Exchange

"Enough, Aier."

"We have spent several thousand years together, and I pride myself on having some experience in reading people."

"Besides, I can roughly discern a person's character from their style of playing chess."

"You do not need to force yourself to maintain this facade in front of me."

"You have no requests of me; on the contrary, it is I who have forcibly placed my expectations upon you, hoping for a response."

"This is my fault."

Pash returned the salute to Aier and apologized sincerely.

It was evident that he valued Aier highly.

"My Lord Overgod, you are too kind."

Aier smiled. "I am very grateful for the regard you have shown me, My Lord."

"However, I have no intention of becoming an Overgod Envoy."

This was a lie.

Aier was not certain how long he could keep his uniqueness hidden from the Overgods.

Before that happened, Aier had to find someone who could protect him and grant him enough time to grow.

Therefore, even if Aier were to become an Overgod Envoy, he would only seek out one of the four Rule Chief Sovereigns.

Among them, the Fate Chief Sovereign, Ao Fu, was the first one Aier ruled out.

If Aier were exposed, he would undoubtedly be the first one to want to study Aier.

If Aier wanted to seek asylum, only the other three Rule Chief Sovereigns could make Ao Fu afraid to act openly.

The Destruction Chief Sovereign, Utrede, was the second one Aier ruled out.

Firstly, Utrede already had Dunnington, a Paragon, under his command, so Aier's importance to him dropped significantly.

Secondly, Utrede was also a cultivation fanatic; in order to surpass the Fate Chief Sovereign, Ao Fu, he had secretly abducted many members of the Four Divine Beasts Clan to study the fused Innate Divine Ability of the Four Divine Beasts Overgods.

Aier suspected that the Four Divine Beasts Overgods letting the Four Divine Beasts Clan leave Hell to spread their branches in other Divine Planes and Supreme Planes might have been partly to preserve the bloodline of the Four Divine Beasts Clan.

However, they probably never imagined that after the four of them died at the hands of the Radiant Sovereign, Augusta, the members of the Four Divine Beasts Clan in other planes would all be expelled by the local powers and forced to flee back to Hell.

Even then, they endured over ten thousand years of encirclement and slaughter.

If not for the emergence of a child of destiny like Linley, it is hard to say whether the Four Divine Beasts Clan would have become history in the Coiling Dragon Universe.

As for the Chief Sovereign of Death, although she was not a Paragon, she possessed a treasure like the Heart of the Netherworld, which made her strength no less than that of the other three Paragon Rule Chief Sovereigns.

In fact, if the battlefield were changed to the Netherworld, even Ao Fu, who had gathered the full set of three Supreme God Artifacts, might not be her match.

The Heart of the Netherworld allowed the Chief Sovereign of Death to borrow the power of the entire Netherworld to fight; within the Netherworld, the Chief Sovereign of Death was invincible.

Aier speculated that if the Chief Sovereign of Death found a way to allow the Netherworld to continue growing, it was not impossible that when the Netherworld grew into a true universe, she could break through the shackles of the Coiling Dragon Universe and become a Hongmeng Controller.

The remaining Sovereign of Life, Vivia, was the best candidate for a protector in Aier's mind.

First of all, as the Sovereign of Life, Vivia's strength was in no way inferior to Utrede before he created Space-Time Chaos.

Both sides were Paragons, and their physical strength had reached the level of an Overgod Artifact.

Furthermore, judging from the fact that the Life Supreme Plane did not participate in the Plane War, and Vivia's subsequent performance, the Sovereign of Life, Vivia, was arguably the best-natured among all the current Overgods.

"I understand."

Pash nodded. "For countless years, apart from Dunnington, who became Lord Utrede's envoy due to certain events, none of the other Paragons have become an Overgod's envoy."

"I came here simply because I wanted to make a friend of you."

"I just don't know if I have the honor of becoming your friend, Aier."

Aier was the first Paragon Pash had met in person.

But before this, it was not as if Pash had not heard from other Overgods how those Paragons viewed them.

Some Paragons did not look upon the so-called "Overgods" with any regard at all.

They believed that "Overgods" were merely "lucky ones" who were born early and were fortunate enough to obtain an Overgod Spark.

If everyone lived in the same era, they could kill all the so-called "Overgods" to seize their Overgod Sparks and become Overgods themselves.

Pash was also worried that Aier was such a person, in which case coming to Aier to make friends would only be asking for humiliation.

However, from their interactions over these past few thousand years, Pash felt that he and Aier got along quite well.

"To have an Overgod as a friend is also my honor."

Facing the olive branch extended by Pash, Aier smiled and nodded slightly.

"Don't call me My Lord Overgod; my name is Pash. You can just call me by my name."

Seeing Aier act this way, Pash said happily.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony, Pash."

"That's more like it, Aier."

Since Aier addressed Pash directly by name, Pash no longer felt the need to call him "Lord Aier," choosing to use his name as well.

"By the way, Pash, do you have any Earth Element Sovereign Power on hand?"

"If you do, I'll trade you Destruction Sovereign Power for it."

"I do. How much do you need?"

A smile appeared on Pash's face.

The fact that Aier had asked him directly meant that he truly regarded him as a friend.

Of course, he didn't offer to simply give the Earth Element Sovereign Power to Aier for free.

Since they were friends, both parties were equals.

This time, it was a trade of Sovereign Power between the two.

Among Sovereigns, this was a very common occurrence.

After all, everyone had Overgod Envoys or subordinates of various elements under their command.

When rewarding subordinates for their service, granting them Sovereign Power that matched their own elemental affinity allowed them to unleash greater strength when utilizing that power.

Of course, for Pash, he would certainly be taking a slight loss.

As a low-level Destruction Sovereign, he possessed an endless supply of Destruction Sovereign Power.

Earth Element Sovereign Power, however, required him to trade with Earth Element Sovereigns.

Still, for Pash, this was of no consequence.

After all, there were Earth Element Sovereigns who would come to him to trade for Sovereign Power as well.

"Not much, just ten drops will do."

Before leaving Liang'an Prefecture, Aier had already cleared out the prefecture's treasury. Most of the treasures and a small portion of the Inkstone had been taken to the Qingya Plane by Aier's original body.

As for the remaining Inkstone, it was carried by Aier's Earth Element divine clone and refined into Sovereign Power.

Ten drops of Sovereign Power accounted for most of Aier's current savings.

"Very well."

With a wave of Pash's hand, ten drops of yellow Sovereign Power, radiating immense pressure, appeared in his palm.

"Straightforward!"

Aier collected the ten drops of Earth Element Sovereign Power and, in turn, produced ten drops of Destruction Sovereign Power refined from Inkstone, handing them over to Pash.