The Four Divine Beasts

The three men and one woman all stared at Pash with hatred.

As for whether they feared death, the Four Divine Beasts truly did not. Had they not been discovered, the four might have continued hiding, but now that they had been found, the pride in their bones naturally rose to the surface.

If they blamed anything, it was only that they had been born a little too late. Had they been born earlier and had enough time, the four would never have hidden.

Naturally, without the suppression of God's Domain, the four straightened up.

These four proud individuals refused to show fear even after being forced to the ground just now. At worst, they would die!

Rhodes also looked at the three men and one woman standing before him. These were the Four Divine Beasts who had made very few appearances in the original story.

The Azure Dragon, Lei Ding, was the first owner of the protagonist Linley's first cheat, the Coiling Dragon Ring.

Looking at the four, Rhodes thought to himself, They probably haven't been gods for long, and likely haven't discovered how powerful their Fusion Innate Divine Ability is yet. Otherwise, we definitely would've taken a blast of it just now!

In fact, even before Rhodes found the four, he had already decided not to make things difficult for them. As for how to deal with them, since they were Lowgods and not particularly strong, they could just be his underlings. What else did they want-to be the boss?

As for whether he might take a blast of their Innate Divine Ability after discovering them, Rhodes truly had not considered it at first. At the time, he had been filled only with the pleasant surprise of finding the Four Divine Beasts. How could he have thought of anything else? Only after calming down did he feel a little lingering fear. After all, he did not know whether he could withstand that move. If he could not, Pash would probably be done for.

He himself would certainly be able to escape. At the very least, no one in the Infernal Realm could stop him from leaving right now. He would simply have to return later to avenge Pash. As long as he killed one of them in a surprise attack, the remaining three would have no way to use their Fusion Divine Ability, and naturally would no longer be his match.

Still, judging by the way these four looked ready to face death, they really should not know the Fusion Divine Ability. Otherwise, they would have struck the two of them with it even if they died.

"There's no need for the four of you to act like this. Neither of us means you any harm. If we wanted to do anything to you two, we would have killed all four of you just now," Rhodes told them calmly.

The four did not yet possess the imposing presence they would later have when dominating the Four Supreme Plane and the Seven Elemental Divine Planes. Naturally, hearing these words lifted a weight from their hearts, though all four remained secretly on guard.

Seeing their reactions, Rhodes did not intend to say anything more. After all, he had already said what needed saying. Now he would let Pash beat them up first!

As for what came afterward, they could discuss it after the beating. After all, some people simply asked for it. They would not listen to kind words, and talking after a beating would probably work much better.

"Pash, teach these four the rules of the Infernal Realm."

"Heh heh, there was one thing I said just now that wasn't a lie. I really am full of pent-up anger. I spent over ten whole years looking for you," Pash said with a teasing expression.

"Dragon Roar!"

"Tiger Roar!"

"Screech~!"

"~"

"God's Domain! You little things still want to use your Innate Divine Abilities? Dream on. Come on, each of you can take a punch first!"

After a round of pounding, Pash had vented his resentment, and the Four Divine Beasts understood that they could not resist the two before them and could only obediently do as they were told. Still, each secretly resolved that one day, they would repay this beating twice over.

After taking a thorough beating, the Four Divine Beasts also thought things through. These two probably truly meant them no harm. They stopped holding out and began telling Rhodes and Pash how they had discovered them and how they had monitored them.

It turned out that not long after the two entered the Skyrite Mountains, Bowen, the Black Tortoise among the four, had discovered them. He immediately told their eldest brother, Lei Ding, and the four began monitoring the pair with the help of a curious object in Bowen's possession.

Nimo, the Vermilion Bird, had sensed their powerful auras from far away. After all, Nimo had the strongest soul among the four. They did not dare scan the pair with their soul power for fear of being discovered, so they could only rely on Nimo's naturally superior soul perception to gauge their strength.

