Chapter 26: A Costly Price!
Trouble?
Linley frowned upon hearing this, but said nothing, simply looking at Augusta as he continued speaking.
“Linley, I’ll be honest with you. Even if another Sovereign came and asked me to release a Twelve-Winged Angel, it would be extremely difficult,” Augusta said solemnly. “You must have heard that I lent Lord O’Brian the Twelve-Winged Angel Legion. But that was only a loan—the Twelve-Winged Angels still belong to me.”
Linley nodded slightly.
He had also heard from the Sovereign of Death that even she, with her influence, might not be able to persuade Augusta to free a single Twelve-Winged Angel. This made it clear that restoring a Twelve-Winged Angel’s freedom was undoubtedly a very troublesome matter.
“It’s not that I don’t want to help you, it’s just…” Augusta shook his head with a smile. “Sorry.”
Linley frowned slightly.
“Augusta, it’s only one Twelve-Winged Angel!” Linley said seriously. “If there are any difficulties, just tell me.”
Augusta shook his head and laughed. “This involves some secrets that I’d rather not make public. But I’ll tell you this—the cost of restoring a Twelve-Winged Angel’s freedom is so high… Hmph, ever since the dawn of creation, since I ascended to the position of Sovereign of Light, I have never once freed a Twelve-Winged Angel. From this, you can imagine just how complex the secrets involved are.”
“Is there no way at all?” Linley began to feel anxious inside.
“There is, but the difficulty is too great, and the price is too steep. I don’t want to do it,” Augusta said, shaking his head.
Linley could no longer remain calm.
He understood. What Augusta said might very well be true.
“Augusta,” the Sovereign of Fate, O’Brian, interjected with a faint smile. “I can see that Linley came here this time because he truly values that Twelve-Winged Angel. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have come to you in person. Think of some way to help Linley as much as you can. If the cost is high, let Linley compensate you for it.”
“Yes, I’m willing to compensate you for your loss,” Linley said through gritted teeth, having no other choice.
Perhaps this would mean Linley would be taken advantage of heavily, but he had no alternative.
Kill Augusta?
His strength wasn’t enough, and besides, the Sovereign of Fate, O’Brian, was right there beside him.
“Haha, compensate?” Augusta took a sip of wine and sneered. “Linley, you have no idea how high the cost is to free a Twelve-Winged Angel. Let me put it this way—the price is so steep that the pain it causes me is no less than losing more than half of my own children!”
Linley was startled.
Parents generally cherished their biological children. Although Augusta had many offspring, saying the pain was comparable to losing more than half of them? That gave Linley an idea of just how enormous the cost was.
“Augusta,” the Sovereign of Fate, O’Brian, frowned. “The loss may be great, and the cost high, but there is still a limit. Try to help Linley as much as you can. You can also make some demands—I think Linley will compensate you.” O’Brian was speaking on Linley’s behalf.
Linley could sense…
Ever since he had seen the Sovereign of Destruction unleash that ultimate technique, Temporal Chaos, the Sovereign of Fate had been treating him very well. This time, he was also speaking up for him.
“Just say it. If you’re willing to do it, tell me what conditions I need to meet,” Linley said, looking at Augusta.
“Lord O’Brian is right—no matter how high the cost, there is a limit. But it’s already something I can barely bear. Linley, if you were willing to give me your Overgod artifact, then I might agree,” Augusta sneered. “But would you be willing to give me your Overgod artifact, Linley?”
“Overgod artifact?” Linley was shocked.
Every Sovereign knew just how precious an Overgod artifact was.
“Overgod artifact… Mother…” Linley murmured in his heart.
“Let’s talk about something realistic,” the Sovereign of Fate, O’Brian, said with a frown. “Augusta, all your angels combined aren’t worth a single Overgod artifact. Mentioning an Overgod artifact is too much. Suggest something that both sides can accept.”
