“Absolutely true. If I, Bloom, said a single false word, then you can kill me, Lord Beaumont.” Bloom was very respectful.
Beaumont was silent.
Bloom didn’t dare to say a single extra word. Beaumont was a person with a brutal temper. The Gebados Planar Prison was actually just a single, special plane. Naturally, it was extremely large, and there were many internal ‘territories’ within, which the many Deities scattered throughout the prison had claimed.
Amongst them, Beaumont, Muba, the Grand Warlock, and Dylin were all in the same general area. And within this area…
Muba was a kind, good-natured fellow. The Grand Warlock was sinister and cold. Beaumont was brutal. And of course, Dylin was the most powerful of the Demigods. Even Beaumont didn’t dare to offend Dylin. However, one day, Dylin simply vanished. Dylin’s disappearance caused Beaumont to become the local tyrant of their area.
Only at the very end did the experts of this area slowly begin to learn that Dylin had left through a ‘weak point in space’. After that, Beaumont, Muba, the Grand Warlock, and some Saints had all passed through it as well. Naturally, they didn’t notify any others.
Thus…
The only people who had arrived in the Yulan continent were the few experts who lived close to that spatial weak point in the Planar Prison. Naturally, the vast majority of experts within the prison weren’t aware of their escape. As for that weak point in space, if someone wasn’t right on top of it, there is no way one would notice it.
This was the reason why Bloom had arrived in the Yulan continent only four years ago.
Even in that very area, there were still many Saints who had no idea there was an escape and were still suffering within the Planar Prison, much less the experts in other areas.
Thus, there weren’t that many outsider Deities in the Yulan continent. There were just a few more Saints than normal. All of these Saints, in turn, knew very well how terrifyingly brutal Beaumont’s temper could be.
“Bloom, I’m giving you an assignment,” Beaumont said coldly.
Bloom bowed.
“Immediately go to Dragonblood Castle. Invite Linley and the other Deity to meet me, and say that I, Beaumont, tomorrow morning… will wait for them at the Great Botha Levee of the Yulan River,” Beaumont said calmly. “Go immediately. Don’t dawdle.”
Bloom was startled. Originally, Linley had asked Beaumont to go pay a visit to Dragonblood Castle. But now, Beaumont was arranging to go to the Great Botha Levee.
“Yes, Lord Beaumont.” Bloom didn’t dare to disobey. He immediately transformed into a blur and streaked towards the north.
Beaumont turned and glanced at the others.
“Chiquita, you keep refining souls,” Beaumont said calmly.
“Yes, Lord Beaumont,” one of the four Saints behind spoke, a man who was tall and muscular, his entire body covered with a white cloak.
Chiquita. It was indeed the same Chiquita who had fled from the Sacred Isle!
Whenever Chiquita thought about what his life had been like after he had fled from the Sacred Isle, he felt miserable. He, Chiquita, was a member of the Three-Eyed Winged Men race in the Divine Plane of Light. Many Deities viewed the Three-Eyed Winged Men as a precious race.
Why?
Three-Eyed Winged Men had a special ability. Their third eye was naturally capable of refining souls.
In the eyes of many Deities, the Three-Eyed Winged Men were like a ‘silkworm’. If they could capture a Three-Eyed Winged Man, they could keep him bound and order him to refine souls for them to enjoy. Thus, it was very common in many places for Three-Eyed Winged Men to be kept as pets.
This Chiquita was a Three-Eyed Winged Man.
In the Gebados Planar Prison, he had been captured by a Deity and had suffered greatly. Afterwards, that Deity had died, and he had luckily managed to escape…he usually hid his third eye, and amongst the other Saints, claimed that he was a Winged Man, a type of beastman. Finally, after a long time, he had been lucky enough to escape to the Yulan continent.
In the Yulan continent, his power was naturally, unquestionably, at the Prime Saint level.
At the Sacred Isle of the Radiant Church, he enjoyed countless amounts of souls. When he saw that the divine phantasm had died, he immediately fled by himself and abandoned Heidens. But after living just a few good years in the Yulan continent, he was discovered by Beaumont.
