Skyfall City is even more deserted than when Jason first arrived.
Less than a hundred years ago, the Bone Dragon Prefecture opened a passage for Skyfall City, allowing willing residents to leave and voluntarily escorting them to the nearest city.
At the time, Lord Tiboni of Skyfall City did not stop it, so the city's population dwindled.
Johanna's squad did not leave, not because they were unwilling, but because they were refused by the Bone Dragon Prefecture soldiers outside the city. After all, they were "the people of the Northbone Prefecture Lord," and they could only leave after the Bone Dragon Prefecture Lord and the Northbone Prefecture Lord communicated and coordinated.
Otherwise, Jason wouldn't have needed to risk coming all this way.
They weren't stopped from entering the city; they were just briefly questioned, and didn't even have to pay an entrance fee.
There's nothing left for spies to investigate in Skyfall City now. The huge city has only a handful of less than 10,000 people, most of whom are the city's garrison and the city lord's confidants. They can't leave even if they want to; the Bone Dragon Prefecture's guards outside won't let them go.
If it weren't for the Sovereign's decree prohibiting fighting within the city, Skyfall City would already have fallen.
Jason led Naya straight to the house where Johanna's caravan was staying.
"I can't believe it! I can't believe you actually got in!"
"The situation outside the city is not what it was when we came in. With our strength, going in or out would be a near-certain death."
As soon as Jason entered the house, he was surrounded by people.
Being trapped for nearly a thousand years, it's alright if you often have insights; but if you have no inspiration, can't enter into deep meditation, and have nothing to do, then it's really frustrating.
Jason merged his several clones into one.
"Phew, we've finally reunited." Jason let out a long sigh of relief.
Delisha looked at Naya and asked, "Is this someone from the Four Divine Beasts Clan?"
Having been in the Netherworld for so many years, Delisha naturally knew that the Four Ultimate Warrior Clans of the Yulan Continent originated from the Four Divine Beasts Clan of the Infernal Realm.
"I met them on the road and rescued them," Jason said casually.
Mariano, the "Messenger of the Northbone Prefecture" who had been locking himself in his room, made a rare appearance.
"Normally, you shouldn't be able to get into Skyfall City now," Mariano said coldly.
The surroundings suddenly fell silent, and everyone felt a strong aversion to the culprit who had caused them to be trapped in the city.
"Looks like you have a clone in Hyde City, huh? You seem to know the situation around here quite well." Johanna retorted sharply.
"I was just following orders. Your father, Lord Lloyd, knows about this. There's no need for him to keep pressing me." Mariano revealed this to everyone for the first time.
The people around didn't seem to care; after all, both the prefectural lord and the city lord were important figures. Only Johanna turned pale; her father's actions were clearly pushing her into a fire pit.
Mariano didn't dwell on it. "So, Jason, how did you get in?"
"I now pledge allegiance to a great man, who gave me a token." Jason made no attempt to conceal his loyalty, producing Beirut's token. "I pledge allegiance to Beirut, the Lord of the Indigo Prefecture Infernal Realm."
The group looked at each other, indicating they didn't recognize the person.
Delisha certainly knew; Jason had told her before.
Mariano was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "What business does Lord Beirut have with you?"
It seems he has just found out about Beirut through his other clone.
"It's nothing, I'm just here to pick up my two clones and my mistress."
The group exchanged glances. "Take me with you! Take me with you!"
Mariano and Johanna remained silent. Their situation was rather special, and even if Jason were willing to take them, he wouldn't dare to leave. If the Bone Dragon Prefecture's soldiers swarmed them, Jason wouldn't be able to protect them.
"I'm sorry, I can't take you with me." Jason refused decisively.
Those around him looked disappointed, but it was all expected.
Jason plans to leave in a few days.
"I bought this Bloodflame Saber at Golden Deer Prefecture. I bought too many, so I'll give you one." Jason took out the short Bloodflame Saber he had bought earlier.
"You've got a lot of amazing adventures, kid!" Delisha accepted without hesitation, without asking where they came from.
"I have some materials that I'd like to find a weapon-refining workshop in the city to have them crafted."
Let's go together!
Jason also brought Naya along.
There are many Deity-level crafters who specialize in crafting artifacts in the Netherworld; almost every city has one. After all, craftsmen in the Material Plane are generally powerful, and many of them maintain their original habits even after breaking through to godhood.
Arriving at the only remaining weapon-refining workshop in Skyfall City, Jason took out all the weapon-refining materials he had accumulated along the way, as well as the stockpiles from his two clones.
"My esteemed guest, after all these years of siege, very few have been able to produce such excellent material."
The shop owner lamented that hardly anyone had come to his shop over the years, and if it weren't for the kindness shown to him by the city lord of Skyfall City, he would have moved away long ago.
