“I am quite curious. How did you know that I became a Sovereign?” Linley laughed calmly as he asked the question. How had news that he had become a Sovereign in the Yulan Plane spread to the Infernal Realm?
The nearby Vermillion Bird Matriarch laughed beautifully, bowing slightly in order to show her respect. “Linley, the news that you had become a Sovereign was actually given to us by the Chief Sovereign of Destruction. At first, we couldn’t believe it. After the four of us discussed the matter, we decided to go to the Yulan Plane to investigate. Now, it seems, this really is the case.”
Although Linley chatted and jested with them, the four clan leaders still unconsciously felt pressure.
After all, no matter how much Linley contracted his aura, the four clan leaders still knew, subconsciously, that Linley was a Sovereign.
“The Chief Sovereign of Destruction?” Linley frowned.
“How did the Chief Sovereign of Destruction know?” the nearby Delia said, puzzled.
“Logically speaking, he shouldn’t. After all, this happened in the Yulan Plane,” Linley said with a frown. “There’s one other possibility. Grandpa Beirut chatted with the Chief Sovereign of Destruction.” Beirut was on fairly good terms with the Chief Sovereign of Destruction, and Beirut also had a clone remaining in the Infernal Realm.
But Linley still felt puzzled. “What sort of status does the Chief Sovereign of Destruction have? Even if he knew, why would he tell the Four Divine Beasts clan?”
Linley turned to stare at Gislason, puzzled. “Patriarch, why did the Chief Sovereign of Destruction tell you these things?”
“The Chief Sovereign of Destruction’s energy clone descended upon the Skyrite Mountains,” Gislason explained. “In addition, he requested that our Four Divine Beasts clan loan him a hundred Highgods, who he would return to us some time later. Since he was borrowing our people, he explained that as compensation… he would bestow us with some Sovereign’s Might and give us some guidance. He said that if we wanted to know why the four ancestors died, to ask you, Linley.”
Linley was stunned.
The cause of the deaths of the four ancestors?
The big fellow nearby, the ‘Black Tortoise Patriarch’, said in a booming voice, “We immediately asked, why ask Linley? The Chief Sovereign of Destruction then said, you have reached the Sovereign level in power.”
“So that’s how it is.” Linley nodded slightly.
“What did he borrow people for?”
“Unclear.” Gislason stared at Linley, then went straight to the heart of it. “Linley, we have come for two reasons. First, to investigate if you had truly become a Sovereign. Second… we wish to know why our four ancestors died! Linley. Given that you are a member of clan, please tell us.”
The four clan leaders all looked expectantly towards Linley.
The downfall of the Four Divine Beasts had caused the downfall of the Four Divine Beasts clan. Even in their dreams, the Four Divine Beasts clan dreamed of learning who had done it, and of the true cause of death of the four ancestors.
Linley frowned. He hesitated a moment, then nodded. “Very well. I will tell you. Because of certain reasons, the four ancestors had engaged in a battle against the Chief Sovereign of Light.”
“The Chief Sovereign of Light?” The eyes of Gislason and the other three lit up.
“A battle between Sovereigns causes tremendous shockwaves in a wide area. They battled all the way into chaotic space. The four ancestors fled while fighting, and the Chief Sovereign of Light chased and attacked. Afterwards, the four ancestors executed their supreme technique… their fused innate divine abilities. The Chief Sovereign of Light, however, managed to survive it and not die. With their most powerful attack having failed, the four ancestors lost their will to battle. The Chief Sovereign of Light, however, seized the opportunity to rely on his Overgod artifact to kill them in succession. By relying on his greater speed, he was able to kill all of the four ancestors,” Linley spoke calmly, but the bodies of Gislason and the other three trembled as they listened.
“The Chief Sovereign of Light!!!” Gislason’s eyes were already filled with faint tears.
“How could the Chief Sovereign of Light have resisted the attack?” The Vermillion Bird Matriarch actually shook her head. “Impossible. When my mother was alive, she said that not even amongst Chief Sovereigns, the ones who could withstand their supreme attack could be counted on one hand. The Chief Sovereign of Light wasn’t one of them.”
