Book 21, The Peak – Chapter 11, Hunt and Kill, A Storm Brews!
To hunt and kill a Sovereign, then fuse with his divine spark.
To Linley, a four-way Soul Mutate, this was indeed a possible avenue for increasing his power.
“Attract the wrath of other Sovereigns who would stop us?” Beirut paused momentarily, then nodded and said, “Naturally, there is a pact between the Sovereigns. If a Chief Sovereign was to fight a Lesser Sovereign, that would be a slaughter. Thus, if anyone violate the pact, the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts will join forces to punish them!”
Linley’s heart clenched.
The Chief Sovereigns of the Four Edicts jointly punish them?
“It seems as though the Overgods don’t care about fratricide amongst Sovereigns.” Linley suddenly said.
The nearby Bluefire laughed calmly. “The Overgods are only the Edicts. They are only responsible for making sure that the countless planes of the universe function normally. They won’t care about the deaths of the Sovereigns. If a Sovereign dies, there will definitely be another Sovereign born. The main issue is that the Sovereigns themselves worried that if this sort of internal slaughter was to occur, the universe would be too chaotic. Thus, they came together in agreement on a pact.”
“What does this pact entail?” Linley immediately asked.
Beirut laughed calmly, “The pact is simple. There are three ranks of Sovereigns. If a lower-ranked Sovereign did not antagonize a higher-ranked Sovereign, the higher-ranked Sovereign is not permitted to slaughter the lower-ranked Sovereign. Only Sovereigns at the same ranks are able to battle each other. This point was decided upon jointly by the Chief Sovereigns of the Four Edicts!”
“So only Sovereigns of the same level of power are permitted to fight each other?” Linley nodded to himself.
“If that’s the case, then doesn’t that mean the Chief Sovereigns of the Four Edicts are permitted to easily slaughter the other Chief Sovereigns?”
“Haha...” Beirut couldn’t help but laugh. “Linley, are you an idiot? The Chief Sovereigns can fight against each other, yes, and the Chief Sovereigns of the Four Edicts have Overgod artifacts that suit their nature, true. But just because they have powerful weapons doesn’t mean that their speed is greater than that of the other Chief Sovereigns. If the other Chief Sovereigns aren’t able to overcome them, can’t they run?”
“Oh. Right. Right.” Linley said, embarrassed.
Sovereigns of the same rank generally wouldn’t be too different from each other in terms of speed, especially since they would be able to discover the enemy from far away through their Sovereign sense.
“But in the past, Augusta killed the Four Divine Beasts. This...doesn’t this count as violating the pact?” Linley couldn’t help but say, puzzled.
“I told you that only Sovereigns of the same level of power were permitted to fight each other. This pointed towards people at the same level of power; what matters is actual power!” Beirut said. “The Four Divine Beasts, although all Lesser Sovereigns, were comparable to a Chief Sovereign when working together. How could they be treated as Lesser Sovereigns? Wouldn’t that allow them to massacre all of the Lesser Sovereigns?”
Linley understood now.
The Four Divine Beasts had been placed on the level of ‘Chief Sovereigns’ in power.
“Linley. In terms of power, you, too, are at the ‘Chief Sovereign’ level.” Beirut laughed insidiously. “However, nobody knows. We can go hunt and kill one Sovereign, and you can fuse the Sovereign spark. By then, even if the other Sovereigns find you, you can just find an excuse for what you did. That shouldn’t be too hard.”
Linley was moved, and he laughed. “I understand!”
Others didn’t know the secret of him being a Soul Mutate, and thus it shouldn’t be too hard for him to make something up.
“In addition, the Chief Sovereign of Destruction is on fairly close terms with us. He will help speak on our behalf.” Beirut laughed calmly. “As I recall, the Chief Sovereign of Death is on fairly good terms with you as well, Linley.”
The pact was decided upon jointly by the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts. Given that the Chief Sovereigns of Destruction and Death were on good terms with Linley’s side, this matter naturally wouldn’t prove problematic.
“Hunt and kill a Sovereign. Who should we hunt and kill?” Linley suddenly asked.
“Linley. You should still require a wind-type Sovereign spark and a fire-type Sovereign spark, right? Is it better to have a Lesser Sovereign spark or an Intermediate Sovereign spark, or even a High Sovereign spark?” Beirut asked instead. Clearly, Beirut understood the principles of balance, which was why he asked.
Linley nodded and said, “Lesser Sovereign spark!”
When he fused four types of divine power, although divine power was much weaker than Sovereign power, because of the balance of the fusion, the four-way fusion of divine power was actually ten times more powerful than Sovereign power. In addition, it also strengthened the body, strengthened artifacts, and had other miraculous effects.
