Four Sovereigns at Odds

"Lord Utrecht, one of the younger members of our Four Divine Beasts Clan has gone missing, so I'd like to cover Hell with my divine sense and search for him," Azure Dragon said with a hint of deference.

The Four Divine Beasts could treat ordinary Law Sovereigns as equals. But the Four Rules Sovereigns were different; they were far stronger than the other Sovereigns.

It wasn't just because they had Supreme Artifacts. Of the four Rules Sovereigns, three were Paragons. The last one wasn't, but he was a Super Divine Beast. In terms of his Innate Divine Ability alone, he was no weaker than Azure Dragon.

And the one speaking with him now was the most powerful being in Hell, Sovereign of Destruction Utrecht. He was not only a Paragon High-level Sovereign, but also a Super Divine Beast in his true form, with a body comparable to a Sovereign Artifact. His Innate Divine Ability was terrifying, too. On top of that, Destruction Law excelled most in physical attacks. Combined with a Supreme Artifact that enhanced physical attacks, he was unquestionably the strongest physical attacker in all creation.

In the face of such a being, even the proud Four Divine Beasts had to bow their heads. Especially since they lived in Hell themselves and, on the surface, were under the Sovereign of Destruction's command.

"Azure Dragon, one of your descendants goes missing, and you want to cover Hell with your divine sense? There are so many Sovereigns in this world, each with who knows how many descendants. If everyone did that, wouldn't it throw everything into chaos?" said a hawk-nosed man with narrow eyes from the direction of Muya Continent, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

The other Sovereigns were watching, too. It had been countless years since a Sovereign's divine sense had covered Hell. Not because they couldn't do it, but because Sovereigns generally respected one another and valued their privacy. No one liked being watched by someone else's divine sense.

Of course, if something important came up and they needed to notify the other Sovereigns, that was fine. They only needed a good reason.

But for Sovereigns with endless lifespans, important matters rarely came up. Most of them simply enjoyed their lives on their own turf. When they occasionally needed to contact another Sovereign, they did so privately, trying not to disturb anyone else.

This wasn't exactly a major matter, and a simple explanation should have been enough. Still, Azure Dragon's reason was bound to irritate people. Searching for a Sovereign's son or grandson would have made sense, but a mere descendant? There could be far too many of those.

Yet the Four Divine Beasts were powerful, and no one would risk a conflict with them over this. Now that Teresia, the Wind Sovereign, had stepped forward, everyone could just sit back and watch.

"Of course he wasn't just any descendant. He was one I had high hopes for," Azure Dragon said, knowing his excuse didn't sound convincing. He offered a casual explanation.

Still, he was a Sovereign-level figure, and being challenged by a Lower Sovereign left him displeased. "Teresia, this is Hell. What does it have to do with you, a Wind Sovereign?"

"Teresia, you're out of line. We Sovereigns should respect one another, but does that mean it's forbidden to cover Hell with our divine sense to look for something? As long as we don't deliberately pry into another Sovereign's secrets, it should be fine," said a Sovereign from Exa Continent.

"Hmph!" Teresia said no more. Though he was a Paragon, he was still only a Lower Sovereign. Even if he fought Azure Dragon, he might not win—not to mention the Four Divine Beasts' Combined Innate Divine Ability. And the one who had just challenged him was a Destruction Sovereign from Exa Continent, whose strength was no less than his own.

Though the Sovereigns living in Hell had all pledged themselves to the Sovereign of Destruction, their group was still divided into factions. Some had close ties with the Four Divine Beasts, while others were less friendly, and some even had conflicts with them. But under the Sovereign Agreement, none of them would engage in an actual fight.

"Enough. We all live in Hell. There's no need to clash over something like this. Azure Dragon, did you find your descendant?" The Sovereign of Destruction spoke, and all the other Sovereigns fell silent.

"No. It seems he isn't in Hell," Azure Dragon replied.

He hadn't found any Saint-level Azure Dragons in Hell, nor had he found any Gods with a soul aura like his.

But earlier, he had sensed, from somewhere beyond the ordinary world, a soul aura almost identical to his own. That had left him puzzled. Even if another Super Divine Beast had been born, how could its aura be exactly the same?

Still, the world was vast, and time stretched beyond measure. No one knew what extraordinary things might happen.

What if another Azure Dragon Divine Beast appeared, one with an aura like his? That was what worried him most. If another Sovereign noticed a God with an aura close to that of a Sovereign, then even if this new Azure Dragon Divine Beast never used its Innate Divine Ability, some Sovereign might discover it.

"Very well. Everyone can disperse," the Sovereign of Destruction said, and the others withdrew their divine senses.

