Vivian covered her mouth with a laugh and gave Desterie a teasing look, staring at him until he grew uneasy. "I just happened to hear you'd come to the Life God Realm, so I thought I'd see you. What, do you only know how to fawn over Eldest Sister, and have completely forgotten about me?
"Don't forget, I was the one who recommended you for the Sovereign rank. And when Orloff tried to kill Iluka, I rushed over to help, too."
Desterie was baffled. He and Vivian weren't close, so why did she care so much whether he visited her, and why was she saying all this to draw them closer?
Seeing that Desterie was at a loss, Vivian changed the subject and stopped speaking in riddles. "I heard you're recruiting Sovereign's Emissaries. Would you like me to introduce you to a few?"
Desterie was taken aback. He had indeed planned to do that, and had looked into the experts in the Life God Realm. But apart from taking Edric under his wing, he hadn't told anyone else he was interested.
Dracula chuckled and added, "A few days ago, I planned to take Edric on as my Sovereign's Emissary. Who knew that such a fine talent would already have been snatched up? When I asked around, I learned you had gotten to him first. I also found out a few other things, which I reported to Lady Vivian."
Only then did Desterie begin to understand. The meaning was crystal clear: Edric must have buckled under pressure and revealed the matter of collecting Black Pearls. And Dracula hadn't been confident about facing him, so he'd simply reported everything to Vivian to earn favor.
But these were all guesses, so Desterie asked vaguely, "What do you mean, Lady Vivian?"
Vivian smiled calmly. "I'm simply curious about what kind of Heaven and Earth Exotic Item that Black Pearl is, that the Four Divine Beasts Clan would collect it so secretively—and that you would care about it so much."
It seemed this Sovereign of Life wasn't as detached as he had imagined. Desterie pondered this, quickly weighing his options, then thought of the Red Diamond Crystal.
"Since the Sovereign already knows, I won't hide it from you. The Black Pearl is a treasure that can merge with the soul, and it can increase one's strength a hundredfold. I once heard of an ordinary Highgod who used one to kill a Six-Star Demon. But as you know, many methods and treasures work on god-level beings but have no effect on Sovereigns. So I'm trying to obtain the Black Pearl for my niece.
"I don't know how much the Four Divine Beasts know about it, but my niece refined a Divine Spark, so it's difficult for her to improve her strength. That's why I wanted to take advantage of the Four Divine Beasts Clan's extensive search for Heaven and Earth Exotic Items to get my hands on the Black Pearl."
Dracula sighed. "If it can make someone a hundred times stronger at the god level, then wouldn't a top Asura with a special talent who got hold of one nearly be able to catch up to a Paragon?"
The difference between a Paragon and a top Asura was the fusion of one more profound mystery and an additional portion of Willpower—in rough terms, a hundredfold gap. But going from having no Willpower to having it was a difference of at least a hundredfold.
Desterie smiled. "Anyone who's never possessed Willpower can never understand its power, or its ability to turn the impossible into reality. I don't think a single Heaven and Earth Exotic Item could let someone catch up."
After learning all this, Vivian no longer seemed interested. She chatted a while longer, then took her leave, reminding him before she went, "Edric was afraid you'd punish him, so he never dared to tell me about the task you assigned him. I promised to spare his life, so don't kill him over this."
Desterie smiled and agreed, but in his heart, he had already sentenced Edric to death. He would just have to arrange things in a roundabout way to bring it about. Caught between Sovereigns, with so much at stake, Edric was simply unlucky.
He was only a Sovereign's Emissary, and he'd contributed nothing before bringing the problem straight to Desterie. He deserved to die.
After leaving the Moon God Elf Clan, Desterie decided not to waste any more time in the Life God Realm. He immediately set off, flying toward the nearest Plane Teleportation Array.
Three hundred years later, the decisive battle of the second Plane War of this round began: Hell against the Radiant Divine Plane.
This was Desterie's first time observing a Plane War as a "Sovereign." When his Life Divine Clone followed the Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, to the Spatial Turbulence outside the Plane Battlefield, everyone turned to him in surprise.
Sovereign of Death Lilith was no exception.
Desterie smiled and said, "Everyone, my Sovereign clone is in the Creation God Plane, so he couldn't come. But I didn't want to miss this Plane War, so I asked Lord Orloff to bring me along to watch."
He called it watching, but there was actually nothing to see. A Divine Clone's divine sense couldn't reach into the Plane Battlefield.
"Heh, no wonder Desterie wanted to come to the Plane Battlefield even while creating the Creation God Plane. After all, he got his Sovereign Spark on a Plane Battlefield. It's understandable that he's so fond of Plane Wars. Perhaps he's even hoping to pick up a Life Sovereign Spark in this one!" Augusta sneered.
Though Orloff had already made his decision, he still felt that it wasn't enough to vent his anger.
Vivian's smile faded. "Augusta, watch your words. All seven Sovereigns of the Life faction are alive and well. How could there be an extra Sovereign Spark lying around?"
But this time, Orloff, who usually chose his words carefully, unexpectedly spoke up. "That's not necessarily true. It could be a Life Sovereign, or a Death Sovereign, or even a Destruction Sovereign. I've looked into Desterie's past these last few years. He's truly a Child of Fate. A few more unlucky people might make him even stronger. When the last decisive battle began, the Fate Sovereigns were all accounted for, yet Desterie still became a Sovereign."
The more Desterie listened, the more wrong it sounded. Wasn't this just making enemies for him? Who could be more favored than Orloff? He'd started out as a Paragon Sovereign and a Dual-Body Overlord, running straight from the starting line to where others finished. So he quickly cut in, "Lord Orloff is joking. Getting one Sovereign Spark was already a stroke of fate's favor. How could I possibly get another?"
Lilith teased him through a sound transmission, "You're as reliably disappointing as ever. It's only been ten thousand years, and you've already managed to make Orloff lose his temper."
Desterie gave an awkward smile and didn't reply. There was no way the other Sovereigns hadn't heard the sound transmission from his Life Divine Clone.
Since this battle involved Hell, the Four Divine Beasts had come as well. They stood behind Uthred with the Blood Peak Sovereign, watching everything coldly.
Bowen sighed. "Big Brother, your guess was right after all. If those two hadn't already been on the same side, how could they still get along so peacefully after what happened?"
Leiding agreed. "Hmph, what a flimsy excuse about creating a divine plane. Ten thousand years is enough to create ten divine planes. He deliberately didn't bring his Sovereign clone, so we'd think he still feared Orloff might attack him. That's why he sent a weaker Divine Clone instead!"
Nemo was a little indignant. "These Sovereigns are obviously so powerful, yet every one of them has a mind full of twists and turns. It's disgusting!"
Ers sighed. "It's a shame. We've searched for ten thousand years and haven't found a single token. Could someone have completed this mission ahead of us?"
Before you continue