"Soul extraction…"
The drop of essence blood dissipated in Locke's palm as he murmured to himself.
Although he had already reached Paragon in both the Water Laws and the Edicts of Fate, he had never once slowed his pace of cultivation over these past two million years.
His fusion of the Water Laws with the Edicts of Fate had now reached a bottleneck—the second profound mystery stood on the verge of true integration.
If he were to use the vast stores of faith power he had accumulated, breaking through this bottleneck would be trivial.
But Locke's ambitions were far greater than that.
He did not want partial success. He wanted complete fusion.
If he relied on faith power now, he knew exactly what the outcome would be. At best, he could fuse five profound mysteries of water with Fate. The sixth… no matter how much faith power he possessed, it would remain forever out of reach.
The situation was no different from the Sovereigns.
They too had used faith power to push their Laws to the brink of perfection—just a single step away from Paragon.
Yet among them, how many had truly succeeded?
It was not a matter of desire. Who wouldn't want to become a Paragon? Even Sovereigns would see their strength multiply a hundredfold upon reaching that state, allowing lower-tier Sovereigns to rival higher ones, and intermediate Sovereigns to contend with the Laws Sovereigns.
Nor was it a matter of insufficient faith power. Given enough time, even that limitation would vanish.
The only reasonable explanation was this—
Once faith power had been used to break through a bottleneck, its effectiveness diminished drastically thereafter.
Like any treasure, its first use was the most potent. Repeated use only brought diminishing returns.
Thus, when faced with this barrier, Locke had decisively abandoned the idea of relying on faith power.
He would let it come naturally.
If the day ever came when he truly needed to use faith power, then it would mean he had already reached the final step of fusion.
—
While his progress in Laws had temporarily stalled, Locke's advancements in other areas had been anything but stagnant.
His illusion technique, Mirror Flower, Water Moon, had already entered a practical stage of application within the Netherworld.
Meanwhile, his original body and Fate divine clone in the Water Divine Plane had devoted themselves entirely to analyzing divine beast essence blood and their innate abilities.
Over two million years, he had dissected tens of thousands of such samples.
Through them, he began to glimpse the fundamental nature of divine beasts—and even the deeper essence of cultivation itself.
At its core, cultivation was nothing more than the elevation of one's existence.
Body. Soul. Energy.
These were the three pillars.
If any one of them was pushed to its absolute limit, it could grant power far beyond ordinary beings.
In the Coiling Dragon universe, the ultimate limit of the body was comparable to a Sovereign artifact—a level typically reserved for top-tier divine beasts or unique lifeforms.
Of course, Ough had gone even further, creating the Reincarnation Golden Body through endless research, surpassing even that limit.
Now, with his vast understanding of divine beast bloodlines, Locke had begun to trace his own path toward strengthening the body.
As for the soul, this universe offered no direct method of cultivation.
Its growth came only through meditation, comprehension of Laws, and fusion of profound mysteries.
The descent of the natural Laws could refine the soul's essence—but such opportunities were limited.
Demigod. God. Highgod. Paragon.
Four transformations at most.
Without soul mutation, each divine clone possessed an independent soul. Even when merged into the original body, they remained distinct.
Only those with mutated souls could achieve perfect integration, sharing the benefits of refinement.
This was why soul mutants were so formidable.
And at the pinnacle of soul strength—
Stood Willpower.
As for energy, there was little to say. Each breakthrough multiplied divine power tenfold. At the highest level, it reached the strength of Sovereign power.
To truly stand at the peak of this universe, one needed to bring all three to their absolute limits.
In this regard, the Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, stood above all others.
Even without accounting for external factors, his Reincarnation Body alone made him the strongest among the four Edicts Sovereigns.
Locke, meanwhile, had already pushed his soul to what could be considered perfection within this universe.
To go further, he would need to walk a path similar to Orloff's—
But instead of the body, he would refine the soul itself.
And now, after experiencing the innate ability of the Five-Step Soul Devouring Python, a new idea had begun to take shape.
"Soul extraction… refined soul essence is several times stronger than before…"
He closed his eyes, still immersed in that realization.
"If ordinary souls can be refined into essence capable of restoring divine souls… then what if I applied this process to my own?"
With that thought, he retrieved another drop of essence blood and once more invoked the python's innate ability, resonating with the Laws of the world.
—
Meanwhile, in the Netherworld, Locke's Water divine clone let out a quiet sigh.
Over the past two million years, the tension between the seven divine planes and the four higher planes had grown increasingly volatile.
Conflicts among the Sovereigns' followers had begun in the material planes, where their armies clashed repeatedly, forming factions and waging war in their names.
Faith wars had always been the cruelest.
The victors defined truth.
The defeated were cast into darkness, branded as heretics.
Even after ascending to higher planes, these believers did not abandon their faith.
Instead, they carried their hatred with them.
Whenever followers of opposing Sovereigns met, bloodshed was inevitable.
The ancient factions of the planes had also been dragged into the conflict.
Even Locke's own forces had not been spared.
Fortunately, the factions he had chosen were all backed by at least Six-Star Fiends. With the steady supply of Sovereign power he provided every hundred thousand years, they had managed to hold their ground.
But Locke knew—
This fragile balance would not last.
This was the prelude to the first great Faith War.
And at such a critical moment, his original body and Fate clone were completely absorbed in their research.
Oakes was due to arrive at the Water Divine Plane within a few hundred years.
But Locke had sealed his residence with layers of mist.
If Oakes entered blindly and triggered the Eighteen Layers of Purgatory, the consequences could be disastrous.
Yet Locke could not abandon his current breakthrough.
After some thought, he made a decision.
"I'll handle this personally."
Once he received the next batch of resources, he would order all his forces to go into hiding.
At most, a million years remained before war erupted.
For a moment, he considered granting Sovereign artifacts to strengthen his subordinates.
But he quickly dismissed the idea.
The four artifacts in his possession all originated from the Four Divine Beasts. If he gave them away, it would not go unnoticed—and it might invite unnecessary displeasure.
More importantly, he was not yet a Sovereign.
Such actions would be overstepping.
His gaze drifted toward the peak of Mount Nether.
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
It was time for this clone to leave.
And perhaps… test the power of Mirror Flower, Water Moon along the way.
—
Concealing his soul aura completely, Locke slipped silently out of Mount Nether and soared through the skies.
If he remembered correctly, Oakes had become a Prefect in one of the seventy-two prefectures of the Netherworld.
"Shadowmoon Prefecture… was it?"
Locke adjusted his direction slightly.
"Yes… it should be this way."
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