"Hahaha, Linley, it's been a long time."
Upon seeing Linley, Doehring Cowart smiled just as happily.
During the more than ten years they had spent together, Doehring Cowart had truly treated Linley like his own grandson, passing on everything he knew to him.
When Linley had been hunted by the Radiant Church's six ninth-rank Executors, Doehring Cowart had willingly burned his own soul to cast the forbidden spell Heavenfall, all to protect Linley.
If not for the help of Lady Nanessa and Lord Locke, he would probably have died more than two thousand years ago.
How could he possibly have lived long enough to meet Linley again?
Over the years, whenever he wasn't cultivating, Doehring Cowart would ask Lady Nanessa to keep an eye on Linley for him.
As a result, although he couldn't be said to know every single detail of Linley's life, he at least knew about everything Linley had experienced.
"Linley... these years have been hard on you."
Doehring Cowart stepped forward and gently rubbed Linley's head.
"Grandpa Doehring..."
Linley's voice choked with emotion as tears streamed uncontrollably down his cheeks.
To reach where he was today, everyone else praised the achievements he had accomplished.
Only Grandpa Doehring thought about how much he had suffered.
"Alright, alright."
"Linley, you're already a true man now."
"Come."
"Lord Sovereign has been waiting for you for quite some time."
"Mmm."
Linley wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes and followed behind Doehring Cowart.
Together, they passed through the waterfall of lightning chains and entered Mount Nether.
"Grandpa Doehring, does this mean Lord Locke already knows I've collected enough Commander badges, so He resurrected all of you?"
The moment he saw Grandpa Doehring alive again, Linley was overwhelmed with joy and hurriedly asked.
At that moment...
Linley had completely overlooked one detail.
The aura emanating from Grandpa Doehring wasn't that of a Saint-level expert.
It was the aura of a God.
After mortals died, their souls would be drawn into the Necropolis of the Undead, where they became undead creatures.
Through endless slaughter there, they would gradually grow stronger until reaching the peak Saint-level.
Once they reached that stage, cultivating as an undead was no different from ordinary living beings.
They also had to comprehend the Laws to continue growing stronger.
When an undead creature became a Deity, its soul would undergo the baptism of the natural Laws, ultimately restoring the memories it had possessed while alive.
From the time Linley first came to Mount Nether to ask Chief Sovereign Locke to revive his loved ones until now...
Only a few hundred years had passed.
Even if Chief Sovereign Locke had resurrected Doehring Cowart immediately after that first meeting, there was no way he could have cultivated to the God realm within merely a few hundred years.
"Hahaha, Linley."
"I truly was saved by Lord Locke."
"But the time and manner in which Lord Locke saved me are very different from what you're imagining."
"You'll learn about that in the future."
"Before we meet Lord Locke..."
"Let me first tell you about Lord Locke's lineage here on Mount Nether."
Over these many years, Doehring Cowart had gradually realized that the reason the important figures of Locke's lineage valued him so highly had much to do with Linley.
Therefore, after learning that Linley had completed the task Lord Locke had entrusted to him, Doehring Cowart had personally requested Lady Nanessa to speak to Chief Sovereign Locke on his behalf, asking permission to personally receive Linley at the foot of Mount Nether and escort him to the audience.
Doehring Cowart didn't know exactly why Lord Locke valued Linley so highly.
But he knew he had to ensure Linley understood at least some of the background of Locke's lineage so that he wouldn't accidentally offend Lord Locke.
As for himself...
It didn't matter.
When he had burned his soul to save Linley over two thousand years ago, he had already cast aside any concern for his own life.
The only person he had ever been unable to let go of...
Was Linley.
Yet over all these years, watching Linley's growth had allowed Doehring Cowart to understand something.
Even without him...
Linley would still have lived well and eventually become an extraordinary figure beyond anything Doehring Cowart had ever dared imagine.
Perhaps...
To the current Linley, he could no longer provide even the slightest help.
Instead, he might only become Linley's burden.
If one day Linley ever turned against the Sovereigns of Mount Nether...
Doehring Cowart would rather take his own life than become Linley's weakness.
Before that day ever came...
He intended to tell Linley everything he knew so that Linley would possess a sufficient understanding of Locke's lineage.
"Linley, look."
"There are five Chief Sovereign Palaces on Mount Nether."
Doehring Cowart pointed toward the mountain.
Following his grandfather's finger, Linley raised his head.
From the summit down to the mountainside stood five enormous palaces.
Surrounding those magnificent palaces were many smaller palaces.
"The Sovereigns of Lord Locke's lineage reside within these five Chief Sovereign Palaces."
"What?"
