"Whoosh!"
Leaping into the air, Beirut reached out and grabbed toward the Abyssal fruit shrouded in green light.
However, to Beirut's surprise, his grab actually missed!
His heart skipped a beat.
Naturally, he had aimed directly for the Abyssal fruit when he made his move.
Yet, in his own eyes, his hand had clearly passed right by the fruit.
"My sense of direction has started to become distorted?"
In an instant, Beirut understood why he had failed.
Thanks to his innate divine ability, God Devourer, Beirut's soul was somewhat stronger than that of an ordinary Prefect-level expert. Coupled with the soul-protecting divine artifact he had personally forged, he could remain within the third layer of mist of the Necropolis Mountain Range longer than most.
But now, as he ventured even deeper into the third layer of mist, the sense of direction within his soul had already begun to grow chaotic.
Thus, although Beirut clearly felt that he was reaching toward the Abyssal fruit, the end result was that his hand passed right beside it.
Fortunately, although surprised, Beirut remained calm.
The instant he saw his arm miss the Abyssal fruit, he immediately swung his right hand repeatedly, creating countless afterimages around himself before finally catching the Abyssal fruit in his grasp.
This could be considered a form of "saturation coverage."
Whoosh!
Just as Beirut was about to place the Abyssal fruit into his interspatial ring, a streak of golden light struck his hand.
Boom!
A thunderous explosion rang out.
An enormous spatial crack appeared, sucking large quantities of mist into it.
Under the pull of the spatial turbulence, the surrounding mist thinned slightly.
Only then did the attacker realize that his strike hadn't seemed to injure Beirut at all.
Of course, what truly shook the attacker was Beirut's arm, half of which had been dragged into the spatial turbulence.
Within the dazzling currents of spatial turbulence, Beirut's half-submerged arm appeared especially conspicuous.
The spatial turbulence, which was unimaginably dangerous even to Deities, had failed to inflict the slightest damage upon it!
Any expert capable of tearing open the Netherworld's space and exposing spatial turbulence possessed at least Six Star Fiend-level strength.
Naturally, experts of that level understood just how terrifying spatial turbulence truly was.
Some even created ultimate techniques specifically designed to tear open space and throw their enemies into spatial turbulence.
After all, in terms of destructive power, spatial turbulence was even more terrifying than a Prefect-level expert.
If one could create a technique that borrowed the destructive force of spatial turbulence, then even a Prefect-level expert could suffer a disastrous setback if caught unprepared.
The Deity who had ambushed Beirut, Fred, was precisely an expert who had successfully created such a technique.
Originally, his attack had been aimed directly at Beirut's body.
His plan had been to blast most of Beirut's body into the spatial turbulence, leaving behind only the right hand holding the Abyssal fruit so that he could seize it afterward.
Based on Fred's experience accumulated over more than a million years within the Necropolis Mountain Range, there were many things he knew that Beirut, who had only been here for about a hundred years, simply didn't.
Every Abyssal fruit looked almost identical.
Even after obtaining one, for those who could still continue cultivating, whether to eat it remained a difficult decision.
However, experts who had remained in the Netherworld for a long time gradually discovered something.
The Sovereign didn't scatter Abyssal fruits randomly.
Most of the Abyssal fruits thrown into the first layer of mist were those capable of fusing only two or three Profound Mysteries.
Abyssal fruits capable of fusing four or five Profound Mysteries might only appear once or twice among ten thousand.
Therefore, those competing for Abyssal fruits within the first layer of mist were almost all Gods or ordinary Highgods.
Within the second layer of mist, the weakest Abyssal fruits could fuse three or four Profound Mysteries.
The highest-grade Abyssal fruits appeared only once or twice among every thousand.
Most of those competing in the second layer were Six Star Fiends or weaker.
As for the third layer of mist, any random Abyssal fruit found there could fuse four Profound Mysteries.
Among every hundred Abyssal fruits, perhaps one could fuse five Profound Mysteries.
The very first Abyssal fruit Beirut encountered had landed within the third layer of mist.
That alone demonstrated just how extraordinary his luck was.
Naturally, those targeting Abyssal fruits within the third layer of mist were also the strongest experts.
Five Star Fiends weren't even qualified to participate.
Only experts possessing at least Six Star Fiend-level strength could remain conscious within the mist for dozens of breaths and have a chance of obtaining a Abyssal fruit.
Fred possessed Seven Star Fiend-level strength and could remain lucid within the third layer of mist for several hundred breaths.
Over hundreds of thousands of years, Fred had already thoroughly mapped out the maximum area within which he could remain conscious.
Starting from outside the mist, he could reach virtually any location within the front half of the third layer in the shortest possible time.
