Chapter 11: The Hunt Begins
Hunting a Sovereign. Refining a Sovereign spark.
For Linley, a soul mutation with four clones, this was indeed the fastest path to increasing his power.
"Other Sovereigns will be angry and try to stop us?" Beirut pondered for a moment, then nodded. "Of course, there are agreements among Sovereigns. For example, if an Overlord attacks a lesser Sovereign, it's basically slaughter. If anyone violates that, they'll face a joint punitive expedition from the four Ruling Overlords!"
Linley's heart trembled.
A joint punitive expedition from the four Ruling Overlords?
"It seems the Overgods don't care about Sovereigns killing each other," Linley suddenly remarked.
Qinghuo beside him smiled faintly. "The Overgods are just rules. They're responsible for keeping the countless planes running smoothly. If a Sovereign dies, they won't bother. One Sovereign dies, and surely a new Sovereign will be born. It's the Sovereigns themselves who worry that such slaughter would lead to chaos. That's why they made that agreement."
"What's the content of the agreement?" Linley asked immediately.
Beirut smiled faintly. "The agreement is simple. Among the three ranks of Sovereigns, if a lower-rank Sovereign doesn't provoke a higher-rank one, the higher-rank Sovereign is not allowed to slaughter the lower-rank one. Only Sovereigns of equal rank can fight and kill each other. The four Ruling Overlords jointly oversee this!"
"Only Sovereigns of equal rank can fight each other?" Linley nodded to himself.
"If that's the case, then couldn't the four Ruling Overlords easily kill other Overlords?" Linley pressed.
"Haha..." Beirut couldn't help but laugh. "Linley, are you stupid? Overlords can fight each other. The four Ruling Overlords have Overgod artifacts that match their laws. Their weapons are powerful, but that doesn't mean their speed surpasses other Overlords. If other Overlords can't win, can't they flee?"
"Right, right," Linley said sheepishly.
For Sovereigns of the same level, their escape abilities generally weren't too far apart. Especially since divine sense would detect the enemy early, allowing them to flee in time.
"But back then, when Augusta killed the Four Divine Beasts... wasn't that a violation of the agreement?" Linley asked, puzzled.
"I said Sovereigns of equal rank can fight. Here, 'equal rank' refers to actual strength. Everything is based on strength!" Beirut explained. "Although the Four Divine Beasts were lower gods, when they joined forces, they were comparable to Sovereigns. Should we count them as lower gods? If so, wouldn't they be able to slaughter lower gods?"
Linley understood.
The Four Divine Beasts were classified at the Overlord level of strength.
"Linley, in terms of strength, you're also at the Overlord level," Beirut said with a sly smile. "But others don't know that. Let's first hunt a Sovereign, and you refine a Sovereign spark. Then, even if other Sovereigns find you, it won't be hard to come up with some excuse."
Linley's mind stirred, and he smiled. "I understand!"
The secret of his soul mutation was unknown to others. Making up a few words to bluff his way through wouldn't be difficult.
"Besides, the Overlord of Destruction has a good relationship with us and will speak on our behalf," Beirut said calmly. "And I recall that the Overlord of Death also has a decent relationship with you, Linley."
This agreement was originally jointly enforced by the four Ruling Overlords. Since the Overlord of Destruction and the Overlord of Death were on good terms with Linley's side, there was no need to worry.
"Hunt a Sovereign. So who do we hunt?" Linley suddenly asked.
"Linley, you still need wind-type and fire-type Sovereign sparks. Should these sparks be from a lesser Sovereign, a mid-rank Sovereign, or even a high-rank Sovereign?" Beirut inquired instead. Clearly, Beirut also understood the principle of balance, which was why he asked.
Linley nodded. "Lesser Sovereign sparks!"
For example, with four types of high-level divine power, although high-level divine power was far weaker than Sovereign power, because of the balance, the fusion of four types of high-level divine power had power exceeding Sovereign power by ten times, and it also had various unique effects like strengthening the body and enhancing weapons.
A Sovereign spark wasn't necessarily better the stronger it was. The most important thing was—balance!
"Alright then. Now, we either kill a wind-type lesser Sovereign or a fire-type lesser Sovereign." Beirut pondered for a moment. "Among these Sovereigns, the one with the worst relationship with us is the wind-type Sovereign, Telesia. Back when I first got the four Sovereign sparks and went to the Infernal Realm, this Telesia pressured me."
"Telesia..."
Linley nodded as well.
Back in the Infernal Realm, if not for the Bloodpeak Sovereign stepping in, Telesia would have almost killed him over the nine spirit pearls.
Also, in the spatial turbulence, it was only because Beirut and Qinghuo repeatedly intervened to block Telesia that Linley managed to escape alive with the Overgod's token and return to the Yulan continent.
"This Telesia has tried to deal with me several times, wanting me dead. And Grandpa Beirut, you have old grudges with him," Linley said, nodding. "Then, we'll go after him!"
"Hmph. That Telesia is just a lesser Sovereign, but his ambitions are not small," Qinghuo also nodded. "He deserves to die."
In just that brief moment, the three Sovereigns of the Yulan lineage had decided the fate of another Sovereign. As for the purpose of this trip—hunting a Sovereign—Linley only told a few people, like Delia and Bebe. They were shocked by the decision of Linley, Beirut, and Qinghuo, but Delia and Bebe had full confidence in the three of them.
"Boss, whether I can freely roam the various planes in the future depends on you," Bebe joked with a grin.
"Then just watch," Linley said with a hearty laugh.
"Linley, be careful," Delia reminded him.
"Mm." Linley gently squeezed Delia's hand, then turned and left.
This operation, according to the plan, wouldn't take long. After saying goodbye to his family and friends, Linley set off with Beirut and Qinghuo.