“But the reality is that the Chief Sovereign of Light managed to resist it.” Linley sighed.
Gislason and the other three couldn’t accept it. After all, the Four Divine Beasts were their parents.
“Linley…” Gislason hesitated momentarily, then suddenly spoke out.
“Hrm?” Linley looked at him.
Gislason looked at the other three, then turned to look towards Linley. “Linley, I, I want to ask… did you use the Sovereign sparks of the four ancestors to become a Sovereign?” If one wished to become a Sovereign, there was only one way; to fuse with a Sovereign spark. However, there were only a total of 77 Sovereign sparks.
Only after one Sovereign died would another be born.
Linley gave the four of them a glance.
“Yes.” Linley nodded.
“The Sovereign spark, how…” the Vermillion Bird Matriarch opened her mouth and said a few words, but then hesitated.
“Shouldn’t the Chief Sovereign of Light have acquired the four Sovereign sparks? How did you acquire it? In addition, there should have been four of the Sovereign sparks. You used one. There are still…” Gislason looked towards Linley.
Linley smiled slightly.
He could guess that most likely, the four clan leaders also wanted to acquire the Sovereign sparks. Perhaps in the eyes of the four clan leaders, the four Sovereign sparks were their inheritance from their parents; it was rightfully theirs. Only… they couldn’t say it, nor did they have the courage to say such things.
But Linley didn’t feel the same way.
The 77 Sovereign sparks had descended from the heavens when the universe had been created. The powerful would be able to fight over and acquire them. The Four Divine Beasts had relied on themselves to acquire these Sovereign sparks. Beirut had relied on his own courage and had risked his life to seize these four Sovereign sparks.
“If the Sovereign sparks had fallen into the hands of the Chief Sovereign of Light, how could he have given me one?” Linley said calmly. “I’ll tell you the truth. Beirut, in the past, risked his own life to acquire these four Sovereign sparks. And now, all of the four Sovereign sparks have been used up and fused.”
“Beirut?” The four were stunned.
“He was able to take them away from the Chief Sovereign of Light?” the Vermillion Bird Matriarch said, stunned.
Despite their words, upon hearing Linley say that the four Sovereign sparks had all been used up, the four clan leaders still felt a bit disappointed. They didn’t dare to say anything else, however.
“You don’t need to harbor any suspicions regarding this.” Linley laughed calmly.
“Linley,” Gislason said solemnly. “There is one more thing we must beg of you, Linley.”
“Speak.” Linley glanced at him.
Gislason took a deep breath, then said solemnly, “Linley, the four ancestors were the ancestors of our Four Divine Beasts clan. Our Four Divine Beasts clan can’t just be silent and pretend that we know nothing of their deaths. The four ancestors were killed by the Chief Sovereign of Light! We hope that you, Linley… if… I only say if! If in the future, you have the ability or the chance to do so, please avenge our four ancestors!”
“Linley,” the Vermillion Bird Matriarch said hurriedly as well. “We know that this request is a bit excessive, but at this point, you are our only hope.”
“Please.” The big fellow, the Black Tortoise Patriarch, stared at Linley as well.
Linley looked at the four clan leaders. He could
feel the sincerity of their entreaties.
“I promise you.” Linley nodded solemnly. “If I am able to do it, I won’t show any mercy.”
“Thank you,” the four said gratefully.
“You must be tired after rushing all the way here. Rest at my place for some time first. Afterwards, we’ll have a banquet, then we’ll talk.” Linley laughed calmly.
“That’s fine as well.” Gislason’s group of four didn’t try to stay any longer. They immediately allowed themselves to be led away by a distant maid, and they departed the flower garden.
Linley turned his head to look at the nearby Delia. “Delia, you step back for a time as well. I need to chat with Beirut about something.”
“Fine.” Delia laughed, nodded, and left the flower garden.
Moments later, two figures descended from the heavens and arrived next to Linley. It was Beirut and Bluefire. The three immediately sat down around the table.
“Haha, the four clan leaders of the Four Divine Beasts clan came?” Beirut laughed as he spoke. “They’ve discovered that you are a Sovereign, eh?”
