After setting aside a portion of their Sovereign power to prioritize the Highgods and above within the clan, the Four Divine Beasts Clan's strength in the Infernal Realm had become much greater than it had been three thousand years ago.
Of course, this was all built upon the premise that they still possessed an adequate reserve of Sovereign power.
"Then, big brother, what should we do next?"
Gais, Tia, and Feman all looked toward Gislason.
"What should we do?"
Gislason said solemnly, "Brothers, after all these years, I'm sure you've all realized that in the Divine Planes and Higher Planes, strength is the most important thing."
"Previously, I contacted Father's Sovereign Emissaries, hoping they would help our clan bring back our clansmen from the other planes."
"But unfortunately, every one of them refused."
"They said they were the Sovereign Emissaries of the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns, not the Sovereign Emissaries of the Four Divine Beasts Clan."
"Now that Father and the others have fallen, they have naturally regained their freedom."
"And besides that..."
"The Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise Sovereign Armies also rejected our request."
Hearing Gislason's words, the three brothers immediately flew into a rage.
"Damn it!"
"When Father and the others were alive, every single one of them rushed to curry favor with us."
"But the moment they learned Father and the others had fallen, they immediately changed their attitude."
"What a bunch of opportunistic parasites!"
"Enough."
Seeing his three younger brothers like this, Gislason interrupted them.
"Brothers, to be honest, when I asked them, I already knew this would be the outcome."
"I simply held onto the faint hope that if even one of them agreed, they could save tens of thousands of our clansmen."
"And..."
"Brothers, you must understand that the Four Divine Beasts Clan is no longer the supreme clan protected by Father and the others."
"We are now merely a clan protected by us brothers and sisters."
"In the past, we could ignore these people."
"But now, no matter how angry we are with them, we cannot show it."
"Without them, our Four Divine Beasts Clan has only six experts at the Asura Prefect level—our five siblings and Blue."
"Among them, because Blue doesn't possess a Sovereign artifact, his strength is only average among Asura Prefect-level experts."
"Those eight individuals all possess Sovereign artifacts bestowed upon them by Father and the others. Every one of them is only slightly weaker than the four of us."
"If our attitude drives them to stand against us..."
"It would be an absolute disaster for the Four Divine Beasts Clan."
"The current Four Divine Beasts Clan cannot afford the consequences of making enemies of them."
As Gislason finished speaking, silence filled the Azure Dragon Hall.
Although Gais, Tia, and Feman felt utterly aggrieved and unwilling to accept it, they had no choice but to admit that their elder brother was right.
The strongest force the Four Divine Beasts Clan now possessed was the few of them.
And among Asura Prefect-level experts, they weren't considered truly top-tier. At best, they belonged to the second tier.
If they encountered supreme experts possessing both offensive and defensive Sovereign artifacts...
They would be no match at all.
Of course, experts of that caliber, even throughout the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes, ranked among the top thirty.
If such people wished to establish a force, countless experts would willingly follow them, allowing them to become a superpower in a short period of time.
At present, although the Four Divine Beasts Clan still possessed more clansmen than an ordinary superpower...
They lacked third-tier Asura Prefect-level experts to stand at the very top.
The only reason Gislason and the others could barely reach the third tier was because the clan still possessed a considerable amount of Sovereign power, allowing them to receive its amplification.
At the Deity level, Sovereign power could increase a Deity's strength by a hundredfold—or even several hundredfold.
The reason a second-tier Asura Prefect-level expert could only reach the third tier after using Sovereign power was not because the gap between the second and third tiers was a hundredfold.
Rather...
Third-tier Asura Prefect-level experts possessed at least two Sovereign artifacts, and most of them inevitably had a material-defense Sovereign artifact.
Not to mention second-tier Asura Prefect-level experts—even third-tier experts, pseudo-Paragons, or true Paragons using Sovereign power would be unable to break through a material-defense Sovereign artifact and inflict any damage upon third-tier experts.
Of course...
If a third-tier Asura Prefect-level expert possessed only a material-defense Sovereign artifact, a Paragon could still kill them using a soul attack imbued with Will.
If they possessed both a soul-defense Sovereign artifact and a material-defense Sovereign artifact...
Then only a Paragon could completely overwhelm them in strength and exile them into spatial turbulence, thereby posing an absolute threat to them.
"They're getting off too easily."
After remaining silent for a long while, Tia let out a sigh and slumped back against his chair.
