“Desri, Tulily, and Fain came in first, but I haven’t seen them yet.” Linley carefully moved past a flow of black gas, which brushed against a nearby iceberg. The iceberg immediately transformed into powder.
The black gas that the Ba-Serpent exhaled was not to be touched.
“Desri and the others are experienced. Most likely, they have already found the entrance and have gone to the fourth floor already.” Linley understood that while he had been searching for the gateway in the first floor, Desri and Fain probably had already begun moving up into the higher floors.
There was nothing for it. They had the benefit of experience.
A person drew near. It was Eddins. Linley looked questioningly at Eddins.
Eddins used a finger to point towards another direction, then a second direction, indicating that several of them would search in the first direction, while Linley and Barker were to search in the other direction.
Linley nodded.
Eddins smiled, and then flew in the first direction with the other two Saints. Linley and Barker exchanged a glance, knowing what the other was thinking. They flew in the second direction. What mattered right now was finding that gateway!
Time passed, one minute at a time, one second at a time.
The experts in the third floor became more and more in number. From what Linley understood, by now, there were around forty of them. After all, there were only sixty or so human Saints, while the magical beasts numbered nearly twenty. Desri and Fain had already entered the fourth floor.
But if they continued to waste time like this, then the number of people here would naturally grow larger and larger.
“Eddins.” Linley looked to the distant Eddins.
Eddins and the other two shook their heads. Clearly, they hadn’t found the gateway. Linley also shook his head. Him and Barker had yet to find it either.
Quite a few of the Saints who knew each other were exchanging messages through meaningful looks. Clearly, none of them had found the gateway. As time went on… Linley, Eddins, and the others grew more and more nervous. But this large group of people still couldn’t find the gateway.
“Impossible.” Linley frowned. “This third floor is rather large, but with so many experts flying around searching for it, it’s impossible that we can’t find it.”
“The only possible explanation is…”
Linley looked towards the Ba-Serpent. “The passageway is next to the Ba-Serpent’s body!”
Ever since arriving at the third floor, every single Saint, upon seeing the Ba-Serpent, immediately moved away from it in terror. None of them dared to go near it. First, the Ba-Serpent was too terrifying. And second… the Ba-Serpent was surrounded by a large amount of black gas.
The power of that black gas was simply too great. Even those extremely tough icebergs crumbled into dust upon touching it.
Nobody dared to go near the Ba-Serpent!
“But precisely because no one dares to go near it, that’s why there’s a chance the gateway is there.” Linley nudged the nearby Barker, who looked questioningly at Linley.
Linley pointed towards the Ba-Serpent, then gave Barker a meaningful look before flying directly towards the Ba-Serpent. Barker didn’t hesitate either, immediately following behind Linley. Soon, the two arrived close to the Ba-Serpent’s body.
Many Saints saw Linley and Barker do this, and they frantically tried to signal them with their eyes, telling them to stay farther away.
It wasn’t because these Saints felt worried about them. It was because they feared that Linley and Barker would awaken the Ba-Serpent, and cause the deaths of all the Saints present!
“Now that we are fairly close to the Ba-Serpent, let’s begin flying alongside its body and try our best to search for the gateway.” Linley pulled Barker, not letting him go any closer to the Ba-Serpent, and then the two of them began to fly around the Ba-Serpent’s massive body, trying to search for that opening.
They started from the safest area, near the tail of the serpent.
Saints were very intelligent. Seeing Linley and Barker do this, many Saints suddenly understood. They, too, now guessed… that perhaps the opening was next to the Ba-Serpent’s body. Immediately, many other Saints drew near and began to carefully search as well.
“Rumble…”
The Ba-Serpent moved. Its enormous body actually moved.
“The Ba-Serpent woke up!” Linley’s face instantly turned ugly to behold. Barker’s face, as well, immediately turned pale, without a hint of color. The Saints that had been in the process of searching close to the Ba-Serpent’s massive body, in virtually the same instant, disappeared like locusts, flashing away from the Ba-Serpent’s vicinity.
Without hesitating at all…
Linley and Barker flew back at high speed to the entrance to the second floor. After all, right now, there was only two ways to escape. One was to return to the second floor through the gateway to the second floor. The other method was to immediately go to the fourth floor.
“But…”
Nobody knew where the fourth floor’s gateway was. Without any other options, they had to return to the second floor as fast as possible!
“Quick, quick!” Linley was frantic. “We’re out of time!”
At this moment, Linley’s mind suddenly flashed back to Delia, who was still waiting for him back at the Yulan continent, as well as his two children, Taylor and Sasha. Linley wasn’t the only one frightened; the other Saints were frightened as well.
But…
“Wait a second.” Linley suddenly halted.
He had once more heard that sound of snoring, the sound of the Ba-Serpent’s snoring. After Linley halted, Barker flew a short while, realized Linley wasn’t flying, and turned back.
“The Ba-Serpent didn’t wake up.” Linley was surprised.
Linley wasn’t the only one to discover this. Many of the other fleeing Saints had discovered this as well. All of them began to fly back. If the Ba-Serpent really had woken up, how could it possibly have let them cross that long distance from its body to the opening as easily as that?
