“Oh?” Linley was surprised.
Linley knew very well how powerful Olivier was. “In the past, Olivier had even lost to Haydson. Although I heard that twelve years later, he killed Haydson with a single sword, it’s only been twelve years. How has he improved so astonishingly fast?”
The main reason Linley’s own power had increased was because he had broken through to the Saint level, so as a peak Dragonblood Warrior his strength had increased by more than tenfold. And, of course, he had gained deeper levels of understanding as well.
But Olivier’s battle-qi had reached the peak of the Saint level long ago. His only improvement would have been in his understanding of the Laws. How had he risen in power so quickly?
“Although Olivier’s sword isn’t very fast, it combines two different types of Laws, both light and dark. When he strikes… even Clay is unable to take the blow.” Fain sighed in approval. “For one sword blow to contain two opposing types of Laws… I have never seen this in all my life. Even Master repeatedly sighed in praise.”
“What?!” Linley couldn’t believe it.
Linley stared disbelievingly at the distant Olivier, his heart filled with shock. “A single sword containing both types of Laws at the same time? How can two different Laws be used at the same time?” For example, Linley’s Profound Truths of the Earth was just that, and his Profound Truths of the Wind was just that.
To fuse the Profound Truths of the Earth and the Profound Truths of the Wind? Impossible!
After all, these were two different types of Laws.
“It is true. When Olivier attacks with his sword, darkness and light co-exist… and thus, Haydson was chopped directly in half by this sword.” Fain sighed in praise.
Linley nodded slightly.
Linley had to acknowledge this attack by Olivier. In terms of Laws alone, it had already surpassed Linley’s ‘Tempos of the Wind’ attack.
“I wonder how the power of his sword would match up against my ‘Throbbing Pulse of the Earth’.” Linley was still very confident. He had already transformed the 256 layers of the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the Earth’ to 128 layers of waves, and the power of the attack had multiplied several times over. More importantly…
Relying on his inborn gifts as a Dragonblood Warrior, Linley’s battle-qi, physical strength, and defense were all ten times that of Olivier’s.
The difference in their base abilities was simply too great.
This was the reason why Fain and Desri considered Linley as someone on the same level as them.
While making conversation and jesting throughout the night, Linley got to know these experts. The only ones that Linley got to know well, however, were Clay, Bowditch, and three of the personally trained disciples of the War God’s College. The rest, he only memorized their names and their appearances.
Dawn.
The red sun peeked out from the eastern mountains, slowly casting its light down upon War God Mountain. The twenty-two experts hadn’t slept at all last night, but none of them felt uncomfortable at all. At their level, they had long since transcended the need to sleep.
“Creaaak.” The door to the quiet little courtyard finally opened.
Twenty-two experts simultaneously rose to their feet, looking respectfully towards the person who walked into the courtyard. The man had a head full of long, scarlet red hair, and his gaze flashed with dagger-like light. His powerful, dominating aura made even these twenty-two experts feel afraid to breathe.
This man was the War God, O’Brien!
The War God swept the group with his gaze, pausing for a moment on Bebe, who was on Linley’s shoulders, then said calmly, “Since all of you have come, then follow me.” After speaking, the War God immediately flew into the air.
“The War God is blunt enough.” Linley couldn’t help but chuckle to himself.
But on the surface, Linley was like the others, quite obediently flying into the air and following the War God to fly towards the east. These twenty-two people flew in a particular order, and in the very forefront of the group were Fain and Linley.
Everyone had a sense of how powerful everyone else was.
The strongest were in front. The weakest were in the back.
“Fain, are we going to the Forest of Darkness?” Linley looked in front of him, at the heroic figure flying at their forefront. They were heading in the direction of the Forest of Darkness. He couldn’t help but query Fain quietly.
“Right,” Fain spoke very quietly as well. “Each time we head to the Necropolis of the Gods, the experts of the Yulan continent will first gather at the Forest of Darkness. After all, only Lord Beirut is capable of opening the passageway to the Necropolis of the Gods.”
“Oh.” Linley secretly nodded in understanding. “It seems it is very difficult to open the gateway to the Necropolis of the Gods. Even the War God isn’t able to do it.”
“Bebe, right?” A powerful, incisive voice.
Linley and Fain were both frightened. The Lord War God had actually appeared next to Linley and spoken. The frightening thing was, the War God actually had a hint of a warm smile on his face. Fain had almost never seen his master smile.
“That’s me.” Bebe looked at the War God.
The War God looked at Bebe carefully, then nodded. “Lord Beirut was actually willing to let you enter the Necropolis of the Gods.”
“What’s there to be afraid of? If the Boss goes, how can I not go?” Bebe raised his head proudly.
The War God let out a calm laugh and didn’t say anything else.
“Lord War God,” Linley spoke.
The War God looked at Linley, waiting for Linley to continue. Linley instantly said, “Lord War God, I have a good friend, Barker. He also wishes to go to the Necropolis of the Gods. I wonder if…”
“Lord Beirut only gave me the authority to bring twenty-two people,” the War God said calmly. “If you want to bring someone else into the Necropolis of the Gods, just have Bebe tell Lord Beirut. After all, Lord Beirut is the final decider of who will be allowed into the Necropolis of the Gods.”
