The Envoy's Trial

Chapter: The Envoy Trial

"Pusluo pays respects to the Sovereign." Pusluo bowed toward Lincoln.

"Bobo pays respects to the Sovereign." The man beside Pusluo followed suit and bowed.

"Bobo?" Lincoln was puzzled, taking a moment to recall that this was Percy's younger brother.

Years ago, in order to scheme against the dark Paragon Black, Lincoln had sacrificed a High-God with dreams. Although the compensation provided afterward was hypocritical, it was better than nothing, so he had arranged for Pusluo to mentor and protect Percy's kin. However, there had been no need to bring him here in person.

Lincoln scrutinized Pusluo, who had been explicitly ordered at the time not to reveal that it was his instruction.

Pusluo hurriedly explained, "Sovereign, I met Bobo in the Tulip Plane while spreading faith. Our personalities are extremely compatible, and Bobo's talent is also formidable. In just a million years, he has already fully fused five Mysteries. I came here today to recommend him to be your Sovereign Envoy, my Lord."

Lincoln looked at Pusluo with curiosity. He hadn't expected this Fire Cat to be so thoughtful, knowing that since he cared about the person, he had gone to such lengths to arrange this. However, while fusing five Mysteries in a million years was decent aptitude, it currently didn't catch his eye. He required either a peak Asura who was only a hair's breadth away from being a Paragon, or someone with a special innate talent.

Lincoln remained silent, and for Pusluo and Bobo, the atmosphere became terrifyingly still.

However, since the envoy slots were empty anyway, and given that Bobo's identity had a slight nuance, giving him a small test was acceptable. The only thing that left Lincoln slightly dissatisfied was that if Bobo passed the test, both of his only two Sovereign Envoys would be of the Fire Laws, which was too monotonous.

"Since Pusluo recommends you, I will give you a chance," Lincoln broke the silence and smiled. "In any of the four Supreme Planes or seven Divine Planes, pick any prefecture. As long as you can successfully challenge it and become the new Prefecture Lord, you will be my Sovereign Envoy."

Upon hearing this, Bobo decisively lowered his head. "Bobo will definitely succeed in the challenge!"

The expression on Bobo's lowered face was grave. Challenging a Prefecture Lord with the strength of a newly-minted Asura was a near-death experience, but matters had reached this point, and he could not refuse. Otherwise, the crime of playing games with a Sovereign was something neither he nor Pusluo could bear. Pusluo's expression was equally grave; he was currently frantically thinking about how to maximize Bobo's strength in a short period, and which Prefecture Lord he could actually defeat.

"As a Sovereign Envoy, you may choose one Sovereign Artifact. Choose wisely!"

Bobo and Pusluo looked up abruptly. Bobo asked, "Sovereign, isn't it only after a successful challenge?"

Lincoln laughed. "You are currently in a probationary period. If you successfully pass the Prefecture Lord battle, you will be officially appointed, and there will be no need to go back and forth. If," Lincoln paused, "you fail the challenge..."

He didn't finish the sentence, but Pusluo and Bobo both understood. There was usually only one outcome for failing a challenge: death. And the Sovereign Artifact of a deceased Sovereign Envoy would naturally be reclaimed by the Sovereign; no one dared to covet it.

However, having a Sovereign Artifact for the challenge versus not having one was a world of difference.

"Sovereign, I would like to..." Bobo was about to speak, but was pulled back by Pusluo. "Sovereign, please allow me to give Bobo some advice."

Lincoln stared at Pusluo, then nodded.

Before long, the two reached an agreement. Bobo requested a Material Defense Sovereign Artifact, and Lincoln agreed, bestowing upon him a black heart-protecting armor and a Main God Token. At the same time, he said, "Bobo, you are still in the probationary period, so I will not grant you Sovereign Power. However, it wouldn't look right to have none at all. Pusluo, share half of your Sovereign Power with Bobo."

