The Fate Law

Most of the Sanctuary dwellers in Gobada spent their time hiding in caves beneath the ground, lying low to avoid trouble. They only dared venture aboveground when a life-or-death battle broke out or when a Godlevel powerhouse led the way.

At that moment, Barn was lying prone among a jumble of jagged rocks, suppressing his aura to the utmost and blending in with the stone around him. Declan, the Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragon, had already turned into a shadow as dark as ink and silently slipped into the darkness underground.

Their target was a Black-ring Giant Python.

This ninth-level dark-type magical beast had a bloodline talent slightly inferior to that of Declan and other Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragons, but it was still stronger than an ordinary ninth-level dragon. Its scales were as thick as steel, and it could cover itself in a heavy layer of rock, giving it astonishing defenses. Its fangs also carried a deadly poison capable of corroding the meridians of Sanctuary powerhouses.

After breaking through to Sanctuary, its strength would rise to a new peak. Thanks to its bloodline alone, it would be enough to place it in the third tier of Sanctuary peak powerhouses.

The reason the two had set their sights on this Black-ring Giant Python was that it acted far too brazenly. It relied on its race's innate talent for burrowing underground. Once it reached Sanctuary, ordinary Sanctuary powerhouses could no longer track it while it was belowground, and so it grew increasingly reckless.

Not long ago, it had fought another magical beast to the death, making quite a commotion. Though it had promptly burrowed away to escape, Declan was exceptionally sensitive to dark auras and had precisely pinpointed its hiding place.

Using their soul bond to transmit his voice, Barn spoke gravely. "Be careful. Don't let it detect you."

Declan's voice came back through their soul link, utterly confident. "Don't worry! I sensed it while it was fighting earlier. It cultivates the same dark Profound Mystery as I do, but it hasn't comprehended it as deeply. And my burrowing technique is no worse than its own. This ambush is bound to succeed!"

The dark Profound Mystery Declan cultivated was called Night Veil. It was an extremely common Law among dark-type Sanctuary powerhouses, specializing in concealing one's presence while also boosting movement speed. It suited his fighting style of ambushing and entangling his opponents perfectly.

In terms of comprehension alone, Declan was roughly on par with Olivia before his soul mutation in the original story. That level wasn't outstanding among human Sanctuary peak powerhouses, but for a Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragon, whose comprehension of the Laws was far more difficult than a human's, it was already a remarkable achievement.

A moment later, Declan's voice sounded again, light with the ease of someone sneaking through the shadows. "I'm within fifty meters of it."

For Sanctuary powerhouses, that distance was practically face-to-face. Even with a thick layer of earth between them, it was a distance they could cross in an instant.

The man and dragon had long since perfected their tactics: Declan would conceal himself and launch a surprise attack, using his strength to keep the target occupied, while Barn followed up with a powerful assault. Together, they would kill it outright.

Suddenly, the ground trembled faintly. Barn's eyes sharpened. He knew Declan had made his move, and immediately drew the long spear Mist Hidden from his back. With a flick of his body, he darted through the earth like a fish, speeding toward the disturbance of battle.

The farther he went, the clearer the violent fluctuations of colliding energy became. A faint glow flashed around Barn as white fur rapidly spread over his skin. A pair of purple-gold wings suddenly unfurled from his back—the Tiger-pattern Warrior transformation was complete in an instant.

The bloodline Barn had used to awaken his own was that of a Sanctuary Beast, the Thunder-wing White Tiger. This magical beast looked very much like a true Tiger-pattern Warrior: both had white fur and black stripes, though only the Thunder-wing White Tiger's wings shimmered with a distinctive purple-gold light.

When Barn had first read this memory, he had even wondered whether the Thunder-wing White Tiger was an accidental by-product Beirut had created while researching the bloodline of the divine beast White Tiger.

Brushing aside his stray thoughts, Barn tightened his grip on Mist Hidden and kept the power within its shaft in check. He could clearly sense that, just beyond the layer of earth ten meters ahead, Declan was locked in battle with the Black-ring Giant Python.

Declan's suppression had clearly left the python too preoccupied to look after itself. Barn couldn't sense any probing spiritual force spreading out from it.

Just then, Declan's Soul Transmission rang out. "Attack!"

