The Death Chief Sovereign had even secretly used the Heart of the Netherworld to search for the souls of Locke's parents within the Undead Realm.
Unfortunately, before their deaths, Locke's parents had only been ordinary mortals. How could they possibly have survived for long within the Undead Realm, where slaughter was constant?
Although Locke's growth rate had been extremely fast, from the time of his parents' deaths until he reached the Paragon level, nearly a hundred thousand years had still passed.
And that was only because Locke had intercepted the "destiny" of the Fiend Castle.
Otherwise, no one knew how long it would have taken for Locke to reach the Paragon level.
However, the Death Chief Sovereign had never told Locke any of this.
She also knew that Locke had never asked her to search for his parents in the Undead Realm because he likely already had his own suspicions.
By not asking, he was preserving a small measure of hope.
The graves of the two elders in the Frostsnow Plane carried Locke's remembrance and longing for them.
Locke looked at the Death Chief Sovereign in surprise. He had not expected that the most powerful and exalted being in the Coiling Dragon Universe would be willing to accompany him as a junior and pay respects to his parents.
From this alone, Locke could feel just how much the Death Chief Sovereign cared about him.
He immediately nodded heavily.
"Alright."
"However, before we go pay respects to my parents and let them see their grandson, there are still a few things I need to do."
The Death Chief Sovereign smiled.
Clearly, she knew exactly what Locke intended to do.
Holding Loran in his arms, Locke walked hand-in-hand with the Death Chief Sovereign out of the Sovereign palace.
With a flip of his hand, a blue scroll appeared.
Just like when he and the Death Chief Sovereign had married previously, Locke had prepared this item long ago after successfully conceiving their child.
Those Water-element experts residing in the Netherworld had been waiting for this day for over five trillion years.
Now that his child had been born, Locke naturally did not wish to disappoint them.
Whoosh!
The scroll unfurled.
Amplified by Locke's Will, the profundities of the Water Laws contained within it were instantly projected across the skies of the entire Netherworld.
Five trillion years later, the skies of the Netherworld were once again covered by projected words.
Unlike the marriage proclamation from before, this time it was a celebratory prayer commemorating the birth of Sovereign Locke's child.
What remained the same was that every character contained countless mysteries of the Water Laws.
Any deity who trained in the Water Laws could see traces of their own cultivation path within those words, as well as the road to further advancement.
Saint-level experts with exceptional comprehension directly achieved Deity-level breakthroughs through a single moment of enlightenment.
Countless Water-style deities, after reading this prayer, stepped onto the path of fusing Laws.
There were even many Water-style deities who used this prayer to break through major bottlenecks, instantly increasing their power tenfold.
For a time, Water-style deities from the Seven Divine Planes and the other Three Higher Planes once again flooded into the Netherworld, causing it to seem as though it had returned to the scene from five trillion years ago.
While Water-style deities throughout the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes celebrated joyfully, Locke's family had already departed from Mount Abyssal and begun their journey toward the Frostsnow Plane.
Although all three of Locke's clones now possessed Sovereign-level power and therefore dared not enter other Material Planes for fear that those planes would be unable to withstand the burden and collapse—
The Frostsnow Plane was different.
It was the plane where Locke had been born within the Coiling Dragon Universe.
It was his homeland.
No matter how powerful Locke became, entering the Frostsnow Plane would never place any burden upon it.
This was one of the trump cards possessed by Sovereigns who had originated from Material Planes.
When faced with an unbeatable Sovereign, they could hide within their home plane, rendering even stronger Sovereigns helpless against them.
To kill a Sovereign hiding within their home plane, one would need a Sovereign willing to sacrifice themselves by entering that Material Plane and causing it to collapse under their presence, thereby stripping the target Sovereign of the plane's protection and leaving them nowhere to hide.
Otherwise, neither Sovereign projections nor Law and Edict divine clones could possibly defeat a Sovereign hiding within their home plane.
This was also the reason why, over a thousand cycles later, Beirut had dared to seize the corpses of the Four Divine Beast Sovereigns from the hands of the Light Chief Sovereign Augusta.
Within a Material Plane, a Sovereign was essentially invincible.
Not even the Light Chief Sovereign—nor even his original body, the Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff—could threaten a Sovereign hiding within a Material Plane.
No.
To be more precise, Sovereigns were powerless even against Paragons hiding within Material Planes.
However, this situation did not apply before Locke.
During the Fourth Sovereign Conference, Locke had strengthened his Spatial Laws through his Edict and forcibly shifted the Snowfall Sovereign out from his home plane, astonishing all the assembled Sovereigns.
One could say that Sovereigns possessing home planes could, when absolutely necessary, afford to offend any Sovereign, including the Rule Chief Sovereigns.
