Lord of the Mists

by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi

  Beirut was a person who was capable of killing ruthlessly, but also able to endure and hide.

  When he discovered the corpses of the Four Divine Beasts, although he knew that seizing them would be extremely dangerous, he also understood that after succeeding, he would go from being a Deity to a Sovereign. In addition, Beirut acted in accordance with the situation; first of all, the Chief Sovereign wasn’t paying him, a Highgod, any mind. Second, he was in a material plane and had the natural protection of a material plane from Sovereign intrusion. Third, he was a Godeater Rat who didn’t fear chaotic space.

  He had enough power and enough confidence. He dared to take risks, but also knew how to pull back.

  All of those things combined to result in the current Beirut.

  Otherwise, how could the Yulan branch produce three Sovereigns?

  “I hope things will turn out as you said, Grandpa Beirut.” Linley nodded.

  THE VAST, Divine Light Plane. A ray of light was streaking over from the teleportation array, instantly moving ten million kilometers away.

  The wind slashed past like a knife. Below him was the boundless water of the seas. A blue-robed Linley advanced through the air at high speed, staring ahead with a somber, icy calm gaze.

  “Eh?” Linley frowned slightly. “I didn’t expect that the Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, was here as well!”

  After arriving in the Divine Light Plane, Linley had sent his fused divine sense to instantly cover the entire plane, allowing him to maintain a watch over the activities of the entire plane. Naturally, Linley was able to detect the location of the Chief Sovereign of Light, Augusta, but unexpectedly, Augusta was alongside Orloff.

  “Him being here… is a good thing,” Linley mused.

  Linley didn’t come here for battle, but for negotiation. With Orloff present… Augusta wouldn’t dare to speak too wildly.

  Moments later…

  Linley’s divine sense changed from being generated by fused Sovereign power to earth-type Sovereign power, much like how an ordinary earth-type Sovereign would use it.

  This change to using earth-type Sovereign power for powering his divine sense was naturally detected by the two Chief Sovereigns.

  “Haha, Linley, why have you come to my place?” Augusta sent with a laugh, seemingly having forgotten the previous battle with Linley.

  “Naturally, I have something important to discuss.” Linley smiled slightly. “I didn’t expect Lord Orloff to be here as well. What a coincidence.”

  “Haha, I’m here to discuss some things with Augusta,” the Chief Sovereign of Fate’s gentle voice echoed in Linley’s mind as well. “Not long ago, I invited you, Linley, to come visit me in my Orloff Gardens, but unfortunately, despite waiting for so long, I never managed to see you.”

  A person could disguise his basic nature for hundreds or thousands of years, but it was impossible for a person to disguise his character forever.

  The Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, didn’t get involved in worldly affairs. He treated everyone he considered to be a friend in a very good manner. Linley felt much admiration for the Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff.

  But of course, Linley couldn’t possibly be like the Chief Sovereign of Fate; never getting married, never relaxing, never enjoying himself, and instead spending all of his time in various forms of research and training.

  “Lord Orloff, in the endless years to come, you and I will have plenty of time to meet each other. For example, aren’t we meeting today?” Linley laughed comfortably.

  “Haha, right. We will have endless years to come.” Orloff laughed as well.

  While chatting through divine sense, Linley had already flown past countless islands.

  He was like an arrow, streaking down from the skies.

  The island directly below Linley was the residence of the Chief Sovereign of Light!

  This was an extremely lavishly built island. The island had a circumference of a few thousand kilometers, and its main structures were made of a white material. Naturally, it had all sorts of rare, unique magical beasts, flowers, and vegetation that had been collected here. The magical beasts had their own regions, while the flowers had their own regions as well. They all had their own private areas.

  In the air above this island, there were a large number of Deity-level Angels.

  Aside from the Angels, all the other Deities in this island were female. The only males present were Augusta and Orloff!