Beaumont was overjoyed.
He had been bitter this entire time over the fact that with the Grand Warlock dead, there was now no one capable of refining a Gold Soul-Pearl for him.
“Just keep refining for me. Hrmph. I know exactly how many soul essences are produced from how many souls. Don’t try to steal any. Keep working hard and refining for me, and at the end, I will grant you a tenth of the souls you have refined.” Beaumont was still quite generous.
What could Chiquita do?
Under Beaumont’s orders, all he could do was to continue helping to refine souls.
This was the reason why Beaumont had suddenly engaged in a wide-scale massacre. If he didn’t have Chiquita, he, Beaumont, truly wouldn’t have any method of acquiring soul essences.
Late at night. Dragonblood Castle. The lamps were shining.
“Yulan River, the Great Botha Levee?” Linley glanced at the extremely respectful Bloom. “Fine. I understand. You can leave now.”
“Yes.” Bloom bowed respectfully, then immediately flew away from Dragonblood Castle.
Within the main hall of Dragonblood Castle, Linley, Desri, and Olivier were present. At the same time, Linley’s friends and family were present as well.
“The Great Botha Levee. This Beaumont really knows how to pick a place.” Desri snickered.
“It seems this Beaumont knows a little bit about the history of the Yulan continent.” Linley sighed in praise. “He even knows about the Great Botha Levee. For him to choose the Great Botha Levee means that he has the intention of resolving this matter peacefully with us.” The nearby Olivier nodded slightly as well.
The Great Botha Levee was an extremely famous scenic spot in the Yulan continent.
The Great Botha Levee, according to legend, was built even before the start of the Yulan calendar. In other words, the age of the Great Botha Levee was at least ten thousand years old. Although it had endured ten thousand plus years of storms and disasters, the Great Botha Levee was still undamaged and unblemished. This was indeed an amazing, bizarre thing.
Five thousand years ago, the War God and the High Priest had engaged in battle at the Yulan River, with the result being a draw.
They thus entered a settlement at the Great Botha Levee, and agreed upon boundaries for their two empires. For Beaumont to choose this location was most likely a sign that he wanted to settle with them.
“He wants to settle with us.” Olivier snorted coldly.
Desri recommended, “Olivier, we have to look at the big picture. Right now, we don’t know how many outsider Deities have arrived at the Yulan continent. Making them hesitate is enough. There’s no need to necessarily go all out. We don’t know exactly how powerful Beaumont is, anyhow.”
Olivier didn’t say anything else.
“Wharton, the rest of you can go and get some rest,” Linley turned and said to his family members.
Wharton and the others were nervous, but it wasn’t appropriate for them to interject themselves into the conversations of these three Deities; Linley, Desri, and Olivier. Hearing Linley’s words, Wharton spoke out. “Big bro, if it’s possible to avoid fighting tomorrow, it’s best to not fight.”
“Enough. Don’t worry.” Linley laughed as he patted Wharton on the shoulders.
Immediately afterwards, a large group of people left the main hall.
“Olivier.” Linley looked at Olivier.
“Hrm?” Olivier was a bit puzzled.
“Olivier, now that you have two powerful divine bodies, when they are fused, I expect your attack power will be very great. But Olivier, I ho
pe you will be a bit more cautious.” In truth, Linley was worried about Olivier the most. Desri knew that he was weak, and thus would be very careful.
But it would be terrible if this Olivier went to fight all out with the enemy, and was killed by him instead.
As Linley viewed it, Olivier was a talent as well.
“I know.” Olivier nodded.
Linley laughed, then said, “Olivier, Desri, I have to tell you something. It is regarding divine artifacts.” Linley immediately told Desri and Olivier everything that Muba had told him.
Hearing this, Olivier and Desri were both shocked.
Desri, after having become a Deity, had been gifted a divine artifact by Linley as well. The main reason was, after killing the Grand Warlock, Linley once again had extra divine artifacts. But Desri didn’t have a single divine artifact, so Linley naturally gave him one.
