"Ahhh—!"
As the hands formed from earth elemental energy tightened their grip, the pirates' bones began to crack audibly, producing a series of crack crack sounds that forced screams from their throats.
"N-no… don't…"
"I'll talk! I'll talk! I know where Lord Harald's divine clone might be!"
Under the creeping terror of approaching death, two or three pirates finally broke, hurriedly begging Ryan for mercy.
"Only you two know?"
"Then it seems the rest are of no use."
After identifying those who had spoken, Ryan suddenly clenched his right hand.
"Bang bang bang bang—!"
In the next instant, blood sprayed everywhere as over a thousand earth-element hands crushed their captives. The pirates held within them all lost their life auras at once.
With a thought, the earthen hands dissipated, and black divine sparks fell to the ground one after another, emitting a faint glow.
"Feldman, I'll leave the interrogation of these two to you."
"I want Harald's current location in the shortest time possible."
"Yes, Lord Ryan."
...
After Ryan and Rockpeak departed, Locke only spared a sliver of attention to monitor the situation in the Nether Sea before immersing himself once more in cultivation.
Even after marrying the Death Sovereign, Locke had not altered his daily routine of training.
Both he and Lilia were Sovereigns. For beings like them, what mattered was simply having the other present through the long years ahead.
Thus, they were not like ordinary couples in the material planes, constantly clinging to each other.
Yet every time Locke stepped out of his training chamber, the Death Sovereign would be waiting for him in the room. That alone was enough to bring him quiet satisfaction.
At present, more than seventy million years had passed since the creation of the Seven Divine Planes.
If Locke remembered correctly, in just over twenty million years, the Four Overgods would appear together and establish the Planar Battlefield, where divine beings from the eleven planes would slaughter one another.
This was inevitable.
Even a universe had its limits.
The Hongmeng Universe was the very first universe created by Hongmeng.
Because it was his initial creation, many laws had not yet been fully defined.
Moreover, Hongmeng had grown weary of solitude in the Hongmeng Space.
Thus, he eagerly hoped for the emergence of beings who could exist alongside him within that space.
When creating the universe, he had wished for its inhabitants to possess long lifespans, allowing them to cultivate and ultimately reach his level.
Whether in the main universe or the four subsidiary universes, once beings reached a certain level of cultivation, they could attain immortality.
In the main universe, the stronger one became, the longer one lived.
After ascending to immortality, lifespan restrictions vanished entirely.
The Coiling Dragon Universe was the same—once one reached the Saint level, one could live forever.
But unfortunately, Hongmeng's vision, though ideal, overlooked the limits of what a universe could bear.
Once the number of immortal beings in a universe reached a certain threshold, the burden would exceed the universe's capacity.
If that population were not reduced, the universe would eventually collapse under the strain.
In the Primordial World, this was called a "Great Calamity."
In the Coiling Dragon Universe, it was known as a "Planar War."
Locke could already sense it.
Given the current rate of birth among countless material planes, as well as the Seven Divine Planes and Four Higher Planes, compared to the rate of death through conflict, it would likely take around 150 million years to reach the universe's limit.
Clearly, Hongmeng would not wait until the limit was reached before taking action.
He had even left time for a Planar War as a buffer.
To prevent Sovereigns and divine beings from treating the Planar Battlefield perfunctorily—resulting in too few deaths to balance the population—Hongmeng had also established a hidden mechanism.
If a plane achieved ten consecutive victories in the Planar Battlefield, the Sovereigns of that plane would receive a portion of Willpower.
Once such a reward was triggered even once, future Sovereigns—whether to strengthen themselves or to prevent others from doing so—would pour immense resources into the Planar Battlefield to attract countless divine experts.
By that point, in each trillion-year cycle of Planar Wars, the number of divine beings who died would far exceed those newly born.
According to Locke's estimates, the Supreme Artifacts in the hands of the Four Rule Sovereigns had certainly been obtained before the first Planar War even began.
Now that the second Overgod talisman of the Death Overgod had appeared, the third would not be far behind.
