Sovereign of the Ashes

The battlefield in the Magus Civilization’s border star domain.

Although Baxia and the other overlord-level dragonkin from the Immortal Realm were unable to hold back the Amenkha Empire’s Tenth Pharaoh and the two fused monster kings, they still succeeded in rescuing their young.

At the same time, they dealt a crushing blow to the Amenkha Empire legions that had entered this civilizational battlefield.

When overlord-level combatants were allowed to interfere freely on the frontlines, the tide of war was bound to tilt sharply to one side.

If there had only been one or two dragon beastkin, that would have been one thing. But there were seven of them here!

The Amenkha Empire’s creatures had been wealthy.

Upon arriving in this civilizational war zone, they had received a hefty payment from the Gallant Federation.

On top of that, under the Tenth Pharaoh’s leadership, they had swept through previous battlefields and ambushed numerous defensive star domains along the fringes of the civilizational war zone.

Now, most of that wealth had fallen into the hands of the greedy Dragon Clan.

As a result, after rescuing their young and securing a massive fortune, the few overlord-level dragonkin from the Immortal Realm did not dwell too much on the Tenth Pharaoh’s escape.

After all, laying siege to a Rank Eight overlord was simply too difficult.

The Tenth Pharaoh was also far more cunning than the Eighth Pharaoh had been back then.

After the rescue, several overlord-level dragonkin flew toward the battlefield in the Gallant Federation’s home star domain, as planned.

The legions under their command also surged forward like a massive tide, advancing toward the target star domain.

Among them, Chaofeng, who possessed the sharpest perception, suddenly looked up in a certain direction within the federation’s star domain just as he was about to leave the battlefield.

“Big brother has arrived. He’s also in that star domain,” he said to his younger brothers and juniors beside him.

Then, turning to Baxia, Chaofeng added, “Seems like Tourmaline is there as well.”

At that moment, White Stella and Black Oblivion lay weak and listless on Baxia’s broad back. Their bodies had both shrunk considerably.

When the mermaid heard news of her younger sister, she struggled to lift her tail and forced herself up.

Then, like the others, she gazed into the boundless starry sky, as though her eyes could pierce the vast reaches of the cosmos and see Tourmaline standing right before her.

Upon hearing this, a hint of joy flashed across Baxia’s eyes.

In an instant, he seemed to shed his earlier tyrannical demeanor and return to being a kind old father. Baxia’s desires had always been simple.

Among all the dragon overlords of the Immortal Realm, he was also the least self-serving.

If not for external disturbances, he could easily sleep in the same place for tens of thousands of years.

“Let’s go. With the Immortal Realm’s Daoist faction joining the fray, this war may end sooner... and perhaps much more smoothly,” Chaofeng said.

“I’ve heard that the Buddhist faction has also begun reaching out to the Magus World. There are other factions in the Immortal Realm who want a share of the spoils from this battlefield of civilizations too...”

Over the years, Chaofeng had been overseeing the operations of the Arriba Chamber of Commerce. In recent years, he had also taken part in the joint pursuit of the Tenth Pharaoh.

It was truly a mystery how he managed to gather so much information about the high-level exchanges between the Magus Civilization and the Immortal Realm without ever leaving his home.

And it was not just the Magus Civilization. Chaofeng was even well informed about developments in the distant Amenkha Empire and the Luminara Civilization.

Precisely because of this, Chaofeng was able to rely on his own judgment to make the most advantageous decisions for both the Dragon Clan and the Arriba Chamber of Commerce.

“The Immortal Realm’s Daoist faction should be heading to a different battlefield from ours, right?” Torch Dragon, who was exceptionally thoughtful, suddenly asked.

In terms of seniority, Torch Dragon and the Flood Dragon King were both two or three generations younger than Chaofeng and the others.

White Stella was senior to them as well, and her dragon bloodline was even purer!

However, in this world, strength was what mattered most.

Thanks to their overlord-level strength, Torch Dragon and the Flood Dragon King had clearly entered the Dragon Clan’s decision-making circle much earlier than White Stella and the others.

The future prosperity of the Dragon Clan rested on the shoulders of these overlords.

Chaofeng glanced at Torch Dragon.

“That’s right. They’re heading to the Grand Cosmic World battlefield. The situation over there... isn’t looking good,” he replied.

