From the process of the Netherworld's evolution, enlightenment finally dawned upon Locke.
The Spatial Laws were simply the Spatial Laws.
Whether it was Spatial Shift, Spatial Lock, or Spatial Shatter, they were merely different applications of the Spatial Laws.
Spatial Severing could be Spatial Shift, but it could also be Spatial Shatter.
A Spatial Barrier could be Spatial Lock, but it could also be Spatial Shift.
After comprehending this point, Locke's understanding of the Spatial Laws instantly became clear and transparent. The three spatial Profound Mysteries—Spatial Shift, Spatial Lock, and Spatial Shatter—began to merge within his soul.
"Buzz..."
White light radiated from Locke's body.
When that white light reached the Death Chief Sovereign, she was greatly startled.
"What terrifying pressure..."
Even without the Heart of the Netherworld, the Death Chief Sovereign was still a Paragon Chief Sovereign of the Edicts. In addition, she possessed a Life Sovereign half-body and had obtained one reward from ten consecutive victories in the Planar Battlefield.
Compared to the other Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts, the current Death Chief Sovereign was over a hundred times stronger.
Yet after being enveloped by that white light, she felt the surrounding space bind her.
Even with her current strength, she was unable to break free.
With a thought, a gray whip appeared in the Death Chief Sovereign's hand. The might emitted by the whip caused ripples to appear in the surrounding space, greatly reducing the pressure she felt.
Crack!
The Death Chief Sovereign swung the Overgod artifact in her hand, creating circles around herself with the whip and finally regaining her freedom from the tremendous spatial pressure.
However, this was already the limit of what she could achieve.
An Overgod artifact in the hands of a Sovereign was like a Sovereign artifact in the hands of a Deity.
Both could enhance certain aspects of a Sovereign or a Deity's power, but neither could unleash the artifact's full might.
...
"I really was foolish..."
Drifting within the Spatial Laws, Locke shook his head and smiled bitterly.
During his cultivation of the Spatial Laws, there had once been a period when he had vaguely felt that the three Profound Mysteries of Spatial Shift, Spatial Lock, and Spatial Shatter were merely different applications of the Spatial Laws.
However, at that time, Locke had recalled that the Temporal Laws were divided into the three Profound Mysteries of Time Acceleration, Time Stop, and Time Reversal.
Thus, he hadn't thought too deeply about it and had instead continued to painstakingly study the three Profound Mysteries of the Spatial Laws.
Who would have thought that in the end, he would still have to fuse those three spatial Profound Mysteries together in order to reach Spatial Paragon and completely comprehend the Spatial Laws?
After understanding this point, Locke repeatedly read the memories of the Netherworld's consciousness within the Heart of the Netherworld. He repeatedly experienced the process by which it had grown from nothing into the Netherworld itself, allowing his Spatial Laws to begin merging.
After an unknown amount of time, Locke finally fused the three Spatial Law Profound Mysteries completely.
"Buzz..."
The perfected Spatial Laws emitted white light.
Under that white radiance, Locke's Nascent Soul rapidly grew. In only a dozen breaths, the one-year-old Nascent Soul had seemingly aged by over a decade, becoming an eighteen- or nineteen-year-old youth.
Slowly opening his eyes, Locke casually swept his gaze outward and instantly saw through the space of the Netherworld.
This feeling was completely different from using the Heart of the Netherworld to command the power of the Netherworld.
Through comparing the two, Locke could easily distinguish their strengths and weaknesses.
Without question, after refining the Heart of the Netherworld, the power generated by commanding the entire Netherworld in battle had indeed reached the domain of the Overgods.
However, that was only from the perspective of Sovereigns.
For someone like Locke, who had truly stepped into the Godking realm, a person who had refined the Heart of the Netherworld could only be considered a "pseudo-Overgod."
Leaving aside the fact that the power of the Netherworld accessed through the Heart of the Netherworld had only just touched the threshold of the Overgod realm, the process of mobilizing the Netherworld's power itself relied on the Heart of the Netherworld as an intermediary, creating a slight delay between the user and the Netherworld's power.
Such a delay was impossible for Sovereigns to detect.
But at the same level, it would become an enormous flaw.
The holder of the Heart of the Netherworld attacked and defended one beat slower than a true Overgod.
Of course, if the holder of the Heart of the Netherworld already possessed the realm of an Overgod, then such a flaw naturally wouldn't exist. Instead, the Heart would greatly amplify the user's power.
Having completely comprehended the Spatial Laws, Locke did not trigger the descent of the Laws of the Universe this time.
This was something Locke could understand.
His current achievements had already surpassed the limits of lifeforms within the magical universe.
According to the cultivation laws of the Hongmeng universe, after the Spatial Laws and Temporal Laws of subsidiary universes were hidden away, the lifeforms within those universes—unable to comprehend space or time—could only stop at the realm of Deities.
No matter what, they could never cultivate to the Heavenly Deity realm.
