Book 21, The Peak – Chapter 14, The Gathering of the Sovereigns
“This Diya is indeed cautious.” Linley mused to himself.
At this moment, Beirut and Bluefire flew over from far away. Beirut sent mentally, “Linley, were you holding back your power just now?” Based on what Beirut and Bluefire knew, given Linley’s power, killing Diya should be fairly easy. After all, of the Seven Elemental Chief Sovereigns, the Chief Sovereign of Light was the strongest.
If he couldn’t even kill Diya, how could he kill Augusta?
“Just now, I didn’t use my fused Sovereign power.” Linley sent back.
“Indeed.” Bluefire and Beirut both let out relieved sighs.
“For now, it is best to hide your power. I imagine that after you killed Teresia, the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts will come shortly. Hide your power for now; that will make it easier to bluff your way through later.” Beirut sent.
Linley was planning to do precisely this.
“I don’t want to reveal my power and frighten Augusta into fleeing.” Linley stared into the distance. “Diya has already returned to the Divine Wind Plane. Let us go as well.”
“It is time to face the Chief Sovereigns.” Beirut and Bluefire agreed as well.
He had killed a Sovereign. He had to at least have a reason or an excuse for it. At the very least, he couldn’t violate the Pact of Sovereigns.
If you had an excuse, but fled after committing the killing, even if you did have a reason for what you did, most likely the Chief Sovereigns of the Four Edicts would be angry. Upon being pursued and attacked by the four mighty Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts, that would be disastrous. Even the current Linley wasn’t confident he could defeat the four of them.
“Whoooosh.”
Linley flew towards the borders of the Divine Wind Plane, then ripped an opening in it. Linley, Beirut, and Bluefire, these three Sovereigns, flew through.
The Divine Wind Plane was vast and boundless. Linley’s group of three withdrew a metallic lifeform and changed it into a ship that hovered above the sea. The three thus leisurely chatted aboard the ship, quietly awaiting the arrival of the Chief Sovereigns.
“Linley actually dares to stay here.” Diya’s divine sense had located Linley, and in his heart, he felt a hint of rage. “Time-wise, the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts should have received the news by now. Given the speed at which they travel, in half a day or so, they should arrive in my Divine Wind Plane.”
Diya currently had a belly full of fire.
Actually, this was understandable. First of all, he was the Chief Sovereign of Wind. Linley was a Sovereign of Wind, and yet was so unruly. The Chief Sovereign of Wind’s dignity had been violated; naturally, he was dissatisfied. Second, before his very eyes, and even as he shouted, Linley had killed Teresia. How could Diya not be unhappy? And third, he wanted the Overgod artifact, and yet hadn’t acquired it. Fourth, Linley’s power made him feel threatened.
This fourth point is what caused him to feel enmity towards Linley!
Only...
Although he felt enmity towards Linley, Linley didn’t care about Diya at all.
The Infernal Realm, of the Four Higher Planes. Deep in the Chaotic Sea.
“Chief Sovereign of Destruction, that new Sovereign ‘Linley’, Beirut, and a Sovereign of Fire arrived at our Divine Wind Plane. Linley chased after and attacked Teresia, all the way into chaotic space. He killed Teresia, and then fused the wind-type Sovereign spark. Linley has completely violated the Pact we set down previously.”
A voice travelled across ten billion kilometers and directly entered the depths of the Chaotic Sea.
“Linley killed Teresia? Amusing, amusing!” A figure clad in black light shot out, instantly emerging from the depths of the sea. “It has been so long since I’ve met those three. It’s time we had a good chat.”
The blurry figure flew directly towards the closest teleportation array.
The Divine Light Plane. The air above the Godsgaol Sea.
“Swish!” A ray of white light instantly pierced through the heavens, so fast that even Highgods couldn’t see it clearly.
Augusta’s dazzling golden hair fluttered, and a hint of mirth was in his eyes. “Haha, I truly didn’t expect that Beirut, Bluefire, and Linley would dare leave the Yulan Plane, and even dare to chase and attack Teresia! This truly is an opportunity bestowed to me by the heavens.”
Augusta, upon hearing the news, had instantly hurried towards the teleportation array!
“However, according to this news, Teresia actually was killed. This Linley...was strong enough to kill Teresia?” Augusta was rather puzzled.
