Outing

The matter of building a Circle of Friends could wait. Right now, he was busy heading out.

Richard strolled out of Silver Blue Territory and headed straight west. The God Level expert capable of refining Soul Gold Beads was not on Osiris Continent.

The Tara Plane had three enormous continents. Besides them, several smaller continents were scattered across the vast seas.

These three enormous continents were all dominated by powers with Mid-level Gods like Osiris. Even the names of the continents could change because of them. Osiris Continent was one such example.

As for those smaller continents, they were occupied by some Low-level Gods and even Saint Domain experts.

The God Level expert Richard was seeking occupied a small continent overseas.

In terms of total area, the entire Tara Plane was likely thousands or even tens of thousands of times larger than Blue Star from his previous life. Fortunately, his speed was not restricted in the Material Plane. Otherwise, he had no idea how long the journey alone would have taken.

Ten days later, Richard finally found the target small continent amid the vast sea. He had gone in the wrong direction several times along the way, but in the end, guided by the Laws of Fate, he found it.

It was called a small continent, but its area was probably no smaller than Asia.

Richard did not dare release his spiritual energy to investigate. He still did not know what sort of person the other party was. What if he was a reclusive Mid-level God?

It would be awkward if his spiritual energy failed to detect the other party while exposing him completely instead.

So, he should quietly enter the village and keep the guns silent. Richard slowed down and disguised himself as a Saint Domain expert.

As he flew past villages and cities, he discovered that this continent was quite prosperous, with an extremely high population density.

Wasn't this unknown God Level expert supposed to make Soul Gold Beads? Why was the continent he lived on still so prosperous? Could it be that this guy secretly captured Saint Domain experts and used their souls to make Soul Gold Beads?

But then again, although there were quite a few Saint Domain experts throughout the Tara Plane—probably no fewer than tens of thousands—most had status and backing. Trace their connections upward, and they could all be linked to God Level experts. After excluding that group, there were only a few thousand truly independent Saint Domain experts without major backing.

Those several thousand Saint Domain experts were also scattered throughout the entire Tara Plane. How many could he possibly capture?

Within a few days, he figured out how that unknown deity operated.

That fellow had established a Deity Church, gathered a group of Saint Domain experts under him as the church's upper ranks, and ruled the entire continent.

He then imposed religious rule across the continent. There were no nobles skimming profits from the middle, taxes were extremely low, and childbirth was encouraged. All of this gave the residents of this continent living conditions vastly superior to those of ordinary people elsewhere.

Then came the outrageous move. This Deity Church claimed that the deity they worshipped did not wish for his believers to suffer in the mortal world. Any believer over seventy who felt their end approaching, or any believer suffering from a severe illness, could apply to the local parish. A Deity Messenger would come and bring their soul into the Divine Kingdom.

Haha, who would have thought? He did not need to seize souls at all. Jiang Taigong fished, and the willing fish took the bait. If you did not want to go to the Divine Kingdom, then simply do not apply. There were countless applicants every year anyway. He did not need you specifically.

With this continent's enormous population base, the souls brought back each year would probably be more than enough for that fellow to refine twenty or thirty Soul Gold Beads.

This God Level expert really knew how to play the game. He raised the population of an entire continent like livestock, sheared them every year, then used his professional knowledge for further processing and sold them as industrial products—Soul Gold Beads.

And according to the information the family had gathered, Soul Gold Beads were quite precious.

In other words, this fellow was even engaging in scarcity marketing to drive up the price of Soul Gold Beads. Otherwise, producing several thousand every hundred years could hardly be called precious. That would be enough for every God Level expert in the entire plane to receive dozens.

If the Grand Wizard from the Yulan Plane learned about this, he would probably burst into tears. He had secretly collected souls just to refine a few Soul Gold Beads, only to be hunted down and killed by the protagonist, Linley.

Now look at this guy. Tsk, tsk. Richard almost felt sorry for the Grand Wizard.

Grand Wizard: Why was I born? Why was I born?

Could anyone see through the secret behind this? Of course they could. This continent was not hidden by some formation or anything. Since Richard had intelligence about this place, all God Level experts could probably find it too. At most, it would take some effort.

