Book 13: Part 17 – Doehring Cowart’s Revival

Seeing the excited grin on Linley's face, Aiden nodded. He could understand how Linley felt – Linley was a once-in-a-lifetime genius as well. Not only had he completely inherited the Azure Dragon bloodline, making him an Apex Divine Beast in human form, but even before this training exercise, he had already become a paragon in both the Law and Concept of Water and now, after watching the Divine Planes of so many he had accumulated a further four more portions of Will.

If not for Ace, Amira, and Killian, Linley would undoubtedly be the golden child of this generation.

Turning his head slightly, Aiden was able to peer into the void and view the happenings in the wider universe. Seeing what their opponents were up to, a playful smile appeared on his face, and he was struck by an idea.

Focusing his attention back on Linley, he said the two Overgod Talismans were his, but there was one condition: instead of Killian and the others being the ones to take on the deities under the other Sovereigns for ownership of the Overgod Talisman, it would have to be Linley and a group of no more than nine others of his choosing. The only limitation was that the group couldn't include Ace, Amira, or Killian.

As if that wasn't enough, Aiden also added that the other Sovereigns appeared to have had the same idea as them. At present, in the void just outside the Infernal Realm, 11 Divine Planes were being created for thousands of experts, each of whom appeared to have at least reached the 7-star fiend level.

Hearing that, Linley's eyes narrowed slightly as he thought about the implications of him and nine experts facing off against thousands of top-tier experts, several of whom would be likely to become paragons, but looking up at the back of his rival, who was still consumed in his training, his heart thrummed with excitement.

Since they left the Yulan Plane, venturing out into the wider universe, his name, Linley Baruch, was always forced into the shadows of Gol D. Ace, but this would finally be his time to shine. He would use this opportunity to announce to the world that Ace wasn't the only supreme genius to come from their Yulan Plane.

Looking at Aiden, Linley asked when they would finish their training.

Hearing his question, Aiden's brow raised as he understood what Linley was intending to do. A smile appeared on Aiden's face as he revealed that at the rate they were currently progressing, it would likely be another two to three hundred years.

Linley nodded and asked Aiden to let them know that in three hundred years, he, Linley Baruch, would be waiting for the deities of their choice in the Planar Battlefield, along with two of the three Overgod Talismans.

Looking at the pride and fighting spirit in Linley's eyes, Aiden couldn't help but laugh as an appreciative light flickered across his eyes. In his eyes, this was the true spirit a genius should have.

After Aiden did that, Linley turned to face his family and close friends.

He was well aware that, even if not Killian and Amira, he could still choose to pick from the rest of the Golden Sun Pirates, and with how battle-hungry they all were, none of them would reject him. Still, in his eyes, they were Ace's people. His pride wouldn't allow him to ask – it was no different to admitting inferiority to Ace, and that was wholly unacceptable to him.

Plus, his group was far from weak. His wife and Olivier were without a doubt the strongest aside from him, both of whom had become true two-way soul-mutated paragons with five and six units of will, respectively. Then there were Bebe and Oscar, both of whom were genuine Apex Divine Beasts with two units of Will. Finally, there was Wharton and Gates, who, although not Apex Divine Beasts, had a bloodline just shy of that level and also had two portions of will each.

In fact, Wharton, who had already become a paragon in his preferred Law of Fire, was close to becoming a paragon of the Laws of Water as well, having already comprehended over 90% of its six-way fused mysteries.

Unfortunately, even with all of them, that was only six. Although he was confident in the power and potential of himself and his group, he would be foolish to underestimate his enemies, especially when they so vastly outnumbered them. Aiden gave him nine slots to fill, so he would fill nine slots.

Before he could make up his mind, two men floated up and told Linley that they would be coming with him, effectively not giving him a choice in the matter.

Seeing who it was, Linley could only smile wryly as he had purposely avoided looking at them for a reason.

The young man on the left was Linley's and Yunaia's first and only child, Wade Baruch.

Because of the rules of heaven attempting to keep things as fair as possible, the more innately talented one was, the harder it was for that person to have a child. As such, it was no shock that in the last 4000 years or so, Linley, a genuine Apex Divine Beast, and Yunaia, a two-way soul mutate, were only able to have one child.

But as previously mentioned, the child of two such talented people was also incredibly talented.

