Fate Law Armor

The two stopped in front of a somewhat secluded stall.

There were no unnecessary odds and ends here, only a few Divine Artifacts displayed quietly. What caught Adele's eye was the vine armor at the very center of the stall.

It was impossible to tell what material it had been made from. The entire piece was a pale jade green, and a layer of life force seemed ready to spill from its surface. It was gentle yet resilient, and faintly resonated with the Life Law she had just mastered upon becoming a god. It was exactly the Divine Artifact she needed.

The stallkeeper was a man who looked middle-aged, with a slightly roguish face. The faint pressure of a Midgod radiated from him, but he carried no air of arrogance. When Barn and Adele approached, he merely lifted his eyes and said calmly, "The Five Royal Cities fought a few years ago. This batch was seized as spoils from Evil Royal City. Feel free to take a look if anything catches your eye."

"Evil Royal City?" Adele asked in surprise. As she gently stroked the vine armor, sensing the pure life force within it, she continued, "I remember that most of the cultivators there practice the darkness or death elements. There can't be many Godlevel cultivators who specialize in the Life Law, can there?"

Her fingertips traced the pattern on the vine armor. She had already confirmed that it was a top-quality Lowgod Artifact, with excellent defensive and self-healing abilities.

The middle-aged stallkeeper chuckled, speaking casually. "Evil Royal City is allied with Wither-Bloom Royal City in the south. With all the elves there, it's no surprise to find cultivators of the Life Law. This vine armor was stripped from an elf god. Its material is strange. It withstood one of my blows without breaking, and in the end, I had to kill him with a Soul Attack."

"The Life Law excels at defense and self-healing. Withstanding a Midgod's blow isn't all that remarkable." Adele tried to bargain without showing her hand, her tone flat, as though the vine armor were nothing special.

The stallkeeper didn't beat around the bush. "I won't haggle with you. I only accept Lowgod Godheads. Any Lowgod Godhead can be exchanged for five Lowgod Artifacts here, or one Midgod Artifact."

Barn and Adele exchanged a glance, each seeing a hint of hesitation in the other's eyes.

In a prison plane like Gobada, Godheads were the most valuable and scarcest resource. Countless Sanctuary cultivators spent their entire lives yearning for a Godhead, hoping to rise above their lot and escape the fate of an ant. Those who could grit their teeth and persist in comprehending the laws on their own until they became gods were one in ten thousand.

But exchanging a Lowgod Godhead for five Divine Artifacts they couldn't use wasn't worth it by any measure.

"Don't look at me like that. I'm not a swindler." The stallkeeper waved a hand and neatly laid out five Lowgod Artifacts: a staff, a Long Sword, a short club, a robe, and the vine armor. Each brimmed with Divine Power and was made from excellent material. "Every one of them is top quality. Five for one Godhead—you're not losing out."

Barn's gaze swept over them, and he nodded inwardly. The quality of these Divine Artifacts was indeed quite good, but unfortunately, most of their attributes didn't suit them.

"Senior, your strength is impressive. To have claimed so much loot during the fighting among the Royal Cities is truly admirable." Barn offered a compliment, trying to ease the tension.

The middle-aged man wasn't swayed. He waved his hand impatiently. "Enough of that. Are you trading or not? Give me a straight answer."

Barn stopped circling around the subject and stated his purpose directly. "The items are certainly good, but aside from this vine armor, we can't use the rest. May I ask whether you have any defensive Divine Artifacts of the Water Element or Fate attribute?"

He had already decided that from now on, he would fight by combining his true body with his Water Clone and Fate Clone. The Mist Hidden spear was exceptionally sharp, and he didn't need to replace his offensive Divine Artifact anytime soon. His most pressing need was to shore up his defenses.

The stallkeeper looked at Barn and nodded. "I do have a defensive Divine Artifact of the Fate Law, but it's not a Lowgod Artifact. It's a Midgod Artifact."

As he spoke, he turned his palm slightly, and a bright silver suit of armor edged in gold appeared out of thin air.

It was a complete suit of medieval-style plate armor, including a breastplate, pauldrons, greaves, gauntlets, and sabatons. It even came with a fully enclosed helmet and visor. Its lines were smooth, and the surface was engraved with fine golden patterns like ripples on water. It radiated mysterious Fate Divine Power.

Barn reached out and touched it lightly. The material clearly didn't come from Gobada.

"Does Gobada have metal like this?"

