Now that Linley had figured it out himself and chosen to use this single request to ask how he could revive all of his family and friends at once, things couldn't have turned out better.
Locke lightly tapped his finger against the armrest of his divine throne.
"Hahaha, you little fellow... you certainly know how to exploit a loophole."
Hearing Locke's tone, Linley immediately relaxed.
He also knew that, while his request sounded reasonable on the surface, he was actually taking advantage of a loophole in the Sovereign's promise.
It was no different from someone in a fairy tale finding a treasure capable of granting wishes and then wishing for seven or eight more wishes.
It was that outrageous.
However, judging from the Sovereign's words, Lord Sovereign didn't seem offended in the slightest.
Instead, He found Linley's idea amusing.
Thinking about it...
A Sovereign was such an exalted existence.
What living being didn't treat a Sovereign with the utmost reverence?
Perhaps it was precisely because of that that Lord Sovereign didn't mind what he had just said.
More importantly...
A glimmer of hope rose within Linley's heart.
Perhaps...
He really could obtain a method from Lord Sovereign to revive all of his family and friends.
"I beg Lord Sovereign to show mercy."
"Very well."
"Since your filial devotion is commendable, I'll give you this opportunity."
"Linley."
"In this universe, once a living being reaches the Saint-level, they gain eternal life."
"If this continues indefinitely..."
"The ever-increasing number of Saint-level experts and above will eventually become a burden upon the universe itself."
"Therefore, the four Overgods joined forces to create the Planar Battlefield."
"Once every hundred million years, the Sovereigns of each Divine Plane and Higher Plane dispatch their Sovereign Armies into it to wage war."
"By reducing the number of immortal beings through slaughter, they lessen the burden upon this universe."
"Of course..."
"Living beings from the Divine Planes and Higher Planes may also enter the Planar Battlefield."
"By killing experts from opposing planes and collecting Soldier Badges and Commander Badges, they may exchange them with the Sovereigns for rewards."
"One hundred Soldier Badges can be exchanged for one drop of Sovereign's Might."
"One Commander Badge can likewise be exchanged for one drop of Sovereign's Might."
"Ten Commander Badges can be exchanged for one Sovereign artifact."
"At present..."
"It just so happens that the once-every-hundred-million-years Planar War is underway."
"The war between the Netherworld and the Fire Divine Plane is still ongoing."
"If you can enter the Planar Battlefield as a Commander of the Netherworld and fight on its behalf..."
"Then I can make a special exception."
"For every Commander Badge you obtain, I will allow you to revive one person."
"Furthermore..."
"While you are fighting in the Planar Battlefield, I will personally protect your family and friends, ensuring they do not perish within the Necropolis of the Undead before you obtain enough Commander Badges."
"Are you willing?"
"Thank you for your mercy, Lord Sovereign."
"Linley is willing."
"In that case..."
"You may leave the mountain now."
Seeing Linley agree, Locke didn't continue the conversation.
After all...
The current Linley's strength and status were still far too far beneath his own.
They simply couldn't converse as equals.
Without equality...
There could never be any genuine friendship.
Thus, with a casual wave of his hand, Locke directly sent Linley back into the mist at the foot of Mount Nether.
...
Linley's vision blurred.
What appeared before his eyes was an endless expanse of dense white mist.
Before Linley could even react...
The next instant, all five of his senses disappeared once more.
His body could only follow the instinct manipulated by the mist as it slowly walked back out of the third layer.
"Boss, how did it go?"
As Linley's contracted magical beast, Bebe could sense Linley's soul aura.
Earlier...
He had clearly sensed his boss's aura appear atop Mount Nether.
Yet not long afterward...
Linley's aura had once again appeared within the mist.
It was obvious that his boss had successfully met the Sovereign.
However...
The fact that only Linley emerged alone showed that the audience with the Sovereign hadn't gone very smoothly.
After all...
Bebe knew exactly what Linley's wish had been.
If everything had gone according to plan...
Others who had been resurrected should have come back together with Linley.
"Mmm."
"It's a long story."
"Let's leave this place first."
Linley glanced back at the towering Mount Nether before speaking to Bebe.
"Alright."
Bebe nodded and didn't ask any further questions.
The two left the mist surrounding Mount Nether and returned to the Greenleaf Castle where they had been staying.
During the journey back, Linley explained everything that had happened within the Chief Sovereign Palace to Bebe through their soul connection.
"Hiss..."
Only then did Bebe begin to feel lingering fear.
