Inside the throne hall of Akashic Palace, Akasha's eyes flickered. “I really didn’t expect it. I thought I only had to worry about the Fiend King, but it turned out there was such an enormous threat.”

Akasha stood up from his throne and flew toward the nearest teleportation array. Before he arrived, he saw the sky dyed in an earthen yellow. Someone had refined the Intermediate Sovereign Spark of Earth Reisbud acquired. However, Akasha didn’t have time to care about it at the moment.

“Teleport me to the Life Realm,” Akasha ordered.

The soldiers guarding the teleportation array didn’t dare to delay. They didn’t even ask for the fee. How could they dare to ask? This was a Sovereign!

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Morgan turned toward Akasha and asked, “Fusion Sovereign.”

Akasha didn’t plan on hiding the information either. In fact, the more people who knew, the better. “Do you know about soul mutates?”

Although Morgan didn’t know why Akasha replied with a question, she still shook her head. After listening to Akasha’s explanation, even she had to envy the potential of soul mutates. “So that’s the reason for Xulei’s strength?”

If you could find a Sovereign spark and have enough strength to grab it and refine it was already considered very lucky, but also be a three-way soul mutate? That was almost impossible. Of course, if a three-way soul mutate discovered a Sovereign spark, no one could defeat him. Especially since no one has become a Paragon yet.

“I’m almost a hundred percent sure,” Akasha said. “Xulei’s strength is already comparable to a High Sovereign of the elements. If he refined Hurley’s Sovereign spark, he will have three additional portions of will and fused Sovereign power that increases by another hundred times. He will eclipse all of us. Of course, if he refines an Intermediate or Lesser Sovereign Spark, his threat won’t be as huge.”

“You still want him to refine another Sovereign spark?” Morgan asked with a trace of anger.

“Of course not. My true body is flying here right now,” Akasha said. “What about your true body?”

“It’s rushing here right now,” Morgan said. “I’ve also contacted Moirai.”

Akasha nodded. He had never seen the High Sovereign of Fate, but he had heard of the latter. While waiting, he focused back on the battle.

With the addition of Viviane, Hurley was no longer in danger of dying under Xulei’s hand. Akasha thought that the two of them could delay until his and Morgan’s true body arrived, but a change occurred.

Xulei’s Darkness Sovereign clone also appeared. Although it was weaker than his Wind Sovereign clone, it should have fused four profound mysteries. Facing the assault of both of Xulei’s Sovereign clones, Viviane and Hurley fell at a disadvantage.

“That Xulei, I didn’t expect him to be so accomplished in both the Elemental Law of Darkness and Wind,” Akasha said. In fact, he saw a shadow of himself in Xulei. If he was a three-way soul mutate and refined a Sovereign spark, he would also want to refine two more, and it would be best if one of them was a High Sovereign Spark.

At this point, the commotion attracted the Sovereigns of all Four Higher Realms, and they entered the chaotic space to check out what happened. Upon sensing what happened, they were directly stupefied. Suddenly, Akasha’s projection disappeared, and another Sovereign flew out of the Life Realm.

That Sovereign was clad in black scales with golden tufts covering their joints. This was Akasha in his battle form.

He didn’t waste any time and rushed toward Xulei and unleashed a blade of destruction. Xulei also saw Akasha, and his expression turned ugly. He could barely suppress Viviane and Hurley, and he wanted to kill Hurley before the other High Sovereigns stopped him.

Xulei’s Wind Sovereign clone directed its attention from Viviane and toward Akasha. Although Viviane was also a High Sovereign of the edicts, her frontal battle strength was a bit low compared to her defenses. Countless wind blades formed of fusion Sovereign power shot toward Akasha.

Akasha waved his hand and destroyed all the wind blades with a single slash, shocking Xulei. He wanted to dodge, but Akasha's already arrived in front of him. Seconds later, Xulei right arm became a stump, and his face turned uglier.

He glared at Akasha, as if wanting to engrave Akasha’s image into his mind. Then, he and his Darkness Sovereign clone merged and vanished.

Akasha frowned. “The Law of Darkness is too good at hiding.”

At this time, Morgan’s true body also arrived. “Allow me.”

Morgan raised her arms up and invisible ripples echoed from her body. “There!”

Akasha didn’t bother to confirm and sent a blade of destruction flying. Although it wasn’t as strong as him slashing it, it was much faster. He was a bit surprised to see an Intermediate Sovereign of Lightning floating where Morgan stood.

However, his expression darkened when the Lightning Sovereign’s eyes dimmed and a Sovereign spark fell out of his corpse. Xulei appeared and grabbed the Lightning Sovereign Spark. His eyes contained unwillingness and helplessness.

To Akasha’s shock, Xulei didn’t immediately refine the Sovereign spark and chose to withstand the blade of destruction. A large gash revealing his broken ribes appeared on his chest. He glared one last time at Akasha before disappearing again.