  “Augusta really does know how to enjoy himself. Aside from his loyal Angels, everyone else here is female.” Linley couldn’t help but shake his head and laugh. And then, he stared into the distance, as from deep inside the island, two figures were flying towards him, shoulder-to-shoulder. These two figures were followed by a large number of female servants.

  It was really quite an impressive display.

  “Haha, Linley!” Augusta called out from far away, as though they were old friends of many years.

  “Augusta.” Linley smiled as he greeted him as well.

  The white-robed, white-haired elder, the Chief Sovereign of Fate, laughed calmly. “Let’s go inside and sit down. Augusta, I don’t want to criticize you, but we’re inside your island, and yet you put on such a grand show when welcoming guests?” The Chief Sovereign of Fate glanced sideways; the female servants behind them were divided into two rows, with one row of maids dressed in violet and the other dressed in pink. All of them were exceptional in terms of appearance.

  “Haha, I will naturally listen to any suggestions that you have, your Excellency.” Augusta laughed, then turned and waved his hand, saying calmly, “You can all retire.”

  Those female servants all uniformly bowed with respect. “Yes.” And then, they flew away in an orderly fashion.

  “Let’s go to the water garden to chat.” Augusta laughed while guiding the way.

  “The person who designed this island and its buildings was definitely at the grandmaster level.” Linley walked forward while viewing the island. He couldn’t help but let out a sigh of praise.

  Augusta laughed delightedly, “Haha, Linley, I don’t want to brag, but this island of a few thousand kilometers circumference has 30162 different types of flowers alone, all of varying sizes, colors, etc. The Angels make the arrangements for them. From every single viewing location, they will seem very natural and give one a comfortable feeling. There are also various types of magical beasts… for the sake of building this island, I invited over a thousand exceptional grandmaster level experts from across countless planes, each of whom specialized in various skills, so as to create a unified, cohesive whole.”

  Hearing this, Linley couldn’t help but shake his head internally.

  The rumors were indeed true. Augusta pursued perfection in all of his leisurely enjoyments.

  The water garden was a garden erected above a pool of water that had a circumference of a few thousand meters. The waters of the pool rippled with the wind, gleaming like precious sapphires. The entire garden was constructed from wooden materials, and the courtyards and pavilions all floated above the surface of the pool, and within the courtyard, small streams and ‘rivers’ of water flowed about.

  “This water garden doesn’t use any magical formations at all; it is completely built from the extremely light ‘fragrant hydrox’ wood, which generates enough floating power as to make the entire garden hover above the pool.” Augusta pointed towards one direction. “Look. That wooden bridge…”

  Augusta smugly pointed out one crafted item after another.

  Linley listened while enjoying the sights as well.

  “Alright, let’s all sit down,” the Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, frowned slightly and spoke out.

  “Right, right.” Augusta sensed that he had been showing off just a bit too much, making Orloff rather unhappy.

  The three sat down within an open-air veranda, which was surrounded by the azure waters of the pool.

  The Chief Sover
eign of Fate laughed as he glanced at Linley. “Linley, I imagine you came today on important business. Speak freely.”

  “That is indeed the case!” Linley laughed while nodding towards the Chief Sovereign of Fate, and then looked at Augusta. “Augusta, today I have come to ask your help with something.”

  “Whatever it is, speak freely.” Augusta laughed as well.

  Linley said solemnly, “I hope you can release a Twelve-Winged Angel and let her regain her free will.”

  “Twelve-Winged Angel?” Augusta couldn’t help but glance at the nearby Orloff. The Chief Sovereign of Fate frowned, but then let out a calm laugh. “Just one?”

  “Right. Just one.” Linley nodded.

  “One won’t make much of a difference.” Orloff laughed calmly.

  Linley couldn’t help but look at Augusta, who frowned and said, “Linley, this… is a bit troublesome.”

  74

  AN EXTREMELY HIGH PRICE!

  Troublesome?

  Hearing this, Linley couldn’t help but frown. Still, he didn’t say anything, instead just looking at Augusta, waiting to hear him speak.

