"No need."
Locke gently waved his hand.
Several decades ago, Locke's original body had entered the Elemental Plane to observe the mysteries of elemental fusion within the Magical Universe, leaving behind his water divine clone to watch over Rena.
With Locke's abilities, it took him less than a breath to locate Rena.
Of course, now that Rena had left Mount Abyss, no matter how worried Locke was about her safety, he couldn't simply appear directly before her.
After all, after being beaten several times by Locke, Grant had repeatedly insisted that Rena had been the one who wanted to leave the mountain of her own accord, not that he had forced her to.
At most, he had merely told Rena about the traditions of Locke's lineage, serving only as a guide.
On this point, Locke believed Grant wouldn't dare deceive him.
Normally, Locke simply remained hidden nearby.
This time, when Rena entered the Amethyst Mountains, in order to prevent any accidents, Locke had come directly to the Amethyst Sovereign's palace and observed Rena together with the Amethyst Sovereign through their divine senses.
Although Reisgem's manipulation of the Amethyst Beast stampede had caused Rena some trouble...
Locke wasn't so unreasonable as to blame Reisgem over a misunderstanding between two juniors.
Moreover, Reisgem hadn't deliberately targeted Rena.
She had simply happened to be within the affected area of the stampede.
"It's just children fooling around. There's no need to make such a fuss."
Hearing Locke say this, the Amethyst Sovereign finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, although it seemed that Chief Sovereign Locke doted on the little princess tremendously, it apparently wasn't quite as exaggerated as the rumors claimed.
Well...
At least, according to the rumors.
It was said that if even the little princess's father made her cry, the entire Netherworld would be filled with uninterrupted ghostly wailing for quite some time.
At any rate, according to several Death Sovereigns of the Netherworld, Sovereign Grant had always denied being beaten by his grandfather for several days and nights.
The two of them continued watching everything unfold.
Neither Locke nor the Amethyst Sovereign had expected Leihong to mistakenly identify Rena as Beirut's junior simply because of the divine spark weapon in her hand.
Listening to the conversation between Leihong and Rena, even Locke couldn't help feeling somewhat emotional.
At this moment, Beirut was still searching for Abyssal fruits in Mount Abyss of the Netherworld...
Yet his own great-granddaughter had already begun being mistaken for Beirut's junior.
Although this misunderstanding had been entirely Leihong's mistake and had nothing to do with Beirut...
Having someone mistake his precious great-granddaughter for another person's descendant still left Locke feeling somewhat displeased.
Immediately, Locke spread his soul power into the Netherworld.
By coincidence, Beirut was still within the third layer of mist in Mount Abyss.
With a single thought, Locke instantly cast an illusion that amplified Beirut's senses, allowing him to fully experience a portion of the power of Eye of Hell: Eighteen Levels of Hell before he managed to leave the third layer of mist.
However...
Neither Locke nor the Amethyst Sovereign had expected that after Rena chose to leave, Reisgem would actually decide to follow her around shamelessly, insisting on acknowledging Rena as his big sister...
Emmm...
Not only Rena—even Locke could feel the veins on his forehead throbbing.
What kind of joke was this?
You, a Highgod of the Edicts of Destruction...
Wanted to acknowledge a Wind God as your big sister?
Locke raised his head and looked toward the Amethyst Sovereign.
Just in time, he saw the Amethyst Sovereign suddenly lower her head, staring intently at the tips of her feet as though the floor of the palace contained something fascinating.
However, Locke's divine sense could still detect that the corners of the Amethyst Sovereign's mouth were harder to suppress than an AK's recoil—they had practically stretched all the way to her ears.
What a joke.
Who was Rena?
The little princess whom Chief Sovereign Locke currently—and likely for the next several hundred Ordinal Eras—treasured above all else.
This time, when the little princess descended the mountain, Chief Sovereign Locke had exceptionally allowed news to spread beforehand.
It was nothing less than a warning to all the Sovereigns.
If this little princess suffered even the slightest grievance in any plane...
The Sovereigns of that plane would probably have to tremble in fear as they awaited Chief Sovereign Locke's wrath.
Just as was happening with her.
The moment Little Princess Rena arrived at the Amethyst Mountains, Chief Sovereign Locke had immediately appeared within her Sovereign palace.
Most likely...
This was how Chief Sovereign Locke had spent the past hundred years.
However, the Amethyst Sovereign also felt a trace of confusion.
Logically speaking, if Chief Sovereign Locke had been acting this way, he should have visited quite a number of Sovereigns.
But why, until now, had she never heard any Sovereign mention such a thing?
What the Amethyst Sovereign didn't know was that Locke had only recently emerged from secluded cultivation.
