Book 19, Metamorphosis – Chapter 31, The Number One Clan

After Bayer left, Linley let out a sigh of relief as well.

“Compared to a Highgod Paragon, I most likely would only be able to preserve my life if I had a defensive Sovereign artifact and a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact.” Linley had been rendered speechless by Bayer’s attack power, and the constrictive power of it had been able to cause space itself to twist and distort. The disruptive power exceeded even Reisgem’s ‘Amethyst Space’.

Upon encountering a Paragon, only someone like Bebe whose material defense and soul defense were both at the very peak would be capable of staying alive.

“Wait. Even if my defenses are powerful, Bayer would probably still be able to throw me into a field of spatial chaos.” When Linley thought of this, he felt all the more terrified by the might of a Paragon. Previously, Linley had seen quite a few experts who had fused five profound mysteries. Linley had thought a Paragon would be powerful, but not ridiculously so.

But upon encountering one, Linley realized...

Paragons, just by waving their hands, could easily cause space to twist and distort, and tear the world apart. Between fusing five profound mysteries and becoming a Paragon, there was a massive, qualitative rise in power.

“Bayer won’t come again, will he?” A low voice rang out.

Linley turned his head to look. The speaker was the big fellow, ‘Reihom’. Bebe, some dirt and dust on his face, said quickly, “Of course not! He is a Paragon, after all; since he left, how could he come back? Even if he came back, I’m not afraid of him.” Bebe’s words caused Linley, Reisgem, and Reihom to all look at him.

“You aren’t afraid?” Reisgem had a rather disbelieving tone to his voice.

Actually, Reisgem himself was afraid. If Bayer truly went insane, he could kill Reisgem, Reihom, and Linley, then drag Bebe into a region of chaotic space. The price would just be that he would face the pursuit and attack of the Redbud Sovereign, and would have to forever hide within a material plane.

Reisgem was afraid, and Linley and Reihom felt the same way. In front of Bayer, they weren’t able to resist at all.

Bebe...unafraid?

Stared at by the other three, Bebe let out an awkward laugh. “Fine, to be honest, of course I’m a bit scared. In front of that Bayer, I feel as though all I can do is stand there and be beaten. I’m not able to resist at all. That strange song of his made me lose consciousness. Enough, he’s left, so this is at an end. I hope in the future, I won’t run into that Bayer again. Unless I’m at Grandpa’s level of power...”

Linley, hearing this, couldn’t help but laugh. He then looked towards Reisgem. This time, they truly had to thank Reisgem.

“Fortunately, Reisgem, you used the Sovereign to threaten him.” Linley laughed with a sigh.

“Hmph. That was all talk. By the time my mother actually made it here, Bayer would’ve fled long ago.” Reisgem pursed his lips. “Fortunately, Bayer wasn’t willing to go all out for the sake of Occluar.”

Linley nodded slightly as well.

If Occluar and Bayer had a relationship that was as close as Linley and Bebe’s, most likely, Bayer really would’ve ignored all else to kill them. Fortunately, the two didn’t have a relationship at that level yet.

“Reisgem, this Sovereign’s Might...” Linley only now thought of the canteen of Sovereign’s Might in his hand.

Good heavens...a full canteen! What a terrifying fortune this was!

“Reisgem, just now, you just wanted to shock Bayer and let him know that there was no way he would be able to kill Bebe, which is why you brought out this canteen of Sovereign’s Might. Now that this is at an end, you can take it back.” Linley immediately handed the amethyst canteen back to Reisgem.

It wasn’t that Linley didn’t want the Sovereign’s Might. If it had only been one or two drops, Linley would’ve accepted it.

But this was an entire canteen...

This was too precious, something Linley felt was too hot to hold. While working together with Reisgem, Linley hadn’t made any great contributions, so how could he receive a canteen of Sovereign’s Might? As the saying goes, if no merits were rendered, none should be recorded. To receive a treasure without having accomplished anything? Linley felt uneasy.

“Eh?” Bebe was startled.

“Here you go.” Bebe did the same thing.

“HEY!” Reisgem stared at Linley and Bebe, then said angrily, “Linley, Bebe, what are you two doing? Hmph, if you are going to be so insincere, we might as well just split up the squad. You go your way, and Reihom and I will go ours. You two don’t treat me as bros anyhow. As for the canteen of Sovereign’s Might? I, Reisgem, have never taken back something I gifted out. If you don’t want it, then toss it!”

Linley felt speechless and resigned.