Seeing that the Ba-Serpent was still slumbering, many Saints didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry.
Linley and Barker exchanged a glance, both grinning.
“So it just rolled over in its sleep.” Linley could tell that the position of the Ba-Serpent’s body had moved slightly.
Many Saints hesitated only a short while before once more drawing near the Ba-Serpent and once more searching carefully around it. In just a short period of time, a Saint discovered the location of the gateway. Linley and Barker could both clearly see seven Saints standing there in mid-air, staring at a location next to the Ba-Serpent’s head.
“Could it be there?” Linley and Barker both flew over.
Indeed…
The Ba-Serpent’s head was facing the cliff of that giant iceberg. The black breath of the Ba-Serpent was rapidly crumbling the cliff of the giant iceberg, revealing a passageway within it. The stairs were easy to spot.
“So it is here. How terrible.” Linley and Barker shared a glance. They both had a terrible feeling.
Just then, before the Ba-Serpent had turned over, the head of the Ba-Serpent had been resting against the other side. If they had found the tunnel then, they’d have to go close to the Ba-Serpent’s head, true, but it would be towards the back of the head. Linley and the others still would have been able to soundlessly sneak past.
But now…
The Ba-Serpent’s head was directly facing that passageway, and with each breath, that black gas blew towards the stairs. In addition, a large amount of black gas was still circulating around in that area.
It would be very hard to reach the passageway to the fourth floor!
“Right now, there’s only two ways we can enter the fourth floor.” Linley frowned. “The first is to rely on speed to dodge past the black gas and charge straight through to the stairs and enter the fourth floor quickly. The second method i
s…” Linley raised his head.
This iceberg was enormous.
Clearly, the stairs were continuing to the top.
Linley expected that stairs ended somewhere in the middle of the iceberg mountain. They could drill a hole down through the iceberg mountain and directly reach the insides of the iceberg mountain, then look for the entrance to the fourth floor.
“But drilling through the mountain would definitely create noise.” Linley was rather worried.
Just as Linley was hesitating, two black shadows suddenly charged towards the black-energy shrouded entrance. Those two black shadows were very fast and agile. Despite the density of the black gas… one of the shadows was touched by the black gas, but the other made it onto the stairs.
“Shadowshape Doppelganger Technique!” Linley said to himself.
Just then, that person had relied on the Shadowshape Doppelganger Technique to risk his life and pass through the black gas blocking the stairs.
“Can’t keep wasting time like this. If we keep wasting time, the Ba-Serpent will have breathed even more times and the black gas surrounding the tunnel will become even denser. Once it completely blocks off the entrance, then there won’t be any chance to go in at all.” Linley ground his teeth.
He glanced at the nearby Barker, who nodded back at Linley.
All of the forty-plus experts present understood that they couldn’t waste any more time. The more time they wasted, the less of a chance they would have.
“Whoosh!” A flash of light suddenly sped towards the entrance at high speed. With but a flash, the person entered the tunnel. Yet another Saint had passed through and entered the fourth floor.
Although the black gas was very dense and seemingly dangerous, all of the Saints present had their own consummate techniques, and thus still had a high chance of making it past.
After two had made it past, the forty-plus remaining Saints all felt their confidence increase. Yet another Saint transformed into a blur and streaked towards the tunnel entrance. Linley recognized this Saint; it was the War God’s disciple, Eddins.
Eddins was extremely fast, but suddenly, with a ‘puff’, Eddins was suddenly caught in a pincer by two flows of black gas. There was no way for him to dodge at all.
Instantly…
The terrified Eddins opened his mouth, as though he wanted to let out a scream of pain, but he didn’t even have the chance to make a sound. The black gas surrounded him, and then he crumbled into tiny pieces. Not even his soul was left.
“Eddins, he…” Linley’s heart contracted violently. This black gas was too terrifying.
The faces of the forty-plus other Saints instantly turned pale. This black gas was too terrifying. Although they had guessed at how strong it was, they hadn’t imagined that just by touching it, even someone with Eddins’ power wouldn’t be able to withstand it for half a second. Even his soul had been destroyed.
The mood was gloomier than ever before. On the third floor, only the Ba-Serpent’s slumbering snores could be heard.
13
True Awakening! The Impending Calamity!
What to do?
All of the Saints were pondering this question. The situation was clear. That black gas couldn’t be touched at all. Touching it meant death.
“Even Eddins wasn’t able to withstand it for even a moment. Perhaps even I wouldn’t be able to hold on for a second.” Linley knew very well that this divine beast, the ‘Ba-Serpent’, was a full God-level Deity. The gas it breathed out carried just the slightest hint of its power, but the power of a God, even just a hint of it… wasn’t something these Saints could withstand.
Suddenly…
Three people simultaneously charged towards the gateway to the second floor. Clearly, they wanted to return to the second floor.
“Gave up?” Linley glanced at them.
These people were returning to the second floor. Clearly, they were giving up this opportunity and preparing to stay on the second floor for the ten full years. After ten years, they would leave the Necropolis of the Gods.
