At that moment, Beirut's mind raced. He went over everyone he had ever offended, from the day he was born to the present, and finally concluded that he probably hadn't offended anyone as powerful as these people.
As a magical beast of the rodent kind, caution was second nature to him. Over the years, he had killed many magical beasts, including quite a few divine-level experts, but none of them had powerful backers.
Beirut never picked on people with deep connections whom he couldn't afford to offend. That was why he had never encountered any real danger.
"May I ask what brings you here, my lords?"
Beirut bowed without hesitation and asked respectfully.
At the sound of his voice, the others began examining him closely.
"This Beirut seems to be a divine beast, but he doesn't look particularly special?"
Adkins narrowed his eyes, unable to understand why his lord valued Beirut.
But then he remembered the last time his lord had taken him to meet Leilin. He hadn't noticed anything special about Leilin either, so he could only conclude that his eye for such things wasn't very good.
"You're Beirut, aren't you? Would you be interested in working for me?"
Huosi regarded this greatest cheat at Linley's side with interest as he spoke.
Of all the supporting characters in Coiling Dragon, the one who left the strongest impression wasn't Beibei or Delia. It was the kind-looking old man, Beirut.
Looking back over Linley's entire journey, aside from relying on Doehring when he was young, he had never been without Beirut's help in the later years.
Beirut was a powerful super divine beast, a Lowgod who had dared to snatch food from the Chief Sovereign of Light's very jaws. That alone was enough to make him stand proudly before any Highgod.
"Work for you?"
Beirut froze for a moment, then quickly replied:
"My lord, Beirut is willing!"
Although he still didn't know who the man before him was, Beirut could tell that the other three deferred to him.
Any one of the four made Beirut feel unfathomably powerful.
He was a divine-level expert himself. Anyone who made him feel that way was either a Midgod or a Lowgod with Anti-Divine Domain Battle Armor.
Anti-Divine Domain Battle Armor was extremely rare throughout the Federation, while Midgods held positions of great influence.
Beirut didn't know the details about the Federation's upper echelons, but he knew there weren't many Highgods in the Federation. Midgods were its backbone.
Anyone with three Midgods serving under him had to be incredibly powerful.
"Oh, you're quite sensible."
Huosi paused in surprise, then nodded slightly.
Beirut might have outstanding talent, but for now he was only a Lowgod. There was no need to show him too much enthusiasm.
"Take care of things here, then take this and report to the Academy of Sciences on Qingya Continent."
Huosi casually produced a specially made identity bracelet and tossed it to Beirut.
Bluefire's eyes shifted. He knew this routine well. That was how he had gotten his Xiao Ai, too.
"What's this?" Beirut took the bracelet, puzzled, but the four of them vanished before he could ask.
"I remember this. It's an identity bracelet from Qingya Continent. This lord must have quite a status."
Beirut put on the bracelet and dripped a drop of blood onto it, trying to figure out who those people had been.
[Identity verification in progress. Verification successful. Welcome to the Huosi Academy of Sciences!]
"Huosi Academy of Sciences?"
When the bracelet spoke, Beirut's voice rose several octaves.
He knew that name all too well. The Huosi Academy of Sciences was a department directly overseen by Lord Huosi, the Federation's supreme authority.
Had he just joined Lord Huosi's ranks?
Could that person just now have been Lord Huosi?
Beirut had heard plenty of stories about Lord Huosi, but he had never actually seen what he looked like.
Unlike the human continent, the Magical Beast Continent was mostly forest and had no cities or recorded projections.
Beirut had visited other continents, but he had never gone out of his way to learn what Huosi looked like.
[Hello, new student Beirut. I'm your intelligent assistant, Jarvis. If you have any questions, you can ask me directly.]
As the system continued speaking, Beirut finally came to his senses.
"Um, Mr. Jarvis, was that Lord Huosi just now?"
Beirut swallowed, dazed, and asked.
[First, you can simply call me Jarvis. You don't need to add "Mr." Although my voice uses a male voice, I myself have no gender.] [Second, Jarvis has only just awakened, so I don't know exactly whom you mean by "that lord." But if you're asking about the person who gave you Jarvis, then he was Lord Huosi. Only Lord Huosi in the Federation can give you Jarvis.]
"My god, Lord Huosi actually took a liking to me!"
Beirut was so thrilled that he accidentally pulled out a large handful of his beard.
