Coiling Dragon

by welyjesch

  The azure light remained for a long time, but then it slowly faded away.

  “How is that possible?!” Heidens’ face instantly turned an ashen pale. He stared at Linley with shock. He had used all of his force on this ultimate attack, but he still hadn’t been able to kill Linley. Linley hadn’t reached the level of Grand Magus Saint yet! And it would be hard to say if even an ordinary Grand Magus Saint could take this blow.

  And then, Heidens spied Desri’s group coming from afar. He knew that things had just gotten worse. “They came as well!”

  “Fallen Leaf, let’s go, quick.” Not hesitating at all, Heidens transformed into a ray of white light, immediately flying at high speed towards the west. The nearby Ascetic, Lord Fallen Leaf, also transformed into a beam of white light, flying westwards at high speed.

  Both Desri and Bebe had their attention focused on Linley.

  They didn’t have time to pay attention to Heidens or Fallen Leaf.

  “Whew.” Linley let out a breath, then opened his eyes.

  Although it took a long time to describe, in truth, the power of that Oracular Magic and its attack on Linley’s soul had only lasted for one or two seconds, but in those one or two seconds, Heidens and Fallen Leaf had disappeared into the western horizon. As for Affleck and O’Casey, they had fled with their magical beasts even before Heidens had fled.

  “Boss, are you okay?” Bebe flew over, worried, his beady little eyes filled with fear.

  Bebe was spiritually linked with Linley. Just then, he had sensed Linley’s soul shudder. It truly had been dangerous.

  “Not bad. Not bad.” Linley was still filled with fear.

  In his heart, Linley was puzzled as well. “Just then, I felt that the defensive energy which belonged to us Dragonblood Warriors was broken through by the Oracular Magic’s bizarre attack. But why was it that the defensive energy suddenly increased dramatically, easily breaking the Oracular Magic?”

  Linley didn’t understand the reason.

  But Linley knew very well that his soul had been shaken just then.

  He knew…that just then, if he hadn’t been able to block the attack somehow, his soul probably would have shattered.

  “Where’d they go?” Linley swept his gaze in the four directions, but Affleck, O’Casey, Heidens, and Fallen Leaf had fled far away. There was no way they could catch up now.

  Desri flew over and said apologetically, “Linley, I came late. If you had been killed by Heidens’ Oracular Magic, I really would have…” Desri felt extremely guilty. He knew exactly how terrifying Oracular Magic was.

  “I was over-confident.” Linley smiled mockingly at himself.

  Linley believed that his soul’s defense was very strong. With the protection of his draconic scales and his Pulseguard Defense, he had believed the enemy wouldn’t be able to do anything to him.

  But just then, he had nearly lost his life.

  Fortunately, at the last moment, within his soul, the protective energy belonging to the Dragonblood Warrior’s lineage had suddenly skyrocketed by over a hundredfold, dissolving even the fierce power of the Oracular Magic.

  “Those four bastards ran quickly enough.” Bebe said furiously.

  Barker nodded, then said in his loud voice, “Lord Linley, it seems to me that the Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows isn’t all that remarkable. Osenno just died as well, and that Cramerson also died. Quite a few Angels died as well. Their force has dropped tremendously. As I see it, given our current strength, it shouldn’t be hard for us to slaughter our way to the Radiant Church now.”

  “Right.” Zassler laughed insidiously. “Lord Linley, they’ve already broken our original agreement. There’s no need for you to hold to it any longer either.”

  Linley was moved.

  In the past, he had been bound by the agreement that he could only go seek revenge by himself. But now, since the other side had already broken the agreement, then he could go lead his group to slaughter a path to the Sacred Isle. It wouldn’t be too hard to destroy the Radiant Church.

  “Linley.” Desri hurriedly said. “To be fair, their two sides have indeed gone too far, and you don’t need to follow the agreement any longer either. But I must try and warn you not to go attack the Sacred Isle of the Radiant Church.”