Augusta said lightly, “I can’t think of anything Linley has that would be enough to compensate me for my loss…”
Linley grew anxious.
“Augusta!” Linley was about to speak.
“Hmm?” Augusta suddenly looked at Linley. “Linley, I just thought of something. If you agree, then we might have something to discuss.”
“Say it,” Linley said, breathing a sigh of relief.
The Sovereign of Fate, O’Brian, nodded with a smile upon seeing this.
“I know about your relationship with Beirut,” Augusta said coldly. “That Beirut once took from me…”
“Just state your condition directly,” Linley interrupted. What he feared most was that Augusta would demand he kill Grandpa Beirut.
Augusta glanced at him and sneered. “I can see you two are close. Don’t worry, I won’t ask you to kill Beirut. My condition is this—give me 100 drops of blood essence from each of the Four Divine Beasts! If you do, I will spare no cost and give you the Twelve-Winged Angel you want.”
“100 drops each?” Linley couldn’t help but exclaim. “Augusta, do you know how much blood essence the Four Divine Beasts had in total?”
Augusta chuckled inwardly.
He had deliberately named a high price so they could negotiate.
“Even if you killed me and Beirut, you wouldn’t get that much blood essence from the Four Divine Beasts,” Linley said, shaking his head. “Back then, the Sovereign of Destruction took most of the Four Divine Beasts’ blood essence from Beirut for his experiments. What remained in Beirut’s hands was only a portion. And Beirut himself used some in his own experiments, consuming a fair amount. What’s left now is very, very little.”
Augusta frowned upon hearing this.
He knew that the Sovereign of Destruction had taken a large amount of the Four Divine Beasts’ blood essence, and he was also somewhat aware of Beirut’s experiments.
“If the quantity is too small, I can’t agree,” Augusta snorted.
“Augusta, to be honest, among the Four Divine Beasts’ blood essence, I’ve already used some of the Azure Dragon’s blood essence to strengthen my own body. What remains is the least. For the other three Divine Beasts’ blood essence, I can still scrape together a bit,” Linley said. “For the Azure Dragon’s blood essence, even if I go to Beirut, I can give you at most 11 drops. As for the other three, I’ll do my best to gather maybe twenty or thirty drops each—I can’t give an exact number because I need to check with Beirut.”
Linley naturally wouldn’t reveal the true numbers.
Beirut had originally given Linley 81 drops of each type. Linley now had less than 40 drops of Azure Dragon blood essence left, while the other three still had over 70 drops each.
“At most 11 drops of Azure Dragon blood essence?” Augusta studied Linley closely and finally nodded slightly. “Alright, 11 drops of Azure Dragon blood essence, and 30 drops each of the other three. That’s the lowest I’ll go. Give me that, and I’ll free the Twelve-Winged Angel you’re looking for.”
Linley breathed a sigh of relief.
It was finally settled.
“30 drops each? Augusta, since the blood essence isn’t with me, I need to ask Beirut. I can’t guarantee it one hundred percent, but it should be close. If there’s any shortfall, I’ll find a way to make it up with something else,” Linley said.
“Fine, bring me the Four Divine Beasts’ blood essence then,” Augusta said.
“Haha…” the Sovereign of Fate, O’Brian, laughed. “Augusta, you two are cooperating quite well. But Augusta, what use do you have for the Four Divine Beasts’ blood essence? Why not give it to me? I can teach you the ultimate technique I’ve been researching.”
Linley looked at Augusta.
After the battle between the Sovereign of Fate and the Sovereign of Destruction, the Sovereign of Destruction had been defeated and had revealed the secrets of Temporal Chaos to the Sovereign of Fate. If the Four Divine Beasts’ blood essence fell into the Sovereign of Fate’s hands, he would truly become invincible.
“Lord O’Brian, I also admire Lord Utreid’s power and would like to do some research myself,” Augusta said with a smile.
Within the Blue Mansion, in the Heavenly Sacrifice Mountain Range.