“Olivier, I have the feeling that your attacks primarily rely on the opposing forces of light and darkness. But I have to remind you of something. Strength is just one aspect; divine artifacts themselves also need to be utilized well,” Linley reminded. “Divine artifacts have their own souls. You need to learn how to let your attacks become one with your divine artifact.”
Olivier was somewhat puzzled.
As he saw it, his sword skills didn’t actually have much to do with his weapons.
“Olivier, spend some time carefully reflecting on it. The way of training for Deities is very complicated and vast. It definitely isn’t as simple as you think it is. Also, don’t underestimate this Beaumont.”
Linley could tell that Olivier, because of that battle with Haydson, had a transformation occur in his soul, with light and darkness fusing. Relying on that, Olivier’s training speed had increased by leaps and bounds. But just by watching Olivier’s attacks in the Necropolis of the Gods, Linley had seen that the attacks were simply too ordinary. They were just simple blows! They completely relied on the power of those two opposite, fused energy sources.
Linley was different.
Whether it was in terms of understanding the Elemental Laws of the Earth or the Elemental Laws of the Wind, Linley continued to try and think of methods to increase his attack power. From the Rippling Wind to the Tempos of the Wind… he had continuously developed his power, up until the end, with the Dimensional Decapitator. Linley had always sought attacks that are more powerful.
The Laws were one aspect, but applying them was another aspect.
It was just like fusing a divine core; if you understood the Laws, but not how to apply them, how useful would it be?
“The path of training is indeed boundless, with countless roads to take.” Linley thought back to the three years of training he had undergone. His original body had trained in the Laws of the Earth, but when Linley’s divine wind clone had been researching the Profound Truths of Velocity, it had also been analyzing the Bloodviolet sword.
As soon as he had heard Muba discuss divine artifacts, Linley had begun analyzing Bloodviolet.
When Linley had first filled Bloodviolet with divine power, causing it to vibrate and emit that soul-shaking sound, Linley had immediately known: “This sort of soul-attack has no specific target. In a real battle, it would probably attack both friends and foes. Its real attack, however, should be able to be aimed at a specific target.”
Linley had immediately understood that in reality, he still didn’t understand a single thing about Bloodviolet.
“In addition, in the past, I was able to utilize the baleful aura to attack others. And now? Also, the Grand Warlock was able to use his spiritual energy to attack people. Then how about me? Can I fuse a spiritual energy attack into the physical attack of Bloodviolet?” These were the things that Linley had spent three full years analyzing.
Linley was constantly exploring the special qualities of Bloodviolet.
He merged that strange sound, his spiritual energy, the innate special qualities of Bloodviolet, as well as the Laws of the Wind. Linley had spent nearly two years on this, and in the end, he was finally able to develop the true attack from that basic, omnidirectional vibration.
This was the first attack he had developed based on Bloodviolet itself.
Only at that moment did he and his divine artifact truly work together.
After that experience, Linley understood even more about the relationship between a person and his divine artifact.
“After reaching the Deity-level, understanding the Laws is one aspect. But how to properly apply those Laws and bring out greater power from the Laws is another important aspect.” Linley understood that actually, compared to three years ago, his understanding of the Profound Truths of Velocity hadn’t improved that much.
But in terms of attack power…
When Bloodviolet itself was matched with Linley’s dramatically strengthened spiritual energy, the attack that he had developed was already far more powerful than the Dimensional Decapitator attack he had previously used.
“Only, executing that attack uses up far too much of my spiritual energy. Unless it is absolutely necessary, I can’t use it. I hope this Beaumont knows what is good for him.” Linley, in his heart, still felt extremely confident.
77
Smiling Meekly
The Great Botha Levee stretched all the way from the banks of the Yulan river to the center.
Right. The Great Botha Levee was extremely strange. It was like a massive dock or wharf. Logically speaking, for it to have stretched all the way to the center, the thousands of years of pounding by the waves of the Yulan river should have been able to even grind a mountain down.
However, the Great Botha Levee had existed for ten thousand plus years without being damaged at all.
This was indeed quite strange.
