He had been completely deceived?
"Fake? Lies?"
"Augusta!" Lin Lei felt an unnamed fury instantly fill his entire chest.
Bastard!
This Augusta had actually deceived him on this matter!
Beside him, the Sovereign of Destruction, Utrecht, sneered: "Lin Lei, what kind of person is Augusta—don't you know? Domineering, greedy, insidious—he'll stop at nothing to achieve his goals. And you actually believed him so easily."
Lin Lei's brows furrowed tight: "I know all that, but at the time, Osul was present, and I trusted Osul more… But it's all too late to say any of this now. Lord Utrecht, what makes you so certain that Augusta was deceiving me? If an angel regains freedom, does it necessarily recover memories of its past life?"
These words were merely the Sovereign of Destruction's claims—Lin Lei couldn't place absolute trust in them for the time being.
The Sovereign of Destruction, Utrecht, said with absolute certainty: "Lin Lei, let me tell you. Among the seven Light Sovereigns of the Light God Realm, one Light Sovereign has defected to my side. So I have a very detailed understanding of angels."
Lin Lei listened in silence.
The Sovereign of Destruction, Utrecht, wore a solemn expression: "Angels are born from the Angel Rebirth Pool! Every Angel Rebirth Pool is spiritually connected to a Light Sovereign! Therefore, every angel born from an Angel Rebirth Pool is under the control of a Light Sovereign."
Lin Lei nodded.
The Sovereign of Destruction continued: "Angel Rebirth Pools differ in rank. The highest-ranked Angel Rebirth Pools number only two. Only from these two pools can Twelve-Winged Divine Angels be born. And both of these are personally controlled by Augusta."
"To grant your mother—this Twelve-Winged Divine Angel—her freedom, there are two methods. The first is to kill Augusta! Once Augusta dies, the Angel Rebirth Pool becomes unowned, and those angels' souls will be liberated, naturally regaining their freedom."
Lin Lei nodded. He already knew this method.
"The second method is to have Augusta sever the soul connection with the Angel Rebirth Pool that gave birth to your mother. Once the connection is severed, the Angel Rebirth Pool becomes unowned, and the thread of soul connection that every angel born from this pool possesses will also dissipate. They will all be free."
The Sovereign of Destruction sneered: "Lin Lei, once a soul connection to an Angel Rebirth Pool is severed, it's not just your mother—all angels born from that pool will regain their freedom!"
"Your mother is a Twelve-Winged Divine Angel, and there are only two pools that can produce Twelve-Winged Divine Angels. Would he sever the connection to one of those pools just for your mother? That would mean half of all Twelve-Winged Divine Angels would regain freedom and no longer be under his control!" The Sovereign of Destruction sneered. "If he truly let your mother regain freedom, how could he possibly have dispatched twelve hundred Twelve-Winged Divine Angels during the Plane War?"
Lin Lei understood completely.
For his mother's freedom, there was actually only one method—the Angel Rebirth Pool that gave birth to his mother must become unowned.
And for the pool to become unowned, there were only two ways. Either Augusta dies, or Augusta voluntarily severs the soul connection. Would Augusta be willing to give that up? Doing so would mean relinquishing every angel born from that pool.
"Bastard!" Lin Lei couldn't help but curse under his breath.
"Getting angry won't help you," Utrecht sneered.
Lin Lei's mind was racing, a single thought circling relentlessly—kill Augusta, kill him right now!
"Lord Utrecht," Lin Lei said quickly. "When a Sovereign controls angels—if he wants an angel dead, does the angel simply die?"
"Not necessarily." Utrecht shook his head with a faint smile. "It depends on where the angel is. If the angel and the Sovereign are in different planes, then the Sovereign cannot kill the angel."
Lin Lei suddenly grasped it.
It was like the Master-Servant Contract used to control magical beasts. Once a Master-Servant Contract is established, the master can easily cause the beast to perish.
But...
Once the contracted master and servant are in different planes, they can at most vaguely sense each other's direction. They cannot communicate soul-to-soul, nor can they kill the servant.
If Lin Lei and Bei Bei were in different planes, they also wouldn't be able to communicate soul-to-soul.
"Phew." Lin Lei felt a measure of relief in his heart.
On the surface, however, he remained perfectly composed. He bowed and said: "Lord Utrecht, I truly must thank you for this. If not for you, I fear I would have remained deceived for who knows how long."
After Lin Lei spent some time conversing with the Sovereign of Destruction, not long after Utrecht departed, one of his Wind Sovereign clones left Hell and traveled to the Netherworld to pay respects to the Sovereign of Death. After half a day passed, Lin Lei immediately invited Belute and Qing Huo to discuss this matter.
"What did you say?!"
Belute and Qing Huo both shot to their feet in shock.
"That's right—I was deceived." Lin Lei shook his head. "When an angel truly regains freedom and is no longer under control, it will recover memories of its past life."
"Are you certain?" Belute and Qing Huo asked in unison.
"I'm certain. The Sovereign of Destruction told me this, and just moments ago, my Wind Sovereign clone traveled to the Netherworld to meet with the Sovereign of Death and discussed this matter personally. The Sovereign of Death also confirmed the two methods for granting angels their freedom. Furthermore, once freed—without the soul obfuscation and control of the Angel Rebirth Pool—they will naturally recover memories of their past lives." Lin Lei's voice was low and heavy.
Belute and Qing Huo exchanged a glance, a flicker of shock in their eyes.
"If the Sovereign of Death has said so as well, then it seems it must be true," Belute murmured.
"I never thought we'd actually be deceived," Qing Huo said, his brows furrowing slightly.
Being deceived by someone else would have been one thing, but the one who had deceived Lin Lei was Augusta! Augusta, with whom they already had considerable enmity! Whether it was Belute or Qing Huo, both felt indignant and stifled, seething with anger. If Belute and Qing Huo felt this way, let alone Lin Lei!
After all, he was the one who had handed over the Four Divine Beast blood essence to Augusta!
"Lin Lei, what do you plan to do?" Belute asked, and Qing Huo turned to look at Lin Lei as well.
"Wait," Lin Lei said in a low voice.
"Wait?" the two couldn't help but feel puzzled.
"My father and mother are going to travel through material planes. I'll wait for them to leave before I act," Lin Lei said calmly.