“I hope that in a short period of time, I’ll be able to quickly break through this bottleneck in the Profound Truths of Velocity. That way, I’ll be able to protect us better,” Linley chanted to himself quietly.
Red Orchid City. Within a courtyard in a hotel.
Inigo received the news that had been delivered from his subordinate, VIonnaz. He couldn’t help but frown. “I didn’t expect that those two old fellows actually invited such a powerful Fiend. To have trained to such a level in the Way of Destruction means that he is most likely a Five Star Fiend or a Six Star Fiend.”
Inigo didn’t dare imagine that it would be a Seven Star Fiend.
This was because Seven Star Fiends were ultimate experts with their own titles. They didn’t lack for money, and they were at the top of the rankings as Fiends. They generally wouldn’t take on missions.
“Inigo.” The green-robed elder suddenly appeared in the courtyard again.
Inigo, seeing this person, immediately stood up and said respectfully, “Teacher, the results of Vionnaz’ mission is already known…” Inigo immediately told the results of that battle in detail to his teacher.
The green-robed elder frowned. “Oh? Trains in the Way of Destruction, and killed ten Highgods with one sword? Power like this is indeed hard to oppose.” The green-robed elder, although somewhat worried about the power of this opponent, didn’t feel that things were hopeless.
“Teacher, do you feel confident?” Inigo asked softly.
The green-robed elder said in a low voice, “Since he’s accepted a mission, then this Fiend shouldn’t be a Seven Star Fiend. Since he is a Six Star Fiend… I should be able to defeat him. However, based on the power of that sword attack you described, the attack of that Fiend is simply too powerful. I still can’t take it head on.”
“No need to take him head on, Teacher. You only need to kill those two old fellows,” Inigo said hurriedly.
The green-robed elder nodded slightly. “If that’s the case, then I am confident. I just need to separate the Fiends from them for a time.”
“Then I’ll entrust everything to you, Teacher.”
The green-robed elder laughed calmly.
Linley, in his room, continued to train for nearly a year.
“Huh?” Linley opened his eyes. “Why do I feel uneasy all of a sudden?”
For some reason, Linley suddenly felt some restlessness in his heart. Linley immediately took a deep breath, letting himself calm down.
Delia opened her eyes as well. “Linley, what is it?”
Through the window, Linley looked at the outside. “Nothing. Only, while I was training, I felt my mind grow uneasy for some reason.” Right now, the area below the metallic lifeform was a boundless desert. The wild wind howled and desert sand filled the skies.
The metallic lifeform continued to fly at high speed.
“You felt it also?” Delia said in surprise. “I felt some unease as well.”
At this moment, the metallic lifeform was completely covered by yellow sands. Originally, the metallic lifeform’s Fiends didn’t care about the sand, but… for that instant the metallic lifeform was covered by sand, the entire metallic lifeform suddenly, in the blink of an eye…
“BOOM!”
Blew apart!
37
The Ancient Castle of Sand
The metallic lifeform had completely exploded, and the Fiends that had been inside instantly became surrounded by the boundless sands. Each grain of yellow sand seemed to weigh a million kilograms, and Linley was completely surrounded by sand, completely unable to move.
“Delia!” Linley couldn’t help but try to grab Delia’s hand.
“Linley!” Delia also wanted to grab Linley’s hand.
“Whoosh!” Boundless amounts of yellow sand swirled over. Linley was completely unable to control himself.
“What is this?!” Linley wanted to break free of the constricting binds of the yellow sand, but Linley was completely unable to resist that strange, unusual binding energy. In an instant… ’boom!’ Linley was thrown to the ground.
Linley immediately stood up, staring around him. “This… what is this?” Linley’s heart was filled with questions and puzzlement.
This was a massive, ancient-looking structure formed completely from yellow sand. Linley, when raising his head, was only able to see the enormous roof formed from yellow sand, and was unable to see the sky at all. This was an enormous edifice made completely from yellow sand, which Linley was now trapped within.
What astonished Linley the most was…
“Nobody. There’s nobody around me. Where is everyone?” Linley stared around himself.
But within this edifice of sand, not a single person could be seen.
Linley spread out his divine sense, but was shocked to find…“How is this possible? My divine sense, even in the Infernal Realm, can cover an area of a hundred meters. But why is it that in this damn place, it only spread to ten meters?” Linley was shocked.
“My divine sense is being affected?”
Linley began to understand. “Can it be that this sand construct is a space of its own?”
Although Linley had discovered that nobody was here, he was still able to sense one person – Bebe! Bebe and Linley’s souls were linked. No matter how far away they were, they would still be able to sense the other’s existence.
“Boss, how are you doing? I’m in a sand-formed building. I can’t see anyone. Everyone seems to have disappeared.” Bebe’s voice rang out in Linley’s mind.
Their two souls were connected. They didn’t have to speak using divine sense; they could speak through their souls.
Linley, hearing Bebe’s words, began to understand. “Bebe, my situation is the same as yours. This is an ancient structure completely made out of sand. I can’t see a single person within. Bebe, be careful… I have the feeling that we are in a special dimension.”
