Book 21, The Peak – Chapter 17, Tenfold Victor’s Reward
Linley’s method was quite direct, but the effect was superb.
Actually, Linley wasn’t worried at all; the chances that Augusta would refuse him were less than ten percent. Even if Augusta was extremely cautious and refused to let Linley go with him, Linley himself could head by himself to the Divine Light Plane and search for Augusta, then kill him.
“Linley, why are you going to the Divine Light Plane?” Augusta laughed and asked.
“When we arrive, you will know.” Linley didn’t respond.
The two flew at very high speed, arriving in the air atop Windflow Mountain in the blink of an eye.
Augusta also noticed the Chief Sovereign of Lightning, not too far away. He couldn’t help but laugh coldly, “Such a pity. Given your power, if Linley wasn’t travelling with me, you would have a chance. But now...you have no chance at all.” Augusta glanced sideways at Linley.
He was still rather suspicious of Linley voluntarily following him.
However, due to his absolute confidence in his power, Augusta had quite generously allowed Linley to accompany him in departing.
“Augusta really is quite lucky. Linley is actually going alongside him.” The other Chief Sovereigns, seeing this, were prepared to give up.
But just as Linley and Augusta flew towards the teleportation array, a voice echoed within Linley’s mind.
“Everyone, an extremely important matter is going on. All of you, hurry over.”
Linley, hearing this, couldn’t help but turn and look towards the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts. The speaker was the Chief Sovereign of Death. Linley was puzzled. “The four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts didn’t chase after me, but instead stood there, discussing something. What, now they want us all to go over?”
“What’s going on?” The Chief Sovereign of Light, Augusta, frowned as he muttered something to himself.
“Then I’ll have to wait for a bit before I can go to the Divine Light Plane.” Linley laughed calmly.
“Haha, I’ll welcome you at any time. Come, the matters of the four Excellencies are quite important.” Augusta hurriedly laughed as well.
And just like that, Linley and the group of people all turned and flew back.
“Rumble...”
The waves struck against the shoreline. The four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts were currently in the air above an island.
“How queer.” Linley saw the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts hovering above the island. His own divine sense clearly saw that aside from himself and the seven Chief Sovereigns who were flying over, no others were present. “The Divine Wind Plane has quite a few Sovereigns. But...why did the Chief Sovereign of Death only summon the eight of us?”
Linley then instantly understood.
Seven Chief Sovereigns. Linley, himself, was at the Chief Sovereign level of power.
“Everyone is here.” The beautiful, red-haired maiden laughed as she looked at the eight of them.
“Your Excellency.” The eight, Linley included, all saluted.
The Seven Elemental Chief Sovereigns generally would refer to the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts as ‘Excellencies’, in order to show respect.
“I still remember how, a trillion years after the universe was created, the various Sovereigns were born as well. The eleven Chief Sovereigns were born, but of those eleven Chief Sovereigns, only eight have survived.” The beautiful red-haired maiden laughed calmly.
“Eh?” Linley was secretly surprised.
So, over the countless passage of years, even several Chief Sovereigns had fallen.
“Roughly a trillion years after the creation of the universe, there was once a battle between the Chief Sovereign of Destruction, Wodred, and the Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff. I trust quite a few people know the results; that time, Wodred was on a slightly lower level.” The beautiful, red-haired maiden laughed.
“Back then, Lord Wodred and Lord Orloff had already reached the Paragon level. That battle was truly astonishing.” The Chief Sovereign of Lightning smiled.
The beautiful, red-haired maiden nodded slightly. “Although they have reached the Paragon level long ago, over the course of countless years, both of them have risen in power significantly. I trust all of you know very well that their power has risen! In addition, today, after countless years, they are going to once again engage in a duel!”
The Chief Sovereigns were all stunned.
“A duel?” Linley was shocked as well.
At the level of the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts, their duels were no longer just simple spars. If they weren’t careful, they might be killed.
“This...your Excellencies...you...?” The only woman amongst the Seven Elemental Chief Sovereigns, the Chief Sovereign of Water, stammered in surprise.
