Aiden turned to face the rest of the Sovereigns, his trademark lazy smile hanging on his lips as he told them he overheard them asking his cheeky little disciple for the secrets of the path of Concepts.
Hearing that, all the other Sovereigns couldn't help but curse Ace inwardly. If he had told them he was the disciple of a genuine Overgod, even if you gave them 100 times the confidence, they still wouldn't have dared to breathe too loudly in front of Ace.
Still, when they heard Aiden's words, their eyes couldn't help but light up with hope.
Aiden said the secret of the path of concepts was never supposed to be a secret, but after the way they treated his little disciple, he couldn't just give them a reward without making them work for it.
Saying that, Aiden turned his attention to Teresia, who almost had a heart attack, thinking that he was about to die.
But as opposed to what everyone believed would happen, Aiden didn't kill Teresia. Instead, he flicked his finger, causing a drop of spiritual essence to enter Teresia's soul.
Teresia's eyes glazed over as Aiden explained that in 2000 years, Ace would fight Teresia in a battle to the death. If Teresia won, he would pass on the information about the path of Concepts for everyone to follow, but if Teresia lost, it would be Ace's decision to share it if he chose.
Hearing that, the other Sovereigns couldn't help but stare at Aiden as though he was a madman who had lost his mind. In fact, aside from the Golden Sun Pirates and Linley, even those on Ace's side looked at Aiden incredulously.
Bluefire didn't care that Aiden was an Overgod now; he couldn't allow his Grandson to fight such an unfair battle. He immediately argued the point, and thankfully, Aiden didn't take offence. Instead, he looked at Ace and asked for his opinion.
Ace grinned excitedly as he replied that in 2000 years, a mere paragon-level Lesser Sovereign wouldn't be his match.
His words sounded overconfident and arrogant to most of those present, but Aiden grinned right back and said that was his thoughts exactly, which was why he had given Teresia all the information about the path of concepts, but he put a seal on the information, preventing Teresia from sharing it with anyone else.
Bluefire was still against it, but he knew it was out of his hands at this point; he could only take comfort in the fact that he knew Aiden cared deeply about Ace, no different to how a father would care about his son. He refused to believe that if it really came down to it, he could really just sit back and watch as his only disciple lost his life in front of him.
On the flip side, Wodred and the other Sovereigns, despite being shocked, were struggling to contain their excitement. Quite frankly, they didn't care about whether Ace lived or died; they were just excited that in as little as 2000 years, which to them may as well have been a little nap, they would be able to start on the path of Concepts.
Although they were worried about what heights Ace might grow to in the future, especially if and when he became a paragon of the Mandate of Pure Yang, that wasn't something achievable in a mere 2000 years.
In their eyes, it was all but impossible for Ace to grow to the point where he could threaten a Sovereign in 2000 years. Teresia winning was a sure thing…
Although not all of them were, many of the Sovereigns present had become paragons in their respective laws, making it too difficult to improve their strength anymore and even for the ones who hadn't become paragons, they had run into bottlenecks that were too hard for them to pass.
Whether it was for the former or the latter, this was a chance for all of them to reach all new heights.
Teresia hadn't heard what Aiden and Ace had just said, so he had no idea that Aiden was just using him as a whetstone for his disciple. Although he should've been able to guess as much as no master would willingly throw their disciple into the firing line like that unless they had faith in them, but he was so excited by the prospect of Concepts that he didn't put two and two together immediately.
As soon as Teresia woke up from accepting the information from Aiden, he immediately kowtowed to the Overgod, as though he was about to be accepted as a disciple, thanked him and promised he wouldn't let him down.
Ace merely rolled his eyes at Teresia's fawning and turned to leave with Aiden and his friends, but before he left, Ace said he'd be returning here in 2000 years to claim his head; Teresia just had to wait.
With that, Aiden wrapped Ace and his group, as well as the Sovereigns that stood on their side in his Overgod power and took them with him, seemingly teleporting back into the Yulan Plane.
Seeing them leave, Teresia's eyes narrowed. Watching Ace leave with the Overgod of Wind, Teresia felt more jealous than ever before. Back in his era, he was also a genius among geniuses, allowing him to become a paragon in only 15,000 years – a speed that was second only to the likes of Wodred and Orloff.
In his eyes, there was no one who deserved to be the disciple of the Overgod of Wind but him – a fact that he had every intention of proving in their battle in 2000 years. Until then, he would begin training in the Concept of Wind so as to impress Aiden on that day.
