Chapter 110: Backup Plan and Target Acquisition

Xiao En slowly shook his head and said, "No, Ai Ken refuses to help. From the amount I requested he knew I was working for the Underworld Lord God. It seems that countless years ago he also took part in a ten‑in‑a‑row decisive battle in Hell, so he has experience."

"Just as I expected, Ai Ken won't help that easily," the Death Overlord shook his head and said, "He himself also belongs to those favored by the Hell Lord God, so we can't say much."

Hell once had a nine‑in‑a‑row victory, but lost the tenth match, so even if Ai Ken is willing to help, it may not be useful.

"It may not be absolutely useful, but it's far better than nothing," Xiao En said. "If the people I have soul‑seeded can increase their safety, my soul pressure drops dramatically, allowing me to control more people."

"Even other participating seven‑star or six‑star demons, if they each possess a soul‑defense artifact forged by three‑element soul‑mutated elites, their survival rates will rise considerably."

The Death Overlord agreed, "I know that. But the three‑element mutations in this world are such that Ai Ken's arcane is very strong; the other two—one is missing, the other is only arcane at a six‑star level. They can make material defense or attack artifacts, but a soul‑defense artifact cannot be produced."

"Material defense and attack artifacts forged by three‑element divine power are slightly stronger than ordinary weapons, but the gap is small; after all, weapons made from special materials are already stronger than common artifacts. Those materials are hard for ordinary god‑level beings to find, but easy for a Lord God."

"Soul‑defense artifacts are especially unique; their defensive power is great enough to block a full‑force strike from a seven‑star demon, and those forged by three‑element soul‑mutated elites can even block an attack from a Lord God, though only once or twice."

Xiao En asked, "Does the Overlord know where Man Ke is?"

Man Ke is the three‑element mutant of death, fire and darkness whose arcane strength is at a six‑star level, as mentioned by the Death Overlord.

When Xiao En was keeping a low profile earlier, he investigated other three‑element soul mutants between heaven and earth; at that time Ai Ken was the strongest, Man Ke second, and another was a plain god‑level whose three‑element mutation lacked any arcane fusion.

The Death Overlord shook his head and said, "I don't know where he is either. I heard he went to a material plane billions of years ago, but which plane no one knows."

"Overlord, could you search the various material planes? Finding him is very important," Xiao En said.

He does not know Man Ke's soul aura, so even if his Lord God avatar painstakingly checks each material plane one by one, he cannot locate him.

The Death Overlord curiously asked, "Why can't this person make a soul‑defense artifact?"

"Soul‑defense artifacts are the most special creations; not just anyone can make them. Ordinary seven‑star demons cannot; the foundation must be at the Asura level, and even elemental gods of wind or earth who are not adept at souls may need to reach peak Asura status to craft one."

"Three‑element mutation only makes the soul force strong, but without enough arcane research they cannot forge a soul‑defense artifact."

Xiao En explained, "Overlord, we can only try once now. Man Ke has a divine avatar that follows the Death Rule; I will teach him myself and see if it works. If successful, we can mass‑produce soul‑defense artifacts, which is crucial for the next plane war."

The Death Overlord frowned, "Xiao En, although your talent is high, teaching someone to the Asura level also depends on the other's talent. Are you confident?"

"I'm not very confident, but we have to try; it's the only chance," Xiao En shook his head. "Even if we fail, there's no loss—at most it costs me a little time."

The Death Overlord nodded, "Fine, but searching for someone across so many material planes is very labor‑intensive."

Xiao En smiled lightly, "Overlord, finding people can be done by other Lord Gods; you need not intervene personally. As long as those Lord Gods recognize Man Ke's soul aura, or query through the Lord God army, that's enough."

"Ha ha, that's right. I will have the other Underworld Lord Gods look for him," the Death Overlord nodded in agreement;

"Bringing even a slight advantage to the plane war is extremely difficult; spending a bit of time is nothing. If the Underworld wins, the other Underworld Lord Gods will also gain a share of the will‑power, so a little effort is warranted."

Xiao En asked again, "Overlord, how are the searches for the wind‑element and earth‑law masters going?"

The Death Overlord laughed, "No problem. I've set up a trial ground in your Hongyang Fu; any master who successfully enters will obtain the Lord God's power of wind and earth. Once the news spreads, many masters of those two elements will be attracted."

"I also placed a wind‑element Lord God under my watch; when a suitable person appears, I will permanently imprison them, letting them slaughter each other like on Youming Shan, ultimately selecting the strongest."

Xiao En nodded, "That method works."

"For a Lord God, killing a lower‑rank god and then picking out a master who can be soul‑seeded is trivial, like ordinary humans wouldn't mind ants."

