I Knew This Better Than You

I Knew This Better Than You

"I'm Hela, the Death Chief Sovereign." When Red-Haired Girl saw Lincoln remain silent, she introduced herself haughtily.

Lincoln nodded. "Greetings, Chief Sovereign. May I ask what brings you here?"

...A few seconds of silence passed.

"Treat me to some fish." Hela suddenly blurted out.

"Huh?" Lincoln nearly dropped his jaw. What kind of reason was that?

In the end, the luckiest fish in history successfully ended up in the Death Chief Sovereign's stomach. Watching her eat with relish, Lincoln was utterly baffled. What had this lofty Chief Sovereign come here for? No one would believe that she'd come just to eat fish—unless she really had gone "foolish."

"Chief Sovereign, though the Chainis Plane isn't very large, it has plenty of unusual natural scenery. It may be insignificant compared to your Heaven and Earth Chains, but it has its own charm. Why don't I show you around?" Lincoln looked helplessly at this mischievous Chief God, but given the difference in their strength and status, he could only play host. He wasn't surprised that the Death Chief Sovereign had come. After all, she and the Life Sovereign had a special relationship.

"Sure!" The Death Chief Sovereign smacked her lips as she ate. "I have to say, the food on this Material Plane has a unique flavor. It really is delicious—worth sticking around for."

Lincoln smiled faintly. Although he didn't know what the Death Chief Sovereign was planning, he was invincible on this plane. Apart from the matter he'd been plotting for so long, his most pressing concern was to take advantage of the lingering impact of Faith Power and maintain his current state of comprehending the laws. At the same time, he needed to gather enough Sovereign's Might to create a Divine Plane and use it to make a push for Paragon.

Lincoln sent out his Water Divine Clone and began traveling across the continent with Hela, the Death Chief Sovereign.

Meanwhile, Lincoln's Light God Clone headed straight for Shuangning Prefecture in the Darkness Divine Plane and settled in a particularly remote part of the region. From time to time, he looked toward a black mountain range ten thousand miles away.

A hundred years passed in a flash. Lincoln and Hela had traveled through every country on the continent, sampling all its delicacies and seeing all its sights. But the longer it went on, the stranger Lincoln found it. It looked as if only the Death Chief Sovereign's Energy Avatar had stayed here, but in truth, her Chief God clone had remained in the Spatial Turbulence for a hundred years. Lincoln couldn't believe a Material Plane could hold a Chief Sovereign's interest for that long.

As he was thinking, a book suddenly smacked down on the table in front of him. Lincoln looked up and saw Hela watching him with amusement. Teasingly, she said, "When I used to travel through Material Planes, I saw plenty of men bullying women and throwing their weight around. But I hardly ever saw that sort of thing on this plane. So it was you behind it all. You robbed me of so much fun."

Lincoln flipped through the book and gave an awkward laugh. "Those are ancient stories from ages ago. Why bring them up now, Chief Sovereign?"

"It's only been ten million years. How is that ancient?" Hela hadn't understood the phrase "old grain and stale rice," but she could guess what it meant. "I've lived through countless ten-million-year stretches. Ten million years is nothing. You're still a little one."

Lincoln's mouth twitched. You've probably lived for more than a thousand Epochs. Of course ten million years doesn't seem like long to you.

"Take Iksis, the genius Sword Saint. He started by killing the Fifteenth Prince for abducting a woman, then wiped out the inhuman Puluo Royal Family and put the chancellor on the throne, bringing prosperity to the common people. And Arudolf, the Moonlight Knight, who killed 168 tyrannical nobles. Huchai, the Blazing Sun Saint Magus... Dorudo, the Storm King..." Hela read on, laughing the whole time.

Lincoln's face darkened. He'd done those things back in his youthful, high-spirited days. He'd been exceptionally gifted, becoming a god upon reaching adulthood. Those mortal kingdoms had been his to do with as he pleased. But when all was said and done, he didn't regret it. "Chief Sovereign, the Dawn Empire has a particularly famous snack called stinky tofu. Why don't we go try some?"

"That was a painfully clumsy change of subject, Lincoln," Hela said with a laugh. But she stopped reading from the book. "Little one, I've just discovered something particularly interesting. Want to hear it? It's far more fascinating than these historical accounts that sound like tales from a storybook."

"I'm all ears, Chief Sovereign." Lincoln smiled. He took a tea set out of his spatial ring and brewed two cups of bitter kuding tea. As it happened, he'd made tea for the Death Chief Sovereign many times, and she shared his fondness for kuding tea.

"In the beginning, when the world was born, I traveled through many planes. I watched countless lives die and witnessed the rise and fall of many planes. From the moment I arrived, I could tell this Chainis Plane wasn't one of those that had existed for countless years. It was brimming with life—a newborn plane. I had someone check the records of all the Divine Planes, and found that the earliest mention of the Chainis Plane in the Supreme Plane's records was also from ten million years ago. You were the first Deity-level to reach the Supreme Plane and the Divine Planes from the Chainis Plane. Most likely, you were also the first life born there."

Lincoln's hand paused. He used divine power to cool the tea a little, then handed it to Hela with a smile. "If you came to check up on my background, then you're right—there's nothing you can't find out. It's true, both this plane and I are young. I was the first life here and its first god. But, Chief Sovereign, there's nothing particularly special about that. Even though fewer planes are being born in the endless space now than when the world first came into being, new ones still appear. And being the first life on a Material Plane isn't anything special either. There are countless Material Planes in this world, and plenty of them have had a first life. If anyone's special, it's you—the first life born in the Underworld."

Hela took a sip. "You know quite a bit, little one. Let me continue. After reaching Mid-God, you went to the Life Divine Realm. In less than a thousand years, you became a Highgod, and in less than another thousand, you reached the peak of Asura strength."

Lincoln poured more tea and said, "Chief Sovereign, that story is really no fun. I know it better than you do. Want me to tell it?"

Hela snorted. "Well? Tell it in detail."

Lincoln glanced at her and gathered his thoughts before slowly beginning. "That was a long time ago. I was brought forth directly by the world and born on this Material Plane. I remember the plane was still expanding back then, growing visibly larger every day. The laws and rules of the world were clear as day. I was born a Super Divine Beast, and I named myself the Seven-Colored Heaven-Swallowing Python. There was no life around me stronger than I was, and I lived a comfortable life until I came across a Plane Teleportation Array and learned about the Four Supreme Planes and the Seven Divine Planes. But I didn't want to leave."