Skyrite Mountain Range.
Sadius had slain the patriarch of the Barbary Family, and the powerhouses of the Four Divine Beasts clan were incomparably excited.
After over ten thousand years, the Four Divine Beasts clan could finally raise their heads high again.
It would still take some time before the other members of the Eight Great Families arrived, so Gailson and the others immediately held a celebration banquet for Sadius.
At the banquet, the elders of the Four Divine Beasts clan were all overjoyed.
"Hahaha! With Lord Sadius here, what do the so-called Eight Great Families amount to? Before long, our Four Divine Beasts clan will become the most powerful family on the Blood Ridge Continent—perhaps even the foremost clan in the Infernal Realm in the future!"
Gaia's son, the Great Elder of the Azure Dragon clan, laughed heartily.
Looking at the laughing Fulhan at this moment, Sadius couldn't help but frown.
Gailson also noticed Sadius' displeased expression.
"Sadius, Fulhan is just happy for the clan. He didn't mean anything else."
"Yes, yes, Lord, I'm only happy for the clan."
Sadius' gaze swept coldly across the gathered clan members.
"Today, all the powerhouses of the Four Divine Beasts clan are gathered here. I'll remind you one last time—stop thinking of yourselves as a Sovereign clan. You've been used to acting lawlessly in the past, yet even after being suppressed for ten thousand years, you still haven't woken up?
Just because your clan ancestor was a Sovereign, you think you could prosper forever? Remember this well—the Four Divine Beasts are dead!"
Sadius looked at this group, his tone filled with annoyance and fury.
If only the Four Divine Beasts clan had behaved like ordinary Sovereign clans—managing their clan quietly and properly—they wouldn't have been suppressed so badly after the deaths of their four Sovereigns.
If Beirut hadn't intervened to help, they would've long since been slaughtered to extinction.
Everyone fell silent, though there were still a few who were unconvinced.
"Lord Sadius, even if what you say is right, even if I die, I will never abandon the glory of being a member of the Four Divine Beasts clan!"
"At least you have some backbone. Then tomorrow, go to the Battle Platform and challenge the Eight Great Families. Prove your so-called backbone." Sadius looked at the man—it was a Seven-Star Fiend Elder from the White Tiger clan.
"Tomorrow, I will indeed step onto the platform and challenge the Eight Great Families, to show them the Four Divine Beasts clan are no cowards!"
Before he could finish, the White Tiger Patriarch slapped him across the face.
"Shut your mouth! You're confined for a hundred years." The White Tiger Patriarch thought to himself: with Sadius' strength, the crisis of the Eight Great Families would definitely be resolved within a hundred years.
"Let them go, then. Don't they value their so-called clan honor? Then have all their divine clones go—don't just send their strongest one and leave the rest behind in the clan to live comfortably."
Silence fell again.
Many people were willing to sacrifice their strongest divine clones for the glory of the clan. But to have them face total death—that, they would never accept.
The Four Divine Beasts clan's strategy had always been to send their strongest divine clones to fight the Eight Great Families, while the weaker divine clones stayed safe within the Skyrite Mountains to cultivate in peace.
"If you're dissatisfied, I can simply ask Lord Beirut to withdraw his protection over the Skyrite Mountains. Then you can have a grand final battle with the Eight Great Families directly."
Again, silence.
It was precisely because of Beirut's protection that they had been able to preserve the clan's continuation.
If Beirut no longer sheltered the Four Divine Beasts clan, the Eight Great Families would immediately flood into the Skyrite Mountains.
Seeing his words had finally taken effect, Sadius gave his final warning:
"Clan leaders—starting today, if any clan disciple dares to act recklessly outside, I will personally destroy their true body and all divine clones!"
The four clan leaders fell silent. Thus, the banquet ended under tense, heavy atmosphere.
A few days later, Sadius was seated cross-legged on the Battle Platform cultivating when a group of figures flew over.
"You're Sadius?"
From among them, a middle-aged man stepped forward—it was the patriarch of the St. Nar family.
"I am."
"I am St. Nar, patriarch of the St. Nar Family, Emissary of the Fire-type Sovereign Boson."
"You came to challenge me?"
"Hmph. You still have time to leave the Four Divine Beasts clan. Otherwise, once the few of us take action, unless you are a Paragon—or at least half-step to the Paragon level—you will definitely die!"
