Under these circumstances, the Death Sovereign's placement of the Fate Sovereign, Orloff, within the Rule Sovereign tier meant only one thing—
in her judgment, Orloff possessed the strength of a Rule Sovereign.
Now, with Orloff's move, her judgment had only been further validated.
At the same time, the other Sovereigns' awe toward the Death Sovereign deepened even further.
After fully understanding the strength of every Sovereign present, she had still dared declare herself the pinnacle of all Sovereigns.
That alone was proof enough that the Death Sovereign truly stood above them all.
At this moment, the gazes everyone cast toward the Earth Sovereign Hurley carried a trace of mockery.
In a sense, Hurley had already secured his place in history.
Although he was destined to die today, he would forever live on in the memories of all Sovereigns.
After all, someone who had clashed with all four Rule Sovereigns in a single day—
past, present, and future—
might well only ever be this Lightning Chief Sovereign, Hurley.
The Death Sovereign paid no mind to whatever was going through Hurley's head.
With a flip of her hand, the soul within Hurley's Earth Sovereign clone was instantly annihilated.
A seven-colored Earth Sovereign spark rose from the body.
Looking at the two Sovereign sparks floating within the spatial turbulence, every Sovereign's eyes flashed with desire.
These were Sovereign sparks.
Even if they themselves had no use for them, what about their relatives? Their friends?
Surely someone could use them.
Unfortunately, no matter how tempted they were, no one dared make a move at such a time.
It was a joke to think otherwise.
Given the overwhelming disparity in strength, any one of the four Rule Sovereigns could easily slaughter the remaining seventy-one Sovereigns.
"I presume all of you know very well how you yourselves became Sovereigns."
"Those who obtained Sovereign sparks and ultimately became Sovereigns did not do so through strength."
"They became Sovereigns because they were fortunate."
"Of course, I am not belittling any of you."
"On the contrary—I believe fortune is also a part of strength."
"Therefore, these two Sovereign sparks will be cast into the spatial turbulence."
"As for who ultimately obtains them and becomes the new Sovereigns…"
"…that shall depend entirely upon fate."
"Does anyone object?"
Hearing the Death Sovereign's final decision regarding the Sovereign sparks, the gathered Sovereigns all wore different expressions.
Those who possessed Earth or Lightning divine clones naturally hoped the Death Sovereign would retain the sparks.
That way, they might still have a chance to trade for them at some price and further increase their own strength.
Others, however, approved of the decision.
After all, most of them had obtained their Sovereign sparks through opportunity and luck.
If later generations were fortunate enough to obtain the same opportunity, then allowing them to become Sovereigns was not unacceptable.
Besides—
rather than watching familiar people around them suddenly rise to heights beyond their reach after acquiring multiple Sovereign clones…
they would much rather see fresh blood enter the ranks.
Seeing that no one objected, the Death Sovereign withdrew the willpower that had been suppressing the surrounding space.
Immediately, several currents of spatial turbulence surged forward and swallowed the two Sovereign sparks.
No matter how far the Sovereigns spread their divine senses, they could no longer detect the slightest trace of them.
"Now then, let us move on to the second matter of the First Sovereign Assembly."
After the issue of Hurley's death and the Sovereign sparks had been dealt with, the Sovereigns had thought the assembly was about to end.
Who would have expected the Death Sovereign's next words to reveal a second agenda?
Immediately, the Sovereigns exchanged glances.
It seemed that when the Death Sovereign said she had originally intended to hold this assembly after the wars between the Divine Planes had ended, she had not merely been speaking casually.
She had truly come prepared.
The only question was—
aside from the Sovereign Pact, what else did she intend to establish?
"As Sovereigns, it is beneath us to personally interfere in the affairs of gods."
"Therefore, Sovereigns may select divine experts to act on their behalf, treating them as their Sovereign Emissaries."
"Now, let us discuss the matter of Sovereign Emissaries."
"First, Sovereigns must not excessively interfere with the development of the Divine Planes and Higher Planes."
"Thus, the number of Sovereign Emissaries each Sovereign may possess must be limited."
"I propose the following—"
"A Lesser Sovereign may possess two Sovereign Emissaries."
"An Intermediate Sovereign may possess four Sovereign Emissaries."
"A Law Chief Sovereign may possess six Sovereign Emissaries."
"A Rule Chief Sovereign may possess eight Sovereign Emissaries."
"At the same time, a Sovereign may bestow no more than one Sovereign artifact upon any one child or emissary…"
The moment the Death Sovereign said this, the expressions of several Sovereigns changed.
