It was just that plans could never keep up with changes.
Regarding his own future, ever since he had begun cultivating, Locke had constantly been making all sorts of plans.
However, very few of those plans had ever been carried through from beginning to end.
Fortunately, the final changes in those plans always came because Locke's strength had improved faster than he had anticipated, allowing him to set his goals even higher.
Back then, Locke had wanted to help the Death Chief Sovereign obtain the willpower reward for achieving ten consecutive victories in the Planar Battlefield, delaying his own ascension to Sovereignhood by ten trillion years.
Unexpectedly, his strength had improved far too quickly. Long before that, he had already surpassed the limits of a Paragon and reached the level of a Sovereign.
Although Locke's water divine clone and his original body still had not fused with a Sovereign spark, for safety's sake, Locke had never allowed either his water divine clone or his original body to enter other material planes.
After all, if a material plane collapsed because of him and damaged the rules of this universe, Locke had no intention of gambling his own life on whether Hongmeng might violate the laws of the universe for his sake.
Now, both Locke and the Death Chief Sovereign already stood at the absolute peak among Sovereigns. This portion of willpower, whether for Locke or the Death Chief Sovereign, had seemingly become something optional.
Previously, Locke had still been somewhat wary of the Fate Chief Sovereign, Orloff.
But now, Locke's strength had completely surpassed Orloff's.
Furthermore, Locke also possessed a Fate Sovereign true body. Even if Orloff became obsessed with obtaining ten consecutive victories in the Planar Battlefield, it would still be impossible for him to narrow the gap between himself and Locke.
Of course, Locke also knew that from the last Sovereign Assembly that Orloff had missed, all the way until the descent of the Four Overgods to create the Planar Battlefield, Orloff had never appeared because he had certainly already grasped the core of the "Samsara Golden Body."
Presumably, by the next time they met, the Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff's strength might already have reached Locke's current level.
But even so, based on Locke's understanding of Orloff, if he wanted to make a move against Locke, then at the very least he would first need to obtain both a soul-defense Overgod artifact and a material-defense Overgod artifact.
After all, Orloff also knew that the last time Locke had spared him, it had been to preserve the dignity of the Four Edicts Chief Sovereigns.
If there were another battle, the Death Chief Sovereign certainly would not allow Locke to hold back again.
Without confidence in preserving his own life, the Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff would not rashly make a move.
The Bula Race was a unique race within the Coiling Dragon universe.
After reaching adulthood, members of this race could completely separate from themselves emotions, personalities, thoughts, and other traits they did not wish to possess, forming a clone with a personality completely opposite to their own, allowing themselves to focus entirely on doing what they enjoyed.
Furthermore, unlike the divine clones of other lifeforms—
Only when the two clones of the Bula Race fused together would they enter their strongest state.
However, because everything about the two clones was completely opposite, if the two sides could not properly coordinate, and one side refused fusion, then the Bula Race would be unable to reach its absolute peak state.
The reason the Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff had targeted Locke was because Augusta, who had inherited all of Orloff's negative emotions, could no longer suppress his jealousy and hatred toward Chief Sovereign Locke.
Back before Locke had appeared, the Light Chief Sovereign Augusta had been the number one Laws Chief Sovereign beneath only the Four Edicts Chief Sovereigns.
Even when the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns were placed on equal footing with him by other Sovereigns because of their fused innate divine ability, the Light Chief Sovereign had still desperately wished to eliminate the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns.
It was only because the Light Chief Sovereign Augusta lacked confidence in facing the Four Divine Beasts fused innate divine ability that he had reluctantly endured it.
But when Locke appeared, the Light Chief Sovereign Augusta could no longer tolerate it.
Why?
How could a mere Fate Lesser Sovereign suddenly leap up to replace him, even surpass him, becoming the strongest Laws Chief Sovereign?
The flames of jealousy in his heart completely engulfed the Light Chief Sovereign Augusta.
Although the Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff, as the original body, was unaffected by those emotions, he also understood that if he could not allow the Light Chief Sovereign Augusta to release those emotions, then Augusta would inevitably develop even greater rejection and denial toward him, ultimately refusing to fuse with him and preventing him from reaching the supreme realm of the Bula Race.
Now, however, it seemed that Orloff's actions had not only failed to release the Light Chief Sovereign Augusta's emotions, but had instead dragged even himself into the mire.
Of course, Orloff had not gained nothing from doing this.
At the very least, the Light Chief Sovereign Augusta no longer harbored any resistance toward their fusion.
Furthermore, because even Orloff himself had suffered defeat, the Light Chief Sovereign Augusta's jealousy and fury toward Locke had already completely transformed into fear.
After all, Augusta knew that his greatest backer was the Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff.
Even Orloff had nearly died at Locke's hands. How could Augusta still dare target Locke again?
...
"The willpower reward from the Planar Battlefield?"
The Death Chief Sovereign propped her chin on one hand atop the armrest of her throne.
"The strength of a Sovereign is closely related to the strength of their willpower."
"If I said I didn't want this portion of willpower, that would naturally be false."
