Gods of Yulan: Book 4 of the Coiling Dragon Saga

by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi

  “I’m not sure either. They are all Deities. We shouldn’t have anything to do with their affairs.” Linley was puzzled as well.

  At this time, all four of the Saints were maintaining their silence.

  The War God and the High Priest exchange a meaningful glance, and then the War God turned his razor-sharp gaze towards Linley and the other three. In a sonorous voice, he said, “Today, the primary reason the four of you have been summoned is because the High Priest and I have come to an agreement. There are too many nations in the Yulan continent. It is time to reduce the number.”

  Linley and the other three were shocked.

  “Is the War God preparing to incite a major war?” Linley wondered secretly to himself.

  The masked High Priest said in a gentle voice, “The War God and I have come to an agreement. There should only be three empires that will remain here in the Yulan continent; the O’Brien Empire, the Yulan Empire, and the Baruch Empire. In other words… it is time to start a war that will cover the entire Yulan continent.”

  Linley, Fain, Desri, and Tulily, although inwardly shocked, still managed to appear calm on the outside.

  “Linley, do you have any thoughts? You can be considered the representative of the Baruch Empire.”

  Linley paused for a moment.

  “This is good news. I naturally won’t object.”

  Linley immediately continued, “If our three major empires join forces, it won’t be hard to destroy the other nations. Only, I trust that if you, War God, and you, High Priest, join forces, you can accomplish these things easily. Why have you invited us Saints to come? I do not understand this.”

  The War God and the High Priest might have simply wanted to give him face and invite him, but why did they invite Desri, Tulily, and Fain as well?

  “It is very simple.” The nearby Cesar had a playful, teasing look in his eyes. “The War God and the High Priest don’t want to act. They want you to act.”

  The War God couldn’t help but glance sideways at Cesar, but Cesar only snickered.

  “We won’t get involved in this battle,” the War God’s firm, forceful voice rang out. “We have to tell you something. Per the orders of Lord Beirut, in three days’ time, we four Deities will all head towards the Necropolis of the Gods.”

  “To the Necropolis of the Gods?” Linley, Desri, and the others all knew that last time, only the Saints had entered the Necropolis of the Gods, while the Deities had not entered it.

  What Saints wanted to acquire was Demigod divine sparks, while what the War God wanted was full God divine sparks.

  “Three days later? Why didn’t Lord Beirut have you enter the Necropolis of the Gods along with us? Was there a special reason?” Linley asked.

  The nearby Dylin snorted. “No special reason. The only reason was because Lord Beirut so ordered it.”

  Linley was amazed.

  Just because Lord Beirut had ordered it?

  “Enough about that,” the War God said calmly. “Eliminating the other nations is only a small matter. I trust you four are completely capable of handling it. How about this… Linley, Tulily, Desri, you go lead your forces to the Sacred Isle of the Radiant Church and destroy it.”

  “As for the personal disciples of my War God’s College, as well as the personal disciples of the High Priest, they’ll go together to destroy the headquarters of the Cult of Shadows.”

  The War God glanced sideways at Linley. “Don’t tell me you can’t do it.”

  “I would be very much delighted to deal with the Radiant Church,” Linley frowned as he spoke. “But on the Sacred Isle of the Radiant Church, there is a large-scale, powerful magical formation, the ‘Glory of the Radiant Sovereign’. I imagine that just relying on Saint-level power alone, we will find it very difficult to break through it.”

  The nearby Dylin said disdainfully, “The Glory of the Radiant Sovereign? Yes, the power of that large magical formation isn’t bad. Back then, it was able to block a blow from me. Just a single Saint won’t be able to break it. But Linley, if ten of you Saints attack it at full strength simultaneously… maybe not the first time, maybe not the second time, but eventually, you’ll be able to destroy the ‘Glory of the Radiant Sovereign’.”

  Linley laughed as well.

  Previously, the Radiant Church had also feared that Linley would lead a square of Saints to attack the Sacred Isle. Thus, they had Linley sign the agreement that if he were to ever go to the Sacred Isle, he would go alone.

  But that agreement, ever since Linley, the Radiant Church, and the Cult of Shadows had their falling out, had been destroyed.

  The High Priest, ‘Catherine’, spoke. “Actually, if three wind-style Grand Magus Saints were to simultaneously cast the ‘Dimensional Edge’ and attack the same location, that should be enough to break the ‘Glory of the Radiant Sovereign’.”

  “If you can destroy the opponent’s Saint-level combatants, the results of the battle will be a foregone conclusion, even before it starts,” the War God said coldly. “In this sort of nation-destroying war, when the time comes, directly utilize your Saint-level forces and threaten the opponents. I trust that this battle will be concluded very quickly.”

  Linley, Desri, Fain, and Tulily could only laugh ruefully in their hearts.

  To Deities, the battles of the Yulan continent were indeed nothing more than children’s games, especially when the War God and the High Priest joined forces.

  And indeed, once the highest level experts of the Radiant Church and Cult of Shadows were destroyed, the results of the war would be plainly obvious to anyone.