After speaking, the War God flew back to the front.
Linley let out a secret sigh of relief. “Deities. Even when they are chatting and smiling, they have such an enormous, pressuring aura.” Just then, Linley had the feeling that it was hard for him to breathe, just like when he was young and had seen the Velocidragon for the first time. He had felt that sort of terror which came from the bottom of his heart.”
“This must be what Divine Presence is all about,” Linley said to himself.
The group continued to fly towards the deepest parts of the Forest of Darkness at high speed. Soon, Linley’s group, under the direction of the War God, arrived at the heart of the Forest of Darkness. This was the first time Linley had gone so deep into the Forest of Darkness.
“The legendary Lord Beirut. What will he be like?” Linley was extremely curious.
Soon, a black, metallic castle appeared before them in the Forest of Darkness. This castle’s size was approximately on par with Linley’s underground castle, with just an area of several square kilometers. Only, this castle was pitch black, and was made from some sort of strange black metal.
“Everyone, stay in the area outside this castle for now. Do not go in without authorization,” the War God said calmly, but then he himself flew into the castle.
There were already quite a few experts milling around the black metal castle.
“Many of these people are Grand Magus Saints. They should have been brought here by the High Priest,” Fain landed from the skies while explaining to Linley, and Linley nodded slightly. The experts of the Yulan continent mostly belonged to a particular Deity’s side.
“None of you are to go in without authorization. This metal castle will automatically attack any invaders,” Fain said loudly.
Actually, aside from Linley and Olivier who were coming here for the first time, everyone else here knew this.
“Automatically attack i
nvaders?” Linley was quite surprised, but Bebe snickered quietly. “Boss, this metal castle is actually a metallic life form. It has intelligence.”
Linley was secretly shocked.
This ‘King of the Forest of Darkness’ was truly incredible. Even his castle had lifeforce of its own. This was the first time Linley had encountered such a curious lifeform as well.
“Boss, wait here for now. Didn’t you want to discuss Barker’s matter? I’ll go ask Grandpa Beirut,” Bebe said.
Linley nodded slightly.
With a flicker of his body, Bebe immediately entered that pitch-black castle. Seeing Bebe go in, many of the experts outside the castle were quite surprised. They all knew… any invaders would be attacked. But just then, Bebe hadn’t been attacked at all!
“Linley, you came.” He heard the sound of laughter. Linley turned his head and looked.
He saw Desri, Hayward, and Higginson walk over towards him, and Linley immediately went to greet them. “Mr. Desri, where is your wife? She didn’t come?”
“She’s a bit too weak.” Desri laughed. “But I must say, I truly must congratulate you, for you to possess a magical beast such as Bebe. Twenty-three years ago, Lord Beirut personally communicated to several of us mentally, and we were all curious as to what fortunate youngster managed to acquire Bebe as his magical beast companion.”
Linley understood why.
Soon after Bebe had been born, Lord Beirut had probably discovered Bebe’s existence by some coincidence. Thus, he had immediately mentally contacted the War God, the High Priest, Desri, Rosarie, and the other Prime Saints, asking them to look after the two of them a bit.
Lord Beirut certainly must have been paying close attention to Bebe this entire time.
“Those ‘several of us’ included myself, Rosarie, Tulily, and Rutherford. Only the four of us answer directly to Lord Beirut’s commands,” Desri explained. “In the Yulan continent, the Saints in training are divided into three camps. Lord Beirut’s, the War God’s, and the High Priest’s.”
Linley now understood.
Although the Yulan continent had five Deities, Dylin and Cesar had only appeared in recent years, and they didn’t have many Saints subordinate to them.
“Lord Cesar has arrived as well,” Desri said suddenly.
Linley raised his head and saw Cesar, dressed in a long, loose robe, a lazy smile on his face, fly into the metallic castle.
“All of you, stay here, don’t go in. Otherwise, if you die, don’t blame me,” a calm, cold voice rang out. Linley and the others couldn’t help but turn to look, and they saw a devilish young man who wore a dark golden robe issuing instructions to the magical beasts who had followed him here. And then, he entered the metallic castle as well.
“It’s Dylin!” Linley had personally seen Dylin once, when he was in Fenlai City.
Behind Dylin were three ‘kittens’ and six Saint-level magical beasts that had transformed to a size roughly equivalent to a normal human’s. Linley inspected them carefully. Indeed, these three ‘kittens’ had a pair of wings on their backs, and on their face, above their two eyes, there were another two pairs of shut eyes.
Six eyes, two wings.
“Saint-level magical beasts, Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions. The children of Dylin,” Linley secretly said to himself.
Right at this moment, one of the Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions looked towards Linley. Suddenly… all six of its eyes opened, and he grinned at Linley. “Linley, right? Thank you!”
8
Three Corridors
“Thank me?” Linley was startled.
This was the first time he had ever met these Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions. Why did this Ni-Lion immediately thank him upon seeing him?
What was the reason?
