The "Sin" of Beauty

A chapter celebrating beauty's "sin"

"Since the Azure Dragon Army was determined to wipe you out, how did you manage to escape?" Lincoln asked after a brief moment of thought.

Athos calmed down, his expression dark. "Leidolina helped me."

"Leidolina?" Lincoln repeated. "You two were fighting to the death today."

"She did save me, but she also trapped me in misery for more than a hundred thousand years..." Athos continued, "She used her authority as Prefecture Lord to secretly save an ornamental pet. That pet was me. During all the years she controlled me, I wished I were dead. The only thing that kept me going was revenge—against both the Azure Dragon Army and Leidolina. So I kept my head down and cultivated, secretly fusing Profound Mysteries while I was a Mid-God. Finally, ten thousand years ago, when I had nearly fused five Profound Mysteries, I spotted an opportunity: she was traveling to another Divine Plane. While she was away, I killed the Six-Star Fiend under her command, seized his wealth and Metal Lifeform, and traveled through several teleportation arrays until I reached a Material Plane. Only then did I finally become a Highgod and completely fuse five Profound Mysteries. I felt I was finally strong enough to return to the Water Divine Plane."

Lincoln smiled. "From what I just saw, she showed you mercy at every turn!"

"That was only to indulge her twisted, perverse mind. All these years, even after I became a god, she never let me switch to my Divine Clone. She treated me like a pet, and the slightest thing going wrong meant torture of the soul!" Athos's face twisted as he spoke.

Lincoln shook his head. He had run into another Pusluo; their experiences were far too similar. Still, he had no intention of taking Athos on as a Sovereign Envoy. It was one thing if Leiding hadn't noticed him, but now that he had, a divine beast like Milotic would surely draw the Four Divine Beasts Clan's pursuit if he went traveling alone. The Sovereigns might not care about an ordinary deity-level being, but why not make him a target for the clan's younger generation while also cleaning up a "remnant"?

Sovereign Envoys were meant to solve problems, not cause them.

"Athos, do you know who's really after you? It isn't the Azure Dragon Army," Lincoln said calmly. "It's the Azure Dragon Sovereign—the first Sovereign you just saw appear. Your enemy is a Sovereign. No matter how hard you cultivate, even if you reach Paragon, you won't be able to save the Milotic clan from a Sovereign."

Athos fell silent. Lincoln didn't press him. For Athos, this wasn't a single-choice question or a multiple-choice one. It was a question with only one possible answer.

The skinny soldier was about to scold them again for fun when he heard the man in black say, "Wind Shore Path. I got lucky this time and was sent straight to Qingya Continent."

"Behave yourselves and do as you're told. See all the Divine Artifacts covering these cliffs? They belonged to unruly gods like you who came from Material Planes and were killed. Countless years have passed. The lower-quality Divine Artifacts have been eroded away, leaving only a few High-God Artifacts."

The skinny soldier relished his haughty attitude. Seeing these people act like country bumpkins made him especially pleased.

"Take your duties seriously and focus on cultivation, and you won't have anything to complain about," another Highgod, who looked like a captain, said, smacking him hard on the head. "This is a great place to cultivate Wind Space, and the duty allowance is generous. You're the only one who's never satisfied."

"Leidolina has a strange personality. She enjoys playing cat and mouse: first giving people hope, then crushing it. It happened to me too many times to count. But that's also how I managed to escape with my life," Athos explained.

"When will our shift finally end? Wind Shore Path is no place for a god to live!" one skinny soldier complained. He wore a standard-issue blue-green suit of armor, with a diamond-shaped insignia on his waist guard—the mark of the Qingya Army.

The gods and Saint-level beings waiting nearby stared wide-eyed. A few? The cliffs stretched beyond sight, covered in Divine Artifacts. How could that be called a few?

Everyone understood. Just then, the teleportation array lit up again, and a man in black stepped out.

The skinny soldier had been reprimanded and didn't dare talk back, so he took his frustration out on the people from the Material Planes instead.

Lincoln made no comment. Instead, he asked, "Since Leidolina controlled you, why didn't she make you sign a Master-Servant Contract or use some soul technique to control you?" The Life Law was not as effective as the Death Rules for controlling souls, but at Leidolina's level, she should have had no trouble controlling a divine beast by some special means, whether it was Saint-level, Low-God, or Mid-God.

Athos instantly despaired. "Even you can't do it? Athos is willing to serve you for the rest of his life!"

"If you say another word, I'll kill you," the skinny soldier snapped. He seemed a little flustered by the question, and hurriedly added, "Legend has it that countless years ago, the great Qingya Sovereign killed an unruly Highgod here and hung his Divine Artifacts on the cliffs as a warning. Later generations followed his example, creating this unusual sight. Of course, no one would dare touch the Divine Artifacts here."

Lincoln nodded and returned to the earlier topic. "The Four Divine Beast Sovereigns are extremely powerful, even among the Sovereigns. Follow me and help me investigate your bloodline. I'll protect you. As for Milotic and the Clownfish clan, if you cooperate with me, I'll help you free them when I get the chance."

Whether he would ever come into conflict with the Four Divine Beasts, and when, remained unknown, no matter how likely it seemed. Athos alone wasn't worth the risk.

Meanwhile, on the Wind Divine Plane, a long, narrow canyon stretched into the distance. Razor-sharp winds howled through it year-round, and all kinds of Divine Artifacts covered the cliffs on either side, clanging in the gale.

At the end of the canyon stood a Plane Teleportation Array.

The soldiers perked up at the arrival of a powerful traveler from another plane. The captain was about to greet him, but the man in black ignored them, shot into the sky, and vanished at an unbelievable speed.

"My lord, why haven't these Divine Artifacts been picked up? Are even High-God Artifacts just trash on a Divine Plane?"

"What kind of speed is that..." The soldiers were stunned. The captain blurted out, "He's faster than I was back when I flew around on a Material Plane." He had been lucky enough to serve for tens of thousands of years as a Plane Warden, despite being only a Highgod.

The newcomer was, of course, Lincoln. His Dark Sovereign Clone had been bored out of his mind on the Chines Material Plane. After all, the Sovereigns each had their own factions, and in the past ten thousand years, only a handful of Life Element and Death Sovereigns had visited him.

His Laws of Darkness had already reached Paragon, leaving no room for further progress. Although he knew it would be difficult to reach Paragon in another element through cultivation alone, he still wanted to try.