Breakthrough

"Are you saying that Aier truly possesses a Material Defense Overgod Artifact?"

In Youlan Prefecture, within the Heavenly Sacrifice Mountain Range at the Azure Dragon clan's base, the handsome young man sitting in the main seat had eyes that lit up.

"Yes, Lord Weiss."

"This news came from the mouth of the former Prefect of Liang'an Prefecture, Daniel Chris, and it carries a high degree of credibility."

"An Overgod Artifact..."

Confirming that Aier indeed held a Material Defense Overgod Artifact, a trace of longing flashed through the eyes of the handsome young man named Weiss.

His wife had an Overgod Artifact, and his brother-in-law had one too.

Only he remained without an Overgod Artifact.

Overgod Artifacts were super-weapons possessed by the children of Overgods and Overgod Envoys.

Weiss's strength was clearly not yet great enough for the Azure Dragon Overgod to take him on as an envoy.

In Weiss's view, this meant he had not gained the recognition of the Azure Dragon Overgod and was not considered a "child" by him.

Therefore, the Overgod Artifact had become a knot in Weiss's heart.

Unable to obtain an Overgod Artifact from the Four Divine Beasts Overgods, Weiss turned his gaze outward, inquiring everywhere for news of those who possessed them.

Of course, regarding those who held Overgod Artifacts, Weiss dared not provoke them lightly if their patron Overgod was still alive.

Even if he killed an Overgod Envoy, those Overgod Artifacts would simply be reclaimed by the Overgod.

However, over countless years, there were still many Overgod Artifacts left behind by fallen Overgods.

These were the people Weiss had his sights set on.

Upon learning the news that Aier possessed an Overgod Artifact, Weiss asked his wife—the princess of the Azure Dragon clan and Gaia, whose strength was second only to the clan leader Gaisresen—to investigate intelligence on Aier for him.

"So, have you found out? Was Aier's Overgod Artifact obtained by chance, or was it bestowed by an Overgod?"

"This..."

The reporting Azure Dragon clansman hesitated for a moment: "I apologize, Lord Weiss."

"We have not been able to make contact with the Prefect of Liang'an Prefecture, so we do not know whose envoy he is."

"However, we did uncover some information regarding the Prefect of Liang'an Prefecture from before..."

Speaking to this point, a look of hesitation appeared on the face of the reporting Azure Dragon clansman.

"What news?"

"According to the records we could find, the first place the Prefect of Liang'an Prefecture appeared was in Caeles City one hundred thousand years ago."

"It is said that at that time, Lord Aier was only a Low-God."

"Within a mere hundred years, he cultivated directly to the High-God realm."

"When Aier left Caeles City one hundred thousand years later and reappeared, he already displayed the strength of a Seven-Star Fiend."

"And in Liang'an Prefecture, Aier even displayed strength that crushed the former Prefect, Daniel Chris!"

"One hundred thousand years to cultivate from a Low-God to the strength of an Asura-level Prefect? Are you sure you aren't joking?"

Hearing this, the handsome young man furrowed his brows.

It was true that geniuses in Hell were as numerous as the hairs on an ox.

However, let alone cultivating from a Low-God to a High-God in a hundred years.

Even if it took one hundred thousand or a million years to go from a Low-God to a High-God, who among them wasn't a genius?

But to raise one's strength to the level of an Asura-level Prefect in one hundred thousand years? The handsome young man hadn't just never heard of it; he couldn't even imagine it.

Even the leader of the Four Divine Beasts Clan, Lord Gaisresen, had spent tens of millions of years to reach his current strength.

If Aier had truly cultivated from a Low-God to the strength of an Asura-level Prefect in one hundred thousand years, then it was hard to say if, given a little more time, he might even become a Paragon.

"Lord Weiss, I also feel that this information seems somewhat distorted."

The reporting Azure Dragon clansman smiled bitterly: "However, I don't think this news is false."

"We speculate that after the Prefect of Liang'an Prefecture left Caeles City, he may have caught the attention of an Overgod and thus became an Overgod Envoy."

"Based on this, we infer that the Overgod behind the Prefect of Liang'an Prefecture, Aier, is most likely the Bifu Overgod."

Hearing his clansman say this, Weiss couldn't help but nod.

Although it was said that an Overgod's divine sense could fully radiate across the entirety of Hell, under normal circumstances, they would not radiate their divine sense into the territories of other Overgods.

Bifu Continent was the territory of the Bifu Overgod.

While Overgods generally wouldn't radiate their divine sense, occasionally, when the mood struck them, they might want to observe the situation of the living beings within their own sphere of influence.

Aier's speed of rise was simply too fast.

If he happened to be noticed by an Overgod, it was indeed possible for him to have become an Overgod Envoy.

"Since the Prefect of Liang'an Prefecture might be an emissary of the Bifu Overgod, let's leave him be for the time being."

Weiss shook his head.

When it came down to it, his own strength was simply too weak.

However, if he could obtain an Overgod Artifact, he might not necessarily be unable to become a powerhouse on the level of an Asura or a Prefect.

Aier had no idea that because of a misunderstanding by Daniel Chris, he had nearly been targeted by the Four Divine Beasts Clan.

By now, he had already collected all the Godheads from the Liang'an Prefecture treasury into his personal space.

After becoming a Prefect, Aier had learned of the duties that came with the position.

First, a Prefect must maintain order within the prefecture city.

Second, every few hundred million years, the Prefect must submit a massive quantity of Godheads to the Overgod.

Perhaps other Prefects did not know the reason for this, but Aier was well aware.

The Coiling Dragon Universe was, after all, merely one of the four subsidiary universes created by Hongmeng to support the main universe.

Therefore, the Coiling Dragon Universe possessed significant flaws.

One of these was that Godheads condensed by the Laws of the World could not even be destroyed by Overgods; the Plane War that occurred every few hundred million years was not only a means to reduce the number of deities across the seven Divine Planes and four Supreme Planes to lighten the burden on the universe, but also the time when the four Supreme Gods concentrated the Godheads to return them to their source, restoring the balance of the Laws of the World.

It could be said that the stability of the Coiling Dragon Universe relied entirely on manual maintenance.

In fact, to prevent the Coiling Dragon Universe from spiraling out of control, Hongmeng had even buried some contingencies within the underlying rules of the Coiling Dragon Universe, allowing him to descend his consciousness into the Coiling Dragon Universe as a Supreme God at critical moments.

Aier did not know how much time remained until the next offering of Godheads to the Overgod.

But as long as he could become a Paragon within that timeframe, he figured the Bifu Overgod would not make things difficult for him over a mere batch of Godheads.

As time flowed on, one Earth Element High-God Godhead after another was refined by Aier, and repeated epiphanies regarding the six Profound Mysteries of the Earth Element caused the ocean of Earth Element Laws within Aier's soul sea to surge with monstrous waves, forcing the six distinct Profound Mysteries of the Earth Element to begin merging.

Ten thousand years later, as Aier once again fell into an epiphany while absorbing the Profound Mysteries of the Earth Element, his Earth Element Profound Mysteries finally broke through the final barrier, perfectly merging into one.