Without thinking twice, Sean focused, and the Earth Element in front of him condensed into a needle. It quickly pierced his finger, and a drop of blood welled up. Guided by his soul force, it fell onto the pitch-black Coiling Dragon Ring.
A hazy, pale green light shone across the Coiling Dragon Ring's surface. If Sean hadn't been watching closely, he might not have noticed it. A few seconds later, the ring's glow faded. It remained suspended in the air, held in place by his soul force, but Sean couldn't feel any protection within his soul.
It's probably because I'm still below the divine level. I can't fully activate this Soul-Protecting Sovereign Artifact yet, Sean thought. At that moment, he didn't dare say a word, afraid that the god of the Radiant Church might sweep the area with his divine sense.
The natives of the Material Plane probably wouldn't recognize a Sovereign Artifact. But if he carelessly said anything about it, he'd be asking for death.
Although he couldn't feel any change to his soul, Sean knew he had successfully bound the Coiling Dragon Ring to himself. In the original story, Linley had been a child when he bound it. He had simply and accidentally let a little blood drip onto the ring, and it had worked.
At Sean's command, the Coiling Dragon Ring flew into his hand. With another thought, he changed its shape. Linley had made this mistake in the original story, but Sean wouldn't. It was unlikely anyone in this Material Plane would recognize the ring, but there was no harm in changing it. Besides, its original shape was a little too large and looked awkward on his hand. Now that it was smaller, it fit perfectly.
His soul force seeped into the Coiling Dragon Ring. In the original story, this Sovereign Artifact could be used as a Spatial Ring, but Sean tried several times without success. He guessed his level was still too low. Linley seemed to have started using the Coiling Dragon Ring as a Spatial Ring only after reaching the divine level.
After obtaining the Sovereign Artifact, Sean felt much more at ease. As long as he could reach the divine level one day, his Soul Defense would be far stronger than that of anyone at the same level. This was especially true against Innate Divine Abilities. As long as the attack didn't directly strike the Coiling Dragon Ring's opening, his soul would be absolutely invulnerable.
As for "Grandpa Doehring," the one inside the Coiling Dragon Ring, he wouldn't appear here. Ever since the book Coiling Dragon had appeared in Sean's mind, it had told him that no living being or consciousness could be materialized from its pages. He'd have to walk the road ahead by himself. In any case, his talent for the Earth Element was exceptional, and with this golden finger, he could be called heaven-defying.
He just didn't know whether, once he reached the level Linley had attained before becoming a Sovereign, he'd be able to materialize a Supreme Artifact and a Sovereign Spark. That clearly seemed to violate the laws governing the world, especially if the Four Divine Beasts were still alive at that point.
After a while, Sean decided to stop thinking about it. It had no bearing on his present situation. Under normal circumstances, he could never reach the level of strength where Linley killed a Paragon with one punch.
To materialize treasures from the Coiling Dragon book in his mind, he had to follow three rules.
First, his strength had to reach the level Linley had attained. For example, Sean was currently an eighth-level mage, so he could turn to any page from before Linley reached the ninth level.
Second, the treasure had to be unbound. Before Linley's blood touched it, the Coiling Dragon Ring had been unbound, so it could be materialized. But if an artifact had appeared as someone else's weapon, it couldn't be materialized. The same applied to Spatial Rings.
Third, it couldn't violate the most fundamental laws governing the world as it existed. Sean didn't know what those laws were.
Of course, materialization couldn't be repeated. For instance, if something had been materialized from one chapter, it couldn't be materialized again if it appeared in a later chapter, even if it was still unbound.
Furthermore, the second rule's requirement that a treasure be unbound meant that it hadn't been bound to anyone. It didn't mean that it couldn't belong to someone. For example, a gold coin could belong to Linley, but since it couldn't be bound to him, it could still be materialized.
Sean felt more at ease as he ran his fingers over the ring in his hand. It contained three drops of Sovereign's Might. Once he reached the divine level, they'd be lifesaving treasures that would let him fight even a Highgod.
It was a shame about that drop of Azure Dragon Essence Blood. He didn't dare absorb it. In the original story, the Four Ultimate Warriors had been created by Beirut after he'd tested it on who knew how many people. The process had also been highly uncertain, and it might even have been due to the influence of Linley, the child of destiny. Otherwise, the idea of succeeding in just a few thousand years seemed like a dream.
In the Coiling Dragon World, time was the cheapest thing there was. If the Azure Dragon Sovereign had known he could create a descendant with such a bloodline in five thousand years, he might have used his own essence blood for experiments.
Back in his cultivation chamber, Sean sat cross-legged and closed his eyes to meditate. As he absorbed the Earth Element around him, he browsed the Coiling Dragon book in his mind.
He'd just flipped straight to chapter seven to look for a Sovereign Artifact. Now he had to take things one at a time. The other treasures combined couldn't compare to a Sovereign Artifact, but one more was always better than one less.
After looking through the contents, Sean used his soul force to turn directly to the first chapter of the fifth volume, Divine Sword Violet Blood: "The Mysterious Magic Array." There was a Highgod Artifact in that chapter.
As for the mundane weapons and gold coins that appeared earlier, they weren't much use to Sean. As the Radiant Church's most promising Saint-level successor on the Zhongyuan Continent, he'd never lacked such things. He only needed enough gold to get by; having too much was pointless. What he pursued was strength and eternal life.
The first part of this chapter described Linley witnessing two Magic Beasts die together, one Saint-level and the other ninth-level. Sean wouldn't materialize their corpses. They were too large, and if they suddenly appeared in Shengyue City, they'd cause complete chaos. But he did materialize the Magic Beast Core of the dead Saint-level Magic Beast.
"Not a trace of magic leaked out." Sean looked at the fist-sized black core in his hand. Unfortunately, it belonged to a Saint-level Dark Magic Beast and wouldn't help his cultivation.
After putting away the Saint-level Magic Beast Core, Sean once again used his soul force to focus on the Violet Blood Soft Sword in the book. It was an exceptionally powerful weapon, and he could easily materialize it before Linley bound it.
But if he materialized it now, he couldn't be sure whether the Lowgods of the Zhongyuan Material Plane would recognize it. If they did, he'd be in trouble.
After thinking it over, Sean decided not to touch it for now. It wasn't going anywhere in the book. What he needed to do was improve his strength first.
Suddenly, just as Sean turned another page, Linley's name turned yellow as well.
"?" Sean froze. The things marked in red were all items he could materialize. What did Linley's yellow mark mean?
Before you continue