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

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 18, Highgod – Chapter 4, Ironknife Gorge

Linley tightly held Delia’s hand as well.

“The pinnacle…right. That day will definitely come, one day.” Linley, in his heart, would forever remember the figures of Beirut and Dunnington. They were his goals!

Suddenly, a snicker from his side.

Linley turned to look, only to see Wade and Ina secretly looking towards them. Upon seeing that Linley had noticed them, the two quickly retreated to their own rooms. Linley couldn’t help but laugh. “Wade, Nana, hurry up and come over. Right, Nana…your father and your mother have already returned to the Bloodridge Continent. They are now heading to Indigo Prefecture. Most likely, in a year or so, they’ll have returned.”

“Father is about to return?” Ina stuck her head out, a look of surprise and delight on her face.

Linley laughed and nodded. As he and Bebe were spiritually linked, the two could sense the rough location of each other.

“Oh, that was pretty fast.” The nearby Delia said. “Bebe and Nisse, on this round trip, just spent a bit more than a century. It seems they didn’t stay too long in the Jingan Prefecture. I wonder how Bebe and Salomon acted towards each other.”

Linley laughed calmly. “No matter what, Bebe won’t let himself get the worst of it.”

Given Bebe’s current level of power, how could Salomon be a match for him? Although Salomon was Nisse’s older brother, given Bebe’s temper, Linley knew very well that if Salomon went too far, even if Bebe didn’t kill him out of consideration for Nisse, he would still punish Salomon.

“Linley, how about let’s go visit Lord Beirut? It’s been so many years since we have visited. We can wait for Bebe there as well.” Delia advised.

“Great, great. Let’s go to Great-Grandfather’s place!” Ina was the first to react.

The Lord Prefect’s residence of Indigo Prefecture. Linley, indeed, had never visited this place before. He immediately laughed and nodded, “Fine, then. Let’s go to Lord Beirut’s place. Bebe knows exactly where I am, so he’ll head directly there as well.””

Linley’s group immediately turned the direction of their metallic lifeform, sending it towards the Lord Prefect’s residence.

Indigo Prefecture. The Lord Prefect’s residence. This was located in the northern part of the northern district of Indigo City, the chief city of the ten great cities of Indigo Prefecture. The more than half of the entire northern district seemed to reserved for the Lord Prefect, while the personal soldiers and servants of the Lord Prefect numbered in the tens of thousands.

Linley’s arrival naturally resulted in a warm welcome from Beirut. Linley’s group thus settled down here for now.

In the blink of an eye, nearly a year passed.

Linley and Delia were currently strolling through a flower garden, which was filled with all sorts of fresh flowers. Red ones, blue ones, yellow ones; flowers were spread everywhere. The couple strolled while enjoying the fragrance of the flowers. This was indeed a very enjoyable thing. But suddenly…

Linley turned to look towards the west, smiling slightly. He then turned his head to look at the nearby Delia. “Delia, Bebe and Nisse have already reached Indigo City. I imagine that they’ll arrive soon.”

“They’ll arrive soon?” Delia couldn’t help but reveal a hint of joy, but then she was rather puzzled.

“Delia, what is it? Speak.” Linley and Delia had been together for so long that Linley could tell from a single glance or a look on Delia’s face what she was thinking. Delia hesitated, then said, “Linley, we’ve been in the Infernal Realm for nearly two thousand years. The Four Divine Beasts clan has already solved its crisis, and you have become a Highgod. I think…that it might be time for us to return to the Yulan continent, right? Sasha and Taylor, our two kids…I really want to see them.”

Linley was stunned.

Return to the Yulan continent?

Instantly, Linley’s mind became filled with countless scenes. Going to study when he was young at the Ernst Institute. Playing around with Boss Yale, George, and Reynolds. Bitter training within the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. And the many friends and family he cared about.

Before they discussed the topic of returning, Linley hadn’t felt anything, but now that Delia raised it…Linley actually suddenly felt as though a pressing fire was burning in his heart, surging and charging through his emotions and filling his chest with ardor. “Right. It is time to return to the Yulan continent to have a look. After so many years, I wonder how Boss Yale is doing. And Wharton and the others. Sasha and Taylor, those two…I wonder how they are doing.” Linley was filled with eagerness.

“Right. Let’s go back together.” Delia, seeing that Linley had agreed, couldn’t help but feel overjoyed. As a mother, the care and concern she felt for her children came from the deepest recesses of her heart. “I wonder how my elder brother is doing…”

Linley also remembered Dixie. Back then, when he had just entered the Ernst Institute, Dixie had been proclaimed its number one genius. But afterwards, due to Linley learning from the Straight Chisel School of sculpting, Linley’s spiritual energy had rapidly improved, allowing him to make constant breakthroughs until he had finally surpassed Dixie.

“It has been a long time since Bebe’s been back as well. Now that he’s returning, let’s have him accompany us on a trip to the Yulan continent.” Linley said eagerly. “To tell the truth, up till now, I remain quite curious as to what the Necropolis of the Gods within the Yulan continent holds. This time, we can take a look.”

After having trained for so long, Linley no longer felt too much interest in the Necropolis of the Gods, but he was still curious, after all.

He still clearly remembered how, that year, Olivier and the others had risked their lives in adventuring through the Necropolis of the Gods. But of course, to the current Linley, the Necropolis of the Gods no longer posed much of a challenge.

“The Necropolis of the Gods?” Delia sighed. “You spent ten full years on that trip to the Necropolis of the Gods. I was worrying about you the entire time in Dragonblood Castle.” Hearing this, Linley felt rather ashamed of himself.

“Boss!” Bebe’s voice suddenly rang out from afar.

“Bebe arrived. Come, let’s go.” Linley immediately headed with Delia towards the outside. Once Linley and Delia reached the outside, they discovered that Beirut, Wade, Ina, and the others were already there waiting.

Bebe and Nisse were warmly chatting with Beirut and Ina.

Seeing Linley walk over, Bebe immediately walked towards him and laughed, “Boss, long time no see.” As he spoke, he gave Linley a firm hug. Linley just grinned. “How was your trip to the Jadefloat Continent?”

“What do you think?” Bebe quirked his lips.

Linley couldn’t help but look at him in puzzlement.

“That Salomon hurriedly apologized, of course. Hmph, fortunately, he knew to act. If it hadn’t been for that…hmph. Hmph.” Bebe let out two snorts, and Linley couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. It seemed as though Salomon cared about his younger sister as well, and so had been rather meek in his attitude.

In reality…

After Salomon had seen Linley’s performance in the scryer recording, and after Nisse had let him know about the relationship Bebe had with the Lord Prefect of Indigo Prefecture, Lord Beirut…how could he dare to have a poor attitude?

“Haha, everyone, let’s chat inside.” Beirut laughed.

While walking towards the inner halls, Linley quietly discussed with Bebe, “Bebe, Delia and I have come to an agreement that we are planning to travel to the Yulan continent. We’ve been in the Infernal Realm for so many years, but have never gone back. Do you want to go back with us?”

Bebe’s eyes lit up upon hearing this.

“Yes, of course, yes!” Bebe immediately sent mentally. “Boss, let me discuss this with Nisse. She’ll definitely agree.”

Everyone sat down in the main hall.

Some servants walked over, carrying all sorts of fine delicacies and offering them. Linley said directly, “Lord Beirut, we’ve been in the Infernal Realm for so long…Bebe and I have decided that we are planning to return to the Yulan continent.”

“Returning to the Yulan continent? I’m going too!”

“I’m going as well.”

Wade and Ina simultaneously called out.

Beirut let out a surprised sound, but then laughed and nodded. “Makes sense. It has indeed been quite some time since you came to the Infernal Realm. If you want to return to the Yulan continent, you need to be transported back through the ‘Ironknife Gorge’ of our Bloodrige Continent.”

Linley knew that there were teleportation portals scattered throughout the five continents and two seas of the Infernal Realm.

But the price of each trip through these portals was very high.

“Lord Beirut, how much is the transport fee?” Linley asked.

“Generally speaking, moving between the Higher Planes or Divine Planes isn’t as expensive. But moving from the Higher Planes or Divine Planes to material planes…now that is exceedingly costly. From material planes to the Higher Planes or Divine Planes, however, is free.” Beirut explained.

Linley understood this as well. He knew that it was expensive…but how expensive, exactly?

“I don’t know if I have enough money on me.” Linley was rather nervous.

Beirut laughed. “But when you go for your trip, as long as you show this medallion, you will be able to use the teleportation portals for free.” With a wave of his hand, Beirut pulled out a blood red medallion which emanated a heart-stopping aura.

Linley and the others looked at it.

“Teleport for free?” Bebe’s eyes lit up. “Grandpa, give it to us as a gift.”

“Hey, I’m just loaning this to you for a single use.” Beirut said hurriedly. “This medallion was given to me by the Sovereign himself. In the past, when I casually roamed throughout the countless planes, I relied on this toy. Otherwise, no matter how much money I might have, I wouldn’t be able to afford all those teleportations. I’m only giving it to you for a single use. After you use it, you have to return it to me. In the future, if you need it again, I can loan it to you again.”

Bebe couldn’t help but pout.

Clearly, he was unhappy at how ‘stingy’ his grandfather was.

“Thank you, Lord Beirut.” Linley said hurriedly.

“Haha…” Beirut laughed. “Once you reach the Yulan continent, if there’s anything you need, feel free to come to the Forest of Darkness to look for me. My clone has remained in the Forest of Darkness this entire time.”

“Clone?” Linley was surprised.

Beirut laughed and nodded.

Linley couldn’t help but feel rather surprised…because the ‘Beirut’ he had met in the Yulan continent looked absolutely identical to this one, in both aura and clothing. Was the ‘Beirut’ which he had met the person in front of him now…or the clone that was currently in the Forest of Darkness?

“I’m giving this medallion to you. Don’t lose it.” Beirut said solemnly, then tossed it to Bebe.

Bebe caught it. “Don’t worry. How can I lose it?”

On this trip back to the Yulan continent, Linley’s family of three and Bebe’s family of three headed out together. On the second day after they acquired the medallion, Linley’s group of six headed directly towards Ironknife Gorge.

Ironknife Gorge. The teleportation formation for the Bloodridge Continent was located here.

Linley’s group flew over, and saw Ironknife Gorge from far away. Ironknife Gorge was an extremely easy-to-recognize landmark, but of course, what sealed its status was the large number of patrolling Bloodridge Soldiers which surrounded the area.

“Newcomers, halt!” The Bloodridge Soldiers called out loudly.

Linley’s group immediately landed, and the leader of the Bloodridge Soldiers, a man with short, golden, metallic-looking hair swept Linley’s group with his icy gaze, then barked, “Why have you come to Ironknife Gorge?”

“We are going to return to a material plane through the teleportation portal.” Linley said.

The golden-haired man couldn’t help but be surprised. Quite a few people passed through the portal to the other Higher Planes and Divine Planes, since the price was much cheaper, but returning to a material plane? The price was terrifyingly high.

“Oh. Then come with me.” The golden-haired man led the way forward.

Linley’s group of six immediately followed after the Bloodridge Soldier, heading deeper into Ironknife Gorge. Moments later, Linley’s group arrived at the castle situated at the peak of Ironknife Gorge, where the teleportation array was located. The magic formation which formed the teleportation portal was identical to the one Linley had seen when he had arrived in the Infernal Realm.

“There’s actually six of you!”

There were quite a few Bloodridge Soldiers present. One of them weighed Linley’s group with his gaze. “Three Highgods, one God, one Demigod, one Saint. According to the rules…returning to a material plane will cost each Highgod one trillion inkstones, and each Highgod can bring ten Gods with them…”

Linley, hearing this, was badly shocked.

He finally understood why it was that almost no Deities had returned to the Yulan continent, despite the passage of so many years. This price was too extravagant. A trillion inkstones…that was most likely the entire networth of most Seven Star Fiends. There was no way an ordinary Highgod could possibly afford it.

“So in total, you need to pay three trilli…uh…” The Bloodridge Warrior only finished half his sentence before seeing the medallion in Bebe’s hands.

“Hurry up and activate the transportation magic array.” Bebe said calmly.

“Yes!” The surrounding Bloodridge Soldiers, seeing the medallion, instantly stood up ramrod straight, then quickly flew to the various parts of the array, starting to activate it. Suddenly, one of them turned to look at the group. “Milords, where are you heading to?”

“The Yulan continent plane.” Linley said.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 18, Highgod – Chapter 5, Back to the Yulan Continent!

A cold, desolate wind swept across the world, carrying countless shards of ice and snow and hurling them randomly about. Within this icy world, multiple icebergs rose into the skies. After countless years of being ‘carved’ by the freezing wind, the icebergs had become completely smooth. If one stared into the surface of the icebergs, one could even see one’s reflections.

Within one of the tall icebergs.

Eleven mystical hexagram-shaped magic formations were set here, and next to them, not far away, was a house of ice. Currently, an old man with a white beard and white robes was walking out from within the house of ice, his blue eyes sweeping through the surrounding area. “It’s so rare to encounter someone, here in the Arctic Icecap! In recent years, the Saints that have come here to the Arctic Icecap are fewer and fewer in number. It seems I should go on a trip and roam the Yulan continent as well.”

This person was Hodan, the Planar Overseer of the Yulan Plane.

Just as Hodan was preparing to fly away, suddenly…

Hodan couldn’t help but turn and look. He saw that one of the eleven magic arrays suddenly began to glow with light. Rays of light rose into the heavens in an eye-catching manner, seeming so illusory and dreamlike. Hodan couldn’t help but be greatly shocked. “The Infernal Realm. Someone is coming from the Infernal Realm back to the Yulan Plane, a material plane?”

Hodan knew exactly how astonishing the teleportation fee was. Even most Seven Star Fiends probably wouldn’t be willing to pay for such a trip.

Originally, his clan’s forces had sent out a group of people led by Sadista. Amongst that group, Sadista was the only Highgod present. Because of the cost of the teleportation fee, and how expensive it was to teleport a Highgod, a certain number of Gods and Demigods who teleported alongside the Highgod would be permitted to come for free.

That time, when his clan had sent Sadista and the others, they had spent a trillion inkstones!

“I wonder which wealthy, extravagant person it is.” Hodan wondered to himself. He unconsciously bowed from the waist. How would Hodan dare to be disrespectful to a figure who came from the Infernal Realm to the Yulan Plane? Although Hodan bowed, he still looked carefully into the magic array. He wanted very much to know who this person was.

Blurry rays of light formed, slowly coalescing into six figures.

The six figures solidified, and the light of the array faded away.

“Lin…Linley!” Hodan stared with disbelief at the six figures before him.

“Hodan, it’s been nearly two thousand years since I saw you. You look the same as always.” Linley laughed calmly.

Hodan swept Linley’s group with his gaze, shock in his heart. “There are three amongst these six whom I cannot sense the auras of at all. There’s actually three of them who are Highgods. Based on the teleportation fee…they spent three trillion inkstones.” Hodan was terrified by this figure. “Linley’s only been in the Infernal Realm for two millennia. How did he become so powerful?”

More than two centuries ago, the Reinales clan and the rest of the eight great clans had ceased their struggle against the Four Divine Beasts clan.

But Hodan was just a minor figure of the Reinales clan, and was assigned here as the Planar Overseer. He didn’t know too much regarding the situation of the clan in the Infernal Realm. Naturally, he didn’t understand…what sort of status Linley now had! If he knew that Linley was an Elder of the Azure Dragon clan, Hodan probably would have been stunned.

“Lord Linley, you, on the other hand, are far more powerful than before.” Hodan was very respectful. He was just a God; how would he dare to be anything but respectful?

Linley turned to look at the endless world of ice and snow. The vast world was frozen and desolate, but Linley felt warmth in his heart. Because this was his home!

“Wade, this is the Arctic Icecap!” Linley clearly was rather excited. “The Arctic Icecap of the Yulan Plane! The Yulan Plane…my homeland! After two thousand years, I’ve finally returned! Finally returned, haha…” Linley was so excited that he couldn’t help but laugh loudly.

Delia’s eyes were moist as well. She was weeping from joy.

“We’re back. I wonder how my Leon clan is doing. If my older brother is doing well or not.” Delia was incomparably excited.

In the Infernal Realm, nearly two thousand years of time had passed. But the longer they had stayed in the Infernal Realm, the more they had longed for their homeland.

“So this is Father’s homeland?” Wade looked everywhere, also quite curious.

“Not even close. The Yulan continent is to the south.” Linley laughed. “Come. Let’s go to the Yulan continent. Hodan, we’ll leave now.” Laughing, Linley summoned a surge of earth-type divine power, sweeping them all up to fly away alongside him at high speed, departing from the Arctic Icecap and flying towards the Yulan continent.

As for Hodan, he stared into the distance as Linley left. “That year in the past, I kept on feeling as though Linley was a genius. But who would have imagined…in less than two thousand years, he would have returned from the Infernal Realm. Terrifying. Terrifying!”

To be able to return from the Infernal Realm was a proof of power. How could ordinary Highgods possess a fortune of a trillion inkstones?

Flying was restricted and cumbersome in the Infernal Realm. Upon returning to a material realm, Linley felt his flying speed rise dramatically, and he was now ten times faster than when he had been in the Infernal Realm. He used his divine earth power to wrap everyone up, so as to help Ina, Wade, and the others move more rapidly as well.

After flying a short period of time, Linley saw, off in the distance, the sinuous, coiling northern shorelines off the North Sea.

“Boss, we’re at the Yulan continent!” Bebe called out excitedly.

“So this is the Yulan continent?” Ina looked around curiously.

Linley and Delia’s faces were slightly reddened. Clearly, both were very excited. It had been two thousand years since they had left, after all. Delia turned to look towards Linley. “Linley, where should we go first? To the Forest of Darkness? Or to Dragonblood Castle?”

Linley let out a low sigh.

“It’s been so many years since I’ve paid my respects to Father. Let’s go to Wushan township.” For some reason, Linley missed Wushan township the most. Perhaps it was because that was where his roots were. His youth had been spent there. That was where he had met Grandpa Doehring. And that was where he had met Bebe.

“Wushan township. Right. Let’s go to Wushan township.” Bebe said as well.

“I was born in Wushan township.” Bebe turned, explaining to Ina and Nisse.

Wushan township was a place of tremendous meaning for both Linley and Bebe. That was the start of their life.

“Right. To Wushan township. I want to see it.” Ina said jubilantly.

“Wushan township is probably covered with magical beasts.” Linley sighed. “After nearly two thousand years…I wonder what it has become like.” Two thousand years was too long a period of time, after all. It was enough for many things to occur.

“Father, I want to see our ancestral manor as well.” Wade was very eager as well.

“Then, let’s go.”

Linley immediately led everyone directly to the western side of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, pressing forward towards Wushan township at a fast pace. Given that he was now a Highgod, he flew hundreds of times faster than in the past, when he was a Saint. Flying through this material plane, where the restrictive forces were much weaker, Linley quickly arrived at the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts.

“When I was young, when I travelled from the Holy Union to the O’Brien Empire, I spent more than half a year. But now, from the North Sea to here, I only spent as much time as is needed to drink a cup of water…oh, and there’s Wushan township!” Just as Linley finished his words, he arrived in the air above Wushan township, emerging from the mountains.

But in the air above Wushan township, Linley’s group came to a pause, puzzled.

“Uncle, you said there must be many magical beasts here. But when we flew over here from the mountains, we saw many buildings and many people.” Ina didn’t understand. “Also, is this Wushan township? Why is it so densely populated? There has to be tens of thousands of people here.”

“Right. This is the former Wushan township.” Linley was certain about this.

As a Highgod, how could he be mistaken about the geography of such a place?

“Look, that’s Mt. Wushan over there! Mt. Wushan is still there. So this is Wushan township.” Linley pointed to the east, where there was indeed a large mountain. Although nearly two thousand years had passed, Mt. Wushan hadn’t changed much. The western side of Wushan township had, however. Because…

There was an extremely beautiful educational institute built here, with an astonishing number of people.

This institute, in terms of size, was far larger than the former Wushan township.

“What’s going on here?” Linley was completely confused.

Delia was puzzled as well. “In the past…this place should have been covered with magical beasts. We just flew past the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. We saw so many buildings on the way over. Look…there are humans in other places nearby as well, but no magical beasts.” After that ‘Apocalypse Day’, the Holy Union and the Dark Alliance had much of their territory taken over by magical beasts.

However…

After nearly two thousand years, this area was actually reclaimed by humanity.

