Inside the rapidly advancing metal life, laughter filled the air.
"Don't worry, Boss Yeru. Third Brother already gave you his word. That means Odin is as good as dead," George said with a grin from the side. Yeru's hatred for Odin had burrowed deep into his soul—until Odin was truly killed, that thorn would remain in Yeru's heart forever.
Yeru nodded and smiled at Lin Lei. "Then I'll leave it to you, Third Brother."
"We'll be traveling a considerable distance from the Nether Mountain to the Holy Mountain of the Dead," Lin Lei said with a smile. "Along the way, I'll scan with my divine sense and guide the metal life past important locations. Perhaps I'll be able to find Odin before we arrive."
Lin Lei's Soul Power was even stronger than the might of a Chief God.
The restrictions of the Netherworld were far weaker than those of the Planar Battlefield. Within the Netherworld, Lin Lei's empowered divine sense could spread across eight million li! The metal life he controlled could fly nearly ten million li in a single day. At that speed, Lin Lei only needed to search once per day on average.
Searching along the route and posting bounties—those were the two options.
If searching along the way failed, they would post bounties. With Lin Lei's current reputation, tracking down Odin would not be difficult at all!
"If we can find him along the way, that would be wonderful," Yeru said with a faint smile.
Seeing Yeru like this, Lin Lei sighed inwardly. The Yeru of old had always been free-spirited and carefree. But now, Lin Lei could sense the pressure weighing on Yeru's heart. Hatred gnawed at his soul, and no matter how much Yeru might want to relax and be carefree, he simply couldn't.
Under Lin Lei's control, the metal life flew at tremendous speed, and after just over three years, they entered the territory of the Northern Bones Prefecture.
"The last prefecture. We're getting close to the Holy Mountain of the Dead," George said cheerfully.
Bei Bei muttered, "The Northern Bones Prefecture is the northernmost prefecture in the Netherworld. We still haven't found that Odin—looks like the boss will have to post a bounty at the Demon Castle… Hmph, let that Odin live a little longer."
Lin Lei noticed that Yeru's expression had darkened.
"What Odin did really affected Yeru more deeply than I imagined," Lin Lei sighed to himself.
He could fully understand. If during his own Saint Realm stage, some Chief God had controlled him and forced him to kill his wife, his children, his brothers, his friends… and then tormented him to death, he too would have gone mad with the desire for revenge. Without it, he could never rest in peace.
Lin Lei patted Yeru on the shoulder. "Don't worry. He won't escape."
"Mm." Yeru forced a thin smile. "It's fine. I can wait. At least now there's hope for revenge."
The Northern Bones Prefecture of the Netherworld. On the great plains outside the city of Hyde.
A massive army of soldiers was stationed here, and several castles had been built. The Northern Bones Prefecture's strongest warrior—its Prefecture Lord 'Seinte,' who had already become a Chief God's envoy—resided here. Under Seinte's command were several powerful fighters, including the seven-star demon 'Odin.'
A black-robed figure descended from the sky.
"My lord!" The soldiers immediately bowed.
"Mm." The black-robed figure nodded indifferently and strode into the inner area.
Moments later, the black-robed figure stood before Seinte.
"Prefecture Lord, the matter is resolved," the black-robed figure said respectfully.
Seinte was currently dressed in a white robe, leaning back in his chair, leisurely reading a book. Upon hearing the report, he smiled and nodded. "Mm, good. By the way, Odin—did you hear any news about the Planar Battlefield while you were out? That battle should have been over for nearly a hundred years now."
Seinte had not participated in the Planar War, and with the Northern Bones Prefecture being so remote, news reached them much more slowly.
"Most of the people I encountered this time were of middling strength—not a single prefecture lord or territorial lord among them. I heard nothing about the Planar Battlefield. It may take quite some time before news reaches us. However, I did uncover another piece of information."
"What information?" Seinte looked up at Odin with interest.
Odin, shrouded in his black robe, revealed a hint of a smile. "Prefecture Lord, the Nether Mountain has been made public. A fourth person has obtained the Nether Fruit! Through my investigations, the person's name is Boyley."
"Boyley? It seems Lin Lei failed," Seinte said with a smile.
"The Nether Mountain is fraught with peril," Odin said smugly. "The only one who succeeded was this Boyley. I'd say Lin Lei is already dead on the Nether Mountain. Even if he survived, after a thousand years, he's probably long since left the Netherworld."
"If Lin Lei had the sense to retreat, he might have saved his life. But from what I've observed, he was dead set on meeting the Chief God and would never give up easily. Nine chances out of ten, he perished on the Nether Mountain," Seinte said calmly. "Well, Odin, with things as they are now, you should be completely at ease."
Lin Lei was indeed Odin's nightmare.
"Much more at ease now. I won't trouble the Prefecture Lord any further." Odin bowed slightly and withdrew.
Meanwhile, high above the Northern Bones Prefecture…
Lin Lei, scanning with his divine sense as he had been doing all along, spoke casually, "We're about to reach Prefecture Lord 'Seinte' of the Northern Bones Prefecture. He's the one who told me where the Nether Mountain was—I really should thank him for making this a success. Hm?" Lin Lei's expression changed abruptly.
"What's wrong, boss?" Bei Bei asked from beside him.
"Third Brother, did you find Odin?" Yeru blurted out. Whenever Lin Lei's expression changed during a divine sense scan, Yeru would immediately make this guess. But every time before, his guesses had been wrong.
Lin Lei looked at Yeru and burst into laughter. "Odin—it's Odin! Haha, that Odin has finally shown himself, and he's right next to Seinte's location…" A cold gleam flickered in Lin Lei's eyes. "It seems that Seinte and his wife deliberately deceived me back then."
Lin Lei wasn't stupid. The moment he spotted Odin, he realized that Seinte had lied to him before, and he could piece together what had happened.
"Odin is at Seinte's place?" Bei Bei caught on and snarled, "Boss, I knew something was off about that Seinte couple from the start! He told you where the Nether Mountain was just to send you to your death!"
"But we should still thank them," George said with a smile. "Third Brother, because of them, you had your breakthrough to Grand Completion. If Odin and Seinte knew that, they'd probably regret it beyond belief."
The matter of his soul mutation—worried about too many loose lips, Lin Lei hadn't made it public. He'd simply said he'd reached Grand Completion.
"That's right—we really should thank them." Lin Lei's gaze swept toward the northeast. He barked, "Let's go! Time to pay a visit to Seinte and Odin!"
"Odin!" Yeru ground his teeth, his gaze sharp and cold.
Instantly, Lin Lei drove the metal life to its maximum speed.