Traveling together

Destruction Divine Power continuously dissolved the power of lightning. As the illusory soul attack passed through Pash's divine power, which contained the Laws of Destruction, it seemed to become even more insubstantial, shrinking to a tenth of its original size at the same time. Without Rhodes using his willpower, a soul attack like this could not affect Pash at all.

But judging by this exchange, Rhodes still held a slight advantage. Without going all out, he might not be able to defeat Pash.

At that thought, Rhodes swung his sword to drive Pash back, then put away his longsword and descended.

Pash remained in the sky, looking bewildered. Their spar had been going perfectly well, so why had they stopped? Although he had been at a disadvantage, he had not lost!

Rhodes was working on his own little scheme, trying to figure out how to coax Pash into going to the Amethyst Mountains with him. He really felt now that he had underestimated the characters from the original story. He had thought he was strong enough already: he was a transmigrator, the first living being in the world, and he even possessed a Heaven and Earth Wonder. Give all that to another protagonist, and they would have soared to greatness long ago.

Was he going about it the wrong way, or was he not the protagonist? In fact, Rhodes was mistaken here. It was not that he was weak, but that this was a spar, not a fight to the death. With two profound mysteries fused and a third already aligned with them, he had had no trouble killing the Lowgods he had encountered before. When he met an evenly matched opponent, however, he did not strike to kill. He also wanted to keep honing his ultimate moves, without using his willpower or his innate divine ability, Heaven and Earth Extreme Speed.

If Rhodes used Worldspeed to appear behind an enemy and then struck with his willpower, how many could withstand it? It remained to be seen who would drive him into a corner and make him reveal his full strength!

That would surely give his opponent a surprise.

Seeing that Rhodes had already sat down, Pash thought for a moment and could only fly down first. He was just about to say something, but before he could open his mouth, Rhodes tossed him a jar of Thunder wine.

"Judging by how freely you drink it, you must have quite a stock of this wine. Does it have a name?" Pash asked Rhodes.

"Heavenly Thunder Liquid," Rhodes said casually. "I brought a little when I left. It isn't much, but it's enough to keep the two of us drinking for a while."

Before leaving the Thunder Region, Rhodes had specifically instructed Di'ers to collect an extra supply. Although Rhodes could have ventured deeper into the Thunder Region and obtained more Heavenly Thunder Liquid, he simply would not. He refused to go in. In his words, "If I have to do everything, what do I need you for?"

During that period, Di'ers and Pulide did nothing else, entering the Thunder Region every day to search for this wine.

Rhodes truly was different now that he was the boss.

The blood-red sun hung in the sky. It was a rare fine day in the Star Mist Sea, with the sun visible. Long stretches of misty weather were the norm there.

After three jars of wine, the two of them, both Midgods, were naturally not drunk. They were only drinking to savor its flavor.

Just as Rhodes was wondering how to bring the subject up with Pash, Pash spoke first instead. "Brother Rhodes, what business do you have on the continent ahead? Would it be convenient for me to travel with you?"

To be honest, Pash had not thought much of it when he asked. He simply felt that an evenly matched opponent was hard to come by. If Rhodes's business was nothing secret, he planned to travel with him so they could spar at any time along the way.

Feeling quite pleased with himself, Pash had no idea of Rhodes's true strength. Even Rhodes himself had not used his willpower or innate divine ability for quite a long time after becoming a Midgod, and did not know how powerful he would be at full strength.

Just what I was hoping for. A trace of delight welled up deep within Rhodes.

Whatever Pash was like as a person, in the original story he had gotten along well with the protagonist's camp, and he had also been on good terms with the Sovereigns the protagonist killed. For now, Rode would count him as a good person!

He had wanted to coax Pash into joining him anyway. Leaving everything else aside, Pash would at least make a qualified fighter once they reached the Amethyst Mountains.

If Pash held off one Amethyst Sacred Beast, would Rode not be able to take down the other easily?

With that thought, Rhodes said, "You could say our fight brought us together, so I won't hide it from you. I discovered a treasure that can strengthen the soul. Would you like to go there with me? That place is occupied by two very powerful Midgods!"

Rhodes looked at Pash after speaking. He had expected Pash to ask what the treasure was first, but the fellow's first words were, "Very powerful Midgods? How powerful? Are they stronger than you?" Pash stared at Rhodes, his eyes shining.

His eyes were literally radiating divine light, light containing Destruction Divine Power.

"They probably aren't weaker than me, and they also have an innate divine ability that can control others. Ordinary people at the same rank would probably find it very difficult to contend with those two!" Rhodes said truthfully. After all, in the original story, once Linley obtained the Soul Stone, he could imitate Leisjing's innate divine ability.

Just look at Linley's record along the way. When he returned to the Four Divine Beasts clan, even his Midgod Earth Divine Clone had the strength of a Seven-Star Demon. With his awakened innate divine ability as well, he firmly possessed Seven-Star Demon strength, at least a thousand times that of an ordinary Highgod.

That told you how powerful the Amethyst couple's innate divine abilities were.