***

The Grand Cosmic World Battlefield...

In less than a thousand years, yet another overlord had fallen!

Once again, the fallen powerhouse was a native of the Grand Cosmic World.

The Grand Cosmic World had nurtured a total of one Rank Eight overlord and three Rank Seven overlords through its immense economic strength.

This alone showed that it was by no means weak among large-sized worlds!

At the very least, it was comparable to the former Rosen Dynasty civilization.

In terms of total economic output, the Grand Cosmic World surpassed the Rosen Dynasty Civilization by several times over!

Unfortunately, economic strength could not be equated with military strength.

The Grand Cosmic World’s strength lay almost entirely in its economy.

When it came to overall combat power and the individual strength of its overlords, the Grand Cosmic World ranked near the bottom among large world civilizations.

Since the Amenkha Empire launched its invasion, the Grand Cosmic World had already lost two overlords, while the remaining two were also wounded.

That said, the Astral Realm mercenaries recruited by the Grand Cosmic World were quite formidable.

Among them, Whispering Plume and Violet Thistlestar had performed exceptionally well!

The Grand Cosmic World had previously claimed to have connections with multiple top-tier civilizations. As it turned out, those claims were not empty boasts.

Aside from the Magus Civilization, they had indeed established friendly relations with other top-tier civilizations as well.

One example was Whispering Plume, a late-stage Rank Seven overlord from Sky Plume World.

It was an extremely obscure top-tier civilization, so obscure that even Magus World had never heard of it. The Magus Civilization did not even know the coordinates of its star domain.

All they knew, based on the Cosmic King’s description, was that it lay far from the Grand Cosmic World.

As for why an overlord like Whispering Plume was willing to cross such vast stretches of time and space to fight in the Grand Cosmic World, the reason was simple.

The Grand Cosmic World had offered an enormous reward.

In this world, there were very few things that money could not accomplish!

Given that Whispering Plume came from a top-tier civilization, his decision to join the Grand Cosmic World’s side carried the possibility of bringing support from yet another top-tier civilization.

Because of that, the price the Cosmic King paid to recruit Whispering Plume was actually on par with the compensation given to the Rank Eight Astral Realm entity, Violet Thistlestar.

Violet Thistlestar was not originally a living being. It was more like a manifestation of a certain law within the Astral Realm.

Perhaps, in the beginning, its true form had been a unique violet planet.

However, after countless years of change and evolution, that planet gave birth to intelligence and eventually evolved into the Rank Eight being known as Violet Thistlestar.

Violet Thistlestar had no eyes. Its body was covered only in countless brown spines.

In terms of individual combat power, although Violet Thistlestar was a wandering overlord of the Astral Realm who had cultivated to Rank Eight on its own, its strength was no weaker than that of Rank Eight beings born from top-tier civilizations.

In fact, due to its unique constitution and the law it embodied, it was even more formidable than some Rank Eight overlords from top-tier civilizations.

In a previous battle, Whispering Plume had wounded a Rank Seven monster king of the Amenkha Empire.

Violet Thistlestar, meanwhile, had forced back a Rank Eight general of the Amenkha Empire.

Because of this, the Cosmic King valued these two alliance overlords even more.

Whispering Plume, being a relatively inexperienced overlord, gradually began to lose himself under the Cosmic King’s praise and lavish investment.

He agreed to the Cosmic King’s request to recruit other overlords from his home civilization to join the war, though whether he would succeed ultimately depended on the intentions of the other overlords of Sky Plume World.

As for Violet Thistlestar, it had become increasingly cautious and low-key in recent years.

It rejected the Cosmic King’s request to extend their cooperation. Instead, through a law contract, it made sure to secure the right to withdraw from the war at its own discretion, depending on battlefield conditions.

The war contract Violet Thistlestar had signed with the Grand Cosmic World was originally set to last one hundred years.

Every hundred years, the Grand Cosmic World had to pay it an astronomical sum.

Under the pressure of survival, the Grand Cosmic World had no choice but to pay.

But now, the situation had become rather awkward.

The Grand Cosmic World was willing to keep paying, yet Violet Thistlestar seemed to have lost some interest in accepting the money...

Faced with Violet Thistlestar’s demands, the Cosmic King had no way to refuse.