"An'an..."
Although someone at Locke's level of strength could barely feel Loran's massage—it wasn't even as forceful as a mosquito bite—
Locke still enjoyed it.
Well...
It was enjoyment on a spiritual level.
"Before asking me that question, you must first understand what you truly think."
"This is a world where individual power stands above collective power."
"Every person who possesses great strength can impose their own will upon countless living beings."
"A Saint-level expert can determine the rise and fall of a kingdom."
"A Deity can reshape the ecology of an entire continent."
"A Prefect can establish the rules governing an entire prefecture."
"A Paragon Highgod can act without restraint beneath the Sovereigns."
"As for those above the Sovereigns..."
The corners of Locke's lips curved upward.
"Lesser Sovereigns and Intermediate Sovereigns can only put on airs before Deities."
"In truth, among the Sovereigns themselves, their status is probably inferior even to that of a Paragon."
After all, even the Law Chief Sovereigns treated Paragons with courtesy.
As for Lesser Sovereigns and Intermediate Sovereigns...
Before the Law Chief Sovereigns, they had no choice but to bow their heads.
"If your mother hadn't established the Sovereign Covenant, what do you think the current state of the Sovereigns would be?"
Hearing his father's words, Loran pondered for a moment.
Indeed.
Just as his father had said, if not for his mother, the Death Chief Sovereign, establishing the Sovereign Covenant—and considering that Chief Sovereigns possessed multiple divine clones—
Then all Lesser Sovereigns would likely have become little more than reserve Sovereign sparks for the more powerful Sovereigns.
Wasn't the first Lightning Chief Sovereign, Hurley, a perfect example?
Hadn't he secretly killed an Earth Lesser Sovereign?
If his mother hadn't immediately convened the Sovereigns' Conference and decisively executed the Lightning Chief Sovereign Hurley, making both the Edicts Chief Sovereigns and the Law Chief Sovereigns understand exactly where her bottom line lay...
Then today's Sovereigns probably wouldn't feel safe unless they remained within their own native planes.
As for those Sovereigns born within the Four Higher Planes, who possessed no native plane at all...
They could only pray that no other Sovereign had set their sights upon them.
According to Father's explanation...
Because Mother possessed the greatest strength, she had shaped the relationships among the Sovereigns into the form she desired.
"An'an."
"Both your mother and I have already vaguely stepped beyond the category of 'Sovereigns.'"
"Furthermore, since your mother and I have chosen to become the makers of the rules..."
"Neither of us will personally interfere in disputes among the Sovereigns."
Loran nodded.
Indeed...
His father and mother had clearly surpassed the other Sovereigns by several entire levels.
There was no need to mention Father.
At the very least, he possessed the strength of an Overgod.
After all, Loran himself cultivated the Laws of Space.
He knew that once one completely comprehended the Laws of Space, one would advance to the rank of a Divine King, a level equal to that of an Overgod.
Furthermore...
After raising the Dijiang bloodline into a spatial supreme divine beast bloodline, Father's physical body had also reached the level of an Overgod artifact.
In other words...
Whether in terms of the Laws or bloodline...
Father was a Divine King capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with an Overgod.
That level of power had already surpassed the realm of Sovereigns.
As for how far Father had advanced within the Divine King realm...
Or whether he had already surpassed the Divine King realm...
Loran didn't know.
After all...
Even after adding his fused Water-Space Laws, his own strength only barely corresponded to that of an Upper Heavenly Deity.
Barring unforeseen opportunities...
He would likely remain at this level forever.
Unless...
He obtained a Water Sovereign spark, gained at least four portions of will, and increased his strength by ten thousandfold, allowing him to reach the current level of the Edicts Chief Sovereigns.
As for Mother, the Death Chief Sovereign...
She could rightly be called the strongest Sovereign.
The standard qualifications of an Edicts Chief Sovereign:
A Paragon's comprehension.
A body at the level of a Sovereign artifact.
The portion of will granted by her Netherworld Sovereign divine clone.
Another portion of will earned from the Netherworld's ten consecutive victories in the Planar Battlefield.
A hundredfold increase in strength provided by the Netherworld's supreme treasure—the Heart of the Netherworld.
Beyond that...
Mother had also completely comprehended the two-and-a-half-tenths of the Higher Law of Reincarnation accessible through the Edicts of Death.
Each tenth of the Laws of Reincarnation increased the Death Chief Sovereign's strength tenfold.
