Within the Awklan Plane, in the eastern reaches of the Misty Continent, nestled deep inside the Barren Fang Mountain Range, Dannington's group from Hell had established their camp.
Deep within the Barren Fang Mountain Range, palaces had risen overnight, one after another. In the deepest chamber of the tallest palace, green flames cast a dim glow over a vast hall. A solitary figure sat quietly at its highest seat. Just then, another silhouette walked in from outside.
"My lord, I took those five hundred Highgods and searched the entire Beast God Continent thoroughly, but we couldn't find a single trace of the Crimson Rhombus Diamond." A burly, towering man with blue hair and armor strapped to his back spoke in frustration, his face pinched into a bitter grimace as he did so.
"This Misty Continent… I used Sovereign power to probe even deep underground. Nothing."
Dannington, shrouded in dark blue-black robes, wore a grim expression. "Neither of these two continents has it. Very well — take your group and continue searching the ocean regions! Not just the deep seawater — the mud and rock beneath the ocean floor, the deeper layers — search everything, all the way to the edges of the plane."
"Yes, my lord." The blue-haired man nodded, though his manner remained rather casual in front of Dannington.
"My lord… we're short on manpower. Look, quite a few of the other forces that came here have probably already searched the entire Awklan Plane. When you agreed to bring me along for the Destroying Sovereign, you should have requisitioned more troops." The blue-haired man spoke with worry.
"Just do your job. That's not something you need to worry about." Dannington's brow furrowed.
"Yes." Seeing Dannington's displeasure, the blue-haired man immediately said no more and withdrew.
Dannington sat in silence, his own thoughts troubled. Ever since arriving in the Awklan Plane, he had known the situation was dire. The number of Perfection experts who had come this time was truly staggering. How many Perfection experts existed across all the countless planes combined? Yet those who had arrived in the Awklan Plane — including himself — numbered a full nine.
Those suspected of being at Perfection numbered twenty or thirty.
But many of them were hidden away in various places, concealed within material planes where even Sovereigns could not find them. Ordinarily, it was rare for even two Perfection experts to meet. Three together was practically unimaginable. Nine Perfection experts gathered in one place… that could only happen when multiple Sovereigns acted together to summon so many.
"With so many Perfection experts, once the Crimson Rhombus Diamond is discovered, how easy will it be to claim?" Dannington shook his head inwardly.
"Dannington." A voice suddenly echoed through his mind.
"Hm? Lin Lei?" Dannington recognized him at once and communicated through divine sense. "Lin Lei, since you reached Perfection, we haven't met yet, have we?"
"It hasn't been long since I achieved it either." Lin Lei replied with a smile. "Dannington, have you found any leads on the Crimson Rhombus Diamond?"
"None. Not a single one. And you?" Dannington asked back.
Two beings at the pinnacle of godhood conversed through divine sense across a distance of millions of kilometers.
"Me? You have eight hundred Highgods under your command and still haven't found it. Bei Bei and I are just two people — how are we supposed to find it?" Lin Lei replied with a teasing laugh. The secret of his Soul Power was something he had no intention of revealing.
"Lin Lei, I'm just saying — with your standing among the Four Divine Beast Families, it wouldn't have been difficult to bring along several thousand from the clan. With several thousand people, your time here in the Awklan Plane would have been far easier. But instead, it's just you and Bei Bei…" Dannington sighed.
In the Awklan Plane, Lin Lei was recognized as a Perfection expert, bringing the total to nine.
But apart from the Perfection experts, every other force had brought along a large contingent of Highgods — generally around a thousand.
"Bringing troops from the Four Divine Beast Families and marching them to the teleportation array would have taken too long. Those ordinary Highgods fly far slower than I do! If I'd done that, I probably would have arrived months later than all of you. In those months, you all would have already found the Crimson Rhombus Diamond. Of course I was anxious, so I just came with Bei Bei." Lin Lei said with a smile.
Dannington understood then.
They had all dispatched their forces directly from the teleportation array, which took virtually no time.
"Never mind that. Dannington, have you suspected whether Brodie actually left the Crimson Rhombus Diamond in this Awklan Plane?" Lin Lei asked.
"Brodie isn't in this plane, so I do have my doubts," Dannington said. "Right now I'm trying to locate the Planar Overseer, but… I haven't found him. My guess is the Planar Overseer was taken by the Fire System Perfection expert, Bamo — because he was the first to arrive at the Awklan Plane." Dannington explained.
"Bamo?"
A wealth of information about Bamo immediately surfaced in Lin Lei's mind.
"Dannington, the information that Planar Overseer knows is extremely important! What if… you and I team up and coerce Bamo into handing over the Planar Overseer? What do you think?" Lin Lei suggested.
"Coerce?"
A smile appeared on Dannington's face. "Good idea. On my own, I'm not confident against Bamo… but with both of us attacking from two sides, even if Bamo doesn't die, he'll suffer greatly. Banishing him wouldn't be difficult. I doubt Bamo would be foolish enough to bring suffering upon himself."
"Then it's settled. When and where do we meet up to go find Bamo?"
Lin Lei and Dannington had thus made their arrangements.
---
The Misty Continent. The Bierce Mountains.
The Bierce Mountains stretched for ten thousand li, several hundred li wide, like a sharp blade that cleanly divided the "Molin Empire" from the "Blue Maple Empire." However, at the center of the Bierce Mountains lay a deep canyon known as the "Divine Punishment" — a canyon that cut through the entire mountain range.
The people of both empires could travel between them freely through this great canyon.
The reason it was called the "Divine Punishment" Canyon was due to an ancient legend — that two gods had once fought here, and a world-shaking sword strike had cleaved the entire mountain range in two, leaving behind this canyon stretching several hundred li.
But this Divine Punishment Canyon, precisely because it connected the two empires, had become the site where both powers stationed heavy troops. Their armies frequently clashed over all manner of disputes!
"Rumble~~~"
The earth shook. Hoofbeats thundered without end, and under the commands of officers at every rank, both armies formed their battle arrays and faced off against one another.
The two empires shared no other border, so this canyon was the sole arena for their battles. Conflicts broke out over even the smallest provocations. The reason was simple — both empires subconsciously treated the battles in the canyon as a means of training. Soldiers who had tasted blood were the ones who possessed true fighting strength.
Battles ranging from several years to mere months apart were common, each claiming tens of thousands of lives. It was all perfectly normal.
After all, these two empires were among the more powerful nations on the Misty Continent, whose territory spanned a hundred million li and whose populations numbered in the tens of billions.
"Vanguard division. Move out."