Chapter 504: Expectations

"However, I accept your wager."

Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred nodded, acknowledging the agreement proposed by Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff.

Although Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred had already completed his analysis of the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns' blood essence and had even created Space-Time Chaos, a technique distinct from the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns' fused innate divine ability...

...he still didn't believe that he had completely unraveled the mysteries of the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns' blood essence or their fused innate divine ability.

As for Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff, Wodred readily admitted that Orloff far surpassed him in the field of research.

At the very least, if it had been Wodred himself, he had no confidence in creating a cultivation technique capable of strengthening the body to the level of a Sovereign artifact.

The difficulty of doing so was in no way inferior to becoming a Paragon.

"Then... come!"

In an instant, the four drops of the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns' blood essence beside Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred began to burn, transforming into the phantoms of the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise, which circled around him.

On the other side, the same occurred beside Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff.

However, compared to the Sovereign blood essence beside Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred, the four drops beside Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff were noticeably inferior, both in terms of pressure and the vividness of their color.

There was nothing strange about this.

Although both Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred and Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff possessed the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns' divine beast blood essence...

...the blood essence in Wodred's possession had been refined directly from the corpses of the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns by Beirut, making it the purest possible divine beast blood essence.

The blood essence in Orloff's possession, however, had been refined by Light Chief Sovereign Augusta through slaughtering countless members of the Four Divine Beasts clan and extracting it from their bodies.

There was therefore a considerable difference in purity between the two.

Even so, Sovereign blood essence was still Sovereign blood essence.

Although there was a difference in power, their fundamental nature remained the same.

Bzzz—

When the Four Divine Beasts' phantoms surrounding Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred arranged themselves into a profound formation...

...space and time within a radius of ten thousand meters centered on Wodred seemed to freeze.

Within that frozen region, only Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred, spear in hand, was able to move as he thrust toward Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff.

Meanwhile, beside Orloff, the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns' blood essence likewise transformed into the phantoms of the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns.

However, unlike Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred...

...Orloff's four divine beast phantoms formed a new formation centered upon the Black Tortoise Sovereign, radiating brilliant white light that enveloped Orloff's entire body.

The techniques currently employed by Wodred and Orloff were both fused innate divine abilities that each had comprehended from the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns' blood essence.

The fused innate divine ability originally used by the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns had been centered upon Azure Dragon Sovereign Redding. It sealed space and belonged to the category of soul attacks.

Wodred's Space-Time Chaos was centered upon the White Tiger Sovereign and belonged to the category of material attacks.

The fused innate divine ability comprehended by Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff, meanwhile, was centered upon Black Tortoise Sovereign Boson and was a supreme defensive technique.

The might of the two techniques was roughly equal.

No...

Perhaps because of the difference in the purity of the divine beast blood essence, Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred's Space-Time Chaos was slightly stronger.

However...

Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff still possessed one hidden portion of Will.

During this battle against Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred, Orloff had no intention of losing.

It wasn't because Orloff cared particularly about victory or defeat.

Rather, he wished to obtain the secrets behind the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns' fused innate divine ability that Wodred had deciphered.

In Orloff's view, if he could completely analyze the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns' fused innate divine ability, perhaps he would gain an even deeper understanding of this world.

Thus, after sensing that the power of his own technique was slightly inferior to Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred's, Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff directly activated the hidden portion of Will he had concealed.

Crack... crack...

Empowered by that portion of Will, the frozen space surrounding Orloff emitted groans as though it could no longer bear the strain.

As more and more of the frozen space shattered...

...Orloff slowly raised his hand.

Seeing Orloff break free from the frozen space, Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred was surprised, but not particularly shocked.

After all, Orloff had likewise mastered the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns' fused innate divine ability.

Although there was some difference in power due to the purity of the Sovereign blood essence, the gap wasn't large enough to leave the other completely incapable of resisting.

With that thought, Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred accelerated once more.

At the tip of his Sovereign artifact spear, the frozen space itself seemed to gather all of its power onto the weapon.

Bang!

Brilliant white light erupted.

The longsword in Orloff's hand collided with Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred's spear.