“Right, got it,” Bebe replied. “Boss, I’m going to start heading in your direction.”
“Alright.” Linley could sense Bebe as well.
The two would always be able to sense the general direction of the other. Naturally, they could draw closer to each other, even if they weren’t able to see each other.
“This sand structure?” With a flip of his hand Linley withdrew Bloodviolet.
“Swoosh!” Linley flew into the air, the Bloodviolet in his hand suddenly moving at a high speed. A ray of violet light flashed, and the roof of the sand structure rumbled, and a small pile of yellow sand was smashed and fell down.
However, the yellow sand roof only trembled, then quickly returned to its normal calm.
Linley’s face changed. His Profound Truths of Velocity had already reached a bottleneck. This most powerful physical attack in his possession, the ‘Dimensional Decapitator’, was now many times more powerful than it had been when he was in the Yulan continent. But it hadn’t been able to budge this castle of sand at all.
“What a bizarre power.” Linley frowned. “A strange energy has completely infused this yellow sand.”
“This strange place…” Linley didn’t waste any more time, immediately drawing closer to Bebe.
“Boss, this damn place is too weird. I have no way of getting over. There are no paths in front of me, and the walls are too weird. I can’t break them apart at all. Whenever I break them apart slightly, the yellow sand will move back,” Bebe said frantically.
Linley couldn’t help but feel surprised.
“Bebe, wait.” Linley continued to move in Bebe’s direction as well.
The enormous sand structure had many openings and many corridors. It was like an enormous maze. After walking a while, Linley discovered that there was a dead end in front of him, a wall formed from yellow sand. Linley could clearly sense that Bebe was right there, but he was unable to cross over.
“Bebe, my path has also been blocked by a wall.” Linley frowned, turning to stare at his surroundings.
“So many roads and p
assages?” Linley couldn’t help but think back to the Yulan continent, and a type of entertainment he had seen there; mazes.
In mazes, there were many corridors and avenues. However, there was only a single true pathway. If one took a single wrong step, one wouldn’t be able to exit the maze.
“Could it be that this structure made out of sand is a maze?” Linley guessed to himself.
“No other choices. For now, let’s just treat it as a maze.” Linley immediately began to walk along other roads. While walking, he thought back to the previous pathways he had taken. Given Linley’s visualization abilities, if he knew the rough locations of the corridors, he would be able to eventually extrapolate the correct pathway.
“Bebe, this strange place is most likely a maze,” Linley said to Bebe mentally.
“Maze?” Bebe was greatly shocked.
“Right. Think of a way to draw closer to me from a roundabout way.” Linley continued to memorize every single corridor; if he went down a wrong pathway, he would immediately turn back.
“So it’s a maze… fine, I’ll definitely find the right path.” Bebe was very frantic as well. Both him and Linley had people they were worried about. Linley was worried about Delia, while Bebe was worried about Nisse.
Twenty or so people were together, with the leader being Inigo and his teacher.
“Teacher, for you to reach such a level in the Elemental Laws of the Wind… most likely, there’s only a few people in the entire Infernal Realm who can do this,” Inigo’s face was all smiles, and he spoke respectfully.
The green-robed elder laughed calmly. “Stop flattering me. This is the one and only ultimate technique that I have. In terms of pure power, that Fiend is perhaps still somewhat more powerful than me. Whew… he really is powerful. He broke open the walls of my ‘Castle of the Winds’ in a single sword blow.”
“So what if he broke them open? You can change the walls as you please, Teacher.” Inigo knew well how powerful this technique of his master’s was.
Seven powerful Elemental Laws, and Four Edicts.
Of them, the Elemental Laws of the Wind had the most connection to space. In particular, when several of the profound mysteries were fused, the mastery over space would become even greater.
“They think this is a maze?” The green-robed elder knew exactly what was happening within this ‘Castle of the Wind’. He discovered that many Fiends were beginning to search for an exit in accordance with the rules for dealing with a maze. “Right, it is a maze, but… it is a maze that I can change whenever I want to!”
The green-robed elder laughed calmly. “Inigo, lead your men and begin the attack. I will work with you.”
“Yes, Teacher.” Inigo immediately led his men out.
Inigo and twenty-plus Highgods easily entered. Even if they encountered walls, when they drew near, the walls would naturally separate, revealing a corridor. For Linley, it was the opposite… and so, Inigo’s group had no impediments within the castle at all.
In addition, they even had the guidance and cooperation of the green-robed elder.
Linley was walking at high speed, while the map of the maze in his mind was growing more and more clear. Linley couldn’t help but reveal a hint of a smile on his lips. “It seems I’m almost about to make it out of this maze.” Linley felt very confident.
But suddenly, Linley’s fast footsteps came to a halt.
“How is that possible?”
Linley stared at the wall in front of him, his face instantly changing dramatically. “No, there shouldn’t be a wall here. I just walked past here a while ago. This place should have a corridor, and there was a pillar here!” Linley immediately turned to look. There was indeed a pillar.
“The pillar is still here, but the corridor? Can I have remembered wrongly? Impossible!”
Linley shut his eyes, that clear map appearing within his mind. These were all places he had walked past.
