Although he had long since had his suspicions, upon truly witnessing it, Cowell still couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
Locke wasn't surprised by Cowell's reaction.
After all, even he himself had never expected that he would eventually end up together with the Death Chief Sovereign.
"Mm. Even I didn't expect that I'd ultimately end up with Lilia."
"Haha..."
With Lilia gone, Cowell visibly relaxed.
"Big Brother, come, let me introduce them to you."
Cowell beckoned Fanny and Carlene over to his side and introduced them to Locke.
"This is my wife, Fanny, whom I married here according to proper customs."
"Fanny, call him Big Brother."
"Big Brother."
Fanny obediently bowed to Locke.
Locke likewise nodded to her in greeting.
"And this is the child Fanny and I had together, Carlene. She's already over thirteen hundred years old now."
"Carlene, call him Uncle."
"Uncle."
Unlike Fanny's reserved demeanor, Carlene still retained a trace of youthful liveliness and occasionally stole glances at Locke.
"Mm, not bad. You've already reached the God level after only a little over a thousand years."
Locke could tell Carlene's level with a single glance.
Unlike Cowell and Fanny, who had become Deities by refining divine sparks—Cowell a Highgod and Fanny a God—their daughter Carlene had become a Deity on her own and had cultivated herself all the way to the God level.
Such talent might not count for much elsewhere, but in a small city like Bluewing City, she could indeed be considered a genius.
After Cowell finished introducing his wife and daughter, Locke waved toward his son.
"Loran, come here."
"Coming, Father."
After arriving beside Locke, Loran curiously examined the three of them.
From the moment Cowell addressed his father as "Big Brother," Loran understood why his father had insisted on bringing him into Bluewing City.
Previously, he had guessed that perhaps his father had subordinates stationed here.
It seemed he had guessed wrong.
Bluewing City didn't contain Father's subordinates.
Instead, it contained Father's brother.
"This is Father's younger brother. Call him Uncle Cowell."
"Uncle Cowell."
"Aunt Fanny, and Sister Carlene."
After Locke's introduction, Loran obediently greeted them.
He didn't leave out Fanny or Carlene either.
"Big Brother, did you come to Bluewing City for something?"
After recognizing each other once again, Cowell finally relaxed.
Previously, he had long been displeased with the members of the Four Divine Beasts clan within Bluewing City.
However, because of his own strength and the Sovereign background they possessed, even when he encountered members of the Four Divine Beasts clan acting arrogantly within the city, he didn't dare do anything.
The Four Divine Beasts clan could be considered a rather peculiar family among the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes.
Throughout the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes, experts all valued their pride.
Take the children of Sovereigns, for example.
Among the current forty-five Sovereigns, at least a dozen likely had descendants.
When these descendants traveled the world, they relied upon their own names.
If someone said, "So you're the son of Sovereign so-and-so," they would feel insulted and insist on proving through strength that even without the title of "Sovereign so-and-so's son," they themselves were famous experts.
Only members of the Four Divine Beasts clan constantly proclaimed:
"My grandfather is a Sovereign."
"My ancestor is a Sovereign."
"My forefather is a Sovereign."
Titles that other Sovereign descendants considered shameful were instead a source of pride for members of the Four Divine Beasts clan.
As far as they were concerned, once they uttered the phrase, "My ancestor is a Sovereign," anyone who wasn't a Sovereign's child would no longer dare touch them.
Doing so would mean disregarding the dignity of a Sovereign and persecuting a Sovereign's direct bloodline—a grave crime that might bring down the personal wrath of a Sovereign.
Perhaps because other Sovereign descendants possessed the determination to escape the influence of their parents, while members of the Four Divine Beasts clan wished only to remain forever under their ancestors' protection, the total number of clan members across the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes exceeded ten million.
Yet among all those people, only the five direct descendants of the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns and one Grand Elder of the Azure Dragon clan possessed strength comparable to a Prefect.
The vast majority of clan members had yet to even touch the fusion of Profound Mysteries.
Of course, having six Prefect-level experts in one clan was indeed enough to justify calling it the number one clan.
After all, even the Magrida clan that had once been exterminated by Rockpeak and the others had been known as the number one clan of the Fire Divine Plane with only a single Sovereign Emissary possessing Prefect-level strength and two Seven Star Fiends.
Furthermore, the Sovereign Emissaries of the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns were stationed throughout the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes on behalf of the clan.
Within every plane, although the Four Divine Beasts clan had fewer Six Star and Seven Star Fiends than that plane's foremost clan, in terms of overall membership and peak experts, they were in no way inferior.
