“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, 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 were also 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 seventy-seven 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.
63
COVETOUS INTENT
“Rumble…” The waves of the sea continued to roll forward gently.
Linley raised his head, sweeping it past Augusta and Diya. The Chief Sovereign of Light, Augusta, and the Chief Sovereign of Wind, Diya, both looked back at Linley with gazes that held malice in them. In his heart, Linley just snickered. “Hmph. Augusta probably still has a desire to kill me. After that last battle, Diya probably feels enmity for me as well. Diya I can ignore, but as for Augusta… I’ll let him live happily for a bit longer. After the other Chief Sovereigns leave, I will kill Augusta!”
The other Chief Sovereigns wouldn’t just watch Linley kill Augusta and do nothing about it.
He had already waited for thousands of years. What was another moment?
“Linley. Beirut.” At this moment, the Redbud Sovereign and the Bloodridge Sovereign both flew over, laughing while waving to him.
“Linley, you really know how to make trouble,” the Bloodridge Sovereign laughed as he spoke mentally to him. “How short a period of time has it been? And yet, you’ve killed Teresia.”
“If you killed him, you killed him. However, Linley, you should have prepared an excuse for when the Chief Sovereigns question you, yes?” The Redbud Sovereign looked at Linley.
Linley laughed and nodded.
“We’ll have to trouble the two of you to help, soon,” Beirut laughed while speaking mentally to them.
“We won’t be able to help out that much. Everything is up to the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts. The one right next to you, that’s the ‘Bluefire’ you mentioned to me last time, right?” The Bloodridge Sovereign looked towards Bluefire. “Bluefire, I am called Boson.”
“Mr. Boson,” Bluefire said modestly.
How often did sixty-plus Sovereigns have the chance to all gather together? The conversation between the various Sovereigns right now was quite lively.
“Alright, it is time to discuss Linley’s affairs,” a cold voice descended from on high. The speaker was the Chief Sovereign of Destruction.
The words of the Chief Sovereign of Destruction instantly caused all conversation to halt. It grew quiet.
“Everyone.” Beirut laughed. “Everyone, please, all of you, sit. After you sit, we can discuss the matter between Linley and Teresia.”
As he spoke, with a crackling sound, the metallic lifeform that had been in the shape of a giant boat began to transform again. The wide, spacious deck suddenly began to grow several chairs. There were sixty-five in total, and the chairs were arranged into an enormous circle. Because it was in a circle, there were no differences in terms of status for seating arrangements.
“Everyone, let’s sit,” the beautiful, violet-robed, red-haired maiden gave the order coldly.
The Chief Sovereign of Death’s words caused the sixty-plus Sovereigns to all descend from the skies or fly over from other parts of the boat and move towards the seats. Everyone casually chose their own seats and sat down. Linley, Beirut, and Bluefire were seated next to each other.
“The four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts!” Linley swept the four with his gaze.
The four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts were all seated next to each other as well.
“The three of them are all here. What a coincidence. After the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts leave, I’ll kill all three of them,” Augusta gave Linley’s group of three a glance as he murmured to himself.
Right at this moment, a gentle voice rang out, “Everyone, although the four Overgods have not forbidden us from killing each other, fusing an additional Sovereign spark means gaining an additional portion of Will. If we don’t limit battles amongst ourselves, most likely the Lesser Sovereigns and Intermediate Sovereigns will never have peace. Thus, in the past, the other three Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts and myself set up the Pact.”
If a lower-ranked Sovereign has not offended a higher-ranked Sovereign, the higher-ranked Sovereign is not to wantonly slaughter the lower-ranked one. Those who violate this will be jointly pursued and killed by the four of us!”
“Only Sovereigns at the same level of power are permitted to fight amongst each other.”
The speaker was the jade-robed Chief Sovereign of Life. The Chief Sovereign of Life’s voice was very gentle; even when discussing the Pact, her voice flowed like the waters of a spring, making the listeners feel peaceful.
The sea wind blew, but the ship atop the waves was extremely stable, and the Sovereigns seated atop it were all listening quietly.
“Today, however, Linley killed the Lesser Sovereign of Wind, ‘Teresia’.” The Chief Sovereign of Life swept Linley with her gaze, her tone abruptly changing. “However, Linley is only a Lesser Sovereign as well…”
Linley, hearing this, couldn’t help but feel delighted. This Chief Sovereign of Life seemed to be helping him.
“Your Excellency,” suddenly, a voice rang out.
