“What’s this all about?” the Special Executor barked to the whip-wielding low-level Executor.
“Milord, I don’t know either.” The low-level Executor was terrified. “While shipping them over, these stubborn ones were disciplined long ago. I didn’t expect that this fellow had been biding his time.”
The slave whose tongue had been cut off stared hatefully at these Executors.
Most of the other slaves had felt resigned to their fate long ago. They walked forward numbly.
Within a wide tunnel.
Heidens, dressed in a white robe, was standing in front of a beautiful female priestess, dressed in white. At this time, a large number of washed slaves, now dressed in clean clothes, were being escorted through this dark tunnel to the other end.
“Uh…” That slave whose tongue had been chopped off had also been washed and given a fresh change of clothes.
He stared at Heidens, and instantly, his terrified eyes turned round.
In the Holy Union, Heidens had presided over large-scale masses before, and in the past, this slave had personally seen Heidens and knew that Heidens was the Holy Emperor of the Radiant Church.
Instantly, he began to make furious ‘uh’ sounds towards Heidens.
“Hurry up.” Instantly, one of the escorts behind him gave him a vicious lash of the whip, causing the slave’s body to spasm from the blow.
“Such utter fools. They should feel proud to be able to offer their lives to the mighty Lord Chiquita,” the female priestess behind Heidens said with a cold snort.
Heidens laughed calmly.
“How many souls does Lord Chiquita still need before he will have completely recovered?” Heidens asked the white-robed priestess.
The priestess said respectfully, “Your Holiness, in the past year, we have already delivered several tens of thousands of people. Lord Chiquita has already recovered most of his strength, but according to what Lord Chiquita says, to completely recover, he will most likely need ten thousand more common souls.”
“Ten thousand more common souls? That will still take a long time.” Heidens frowned.
“But of course, ten Saint-level souls would be sufficient,” the white-robed priestess said.
Heidens frowned, casting a glance at the white-robed priestess. “Saint-level souls? Hmph. Remember, all you need to do is take good care of Lord Chiquita. Don’t get involved in anything else.”
“Yes,” the white-robed priestess said respectfully.
Heidens glanced towards the other end of the tunnel, then at the freshly washed slaves who were still being escorted in an unbroken stream through it. He sighed secretly, “Before draining their souls, he wants the slaves to be washed and changed into clean clothes? This Chiquita… ugh…”
Heidens actually felt some aversion towards this Chiquita.
But Heidens knew exactly how terrifyingly powerful Chiquita was.
Ever since the event that happened in the Anarchic Lands, where he had torn up the agreement with Linley and had their final falling out, Heidens had begun to carefully plan for what he would have to do in the event that Linley led a group of Saints to slaughter a path to the Sacred Isle.
“Fortunately, the Radiant Sovereign is munificent. At this moment of crisis, he permitted Lord Chiquita to descend,” Heidens murmured to himself.
But what Heidens didn’t know was that right now, Linley was currently leading a group of twenty-five experts who were traversing through the ocean, flying at high speed to the Sacred Isle.
46
Judgment Day Descends
From far off in the distance, the Radiant Church’s Sacred Isle seemed so peaceful. A group of shadows was flying towards it at high speed from the horizon.
“Hold,” Linley’s voice rang out in everyone’s mind, and instantly, all of the experts came to a halt at a distance of a few kilometers away from the Sacred Isle. The enormous draconic bodies of the Tyrant Wyrm, the Thunder Lizard, and the Gold Dragon swayed slightly in the air.
The three leaders, Linley, Tulily, and Desri, stared down at the distant island.
“That’s the Sacred Isle. No mistaking it.” Tulily nodded.
Linley’s group could feel that enormous light-style aura. It felt the same as Fenlai City had in the past.
“First let myself and Delia give them a greeting gift.” After having suppressed his hatred for so long, Linley’s heart was now filled with rage.
“A greeting gift?” Tulily, Desri, and the other experts all looked at Linley and Delia.