“Damn,” Akasha said. He turned toward Morgan.

Morgan also frowned and tried to detect Xulei again. At this moment, a tear leading to the Life Realm appeared. Even without Morgan telling him, he knew Xulei ran into the Life Realm. Akasha flew into the Life Realm, followed by Morgan and Viviane.

The rest of the Sovereigns looked at another. The strength displayed by Xulei really shocked them, and they didn’t know if they would be implicated if they rashly entered. Hurley snorted and flew in. He wanted to kill Xulei more than anyone. As long as Xulei lived, he would always feel a sense the threat of death.

The other High Sovereigns nearby followed Hurley. Although Xulei’s strength surprised them, they still had confidence in protecting their life.

Upon entering, the scene of devastation did not greet them. It didn’t take them long to find the three High Sovereigns of the edicts standing in front of a teleportation array. Akasha’s dragon transformation had already receded. Surrounding the teleportation array was the corpse of numerous soldiers.

“Mister Akasha, what happened?” Hurley stepped forward and asked. After seeing Akasha’s strength, he realized the two were on a different level. It seemed that Sovereigns of the edicts were innately stronger than Sovereigns of the elements.

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“He killed the soldiers here and teleported to a material plane,” Akasha said. With the soldiers dead, they could even find out which material plane Xulei escaped to. “He was born on a material plane. What luck.”

At this time, a voice from the sky attracted their attention. “He’s not lucky, but you were just too weak to stop him.”

They all looked up to see a man wearing argent robes looking down at them. His hair and brows were completely white, giving him an ethereal aura. The silver eyes only added to his mystique. He was Moirai, the High Sovereign of Fate.

“Big words coming from someone who was even too slow,” Akasha said.

“Hmpf, I’m not like you. Even if he gained another Sovereign clone, I can kill him easily,” Moirai said.

Akasha laughed. “Let me guess, you must have a soul attack divine ability, don’t you? Let me tell you right now, soul mutates have the strongest souls. Your measly divine ability, probably won’t even tickle him.”

“Oh? Do you want to try?” Moirai asked as he stared into Akasha’s eyes.

“Enough.” Viviane chose this moment to speak. Moirai’s words also demeaned her and Morgan. Still, she didn’t want another big battle to occur right now, especially in the Life Realm. “Right now, the priority is to find Xulei’s whereabouts. Xulei should have become a Wind Sovereign in the Celestial Realm, we might be able to find some clues there.”

Moirai nodded. He knew of Xulei, but hadn’t paid much attention. He heard that Xulei was incredibly powerful when he was still a highgod, but so what? Xulei was an Intermediate Sovereign, while he, the first life of the Celestial Realm, was a High Sovereign. After becoming a Sovereign, Xulei was inconspicuous, so he never expected the latter to cause so much turmoil.

Akasha shook his head. “I don’t think that’s possible. Since Xulei killed the soldiers and escaped to the material realm, he must have prevented any leaks. But we might be able to gain something.”

None of them disagreed and teleported to the Celestial Realm. By this time, many Sovereigns followed them. None of them were willing to admit inferiority to Xulei, and they wanted to see if Xulei had any secret to his strength.

Unlike the Infernal realm or the Life Realm, the Celestial Realm consisted of seven floating continents above a giant ocean. The four High Sovereigns of the edicts immediately flew toward the floating continent controlled by Xulei. The Edict of Destruction, Fate, and Life weren’t good at controlling souls, but the Edict of Death was.

Normally, Morgan’s attainments in the Edict of Death wouldn’t allow her to control highgods, but boosted by the power of Will, Morgan can even control a seven-star fiend, or seven-star sage as they were called in the Celestial Realm. Through her interrogation, the Sovereigns present learned that Xulei was really mysterious and seemed to hide many things about himself.

Still, they discovered Xulei’s secret to strength aside from his soul mutation. Xulei had ordered millions of highgods to descend to the material plane and spread his religion. None of the Sovereigns were idiots. If spreading religion was useless, why would Xulei do it?

A few material planes of faith energy might not mean much, but what about millions, or hundreds of millions?

The Sovereigns of Destruction present couldn’t help but glance at Akasha. Their lips twitched when they saw Akasha show an expression of surprise, as if he didn’t know.

After pretending to calm down, Akasha glanced at everyone. “Since it’s impossible to conceal this matter, we should summon all the Sovereigns and lay down some rules.”

Morgan, Viviane, and Moirai agreed. Not long later, all the Sovereigns sat inside Moirai’s palace on the largest floating continent. The room they sat in was divided into four levels. The four High Sovereigns of the edicts sat top level, the elemental High Sovereigns sat on the second level, Intermediate Sovereigns sat on the third level, and Lesser Sovereigns sat on fourth and lowest level. Even Magec came. Though, he stayed as far away from Akasha as possible.

