盘龙 - Coiling Dragon, by I Eat Tomatoes (我吃西红柿）UNABRIDGED

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 28, Freedom

In the past, Linley had known very little regarding Sovereign’s Might. Thus, he had taken it for an advanced form of ‘divine power’. But now, it seemed, it was completely different. Sovereign’s Might was actually capable of being used like spiritual energy.

“Sovereign’s Might also has one other benefit.” Gislason laughed. “When you use Sovereign’s Might, for a short moment, both your body and your soul will be uplifted.”

“Eh?” Linley was surprised.

“This is the truth.” Gislason sighed. “However, the amount of uplifting isn’t very great. If one was willing to be wasteful and consecutively use hundreds of drops of Sovereign’s Might, both the soul and the body will be tremendously transformed.”

“Hundreds of drops? Who has that many?” Linley laughed.

“Even if someone does have that many, they wouldn’t be willing to waste it like that.” Gislason said.

“Our Four Divine Beasts clan’s one and only advantage over the eight great clans is that we have quite a bit of Sovereign’s Might.” Gislason sighed. “By relying on Sovereign’s Might, we are able to be at the level where even when under group assault, we can still fight back. This is the only reason why we’ve been able to keep the death ratio at one-to-one.”

Linley nodded. After this recent experience, Linley realized how powerful the enemy was.

For example, Mosley’s innate divine ability truly was terrifying.

“Now that our ancestors have died, the more Sovereign’s Might we use up, the less we have.” Gislason warned. “Linley, you cannot waste this Sovereign’s Might. Unless the situation is critical, using it simply isn’t worth it.”

“Yes, Patriarch.” Linley replied.

Even the Four Divine Beasts clan had a dwindling stockpile of Sovereign’s Might.

“Enough. You can go back for now. In the upcoming period of time, my younger sister shouldn’t assign you any more missions. After all, after this experience, the eight great clans will be very much on their guard against you. In the future, it won’t be so easy for you to kill two Seven Star Fiends.” Gislason laughed.

Linley nodded, then immediately left.

………………………….

Indigo Prefecture, the eastern borders. Four of the eight great clans were located here, amongst them the Barbary clan which had moved here from the Divine Water Plane.

Deep within a dark estate, a giant was standing within a flower garden.

He was 3.5 meters tall, and his face was covered with a green beard, each hair looking like a steel needle. He was dressed in a plain, unadorned set of armor, and on his shoulders, there was a black, serpent-patterned cloak attached. This person was staring directly at Cole, who was standing before him.

“Cole, you were killed without even being able to fight back?” The giant said, frowning.

“Patriarch, I, I didn’t expect…” Cole’s face was filled with rage. “He clearly was just a God, but who would have imagined that he was just hiding his aura? When he was very close to me, he suddenly ambushed me…I didn’t have any chance to react at all.”

Currently, Cole only had his divine wind clone remaining.

“Not just me. Even Mosley wasn’t able to detect that this person was hiding his aura.” Cole said hurriedly.

This Patriarch of the Barbary clan frowned even more deeply.

“Patriarch, based on what the clones of my subordinates told me, the person who killed me didn’t have an extremely powerful soul defense.” Cole said hurriedly.

“Eh?”

The Barbary clan’s Patriarch couldn’t help but grow puzzled. He swept his gaze towards the outside of the garden, and instantly, a black shadow flitted in from outside, standing there respectfully.

“Quickly go investigate if there is a new Elder within the Azure Dragon clan who is skilled at hiding his power.” The Patriarch of the Barbary clan instructed.

“Yes, Elder.”

The black shadow vanished once more.

………………..

After having completed the last mission, the Grand Elder wouldn’t possibly send Linley into battle once more in the near term. Thus, Linley rejoined Bebe, Delia, Cesar, and the others in the gorge, enjoying some rare, peaceful days.

More than two years had passed since the last assignment. In the past two years, not many things happened. On this day, Linley and Delia were currently eating some food together.

“Delia, she…seems to have something she wants to say.” Linley laughed to himself. Today, Delia was very absent-minded as she ate, as though she wanted to say something but didn’t.

“Linley.” Delia hesitated a long time, then finally spoke.

Linley chuckled. He had been waiting a long time for her to speak. “Delia, what is it?”

Delia paused a moment, then said, “Linley, we’ve been here in the Skyrite Mountains for quite some time. It’s been eighty years now, right?”

“Right.” Linley nodded. “What of it?”

“Linley, we rushed all the way here to Indigo Prefecture, then entered the Skyrite Mountains. Right, we’ve returned to your clan, but…are we just going to stay in the Skyrite Mountains forever?” Delia asked him instead.

Linley couldn’t help but frown. “Delia, you want to leave? You want to depart from the Skyrite Mountains?” Linley felt this came out of nowhere.

“No, that’s not what I mean.” Delia said hurriedly. “Actually, I want to follow the forces of the clan to go on a trip to the cities.”

“No.” Linley refused decisively. “It’s too dangerous. No.”

“It’s not dangerous.” Delia said hurriedly. “In fact, it’s not just me. Bebe, Dylin, and the others all want to go on a trip outside. Linley, we’ve been in this same place without going anywhere else this entire time. It’s not as bad for you. You can train and you can go battle. But the rest of us are just here in this gorge every day. After a long period of time, we all feel rather stifled.”

Linley was stunned.

He understood what Delia meant. To be in a single place with no contact with the outside world…it wouldn’t be so bad at first, but after more time passed, one would feel terribly depressed. If a very long period of time passed…one would be accustomed to being depressed and lonely, at which point one’s very temperament would change.

Delia, in particular, had accompanied Linley on their long journey over here. Her heart, like his, was a free one, which couldn’t endure this sort of restrictions.

“Delia, I understand your feelings.” Linley nodded.

In the past, when he had entered the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts for training for three years, he only had Bebe by his side for those three years. That sort of solitary, lonely life was indeed quite stifling. He himself had only been able to hold on and persevere because of his hatred, which had let him endure it all.

“Delia, I’m sorry.” Linley reached out to take Delia’s hand.

At this moment, Linley came to a realization.

He had been too selfish!

He always thought of things from his own viewpoint. He wanted to return to his clan. He wanted to battle in Bloodbath Gorge for the clan. But he hadn’t considered the situation from Delia and Bebe’s viewpoints. He himself could live a very exciting life. But what about them?

Always in their little gorge, living a leisurely, dull life. Bebe was the lively sort, and Delia enjoyed her freedom as well. Linley himself liked an exciting, lively life. Nobody liked to live a flavorless, boring life. He had completely neglected Delia and Bebe.

Thinking of this, Linley couldn’t refrain from saying, “Delia, I truly am sorry.”

“Say no more.” Delia laughed and shook her head. “It’s fine. I just want to go for a slight change in atmosphere. Once I’m in a better mood, I’ll be fine.”

“I want you to go out and relax as well. Only, it really is very dangerous.” Linley said nervously.

“Linley, it really isn’t dangerous.” Delia said hurriedly. “Actually, the Azure Dragon clan has quite a few clansmen who often go to the nearby cities to go sightseeing and shopping. It truly isn’t dangerous.”

“It isn’t dangerous?” Linley didn’t understand.

“Linley, if you don’t believe me, you can ask the other Elders.” Delia immediately said.

“Oh?” Linley nodded. “How about this. Delia, you wait here. I’ll go ask the other Elders. If there really isn’t much danger, I’ll let you go.” Linley didn’t want his wife to be too stifled either.

Linley immediately flew up through Dragon Avenue, constantly pondering in his mind Delia’s words. The more he thought of it, the more he felt that he had neglected Delia, Bebe, and the others. They had all accompanied him to the Skyrite Mountains.

But in the end?

They had to stay in that gorge and didn’t dare to leave it at all. This sort of life, akin to living in a prison…was this what he had to offer for Delia and Bebe?

From afar, through the corner of his eyes, Linley saw a person flying in the air. It was the familiar figure of ‘Elder Garvey’. He hurriedly shouted, “Elder Garvey.”

Puzzled, Elder Garvey turned to look, then laughed and flew over. “Linley, what a coincidence.” Linley laughed, “Elder Garvey, there’s something important I want to ask you about. Come, let’s chat over there.”

Linley and Garvey flew together to a nearby location halfway up the mountain.

“Linley, what is it?” Garvey asked, puzzled.

“Our clan often has people who go to the cities?” Linley asked.

“Oh. Yes, we do, actually.” Garvey laughed. “First of all, our clan needs to buy some things on occasion. Secondly, our clansmen are always trapped here within the Skyrite Mountains. Quite a few of them can’t stand this type of restriction, and so they’ll go out to improve their mood. However, each time, the number of people permitted to leave is limited.”

“Is it dangerous?” Linley asked.

“There’s not much danger.” Garvey laughed. “In the past ten thousand years, there hasn’t been a single incident.”

“Aren’t we in a state of war against the eight great clans? How can it be that our clansmen are in no danger when heading out?” Linley didn’t understand.

“Linley, think about how vast the Infernal Realm is. Do you think running into someone is a simple matter? The battles which occur between us and the eight great clans occur because both of us are consciously seeking them out. It’s only because they travel on predetermined routes and because we have intelligence agents constantly monitoring those routes that we are able to so easily run into them.”

Linley nodded.

“As for our clan, when a group of us ride a single metallic lifeform and go to a city, there’s no way we can be on a predetermined route.” Garvey said. “This world is incomparably vast, and we can go anywhere we please. In addition, on our way over, even if the eight great clans see a metallic lifeform, there’s no way they would know that it belongs to our Azure Dragon clan.”

Linley began to understand.

“More important, they can’t send Seven Star Fiends just running around randomly everywhere. Even if an intelligence agent of theirs discovers that we are aboard a metallic lifeform, the metallic lifeform will quickly fly off into the distance, and because the route is not predetermined, there’s no way the enemy can possibly guess where the metallic lifeform has flown to.” Garvey laughed.

Linley nodded to himself as well.

The chances of both being encountered as well as being recognized really was one in a hundred million.

“Most importantly of all…each time our clansmen go a group, an Elder will be the escort.” Garvey laughed. “This to guard against any unforeseen circumstances. If we really are so unlucky as to encounter an enemy Seven Star Fiend within this vast area, then we’ll just have to engage in battle.”

Linley, hearing this, felt relieved.

The chances of being encountered really were too low. It was virtually impossible, in fact. And even if there was an encounter…his side had a Seven Star Fiend on guard.

“What, do you have family or friends who want to go out and relax?” Garvey asked.

“Right.” Linley suddenly thought of the limitations Garvey had mentioned with respect to how many people could participate. “How many people can go each time?”

“Five hundred people per trip.” Garvey nodded. “Don’t worry. As an Elder, it will be very simple for you to arrange some family and friends to be included. In addition, if you really are worried, you can escort them yourself as well. If a problem occurred even when two Elders are escorting, that would truly be quite bizarre, wouldn’t it?”

Linley’s eyes lit up.

Linley himself was interested in accompanying Delia into the city for a nice stroll. “The Elders of Bloodbath Gorge are cyclically assigned to missions. I’m not doing anything right now anyhow.” Linley immediately flew back towards Bloodbath Gorge and asked to meet with the Grand Elder.

In the Azure Dragon Palace, the Grand Elder stared at Linley through her mask.

“What? You want to go out?” The Grand Elder said coldly.

“Grand Elder, I just want to accompany our clansmen on a trip to the city.” Linley said.

“I can’t permit it right now.” The Grand Elder shook her head. “Recently, the battle between us and the eight great clans has been fairly fierce. I might need to send you out on a mission at a moment’s notice. Linley, the clan is more important. After your thousand years are up and you retire from Bloodbath Gorge, you can go where you please.”

Linley was stunned.

He, too, knew that the battles had been very fierce, but he hadn’t been sent on a mission in the past two years, after all. Going to a city was a trip of just a few months.

“For now, stay within the Skyrite Mountains. Based on how our intelligence reports develop, I might have a mission for you very soon.” The Grand Elder said.

“Yes, Grand Elder.”

Linley didn’t particular want to go visit the city himself anyways. The only reason he wanted to go was to protect Delia better.

“It’s within an area of a trillion square kilometers…and why would a Seven Star Fiend be so bored as to just wander about randomly? And the chances of them recognizing that this was a group of our clansmen? And also being to defeat one of my clan’s Elders?” Linley considered it, then set his mind at ease.

The chances of something going wrong were virtually zero!

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 29, Joining Forces

Deep within the Skyrite Mountains. An enormous metallic lifeform in the shape of a black phoenix was hovering there. The giant metallic lifeform was like a little mountain hovering in the skies. Currently, quite a few people were entering into this metallic lifeform.

In the cliffs beneath the metallic lifeform, there was a large group of people who were travelling together, sending off their family and friends.

Amongst them were Tarosse, Dylin, O’Brien, Bebe, Delia, and others, all of whom were standing next to Linley.

“Tarosse, Dylin, Olivier. Be careful in your travels. After you arrive at the city of Meer [Mi’er], whenever you have a chance, you have to come visit. I’ll miss you all very much.” Linley looked at these people and laughed. After he returned and told Delia that they could go to the cities, Linley came to understand…

That although Delia and Bebe were just going for a visit and would come back, Tarosse, Dylin, Cesar, and the others were preparing to immigrate to that city.

“Definitely!” Dylin said very apologetically. “Linley, actually, we originally wanted to stay here at your place, but the control and supervision within the Skyrite Mountains is very strict, and we also aren’t members of your clan, so we normally aren’t even allowed to leave the gorge and wander around. So…”

“I understand. Say no more.” Linley laughed.

In his heart, he couldn’t help but sigh.

Due to the struggle with the eight great clans, the Four Divine Beasts clan, to guard against the possibility of spies entering, was always very strict. Unless there was a special circumstance, the clansmen weren’t permitted to wander about freely. As for Tarosse and Dylin, they weren’t even members of the clan, so the patrolling warriors kept an even tighter watch on them.

Tarosse and the others had nothing to do, yet they couldn’t wander about either. Naturally, it was like sitting in prison for them.

“It was my fault for being inconsiderate.” Linley said apologetically.

“Linley, don’t say that.” Tarosse said hurriedly. In their hearts, Linley had saved their lives, and so they were filled with gratitude towards Linley. “Linley, in the future, when you have time, you need to come to Meer City to visit us.”

“Definitely.” Linley nodded.

“Then we’ll head out for now.”

Tarosse, Cesar, Olivier, Dylin and his children…these people bade farewell to Linley, then flew towards the distant metallic lifeform. As for Delia and Bebe, they remained by Linley’s side.

“Linley.” Delia looked towards Linley.

Linley smiled as he looked at Delia. He couldn’t help but give her a hug, then said gently, “Safe journeys.”

Delia couldn’t help but feel a warm feeling surge in her heart. Nestling into Linley’s arms, she acknowledged softly, and then lifted her head up to look at Linley. “Linley, don’t worry about me. I won’t be in any danger. It’s you who I worry about. The battle between our clan and the eight great clans is so fierce. When you fight for your clan, you need to remember…that I’m waiting for you.”

Linley stared at his Delia.

“Don’t worry. Your husband is quite strong.” Linley laughed.

“Narcissist.” Delia laughed as well.

“Oh man, I refuse to watch this any longer. I’m leaving.” Bebe suddenly called out.

Linley couldn’t help but glance sideways at Bebe, who just grinned wickedly.

“Alright. Delia, Bebe, safe journeys. I’ve already had a chat with the Elder who is in charge of escorting you on this trip.” Linley said. Delia and Bebe nodded, then bade Linley farewell as they too flew towards the metallic lifeform in the air.

Linley raised his head, staring at the enormous metallic lifeform begin to move. In but an instant, it turned into a blur, disappearing into the horizon.

He loved her, but he couldn’t forcibly detain her. Everyone needed their own space.

Linley turned and headed back towards Bloodbath Gorge. Halfway there, however, Linley saw clearly those many roving patrol soldiers, all of whom had stern looks on their faces as they cautiously kept watch on every place.

“The atmosphere within the clan really is too tense. These soldiers are always on patrol, for fear that a spy might slip in.” Linley sighed.

No wonder Tarosse and Dylin were unable to stay here, within this extremely tense atmosphere.

“It’s not their fault. After all, the clan is currently in a state of crisis. Who knows if we’ll be able to last another ten thousand years.” Linley knew very well that although he was able to kill two of their Seven Star Fiends, the enemy was also capable of killing two of his side’s Seven Star Fiends.

A constant, never-ending battle.

After ten thousand years, what would be the situation for the Four Divine Beasts clan?

Within that large quiet gorge in the Skyrite Mountains. Linley was currently in his study, flipping through some books that introduced various places of the Infernal Realm. Linley suddenly closed the book, looking through the window to the outside world. “Delia’s group has been gone for over a month now. But I keep on having this restless feeling in my heart.”

Linley shook his head. “I’m just thinking too much.”

Based on the distance between Meer City and the Skyrite Mountains, a roundtrip would take three or four months. There was still quite some time before Delia would return. Even if they encountered any danger, the intelligence agents would definitely send the news back as well.

“This gorge is actually one of the most peaceful places in the entire Skyrite Mountains.” Through the window, Linley looked towards the distant grass. The descendants of the Yulan branch were all gathered there, chatting and laughing, seeming very leisurely.

The reason they were blissful was because they were ignorant!

They didn’t know what sort of crisis the clan was currently facing, and the clan wasn’t planning to inform these Demigods and Gods of the real situation. As for the Highgods who knew what the clan’s situation as, they were all worrying and training hard.

They all wanted to enter Bloodbath Gorge and battle for the sake of the clan!

“Elder Linley.” Suddenly, a voice rang out from outside.

“Enter.” Linley frowned. The person was dressed in a blood-red robe, the uniform of a Bloodbath Gorge warrior.

Someone had been sent from Bloodbath Gorge?

“What is it?” Linley asked.

“Elder Linley, the Grand Elder has ordered that you make haste to the Azure Dragon Palace.” The blood-robed warrior said respectfully.

“The Grand Elder is summoning me?” Linley immediately stood up. Not saying another word, he immediately flew outside.

The blood-robed warrior followed close behind Linley as well. The two of them immediately flew into the skies, out of the gorge. Linley’s departure, in turn, attracted the attention of quite a few people in the gorge.

“Whooooosh.” The cold wind howled, slicing against them like knives of ice.

In Bloodbath Gorge, Six Star Fiend were clustered together in groups of three or five, while occasionally, a Seven Star Fiend could be seen. Linley’s face was emotionless. He was hurrying towards the Azure Dragon Palace at high speed. Upon entering it, he immediately headed to the fifth floor.

Linley swept the fifth floor with his gaze. Within this hall of the Azure Dragon Palace, there was the Grand Elder, dressed in that long black robe and with her face covered with that silver mask, who was seated on her throne. But in the main hall, aside from the Grand Elder, there was one more person…

The balding Elder Emanuel.

Elder Emanuel was currently standing to one side respectfully. Upon seeing him, Linley couldn’t help but feel puzzled. “He’s here also?”

“Elder Linley.” Emanuel smiled towards Linley.

“Elder Emanuel.” Linley greeted him as well, then saluted respectfully. “Grand Elder!”

The Grand Elder, seated up above, said calmly, “Linley, in the war between our Four Divine Beasts clan and the eight great clans, the eight great clans will occasionally send people out on predetermined routes, letting us attack them. Generally speaking, the attacking side has a slight advantage.”

Linley nodded.

Attacking out of ambush could catch someone off-guard. Naturally, they had an advantage.

“How can our Four Divine Beasts clan always engage in this sort of sneak attack?” The Grand Elder said coldly. “Thus, our Four Divine Beasts clan will often send our own squads out on predetermined routes, to await the attacks from our enemies.”

Linley sighed to himself.

He knew that the clan did this. Originally, Arhaus had led his squad out on a predetermined line to await the attacks of the enemy. That time…Arhaus had engaged in a fierce battle with the enemy, with the result being that Arhaus’ most powerful divine clone had been killed.

“Once again, it is because of the ‘glory’ of the clan!” Linley sighed to himself.

The Four Divine Beasts clan, for the glory of the clan, wouldn’t even deign to always engage in sneak attacks. One could imagine how arrogant they were!

“This time, I was planning to just send Emanuel to lead the squad out on the predetermined route.” The Grand Elder said. “However, this is Emanuel’s first assignment, and he himself isn’t confident…so he recommended you to me.”

Linley was startled.

What was this supposed to mean? The assignment tasked to Emanuel, Emanuel could shift to someone else?

“Grand Elder, he ‘recommended me’? What does that mean?” Linley said, rather irritated. At the same time, he couldn’t help but glance sideways at Emanuel.

Emanuel hurriedly laughed, “Linley, I know that you are very powerful, and so…I recommended that the Grand Elder allow you to accompany me on this assignment.”

“Together?” Linley was stunned.

The Grand Elder nodded. “Right. Normally, when our squads are on assignment, we have one Elder leading each squad. Only occasionally will we send two. This time, I want you to accompany Emanuel.”

Linley glanced at Emanuel. He couldn’t help but feel a hint of dissatisfaction in his heart.

After all, this was supposed to be Emanuel’s mission.

“Linley, it’s been two years since you’ve been out on a mission. It’s about time for you to have one anyhow.” The Grand Elder said.

Linley felt a surge of resignation. Going out to fight wasn’t the issue. It was that this mission had come in a very unfair manner.

“What, you aren’t willing?” The Grand Elder asked.

Emanuel sighed emotionally, “Linley, if you aren’t willing to accompany me, then I’ll go by myself to do battle. Even if I’m alone, I won’t let the forces of the eight great clans have an easy time of it. If push comes to shove, I’ll just lose my divine water clone.”

Linley glanced sideways at Emanuel.

At a time like this, how could he refuse?

“Grand Elder, I’m willing to go.” Linley said.

Emanuel’s eyes lit up, and a smile unconsciously crept onto his face.

“Grand Elder, there’s one thing.” Linley said.

“Speak.” The Grand Elder said.

Linley said respectfully, “Grand Elder, when our clan normally has an assignment, we just send out a single squad, with just a single Seven Star Fiend. I was hoping…that on this mission, we can put on a façade.”

“Façade?” The Grand Elder stared at Linley, puzzled. “Linley, after their last experience, I imagine the experts of the eight great clans won’t be so incautious as to let a God draw near again.”

Linley chuckled. That sort of trick was a one-use trick only.

“Grand Elder, what I mean to say is, Elder Emanuel and his squad should ride their metallic lifeform forward, while I will take just a single Highgod with me. The two of us, by ourselves, will ride on a metallic lifeform, pretending to be ordinary travelers.”

Linley laughed. “A Highgod travelling with a God in the Infernal Realm is very common. It won’t arouse the suspicion of the enemy intelligence agents.”

“Oh?” The Grand Elder was beginning to understand.

“Elder Emanuel will be in the front, while I will be behind. We’ll maintain some distance between the two of us. The enemies will believe that Elder Emanuel is there by himself, and so they’ll send less people over. Once they attack Elder Emanuel, I’ll be able to catch them off-guard.” Linley laughed.

Elder Emanuel’s face had become rather ugly to behold

Linley was treating him as ‘fish bait’.

“Normally, a clan will just send out a single squad. The enemies won’t suspect anything.” Linley said.

“Fine. That’s what we’ll do.” The Grand Elder said.

Emanuel didn’t know how to dispute this.

“Make your preparations. You’ll head out immediately.” The Grand Elder said.

“Yes, Grand Elder.” Linley and Emanuel both bowed, and then Linley and Emanuel both left.

“Linley.” The Grand Elder suddenly said.

Linley, puzzled, turn to look at the Grand Elder. A voice entered his mind. “Linley, you are still just a God. You still have a lot of room for improvement. If you are to truly encounter any dangers on this mission, immediately use that drop of Sovereign’s Might. Your life is far more valuable than a drop of Sovereign’s Might.”

Linley felt a warm feeling in his heart, but he was puzzled as well.

When the Grand Elder assigned this mission, it seemed as though she was showing partiality towards Emanuel. And yet, here she was, saying this to him.

“Yes, Grand Elder.”

Linley didn’t continue to ponder it, and just acknowledged. Emanuel and Linley thus immediately left the Azure Dragon Palace.

“Linley, this time, we’ll be joining forces. I hope that when we do battle, we won’t have any suspicions of each other.” Emanuel sent to Linley through divine sense. Linley glanced at him sideways, then chuckled and sent back, “Naturally.”

As he spoke, Linley flew directly towards the residences of Squad Thirteen.

Emanuel watched as Linley left. He let out a cold laugh, then he flew towards his own squad as well.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 30, Surrounded And Attacked

Within Indigo Prefecture’s borders. Within the vast, empty skies, a serpentine, dragon-shaped metallic lifeform was flying through the air. Moments later, another metallic lifeform in the shape of a black panther followed from behind.

Within the dragon-shaped metallic lifeform, there were twelve people in total.

To be precise, there was Emanuel’s group of eleven, along with a Deathgod Golem. Emanuel looked at the Deathgod Golem, and he couldn’t help but feel rather uncomfortable in his heart. This Deathgod Golem belonged to Linley. By placing the Deathgod Golem here, Linley would be able to accurately determine the location of the metallic lifeform at all times.

“Elder Linley, your metallic lifeform had best not be too far away from mine. Otherwise, if battle begins and you were unable to make it over, that would be terrible.” A yellow light flashed through Emanuel’s eyes as he said in a low voice.

The Deathgod Golem’s eyes opened, and it looked towards Emanuel.

“Elder Emanuel, don’t worry. Although the location of the metallic lifeform that I am on is constantly changing, the distance between us won’t become too great. Once battle starts, I’ll immediately hurry over.” Linley’s voice came out of the Deathgod Golem.

“That would be good.” Emanuel said.

By having the Deathgod Golem ride on Emanuel’s metallic lifeform, Linley was able to easily locate Emanuel at all times, which naturally allowed him to more easily control the location of his own metallic lifeform. It might be more than ten kilometers away from Emanuel’s, or it might be within ten kilometers, or it might even fly up ahead of Emanuel’s.

In short…

He was trying not to arouse anyone’s suspicions.

“Whoosh!”

The dragon-shaped metallic lifeform suddenly passed through a very wide river, and the waters of the river rolled about turbidly. Suddenly, a head suddenly appeared from within the waters, and this person stared up at the metallic lifeform as it flew past. “Hmph. The Azure Dragon clan’s men truly are daring. They still dare to so arrogantly follow these predetermined paths…all of them are just looking for death!”

When clansmen of the Four Divine Beasts clan were intentionally challenging their enemies to a fight, they would change the shape of their metallic lifeforms into the shape of one of the four divine beasts. That way, the intelligence agents would immediately be able to recognize it. Adding a divine sense sweep…they would thus be certain.

“I need to immediately report this back to the clan.” This person didn’t even glance at the other metallic lifeform.

This was because the metallic lifeform Linley was on was more than seven or eight kilometers away, and it wasn’t following in a direct line. After all, the line of sight for a Deity was limited, and so too was their divine sense. Given that he was seven or eight kilometers away, and that there were many mountain forests blocking the line of sight, how could anybody notice?

The intelligence network of the eight great clans was extremely efficient. That very day, the news made its way back. Although the eight great clans were separated into two different areas, the exchange of information between them was still very fast, and they immediately came to a conclusion.

This time, the assignment of assaulting the Azure Dragon clan’s squad was assigned to the Ashcroft clan and the Barbary clan. This was because last time, each of the two clans had lost a Seven Star Fiend to the Azure Dragon clan. This time, it was their turn for revenge.

“Whoosh!” “Whoosh!”

Twenty people were currently flying at a low altitude through the air.

“Last time, we lost two Seven Star Fiends, but they didn’t lose a single one. This time, we definitely have to kill that Seven Star Fiend belonging to the Azure Dragon clan.” The leader, a tall, green-eyebrowed man, said in a solemn voice.

“Elder Brother, this time, Elder Bulo [Bu’lo] will be with us. There definitely won’t be any problems.” Another person, a somewhat skinnier, green-eyebrowed man, laughed.

These two siblings were both three meters tall, a typical example of a Barbary clan member. The only thing remarkable about them was their green eyebrows. ‘The Green Eyebrow Brothers’ of the Barbary clan were a pair of very famous Seven Star Fiends, and were exceedingly strong.

As for Bulo…

His fame was widespread in the Netherworld, and he was one of the supreme experts of the Ashcroft clan. For three commanders to be sent on this mission was because this time, the clans were determined to avenge the previous humiliation.

It didn’t matter if their people died.

But two Seven Star Fiends of theirs died without killing a single Seven Star Fiend of the enemy? There was no way the eight great clans would accept this!

The tall, powerful green-eyebrowed man turned to look at the person next to them. He couldn’t help but feel his heart tremble. This person was just 1.7 meters tall, and in the eyes of the Barbary clan, such a person was just a ‘tiny little fellow’.

But…nobody dared to look down this person.

His entire body was covered in a long gray robe. He was bald, and his dry, wavy hair was slick against his head. His hair seemed yellow and dry, as though it had no life in it at all. His face was covered in frowns and wrinkles, giving him an ancient appearance, at in his ears hung a pair of green serpents.

“Hiss…” Those two green serpents were speaking in the serpentine language.

“I hope that this time, the Azure Dragon clan sent out that person named Linley!” Bulo opened his eyes, which were of a very muddy color, with some occasional yellow light flashing through them. He said in a hoarse voice, “Last time, it was he who killed my grandson.”

“If Linley goes, then Elder Bulo, we will definitely let you personally deal with him.” The skinny, green-eyebrowed man said hurriedly. Mosley had been Bulo’s grandson.

“Right.” Bulo nodded.

The green-eyebrowed siblings, although powerful members of the Barbary clan, in terms of status…were just middling amongst their Assembly of Elders. But this Bulo was different; Elder Bulo’s status in the Ashcroft family was extremely high.

In terms of power, he was within the top three for his clan as well. For the Ashcroft clan to send him out meant that, clearly, this time they were determined to kill the Azure Dragon clan’s forces.

“I wonder how this Linley compares with that Genius Elder, ‘Blue’, of the Azure Dragon clan.” Elder Bulo chuckled.

“He’s definitely inferior.” The tall, green-eyebrowed man said. “Although that Linley has a tough body, it seems his soul defense isn’t that great…far weaker than that Genius Elder. For you to kill him, Elder Bulo, he should feel honored.”

Bulo, as a member of the Ashcroft clan, was a soul attack specialist to begin with. At the same time…his body was also extremely powerful.

Anyone capable of being in the top three of one of the great clans was a person of terrifying power.

That year, when Bulo had battled with the ‘Genius Elder’, Blue, neither had been able to kill the other.

If Linley and Emanuel had known that this time, the enemies had sent out this many experts, and especially that Bulo was amongst them, they probably would have retreated long ago. But Linley and Emanuel didn’t know…so naturally, they continued to advance.

Within that black panther shaped metallic lifeform. Linley was currently drinking wine with a Highgod.

“It’s been half a year. The eight great clans really are inefficient.” Linley sighed.

“Captain, the eight great clans live at the borders of Indigo Prefecture. They are hundreds of millions of kilometers away from us. Even if they are efficient and fast, they’ll still need half a year before making their way to us. If they are slow, it might even take them one or two years.” That squad member said.

Linley glanced at this squad member.

This squad member was named ‘Isadore’ [Yi’sa’duo]. During the last attack, some members of Linley’s Squad Thirteen had been lost. Although Shanda and the others still had divine clones, the power of those divine clones was insufficient, and so they retired from Bloodbath Gorge.

Isadore was one of the replacements.

“Isadore, be careful during the battle.” Linley laughed. When he had gone and informed Squad Thirteen that this time, he only needed to be one person, Isadore had very excitedly convinced the others to allow himself to be the one to accompany Linley.

“I know, Captain.” Isadore’s eyes were gleaming. “But Captain, although I have to protect myself, I need to kill our enemies as well. Over the past ten thousand years, I’ve been waiting for this day the entire time…the forces of the eight great clan were merciless in their pursuit of us that year. When our Four Divine Beasts clan was powerful, they all cowered before us, but now that our ancestors are dead, they begin attacking like wild dogs. Men, women, the elderly, the young…they’ll wipe out any member of our Four Divine Beasts clan!”

Isadore’s heart was filled with anger and hate.