“It isn’t a big deal to tell you.” The black-robed Chief Sovereign of Destruction said calmly. “Orloff and I, aside from that competition long ago, also competed another time, after I acquired my Overgod artifact and he acquired that reward of Will. This will be our third competition.”
“The reward of Will?” Linley was puzzled.
The Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, smiled. “This is just a friendly competition. Let’s go. We’ll go to chaotic space.” As he spoke, Orloff slashed his hand down...
A wide, spacious spatial rift instantly appeared ahead of him.
The four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts flew into it, and Linley and the rest of the eight immediately followed and flew in as well. And then, the spatial rift vanished, completely healed.
As the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts, these four wouldn’t compete casually.
After all, everyone stood at the very peak. Once they fought, it was very possible that one side would fall and perish. They were all wary of each other, and so they didn’t want to fight amongst each other. From this, one could imagine how rare it was for two of the Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts to duel each other. The other Chief Sovereigns, including Augusta, all seemed quite eager to watch.
Within the void. Multicolored flows of chaotic energy streamed everywhere.
Twelve figures stood there within the void.
“Haha, Wodred, this time, you are the one who issued the challenge. You are so confident, eh? Don’t lose again.” The beautiful red-haired maiden laughed.
“Hmph.”
The Chief Sovereign of Destruction, covered in a black-robe, immediately flew into the center of the void. The white-haired, white-robed elder, the Chief Sovereign of Fate, chortled as he too flew into the void. As for the other ten, they stood far away, watching.
“Your Excellency, after having been rewarded with Will that time, of the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts, Orloff should be the strongest, right? However, the Chief Sovereign of Destruction, Wodred, has an Overgod weapon. I wonder who won and who lost during their second duel?” The long jade-haired Chief Sovereign of Water asked the Chief Sovereign of Death.
“Couldn’t you understand what I was saying earlier? Naturally, it was Wodred who lost.” The Chief Sovereign of Death chortled.
The other Chief Sovereigns were somewhat in disbelief.
If they didn’t compete using Overgod artifacts, the Chief Sovereign of Fate would be stronger. But if they did...the Chief Sovereign of Fate only had a soul-protecting Overgod artifact. There was no way for him to increase his attack power. Why, then, did the Chief Sovereign of Destruction lose the second round?”
“As for why he lost? Hmph, that old fellow, Orloff...how much of his terrifying power have you truly witnessed?” The Chief Sovereign of Death laughed calmly.
The group of Chief Sovereigns fell silent.
“A reward of Will?” Linley couldn’t help but say. “Your Excellency, what exactly is a ‘reward of Will’?”
“You don’t even know about this?” The Chief Sovereign of Death looked at Linley, puzzled. The other Chief Sovereigns looked at him as well.
“I truly don’t know.” Linley laughed helplessly.
A smile appeared on the small, pretty face of the Chief Sovereign of Death. “Haha, you’ve trained for less than ten thousand years. It makes sense that you don’t know. The ‘reward of Will’ that I spoke of, is the reward that the Overgods will bestow upon those who win ten consecutive victories in the Planar Wars!”
“Ten consecutive victories?” Linley frowned.
“Right. Every trillion years, there will be Planar Wars. Each Planar Wars will have five competitions. The eleven planes, aside from the Life Realm, will all compete. Every trillion years, the ten planes will only compete a single time. The results of the battle have three possibilities; victory, defeat, and draw!
Linley nodded slightly.
He had participated in a Planar War before; he knew that victory and defeat was determined by the results within the two corridors above the Stellar River.
“According to the rules, if one’s plane wins ten consecutive Planar Wars, then the seven Sovereigns of that plane will all receive a reward from the Overgods. They will all be bestowed with an additional portion of Will, comparable to fusing with an additional Sovereign spark.” The Chief Sovereign of Death explained in detail.
Linley couldn’t help but feel startled.
“A portion of Will?” This reward was simply too extravagant.
“Linley.” The nearby Chief Sovereign of Life smiled and said, “Do you think it is easy to win ten victories in a row?”
