Nanessa was one of the beings Locke had discovered more than five hundred Cycles ago who possessed the potential to become a Paragon.
No living being could refuse an olive branch extended by Chief Sovereign Locke.
By that time, Locke's son Loran and grandson Veer had already attained Sovereign-level strength.
A single family with four Sovereigns had completely eclipsed the glory of the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns.
After all, although the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns had established the Four Divine Beasts Clan, strictly speaking, they had only gathered together because of their fused innate divine ability.
Locke's lineage was different.
Apart from Locke and the Death Chief Sovereign, Loran was their son, and Veer was their grandson. They truly belonged to a single direct bloodline.
Even back then, the other Sovereigns had already suspected that Chief Sovereign Locke had mastered even more profound Laws.
However, it wasn't until more than thirteen hundred Cycles later, when the fourth-generation member of the Locke Clan, Grant Locke, reached Sovereign-level strength, that the Sovereigns finally confirmed it.
Unfortunately, although they coveted the higher-order Laws in Chief Sovereign Locke's possession, not one of them dared ask him for guidance.
Instead, some Sovereigns shifted their attention to Teresia, the Wind Paragon Lesser Sovereign.
Of course, because Locke tacitly permitted it, the Sovereigns all regarded Teresia as one of Chief Sovereign Locke's subordinates. None dared use force against her, instead hoping she would reveal the secret of cultivating beyond the Paragon realm.
Unfortunately, as a Paragon herself, Teresia had no regard for those who had become Sovereigns through sheer luck after obtaining Sovereign sparks.
She bluntly declared that unless one became a Paragon, one wasn't even qualified to cultivate further.
Those words immediately set the Sovereigns' imaginations running wild.
Could it be that the higher-order Laws could only be cultivated after reaching the Paragon realm?
Once they came to that conclusion, the Sovereigns finally quieted down.
There was another reason they abandoned their fantasies as well.
Nanessa.
Nanessa was a Lightning Paragon.
Yet even after several hundred Cycles had passed, although she had become somewhat stronger than an ordinary Paragon, she remained far from possessing Sovereign-level strength.
No one doubted Nanessa's talent or comprehension.
After all, anyone capable of reaching the Paragon realm was unquestionably a genius.
Likewise, none of the Sovereigns believed Chief Sovereign Locke would deliberately hide the method of cultivating beyond Paragon from her.
Yet despite all that, after spending so much time cultivating, Nanessa still hadn't reached Sovereign-level strength.
If even she couldn't do it...
Then they certainly wouldn't fare any better.
In fact, they would probably perform even worse than Nanessa!
After all, regardless of anything else, Nanessa had become a Lightning Paragon through her own talent.
As for them?
Even fusing five Profound Mysteries had relied upon the power of faith.
How could they compare to Nanessa?
"Nanessa..."
Hearing the Death Chief Sovereign say that she had sent Nanessa to secretly protect Rena, Locke found himself with nothing more to say, no matter how worried he still was.
Even Locke himself felt that the girl was rather unfortunate.
Nanessa had brought Locke a complete Lightning Paragon Law, allowing him to successfully come into contact with the Laws of Time.
Naturally, after Nanessa became a Paragon, Locke had also taught her the method of using a perfected Law to touch upon even higher-order Laws.
Unfortunately, unlike Loran, Veer, and Grant, despite trying for countless years—and even after Locke had invested several thousand drops of Azure Dragon Sovereign Redding's divine beast blood essence into her—Nanessa had only barely managed to glimpse a trace of the Laws of Time.
And even that...
Was already her limit.
A boundless road lay before her.
She could see it.
She could touch it.
Yet she could never step onto it.
What kind of torment was that?
As for Nanessa's situation, Locke already had some guesses.
Within the Hongmeng Universe, the status of the Laws of Time stood above that of the Laws of Space.
Completely comprehending the Laws of Space allowed one to become a Godking.
Completely comprehending the Laws of Time allowed one to become a Celestial Exalt—the strongest existence within the Hongmeng Universe's primary universe.
The lower-order Laws beneath the Laws of Space were earth, wind, water, and fire.
The lower-order Laws beneath the Laws of Time were light, darkness, and lightning.
Even within the primary universe, only Godkings who had completely comprehended the Laws of Space were qualified to begin comprehending the Laws of Time.
Nanessa was a Lightning Paragon.
Through the Laws of Lightning and the Sovereign blood essence of Azure Dragon Sovereign Redding, she had successfully come into contact with the Laws of Time.
Unfortunately, without the Laws of Space as her foundation, the fact that she could comprehend even a trace of the Laws of Time was already proof of extraordinary talent.
Although Nanessa, with only a trace of the Laws of Time, might be slightly lacking in offensive power...
When it came to speed, she was unquestionably the number one person beneath the Sovereigns.
With Nanessa protecting Rena, there was no need to worry about her safety.
"Sigh..."
Locke leaned backward into the Death Chief Sovereign's throne and let out a sigh.