At the same time, the eyes of Augusta and the other Sovereigns not originally from the Yulan Plane widened in terror as they arrived in the Yulan Plane.
It had to be remembered that Sovereigns weren't allowed to enter a material plane unless they were from said plane originally. If they did, not only would they feel their bodies rejected from the plane, they would forfeit their lives as punishment.
Aiden, not seeming to care about their origins, teleported them all in without a second thought, causing Augusta, Shinji, and Gitara's eyes to widen in fear as they realised they were looking death straight in the eye.
Realising his mistake, Aiden merely waved his hand, and the plight of the three Sovereigns suddenly stabilised.
Upon becoming an Overgod, aside from overwhelming raw power, Aiden was afforded many other unique abilities. The first was what allowed him to turn the Yulan Plane into his domain.
Ace and the others who hadn't been back to the Yulan Plane in some time sighed in amazement. Although the landscape hadn't changed much since they left, the stability of the plane had increased dramatically. In terms of stability and purity, it had reached the same level as the four higher realms created by the Overgods of the four Edicts.
Because the Yulan Plane was now effectively his domain, despite the fact that it was still technically a material plane, he could choose whether to allow certain Sovereigns entry.
Ignoring the shock of the three external Sovereigns, Aiden turned to his disciple and asked him what his plans were now.
Ace thought for a moment before explaining that, before anything else, he planned on perfecting his [Blazing Glaive Art], stripping back the aspects of the Concept of Light he had infused into it.
Hearing that, whether it was his grandfather or his crewmates, everyone looked at him like he was insane.
Even though Killian and the others were confident in his ability and his chances to defeat Teresia in 2000 years, they didn't know why he was effectively taking a step back to focus on a weaker Glaive Art when he should be focusing on the stronger one, so as to become as strong as possible as fast as possible.
Ace explained that, on top of the other gifts he had been given, there was another blessing Heaven had granted him, which was that, from this moment on, every breakthrough he made in realm would double his Willpower, and that would continue to be the case until he became a paragon.
Aside from his Master and wife, everyone's eyes widened as they understood what that meant. And by extension, they also realised why Ace was choosing to follow that path.
If he were to perfect his [Blazing Glaive Art], he would be blessed with an additional portion of Will. Although in the grand scheme of things, one more portion wouldn't change much right now, when he broke through to the Full God Realm, that single portion would become two, and as a High God, it'd become four.
Aiden nodded, proud of his disciple's decision to protect his future instead of aiming for immediate gains.
Ace then turned to Augusta and the others and thanked them for supporting them. Even if he didn't need it, he truly appreciated their good intentions.
He then turned to Beirut and asked if he had any plans for that final Earth-type Sovereign Spark.
In response, Beirut shook his head and said he considered giving it to Killian or Linley, but his master told him not to bother giving it to any of you as merging with a sovereign spark would only ruin your future.
No one else understood what Aiden could've meant by that, not even Beirut – merging with a Sovereign Spark was the dream of every deity; how could it ruin their future? But Ace knew exactly what Aiden meant, and also agreed with his decision.
Ace told Beirut that the choice was his, but he believed Reisgem would be a good choice to become the new Lesser Sovereign of Earth.
Hearing that, Reisgem was beyond shocked – that was the last thing he expected to come out of Ace's mouth.
Hearing that, Beirut summoned the Sovereign Spark from his spatial ring and passed it to Ace, who gave it to Reisgem and thanked him once again for parting with his Amethyst Soul Stone, as it helped him more than Reisgem ever could've imagined. He then told Reisgem to think of this as a dowry before welcoming him to the family.
Faye's ears turned red as a furious blush crept up her neck, but she merely thanked Ace on behalf of her fiancé, who was still reeling from his shock.
Ace saw the suppressed unwillingness on Garot's face as he was able to correctly guess that the Sovereign Spark just handed to Reisgem originally belonged to his father.
In response, though, all he asked was if Garot's weaker divine clone of wind had reached the High God Realm. Not knowing the reason behind Ace's question, Garot absentmindedly shook his head, admitting that his affinity to wind was too poor; he was merely at the Full God Realm still, after billions of years.
Ace nodded and said he should probably spend the next 2000 years focusing on the Laws of Wind so that he could merge with Tereisa's Sovereign Spark after he defeats him.
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