“I sent people to investigate, but we couldn’t find any clues at all.” Cena was also frustrated. “Oh, right. There was one commonality to the tens of lucky survivors.”
Everyone in the hall immediately turned to look at Cena.
“Those lucky survivors were all in fairly hard-to-reach areas. For example, half of the lucky survivors were being held in the deepest prison cells of Bluelion City. The others were all either in underground rooms or in other hard-to-reach areas,” Cena explained.
“Hard to reach areas… so they didn’t die?” Zassler nodded. “Perhaps this wasn’t a magic spell after all. After all, a magic spell capable of covering an entire city wouldn’t possibly care about whether an area was ‘hard to reach’ or not.”
“I recommend that we ask Lord Linley for help.” Zassler sighed.
“Lord Linley?” The eyes of Wharton and the others all lit up.
If Linley were to come out, they would feel much more confident with their leader present and wouldn’t be in such a state of disarray when events occurred.
“Right. In the past five years, there have been simply too many strange events that have occurred. For example, the war entering a state of stalemate, or those mysterious new religions appearing within our empire, or this dead city…” Zassler said in one breath.
“I agree that we should go speak with my big brother.” Wharton nodded.
Leena’s face revealed a smile on it. “If big brother Ley were to come out, this affair would definitely be resolved easily. Big brother Ley has been in training for five years. I wonder what level big brother Ley has reached now.”
Everyone’s faces had smiles on them when discussing Linley.
Afterwards, Wharton, Gates, and Zassler served as the representatives of the group and headed to the entrance to the training room.
“Wait a moment.” Wharton’s body was covered with a layer of battle-qi, and then he went straight through to the pocket dimension.
Moments later.
“Crackle, crackle.” A few moments later, passing through those clashing attacking energy streams, Wharton and Linley, dressed in a sky-blue robe and with his hair unbound, stepped out. Zassler and Gates, upon seeing Linley, suddenly felt much more at ease.
“Gates, Zassler, what has happened for all of you to come looking for me in such haste?” Linley said with a smile.
56
Mysterious Religions
In truth, as he looked at Wharton, Gates, and Zassler, Linley felt some worry in his heart.
After all, before entering his closed door training, he had said that unless something extremely major occurred, he was not to be disturbed. And yet, despite that, Wharton and the others had still come to ask for his assistance. Clearly, the situation was very grave.
“Can it be that the continental war’s hidden dangers have revealed themselves?” Linley was rather nervous. He still remembered Lord Beirut’s warning.
Wharton, Gates, and Zassler looked at each other. After a moment of silence, Zassler looked at Linley, then spoke out. “Lord Linley, you have been in closed door training for five years. In the past five years, there have been many events that have occurred ever since the war began. We can’t explain it all in just one breath. Let’s go back, and then we’ll slowly discuss it all.”
Linley nodded slightly.
While walking out of the underground area, Wharton suddenly asked, “Big bro, have you reached the Deity level yet?”
Gates and Zassler both immediately turned to look at Linley as well.
After all, Linley had originally expected that he would take around ten years to become a Deity. It had been nearly six years.
“I’m still a little way off.” Linley shook his head with a faint laugh. “If you hadn’t interrupted my training, in perhaps half a year, I would have reached it.” Linley had a very strong desire towards becoming a Deity. At his current level of training with regards to the Profound Truths of Velocity, Linley could clearly feel… that the Deity level was so close he could feel it.
He only needed a tiny bit more to break through. The Profound Truths of Velocity was composed of the two aspects, ‘Fast’ and ‘Slow’. If a person reached the limit in any one of those two aspects, then one would become a Demigod. But upon true mastery of the Profound Truths of Velocity, Linley would become a full God.
In training the Profound Truths of Velocity, the bottleneck would only appear once one reached the God-level.
But there was no bottleneck at all at the Demigod-level.
For example, the likes of Fain, Desri, Rosarie, and Tulily had all been bottlenecked at the last step, because the mysteries of the Elemental Laws that they were training in were fairly low-level mysteries. In the endless cosmos and countless planes, the vast majority of Saints were all training in fairly low-level profound truths.
Linley was only able to train in the Profound Truths of Velocity in part because of a bit of good fortune, after all.
Although in half a year, he would become a Deity, Linley naturally had to leave his training when Wharton asked him to come out. After all, when being forced to choose between family and training, in the end, family was still more important. If his family and friends ran into any difficulties, how could Linley pay them no mind at all and continue to train to become a Deity?
Within the main hall of Dragonblood Castle.
Many people were gathered here. Linley quietly sat in the primary seat, listening carefully to Wharton’s explanation of the events that had occurred in the past five plus years.
“Many top-tier Saints have appeared?” As Linley listened to Wharton describe the course of battle and how these terrifying experts had come out of nowhere, he couldn’t help but begin to worry. “According to what Wharton and the others are saying, most of these are above the power of Supreme Warrior Saints, and are even comparable to the likes of Desri and Tulily.”
Linley could immediately judge the situation accurately.
