Soul Gold Bead

"Hahaha, what a bountiful harvest!"

Inside the temporary shelter of the cave, the Death clone of Fukaloss lowered her head to tally the spoils, while her Water clone hovered beside Gideon, a pale blue divine power flowing out in a steady stream to reshape his severed torso.

Although the attributes of Earth and Water were not compatible, the terrifying spiritual power of a deity was enough to forcibly draw earth elements from the thin air outside, bit by bit repairing Gideon's shattered body. However, in a place of elemental desolation like Gobada, the process was far more time-consuming and laborious than it would have been in the Yulan Plane.

Barn stared at the pitch-black badge in the hand of Fukaloss's Death clone and asked, "Is this the identification badge of the Evil Royal City?"

"Mhm." Fukaloss tossed the badge to him casually. "Every deity and above is issued one. After binding it with a drop of blood, deities belonging to the same royal city can sense each other's positions within a certain range, avoiding friendly fire."

As she spoke, she displayed the badge on her own chest—the badge of the Ice Prison Royal City, a single eye entwined by chains; the one from the Evil Royal City, by contrast, was a hollow, hideous skull howling toward the sky.

Fukaloss took the badge back and clapped her hands. "Everyone contributed significantly this time, so let's divide the spoils!"

By now, Gideon's body had fully recovered, thick fur once again covering his entire frame. Fukaloss threw a mustard-yellow vest studded with bone spikes toward him. "You suffered the most damage, and you aren't skilled at manipulating offensive Divine Artifacts, so this defensive Divine Artifact belongs to you."

"Many thanks, My Lady!"

"Declan discovered the enemy first, and Barn held the front line, saving your life. These two Soul Gold Beads—you two take one each." Fukaloss handed out two fingernail-sized spheres, each shimmering with a golden halo.

Declan looked blank. "My Lady, what are these?"

Blair explained calmly from the side, "These are Soul Gold Beads, refined by deities who cultivate the Death Law by collecting the souls of living beings. They can be used to nourish the soul. The total soul energy contained in one is equivalent to the combined souls of ten Sanctuary-level Archmagi—exactly the limit a normal Sanctuary soul can bear."

Every living soul has a capacity limit; the Sanctuary is no exception, and neither are deities.

Barn took the fingernail-sized Soul Gold Bead. A slight touch with his fingertip allowed him to feel the pure, vast soul power within, exactly as recorded in the original texts.

Fukaloss cautioned, "Your souls are currently at the Sanctuary level; consuming them directly will exceed your soul's capacity, leading to wasteful overflow. It is best to save them for when your soul is damaged in battle and on the verge of collapse; that is when they are most effective."

Barn asked casually, "My Lady, you also have a Death clone. Can you refine Soul Gold Beads?"

"I cannot." Fukaloss shook her head. "The Four Laws have no fixed profound mysteries, but everyone's focus in cultivation differs. Only by comprehending specific parts of the Death Law can one refine Soul Gold Beads."

"My Death clone only recently became a deity and hasn't touched upon that aspect of the laws. Even the most common technique for Death-type deities—soul-seed control and soul enslavement—is beyond my reach."

Barn silently tucked the Soul Gold Bead away, already having a plan in mind—he was a Soul Mutator, and his soul capacity was far beyond that of a normal Sanctuary expert. He would find an opportunity to consume it directly without worrying about overflow.

Fukaloss continued the distribution: "This long-handled axe-shaped Divine Artifact is best suited for Blair. As for Julia, I will take this female Undead Holy Magus to the Heavenly River Legion's encampment to sell her; the resources exchanged will count entirely as your reward."

Declan looked at the female Holy Magus frozen into an ice sculpture and asked skeptically, "The Heavenly River Legion accepts Undead Holy Magi?"

"No, they just need 'women'." Fukaloss deliberately emphasized the last two words.

Everyone understood instantly, and the atmosphere turned somewhat subtle.

Julia even looked at Barn with a teasing expression. "How about we let Barn have some fun for two days before selling her?"

Barn waved his hands frantically. "No, no! I must maintain my innocence!"

The group burst into laughter.

In the following days, the group searched the northwestern wilderness of the Ice Prison Royal City for ten full years.

The previously captured female Undead Holy Magus had already been sold by Fukaloss; it was said she had exchanged her for a Soul Gold Bead, which was handed directly to Julia.

"Ten years, and we haven't even seen a shadow of the enemy—" Fukaloss slumped onto a giant rock, her white hair hanging down, long since having lost her initial enthusiasm. "One more year of searching. If there are still no leads, we return to the Royal City. Perhaps this mission was already cleared by another squad long ago."

Even deities and Sanctuary experts could not withstand this kind of day-after-day, fruitless, and monotonous searching.

Barn, Declan, and Gideon, however, remained exceptionally calm. They were people who had gone hungry and survived life-and-death struggles in the Gobada Wasteland; five years of monotony was, to them, nothing more than a period of dormancy on the path of cultivation.

However, on this very day, the calm was completely shattered.

A burst of extremely cold, condensed dark energy erupted from the ground without warning!

A narrow, long shadow tore through the void. From within the shadow, an arm covered in pitch-black patterns reached out, tightly gripping a long, ghostly bone hook. With a sharpness that promised absolute destruction, it thrust directly toward the back of Fukaloss's heart!

"Shrala—!"

The Divine Artifact chains erupted in a series of crisp, resonant clangs.

At the critical moment, Fukaloss's chains lashed out like a spirit snake, locking onto the bone hook with a death grip.

"Clang—!!"

The violent shockwave of clashing divine power swept across the surroundings. Barn, Declan, Gideon, Julia, and Blair were all sent flying as if struck by a heavy hammer, their blood and qi surging.

Only then did they truly react—

This was a surprise assassination attempt from a Darkness-type deity!