“Haha, Boss, Reisgem isn’t the stingy sort.” Bebe snickered, slapping his arm around Reisgem’s shoulders. “Just take it.” Bebe was rather unwilling to part with it to begin with; only, having seen Linley give it up, he had to do the same.

“Hear that?” Reisgem delightedly raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you just toss this Sovereign’s Might and go your own way, while the three of us go ours. Or...just keep it.”

Linley wasn’t the overly polite sort to begin with; only, this canteen of Sovereign’s Might was simply too valuable, and so he wasn’t able to accept it right away, which is why he had acted in such a manner. But now that Reisgem had responded in such a way, what else could Linley do? All he could do was, with a flip of his hand, store the canteen of Sovereign’s Might into his interspatial ring.

“That’s more like it.” Reisgem chortled merrily. “To be honest, earlier on, when I just reached the Highgod level and hadn’t fused that many of the profound mysteries, I probably wouldn’t have been willing to be generous, even if you asked me to.”

“Eh? What’s that about?” Bebe said.

Linley just laughed while listening. With Bebe and Reisgem standing together, it was like a pair of youths. Their eyes were both so lively and agile; they looked like two siblings.

The four of them chatted while walking forward.

“What my mother said is that I needed to be tempered!” Reisgem laughed. “Without me having reached a certain level of power, if she were to give me a large amount of Sovereign’s Might, I would never feel as though I were in any danger, which would make it harder for me to make any breakthroughs. Thus, only after I fused five profound mysteries did my mother stop restricting me in terms of how much Sovereign’s Might I could have.”

Linley nodded slightly.

Without a sense of danger, it would be fairly hard to rise in power. Linley could completely understand the actions of the Redbud Sovereign.

“Oh...you have so much Sovereign’s Might. Boss’s Four Divine Beasts clan rarely hands out even a single drop of Sovereign’s Might.” Bebe said with a sigh.

Reisgem laughed loudly. “The Four Divine Beasts clan? How can they compare to me? An enormous clan like that has millions of people, scattered throughout the four great planes. The four great Sovereigns did indeed bestow a huge amount of Sovereign’s Might to them! But did the people of the Four Divine Beasts clan learn to treasure it? They did not! Those four clan leaders probably never imagined that their four Sovereigns would perish. When the four Sovereigns died...the time came that they no longer had access to unlimited amounts of Sovereign’s Might! They were completely dumbfounded.”

“Once the four Sovereigns died, they no longer had a source for Sovereign’s Might. It would be hard for them to acquire any more. Of course they would hand it out sparingly, one drop at a time.”

Linley, hearing this, nodded to himself.

The deaths of the four ancestors did indeed strike a heavy blow against the clan.

“An enormous clan like that, whose fame shook the various planes, fell just like that.” Linley let out a sigh. Originally, when Linley had entered the Azure Dragon clan, Linley had sighed at how much Sovereign’s Might the clan had. But now, he understood that giving each Elder a single drop was a way of being thrifty in using it.

When the four Sovereigns were still alive, most likely the manner in which the Azure Dragon clan divided up Sovereign’s Might was completely different.

“The Four Divine Beasts clan originally was very strong. However, in the countless planes of the universe, they still cannot be considered the number one clan.” Reisgem said.

“Eh? There was a clan even more powerful than the Four Divine Beasts clan?” Linley was rather surprised.

“The number one clan is the Augusta [Ao’gu’si’ta] clan of the Divine Light Plane.” Reisgem said with a calm laugh.

Linley knew a few things about the Infernal Realm and the Netherworld, but very little about the other planes.

“The Augusta clan?” Three names drifted into Linley’s mind. These three names came from Beirut’s intelligence reports on commanders. All three were commanders, and the three of them...all shared the surname ‘Augusta’. Clearly, they were of the Augusta clan.

Back then, Linley hadn’t paid much attention. After all, there were quite a few siblings who were commanders. For three to share one surname wasn’t too surprising.

“The first generation member of the Augusta clan is the Chief Sovereign of Light.” Reisgem said, pursing his lips.

Linley now understood. “No wonder the clan is so powerful. They are the descendants of the Chief Sovereign of Light.” As a Chief Sovereign, one could imagine how exalted a status and how great the power the Chief Sovereign of Light possessed.

“The Chief Sovereign of Light has many descendants. The second generation of the clan has 182 members.” Reisgem said with a sigh.

Linley and Bebe were both stupefied.

“Reisgem, are the second generation members all the sons and daughters of the Chief Sovereign of Light?” Linley didn’t dare believe it. In the Four Divine Beasts clan, the Azure Dragon only had a son and a daughter, while the Vermilion Bird had only a single child. The White Tiger had one child, while the Black Tortoise had two.

