Fate's Rules

Most Saint-level entities in the Gebados Plane spend the majority of their time hibernating in underground caverns to avoid disaster, only daring to set foot on the surface when a life-or-death battle erupts or when led by a God-level powerhouse.

At this moment, Barn was prone among a patch of jagged rocks, his aura suppressed to the absolute limit, blending seamlessly with the surrounding stone. Meanwhile, the Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragon, Declan, had long since transformed into an inky shadow, silently slipping into the darkness beneath the earth.

Their target was a Black-ring Giant Python.

Though this level-nine dark-type magical beast possessed innate bloodline talents slightly inferior to a Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragon like Declan, it was no weaker than an average level-nine dragon. Its scales were as thick as steel, and it could actively coat itself in a layer of dense rock, granting it astonishing defense. Furthermore, its fangs contained a lethal venom capable of corroding the meridians of Saint-level experts.

Once it broke through to the Saint-level, its strength would climb to new heights; based on its bloodline potential alone, it would be enough to rank among the third tier of peak Saint-level experts.

The reason this Black-ring Giant Python had been targeted by the duo was that it was far too arrogant. Relying on its race's innate earth-burrowing talent, it acted with increasing impunity, knowing that when it was underground at the Saint-level, ordinary Saint-level experts had no way to track its movements.

Not long ago, it had fought a life-or-death battle with another magical beast, causing quite a commotion. Although it had escaped by burrowing underground in time, it had been precisely locked onto by Declan, who was extremely sensitive to dark auras.

Barn communicated through their soul bond, his tone solemn: "Be careful, don't let it detect you."

Declan's voice, filled with absolute certainty, traveled back along the soul link: "Rest assured! I sensed it during its previous fight; it practices the same dark-type profound mysteries as I do, but its depth of comprehension is not yet equal to mine. Plus, my earth-burrowing technique is no worse than its own. This ambush will surely succeed!"

The dark-type profound mystery Declan practiced was called "Night Veil," a very common law among dark-type Saint-level experts. It specialized in concealing one's form and boosting movement speed, which perfectly suited his ambush-and-entangle combat style.

In terms of law comprehension alone, Declan was roughly at the level of the original story's Olivier before his soul mutation—not outstanding among peak human Saint-level experts, but for a Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragon, whose difficulty in comprehending laws far exceeded that of humans, this was already a highly impressive achievement.

A moment later, Declan's voice sounded again, carrying the lightness of one who had successfully infiltrated: "I have entered within fifty meters of it."

For a Saint-level expert, this distance was practically face-to-face; even with thick layers of soil in between, it was a distance that could be crossed in an instant.

The tactics of the man and the dragon were already well-practiced: Declan would launch a stealthy assault to entangle the target with his own strength, while Barn would follow up with a powerful strike, the two joining forces for a decisive kill.

Suddenly, a subtle tremor rippled through the ground. Barn's eyes sharpened; knowing Declan had initiated the attack, he immediately drew the long spear "Mist Hidden" from his back. His body moved like a swimming fish, diving into the soil and speeding toward the fluctuations of the battle.

The further he went, the clearer the violent energy collision became. A faint light shimmered around Barn's body as white fur rapidly spread across his skin, and a pair of purple-gold wings suddenly unfurled from his back—the transformation of the Tiger-pattern Warrior was completed in an instant.

The blood essence he had used to activate his bloodline back then belonged to a Saint-level magical beast, the Thunder-wing White Tiger. This beast looked very similar to an orthodox Tiger-pattern Warrior, both having white fur with black stripes, the only difference being the unique purple-gold halo radiating from those wings.

When he first read that memory, Barn even suspected that the Thunder-wing White Tiger might have been a byproduct accidentally created when Beirut was researching the bloodline of the divine beast, the White Tiger.

Casting aside distracting thoughts, Barn gripped Mist Hidden tightly, the spiritual energy within the spear shaft restrained. He could clearly sense that just ten meters beyond the layer of soil lay the battlefield where Declan and the Black-ring Giant Python were locked in combat.

Clearly, the suppression Declan exerted had left the python with no time to spare; Barn felt absolutely no sign of the creature's probing spiritual energy.

Just then, Declan's soul transmission rang out abruptly: "Strike!"