The Death Overlord added, "Xiao En, you've worked hard these past days. There's nothing else now; you can rest for a while. If anything comes up later, I'll find you again. Here are 100,000 drops of Death Lord God's power; I know you don't lack it, but I have nothing else to reward you with."

"Thank you, Overlord," Xiao En replied, "Could those 100,000 drops of Death Lord God's power be exchanged for ten other realms, 10,000 drops each?"

He doesn't lack Death Lord God's power at all—he can have as much as he wants—but some other realm's Lord God powers are scarce.

"Although they could be extracted via other planes' currencies, it's troublesome; it requires masters to scour other planes for wealth. Asking the Death Overlord directly is more convenient."

The Death Overlord laughed, "Alright, no problem."

"She naturally wouldn't mind such a thing; as a Great Perfection, Xiao En certainly doesn't lack Death‑type Lord God power, so asking for other types is normal."

After leaving the Lord God palace, Xiao En stayed together with Torres and Aode Biao, drinking and having fun daily, and also observing the countless upper‑rank gods on Youming Shan who trade lives for opportunities—it was rather interesting.

Three years later, while drinking, Xiao En raised an eyebrow and said with a smile, "My two friends are coming; you continue, I'll be back soon."

"Alright," Aode Biao laughed.

Xiao En's figure flashed, appearing at the foot of Youming Shan; after a moment, a gray and a white man flew over: "We have met, Mr. Xiao En / Teacher."

"Dan Ning Dun, Pa Er Hao Si, it's been tens of millions of years; what level has your arcane cultivation reached?" Xiao En asked with a grin.

The visitors were his disciple Pa Er Hao Si and his friend Dan Ning Dun; years ago, because of the Abiya material plane incident, Xiao En had to leave Hell, and through soul‑seeded people he let them meet and then wander together.

Now that his side is temporarily calm, he invited them to Youming Shan.

Pa Er Hao Si said, "Master, I have already integrated five arcane of the water law; the sixth, Ice Sharpness, has not yet been merged."

"Ice Sharpness? So your strength lies in defense rather than attack?" Xiao En asked.

The water law excels at defense; whether soul or material, its attack is weak. Only the Ice Sharpness arcane pairs with physical attack; without it, physical attack is even weaker.

Pa Er Hao Si awkwardly said, "Yes, my physical attack is poor. Even after merging five arcane, my physical attack is only slightly stronger than an ordinary seven‑star demon; but defensively, ordinary Asuras pose no threat unless they have some formidable talent."

Xiao En nodded, "Hmm, water law is good at defense; you have used it fully. Try to incorporate the sixth type later; perhaps one day you'll achieve Great Perfection."

Although each law has its strengths, those strong in defense suffer especially at the peak, because others can compensate weaknesses with primary artifacts; water law is particularly awkward.

"But if you reach Great Perfection, with the boost of will‑power, the gap becomes negligible."

"Great Perfection? I don't know if I can take that step," Pa Er Hao Si laughed and shook his head;

The deeper one cultivates, the clearer the difficulty of breaking the later bottleneck; reaching Asura level is already many people's peak, and such beings, as long as they stay off the plane battlefield, can reign supreme in the divine plane.

Xiao En turned to Dan Ning Dun and asked, "And you, Dan Ning Dun?"

Dan Ning Dun replied, "I'm roughly at the five‑arcane integration level of the law series; Pa Er Hao Si and I spar often, so our strengths are similar."

Pa Er Hao Si laughed, "Dan Ning Dun, you're being modest; in terms of strength, you're actually stronger than me. When we spar, you clearly didn't use your strongest soul attack, and your material attack is a bit stronger than mine."

Dan Ning Dun said, "Maybe, but in reality it's about the same; we hardly ever determine a winner. Your water defense is too strong."

Water‑element masters may lack attack, but their defense is truly strong.

"Ha ha, that's enough. Among Asuras, if the gap isn't huge, it's hard to decide a winner," Xiao En chuckled, then sent a voice query to Dan Ning Dun: "Dan Ning Dun, you haven't told anyone about your soul mutation, have you?"

Dan Ning Dun's voice replied, "No, Pa Er Hao Si doesn't know either."

"Then keep it that way, remember, your soul mutation is your greatest asset," Xiao En transmitted.

Dan Ning Dun said, "But everyone uses Lord God power; then my soul mutation is useless, right?"

Shawn smiled lightly and said, "We can't have an advantage in divine power, but Mysterious Profundity is different. Your ceiling is far higher than most people's; for a soul‑mutated strongman, cultivating Mysterious Profundity to your level is extremely rare."

Entities of soul mutation on the Divine Plane are rarer than divine beasts—basically one in a hundred million. At that probability, a Mysterious Profundity that reaches the four fusion levels is exceedingly rare.

