Book 21, The Peak – Chapter 13, Punishment
Within the vast, empty void of chaotic space.
Two streaks of multicolored light shot through the void, towards a blue-robed figure!
“Grandpa Beirut. Bluefire.” Linley laughed as he looked at the two of them.
“How do you feel, after fusing the Sovereign spark?” Beirut sent while asking urgently. The nearby Bluefire also asked, rather worried, “How much did your power increase?”
This mission’s goal was to allow Linley to become strong enough to surpass the Chief Sovereign of Light!
“I feel...excellent!” Linley had a hint of a smile on his face. “After fusing the third Sovereign spark, the power of my Will grew stronger yet again. After fusing three types of Sovereign power, my fused Sovereign power is a hundred times more powerful than normal Sovereign power. Just via my Will and my fused Sovereign power alone, I surpass an ordinary Chief Sovereign tenfold!”
Indeed. Linley’s four-way soul mutation had bestowed upon him one portion of Will. Compared to ordinary Lesser Sovereigns, Linley had fused two more Sovereign sparks, and so had gained two additional portions of Will. All combined, Linley had gained a total of three additional portions of Will.
Lesser Sovereign to Intermediate Sovereign, Intermediate Sovereign to High Sovereign. Generally speaking, the difference between each level was hundredfold in power, which was roughly equivalent to two portions of Will.
But for Linley, his fused Sovereign power also made him a hundred times stronger!
And thus...
Without even taking the profound mysteries in account, the strength of his Will and his body’s energy made it so that Linley was ten times stronger than an ordinary Chief Sovereign!
“The Chief Sovereign of the four Edicts have Paragons among them, and their Overgod artifacts are suited to their nature. I’m not completely confident in being able to defeat them, but I’m at least confident in being able to stay alive in front of them!” Linley sent back. “As for dealing with the Chief Sovereign of Light, ‘Augusta’, hmph, his Overgod artifact isn’t suited to his element. I’m confident in being able to kill him.”
Overgods were only divided into four Edicts.
Overgod artifacts were thus only divided into four types as well. But of course, neither Linley nor Augusta were perfectly suited to the nature of their Overgod artifacts.
“Haha...” Beirut and Bluefire exchanged glances, then couldn’t help but laugh.
They laughed in a very happy, excited manner!
“Nearly twenty thousand years!” Beirut was so excited, he couldn’t control himself. “It has been nearly twenty thousand years since I became a Sovereign. This entire time, I’ve turtled in the Yulan Plane. Haha...finally, I finally will be able to freely depart.”
“There’s no need to fear Augusta any further.” Bluefire let out a long sigh as well.
“Augusta!” Linley had a hint of killing desire in his heart.
The Chief Sovereign of Light, Augusta, had to be killed at some point! Augusta’s death would make it so that nothing would stop Linley from saving his mother. He trusted that the other Sovereigns of Light wouldn’t dare bar Linley’s way.
As the three Sovereigns of Yulan were celebrating happily together, the distant Chief Sovereign of Wind, ‘Diya’, had an extremely ugly look on his face as he was flying over at high speed. Diya had long, blazing golden hair. His long hair flowed with a faint green light, and his eyes were as fierce as a hawk’s.
His true form was, after all, the divine beast, ‘Jadewing Goldlight Hawk’.
“Utterly impudent!” Diya was enraged. “I shouted at him repeatedly to stop, but this Linley actually dared to forcibly kill Teresia!”
“In addition, that weapon he used just now...”
A dark light flashed through Diya’s golden eyes.
Diya’s divine sense range was extremely vast. Naturally, he had already discovered Linley’s Life Overgod Sword. “That is an Overgod artifact! And it is Life-attribute. There are no other possibilities; the seventh Overgod mission that has been issued since the creation of the universe...was completed by him! The Overgod artifact is in his hands, but it is wasted there. If I had it, given my power...”
Diya couldn’t help but feel a desire to seize the treasure.
This wasn’t his fault. At the Chief Sovereign level, very few things were capable of attracting their interest. Overgod weapons, however, were chief amongst those things!
“Chief Sovereign, Linley actually killed Teresia and fused his wind-type Sovereign spark! His behavior goes too far!” The other Sovereigns of Wind sent towards Diya.
“Chief Sovereign, as I see it, we should take down Linley and have the Chief Sovereigns of the Four Edicts punish him.”
There were a total of seven Sovereigns of Wind. Diya was the Chief, and so naturally he was the leader of this element.
Generally speaking, when Chief Sovereigns spoke, the other Sovereigns would respectfully obey.