Naturally, the moment this Abyssal fruit fell, it did not escape Fred's notice.
After locking onto its landing location, he immediately set out.
Unfortunately, he still failed to arrive first and had no choice but to risk launching a sneak attack.
What Fred hadn't expected, however, was that the mist had already begun affecting his own sense of direction.
As a result, the attack that had been meant for Beirut's body instead struck Beirut's hand.
At this moment, horror filled Fred's eyes.
Every Deity knew just how terrifying spatial turbulence was.
Within this world, only Paragons or weapons related to the Sovereigns could withstand the destructive force of spatial turbulence.
This black-haired young man in black robes had half of his arm sent into spatial turbulence by his attack without suffering the slightest injury.
There were only two possibilities.
Either the black-haired youth before him was a Paragon.
Or...
He possessed a material-defense Sovereign artifact and was a Sovereign Emissary.
"I'm dead..."
Whether it was a Paragon or a Sovereign Emissary, neither was someone a minor figure like him could afford to provoke.
Indeed, a Seven Star Fiend was considered a powerful expert throughout the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes.
Even within super-large organizations, they were qualified to serve as Elders.
But compared to Prefects...
The gap was simply too great.
Beirut withdrew his hand from the spatial turbulence.
Looking at the fragments of the Abyssal fruit that had already been annihilated by the destructive force of the spatial turbulence, fury surged within him.
Although Beirut wasn't a Paragon and didn't possess a material-defense Sovereign artifact...
Long ago, through the abilities of his innate divine ability, God Devourer, he had strengthened his body until it was comparable to a divine spark.
Spatial turbulence was incapable of destroying a divine spark.
Furthermore, if Beirut's entire body had been blasted into the spatial turbulence, then under its overwhelming pressure, he wouldn't have been able to move at all.
However, since only part of his body had entered the spatial turbulence, he could still control that portion of his body without difficulty.
Boom!
An overwhelming wave of divine power erupted from Beirut's body.
Then, a black staff suddenly appeared in his hand before crashing down toward Fred.
Boom!
...
"Oh?"
Within the Sovereign Palace atop Necropolis Mountain, Locke let out a soft exclamation.
Today marked the one hundred and third year since he had begun missing Rena.
Within the range of Locke's soul power, Rena's wind divine clone had already fused the Sound Wave and Music Profound Mysteries, advancing to the God level.
This also meant that until her other two divine clones likewise reached the God level, Rena was currently at—and would remain in—the weakest stage of her growth.
Both Sound Wave and Music belonged to the Wind Laws' Sound Profound Mystery.
By advancing to God through the Sound Profound Mystery, Rena had barely managed to raise her strength to the level of an ordinary Highgod who had become a Deity by refining a divine spark.
Precisely because he had been worried about Rena's safety during the coming century, Locke had casually taken an Abyssal fruit from his interspatial ring and thrown it down, hoping to give the beings within the Necropolis Mountain Range a chance to change their destinies.
However, that casual action had also allowed him to witness something rather interesting.
"That staff... it's definitely a divine spark weapon."
"And half his arm was swallowed by spatial turbulence, yet it wasn't damaged at all..."
"That fellow..."
"He should be Beirut, shouldn't he?"
Locke rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"If I remember correctly, even without a Sovereign artifact, Beirut's strength is only slightly inferior to a Paragon..."
His mastery of the Laws had reached the Prefect level, while his body possessed the toughness of a divine artifact.
Together, they elevated Beirut's strength to the absolute peak of the Prefect level, allowing him to rival those Prefects who possessed material-defense Sovereign artifacts or offensive Sovereign artifacts.
Even if he encountered a true Paragon, the Paragon wouldn't be able to kill him.
At most, they could exile Beirut into the spatial turbulence.
"So this fellow actually came to the Necropolis Mountain Range to compete for Abyssal fruits?"
"Judging from the fact that he didn't immediately eat the Abyssal fruit after obtaining it, it's obvious Beirut wasn't fighting for himself..."
"I remember Beirut has three sons."
"Have they already been born by now?"
"So, he's here to obtain Abyssal fruits for his three children?"
After thinking it over for a moment, Locke quickly guessed Beirut's purpose.
He remembered that after Beirut seized the corpses of the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns and refined White Tiger Sovereign's Sovereign spark to become a Sovereign himself, Beirut had intended to give the other three Sovereign sparks to his three sons.
Unfortunately...
None of Beirut's three sons ever managed to cultivate the Laws of Earth, Fire, or Water to the Highgod level.
Because of that, none of them were able to refine the Sovereign sparks, forcing Beirut to seek out other powerful experts as allies instead.
(End of Chapter)
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