Clan always considers itself the premier family, to be blunt, Gaiselesen cannot compare to Hanjin in any aspect regarding the patriarch.

Gaiselesen only possesses one Sovereign Artifact; to be precise, all the children of the Four Divine Beasts only have one Sovereign Artifact each.

They are like a group of ignorant fools who have never participated in the Plane Wars and do not even recognize the Prefects of Purgatory, to the point that they do not even know that Raystine is the only son of the Bauhinia Sovereign.

The Bauhinia Sovereign once owed Reding a favor, yet they were completely unaware of it. Later, when the Four Divine Beasts fell, the Four Divine Beasts Clan remained oblivious to this fact as well.

The Bauhinia Sovereign found it beneath her dignity as a Sovereign to seek them out to repay the favor, so she repaid it to Linley instead.

In reality, with the strength of Gaiselesen and his kin, it would have been entirely possible for them to go to the Plane Battlefield and obtain enough Sovereign Artifacts.

Although their strength is not considered top-tier among Asuras, they possess a massive advantage.

Due to their status, no one dares to kill them; just like Raystine, they are all children of Sovereigns.

Moreover, they are the only children. Aside from the Azure Dragon Sovereign Reding, who has two children, Gaiselesen and Gaia, and the Xuanwu who has two, the other two Sovereigns of the Four Divine Beasts Clan each have only one child.

This means that, like Raystine, they belong to a group that no one dares to kill, not even a Paragon High-God.

Raystine once told Bayer directly to kill him if he dared, but Bayer simply told him not to interfere. Magnus tied Raystine up and, no matter how much the other party insulted him, he simply did not dare to kill him.

If the five members of Gaiselesen's group had teamed up, protected by the halo of being untouchable, they could have easily obtained three Sovereign Artifacts each.

Perhaps, in the eyes of Gaiselesen and the others, having two extra Sovereign Artifacts did not matter, as no one dared to kill them anyway.

Consequently, after the Four Divine Beasts fell, they could only be besieged by the Eight Great Clans.

If all five of them were Asuras with three Sovereign Artifacts each, the Eight Great Clans would have had to kneel and beg for mercy.

Hanjin is different. He is not as arrogant as Gaiselesen and his group, who offended the entire world, and his clan only develops within the Radiant Plane.

They may act domineeringly, but they do not offend people indiscriminately.

To put it bluntly, even if the Radiant Sovereign Augusta were to suddenly die, the Augusta Clan would not necessarily decline.

Firstly, the Augusta Clan only develops in the Radiant Plane; it is impossible for eight clans to invade and besiege them—having even one would be a rarity.

Secondly, Hanjin himself cannot be killed by any High-God due to his three Sovereign Artifacts. Even if two or three clans were to fight them to the death, Hanjin would be more than capable of handling it.

Thirdly, Hanjin is not only powerful himself, but he also has a friendship with the Fate Paragon, Magnus.

This is something even the Radiant Sovereign himself cannot achieve; relying on status is useless when trying to befriend a Paragon.

Although Augusta has a Paragon Sovereign's Emissary, if he wants a Paragon to act on his behalf, he must personally discuss it with Clementine.

Although theoretically, he could go directly to Hanjin and have Hanjin approach Magnus, Augusta would never do that; he cannot afford to lose face like that.

For a Sovereign to be unable to invite a Paragon High-God himself and be forced to beg his son Hanjin for help—once this news spread, Augusta would immediately become a laughingstock among all the Sovereigns.

"This is the restricted area of the Augusta Clan! Unauthorized personnel, stay back!"

Two silver-haired guards flew out, blocking Barbary's path.

"Please, I request that you report my arrival. Tell them that Barbary from the Water Divine Plane seeks an audience with Patriarch Hanjin."

Barbary lowered his posture and spoke to the guards.

"Barbary?"

One of the guards raised an eyebrow and replied:

"Please wait a moment; I will go and report to the patriarch."

The name Barbary is considered that of a powerhouse in the Divine Planes. As clan guards, they often familiarize themselves with the information of various experts.

Names like Aiken of Hell, Raystine of Hell, Palhouse of the Water Divine Plane, and Hermes of the Earth Divine Plane are all known to them.

After all, as guards, they are likely to encounter various experts coming to visit, and they cannot afford to be discourteous.

Although Barbary is just an ordinary Asura, they still have an impression of the name; he is, after all, one of the powerhouses of the Water Divine Plane.

From this, one can see that the Augusta Clan is much better at conducting themselves than the Four Divine Beasts Clan.

"Oh? Barbary? Why has he come to visit me?"

Hearing that Barbary had come to visit, the red eye between Hanjin's brows emitted a glow, and he asked with some surprise.

"This... the subordinate does not know. However, Barbary seems to have adopted a very humble attitude."

The silver-haired guard thought for a moment and replied.

