Breakthrough

"Are you saying Aier really has a Material Defense Overgod Artifact?"

At the Azure Dragon Clan's residence in the Heavenly Sacrifice Mountain Range, Youlan Prefecture, the handsome young man seated in the place of honor lit up.

"Yes, Lord Weiss."

"This news came from Daniel Chris, the former Prefect of Liang'an Prefecture, so it's highly credible."

"A Sovereign Artifact..."

The handsome young man named Weiss looked at Aier's Material Defense Overgod Artifact with longing in his eyes.

His wife had a Sovereign Artifact, and so did his brother-in-law.

He was the only one without one.

Sovereign Artifacts were supreme weapons possessed by the children of Overgods and Overgod Envoys.

Weiss was clearly not strong enough for the Azure Dragon Sovereign to take him on as an envoy.

In Weiss's eyes, this meant that the Azure Dragon Sovereign had not acknowledged him and did not consider him one of his "children."

And so, the lack of a Sovereign Artifact had become a thorn in Weiss's heart.

Since he couldn't obtain a Sovereign Artifact from the Four Divine Beasts Overgods, Weiss turned his attention outward, searching everywhere for news of people who possessed one.

Of course, Weiss wouldn't dare provoke anyone who had a Sovereign Artifact if the Overgod behind them was still around.

Even if he killed an Overgod Envoy, the Overgod would reclaim the Sovereign Artifact.

But over the countless years, many Sovereign Artifacts had been left behind by Overgods who had perished.

Those were the people Weiss had his eye on.

After learning that Aier possessed a Sovereign Artifact, Weiss asked his capable wife, the princess of the Azure Dragon Clan and Gaia, second in strength only to the clan leader Gaisresen, to investigate Aier.

"So, did you find out whether Aier's Sovereign Artifact was something he acquired by chance or something bestowed by an Overgod?"

"Well..."

The Azure Dragon clansman reporting to him hesitated. "I'm sorry, Lord Weiss."

"We haven't made contact with the Prefect of Liang'an Prefecture, so we don't know which lord he serves."

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

As he continued, the Azure Dragon clansman below him hesitated.

"What information?"

"According to the records we were able to find, the earliest place the Prefect of Liang'an Prefecture appeared was Caeles City, ten thousand years ago."

"It's said that Lord Aier was only a Low-God at the time."

"Within a mere hundred years, he had reached the High-God level."

"Ten thousand years later, Aier left Caeles City. When he next appeared, he had already demonstrated the strength of a Seven-Star Fiend."

"And in Liang'an Prefecture, Aier even showed that he was strong enough to crush the former Prefect, Daniel Chris!"

"Ten thousand years—from Low-God to a level of strength comparable to an Asura Prefect? Are you sure you're not joking?"

Hearing this, the handsome young man furrowed his brow.

It was true that Hell was full of geniuses.

But becoming a High-God from a Low-God in a hundred years was unheard of.

Even those who became High-Gods after ten thousand or a hundred thousand years were considered geniuses.

But Weiss had never even heard of someone reaching the level of an Asura Prefect in ten thousand years. He couldn't even imagine it.

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

If Aier had really gone from Low-God to having the strength of an Asura Prefect in just ten thousand years, then who knew—given a little more time, might he even become a Paragon?

"Lord Weiss, I also think the information seems a little far-fetched."

The Azure Dragon clansman gave a wry smile. "Still, I don't think it's false."

"We suspect that after leaving Caeles City, the Prefect of Liang'an Prefecture attracted an Overgod's attention and became that Overgod's envoy."

"Based on this information, we believe it's highly likely that the Overgod behind Aier, the Prefect of Liang'an Prefecture, is the Bifu Overgod."

Hearing this, Weiss couldn't help but nod.

Although an Overgod's divine sense could spread throughout all of Hell, under normal circumstances, they wouldn't extend it into the territories controlled by other Overgods.

Bifu Continent was the Bifu Overgod's territory.

Although Overgods generally didn't spread out their divine sense, from time to time, they would feel like checking on the lives within their domains.

Aier's rise had been far too rapid.

If he happened to catch an Overgod's attention, then it was entirely possible that he'd become an Overgod's envoy.

"Since the Prefect of Liang'an Prefecture may be the Bifu Overgod's envoy, let's leave him alone for now."

Weiss shook his head.

In the end, he was simply too weak.

But if he could get his hands on a Sovereign Artifact, perhaps he could become a powerhouse on the level of an Asura Prefect.

Aier had no idea that a misunderstanding caused by Daniel Chris had nearly drawn the attention of the Four Divine Beasts Clan.

By now, he had stored all the Godheads in Liang'an Prefecture's reserves in his personal space.

After becoming Prefect, Aier had learned what the position entailed.

First, a Prefect had to maintain order in the Prefecture City.

Second, every billion years, the Prefect had to hand over a large number of Godheads to the Overgod.

The other Prefects might not know the reason, but Aier did.

The Coiling Dragon Universe was, after all, just one of the four Subordinate Universes Hongmeng had created to support the main universe.

As a result, the Coiling Dragon Universe had some serious flaws.

One of them was that even Overgods couldn't destroy the Godheads condensed by the Laws of Heaven and Earth. The Plane War that took place once every billion years was both a way to reduce the burden on the universe by decreasing the population of gods in the Seven Divine Planes and the Four Overgod Planes, and an opportunity for the Four Overgods to return the Godheads to their primordial state and restore the balance of the Laws of Heaven and Earth.

It could be said that the Coiling Dragon Universe's stability depended entirely on constant intervention.

In fact, to prevent the Coiling Dragon Universe from spiraling out of control, Hongmeng had even embedded some contingencies in its fundamental laws. At a critical moment, he could descend into the Coiling Dragon Universe in the form of an Overgod, using his own consciousness.

Aier didn't know how long remained before he would next have to offer Godheads to the Overgod.

But as long as he became a Paragon before then, he figured the Bifu Overgod wouldn't make an issue of a few Godheads.

As time passed, Aier refined one Earth Element High-God Spark after another. Each time he comprehended the six Earth Element Mysteries, the sea of Earth Element Laws in his soulspace surged into enormous waves, and the six clearly distinct Earth Element Mysteries began to merge.

Ten thousand years later, as Aier once again entered a state of sudden enlightenment while absorbing the Earth Element Mysteries, his Earth Element Mysteries finally broke through the last barrier and fused perfectly into one.