Intelligence

"No more, no more. I surrender. Your techniques are way too monstrous. If we keep fighting, I'm afraid I'll lose my life." Flame had taken great pains to receive that attack. Then he shook his head repeatedly and surrendered outright. Though he was joking, he was also telling the truth.

Rog had not taken the opportunity to follow up with another attack just then. Otherwise, Flame would have had to use a drop of Sovereign's Might to save his life. If they kept fighting, he felt his life really would be in danger.

"Not at all. Flame, your use of the laws is much more refined than mine." Judging purely by their level in the Profound Mysteries of the Laws, Flame had fused five mysteries, while Rog had only fused a little over four in the Laws of Lightning.

As for how he used them, Flame had long since reached a state of near perfection. By comparison, Rog's techniques were somewhat crude. Yet in the end, Rog had kept him on the defensive. Rog had a rough guess as to why, but he could not be certain.

In any case, after his battle with Flame, Rog had confirmed his own strength. He had indeed reached the Asura level, and had even held the initiative against a veteran Asura like Flame.

Flame's loss to Rog did not mean he was weak. After all, he was an Asura who had risen to the position of Prefect. Most ordinary Asura-level experts were no match for him.

If anything was to blame, it was that Rog was too strong.

"Heh, don't even mention it. Your moves are ordinary, and you can still keep me on the defensive. In the future, I'm afraid I'll be even less of a match for you." Flame shook his head. He even suspected that Rog had already cultivated to a level close to Paragon.

"Flame, have you heard of a man named Fulaite?" Now that Rog had confirmed his own level of strength, he intended to settle accounts with Fulaite.

"Fulaite? What do you want with him? His strength is nothing special, but dealing with him won't be that easy." Flame frowned as soon as he heard the name.

"Why? Is he special somehow?" Rog was somewhat surprised.

"You could say he's a little special. Fulaite himself is only at the ordinary Asura level, but he cultivates the Death Rule, and his true body is some kind of special Divine Beast, so he has a few unique tricks. For example, he can make Soul Defense Divine Artifacts and refine Soul Leeches, among other auxiliary methods." Fuleimu seemed to hold the man in considerable disdain.

"That fellow's own strength is nothing special. But thanks to those special methods of his, he's made friends with many formidable experts. He's also placed himself under the protection of a Sovereign's child. Trying to go after him really is troublesome." Flame quickly explained the details.

Fulaite's own strength was ordinary, and he rarely fought others to the death. He also had friends everywhere and had placed himself under the protection of a Sovereign's family. Killing him would be easy, but it would also be easy to bring a great deal of trouble down on oneself.

"Placed himself under a Sovereign's child? That fellow really is..." Rog could only shake his head. Generally speaking, experts had their dignity. Some experts were reluctant even to serve as a Sovereign's emissary, let alone place themselves under a Sovereign's child and join their family. Such a person had utterly disgraced Asura-level experts and could be called a shame to them.

"I understand. Thank you, Flame." The Prefect of Xiyun really was a decent person, worth befriending.

"Haha, no need to thank me. I look forward to seeing you carve out a legend by slaughtering all who stand in your way on the Aoqi Plane, Rog." Flame and Rog exchanged more tales of strange happenings that only those at the Asura or Commander level would encounter. Afterward, Flame took his leave.

Fulaite really won't be easy to deal with anytime soon, it seems. In any case, I didn't suffer any loss. I'll find another chance to deal with you later. Rog made a mental note of the man and began planning how to enter Purgatory.

Purgatory lay deep within the Chaotic Sea. Ordinary people did not even know such a place existed.

Purgatory had 108 military camps. Though they were called camps, they were actually 108 islands.

Each island had a Purgatory Commander and a large number of soldiers forming a military camp. The expedition to the Aoqi Plane has been underway for quite some time now. It could end at any moment. If I want to get in, I'll have no choice but to challenge another Prefect or Commander. Rog had already learned the conditions for joining the expedition from Flame.

Just like entering the Planar Battlefield, entering the expedition plane required a Commander or Prefect to lead the way.

This was a kind of privilege. Anyone who was not a Prefect or Purgatory Commander could not enter on their own, even if they were an Asura-level expert.

Since Flame didn't mention it before, he probably doesn't want to get involved in this expedition. As for the other Prefects of the Infernal Realm and Purgatory Commanders, I don't know them well, so I can only obtain this ticket for myself. Rog quickly decided to challenge a Prefect directly.

There was no other reason: becoming the master of a prefecture would grant him a fair amount of authority, and he would no longer have to worry about wealth. When there were matters that were not too troublesome to handle, he could also order his subordinates to deal with them directly.

Although Rog did not care particularly about authority, it could still come in handy now and then.

Through his battle with Flame, Rog had more or less established his own level of strength. He was indeed qualified to challenge a Prefect.

However, there were some monstrous figures among the Infernal Realm's 108 Prefects who ranked at the very top in strength, and Rog was still no match for them.

Among them, some had also undergone Soul Mutation. Some were powerful Divine Beasts with bizarre Innate Divine Abilities. Some belonged to unusual races and also had innate abilities. Some experts possessed Sovereign Artifacts...

In short, although Rog was not weak, he could not be as casual about this as he had been when challenging Seven-Star Fiends. After all, Asura Prefects were already among the very strongest figures below Sovereigns and Paragons, and virtually none of them were easy to deal with.

I'll buy some intelligence first. As the saying went, know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win every battle. To purchase this kind of confidential intelligence, the most convenient places were naturally Zij ing Castle and Black Sand Castle.

At the counter dedicated to selling intelligence in Black Sand Castle, a black-haired young man saw Rog and Dimont approach.

"I want to buy intelligence on the Infernal Realm's 108 Prefects and Purgatory's 108 Commanders." Although Rog intended to challenge a Prefect, if there really were no suitable opponents, challenging a Commander was also an option.

"My lords, would you like the brief version, the detailed version, or... the most confidential kind?" The black-haired young man in charge of selling intelligence was somewhat surprised that Rog wanted to buy such information, but he did not hesitate.

"The most confidential kind. Money is no problem." Over the years, Rog had not deliberately amassed wealth, but he had rarely been short of it.

"Please wait a moment, my lords." Before long, the young man had someone bring over a large quantity of documents.

The documents were indeed very detailed. They not only recorded the laws each of the 216 experts specialized in and the ultimate moves they had used, but even included some of their publicly available Battle Projections.

Let's see who the strongest experts in the Infernal Realm are. Rog was also very curious about the figures who stood at the very pinnacle of the entire Infernal Realm.

Anyone who could hold the position of Prefect or Commander was bound to have something extraordinary about them.