“Two thousand years. Too many things have occurred.” Linley sighed. “Come. Let’s go to my ancestral manor.” As Linley spoke, he flew forward.

Although Linley’s group of six flew through the air, the people below didn’t notice them at all, partially because they were too high up, and also because Linley used elemental energy to form a cloud around them. Linley slowly flew forward while looking down below carefully. Linley’s vision was extremely good…

And he instantly found the centermost location of the institute; his ancestral manor!

“My ancestral manor remains standing?” Linley was surprised.

“Boss, the ancestral manor is actually in perfect shape. In fact, it seems to be in much better shape than it was in the past.” Bebe said in surprise as well.

The other areas in this enormous institute were newly constructed, but Linley’s former ancestral manor had been preserved and even renovated. Although it had been only two millenia, due to long-term caretaking, it wasn’t damaged in the slightest. Linley and Bebe, seeing it, couldn’t help but feel excited.

They had so many beautiful memories from this place.

“Let’s go down.” Linley said softly.

And then, with a ‘swish’ sound, their six shadows flashed through the skies, landing directly within the courtyard of the ancestral manor. Because they were too fast, they dropped down in less than the twinkling of an eye from the skies. There was no way ordinary people could possibly catch Linley’s movements with their eyes.

Within the manor.

“Everything is fine…everything is fine.” Linley stood there in the courtyard, looking around carefully. Suddenly, he saw that there was a chair in the courtyard. His eyes instantly turned red. “This chair is still…?” Linley couldn’t believe it. Staring at the chair, Linley’s memories returned…to when his father, Hogg, had often reclined on this chair, reading books.

Linley took a deep breath.

He could instantly tell that the chair had been recreated in that style; the original chair, after two thousand years, had probably rotted away long ago.

“Wade, this is the chair which your grandfather often sat in.” Linley pointed towards the chair as he spoke. “And there…that place. I used to study and learn culture from your grandfather there.” Linley still remembered how, every day, he intensively flipped through books and studied, and often had to go through Hogg’s strict tests.

“Wow…” Wade stared, wide-eyed, at every location.

“This is the place where I used to sleep. Bebe lived with me as well.” Linley pointed to a nearby room.

Bebe couldn’t help but grin as well.

“Come. In the back yard is the ancestral hall of our clan. In the past, Bebe was born in a courtyard near the ancestral hall.” Linley’s face was all smiles, and Bebe laughed as well. “That year, the Boss seduced me by cooking ducks and wild hares for me. Poor me. I was so young and naïve back then.”

Linley and Bebe laughed as they headed towards the inner courtyard.

As they walked through the ancestral manor, Linley and Bebe’s hearts were filled with warmth.

Right at this moment…

“Eh? Someone is coming.” Linley, Bebe, and the others moved away, instantly scurrying into the rear courtyard.

Creaaak! The door to the ancestral manor swung open.

An old man led dozens of youngsters and youths into this room. “Everyone, this is the place. It was here that the mighty genius grandmaster sculptor, also a genius warrior-magus double-expert, also the founding emperor of the Baruch Empire, and also the master of the sacred place ‘Dragonblood Castle’, used to live in his youth. The legendary Deity, Linley Baruch. Be careful. You are only allowed to look, not to touch.”

The old man explained. “This room was the place where Grandmaster Linley used to live.”

“Wow…Grandmaster Linley used to live here. It’d be so awesome if I could go sleep there as well.” A youth said softly, his eyes bright.

“Hmph.”

The old man couldn’t help but frown as he swept these students with his gaze. “Pay attention. This is the ancestral manor of Grandmaster Linley. During your studies here, this will be the only chance you have to come visit. In the future, you won’t have another chance! Enough. Let’s go to the study now. That’s the place where Grandmaster Linley used to read when he was young.”

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 18, Highgod – Chapter 6, After Two Thousand Years, Even Seas Can Become Plains!

Within the rear courtyard of the ancestral manor, Linley listened to the voice coming from the front, rather amazed.

“Boss.” Bebe laughed as he looked at Linley, then gave him a big thumbs up.

Wade and Ina looked worshipfully towards Linley. Ina even repeated, ‘The mighty genius grandmaster sculptor, also a genius warrior-magus double-expert, also the founding emperor of the Baruch Empire, and also the master of the sacred place ‘Dragonblood Castle’…the legendary Deity, Linley Baruch!’ Uncle, you have so many titles. You are amazing.”

“There’s one missing, actually. The Dragonblood Warrior of the Supreme Warrior clans!” Bebe grinned.

Linley could only laugh.

Those visiting students in the front courtyard only viewed some areas in the front, and then left in a group. Clearly, the rear courtyard of the ancestral manor was not open to these students. It made sense….the rear courtyard had always been in a state of disrepair. Only the ancestral hall had always remained protected.

But how could these ordinary students be allowed to view the ancestral hall?

Of course, the true ancestral hall of the Baruch clan had already been moved to Dragonblood Castle, and so there wasn’t anything within the ‘ancestral hall’ in this ancestral manor.

“Just now, I believe they mentioned the words, ‘sacred place’ and ‘Dragonblood Castle’. So Dragonblood Castle has become a ‘sacred place’.” Linley let out a moved sigh.

Delia chuckled, “It has quite a few Deities. If it isn’t a sacred place, what is it?”

“Father.” Ina said to Bebe. “Where were you born?” Laughing, Bebe led Ina and Nisse to the side, while Linley headed towards the ancestral hall, with Delia and Wade following him as he pushed open the door to the hall and went into it.

Creaaaak. The door opened, and Linley carefully inspected the ancestral hall.

Compared to the past, the ancestral hall was virtually unchanged. Clearly, it had been maintained very well. But of course, the many spirit tablets that had been placed here had been moved long ago to Dragonblood Castle. The counter was completely empty.

Linley stared at the ancestral hall. His mind thought back to the first time his father, Hogg, had introduced the background of their Baruch clan. “The Four Supreme Warriors actually represent four ancient clans. Our Baruch clan is the ancient clan which contains the exalted bloodline of the Dragonblood Warriors!”

In the ancestral hall, his father had explained these things to him excitedly. This seemed to have happened just yesterday.

But now…

His father was dead!

“Father. Do you know? I’ve gone to the Infernal Realm, and met with our clan leader, ‘Baruch’. Ryan. Hazard. And the other ancestors of the clan as well…they are all doing very well, very well!” Linley felt sourness in his heart. His father had always hoped for his clan to return to glory. His clan had indeed flourished, but…his father would never be able to see it again.

Wade and Delia stood there quietly, just watching, not daring to disturb Linley.

Linley suddenly frowned and turned. “Someone is coming?”

“Who are you people!” A voice rang out from not too far away.

“Let’s go take a look.” Linley, Wade, and Delia all walked outside. By the time they reached the outside, they saw that a middle-aged man dressed in gray magus robes was staring at Bebe, Nisse, and Ina. When Linley’s group walked out, the middle-aged man said, stunned, “There’s actually six of you?”

This middle-aged man was the chancellor of this institute, the Saint-level expert, Hamelyn [Ha’mu’lin].

Chancellor Hamelyn was already a peak Saint. While he just so happened to walk past the courtyard, he sensed the presence of outsiders within the ancestral hall. Normally, it was forbidden for outsiders to enter this hall, and so Hamelyn naturally shouted at them. Actually, Hamelyn had only sensed Ina’s presence; he hadn’t sensed the other five.

He had thought there was only one person present. Who would have imagined that there were actually six!

Clearly, the other five were more powerful than him!

“Who are you?” Linley looked at him.

Hamelyn said composedly, “This is a core area of my Linley Institute. How did you come in? As for me, I am this institute’s chancellor, Hamelyn!”

“Hey, what did you say this institute is called?” Bebe immediately said.

Linley was badly startled upon hearing this. It seemed as though this Hamelyn had just said the words, ‘Linley Institute’.

Hanelyn, puzzled, looked at these six. “What? Can it be that you’ve never even heard of the Linley Institute, one of the three great institutes of the continent? Can it be that you didn’t see the sculpture of Grandmaster Linley which lies right past the main gates to our institute?” This was common knowledge, but the looks on the faces of Linley’s group did indeed make Hamelyn feel puzzled.

“Linley Institute?” Wade’s eyes widened, and he turned to look at Linley. “Father, did you hear that? The Linley Institute.”

Linley was speechless.

Although Hamelyn had seen the sculpture of Linley, first of all, the sculpture wasn’t at the grandmaster level of accuracy, and second of all, compared to when he was a Saint, Linley’s aura had completely changed. Thus, Hamelyn didn’t make any mental connection at all between the person in front of him and the legend of the continent, Linley.

“We just came for a look.” Linley laughed calmly. “Enough. We will leave now.”

Linley spread out his divine earth power, including Ina and Wade within it. An earthen yellow light flashed, and Linley’s group of six disappeared into the horizon.

“This speed…”

Hamelyn stared, stupefied. “He’s far faster than even my teacher…and Teacher Reynolds is a Deity-level expert. Who on earth are these people?”

The Baruch Empire had existed for nearly two thousand years now, and the holiest site in the empire was Dragonblood Castle. The successive generations of emperors, upon giving up the throne, almost all moved to live here at Dragonblood Castle. Dragonblood Castle had quite a few Deities, and also quite a few Saint-level magical beasts who guarded it.

Nobody dared to act wildly in Dragonblood Castle.

Dragonblood Castle had expanded long ago. By now, it was many times larger than it had been in the past. The ‘Adamantine Garden’ of Dragonblood Castle was where Wharton lived. Currently, in a grassy area of the Adamantine Garden, two young-looking men were seated in the meditative position, facing each other while drinking wine and chatting.

“Taylor, what? You don’t want another woman??”

“Uncle Wharton, I’m tired.” The thick-eyebrowed, muscular youth was Tyalor. Although nearly two thousand years had passed, Taylor’s appearance had barely changed compared to the past. Right now, Taylor was sighing. “Uncle Wharton, we have eternal life, but our spouses? We have to just watch as our spouses age, then die. This sort of feeling is too painful.”

In the past two millennia, Taylor had taken two women as his wives in succession.

But these two wives had both died of old age, filling Taylor with the utmost of pain.

“Alas.” Wharton let out a low sigh as well. “I still remember how, that year, my big brother, for the sake of letting me marry Nina, did everything he could, even going so far as to duel Olivier in the arena. After a few centuries, even Nina was unable to resist the flow of time…and it’s been nearly two thousand years since my big brother went to the Infernal Realm. Nina died more than a millennium ago.” Wharton laughed at himself. “Sometimes, eternal life is a painful thing.”

Only upon becoming a Saint would one possess eternal life.

But becoming a Saint required talent and luck. To most commoners, it was too difficult.

“Gates and the others were lucky.” Wharton let out a sigh. Of the five Barker brothers, Barker and Gates had married Rebecca and her sister, both of whom had very pure souls and thus were extremely suited and talented for training in Necromantic magic. After a hundred or so years, they had reached the Saint-level.

Only when both members in a couple were both in possession of eternal lifespan would things be ideal. If only one side possessed an eternal lifespan, then the result would be watching the other slowly age and die. This was indeed agonizing.

“Uncle Wharton, as I see it, we should go to the Infernal Realm sometime as well.” Taylor said.

“Go to the Infernal Realm?”

Wharton nodded slightly. “In the Yulan Plane, although we have a great enmity against the Odin Empire, there’s nothing we can do. It can be said that there is nothing holding us here…after some more time passes, let’s go visit the Infernal Realm. It has been a long time since I’ve seen Big Bro. I truly wish to see him.”

“I want to see Father as well.” Taylor said softly.

“WHARTON! TAYLOR!” A voice echoed in the minds of Wharton and Taylor.

Wharton and Taylor seemed to have both been struck by lightning, staring at each other in disbelief. At the same time, they too sensed a powerful aura spreading out from the war training grounds in the front courtyard of Dragonblood Castle. Although this aura was powerful, it had such a familiar feeling to it. This was Linley’s aura!

“Swoosh!” “Swoosh!”

Wharton and Taylor simultaneously transformed into streaks of lightning, flying out at high speed.

Dragonblood Castle. The war training grounds.

Linley’s group of six was standing here. Linley was actively emanating his aura while greeting one familiar figure after another through his divine sense. However, when he used his divine sense to investigate, Linley discovered that many familiar figures of the past had disappeared, such as Grandpa Hiri, Uncle Hillman, Wharton’s wife Nina, Jenne…

“Are they all dead?” Linley wondered to himself.

Just because they weren’t at Dragonblood Castle didn’t necessarily mean that they were dead. But Linley, too, understood that the lifespan of normal humans who didn’t reach the Saint-level would generally reach at most three or four centuries. Five centuries was the utmost limit. Only by reaching the Saint-level would one possess eternal life.

One figure after another flew over at high speed from places throughout Dragonblood Castle.

“FATHER!” A deep voice rang out. Linley’s eyes lit up. It was Taylor.

“BIG BRO!” It was Wharton.

“Lord Linley.” The incredibly muscular Barker.

A large group of people flew over at high speed, and in an instant, nearly a hundred had gathered here in the training grounds. Linley only recognized less than half of these people, and didn’t recognize the majority. However, upon seeing all those familiar faces, Linley couldn’t help but feel excited. These were his comrades, his friends, his family!

“Big Bro!” Wharton immediately gave Linley a tight, vicious bear hug.

“Wharton.” Linley hugged his little brother as well, unable to refrain from feeling regretful.

“MASTER!” Linley turned to look. There was a man dressed in a long black robe. It was the transformed Haeru. Haeru was staring at Linley in excitement as well. So many years had gone by. As a King amongst magical beasts, Haeru felt extremely grateful towards Linley for what he had given him.

Wharton and Linley released each other. Wharton was completely unable to suppress his excitement. “Big Bro, I really didn’t expect you’d be back. We were just talking about going to the Infernal Realm to look for you. Big Bro…there are many people here you don’t recognize, right? Let me introduce them…this is Arnold’s son…”

Wharton, in one breath, introduced more than ten important people.

These people all stared at Linley, their eyes filled with shock, awe, and veneration. It was like they were staring at a titan from legends.

“Wade, come, meet your uncle. Also, this is your older brother, Taylor…” Linley was incomparably overjoyed right now.

Right at this moment…

“THIRD BRO!” A voice suddenly rang out from behind.

Linley turned to look.

It was a Demigod, dressed in a long black robe. Those intelligent eyes looked the same as they always had, only they appeared slightly older than before. This was the man who had been one of Linley’s closest friends…his Fourth Bro. Reynolds.

“Fourth Bro.” Linley immediately went to welcome him, tightly embracing his ‘Fourth Bro’, Reynolds.

“Third Bro.” Reynolds couldn’t help but shed tears as well.

They hadn’t met for nearly two thousand years. He had thought that they would never be able to meet again. Now that they saw each other, how could he not feel excited?

“Third Bro, it’s been so many years.” Reynolds was so excited, his entire body was trembling.

“Right.” Linley nodded repeatedly as well.

Linley immediately thought of Yale and George. He hurriedly asked, “Right, Fourth Bro, where’s the Boss and Second Bro? How are the two of them?” Linley had a hint of hope in his heart. After all, Yale and George were very talented as well. Maybe…maybe they had reached the Saint-level as well.

The chance was low, but Linley held out hope in his heart.

“All dead.” Reynolds voice sank.

Linley was stunned.

“Dead…” Linley sighed.

Actually, Linley had mentally prepared himself in advance for this return. After all, he hadn’t come back in nearly two thousand years. Anyone not at the Saint-level would age and die, just from the passage of time. Becoming a Saint was extremely hard, after all. In the past, it was only because Delia had received Beirut’s gift, that divine spark, that she was able to become a Saint and then a Deity.

In truth, only a Saint should have been able to fuse with a divine spark. As for those who were not yet Saints, divine sparks weren’t of much use.

The reason why Delia’s training speed had risen so rapidly didn’t have anything to do with the divine spark itself. In truth, it was due to some special materials which coated that divine spark!

Because…

That divine spark was no ordinary divine spark.

It must be understood that wind-type divine sparks should emanate a faint green aura. But on the day of the wedding, the divine spark which Delia received had no color at all. It was very ordinary! Actually, that divine spark was something which Beirut had refined and reforged after using up quite a few treasures. The core of that spark was a divine spark, but the outside layer was of some precious materials which allowed Delia to more easily sense elemental essences.

And thus, she was able to quickly rise in power.

“However, they didn’t die of age.” Reynolds said in a low voice.

Linley was stunned. “What?”

“Big Bro, it’s best for us to go inside to talk about this.” Wharton said hurriedly.

Linley stared at Reynolds, who let out a sigh as well. “Third Bro, let’s go into the hall to slowly discuss this.”

Linley felt that things were a bit strange, but he tamped down his disquiet and questions, following Reynolds and Wharton into the castle, to the hall for discussing major events. Only twenty or so people actually entered the hall.

The other juniors were stopped and kept outside.

Within the great hall.

Linley’s family, Bebe’s family, Wharton, Taylor, Sasha, Zassler, and the Barker brothers were all present.

“Fourth Bro, what happened, exactly? You said the Boss and Second Bro didn’t die normal deaths?” Linley couldn’t help but speak out.

“Right.”

Reynolds said in a low voice, “Third Bro, let us finish. Don’t grow impatient. You have to be calm!”

“Hurry up.” Linley couldn’t endure any longer.

Reynolds nodded. “Third Bro. At present, in the Yulan continent, there are only two Empires remaining. One is the Baruch Empire, while the other is the Odin Empire. As for the land west of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, where the Holy Union and the Dark Alliance used to rule, that has devolved into various duchies and kingdoms that aren’t worth mentioning.”

“Odin Empire?” Linley frowned.

“Right. The former O’Brien Empire, Yulan Empire, Rhine Empire, and Rohault Empire, as well as the great plains of the far east, have all been unified into the Odin Empire.” Reynolds said.

Linley couldn’t help but feel startled.

This Odin Empire took up more than half of the entire Yulan continent.

“Actually, not long after you left, Lord Beirut sent us a message through his divine sense, informing all Deities of some information. After that, those Deities gave up their plans of entering the Necropolis of the Gods and left to the Higher Planes or Divine Planes.” Reynolds said slowly. “As for the Yulan Empire and the O’Brien Empire, they were restored. Second Bro, ‘George’, became a pillar and an important official of the Yulan Empire, while Boss Yale worked hard for the Dawson Conglomerate…with our help, the Dawson Conglomerate truly absorbed the other two major trading unions, become the number one trading union of the Yulan continent.”

Linley just listened quietly.

“But…our calm and peaceful lives lasted for just two centuries. And then, a person appeared!”

Reynolds said in a low voice, “His name is Odin. In just a single short year, he unified the various other Empires, and even wanted to annihilate our Baruch Empire. But when he attacked…fortunately, Lord Beirut appeared and stopped him with a rebuke. Ever since then, he’s not invaded so much as a single inch of the territory of our Baruch Empire. Based on the information we received from Lord Beirut, this Odin was also one of the five Kings of Gebados, and was nicknamed the ‘Vile King’.”

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 18, Highgod – Chapter 7, Parting Words

“One of the five Kings?” Linley couldn’t help but narrow his eyes. Each of the five Kings of the Gebados Planar Prison was a supreme expert. Bluefire was one of the five Kings. Since Odin was titled the ‘Vile King’, on par with Bluefire, then Odin’s power was definitely at an astonishing level as well.

“The deaths of the Boss and of Second Bro have to do with him?” Linley couldn’t help but ask.

“Yes, Third Bro! You know that our Second Bro, George, was very talented in magic. In addition, he was fairly diligent in his training…a century after you left, he reached the Saint-level. He should have had eternal life, but…”

Reynolds’ face turned dark. Clearly, this filled his heart with boundless rage. However, Reynolds forced it down, so that he could continue to speak. “The first time Odin attacked, he struck at the imperial capital of the Yulan Empire. With just a flip of his hand…that Odin destroyed half of the imperial capital. In addition, he had a group of subordinates, all of whom were Deities!”

“Odin issued an order. Everyone within the imperial capital at or above the Saint level was to be killed. No one was to be spared!”

“Second Bro, ‘George’, was killed there.” Reynolds continued to speak, but as he did, his tears began to fall.

Although Linley had mentally prepared himself, he still felt his head go dizzy. He still clearly remembered how of the four brothers, George was amiable, good-tempered, and yet always willing to share in the shouldering of any burdens. “Second Bro died, just like that?” Linley couldn’t believe it. George, who had always had such distant, lofty goals, had died?

