"Sigh..."
Seeing the expressions on Reisgem and Tia's faces, the Amethyst Sovereign let out a sigh.
She knew that if she didn't give the two of them an explanation today, then not only Tia—even if Reisgem said nothing in the future, he would still harbor some thoughts about her in his heart.
"Reisgem, Tia..."
"It's not that I'm unwilling to deliver a message to the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns on your behalf."
"It's that I can't."
After taking a deep look at Tia, the Amethyst Sovereign said, "Tia, you should prepare yourself for what I'm about to tell you."
"Ten thousand years ago, the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns fought the Chief Sovereign of Light within the Spatial Turbulence..."
"In the end, all four of the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns perished at the hands of the Chief Sovereign of Light."
"If it were possible for me to deliver your message to them, I certainly wouldn't refuse."
"But the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns have already been dead for ten thousand years. How could I possibly deliver a message to them now?"
...
Tia didn't know how he had returned to the Skyrite Mountains.
However, he was, after all, the Clan Leader of the Vermilion Bird Clan.
Though his heart was filled with panic, he didn't dare reveal even the slightest trace of it.
He quietly returned to the Azure Dragon Hall.
Soon, two figures entered the hall.
"How did it go, Third Brother?"
"What did Father and the others say?"
The two who entered were naturally Gess, Clan Leader of the White Tiger Clan, and Feynman, Clan Leader of the Black Tortoise Clan.
The moment he stepped into the Azure Dragon Hall, Gess couldn't help but ask.
During the decades that Tia had been away from the Four Divine Beasts Clan seeking the Amethyst Sovereign's help, the branch clans scattered throughout the other planes had also begun encountering trouble.
After all, nearly a hundred years had already passed since the Four Divine Beasts Clan of the Water Divine Plane had failed in its campaign against the Babari Clan.
That news had long since spread throughout the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes.
At present, the Four Divine Beasts Clan in the Water Divine Plane was locked in fierce battle against the native powers led by the Babari Clan.
Because neither side had managed to determine a victor over the past century, the weakness the Four Divine Beasts Clan had displayed in recent years had gradually been exposed before the eyes of many powers.
As a result, among the eleven planes, only the Infernal Realm remained relatively peaceful.
In the other ten planes, the Four Divine Beasts Clan had, to varying degrees, run into problems and clashed repeatedly with local forces.
As one of the four clan leaders who governed the Four Divine Beasts Clan, Gess naturally saw the clan's current predicament.
However, although Gislason, Gess, and Feynman all understood the problems facing the Four Divine Beasts Clan, they firmly believed that as long as they reestablished contact with their fathers, and their fathers bestowed a few more batches of Sovereign's Might, every problem the clan currently faced would cease to be a problem.
With the sheer number of Four Divine Beasts clansmen, as long as their supply of Sovereign's Might was sufficient, who in the Seven Divine Planes or Four Higher Planes would still dare speak loudly before the Four Divine Beasts Clan?
This was also the belief shared by every member of the Four Divine Beasts Clan throughout the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes.
However, Gess noticed something unexpected.
Tia, who had returned from the Amethyst Continent, showed no sign of joy.
Instead, he looked as though he was on the verge of collapsing, covering his face with both hands.
Gess instinctively lightened his footsteps before turning toward Gislason.
"Big Brother, what's wrong with Third Brother?"
"I don't know."
Gislason shook his head.
"After he came back, he asked me to send messages to the two of you. Since then, he's been like this without saying a word."
After Gess and Feynman took their seats, Gislason looked toward Tia.
"Third Brother, now that Second Brother and Fourth Brother have arrived, can you tell us what news you received from the Amethyst Sovereign?"
"Hoo..."
Hearing Gislason's words, Tia took a deep breath and rubbed both hands across his face several times, trying to compose himself.
"Big Brother... Second Brother... Fourth Brother..."
After lowering his hands, Tia first erected a soundproof barrier throughout the Azure Dragon Hall before slowly recounting everything he had learned from the Amethyst Sovereign.
"I went to the Amethyst Mountains and successfully met Lady Amethyst Sovereign."
Under the gaze of his three brothers, Tia forced himself to steady his emotions.
"But after I requested that Lady Amethyst Sovereign help deliver a message to Father and the others..."
"I was refused."
"What?"
"How is that possible?"
"The Amethyst Sovereign has always been on good terms with Father and the others! It was only a matter of delivering a message. Why would she refuse?"
