In the Magic Universe, the divine planes occupied vast stretches of space. But apart from the endless Spatial Turbulence, the largest areas were still the countless Material Planes, which formed the foundation of the entire universe.
Over the endless ages, many Material Planes had produced countless top-tier powerhouses. One plane had stood out among the rest since the beginning of Heaven and Earth. It was the home of one of the universe's eleven Sovereigns, the oldest Sovereign of Water in existence. That plane was called the Qingya Plane.
"Buzz~~"
As the teleportation array lit up, a hazy figure slowly took shape above the snow-covered ice plain, resolving into Hope.
"Greetings, Sovereign!"
Beside the teleportation array, a silver-haired Highgod sprang to his feet and dropped to his knees, speaking with reverence.
Although the guardians of most divine planes were Lowgods or Midgods, the Qingya Plane was different. Because the Sovereign of Water was from there, Highgods from the Sovereign's army had been assigned to guard it for years.
Hope paid no attention to the silver-haired elder. He turned into a streak of light and shot across the sky, vanishing above the Arctic Ice Plain in an instant.
"The Sovereign has returned. I wonder what brought him back this time?"
The silver-haired elder rose unsteadily and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He had guarded the teleportation array for hundreds of millions of years, but this was his first time seeing the Sovereign. It was only natural that he felt excited.
The Water Elemental Plane had specifically assigned Highgods to guard the Qingya Plane. The Sovereign rarely returned, and most Highgods had never seen him, but that did not stop them from carrying out their duties diligently.
"Hasn't it been a hundred trillion years since my last visit?"
Hope's divine sense spread across the entire plane, swiftly scanning its many regions.
Since becoming the Sovereign of Water, Hope had witnessed countless changes to the continents and the rise and fall of civilizations. As for his home, the Qingya Plane, he never interfered with its development unless something truly serious happened.
"Whoosh!"
With a thought from Hope, a golden sphere radiating an ancient aura rose from the depths of the South Sea and streaked toward him, coming to a stop at his side.
Hope placed his right hand on the golden sphere. Wave after wave of information flowed into his mind. The entire plane seemed to become part of his body, merging completely with his consciousness.
The Heart of Qingya was a Heaven and Earth Wonder that Hope had stumbled upon in the early days of Heaven and Earth. It had formed beneath the South Sea in the Qingya Plane.
At first, Hope had paid it no attention. Only when the divine planes came into being did the Heart of Qingya suddenly rise from the seabed, catching his notice. He infused it with his blood, and it sent him a strange message.
The Heart of Qingya was a unique Heaven and Earth Wonder belonging to the Qingya Material Plane. It could be claimed by shedding blood on it. Whoever controlled it could monitor everything happening across the Qingya Plane, but could not take it beyond the plane.
When Hope first obtained the Heart of Qingya, he had been astonished for a long time. It was a unique Heaven and Earth Wonder that had never appeared in his memories of Blue Star, so he studied it for quite a while.
However, apart from monitoring the plane, Hope had found no practical use for it. He had put it aside and gone to the Supreme Plane. Later, after becoming the Sovereign of Water, he had studied it at length again. In the end, he found that it was somewhat like the Heart of the Netherworld, but not particularly useful.
The Heart of Qingya could only help him monitor the plane. It did nothing to increase his strength, nor could it control the souls of Qingya Plane's inhabitants the way the Heart of the Netherworld controlled the undead.
Hope had also searched for similar Heaven and Earth Wonders in other planes, but had never found another plane core. In the end, he had let the matter drop.
After taking a quick look at how the Qingya Plane had developed over the years, Hope clapped his hands. The Heart of Qingya turned into a shooting star and plunged back into the depths of the sea.
"Whoosh!"
At a thought from Hope, four enormous corpses appeared in midair. Each had a different crystal embedded in its forehead.
Hope moved his right hand, and the four Sovereign Sparks shot into the air, circling around him before vanishing into his Spatial Ring.
The next moment, divine power surged within Hope. A watery blue light flashed in his eyes as a powerful pressure bore down on the corpses of the Four Divine Beasts. Vast quantities of bright red blood rose from them.
"Hiss, hiss~~"
Blood still coursed through the Four Divine Beasts' bodies. Even after their deaths, the terrifying energy within the blood of these Super Divine Beasts did not simply disappear. Just one drop, if it flowed into a Material Plane, could exert a pressure that even a Deity-level powerhouse might be unable to resist.
As Hope's Sovereign's Might flowed, a watery blue vortex took shape. The bright red blood poured into it, releasing a terrifying energy. Like blood brought to a boil, it gradually diminished until it finally gathered into four golden droplets.
The golden liquid was the essence extracted from the Four Divine Beasts' entire bodies. It represented the true source of their power and contained the secret behind their ability to fuse their Innate Divine Abilities. It was also what the Sovereign of Destruction most wanted to learn.
"About three hundred drops of essence from each?"
Hope scanned the blood essence with his divine sense, then fell into thought.
Hope was naturally interested in the Four Divine Beasts' Innate Divine Abilities, but studying them was no easy task. Utrade was a Super Divine Beast himself, and even after countless years, he still had not succeeded.
What Hope cared about most, however, was not the Innate Divine Abilities contained in the blood essence. It was the possibility of fusing Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire, because that was the only way to transcend this universe.
Yet Hope had no idea how to transcend it. He had studied Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire, as well as Soul Mutation, for countless years, but had found no way to make it happen.
"Hmm? What's going on?"
Hope had been thinking for only a moment when he suddenly looked up toward the distance. The seabed of the South Sea began to shake violently, and soon the tremors spread across the entire Qingya Plane.
"Buzz~~"
The golden sphere suddenly shot into the sky, radiating a powerful wave of energy. The Heart of Qingya seemed to have been drawn toward something.
"What's going on?"
A rare look of surprise crossed Hope's usually placid face. Nothing like this had ever happened since he obtained the Heart of Qingya.
The Heart of Qingya fell like a meteor and appeared before Hope in an instant. A powerful suction force swept toward the Four Divine Beasts' blood essence, and a large amount of it immediately fused into the Heart of Qingya's surface.
"What's going on?"
By the time Hope reacted, the blood essence of each of the Four Divine Beasts had already lost two hundred drops. A dazzling light shone across the Heart of Qingya's surface.
"Rumble~~"
As beams of golden light descended from the sky, a Golden Island slowly took shape above the South Sea. The Heart of Qingya resonated with the island from afar. Seven-colored light flashed across its surface, dividing it into four regions. Four new pulses of life slowly emerged.
"Is it... nurturing divine beasts?"
Hope's divine sense swept over the Golden Island, and he froze. From each of its four regions came a faint pulse of life. From what he could sense, they shared the same origins as the Four Divine Beasts.
After absorbing the Four Divine Beasts' blood essence, the Heart of Qingya had begun to nurture a new Four Divine Beasts in the Qingya Plane!