Book 21, The Peak – Chapter 30, Sovereign’s Emissaries
The million-plus Deities watching all held their breaths. The massive valley was completely silent.
“I didn’t expect, Russell, that a coward like you would dare to challenge me.” A deep, rumbling voice rang out from the mouth of the Lord of the Bluelion Domain. The Lord stared with bestial eyes towards Russell. “In the past, during the Windhunter Trials, the only thing you were able to do was hide and quiver, you coward.”
Upon hearing this, Russell’s face turned as cold as ice water. A sharp looked flashed through his eyes as he said, “Don’t be smug. After today, the position of Lord of Bluelion Domain will no longer be yours.”
“You seem quite confident.” The Lord of the Bluelion Domain snickered.
The Lord of the Bluelion Domain stretched out his divine sense. It was only natural; when battle began, relying on one’s eyes alone wasn’t enough. Using divine sense to keep track of one’s surroundings was important. It must be understood that this empty space in midair had a circumference of multiple kilometers. Upon reaching out with his divine sense, the Lord of the Bluelion Domain naturally also encompassed the surrounding spectators with it...including Linley, Bebe, and Boo!
“Bouvier [Bu’wei’er]!” The Lord of the Bluelion Domain was shocked.
As Domain Lords under the command of the Sovereign, all Domain Lords naturally would occasionally gather to pay their respects to their Sovereign. At times like that, they would see the commander of the army, Bouvier. Although Bouvier had changed his appearance, there was no way he could change his soul aura. Thus, this Obarafael, the Lord of the Bluelion Domain, naturally was able to instantly recognize who Bouvier truly was.
‘Boo’ was nothing more than a nickname the Sovereigns had given Bouvier.
The other Domain Lords all generally referred to him as Mr. Bouvier.
“Why is Bouvier here? In addition, he seems to be extremely respectful towards the two next to him. That youngster is a Highgod; I can tell. But as for that brown-haired man...hm. Also, given that Bouvier is the commander of the Qingya Army, he wouldn’t act so respectfully, even towards Paragons.”
The Lord of the Bluelion Domain came to a conclusion. “Can it be that this person is a Sovereign?”
This conclusion...badly shocked the Lord of the Bluelion Domain.
“Obarafel, fight as you normally would.” A voice rang out in the Lord of the Bluelion Domain’s voice. The speaker was Bouvier. Bouvier knew...that this old acquaintance had recognized him.
“Mr. Bouvier, the person next to you...” The Lord of the Bluelion Domain immediately sent back.
“Pretend you didn’t find out.” Bouvier sent to him.
The Lord of the Bluelion Domain was now completely convinced as to who the brown-haired man was.
“I didn’t expect that the Sovereign would actually come to my place! Right...this victory has to be a clean one.” The Lord of the Bluelion Domain, upon learning that his Sovereign was watching, felt his intent for battle surge. He gave the distant Russell a cold glance, laughing in his heart.
Suddenly...
“BANG!” It was as though the air exploded. The Lord of the Bluelion Domain seemed to instantly cross the distance of a hundred meters between them. His giant, boulder-like fist surged forth, flashing with black light as it slashed out in a strange arc. It was like a meteor flashing through the heavens, piercing through the skies and striking towards Russell.
World Meteor!
This was one of the supreme techniques available to Ombarafael, the Lord of the Bluelion Domain.
“Hmph.” Russell’s face turned cold.
“Swish!” A dazzling blade flashed, releasing a waterfall of power and tearing through the surrounding space.
The cyan saber flash clashed directly head-on against the dazzling, meteoric fist.
Russell, his cyan scimitar in hand, borrowed from the force of the collision to retreat backwards gracefully at high speed. With a cyan flash, he retreated tens of meters away into the skies, but immediately afterwards, Russell’s body actually moved away by another few dozen kilometers, moving so quickly as to astonish all the watchers.
“What astonishing speed.” Bebe sighed in amazement.
“Even faster than most commanders.” Linley’s eyes lit up as well.
The nearby ‘Boo’ sent mentally, “Sovereign, both Russell and Ombarafael are divine beasts. Russell is a ‘Nine-Tailed Windripper Fox’, and is innately gifted with great speed. Given that he also trains in the Laws of the Wind, it is only natural that he is extremely fast. In addition, as a ‘Nine-Tailed Windripper Fox’, he is born with great mesmerizing abilities, and the mesmerizing power of his soul is also quite terrifying. He is very hard to deal with.”
“Not bad. The first candidate I encounter seems to be quite excellent.” Linley had a hint of a smile on his face.
The Lord of the Bluelion Domain stood there, like an unbreakable fortress. As for Russell, he moved about at high speed, constantly changing his location, launching attacks from various angles.
