Even a Sovereign's divine clone could not compete with a Paragon unless it had also reached Great Perfection.
"Klo, you're right," Liliya said calmly.
"With only my Water divine clone, I truly cannot deal with you."
"So…"
"My Sovereign body has arrived."
Those words did not come from the Water clone standing before Locke.
They came from outside the water palace.
A figure stepped through the fading sunlight and entered the residence.
A long violet gown.
Flowing violet-red hair.
Her appearance was identical to the Liliya sitting before Locke.
Her body was small and delicate, yet the pressure she radiated was immense.
"...Sigh."
Locke let out a quiet sigh.
He stood up and slightly lowered his head.
"Klo greets the Sovereign."
Ordinary people were required to kneel fully before a Sovereign.
Powerful Highgods could offer a single-knee salute.
But Locke, who had reached the very end of the Laws as a Paragon, had once wondered how he would behave when facing a Sovereign in person.
Now that the moment had arrived, he realized something.
Those worries from before… didn't matter anymore.
Because he possessed Willpower.
In a certain sense, he had already stepped onto the same stage as these Sovereigns.
With that psychological advantage, even if his strength was inferior, he would never perform an act that damaged his own dignity.
Especially considering that Locke might currently be the only Paragon in existence.
He could not allow the prestige of a Paragon to be diminished by Sovereigns through him.
A thousand epochs later, there were still fifty or sixty Sovereigns.
But the number of true Paragons could be counted on two hands.
Even including the "suspected" ones, they barely exceeded thirty.
In some ways, Paragons were rarer and more exalted than Sovereigns.
The only reason their status fell below Sovereigns was because Sovereign sparks granted overwhelming Willpower.
"Mmm."
The Death Sovereign nodded and walked deeper into the palace.
The Liliya beside Locke turned into a streak of blue light and merged into her body.
"Klo."
"My Water clone invited you earlier, and you refused."
"Now I have personally come to invite you."
"Are you still planning to refuse?"
"When you fought earlier," she continued calmly,
"I could already see that your Willpower strength is only about one ten-thousandth that of the weakest Sovereign."
"And that weakest Sovereign's Willpower…"
"…is only one ten-thousandth of mine."
"Now tell me your answer."
Locke smiled bitterly.
He knew she wasn't lying.
If anything, she had understated the difference.
Sovereigns, like gods, were divided into three tiers.
Each tier differed in Willpower strength by a hundredfold.
The gap between an Overlord and a Lesser Sovereign was roughly the same as the gap between a Lesser Sovereign and a Paragon Highgod.
"It is an honor that the Overlord thinks so highly of me," Locke replied.
"If I refused again, it would only seem pretentious."
"Good."
"Then let's go."
"To Netherworld Mountain."
"Yes."
In the Infernal Realm — Blackstone Tribe
Locke's true body chuckled helplessly.
"Looks like I was a bit too high-profile."
"I tried to show off and ended up doing it in front of the Death Sovereign."
"But with the Death Sovereign's protection, my Water divine clone in the Netherworld will now be completely safe."
"And if I can gain her support…"
"Then when the War of Faith begins, my chances of obtaining the Water Sovereign spark will increase significantly."
"Next…"
"My Fate divine clone."
Locke recalled something the Death Sovereign once mentioned.
After the heavens and earth had existed for ten million years, the Destruction Overlord Utrede fought the Fate Overlord Orloff.
That battle established the reputation of the Four Rule Overlords.
Both combatants demonstrated the strength of Great Perfection Rule Overlords.
"No one knows exactly how long the Coiling Dragon universe has existed."
"But it must be far more than ten million years."
"Yet among the Sovereigns, there are no records of that battle."
"The Death Sovereign wouldn't lie."
"So, when she said 'the creation of heaven and earth'…"
"She probably meant the creation of the Divine Planes."
"In other words…"
"When the Divine Planes reach ten million years of age, the two Rule Overlords will fight.
Which means the First Sovereign War and the War of Faith may begin within the next few million years."
"I need to start preparing."
"If I seize the Water Overlord spark, I might even witness the battle between the two Rule Overlords."
"And if my strength is comparable to theirs…"
"…it might not be impossible to challenge Orloff for his Sovereign spark."
