On the third level of the Necropolis of the Gods.
A cold wind was blowing. Aside from a few corpses of Saints, the only one remaining here was the still-slumbering Ba-Serpent. “Whooosh!” “Hiss!” … Each time the Ba-Serpent exhaled, that black energy came out. The only sound in the third floor was that familiar snoring.
All of a sudden, the Ba-Serpent’s enormous body, wrapped around that giant iceberg, suddenly vanished.
“Unexpectedly, a human succeeded?” A devilish young man with a slender body and devilish, flowing green hair stood there in mid-air. He wore a patterned blue robe over his body, and the patterns on the blue robe, on close inspection, appeared to be those of a snake’s skin.
“He succeeded. That means I’m more or less free as well. There’s no need for me to remain here on these eleven floors any longer.” He revealed a smile on his face. “Unfortunately, I still have to wait for Lord Beirut to come over. I’ll have to at least wait for a few more months. After having been here for so long though, a few more days won’t matter.”
A large number of Abyssal Blade Demons were beating a hasty retreat, allowing Linley to fly to the peak of the mountain.
“Whoosh.” A heart-stopping aura surged towards him. Linley’s eyes lit up, and he stared carefully at that mountain peak. There was a heap of precious treasures placed atop the flat, enormous stone on top of the mountain. The most attractive of them, however, was naturally those three divine sparks, which emanated a divine aura.
Aside from the three divine sparks, the enormous flat stone also had a series of divine artifacts. Ten of them!
“Three divine sparks, ten divine artifacts! The almighty Sovereign is truly quite generous.” Linley felt his heart rate speed up. After all, countless Saints had dreamed about acquiring just a single divine spark, but now, three of them were placed in front of him.
Not worrying about anything else, Linley immediately walked over to the flat boulder to carefully inspect those three divine sparks.
Those three divine sparks were the same color. All of them were black. Only, within the hearts of the three divine sparks, two of them emanated a faint light; one of them emanated a faint blue light, while the other one emanated an earthen yellow light. As for the last one, it didn’t emanate any light at all. Instead, it had a strange, hidden aura emanating forth from it.
“One is earth-style, while the other is wind-style. The last one is Destruction-style.” Linley frowned. “And the divine sparks here on the eleventh floor should all be Demigod sparks.”
“What is going on?” Linley’s heart was filled with suspicion.
“Could it be that the controller of this Necropolis of the Gods knew that the person acquiring the treasures would be someone who trained in the profound truths of these two Elemental Laws of the Wind and the Earth?” Linley knew very well that this destruction-style divine spark actually belonged to the ‘Way of Destruction’.
Linley, being a practitioner of the sword, could also train in this Way.
“Three divine sparks, and I’m capable of using any of them. How could there be such a coincidence? Precisely three of them!” Linley stared at the three divine sparks in front of him, a strong sense of suspicion in his mind.
Linley turned his head and stared around him.
He suddenly had a feeling as though everything going on in the Necropolis of the Gods was being watched by the Sovereign from on high.
“Perhaps…” Linley looked at the three divine sparks. “These three divine sparks were only placed here after I gained insight into the ‘Profound Truths of Velocity’. Perhaps an ultimate expert stealthily placed them here afterwards.” Linley couldn’t help but suspect this. After all, this was simply too great a coincidence.
Exactly three divine sparks?
Why weren’t they lightning-style, or light-style, or fire-style? They all suited Linley’s nature and elements.
“I should feel proud to have been looked after by this sort of ultimate expert,” Linley self-mocked silently. Linley no longer pondered this question. No matter what, he was currently just a person who had only reached the doorstep to becoming a Deity, and was only a Prime Saint, not yet a god.
There were many secrets and mysteries that he was not yet qualified to be a part of yet.
“I can already dimly sense the Deity level. Most likely, once I go back and train, in a few dozen years, I will reach the Deity level.” Linley, after becoming aware of the ‘Profound Truths of Velocity’, could already faintly sense his current level of understanding.