Delia and Linley, wife and husband, exchanged a glance. They had already discussed this affair of attacking the Sacred Isle late into the previous night. Delia immediately began to murmur the words to a magic spell, while Linley did so as well.
“Wind-style forbidden-level magic?” The experts were all eagerly awaiting this spectacle.
Delia’s eyes suddenly lit up, and her jade-like arms pointed towards the distant Sacred Isle.
“Rumble…”
Suddenly, a massive storm that was dozens of kilometers wide appeared out of nowhere.
Everywhere within line of sight was filled with blasts of wind, which either formed into twisting tornados or powerful, knife-like gusts of wind. The ocean itself was beginning to stir!
The waves of the ocean quickly reached a height of hundreds of meters, and with a rumbling sound, the massive tidal waves crashed down towards the Sacred Isle like waves of soldiers.
When they reached the Sacred Isle, those tidal waves came crashing down viciously like mountains.
“Bang!” Under the attack of the tidal waves that were hundreds of meters high, those stone houses immediately shattered from the impact, and many boulders and trees were smashed to smithereens as well. Many of the Radiant Church’s forces were directly smashed into a pulp.
This ‘blowing’ wind was actually acting like countless cutting blades.
This was…
Wind-style forbidden-level magic – Annihilating Tempest!!!
Wherever the Annihilating Tempest passed by, not a single shred of grass would be able to survive!
This wasn’t that sort of ordinary, natural tempest. This was the ‘Annihilating Tempest’, formed from countless wind blades of all sizes. Even boulders and trees were effortless sliced into rubble by the countless wind blades.
A white radiant aura, centered on the ninth floor of the Radiant Temple, shot out in every direction. A visible white barrier was quickly expanding, and every place covered by this white barrier was protected against and blocked off from the energy of the Annihilating Tempest.
“What’s going on? Who is attacking?” the leader of the Zealots, Lehman, grabbed a Vicar and growled at him.
“Don’t know, I don’t know.” The white-robed Vicar seemed to have been scared silly by the power of the Annihilating Tempest. Just then, he had personally witnessed how those people in the distance had been sliced through by the countless wind blades of the Annihilating Tempest and turned into a pile of ground meat.
And just at this moment…
“Rumble…” The entire Sacred Isle was beginning to shake.
After having experienced the Annihilating Tempest, the lucky survivors of the Sacred Isle only numbered 10% of their former numbers. These lucky survivors were all experts of the seventh or eighth ranks. But against a forbidden-level spell, these experts were also utterly terrified.
“What is going on with the ground?” Many of the followers of the Church, their bodies soaked through and through by those earlier waves, felt the ground beneath their feet was unsteady.
“Crunch!” “Boom!”
The earth was constantly shaking. It was as though a series of ripples was expanding in every direction. These vibrations were causing the earth itself to break apart, and one massive crack in the earth appeared after another. Many experts, screaming, fell directly into those massive cracks… but that wasn’t the worst part.
The worst part was in the skies. Countless massive b
oulders, covered with an earthen light, were crashing down wildly from the heavens.
“Bang!” Many of the members of the Church who were struck by those boulders were instantly turned into meat pulp.
“Lord!” some hopeless believers raised their head and shouted, hoping that the Lord would save them.
And then… they were smashed flat by the massive descending boulders, and their blood stained the ground an eye-catching color. But soon, their blood was washed away by the water which was appearing from the cracks in the earth, and many half-smashed bodies were now floating about.
“Bastard.” Lehman smashed forth with a fist viciously, breaking an enormous boulder above him into tiny pieces.
But he wasn’t able to save any others!
“Who just used the earth-style forbidden-level spell, ‘Heaven Collapses, Earth Shatters’?!” Lehman was howling in his mind.
Earth-style, forbidden-level spell – Heaven Collapses, Earth Shatters!
Over two thirds of the ground of the Sacred Isle had sank down, with only the central third area where the Radiant Temple itself was located remaining. And yet, even this remaining third still had many large cracks in the ground.
The radius of the protective barrier of the Radiant Temple retracted once again.
