The Path of the
Whether it was a deity, a devil, or a demon, their hunger for believers and souls was absolutely terrifying.
And competition in the Prime Material Plane had been fierce from the very start.
Compared to gods who could spare no expense, a devil like Beilusebabo was at a disadvantage from the very outset, and was even forced to resort to dirty tricks. In the primary world, its reputation was utterly abysmal.
But all of that changed one day!
Beilusebabo obtained a strange divine artifact—the Disc of Mandhoke! That was the name Beilusebabo gave it, since it had never found any description of this artifact in history. Yet its power was beyond terrifying.
This Disc of Mandhoke possessed the extraordinary ability to reduce the consumption of interplanar force.
In other words, if Beilusebabo had originally needed to transmit divine power into the Prime Material Plane and would have been taxed ninety percent of it, with the Disc of Mandhoke, the cost would drop to ten percent—or even less!
This level of consumption was even cheaper than what the gods enjoyed from within their divine kingdoms.
It was precisely because of this advantage that Beilusebabo had been able to flourish in the primary world, gathering massive amounts of faith energy and souls, and in one fell swoop cementing its status within Hell.
Of course, the gods were no fools. After a period of investigation, the gods joined forces and launched a massive purge in the Prime Material Plane against the forces that worshipped Beilusebabo.
Clearly, Beilusebabo, fighting alone against the gods, immediately became a washed-up failure. Not only were all its accumulations in the Prime Material Plane wiped out—with only a handful of stragglers still clinging to survival—but even in Hell it was in a wretched state, facing unanimous resistance from the other Infernal Kings.
Fortunately, the secret of the Disc of Mandhoke had not leaked out; otherwise, Beilusebabo would not have been able to settle the matter so easily.
But after this battle, Beilusebabo had become a bird startled by the mere twang of a bowstring, never daring to make another move in the Prime Material Plane.
With the Disc of Mandhoke in its possession, Beilusebabo turned its gaze beyond the divine world.
In the vast and boundless Astral Plane, intelligent beings were plentiful, and the faith energy they could generate was an unparalleled draw for Beilusebabo. Better yet, none of it would be detected by the gods or any other enemies!
After a period of experimentation, Beilusebabo succeeded.
Of course, after that, it had the misfortune of running into Leilin. Now, its true body was likely heavily wounded and fallen into slumber—it might even perish entirely. After all, Hell was no place for peace.
"Eliminate interplanar force, is it?"
The radiant disc arrived at the outer edges of the Crystal Wall System. Countless runes flickered, seeming to stir something within the depths of the Crystal Wall System, causing that section of the wall to soften, like an ant hole in a dam.
"No. It's not a rule-based flaw—it's a back door that was intentionally left behind, as if it were designed into the program from the very beginning…"
With Leilin's level of insight, he naturally recognized the extraordinary nature of the Disc of Mandhoke.
"According to Beilusebabo's understanding, this Disc of Mandhoke was very likely modeled after the divine world's supreme divine artifact—the Tablet of Destiny. That's quite plausible. In fact, this disc might well be a fragment of the Tablet of Destiny itself…"
A fervent gleam shone in Leilin's eyes.
The one in his hands, of course, could not be the real Disc of Mandhoke. Otherwise, he could have entered the divine world long ago and wouldn't have needed to go through all this trouble.
The luminous projection of the disc in Leilin's hands was merely a replica that the Chip had produced based on the specific design from Beilusebabo's memories, combined with precise calculations of the divine world's rituals.
With the experimental data from the genuine article, and after prolonged observation and research, conducting the replication himself—Leilin was brimming with confidence.
And so it proved. Under the light of the replicated Disc of Mandhoke, the Crystal Wall System in this area began to melt away continuously, revealing a thick passage.
"So easy?"
Leilin frowned, but still separated a wisp of soul seed and sent it into the passage.
"Get out!!!" The moment the soul seed made contact with the Crystal Wall System, a terrifying voice roared, carrying a powerful will of exclusion.
*Pff!* The soul seed was annihilated instantly. Even the Disc of Mandhoke itself began to destabilize.
"The will of the divine world! Has it awakened? No—this is merely the subconscious! At this level…"
In the span of a heartbeat, Leilin understood what had happened. This was the instinct of the entire Crystal Wall System—its rejection of Leilin as an alien soul. A foreign soul force was immediately detected without the slightest room for evasion.
"You're the one who needs to get lost! A dormant subconscious will—get out of my way!!!!"