He also knew that all of his worry over Rena was merely causing himself unnecessary anxiety.
With both Nanessa and all the safeguards he had left on Rena, only the few Sovereigns who possessed Overgod artifacts could possibly pose any threat to her.
And people shouldn't forget...
Locke was now a Godking who had already comprehended Time Acceleration.
With a single thought, his soul power could instantly spread across the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes.
It even covered the nearby material planes surrounding the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes.
If necessary, Locke could appear directly beside Rena at any moment.
After fidgeting on the throne for a while, Locke still couldn't settle down.
He glanced at Lilia, and seeing that she wasn't paying much attention to him, quietly spread out his soul power.
"Found her..."
...
During this Cycle, the Magical Universe was exceptionally lively.
The news that the little princess of Necropolis Mountain had descended spread everywhere.
If even ordinary Deities knew about it, the Sovereigns naturally couldn't remain unaware.
The moment that news spread, every Sovereign understood Chief Sovereign Locke's intentions.
After all, whether it had been Sovereign Loran, Sovereign Veer, or Sovereign Grant, their identities as members of Chief Sovereign Locke's lineage had only become known after they had grown to a certain level.
Furthermore, Chief Sovereign Locke had never deliberately publicized the fact that his descendants had left Necropolis Mountain to gain experience.
This time, however, news had spread from Necropolis Mountain almost immediately after the little princess descended.
That alone was enough to demonstrate how important the little princess was to Chief Sovereign Locke.
As a result, throughout the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes, every newly appeared female Deity seemed to have become blessed by fate.
No matter what mistakes they made...
No matter how much trouble they caused...
The powerful experts all refrained from making a move against them.
There was no helping it.
Before learning the little princess's true identity, none of those experts were willing to take even the one-in-a-hundred-million risk of attacking a newly appeared female Deity.
If the person they attacked just so happened to be the little princess traveling incognito...
Then all of their relatives and friends would probably tie them up and personally escort them to Necropolis Mountain to beg forgiveness from those great figures.
...
"Over there! It's almost here!"
Within the Necropolis Mountain Range, Beirut transformed into a black streak as he sped toward the place where a ray of green light was falling.
In order to give his three sons the ability to protect themselves and leave the Yulan Plane, Beirut had resolved to obtain three Abyssal fruits from the Necropolis Mountain Range.
If obtaining Abyssal fruits depended purely on strength, Beirut believed that throughout the entire Netherworld, there were no more than three people capable of contending with him.
He had tremendous confidence in obtaining them.
Unfortunately...
Treasures like Abyssal fruits were said to exist purely for the Sovereign's amusement.
Whenever the Sovereign felt bored, an Abyssal fruit would be casually tossed down from Necropolis Mountain, and the Sovereign would watch the countless people within the mountain range struggle desperately over it for entertainment.
If someone happened to be extraordinarily lucky, and the Abyssal Fruit landed right beside them before any other experts arrived...
They could immediately consume it.
With good fortune, they would soar into the heavens, instantly becoming a Prefect-level expert who had fused five Profound Mysteries.
With poor fortune...
They would still become a Five Star Fiend who had fused two Profound Mysteries.
Of course, that comparison only applied to experts at the Five Star Fiend level or above.
For Deities beneath the Four Star Fiend level, obtaining even a single Abyssal fruit was already an incredible stroke of luck.
Perhaps because the Sovereign had been in an unstable mood recently, within just a little over a hundred years, more than a dozen Abyssal fruits had been thrown down into the Necropolis Mountain Range.
Some had been obtained directly by fortunate individuals and immediately consumed.
Others had hidden themselves within the mountain range, waiting for the beings inside to search for and fight over them.
Beirut's luck was rather good.
He had spent less than a hundred years in the Necropolis Mountain Range before witnessing an Abyssal fruit cast down by the Sovereign.
Quite a few others saw it at the same time.
Every one of them unleashed their full speed as they rushed toward where the Abyssal Fruit was falling.
However, none of them could compare to Beirut.
Beirut was a Godeater Rat.
His natural speed was already astonishing, and with his Darkness Laws having completely fused five Profound Mysteries, his strength ranked within the top ten across the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes.
Although many of the competitors were closer to the Abyssal Fruit than he was...
Beirut overtook them one after another.
After all, this was the Necropolis Mountain Range.
Three layers of mist covered the entire region.
Any living being entering the mountain range would have their sense of direction distorted by the mist.
the Abyssal Fruit descending from the sky had landed within the third layer of mist.
Even experts at the Prefect level couldn't remain within that layer for very long.
Many beings who rushed into the third layer had only flown for a dozen breaths before their sense of direction became completely chaotic, causing them to wander aimlessly like headless flies.
Even Beirut could feel his consciousness gradually becoming hazy the deeper he entered the mist.
Fortunately, before his own sense of direction completely collapsed, Beirut finally arrived at the place where the Abyssal Fruit had fallen.
"the Abyssal Fruit..."
"...is mine!"
(End of Chapter)
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