Chapter 2029: Sovereign Warlock!

Just then, Arvantos appeared too.

"Max, and all you young ones," Arvantos said, looking at Max and the other six geniuses before turning toward the bearded old man. "Let me introduce him to you. This is Sovereign Warlock. I believe you’ve all heard of him."

Sovereign Warlock. The moment that title reached their ears, the expressions of Max and the others changed.

The title of Sovereign wasn’t something anyone could just claim. In the Divine Realm, only experts who’d reached the Divine God Realm were qualified to carry it. Those beings stood at a height most cultivators couldn’t even imagine, and each one represented the absolute peak of a path.

Max was already connected to one such figure. Dragonheart, the sword in his possession, had come from the Sword Sovereign. And now another Sovereign stood right in front of him.

Sovereign Warlock looked at their reactions and laughed lightly. "Don’t look so shocked, kids. I’m just an old man."

Then his gaze shifted to Max. "I apologize for my disciple’s behavior," he said. "Michael’s a bit too arrogant for his own good."

Michael’s face changed immediately. "Master!" He looked both embarrassed and unwilling to accept it. After all, he’d just declared Max unworthy of the title of strongest genius, and now his own master was apologizing to Max in front of everyone.

Sovereign Warlock turned toward him and knocked him on the head with his fist. ℴℴ𝘮

"What, kid?" the old man said. "Have you not gotten more and more arrogant lately? How many times have I told you not to be arrogant, to stay humble, and to never underestimate anyone?"

Michael lowered his head and answered with a serious face. "I understand, Master."

Sovereign Warlock sighed and shook his head. "You always say you understand, but look at how many problems you keep causing me."

Michael didn’t dare say anything else.

Max watched the whole exchange quietly. The old man’s tone sounded casual, but Max could tell Sovereign Warlock had complete control over the situation. He’d shown up at exactly the right moment, apologized before the conflict could escalate, and scolded his disciple without stripping Michael of all his dignity. That kind of effortless control only came from someone with real strength and experience.

Arvantos smiled faintly. "Michael will also be entering the Godslayer’s Pilgrimage."

Max glanced at Michael. Michael looked back at him with a complicated expression. The hostility hadn’t disappeared, but after getting scolded by his master in front of everyone, he no longer dared act too recklessly.

Sovereign Warlock looked at Max with interest. "I heard what happened during the meeting with the devils."

Max stayed calm. "News travels fast."

"At our level, important news travels before people even finish cleaning up the battlefield," Sovereign Warlock said with a light laugh. "A 1st level Law Manifestation Realm cultivator killed a 5th level Law Manifestation Realm devil in one move, survived the Pearl of Abyss, and then still had the nerve to provoke Varok. How could I not be curious?"

Several nearby geniuses looked toward Max again. Michael’s expression stiffened slightly. Clearly, he’d heard the title of strongest genius, but he hadn’t fully understood what Max had done to earn it.

Sovereign Warlock glanced at Michael from the corner of his eye. "This is exactly why I told you not to judge people by realm alone."

Michael clenched his fists but didn’t argue back.

Max smiled lightly. "It wasn’t as impressive as the rumors make it sound."

Sovereign Warlock laughed again. "Modesty suits you better than arrogance, but fake modesty gets annoying too. You killed him because you were strong enough. That much’s clear."

Arvantos looked toward the gathered geniuses and spoke, pulling everyone’s attention back to the main matter. "You’ve all gathered here because the Godslayer’s Pilgrimage will open soon. Some of you come from the Primordial Race. Some come from the Four Sacred Clans. Some are disciples of hidden experts. Some are among the ten who recently awakened Primordial Bloodline."

His voice turned solemn.

"But once you enter the Godslayer’s Pilgrimage, none of those identities will protect you. The geniuses of the Devil Universe, Spirit Universe, Angel Universe, and Dragon Universe won’t care about your background unless it gives them a reason to kill you faster."

The atmosphere turned serious again.

Arvantos continued, "Once the gate opens, each of you walks your own path. Whether you find opportunity or death will come down to your strength, judgment, and luck. I won’t repeat this again. The Godslayer’s Pilgrimage isn’t some protected trial arranged by your elders. It’s not a competition where someone steps in when you’re about to die. It’s a battlefield, a graveyard, a treasury, and a road left behind by existences far older than the current order of the five universes. Anyone who enters must accept that everything they own can be taken from them."

No one said a word. Even the arrogant young geniuses who’d come from hidden experts and ancient clans went quieter under those words. They were proud, but they weren’t foolish. If Arvantos was speaking this seriously, the danger of the Godslayer’s Pilgrimage had to go far beyond ordinary imagination.

Arvantos raised his gaze toward the distant sky of the Primordial Ancestral Domain. "The entrance to the Godslayer’s Pilgrimage doesn’t sit in any ordinary region of the Divine Realm. It lies at a forbidden point in space, far beyond the controlled star regions of most forces. Even Divine King Realm cultivators aren’t allowed to approach that place without permission, and ordinary Divine Lord Realm cultivators would die before they ever reached the outer boundary."

Several expressions changed. A forbidden point in space. Those words alone were enough to make the gathered geniuses understand that the journey itself wouldn’t be simple.

Arvantos continued, "That place sits too close to the Wall of Eternity. The laws there run unstable, space stretches thin, time doesn’t always flow evenly, and the boundary pressure can crush weaker bodies into dust. There are no cities nearby. No forces, no clans, no trade routes, and no safe domains. It’s a place that exists outside the normal map of our universe."

His gaze returned to them. "It’ll take us one day to get there."