  Linley frowned. “Mr. Desri, do you believe that in the future, if I led my little brother, Barker and his brothers, Bebe, Zassler, and the others…we wouldn’t be able to destroy the Sacred Isle? Right now, on the Sacred Isle, only Heidens, Fallen Leaf, and Lehman pose a threat.”

  “That isn’t it.”

  Desri shook his head. “You must understand, in the past, I belonged to the Radiant Church.”

  Linley listened.

  Desri sighed. “The Radiant Church has endured for countless years. No matter what has happened or how great the waves or storms, the Radiant Church has never been destroyed. Do you know why?” Linley looked at Desri, puzzled.

  Indeed. There had to be a reason why they had existed for such a long time.

  “First of all, the Sacred Isle is definitely protected by the magical formation, ‘Glory of the Radiant Sovereign’. Only someone with the power of a Deity can damage and destroy this formation.” Desri said.

  Linley suddenly remembered that in the past, when he had been in the city of Fenlai, he had been imprisoned in the Radiant Temple due to his attempt to kill the King of Fenlai. That Radiant Temple was protected by a magical formation called the ‘Glory of the Radiant Sovereign’. Supposedly, even Saints wouldn’t be able to break through the walls of the Radiant Temple as a result.

  This was the effect of this magic formation.

  Even a Deity like Dylin had to strike it twice to break through it.

  One could imagine how powerful this defense was!

  “This ‘Glory of the Radiant Sovereign’ isn’t just a magical formation; if the people inside it actively control and operate it, it can transform into an attack upon its enemies.” Desri sighed. “Linley, if you slaughter a path to the Sacred Isle, perhaps you will be able to kill many people on the Sacred Isle, but you definitely won’t be able to kill the people hiding within the Radiant Temple.”

  Linley frowned.

  This was true. When the Radiant Temple in Fenlai had been destroyed, he had been in the middle of the temple himself.

  “Fine. They can hide on their little island, then.” Linley could only come to this decision. In his heart, Linley secretly thought to himself, “When in the future, my Profound Truths of the Wind and Profound Truths of the Earth reach their limits, perhaps I can pay a visit to the Sacred Isle and test out the power of that ‘Glory of the Radiant Sovereign’ magic formation.”

  Currently, Linley no longer feared the Radiant Church at all.

  “Barker, make the arrangements to have the corpse of the Hellfire Phoenix processed. That Saint-level magicite core can’t go to waste.” Linley laughed.

  “Yes, Lord.” Barker laughed as well.

  No matter what, they had won this battle. Linley’s side had fought two sides, the Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows, but in the end, they had won an absolute, dominating victory. Even Desri’s side hadn’t had to assist them.

  This battle determined the final state of affairs in the Anarchic Lands.

  The warriors of the Baruch Kingdom and the rat swarms, in their combined armies, appeared everywhere, and wherever they went, cities surrendered. Even some of the most die-hard adherents of the churches, under pressure from the rat swarms, collapsed and disappeared…and the Anarchic Lands became unified at an astonishing speed.

  At the same time, the news of Linley’s battle with the Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows quickly spread across the world.

  This news was also intentionally spread by the Baruch Kingdom. Linley’s side had defeated two other sides at once. This caused Linley’s status in the Yulan continent to skyrocket yet again, totally eclipsing that of the Holy Emperor and the Dark Patriarch. His status was so high now that
it was only lower than the War God and the High Priest.

  The legend of Linley was sung throughout the Yulan continent.

  As for the Anarchic Lands, countless people were filled with awe towards Linley. Many youths used Linley as their role model and began to train hard.

  ….

  The Anarchic Lands. Baruch Kingdom. The royal palace.

  Plumes of snow drifted from the skies. It was December now, and only a few days away from the Yulan festival. Linley, Delia, Zassler, Sasha, the other kids, the Barker brothers, Rebecca, Leena, Jenne, and Wharton were all here.

  Rebecca and Leena. Rebecca was the more playful one, and ten years ago, she had gotten married to the loud, rambunctious Gates. As for the quieter Leena, she had eventually married Barker. Of the five Barker brothers, the other three had eventually gotten married as well. Only Jenne continued to live with some of her close friends in the royal capital, but she herself remained single.