“Hrm?” The Chief Sovereign of Life’s warm, gentle gaze fell upon the speaker. The speaker was the Chief Sovereign of Wind, Diya.
Diya’s golden gaze was trained upon the Chief Sovereign of Life, but he said with respect, “According to that Pact, the evaluation of a person’s power rank isn’t just divided up into simply ‘Lesser’, ‘Intermediate’, and ‘High’ Sovereign sparks; rather, it is based on true power. For example, any of the Four Divine Beasts of the past were just Lesser Sovereigns on their own, but as a whole, they became referred to as being at the ‘Chief Sovereign’ level. This was because they were powerful!”
When experts battled, joining forces wasn’t always of great use.
Four Lesser Sovereigns that joined forces still wouldn’t be able to overcome an Intermediate Sovereign.
But the Four Divine Beasts were clearly different. Thus, during that Pact, it was specially established that the Four Divine Beasts, as a unit, were at the Chief Sovereign level.
“As for this Linley, in terms of power…” The Sovereign of Wind, Diya, let out a self-mocking chuckle. “I’m afraid that you’ll laugh at me, but not long ago, I intended to go capture this Linley, so as to allow the four of you, your Excellencies, to interrogate him. However, I didn’t expect that after Linley fused the wind-type Sovereign spark, I was unable to do anything to him, even when attacking him at my full strength.”
“How can this be!!!”
Instantly, a shocked uproar of noise.
The Sovereigns who had hurried here from the other planes all knew that Linley had killed Teresia, but they weren’t clear on Linley’s fight against the Chief Sovereign of Wind, Diya.
The main reason was, when Diya had ordered his Sovereigns of Wind to go spread the news, the battle between him and Linley hadn’t started yet!
“Even if Linley fused an additional wind-type Sovereign spark, he would at most have an extra portion of Will. How could he be able to defeat you, Diya?”
“The difference between a Lesser Sovereign and a High Sovereign is very great.”
A chorus of disbelieving voices rang out. These Sovereigns couldn’t believe Diya’s words.
An Intermediate Sovereign was nearly a hundred times stronger than a Lesser Sovereign, a difference of two portions of Will. As for High Sovereigns and Lesser Sovereigns, the difference was even greater.
“Linley didn’t just fuse a wind-type Sovereign spark. Prior to this, he had already fused two Sovereign sparks!” Diya said.
“A single person who fused three Sovereign sparks?” Even the white-robed, white-haired elder, the Chief Sovereign of Fate, couldn’t help but look at Linley.
&nb
sp; “Can it be that Linley has killed other Sovereigns prior to this?” some people immediately said.
“There are still a number of Sovereigns who didn’t come today. Perhaps…”
Linley just quietly watched this group of Sovereigns chatter, while from Linley’s side, Beirut suddenly laughed in a clear voice. “Everyone, I am Beirut. I trust that everyone has heard of the events of nearly twenty thousand years ago. Back then, I acquired four Sovereign sparks! I and this gentleman next to me, Bluefire, each used a spark. We let Linley fuse the other two sparks, and so Linley has only killed a single Sovereign, Teresia.”
Quite a few Sovereigns looked towards Beirut, and they all fell silent.
News of what Beirut had done nearly twenty thousand years ago had spread quite quickly amongst the Sovereigns.
“Diya, even if Linley fused three Sovereign sparks, he would just have two more portions of Will than an ordinary Lesser Sovereign, and would be comparable to an Intermediate Sovereign. How could he have been a match for you?” a man with long blue hair and fish scales on his forehead laughed while speaking.
“Everyone, don’t forget; Linley is a Paragon,” the Bloodridge Sovereign smiled as he reminded them all.
“Even if he is a Paragon, hmph, would an Intermediate Sovereign Paragon be able to defeat Diya?” the other Sovereigns refuted.
“Everyone!” The Chief Sovereign of Wind, Diya, intentionally let out a sigh. “I unleashed my supreme attack, but still couldn’t injure him. In fact, I wasn’t even able to force Linley to use the innate divine ability of the Azure Dragon clan. The reason why Linley is so powerful is primarily because he has an Overgod artifact!”
An instant uproar!
“An Overgod artifact?!”
The Sovereigns, including the many Sovereigns who had only been watching in amusement and had yet to say anything, were all stunned. The Chief Sovereigns, Augusta included, immediately turned lightning-fast to stare at Linley.
Lord of the Mists: Book 8 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 52