Chapter 128: Divine Pact: Sovereign Rank

All six death‑type sovereigns present were enveloped by the laws of Heaven and Earth;

Far away on the Qingyuan Material Plane, Shawn also saw the Supreme Death Deity appear before him, and the will‑power reward was granted to him as well.

After a short while, the Heavenly‑Earthly law ended, the Supreme Death Deity gradually dissipated into the sky, and no sovereign could comprehend the pattern of its appearance or disappearance.

The Death Sovereign felt the extra will‑power reward deep in his soul, smiled with delight, and Life Sovereign Vivia said cheerfully, "Big sister, congratulations."

"Haha, Lilith, congratulations," Fate Sovereign Ouf added, while the Destruction Sovereign remained silent.

The Death Sovereign gave a faint smile and said, "It's just a will‑power reward; compared with your three great completions, it's still far inferior."

Life Sovereign comforted, "Perhaps big sister will have a chance for a great completion in the future."

"No more dreaming about that," the Death Sovereign glanced at Shawn's energy avatar beside him, knowing his contribution was greatest in this Nether victory, and said, "Shawn, the planar final battle is over; let your divine avatar also go to the Nether;

"Everyone, my Nether now has an additional sovereign; you're all here at this moment, so let's hold a God Council in my Nether, get to know each other, and also clarify the matters of the God Pact with Shawn."

Shawn nodded, "Alright, my divine avatar has already set out."

Having now received another will‑power reward, his strength far surpasses ordinary sovereigns; even Augusta, who possesses two supreme divine artifacts, cannot contend with him;

"Fine." The other sovereigns also agreed;

Shawn himself is a mid‑tier sovereign of great completion; with this will‑power reward, his strength is solidly at the sovereign level, even a bit stronger than ordinary sovereigns.

In the Nether, atop Yuming Mountain, dozens of sovereigns arrived quickly, and Shawn's divine original rushed here at speed: "I have met several sovereigns."

Ouf laughed, "Haha, Shawn, I must say I'm impressed; as a god, plotting the Divine Rank, after the initial emergence of the Divine Rank at the opening of Heaven and Earth, most born sovereigns rely on luck, only you rely on your own effort and strength."

"Indeed, quite impressive," the Destruction Sovereign praised.

The Death Sovereign smiled, "Alright, everyone's here, so I'll first explain the God Pact, Shawn. After the sovereigns were born, internal slaughter was rampant and the planes were chaotic, so several sovereigns banded together to draft a set of rules governing the divine planes;

The core of it is the conflicts among sovereigns; a powerful sovereign may not hunt another unless provoked or offended by a weaker sovereign, otherwise the four of us will jointly pursue them;

Yet the definition of strength isn't solely the Divine Rank; for example, you're a mid‑tier sovereign, but with great completion and an extra will‑power reward, your strength is at the sovereign level. Other mid‑tier or lower sovereigns who haven't offended you may not be attacked, and if they are of equal level, there's no restriction.

"Okay, no problem." Shawn nodded; he had already known this.

The Death Sovereign continued, "The God Pact also includes other matters, such as Divine Artifacts and Divine Envoys, these are …;

Additionally there is Divine Power; the pact places no limit on this, but don't give too much, because we sovereigns rely on Divine Power to control the plane's elites, otherwise you couldn't force them to act;

I know you have descendants; you may grant some to them, but not too many, and you must strictly limit them, forbidding the Divine Power in their hands from reaching other Asura or Seven‑Star level masters.

As the Death Sovereign explained, Shawn gained a deeper understanding of the pact; its core is, first, to protect the safety of the God Collective and prevent downfall; it is said this restriction arose because early sovereigns lacked divine avatars and feared other sovereigns growing stronger.

The second is to ensure the God Collective's control over the divine planes; even a single drop of Divine Power can drive countless Seven‑Star demon‑rank and even Asura‑rank masters to fight for it.

"I understand; I will naturally abide by these agreements," Shawn nodded.

Ouf laughed, "Alright, now that everything's clear, there's no issue. Shawn, congratulations on becoming a sovereign‑level strong one."

"Thank you, Lord Ouf," Shawn said politely.

Although he himself is sovereign‑level, even considerably stronger than ordinary sovereigns, he is still far behind Ouf, the strongest among them;

Within the Panlong Universe, Ouf is the strongest being, combining talent, effort, and luck; if it weren't for Lin Lei's extraordinary fortune as a four‑element mutation becoming a controller, even after refining the Fire Divine Rank, he could not escape a fatal end.

