Chapter 89: The Secret of the Water Sovereign

Among the Lord Gods there is no clear agreement on when to intervene in the battles of Divine‑plane masters, since the Lord God pact was created to serve themselves, and they could not possibly restrict their own actions against Divine‑level beings.

But after countless billions of years, the conflicts, arrogance, and so on among the Lord Gods have formed a certain habit: if one's own son or grandson is killed, it is permissible to act, and the other Lord Gods consider that normal.

Of course, it also depends on the Lord God's temperament; if a typical Lord God has many grandchildren or the grandchild's talent is average, their death might not be avenged, whereas a favored descendant—even many generations removed—might prompt retaliation if truly cherished, since Lord Gods are not Supreme Gods and have their own interests; it is normal for them to favor a particular descendant.

Even if one were to intervene without reason to slay a Divine‑level being or meddle in Divine‑level affairs, the other Lord Gods would at most mock behind one's back; they would not take it seriously, as Divine‑level beings are like insects to the Lord Gods.

The sudden appearance of the Water Sovereign made Azure Dragon feel very strange; his own intervention was at least because his grandson was killed, but the other party would not step forward merely for a Lord God envoy.

The Water Sovereign smiled calmly, "Of course, your grandson's strongest Divine avatar was killed, and your revenge is justified, but whoever killed your grandson, you may kill that person; I will not stand in your way."

However, you must not touch my Lord God envoy; he may die at the hands of a Divine‑level member of your Four Sacred Beasts clan, or even at the hands of your own Lord God envoy or other summoned masters, but you cannot kill him."

"Sovereign, you truly cannot get along with my Four Sacred Beasts," Azure Dragon Leiding said, his tone turning cold.

The Water Sovereign was unfazed, saying, "Leiding, matters of the Divine level should be handled by Divine‑level beings; if you wish to annihilate the Barbari clan, let Divine‑level masters act."

"Otherwise, if we Lord Gods intervene to destroy a Divine‑level clan, we would be tarnishing the Lord God's prestige."

At that moment, around Azure Dragon's massive face, the Lord God powers of three other colors gathered, each forming a huge visage.

Seeing this, the Water Sovereign snorted coldly; the energy avatars of Lord God's power can assume any shape— a massive face, a humanoid form, or even a sphere.

Before a Divine‑level master, to display a Lord God's might, a large face is usually formed, but when Lord Gods meet via energy avatars, they mostly take humanoid shapes; when encountering a Sovereign‑rank being, they even bow in respect.

The Four Sacred Beasts are of Sovereign rank, so not bowing would be acceptable, yet they have all turned into massive faces, leaving him no choice; otherwise he would be at a disadvantage.

All Four Sacred Beast Lord Gods arrived, and Vermilion Bird Nimo sent a telepathic query: "Inas, did you grant the Barbari clan all of its Lord God's power?"

"Lord God's power?" Water Sovereign Inas also saw the multitude of Barbari tribesmen below wielding Lord God's power, and sneered, "Nimo, I can tell you I didn't give it, but I wouldn't mind giving them a little more."

"You intend to fight my Four Sacred Beasts?" White Tiger Es sent a cold telepathic question.

Inas retorted mockingly, "What, you give your own clan so much Lord God's power, and I cannot give it to my envoy? Lord God's power, any Lord God—even a lower‑rank one—is freely bestowed upon subordinates."

Among Lord Gods, to conveniently coordinate control over Divine‑level beings across heaven and earth, they can regulate the amount of Lord God's power, but this is merely tacit understanding; no formal pact has ever been established.

This explains why a few Lord God families can be arrogant: for Asuras and even Lord God envoys, obtaining enough Lord God's power for personal use may be feasible, but extending it to cover so many Divine‑level members of a clan is far more difficult.

"Hm, Inas, you think having an extra Lord God avatar will block our combined innate divine arts?" Azure Dragon Leiding said coolly via telepathy.

Inas transmitted a laugh, "Haha, your Four Sacred Beasts' combined innate divine arts are indeed terrifying; even with an extra Lord God avatar I have no absolute guarantee, but do you have confidence you can catch me? Or you could try and see who ends up dead in the end."

"Big brother, why don't we go straight to the Water Sovereign's Divine plane and see if he can block our ultimate technique?" Black Tortoise Lord God said, the four of them transmitting together.

Azure Dragon Leiding, after a moment of calm, said, "No, we cannot take the risk. Though I am confident I can kill Inas, if a public duel is known to the other Sovereigns, we will be in danger afterward."

The Four Sacred Beasts' combined innate divine arts are extremely terrifying; by estimation, only a Great Perfect Sovereign could possibly withstand them. However, such a heaven‑defying ultimate move consumes massive amounts of vital blood and innate soul power, rendering the user unable to act again for a period. During that interval, the Four Sacred Beast Lord Gods are reduced to the level of four ordinary lower‑rank Lord Gods, still weakened; if a Sovereign targets them then, death is inevitable.