How could Linley swallow his rage, after his close friend had been killing like this?

“Odin…must die.” Linley’s face was like iron.

“Big Bro.” Wharton said hurriedly.

“Third Bro.” Reynolds hurriedly called out as well.

“Reynolds, you, you said…” A trembling voice rang out. Delia, standing next to Linley, stared at Reynolds nervously, her eyes filled with fear and worry. “You said that everyone at or above the Saint level in the imperial capital was killed? What about my elder brother? How is my elder brother?”

In the Leon clan, aside from Delia, the only person to reach the Saint level was Dixie.

Over the course of two thousand years, those previous family members of hers had turned to dust long ago.

Delia truly hoped to see her elder brother, Dixie, on this return. The genius elder brother who had always taken care of her.

“Dixie?” Reynolds was stunned.

“Right, my brother! Is my brother still alive?” Delia’s entire body was trembling.

“Delia…” Linley couldn’t help but take Delia’s hand in his own. He could clearly sense how her hand was shaking.

“Dixie is dead!” Wharton said. “The ten Saints who were at the imperial capital were all killed, and Dixie was one of them! Odin and his subordinates were too vicious, and he even had Highgods serving him. There was no way such a powerful force could be resisted at all. How could any Saints flee?”

Delia’s face instantly turned pale.

“My brother died?” Delia lowered her head, two streams of clear tears falling down her face.

“Delia..” Linley said hurriedly.

Delia suddenly opened her eyes, grinding her teeth. “Odin. I must kill him!” Delia turned to look at Linley. “Linley…I must kill him, I must!!!”

“We must. We must.” Linley felt his own killing intent surge as well.

“No, don’t.” Taylor was absolutely frantic. “Mother, Father, don’t go! This Odin is truly too powerful. Back then, Odin even attacked Dragonblood Castle. It took Lord Beirut making an appearance to stop him. Lord Beirut said…that even in the Higher Planes, this Odin would be considered a top-tier expert.”

“Right.” Reynold said frantically as well. “Third Bro, no matter what, don’t put yourself at risk.”

“I remember Lord Beirut said something about a Seven Star Fiend. That this Odin could be considered a Seven Star Fiend.” Sasha said hurriedly as well.

It was evident that they clearly remembered the scene of how Lord Beirut had appeared when Odin had attacked. They, too, were filled with the utmost of hatred towards Odin, but Lord Beirut had solemnly warned them of how powerful this Odin was, and that they would die if they fought him.

“Seven Star Fiend?” Linley’s gaze flashed with cold light.

The nearby Bebe said angrily, “Even if he is an Asura, he will still die!”

Reynolds and the others didn’t understand the meaning of this. They didn’t understand what the terms ‘Seven Star fiend’ and ‘Asura’ entailed.

“Right. Boss Yale?” Linley suddenly thought of Yale.

Yale was a member of the Dawson Conglomerate. Odin had unified an empire, but what did Yale have to do with that?

“Third Bro, first calm down. Don’t act rashly out of anger.” Reynolds said hurriedly. As Reynolds and Wharton saw it, their biggest concern was that Linley would go insane and go try and make trouble for Odin. As they saw it…although Linley was a genius, he had only trained for two millennia, while that Odin was someone who was far more monstrously powerful than even the now-deceased Adkins.

“Fine. I won’t act impetuously. Speak, hurry.” Although Linley said these words, rage was blazing within his chest.

The death of Second Bro as well as that of Delia’s elder brother…they had to be avenged!

“Fine. I’ll speak.” Reynolds shut his eyes. He took a deep breath before opening them again, but tears began to uncontrollably appear within them nonetheless. “When Boss Yale was young, he didn’t work hard in his training, and he was also the least talented of us four brothers…and so he became stuck as an eighth rank magus. However, this didn’t prevent his becoming as the Chairman of the Conglomerate.”

Linley nodded slightly.

He remembered that Yale had once said that he dreamed of becoming the Chairman of the Dawson Conglomerate and swallowing up the other two trading guilds, becoming the single largest trading guild of the entire Yulan continent.

“That year, although the Yulan Empire and the O’Brien Empire were restored to power, they had too few experts and were too weak. In the entire Yulan continent…only the Baruch Empire could be considered a powerhouse.” Reynolds said slowly. “With our help, the Dawson Conglomerate naturally expanded nonstop, moving as easily as a fish does in water. The other two trading guilds were squeezed and nibbled down. In the end, they completely collapsed and were swallowed up by the Dawson Conglomerate. Boss Yale accomplished his goal and was extremely happy. Myself and Second Bro, along with Boss Yale, even had a special get together and celebration for this event.”

A drifting look was in Reynolds eyes.

“That year, the three of us celebrated together. We even sighed that it was unfortunate that you, Third Bro, weren’t here. Otherwise, the four of us would’ve been able to have a good get-together.”

Linley couldn’t help but feel a deeply buried part of his heart tremble. It was the deep recesses of his heart, where the love he bore for his brothers lay.

“When the three of us were together, everything was fine. But…after we separated and went about our own business, not long afterwards the ‘Vile King’ Odin appeared. He first showed off his brutal, domineering, unstoppable power by forcefully uniting the various empires into his ‘Odin Empire’. Reynolds said in a low voice. “But Odin wasn’t satisfied with just that. He took a fancy to the Dawson Conglomerate! Although the Dawson Conglomerate was just a merchant conglomerate, as the largest one in the continent…it had astonishingly great power secreted throughout the continent.”

Linley’s face became ugly to behold.

In the past, when the Dawson Conglomerate was just one of three major trading guilds, it was already very powerful. By the time it swallowed up the other two…Linley could imagine how formidable the hidden power of the Dawson Conglomerate was.

“One of Odin’s clones trains in the Edicts of Death.” Reynolds said somberly. “He easily took control over several major empires because he was able to spiritually dominate quite a few critical members of the various empires, and so he was able to easily unify the nations. As for Boss Yale…his soul was dominated as well.”

Linley couldn’t help but feel pain in his heart.

Boss Yale had been dominated once in the past as well. That time, Linley had rescued Boss Yale, but…this time, he wasn’t there. Nobody was there to rescue him.

“In a short year, with Boss Yale’s cooperation, the management structure of the Dawson Conglomerate was completely changed and replaced with Odin’s people. It can be said…that aside from Boss Yale, not a single member of the Dawnson clan remained, out of all the important, high-level members of the Dawson Conglomerate. They were all replaced by Odin’s men.” Reynolds’ voice was hoarse.

Reynolds suddenly stared at Linley, letting out a grief-stricken laugh. “Third Bro, do you know why Odin is known as the Vile King?”

Linley was stunned.

“why?” Linley said.

“Because he truly is vile! Not only does he have all sorts of evil techniques, he himself is an evil, vile person!” Reynolds was unable to control his voice. “After the Dawson Conglomerate fell under his control, that bastard actually controlled Yale and made him personally kill one member of the Dawson clan after another. These people included Boss Yale’s son, his wife, his descendants, his brothers…they all died. And Boss Yale personally killed them all.”

Linley’s heart grew cold.

“Boss Yale no longer held any more value for him, but he didn’t just kill Boss Yale. He let Boss Yale regain his mind and his freedom!” Reynolds said in a low voice.

“This…that, that bastard! He has to die!” The nearby Ina couldn’t help but growl out as well.

Linley’s face was ashen.

“When Boss Yale regained his senses, he knew what he had done. Perhaps only an extremely few members of the Dawson clan were still alive; those who were in very distant, remote regions. The central members of the clan, however…Boss Yale’s relatives…he had killed them all, sparing none. Boss Yale was in such agony, he went insane…”

Reynolds’ body was trembling slightly.

Linley already felt as though countless knives were stabbing into his heart.

“But that Odin sealed up Boss Yale’s mageforce, and then bound him and strung him up on a tree in the Odin Palace.” Reynolds sobbed, his tears pouring forth. “When bored, Odin would often go sit beneath the tree, drinking wine and enjoying the services of the palace made. When he listened to Boss Yale’s insane curses, he seemed to rather enjoy it…as though he enjoyed Boss Yale’s madness, his despair!”

Linley felt as though his head was about to explode.

Vile?

This wasn’t just ‘vile’. This was utterly perverted! Odin was a pervert!

After having stolen away the Dawson Conglomerate, which Yale had worked for all his life, he then had Yale kill his own relatives, then gave Yale his mind back! And Odin enjoyed listening to Yale’s curses, enjoyed Yale’s madness…

“When I learned this, I frantically hurried to that place.” Reynolds said bitterly. “Boss Yale barely had any life left in him. Odin was too powerful; he could’ve killed me with a single finger. So all I could do was secretly use my divine sense to enter Boss Yale’s mind and speak with him!”

“By then, Boss Yale’s mind was at the point of collapse! I am unable to imagine what sort of mental torment he must have felt during the time he had been hung up there. All I knew was that Boss Yale, ever so graceful and vigorous and carefree, was at the point of collapse.”

Linley was so angry, he could no longer speak. He just stared at Reynolds.

“When I sent out my divine sense, Boss Yale reacted, very slightly. But he just repeated the words, ‘I have sinned!’ ‘I have sinned!’” Reynolds’ voice trembled. “He begged me to kill him. He was hung there and his mageforce was sealed; he was unable to kill himself. He wanted me to kill him! To release him from it all!”

Linley’s body shook.

“I agreed.” Reynolds said in a low voice. “Boss Yale was already insane. I had never seen him like that before.”

“Before he died, Boss Yale told me that Odin was extremely strong, far more powerful than the last Highgod, Adkins. Afterwards, he said one thing to me…‘Fourth Bro, no matter what, you and Third Bro are not to avenge me. Do not try to avenge me!” Reynolds’ face was covered with tears now.

Linley just stood there, stunned.

“You and Third Bro, no matter what, are not to avenge me. Do not try to avenge me!!!”

Boss Yale’s dying shout seemed to echo in his ears. “BOOM!” Linley’s mind was utterly blank, but he felt as though an explosion had gone off within it.

“Aaaaaaah!” Linley knelt down on the ground, agonized, releasing a growling, agonized cry from his throat.

“Third Bro.” Reynolds went to go lift Linley up.

He could imagine how agonized Linley was…because when Reynolds had seen Boss Yale and what terrible shape he had been in, Reynolds was utterly agonized as well. He had even killed Yale with his own hands, so as to grant Yale release.

Linley, kneeling there on the ground, lifted his head up. His eyes were red, and his entire body was shaking. He growled out, “Odin!!! I will definitely make him go insane from agony as well! I will make him go hysterical!!! Make him die!!!” Linley’s voice seemed to have been ground out from every single tooth in his mouth.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 18, Highgod – Chapter 8, Marvelous Treasures

“Third Bro, calm down!” Reynolds immediately shouted.

“Father!” Sasha and Taylor called out in terror as well.

They were afraid that after Linley learned of this matter, he would be unable to contain his rage and go attack Odin. Wharton, Reynolds, and the others all knew what it meant to be a peak Highgod expert. This was why despite Yale dying heartbroken and furious, before his death, he had instructed that Linley and Reynolds were not to avenge him!

It wasn’t that he, Yale, didn’t want revenge. It was that he was afraid that Linley and Reynolds would die because of him as well!

“Boss, let’s go kill him.” Bebe immediately charged outwards.

Linley suddenly stretched out his right hand, snatching Bebe. Staring at him, Linley said, “Bebe, don’t be impetuous!”

“Right. Don’t be rash.” Wharton said frantically as well. “Bebe, you and my brother need to calm down first. If revenge was possible, we would’ve taken it long ago. But if we aren’t able to do so, the end result would just be that our lives are lost as well. It isn’t worth it. We have to endure. Endure!”

“Endure my ***!” Bebe roared furiously. “So what if he’s a Seven Star Fiend? Centuries ago, before the Boss made his breakthrough, he killed five Seven Star Fiends by himself, much less now! Forget Seven Star Fiend…even if that Odin is an Infernal Asura, the Boss and I don’t fear him!”

When Linley had advanced from being a God to a Highgod, his power had risen by several levels.

He now not only had a godspark weapon, he also had Sovereign’s Might to use in the event of any danger! And aside from Linley himself, Bebe’s innate divine ability, ‘Godeater’, was a monstrously powerful technique. Although Bebe wasn’t strong in his normal attacks, when executing his supreme, divine ability, his power was comparable to Beirut’s!

If Linley and Bebe joined forces…how many people could possibly stop the two of them?

“What…what did you say?” Wharton was stunned.

“Before making a breakthrough? Killed five Seven Star Fiends?” Reynolds and everyone else was stunned.

Although they didn’t know much about what a ‘Seven Star Fiend’ truly represented, based on the way Beirut had said it, they all understood that Seven Star Fiends should stand at the peak of power amongst Highgods.

“Don’t worry. I’m confident in being able to kill Odin.” Linley said in a low voice. “If Bebe and I are incapable of killing Odin…Lord Beirut probably would’ve warned me about him back when we were in the Infernal Realm.” Beirut knew exactly what had happened back here in the Yulan continent. But Beirut hadn’t said anything about it.

Linley didn’t blame Beirut for Odin having tortured Yale. After all, Beirut couldn’t possibly have his divine sense spread out every moment of every day, paying attention to everything.

Nor did Linley blame Beirut for not having killed Odin in revenge!

“The reason he didn’t kill Odin was to let me do it myself.” A killing look appeared in Linley’s eyes.

“Third Bro, you are confident in being able to kill Odin?” Reynolds looked towards Linley disbelievingly.

“Big Bro.” Wharton was stunned as well, and he looked at Linley in amazed joy.

“Completely confident.” Linley’s voice was like ice. He then turned to look at Bebe. “Bebe, this Odin is nicknamed the ‘Vile King’. He tormented Boss Yale to the point of madness, to the point where life was worse than death. How can I allow this Odin to die so easily?” Only when a person was still alive would he fear terror and despair.

Once a person died, that person would no longer feel a thing.

But how could a bit of fear be enough to cause the blazing embers of rage in Linley’s heart to subside? How could it allow Yale’s tormented soul to be at peace?

“Third Bro!” Reynolds suddenly said loudly.

Linley turned to look. Reynolds’ face was covered with tears, and in his eyes was an extremely complicated mixture of rage and delight. “Third Bro, you must avenge the Boss and Second Bro! You must! Let their wronged souls, in the Netherworld, find peace!” Reynolds had wanted to take revenge for all these years, but he didn’t have the ability to do so.

He wasn’t willing to accept this!

But all he could do was hate himself for his inability!

What could he do? With the little bit of power he possessed…he would probably die before even reaching Odin.

“Get revenge!” Reynolds stared at Linley, placing his hopes upon Linley’s shoulders.

“Don’t worry.” Linley suddenly turned to stare at Wharton. “Wharton, immediately go make some arrangements. Have all of our intelligence reports on Odin be sent over, including those regarding his subordinates. Have everything sent over.”

“Alright.” Wharton hurriedly went to make the arrangements.

Turning his head, Linley stared at the nearby Delia, whose face was covered in tears as well. In a low voice he said, “Delia, don’t worry. That Odin will definitely die, and his death will be agonizing. I swear it!”

The Baruch Empire had been founded nearly two thousand years ago, and so its intelligence agents were now spread throughout the entire Yulan continent. They even know what was going on within the Odin Empire’s imperial palace. In the past, the Baruch Empire had constantly been collecting intelligence reports regarding the Odin Empire. Now that Linley had given the order…

The many intelligence reports were organized, collated, then delivered to Linley’s table.

In but a single night, Linley made his preparations for vengeance.

Odin Empire. The capital city of Ides province. A lavish estate.

Within a flower garden, a young noble youth dressed in luxurious robes was resting on a reclining sofa. Although it was a ‘sofa’, in reality, it was more like a bed. A beautiful maid was curled up on the bed as well, her clothes half-removed, revealing her snowy-white skin. As for the noble youth, his head was resting within the maid’s bosom.

“So slow.” The noble youth snorted unhappily.

Right at this moment, one beautiful young lady after another entered the flower garden, along with a middle-aged man who looked like a housekeeper who barked, “Hurry up. Over there. Five of you in each line. Stand straight.” Twenty five attractive, slender young women.

These twenty five young women all stood there in lines, rather nervous.

“Your Highness, they are all present.” The housekeeper immediately walked over humbly and said in a respectful voice.

“Fine.” The young noble replied, but his gaze was fixed on the twenty five women.

A wicked little smile appeared on his face. “They are indeed quite young, unlike those old maids of the Planar Prison who didn’t have any womanly airs at all.” With a wave of his hand, a flying dart flew out as he laughed loudly, “My pretty ladies, I’m going to play a game with you today. I’m going to blindly throw out this dart and whoever it hits, that person shall remove an article of clothing. Understood?”

The bodies of the twenty five women trembled, but none of them dared to resist.

“The dart won’t kill you.” The noble youth laughed softly.

He gave it a toss….

“Swoosh!” The dart flew out like lightning, striking towards the group of twenty five young women. But in the blink of an eye, it then returned into the hand of that noble youth.

“Ah.” A weak, surprised cry. A hint of blood appeared on the chest of one of the young ladies.

“What fresh blood.” The noble youth extended is tongue, licking the fresh blood from the flying dart, then laughed softly. “Undress.” He was confident in his skills. The darts would just barely slash open the skin of these ladies. Although it would hurt, at most there would be a hint of blood. Nobody would die.

The young lady’s body was trembling, but she still took off an article of clothing.

“Continue.” The noble youth once more threw out the flying dart.

This ‘game’ continued nonstop. In but a few moments, each and every one of the twenty five women had undressed, all of them standing there, slick and naked, amidst the flower garden. The housekeeper had quietly left long ago. He knew…that his Imperial Highness hated it when other men looked at his female playthings. His Imperial Highness could play with them, but if others were to watch…they would die.

The twenty five women stood there, naked and trembling, thin lines of blood flowing from their bodies.

The strange thing was, the bloody lines actually formed words.

“*****.” “Love.” “****.”

Bloody words were on the bodies of every single woman.

This strange scene made it so that these women were all the more frightened, and unable to resist.

“Oh!” Seeing this, the noble youth suddenly grew so excited that his entire body began to tremble. “How wonderful. This is absolutely a work of art. Alright, ‘*****’, you come over. Yes, you, the one with the character for ‘*****’ on your body.” The noble youth played with the dart, which danced in the air as though it were alive.

The naked woman, terrified, walked over one step at a time.

Right at this moment…

“Whoosh!” Suddenly, a wild wind stirred, and the clothes on the ground suddenly flew up, wrapping themselves around those twenty five women. At the same time, the twenty five women, along with the serving maid next to the noble youth, entered a dreamy, dazed state, losing all consciousness.

“Eh?” The noble youth turned to look, his gaze growing sharp as a dagger.

A brown-haired man had suddenly appeared, dressed in a white suit and with white ribbons wrapped in his hair. He was walking forward, one step at a time.

“Who are you?” The noble youth’s face changed.

“Odin is your father, right?” Linley said calmly.

“If you know this, how dare you be so arrogant?” The noble youth said, but his body was already moving.

“Rumble…” A strange soul ripple spread out. The eyes of the noble youth instantly became dull and lifeless as he entered a dazed state. This was the supreme support technique, the ‘Spiritual Chaos’ component to Linley’s Blackstone Space. When Linley had been a God, he was already capable of making ordinary Highgods enter a stupor.

And now?

“A kid who relied on fusing with a divine spark to become a Highgod thinks that he can run from me?” Linley cast him a calm glance.

Linley stretched his hand out. With a ‘slash’ sound, he drove his hand into the youth’s skull, and a surge of divine earth power instantly reduced the contents of the youth’s skull to mush.

“Time for the next one.” Linley picked up the noble youth’s corpse. With a flicker, his body disappeared.

Not long after Linley left, the women regained their consciousness, but they were completely lost and puzzled. That housekeeper wasn’t too concerned; he knew that his Imperial Highness was a Highgod, and that in the entire Yulan continent, there wasn’t much who could threaten him. He thought that his Imperial Highness had suddenly gone to take care of some business.

The Odin Empire. The imperial capital. This was a city that had been rebuilt atop the ruins of the former imperial capital of the Yulan Empire. The imperial palace was particularly majestic and tightly guarded. Today, the imperial capital of the Odin Empire was particularly rowdy…because a delegation of Envoys from the Baruch Empire had come to pay their respects to his Imperial Majesty, Odin. Ever since the founding of the Odin Empire a thousand years ago, the relationship between the two Empires had been extremely tense.