In an instant, black cracks appeared throughout the frozen spatial turbulence.

The space surrounding Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred and Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff shattered completely, like glass.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

An endless spatial storm erupted around Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred and Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff, sweeping outward in every direction.

"Not good!"

The spatial storm was unbelievably fast.

Furthermore, it seemed to have thrown the surrounding space into complete disorder.

Even Linley, under such circumstances, could no longer avoid the storm by relying upon the distorted space.

Thus, without the slightest hesitation, Linley drew his Life Overgod sword.

His divine power from three elements instantly fused together before he swung his sword at the incoming spatial storm.

Boom!

Linley only felt his entire body tremble violently before an overwhelming force blasted him backward.

A streak of crimson blood slid from the corner of his mouth.

Even the mere aftershock from the battle between Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred and Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff had inflicted considerable injuries upon him.

"So powerful!"

Having personally experienced the terrifying might of those aftershocks, Linley now possessed an even deeper understanding of the strength of Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred and Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff.

"Well, of course."

"This is the strongest ultimate technique of the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns."

"It was their innate divine ability that allowed them, as Lesser Sovereigns, to stand on equal footing with Chief Sovereigns of the Laws."

A gentle voice sounded beside Linley's ear.

Turning his head, Linley saw Life Chief Sovereign Wawaya strolling leisurely through the spatial storm.

Around Life Chief Sovereign Wawaya was an invisible force field.

Whenever the spatial storms reached that field, they were silently swallowed up by it.

The sight caused Linley's pupils to contract once more.

Had he merely watched from afar without personally experiencing the terror of the spatial storm, he might not have realized how terrifying Life Chief Sovereign Wawaya truly was.

But after resisting only a single wave and suffering injuries...

...Linley knew that the might of the spatial storm was at least seven or eight times greater than even his own strongest attack.

Yet before Life Chief Sovereign Wawaya...

...such an overwhelmingly powerful attack was as feeble as drifting willow catkins before the wind.

Moreover, Linley could clearly sense that Life Chief Sovereign Wawaya was different from Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred and Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff.

Earlier, Linley had watched the battle between Wodred and Orloff.

Before the two of them had unleashed their final technique, Linley believed that although there was still a gap between himself and them, he wasn't completely without the ability to fight them.

But Life Chief Sovereign Wawaya was different.

Linley could clearly feel that even his Paragon-level Laws of the Earth would probably be even less effective than the spatial storm against that mysterious force field surrounding Wawaya.

"This is... a Higher Edict?"

With only a single thought, Linley guessed the true nature of the mysterious force field surrounding Life Chief Sovereign Wawaya.

A surge of delight immediately rose within his heart.

Although Linley had long known that the Sovereigns of Locke's lineage all possessed extraordinary attainments in the Higher Edicts...

...he had never personally witnessed the might of a Higher Edict before.

Now, through Life Chief Sovereign Wawaya...

...he had finally caught a glimpse of the splendor of the Higher Edicts.

Why had Linley delayed refining a Sovereign spark for tens of thousands of years until after becoming a Paragon of the Laws of the Earth?

Wasn't it precisely because he wished to glimpse the mysteries of the Higher Edicts?

Previously, Linley had believed that when Chief Sovereign Locke said the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts had increased their strength by hundreds or thousands of times, it meant they had all comprehended the Higher Edicts.

But judging from the current situation...

...it seemed that neither Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred nor Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff had cultivated the Higher Edicts.

The reason for their tremendous increase in strength was simply because they had deciphered the mysteries of the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns' divine beast blood essence...

...and had created fused innate divine abilities belonging to the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns.

Unfortunately...

A trace of disappointment flashed through Linley's eyes.

He was a Paragon of the Earth Laws.

The Higher Edict he could cultivate was the Edict of Space.

It didn't correspond to the Higher Edict displayed by Life Chief Sovereign Wawaya.

If an opportunity arose...

...Linley also wished to seek guidance from Life Chief Sovereign Wawaya regarding the cultivation of the Higher Edicts.

But for now...

...his mother's matter remained the highest priority.

