The construction of the imperial palace of the Pouant Empire was finally completed, and the founding ceremony was scheduled.
Several kings of surrounding kingdoms hoped that the mighty divine dragon, Sadius, would serve as the first emperor of the Pouant Empire.
However, Sadius directly refused. He had no interest in managing an empire; his only desire was to cultivate in peace.
This, however, created a problem—who would be the emperor?
After all, most of the forces on Sadius' side were magical beasts. It would hardly be fitting to have a Saint-rank magical beast as the emperor of a human empire, would it?
In the end, Sadius made his decision: Reyna would become the first Empress of the Pouant Empire.
There were too few humans by Sadius' side. Other than Reyna, there were only Cesar and the three generations of the Baruch family.
Cesar was far too lazy and carefree; there was no way he would be willing to take on the mantle of emperor.
As for the Baruch family, both Durin Baruch and Ander Baruch had already become Angels and were naturally unsuited to serve as emperor of the Pouant Empire.
Besides, Sadius didn't trust them enough to grant them that position.
Still, Sadius did allocate a fiefdom to the Baruch family, making Jason Baruch a nominal king under the empire's structure.
So, after much deliberation, only Reyna remained.
She was Sadius' most loyal maid, and she had already reached the level of a Ninth-rank Archmagus. It was entirely appropriate for her to become the first Empress of the empire.
Soon after, the founding ceremony of the Pouant Empire was held in the newly built imperial palace. Major powers from across the continent arrived to offer their congratulations.
That day, the newly established Pouant City became the most lively and bustling place on the entire Yulan Continent.
Even the Grand Priest of the Yulan Empire and the War God of the O'Brien Empire personally descended to the Pouant Empire.
"Sadius, congratulations."
The War God spoke first, seemingly attempting to mend the previous discord between himself and Sadius.
"Congratulations? I'm not the emperor of the Pouant Empire. What exactly are you congratulating me for?" Sadius replied with a cold laugh.
The War God's face froze with embarrassment.
"Little girl, congratulations. At such a young age, you're already a Ninth-rank Magus, and now you've even become the ruler of an empire."
With no other choice, the War God turned his congratulations toward Reyna, who stood behind Sadius.
"Thank you for your praise, War God."
Reyna, at least, maintained proper courtesy.
The founding ceremony lasted seven days, but the two deity-level powerhouses simply presented their gifts and left without lingering.
That night, Sadius and Reyna stood atop the palace, overlooking the dazzling lights of Pouant City.
"My lord, I'm afraid I won't be able to fulfill the role of an emperor well," Reyna admitted softly, standing beside him.
The ceremonies over the past few days had nearly exhausted her. So many rituals required the personal presence of the ruler.
The royal court ceremonies of the Yulan Continent were notoriously complex—especially since Sadius had declared the Pouant Empire's restoration under the banner of reviving the old Pouant Empire, which meant that many rituals had to strictly follow the ancient imperial traditions.
"Little Reyna, the ceremonies are over now. From here on, the ministers can handle most of the affairs. Focus on your cultivation.
Becoming a Saint-rank should be your current goal."
Tonight, Reyna was dressed in a pure white ceremonial gown. She looked serene and elegant, almost sacred. Seeing her standing before him stirred fragments of memories from Sadius' past life.
Perhaps, in his dreams of his previous life, he had imagined such a scene with his future beloved.
Without warning, Sadius' hands gently wrapped around Reyna's slender waist.
"My respected Empress… tonight, you belong only to me."
Sadius whispered softly into her ear.
Reyna's ears flushed bright red, her face blooming with a rosy blush as she slowly rested her head against Sadius' chest.
From that night onward, Sadius and Reyna confirmed their relationship.
The following ten years were spent in cultivation.
Sadius' Earth-elemental laws had reached the verge of divinity.
His fusion of the Profound Mysteries of the Earth Element and the Profound Mysteries of Vitality had already reached nearly ten percent.
Once he achieved Divinity in the Earth element, he would be able to wield dual-element fused divine power, which would greatly enhance his combat strength.
In the tenth year, Sadius' Earth-elemental laws finally met the requirements for Divinity.
When the laws of Heaven and Earth descended, Sadius naturally chose becoming a Deity externally.
His soul split once more, weakening further.
Unfortunately, without Soul Gold Beads to rapidly restore his soul, Sadius could only slowly nurture it over time.
"Sadius, congratulations. You've achieved Divinity in the Earth element."
Doehring Cowart watched this scene with a trace of envy.
"Doehring, don't worry. I'll find a way to help you become a God as well."
Doehring's situation was unique—he existed only as a soul without a body, and he wasn't an undead from the Netherworld.
That made achieving Divinity exceedingly difficult.
However, Sadius had consulted Leylin, who had proposed a possible solution.
As long as Doehring Cowart was provided with a large quantity of treasures similar to Soul Gold Beads—items that could be refined below the Deity level—he could continue to consume spiritual energy and gradually comprehend the profound mysteries of the laws.
Once his comprehension reached the level of Divinity, the descent of Heaven and Earth's laws would form a divine body for him externally, granting Doehring a physical body.
Unfortunately, there were currently no Deity-level powerhouses on the Yulan Continent who cultivated the Laws of Death, and no one capable of refining Soul Gold Beads.
Of course, Sadius wasn't the type to casually refine mortal souls into Soul Gold Beads either.
Otherwise, he would have already tested whether Doehring Cowart could refine such beads himself.
When Sadius achieved Earth-elemental Divinity, Beirut, in the Dark Forest, smiled faintly.
There weren't many on the Yulan Continent with strong innate talent in the Earth element—the strongest so far was Leylin.
But even Leylin's Earth-elemental talent didn't meet Beirut's standards; Beirut only valued his Fire-elemental talent.
Now, with Sadius becoming a God in the Earth element, Beirut officially listed him as a candidate for the Earth Sovereign's Divine Spark.
If Sadius could safely cultivate to the Highgod realm, then even if his fusion of the Earth-elemental profound mysteries wasn't ideal, he would still be the top candidate for the current major Earth Sovereign's Divine Spark.
Moreover, Sadius' talent was far from poor.
Beirut had advised him repeatedly to focus on fusing as many profound mysteries as possible.
Sadius obediently followed that advice, cultivating both his Darkness and Earth talents toward fusion profound mysteries.
Even in the Destruction element, Sadius had recently comprehended a second profound mystery. Though only at the entry level, he was attempting to merge it with the Profound Mysteries of the Sword of Slaughter.
This second Destruction-element profound mystery was called "Power of Annihilation," similar to the elemental profound mysteries in the other laws.
This was something Sadius had only understood after achieving Destruction-element Divinity, when his soul had glimpsed the vast ocean of annihilation energy.
In the blink of an eye, ten years had passed for the Saint-level powerhouses within the Necropolis of the Gods.
When Beirut opened the Necropolis and brought out the surviving Saints, he found that quite a number had made it out alive.
Beirut knew why.
Most magical beasts, upon sensing that they could not overcome the challenges, chose to remain on the fifth floor of the Necropolis and didn't proceed into the terrifying sixth floor.
But the human Saints were far less fortunate.
Under the insistence of the War God's chief disciple, Fain, many Saint-level powerhouses ventured into the sixth floor.
There, a group of Saints was utterly crushed. Even Fain himself, the leader, was cleaved cleanly in half by the King of Flames.
The losses among the human Saints were devastating.
When the surviving Saints finally emerged from the depths of the South Sea, several deity-level powerhouses were already waiting for them.
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