It wasn’t necessarily true that the stronger the Sovereign spark, the better. What mattered more was...balance!
“Very well. We shall now go kill either a wind-element Lesser Sovereign or a fire-element Lesser Sovereign.” Beirut paused momentarily, then said, “Amongst the Sovereigns, the one whom we are on the worst terms with is the Sovereign of Wind, Teresia! Originally, when I acquired the four Sovereign sparks, after I went to the Infernal Realm, Teresia tried to threaten me.”
“Teresia...”
Linley nodded.
In the Infernal Realm, if it hadn’t been for the Bloodridge Sovereign appearing, Teresia might nearly have killed Linley for the sake of the nine soul pearls.
In addition, in the void of chaotic space, if it hadn’t been for Beirut and Bluefire successively blocking Teresia, on that occasion as well, Linley probably wouldn’t have been able to bring the Overgod talisman back to the Yulan Plane.
“Teresia has acted against me multiple times and wanted to kill me. In addition, there lies an old grudge between Teresia and yourself, Grandpa Beirut.” Linley nodded. “Then...let’s make him the one!”
“Hmph. Teresia is a mere Lesser Sovereign, and yet he has quite a bit of ambition.” Bluefire nodded as well. “He deserves death.”
The three Sovereigns of the Yulan Plane, in just a few moments, had determined the fate of a different Sovereign.
Three days later.
Linley bid his family and friends farewell. As for the target of this mission, to hunt and kill a Sovereign? Linley only told Delia, Bebe, and a few others. Delia and the others had all been stunned at the decision of Linley and the other two, but Delia and Bebe were filled with sufficient confidence towards Linley, Beirut, and Bluefire.
“Boss, your actions will determine if I’ll be able to roam about and adventure in the various planes in the future.” Bebe pursed his lips and laughed.
“Just wait and watch.” Linley laughed loudly.
“Linley, be careful.” Delia warned.
“Right.” Linley gently squeezed Delia’s hands, then turned and left.
This mission, according to their plans, wouldn’t take too long. Linley said a few more words to his family and friends, then left alongside Beirut and Bluefire.
The Yulan Plane. The vast, endless North Sea region.
Linley, Beirut, and Bluefire were currently flying leisurely to the north. The three weren’t in the slightest rush at all.
“Linley, have you gained anything from your five thousand years of analyzing the blood essences of the Four Divine Beasts?” Beirut asked.
“Not much.” Linley shook his head and laughed. “Because Gates and his four brothers at Dragonblood Castle are of the Black Tortoise lineage, through them, I’ve gained a bit of understanding as to how one should unleash the power of the blood essence of the Black Tortoise. I am also now able to hypothesize at the mechanism by which the ancestor of my Azure Dragon clan, the ‘Azure Dragon’, was able to strengthen his body.”
The Azure Dragon’s body strengthening mechanism was borrowed from the Black Tortoise’s transformation.
“However, my body is already sufficiently powerful. After absorbing part of the blood essences of the four ancestors, it would just rise slightly in power by one level.” Linley laughed calmly. At his level, further strengthening his body was simply too difficult.
“As for the supreme innate divine ability of the Four Divine Beasts, I was unable to develop any insights into it.” Linley sighed. “After all, I never saw the Four Divine Beasts unleash their innate divine abilities. In addition, my understanding and insights regarding the soul were shallow to begin with.”
“Haha, don’t be discouraged. I’ve been researching for much longer than you, and I’ve even seen the Four Divine Beasts unleash their attacks. I also have a deep level of understanding regarding the soul. And yet, I’m still unable to understand it.” Beirut laughed calmly. “To be able to strengthen your body yet another time is something worth being happy over. Unfortunately, those blood essences aren’t able to strengthen me.”
The reason why they were useful for Linley was because Linley was a member of the Azure Dragon clan to begin with.
“Grandpa Beirut, Bluefire.” Linley suddenly smiled in mysterious manner.
“Eh?” The two looked at Linley, puzzled.
“Just now, I used my divine sense to scan both of you twelve times. Did you notice anything?” Linley laughed as he looked at them. Just then, Linley had intentionally scanned Beirut and Bluefire with his divine sense, but Beirut and Bluefire hadn’t noticed anything; they had continued to chat with him normally.
“What? You scanned us with divine sense?” Beirut and Bluefire exchanged glances, shocked.
“Right.” Linley nodded.
“This...” Beirut and Bluefire were truly stunned.
