Fortunately, a Sovereign's willpower was incomparably powerful. It forcibly suppressed the injuries Pash had suffered over billions of years within the illusion, preventing them from manifesting on his body. Only his soul was left to endure that boundless agony.
Under that pain, Bloodridge Sovereign Pash finally broke free from Locke's Mirror Flower, Water Moon, clutching his head as he collapsed against the throne in his Sovereign palace, howling in misery.
Only after more than ten minutes did he slowly recover from the torment gnawing at his soul.
When he looked at Locke again, his eyes were filled with fear.
"It seems our Bloodridge Sovereign can finally have a proper conversation with an insect like me now."
"Heh… huff… ha…"
Pash gasped for breath before forcing out the question, "Who exactly are you?"
"Who am I?"
"You've forgotten so quickly, Sovereign?"
"I'm exactly what you just called me."
"A slightly larger insect."
"Locke."
"Locke!"
Pash bit down so hard his gums bled, yet he no longer dared make another move against him.
He had attacked Locke twice already, and in return Locke had answered with two attacks of his own.
If there were a few more exchanges like that…
Especially that last soul attack.
Pash had no doubt that if he suffered it a few more times, his soul itself might be worn away by that endless stretch of torment.
After steadying his breathing, Pash finally asked, "Speak. Why did you come to see me?"
"Could it be that the Four Divine Beasts want my Bloodridge Continent?"
There was no way he believed Locke had come without reason.
Was this connected to the Four Divine Beasts?
But he had no real dealings with them.
Could it be that they were no longer satisfied with the Skyrite Mountains and now had their eyes on Bloodridge Continent?
From the fact that Locke had displayed techniques belonging to the Four Divine Beasts, Pash had initially assumed he was a trump card sent by them to force him off Bloodridge Continent.
"No, you misunderstand."
Locke shook his head.
"My relationship with the Four Divine Beasts is not what you imagine."
"I came here this time to settle two matters."
"The first—several hundred thousand years ago, one of my subordinates killed a captain from your Sovereign Army. What do you have to say about that?"
"I—"
"What are you doing?"
Just as Pash was about to speak, he noticed the green light glowing in Locke's hand, and his expression immediately changed.
"Relax."
Locke smiled calmly.
"I merely want to use a scryer spell to record what you say, as proof that the conflict between us has been peacefully resolved."
At those words, Pash's face alternated between pale and flushed.
If word got out that he, a Sovereign, had bowed his head to someone who wasn't even a Sovereign, he would become the laughingstock of all the Sovereigns.
But recalling the two methods Locke had just displayed, Pash felt another wave of fear.
According to the Sovereign rankings established by the Death Sovereign, Locke was absolutely someone who, despite not being a Sovereign, could stand among the ranks of the Lesser Sovereigns.
With that thought, Pash no longer regarded Locke as an ordinary Deity.
Instead, he now viewed him as someone who could stand on equal footing with himself.
Once he accepted that, he felt much better.
After all, the Coiling Dragon universe had always been a world where strength ruled supreme.
Pash slowly steadied his breathing, then his body trembled slightly.
In an instant, he restored himself to peak condition.
Since Locke intended to preserve his image with a scryer spell, Pash naturally had no desire to let that earlier miserable state be recorded.
"You may begin."
That smooth, practiced response actually caught Locke off guard.
Seeing Pash act this way, Locke almost couldn't bear to tell him that the recording spell in his hand had actually been running since the moment he first arrived at the gates of the Sovereign palace.
"Very well, then I'll start recording now."
Locke gestured for him to continue, suppressing the urge to laugh.
Right now, he was still standing before a Sovereign.
If not for Mirror Flower, Water Moon deceiving Pash's senses into believing his attacks were useless, followed by Eye of Hell: Eighteen Levels of Hell thoroughly intimidating him, Pash would never have cooperated so readily.
And the last thing Locke wanted was to deal with an enraged Sovereign.
The Four Divine Beasts' Sovereign blood essence was running low. He had no desire to waste four drops on Pash.
"I, Bloodridge Sovereign Pash, have now reached a reconciliation with Locke regarding the conflict between our subordinates. From this point onward, I will no longer use this matter as grounds to punish Locke's followers…"
"That's enough."
Locke dismissed the scryer spell in his hand and continued.
"Now then, let's discuss the matter of you killing my pet, Little White, back in Seacloud Prefecture…"
After what could only be described as a very friendly discussion with Bloodridge Sovereign Pash, Locke finally left the Sovereign palace.