To achieve that…
Locke took a deep breath.
Because the Coiling Dragon universe had Four Overgods, the Rules were slightly stronger than the Laws.
Even if two Sovereigns had equal Willpower, a Rule Sovereign would still have a slight advantage over a Law Sovereign.
However—
If a Law Sovereign had achieved Great Perfection, their perfect Law would rival the Rules.
The difference would vanish entirely.
As a Water Paragon, if Locke became the Water Overlord, his strength would not fall behind Utrede or Orloff.
But there were still complications.
Utrede was the divine beast Ukun, possessing a powerful innate ability.
His body was also as strong as a Sovereign artifact.
Orloff, on the other hand, had not yet created the Reincarnation Golden Body, making his physical body weaker than Utrede's.
However—
Orloff's divine clone Augustus was the Light Overlord, granting Orloff an extra 0.8 portion of Willpower.
Thus, he did not fall behind in battle.
In fact, his mysterious techniques even allowed him to gain the upper hand.
If Locke wanted to reach a level comparable to the two Rule Overlords, he had two options.
Either:
Strengthen his body to the level of a Sovereign artifact.
Or:
Fuse the Water Laws and Fate Rules to such a degree that the heavens granted him another portion of Willpower.
"I'll give it a try."
"If I can gain one more portion of Willpower within these few million years…"
"Then after obtaining the Water Sovereign spark, I'll challenge Orloff."
"If I fail…"
"I'll lie low and wait for an opportunity."
Having roughly mapped out his future plans again, Locke sank his mind into the fusion of the Water Laws and Fate Rules.
Now, all three of his bodies had different tasks.
Fate Divine Clone
Aside from the "Word Spirit" technique inspired by the Great Prophecy, Locke had yet to develop other abilities.
Now that his Fate Rules had reached Great Perfection, he wanted to create techniques better suited for battle.
Water Divine Clone
This had always been his primary combat body.
Now its task was to study the Four Divine Beast blood essences and touch upon the laws of space.
Saint-level True Body
Its mission was to attempt the fusion of Water Laws and Fate Rules.
As long as any one of the three made progress, Locke's power would increase.
The future looked bright.
The situation was excellent.
Work hard, Locke!
Netherworld Mountain
"So, this is Netherworld Mountain."
Looking at the massive peak, tens of thousands of meters high and shrouded in mist, Locke couldn't help complaining internally.
These Sovereigns who disliked being disturbed all seemed to enjoy surrounding their residences with dense fog capable of affecting souls.
The Amethyst Mountains were like that.
And Netherworld Mountain was the same.
Fortunately, the Azure Dragon Sovereign Redding wasn't like that.
Otherwise, Locke might not have met him so easily back then.
After becoming a Paragon, Locke had given his soul defense Sovereign artifact to his true body.
But with Willpower protecting him, the mist here had no effect on him.
Following the Death Sovereign upward, Locke soon saw a gigantic tree over ten thousand meters tall with a canopy like a heavenly crown.
He immediately recognized it.
That was the Netherworld Fruit Tree.
The only Life Sovereign of the Netherworld.
The Netherworld Sovereign.
It was the Death Sovereign's companion plant.
Although it had refined a Lesser Life Sovereign spark, it disliked moving and therefore remained here as a tree rather than going to the Life Divine Plane.
Of course, among fans of Coiling Dragon, many had speculated something else.
Perhaps this Netherworld tree was actually another divine clone of the Death Sovereign.
The reason for that theory was simple.
All of the Death Sovereign's messengers were gods who had eaten Netherworld Fruits.
The Netherworld Fruit was an extremely rare treasure produced by the Netherworld Sovereign.
Its ability resembled the Angel Rebirth Pools of the Light Sovereigns.
Those pools could transform pure souls into angels, weapons of war loyal to the Light Sovereigns.
Because their souls were bound to the Sovereign, the angels inherited part of the Sovereign's Law comprehension.
The highest-level Angel Rebirth Pools could even create angels that inherited all of a Sovereign's Law insights.
In other words—
If a Light Sovereign happened to be a Paragon, and possessed the highest-level Angel Rebirth Pool…
They might produce angels who had fused all six Profound Mysteries of the Laws.
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