Memories of the Past

Memories of the Past

"Lord Lincoln, you Dark Element folks have it good—no troublemakers like these!"

Lincoln only smiled. The Four Divine Beasts were troublemakers? Then what did that make them?

"But they seem even more overbearing in our Water Divine Plane. Maybe it's because the Azure Dragon Clan is the foremost clan among the Four Divine Beasts!" Lucy added.

Lincoln considered her words, then glanced at the Four Divine Beasts and Valeria, who looked ready to come to blows. This was hardly the right time. His Water Divine Clone wasn't here yet, and he wasn't prepared. Even if he obtained and refined the Water Element Highgod Spark now, he'd be only ten times stronger than an ordinary Chief Sovereign. He couldn't claim he'd be certain to withstand the Four Divine Beasts' combined innate ability.

From the looks of it, the Four Divine Beasts had probably already chosen the Water Chief Sovereign as their target. That was why they were provoking her by any means necessary. He should get ready in advance. With that in mind, Lincoln once again swept the entire plane with his Divine Sense. His brows furrowed. There was still no sign of Palhouse...

"Lincoln, what brings you here?" Leiding asked in a rumbling voice, a trace of surprise in his tone.

Bowen and the other two, along with Valeria, looked surprised and fell silent.

Lincoln smiled. "Last time, Mr. Leiding, you told me to come see you once I had something to show for my research. As it happens, I've made some progress and wanted to ask your advice, but I came across this scene. Lady Valeria, I'm sure Mr. Leiding and the others didn't know what their subordinates had done. As a Chief Sovereign, I hope you can be generous about this. Since Mr. Leiding and the others have already punished their clansmen, perhaps you could let the matter go."

"Mm." Lincoln's interruption had helped Valeria calm down. She caught on at once and backed up his story. "Since the criminals from the Four Divine Beasts Clan have been punished, I won't pursue the matter further. Lincoln, come visit me on Giant Whale Island. You only stopped by briefly last time. Don't turn me down again."

"I'm truly sorry, Lady Chief Sovereign, but I really do have important business with Mr. Leiding and the others. To be honest, I finally have a child. Unfortunately, the child's bloodline power didn't awaken, and their cultivation talent is poor. I wanted to ask Mr. Leiding about the Ancestral Hall Baptism."

"Mm, that is what they're best at..." Valeria agreed. "Then you must come next time."

Lincoln formed a Projection Clone before the Four Divine Beasts. The four Chief Gods all looked displeased, like volcanoes on the verge of erupting, and he understood why. They were trying to force Valeria to strike first. That way, after they killed her in retaliation, they could escape judgment and punishment at the Sovereign Conference.

After all, no matter how you looked at it, the one who started the fight was at fault. The Four Divine Beasts Clan had started this conflict, and there was no way to justify their enmity toward Valeria. If they attacked first and killed her, it would prove they were far stronger than she was, violating the rule against fighting someone of equal rank. They could only provoke Valeria into striking first.

Besides, if Valeria didn't come within their reach, they couldn't catch up to her. Their Innate Divine Ability was useless otherwise.

As for why they'd chosen a Water Element Chief Sovereign, the Sovereign Spark was probably meant for Gaisresen. Once Gaisresen became the Water Chief Sovereign, there was a good chance that, countless years later, Nimo, Ers, and Bowen's children would become Chief Sovereigns too.

After all, this was only an Energy Avatar, while his true body was far away. The Four Divine Beasts could chase him with all their might, but they'd never catch up to his Chief God clone. If it came to a race, Lincoln had nothing to fear.

Ignoring the Four Divine Beasts' expressions, Lincoln teased them instead. "You four seem to be angry not only with Lady Valeria, but with me as well. Are you upset that I played peacemaker?"

"Of course not." Leiding's expression shifted several times. They'd waited so long for this opportunity, only for Lincoln to ruin everything. "We're very grateful for Mr. Lincoln's help. If Lady Chief Sovereign had attacked in her fury, we would have been in danger."

"Think nothing of it!" Lincoln said with a smile, finding Leiding and the others' constipated expressions—especially Leiding's—quite amusing.

"From what you just said, Mr. Lincoln, it sounds like you've made progress in your research on Milotic?" Black Tortoise Bowen asked.

"That's right." Lincoln turned serious. "I successfully used Milotic's Quintessence Blood to awaken the bloodline of a single-element divine beast's descendant. But as you know, I'm a multi-element divine beast, so this method won't work for my child."

"In a mere ten million years, you've made progress on your research. Your talent might not be inferior to that lord's!" Ers said, his tone turning serious.

Back then, the Four Divine Beasts had spent over a hundred million years developing the Ancestral Hall Baptism to help their children awaken their powerful innate abilities. And that was even after they found the right approach and began using Milotic's Quintessence Blood.

"But I'm afraid we'll disappoint you, Mr. Lincoln. The four of us are all single-element divine beasts. We've never studied how to awaken the bloodlines of multi-element divine beasts' descendants," Bowen said.

Lincoln sighed. "I'd considered that possibility, but the four of you are experts in this field, so I wanted to try my luck."

"Not necessarily," Nimo countered. "When we developed the Ancestral Hall Baptism, we had the help of Roman, the Life Law Paragon. If you really want to help your child awaken their bloodline, you can go to him."

Lincoln thanked Nimo and immediately set off for the Life Divine Realm. Many Paragons hadn't become Sovereign Envoys, yet had still built relationships with Chief Sovereigns and occasionally helped them with various matters. Dunnington was one, and Roman was another. Roman was one of Life Sovereign Vivian's hidden trump cards. He'd helped banish Zhudingyaosi back then.

After all, that matter involved a vacant Life Lesser Sovereign Spark. Unfortunately, Roman hadn't obtained it in the end.

Unfortunately, Lincoln hadn't been Life Sovereign Vivian's envoy for long. He hadn't even carried out a mission, much less had the chance to meet Roman. He would have to ask Vivian to put him in touch. But just before he stepped onto the teleportation array, the words Death Chief Sovereign Hela had said to him years ago on Nether Mountain flashed through his mind again: "Stay a while longer."

He hadn't paid them much mind at first, but as time passed, he kept thinking of them. Why? Even now, the memory still troubled him.

He raised his Main God Token, then finally told the soldiers, "To the Underworld!"

On Tianqing Island, Ers looked at Nimo. "Second Sister, why did you tell Lincoln about the Ancestral Hall Baptism? That guy just ruined our plans."

Nimo didn't answer right away, but Bowen replied for her. "Third Brother, let Lincoln fuss over the Ancestral Hall Baptism. If you tell him to go see Roman, he won't bother us again. This opportunity was hard to come by. Next time we force Valeria to attack, we mustn't let anything else interfere."