Challenge Rules

"No need to move. If I need anything, I'll come find you."

Ailin did not accept the new courtyard the other party had offered, but neither did he reject Moke's willingness to work for him. His original plan had been to first challenge his way through a city and eventually become its City Lord. After that, he would challenge the Prefect.

It would be best if he encountered a High-God who cultivated the Death Law. Even if he did not, once he became a City Lord or Prefect, he could send people to search for such experts.

There would certainly be plenty of trivial matters during this time, and he could not handle everything personally. Naturally, he needed some subordinates. Since Moke had taken the initiative to attach himself to him, Ailin would not simply push him away.

Moreover, when he had roamed the Brinia Plane, he had never been some so-called lone wanderer. Otherwise, the Duncan Family would never have risen to prominence.

Hearing Ailin's words, Moke was overjoyed. Ailin was clearly not averse to his goodwill, and perhaps there would be an opportunity in the future to build some connection with this super expert.

After speaking, Ailin returned directly to Courtyard 14, where he was currently staying.

After entering the courtyard, Ailin took out Bensgodo's Space Ring. On the way back, he had tried dripping blood on it to claim it as his own, though it had only been a casual attempt. Based on his understanding of the original work, many elders of the Four Divine Beast Family possessed Divine Clones. If that were the case, this Space Ring would have been unusable.

However, to his surprise, Bensgodo actually had no other Divine Clones. The moment his blood touched it, he successfully claimed the Space Ring.

"He really was rich."

Even Ailin was somewhat speechless at Bensgodo's wealth.

There were nearly ten billion Nether Stones at a glance. Besides that, there were quite a few High-level Divine Weapons and High-God Sparks, seemingly all obtained through slaughter.

There were also some precious ores. Any one of them, if placed in Blood Nether City, would trigger fierce competition among numerous families.

This was merely the Space Ring of one elder from the Four Divine Beast Family. From this small glimpse, one could easily imagine just how wealthy the Four Divine Beast Family was.

However, the Sovereign's Might Ailin wanted most was not there. The main reason he had taken Bensgodo's Space Ring was to see whether he could find additional Sovereign's Might within it.

But now, it seemed that while the Four Divine Beast Family did not lack Sovereign's Might, they did not supply their elders without limit.

In truth, Ailin had overlooked something. The current Four Divine Beast Family was a colossal force. Even if someone could kill one of their elders, unless there was a blood feud, few would actually deal a killing blow.

Under such circumstances, carrying a single drop of Sovereign's Might was enough for an elder of the Four Divine Beast Family to handle most situations.

Although he had not found any Sovereign's Might, Bensgodo's wealth instantly eased some of Ailin's current difficulties, such as his lack of Divine Weapons.

"No wonder there are so many bandits in the Divine Planes."

After casually taking stock of Bensgodo's wealth, Ailin could not help but sigh. One had no idea how many years it would take to earn such wealth, yet now, by killing just one person, he had obtained it all.

Still, he knew that not everyone possessed such wealth. Those who did were generally either members of major families or truly powerful experts.

To rob such people for their wealth, one needed sufficient strength in the first place.

"Lord Ailin."

At that moment, the voice of the beautiful waitress from earlier sounded outside the courtyard.

"Come in."

Ailin withdrew his Divine Sense from the Space Ring and spoke.

"My lord."

The beautiful waitress was even more respectful toward Ailin now. She bowed at a full ninety degrees, displaying her figure to the fullest. "The City Lord is outside requesting an audience."

Though she was merely a waitress at Karik Tavern, she had met the City Lord before. However, this was the first time she had seen the City Lord from such close range. Even the City Lord had come to request an audience with Lord Ailin, which was enough to show Lord Ailin's prestige.

Naturally, she was filled with a special kind of admiration for Ailin.

"The City Lord? Kengo?"

Ailin thought of the man with rock-like hair whom he had seen outside the city earlier. He nodded. "Let him come in."

"Yes."

The beautiful waitress answered respectfully before carefully withdrawing.

Before long, Kengo arrived in the courtyard.

"Kengo greets Mr. Ailin."

Kengo wore a smile, his tone respectful. Though he was the Lord of Blood Nether City, he did not dare show the slightest disrespect toward an expert at the Asura level.

"Sit."

Ailin nodded and gestured for Kengo to take a seat.

"Thank you, sir."

Kengo did not decline. After thanking him, he carefully sat down not far from Ailin, then took the initiative to say, "I came this time, firstly, to pay you a visit, and secondly, to ask for your forgiveness."

"Forgiveness?"

For a moment, Ailin did not quite understand. "Forgive what?"

Kengo smiled. "Because the Blood Battle Stage was not sturdy enough, your challenge progress was affected. You may be unable to continue your challenges for some time, so naturally I must apologize to you."

Hearing Kengo's words, Ailin paused, then found the reason somewhat amusing. "There's no need for that. I can continue challenging once the Blood Battle Stage has been restored."

Hearing Ailin's answer, Kengo's heart stirred. As expected, he would continue challenging.

In fact, that was his true purpose for coming here.

Thinking of this, Kengo carefully asked, "May I ask, sir, what is your goal in challenging the Blood Battle Stage?"

Ailin looked at Kengo and did not hide anything. "I intend to become the City Lord."

"Uh..."

Kengo grumbled inwardly, but he did not dare reveal anything. He could only force a bitter smile. "With your strength, sir, becoming City Lord would naturally be more than easy. If you have set your sights on this position, Kengo is willing to step down voluntarily and let you take the position of City Lord."

If he had faced a Seven-star Demon like Bensgodo, he still had the pride of a Seven-star Demon and naturally would not voluntarily admit defeat and relinquish his position. Yet he would not want to offend the Four Divine Beast Family either, so he would most likely avoid battle until he was automatically removed from office.

But when facing an Asura-level expert like Ailin, he did not consider surrendering and stepping down to be anything shameful.

By taking the initiative to say so, he might even earn Ailin's goodwill.

"Oh? Can one become City Lord directly without achieving a hundred consecutive victories?"

Ailin asked.

Being able to become City Lord directly would naturally be best. Once he became City Lord, he could use the power of Blood Nether City to search for experts who cultivated the Death Law.

"You worry too much, sir."

Kengo smiled bitterly. "Though there are rules for challenging a City Lord, in the end, they merely establish a threshold of strength for challengers. The status of a Seven-star Demon or a hundred-consecutive-victory champion is that threshold. This is also to prevent just anyone from challenging the City Lord. Otherwise, the City Lord would have to accept countless challenges every day. But since you killed the Seven-star Demon Bensgodo, you need no additional proof. Based on that alone, you may challenge directly."

"I see."

Ailin immediately understood. In other words, as long as one was powerful enough, or famous enough throughout the Divine Planes, one could directly challenge a City Lord even without being a Seven-star Demon or a hundred-consecutive-victory expert.

Thinking of something, Ailin suddenly asked, "What if I want to Challenge the Prefect?"

Previously, he had believed that to Challenge the Prefect, one either had to be a Seven-star Demon or become a City Lord. As for a hundred consecutive victories, one could only rely on that status to directly Challenge the Prefect if the Prefect personally governed a city.

But the Prefect of Blood Phantom Prefecture did not govern a city, so naturally that option was unavailable.

However, since challenging a City Lord was ultimately based only on strength, perhaps challenging the Prefect worked the same way. If that was truly the case, then he had no need to become City Lord at all and could directly go Challenge the Prefect.