Precisely because it was so strange, the Great Botha Levee was famous throughout the Yulan continent.
Yulan calendar, year 10044, January 16th. At the Yulan River’s intersection between the Rohault Empire and the Yulan Empire. The Great Botha Levee. Normally, this was an extremely rowdy place, but today, there wasn’t a single person who could draw near the Great Botha Levee.
Because…
Over ten Saints were currently guarding this place, maintaining an iron order, not permitting anyone to draw near it.
On the banks of the river, many people were gathered there, watching.
“Over ten Saints. I’ve never seen so many Saints in my entire life.” A powerful, muscular middle-aged man was so excited that his eyes were shining. He kept on staring towards the distant Great Botha Levee. “What is going on today? What is going to happen?”
“Hey, are those Saints? No way.” The onlookers grew more and more numerous. The latecomers didn’t believe it.
“What do you know? I personally watched those many Saints descend from the skies and force everyone back, not permitting anyone to enter the Great Botha Levee.” Someone had arrived very early at the Great Botha Levee, and had watched the Saints fly down.
“So many Saints. What are they up to? Also, who is that bald guy sitting atop the Great Botha Levee?”
The watchers grew more and more numerous. Everyone’s gaze was directed towards the Great Botha Levee. The only person seated there on a chair was… a tall, muscular bald man, dressed in a black robe. He didn’t cover up his face. In front of this tall, bald man was a round table, with a flask of fine wine on top.
“Yet another Saint has arrived.” The crowd let out a murmur of surprise.
The many onlookers watched as three figures flew over from the north. These three figures slowed down as they neared the Great Botha Levee, finally landing atop it. Shoulder to shoulder, the three walked towards the tall bald man. In a few moments, they arrived at the round table.
“I didn’t realize there would be three of you. Ah, my apologies.” The tall bald man dressed in a black robe had a face filled with tight flesh, but he still squeezed out a smile. “I only prepared two chairs.”
Immediately, the bald man gla
nced to the side. Clearly, he had sent a mental message. Instantly, a Saint produced a seat from somewhere, immediately flying over and respectfully setting it down, before respectfully retreating yet again.
“That is not your fault, Mr. Beaumont,” Desri said with a calm laugh.
Linley, Desri, and Olivier all sat down. Originally, Linley had only instructed Bloom to say that there were two Deities. Beaumont was also rather surprised that three had shown up. Only, Beaumont didn’t care at all.
“It seems that the person who became a Deity a few days ago belonged to their side,” Beaumont secretly said to himself. “Just became a Deity? Hrmph, those new early stage Demigods, I can fight them ten at a time.”
Beaumont swept his gaze towards Linley. Of the three, the only one he was slightly concerned about was Linley. After all, three years ago, Linley had killed the Grand Warlock. “This Linley could not only kill the Grand Warlock, he was able to survive the Grand Warlock’s ultimate attack.”
Linley, Desri, and Olivier only looked at Beaumont.
“Haha…” Beaumont let out a carefree laugh. “Mr. Linley, since you wanted to meet with me, naturally I wouldn’t dare to refuse. I don’t know why you three have come, Mr. Linley? Is there something you need of Beaumont? If there is, please feel free to tell me. I, Beaumont, am a very easygoing fellow.”
Beaumont’s voice was very loud.
But, the distant onlookers didn’t hear it, because Beaumont had already utilized his Godrealm.
This Godrealm was formed from a simple form of control over Beaumont’s elemental energy. Linley, Desri, and Olivier were all Deities. Naturally, they wouldn’t care about such a simple use of a Godrealm. Even if Beaumont had used his Godrealm at full force, it wouldn’t be much of a threat.
The Godrealm was actually what made the difference between a Deity and a Saint, but upon becoming a Deity, it no longer had much of an impact on you.
“Mr. Beaumont, you should know why we have come.” Linley stared at him.
Beaumont was slightly surprised, but then he laughed loudly. “Mr. Linley, you must be jesting. If you don’t tell me, how should I know?”
Gods of Yulan: Book 4 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 61