Even so, although he couldn't ask Life Chief Sovereign Wawaya about the Higher Edicts at present, that didn't prevent him from learning more about things he had never known before.

"Lady Wawaya."

"As far as I know, the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns' fused innate divine ability is a soul attack."

"So why are the techniques used by Lord Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred and Lord Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff different from the fused innate divine ability I know?"

"Indeed, the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns' fused innate divine ability is a soul attack."

"But who told you that the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns' fused innate divine ability can only be a soul attack?"

Linley felt that there was a trace of disdain in Life Chief Sovereign Wawaya's tone.

Unfortunately, he had no proof.

"The Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns were not together from the very beginning."

"But one day, they suddenly appeared together as sworn brothers and ignored Wind Chief Sovereign Diya's summons."

"Later, Elder Sister Death Chief Sovereign explained that the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns' innate divine abilities could fuse together, and that the resulting power was sufficient to threaten the lives of the Chief Sovereigns of the Laws."

"The fused innate divine ability you know is merely the technique formed by using Azure Dragon Sovereign Redding's innate divine ability as its core."

"However, from the time the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns first appeared until the day they died, they never displayed any fused innate divine ability centered upon the innate divine ability of any of the other Sovereigns."

"I don't know whether the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns were too set in their ways and simply didn't wish to create other fused innate divine abilities..."

"...or whether their talent was limited, allowing them to create only the fused innate divine ability centered upon Azure Dragon Sovereign Redding."

"From the fact that both Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred and Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff each comprehended fused innate divine abilities different from those of the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns after only several tens of thousands of years..."

"...it can be concluded that the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns never even thought about creating new fused innate divine abilities."

Hearing Life Chief Sovereign Wawaya say this, even Linley couldn't help but feel that the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns had truly been treated unfairly.

If they had created one or two additional fused innate divine abilities...

...perhaps they would never have been killed by Light Chief Sovereign Augusta.

A long while later, the spatial storm finally subsided, revealing the two figures who had caused everything.

Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred.

And Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff.

However, the expressions on their faces now were completely different from before the battle.

A satisfied smile hung upon Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff's face, as though he had obtained something truly remarkable.

Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred, on the other hand, wore a dark expression.

Judging from their expressions alone...

...it was obvious that Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff had emerged victorious in this battle.

After storing away his Sovereign artifact spear, Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred flew toward the Infernal Realm with a dark expression.

"My apologies for making you wait so long, Linley."

After first nodding apologetically toward Linley, Orloff turned his gaze toward Life Chief Sovereign Wawaya.

At this moment, Life Chief Sovereign Wawaya had already withdrawn her Samsara Domain.

However, the look in Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff's eyes when he gazed at her now carried an unmistakable trace of eagerness.

Previously, Orloff had believed that Life Chief Sovereign Wawaya's strength had been judged by Chief Sovereign Locke to have increased by hundreds of times because she had created an exceptionally powerful technique.

But the method Wawaya had just used to resist the spatial storm had made Orloff realize that, unlike himself and Destruction Chief Sovereign Wodred...

...Life Chief Sovereign Wawaya had embarked upon the same path as Chief Sovereign Locke's lineage.

The Higher Edicts...

Ever since learning of their existence, Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff had constantly pondered how he might come into contact with them and begin cultivating them.

Unfortunately...

After countless years of fruitless effort, Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff had still never sensed the existence of the Higher Edicts.

Had Chief Sovereign Locke not existed before him, followed by the Sovereigns of Locke's lineage...

...Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff would have begun doubting whether the Higher Edicts truly existed at all.

With successful examples before him, Orloff could only comfort himself by comparing it to elemental affinity.

Just as someone without affinity for a particular element could never cultivate that element's Laws, no matter how extraordinary their talent...

...perhaps he simply belonged to the category of people without affinity for the Higher Edicts.

It was precisely because of this that Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff had turned his attention to the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns, hoping to deepen his own foundation by analyzing their divine beast blood essence.

Now, upon sensing the unfamiliar Edict surrounding Life Chief Sovereign Wawaya...

...a glimmer of hope finally arose within Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff's heart.

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