  “Lord War God, I am a bit confused,” Linley spoke out. “Why did you drag this out for so long instead of starting it long ago? I think that if you and the High Priest were to join forces, you would have been able to divide up the other two empires long ago and split the world up for yourselves.”

  The War God and the High Priest glanced at each other.

  Dylin laughed wickedly. “That’s simple. At that time, I hadn’t arrived at the Yulan continent, and Cesar hadn’t made his breakthrough. In the human societies of the Yulan continent, the only Deities were the two of them. The two of them were always opponents; how could they possibly join forces?”

  “As for why they are joining forces now, the first reason is because they both now have the feeling that unifying the Yulan continent under their rule is now hopeless, and so they have divided the world into three parts instead. The second reason is because they now feel pressured. As to why they feel pressured… go figure that out yourself,” Dylin said.

  Linley suddenly had a thought. “The War God and the High Priest… feel that unifying the continent is now hopeless? Because of me?”

  Linley instantly understood.

  First of all, he was about to become a Deity. The War God and the High Priest should be aware of this. Secondly, he had acquired divine sparks within the Necropolis of the Gods, and was capable of cultivating a crop of Demigods. Finally and most importantly of all, the relationship between Bebe and Beirut. These three points made it impossible for the War God or the High Priest to treat Linley as an enemy.

  “The Eighteen Northern Duchies and the Holy Union will belong to my O’Brien Empire,” the War God said calmly.

  The War God looked at Linley. “The Rohault Empire and the great plains of the far east will belong to your Baruch Empire.”

  “As for the remainder, the Dark Alliance and the Rhine Empire, they will belong to the Yulan Empire.” The nearby High Priest nodded slightly.

  “Linley, do you have any objections?” The War God and the High Priest looked towards Linley.

  Linley could only laugh helplessly in his heart.

  From the words and attitude of the War God and the High Priest, he could completely sense… that the War God and the High Priest didn’t treat the upcoming war in the continent as a major affair at all. And indeed, this was a war without any possible alternate outcomes. Experts on their level didn’t need to
worry about it.

  “No objections. Of course I have no objections.” What else could Linley say?

  And so, according to this arrangement, the Yulan continent had been divided into three parts.

  “Right.” The War God nodded with satisfaction. “Linley, you should know that actually, to the likes of us, worldly power is meaningless. The most important thing is your own level of training. Linley, I have heard that you will become a Deity in around ten years or so.”

  Linley could tell that the War God’s attitude towards him was now clearly one where he considered Linley as someone on the same level.

  After all, in but ten short years, by the time the War God returned, Linley would most likely be a Deity already.

  The nearby Dylin said solemnly, “But before that happens, I have to remind you of a few things. Otherwise, if you were to make a foolish mistake, it would be terrible for you.”

  Linley immediately listened carefully, and even the nearby Desri and the others paid close attention.

  “Relying on your own power to become a Deity and fusing with a divine spark to become a Deity are completely different. Once your level of understanding of the Laws has reached a certain level, the universe will naturally create a divine spark based on the nature of your soul, and this divine spark will completely be as one with your soul.”

  “Once your divine spark is created, you will face a choice.” Dylin looked solemnly at Linley. “After the divine spark is created, you have two options. The first is to absorb the divine spark into your mind and make it become one with your soul. At that time, your body will naturally transform into a divine body.”

  “The merging of your soul with the divine spark will cause your body to transform into a divine body. If that divine spark was of the earth-element, then in the future, you would only be able to train in the Elemental Laws of the Earth and be unable to train in any others.”

  “But of course, after the birth of the divine spark, there is still the second option!”

  “That option is to not absorb the divine spark into your body, and to instead, leave it outside. If you do so, then the universe will, according to the nature of the divine spark, generate a second body. Your original body won’t change at all. In other words… you will essentially have a clone of yourself. This clone of yourself will be a Demigod, while your original body will still be able to train in the other Elemental Laws!”

  Dylin said seriously, “However, there is a price for the second choice as well. Your soul will be divided into two. Now, during the process of becoming a Deity, the strange energies of the universe will protect you during that instant, and thus your soul being split in half will be a controlled process, and you won’t die from it. However, it will still be rather harmful to your soul.”

  44

  The Apocalypse War of Ten Millenia Ago

  “What the right choice is, only you can decide,” Dylin said seriously.

  The choice people made upon the moment when they became Deities by their own power would determine their future accomplishments and developments.

  Linley didn’t have to think about it at all; his heart automatically inclined towards the second choice. He had walked on the path of understanding the wind and the earth, two different elements, this entire time. He truly would be unwilling to give up any one of those two elements.

  “Lord Dylin, if one makes the second choice, for example, if I become a wind-style Deity, then the moment I become a Deity, if I put the divine spark outside my body, then the universe will naturally form a divine body around that divine spark, right? And my soul will be divided as well. In other words, there’s no difference in the soul between the original and the clone, right?”

  “Right.” Dylin nodded.

  “Then I want to ask, if the clone becomes a Deity, what about the original? Will it advance in power?” Linley held this in great importance.

  If his clone became a Deity, but his original body remained at the Saint level, wouldn’t that be a huge weakness?