Linley couldn’t help but sigh. “This hatred and enmity truly has become a great one!” That year, each of the great clans had wildly pursued and attacked, all the way to Indigo Prefecture. This had been a very major event. When Linley had just arrived in Indigo Prefecture and been buying books, even that staff member had known that the Four Divine Beasts clan was engaging in a major battle.

Within the dragon-shaped metallic lifeform.

“Everyone, be careful. The enemy can appear at any moment.” Emanuel said quietly. “Remember. Don’t permit anyone to draw near our metallic lifeform. Anyone who draws near, be it Demigod or God, will be executed.”

Last time, Linley had relied upon drawing close to the metallic lifeform before launching a sudden ambush, thus causing Emanuel to be wary as well.

“Haha…” Nearby, Linley’s Deathgod Golem began to laugh. The Deathgod Golem had Linley’s consciousness within, and it could thus be considered one of Linley’s clones, in a way.

“There’s nothing funny about it, Elder Linley. You were able to hide your strength. Perhaps others can do the same. It’s best to be cautious.” Emanuel said.

“Yes. It’s best to be cautious.” The Deathgod Golem spoke in Linley’s voice.

Right at this moment…

“Not good! The enemy arrived!” Emanuel’s face changed, and he instantly collected this metallic lifeform. Immediately, the eleven of them and the Deathgod Golem were now hovering in mid-air. Linley, through the Deathgod Golem, was able to see everything clearly. On the ground below them, twenty-plus figures were charging up at high speed.

“So many?” Emanuel’s face changed dramatically.

“Elder Linley!” Emanuel immediately urged. “Hurry over.”

“Don’t worry.” The Deathgod Golem said.

“Haha…child of the Azure Dragon clan, you can die now.” Amidst the loud laughter, two tall, powerfully built green-eyebrowed men who looked similar charged up, wielding double-edged greatswords in their hands. Behind them, twenty five Six Star Fiends attacked as well.

Emanuel’s face became ugly to behold.

The difference in power was too great.

“Roaaaaaar!!!”

Emanuel let out a fierce roar, and his entire body became covered in draconic scales. Instantly, he entered Dragonform, while at the same time, a white mist spread out from around his body, covering the entire area and making all sorts of illusions appear.

“We aren’t weaker than you in the Elemental Laws of Water.”

The Green Eyebrow Brothers laughed loudly as they surrounded and attacked Emanuel.

“Slash!” “Bang!”

The twenty five Six Star Fiends of the eight great clans attacked the ten Six Star Fiends of the Azure Dragon clan. The difference in numbers was simply too great…the Six Star Fiends wildly battled against each other, and exploding sounds thundered nonstop. The air trembled, blood splattered everywhere, and one figure after another fell from the skies.

“Bang!” Emanuel’s right arm exploded, and he was knocked flying backwards.

“Die!” An indistinct, freezing light flashed towards him.

Right at this moment, Emanuel suddenly opened his mouth. The strange thing was, behind him appeared an enormous coiling illusion of an Azure Dragon. The enormous Azure Dragon Phantom was like the size of a mountain, and it stared at the two Seven Star Fiends with its illusory eyes.

“Not good.”

The faces of the Green Eyebrow Twins changed.

“Retreat!” The two retreated towards different directions at the same time at high speed.

But at the same time, an indistinct azure light rippled outwards through space as though it were water, and the ripples instantly struck the two Green Eyebrow Brothers, and their bodies both trembled.

Innate divine ability – Dragon Roar!

“Captain!” The Six Star Fiends of the eight great clans saw that their captains were in danger.

“Raaaaaargh!” All of them hurriedly charged towards Emanuel. There was a difference between a Six Star Fiend and a Seven Star Fiend, but when several Six Star Fiends joined forces against a Seven Star Fiend, the Seven Star Fiend couldn’t be complacent either.

Emanuel had no choice but to retreat, while at the same time, he cursed mentally, “Why hasn’t Linley arrived yet?”

The Green Eyebrow Brothers had retreated towards different directions, trying to put some distance between each other, so as to force the scope of the innate divine ability, ‘Dragon Roar’, to be wider, and thus lessen the power of the attack. At this moment, that larger, taller green-eyebrowed man laughed angrily. “This innate divine ability really is powerful.”

And then, they charged over as well.

But right at this moment…

The green-eyebrowed man noticed one of his subordinates was frantically messaging him through divine sense, “Captain, careful!”

The green-eyebrowed man hurriedly turned to look. He saw a Dragonformed figure flying towards him at high speed, with a pair of dark golden eyes staring fixedly at him. What shocked this green-eyebrowed man was, the newcomer actually had fierce, sharp spikes on his back!

“He is Linley!” The green-eyebrowed man was immediately shocked to his senses.

Linley’s unique Dragonform, after he had killed those two Seven Star Fiends, had been made known to the high level members of the eight great clans.

“Flee!” The green-eyebrowed man immediately turned to flee.

At this time, an earthen yellow light spread out, forming an enormous sphere of earthen yellow light. The green-eyebrowed Seven Star Fiend, just a hundred meters away from Linley, was naturally trapped within that area, and a terrifying gravity was applied to his body.

His speed slowed drastically!

“Aaaargh!” Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to flee, the green-eyebrowed man turned and delivered a full force sword blow towards Linley.

An illusory, translucent sword shadow flew out of his greatsword, shooting straight towards Linley. Linley didn’t have any time to dodge, and he didn’t try to dodge! He still charged straight towards that green-eyebrowed man. As that translucent sword shadow pierced not Linley’s body, Linley also delivered a vicious, smashing fist blow against the head of the green-eyebrowed man.

“BANG!”

The head was shattered, and the divine spark flew out.

“Big Brother!” The distant, skinnier green-eyebrowed man, upon seeing this, couldn’t help but call out in agony.

On a distant mountaintop, Elder Bulo, who hadn’t been planning to get involved, couldn’t help but raise his head and stare, his eyes gleaming. “So he is Linley. Hmph. Those idiots from the Barbary clan. As soon as they meet someone with a tough body, they are useless.”

Elder Bulo’s lips trembled slightly.

Instantly…

An enormous phantom in the shape of a black serpent appeared behind Elder Bulo. This enormous black serpent covered the entire mountain. Its body was so enormous as to be astonishing. A terrifying aura suddenly filled the skies.

After having just killed a Seven Star Fiend, Linley, for some reason, felt a sense of fear in his heart.

Linley turned to stare below him, and he saw Elder Bulo staring at him coldly. The shadowy illusion of that enormous black serpent, in particular, caused Linley to unconsciously think about what he had seen last time.

“Not good. This is the innate divine ability, ‘Soul Extinguisher’.” Linley’s face changed dramatically.

Last time, his subordinate had rescued him, but this time, there was nobody near him.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 31, A Battle of Sovereign’s Mights

The speed of this innate divine ability, ‘Soul Extinguisher’, was simply too fast. On the ground, that balding Elder Bulo stared coldly as his lips moved slightly. Behind him hovered that enormous illusion of a black serpent, which only had a single, solitary red eye, and the eye was staring fixedly at Linley.

A crack appeared in Elder Bulo’s forehead, between his eyebrows, and a translucent light instantly slashed through the skies, piercing into the range of the ‘Blackstone Space’, shooting directly into Linley’s body. The speed was so fast that Linley wasn’t able to dodge at all.

The innate divine ability of the Ashcroft clan – Soul Extinguisher!

“Elder Linley!” The surviving Six Star Fiends of the Azure Dragon clan, upon seeing this, were all stunned.

“Bastard.” The skinny, green-eyebrowed man ground his teeth as he stared at Linley, rage still burning in his heart. Just now, it had been Linley who had killed his older brother. “It’s your luck that I wasn’t able to kill you myself.”

From afar, as Emanuel saw this, his eyes lit up. “The Azure Dragon ring!”

Emanuel immediately flew towards Linley at high speed.

Within the limitless space in Linley’s mind, outside his sea of consciousness, there was that protective membrane of scales which was a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact. This enormous membrane had a single tiny flaw, and that flaw was its weakness.

On the surface of the soul sea.

Beneath the seven-colored sword-shaped soul, a Linley dressed in a light green robe was standing. This was Linley’s ‘divine wind clone’. When battling, Linley only brought out a single one of his divine clones.

In the hands of his divine wind clone, there was a drop of azure water…water-type Sovereign’s Might.

“Let’s see if you can break through. If you can break through, then I’ll be forced to use this Sovereign’s Might.” Linley had been prepared long ago, and he had his divine wind clone carry that drop of Sovereign’s Might at all times. As for the divine wind clone, within the soul sea, it was standing right next to that sword-shaped soul.

Once danger came, his divine wind clone would immediately activate the drop of Sovereign’s Might and use it to protect the soul, as well as counter-attack.

“Crunch!”

That translucent ray of light shot out at incomparable speed, as straight as an arrow, piercing forward, drilling down with vicious precision against that semi-translucent scaled membrane. It was so fast and so vicious…that it was definitely the most powerful attack that Linley had ever encountered.

Crack!

Like an egg striking a stone, the ray of light struck directly atop the scaled membrane, and then it completely shattered apart.

“Eh? This is the Soul Extinguisher?” Linley was stunned. “How come it didn’t hurt me at all. Even that simple soul attack which Mosley had used was more dangerous to me than this innate divine ability.”

“It seems as though this attack doesn’t have any sentience at all.”

Indeed. Innate divine ability were very rigid, fixed types of attacks. For example, the ‘Godeater’ ability could only be used to devour divine sparks. If it succeeded, it succeeded. If it failed, it failed. The ‘Soul Extinguisher’ could only shoot forward, using raw, brute force to shatter anything that blocked in its path, then extinguished the enemy’s soul.

It was the same for Dylin and Tarosse’s innate divine abilities. The power was great, but the abilities were very rigid.

Once these innate divine abilities were activated, they would consume quite a bit of spiritual energy. You couldn’t use less spiritual energy if you wanted to. They were extremely rigid.

For soul attacks, sentience actually didn’t matter too much.

This was because generally speaking, if a Highgod had a ‘soul-protecting divine artifact’, it would protect all parts of the soul. For example, Bebe. His soul-protecting divine artifact protected every part of his soul. There were no ‘weak spots’…and thus, sentience didn’t matter.

One simply had to use raw power to break through. That was enough.

This was true for the ‘Soul Extinguisher’ as well. Unfortunately, what Linley possessed was a damaged soul-protecting Sovereign artifact. Aside from that flaw, the defensive strength of the other areas was exactly the same as a normal soul-protecting Sovereign artifact.

A Highgod, break through the defense of a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact with his attack?

In his dreams!

Thus…this technique by a supreme expert, ‘Bulo’, failed.

Linley stood there in the boundless skies, in the center of a sphere of earthen yellow light that was five hundred meters in diameter. On the ground, that balding, ancient Elder ‘Bulo’ raised his head to stare at Linley. That originally cold, sinister expression of his gradually changed into astonishment.

“Swoosh!” Emanuel flew towards Linley at high speed, laughing mockingly in his heart. “Those idiots. They killed Linley, but they didn’t immediately go take the spoils of battle. But how could they know that Linley had a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact?”

Emanuel was exceedingly delighted with himself.

“Linley, now that you are dead, this belongs to me.” Emanuel was very smug, but as he entered the region of the Blackstone Space, he couldn’t help but be puzzled. “Why hasn’t Linley’s Blackstone Space collapsed?”

If a person died, his space should collapse.

“Emanuel.” A cold, emotionless voice rang out.

“Uh?” Emanuel was stunned. He turned to look, and saw Linley’s dark golden eyes staring at him.

“Why have you come over? To help me out?” Linley stared at Emanuel, who had a look of astonishment on his face. Linley couldn’t help but laugh coldly in his heart, “This Emanuel has never given up on acquiring my Coiling Dragon ring.”

Emanuel immediately recovered from his shock. He couldn’t help but laugh awkwardly, “Elder Linley, you really are formidable. I…I saw that you were in a dangerous situation just now, Elder, and so I wanted to come help. But it seems, Elder, you don’t need my assistance. I’ll go deal with some other people. I’ll hand that old fellow down below to you. I trust, Elder Linley, that you’ll be able to easily deal with him.”

Emanuel immediately flew away, retreating.

“Despicable fellow!”

“Hmph!” Linley felt contempt in his heart, then turned to look at the bald fellow who had attacked him. “Easily deal with him? It would seem that it won’t be very easy to kill this old fellow.” Linley could had a sense of danger.

But Linley wasn’t afraid either.

He currently had three drops of Sovereign’s Might, and his divine wind clone was right there in his sea of consciousness, ready to activate it at any moment.

“Haha…”

Ancient-sounding laughter rang out from the mouth of the old, bald figure below him. The wrinkles on his face contorted like serpents. “Linley, it now seems that last time, when you killed Mosley and the other one, you were still hiding your power! Admirable, admirable!”

Linley stared at this old man, and as he did, one person’s biographical data floated up to his mind.

When in Bloodbath Gorge, the Azure Dragon clan had provided him with a very clear explanation of some of the particularly dangerous individuals of the eight great clans. The danger these individuals posed was vastly greater than that of ordinary Seven Star Fiends. They were comparable to the clan’s ‘trump cards’!

The old man in front him was one of them!

What Linley didn’t know was that his accomplishments in the previous battle had brought him to the attention of the various great clans, and they too had put his information into their list of ‘dangerous figures’.

“If my guess is correct, you should be Elder Bulo of the Ashcroft clan.” Linley said in a clear voice as he stood there, high up in the air in the middle of that enormous sphere, staring down at Bulo.

“Correct.”

Bulo smiled, but because his face was covered in wrinkles, this smile made him look all the more savage. “You were able to resist my innate divine ability, which means your soul defense is truly quite formidable. But you intentionally pretended that it was your weak spot. Hmph. Hmph. Admirable.”

That ancient voice echoed in the skies.

“However, today, I want to see how your physical defense is, in comparison to your ‘Genius Elder’, Blue!” The bald old man said, and then his entire body began to hiss as tiny, dense black scales appeared, covering his entire body. A fierce, slender serpentine tail emerged from behind him as well…

The Ashcroft clan descended from a supreme divine beast of the Netherworld, the ‘Nether Serpent’.

Their strength was no less than that of the Azure Dragon clan’s.

“Linley!” A furious bellow rang out, and a pale, ashen shadow tore through the skies, charging towards Linley.

Linley turned and saw that a seemingly blurry white figure was coming towards him. It was a savage-faced, green-eyebrowed man. The man immediately charged into the Blackstone Space, and as he did, Linley instantly changed the direction of the gravity.

Made it go downwards!

The skinny, green-eyebrowed man strove to resist that downwards pull, but his speed still slowed dramatically.

Right at this moment, he heard a furious shout. “Hales [Hei’er’si], leave Linley to me. You go kill the other one!”

The skinny, green-eyebrowed man turned to look at the already Serpentformed Bulo, then said in a hateful voice, “Fine, Elder Bulo, I’ll hand this Linley to you. You absolutely must kill him and avenge my elder brother!”

“Don’t worry.” Buler was completely confident.

The skinny, green-eyebrowed man, ‘Hales’, glared hatefully at Linley, then with a cold snort turned and charged towards the distant Emanuel. Emanuel had been watching this entire time. When he saw that Hales went to attack Linley as well, his joy was indescribable.

Who would have imagined that with but a single word from that bald old man, Hales had come to attack him instead.

“Motherf*cker…” With a low curse, Emanuel had no choice but to charge towards Hales.

Linley stared up in front, at the ‘freak’ located outside his Blackstone Space. Elder Bulo’s entire body was densely covered by the tiny black scales of the Nether Serpent. Only his chest still had a patch of large violet scales.

His slender serpentine tail quivered slightly, while in the center of Elder Bulo’s forehead, a single red eye had appeared from a crack.

“So this is the transformation of the Nether Serpent clan?” Linley was secretly astonished.

In truth, Linley’s Dragonform was just as bizarre as Bulo’s. He had multiple fierce spikes radiating out from his spine, while his elbows and knees had sharp spikes jutting out as well. Linley’s entire body looked akin to a human-shaped weapon.

Freak against freak!

“Linley, today, you absolutely will die.” Elder Bulo said in his hoarse voice. “Only, I want to see how long you can hold out for!”

“Bulo, today, you too must die. I, too, want to see how long you can hold out!” Linley said coldly. Linley had already made his plans in advance. First, he’d rely on his body to battle. If he wasn’t able to hold out…then even if he had to sacrifice a drop of Sovereign’s Might, he had to kill this Bulo.

An expert of this level was worth sacrificing a drop of Sovereign’s Might for.

“Bang!” Elder Bulo suddenly shot forward, charging directly into the Blackstone Space, and as he did, his speed couldn’t help decline.

“In my Blackstone Space, you will be at a great disadvantage.” Linley charged towards Elder Bulo.

But right at this moment…

Linley discovered, to his astonishment, that Elder Bulo’s entire body wriggled forward like a serpent, easily and agilely gliding forward. Even within the Blackstone Space, although Elder Bulo’s speed wasn’t that fast, he was still incredibly agile.

“How…how is this possible?” Linley was shocked.

This was the first time a person within his Blackstone Space had been affected so weakly.

“Haha…” Elder Bulo laughed wildly, and suddenly, he transformed into a black shadow, piercing through the skies and charging directly towards Linley. Linley, astonished, released a backhand palm blow, carrying within it the ‘Profound Truths of Velocity’ as he smashed towards that black shadow!

Two terrifying surges of energy collided.

“WHAP!”

A sound that was so clear and sharp, it caused space itself crack apart. Spatial ripples spread out in every direction, while Linley himself was sent flying backwards from the vibrations of the clash. His already Dragonformed right hand was uncontrollably trembling, and the palm of his hand was filled with a heart-boring pain.

“Your body’s strength really isn’t bad.” Elder Bulo snickered.

“Why the smugness?” Linley gritted his teeth. “In my Blackstone Space, although the effect on you isn’t great, it isn’t small either.”

Linley flashed forward like a bolt of lightning, while Elder Bulo didn’t show any weakness either, immediately moving forward to welcome him.

“Spiritual Chaos!” Linley instantly used his spiritual energy through the black stone to affect Elder Bulo, while at the same time, his twin fists struck out mercilessly…

Although Elder Bulo was able to resist the Spiritual Chaos technique, he still was slightly distracted.

“Whap!” “Bam!” “Bang!”

Linley’s fists, legs, and even his draconic tail struck viciously in succession against Elder Buler.

“Eh?” Linley discovered, to his astonishment, that Elder Bulo’s body was very slippery. It felt as though only half of the power of his blows had been applied. Elder Buler, with a somersault, flipped far away, then recovered in mid-air. He began to laugh from his rage. “Your soul really is quite formidable.”

“However…”

Elder Bulo’s body actually began to lengthen, as though he was transforming into a serpent, becoming soft and boneless as his serpentine tail extended as well. Elder Bulo, normally just the height of an ordinary person, had now transformed into a serpentine shape that was dozens of meters long.

“Haha…” Suddenly, from afar, a wild burst of laughter erupted, and a surge of terrifying power blasted out. Even Linley and Elder Bulo, in the midst of their battle, couldn’t help but be distracted and turn to look…

“You want to kill me? In your dreams!”

Emanuel’s entire body was encased in azure light, and every part of his body was emanating with that heart-shaking aura. As for that green-eyebrowed Hales, he was already dead, the shattered remnants of his corpse having already fallen to the ground.

“Emanuel used his Sovereign’s Might?” Linley was shocked.

“Sovereign’s Might?” Elder Bulo’s face changed dramatically as well.

Because the person who had used the Sovereign’s Might…belonged to the enemy!

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 32, Wanting to Steal a Chicken, Instead Losing the Bait

“Wonderful.” Linley rejoiced. “Although Emanuel and I have some conflicts between us, we are of the same clan, after all.” Emanuel, upon having used his Sovereign’s Might, had gained tremendous power.

As for the enemy, the two Green Eyebrow Brothers had both died, leaving behind only Elder Bulo!

It was easy to see who held the advantage.

Elder Bulo suddenly let out a savage growl, and the eye in the center of his forehead turned so red, it seemed as though it was about to drip blood. Suddenly, he swiped out with his arm, and that soft, boneless arm actually elongated, slashing through the air and clawing towards Linley. The space which the arm danced through began to tremble.

“Swish!” A devilish violet light flashed.

Where the devilish sword light flashed past, space split apart, revealing tears. Bloodviolet chopped directly against that black scaled-covered arm.

“Hiss…” An ear-piercing sound suddenly came from long, slender arm. The scales split open, and Bloodviolet plunged into the flesh. However, it wasn’t able to cut any deeper, as the flesh was incomparably tough.

“Haaaargh!”

Linley, with a savage right fist, swung directly at that long arm, but with a ‘bang’ sound, the arm actually twisted, clawing towards Linley’s elbow.

Linley wasn’t able to dodge in time at all, Elder Bulo managed to seize his right arm.

Elder Bulo’s fingernails suddenly turned black, and as sharp as daggers. At the same time, Elder Bulo suddenly applied pressure through his left arm, using those sharp fingernails to try and pierce into Linley’s right arm. Linley let out a low growl, and the muscles on his right arm instantly bulged.

“Ah!” Linley kicked out mightily, smashing directly towards that long arm.

“Bang!” When the tip of his foot connected with the flesh on that long arm, it was like having kicked a wad of cotton.

Elder Bulo’s arm trembled slightly, but he had actually managed to deflect Linley’s attack. “Swoosh!” Elder Bulo borrowed the counter-forced to come charging closer, and as he did, this giant that was tens of meters long came hurtling towards Linley.

A bloody aura was throwing itself towards Linley at the same time as well.

“This Elder Bulo’s defense is not only powerful, it is also as slippery and soft as a serpent. How odd.” Linley began to sense how hard to deal with this person was. This Nether Serpent clan, capable of stalemating the Azure Dragon clan, really did have its own unique abilities.

“Emanuel, hurry up and join up with me to kill him.” Linley hurriedly sent through divine sense.

After having used a drop of Sovereign’s Might, Emanuel was now extremely powerful.

But Linley discovered, to his amazement, that Emanuel was pretending to have heard nothing, and was instead chasing after and pursuing those fleeing enemy Six Star Fiends.

“Join forces with you?” Emanuel laughed coldly in his heart. “In your dreams. I’ll first let that Bulo kill you, and then I’ll take that Azure Dragon ring. Although you have clones, and I won’t be able to bind it with blood right away, but…your remaining divine clones are so weak. How will you fight against me?”

It was only because Linley was powerful that he was able to maintain ownership of the Coiling Dragon ring.

As Emanuel saw it, if Linley’s most powerful divine clone was destroyed, how could Linley continue to keep the Azure Dragon ring?

“Bastard!” Linley cursed in his heart. He was cursing both Emanuel as well as this Elder Bulo who was right in front of him. In a physical close-combat, Elder Bulo occasionally hit hard and occasionally was soft and slippery, causing Linley to be at complete disadvantage.

“Bang!”

The two separated once again.

“This Linley really is tough to deal with.” Elder Bulo felt a headache coming as well.

Just based on close-quarters combat, he was stronger than Linley. But…in that Blackstone Space, he was at a disadvantage to begin with. In addition, Linley would constantly, randomly change the direction of the gravity, sometimes upwards, sometimes downwards, sometimes towards Linley, sometimes away from Linley.

The bizarre changes of the gravity’s direction caused Elder Bulo a headache, causing him to be unable to have any advantage at all.

“Emanuel, come over and kill him together with me!” Linley called out loudly.

“Emanuel?” Elder Bulo was shocked.

“Eh?” Emanuel couldn’t help but turn over.

Just now, when Linley had used divine sense, Emanuel could pretend that he didn’t hear. But now that Linley was shouting so loudly, even the surviving Six Star Fiends of the clan heard the call. Naturally, those distant, spectating intelligence agents probably heard the call as well.

If he still didn’t act, then if Linley were to die, when the intelligence agents made their report, Emanuel would be in trouble!

“This Bulo is such an idiot.” Emanuel cursed to himself.

Shouting was something that required time. During a furious battle such as this, Linley didn’t have any chance to shout at all. If Bulo was able to seize an advantage and to hold Linley down while beating upon him or just kill Linley, then Emanuel’s plot would have succeeded.

But now that Linley and Bulo were battling to a virtual standstill, Linley naturally had the chance to shout out loudly.

“Alright, Linley, let’s kill him together.” Emanuel intentionally shouted back loudly as well.

These words frightened Bulo so much, he immediately went to his last resort…using Sovereign’s Might!

“You want to kill me? Haha…” The ancient-sounding laughter shook the heavens, and Elder Bulo’s body once more returned to his normal size. At the same time, his entire body became covered with a layer of a black glow, which at the same time also emanating a terrifying aura, completely comparable to Emanuel.

“He also used Sovereign’s Might?” Linley was shocked. “The Elder said that the advantage our Four Divine Beasts clan has is that we have some more Sovereign’s Might. I didn’t expect that this Bulo has Sovereign’s Might as well. Terrible.”

The ancestors of the Four Divine Beasts clan were Sovereigns. Naturally, they had an excess of Sovereign’s Might, giving virtually every single one of their Elders a drop.

As for the ancestors of the eight great clans, they weren’t that formidable. Sovereign’s Might was extremely rare, and only the most supreme of Elders would be in possession of a drop. And thus, Bulo had one!

“Emanuel, hurry over.” Linley sent through divine sense, shouting frantically. Emanuel just stood there in mid-air, not in a hurry to charge over at all. Linley instantly understood. “This Emanuel…actually has this sort of plot!”

Emanuel laughed coldly in his heart. “He used Sovereign’s Might? Excellent. Then first kill Linley.”

“Linley!”

A low growl, and Elder Bulo charged directly towards Linley.

Linley’s face changed. “Rumble…” The direction of the gravity of the Blackstone Space suddenly changed, transforming into a repulsive force! The powerful repulsive energy forced Elder Bulo outwards.

However, the power of Sovereign’s Might was simply too great.

Even when trapped within the ‘Blackstone Space’, Elder Bulo was still able to forcibly resist that repulsive force, and his speed was still very fast. He wildly chased after Linley, who turned and ran directly towards Emanuel.

“If you won’t come to me, I’ll go to you!” Linley said to himself.

In an instant, Linley charged over to him.

“Hmph. I might as well kill you first, actually.” Elder Bulo, seeing the nearby Emanuel, could sense the aura of Sovereign’s Might emanating from him, and thus he immediately turned to attack Emanuel instead.

After all…

Emanuel was more of a threat to him!

Linley couldn’t be bothered to care about Emanuel. “This Bulo is too powerful. When trapped in the Blackstone Space, he was still able to fight me to a draw. As for his soul attacks…it’s only because he used his innate divine ability that he became deceived into thinking my soul defense is strong. Once he begins to use soul attacks, I definitely won’t be a match for him.”

This misunderstanding had caused Elder Bulo to not use any soul attacks at all.

But Linley could tell that even if he used Sovereign’s Might, he still probably wouldn’t be able to overcome Bulo. After all, in a normal situation, he was weaker than Bulo. If the two of them were both to use Sovereign’s Might, the ratio of power between the two of them wouldn’t change.

“Flee!”

Linley directly fled towards the north.

“Bang!” A terrifying explosive sound rang out. The battle between two experts who had both used Sovereign’s Might was fierce and terrifying.

“Whoosh!”

Linley flew at high speed, while at the same time, he could sense the terrifying explosive vibrations from behind.

“This is too high profile.” Linley was secretly shocked.

If he was able to defeat the opponent by using Sovereign’s Might, Linley definitely would use it. But since he knew he wouldn’t be able to win, it was best to flee.

“Whoosh!” “Whoosh!”

Two figures, one after the other, actually suddenly appeared in the skies above him. At the same time, a voice entered Linley’s mind. “Linley, hurry up and use your Sovereign’s Might. The two of us can join forces and kill him together!”

Linley raised his head to look.

He saw, in mid-air, an azure ball of light fleeing for his life, with a black ball of life in pursuit.

“Linley!” The azure ball of light suddenly turned, flying over to Linley once more.

Linley was now in the same situation that Emanuel had been in. He didn’t want to help Emanuel, but Emanuel was now running towards him…forcing him to intervene.

“Linley, if you still refuse to act, once my divine water clone dies, I will definitely go tell the Grand Elder of this. Definitely!!!” Emanuel sent to Linley frantically through his divine sense.

A drop of Sovereign’s Might contained an astonishing amount of energy.

After all, it was liquefied Sovereign power.

Generally speaking, in a battle, it could only last for a while. But Emanuel had used his Sovereign’s Might earlier on, and it was quite some time ago. Once the energy of the Sovereign’s Might was used up…he would definitely die.

“Hurry up, Linley!” Emanuel called out frantically.

“BANG!”

The azure ball of light once more exchange blows viciously with that black ball of light, and the azure ball of light was actually sent smashing down towards the ground. Emanuel clearly was at a disadvantage.

“Hey, what an exciting battle, eh?” A carefree voice suddenly shook the skies, entering the ears of these three. Unconsciously, Emanuel, Elder Bulo, and Linley all turned to stare towards the source of that voice…

A muscular man, three meters tall, dressed in fiery red armor, with long, scarlet red hair fluttering freely in the breeze. His tiger-like eyes swept the area, and a smile was on his face.

“Oh, Linley!” The muscular man laughed as he looked towards Linley. “Long time no see. I heard that you became an Elder of the Four Divine Beasts clan? Haha, it seems as though it’s been less than a thousand years since we parted, but you’ve become so strong.”

Linley stared at this person. He was stunned for a long moment, then finally, Linley said, “Phusro!”

“Haha, you still remember me.” Phusro began to laugh loudly.

This man in front of him, amazingly enough, was that Volcano Titan. That person who had been subject to a master-servant bond, and so had been forced to transform into a small kitten and endure countless years of servitude and humiliation. That supreme expert, ‘Phusro’. Even a Seven Star Fiend, in front of Phusro, could only choose to flee.

“Swoosh!” The azure ball of light scurried towards Linley’s side. Linley turned to look towards ‘Emanuel’, only to see the azure light covering Emanuel’s body grow weaker and weaker, then completely vanish.

“My Sovereign’s Might is all used up.” Emanuel stared at him. “It’s up to you, now.”

But Elder Bulo, his entire body still covered with that black aura, was hovering not too far away. “Used up your Sovereign’s Might? Haha, the two of you can die now.” As he spoke, he transformed into a ray of black light, shooting directly towards Linley.

“BANG!”

A ray of fiery light collided with the black light, and the black light was actually sent flying backwards.

Phusro stretched out his arm, retrieving that fiery, giant red awl. Elder Bulo stood there in mid-air, staring at Phusro in shock. “You…you…” Just now, Phusro’s awl-blow had smashed him backwards.

Even an Asura couldn’t so easily send him flying backwards after he, Bulo, had used Sovereign’s Might.

“Hey, what’s going on here?” Phusro frowned, staring at him.

“Who are you?” Elder Bulo growled softly.

“That’s none of your business. This Linley is my friend. You want to kill him…” Phusro grinned. “After getting this weapon of mine, it hasn’t really killed any supreme experts yet.” The fiery red awl in Phusro’s hand was more than two meters long.

Sharp at one end, blunt at the other. It was like a massive bull’s horn.

Linley just watched all this happen in disbelief.

Phusro was powerful, true, but…Bulo had used Sovereign’s Might. Currently, even if an Asura came, the Asura probably wouldn’t be able to so effortless force him to retreat.

“Linley, he…who is he?” Emanuel was tongue-tied as well.

“A friend of mine.” This was the only answer Linley could give. At the same time, Linley was puzzled. Phusro’s weapon, in the past, had been a massive axe. Since when did it become this fiery red awl? This awl…

Seemed to be quite extraordinary!

“Then you are looking for death!” Elder Bulo bellowed furious. A long black whip appeared in his hand, and the long black whip, filled with Sovereign power, lashed out directly towards Phusro. Where the long whip passed, space itself split open.

But Phusro just grabbed his giant awl, then gave it a toss…

Like a dagger being thrown, the big, fiery red awl transformed into a ray of fiery light, soaring outwards. With a ‘bang’ sound, the black whip actually shattered. At the same time, a large hole appeared in Elder Bulo’s chest.

The fiery red awl flew back into Phusro’s hand.