As for the other three…
The power of a Supreme Artifact was simply incomparable to that of a Sovereign artifact.
With one, their offensive or defensive capabilities could increase a hundredfold.
All Locke needed to do was observe when the three Rule Sovereigns stopped being so wary of him—then he would know they had likely completed their Overgod missions and obtained their Supreme Artifacts.
Even Locke did not believe he could currently withstand a Supreme Artifact's attack, nor break through its defenses.
Based on his cultivation speed, over the next twenty million years, whether in Water-Destiny fusion or Water-Space Laws, he would not achieve a qualitative breakthrough sufficient to reach that level.
Although it was unlikely that the three Rule Sovereigns would violate the Sovereign Pact and attack him even after obtaining Supreme Artifacts…
Just as they did not wish to entrust their fate to Locke's willingness to uphold the pact, Locke himself was unwilling to entrust his fate to theirs.
To guard against the possibility that the three Rule Sovereigns might act after obtaining Supreme Artifacts, Locke had to, within these twenty million years, develop a weapon capable of resisting them.
According to his earlier concept, he had intended to find a material capable of bearing profound mysteries and use it as the core to forge a "Law Sovereign Artifact."
However, after all these years, countless divine materials and innumerable natural treasures had passed through his hands—yet none met his requirements.
"Ah…"
Setting down the treasure in his hand, Locke shook his head.
It seemed he had been too naïve.
If such materials were so easy to find, why had none of the other Sovereigns ever attempted to forge such a weapon?
Just as frustration crept in, Locke's gaze fell upon a black crystal lying on the ground.
Earlier, he had emptied the contents of his interspatial ring, sorting through them one by one and setting aside unsuitable items.
And at the moment he saw that black crystal—
His mind trembled.
"Hahahahaha!"
"Hahahaha—!"
The next instant, Locke burst into laughter, his voice echoing through the training chamber and across Mount Nether.
"Locke!"
In an instant, the Death Sovereign burst through the chamber doors, looking at him with concern.
"Hahahaha!"
"Lilia, I found it—I found it!"
Grabbing her hand, Locke laughed so hard tears formed in his eyes.
"Look, Lilia—this is the very thing that's troubled me for tens of millions of years."
With that, he handed the black crystal to her.
"This is…?"
As his wife, the Death Sovereign naturally knew what Locke had been searching for all these years.
And this black crystal was not unfamiliar to her.
"This is… a divine spark?"
At first, she hesitated.
But the moment she took it and sensed the Laws contained within, she confirmed it.
It was nothing more than an ordinary divine spark.
"That's right—a divine spark."
"Lilia, do you know what it feels like?"
"When the thing I've been searching for all along turns out to be something I see every day—and even have plenty of on hand?"
"It's absurd."
"I actually made the mistake of searching for a donkey while riding one."
For tens of millions of years, Locke had been searching for something capable of bearing profound mysteries.
Yet in the Coiling Dragon Universe, what could be more suitable than a divine spark?
When a being became a god, the Laws of Heaven and Earth condensed their understanding of profound mysteries into a divine spark.
In essence, a divine spark was the perfect vessel for profound mysteries.
And yet, for tens of millions of years, Locke had never realized it.
"But, Locke—you still found it in the end, didn't you?"
Seeing his expression, the Death Sovereign gently held his hand.
"Just like how I found you… you've now found what you needed as well."
"Mm."
Locke nodded, gradually calming himself.
"Don't worry, Lilia."
"I may have been a fool for not realizing it sooner, but now that I've found a material capable of carrying profound mysteries, that's enough."
"Next, I'll likely need more Water-style Highgod sparks and Fate Highgod sparks."
"Help me gather some on your side as well."
"Alright."
With the issue of materials resolved, Locke's mood improved significantly.
In the Coiling Dragon Universe, no one had yet attempted to forge a Sovereign artifact using divine sparks.
But over a thousand epochs later, a certain divine beast—the Godeater Rat—would rely on its innate ability "Devouring" to refine the essence of divine sparks, condensing them into weapons whose hardness rivaled Sovereign artifacts.
(End of Chapter)
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