  “There is an increase in power, and your original body will be able to borrow divine power from your clone.” Dylin shook his head as he spoke. “But unfortunately, that’s just borrowed divine power. Although you can borrow a great amount of it, since the original body has no divine spark, it will be much weaker than true divine power, due to the fact that there is no divine spark to merge with that ‘divine power’.”

  The nearby Cesar laughed, “Linley, you should know that some of the Saints of the various religions can also sometimes borrow a bit of divine power.”

  Linley nodded slightly.

  Cesar continued, “You would be like them, except you’ll only be able to borrow divine power from your divine clone. But of course… there’s no need for you to offer tributes to yourself before borrowing a large amount of energy. However, without a compatible divine spark, the power will just be rather weaker.”

  “Understood.” Linley nodded.

  The importance of a divine spark was something that Linley understood quite clearly. If the original body had no divine spark and only had divine power… it wouldn’t be able to, for example, create a ‘Godrealm’.

  “Although the original body will be weaker due to not having a divine spark, there are still ways to protect it. Because the clone and the original are actually one entity to begin with, therefore… you can reabsorb your clone into your original body.” Dylin laughed and continued, “And thus, you would still be able to utilize the strength of your divine clone.”

  Linley secretly shook his head.

  Merge the divine clone with the original body? Utilize the power of the divine clone?

  In reality, that wasn’t an increase in power at all.

  “If you do that, although your power won’t be increased, your original body will be protected better. Actually, the only real benefit of this second choice is… it will allow you to train in other Elemental Laws. The only real flaw… is that your soul will be divided in two!”

  Dylin looked at Linley, saying seriously, “Linley, a soul is the most important part of a creature. It is very difficult to strengthen and transform a soul. This sudden division in half means that your soul will be weakened by half. In terms of both training speed as well as ability to resist enemy attacks, the soul will be affected.”

  “I understand. You gain something, you lose something. How could there only be benefits and no disadvantages?” Linley understood this.

  “It is good that you know this.” Dylin nodded.

  Linley’s heart was filled with questions. “What’s going on with Dylin? Why has he explained to me all these details regarding becoming a Deity… it isn’t like Dylin, right?” Linley felt that today, Dylin was acting rather differently.

  The War God, O’Brien, spoke out sonorously. “Linley, remember what we discussed earlier. I’ll hand over dealing with the Sacred Isle and the Radiant Church to you.”

  “Don’t worry.” Linley’s eyes had a hard look flash through them.

  Destroy the Radiant Church?

  How many years had he been waiting?

  “Alright. Then you can leave now,” the War God said calmly.

  Linley, Desri, Fain, and Tulily all immediately rose. Bowing respectfully, they left the War God’s quiet, secluded residence.

  Atop the quiet War God Mountain.

  “Linley, congratulations. Today, Master and the others treated you with such friendliness that they clearly consider you to be one of them,” Fain suddenly said.

  Linley was slightly startled. Right now, he could completely understand how bitter these other three experts had to feel in their hearts. Thousands of years of training, yet they still hadn’t made any breakthroughs.

  “Fain, I believe you three will quickly break through as well.”

  Desri suddenly laughed and nodded. “Right. We will break through soon. Fain, Tulily… have you already forgotten what Lord Beirut said? The three of us can break through in as quickly as a single day.
The most important thing is that we have to have faith in ourselves.”

  “Right. We will break through.” Tulily and Fain’s eyes lit up and they nodded.

  If they could break through on their own, they wouldn’t need a divine spark.

  But breaking through on one’s own truly was difficult.

  “Linley, when shall we head out to destroy the Radiant Church’s Sacred Isle?” Desri asked.

  Linley was silent for a moment, then said, “How about this. It’s best to address this quickly.” Just thinking about destroying the Radiant Church made Linley feel his blood boil and made him feel alive. “Let’s all go back home today. Tomorrow, we’ll summon our forces to make preparations. The day after that, on the eighth… the morning of the eighth, come to my Dragonblood Castle, and we’ll head out together to slaughter a path to the Sacred Isle.”

  “Alright. We’ll head out together on the eighth.” Tulily and Desri both nodded.

  Fain began to laugh. “Linley, you are moving so quickly. It seems I’ll have to pick up the pace on my side as well and eliminate the Cult of Shadows more quickly.”

  “Haha, Fain, then we’ll head off for now,” Linley said.

  Linley, Desri, and Tulily immediately flew into the air, streaking towards the east.

  Linley’s Dragonblood Castle was in the northern part of the Baruch Empire, while Desri lived in the southern part of the Baruch Empire. As for Tulily, he lived in the great plains of the far east. The three flew together for only a short while before breaking apart.

  “Whoosh.” A strong wind was blowing, causing his robe to flutter.

  Moving through the skies, soaring through the clouds and the mist, he flew at high speed towards Dragonblood Castle.

  “Linley, wait a moment.” A sound suddenly rang out, and an indistinct blur appeared near Linley.

  A devilish young man, dressed in a dark gold robe, was standing before Linley. In his forehead, there was a single slit, like a knife scar. It was the Deity-level expert, ‘Dylin’.