The Amethyst Alliance's influence grew every day, and its number of deities surged at an extraordinary rate. Every day, enormous numbers of Saint-level beings ascended to godhood within the several million li surrounding the Amethyst Mountains.
Ever since the Overgod's decree spread throughout the universe, anyone joining a faction had to swear an oath by the Overgod: once they joined the Alliance, they could not betray it or attack their own people, and they had to obey the Alliance's orders. All the other oaths, major and minor, came from Rhodes's suggestions.
Lei Jialie had adopted Rhodes's suggestions without hesitation. The problems that had been plainly visible within the Alliance gradually disappeared, leaving only a pure Amethyst Alliance.
In the ninety-odd years since the teleportation arrays began operating, the Alliance's Midgods had increased to more than three hundred, while its Lowgods had long since surpassed ten thousand.
Lei Jialie and Zijing had also taken action repeatedly over those decades. Otherwise, how could so many Midgods have joined? Unfortunately, both of them had advanced to Highgod. As leaders of a major faction, with hundreds of Midgods beneath them, it really was hard to justify not being Highgods themselves. Left with no choice, both had advanced to Highgod more than forty years ago.
The first thing Lei Jialie said after becoming a Highgod was that he should not have become one. The profound mysteries of the laws had already been difficult to fuse, and after becoming a Highgod, the difficulty of fusion had increased by who knew how many tens of thousands of times.
Knowing that their strength would no longer increase rapidly, the two focused their efforts on the Alliance. The Amethyst Alliance, which already dominated a continent, went on to wipe out every other faction on it, taking sole possession of the entire continent.
They also officially renamed it the "Amethyst Continent." Another teleportation array on the continent was occupied by the Amethyst Alliance as well, with personnel dispatched to guard it. The Alliance's main base remained in the Amethyst Mountains.
Over these years, Rhodes had also raised the Lowgod sent over earlier into a Midgod, afraid that if fighting broke out one day, his old companion would be killed outright while still a Lowgod.
How had he trained him, you ask? Wasn't that simple? If a Midgod refused to submit, he just killed them, took their Divine Spark, and let him refine it!
Rhodes had no patience to wait for him to grow slowly on his own. Over the years, people had also kept going to the Thunder Region to cause trouble. Rhodes had already told Di'ers and the others to retreat into the Ten Thousand Layers Thunder Domain if they could not win.
Di'ers and Pulide were also among the first Divine Beasts born when the world began, and they were not as helpless as Rhodes imagined. With Rhodes's guidance on fusing profound mysteries, although their strength was not at the pinnacle of the Infernal Realm, they were still minor powerhouses in their own right.
As long as they did not encounter experts like Rhodes and Lei Jialie, who led factions of their own, they had no trouble protecting themselves.
Thinking back over the changes of the past century or so, it seemed far more eventful than everything from Rhodes's birth to the appearance of the teleportation arrays.
Cities rose one after another throughout the Infernal Realm. In the Infernal Realm as it was now, even the cities were not safe. Fierce fighting could break out inside them at any moment. Apart from the unified continents, which were somewhat more peaceful, everywhere else was embroiled in one great battle after another.
There were even continents shared by several major factions. Now, they fought bitterly every day over the extent of their territories. As for ownership of the teleportation arrays, whichever faction occupied one that day claimed the people who arrived through it that day.
It was not as though teleportation arrays had never been destroyed over the years. Anyone who destroyed one died on the spot, and even their Divine Clones hidden elsewhere died along with them.
After repeated attempts by those who refused to believe it, everyone understood: whoever destroyed a teleportation array died. The array would restore itself, but it needed some time, during which teleportation was impossible.
Most factions occupying teleportation arrays stationed guards around them to prevent others from damaging them. After all, enormous numbers of living beings arrived from Material Planes every day.
