However, every now and then, a fragment of an image would flash through the Chief Sovereign of Death's mind.
This caused the Chief Sovereign of Death to feel that something about herself seemed wrong.
Walking out from the Sovereign Palace, the Chief Sovereign of Death looked at everything within Mount Netherworld and felt that compared to the Mount Netherworld in her memories, it all seemed vaguely different.
The Chief Sovereign of Death had long since grown accustomed to such circumstances.
After all, even the Death Edicts themselves seemed vague and distorted in this world. What else would be impossible?
As she strolled through Mount Netherworld, before she knew it, the Chief Sovereign of Death arrived before the water estate shrouded in dense mist.
"Hm? Since when was there an additional estate here?"
The Chief Sovereign of Death frowned.
In her memories, Mount Netherworld was her territory.
Yet she had no memory whatsoever of this area.
"Hmph, I'd like to see what sort of trick you're playing."
Sneering inwardly, the Chief Sovereign of Death quickly realized that this estate definitely had something to do with the fellow who had previously intruded into her Sovereign Palace.
Stepping into the mist, to the Chief Sovereign of Death's surprise, the dense fog and the powerful soul attacks she sensed within it did not attack her. Instead, as she advanced, a pathway opened before her.
Following this path forward, the water estate soon entered the Chief Sovereign of Death's sight.
"Th-this… what wondrous Laws…"
The moment she laid eyes upon the water estate, the Chief Sovereign of Death was deeply captivated by it.
This was the most fundamental attraction toward the soul caused by manifested Paragon Laws.
In an instant, the Chief Sovereign of Death immediately switched divine clones, replacing her Sovereign true body with her water divine clone.
Slowly stepping onto the floating bridge, the Chief Sovereign of Death's water divine clone crouched down upon it and reached out to touch the bridge, coming into close contact with those perfectly harmonious Paragon Laws.
However, at the instant the Chief Sovereign of Death's hand touched the bridge, she suddenly felt that this scene seemed extremely familiar.
As though such a thing had once happened before.
"Boom!"
With this incident as the trigger, in an instant, all the memories Locke had previously sealed away erupted back into the Chief Sovereign of Death's mind.
The amazement from their first meeting, the Paragon hypothesis…
The countless millions of years they had spent getting to know each other, the wedding announced to the world…
Her determination to bear Locke's child, as well as her declaration of absolute trust toward Locke within the Sovereign Palace that day…
"Locke, Locke…"
The Chief Sovereign of Death abruptly stood up from the floating bridge, calling Locke's name aloud.
But after calling out several times, the Chief Sovereign of Death suddenly remembered that when she had first opened her eyes earlier, she seemed to have chased Locke away.
"Whew…"
Letting out a soft breath, the Chief Sovereign of Death relaxed.
As Locke's only true confidante, how could the Chief Sovereign of Death not know exactly what Locke's original body meant to him?
She was absolutely certain that if she had truly killed Locke's original body, then the relationship between herself and Locke would never be able to return to what it once was.
But now…
Raising her head, the Chief Sovereign of Death seemed to gaze through the spatial turbulence toward the Water Divine Plane.
Clearly, after recovering her memories, the Chief Sovereign of Death now understood why her divine sense previously had not been able to find Locke within the spatial turbulence.
Locke's soul power was strong enough to create such a realistic illusion for her, allowing her to re-cultivate the Death Edicts and eliminate the influence of faith power upon herself. Concealing himself from her divine sense was naturally an effortless matter for him.
Although Locke had never said it aloud, how could the Chief Sovereign of Death not understand why he had done all this?
"Locke…"
"Since you've already done so much for me, if I still can't break through to Paragon, then how would I ever have the face to see you again in the future?"
After revealing a faint smile, the Chief Sovereign of Death immediately returned to the Sovereign Palace and entered secluded meditation.
She wanted to completely adjust her condition and then, when she felt the moment most suitable for breakthrough had arrived, draw upon an enormous amount of faith power to assist herself, seize that final flash of insight into the Paragon Edicts, and become a Death Paragon!
Before that, however, she would refrain from meeting Locke so as not to distract herself.
Thus, while Locke remained unaware that the Chief Sovereign of Death's memories had already recovered, and while the Chief Sovereign of Death once more entered secluded cultivation, Locke and the Chief Sovereign of Death remained separated in two different places, each beginning their own cultivation.
…
Outside the Mount Netherworld mountain range, Dunnington looked toward the chains of lightning that enveloped the entire mountain before raising his head.
After learning that Teacher Locke was a Sovereign, Dunnington had barely needed to spend any effort before discovering where Teacher Locke resided.
Mount Netherworld!
Furthermore, the magical battle formations drilled by the Sovereign Army within the Mount Netherworld range further confirmed this point for Dunnington.
After hesitating briefly, Dunnington stepped forward toward Mount Netherworld.
"Boom boom boom…"
The instant Dunnington stepped into the barrier formed by the chains of lightning, countless bolts of lightning shot toward him.
