"As expected, you weren't dead. How could you be? But Chthonian Primogen, with your cultivation, status, and strength, do you really have a need to oppress me and snatch my resources?"
Surya inquired without referring to himself as "This Eminence." That alone showed deference and his intent to find a common ground. Alas, awed by Konrad's presence, his eyes never glanced toward Selene. If they did, perhaps he wouldn't be using that tone.
Amused by the words, Konrad's lips curled into a smile.
"Indeed, you are the cleverest deity of the Celestial Realm. Though you know I come with ill-intent, you still manage to maintain your cool, and first seek a diplomatic way out. In your stead, others would either quiver in fright, break into a desperate flight, or swear to fight me to the last.
Impressed, I am impressed."
Konrad began while the Primal Sun Lotus rotated within his palm. And feeling the genuineness of the words, Surya believed there was room for compromise.
Konrad's follow-up broke his expectations.
"What a pity that you offended my longtime partner. Otherwise, with your brain, I would have put your talent to good use."
Konrad sighed while his gaze remained fixed on the Primal Sun Lotus. Although it couldn't compare to the Heaven Swallowing Pill he planned to refine, as a nine-star God Medicine, it was indeed a marvelous product. The Primal Sun Lotus possessed 30 petals. Each containing substantial Overgod-level energy. Although it was but of the early-stage, one petal was enough to make an early-stage Legendary God directly reach the late-stage. With ten petals, an early-stage Legendary God could reach the peak, and with the whole lotus, becoming a False Overgod was a must.
For someone such as Surya who only stood a step away from the peak of the Legendary God Rank, as long as he fully digested the lotus' medicinal power, he was destined to become an Overgod. Besides good luck, one could only imagine how many millions of years of ardent effort nurturing this lotus took.
What a pity that Surya would never get to enjoy its fruits. Raising his right hand, Konrad covered the lotus with his palm, releasing a formless, ever-expanding force whose mere presence filled Surya with incomparable dread:
The Power of Infiniteness!
Though he didn't know what the Chthonian Primogen had in mind, Surya didn't doubt he wouldn't ruin the lotus. If he wanted to, he wouldn't infuse it with the Dream Stone. Perhaps he still had a way to magnify the results?
Not dwelling on matters he couldn't solve, Surya shifted his head toward Selene. That woman clearly was the "longtime partner" he offended. Otherwise, she wouldn't be the one standing beside the Chthonian Primogen at this precise moment. At first, Surya couldn't imagine how he had possibly offended such an existence. But as his eyes locked on Selene's form, though at first startled by the mammoth breasts that could at least fit an F cup, as an experienced deity, Surya's attention quickly returned to Selene's eyes, golden eyes in which he felt an uncanny familiarity.
"Isylia? No…little brat?"
Surya muttered, first confusing Selene for her mother before finally recalling that defiant gaze of hers. But in the "little brat," Selene felt no warmth. That was the nickname Surya always used before starting his experiments. Thirteen years of brutal, relentless experiments. In her more than 1 million years of existence, Selene always felt that those thirteen years occupied the longest time.
But as she met Surya's gaze, her lips curved into a smile.
"Greetings, uncle. Long-time no see. Missed me?"
Selene inquired with a mischievous grin. But as the confirmation echoed, Surya's eyes narrowed in confusion.
"Impossible, I destroyed Selene in body and soul. 1 million years ago, there was no Chthonian Primogen. How could she possibly survive? This joke isn't funny."
Surya reasoned, thinking this a result of Konrad's probing of his past. But when Selene's following words echoed, he couldn't help but accept that reality.
"For a Truth Wielding expert to not even be able to distinguish illusion from reality is indeed laughable. Uncle, in this world, there are too many forces that you do not understand. Trying to access the Truth with your limited vision and understanding is simply ludicrous."
Selene countered, and the "uncle" in her mouth was laced in such a venomous tone that Surya couldn't help but believe his eyes. At that time, as if to emphasize her words, Konrad waved his right hand, and beside the Primal Sun Lotus, twelve, identical lotuses appeared, all rippling with the same energies.
Seeing this, Surya's eyes widened in fright!
"Impossible! How can you possibly create identical replicas of a nine-star God Medicines? Even the fabled Truth Embodiment cannot accomplish this!"
Surya exclaimed as if protesting against Konrad's reason-defying abilities. If anyone could just casually reproduce that lotus, why did he spend millions of years cultivating it? Little did he know that while at the moment, Konrad couldn't produce more than twelve copies, when his Infiniteness Insight progressed further, that hard-cap would collapse.
"I am the Chthonian Realm's God-Sovereign. Who are you? What are you? What gives you the right to estimate my abilities? Don't humiliate yourself."
Konrad retorted while the thirteen lotuses formed a ring around him. Unable to refute the words, Surya chortled in a self-deprecating laugh while shaking his head from left to right.
"Indeed, I do not have those qualifications. Never did I expect that I would devote so many eons of my life to this project, only to have it fall into the hands of others. Powerlessness is indeed a curse."
Following this admittance of defeat, Surya shifted his eyes back onto Selene.
"You found yourself quite the reliable backer. I suppose you are here for revenge? Fine, I am not his match. Do what you will. I only hope that for the sake of our common ancestry, you leave the Primal Sun Sect a way out."
Surya requested while bending his back in a low bow. Having never expected him to concede so easily, Selene frowned. But at that time, Konrad lifted his right index, causing one of the lotuses to rise and fly toward Selene's chest.
Following the refining of his Grand Devil Pills, her cultivation had gone from mid-stage Boundless Sea Devil to early-stage Grand Devil, and already approached the mid-stage. Devil Pills didn't merely contain energy, but also gathered the imprinted mysteries of the road.
Now, as Selene refined the Primal Sun Lotus through Konrad's help, her cultivation directly rose from early-stage to peak-stage Grand Devil. If not for her lacking understanding of the Devil Road, she would have directly broken through to the Prime Devil Realm.
Still, in cultivation alone, she was now no different from a mid-stage Legendary God.
Of course, the unrivaled might of the Devil Road, the Law Revolution Creed and her own bloodline strength ensured she could now fight Overgods.
Surya, however, couldn't see that point.
"Sun God, I have always been a fair man. If you want a way out for your sect, you have to fight for it. Defeat her, and only you die. Lose, and your entire sect follows you to the grave."
Konrad proclaimed, causing Surya to not know whether to laugh or cry. In what world did such a ridiculous proposal count as "fair?" But having never been one of those naive Gods believing in celestial justice, he didn't dare hope for more.
"Fine! Then little brat, today, for the sake of old times—uncle must give you a memorable thrashing."
Surya declared with soaring determination.