Before coming here...
Neither of them had ever considered whether a single wish would actually be enough for a Sovereign to resurrect so many people.
Indeed...
For the Death Chief Sovereign, reviving one or two people might require about the same effort as reviving seven or eight.
However...
Just as Lord Sovereign had said...
If there were no limit on the number of people that could be revived with a single wish...
What if someone requested the resurrection of thousands—or even tens of thousands—of people?
How could that possibly be allowed?
From the moment Lord Sovereign explained that the slaughter within the Planar Battlefield existed to reduce the number of immortal beings and lessen the burden upon the universe...
Both Linley and Bebe realized something.
The perspective of the Sovereigns completely surpassed that of ordinary Deities.
While they themselves had been thinking only about their own families...
The Sovereigns were considering the Divine Planes, the Higher Planes...
Even the universe as a whole.
"Let's go, Bebe."
"Since Lord Sovereign has given me such an opportunity..."
"I absolutely won't let it slip away."
"Next..."
"Let's gather information about the Planar Battlefield before entering it."
"Alright."
...
The Planar Battlefield only opened once every hundred million years.
Ordinary people knew absolutely nothing about its existence.
However...
Certain organizations naturally possessed a wealth of information regarding it.
For example...
The Fiend Castle of the Infernal Realm.
Or...
The Fiend Castle of the Netherworld.
Greenleaf Castle had been established by one of the Death Chief Sovereign's Sovereign Emissaries.
Naturally, it also contained a Fiend Castle.
After paying a certain price, Linley and Bebe obtained a great deal of information about the Planar Battlefield from the Fiend Castle.
"Hiss..."
After reading through the information, Linley and Bebe simultaneously sucked in cold breaths.
"I knew Lord Sovereign's condition couldn't possibly be easy..."
"But I never imagined it would be this difficult."
From the intelligence they obtained, they learned that the spatial stability of the Planar Battlefield was hundreds—even thousands—of times greater than that of the Four Higher Planes.
Only experts possessing at least the strength of a Five Star Fiend were qualified to enter.
Anyone weaker than a Five Star Fiend...
Once inside the Planar Battlefield, would be no different from a Saint-level expert within a Divine Plane or Higher Plane.
They wouldn't even be able to fly.
Within the Divine Planes and Higher Planes...
Five Star Fiends could distort space.
Six Star Fiends could tear open spatial rifts.
Seven Star Fiends could casually unleash spatial tears dozens of meters long.
Within the Planar Battlefield...
Even attacks from Seven Star Fiends could do nothing more than distort space.
Only experts at the level of a Prefect could tear open spatial rifts there.
Furthermore...
Entering the Planar Battlefield wasn't easy.
The Infernal Realm had Purgatory.
The Netherworld had the Nine Nether Sea.
Only after becoming a Purgatory Commander or one of the Nine Nether Lords could someone obtain a Commander Badge and enter the Planar Battlefield as a Commander.
Without a Commander Badge...
One could only enter as a Soldier.
Within the Planar Battlefield...
Commanders possessed authority over Soldiers.
Soldiers had no right to refuse orders.
Otherwise...
Even if they were killed by their own Commander, no one would avenge them.
Therefore...
Many Deities who knew of the Planar Battlefield and wished to obtain Sovereign's Might or Sovereign artifacts would first seek out a Commander they were familiar with if they lacked a Commander Badge themselves.
They would join that Commander's forces and enter the battlefield under his command.
That way...
They could serve beneath someone they trusted.
In return...
That Commander would protect them from being ordered by other Commanders to act as expendable bait.
Every Commander within the Planar Battlefield possessed strength at the level of a Prefect.
Moreover...
They were among the strongest of the Prefects.
A Commander might carry a Commander Badge...
Or might not.
That depended entirely upon his confidence in his own strength.
Those lacking sufficient confidence usually didn't carry their Commander Badges on their person.
As a result...
To collect seven or eight Commander Badges, one generally had to kill at least two or three times that many Commanders.
Take Reisgem, for example.
In order to collect ten Commander Badges, he had participated in multiple Planar Battlefields.
He had personally killed no fewer than thirty experts at the Prefect level before finally gathering ten Commander Badges and exchanging them for an offensive Sovereign artifact.
It was precisely because he possessed a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact, an offensive Sovereign artifact, and a divine spark-protecting divine artifact that Reisgem could rival experts equipped with a complete set of three Sovereign artifacts.
