Myriad Devils-Chapter 337: The objective of the ranked geniuses

The sacred hall naturally contained its own miniature cosmos within. In the backdrop of the infinite cosmic void, there was a round table with many seats.

There were more than forty seats situated around the table. At the center of the table was an orb displaying the scene of a vast, flat desert with red sand and too many savage-looking statues to count.

The tallest seat was akin to a massive throne. Lord Mar. He had a burly frame, a broad forehead, a tall nose, and a wide chin. He gave off a heroic air.

His solemn expressions caused the other creatures sitting around the table to be on edge as well. His gaze fell on each one of them, sometimes staying on certain individuals for a longer time.

This was especially so for the elders.

Lord Mar and the elders communicated, though the other realm fathers could not hear them speak. Amongst these entities, making up for slightly more than thirty, thirty-three to be exact, were the top thirty-three geniuses of the Sky Drifting Mountain in the second layer.

Naturally, outside of the elders, they were the most powerful realm fathers in this layer of the Sky Drifting Mountain.

And the one ranked above all others was slouching. His eyes were half open, and his facial expression was part amused, and part something else.

"Okay," Lord Mar drew everyone’s attention with a single word. He said, "Elder Ronan will take charge from here on out."

Upon saying so, his figure slowly disappeared from the view of everyone else. The sacred hall contained an entire miniature cosmos, so who knew where he disappeared to?

At the same time, elder Ronan stood up from his seat and began speaking, "I’ll keep this short," he said, "As you can guess from the scenes in the world-peering orb, in the last few hours, the Fiend Soul Desert has seen some unusual changes to its normal state. The number of Savage Statues is increasing rapidly and shows no signs of slowing down!"

"Smoulder Sect, Flaring Cape Sect, Glowing Origin Sect, Blood Cloud Sect, Black Soil Sect, Spectral Bone Sect," elder Ronan began calling out the forces representing the two great forces in the other territories.

The more names he called, the darker the faces of the realm fathers became.

Finally, when he was finished, he said darkly, "These forces from the Pure Fire Clan and Primordial Blood Holy Sect have already begun making their move. For nothing will we allow them to gain advantages in our territory. The second layer is our Sky Drifting Mountain’s dominion!"

His voice rose by several notches as he said this.

Even after being baptized by positional power, he was still incredibly passionate when it came to the Sky Drifting Mountain’s image in the eyes of the public.

His energy was incredibly contagious and stirred the hearts of the geniuses.

All of their solemn expressions were replaced by visible excitement.

All, except one.

Skar remained slouched through the entire speech, and his facial expression remained, part amused, part cruel.

He appeared to be thinking of something else, and a cruel smirk was on his face.

Elder Ronan pretended to ignore him and continued, "Now, why would these bastards attempt to reduce the number of Savage Statues? After all, the more chaos in this layer, the better for them?"

"Heh, they’re seeking out soul food. This is a great opportunity for their geniuses to increase the foundation of their souls."

"Especially for those beasts from the Primordial Blood Holy Sect. The soul food from the Savage Statues will assist them greatly in enlightening their principles of Blood, Death, Darkness, Curses, and those wicked principles."

"And with there are so many Savage Statues, so we can’t possibly prevent them from benefitting now, can we?"

Ronan’s words poured a basin of cold water on the hearts of these geniuses.

It was especially so because only a moment ago, he was saying things like, ’For nothing will we allow them to gain advantages in our territory’, and ’The second layer is our Sky Drifting Mountain’s dominion!’, and in the next moment, he was saying that they couldn’t possibly prevent them from benefiting?

A few of the realm fathers frowned, but one of the elders caught on and voiced his doubts, "Elder Ronan, if we can’t prevent them from benefitting, then how is the second layer our Sky Drifting Mountain’s dominion?"

Ronan glanced at this elder and secretly nodded his head approvingly.

He had lashed out at this same elder for his slowness a few minutes ago, but it seemed as if he had learned from his mistakes now.

In fact, the other elders sighed in amazement.

They too wished to acquire elder Ronan’s approval, but this previously slow elder was a heartbeat quicker than them.

Elder Ronan showed a cunning grin as he threw out a question, "Now, what is the greatest fortune in our Sky Drifting Mountain’s second layer?"

An awkward silence greeted his words.

The answer to this question was quite obvious, but these realm father geniuses didn’t understand what relation his question had to the situation.

Or were the elders about to send them to retrieve the unretrievable piece in the core area of the Fiend Soul Desert?

Come on now, don’t be-!

"The answer is obviously the core pieces to Heavenly Supreme Armaments labeled as unretrievable." Ronan gently shook his head and continued, "We may not be capable of stopping the other great forces from earning some benefits, yes, but if we’re to acquire that unretrievable core piece, ay, ay." He said this with a chuckle.

Suddenly, one of the entities seated at this round table raised their hand. He was a realm father ranked in the top five, known as Fierceness.

Elder Ronan had an idea as to why he raised his hand, but he still nodded his head and signaled for him to speak. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Forgive me if I am being presumptuous, but the "unretrievable" core piece is labeled as "unretrievable" because it is, well, unretrievable."

"No matter how many realm fathers we use, forcing our way hundreds of millions of miles into the Fiend Soul Desert and entering the core area is downright impossible." His bushy brows were furrowed, and his arms were folded.

Were these elders planning to send them to their deaths?

Did they not know that the reason they kept the title of ranked geniuses was due to their desire to ascend to the third layer?

They had no desire to steal the positional power that came with being an elder. The elders did not need to scheme against them like this!

Ronan smiled.

"Indeed. Much less hundreds of millions of miles, you all wouldn’t be capable of going beyond ten million. But we do not need you all to enter the core area."

He watched all of the geniuses and said plainly, "Your sole purpose in this expedition is to assist Skar as much as possible, and for as long as possible."

"Before passing ten million miles, Skar should not use a mustard seed’s worth of power. And once he enters beyond that mark, he will handle everything from there on."

"You all will also be allowed to seek out soul food for your soul’s foundation. That will be your fortune."