When Sadius led his group and arrived at the Dark Forest, a large crowd had already gathered outside the metallic fortress.
The War God and the High Priestess stood with their respective Saint-level subordinates, waiting in front of the fortress.
Bluefire did not come—he had no Saint-level followers under his command, so naturally, he had no reason to attend.
Thus, there were only four true deity-level powerhouses present: Sadius, Dylin, the War God O'Brien, and the High Priestess Catherine.
Most of the other Saint-level experts stood obediently behind them. Of course, a few Saints stood alone—such as Rosalie, the Saintess of the Ice Goddess Shrine.
When Cesar saw this stunning woman, he instinctively shrank back behind Sadius.
Rosalie naturally noticed Cesar. She gave a cold hmph, turned her head aside, and then, after a moment, her expression shifted—her gaze toward Cesar became one of quiet promise: I'll deal with you later.
Sadius caught the entire exchange and couldn't help but laugh inwardly at Cesar's plight.
"Everyone, are we all here? Then let the rest wait outside. We four shall enter the fortress to speak with Lord Beirut," the High Priestess said calmly.
The four deity-level powerhouses flew into the metallic fortress, leaving the Saint-level experts to wait quietly outside.
Inside the fortress, they found Beirut calmly enjoying tea.
"Lord Beirut," they all greeted respectfully.
"You've arrived," Beirut said with a faint smile.
"Strictly speaking, the Necropolis of the Gods shouldn't open for another three hundred years. However, the mighty Sovereign has temporarily changed his mind and decided to open it early. As the one who manages the Necropolis on behalf of the Sovereign, I naturally follow his command. I've already notified you in advance, so I assume you've prepared yourselves. I will now explain the key points, and afterward, we shall head directly to the Necropolis."
Beirut's explanation lasted all the way until noon before finally concluding.
The four left the fortress and returned outside.
Then the High Priestess began explaining the situation to the Saints gathered outside.
"Among you, many have entered the Necropolis before, while others have never been. But this time is different from previous occasions, so I must stress a few points carefully."
All the Saints focused intently on her words.
"You should know the Necropolis of the Gods has three main passages—one lies in the Dark Forest, another on an island in the North Sea, and the last rests deep beneath the waters of the South Sea.
"This time, you will enter through the South Sea seabed passage, which is by far the most dangerous of the three."
She paused, then gestured. "Desri, please explain to everyone what you experienced."
One of the six pinnacle Saints of the Yulan continent, the peak Light-element Saint Magus Desri, stepped forward to share his own experience.
"Remember," the High Priestess added after his account, "if you wish to forfeit this trial, you may leave now. Tonight, we depart."
But in the end, not a single Saint backed out. Even knowing the mortality rate was extremely high, everyone chose to stay.
As night descended, Beirut appeared before them.
"Lord Beirut," the four deity-level powerhouses greeted respectfully.
"Let's go," Beirut said casually. Then he turned south and flew ahead.
The four deities, followed by the many Saints, flew south after him.
Beneath the South Sea.
They traveled for a long time before finally arriving at the deep southern seas. Beirut halted midair.
"This is the place," he said. "Deep beneath these waters lies the entrance to the Necropolis of the Gods. It's about twenty thousand meters below the surface. If you can't withstand this level of water pressure, then you have no business entering the Necropolis at all."
Without another word, Beirut plunged into the sea, and wherever his body passed, the waters automatically parted around him.
Sadius, along with the other deities and Saints, followed suit, diving into the dark depths.
Sadius was curious about the South Sea seabed.
It was said the South Sea teemed with countless marine Saint-level magical beasts, far more numerous than those on the Yulan continent.
Extending his divine sense, Sadius observed the creatures dwelling here.
"That giant dragon turtle… it must be a lesser descendant of the Xuanwu Divine Beast. I'll have to study it when I have time," he mused.
Before long, the group reached the seabed.
After traversing through several underwater canyons for a few kilometers, they finally arrived at a massive, strange stone gate.
Beirut was already waiting there.
After giving a brief explanation, Beirut unleashed his divine power and opened the stone gate.
The next moment, it felt as though a thin membrane had been pierced.
Sadius distinctly sensed the dimensional barrier being breached, connecting the Yulan Plane to another realm entirely.
Following Beirut through the gate, they found the scenery suddenly changed. It was still underwater, yet the surroundings were entirely different.
They then flew up from the water—and in the distance stood a towering mountain, tens of thousands of meters high.
Those Saints who had never been here before were left awestruck.
The group continued flying for hundreds of kilometers until they finally reached the Necropolis of the Gods.
As in the original storyline, the usual procedures were followed. They selected the guardian beast for the first eleven floors—naturally, it was the Basilisk-like Ba Serpent from the original story.
"It seems that even with the timeline moved forward by three hundred years, many things still proceed as they should. However, this time there is no Linley, no Olivier, no rising prodigies. I wonder how far they'll manage to get," Sadius thought quietly as he observed.
After the instructions were given, the human Saints and Saint-level magical beasts were split into two groups, each entering the Necropolis through different side passages.
The Saints' trial within the Necropolis had officially begun.
Naturally, the deity-level powerhouses would not remain inside to watch.
They would wait for the Saints' trials to conclude before entering the deeper levels themselves.
"All right. You may all leave now. Return in ten years when the Necropolis reopens," Beirut said calmly.
Sadius stared at the towering mountain of the Necropolis, soaring twenty thousand meters high. He felt something atop the mountain calling to his very soul.
There was no need to guess—it was the corpse of Azure Dragon Redding.
Suppressing the trembling of his soul, Sadius turned away and departed the Necropolis.
Upon returning to the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, Sadius immediately began refining the two drops of Azure Dragon blood essence he had acquired.
Within his Coiling Dragon Ring, he still had two drops of Sovereign's Might, but he wouldn't waste them on refining this blood essence. That power would have far greater uses in the future.
Sadius activated the Azure Dragon Transformation, his body shifting into the form of an immense azure dragon. Then he began refining the two drops of blood essence.
Normally, refining such essence would not be easy. But while transformed into an azure dragon, the blood essence felt like it was already his own—it merged seamlessly into his body.
In moments, Sadius' body began to grow rapidly.
From an initial length of one kilometer, he suddenly expanded to two kilometers.
Just two drops of blood essence had doubled his Azure Dragon divine body's size.
Yet compared to Azure Dragon Redding's massive ten-kilometer divine body, he still fell far short.
After successfully refining the blood essence, Sadius reverted to his humanoid form.
At that moment, he realized that his true body's physical strength alone was now comparable to that of some powerful lower-tier divine artifacts.
And this was without even channeling divine power.
If he were to activate the Azure Dragon Transformation again, his raw physical might alone would allow him to battle even a true Highgod head-on.
——
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