This also explains why, despite possessing a heaven‑defying ultimate, they have not succeeded in hunting the Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind Sovereigns; if they did succeed, they would plunge themselves into extreme peril. Many Lord Gods covet the mystery of the Four Sacred Beasts' combined innate divine arts, and even several rule‑bound Sovereigns are very interested.

Of course, being unable to outrun them is also a key factor; aside from innate divine arts, they are weaker than mid‑rank Lord Gods in other aspects, let alone Sovereigns.

"What shall we do?" Vermilion Bird Nimo asked.

Azure Dragon pondered briefly, looked at the people below, then sent a telepathic message to Gaia: "Gaia, who are the ones that killed Ferhan?"

Gaia, upon hearing, also knew that her father and others had yielded, and used divine perception to point a direction: "The details are unclear; Ferhan was struck by a massive soul attack, likely by that group of people."

"Very well." Azure Dragon withdrew the telepathic link, locked onto that group, and with a single thought summoned a torrent of soul energy near them, then "Bang! Bang! ~" a massive number of skulls were instantly shattered.

The Water Sovereign neither intervened nor spoke; he could not block the other Lord Gods from avenging his own grandson, for that would be unreasonable.

After completing the "revenge," Azure Dragon glanced at the Water Sovereign and said coolly, "Inas, I take my leave. Also, this is my Azure Dragon continent; if there is nothing urgent, please do not casually use divine perception to probe here."

Having spoken, the energy of the Four Sacred Beast Lord Gods dispersed, leaving only the Water Sovereign's massive face.

"Hmph~" Inas was very angry; Azure Dragon's final remark was said publicly, informing everyone present that he does not care about this Sovereign.

Lord Gods indeed have their own territories, but a Sovereign of a single system can be said to be the pinnacle of the Divine plane; under normal circumstances they can freely use divine perception to scan the entire plane, though most of the time they grant face to mid‑rank and lower‑rank Lord Gods, since only a few dozen beings exist at that level between heaven and earth.

All the Divine‑level beings below were still kneeling; after a glance, Inas sent a telepathic message to Barbari: "Ian, return immediately to the Cangshui continent, then come straight to Water Curtain Mountain to find me."

"Yes, Sovereign." After Barbari replied, the Water Sovereign's energy avatar above dispersed.

The two parties present, Ian Barbari and Gaia, exchanged a glance and then, by tacit understanding, dispersed; the Lord Gods had all manifested, so they naturally ceased fighting.

In this battle, the Barbari clan still won; although they lost many, the Four Sacred Beast side suffered heavier losses, especially with the Azure Dragon Lord God's grandson all slain.

Of course, this outcome was due to the Water Sovereign's intervention; otherwise, in Azure Dragon Lord God's wrath, none of the Divine‑level beings here would have survived.

In the Azure Divine plane, Ian Barbari's divine avatar relayed the whole matter to Shawn, who was shrouded in shadows.

Shawn said oddly, "Water Sovereign, daring to provoke the Four Sacred Beasts, that's hard to understand. How much do you know about the Water Sovereign's strength among the Lord Gods?"

Having survived billions of years between heaven and earth, and possessing his own soul‑type's special abilities, when he was still an Asura he had investigated some Lord God information, including that of the Water Sovereign.

Of course, he could not obtain detailed data, only superficial scraps that were mostly useless, yet the Water Sovereign caught his attention because he discovered that the current Water Sovereign is male, whereas in the original Lin Lei era the Water Sovereign was female.

This indicates that without his intervention, this Water Sovereign would still have been killed, though by whom remains unknown.

Ian Barbari replied, "I'm not sure about that, but rumors say the Water Sovereign is extremely powerful and also has a Lord God avatar."

"A Lord God avatar—of which system?" Shawn asked back.

Ian Barbari answered, "It's a Life Lord God avatar, reportedly a mid‑rank Lord God, and the Water Sovereign is also a divine beast, though I don't know which beast."

The ranking among Lord Gods is generally known even to peak Asuras, and as a Lord God envoy, learning such information isn't surprising; after all, not every Lord God strictly keeps such matters secret, especially given the number of envoys—while Divine‑level masters may be unaware of the Lord God pact, those with broad information do know the disparity in the number of envoys each Lord God recruits.

Shawn nodded and said, "A Life mid‑rank Lord God avatar? And also a divine beast—that strength is indeed notable. If two divine avatars combine, whether the Four Sacred Beasts could gain an advantage is uncertain."

He currently does not know how strong the Four Sacred Beasts' combined innate divine arts are; if a single move cannot kill, then the Four Sacred Beasts might be the ones to die.

