The mist outside the lake primarily targeted Deities.
It possessed very little killing power. However, the closer one approached the Water Manor, the more one's sense of direction and five senses would gradually be lost within the mist.
Without a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact or Willpower, a Deity simply could not pass through this layer of mist that Locke had arranged.
As for the illusions hidden within the mist surrounding Locke's Water Manor, they were even more extraordinary.
This was because Locke had incorporated his most lethal technique, the "Eye of Hell," into it.
Although the power of the "Eye of Hell" integrated into the mist was far inferior to when Locke personally cast it, it was still a terrifying attack capable of injuring even Sovereigns.
Even a Sovereign entering this place while Locke was in seclusion would suffer severe injuries.
Previously, whether it was Oakes and the others, or Loran and Teresia, whenever they came to see Locke, it was always Locke who actively opened a passage through the mist to allow them into the Water Manor.
At the same time, whenever Locke met with them, he would deactivate the illusions hidden within the mist surrounding the Water Manor inside the lake.
Because of this, even Loran had never known just how powerful the mist around Locke's Water Manor truly was.
Nor had Locke expected that after merely chatting with Lilia for a few moments and not paying attention to Loran, Loran would directly charge inside.
"How are you, An'an?"
After dispersing the "Eye of Hell" hidden in the mist, Loran's condition improved considerably.
Lilia stepped forward. At this moment, she was so anxious that she had forgotten all about the changes in Loran's appearance.
"An'an, how do you feel now?"
"I'm fine. Much better."
Seeing the anxious expressions on his parents' faces, Loran still forced himself to smile despite the tearing pain still coming from his soul.
With a wave of his hand, a pile of amethysts appeared in midair.
Then, Locke's soul power swept out and instantly refined the entire pile of amethysts into purple soul energy.
Afterward, Locke wrapped this soul energy and sent it into Loran's soul, allowing it to nourish his injured soul.
Lilia also didn't remain idle. A large mass of Life Sovereign power flew over from her Life divine clone.
After catching it, Lilia extracted a single drop from the mass of Life Sovereign power and injected it into Loran's body.
Immediately, green Sovereign power light spread across Loran's body, rapidly repairing his injuries.
Several dozen breaths later, Locke finally let out a sigh of relief.
Under the effects of the Life Sovereign power and the massive amount of soul energy, the injuries to Loran's soul had been completely healed by the two of them, leaving behind no hidden problems.
"I'm sorry, An'an."
"I didn't know you'd arrive so quickly, so I hadn't had time to remove the illusions around the Water Manor."
"That was an illusion just now?"
Hearing his father's words, Loran was startled.
Locke had taught him about illusions when he was young.
However, at the time, Loran had never been interested in them. He had felt that illusions were merely tricks that deceived and confused the senses and were unworthy of attention.
Therefore, Loran had never put much effort into learning them.
Later on, Locke also concluded that Loran had no talent for illusions and stopped teaching him.
Loran had never imagined that the illusion techniques he had once looked down upon could possess such terrifying power.
He was already a Paragon and possessed the soul-protecting Sovereign artifact his father had given him.
Even the Willpower of a Paragon and a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact had failed to block the attack from earlier, yet it had actually been the illusion techniques he once despised?
Loran found it difficult to believe.
"Yes, it was an illusion."
Seeing that Loran had recovered, Locke nodded.
"However, even if a Sovereign encountered such an illusion, they wouldn't fare much better than you did."
Loran believed this as well.
Not only because his father Locke was the strongest Chief Sovereign mentioned by Levlenxia, but also because he had personally experienced that terror just now.
"Alright, since you've recovered, come back with us."
"Judging by how anxious you are, you must have come here for something important."
"If this matter gets delayed because of this, I don't want your mother nagging me again."
Lilia snorted coldly but said nothing further. Together with Locke, she returned to the main hall of the Water Manor.
"Hehe..."
Loran laughed awkwardly a few times before hurriedly following behind his parents.
"Go on then. What exactly did you come back for this time?"
After taking their seats, Locke asked Loran.
"Father, I've come to ask you about how to develop and use the power of the bloodline within my body."
"Oh?"
Locke raised his eyebrows and looked at Loran in surprise.
Locke was the spatial divine beast Emperor Jiang. As Locke's son, Loran's bloodline concentration had not reached the level of a divine beast and could only be considered the offspring of a divine beast.
Under such circumstances, although Loran could make use of some spatial power due to being descended from a spatial divine beast, it had mostly remained at the level of instinct.