If they hadn't endured these three thousand years of hardship within the Four Divine Beasts Clan...
The spirit of Tia and the others would likely have been crushed by Gislason's words.
If they had been lone wanderers...
Perhaps they would have sought revenge against those eight Sovereign Emissaries simply to vent their anger.
But unfortunately...
They were the Clan Leaders of the Four Divine Beasts Clan.
Every action they took had to be considered from the perspective of ensuring the clan's continued survival.
Eight Asura Prefect-level experts equipped with Sovereign artifacts...
If they chose to kick the Four Divine Beasts Clan while it was down, the clan's mere six Asura Prefect-level experts would have no way to resist them.
Although they still possessed a considerable reserve of Sovereign power...
Those eight men had served as the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns' Sovereign Emissaries for countless years. They undoubtedly still retained a large amount of Sovereign power bestowed upon them by the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns.
Because the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns bestowed massive quantities of Sovereign power upon their descendant clan roughly every hundred thousand years...
Among all Sovereigns, they were considered exceptionally generous in distributing Sovereign power.
According to Gislason's estimate...
Each of those eight Sovereign Emissaries possessed at least close to a hundred drops of Sovereign power.
If they truly chose to pursue those eight...
It would only accelerate the decline of the Four Divine Beasts Clan.
That's right.
At this point...
No matter how unwilling they were to admit it, the four brothers had no choice but to accept that without the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns, the Four Divine Beasts Clan was destined to decline over the coming years.
Without Sovereign power...
And without the Dragon Transformation Crystals, Tiger Transformation Crystals, Phoenix Transformation Crystals, and Black Tortoise Transformation Crystals refined from Sovereign blood essence...
At some point in the future, the younger generations of the Four Divine Beasts Clan would no longer be able to undergo the Ancestral Baptism to strengthen their bloodline purity.
They would eventually become nothing more than an ordinary clan.
"Big brother, just tell us what we should do now."
As soon as Gais spoke, Tia and Feman also turned to look at Gislason.
"What should we do?"
Gislason raised his head and looked at his three younger brothers.
"Brothers, with the Four Divine Beasts Clan in its current state..."
"No matter what we do, we may attract new enemies."
"I'm sure you all know just how many forces have, over the countless years, been thrown into turmoil by the actions of our clansmen."
"They smiled to our faces..."
"But deep down, they probably wished for the complete annihilation of the Four Divine Beasts Clan."
"If we do anything and provoke even more enemies..."
"Those clans will certainly seize the opportunity to take revenge."
"So the most important thing for us now..."
"...is to do nothing."
"Of course, when I say 'do nothing,' I mean we must not take the initiative to provoke new enemies."
"But if any force dares climb onto the heads of the Four Divine Beasts Clan..."
"Then show them no mercy."
"Wipe them out with thunderous speed before they have time to react!"
At this point, Gislason straightened his back and calmly said to his three younger brothers,
"Although we are willing to endure humiliation for the sake of our clan's survival..."
"...we are equally willing to die for the honor of the Four Divine Beasts."
"The Four Divine Beasts Clan represents the glory of the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns."
"That glory cannot be defiled by petty scoundrels."
"Even if we all die and our clan is exterminated..."
"...we will still make this world tremble before the glory of the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns."
"Yes, big brother!"
"Don't worry. There isn't a single coward in the Four Divine Beasts Clan!"
Gais, Tia, and Feman answered loudly in unison.
...
"From all the Four Divine Beasts clansmen throughout the Seven Divine Planes and three Higher Planes, this is all the Sovereign blood essence you managed to extract?"
Within the Celestial Realm, the Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff swept his divine sense across the interspatial ring handed over by the Light Chief Sovereign Augusta and frowned slightly.
The two of them were originally one being, so they naturally shared the same interspatial rings. There was no need to erase ownership and claim them again.
Inside the ring...
There were eighteen drops of Sovereign blood essence, each radiating an overwhelming pressure.
Among them...
There were six drops from the Azure Dragon Sovereign.
Four drops from the White Tiger Sovereign.
The Vermilion Bird Sovereign's blood essence numbered five drops—one fewer than the Azure Dragon's.
The Black Tortoise Sovereign's was the least, with only three drops.
"Augusta."
"If I wish to analyze the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns' fused innate divine ability..."
"I need at least ten drops from each of the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns."
