In the dim cave mansion, within the spacious main hall.
Three Lin Leis sat cross-legged, each wearing a different robe—earthy yellow, pale cyan, and sky blue. The most eerie was the Lin Lei in the earthy yellow robe, who flickered about the hall as though teleporting, appearing here one moment and there the next.
The cave mansion had been carved out sword stroke by sword stroke by Lin Lei, and blade marks still scarred the floor and walls.
While Lin Lei and Dilia cultivated in quiet focus, Bei Bei was thoroughly bored.
"Cultivation is so complicated."
Bei Bei sat on the floor of the hall, leaning against the stone wall with a straw hat tilted on his head. "Why can't I ever settle down to cultivate? If only I could be like Big Brother, actually smiling while he cultivates!" he muttered, watching the three 'Lin Leis.'
He didn't like cultivating. Back in the Dark Forest, even learning the easiest element—the Darkness Elemental—had required Berutu's help, and it had taken nearly twenty years to succeed!
He held the straw hat before his eyes, and looking at it, Bei Bei naturally thought of Nini. A trace of sadness flickered through his eyes. "I wonder how Nini is doing now."
A moment later.
Bei Bei flipped the straw hat onto his head. "Forget it, I'll stop moping. Damn it, the more I think about it, the worse I feel. I need to focus on cultivating!" He gritted his teeth. "I refuse to believe I can't learn the Laws. I'm a God Devouring Mouse! Grandpa Berutu has already helped me so much. If it were Big Brother, he'd probably comprehend all three of those profound insights of the Law without breaking a sweat. I need to knuckle down too—I can't keep losing face. At the very least, I'll comprehend these three profound insights first."
Bei Bei closed his eyes and began his quiet cultivation.
After a long time, Lin Lei in the pale cyan robe rose to his feet, thinking silently: So the Sonic Wave profound mystery can reach this level—it not only creates peculiar vibrations that cause matter to resonate from within, but can also attack from the outside simultaneously. The combination of internal and external force is truly a terrifying form of material attack. But how can the Sonic Wave profound mystery also attack the soul?
Lin Lei was deep in thought when he noticed that Bei Bei was actually cultivating with genuine focus, and he couldn't help but smile. "Now that's a rare sight—Bei Bei actually taking cultivation seriously." Just then—
"Big Brother, you're done cultivating?" Bei Bei's eyes snapped open.
"I was just praising you for taking cultivation seriously," Lin Lei said with a laugh.
Bei Bei stood up. "Come on, Big Brother, you know how it is—while cultivating the Law of Darkness, I'm very sensitive to my surroundings. The moment you stood up, I woke. Oh right, Big Brother, why does your Earth deity clone keep flickering around like that?"
"Have you already forgotten Hadeson's technique back in the day, the one that let him shift his body's position?" Lin Lei replied with a smile.
"Yeah, it does look like that. Big Brother, you've already learned it?" Bei Bei asked in delight.
"Hardly. I've only just scratched the surface," Lin Lei said with a smile.
He had been working on this technique for quite some time. It belonged to the Earth Walk, one of the six profound insights of the Law of Earth. The entry-level practice wasn't actually that difficult, since the Earth Walk and the Earth Elemental insights were fundamentally connected.
To fully master the Earth Elemental insight, one needed to achieve an extremely high degree of resonance with the element.
Practicing the Earth Walk, on the other hand, involved merging oneself entirely into the elements and then using them as a medium to instantly transport oneself to a distant location. From the outside, it looked like teleportation—though technically it wasn't.
Once one had mastered the Earth Elemental insight, learning the Earth Walk became considerably easier.
"Bei Bei, I remember back at that volcanic mountain range, you used some kind of attack that actually destroyed Ariquin's Highgod artifact. What was that about?" Lin Lei had never had the chance to ask about that in detail.
Bei Bei pouted. "It was a lifesaving thing Grandpa Berutu gave me—said it could handle ordinary Highgods. But he also told me the energy inside that black sphere only let me use it three times. I've already used it once, so only two left."
Lin Lei nodded slightly.
That attack was indeed tremendously powerful. Even when Ariquin tried to block it head-on, his Highgod artifact was destroyed. An ordinary five-star or six-star Demon would likely have perished.
"Hm?"
Bei Bei suddenly looked toward the cave entrance. "Big Brother, I sense movement outside." Lin Lei's expression changed. His two clones and true body instantly merged into one. This time, Lin Lei used his true body directly, a layer of 'Pulsing Armor' spreading across his skin.
Just then—
A wave of divine sense spread in from outside, instantly covering the entire cave.
"Hahaha… just three Demigods!" A hearty laugh boomed from outside the cave. "All three of you, get out here right now."
"Get out here!" A chorus of angry shouts followed.
Lin Lei frowned. From the sound of it, quite a few people were out there. But his strength had grown immensely since he first arrived in the Underworld. Especially after his true body's dragon transformation and metamorphosis—combined with his damaged Soul-Defense Sovereign Artifact, he was confident he could handle ordinary Highgods. And as his trump card, he still had those two drops of Sovereign's Might.
Naturally, he felt no fear.
"Let's go take a look," Lin Lei said.
Bei Bei, bold by nature and high in skill, followed Lin Lei toward the cave entrance.
As soon as Lin Lei stepped outside, he saw a large group of people hovering in the air before him, forming a circle that had completely surrounded the cave entrance. Lin Lei released his divine sense, instantly enveloping the entire group.
"Eighty-two people—three Lowgods, the rest all Demigods!" Lin Lei's mind settled.
They were all Demigods. Lin Lei had nothing to fear from the likes of them now.
"Big Brother, they've actually come knocking on our door," Bei Bei said, a slight smirk playing at his lips. He'd been in a foul mood lately—Solomon's true face and Nisi's departure had both weighed heavily on him. In front of Lin Lei and Dilia, though, Bei Bei always put on a carefree grin, pretending nothing bothered him.
In truth, his heart ached deeply.
He had bottled up his frustration for so long. Right now, Bei Bei just wanted to let loose and vent!
The leader of this powerful band—a silver-haired man with short hair and a single horn—laughed heartily. "What's this? Only you two coming out? What about the woman inside? Send her out too. Or do you really think you can still escape?"
"Haha, a woman, huh? Boss, leave the woman to me," said a similarly silver-haired, single-horned muscular man standing nearby.
"No problem," the leader said with a hearty laugh.