A month later, the group arrived at the nearest city, "Liuli City".
For Deity-level being, supplies aren't that important, but most of the team suggested that Sheldon replenish his forces in the city. Not wanting to offend everyone, Sheldon reluctantly agreed.
Jason took advantage of his free time to visit the "Mountain Lake Castle" in the city. Since this place belonged to Mountain Lake Prefecture, the exchange was naturally called Mountain Lake Castle.
After buying a hundred bottles of "Netherworld River Water," Jason browsed the second and third floors.
"Not even Deathgod Golem?" Jason couldn't help but feel disappointed. Although he probably wouldn't need it, it was always good to have another way to save his life.
Somewhat disappointed, Jason purchased thirty high-quality "Godslaying Arrow," the ones he had previously used were the ones Linda had helped him refine back in the Yulan Continent.
"I need to reunite with the other two clones as soon as possible. My current condition is too poor. If I encounter a Seven Star Fiend, I'll probably be forced to use the Sovereign Artifact."
Jason now has the Sovereign Artifact "Frost Chill" and the Sovereign’s Might as his trump cards, so he doesn't need to be afraid of the Seven Star Fiend. However, it just doesn't feel worthwhile to expose his trump cards for a group of unrelated people.
However, it's unlikely that any Seven Star Fiend will participate in this mission. Even if they do, they'll only appear near the Bone Dragon Prefecture. At that point, you can simply leave the group and complete the rest of the journey on your own.
Jason was selecting materials for refining weapons; he had been searching for suitable materials for his Divine Artifact artifacts along the way.
He has been through a series of events and has many Divine Artifact, but few are of good enough quality; most are just "okay to use".
Water Element attack Divine Artifact, destruction-type attack Divine Artifact, life-type attack and Defensive Divine Artifact, death-type attack Divine Artifact, and lightning-type Defensive Divine Artifact are currently not of a quality worthy of Jason's use in the late game.
After all, Jason is already the designated Sovereign's Emissary, and his goal is to become Prefect-level powerhouse comparable to the Paragon, and if he's lucky, he might even become Sovereign.
Jason still has some good quality materials on hand, but he needs to replenish them.
"Give me a ton of this metal." Jason pointed to a metal with an affinity for death.
Although it was said to be a ton, it was actually smaller than a human head, but even this small amount cost Jason ten million Nether Stone.
"Fortunately, I sold some Divine Artifact Divine Spark before." Jason secretly rejoiced. He had learned about this kind of metal from books before; it was extremely rare and hard to come by. He had visited two cities before but had not encountered it.
"Lord Jason." A gruff voice rang out from the side.
Jason looked over and saw that it was Leopold, a Six-Star Fiend in the group, with both earth and water attributes.
"That group of bandits clearly came prepared. We've been discussing in private who leaked our whereabouts," Leopold said, trying to sound casual.
"It wasn't me," Jason denied firmly.
"So, who do you think is more suspicious?"
Jason looked at the other party and chuckled, "Does it matter? You are a seasoned Fiend, would Fiend who dares to accept this kind of mission resist fighting?"
"Then let me ask you another question: Why did you choose to conceal your strength and join our team?"
"I'd like to!" Jason shrugged, then turned and left without a care in the world.
Jason has a good temper, provided both sides communicate amicably. Leopold, however, suspected him from the start. If he had asked his employer, Sheldon, to inquire, that would have been fine, since it's the employer's duty; but for a team member to openly confront him like that, who does he think he is!
The team set off that very day.
Sheldon seemed to realize that the Midgod combat power was already sufficient, and the most important thing on the way ahead was to guard against surprise attacks from high-level combat power. Therefore, the Fiend recruited this time were all Highgod, two Five-Star Fiend and four Four Star Fiend.
Jason noticed the enormous expense Sheldon had in hiring Fiend along the way and wondered what he had brought with him. Or perhaps, like in the original story where Linley and his crew faced a mission, someone in the team held a significant role?
There's another important issue: Sheldon's strength is too low. Jason estimates he's only at the peak of Four Star Fiend, and it seems he only reached that level through his magical beast talent. Normally, important cargo wouldn't be entrusted to a Four Star Fiend for escort.
