We set off again.
With detailed planning this time, the journey was much smoother.
"Dad, should we take this opportunity to visit some of the famous tourist attractions on the Muya Continent?" Monica asked expectantly, grabbing Jason's arm.
Previously, Monica went straight into the city after arriving in the Infernal Realm and never came out, so her knowledge of the dangers of the Infernal Realm was limited to what the city's residents said, and she didn't have a very direct understanding of it.
"No, no, let's play it safe. Once the family is settled, I'll take you out to play by myself." Jason dared not disregard the family's well-being for a moment's pleasure.
"Oh--" Monica only occasionally reveals her childlike nature when she's with her parents.
Jason looked at his daughter. "You haven't been cultivating for very long. This is the perfect time to significantly improve your strength. You should focus more on comprehending the laws. With your talent, you have the potential to reach the Seven Star Fiend, or even higher."
"My Wind Clone has been cultivating; my main body has been trying to increase its affinity with life attributes, but not very effectively; as for the other laws, I have absolutely no clue," Monica explained her current situation.
A person's limits in cultivation are determined by both innate talent and later experiences; generally speaking, after becoming a god, a person's cultivation talent is already set. And this talent will gradually be developed to its limit within a hundred million years.
If, after a hundred million years, one is still stuck at a certain bottleneck and unable to break through, then unless there is a major upheaval or the assistance of a supreme treasure, there will basically be no further breakthroughs.
Monica is not yet six hundred years old, and she has already become Midgod through the fusion of Sound Waves and Vocal Music, so her future is limitless.
Looking at her husband and daughter, Veronica couldn't help but sigh, "You are both geniuses, while I am just a weak and pitiful Lowgod."
"No way, reaching the Lowgod at over a thousand years old is already above average in the Infernal Realm," Jason reassured him.
Veronica achieved Fire Element through complete mastery of the Fire Element law, and also possessed some understanding of Fire Body Technique, though she did not fully integrate them.
Jason had previously advised her not to rush and to try to fuse with the mysteries sooner rather than later. However, perhaps due to the successive breakthroughs of those around her and the stimulation from the powerful beings in the Infernal Realm, Veronica ultimately failed to calm down Fusion Profound Mysteries.
But it doesn't matter. Veronica's aptitude isn't that high, so it's reasonable for her to improve her cultivation level first.
"Wharton said he had some insights a while ago and has gone into seclusion," Monica said, talking about her companions' situation. "Jenny has always been at the Saint-level Limit and hasn't made any progress."
Due to a twist of fate, Jenny and Wharton eventually came together in the original story, and both reached the Saint-level Limit. Their child is now on the Yulan Continent.
They are the youngest, and are still stuck at the threshold of Deity-level.
At that moment, Delisha's divine sense transmitted a message: "Everyone be careful, the road ahead is quite dangerous, please remain vigilant at all times."
The mother and daughter glanced at Jason, both looking relaxed.
This place is Infernal Realm after all. No matter how well it's planned, there are always some dangerous areas that can't be avoided, such as the Heaven-Cleaving Gorge in front of us.
The Heaven-Cleaving Gorge stretches for hundreds of thousands of miles, almost spanning half of the Muya Continent. It is said that in the early days of the world, before the Seven Divine Planes were created, when the Sovereign had just ascended and order had not yet been established, several Sovereign fought fiercely here, and one powerful Sovereign cleaved out such a magnificent canyon with a single slash.
It is impossible to verify which Sovereign created this masterpiece, but Jason suspects it was one of the Four Rules Sovereigns, as only the power of the Overgod Artifact could achieve such a feat.
The Heaven-Cleaving Gorge is dangerous because the battles of yesteryear have caused the space here to be extremely unstable, with spatial rifts frequently appearing.
Of course, the destruction caused in a plane like Infernal Realm could not have been accomplished by a single strike from that Sovereign alone, but rather by the combined efforts of several Sovereign fought together back then.
Such natural barriers are beyond the repair Deity-level; they can only be overcome by finding a few relatively stable areas within the hundreds of thousands of miles of canyons to establish passageways.
There are seven such passages, each controlled by a different family, who have each established their own city and collect customs duties.
These cities are not under the jurisdiction of the Sovereign of the Muya Continent, nor are they protected by the Muya army. Whether they can maintain stability depends entirely on the strength of each family.
Normally, there is no danger in a passage guarded by powerful individuals, but this is Infernal Realm, and the guardians of the passage will not diligently maintain the stability of the area around it.
If the area around the passage is too safe, how can the necessity of setting up a checkpoint be demonstrated, and how can people passing by be persuaded to hand over the Inkstone?
Therefore, the three Metallic Airship of the Rhine Clan were intercepted by a group of bandits when they were about to reach a passage called "Hanging City".
"More than 8,000 people, let's say 10,000 of you, pay a toll of one million Nether Stone!" It was clearly a small group of about 20 people, led by a Highgod, yet they didn't even bother to check the strength of their target before flying over to collect the toll.
Freya, clearly having experienced this before, shouted through her divine sense, "These wild dogs are kept by ' Hanging City ' to rip off passersby! I was slashed twice when I passed through here years ago!"
Tarosse asked, "Can I not pay?"
Before Freya could answer, several more knowledgeable Demon in the group said, "Yes, we can kill them and we won't have to pay!"
But someone later added, "I suggest you wait until you have the strength of Seven Star Fiend before doing this."
Clearly, all the relatively safe passages within Heaven-Cleaving Gorge are like this, and the Demon who have passed through here have reached a consensus.
"I'll go." As the clan leader, Delisha knew when to bow her head.
After a brief negotiation, Delisha, her face ashen, flew back to the Metallic Airship: "Let's continue."