After inspecting the materials and recommending some accessories from the shop's inventory, the craftsman agreed on a price and began his work.
Jason now realizes that there are only two people in the shop: the owner and his wife.
"Sigh, the shop used to be packed with customers, and I even had a small caravan to procure materials from outside. Now, everyone's gone and the business has cooled down. Don't worry, my wife and I can still make a few prototype Divine Artifact."
First, there's the Defensive Divine Artifact with the attribute of death.
A pale reddish-white flame ignited in the shopkeeper's hand, spreading remotely to the two main materials that had been lifted into the air by divine Divine Power. Once they were completely melted, he used Divine Power to arrange them into the shape of plate armor. The proprietress, on the other hand, was a master of both earth and water Essence of the Earth enveloped the partially formed plate armor, and then Water Element Divine Power slowly cooled it down. After about an hour, the Essence of the Earth was removed, and all the parts of the plate armor were fully formed.
Then he took out the white silk thread that Jason had prepared earlier and strung these parts together. This was actually the silk spun by a spider with extremely high talent in the Netherworld. Finally, he used the auxiliary materials provided by the shop to wrap the edges of the armor to make it move smoothly.
"It's done!" The shopkeeper couldn't hide his joy. Since Skyfall City was besieged, he hadn't crafted such a high-quality Divine Artifact prototype in a long time.
Judging from the couple's abilities, Jason deduced that they were at least Six-Star Fiend!
"Let's give it a name!" said the young-looking, playful proprietress.
Jason observed that the material itself was not yet conceived, and it was shrouded in an aura of death, as if countless vengeful spirits were attached to it. This reminded Jason of a scene from an anime he watched when he was a teenager in his previous life.
Let's call it "Evil Ghost Entanglement"!
The Death Clone donned the plate armor, and Jason then took out the Bloodflame Saber, brandishing it a couple of times, finding it quite impressive.
"Let's also give this Bloodflame Saber a name, let's call it ' Weeping Blood '."
Jason was very satisfied, and the store manager and his wife were also very satisfied.
"It's rare to see Bloodflame Saber of this quality. The former Bone Dragon Prefecture Lord once collected one, and the quality was about the same as this one," the shopkeeper remarked, borrowing Jason's "Weeping Blood."
The Bloodflame Saber, a gift from the Lord of Golden Deer Prefecture, is undoubtedly of the highest quality.
Next up are weapons with destructive attributes. Jason's blood-red longsword is made of poor material and wasn't even crafted by him. He wants to forge a better one. Right now, he only has enough destructive attribute materials for one longsword; he'll have to wait until he reaches Infernal Realm to work on a Defensive Divine Artifact.
This time it only took half an hour to complete.
Its design is similar to the previous longsword, and its color is bright silver. Its hardness alone makes it a top-tier Highgod Artifact.
Jason tried wielding the longsword; the mirror-like blade was unremarkable, seemingly made of ordinary steel from the Material Plane. "Let's call it ' Destruction and Silence '."
Jason stopped wielding his long sword and thanked the shopkeeper and his wife, saying, "Thank you both, seniors."
"No, no, we're very happy to be able to create Divine Artifact of this quality."
These are all the materials he has right now. His Destruction Clone is still missing a Defensive Divine Artifact, which he'll probably have to wait until he gets to the Infernal Realm. He's not in a hurry for the water-attribute Divine Artifact prototype; he can wait until his Water Clone completes its mission. Life-attribute materials are ridiculously expensive in the Netherworld, and Jason can't bear to buy them.
Jason's Divine Artifact, including the set of Fate Clone, were obtained from the Necropolis of the Gods. The golden gloves were named "Final Return" and the golden robe was named "Wheel of Suffering." Of all the Divine Artifact from that batch, only these two caught Jason's eye.
The Divine Artifact for the Lightning Clone had already been crafted. The leather armor he bought in Falling Rain City was quite good, and Jason named it "Arc Light." As for the Lightning Element longsword, it was crafted by a member of the Rhine Clan and retained the name "Waking of Insects."
Jason's current artifacts are of such Divine Artifact quality that they are sufficient even for Prefect-level or Sovereign user.
"What use are the leftover scraps, Madam?" Jason turned to Delisha.
Delisha rolled her eyes at Jason, then jumped up and punched Jason on the shoulder. "You only remember me now! And you gave me scraps!"
However, she still took out a batch of materials from her Interspatial Ring: "Although they're not as good as that brat's stuff, they'll do enough to forge two Defensive Divine Artifact."
(I'm tired of calling it a blood-red longsword and a thin black blade. It's more pleasing to give each weapon its own unique name.)