Hearing Tia say this, Gislason, Gess, and Feynman were all greatly shocked, immediately rising from their seats.
At the same time, a terrible premonition appeared in their hearts.
Under normal circumstances, there was no reason for the Amethyst Sovereign to reject such a request.
And once she had...
The implications became far more complicated.
The greatest possibility was that something had happened to their fathers.
Sure enough...
Tia's next words threw the three brothers into complete chaos.
"At first, I couldn't understand it either, and in my confusion I offended Lady Amethyst Sovereign with my words."
"Fortunately, Lord Reisgem stopped me before I could continue offending her, and had me apologize, allowing the matter to be put aside."
"Afterward, Lord Reisgem asked Lady Amethyst Sovereign on my behalf why she refused to deliver the message."
"Father... and our uncles..."
"Ten thousand years ago..."
"They were killed by the Chief Sovereign of Light in the Spatial Turbulence."
"What?!"
Although the three brothers had already guessed as much...
When those words truly came from Tia's mouth, it still struck them like a bolt from the blue.
"How... how is that possible?"
"Father and the others..."
Gess's eyes instantly turned bloodshot.
He rushed forward in several strides and seized Tia by both shoulders.
"Third Brother!"
"Tell me this isn't true!"
"Second Brother..."
Although Gess's grip nearly crushed Tia's shoulders, causing such pain that he bit his gums until they bled...
He didn't utter a single cry.
"I also wish I could say it wasn't true..."
"But this is the news I received directly from Lady Amethyst Sovereign."
"How could this happen..."
Receiving Tia's confirmation once more, Gess staggered backward several steps.
His body swayed unsteadily, showing just how devastating this news was to them.
"Father... Uncles..."
Only after a long time did the four clan leaders finally recover somewhat from the news of their fathers' deaths.
Gess, Tia, and Feynman all turned toward Gislason.
As the universally acknowledged leader of the Four Divine Beasts Clan, Gislason had always been the greatest pillar of support beneath the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns themselves.
That prestige had been built over more than a thousand cycled eras.
"Big Brother..."
"What should we do now?"
Gess asked in a heavy voice.
Over all these years, although each of them had been the leader of his respective clan, they had long since grown accustomed to living beneath the protection of their fathers.
Likewise, all affairs of the Four Divine Beasts Clan had always been managed by their eldest brother, Gislason, with impeccable order.
Now that they had suddenly learned of their fathers' deaths, they instinctively hoped to receive some reassurance from their eldest brother.
Gislason clasped his hands together, resting his elbows upon his knees and his chin upon his folded hands.
Hearing the terrible news of his father and three uncles' deaths, the sorrow and fear within Gislason's heart were no less than those of his three younger brothers.
In fact, because he understood far more and had governed the Four Divine Beasts Clan for countless years, he knew even better that if they mishandled this situation...
The entire Four Divine Beasts Clan would become like eggs beneath an overturned nest, its destruction only a matter of time.
Therefore...
No matter how much unease and fear filled his heart, Gislason suppressed them with his formidable willpower.
The greatest pillar supporting the Four Divine Beasts Clan had collapsed.
Now...
The only ones capable of holding up the sky for the Four Divine Beasts Clan were the four brothers themselves.
And as the eldest brother, if even he lost his composure...
What future would the Four Divine Beasts Clan still have?
"My three brothers..."
"We all know exactly what has allowed our Four Divine Beasts Clan to become the undisputed number one clan throughout the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes all these years."
"Now our fathers have fallen."
"Our clan has lost its source of Sovereign's Might."
"More than half of our foundation has already been lost."
"Although we ourselves have never left the Infernal Realm, we all know very well what our clansmen throughout the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes have been doing."
As soon as Gislason said this, Gess, Tia, and Feynman all changed expression.
Forget the other planes.
Even within the Infernal Realm itself, the Four Divine Beasts Clan's reputation wasn't good.
No...
At this point, it couldn't merely be described as "bad."
Calling it "universally despised" wouldn't be an exaggeration.
When the Four Divine Beasts Clan had stood at the height of its power, naturally no other force had dared provoke its members.
But once the clan's supply of Sovereign's Might was cut off...
The strength of every high-level member of the Four Divine Beasts Clan would fall by a hundredfold.
When that happened...
The Four Divine Beasts Clan would inevitably face a joint assault from the native powers of every plane.
Unfortunately...
That was precisely the situation they now faced.