"And once the analysis is complete, every subsequent use may require one drop from each of the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns."
"The few drops you've brought..."
"Aren't even enough for me to finish analyzing the fused innate divine ability."
Seeing the expression on Orloff's face, Augusta hurriedly spoke.
"Wait, Orloff. I can explain."
"Go ahead."
"Even if the Four Divine Beasts Clan relocated..."
"Across ten planes and with billions upon billions of Four Divine Beasts clansmen, it shouldn't be possible that only this few drops of divine beast blood essence could be extracted."
"Th-this..."
Augusta's face alternated between red and pale before he finally spoke honestly.
"This was my mistake."
"After passing down the magic formation capable of extracting divine beast blood essence from corpses..."
"I forgot to tell those forces collecting the Four Divine Beasts clansmen about the characteristics of Sovereign blood essence, and I also forgot to tell them to separate the clansmen before refining them."
"When I later sent my emissaries to collect the divine beast blood essence..."
"I discovered that when they refined it, they hadn't placed only enough Four Divine Beasts clansmen into the formation to produce a single drop of divine beast blood essence."
"As a result..."
"A tremendous amount of divine beast blood essence dissipated and was wasted during the refinement process."
"Furthermore..."
"They didn't distinguish between different Four Divine Beasts clansmen before placing them into the formation."
"Some of the resulting divine beast blood essence became extremely impure and completely unusable."
"But don't worry."
"I've already spread my divine sense through the Infernal Realm."
"Judging by the current number of Four Divine Beasts clansmen there..."
"If properly managed, we can extract at least forty drops of blood essence from each of the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns."
"Orloff..."
"Give me another five thousand years."
"I'll bring you two hundred drops of the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns' blood essence!"
To avoid once again experiencing the feeling of losing his "self," Augusta was truly going all out.
"Oh?"
The Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff looked up at Augusta.
"Now that all the Four Divine Beasts clansmen have gathered in the Infernal Realm..."
"Given the current strength of the Four Divine Beasts Clan, even if all the local forces of the Infernal Realm joined forces, they probably still wouldn't be enough for the clan to slaughter."
"Do you actually have a way to persuade the forces from the other planes to invade the Infernal Realm?"
It wasn't that Orloff didn't believe Augusta.
The reality was simply that although the Four Divine Beasts Clan had declined...
They had not yet reached the point of utter ruin.
Although the Four Divine Beasts Clan now possessed only six Asura Prefect-level experts...
They still had a considerable reserve of Sovereign power.
Once their clansmen fought using Sovereign power...
Every Elder of Six-Star Fiend level and above could temporarily become comparable to an Asura Prefect-level expert.
Since all the surviving clansmen from the Seven Divine Planes and three Higher Planes had gathered in the Infernal Realm...
The Four Divine Beasts Clan currently possessed over four thousand Six-Star Fiend Elders.
There were also more than three hundred Seven-Star Fiends.
This meant that if the Four Divine Beasts Clan truly went mad...
They could instantly produce more than four thousand Asura Prefect-level experts.
This...
Was the foundation accumulated by the Four Divine Beasts Clan over countless years.
The other planar forces understood this as well.
After the Four Divine Beasts clansmen left their respective planes...
None of those forces dared pursue them into the Infernal Realm.
Otherwise...
They would be greeted by thousands of experts empowered by Sovereign power, each temporarily possessing strength comparable to an Asura Prefect-level expert.
This was precisely why Orloff found Augusta's words difficult to believe.
"Heh..."
A sinister smile appeared on Augusta's face.
"I don't need to do anything."
"As long as the number of Four Divine Beasts Clan experts within the Infernal Realm drops below a certain point..."
"The forces from the other planes that have been cooperating with me won't need my orders."
"They'll voluntarily march into the Infernal Realm and attack the Four Divine Beasts Clan."
"Oh?"
Now Orloff was somewhat interested.
"And how do you intend to reduce the number of Four Divine Beasts Clan experts?"
"Orloff..."
"Have you forgotten?"
"I certainly haven't."
Augusta gritted his teeth.
"That little rat ruined my plans and humiliated me like that."
"I wish I could tear him into pieces."
"Not long ago, I spread my divine sense through that Material Plane and discovered that only Beirut had become a Sovereign."
"In other words..."
"That Material Plane still contains the other three Sovereign sparks of the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns."
(End of Chapter)
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