Within Locke's Mirror Flowers, Water Moon illusion, the Chief Sovereign of Death was still competing against Locke.
Over these years, the Chief Sovereign of Death had already grown accustomed to comprehending the Death Edicts without relying upon the faith power within her Sovereign spark.
Moreover, every time she independently comprehended a portion of the Death Edicts, a sense of accomplishment would arise within her heart.
However, over all these years, the Chief Sovereign of Death had also developed a competitive spirit toward that force which prevented her from drawing upon the faith power within the Sovereign spark to assist in cultivating the Death Edicts.
From time to time, the Chief Sovereign of Death would deliberately mobilize the faith power within her Sovereign spark to tease that obstructing force.
Regarding such behavior from the Chief Sovereign of Death, Locke could only bitterly smile at his own soul force.
There was no helping it. After all, this was the wife he himself had chosen.
A little bit of willfulness was still within the limits he could tolerate.
At the same time, Locke was secretly rejoicing inwardly.
Fortunately, his soul realm had already reached the stage of Soul Infantilization, allowing his soul force to be sufficiently powerful, abundant in quantity, and quick in recovery.
Otherwise, with the Chief Sovereign of Death constantly doing this from time to time, Locke's soul force would likely have been exhausted long ago, making him unable to maintain the Mirror Flowers, Water Moon illusion and causing this entire arrangement to fail.
After all, within Mirror Flowers, Water Moon, Locke had also accelerated the Chief Sovereign of Death's sense of time.
From the Chief Sovereign of Death's perspective, she only mobilized faith power once every several hundred or even several thousand years.
But from Locke's perspective, it was practically no different from a continuous process.
The mist within the Chief Sovereign Palace atop Mount Netherworld lasted for several thousand years.
But within Locke's Mirror Flowers, Water Moon illusion, the Chief Sovereign of Death had already cultivated for several million years.
On this day, the Chief Sovereign of Death finally comprehended ninety-nine percent of the Death Edicts entirely on her own. Under the influence of Locke's soul force, she completely overwrote all the Death Edicts she had previously comprehended through faith power.
Afterward, Locke slowly withdrew his soul force from the soul of the Chief Sovereign of Death while simultaneously undoing the Mirror Flowers, Water Moon illusion he had placed upon her.
"Hm?"
The instant Locke released Mirror Flowers, Water Moon, the Chief Sovereign of Death suddenly felt as though both her eyes and soul had brightened.
It was as though something had previously obscured her soul, and now that obstruction had been torn apart, allowing her soul to once again interact with everything in the world in a much clearer manner.
"How dare you!"
However, what surprised the Chief Sovereign of Death was that after her soul became clear once more and she opened her eyes, she saw a figure standing before her, with both hands still holding onto her shoulders.
Immediately, the Chief Sovereign of Death flew into a rage. Violent power erupted from her body, gray Death Edicts coiling around her right hand as terrifying willpower spread outward. She fiercely struck toward the figure before her.
"Not good!"
The moment he sensed the Chief Sovereign of Death's attack, Locke's expression drastically changed.
A miscalculation!
This time, in order to allow the Chief Sovereign of Death to re-cultivate the Death Edicts more quickly within the illusion created by Mirror Flowers, Water Moon, Locke had erased his own existence from the Chief Sovereign of Death's memories, allowing her to focus entirely on cultivating the Death Edicts within the illusion.
Now, however, Locke had suddenly released Mirror Flowers, Water Moon, causing the consciousness of the Chief Sovereign of Death within the illusion to instantly seize dominance.
Under such circumstances, after this version of the Chief Sovereign of Death discovered that someone had invaded to such close proximity to her, how could she not attack in furious rage?
There was no time to explain anything. Within Locke's soul, his sense of crisis instantly reached its peak.
There was no helping it. If the one here had been Locke's water divine clone or his Fate Sovereign true body, he would still possess a certain degree of defensive ability when facing the Chief Sovereign of Death's attack.
After all, Locke's water divine clone possessed strength ten times greater than that of a Laws Chief Sovereign.
As for Locke's Fate Sovereign true body, it was not the slightest bit weaker than the Chief Sovereign of Death.
But the one here now was Locke's original body.
With his original body's attainments in the spatial laws, combined with the willpower within his soul, he had only barely entered the level of an Intermediate Sovereign.
Under such circumstances, if he were directly struck by the Chief Sovereign of Death's palm, Locke's original body would likely be blown apart by her.
And this was something Locke absolutely could not accept.
After all, although his water divine clone and Fate Sovereign true body might be extremely powerful, only his original body—the Lower Deity of the spatial laws—held the hope for him to transcend the Panlong Universe.
If Locke's original body died here at the hands of the Chief Sovereign of Death, then it could already be concluded that Locke's path toward transcendence ended here!
However, even a casual strike from the Chief Sovereign of Death possessed enough might to instantly kill a Laws Chief Sovereign.
With the strength of Locke's original body, how could he possibly withstand it?
At this critical moment, the spatial laws within Locke's soul were instantly mobilized. The spatial laws comprehended by Locke were pushed to their absolute limit at this moment.
Layer after layer of spatial barriers appeared between Locke and the Chief Sovereign of Death.
At the same time, Locke infinitely stretched the distances between these spatial barriers.