His soul sense spread outward, and he quickly found Ryan and the others.
The next moment, his body dissolved into countless water elements before reforming in front of them.
"Lord Locke."
At this time, Ryan and the others were still aboard their metallic lifeform and had yet to reach the next city.
Though they were puzzled that Lord Locke had returned so quickly, they immediately bowed.
"All right, rise."
Once Ryan and the others stood up, Locke tossed an interspatial ring to Ryan.
"Ryan, I've already spoken with Bloodridge Sovereign Pash."
"This is the compensation he offered you—fifty drops of Sovereign's Might in total."
"Th-this…"
Hearing Locke's words, Ryan's hand trembled as he held the ring.
That Lord Locke could settle the matter between them and Bloodridge Sovereign came as no surprise.
What shocked them was that Pash had actually offered compensation.
Everyone present understood exactly what that meant.
There were strong Sovereigns and weak Sovereigns.
Lord Locke was undoubtedly a Sovereign—or at least an existence—even stronger than Bloodridge Sovereign Pash.
"As for how you wish to develop from here, that's up to you."
"But continue collecting divine beast blood essence and the blood essence of special lifeforms."
"And remember this well—what I want is a steady, continuous supply."
"Not blood forcibly extracted from corpses with no future source."
"We understand, Lord Locke."
Ryan immediately understood.
Lord Locke was reminding them: if it could be traded for, then trade for it. Everything must be voluntary.
They were absolutely not to hunt divine beasts merely for their blood essence.
After giving his instructions, Locke left the Infernal Realm and returned to the Netherworld.
Compared to the Infernal Realm, Locke still felt much safer staying on Mount Nether.
"Tch. These people are seriously annoying."
One day, Liliya and Locke had been chatting pleasantly when she suddenly frowned.
Locke paused, then spread his divine sense.
At once, he understood what was bothering her.
With the planar war now over, the Sovereign armies of each plane had all withdrawn back to their respective home planes.
During this war, the locations of the Sovereigns were no longer much of a secret.
And among all those who had shone most brightly in this war spanning eleven planes, none stood out more than the Sovereign emissaries armed with Sovereign artifacts and Sovereign's Might.
Each emissary possessing a Sovereign artifact had carved out an awe-inspiring reputation on the battlefield.
Because of this, after the war ended, countless Deities began searching for the Sovereigns' residences, hoping to catch a Sovereign's eye, be taken in as an emissary, and be granted a Sovereign artifact.
Unfortunately, because of the rules previously established by the Death Sovereign, each rank of Sovereign could only accept a limited number of emissaries.
Under such restrictions, the weakest among those accepted were all experts at least on the level of Asura Prefecture Lords.
But what those Deities saw was not the emissaries' strength.
They only saw their fortune.
And so, more and more Deities began wandering near places where Sovereigns resided, hoping that one day they too might be noticed.
Mount Nether, as the tallest mountain in the Netherworld aside from Mount Undead, was an obvious location.
Any Deity in the Netherworld with half a brain could guess that a Sovereign must reside there.
And not just any Sovereign—a powerful one.
Thus, over the years, quite a number of Deities had come to Mount Nether in search of a Sovereign.
If this had been the old Death Sovereign, she might have found it amusing and perhaps even played games with them.
But now, Liliya only found them irritating.
They were cutting into the time she had with Locke.
Looking at the Deities who had entered the Mount Nether range through his divine sense, Locke raised an eyebrow.
To be fair, anyone who dared seek out a Sovereign in hopes of earning their favor was at minimum a Six-Star Fiend.
Seeing Liliya troubled by these intruders, a thought suddenly crossed Locke's mind.
What if all of them were taken in as subordinates…
Locke knew full well that the Planar Battlefield would come later.
If preparations began now, the chances of helping the Netherworld secure its first ten-win streak would be much higher.
With that in mind, Locke immediately said, "Liliya, have you ever considered setting up a trial here on Mount Nether? We could select some truly powerful Deities to serve under you."
"That sounds too troublesome. I don't want to."
Liliya shook her head.
"I even had Christina organize my Sovereign army for me."
Christina—Locke knew that name.
She was the commander of the Death Sovereign's army.
During the previous planar war, Christina had even come to Mount Nether to pay respects to the Death Sovereign.
As one of the earliest army commanders, Christina's strength was currently only at the Seven-Star Fiend level.
However, despite the fact that Christina was no longer among the absolute top-tier experts, the Death Sovereign had no intention of replacing her.
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