Comprehending two-and-a-half tenths increased her strength by another five hundredfold.
Most importantly...
The Death Chief Sovereign also possessed an offensive Overgod artifact.
With such strength...
Probably only the Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff, after gathering the complete three-piece set of Overgod artifacts, had any chance of surviving one of Mother's attacks.
That's right... Surviving.
As for everyone else—
Including the Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred and the Life Chief Sovereign Wawaya—
They had already been left far behind by Mother.
Father and Mother's horizons had long since risen above those of ordinary Sovereigns.
Their eyes were fixed upon the entire universe.
As their son...
Every move he made would be viewed by the outside Sovereigns as carrying Father's and Mother's intentions.
Thinking of this, Loran frowned.
Did that mean he couldn't interfere?
Did he have no choice but to watch Levlenxia's Sovereign Armies suffer devastating losses during this Planar War?
Noticing that Loran's hands had paused briefly, Locke naturally knew what his son was thinking.
"An'an."
"With your mother's and my current strength and status..."
"What influence do you think anything you wish to do could possibly have on us?"
"Huh?"
Loran was momentarily stunned.
He wasn't surprised that Father knew what he was thinking.
Ever since childhood, he had admired his father tremendously.
For a period of time, he had even pestered his mother to tell him stories about Father's life before becoming a Sovereign.
Before seeking victory, first prepare for defeat.
Looking back over Father's journey from a Material Plane...
Aside from the time in the Frostsnow Plane when Celes had forcibly recruited him to fight against the Radiant Church...
Ever since becoming a Deity, Father had always planned ten steps ahead before taking one.
The famous Fiend Castle...
Had been personally created by Father.
Even today's classification system for Deity-level experts had been established by Father.
Mother had once said...
Father possessed great ambition, great perseverance, and great wisdom.
His great ambition referred to the fact that, while still not even a Highgod, Father had already aspired to completely comprehend a single set of Laws and become a Paragon.
His great perseverance referred to his ability to endure what others could not.
Had Mother not controlled the Heart of the Netherworld and discovered Father's extraordinary nature...
Then even after Father reached the Sovereign realm, perhaps no one would ever have noticed him.
After all...
According to Mother's understanding of Father, unless he possessed strength capable of rivaling—or even surpassing—the Edicts Chief Sovereigns, Father would never willingly reveal himself.
Only because Mother herself was the strongest Death Chief Sovereign, providing him with protection, did Father finally step into the public eye.
That event also marked the beginning of the other Sovereigns' fear of Father.
They worried that Father would seize either the Water Intermediate Sovereign spark or even a Chief Sovereign spark.
Aside from Mother, the Death Chief Sovereign, and Aunt Wawaya, the Life Chief Sovereign...
Neither the Destruction Chief Sovereign nor the Fate Chief Sovereign wished to see Father become an existence surpassing themselves.
The Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff even directly imprisoned the Azure Wave Sovereign, the Intermediate Water Sovereign, within the Celestial Realm, fearing Father would kill the Azure Wave Sovereign and allow his own Water divine clone to become a Sovereign.
As for Father's great wisdom...
That referred to his insight into cultivation.
Originally...
Father hadn't been a soul mutate.
However...
After accidentally saving Oakes, Father deciphered the mysteries behind soul mutation.
Following a series of cultivation experiments, he successfully transformed his own soul into a soul mutate.
Not only Father...
Everyone of Locke's lineage—himself, Veer, Grant, and Rena—
Had become soul mutates with Father's assistance.
Had they not become soul mutates, thereby naturally possessing exceptionally powerful souls...
Whether they could have reached the Paragon realm at all remained uncertain.
Yet...
That still wasn't Father's greatest accomplishment.
Whether becoming a dual-element Paragon...
Or achieving complete fusion of the Profound Mysteries of two different Laws...
Father's talent had long since earned the utmost admiration of the Sovereigns.
What truly astonished them, however...
Was Father's creation of the cultivation path beyond the Paragon realm.
The Sovereigns of Locke's lineage had all comprehended more than ten percent of the Laws of Space, becoming Heavenly Deities.
Aside from having to refine spatial energy from the spatial turbulence themselves...
There was little practical difference between them and ordinary Sovereigns.
Moreover...
Thanks to the profundity of the Laws of Space, Heavenly Deities of the same level were actually somewhat stronger than Sovereigns of the same level in actual combat.
Father's current realm had clearly surpassed that of the Sovereigns.