  “Linley, I will tell you the truth. Even if one of the Chief Sovereigns came and asked me to release a Twelve-Winged Angel, it would be difficult,” Augusta said solemnly. “You should know that I have loaned my Twelve-Winged Angel army to Lord Orloff before, but that was just a loan; the Twelve-Winged Angels still belong to me.”

  Linley nodded slightly.

  He had heard from the Chief Sovereign of Death that Augusta probably wouldn’t be willing to release a Twelve-Winged Angel, even if the Chief Sovereign of Death herself asked. From this, one could imagine how difficult it would be for a Twelve-Winged Angel to regain freedom.

  “It isn’t that I don’t want to help you, only…” Augusta laughed, then shook his head. “Apologies.”

  Linley frowned slightly.

  “Augusta, it is just a single Twelve-Winged Angel!” Linley said heavily. “If you have any difficulties, just tell me.”

  Augusta shook his head and laughed, “This involves some secrets that I don’t wish to make public. I can tell you this, though… the price of releasing a Twelve-Winged Angel is so high that… hmph, ever since the creation of the universe and ever since I became the Chief Sovereign of Light, I have never released a single Twelve-Winged Angel. From this, you should be able to imagine how complicated the secrets involved in this are.”

  “Is there nothing at all that can be done?” Linley was rather frantic.

  “There is. Only, it is too difficult, and the price is too great. I don’t wish to do this.” Augusta shook his head and laughed.

  Linley was no longer able to stay calm.

  He understood that Augusta was perhaps telling the truth.

  “Augusta.” The nearby Chief Sovereign of Fate laughed calmly, “I can tell that for Linley to come here in person means that he cares deeply about that Twelve-Winged Angel. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have come personally. Come up with a way to help out Linley a bit. If the price is high, let Linley compensate you.”

  “Right. I am willing to compensate you for your loss.” Linley gritted his teeth. There was nothing else he could say.

  Perhaps Linley would be badly taken advantage of, but Linley had no other choices.

  Kill Augusta?

  He wasn’t powerful enough, and the Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, was right there.

  “Haha. Compensate?” Augusta sipped some wine, then snickered, “Linley, you have no idea how high the price is for me to release a Twelve-Winged Angel! Let me put it to you like this. The price for restoring free will to a Twelve-Winged Angel is so high that to me, it would hurt as much as having the majority of my sons and daughters being killed!”

  Linley felt shock in his heart.

  Parents cared deeply about their sons and daughters. Although Augusta had many children, for him to say that the price was equivalent to losing the majority of his offspring… one could imagine how terrifying the price was.

  “Augusta.” The nearby Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, frowned. “Any loss and any price, no matter how great, has a limit. You should try and help Linley if you can. Tell him what you need, and I imagine he will compensate you,” Orloff spoke out on Linley’s behalf as well.

  Linley could tell…

  Ever since the Chief Sovereign of Destruction had executed that ‘Spacetime Paradox’ technique, the Chief Sovereign of Fate’s attitude towards Linley had markedly improved. This time, he was speaking out on Linley’s behalf as well.

  “Speak. What do you need me to agree to, in order for you to be willing to do it?” Linley looked towards Augusta.

  “Lord Orloff’s words are correct. No matter how high a price is, there is a limit. But this limit is beyond my ability to bear. If, Linley, you are willing to offer me your Overgod artifact, I am willing to accept.” Augusta snickered. “But, Linley, are you willing to give it to me?”

  “Overgod artifact?” Linley was startled.

  All Sovereigns knew exactly how precious an Overgod artifact was.

  “Overgod artifact… mother…” Linley murmured silently to himself.

  “Be practical.” The Overgod of Fate, Orloff, frowned. “Augusta, the value of all of your Angels combined is still less than an Overgod artifact. You go too far by suggesting it. Suggest something that is reasonable.”

  Augusta laughed calmly. “I can’t think of anything that Linley might have that is enough to make up for my loss…”

  Linley felt frantic.

  “Augusta!” Linley was just about to say something.

