Lord of the Mists

by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi

  “Sovereigns move extremely quickly. Based on my calculations, it should be soon. Stop standing there at the doorway and sit down. Calm down and wait patiently,” Gislason urged.

  “How can I possibly sit down at a time like this?” The Black Tortoise Patriarch had a hint of impatience on his face. Clearly, he was quite frustrated and uneasy.

  The Vermillion Bird Matriarch, seated next to Gislason, let out a helpless chuckle. “Elder Brother, stop criticizing Third Brother. Even I, sitting here, don’t feel calm in the slightest. Sovereigns are extremely fast, and so today he will definitely return. I wonder if Linley was able to succeed or not.”

  “Lord Beirut said it himself,” Gislason said. “Given Lord Beirut’s temperament… would he say something he wasn’t confident of?”

  “Right,” the others all acknowledged this.

  Despite that, however, the four clan leaders still felt nervousness in their hearts.

  “Patriarch, Patriarch.” Right at this moment, a figure flew over at high speed.

  “Whoosh!”

  Gislason and the Vermillion Bird Matriarch all suddenly stood up, and the four clan leaders looked towards the maid who was flying over. The maid called out hurriedly from afar, “Lord Linley has returned! He is at Lord Beirut’s estate!”

  “Swoosh!”

  Streaks of light flashed past, and the four figures disappeared from within the hall.

  Beneath the large tree. Next to the stone table. Linley and Beirut were currently seated, facing each other.

  “They are coming.” Linley took a sip of wine, then let out a resigned laugh.

  “This is all my fault.” Beirut shook his head, letting out a resigned, awkward chuckle. “To be honest, I still don’t understand. The Chief Sovereign of Light is a Chief Sovereign, but not a Paragon. How could it be that his power was ten times greater than what we predicted it to be? The Divine Light Plane has never won ten consecutive rounds in the Planar Wars.”

  “Unless… Augusta has a Sovereign clone.” This was Beirut’s judgment.

  Linley pondered for a long time, but could only come to this conclusion as well.

  But this seemed to be impossible.

  “The chances are quite low.” Linley shook his head. “I’ve met more than sixty Sovereigns by now. Not a single one of them shares the same aura as the Chief Sovereign of Light. If the Chief Sovereign of Light had a Sovereign clone, how could he possibly manage to hide it from the other Chief Sovereigns? The Chief Sovereigns of Death and Destruction were born with the creation of the planes themselves. Even if others might be fooled, those two would not.”

  Beirut nodded as well.

  What, exactly, was the reason for the Chief Sovereign of Light to be more than ten times as powerful as they had predicted?

  “Linley!” a frantic voice rang out.

  Linley turned to look. He saw four streaks of light surge forward, then solidify into four figures. It was Gislason and the other three clan leaders. The stable, reliable Gislason; the grim, callous White Tiger Patriarch; the wise, intelligent Vermillion Bird Matriarch; the taciturn, reserved Black Tortoise Patriarch. All of them were staring towards Linley with blazing, eager eyes.

  “Has the Chief Sovereign of Light been killed?” the Vermillion Bird Matriarch couldn’t help but ask.

  Linley and Beirut shared a glance, and then Linley laughed bitterly. “Gislason, I’ve disappointed you. I wasn’t able to kill Augusta!”

  Linley didn’t explain further.

  Gislason and the other three were stunned. And then, they let out forlorn, awkward smiles.

  “Linley.” Gislason bowed. “I know that for Lord Beirut to tell us about it meant that he had felt a certain degree of confidence. This time was a failure… we very much would like to know, Lord Linley, will you kill the Chief Sovereign of Light in the future?” The other three clan leaders immediately looked towards Linley.

  Linley’s divine sense stretched across the entire Skyrite Mountains. Given the power of his divine sense, if there were any other Sovereigns watching, they wouldn’t be able to avoid drawing his attention.

  “I’m uncertain as to exactly when I will kill him. But once I have enough power, I will,” Linley said solemnly.

  Gislason and the other three looked at each other, then smiled gratefully towards Linley.

  “Thank you.” The four all bowed slightly.

  “No need. I’m a member of the Four Divine Beasts clan as well, after all.” Linley let out a low sigh. Actually, the grateful look in the eyes of Gislason and the others only made him feel even guiltier. After all, he hadn’t killed Augusta yet.

