Even the Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, and the Chief Sovereign of Destruction, Wordred, no longer dared to continue attacking.
Judging from the aura coming from the other side, the place beyond was merely an ordinary material plane.
If they rashly entered it, or allowed their attacks to pass through that spatial tear into the material plane, the entire material plane would undoubtedly collapse.
None of the Sovereigns had forgotten how the Overgod of Destruction had been drawn out during the previous Sovereign War.
They certainly didn't wish to sink into eternal oblivion beneath an Overgod's words simply because they had destroyed a material plane.
"It escaped."
Orloff sighed, then turned back toward the Sovereigns who had followed after them.
"However, there's no need for everyone to worry. Since that creature was able to enter a material plane, it means its strength absolutely has not reached the Sovereign level."
"Otherwise, even entering a material plane would have caused it to collapse."
"My estimate is that its strength should lie somewhere between a Paragon and a Lesser Sovereign. As for whether it can ultimately become a Sovereign-level existence… that remains unknown."
Hearing Orloff's words, the Lesser Sovereigns and Intermediate Sovereigns immediately relaxed.
As long as it wasn't something capable of threatening their lives, that was enough.
…
The disturbance within the spatial turbulence gradually settled, and the Sovereigns all returned to their respective homes.
After returning to the Netherworld, the Chief Sovereign of Death sensed that Locke's aura had stabilized, and immediately entered Locke's training chamber.
"Locke, how are you?"
"Everything went exactly as I expected. It was very successful, Lilia."
After standing up and embracing Lilia for a moment, Locke took her hand and sat down together with her on the floor of the training chamber.
"So, what exactly happened? How did you cause such an enormous disturbance within the spatial turbulence?"
Although the descent of the Laws earlier, as well as the disturbance in the spatial turbulence, had already told the Chief Sovereign of Death that Locke had definitely succeeded in breaking through, she still couldn't help but ask. She wanted to hear more of the details directly from Locke himself.
"I couldn't do anything about it."
Locke shook his head.
"This time, the descent of the Laws only allowed my realm to break through. It didn't allow me to absorb spatial divine power."
"So, I had no choice but to search for spatial energy that I could absorb. In the end, I discovered that the place within this universe containing the greatest amount of spatial energy was the spatial turbulence itself."
"But the fact that absorbing spatial energy would create a spatial vortex within the spatial turbulence… that was something I hadn't anticipated."
"A spatial-element deity…"
Hearing Locke say this the Chief Sovereign of Death gave a soft sigh.
Even now, she still felt somewhat dazed by the fact that Locke had successfully become a deity through the Laws of Space.
For as long as anyone could remember, all living beings in the universe knew of only the seven elemental Laws of earth, wind, water, fire, light, darkness, and lightning, as well as the four Edicts of Death, Life, Fate, and Destruction.
For countless years, innumerable living beings had cultivated those seven Laws and four Edicts in order to become Deities.
Even Sovereigns existed only within those eleven systems.
Yet now, Locke's success proved that beyond the seven elemental Laws and four Overgod Edicts, there existed other Laws within the universe.
"So then, Locke, what's the difference between spatial-element deities and ordinary deities?"
"The differences are quite large."
"But I think the greatest difference lies in the divine spark."
"Unlike deities of the other elements, I don't possess any so-called spatial divine spark."
"After completely comprehending ten percent of the Laws of Space, the Laws directly elevated my soul to a higher level, allowing my soul's strength to reach the point where it could bear the Laws of Space the way a divine spark normally would."
"So now, the Laws of Space are engraved directly within my soul."
Cultivation within the Coiling Dragon Universe did not place much emphasis on the soul.
Thus, the souls of living beings were incapable of bearing completely comprehended Profound Mysteries.
Once a living being fully comprehended a Profound Mystery, the Laws would condense that Profound Mystery into a divine spark, turning it into a tool through which Deities controlled the Laws.
After becoming Deities, all the Profound Mysteries comprehended by Deities existed within their divine sparks.
For example, in the future, when Beirut wished to help Bebe quickly grow to the Highgod level, he would ask a death-element expert to strip away the Law insights from other living beings cultivating the Laws of Darkness. What was stripped away were the Law insights within the souls of Saint-level peak experts.
The Profound Mysteries comprehended by true Deities all existed within their divine sparks and could not be seized.
"So that's how it is…"
After hearing Locke's explanation, the Chief Sovereign of Death finally understood why no one in the magic universe had ever successfully cultivated the Laws of Space.
According to Locke's deductions, in order to even come into contact with the Laws of Space in this universe, one would first need to cultivate one of the four elemental Laws of earth, wind, water, or fire to the Paragon level.
Only complete mastery of one of those four elemental systems allowed a person to touch the Laws of Space and obtain the qualifications to cultivate them.
But even that alone still wasn't enough to reach the point of becoming a spatial-element deity.
