Yet another Saint.
“Lord O’Casey of the Cult of Shadows has arrived!”
Hearing the list of names, the envoys of the various kingdoms and Empires all headed off to the various corners to engage in conversation. Good heavens. All of them were Saints.
“Three disciples of the High Priest of the Yulan Empire have arrived!”
Linley and Delia immediately went to welcome them. Seeing these people, Delia immediately called out with excitement, “Big Brother!” The person in the center of this three-person delegation was Dixie. Dixie and his two fellow apprentices both walked over, offering Linley their congratulations.
“Linley, you finally lived up to my little sister’s hopes.” In front of Linley, Dixie finally showed a smile.
When they were at the Ernst Institute, Linley and Dixie had been acknowledged as the two major geniuses.
Dixie suddenly whispered into Linley’s ears, “Linley, let me warn you. In the future, you better not make my little sister angry. Otherwise… even if I’m not able to deal with you, I’ll ask my Master to personally make an appearance!”
“No need for your Master to make an appearance. I’ll engage in self-punishment.” Linley began to laugh.
Today, Linley could feel that he and Dixie were on very close terms now. Seeing how friendly Linley and Dixie were being, Delia felt extremely happy.
Right at this time.
“The disciples of the ‘War Saint’ of the great plains of the far east have arrived!” The voice ringing out from outside the hall confused Linley.
Who was the ‘War Saint’?
Desri had arrived very early today, and he went to Linley’s side. He whispered, “Linley, currently, there are four people on par with me in the Yulan continent. The number one expert of the great plains of the far east, the ‘War Saint’ Tulily is one of them.”
Linley now understood.
There were five Prime Saints. One was Fain. Another was Desri. So a third was this Tulily. Who were the other two?
A middle-aged plainsman with a turban around his head walked in, two people behind him. Seeing Linley, the plainsman smiled. “King Linley. I, Moor, would like to bring my master’s most sincere greetings and congratulations.”
“My deepest thanks to Mr. Tulily.” Linley smiled.
The eyes of the plainsman, Moor, lit up. “So King Linley also knows of my master’s name. Ah. Lord Desri.” The plainsman immediately bowed upon seeing Desri.
Moor had previously seen his master, Tulily, personally spar with this Desri. His master, Tulily, had said that this Desri was on par with his own power. Naturally, Moor was extremely courteous.
“The Holy Lady of the Frost Goddess Shrine has arrived!”
Desri and Pennslyn immediately went to welcome her. Naturally, Linley and Delia went as well. Linley felt quite curious. How powerful exactly was this mysterious Frost Goddess Shrine?
This ‘Holy Lady’ had long, jade hair, and she seemed as cold and as unapproachable as a block of ice. Behind her were two beautiful girls.
“Big sister.” Pennslyn was boundlessly overjoyed.
Desri whispered to Linley, “Linley, this ‘Holy Lady’ of the Frost Goddess Shrine, Rosarie, is the number one expert of the Frost Goddess Shrine. Her power is on par with mine.” Hearing these words, Linley understood that this Rosarie should be yet another of the Five Prime Saints.
He now knew four of the Prime Saints: Fain, Desri, Tulily, and Rosarie.
“Who is the last one?” Linley secretly wondered. Unfortunately, the last expert didn’t arrive, even by the time the wedding was concluded.
In the main hall of the Baruch Kingdom, there was a huge pile of Saints. All the envoys of the various Empires were engaged in conversation, while the Saints were engaged in conversation with the other Saints. Desri and Rosarie and the others were together as well.
Each level was segregated quite clearly.
“The envoy of the Yulan Empire has arrived!”
The person who had come was George.
“Second Bro.” Linley began to laugh loudly, and George excitedly ran towards him, then intentionally made a deep bow. “O most puissant King Linley! I, George, on behalf of his Imperial Majesty… urgh!” Linley whacked George on the shoulder, not letting him get the words out.
“Enough, sheesh. Acting like this in front of me.” Linley was overjoyed. “Come, come see Fourth Bro with me.”
“Fourth Bro is here as well?” George was extremely excited.