During the recent war between the Divine Planes, in order to stir the enthusiasm of divine experts and recruit more powerful subordinates, many Sovereigns had accepted large numbers of Sovereign Emissaries.
Of course, among those bearing the title of "Sovereign Emissary," some had merely received a few drops of Sovereign power.
But the truly powerful divine experts had all been bestowed Sovereign artifacts.
Counting them all, almost every Sovereign currently had no fewer than ten emissaries.
Some particularly excessive Sovereigns even had more than twenty.
Now, with a single sentence, the Death Sovereign was demanding that they abandon the vast majority of them and retain only a handful.
Frankly, many of them did not even know how they would explain this to their emissaries.
They wanted to protest.
But after witnessing the four Rule Sovereigns execute Hurley, every single one of them had turned into silent quails.
No one dared speak.
Fortunately, the Death Sovereign did not require them to dismiss their excess emissaries immediately.
Instead, she granted them one hundred thousand years.
After one hundred thousand years, if any Sovereign still possessed more emissaries than their rank permitted, then their Sovereign rank would be adjusted upward according to the number of emissaries they retained.
The moment these words were spoken, no Sovereign dared treat the matter lightly.
After all, the entire purpose of Sovereign ranking was to prevent higher-ranked Sovereigns from hunting lower-ranked ones.
If a Lesser Sovereign were reclassified as a Intermediate Sovereign because they still had four emissaries after one hundred thousand years…
then the moment that reclassification took effect, countless Intermediate Sovereigns might come knocking at their door.
Battles between Sovereigns of the same rank were not protected by the Sovereign Pact.
In other words—
this pact was specifically designed to allow Sovereigns of the same rank to fight without restraint.
Thus, the First Sovereign Assembly came to an end.
This assembly established:
the supreme authority of the Four Rule Sovereignsthe Sovereign Pactthe limits on Sovereign Emissariesthe rules governing the bestowal of Sovereign artifacts
At the same time, the realm named Paragon by the Death Sovereign began to spread from the mouths of the Sovereigns throughout the Seven Divine Planes and the Four Higher Planes.
However, even the Sovereigns themselves knew very little about Paragons.
The only thing everyone understood was what the Death Sovereign had declared—
within the same rank, a Paragon was invincible.
Thus, Paragons soon acquired an even more resounding title:
the Invincible Paragon!
Netherworld — Mount Nether
Inside the Water Estate, Liliya gently tapped Locke's forehead with a finger.
Through the connection between their souls, she transmitted everything her Sovereign clone had sensed in the Celestial Realm—
the locations of four Lesser Fate Sovereigns.
"Luojia Mountain, Lanzhou Ravine, Violet Mist Pool, White Feather Forest…"
Soon, images of these four locations within the Celestial Realm appeared within Locke's soul.
Liliya had even thoughtfully marked the exact places where those Sovereigns resided.
These were the locations where her divine sense had detected the four Lesser Fate Sovereigns.
Barring accidents, these should be their long-term residences.
Opening his eyes, Locke smiled.
"You've helped me tremendously, Liliya."
With this map, hunting a Fate Sovereign would now become far easier.
"Then Locke… when are you leaving?"
This would be Locke's first Sovereign hunt.
At the same time, it might also be the only feat in this world of a mere god slaying a Sovereign.
The Death Sovereign wanted to witness it with her own eyes.
Locke thought for a moment before speaking.
"Based on the proposal you made during the Sovereign Assembly, I believe the most urgent matter for the Sovereigns right now is reducing the number of their emissaries."
"However, I doubt they'll directly tell their emissaries."
"More likely, several Sovereigns will join forces and allow their emissaries to slaughter one another, keeping only the strongest few."
"That way, their dignity as Sovereigns remains intact, while also eliminating the weaker emissaries."
"In that situation, their vigilance toward their own safety will inevitably weaken."
"That will be my best opportunity."
"So, Liliya…"
"I may need to depart right now."
"Otherwise, once they finish cleaning up their emissaries, I suspect the Rule Sovereigns will begin setting their sights on the Law Sovereigns."
"At that point, finding a Fate Sovereign still residing in the Divine Plane or Higher Plane will become extremely difficult."
Liliya immediately grew anxious.
"Then should my Sovereign clone send you there?"
Locke shook his head.
"No."
"The disturbance caused by your Sovereign clone would be far too great."
"I'll simply travel to the Celestial Realm through the interplanar teleportation array."
Liliya sighed softly.
She had wanted to help him more.
But she also knew—
after this Sovereign Assembly, her supreme status among the Sovereigns had been fully established.
That, in turn, meant that her every movement would now be watched by the majority of Sovereigns.
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