However, this explains why the Death Sovereign did not hunt the Water Sovereign before the early Lord God pact; with such a configuration, even if the Death Sovereign's innate divine arts were extremely strong, they could at most wound Inas, and actually killing him would be unlikely, as the speed alone would be insufficient.

Ian Barbari asked again, "Lord God, now I must return to the Cangshui continent; the Sovereign will surely seek me. How should I answer?"

Being caught between multiple Lord Gods is indeed fraught with danger, but there is no choice; once a Lord God treats you as a pawn, the game is theirs, and it's already good if you aren't casually discarded.

Especially this Lord God, who has taken a Supreme God oath of silence, with something bound deep in his soul, making betrayal impossible.

Nevertheless, his original intention was not to desire it; only this Lord God gave their family a chance for vengeance—killing the Four Sacred Beast Lord God's grandson—so even if the Barbari clan lost a divine avatar, it was worth it.

Shawn smiled lightly, "Just like the Dark Serpent, simply reply that a Great Perfect Sovereign assigned you the task; because of your Supreme God oath you cannot state names directly, I think Inas wouldn't force you to press further."

The Supreme God oath is nothing; after all, the outcome is death. If Inas coerces, and the Barbari are not controlled by his own soul, they might be forced to speak.

After all, the Supreme God oath only incurs punishment upon breach, not a cosmic law that prevents one from speaking.

However, the five characters "Great Perfect Lord God" would be of a different nature, and in theory only those three individuals possess the strength to dare manipulate all of this from behind the scenes;

In reality, if it does not involve a Supreme God relic, he would not be willing to take such a huge risk, and failing the Supreme God mission could force Augusta in the future to prevent him from exiting the material plane, which he cannot accept.

Inas most likely does not dare to inquire further, just like the Fire Refining Lord God; after asking Ming She where so much Lord God power came from and receiving that answer, he immediately fled.

"Yes, Lord God," Ian Babari replied.

Shawn added, "You go down first."

"Understood," Ian Babari slowly stepped back, leaving only Ming She.

Shawn said, "Now only the Heaven Sacrifice Mountains remain, and there are three people inside. How do you think we should eliminate them, or should we use the same method?"

Ming She replied, "Hell is the headquarters of the Four Beast Family, and the Four Beast Lord God is said to reside nearby, so I cannot act in Hell;

My Nether Realm forces are already evading the Four Beast Family, but after many confrontations the Lord God power is still overwhelming; this time the Water Realm has summoned the Water Sovereign, and the Four Beast Lord God will likely be highly attentive to any irregularities."

"Hmm, makes sense," Shawn nodded, and after a moment asked, "The Four Beast Family has many mid‑rank deities; they probably also roam the outside world, right?"

Ming She Bah did not grasp the Lord God's question, but still replied, "Yes, the ancestral‑hall baptism of the Four Beast Family may allow the Sacred Realm to become a lower‑rank god, but subsequent promotion must be achieved on one's own;

Therefore many members of the Four Beast Family are scattered across eleven realms undertaking adventurous challenges; many have died in the process, but the Four Beast Family, in order to cultivate elites, can only tacitly accept it, since only battles of life and death can give rise to higher‑rank gods or even more advanced masters."

Shawn said, "Fine, go to the various realms, capture some mid‑rank deity members of the Four Beast Family, then find a way to bring them to other material realms so they can reproduce there. I will select a few with strong talent for soul‑seeding, and then send them back to Hell."

Ming She asked, "Lord God, this method can indeed infiltrate people, but ordinary clan members find it very hard to reach the upper echelons of the Four Beast Family, let alone the Heaven Sacrifice Mountains."

"I understand. I will find a way to make them become higher‑rank gods, so we can at least obtain some information," Shawn added. "Let's take it step by step; first we need to know exactly who those few are, their locations in the Heaven Sacrifice Mountains, and their habits, so our approach is appropriate."

"Understood, Lord God, I will handle it immediately," Ming She hurriedly said.

"Alright," Shawn nodded.

Eliminating the final three under the watchful eye of the Four Beast Lord God is extremely difficult, and we cannot replicate the Nether Realm and Water Realm techniques, so we must proceed slowly;

However, now only three remain; even if the Supreme God's judgment is exposed, the chance that they become aware is very low, though strategically we must still consider it. Once those three are dealt with, my Great Perfect God Avatar can leave the Nether Mountain and safely seek another Supreme God relic, and my Death Lord God Avatar can also safely retreat to cultivate and strike the Great Perfection.

Decades later, inside a cave dwelling on Water Curtain Mountain of the Cangshui Continent:

The Water Sovereign Inas asked in surprise, "What did you say? Did a Great Perfect Lord God send you? Did they grant you enough Lord God power to deal with the Four Beast Family?"

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(End of chapter)