“Impossible. I couldn’t have taken a wrong route.” Linley immediately headed back towards another direction. “There should be a corridor with an opening up this way. I just passed it,” Linley murmured. But as Linley reached the place where there should have been an opening, Linley was stunned.
In front of him…
There was indeed a large corridor, but there were no openings.
“What is going on? I… I can’t have remembered wrongly.” Linley couldn’t help but rub his head, constantly pondering the routes he had just taken. “I can’t have remembered wrongly, but these places are all…”
Linley’s face suddenly turned pale.
“This… this ancient maze, can it be that it is changing?” Linley had a sudden feeling of hopelessness. A maze would have a chance for one to leave it, but if the maze was constantly changing, what was one to do?
“Boss, I’m at the place you just were,” Bebe’s voice rang out in Linley’s mind. “I don’t know what’s going on. Just as I reached a dead end, the wall suddenly disappeared and a corridor appeared. Boss, hurry over. I don’t know where I should go right now.”
Linley, staring at the now-disappeared ‘gap’, laughed bitterly. “Bebe, I… I won’t be able to get back to my original location.”
“Delia.” Linley’s heart was filled with worry, but he had no options.
As Linley and the other Fiends were all frantically searching for an escape route, Inigo’s forces stealthily took their lives one at a time!
“This damn place… how am I supposed to leave?” Swaid was a Four Star Fiend who had taken on this mission, an expert who was at the Highgod-level. When he had seen the Six Star Fiend, ‘Learmonth’, as well as the three Edwards brothers, he had been overjoyed.
He had believed that he wouldn’t be in any danger.
However, right now, there was nobody nearby he could rely on. He could only rely on himself.
“It isn’t a maze. It should be something created by an extremely powerful expert of the Elemental Laws of the Wind.” Swaid’s heart was shivering. “To be able to reach such a level in the Elemental Laws of the Wind… he must have fused at least half of the nine profound mysteries of the Elemental Laws of the Wind.”
Swaid knew that an expert on that level was definitely not someone he could overcome.
Suddenly…
The yellow, sandy wall next to Swaid suddenly cracked open, and two figures scurried in, charging towards him. A wave of heat surged towards him, as well as an icy aura that attacked his body.
“Not good.” Swaid’s face changed dramatically.
At the same time…
A human figure in the yellow sand next to Swaid suddenly emerged, and a narrow sword pierced straight towards Swaid.
Three Highgods had joined forces to kill Swaid! In addition, this was a sneak attack. Swaid was only just barely able to recover in time to block the two enemies in front of him, but the third person easily stabbed him with the sword. In the blink of an eye…
“Prepare to attack the next one. Oh. Be careful. There’s two up ahead. One is a Highgod, while the other is a God. The two of them actually ran into each other. You three, head towards the tunnel up ahead…” The green-robed elder’s voice rang out in the ears of the three.
Although this Castle of the Winds was very strange, it had taken in quite a few Fiends, so it was normal for one or two of them to occasionally meet up.
These three Highgods glanced at each other. They laughed.
With the help of this Castle of the Winds, killing was utterly effortless. In particular, they had the advantage of numbers and of stealth.
The green-robed elder walked forward. “The wealth of the Boyd clan? It seems it is about to fall into my hands.” The green-robed elder knew exactly where those two employers were located. With but a single step, the green-robed elder entered the sand.
The black-horned elder was currently hovering in mid-air cautiously.
“There’s actually an expert of such a level…” The black-horned elder knew exactly what this cast
le was. Naturally, he didn’t dare to draw near to the ground or to the walls. Otherwise, once the enemy ambushed him suddenly from the ground, he wouldn’t even have the time to react. “It seems this time, we are in trouble.”
“Hrm?”
The black-robed elder suddenly turned his head to stare towards a distant corridor. He saw Linley, dressed in that earthen yellow robe, carefully moving forward.
“It is him. He seems to be called Linley.” The black-robed elder was somewhat surprised.
38
To Choose
Linley walked in the middle of this changing castle, exceedingly worried. “This damn place is constantly changing. There’s no way I can find the exit. In addition, there are enemies attacking and ambushing from within!” Linley clearly remembered seeing the corpse of a Fiend earlier.
Upon seeing the corpse, Linley immediately understood that this ancient castle wasn’t just meant for trapping people.
There were people lying in ambush here!
Actually, Linley should have understood this long ago. Only, he didn’t dare to think about it. “Ambush? Assassinate? Bebe and I are a bit better off. I have a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact, while Bebe has treasures bestowed upon him by Lord Beirut. He shouldn’t have any problems staying alive. But Delia, she… alas. I shouldn’t have been in such a rush. I should have let Delia reach the Highgod level first before heading out.” Linley was filled with regret.
“If Delia were to be killed…”
Thinking of this, Linley grew even more worried.
In truth, Delia trained in the Elemental Laws of the Wind, and had already mastered six of the profound mysteries, and had a Deathgod Golem with her. Although her abilities at staying alive were inferior to that of Linley and Bebe’s, she still had some degree of ability.
The Infernal Plane: Book 5 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 29