"Your Majesty, mission accomplished!"
Seeing Ian Song return, Nathan Southwind and the others hurried over to greet him.
Ian nodded with satisfaction. "Well done. But from now on, don’t call me ‘Your Majesty’—just call me Boss!"
"Yes, Boss!"
All eleven replied in unison.
As for the other gods, when they looked at Ian and his group, there was a clear sense of fear.
In the God Realm, there are no nations, no laws to protect ordinary gods. It’s pure jungle law—survival of the fittest.
If you’re strong, you’ll live well. If you’re weak, life will be miserable.
So after seeing how powerful Ian’s group was, it was only natural for those gods to fear them.
"Sir, thank you for killing the Blood Wolves. Otherwise, a lot of us would’ve been seriously hurt!"
After a short while, the two mid-stage Lower-Rank Gods who had stepped out earlier to block the disaster came over to thank Ian, and also brought some wine and meat.
Ian happily accepted their goodwill, and took the chance to chat with them. He learned quite a bit about Yushan Prefecture.
Yushan Prefecture governs thousands of cities, most of which have populations in the millions, though a few only hold tens of thousands of gods.
These cities are, in name, under Yushan Prefecture’s administration.
Actually, the Prefect’s real control isn’t as great as it sounds. He truly governs only this main prefectural city; the others mostly just pay some god-crystals as tribute.
In fact, among all the prefectural cities in the God Realm, Yushan ranks way outside the top ten thousand.
The main reason for its low ranking is that there’s an extremely unstable ancient forbidden zone inside Yushan. Every few decades, some terrifying forbidden demon beasts break out and cause havoc.
These forbidden demon beasts are incredibly strong. Even the weakest can match a Lower-Rank God, while the strongest reach the level of Mid-Rank Heavenly Gods. The Prefect himself is only a Mid-Rank Heavenly God, so even he can’t do much when those monsters run wild.
So every time forbidden demon beasts break out, lots of gods end up getting eaten.
They say that fifty years ago, two Heavenly-God-level forbidden demon beasts rampaged through a small city and devoured every god inside.
Because of the ancient forbidden zone, Yushan Prefecture is extremely unsafe. So, any gods who are able to travel usually choose to leave, just in case a forbidden demon beast breaks out and they get eaten by accident.
Besides forbidden demon beasts, Yushan Prefecture also has tons of bandits.
Fortunately, most bandits only rob for money and don’t kill people—though some vicious ones are exceptions.
Big threats from forbidden demon beasts, smaller trouble from bandits—so the population in Yushan Prefecture keeps shrinking, and its overall strength keeps dropping.
"How do you guys usually earn god-crystals?"
Ian asked the Deng brothers. That’s right, these two mid-stage Lower-Rank Gods are brothers—Denton Deng is the older one, Denver Deng is the younger.
Denton sighed, "For low-level gods like us, earning god-crystals means hunting weaker beasts or gathering god-herbs to sell to shops in the city. But even then, what we make isn’t enough to support our cultivation. Sir, do you know how long it’s been since my brother and I ascended to the God Realm?"
"How long?" Ian asked with interest.
Denton said, "We both ascended after passing the fifteenth layer of Ancestral Immortal tribulation. It’s been eight thousand years since we came to the God Realm, and after all that time, our cultivation has only reached mid-stage Lower-Rank God."
Eight thousand years in the God Realm—how many years is that in the Immortal World?
By the usual rate—one day in the God Realm equals a hundred years in the Immortal World—the time is unimaginable. For those who know the situation, staying at the fifteenth layer of Ancestral Immortal and not ascending is honestly the smartest move.
Cultivating in the God Realm is seriously tough.
Denver Deng said, "Actually, my brother and I are pretty lucky. There are plenty of people who’ve been in the God Realm for thousands of years without making any progress, stuck at early-stage Lower-Rank God!"
Denton Deng sighed, "All the resources in the God Realm are controlled by the big powers. The little bit of god-crystals we manage to earn still gets squeezed or cheated away by those powers. Sir, you’re lucky—just ascended, but didn’t get tricked into signing a divine contract. Honestly, we’ve had it rough, but at least we’re free."
"Those who signed divine contracts not only lose their freedom, they get squeezed for everything by those powers. Honestly, there’s no hope of ever turning things around!"
After this chat, Ian understood the God Realm’s cruelty even better.
The next morning.
Ian said goodbye to the Deng brothers and headed into the prefectural city.
The entry fee was one god-crystal per person, and you could only stay one day—unless you got a temporary residence permit, otherwise you’d be kicked out.
"Talk about a money-grab!"
No wonder low-level gods have such a hard life—it's all because of this exploitation.
After entering the city, Ian first went to get a temporary residence permit.
Only then did he head to the shop that specialized in buying and selling beast corpses.
Last night, Ian asked the Deng brothers about beast prices. Blood Wolves are expensive because they’re hard to hunt—thirty god-crystals for a complete corpse.
Nathan and the others killed seventeen Blood Wolves, and got five more from the three gods’ storage rings—twenty-two total.
Maybe because Ian’s group brought out so many corpses, the shop didn’t haggle and paid full price—660 god-crystals total.
They also robbed over 1,300 god-crystals last night, spent 120 on permits, so Ian now has 1,900 god-crystals.
After selling the Blood Wolves, Ian and his group wandered the city.
Suddenly, Ian realized they needed to rent a house—couldn’t sleep on the streets.
So, Ian started looking for a place to rent.
When he heard the prices, his face darkened.
Even a basic courtyard costs a hundred god-crystals per year, minimum three years.
With no other choice, Ian spent 500 god-crystals to rent a medium-sized courtyard—barely enough for everyone.
Pricey, but the courtyard had a formation—fill it with god-crystals and it boosts divine energy, great for cultivation.
The formation was simple—five god-crystals would run it for a year, tripling divine energy. Pretty cost-effective.
But to Ian, the formation seemed pretty basic.
He tweaked it—a year now costs just three god-crystals, but the divine energy is ten times richer.