  “That was too fast. How long has it been? The entire Anarchic Lands has been unified.” Wharton laughed.

  “Naturally.” Taylor was very proud. “My father’s really awesome.”

  Seeing how Taylor was acting, Linley began to laugh. Rubbing Taylor’s head, Linley looked at Wharton. “Wharton, remember. All religious proselytizing is to be forbidden. If you allow them to preach, in the future, your grandchildren won’t be able to manage the kingdom effectively.”

  “I know. In recent days, quite a few religious believers have been causing trouble.” Wharton sighed.

  Churches were a major threat to any kingdom. Now that Linley’s side had unified the entire Anarchic Lands, the Baruch Kingdom would most likely have to change its name to the Baruch Empire.

  Although Linley himself didn’t care about imperial power, he had to make considerations for the descendants of his clan.

  “Linley, Bebe.” The three Violet-Gold Rat Kings suddenly appeared in the main hall in a flash. The people present all looked at the three Violet-Gold Rat Kings, and the eldest amongst them, Harry, opened his mouth and said in human tongues, “Linley, we’ve come to invite Bebe to make a trip with us to the Forest of Darkness.”

  “Invite me?” Bebe was standing on the dinner table.

  “Whose invitation?” Linley asked, puzzled.

  “Our father.” The third of the Violet-Gold Rat Kings, Harvey, said proudly, “The King of the Forest of Darkness. The King of the entire Yulan continent, in fact. The most invincible, powerful person there is!” The three Violet-Gold Rat Kings were very proud.

  The King of the Forest of Darkness? The King of the entire Yulan continent?

  Linley felt secretly shocked, and wondered internally, “The King of the Forest of Darkness is the King of the entire Yulan continent? Can it be that he is even more powerful than the War God and the High Priest?”

  Linley suddenly was moved and asked, “Might I ask, what is the name of your father?”

  The second of the three Violet-Gold Rat Kings spoke this time: “Linley, you can refer to our father as…Lord Beirut!”

  “Beirut!” Linley felt thunderclaps go off in his brain.

  And Bebe, as well, stared at them, his eyes round as the moon.

  Book 11, Necropolis of the Gods – Chapter 1: Founding of an Empire

  Beirut!

  Linley and Bebe exchanged a glance. Linley still remembered how Bebe had told him that not long after he was born, when he still hadn’t been able to open his eyes, a very warm, intimate voice had told to him…he was of the Beirut clan.

  “Lord Beirut?” Bebe spoke. “Fine. I’ll go with you.”

  Linley looked at Bebe. Bebe’s normally adorable eyes were now very solemn, and held within them a hint…of excitement! Bebe had never known anything about his parentage, and when he had been able to open his eyes, he hadn’t found any rat-type magical beasts nearby.

  Bebe had always wondered if that warm, intimate voice had been his mother’s.

  Unfortunately, Bebe had never seen her. The only clue he had was those three syllables; ‘Bei-Lu-Te’, Beirut.

  The Violet-Gold Rat King, Harry, laughed. “Don’t be like this. My lord father has invited Bebe to go over to meet him. It definitely isn’t for any bad reasons.” As he spoke, he looked at Bebe. “Bebe, let’s go.” The other two Violet-Gold Rat Kings also looked at Bebe.

  Bebe immediately flew into the air.

  “This trip of Bebe’s to the Forest of Darkness will take a bit of time, most likely. Don’t be in too much of a rush.” The third of the Violet-Gold Rat Kings, Harvey, said.

  Linley nodded, then said to Bebe, “Bebe, if anything major happens, immediately let me know.” Linley and Bebe could speak at a very long distance through their spiritual connection. Generally speaking, while Bebe was in the Forest of Darkness, he could still spiritually communicate with Linley.

  “Got it, Boss.” Bebe cracked a smile.

  Linley smiled encouragingly back at him.

  The mystery of his parentage was something that had weighed on Bebe’s mind his entire life. Now that he had a chance of solving it, Bebe wouldn’t hesitate at all.