“They have. It was the Chief Sovereign of Destruction who told them,” Linley said.
“The Chief Sovereign of Destruction?” Bluefire was rather puzzled.
“Right. It’s actually quite odd. The Chief Sovereign of Destruction actually went to the Four Divine Beasts clan to borrow a hundred Highgods. I don’t know why,” Linley said.
Beirut, upon hearing this, couldn’t help but frown. He said in a reflective voice, “Most likely, the Chief Sovereign of Destruction’s experiments have reached the final stage.”
57
THE NEXT FIVE THOUSAND YEARS
“Experiments?” Linley instantly recollected how the Chief Sovereign of Destruction had acquired more than half of the blood essence of the Four Divine Beasts from Beirut.
“The source of a divine beast’s power comes from his blood essence.” Beirut shook his head. “However, executing an innate divine ability requires not just the lineage, but also the soul!”
“The uniqueness of a soul, however, stems from the bloodline as well.” Linley frowned. “It is precisely because the members of my clan have the lineage of a divine beast, that they all have unique souls as well. In addition, I’ve absorbed a drop of blood essence as well; this allowed the strength of my innate divine ability to increase substantially.”
“That is because you are a descendant of the Four Divine Beasts clan.” Beirut laughed calmly. “Alright, enough discussion of the Chief Sovereign of Destruction and whether or not he has finished researching the supreme technique of the Four Divine Beasts. That doesn’t have much to do with the two of us. Our greatest target is the Chief Sovereign of Light, Augusta!”
“Our enemy isn’t the Chief Sovereign of Destruction.” Bluefire laughed as well.
“The Chief Sovereign of Destruction? The power of any of the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts is unfathomable.” Beirut let out a sigh.
“Grandpa Beirut, which one is the most powerful, do you think?” Linley was very curious regarding the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts as well.
“That’s quite hard to say! In terms of Will, it should be the Chief Sovereign of Fate!” Beirut said with a frown. “However, the Overgod artifact that the Chief Sovereign of Fate wields is a soul-protecting Overgod artifact. It isn’t a weapon, and so in terms of attack power, he’s probably a bit weaker than the other three Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts.”
Linley was surprised.
He hadn’t chosen a weapon-type Overgod artifact? The Chief Sovereign of Fate really was quite unique.
“The Chief Sovereign of Fate never gets involved in worldly matters, and is always focused on developing various supreme techniques. Most likely, he feels that he doesn’t need any Overgod weapons, that he is already strong enough.” Beirut laughed calmly. “Now, the Chief Sovereign of Destruction is developing a supreme technique based on the blood essences of the Four Divine Beasts. Right, Linley… you are a member of the Azure Dragon clan as well. Perhaps you will be able to develop something from the blood essences of the Four Divine Beasts.”
As he spoke, Beirut waved his hand and produced four little azure flasks.
“These four flasks each contain 81 drops of blood essences from the Four Divine Beasts,” Beirut said. “This is roughly a quarter of the total amount of blood essence the Four Divine Beasts had.”
Blood essences was the distilled essence of blood; even creatures as enormous as divine beasts would have, at most, three hundred or so drops, which was already quite astonishing. Every single drop contained a terrifying amount of energy; if that hadn’t been the case, Linley wouldn’t have been able to, after using a single drop, strengthen his body so greatly that he would resist the attacks of an average Seven Star Fiend.
“Grandpa Beirut…” Linley was a bit surprised.
“I originally gave the Chief Sovereign of Destruction half, and I used up some in my own experiments. Only a hundred or so drops are remaining. You can take these four flasks of 81 drops each. I hope that you, too, can develop the supreme technique of the Four Divine Beasts. Given your spiritual energy, if you are able to develop it… you’d have a chance at challenging even the Chief Sovereigns of the Four Edicts.” Beirut laughed.
The Four Divine Beasts, when combining their power as Lesser Sovereigns, were able to unite their power into a fused innate divine ability that could threaten even Chief Sovereigns.
Linley’s fundamentals were much superior, compared to that of the Four Divine Beasts.