“Are you still refusing to f*ck off? I injured you this time, but next time, I’m going to kill you.” Phusro said, holding that giant, fiery awl.

“That…that’s…”

Elder Bulo stared in disbelief at that red awl. “A Sovereign artifact?”

“Haha, not bad. Good eye.” Phusro laughed smugly.

Sovereign’s Might, to a Sovereign, was a commonplace thing. But a Sovereign artifact….that was something which a Sovereign had to spend countless amounts of time, effort, and Sovereign power to nurture and develop. The power of a Sovereign artifact vastly exceeded Sovereign’s Might!

In particular, weapon-type Sovereign artifacts. Using them to kill Highgods would result in an utter massacre.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 33, Bulo, Unwilling to Give Up

Given how the situation had developed, in his heart, Bulo was filled with unwillingness to accept this outcome. “Hales and his brother both died. On this assault, our side lost a pair of Seven Star Fiends, but not a single one of the Seven Star Fiends of the Four Divine Beasts clan perished. And I even used up a drop of Sovereign’s Might!”

Humiliation!

Once the results of this battle became widely known, this would definitely result in the other members of the clan looking down at him, and the Patriarch would definitely be unhappy as well.

“But this person has a Sovereign artifact.” Bulo looked towards Phusro. Although his heart was filled with rage, he could only choose to submit. After all, resisting meant death! There was no question about this.

“Based on your transformation, you should be from the Netherworld’s Ashcroft clan.” Phusro stared down from up above, then said casually, “When you go back, convey some words back to your Patriarch. Just say that this time, I’m giving your Patriarch face and so I’m not killing you. But if next time, you guys still dare to do anything to my friend ‘Linley’, then hehe…haha…well, you can go imagine what the repercussions will be. Just remember, the only thing that matters is that you don’t do anything to Linley. As for the others, I don’t give a damn.”

Bulo’s heart trembled.

As for Emanuel, his face turned ugly to behold. He glanced sideways at Phusro. “This big fellow seems to have some sort of friendship with Linley, rather than some sort of friendship with my clan.” Phusro’s words made it very clear…

He wouldn’t get involved in the battle between the eight great clans and the Four Divine Beasts clan.

Linley’s heart was filled with questions.

“Phusro and I…in actuality, the only time we met and chatted was that time when he escaped. In truth, the relationship between us isn’t that deep. For my sake, he would be willing to set turn his face in opposition against the eight great clans?” Linley didn’t understand.

Could it be that he was just that charismatic?

It was easy to understand why Phusro would save him, but threaten the enemy’s Patriarch? This was very hard to understand.

“Right. I will definitely convey your words.” Bulo’s heart still held rage within it, but on the surface, he still lowered his head in submission. At present, Bulo had already completely reverted back to his human form, and even the two serpents hanging from his ears didn’t dare to hiss.

“Well, f*ck off, then!” Phusro waved his hand.

Bulo immediately transformed into a ray of light, moving towards the depths of the mountain forests, then disappearing.

After flying twenty or thirty kilometers, Bulo landed to the ground. His wrinkle-covered face began to twist and contort with rage, and his pair of viperous eyes became filled with a sinister light.

“Am I supposed to go back? Say that I failed to kill a single Seven Star Fiend, but that two of ours died?” Bulo was livid.

It wasn’t a major issue if any of the other Elders of the clan failed in a mission. But…he was Bulo! A ‘trump card’ level figure within the clan. For him to meet with a result such as this on a mission…the other members of the eight great clans would definitely discuss this behind his back.

He couldn’t accept being embarrassed like this!

When one possessed unlimited lifespan such as these supreme experts, one would care deeply about their ‘face’.

“No. That Phusro is very possibly going to leave. Once he leaves…I can absolutely intercept them and kill them enroute.” Bulo’s eyes lit up. Even though he didn’t dare to kill Linley, he still dared to kill Emanuel.

“Whooooosh.”

His Sovereign’s Might turned transparent, and immediately spread out to a distance of tens of kilometers, encapsulating Phusro, Linley, and Emanuel, the three of whom were still engaging in conversation.

Sovereign’s Might could be used for material attacks and could also be used for spiritual attacks.

Using divine sense to investigate, in turn, was in reality just spreading out one’s spiritual energy.

This Sovereign’s Might, since capable of being transforming into spiritual attacks and spiritual barriers, naturally was also capable of being used for ‘divine sense scouting’, and the effectiveness of it was very great. Even the distance and area at which it could be used was greatly expanded! But of course, how could an ordinary supreme expert possibly be willing to use up Sovereign’s Might for divine sense scouting?

The effect of using Sovereign’s Might to do scouting was akin to a Sovereign himself scouting. Naturally, Phusro, Linley, and Emanuel didn’t notice it at all.

“Hey, little fella, you can go back now.” Phusro gestured disdainfully towards Emanuel. “It’s been a long time since Linley and I met, and there’s some things we have to say to each other. Hurry on back. What, do you want to eavesdrop on our conversation, kid?”

Emanuel didn’t dare to say anything.

“Linley, I’ll head back for now, then.” Emanuel smiled towards Linley while also making a respectful, fractional bow towards Phusro. But Phusro simply snorted, causing Emanuel to be rather embarrassed.

“Elder Emanuel, have a safe trip.” Linley laughed calmly.

“Elder Linley, you’ll be going back by yourself. You need to be careful of the enemy as well.” Emanuel said, seemingly in a very friendly way. And then, Emanuel immediately flew away.

“Travelling by himself?” Bulo, who was using his Sovereign’s Might to watch this, couldn’t help but reveal a smile on his ancient, withered face. And then, his muddy yellow eyes narrowed. “I need to hurry. My Sovereign’s Might has almost been used up. I need to seize this bit of remaining time to kill that fellow named Emanuel.”

Bulo immediately transformed into a ray of light, flying in pursuit.

A drop of Sovereign’s Might in liquid form could be used for a fairly long period of time. Even if Bulo didn’t use the Sovereign’s Might, he would be able to easily kill Emanuel. Given that he had in fact used it…at present, Emanuel had no ability to fight back at all.

Emanuel travelled back by himself towards the direction of the Four Divine Beasts clan, his face extremely sinister and gloomy.

This time, he had wanted to let Linley’s strongest clone be killed. That goal had become a failure. But that was secondary. More importantly…he not only hadn’t had any gains, he had even used up a drop of Sovereign’s Might!

“A drop of Sovereign’s Might…I only had one drop!” Emanuel felt great unhappiness in his heart.

If one had to use up Sovereign’s Might, one had to at least have some gains to show for it. But what had he gained?

“The ancestors are dead. The clan’s stockpile of Sovereign’s Might has continuously dwindled, and is in fact personally overseen by the Patriarch. The Patriarch has always been biased against me…how can he possibly give me another drop of Sovereign’s Might?”

While flying back, Emanuel continued to consider what to do.

“It’s all Linley’s fault. He didn’t use his Sovereign’s Might to join forces with me in killing that Bulo. If we killed Bulo…the Patriarch definitely would have bestowed another Sovereign’s Might upon me for rendering such a great merit.” Emanuel’s heart remained filled with discontent.

But right at this moment…

“Eh?” Emanuel suddenly felt his heart clench in fear. He couldn’t help to turn and look, and as he did, a black bolt of lightning seemed to strike towards him. The terrifying aura which emanated from that black flash caused Emanuel’s face to change, instantly turning white!

“Sovereign’s Might!” Emanuel’s eyes turned round and huge.

“Bang!”

Emanuel’s entire body was blown apart, and his divine spark fell down.

At this moment, a figure appeared in mid-air. Bald. Ancient. The figure was Elder Bulo.

“Hmph. At least I’ve killed a Seven Star Fiend. When I go back, I’ll be able to defend myself.” Elder Bulo had been very unwilling to accept this outcome, but after killing Emanuel, he immediately felt much better. When he went back to make the report…

He could completely explain that the reason why Linley didn’t die was because of that Phusro. He himself didn’t have the ability to do anything about it. But at least he had killed the other Seven Star Fiend.

“Whooosh.”

With a wave of his hand, Elder Bulo collected the interspatial ring, then let out a low snort. “So he really did have a divine clone staying in the Skyrite Mountains. This ring is pointless to me, then.” Applying a bit of force to it, he made the interspatial ring shatter.

As for that divine spark hovering in front of him, Elder Bulo couldn’t even be bothered to grab it. He didn’t care about such a thing.

“Eh?”

Elder Bulo lowered his head to look at himself. The black aura surrounding him had almost vanished.

“Better leave.” Elder Bulo seized the remaining moments to immediately fly towards the east, vanishing. And, just moments after Elder Bulo left, two figures pierced through the skies and appeared here. It was Linley and Phusro.

Linley lowered his head, looking down carefully at the ground.

He had been chatting idly with Phusro, but suddenly, he had sensed an astonishing energy ripple, and so he had immediately hurried over. The remnants of Emanuel’s shattered corpse were still on the ground, and his divine spark and divine artifacts were hovering there as well.

“I still came late.” Linley said. “Emanuel’s already dead.” With a flip of his hand, Linley collected the divine spark and the divine artifact.

“If he died, he died. What’s the big deal.” Phusro said disdainfully.

Linley couldn’t help but laugh.

Died?

Linley didn’t feel the slightest bit of grief for Emanuel’s death. Earlier, at that dangerous moment, Emanuel had intentionally pretended that he didn’t hear Linley’s divine sense. He hadn’t helped, hoping to use Bulo to kill Linley.

“However, with him dead, I’ll have quite a few difficulties once I return.” Linley frowned. Emanuel, in the clan, was connected to quite a few people. “Hmph. We’ll wait and see. It was Bulo who killed him, after all.”

Upon sensing the aura of Sovereign’s Might from this place, Linley was able to guess that this was Bulo’s doing.

“Hey, Phusro. You weren’t finished speaking just now.” Linley turned to look at Phusro and laughed as he spoke.

“Oh. Right. That year, when I arrived at the ‘Muja Continent’, I acquired my Sovereign artifact.” As Phusro spoke, he began to laugh so happily that his eyes half-closed. Clearly, he felt quite delighted.

Muja Continent? Linley knew that this was one of the five continents of the Infernal Realm.

“Linley, have you ever seen a Sovereign?” Phusro said in an intentionally mysterious manner.

Linley shook his head. “No. I’ve only seen a scryer recording of a Sovereign. However, all I saw was an enormous blurry face formed from energy.”

“That’s just an illusion the Sovereign generated. It isn’t the Sovereign’s true body.” Phusro said smugly. “Linley, there’s something you don’t know…when I arrived at the Muja Continent, I met a supreme expert and engaged in a competition with him!”

“Competition?” Linley was stunned.

“Whatever we competed in, I lost!”

Phusro said resignedly. “We competed in material attacks. I lost. We competed in spiritual attacks. I still lost. We competed in speed. I lost…even when we competed in the aspect I am proudest in, my physical strength, I still lost.”

“You lost in everything?” Linley was shocked. At the same time, he couldn’t help but guess what the truth was.

“Only later did I discover…”

Phusro laughed. “He was a Sovereign!”

Although Linley had guessed this, upon hearing this, he was still shocked. After a moment, he laughed loudly, “Haha, Phusro, you actually competed against a Sovereign? Haha…”

“How was I supposed to know that he was a Sovereign? He hid his true power. I only took him to be another Highgod.” Phusro said resignedly. “He didn’t reveal off any of his majestic Sovereign’s presence…only at the end, when he asked if I was willing to be his Emissary or not, did he show off his majestic Sovereign’s presence. Only then did I realize he was a Sovereign.”

“A Sovereign of what element?” Linley asked.

“A fire-type Sovereign!”

Phusro laughed. “I am a fire-type expert. When I competed with him in attacks, we both competed in using fire-type attacks. Linley…I have the feeling that ever since I met you, my luck has been excellent!”

“The first time I met you, I escaped from my countless years of bondage.”

“And then, just a few centuries later, I became a Sovereign’s Emissary.”

Phusro was quite delighted with himself. “This is the Sovereign artifact the Sovereign bestowed upon me. My power was comparable to the Infernal Asuras to begin with. Now that I have a Sovereign artifact…haha, in the entire Infernal Realm, there are very few people capable of surpassing me.”

“Very few who can surpass you? You mean to say, there’s still some people stronger than you?” Linley laughed.

“A few, I suppose.”

Phusro said. “After all, in the Infernal Realm, there’s a number of Sovereign’s Emissaries. There’s also a few extremely rare divine beasts who have extremely powerful innate divine abilities…but actually, the most powerful of all are those Highgods who have become Paragons.

Linley nodded as well.

Paragons had completely mastered and completely fused all of the profound mysteries of one of the Elemental Laws. Fusing five profound mysteries and fusing all six profound mysteries to mastery…although it was only a difference of one profound mystery, the difference in power was tremendously great.

“I’ve been in the Infernal Realm for so long, but I haven’t seen a single Paragon yet.” Linley laughed.

“Neither have I.” Phusro shook his head helplessly. “Based on what the Sovereign said, these Paragon-level Highgods, although in terms of power are of course inferior to Sovereigns, are actually even fewer in number than Sovereigns…”

Linley agreed with this as well.

“I wonder…if one were to fuse all profound mysteries into one and become a Paragon, the most invincible of Highgods…what sort of power one would have.” Linley sighed to himself.

“Linley, I have some things to attend to. I’ll leave for now.” Phusro laughed. “As for your Four Divine Beasts clan, don’t just stupidly go battle for them nonstop. Protect yourself and improve your own power first.” After speaking, Phusro flew away.

Linley chuckled, watching Phusro leave.

“Time to go back.” Linley lowered his head, glancing at Emanuel’s corpse on the ground, then flew towards the Skyrite Mountains.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 34, The Eight Great Patriarchs

Bloodbath Gorge.

“Whoosh!” Emanuel was currently flying at high speed through Bloodbath Gorge. The other warriors within Bloodbath Gorge couldn’t help but stare, puzzled, as Emanuel flew past at high speed.

“Isn’t this that Elder Emanuel of the Azure Dragon clan? Why is he in such a rush?”

“No idea. Must be something urgent.”

The warriors within Bloodbath Gorge all couldn’t help but comment to themselves.

Currently, Emanuel couldn’t be bothered with the idle chatter of others. A ball of fire was blazing in his heart, and fury had filled his mind. He charged directly to the residence of his father, ‘Forhan’.

“Smash!” The door was pushed open.

Forhan had been seated in his room, quietly drinking tea. He couldn’t help but raise his head in amazement. “Emanuel, what are you doing here?”

Emanuel didn’t say anything. Turning, with a ‘creaaaak’ sound, he slammed the door shut.

“Bang!” Emanuel fell to his knees, his kneecaps smashing hard against the ground. Even the tough ground cracked apart from the force of it.

“Emanuel, what are you…” Forhan immediately stood up.

“Father!” Emanuel called out with grief and fury.

“What on earth has happened?” Forhan had a bad feeling…

“My…my divine water clone died! It was because of that Linley! Because of him!!!” Emanuel said, his entire body trembling. “It was all because of him! First, he intentionally refused to participate, and then, he parted ways with me!”

“Your divine water clone died?”

Forhan’s mind went momentarily blank. His son only had two bodies in total, one a divine water clone, the other a divine wind clone. The power of his divine wind clone was ordinary, and he hadn’t been able to fuse any of the profound mysteries.

His son wouldn’t even have the chance to refine a water-type divine spark and recover his former level of power.

“What exactly happened? Explain clearly.” Forhan said hurriedly.

“Yes, Father.”

Emanuel’s face was covered in rage. Now that he had found someone to complain to, he immediately began to speak in detail. Only, once the words came out from Emanuel’s mouth, the story had changed. It seemed as though everything Linley had done, he had done to try and harm Emanuel.

The Azure Dragon Palace. The fifth floor. A side room.

The Grand Elder was seated in the meditative position on a prayer mat, quietly training. Suddenly, the Grand Elder’s forehead furrowed, and she opened her eyes. “Why are the two of them here?” The Grand Elder immediately stood up and walked towards the main hall.

“Grand Elder!” Forhan’s voice rang out.

And then, Forhan and Emanuel entered the main hall on the fifth floor.

“What are you doing, rushing in here like this!” The Grand Elder shouted in a cold, unhappy voice.

“Grand Elder, Emanuel’s divine water clone died.” Forhan said frantically.

“Eh?” The Grand Elder was shocked. She couldn’t help but look at Emanuel. “Emanuel, didn’t you and Linley go together to carry out this mission? Also, you and Linley both had a drop of Sovereign’s Might.”

“Bang!” Emanuel knelt down heavily.

“Grand Elder, Linley and I encountered three Seven Star Fiends, all of whom were extremely strong. One of them was Elder Bulo of the Ashcroft clan.” Emanuel said hurriedly.

The Grand Elder’s face changed. “It was actually him? Given his status, he should have had a drop of Sovereign’s Might.”

“However, if you and Linley had both used your Sovereign’s Might and joined forces, even if Bulo used Sovereign’s Might, the two of you, when joining forces, should’ve been able to escape with your lives.” The Grand Elder said.

“That Linley just watched me die without helping!”

Emanuel said hurriedly. “When I was in danger, he didn’t help out at all. Afterwards, an expert suddenly appeared and ordered that Bulo to temporarily halt his attacks. That expert ordered Bulo to leave, and so I thought that I was safe. Linley then said that he had something to discuss with that expert, and so I was to leave by myself first.”

“I didn’t suspect anything, and thus left by myself. But who would have imagined…” Emanuel was filled with both rage and grief. “Grand Elder, just as I left, I was ambushed by that Bulo again and killed by him. Grand Elder…it must have been arranged by Linley. He definitely must have secretly used his divine sense to speak with that Bulo and told that Bulo to ambush me. Otherwise…how could Bulo have left, then returned to attack me?”

The Grand Elder, hearing this, frowned.

“For Linley to not assist earlier does show that he had the intention of harming you. However, as for Bulo’s later attack…there’s no way to be certain as to whether or not Linley used his divine sense to collude with Bulo.” The Grand Elder said in a low voice. “Although Linley didn’t assist you, you didn’t die, after all. Your death was caused by Bulo’s attack. It can’t be counted as being caused by Linley.”

“Grand Elder!” Emanuel was frantic.

Although the Grand Elder was his paternal grandmother, she was too obstinate and unfeeling. Even her son, ‘Forhan’, had to address her as ‘Grand Elder.’.

“Grand Elder, think about it. If Linley didn’t have the intention of killing Emanuel, how could Emanuel’s divine water clone have died?” Forhan said frantically. “Why wouldn’t he return alongside Emanuel? Why would he insist on them taking separate paths? Even if he wanted to speak in private, couldn’t he just have Emanuel wait off to one side?”

“Also. That Bulo, having been ordered off by that mysterious expert…why would he dare return and attack? He definitely colluded with Linley.” Forhan said frantically.

But they all forgot about something…

Bulo, after having used Sovereign’s Might, was able to use a Sovereign’s power for scouting.

“Grand Elder.” Forhan said frantically.

The Grand Elder couldn’t help but look towards Emanuel.

“Bang!” Forhan suddenly knelt down as well. Frantically, he said, “Mother!!!”

The Grand Elder’s body trembled. Ever since she ordered Forhan to address her as ‘Grand Elder’, it had been many years since her son had addressed her as ‘Mother’ again.

“Mother, Emanuel is my only son. His divine water clone is now dead. For his divine wind clone to grow in power will be difficult, even after the passage of countless years! Mother, the future of your grandson has been shattered by that Linley. How can you…not even a little…”

As he spoke, Forhan began to shed tears.

The Grand Elder felt her heart clench.

If she wanted to penalize Linley, just by being slightly partial, she could indeed penalize him.

“Mother!!!” Forhan said frantically.

The Grand Elder looked at the two men kneeling in front of her. One was her son, and the other was her grandson. The Grand Elder took a deep breath, then said softly, “Child, rise.”

The Grand Elder rarely displayed her emotions, and within the clan, she always gave the impression of being callous and emotionless.

However…

She was still a mother. Deep within her soul, there was still a very soft place. She wasn’t completely stone-hearted and unfeeling.

Forhan and Emanuel, hearing this, were overjoyed.

“Mother. Linley’s divine clone is at the Skyrite Mountains right now. We can interrogate him right away.” Forhan said hurriedly. “Our Azure Dragon clan should be unified and work together, but Linley actually dares to act in such a way. Even if we don’t execute him, we have to punish him heavily.”

“Right. Punish him heavily.”

Emanuel said hurriedly. “In addition, by what right does he, a junior, hold the Azure Dragon ring of the ancestor? The Azure Dragon ring should be in your possession, grandmother. Even if you don’t need it, it should be given to Father.”

The Grand Elder was silent.

“Mother, shall we send someone to summon Linley over?” Forhan said hurriedly.

Linley’s original body and divine wind clone were currently in the battlegrounds outside, while his fire, water, and earth clones remained in the Skyrite Mountains. They could be interrogated immediately.

“What’s the rush?”

The Grand Elder glanced sideways at each of them. “Even if I am to punish him, can it be that I am supposed to punish those clones? Linley’s original body isn’t even back yet.”

Forhan and Emanuel both came to their senses.

“Right. We shouldn’t interrogate him now. Otherwise, if we interrogate his clones, he might be so frightened that his original body flees. That won’t be worth it.” Emanuel said hurriedly. As Emanuel and Forhan saw it, the value of Linley’s clones was far inferior to the value of his original body.

After all…

Generally speaking, there were differences in power between the clones of an expert. The most important one was the one which mattered the most.

Within the borders of Indigo Prefecture. A place where four of the eight great clans were stationed.

The leader of the Ashcroft clan, which had moved here from the Netherworld, was currently chatting with Bulo’s divine water clone. After all, Bulo’s divine Death clone was still on the way back.

“Bulo, did you say he has a Sovereign artifact?” This Patriarch’s eyes were scarlet red, and his eyebrows appeared very devilish. His long black hair which glowed with a green light extended to his knees, and the two green serpents hanging from his ears were currently staring at Bulo.

This person…

Was the leader of the Ashcroft clan, and the ancestor of the Nether Serpent clan! The most powerful expert of the Nether Serpent clan.

“Yes, Father. That fire-type Sovereign artifact is very formidable.” Bulo said respectfully. “He also asked me to deliver a message to you. He said that he didn’t kill me because he was giving you face, but if in the future, we dare touch Linley, then the repercussions…we can imagine them for ourselves.”

“Hmph. Impudence.”

This Patriarch let out a cold snort.

“His Sovereign artifact is fire-type. He should thus be the Emissary of a Sovereign of Fire.” The Patriarch of the Nether Serpent clan considered this, then he couldn’t help but bark, “Pay a visit to the Boleyn clan with me.”

“Yes, Father.”

Immediately, the Patriarch of the Nether Serpents led Bulo directly towards the nearby Boleyn clan.

The Four Divine Beasts clan was led by the ‘Azure Dragon clan’, while the eight great clans was a temporary alliance. Currently, the most powerful of the clans, the ‘Boleyn clan’ of the Celestial Realm was their leader.

The Boleyn clan. The Radiant Palace.

The Radiant Palace was over a hundred meters tall, with multiple pillars that were emanating a soft white light supporting it. Currently, outside this palace, Bulo was there, standing alone in a respectful manner. As for within the palace, there were eight figures seated.

These eight were the eight Patriarchs of the eight great clans!

To be more precise, four of them were the true bodies of the Patriarchs, while the other four were the ‘golem clones’ of the Patriarchs of the other four clans, who were far away on the opposite end of the Indigo Prefecture. These ‘golem clones’ were ‘Deathgod Golems’, and held a hint of consciousness within them.

The reason they had Deathgod Golems here was so that they could discuss things in a group.

Bulo was respectfully narrating what had occurred in this battle. After he finished speaking, he said formally, “That’s all!”

The voices of the eight great Patriarchs could be heard from within, engaging in conversation.

“Reinales, your clan has always been in the Infernal Realm. You should be familiar with its experts. Have you heard of this ‘Phusro’?”

“Phusro? I’ve never heard of a person in the Infernal Realm who went by this name.”

“No matter what, if he has a weapon-type Sovereign artifact, he is definitely a Sovereign’s Emissary!”

“So what if he is a Sovereign’s Emissary? If he dares act wildly against our eight great clans and really forces us, we can just kill him…as long as we aren’t the first to attack, the Sovereign behind him won’t blame us!”

Bulo, hearing this, couldn’t help but be secretly startled.

However, Bulo also knew that of the eight Patriarchs of their eight great clans, seven of them were Sovereign’s Emissaries, with the eighth not being a Sovereign’s Emissary but still being in possession of a Sovereign artifact. In fact, the eighth was actually the most powerful of them all.

After all…

The Patriarchs of the Four Divine Beasts clan also had Sovereign’s artifacts.

Given that the eight great clans to dare act against the Four Divine Beasts clan, how could they not have sufficient power of their own?

“How long will it be before I, too, have a Sovereign artifact?” Bulo thought to himself. However, he understood that even if the eight Patriarchs didn’t have Sovereign artifacts, they were still incredibly strong. It was precisely because they were so strong…

That they were noticed and valued, and received Sovereign artifacts.

In Bulo’s mind…

The eight Patriarchs were high and lofty figures. Indeed, it was only natural for a Sovereign’s Emissary to be far above other people.

“Don’t rashly make new enemies!” A somewhat hoarse voice rang out in a rebuke from within the palace. “There’s no need for us to fear that Phusro anyhow. Right now, I’m more suspicious about another person.”

“Bulo.” The voice came from within.

Bulo immediately bowed.

“Let me ask you this. When you saw that Linley, you, too, believed him to be a God? You didn’t sense any hint of a Highgod aura?” The hoarse voice in the palace said.

“Yes. I couldn’t sense a thing. I sent out my divine sense, but could only sense that he was a God.” Bulo said.

That hoarse voice rang out again. “Right. I am very familiar with Bulo’s power. Your Ashcroft clan specializes in the soul to begin with, while Bulo is one of the supreme members of your clan, and has reached a very high level of accomplishment with regards to the soul. The number of people in the entire Infernal Realm who could hide their strength and prevent Bulo from realizing it can be counted on one hand. Someone with this level of power…shouldn’t be weaker than me. If Linley really was this formidable, it would be simple for him to kill Bulo.”

“But he didn’t! And in fact, it was that Phusro who saved him.”

“I have a suspicion! I suspect that this Linley really is just a God! The reason why his soul is so tough is that he has a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact!” The hoarse voice said.

“He really is just a God? Patriarch Boleyn, don’t jest like that.” Someone immediately said.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 35, A Tremendous Threat!

“That he really is a God?” Bulo, hearing this from outside the hall, also felt that this was unbelievable.

The voices of the eight Patriarch’s continued to ring out from within the hall.

“I’m not joking. Think about it closely. Over the course of all these years, since when has anyone in the Four Divine Beasts clan been capable of using this technique of aura hiding for launching sneak attacks? It has never happened! It wasn’t that they didn’t want to do it; it was that they weren’t capable of it!”

That hoarse voice continued, “My Boleyn clan, the Ashcroft clan, and the Edric clan are all famous for our extremely high level of ability pertaining to the soul. To hide one’s aura to a level where even we can’t discover it…hmph, how many experts in the entire Infernal Realm can be capable of it?”

“If Linley was at such a level, there is no way Bulo could’ve returned to us alive!”

The hoarse voice continued, “Thus, there’s only a single explanation. Linley himself really is a God. Naturally, there’s no way anyone would discover a ‘Highgod’ aura coming from him.”

The other clan leaders weren’t fools either. They had all been stunned by the astonishing strength Linley had displayed, so none of them had dared to pursue this line of thought. But now that Patriarch Boleyn was pointing it out, as they carefully considered this line of reasoning, they felt they suddenly understood as well!

All of the clan leaders were stunned.

“Linley is most likely a God. However, how can his attacks be so powerful? I hear that his Gravitational Space ability is so strong that most Highgods are completely unable to resist it. Even Six Star Fiends will have their souls affected, resulting in them being easily slaughtered!”

“Right. In battle, Linley is not weaker than a Seven Star Fiend.”

An ancient voice rang out, “Then the only explanation is that this Linley’s level of comprehension with regards to the profound mysteries of the Laws is too powerful. I predict…that he has already mastered and fused five of the profound mysteries of the Laws of the Earth! Otherwise, there’s no way a God could have this level of power.”

The amount of power Linley had displayed was, indeed, at this level.

But what they didn’t know was that Linley had actually only fused three types. However, through the assistance of the ‘black stone’ as well as the unique method of utilizing the Law possessed by the violet amethyst beast, allowing his gravitational pull to become more than a hundred times stronger…Linley’s power naturally was comparable to someone who had fused five types of profound mysteries.

“A God who has fused five profound mysteries?”

All of the clan leaders in the hall were completely stunned.

“I expect that the reason this Linley hasn’t become a Highgod is because he wants to fuse the mysteries, one step at a time. I imagine that he is currently slowly fusing the sixth profound mysteries. The day he becomes a Highgod will also be the very same day that he finishes completely fusing all six profound mysteries!” The hoarse voice rang out. “This Linley, I must admit…has tremendous willpower and tremendous ambition!”

The result of their discussion was…the eight Patriarchs were all stunned.

After all, generally speaking, when experts trained, fusing the profound mysteries of a Law was simply too hard. Thus, they all decided to become Highgods as soon as possible, then slowly fuse the profound mysteries.

A sharp voice rang out, “He is only a God, and yet already possesses such astonishing power. If he reaches the Highgod level, and reaches the level of perfection in the Laws….then he will be at the peak of his power! If one of the Patriarchs of the Four Divine Beasts clan is courageous enough to bestow a Sovereign artifact upon him, then this person, with his Sovereign artifact, could dominate us all!”

When a person reached perfect and became a Paragon of a Law, that person would have terrifying power!

When matched with a Sovereign artifact…that person could be said to be undefeatable by all aside from Sovereigns.

“This Linley…is actually this formidable.” Bulo, still listening from outside the hall, was terrified as well. “But it makes sense. If he, theoretically, is just a God, and yet is still capable of using such a terrifying Gravitational Space, he has to have fused at least five profound mysteries. He definitely is currently gaining insights on the sixth. Once he fuses them and becomes a Paragon…”

The number of Highgod Paragons was even lower than the number of Sovereigns.

Every single one of them was a glorious person of their generation, supreme amongst supreme experts!

“This Linley cannot be allowed to live!” A low, rumbling voice shouted angrily. “As we can now see, this Linley might break through at any moment and fuse six profound mysteries. By then…it would be perfectly normal for the Patriarchs of the Four Divine Beasts clan to be willing to give up one of their Sovereign artifacts to him. By then, we will be doomed!”

“If that really happens, even the Sovereigns wouldn’t be willing to help us!”

The eight Patriarchs were immediately filled with shock and rage.

Sovereigns were lofty beings. The Emissaries of the Sovereigns were nothing more than their ‘subjects’, and Sovereigns usually didn’t care too much about the affairs of their Emmisaries. As long as an Emissary was capable of carrying out the duties assigned, that was enough.

But there was one type of person who was different!

A Highgod Paragon. Even Sovereigns would be willing to lower themselves to solemnly ask a Paragon to be an Emissary.

The Patriarchs of the eight great clans all felt their hearts clench slightly. Good heavens. They had never imagined that the Four Divine Beasts clan, silently and soundlessly, would actually produce such an incredibly talented figure. If this was permitted to continue, the repercussions would be unthinkable!

“This Linley must be killed!” A furious shout came from within the hall.

“The war between us and the Four Divine Beasts clan cannot be permitted to continue like this. We must accelerate it!”

“There’s no need to pay any attention to that other Sovereign’s Emissary. Our greatest threat right now is Linley. We have to seize the opportunity to execute him. No matter what the cost, no matter what sacrifices we must make, we must execute him!”

Originally, the eight great clans hadn’t truly spent much time thinking about Linley. Now that they did, they realized that he was a tremendous threat to them, a threat so great as to cause them to panic. After all, even throughout all four of the Higher Planes, the birth of every single supreme Paragon was an event that would shake all the planes.

The Skyrite Mountains. Bloodbath Gorge.

Emanuel and Forhan were waiting at the Azure Dragon Palace. Right at this moment, a figure streaked past the skies, flying directly into the Bloodbath Gorge and landing in front of the Azure Dragon Palace. This man with long, unbound azure hair was the Patriarch of the Azure Dragon clan, ‘Gislason’.