It was only after learning that Rena had left Mount Abyss that he sent his water divine clone to protect her.
The Amethyst Sovereign was also the very first Sovereign Locke had visited during his journey of protecting Rena.
Of course...
Judging from the current situation, she certainly wouldn't be the last.
At this moment, the Amethyst Sovereign exercised tremendous self-control to keep herself from reacting to Chief Sovereign Locke's gaze.
Judging by how much Chief Sovereign Locke cared about Little Princess Rena...
If Reisgem could establish even the slightest connection with her, the Amethyst Sovereign would never again have to worry about Reisgem's safety.
If Reisgem stayed by her side, at most he would eventually reach the level of a Prefect.
Even with a Sovereign artifact, he would probably only belong to the third tier among Prefect-level experts.
If Reisgem ventured outside, the Amethyst Sovereign would always worry that once he left the range of her divine sense, he might encounter someone suspected of being a Paragon—or an actual Paragon.
Now, however, with Reisgem following Little Princess Rena...
The Amethyst Sovereign no longer worried about his safety.
On one hand, there was a genuine Paragon secretly protecting the little princess.
On the other...
Chief Sovereign Locke himself was accompanying Little Princess Rena.
If Reisgem truly encountered danger, then for Rena's sake, Chief Sovereign Locke certainly wouldn't stand by and watch him die.
Moreover...
If Reisgem were fortunate enough to become a Paragon in the future, he might even have an opportunity to glimpse the cultivation secrets of Locke's lineage.
Under such circumstances...
The Amethyst Sovereign would rather have Chief Sovereign Locke dislike her than open her mouth to stop Reisgem from running toward a brighter future.
Everything unfolded exactly as the Amethyst Sovereign had expected.
Locke expressed no dissatisfaction whatsoever toward Reisgem voluntarily becoming Rena's little brother.
Although Reisgem's current strength had yet to fully mature...
At most, he was merely an ordinary Highgod of the Edicts of Destruction, not even possessing the strength of a Five Star Fiend.
But precisely because of that...
His foundation wasn't much stronger than Rena's.
He was the perfect companion for Rena's adventures and training.
Locke had no objections to that.
After all, during an endless lifespan...
Being alone was simply too lonely.
Even Locke himself had managed to preserve his mentality throughout such an unimaginably long life largely because of the existence of Lilia, Loran, Veer, Grant, and the rest of his family.
Certainly, they were Rena's family.
But Rena's world shouldn't consist only of them.
The best time to cultivate true friendships...
Was when everyone was still weak and wandering the world together.
Only friendships forged during that period were the most genuine—and the most enduring.
Locke would never use the excuse of "doing what's best for Rena" to deprive her of the freedom to make friends.
In fact...
Once he learned that all three of Rena's divine clones had reached the Demigod level, even if Grant hadn't sent Rena out of Mount Abyss, Locke would have done so himself.
The reason he had beaten Grant...
Was because after sending Rena away from Mount Abyss, Grant had practically stopped paying attention to her, treating her exactly the same way Locke had treated them.
Completely free-range.
At the time, Locke had almost chopped Grant's head off just to see whether it was filled with water.
What a joke.
Although every time he sent these juniors away from Mount Abyss he appeared indifferent, allowing them to fend for themselves...
That was only to make them feel a certain sense of pressure.
But what was the reality?
Which one of those juniors hadn't had one of Locke's divine clones secretly following them throughout their adventures?
Loran, Veer, and Grant had all slowly grown from Demigods step by step.
Did they really think they had relied entirely on themselves?
Wasn't it actually Locke who had deliberately found suitable opponents, used illusions to create conflicts and battles between them, and allowed them to grow stronger through countless life-and-death struggles?
Without Locke...
Did they really think the experts of this world were all idiots?
Knowing perfectly well that an opponent wasn't simple, yet repeatedly charging over to throw away their lives?
Even a pig, if it lived for ten thousand years, would become intelligent.
Not to mention living beings who possessed immense power.
Furthermore...
Every one of those experts who had survived long enough to become powerful had lived for countless hundreds of millions of years.
Even if they truly wanted to die, they'd go fight in the Arena or the Planar Battlefield, where they could at least earn rewards.
Why would they line up one after another just to deliver experience and sacrifice themselves for you?
After all these years...
It turned out that every one of these juniors had only learned Locke's outward appearance.
Not a single one had grasped the essence beneath it.
If not for him and Lilia supporting them...
With the personalities of Loran, Veer, and Grant, the other Sovereigns would probably have devoured them long ago.
After Reisgem joined Rena, Locke hardly interfered in Rena's training anymore.
