This discovery made Ian Song even more vigilant. The depths of Brighthelm Holy City were beyond his imagination—a random courtyard purchase had already landed him two God-King-level neighbors.
Fortunately, these neighbors were friendly enough and didn’t look down on him just because he was only a Lower Heavenly God.
Moonlight flowed like water, shining on the twelve Ian Songs sitting in his courtyard.
All twelve Ian Songs sat cross-legged, refining laws.
His main body had a World-Piercing Vine planted inside, plus the Chaos Bloodline, and an unusually powerful Divine Soul—so his absorption speed for thunder-law power was insanely fast.
At least several times faster than any of his other avatars.
Of all his avatars, the space and time avatars absorbed law power the slowest—even with their own World-Piercing Vines, their absorption speed lagged behind the others by several times.
"Huh?"
Just as Ian and his eleven Lower Heavenly God avatars were cultivating, two neighbors simultaneously raised their eyes toward his courtyard.
Their gazes pierced right through the formation and landed inside his courtyard.
When they saw twelve identical Lower Heavenly Gods, both neighbors were visibly shocked.
Then, their thoughts began to communicate in the void.
"Our little neighbor actually cultivated all twelve law systems to the Heavenly God realm, and his main body's Divine Soul isn't weakened at all. Incredible! Truly incredible!"
"I remember, ninety million years ago, there was a Nine-System God-King—invincible among God-Kings. Too bad he failed his God Emperor Tribulation, or he might've become an unbeatable God Emperor!"
"Heh, the more law systems you cultivate, the harsher the tribulation. If he pushes all twelve systems to God-King, that future tribulation will be brutal—brutal! Brutal!"
"Yeah, if this kid weren't so greedy, with his Divine Soul strength, he'd be guaranteed to become a God-King. Now, who knows?"
Ian couldn’t hear any of this—he was fully absorbed in cultivation.
A few days later.
Ian stopped cultivating, planning to visit the God-Demon Corps and see if there were any suitable missions. After several days of training, his progress felt slow—cultivation was like climbing a mountain: the higher you go, the harder each step.
"Young friend, why not come in for a drink?"
As Ian passed by a neighbor’s courtyard, the owner’s voice suddenly called out, and the tightly closed gate swung open.
"Then I’ll take you up on that!"
Ian paused for a moment, then stepped inside—this neighbor was one of the two he’d judged to be God-King-level.
"Please, have a seat, young friend."
The man appeared to be middle-aged, with eyes as deep and dark as the cosmos—so profound you couldn’t see the end.
"Thank you, Senior. May I ask your name?"
Ian nodded and sat down across from him.
"Let’s have a drink first."
The man personally handed Ian a cup of wine. Ian nodded and accepted it, and just one sip told him it was God-King’s Drunk.
After downing the cup of God-King’s Drunk, Ian’s cheeks flushed slightly.
"Just call me Old Ran, young friend!"
"Then I’ll be bold! I’m Ian Song—just call me Little Song, Old Ran!"
"Haha, good! Let’s have another drink!"
After a few more cups of God-King’s Drunk, Ian looked visibly tipsy.
"Let me tell you a funny story, young friend!"
Old Ran suddenly put down his cup and smiled.
"Please, go ahead!"
"Ninety million years ago, there was an invincible God-King in the God Realm. People called him the Nine-System God-King, because he condensed nine law systems. But he died during his God Emperor Tribulation!"
"That’s it?"
Ian blinked and asked.
"That’s all!"
"Alright, Little Song, I’m going to get some sleep. Off you go!"
Old Ran waved his hand.
"I’ll take my leave, then!"
Ian got up and left, but his expression was a bit odd. The man had invited him for a few drinks and told him an extremely short story—was there some hidden meaning behind it?
Thinking this over, Ian went to the Corps Headquarters Library instead of the Quest Hall.
The library’s collection was vast—just the fifth floor held tens of thousands of complete volumes.
Ian was mainly searching for books about multi-system godheads.
Finally.
Several hours later, Ian found a book about multi-system godheads.
According to this book, after gods ascend to Heavenly God, every major breakthrough requires their godhead to be tempered by Heavenly Tribulation.
But one passage made Ian’s heart clench.
For double-system godheads, the tribulation is twice as strong as for single-system godheads.
For triple-system godheads, it’s three times as strong.
For four-system godheads, the tribulation reaches eight times the strength.
………
For a perfect-series godhead—that is, a twelve-system godhead—the tribulation at the Heavenly God level is thirty-six times stronger than for a single-system godhead. And when breaking through to God-King, the tribulation reaches a hundred and eight times the strength.
Even a single-system godhead faces terrifying tribulation when advancing to God-King—what kind of horror would a hundred and eight times God-King Tribulation be?
Now Ian finally understood why Old Ran had told him that cryptic story—it must be because he’d noticed Ian was cultivating twelve law systems, and was trying to warn him.
For a moment, Ian was torn and hesitant.
According to this ancient text, right after condensing a godhead, you can still disperse it—letting the separated Divine Soul fragments return to your true self. But once you’ve passed the Mid-Heavenly God tribulation, even if you disperse your godhead, you’ll still face the same tribulation.
In other words, if he disperses the godheads of his eleven avatars now, it’s still possible.
But after all the effort he spent condensing those godheads, Ian was reluctant to give them up.
"Disperse them or not?"
Ian fell into deep thought.
After a long while, Ian suddenly looked up, his eyes full of resolve. His future wasn’t limited to the God Realm—so what if it’s a hundred and eight times God-King Tribulation?
What’s there to be afraid of!
Besides, he had a vague feeling—since twelve law systems are called the perfect-series, there must be a reason. As for what that reason is, he still didn’t know.
A few days later.
Ian paid Old Ran a visit. The man didn’t refuse and invited him in.
"Well? Have you figured it out yet?"
Old Ran asked with a smile.
"Old Ran, thank you for the warning. But I’m not planning to disperse my other godheads. So what if it’s a hundred and eight times Heavenly Tribulation? I’ll face it!"
Old Ran was stunned, then burst out laughing. "Ha! You really are a bold one. You know, with your Divine Soul strength, if you only cultivated one system, your chances of becoming a God-King would be very high. But now, once the God-King Tribulation descends, there’s a ninety-nine percent chance you’ll be struck to soul annihilation. I just hope you won’t regret it in the future!"
Ian just smiled. "Dare to be the first under heaven! If no one else dares to cultivate this way, why shouldn’t I give it a try?"
Old Ran clapped and looked at Ian with admiration. "Good! Well said—dare to be the first under heaven! For that, I’ll drink with you to our hearts’ content!"
"Heh! Then I won’t hold back!"
Ian grinned and set his sights on Old Ran’s God-King Drunk.