Chapter 33: The Descent
Within the Light God Plane, deep within the boundless Divine Punishment Sea, there lay a secluded island—the Jade Flower Island.
This island spanned only a few dozen miles in circumference, yet for countless years, the surrounding bandit forces had formed a consensus: under no circumstances should they approach this island! Over countless ages, anyone who dared to disturb the tranquility of this Jade Flower Island, unless they were an old acquaintance of the island master, had mostly met their death.
"Rumble..."
The skies above Jade Flower Island suddenly churned with wind and clouds as a powerful energy gathered overhead. Dozens of figures flew out from the island, led by a man, with the rest being women. The leading man wore a white robe, his golden hair loose, and his two mustache strands resembled his eyebrows, while his gaze was deep, cold, and penetrating.
The energy in the sky coalesced into a human figure—it was the Light Sovereign!
"Greetings, Sovereign." The white-robed, golden-haired man bowed slightly.
"Sovereign." The women all knelt down.
The Light Sovereign, however, had a smile on his face and walked directly toward the white-robed man: "Clementine, I have come today because there is an important matter I need you to handle."
The white-robed man raised an eyebrow in surprise: "If even you, Sovereign, cannot accomplish something, how can I, an Upper God, possibly do it?"
"First, hear me out." The Light Sovereign said with a smile, though inwardly he felt some dissatisfaction. "These Paragon Upper Gods are all extremely proud. Most refuse to serve as Sovereign's envoys. Even when they do become envoys, they are reluctant to carry out tasks easily. Linley was arrogant, and although Clementine is my envoy, sending him on errands is no easy matter!"
Paragon Upper Gods were all figures who had reached the pinnacle.
Many of them harbored some resentment toward the Sovereigns deep down: What's so great about Sovereigns? They just got lucky and obtained a Sovereign's divine spark!
Thus, Paragons rarely obeyed Sovereigns without question. When Linley faced the Light Sovereign's relentless pressure and finally spoke those words in anger, the surrounding Sovereigns were not surprised... After all, Linley was also a Paragon. If he had been submissive from start to finish, he would have been looked down upon.
The Light Sovereign explained the matter of the Supreme God's artifact in detail to Clementine.
"You now understand the situation." The Light Sovereign smiled. "Currently, the Red Diamond Crystal is likely in the O'Karen Material Plane. In a material plane, we foreign Sovereigns cannot enter. Therefore, in this struggle for the Supreme God's artifact in the O'Karen Material Plane, it depends on you! The strongest among gods are naturally Paragon Upper Gods... You understand my meaning, don't you?"
"I understand."
Clementine nodded, but he did not volunteer.
The Light Sovereign grumbled inwardly but kept a smile on his face: "If you succeed, it will be a great merit. I cannot grant you another Sovereign artifact, but I will bestow upon you ten thousand drops of Light Sovereign's divine power..." Seeing Clementine's expression unchanged, it was clear he did not lack Sovereign's divine power.
Yet the Light Sovereign could not directly grant a Sovereign artifact.
"These ten thousand drops of Light Sovereign's divine power can be given to you now. If you fail, so be it. If you succeed in obtaining the Red Diamond Crystal and hand it over to me, I will then give you ten thousand drops of Sovereign's divine power from each of the other elements. How about that?" The Light Sovereign smiled.
"Sovereign, rest assured. I will do my utmost to seize the Red Diamond Crystal." Clementine bowed slightly.
"Good." The Light Sovereign smiled in satisfaction. "Go to the O'Karen Material Plane. If you lack manpower, go directly to the teleportation array and mobilize a thousand Upper Gods to accompany you."
"Yes!" Clementine replied respectfully. "I will set off immediately." Unable to enter themselves, though many Sovereigns were tempted, they could only invite Paragon Upper Gods to lead large forces to the O'Karen Material Plane. The struggle within the material plane depended on the gods! The Sovereigns could only wait outside for news.
The O'Karen Plane, in terms of its overall size, was roughly comparable to the Yulan Continent Plane.
However, over ninety-nine percent of the Yulan Continent Plane's area was ocean! Particularly the Southern Sea, which was thousands or even tens of thousands of times larger than the Yulan Continent itself. But the O'Karen Material Plane was different—more than half of its area was land!
The O'Karen Plane had two vast continents.
They were the Misty Continent and the Beast God Continent! Each of these continents spanned over a hundred million miles in circumference. Beyond these two continents lay endless seas.
On the O'Karen Plane, the Misty Continent was ruled by humans, while the Beast God Continent was ruled by beastmen.
Within the Misty Continent lay a terrifying forest spanning over ten million miles—the Misty Forest.
The Misty Forest had existed for so long that its age could no longer be verified. Its vastness was such that many human adventurers who ventured deep into it spent their entire lives unable to cross it to the other end. Legend had it that within the boundless Misty Forest, besides countless magical beasts, there were many ancient races, such as elves, fairies, dwarves, and mountain giants.
Deep within the Misty Forest, Mount Wessel was the tallest mountain, exceeding a hundred thousand meters in height.
At the summit of Mount Wessel stood eleven giant teleportation arrays. Besides these arrays, there was an ordinary courtyard built of giant stones, where the plane overseer of the O'Karen Plane resided.
"Nine hundred more years, and my task of overseeing this O'Karen Plane will be over." A tall, thin man with two green horns on his head stood atop the mountain, gazing down at the boundless Misty Forest. With ease, he spotted two enormous magical beasts in the distance roaring and fighting.
