Chapter 105: Scheme of Willpower Might Reward

"Fine, I'll wait for you at Nether Mountain," the Death Overlord finished, and the Lord Deity's power that had coalesced into a body burst outward.

Xiao En exhaled slowly, looked toward Nether Mountain, seemed thoughtful, then his figure flashed and he flew in that direction.

At Xiao En's speed, he reached Nether Mountain in less than half a year; now the Lord Deities all know that the Abiya Material Plane seems to have no new Twelve-Winged Divine Angels being born, so they naturally no longer target Xiao En, allowing him once again to roam the divine planes freely.

"Xiao En? You're back?"

At the entrance of the Death Overlord's palace, Ao Debiao and Tuolesi, who had just stepped out, exclaimed with delight upon seeing Xiao En.

Xiao En smiled, "Right, I'm back to see the Overlord; after we're done, I'll go find you."

"Alright." Ao Debiao and Tuolesi naturally understood that matters of the Lord Deities are paramount, even if they're minor.

Soon Xiao En entered the Lord Deity Hall, and a wave of death energy enveloped the entire palace.

The Death Overlord laughed, "I use Lord Deity's power to surround the palace, so any other Lord Deity cannot discern what we say."

"Honored to meet you, Overlord," Xiao En bowed and said.

"No need for formalities," the Death Overlord replied, "Xiao En, how have you considered that matter?"

The reason they hadn't previously sent a Lord Deity avatar through the teleport array to fetch Xiao En was to give him some time to contemplate.

Xiao En replied, "Overlord, regarding this, I can send people to participate, but I may not act personally; when the plane war draws near, I'll discuss with you in detail why I may or may not take the field."

As a Lord Deity, his avatar clearly cannot enter the battle; according to the Death Overlord's description, even the Lord Deity's power reaching the plane conduit could violate the Supreme God's decree, likely ending in death and dissolution.

However, his Lord Deity status is still not convenient to disclose to the Death Overlord; no one knows what deal she made with Ao Fu and Augusta years ago, and before he can counter Augusta, there's no need to inform anyone.

"Your appearance does indeed carry considerable risk," the Death Overlord said, naturally aware that those who have attained Great Perfection are unwilling to join the Ten-Chain Victory Plane Decisive Battle; although they don't know why the Lord Deities care so much about the plane war, the fact that so many do means they naturally won't participate;

He then asked, "So what did you mean by sending people to participate? The ones you soul‑seeded?"

"Yes, I will soul‑seed some people for the plane war, just like the angels of the Light or Dark Deity Planes; as long as the numbers are sufficient, they can affect the outcome," Xiao En nodded.

Since he cannot fight himself, he can only dispatch enough soul‑seeded experts.

Of course, another option is for either Parhaus or Dannington to break through Great Perfection, after which he could ask them to go; however, Xiao En is uncertain of the odds now and will wait until they truly achieve Great Perfection.

Moreover, even if he is close to them, having them act should have the Death Overlord bear the corresponding cost, or all seven Death Lords together, not him alone.

The Death Overlord curiously said, "Xiao En, I know your soul‑seeding ability is strong, but even you have a limit, right?"

Moreover, in the final plane war, everyone wields Lord Deity's power; the people you soul‑seed must also use that power, otherwise a horde of Asuras would just be sent to die, but if they use the Lord Deity's power, the pressure on your soul becomes huge.

And this essentially sends them to their deaths, which likewise increases the pressure on your soul;

More importantly, even if you soul‑seed dozens of seven‑star demons, their impact on the plane decisive battle is minimal.

Death Rule's soul‑seeding is far from perfect; compared to the Light and Dark Lord Deities' Angel Rebirth Pools, it falls short.

First, it imposes a soul‑pressure limit on the caster; second, if the controlled individual uses Lord Deity's power, it severely affects the caster; third, making the soul‑seeded do dangerous deeds triggers soul resistance.

If the caster is strong enough—say Xiao En soul‑seeds a seven‑star demon—any manipulation works, but if the number of soul‑seeds is large enough to reach the limit, it fails.

As for the angels, the Dark and Light Lord Deities have no direct soul link with them; they use an intermediary Angel Rebirth Pool, a Supreme God‑level treasure that entails no soul pressure.

