The Hunt Begins

If not for the Sovereign's demands, Sean could have simply fled. The Four Divine Beasts Family could not possibly keep so many experts gathered to hunt him down for long, because they had no way of finding where he was.

Once those people dispersed, he could keep a low profile if he did not want trouble. If he wanted revenge on the Four Divine Beasts Family, he could keep harassing them instead.

Only directly confronting an army packed with experts like this was the stupidest possible course of action.

But right now, the Death Sovereign clearly did not want to see him run away. She wanted him to teach the Four Divine Beasts Family a lesson. One reason was to preserve the Sovereign's face, while the other might simply be for amusement. After all, within the Netherworld, a battle involving Lord God Emissaries and a large number of Seven-Star Demons might not happen even once in hundreds of millions of years.

"Borrow people? You want Torres and Audebeu to help you?" The Death Sovereign raised an eyebrow. "If they agree, then I have no objection. Convince them yourself. I will not get involved."

Audebeu was the Death Sovereign's first Lord God Emissary. He specialized in the Destruction Rule, possessed two Sovereign Artifacts, and was extremely powerful.

Sean shook his head. "You misunderstand, Sovereign. I do not wish to ask for the help of the other emissaries. I want to borrow those experts who have been trapped in the Gray Mist Zone for countless hundreds of millions of years."

"Those people? No problem." The Death Sovereign asked, "But they have lost consciousness in the gray mist. If you bring them down and they regain consciousness, they may not necessarily thank you. Or do you intend to plant Soul Seeds in them?"

"I will plant Soul Seeds in some of them," Sean said. "Those people were trapped in the Gray Mist Zone in the first place because their souls were not strong enough. By controlling them with Soul Seeds, I can control a greater number."

Planting a Soul Seed in a Seven-Star Demon was the same in principle, but what the controlled person specialized in made a huge difference;

If they specialized in material attacks and were weak in soul-related aspects, then it would be relatively easy to plant a Soul Seed in them or use Soul Bewilderment on them.

Conversely, if they cultivated one of the Four Rules or the Water Element and excelled in the soul, then planting a Soul Seed would be much more difficult. This was especially true for those who cultivated the Death Rule, whose souls had greater resistance to Soul Seeds.

The Death Sovereign nodded. "That is true. Then how many can you plant Soul Seeds in?"

"That will depend on the strength of their souls," Sean replied. "I cannot say for certain."

He definitely could not directly reveal that his Soul Seed ability was dozens of times stronger than that of ordinary Death Rule experts, but raising his apparent capacity a little would not be a problem;

If anyone asked, he could just say that his research into souls happened to focus on this area. Others had no way of understanding such things. Even Paragons had not reached the ultimate limit in their study of ultimate techniques and Profound Mysteries.

The Death Sovereign smiled. "Fine. Go back to Nether Mountain."

"Thank you, Sovereign." After speaking, Sean slowly backed away and left.

Although he could be considered a peak expert, in a Sovereign's eyes, he was no different from an ant. He still had to remain cautious in all things;

Before becoming a Paragon, he had to be cautious around any Sovereign. Even the arrogance a Paragon could display was only due to the respect granted by the Sovereigns.

After arriving at the entrance to Nether Mountain, Sean noticed several Black Tortoise clan members lying in ambush nearby. They were concealed within the surrounding earth and stone, merged with it through the Earth Traversal Technique and protected by a trace of a Magic Array. They had controlled their auras well. An ordinary Asura might truly fail to notice them unless they paid particular attention.

"I do not know whether these people have Divine Clones. I cannot act against them yet."

After thinking it over, Sean ultimately gave up. The odds of this being an issue among ordinary troops were low. Across an entire God Plane, only twenty to thirty percent of people possessed Divine Clones. In particular, members outside major families often chose Internal Godhood when they became gods. Otherwise, after becoming gods in the wilderness, their weakened souls would have gotten them killed long ago.

The Four Divine Beasts Family was an exception. They could safely become gods, which meant they had at least one Saint Domain True Body.

At a spot several thousand meters from the entrance to Nether Mountain, Sean held a token and passed directly through the Heaven-Earth Chains. That terrifying thunderbolt power did not attack him;

After becoming a Lord God Emissary of Nether Mountain, he had received this token, allowing him to avoid attacks from Nether Mountain's various miraculous powers. Besides, he possessed a Defense Sovereign Artifact and did not fear that lightning power.

Soon, he arrived at the Gray Mist Zone in the center of Nether Mountain. After asking a Red Serpent under the Netherworld Main God, he learned the locations of the many experts he needed to find, then sought them out one by one and planted Soul Seeds in them one by one.

In the end, after more than a month, he had planted Soul Seeds in over sixty Six-Star Demons.

Torres also learned that Sean had returned and came to find him. When he saw the dozens of people behind Sean, he said in shock, "Sean, your Death Rule is truly terrifying. With just these sixty-odd people, you could establish an enormous family anywhere in the Netherworld."

A Seven-Star Demon's family could become renowned throughout an entire prefecture of the Netherworld. A family founded by an Asura could dominate a prefecture, while Sean's combination of himself and more than sixty Six-Star Demons was enough to become one of the Netherworld's top powers.

"Unfortunately, we are still far inferior to the Four Divine Beasts Family," Sean said with a shake of his head.

His Soul Seeds could control even more people, but that would be useless against the Four Divine Beasts Family. They had abundant Sovereign's Might. Ordinary Highgods using Sovereign's Might would all be experts at the Six-Star Demon level; a Five-star could wield Seven-Star Level power, and so on.

No wonder the Four Divine Beasts Family was so arrogant. Unless it was another Sovereign family or a truly peak expert, they likely did not consider anyone worth their notice.

Torres said as well, "The Four Divine Beasts Family is indeed troublesome. I do not fear the clan leaders of the Four Divine Beasts or their Lord God Emissaries, but if I encounter their family army, I would have to flee for my life too."

When too many Highgods attacked using Sovereign's Might, even an Asura could perish without a Dual-Defense Sovereign Artifact. Under normal circumstances, such a thing was nearly impossible, but several Sovereign families in the God Planes could accomplish it.

Sean smiled. "Yes, but they have come to Nether Mountain. I have to teach them a lesson."

After bringing everyone down the mountain, Sean arrived near the Four Divine Beasts Family. Using the power of his Soul Seed, he summoned back an Azure Dragon clan member who had been planted with one;

"Master." The newcomer knelt and spoke.

Sean said, "Find a way to gather around one or two hundred of them. They must be from the Azure Dragon Clan. Then lead them into that valley over there. I have set up a Magic Array there."

"Master, leading them into the trap will not be a problem, but whether they are killed or planted with Soul Seeds, their other Divine Clones will immediately know and inform the others," the Soul Seeded person reminded him.

"I know," Sean said. "Just do your own job. I will handle everything else."

Divine Clones could not influence one another remotely, and not even a Sovereign could do that. Still, no matter what, he would first find a way to take down this group.

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