“Unfortunately, you were born just a little too late. If you had been born three thousand years earlier, then Fourth Brother and Fifth Brother wouldn’t have had to die.” The Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lion murmured these two additional words, and the two Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions next to him also glanced at Linley. And then, the three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions flew to the other side, along with the other six Saint-level magical beasts.
Desri laughed towards Linley. “Linley, you have a relationship with these three brothers?”
“No relationship at all,” Linley said.
Desri didn’t say anything, but from the look on his face, it was clear that Desri didn’t believe him.
“In the past, there were very few magical beasts who would enter the Necropolis of the Gods. Only a few of the powerful Saint-level magical beasts of the Forest of Darkness would enter. Now that Dylin has appeared, even the magical beasts of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts are able to enter the Necropolis of the Gods.” Desri sighed.
Linley glanced at the group.
Those six Saint-level magical beasts that had come alongside the Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions were no ordinary beasts.
“It seems as though four of them were amongst the number of Saint-level magical beasts that had attacked Fenlai City. Or perhaps they are of the same race only.” Linley could immediately recognize four of them; the Bloody-eyed Maned Lion, the Tyrant Wyrm, the Savage Worldbear, and the Violet-Eyed Goldfur Ape.
It was the Violet-Eyed Goldfur Ape who had squashed Kalan to death with one foot.
Only, he couldn’t be sure if the Violet-Eyed Goldfur Ape in front of him was the same Violet-Eyed Goldfur Ape that had attacked Fenlai City.
So many experts had gathered here. Human experts, and magical beasts as well. All of the powerful experts hidden away in the Yulan continent had come out today, and everyone present, humans and beasts alike, were chatting in quiet voices to each other. At this moment, humans and magical beasts were two races that were equal to each other.
“Swish!” A black shadow flew out from the metallic castle. It was Bebe.
All the humans and magical beasts present turned to stare at Bebe. In the past, aside from those three children of Lord Beirut as well as those Deities, not a single Saint-level expert had been qualified to enter this metallic castle.
“Boss, it’s all taken care of,” Bebe’s voice rang out in Linley’s mind. “Let Barker come.”
Linley laughed. In front of that mysterious Beirut, it seemed Bebe’s words were quite effective.
“Haeru, go inform Barker and bring Barker here.” Linley immediately spiritually communicated with his Blackcloud Panther, Haeru, and Haeru’s voice sounded out in Linley’s mind as well, “Yes, Master.”
After roughly an hour.
Barker, under Haeru’s guidance, flew here.
“So many people.” Barker looked at the experts present, and he couldn’t help but be shocked. All combined, humans and magical beasts, there were over eighty Saints here today. These experts all possessed astonishing strength. If he didn’t transform… Barker would be the weakest of them.
But of course, after transforming, Barker would be above average.
In this group, the highest tier belonged to the Desri, Fain, the other Five Prime Saints, and Linley.
The sun rose to the zenith of the sky. The Saints clustered in the empty space around the metallic castle were quite patient, and they all waited quietly. Suddenly, four shadows flew out from within the living castle. There was the War God with his absolutely dominating aura, the graceful High Priest, the devilish Dylin, and the lazy Cesar.
The four mighty Deities landed in front of the castle.
Everyone, humans and magical beasts alike, listened respectfully for their orders.
The High Priest, face covered by that green mask and long hair flowing gracefully, was the first to speak. “In this group, there are those of you who have gone to the Necropolis of the Gods before, and those who have not. But this trip is not like the previous trips, which is why we must remind you of a few things.”
The High Priest’s voice was very gentle, yet very neutral. From the sound of it alone, it was hard to determine whether the voice belonged to a man or a woman.
All the humans and magical beasts present listened carefully to the High Priest’s reminders.
“Those who have gone to the Necropolis of the Gods know that there are, in total, three tunnels that lead to the Necropolis of the Gods. One is here at the Forest of Darkness. One is on an island in the North Seas. And the third is in the watery depths of the South Sea.” The voice of the High Priest remained very gentle.
The faces of the more experienced people, like Desri and Fain, began to change.
“Three thousand years ago, the entrance to the Necropolis of the Gods was from the South Seas entrance. Two thousand years ago, the entrance was from the Forest of Darkness. One thousand years ago, it was from the island in the North Sea. Every three thousand years a cycle. This time, you will be entering the Necropolis of the Gods from the South Sea.” The High Priest’s voice entered the ears of every man and magical beast.
Linley was surprised.
“This Necropolis of the Gods actually has three tunnels?” Linley began to wonder. “But these three tunnels are extremely far apart from each other. North Sea, Forest of Darkness, South Sea… they are tens of thousands of kilometers apart. What’s going on?”
Although he was puzzled, Linley knew that this wasn’t the time to ask. He could only continue to listen patiently.
The High Priest’s voice seemed to contain a hint of laughter in it. “So you should know which tunnel will be used now. Those ten of you with previous experience should also know how dangerous this trip will be. Alright. Desri, come explain to everyone.”
“Remember. Anyone who wants to give up can do so. But tonight, the remainder of us will head out together.” The High Priest’s voice remained soft.
Gods of Yulan: Book 4 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 6