The news that had come from the Divine Wind Plane hadn’t stated that Linley was in possession of an Overgod weapon.
“Swoosh!”
Augusta shot towards the distant teleportation array.
“Linley became a Sovereign?”
“He actually killed a Sovereign and fused his spark?”
The Sovereigns who received this news were all stunned, one after the other. They all hurriedly moved at full speed towards the teleportation arrays, hastening towards the Divine Wind Plane.
Those who received the news the earliest and who moved the fastest were naturally the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts. Next came the other Chief Sovereigns. Lastly came the various Sovereigns.
Sovereigns were normally quite bored. Their long, leisurely lives had made it so that they had unlimited amounts of time to waste. For one Sovereign to kill another Sovereign and then fuse the Sovereign spark? The effect was similar to a murder occurring in a small town of mortals. One could imagine how much attention it drew.
All the Sovereigns who received this information, without exception, hastened towards the Divine Wind Plane.
The Divine Wind Plane. One of the three teleportation array areas – the peak of Windflow Mountain.
“Rumble...” A blurry aura lit up.
A blurry figured emerged from the array, very naturally emanating a terrifying aura.
“Who is this?”
The surrounding soldiers held their breaths, feeling the pressure from this aura. All of them stared in surprise and terror towards the blurry figure within the teleportation array. As soon as the light of the teleportation array vanished, the blurry figure suddenly soared into the skies, and in a flash, departed, moving so fast that even the Highgod soldiers nearby couldn’t see what happened clearly.
“This...was a Sovereign! Definitely a Sovereign!”
“Speed that even I couldn’t see clearly...it could only be a Sovereign!”
All of them cried out in surprise.
At this moment, far away, in midair, there was a beautiful young maiden with fiery red hair, whose entire body was covered by a violet robe. She was staring towards the northeast. She laughed, and two little cute dimples appeared on her face. “In a few thousand short years...I didn’t expect that Linley would not only become a Sovereign, he would even kill another Sovereign. This little fellow...amusing, amusing!”
“From the day he was born until now, most likely less than ten thousand years have passed. This little fellow’s rate of improvement truly is miraculous.” The beautiful red-haired maiden smiled as she spoke to herself.
Given the age of the Chief Sovereign of Death, for her to refer to Linley as a ‘little fellow’ was indeed quite reasonable.
“Eh?” The beautiful red-haired maiden turned to look. “What a coincidence! She actually arrived at the same teleportation array as I did.”
“Hurry up a bit.” The beautiful red-haired maiden sent mentally.
“Don’t be impatient. The other two haven’t arrived yet.” A gentle voice rang out, and a jade green light instantly appeared by the side of the beautiful red-haired woman. This was a beautiful middle-aged woman dressed in a long green robe. Her eyebrows were shaped like crescents, while her eyes seemed to glitter like the stars. Her smile was more than enough to intoxicate anyone.
The strange thing was, she didn’t emit any spiritual aura at all. Her spiritual aura was completely contracted. One could imagine how profound her accomplishments were with regards to the soul.
She was one of the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts, the Chief Sovereign of Life.
“Elder Sister.” The Chief Sovereign of Life smiled and said, “Long time no see.”
“Right, it has indeed been a long time. The last time we met was during the previous Planar Wars, a trillion years ago. Right, Wawaya [Wei’wei’ya], let me warn you in advance. This matter involves Linley...I personally watched this little fellow grow up. Unless it is necessary, don’t kill him.” The beautiful red-haired maiden said.
“Don’t worry.” The smile of the Chief Sovereign of Life was always that graceful. “However, if Linley’s actions completely violated the Pact, then there’s nothing I can do either.”
“Right. I won’t put you in a bad position. Hey, those two have come as well, one after the other. However, they didn’t come through the same array as we did.” The beautiful red-haired maiden looked into the distance. “Come, let’s head out first.”
Immediately, the two females of the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts flew at high speed towards Linley’s group of three.
Upon discovering that the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts had entered the Divine Wind Plane, the Chief Sovereign of Wind, Diya, naturally immediately went to receive them. In terms of power, the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts vastly surpassed the Seven Elemental Chief Sovereigns. In terms of status, the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts also were far above them. When the other seven Chief Sovereigns encountered the four of them, they would all salute.