But now, Envoys had actually been sent to pay their respects to Emperor Odin. This was quite a rare occasion.

The Odin empire. The imperial palace. The main hall.

The senior ministers of the empire were all standing below the throne, smiles on their faces. As they saw it, for the Baruch Empire to send Envoys here was a show of subservience. This gave them a feeling of having dominated the Baruch Empire.

“Your Imperial Majesty, the Envoys are already outside the palace.” The palace attendant said respectfully.

“Haha…let them enter.” Odin, seated on the throne, laughed loudly as he spoke. Odin was someone who cared deeply about face, who cared greatly about perfection. He liked being above everyone else, liked making countless others look up to him. He liked the feeling of controlling someone’s fate in his hands…and he loved to toy with people.

To be able to control the joy, the rage, and the grief of others…this was something that made him very delighted and very happy.

“Almighty Emperor Odin, we are here representing the Emperor of the Baruch Empire and conveying his most sincere greetings.” The leading Envoy of the Baruch Empire bowed slightly, then continued, “On this visit, our Baruch Empire has prepared two marvelous treasures to offer you, Emperor Odin!”

A hint of a smile appeared on Odin’s face. “Bring it up for me to look at.”

Immediately…

The envoys brought two large chests in from outside the main hall, letting them rest heavily against the floor of the palace.

“Open them.” Odin laughed calmly.

“Emperor Odin, please take a look.” The Envoy opened one of the large chests, and as he did, shocked gasps could be heard throughout the main hall. As for Emperor Odin, seated on his throne, when he saw the ‘treasure’ within the chest, his face immediately changed. “Niemoller [Ni’mo’la]! No!” Niemoller was Odin’s one and only brother.

“This…this…” The ministers in the hall were all shocked, not knowing what to say.

The Envoy just laughed cold as he opened the other chest.

“Clang!” The lid of the chest swung upon, then clanged against the floor.

Odin felt his heart clench violently, and he stared fixedly at the corpse within the chest. “Son! My son!” Odin couldn’t believe it. He shook his head repeatedly.

Life in the Gebados Planar Prison was extremely dangerous. When Odin had entered it, he was a weakling as well. Although he was wild, although he liked to toy with others, although he liked to kill…he didn’t wish for his loved ones to die. Throughout all those years he had spent in the Planar Prison, he had always protected his son and his brother!

This time, they had passed through that dangerous weakness in the spatial walls and had returned to the Yulan continent.

Passing through a weakness in the spatial walls was something which had to do with the amount of energy one possessed. The strength of the spatial bindings was variable, and the more energy one had, the stronger the spatial bindings were and the harder to break through them. The spatial bindings didn’t have much to do with insight into any profound mysteries; after all, insight was illusory and immaterial.

The strength of the bindings facing ordinary Highgods and Seven Star Fiends was the same, when they attempted to pass through a spatial weakness.

He had only taken two Highgods with him.

One was his son. The other was his brother. He had risked his life to take the two of them with him, and they had managed to flee the prison. As for his other subordinates he had brought, they were only Gods and Demigods. For him to be willing to risk his own life to bring these two with him made it obvious how much he cared about them. But today…

Both his brother and his son had died!

Their corpses were right here in front of him.

He had been very careful in the Planar Prison, but in the Yulan continent, aside from his own forces, the only Highgod present was Beirut. There were no other Highgods. He didn’t believe his brother and son would ever be in any danger. But today…their corpses were in chests in front of him.

“No…no….” Odin bellowed in rage.

“Seize him!” Odin stared viciously at that Envoy.

Immediately, many soldiers flooded forward, surrounding those Envoys.

With but a flicker, Odin’s body appeared next to the two chests. He stared at the corpse in the right chest, then at the corpse in the left chest, his face like iron. “Niemoller! Chester [Qie’si’te]! You…how could you…” His entire body was trembling, and not a hint of blood could be seen in his face.

“My brother. My son! Don’t worry. I will definitely avenge you. Definitely!!! I will make them regret it. I will make their lives worse than death!!!”

Odin turned suddenly, staring at the Envoy.

“Tell me who killed them.” Odin roared. He knew very well that only a Highgod could have killed his son and brother.

“Hmph!” The Envoy just let out a cold snort.

“Me!” An icy voice rang out in the main hall.

Instantly, everyone in the main hall, Odin included, turned to look.

A figure had suddenly appeared outside of the main hall. This person was striding into the hall, one step at a time, the soldiers by his side completely unable to block him. He wore white mourning ribbons in his hair, and was dressed in ceremonial white robes. Seeing this, the ministers in the hall were all stunned…this clearly was a ceremonial mourning outfit meant for mourning deceased family members.

Odin stared at Linley, his eyes spitting fire.

“Who are you?” Odin growled.

“If you have decent memory, you should remember that you once killed two people. One was my second brother, while the other was my elder brother!” Linley said in a soft voice.

He hadn’t appeared for nearly two thousand years. There was nobody who recognized him today.

Odin frowned, completely unable to tell who this person was.

“It seems you really have killed quite a few people.”

Linley stared at him coldly. “Listen up. I…am Linley Baruch!”

The ministers in the great hall were all shocked. They stared at Linley in disbelief. This youth dressed in ceremonial mourning robes was actually the founding emperor of the Baruch Empire, a figure of legend in the history of the Yulan Empire…Linley!

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 18, Highgod – Chapter 9, Battle!

“Linley Baruch?” Odin immediately knew who this person was. Linley’s reputation in the Yulan continent was simply too great. In terms of status, he was on a higher level than even the War God and the High Priest had been on in the past. After all, Linley’s accomplishments were simply too legendary.

Odin’s face was ashen, and he stared fixedly at Linley, grinding out one word at a time, “You dare to come!”

“If I don’t come, how am I going to kill you?” Linley’s voice was like ice.

“Ha..haha…” Odin laughed from sheer rage.

The deaths of his brother and his son had caused Odin’s rage to rise to the heavens. In addition, he knew what Linley had accomplished. Nearly two thousand years ago, Linley had just become a Deity. As Odin saw it, no matter how great a genius Linley was, he would at most be able to become a Highgod. To fuse profound mysteries?

That wasn’t something that could be done in such a short period of time.

In the instant in which Odin laughed from rage, his entire body transformed into a blur, instantly appearing before Linley. With a ‘crunch’ sound, Linley’s body was struck and sent flying outside of the palace. Odin let out a cold laugh towards the outside of the palace, then flew out as well.

“Linley and Emperor Odin are battling…”

Immediately, all of the ministers within the hall flooded outwards. Even many of the palace maids and attendants ran out as well. All of them looked about wildly and also towards the skies, hoping to see Linley and Odin. But they saw nothing.

“His Imperial Majesty against Grandmaster Linley…who do you think will win?” The ministers discussed this amongst each other.

“With a wave of his hand, his Imperial Majesty destroyed half of the imperial capital of the Yulan Empire. Given his power…he will definitely win.”

“Grandmaster Linley has disappeared for two thousand years. Given his dominating talent, he’s definitely grown even more powerful.”

Just as the many ministers were chatting amongst each other, suddenly, a terrifying explosive sound rang out from the corner of the imperial palace.”

BOOM!

From afar, a palace suddenly blew apart, sending countless pieces of rocks and tiles shooting everywhere at high speed. When these pieces of rocks smashed into the palace walls hundreds of meters away, they smashed giant holes into them. Countless miserable cries could be heard as well as many helpless maids and attendants were struck by then. Some had their heads smashed apart, others had their limbs severed…

But the ministers continued to stare into the skies.

As for those Envoys who were being guarded by the palace guards, they were watching as well.

In the air above the Odin Empire’s imperial palace, Linley and Odin had come to a pause. Linley was in full Dragonform, his entire body covered with draconic scales. He stared coldly at Odin with his dark golden eyes. As for Odin, a look of disbelief was on his face. “Imp…impossible. Impossible!”

The exchange of blows from earlier had completely stunned Odin.

“Material attacks?” Linley said coldly. “I understand that you are specialized in the Edicts of Death. Why don’t you use those attacks?” Linley realized through the exchange of blows with Odin that this person was only using wind-type Laws, and was emanating a wind-type aura as well, with no hint of a Death-type aura.

Based on what Linley knew…

This Odin, reputed to be the ‘Vile King’, was an expert who specialized in the Edicts of Death.

Odin gritted his teeth, staring fixed at Linley. “Against you, I don’t need it! I’ll let you know…what regret is!” After speaking, his body suddenly moved as a tornado sprang into being out of nowhere. Odin, in the center of the tornado, charged towards Linley with an aura of power that seemed capable of destroying the world, landing a powerful knife-edge palm blow against Linley…

“Crackle…”

A clearly visible crack in space appeared…but this was a material plane. Highgods were capable of easily shattering space here.

“Laughable.” Linley didn’t even dodge. He just charged at Odin, allowing this ‘knife-edge palm’ to land on his body.

“CLANG!”

When the knife-edge palm blow landed on Linley’s body, a metallic ringing sound could be heard. A faint white smudge appeared on Linley’s draconic scales, but that was it. This absolutely stunned Odin, leaving him gaping. But Linley seized the opportunity to reach out with his draconic claws, grabbing Odin by his right shoulder and giving it a vicious twist…

Riiiiip.

Blood and flesh flew everywhere, as the right arm was directly ripped off.

“Whoosh!” The draconic tail came sweeping over as well, moving as fast as lightning.

Odin hurriedly dodged, but despite how fast he moved, a deep wound was left upon his waist, with fresh blood dripping out of it. Odin stared at Linley, stunned. “How can your body be so…” He muttered, as his wounds quickly healed. Only, it took a bit of time for his severed arm to grow out.

“Too weak. Too weak!”

Linley said calmly. At the same time, he released his right hand, allowed the torn-off right arm of Odin’s to fall down from the skies, smashing into pieces on the surface of the imperial palace. The material attack Odin had launched, the one which had created the tornado, had caused quite a bit of destruction in the imperial palace. Those ministers had their faces smudged with dirt and ash, and they were hiding behind the protection of the palace guards.

“Impossible!” Odin bellowed, charging forward once again. Odin’s entire body transformed into a blurry sword-shape, and the illusory greatsword chopped directly at Linley.

Linley let out a cold, calm laugh. His speed suddenly increased dramatically as he dodged this sword attack, while at the same time delivering a mighty blow with his claws to Odin’s face. A large chunk of flesh was ripped off of Odin’s face, and he was knocked flying backwards.

“Too slow as well.” Linley continued. After having become a Highgod, Linley’s speed had improved dramatically as well, especially given how powerful his draconic body was. His speed was vastly superior to Odin’s divine wind clone. Odin wasn’t able to fight back at all; after all, Odin was only using his divine wind clone at present, not his strongest Death-type clone.

Odin turned to stare at Linley, his eyes filled with shock and rage. He wasn’t able to accept this!

“How can he be so strong?” Odin couldn’t believe it.

“Where is your Death-type clone?” Even as Linley’s words came out, Linley himself appeared before Odin, launching out his right leg in a kick that was like a decapitating blade towards Odin’s neck. Terrified, Odin frantically dodged backwards, but although he was able to dodge the kick, and before he even had the chance to take a breath, with a ‘bang’ sound, Odin was slashed by Linley’s draconic tail, which slammed against his waist.

Odin’s body was bisected into two. His bones and his organs all came flooding out from his upper torso.

The upper half of his body was knocked flying back.

“Aren’t you supposed to be very powerful?” Linley’s voice rang out.

“Bang!” Linley’s fist smashed against Odin’s chest, which split open like mud, caving in at Linley’s blow, fresh blood spewing out. However, Odin’s lower torso quickly began to grow out, and his left arm swung violently against Linley’s body.

“Aren’t you supposed to be the ‘Vile King’?”

“Bang!” A leg landed against that left arm, sending Odin flying away yet again.

“Aren’t you supposed to make me know what regret is?”

Linley landed a palm against Odin’s head, and Odin was shot out like an arrow, smashing downwards with a ‘bang’ into the stone floor, causing the entire ground to shake and split apart, while Odin himself was completely submerged into it.

Linley slowly descended, landing on the ground.

“Come on. If you aren’t dead, that is.” Linley said calmly.

From the very beginning, Linley had refrained from using killing blows. If Odin were to die so easily, that would be too merciful towards him. Linley clearly remembered how Odin had tormented his Boss Yale.

There were quite a few people watching this battle, and there were tens of Deity-level experts in the imperial palace of the Odin Empire. These were all Odin’s subordinates. They were watching in disbelief…their invincible ‘Vile King’ was being utterly trampled, without being able to fight back at all.

“His Imperial Majesty….” The senior ministers were all stupefied as well.

“Hmph. Your Odin Empire is finished!” Those surrounded Envoys of the Baruch Empire raised their heads high.

At this moment, a group of people watching this battle from afar in the sky flew over as well. It was Bebe, Wharton, Delia, Taylor, and some others. They all flew into the imperial palace. To them, the imperial palace was a place where they could roam about as they pleased. Nobody was able to stop them.

Reynolds, watching this battle, couldn’t help but shed tears. “Boss. Second Bro. Odin is going to die. Your deaths will be avenged!”

Right now, in the center of this ‘arena’, the earth lay cracked and shattered. A figure slowly crawled out from within. It was Odin. Odin’s body was now completely repaired, but his eyes were still filled with rage and disbelief.

“Any other ‘ultimate attacks’?” Linley laughed coldly.

As he spoke, Linley’s body suddenly advanced at such speed that although Odin struggled to dodge, Linley’s leg flashed out and kicked him viciously in his crotch. An explosive, ripping sound could be heard, followed by Odin’s anguished howl as he was sent flying upwards before landing on the ground again.

“Where is your Death-type clone?” Linley stared at him emotionlessly. “What, would you rather sacrifice your divine wind clone than let your Death-type clone come out?” As Linley saw it, this clone of Odin’s wasn’t very strong. Linley’s true target was Odin’s Death-type clone.”

“You…you…” Odin stared towards Linley with utter hatred.

He wanted to kill Linley, but he wasn’t able to.

“Linley. You are vicious. You are a piece of work!” Odin said with fury. “But you won’t be able to kill me!” With a bellow, Odin instantly transformed into thousands of doppelgangers, all of which fled wildly every which way. This was the ‘Doppelganger’ technique of the Laws of the Wind. Seeing this, Linley didn’t even move.

Suddenly…

A blurry earthen yellow aura instantly spread out to a diameter of a thousand meters, and a terrifying gravitational pull was instantly applied to all of Odin’s doppelgangers. But of course, the other people within this area, such as the maids, servants, Reynolds, Bebe, and the others weren’t affected by it at all. “Bang.” “Bang.” A series of explosions could be heard as those doppelgangers began to implode from the terrifying pressure! Explosive bursts of energy rocked the grounds of the imperial palace, and the palace walls were once more damaged by it. The scene was one of utter chaos.

Linley’s most powerful technique…Blackstone Space! The gravity was centered towards Linley!

The only one of Odin’s bodies which had yet to explode was his divine wind clone.

This was normal. After having become a Highgod, Linley’s Blackstone Space had risen tenfold in power, far greater than it had been in the past. In such a terrifyingly powerful area of gravity, even Seven Star Fiends would find it hard to resist. If a body was too weak, it wouldn’t just sink downwards. It would…

Collapse and implode!

Bodies that were formed purely from energy had to be stable; if the stability was impacted and unable to withstand such a powerful gravity, the only result was collapse and explosion.

“Crackle…” Odin frantically tried to resist the gravitational pull, but his body continued to be drawn towards Linley’s.

“This…this…” Odin didn’t dare believe it.

“What, you still aren’t going to reveal your Death-type clone?” Linley laughed coldly. He had already sent out his divine sense, encompassing the entire Yulan continent. But Linley wasn’t able to find or sense the aura of Odin’s Death-type clone.

“I admire you.” Odin returned to his icy calm. “In two thousand years, you’ve become so very powerful. Your Gravitational Space is indeed formidable. Go ahead and kill me…” Odin actually chose not to fight back. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to; it was that he understood he wasn’t able to.

Thus, he chose death!

“You want to die?”

Linley snickered. “Have you forgotten what you did to my big brother, Yale?”

Odin’s face had a stunned look on it.

“Rumble…” Spiritual energy came sweeping out, and the ‘Spiritual Chaos’ affect was applied to Odin’s soul. Linley’s ‘Spiritual chaos’ technique was extremely monstrous by now…as a Highgod, he was able to cause ordinary Five Star Fiends and Six Star Fiends to enter a state of stupor.

And indeed…

Odin’s eyes grew dim and lifeless.

“So indeed, he only has the power of a Five Star Fiend. At most, he just barely approaches the power of a Six Star Fiend.” Linley’s appearance changed as he returned to human form, while at the same time, those white funeral robes appeared around him once more.

Odin just stood there dumbly.

Linley turned to look, sweeping the imperial palace with his gaze, then said in a clear voice, “Odin is no longer able to fight back.” As he spoke, Linley gave Odin a kick, and Odin, like a puppet, was kicked into the ground, not moving at all.

The experts who saw this all felt stunned. Clearly…Odin was unconscious.

“Now…the eighty two Deities within the imperial palace are all to come out. If you do not, the next to die will be you!” Linley’s cold voice rang out, while he also spoke out with his divine sense, allowing it to enter the minds of those eighty two. Those eighty two were originally the subordinates of Odin. Now, terrified, they immediately flew over.

Linley’s gaze turned towards Odin.

“Die? I will make sure you die in agony and humiliation.” Linley’s gaze was as cold and emotionless as ice.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 18, Highgod – Chapter 10, The Manner of Death

Dozens of figures flew over in the air in an impressive host, and the tens of Deities already present in the imperial palace flew over as well, terrified. In a short period of time, all eighty two Deities were assembled. Frightened and nervous, they stared at Linley. They didn’t know…what Linley was going to do to them.

They were frustrated as well. How could Linley be so powerful? They had come with Odin from the Planar Prison to the Yulan continent, but they had never held the ‘legendary’ Linley in any regard.

But it seemed…as though Linley was unreasonably strong.

“Lord Linley, these things have nothing to do with us. We just obeyed the orders of Lord Odin.” One of them, a green-haired, middle-aged man said hurriedly.

“It had nothing to do with us. Lord Linley, spare our lives.”

The eighty two all begged for mercy. Having seen Linley’s power, they understood that Linley was completely capable of just using his divine sense to attack all eighty two of them. Not a single one of them would escape.

“Shut your mouths.” Linley said emotionlessly.

Immediately, all of the eighty two Deities fell silent, not daring to say a word. The entire devastated imperial palace was deathly silent. Those ministers, palace attendants, maids, and guards who stood in the distance were in a state of panic as well. All these years…they had known that the experts under the control of Odin were all exceedingly strong.

But today, Odin had been beaten like a dog and was now lying on the ground. Those eighty two figures were standing there like a pack of slaves, not daring to make a sound. And the person who had caused all this was that brown-haired man!

“Fourth Bro. Delia. If you want to take revenge, do what you please to him.” Linley sent mentally.

Linley had no other options. He was unable to seal this clone’s divine power, because this person was a Highgod! Linley had to rely on the black stone in order to send Odin into a dazed stupor.

“This bastard!” Reynolds bellowed, and he flashed forward, moving like lightning. His entire body began to blaze with flames, and his right leg spun out like a tornado. “Bang!” It violently clashed against Odin’s waist, smashing Odin and sending him rolling forward on the ground into the distance, colliding with a distant stone pillar of the devastated palace. As Odin’s body smashed into the stone pillar, the stone pillar collapsed as well.

“Bastard. Bastard!” Reynolds muttered, his eyes crimson as he stared at Odin. He flew over once more, stepping on Odin repeatedly.

“Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!”

Reynolds was giving vent to his rage.

As for Linley, he just emotionlessly watched this happen. At the same time, a ball of water floated out from Linley’s forehead, and a blurry blue light reflected the events in the distance. Linley was using his divine water clone to execute the scryer technique, and was recording these events.

“Reynolds.” Delia growled.

Reynolds took a breather, turning to look at Delia, then stepping away to make way for her. As for Delia, she held the Spear of Cortez in her hands, then stabbed it viciously at Odin’s body. Chest, legs, thigh, arms, waist…Delia savagely used the spear to stab him while cursing nonstop at him, and as she did, her tears began to fall as well. “Big Brother…”

Dixie had died. No matter what sort of revenge she took, Delia still was unable to accept it.

