A Lonely Trial

A savage look flashed in Uthred's eyes. With a single-handed grip, a black spear radiating the aura of a Supreme God and crushing the surrounding space appeared, its tip pointed directly at Desterie!

Desterie was a "Sovereign," yet he dared to kill a Sovereign of Destruction and refine a Chief God Spark right before his eyes. Furthermore, this matter was inextricably linked to him; for Uthred, this was nothing short of a total loss of face!

However, the distance was simply too great. He could only watch helplessly as Desterie offered a faint smile, stepping into the Mulan Material Plane with calm, unhurried ease—Uthred's material attacks could not harm him, and Desterie had no intention of revealing that he had already completed the second Supreme God of Destruction mission.

Seeing that Desterie was now beyond his reach, Uthred was utterly powerless. He could only vent his fury with a strike against the surrounding spatial turbulence, carving out a massive spatial rift over ten thousand miles long.

At this moment, Orloff and the other two had also arrived. Lilith glared at Uthred and reminded him, "Uthred, don't forget, the agreement was made beforehand. This battle between Desterie and Xingyi was to decide not just the victor, but who would live and who would die!"

Uthred raged, "But his strength is clearly that of a Sovereign!"

Orloff shook his head and laughed, "Desterie has indeed been claiming he possesses Sovereign-level strength, but you and Xingyi have never acknowledged it. If you want to use this as a reason to attack him, it won't hold any water."

Many Sovereigns followed the four Sovereigns and descended into the vicinity of the Mulan Plane. At this very moment, a spatial rift opened above the membrane of the Mulan Plane, and a divine sense probed out, manipulating a vast amount of Sovereign Power of Destruction to condense into an energy projection avatar.

As long as they were not in a material plane that was not their home, a Sovereign's energy projection or giant face projection could carry Willpower.

Desterie's energy avatar laughed, "Seeing Lord Uthred charging over so aggressively just now, I had no choice but to hide inside. I hope you lords will not take offense."

Uthred's gaze remained cold and sharp. He quickly sorted through the sequence of events in his mind and snapped, "Xingyi would never gamble with his own life by rashly attacking a Sovereign. When he blocked you from returning to the material plane via the teleportation array earlier, did you deliberately feign weak material defense to lure Xingyi into attacking, all to seize the Chief God Spark of Destruction?"

Desterie also let out a cold laugh, deliberately adopting a mocking, sarcastic tone, "Oh, supreme Sovereign of Destruction, don't say I deliberately feigned weakness. Even if I did, does that mean Xingyi is allowed to disrespect a Sovereign, belittle a Sovereign, and try to kill a Sovereign?

If I am a Sovereign, then he was being disrespectful. If I am not a Sovereign, then it was simply a battle between peers. Xingyi bullied me to this extent; does the Sovereign of Destruction really expect me not to fight back? I already spared the Four Divine Beasts before. If I let Xingyi go this time, what would the status of a 'Sovereign' even be worth? Wouldn't the Sovereign agreement established by the four of you become a joke?"

"That's right, Uthred. Xingyi's actions were truly self-inflicted!" Lilith chimed in.

Uthred glanced at Lilith, then suddenly turned to look at Orloff. "Lilith, your relationship with him is indeed as close as ever. Orloff, do you think so too?"

Orloff understood Uthred's implication. Desterie was a unique Sovereign who occupied the slots of both Fate and Destruction Sovereigns and had even taken a Supreme God Token, yet he was closest to the Sovereign of Death. He was a massive, uncontrollable variable.

But for Orloff, there was no point in judging Desterie now—they simply could not judge a Sovereign who was hiding within a material plane.

Moreover, hindered by the Supreme God Token and Iluka, he did not want to burn bridges with Desterie just yet, so he said, "Uthred, if Xingyi's actions were correct, then in the future, could the likes of Hullei or Augusta claim they misjudged our strength, then belittle us, disrespect us, or even attack us, only to use 'mistaken identity' as an excuse to avoid paying the price?

You were also deceived by Xingyi; why bother sticking your neck out for him?"

Uthred was left speechless, never expecting that he would end up isolated and without support.

"Desterie, I will be waiting for you to take over the Starry Fog Sea!" Seeing that he was outnumbered, Uthred looked at Desterie with a cold face and murderous intent before drifting away. There was no need for him to stay any longer. Given the current attitude of the other three Sovereigns of Rules toward Desterie, taking him down would be extremely difficult. Furthermore, both Orloff and Lilith had the potential to win Desterie's allegiance, and Desterie would certainly never choose to hand the Supreme God Token to him!

Following Uthred's departure, the other Sovereigns of Destruction and those who followed Uthred also left one after another.

The Four Divine Beasts naturally followed suit, though their expressions were worried and grim—from their perspective, the secret alliance between Desterie and Orloff was basically confirmed! This meant they were already in danger. The threat from the Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, was not something that could be solved by the birth of a new ordinary Sovereign in their clan. Now, compared to killing Polk, they had far more important things to do!

Leiding looked up at Uthred, who was far ahead; he was their only hope.

On the other side, seeing the three Sovereigns of Rules still lingering outside the Mulan Plane, all the Sovereigns knew they must still have matters to discuss with Desterie, and they all withdrew one by one.

"Orloff, I hope your actions today can truly earn you the Supreme God Token in Desterie's hands!" Just as Orloff was about to speak, he heard a distant, blurred transmission—it was the unwilling and resentful Uthred.

Orloff couldn't help but smile. He turned to Desterie and said, "Desterie, my previous proposal still stands. As long as you are willing, I can teach you the method to increase your physical strength."

He asked this as a test; if Desterie showed no attachment to the method of strengthening the body, it would mean there were other ways to improve material defense at the Sovereign stage.

Desterie laughed, "Lord Orloff, Lady Lilith, and Lady Vivian, thank you all for speaking up for me today. However, Lord Orloff, although I am very eager to obtain a Sovereign-level body, I am unwilling to give up on the Supreme God mission just yet.

Furthermore, although I obtained this Termination Bead, all three of you have helped me quite a bit. It is truly difficult to decide who to give it to. How about this, my lords: whoever among you can find either of the other two Supreme God Tokens of Destruction before I do, I will give the Termination Bead to that person, without any additional cost."