Banquet

After closing the Chat Group, Richard stroked his chin. Interesting. So this was when his cheat arrived.

Before this, his greatest ambition had been no more than becoming a Paragon High-God, then throwing his weight around and enjoying life.

Even becoming a Paragon High-God was extremely difficult. He could accept becoming an Asura-level powerhouse instead. At the very least, a Seven-Star Fiend-level High-level God could live quite comfortably in a Divine Plane.

His demands were not high at all. Becoming a Chief God depended entirely on luck, and he did not think he had that kind of luck. So becoming a powerhouse who could roam freely through the Divine Planes would be more than enough. He would also have a long life. Happiness came from comparison—wasn't this life far better than being an overworked office drone in his previous life?

Now that he had the Chat Group, perhaps he could set his sights a little higher? Maybe even a Paragon High-God would no longer be his limit.

The Seven Laws and Four Rules ended at the level of a Paragon High-God, but the Heavens and Myriad Worlds certainly did not contain only those eleven laws. If nothing else, there had to be the Laws of Time and Space, right?

Even the Coiling Dragon World did not lack the Laws of Time and Space. They were merely hidden away, beyond the reach of ordinary gods. Otherwise, how could the teleportation arrays spread throughout the Divine Planes and Material Planes be explained?

Hongmeng had once created one main world and four subsidiary worlds. To ensure the stability of the subsidiary worlds, he had concealed matters related to the Laws of Time and Space. Only the main world could freely comprehend them; in the four subsidiary worlds, the Laws of Time and Space were invisible.

And the Coiling Dragon World was one of those four subsidiary worlds.

Of course, invisible did not mean completely impossible to comprehend, much less that they were some forbidden laws that could not be studied.

Some divine beasts were born with divine abilities possessing the attributes of time and space. Didn't even the Laws of Wind Richard had comprehended contain some Profound Mysteries related to space?

So, this Chat Group needed to be planned carefully.

The worlds of the current group members contained things related to time and space. For example, the Hokage world, the Dragon World, and the Under One Person world.

But there was no need to hurry yet. He still did not know Hongmeng's attitude, so he should be cautious for now.

He had not even rushed to exchange cultivation techniques for points. Otherwise, he would have long since exchanged the Battle Qi Secret Manuals, Various Elemental Magic, and even the moves he had created over the past several centuries.

For the next stretch of time, Richard only occasionally chatted idly in the Chat Group. Most of his time was still spent cultivating on his own.

After several months, he discovered that the world he was in probably had the fastest flow of time in the entire Chat Group.

That confused him somewhat. The world he lived in should have had the highest energy level among all the worlds currently in the Chat Group, right? Could it be that the higher a world's energy level was, the faster time flowed instead?

But the Hokage world's flow of time did not seem much different from those other worlds.

He could not figure it out.

But it was not a major problem. If he could not understand it, then so be it. There was no need to drain himself over it. He would set it aside for now and think about it later.

In any case, this was good news for him. He had been afraid that after cultivating in seclusion for decades or centuries, he would check the Chat Group only to find that half the group members had died of old age. That would have been awkward.

But generally speaking, as his strength grew greater, the time required to comprehend the Profound Mysteries of laws would only become longer. If the group members did not embark on the path of immortality, they would eventually part ways.

On this day, the banquet hall of the Silver Blue Grand Duchy was packed with people.

Today was the day Richard's family held its banquet. Every prominent figure in the Osiris Empire had come. Even the current emperor himself had attended Richard's Godhood Banquet.

Moreover, the Hegel Family's network, accumulated over several centuries since Richard had reached the Saint Domain, was revealed at this time. Besides the empire, there were also various small and medium-sized factions on Osiris Continent, and those friendly with the Hegel Family had come as well.

If time had not been so tight and people from other continents had been able to arrive, the crowd in the banquet hall would have been twice as large.

Richard had become a god, after all. He might not remember everyone who came today, but what if he remembered those who had not come? Thus, even those factions that normally had some conflicts with the Hegel Family obediently attended this banquet.

Ordinary people, including those in the Saint Domain, were received by members of the family.

Richard only needed to receive the God Level powerhouses who had arrived.

It was rather sad, really. Richard had spent several centuries in this world, focusing entirely on keeping a low profile and cultivating. He had barely gone out to make friends, so he did not have even one true close friend. They were all merely casual acquaintances who nodded when they met.

If not for expanding the family's influence, there would have been no need to hold this banquet at all.

Still, there were benefits to holding it. The gifts personally given by these God Level powerhouses were quite valuable. Most of them had given Low-level Divine Artifacts. For Saint Domain powerhouses without backing, divine artifacts were extremely precious, and obtaining even one was extraordinarily difficult.