“Giving up means giving up all of the treasures of the Necropolis of the Gods as well, but they will at least have their lives.” Linley wasn’t able to determine if these people made the right choice or the wrong choice, but Linley himself didn’t wish to give up. Until the last moment came, he wouldn’t give up.
Seeing the three leave, another five of the forty people present left as well, returning to the second floor.
Only thirty or so people were now left on the third floor.
“Swish.” A shadow flashed past, paying no mind to the black gas as it charged in. Clearly, this Saint was extremely nimble. He quite agilely dodged past the gas, and in the twinkling of an eye, ascended the stairs. Yet another expert had entered the fourth floor.
But the next person, his face grim, who had charged out was suddenly surrounded by that randomly flowing black gas.
“Whooosh.” The Ba-Serpent’s breathing continued unabated.
The middle-aged man was transformed into crumbled bits, not even his soul remaining.
All of the experts remaining had very solemn looks on their faces. They had a look of determination in their eyes. Yet another Saint charged down, but this one's luck was very bad. It just so happened that several waves of black gas joined together and blocked off the entire passageway.
He could only watch as the black gas surrounded him. Yet another man had died.
“The longer we wait, the more black gas there will be in the passageway. There’s no pattern to the movements of the black gas. If I fly over just when the black gas is sealing off the gateway, then I’ll be finished.” Linley knew that this was no longer a matter of speed or agility. It was also a matter of luck.
Linley glanced the nearby Barker.
The two shared a look, then nodded.
It was time to prepare to go down.
“Whoooosh.” “Hisssss.”
The Ba-Serpent continued to snore, and that sound was a sound that seemed to ring throughout this third floor. The atmosphere surrounding the thirty remaining Saints, by contrast, seemed extremely grim and terrible. If one was unlucky, one’s soul would be destroyed and wouldn’t even have the chance to become a departed spirit in the Netherworld.
“Swoosh!” The next person was that burly man Linley had sparred with, Clay. Clay moved like a bolt of lightning, going in an arced line towards the tunnel entrance. Clay was extremely lucky; he dodged all of the flows of black gas and strode onto the stairway.
Clay had a hint of a smile on his face. He glanced back at the other Saints, then went up.
“This is the moment.” Linley noticed that the black gas had revealed a fairly large opening, and immediately prepared to charge. But there was someone who was even faster than Linley, and charged down before Linley did, forcing Linley to come to a halt.
Indeed, because the opening was fairly large, that Saint had managed to seize the opportunity to charge through.
Just as that Saint was letting out a sigh of relief, he suddenly felt enormous pain. Lowering his head, he saw that an extremely thin current of black gas had wrapped around his right foot, and that his right foot had already transformed into powder.
At the same time…
Stretching up from his right foot, his entire right leg instantly disintegrated. By the time this Saint reacted to what was going on, his entire body below his chest had disintegrated.
The feeling of his soul suffering extreme anguish caused this Saint to let out an uncontrollable scream of pain.
“Ah!!!” A piercing, agonized howl pierced through the calm of the third floor.
The pain he felt was so great that it was worse than being cut by ten million knives. The Saint didn’t want to make any noise, but he simply couldn’t endure it. He had never suffered pain like this before…
The faces of all the Saints present instantly changed. No blood could be seen in their faces.
They were finished!
&n
bsp; “Flee!” Someone let out a sudden, angry roar. By now, it no longer made a difference if they made any noise at all.
The thirty-plus Saints were like a flock of terrified sheep as they wildly began to flee at their maximum speed.
But with a terrifying rumbling sound, the ten-kilometer-long body of the Ba-Serpent suddenly began to move, and as it did, the massive, tough iceberg mountain exploded into tiny pieces.
The entire iceberg mountain shattered apart, revealing the passageway that had been hidden within it. The exit of that passageway… was like a little window hanging in mid-air.
The exploding iceberg mountain carried with it an irresistible amount of force in the shards it sprayed everywhere. Many of the Saints were struck by the ice and knocked flying backwards while they vomited blood. Each piece of ice contained within it a terrifying amount of force.
“Terrible.” Linley felt that he was like a soldier who was dodging an endless rain of arrows. Large pieces of crushed ice transformed into countless streaks of light, blasting in each direction.
“Barker.” Linley’s face suddenly changed greatly.
Barker’s dodging abilities weren’t comparable to Linley’s. He was finally struck by a large piece of ice.
The ice itself wasn’t frightening. What was frightening was the enormous power with which it had been hurled out.
“Bang.” The piece of ice shattered apart, knocking Barker backwards. Barker spat out a large mouthful of blood. “Lord, flee, hurry!” A weak voice escaped from Barker’s mouth.
The apocalypse had descended upon the third floor.
The previously slumbering Ba-Serpent’s metallic eyelids opened. His dark, enormous eyes which had a hint of blue in them swept the surrounding area with a glance.
The Ba-Serpent had awoken!
Just a casual movement of its body had contained such terrifying force. If the Ba-Serpent had truly been trying to kill these Saints just then, would any of them have been able to flee?
“You want to go in?” The Ba-Serpent raised its head, staring at the entrance to the fourth floor that was located above it.
Gods of Yulan: Book 4 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 10