“Alright. I’ll accept it. But I am not confident in being able to develop a supreme technique,” Linley said, but in his heart, Linley still felt a bit of anticipation.
Perhaps he would be able to develop one.
“Linley, how is your training progressing?” Beirut asked.
“I… in fusing three different profound mysteries of different Laws, I’m only one step away. But this breakthrough truly is difficult.” Linley shook his head and laughed helplessly.
“How about this?” Beirut laughed, then said encouragingly, “As I see it, you’d best hurry up and go establish your own divine plane. The process of establishing a divine plane will cause you to gain insights into many things.”
“Establishing a divine plane will take a very long period of time. You might make some major breakthroughs.” Bluefire laughed as well.
After all, Linley had only been training for three centuries after becoming a Sovereign.
It would take a tremendous amount of time to establish each divine plane.
“It definitely will take a very long period of time, because I plan to simultaneously establish two divine planes.” Linley smiled.
“Two divine planes?” Beirut and Bluefire were both startled.
THE FOUR CLAN leaders of the Four Divine Beasts clan stayed at Dragonblood Castle for several months. And then, after once more entreating Linley to take revenge if he could, they left the Yulan Plane and went back to the Infernal Realm. As for Linley himself, he said a few things to Delia and Bebe, then went to establish a divine plane.
He left behind his original body, which focused on analyzing the blood essences of the Four Divine Beasts!
Linley’s original body was the physically strongest body out of the five, and it also contained the lineage of the Azure Dragon. Thus, it was quite appropriate to rely on his original body to do the research.
As for Linley’s four powerful clones, they left the Yulan Plane and headed towards chaotic space.
Within the vast, endless void of chaotic space, the streams of chaotic energy swirled and exploded as beautifully as fireworks.
Linley himself stood there within the chaotic streams. A few thousand kilometers away from Linley was the Yulan Plane.
“Linley, to simultaneously establish two different divine planes is something that has never been done before.” Beirut chortled. “We are definitely going to have to watch and learn.”
&n
bsp; “I’ve never even established a divine plane.” Bluefire laughed as well.
Although the three were quite relaxed, Beirut and Bluefire both sent out their Sovereign sense, so that if any enemies drew near, they would instantly know and be able to flee into the Yulan Plane.
“Alright. I’m preparing to begin.”
Linley’s body suddenly divided into two. An earthen yellow-robed Linley and a blue-robed Linley now stood shoulder to shoulder. These were two of his divine clones; his earth clone and his water clone.
Seeing this, both Beirut and Bluefire fell silent as they quietly watched this.
“Rumble…” A stream of earthen yellow liquid began to swirl around Linley’s divine earth clone, while at the same time, a stream of blue liquid began to swirl around Linley’s divine water clone. As time moved forward, the two streams of ‘liquid’ grew thicker and thicker as the amount of Sovereign power grew greater and greater.
The power to create a divine plane was something which the heavens had bestowed upon Sovereigns.
Everyone who had fused with a Sovereign spark and had become a Sovereign knew that as long as they activated a hint of the Laws contained within their Sovereign sparks, they would be able to create a divine plane. This sort of divine ability wasn’t something one could gain through training; it was inherent to a Sovereign spark. Which was to say, it was bestowed by the heavens.
The creation process didn’t require the Sovereign to ponder bitterly and tiresomely; the Sovereign only needed to have his soul be completely occupied by pondering the creation process.
The creation of a single divine plane was the same as a session of meditating. It would result in insights!
Different attribute Sovereign sparks would naturally be different.
Linley possessed two Sovereign sparks; thus, he decided simultaneously establish two divine planes.
At this moment, Linley’s two Sovereign bodies were more than a thousand kilometers apart from each other.
“The creation of a divine plane truly is exhausting. The process of collecting enough Sovereign power alone will take up centuries.” Linley sighed mentally. At present, the ‘streams’ of energy that were swirling around Linley’s divine clones had already turned into two vast, thick, rivers of water. It was as though two titanic pythons of water that were ten thousand meters long were swirling around them.
Lord of the Mists: Book 8 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 47