But to God Level powerhouses who had become gods long ago, divine artifacts were not all that precious. In merely a thousand years, they could nurture a batch of Low-level Divine Artifacts. With several thousand years of accumulation, they would never lack Low-level Divine Artifacts. For God Level powerhouses who had stayed in Material Planes for tens or even hundreds of thousands of years, the Low-level Divine Artifacts in their Space Rings were practically piled into heaps.

They could not easily release them into circulation and cause divine artifacts to become widespread, so naturally, they simply accumulated in piles.

But for Richard, these divine artifacts were a tremendous help. At the very least, they could make up for the awkward period before he nurtured divine artifacts of his own.

First Generation Osiris had not come, but the imperial family had sent a Low-level God. It was not the current Emperor Osiris. The current emperor was merely an ordinary Saint Domain expert who had not even touched the threshold of laws. He had only been elevated to the throne because of his outstanding administrative ability.

This Low-level God represented the imperial family in giving Richard a Mid-level Divine Artifact. It was a suit of armor, a Material Defense Divine Artifact. One such artifact was worth several ordinary Mid-level Material Attack Divine Artifacts.

According to imperial custom, recruiting a Low-level God should only have warranted a Mid-level Material Attack Divine Artifact.

Could it be that they saw his talent as fairly good and wanted to recruit him?

In this tiny Material Plane, becoming a god within a thousand years already counted as remarkable talent. There had not been many such people in the history of the entire Tara Plane. And among the previous few, all those who had not died midway had at least become Mid-level Gods. Of course, they had all gone to the Divine Planes, and not a single one remained in the Tara Plane now.

So Richard had now become the most talented person in the Tara Plane? If that was how they counted it, then giving Richard a Material Defense Divine Artifact was reasonable enough.

Richard did not care much. If they dared to give it, he dared to accept it. He was confident that in a few hundred years at most, his Wind Element would allow him to become a Mid-level God. Then he could advance to attack or retreat to defend. Whatever he wanted to do would be entirely up to him.

For now, though, he first had to deal with the Plane Overseer before him.

This Plane Overseer was a Mid-level God. Nominally, he was a guard under a Chief God, tasked with watching over the teleportation arrays of Material Planes.

But in reality, these overseers each had their own factions behind them. The Chief Gods were too lofty and distant for them to rely on. They could only find ways to recruit geniuses and cannon fodder for their families, seeking benefits.

This man had tried to persuade Richard to go to the Heavenly Realm when Richard had still been at the Saint Domain Limit.

Now that Richard had advanced to become a Low-level God, Steven's attitude had become even more enthusiastic.

"Mr. Steven, I have no plans to go to a higher Divine Plane for the time being. I cannot leave my family behind. When I want to go to a Divine Plane someday, I will definitely consider the Heavenly Realm first," Richard said perfunctorily.

"Richard, listen to me. Staying in a Material Plane will greatly slow your cultivation speed. It is far too wasteful of your talent. You should go to a Divine Plane as soon as possible," Steven patiently urged.

Do you think I don't know what the Divine Planes are like? Are you really trying to fool me as though I were some ignorant country bumpkin? Richard grumbled inwardly. He suspected that more than half of those who had gone to the Divine Planes in the past had probably been talked into it by this man.

A mere Low-level God—wasn't going to a Divine Plane simply seeking death? Otherwise, he would become a dog for some great family. Considering Richard's decent talent, someone would probably want him.

No matter what Steven said, Richard refused to budge.

At this moment, Richard had to thank the native Mid-level Gods of the Tara Plane, as well as his greatest backer, First Generation Osiris. Otherwise, he could not guarantee that Steven would not resort to force.

In some weak planes, Plane Overseers were like tyrants. If they told you to do something, you had to do it, or there would be no good outcome for you. The more direct ones would simply kill you, or else exile you to the Plane Prison.

Only because the Tara Plane was strong enough were Plane Overseers unable to stir up trouble.

At this moment, after another unsuccessful attempt at persuasion, Steven could only give up helplessly. He could not defeat First Generation Osiris. Nor could the family behind him come to this Material Plane for no reason. The cost of transporting a High-level God to a Material Plane was enough to bankrupt a poorer Seven-Star Fiend.

The major factions had already shown him sufficient respect by allowing him to persuade their members because of his status as a Plane Overseer. He could not be too tactless.

The banquet ended, and the splendor faded. The Silver Blue Grand Duchy returned to its usual peace.

But everyone knew that everything had changed. The deterrent power of a god was completely different from that of a Saint Domain expert. Anyone with clear eyes could see that the Hegel Family would soon begin expanding rapidly.