The stallkeeper shook his head, his voice touched by distant memories. "It's not from here. I came across this armor by chance ten thousand years ago. Around that time, a large number of top experts from various planes suddenly poured into Gobada. The Ice Prison King only truly rose to power then, too. They say this armor came from the Celestial Realm."

The stallkeeper spoke without a second thought, but Barn listened with keen interest.

Barn's heart tightened. He silently filed the words away. The Celestial Realm was one of the four Supreme Planes. He hadn't expected to find armor from there in Gobada.

Without further hesitation, Barn took out a jet-black Godhead that radiated darkness.

"How about this Dark Element Lowgod Godhead for your Midgod Artifact?"

The stallkeeper's gaze fell on the Godhead. He nodded slightly. "One Lowgod Godhead for one Midgod Artifact. Fair enough."

In a Supreme Plane, the value of a Lowgod Godhead would never be enough to buy a Midgod Artifact. But in Gobada, a Lowgod Godhead that could help someone break through to godhood was worth far more than it was in a Supreme Plane.

"Wait!" Adele immediately spoke up, pointing at the vine armor. "Senior, include this vine armor too! There aren't many Godlevel cultivators in Gobada who practice the Fate Law. Your Divine Artifact may be high quality, but that doesn't mean anyone will pay a high price for it. With this Godhead, you can have someone you trust refine it. After that, you can make as many Divine Artifacts as you want. You won't be losing out!"

"Both Divine Artifacts are top quality, in both material and workmanship. Trading them for one Godhead would be too much of a loss for me." The stallkeeper furrowed his brows, his stance unusually firm. "Quite a few people in the Royal Cities have been selling Godheads lately. I'm not short of buyers. Final offer: take it or leave it."

Seeing this, Barn knew there was no point in haggling further. He acted at once, taking off the Wind Element chainmail he wore and casually undoing its bond to him.

"This is a Wind Element Lowgod Artifact. Its quality is ordinary, but it can make up the difference. I'll trade this chainmail along with the Godhead for two items—the vine armor and this Midgod Fate Law armor."

The stallkeeper studied the chainmail for a moment, then looked at the Godhead in Barn's hand. After a brief silence, he finally nodded. "Deal."

After leaving the trading grounds, Barn immediately bonded himself to the full suit of armor radiating Fate Divine Power with a drop of blood.

A flash of light passed, and the armor instantly covered his body. He lowered the visor over his face, and suddenly looked like a solemn, silent knight.

Gods didn't rely on their eyes to see, but the narrow viewing slits in the visor still made him uncomfortable. Barn gently urged his mental link and adjusted the Divine Artifact's structure. His field of view immediately widened.

Nearby, Adele had also put on the vine armor.

The jade-green armor fit her figure and blended perfectly with the Life Divine Power around her. Her demeanor grew even gentler and more serene, and her eyes were full of delight.

As Barn adjusted to the armor, he asked in an apparently casual tone, "The stallkeeper just said the Ice Prison King came to Gobada ten thousand years ago?"

Adele didn't hide anything. She nodded. "Yes. It's no secret. Ten thousand years ago, a cataclysmic event occurred in the Yulan Continent outside. Countless experts from the four Supreme Planes and Seven Divine Planes poured in like mad. But some terrifying existence in the Yulan Continent must have appeared, because it wiped them all out. Some of those experts were exiled to Gobada."

The passersby nearby heard their conversation, but their expressions didn't change at all. Clearly, this was no secret.

"The Ice Prison King was one of those experts," Adele continued. "Many of the old-timers in Ice Prison Royal City were trapped here after that battle. As for the name Ice Prison Royal City, she renamed it after killing the previous king and taking her place."

Barn nodded slightly, then asked, "You're over ten thousand years old. You must have witnessed the battle that changed the ruler of the Royal City, right?"

Adele nodded lightly, her gaze turning distant. "Yes. I saw it from far away once. I was still in Sanctuary back then. My father recorded a Battle Projection of the fight, but he died in battle later, and the projection was lost."

Seeing her mood darken, Barn asked no more.

The two continued on in silence, crossed an open stretch of ground, and gradually reached the edge of the Royal City.

In the distance, a gigantic pit gaped in the earth like the open maw of a monstrous beast. Its walls were covered in countless traces of battle, and waves of violent Divine Power surged skyward from its depths, mingling faintly with roars and crashing booms.

Adele stopped and looked toward the pit. She spoke softly:

"This is the Colosseum."