It must be understood that Sovereigns were able to sense it when another Sovereign scanned them. Even if a Chief Sovereign were to scan a Lesser Sovereign, the Lesser Sovereign would still sense it. This was because all Sovereigns, regardless of their level, used Sovereign power as the source of their spiritual energy! Sovereign power was all at the same level.
Differences in the power of their Will would cause slight differences in power, which would result in different scopes and ranges for their senses.
But speaking on a qualitative level, Sovereign senses were all the same.
“Perhaps it is becaused I used my fused Sovereign power to unleash my divine sense.” Linley laughed.
Fused Sovereign power was a full level stronger than ordinary Sovereign power.
For him to be able to scan other Sovereigns without them noticing was what he had expected.
It was much like how, in the Planar Battlefield, when Linley was merely a Deity, the post-mutation Linley could send out his divine sense without other Paragons being able to notice anything.
“Haha, this, this is wonderful.” Beirut was overjoyed. “Linley, with this being the case, even if you discover other Sovereigns through your divine sense, other Sovereigns wouldn’t realize that they were being scanned! Now, even if we want to act against Teresia, Teresia will have no idea that we are scanning him.”
“Right.” Linley was very happy as well.
The strength of his divine sense; this was one of the superiorities of his fused Sovereign power!
Beirut said jubilantly, “Originally, I was worried that Teresia would flee upon seeing us, and so I was planning for us to travel separately and surround him. But now, it seems, there is no need for that at all.”
“Haha, let’s go.” Bluefire laughed clearly. “Let’s prepare to go to the Divine Wind Plane!”
“Let’s head out.” Beirut and Linley both laughed as well as they flew towards the teleportation array.
The three Sovereigns of the Yulan Plane; this was the first time that they had left the Yulan Plane as Sovereigns!
Given that they were going to act against Teresia, Beirut naturally had begun to track Teresia’s movements early on. Through the Bloodridge Sovereign, Beirut had learned that Teresia had, five thousand years ago, already returned to the Divine Wind Plane.
The Divine Wind Plane had been jointly created long ago by the seven Sovereigns of Wind. It was vast and endless.
In terms of how many Deities they possessed, the Seven Divine Planes weren’t too far off from the Four Higher Planes; the figures were similarly astonishing. Countless Deities filled the nine continents of the Divine Wind Plane, and each day, many Deities would die, and many new geniuses would suddenly gain insights and make breakthroughs.
For the sake of survival, fight!
For the sake of glory, fight!
Countless Deities were struggling and battling across the nine continents of the Divine Wind Plane.
As for the Sovereigns? They were far above it all.
It was like watching countless ants struggle and battle. The Sovereigns laughed as they watched the various battles. As they saw it, this was just a game! Occasionally, they might choose an Emissary and intervene in the games.
The Divine Wind Plane. Qingya Island.
The silver-haired, hawk-nosed man, ‘Teresia’, was standing in front of a beach, staring into the endless sea.
Teresia was a very ambitious person. For the sake of growing more powerful, he was willing to do anything.
He had originally been a surpassing talent of the Dylan Plane [Di’lun]. A true genius, he had easily become a Deity, and then had come to the Netherworld, one of the Higher Planes, and engaged in constant battles and struggles until he had become a powerful Highgod! Back then, the 77 Sovereign sparks had been scattered across the Four Higher Planes. For the sake of the Sovereign sparks, countless experts had perished in miserable ways over the course of the struggles.
He had seized a Sovereign spark and had become a Sovereign of Wind!
After becoming a Sovereign, by relying on the power of faith energy, he had broken through the final barrier and stepped into the realm of Paragon!
He had never before been defeated. He had always been very self-confident!
Even after becoming a Sovereign, Teresia had never given up increasing his strength still further. At his current level, there were only three ways by which he could increase his strength. The first was to acquire an Overgod artifact. The second was to fuse with yet another Sovereign spark, so as to have another Sovereign clone. The third was to make it so that the Divine Wind Plane would win ten consecutive victories in the Planar Wars.
“Eh? What’s going on today. I keep on having a restless feeling in my heart.” Teresia frowned, his narrow, slitted eyes looking about him, his gaze like daggers.
Unconsciously, Teresia decided to stretch out his divine sense, and in an instant, it covered the entire Divine Wind Plane.
And as it just so happened...
Less than a hundred million kilometers away from him, there were three figures that were flying over at high speed.
A black-robed Beirut, a white-robed, crimson-browed Bluefire, and a sky blue robed Linley!
The three Sovereigns were flying shoulder-to-shoulder!
“Beirut, Linley, and that Sovereign of Fire!” Teresia’s face completely changed.