Barn instantly pushed the speed of the Tiger-pattern Warrior to its limit and thrust his spear forward. The dense soil was easily pierced by the spear tip as if it were soft butter. With a flash of his figure, he appeared behind the Black-ring Giant Python. The tip of the divine artifact Mist Hidden was wreathed in clear blue battle qi—Barn had, after all, refined a portion of water-attribute battle qi, solely to allow the full power of this divine artifact to be unleashed.

Yet, during this period, his greatest improvement had actually been in the water-type profound mysteries.

Relying on his spiritual energy, which far exceeded that of ordinary people, and his super-grade water-type affinity gained after his promotion, Barn had successfully stepped over the threshold of the water-type laws, comprehending exactly what was most popular among water-type Saint-level warriors: the "Water Body Technique."

Although this was only a low-level profound mystery, it could comprehensively boost strength, speed, and defense. If used in a water domain, it could even provide a concealment effect, making it the most suitable method for Barn at his current stage.

Barn arrived in a surprise attack, and the Black-ring Giant Python had no time to dodge. It could only hurriedly coil its massive body, attempting to block the spear's assault with its thick, heavy tail.

However, the sharpness of Mist Hidden far exceeded its imagination. The spear tip sliced through the rock armor condensed on its surface like paper, and even the tough snake skin could not stop it, piercing straight through.

Having penetrated three layers of the snake tail's obstruction, the attack ultimately missed the lethal blow, leaving only a deep, bone-visible gash on the side of the snake's head.

Seeing this, Declan immediately pressed forward again, his sharp claws locking tightly onto the python's seven-inch mark, firmly pinning the Black-ring Giant Python, which was attempting to burrow away, to the spot.

Barn planted his feet on the cavern wall, using the recoil to build momentum, and launched himself out again, his long spear aimed directly at the python's skull.

The fate rule he had comprehended, "Destined Hit," allowed his attacks to lock onto the target; even if obstacles were encountered, he could twist the trajectory within a certain range to bypass them.

Just moments ago, the snake tail's blocking area had been too large, exceeding his current ability limit, which was why he hadn't used it. But now, with Declan pinning it down, the python was stretched thin and could only exhaust its strength to spray a stream of pitch-black venom, attempting to block Barn's advance.

Yet, it never expected that Barn's fate rule would be so bizarre. In those lantern-sized snake eyes, Barn's figure suddenly performed a twist that defied common sense, precisely avoiding the deadly poison that even the Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragon dared not take head-on, the spear tip continuing to thrust toward its skull.

The descriptions of the four great rules in the original story were vague, mentioning only generally: the death rule excelled in soul attacks, the destruction rule focused on offense, and the life rule specialized in defense, healing, and binding.

Many readers speculated that the fate rule must possess bizarre soul-attacking methods.

But only after Barn comprehended a portion of the fate rule did he realize that its core was not direct attack, but "mechanics."

Perhaps when comprehended to a deeper level, it would reveal soul and physical-level offensive and defensive boosts, but for now, the fate rule brought Barn the characteristic that his attacks were difficult to evade.

This also explained why, during the decisive battle of the Plane Wars, the Celestial warriors were able to defeat the Earth Divine Plane warriors—who possessed both supreme offense and defense—in narrow passages: practitioners of the fate rule who had prepared a foolproof plan could use various bizarre characteristics and mechanics to make their enemies unable to defend against them.

Accompanied by a dull piercing sound, Mist Hidden thrust straight into the skull of the Black-ring Giant Python. The massive snake body began to twitch violently, the rock armor on its body falling off with a rustle, until it finally crashed heavily onto the cavern floor, its life completely extinguished.

Declan dared not delay, quickly stepping forward to scoop up the python's corpse with his claws and store it in his space pendant. He then grabbed Barn, and the two vanished into the soil, disappearing from the cavern in an instant.

Only a moment later, a massive figure crashed into the cavern, breaking through the earth. Amidst the flying debris, the Earth Violent Bear's form occupied most of the space.

The Earth Violent Bear could be called a leader among Saint-level beasts. Its incomparably powerful physical strength, combined with the blessing of earth-attribute laws, made it like a tiger with wings when fighting underground.

The Earth Violent Bear ignored any potential enemies lurking nearby, lowering its head to stare at the bloodstains and scales left on the ground. Its massive nose sniffed back and forth in the cavern, and it let out a muffled, guttural growl: "Black-ring Giant Python, Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragon, and a human with a strange aura—this scent, I seem to have smelled it not long ago."