This was the defensive method Locke had devised in the shortest possible time to deal with the Chief Sovereign of Death's attack.
Indeed, in terms of combat capability, the current Locke truly only possessed strength comparable to Intermediate Sovereigns.
But the spatial laws were Laws even more profound than the seven elemental laws and the Four Edicts. The various applications of spatial power contained incomparably profound mysteries even when placed among the elemental laws and Four Edicts.
Just like now—without question, it was impossible for Locke to directly withstand the Chief Sovereign of Death head-on. But by extending the spatial distance between them, preventing the Chief Sovereign of Death's attack from immediately reaching him, he bought himself a considerable amount of time.
"Hmph!"
Although the Chief Sovereign of Death did not understand the spatial laws and could not determine exactly what method Locke had used to make her attack seem unable to reach him—
She knew that willpower was everything in this world.
Immediately, the Chief Sovereign of Death's palm trembled.
Instantly, the space before her palm emitted groans as though unable to bear the strain.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
Before the Chief Sovereign of Death's palm, layer after layer of spatial barriers shattered like bubbles.
Each time one spatial barrier shattered, the Chief Sovereign of Death's palm moved one step closer toward Locke's chest.
"Spatial Mirror Image!"
After the spatial barriers bought him a moment to breathe, Locke casually drew a line through the air.
Immediately, ripples spread through the space before him, and from within those ripples emerged a hand completely identical to that of the Chief Sovereign of Death, colliding directly against the palm attack launched by the Chief Sovereign of Death.
BOOM!
The collision between the two palms erupted with terrifying might.
The magic formations Locke had previously arranged throughout the Chief Sovereign Palace were directly shattered by the aftershocks from the clash of those two palms.
It was only because Locke had expanded a spatial domain and reinforced the surrounding space around himself and the Chief Sovereign of Death that the aftershocks of their exchange did not continue spreading outward.
Otherwise, this single clash would likely have completely destroyed the entirety of Mount Netherworld under the Chief Sovereign of Death's attack.
"Wait, Lilia—"
"Hm?"
"My true name is not something a petty thief like you is worthy of calling!"
Although the Chief Sovereign of Death was surprised that the other party could replicate her attack method, the fact that this person had intruded into her Chief Sovereign Palace and even dared to directly call her by name caused her brows to stand sharply upright.
Immediately, the Chief Sovereign of Death beckoned with her hand, and a Sovereign artifact whip appeared within her grasp.
"Damn it!"
Seeing this scene, Locke was greatly alarmed inwardly.
Under normal circumstances, the Chief Sovereign of Death would not take out her attack Sovereign artifact.
But every time the Chief Sovereign of Death drew out her attack Sovereign artifact, it represented that she was extremely enraged.
At such times, even the Chief Sovereign of Destruction, the Chief Sovereign of Life, and the others would avoid the Chief Sovereign of Death from afar.
Without daring to hesitate, Locke instantly tore open the space of the Netherworld and escaped into the spatial turbulence.
The current situation was clearly a side effect produced by Locke's illusion. The consciousness of the Chief Sovereign of Death that had cultivated for several million years had seized dominance, causing her to become unfamiliar with Locke.
Under such circumstances, if Locke still dared remain within the Netherworld, the next instant the Chief Sovereign of Death would likely use the power of the Heart of the Netherworld against him.
Locke did not dare gamble the life of his original body on whether the Chief Sovereign of Death would recover her memories before killing him.
After all, in order to allow the Chief Sovereign of Death to focus better on cultivation earlier, Locke had sealed away tens of millions of years of the Chief Sovereign of Death's memories.
Only, when Mirror Flowers, Water Moon was released, the memories of the Chief Sovereign of Death's several million years of cultivation currently occupied the dominant position.
At the very least, before the Chief Sovereign of Death merged with and recovered her previous memories, Locke was merely a complete stranger in her eyes.
"He escaped?"
Watching the figure disappear from the Chief Sovereign Palace, the Chief Sovereign of Death's expression darkened.
With a thought, the power of the Heart of the Netherworld instantly augmented her body.
But to the Chief Sovereign of Death's confusion, she failed to discover the previous figure anywhere within the Netherworld.
Her divine sense expanded into the spatial turbulence as well, yet she still failed to locate the aura of that man.
This situation did not particularly exceed the Chief Sovereign of Death's expectations.
After all, in her view, no matter how immersed she had previously been in cultivation, not just anyone could silently infiltrate her Chief Sovereign Palace without alerting her.
"Just who exactly was that fellow?"
…
"So close…"
Within the spatial turbulence, Locke wrapped himself with soul force far surpassing that of the Chief Sovereign of Death, making it so that even when the Chief Sovereign of Death's divine sense swept across him, she could not detect anything.
"Looks like I won't be able to return to the Netherworld for some time."
"I should first head to the Water Divine Plane to avoid things for a while."
"Once Lilia's memories recover, I'll return to the Netherworld and hand the Death Overgod tokens over to Lilia…"
After glancing once toward the Netherworld, Locke's figure flashed and instantly disappeared into the spatial turbulence surrounding the Netherworld.
Compared to his water divine clone, Locke's original body was practically like a fish in water within the spatial turbulence.
(End of Chapter)
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