“No.” Linley immediately understood.
He had undergone a Planar War. A Planar War required one side to dominate two Stellar Corridors simultaneously in order for that round to be considered a victory for that side. If only one corridor was conquered, then it would simply be a draw. Last time, if it hadn’t been for Linley and Magnus fighting, the Divine Darkness Plane probably wouldn’t have won.
“More than half of the Planar Wars end up in a draw!” The Chief Sovereign of Death snickered. “Occasionally, a plane will win a round. However, a trillion years later, the next battle might be a draw, making the earlier win pointless. After all, only by winning ten victories in a row would one be rewarded. Forget about ten consecutive wins; even five consecutive wins is inconceivable. But even if you won five times in a row, if you reached a draw in the next round, or lost the next round, then you would have to start from scratch again!”
Linley nodded slightly.
The various planes were all on par in power. Given the rules for ‘victory’ in the Planar Wars, to win ten rounds in a row...the chances of accomplishing it were so low as to be nearly zero!
“A trillion years each time. From the creation of the universe until now...there has been more than a million Planar Wars.” The Chief Sovereign of Death sighed.
“More than a million...” Linley’s heart clenched.
A trillion years each time? How long ago, then, had the universe been created? Linley felt astonished. Most likely, the Chief Sovereigns who had unlimited lifespan couldn’t even be bothered to calculate it. It was simply too long. They would just say ‘countless years’.
“But Linley, do you know how many times, over the course of countless years, a side has won ten rounds in a row?” The Chief Sovereign of Death smirked.
“This...I don’t know.” Linley couldn’t be sure.
“Once! Just once!” The Chief Sovereign of Death sighed. “Over countless years, there have been six cases where a side won nine rounds in a row. But on the tenth round of those six cases, all of the other planes would join forces to prevent that other side from winning a tenth time.”
Linley understood.
The Sovereigns didn’t wish for other Sovereigns to receive the reward of Will.
Thus, even if one side won nine battles in a row, for the tenth battle, the other planes would join forces.
“This sole success was achieved by the Higher Plane belonging to Fate, the Celestial Realm.” The Chief Sovereign of Death sighed as she spoke. “Precisely because of that, the seven Sovereigns of Fate were all bestowed with an additional portion of Will. Because of that, the Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, is naturally more powerful than us!”
Linley sighed to himself.
The Chief Sovereign of Fate was a Paragon to begin with. Now, he had gained an additional portion of Will. No wonder he was so powerful!
“In addition, Orloff never gets involved in mortal affairs. He is completely absorbed in training. He researches the fundamental principles behind innate divine abilities, and the reasons why a body can become powerful...” The Chief Sovereign of Death sighed. “For example...Orloff’s body is definitely ranked as one of the top three amongst the Sovereigns in terms of strength.”
Linley was secretly shocked.
This Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, an old fellow who never cared about worldly matters, was such a terrifying figure.
“Watch. They are about to fight now.” The Chief Sovereign of Death suddenly said.
Linley hurriedly looked over, and the other Chief Sovereigns also focused their attention, watching rapidly.
Within the vast, chaotic void, the white-haired, white-robed Chief Sovereign of Fate was quietly standing there, staring at his opponent...the Chief Sovereign of Destruction.
As for the Chief Sovereign of Destruction, a heart-shaking black aura surrounded him. This black aura was so pure and so black that it devoured everything around it. Even the chaotic streams of energy were devoured by the black aura. Slowly, the reach of the black aura expanded until, moments later, it reached a thousand kilometers.
“Orloff is very powerful. However, this time, Wodred has developed a supreme technique as well.” The Chief Sovereign of Death sent towards Linley.
“What sort of supreme technique?” Linley was curious.
The Chief Sovereign of Death gave a meaningful glance at Linley, then sent, “In the past, the four ancestors of your Four Divine Beasts clan had a combined innate divine ability that was extremely powerful, so much so that it could threaten Chief Sovereigns! And now, Wodred has developed a supreme technique that is similar to that combined innate divine ability.”