Lincoln naturally wouldn't be stingy with this bit of Sovereign Power, but Pusluo had too many ulterior motives, so this was merely a warning.

Pusluo and Bobo were both stunned and hurriedly agreed. Pusluo even broke out in a cold sweat; with a little reflection, he realized he had overstepped his bounds and displeased the Sovereign.

After Pusluo and Bobo left, Lincoln returned to the Divine Plane he had created, which was attached to the Chainis Plane. All sorts of Magic Beasts lived inside, all collected by Lincoln over the past million years. Naturally, none of these beasts compared to his own Seven-Colored Heaven-Swallowing Python form, and they were far from the likes of Wukun or the Four Divine Beasts, but their innate divine abilities each had their own wonders. If he could study and apply them, perhaps he could further increase the strength of his Sovereign Divine Clone.

Orf and Uterede, those two Paragon Chief Sovereigns, both relied on techniques like space-time distortion and the Samsara Golden Body to amplify their attack power by thousands or tens of thousands of times. Lincoln naturally would not slack off in his research.

On the other hand, though secondary, Lincoln also put considerable effort into researching how to break the reproductive limits of divine beasts. It was well known that the more powerful a divine beast, the harder it was to produce offspring. As a top-tier divine beast, Lincoln was over ten million years old and had yet to produce any heirs. However, the "academic masters" of the Coiling Dragon universe had done too little research in this area, and no results had been produced. After all, divine life was infinite; strictly speaking, reproducing offspring was of little use.

Even the Four Divine Beasts, a massive clan of divine beasts, only had five or six individuals in the second generation, yet there were four in the first generation. Leiding and the others had each only produced one or two children.

Come to think of it, Gaisresen and the others seemed to have fathers but no mothers, or mothers but no fathers; it was as if the Four Divine Beasts had reproduced asexually.

Unfortunately, Lincoln was not a research fanatic in this regard. Although he had persisted in his research over the past million years, it had little use for increasing his strength or extending his lineage. However, some progress had been made regarding the awakening of bloodlines in offspring. This was thanks to the luck of finding the key material, Milotic, at the beginning. Now, he had successfully allowed a small number of Saint-level Magic Beasts to awaken their bloodlines, but the underlying laws still needed to be summarized and refined, and some problems remained to be solved.

"Greetings, Sovereign!" Upon seeing Lincoln, Athos immediately knelt and bowed.

Athos was an Asura himself, and having been entrusted by Lincoln to manage this Divine Plane for the past million years, his cultivation environment had deteriorated, his time was reduced, and his energy was scattered, so his growth in strength was extremely limited. Yet, he served Lincoln wholeheartedly. After all, reaching the Paragon realm was nearly impossible, and even if one did, defeating a Sovereign was fundamentally impossible. By comparison, serving Lincoln well offered a faint, ethereal hope of revenge and saving his race.

Without waiting for Lincoln to speak, Athos followed him toward the laboratory while taking out a bottle and handing it to him. "Sovereign, this is my essence blood for the past ten thousand years."

Lincoln took the bottle and smiled. "Thank you for your hard work, Athos. Without you, I'm afraid this research wouldn't have yielded results even after hundreds of millions of years." As he spoke, he sighed inwardly. This was the "charm" of a Sovereign. If he had relied solely on his previous status as a suspected Paragon, how could he have collected so many rare specimens, even among divine beasts, and how could he have made a divine beast Asura willing to be a blood-donation machine for years?

Athos, however, smiled bitterly. "Sovereign, I never imagined that our Milotic bloodline would have such an effect. How I wish it didn't. If not for this ability to awaken bloodlines, then with the massive population of Clownfish, our Milotic would be a vast race in this world!"

Lincoln laughed. "The captivity and slaughter by the Azure Dragon clan are the fundamental reasons you have been reduced to consumables. Just wait. The Four Divine Beast clans have made countless enemies, and even among the Sovereigns, many are dissatisfied with them. Sooner or later, you Clownfish and Milotic will be able to gain your freedom."