"There are actually five Sovereigns belonging to Lord Locke's lineage on Mount Nether?"
Although Linley had already formed a vague guess the moment he saw the five great palaces...
Hearing Grandpa Doehring confirm it still left him shocked.
Sovereigns...
In Linley's understanding, they represented beings who were "omnipotent."
Moreover...
There were only seven Sovereigns of each element.
In other words...
Across the entire universe, there were only seventy-seven Sovereigns in total.
Yet Mount Nether alone possessed nearly one-tenth of all Sovereigns.
How could Linley not be astonished?
After all...
Everything he had learned previously in Greenleaf Castle suggested that only two Sovereigns resided on Mount Nether.
He hadn't expected that his understanding had still been so shallow.
"Five Sovereigns?"
Doehring Cowart chuckled.
"Linley..."
"Who told you Lord Locke's lineage only has five Sovereigns?"
"Huh?"
"But Grandpa Doehring, wasn't that what you just said?"
"There are five Chief Sovereign Palaces."
"If there are five palaces, doesn't that mean five Sovereigns?"
"You..."
Doehring Cowart shook his head.
"Linley."
"I said Mount Nether has five Chief Sovereign Palaces."
"I never said there were only five Sovereigns here."
"Of those five Chief Sovereign Palaces..."
"The highest one belongs to the Death Chief Sovereign."
"She is also Chief Sovereign Locke's wife."
"The second Chief Sovereign Palace belongs to Chief Sovereign Loran, the child of Lord Locke and the Death Chief Sovereign."
"Occasionally, the Water Chief Sovereign Levlenxia also comes to stay there for a time."
"Oh, right."
"I almost forgot to tell you."
"The Water Chief Sovereign Levlenxia is Chief Sovereign Loran's wife."
"The third Chief Sovereign Palace belongs to Lord Sovereign Veer."
"Lord Sovereign Veer is the son of Chief Sovereign Loran and Chief Sovereign Levlenxia."
"The fourth Chief Sovereign Palace is where Lord Sovereign Grant, Veer's child, resides."
"The fifth Chief Sovereign Palace belongs to Lord Sovereign Rena, Grant's daughter."
"And Lord Sovereign Rena..."
"...is the junior most beloved by both Chief Sovereign Locke and the Death Chief Sovereign."
"Hiss..."
Despite the fact that Linley's current strength already surpassed that of ordinary Paragons by a considerable margin...
After hearing Grandpa Doehring explain the structure of Locke's lineage, he still couldn't help but suck in a cold breath.
Chief Sovereign Locke.
Death Chief Sovereign.
Chief Sovereign Loran.
Chief Sovereign Levlenxia.
Lord Sovereign Veer.
Lord Sovereign Grant.
Lord Sovereign Rena...
Locke's lineage actually possessed seven Sovereigns.
Moreover...
Four of them were Chief Sovereigns.
Simply from the title alone, it was obvious that a Chief Sovereign's strength and status stood above that of ordinary Sovereigns.
Only after understanding the relationships among the Sovereigns atop Mount Nether did Linley finally realize why Grandpa Doehring had repeatedly referred to them as "the Sovereigns of Locke's lineage."
Because...
They weren't merely ordinary Sovereigns.
They were a lineage of Sovereigns passed down through Chief Sovereign Locke and the Death Chief Sovereign.
Doehring Cowart led Linley up the mountain.
Since they had been summoned by Lord Locke himself, they merely bowed slightly while passing the five Chief Sovereign Palaces before continuing toward the summit.
"Lord Locke."
"Doehring Cowart has brought Linley to seek an audience."
After arriving before the Chief Sovereign Palace at Mount Nether's summit, neither Doehring Cowart nor Linley entered immediately.
Instead, they announced themselves from outside.
"Come in."
After receiving Locke's permission, the two finally stepped inside.
"Lord Locke."
"Linley greets Lord Locke."
After entering the palace and reaching the center of the great hall, Doehring Cowart and Linley both bowed respectfully toward Locke.
Doehring Cowart bowed because, after living on Mount Nether for some time, he knew that Chief Sovereign Locke disliked kneeling.
As for Linley...
He had decided to conceal the secret of his four-element soul mutation, disguising himself merely as a Paragon.
Paragons never bent their knees before Sovereigns.
"Very good, Linley."
"Your performance in the Planar Battlefield has been quite impressive."
Locke nodded slightly as he looked at Linley.
"Present the Commander badges you've obtained."
"Then tell me whom you wish to resurrect."
"Yes, Lord Locke."
With a wave of his hand, Linley took out seven crimson Commander badges.
"Lord Locke."
"The people I wish to revive are my father, Hogg..."