"However, Locke, there's no need for us to waste too much effort on this."
"It would naturally be good if we obtained it, but if we didn't, it wouldn't matter either."
"I don't want you delaying your cultivation because of this."
That was right—cultivation.
For everyone else, becoming a Paragon already meant reaching the end of the cultivation path.
But Locke's path still continued onward.
Whether it was the water-fate fused Laws familiar to the Death Chief Sovereign, or the unknown spatial Laws, both required sufficient time to comprehend and cultivate.
"That's true. With our current strength, there's indeed no need to deliberately waste our efforts pursuing ten consecutive victories in the Planar Battlefield."
"Then, Lilia, I'll continue entering seclusion to cultivate. I'll have to trouble you to watch over the Sovereign Army for me."
"I'll be going into seclusion for a while."
Locke spoke to the Death Chief Sovereign in this manner.
During this period, one event after another had occurred, leaving Locke with almost no time to cultivate, and his strength had improved very little.
Since the Death Chief Sovereign had already said that she did not particularly care about the willpower reward from ten consecutive victories in the Planar Battlefield, Locke no longer paid it any mind either.
"Mm."
After leaving the Death Chief Sovereign's Sovereign palace, Locke's body split into three.
The Fate Sovereign true body went to the Water Divine Plane to preside there while also continuing cultivation of the water-fate fused Laws.
The water divine clone entered the Water Manor halfway up Mount Nether, where it fused the already fully comprehended water Laws with spatial Laws, forming an even more powerful "water-space" Law.
As for Locke's original body, it entered the spatial turbulence.
In this world, there was no place more suitable for Locke's original body to cultivate than the spatial turbulence.
After stepping into the spatial turbulence, Locke felt as though a fish that had long been dried out had finally returned to the ocean, or like an eagle soaring into the heavens, breaking through the clouds.
For a time, Locke and the spatial Laws became as harmonious as water and milk, continuously deepening his comprehension of the spatial Laws.
No matter how the outside world fluctuated because of the appearance of the Planar Battlefield, it had nothing to do with Locke.
...
The Planar Battlefield occurred once every trillion years.
Aside from the Life Realm, the remaining seven Divine Planes and three Higher Planes fought one another in pairs, resulting in a total of five battles.
Using the Star River as the boundary, only when both bridges had successfully invaded the enemy side could victory be considered achieved.
Each Planar War lasted a minimum of one thousand years and a maximum of one hundred thousand years.
If neither side achieved victory after one hundred thousand years, then the war would be judged a draw.
Once a draw occurred, the consecutive victory streak would reset to zero and would have to be accumulated again from the beginning.
In order to obtain rewards of Sovereign power and Sovereign artifacts, the Commanders and soldiers participating in the war spared no effort in slaughtering the enemy's Commanders and soldiers.
In just the first Planar War alone, more than fifty experts at the Prefect level had fallen.
On average, each war saw the deaths of five Prefect-level experts.
Even Sovereign Emissaries and Sovereign Army Commanders possessing Sovereign artifacts were no exception.
After all, when these Sovereign Emissaries and Sovereign Army Commanders had requested Sovereign artifacts from the Sovereigns, they had all chosen offensive Sovereign artifacts.
Thus, although their offensive power surpassed that of ordinary Prefect-level experts, there was essentially no difference between them in terms of defense.
In contrast, those Sovereign Emissaries who possessed material-defense Sovereign artifacts could survive even when facing attacks from two or three experts of the same level.
Of course, Sovereign Emissaries who had chosen material-defense Sovereign artifacts also rarely achieved major accomplishments due to their lack of powerful offensive capability.
Every Commander or soldier who survived the Planar Battlefield understood better than anyone just how cruel the Planar Battlefield truly was.
Unfortunately, their experiences did not stir much reaction within the seven Divine Planes and four Higher Planes.
Those who desired Sovereign power and Sovereign artifacts, before personally witnessing the cruelty of the Planar Battlefield, would never believe that they themselves might become someone else's medal.
In a single Planar War, at least ten percent of the experts within the Divine Planes perished.
Countless forces declined following the deaths of their strongest experts, while other forces rose because they had obtained rewards from the Planar Battlefield.
The cycle repeated endlessly.
...
"My accumulated insights have been exhausted."
Within the spatial turbulence, Locke's figure slowly emerged.
"I wonder how much time this seclusion took?"
This thought had only just appeared in Locke's original body's mind when, in the next instant, he received the answer from his other two bodies.
Three trillion years!
Ever since Locke's original body had entered the spatial turbulence to cultivate, three trillion years had already passed.
As for the exact amount, even Locke's other two bodies could not be bothered to count carefully. They only remembered that the Planar War had already been held three times.
Taking a single step, Locke's figure instantly disappeared from the spatial turbulence. Without causing the slightest spatial fluctuation, he had already entered the Netherworld.
At the summit of Mount Nether, Locke's figure appeared within the Death Chief Sovereign's palace. Upon her throne inside the great hall, the Death Chief Sovereign immediately sensed his arrival and opened her eyes.
(End of Chapter)
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