Ever since they had separated seven or eight years ago, he hadn’t seen Reynolds a single time.
“Fourth Bro!” “Second Bro!”
As soon as Reynolds and George saw each other, they instantly shouted and then threw their arms around each other. And right at this time…
“The Chairman of the Dawson Conglomerate has arrived!” Before the announcement was even finished, Yale rushed into the main hall. He immediately saw Linley, Reynolds, and George.
“Haha, Second Bro, Third Bro, Fourth Bro, your Boss has arrived!”
Laughing loudly, Yale charged towards them.
The many people in the hall all looked at these four friends. If ordinary people had caused such a scene, they probably would’ve been rebuked already. But this was Linley and his closest friends. No one dared to say a thing.
Ten years late, the four bros had finally come together in one spot.
“Hey, as soon as this kid Linley has become a King, he starts acting differently. His attendants even ask me where my letter of invitation is? And asks me who I am? Jeeze, what a pain!” A lazy looking middle-aged man in a long, loose robe suddenly appeared in the middle of the hall. He grabbed a nearby cup of wine, then took two sips, seeming to enjoy it very much.
“Mm. Not bad.” An expression of satisfaction was on his face.
“Lord Cesar?!” In the main hall, Barker suddenly saw this middle-aged man. He would never forget this Deity who had saved his life.
74
That Night
Barker and his brothers immediately rushed forward, but Cesar frowned in impatience. “Don’t get so close to me. Don’t let me become the center of attention. Low-key, low-key!” The five brothers could only grin awkwardly as they greeted Cesar from far away.
“Gurgle.”
As he sampled the wine, Cesar went hiding into a corner of the room. Whenever he encountered the envoys of the kings and emperors, he would toast them, not putting on any airs of being a Deity at all.
“Cesar,” a cold voice suddenly rang out.
Cesar turned. An awkward smile couldn’t help but to appear on his face. The person who had spoken was the Holy Lady of the Frost Goddess Shrine, Rosarie. Rosarie stared at Cesar. She snorted a few times, but she didn’t say anything else. Being stared daggers at like this, Cesar couldn’t do anything except grin stupidly.
“You’ve already become a Deity, but you still act like this.” A hint of moisture seemed to appear in the eyes of Rosarie, the icy beauty.
Cesar squeezed out a smile. “Rosarie, aren’t you having a wonderful time being the Holy Lady? Alas, I’m just a wastrel who wanders all over the place. I go wherever I like and do what I like. I can’t take good care of you.” Cesar felt some misery in his heart.
“Lord Cesar.” Linley saw Cesar as well.
“Don’t go.” Desri held Linley back, a ‘nasty’ little smirk on his face. “Why are you going to get between those two lovebirds?”
“Lovebirds? Isn’t she the Holy Lady?” Linley was stunned.
“Who says a Holy Lady can’t have a man?” Desri glanced at Linley. “Rosarie is almost at the Deity level herself. For her to continue working on behalf of the Frost Goddess Shrine is already giving it quite a bit of face.” Desri grinned as he watched Cesar and Rosarie from afar.
Linley exchanged amused glances with Delia. “Linley, so this is the Lord Cesar you spoke of?” Linley nodded.
“It seems this Deity has incurred a romantic debt.” Delia purse
d her lips as she laughed, and Linley shook his head as well. “Lord Cesar, he, uh… how should I put this… he’s quite the dissolute romantic.”
This night was quite a festive one, especially Desri’s group. George, Yale, and Reynolds as well. By the time he greeted and chatted with everyone, it was already midnight. Only now did Linley head towards Delia’s room…
One of the benefits of being a Saint was that despite having drank an enormous amount of wine, Linley wasn’t drunk at all.
“Linley?”
He heard someone call his name before he even reached the door. Linley turned and saw Cesar lying on a couch and drinking wine. “Linley, how come you ended up getting married? Jeeze, after I heard you got married, I felt really sorry for you.”
“Really sorry?” Linley was stunned.
Cesar stood up, then flew over gracefully. “Really sorry! Yet another man has stepped into his tomb!” As he spoke, Cesar’s body flew high into the air. “Oh yeah, happy wedding. Alright, I’m off.” Cesar’s voice sounded in Linley’s ears.