"So, you plan for all seven of you to attack together?" Sadius looked at the seven figures in the sky.
Seven Sovereign emissaries at once—truly troublesome. He still couldn't reveal his Paragon-level strength, otherwise he would definitely draw the Sovereigns' attention.
"To kill you alone, I'm enough."
St. Nar flew down onto the Battle Platform, preparing to face Sadius.
Before the fight, Sadius had already learned from Gailson the details of the Eight Great Families' patriarchs—their specialties, what Sovereign Artifacts they possessed. Sadius knew it all clearly.
This St. Nar had already achieved the five-fusion level in the Fire-type Laws, making him a top-tier powerhouse. He also possessed a material-defense Sovereign Artifact.
His soul—both offensively and defensively—was also quite formidable.
It could be said that beneath Paragons or suspected Paragons, only Highgod-level God-Eater Rats could pose a threat to him.
Before, Sadius might have worried he wasn't this man's match.
After all, Sadius' strongest ultimate technique, World-Destroying Sword Intent, was mostly material attack, with little soul offense.
Since the opponent possessed a material-defense Sovereign Artifact, Sadius' move definitely couldn't harm him.
But now, things were different. Sadius now possessed Power of Will.
Even though his true body hadn't yet returned, he could already draw upon Power of Will.
Even without unleashing its full effects, Sadius already stood invincible.
So what if the opponent's soul attacks were strong? Could they surpass the innate divine ability of a God Eater Rat?
Sadius no longer even feared the God Eater Rat's divine ability—let alone this top-tier Shura.
In fact, this was a perfect opponent to help Sadius temper himself further. He eagerly anticipated this battle.
Soon, the fight began.
St. Nar charged straight in, fists blasting toward Sadius.
His material-defense Sovereign Artifact could merge directly into his body, similar to Azure Dragon Great Elder Gaia's. Thus, he specialized in fist and foot combat.
Sadius immediately drew his sword to parry.
He didn't dare be careless. After all, even a material-defense Sovereign Artifact was still a Sovereign Artifact—not something ordinary beings could withstand.
Their brief exchange seemed to give St. Nar the upper hand, but in truth, Sadius was merely secretly gauging his opponent's combat power.
"The Fire Laws really are remarkable… whether in material or soul offense, they're far from weak."
What intrigued Sadius most within the Fire Laws was the Profound Mysteries of Explosion—that sudden burst of power that could amplify combat strength tremendously.
Unfortunately, Sadius had no Fire-elemental affinity, so he couldn't grasp Explosion.
St. Nar, seeing Sadius constantly on the defensive, inwardly sneered. This fellow probably only has that one ultra-powerful material attack. Against someone who counters them, such cultivators have no resistance at all.
Indeed, for the moment, Sadius didn't yet have a good way to deal with this man. He couldn't just directly exile him into spatial turbulence—that would reveal too much.
If only I had a soul-based ultimate attack…
Sadius pondered briefly.
Perhaps… if he could fuse the Profound Mystery of Pulsing Earth from the Earth Laws with the Profound Mystery of Devour from the Darkness Laws, it might produce a miraculous effect.
Both of those Mysteries had applications related to the soul.
Moreover, his Pulsing Earth was already fully fused with the Profound Mystery of Dark Element and Devour was also fused with Dark Element.
So fusing Pulsing Earth with Devour wouldn't be too difficult. Still, it would require time.
Right now, during the battle, Sadius couldn't attempt it. But his true body, traveling on a metallic lifeform toward the Youlan Prefecture immediately sat cross-legged and began comprehending.
Normally, finding the points of compatibility between different Mysteries took quite some time.
Fortunately, Pulsing Earth was already fused with Dark Element and Devour was likewise fused with Dark Element.
So, the fusion between Pulsing Earth and Devour wouldn't be overly difficult… though still time-consuming.
Meanwhile, outside the Skyrite Mountain Range, Sadius and St. Nar's fight remained evenly matched—neither could gain the upper hand.
The onlookers grew anxious.
"This Sadius' soul defense is so strong. Looks like he has a very good soul-defense artifact."
Indeed—this Sadius clone carried a soul-defense artifact refined by Mo Si.
Even without it, though, he wouldn't have feared St. Nar's soul attacks.
Of course, appearances still had to be maintained. Otherwise, if a Sovereign observing from the shadows noticed anything unusual, it would be troublesome.
