Finding Common Interests, Taking the Lead

Bang~

The camp's walls shattered in an instant.

Su Chen strolled out from within, carrying an aura of slaughter about him.

Behind him, the bandit stronghold that had once occupied this place and terrorized the region was deathly silent, with only the stench of blood gradually drifting into the distance on the wind.

Over this period, Su Chen had traveled while digging for treasure, fighting all manner of bandits, mountain brigands, and lone vicious criminals who operated on their own.

His Hundred Battles Spear Art had grown sharper through battle. What had once merely been spear moves he could execute had transformed into true killing techniques.

The Hundred Battles Spear Art was indeed a spear technique comprehended through combat. The more he fought, the more deeply he understood its true essence.

Su Chen let out a whistle, and a white figure came racing out of the forest.

Before entering the bandit den, Su Chen had left his horse outside.

After being together for so long, even without being tethered, the horse would not run away. So long as Su Chen whistled, it would come running to him on its own.

"Senior Destruction, how much longer until we reach the Star Dou Forest?"

"Following the planned route, it will probably take a little over a month."

"Looks like I need to step up my Soul Power cultivation."

Su Chen had already left Sea Burial Village for more than two months.

Over those two months, his Soul Power had risen from level six to level eight. It could not be called slow.

That was partly because the meditation method taught to him by the God of Destruction was immensely effective, and partly because both of Su Chen's Martial Souls were of exceptional quality.

The only reason his Innate Soul Power had been level five was that the conflict between his two Martial Souls had canceled out much of it, but his talent and foundation remained.

The reason he had traveled for so long and still had such a great distance left before reaching the Star Dou Forest was that Su Chen had not been traveling at full speed.

One moment he went to a city to dig up treasure, the next he went to a mountain forest to wipe out bandits. His route twisted and turned, and he had never traveled in a straight line.

Besides, Su Chen was in no hurry to reach the Star Dou Forest.

His Soul Power had not even reached level ten yet. What was the point of going so early?

Along this journey, aside from the tremendous improvement in his spear art, Su Chen's greatest gain had been his increasingly abundant wealth.

The treasures the God of Destruction guided him to were richer with every find, and bandit strongholds often held quite a bit of money as well.

All of it became Su Chen's assets, sending him irreversibly down the broad road of prosperity.

Su Chen swayed leisurely atop his horse, calculating his current fortune.

Ah! I had wanted to struggle and work hard, but Senior Destruction made me miss out on the process of building myself up from nothing.

"Little Chen, I have a question for you."

"Hm? Please, go ahead."

The God of Destruction had done nothing but give him benefits. He had not even mentioned taking Su Chen as his disciple, much less assigned him any tasks.

The only thing Su Chen could offer the God of Destruction in return was advice.

God Realm, outside the Castle of Destruction.

"Destruction, I heard that you have recently been answering other gods' questions in the Castle of Destruction. I wonder whether we might come in and listen?"

Hearing the voices of the God of Goodness and the God of Evil outside, the God of Destruction knew that the test had arrived.

He had decided to emulate Tang San in certain respects. As Su Chen had said, make more friends and fewer enemies.

But the people he had practiced on before were subordinates such as the God of Ruin and the Seven Original Sin Gods. They could hardly demonstrate how capable he truly was.

Even if he spoke harshly to those people, it would be difficult for them to abandon him.

But the God of Goodness and the God of Evil were different.

They were not the God of Destruction's subordinates. They were even God Kings just like him.

Over the long years, they had often disagreed and had their share of arguments that left them red-faced.

Whether he could use his ability to make friends and get these two to stand on his side at a critical moment would be the true test of the God of Destruction's results.

"Little Chen, how should one make friends with people of similar origins and comparable strength? Do you have any suggestions?"

Su Chen immediately guessed whom the God of Destruction meant.

The Goddess of Life was the God of Destruction's wife, so it certainly was not about making friends with her.

The God of Asura was unlikely. The sworn enemy the God of Destruction had mentioned before might have been him.

That left only the God of Goodness and the God of Evil.

"Making friends depends on the individual. Different people require different methods."

Su Chen did not know much about the God of Evil and the God of Goodness.

If it had been Ji Dong and Lie Yan later on, Su Chen would have known more about them. They too were a pair of infatuated man and woman who placed love above all else.

But aside from knowing that the old Evil God and old Goodness God had passed their god positions on to Ji Dong and Lie Yan, Su Chen knew very little about them.

"When people with little difference in status become friends, the best outcome is if they hit it off and find each other agreeable from their first meeting."

The God of Destruction had already invited the God of Goodness and the God of Evil inside, merely devoting a portion of his spiritual power to communicating with Su Chen.

"I'm afraid that won't work."

The time the God of Destruction had spent with those two was so long that even they themselves could no longer count it.

If they had hit it off, they would have done so long ago. There would have been no need to wait until today.

Even if the God of Destruction's personality had changed somewhat, his fundamental nature had not changed much. It was impossible for him to suddenly become incomparably compatible with the God of Evil and the God of Goodness.

Su Chen knew that as well and immediately continued:

"If sincere friendship is impossible, then you can only seek common interests. Many times, shared interests are more reliable than simple feelings."

That was right.

The God of Destruction strongly agreed with that point.

What feelings could be trusted? Whether it was the kindness he had shown Zhou Weiqing or the marital bond between him and the Goddess of Life, they had ultimately proven unreliable.

As for common interests...

The Seven Original Sin Gods shared interests with him, but for the moment, the God of Destruction could not think of what common interests he had with the God of Goodness and the God of Evil.

In terms of status, they were all God Kings.

The God of Evil and the God of Goodness were even more senior than the God of Destruction.

Before Tang San entered the God Realm, and before the God of Evil and the God of Goodness passed their god positions to Ji Dong and Lie Yan, they had handed control of the God Realm Hub to Tang San.

From that point of view, the God of Destruction was dissatisfied with them.

"Destruction, it seems the rumors are true. Your personality has become much better than before."

The God of Evil smiled as he entered the Castle of Destruction.

In the past, this place had been saturated with Destruction Intent and energy. Even he had not wanted to come into contact with it too much.

But now, the God of Destruction had confined that Destruction Intent elsewhere, leaving a large area untouched by it.

Moreover, Destruction had actually come to greet them at the entrance. That was something the God of Destruction had never done before.

The God of Goodness added:

"You are much better this way than before. I imagine Life likes your current state very much as well."

The God of Destruction no longer cared in the slightest whether the Goddess of Life liked his current state. With a wave of his hand, he drove the Destruction Intent even farther away.

"The God Realm is far too unchanging, and gods themselves are the same. Especially gods like us, who were born as gods—our personalities were determined long ago."

The God of Destruction did not deliberately flatter them, much less bend himself to please them.

After all, he merely wanted to "make friends," not lose himself.

"Hm?"

The God of Destruction's casual action left the God of Evil and the God of Goodness greatly surprised.

"Destruction, you have actually already taken the lead over us?"