  “Alright.” Beirut laughed. “The four of you can go back and rest. The Four Divine Beasts clan has been able to wait twenty thousand years for vengeance; there’s no need to be impatient now.” Beirut could sense that things were a bit awkward right now between the four clan leaders, himself, and Linley. It was best to have them leave for now.

  Gislason and the other three immediately left.

  “This time… ugh.” Beirut laughed self-mockingly. “Their awkwardness just now… that was completely my doing.”

  “It isn’t your fault. After all, I still have yet to understand how the Chief Sovereign of Light could have been more than ten times as powerful as we had anticipated. What caused this?” Linley suddenly frowned. “Grandpa Beirut, I also discovered two particularly special things. The first is that Augusta’s physical strength is very powerful. Although it is inferior to mine, he’s still very powerful. Secondly, Augusta’s soul defense is also very powerful.”

  Augusta had been struck by Linley’s ‘Sword Intent’, but his soul didn’t seem to react to it at all.

  Beirut, hearing this, felt puzzled as well.

  “His body is extremely strong, and his soul is extremely strong as well? Augusta… what is his secret?” Beirut mused softly.

  “If we can’t figure it out, we might as well stop thinking about it.” Linley changed the subject. “Grandpa Beirut. What I’m worried the most about is my mother! However, I have no memories of my mother at all, nor do I know the spiritual aura of my mother. Even if I stretched my divine sense across the Divine Light Plane, I wouldn’t know which Angel is my mother.”

  Even if his mother was standing right in front of him, he probably wouldn’t recognize her.

  “This is quite troublesome.” Beirut let out a helpless laugh. “When your mother was alive, I swept her with my divine sense. Only, why would I pay any particular attention to an ordinary mortal? Thus, I have no memories of your mother’s soul aura.”

  “Grandpa Beirut,” Linley said, worried. “I know that the Angels are divided into Two-Winged Angels, Four-Winged Angels, and even Twelve-Winged Angels. What sort of angel should my mother be?”

  Linley was worried that his mother was already dead.

  It must be understood that most low-level Angels were sent to descend upon material planes. Those low-level Angels could die at any time.

  “What sort of Angel is your mother? Let me ask you this, when your mother’s soul was offered to the Sovereign, did the Radiant Church receive any sort of reward?” Beirut suddenly asked.

  “They did.” Linley’s eyes lit up, and he hurriedly said, “Based on what I heard, the Radiant Church itself received an astronomical reward. Even King Clayde, the one who offered my mother to the Radiant Church, was rewarded by having his strength increased from the eighth rank to the ninth rank.”

  “Oh.” Beirut’s eyes lit up, and he immediately laughed. “Linley, Angels are divided into six ranks. The lower three ranks are all Saints, while the higher three ranks are Deities. Generally speaking, they are determined by the purity of the offered soul. Only when a church in a material plane offers a soul that can become a Deity will it be rewarded.”

  Linley couldn’t help but nod.

  Right. Angels were numerous beyond measure. If the offered soul could only become a Saint, of course t
here wouldn’t be any reward.

  “But the size of the rewards are also determined by the purity of the soul. Generally speaking, Eight-Winged Angels are equivalent to Demigods. Demigods, being the weakest type of Deities, naturally won’t result in significant rewards. At most, the rewards would simply be encouraging in nature. Souls that are able to be transformed into Ten-Winged Angels will result in slightly better rewards. After all, Gods aren’t anything either.”

  Linley nodded. The number of Demigods and Gods the Infernal Realm had was simply countless.

  “Actually, the most powerful of Angels are the Twelve-Winged Angels, and every single one of them is extremely powerful, generally at the Seven Star Fiend level!” Beirut said solemnly.

  “What?!” Linley couldn’t help but cry out in shock.

  Highgods didn’t really matter, but Seven Star Fiends and ordinary Highgods were completely on different levels.

  “How is it that Twelve-Winged Angels are so powerful?” Linley didn’t understand.

  Beirut laughed. “I only learned this when chatting with the Bloodridge Sovereign, Boson. Do you know that Angels are born in the Angelic Resurrection Pools?”

  “I’ve heard of it,” Linley said hurriedly. Just recently, when chatting with Augusta, Linley had heard of the Angelic Resurrection Pools.

