"Third Brother, calm down!" Rein shouted repeatedly.
"Father!" Sasha and Taylor cried out in alarm.
Their greatest fear was that Lin Lei, upon learning the truth, would fly into a rage and rush straight to kill Odin. Wotton and Rein both understood what a peak Highgod meant — and that was precisely why Yeru, even as he died in grief and agony, had begged Lin Lei and Rein on his deathbed not to seek revenge!
It wasn't that Yeru didn't want vengeance. He was terrified that Lin Lei and Rein would die because of him!
"Boss, let's go kill him." Bei Bei immediately lunged toward the door.
But Lin Lei abruptly shot out his right hand, seized Bei Bei, and stared him down. "Bei Bei, don't rush!"
"Right, don't be impulsive," Wotton added urgently. "Bei Bei, you and my brother need to calm down first. If we could take revenge, we would have done so already. But if we can't, throwing our lives away would be even more pointless. We have to endure. Endure!"
"Endure my ass!" Bei Bei roared. "So what if he's a Seven-Star Demon? Boss killed five Seven-Star Demons by himself centuries ago, before he even broke through! And now? Forget Seven-Star Demons — even a Hell Asura, Bei Bei and I wouldn't bat an eye at!"
Lin Lei had advanced from Midgod to Highgod, elevating his strength by an entire tier.
On top of that, he now possessed a Divine Artifact, and even in the most dangerous scenarios, he still had the power of a Chief God! Beyond Lin Lei himself, Bei Bei's innate divine ability — Devour God — was another terrifyingly overpowered trump card. In ordinary combat, Bei Bei wasn't particularly strong. But that innate technique? Its power rivaled Belutte's!
With Lin Lei and Bei Bei fighting together, how many people in existence could stand against them?
"What — what did you say?" Wotton was stunned.
"Before he broke through? Killed five Seven-Star Demons?" Rein and the others were equally thunderstruck.
They didn't fully grasp the meaning of "Seven-Star Demon," but judging from Belutte's tone when he'd spoken of it, they understood that a Seven-Star Demon must be a peak Highgod powerhouse.
"Relax. Killing Odin — I'm confident," Lin Lei said in a low voice. "If Bei Bei and I couldn't kill Odin... Lord Belutte would have warned me about it back in Hell." Belutte knew everything that happened on the Yulan Continent. But Belutte had said nothing.
Odin had tortured Yeru, yet Lin Lei bore no resentment toward Belutte. After all, Belutte couldn't possibly extend his divine sense around the clock and monitor everything.
Belutte hadn't killed Odin in retaliation, and Lin Lei didn't hold that against him either!
"He didn't kill Odin because he wanted me to do it," Lin Lei said, killing intent flickering in his eyes.
"Third Brother, are you truly confident you can kill Odin?" Rein stared at Lin Lei in disbelief.
"Brother." Wotton gazed at Lin Lei, equal parts shock and elation on his face.
"A hundred percent," Lin Lei's voice was ice-cold. Then he glanced at Bei Bei. "Bei Bei, this Odin calls himself the 'Evil Sovereign,' and he drove our Boss Yeru insane — made him wish he were dead. You think I'd let Odin die easily?" A person only feels fear right before death.
Once they're dead, they feel nothing.
That sliver of fear was hardly enough to quell the inferno of rage burning in Lin Lei's chest, nor to bring peace to Yeru's tormented soul.
"Third Brother!" Rein suddenly cried out, his voice cracking.
Lin Lei turned to look at him. Rein's face was streaked with tears, his eyes a jumbled storm of grief, fury, and wild hope. "Third Brother, you have to avenge Boss and Second Brother! You have to! Let their souls in the Netherworld finally rest in peace!" For years Rein had wanted revenge but lacked the power.
He couldn't accept it!
He despised his own inadequacy!
But what could he do? With his pitiful strength, he'd probably die before he even reached Odin.
"Avenge them!" Rein fixed his gaze on Lin Lei, placing every shred of hope on his shoulders.
"Don't worry." Lin Lei turned sharply toward Wotton. "Wotton, go make arrangements right away. Gather all intelligence on Odin — everything. His subordinates, his forces, all of it!"
"Understood." Wotton hurried off to carry out the order.
Lin Lei turned and saw Dilia standing nearby, tears streaming down her face. He lowered his voice. "Dilia, don't worry. Odin will die — and he will die painfully. I swear it!"
The Baruch Empire had been established for nearly two thousand years, and its intelligence network spanned the entire Yulan Continent. Even events inside the Odin Empire's imperial palace were known to them. In the past, the Baruch Empire had always been collecting intelligence on key members of the Odin Empire, and now, with Lin Lei's single command —
Masses of intelligence reports were compiled and delivered to Lin Lei's desk.
In just one night, Lin Lei had forged his plan for revenge.
Within a lavish mansion in the provincial capital of the Eide Province, Odin Empire.
In the garden, a young nobleman draped in a sumptuous robe lounged on an enormous chaise — or rather, it was practically a bed. A beautiful maidservant curled up on it, her garments half-open, revealing the snow-white skin beneath. The nobleman lay with his head resting in her lap.
"They're really slow," the young nobleman muttered with displeasure.
At that moment, one by one, beautiful young women filed through the garden gate, accompanied by a middle-aged man dressed as a steward who barked, "Hurry up! Stand over there. Five in a row — line up properly!" There were a full twenty-five young women, each with delicate features and graceful figures.
The twenty-five women arranged themselves in nervous rows.
"Your Highness, they're all prepared," the steward said, hurrying over with a submissive bow.
"Mm." The nobleman acknowledged him, but his eyes were locked on the twenty-five women.
Then a strange smile crept across his face. "They really are all young. Nothing like those old hags from the Planar Prison — not a shred of femininity about them." He flipped his hand, and a throwing dart appeared in it. With a bright laugh, he announced, "Lovely ladies, now I'm going to play a little game with you. I'll throw this dart at random, and whoever it lands on has to take off one piece of clothing. Understand?"
The twenty-five women shuddered but didn't dare show the slightest defiance.
"The dart won't kill you," the nobleman said lightly.
He flicked his wrist —
*Whoosh!* The dart streaked through the air like lightning, slicing through the group of twenty-five women. But in the blink of an eye, it was back in the nobleman's hand.
A soft gasp of pain. A thin line of blood welled up on one woman's chest.
"Such fresh blood." The nobleman extended his tongue and licked the dart's crimson tip, smiling. "Strip!" He was very confident the dart would only nick the surface of the skin — painful, yes, and perhaps a little blood, but nothing lethal.
The woman trembled from head to toe, yet still removed an outer garment.
"Continue!" The nobleman hurled the dart once more.
The game went on. Before long, all twenty-five women had been stripped bare, standing naked in the garden. Unnoticed, the steward had long since departed — he knew full well that His Highness despised other men seeing his playthings. His Highness could do as he pleased with these women. But if another man looked... he would die.
The twenty-five women stood trembling in their nudity, thin trickles of blood running down their bodies.
In a disturbing twist, the bloodstains had formed characters on each woman's skin.
*"Slave." "Love." "Whore."*
Every woman bore a different word written in her own blood.
This grotesque spectacle only deepened the women's terror, silencing any thought of resistance.
"Oh!" The sight sent a shudder of excitement through the nobleman's body. "It's exquisite — a genuine work of art. Good. Slave, come here! You — the one with 'slave' written on you." He toyed with the dart in his hand, and it danced through his fingers as though alive.