Lightning‑type Sovereign Huerlei laughed, "Haha, interesting. Back then, Fist, as a mid‑tier sovereign, was also designated sovereign‑level, but ultimately fell. Shawn, you'd better be careful."

After speaking, he glanced at Augusta, who turned his head and snorted coldly, his thoughts unknown.

Shawn gave a faint smile, "Thanks for the warning."

"Alright, that's that," the Destruction Sovereign glanced at the other sovereigns and said, "If there's nothing else, I'll head back first."

"As you wish." The Death Sovereign nodded.

Many sovereigns took their leave in succession, and several sent telepathic greetings to Shawn; facing this new sovereign‑level powerhouse, many sovereigns thought of befriending him.

When only seven Death Sovereigns and the resident Yuming Sovereign remained atop Yuming Mountain, the Death Sovereign said, "Shawn, according to the God rules, each sovereign has its own domain; my Nether is divided into Yuming Continent and the Nether Sea, and I control the Yuming Continent, as you know;

The other six sovereigns govern the Nether Sea; your domain is the Yuluo Realm at the far north of the Nether Sea. After Fist's death, I temporarily managed it; now I return it to you. Fire Refinement Deity, take Shawn to assume control of the Yuluo Realm."

The Fire Refinement Deity bowed to the Death Sovereign and said, "Yes, Sovereign."

"Fine, then everyone may disperse. Shawn, you're welcome to visit my Yuming Mountain anytime," the Death Sovereign said with a smile.

Shawn nodded, "Yes, Sovereign."

After the sovereigns dispersed, the Fire Refinement Deity and Shawn flew toward the Yuluo Realm; along the way, the Fire Refinement Deity said, "Lord Shawn, within the Yuluo Realm the commander of the sovereign army is Belial, a formidable divine beast whose death techniques have reached a high level, and he possesses two defensive Divine Artifacts."

"No need to call me 'Lord'; we're all Nether sovereigns—just use our names," Shawn said with a smile.

The Fire Refinement Deity shook his head, "That won't do; Lord Shawn has sovereign‑level strength."

"You're only a notch below an ordinary sovereign in will‑power, haha, it's about the same," Shawn said with a faint smile.

The Fire Refinement Deity, also the Sovereign of the Nether Serpent, is a mid‑tier sovereign; having received a will‑power reward in the Nether, his strength is only slightly weaker than an ordinary sovereign.

The Fire Refinement Deity laughed, "This is also thanks to the joint effort of the Sovereign and Lord Shawn; the rest of us Nether sovereigns have indeed contributed little to this matter."

"Haha, we're all Nether sovereigns; one's honor is shared, and the stronger we all are, the better," Shawn said.

The Fire Refinement Deity nodded, "Indeed, especially the Sovereign; the stronger she is, the better for us. Now Lord Shawn is also sovereign‑level and can become a top combat force in my Nether."

Among the four major‑rule sovereigns, only the Death Sovereign lacks great completion; all sovereigns know she is the weakest, and without a supreme divine artifact, she might not even match some Law Sovereigns;

Now the Death Sovereign has obtained another will‑power reward, further boosting her strength; combined with being a super divine beast, she has firmly secured the throne of the four strongest.

Shawn smiled, saying nothing more; for ordinary sovereigns, improving strength is indeed hard, but he is different—soul mutation has granted him almost limitless possibilities.

Under the Fire Refinement Deity's introduction, Shawn officially took over the entire Yuluo Realm, which comprises twelve prefectures, each spanning over 1.5 billion li, a total area no smaller than the Star‑Mist Sea of Hell.

Shawn's family also arrived in the Nether; his children learned that their father was a great sovereign, and the Walker family became a sovereign family as well, but Shawn strictly limited the clan's expansion, allowing activity only within his own domain and controlling Divine Power, forbidding the family from becoming like the Four Beast families.

In the following century, many sovereigns visited Shawn in succession; after all, his strength now rivals ordinary sovereigns, and after interacting, many found Shawn's temperament very easygoing— even lower‑tier sovereigns could converse with him calmly, earning him great popularity among the sovereigns.