Determined to live up to Big Sister Rena's example and unwilling to let her look down on him, Reisgem never backed away whenever conflicts arose.
Given the personalities of both Rena and Reisgem...
If only they looked a little older and were somewhat stronger, those who clashed with them might have shown a measure of caution.
Unfortunately...
The childlike appearances of Rena and Reisgem naturally caused others to underestimate them.
Furthermore, the names they introduced themselves with didn't sound like the names of young masters or young ladies from major powers.
Under such circumstances...
Locke didn't even need to intervene.
Reisgem himself was a natural troublemaker.
Thus...
Across the Four Higher Planes and the Seven Divine Planes, the figures of Rena and Reisgem gradually began to appear.
Step by step...
They walked toward becoming the strongest.
...
"Augusta, aren't you afraid that our fused innate divine ability will kill you?"
Within the spatial turbulence, the Azure Dragon Sovereign Redding roared angrily.
Beside him stood his three sworn brothers—
the White Tiger Sovereign Lauis,
the Vermilion Bird Sovereign Nimo,
and the Black Tortoise Sovereign Bowen.
The Four Divine Beast Sovereigns stood in a mysterious formation.
Terrifying auras radiated from all four of them, ready to merge into one and launch an attack against Augusta at any moment.
Standing opposite the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns was the person publicly acknowledged by all the Sovereigns as the strongest Law Sovereign aside from Chief Sovereign Locke and the Four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts—
the Light Sovereign, Augusta.
The reason Augusta was acknowledged as the strongest Law Sovereign...
Was because the Light Divine Plane had become the second plane after the Netherworld to achieve ten consecutive victories in the Planar Battlefield.
In other words...
Augusta possessed one additional portion of Will.
Moreover...
The Light Sovereign Augusta was also the only Sovereign besides the Four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts to have completed an Overgod Mission and obtained an Overgod artifact.
Judging solely from the strength Augusta displayed publicly...
He was already comparable to the Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts during the very first Sovereign Conference.
Unfortunately...
Augusta had been born in the wrong era.
All Four Chief Sovereigns possessed Overgod artifacts.
Furthermore, every one of them had physical bodies as durable as Sovereign artifacts.
Therefore...
Even though Augusta possessed both an Overgod artifact and an extra portion of Will...
There was still roughly a hundredfold gap between his strength and that displayed by the Four Chief Sovereigns.
The other Law Sovereigns also disliked being placed in the same tier as Augusta.
After all...
Even before obtaining the bonus Will and his Overgod artifact, Augusta had already been capable of killing the Darkness Sovereign.
Now...
The other Law Sovereigns probably couldn't even withstand a single move from him.
At one Sovereign Conference, they had once proposed elevating Light Sovereign Augusta's status to that of a Chief Sovereign of the Edicts.
However...
The proposal was ultimately rejected by the Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff.
Orloff believed that the title of Chief Sovereign of the Edicts represented the highest rank among Sovereigns.
Only the strongest Sovereigns were qualified to possess such status.
Although Augusta was indeed considerably stronger than ordinary Law Sovereigns...
He was still far too weak before the Chief Sovereigns.
The Chief Sovereign of Destruction, Wordred, also agreed with Orloff's opinion.
In Wordred's view, if Augusta wished to become a Chief Sovereign of the Edicts, he would at the very least have to achieve another ten consecutive victories in the Planar Battlefield and obtain enough additional Will to exceed ordinary Law Sovereigns by a hundredfold.
Originally...
The Sovereigns of the Seven Elemental Planes had all wanted the Light Divine Plane to achieve another ten consecutive victories in the Planar Battlefield, elevating Light Sovereign Augusta to the level of a Chief Sovereign of the Edicts.
That way, there would no longer be a Law Sovereign capable of threatening the rest of them.
Unfortunately...
Perhaps because the Four Chief Sovereigns themselves didn't wish to see another Sovereign rise to stand on equal footing with them...
Over the course of more than three million Planar Battlefields, whenever the Light Divine Plane fought against one of the Four Higher Planes...
It never won even once.
Nevertheless...
That did nothing to diminish the fear the other Law Sovereigns felt toward Augusta.
The Four Divine Beast Sovereigns naturally felt the same.
Indeed...
The Four Divine Beast Sovereigns possessed a record of killing Law Sovereigns.
But...
Even they didn't know the true upper limit of the power of their fused innate divine ability.
After all...
It was their strongest move.
If that single attack killed the enemy...
They would be the victors.
But if it failed to kill—even if it merely severely injured the opponent...
The enemy could simply escape their effective range before they had time to unleash the fused innate divine ability a second time, waiting for an opportunity to recover.
(End of Chapter)
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