His strength ranked just below that of a Paragon.
Even if he encountered someone suspected of being a Paragon...
Defeat wouldn't mean death or exile into spatial turbulence.
With Linley's current strength...
He was roughly comparable to an ordinary Prefect.
If he wished to kill another Prefect...
It was almost impossible unless his abilities happened to perfectly counter his opponent's.
However...
Linley wasn't alone.
He still had Bebe.
As long as Bebe had enough time to unleash his innate divine ability...
Anyone within the Planar Battlefield lacking a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact would die the moment they came.
That was the confidence shared by both Linley and Bebe.
After learning everything they needed about the Planar Battlefield, Linley and Bebe left Greenleaf Castle and headed toward the Nine Nether Sea.
According to the intelligence they had purchased from the Fiend Castle...
The Netherworld's gateway into the Planar Battlefield was located on Lotusrock Island at the very center of the Nine Nether Sea.
To pass through that gateway...
One had to be led by someone possessing Commander status.
Otherwise...
One could only enter as a Soldier and serve under the command of other Commanders.
Neither Linley nor Bebe could accept that.
After all...
If Linley wanted to gather enough Commander Badges to revive all of his family and friends as quickly as possible, taking risks was unavoidable.
How could he possibly waste time obeying someone else's orders?
Within the Netherworld...
The Commander positions that qualified one to enter the Planar Battlefield belonged to the Island Lords of the Eighty-One Nine Nether Islands.
Thus...
Before entering the Planar Battlefield, Linley and Bebe first needed to defeat one of those Island Lords and become the new Island Lord.
Only then would the guardian of the planar gateway allow them to enter and issue them Commander Badges.
...
"So Beirut ultimately gave the Fire Lesser Sovereign spark to Zacharias Leylin after all..."
Within the Chief Sovereign Palace atop Mount Nether, the moment Locke's soul power sensed Zacharias Leylin's Earth divine clone arriving in the Netherworld and heading straight toward the Nine Nether Sea...
He knew another Fire Lesser Sovereign had been born.
In truth...
Locke himself had played no small part in Zacharias Leylin becoming a Sovereign.
Before this...
Beirut had indeed considered Zacharias Leylin as a candidate to become a Sovereign.
However...
He hadn't yet made his final decision.
His reason for sending Linley and Bebe to the Netherworld to ask the Sovereign to revive their deceased family and friends had merely been to give Linley renewed motivation to cultivate.
It couldn't be helped.
After the crisis facing the Four Divine Beasts clan had been resolved...
Linley had become somewhat complacent in his cultivation.
Beirut knew very well that the period immediately after a breakthrough was when a cultivator's growth was at its fastest.
If one failed to cultivate diligently during those tens of thousands of years...
Then even millions of years of later cultivation might not equal the progress that could have been made during that brief period.
Thus...
He needed to apply some pressure to Linley.
He never believed Linley and Bebe would successfully obtain the highest-grade Netherfruit or pass through Mount Nether's three layers of mist.
After all...
Beirut himself had once remained around Mount Nether for several hundred years.
Yet even he had failed to obtain the highest-grade Netherfruit.
As for the third layer of mist...
Beirut had only attempted it once.
After determining that he couldn't pass through it, he never tried again.
He believed that once Linley experienced failure at Mount Nether...
He would dedicate himself to cultivation in order to pass the Sovereign's trial and rescue his loved ones.
However...
Once Beirut learned that Linley and Bebe had actually entered the Planar Battlefield...
He had no choice but to bestow the Fire Lesser Sovereign spark upon Zacharias Leylin ahead of schedule.
Although Beirut had never personally entered the Planar Battlefield...
That didn't mean he underestimated its dangers.
Even Paragons could face mortal danger if they were focused by enough enemies there.
In Beirut's eyes...
Linley and Bebe entering the Planar Battlefield was nothing less than seeking death.
Others might not know...
But how could Beirut not know that most of Linley's strength at the Prefect level came from Blackstone Prison?
As for Bebe...
He had been forcefully nurtured into becoming a Highgod.
His body, as durable as a divine spark, granted him material attacks approaching the level of a Six Star Fiend while possessing virtually invincible defenses among Deities.
Indeed...
For a Highgod Godeater Rat, anyone who wasn't a Paragon or protected by a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact would certainly die.
However...
Using an innate divine ability didn't merely consume the blood essence of a divine beast.
It also consumed a considerable amount of soul power.
(End of Chapter)
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