Suddenly…
“You old lecher!” A clear sharp sound. A graceful, white-garbed figure flew into the air as well, chasing after Cesar.
Cesar’s flying speed instantly increased.
“Uh… maybe it’s better to be in the ‘tomb’.” Linley had a hint of a smile on his lips as he headed out. Soon, he arrived at the doorway to Delia’s room. There were two beautiful maids in front of it, and the two maids respectfully drew open the door.
Linley waved his hand at them. “You can go now.”
“Yes, your Majesty.”
In the dark room, the only person there was Delia, sitting quietly in front of her bed. She just looked at Linley, waiting for Linley to speak. And finally, Linley did speak… “Bebe. Get out.”
“Haha, Boss.” Bebe crawled out from beneath the bed.
“Bebe?” Delia didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. Today, Bebe disappeared very early on. Who would’ve thought he had been hiding here?
Linley looked at Bebe, also not knowing whether to laugh or to cry. “Bebe, what are you doing?”
“Preparing a gift for ya, Boss!” Bebe raised his head high.
“What gift?” Linley was puzzled.
Bebe grinned, his little claws handing over a black rock. “This is something my good friend gave me. It was that violet-gold Saint-level rat that I told you about last time. I’m too young and haven’t accumulated much wealth, so my bro gave me this.”
“What is this?” Linley took the black stone in confusion. “Can it be some sort of rare or precious mineral? Can’t be. What use would a small piece of rock be anyhow?” Linley carefully inspected it, but couldn’t tell what it was.
“I don’t know either.” Bebe handed it to Delia. “Delia, personalize and soulbind it with blood.”
“Bind it with blood?” Linley raised an eyebrow.
Anything that needed to be bound by blood was definitely a treasure. For example, Linley’s Bloodviolet sword, or his Coiling Dragon ring. Even the adamantine heavy sword wasn’t worthy of needing to be blood bound. Generally speaking, only extremely rare and valuable items would require this process.
“Alright.” Delia trusted Bebe very much. A blade of air cut Delia’s finger, immediately creating a tiny wound.
A single drop of blood fell onto the black stone.
The black stone suddenly transformed into a ray of light and suddenly enveloped Delia. Linley was shocked… he watched as the black stone merged into Delia’s body and utterly vanished.
“What is going on?” Linley was shocked.
He had never seen anything as weird as this before. Bebe stared with a gaping jaw as well. “I have no idea.”
“Delia, how do you feel?” Linley immediately asked.
Delia shook her head, puzzled. “I don’t feel anything at all. Hmm… actually, it seems I can sense the nearby elemental essence much more clearly. Right. That’s it.” Linley secretly nodded. Generally speaking, even the vilest of items, once bound by blood, wouldn’t harm its master.
Linley wasn’t too worried about that.
But… what was that thing?
“Bebe, this black stone… why did that magical beast give it to you? This seems to be a treasure,” Linley asked. Of course, all they knew right now about this treasure was one thing; it could increase elemental essence affinity tremendously.
Bebe hurriedly shook his head. “Boss, honestly, that good friend of mine gave it to me. He said it is very useful to magi.”
“Very useful to magi?” Linley understood. Perhaps this was some sort of special object that could enhance elemental essence affinity. It was useless to Saint-level magical beasts, which is why he gave it to Bebe. But Linley had a feeling…
There was more than met the eye to this black stone!
“Alright, Bebe. Do you plan to stay here?” Linley stared at Bebe.
Bebe’s beady little eyes rolled, and then he rubbed his nose twice. “Boss, once you got a wife, you forgot about Bebe. Sniff.” Linley immediately sent a kick in his direction, but by then, Bebe had already disappeared in a flash as he left the room.
The door shut.
The room instantly turned quiet. Linley and Delia sat side by side on the bed.
“What are you looking at?” Delia was a bit shy right now.
Linley laughed. “I’m thinking… about how many kids we should have.” Delia was startled. Linley suddenly lifted Delia up and carried her over to the bed, and then… one piece of clothing after another came flying out from the bed.
