Since he had not transmigrated to the Yulan Continent where the protagonist lived, Luo Ao could not be sure where the current timeline stood.
However, judging by the presence of religious powers with special characteristics like the Church of the Fire God and the Church of the Earth God on the Boya Continent, the Sovereigns, at least, had long since been established.
In other words, Luo Ao had already missed the chance to fight over Sovereign Sparks when heaven and earth first opened.
As for whether Linley, this world's chosen son of destiny, had already been born, he would have to wait until he went to the Infernal Realm or a Divine Plane before he could investigate.
The reason Luo Ao had transmigrated was that he had obtained a miraculous pearl capable of traveling to the myriad worlds, which he had named the Myriad Worlds Pearl.
After obtaining the Myriad Worlds Pearl, Luo Ao had thought he would begin in a low-martial world, then gradually step into worlds of higher levels. Who could have imagined that, for his very first world, the Myriad Worlds Pearl would send him to the Coiling Dragon World?
The dangers of this world needed no elaboration. Even Saint-level experts in a Material Plane could take on an entire nation alone, destroying cities and devastating the land with ease.
In the Higher Planes and Divine Planes, the number of experts was even more absurd. Saint-level experts who could summon the wind and rain and live freely for a time in a Material Plane might not even survive half a day there. Even weaker Deity Level experts could not count on surviving from morning to night.
But he was already here, and it was too late for Luo Ao to regret it, because after each use, the Myriad Worlds Pearl needed a considerable amount of time to slowly recover.
Besides, Luo Ao did not think this transmigration was entirely a bad thing. As the saying went, wealth and honor were sought amid danger.
This world was dangerous, but if he could survive here and grow stronger, the benefits would be immense as well.
By becoming just a little stronger in this world, he would probably already count as an extraordinary figure in certain low-martial wuxia worlds. Moreover, this world was very friendly to cultivators seeking longevity: simply reaching the Saint level granted eternal life. Luo Ao only needed to break through to the Saint level to enjoy endless time to cultivate slowly.
And if he could reach the very pinnacle of this world and become a Controller like the protagonist Linley, that would be even more unimaginable.
Of course, reaching the pinnacle of this world was almost impossible. After all, Luo Ao had long since tested himself. He had no aptitude for the Earth Element or Wind Element and could not even assemble the cultivation aptitudes for all four elements of earth, fire, water, and wind. Trying to transcend like the original protagonist Linley was an almost impossible path to replicate.
Whether transcending or becoming a Sovereign, those were matters he would only need to consider far in the future. The first step he urgently needed to take was instead to break through to the Saint level. Otherwise, he might die of old age here before the Myriad Worlds Pearl finished its cooldown.
Thus, starting as a rank-one warrior, he began his cultivation journey one steady step at a time.
In his previous life, Luo Ao had been an orphan living on a water-blue planet and had never felt the warmth of family. He had struggled alone in a cruel society, and the bitterness of it was not something he could adequately convey to outsiders.
Thus, when faced with the chance to venture into other worlds, Luo Ao had scarcely hesitated for even a moment.
And after transmigrating to this world, he had been quite lucky.
Not only had he been born into an extraordinary family, but his birth parents had also loved him dearly, letting him feel the warmth of a home from childhood. By now, he had long since forgotten his former name and only wanted to continue living well as "Luo Ao" in this magnificent, wondrous world.
In this life, his father was a powerful rank-nine warrior with considerable talent, who even had hopes of breaking through the gates of the Saint level. His mother was the legitimate daughter of an Earl from the Darren Empire, a noble young lady in every sense.
It could be said that, from the moment he was born in this life, he had already been ahead of many others. He was precisely the sort of person he had envied most in his previous life, someone born with a golden key in his mouth. Even if he merely ate and waited to die as a wastrel, he could probably live comfortably for his entire life.
However, with such excellent family circumstances and an unsurpassed Supreme Treasure like the Myriad Worlds Pearl in his possession, he naturally could not resign himself to mediocrity.
Luo Ao had grown up under the instruction of his father, Bourne, and it was from Bourne that he had learned how to cultivate Battle-qi, one of this world's fundamental powers.
Luo Ao's aptitude for cultivating Battle-qi had not been particularly good at first. Fortunately, the Myriad Worlds Pearl that had brought him here possessed more than just the ability to travel between myriad worlds.
The Myriad Worlds Pearl also constantly released a special power that altered his aptitude. This transformation merely seemed extremely slow, rather than a process that could be accomplished in a single stride.
At least before he turned ten, the extent of this transformation had not been great. For a long time, his elemental affinity had not been particularly high, and naturally, he had not qualified to study magic.
After he turned ten, however, the improvement in his aptitude became more pronounced. His elemental affinity, originally only average or even below average, rose directly to the high grade. The year he turned twelve, it rose all the way to the exceptional grade.