Hogg was together with Wharton.
“Swoosh.” Linley’s figure suddenly appeared beside them.
“Big brother,” Wharton said happily. Hogg looked at Linley in surprise and smiled. “Linley, what’s the matter?”
Linley had three Sovereign clones. When he had gone to the Plane of Light this time, he had left his Water Sovereign clone and Wind Sovereign clone in the Infernal Realm. Unlike ordinary Sovereigns, Linley was a soul mutant, which meant any of his Sovereign clones could use fused Sovereign power!
Moreover, each Sovereign clone’s soul possessed the same degree of willpower.
This meant that Linley’s three Sovereign clones each had comparable strength, all surpassing the Law Sovereigns!
In other words, Linley alone could match three Sovereign-level experts.
However, he only had one Life Overgod artifact, and the Sovereign clone wielding it was the strongest. This was also why Linley hadn’t used all three Sovereign clones to surround the Sovereign of Light earlier—doing so would have likely resulted in the Sovereign of Light killing his unarmed clones one by one with a single sword strike.
“Father, come with me. I need you to identify who Mother is,” Linley said.
“What did you say?” Hogg shot to his feet, his eyes filled with shock.
“Big brother, you mean Mother?” Wharton was also stunned.
“Linley.” Hogg grabbed Linley by both shoulders, his hands trembling and his eyes red as he stared at Linley. “You, you found your mother?” Hogg’s love for his wife was so deep it had become part of his soul. It was this very search for the truth behind her disappearance that had ultimately led to his death.
“Yes, Father,” Linley said, feeling his father’s excitement and nodding.
“Good.” Hogg was flustered, then snapped back to reality and said urgently, “Quick, take me there.”
“Let’s go! Wharton, stay here. I’ll bring Father and Mother back today,” Linley said. With that, his Wind Sovereign clone took Hogg and left the Heavenly Sacrifice Mountain Range directly.
With Linley’s Sovereign clone carrying Hogg, their speed was naturally extremely fast.
At that moment, in the Water Garden on Augusta’s luxurious island.
“Nearly ten thousand years ago? A soul sent up from the Yulan Plane?” Augusta nodded after hearing Linley’s account. “Don’t worry. Twelve-Winged Angels are sometimes not born for millions of years. One born around ten thousand years ago is probably just one or two. And since it came from the Yulan Plane, it will be easy to find.”
With that, Augusta extended his divine sense.
“Oh, you’ve brought someone with you?” Augusta looked at Linley with a smile, having sensed Linley’s Sovereign clone approaching with Hogg.
“That’s my father,” Linley admitted with a faint smile.
“The Twelve-Winged Angel is on one of the nearby islands. She’ll be here soon,” Augusta said lightly. “My subordinates have already checked. Indeed, on the first day of the first month of Yulan Year 9987, a female soul was offered up. The soul was very pure, and after being nurtured in the Angel Rebirth Pool, she became a Twelve-Winged Angel.”
Linley’s heart trembled.
“That’s her! That’s Mother!” Linley cried out in his heart.
Linley was born in Yulan Year 9982, and his younger brother Wharton in Yulan Year 9986. Their father Hogg had taken their pregnant mother Lina to the well-equipped city of Fenlai for childbirth, where she had given birth. Afterward, they went to the Radiant Temple to pray, and then, on the night they stayed at the inn…
Mother was taken.
The Radiant Church had offered up souls on Yulan Day, which fit perfectly.
“Once you give me the Four Divine Beasts’ blood essence, I’ll free that Twelve-Winged Angel and let her go with you,” Augusta said. Suddenly, he looked up. “Alright, that Twelve-Winged Angel has arrived.”
Linley’s gaze instantly burned with intensity as he looked up—
A beautiful woman with brown hair, just like Linley’s, dressed in flowing white robes, descended from the sky. Her six pairs of pure white wings were spread wide.
“Mother?” At that moment, Linley held his breath.