A few of the High Sovereigns were displeased by the seating arrangement, but they didn’t make any trouble yet.

Akasha stared at the seventy-four Sovereigns present, not including himself. Everyone had transformed into a humanoid shape from around two to four meters tall. This was likely the result of his, Morgan, Viviane, and Moirai's current form. He knew Morgan and Viviane were plant lifeforms, so it didn’t surprise him why they took on human forms, but why did Moirai also take a similar shape?

Akasha shook his head. That question wasn’t important at the moment. “I’m sure most of you already know, but since some of you weren’t present, I’ll explain.”

Those that only learned of the news couldn’t help but become excited, especially Magec. He secretly glanced at Akasha and vowed to get revenge.

A slight smile appeared on Akasha’s face. He couldn’t hope for Magec to attack him, so he could reap Magec’s High Sovereign Spark of Light.

“We, Sovereigns, can’t enter material planes because we will cause them to collapse.” Akasha’s words shocked most of the Sovereigns present. A few had tried, so they weren’t surprised. Akasha ignored them and continued. “Because of that, we will have deities fight for us. No matter the result, we can’t intervene directly. Otherwise, it’ll become a mess.”

Many of the Sovereigns nodded in agreement, while a few who hadn’t established forces frowned. But they were in the minority, and even if they objected, the other Sovereigns would overrule them.

“Also, we Sovereigns can produce Sovereign artifacts, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to hand them out easily. Otherwise, the war will just become a comparison between Sovereign artifacts, and we will have to refine artifacts every day. So, we should limit the numbers given.”

The Sovereigns agreed again. When Sovereigns were first born, they didn’t distinct themselves from deities much, but after millions of years, that changed. They were Sovereigns, the rulers of the universe. It would be an honor for deities to serve them. How could they work their asses off to refine artifacts for these ants?

“How are the limits determined?” Morgan asked, looking at Akasha.

“Aside from direct family members, each Sovereign will only be allowed to accept a set number of emissaries,” Akasha said.

“And what determines the set limit?” Moirai asked.

Akasha smiled. “Strength!”

He scanned the Sovereigns present. “Lesser Sovereigns will only be able to accept two. Intermediate Sovereigns can accept four. Chief Sovereigns can accept eight, and Grand Sovereigns can accept nine.”

The Intermediate and Lesser Sovereign’s frowned, and they looked at the High Sovereigns, who were nodding. However, they still had one question.

“What is a Chief Sovereign and Grand Sovereign?” Vulcan, the High Sovereign of Fire, asked.

“A Chief Sovereign is a High Sovereign, and a Grand Sovereign is one of the four strongest Sovereigns. The Grand Sovereigns will be in charge of punishing any Sovereign who breaks the rules,” Akasha said.

Morgan, Viviane, and Moirai didn’t show any surprise, so it was obvious Akasha had already discussed it beforehand.

Many of the elemental High Sovereigns showed ugly expressions. Judging from the seating arrangement, they already knew who the four Grand Sovereigns were. None of the High Sovereigns had good expressions. No one wanted their life and death dictated by someone else.

“And how do you determine the strength required to become a Grand Sovereign?” Nyx, the High Sovereign of Darkness, asked.

A playful smile appeared on Morgan’s face as she stared at the High Sovereigns. “It’s simple. Defeat one of us in front of all the Sovereigns. Of course, you must also be prepared for death.”

The elemental High Sovereigns stared at the four Grand Sovereigns, each with their own thoughts. At this time, Hurley stood out and said. “I agree.”

The other High Sovereigns stared at Hurley in anger. They knew that the elemental Sovereigns stood at a disadvantage against the edict Sovereigns. Only if all seven united would they have a chance to kill the four Grand Sovereigns.

However, Hurley ignored them. He had his own plans, and this arrangement also benefited him. He wasn’t like the other High Sovereigns, he had another portion of Will thanks to his Lesser Earth Sovereign clone. In his eyes, as long as he fused enough mysteries, becoming a Grand Sovereign wasn’t a problem.

“Do you have anything else to add?” Akasha asked, looking at the six High Sovereigns. The six could only grit their teeth and accept it for now.

Akasha nodded. “There are still a few more rules. Just like Sovereign artifacts, Sovereign’s Might should not be given out easily. Otherwise, it will reduce the value of the currency.”

The acceptance of inkstone and other currency resulting from Sovereign power had already spread throughout the Four Higher Realms, and the Sovereigns would only be happier if the value of the currency rose.

“Oh, and one more thing.” Akasha scanned the Sovereigns once more and a baleful aura covered him. The weaker Sovereigns immediately paled with fright. Even the High Sovereigns’ pupils shrunk into needlepoints. “Soul mutates are not allowed to become Sovereigns. Any Sovereign discovered to be a soul mutate will die!”