It had already been ten thousand years since the deaths of the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns.
The last batch of Sovereign's Might they had left behind had already sustained the Four Divine Beasts Clan for a hundred thousand years.
It was precisely because new Sovereign's Might had arrived almost every hundred thousand years that members of the Four Divine Beasts Clan had never developed any concept of conserving it.
Had they learned of their fathers' deaths ten thousand years earlier, Gislason could have secretly relocated the clansmen from the other planes back to the Infernal Realm while quietly collecting all Sovereign's Might from members below the Highgod level.
If that had been done...
At the very least, the Four Divine Beasts Clan could have maintained its position within the Infernal Realm.
But now...
Ten thousand years had passed.
The Sovereign's Might reserves of every branch clan across all planes had nearly been exhausted.
Gislason could already imagine that once the news of the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns' deaths became public...
The Four Divine Beasts Clan would likely be annihilated within ten thousand years.
Thoughts raced through Gislason's mind.
At this moment, what he was most thankful for was that among the Deities, no one yet knew that the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns had fallen.
But Gislason also knew...
Such a secret could only be concealed temporarily.
If the Four Divine Beasts Clan wished to survive...
Then sacrifices had to be made.
Immediately, Gislason said in a solemn voice,
"For the continued survival of our Four Divine Beasts Clan..."
"My three brothers, we must concentrate all of our clan's strength."
"As for the Water Divine Plane..."
"We'll ignore it for now."
"Let them continue drawing the attention of the other forces."
"Meanwhile, secretly recall every clansman above the Highgod level from every other plane back to the Infernal Realm."
"And instruct them that when they return, after leaving each remaining clansman with one drop of Sovereign's Might..."
"They are to bring back all remaining Sovereign's Might for redistribution."
"Yes, Big Brother. We'll make the arrangements immediately."
After hearing Gislason's orders, Gess, Tia, and Feynman suppressed the grief in their hearts, immediately left the Azure Dragon Hall, and activated several special communication channels to transmit the order recalling all Highgods to the other planes.
...
"Finally finished."
Within the Yulan Plane, Beirut wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Ordinarily, when a Sovereign created a Divine Plane, they would first accumulate Sovereign's Might for two or three thousand years. Then, after channeling that Sovereign's Might into the Sovereign spark, the Sovereign spark would automatically create the Divine Plane.
However...
The Divine Plane Beirut had created was somewhat special.
Because of Chief Sovereign Augusta's threats, Beirut dared not enter the Spatial Turbulence, fearing that Augusta would ambush and kill him.
Thus, the Divine Plane he created was attached directly to the Yulan Plane.
To reduce the burden upon the Yulan Plane, he divided this Divine Plane into eighteen levels.
As a result, the strength of this Divine Plane exceeded that of a Material Plane by only a small margin.
Compared to the Divine Planes created by other Sovereigns, however, it still fell far short, placing very little strain upon the Yulan Plane.
In addition...
Ten thousand years earlier, Chief Sovereign Augusta's Sovereign projection had descended, nearly wiping out seventy to eighty percent of all life within the Yulan Plane.
After ten thousand years of recovery, life within the Yulan Plane had gradually begun to flourish once again.
Stretching out his hand, Beirut condensed Sovereign's Might into an enormous palm, lifted the corpses of the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns from the Forest of Darkness, and placed them upon the eighteenth level of the Divine Plane he had created.
Over these ten thousand years, at the place where the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns' corpses had rested...
The blood left behind by the White Tiger Sovereign, Vermilion Bird Sovereign, and Black Tortoise Sovereign had given birth to many powerful tiger-type, bird-type, and turtle-type magical beasts.
The strongest among them included Saint-level peak magical beasts only a step away from becoming Deities, such as the Golden-Striped Bloodthirsty Tiger, the Hellfire Phoenix, and the Deep Sea Ao Turtle.
The weakest were still at least rank seven magical beasts, such as the Windwing White Tiger, the Jade-Eyed Azure Sparrow, and the Land Turtle.
After placing the corpses in position, Beirut remained within the eighteenth level and spread his divine sense into the Spatial Turbulence.
This was also the first time since becoming a Sovereign that Beirut had extended his divine sense beyond the Yulan Plane.
However...
The Yulan Plane's location within the Spatial Turbulence was still a considerable distance from the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes.
Even though Beirut had already become a Sovereign...
His divine sense could only barely extend as far as the Infernal Realm.
(End of Chapter)
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