Purgatory and Planar Expeditions
The man who appeared before Rog was a spirited young man. He was strikingly valiant in appearance, like a young general. More than that, he carried himself with a vigorous, youthful bearing, not at all like an Asura expert who had been famous for hundreds of millions of years.
"Haha, Rog, ever since I saw your Battle Projection, I've wanted to come meet you. Your mastery of the Laws of Lightning is truly admirable. You're absolutely the most formidable expert I've ever seen." The moment Flame opened his mouth, he showered Rog with praise.
"Your strength is even more astonishing, Flame. Hundreds of millions of years ago, even Oka met his end beneath your spear. I doubt many Asura experts would dare provoke you." One compliment deserved another. Since Flame had praised him so highly, Rog naturally returned the favor.
"Haha, Rog, you flatter me too much. There are so many powerful Asuras. I'm only somewhere in the lower middle of the pack." Flame had a fairly clear idea of where he stood. Among the Infernal Realm's 108 Prefects, he wasn't one of the very weakest, but he was definitely in the lower middle ranks.
"Flame, did you come here to give me some advice?" Rog knew that Flame couldn't have made the trip in person just to exchange empty pleasantries.
"Hehe, I wouldn't call it advice. I just wanted to give you some information in advance." Flame smiled modestly. "Rog, you've only just become an Asura expert. I imagine you don't have much Sovereign's Might, do you?" In fact, Flame guessed that Rog most likely didn't have a single drop.
Of course, Rog actually did have one drop of Destruction Sovereign Power.
"That's right. Do you know a way to obtain Sovereign's Might, Flame?" Rog really had no leads on how to obtain it.
As far as he remembered, aside from becoming a Sovereign's Emissary or taking part in a Planar War, there were hardly any other ways to obtain Sovereign's Might. As for refining it himself? Rog could only say it was difficult. His strength was already comparable to an Asura's, yet he was still completely unable to extract Sovereign's Might from Inkstones.
"Hehe, normally speaking, there are only a few ways to obtain Sovereign's Might. You can either become a Sovereign's Emissary or participate in the Planar War held once every trillion years." Having said that, Flame changed tack.
"However, if you enter Purgatory, your chances of obtaining Sovereign's Might will be much greater." Flame named a place Rog found somewhat familiar.
"Purgatory?" At the mention of Purgatory, Rog immediately thought of the Purgatory Commander Mosi, Leisjing, and the others.
"It seems you've heard of Purgatory, but you don't know much about the details." Flame smiled faintly.
"That's right. All I know is that Purgatory also has 108 Purgatory Commanders, whose strength and status are comparable to those of the Infernal Realm's 108 Prefects." That was really all Rog knew.
There was no saying whether Asura Prefects or Purgatory Commanders were stronger. Anyone who could become an Asura or a Commander had nearly reached the peak of the Highgod level, and each had their own trump cards. There were plenty of Seven-Star Fiends in the Infernal Realm, but the number of Asuras and Commanders never changed. They also faced frequent challenges. If they lost, they stepped down, and the stronger challenger took their place!
"You're right, but their duties are somewhat different. An Asura in the Infernal Realm controls a prefecture, while a Purgatory Commander commands an army!" Flame's words caught Rog slightly off guard.
"An army?" Who did the armies commanded by Purgatory Commanders fight? The Planar Battlefield only opened once every trillion years.
"That's right. Compared with an Infernal Realm Prefect controlling a prefecture, which isn't much of a challenge, a Purgatory Commander has it different. Fighting and killing are commonplace," Flame continued. "And who do the armies they command fight? Naturally, they fight experts from the other Divine Planes."
"They fight experts from the other Divine Planes? Is that sort of thing common?" Rog had never heard of anything like it before.
"You could say it's quite common. At least, right now on the Aoqi Plane,
experts from two Divine Planes are fighting." Flame shook his head. "Why are they fighting?" The Planar War was a conflict ordained by the Overgods to eliminate some experts and maintain the stability of the universe. Was fighting common at other times too?
"Why do they fight? There are all sorts of reasons. Maybe two Sovereigns had a small disagreement, and neither wanted to fight the other personally, so they had the gods under their command wage a grand war. Naturally, the winning side got to feel pleased with itself." Flame shook his head and chuckled.
"Some disagreements between Sovereigns are trivial matters, while others are more serious," Flame said solemnly. "The serious matters are easier to deal with. They can ask the Rule Sovereigns, who are the strongest and highest-ranking among the Sovereigns, to settle them. Those trivial matters are the real headache. Could they trouble the Rule Sovereigns with those too?"
"So there are other ways to settle that kind of disagreement. One is the Planar War," Flame explained. "If the two Sovereigns happen to belong to different law systems, they can each assemble a group of powerful gods to represent them in the Planar War and help their side win. That way, they can be said to have defeated the other without harming relations between Sovereigns."
"But the Planar War only comes around once every trillion years, and the order of the five matches rotates each time. It's unlikely that the planes of two Sovereigns with a disagreement will happen to be up against each other, so to avoid the trouble, Sovereigns generally choose another method-an expedition to a peculiar plane!"
Flame spoke mysteriously. These secrets weren't something just anyone knew.
"These peculiar planes are planes other than the Material Planes, the four Higher Planes, and the Seven Divine Planes. They too were formed by heaven and earth, but unlike the Material Planes, they're no less stable than the eleven great planes! Some are even more stable than the eleven great planes, such as the Aoqi Plane!"
Flame exclaimed, "The Aoqi Plane is more stable than the Higher Planes, nearly as stable as the Planar Battlefield."
"Because the Aoqi Plane's environment is so unusual, and its layout is somewhat like a chessboard world, it's often used as a battlefield for Sovereigns to hold Planar Expeditions." At this point, Flame couldn't help sighing again.
"To put it plainly, these expeditions are just games between Sovereigns. But the rewards are enough to make even Seven-Star Fiends and Asura Commanders take them seriously. I've already participated in several expeditions to peculiar planes, and I've accumulated quite a bit of Sovereign's Might." As it turned out, most Asuras obtained their Sovereign's Might from these expeditions.
Flame had lived for hundreds of millions of years, so he naturally knew far more than Rog. Listening to him, Rog came to understand what these expeditions were about.
Simply put, when two Sovereigns had some minor disagreement, they held a game like this to vent.
For the lofty Sovereigns, all it took was a little Sovereign's Might that meant next to nothing to them, and they could watch countless gods fight desperately to the death over that small reward. Naturally, the winner would feel pleased.
At its core, it was a game in which countless god-level experts slaughtered one another to please the lofty Sovereigns.