"Brother-in-law?"
Locke's expression stiffened awkwardly.
Although the Life Chief Sovereign, Wawaya, had always addressed the Death Chief Sovereign as her elder sister...
The two of them weren't actually related by blood.
After all, the Death Chief Sovereign was the first lifeform born in the Netherworld, while the Life Chief Sovereign was the first lifeform born in the Life Realm. They had even been born in different planes, so how could they truly be sisters?
It was simply that when Wawaya had been young, she had admired the Death Chief Sovereign, Lilia, immensely. Even after being beaten by Lilia numerous times, she never changed her mind and continued calling her "Big Sister."
Over the endless passage of time, their relationship had become even closer than that of biological sisters.
If the Laws of Reincarnation beyond the Paragon level of the Edicts of Death had been something the Death Chief Sovereign had discovered and cultivated entirely on her own, she would certainly have shared them with the Life Chief Sovereign, Wawaya.
Of course, since the matter involved Locke, the Death Chief Sovereign would never reveal the existence of the higher Laws to Wawaya without first obtaining Locke's permission.
However, it was difficult to say whether asking Locke about the Laws of Reincarnation here today had been Lilia's intention from the very beginning.
Back when Locke had still been at the Sovereign level, the Death Chief Sovereign had believed that keeping the existence of the higher Laws secret was a form of protection for him.
But after Locke successfully broke through into a higher realm, the Death Chief Sovereign realized that in this world, so long as Locke did not deliberately violate the rules of the universe...
No.
Perhaps, given Locke's current realm, even breaking a few of the universe's rules wouldn't amount to much.
After all, hadn't Locke said that his current realm was comparable to that of the Overgods?
If so...
Didn't that mean that even the Overgods could no longer pose a mortal threat to Locke?
It was precisely because of this thought that the Death Chief Sovereign wanted to lend her "little sister" a helping hand.
However, even she had been caught completely off guard by Wawaya calling Locke "Brother-in-law."
"Of course. Lilia is my big sister, so doesn't that make Chief Sovereign Locke my brother-in-law?"
Wawaya turned toward Lilia.
"Right, Big Sister?"
"Call him whatever you like."
The Death Chief Sovereign waved her hand, appearing unconcerned with how Wawaya addressed Locke.
However, the slight upward curve of her lips clearly revealed that Lilia was in an excellent mood.
Among all the Sovereigns, there weren't many whom the Death Chief Sovereign truly cared about.
The Life Chief Sovereign, Wawaya, was undoubtedly one of the most important.
Now that Wawaya had begun calling Locke "Brother-in-law," that change of address also represented a change in status.
Previously, calling him "Chief Sovereign Locke" had meant he was an outsider.
In truth, the Life Chief Sovereign had never once stopped trying to become closer to her elder sister, the Death Chief Sovereign.
Whether it was protecting Loran and Levlexia while they lived in the Life Realm...
Supporting Levlexia after she became the Water Sovereign...
Or finally accepting Levlexia as her goddaughter...
All of these had been decisions Wawaya made in order to strengthen her relationship with the Death Chief Sovereign.
But compared to calling Locke "Brother-in-law," those actions still fell just a little short.
Now that Wawaya had begun addressing Locke as "Brother-in-law," with the Death Chief Sovereign's silent approval, it meant that from this day forward, they were truly family.
As for the balance among the Sovereigns?
After all these years, Wawaya had long since figured it out.
So long as Brother-in-law was present, every Sovereign would unquestionably abide by the rules he established, not daring to overstep them in the slightest.
Not to mention the Lesser and Intermediate Sovereigns.
Even the three Edict Chief Sovereigns themselves still had to spend a certain amount of time every trillion years calming the chaotic Laws within the Higher Planes.
There was no helping it.
Although the Higher Planes had been created by the Overgods, making both the stability of their space and the accumulation of chaotic Laws far superior to those of the Divine Planes...
A Divine Plane required at least one Intermediate Sovereign and two Lesser Sovereigns to regulate its chaotic Laws.
Meanwhile, in a Higher Plane, a single Lesser Sovereign of the corresponding Edict was sufficient.
Thus, when Locke had originally established the duties and responsibilities of the Chief Sovereigns, he had specifically been referring to the seven Elemental Chief Sovereigns.
The four Edict Chief Sovereigns had not originally fallen within the scope of those obligations.
Yet in the end, the other three Edict Chief Sovereigns had voluntarily led by example, becoming role models for the others.
After all, if even the four Edict Chief Sovereigns faithfully carried out the responsibilities assigned by Chief Sovereign Locke, then should any other Chief Sovereign dare neglect them...
Chief Sovereign Locke certainly wouldn't mind replacing them with someone else.
...
While the Death Chief Sovereign explained to the Life Chief Sovereign, Wawaya, how to cultivate the higher Laws beyond Paragon, Locke silently appeared in a distant corner of the Magical Universe.
This was the furthest region his soul power could reach.
The divine senses of the Sovereigns could never extend here from the Divine Planes or Higher Planes.
After once again spreading his soul power and confirming there were no other beings nearby, Locke flicked a finger.
Boom!
Ten thousand meters away, the space of the Magical Universe was blasted open by that casual finger flick, creating a hole the size of a fist.
A stream of gray energy shot out through the opening.