Clearly, this battle wouldn't end anytime soon.
"Should we intervene and help St. Nar deal with Sadius? This Sadius must be eliminated."
"Can you afford to lose face? This is a public one-on-one duel—not a chaotic planar battlefield!"
So the group continued to watch Sadius and St. Nar fight.
"Sadius, you truly are impressive. I must thank you for helping my cultivation, stagnant for years, advance another step."
Sadius frowned. Advance another step? Has this guy reached Paragon? No… impossible. The Heavenly Daos didn't descend. It must mean his sixth Profound Mystery fusion has progressed further.
"Also, I should thank you for letting me comprehend a second five-fusion ultimate move. This move is a pure material attack. With your material defense, which isn't at Sovereign Artifact level, you cannot withstand it. Today, you will die from this blow!"
St. Nar gathered power in his fist—space itself cracked apart continuously.
This punch, in terms of pure material offense, was already unmatched beneath Paragon.
Normally, Shura-level powerhouses, after fusing five Mysteries, would continue cultivating the sixth.
Once the sixth was fused separately with the prior five, they'd attempt six-fusion.
But six-fusion was unimaginably difficult. Five-fusion was already relatively perfect; trying to insert another Mystery and find full compatibility was extremely hard.
Some Shura powerhouses instead found another path.
After fusing five Mysteries, they'd open a second five-fusion path by using a different set of four Mysteries plus the sixth Mystery to create a new five-fusion ultimate move.
If they could create six different five-fusion ultimate moves, then they'd only need to take one more step—fuse those six together—to achieve six-fusion.
But in the countless trillions of years since the universe's birth, no one had ever reached Paragon by this method. Not because it was impossible—but because the time required was unimaginably long.
Even so, many Shura powerhouses sought to comprehend a second five-fusion move to greatly enhance their strength.
For example, Mo Si also had more than one five-fusion move.
Now St. Nar's fist roared forth.
Seeing this, Sadius had no choice but to unleash World-Destroying Sword Intent.
Was he going to have to expose all his strength now?
Sadius obviously didn't want that. He planned to wait until he reached Highgod before doing so.
But he was still quite some distance from Highgod.
Even his fastest-progressing Earth Laws had only fully comprehended four Mysteries.
Profound Mysteries of Strength and Profound Mysteries of Earth Movement were over halfway comprehended, but still far from complete.
He swung his divine sword, a massive illusory blade descending.
St. Nar didn't even bother to defend. He had a material-defense Sovereign Artifact—attacks wouldn't harm him.
In his eyes, as long as his punch landed, with Sadius' material defense, it was impossible for him to withstand it.
But then he saw Sadius produce another divine sword—just an ordinary Highgod artifact.
Again, Sadius unleashed World-Destroying Sword Intent.
"How is that possible?"
Normally, when using an ultimate move, you couldn't immediately use it again.
How could Sadius do this?
The reason was simple—Sadius had another divine clone.
With two divine clones, he could naturally unleash two World-Destroying Sword Intents simultaneously. One struck St. Nar's body; the other struck St. Nar's fist.
Around St. Nar, space shattered and spatial turbulence was revealed.
Without hesitation, Sadius' tail manifested and lashed out, sending St. Nar tumbling into the spatial turbulence.
Before being thrown in, St. Nar's face was full of disbelief.
How did this Sadius do it? He actually exiled me…
Dragged into spatial turbulence, St. Nar immediately activated his prepared backup—a Sovereign scroll. He summoned the Sovereign he served.
"Sovereign, save me!"
Before the space closed, Sadius saw a colossal, illusory Sovereign face beginning to condense.
Sadius had never seen this Sovereign before or many Sovereigns for that matter but this must be Boson. At least that's what he remembers St. Nat saying…not that he was paying much attention. He was meditating on Profound Mysteries when St. Nar showed up and started spouting whatever introductions he had.
After the move was unleashed the ordinary Highgod artifact in Sadius' hand was directly shattered. But Sadius didn't feel any heartache. Instead, he was ecstatic.
This World-Destroying Sword Intent—each of his divine clones could use it.
If all his divine clones struck the same point simultaneously, wouldn't it be just like a Paragon's attack—directly exiling the target into spatial turbulence?
In that case, even without revealing his full strength, he could easily handle the vast majority of Shura powerhouses!