Linley had heard the War God speak of this before as well.
Becoming a Deity by one’s self was hundreds of times more difficult than fusing a divine spark. Linley stretched out his hand, immediately grasping those three divine sparks, then drawing them into his interspatial ring. “Even if I personally don’t use these three divine sparks, I can give them to Delia and Wharton to use.”
Given Delia and Wharton’s levels of talent, it would be extremely difficult for them to become Deities on their own.
Just by looking at how Fain and Desri had been stuck at the doorway to Deity-hood for thousands of years, one could imagine how hard it was.
Linley himself was fortunate enough that after developing the ‘Tempos of the Wind’, he encountered the Queen Mother’s attack and by mimicking it, developed the ‘Myriad Swords Converge’. Afterwards, due to reaching the Grand Magus Saint level, he was able to clearly sense the mysteries hidden within the ‘Dimensional Edge’.
With this chain of three events…
In addition, Linley only had some insights in the ‘Fast’ and ‘Slow’, and they weren’t at a very high level yet.
In terms of power, the ‘Profound Truths of Velocity’ were actually a level higher than the ‘Profound Truths of the Earth’. The ‘Profound Truths of Velocity’ could be said to be one of the highest, most profound mysteries of the Elemental Laws of the Wind.
“I wonder how Delia, Taylor, Sasha, and Wharton are doing,” Linley couldn’t help but think of his family. “And I don’t know how Barker…” Linley, in his heart, was still worried about whether Barker was alive or not.
Linley sighed in his heart.
And then, Linley looked at the ten divine artifacts. These ten divine artifacts included saber, sword, and spear-type weapons, a black book, a mysterious crystal ball, and… a set of battle-armor. Deity-level battle armor.
“Battle armor?” Linley felt joy in his heart.
Linley didn’t care too much about the other divine artifacts; after all, he already had the adamantine heavy sword and Bloodviolet. The black book and crystal ball were most likely darkness-style or Necromantic-style divine artifacts. Linley wouldn’t be able to use them well.
Linley immediately stored these ten divine artifacts into his interspatial ring.
“These divine artifacts would be useful as gifts to Delia, Taylor, Sasha, and the others.” Linley laughed as he stared around the mountain peak. “It seems there aren’t any other treasures here. Oh, right… this.” Linley stared at the flat boulder where the divine artifacts had been stored.
“A rich person certainly behaves generously. Even this boulder used to hold these divine artifacts is a treasure.” Linley stored the giant boulder into his interspatial ring as well.
This enormous flat boulder was actually something he had read about in books: ‘Bloodstone’.
Bloodstones were almost as valuable as adamantine ore. It was a type of treasure from other planes. Whether made into magus tools or weapons, it was an extremely good type of material. If one used materials such as bloodstones and adamantine to forge a weapon, one could make a divine artifact.
Linley’s adamantine heavy sword, although a good weapon, wasn’t actually a divine artifact.
With a smile, Linley descended from the air, flying away from the mountain.
The distant red Abyssal Blade Demon waited nervously. Linley hadn’t ordered him to leave, so he didn’t dare to leav
e on his own, for fear that Linley would kill him in anger.
“Congratulations, Lord,” the red Abyssal Blade Demon, seeing Linley fly over, immediately said respectfully.
Linley glanced at the red Abyssal Blade Demon, then noticed that blood-red blade on its back. Reaching out with his hand, Linley pointed to the warblade on the red Abyssal Blade Demon’s back. “Right. Your blade, as well as the warblades from the other two red Abyssal Blade Demons. Bring them to me.”
“Huh?” The red Abyssal Blade Demon stared at Linley in shock.
“Didn’t you hear me?” Linley frowned.
“Lord, this… this warblade was naturally created from my body. It took me hundreds of thousands of years. This…” The red Abyssal Blade Demon was somewhat unwilling.
These Abyssal Blade Demons were made of blades, but the most powerful blade was the one on their backs. That was the place where their essence was concentrated, and that blade was incomparably hard and powerful. Originally, when Linley’s group had encountered that ordinary Abyssal Blade Demon on the tenth floor, the sharpness of its blade was already approaching that of a divine artifact.