“Delia, she…” Linley could completely imagine what sort of pain Delia was in…because he was suffering that same pain! Death wasn’t frightening, in and of itself, but to die the way Yale had, after having been tortured to the point of insanity? That was terrifying. “No matter what we do to torture this Odin, it won’t be enough. Won’t be enough!!! And his Death-type clone…I will definitely destroy it as well!”

“How vicious.” Those eighty two distant Deities watched as Delia and Reynolds took their vengeance, and their hearts quailed as they watched.

Reynolds and Delia were both taking a breather.

“The eighty two of you.” Linley turned to look at them.

“Lord Linley.” The eighty two were extremely respectful.

Linley said icily, “Each of you, come up with a method to humiliate Odin. Remember – humiliate! Just stabbing him with a sword isn’t enough! If someone is unable to come up with something…I will kill that person.”

The eighty two Deities were stunned.

“Oh?” Linley’s gaze was like an icy dagger as he swept them with his eyes. “Would you prefer death instead?”

The eighty two Deities stared at each other. Odin was their leader, after all. But after hesitating slightly, they all began to walk towards Odin. They knew their own limits…and they could tell that Odin was definitely going to die. Since he was going to die, humiliating him wasn’t a big deal.

“Odin, who would’ve thought that you’d have a day like this?” One of the Deities said, stabbing Odin viciously in the throat.

“Don’t kill him!” Linley growled.

The most important part was the head, as that was where the divine spark was located.

“Remember. Humiliate him!” Linley said coldly. “You call that humiliation! Not enough!”

These Deities looked at Linley, and then, gritting their teeth, they began to use all sorts of methods to humiliate him, either using the spears to stab at Odin’s nether regions, or even tearing his clothes off. Moments later…Odin’s body had become utterly horrific to behold. But seeing this, Linley didn’t feel satisfied at all.

His eyes were still like ice.

“Big Bro, everything’s ready.” A voice rang out from behind. It was Wharton.

“Bring those people over.” Linley ordered.

Immediately, a group of people began walking over from the various shattered walls of the palace. They were…beggars! These were beggars that had been summoned over from all over the imperial capital. Although the imperial capital was fabulously rich, it had its poor regions as well, along with a large number of beggars. Hundreds of filthy beggars had entered the imperial palace.

“Oho, so this is the imperial palace.” The eyes of the beggars were all shining.

“Go. Please, use your imagination to come up with ways to humiliate that person on the ground. Each of you will receive a gold coin, and whoever does well will be gifted with a hundred additional gold coins.” The youthful looking man leading these beggars said in a clear voice.

“A hundred gold coins?”

The eyes of the beggars lit up.

“Haha, humiliate someone? Easy.” A big fellow rushed forward.

“Those hundred gold coins are definitely mine.”

The hundreds of beggars, all wanting to be first and none wanting to be last, charged forward. They had no idea that the person on the ground was a Highgod. No idea that this was the emperor of the Odin Empire. All they knew…was that if they performed well, they would receive a hundred gold coins. To these beggars, a hundred gold coins was a sum of money which could make them go crazy.

“All of you, come.” The youthful leader immediately barked.

“Haha…” The first beggar immediately urinated into Odin’s mouth.

“That’s nothing.” The second beggar sneered, walking to Odin as well.

One beggar after another came forward, summoning all of their imaginations in their desire to win the hundred gold coins, and using all sorts of ways to humiliate this person.

“This…this…” Seeing this, the eighty two Highgods were in shock, and their faces turned white.

Compared to these beggars, they were simply too gentle; what they did could only be considered ‘punishing’. What these beggars were doing truly caused one to be in a state worse than death.

“Hey, this fellow’s skin is so tough. I’m not able to cut it open no matter what I do!” One beggar called out. This beggar was holding a needle, as though wanting to do something to punish him, but unfortunately…this was the body of a Highgod, after all. Although Odin didn’t specialize in body training, his body was still made from divine power.

How could an ordinary beggar possibly pierce the skin of a body formed from divine power?

“Next.” The young man said emotionlessly.

“I should be the winner. Those hundred coins should be mine. I haven’t even had the chance to use my skills.” The needle-holding beggar immediately called out.

“F*ck off.” A beggar in the rear pushed him aside. “Haha, it’s daddy’s turn now.” As he spoke, he flipped Odin’s body over…

“That’s…going a bit too far.” Some of the ministers weren’t even able to watch any further.”

But Linley just watched this emotionlessly, not a single hint of an expression on his face. Linley had to admit…these techniques did go a bit too far, and were enough to make a person go insane from humiliation. But he was only humiliating a single person, Odin. As for Odin? He destroyed all of the core members of the Dawson Conglomerate, forcing Yale to kill his own family.

In addition, he didn’t even let Yale die; he tormented Yale instead.

Compared to this, what was happening to Odin was quite ‘benevolent’.

“Let them go.” Linley said calmly.

“Yes.” The youth said respectfully, immediately leading the beggars away.

Linley stared at the filthy, naked, bloodstained body wearing tattered clothes, but felt no pity in his heart at all. At the same time, Linley retracted his spiritual power, but expanded his Blackstone Space once more, trapping Odin within.

Odin’s eyes opened!

“Eh?” Odin looked at himself. His face immediately changed.

“Bang!” Divine wind power swirled, and Odin’s body became completely purified, and a new set of robes appeared as well.

Odin forced himself to his feet, staring at Linley. “What did you do to me?”

“What did I do?” Linley laughed calmly. “Why don’t you watch for yourself as to what was done” With but a thought, Linley made the crystal ball above his head shoot out rays of blue light, forming a massive image in the air above them. The images began to move, replaying what had just happened.

Linley naturally had recorded it all.

After all, Odin had been in a state of spiritual stupor. If he didn’t know what had happened, how could Odin be tormented by it?

“This…” Odin’s face changed, and he couldn’t help but look towards Reynolds and Delia.

The scryer recording had finished displaying the images of what Delia and Reynolds had done. Next, it began to broadcast what the eighty two Deities had done. The tactics the eighty two Deities had used were far more excessive. Odin’s face was ashen, and he couldn’t help but turn to stare at those eighty two men. “You had the gall!”

The group of Deities couldn’t help but feel startled…but then they recovered, and one laughed, “Hmph, Odin, you are about to die. What are you being so arrogant for?”

“You…” Watching the various events occur, Odin grew speechless from rage.

“Odin, keep watching. The best part has yet to start.” Linley said calmly.

In the scryer recording, the beggars had appeared.

Odin’s eyes turned round. “Beggars?” He, Odin, was a venerable, exalted Highgod. To Highgods, even Saints were like ants. As for ordinary mortals, they were to be killed as he pleased…people as lowly as these beggars, Odin couldn’t even be bothered to look at.

He, a Highgod, to be spat on by mortal beggars? He thought he might go insane.

But the scryer recordings showed something even worse than he imagined.

The first beggar had urinated into his mouth.

Odin’s fists were clenched, and his face first turned ashen, then turned black, before turning red. His eyes seemed to spit fire at the images.

Those beggars, for the sake of the hundred gold coins, had used up all of their imagination, each one more excessive than the last. The scenes were utterly depraved and utterly disgusting. Odin was a person who pursued perfect and who cared deeply about his face. But what was happening in the scryer recordings was even worse to him than killing him. Odin’s entire body was trembling, and his mind was in a state of chaos.

Humiliation!

Incomparable humiliation!

Worse than death!

“Linley, you will definitely die in my hands. Definitely!!!” Odin stared at Linley with a deathly gaze.

“Odin, today’s just the first day. We’ll continue tomorrow.” Linley said calmly.

Odin was so angry that a hint of blood came out from his lips.

But then, Odin suddenly turned his head to the skies, laughing wildly. “Haha…you are vicious. Vicious!” Odin stared at Linley, as though he wanted to skin Linley alive. “Linley, I have to say though…your skill in humiliating someone is still rather lacking. Compared to what I did to your older brother, Yale? You are a long way off! Do you know how I tortured him, when I hung him up on that tree in the palace? Haha, I imagine…that he wouldn’t dare tell anyone of it. He wouldn’t even dare think about it. Haha…” Although he was saying this, Odin had already been tormented to the brink of madness.

Linley just stared at him coldly.

“No matter how incredible you are, all you will be able to do is destroy my divine wind clone. My most important body is my Death-type clone. If my divine wind clone is destroyed, it is destroyed. It doesn’t matter. If my son dies, I’ll have another one. Haha…let me tell you this. My Death-type clone went to the Netherworld long ago. If you have the ability to do so, come find me in the Netherworld! Haha, as for further humiliating me…haha, in your dreams!”

“BANG!”

While wildly laughing, Odin’s body suddenly exploded.

“Self-explosion?” The surrounding group of experts were all stunned. None of them had imagined that Odin would actually choose to die like this. Clearly, Odin was no longer able to withstand this sort of torment and humiliation, and had chosen suicide instead.

Linley’s gaze was like ice.

“The Netherworld?” Linley murmured to himself.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 18, Highgod – Chapter 11, A Pleasant Surprise

Odin’s sudden self-detonation caused the eighty two Deities to be shocked. They all waited nervously.

Suddenly…

Linley turned to look towards them. The eighty two Deities immediately said, “Lord Linley, we completely obeyed your orders. Please spare us.” “What we did in the past, we did at the orders of Lord Odin. We had no choice.”

They were all begging for mercy.

“Father, you cannot spare them!” Taylor’s frantic shout came from behind.

“Hrm?” Linley turned to look.

Reynolds, by Taylor’s side, said in an equally frantic voice, “Third Bro, these eighty two absolutely cannot be spared. When those Saints were killed, it wasn’t Odin who personally did the deed; it was these ‘claws’ of his. George was killed by this group of people as well, and Dixie was killed by them as well!”

“It was them.” Delia couldn’t help but turn and look, her eyes filled with hatred.

What sort of status did Odin have? How could he possibly lower himself to kill Saints? All of these vicious acts had most likely been carried out by these ‘claws’ of his.

The eighty two began to panic. “Lord Linley, we can’t be blamed. It was Lord Odin’s orders.”

Linley swept them with a cold look. One of the Deities, terrified, actually began to flee while frantically calling out through divine sense, “Flee, quick!” He could already sense that things were growing grim from Linley’s gaze. As he fled, immediately, the other eighty two began to flee as well.

Some flew into the skies, others drilled into the ground.

“Rumble…”

An earthen yellow aura instantly spread out in every direction, forming an enormous sphere that was thousands of meters in diameter. It even sank two thousand meters into the ground. Within this sphere, the eighty two Deities were completely trapped. Even Seven Star Fiends would find it hard to resist this gravity.

“Bang!” A minority of them, those who had weak bodies, crumbled and collapsed from the gravity alone.

Fortunately, as long as a Deity’s soul wasn’t destroyed, death would not come. The eighty two Deities, although controlled by that powerful gravity and being pulled towards Linley, didn’t die at least.

“Lord Linley.” The Deities who had been trying to flee were frantically begging for mercy.

“Father. Kill them. Avenge Uncle.” Taylor said frantically.

“Third Bro.” Reynolds said as well.

Linley swept the eighty two with his cold gaze. “True, you were the subordinates of Odin and had to obey his orders. But in the past thousand years, none of you have departed from the Yulan Plane. You willingly remained behind…and so you were serving Odin and obeying him out of your own free will. You cannot blame others for your death!”

If these Deities had wanted to escape Odin’s control, they could’ve simply gone to the Arctic Icecap and departed to the Higher Planes. Odin wouldn’t have cared.

“Linley, you, you…”

The eighty two Deities began to beg for mercy in terror, curse in rage, or just mumble. But under that gravitational pull, they flew at high speed to Linley’s side. Linley sent out a surge of divine earth power like arrows into the eighty two.

A low rumbling sound could be heard. The eighty two figures transformed into dust.

“Wharton, you take care of these things.” The floor was littered with divine sparks, interspatial rings, and divine artifacts. They were caught up in a surge of divine power and floated towards Wharton. These Demigod sparks and God sparks, in a material plane, were still very precious.

Wharton immediately collected all of the things.

“Let’s return.” Linley didn’t have a hint of a smile on his face. He just charged into the skies.

The forces of Dragonblood Castle immediately flew into the skies as well, leaving behind only two Saints. These two Saints immediately headed towards the surrounded and bound Envoys of the Baruch Empire. Seeing the situation, the soldiers around the Envoys were so frightened, they hurriedly loosened the bonds.

“Haha, your Odin Empire is finished.” An Envoy said in a clear voice.

The ministers of the Odin Empire all looked at each other. They understood as well…that in front of the overwhelming power of the Baruch Empire, the Odin Empire had indeed been finished.

“The Empire is finished.”

This battle in the imperial capital of the Odin Empire and Linley’s sudden appearance and killing of Odin as well as eighty two Deities caused the entire Yulan continent to once more enter a state of chaos. Those experts who previously had been subjugated by Odin’s power…how could they remain loyal to the Odin Empire now? They immediately rebelled against the Odin Empire.

In the space of a single night, the entire Odin Empire collapsed.

Although Odin had more than eighty two Deities under his control, with a few more scattered throughout the Yulan continent, once they learned that Odin and the eighty two Deities had died, they were so terrified that they immediately fled to the Arctic Icecap, all of them leaving the Yulan Plane.

The Odin Empire disintegrated at an astonishing speed.

And the Baruch Empire? It expanded at an astonishing speed. The entire Yulan continent once more knew of Linley’s presence.

Grandmaster Linley, who had disappeared for nearly two thousand years, had suddenly reappeared.

That Emperor Odin had been killed.

The entire Yulan continent was rocked by the news of this battle.

Dragonblood Castle.

It had been nearly half a month since the killing of Odin. During this half month, Linley and Bebe had remained within Dragonblood Castle. Although Linley knew that Odin’s Death-type clone was in the Netherworld, the Netherworld was simply too vast. How could he find him? It was like searching for a needle in the sea.

“Third Bro, drink less.” Reynolds said.

At this moment, Linley and Reynolds were seated facing each other within a courtyard, drinking wine. None of them wanted to discuss Odin or Yale. Linley was actually just drinking nonstop, gulping down one bottle after another of wine into his belly.

“Third Bro.” Reynolds grabbed Linley’s arm, forcing Linley to halt.

Linley slammed the bottle to the side, then looked bitterly at Reynolds, sighing softly, “Fourth Bro, I feel miserable!”

Linley raised his head, tears in his eyes. “When I think of what happened to Boss Yale, I feel miserable. Have I ‘avenged’ him? With all my power, all I did was kill Odin’s divine wind clone. To Odin, his divine wind clone wasn’t nearly as important as his Death-type clone. And that clone is in the distant Netherworld.”

“And Boss Yale? He was so shattered that you had to go kill him, Fourth Bro.” When Linley thought about what Yale had experienced, he couldn’t help but feel the rage build in his heart, making it ache. “I want to go to the Netherworld and kill Odin, but…finding Odin is too difficult. The Netherworld is simply too vast, too vast!”

The Netherworld was like the Infernal Realm; both were Higher Planes.

Just by looking at the Infernal Realm, one could imagine how if Odin had secreted himself into a corner of the Netherworld, that Linley could spend countless years without being able to find him.

“Third Bro.” Reynolds was heartsick as well, but he consoled Linley, “This isn’t your fault. Boss Yale did die an unjust death…and extremely unjust one! But if you hadn’t returned, we wouldn’t have been able to kill even as much as Odin’s divine wind clone. You’ve already done very well. I think…if Boss Yale knew of this, he would also feel slightly consoled.”

Linley laughed bitterly.

At most, ‘slightly consoled’.

In terms of pain, in terms of humiliation, in terms of torment…Yale had suffered far more than Odin had. The loss of his divine wind clone didn’t have too great an impact on Odin. He was still a Seven Star Fiend, and was still a powerful figure in the Netherworld. Whenever Linley thought about how Odin was free to roam the Netherworld, Linley felt the unjustness of it all.

He wanted to torment Odin, but in terms of what he was capable of, he had done all that he could.

“Odin truly deserves to die.” Linley couldn’t help but say this yet again.

“He does deserve to die. Ten thousand deaths wouldn’t be enough.” Reynolds said viciously as well. “If he had simply killed Boss Yale, I wouldn’t hate him as much as I do right now. But he…” Whenever Reynolds thought of the last time he had seen Yale and had seen how Yale was at the point of collapse, of that dispirited, tormented body…

Yale had been too pitiable!

He had already gone insane.

“Alas!” Linley was still furious. He couldn’t help but slam the table, and with a ‘bang’, the table split apart.

“Boss, Boss!” A voice rang out from afar.

Linley turned to look, only to see a black robed Beirut and Bebe enter together, with Wharton, Delia, Nisse, Wade, and the others following from behind. Beirut looked at the shattered table in surprise. “Oh, Linley, what is it? Why’d you smash the table?”

“Lord Beirut.” Linley forced a smile out. He was indeed in a terrible mood.

“Feeling angry and upset over what happened to your friend?” Beirut laughed calmly.

Linley didn’t say a word. Actually, deep in his heart, Linley was still slightly upset at Beirut. Beirut definitely had known that Odin’s Death-type clone had left the Yulan Plane. But Beirut hadn’t stopped him at all. Still…Linley didn’t say anything.

Because…

Why should Beirut help him? The fact that he occasionally helped out was enough. He couldn’t always be looking after Linley’s affairs.

“I know exactly what happened.” Beirut let out a low sigh. “Originally, I was planning to leave Odin for you to handle. But on one occasion, I was on a visit to inspect the Necropolis of the Gods. During that period of time, Odin’s Death-type clone left to go to the Netherworld.” Beirut voluntarily explained, making Linley feel a surge of gratitude.

Actually, Beirut hadn’t needed to explain.

The reason he explained was because he now considered Linley as a member of his family.

“The Netherworld.” Delia shook her head. “The Netherworld is too vast. Finding Odin will be too hard.”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Beirut sighed as well.

Bebe said resignedly, “Grandpa just so happened to be in the Necropolis. Jeeze!” Suddenly, Bebe’s eyes lit up and he looked at Beirut. “Grandpa, my Boss said that this time, we should go adventure in the Necropolis of the Gods. Help us open it up sometime.” This was something which Linley and Bebe had already discussed in the Infernal Realm.

On this return trip, investigating the Necropolis of the Gods was indeed something they had planned. But after the Odin event, Linley was no longer in the mood.

“Investigate the Necropolis?” Beirut raised an eyebrow, then shook his head. “Bebe, there’s no point for you going to the Necropolis. As for Linley…” Beirut looked towards Linley.

Linley couldn’t help but listen carefully, musing to himself, “When I went to the Necropolis of the Gods, I sensed that deep within it, something was beckoning to me. I wonder what lay hidden deep within.”

“Linley, you should indeed make a trip to the Necropolis of the Gods.” Beirut laughed calmly. “However, your strength isn’t sufficient yet.”

“Not yet sufficient?” Linley was startled.

In terms of power, he should be decent by now. He was definitely approaching the Asura level. But Beirut actually said his strength wasn’t sufficient yet?

“Based on what I know, the reason you are at such a level of power has something to do with the Redbud Sovereign.” Beirut laughed gently. “Your true power is far weaker.”

“Lord Beirut, when will it be enough?” Linley asked.

Beirut laughed softly. “When you reach Bluefire’s level.”

Bluefire’s level?

Linley was slightly puzzled, but then he understood. Actually, he wasn’t in the mood to investigate the Necropolis of the Gods either. Yale’s affair had caused him to feel mentally exhausted and worn out. He had no interest in going right now.

“Alas, your friend did indeed die an unjust death.” Beirut let out a sigh. “Unfortunately, I’m not the Emissary of a Netherworld Sovereign. Otherwise, I could go beg a Netherworld Sovereign to have him help you find the undead which your friend’s spirit was transformed into after dying and being drawn into the Netherworld. If a Sovereign were to intervene, then it would be easy for the undead to regain its former memories.”

Linley was stunned.

“Spirits are drawn into the Netherworld?” Linley’s mind seemed to suddenly explode. “Right. If a soul isn’t destroyed, then a person hasn’t truly died. Even if one is drawn into the Netherworld and becomes an undead…the soul will remain! They can regain their memories as well! Right, Boss Yale, Second Bro, Dixie, and…and my father!!!”

Linley’s face instantly turned red.

Red from excitement!

Linley’s greatest regret was his father’s early death, and the unfairness of it. His father didn’t know that he had gotten revenge and killed their enemies, and also didn’t know that the Baruch clan had been restored to glory.