Dan Ningdun replied, "You're right; it's just that my fusion of the Destruction Rule with the Death Rule isn't deep yet. Previously I was constantly merging the Death Rule's Mysterious Profundity."

His former Destruction Rule barely made him a High God, and his talent wasn't high. After the soul mutation, he spent a long time together with Great Perfection High God Shawn, so naturally he prioritized cultivating the Death Rule's Mysterious Profundity.

Shawn didn't transmit his voice; he just laughed, "Alright, you two have also cultivated to Asura level. Raising further will be difficult, so stay at Nether Mountain for now. When I need to go out later, you both can come with me."

"Yes, teacher/Shawn." Parhaus and Dan Ningdun both replied.

Then Parhaus asked, "Teacher, is the boss here? I want to thank her, because her guidance back then made my progress skyrocket."

Although his teacher is Shawn, Shawn is the Death Rule Great Perfection, so his understanding of water‑element laws certainly doesn't surpass that of a water‑element master.

His rapid progress before was also thanks to the Nether Shop boss's blessing.

"Here," Shawn said, noticing Parhaus seemed to have that intention, "You don't intend to challenge her, do you?"

Parhaus smiled, "If possible, I'd like to try. Over the years I've fought many water Asura, and found their strength all inferior to the boss's."

Shawn smiled, "Fine, go then. Even getting beaten helps you grow."

The Death Sovereign's water‑element divine avatar also has peak Mysterious Profundity; even without employing the primary divine artifact body and willpower, it can easily crush most water Asura between heaven and earth.

"Yes, teacher." Parhaus bowed and flew straight toward the Nether Shop.

Shawn smiled at Dan Ningdun, "Let's go, go watch the show."

Sending his own disciple to challenge one of the Four Great Rule Sovereigns is indeed a bit of honor!

As Shawn had predicted, after only a few moves, Parhaus was immediately entangled by the boss's fishing line and tossed into the water.

"Haha, Parhaus, your level's decent, but you're still far below me." The Death Sovereign, rarely interested, showed a hint of amusement.

"No way, you're Great Perfection?" Parhaus wore a face of disbelief;

Losing to the boss was within his expectations, but losing so quickly would be impossible even for a peak Asura.

The Death Sovereign sighed, "I wish I were Great Perfection. Parhaus, the gap between you and me isn't large in Mysterious Profundity, but in techniques, it's far."

"A peak strongman can't rely solely on Mysterious Profundity research; more importantly, one must use one's Mysterious Profundity, body, weapons, and other advantages to forge a personal ultimate move, thereby unleashing the strongest power."

"Ultimate move?" Parhaus fell silent, as did Dan Ningdun beside him.

Shawn smiled lightly, "You two should gradually develop your own ultimate moves. In fact, researching your own ultimate move is also a study of Mysterious Profundity; perhaps you'll achieve a breakthrough."

In the original work, Lin Lei, after obtaining a soul stone, also devised several powerful ultimate moves, especially the final Plane Battlefield technique "Measure‑of‑Earth, Inch‑of‑Heaven," which made him one of the strongest Asura. Had he not encountered Magnus, even the peak masters of the Augusta family would find it hard to defeat him, and Wuman couldn't either.

"Yes, teacher." Parhaus seemed to have some insight.

Soon, the foot of Nether Mountain fell into calm; in the blink of an eye, tens of thousands of years passed.

The Death Sovereign, fishing, sighed, "It's been tens of thousands of years, and there's no trace of the Supreme God Relic. Even with so many Lord Gods joining forces, they can't find it."

"That must be hard to locate," Shawn thought, curious why the Sovereign told him, but outwardly replied indifferently.

The Death Sovereign laughed, "Perhaps the relic is in the Material Plane; the size of the Material Plane far exceeds that of the Divine Plane."

"Material Plane? With such vastness, it's impossible to search," Shawn shook his head.

In the original, several Great Perfections fought over the Red Rhombus Crystal; if it happened again now, he might be able to overpower the other Great Perfections, but doing so would force the relic to go to the Death Sovereign.

"Indeed, I sent other Lord Gods to search for a person, and after all these years, none was found," the Death Sovereign said likewise.

For her, the Plane Battlefield's ten‑consecutive‑victories decisive battle and the Supreme God Relic are equally important; this is her greatest opportunity.

At that moment, the Death Sovereign's expression changed, as if receiving a transmission; delighted, she said, "Shawn, Mank has been found; he's in a place called the Windstorm Material Plane."

"Windstorm Material Plane?" Shawn laughed, "I'll go there at once."

PS: Please give monthly tickets

(End of chapter)