"Your mother?" The Death Sovereign glanced at Lin Lei with a hint of surprise.
In the Death Sovereign's view, Lin Lei should have inquired about his parents from the start. First his father... and only at the very end his mother.
"Wait a moment." The Death Sovereign closed her eyes.
Lin Lei's heart ached with longing. "Mother... a mother I've never met!" In Lin Lei's memory, the word "mother" was impossibly distant, and he held not a single recollection. Yet whenever he saw others with their parents, he would sometimes wonder about his own mother. What had she been like?
"Strange." The Death Sovereign opened her eyes, her cold gaze settling on Lin Lei's face.
"What is it?" Lin Lei asked quickly. What he feared most was that his mother had already died. After all, compared to his father and people like George and Yeru, his mother's strength in life had been far too weak. Though her soul was pure, her power had been insufficient.
"Can't you find her?" Bei Bei said from beside him, unable to hide his worry for Lin Lei.
But the Death Sovereign furrowed her brow and regarded Lin Lei with some irritation. "Lin Lei, are you deliberately toying with me?"
Lin Lei was bewildered. "Highgod, how would I dare toy with you? Highgod, please tell me—what happened to my mother? Did she become an Undead? Is she alive or dead? Please, just tell me directly." Lin Lei's heart was in turmoil, yet the Death Sovereign's expression only darkened.
"Hmph, Lin Lei—your mother isn't dead at all! She never became an Undead! And you still had me search?" A trace of killing intent leaked from the Death Sovereign's eyes.
The Death Sovereign was naturally furious!
In the wager Lin Lei had made with her just now, if his mother was dead, then the Death Sovereign still had a chance of winning. But if his mother was never dead at all, how could the Death Sovereign possibly locate her? She wasn't dead, yet he'd had her search anyway—in the Death Sovereign's eyes, Lin Lei had been deliberately mocking her!
"My mother isn't dead?" Lin Lei could hardly believe it.
Beside him, Bei Bei's eyes went wide. "Not dead? That can't be right—the King of Fenlei already said she was. It shouldn't have been a lie."
"Your mother isn't dead." The Death Sovereign said with a grim face. "Or rather, even if she had died, her soul would have scattered to nothing. In any case, one thing is certain: your mother's soul never arrived in the Netherworld, nor was it converted into an Undead. Every soul that becomes an Undead is recorded by the Heart of the Netherworld. It is absolutely impossible for her to go undetected!"
Lin Lei frowned.
The Death Sovereign's status was beyond question. She would never lie! Yet his mother was clearly gone. So what was the real reason?
"Highgod," Lin Lei pressed on. "My mother truly has been gone for a very long time. From my investigations, my mother had already died. Her soul, they said, was offered by the Church of Light in the Material Plane to the 'Light Sovereign.' But the Light Sovereign is a Sovereign—would he truly care about a single mortal's soul? Would that soul even be able to cross through space and reach the Divine Plane of Light?"
Lin Lei didn't believe it.
The Death Sovereign heard this and understood immediately. She cast a cold glance at Lin Lei. "If your mother's soul truly went as you say, then it should have gone to the Divine Plane of Light. It would be entirely under the control of the Light Sovereign or the other Light Highgods. In short, it falls outside my jurisdiction."
"The Divine Plane of Light?" Lin Lei grew anxious. "Is there any way for me to bring my mother back?"
"Impossible!"
The Death Sovereign said flatly. "Any soul that falls into the hands of the Light Sovereign can never regain its freedom. Let me tell you... the angels of the Divine Plane of Light are absolutely loyal to the Light Highgods. They cannot harbor even a shred of independent will. Even if you found the angel your mother had become, you could never make her return."
"Angel?" Lin Lei knew something about angels.
Angels were the most powerful warrior race under the Light Highgods. Legend had it that the Highgods themselves created them. Though they possessed intelligence and the like, they were known as "humanoid weapons of war." His own mother had become an angel?
"What do the Light Highgods collect pure souls for, if not to bolster their angel legions?" the Death Sovereign scoffed.
"I have no way to bring my mother back?" Lin Lei asked, unwilling to accept it.
"Becoming an Undead at least preserves a measure of personal freedom. But angels..." The Death Sovereign glanced at Lin Lei. "Lin Lei, you must know about 'Death Puppets'—those humanoid weapons. Angels are somewhat more special than Death Puppets, of course, since they possess intelligence and so on. But one thing is the same: angels cannot betray the Light Highgods. And given the Light Sovereign's temperament, forget about you—even if another Highgod went to him personally and asked him to restore an angel's freedom, it would be highly unrealistic."
Lin Lei's heart grew heavy upon hearing this.
The Light Sovereign was, after all, a Sovereign!
"Is there anything else? If not, I'll be going." The Death Sovereign said flatly.
Lin Lei quickly set aside his other thoughts and said urgently, "There's one more thing I'd like to ask."
"You certainly do have a lot of questions." The Death Sovereign gave a slight nod. "Go ahead." Her attitude toward Lin Lei was noticeably better than it had been at Nethermountain. Clearly, Lin Lei's status as a Paragon had earned him a great deal more respect. This was only natural—Highgods generally admired those who had achieved the Paragon level.
Becoming a Highgod required opportunity—it was a matter of luck.
But becoming a Paragon demanded genuine strength.
"I want to ask—if a person's soul has scattered to nothing, is it possible to bring them back to life?" Lin Lei asked nervously. Bei Bei glanced at him from the side. "The boss is asking this because of Grandpa Derinkoort." Bei Bei knew just how deep Lin Lei's bond with Derinkoort had been.
The Death Sovereign let out a derisive laugh. "Don't be ridiculous. When a soul scatters to nothing, death is absolutely certain. How could anyone be revived?"
"Oh..." The last sliver of hope in Lin Lei's heart shattered.
He had never held much hope to begin with—it had been nothing more than a desperate wish.
The Death Sovereign's eyebrow rose, and a hint of a smile appeared on her face. "Actually, Lin Lei—if a person whose soul has scattered to nothing wishes to be revived, there may still be a sliver of hope."
"Oh?" Lin Lei's eyes blazed so brightly they were almost blinding as he stared at the Death Sovereign. "Highgod, what method?"
The Death Sovereign was startled by the intensity of his gaze, but her smile only deepened. "That soul-scattering means certain death—that is what Highgods believe. But the legendary 'Life Sovereign' is the incarnation of the Laws of Life, and is itself the Laws of Life. The workings of this infinite world are all governed by the laws of heaven and earth... I cannot save a soul that has scattered to nothing. But the Life Sovereign—perhaps she could."
"Yes, yes!" Lin Lei could not help but be filled with anticipation. "The workings of heaven and earth are all bound by the laws. The Life Sovereign is the laws herself—she can definitely save him."
"That is merely my own speculation—I am not a Sovereign. Whether she can actually save anyone, I cannot say with complete certainty." The Death Sovereign smiled faintly. "However, in my eyes, the Sovereigns are omnipotent. In this infinite world, they can seemingly accomplish anything. After all—they are the laws themselves!"