Two bolts of black lightning erupted from Leilin's eyes, his black hair whipping wildly, making him look like an ancient demonic god.
*Hsss…* Behind Leilin, the colossal phantom of a Taglian Winged Serpent materialized, its terrifying waves of energy carrying the will of a seventh-rank law crashing into the Crystal Wall System's resistance.
*Hummm!* At that moment, the Disc of Mandhoke in Leilin's hand also blazed with brilliant light, enveloping the entire area and cutting off any transmission of information.
A power approaching the seventh rank could forcibly contend with the will of even some minor worlds. Though the divine world's will was incomparably powerful, it was still in a state of slumber, and this was merely the resistance of one small region—it had not mobilized its full strength. Moreover, the Disc of Mandhoke had weakened its perception, leaving it at the nadir of its power.
*Snap!* The overwhelming wave of emotion retreated, revealing a sliver of opening.
"Now!" Leilin's eyes blazed with light as several soul seeds instantly separated and plunged into the Crystal Wall System.
*Boom!* Almost the instant the soul seeds entered the passage, the entire Disc of Mandhoke shattered completely. Leilin was sent hurtling backward as numerous ghastly wounds materialized across his body, turning his face pale.
Massive amounts of blood sprayed outward, only to race back into Leilin's body even faster, as though he were a colossal magnet.
The horrifying injuries vanished in an instant, but the pallor on Leilin's face only grew more pronounced.
"Just the backlash from a single section of the Crystal Wall System—even with the Disc of Mandhoke providing cover—was enough to do this to me…"
A look of awe flickered in Leilin's eyes.
He hadn't even been launching a frontal assault on the Crystal Wall System. If he had, he would have faced the counterattack of the entire system along with the wrath of the gods—enough to reduce him to ash.
This terrifying power, far from making Leilin afraid, only intensified his desire.
But Leilin's awe lasted only a moment. Right now, he was struggling to maintain his soul connection, the horrifying consumption continuing without pause.
Unlike a severed true spirit, maintaining soul seeds required an uninterrupted supply of soul energy from his end.
And with the divine world's interplanar consumption, even a being of Leilin's caliber found himself on the verge of being overwhelmed before long.
The Chip was still recording data at breakneck speed.
The process of penetrating the Crystal Wall System was far from smooth. Soon, the destruction of numerous soul seeds began transmitting back.
But the reduction in consumption that resulted allowed Leilin to press on.
*Whoosh!* A streak of orange-yellow meteor cut across the night sky and landed in a black forest.
"This is… the divine world?"
Leilin's soul seed scanned the surroundings. Everywhere was a dark forest. Scorching flames had scorched a ring of earth around the landing point, clearing a patch of open ground.
"Enormous malice—and these physical laws!"
Leilin's soul seed gathered data with every ounce of its capacity: "The terrifying will of the divine world—even its unconscious suppression has compressed my soul-scan range to less than ten meters… And this restriction on supernatural power…"
Leilin could clearly sense that this was an exceptionally rigorous world, one with frightening restrictions on supernatural forces.
Even if a Dawn Star
"The energy particles in the air are incredibly stable—extremely difficult to manipulate! The supernatural beings of this world must find it nearly impossible to break through individually. The mainstream approach is group coordination—adventuring parties of ten or fewer would be an excellent format… Even my true body, if it came here, would probably be suppressed by one or two full ranks, possessing only power roughly between Dawn Star and Radiant Moon. And beneath such harsh conditions, the gods who still managed to break through—just how terrifying must they be?"
At this realization, Leilin suddenly understood that he had underestimated the gods.
Their power likely far exceeded his expectations, especially when he himself was so heavily suppressed.
"Ofana, look! Is that a meteor? It fell into the forest!"
In a small village at the edge of the woods, a boy with a scattering of freckles across his nose stared at the sky, then suddenly turned to the girl beside him and said, "I've made up my mind—I'm going to go find it!"
"Teefa! Have you lost your mind? The priest said that meteors are an ill omen!"
Ofana, her hair braided, gazed at her companion with worry.
"The priest…" A flicker of fear crossed Teefa's eyes. "You're right! I won't go then!"
The meteor that had just streaked across the sky had clearly brought a great change to the village. Numerous adults gathered together, their faces etched with concern, and eventually they all converged around the small altar in the village to pray.
Ofana and Teefa parted ways shortly after, but what the girl did not notice was that the moment they separated, Teefa immediately ran to the outskirts of the village, his eyes burning with excitement and anticipation.