  “There are a total of 128 Angelic Resurrection Pools. They are controlled by and divided up amongst the seven Sovereigns of the Divine Light Plane. The Chief Sovereign holds 64 of them by himself. The two Intermediate Sovereigns control sixteen each. The four Lesser Sovereigns control eight,” Beirut explained carefully. “Angels are actually a human-shaped weapon. Their souls, after being reborn through the ‘Angelic Resurrection Plane’, will not have any of their past memories. In addition, they will be absolutely loyal to the Sovereigns of Light! They won’t feel any selfishness at all.”

  Linley nodded slightly.

  “After the transformation, they will no longer be able to gain any insights into the Laws, nor be able to increase their level of understanding.” Beirut sighed. “If, after the transformation, they are Saint-level Angels, then they will forever be Saint-level Angels.”

  “They are unable to gain any insights, and so naturally, the profound mysteries they use to attack do not come from their own insights,” Beirut said. “Every single Angelic Resurrection Pool is linked to the soul of its Sovereign. The Sovereigns will infuse the Angelic Resurrection Pool with some of their own powerful attacks. Only, there are different levels of power for each Angelic Resurrection Pool. Low-level Angelic Resurrection Pools can only contain low-level techniques, and so the Angels they produce are weak Angels.”

  “The high-level Angelic Resurrection Pools, however, contain attacks that generally involve the fusion of four or five profound mysteries, because that is the sort of attack that Sovereigns themselves use!” Beirut explained, “Thus, the Angels birthed from the high-level Angelic Resurrection Pools, the Twelve-Winged Angels, will generally have supreme attacks that involve the fusion of four or even five profound mysteries!”

  Linley now understood.

  No wonder every single Twelve-Winged Angel was so powerful! It was because they didn’t have to gain any insights; they were born understanding those powerful attacks.

  “The Twelve-Winged Angels are very powerful. In the past, when I publicized the existence of the Necropolis of the Gods, I attracted quite a few people, amongst which included Seven Star Fiends of the Infernal Realm and even Twelve-Winged Angels. I imagine that the Twelve-Winged Angels also wanted to seize a Sovereign artifact. After all, the number of Sovereign artifacts that the Sovereign can bestow is limited.”

  Beirut sighed, “In that battle, the power that the Twelve-Winged Angels display was absolutely not inferior to that of the Seven Star Fiends!”

  “The Angelic Resurrection Pool. How terrifying. It is actually able to directly produce Twelve-Winged Angels that are no weaker than Seven Star Fiends.” Linley sighed.

  “It isn’t that simple. The conditions necessary for a soul to be able to support the energy of a Twelve-Winged Angel are extremely stringent! The creation of every single Twelve-Winged Angel is fairly difficult, and thus if a material plane is able to offer a soul that is capable of becoming a Twelve-Winged Angel, the offering church will naturally receive an enormous reward.”

  Beirut sighed as he spoke. “The Radiant Church was so happy as to increase the King of Fenlai’s power! I imagine… your mother’s soul must have been truly pure. The type of Angel she was reborn as should be the most powerful type, a Twelve-Winged Angel!”

  72

  NINE ROUNDS

  “Twelve-Winged Angel?” Linley let out a slightly relieved sigh.

  The lower the level an Angel was, the faster they would die.

  “It is very hard to birth a Twelve-Winged Angel. The Twelve-Winged Angels that exist have been slowly accumulated over the course of countless years. The Sovereigns of Light won’t casually dispatch Twelve-Winged Angels out to take on missions. Sometimes, a million years will pass without a single Twelve-Winged Angel being activated. Your mother became a Twelve-Winged Angel less than ten thousand years ago. The chances of her death are virtually negligible.” Beirut laughed.

  Only now did Linley completely relax.

  “Haha, Grandpa Beirut, your logical reasoning has calmed me down quite a bit.” Linley now felt more than enough self-confidence in his ability to rescue his mother.

  “Right. Grandpa Beirut.” Linley waved his hand, and an earth-type Sovereign spark, glowing with an earthen yellow light, appeared. “This is an unexpected reward that I acquired.”

  “A Sovereign spark?” Beirut was startled.