Just like that, the two groups had spent over ten years without incident. They had never expected that, at the very end, Rhodes's idea of carving an inscription to commemorate his visit would expose their whereabouts.

Rhodes could not help marveling at their caution. For fear of discovery, they had not scanned with their soul power even once. Had anyone scanned Rhodes with soul power, he would have discovered them long ago. That was why he marveled so much.

He also learned that the four had been born nearly a thousand years ago, only a little over a thousand years later than Rhodes, Pash, and the others. Unfortunately, in this period just after the world's creation, those with good talent and good luck could open up a gap in cultivation within ten or a hundred years that others could never close in a lifetime.

The Four Divine Beasts were all single-element supreme Divine Beasts. All four had chosen Internal Godhood and had no other Divine Clones.

It was precisely because they had no Divine Clones that Augusta had killed all of them with one sword strike apiece, leaving the Four Divine Beasts Clan unaware of whether their ancestors were dead or alive.

Rhodes could not help sighing. In fact, one of his original ideas had been to see whether he could get each of the Four Divine Beasts an additional Divine Clone. At least they could send word when they were killed, couldn't they?

Most importantly, he did not want their original bodies to die. After all, as long as they lived, they could keep producing blood essence.

Now it seemed that this option was out of the question. They had all attained Internal Godhood, and Rhodes did not expect these four to defy all odds and cultivate another Divine Clone.

Rhodes had also wondered before: if he seized four Elemental Sovereigns' Divine Sparks for these four, could they break through the universe by jointly using their Innate Divine Abilities?

Rhodes guessed that they most likely could, but whether they would live or die afterward was hard to say.

At that thought, Rhodes could not help shaking his head. If he obtained the Wind Sovereign's Sovereign Spark, he would definitely refine it himself at the first opportunity.

After all, a Sovereign Spark was what could ensure that Rhodes survived until Linley's birth. Unlike other transmigrators, who were generally born in Material Planes and could flee if they could not defeat other Sovereigns, he had nowhere to run. After becoming a Sovereign, entering a Material Plane would cause it to collapse.

In the original story, Zijing's husband, Lei Jialie, had been the sole unfortunate soul who was directly erased by an Overgod descending because he had trespassed into a Material Plane.

A three-second silence here for the future Lei Jialie.

If Rhodes could save him, he would not mind doing so. If he could not, he would leave it to fate. The man was no beloved friend or relative, after all.

Rhodes actually had quite a headache right now, unsure how to deal with these four. Even if they did not understand their fusion ability now, they would figure it out someday, especially considering that the Four Divine Beasts included a research fanatic-Azure Dragon Leiding. After all, he had managed to solve the problem of Bloodline Awakening that most people could not.

In the Coiling Dragon Universe, quite a few Sovereigns were Divine Beasts, yet none had managed to develop a method for awakening their descendants' bloodlines. Leisjing did not count; he was a true Divine Beast.

Meanwhile, the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise families of the Four Divine Beasts Clan could all awaken their respective ancestors' Innate Divine Abilities. The strength of those abilities was merely determined by the concentration of their bloodlines.

Who else could awaken the bloodlines of Divine Beasts' descendants?

Rhodes strongly suspected that Lei Ding had also developed this Fusion Divine Ability through later research. Thus, what troubled Rhodes now was how to handle the relationship among the six of them.

Killing them was out of the question. Never mind whether Hongmeng would react if he killed them; just the fact that these four were the same as the Four Divine Beasts back home in his previous life meant he could not kill them. They were the one small reminder he had left for himself. As for them being killed by someone else?

Hand over the corpses and commit suicide, and that would do. After all, the current Four Divine Beasts had no real connection to Rhodes. He simply coveted their bodies.

P.S. Here's a chapter first. I'll write a little more tonight, but I still have to work tomorrow. ╥﹏╥

Thanks to all the brothers who cast monthly votes and recommendation votes. I haven't been in good form these past two days. Thank you to the brothers who kept supporting me these past few days even when I wasn't updating.