Looking at Pash, Rhodes really did feel a headache coming on. He had originally wanted to say they were definitely weaker than him, but he feared Pash might recklessly charge in alone, only to be controlled by their innate divine ability and killed in an instant. That would be far too pointless a death. He could only say they were no weaker than him. At least that way, Pash would not rush in to fight both at once.

After hearing Rhodes out, Pash was ready to set off with him. Rhodes had not expected Pash to be so impatient. The original story had described him very little, focusing mainly on his dignity as a Sovereign without depicting much of his individual character.

Rhodes did not dislike Pash's personality. After all, between a good-tempered but impatient fellow and a scheming old snake, I believe everyone would prefer the former.

Seeing Pash's impatience, Rhodes said no more and immediately turned into a streak of lightning, flying toward the continent to the east. They were only just setting foot on the continent and were still a long way from the Amethyst Mountains. At their speed, Rhodes and Pash would probably need another hundred years of flight, not counting time lost encountering other deities.

After flying for decades already, Rhodes missed the teleportation arrays from the original story immensely. Supposedly, after the Infernal Realm finished expanding, the Overgod would send down divine power to form them. After all, time and space could not be comprehended in the Coiling Dragon Universe.

About ten thousand li from the Nine Snake Mountain Range lay a strange valley where thick gray mist churned all year round. Gray Mist Canyon stretched a thousand li long and several dozen li wide, filled with gray mist that never dispersed.

Kadia hovered above Gray Mist Canyon with a longsword in his hand, thick gray mist rolling around him.

Within several dozen li of Kadia, nearly three hundred Lowgods under his command lay concealed in the gray mist.

Suddenly...

A figure who was not particularly burly rushed toward Kadia and said, "Lord Kadia, Lord Kadik's Midgod Divine Clone has spotted targets. Two Midgods flying on their own. They're still thirty thousand li away and moving extremely fast."

"Excellent!" Kadia exclaimed in delight.

"Boy, you've earned yourself credit for this. Keep a close watch on them and notify me as soon as they enter our encirclement."

"Yes, my lord. According to Lord Kadik, the two are flying in a straight line and will definitely pass through Gray Mist Canyon. My Wind Divine Clone is right above the canyon and will be sure to spot them."

"Mm!" Kadia nodded. "Go."

"Yes, my lord!"

The not particularly sturdy figure flew out of the gray mist again.

"Two Midgods, two Midgod divine sparks." A savage smile appeared at the corner of Kadia's mouth.

"I can reward my subordinates with those two divine sparks. First, I'll give them to the Lowgods under my soul control. Once they become Midgods, won't hunting other Midgods be child's play? I'll have to kill Lowgods too, and keep giving their divine sparks to the Saint-level beings under my soul control. Once they become Lowgods, I'll give them Midgod divine sparks."

The smile on Kadia's face grew more and more pronounced until he finally burst into laughter. Unfortunately, the sound could not travel out through the gray mist, or everyone would have been able to feel his joy.

After laughing wildly for a while, Kadia finally stopped. He stretched out his hand and clenched it hard. "One day, I, Kadia, will have an army of Midgods."

Two hundred years earlier, Kadia and his younger brother Kadik had led the Lowgods under their soul control to surround and kill a Fire Element Midgod through sheer numbers. Ever since then, Kadia had become fond of overwhelming his enemies with numbers.

Later, they had surrounded and killed another Midgod and given his divine spark to Kadia's younger brother. But in recent years, they had encountered nothing but Lowgods; it had been a long time since they had met a Midgod. They had launched several sneak attacks on the Amethyst Alliance without killing any Midgods, while the number of Lowgods under their command kept growing.

Lowgods were difficult to control, so Kadia controlled Saint-level beings instead, then killed the Lowgods who joined him and gave their divine sparks to the Saint-level beings he controlled. Gradually, the Lowgods who had joined him all died without a sound, while all the Saint-level beings under his control became Lowgods.

He had dared to ambush and surround Midgods when he had fewer men, let alone now, with several hundred Lowgods who did not fear death. After they wore the enemy down, he and his younger brother would rush out for a sneak attack. Who could stop them?

In the sky, Rhodes and Pash flew at a moderate pace.

"Pash, how many Lowgods have we seen now? Four or five? If there's a local power around here, why hasn't anyone come over to explain things to us?" Rhodes asked, looking at Pash.

"The fifth Lowgod, I think. We also encountered a Midgod who turned and flew away as soon as he saw us. We've met them all within the last million li. We didn't encounter deities this frequently earlier in our journey." Pash looked toward the Lowgod who had been above the gray mist a moment ago but had now entered it and vanished.

His divine sense swept over the gray mist. The range of divine sense was already small in the Infernal Realm, and the gray mist below seemed able to block it as well, making it impossible to probe deeper.

After hearing Pash's reply, Rhodes sent him a divine-sense message. "The Infernal Realm is vast and sparsely populated. You might not meet a single deity in ten million li, but we've encountered six in this million li. Be careful. Something might be going on."

"Don't worry, they're just a few Lowgods..."

PS: Here's today's first chapter. I'll try to get two out today. Brothers, please cast your recommendation votes and monthly votes. Feel free to add this book to your collection and invest in it.