Luo Ao had originally thought this was the limit. He had never expected that, the year he turned fifteen, the energy released by the Myriad Worlds Pearl would even be able to alter his soul's aptitude. The ability to alter soul aptitude was quite extraordinary, especially in the Coiling Dragon World.
Although the Myriad Worlds Pearl also improved Luo Ao's physical aptitude, allowing him to advance at tremendous speed when cultivating Battle-qi, he remained, in essence, an ordinary human of flesh and blood, no match for magical beasts of the same rank.
The change in his soul's aptitude, however, had left him overjoyed. This transformation of his aptitude could make his thinking more agile and his comprehension of heaven, earth, and nature clearer.
In other words, he was now brimming with "spiritual insight." According to what Bluefire had said in the original story, this "spiritual insight" was actually the key factor determining whether someone could fuse profound mysteries and become an expert in the future.
That was why Luo Ao had been able to break through to the Saint level at twenty, ahead of his father, and leap into the ranks of the most powerful experts in the entire Darren Empire.
Although he had only just broken through and could not compare in accumulated Battle-qi energy to those old monsters who had lived for hundreds or thousands of years, he was already an expert who had comprehended the profound mysteries of the laws. His current strength was already at the peak of the Saint level, even greater than that of quite a few veteran Saint-level experts.
In the entire Darren Empire, probably only the four ultimate Saint-level experts could reliably defeat him. Moreover, he was only twenty. Given a little more time, he would soon reach the pinnacle of the Boya Material Plane.
"Hmm, this is already fairly deep into the Firefly Forest. If I go farther, I should encounter Saint-level magical beasts." In fact, his true purpose on this trip was to subdue a Saint-level magical beast to guard his family.
However, earlier along the way, he had encountered a group of distraught adventurers, and from them, Luo Ao had unexpectedly heard the name "Greet."
According to them, Greet had come here of his own accord, intending to challenge this mysterious magical beast.
Unfortunately, Greet had possessed no information about the Shadow Demon Panther. Moreover, unlike Luo Ao, Greet did not cultivate both magic and martial arts, and his spiritual perception was not particularly strong.
Under such circumstances, how could Greet possibly have survived a sudden attack from the Shadow Demon Panther lurking in the shadows?
"If anyone was to blame, it was Greet for being too confident." Luo Ao remembered accepting his challenge three years earlier. Even though he had held back considerably that time, Greet had still suffered a crushing defeat.
Could he have been so badly shaken by losing to a monstrous genius like me that he recklessly ran to the Firefly Forest to risk his life in hopes of breaking through? At that thought, Luo Ao could not help silently offering an apology for the sin.
What could he do about having a cheat? If the Sovereign and Controller realms of the Coiling Dragon World had not been so exceptional, realms that could not be reached through cultivation alone, he might even have had a chance to reach the pinnacle simply by progressing step by step.
"All these years, the special power released by the Myriad Worlds Pearl has continued without end. If I previously counted at most as an ordinary genius capable of becoming a deity, then now I'm at least a superior genius capable of fusing profound mysteries." The ability to alter soul aptitude was simply too powerful.
"Let's set a small goal: cultivate to Paragon in this world." If the special energy released by the Myriad Worlds Pearl truly had no upper limit, Luo Ao felt that sooner or later, his talent could rise to the level of those Paragon High-Gods in the original story.
However, having good talent was one thing. Truly converting that talent into strength still depended on him. Thus, throughout these years, he had always cultivated diligently and had never become too conceited.
Just like this time: the reason he was confident enough to come here to subdue a Saint-level magical beast was actually that he had now comprehended a new power, the edicts of destruction, one of the four edicts!
"Although I've only just comprehended a little of the edicts of destruction, they're already far more powerful than the Fire Element profound mystery I first comprehended. Combined with this Crimson Annihilation Divine Sword, I won't need to fear too much even if I encounter an ordinary ultimate Saint-level expert."
The Crimson Annihilation Divine Sword was a genuine divine artifact longsword.
Had his performance not been so monstrous, comprehending the profound mysteries of the laws at just twenty, the higher-ups of the Church of the Fire God would not have invested so heavily in winning him over.
After all, throughout history, talented Saint-level experts who comprehended the profound mysteries of the laws before fifty had essentially had a ninety-nine percent chance of breaking through to become deities, let alone an unparalleled genius like Luo Ao.
And being able to directly bestow a divine artifact upon a genius under its command, even if it was only a Lowgod Artifact, indirectly reflected the considerable strength of the Church of the Fire God.
As the saying went, a great tree offered good shade. If he provoked some powerful figure, he could also seek help from experts of the Church of the Fire God. No matter how one looked at it, this was a win-win situation.