And Yale, who had died so unjustly. His friend.

“Lord Beirut…” Linley hurriedly spoke out.

“Lord Beirut, my elder brother, he…” Delia spoke out hurriedly as well.

“Lord Beirut, then Boss Yale, he…” Reynolds spoke out as well.

Instantly, everyone began to ask questions frantically and excitedly.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 18, Highgod – Chapter 12, Entering the Netherworld

Linley was so excited, he felt his heart was about to explode. He had never been so excited before. “Father can regain his memory, and can come back to life! And Yale, George, Dixie…” The depressing emotions he had felt the past few days suddenly disappeared. Linley was incomparably excited. He felt as though the world had instantly become colorful and beautiful.

“Don’t be hasty. All of you, don’t be hasty.” Beirut quickly urged.

Everyone forcibly repressed their excitement.

“I was speaking casually, just now.” Beirut said hurriedly. “After ordinary mortals die, their souls will enter the Netherworld and become undead. There’s no way for a Highgod to find the specific undead which a person’s spirit became. Only the seven Netherworld Sovereigns who rule the Netherworld can find them! However, Sovereigns are Sovereigns; do you think that they’ll help you just because you ask?”

Immediately, everyone fell silent. Linley felt his heart tighten as well.

Sovereigns were lofty, proud individuals. They most likely wouldn’t pay any attention to the request of a Highgod.

“If I don’t try, how would I know what the result is?” Linley said hurriedly.

Whether it was for the sake of Yale, George, Dixie, or his father, Linley wasn’t willing to give up.

“Give it a try. Maybe you’ll succeed.” Delia said hurriedly as well.

Beirut shook his head helplessly. “To do this, there’re two great difficulties. The first is to find and see the Sovereign, while the second is to have the Sovereign agree to help you. These two difficulties are tremendously hard to overcome. Linley, I know you want to see your father and your brothers. But do you know where the Netherworld Sovereigns live?”

Linley was stunned.

Where a Sovereign lived? That was a deeply guarded secret. For example, the Redbud Sovereign. Although Linley had visited the Amethyst Mountains, he only later learned that place had been the residence of the Redbud Sovereign.

“To find a Sovereign…even if you find the right location and the Sovereign happens to be there at that moment, if the Sovereign doesn’t wish to meet you, what will you do?” Beirut said. “In addition, even if you see the Sovereign, why would the Sovereign so easily accede to the request of yourself, a mere Highgod?”

It was too difficult!”

“I want to give it a try.” Linley said determinedly. “No matter what, I will not give up. There are a total of seven Netherworld Sovereigns. I’ll go searching for them. If the first one doesn’t work out, I’ll find another one.”

Beirut, hearing this, couldn’t help but shake his head.

“You really are stubborn.”

“Fine, then.” Beirut nodded. With a wave of his hand, he made a ten centimeter thick book appear. “Linley, this book describes the Netherworld. Take a look. It will help you understand the Netherworld better.”

“Thank you.” Linley accepted the book.

While in the Infernal Realm, he had never paid much attention to the affairs of the Netherworld. He had thought that he would never go there, but who would have imagined that all of these things would have occurred?

“If you truly are going to go to the Netherworld, then let me give you this bit of advice.” Beirut said resignedly. “This isn’t really advice; I imagine you can think of it as well. When you go find the Netherworld Sovereigns, first find the Emissaries of the Sovereigns…there are quite a few Emissaries, and you should be able to find them. If you aren’t able to find them, then find a Lord Prefect of a Prefecture. Those Lord Prefects might know where the Sovereign that manages them is located.”

Linley nodded.

Although it might be possible to find a Sovereign through seeking out a Sovereign’s Emissary or a Lord Prefect…would the Emissary or Lord Prefect be willing to tell him?

“Continue carrying that medallion I gave you.” Beirut said. “The medallion, after all, represents the Bloodridge Sovereign. With that medallion, perhaps it’ll be a bit easier for you.”

Linley’s eyes lit up.

Right, the medallion! It had been bestowed upon Beirut by the Bloodridge Sovereign. That thing might convince a Netherworld Sovereign to at least listen to what he had to say.

“Grandpa, thank you.” Bebe beamed with wide eyes.

“If I didn’t do this, you’d say that Grandpa is being stingy.” Beirut laughed loudly.

Bebe beamed. There was no question that he was going with Linley to the Netherworld.

“Thank you, Lord Beirut.” Delia said gratefully as well. Beirut laughed, “Alright then. You have your plan. I’ll go back now. If there’s anything else you need, go to the Forest of Darkness and look for me there.” After he spoke, Beirut transformed into a black blur, disappearing into the distance.

In mid-air.

Beirut turned to glance at Dragonblood Castle, a hint of a secret smile appearing at the corners of his lips. “Just as I predicted! Only…I don’t know if this kid is going to live up to my expectations or not.” And then, chortling to himself, he flew back to the Forest of Darkness.

After learning this news, everyone in Dragonblood Castle was in a state of excitement. But immediately afterwards, they felt a sense of pressure. To go ask for a Sovereign to assist them…this was simply too hard. Everyone was worried about whether or not Linley would be able to succeed. They also feared…that the Sovereign might be enraged and kill Linley!

“Sovereigns…shouldn’t have bizarre, violent personalities, right?” Wade said, worried.

“Don’t speak rashly.” Delia immediately scolded.

Bebe laughed in a very certain manner. “Don’t worry. After the Netherworld Sovereigns see the Bloodridge Sovereign’s medallion which the Boss and I have, they shouldn’t kill us.” Bebe, although appearing outwardly confident, was still very nervous in his heart. After all…would a Netherworld Sovereign necessarily give face to the Bloodridge Sovereign?

In fact, it might be possible that the Netherworld Sovereign might just so happen to have a grudge against the Bloodridge Sovereign.

Nobody could be certain!

“Sovereigns view themselves as far above us. As long as we don’t offend them, they won’t lower themselves to kill us.” Linley said calmly. “As for this trip to the Netherworld, only Bebe and myself will go.” Linley and Bebe had already discussed this through their spiritual connection. There was no telling what would happen on this trip to the Netherworld.

If he and Bebe headed out by themselves, they would have nothing to fear. But if they brought others along…they wouldn’t be able to protect them in a dangerous situation.

“Right.” Delia, hearing this, nodded as well.

“Bebe.” But Nisse was rather reluctant.

“We’ll return soon.” Bebe chortled. At this time, Linley’s body split into two, as a fiery red haired Linley walked out.

“Delia, my divine fire clone will remain here. And Nisse…if there’s anything you need, you can just tell my divine fire clone. I will immediately know and notify Bebe.” Linley laughed calmly. By leaving behind a divine fire clone, communication became easier.

Nisse and Delia both felt slightly mollified. With Linley’s divine fire clone present, they would know Linley’s situation in the Netherworld at all times.

The second day after Beirut’s departure from Dragonblood Castle, Linley and Bebe decided to head out. In but a single night, Linley finished reading the book on the Netherworld, and gained a basic understanding of the place.

The Netherworld. Sacred Undead Mountain.

This was a great mountain, tens of thousands of meters high. The entire mountain was the color of white bones, and white skeletons could be seen throughout the mountain. At the peak of the mountain, there was an enormous, ancient castle that was entirely black and surrounded by black fog. This castle had already existed for countless years.

Occasionally, metallic lifeforms would fly out from the castle, with some voices coming from within as well.

The Infernal Realm had seven teleportation locations. But the Netherworld only had two. Sacred Undead Mountain was one of them!

“Hey, all of you, stand there obediently.” A group of white-robed warriors shouted out casually.

Within the enormous teleportation array, rays of light were shooting everywhere, with some figures appearing on occasion. These figures stared in surprise around them. These people were Saints or Demigods, with a very few Gods. As for Highgods…the chance of a Highgod coming was very low!

“Only at the Saint-level, and yet they came to the Netherworld. They really have come to throw their lives away.” A black-haired, young-looking warrior in white robes kicked a middle-aged Saint away, sending him flying out of the teleportation array into the corner of a wall.

The person who had been kicked turned around angrily. “What are you looking at, kid. Do you want to fight?” The white-robed warrior smirked as he spoke. The middle-aged Saint just gritted his teeth, lowering his head and leaning against the corner of the wall, not daring to make a sound. Seeing this person didn’t resist, the white-robed warrior couldn’t help but shake his head and chuckle. “Saints are everywhere in the Netherworld. If you don’t learn to endure, you will probably die on the very first day!”

“Bucher [Bu’si’er], you always like to tease them.” A white-robed warrior in another corner laughed while drinking wine.

The black-haired youth, Bucher, laughed as well. “If we don’t help them learn the rules now, when they really enter the Netherworld, they’ll die even faster.”

Quite a few people had already been teleported in by now.

“More coming.” The black-haired, white-robed youth immediately turned to look. The enormous teleportation array once more lit up with that hazy glow, and two figures emerged from within. After the glow disappeared…

“Highgods!”

The surrounding white-robed warriors immediately turned to look. Even the white-robed warriors who had been seated all came to their feet. It was very rare for Highgods to come through the teleportation array. If one appeared, it generally meant someone was coming from another Higher Plane, and an extraordinary individual at that.

The group of white-robed warriors stared carefully at these two figures.

One was a brown-haired youth, while the other was a skinny youngster wearing a straw hat. The brown-haired youth’s body suddenly lifted into the air, glancing around himself before saying, “This is the Sacred Undead Mountain! It seems we will need to move to the south. Still, before leaving, let’s take a trip around the ‘Undead Realm’.”

Hearing the words ‘Sacred Undead Mountain’, these white-robed warriors immediately grew certain that these two came from other Higher Planes.

“Fine, Boss.”

The brown-haired man nodded slightly towards the nearby white-robed warriors, then led the youngster with the straw hat into the air, flying away from Sacred Undead Mountain.

“Adventuring through the Higher Planes…how long will it be before I, too, am able to do this? But the teleportation cost truly is high! I’ve been here so many years, but I still haven’t earned enough netherstones for a single teleportation.” The black-haired youth in the white robes let out an admiring, praising sigh.

The horizons were vast and endless. Dark black clouds covered the world, and tongues of lightning would occasionally flash out from the dark clouds, like dragons of lightning dancing about within.

This was an empty, desolate plains.

Two endless hordes of undead which stretched as far as the eye could see were arrayed into two camps, staring at each other. There were many skeletons, foul zombies, drifting, translucent wraiths, and also grim, forbidding black knights. There were also strange wights and ancient liches, all of which were separated into different levels.

There were weak skeletons, but also skeletons at the Saint-level.

“Kabuser [Ka’bu’si’er], you only have two choices…” A booming voice shook the heavens. “Submit to me or die!”

But the reply was just a cold laugh.

“Attack!” Immediately, the booming voice roared in anger.

“Attack.” Another voice, a cold, fierce one, howled as well.

Immediately, the vast swarms of undead in the two camps attacked the other side wildly. A battle between undead was like waves crashing against each other. The entire world was filled with skeletal dragons, and skeletal griffins howled through the skies, while venomous fogs billed out, filling the world. Large numbers of undead on both sides died.

Right at this moment…

The two armies of undead came to a sudden halt, as their leaders both stared towards the skies, stunned.

In mid-air, two figures flew past at high speed. The terrifyingly powerful aura they emanated was causing the countless undead below to feel terror in their hearts. This was an aura that was countless times more powerful than the auras of the two undead who ruled them. They didn’t dare to resist it at all. But moments later, the two figures disappeared into the horizon.

“We just released a hint of our aura, but they were so terrified they wouldn’t even dare move.” Bebe laughed with a chortle.

“You really are bored, aren’t you.” Linley didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry.

Just now, when they had departed from Sacred Undead Mountain and began to fly towards the northern part of the ‘Undead Realm’ to take a look. Bebe realized that his Highgod aura would cause these undead to be extremely terrified, and so he constantly released his aura, intentionally frightening those undead. As for Linley, there was nothing he could do with regards to Bebe’s trouble-causing antics.

The Netherworld was different from the Infernal Realm. It was just a single, terrifyingly enormous continent. This vast continent was even larger than the five continents of the Infernal Realm put together!

The northern part of the continent had countless undead populating within it, and so this area was known as the ‘Undead Realm’.

As for the southern part of the continent, this was the real, so-called ‘Netherworld’.

As for the Sacred Undead Mountain, it was located at the borders between the Netherworld and the Undead Realm.

“Large numbers of undead are dying at every moment in the Undead Realm. Undead grow in power by devouring the spirits of other undead! What I fear the most is that the undead which Yale, George, and my parents have become have already been devoured by others.” Linley was rather worried. Still, he flew with Bebe away from the Undead Realm, flying south towards the border it shared with the Netherworld.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 18, Highgod – Chapter 13, Northbone Prefecture

The vast continent of the Netherworld was filled with undead in the north, and thus it was known as the ‘Undead Realm’. The weak undead who lived there were at most Saint-level undead. Generally speaking, upon becoming Deities, the vast majority would fly to the south, entering the world of experts…the Netherworld.

South of Sacred Undead Mountain. That was the place which was viewed as the true Netherworld.

As one of the four Higher Planes, the management structure of the Netherworld was quite similar to that of the Infernal Realm; the Netherworld had a total of eighty one prefectures. As Linley and Bebe flew into the Netherworld from Sacred Undead Mountain, the first prefecture they entered was the number one prefecture of the northern Netherworld…Northbone Prefecture!

Currently, in the air above Northbone Prefecture, a metallic lifeform that was less than ten meters long was flying forward at high speed. Linley and Bebe were within it, but right now, Linley was frowning in concern. Just now, Linley and Bebe had gone to the borders of the Undead Realm to take a look. After doing so, Linley began to worry.

The slaughters happening in the Undead Realm were even more terrifying and even more common than the Infernal Realm’s! The undead constantly battled each other, devouring each other’s souls to strengthen their own, increasing their own power! “Father died nearly two thousand years ago, while George, Yale, and Dixie died a thousand years ago. So much time has passed…have they, too, died within in the battle between undead?”

Linley was worried about this.

Once the undead creature a departed soul was formed into was killed, the soul would be devoured, and the person would truly be dead! Even if Linley managed to find a Sovereign, it would be useless.

Linley couldn’t help but feel concerned. Too much time had passed, after all, and the battles in the Undead Realm were too vicious!

“Boss…don’t worry!” Bebe said hurriedly. “Your father, George, and Yale…none of them have weak souls. Even if they were transformed into undead upon entering the Netherworld, they would be powerful undead. The chances of a powerful undead surviving are much better.”

“That’s all I can say to myself.” Linley nodded slightly.

But Linley understood that with each passing moment in the Undead Realm, countless powerful undead were being killed and devoured.

“What we need to do is make use of every moment.” Linley frowned. “If I want to find a Sovereign, I can’t just run about blindly. It’s best to find a Sovereign’s Emissary or a Lord Prefect and make an inquiry.”

“Boss, do you know who the Emissaries are, here in the Netherworld? Or where the Lord Prefects live?” Bebe asked.

Linley shook his head.

“Best I find a Highgod and ask, first.” Linley only knew some basic information regarding the Netherworld. As for where the various Lord Prefects of the Netherworld lived, that was hard to say. Some lived within their prefectural palaces, while others lived in cities. But some Lord Prefects lived in very distant, remote mountain ranges.

Since he had to find a Highgod, Linley began to pay attention to the outside world.

He couldn’t just scan every single metallic creature that flew by for Highgods, then stop them and force them out and ask them. That would just anger them, and although they might be afraid of Linley’s power, they might lie to Linley out of enmity.

While flying, Linley paid close attention to the outside.

On the third day, while drinking fruit wine and staring through the translucent window, Linley’s eyes suddenly lit up.

Several kilometers away, there were nearly ten thousand Gods under the command of tens of Highgods who were in pursuit of ten or so people.

“Bebe, here’s our chance!” Linley said.

“Chance?” Bebe glanced sideways casually. “What chance? It’s just a group of bandits fighting outside.” On the way over, Linley and Bebe had encountered quite a few scenes of bandits fighting people. However…the forces involved were small, and the conflicts were also small-scale.

“Just follow me.” Linley said in a low voice. The metallic lifeform immediately vanished, giving Bebe no choice but to follow Linley and fly towards the distant battlefield.

The many bandits were attacking in every which way as those ten or so people wildly tried to flee in every direction. However, the Highgod leaders of those bandits were chasing after two Highgods in particular.

“Which bastard revealed our information! Almost as soon as we entered Northbone Prefecture, the bandits of eighteen mountain ranges joined forces to attack us!” A three meter tall, red-skinned man with a single horn on his forehead sent through divine sense, his ox-like eyes bloodshot with rage.

“Big Bro, don’t be angry. Fleeing is more important.” The other, a younger man, said.

“Once we escape, we definitely must investigate.” The ox-headed man was extremely angry, but he still flew away at high speed. “We’ll be lucky if we can escape.” The youth glanced back sideways. Those who had been slow to flee were all dead now, and of those who had fled to the south, only the two of them remained.

But of course, they had some comrades who had fled in other directions. By now, nobody was able to take care of anybody else.

“Swoosh!” “Swoosh!”

Eight figures suddenly appeared in front of the ox-headed man and the youth. The eight stared at them coldly. “Not good!” The ox-headed man and the youth immediately came to a halt. As they looked to the other sides, they found out that the other directions also had people barring their path.

“The two of you still want to flee?” A deep voice rang out, and a muscular, bearded dwarf who was 1.5 meters tall said. The dwarf floated there in mid-air, staring at them with his emotionless golden eyes.

“Big Bro, we’re finished!”

The youth and the ox-headed man looked at each other, feeling powerless.

Surrounded by bandits. Their losses were catastrophic this time!

“If you are able to kill us, then do so.” The ox-headed man swept the surrounding bandits with his gaze, then laughed coldly with anger. “Even if you kill us, you won’t be able to obtain our things.” Generally speaking, people with valuable possessions would keep clones in their headquarters. If this ox-headed man was killed, his clones would remain alive…and thus, his interspatial ring would still be inaccessible.

The dwarf laughed coldly.

As the general commanders for the bandits of the eighteen mountain ranges, these people had done this more than a few times before. They were quite experienced. They knew that others had clones in other places, and so even if they killed these people, they wouldn’t be able to acquire the treasures within.

“I’ll give you two choices.” The dwarf’s deep voice echoed in the heavens. “Choice number one, you hand over these treasures and give us the interspatial rings’ contents. We’ll let you two leave. Choice number two…you don’t hand them over. Then none of us will gain anything, while the two of you will die!”

“Then you die first.” The ox-headed man bellowed, and his entire body instantly transformed into that of a mighty black bull, surrounded by blazing flames. He shot out towards the dwarf like a flaming mirage.

The dwarf just laughed disdainfully, and in his hands, a two-meter long black greataxe appeared. Hefting the black greataxe, the dwarf gave a casual chop towards the flaming mirage, and where the greataxe passed, space itself trembled like ripples in water.

Suddenly…

An earthen yellow aura descended from the heavens, spreading out to a diameter of a thousand meters, forming a hemisphere of earthen yellow light and trapping all of the Highgod bandits within, as well as the ox-headed brothers. In addition, beneath that hemisphere of earthen yellow light, a round ‘plate’ formed from divine earth power was formed, ‘covering up’ this hemisphere.

“Swoosh!” “Swoosh!” “Swoosh!”

In an instant, the thirty three Highgod bandits and the two ox-headed brothers trembled as their bodies irresistibly were drawn downwards, smashing heavily against the ‘round plate’ formed by divine earth power. The group stood there in terror, unable to take to the air.

They all raised their heads, looking towards the skies in terror.

A brown-haired youth dressed in a sky-blue robe was there, along with a youngster wearing a straw hat. They stood in the air, side by side.

“Milord!” The big-bearded dwarf immediately bowed respectfully. “My name is Kleopatra [Ke’li’ao’pa’te’le], the overall leader of the eighteen northern mountain ranges of the Northbone Prefecture. I don’t know what you need, milord. Our eighteen mountains will definitely comply!” Instantly, the other thirty two Highgod bandits bowed as well.

Within this field of gravity, they could already sense the terrifying power of the gravitational pull. “Good heavens, there’s actually such a powerful Gravitational Space. If he wanted to kill us, he could slaughter us with ease.”

In this sort of area, killing them would be utter simplicity for Linley.

