On second thought, it made perfect sense.
This was someone who had casually thrown around nearly ten million inkstones inside the Violetjade Castle—how could he possibly be tailed so easily?
"Run!"
Boom!
The remaining five Gods were terrified. They instantly unleashed their divine power and rushed toward the metallic lifeform, desperate to retreat inside it.
They believed that as long as they could board it, the metallic lifeform's speed would guarantee their escape.
But—
"Heh. I already told you, didn't I?" Locke said lightly. "I'm the one hunting you. So why can't you just obediently stay where you are?"
"Do you have any idea how annoying it is when you run off and force me to waste time tracking down your spatial rings?"
Watching the five Gods flee in panic, Locke slowly raised his right hand and pressed it gently toward the empty air before him—
"Thousand-Mile—Heaven-Piercing Palm!"
In an instant, five enormous palms condensed behind the fleeing Gods, each one slamming down squarely onto their backs.
Boom—!
Rumble, rumble, rumble—
The six Gods who had attempted to escape were sent crashing back to the ground at even greater speed, like meteors falling from the sky. The forest shook violently as deafening explosions erupted.
In the blink of an eye, six massive crater-like pits appeared in the woodland.
"Oh, right. You too."
Locke raised a finger. A single drop of divine power condensed into a bead of water. With a casual flick, it vanished into the air.
The next moment, the sound of a body collapsing heavily onto the ground reached Locke's ears. The corners of his lips lifted slightly.
From the soul of the Demigod who had been following him, Locke could tell that the man had likely been coerced.
But what did that have to do with him?
Did being forced give someone the right to openly scheme against another?
This world had never operated on the principle that the weak were automatically justified.
The moment you grasp a blade, you must be prepared for the day when you, too, may die by that same blade.
Locke was no exception.
If one day he were to fall to an enemy's hand, he wouldn't harbor resentment.
At most, he might feel a bit of regret—regret that he hadn't climbed to the very peak of the Coiling Dragon universe, that he hadn't fully unraveled the mysteries of the Laws and their profundities.
That said, Locke's smile wasn't born from killing the weak.
It was satisfaction—pure and simple—with the effectiveness of the technique he had just refined.
"As expected, among the water-element Laws, Water Body Art really is the coolest profundity."
"And especially Water Movement—as long as you're within my domain, no one can dodge my attacks."
With Locke's current mastery of Water Body Art, he could instantly condense enough water-element energy anywhere within his domain. By using the profundity of Water Movement, he could transmit his attacks through the interconnected water elements, delivering them directly to his enemy's position.
Of course, since his Water Body Art had not yet reached full completion, attacks transferred this way still suffered some loss of power.
There was also a slight delay.
But both flaws would vanish once he fully mastered Water Body Art, so Locke didn't bother dwelling on them.
Besides, with his current strength, even with minor loss and delay, facing Gods who hadn't even fused two Law profundities was nothing short of absolute domination.
"Alright, Little White," Locke said calmly.
"Go collect the spatial rings from those six Gods. I'll check out that metallic lifeform."
His figure slowly rose into the air. Without hesitation, he entered the metallic lifeform directly.
To Locke, whatever valuables those six Gods carried paled in comparison to the metallic lifeform itself.
Even the most ordinary metallic lifeform was worth around one hundred million inkstones.
Its value varied slightly depending on flight speed.
Did those six Gods really look like they could scrape together that kind of wealth?
Please. If they had that much, they would've long since bought a Highgod divine spark and refined it to become Highgods themselves. Why would they still be out here robbing people like Locke?
"Mercy… please have mercy!"
"My lord, I was forced! I was coerced by them! Please, be magnanimous and spare me this once!"
The moment Locke entered the metallic lifeform's interior, a Saint dropped to his knees, crying and begging for forgiveness.
This Saint was none other than the Saint-domain true body of the Demigod who had been tailing Locke.
"Heh…"
Locke chuckled softly.
If piloting the metallic lifeform didn't require divine power from a god-level being, Locke had no doubt this man would've already fled with it the moment things went south.
And as for how those six Gods had found him so easily without this man's guidance—Locke didn't believe that for a second.
A strange glint flashed through Locke's eyes.
The Saint's body stiffened, then collapsed lifelessly to the floor.
Metallic lifeforms were special existences sold exclusively by the Violetjade Castle in Hell.
They were beings modified by the Violetjade Sovereign through unknown means—possessing rudimentary thought but no soul. They couldn't be considered true living beings and could be stored inside spatial rings.