However, even Hongmeng probably would never have imagined that a being like Locke would appear within the magical universe.
By gathering large amounts of divine beast blood possessing spatial innate divine abilities, extracting the "heaven-bestowed bloodlines" connected to the Spatial Laws from those bloodlines, and fusing them together, he had artificially created the first spatial divine beast of the magical universe—the Emperor Jiang.
Step by step, he had used Paragon Laws to comprehend the Spatial Laws. Then he had created the bloodline cultivation system and, in turn, analyzed the Spatial Laws from within his own bloodline...
After his comprehension of the Spatial Laws surpassed the Spatial Laws contained within his bloodline, he had engraved his understanding back into the bloodline, promoting the evolution of his bloodline power...
Step by step, with the assistance of the Death Chief Sovereign's companion treasure—the Heart of the Netherworld—Locke had finally become the only lifeform in the magical universe to cultivate his way into becoming an "Overgod"!
Moreover, he had become a Spatial Overgod!
With a thought, the white light around Locke dissipated.
Rip!
Without the suppression of space, the Death Chief Sovereign's power was finally unleashed completely.
Brilliant, multicolored spatial cracks appeared around her and even showed signs of spreading outward.
With the Death Chief Sovereign's power, if that might were allowed to leak outward, the entire Mount Nether mountain range would likely be utterly destroyed.
"Not good!"
The Death Chief Sovereign had naturally anticipated such a possibility.
Previously, she had only wanted to maintain her freedom of movement within Locke's spatial domain, so she had continuously stirred the surrounding space with her Death Overgod artifact to weaken the spatial suppression upon herself.
Who would have thought that Locke would suddenly awaken and remove his suppression over the surrounding space?
The Death Chief Sovereign's expression turned grave.
After all, within Mount Nether there were not only countless lifeforms hoping for a chance to meet a Sovereign, but also some soldiers from the Nether Army and the Locke Army.
Furthermore, some of Locke's descendants, Death Chief Sovereign's Sovereign Emissary Mira Locke, and Ryan, Vice Commander of the Locke Army, were all still on Mount Nether.
If the Death Chief Sovereign's power spread unchecked, none of them would survive.
She desperately tried to withdraw her strength.
But in order to resist the unconscious spatial pressure emitted by Locke, the Death Chief Sovereign had already gone all out. How could she possibly stop instantly?
"It's over..."
Just as she thought that all life within Mount Nether was doomed, Locke made his move.
With a casual wave of his hand, he increased the distance between the Death Chief Sovereign and the surrounding space.
The power she had released dissipated completely before even reaching a radius of one meter.
Locke had directly used the Spatial Laws to strengthen the surrounding space so that it could not be shattered by the Death Chief Sovereign's attacks. At the same time, he extended the scale of space itself, causing the attacks to naturally dissipate once they exceeded their effective range.
"Huu..."
Although she did not understand how Locke had accomplished it, there was no doubt that he had saved everyone on Mount Nether.
"Thank goodness you were here, Locke..."
"Otherwise..."
The Death Chief Sovereign shook her head and did not continue.
In truth, there wasn't much to say.
Even if her power had spread and completely destroyed Mount Nether, it would not have been a major issue to a Sovereign.
However, even if it had been an accident, personally killing her own Sovereign Army and Sovereign Emissaries would leave anyone feeling terrible.
"No. I was the root cause of all this."
Shaking his head, Locke apologized to the Death Chief Sovereign.
The Heart of the Netherworld had always been the Death Chief Sovereign's greatest support.
After losing the Heart of the Netherworld, especially within the Netherworld itself, it was only natural that she would feel a sense of loss after falling from her former state of "invincibility."
Being suppressed by the spatial domain unconsciously emitted by Locke and instinctively trying to break free was merely a natural reaction.
After severing his connection with the Heart of the Netherworld, purple light emerged from Locke's body and condensed into a purple seal in his palm.
"Lilia, with the assistance of the Heart of the Netherworld, I have already completed my most important breakthrough. You should take it back."
"Good."
The Death Chief Sovereign didn't stand on ceremony. She casually accepted the Heart of the Netherworld and absorbed it back into her body.
"Huu..."
Feeling her control over the entire Netherworld return, the Death Chief Sovereign's emotions calmed.
"How do you feel?"
"Better than ever."
Locke smiled.
"However, Lilia, I may still need to enter seclusion for a while longer."
"Oh?"
The Death Chief Sovereign raised an eyebrow.
"Locke, if I remember correctly, you once said that after cultivating the Spatial Laws to perfection, you would become a Spatial Overgod comparable to the Four Overgods."
"Now that you've already perfected the Spatial Laws, why do you still need to continue your seclusion?"
(End of Chapter)
⭐ Enjoying the story?
You can read ahead and support the translations by joining my Patreon! Your support helps me update faster and take on more projects. Thank you for reading!
Read up to 50 chapters ahead!
patreon.com/AminaSims
Next Bonus Chapter at 3000 Powerstones