Seclusion

Originally, Carlson had intended to use West to eliminate Aier by exposing his transaction.

But now that he had calmed down, Carlson realized with despair that as long as Aier remained within Caeles City, he was safe.

Moreover, with such a massive fortune in Inkstone, Aier only needed to purchase Earth-style Mid-God Divine Sparks and High-God Divine Sparks; once refined, he would undoubtedly become a High-God.

It was even possible that, in order to curry favor with Aier, Lord Olga might eventually hand Carlson over to Aier just to let him vent his anger.

And that was assuming he could even live until that day.

The look Lord West had just given him made Carlson realize that Lord West had also set his sights on him.

If things went poorly, the moment he returned would be the day he died!

However, Carlson did not possess enough Inkstone to remain in Caeles City. Once he left the city, without the protection of the Sovereign's decree, Lord West could deal with him however he pleased.

"It's over!"

In an instant, Carlson fell into despair.

On the other side, Aier, who no longer intended to associate with West and his group, successfully exchanged for the items he needed and left Bauhinia Castle with over fifteen million Inkstone.

After paying a thousand years of rent and completing his registration, Aier had finally settled down in Caeles City.

Closing the door and entering the cultivation room in his courtyard, Aier looked at the over one hundred thousand Demigod Divine Sparks and more than one thousand Mid-God Divine Sparks in his spatial ring, unable to stop the smile from spreading across his face.

For an ordinary person refining divine sparks, the only way to improve was to exchange for Mid-God and High-God Divine Sparks of the same element.

A Demigod Divine Spark cost one hundred Inkstone.

A Mid-God Divine Spark cost ten thousand Inkstone.

A High-God Divine Spark cost as much as ten million Inkstone!

But for Shier, his equipment slot could refine and absorb the laws within the divine sparks. Therefore, if he were lucky, Aier would only need to refine five more Demigod Divine Sparks to reach the level of a High-God.

The total cost would be less than one thousand Inkstone.

The cost-effectiveness was off the charts!

Aier had also purchased Mid-God Divine Sparks to test whether he could refine the fused laws of their original owners from them.

If he could succeed, Aier would soar!

"During this period of seclusion, I must at least raise my physical strength to a level comparable to a divine spark!"

Over ten million Inkstone was enough for Aier to exchange for over one million Demigod Divine Sparks; such a quantity was sufficient to raise his physical strength to a level comparable to a divine spark.

By then, Aier's strength would see a massive increase.

His physical defense would be maxed out, and his attack power would receive a nearly hundredfold boost.

"Before that, let's raise my soul power to the limit first!"

Suppressing the joy in his heart, Aier turned his gaze toward the pile of Amethyst in his spatial ring.

With a thought, an Amethyst appeared in Aier's hand.

"Equip!"

The Amethyst vanished into Aier's palm, and subsequently, he could feel his soul power recovering at a very slow pace.

"Refine!"

Following Aier's mental command, the Amethyst's buff disappeared, and the time required to refine one Amethyst surfaced in his mind.

"Thirty-four days!"

"Not bad, it only takes a month."

To improve his strength and prevent himself from being set up, Aier had hung a "Seclusion" sign on his door the moment he entered the courtyard, declining all visitors.

Even when West and the others came to bid him farewell, Aier did not meet with them.

Although West had stated within Bauhinia Castle that the Blood-Red Source Crystal was not stolen by Aier, the Crimson Blood Tribe was the only place within a radius of ten million kilometers that possessed blood-red mines.

The Blood-Red Source Crystal was a treasure birthed from Crimson Blood Essence Ore.

As far as Olga and West were concerned, since they viewed the Crimson Blood Tribe as their private property, no matter how Aier had obtained the Blood-Red Source Crystal, it could be considered stolen from them.

If nothing went wrong, once West and his group returned, Olga would be waiting for him outside the city.

"Absorb!"

Aier's heart stirred, and the purple mist in his equipment slot instantly merged into his soul.

As these purple mists were absorbed by Aier's soul, his soul power rose rapidly. Once all the purple mist had merged into his soul, Aier could feel that his soul had completely shaken off the sense of weakness.

Without hesitation, Aier placed another Amethyst into the equipment slot.

"Refine!"

"Twenty-eight days?"

Aier raised an eyebrow. He remembered that the last time he refined an Amethyst, it had taken thirty-four days.

It was now six days shorter.

"It seems that the refining speed of this equipment slot is indeed related to the strength of my soul."

After becoming a god, Aier also felt that the refining speed of his equipment slot had increased significantly.

During the Saint Realm stage, refining a godspark took over sixty years.

He wondered to what extent this refining speed would increase once his soul reached its peak.

Three months later, Aier looked at the purple mist drifting within his soul space, feeling very satisfied.

During this period, he had successfully refined five Amethysts, raising his soul power to its current limit.

"Next, it is time to refine godsparks to increase my strength!"

Aier probed his divine sense into the four piles of godsparks inside his spatial ring.

In the Coiling Dragon Universe, Linley had already paved the path to transcendence.

By undergoing a soul mutation involving the four elements of earth, wind, water, and fire, and completing the fusion of the profound mysteries of these four disparate laws, supplemented by the Sovereign power of the four elements, one could return to the origin and fuse Hongmeng Energy.

Therefore, Aier only intended to refine earth, wind, water, and fire godsparks to possess these four elemental divine clones.

Now, the one Aier prepared to refine was an earth-element godspark.

Since the refining speed of the equipment slot was related to his own soul strength, the refining speed of the equipment slot after advancing to a Mid-God would certainly exceed the speed of refining an additional divine clone.

"It's a pity that only my original soul space has an equipment slot..."

"If my divine clones also had equipment slots in their soul spaces, my rate of improvement could increase several times over."

Aier said, feeling somewhat unsatisfied.

Taking out an earth-element godspark, Aier silently chanted in his heart—

"Equip!"

Then—

"Refine!"

"Oh ho, eighteen years?"

When he sensed that it would now only take him eighteen years to refine a godspark, Aier raised an eyebrow.

"I wonder, how long does it take for Beirut to refine a godspark into godspark essence after devouring it?"

"It's possible that by the time I break through to a High-God, my speed of refining godspark essence will even surpass Beirut's."

The innate divine ability of the God-Slaying Rat, "God-Slaying," besides being able to instantly kill gods of the same level, could also refine godsparks, using the godspark essence to strengthen its own body or forge godspark essence into godspark weapons.

In terms of hardness, godspark weapons could rival Overgod Artifacts.