In the Planar Prison, the divine sense of Deity-level experts was extremely limited.
Let alone those at the lowest level Saints.
Their spiritual suppression was even stronger.
Without spiritual perception, Sadius couldn't detect the surrounding situation and could only proceed cautiously. If he encountered anything unusual, his only option was to burrow underground.
Sadius had already been exiled to the Planar Prison for several days. Only on the first day had he been surrounded by that swarm of Black-Armored Scorpions. Since then, he hadn't encountered any Saint-level creatures.
At one point, he had seen two Lesser Gods in the distance brawling violently over a location where the elemental essence of the world was slightly denser. That had forced him to burrow underground and change course.
Over time, Sadius noticed something odd: the frequency of Deity-level experts appearing along his path was increasing.
Eventually, Sadius understood why.
When he emerged from the ground, he saw a city in the middle of a desolate desert in the far distance.
"A city? Have I reached one of the cities in the Planar Prison?"
In the Planar Prison, powerful Deity-level experts would occupy areas with dense elemental essence, and many other Deities would submit to them, gradually forming what resembled cities.
Naturally, the environment within these cities was far better than the barren wilderness outside.
Of course, they were still vastly inferior to the Yulan Continent in terms of elemental density.
In these cities, Deities roamed everywhere, and Saints were no better than dogs.
Sadius wasn't foolish enough to charge blindly into such a city.
Moreover, his perception told him that the Violet Blood God Blade wasn't located there.
The Violet Blood God Blade was still a great distance away.
Thus, Sadius gave the city a wide berth. Even if it meant taking a longer route, it was better than being discovered by a Deity.
After distancing himself from the city, Sadius' luck began to improve.
Before long, he encountered a swarm of magical beasts.
It was indeed a swarm; this species of magical beast was inherently social.
Blackspike Fiend Wasps; an extremely rare type of magical beast not even mentioned in the original novel. They existed only in the memories of the original Sadius.
The queen of a Blackspike Fiend Wasp hive was usually at the ninth rank, with the swarm typically composed of rank six or seven wasps.
Yet the queen in the swarm Sadius encountered was actually at the Saint-level.
There were also four rank-nine Blackspike Fiend Wasps.
Fight or flee?
Sadius quickly came to a decision.
Fight.
If he didn't dare to fight a Saint now, would he wait to take on a Deity instead?
Blackspike Fiend Wasps were different from Black-Armored Scorpions. They were smaller in size, capable of flight with their wings, and their jet-black spikes had extremely high attack power.
Sadius' thorned spikes were of limited use against such agile creatures.
"Looks like I have no choice but to use elemental attacks."
Unlike other magical beasts, Sadius had three dragon cores within his mind, giving him three times the energy reserves of a normal being.
So, energy conservation wasn't too much of an issue.
He unleashed a Gravity Spell. The swarm of Blackspike Fiend Wasps was immediately caught within an immensely powerful gravitational field. The weaker wasps were dragged straight down to the ground.
Only the eighth-rank, ninth-rank, and Saint-level wasps remained aloft.
Sensing the magic, over a dozen wasps tried to flee the area of effect.
But Sadius suddenly burst up from underground.
His Touch of Darkness lashed out; striking down all the wasps except the Saint-level queen.
The Blackspike Queen was enraged.
"Razorback Dragon…you court death!"
Seeing her brood either dead or unconscious, the queen shrieked in fury.
In the Planar Prison, battles were frequent.
Even Deity-level beings could fall, let alone Saint-level creatures or lesser magical beasts.
Sadius didn't waste words. He charged directly at the enraged queen.
His claws radiated a terrifying aura of Destruction.
The Blackspike Queen stabbed at him with her venomous, lethal spike.
It was clear that Sadius, now at peak Saint-level, had the upper hand.
His battle instincts had been honed through countless fights. In one-sided confrontations like this, he often struck a lethal blow instantly.
With a swipe of his claws, the Blackspike Queen's body was cleaved in two.
Another Saint-level magical beast slain.
The Saint-level magic crystal core was plucked into Sadius' mouth, but he wasn't foolish enough to swallow it whole.
The energy within a Saint-level core was overwhelmingly violent. Sadius could only refine the dark-element energy within it slowly, using it as reserve power.
As for the rest of the magical beasts, Sadius didn't slaughter them all.
His Sword of Slaughter was not about killing indiscriminately.
He killed those who threatened him. With their queen dead, the weaker wasps were no longer worth the effort.
Sadius continued his journey; avoiding Deities, fighting Saints.
Step by step, his Sword of Slaughter drew closer to complete mastery.
But in a place, he didn't know, a pair of eyes was quietly observing him.
"This Razorback Dragon is interesting. Even I've never seen a situation like this before. Looks like he was just recently exiled here. Why don't I test him a bit?"
Sadius continued traveling. This time, he came upon a battle between a Saint-level Blood-Eyed Maned Lion and a human.
In the Planar Prison, human Saints were in even greater danger than magical beasts; unless they stayed inside a city.
"Human, let's see where you run now!" At equal levels, Saint-level magical beasts were generally stronger than Saint-level humans.
But both combatants were clearly peak Saint-level beings.
Of course, even among peak Saints, there were disparities.
For instance, the light-element peak Saint Desri was no match in battle for the Destruction-element peak Saint Tulily.
However, Desri's strengths in other areas surpassed most other peak Saints.
It was clear that the distant earth-element peak Saint human was slightly inferior to the Blood-Eyed Maned Lion.
Sadius quietly watched.
He was still some distance from reaching peak Saint-level himself. He didn't dare jump into this fight recklessly.
But if both combatants ended up gravely injured, he could seize the opportunity.
Just as he was thinking this…
The man and the lion began fighting closer and closer heading right toward him.
"Those two are definitely doing this on purpose!"
Sadius immediately tunneled underground. The earth-element Saint human also entered the earth.
The Blood-Eyed Maned Lion, not being of the earth element, was inherently bad at underground travel.
Although Saints could all burrow after reaching their level, this beast was slower at it.
"Hmph, do you really think you're safe underground? Even in the Planar Prison, my spiritual power can sense your position clearly."
The main issue was that the pressure underground in the Planar Prison was immense. Even Saints couldn't go very deep, so the lion wasn't worried about escaping.
"What a surprise; another Saint-level Razorback Dragon. Are you two working together? Just a peak Saint, eh? Then I'll kill you both."
Sadius continued tunneling at high speed.
But clearly, his earth-burrowing ability was no match for that of the earth-element peak Saint.
Before long, they sensed each other underground.
"A Razorback Dragon… with both earth and destruction affinities? Truly rare."
"Human, you're a peak Saint. Why are you afraid of that Blood-Eyed Maned Lion? You're both peak Saints; he's not guaranteed to win."