Arrival

Every Profound Mystery of the Laws was dancing with the others.

Each Law would make contact with another, colliding, merging, separating, and then repeating the process with yet another Profound Mystery.

Gradually, the Earth Element Profound Mysteries of Aier began to merge in pairs, then in threes, fours, fives...

It was as if the six Profound Mysteries were attempting to derive the infinite secrets of the Earth Element Laws.

However, when the six Profound Mysteries attempted to merge all at once, it was as if a bowl of water had been poured into a pot of boiling oil, causing the entire ocean of Laws to surge with massive waves, creating countless whirlpools and clashing undercurrents.

Before long, the turbulent ocean of Laws forcibly ejected Aier's consciousness from his soul space.

"Hiss—"

Shaking his still-dizzy head, Aier drew a sharp breath.

Unlike others who merged Laws through harmony, Aier's method involved introducing new Laws to his existing ones, forcing them to seek common ground while stirring up the ocean of Laws to achieve a brutal fusion.

It was a case of brute force creating miracles.

Every fusion of Profound Mysteries placed a certain burden on Aier's soul.

But this was not without its benefits.

Aier's soul received significant tempering amidst the turbulence of the ocean of Laws, raising the upper limit of his soul's potential.

The Earth Element High-God Godhead he had obtained from Hector Boyd had already been completely refined by Aier.

Unfortunately, Aier had not yet found the point of convergence for the six Profound Mysteries.

There was no helping it; even Hector Boyd only carried a dozen or so High-God Godheads on him, and only three of those were Earth Element High-God Godheads.

However, each time he absorbed the six Profound Mysteries of the Earth Element Laws, it allowed Aier to take his mastery of the Earth Element Profound Mysteries to the next level.

Aier estimated that if he absorbed another ten Earth Element High-God Godheads, he would be able to find the point of convergence for the six Profound Mysteries within his ocean of Laws.

"No rush..."

Aier calmed the discomfort caused by the soul tremors while comforting himself in his heart.

"Steady and slow is fine."

"As long as the path is correct, there will always be a day when I reach the end!"

With the Boy Family having pledged their allegiance, Aier was confident that he could cultivate his Earth Element divine clone to the level of a Paragon before challenging the Prefect of Liang'an Prefecture.

As for the reward for the Boy Family...

Once Aier became the Prefect of Liang'an Prefecture, letting the Boy Family take root in the prefecture would not be a problem at all.

If the members of the Boy Family had ambitions, Aier could even arrange for suitable members of their family to serve as city lords of smaller cities.

Indeed, a city lord of a small city required at least the strength of a Five-Star Fiend, and such experts, even within the Boy Family, numbered only one or two besides Hector Boyd.

But Aier could simply assign a Five-Star Fiend as a vice-city lord to those small cities.

If Aier remembered correctly, in the future, Hector Boyd's son, Salomon Boyd, only possessed the strength of a Four-Star Fiend, yet he was the city lord of Yiliang City in Liang'an Prefecture.

There was definitely some maneuvering by the Boy Family involved in that.

The current Boy Family was still quite far from being able to manipulate the appointments of small city lords.

After all, the strongest member of the Boy Family at present, Hector Boyd, only possessed the strength of a Six-Star Fiend.

One needed at least the strength of a Seven-Star Fiend and to occupy a major city to be qualified to influence the selection of small city lords.

Otherwise, the moment you arranged for someone to take office, other experts who also had their eyes on that small city would swarm in, attempting to crush the soft persimmon.

Shaking his head, Aier stopped dwelling on it and casually took a Wind Element Mid-God Godhead from his Space Ring, beginning to refine it.

There was still about a hundred years until they reached Liang'an Prefecture.

This amount of time was enough for his Wind Element Laws to merge another one or two Profound Mysteries, allowing him to reach the strength of a Six-Star Fiend.

One has to admit, if you never go out and see the world, you will never know how limited your perspective truly is.

Even though Aier had long known that a prefecture city was the largest type of city in Hell, and that there were only one hundred and eight such cities in the entire realm.

However, only after truly seeing a prefecture city did Aier realize that the prefecture city he had imagined in his mind was far inferior to the real thing.

First, there was the sheer scale of the city.

Even while flying in the sky, Aier could not see the boundaries of the prefecture city at a single glance.

Not to mention inside the city, even outside the walls of the prefecture city, numerous gathering points had formed, especially near the city gates, which were even more bustling than some small or medium-sized cities.

In particular, the number of experts there was far beyond what any remote small or medium-sized city could compare to.

The siphon effect existed in every world.

In the lowest-level tribes of Hell, some leaders were only Low-Gods.

Most tribal leaders were Mid-Gods.

Tribes like the Crimson Blood Tribe, where a Five-Star Fiend served as the leader, were extremely rare.

They were all located in places with precious mineral resources or the ability to continuously produce high-value materials.

In a small city, a Five-Star Fiend can serve as the city lord, and Saint Realm powerhouses working in the city account for nearly one-third of the city's residents.

In a medium-sized city, a Six-Star Fiend is a top-tier combatant, there are quite a few Five-Star Fiends, and High-Gods are also considered powerhouses.

In a large city, there is a Seven-Star Fiend presiding over it, there are many Six-Star Fiends, and occasionally, Seven-Star Fiends passing through on missions can be seen.

In a Prefecture City, the strongest individual is naturally the Prefect.

The one hundred and eight Prefectures of Hell are home to the most peak-level group of people standing beneath the Overgods.

Perhaps there are some retired Asuras or Prefects whose strength exceeds that of the current Prefects, but those who can firmly hold the position of Prefect are by no means weak.

The weak ones would have long since been pulled down from their positions.

Of course, even in a Prefecture City, the privileges of Fiends still exist.

After Aier and his group entered Liang'an Prefecture, Eric went to rent a place to stay, while Aier headed directly to the Challenge Arena.

The Challenge Arena of the Prefecture City occupies nearly one-tenth of the area of Liang'an Prefecture.

The arena itself is not large; it is a standard ring measuring one hundred meters in length and width.

The boundaries of the ring restrict the distance of combat, making the fighting more intense and allowing for a winner to be decided in the shortest possible time.

Beyond the hundred-meter ring is the area where spectators watch the battles.

For ordinary battles, everyone is free to watch.

However, for battles involving a winning streak of ten or more, an admission fee is charged to watch, yet even so, the number of spectators for these matches is far greater than for casual fights.

The higher the number of consecutive wins, the higher the ticket price.

After registering, Aier did not have to wait long before his first battle arrived.

Standing on the ring, although the number of spectators was small because Aier was a newcomer to the arena, it was the first time Aier had become the center of attention under the gaze of the crowd.

It would be a lie to say that Aier was not excited.

Who doesn't wish to be the one that everyone is looking at?

Especially for Aier, who for the past million-plus years had been nothing more than a bottom-tier Saint Realm miner who had never even stepped out of his tribe.