“Eh?” The Grand Elder looked outside the window, puzzled. Emanuel and Forhan immediately turned to look as well.

Gislason strode in with a smile. “Little Sister.”

“Patriarch.” Emanuel and Forhan immediately saluted.

“You are here as well? Good. Then there’s no need to send someone to find you.” Gislason chortled as he walked to the throne, seating himself. He grinned towards the Grand Elder, “Little sister, do you know that in the battle Linley and Emanuel engaged in, two Seven Star Fiends of the other side died.”

Gislason chortled as he looked at Emanuel. “Emanuel, I heard that afterwards, yet another Seven Star Fiends attacked you and Linley. Tell me about the results.”

The news Gislason had received had come from their intelligence agents.

Because both sides had used Sovereign’s Might in that battle, the three Six Star Fiend survivors of the Azure Dragon clan had immediately scattered and fled. Bulo had pursued Emanuel and had also chased towards Linley…

Naturally, the Six Star Fiends had fled in the opposite direction.

And thus, only Linley, Emanuel, Bulo, and that Phusro knew what had happened between them afterwards.

“Patriarch.” Emanuel immediately knelt down, sobbing, “My divine water clone was destroyed. Our enemy was Bulo…I used a drop of Sovereign’s Might, but Linley didn’t use his, nor did he help me.”

“What’s this all about?” Gislason couldn’t help but frown.

“Patriarch, back then, Linley and I…” Emanuel immediately began to retell the story in detail anew. However, he naturally changed some of the details in the words, making it sound as though Linley wanted to harm him.

“What did you just say? A Sovereign artifact!” Gislason said, shocked.

“Emanuel, did you say a Sovereign artifact?” The Grand Elder was shocked as well.

“Ye…yes?” Emanuel was stunned.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” The Grand Elder said angrily.

Prior to this, when Emanuel had been telling this tale to the Grand Elder, he had only said that an expert had stopped Bulo. He didn’t mention the Sovereign artifact.

“Is…is that very important?” Emanuel didn’t understand.

“What was his name?” Gislason asked hurriedly.

Emanuel still clearly remembered the conversation between Linley and Phusro. He immediately said, “That person was named Phusro.”

“Phusro?” The Grand Elder was somewhat puzzled.

Gislason was momentarily stunned as well, but then he began to laugh. He immediately said, “Little sister, come, make a trip with me.”

“Yes, Elder Brother.” The Grand Elder immediately followed him. Patriarch Gislason and the Grand Elder immediately left the Azure Dragon palace, leaving Emanuel and Forhan behind in the palace, completely confused.

“Father, what’s this all about?” Emanuel said.

“Could it be that the Patriarch knows that person?” Forhan didn’t fully understand either.

The Skyrite Mountains. Within the gorge.

Linley, Delia, and Bebe were currently together. Linley’s original body was still on the way back, and so this was naturally just a clone Linley. As for Delia and Bebe, they had already gone and come back from the city of Meer.

“Bebe, how did it feel, to go out on an excursion? From the looks of it, it seems as though you had quite a bit of fun.” Linley laughed.

“Of course I feel great after going out for a trip.” Bebe rubbed his nose and laughed. “However, the reason I look so happy isn’t because I went on a trip. Rather…Boss, I’ve already mastered the fifth profound mystery of the Laws of Darkness.”

Linley was startled.

“Boss, you and I were competing, y’know. How about you?” Bebe asked smugly.

“Uh…” Linley couldn’t help but shake his head and laugh. “I fell behind. I’m still trapped at the bottleneck for the ‘Profound Mysteries of Strength’, and have yet to break through.”

“Hmph. Hmph.” Bebe laughed smugly.

“Look at the two of you.” Delia cover her mouth, starting to laugh as well. “You are even going to compete in this. You are like a pair of children.”

“Well, we have nothing better to do.” Bebe smirked in response.

Linley laughed, “Delia, Bebe, the two of you viewed Emanuel with disfavor, yes?” As Linley spoke, he set up his Godrealm, completely sealing off sound from the outside.”

“Right. I hate that guy.” Bebe said hurriedly. “Last time, he wanted to steal your Coiling Dragon ring.”

“And he wants to kill you.” Delia couldn’t help but turn grave. “Also, didn’t you say that for this mission, he forced you into accompanying him?”

Linley began to laugh. “You don’t need to worry any longer. Even if he wants to kill me, he doesn’t have the ability to do so. Delia, Bebe, it’d be hard for him to even kill the two of you.”

“What’s this?” Bebe and Delia were both shocked.

“This time, on our mission, the one he wanted me to go on…the result was that he died.” Linley laughed. “His most powerful divine water clone was finished. The body that he has left is very weak.”

“He’s really dead? Woohoo!” Bebe shouted out excitedly.

“You encountered a powerful foe? How about your clone? Are you alright?” Delia asked hurriedly. Delia was worried each time Linley went out on a mission. After all, the war between the Four Divine Beasts clan and the eight great clans meant that during every single mission, the squads were dancing between the edges of life and death.

“Of course I’m fine.” Linley laughed.

Linley suddenly frowned, then turned and looked towards the skies. He saw that in mid-air, there were four figures flying over at high speed. Linley released his Godrealm, and the four landed directly in front of Linley.

“Elder Linley.” The four bowed as they spoke.

“What is it?” Linley asked.

The leader said respectfully, “Elder Linley, we have come on the orders of the four clan leaders to summon you to the Grand Palace of the Four Divine Beasts.”

“The four clan leaders?” Linley was stunned.

He had been in the Infernal Realm for so long, but he had only met Patriarch Gislason of his own Azure Dragon clan. As for the other three clan leaders, he had never seen them before. Now, the four Patriarchs were summoning him? Why?

“Elder Linley, please hurry. The four clan leaders are all waiting for you at the Grand Palace.” The leader urged.

“Right.” Linley nodded.

Linley immediately turned towards Delia and Bebe, laughing as he nodded towards them. “I need to make a trip.” And then, he immediately flew into the air. Those four warriors followed directly behind Linley, as the five of them flew in a line towards Bloodbath Gorge.

Moments later.

Linley arrived at Bloodbath Gorge. He immediately saw the distant Azure Dragon Palace. “It’s actually the Grand Palace. I’ve never been to the Grand Palace before.” Bloodbath Gorge had five palaces in total. The Grand Palace of the Four Divine Beasts was the place where the clan leaders of the Four Divine Beasts clan went to discuss major matters with each other.

But today…

The Grand Palace of the Four Divine Beasts had especially opened its doors for Linley.

The Grand Palace of the Four Divine Beasts was more than a hundred meters tall, and its four walls were filled with carvings of four different divine beasts. The entire Grand Palace was an extremely stately, solemn place. At the gate to the Grand Palace, there were warriors of Bloodbath Gorge standing guard.

“Elder Linley.” The guards saluted respectfully.

Linley laughed and nodded, then strode into the Grand Palace. “Rumble…” Behind Linley, the gates to the Grand Palace shut themselves.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 36, Decision

Linley looked about carefully, but there wasn’t a single person present in this main hall of the first floor of the Grand Palace of the Four Divine Beasts.

“Linley, come to the second floor.” A voice rang out in Linley’s ears.

“Patriarch.” Linley recognized this voice as being Gislason’s, and he immediately entered a side room to the main hall, which had a staircase that led upwards into the second floor. Climbing up the staircase, Linley arrived at the second floor of the Grand Palace.

The second floor was clearly much smaller than the main hall on the first floor.

There was an enormous round table placed in the center of the hall, and there were a total of six figures seated around the table. Linley recognized only two of the six figures; one was the Patriarch, while the other was the Grand Elder.

“Judging from their clothes and their aura, the other woman seated around the table should be the Matriarch of the Vermillion Bird clan.” Linley inspected them one by one.

Azure Dragon clan. Vermillion Bird clan. White Tiger clan. Black Tortoise clan. All four clans, without question, had their own unique, bizarre auras and appearances. He could recognize them at a single glance. At the round table, the Azure Dragon clan had two representatives, the Black Tortoise clan had two representatives, and the White Tiger and Vermillion Bird clans also had one each.

“Linley, sit.” Suddenly, the beautiful woman from the Vermillion Bird clan laughed calmly.

The others all revealed smiles towards Linley as well, and Gislason laughed, “Linley, no need to stand on ceremony. When meeting with you here, we can be a bit more casual. Go ahead and sit.”

“Yes.” Linley couldn’t help but feel a warm feeling in his heart.

Linley knew that these people were the highest level figures of the Four Divine Beasts clan, the sons and daughters of those four Sovereigns.

“Linley, the reason we asked you to come was to ask you regarding that Phusro.” Gislason said.

“Phusro?” Linley was startled.

So the clan had found out about the relationship between himself and Phusro so quickly!

One of the men present wore a white robe, and on the white robe, there were some unusual patterns that made it look as though it was made from the fur of a tiger. This man had a grim, callous face, but he currently had a hint of a smile as well. “Phusro has a Sovereign artifact, but we’ve never heard of him…”

Linley laughed to himself.

Up until a few centuries ago, Phusro had been just a pitiable little kitten in Elquin’s arms. Who would have known him?

“Linley, this Phusro is a Sovereign’s Emissary. There should be no mistaking this, right?” A large man said in a low, rumbling voice. This man’s body was even taller than the members of the Barbary clan. Linley knew that this person had to be one of the two leaders of the Black Tortoise clan.

“He is indeed a Sovereign’s Emissary. He should have only become one a few centuries ago.” Linley replied.

Around the circular table, the leaders of the Four Divine Beasts clan all stared at each other, excitement in their eyes.

“Which Sovereign?” Gislason asked hurriedly.

“I’m not certain. However, it is a Sovereign of Fire.” Linley said.

The Grand Elder, by Gislason’s side, also asked hurriedly, “Linley, do you know why this Phusro saved you? Was it because the two of you have a relationship with each other, or because he was acting on the orders of the Sovereign?”

“Actually…I’m puzzled about this as well.” Linley said.

“Oh?”

The six looked at Linley, listening attentively.

Although Linley didn’t understand what the six were interested in with regards to this conversation, there were some things which didn’t need to be kept secret and which he could reveal. “In truth, this Phusro and I have only met a single time. Although we can be considered friends, our relationship isn’t that deep.”

“I can understand why he saved me when he happened to be there, but he actually threatened Bulo and threatened Bulo’s clan, saying that they were not permitted to act against me.” Linley laughed.

The six people around the table all frowned.

“He has a pre-existing friendship with you?” Gislason was somewhat frustrated. “It seems he wasn’t acting on the orders of a Sovereign to protect Linley. There isn’t much of a connection between the Sovereign and Linley.”

“Hard to say.” The Patriarch of the White Tiger clan rebutted. “Phusro threatened them. Perhaps…”

“Enough. Don’t have any extravagant hopes.” The Matriarch of the Vermillion Bird clan let out a long sigh. “If the Sovereign had the intention of protecting Linley, he would have sent someone directly to the eight great clans and convey his Decree. With a Sovereign’s Decree…the eight great clans definitely wouldn’t dare to touch Linley. There’s no need for him to go to as much trouble as this Phusro has. Clearly, Phusro’s rescue of Linley didn’t have much to do with the Sovereign.”

“Alas…” Gislason couldn’t help but lower his head and sigh.

The looks on the faces of the others turned unhappy as well.

Linley, seeing this, couldn’t help but feel astonished. However, listening to their words, Linley began to understand. “So they were actually hoping that I had some sort of a relationship with a Sovereign.” When Linley thought of the situation of his clan, he fully understood.

Ever since those four ancestors of theirs had died, the Four Divine Beasts clan had lacked a Sovereign to rely on. Thus, even those eight great clans dared to abuse them.

They knew that a Sovereign’s Emissary had rescued Linley, and so they had hoped…that this Sovereign’s Emissary had come on the Sovereign’s orders to rescue Linley.

If that were the case, then it would also be possible that in the future, the Sovereign might, for Linley’s sake, help out the Four Divine Beasts clan.

“Their hopes were just extinguished.” Linley said to himself.

“Forget it. Everyone, don’t be discouraged. At least we have a Sovereign’s Emissary as our ally now.” The Matriarch of the Vermillion Bird clan laughed calmly. “In addition, it isn’t completely impossible that the Sovereign’s Emissary came on the orders of his Sovereign.”

Linley looked at those six people around the round table, and he couldn’t help but feel a surge of grief in his heart.

How could the Four Divine Beasts clan have fallen to such dire straits?

These clan leaders were all pining for a Sovereign to stand behind them! However, the four ancestors were all dead now. As for the other Sovereigns, why would they be so bored as to go help the Four Divine Beasts clan for no reason?

“Linley, I’d like to ask you something. Are you a God, or are you a Highgod?” The Matriarch of the Vermillion Bird clan laughed as she looked at Linley. “To be honest, I can’t detect any hint of a Highgod aura coming from you.”

Linley couldn’t help but look at his Patriarch.

Quite a few people had already asked this question.

“Linley is a God.” Gislason said hurriedly. “This is a secret. It’s enough that we know this secret. Do not spread it out.” The people present were all the highest level members of the Four Divine Beasts clan, so it didn’t matter if they knew.

“Still just a God? Haha, how is it that you, a God, are able to kill Seven Star Fiends?”

The atmosphere of the room grew lively again as everyone began to discuss Linley.

Linley, faced with the questions from these clan leaders, was only able to give some general answers.

“Gravitational Space?” The Patriarch of the White Tiger clan said in amazement, his sword-shaped eyebrows rising. “With a simple Gravitational Space, you are actually able to make it so that most Highgods are unable to fly?” A Gravitational Space was normally a very ordinary technique.

Linley had only developed his own version, thanks to the intentional guidance provided by the juvenile amethyst beast.

“Gravitational Space?”

Suddenly, the Matriarch of the Vermillion Bird clan let out a cry of shock, then stared at Linley, asking hurriedly, “Linley, are you capable of changing the direction of gravity within your Gravitational Space?” The astonishment of the Matriarch of the Vermillion Bird clan caused the other people present to be mystified.

“Quick, tell me.” The Matriarch of the Vermillion Bird urged.

Linley felt completely puzzled. This was a very simple thing. Why had the Matriarch lost her cool like this?

“Right.” Linley nodded and admitted it.

“Haha…”

The Matriarch of the Vermillion Bird clan began to laugh, laugh with exceeding happiness. She looked at Linley. “Linley, you should have learned your Gravitational Space technique from the Amethyst Mountains, right?”

Linley was shocked.

How did she know?

Seeing the look of shock on Linley’s face, the Matriarch of the Vermillion Bird clan began to laugh smugly again.

“Elder Sister, hurry up and tell us what is making you so happy.” The Patriarch of the White Tiger clan urged, and the others looked towards her as well.

The Matriarch of the Vermillion Bird was all smiles as she responded. “Everyone, there is no way that this unique Gravitational Space which Linley knows can be developed simply through training. When my mother was alive, she had once mentioned a Sovereign of Destruction to me!”

“Sovereign of Destruction?” Everyone’s eyes lit up.

Linley stared at her as well.

“Right.” The Matriarch of the Vermillion Bird clan nodded. “This Sovereign of Destruction had the innate ability to control and change the direction of gravity, and also exert control over a person’s soul. This Sovereign is extremely powerful…and my mother said that this Sovereign of Destruction was the Sovereign of the Redbud Continent!”

Everyone was stunned.

Linley stared, slack-jawed.

“Aside from this Sovereign of Destruction, there shouldn’t be anyone else capable of utilizing Linley’s type of Gravitational Space.” The Matriarch of the Vermillion Bird clan said confidently. “Oh, right. I also heard that this Sovereign of Destruction has a son. Aside from him and his son, no one else knows it.”

Linley was completely stupefied.

“Sovereign? Son?”

Many things flashed through Linley’s mind, and many things he didn’t understand were suddenly made clear. “That juvenile amethyst beast…could he be the son of the Sovereign?”

Immediately, the clan leaders of the Four Divine Beasts clan stared towards Linley.

They were like people who were drowning that had seen a stalk of straw they could clutch onto for survival!

They were incomparably arrogant, and felt themselves to be the favored ones of the heavens. However, after their four Sovereigns had fallen, they discovered…that the Four Divine Beasts clan had instantly fallen into dire straits, and could be wiped out at any moment.

They were hoping that a Sovereign would be willing to step forward and help them! But none ever had!

“Linley!” Gislason’s face was covered with smiles. “You know the Redbud Sovereign?”

“No…I don’t know him.” Linley shook his head.

“How could you not?” The Matriarch of the Vermillion Bird clan began to laugh. “You learned your Gravitational Space technique from the Amethyst Mountains, right?”

“Right.” Linley nodded.

“That’s right. The Amethyst Mountains is the place where the Redbud Sovereign was born. That’s his home!” The Matriarch of the Vermillion Bird clan sighed in amazement. “The power of that Sovereign is exceedingly strong. If he is willing to stand out and say but a single word, those eight great clans will immediately be so terrified that they would flee.”

Linley still felt completely stunned. So the Amethyst Mountains was the resting place of a Sovereign.

“My Gravitational Space was taught to me by a juvenile amethyst beast named ‘Reisgem’.” Linley said hurriedly.

“Reisgem?”

The clan leaders all shook their head, indicating they hadn’t heard the name before.

“I haven’t heard of him either.” The Matriarch of the Vermillion Bird clan laughed. “But from the sound of it, he’s most likely that son of the Sovereign.”

“This Reisgem is a Commander of Purgatory. You don’t recognize him?” Linley was puzzled.

“A Purgatory Commander?” The six people around the table were all startled.

“A person who becomes a Purgatory Commander does so to participate in the Planar Wars.” Gislason said. “Our Four Divine Beasts clan doesn’t get involved in the Planar Wars, so we don’t pay too much attention to it. In addition, Purgatory Commanders often change. No one knows who is currently a Commander.”

Linley nodded.

“Linley, you can go back for now.” Gislason laughed.

“Right. You can go back. From today onwards, you don’t need to get involved in the matters of Bloodbath Gorge. Go back and train hard, and then, after you reach the Highgod level, we’ll see.” The Matriarch of the Vermillion Bird clan laughed as well.

Although Linley was still rather puzzled, he still bowed. “Yes.” And then, he left by himself.”

After Linley left.

“Haha…” Gislason began to laugh.

“Haha…” Immediately, everyone else began to laugh as well, their faces covered in smiles.

The Patriarch of the White Tiger clan sighed emotionally, “It’s been so many years. Our Four Divine Beasts clan finally sees a ray of hope!”

“Right! We finally have a ray of hope!” Gislason sighed as well.

Given the glorious former days of the Four Divine Beasts clan, how could they be willing to forever hide within the Skyrite Mountains? Although the Lord Prefect of Indigo Prefecture had entered into an agreement with the eight great clans, causing them to be forbidden from attacking within the Skyrite Mountains…all this meant was that the roots and foundation of their clan was protected.

As for returning to their former glory…

They had to have the support of either an invincible Highgod Paragon, or that of a Sovereign.

“The Redbud Sovereign.” The Matriarch of the Vermillion Bird clan laughed. “Over the past ten thousand years, we haven’t seen any signs of hope at all. But today, we finally do…given that the Redbud Sovereign was willing to pass his ultimate technique to Linley, the relationship between him and Linley has to be a deep one.”

“Elder Brother.” The Matriarch of the Vermillion Bird clan laughed as she looked at Gislason. “You have to protect this Linley and take care of him. We need to rely on him to connect with the Redbud Sovereign.”

“Don’t worry.”

Gislason began to laugh as well. “I guarantee that nothing will happen to Linley.”

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 37, Calmness and Savagery

Bloodbath Gorge.

Emanuel and Forhan were together.

“I have a bad feeling…” Forhan said with a frown.

“Father, what is it?” Emanuel said hurriedly.

Forhan said, “Look at how much the Patriarch cared about that Sovereign’s Emissary. Most likely, he wants to draw that Sovereign’s Emissary closer to us. After all, our Four Divine Beasts clan is currently in dire straits. If that’s the case…Linley most likely won’t be punished.”

“Won’t be punished?” Emanuel was frantic.

He had wanted to deal with Linley this entire time. This time, he ‘wanted to steal a chicken, but instead just lost the bait’. Even his most powerful divine water clone had been destroyed. The sort of rage this engendered had all immediately and naturally been transferred onto Linley.

He wasn’t strong enough to deal with Linley, so he wanted to find some other methods.

“How can Linley not be punished?” Emanuel said hurriedly. “The Grand Elder already agreed.”

“Shut your mouth.” Forhan frowned and shouted.

Emanuel immediately didn’t dare to make a sound. Forhan took a deep breath. After being quiet for a moment, allowing the room to fall into silence, Forhan finally said in a soft voice, “As I see it, it’s not too likely that the clan will punish Linley. It’ll be up to us.”

“What method do we have?” Emanuel said hurriedly.

“There are many methods.” Forhan couldn’t help but narrow his eyes, and he laughed coldly. “This time, someone rescued Linley. I refuse to believe that in the future, he’ll be so lucky as to be rescued again.”

“Father, are you saying…” Emanuel laughed.

“I know each and every one of the Elders of the clan. It won’t be too hard to set up a trap for him to fall into. There will be plenty of opportunities!” Forhan said confidently. “During a battle, if we play a few tricks…hmph! When experts are battling each other, even the slightest distraction can be enough to take his life!”

“In particular, if our side loses all of our Six Star Fiends in a battle and there are no eyewitnesses remaining, we can kill him directly.” Forhan laughed coldly. “Even if he cries out at the injustice of it all, who will believe him?”

Emanuel’s face immediately broke out into a smile.

“How can a junior descendant like him be worthy of the Azure Dragon ring of our ancestor?” Forhan snickered. “Even with the Azure Dragon ring, he’s only an ordinary Seven Star Fiend. If I were to hold the Azure Dragon ring…I would be much more useful to the clan than he is!”

Indeed. If Forhan were to fly out with Linley, Linley wouldn’t suspect that Forhan would suddenly attack him. When flying normally, Linley would be in his human form…once Forhan truly attacked, the results would be easily imagined.

Linley could cry out at the injustice, but without any witnesses, so what if he did?

Forhan could simply maintain that it was an enemy who had done it. There was nothing Linley could do at all.

“Forhan. Emanuel.” A voice rang out.

“Mother’s here.” Forhan hurriedly rose to his feet, and Emanuel rose, standing to the side respectfully.

“Creaaak.” The hall door swung open. The Grand Elder, wearing that silver mask, directly walked in. She looked calmly at the two of them. “Forhan, Emanuel. The matter of punishing Linley comes to an end, here and now.”

Emanuel felt shock in his heart. “It really as Father predicted it. However…although it might not be possible now, in the future, we’ll still have our chance.”

Carrying out missions involved walking a fine line between life and death.

If one’s partners were to secret caused trouble, the chance of survival would be very low.

“From today onwards, Linley will depart from Bloodbath Gorge. He will not take on any assignments from Bloodbath Gorge.” The Grand Elder said calmly.

Forhan and Emanuel were stunned.

They were utterly stupefied!

“Mother, how can that be?” Forhan said hurriedly. “The rules of our clan state that each person can only retire after a thousand years. Linley hasn’t been in Bloodbath Gorge for very long. He’s far from reaching the thousand year mark.”

“Right. The rules of the clan can’t be broken.” Emanuel said frantically as well.

If Linley weren’t to take on assignments in Bloodbath Gorge, and instead remained in the Skyrite Mountains, there was no way at all for them to make Linley die…after all, no private battles were permitted within the Skyrite Mountains.

“This is the decision of the four clan leaders!” The Grand Elder said coldly.

Forhan and Emanuel, hearing these words, couldn’t help but be stunned. The Patriarch was the leader of their clan. The joint orders of the four clan leaders were completely unchangeable!

From that day onwards, Linley no longer needed to go to Bloodbath Gorge. He was able to calmly leave a peaceful life. Delia and Bebe, upon hearing this news, were extremely happy…and so, in such a peaceful manner, their life proceeded.

In the eyes of the Four Divine Beasts clan, Linley was their hope of a connection to the Redbud Sovereign!

But what Linley didn’t know was…to the eight great clans, he was their greatest threat!

The Skyrite Mountains. Within the gorge.

There was a grassy yard in front of Linley’s room, which had a stone table placed in the middle of it. The stone table had a bottle of wine atop it, and Linley was currently holding a book in his hands. Linley’s four clones were all training, while his original body was enjoying the peace.

Delia walked out from her room, holding two plates of food in her hands. Seeing Linley reading, she couldn’t help but chuckle. She walked over, gently placing the plates down on the stone table.

“Eh?”

Linley suddenly smelled a fragrant odor, and he turned to look at the platter. His eyes couldn’t help but to light up. “Delia, haha, it smells so delicious. Your culinary skills have improved greatly.” As he spoke, he flipped the book shut.

He immediately went to go for a taste, and ate while praising, “Not bad, not bad. The taste is comparable to that of the restaurants in the cities.”

“Far from it.” Delia laughed, her face blushing. “This is based off of one of several cooking recipes I bought on my last trip to the city. The ingredients for these dishes, I acquired by asking those who went to the cities to buy for me.”

Delia sat down across from him, resting her chin on her hands as she watched Linley eat.

As Linley ate, he suddenly began to chuckle.

“Why are you laughing like an idiot?” Delia couldn’t help but smile as well.

“I’m just thinking!” Linley let out a sigh. “Training in the Laws, adventuring in the boundless Infernal Realm…then, when free, reading some books, drinking some fine wine, then eating the delicious food prepared by my wife. This sort of life is simply…haha, perfect!” Linley laughed, absolutely delighted.

Delia laughed as well.

“Linley, if you always want to live such a comfortable life, you can, you know.” Delia said. “As long as in the future, you don’t go to Bloodbath Gorge, that’ll be enough. I keep on having the feeling that the Four Divine Beasts clan care too much about their face…if it was me, I would’ve ordered the Four Divine Beasts clan to remain locked in the mountain. The members of the clan would all live quiet lives. Why go battle against those eight great clans?”

Linley put down his chopsticks.

“Enough, Delia.” Linley laughed. “Life, especially for those who possess unending life, is all about face. The glory of the clan is particularly valued. Unless it is absolutely necessary…the clan won’t choose to retreat into the mountains and completely turtle up.”

Delia laughed. “It doesn’t matter to me, as long as you don’t have to go to Bloodbath Gorge.” In Delia’s heart, she didn’t feel too much of a sense of belonging to the Four Divine Beasts clan. All she cared about was…that Linley had to be safe.

“Hehe…” Linley chuckled.

“Come, you have a taste as well. This flavor really is excellent.” Linley laughed as he spoke.

In the blink of an eye, a hundred years of this sort of life passed. With Linley by her side, Delia naturally didn’t feel bored at all. Every day, her face was wreathed in smiles, and she also learned how to cook one delicacy after another, to Linley’s great delight, as he could now often taste new food.

As for Bebe…

He occasionally would be with Linley, or joke around with the members of the Yulan branch, but when bored, Bebe would still join the clan’s squadrons and head out to the city for a stroll.

Bloodbath Gorge. The Grand Palace of the Four Divine Beasts. The four clan leaders were assembled there.

“It’s only been a century!” Gislason’s face was gloomy.

“In the past century, it seems as though those eight great clans have gone mad! They don’t care about casualties at all, nor about wasting Sovereign’s Might. They insist on killing our people!” The Patriarch of the White Tiger clan said furiously.

“In the past century, our Vermillion Bird clan has lost three Elders. The rest of you?” The Matriarch of the Vermillion Bird clan said, a long, gloomy look her face.

“Our White Tiger clan has lost four Elders!” The Patriarch of the White Tiger clan’s words held boundless rage. “Third Brother, how about your Black Tortoise clan?”

The Patriarch of the Black Tortoise clan let out a low sigh as well. “Our Black Tortoise clan’s losses have been severe as well. We lost two Elders. It has only been a century!”

“Elder Brother.” The Matriarch of the Vermillion Bird clan looked towards Gislason.

“Our Azure Dragon clan has lost three Elders.” Gislason sighed. “By my calculations, in a short century, our Four Divine Beasts clan has lost a total of twelve Elders!”

Based on how things had previously progressed in their war of attrition, the loss of twelve Elders was something which would happen in a thousand years.

But now, they reached that number in a mere century.

“Those eight great clans have gone mad.” The Matriarch of the Vermillion Bird clan said angrily. “In the past century, each time, they’ll send out three or four Seven Star Fiends. And each time, one of them will be holding a Sovereign’s Might! They don’t begrudge using the Sovereign’s Might at all, if it means they can kill all our people.”

“They’ve lost quite a bit in their madness as well.” Gislason said. “Our Azure Dragon clan alone has killed four of their Elders.”

“Our Vermillion Bird clan has killed three.”

The four clan leaders all reported their results.

“In the past thousand years, the losses of the eight great clans have been even greater than ours. They lost fifteen of their Elders.” Gislason said.

“But the eight great clans have the advantage of numbers.” The Patriarch of the Black Tortoise clan said in a low voice. “Ever since our four ancestors died, our Four Divine Beasts clan has lost, in total, nearly a hundred and twenty Seven Star Fiends…now, our entire Four Divine Beasts clan has, all combined, roughly around a hundred surviving Seven Star Fiends. But the enemy? They have more than three hundred Seven Star Fiends in total!”

Any of the eight great clans could compare with the Azure Dragon clan in terms of experts.

Early on, the Azure Dragon clan had over sixty Seven Star Fiends as well.

The eight great clans originally had nearly five hundred Seven Star Fiends as well. After so many years of warfare, they had killed nearly a hundred and twenty Seven Star Fiends of the Four Divine Beasts clan, while they themselves had lost more than a hundred.

But despite that, the combined forces of the eight great clans still numbered more than three hundred Seven Star Fiends?

If this sort of attrition continued…

Even after all of the experts of the Four Divine Beasts clan were dead, the enemy would probably still have two hundred or more Elders. In addition, the enemy also had many supreme experts. The Patriarchs of the eight great clans were all extremely powerful figures!

“Madness. Madness! They ignore the cost in Sovereign’s Might and in deaths of Seven Star Fiends. They’ve all gone mad!” The Patriarch of the Black Tortoise clan said unhappily.

“What’s going on? In the past ten thousand years, they’ve never been as wild as this. Why have they gone so mad in the past century?” Gislason simply couldn’t understand it.

But how could the leaders of the Four Divine Beasts clan have imagined…that the reason these eight great clans had gone mad and sent out three or four Elders to join forces each time was, first of all, in the hopes that when they ran into Linley, they would be able to kill him.

And the second reason was, they wanted to speed up the pace! They didn’t dare to waste more time, for fear that as time went on, Linley might suddenly break through and become that which they feared the most; a ‘Highgod Paragon’.

Although the Four Divine Beasts clan and the eight great clans had entered a wild state, the Skyrite Mountains were still very quiet and calm. Linley lived this sort of calm life with no struggles, while his four clones constantly improved as well.

After his retirement from Bloodbath Gorge, two hundred years had passed.

In the past two hundred years, Linley had made the greatest improvements in his divine water clone, which could in fact be described as having made ‘monstrous gains’. The speed at which he gained new insights into the profound mysteries was absolutely ‘astonishing’. It was on a full level faster than even his divine earth clone and his divine wind clone.

Naturally, it was countless times faster than his divine fire clone.

By now, his divine water clone had already reached the God level long ago, and had mastered three profound mysteries and was currently working on the fourth…but actually, if one closely considered it, this wasn’t too astonishing. After all, after the Ancestral Baptism, Linley had naturally understood one of the profound mysteries.

His divine wind clone had gained mastery into a sixth profound mystery, but since the Laws of the Wind had nine profound mysteries in total, it was harder to advance in.

As for his divine fire clone, it was still working on the third profound mystery, advancing at a slow pace.

“Linley, your life is quite comfortable.” A loud laugh rang out.

Linley, Delia, and Bebe were seated around a table, eating while chatting.

Linley turned to look. The person who had walked in was Elder Garvey.

“Garvey seems to have a rather unhappy look on his face. He’s worrying about something.” Linley could tell this at a single glance. For an expert such as Elder Garvey to so easily reveal his thoughts meant that something major had definitely occurred.”