It must be understood that normally speaking, Supreme Warrior Saints should be considered amongst the most powerful Saints in the land, second only to the likes of Prime Saints. Supreme Warrior Saints were roughly on par with the likes of the deceased Heidens, Osenno, and the others.
“Speed comparable to the Saint-level Thunder lizard, but able to defeat it in one blow.” Even Linley was amazed at the power of those two Saints who had appeared in the Rohault Empire.
“Many experts on the level of Desri and Rutherford have appeared. This…” Linley was somewhat puzzled.
In the past five years, so many mysterious new Saints had appeared, and all of them were very strong.
It seemed as though almost all of them had the power of a Prime Saint.
“This can’t be right.” Linley frowned. “These experts definitely weren’t present in the past. If they existed, they definitely wouldn’t have escaped the notice of the likes of the War God.” Linley was very certain about this point. But since they couldn’t have been present in the past, then…
Clearly, these experts should have arrived in the Yulan continent in the past five or so years.
“Experts from foreign planes?” Linley was shocked at his own hypothesis.
“Wait, that shouldn’t be right either.” Linley instantly refuted his own theory. “So what if they come from other planes? Could it be that all of the experts in other planes are at the Prime Saint level?”
To the other planes of the universe, the Yulan continent was also a ‘foreign plane’.
It wasn’t strange for these experts from foreign planes to be strong, but still… they shouldn’t all be so powerful!
“Big bro, also, in this period of time, there has been a mysterious new religion that has sprung up in the Baruch Empire. They follow a god who is known as ‘Muba’,” Wharton said with a frown. “Big bro, long ago, you said that no religions were to be permitted within the borders of our empire. We worked hard to stamp out these churches, but we aren’t able to.” Wharton shook his
head.
Hearing this, Linley’s face instantly changed.
A mysterious religion?
Who needed the power of faith? The answer, without question, was…
A Deity!
“Continue.” Linley immediately looked at Wharton. “Why are you unable to stamp out this religion?”
Wharton nodded and continued. “First of all, this church has hidden experts. In addition… this religion really does have some ability. They are able to produce miracles! Because of the appearance of these miracles, within the borders of our Baruch Empire, there are many people who truly have begun to believe in and worship this god, ‘Muba’.”
“Miracles?”
Linley’s face instantly turned white.
“What is it, big bro?” Wharton, Gates, Ankh, and the others all looked at Linley in confusion.
Linley, because he was almost at the point of becoming a Deity, often discussed Deity-level experts with Desri and the others. Thus, he knew very well… that the power of faith was extremely useful to Deities. That was why the likes of the War God, in the O’Brien Empire’s territory, only permitted his citizens to worship himself, the War God.
Other religions were strictly banned.
As for miracles…
Many of them could only be produced based on the profound mysteries of the Laws which only a Deity could understand.
“A nameless religion that is capable of producing miracles. Then…” Linley’s heart trembled. “Behind this religious branch in the Baruch Empire, there is definitely a Deity-level expert!”
“Wharton, Cena.” Linley immediately ordered, “Listen closely. It’s fine if you continue to act to suppress the spread of this religion, but you must remember, you are not to increase the strength and vigor with which you suppress them. No matter what, do not force that religion to fight head on against our empire. At least… for now, don’t do so.”
The people in the hall didn’t understand it.
After all, aside from Linley, how long had the likes of Gates and Wharton been at the Saint level? Even Zassler, despite being experienced, only had worldly experience as well as experience with regards to Necromantic Magic. His understanding of Deities was far inferior to Linley.
“All of you, remember what I just said!” Linley said seriously.
“Yes,” Wharton, Cena, and the others still immediately responded in the affirmative. They definitely would not violate Linley’s orders.
Only now did Linley let out a secret sigh of relief. The opponent was a Deity-level expert. There was no doubt about it at all!
After all, until one reached the Deity level, the power of faith was utterly useless.
Since the opponent was a Deity, Linley naturally didn’t want to offend him.
Even after Linley himself became a Deity, he wouldn’t want to casually become enemies with the opponent. After all, Linley would only be a new Demigod. How long ago had the opponent reached godhood? There was no way for Linley to know.
“Big bro. Recently, there has been an astonishing news circulating in our Baruch Empire. In the City of Bluelion…” Wharton began to discuss the ‘city of the dead’ event, while at the same time explaining some of the stranger aspects regarding the deaths of the people in the city.
Hearing this story, Linley was puzzled as well, while at the same time, he grew cautious.
An entire city’s worth of people had died in a single night.
This was even more nerve-wracking than slaughter on the battlefield. After all, it was just too bizarre.
In the entire main hall, everyone else felt helpless. After all, they had no clues at all. In addition, there were currently too many mysterious experts in the Yulan continent. There was nothing they could do at present, and right now, even Linley felt lost and uncertain as to how he should go discover the culprit.
“You said just now that the same problem occurred in the O’Brien Empire?” Linley suddenly asked.
“Right, just a month or so ago,” Wharton replied.