Loran even suspected...
Perhaps not even the Four Overgods were still Father's match.
Therefore...
No matter what sort of commotion he caused...
It would have no real effect upon Father.
"I understand now, Father."
Having realized this, Loran suddenly felt much lighter.
A smile also appeared on his face.
Indeed...
With Father's current strength, what was wrong with saying that this entire world belonged to the Locke family?
Father disliked chaos.
So Mother established order among the Sovereigns.
Father disliked Sovereigns enjoying only power and prestige without responsibility.
So he assigned duties to every Sovereign.
This world flourished because of Father's words...
And could just as easily decline because of Father's anger.
"Then, Father, I'll go make preparations."
"Although Levlenxia's Water Divine Plane won't fight the Light Divine Plane until the final battle..."
"I should begin preparing now."
"Otherwise, if Veer, Grant, and Rena send away the experts within their Sovereign Armies on other assignments, it'll be too late."
Under normal circumstances...
The Sovereigns of Locke's lineage never interfered in the Planar Battlefield.
Even the Netherworld only sent the Sovereign Armies of its six Death Sovereigns.
Therefore...
During each Planar War, the experts under Loran and the others normally left to garrison various regions in place of those Sovereign Armies.
Since Loran had already decided to support Levlenxia...
He naturally needed to notify his son, grandson, and great-granddaughter in advance, having them begin gathering the experts from their Sovereign Armies within the Water Divine Plane to prepare for the war several hundred thousand years later.
Watching Loran leave, Locke merely shook his head and paid it no further attention.
Just as Loran had thought...
Within this universe, Locke's strength already surpassed even the Four Overgods, who were manifestations of Hongmeng's will.
Not even Hongmeng could use the strength of an Invincible Divine King to contend against a Celestial Exalt who had completely comprehended the Laws of Time.
Of course...
If Hongmeng's true body personally acted...
A single finger would be enough to crush Locke.
Over the next several hundred thousand years...
The young Linley, who had only just witnessed the majesty of Saint-level experts...
Would eventually become the exalted Lord Linmeng.
At that time...
The magical universe's master would also change from Hongmeng to Linmeng.
Locke was confident that he could completely conceal himself until Linley became a Hongmeng Controller.
Not even the slightest trace would be exposed.
However...
Once Linley truly became a Hongmeng Controller...
Locke had absolutely no confidence that he could hide anything from him.
If, because of something Loran or the others did within the Infernal Realm or the Netherworld, Linley developed a negative impression of Locke...
Then after becoming a Hongmeng Controller, if Linley no longer wished for Locke to remain within the magical universe...
Locke would have no power to resist.
Therefore...
Rather than leaving the members of Locke's lineage within the Netherworld where uncertainty remained...
It was better to send them all to the Water Divine Plane to prepare for this Planar War.
After all...
Looking back over Linley's entire life...
He had never once visited the Water Divine Plane.
No matter what Loran and the others did there...
It would have no effect upon Linley.
Closing his eyes, Locke ignored the growing commotion atop Mount Nether caused by Levlenxia's affairs and continued using his soul power to watch the live-action version of Coiling Dragon.
...
As the only Sovereign of the Yulan Plane, Beirut initially hadn't noticed Nanessa.
However...
When he sensed a divine beast sharing his own bloodline appearing within the Yulan Plane and spread out his divine sense...
Not only did he discover Linley, who had formed an equal contract with Bebe...
He also discovered Nanessa living in seclusion in Hogg Town.
"When did another Highgod arrive on the Yulan Continent?"
"More than five thousand years ago, all the Deities who came to the Yulan Plane to compete for the Sovereign sparks had already left."
"More than two thousand years ago, I imprisoned all the native Deities born in the Yulan Plane inside the Planar Prison."
"I've only stopped paying attention for a few hundred years."
"It's impossible for a Highgod to have appeared on the Yulan Continent in such a short time."
Although those Deities who had competed for the Sovereign sparks had already departed the Yulan Plane...
Beirut still opened the Necropolis of the Gods once every thousand years.
The difference was that after those experts left...
The main participants entering the Necropolis had become Saint-level experts.
Their objective was no longer Sovereign sparks...
But divine sparks.
The few Demigods who entered merely sought God-level divine sparks compatible with their own elements.
Therefore...
Beirut still had a clear understanding of exactly what experts existed within the Yulan Plane.
(End of Chapter)
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