Of course, Death Rule also has advantages: it can soul‑seed anyone of low power, whereas the Dark and Light Lord Deities can only control angels.

Xiao En smiled, "Overlord, I'd like to borrow some of the people in your mountains to test how many I can soul‑seed."

At the Asura level, he could soul‑seed many god‑tier masters, which was an advantage of that tier, so he told no one; after achieving Great Perfection, he became invincible, and the special number of soul‑seeds contributed little to his strength, so there was no need to broadcast it.

Upon reaching Lord Deity rank, aside from possibly exploiting the Four Beast families, Xiao En thought there'd be no other use, but the underworld's Ten‑Chain Victory Grand Decisive Battle is approaching, making this ability valuable.

Though this would expose his specialty, he can justify it as Great Perfection plus "research," and even if a second Death Great Perfection appears, it doesn't prove he can't do it; after all, Great Perfection's ultimate technique differs and can affect power.

"The madmen on the mountain? Sure, use them as you wish; killing them all doesn't matter," the Death Overlord said, unconcerned with the lives of such toys.

Over countless billions of years, the Nether Fruit and Lord Deity envoy opportunities have drawn innumerable masters from various divine and Supreme planes to Nether Mountain seeking fate; the weak are slain on the first tier, while the strong are driven mad by the gray mist of the second tier;

Of course, some have escaped, but that's also fate; the Death Overlord naturally despises intervening.

Xiao En nodded, "Alright, I'll go to the middle of the mountain slope first and return later."

"Hmm." The Death Overlord was also curious how many people a Death Great Perfection could soul‑seed at full power;

For a Lord Deity, soul‑seeding at god level has little effect, since a single drop of Lord Deity's power can drive countless masters to fight desperately.

After Xiao En left, he quickly reached the mountain slope; the dispersed Lord Deity power imbued with willful might revealed several target masters, and his figure flashed, vanishing from the spot.

At the summit, the Death Overlord's divine consciousness spread, watching Xiao En sequentially control masters trapped in the gray mist—one, two, five, fifty, a hundred;

When the count reached the hundreds, the Death Overlord was surprised; although these were all six‑star level, controlling over a hundred with Xiao En still so effortless was stronger than she acting herself.

Though countless six‑star masters on Nether Mountain have been driven mad by her gray mist, that ability, infused with Lord Deity's might, only influences souls superficially; soul‑seeding involves precise soul control, unrelated to Lord Deity's might, and stems purely from esoteric and soul research.

"Impressive, but since they aren't using Lord Deity's power and aren't risking death, it's of little significance."

The Death Overlord was also puzzled; at this moment Xiao En continued on the slope searching for masters he could soul‑seed, the number quickly reaching two hundred, three hundred.

When the count neared five hundred, Xiao En swiftly brought his companions to the summit; the Death Overlord was already waiting at the palace entrance, and she naturally wouldn't let so many ordinary god‑level beings enter her Lord Deity Palace.

"Xiao En, your soul‑seeding ability is truly terrifying," the Death Overlord sighed, "But what good is soul‑seeding in such numbers? Once they use Lord Deity's power, the pressure on your soul spikes several to dozens of times; you should be aware of that."

"Of course I know," Xiao En smiled, then drew a black bottle from his spatial ring; as divine power surged, the dark Lord Deity's power inside gradually dispersed drop by drop into each person's hand, and he calmly ordered, "Everyone, absorb a drop of Lord Deity's power."

He possessed abundant Lord Deity power, not as a material plane avatar but granted by several Lord Deities before; especially the dark Lord Deity's power, which is of little use to him except when he must display Lord Deity power before a Lord Deity for probing, using this mismatched attribute. In soul probing, Lord Deity power is identical, regardless of attribute.

"Yes~" Everyone, following the master's command, absorbed a drop of Lord Deity's power;

"Boom~" In front of the Lord Deity Palace, about five hundred high‑ranking gods simultaneously wielded Lord Deity's power, the massive energy warping the surrounding space slightly;

Deep within Xiao En's soul, a huge pressure instantly arose, but his soul pearl quickly supplied enough soul force to withstand it; otherwise, at that moment his soul would have been injured and he couldn't control the actions of those before him;

Death Rule can soul‑seed and bewilder souls, but the corresponding strength control also has a limit, especially after the soul‑seeded wield Lord Deity's power;

This explains why, in the original work, during the final Hell‑Heaven Ten‑Chain Victory Grand Decisive Battle, the Destruction Overlord only found three hundred soul‑seeded seven‑star demons; note that in Hell, a thousand idle seven‑star demons are easy to locate, but those capable of soul‑seeding and wielding Lord Deity's power require many peak masters of Death Rule, a very limited number.