Over the sea.
Linley, Beirut, and Qinghuo, three Sovereigns, were flying leisurely northward. They were in no hurry at all.
"Linley, have you made any progress in studying the blood essence of the Four Divine Beasts over these five thousand years?" Beirut asked.
"No major results," Linley said, shaking his head with a smile. "Because Gates and his four brothers in Dragonblood Castle are from the Xuanwu clan, I learned something about how Xuanwu's blood essence works through them. That allowed me to guess how the Azure Dragon, my clan's ancestor, strengthened his body back then."
The Azure Dragon's body-strengthening method also borrowed from the Xuanwu's method.
"But my body was already strong enough. Absorbing some of the ancestor's blood essence only improved it by one level," Linley said with a faint smile. At his level of body strength, further enhancement was extremely difficult.
"As for the innate divine abilities of the Four Divine Beasts, I couldn't figure them out," Linley sighed. "After all, I never saw the Four Divine Beasts use them, and my research on the soul is relatively shallow."
"Haha, don't be discouraged. I've studied it longer than you, and I've even seen the Four Divine Beasts use their abilities. I've also done in-depth research on the soul, but I still haven't figured it out," Beirut said with a faint smile. "The fact that your body could be strengthened again is already worth celebrating. Unfortunately, that blood essence had no strengthening effect on me."
It worked on Linley because he was a descendant of the Azure Dragon clan.
"Grandpa Beirut, Qinghuo," Linley suddenly said with a mysterious smile.
"Hmm?" The two looked at him curiously.
"Just now, I swept my divine sense over you twelve times. Did you feel anything?" Linley smiled at them. He had deliberately swept his divine sense over Beirut and Qinghuo, but they hadn't noticed at all and continued talking normally.
"What? You probed us with your divine sense?" Beirut and Qinghuo exchanged glances, both shocked.
"Yes," Linley nodded.
"This..." Beirut and the others were stunned.
You see, when Sovereigns probe each other, the target can always sense it. Even when an Overlord probes a lesser Sovereign, the lesser Sovereign can still sense it. Why? Because no matter what rank of Sovereign, the soul power they use is Sovereign power—the same level of Sovereign power.
The only difference is in the willpower energy, which slightly affects intensity and thus the range of coverage.
But per unit area, Sovereign divine sense is no different.
"It might be because I'm using fused Sovereign power to project my divine sense," Linley explained with a smile. Fused Sovereign power was a whole level above ordinary Sovereign power.
That the target couldn't detect his divine sense was within expectations.
It was like back in the planar battlefield, when Linley was still a god. As a soul mutation, his divine sense couldn't be detected even by Paragons.
"Haha, this is great, this is great!" Beirut was overjoyed. "Linley, this way, even if you use your divine sense to find other Sovereigns, they won't realize you're probing them! Now, even if we go after Telesia, he won't have any idea that we're tracking him."
"Exactly," Linley said, also delighted.
The strength of divine sense was another advantage of fused Sovereign power!
Beirut was ecstatic: "Originally, I was worried that Telesia would detect us and flee first. I even planned for the three of us to split up and surround him from different directions. But now, it seems that's completely unnecessary."
"Haha, let's go," Qinghuo said with a hearty laugh. "Time to head to the wind-type divine plane."
"Let's move out." Beirut and Linley also laughed as they flew together toward the teleportation array.
The three Sovereigns of the Yulan lineage were leaving the Yulan plane as Sovereigns for the first time!
To deal with Telesia, Beirut had naturally already checked on Telesia's whereabouts. Through the Bloodpeak Sovereign, Beirut learned that Telesia had returned to the wind-type divine plane five thousand years ago. The wind-type divine plane, created jointly by the seven wind-type Sovereigns back then, was vast and boundless.
In terms of the number of gods, the seven divine planes weren't far behind the four higher planes. It was a staggering number. Countless gods were spread across the nine continents of the wind-type divine plane. Every day, a large number of gods died, and many brilliant talents broke through.
To survive, they fought!
For glory, they fought!
Countless gods struggled and fought on the nine continents of the wind-type divine plane.
But the Sovereigns were high above.
They watched the countless ants fighting and slaughtering like a game. Occasionally, they would choose a messenger and intervene in the game.
On the Qingya Island of the wind-type divine plane.
The silver-haired, eagle-beaked man Telesia stood before the beach, gazing at the endless ocean.
Telesia was an extremely ambitious man. He would stop at nothing to become stronger.
Back in the material plane of the Dilan plane, he had stood out as a genius, easily becoming a god. Later, he came to the higher plane of the Netherworld, where he killed and fought constantly until he became a powerful high-level god. When the 77 Sovereign sparks were scattered across the four higher planes, countless experts fought fiercely for them.
He seized one and became a wind-type Sovereign!
After becoming a Sovereign, he used the powerful faith energy to take the final step and become a Paragon!
He had never failed and was always confident!
Even after becoming a Sovereign, Telesia never gave up on increasing his power. At his level, there were only three ways to increase power: one, obtain an Overgod artifact; two, refine another Sovereign spark to have a Sovereign clone; three, make the wind-type divine plane win ten consecutive planar wars.
"Hmm? What's going on today? I keep feeling uneasy." Telesia frowned, his narrow eyes sweeping around like knives.
Involuntarily, Telesia spread his divine sense, instantly covering the entire wind-type divine plane.
But—
Less than a hundred million miles away from him, three figures were speeding toward him.
Beirut in a black robe, Qinghuo with red eyebrows in a white robe, and Linley in a sky-blue robe!
Three Sovereigns flying side by side!
"Beirut, Linley, and that fire-type Sovereign!" Telesia's face changed drastically.