“It has been so many years, but you, you coward, are still only able to run about and flee.” The Lord of the Bluelion Domain let out a snicker, then his gaze slowly turned cold. “Russell, I have no time to waste with you.”
“Bang!” The Lord of the Bluelion Domain’s body suddenly began to blaze with an earthen yellow aura.
Earth-type Sovereign’s Might!
“You have it; do you think I do not?” Russell let out a cold laugh as well, and his body also began to blaze with a faint green aura. Since he had dared to come issue this challenge, Russell naturally had also prepared in advance.
And then...
“Screeeeech!” An ear-piercing sound suddenly rang out from Russell’s throat.
An enormous, cyan-furred fox phantom, hundreds of meters in size, suddenly appeared behind Russell. This cyan-furred fox had nine furry tails, all of which were swaying gently. Anyone who stared at them would actually, unknowingly, begin to grow dizzy. Quite a few of the spectating Deities actually fell to the ground.
Innate divine ability – Mesmerizing Fantasy Domain!
A translucent sword shadow flashed out from Russell’s mouth, shooting directly towards the distant Lord of the Bluelion Domain.
The Lord of the Bluelion Domain, upon receiving this strike, swayed slightly.
“Roaaaaar!” The Lord of the Bluelion Domain suddenly let out an enraged howl.
An enormous, thousand-meter tall, snowy-furred bear suddenly appeared, its jade green eyes staring towards Russell. The bear smote itself on its chest with its two massive, clawed bear paws. “BANG!” With an enormous collision sound, an earthen yellow ripple blasted out from the bear’s chest in every direction, instantly encompassing an area of many kilometers, with Russell naturally being within this field as well.
Innate divine ability – World Collapser!
In the same instant...
That translucent sword-shape surged into the Lord of Bluelion Domain’s body, but the Lord of Bluelion Domain’s body only trembled. It didn’t seem to have much of an impact on him.
“Bastard. How could this fellow’s soul defense be so strong? How could my full-power attack have had such a limited impact on him?” Russell cursed angrily to himself.
“Haha...” The Lord of Bluelion Domain charged towards Russell.
“Not good.” Russell’s face changed dramatically. He could clearly sense that the surrounding area had changed. That constant surge of ripples seemed to have formed into layers of waves that surged around him, and even created a unique ‘Gravitational Space’ type of effect around him. This technique drastically impacted Russell’s speed.
Russell knew that the situation was bad, but...it was too late.
“Haha...” Laughing wildly, the Lord of Bluelion Domain now used his most powerful attack, in conjunction with his unleashed innate divine ability.
A pair of enormous fists pierced through the skies like a pair of horned dragons, causing spatial whirlpools to appear and space to collapse.
“Not good.” Russell retreated frantically, but within the innate divine ability field, his speed was inferior to his opponent’s. All he could do was roar in anger and furiously smash out with his blade.
“BURST!” The Lord of Bluelion Domain let out a furious roar.
The twin fists that had tore through the skies suddenly exploded with power.
“Bang!” The scimitar actually broke apart, inch by inch, and Russell’s body began to shake.
“How could this be...I’m finished.” Russell only felt a sense of powerlessness.
The Lord of Bluelion Domain, Ombarafael suddenly stared towards the front, baffled. “Where...did he go?”
Russell, who had been in a violent battle against the Lord of Bluelion Domain just moments ago, had now disappeared into thin air.
“Where did he go? How could this be?”
“Can it be that the Lord of Bluelion Domain blasted Russell into nothingness?”
The million-plus spectating Deities stared, stupefied. They had watched as Russell had actually disappeared into thin air.
“Domain Lord?” The black-robed elder immediately flew over, looking towards the Lord of Bluelion Domain.
Ombarafael, the Lord of Bluelion Domain, immediately turned to look towards Linley’s direction. Only, Linley and the other two had already disappeared. “Indeed, it was the Sovereign who intervened.”
Just now, the Lord of Bluelion Domain had only sensed a blur flash past. Before he was even able to react, Russell had disappeared.
“Why did the Sovereign rescue Russell?” The Lord of Bluelion Domain was puzzled, but then he gave the black-robed elder a glance. “Alright. This battle is over. Announce the results.”
And thus, the Lord of Bluelion Domain led his forces to depart in a grand fashion.
The Lord of Bluelion Domain was the victor of this battle.
A million kilometers away, atop a grassland.
“Bang.” With a casual toss, Linley sent Russell landing heavily on the grass.
A million kilometers. Given a Sovereign’s speed, at full power, less than a second was needed to traverse this distance.