“Elder Garvey.” Bebe was the first to welcome him happily. “Hurry on over. This is the first time my Boss cooked. Have a taste…it is so delicious, you could die!”

“Bebe.” Linley couldn’t help but feel his face heat up.

He clearly had done exactly as the cookbook described, but the difference in flavor between what he had cooked and what Delia cooked was…simply too vast. However, it wasn’t so bad as to cause someone to ‘die’.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 38, Most Powerful Attack

“Haha…” Elder Garvey couldn’t help but laugh. He immediately pointed at Linley and said, “Elder Linley, I didn’t imagine that you are able to cook. I have to taste your dishes.” Garvey walked over as he spoke.

Elder Garvey was going to eat?

If Elder Garvey was to eat, the terribleness of the food would definitely be spread throughout the clan.

“Elder Garvey.” Linley hurriedly stood up, blocking in front of Elder Garvey. Laughing, he said, “Elder Garvey, this is my first time cooking. There’s no need to taste it. Right. Judging from your face, it seems as though you are worrying about something?”

Linley hurriedly changed the topic. And indeed, as Linley did, Elder Garvey couldn’t help but let out a long sigh, then sit down to one side.

“What’s happened?” Linley asked.

Elder Garvey laughed bitterly. “Elder Linley, in the past two centuries, you haven’t gone to Bloodbath Gorge, have you?”

“Right.” Ever since he had been summoned by the four clan leaders and then instructed not to participate in Bloodbath Gorge, he hadn’t gone there a single time.”

“It’s only been two hundred years!” Elder Garvey seemed to have a belly full of resentment and pain. “Linley, do you know? In these two short centuries, our Azure Dragon clan has lost five Elders!”

“Five?!” Linley was shocked by this number.

The Azure Dragon clan usually lost two or three Elders in a thousand years. To lose five in two centuries…this was too significant.

“Factoring in what happened to Emanuel and Arhaus…our Azure Dragon clan only has twenty or so Elders who truly have the power of a Seven Star Fiend!” Elder Garvey said, his eyes turning moist. “My teacher lost his most powerful clone just yesterday on a mission. He no longer has a Seven Star Fiend level of power either.”

Linley couldn’t help but fall silent.

As for Delia and Bebe, it wasn’t appropriate for them to interject right now either.

“It’s only been ten thousand years. Ten thousand years ago, the Elders of the clan numbered more than sixty. In ten thousand short years, we’ve lost more than half!” Elder Garvey sighed. “Based on this sort of speed, the number of Elders in Bloodbath Gorge definitely won’t be enough. We’ll probably be recruited earlier this time.”

Normally, the Elders of Bloodbath Gorge were swapped out every thousand years.

However…

They were losing them at too fast a pace. As this continued, the number of Elders available in Bloodbath Gorge would be insufficient. Those idle Elders such as Garvey would have to go make up the numbers.

“What is going on? How could there be so many casualties?” Linley couldn’t understand it. “Defeating a Seven Star Fiend is easy, but killing a Seven Star Fiend is very hard.”

“The eight great clans have gone mad!”

Elder Garvey snorted angrily. “In the past two centuries, they’ve gone completely mad. Each battle, they’ll send out three or four Seven Star Fiends, and one of them will definitely be holding a Sovereign’s Might! Our Elders have barely any chance to survive each battle.

As Linley heard this, the look on his face couldn’t help but change.

“Why are the eight great clans acting like this?” Linley felt rather puzzled.

The eight great clans had never gone so mad before, but ever since that last battle of his, the eight great clans had gone mad.

“Could it be that it has something to do with me or Phusro? Or was this the original plan for the eight great clans all along?” Linley couldn’t help but speculate.

“Alright, Linley. I won’t disturb you any further. You need to train hard…originally, I thought that this battle between ourselves and the eight great clans would keep on dragging out. But now, it seems, the final battle between us will come soon!”

Elder Garvey finished his words, then immediately flew into the air and left, departing.

“The final battle?” Linley couldn’t help but mumble.

“Boss, what ‘final battle’?” Bebe’s eyes were shining.

“Don’t ask. Based on your current power, you aren’t qualified to participate. When one day you become a Highgod, then we’ll talk.” Linley laughed.

Once Bebe became a Highgod, given his innate divine ability, ‘Godeater’…he would be an absolutely monster.

“Uhhhh….” Bebe couldn’t help but pout. “I’ve only mastered five profound mysteries. I haven’t even gained a basic understanding of the sixth profound mystery. Grandpa Beirut is really…ugh. Why didn’t he give me that sixth soul slice fragment to me early on? Wouldn’t that be much easier?”

Both Linley and Delia laughed.

Bebe had currently mastered five profound mysteries. The first one was one which he had naturally understood upon becoming an adult. As for the other four, he had gained them from soul slice fragments that contained understandings of profound mysteries that was at the bottleneck level.

He had succeeded in taking this shortcut. To have Bebe gain insights on his own? Unlikely!

“Bebe, if you can’t gain any insights, you can go try fusing other mysteries.” Delia chortled as well. “Once you successfully fuse something, your power will improve greatly.”

“That’s not a bad idea. Although it’s a bit harder, I might just succeed.” Bebe grew animated. He immediately flew towards his own residence, and Linley and Delia both laughed.

“I wager that Bebe will be able to hold on for one year at most.” Linley laughed.

“A year? He might not even be able to hold on for half a year.” Delia laughed.

“I will definitely persevere for two years!” Bebe’s voice rang out from above. Linley and Delia glanced at each other, then both began to laugh. Linley then said solemnly, “Delia, just now, from what Garvey said, I feel some pressure…I plan to have my original body begin training again, starting today.”

“Alright.” Delia’s eyes became filled with worry as well. “I feel rather worried as well. The situation is growing worse and worse. Train hard. I won’t disturb you.”

Linley nodded and chuckled.

The eight great clans continued to act with wild abandon. One Elder after another of the eight great clans and the Four Divine Beasts clan fell, while rows on rows of Six Star Fiends died as well…the situation was unbearably grim. As for Linley’s four clones and his original body, they were all quietly training.

As he trained, time flowed on like water…

Ever since acquiring the ‘black stone’, Linley had treated his divine earth clone as his primary divine clone, whole-heartedly focusing on the Laws of the Earth.

When fusing profound mysteries, the further one advanced, the harder it became.

With regards to the Laws of the Earth, Linley had fused three types. He had attempted to fuse a fourth, but was completely unable to fuse the ‘Worldwalking’ technique with the other three profound mysteries. At the same time, Linley had also attempted to fuse the not-yet-mastered ‘Profound Mysteries of Strength’ with the other three as well.

Within the gorge. Linley was currently together with Delia. Linley looked into the distance, clearly able to see quite a few clansmen. It had been three centuries since Linley had left Bloodbath Gorge.

“I’ve finally made a breakthrough.” Linley’s face was all smiles.

“Look at how pleased you are.” Delia laughed.

The greatest breakthrough he had made on this training session was that he had begun to link together and fuse the Profound Mysteries of Strength with the Throbbing Pulse of the World. However, to fuse the Profound Mysteries of Strength with the other three required that they had to all become as one.

“Of course I’m happy. Delia, this Profound Mysteries of Strength is something that can allow me to unleash my power more effectively.” Linley said hurriedly. “The Throbbing Pulse of the World can allow me to unleash material attacks as well. Once I fuse them…I can unleash the strength I have in Dragonform in a much more effective manner.”

His greatest advantage was his body!

The power of his body in Dragonform was such that with a single fist, he could block the most powerful sword attack of a Six Star Fiend. And that was just by relying on a simple punch. Once he included the might of the ‘Profound Mysteries of Strength’, the power would greatly increase.

But if he were to then fuse the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’, the power would increase still further!

“Different profound mysteries are suited to different types of attacks. Thus, generally speaking, after fusing certain profound mysteries, one will develop an attack that allows one to best unleash one’s power.”

Linley sighed. “Seven Star Fiends have generally fused four types of profound mysteries, but some are specialized in fleeing, some are specialized in soul attacks, and some are specialized in material attacks. This is because…their fusion of profound mysteries is different!”

Delia nodded.

Prior to this, Linley had fused the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’, the ‘Essence of the Earth’, and ‘Gravitational Space’, these three types of profound mysteries. These three profound mysteries, when combined with the ‘black stone’, created the ‘Blackstone Prison’, his most powerful technique.

But as for material attacks?

The profound mysteries of the Laws of the Earth most suited for material attacks were the ‘Profound Mysteries of Strength’ and the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’.

The most suitable were the best.

“When these two profound mysteries are fused, my attacks in Dragonform will reach a new level.” Linley said confidently. His strength in Dragonform was tremendous to begin with. He had a very good base. Once he fused these two profound mysteries…

It was frightening just to think about how powerful he would be.

Linley’s ‘Blackstone Prison’ could be used to trap people, but his attack was too weak, and the energy in his body was only at the God level. He had to rely on his Dragonform…but although his strength was great, he still wasn’t able to kill someone in one blow.

“Once I fuse these two profound mysteries, I’ll first use my ‘Blackstone Prison’ to trap the enemy, and then give him a punch. Even if he doesn’t die, he’ll be badly injured.” Linley was completely confident.

Delia laughed as she watched Linley grow so animated as he spoke.

“Boss!” Suddenly, a voice rang out.

Linley and Delia both turned, only to see Bebe fly over, beaming merrily. “Boss, I need to go out on a trip.”

“Go out on a trip? To Meer City?” Linley laughed.

“Right. It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen Tarosse, Dylin, and the others. I’ll go visit them.” Bebe mumbled. “I hear that Olivier has already left Meer City. He’s gone out for an adventure. Who knows if he’s still in Meer City.”

“Fine, go then. Have a safe trip.” Linley laughed.

“Heh heh, no worries.” Bebe chortled and waved, then flew into the skies.

Linley suddenly had a thought. Ever since he had returned to the gorge, Delia hadn’t made a single trip. Linley couldn’t help but turn to look at Delia. “Delia, do you want to go out as well? How about this time, we’ll go to Meer City together?”

“No rush.” Delia shook her head. “Linley, you’d best focus on your training. After you’ve mastered your fusion of the Profound Mysteries of Strength and the Throbbing Pulse of the World, we can go together.”

“Thank you.” Linley said gratefully.

Delia just smiled at him.

Linley ignored the chaos that was happening in the outside world, focusing solely on his training. Occasionally, his original body would pause for a while to spend some time with Delia. After beginning the fusion of the Profound Mysteries of Strength and the Throbbing Pulse of the World, he continued to advance and improve…

As he trained, he barely noticed the passage of time.

In the blink of an eye, five hundred years had passed since he had left Bloodbath Gorge.

In the great gorge, the place where Linley lived.

Delia was seated quietly within her room, flipping through a book in her hands. Right at this moment…

“Haha…” Suddenly, loud laughter rang out from within the room.

Delia was startled, but then turned to look, overjoyed. She saw Linley, his long hair fluttering loosely, walk in with great strides. As soon as he saw Delia, he laughed, “Delia, I finally broke through. After five hundred years, I’ve finally broke through.”

“What did you break through in?” Delia hurriedly stood up.

“I’ve finally mastered the Profound Mysteries of Strength. And, I’ve completely fused the Profound Mysteries of Strength and the Throbbing Pulse of the World.” Linley was exceedingly delighted.

After this day, Linley had mastered a total of five of the six profound mysteries of the Laws of the Earth, with only one remaining – Vitality.

“However, fusion really is hard. The Profound Mysteries of Strength have only been fused with the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’. I haven’t fused it at all with the ‘Gravitational Space’ or the ‘Essence of the Earth’, Linley said with a sigh.

He had originally hoped to be able to fuse it with the other two as well, so that he could strive to fuse four profound mysteries.

But from the looks of it, the path of fusion was indeed an extremely long one.

“You are already doing quite well.” Delia laughed encouragingly. “Didn’t you say that after you fuse the Profound Mysteries of Strength and the Throbbing Pulse of the World, that you will have a powerful material attack?”

“Of course.” Linley laughed as he thought of this.

The Profound Mysteries of Strength and the Throbbing Pulse of the World were both suited for material attacks.

“However, although I’ve fused these two profound mysteries, I still need to carefully analyze them and develop an attack technique suited to these profound mysteries.” Linley said. “Still, it won’t take too long. At most half a year or a year, but perhaps as little as two weeks.”

Linley himself was rather eager.

Once he developed it, he could pair this attack with his ‘Blackstone Prison’. Even if he were to encounter Bulo again, he wouldn’t just launch a simple fist without injuring Bulo at all. Even if he was unable to kill Bulo, he’d still be able to heavily wound him.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 39, Firmament Splitter

The Skyrite Mountains. At the borders of the great gorge.

“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!”

One massive vibration after another shook the earth. Many of the residents within the gorge could clearly sense these vibrations. They all felt puzzled, and quite a few headed to the place where the vibrations were emanating from. When they did, they saw…

That Linley was sending one punch after another into the ground.

Although his fist didn’t actually impact the ground, the pulsating power of his blows still spread into the ground, causing it to tremble.

“It’s Elder Linley!”

Those clansmen who had been somewhat annoyed, upon seeing that it was Linley training, didn’t dare to say anything.

“Still not right.” Linley shook his head, then unleashed yet another heavy punch.

Although the punches seemed to be coming out at an extremely slow speed, they gave off the sensation of carrying the force of a mountain. When Linley’s fist stopped at the end of each punch, vibrations passed through space.

But Linley just frowned, once more changing his style of attack.

When testing techniques, Linley wasn’t in Dragonform. After all, once he was in Dragonform, the power of each fist would be simply too terrifying. Linley was completely absorbed in his training, constantly testing. In his mind, one type of attack after another arose, and then was quickly discarded.

Constant improvement…

“Patriarch, Elder Linley is currently in his gorge, punching the ground repeatedly, as though he is testing out some sort of technique. Elder Linley has already been training like this for a month.” A black-robed figure said respectfully.

Patriarch Gislason couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh? Punching the ground? It seems he must be testing out a material attack. He’s been wasting his advantage of having such a powerful body. He should’ve started training a more powerful material attack long ago.”

Relying on one’s advantages was the intelligent choice.

Since Linley’s body was powerful, he naturally had to focus on it.

“I want to see what he’s developed.” Gislason immediately walked out of his residence.

In the past five centuries, Gislason had been worrying about the future of the Four Divine Beasts clan. He was also in a very bad mood. For him to go out and take a look was also a way by which he could relax.

Gislason flew at a very fast speed, soon arriving in the air above the gorge.

“Rumble…”

Gislason could clearly sense the ripples in air.

“It seems he’s doing quite well.” Gislason flew over at high speed, arriving at a place in the sky directly above Linley’s training location. Linley was currently completely absorbed in launching one attack after another, gaining insights and improving with each blow, and so he didn’t notice that anyone had arrived.

Linley’s right fist once more struck out…

His fist seemed like a giant millstone that was grinding slowly, and yet actually moved as fast as lightning. This punch actually created ripples in space that could be seen with the naked eye.

“Oho.” Gislason’s eyes lit up.

“Not right. Still not right…” Linley was shaking his head.

Each time he discarded a technique, he did so because he had gained a better understanding of it, and so he had made new breakthroughs. As he discovered flaws…he would once more seek an attack with greater power.

One technique discarded after another. One breakthrough after another…

A look of surprise slowly appeared on Gislason’s face.

“Strange. Why has the ground stopped trembling?” Everyone had gotten used to the ground trembling. When the ground stopped trembling, the clansmen who lived in the gorge were actually surprised, and quite a few hurried towards Linley’s training area.

“Can it be that Elder Linley has stopped training?”

The clansmen all hurried over, but as they did, they saw that Linley was still repeatedly punching towards the ground.

“All of you, leave.” A voice rumbled and echoed throughout the minds of the spectators. “Don’t disturb Elder Linley.”

These clansmen were all shocked. Only now did they discover that there was a person standing there in the air above. This person was their Patriarch, Gislason. But these ordinary clansmen had never before met their Patriarch.

“That person…seems to be an expert of some sort.”

The clansmen didn’t dare to disturb Linley, and so they all left.

Gislason turned to look at Linley, a hint of a smile being revealed on his face.

Linley struck out with his fist yet again, and at the edges of his punch, many spatial ripples appeared. The strange thing was, these spatial ripples all folded upon each other, rather than emanating outwards.

It was as though all of those spatial ripples were connected and building onto each other.

“Break!”

Linley had been training for more than three months. After three months of silence, Linley suddenly let out a growl, striking out with a massive punch. At the edges of this punch, a large number of spatial ripples appeared, and then they vanished.

“I finally succeeded!” A look of surprise and joy appeared on Linley’s face. With a ‘crackle’ sound, draconic scales immediately tore apart his clothes as they appeared from his body. Those savage spikes jutted out as well…

Dragonform!

“Let’s see how my most powerful material attack does.” Linley wanted to give it a test and see how he could do with a full force attack.

“Eh?” Linley suddenly turned and stared behind him, only to see Gislason watching him while grinning. Linley was shocked, and he hurriedly said, “Clan leader!”

“Haha, go ahead and test your attack.” Gislason laughed. “Given the strength of your body in Dragonform…I am quite eager to see what the power will be like, myself.”

“Yes, Patriarch.” Linley couldn’t help but feel itchy in his heart as well, and he immediately prepared for a test blow.

Linley’s draconic scale covered right fist suddenly swung out, and in the instant that it did, with a sudden rumble, the sound of space itself exploding could be heard. Wherever his right fist swung past, space trembled violently.

The power of this punch was akin to a flood dragon leaving its lair!

As the punch struck out, a large number of spatial ripples appeared at the edges of his draconic scale covered fist, causing the space around his fist to form a rippling half-sphere that was like a bubble of ripples…

And then, the explosion!

“BANG!”

A sound which caused the soul to tremble. The space surrounding the fist all blew apart, revealing a large black hole in space. Through this hole in space, one could clearly sense the vibrations from the region of chaotic space.

In an instant, the hole in space disappeared.

“Haha, good, good!!!” Gislason’s loud laughter rang out.

Linley was filled with joy as well. Although he had developed this attack in human form, that was just hypothetical. There was no way he could be sure what the power of the attack would be like when he was in Dragonform. But now it appeared…the power exceeded his expectations.

“Linley, what’s the name of this technique of yours?” Gislason laughed loudly.

Linley paused for a moment, then said, “This attack was formed from the fusing of the Profound Mysteries of Strength and the Throbbing Pulse of the World. Its name is ‘Firmament Splitter’!” This blow was capable of shattering space with a single punch. One could imagine how great its power was.

“Come, have a spar with me.” Gislason laughed loudly.

“Patriarch?” Linley couldn’t help but feel astonished.

“Hurry up!” Gislason couldn’t help but frown. “What, do you think you can actually beat me?” As he spoke, Gislason’s body became covered with azure draconic scales as well. The color of the scales was identical to Linley’s, but he didn’t have any sharp spikes on his body.

Linley began to laugh. “Patriarch, so you have this desire, then I will accompany you in a spar.” Linley was very confident right now as well.

“Linley, even just by comparing bodies, I’m more powerful than you. You have to use all your force.” Gislason laughed.

Linley laughed, and then immediately set up his ‘Blackstone Space’. Instantly, a blurry earthen yellow light sprang up, trapping Gislason within. Even the body of Patriarch Gislason couldn’t help but tremble, and he couldn’t help but let out a low curse, “This punk is really…”

But before he finished his words, Linley came flying at him.

“Patriarch!” Linley laughed loudly, his right fist flashing forward like thunder.

“Hmph!” A low snort. Gislason, his long azure hair fluttering, also sent his own right fist forward.

“BOOM!”

Two draconic scale covered ‘metal fists’, carrying countless tons of force, collided. Space itself was immediately torn open like a thin piece of paper. Gislason’s right fist couldn’t help but shake, and Gislason hurriedly move backwards, a hint of blood having actually appeared on his fist.

“Not bad, kid!” Gislason’s eyes were shining. “It seems as though it’s not enough for me to just use raw force against you.”

Linley, looking at the Patriarch who seemed to have gone berserk, was shocked inwardly. “The Patriarch’s body truly is tough. I used my most powerful blow, but the Patriarch only used raw strength.” But of course, the result of the Patriarch just using raw strength was that the draconic scales atop his fist had shattered.

From this exchange of fists, Linley was made clearly aware that Patriarch Gislason’s reputation of having the most powerful body in the Azure Dragon clan was indeed a solid one.

It only made sense. When he had his arm captured by Gislason that time, he hadn’t been able to resist at all.

“What technique is this?” Linley was somewhat astonished as he saw that a layer of frost had actually appeared on Gislason’s entire body, completely covering the Patriarch, including even his fist.

The ice-clad Gislason, under the glow of the sun, gleamed with beautiful light.

“Kid, I’ll just use half my strength.” Gislason laughed as he flew directly towards Linley. He was trapped in the ‘Blackstone Space’, but thanks to Gislason’s powerful body, his speed was still astonishing.

Linley didn’t retreat either, excitedly charging forward to meet him.

When drawing nearer to Gislason, Linley felt a freezing aura invade his body, so cold that Linley was astonished.

“Bang!”

Neither of the two dodged. Their fists slammed against each other, and where their fists passed, space itself directly collapsed. Linley couldn’t help but fly backwards after the collision.

“Haha…” The Patriarch immediately chased after him.

“Swoosh!” Linley immediately retreated.

“Kid, don’t run.” The Patriarch shouted.

Within the ‘Blackstone Space’, although the Patriarch was still very fast, he was still slightly slower than the Dragonformed Linley. Linley, relying on his speed, was dodging by relying on his speed, occasionally unleashing a powerful punch or kick.

“Whap!”

“Bang!”

“Boom!”

One enormous, world-shaking vibration after another. These vibrations attracted quite a few spectators from the gorge, and this battle between Linley and the Patriarch caused them to stare, slack-jawed. Every single exchange of blows caused space to collapse.

If these blows had landed on them, how many of them could withstand it?

Linley and Gislason finally came to a halt.

“Haha, Linley, your material attack is now at Blue’s level, at least.” Gislason was very satisfied.

But Linley discovered that just now, when he was exchanging blows with the Patriarch, even though the Patriarch was using only half of his might, he was still able to fight the Patriarch to a standstill. “Patriarch, your body is far more powerful than mine. How is it that your attack…?”

Linley didn’t understand. The Patriarch, in terms of profound mysteries, shouldn’t be weaker than him.

“This is a difference in the Laws.” Gislason said resignedly. “I primarily train in the ‘Elemental Laws of Water’. The defense of the Elemental Laws of Water isn’t bad, but it’s ability to unleash power isn’t that great.”

Linley nodded as well.

Of the Elemental Laws of Water, only the ‘Profound Mysteries of Ice’ allowed one to use one’s physical strength.

“In terms of physical strength, I’m no weaker than the Patriarch of the Black Tortoise clan. But if we were competing in power attacks, he vastly outstrips me. This is because he trains in the Laws of the Earth.” Gislason said.

Linley laughed.

The Laws of the Earth even had the specialized ‘Profound Mysteries of Strength’. Thus, it was only natural that those who trained in the Laws of the Earth were able to easily bring out the power of their bodies.

Every single Law had its own areas of specialization.

The four Edicts, as well, had their own differences.

The Elemental Laws of Water had superb defenses, with exceedingly strong defense against both soul attacks as well as material attacks. The Elemental Laws of Fire, by contrast, was different; it was weak in defense, but specialized in offense.

The Edicts of Fate, meanwhile, specialized in the soul, while having some deficiencies on the material side.

It was hard to be truly perfect.

“The power of your fists is already very great. It even poses a bit of a threat to me.” Gislason praised. “In the past, your fleeing abilities were excellent. But now, you will pose a great threat to your foes.”

Linley knew very well that when he clashed fists with the Patriarch, in truth, Linley’s own ‘Firmament Splitter’ had ablated much of the force of each of the Patriarch’s punches. Only an extremely small amount of power remained from the Patriarch’s punches.

Otherwise, each blow from the Patriarch would have been able to easily smash Linley’s fist.

Similarly…

In receiving each blow of Linley’s, the Patriarch had to rely on his profound mysteries to ablate the force. Otherwise…it would have been like their first exchange, with the results being shattered draconic scales and a hint of blood.

“Even someone like you, Patriarch, with such terrifyingly strong defense, was injured. How can ordinary Seven Star Fiends resist it?” Linley laughed.

In the past, Linley, thanks to his Blackstone Space, was very proficient in fleeing. His attacks, however, were far weaker than those which Seven Star Fiends normally possessed. However, the situation now was different. Even if that Elder Bulo once again encountered Linley, it would be very hard for him to win.

Deep within the Skyrite Mountains.

Linley, Delia, and Bebe were at the edges of a cliff. Above the edge of the cliff, there was a large metallic lifeform in the shape of a black phoenix.

“Delia, I haven’t accompanied you on a single trip since arriving in the clan. This time, I definitely will accompany you.” Linley held Delia’s hand. They had agreed that once he fused the profound mysteries, the two would go on a trip together.”

Delia couldn’t help but reveal a smile of true happiness. “Right. This is our first trip…we’ve been here at the clan for almost six centuries now, but I barely noticed anything. I wonder how Sasha and Taylor are doing.”

“Taylor?” Linley couldn’t help but think of his children.

However, Linley still felt that the decision he had made that year was wise. The Infernal Realm truly was too dangerous. Wharton and Taylor, back at the Yulan continent, would at least be able to enjoy peaceful lives.

“Elder Linley.” A soft voice rang out.

Linley turned to look. The person who had come was Elder Tewila [Te’wei’la] of the Azure Dragon clan. Elder Tewila was a very good-tempered person who had never before entered Bloodbath Gorge. Not only was he not strong enough, he also preferred hiding like a turtle.

Linley actually felt very positively towards Tewila. Tewila, at least, wasn’t as sinister and vicious as Emanuel and Forhan.

“Elder Tewila, you are the escort this time?” Linley laughed.

“Right.” Tewila laughed so hard, his eyes creased into slits.

“Then I’ll be troubling you to protect us this time, Elder Tewila. I’m going to Meer City on this trip as well.” Linley laughed.

A look of delight and joy immediately appeared on Tewila’s face. “Elder Linley, you are going as well? Haha, this is wonderful. With the two of us present, even if anything dangerous appears on this journey, we won’t have anything to fear.”

Linley laughed, then nodded.

“Oh, Elder Tewila, Elder Linley, you are here as well.” A familiar voice rang out. Linley turned to look. The person who had just arrived was Forhan. Forhan’s golden eyebrows raised up, and then he laughed. “This time, Elder Tewila is the escort, right?”

Tewila nodded. “Right. Elder Linley is going to Meer City this time as well.”

“Oh.” Forhan nodded. “Then, Elder Tewila, Elder Linley, have a safe journey. However, I imagine that with both of you present, there’s no way anything untoward will happen.”

“Elder Tewila, let’s go.” Linley couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to Forhan.

For some reason, Linley always felt as though there was something in Forhan’s gaze that made him feel uncomfortable.

Elder Tewila nodded in acknowledgment towards Forhan, and then flew alongside with Linley into the metallic lifeform, entering it. Quite a few people were hurriedly flying into the metallic lifeform.

As for Forhan, he just stood there at the cliff, looking upwards at the metallic lifeform, watching until it flew away.

“Hmph. This Linley remains so brash?” Forhan’s face sank, his heart filled with rage.

He had always viewed Linley with some disfavor. As he saw it, in their clan, only the second and third generation members of the clan were the noble figures of it. Even if Forhan’s mother didn’t want to use the ancestor’s Azure Dragon ring, he, Forhan, should be the one using it.

What was Linley?

Forhan’s son, Emanuel, had lost his most powerful divine clone, and would never be able to advance again. He wanted to act against Linley, but…the four clan leaders had ordered that Linley not be required to carry out any missions.

Forhan’s heart had been smoldering with rage this entire time without any place to let loose. The more time passed, the angrier he became!

“Going to Meer City, eh?” Forhan’s gaze was growing cold. “Hmph. Then I’ll let the forces of the eight great clans deal with you. When you die, you’ll be able to kill a few of their people as well. It won’t be a waste at all. Sadly…others will have to accompany you to the grave as well.”

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 40, Betrayal

The Skyrite Mountains. In the ground beneath the palace where Forhan lived. A dark, lightless underground hall.

The hall was chilly and forbidding. Currently, the only person within it was Forhan. Forhan was seated upon the throne in the hall, slouched over it like a beast in ambush, his eyes flashing with dim light, thinking thoughts only he knew.

“Inform the forces of the eight great clans?” Although Forhan did want Linley dead and to have the eight great clans do it, it was nothing more than a thought. As he seriously considered it, however…he began to hesitate.

This was because the only way to let the forces of the eight great clans know was to inform them.

As for the act of informing them, there was no way someone else could carry out this task, nor could anyone else be allowed to know of it. This was because this act would be considered a ‘betrayal of the clan’, a grave crime! Forhan, as an Elder, was confident that he would be able to easily pass this information regarding Linley to the eight great clans. If it were to leak out that he had done so, however, he, Forhan, would never have a place again amongst the Four Divine Beasts clan!

“Betrayal of the clan…is punishable by execution of all bodies.” Forhan remembered this punishment very clearly.

“For the sake of taking revenge upon Linley…to take such a great risk…is it worth it?” Forhan wanted to do it, but he still hesitated.

Without question, Forhan was deeply proud of the fact that he was a descendant of the Four Divine Beasts clan. He wouldn’t betray the clan. But he also wanted to kill Linley and worry about the consequences later!

“The Azure Dragon ring belonged to our ancestor! This Linley, of a generation that is so many times removed from us…by what right does he hold it?” Forhan’s eyes were cold. Jealousy constricted his heart, causing him to dislike Linley all the more.

“If Linley is permitted to continue to grow, there will come the day when he will be riding on my head.” Forhan still clearly remembered the conversation he had with his mother, the Grand Elder.

That time, the four clan leaders had ordered that Linley was to no longer participate in Bloodbath Gorge missions. Forhan was puzzled, and so later on, he went by himself to speak with the Grand Elder to ask her about this in detail, to try and understand why the clan leaders had made this decision.

The Grand Elder didn’t want to discuss the Redbud Sovereign, and so this is what she had said to Forhan: “Forhan, are you aware that Linley is just a God? A God who has the power of a Seven Star Fiend…when he becomes a Highgod, how powerful do you think he will be? He is the future hope of our clan. He can’t be put in danger for now!” Forhan, upon hearing the Grand Elder’s explanation, was shocked.

He had always believed that Linley was hiding his ability, but unexpectedly, Linley actually really was just a God.

Within that dark, cold, underground hall.

Forhan suddenly stood up, his gaze cold and sinister. In a low voice, he said, “This Linley is already a Seven Star Fiend. If this continues, once he becomes a Highgod, he will definitely become a trump card of our clan. His status will be even higher than mine, and he’ll be riding on my head! Can it be that in the future, I’ll have to forever watch him act so arrogantly in front of me?”

When Forhan imagined how glorious and influential Linley would be in the future, the look on Forhan’s face became all the uglier!

“No!” Forhan bellowed in a growling voice. “Absolutely not. Be beneath him for the rest of my life? I’d rather die.”

“Linley must die. He must!”

Forhan’s body was trembling slightly. “Right. I’m just getting rid of Linley. I’m not destroying the clan. This can’t be considered betraying the clan. It can’t! Also, I’m not personally killing him, I’m just letting the eight great clans kill him. Linley can be considered to have died in service to the clan, battling the eight great clans!”

“That Azure Dragon ring…”

Forhan couldn’t help but frown. “If Linley dies, wouldn’t that mean that the Azure Dragon ring would end up in the hands of the eight great clans?” Forhan was rather worried. The Azure Dragon ring was, after all, a precious treasure of the clan.

“No. It’s fine. It’ll only be Linley’s most powerful clone that dies. The other clones will remain alive in the Skyrite Mountains. Even if the eight great clans acquire the Azure Dragon ring, they won’t be able to bind it.” Forhan convinced himself. “Afterwards, when I have the chance, I’ll seize it back. And what’s more, Linley’s death won’t have a major impact on the clan. Our Four Divine Beasts clan was in a position of weakness to begin with…at most, we’ll just stay in the Skyrite Mountains. Our clan won’t be destroyed.”

After frantic pondering, Forhan finally came to a decision.