Everyone was a God Level expert, so why did they not have so-called Divine Kingdoms?

But no one exposed him, because this fellow supplied Soul Gold Beads. Moreover, as someone who became a god through the rules, he was certainly stronger than an ordinary Low-level God and was probably skilled in soul attacks. Why provoke him for no reason?

What was more, he was not actively plundering souls. He was deceiving people. By the values of most experts in this world, why stop something both sides entered willingly?

That was why this fellow had remained carefree until now.

Richard found a group escorting souls and easily located this mysterious God Level expert by following them.

Heh, he really was only a Low-level God. Although Richard had guessed as much after seeing the church's business model, it was now truly confirmed.

After all, if he were a Mid-level God, why would he hole up on a small continent? He could directly occupy a large continent and manage it properly as he did now. The number of souls he harvested every year would increase by at least dozens of times.

In that case, I won't hold back. I don't care. I'm upholding justice and robbing the rich to aid the poor. Richard thought to himself. As for how he would aid the poor, that was none of your business.

Judging by the manifestation of this fellow's Divine Power, he should be a Low-level Death God. The deathly quality within his Divine Power was impossible to conceal.

Richard took out the Azure Forest Sword. It was a pity that he had not yet fully analyzed Gungnir, so he could not add its guaranteed-hit effect to this divine artifact.

As for Gungnir itself, it was basically useless to him. Compared to divine artifacts, both of those Gungnirs were far too fragile. They could not even break a God Level expert's defense in battle unless they were nurtured into divine artifacts.

A set of black armor appeared over his body. It was the Mid-level Material Defense Divine Artifact gifted to him by the imperial family. He found it somewhat regrettable that it had been nurtured with Fire Element Divine Power and was not particularly compatible with him. Still, having one was already good enough. What more could he ask for?

Using the Profound Mystery of Speed, which combined the Profound Mysteries of Swiftness and Slowness, then layering the Profound Mystery of Wind Movement with the Profound Mystery of Wind Elements, Richard crossed the vast distance at a speed akin to teleportation and arrived before his opponent.

Both were Low-level Gods, so their Divine Domains canceled each other out. Richard then used the Profound Mystery of Slowness to restrain him, layering it with Wind Space Imprisonment.

He even used the little bit of the Laws of Fate he had comprehended to disrupt the other party's thoughts.

He absolutely could not allow the other party to successfully use a soul attack. Otherwise, he probably would not be able to withstand it. This guy could use Soul Gold Beads like candy, so his soul had likely already reached the peak of the Low-level God stage. As for Richard, he had only just become a god, and even the injuries from his soul being torn apart had not yet healed.

When Richard unleashed his strongest attack yet, the Material Defense Divine Artifact worn by the other party shattered instantly.

But after one Material Defense Divine Artifact broke, another immediately followed. Material Defense Divine Artifacts were not all armor or clothing; they could also be made into other forms, though doing so was more difficult.

Richard cursed inwardly. This guy was absurd. He had more than one layer of turtle shell.

There were three full layers of defense, yet Richard's single strike pierced them all. Richard had now initially fused four Profound Mysteries of the Laws of Wind. Although the fusion was still shallow, three of those Profound Mysteries were not yet fully comprehended, and the other three had not been fused at all but had only just been grasped, his attack power had absolutely reached the level of an ordinary Mid-level God.

With another strike, the God Level expert whose name Richard did not even know was left without a complete corpse. Richard saw the terror in his opponent's eyes, but sorry—once he had acted, there was naturally no chance he would stop.

From the moment Richard launched his attack to the moment this man died, only an instant had passed. This was already the limit of Richard's strength. If those two attacks had failed to kill the other party, the outcome would have been uncertain. After all, that restraining ability was not truly powerful and could only imprison him for an instant. But at their level, an instant could decide many things.

Richard began counting the spoils of battle: a gray Godhead, two Space Rings, three shattered Material Defense Divine Artifacts, and a Soul Defense Divine Artifact that could barely be considered a divine artifact.