Even someone as unruly and untamable as Teresia was incomparably respectful to the Chief Sovereign of Wind, Diya. After countless years of this, Diya naturally had grown accustomed to being a high, lofty figure. Only the other ten Chief Sovereigns were his equals. Linley had ignored his command; this naturally caused Diya to feel rather embarrassed.
He had killed Teresia. Fused the Sovereign spark. Without question, Linley’s behavior was akin to slapping Diya in the face.
Given the additional lure of the Overgod artifact...Diya came to his decision.
“Such impudence, such domineering behavior! He slaughtered another Sovereign. His behavior goes too far. The rest of you, hurry and transmit this information to the other Sovereigns, especially the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts! You must deliver the message...this Linley has violated the Pact of Sovereigns. It should be the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts who punish him.” The Chief Sovereign of Wind, Diya, gave the order.
“Yes, Chief Sovereign.” The other Sovereigns all slashed through the void, returning to the Divine Wind Plane. They began to quickly spread the word, informing the various Sovereigns of the other elements.
“Hmph, this Linley...” The Chief Sovereign of Wind, Diya, stared with his golden eyes into the distance as he continued to slash through the void.
The multicolored flows of chaotic energy in chaotic space rushed about wildly at high speed, but Linley and the other two just stood there, laughing and chatting.
“The Chief Sovereign of Wind, Diya, has arrived.” Linley sent to Beirut and Bluefire.
Right at this moment, a green light leisurely shot over from far away. In virtually a single instant, roughly a hundred meters away from Linley, it halted and transformed into a tall human figure. Diya’s entire body was covered with a jade robe that was embroidered with golden threads. His jaw lifted slightly, and he swept his icy gaze towards them, a hint of arrogance in his eyes!
“Linley, do you admit to your crimes?” Diya said icily.
“Admit to my crimes? What crimes have I committed? Even if I did commit crimes, what does that have to do with you, Diya?” Linley stared straight back at Diya, showing not a hint of subservience.
Diya was instantly infuriated.
“Linley, you have fused a wind-type Sovereign spark, and are now a wind-type Lesser Sovereign! As a Sovereign under my authority, what sort of an attitude are you now displaying towards me?” Diya rebuked angrily.
Diya’s words were correct.
Seven Elemental Laws, Four Edicts. Every trillion years, there would be Planar Wars. Each Planar War was arranged by the Chief Sovereigns, and the Sovereigns under their control would be quite obedient. After all, their difference in power was obvious. Any Chief Sovereign of any attribute could be considered the leader of their respective attribute.
Soldiers would naturally need to be respectful to their leaders.
“Sorry. I, Linley, haven’t just fused a wind-type Sovereign spark. I’ve also fused an earth-type Sovereign spark, and also a water-type Sovereign spark! Doesn’t this mean that I’m simultaneously a Sovereign under the control of the Chief Sovereign of Earth and the Chief Sovereign of Water as well? Haha, I, Linley, am a single person, and yet I have to be divided up amongst three Chief Sovereigns?” Linley laughed as he spoke.
“Three Sovereign sparks?” Diya was surprised as well.
Fusing an additional Sovereign spark represented an increase in the power of Will. Linley’s strength could thus be imagined.
“After fusing three Sovereign sparks, his Will is comparable in strength to an Intermediate Sovereign. That Overgod artifact isn’t aligned to his nature; he won’t necessarily be a match for me.” Diya instantly came to this conclusion.
“What, after killing a Sovereign, you still dare be so brash?” Diya rebuked angrily. “You had best surrender and give yourself up. Follow me to go see the Chief Sovereigns.”
“Surrender and give myself up? Forgive me for not being able to do this...” Just as Linley began to speak, and before he finished...
“Hmph, you’ve already fused three Sovereign sparks. Given your unfeeling, ruthless personality, as I see it, you will continue to slaughter other Sovereigns. Since you won’t surrender, then...” The Chief Sovereign of Wind, Diya, gave a cold snort, then his body transformed into a ray of green light as he shot towards Linley.
Beirut and Bluefire hurriedly parted, moving far away towards two sides, for fear of being struck by any remnant power.
“I’ll let you be my first test.” Linley mused to himself. He stared calmly as the enemy charged towards him.
The Chief Sovereign of Wind, Diya, wielded a longspear in one hand and a shortspear in another. Moving at tremendous speed, Diya suddenly began to spin, then the golden shortspear in his hand shot out at high speed. The shortspear spun as well, causing a spinning series of spatial ripples to appear in the space around it.