The deities who arrived could all strengthen the Alliance. Those who refused to submit left behind their Divine Sparks, which could also be given to Saint-level members of the Alliance to refine. Those who submitted swore an oath and joined the Alliance directly.
Every faction was building up its strength in preparation for the coming war.
Rhodes also understood that until the war ended, he and Pash probably would not be able to travel the Infernal Realm in peace.
Two Midgods of unknown identity would not be welcome anywhere.
Speaking of Pash's level, how could the battle-loving Pash let the Midgods arriving through the arrays slip by? Over these years, he had fought even more frequently than Lei Jialie.
Nearly half the Midgods in the Amethyst Alliance had only joined after Pash beat them into submission. He had also wanted to break through to Highgod, but Rhodes stopped him. What Lei Jialie said after his breakthrough completely extinguished Pash's desire to advance.
Pash felt he should hone himself further as a Midgod. After breaking through to Highgod, Lei Jialie challenged Rhodes to a fight. The two fought deep in the Mist Sea for three full days, finally ending in a draw.
After their spar, Lei Jialie looked at Rhodes with an indescribable gaze, as though calling him a "sneaky old bastard." At the same time, he inwardly rejoiced over the choice he had made back then.
Seeing Rhodes fight Lei Jialie to a draw while still a Midgod, Pash now refused to advance no matter what. What he did not know was that Rhodes had used his "Willpower" to increase his strength this time. Otherwise, he could not have beaten Lei Jialie.
After advancing from Midgod to Highgod, even setting aside the improvements to divine artifacts and the divine body, divine power alone increased tenfold. Fighting ordinary Midgods became as easy as drinking water.
Highgod Power could bring out even more of the strength of fused profound mysteries. Apart from making fusion more difficult, breaking through to Highgod brought earth-shaking improvements in every other respect.
The increase in strength from advancing to Highgod was far more than merely tenfold.
System, Rhodes softly called to his dim-witted system.
Host: Rhodes (Wind-Thunder Divine Roc) Level: Midgod (Lightning Element Midgod, Wind Element Midgod) Innate Divine Ability: Heaven and Earth Extreme Speed, (????) Willpower: fifty percent Profound mysteries of the laws-lightning: Lightning Element, Profound Mystery of Judgment, Lightning Speed Profound Mystery (three fused), Profound Mysteries of Thunder Profound mysteries of the laws-wind: Speed Profound Mystery (the profound mysteries of fast and slow have been fused), Sound Profound Mystery and Profundity of Sound Waves have found a point of convergence, Profundity of Wind-Walking has found a point of convergence with Speed Profound Mystery. Overall strength: Six-Star Demon strength (the strength of a Highgod who has fused three profound mysteries) (Innate Divine Ability excluded, Willpower excluded)
Looking at the system, it seems to have evolved a little again. Before, it couldn't display profound mysteries that had already found a point of convergence. It rigidly displayed only the profound mysteries I had fully comprehended. If it keeps evolving, will I be able to see a percentage for their convergence? Wouldn't that let me clearly see my progress?
With many things, people only failed to persevere because they could not see any progress. If someone could see numerical data showing their progress in cultivation, would they still fail to keep going?
When will I reach the strength of a Seven-Star Demon? Six-Star Demon strength still isn't very powerful. In the Infernal Realm, the gap starts growing wider and wider from Seven-Star onward. In the original story, Seven-Star Demons could already roam freely throughout the Infernal Realm and establish their own cities. Six-Star Demons? They seemed to be nothing at all.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."
The teleportation array beside the Amethyst Mountains seemed to return to how it had been a century ago, beginning a frenzy of teleportation. More and more figures appeared within the array, and the atmosphere grew increasingly heavy.
PS: I drank with two friends last night and had too much. I only just woke up. I'm truly sorry. Thanks to the generous brother who tipped yesterday. May your career go smoothly and may you make a fortune. Thank you to the brothers who cast recommendation votes and monthly votes. Brothers with votes to spare, please cast more. Thank you so much.
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