Linley and Yunaia only managed to have Wade a little over 3000 years ago. In the grand scheme of things, Wade wasn't much younger than his parents, and with his talent, he was anything but weak.

Although it couldn't be said to be perfect, Wade's Azure Dragon bloodline was even purer than the average first-generation descendant, and although he had only inherited his parent's affinity to the Laws of Water, it was enough for him to have comprehended both the Laws and Concept of Water; in fact, he was close to comprehending his second Concept of Water.

As it stood, aside from his parents and Olivier, Wade was the strongest person affiliated with Linley – even stronger than Bebe and Oscar.

The reason Linley didn't want to pick Wade had nothing to do with a lack of strength and everything to do with his not wanting to see his son go with him on such a dangerous adventure this time.

Linley didn't want to risk any of their lives, but whether it was his wife Yunaia, his partner Bebe, or any member of their group, each of them had fought side by side for many years. They had built up an innate trust in each other when fighting together.

Still, seeing the look in Wade's eyes, he knew that he couldn't say no to him this time, nor did he have a reason to.

As for the man on the right, he was even less inclined to agree. The man in question was his master, Doehring Cowart.

With the help of Imoiya, the Chief Sovereign of Death, Doehring, who had spent the last few thousand years living as a spirit in the Coiling Dragon Ring, was finally given a body that was recast as his own. And that body was far from ordinary; the body he was given was actually that of an innate lifeform, one not too dissimilar from Hemmers, but whilst Hemmers was born from a mountain, Cowart's new body was born from an extremely ancient tree.

According to Beirut, the tree was originally the eldest living tree of their Yulan Plane. Unfortunately, it had offended Beirut a long time ago and ended up losing their life. Back then, although Beirut had no direct uses for it himself, he felt it was a shame to simply throw it away or let it rot; as such, the moment Imoiya agreed to help Doehring with his revival, he happily gave up the body.

Because of that, not only did Doehring Cowart have a unique body brimming with power – one even faintly surpassing that of an Apex Divine Beast – his affinity to the Laws of Earth had skyrocketed to the level of Linley's own to water.

Although it was done pretty late, it was done in time for the creation and fusion of the 11 new divine planes. Between that and the fact that Doehring had a front-row seat to all of Linley's adventures, his comprehension of the earth, though unvalidated, had grown steadily, creating what could only be described as an incredibly sturdy foundation – one not too dissimilar to Aiden's before his soul was healed, and just like Aiden when his soul was healed, the moment Reisgem began his creation of the new miniature Divine Plane of Earth, Doehring Cowart slipped into a deep trance-like state of enlightenment, one that didn't finish until well over 1000 years later.

After awakening, Doehring Cowart had become a paragon of the Concept and Laws of Earth, gaining him two units of will, but he was unwilling to settle for just that; as such, after he awoke, he immediately dove back into his training, focusing on comprehending his second Concept of Earth, an endeavour he was ultimately successful in.

Between his three units of Willpower and his incredible physical prowess, he was significantly stronger than the likes of Wade.

Again, Linley's hesitation didn't come from doubting his master's strength. The truth was, because his master effectively just got his life back, he didn't want to see him risking it so soon for his benefit.

In Linley's eyes, Doehring should be out adventuring through the universe, the way he had dreamed about before he had almost been killed the first time. If something happened to him, he, Linley, would forever feel guilty about it.

Still, he knew he couldn't reject his master's wishes. Plus, truth be told, he could use someone that powerful.

Even so, that was only eight team members, he was still missing one. He turned his attention to the members of the Four Divine Beasts Clan. Although Garrot had become a Sovereign now, there were several other paragons to choose from, but even Gisalson, the strongest of them, only had one portion of Will.

It was odd to say, considering the power and scarcity of paragons in the universe, that he was a little too weak for this battle, but ultimately, he was out of options. Or at least he thought he was.

Just as he prepared to invite Gisalson, Wukong stepped forward, directly announcing that the final spot was his.

Linley was tempted to say no, as although Wukong wasn't directly one of Ace's people, with their relationship, there wasn't much of a difference, but when he saw the dangerous light flickering in Wukong's eyes, he immediately changed his tune and welcomed him with open arms.

With his nine members chosen, he then turned to Julius and sincerely asked him to teach them the [Constellation Battle Tactics].

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