Lin Lei studied her carefully.
This beautiful angel with brown hair, in terms of appearance alone, bore some resemblance to himself.
"Mother?" Lin Lei felt a faint tremor in his heart.
"Master."
Yet the moment this twelve-winged divine angel descended, her first instinct was to kneel.
"Hmph." With a thought, Lin Lei sent a wave of divine power to hold the brown-haired angel up, preventing her from kneeling.
A flicker of annoyance crossed his mind, and he couldn't help but glance at the Light Sovereign, thinking, "This Augustus definitely knew that angels would kneel before him, yet he showed no reaction beforehand." Ordinary angels kneeling was one thing, but this woman before him could very well be his mother!
Lin Lei refused to let that happen.
The Light Sovereign 'Augustus' smiled beside him and said, "Haha, alright, stand aside."
"Yes." The twelve-winged divine angel was extremely respectful. She stepped to one side and said nothing, only occasionally glancing at Lin Lei with curiosity.
"Is she my mother?" Lin Lei couldn't help but look a few more times.
When his mother had died, he had only been four or five years old. He had no memories of her at all now. Yet looking at this fair-skinned, beautiful woman, Lin Lei felt... a faint tremor of the soul. "To truly confirm, I'll need Father! Father and Mother shared life and death together. He'll definitely be able to recognize her clearly," Lin Lei thought to himself.
High above in the Divine Plane of Light, Lin Lei's Wind Elemental Sovereign clone was bringing his father 'Hogg' here.
"Father, Augustus has already brought the angel who may be Mother," Lin Lei said suddenly.
"She's here?" Hogg's face flushed with excitement.
"But I can't be completely certain." Lin Lei looked at his father. "When we get there, Father, examine her carefully and see if she's Mother."
"I'll know at first glance, I'm certain," Hogg said with absolute confidence.
And at that moment, the dazzling, luxurious island had already appeared in their field of vision. Enveloped in a flash of green light, the two of them entered the island.
Inside the Water Garden.
"Whoosh." Two figures descended from the sky—Lin Lei with pale cyan hair and Hogg. The pale cyan-haired Lin Lei walked toward Lin Lei's original body, and the two merged into one.
The moment they landed—
Hogg's eyes held only one person: the brown-haired angel standing there alone.
Hogg opened his mouth, but no sound came out. His eyes reddened in an instant.
"Lina! Lina!" Hogg cried out, his voice trembling.
The twelve-winged divine angel turned her gaze to Hogg, looking at him in confusion, her brows furrowing slightly.
"Lina, you don't recognize me?" Hogg rushed forward, reaching for the twelve-winged divine angel's hands. The angel didn't dare strike back here; she flickered to the side and dodged.
"Father, don't rush," Lin Lei called out quickly.
"What's going on?" Hogg turned to look at Lin Lei.
"Father, tell me—is she Mother?" Lin Lei asked urgently.
"Yes! Absolutely!" Hogg was completely certain. "Her appearance is exactly the same as back then, and that scent... I could never forget it in my lifetime!" Hogg could still clearly remember snuggling close to his wife Lina, breathing in her scent. The instant he laid eyes on this brown-haired angel, he knew—
That was his wife!
"Haha, Lin Lei, so the one you were looking for was your mother," Augustus laughed. "No wonder you took it so seriously. I told you already, there was no need to doubt! And I just received intelligence from my subordinates—over the past ten thousand years or so, only three divine angel souls have been obtained from the Yulan Plane: two male and one female. And only one twelve-winged divine angel soul. This female one! It's strange, really. About ten thousand years ago, the Church of Light in the Yulan Plane offered up a soul, but since then, no more have been offered."
But Lin Lei knew.
That was because... the Church of Light had been destroyed. Of course no more souls would be offered.
"A reunion between mother and son today—this is a joyous occasion," Augustus said with a broad smile.
The Fate Sovereign 'Olf' also smiled and gave a slight nod.
"Yes, she is my mother." Lin Lei made no attempt to deny it. At the same time, he looked at Augustus and spoke steadily. "Augustus, let's speed things up. Release my mother. I'll give you the Four Divine Beasts' essence blood. Oh, and among the Four Divine Beasts' essence blood, there are only twenty-eight drops of Black Tortoise essence blood—two short. So I'll add two extra drops of Vermillion Bird essence blood to make up the difference. No problem with that, right?"
"That shouldn't be an issue."
Augustus looked at Lin Lei and said slowly, "Lin Lei, I must tell you one thing. After you learn this, then you can decide whether we proceed with the trade."
Lin Lei's heart jolted. He sensed that something had changed.
"Go on," Lin Lei said.
Augustus began to explain. "This angel was a soul offered up from a Material Plane, then transformed into an angel in the Angel Rebirth Pool! And there's another saying—that angels are nothing more than humanoid weapons. They can no longer be considered living beings. Do you understand what this means?"
Lin Lei's brows furrowed.
Not considered living beings? What did that statement imply?
Augustus continued without pause. "An ordinary person's soul suddenly becomes a twelve-winged divine angel. Such a dramatic leap in power—if it were truly a living being, would that be possible?"