  “Hm?” Augusta suddenly looked towards Linley. “Linley, I suddenly thought of something. If you accept, then we can discuss this.”

  “Speak.” Linley let out a secret sigh of relief.

  The nearby Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, couldn’t help but laugh and nod as he saw this.

  “I know about the relationship between you and Beirut.” Augusta snorted coldly. “That Beirut. In the past, he seized my…”

  “Just go straight to the point,” Linley said. Linley was worried that Augusta wanted him to kill Grandpa Beirut.

  Augusta gave him a glance, then snickered. “I can tell that the two of you are close. Don’t worry, I’m not asking you to go kill Beirut. My request is… to give me a hundred drops of blood essence from each of the Four Divine Beasts! If you do so, then I would be willing to release a Twelve-Winged Angel, despite what it would cost me.”

  “A hundred drops each?” Linley couldn’t help but cry out in shock. “Augusta, do you know how many blood essence drops the Four Divine Beasts had in total?”

  Augusta, seeing this, just laughed to himself.

  He had intentionally set a high target, so that they could bargain.

  “Even if you killed me and Beirut, you wouldn’t be able to procure that much blood essence.” Linley shook his head. “In the past, the Chief Sovereign of Destruction took away more than half of the blood essence of the Four Divine Beasts from Beirut, so as to go and experiment. Only the remaining portion is in Beirut’s hands, and he used up a large amount of it in his own experiments as well. The remaining amount of blood essence is very small.”

  Augusta, hearing this, frowned.

  He knew that the Chief Sovereign of Destruction had acquired a large amount of blood essence, and he even knew a bit about Beirut’s experiments.

  “If the amount is too small, I simply cannot accept.” Augusta snorted.

  “Augusta, to tell you the truth, of the blood essences of the Four Divine Beasts, I myself have already used up some of the blood essence of the Azure Dragon to strengthen my own body. I have the least amount of the Azure Dragon’s blood essence. As for the other three types of blood essence, I’m able to procure a bit more,” Linley said. “Grandpa Beirut and I can give you, at most, eleven drops of the blood essence of the Azure Dragon. As for the other three blood essences, I will t
ry to come up with a way to acquire twenty or thirty drops, but I can’t be certain as to the exact number. This is because I need to ask Beirut.”

  Linley naturally wouldn’t report a precise figure.

  Beirut had originally given Linley 81 drops of each blood essence. Linley now had less than forty drops of the Azure Dragon’s blood essence, but as for the other three, he had more than seventy.

  “Eleven drops of the Azure Dragon’s blood essence?” Augusta looked closely at Linley, then nodded slightly. “Fine. Eleven drops of the Azure Dragon’s blood essence, and thirty of each of the other three Divine Beasts! I can’t accept anything lower. If you give it to me, I will release that Twelve-Winged Angel you are looking for.”

  Linley let out a sigh of relief.

  Finally, success.

  “Thirty each? Augusta, because I don’t have the blood essence on me, I need to go ask Beirut. I cannot guarantee 100% the exact amount, but the difference shouldn’t be that great. Even if there is a difference, I will think of a way to compensate you for it.”

  “Fine. Bring over the blood essence of the Four Divine Beasts,” Augusta said.

  “Haha…” The nearby Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, couldn’t help but laugh. “Augusta, isn’t cooperation excellent? However, Augusta, why do you want the blood essence of the Four Divine Beasts? Why don’t you give it to me, and I’ll hand over some supreme techniques that I’ve developed to you.”

  Linley couldn’t help but look at Augusta.

  Because the Chief Sovereign of Destruction had lost the battle between himself and the Chief Sovereign of Fate, he had told the Chief Sovereign of Fate the secrets of his technique, ‘Spacetime Paradox’. If the Chief Sovereign of Fate then acquired the blood essences of the Four Divine Beasts, he would truly become invincible.

  “Lord Orloff. I deeply admire Lord Wodred, and also want to try my hand at research,” Augusta said with a laugh.