With a single sweep of his divine sense, Locke easily located the metallic lifeform's core.
He pricked his finger, letting a drop of blood fall onto it. Instantly, a faint connection formed between him and the metallic lifeform.
"Lord Locke."
Just as Locke began examining the metallic lifeform more closely, Little White flew inside, carrying the divine sparks and spatial rings of the six Gods. He presented them respectfully before Locke.
"Mhm."
Although Locke didn't place much value on what these people owned, he wasn't about to hand anything over without at least checking it.
After all, within the Coiling Dragon universe, there existed many so-called wondrous items—objects capable of granting their owners extraordinary abilities.
Some could even cause a god's strength to skyrocket.
And if Locke remembered correctly, at this point in history, the Sovereigns might not even be aware of the Overgod Missions yet.
If his luck was extraordinary and he happened upon an Overgod token tied to those missions, he might be able to exchange it with one of the four Overgods for a substantial amount of Sovereign power.
Perhaps even an entire set of Sovereign artifacts.
After all, the Sovereigns hadn't yet established their later covenants.
There were no restrictions limiting them to bestowing only a single Sovereign artifact upon their envoys or descendants.
To gods, Sovereign artifacts were priceless treasures.
But to Sovereigns, they were merely items casually refined—using Sovereign power and tempering them over tens of thousands of years.
Nothing particularly exciting.
There were seven spatial rings in total, but only five could be bound.
That meant that among the six God-level bandits, two possessed other divine clones or Saint-domain true bodies.
"Oh?"
As Locke extended his soul power into the five rings, he paused.
With a thought, five black waist tokens fell into his hand.
Each bore a striking white character: "Rock."
These tokens were instantly familiar to Locke.
Not just to him—even Little White recognized them.
Every member of Rockpeak City's City Guard wore one of these tokens at their waist.
In other words, these five—no, counting the Demigod who had followed Locke, all seven of them—were members of Rockpeak City's City Guard.
The only question was whether this attempted robbery was an impulsive act… or whether they had been acting under the orders of some powerful figure within Rockpeak City.
Locke strongly suspected the latter.
After all, a metallic lifeform was far beyond what six Gods—who couldn't even scrape together twenty thousand inkstones—could afford.
The only possibility was that some powerful individual had temporarily lent them a metallic lifeform, allowing them to complete their assignment as quickly as possible.
"Th-these… City Guard tokens?"
The moment Little White saw them, his entire body trembled.
What was going on?
Rockpeak City's City Guard… were actually bandits?
If this news spread, the blow to Rockpeak City would be utterly devastating.
In Hell, city living was notoriously expensive—so why did all beings still yearn to live inside cities?
The answer was simple: rules and safety.
Once a city's order collapsed, its fate was obvious.
That was something no city lord could ever tolerate.
At this point in history, Gods were still extremely valuable assets.
Most tribal leaders in Hell were merely Demigods.
A God could already guard a large tribe.
Within Sovereign legions, Gods served as squad leaders commanding ten Demigods.
Within city guards, a God was at minimum a battalion commander.
Sending out six Gods at once to assassinate someone—only Rockpeak City's three city lords possessed that authority.
Of course, it was unlikely the main city lord himself had ordered it.
But the two vice city lords…
"Heh. Little White," Locke said with a faint chuckle, "looks like we'll be taking a trip back to Rockpeak City."
He stored the five tokens away. With a thought, divine power surged into the metallic lifeform's core. Its wings beat as it transformed into a streak of red light, shooting straight toward Rockpeak City.
What had taken Little White half a month to traverse on foot, Locke covered in less than ten minutes aboard the metallic lifeform.
Without any attempt at concealment, Locke stopped outside Rockpeak City, descended, and stored the metallic lifeform into his spatial ring.
The two guards at the city gate visibly stiffened when they saw Locke emerge.
Clearly, they recognized the metallic lifeform's owner.
Entering Rockpeak City once more with Little White, Locke headed straight for the city lord's estate.
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—!
Before he could arrive, streams of light shot up throughout the city, rapidly surrounding Locke and Little White from all sides.
…
(End of Chapter)
⭐ Enjoying the story?
You can read ahead and support the translations by joining my Patreon! Your support helps me update faster and take on more projects. Thank you for reading!
Read up to 50 chapters ahead!
patreon.com/AminaSims
Bonus chapter at 150 powerstones