"Ahhh—!"
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
Once Locke withdrew his soul power, the Light Pope—freed from Locke's influence—quickly regained control of his emotions.
Realizing he had been thoroughly played, the Light Pope flew into a rage, launching frantic attacks at everything around him, as if trying to vent all the humiliation he had just suffered.
At the same time, however, a trace of reassurance surfaced in his heart.
At the very least, judging from his current state, he had not been soul-enslaved by that terrifying man.
That sensation—where even his emotions were no longer under his own control—was something the Light Pope never wanted to experience again in his life.
"A soul-defense divine artifact…"
"Once I accumulate more merit, I must exchange for a soul-defense divine artifact…"
…
"Whoosh—"
High in the sky, Locke was unaware of the Light Pope's state of mind.
Successfully intimidating the Light Pope and forcing him to sever his bond with the Rising Sun Spear had significantly improved Locke's ability to protect himself.
In truth, if the Light Pope had refused to yield to the threat, Locke wouldn't actually have had many options.
Although Locke had achieved extremely high attainments in the study of the soul over the years, his expertise lay mainly in soul perception and emotional manipulation.
He had scarcely delved into refinement or enslavement techniques.
If the Light Pope had not feared him—if he had endured the magnified terror Locke imposed and stubbornly refused to sever his connection with the Rising Sun Spear—there would have been little Locke could do to force the issue.
After all, while Locke could indeed use Celestial Dance Treasure Wheel to put the Light Pope into a completely helpless state, relying solely on an unrefined upper-grade offensive divine artifact, it would have been impossible for him to actually kill the Light Pope.
In that case, Locke would have had no choice but to expend an enormous amount of soul power to launch a lethal soul attack—one powerful enough to kill the Light Pope outright.
But doing so would have further weakened his already damaged soul, causing his overall strength to plummet.
"According to Lord Celes, the Tree of Life is a divine tree born in the Life Divine Plane, privately owned by a Life Sovereign."
"The holy water of the Light Divine Plane comes from the Angel Rebirth Pool. However, it only works while inside the pool itself."
"And the Angel Rebirth Pool belongs to the Light Sovereign alone. Only gods under the Light Sovereign's command can exchange merit for immersion time."
"The Spirit Spring is a natural spiritual spring born in the Water Divine Plane. Its nurturing effect on the soul isn't as strong as the Angel Rebirth Pool, but the advantage is that it can be preserved and taken away."
"Unfortunately, Lord Celes said that the Spirit Spring of the Water Divine Plane is also under a Sovereign's control. To obtain it, one must join the Sovereign who occupies it and become a soldier in that Sovereign's army."
"What a pity. If Sovereign Phiros had controlled a Spirit Spring, I could've joined his Snowfall Legion through Celes' recommendation, borrowed some merit in advance, and exchanged it for spring water to restore my soul."
"As for the Amethysts of Hell…"
"If I'm not mistaken, the Amethyst Sovereign couple should still be alive in the Amethyst Mountains at this point in time."
"For each elemental law, there is only one Chief Sovereign, two intermediate Sovereigns, and four lower Sovereigns."
"The Amethyst Sovereign I remember was an intermediate Sovereign of the Destruction path."
"The only question is whether her husband was also an intermediate Sovereign—or merely a lower one."
The Chief Sovereign of Destruction was Utrede.
In this era—and for countless eras to come—Destruction Chief Sovereign Utrede would remain one of the absolute apex existences in the entire Coiling Dragon universe.
Only the Fate Chief Sovereign Orloff could suppress him.
"Once I reach Hell, I'll investigate exactly which Sovereigns currently rule it."
"If there's no Star Sovereign yet, then the Amethyst Chief God's husband is very likely an intermediate Chief God."
"If a Star Sovereign already exists, then her husband can only be a lower Chief God."
Locke pursed his lips, finally making his decision.
That's right—after careful consideration, Locke chose to head to Hell.
The soul-restoring treasures in other Divine Planes were all extremely difficult to obtain.
Only the Amethysts of Hell were different.
At the very center of the Amethyst Mountains lay a number of peculiar caverns—exactly one hundred and eight of them. At regular intervals, these caverns would spew Amethysts outward.
Compared to other soul-restoring treasures, Amethysts were far easier to gather.
As such, the Amethyst Sovereign couple had no intention of monopolizing them.
If Locke wanted to restore—and even push—his soul to its absolute peak in the shortest possible time, then the Amethyst Mountains of Hell were undoubtedly the best choice.
With Locke's speed, it took less than half a day for him to reach the location Celes had mentioned. His divine sense spread outward.
In an instant, Locke understood why Celes had said that once he arrived, a sweep of divine sense would immediately reveal the location of the planar teleportation array.
"Whoosh—"
Locke flew above the planar teleportation array and slowly descended.
His gaze swept across the surroundings.
Around the teleportation array stood six ice sculptures.
Though there were no longer any fluctuations of soul power within them, the residual aura lingering on their bodies made one thing clear—
These had all been god-level experts!
Presumably, they too had been sent by their respective Sovereigns to material planes to gather faith.
Unfortunately for them, their luck was terrible.
The Wakanda Plane had long since been claimed by Celes as his personal territory.
Thus, the moment they appeared here, they were met with Celes' overwhelming attack and frozen in place.
Seeing these figures, Locke felt even more puzzled about the Light Pope.
What exactly had the Light Pope relied on to escape Celes' pursuit?
And how had he earned Celes' recognition—allowing him to remain in the Wakanda Plane and gather faith alongside Locke?
Moreover…
Just like divine sparks, an upper-grade divine spark was worth tens of millions of times more than a mid-grade one.
Even if the price gap between upper-grade and mid-grade divine artifacts wasn't that extreme, it was still at least tens of thousands of times.
Yet the Light Pope possessed two upper-grade divine artifacts.
Was this due to his family's foundation?
Or something else entirely?
What a pity—he never managed to learn the Light Pope's real name.
Otherwise, Locke might have been able to uncover some of the Light Pope's background.
Stepping onto the planar teleportation array, Locke slowly injected his divine power into it.
"Buzz—"
In an instant, the teleportation array erupted with dazzling light, and Locke felt an immense pressure descend upon his body.
This was the spatial compression imposed on living beings within the array once planar transfer began.
(End of Chapter)
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