“Milord, my name is Amos [A’mo]. I’m willing to serve you, milord.” The ox-headed man immediately bowed as well, and the youth by his side also bowed. In the Netherworld, they all knew when to be arrogant and when to be respectful. Clearly, the person who had just appeared was an invincible expert.

A hint of a smile was on Linley’s face.

“I have a question, gentlemen.” Linley asked.

“Milord, pray tell.” The big-bearded dwarf immediately said, and the ox-headed man was listening carefully as well.

Linley laughed calmly. “I want to know if a Sovereign’s Emissary lives in Northbone Prefecture!”

“I know the answer to this. The Lord Prefect of our Northbone Prefecture is himself a Sovereign’s Emissary.” The big-bearded dwarf immediately replied, while the ox-headed man also said, “The Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture is one of the supreme experts of the Netherworld, and he is indeed a Sovereign’s Emissary.”

Linley felt a surge of delight.

It seemed as though this Northbone Lord Prefect should know quite a bit about the Sovereign.

Bebe immediately asked as well, “Where does the Lord Prefect live? You, speak!” Bebe pointed at the ox-headed man.

The ox-headed man said respectfully, “The Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture lives in a grassland located thousands of kilometers to the east of the city of Hide [Hai’de]. Ordinary people aren’t able to enter…but of course, given your statuses, milords, it will be very easy for you to pay a visit.”

“Outside the city of Hide?” A map instantly appeared in Linley’s mind. Linley already knew the general locations of the cities of the Netherworld like the back of his hand, and currently, Linley had already focused on a specific location.

“Is he outside of Hide?” Linley looked towards the dwarf, who hurriedly nodded as well.

Only now was Linley certain.

“Fine. You can leave now.” Linley said calmly, retracting his Blackstone Space.

The group of bandits and the ox-headed brothers were stunned, looking at each other.

“Thank you, milord!” The ox-headed brothers immediately bowed, then fled to the south at high speed.

Quite a few bandits immediately prepared to give chase.

“You still want to kill them?” Bebe barked. Instantly, the group of bandits halted. Linley glanced at them, then at the dwarf and said calmly, “Perhaps you should just forget about this particular business transaction.”

“Right, right.” The dwarf immediately acknowledged the other.

“Kleopatra. A fine name.” Linley laughed calmly, then flew with Bebe into the skies, disappearing into the horizon.

“Boss, should we chase or not?” The other bandits looked at the big-bearded dwarf.

“Chase my ***. We won’t be able to catch up. And…if we really chased just now, I imagine that lord would’ve been able to kill us all with the wave of a hand.” The dwarf snorted coldly. The other bandits couldn’t help but feel a surge of fear. “Enough. Let’s collect the interspatial rings from the battlefield, then go back.”

The dwarf immediately led the vast host back to their headquarters.

The bandits of the eighteen northern mountains of Northbone Prefecture were indeed a powerful force, and their leader, Kleopatra, was someone who was nearly at the Six Star Fiend level of power.

The bandits had eighteen chiefs, but of course the dwarf was the overall leader. In one of the eighteen mountain ranges, a bald man dressed in black battle armor flew into a castle, and the bandits at the gates of the castle all bowed and said, “Chief!”

“Hmph.” The bald, black-armored man just strode into the hall, filled to the brim with rage.

“Chief, why are you so angry?” A gentle voice rang out.

“Ugh!” The bald man sat down upon his throne in the main hall, grumbling unhappily, “You have no idea. Today, we brothers of the eighteen mountain ranges all joined forces, and were at the verge of success. But who would have imagined that a pair of supreme experts would suddenly appear out of nowhere, and ask us questions about the Lord Prefect and Sovereign’s Emissaries? And they even forced us to let those two fat sheep escape.”

“Then our luck really was terrible.” The gentle voice said.

“Ugh.” The bald, black-armored man stood up again. “Enough, George. Quite a few of the brothers of our mountain range died this time. The squads need to be rearranged. Help me handle it. I’m not in the mood.”

“Yes, Chief.” The reply came from a youth with a very friendly smile on his face.

If Linley was here, he would have immediately recognized that this was his brother…George!

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 18, Highgod – Chapter 14, Sayant

The bald, black-armored warrior glanced sideways at George, then went to rest. He was very satisfied with George’s performance as his housekeeper. First of all, George was a Demigod, and thus didn’t pose any threat to him. Second of all, George was indeed talented, and made suitable arrangements for all of the forces throughout the mountain range. He now believed that his decision in the past to not kill George was one of his wisest decisions.

This time, there weren’t many casualties, and so George quickly finished the arrangements.

Night. Within the mountain castle. George stood in front of a window, staring through it at a curved, devilish red moon. This curved devilish red moon reminded him…this was the Netherworld! Not his homeland, the Yulan continent.

“How much longer will this sort of life continue for?” George mused to himself. “I wonder what has happened to the Yulan continent in the past thousand years. According to the tyrannical actions of that Odin, most likely Boss Yale and even Dragonblood Castle suffered greatly.”

George was a very calm and cool-headed person. No matter what sort of environment he encountered, he would quickly adapt to it.

In the Netherworld, there was something that everyone knew – undead wouldn’t possess memories of their past lives. Only after they evolved and transformed into Deities would their souls be baptized by the natural Laws, and in that moment, the dusty memories of their past life would be restored to them as well.

When George died, he had been a Saint.

When his soul had been drawn into the Netherworld and had been transformed into an undead departed soul, his power had been determined by his soul’s power. George’s soul had been that of a Saint, and so when he had become an undead, he had become a Saint-level undead. When George had been a Saint-level undead, George hadn’t had any memories regarding his past life; all he knew was to kill other undead, to devour their souls, and to strengthen himself!

As he strengthened himself, his soul constantly grew in power. And then, as he continuously, slowly gained insights…suddenly, he had broken through and become a Deity!

In that instant of becoming a Deity, George had regained all of his memories.

He knew that in the past his name had been…George.

As a senior minister of the former Yulan Empire, George’s diplomatic skills and interpersonal relationship skills were far superior to Linley. When they were young and at the Ernst Institute, George made friends very easily, and in the government of the Yulan Empire, he had been at home as a fish in water.

Now, he was in a base for bandits.

Perhaps bandits were talented in training and battle, but with regards to management, they were far inferior to George. Thus, everyone acknowledged whole-heartedly George’s talents as housekeeper.

“Right now, my first goal is to gain enough money in order to buy a house within a city.” George had already made a plan for himself. “Afterwards, I will train within the city in safety! By then, I won’t have to spend so much energy.” As housekeeper for this mountain range, George’s status was very high, second only to the leader of their mountain range. He could have easily acquired a God-level divine spark and fused with it, but he didn’t want to.

He wanted to independently become a Deity!

Thus, although he didn’t dare to openly embezzle, given his abilities, if he were to secretly secrete a large amount of wealth into his own interspatial ring, how would others be able to find out?

If someone had enough money, why would they want to stay in a bandit’s nest?

“Unfortunately, Third Bro is in the Infernal Realm. It will be very hard to see him again.” George sighed to himself.

Northbone Prefecture was indeed vast. The metallic lifeform Linley was riding flew for several months before reaching the grasslands outside the city of Hide.

“This residence of the Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture feels like a city.” Bebe stared through the window and spoke out in praise. “The forces stationed here station in the hundreds of thousands, and they are arranged into rows of houses. They really do seem quite imposing. And that tall castle in the center…that must be the actual residence of the Lord Prefect.”

Linley looked over as well. That tall castle was over a hundred meters tall, and was an ivory white color.

“I hope the Lord Prefect is at home.” Linley sighed to himself. “If this Lord Prefect isn’t present, we would’ve made this trip for nothing.” Linley immediately stored away his metallic lifeform, and then he and Bebe flew towards the distant residence.

The residence of the Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture was naturally under heavy guard, and many prefectural soldiers were on patrol.

“Who goes there!” The distant soldiers shouted from far away, before Linley even drew near.

But Linley and Bebe continued to fly over. Tens of prefectural soldiers immediately flew forward, with the leader being a soldier with a single horn on his forehead. The leader barked, “This is the residence of the Lord Prefect. Outsiders are not permitted to wander about freely here. The two of you had best leave immediately.”

“Please go report to the Lord Prefect that Elder ‘Linley’ of the Four Divine Beasts clan wishes to pay his respects.” Linley laughed calmly.

“And are we supposed to believe that you are an Elder of the Four Divine Beasts clan just because you say you are?” The leader of the soldiers snickered.

Linley laughed calmly. An earthen yellow aura spread out from his body, immediately capturing the soldiers within it, catching them completely off-guard. Their bodies trembled, and they fell down to the ground. Gritting their teeth, they just barely made it back to their feet.

“Now do you believe me?” Linley laughed calmly, while at the same time withdrawing the earthen yellow light.

“I believe you, I believe you.” The soldier said hurriedly.

He had been completely stunned. The power of the Gravitational Space made him completely convinced that this person in front of him was definitely someone of the Seven Star Fiend level. “The two of you, please wait here a moment…I’ll go make the report.” The horned soldier said, and then immediately turned and flew towards the tall castle.

“Is your Lord Prefect present?” Linley queried the other soldiers.

These soldiers all understood that the two in front of them were extraordinary figures. One of them, a big-bearded soldier, laughed in response, “Milord, We are just ordinary soldiers. If the Lord Prefect was to leave, we probably wouldn’t be made aware of it. Soon, when the captain returns, we’ll know.”

Linley could only wait there quietly, while Bebe mumbled, “I hope the Lord Prefect didn’t head out.”

Moments later…

“Lord Linley, Lord Linley.” The soldier who had made the report shouted from far away as he flew back, moving like a flash, his face covered in smiles. “When the Lord Prefect learned that you had arrived, milord, he was extremely happy. He’s already ordered a feast to be prepared for you. Lord Linley, please follow me this way.”

Hearing this, Linley couldn’t help but exchange glances with Bebe.

“So friendly?” Bebe mumbled.

“That’s a good thing.” Linley laughed, then immediately flew forwards. “Lead the way!”

While hurrying towards the castle, Bebe asked through divine sense in a puzzled manner “Boss, it seems as though this Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture is being very courteous upon knowing that you are here. Can it be that he has heard of you? Can it be that your fame, Boss, has spread all the way from the Infernal Realm to the Netherworld?”

“We’ll know when we see him.” Linley felt very joyful right now. “Also, when we meet the Lord Prefect, don’t cause any trouble. We’re here to ask him for help.”

“I know. If necessary, I just will stay silent.” Bebe rubbed his nose.

Linley couldn’t help but chuckle. This trip to the Netherworld seemed to be going rather smoothly. He was able to so easily meet with the Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture.

“Lord Linley, here we are.” The soldier stood outside the castle gates.

Linley could already see quite a few maids moving towards the castle with platters of food. Linley and Bebe immediately entered this castle.

A few hundred meters away from the Lord Prefect’s castle, there was another, slightly smaller castle. At this moment, a man dressed in long gray robes was standing on the veranda, casually enjoying the scenery. If Linley were to see this person, Linley would immediately recognize him. This was the person he dreamed about killing…the Vile King of the Gebados Planar Prison, ‘Odin’.

When Odin had arrived in the Netherworld, he had been transported here by the Sacred Undead Mountain as well.

Thus, his first stop was to Northbone Prefecture. While journeying through Northbone Prefecture, he quickly understood that given his current level of power, although he could be considered a supreme expert in the Netherworld, he hadn’t truly reached the pinnacle of power. There was no way he could compare to the Lord Prefects of the Netherworld. And while journeying, he had encountered the Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture.

After sparring multiple times with the Lord Prefect, he wholeheartedly submitted to the other man’s power, and so had become the Lord Prefect’s subordinate, becoming the third Envoy controlled by the Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture.

“Eh?” Odin looked into the distance in surprise.

He saw two figures be led into the Lord Prefect’s castle.

“Them!” Odin’s pupils suddenly contracted, and his face changed dramatically. “How has Linley come to the Netherworld as well?” How could Odin forget the humiliation his divine wind clone had suffered, back in the Yulan continent? Even though that sort of humiliation, to him, was quite basic…

But to Odin, it was still the greatest humiliation he had ever suffered!

He hated Linley!

Back then, he had viciously snarled at Linley, telling Linley to come to the Netherworld to find him.

But who would have thought that Linley would actually come to the Netherworld! “It seems he is fixated on killing me.” Odin’s gaze was cold. “He even dares to come meet with the Lord Prefect. Does Linley know that I’m here, or is he here on other business?” Odin was still rather puzzled as to whether or not Linley knew he was here.

If he did, would Linley dare to so openly meet with the Lord Prefect?

It must be understood that Odin was the Lord Prefect’s subordinate.

“I had wanted to just let things be done with. Who would have imagined that you would chase me into the Netherworld? Hmph.” Odin was so angry that he suddenly moved, flying out of his own castle towards the Lord Prefect’s castle.

His divine wind clone had gotten a complete sense of Linley’s power. Odin understood…that in terms of material attacks, Linley far surpassed him. Even in soul attacks…Linley had enough power to make him, Odin, enter a dazed state and lose consciousness. Through this, Odin had become certain…

That Linley wasn’t weaker than him in terms of soul attacks either!

“To kill Linley…by myself, I won’t be able to do it. I’ll have to ask the Lord Prefect to help.” Odin immediately flew in through a side door, entering the Lord Prefect’s castle. The guards all knew who Odin was, and so didn’t block him.

Within the guest hall.

A long table was covered with all sorts of delicacies, and bottles of precious wine had been prepared as well. Linley and Bebe were seated off to one side, while facing them was a blue-robed, graceful woman. In the host’s seat, there sat a handsome, middle-aged white-robed man with a white beard, beaming so widely his eyes were creased.

This middle-aged man was the Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture.

“Linley, although I’m of the Netherworld, I’ve heard of the famous name of Elder Linley of the Azure Dragon clan. For you to come visit me today, Linley, is truly a joyous occasion.” The middle-aged man said in a very gentle voice. “Let me make the introductions. This is my wife, Anita [A’ni’ta]! Oh, and I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Sayant [Sai’yin’te]!”

“Mr. Sayant. Madame Anita.” Linley smiled. “This is my good friend, Bebe.” Bebe immediately squeezed out a smile.

Linley was still quite happy. Given the reaction of the Lord Prefect, it should be easy to negotiate with him.

“I just heard of you not too long ago, Lord Linley, and now you are here in my prefecture. This truly is a joyful surprise. Lord Linley, might I ask if there’s a special reason for your presence?” Sayant beamed, his eyes twinkling. “If there’s anything you need, just speak. If I, Sayant, can help, I will.”

Linley felt relieved, and the nearby Bebe immediately laughed, “You’ll definitely be able to help. You are a Sovereign’s Emissary, after all.”

Sayant was startled, then laughed and nodded.

“Mr. Sayant, the main issue is that I have some very important business, and so I need to meet with a Netherworld Sovereign. Only…I have no idea where they live. I’d like to ask you, Mr. Sayant, to give me some guidance as to where I should go in order to meet with a Netherworld Sovereign. It doesn’t have to be a specific one of the seven; any of the seven will suffice.” Linley said hurriedly.

“You wish to see a Sovereign?” Sayant was shocked, and his nearby wife also stared at Linley and Bebe in surprise.

“Can you tell me why you are going to meet with a Netherworld Sovereign?” Sayant asked.

Linley hesitated slightly.

Sayant immediately laughed, “I’m just asking. Right…if you want to meet a Netherworld Sovereign, this will be rather tricky. I do know where a Netherworld Sovereign lives, but even if you go there, if the Sovereign isn’t willing to meet you, your trip will have been in vain. Sovereigns are proud and lofty individuals.”

Linley felt overjoyed. So Sayant did indeed know!

“Mr. Sayant, please tell me where a Sovereign resides. As for whether or not the Sovereign is willing to meet with me, that’ll be up to my own luck.” Linley said hurriedly.

Sayant hesitated momentarily, then nodded slightly.

Right at this moment…

“Lord Prefect!” A voice echoed in Sayant’s mind. Sayant couldn’t help but frown, then sent back in response through divine sense, “Odin, what is it?”

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 18, Highgod – Chapter 15, Throwing One’s Life Away

Odin’s interruption did indeed irritate Sayant.

“Lord Prefect, there is currently a person named Linley present visiting you, correct?” Odin sent through divine sense.

“Right, that is indeed the case.” Sayant was rather surprised at how quickly Odin had found out.

Odin hurriedly sent back through divine sense, “Lord Prefect, why has Linley come?”

“Linley wishes to meet with a Sovereign, and asked me where a Sovereign lives. Why?” Sayant was rather puzzled.

Odin was shocked as well. “Meeting with a Sovereign?” Odin thought it had to do with him, but he still immediately responded frantically, “Lord Prefect, this Linley and I have an irreconcilable enmity between the two of us. My son and my brother were both killed by him! Even my divine wind clone was humiliated and tortured to death by him. Lord Prefect…please, help me get revenge. So long as we can kill Linley, I, Odin, will never forget your benevolence, Lord Prefect.”

As Odin saw it, Lord Prefect Sayant was a Sovereign’s Emissary who had a Sovereign artifact. He was definitely a truly supreme expert.

He should be absolutely confident in being able to kill Linley!

“Kill Linley? Out of the question.” Sayant was rather angry now.

“Lord Prefect.” Odin was frantic. “Lord Prefect, if I was able to kill him, I would have killed him long ago. But I’m not able to. Lord Prefect, I beg you, kill Linley. So long as you kill him, if you have any orders for me, Lord Prefect, even if it costs me my life, I will carry them out.”

Sayant sent back angrily through divine sense, “Listen clearly. It isn’t that I don’t wish to help you gain revenge. Only…I’m not confident in being able to do so either!”

“Not confident?” Odin didn’t dare believe it. “How can you not be confident?”

“Odin, you should be aware that not long ago, I went to visit an old friend and that I just returned not long ago.” Sayant said.

“Right.” Odin knew of this.

“I had gone to visit the Patriarch of the Ashcroft clan. It was the Nether Serpent himself who told me about Linley. Do you know…that when Linley was a God, he was able to kill multiple Seven Star Fiends by himself!” Sayant barked back through divine sense.

Odin was stunned. “God? How is that possible?”

“Based on the projections of the eight great clans, now that Linley is a Highgod, it is very likely that he has reached the level of being a Paragon! Even if the projections of the eight great clans are incorrect, given his amazing performance as a God, now that Linley is a Highgod, his strength is such that even I am not certain of victory against him!” Sayant sent back.

Not to mention, ‘victory over’ and ‘killing’ were two different concepts.

Sayant wasn’t confident of even being able to defeat Linley, much less kill him.

“Tell me, am I supposed to go kill a presumed Paragon-level expert?” Sayant sent back.

Odin was stupefied.

He knew that Linley was powerful, but not even in his wildest imaginings would he have thought that the Ashcroft clan’s Patriarch would acknowledge Linley’s power, and even suspect him to be a Paragon. This was an extremely high-level appraisal! After all, there was no way to judge from the surface if someone was a Highgod Paragon or not.

For example, Dunnington. Others only ‘suspected’ him of being a Paragon.

Even after someone fused all six profound mysteries, others wouldn’t be able to judge that just from looking at the person.

It was precisely because he knew Linley to be incredibly powerful that Sayant was so courteous. Otherwise, given his status as a Sovereign’s Emissary, why would he act in such a manner? Unfortunately…none of them knew that Linley had the ‘black stone’ which the Redbud Sovereign had bestowed upon him, which was why he had such astonishing power.

“Lord Prefect. Lord Prefect!” Odin sent back frantically. “Linley is fixated on killing me. Lord Prefect, I beg of you, please help me come up with a way to kill Linley. Oh, right…Lord Prefect, Linley wants to meet a Sovereign, right? Have the Sovereign kill him.”

“Have you gone stupid?” Sayant was truly beginning to grow angry now. He immediately sent back, “Do you think the Sovereigns will act at your beck and call?”

Only now did Odin come to his senses.

“But your suggestion does remind me of a method.” Sayant said.

“You have a method?” Odin was overjoyed.

“Enough. Don’t speak to me through divine sense again. Wait there.” Sayant barked.

Conversations through divine sense occurred at lightning speed. Although they had exchanged tens of sentences, in truth, not even a second had passed. In the banquet hall, Linley and Bebe were looking at Sayant, awaiting Sayant’s answer.

“I do know where a Sovereign lives, but Linley.” Sayant said with a solemn expression. “The residence of a Sovereign is set up to prevent others from disturbing them. Thus, their residences are in very dangerous locations…even Seven Star Fiends wouldn’t dare to casually go barging in. Thus, Linley, I urge you to reconsider it.”