Linley nodded slightly. “Then how about this. You wait in the castle. I’ll go pay a visit to War God Mountain in the O’Brien Empire.” After all, this event had just occurred in his own empire, but had occurred in the O’Brien Empire more than a month ago.
In addition, War God Mountain still had more powerful Saints than his side did.
After a full month, perhaps the War God’s College would have discovered some clues.
“Big bro, aren’t you going to eat with us?” Wharton was somewhat surprised. Linley had just come out of training, but even before having eaten a meal with his family, he was going to go to War God Mountain. This was just a bit too hasty, wasn’t it?
“No need.” Linley had already made up his mind.
After resolving this affair, he would go back to his closed-door training. After all, Linley really was extremely close to breaking through to the Deity level.
At this point in time, it was dusk. A faint, indistinct blur slashed through the air above Dragonblood Castle, disappearing into the endless western horizons.
“Lord Beirut really did speak truly. The Yulan continent really does contain many dangers.” Linley felt a hint of nervousness. That mysterious cult represented a Deity-level expert. How could Linley not be nervous at the fact that a new Deity had appeared on this plane?
It represented that the main instigator behind these strange events was perhaps a Deity.
If he didn’t reach the Deity level himself, he probably wouldn’t even be able to fight back.
“After resolving this matter, I need to immediately seize every moment and reach the Deity level as soon as possible.” As soon as Linley thought about the ‘city of the dead’ event, he felt even more worried. He had the feeling… that the strange ‘city of the dead’ event definitely had a terrifying secret behind it.
The wind howled past him as he flew.
“It seems that the Yulan continent is about to enter an unprecedented state of storms and tempests.” Linley moved through the skies like a ray of light.
War God Mountain.
Linley’s arrival naturally caused Fain, who was temporarily in charge of War God Mountain, to personally welcome him. The two went to a private room on War God Mountain to chat. Fain had been training painstakingly for the past five years, but had yet to make a breakthrough.
“Linley, have you come this time because of the ‘city of the dead’ event?” Fain actually raised the topic first.
“Yes. Fain, do you have any clues yet?” Linley immediately asked.
Fain couldn’t help but show a hint of a bitter smile on his face. During the past month, he had naturally been worrying over the ‘city of the dead’ event in the O’Brien Empire. After the same event occurred in the Baruch Empire, he naturally quickly got word of it, as he had been paying special attention to this problem.
“I do have one clue,” Fain said with resignation. “This mysterious expert, moving at high speed, killed all the people in the city in one night, one after the other.”
“Oh?” Linley was startled. “One after the other?”
Saints could indeed kill a hundred thousand people very quickly. If they raised to the limit, most likely all the people in the area they passed through would instantly die. To a Saint, travelling hundreds of meters in a second and killing dozens of people in that second was easily done.
To kill a hundred thousand people, just an hour or two would be enough.
If it was a Saint on Linley’s level who was doing it, he would probably be even faster.
“Why did he do this?” Linley didn’t understand.
Saints did have this sort of power, true. But to a Saint-level expert, what would be the point of killing so many commoners? In addition, not only was it pointless, once it was discovered… it would result in distaste and revulsion from other Saints, who might even jointly act against the culprit!
“I don’t understand either.” Fain shook his head. “Actually, we only have this
clue because of a stroke of good fortune. When my eighth martial brother was flying about, he encountered a mysterious, silver-robed person murdering people in a city. Enraged, he immediately attacked… but unfortunately, that silver-robed expert didn’t fight back. He immediately fled. The silver-robed expert was very fast, and even my eighth martial brother wasn’t a match for him in speed. But by then, the silver-robed man had already killed several thousand people, and those several thousand victims’ manners of death were identical to those in the ‘city of the dead’.”
Linley nodded slightly.
The eighth personal disciple. For him to be ranked so high, he clearly was an expert who had trained in the War God’s College for thousands of years.
“Hrm?”
Linley and Fain simultaneously turned to stare towards the northeast. A terrifying wave of energy was currently spreading out from far away in the northeast. Although the powerful energy wave, after having travelled ten thousand kilometers, was almost undetectable by now, how could it escape the attention of the likes of Linley and Fain?
They could sense the battles of Saints from thousands of kilometers away.
How could they possibly miss noticing this utterly, terrifyingly powerful energy wave? To the likes of them, that sort of terrifying energy wave was as noticeable as the sun appearing in the middle of the night.
“What just happened?!” Fain said in shock.
But just as he spoke, the expressions on his and Linley’s faces froze.
“All Saints and Deities who engage in wanton slaughter in the Eighteen Northern Duchies, or disturb the peace of the Forest of Darkness, shall all… be killed without hesitation!” a hoarse voice instantly rang out in the minds of every single Saint and Deity in the Yulan continent.
All the experts instantly became speechless with shock.
57
Guidance
Within a cold, dark underground room.
A freezing, sea-green glow was faintly flickering within this room. A blurry, indistinct figure garbed totally in darkness was seated in the meditative position. In front of him, there was an enormous crystal the size of a person’s head, which was flashing a gloomy green light.
Gods of Yulan: Book 4 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 45