They were afraid that the enemies would use yet another forbidden-level spell… and yes, their fears were correct.
This was nothing more than the appetizers. The faces of those very few lucky survivors changed, because suddenly, the large amounts of seawater around the Sacred Isle had instantly frozen, and the cracked earth of the Sacred Isle was covered with a layer of ice. Frost had completely covered the entire area.
“Boom!”
The areas that were not under the direct protection of that barrier of the Radiant Temple were immediately frozen, then shattered. Countless boulders and mounds of dirt all shattered into tiny pieces, and then fell into the sea. But the freezing and shattering of these boulders was just a side effect.
More importantly, due to the shrunken radius of the protective barrier of the Radiant Temple, many followers of the Church had abruptly been exposed, and they, too, were frozen and then shattered into tiny pieces.
Water-style, forbidden-level spell – Absolute Zero!
“Your Holiness, what should we do? What should we do?!” A nearby Cardinal was standing next to Heidens in terror and fear.
Heidens was standing on the ninth floor of the Radiant Temple, staring at what was happening from a distance.
“The most terrifying enemy of our Church…” Heidens’ face was ugly to behold. “Has come!”
“Don’t bother about the other areas. First, protect the Radiant Temple.”
Suddenly, Heidens’ face changed.
“What?!” Seeing what had happened through the window, Heidens was shocked as well.
After having suffered the ‘Absolute Zero’ attack, the Sacred Isle only had 20% of its original territory left. The Radiant Temple’s barrier was currently only protecting a few kilometers worth of space in the heart now.
Suddenly, a white light, like the rays of the sun, shone down on the tattered remnants of the island. The island, illuminated by that holy light, suddenly seemed to be much brighter, but then… everything that white light touched was transformed into dust, the people included!
Light-style, forbidden-level magic – World-Purifying Light!
After taking four forbidden-level spells in a row, the originally beautiful, graceful Sacred Island was now reduced to just the few square kilometers on which the Radiant Temple sat.
“When you two couples work together, you really are quite terrifying.” In mid-air, Tulily sighed in amazement.
“That was awesome.” Bebe’s excited little eyes were gleaming.
Just then, after Linley and Delia had cast their two major forbidden-level spells, Pennslyn and Desri had cast two major forbidden-level spells of their own. Earth-style, wind-style, water-style, light-style… four forbidden-level spells had struck out in sequence. Even if the Radiant Church had wanted to protect the entire island, there was no way it could have done so.
Right now, Linley’s eyes, sharp as daggers, were staring at the distant Radiant Temple.
“That was just the greeting gift. Come. Let’s start the battle.”
Linley led the way, flying towards the Radiant Temple, and the rest of the twenty-five Saints flew alongside him.
All the high-level members of the Radiant Temple were clustered here on the ninth floor. Through the massive window wall, they could clearly make out those twenty-five experts flying towards them. Seeing this, their hearts all shuddered, but their leader, Heidens, was silent.
“That’s Linley. Linley has come.”
“And Desri! That traitor to the Church, Desri, who left long ago. He is so shameless to come back now? Everyone, what should we do?”
Everyone was frantic.
“Hrmph,” a cold snort rang out, and instantly, all of the high-level members of the Church on the ninth floor quieted down. The Holy Emperor Heidens, who in the past had always been amiable and smiling, never revealing his rage, even when utterly infuriated… was no longer hiding anything.
“Lehman. Fallen Leaf,” Heidens’ heavy voice shook the entire Radiant Temple, and even the area outside of it rang with his voice.
Two blurs appeared in the middle of the ninth floor of the Radiant Temple. It was the leader of the Zealots, Lehman, and the spiritual leader of the Ascetics, Lord Fallen Leaf.
“Lehman, we’ll be relying on you this time.” Heidens looked at Lehman.
“The ‘Great Six-Point Battle Formation’. This is the most powerful attack of our Church.” The emaciated Fallen Leaf looked at Lehman as well. “This time, we cannot afford to lose.”
