Five Hundred Years, Part Two

Time was the least valuable thing in the Infernal Realm, but there was one condition: you had to be alive. Only while you lived was time the least valuable thing.

Five hundred years flashed by as Rhodes secluded himself to study the laws, and the forces under his command expanded rapidly over those five hundred years.

Things were still all right for the first three hundred years, but once Di'ers and Pulide advanced to Midgod one after the other, every surrounding faction, large or small, submitted.

Leaving aside those at Saint-level, Di'ers and Pulide, whose territory now spanned hundreds of millions of li, each had over a hundred Lowgods under their command, and that number was still increasing at an extremely rapid pace.

Even without counting the Lowgods they had subdued, the number who had advanced to Lowgod over the years was enormous.

After all, in this period when heaven and earth had first opened, the Profound Mysteries of the Laws were still relatively easy to comprehend. Of course, you could not expect everyone to comprehend the laws as quickly as Linley. He was the protagonist, after all, and in the end, it was not his comprehension that had brought him invincibility and transcendence.

Soul mutation-that depended on your luck.

So Rhodes had never felt disappointed that he was too slow at comprehending and fusing profound mysteries. Just as you could not expect an Earthling to transmigrate to ancient times, obtain a martial arts manual, and immediately achieve sudden enlightenment and start cultivating. If you did not even understand acupuncture points or the technical terms in the manual, you still wanted sudden enlightenment?

Did you think this was a novel? An ordinary modern person who transmigrated to ancient times would need to study for years just to read a book, and might not even manage that. Unless all the myriad worlds used simplified characters, you would be illiterate once you arrived.

Thus, Rhodes spent five hundred years in seclusion this time, and his progress was not particularly great. He had not brought even one profound mystery to full mastery, but among the profound mysteries of the Lightning Law, the Profound Mystery of Lightning Speed had already found points of compatibility with both the Profound Mystery of Judgment and the Lightning Element Profound Truth.

This was tremendous progress.

"Fusing three profound mysteries of the laws-that makes a bona fide Six-Star Demon!!!" At the thought, Rhodes could not suppress the little surge of excitement in his heart.

Even in the original story's timeline, in that era when Lowgods roamed everywhere in the Infernal Realm and those at Saint-level were worth less than dogs, a Six-Star Demon was still someone who could roam the Infernal Realm unchallenged.

With the Heaven and Earth Wonder, the Thunder Crystal, Rhodes might not comprehend the Lightning Law quickly enough, but putting on weight first did not mean you would be the fattest in the end. Even geniuses would encounter bottlenecks.

As for Rhodes, there was no bottleneck that could trap him before "Paragon." He only needed to learn step by step.

He dared not claim anything else, but learning? As an Earthling, was cramming not a piece of cake for Rhodes?

Looking at his Wind Divine Clone, its progress over the five hundred years was truly too miserable to behold.

Even that had come from taking inspiration from how Linley had used sound to cultivate and comprehend the Laws of Wind in the original story. With the help of its divine artifact, the Azure Jade Flute, his Wind Divine Clone had barely crossed the threshold of Music and Sound Wave. Who knew how long the rest would take?

What could he do with talent like that? If he had not been born early, if he had been born in the same era as the protagonist, he probably would not even have caught a whiff of his fart.

So birth determined everything. Being born early gave him confidence; even grinding away could eventually let him fuse eight profound mysteries of the Laws of Wind.

After sorting through his gains in comprehending the laws over the years, Rhodes thought of the Heaven and Earth Wonders he had instructed Di'ers and the others to collect. Take the divine artifact his Wind Divine Clone had originally forged: it had been made with Lightning Element materials. Though the materials were good, they could not, after all, be a perfect match for the Wind Element.

Fortunately, a Lowgod had found an unknown material during his explorations, something that resembled stone yet was not stone, rich in Wind Element essence. After he handed it in, Di'ers brought it to Rhodes.

Rhodes reforged his Wind Element divine artifact, resulting in the current Azure Jade Flute.

Of course, those who found good things and handed them over to the organization received guidance from Rhodes, Di'ers, or the others in return. One had to understand that sometimes a single sentence could save a deity hundreds or thousands of years of cultivation.

During his occasional exits from seclusion over those five hundred years, Rhodes also learned how much the faction had grown. On one occasion when Di'ers and Pulide were both at the settlement, the three sparred again. Rhodes effortlessly suppressed both of them, and the two, who had originally harbored certain ideas, became all the more respectful.

The others had only known that their faction had three Midgods in total. The Lowgods who had never seen the third Midgod now understood that this one was the strongest. Their already powerful faction grew even stronger after this battle.

After all, they had originally thought there were merely three Midgods. They had not expected the last one to win so easily against two opponents, casually receiving Lord Di'ers's innate Soul Attack ability as though it were a gentle breeze brushing his face.

But how could they know that Rhodes's half measure of willpower alone was something the Soul Attacks of those at his level could not break through?

Not to mention that his third profound mystery of the Lightning Law had found points of compatibility with both of the profound mysteries he had comprehended before. Rhodes now only needed to comprehend the Profound Mystery of Lightning Speed as quickly as possible. When he mastered it fully, the three profound mysteries would be fused.