“A clan with Linley in it is a place I cannot live in, no matter how powerful the clan is. A clan without Linley in it, no matter how weak, is a place I can live comfortably.” Forhan quirked his lips. He had already made up his mind.

“Whoosh!” Forhan’s cloak fluttered as he walked out from his underground hall. He had already decided on what he was going to do.

A shadow appeared out of nowhere in the mountain villages, solidifying into a Forhan’s figure. However, this was just a divine clone of Forhan’s. Forhan let out a low chuckle, then his appearance changed, from that of a golden-haired old man to a bald youth.

Forhan, in his disguise as a ‘bald youth’, flew directly outwards…

“Rumble…” The waters of the river roiled about, and the ‘bald youth’ Forhan stood there, hovering in mid-air, sweeping the area below with his icy gaze. In a low voice, he said, “Men of the eight great clans. Come out.”

On the pre-determined routes, the people who were hidden belonged to either the intelligence networks of the Four Divine Beasts clan or of the eight great clans. Forhan knew exactly who his own clan’s agents were and where they were. If someone was present who didn’t belong to the Four Divine Beasts clan, then naturally they belonged to the enemy!

“Who are you?” A low voice transmitted down from below the river.

“Remember this. An Elder Linley of the Azure Dragon clan has already mounted an azure, phoenix-shaped metallic lifeform, and is heading to Meer City. If you want to kill him, then seize this opportunity. There’s another Elder travelling with him!” Although the metallic lifeform was in the shape of a black phoenix when they left, Elder Forhan knew that each time, when it headed out, the metallic lifeform would change to a different color and appearance. And so, Elder Forhan had investigated in advance.

This time, the transformation would be to the appearance of an azure phoenix.

At the same time, Forhan waved his hand, and a crystal ball fell down from the skies.

“In this crystal ball, there is stored the appearances of Linley’s wife Delia, as well as his good friend, ‘Bebe’.”

When the crystal ball fell to the surface of the water, a ray of azure energy appeared, wrapping around the crystal ball and pulling it underwater. Forhan, seeing this, smiled coldly, then turned and flew away at high speed.

Long after Forhan left, a green-haired figure emerged from the surface of the river.

“Elder Linley of the Azure Dragon clan?” A look of disbelief was on the face of this intelligence agent. “I didn’t expect I’d be able to render such a meritorious deed today.” The eight great clans had issued the order to find and kill Linley long ago. Naturally, they had ordered their intelligence agents to be on the lookout for him as well.

However, all these years, there had been no one who was successful in locating him.

The news from the intelligence agent came very quickly. That very day, the eight great clans were made aware of this, and immediately, the leaders of the eight great clans were all excited. None of them had expected this news to come so suddenly.

After a discussion, this mission was assigned to the Edric clan and three other clans.

The eight great clans were, after all, separately located at two different sides of Indigo Prefecture. The four clans on the west were the Edric clan who had come from the Higher Plane of Life, the Venna clan from the Divine Plane of Wind, the Dean clan from the Divine Plane of Earth, and the Reinales clan, native to the Infernal Realm.

The western borders of Indigo Prefecture. The Edric clan and the other three clans were gathered together. Below the main palace, there were eight figures dressed in gray robes.

“Although this Linley is only a God, he has the power of a Seven Star Fiend. In a few short missions, he has caused our eight great clans to lose multiple Seven Star Fiends.” A graceful, gentle voice came from a handsome, rather elfin-looking man who stood within the hall.

His long green hair fell to his waist, and his eyes seemed to glow like stars. This was Patriarch Edric, in the flesh. He had led his clan here from the Higher Plane of Life. It was he who had founded this clan.

“He isn’t a major threat to us yet, but if a few more years pass and he becomes a Highgod, then it will be terrible.”

“Thus, the eight of you must execute this Linley, no matter what the cost.” The voice was as gentle as ever.

“Yes, Patriarch.” Outside the main hall, two handsome gray-robed men bowed, while the other six gray-robed men hurriedly followed.

Within the hall, another Patriarch said calmly, “Here are three drops of Sovereign’s Might. Of the eight of you, Elder Zabu [Zha’bu], the strongest, will naturally carry one. As for the other two…Elders Tempah [Tan’pu] and Nice [Ni’si] will carry them.”

“Yes!”

The three immediately bowed respectfully. Of the three men, one was of the elfin-looking race.

“Remember. You must be successful in this endeavor. Even if you have to spend all three drops of Sovereign’s Might. Even if all eight of you have to die. You must kill Linley!” Another voice, a forceful, hard one, rang out.

“Yes!”

The eight Elders below couldn’t help but feel their hearts tighten.

Although they knew that this target of theirs, ‘Linley’, was just a Seven Star Fiend who was accompanied by a single other Seven Star Fiend, and that given the power the eight of them possessed, killing Linley shouldn’t be a problem…hearing the words from the Patriarchs, they couldn’t help but feel the pressure.

“Go, then! Move quickly, so that you might arrive at Meer earlier.” The gentle voice said.

The eight gray-robed Elders bowed fractionally, then immediately left.

Within the hall, the four Patriarchs began to chat amongst themselves. “This is an excellent opportunity. Failure is not an option. Only after we kill that Linley will we be able to relax slightly. I refuse to believe that the Four Divine Beasts clan will be able to produce yet another genius who has the potential to become a Highgod Paragon.”

“Don’t worry. These eight Elders are the elites which we have selected from our four clans. Linley will unquestionably die!”

“Eight mighty Elders, equipped with three drops of Sovereign’s Might. Even if I had to face them, I wouldn’t dare to resist head on.”

………………

The metallic lifeform in the shape of an azure phoenix was currently soaring through the horizons. Within this metallic lifeform, Linley and Delia were currently holding hands, seated in front of a window, staring at the outside through the translucent metal.

“We’ve flown for so long. We should arrive at Meer City soon.” Linley laughed.

Delia looked at the window, carefully inspecting the outside area. “I came here last time. If I remember correctly…we should arrive at Meer City in half an hour.” And then, Delia glanced at Linley, saying with resignation, “Elder Tewila really is cautious. He insisted on you changing your appearance.”

Linley currently had a beard, and even his height had been reduced slightly.

Linley chuckled. “It’s not as bad for you, but for us Elders, our enemies generally know exactly what we look like…although the chances of encountering them are low, it’s always better to be careful.”

“What, do you feel uncomfortable, seeing me like this?” Linley laughed and asked.

Delia shook her head, then closed her eyes. “Even with my eyes closed, I can still sense your aura. How could I feel uncomfortable?”

Linley laughed.

On the way over, Linley and Delia enjoyed a quiet, calm life as a couple. Soon, Linley and Delia saw an ancient city appear in the distance, and an endless flow of people entering and exiting the gates of the city.

“Wow, we finally made it!” Bebe was the first to jump up, sprinting outside.

Linley and Delia stood up together, following their clansmen out of the metallic lifeform. They followed Elder Tewila towards the gates of Meer City. Because Linley was a Fiend, he didn’t have to pay the city entrance fee.

“It’s been so many years since I’ve seen Tarosse, Dylin, and the others.” Linley laughed as he strode into the city.

But what he didn’t notice was that not far away, there were people maintaining a nonstop watch on the city gates. The arrival of the metallic lifeform of the Azure Dragon clan, in particular, caused these people to grow excited.

“The Azure Dragon clan’s metallic lifeform has arrived. Have you found Linley?”

“We haven’t.”

“We haven’t seen anything either!”

“I haven’t seen Linley, but I saw that Delia and Bebe. They have a man next to them. He looks like a God. That should be Linley!”

“A God? Then that should be him!”

The intelligence agents of the eight great clans conversed amongst themselves through divine sense, having already located Linley’s group.

There was no way they could be certain of the route the Azure Dragon clan’s metallic lifeform would take. The intelligence agents of the eight great clans were unable to find out, and so they had to wait at the gates of Meer City, like waiting for a rabbit to fall into their trap. After all, sooner or later, Linley’s group would have to arrive at Meer City.
Now that they entered the city, there was naturally no way for them to do anything.

But when Linley’s group exited to return to the Four Divine Beasts clan, the eight great clans would be able to make their move.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 41, A Mysterious Visitor

On the wide streets, people were coming to and fro.

Within the city, battle of any kind was absolutely forbidden. It didn’t matter if you were a member of a strange race, and it didn’t matter if were a Highgod or were a Demigod. Here, you could comfortably, peacefully enjoy life, without any fear or danger.

“I haven’t gone to a city a single time ever since the return to the clan.” Linley looked at the two sides of the street, at the various stores.

“Boss, the city is far more interesting than the mountains. There’s many places for entertainment, and also many places for watching scryer recordings. Boss, last time, when watching scryer recordings in the city, I discovered…” Bebe’s eyebrows were dancing animatedly as he spoke, and at this point, he switched to divine sense. “There was one scryer recording that was of the battle at Miluo Island between you and those many island warriors, as well as a scryer recording of the battle against the red-robed elder afterwards.” Bebe said.

“Places for watching scryer recordings?” Linley was rather surprised.

The Bagshaw clan considered some precious scryer recordings to be treasures.

“How are the scryer recordings, in those places within the city where they are available for viewing? Are there many recordings of experts doing battle?” Linley asked.

“Not many. Although there’s quite a few Highgod battles, the skill level is roughly on par with the ‘Arena’ at Miluo Island. On occasionally, there will be a battle at high skill levels, but the price for watching those is quite high as well.” Bebe was rather unhappy. “Boss, when they show the scryer recording of your battle at Miluo Island, they should give you a share of the money.”

Linley began to laugh loudly.

The nearby Delia began to laugh as well. “Bebe’s words are well-spoken. They are releasing those scryer recordings without your permission.” Delia, Bebe, and Linley chatted about scryer recordings while walking. Moments later, from up ahead, Tewila and the others turned around and started walking towards Linley.

Elder Tewila sent through divine sense, “Elder Linley, we’ll stay here in Meer City for roughly a month. A month from today, we will head out once more to the Skyrite Mountains. During this month, Elder Linley, you can roam around in the city as you please. Remember, one month. If you miss it…then Elder Linley, if you want to return, you’ll have to wait for the next group. Or go back by yourself.”

“Don’t worry. I know.” Linley nodded. “Elder Tewila, please don’t mind us, go do what you want to do.”

After walking for a while further, Linley’s group separated from Tewila and the others, and then Linley, Delia, and Bebe headed directly for Tarosse and Dylin’s residence. When Tarosse, Dylin, and the others had arrived in Meer City, Bebe and Delia had been present as well. Naturally, they knew exactly where Tarosse and the others were living.

“Boss, Tarosse and the others purchased a large estate. They spent over a billion inkstones.” Bebe said hurriedly. “As for Dylin, Cesar, O’Brien, and the others, they are living there as well.”

Hearing this, Linley nodded. Tarosse’s group didn’t lack for money. It was right that they should buy a large estate in the city. As he thought about purchasing property, Linley couldn’t help but begin to laugh. “Bebe, Delia, do you still remember that year when we first went to Royalwing City? That time, when we saw those houses, the cheapest one was around sixty or seventy million, right? Back then, we were shocked when we saw those prices.”

Delia and Bebe, hearing this, began to laugh as well.

The cheapest houses in Royalwing City were around eight million, but people would seize the opportunity to buy houses like those. Normally speaking, empty houses would be worth nearly a hundred million. Generally speaking, only some fairly powerful Highgods were able to buy these things.

“At that time, I thought that only the ‘true elites’ of the Infernal Realm would be able to buy houses in cities. But now, it seems…” Linley shook his head and laughed. Indeed, those capable of buying houses in cities could be considered elites, but these so-called ‘elites’ were only elite in comparison to the many ordinary Deities of the Infernal Realm.

The true experts of the Infernal Realm, such as Six Star Fiends and Seven Star Fiends, primarily lived outside of the cities, taking over a piece of land for themselves. They would build their own castles and collect a large group of subordinates. Although it was safe inside the cities, life wasn’t filled with as many challenges and as much excitement.

“Linley, we are here at Tarosse’s residence.” Delia pointed towards the front, and Linley followed Delia’s pointing finger as he looked. He saw a large estate, hundreds of meters long. Within a city, where every inch of ground was utterly preciously, purchasing such an enormous estate for the price of just over a billion inkstones was a fairly good bargain.

Within the residence. In the front courtyard, there was a round pool of water, by the side of which there were trees, shrubs, grass, and flowers. A cobbled, wide stone floor that was shaped in a curve led from the gate to a residential area.

“Elder Brother, why are you dawdling in the room? Hurry up.” Currently, a muscular youth was shouting from below the residence. This was Dylin’s third son, ‘Clervaux’. He had gone with his elder brother that year along with Dylin to the Infernal Realm. As for his second brother, he had been killed on the eleventh floor of the Necropolis of the Gods by those Abyssal Blade Demons.

“Coming.” A figure jumped down from the floor above, moving like lightning.

But right at that moment…

“Bang!” “Bang!” A loud, world-shaking knocking sound, joined by a thundering shout, “HEY, OPEN UP! Cleo, Clervaux, hurry up and open the door!”

“It’s Bebe.” The two siblings glanced at each other, then ran over.

“Rumble…” A rumbling sound, followed by the gates suddenly swinging open. There were three figures standing behind it.

“Linley.” Cleo and Clervaux couldn’t help but feel shocked. This was Linley’s first time visiting them in five centuries. And then, Clervaux excitedly called out, “Father, Uncle Tarosse, Linley has arrived!”

“Linley came?” From the distant residence, multiple figures immediately flew over, with the first one being Cesar.

Linley, upon seeing his fellows from his homeland, laughed and greeted them, directly embracing Cesar in a tight hug. “Cesar, long time no see.” “It has indeed been a long time. Elder Linley has a high rank, great power, and countless responsibilities each day, and thus has forgotten us minor figures.” Cesar teased deliberately.

Linley, seeing Cesar be so irreverent, couldn’t help but feel happy.

Cesar had finally returned to the way he had been in the Yulan continent; irreverent and uninhibited. It seemed as though the effects of what had happened in Miluo Island were wearing off.

“Linley.” Tarosse, Dylin, and O’Brien came to welcome him as well.

“Eh?” Linley saw that Olivier wasn’t amongst them, but there was a golden-haired beauty. Linley stared in surprise at the beauty who was at the back of the group. “She is…?”

Tarosse laughed devilishly. “Linley, she’s one of us. Why don’t you have a guess as to whose wife she is?”

“Wife?” Linley was stunned.

“Hey, someone’s gotten married? That hadn’t happened last time when I was here!” Bebe stared as well.

Tarosse began to laugh loudly. “When marrying a wife, of course you have to be fast. Have a guess as to whose she is?” Linley, Delia, and Bebe all turned to stare towards Cesar, Dylin, O’Brien, and Clervaux.

“Could it be Clervaux?” Bebe was the first to guess. “Or O’Brien’s? Wait, that can’t be right, O’Brien has that affair going on with the High Priest.” The War God O’Brien couldn’t help but feel awkward.

Immediately, Tarosse, Cesar, and the others all began to laugh. Dylin said hurriedly, “Alright, enough of that. Linley, Delia, I’ll make the introductions. This is my wife, Kamina [Ka’mi’na].”

“Mr. Linley, they’ve often spoken about you to me.” Kamina said with a laugh.

“Greetings, Kamina.” Linley and Delia both greeted Kamina as well.

Linley’s arrival caused the normally tranquil lives of Tarosse, Dylin, and the others to be slightly disrupted. Tarosse and the others immediately prepared a sumptuous welcome banquet that very day. Linley thus began to chat at the banquet table with Tarosse and the others regarding the affairs of the clan.

After knowing what had changed within the clan during the past five centuries, especially the viciousness of the battles that had occurred, Tarosse, Dylin, and the others couldn’t help but sigh. Kamina was truly shocked; she was just an ordinary God, and in the past, although she had heard Dylin say a few things regarding Linley, it had always felt like hearing stories regarding legendary figures.

Right now, when she heard from Linley himself speaking of the deaths of so many Seven Star Fiends, there was a different feeling.

Those were Seven Star Fiends!

Generally speaking, only the master of a city was a Seven Star Fiend. But the ancient Four Divine Beasts clan and those eight great clans who had come from all the various planes, in their battles against each other, had lost one Seven Star Fiend after another.

“Did you just say that Olivier left?” Linley said, surprised.

“Right.” Tarosse nodded. “Perhaps he’s not accustomed to the peaceful life within cities. He went to accept Fiend missions. Generally speaking, he’ll perhaps make a trip back here every ten years or every few decades.”

Fiend missions?

Linley nodded slightly. At the same time, he suddenly remembered…it seemed as though he was only a One Star Fiend! Although he had taken on two missions, neither had been successful.

“Olivier, in the Yulan continent, had also desired to live an exciting life in the Infernal Realm. Thus, he was the first to come here. His temperament makes him unsuited for living forever in a city.” Linley sighed.

Suddenly…

“Bang!” Suddenly, the sound of knocking against the door rang out yet again.

“Hey, someone is knocking at this time of the day? Everyone’s here though. Nobody’s outside.” Tarosse was puzzled. “Can it be that Olivier is back?”

“It can’t be such a coincidence, can it?” Linley laughed. Could it be that as soon as they discussed Olivier, he would arrive?

“Clervaux, go get the door.” Tarosse said, and Clervaux immediately rose and ran outside.

“Hey, hurry up and open the door.” A deep voice came from beyond the door, the voice shocking Linley. This was actually the voice of Phusro, the person who had saved him. Linley was very surprised to hear him.

Why had Phusro come here?

“Who are you?” Clervaux’s voice rang out. Clervaux didn’t recognize Phusro at all. As for Tarosse, Dylin, and the others, they quickly left the courtyard, seeing the big, red-haired man standing far away outside the gate.

But they didn’t recognize Phusro.

“Haha, Phusro! Boss, it’s Phusro!” Bebe called out, and Linley walked over as well, laughing, “Clervaux, he’s my friend.” Linley discovered…that Phusro actually had two subordinates trailing him.

“Kid, the first time we meet we are strangers, but the second time, we’ll be acquaintances. In the future, you’ll know who I am.” Phusro slapped Clervaux on the shoulders, causing Clervaux’s body to sway. Laughing loudly, Phusro walked in. “Linley, I knew you were here.”

Linley, hearing this, was shocked.

He had changed his appearance when he had arrived. How could Phusro have known he was here?

“Don’t be so surprised. The Governor of Meer City is my friend!” Phusro laughed. “When Delia accompanied these people to buy an estate, I arranged for people to pay attention.”

Linley now understood. So they had seen Delia and Bebe, and thus had been able to guess at his presence. But Linley was still astonished at Phusro’s connections; he actually was a friend of the Governor of Meer City!

“However, it wasn’t me who discovered you this time.” Phusro laughed. “It was another friend of mine who told me that you had arrived at Meer City.”

“Another friend?” Linley was surprised.

Phusro nodded. “Right. That friend of mine is extremely strong. My friend knows that I’m familiar with you, and so asked me to come. My friend’s wish is very simple…to meet with Bebe.”

Linley frowned.

Phusro was very powerful, and thus his friends were no doubt impressive as well. One friend was the Governor, while the other friend had actually discovered that Linley had arrived in Meer City. And this other friend wanted to see Bebe?

“Meet me?” Bebe was shocked.

“Who is this person?” Linley asked.

Phusro shook his head and laughed. “I can’t really say. If you want to ask, wait for Bebe to come back, then ask him. Right…do you agree for Bebe to make this trip?”

“To where? Is it within the city or outside?” Although Linley trusted Phusro, he was still worried about Bebe’s safety.

“Don’t worry. It is inside the city.” Phusro laughed.

Linley finally relaxed. Not even Seven Star Fiends would dare to do anything inside the city. After all, the rule that no battle was permitted within cities was a rule that was shared throughout the Infernal Realm, a rule set by Sovereigns. Who would dare violate it?

“Bebe, what do you think?” Linley turned to look at Bebe.

Bebe’s eyes were gleaming, and he laughed, “I very much want to see which mysterious person wishes to meet with me.”

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 42, Nobody There

Phusro laughed and said, “Since Bebe agrees to meet that friend of mine, then how about this? You can follow my two servants. They’ll take you there.” Phusro looked towards Bebe, who was rather surprised. “Right now?”

“Of course. That friend of mine is currently waiting for you.” Phusro said.

“Boss, then I’ll head out now.” Bebe turned to look towards Linley.

Although Linley was puzzled as to who this mysterious figure was, since the meeting spot was within the city, Linley felt very much at ease. He thus nodded and laughed, “Go quickly and return quickly. Phusro is intentionally hiding that person’s identity. I’ll be waiting for you to tell me who it is.”

“Right.” Bebe nodded solemnly, and then glanced sideways at Phusro. “I’m not like some people, trying to act so mysterious.”

“You punk.” Phusro couldn’t help but begin to laugh.

Bebe strode outside while saying, “The two of you, hurry up and lead the way. I have no idea where this mysterious person who wants to meet me is living.” Phusro’s two servants immediately sped up the pace, leading Bebe away.

Linley watched as Bebe departed, the questions in his heart growing more and more numerous.

“Phusro.” Delia chuckled as she looked at Phusro. “Since Bebe’s already gone, there’s no need for you to keep the secret any longer. Who is this mysterious friend of yours?” Linley turned to look towards Phusro as well, awaiting Phusro’s answer.

But Phusro just laughed and didn’t respond.

“Do I know this person?” Linley asked.

Phusro paused a moment, then said, “You…shouldn’t know this person.”

Linley looked at Phusro, puzzled. Shouldn’t know this person? Knowing was knowing. Not knowing as not knowing. But Phusro’s words were so…hesitant.

“Linley, has it been ten thousand years since you were born?” Phusro asked.

“Ten thousand years?” Linley couldn’t help but laugh. “Up till now, I’ve only trained for a bit over a thousand years. I’m still quite a ways off from my second thousand years.”

“So short?” Phusro was rather surprised, and then he said, “Then I’m certain that regardless as to whether or not you’ve heard my friend’s name, you definitely haven’t met my friend in person. This is because…ten thousand years ago, this friend of mine left your Yulan continent and came to the Infernal Realm.”

Linley and Delia glanced at each other, astonished.

A person from the Yulan continent?

“Someone from the Yulan continent?” Tarosse, Dylin, Cesar, and the others, standing behind Linley, were surprised as well.

Phusro, seeing the looks of astonishment and confusion on their faces, laughed delightedly. “Haha, you can keep guessing. I refuse to tell…when Bebe comes back, you’ll know. But I imagine that it’ll be very hard for you to guess.”

Linley couldn’t help but shake his head and laugh. Phusro really did like to toy with people.

“Linley, how long will you be here?” Phusro suddenly asked.

“A month.” Linley said.

“Oh, so long? Then I’ll stay here for two days. If you have any free time, you can talk to me about the affairs of your Four Divine Beasts clan. I’m very curious about your Four Divine Beasts clan.” Phusro chortled.

And just like that, that very day, Phusro moved in. Fortunately, the estate which Tarosse’s group had purchased was large and had enough rooms.

Night.

Linley and Delia were still lying on the bed. After a passionate session, the night was now quiet, and the two of them, husband and wife, began to discuss that mysterious person.

“I had thought Bebe would be able to return the same day. I didn’t expect him to take so long.” Linley stroked Delia’s hair, laughing as he spoke.

“Perhaps Bebe, after meeting that mysterious person, not only chatted but also had some other matters to take care of.” Delia said. “This mysterious person actually came from the Yulan continent ten thousand years ago. We’ve never met this person before. I truly wonder who it is.”

“At first, I thought it was Lord Beirut. Afterwards, when Phusro said that I had never met this person before, I no longer had any idea who it is.” Linley was still puzzled.

And then Linley laughed and lowered his head, looking towards Delia.

“What is it?” Delia had the feeling that something was strange in Linley’s gaze.

“The two of us have just a pair of children. Although the Four Divine Beasts clansmen have very few progeny, I refuse to believe that we won’t have a third child.” Linley laughed softly, and then lowered his head to kiss Delia.

“Mmmph…”

Delia’s face flushed slightly. She couldn’t help but give Linley a ‘glare’, and then she stretched out her jade-like arms, embracing Linley’s neck. The two flipped over and entangled each other…

Who would have imagined that even by the time Phusro had left, Bebe still hadn’t returned? Linley couldn’t help but be rather nervous. How could a meeting with someone end up taking three days? Linley asked Phusro, but Phusro just told him not to worry.

After waiting five days…

“These scryer recordings I saw today were excellent. The ways in which those experts from the Higher Plane of Life do battle are quite peculiar. The ways in which they fly and the poses they adopt when attacking all seem so beautiful and alluring.” Delia laughed as she praised.

Linley nodded. “Those in the Higher Plane of Life primarily train in the Edicts of Life. Those attacks are so beautiful to behold, yet their power is so astonishing.”

While in Meer City, Linley and Delia would go wandering about in some of the more interesting parts of the city. It had to be said…that in Meer City, where so many people passed through, there really were many more interesting things than in the Skyrite Mountains.

Linley and Delia, laughing and chatting with each other, returned to their residence.

Upon reaching the gate, Delia let out a sigh. “I wonder if Bebe is back or not. This is the fifth day.” Although Delia was often thinking about this, she still wasn’t too worried. Firstly, Bebe was within the city and nothing would go wrong. Secondly, Linley and Bebe had a spiritual connection, and thus they could sense each other’s locations.

Linley just grinned, not saying anything as he looked towards the gate of the residence.

His soul had sensed long ago that Bebe was within the estate. A jubilatory cry was heard. “Boss!” The gates swung open, and Bebe, wearing his straw hat, was standing right there in front of them, beaming towards Linley and Delia.

“Bebe’s back?” Delia was startled, and then she turned to glare at Linley. Linley had to have sensed Bebe’s return, but he hadn’t said a thing on the way back

Linley began to laugh loudly.

“Bebe, you really are something. When you went to meet with that mysterious figure, you ended up spending so much time. This is the fifth day.” Linley laughed while walking with Delia into the estate.

Within the estate, Tarosse, Dylin, Cesar, O’Brien, Kamina, and the others were all present. Upon seeing Linley and Delia enter, Tarosse laughed loudly, “Linley, you finally returned. We were asking Bebe who he had gone to visit, but he refused to tell us. He insisted on waiting until you were back and telling us all together.”

Bebe wrinkled his nose and snorted.

Linley and Delia immediately laughed, walking over and sitting down. Linley looked towards Bebe. “Bebe, stop teasing everyone. Just spit it out. If you don’t tell them today, Tarosse, Dylin, and the others will get angry.”

Tarosse and Dylin began to laugh as well. This was just a small matter, and they were simply curious. How could they actually grow angry?

“Fine, I’ll tell.” Bebe raised his head. “This person originally came from our Yulan continent.”

“We know this. It’s precisely because this person is from the Yulan continent, that we are all curious.” Tarosse immediately replied.

Bebe stared at everyone, then said smugly, “This mysterious person is…the wife of my Grandpa Beirut. My Grandma Carolina!”

“Carolina?” Linley immediately remembered that back in the Yulan continent, that year Bebe had indeed told him that Beirut’s wife was ‘Carolina’.

While at the Yulan continent, Linley had met Harvey, Hart, and Harry, the three brothers, but he had never met Carolina. When chatting with Harry and the others, Linley had heard that Carolina had long ago left the Yulan continent.

“It’s her?” Tarosse let out a sound of surprise, and then began to laugh loudly. “I should’ve thought of her long ago. Lord Carolina is the wife of Lord Beirut. It’s only natural that she comes to meet Bebe.”

“Lord Carolina is the wife of Lord Beirut?” O’Brien was rather surprised.

When O’Brien and Cesar were born, Carolina had already left the Yulan continent. Naturally, they had never heard of this person. In fact, they didn’t even know that she was Beirut’s wife.

“My Grandma Carolina is very formidable.” Bebe said smugly.

“Bebe, why did Grandma Carolina seek you out this time? And it took so much time as well.” Linley was still puzzled.

“She was helping my Grandpa bring me something.” Bebe chortled. “The fifth soul slice fragment.”

Dylin, Tarosse, O’Brien, and the others had faces filled with puzzlement.

But Delia and Linley were rather surprised. Bebe had spoken to them regarding the ‘soul slice’ matter. Originally, it was because Bebe had absorbed those four soul slices, which contained memories of souls which held insights on profound mysteries, which was why he had been able to learn four types of profound mysteries in such a short period of time.

“In recent years, Grandpa finally helped me find the last one.” Bebe said smugly. “Boss, you need to work hard. I might become a Highgod before you.”

Linley chuckled. By now, he had already mastered a fifth profound mystery of the Laws of the Earth, with one remaining. He trained extremely quickly in water as well, and had already mastered four.

“Haha, who knows which one of us will be Highgod first?” Linley laughed.

“What are you two talking about. What’s a soul fragment?” Dylin, Cesar, and the others were all puzzled. If a soul was shattered, it would be destroyed. How could there be ‘soul fragments’? What were soul fragments used for?

They couldn’t understand at all.

Time flew by very quickly. Life in Meer City was very relaxed, and in the blink of an eye, a month passed. On the day of departure, the Azure Dragon clan’s forces had already gathered outside the city. Everyone had arrived very early.

“Milord, the forces of the Azure Dragon clan are over there.”

“Do you see Linley and his family?”

“No! Most likely, they’ll arrive soon. The Azure Dragon clan’s people are still gathering.”

“Hurry up and notify the eight Elders. Let them make their preparations.”

“Don’t worry, milord. The eight Elders already know of this. Once the Azure Dragon clan’s forces head out, the eight Elders will be ready to strike at a moment’s notice.”

“Good. The eight Elders care deeply about killing Linley. There can’t be any mistakes made.”

An intelligence agent of the eight great clans was currently monitoring the gathering of Azure Dragon clansmen. These intelligence agents had memorized the appearance of these Azure Dragon clansmen when they had passed through the city gates.

Those ordinary clansmen hadn’t changed their appearance. Thus, when gathering together, they were immediately recognized.

Elder Tewila, his appearance changed, was currently waiting impatiently. Every so often, he would look towards the city entrance. “What’s going on with Linley? He still hasn’t arrived.”

“Elder Tewila.” A Highgod subordinate of Tewila sent through divine sense, “The other clansmen are all ready. We’re only waiting for Elder Linley and his group of three. What should we do? Wait here?”

Tewila frowned.

“No. Since Elder Linley’s group hasn’t come, they’ll most likely go back with the next group, or perhaps by themselves. We don’t need to concern ourselves.” Tewila immediately ordered, “Prepare to move out.”

Tewila immediately produced his enormous metallic lifeform, in the shape of a black tiger, and the Azure Dragon clansmen immediately boarded.

“Milord, the Azure Dragon clan is about to head out. Only that Linley, his wife, and his friend haven’t appeared.”

“Still haven’t appeared? Wait a while longer. That metallic lifeform will probably wait for some time before heading out.”

However, the black tiger-shaped metallic lifeform took the clansmen and left, not hesitating at all, immediately embarking and disappearing into the horizon. This sight caused quite a few intelligence agents to be stupefied.

“Milord…now what? Linley’s group of three truly has not arrived. There are three fewer people in that metallic lifeform than had arrived in the city.”

“Three fewer? Then it seems as though Linley’s group of three has yet to leave. Hurry up and inform the eight Elders…eh. Let the eight Elders rest for now, and continue to wait patiently.”

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 43, Wade

Linley and his group of three hadn’t departed, causing the intelligence agents of the eight great clans to have wasted their efforts, and causing those eight Elders, who had been preparing for so long, to have become excited for nothing.

Meer City. The residence of Tarosse and the others.

“Tarosse, I’m afraid we’ll have to disturb you for a while longer.” Linley’s face was covered in smiles. He couldn’t help but glance at Delia. He had been planning to return to the clan, but the previous night, Delia had actually told him…

That she…was pregnant!

“We were in the Skyrite Mountains for so long without her becoming pregnant. Who would have expected that now, she would?” Once Linley knew this news, he was unbelievably happy. Since Delia had become pregnant, Linley was no longer in a hurry to return to the Skyrite Mountains. After all, in terms of living environment, Meer City was much habitable than the Skyrite Mountains.

The plan was to first let Delia rest here. After giving birth to their child, they could go back.