"Big brother, if he's not in Hell, should we look in the other planes?" White Tiger asked.

"Good. Since we have a reason, we may as well search them all at once," Azure Dragon said decisively.

The four of them then flew together toward the teleportation array on Blood Peak Continent. As a group of Sovereign-level beings, they couldn't risk splitting up. Any Sovereign could kill them if they were alone.

Half a day later, the Four Divine Beasts hovered in the Spatial Turbulence outside the Darkness Divine Plane. The terrifying energy of the Spatial Turbulence had no effect on them.

"Haha! That Sovereign of Darkness really lost face after we put him in his place," White Tiger laughed.

"Too bad he backed down. If he'd dared to come, we wouldn't have minded adding a Sovereign of Darkness to our clan," Black Tortoise said with a loud laugh.

"Forget it. A High-level Sovereign who hasn't fused many Mysteries isn't much use. He'd only put himself in danger. We should focus on taking down the Sovereigns of Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind," Azure Dragon said.

"Those four cowards hide whenever they see us. They don't dare come near, so they're hard to deal with," Vermilion Bird said proudly.

Their Combined Innate Divine Ability could threaten ordinary Sovereigns, but their speed was far inferior. Their opponents could keep their distance, leaving the Four Divine Beasts helpless.

"Fighting to the death isn't so easy. Without absolute certainty, we shouldn't consider it," Azure Dragon said, shaking his head. Their ultimate technique could indeed threaten a Sovereign, but a Sovereign's attacks could kill them just as easily.

If even one of the four was killed first—or even injured first—they would be finished. So although they had considered killing one of the Sovereigns of Earth, Water, Fire, or Wind, they didn't dare take that risk lightly.

"We should focus on what's in front of us," Vermilion Bird said. The four of them had been plotting to obtain a High-level Sovereign Spark for billions of years. There was no need to rush.

"We've searched the four Higher Planes and the Seven Divine Planes, and found nothing. Either no new Azure Dragon Divine Beast has been born, or its aura isn't as I suspected. Alternatively, it could be in a Material Plane," Azure Dragon said gravely.

"Big brother, you're a Sovereign. You couldn't have imagined that feeling. It must have been a sign from the world itself. Maybe Super Divine Beasts of the same kind really do sense one another," Vermilion Bird reasoned.

They were Sovereigns, powerful beings, but compared with the vast world, there were still countless things they didn't understand.

Take the birth of life, for example. Super Divine Beasts were unique. If a second one really had been born, perhaps they truly could sense one another.

"Since we can't find him ourselves, we'll have to ask the clan to look," White Tiger said. As Sovereigns, they cared deeply about their descendants. It wasn't only because of their blood ties; they could also use the vast numbers of their clansmen to work for them.

After all, no matter how powerful a Sovereign was, there was still only one of them. A wide-reaching divine sense didn't mean they could do many things at once, let alone search the hundreds of millions of Material Planes that Sovereigns couldn't enter.

"But we can't tell them we're looking for an Azure Dragon Divine Beast. The other Sovereigns would find out," Azure Dragon said.

"We can tell a few people. The rest can do the work," White Tiger said.

"But they'll need some information to search for him, won't they?" Azure Dragon asked. How could he send people to find someone without telling them who they were looking for?

"I think the most likely possibility is that an Azure Dragon Divine Beast was born in a Material Plane," Vermilion Bird said after a moment's thought. "The world wouldn't give big brother a sign like that for no reason.

"We've checked the four Higher Planes and the Seven Divine Planes. At least, we haven't found any Saint-level Azure Dragon Divine Beasts. He might have already become a God, in which case we wouldn't know what he looked like or what his soul aura was, and we couldn't search for him. But that seems unlikely. I think he was probably just born.

"Instead, we can have our clansmen search the Material Planes for Divine Beasts. We can say publicly that we're looking for other powerful Divine Beasts to study; plenty of Sovereigns have done that, so it wouldn't seem strange. But if the clan comes across someone who can use Dragon Roar, especially someone who has never been to a Higher Plane, then there's a very good chance that's him."

"There are hundreds of millions of Material Planes. How are we supposed to search them all?" Black Tortoise asked with a frown.

"It's like looking for a needle in a haystack, but we really don't have any better options," Azure Dragon said with a nod. "Still, we can't make it clear that we're only searching the Material Planes. We should issue orders in the Divine Planes as well, or the other Sovereigns might notice something. We don't have much control over the Material Planes, so we'll have to do this quietly."

"Without knowing his soul aura or appearance, it'll certainly be hard to find him," White Tiger added.

Even Sovereigns weren't omnipotent. They didn't even know who they were looking for, so how could they find him? And they had to keep the whole thing secret.