Indeed, when Oakes used his fused divine power as a soul-mutated expert, he was ten times stronger than an ordinary Asura Prefect-level powerhouse.
In terms of raw strength in his normal state, calling Oakes the strongest in the Netherworld—or at least among the top three—was not an exaggeration.
However, once Sovereign's power and Sovereign artifacts entered the equation, the gap between Oakes and the other Sovereign's Emissaries was no longer that large.
The amplification from Sovereign's power effectively erased the advantage granted by his fused divine power.
If Oakes truly wanted to rank among the top three of the Netherworld in absolute terms, then either his Wind Laws needed one more fused Profound Mystery, or he needed to fuse a fourth Profound Mystery between Wind and Water.
To be honest, once word of the second Sovereign army's recruitment standards spread, countless people were baffled.
Could it be that the Sovereign forming this army was an existence even stronger than the other Sovereigns?
Why else would the entry requirements be so much higher?
But there was no helping it.
The primary combat method of the army Locke was building relied on soldiers coordinating with formation masters to create magic battle formations.
Gods who had become divine by refining a divine spark had souls that did not truly match their sparks, leaving them almost completely incapable of sensing the laws of heaven and earth.
Under such circumstances, it required significantly more effort for a formation master to turn them into stable formation nodes.
Moreover, during training, even with special attention from the formation master, soldiers who had refined divine sparks would still react half a beat slower than those who could naturally sense the laws.
That half-beat delay might still allow the formation to function—
but enemies were not stationary targets.
By the time that delayed attack was launched, the opponent might already have moved outside the attack range.
Even if the attack had been enhanced by the formation, if it couldn't hit, it was meaningless.
Thus, while many grumbled privately about the standards of the second Sovereign army, they also looked upon those who qualified with a mixture of envy and jealousy.
Still, there were many who, after crossing the second layer of mist, had no intention of joining the Sovereign army at all.
Their only goal was to audience the Sovereign and become a Sovereign's Emissary.
The weakest among them were Six-Star Fiends, with many even at the Seven-Star Fiend level.
These experts continued deeper into Mount Netherworld's surrounding range, hoping to climb Mount Netherworld itself.
Almost none of those who entered the deeper regions ever returned.
As such, neither Celes nor Mila was able to gather any concrete intelligence about what lay beyond.
Everything was speculation.
If not for the occasional aura of battle that could still be sensed from the depths through the second layer of mist, most people would probably have assumed those experts had all perished.
After making a few preparations, Celes and Mila no longer hesitated and plunged headfirst into the mist of Mount Netherworld's surrounding range.
"Hahahahaha! Hahahahaha!"
"I, Redding, finally have an heir!"
In Hell, within the Skyrite Mountains, the Azure Dragon Sovereign Redding lifted a small boy high into the air, laughing uproariously as the child blinked wide-eyed and looked around in confusion.
"Congratulations, Big Brother."
"Congratulations, Big Brother."
"Looks like we need to work harder too."
"Exactly. Big Brother already has an heir. The three of us can't let the little fellow grow up lonely."
Beside the Azure Dragon Sovereign, Laius, Nimo, and Bowen all offered their congratulations with broad smiles.
As Divine Beasts, it was exceedingly difficult for them to produce offspring.
But the birth of Redding's child gave them all a newfound hope.
They were Sovereigns.
Their lives were practically endless.
Being unlikely to have children did not mean it was impossible.
Given enough time, that tiny probability would eventually become a certainty.
"Hahahahaha!"
With the birth of his child, the taut string that had been wound tight in Redding's heart finally loosened.
This way, even if the four brothers eventually perished because of the Overgod oath, at least their lineage would continue.
If he could somehow predict the time of his death through the Overgod oath branded upon his soul, then perhaps he might even be able to leave his Sovereign spark to his child.
And yet…
Thinking back to the way Locke had spoken with him in the past—and the way Sovereign Locke had appeared at the second Sovereign gathering—Redding felt a chill run through him.
Could it be…
that everything from the very beginning had been part of that man's calculations?
If so, that was truly terrifying.
Perhaps the one destined to kill the four brothers in the end would be Locke himself.
After all, there was always something deeply unsettling about him.
He knew that the four Divine Beasts innate divine abilities could fuse.
Who was to say he didn't also know how to counter that fused divine ability?
Furthermore, there had recently been another rumor spreading among the Sovereigns…
Sovereign Locke possessed a water divine clone.
If he obtained even a single Water Sovereign spark—even just a Lesser one—then the combined amplification of Sovereign's will and fused Sovereign's power would increase his strength by a hundredfold, enough to rival the Four Edict Sovereigns.