But this Augusta clan’s second generation had 182 members?

“Right.” Reisgem nodded. “The Chief Sovereign of Light was originally a member of an ordinary race before he became a Chief Sovereign. Thus, unlike the divine beasts who have few children, he had 182. However, these 182 children are not all on the same level. Still, because the population of the Augusta clan expanded very rapidly, and because they had sufficient resources, they naturally produced quite a few experts. However, the Augusta clan has only expanded in the Divine Light Plane. They aren’t like your Four Divine Beasts clan, which scattered throughout the planes.”

“The Augusta clansmen are very arrogant.” The always taciturn Reihom suddenly spoke out.

“Eh?” Linley looked towards Reihom. He could feel the anger within Reihom’s words.

Reisgem sighed and said, “One of my mother’s Emissary’s, Reihom’s good friend ‘Bosley’ [Bu’si’li], was killed by the forces of the Augusta clan. Bosley now only has a weak clone remaining. I imagine this time, the Augusta clan’s people came to the Planar Battlefield as well. If we encounter two of them, we have to kill some of them to vent our anger. Hmph. Forget it. Enough about that clan of bastards. They ruin the mood.”

As Linley’s group of four left the battlefield, they didn’t run, just casually walked forward. In the Planar Battlefield, aside from Paragons like Bayer, their hunting squad feared no one.

But that battle had, indeed, attracted quite a few people.

On the desolate earth, five figures emerged. The leader was a youth who was dressed in a beautiful silver robe, and who had long, dazzling hair.

“Oh, the Amethyst Rampart. Hey, that’s Bayer!” The golden-haired youth’s eyes lit up. He saw, in the distance, Bayer standing in the sky like a celestial divinity. With Bayer present, the five hadn’t dared to go near. But after watching from far away for a time, they saw that Bayer actually left.

“Young master Montelo [Meng’te’lo], this is a good opportunity.” Next to him was a callous, short silver-haired man who was dressed in a golden robe.

The golden-haired youth’s eyes lit up.

Right at this moment, the golden-haired youth suddenly turned his head to look nearby. There were actually two people, a man and a woman, walking over. “Montelo, long time no see.” The leader, a black-haired, silver-robed woman said with a light smile.

“Ranessa [La’na’sha]!” Montelo laughed as well.

“You saw that battle just now, right? Bayer went to act against Reisgem’s group. I wonder what the results of that battle were.” The silver-robed woman, Ranessa, said with a laugh. “But I’m certain that Reisgem remains alive.”

“I’m certain about this as well.” Montelo said with a calm laugh, and then his eyes lit up. “Ranessa, how about we join forces and go teach that Reisgem a lesson?”

“Teach him a lesson?” Ranessa frowned slightly. “I know that a grudge exists between your clan and Reisgem, but...” Ranessa also knew Montelo’s status. Montelo was a third generation member of the Augusta clan. The second generation had 182 members, and the third generation had more than a thousand.”

Montelo relied on his innate talent and his ability to have a fairly high status within his clan. But compared to Reisgem, his status was far inferior. After all, the Chief Sovereign of Light had too many children. Montelo was just a grandchild, while the Redbud Sovereign only had a single son.

There weren’t many who would dare to kill Reisgem.

“Don’t worry, we won’t kill Reisgem.” Montelo said with a light laugh. “I’ll be responsible for entangling Reisgem, while the other three of you, along with my other four, seven in total, will act against Reisgem’s comrades. If you can kill one, do so. It’s best if you kill them all! Hmph, if we can’t kill Reisgem, we can still kill his comrades.” Montelo’s eyes flashed with cold light.

Ranessa turned to discuss this with the two youths by her side, then laughed.

The Sovereigns were lofty individuals. As long as one didn’t commit any forbidden acts, there wouldn’t be any problems. Even if they badly injured Reisgem, there wouldn’t be a problem. The Sovereigns actually hoped that their children would suffer setbacks while growing up. As long as they didn’t kill Reisgem, it was fine. As for Reisgem’s comrades and their lives, the Sovereign didn’t have the time to bother with them, nor would the Sovereign lower her status to bother with them.

The world of Deities had its own rules. Sovereigns generally wouldn’t casually interfere.

“Fine. However, the badges we get from killing them are mine.” Ranessa said.

“Fine.” Montello immediately agreed.

“Let’s go, then. Reisgem and the others have most likely gone far away by now.” Ranessa said.

Immediately, the two forces merged and the eight of them stealthily slipped forward at high speed.