Now that Loran was actually asking Locke how to use the power of his bloodline, it undoubtedly proved that Loran had already begun to consciously utilize the spatial power within his bloodline.
Locke understood very clearly what this represented.
Loran had already reached the level where he could come into contact with the spatial Laws.
In other words, Loran had already become a Water Paragon!
"A Paragon already?"
"Eh?"
Loran raised his head in surprise. Upon seeing the all-knowing gaze in his father's eyes, he could only nod.
"That's right."
Receiving Loran's confirmation, Locke nodded in satisfaction.
No matter how Loran had become a Paragon, once he had reached that level, he had already handed in a perfect answer in terms of his cultivation of the Laws.
Beside them, Lilia also looked toward Loran with delight.
Although neither Locke nor Loran had said much, just these one or two exchanges were enough for Lilia to understand that Loran's Water Laws had already reached the Paragon level.
With this, all three members of their family had become Paragons.
They could truly be called a "Paragon family."
"Father, after reaching Water Paragon, I can feel an extremely powerful force hidden within my bloodline."
"But I don't know how to use this power."
"Therefore, I've come this time to learn from you how to use the power of my bloodline."
"The power of the bloodline, huh?"
Hearing Loran's words, Locke stroked his chin.
For Loran, this seemed to be quite a good path.
If he used the Water Laws as an anchor to comprehend the spatial Laws, then without learning the illusion technique "Mirror Flowers, Water Moon," Loran would at most be able to comprehend twenty-five percent of the spatial Laws.
With the Willpower of a Paragon added on top of that, Loran's strength would surpass that of an ordinary Intermediate Sovereign by five times.
If Loran couldn't fuse the spatial Laws he comprehended with the Water Laws into even stronger Water-Spatial Laws, then this would almost be his limit.
However, if Loran chose the path of developing his bloodline power instead, then as long as Locke could continuously evolve the Emperor Jiang bloodline within Loran's body, Loran's future limit would no longer be merely that of an elemental Chief Sovereign.
In fact, if Loran's bloodline concentration reached Locke's own level, it might not be impossible for him to advance to the level of a Godking as the supreme divine beast Emperor Jiang.
Thinking of this, Locke smiled at Loran.
"An'an, I'm very happy that you've formed your own ideas and are continuing to move forward because of them."
"Since you want to learn how to control the power within your bloodline, then I'll tell you."
"Before you begin learning how to control the power within your bloodline, An'an, you must first understand exactly what kind of power you're controlling."
"Names themselves possess power. Once you know the name of a power, you can expand upon it during cultivation and gain control over even more powerful abilities."
Loran nodded.
That was indeed true.
When cultivating the Profound Mysteries of the Laws, knowing their names and not knowing their names were completely different concepts in terms of difficulty.
For example, within the Water Laws, knowing the Profound Mystery of Water Element, the Profound Mystery of Circular Softness, and the Profound Mystery of Ice Sharpness allowed one to cultivate in a targeted manner according to their names, enabling faster and more efficient mastery.
However, if one didn't know the names of the six Profound Mysteries of the Water Laws and cultivated blindly alone, who knew how many detours one would take?
Perhaps one would comprehend a bit of the Water Element Profound Mystery, a bit of the Mist Illusions Profound Mystery, and a bit of the Water Surge Profound Mystery...
Picking up one thing here and another there.
Although one might comprehend many Profound Mysteries of the Water Laws, they would all be fragmented and unsystematic, providing little improvement to one's strength.
Unless, of course, that person possessed heaven-defying comprehension and could fully fuse all those scattered Profound Mysteries together.
In that case, Locke would have nothing more to say.
"Father, I understand this much."
"You once said that you're the only spatial divine beast in this world. Since I'm your son, the power within my bloodline must naturally be spatial power."
"Correct."
Locke nodded.
"The Emperor Jiang divine beast is beloved by the spatial Laws and is born with an affinity for them."
"And the space of this universe is formed through the fusion of the four elemental Laws of earth, wind, water, and fire."
"Once the four elemental Laws of earth, wind, water, and fire all reach Paragon level, and with the help of certain auxiliary items, one can come into contact with the spatial Laws and comprehend them, thereby gaining control over the power of the spatial Laws."
"An'an, now that you've already become a Water Paragon, you can also walk this path."
"And because you possess the Emperor Jiang divine beast bloodline, you don't even need auxiliary items to sense the spatial Laws."
"As long as you comprehend two-fifths of the spatial Laws corresponding to the Water Laws, you'll possess strength comparable to that of a Lesser Sovereign."
The Water Laws could come into contact with twenty-five percent of the spatial Laws.
(End of Chapter)
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