"Forget it, let him in."

Hanjin stood up to prepare for his guest and walked toward the main hall.

Although Barbary was inferior to him in both strength and status, and the two had never shared any friendship, he was still an Asura after all. Since he had lowered his posture to pay a visit, it was only right to meet him.

A long while later, led by the guards, Barbary walked into the grand hall with a smile on his face:

"It was abrupt of me to visit Clan Leader Hanjin today. I hope you will not take offense."

"Haha, of course not. I am a man who loves making friends. Since you are here, you are a guest. Please, take a seat."

Hanjin laughed heartily, though he felt a bit puzzled in his heart, unable to fathom what medicine Barbary was selling in his gourd.

The two sat there drinking tea and chatting, and anyone who didn't know better would have thought they were old friends of many years.

Seeing that they hadn't gotten to the point after a long time, Hanjin thought for a moment and decided to ask first:

"I wonder what business brings Brother Barbary to my Augusta Clan?"

Upon hearing this, Barbary knew he had to get to the point. He straightened his expression and spoke:

"To be honest, I have come today to beg the Clan Leader to save my clan."

"Oh? Save your clan?"

Hanjin's expression turned subtle as he fell into deep thought.

Barbary was an Asura, after all. For him to come seeking help, it could only mean he had provoked an existence he could not contend with and was hoping for protection.

The only entities capable of making an Asura like Barbary feel helpless, or capable of annihilating his clan, were Sovereigns, Grand Perfections, or perhaps a few super clans.

Sovereigns and Grand Perfections were ruled out first. If he had offended a Sovereign or a Grand Perfection, he would be better off committing suicide on the spot; perhaps that would save a portion of his clan.

Moreover, if he had offended a Sovereign, he wouldn't have been able to make it here alive; a single thought from a Sovereign would have killed him.

If he had offended a Grand Perfection, he wouldn't have come to find him. Although he and the Augusta Clan were powerful, they could not stop a Grand Perfection's pursuit.

And since his friendship with Magnus was unknown to outsiders, the possibility of seeking protection from Magnus through him was virtually zero.

That being the case, there was only one possibility: Barbary had offended a massive power, a formidable clan.

There were not many powers capable of annihilating an Asura's clan like Barbary's. Aside from his own Augusta Clan, the most likely candidate was the Four Divine Beasts Clan.

Furthermore, his subordinates had reported some time ago that in the Water Divine Plane, Barbary's youngest son seemed to have offended the Four Divine Beasts Clan and was being hunted by them.

Although he didn't know how things had played out, the root cause was likely this very matter.

"To be honest with you, Clan Leader, my son offended the Four Divine Beasts Clan. I had already expelled him from the family, but the Four Divine Beasts Clan... they are simply too overbearing!"

Barbary spoke with a hint of indignation:

"My son, Sean, fled to a Material Plane, and the Four Divine Beasts Clan sent several Midgods to hunt him down, only for them to be killed in return."

"Then, the Four Divine Beasts Clan claimed that we had secretly sent people to help Sean and threatened to wipe out our Barbary Clan. It is simply, simply..."

"The Four Divine Beasts Clan is indeed arrogant and completely unreasonable."

Hanjin was in full agreement with this conclusion.

Although he hadn't yet figured out how to handle this situation, it didn't stop him from joining Barbary in cursing the Four Divine Beasts Clan.

In any case, their two clans had spent years trading insults; one more time wouldn't make a difference.

At this moment, having heard Barbary's account, he also felt that Barbary was being wronged.

He did not believe that Barbary would have sent people to help Sean.

Barbary knew very well what the consequences of such an action would be and how foolish it would be.

Barbary was a clan leader, a man who could abandon his own son for the sake of the clan. If he were that stupid, he would have died countless times over. But there was no helping it; the Four Divine Beasts Clan did not listen to reason.

If the people they sent to hunt someone down died, someone had to be the scapegoat for them to vent their anger. As for whether the Barbary Clan was innocent or not, they didn't care.

He had experienced the tyranny of the Four Divine Beasts Clan firsthand; the hatred between their two clans had been sparked by exactly this kind of behavior.

Hanjin knew that his own Augusta Clan was quite domineering in its daily affairs, but honestly, compared to the Four Divine Beasts Clan, they were merely small fry.

It seems Barbary has been pushed to a dead end by the Four Divine Beasts Clan and wants to seek refuge with our Augusta Clan. So, what should I do?

Hanjin began to weigh whether this matter was worth the trouble, and if he did it, what the gains and losses would be.

In normal times, if an Asura expert came to seek refuge, he would naturally be overjoyed. Who would ever complain about having too many Asuras in their clan?

Even though the Augusta Clan was powerful, Asura experts were not exactly common cabbage.

But now that Barbary was being targeted by the Four Divine Beasts Clan, he had to consider the long-term implications.