“Haha, you can stay here as long as you like.” Tarosse was puzzled. “But Linley, just yesterday, didn’t you say that today was the day for you to head out? Why did you suddenly change your decision?” Cesar, by Tarosse’s side, looked towards Linley as well, puzzled.

“Delia’s pregnant.” Linley said happily. Delia, by his side, couldn’t help but blush.

Tarosse and Cesar immediately stared, and then began to laugh loudly.

“Haha, this is wonderful news. We have to celebrate!” Tarosse said hurriedly.

The news that Delia was pregnant caused everyone in the residence to be overjoyed. When Phusro came over, he discovered to his surprise that Linley actually hadn’t left yet. When he asked, he learned about Delia being pregnant. He, too, was happy for Linley, and so the entire residence was filled with joyous sounds.

With Delia pregnant, Linley spent every single day by her side, watching as her belly grew bigger by the day. He grew more and more excited, and every so often, he would press his ear against Delia’s belly, listening to the sounds.

When he drew near to Delia, Linley could even sense the blood pulsing through the veins of the unborn child, which seemed to reverberate slightly with his own lineage.

“Milord, our people have discovered Linley’s friend, ‘Bebe’, within Meer City. We’ve quietly tailed him and finally discovered Bebe’s residence. Our brothers plotted and schemed…and finally discovered the estate where Linley and Delia are living in!”

Meer City was a large city with a circumference of a thousand kilometers.

But to Deities, especially to the intelligence agents of the eight great clans, who stayed in Meer City for a long time, it wasn’t hard for them to find Bebe, given how often Bebe went out. Upon finding Bebe…given the abilities of the eight great clans, finding Linley and Delia wasn’t too hard.

“Excellent! Now that we’ve found their residence, everything else will be simple. Now, always have someone watching that place. Remember, you can’t let Linley’s group discover us. Whenever Linley heads out, immediately report it to us.”

“Yes, milord!” “But, milord, what if Linley’s group just remains in Meer City without leaving? What should we do?”

“Then…”

Fighting within the cities was forbidden. Even the eight great clans wouldn’t dare to violate this rule.

“We’ll just watch for now. I refuse to believe Linley will remain forever in Meer City. As for if Linley will really stay there without coming out…the Elders will decide what to do.”

The eight great clans’ intelligence agents continuously watched that residence. However, despite their careful attention, Linley just spent his time happily accompanying his wife, seemingly not intending to leave at all.

……………

Linley was seated outside, holding a cup of wine. He was rather rattled, occasionally turning to look back into the room. This was because Delia was in the room, and Delia was already close to the point of birth.

“Whew…” Linley couldn’t help but take a deep breath.

He hadn’t been as nervous as this, even when he was fighting against Seven Star Fiends.

“I wonder if it’s a boy or a girl. I wonder if the child has been born yet or not. I wonder if Delia is…” Countless thoughts flitted through Linley’s mind in a jumbled fashion. The hand holding the wine cup was trembling slightly.

“Boss, it isn’t as though you haven’t had any experience. Still so nervous?” Bebe, by his side, was snickering.

Linley couldn’t help but glance at him, then forced out a smile. “Bebe, when one day you are about to become a father, you’ll know. Each time you wait…the tension isn’t any less than when battling against ultimate experts.”

While waiting outside, Linley felt as though his heart was tight against his chest.

Next to him was O’Brien, Dylin, Tarosse, and the others. Even Phusro had come over today, and was chatting with the others while teasing Linley. Linley didn’t spend any time chatting with them.

His attention was focused on the room.

“Waaaaaaaaaa!”

An ear-piercing infant’s cry broke the silence of the entire estate. It was like a ray of sunlight flashing within Linley’s mind, causing all the countless doubts and worries to vanish. At this moment, he had only a single thought…

The child had been born!

“Whoosh!” Linley charged towards the door, and at this moment, the door was opened. Dylin’s wife, ‘Kamina’, laughed as she walked out. “Linley, congratulations. Delia’s given birth to a son!”

Linley, not caring whether it was a boy or a girl, immediately entered the room.

Within the room, a faint sheen of perspiration could be seen on Delia’s forehead. She was seated on the bed, cradling an infant. Seeing Linley enter, she immediately stood up then walked over. “Linley, look. He’s very quiet. Just now, he was crying, but now he’s calmer.”

Linley took a careful look at the infant in Delia’s arms. That pouting face, that tiny body and head…he looked so similar to how Taylor and Sasha had been.

“Let me hold him.” Linley’s heart was beating rapidly.

No matter how powerful an expert was, upon becoming a father and holding his son for the first time, he would feel excited, nervous, and agitated.

Holding the infant in his arms, he could feel the slight weight of his son against him. Although infants were very light, especially to a powerful expert like Linley, to whom this sort of weight was nothing, Linley felt as though this light weight was pressing down against his heart.

“Son. My son!” Linley couldn’t help but shout in his heart, “This is my son!!!”

Holding his son, Linley had that sensation of his blood being passed down, of life continuing.

“Linley, what’s the child’s name? Have you come to a decision?” Delia said.

“We’ll call him Wade.” Linley looked dotingly at the child in his arms.

“Wade…Wade…say ‘Father’?” Linley said, gently stroking his son’s little nose. The skin was so soft. But perhaps Linley hurt him as he touched him, as Wade, who had just stopped crying moments ago, began to bawl loudly again.

Delia immediately stretched her arms out to take him back. “He’s just a newborn, and yet you want him to call you ‘Father’. The child’s crying already. Quick, let me hold him.”

“It’s fine. The son of Linley doesn’t need to be pampered that much.” Linley said. “Let me hold him for a while longer.”

Holding his son ‘Wade’ in his arms, Linley felt utter joy in his heart. The feeling of holding his son in his arms was even more exciting and happy for him than the feeling of holding a Sovereign artifact.

Seeing how reluctant Linley was to part from Wade, Delia couldn’t help but laugh.

Linley lowered his head to look at his son. He felt as though he could never get tired of looking at him.

“Waaaaaaa….” Wade cried for a while, then stopped crying. His big guileless, pure eyes, containing no artifice at all, stared at Linley. This was the first man he had seen after his birth!

He didn’t know yet that this was his father!

He was the son of Linley! It was guaranteed that his life would not be an ordinary one!

“Linley, why haven’t you come out yet?” Cesar’s voice rang out.

“Boss, hurry up and carry your son out. We uncles want to hold him too!” Bebe called loudly. At this moment, Linley and Delia, within the room, came to their senses. They couldn’t help but grin at each other, then walked out while holding the child.

As soon as they walked outside, Bebe, Clervaux, and the others all rushed forward.

“Lemme hold him!” Bebe said jubilantly.

Their son was born. Linley and Delia felt utter bliss as they played with their son. They were in no rush to return to the Skyrite Mountains at all. But although they weren’t in a rush, the intelligence agents of the eight great clans, especially those eight Elders, were frantic.

None of them had any idea how long Linley would stay here before returning.

However, they obviously couldn’t go and tell him to hurry up. They just had to watch as Linley spent every day enjoying his time with his son.

“Milord, our men are always in wait and always watching. But it’s been a year already. When will this come to an end?” The intelligence agents of the eight great clans were watching day and night, not daring to slack off at all.

“Linley is currently holding that infant right now. Are we supposed to just watch and wait until the infant grows up to become an adult?”

Just watching every day was indeed tiring, especially since they didn’t even know how long they would have to keep doing it.

“Don’t be impatient. I’ve already reported this to the Patriarchs, and the eight Patriarchs sent back a single word in response; ‘Wait’! No matter what, we are not to arouse Linley’s notice. He can’t always stay in Meer City. There will be a day when he comes out!”

“Yes, milord.”

The intelligence agents had no choice but to grit their teeth and keep watching.

On the streets of Meer City. Linley and Delia were walking shoulder to shoulder, with their son ‘Wade’ being taken care of by Kamina. The reason they had come out today was to buy some nutritious foodstuffs. Wade was still young. When he started to grow, he would need to eat many things.

“When we return later to the Skyrite Mountains, there won’t be so much food available for sale.” Linley laughed. “We should have bought enough this time.”

“Of course we bought enough. These things we bought cost us tens of millions of inkstones. It’s more than enough for Wade to eat for over ten years.” Delia laughed. “Compared to Sasha and Taylor, the food which Wade will eat while growing up will be much better.”

“Wade doesn’t know that he has an older brother and sister right now. When he grows up and knows more, we’ll tell him.” Knowing that he had his son by his side, he felt full of energy in everything he did, be it training or eating!

Just as Linley and Delia were chatting mentally on the way back, they suddenly saw someone…

“Eh?” Linley stared, astonished, at a distant figure. It was a member of the Azure Dragon clan. All of the clansmen had emblems of the clan, and they could all sense each other’s presence. This was why Linley sensed this person in front of him.

In Meer City, Linley had already run into quite a few members of the Azure Dragon clan. But this was the first time Linley had run into someone he knew.

“Elder Linley.” The other person had discovered Linley as well, and hurriedly reached out with divine sense.

“Elder Tewila.” Linley immediately responded with divine sense.

Linley and Tewila had both changed their appearances, but they looked exactly the same as they had when they last left. Naturally, the two could easily recognize each other.

Tewila smiled while walking over and saying through divine sense, “Elder Linley, you didn’t return with us last time. Did something happen?”

“I’m truly sorry. I really didn’t expect that in the month I had been at Meer City, my wife would become pregnant.” Linley laughed while sending back. “At that time, I came to the decision that I would return after my child was born.”

“Ah! Congratulations, congratulations.” Elder Tewila hurriedly sent back.

Linley was all smiles as well.

“Right. Elder Tewila, are you escorting the metallic lifeform this time?” Linley asked. “The clan sends a batch every half year. It’s only been a year and a half, but it’s your turn again?”

“Nothing for it. In the past four, five hundred years, we’ve lost too many Elders. The clan has too few Elders now, and most have entered Bloodbath Gorge.” Tewila said helplessly. “Thus, there’re only a few Elders on rotation for escorting the metallic lifeform.”

Linley now understood.

Linley knew that the clan had suffered tremendous losses over the past five centuries. As for exactly how many Elders had been lost, however, Linley had never asked in detail. However…in the first two hundred years, they had lost five Elders. Most likely, over five hundred years, more than ten Elders had been lost.

“Tewila, when will you head back? We were just preparing to head back ourselves. Let’s go together.” Linley laughed.

“Oh. We’re heading out in two days.” Tewila was very happy as well. “Elder Linley, if you head out with us, then it will be much safer with us having joined forces.”

“Very well. We’ll meet in two days at dawn.” Linley said.

“Definitely. However, when the time comes, make sure you show up this time.” Tewila laughed.

“That won’t happen again.” Linley laughed.

Two days later. Dawn. The gates of the estate. Delia was holding little Wade, bidding farewell to Tarosse and the others, Linley and Bebe by her side.

“Tarosse, no need to send us off.” Linley laughed.

“In the future, you must often come visit. I love this little Wade.” Tarosse laughed.

Bebe laughed as well. “By the time you come again, Wade will be all grown up.”

After bidding farewell to their friends, Linley, Delia, and Bebe took little Wade to head directly towards the gates of the city. This scene, in turn, was noticed by a figure located within a distant, tall building who was watching through a window. “Linley’s group…seems to be preparing to head out.”

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 44, Catching a Ride

The gates of Meer City. The intelligence station for the eight great clans’ intelligence agents.

“Milord, Linley’s group of three, along with an infant, have already headed out. They will reach the city gates soon.”

“Oh? They even brought the infant out? It seems they really are prepared to leave the city. However, there’s no rush. Let’s take it slowly. After you see Linley’s group reach the city gates, only then should you make the report to the eight Elders.” The speaker was a seemingly honest-looking youth.

This honest-looking youth was standing in front of a window, a casual look on his face as he glanced downwards.

He could very clearly see the gates from his current position.

A long time later…

The pupils of the honest-looking youth contracted. Within his field of vision, amidst the massive, thronging crowds, Linley’s group had appeared.

“Oh, Linley, Linley, Linley. You finally show yourself. I thought you’d end up spending millions of years in Meer City, but it seemed as though you decided to just spend a year or so.” The honest-looking youth narrowed his eyes, a very innocent-looking smile appearing on his face.

“Quick. Spread this news to the Elders.” The honest-looking youth immediately sent through divine sense.

“Yes!”

In a mountain forest roughly a thousand kilometers away from Meer City, there was a very ordinary stone house constructed there. This stone house was very wide, and it had eight prayer mats within the building. Eight gray-robed men were seated in the meditative position on those prayer mats, quietly awaiting.

It had been more than a year!

They had brought with them a murderous intent as they had prepared to kill Linley. However, they had ended up waiting here the entire time. Slowly, their killing aura had decreased.

“If Linley doesn’t want to leave the city, who knows how long it will take? Ten years, a thousand years, ten thousand years?” A gray-robed man with long black hair and a beard said, rather upset.

Without a specific timeframe, it would be easy for anyone to grow impatient while waiting.

“Tempah!” A graceful voice rang out. “The members of your Reinales clan are still unable to be calm, it seems.”

The bearded gray-robed man let out a snort, saying nothing else.

“Someone is coming.” Suddenly, a sharp voice rang out. As soon as the words finished, a figure flew in at high speed. This person was one of the intelligence agents assigned to this place, who would be able to bring news to the eight Elders at any time.

“Eight Elders, Linley, Linley is leaving the city!” An excited voice rang out.

“Boom!” The eight gray-robed figures immediately rose to their feet. Even the most stolid of the eight, their leader, ‘Elder Zabu’, revealed a look of joy on his face. He immediately said, “Linley has finally shown himself. Everyone…remember, when attacking, immediately use your Sovereign’s Might. We must use full force and immediately kill Linley.”

Outside Meer City. The Azure Dragon clan’s clansmen were gathering together. Because of the clan’s seal, everyone could clearly sense everyone else.

“Elder Linley, you came fairly early today.” Tewila said through divine sense.

Linley laughed and nodded. “I was afraid that if I came late, Elder Tewila, you would be angry with me.” Tewila’s gaze swept towards Delia and the infant ‘Wade’ in her arms, then he sent, “Linley, this is your son, right? He’s so pretty.”

“When Wade was born, he looked like an old man.” Linley said. When someone praised his son, he naturally would be pleased.

“Right. When are we heading out?” Linley asked.

Tewila glanced around himself. “From the looks of it, we are almost all here. Let’s just wait a while longer. Right, Linley. Today, on our metallic lifeform, we have a very special guest.”

“Oh, a special guest?” Linley was rather surprised.

“Right. The Patriarch personally entrusted me with this task, ordering me to bring him to the Skyrite Mountains.” Tewila laughed. “Follow me. I’ll introduce you to him.”

Linley, rather curious as to who this special guest was, followed Tewila’s lead. Linley saw that this special passenger was a seemingly skinny-looking youth with short golden hair, and a guileless smile on his face.

However…when Linley looked at him, he had a familiar feeling.

“Haha, Linley.” A clear and straightforward voice echoed in Linley’s mind. Linley was shocked into awareness. This was Phusro! This voice was Phusro’s voice!

“You?!” Linley stared in amazement at the skinny youth in front of him, and the skinny youth winked, sending mentally, “There’s nothing for it. Your Patriarch said that due to my actions last time, the eight great clans probably know my appearance by now. I have to change my appearance, even when I’m riding on your metallic lifeform. Geeze…what’s there to fear? Even if a few Elders come, I’ll dispose of them by myself.”

Linley couldn’t help but laugh.

Phusro was a Sovereign’s Emissary. Linley had personally witnessed his might before, and even Bulo, after using a drop of Sovereign’s Might, was far from being a match for Phusro. It would be very simple for him to kill several Elders.

“Haha, the Patriarch is doing this for the sake of the clan.” Linley laughed. “Right. How did you get involved with the Patriarch?” Last time, when Phusro had intervened and saved him, he hadn’t known the Patriarch.

However, five centuries had passed. Anything could have happened in the mean time.

“You don’t need to worry about that.” Phusro sent through divine sense. “My meeting with your Patriarch will be beneficial to you, not detrimental. That’s all that you need to know.”

Linley laughed and nodded. “Everything else aside, you accompanying us back to the Skyrite Mountains alone is a great benefit.” With Phusro present, along with himself and Tewila, they were a force of sizable power.

Phusro by himself was equal to multiple Seven Star Fiends.

“In addition, I’ve never even see Phusro unleash all of his power.” Linley thought to himself.

“Linley, who is this?” Delia and Bebe looked at the skinny youth, puzzled. Linley chuckled. “When we board the metallic lifeform, I’ll introduce you to him.”

Phusro just winked deliberately.

“Uh….waaaaa….” Wade, in Delia’s arms, reached out his pudgy fingers towards Phusro. Phusro had held Wade quite a few times before as well. Although Phusro’s appearance had changed greatly, Wade, who had been born less than a year ago, seemed to possess some special sense.

“Wade, be good.” Phusro beamed towards Wade.

Delia and Bebe were shocked. How did the skinny little youth in front of them know Wade’s name?

“Everyone’s here. Let’s head out.” Tewila walked over, and as he did, an enormous silver metallic lifeform in the shape of a silver wolf appeared. A tunnel appeared in its flank, and the clansmen of the Azure dragon clan all entered the metallic lifeform.

Linley, Phusro, Tewila Bebe, and Delia boarded as well.

“Swoosh!”

The metallic lifeform slashed through the air, turning into a blur and disappearing into the horizon.

“The metallic lifeform is flying towards position two. It is flying towards position two!” The intelligence agents of the eight great clans quickly relayed this information.

In mid-air, there were nine figures flying at high speed. Eight of them were dressed in long gray robes, while the last one was dressed in a long green robe. The green-robed man said hurriedly, “Eight Elders, Linley’s metallic lifeform was originally headed towards position two, but now they’ve changed directions slightly. They should be passing through position four. We’re still a few hundred kilometers away from that location. We’ll be there soon!”

The eight great clans’ intelligence agents had expended an enormous amount of effort on this.

With the gate as the center, they had fanned out and set up many gathering points within thousands of kilometers. No matter what direction the Azure Dragon clan’s metallic lifeform headed towards, they would be easily detected by those intelligence agents.

As for that green-robed man, one of his divine clones was at the headquarters, and so he knew the location and route of the metallic lifeform at all times.

“Excellent.” Elder Zabu laughed calmly and spoke mentally. “Everyone, we’re only a few hundred kilometers away. We’ll reach the metallic lifeform soon. When we do, immediately cover it with your divine senses and locate Linley. At that time…Annecy [An’ni’xi], you’ll be responsible for covering the Elder who is protecting the metallic lifeform. Everyone else, myself included, will all attack simultaneously, joining forces to kill Linley. We can’t give him any chance at all.

“Yes.” The seven Elders assented.

Of these eight Elders, three were in possession of Sovereign’s Might. Annecy was one of the ‘ordinary’ Elders without it.

On this joint mission to kill Linley, three Elders would use their Sovereign’s Might, with four other Elders joining them. With such a tremendously powerful squad…even if Patriarch Gislason came, it would be hard for him to endure such an attack, much less Linley!

“Actually, Elder Zabu, if you use your Sovereign’s Might, you’ll be more than strong enough to kill Linley by yourself. Even if we don’t use Sovereign’s Might, the joint attacks of seven Elders against Linley will result in a surefire victory.” The bearded Elder sent mentally.

“We can’t be the slightest bit incautious!”

“Remember. Immediately use your Sovereign’s Mights. Don’t entertain any notions of being frugal. Kill Linley. Nothing is permitted to go wrong.” Elder Zabu ordered solemnly yet again. “Nice, Tempah, the two of you must use your Sovereign’s Might right away when attack.”

It was like killing a chicken with a blade meant for slaughtering cows. It was an utter waste.

Using three drops of Sovereign’s Might to kill a single Linley? It was indeed extravagant.

The enormous wolf-shaped silvery metallic lifeform was speeding forward at a fast pace. The clansmen within the metallic lifeform were chatting amongst each other. Linley, as an Elder, naturally had his own room.

Linley and Delia were within the room, while Delia was holding little Wade.

“Wade, Wade.” Linley teased his son.

“Wuuu, wuuuuu….” Wade, not yet able to speak, could only stare with his big, clear eyes at Linley, mumbling something incomprehensible.

Delia watched this scene, watched as her husband teased her son. As she did, Delia’s face couldn’t help but reveal a smile. She felt surrounded by bliss, and celebrated once more her decision to steadfastly wait ten years for Linley, so long ago in the past.

Linley turned to look and smile towards Delia. “Delia, what are you laughing about?”

“I’m just looking at you and our son.” Delia’s smile was so brilliant.

But right at that moment…

Eight divine senses simultaneously spread out, covering the metallic lifeform and everyone within it. The faces of many clansmen couldn’t help but change, and Delia, as a Highgod, felt the divine senses as well.

Eight divine senses had suddenly swept out? This definitely couldn’t be a good.

“Linley, eight Highgod divine senses just swept through this metallic lifeform.” Delia immediately said through divine sense. There was no time to talk.

Shocked, Linley’s face changed. He immediately spread his divine sense towards the outside…

And in mid-air, eight gray-robed figures were charging at high speed towards the metallic lifeform. Three of them, in particular, were emanating a terrifying, heart-stopping aura from their entire bodies. Linley could instantly recognize the aura for what it was. Sovereign’s Might.

“Sovereign’s Might!” Linley’s face changed dramatically.

One of the eight gray-robed men was moving fairly slowly.

As for the other seven, especially the three whose bodies were completely covered by a layer of Sovereign’s Might, charged straight for the metallic lifeform, directly towards the room which Linley was staying in.

“Die!”

“Linley, quick, flee!!!”

The voices of Phusro and Tewila instantly rang out in Linley’s mind. They clearly noticed the enemies before Linley had.

But…there was no time!

“BANG!”

A terrifying energy wave struck the metallic lifeform, and in the face of that frightening energy wave, the surface of the metallic lifeform blew apart as though it were paper. The shards were sent flying wildly every which way by the explosion. Linley let a deep growl, and his draconic scales emerged as he entered his Dragonform.

“Slash!” Shards of metal flew about everywhere, and Delia immediately lowered her head, tightly embracing her son protectively.

“Delia, flee.” Linley pushed Delia away powerfully, then shouted through divine sense, “Tewila, protect Delia!” The enemies were clearly here for him. This battle was one in which Phusro and Linley would play the primary roles.

“Linley!” Delia, pushed aside, shot backwards like an arrow. Her body immediately became covered with a shield of divine power, protecting little Wade. But Delia still turned to look back…

A blurry, earthen yellow light had suddenly spread out. Gravitational Space!

An azure light had also burst forth. Water-type Sovereign’s Might!

In an instant, Linley had unleashed all of his power!

A fiery red form charged over while shouting through divine sense, “Delia, hurry up and flee, leave the battle to us!”

“Roaaaaar!” A ferocious draconic howl shook out!

“Bang!”

A terrifying, soul-shaking explosive vibration blasted out from the center of that earthen yellow light. Space itself cracked open in multiple areas, and wild blasts of energy emanated in every direction. Some of the weaker clansmen who were hit by it immediately exploded and died.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 45, A Frantic Battle

Within the blurry, earthen yellow field, Linley, his entire body covered by that azure light, had just suffered the combined attacks of seven Elders. The seven mighty Elders had all unleashed the attacks they were most proficient at, either material attacks that tore through the air or invisible spiritual attacks.

Because this all happened within such a short time frame, and because he chose to first push Delia out of the danger zone, Linley wasn’t able to dodge at all.

“Rumble…”

Seven bursts of terrifyingly powerful attacks all struck Linley, three of which were attacks which contained Sovereign’s Might. The air around Linley blew apart, and his draconic scales shattered as blood splashed everywhere. Linley’s ravaged body fell down like a meteor, plunging from the skies, smashing hard against the ground.

“BANG!”

The earth trembled, and a crater that was two or three meters wide and so deep that the bottom couldn’t be seen appeared.

A dazzling, fiery red light slashed through the skies. “Aaaaaah!” A desolate, miserable scream. At the same instant that Linley fell from the skies, Elder ‘Nice’, his entire body filled with Sovereign’s Might, fell down from the skies as well. His head had already been completely disintegrated and could no longer be seen.

In but an instant!

Linley’s status was unknown. On the side of the eight Elders, an Elder who had used Sovereign’s Might, Elder Nice, had died.

“You…”

The eight Elders, who had been radiating such an indomitable, martial spirit, were stunned by Phusro’s sudden attack. The seven remaining ones stared in astonishment at this red-haired man whose entire body radiated fire-type Sovereign’s Might, who was wielding a long awl in his hands.

In a single blow, he had killed Elder Nice, who had used Sovereign’s Might!

“Linley!” Phusro immediately sent his divine sense into the ground.

“Linley!” Delia’s face turned ashen, and at the same time, she howled desperately through divine sense, “Elder Tewila, quick, quick, go help Linley, quick!”

“Alright, but you have to be careful and stay far away. Don’t be hit by the shockwaves.” Tewila replied urgently through divine sense. Although he had experienced hundreds of battles, upon seeing the sudden, terrifying attacks just now, Tewila was tense as well.

Good heavens!

Phusro was himself a Sovereign’s Emissary. It was only normal for him to have a drop of Sovereign’s Might. But unexpectedly, the enemy had used three drops of Sovereign’s Might as well!

“It seems that after hiding for so many years, it is time to let the eight great clans know the power that I, Tewila, possess!” Tewila said to himself. And then, not hesitating at all, he used his drop of Sovereign’s Might as well.

A wild burst of water-type Sovereign’s Might blasted forth.

This immediately caused the seven Elders in the distance to glance towards him, their faces changing dramatically.

“Elder Zabu, that person in the distance should be an Elder of the Azure Dragon clan. The person in front of him should be that Sovereign’s Emissary named Phusro who saved Linley five centuries ago.” Tempah’s entire body was emanating the aura of Sovereign’s Might. He hurriedly asked, “The enemy is more powerful than we expected. What should we do now?”

The seven surviving Elders had a bad feeling!

An ugly look was on Elder Zabu’s face. He had heard of Phusro’s power. If Phusro didn’t have a Sovereign artifact, he wouldn’t be afraid of Phusro, but Phusro had not only used his Sovereign artifact, but also Sovereign’s Might…

He had to admit that he was one level weaker than Phusro.

Elder Zabu’s eyes flashed with a decisive look, and he immediately gave the order. “The Patriarchs have given us our orders. In this battle…we must kill Linley, no matter what. Even if all eight of us die, we must kill Linley. Let me deal with this Phusro. I’ll contain him for now…Annecy, you do what you have to do in order to contain that Elder of the Azure Dragon clan. The other five Elders…Tempah, I entrust Linley to you. Even if you die, you must kill him!”

“Yes!”

The other six Elders immediately became resolved.

Although this took time to describe, in truth, the communication through divine sense by these seven Elders happened in the blink of an eye. In that blink of an eye, there was only enough time for Tewila to begin to charge over…and as he did, Phusro laughed!

“Haha…you are so audacious. All of you, die.” Phusro laughed wildly, and was the first to charge over.

“Remember, at all costs, kill Linley!” The elfin-looking ‘Elder Zabu’ shouted through divine sense, while he charged forward to meet Phusro. As for Elder Annecy, he went to go deal with Tewila.

“Swish.” “Swish.”

With Elder Zabu at the center, ten million strands of green branches erupted forth, sweeping towards Phusro. Those ten million green branches were filled with a green aura, encasing Phusro within.

This was Elder Zabu’s ultimate technique…

The ‘Dance of Life’!

The goal wasn’t to kill the enemy, just to contain the enemy!

…………….

“Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang”! “Bang!”

The five Elders led by Elder Tempah charged directly into the ground. The tough, unyielding ground, in the face of these Seven Star Fiends, seemed to be made out of tofu, and giant tunnels in the earth were created by each of them.

“What is going on, what in the world is going on?” Many of the Azure Dragon clansmen were hovering in midair in the distance. This sudden attack had made them all numb.

“It must be the forces of the eight great clans.”

The Azure Dragon clansmen could only come to this conclusion. They all stared worriedly at the two battles going on in mid-air, while there was a massive battle going on below as well.

Delia, holding little Wade and with Bebe by her side, stood there in mid-air, staring worriedly towards the ground.

“Delia, don’t worry. The Boss is fine.” Bebe hurriedly said through divine sense. “I can sense that the Boss is still alive.” But although this was what Bebe said, a hint of worry could still be seen in his gaze.

This was because…

Shattered draconic scales and a severed arm were lying on the distant ground. This was what Linley had left behind from the sudden attack just now, which had injured him badly.

Even though he used Sovereign’s Might and even though his body’s defense was tough, in the face of the combined attack of seven Elders, he was lucky to stay alive.

“Linley, you have to be fine.” Delia’s body was trembling.

Right at this moment, a metallic lifeform hovering in the distance came to a halt, and quite a few people flew out from within it, all of them staring at Phusro, Elder Zabu, Elder Tewila, Elder Annecy, and the two battles going on between these combatants.

“A battle between Seven Star Fiends, and they’ve even used Sovereign’s Might!”

Shocked cries rang out.

“Quick, record it down. We can’t miss a battle on this level.”

Quite a few experts who trained in the ‘Elemental Laws of Water’ hurriedly set up ‘Scryer Recordings’, recording down the distant, incredibly rare battle between supreme experts. Not just them; even quite a members of the Azure Dragon clan were recording this battle.

Right at this moment…

“Rumble…” Beneath the ground, an enormous serpent seemed to be slithering about. The entire ground was rippling in waves, and wild bursts of energy were spreading about wantonly.

“There’s a battle underground!”

The many spectators all lowered their heads to watch.

“Linley!” Delia was extremely worried.

Deep within the ground, Linley was tunneling at high speed. The draconic scales around his chest were still shattered, while his entire right arm had been severed. The water-type Sovereign’s Might was currently slowly repairing Linley’s body.

After all, the more powerful a body, the slower the repair would be!

“Those three who used Sovereign’s Might are too strong!” Linley still felt that his head was in a daze. At the most dangerous juncture, he had used his Dragonform as well as the Sovereign’s Might for defense.

Of those seven, two specialized in material attacks while the other five used spiritual attacks!

The physical attacks were used by Tempah and Nice, two Elders who had used Sovereign’s Might. By joining forces, not only had the two been able to break through Linley’s armor formed from Sovereign’s Might, they had also shattered Linley’s draconic scales…

If Linley’s defense had been just slightly weaker, he probably would’ve been finished.

“Fortunately, that person isn’t pursuing me.” Linley still clearly remembered how that elfin-looking gray-robed man who had used a drop of Sovereign’s Might had been able to, with a single spiritual attack, easily locate the weakness in Linley’s Sovereign artifact. Luckily, Linley had gone all out, and by using both the Sovereign’s Might as well as his hereditary azure light to defend, he had been able to withstand it.

“If that elfin-looking gray-robed man attacked again along with those four behind me with another barrage of spiritual attacks, I wouldn’t be able to take it.” Linley was truly stunned.

“Rumble…”

An enormous black claw suddenly emerged, effortlessly slicing through the impeding earth and clawing towards Linley.

“Haaaargh!” Linley turned and swept outwards with his left arm, which struck out as though it were an enormous millstone slowly grinding away. Space itself seemed to turn sluggish, until that moment when it clashed against the enormous black claw…“Bang!” The colliding blows caused space itself to be torn apart.

“Linley, you won’t be able to escape!” A furious roar echoed in Linley’s mind.

Linley turned to look.

The earth behind him was roiling as five figures sped over quickly.

Linley’s face couldn’t help but change. “So fast!”

Because Linley had just launched an attack, the five Elders had immediately hurried over and followed him. The leader was the big-bearded Elder Tempah, and currently, his entire body was covered with a black light which emanated the aura of Destruction.

The power of his material attack, when paired with Destruction-type Sovereign’s Might, wasn’t weaker than Linley’s at all!

“Destruction-type Sovereign’s Might and Death-type Sovereign’s Might truly are troublesome.” Linley still felt the pain in his shattered arm. The joint attacks from those two had left vestige’s of Sovereign’s Might in his body.

This was causing the healing speed to be even slower.

“If the only one present was this big-bearded fellow, I could still battle. But these other four…” Linley felt his head hurt. The five were in constant pursuit in a group, not giving him a chance to deal with them singly.

“Swoosh!” Linley suddenly burst into the skies.