From this, one could tell how high their status was.
Diya stared into the distance at the four rays of light flying over. He immediately went to salute them. “Greetings, your Excellencies!”
Of the four newcomers, two were women. The Chief Sovereign of Death, who looked like a beautiful maiden, was actually as old as the Netherworld itself. After all, she was the very first living creature of the Netherworld. This was why the Chief Sovereign of Life addressed her as ‘Elder Sister’. Most likely, amongst the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts, only the Chief Sovereign of Destruction was comparable to the Chief Sovereign of Death.
“Diya, come along with us.” A white-haired, white-robed elder laughed calmly.
Of the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts, the Chief Sovereigns of Life and Fate were able to completely contract their auras. If one shut one’s eyes, one would be completely unable to sense these two as being present.
“Yes.” Diya humbly followed behind the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts.
Above the sea. The metallic lifeform, in the shape of a vessel, was extremely stable.
“The four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts have arrived.” Linley stood up and stared into the distance. Beirut and Bluefire raised their heads and looked over as well.
“The four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts. Were they able to detect your divine sense, Linley?” Beirut sent and asked.
“They shouldn’t have been. Just now, I first used my fused Sovereign power to make a test; the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts didn’t react at all. And then, I used earth-type Sovereign power; only then did they notice me.” Linley sent back. Although he had an advantage in divine sense, Linley was still very wary of the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts.
As far as power was concerned, not a single one of the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts was weak.
“They are coming!” Linley’s gaze was already focused on five figures in the distance.
A beautiful red-haired maiden, a gloomy, black-robed man, a beautiful middle-aged green-robed woman, and a white-haired, white-robed elder.
These four...were the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts!
“The Chief Sovereign of Life and Chief Sovereign of Fate...their auras are completely retracted, and not a hint of them leak out. It seems as though they have both reached the Paragon level in the profound mysteries of the Laws.” Linley felt very vigilant; the current him was most likely not yet a match for them. “The Chief Sovereign of Death was the first living creature to exist in the Netherworld; her innate divine ability probably is not any weaker than Beirut’s. The Chief Sovereign of Destruction...judging from the attitude the other three Chief Sovereigns have towards him, he most likely isn’t the weakest of the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts.”
Linley’s heart was filled with astonishment.
Every single one of these four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts was unfathomable.
“Greetings to you, Chief Sovereigns.” Beirut immediately saluted.
“Chief Sovereigns.” Linley and Bluefire saluted as well.
When faced with the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts, even the Chief Sovereigns of the Seven Elemental Laws would salute. At this point in time, Linley didn’t act with arrogance and try to put himself on the same level as the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts.
“Linley, we meet again.” The beautiful, red-haired maiden laughed as she looked at Linley. “The first time we met at the Abyssal Mountain, you had just barely reached the commander level. The second time we met, you had already become a Paragon. This third time, you’ve actually become a Sovereign.”
“Linley should have trained for less than ten thousand years by now.” The white-robed, white-haired elder of the four smiled as his gaze fell upon Linley. It seemed so amiable. “You truly are excellent!”
Linley hadn’t expected that as soon as he encountered the four, two of the Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts show him favor. This caused the Chief Sovereign of Wind, Diya, to feel worry and anger in his heart.
“Chief Sovereigns, this Linley killed Teresia...” Diya said hurriedly.
The beautiful red-haired maiden smiled slightly. “More and more Sovereigns are coming. Let’s wait for them to all arrive before we speak.”
Right at this moment...
The other Sovereigns arrived!
First came the Sovereigns of Wind, then the various Chief Sovereigns of the other elements such as Augusta. Then came some other Sovereigns as well. Less than an hour passed between the first and final arrivals, and during this period of time, more than sixty Sovereigns arrived. It must be understood that there were only 77 Sovereigns to begin with; or, to be precise, Sovereign clones. For example, Linley had three Sovereign clones by himself.
Aside from a few Sovereigns who were on material planes or within their own divine planes, all the Sovereigns who had received the news had come.
“So many Sovereigns. In the past, I’ve never seen so many Sovereigns gather together.” Beirut sent with a laugh, and Linley looked around as well.
The Sovereigns were clustered together in groups of two or three, either floating in the air or standing atop boats.