"Heaven and Human Unity?"
Hearing Locke say this, Celes was enlightened.
As a divine-level being who had advanced from the material plane, Celes naturally understood the difference between the Sanctuary and the Divine Realm.
In the Sanctuary, the comprehension of profound laws came from the connection between one's soul and the natural world.
To unleash one's full strength, one had to align one's soul power with the profound laws of the world, reaching the state of "Heaven and Human Unity," thereby manifesting a portion of the laws' true potential.
In such a state, if one did not deliberately restrain one's divine perception, a Sanctuary-level being could faintly sense a divine-level being's presence.
However, Celes had overlooked a crucial point.
He had cultivated independently to become a high-ranking god, his soul having undergone the world's laws three times.
Even without concealing the fluctuations of his divine perception, lower-ranking gods might fail to detect him.
And Locke—merely at the peak of the Sanctuary, not yet reaching the absolute limit—how could he detect Celes' divine perception?
Realizing that Locke had already discovered his "truth," Celes no longer felt curious.
He asked Locke directly, "Locke, are you intending to join the Temple of Light?"
Locke was momentarily stunned. He hadn't expected His Majesty Celes to contact him merely to ask this.
Shaking his head with a smile, Locke replied, "Your Majesty Celes, what you say is unfounded. The Radiant Temple is nothing but a group of despicable scoundrels. I could never degenerate to the point of joining them."
This was his genuine feeling.
In the Wakanda Plane, the Radiant temple was built on "betrayal, sacrifice, and plunder."
Among the common people swept along by the currents of fate, there were both good and bad.
But all of the Radiant Temple's upper echelons were alike—corrupt to the core.
"Oh?"
From his throne in the Frostsnow Empire's capital, Celes raised a brow.
As a high-ranking god, Celes did not possess Locke's ability to read emotions through the soul, but distinguishing a lie from truth was not difficult for him.
At the very least, he detected the disdain and contempt in Locke's tone toward the Temple of Light.
Clearly, Locke was not lying; he truly despised the Temple of Light.
"Then tell me, why is your Locke Domain so openly searching for the sacrifices the Radiant temple requires?"
"What? Searching for sacrifices?"
Locke's mind went blank for a moment. "Your Majesty Celes, how is that possible?"
Just as he prepared to refute, he recalled Cole's emotions in his presence—worry, fear, terror…
What circumstances could make a younger brother afraid of his elder brother?
Only if he had done something against his elder brother would such emotions arise.
Combining this with Celes' words, Locke realized what Cole had been doing in Locke Domain.
"Thank you for informing me, Your Majesty Celes."
"Rest assured, I will handle this matter properly."
"Understood."
The stronger the person, the more faith energy they would provide.
In Celes' eyes, Locke's talent was nearly on par with his own.
The chances of him eventually breaking through to the Divine Realm were almost guaranteed.
His potential to become a mid-ranking god was also considerable.
If Celes brought Locke under his wing, then once Locke reached the Divine Realm, he could take over overseeing the Wakanda Plane, allowing Celes to return to the Water Divine Plane to continue serving Lord Phiros.
Although both roles served the main god, the dispatched gods could not compare with those in the main god's inner army.
For instance, when the main god granted treasures, the inner army could claim nearly all of them.
Divine-level beings sent to collect faith, like Celes, received only a fraction—sometimes less than fifty percent—after multiple deductions.
The difference was clear.
Of course, Locke was unaware of Celes' intentions.
But now that Celes had personally approached him, Locke could not remain idle and had to respond.
More importantly, Locke despised any schemes that relied on sacrificing others for one's own benefit.
Exiting the "Heaven and Human Unity" state, Locke paused briefly.
Although he could no longer sense Celes' divine perception, he still detected a faint trace of "expectation" around him.
Clearly, Celes had not withdrawn his attention and was still monitoring him.
This provided Locke with a sense of reassurance.
It seemed his cultivation of the soul had advanced to the point that he could vaguely detect the "divine perception" of a god-level being.
"Cole, come to the training chamber immediately!"
…
In the conference room, Cole frowned as he examined the intelligence in his hands.
Ten years had passed since his elder brother's seclusion.
During this decade, he had strengthened the search for individuals with pure souls within Locke Domain, but so far, none had been found.
Every corner of Locke Domain had already been searched.
Now, there were only two options to continue the search.
First, wait for a new generation of children to be born in Locke Domain, then examine them for pure souls.
Second, expand the search to other noble territories to find individuals with pure souls.
For the first option, it was impossible to have personnel present at the moment of a child's birth. More efficient would be to wait another ten years and search Locke Domain again.
For the second option…
Having controlled Locke Domain for so many years, Cole knew that in other noble territories, each lord would have their own personnel searching for pure souls.
Any pure-souled individuals in these domains would already be secretly controlled by the nobles. Cole could not hope to find new pure souls there.
Only within the Grand Duke's own territory could he search without interference.
If Cole attempted to search in other dukes' territories and were discovered, it would bring utter disaster upon Locke Domain.
Cole's expression turned grim as he made up his mind.
No matter how good Locke Domain was, it was not truly his.
Only by achieving the Sanctuary himself would everything he possessed truly belong to him.
As for Locke Domain…
(End of Chapter)
⭐ Enjoying the story?
You can read ahead and support the translations by joining my Patreon! Your support helps me update faster and take on more projects. Thank you for reading!
Read up to 50 chapters ahead!
patreon.com/AminaSims
Bonus chapter at 100 powerstones.