“Bang!” Tempah and the other five Elders all immediately charged upwards as well.

The many clansmen of the Azure Dragon clan, as well as the spectators in the other metallic lifeform, were all watching this battle. Right at this tense moment…with a ‘Bang!’ sound, the ground exploded. Linley and five Elders charged outwards in rapid succession.

“Five on one?” Quite a few people called out in shock.

“Quick, record it down.” Those people immediately set up more scryer recordings.

As for Delia, when she saw Linley, her tears began to fall. “Linley!” This was because she saw that Linley’s arm was severed, and that blood was still flowing out. There was an even more astonishingly large hole in his chest, and the whiteness of his bones could be seen.

There was a black, foggy aura covering his chest. Linley wanted to repair himself, but the speed was very slow.

“Why haven’t you caught Linley yet? Why haven’t you killed him?” Elder Zabu, currently battling Phusro, saw that Linley and those five Elders had just emerged. He couldn’t help but feel frantically angry, and he immediately sent out his divine sense and shouted towards them.

“Elder Zhabu, the power of Linley’s Gravitational Space is simply too great. I have to help the other four Elders to jointly resist the power of that gravity. Otherwise, we’ll be taken on one at a time by him!” Elder Tempah hurriedly sent back through divine sense as well.

But just as his words were finished…

“BANG!”

Elder Annecy’s body collapsed from the skies. She was dead!

Elder Tewila shouted, “Linley, I’ll come help you!” As he spoke, he charged over and attacked.

“Perfect timing.” Linley was overjoyed. Although he had used his Gravitational Space, his Gravitational Space was an earth-type ultimate technique. When using water-type Sovereign’s Might to execute it, although the power was still great, it wasn’t too extravagant.

It was indeed hard for him to battle five others on his own.

“Haha, your Sovereign’s Might has almost been used up. I want to see how you’ll continue to contain me!” Phusro’s loud, delighted laugh echoed forth. The ‘Dance of Life’ was a trapping technique, after all.

Filling all those ten million branches with Sovereign’s Might exhausted it very quickly, as it the technique consumed an astonishing amount of energy.

“Tempah, you must kill Linley!!!”

A fierce bellow rang out. The elfin-looking Elder Zabu roared, and his entire body suddenly emanated countless specks of green light, which shot out in every direction at an astonishing speed.

“BOOM!” Phusro had finally, with great effort, used his long awl to kill Elder Zabu, the most powerful person on the enemy side!

However…those countless green specks of light still shot out at high speed, and many people who weren’t able to dodge in time had the green specks of light shoot into their bodies, and they all fell down from the skies, one by one.

“Delia, careful.” Bebe hurriedly pushed Delia aside as countless specks of green light directly entered Bebe’s body.

“Wade.” Delia didn’t care about herself. Using her own body, she completely covered up Wade, and as she did, two specks of green light directly entered Delia’s body.

Right at this moment…

“Bang!” Linley and Elder Tempah clashed against each other fiercely, and their bodies were sent flying apart. However, just as their bodies flew apart, Linley saw from the corner of his eyes…

Silently, soundlessly…

Her long hair was dancing in the wind. Delia had covered up Wade with her entire body, protecting him completely. She still had tears in the corner of her eyes, which caught and reflected a ray of sunlight. Just like that, Delia slowly, gently drifted down from the skies…

“Waaaaaaaa!” Wade suddenly began to sob.

This sob was like a knife cutting into Linley’s heart. In stunned silence, tears rolled down Linley’s cheeks.

“No….” A desolate sound echoed in the heavens.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 46, Spare No One!

Linley felt his heart be instantly ripped apart!

When Linley was together with Delia, he felt as though he were a lonely boat who had found his harbor, with his heart at peace. Their souls had become deeply intertwined, and neither could leave the other!

“No…no…no way…” Linley couldn’t accept it.

He would rather die than see what he just saw.

How many years had it been? From that first time when he had learned of his father’s death…when he had watched as Grandpa Doehring sacrificed himself for him…those two events had caused Linley to sink into an abyss of despair. Ever since those two times, Linley had buried hatred deep into his heart and then encased it in ice.

But because of Delia…

Linley once more felt the warmth of family. In front of Delia, Linley didn’t have to hold back anything. His heart and Delia’s heart were completely joined. Linley felt that he was blissful, that the heavens had treated him generously…

Because he had Delia, his partner in life!

But today…

His father had died. Grandpa Doehring had died. Those two blows had caused Linley to nearly collapse. But the blow he suffered today was even fiercer than the previous two. Delia had been together with Linley for simply too long!

A thousand years of taking care of each other. Their lives had become one!

“This…” Phusro was stunned as well.

“Delia!” Bebe was stunned as well. He, linked together spiritually with Linley, could feel the despair and deathly loneliness radiating out from Linley’s soul. Bebe couldn’t help but feel his own soul quiver.

What sort of despair was this?

“Boss!” Bebe was about to cry as well.

“Rumble…” Tempah, his entire body covered with that black aura, once more violently charged towards Linley, while Linley just stood there stupidly.

“Die.” Tempah was shaking from excitement.

He sent a full-force fist smashing towards Linley’s head. Before his fist arrived, the spatial ripples it generated arrived, striking at Linley’s head. Linley, rather numbly, turned to look, but all he saw in front of his eyes was a fist glowing with flowing black light.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Linley seemed to have gone insane, as he let out a terrifying howl!

His undamaged left arm suddenly swung out, snatching the oncoming fist, delivering it into his own chest. “Bang!” The fierce punch cracked the Sovereign’s Might covering Linley’s body, smashing against his chest.

“CRUNCH!” His ribs shattered and his chest caved in.

“Eh?” Tempah was completely stunned. What was Linley doing?

“Whoosh!” Linley’s draconic tail suddenly swung over, stretching out towards Tempah and wrapping itself around him. Linley’s left arm was clutching Tempah’s right arm, while his draconic tail was binding Tempah, pulling him into a tight embrace.

Tempah wasn’t able to break free!

The two stared face to face, right next to each other!

“Aaaaaaaaaaaah!” Linley seemed like a madman. He suddenly turned his head, ramming it viciously against the opponent. That fierce, azure-golden spiked horn in Linley’s forehead, covered with that azure light, stabbed down viciously.

“F*ck off!” Tempah wanted to break free.

But Linley’s Sovereign’s Might was on full power, and water-type Sovereign’s Might was durable to begin with. Even worse, Linley’s body was more powerful than his to begin with. Tempah, break free? Unlikely!

“Die!!!” Linley howled ferociously like a madman! His head savagely, repeatedly slammed towards his enemy’s, and so too did that fierce horned spike, covered with Sovereign’s Might!

What was the toughest, sharpest part of Linley’s body?

It wasn’t his fist. It wasn’t his scales. It was these spikes!

They were just like the spikes of an Armored Razorback Wyrm, which before death would unleash its most powerful attack by blasting out these spikes. An ‘Armored Razorback Wyrm’ of the ninth rank was able to use these spikes to pierce through the body of a Saint-level magical beast. Linley’s spikes, in turn, had been strengthened and intensified by the blood essence of the Azure Dragon, as well as that drop of Sovereign’s Might.

The sharpness of those spikes was utterly terrifying.

For Tempah to have his head struck by Linley’s…and especially given that Tempah’s body was inferior to Linley’s to begin with…

After his protective barrier of Sovereign’s Might was broken through after three successive ‘stabs’, Tempah only had enough time to let out a bellow, and then stopped making any noise.

“Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!”

In the blink of an eye, Linley’s head had smashed into the opponent’s countless times.

Bebe, Phusro, Tewila, and even those other four enemy Elders were staring in disbelief. Tempah’s entire head had been slammed into pulp. His divine spark had been knocked flying…but Linley continued to smash.

Smash his head. Smash his body!

Blood flew everywhere. Muddy bits of flush flew everywhere. The sight was utterly unbearable! Linley’s eyes were as crimson as blood, and he was utterly wild.

“Boss…” Bebe had never seen Linley go so berserk before. Through their soul connection, he could feel that Linley had completely descended into a mindless savagery, the throes of which caused Bebe to tremble.

“This…” The four Elders were stunned as well.

How could a battle between Seven Star Fiends end up like this?

Linley didn’t block Tempah’s attack, but rather grappled Tempah, then used his own head to smash him to death?

As they looked at Linley, whose arm was severed, chest was caved in, and whose face was covered with blood, they felt their hearts grow cold.

“Linley, stop, stop!” Phusro shouted through divine sense. “Stop immediately!” Phusro rushed over, giving Linley a vicious punch, and Linley’s body couldn’t help but tremble.

This punch brought Linley back to sanity.

“What am I doing?” Linley felt as though he had gone completely insane. He then looked sideways at the distant Delia, lying on the ground. His eyes couldn’t help but immediately turn red once again, and then he turned to look at the other four Elders.

Those four Elders hadn’t used Sovereign’s Might!

The four Elders had been stunned by Linley’s display of savagery. Only now did they come to their senses.

“Elder Zabu and the others died. We aren’t of any use here. The appearance of this Phusro was completely out of our expectations. Let’s flee.” The four Elders hurriedly spoke through divine sense, and then they fled in every direction.

But Linley just let out a bellow.

“Rumble…”

Azure light spread out everywhere to a diameter of hundreds of meters, trapping all four of those Elders in the distance who had sought to flee within. The azure light then transformed into an enormous cube!

Blackstone Prison!

A Blackstone Prison formed from Sovereign’s Might!

This was water-type Sovereign’s Might. Although it wasn’t earth-type, it was still far more powerful than Linley’s own ‘God-level divine power’. The ‘durability’ was extremely powerful in particular. These four Elders, in turn, didn’t have Sovereign’s power.

Trapped within this Blackstone Prison, there was no way they could flee at all.

“Linley…” Phusro wanted to speak.

“Phusro. Tewila. Don’t interfere. Leave this Blackstone Prison. Let me handle the four of them!” Linley growled, and a corridor split open from above. Phusro and Tewila let out sighs, then flew out.

Within the Blackstone Prison, Linley could defeat them one by one.

Given that the enemies were not in possession of Sovereign’s Might, this was a battle between two people on completely different levels.

Darkness. Not a single hint of light could be seen.

The four Elders were trapped into different parts of the ‘cube’. All of them wildly struck the walls, but how could they possibly break through this cube formed from Sovereign’s Might?

Within one of the rooms.

“It’s all over.” The gray-robed Elder was in complete despair.

“Whoosh!” The wall suddenly split open, and a person walked in.

The gray-robed Elder’s heart trembled as he looked at the Dragonformed Linley, his entire body covered with blood.

“It’s all because of you.” A growling voice.

“Whoosh!” Linley charged forward. Shocked, the gray-robed Elder wanted to resist, but a ray of spiritual energy spread forth. This was the ‘Spiritual Chaos’ formed from Sovereign’s Might, and the gray-robed Elder instantly fell into a stunned state.

When Linley had dealt against Tempah and the rest of the five, he could have used this technique to put the other four into a stupor. However, Elder Tempah had Sovereign’s Might to protect himself, and so Linley wouldn’t have been able to influence him at all.

Tempah naturally would protect the other four in turn.

This was the reason why Linley hadn’t used this technique yet. But now…the gray-robed Elder, under the effect of the ‘Spiritual Chaos’, was nothing more than a ragdoll target!

“Hello, Linley. My name is Delia…” In Linley’s mind, that scene of his first meeting with Delia in the wind-style magic class at the Ernst Institute drifted to his mind. At that time, Delia was just an adorable little girl.

“BANG!” Linley’s draconic scale covered fist smashed the gray-robed Elder’s head.

Linley’s form moved towards the direction of another room with an Elder.

“Linley, before I leave, can I hug you?” When Linley’s father had died that year…that dark night in Wushan township…Delia had said that she wanted to give Linley a hug before she left.

But that time, Delia had kissed him instead.

“BANG!” Yet another gray-robed Elder died.

Linley walked forward, completely emotionless. In front of him, another corridor appeared within the wall.

“Milord, there’s a person named Delia outside. She says that she was your classmate and that she wishes to see you.” That first time they had met again after their ten years of separation. At that time, Linley had already become the world-renown Master Linley, while Delia was the Envoy of the Yulan Empire.

“Haaaaargh!”

A fist swung out like a mountain, smashing against the body of a gray-robed Elder. Immediately, with a ‘bang’ sound, space itself exploded as a large hole appeared in space. Half of the gray-robed Elder’s body was blasted apart.

Linley, his face expressionless, took a few more steps forward, entering another wall.

“Delia, what is it?”

“I cried.” Delia clutched at Linley’s chest. “I want to cry. When I think about how in the past, you were together with Alice, I want to cry. When I think about how I waited for you for ten years, I want to cry. Wuuu….”

The night of their wedding. Delia had been in his arms, throwing a tantrum.

After Linley killed the final gray-robed Elder, the Blackstone Prison vanished. That drop of Sovereign’s Might had been completely used up as well.

“Delia…” Linley murmured.

His tears fell down, mixing in with the blood on his face.

The entire world was silent. The members of the Azure Dragon clan and the distant spectators didn’t dare make any sound. They could all sense a terrible, deathly pressure. They just watched quietly as Linley flew towards Delia.

“Waaaaa….waaaaaa……..” Wade’s sobbing echoed in the mountains and forests.

Linley, hearing his son’s sobs, couldn’t help but tremble.

Linley quietly sat down next to Delia’s body. Delia’s face was still wet with tears. These were the tears she had shed upon seeing Linley be in dire straits during the battle. Linley reached his hand out, gently examining her. As of this moment…Delia’s body didn’t have any aura at all.

“Waaaaaaaa….” Wade was sobbing nonstop.

Linley returned to human form as well. He stretched his arms out, picking up Wade. Wade, in his father’s arms, continued to sob.

“Don’t cry, Wade.” Linley said softly.

“Boss, it’s all my fault.” Bebe was agonized as well.

“Linley, Delia isn’t dead!” A sound rang out. Linley’s entire body shuddered, and he suddenly rose to his feet, hurriedly turning to look towards Phusro. In disbelief, he said, “Phusro, what did you say?”

Phusro said seriously, “Linley, I’ll tell you this. Delia isn’t dead. Not only is she not dead, all of the other people who were struck by that elfin-looking Elder’s dying blow aren’t dead either.”

“But…but…” Linley couldn’t sense any aura from Delia at all.

Phusro said with certainty, “That elfin-looking Elder’s dying blow sent out nearly a million green specks of light flying out. Many of those who were hit by just a single speck of green light all fell. Can it be that you think…that elfin-looking Elder was capable of killing a million Highgods with a single technique?”

Linley came to his senses.

Right. No matter how powerful an Elder was, he would at most be able to kill a hundred or nearly a thousand people with a technique. But to kill a million Highgods? Impossible! Utterly impossible!

In truth, when the elfin-looking Elder had released those green specks of light, although he had sent nearly a million, in reality, because the people in the area were tightly clustered together, most of the green specks of light were ‘blocked’ by the people standing in front.

It would be amazing if even ten thousand died.

“Then Delia isn’t dead…but why doesn’t she have any aura at all?” Linley turned to look at Delia. He sent a ray of spiritual energy out, slowly sending it into Delia’s mind.

Within Delia’s sea of consciousness, her divine spark was still there. Her sea of consciousness, however, wasn’t moving at all. It was deathly still, without any hint of a living aura.

“That elfin-looking Elder should have been an expert of the Edric clan, which moved here from the Higher Plane of Life. He trained in the ‘Edicts of Life’.” Phusro said solemnly. “Although the people hit aren’t dead, there isn’t much of a difference between their state and death.”

Linley hurriedly shook his head.

And then, he looked at Phusro. “Phusro, tell me. What is going on with Delia? Can she be saved?”

Phusro let out a low sigh. “Linley, the most powerful healing stems from the ‘Laws of Life’, but it is also experts of the Edicts of Life who have the most bizarre ways of attacking and harming the soul. That elfin Elder was an elite amongst them. Before dying, he released that technique, spreading out countless specks of green light, each of which is actually just a ‘seed’.”

“Seed?” Linley didn’t understand.

“Linley, a person’s foundation is the soul!” Phusro explained. “That green light burrows into the soul and begins to devour the energy of the soul, converting it to energy for its own use.”

“Devour…convert?” Linley began to understand.

“A single speck of green light is very weak. Compared to the entire soul, it is miniscule. However, the single speck of green light, with each devour, will duplicate and result in two specks of green light. And then, those two specks of green light will continue to devour and become four specks. Four will then become eight…and as this continues…” Phusro’s eyes were filled with awe as well. “It is very terrifying! Although the soul of a Highgod is very strong, under this sort of devouring, the soul will constantly weaken. There will come the day when one’s soul will completely transform into green specks of light, at which point, Delia will die!”

Linley felt that this was unbelievable.

Souls could be described as strong, but also as fragile. Once they were shattered, they would be finished. But this devouring…it wouldn’t immediately cause the soul to be destroyed. Because, to be precise, the green light was merging with the soul and was part of it.

Actually, this was a sort of soul transformation process. Once the transformation was complete, the soul would be finished.

“Then is there a way to save her?” Linley immediately asked. This Phusro had a very high degree of attainment in the soul as well.

“This has reached deep into her soul. Saving her will be very hard.” Phusro shook his head. “I only train in the Laws of Fire. My attacks are powerful, but my healing…alas!”

Linley’s face immediately changed.

“However, supreme experts who train in the Edicts of Life should be able to save Delia. However, we have to hurry to the Skyrite Mountains.” Phusro said. “But in the Skyrite Mountains, the Four Divine Beasts clan does not train the Edicts of Life. If we go to other places to find experts…there’s no time, there’s no time!!!”

There was no time!

These words caused Linley’s entire body to sway.

“There’s no time?” Linley was frantic.

“There’s too few people in the Infernal Realm who train in the Edicts of Life. The eight great clans do, but they are your enemies. How could they possibly help?” Phusro shook his head and sighed.

“No. We can go to another place.” Linley said hurriedly.

“Impossible. There’s no time. Based on the rate at which the devouring occurs…in a year or so, Delia’s soul will be completely devoured.” Phusro said resignedly. “In Indigo Prefecture, I have no idea of any other power aside from the eight great clans that has supreme experts who specialize in the Edicts of Life.”

Linley lowered his head to look at Delia.

Delia was lying there quietly.

“No…no…” Linley couldn’t accept it.

Although she didn’t die, in the future, she would?

But in a short year, even at maximum speed, he would still be within Indigo Prefecture. But within Indigo Prefecture, the strongest forces were the Four Divine Beasts clan and the eight great clans, while only the Edric clan from the Higher Plane of Life possessed supreme experts who trained in the Edicts of Life.

The other powers?

The Four Divine Beasts clan didn’t have any such experts, at least.

What to do?

“Delia…” Linley was going completely mad.

Phusro looked about, seeing many Azure Dragon clansmen lying on the ground. “So many people!” He let out a sigh. “Although those green specks of light are weak, they are very hard to deal with. Ordinary Highgods aren’t able to resist them, unless they have soul-protecting artifacts or have extremely powerful souls. But of course, one can block it if one had Sovereign’s Might. This elfin Elder truly was vicious.”

Linley, lost in his grief, suddenly heard those words, ‘Sovereign’s Might’.

“Sovereign’s Might?” Linley’s body trembled.

“Sovereign’s Might can resist it!” Linley’s heart shook!

“Linley, what is it?” Phusro looked at him. Linley suddenly turned to stare at him. “Phusro, did you just say that Sovereign’s Might can block it? Are you saying that if I had given Delia a drop of Sovereign’s Might and she had been struck, she wouldn’t die?”

“Right. The elfin Elder’s attack is powerful, but once it encounters Sovereign’s Might, it will still dissipate. How could it possibly break through the defense of Sovereign’s Might?” Phusro nodded. “However, don’t be too heartbroken. After all, you need to use Sovereign’s Might while battling as well.”

Linley was stunned.

Battle? Battle?!

But he had three drops of it!

“Why didn’t I give any to Delia? Why?” Linley’s face turned ashen. “Why didn’t I give it to her? Why? Why?!” With a flip of his hand, Linley retrieved a drop of Sovereign’s might. Beneath the light of the sun, it seemed so resplendent.

“This…” Seeing this drop of Sovereign’s Might, Phusro was stunned as well.

“Waaaaaaa….” Wade’s sobbing cries continued unabated.

Linley lowered his head to look at the sobbing Wade, then at the ‘slumbering’ Delia, and then at this drop of Sovereign’s Might. His gaze turned more and more savage, and the flesh on his face slowly began to twitch as his face slowly turned purple. And then, a hint of blood slowly began to leak from his mouth.

“Aaaaaaaaaaah!!!!” A howl of incomparable agony ripped forth from Linley’s mouth, shaking the world.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 47, Begging for Salvation

“It’s me. It’s my fault. If I had given a drop of Sovereign’s Might to Delia, she wouldn’t die!”

“Why didn’t I give it to Delia. Why. WHY!!!”

Endless guilt wracked Linley’s chest, with regret striking viciously at his soul. Linley’s entire mind was in a state of chaos, and had sunken into a state of endless remorse.

Bebe, Phusro, and Tewila look at each other, worry appearing on their faces.

“Waaaaa….waaaaaaaa!” Little Wade continuously cried, and his sobs seemed to be more ear-piercing than ever before in that utterly silent mountainous area. Linley felt that each cry from Wade stabbed against his heart!

“Don’t cry, Wade, don’t cry.” Holding Wade, Bebe was growing frantic as well.

“Boss!” Bebe said frantically.

“Linley!” Phusro called out worriedly as well.

But Linley didn’t seem to hear anything. He was completely lost in his regret and grief. The look on his face was one which made others tremble upon beholding.

“Right!” Linley let out a sudden growl. “It was my selfishness! I always thought about my own safety, and I didn’t think about Delia. I kept the Sovereign’s Might on my own person this entire time. It was my selfishness. I was too selfish!!!”

Self-criticism. Self-hatred!

Linley, his thoughts in a jumble, had pushed the blame squarely onto his own shoulders, due to his ‘selfishness’.

Actually, Delia was too weak. Even if she had Sovereign’s Might, she wouldn’t be able to defeat a Seven Star Fiend. It was only natural that Linley should be the one to use Sovereign’s Might to protect Delia.

If Linley truly was selfish…

Then when facing the combined strike of those seven Elders, he wouldn’t have pushed Delia aside at that critical moment, thereby wasting precious time. After all, at that time, he could have dodged instead.

All seven of those attacks had landed.

Linley had nearly died. Although he hadn’t died, the protective armor of Sovereign’s Might had been broken through, and even his body had been crippled.

However, Linley’s thoughts had entered a state of confusion, and others were completely unable to dissuade him.

“It was my selfishness. It’s all my fault. If I had given Sovereign’s Might to Delia, she wouldn’t die.” Linley’s mind was utterly chaotic. These words were the only thing that consistently echoed within his consciousness.

“Linley!” Phusro suddenly roared. “Hurry up and seize every moment to save Delia. By wasting time here, YOU ARE KILLING DELIA!!!”

These words suddenly brought Linley back to his senses.

He looked at Delia, lying there on the ground. Phusro’s words suddenly brought Linley back into clear-mindedness. “Every moment, Delia’s soul is being devoured and transformed. I can’t waste any time, I can’t!”

By now, Linley’s right arm had already grown out to the elbow. The more powerful the body, the slower the recovery.

“Phusro.” Linley turned to look at Phusro. “My mind is in shambles right now. Tell me, what should I do? What are my best options for saving Delia?”

Linley, in his current state, truly wasn’t suited for making decisions.

Phusro let out a mental sigh of relief. For Linley to be able to say this meant that his mind was clear, at least. Phusro immediately said solemnly, “Linley, neither you nor I are as familiar with the experts of the Indigo Prefecture as your Patriarch, Gislason. Gislason is the leader of the Four Divine Beasts clan, and he knows far more than we do! Your Patriarch will know more than anyone else as to who will be able to save Delia. Perhaps the Four Divine Beasts clan itself has someone capable of rescuing Delia.”

Linley’s eyes immediately lit up.

“Right. The Four Divine Beasts clan has existed for so long. Perhaps it truly does have a supreme expert capable of saving Delia.” A hint of hope appeared in Linley’s mind.

“Right now, we need to hurry back to the Skyrite Mountains. Normally, metallic lifeforms will take nearly two months, but if we travel by day and by night without resting, we should be able to get there in ten days or half a month. Once we reach the Skyrite Mountains, there’ll be more people and more ideas.” Phusro said hurriedly.

Linley made up his mind as well.

“That’s what we’ll do, then.” Linley’s body once more Dragonformed. In terms of flying speed, his Dragonform’s flying speed was indeed much faster.

Linley lowered his head to look at Delia, lying there on the ground. Delia looked as though she were asleep. Linley said gently, “Delia, you have to hold on.” Stretching out his left hand, he took Delia into his arms.

“Phusro, please hold Wade.” Linley said. “We’ll immediately head out.”

“Alright.” Phusro took Wade from Bebe’s arms.

“Boss, don’t be too heartbroken. Delia will definitely recover.” Bebe said consolingly. Linley forced out a smile, then nodded slightly. “Right. Bebe, you stay with the others. Phusro and I will go back first.”

Bebe nodded, and then he watched as Linley and Phusro pierced through the skies, disappearing into the horizon.

Bebe’s eyes had tears within them as well. Raising his head upwards, he looked at the sky. “Overgods…the Boss has already lost his father and his Grandpa Doehring. No matter what, you can’t let Delia die as well. If Delia dies, then the Boss…”

Bebe and Linley had lived so many years together. He understood Linley very well.

No matter what sort of difficult circumstances or dire straits Linley was in, he wasn’t afraid at all and would face them head on. But…when those close to him left, Linley suffered terrifying emotional blows.

“Alright. Everyone, hurry into the metallic lifeform. We’ll make haste back home.” Tewila’s voice rang out. “All of you, stop being sad. Move all of our unconscious clansmen into the metallic lifeform. We will hurry backwards.”

It wasn’t just Delia who was unconscious. There were quite a few clansmen lying on the ground, while quite a few onlookers were injured as well. When they learned that these people weren’t dead yet, they too felt a hint of new hope.

The Azure Dragon clansmen entered the metallic lifeform, and then it once more pierced through the skies, also making haste and flying towards the Skyrite Mountains.

When the Azure Dragon clansmen left, the only people remaining were those who were in that other metallic lifeform.

“Too powerful. Especially that expert from the Azure Dragon clan. He was actually able to fight five other experts by himself…and slaughtered them all!” These people weren’t saddened for Delia, only stunned by this battle.

“That gray-robed who died was powerful as well…the one who sent all those terrifying green specks of light out.”

“Did anyone hear what that expert of the Azure Dragon clan is named? I thought I heard that big fellow with long red hair shout ‘Linley’ loudly.”

“Right. He is named Linley. I heard it as well.”

“This Linley, judging from his power, has to at least be an Elder of the Azure Dragon clan.”

A hubbub of conversation…but then, these spectators who had watched the battle and recorded it down with scryer recordings all returned to their own metallic lifeform and left.

Moments later…

Multiple figures flew over at high speed to the battlefield.

“Even Elder Zabu died. The eight Elders are all dead!”

……………………………

In mid-air, a fiery light instantly streaked in from the southern horizon, arriving at the northern skies.

Linley and Phusro were currently flying at maximum speed. However, even Dragonformed, in terms of flying speed, Linley was still far inferior compared to Phusro. Thus, Phusro spread out his energy, enveloping Linley within it and ‘carrying’ him.

This caused their speed to rise to a higher level.

Linley lowered his head, looking at Delia. Delia’s eyes were closed, and she was in a state of complete unconsciousness. Linley’s arms were now completely healed.

“Delia, you have to be fine.”

Linley spoke very softly. He felt boundless grief and regret towards Delia. If Delia truly were to die, Linley didn’t know what he would do in the future. He wouldn’t be able to accept it at all.

Phusro, seeing Linley like this, couldn’t help but sigh.

“Can love truly cause a person to become like this?” Phusro said in his heart. He had been captured and tamed by Elquin when he was a Saint, and had always been used as a little golden kitten, without being given any chance to experience love.

“Linley, don’t worry. Given my speed, we’ll reach the Skyrite Mountains very soon.” Phusro consoled.

“Right. Phusro, thank you for this. Truly.” Linley, although frantic, still spoke with gratitude.

“Thank me for what? It’s my fault, in a way. I let that elfin Elder have the opportunity to release that final attack.” Phusro said guiltily. In truth, that Elder Zabu was the most powerful of those eight Elders.

He was so powerful that he nearly had the strength of an Asura. Once he also used a drop of Sovereign’s Might, his strength was indeed terrifying.

“It isn’t your fault. That person truly was powerful.” Linley still remembered how, when he had suffered the combined attacks of those seven Elders, the most dangerous one of them had been that elfin Elder. With but a single attack, he had nearly caused Linley to be finished.

“I’m still not strong enough.” Linley stared into the distance.

The two of them, transformed into that ‘fiery light’, continued to fly towards the horizon at high speed.

And finally, they arrived at the Skyrite Mountains!

After having flown for six days and a night, they arrived at the Skyrite Mountains just as nightfall came.

Linley, upon seeing the distant Dragon Avenue of the Skyrite Mountains, felt his heart tremble. While flying forward at high speed, he immediately called out frantically, “Patriarch, PATRIARCH!!!” Linley’s roars shook the air above the entire Skyrite Mountains.

“Who is it? Halt!” The patrolling warriors of the Skyrite Mountains hurriedly shouted.

Linley and Phusro were flying too quickly. Their bodies were surrounded with fiery light as well, making it even harder for those patrolling warriors to see them clearly.

“Whoosh!” Phusro immediately retracted his fire-type divine power, and those patrolling warriors were immediately able to see the two of them clearly. One of them was in Dragonform, and clearly was a member of the Azure Dragon clan. They all couldn’t help but feel relieved.

“It is Elder Linley!” Immediately, some patrolling warriors recognized him.

That savage, spike-studded Dragonform had become Linley’s trademark.

“Linley, what is it?” A figure flew over at high speed. It was Elder Garvey. Elder Garvey, seeing Linley look so frantic, with his entire body stained with blood, couldn’t help but ask in a hurry, “What happened? What’s wrong with Delia?”

“Delia, she…” Before Linley even had a chance to reply…

“Linley!” A voice rang out, and a powerfully built figure with azure hair flew out at high speed. It was the Patriarch of the Azure Dragon clan, Gislason. Gislason immediately saw Phusro. “What happened?”

“We were attacked. Delia is now in critical condition.” Phusro said hurriedly.

Gislason, seeing the situation, immediately said, “Come to my place right away.” As he spoke, he immediately led Linley and the others towards his residence.

Within the residence of the Patriarch. The main hall.

Linley gently placed Delia onto a seat, and then turned his head to look at Gislason. “Patriarch, Delia suffered a spiritual attack from an Elder of the Edric clan, of the eight great clans…”

“The Edric clan? The Edicts of Life?” Gislason’s face changed, and he immediately used his spiritual sense to probe Delia’s situation.

Linley, keeping hope alive in his mind, watched this scene. Not only was the Patriarch physically powerful, he was also extremely formidable with respect to the soul. Perhaps the Patriarch might have some method for saving Delia. Linley waited, and as he did, his heart was trembling.

Elder Garvey and Phusro just stood there, not daring to say a word.

“Formidable, formidable!” Gislason sighed in amazement.

“What is it?” Linley said hurriedly.

Gislason turned to look at Linley. He said solemnly, “The devouring transformation in Delia’s soul isn’t too bad right now. However, the devouring will grow faster and faster…I’ve never imagined that the Edicts of Life contained a technique like this. With regards to this, I…alas…” Gislason shook his head and sighed.

Linley was stunned.

“But don’t grow frantic. I can’t save her, but that doesn’t means others can’t either.” Gislason said hurriedly.

Right at this moment, two people charged in, one of which was Forhan.

“What on earth is going on?” Forhan said frantically. When he saw Linley in the corner of his eyes, his face couldn’t help but change. Linley was actually still alive…this was completely out of his expectations.

“Forhan, it’s good that you are here. You and Garvey, hurry over to Bloodbath Gorge and have the Grand Elder and the others come. Oh, right, hurry and ask the other three clan leaders to come as well. Hurry!” Gislason shouted.