Fifty Thousand Years of Secluded Cultivation
The earth-shaking battle at the Shadow Tribe had come to an end, but the turmoil it stirred up afterward was considerable.
Although the battle was over, a Battle Projection of it had suddenly spread, drawing the attention of countless experts across the Infernal Realm.
What everyone discussed most, however, was neither Nuoti, who had slaughtered everyone in his path after using Sovereign's Might, nor Dimont, who had withstood Nuoti's attacks and emerged unscathed. It was the mysterious expert who had struck at the very end-
A beam of light from a long-range attack had instantly killed Nuoti. Just how powerful was that? A Paragon?
Perhaps Lord Aiken had used some method, but the Floating Shadows that spread only recorded the scene when the light shone down. Aiken himself had not been recorded, so everyone could only guess who the mysterious expert was.
Some said a great Sovereign had intervened, some suspected the Light Paragon Clementine, and others claimed it was merely an ordinary Asura who had used Sovereign's Might. In the end, no consensus was reached.
A long time had passed since the battle at the Shadow Tribe. Afterward, Rog had kept to himself and stopped taking missions from the Fiend Castle. Instead, he had found a nearby city called Cloud Net City and settled there to cultivate in seclusion.
"The technique I'm best at under the Death Rule is this Soul Ray. It's the simplest and most direct Soul Attack in the Death Rule, capable of directly destroying an opponent's soul power. Now that I'm choosing a Profound Mystery of the Laws of Lightning to fuse with it, I need to make up for its shortcomings in the material aspect. For the first Profound Mystery of the Laws of Lightning, I'll choose the most powerful one, Judgment!"
One advantage of a Fusion Law was that the laws could make up for one another's shortcomings.
The Judgment Profound Mystery of the Lightning Law, like the Profound Mystery of Explosion of the Fire Element, was terrifyingly powerful when used in material attacks. It could greatly compensate for the Death Rule's inherently weak material attacks.
Thus, Rog's Death Divine Clone and his original body formally embarked on the path of the Fusion Law.
He first fused the first level of the Death Rule with the Judgment Profound Mystery of the Lightning Law. After spending a little over five hundred years, he successfully completed the fusion without much difficulty.
"What a strange feeling." Only after fusing the two laws did Rog discover that the resulting law truly was more flawless.
Although the Fusion Law was currently only as strong as the Laws of Lightning had been when he had mastered three Profound Mysteries, its actual effects were more comprehensive.
After all, each law had its own special characteristics.
The Four Edicts also differed from one another.
The Laws of Water Elements, for example, excelled at defense. Both their soul defense and material defense were extremely strong, but their attacks were somewhat weaker. The Fire Elemental Law was the opposite: its defense was slightly weaker, but it excelled at attack.
The Edicts of Fate, for instance, excelled in the soul aspect but were lacking in the material aspect.
Every individual law or edict had shortcomings of one kind or another. But once a Profound Mystery of another law could be fused into it, the characteristics of that law could be introduced to make up for those shortcomings.
The Water Law, for example, was strong in defense alone and had difficulty killing opponents. But if it were fused with the Dimension Profound Mystery of the Wind Element or the Profound Mystery of Explosion of the Fire Element, its material attack power would immediately improve.
And what about Aiken? His Edicts of Fate should not have been suited to material attacks, but his law had also been fused with the characteristics of a Profound Mystery of the Laws of Light, making his material attacks terrifyingly powerful. The Laws of Light themselves were ordinary in terms of Soul Attack, but with a Profound Mystery of the Edicts of Fate to make up for that, his Soul Attack was also extremely powerful.
Even before he had retired as an Asura, he had been among the most well-rounded and troublesome of them. It was no exaggeration to call him an all-rounder.
"The first step is only the beginning. The real difficulty starts with the second step.
"Although I quickly completed the first fusion, it means very little to me now. After all, I'm already on the path to fusing four Lightning Element Profound Mysteries. For the second Profound Mystery, I'd be better off adding a lower-level one. That way, the balance between the two laws will be more perfect." Rog soon decided to choose the Thunder Element Profound Mystery as his second Lightning Law Profound Mystery. It was the most basic and simplest of them, but its power in material attacks was still fairly good.
"The second step really is full of difficulties, but I believe it won't stop me!" Getting started on the second fusion was as difficult as fusing four Profound Mysteries, and completing it was as difficult as fusing five. But only upon reaching this step would the Fusion Law begin to show results.
The previous crisis had given Luo Ao quite a shock and deepened his understanding of the Laws of Lightning. But being able to fuse the Lightning Body Technique Profound Mystery and achieve a fusion of four Profound Mysteries did not mean he could quickly get started on a Fusion Law of the same difficulty.
Rog was in no hurry, however. He believed the second step would not stop him.
Soon, fifty thousand years had passed.