Lehman’s chiseled, granite features appeared very cold. “Please don’t worry. We have fifteen Saint-level Four-Winged Angels, ten Saint-level Zealots, six Saint-level Ascetics, and four Saint-level Special Executors. Including me, we have a total of thirty-six… we can form the ‘Great Six-Point Battle Formation’. Linley’s group will definitely die.”
Heidens nodded slightly.
Only by including Lehman would they be able to reach the necessary number of thirty-six Saints. Many of them were only early-stage and middle-stage Saints.
“The total strength of the Church, as well as our future prospects, are all at stake here.” In his heart, Heidens felt nervous. The Church had staked all of its Saint-level power on this battle.
The radius of the protective barrier coming from the Radiant Temple was rapidly shrinking, until finally retreating to a radius of just a few hundred meters around the Radiant Temple itself.
Dozens of figures emerged from within the Radiant Temple, with Heidens and Lord Fallen Leaf leading them. Heidens and Lord Fallen Leaf were both dressed in white robes, while Heidens was wielding a magistaff in his hands, and his bald head was gleaming with light.
“Heidens, you actually dare to come out!” Wharton growled coldly.
“Why shouldn’t I dare?” Heidens’ face was cold. He turned to look at Linley, with the demeanor of a high and mighty celestial spirit. “Linley, do you know that by acting in such a way, you are committing a great blasphemy against the Radiant Sovereign? This desire of yours to destroy the legacy of the Radiant Sovereign in the mortal world is an unpardonable sin.”
“Heidens, do you think I am one of your followers, to be fooled by you?”
Linley let out a cold laugh. “The Radiant Sovereign is an exalted Sovereign. His glorious light is spread across countless planes. How can the Sovereign possibly be bothered if just one or two of them have problems? What’s more, this is just a material plane that cannot possibly accommodate the mighty presence of a Sovereign!”
“Linley, don’t waste words with them. Let’s just kill them,” Tulily said.
In the Necropolis of the Gods, Linley had been terror-stricken many times, but even there, he had never been as excited
as he currently felt.
“Heidens, that year, when I left the City of Hess, I swore that I would definitely destroy your entire Radiant Church and pull it out by the roots. Now, today…” Linley looked calmly at Heidens. “Today is the day your Radiant Church is annihilated.”
Heidens looked at Linley, secretly hating himself. “In the past, after I found out that Linley knew about what happened to his mother, I shouldn’t have tried to have him become a ‘Blessed One’. I should have killed him early on.” At the same time, Heidens spoke mentally to Lehman, “Lehman, make your move.”
The many Saints behind Heidens suddenly began to move at high speed. These thirty-six Saints were clearly preparing to set up the ‘Great Six-Point Battle Formation’.
“Ah!” Suddenly, an agonized scream rang out.
One of Heidens’ Saints fell from the sky, his head crushed into smithereens.
“What do you think you are doing, eh?” Bebe waved his little paws, snickering as he stared at Heidens.
Heidens stared at Bebe, feeling as though Bebe’s smile was incomparably detestable. “Bastard.” No matter how well trained he was, Heidens couldn’t help but let out a curse. The Great Six-Point Battle Formation was now missing a person. What to do? Heidens could only glance at the nearby Lord Fallen Leaf, and mentally spoke to him, “Fallen Leaf, you go…” But just as he began to mentally speak, Heidens noticed a look of shock appear in the eyes of Fallen Leaf.
Heidens frantically turned his head back.
A devilish, violet flash of light had already arrived next to him, and where the violet sword passed through, space itself was torn apart.
“Linley!” Heidens stared in shocked into Linley’s cold eyes.
47
The Great Six-Point Battle Formation
A holy light suddenly sprang forth from Heidens’ body, and Linley’s Bloodviolet sword instantly began to move more slowly, as though it was mired in mud. At the same time, the wellspring of this holy light, the ‘Radiant Scriptures’, flew out from within Heidens’ body, hovering above Heidens’ head.
Gods of Yulan: Book 4 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 37