However, beneath Dunnington's powerful willpower, this lightning did not even possess the qualifications to injure him.
"Oh?"
The disturbance caused by the chains of lightning outside Mount Netherworld naturally could not escape the Chief Sovereign of Death's notice.
Although the Chief Sovereign of Death's Sovereign true body was currently in secluded meditation adjusting her state, her water divine clone was still within Locke's water estate.
"Someone actually managed to forcefully break through the attacks of the lightning chains. Is it a Paragon, or a Sovereign Emissary with a material-defense Sovereign artifact?"
Lilia spread out her divine sense and quickly discovered Dunnington's figure.
"Death Edicts, and willpower…"
"This is… the Dunnington Locke mentioned before?"
Lilia was not unfamiliar with Dunnington.
But the last time they met had been when the Chief Sovereign of Death and Locke had gone to the Necropolis to restore Dunnington's memories.
At that time, Dunnington had merely been an extremely weak undead creature.
Yet in merely several hundred thousand years, Dunnington had already grown into a Death Paragon.
Even with the Death Overgod talisman, this level of talent was still enough for Lilia to take seriously.
She had no particular connection with Dunnington. Since Dunnington had come to Mount Netherworld, he had most likely come looking for Locke. In that case, she might as well receive Dunnington within Locke's Sovereign estate.
With a thought, Lilia spread out her divine sense and informed Dunnington of the water estate's location.
Following the guidance of that divine sense, Dunnington arrived outside the water estate shrouded in mist.
The moment he stepped into the mist, Dunnington discovered the soul attacks hidden within it.
Although such attacks would be formidable to other gods, to Dunnington, they were inconsequential.
However, what shocked Dunnington was that the closer he approached the estate, the more deceptive the mist became.
Without willpower, Dunnington felt that merely traversing these several hundred meters of mist would require a considerable amount of mental effort.
After stepping onto the floating bridge, Dunnington became even more alarmed inwardly.
Even with the protection of willpower, Dunnington could still sense pain emanating from within his soul.
It was as though this pain was directly connected to the soul itself. Even willpower could not block it, as it erupted from the deepest depths of the soul.
Furthermore, Dunnington also felt that his perception of time seemed to become distorted, intensifying the pain within his soul.
Dunnington could clearly feel that the closer he moved toward the estate, the stronger the soul attacks he endured became.
Just as Dunnington hesitated over whether he should continue forward, a cool voice sounded beside his ears.
"My apologies. Because Locke is not here, the mist within this water estate attacks any living being that enters its range."
"However, for someone possessing willpower like yourself, this level of attack should amount to nothing."
Raising his head, Dunnington saw a red-haired young woman in a green dress approaching while carrying a fish basket and fishing rod.
"Dunnington greets Sovereign."
Upon seeing the red-haired young woman, Dunnington slightly bowed.
"Oh?"
Lilia raised an eyebrow. "How did you know I was a Sovereign?"
"Sovereign, earlier you already mentioned that this place belongs to Teacher Locke."
"Although I was not born that early, I have still managed to learn about the event tens of millions of years ago, where Teacher Locke and the Death Sovereign married, and their marriage proclamation hung in the skies of the Netherworld for a hundred years."
"The only person who could move freely within Teacher Locke's estate and address Teacher Locke directly by name should naturally be Teacher Locke's wife."
"Hahaha, you little fellow are rather interesting."
"From now on, you may call me Master's wife."
The Chief Sovereign of Death laughed softly and acknowledged Dunnington as Locke's disciple.
"You came here looking for your teacher. Is there something you need?"
"Your teacher is currently not here, but as your Master's wife, I believe I can still provide some assistance on your teacher's behalf."
"There's no need."
Dunnington shook his head.
This time, Dunnington had come to Mount Netherworld for two reasons.
First, during their previous meeting, Dunnington had not properly thanked Teacher Locke.
The reason he had achieved what he had today was greatly connected to the guidance he had received from Teacher Locke before reaching the Saint-level.
There had been many things he did not understand back then, but as his knowledge grew, he gradually came to understand just how precious those experiences had been.
Furthermore, after he had been killed and the Blackstone Robe taken away, Teacher Locke had invited the Chief Sovereign of Death to restore his memories and then returned the Blackstone Robe—an Overgod talisman extremely precious even to Sovereigns—to him, allowing him to encounter almost no bottlenecks while cultivating the Death Edicts.
At the same time, without that experience of death, Dunnington also knew that his chances of becoming a Paragon would have been virtually nonexistent.
As for the second reason…
Dunnington understood that there was no room for compromise regarding the matter between himself and Figaroa.
The dignity of a Sovereign could not be violated.
Not even by a Paragon.
"I came here not only because I wanted to formally thank Teacher Locke, but also because I wanted to inform Teacher Locke that I am preparing to go to the Infernal Realm."
"The next time we meet will be when Figaroa and I draw our blades against one another."
"So, I came here first to ask Teacher for forgiveness."
(End of Chapter)
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