The blades of the red Abyssal Blade Demons were definitely at the divine artifact level.
After developing the ‘Dimensional Decapitator’ and slaughtering the Abyssal Blade Demons, he had discovered… that his Dimensional Decapitator was completely unable to damage the warblades of the Abyssal Blade Demons. One could imagine how sharp and tough they were.
“Hrm?” Linley frowned, staring coldly at the red Abyssal Blade Demon.
Life or blade. Which one was more important? This question didn’t need to be asked.
“Right, Lord. I’ll immediately send people to obtain the other two warblades.” The red Abyssal Blade Demon, terrified, immediately pulled out the blade from his back, respectfully offering it to Linley.”
“Right. Bring me a thousand warblades from the ordinary Abyssal Blade Demons as well,” Linley said casually.
Although the red Abyssal Blade Demon was astonished, he didn’t dare to say anything. After all, Linley had killed a hundred thousand Abyssal Blade Demons. A thousand warblades wasn’t much. Only, he secretly said to himself, this expert in front of him was perhaps a bit too… a bit too ‘that’. He was already so powerful, but he still wanted so many warblades.
“Although I don’t need it, I can give it to the descendants of the clan,” Linley said to himself secretly.
Even the warblades of ordinary Abyssal Blade Demons were comparable to the adamantine heavy blade in preciousness. This sort of warblade would definitely be considered an extremely valuable weapon on the Yulan continent.
“Unfortunately, my interspatial ring isn’t big enough,” Linley secretly said to himself.
If it was larger, Linley would perhaps take even more, but a thousand warblades was already enough.
After storing the one thousand warblades and the three red warblades into his interspatial ring, with countless Abyssal Blade Demons kneeling towards him, Linley returned to the tenth exit.
38
Desiring a Divine Spark?
On the tenth floor of the Necropolis of the Gods.
“Bebe, how is Linley currently?” Desri asked softly.
“The Boss is still alive and kicking.” Bebe’s wounds had already been more than half-healed, but he was still focused entirely on sensing Linley’s existence, terrified that Linley might die.
As for Tulily and Rosarie and the others, all of the experts were waiting quietly off to one side. Only from Bebe would they learn that Linley was still alive.
Tulily could sense how depressing the mood amongst the experts was. In order to change the mood, he said, “Olivier, the power of that sword attack you displayed on the eleventh floor really was quite formidable. You were able to kill four of those Abyssal Blade Demons with a single blow.”
“I remember that sword attack as well,” the Blackscale Scorpion said.
“I don’t think any of the rest of us can accomplish that,” Tulily said.
When the experts had been trying to flee back to the tenth floor, Olivier, in desperation, had unleashed his most powerful sword attack, and when that black-and-white illusionary sword had chopped out, it had immediately chopped four of the Abyssal Blade Demons to death.
These Abyssal Blade Demons were formed from tough metal, even if their defenses weren’t as strong as their attacks. To kill four Abyssal Blade Demons with a single sword blow was too hard. Even Linley had to utilize either the Profound Truths of the Earth or the ‘Tempos of the Wind’ to kill a single Abyssal Blade Demon. An ordinary sword blow wouldn’t be able to chop the Abyssal Blade Demons into two parts.
But of course, after gaining insight into the ‘Dimensional Decapitator’, Linley’s sword blows could easily kill five or six Abyssal Blade Demons per hit.
For Olivier to have been able to kill four of the Abyssal Blade Demons was a sight that truly stunned everyone present. After all, Tulily and the others couldn’t accomplish this.
“This attack is my last resort, a desperation ultimate attack. After utilizing it, my spiritual energy is all but wiped out,” Olivier said.
“Despite that, it’s still very powerful. Even going all out, my attacks aren’t as powerful,” Tulily laughed self-mockingly.