The only forces capable of standing against the Four Divine Beasts clan were the handful with Sovereign backgrounds.
For example, the Augusta clan of the Light Divine Plane, the bloodline clan of the Light Chief Sovereign Augusta, was the foremost clan of the Light Divine Plane.
Within the Light Divine Plane, even the Four Divine Beasts clan would avoid conflicts with the Augusta clan.
Wherever the Augusta clan held influence, the Four Divine Beasts clan would refrain from interfering.
One could say this was an unspoken understanding between two Sovereign clans.
Now, with Big Brother Locke having Loran address him as "Uncle," it meant that he recognized Cowell as a member of the Sovereign clan.
From now on, whenever he encountered members of the Four Divine Beasts clan again, Cowell could carry himself with far more confidence.
"It's not really anything important."
Locke rubbed Loran's hair.
"I remember Father and Mother worrying about my marriage before they passed away."
"Now that Loran has been born, I wanted to take him back home to let the two elders see him."
Hearing those words, Cowell immediately felt his face burn with shame.
Locke had already become an exalted Sovereign, yet his feelings toward their parents had never changed.
And what about himself?
He seemed never to have thought about them at all.
Whether in the Frostsnow Plane or after recovering his memories in the Netherworld, not once had Cowell thought about his parents.
"Um..."
Cowell hesitated for a moment, but eventually decided that if he truly wished to become a member of the Sovereign clan, then his connection with Big Brother Locke absolutely couldn't be severed.
Both his big brother and sister-in-law were Sovereigns. Cowell knew that Locke acknowledging him out of old affection was already the greatest blessing imaginable.
(T/N: I really can't bring myself to like Cole even after so many chapters. He's a really scummy person.)
After this, there might very well be no further interactions between them.
But his nephew Loran was different.
Becoming a Sovereign required a Sovereign spark.
Cowell didn't know whether Locke had prepared one for Loran.
However, whether Loran ultimately became a Sovereign or not, before that day arrived, this was the best opportunity for their family to grow closer to him.
Thus, despite his embarrassment, Cowell still spoke.
"Big Brother, I've been in the Netherworld for all these years, but I've never managed to save enough inkstones to use a Planar Teleportation Array."
"I haven't even been able to return home and pay respects to our parents."
"This time, could I perhaps borrow some inkstones from you and bring Fanny and Carlene back with me to honor Father and Mother as well?"
Hearing Cowell's words, Locke looked deeply at him.
Although his motives weren't entirely sincere, no matter what Cowell truly thought, Locke believed their parents would surely wish to see both brothers and their families living well.
Thus, Locke shook his head.
"We're brothers. Why speak of borrowing?"
"Since you wish to pay respects to Father and Mother, then come with us."
"The cost of the Planar Teleportation Array means nothing to me."
"Then thank you, Big Brother."
Beside Cowell, Fanny was completely stunned.
Although she already knew from Cowell that her brother-in-law was no ordinary person, hearing Locke casually cover the cost of transporting their family of three from the Netherworld back to a material plane was far more shocking.
Traveling from a material plane to a Divine Plane or Higher Plane was free.
However, using a Planar Teleportation Array to return from a Divine Plane or Higher Plane to a material plane came with an astronomical cost.
Even many family clans could not afford it.
The cost for one person to travel from a Divine Plane to a material plane was one trillion inkstones.
Their family of three alone required three trillion inkstones.
Such wealth was enough to turn a small clan into the dominant family of a city in a very short period of time.
Not to mention anything else—simply using those inkstones to purchase Highgod divine sparks would be enough to create three hundred thousand Highgods who had refined divine sparks.
And how many people were traveling this time?
Their family of three, plus Big Brother's family of four.
Seven people total.
Returning to the material plane would cost seven trillion inkstones...
As she calculated the figure, Fanny nearly fainted from the sheer scale of the wealth involved.
She had been married to Cowell for nearly a trillion years.
Given Cowell's position in Bluewing City, after all those years, he had only accumulated a few billion inkstones.
To save enough for the Planar Teleportation Array would still require several thousand trillion years.
And that was only possible if Cowell kept his wealth hidden.
If people discovered that a Highgod who had become one through refining a divine spark possessed a trillion inkstones, Cowell probably wouldn't even know how he died.
After reestablishing his relationship with Locke, Cowell didn't stay long.
After leaving the inn, he immediately had his daughter Carlene register at the Fiend Castle for the upcoming Fiend examinations.
(End of Chapter)
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