Around that gray current, Locke could clearly sense the Laws of the Universe beginning to collapse.
Fortunately, the Laws of the Universe immediately manifested, rapidly repairing the fist-sized hole in space.
Yet in that brief instant, the gray current had already accumulated into a cloud of gray mist roughly one meter across.
Everything surrounding that gray mist was completely dissolved.
However, under the effects of the Laws of the Universe, the mist itself was decomposed into the seven elemental Laws—earth, fire, water, wind, light, darkness, and lightning.
Locke sent a strand of his soul power into the Laws of the Universe, attempting to comprehend the profound mysteries behind their decomposition of Hongmeng energy.
However, mysteries of this level had already touched upon an even higher realm.
The only portions Locke could truly understand were those related to the Spatial Laws and the Laws of Reincarnation.
Once the mass of Hongmeng energy had been completely decomposed, the Laws of the Universe faded away.
Just as Locke was about to repeat the process in order to comprehend more of the Laws' mysteries...
His entire body suddenly froze.
At that instant, Locke sensed an incomparably majestic gaze fall upon him.
The feeling was like an ant being stared at by a giant dragon.
The overwhelming pressure instantly caused Locke's limbs to stiffen, rendering him completely unable to move.
Only after a long while, once that gaze finally withdrew, did Locke regain control over his body.
He immediately began gasping for breath.
"That was close..."
"So that was Hongmeng's gaze..."
"What terrifying pressure."
"If I'd still tried to break open the barrier of the Magical Universe while under his watch..."
"I'm afraid I wouldn't have been allowed to remain in the Magical Universe for much longer."
After all, in order to prevent the auxiliary universes from being damaged, Hongmeng had hidden the Spatial Laws and Temporal Laws within them, severing any possibility for living beings in those universes to reach the realms of Godking or Celestial.
And now...
Right beneath his nose, Locke had actually become a Godking and even shattered the space of the Magical Universe.
Fortunately, thanks to his attainments in the soul, Locke had sensed the emotions contained within Hongmeng's gaze.
That was why he hadn't attacked a second time.
At the same time, Locke also understood something.
He could no longer use the method of breaking open the space of the Magical Universe to observe how the Laws of the Universe decomposed Hongmeng energy.
If there were a next time, Hongmeng would undoubtedly throw him out of the Magical Universe and into the main universe without the slightest hesitation.
Although, for the current Locke, going to the main universe would indeed allow him to comprehend the Temporal Laws more effectively and thus advance toward becoming a Celestial...
Judging from the situation within the Divine Realm of the Linmeng Universe, Godkings who wished to become Celestials almost all relied upon complete Celestial treasures in order to fully comprehend the Temporal Laws.
Within the Hongmeng Universe, Locke would be considered nothing remarkable.
Any resources suitable for cultivating the Temporal Laws would be controlled by others.
After more than sixty quadrillion years, Locke had no idea how many Celestials or Invincible Godkings had appeared throughout the Hongmeng Universe under Hongmeng's influence.
But he knew one thing.
Unless he himself comprehended Time Stop and became an Invincible Godking, he wouldn't even be qualified to set foot on the battlefield where Celestial treasures were contested.
Otherwise...
He would most likely become nothing more than hired muscle for those ancient major factions.
The moment he revealed himself, he would probably become the target of countless Godkings from those great powers.
In battles between those great factions, they generally wouldn't kill each other's core Godkings.
Instead, outsider Godkings and wandering Godkings like Locke—those forced into joining one side—became the "battle records" by which those factions measured victory.
That was not the future Locke wanted.
Shaking his head, Locke abandoned the idea of breaking open space to draw in Hongmeng energy as a means of comprehending the mysteries of the Laws of the Universe.
Judging from what his soul power had observed earlier, the Laws of the Universe within the Magical Universe undoubtedly contained the world's origin, integrating the Spatial Laws, Temporal Laws, and Laws of Reincarnation into one.
At present, however, he had yet to fully comprehend the Laws of Reincarnation, and he had not even begun studying the Temporal Laws.
With only the Spatial Laws mastered, even if he witnessed the Laws of the Universe decomposing Hongmeng energy several more times, he still wouldn't be able to reproduce that process himself.
It would be better to wait until he had completely comprehended both the Temporal Laws and the Laws of Reincarnation before attempting this again.
If he could fuse those three higher Laws into something equivalent to the Laws of the Universe, then after leaving the Magical Universe and entering Hongmeng Space, he would surely be able to preserve his life amidst the endless Hongmeng energy.
Moreover, this method could only be used within an auxiliary universe.
Within the main universe, not even a Celestial could break open its space to draw in Hongmeng energy.
Nor would the Laws of the Universe there manifest themselves as they did within the Magical Universe, allowing others to comprehend them.
Returning to the Life Realm, Locke found that his son Loran was still absorbing and refining spatial divine power, while his wife, Lilia, was explaining the Laws of Reincarnation to the Life Chief Sovereign, Wawaya.
None of them seemed to have noticed that Locke had briefly left.
Naturally, Locke was perfectly happy with that.
Finding a spot beneath the Life Tree, he sat down and began carefully absorbing the profound methods by which the Laws of the Universe had applied the Spatial Laws—methods he had previously recorded using his soul power.
(End of Chapter)
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