Barn instantly pushed the Tiger-pattern Warrior's speed to its limit and thrust his spear forward. The thick layer of earth was pierced as easily as soft butter by the spearpoint. In a flash, he appeared behind the Black-ring Giant Python. Clear blue battle qi coiled around the tip of the Divine Artifact Mist Hidden. Barn had, after all, refined some water-attributed battle qi, solely to unleash the full power of this Divine Artifact.

His greatest improvement during this time had actually been in the Water Profound Mystery.

With spiritual force far beyond that of ordinary people and Water Element affinity that had reached the exceptional level after his breakthrough, Barn had successfully crossed the threshold of the Water Law. He had comprehended the most common technique among Water Law Sanctuary Warriors: Water Body Technique.

Though it was only a Lesser Profound Mystery, it boosted strength, speed, and defense across the board. It could even conceal its user in bodies of water, making it the technique best suited to Barn at his current stage.

Barn struck without warning, and the Black-ring Giant Python had no time to dodge. It could only curl up its enormous body in haste, trying to use its thick tail to block the spear.

But Mist Hidden was far sharper than it had imagined. The spearpoint sliced through the rock armor covering its body as easily as paper, and even its tough scales couldn't stop it. The spear drove straight through.

The three layers of tail it had thrown up to block the attack ultimately helped the Black-ring Giant Python avoid a fatal blow. The spear left only a deep gash, exposing bone, along the side of its head.

Seeing this, Declan immediately lunged forward again. His claws clamped onto the python's vulnerable spot, keeping the Black-ring Giant Python from burrowing away.

Barn planted his feet against the cave wall and pushed off to build momentum. He shot forward once more, aiming his spear straight at the python's head.

The Fate Law he had comprehended, Destined Hit, allowed his attacks to lock onto their targets. Even when they encountered obstacles, he could bend their trajectories within a certain range to avoid them.

The tail had blocked too wide an area just now, exceeding the limits of his current ability, so he hadn't used it. But with Declan keeping the python occupied, it was already struggling to keep up. It could only muster all its strength to spit out a stream of black poison in an attempt to stop Barn's attack.

What it hadn't expected was that Barn's Fate Law was so bizarre. In its lantern-sized eyes, Barn's figure suddenly twisted in defiance of all reason, precisely dodging the poison even a Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragon wouldn't dare take head-on. His spearpoint continued toward its head.

The original story's description of the Four Great Rules had been vague, offering only a broad outline: the Death Law specialized in souls, the Destruction Law in offense, and the Life Law in defense, healing, and restraint.

Many readers had guessed that the Fate Law must have some strange form of Soul Attack.

But only after comprehending part of the Fate Law did Barn understand that its essence wasn't direct attack, but "mechanisms."

Perhaps with deeper comprehension, it would reveal boosts to offense and defense on both the soul and physical levels. For now, though, the Fate Law gave Barn's attacks a quality that made them incredibly difficult to dodge.

This also explained how, during the final battle of the Planar War, the Celestial Realm's warriors had been able to defeat the Earth God Plane's warriors, whose offense and defense were both peerless, in a narrow passageway. Those who cultivated the Fate Law and prepared thoroughly could use all sorts of strange traits and mechanisms to keep their enemies off guard.

With a muffled sound of penetration, Mist Hidden plunged straight into the Black-ring Giant Python's head. Its enormous body convulsed violently, and the rock armor covering it fell away in a shower of fragments. Then it crashed heavily onto the cave floor and breathed no more.

Declan didn't dare waste a moment. He hurried forward, scooped up the python's corpse with his claws, and stored it in his spatial pendant. Then he grabbed Barn, and the two of them burrowed into the earth together, disappearing from the cave in an instant.

Moments later, an enormous figure burst through the ground with a crash. As rocks flew everywhere, the Earth Violent Bear's body filled most of the cave.

The Earth Violent Bear was one of the finest among Sanctuary powerhouses. Its unmatched physical strength, combined with the reinforcement of the Earth Law, made it even more formidable in underground combat.

The Earth Violent Bear paid no heed to the possibility that enemies might be lurking nearby. It lowered its head and stared at the blood and scales left on the ground, sniffing around the cave with its massive nose as it growled in a deep, rumbling voice. "Black-ring Giant Python, Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragon, and a human with a strange aura. I think I smelled that scent not long ago."