The two little mice froze momentarily upon hearing the familiar voice.
"Sadius!" Liya was the first to react, immediately flying over and pouncing on him.
Nien also came to his senses and flew straight up to Sadius.
"Alliance Leader, you've become a Deity?"
Everyone knew that only after becoming a Deity could a magical beast take on human form.
Sadius rubbed Liya's small head affectionately.
"You two should train harder as well. With your three Ancestors guiding you, I believe you'll also reach the Deity level one day."
"Hmph, the Ancestors only make us practice magic," Liya pouted unhappily.
"What do you know? Practicing magic is meant to help you more easily comprehend the profound mysteries of the darkness element. Every spell contains elemental energy of a specific attribute, and the more you cast, the easier it is to grasp its mysteries."
Sadius lectured Liya patiently.
After that, he instructed the two little ones to continue their magic training.
"Sadius, how did our father manage to catch you and bring you back?"
"It was Lord Beirut who was greedy for my body—ugh, I mean, he saw how talented I was and wanted to bring me back as a lab rat," Sadius said indignantly, clearly guessing Beirut's true intentions.
"Brothers, I need to slip away. If Lord Beirut returns, I might end up dissected!"
Just as Sadius was preparing to sneak off, Harvey grabbed hold of him.
"Third Brother, what are you doing?"
"Little brother, it's not that we don't want to let you go, but where would you run to? No matter where you go in the Yulan Plane, Father will bring you back."
"Then I'll go to one of the four Higher Planes and never return to the Yulan Continent!"
"Hodan is stationed at the planar teleportation array. Because of you, Father punished him severely. Do you really think he'll let you leave so easily? With just a divine sense transmission, Father could have Hodan drag you back."
Sadius was speechless. Was he really doomed to be Beirut's lab rat?
"As long as you don't try to escape, we brothers will guarantee your safety."
"Really?"
"Would your own brothers lie to you?"
"Fine. I'll treat the Forest of Darkness as my home. Since Lord Beirut is your father, that makes him… my uncle."
Sadius certainly wouldn't shamelessly call Beirut his father.
Besides, Beirut was a Chief Sovereign. If Sadius really had the nerve to call him "Dad," he might very well be slapped to death.
"Then, little brother, first swear you won't try to run. We'll take you to witness a spectacular battle."
Sadius' eyes lit up.
A spectacular battle? Could it be the fight between Beirut and Leylin?
A Sovereign pretending to be a Highgod, battling a real Highgod—what an act.
Sadius thought about it again. There was no way he could escape anyway. Better to cooperate and play nice. That way, Beirut might ease up on him for the sake of his sons.
"Very well. I, Sadius, swear to the Overgod of Fate: If brothers Harry, Hart, and Harvey can guarantee my safety in front of Lord Beirut, I will not attempt to escape."
The three Rat Kings nodded, satisfied with Sadius' oath. They then prepared to leave with him.
The two little mice wanted to tag along, but the three Rat Kings left their true bodies behind at the castle to supervise the kids' training.
Three divine clones took Sadius and flew south.
"Sadius, a powerhouse like my father ranks among the top even in the four Higher Planes.
As for Lord Leylin, he's at the pinnacle of the fivefold-fused Highgod level. Battles between experts of their caliber are rarer than rare—this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to witness it up close."
The four of them flew southward. Sadius was a bit slower than the other three, but he had a clever idea: he transformed into his true form, shrank down, and had Harvey carry him—no more exhausting himself trying to keep up.
After flying for quite some time, the group finally arrived at the South Sea. However, they were still far from the battlefield between Beirut and Leylin.
"Hm? Two Midgods and a Lowgod?"
The three brothers sensed the presence of three other divine beings also heading toward the heart of the South Sea.
Before long, the two groups met.
"So it's the three brothers—Harry and company." The speaker was Leylin's eldest brother, the bald, burly man Burgess.
Behind Burgess stood a white-robed middle-aged man and a familiar face—Dylin.
Sadius shifted back into human form.
"Dylin, how come you're with two Midgods?"
"Lord Sadius! I didn't expect to see you here! These two are Lord Leylin's elder brothers."
Dylin had previously seen Sadius being taken by Beirut, and then witnessed Leylin and his group emerge from the magic formation.
"Lord Sadius," Dylin said in a hushed voice, "why didn't you tell me that the human who was with you was one of the Five Kings of the Planar Prison—Lord Leylin!"
"How could I have known? I was just a Saint-level back then. I thought he was just a peak Saint like me." Sadius, of course, wouldn't admit he'd seen through Leylin's identity long ago.
"Well, since we're all acquaintances, let's watch this battle of top-tier experts together."
The seven of them flew onward for a while longer until they finally sensed the ripples of combat.
They didn't dare get too close, so they watched the fight from a distance.
The Yulan Plane's South Sea was vast—countless times larger than the Yulan Continent itself.
There had once been several continents scattered across the South Sea, but they had long since sunk during great battles between top experts.
Leylin's homeland had sunk ages ago and had nothing to do with Beirut.
From afar, the group of divine experts saw two powerful Highgods clashing in midair above the South Sea.
"Lord Beirut's staff is incredible. Normal divine artifacts don't have that kind of power, do they?" Sadius asked.
He suspected it was Beirut's Sovereign artifact—likely evolved from a Divine Spark weapon.
"That's definitely a Sovereign artifact. Even Chief Sovereigns take ages to nurture one."
"With our third brother's power, becoming a Sovereign's Emissary would be easy. He just doesn't want to be tied down."
Indeed, a peak fivefold-fused Highgod was more than qualified to be a Sovereign's Emissary.
After all, it wasn't easy for Sovereigns to find Great Perfection Highgods as candidates.
High above the South Sea, the battle displayed the profoundness of their fused Laws.
Beirut unleashed mysteries of the Laws of Darkness and Wind; Leylin countered with mysteries of Fire and Earth.
As Sadius watched the battle unfold, he was deeply captivated.
He possessed innate talent in the Earth and Darkness elements.
His triple-mutated soul continuously gained insights from the exchange between the two supreme beings.
The others looked on in astonishment as it happened:
—Initial comprehension of the Earth Elemental Mystery of the Earth Essence.
—Comprehension of the Profound Mystery of Gravitational Space.
—Comprehension of the Profound Mystery of Earth Movement.
—Insight into the Profound Mystery of Vitality.
—Advancement in the Profound Mystery of Strength.
—Advancement in the Profound Mystery of Earth's Pulse.
Just from watching Leylin's attacks, Sadius gained an entry-level understanding of all six Earth Elemental Mysteries.
Was a triple-mutated soul really this terrifying?