Valley

The sky was clear for miles, sea and sky merging into one.

Atop a cliff, Leian faced the sea, Guixu Sword in hand, moving slowly.

Infused with divine power, the pitch-black blade gave off a hazy glow. Wherever the sword swept, space trembled without end, and countless hair-thin black fissures flickered in and out of sight.

After familiarizing himself with the Destruction God Clone, Leian did not leave immediately. Instead, he considered using his current understanding of Destruction Profundity to create one or two ultimate moves.

Unfortunately, creating his own ultimate moves was not something that could be done overnight. After studying for a long time, he had only managed to fuse physical attacks with Soul Attacks, allowing a single sword strike to carry both.

Moreover, because Leian's comprehension of soul profundities was still quite shallow, his sword strikes remained primarily physical attacks. Soul Attacks could only serve as a minor interference.

To strengthen a Soul Attack, he would either need to gain a deeper understanding of soul profundities or increase the power of his soul.

The former could not be achieved overnight either. While there were shortcuts for the latter, such as the Soul Golden Core, there was no point even dreaming of obtaining such a treasure on a material plane.

However, not long after becoming a god, Leian unexpectedly discovered that faith energy had appeared within his soul space.

It was a kind of golden, threadlike energy, numbering several hundred strands.

Leian was not particularly surprised by this. Ever since the battle at Red Rock Ridge in the imperial capital, his reputation had become immensely renowned across the Youquan Continent. Countless young people regarded him as an idol or role model and worshipped him, so it was only natural that faith energy would arise from that.

Based on this, Leian even wondered whether he could discuss with the Goddess of Dark Night about setting aside a region on the Youquan Continent to develop faith.

"By my reckoning, there are only a few days left until the Goddess's Named Disciple Tournament. Although I no longer need to participate myself, I can take this opportunity to speak with the Goddess of Dark Night."

With that thought, Leian soared into the air, transforming into a bolt of lightning as he sped into the distance.

After becoming a god, his speed was no longer comparable to before. Within moments, he reached the central region of the Youquan Mountain Range. Spreading out his divine sense, he quickly discovered an unusual valley.

The valley covered an immense area, and vast stretches of palaces had been built within it, lofty and majestic, ancient and solemn.

With his divine sense spread over the area, Leian immediately found the Goddess of Dark Night. She resided in a black palace at the deepest part of the valley.

The goddess wore a flowing black gauze dress. She was not tall, but her figure was exceptionally slender. Her skin was fair, her features delicate, and her dark hair cascaded to her waist like a waterfall.

At this moment, aside from the goddess, there were three others in the black palace—two men and one woman.

All three appeared middle-aged. One man and the woman wore emerald-green clothing, and their appearances differed somewhat from ordinary humans.

It was mainly their eyes and ears. Their eyes were as green as gemstones, while their ears were pointed like leaves. Such distinct traits made it obvious at a glance that they were elves.

Their realms were the same as the goddess's; all were lower gods. If nothing unexpected had occurred, that man and woman should have been the Elven King and Elven Goddess of the Elven Continent.

As for the last middle-aged man, he too was a lower god. He was extremely burly, clad from head to toe in crimson armor, with a scarlet saber strapped across his back.

Seeing this appearance, the first person Leian thought of was the Yulan War God who had unified the Yulan Continent. But he could not yet confirm whether it was truly him.

However, Leian was certain of one thing: the goddess and the other three had most likely all detected his divine sense.

He immediately conveyed goodwill, then withdrew his divine sense from the palace.

Using divine sense to directly observe others was actually quite rude. Leian could justify spreading his divine sense earlier because he had been searching for the goddess's residence, but if he continued observing them with it now, it would be a provocation.

Yet Leian did not know that after he withdrew his divine sense, the four god-level experts inside the palace immediately shifted the topic to him.

"Was that the 'Leian' you mentioned just now?"

The armored middle-aged man was the first to ask.

"It was him."

The goddess nodded gently, her voice cool and calm.

"Did this Mr. Leian truly cultivate for less than a hundred years?"

The Elven King seemed extremely interested in Leian. His tone was filled with curiosity, along with a trace of disbelief.

"To be precise, it should be less than sixty years!"

The goddess explained slowly, a rare look of admiration appearing on her face.

Upon hearing that, the Elven King sighed emotionally.

"A god in sixty years! He is an unparalleled genius. With such talent, perhaps only that lord in the Dark Forest can compare to him."

As he spoke, the Elven King turned to look at the Elven Goddess beside him. As though they shared the same thought, she turned her gaze toward him at that moment as well. The two exchanged a look, as if reaching some agreement, then nodded lightly to each other.

Meanwhile, the armored middle-aged man shook his head and refuted him.

"That lord in the Dark Forest may have become a god early as well, but as far as I know, his true body is a divine beast. Everyone knows that divine beasts become lower gods upon reaching adulthood.

"So, strictly speaking, that lord's talent is probably somewhat inferior to Leian's."

After pondering it briefly, the Elven King nodded slightly. "What you say does make some sense."

For the moment, let us leave aside the conversation among the four inside the palace. After withdrawing his divine sense, Leian did not retract it entirely, instead continuing to survey the whole valley.

By now, dozens of human Saint Realm experts had gathered in the valley. With so many Saint Realm experts assembled together, it was inevitable that they would spar with one another.

At that moment, two Saint Realm experts were fighting in the training ground at the front of the valley. The others gathered outside in groups of two or three, either watching intently or conversing in low voices.

Leian knew very few Saint Realm experts. The only ones he had met were the goddess's eldest disciple Margaret, the Magic-Martial Sword Saint Cavila, and Robert, the challenger from back then.

With a casual glance, he discovered that all three were in the valley.

Cavila and Robert were both watching the battle at the training ground. Margaret, however, was chatting with six Saint Realm experts inside one of the palaces, apparently uninterested in the fights taking place in the valley.

Judging from this, those seven should have held equal status. Leian casually listened in for a few moments and discovered that all seven of them were indeed at the peak of the Saint Realm.

While observing them, Leian also flew to the valley entrance. To show respect for the Goddess of Dark Night, he did not fly directly toward the black palace in the rear, instead landing at the mouth of the valley.

Because he had made no effort to conceal himself, every Saint Realm expert in the training ground noticed Leian the moment he appeared.

Some among them had personally witnessed the battle at Red Rock Ridge, while others had seen portraits of Leian. After exchanging a few words, nearly all of them learned his identity.

The news that Leian had become a god was still circulating only among god-level experts. In the eyes of the Saint Realm experts, Leian was merely that newly risen genius of the Saint Realm.

As they watched Leian, some were curious while others were disdainful. Perhaps because there were no familiar faces among them, no one stepped forward to greet him.

Robert, however, saw Leian and instantly had blazing flames ignite in his eyes. He immediately shouted loudly,

"Leian, do you dare fight me again!"

Having stopped for so many days, I suddenly could not find my rhythm. Let me adjust a little.