“Unngh…”
They hadn’t slept all night.
“Whew.” Linley lay there on the bed, with Delia resting on top of him, her head against Linley’s chest. Beads of sweat caused Delia’s fragrant hair to stick to Linley’s body. Linley lowered his head to look at Delia. That faintly red face looked like that of a kitten’s.
Her pert little nose was sniffling.
Linley’s hand gently stroked Delia’s slick, bare back. In his mind, he continued to savor what had happened just then. How nervous he had felt when he had entered Delia’s body… Linley had to admit, things had gotten just a little too wild just then. It had been three entire hours.
“Delia, what is it?”
“I want to cry.” Delia hugged Linley’s chest. “I just want to cry right now. When I think about how you and Alice were together, I want to cry. When I think about how I waited ten years, I want to cry.” “Sob.”
Linley held his head in his hands.
Women. It was impossible to understand them.
“Linley, can I tell you something?” Delia said softly.
“Hrm?” Linley lowered his head to look at Delia.
Delia raised her head to look at Linley. Her face serious, she said in a soft voice, “You… got hard, down there.”
“Uh?”
For a moment, Linley had no idea what to say.
“Delia, you know, Wharton and Nina’s kid is going to be born in a few months. Don’t you think the two of us need to work harder?” Linley whispered.
“Um?” Delia was startled.
“So, I need to keep at it.” Linley flipped over and pressed Delia down once again.
75
Twelve Years in the Blink of an Eye
The Radiant Church. The Holy Island. The ninth floor of the Radiant Temple.
Staring outside the window, a hint of worry was on Heidens' face. Previously, Linley had made an agreement with the Radiant Church, allowing the Radiant Church to relax. After all, without the assistance of his Supreme Warriors and that terrifying rat-type magical beast, Linley, by himself, wasn’t too great a threat.
But they were only relaxed for nine years.
Because on the ninth year, the Radiant Church discovered a terrifying secret.
Linley’s human form had reached the Saint level.
“Heidens.” An icy voice rang out. Osenno, his devilish purple hair fluttering behind him, appeared in
the middle of the ninth floor.
Heidens didn’t turn. Calmly, he said, “Osenno, what is it?”
Osenno had a hint of frustration in his voice. “Heidens, the many experts of the Church have been cooped up in the Sacred Isle for three full years. During these three years, you’ve ordered that we are not to go outside the Sacred Isle without authorization. Heidens… can it be that just because of Linley, we have to live like this?”
“And Heidens, you must understand, the information we got came from an agent who overheard the conversation that Linley’s son was having with Wharton’s son. That’s the only information we have stating that Linley has reached the Saint level in human form. The words of children are not necessarily true,” Osenno said unhappily.
Because of this news, that Linley had reached the Saint level in his human form, Heidens asked Osenno and the others to not leave the Sacred Isle.
Heidens remained with his back turned towards Osenno. Calmly, he said, “Osenno, first of all, Wharton’s son, Cena, is a very reliable and very meticulous youth. His words should be true. And secondly… when Linley was hidden within the O’Brien Empire, he had already reached the ninth rank. It has been over ten years now. Given the rate of growth for Dragonblood Warriors, it is about time that Linley reaches the Saint level in human form.”
Heidens suddenly turned and stared at Osenno.
“You should be very clear about how powerful Linley is. Twelve years ago, he was only slightly weaker to you. Now that his human form has reached the Saint level… his power should be more than ten times greater than before. Even if he didn’t gain any additional insights at all, he can defeat you. But do you believe that in twelve years, Linley hasn’t increased his level of insights at all?” Heidens asked Osenno.
Osenno was silent.
He knew full well how quickly Linley trained.
Twelve years without any breakthroughs? Who would believe it?
That ancestor of the Baruch clan who had only reached the ‘impose’ level when he reached the Saint level as a human-form Dragonblood Warrior was nonetheless able to rely on his terrifying post-Saint-level defense and power to fight head on against peak-stage Saint-level magical beasts.
Baruch Rising_Book 3 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 58