Russell had only felt his body tremble. The next thing he saw was that his surroundings had completely changed. There were no spectating Deities nearby, nor was there the Lord of Bluelion Domain, against who he had been battling. The surrounding area was completely empty. Before him was only Linley, Bebe, and ‘Boo’.
“Thank you, Sovereign!” Russell immediately knelt down towards Linley.
“Hey...how’d you know my Boss is a Sovereign?” Bebe laughed, puzzled.
Russell said respectfully, “Just now, I was in dire straits. Everyone else was far away. Not even a Paragon would be able to block the strikes of a commander-level expert from so far away! Only Sovereigns are capable of this!” A Sovereign could kill a commander-level expert from even millions of kilometers away with but a thought, much less from just a few kilometers away.
Naturally, however, they wouldn’t be able to do that to Paragons.
Just now, Linley had simply sent out his Will and released a surge of Sovereign power to help Russell slightly, and then had used it to wrap up Russell, then bring him, Bebe, and Boo here instantly.
“Russell, have you realized what went wrong in that battle?” Linley laughed calmly.
Russell nodded immediately, a hint of puzzlement flashing through his eyes. “It really was quite odd. I had prepared very thoroughly for this battle; even if I lost, I wouldn’t possibly die. But...I discovered that my innate divine ability, when combined with my most powerful soul attack, actually didn’t have much of an impact on him. This is simply inconceivable.”
“This is because he has a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact.” Linley laughed calmly.
“Sovereign, he isn’t an Emissary.” The nearby ‘Boo’ said, puzzled.
“Right. He isn’t an Emissary.” Russell said hurriedly as well. “I investigated this matter long ago. In addition, given Ombarafael’s arrogant nature, if he became a Sovereign’s Emissary, he would definitely announce it right away. He wouldn’t be able to hide it for long.”
“Do you think that my divine sense was mistaken?” Linley said calmly.
Russell and Boo immediately no longer dared to argue.
“Doesn’t that mean I will never be able to defeat him?” Russell couldn’t help but laugh bitterly.
Linley said with a casual laugh, “Russell, I have a test for you. If you participate in it, the chances of death are close to 90%, but if you accept, you will become one of my Emissaries. If you are willing...then upon accepting, even before the trial, I will bestow you with a Sovereign artifact of your choice.”
Russell’s eyes lit up.
To a Seven Star Fiend-level expert, a Sovereign artifact was extremely alluring.
“Dare I ask, Sovereign, what is the test?” Russell said hurriedly.
“It is a Planar War.” Linley immediately began to speak in detail regarding this event. Although he didn’t say anything about ‘ten successive victories’, he gave a full explanation regarding how dangerous this Planar War would be. “Every person will have Sovereign’s Might. Upon entering, you will be in great danger. You can give up this opportunity, if you choose.”
Russell hesitated momentarily, then laughed. “Sovereign, I accept! I specialize in speed. Given my innate divine ability, my soul is also extremely strong. If I were to acquire a defensive Sovereign artifact, I imagine that I will have at least a 30% chance of survival. I’m willing to take this gamble. If I fail, at most, I will lose my most powerful divine clone. But if I win...”
Linley nodded slightly.
In choosing Emissaries, he had to choose those who particularly excelled in either soul attacks or material attacks. That way, by giving them a Sovereign artifact, he could make up for their deficiency and so increase their chances of survival.
“Then I will bestow you with a defensive Sovereign artifact.” Linley waved his hand, and a set of Sovereign armor appeared.
Russell’s eyes immediately began to blaze.
“Thank you, Sovereign!” Russell immediately knelt down, accepting this Sovereign artifact.
“Alright. Let’s head out now, in search of the next Emissary.” Linley laughed calmly.
“The next one?” Russell was startled.
“This time, we are preparing to find six Emissaries. You are only the first one.” Bebe snickered.
Linley’s group treated this as a form of tourism as well, touring while choosing acceptable candidates. Upon traveling through the Divine Wind Plane, they would go to the Divine Water Plane, and then would go to the Divine Earth Plane.
Time slowly passed by.
“I bestow upon you a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact. You will become the second Emissary under my control!” Linley withdrew a Sovereign artifact in the shape of an earring as he spoke.
“Thank you, Sovereign!”
A bald man whose entire body seemed to be formed from azure rocks fell to his knees.
“I bestow upon you a defensive Sovereign artifact. You will become the third Emissary under my control!” Linley withdrew yet another set of Sovereign armor.
“Thank you, Sovereign!”
A jade-haired woman who had a patch of fish scales on her forehead fell to her knees as she spoke.
Every person Linley selected decided to accept his trial, and so, Linley’s little group was slowly beginning to grow...