Everyone in the group sensed the clan leader's pent-up anger and remained silent. Even the Demon dared not provoke Delisha, since Delisha was the strongest member of the group besides Jason and Bessalie.
The Heaven-Cleaving Gorge is very long, but not wide, only about a hundred miles across.
Three Metallic Airship flew slowly, entering the "Hanging City Passage" along with the other travelers.
The entire passage is a "giant pipe" made of a transparent material that resembles glass, covered with dense runes, serving as a barrier to isolate spatial rifts.
Of course, this level of defense cannot stop real Spatial Turbulence; it can only isolate smaller spatial rifts within relatively stable natural passages in this space.
Freya had obviously been here before, and she told Jason and the others who hadn't been before, "The energy here is very chaotic, with all eleven attributes present, which shows that many Sovereign once fought a chaotic battle here."
Because of the collision of energies, this space exists in a semi-independent state from the Infernal Realm, similar to a small plane attached to the Infernal Realm, which is why it has been able to persist for so long without dissipating.
After walking less than a tenth of the way through this glass tunnel, an upside-down city appeared before everyone's eyes.
"Hanging City" is exactly as its name suggests, completely upside down in this tunnel. The city is not large, more like a slightly larger castle, and this arrangement seems to serve as the eye of a magic array.
There was another pause, this time more formal. After a Highgod counted the number of the Rhine Clan, there were a total of 8,953 people. Each person was charged a toll of 1,000 Inkstone.
Jason was already used to the rampant tyranny of the Infernal Realm powerhouse, and the members of the Rhine Clan didn't say anything about it, since they couldn't beat him.
Upon officially entering the "Hanging City Passage," spatial cracks outside the tunnel began to increase. The radiance of eleven different energies intertwined and collided, tearing apart the already fragile space, which was then barely mended by dimensional tension.
Many passersby took the opportunity to capture this precious scene with their Floating Shadow; others carefully observed the scenery, slowing down as much as possible, hoping to gain a glimpse of inspiration from the lingering echoes of the Sovereign technique from millions of years ago.
Still feeling unsatisfied, they walked for an hour through the hundred-mile canyon. This was the minimum speed allowed by the administrators of Hanging City; any slower and they would be reprimanded and forcibly removed.
They had reached the exit, bathed in a faint reddish sunlight. Jason put down the Floating Shadow in his hand. He hadn't gained any insight from the entire process, so he could only use the Floating Shadow to record this extraordinary sight, hoping that he might gain some understanding in the future.
It's a bit of a pity that I didn't find a breakthrough. Let go of the Floating Shadow and quietly wait to emerge from the passage.
The moment we left the tunnel, sunlight once again filled our vision, and the dazzling and magnificent light emanating from the Spatial Turbulence was swallowed up by the single beam of sunlight.
For Deity-level being who doesn't rely heavily on vision, this change in perspective wouldn't have much of an impact, but Jason gleaned some insights from this shift in scenery.
"No matter how tumultuous life may be, it will eventually lead to a unified end—" At this moment, Jason's death and Destruction Clone both entered a state of enlightenment.
After a brief moment of distraction, or perhaps a long period of silence, Jason was enveloped in a surge of energy that shook the heavens and earth.
As the Divine Spark of Death coalesced, Jason, who was already familiar with this, sent out his Death Clone to merge with the Divine Spark.
"The Death Clone can now dive to very deep parts of the Elemental Sea," Jason said, attempting to lower his consciousness into his sea of consciousness. "Here, I can already sense the Death Sovereign’s Might, but it's not very clear."
Opening his eyes, Jason felt much more confident now that his Death Clone had broken through to the Highgod. Based on the Death Clone's understanding and deductions over the years, even without the clear division of elemental laws, Jason could roughly estimate the Death Clone's strength.
It should possess the strength of a weak Seven Star Fiend, roughly equivalent to having fully fused four of the six elemental Profound Mysteries, both lower and middle Profound Mysteries.
Jason made a specific assessment and concluded that his Laws of Death might be slightly inferior to this standard, mainly because the Four Edicts were not specifically divided, and Jason's understanding of the Edicts of Death was somewhat mixed.
The two books Jason had previously read that simply summarized the Four Edicts were only for those in the early stages of understanding the rules. Now, it was difficult for him to explain exactly where he had reached.
However, the advantage is that you don't need to worry about the Profound Mysteries integration of the Four Edicts in advance; you can simply grasp them once you have some understanding.
Having just broken through, Jason still needs to replenish his soul, and his strength has room for improvement. The Edicts of Death favor soul specialization, and the strength of one's soul greatly affects combat power.
"In any case, I'm now at the level of Seven Star Fiend. With my other clones, even without the Sovereign Artifact and the Sovereign’s Might, I can fight an ordinary Seven Star Fiend on my own."
Jason was in high spirits, and after experiencing the state of the Destruction Clone, he was still in a state of enlightenment.
Stepping out of the room, I found my relatives and friends already waiting for me.
"Dad! How was it? How was it?" Monica looked at Jason with sparkling eyes.
"Just a breakthrough," Jason said casually.
Those around him offered their congratulations.
As the family was migrating, Jason felt embarrassed to have ordinary family members crowding into the main hall, so the three of them occupied a separate area. Therefore, everyone was usually together, and they were only given a private space when they felt an epiphany.
Jason looked around and sensed something was wrong. "Why did the airship stop? How long was my enlightenment?"
Veronica said, "Only ten minutes have passed. Another group of bandits has come and blocked our way. Chief Delisha and Miss Freya went out to deal with them."
Jason remembered what Freya had said before: that when passing through the Heaven-Cleaving Gorge passage, one would be stabbed twice by the surrounding bandits.
"Damn, they really robbed us twice! How shameless! I'll go check it out."