The various experts all sighed in amazement at Olivier’s rate of progress. When they had just entered the Necropolis of the Gods, Olivier could only be considered a memory of the second group, but after the past ten years, Olivier’s strength had increased dramatically and his attacks had reached such a tremendous level of power.
Olivier didn’t explain any further.
The only reason he had his current level of achievements was because of the near-death experience he previously had.
“In the past, when we encountered that Beholder King, we knew that you had some differences compared to us.” Desri sighed as well.
Now that everyone was chatting, the atmosphere on the tenth floor improved a bit. None of them noticed, however, that Bebe’s lowered head suddenly rose up, staring in astonishment towards that distant stone pillar.
“Boss!” A cry of surprised joy rang out.
“Swish!” A black blur charged over.
“What?!” Desri, Tulily, Olivier, and the other experts all turned to stare towards the exit to the eleventh floor in astonishment. They saw a youngster dressed in a sky-blue robe, exchanging grins with a black Shadowmouse.
Linley had returned!
“Boss.”
“Bebe.” Linley was currently holding Bebe in his arms, and the man and the magical beast laughed, staring at each other.
“Wonderful, Boss. I missed you terribly. I was afraid you wouldn’t make it back, Boss.” Bebe’s beady little eyes were turning misty. The past three or four hours had been a type of torture for Bebe. He was afraid that Linley really would die.
At this time, Desri, Fain, Olivier, Rosarie, Tulily, the two Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions, and the Blackscale Scorpion immediately hurried over. They, too, felt both astonishment and joy that Linley was able to return to the tenth floor!
“Linley, you managed to escape?” Fain said with surprised joy.
“I really didn’t expect that despite being pursued by a million Abyssal Blade Demons, you were still able to return to the tenth floor, Linley,” Desri’s face was covered in smiles as he spoke. “I thought that you were trying to delay underground as long as you could, and hold the Abyssal Blade Demons off until the ten-year period was up.”
“Think about how awesome my Boss is!” Bebe immediately began to grow boastful. He stood up high on Linley’s shoulders, his little paws folded proudly over his chest.
Linley laughed, “Do you think I didn’t want to try and delay and hold them off? But those Abyssal Blade Demons were simply too clever. They set up an enormous number of choke points in the center area, and whenever I was discovered, they would immediately have large numbers of Abyssal Blade Demons attack me simultan
eously. After holding on for three hours, I simply couldn’t hold on any further.”
“Then Linley, how did you return?” Fain and the others stared at Linley in confusion.
Fain and the other experts simply couldn’t imagine how, under the pursuit and assault of the Abyssal Blade Demons, Linley had managed to flee to the tenth floor.
“Luckily enough, at the critical moment, I suddenly had a breakthrough, and my speed rapidly increased, allowing me to easily throw off those Abyssal Blade Demons. After killing a few of those Abyssal Blade Demons, I managed to acquire the divine spark of the eleventh floor, and then I returned home safely,” Linley said these words quite calmly.
But everyone, including Bebe, was stunned.
“You retrieved the divine spark?” Fain, Desri, Rosarie, Tulily, and the other experts stared, their eyes round and shocked. Even Olivier, who stood silently behind the others, stared at Linley with hard-to-disguise amazement.
Divine spark…
The treasure that Fain and the others had dreamed about acquiring. Upon acquiring the divine spark of a Demigod, they would become Deities.
The difference between a Saint and a Deity was as great as that of the earth and the heavens.
“Linley, congratulations.” Desri was the first to recover. All he could do was say congratulations.
The other experts forced out smiles and congratulated Linley as well. Right now, Desri and the others felt hard-to-repress envy in their hearts! After all, they had worked for simply too long to acquire a divine spark. Now that Linley had it, there was nothing they could say, as Linley had risked his life to acquire it.
But in their hearts, they still felt a hint of envy.
In fact, their envy made it so that they couldn’t help but think about ‘killing Linley and stealing his divine spark’, but as soon as that idea came to their minds, it immediately was tossed aside.
Gods of Yulan: Book 4 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 30