Even Dimont did not know just how much progress his master had made over the years.
Over those fifty-odd thousand years, Rog had spent most of his time cultivating, but he had also often sent a clone out to enjoy himself. With the wealth he had accumulated earlier, he could afford to live an extremely extravagant life in the city for a long time.
Fifty thousand years of secluded cultivation had been dull and tedious, but it had also brought rich rewards.
"The second fusion really is difficult. It took me more than three thousand years to get started, and working it out afterward took tens of thousands more. Even so, I'm still a fraction short of completing it." Only after cultivating it himself did Rog understand how difficult it was.
"But this path isn't without its benefits. With this Fusion Law, I effectively skipped the threshold of getting started on five Profound Mysteries and cultivated straight to a level close to the limit of fusing five." There were, after all, some advantages to following the path of the Fusion Law.
Now, his Fusion Law was a fraction short of matching an Asura who had fused five Profound Mysteries, making him one of the very strongest Seven-Star Fiends.
Besides that, he had devoted some of his energy to completely fusing his fourth Laws of Lightning Profound Mystery, the Lightning Body Technique.
Compared to his progress in the Lightning Law, however, the boost from the Fusion Profound Mysteries was clearly greater. After all, he had only just fused four of the former, while he was nearly finished fusing the fifth of the latter.
"Master, you've finally come out of seclusion." While Rog had been cultivating in seclusion, Dimont naturally had not been idle either.
With the Soul-Suppressing Celestial Crystal, Dimont no longer feared opponents who specialized in Soul Attacks. Rog had spent these years cultivating in seclusion, leaving Dimont free to venture out and fight on his own.
After fifty thousand years of fighting and struggle in the Infernal Realm, Dimont had continually gained insight into the Edicts of Destruction amid the killing. He had finally cultivated the Path of Collapse and Destruction he had comprehended to the third level. At that level, however, the Path of Collapse and Destruction was practically at its end.
The Profound Mysteries of the Laws varied in rank, and cultivation of the edicts naturally varied in depth. The Path of Collapse and Destruction was best at enhancing strength, but at Dimont's current level, it had practically reached its limit. Even if he made further major progress in the edicts, he would no longer be able to effectively enhance his raw physical strength.
With his breakthrough in the Edicts of Destruction and his frequent absorption of metal essence over the past fifty thousand years, his physical strength alone had reached the Seven-Star Fiend level.
Such a powerful body, combined with the Path of Collapse and Destruction he cultivated under the Edicts of Destruction, which itself specialized in strength, gave him material attacks comparable to those of an ordinary Asura.
Each law had different characteristics, but when it came to bringing out a Divine Beast's advantage in strength, the strength-related Profound Mysteries of the laws of earth and the Path of Collapse and Destruction of the Edicts of Destruction were undoubtedly among the very best.
It was because Dimont himself was a Divine Beast of Destruction and had happened to comprehend the Path of Collapse and Destruction that he had developed such terrifying material attack power.
Now that Dimont had reached the third level, even a Seven-Star Fiend probably could not withstand more than a few blows from his Annihilation Fist.
With his impregnable defense as well, challenging an Asura would have been no great problem if speed had not been such an absolute weakness.
After all, although Dimont could not land a single blow on an Asura, an ordinary Asura would also have difficulty injuring him. Such was a Six-Armed Demon Ape whose weakness in the soul had been made up for.
With only a third-level understanding of the Edicts of Destruction, Dimont's material attacks could match those of an Asura, and Rog could not help feeling somewhat reflective. But that was Dimont's bloodline talent, and Rog could not envy him for it.
Dimont's current material attack power was enough to rival an Asura's. With his impregnable defense as well, challenging an Asura would have been no great problem if speed had not been such an absolute weakness.
After all, although Dimont could not land a single blow on an Asura, an Asura would also have difficulty injuring him. Such was a Six-Armed Demon Ape whose weakness in the soul had been made up for.
Strictly speaking, Dimont's progress had brought a greater increase in strength. His material attacks had advanced from the Seven-Star Fiend level to genuinely rivaling an Asura's.
Rog reckoned that even he would be stuck for quite some time before he could rival an Asura. But that was Dimont's bloodline talent, and Rog could not envy him for it.
"Master, once we've completed enough missions, we can challenge for the Seven-Star Fiend rank. Then you can go have some fun as a city lord," Dimont joked with Rog.
The Infernal Realm had 108 prefectures, and each prefecture had only ten cities. The positions of those cities' lords were not permanent; any Seven-Star Fiend had the right to challenge a city lord.
Given Rog's current strength, obtaining a city lord's position would not be too difficult. He had heard that city lords acquired considerable wealth each year, so claiming the title when he had nothing else to do was not out of the question.
But as Rog and Dimont chatted and laughed, they had no idea that someone had long since set their sights on them.