Because the magic universe possessed no spatial divine sparks, the only way to become a spatial deity—aside from exploiting the loophole in the universe's Laws the way Locke had by forging a spatial divine beast bloodline and turning himself into a spatial divine beast—was to raise one's soul to Locke's current level.
With those two enormous barriers in place, how could other living beings possibly achieve it?
The first requirement alone—cultivating one elemental system to the Paragon level—already blocked out ninety-nine point infinitely repeating nines percent of all living beings in the magic universe.
At the very least, more than eighty million years had passed since the seven Divine Planes were established, yet the only people to reach the Paragon level in either the Laws or Edicts were the three Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts and Locke.
And even if someone truly became a Paragon through earth, wind, water, or fire, if they lacked any concept of space, then even if they occasionally touched the Laws of Space, they wouldn't know what it was. They might not even realize they had touched a higher level of Law.
The second requirement was even more hopeless.
Cultivation of the soul within the Coiling Dragon Universe likewise relied primarily upon comprehending the Laws.
For most living beings, their soul strength only gradually increased as they comprehended the Laws and became infused by their aura, before finally transforming during breakthroughs in rank through the power of the Laws themselves.
Aside from soul mutants, nearly all living beings reached the limits of their soul level upon becoming Highgods.
Even soul mutants probably couldn't reach the level of a Soul Golden Core, much less the Nascent Soul realm capable of bearing Laws.
After learning the two prerequisites required to become a deity through the Laws of Space, the Chief Sovereign of Death completely gave up any thoughts of cultivating the Laws of Space herself.
Whether it was cultivating the Laws of Water to the Paragon level or raising her soul realm, she felt that even across her entire lifetime, she could never reach Locke's level.
"Then Locke, what level has your original body's strength reached now?"
This was what the Chief Sovereign of Death cared about most.
No matter what path one cultivated, strength was still what mattered in the end.
If spatial-element deities weren't much stronger than ordinary deities, then the cultivation requirements would simply be too harsh.
"My original body's current level of strength?"
Locke pondered for a moment, comparing his original body with his two divine clones.
According to the cultivation system of the primary universe, Locke's current comprehension of the Laws of Space placed him at the level of a Lower Heavenly Deity, equivalent to a Lesser Sovereign in the Coiling Dragon Universe.
Although Heavenly Deities in the primary universe did not possess Sovereign's Might, the power of the Laws of Space was no weaker than a Sovereign's Will.
Furthermore, unlike Sovereigns—whose limits were already fixed—the cultivation of Heavenly Deities advanced according to one's comprehension of the Laws of Space.
Now that Locke's soul had reached the Nascent Soul stage through the assistance of the Laws, there would no longer be any bottlenecks hindering his comprehension of the Laws of Space.
As long as his understanding of the Laws of Space continued to improve, Locke could still become a Middle Heavenly Deity, an Upper Heavenly Deity, and eventually, upon reaching complete mastery of the Laws of Space, advance to the Godking realm comparable to the Overgods.
At present, Locke's two divine clones and original body all possessed Sovereign-level strength.
The strongest was still his Fate Sovereign true body. The fusion of the Laws of Water and Fate granted his Fate Sovereign true body strength comparable to the Chief Sovereign of Death.
Below that should be his original body, which currently possessed the power of an Intermediate Sovereign.
Once Locke fully fused the Laws of Space he had comprehended this time with the Laws of Water, his water divine clone would also undergo an enormous increase in strength. The fused Laws of Water and Space containing over ten percent of the Laws of Space would be no weaker than the fusion of Water and Fate.
At that point, his water divine clone might surpass even his Fate Sovereign true body through the fusion of Water and Space.
Thinking of this, Locke directly said to the Chief Sovereign of Death:
"After absorbing enough spatial divine power, the Dijiang bloodline tempered my body once more, raising my original body's toughness to the level of a Sovereign artifact."
"Combined with the Sovereign's Will I obtained through fusing heterodox Laws, my original body is now slightly stronger than my water divine clone—roughly ten times stronger than an Intermediate Sovereign."
"Hiss…"
The Chief Sovereign of Death sucked in a cold breath.
Even excluding Locke's Sovereign's Will and Sovereign artifact-level body, Locke still possessed the strength of a Lesser Sovereign.
Merely reaching the level of a lower deity yet already rivaling a Lesser Sovereign.
As expected of the Law with the highest cultivation requirements.
The Laws of Space…
During one occasion when her water divine clone had watched Locke fishing, the Chief Sovereign of Death had experienced a sudden moment of enlightenment, touching the barest trace of the Laws of Space and learning how to use the ripples of the Laws of Water to pry at the Laws of Space.
And just that tiny fragment alone had allowed her to create an extremely powerful trapping technique.
Thus, the Chief Sovereign of Death fully understood how terrifying the Laws of Space were.
However, she was equally certain that within this universe, Locke was probably the only person capable of cultivating such Laws.
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