Watching Xiao En's soul aura stabilize from a fleeting fluctuation, the Death Overlord exclaimed in shock, "How could you possibly control so many six‑star demons wielding Lord Deity's power?"

"Overlord, there are actually some seven‑star demons among them," Xiao En said with a faint smile, "I can soul‑seed so many because my primary esoteric focus is soul‑seeding; even if another Death Rule Great Perfection were born in the world, it couldn't achieve what I do."

"Hahaha, impressive, impressive," the Death Overlord laughed heartily, "Xiao En, with this alone you are equivalent to all divine angels under a Dark Overlord."

Xiao En smiled, "Then this should greatly aid the underworld plane battlefield."

"Yes, very large, but," the Death Overlord asked, "if you force them into a dead end, their instincts will still evade; forcibly controlling them also raises your soul pressure, can your soul withstand it?"

Shawn thought for a moment and said, "I haven't tried it; in theory it would indeed put great pressure on my soul, but it's not without a solution."

Death Overlord asked, "What solution?"

Shawn replied, "First, choose the right group of people. Right now I'm controlling a randomly selected set; they include all sorts of rules and laws. Most of them come from the Underworld, and many practice the Death Rule;"

"And the Death Rule, or some other rules whose souls are strong, naturally grant stronger resistance to soul‑type beings, so if one wants more soul‑type individuals, one must prioritize high‑ranking Gods of comparable strength but with weaker souls."

"Do you mean the Wind and Earth laws?" Death Overlord retorted.

Shawn nodded, "Yes."

Among the Four Great Rules and Seven Great Laws, the weakest souls belong to the Wind and Earth categories;

Among Asura‑rank masters, the other categories hardly need a Soul Defense Artifact; only the Earth and Wind categories require one, such as Lei Hong and Wu Man in the original work.

Peak masters of the other categories have great confidence in their souls; even if they aren't the strongest, the strongest of the others can hardly kill them using soul attacks.

Until Beirut appeared later.

The Death Overlord nodded and said, "Alright, I'll gradually capture those high‑ranking God masters."

Shawn smiled, "There's no need to capture them; the process would easily alert the other Lord Gods. We can lure them, for example by using a magic array combined with Lord God Might to create a dead‑zone suited for Wind and Earth masters to enter, and embed a reward of Lord God Power inside. I think many Wind and Earth masters would voluntarily come to the Underworld."

"Fine, I'll handle that," the Death Overlord agreed, then added, "But if they're only those two types, the souls will be very weak, prone to death, and will still exert soul pressure on you. What do you plan to do?"

It's a minor issue; the divine plane never lacks masters, it's just that a Lord God personally capturing people is somewhat shameful.

Shawn replied, "That's simple: their souls are weak, so just give them a Soul Defense Artifact."

"Soul Defense Artifact?" the Death Overlord frowned, "It's not hard to make, but against attacks of Lord God Power, a Soul Defense Artifact can't block them and is still easily killed."

A Soul Defense Artifact can usually withstand attacks of Seven‑Star Demon level, depending on the forger's skill, but on a plane battlefield, the overwhelming Lord God Power soul attacks simply crush it.

Shawn laughed, "So ordinary Soul Defense Artifacts won't work; we need one forged by a three‑branch Soul Mutant."

"Do you mean Ai Ken of the Hell Purple Thorn Continent?" the Death Overlord asked.

Shawn nodded, "Yes. Between heaven and earth, only his forged Soul Defense Artifacts can block a few Lord God Power attacks on a plane battlefield."

Over countless trillions of years, the divine plane has produced four three‑branch Soul Mutants, but only Ai Ken has cultivated Arcane to the peak Asura level and can forge the strongest Soul Defense Artifact;

Of course, Shawn could as well, but that would easily expose his three‑branch mutation.

To scheme for a Willpower Might Reward, we must find Ai Ken.

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(End of chapter)