“Mr. Sayant, no need for you to be concerned. Please tell me where to go.” Linley said urgently.

“Tell us where it is. We’re growing really impatient.” Bebe mumbled to the side.

Sayant hesitated momentarily, but then nodded. “Fine, then. Our Netherworld has a very dangerous location; the number one mountain peak of the Netherworld, the Abyssal Mountain! Everyone in the Netherworld knows that the Abyssal Mountain is an extremely dangerous please, but what they don’t know…is that within the Abyss Mountain lies the residence of a Sovereign!”

Sayant’s wife, ‘Anita’, glanced towards Sayant in surprise upon hearing this. Clearly, this response by her husband caused her to feel surprise!

“Abyssal Mountain?” Linley frowned.

In the book provided him by Beirut, the descriptions of the various places had also included a description of the number one tall mountain of the Netherworld…Abyssal Mountain. According to what the book said, the Abyssal Mountain was the most dangerous location of the Netherworld, and that no matter what, no one was permitted to barge in.

“I want to see how dangerous it can be.” Linley made his decision.

“Madame Anita, what’s that look on your face?” Bebe’s eyes were keen, and he noticed that Anita’s expression seemed strange. “Can it be that the Lord Prefect’s words are incorrect?”

“That’s not it.” Madame Anita laughed in response. “I’m just surprised. Abyssal Mountain actually has a Sovereign living there? I didn’t know about it prior to this either.”

“Oh.” Bebe nodded as though suddenly enlightened.

“Boss, I feel as though something is off.” Bebe sent through divine sense to Linley. “When Madame Anita heard Sayant say ‘Abyssal Mountain’, the look in her eyes was very strange. Something is off.” Although Bebe had a rather childish disposition, as a Godeater Rat, his senses were very keen.

“Don’t guess rashly.” Linley sent back.

Sayant then urged, “Linley, Abyssal Mountain is far too dangerous. I urge you not to go. How about this…why don’t you stay here with me? As a Sovereign’s Emissary, although I’m not able to actively reach out to the Sovereign, perhaps at some point, the Sovereign will summon me…at which point, I’ll be able to help you convey the message to the Sovereign.”

“Unable to actively reach out to the Sovereign?” Linley frowned.

How long would he have to wait?

“That’s not necessarily so.” Bebe snorted. “I saw a Sovereign’s Emissary burn a sheet of sheepskin parchment covered in magic runes, and the Sovereign appeared.”

This was what Beirut had done, and then the Bloodridge Sovereign had appeared. With but a single word, he had sent the eight great clans away, dispersing them.

Sayant glanced at Bebe in astonishment, then laughed. “Bebe, I didn’t imagine that you’d even know about this. Indeed, this is a type of method by which one can summon a Sovereign. Only, that paper with magic runes isn’t something that I can create; the Sovereign has to personally create it. That’s the only reason why the Sovereign would sense the paper being burned.”

“However, the Sovereign didn’t bestow one upon me.” Sayant said apologetically.

And Linley understood that even if Sayant had one, why would he use up such a precious item on behalf of Linley?

“Mr. Sayant, I am already extremely grateful to you. But Abyssal Mountain is deep within the Netherworld, and it will take me thirty or forty years to travel there from here. It will take too long. I wonder…if you know any of the residences of the other six Sovereigns?” Linley asked.

Linley wanted to waste no time in saving his father and brothers.

Abyssal Mountain was indeed a bit too far.

“I’m not.” Sayant shook his head regretfully. “Linley, although I’m a Sovereign’s Emissary, I don’t know where the Sovereigns live. The only reason I know of Abyssal Mountain as being one such place is because I once heard the Sovereign speak of it. As for the others…I truly have no idea. I imagine the Sovereigns don’t wish to be disturbed.”

Linley felt rather resigned.

Still…

He had already gained something on this visit. At least he now knew that Abyssal Mountain was the residence of a Sovereign.

“Abyssal Mountain!” Linley had made up his mind.

His father and brothers had spent nearly two thousand years in the Undead Realm. If they had been able to last for so many years, lasting a few more decades probably wouldn’t be too hard.

“Linley, let’s not just chat. Come, taste some of the special delicacies of the Netherworld.” Sayant laughed while speaking.

Linley and Bebe continued to chat casually with Sayant and his wife while drinking wine…spending quite a bit of time in the process.

Afterwards, Lord Prefect Sayant of Northbone Prefecture and his wife, Madame Anita, escorted Linley and Bebe all the way out to the perimeters of the guard camp.

“Mr. Sayant, Madame Anita, no need to see us any further.” Linley said gratefully.

Sayant let out a sigh. “Linley, to be honest, I truly do not wish to see you go to Abyssal Mountain. Abyssal Mountain truly is dangerous…although I haven’t gone deep into it myself, I’ve heard others speak of how dangerous it is long ago. Watching you head to Abyssal Mountain, I…alas! Linley, I urge you to just wait. In a few hundred thousand years or a few million years, perhaps the Sovereign will summon me.”

Hundreds of thousands of years? Millions of years?

If his father and siblings hadn’t transformed into Deities, they would die in the battles between undead. No matter how hard Linley worked, by then, it would all be fruitless.

“No need.” Linley laughed.

Bebe, standing there to one side, seemed rather unhappy.

Linley suddenly thought of something. On this trip to the Netherworld, aside from helping his father and his brothers regain their memories, which was his primary goal, he had another goal…if he had the chance, he would kill Odin!

As Linley saw it, since Sayant was the Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture, he should know quite a few experts.

“Mr. Sayant, Madame Anita. I would like to ask you if you’ve heard of a person. This person is roughly at the Seven Star Fiend level of power. His name…is Odin!” Linley looked at Sayant and Madame Ania. Sayant raised an eyebrow, but Anita began to laugh.

“Haha, Odin. Of course we’ve heard of him.” Madame Anita laughed as she spoke.

Linley’s eyes immediately lit up, and Bebe turned to look as well.

“You know him?” Linley said in surprised delight.

Madame Anita let out two chuckles. “Yes. When Sayant and I were roaming within the borders of Northbone Prefecture, we once ran into Odin. Odin’s power was indeed not bad…but compared to my husband, ‘Sayant’, he was still quite a ways off. He lost multiple times, and submitted whole-heartedly, and so chatted with us for a time. We asked him to stay with us for a while, but he said that he had just arrived in the Netherworld, and wanted to roam about the other regions of the Netherworld and do some adventuring. We didn’t stop him. I have no idea where in the Netherworld he is now.”

“Oh.” Linley and Bebe couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

“Then we won’t disturb you any further.” Linley and Bebe bade them farewell, then entered their metallic lifeform and flew to the south, disappearing into the horizon.

“Why did you want me to deceive them?” Anita turned to look at her husband. When she said these words, Anita also vigilantly set up a Godrealm, preventing others from hearing.

Sayant laughed calmly, “Do you know that between Linley and Odin, there lies a tremendous and irreconcilable hatred?”

“Ah?” Anita said, surprised. “Then just now, when you said that the Sovereign was at Abyssal Mountain, it was also because…?”

“Right.” Sayant laughed calmly. “Odin is one of us, after all. In addition, Linley and the Nether Serpent can be considered antagonistic…although Linley isn’t an enemy, he can’t be said to be a friend either! However, Linley is very powerful. It isn’t worth offending Linley for the sake of Odin. Still…all I did was give him a location.”

“But you are having him throw his life away.” Anita said.

“He is indeed throwing his life away.”

Sayant laughed. “However…Abyssal Mountain is indeed the residence of a Sovereign!”

“Huh? It really is?” Anita looked towards him in surprise.

“Right. And not an ordinary Sovereign; the most powerful of the seven Sovereigns of the Netherworld. It is the residence of the Chief Sovereign of Death!” Sayant laughed calmly. “I urged Linley not to go, but he insisted. If he dies, it has nothing to do with me.”

“The Chief Sovereign of Death…”

Sayant let out a sigh.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 18, Highgod – Chapter 16, Abyssal Mountain

That eerie, crescent red moon hung up high in the void.

A metallic lifeform flew through the skies, bathed in that eerie red glow. Linley peered through the window towards the outside, seeing the occasional castle pop up in the distant mountain forests. Surrounding those rare castles were some massive flying dragons, immortal phoenixes, and other Saint-type magical beasts. These enormous magical beasts were reared in captivity.

Within the metallic lifeform.

“Boss.” Bebe was holding a goblet of wine. Sipping from it, he frowned. “Are we really going to the Abyssal Mountain? The book Grandpa gave us spoke of it, and said that it was the most dangerous location in the entire Netherworld. Although I want to adventure as well, I keep on having the feeling that Sayant’s words are unreliable.”

“Whether his words are reliable or not, we can’t be certain for now.”

Linley put down his goblet, laughing calmly. “We’ve just spoken to a single Lord Prefect. The Netherworld has more of them than just Sayant himself. When we reach the next Prefecture, we’ll ask again. After having spoken to a number of Lord Prefects, we can make our decision!”

Speaking with a Lord Prefect would only take a day or two, but travelling to the Abyssal Mountain would require decades.

Nursing his goblet while walking to the front of the metallic lifeform, Linley stared through the window again, into the ancient night-time scenery of the Netherworld. Linley sighed emotionally, “I hope that the souls of Father, Yale, George, and Dixie were able to stay alive in the Undead Realm.”

From Northbone Prefecture to the Abyssal Mountain was a journey that entailed crossing through six other prefectures. In two of them, the Lord Prefects were situated in rather remote, distant corners. If Linley was to go visit with them, he would have to deviate significantly from his route by hundreds of millions of kilometers…and so Linley gave up and didn’t go visit them.

He went to visit the other four Lord Prefects instead.

Of the other four, two of the Lord Prefects were not present within their residences. It was possible that they were outside adventuring, and so Linley left empty-handed. But Linley did, in fact, meet the other two. One of the two was present in his prefecture and received Linley, but this Lord Prefect didn’t know a thing about the residences of the Sovereigns.

As for the other Lord Prefect, this one did indeed know a bit regarding the Sovereigns.

He said to Linley, “Linley, based on what I know, deep within the Nether Sea, in the Azurewave Island, there lies the residence of a Sovereign. But of course, based on what I know, the ‘Abyssal Mountain’ which Sayant mentioned also does indeed have the residence of a Sovereign. Only, Abyssal Mountain is far too dangerous. It is best if you go to the island instead!”

Upon hearing this, Linley immediately expressed his gratitude and leave.

The entire Netherworld was formed from one enormous continent which was vaster than the five continents of the Infernal Realm put together. At the ends of the Netherworld was a vast, endless sea which was known as the Nether Sea. The Nether Sea was truly endless, and the Azurewave Island was deep within it.

“Go to Azurewave Island?”

Linley shook his head internally. “Traversing the entire Netherworld alone will take nearly two centuries. To then venture into the Nether Sea and travel to Azurewave Island will most likely take another century or two. The trip to Azurewave Island will take at least three or four centuries!” Linley sighed to himself. “In addition, who knows if I will even be able to meet the Sovereign once I reach Azurewave Island? If I’m not even able to meet the Sovereign, I’d have to leave and head to the Abyssal Mountain and spend another three or four centuries! This round trip would take seven or eight centuries. Not worth it. Not worth it!”

The danger level of Azurewave Island was much lower, but it was too far.

Time. Time was precisely what he couldn’t afford to waste right now. The sooner he could save his father and the others, the better. If too much time passed, his father, Yale, and the others might have truly died.

“Boss, you made your decision? We are going to the Abyssal Mountain?” Bebe asked.

“Right. We’re going to the Abyssal Mountain. So what if it is a bit dangerous? At least I am now certain that the Abyssal Mountain is indeed the residence of a Sovereign. If we fail in our journey to the Abyssal Mountain, we can then hurry to Azurewave Island. No matter what, we can’t waste any time on roundabout trips!” Linley said.

“Hey, Boss, take a look outside.” Bebe suddenly said in astonishment.

Linley looked through the translucent metal to the outside as well. He saw that far in the distance, above a tall mountain, in the air above an ancient castle, two men were standing in mid-air, staring at each other. Both were dressed in long black robes, while one had long silver hair and the other had long violet hair. The violet-haired man’s entire body was crackling with lightning.

The two flashed like lightning across the skies, exchanging blows.

BANG!

A large crack in space appeared.

“These two are both fairly strong. They should be at the Seven Star Fiend level of power.” Linley evaluated.

“This journey was so boring. All we saw were some Gods or some weak Highgods fighting amongst themselves. It’s rare to see supreme experts battle. Boss, let’s take a break and see who wins!” Bebe’s eyes were shining as he spoke. Bebe was rather interested in battles between supreme experts.

Linley was helpless.

“We’ll only stop for a short period of time.” Linley still brought the metallic lifeform to a halt.

In the distant horizon, those two supreme experts exchanged multiple blows, their power causing the skies to split open time and time ago. But a few moments later, the body of the silver-haired man suddenly vanished like an illusory shadow as he fled at high speed into the distant skies. As for the violet-haired man, he pursued at high speed.

“Hey…that’s boring. They ran away before anyone died.” Bebe said resignedly.

“Enough. It doesn’t matter who lives or dies. We aren’t too far from the Abyssal Mountain by now. We’ll be there in a few months. Let’s make haste.” Linley once more controlled the metallic lifeform, sending it flying forward.

“A few more months? Whoaaaah. I look forward to it. They say the Abyssal Mountain is dangerous, but how dangerous, really?” Bebe’s eyes were gleaming.

“We’ll know when we get there.” Linley laughed, while his mind thought back to the descriptions of the Abyssal Mountain the book he had read.

The Abyssal Mountain was the greatest of the mountains of the Netherworld. It was more than a million meters tall, with a circumference of over ten thousand kilometers. The Abyssal Mountain was constantly surrounded by tri-colored fog clouds, which actually formed Heaven-Earth Chains around the entire mountain. The wall of fog was not to be touched, as any who touched it was almost guaranteed to perish. The Abyssal Mountain was filled with dangers, and people were not to casually enter it!

“Tri-colored fog clouds? Heaven-Earth Chains?”

Linley’s mind was filled with questions. The descriptions the book had regarding the Abyssal Mountain was very sparse. It just repeatedly warned that the Abyssal Mountain was not to be entered, and that it was very dangerous. As for the tri-colored fog clouds and the Heaven-Earth Chains, it didn’t describe them in detail.

Linley spent the next few months in quiet training, and time passed quickly. On the thirty-plus years of this journey, Linley’s divine clones remained constantly in training, while his original body assisted his divine earth clone in meditating on the Laws of the Earth. However, the amount of improvements he made in thirty years wasn’t that significant. For example, his divine water clone had reached the bottleneck in the sixth mystery long ago, but despite so much time having passed, he had yet to make any breakthroughs and reach the Highgod level.

“Boss, Boss!” Bebe’s jubilant cries rang out. “Hurry, hurry, look, look! Abyssal Mountain. Abyssal Mountain!!!”

Linley, who had been seated in the meditative position within the metallic lifeform, absorbed in training, suddenly opened his eyes.

Swoosh!

Linley hurried to the front of the metallic lifeform, staring out through the metallic metal. In the distance, a towering, dazzling mountain spire had appeared, surrounded by a layer of faint blue light. It looked like a blue mountain, but upon taking a closer look, Linley realized that the blue light was constantly flashing.

“It lives up to its reputation as being the greatest mountain of the Netherworld.” A smile appeared on Linley’s face.

Bebe rubbed his chin, then said in praise, “The Abyssal Mountain really is tall. The books say that it is a million meters tall, and before seeing it, I doubted if that was true!”

Seeing this tall mountain, Linley couldn’t help but laugh.

The mountains of his homeland, the Yulan continent, were tens of thousands of meters high at most. In the Infernal Realm, he had seen some extremely tall mountains that were hundreds of thousands of meters tall, but he had never once seen a mountain that was a million meters tall.

“The Abyssal Mountain. We’re here!” Linley let out a sigh.

“Woo, we’re here!” Bebe called out jubilantly. “Goshdarnit, the past thirty years have bored me to death. We finally made it! Everyone says the Abyssal Mountain is very dangerous, but I want to see what exactly is so dangerous about this place. I want to see what it can do me, Bebe.”

Linley glanced sideways at Bebe, not knowing whether to laugh or to cry.

It truly was quite hard for Bebe to feel as though he was in any danger!

Bebe’s body was so tough that it could be said to be even tougher than godspark weapons. His material defense could be said to be invincible. As for his soul defense…although Linley wasn’t certain, given that Bebe was capable of executing an innate divine ability such as the ‘Godeater’, Bebe’s soul was definitely not weak, and he also had a soul-protecting artifact.

“Don’t be incautious! The Abyssal Mountain is the residence of a Sovereign. No matter how mighty you are, can you be mightier than a Sovereign? Be low-key, be low-key!” Linley laughed.

“Sovereigns wouldn’t lower themselves to attack me, and as long as it isn’t a Sovereign, what have I to fear?” Bebe laughed.

Although they were able to see the Abyssal Mountain from far away, in truth, Linley and Bebe were still more than a hundred thousand kilometers away from the mountain itself. It was precisely because the Abyssal Mountain was incredibly high that they were able to see it from such a distance. However, a hundred thousand kilometers…given the flying speed of the metallic lifeform, they were able to traverse it in less than an hour.

The nearer they drew to it, the harder Linley and Bebe found it to breathe.

“Boss…it really is ridiculous!” Bebe was completely stunned.

“Heaven-Earth Chains, tri-colored fog clouds…so this is what the book referred to!” Linley couldn’t help but feel astonished as well.”

The Abyssal Mountain, as they saw when they drew near, gave off the feeling of being so tall that it pierced the very heavens.

But it wasn’t the height of the Abyssal Mountain which was the most astonishing.

The Abyssal Mountain was completely wrapped in fog. The lower half of the mountain was wrapped in a white fog, while the top half of the mountain was wrapped in gray fog. As for the very peak of the mountain, that area was wrapped in a violet fog. Because fog of three different colors surrounded it…there was no way to see deep into the Abyssal Mountain.

The strange thing was, Heaven-Earth Chains had appeared!

They saw…

That like waterfalls, from the top of the Abyssal Mountain to the bottom, countless chains of lightning snaked downwards. These countless chains of lightning were as thick as a normal-sized person, covering the surface of the fog. There was roughly just one or two meters between each chain of lightning.

“Good heavens…every single chain of lightning has to be a million meters long.” Bebe said in praise.

Linley sighed in praise as well. “No wonder they are described as Heaven-Earth Chains! These countless lightning chains that cover the entire mountain…where in the world do they come from? Only a place like this could possibly form such oddities. How marvelous.”

“Let’s go in.”

Linley and Bebe flew out of the metallic lifeform. After storing it away, Linley headed directly to the base of the Abyssal Mountain, flying at high speed. Although they were already quite close, they still had to fly for some time before reaching the base of the mountain.

“Boss, let’s go in.” Bebe began to fly inwards as he spoke.

“Hey, you two, milords, halt, halt!” A cry suddenly rang out from nearby.

Bebe couldn’t help but come to a halt, and Linley turned to look as well. A youth dressed in a long green robe flew out, his face filled with tension. He hurriedly said, “Milords, this area is covered with Heaven-Earth Chains. No matter what, don’t go inside. If you run about inside wildly and touch any of the Heaven-Earth Chains, you’ll die for sure.”

“We know that the Heaven-Earth Chains cannot be touched. We’ll go in from between them.” Bebe laughed.

Linley nodded as well.

Although countless chains of lightning descended from the peak, there was still one or two meters between each pair of lightning chains. This space was more than enough for people to fly through.

“It seems you two don’t know anything.” The youth picked up a rock from the ground, then casually tossed it towards the ‘crack’ between a pair of lightning chains. As the rock passed through the space between the lightning chains…

“CRACKLE!”

Between the chains of lightning, a semi-translucent membrane suddenly formed, which completely blocked the space between them. In addition, it had countless electric spark snaking across its top, flowing between the two ‘chains’. These electric sparks reduced the stone into nothingness.

Linley and Bebe were both stunned.

“Under normal conditions, the translucent membrane between the chains of lightning are invisible. But they are always present. Thus…if you want to go through, you’ll suffer attacks from countless sparks of lightning. This lightning is no ordinary lightning…even powerful Highgods will instantly be reduced into ash by those lightning bolts!” The green-robed youth repeatedly warned.