Yet none of them dared show even the slightest disrespect toward Chief Sovereign Locke.
There was no helping it.
If they offended a Rule Chief Sovereign, they could still hide in their home plane and rule there as kings.
But if they offended Chief Sovereign Locke, even their home plane could not protect them.
As for the Death Chief Sovereign, the one accompanying Locke and his son to the Frostsnow Plane this time was her Water divine clone.
To conceal their identities, Locke had cast the illusion of Mirror Flower, Water Moon upon both himself and Lilia.
Although neither of their appearances had changed much, everyone who saw them would be influenced by the illusion and would never associate them with Sovereigns.
"How nostalgic..."
Beside Locke, Lilia sighed.
"Locke, if I remember correctly, the last time we left Mount Netherworld was over five trillion three hundred billion years ago, wasn't it?"
"That's right."
"That trip was also our honeymoon, in a sense."
Mentioning their previous journey, a smile appeared on Locke's face.
Holding Loran in one arm, Locke used the other to hold Lilia's hand.
Back then, Lilia had accompanied him through every place he had traveled before meeting her.
It was equivalent to her walking through the first half of his life alongside him.
"I only learned afterward that you secretly went and beat up Pash."
"Hmph. Who told him to threaten you?"
"If not for the Sovereign Pact, I would've wanted to kill him back then."
Lilia snorted proudly.
Indeed, after accompanying Locke through that journey, the Death Chief Sovereign had deeply understood how difficult his growth had been.
Every being who had once threatened Locke had later received her retaliation.
Blood Peak Sovereign Pash was merely the most representative example.
"Hahaha, then I should thank them."
Locke tightened his grip on Lilia's hand.
"If I hadn't felt threatened by them, how could I have gone to the Netherworld?"
"And if I hadn't gone to the Netherworld, how could I have met you?"
"If I hadn't met you, I'd probably still be worrying about whether I should reveal my identity as a Sovereign."
Locke was not exaggerating.
The greatest difference between a Sovereign and a non-Sovereign was Will.
Had the Death Chief Sovereign not provided him with the location of a Fate Lesser Sovereign, allowing him to successfully ambush and kill that Sovereign and obtain a Fate Sovereign spark, then even as a Paragon, the strength of Locke's Will would only have been one ten-thousandth that of a Sovereign's.
Most of his current strength came from the power of fused Laws.
The moment Locke displayed his true strength, the Sovereigns would have realized that the power of his Will was completely disproportionate to his actual combat ability, and they would inevitably have questioned him.
Faced with the temptation of increasing their own power, no Sovereign could resist.
Of course, that outcome would likely have led to Locke becoming the enemy of every Sovereign, hunting Water and Fate Sovereigns, seizing their Sovereign sparks, and becoming a completely different type of Sovereign from those within the existing Sovereign system.
Little Loran sat in Locke's arms, his large eyes darting about.
One moment he looked at his father, the next at his mother, seemingly thinking about something.
Although the purpose of this trip was to visit the Frostsnow Plane and pay respects to Locke's parents, it was rare for Locke and Lilia to leave Mount Nether.
They were in no hurry.
Instead, they traveled on foot, admiring the scenery of the Netherworld while broadening Loran's horizons.
Although Loran had only recently been born, his consciousness had already existed for over a century within the Death Chief Sovereign's body.
Though much of that time had been spent in a hazy state, under the prenatal education of both Locke and the Death Chief Sovereign, he could not be compared to an ordinary newborn.
Looking down at Loran, who was curious about everything around him, a thought suddenly surfaced in Locke's mind.
Wasn't the best form of training in this world the determination born from protecting one's loved ones?
Immediately, Locke placed Loran on the ground and said:
"Loran, you're already a powerful Demigod now. You can venture out on your own."
"Back then, your father also began wandering the Infernal Realm after becoming a Demigod in a Material Plane."
"Now your mother and I wish to take you back to my homeland to meet your grandparents. The journey from here to the interplanar teleportation array will be your trial."
"During this time, your mother and I will only retain Saint-level strength. Our lives will rest entirely in your hands."
"If you can safely escort your mother and me to your grandparents' graves, then Father will grant you one wish."
"Whatever you want, Father will give it to you."
"Even if you want to become a Sovereign, Father will go find you a Sovereign spark. What do you think?"
Locke's arrangement was inspired by Oakes.
Back then, Oakes' son, Figueroa, had been a thoroughly incorrigible second-generation wastrel who had caused Oakes and Yagonia no end of worry.
Yet after Locke became a Sovereign and accepted Oakes as his emissary, Figueroa underwent a complete transformation.
Why?
(End of Chapter)
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