"My mother, Lina..."
"Yale..."
"George..."
"Reynolds..."
"And Grandpa Doehring..."
Although Doehring Cowart had already been revived by Chief Sovereign Locke, Linley still included Grandpa Doehring's name among those he requested.
"Linley."
"Although I saved Doehring Cowart..."
"The person who truly brought him before me was someone else."
"After Doehring Cowart recovered, that person accepted him as a disciple."
"Under that person's guidance, your Grandpa Doehring has now become a God by fusing two Earth Laws Profound Mysteries."
"So..."
"Rather than thanking me..."
"You should thank the person who brought your Grandpa Doehring before me."
"Huh?"
Hearing this, Linley immediately turned to look at Doehring Cowart.
Sure enough...
The aura Grandpa Doehring emitted truly belonged to a God.
"Let me see..."
Locke spread out his soul power.
Very quickly, he found Hogg, Yale, George, and Reynolds within the Necropolis of the Undead.
The next instant...
All four were directly teleported into the Chief Sovereign Palace.
"Father!"
"Boss Yale!"
"George!"
"Reynolds!"
Seeing the familiar figures, Linley was overjoyed.
"Linley?"
With a wave of Locke's hand, Hogg and the others instantly recovered all the memories they had possessed before death.
At the same time...
Locke also transmitted the current situation directly into their subconsciousness, allowing them to understand why they had suddenly appeared here.
"Hahaha!"
"Third Brother, thank you!"
Yale stepped forward and embraced Linley tightly.
George and Reynolds immediately followed.
More than a thousand years later...
The four brothers were finally reunited.
However...
The smile on Linley's face didn't last very long.
Because after bringing out Hogg, Yale, George, and Reynolds...
Locke didn't summon anyone else.
"Linley."
"Based on the information you provided..."
"I was only able to locate these four."
"Your mother's soul is no longer within the Necropolis of the Undead."
"You turned in seven Commander badges."
"I have brought back four people for you."
"As for the remaining three Commander badges..."
"Would you like to exchange them for three drops of Sovereign's Might?"
"Or would you rather keep them until you've accumulated ten Commander badges and exchange them for a Sovereign artifact?"
Linley fell silent.
He didn't believe Chief Sovereign Locke would deliberately fail to find his mother.
There was only one possibility.
His mother, Lina, hadn't survived long enough within the Necropolis of the Undead for him to grow strong enough to rescue her.
She had already been slain by other undead creatures.
As for the choice Lord Locke offered...
"Lord Locke..."
"I'll keep the Commander badges."
"Perhaps in the future I'll obtain more Commander badges and exchange them for a Sovereign artifact."
At present, Linley wasn't lacking in Sovereign's Might.
When Reisgem had first met him, he had immediately given both him and Bebe an entire flask of Destruction Sovereign's Might.
Later, during the battle against Bayer and the others, he had given Linley several more flasks.
Thus...
Three drops of Sovereign's Might meant very little to Linley.
However...
If he obtained another seven Commander badges during the next Planar Battlefield, he would be able to exchange them for a Sovereign artifact.
Hearing Linley's choice, Locke wasn't surprised.
Sovereign's Might was certainly precious.
But compared to a Sovereign artifact...
It still fell somewhat short.
Sovereign's Might could temporarily increase a Deity's overall strength by one hundredfold—or even several hundredfold—but only for a very brief period.
A Sovereign artifact, on the other hand, permanently increased a Deity's attack tenfold or provided even greater defensive power.
It was precisely because of this that the rewards of the Planar Battlefield treated ten drops of Sovereign's Might as equivalent to one Sovereign artifact.
With a flick of his finger, Locke sent the three Commander badges flying back into Linley's hand.
"Very well, Linley."
"I have fulfilled your request."
"From here on..."
"Doehring Cowart will act as your host."
"You are qualified to reside permanently on Mount Nether."
"However..."
"The four of them are still only Saint-level."
"They cannot withstand even the aftershocks of battles between the experts on Mount Nether."
"It would be best to send them away before another battle between powerful experts occurs."
"After all..."
"Even I cannot alter the Laws of this universe and allow a soul to enter the Necropolis of the Undead twice after dying."
Within the magical universe, the Laws dictated that beings below the Deity level would enter the Necropolis of the Undead after death.
This was Hongmeng's mercy.
It granted every being below the Deity level a second chance.
Within the Necropolis of the Undead...
Even those who possessed no elemental affinity during life would receive the favor of the Edicts of Death simply because they had died once.
Then...
So long as they continued slaughtering other undead, they could absorb their deathly aura and steadily grow stronger until reaching the peak Saint-level.
(End of Chapter)
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