Boulders shattered, trees trembled and broke, as the two powerful beasts fought with wild ferocity. An Ironfeather Eagle silently perched on an ancient tree that had grown for ten thousand years, quietly watching the scene, as if waiting for an opportunity to strike when the two beasts were both weakened.
"Only three years have passed, and that kid has already fused the magic core of an eighth-rank Ironfeather Eagle. He must have reached the eighth-rank Druid level. He should be considered the top young expert of his tribe." The tall, thin man smiled as he watched.
Due to the boredom of being a plane overseer, he was quite familiar with the eight nearby elf tribes.
Among the elf race, some could become Druids.
Even from a god's perspective, Druids were a very special profession. By fusing a beast's divine spark, they could transform into the form of a magical beast. Even gods generally found it hard to distinguish between a Druid and an ordinary magical beast. Because... when a Druid transformed into a beast, they became a true beast!
This plane overseer was also familiar with the soul aura of that talented young elf. Seeing the Ironfeather Eagle, he knew it was the young man transformed.
"I wonder if this kid can reach the level of a god within my term as overseer and ascend to a higher plane." The tall, thin man mused.
Just then, one of the eleven teleportation arrays behind him suddenly lit up.
"Hmm?" The tall, thin man turned to look. "It's from the Fire God Plane!"
The eleven arrays corresponded to the four Higher Planes and the seven God Planes.
"Traveling from the Fire God Plane to a material plane costs an astronomical amount. Decades ago, that couple returned from the Infernal Realm, and now someone else is coming from the Fire God Plane." The tall, thin man walked to the front of the teleportation array as its dazzling, illusory light began to fade.
The tall, thin man's expression changed.
He saw a dense crowd within the teleportation array, led by a cold-faced man in a cyan robe, with curly fiery red hair draped over his shoulders.
"So many people—at least a hundred! And I can't discern the strength of any of them." The tall, thin man was shocked. He was a Mid God. If he couldn't see through them, it meant all these people were Upper Gods!
"Teleporting a single Upper God to a material plane costs a fortune. So many Upper Gods..." The tall, thin man gasped. Whether they came by paying a huge sum or through a Sovereign's free teleportation, they were far beyond what a mere plane overseer like him could compare to.
"Sir." The tall, thin man bowed.
The cold-faced man with fiery red curls had eyes like lightning. The plane overseer glanced at him and felt as if his soul had been struck by a heavy hammer.
The fiery-haired man ignored the Mid God. His hundred-plus Upper Gods spread out, and the teleportation array lit up again!
"More people from the Fire God Plane?" The tall, thin man was astonished.
Indeed—another hundred people teleported over!
Due to the limitations of the teleportation array, each batch could hold at most a hundred people, or maybe two hundred if crowded. But clearly, many people were coming from the Fire God Plane! Batch after batch, the array's glow flashed repeatedly as groups arrived...
"How many are there?" The tall, thin man was stunned.
What were so many Upper Gods doing in the O'Karen Plane?
After a long while, the teleportation finally stopped. A full two thousand Upper Gods had arrived from the Fire God Plane! Though two thousand Upper Gods meant little to the Fire God Plane itself, for a material plane, two thousand Upper Gods was terrifying.
"This plane has quite a few people, but besides this plane overseer, there are only two Mid Gods—one female, one male beastman." The fiery-haired man snorted coldly.
The tall, thin man was shocked.
He knew who the fiery-haired man was referring to: the Misty Continent's strongest, the Light Goddess, and the Beast God Continent's Beast God. But these two continents were extremely far apart. Even for an Upper God in a material plane, their divine sense could at most spread over a million miles at once, barely covering the Misty Continent alone.
To cover both continents at once—what spiritual power was that? "It seems Brody's hiding is indeed deep enough." The fiery-haired man glanced at the tall, thin man. "What's your name?"
"Sir, I am Bean, the plane overseer of the O'Karen Plane." The tall, thin man quickly replied respectfully.
"Plane overseer... You must know something about Brody's arrival here." The fiery-haired man suddenly frowned, as another teleportation array lit up.
"Fast indeed."
The fiery-haired man immediately sent a divine sense message to all surrounding Upper Gods: "Move out!" At the same time, a fiery red energy emanated from his body, wrapping around the plane overseer and carrying him away into the distance. His two thousand Upper Gods followed, quickly flying off.
No sooner had they left than another group of Upper Gods descended. Judging by the teleportation array, they had come from the Infernal Realm!
Again, over a hundred Upper Gods, led by a man in a dark cyan robe with curly dark cyan hair and cold eyes like a venomous snake. If Linley were there, he would recognize him at once—the cold-faced man in the dark cyan robe was Dannington, who had once helped Linley!
"Hmph, I didn't expect someone to beat us here." Dannington swept his gaze into the distance. "Indeed, another Paragon leading a group."
The teleportation array flashed again and again as batch after batch arrived.
Dannington's force wasn't large—only eight hundred Upper Gods. But in truth, the struggle for the Red Diamond Crystal depended on the Paragon Upper Gods. "Let's go." Dannington gave the order, and his group also flew off in a grand procession.
Armies from various God Planes and Higher Planes, almost all led by Paragon Upper Gods, descended one after another! The teleportation array's light kept flashing!
The magical beasts, elves, goblins, and other races in the Misty Forest were terrified to see thousands of people flying overhead in a grand procession.
"So many Saint-levels! Thousands of Saint-levels—what kind of force has such terrifying power?" Many who saw this thought the figures in the sky were Saint-levels. Only the Saint-level and god-level experts of the O'Karen Plane would realize in horror...
They could not discern the strength of anyone in that vast crowd flying overhead.
The experts of the O'Karen Plane understood deep down—"The gods have descended!"