To hunt and kill a Sovereign, then fuse with his divine spark.
To Linley, a four-way Soul Mutate, this was indeed a possible avenue for increasing his power.
“Attract the wrath of other Sovereigns who would stop us?” Beirut paused momentarily, then nodded and said, “Naturally, there is a pact between the Sovereigns. If a Chief Sovereign was to fight a Lesser Sovereign, that would be a slaughter. Thus, if anyone violate the pact, the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts will join forces to punish them!”
Linley’s heart clenched.
The Chief Sovereigns of the Four Edicts jointly punish them?
“It seems as though the Overgods don’t care about fratricide amongst Sovereigns.” Linley suddenly said.
The nearby Bluefire laughed calmly. “The Overgods are only the Edicts. They are only responsible for making sure that the countless planes of the universe function normally. They won’t care about the deaths of the Sovereigns. If a Sovereign dies, there will definitely be another Sovereign born. The main issue is that the Sovereigns themselves worried that if this sort of internal slaughter was to occur, the universe would be too chaotic. Thus, they came together in agreement on a pact.”
“What does this pact entail?” Linley immediately asked.
Beirut laughed calmly, “The pact is simple. There are three ranks of Sovereigns. If a lower-ranked Sovereign did not antagonize a higher-ranked Sovereign, the higher-ranked Sovereign is not permitted to slaughter the lower-ranked Sovereign. Only Sovereigns at the same ranks are able to battle each other. This point was decided upon jointly by the Chief Sovereigns of the Four Edicts!”
“So only Sovereigns of the same level of power are permitted to fight each other?” Linley nodded to himself.
“If that’s the case, then doesn’t that mean the Chief Sovereigns of the Four Edicts are permitted to easily slaughter the other Chief Sovereigns?”
“Haha…” Beirut couldn’t help but laugh. “Linley, are you an idiot? The Chief Sovereigns can fight against each other, yes, and the Chief Sovereigns of the Four Edicts have Overgod artifacts that suit their nature, true. But just because they have powerful weapons doesn’t mean that their speed is greater than that of the other Chief Sovereigns. If the other Chief Sovereigns aren’t able to overcome them, can’t they run?”
“Oh. Right. Right.” Linley said, embarrassed.
Sovereigns of the same rank generally wouldn’t be too different from each other in terms of speed, especially since they would be able to discover the enemy from far away through their Sovereign sense.
“But in the past, Augusta killed the Four Divine Beasts. This…doesn’t this count as violating the pact?” Linley couldn’t help but say, puzzled.
“I told you that only Sovereigns of the same level of power were permitted to fight each other. This pointed towards people at the same level of power; what matters is actual power!” Beirut said. “The Four Divine Beasts, although all Lesser Sovereigns, were comparable to a Chief Sovereign when working together. How could they be treated as Lesser Sovereigns? Wouldn’t that allow them to massacre all of the Lesser Sovereigns?”
Linley understood now.
The Four Divine Beasts had been placed on the level of ‘Chief Sovereigns’ in power.
“Linley. In terms of power, you, too, are at the ‘Chief Sovereign’ level.” Beirut laughed insidiously. “However, nobody knows. We can go hunt and kill one Sovereign, and you can fuse the Sovereign spark. By then, even if the other Sovereigns find you, you can just find an excuse for what you did. That shouldn’t be too hard.”
Linley was moved, and he laughed. “I understand!”
Others didn’t know the secret of him being a Soul Mutate, and thus it shouldn’t be too hard for him to make something up.
“In addition, the Chief Sovereign of Destruction is on fairly close terms with us. He will help speak on our behalf.” Beirut laughed calmly. “As I recall, the Chief Sovereign of Death is on fairly good terms with you as well, Linley.”
The pact was decided upon jointly by the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts. Given that the Chief Sovereigns of Destruction and Death were on good terms with Linley’s side, this matter naturally wouldn’t prove problematic.
“Hunt and kill a Sovereign. Who should we hunt and kill?” Linley suddenly asked.
“Linley. You should still require a wind-type Sovereign spark and a fire-type Sovereign spark, right? Is it better to have a Lesser Sovereign spark or an Intermediate Sovereign spark, or even a High Sovereign spark?” Beirut asked instead. Clearly, Beirut understood the principles of balance, which was why he asked.
Linley nodded and said, “Lesser Sovereign spark!”
When he fused four types of divine power, although divine power was much weaker than Sovereign power, because of the balance of the fusion, the four-way fusion of divine power was actually ten times more powerful than Sovereign power. In addition, it also strengthened the body, strengthened artifacts, and had other miraculous effects.
It wasn’t necessarily true that the stronger the Sovereign spark, the better. What mattered more was…balance!
“Very well. We shall now go kill either a wind-element Lesser Sovereign or a fire-element Lesser Sovereign.” Beirut paused momentarily, then said, “Amongst the Sovereigns, the one whom we are on the worst terms with is the Sovereign of Wind, Teresia! Originally, when I acquired the four Sovereign sparks, after I went to the Infernal Realm, Teresia tried to threaten me.”
“Teresia…”
Linley nodded.
In the Infernal Realm, if it hadn’t been for the Bloodridge Sovereign appearing, Teresia might nearly have killed Linley for the sake of the nine soul pearls.
In addition, in the void of chaotic space, if it hadn’t been for Beirut and Bluefire successively blocking Teresia, on that occasion as well, Linley probably wouldn’t have been able to bring the Overgod talisman back to the Yulan Plane.
“Teresia has acted against me multiple times and wanted to kill me. In addition, there lies an old grudge between Teresia and yourself, Grandpa Beirut.” Linley nodded. “Then…let’s make him the one!”
“Hmph. Teresia is a mere Lesser Sovereign, and yet he has quite a bit of ambition.” Bluefire nodded as well. “He deserves death.”
The three Sovereigns of the Yulan Plane, in just a few moments, had determined the fate of a different Sovereign.
Three days later.
Linley bid his family and friends farewell. As for the target of this mission, to hunt and kill a Sovereign? Linley only told Delia, Bebe, and a few others. Delia and the others had all been stunned at the decision of Linley and the other two, but Delia and Bebe were filled with sufficient confidence towards Linley, Beirut, and Bluefire.
“Boss, your actions will determine if I’ll be able to roam about and adventure in the various planes in the future.” Bebe pursed his lips and laughed.
“Just wait and watch.” Linley laughed loudly.
“Linley, be careful.” Delia warned.
“Right.” Linley gently squeezed Delia’s hands, then turned and left.
This mission, according to their plans, wouldn’t take too long. Linley said a few more words to his family and friends, then left alongside Beirut and Bluefire.
The Yulan Plane. The vast, endless North Sea region.
Linley, Beirut, and Bluefire were currently flying leisurely to the north. The three weren’t in the slightest rush at all.
“Linley, have you gained anything from your five thousand years of analyzing the blood essences of the Four Divine Beasts?” Beirut asked.
“Not much.” Linley shook his head and laughed. “Because Gates and his four brothers at Dragonblood Castle are of the Black Tortoise lineage, through them, I’ve gained a bit of understanding as to how one should unleash the power of the blood essence of the Black Tortoise. I am also now able to hypothesize at the mechanism by which the ancestor of my Azure Dragon clan, the ‘Azure Dragon’, was able to strengthen his body.”
The Azure Dragon’s body strengthening mechanism was borrowed from the Black Tortoise’s transformation.