Unfortunately, after all these years, they had not found any Heaven and Earth Wonder that could help him progress in the Laws of Wind. That made sense, though. This place was dominated by the Lightning Element, after all. With the wondrous natural formation of the Ten Thousand Layers Thunder Domain here, it was unlikely that a Wind Element cultivation sanctuary would also emerge.

The only piece of good news in five hundred years was that they had finally discovered amethyst.

The discoverer was a Lowgod who had been away for more than two hundred years, and the news had been relayed by his Saint Domain True Body. This Lowgod was quite a tough character. As he searched, he had actually flown across the Star Mist Sea and reached the continent opposite before obtaining news of amethyst.

According to the news he sent back, the mountain range that produced amethyst was shrouded in white mist. A Midgod couple had established a faction around the mountain range, with the male Midgod as its commander, occupying the entire Amethyst Mountains.

Once Rhodes received the information, he understood. Barring anything unexpected, they should be the Zijing Couple, and the male Midgod should be that Mid-level Sovereign who had boldly ventured into a Material Plane and been erased by the Overgod.

He had been in the Coiling Dragon Universe for so long. Apart from the information about Watrod he had heard at the beginning, and information about the Demon King, who was suspected to be the founder of the Fiend Castle, he had finally heard another familiar name: "Zijing," a Zijing who was not yet a Sovereign.

Quite a lot had changed over five hundred years. The old castle, for instance, was now exclusively Rhodes's cultivation ground. Aside from two Lowgods stationed outside the castle to await orders at any time, everyone else had moved out, each with a castle of their own.

The hundreds of densely packed castles in view also proved that this faction already had several hundred deities. Apart from its lack of city walls, it resembled a small town.

Of course, it did not have the prosperity of later ages now, with all their delicacies and fine wines. In the current Thunder Region-oh, Thunder Region was the name of the faction Rhodes had established. Simple: with the Ten Thousand Layers Thunder Domain at its back, it was named Thunder Region. Reasonable, perfectly reasonable.

There was one fine wine in the current Thunder Region: Heavenly Thunder Liquid.

The prolonged lightning strikes within the Ten Thousand Layers Thunder Domain produced liquid lightning, which Di'ers or Pulide ventured deep into the Thunder Region to retrieve. Of course, even if those two broke through to Highgod, they probably would not be able to reach Heavenly Thunder Mountain. Why did they not fly, you asked? Fly up to become targets?

Rhodes had also named this Heavenly Thunder Liquid "Jade Nectar." For deities like them who cultivated the Lightning Law, it was good stuff. It replenished divine power, and perhaps they could even comprehend the laws through it.

Rhodes had sensed no laws in it; he only found it delicious. So liquefied lightning was actually this rich and mellow, and drinking it even left a tingling sensation.

After sorting everything out, Rhodes rose and glanced at the courtyard where he had cultivated for five hundred years. Once he left, who knew how many years it would be before he returned?

Rhodes was not overly sentimental. He immediately transmitted through his divine sense, "Di'ers, Pulide, come see me at once."

"Whoosh, whoosh~~"

Two figures descended from the sky simultaneously and said, "My lord."

Ever since they had joined forces last time and been easily suppressed, every thought the two had harbored had vanished. All that remained was cultivating to improve their strength and subduing more Lowgods.

Come to think of it, it had been at least a hundred years since they had last received a transmission from Rhodes, so they flew over the instant they received it.

"I'm leaving." Rhodes's words left the two a little dazed, but then they recalled the news the Lowgod had sent back: the Amethyst Mountains had already been found.

Their eyes burned as they said, "My lord! We'll go with you. We heard that powerful figures occupy the Amethyst Mountains too. With more of us going, we can look out for one another."

Rhodes smiled. "There's no need for that. I'll go alone this time. I won't take the Saint Domain True Body of the Lowgod who has already been there, either. Once I've settled down, you can follow his Saint Domain True Body there."

Seeing that the two still wanted to say something, Rhodes continued without giving them a chance to speak. "Coming with me would only slow me down. I'll be faster on my own. You still have a task here at our headquarters. We have too few Midgods. Get some more to advance as soon as possible, so you can go there to cultivate without worries."

Hearing Rhodes say this, the two understood that they would not be able to accompany him this time.

They immediately replied, "All right. We certainly won't fail your expectations, my lord. We'll nurture more Midgods as quickly as possible." After all, the two had built this faction bit by bit. If no Midgod remained to guard it and someone else plucked the peaches of their labor, how sickening would that be?

"All right, neither of you needs to be like this. It's not as though I'm never coming back. I'm only going out to cultivate for a while." As his words fell, Rhodes had already transformed into a bolt of lightning and flown toward the horizon.

PS: After signing the contract, even my typing has gotten a little faster, haha. Thanks to the brothers who cast recommendation votes and monthly votes. If you haven't added this book to your favorites, please do. Invest boldly and without worry. This book has an outline, and there's still plenty of plot I haven't written yet. Thanks to the brothers who sent tips.