"I was just about to tell you, Brother Hagson," Roger said with a smile. "I got lucky this time and fully comprehended the Soul Refining branch."
"Excellent!" Hagson's eyes immediately lit up. "Then does that mean you can now refine genuine Soul Gold Beads, Brother Roger?"
"I should be able to."
"Heaven truly favors me! Then sorry for the trouble, Brother Roger, but I'll need you to refine these Sanctuary souls into Soul Gold Beads. How long do you think it will take?"
"About two months. After my breakthrough, both my soul and divine power underwent a transformation. With my breakthrough in the edict as well, refining Soul Gold Beads won't be difficult."
"Good. Then I'll come back in two months. Once you finish refining them, you can use twelve first, Brother Roger!"
"As I said before, once you became a Midgod, we would need to change the split," Hagson said. "You'll take sixty percent now, and I'll take forty. What do you think, Brother Roger?"
"No problem."
Although sixty percent was not a particularly large share, Hagson still needed to set aside some Soul Gold Beads to reward his subordinates and to pay the Black Wolf Tribe and the Night Wind Tribe for their help.
Viewed that way, the split was quite sincere.
After all, Roger only needed to handle the refining. He did not have to worry about anything else.
Hagson chatted with Roger a little longer, then hurried away again.
This time, however, Hagson seemed much more relaxed.
Convincing the Black Wolf Tribe and the Night Wind Tribe to join forces against the Black Bat Tribe was difficult.
Hagson had to demonstrate enough strength and offer enough incentive to make both tribes willingly commit their full forces.
Roger's previous ability to refine soul essence had already been almost enough to persuade them.
Now that he could refine genuine Soul Gold Beads, Hagson's chances were even better.
Back in the secluded chamber.
Roger first spent a little over a day refining all the soul essence in the twenty crystal balls Hagson had brought into Soul Gold Beads.
He selected twelve, separated out his original body, and began consuming them.
His original body's soul was only at the Sanctuary level.
But it had remained together with his Death God Divine Clone all this time, and as the two mingled, his original body's soul had been slowly transforming as well.
Now that he had consumed the Soul Gold Beads, that transformation accelerated dramatically.
He finished consuming all twelve Soul Gold Beads.
Roger felt that his original body's soul had finally been strengthened to its current limit, becoming more than twice as strong as before.
However, his original body's soul was still slowly transforming, so he could continue using Soul Gold Beads later.
That would take considerably longer, though.
After all, remaining with his Divine Clone transformed his soul on a fundamental level, but the process was much slower.
More than twice as strong... That should be enough.
Roger put away the remaining Soul Gold Beads, then focused on drawing in divine power to prepare for the coming battle.
After he became a Midgod, his divine power had grown ten times purer, greatly increasing the power of attacks made with it.
That was also why Midgods could easily overpower Lowgods.
Roger did not have much divine power stored up at present, and a tribal war might break out soon. Naturally, he needed to build up sufficient reserves.
Hiss, hiss, hiss...
His original body and clone connected their consciousnesses to the ocean of divine power simultaneously.
The speed at which Roger drew in divine power immediately increased dramatically.
Aside from the half he continued supplying to the Jade Disc.
He stored all the rest.
Time passed.
In the blink of an eye, Roger had spent three months absorbing divine power at full speed.
Only after he felt that his stored divine power was enough to restore his divine body more than ten times and sustain several days of intense combat did Roger have his Death God Divine Clone resume cultivating. His original body devoted half its consciousness to continuing to draw in divine power, while the other half deduced and comprehended the Wind Elemental Profound Mysteries within the Laws of Wind.
At present, I've fully comprehended two branches of the Death Edict. One branch has hit a bottleneck, and I have no leads on the other three for now.
Within his soul ocean.
The soul of Roger's Death God Divine Clone sat beneath his spherical soul.
Then if I want to increase my strength again in a short time, my only option is to try to bring the Soul Control branch to major completion.
Having made his decision, Roger immersed his consciousness in the ocean of edicts and began repeatedly working out the direction of his next breakthrough.
Thanks to his strengthened soul, his comprehension had improved as well.
As Roger resumed his deductions, he suddenly found them much easier, and inspiration kept flowing.
At last.
After two and a half months of uninterrupted deduction.
A flash of lightning streaked through Roger's consciousness.
So that's how it works...
Roger opened his eyes.
He extended his right hand, and a mass of gray soul power appeared in his palm.
As Roger applied the edict he had just comprehended, the mass of soul power began spinning and condensing along a profound trajectory.
At first.
Strands of soul threads appeared.
Once all the soul power had transformed into soul threads.
Roger's gaze sharpened.
Under the control of a profound force, the soul threads began condensing.
Several dozen minutes later.
A gray seed appeared.
"Whew... I finally succeeded."
Roger looked at the gray seed hovering above his palm and knew that this was a Soul Seed capable of controlling another person's soul.
But to enslave and control someone with this, I'll need to plant the Soul Seed in their soul core while they're completely defenseless and fully envelop their consciousness. That means this technique can really only be used on opponents far weaker than me.
Roger stored the Soul Seed in his palm within his soul ocean, planning to test it when he encountered a suitable target.
The ability to enslave another person's soul was likewise exclusive to experts in the Death Edict.
Since I have time now, I might as well condense a few more Soul Seeds. That way, I won't be left scrambling when I need them.
Roger separated out more soul power and began making another Soul Seed.
With the experience of his first success, he was much more practiced at making this one.
After only ten minutes.
A new Soul Seed appeared.
At that moment, Roger noticed that the soul power within his soul ocean had decreased by roughly one-thirtieth.
From the looks of it, condensing one Soul Seed consumes about one-sixtieth of my soul power. Once that soul power is condensed inside a Soul Seed, I can no longer draw on it, so I shouldn't store too many Soul Seeds.
Roger stored the Soul Seed in his soul ocean. Seeing how much soul power condensing Soul Seeds consumed, he immediately decided that two spares would be enough for now.
No wonder experts in the Death Edict can only soul-enslave a limited number of people. So this is the restriction.
Roger's soul was now stronger than even an ordinary Highgod's, yet he could still only soul-enslave thirty people at most.
That was because he had to keep half his soul power available for use.
Thus, those who cultivated the Death Edict generally did not personally soul-enslave too many people.
Soul enslavement... Soul enslavement...
As Roger sensed the two Soul Seeds, a bold idea suddenly arose in his mind.
Judging from the various signs, it was most likely not long since the world had first formed.
Then had the Four Divine Beasts been born yet?
If they had, how strong were they?
Suppose the Four Divine Beasts had only just been born by the time Roger cultivated to an immensely powerful level.
Then.
In theory, Roger could absolutely soul-enslave the Four Divine Beasts!
Once he successfully enslaved them.
After they cultivated to the Highgod level, they would be incredibly powerful subordinates!
Whether he used them to seize a Sovereign Spark, study the Four Divine Beasts' Fusion Innate Divine Ability, or keep them as a trump card in the future, any of those would be an excellent choice.
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