Suppressing his curiosity, he kept reminding himself to persevere until he reached the Bone Dragon Prefecture and reunited with his other two clones. Then he could do whatever he wanted.
Leopold seemed to still have doubts about Jason, and with many people in the team supporting him, Jason felt alienated.
Fewer and fewer Fiend were talking to Jason; when Sheldon changed the route at the last minute, everyone tacitly agreed not to inform Jason; when the Highgod were assigned to guard the area, Leopold, who harbored resentment towards Jason, was always on Jason's team, as if they were monitoring Jason.
Jason didn't seem to care much about it.
Seven years after the last major attack by bandits, the enemy has returned.
The team had encountered several groups of bandits before, but they were all bark and no bite, and they didn't suffer any losses at all.
This time, it's clear at a glance that the enemy is after Sheldon —because they are all Highgod.
Thirty-seven Highgod charged directly towards the Metallic Airship where Jason was located.
The Fiend had already received the notification and disembarked from the Metallic Airship to prepare for battle.
Jason watched the approaching enemies and thought to himself, "Now that's more like the style of a great man. Before, those were the kind of stingy ambushes where a few Highgod led a bunch of Midgod, making it seem like Highgod were incredibly rare under their command."
Jason knew about the battle between the Four Divine Beasts Clan and the Eight Great Clans in the original story, so he always looked down on the intensity of this battle where Highgod led a group of mid-ranking Midgod to fight—it was too low-level.
Of course, he also knew that this was because his strength was limited in the past, and he had only participated in low-level battles.
After all, Highgod who breaks through on their own is only Four Star Fiend, and they already have a decent status in the Netherworld; while the majority of the Netherworld's inhabitants are from the Saint-level, so Midgod is not exactly weak in comparison.
As Jason was lamenting, the thirty-seven Highgod surrounded the more than three hundred people.
There was no way to escape; there were too many Midgod in the team, making it impossible for them to escape. If the twenty-six Highgod escaped on their own, they would be caught up by the enemy and, being outnumbered, would likely be wiped out.
Most importantly, these thirty-seven Highgod possessed a very strong aura. Jason glanced at them and saw that at least six of them were at the level of Six-Star Fiend. They might be personal guards of a city lord, and even among the strongest city lords.
One of the opposing leaders stepped forward and addressed the group, "We are the personal guards of the Lord of Wulei Prefecture, and we are here to escort you to the prefectural city, ' Leiming City.' Please do not resist."
No one responded, but their minds were in an uproar, debating whether to fight or surrender.
Wulei Prefecture is located directly east of Northbone Prefecture and does not border Bone Dragon Prefecture, so its involvement in the internal strife of Bone Dragon Prefecture was somewhat unexpected; moreover, everyone was curious about what Sheldon had brought that required the Mansion Lord's personal guards to come and seize it.
At this moment, Leopold, Six-Star Fiend who had always been at odds with Jason, stepped forward. "Sir, we only accepted Fiend quest and are unaware of the whole affair. Please allow us to leave."
The Fiend all looked at their leader. Just moments ago, they were discussing whether to rely on their numbers to fight a tough battle, but now that they saw their strongest warrior had yielded, they lost all will to resist.
"No, everyone, you should come with us to Wulei Prefecture. As long as we can confirm that you are not involved in this matter, we will guarantee your safety," the leader said directly.
All of them?
"Yes."
Leopold looked at Sheldon, who nodded helplessly; the three hundred-plus Fiend behind him stirred, and the thirty-seven Highgod around him unleashed their powerful auras, but ultimately all gave in.
"I initially thought it would be a somewhat challenging mission, but it turns out to be a Infernal Realm one. It seems they're afraid Sheldon might have entrusted the key items to some Fiend to take out, so they're taking everything with them," Jason thought to himself. He knew that at his current speed, he couldn't escape by brute force unless he used the Sovereign’s Might.
After weighing the options, he finally decided to go with them. It wouldn't hurt to go to the Northbone Prefecture first, since he had been struggling with how to break through the Bone Dragon Prefecture's blockade to enter Skyfall City. Since that was the case, he decided to postpone it for a while.
He still had the Sovereign Token given to him by Beirut. If he showed it to these guards, they might not know Beirut's name. It would be better to wait until they arrived at Wulei Prefecture and tell the prefect there or the Seven Star Fiend.