The strange thing was, space didn’t shatter or tear apart.
“His power is focused and not yet released?” Linley was secretly surprised. No Chief Sovereigns could be underestimated.
The Life Overgod Sword appeared in Linley’s hands. Not hesitating at all, he moved forward like a dragon leaving his cave. Although the tip of Linley’s Life Overgod Sword was very minute, it pressed down like a mountain. Quite precisely, Linley’s Life Overgod Sword’s tip struck straight against the tip of the shortspear!
“Bang!”
In the instant they collided, the energy contained within the spear instantly exploded forth, but so too did the power of Linley’s Life Overgod Sword.
Laws of the Earth – World Imploder!
After five thousand years of training, with respect to the Laws of the Earth, Linley had fused five profound mysteries, then developed three techniques that were able to build off each other in power. Generally speaking, Linley wouldn’t use his fused Law attacks; these three techniques were meant for normal use. They covered up his true power! They were: World Breaker, World Imploder, and his most powerful, World Disintegrator!
“Whoosh!” The golden spear was struck and sent flying back, while Linley himself was knocked backwards as well.
“You actually blocked my attack.” The Chief Sovereign of Wind, Diya, grinned coldly, then shot forward at high speed. He swiped forward with one hand, seizing that golden shortspear.
A spear in each hand, Diya continued to draw close at lightning speed.
Linley focused his attention.
“Screeeeeeeech!”
Very suddenly, when Diya was roughly a hundred meters away from Linley, he emitted a piercing screech. Behind him appeared the illusion of a terrifying divine hawk that was ten thousand meters in size. That golden, crested divine hawk seemed incredibly arrogant, and it stared icily with its golden eyes towards Linley.
Innate divine ability – Demon Song!
“Ah!!!” Linley felt as though a heavy hammer was smashing viciously against his soul. This attack was so powerful that cracks appeared on even the scaly soul-membrane created by the Coiling Dragon ring.
“Die!”
Diya, after unleashing his innate divine ability attack, appeared in front of Linley, spinning like a tornado and striking towards Linley with both his longspear and his shortspear.
“Annihilator.”
Diya unleashed his most powerful attack.
The two spears bit down towards Linley like a pair of venomous dragons, but right at this moment, Linley, whose gaze had grown dim, suddenly stared back, his gaze instantly becoming as sharp as a knife!
“Ringringring...” The Life Overgod Sword began to shudder.
“What’s going on?” Diya was greatly shocked. He could sense a terrifying restrictive power bind him down.
The most powerful of the three attacks was ‘World Disintegrator’; it could be said to be the advanced version of ‘Microcosm’. This attack involved five fused profound mysteries; compared with Linley’s Sword Intent attack, it was almost on par.
“Clatterclatter...”
A colliding sound rang out repeatedly.
Within ten meters, the space within a spherical region completely collapsed. Diya was knocked back flying, while Linley himself was also sent flying back.
“You, you actually...” Diya was truly stunned now.
“Hmph.” Linley stared coldly at Diya. “You want to kill me?”
This Diya’s innate divine ability was a very unique, pure sound attack that struck directly against the soul! Especially when paired with a Chief Sovereign’s Will, the power of the attack was so great that even the defensive membrane of the Coiling Dragon ring was cracked. Fortunately, Linley’s spiritual energy came from his triple-fused Sovereign power, and was a hundred times mightier than ordinary Sovereign power.
And so, Linley had withstood it.
An ordinary Sovereign, even a Chief Sovereign, would be in mortal danger from Diya’s attack.
First the innate divine ability, and then his strongest material attack, ‘Annihilator’. The Chief Sovereign of Wind, Diya, clearly had used this double-attack with the intention of killing Linley.
“Hmph. I didn’t imagine that after fusing three Sovereign sparks, by relying on your Overgod artifact, you would be able to block my attacks.” Diya let out a snicker, but in his heart, his thirst for the Overgod artifact grew only stronger.
“Two consecutive techniques. This really is an incredible killing technique.” Linley stared at Diya, then let out a cold laugh. “Diya, you’ve unleashed your supreme attack, but I haven’t displayed mine yet.”
Diya’s face couldn’t help but change slightly. He couldn’t help but flash backwards, retreating a thousand kilometers away.
“Hmph.” Linley calmly watched Diya retreat.
Actually, if he wanted to kill Diya, Linley would have done so long ago. Just now, from start to finish, during his battle with Diya, Linley had only used earth-type Sovereign power, and not his fused Sovereign power. The power that Linley had just displayed was a mere hundredth of his true power.