Zijing

"Zijing, from what you just said, does that mean you and Leisijing were both born from the Amethyst Mountains, and that he isn't your biological son?" Lincoln seized on one detail in her words and asked in surprise.

Zijing nodded and reminisced, "I was born long ago and came to rule over the entire Amethyst Mountains. Later, by a stroke of luck, I obtained a Sovereign Spark and became a Chief God. Many years after that, a second Amethyst Divine Beast was born from the Amethyst Jade Marrow. That was Leisijing. Technically, he's my younger brother, but I've always raised him as my son, so I told him I was his mother. Very few people know about this. Please don't tell him, or he'll throw another tantrum."

Lincoln smiled, still puzzled. "If so few people know, why tell me?"

"Because I feel a certain kinship with you." Zijing rose to her feet and looked toward Blood Peak Continent. "Lincoln, our experiences are actually quite similar. Your Sovereign Spark came from Aikes, who was killed by Augusta. For some unknown reason, it drifted into a Material Plane, where you found and refined it."

"My Sovereign Spark came from Pontos, who was killed by the Four Divine Beasts. This happened a very long time ago. Pontos was the previous Intermediate Sovereign of Destruction. He clashed with the Four Divine Beasts, and they fought outside Hell. To everyone's surprise, the Four Divine Beasts' combined divine ability was so powerful that they killed Pontos. But several Chief Gods were fighting at the time, and the Four Divine Beasts didn't have a chance to claim the Sovereign Spark. It was very close to me in the Spatial Turbulence, so I took the risk of banishing myself there and successfully refined it."

"Of course, when I refined it, I didn't know where the Sovereign Spark had come from."

Zijing explained at length, and Lincoln listened intently. "So that's what happened." These were secrets among the Chief Gods, some of them even personal matters. Before becoming a Chief God, Lincoln would never have had access to such information.

"So later, when the Four Divine Beasts came after me, I was fortunate that the Destruction Chief Sovereign and the Thunder Sovereign at the time both took my side and spoke up for me. I also agreed to owe the Four Divine Beasts a favor, and that was that."

So that was how it was. Lincoln's eyes lit up. In the original story, Zijing owed the Four Divine Beasts Clan a favor, yet after the Four Divine Beasts fell and their clan began to decline, she never offered even a word of help. One word from the Blood Peak Chief God had been enough to make the Eight Great Clans retreat. If Zijing had wanted to help, she should have done something similar. Instead, she'd merely given the Soul Stone to Linley, who wasn't even a close member of the Four Divine Beasts Clan. Now it all made sense.

Lincoln sorted through the pieces in his mind, then asked, "Zijing, you just mentioned the Thunder Sovereign at the time. Does that mean a Chief Sovereign has fallen over the countless years?"

"Yes. Of the eleven Chief Sovereigns, two have fallen over the countless years: the Chief Sovereign of Light and the Thunder Sovereign."

"Two fell—the Chief Sovereign of Light and the Thunder Sovereign." Lincoln repeated her words, lost in thought.

"The previous Chief Sovereign of Light offended Lord Orf, who killed him. His Sovereign Spark was lost in the Spatial Turbulence, and Augusta didn't find and refine it until many years later. Perhaps because he feared Lord Orf, Augusta, despite his domineering nature, maintained very close ties with him." Zijing patiently explained what had happened back then.

Lincoln listened quietly, unsurprised. It made perfect sense that Orf would secure a Sovereign Spark for his Light God Clone.

"The previous Thunder Sovereign, Leiaolangduo, died a very unjust death." Zijing paused and took a deep breath. "At the time, the Low-Sovereign of Earth, Hullei, offended him and fled to a Material Plane. In his fury, Leiaolangduo descended into that Material Plane with his true Chief God body. As a result, the Material Plane collapsed, and the Overgod of Destruction completely erased all his Divine Clones."

What Zijing said struck Lincoln as odd. "Chief Gods can't enter a Material Plane they weren't born in. That's an ironclad rule. Would the Thunder Sovereign not have known? Or had the Overgods never stated that rule before?"

Zijing shook her head. "They never have. The Overgods have never told us how the world should work or what duties the Chief Gods should perform. The moment you break a taboo, you're doomed."

Hearing her say that reminded Lincoln of something else. He asked, "So the reason Heaven won ten consecutive victories in the Plane Battlefield and all the Fate Sovereigns received a share of Willpower was that no one knew about the reward for a ten-win streak?"

Zijing smiled bitterly. "That's right. The Fate Sovereigns were lucky. Otherwise, with all the other Chief Gods working together to stop them, even Heaven couldn't have achieved ten consecutive wins. Since then, there have been four nine-win streaks over the countless years. Each time, the other side fought frantically to block them in the final battle. No one has won ten in a row since."

Lincoln shook his head too. He didn't believe Heaven had simply gotten lucky and become the first—and only—realm to receive the Ten-Streak Reward. Perhaps while the other Chief Gods thought the Plane Battlefield was just another game devised by the Overgods, Orf had already begun plotting to win more battles there. He might not have known how many victories it would take to trigger a change, but he had been willing to work toward it.

"Wait," Lincoln asked again. "Even if the Overgods gave no warning, Chief Gods have existed for so many years. Didn't any of them try entering a Material Plane?"

Zijing sighed once more. "They did. At the very beginning, when the Chief Gods were at war, the Intermediate and Low Chief Gods felt completely unsafe. Some of them wanted to hide in Material Planes. After all, there are as many Material Planes as grains of sand in the Ganges. If you picked one at random and hid there, it would be very hard to find you. But the moment they sent their will into a Material Plane, the entire plane began to tremble, and in the end no one dared enter. Hullei, however, was being hunted by Leiaolangduo and was in mortal danger. He chose to flee to the Material Plane where he was born, becoming the first Chief God to enter his own home plane after becoming one. When Leiaolangduo saw that nothing happened to him, he dared to enter, too. Who could have guessed he'd never return? Meanwhile, Hullei obtained his Thunder Sovereign Spark. He became the Thunder Sovereign and also gained the Willpower that came from refining an additional Sovereign Spark, making him the strongest of the Law Sovereigns."

Lincoln was speechless. Leiaolangduo really had been incredibly unlucky. He'd been "the first to taste the tomato," only to find it poisonous. Hullei, on the other hand, seemed to have been handed the protagonist's script, even stumbling into a windfall from the heavens. After all, the Overgods were the heavens themselves. The Overgod had killed the Thunder Sovereign right beside him, and the High-Sovereign Spark had practically been delivered straight to his door.

After their long, in-depth conversation, Lincoln sincerely thanked Zijing and took his leave. He also warmly invited her to visit the Darkness Divine Plane and the Chainis Plane whenever she had time. Zijing was a Divine Beast of Destruction and Earth, and her Earth Divine Clone could enter a Material Plane. Of course, if she had no other choice, she could also follow the example of the Death Chief Sovereign and use a Projection Clone.

Lincoln had gained a great deal. He tore open space and left Hell, preparing to return to the Chainis Plane through the Spatial Turbulence. Fortunately, he still had a Divine Clone in the Chainis Plane. Otherwise, faced with the boundless Spatial Turbulence and traveling through it for the first time, he might not have been able to find his way.