Hell, Blood Peak Continent. Celestial Sacrifice Mountain Range:

In the middle of a lake, three men and one woman sat around a stone table; these four are the strongest beings between Heaven and Earth: the Four Beast Sovereigns;

"The water‑type sovereign Inas has been hiding on the Material Plane; he probably hasn't fully recovered yet," the Great Earth Sovereign Xuanwu laughed.

The Azure Dragon Sovereign declared proudly, "When struck by our Four Beast Sovereigns' combined innate divine abilities, he remained immortal at that moment, not because of an extra will‑power; otherwise we would have seized the supreme divine relic back then;

But a full recovery will take a long time; during that period, his soul will be tormented enough."

"It's a pity, but given enough time it can eventually be restored," sighed Zhuque, the Main God.

"That's not certain; Bu Lu and the others have been at it for ten trillion years and still haven't recovered," said Baihu, the Main God.

"Shawn?" Qinglong, the Main God, turned pale at the mention of the name. "Bu Lu is the descendant I value most; I intended to cultivate him into a master only second to Gaisreisen, but I never expected Shawn to wound him so badly that even the Fate Lord Ao Fu cannot save him."

Billions of years ago, the Fate Lord Ao Fu, whose soul was struck by Shawn, was taken away along with Ao Fu and others; after all these years they still cannot be healed, the poison in their souls has fully merged with the souls themselves, and removing the poison would mean removing the soul. Even the Fate Lord and several Great Perfections have reached the pinnacle of soul research, yet they are powerless.

Saving a person is far harder than harming one; the soul attack of the Death Great Perfection cannot be countered even by other Great Perfections.

"Back then, it was indeed our Four Beast Clan that first offended Shawn, so there was cause and effect, but another matter I think might have been Shawn's doing," Zhuque said. "Brother, do you remember that shortly after that incident many families on the Divine Plane received a surge of Main God power and then besieged our Four Beast Clan?"

Qinglong's complexion changed. "Do you suspect Shawn?"

Zhuque nodded. "Yes, it's possible. Shortly after attaining Great Perfection he likely gained a Divine Rank and then manipulated things from behind the scenes. At that time I noticed many idle Seven‑Star Demons attacking our clan; I thought it was an old grievance, but now I wonder if he soul‑seeded them."

Baihu frowned. "He does have that ability, but why? He's already a Main God; why would he still seek revenge against our Four Beast Clan?"

Zhuque shook his head. "I don't know; it's just my speculation, with no evidence."

"Evidence or not, Shawn is indeed at odds with us; after all he's at Lord‑level. If we find a chance, the four of us can kill him. With the Death Mid‑level Divine Rank, our Four Beast Clan also has someone we can employ," said Xuanwu, the Great Earth Main God.

Qinglong said, "No, we must not act rashly. Based on strength, Shawn's soul achievement is far stronger than that of an ordinary Lord, similar to Inas. One move likely won't kill him, and a second move cannot be used casually;"

"More importantly, killing a Law Lord would grant our Four Beast Clan an additional Lord‑level, and if we kill Shawn our Four Beast Clan lacks a Death‑rule Asura; after refinement its power would probably be at a lower Divine Rank."

"Indeed, but I'm worried that if my speculation is true, Shawn might seize an opportunity to strike us," Zhuque continued. "These days, rumors among the Main Gods say Shawn is easygoing, but no one knows the truth."

"If he dares to act against us, he's courting death himself," the Qinglong Main God thought and said. "Let's be more cautious with him from now on, or find a chance to act while the other Main Gods are unaware."

"Hmm, it seems that's all we can do," the other Main Gods agreed.

Tens of thousands of years later, Shawn, standing on an island watching the distant waves, suddenly furrowed his brow. Around him, a massive gathering of Water Main God power coalesced into a familiar figure: the Water Lord Inas.

"Inas? How did you end up in my Yōluo Realm?" Shawn asked with a smile.

Inas laughed, "Shawn, I've come to you because I want to join forces to deal with the Four Beast Clan."

"Oh, why should I team up with you? The Four Beast Clan's target isn't me," Shawn said indifferently.

The Four Beast Clan's target is the four elemental Lords of Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind; all Main Gods between Heaven and Earth know this.

Inas laughed heartily, "Right, but if the Four Beast Clan learns that you were the one who, back then, manipulated countless families on the Divine Plane against their clan, who knows what would happen."

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