Even the space that had been shattered by the Death Chief Sovereign's strike was crushed by the vortex in Locke's palm, merging into the spatial whirlpool.
This was Locke's Water-Spatial fused Laws.
Although, after Locke had completely comprehended the Spatial Laws, the power of the Paragon Spatial Laws surpassed that of his not-yet-fully-fused Water-Spatial Laws,
The Water-Spatial Laws possessed a convenience that the pure Spatial Laws did not. They allowed Locke to manipulate space as though it were flowing water, giving rise to all kinds of marvelous effects.
The move Locke had just used was precisely his application of the Spatial Laws through the Profound Mystery of Circular Softness, and could essentially be regarded as the strongest defensive technique in his arsenal.
Even the Death Chief Sovereign's attack had been completely neutralized by this move.
After dispelling the Death Chief Sovereign's attack, Locke dismissed the spatial vortex in his palm and gently grasped her wrist.
"Lilia, it's me."
"You nearly scared me to death."
The Death Chief Sovereign turned around, let out a light sigh of relief, and shot Locke an annoyed glance.
Even so, the look she gave him was filled with astonishment.
Calculating it carefully, she and Locke had only been apart for about a thousand years.
She still clearly remembered that the last time Locke had used the Heart of the Netherworld to break through, she had still been able to sense his aura.
Yet after Locke's latest seclusion and the evolution of his bloodline, even though he had already walked up behind her, she had been unable to detect the slightest trace of his presence.
Otherwise, she would never have been startled by his sudden voice and instinctively launched an attack without thinking.
"When did you get here?"
"Since when did you start walking around without making any sound?"
"And you've hidden your aura to such an extent."
Having already exchanged a move with Locke, the Death Chief Sovereign naturally knew that the Locke before her was not an illusion.
She had seen Locke's illusion techniques before.
As long as no one attacked, they were almost indistinguishable from the real thing.
But once actual combat began, the illusory Locke absolutely could not withstand her attacks and would be dispersed immediately.
"Haha... My cultivation advanced again, so I had no choice but to completely lock all the vitality and blood within my body..."
Locke laughed awkwardly and released her wrist.
After hearing the Death Chief Sovereign's words, Locke also realized what had happened.
Since he had completely sealed his blood vitality within his body without allowing even the slightest trace to leak out, naturally no one else could sense his aura.
Thinking of this, Locke couldn't help but regard the Life Chief Sovereign, Wawaya, in a higher light.
It was only because Wawaya hadn't shown any unusual reaction earlier that he had completely overlooked this point.
Locke's explanation caused the Death Chief Sovereign to be slightly startled.
Ordinarily, Locke would never suppress his aura to such an extent.
For him to not dare allow even the slightest trace of it to leak out was enough to show just how cautious he had become.
The Death Chief Sovereign remembered that Locke had once said that reaching Paragon in the Spatial Laws was comparable to becoming an Overgod.
When Locke had reached Paragon in the Spatial Laws, he hadn't concealed his aura at all.
Yet after his bloodline evolved, he had completely sealed away his blood vitality.
Could it be that the improvement brought by the evolution of his bloodline was even greater than reaching Paragon in the Spatial Laws?
Upon further thought, however, the Death Chief Sovereign gradually understood.
When one's Laws reached Paragon, if Locke did not actively display his Paragon Spatial Laws, no one else would know that he had already reached an Overgod's level.
But when his bloodline evolved, the strength of his body and the aura it emitted would naturally also reach a level comparable to an Overgod.
Recalling the several times she had encountered the Overgods, she remembered that before such incomparably majestic beings, despite being the strongest Sovereign, she still could not even withstand hearing an Overgod's divine words.
A mere trace of their aura, a single sentence, was almost enough to make her lose herself.
If Locke's body had now reached that level, then unless he completely sealed away his blood vitality, she probably could only face him directly while drawing upon the full power of the Netherworld.
"So this was why you called me out of seclusion last time, Lilia?"
Without anyone needing to explain, Locke had already sensed the life growing within Levlenxia's womb, along with the connection it shared with him.
Compared to the bond between Loran and himself, it was much weaker.
But there was no denying it.
This was indeed his third-generation blood descendant.
Of course, Locke could also tell that the one carrying Loran's child was Levlenxia's Saint-level original body.
As for her Water divine clone, it was still stationed within the Water Divine Plane, carrying out its duties as the Water Chief Sovereign.
However, in that case, without having undergone the baptism of Sovereign's Might, Loran's child would inevitably possess less talent in comprehending the Laws than Loran himself.
To enable Loran to reach Paragon, Locke had made countless preparations before finally helping him take that crucial half-step.
As for Loran's child, if they followed the traditional cultivation path of comprehending the Laws, their ultimate achievement would likely be no higher than that of a Prefect.
For ordinary beings, a Prefect was unquestionably a major figure throughout the Seven Divine Planes and the Four Higher Planes.
But for Locke's family, a Prefect was merely the minimum standard.
After all, the Death Chief Sovereign's secondary body was capable of producing the Netherworld Fruit, one of the finest treasures in the entire Coiling Dragon Universe.