Those born on the Yulan Plane had practically grown up listening to tales of Huosi. Even Beirut, who had been born on the Magical Beast Continent, had heard stories about Lord Huosi after reaching the Saint Realm.
That lord had founded the Federation countless years ago and ruled over countless planes, with numerous Highgods stationed at his side.
Beirut had traveled to other continents, but Qingya Continent wasn't among them.
And he had certainly never visited Yulan City, the heart of Qingya Continent and the Federation, where the Academy of Sciences was located.
Yet now he had become one of its members—and one of those with the highest level of clearance.
While Beirut's mind raced, the three others in the group of four who had left were also puzzled.
"My lord, is Beirut's bloodline talent really that impressive?"
After a long moment, Pusiluo was the first to ask.
He had witnessed everything that had just happened.
After all, he was the only nonhuman among them, and he had formed a few guesses about Beirut's talent.
Although he was a Highgod, when Beirut used his Innate Divine Ability to devour the other party's divine spark, he hadn't been able to understand how the attack worked at all.
"God-Eater Rats are super divine beasts, with a top-tier bloodline even among the Divine Planes."
Huosi paused, then continued:
"Once he breaks through to Highgod, even Leilin won't be able to beat him."
"What? How is that possible?"
Adkins couldn't help exclaiming, unable to believe it.
Leilin was already a top expert who had fused five profound mysteries. Adkins couldn't last long against him.
But that Beirut—what did he have? He'd be that powerful as soon as he became a Highgod?
"Is it because of his Innate Divine Ability?"
A glint flashed in Leilin's eyes. He seemed to have thought of something.
"That's right. The God-Slaying Innate Divine Ability ignores soul defenses and devours the other party's divine spark directly. At least, the Soul Defense Divine Artifacts we have right now can't stop it."
Huosi nodded, confirming Leilin's guess.
Over the years, Huosi had devoted considerable effort to researching the soul, but Soul Defense Divine Artifacts still couldn't stand against Sovereign Artifacts.
At the Highgod level, the God-Eater ability could be resisted only by a Soul Defense Sovereign Artifact or willpower.
That was why Beibei could rampage across the Plane Battlefield despite not having fused even a single profound mystery.
Even Raystine, another super divine beast who prided himself on his exceptional talent, wouldn't dare take that attack head-on.
Raystine and Montero had harbored a long-standing grudge, but there had never been anything he could do about it. Then Beibei showed up and wiped out the other side in one fell swoop.
That wasn't even the worst of it. The terrifying part was that Bayer, a Wind Sovereign who had reached Paragon, had given it everything he had and still couldn't kill him.
With the boost from divine spark essence, the God-Eater Rat's material defense left Bayer helpless, even with a Sovereign Artifact and Sovereign's Might.
"Then, my lord, is there no way to defend against his Innate Divine Ability?"
After thinking for a moment, Leilin couldn't help asking.
"Of course there is. If you perfectly fuse all six profound mysteries and break through to Paragon, you'll naturally be able to resist it!"
Huosi glanced at Leilin, speaking with both encouragement and a hint of amusement.
"Paragon? That's difficult."
Leilin gave a slight shake of his head, then his eyes gradually grew resolute.
Seeing this, Huosi said no more. Breaking through to Paragon was something Leilin had to comprehend for himself. There was no good way for anyone else to help him.
As time passed, Beirut began to settle into Huosi's team. Huosi and Beirut were both in high spirits on Qingya Plane, but elsewhere, Augusta was in a very bad mood.
As the other side of Oufu, Augusta didn't like to cultivate. After all, the side that enjoyed cultivation was all in that lunatic Oufu.
Even a student who hated studying would feel an urge to read for a few minutes after playing for several months straight.
So Augusta spent a little while in seclusion cultivating. Before long—only a hundred million years, the blink of an eye—he emerged.
Only then did he learn that, during his brief seclusion, the Four Divine Beasts Clan and the Augusta Clan had come into conflict.
He was immediately delighted. He had been considering secretly stirring things up to escalate the conflict, only to learn that the dispute had already ended.
The Four Divine Beasts Clan had ultimately chosen to let bygones be bygones.
"Reding and the other three actually chose to let bygones be bygones?" Augusta was baffled.
Those four stupid beasts had never been able to put up with the slightest grievance. How had they managed to swallow this one?
Before you continue