"Brother Hagson, these books are excellent. With their help, I might be able to figure out how to refine Soul Refining essence before too long."
Roger was delighted. The Death Edict was strange and powerful, but without a clear direction for cultivation, even someone with extraordinary talent would be like a blind man feeling his way around an elephant.
Most importantly, the original story had barely mentioned any specific directions for cultivating the Death Edict.
And that happened to be where Roger's greatest talent lay.
Roger had been worrying about how to cultivate the Death Edict to the Highgod level quickly.
Now, just as he was getting sleepy, someone had handed him a pillow.
"That's good." Seeing how confident Roger was, Hagson finally felt his anxiety ease.
The knowledge recorded in the books inside that interspatial ring was actually his greatest asset.
It was worth even more than the Highgod Artifact spear he treasured!
But knowledge only had value in the hands of someone who needed it.
With Hagson's limited connections, he could neither trade away that knowledge nor learn it himself...
He could only sit on a mountain of treasure he couldn't use.
He had even faced the risk of his soul injury flaring up.
"No need to see me off, Brother Hagson. As soon as I make progress, I'll come and let you know."
Roger spoke to Hagson beneath the night sky.
"All right. I can afford to wait a few hundred years." Hagson laughed heartily.
"Oh, right. You're still living in the area where the Saints gather. Move to the area reserved for us Deities tomorrow. That way, we can help each other if there's a sudden attack. Your good friend Allen can come along too."
"All right, brother. Allen and I will move over once it's light."
Roger did not decline.
The area where the Fire Rhino Tribe's Deities lived was not only more spacious and private, but also much safer.
He returned to the stone house.
Allen was still brimming with excitement.
In the Fire Rhino Tribe, having someone in your household become a Deity...
...was enough to lift the entire household along with him.
From now on, Allen would no longer have to do odd jobs and could focus on cultivating.
"Allen, let's pack up. We'll move once dawn breaks."
"Hehe, no problem!"
Allen worked efficiently.
Before the sky had fully brightened, he had packed all their everyday belongings into an interspatial ring.
There wasn't much to pack, really.
The two largest items were the stone beds passed down from their parents...
Those beds were made from a relatively rare material called blood garnet.
Leaving them behind would have been a waste, so naturally, they took them along.
Once daylight had fully arrived, Roger woke from his secluded cultivation.
Smiling, he went with Allen to the River Valley Residential Area, a symbol of status within the Fire Rhino Tribe.
This was where the Fire Rhino Tribe's dozen or so Deities lived.
Each person could receive a residence covering tens of thousands of square meters.
There was more than enough room for both cultivation and sparring.
They settled in with their few belongings.
Then Roger took Allen to the tribe's administrative office, where he was given authority over 400 Sanctuaries and 1,000 Fire Rhinoceroses.
According to tribal custom, Roger would henceforth be entitled to half the profits generated by these Fire Rhinoceroses, as well as authority over these Sanctuaries.
However, Roger had little interest in the meager profits each Fire Rhinoceros might produce only once every ten thousand years.
So he handed management of both the people and the Fire Rhinoceroses over to Allen.
Allen was absolutely delighted.
Once these matters were taken care of...
...it was already noon.
Roger returned to his new home and entered the secluded cultivation chamber to begin his first extended period of cultivation.
Deep within his consciousness...
...Roger continued observing the Jade Disc Fragment.
At the same time, he tried to induce it to absorb divine power while pouring soul power into it.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~~
As Roger channeled his soul power and divine power, the Jade Disc Fragment deep within his consciousness suddenly lit up and began devouring them in great gulps.
Just as I thought!
Watching the Jade Disc Fragment absorb his soul power and divine power...
...Roger felt delight rather than alarm.
Both soul power and divine power could be replenished.
But ever since the Jade Disc Fragment had absorbed the essence of the fire cloud tree heart, it had never actively absorbed energy again.
Roger had tried many methods in the meantime, but none had triggered any change in the Jade Disc.
At the time, Roger had suspected that, because he was still only a Sanctuary, he could support only that much of the Jade Disc Fragment.
Now that he had broken through to Lowgod, another attempt confirmed his suspicion.
He regulated the rate at which the Jade Disc deep within his original body's consciousness absorbed soul power and divine power.
Roger's original body began meditating to restore its soul power while drawing divine power from the Elemental Ocean, building up its reserves while also supplying the Jade Disc's evolution.
In the Netherworld...
...keeping one's divine power reserves full was essential.
Meanwhile, Roger's Death God Divine Clone took the books out of the interspatial ring and began reading.
The first book Roger chose was titled Overview of the Death Edict.
He opened the book, which was made from special paper.
The very first line caught Roger's attention:
"Although the Death Edict is a unified whole, it can be broadly divided into six major branches."
"These six major branches are:
1. The soul refining branch: an initial understanding allows one to refine soul essence. Upon mastery, one can further compress it into Soul Gold Beads, analyze soul structures, and so on.
2. The soul attack branch: one can condense soul power into weapons to attack, such as Soul Invasion (Mind Gray Mist).
3. The soul defense branch: one can condense soul power into barriers or protective shields.
4. The soul control branch: one can create soul threads, Soul Seeds, or the more advanced Soul Leeches to enslave others' souls. At an extremely profound level, one can also send one's consciousness into another person's soul ocean to examine their memories.
5. The soul space branch: the most mysterious branch of the Death Edict. Once fully comprehended, it allows one to open a special space within the soul ocean to store special soul-related items such as Soul Seeds and Soul Leeches. Through continued contemplation, one can also develop various wondrous uses for this space.
6. The material branch: one can use it to develop various ultimate techniques involving speed, physical defense, and physical attacks."
After reading the introduction on the first page, Roger understood the directions available for cultivating the Death Edict.
He continued reading:
"Although the Death Edict is a unified whole, its six major branches are not completely independent. They are interconnected in countless ways, so I prefer to compare the Death Edict to a thousand-layer pancake."
"From the first layer to the deepest, every layer contains these six major branches. However, fully comprehending any one branch in the first layer is enough to become a Lowgod. Comprehending two allows one to become a Midgod, and comprehending all of them allows one to become a Highgod."
"But at that point, one has only understood the first layer of the thousand-layer pancake. Beyond that, one must continue comprehending each successive layer. Perhaps only after comprehending every layer can one achieve perfect understanding of the Death Edict."
-Written by Charles.
After reading this opening section...
...Roger closed the book for the moment. "Just reading these descriptions gives me a sense of how vast the Death Edict is. I really do still have a long way to go before I can become truly powerful."
Reading between the lines, Roger could tell that Charles was probably someone who had only recently reached the Highgod level.
After all, he was still at the stage of analyzing the "second layer of the thousand-layer pancake."
But that was already enough for Roger.
What he lacked most right now was guidance on which direction to take.
The book in his hands provided exactly that.
Before you continue