  Linley laughed and nodded. “Augusta and I went together to the Divine Light Plane. Who would have imagined that the Chief Sovereign of Lightning, Hurley, followed us in as well. Even the other five Chief Sovereigns of the Laws followed us from far away. When I attacked Augusta, Hurley suddenly sneak-attacked me, wanting to kill me and seize my Overgod artifact. I immediately hit him with a back-handed sword attack!”

  Beirut instantly started to laugh. “So, you acquired his Sovereign spark?”

  “Right. Hurley’s lightning-type Chief Sovereign clone fled quite quickly. I just wanted to teach him a small lesson anyhow, and so I destroyed his earth-type Sovereign clone.”

  Linley frowned. “Now, the question is, who should I give this earth-type Sovereign spark to? Grandpa Beirut, what do you think?”

  “The earth-type Sovereign spark…”

  Beirut frowned. “Bluefire can use it, but if we give it to him, his power will only rise slightly, to the Intermediate Sovereign level or so. It won’t change the overall strategic balance of power much. Ideally, we should find a Highgod. However, a Highgod who trains in the Laws of the Earth… it’s going to be quite hard to find such a person within your Baruch clan for now.”

  Linley laughed in resignation.

  The Baruch clan had quite a few Highgods, but they fused with divine sparks. A Highgod who had relied solely on himself to train to that level, and in the Laws of the Earth? There really wasn’t a single one yet.

  To fuse a Sovereign spark, there was just a single precondition. One had to have trained independently to the Highgod level.

  “What’s the rush?” Beirut laughed. “Just keep it for now. When the time comes, if there is a suitable candidate, you can hand it over then.”

  “Haha. Alright. I’ll just use this Sovereign spark to serve as a precious ancestral heirloom for the Baruch clan.” Linley laughed loudly. “Grandpa Beirut, make the notifications. Have the people of Dragonblood Castle who are willing to come to the Infernal Realm all come over.” Linley had now completely guaranteed the safety of his family and friends in the Infernal Realm.

  The Chief Sovereigns who were more powerful than Linley had no grudges against him.

  Even if they did, they wouldn’t be so shameless as the Chief Sove
reign of Light, who had threatened him with the annihilation of his clan.

  “That might be for the best.” Beirut laughed and nodded. “During these past five millenia, they’ve been quite bored in the Yulan Plane. After all, in terms of experts, the Infernal Realm has far more, and there are also many more places to go adventuring in the Infernal Realm.”

  Linley was in no hurry to establish his divine plane of wind. He stayed in the Infernal Realm, bringing over his family and friends. During this period of time, Linley also focused on his training, and on merging and fusing the separate Laws. Occasionally, he would spend some time with his family and friends.

  THE YEAR after Linley and Augusta’s battle was also the year when Linley’s reputation expanded the most extravagantly.

  Linley had heavily injured the Chief Sovereign of Light, and with a single sword blow, killed the earth-type Sovereign clone of the Chief Sovereign of Lightning, Hurley, terrifying Hurley into instant, panicked flight.

  This battle prowess was naturally spread to everyone else by the five other Chief Sovereigns of the Laws.

  This information was simply too astonishing. Soon, virtually all the Sovereigns became aware of it.

  Linley’s status instantly eclipsed that of the other Seven Elemental Chief Sovereigns, and was only second to the four supreme experts, Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts.

  And so, in the span of a single short year, more than ten Sovereigns had come to pay their respects to Linley. When Sovereigns met, they too would eat some fruit, drink some wine, and casually banter.

  Roughly a year after the battle with Augusta.

  The Infernal Realm. Bloodridge Province. Indigo Prefecture. The Skyrite Mountains. Linley’s Sovereign estate.

  Within this quiet, secluded estate, soft grass covered the ground. Linley was dressed in a long, loose robe. He sat in the meditative position as the wind blew past him, brushing against the strands of his hair.

  A figure slowly took form in front of Linley, as though it had teleported there.

  Linley opened his eyes. He saw that this person was a man dressed in long, blood-red robes. It was the Bloodridge Sovereign, Boson. He laughed, “Boson, why have you come to my place?” Not long ago, Boson had met with Linley, and at that time, Linley had wanted to address him as ‘Mr. Boson’, but no matter what he said, the Bloodridge Sovereign refused to be addressed like that.