The highest-grade Netherworld Fruit could directly allow a person to completely fuse five Profound Mysteries, granting strength on the level of a Prefect.
Over these countless years, even though the Netherworld Sovereign had never deliberately accelerated the fruit's growth, the sheer passage of time had filled spatial rings with the highest-grade Netherworld Fruits.
If the Death Chief Sovereign and Locke wished, they could easily cultivate an entire Sovereign Army composed solely of Prefect-level experts within a short period of time.
For Locke and the Death Chief Sovereign, if a descendant lacked the potential to reach Paragon, then it would actually be better to bestow a Netherworld Fruit upon them after they became Highgods.
The reason they did not intend to grant the fruit immediately after a descendant became a deity was because once someone consumed a Netherworld Fruit, they would no longer be capable of making any further progress.
If a Demigod consumed a Netherworld Fruit, they would only become a God who had completely fused five Profound Mysteries.
They would never be able to comprehend the final Profound Mystery to perfection and advance to the Highgod realm.
They would merely become a God possessing the strength of a Seven Star Fiend.
Of course, if they later fused with a Highgod divine spark, whether they could break through that limitation, become a Highgod, and possess the strength of a Prefect was something even Locke did not know.
Even so, he still had no intention of allowing his descendants to consume Netherworld Fruits too early.
As long as one reached the Saint-level in the Coiling Dragon Universe, one could enjoy an extremely long lifespan.
But in the end, how many people could truly endure until the destruction of the universe itself?
Far more people had their will to pursue immortality gradually worn away by the power of time, ultimately choosing eternal slumber.
Even the Sovereigns had to seek external stimulation to preserve their desire to continue living.
That had been true in the past.
After Locke established the rule that every Sovereign must spend a certain amount of time every hundred million years regulating the disordered Laws within the Divine Planes and Higher Planes, however, the Sovereigns had acquired responsibility.
Even after more than sixty quadrillion years, not a single Sovereign's heart of immortality had become clouded.
Instead, many members of the Sovereign Army under Locke's command had gradually been replaced over those sixty quadrillion years.
Once they lost the conviction that supported their continued existence, they would ultimately transfer into the Death Chief Sovereign's Sovereign Army and participate in the slaughter of the Planar Battlefield.
Shaking his head, Locke cast such thoughts from his mind.
Ever since reaching the Saint-level, Locke had already prepared himself for the day when he and his loved ones would eventually be separated by life and death.
It was precisely because of this that Locke seldom formed close relationships with others.
He simply didn't want too many emotional attachments.
Even if attachments did form, Locke only wished to find companions who could continue walking alongside him forever.
It was at that very time that the Death Chief Sovereign entered his life.
The first reason he had chosen her was naturally because, over the course of endless years, genuine feelings had gradually developed between himself and Lilia.
The second reason—and the one Locke considered the most important—
was that, from the Death Chief Sovereign's conduct more than a thousand Cycles later, it was evident that although she possessed a somewhat mischievous streak, using the Netherworld Fruits to lure countless beings into fighting within Mount Nether and watching them cooperate, betray one another, and reveal their true natures in pursuit of becoming a Sovereign's Emissary,
her values had never become twisted.
Moreover, this proved that the endless passage of time would never erode her heart of immortality.
She would be able to accompany Locke all the way to the end.
As for Loran, Locke was no longer particularly worried.
After all, more than a thousand Cycles later, the Water Chief Sovereign was still accompanying the Death Chief Sovereign.
If Levlenxia was safe, then Loran would naturally also be fine.
However, when it came to descendants beyond the third generation, Locke could not make such guarantees.
The Four Divine Beasts clan was the greatest clan in the Coiling Dragon Universe.
Its members were spread throughout the Seven Divine Planes and the Four Higher Planes.
Yet more than a thousand Cycles later, among the Four Divine Beasts clan residing in the Skyrite Mountains, there remained only a handful of experts within the first three generations, together with a small number of sixth- and seventh-generation descendants.
Even those sixth- and seventh-generation descendants had all reached the required bloodline purity only after undergoing the Ancestral Baptism.
So where had the fourth- and fifth-generation descendants gone?
Perhaps the members of the Four Divine Beasts clan scattered throughout the other Divine Planes and Higher Planes had long since been exterminated by the enemies the clan had accumulated over the ages.
But within the Infernal Realm—especially in the clan's ancestral homeland—it was impossible that not even a single fourth- or fifth-generation expert remained.
The only possible explanation was that, over the endless passage of time, those fourth- and fifth-generation descendants, who had never truly distinguished themselves, had already died out.
Among the later generations of the Four Divine Beasts clan, unless someone occasionally experienced an ancestral bloodline reversion and absorbed a large amount of Sovereign blood essence during the Ancestral Baptism, raising their bloodline concentration enough to advance into the fourth or fifth generation,
then the bloodline purity of sixth- and seventh-generation Sovereign descendants would forever remain their limit.
Looking across all the ancient clans throughout the Seven Divine Planes and the Four Higher Planes, it seemed that, at least on the surface, only the founding generation and a handful of later-rising experts remained.
(End of Chapter)
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