It was even said that the Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, had taken the Intermediate Water Sovereign under his protection in the Celestial Realm precisely because he feared Locke might assassinate him.
At present, the easiest way for Locke to obtain another Water Sovereign spark would be to target either the two remaining Lesser Water Sovereigns—
or the four Divine Beast Sovereigns themselves.
The two Lesser Water Sovereigns in the Water Divine Plane had apparently realized this as well and had already formed an alliance.
Since Locke's water divine clone already possessed Lesser Sovereign-level strength, if it attempted to enter the Water Divine Plane and hunt them, it would undoubtedly be besieged by both Sovereigns at once.
Viewed from that angle, the possibility of Locke's Fate Sovereign clone targeting the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns was not small.
On one hand, Locke knew far too much about their fused innate divine ability.
Back then, each of the four had given him twenty drops of their essence blood.
No one knew what exactly Locke had done with that Divine Beast blood.
On the other hand, Locke's Fate clone was already terrifyingly strong.
If he possessed some even more fearsome trump card, then perhaps the four brothers would be slain before they even had the chance to unleash their fused innate divine ability.
Still, as long as they remained in Hell, presumably the Chief Sovereign of Destruction would never allow Locke to enter Hell and hunt them down.
After laughing for a while longer, Redding raised his son high and proclaimed to the world in a booming voice:
"From this day onward, your name shall be Gislason!"
As the first direct second-generation heir of the Four Divine Beasts' line, Gislason was doted upon by all four Sovereigns.
And in cultivation, he displayed extraordinary talent.
He became a demigod at the age of ten.
By fifty, he had already reached the God level.
Within a thousand years, Gislason had become a Highgod.
Ten thousand years later, the offspring of Sovereigns Laius, Nimo, and Bowen were born one after another as well.
Gislason Redding, Laius Laius, Tia Nimo, and Seba Bowen inherited not only the blood of their fathers, but also their close bond, growing up as brothers in all but name.
After the four came of age, although it was still difficult for gods to produce descendants, it was far easier than it was for Sovereigns.
As time passed, each of the four brothers produced numerous descendants.
Eventually, the four simply established a clan under their fathers' collective title.
Thus, was born—
the Four Divine Beasts Clan.
After the clan's founding, the four brothers devoted more and more of their attention to its growth, inevitably becoming somewhat lax in their own cultivation.
What gave them the greatest headache, however, was the education of the younger generation.
As the direct blood descendants of the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns, their own bloodlines were the closest to the Divine Beasts.
Combined with being children of Sovereigns, their innate talent ranked among the absolute peak of the Coiling Dragon Universe.
Without even trying particularly hard, all four possessed the power of Six-Star Fiends.
Gislason himself could even rival a Seven-Star Fiend.
But their descendants were a different story.
Many of Gislason's children only became gods after reaching adulthood.
And by the third generation—
that is, Gislason's grandchildren—
the bloodline had already begun to thin.
The talented ones were still able to comprehend Profound Mysteries and become gods through self-cultivation.
But those without much talent…
some weren't even deities at all.
In the Divine and Higher Planes, Saints were the lowest form of life.
Strictly speaking, they barely even counted as people.
How could Gislason and the others accept that their descendants did not even qualify as true "people"?
Thus, they ultimately brought the matter before the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns.
"Bloodline degeneration, hm?"
Redding stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"That is indeed a problem."
"Gislason, bring over a group of fourth-generation clan members. Let us see whether there is a way to strengthen their bloodline."
"Yes, Father."
After Gislason departed, Sovereign Laius turned to Redding.
"What? Big Brother, do you have an idea?"
"Mm."
The Azure Dragon Sovereign nodded.
"Didn't Gislason say it himself? The reason the clan members cannot become gods is mainly because their bloodline concentration is too low."
"We Four Divine Beasts are Super Divine Beasts. The talent of the second generation exceeds ordinary Divine Beasts by a large margin."
"The third generation's bloodline is roughly on par with ordinary Divine Beasts, which is enough for them to become gods upon reaching adulthood."
"So, I want to try using our essence blood to baptize them and see if it can strengthen their bloodline purity."
Sovereign Nimo nodded.
"That is indeed a good method."
"But Big Brother, our essence blood is limited. There's no way we can baptize so many clan members."
No one understood the power contained within the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns' essence blood better than they did.
It could be said that after such a baptism, the bloodline concentration of even a fourth-generation descendant would be enough to rival that of a third-generation direct descendant.
(End of Chapter)
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