  …..

  Plumes of snow circled down onto the earth. The discussion in the royal palace was extremely animated.

  “So the mysterious King of the Forest of Darkness is named Lord Beirut.” Rebecca held her hands over her heart, breathing excitedly. The five ultimate powers of the Yulan continent, the five Deities, were indeed figures of awe. The power of Deities was far greater than that of the Saints.

  For example, Stehle hadn’t been able to resist even a finger-flick from Cesar.

  “Father.” Taylor’s pure eyes were filled with energy as he looked at Linley. “Is that Beirut really powerful? Even more powerful than you, Father?”

  Linley and Wharton both laughed.

  In the eyes of his children, Linley was invincible.

  “Lord Beirut…” Linley looked towards the north, as though seeing that expert who stood atop the entire Yulan continent from within his lair in the Forest of Darkness. “According to what those three Violet-Gold Rat Kings said, Lord Beirut is most likely the most terrifyingly powerful Deity in the Yulan continent.”

  Linley patted Taylor’s head and said lovingly, “Taylor, your father doesn’t have the strength to challenge him yet.”

  “Then Father will definitely surpass him in the future.” Taylor spoke with absolute certainty. “My father is the greatest genius in the Yulan continent, and the most powerful Dragonblood Warrior in history.”

  “Haha…” Linley didn’t respond. He only laughed.

  Linley looked at Wharton, then instructed, “Wharton, tomorrow, I plan to go to the private underground room and begin training. The founding of the Baruch Empire, I won’t get involved in.” The so-called private underground room was the pocket dimensional room in the core of the magicite mines.

  “Big brother, you won’t participate?” Wharton was very shocked.

  The founding of an Empire was a major event.

  “Forget it.” Linley looked at Delia. Delia’s mageforce and spiritual energy had been increasing at an unbelievable rate. After reaching the ninth rank as an Arch Magus, her rate of improvement had only been increasing. This sort of improvement rate was simply astonishing to Linley.

  It seemed as though to Delia, there was no such thing as a bottleneck.

  “Delia, I expect when the Empire is founded, the Yulan Empire will definitely send envoys over. Your parents or other people might come over as well. You should stay at the palace and wait for them.”

  “Fine.” Delia couldn’t help but think of how her parents looked.

  She had left her clan only twelve years ago. The clan and Delia had reconciled long ago. Only, because the distance between the two was so vast, they rarely had a chance to meet.

  This time, with the Baruch Empire being founded, her parents would most likely come.

  Linley continued with his instructions. “Delia, the private underground room is over ten
meters wide. I’ve already divided it into two layers. After you are finished, you can come find me. At that time, I’ll help you enter the private underground room. You and I can train together. I expect that in a few years, you’ll be able to reach the level of Grand Magus Saint, even before I do.” Linley sighed as he spoke.

  Delia’s eyes held a hint of excitement in them.

  Each time Linley went into seclusion for training, he would disappear for who-knows how long. Delia naturally wanted to be with Linley during that time.

  “Right. I’ll definitely come looking for you at that time.” Delia hurriedly said.

  The next day, Linley flew directly to the magicite mine. After the battle, the magicite miners had began to quite orderly but quite frantically resume the excavations. In a short month, sixty or seventy percent of the gems in the magicite mine had been excavated, and only a small number of deposits were left.

  But of course, various major buildings were constructed around the ‘door’.

  Linley walked into the tunnels, opened a stone door, and then arrived at the mysterious dimensional door. Linley’s body immediately became covered with a layer of deep azure battle-qi, which spun about him rhythmically. Linley immediately stepped inside.

  “Crackle crackle.”

  Terrifying knife-like blasts of energy tore at Linley, but Linley’s Pulseguard Defense was fully able to defend against them.

  Stepping into the pocket dimension, Linley felt his heart become at ease. Earth, fire, water, wind. All the elemental essences seemed so close. Even the Throbbing Pulse of the Earth became so clear to him. Raising his head…he saw that translucent membrane, and saw the multicolored chaotic space outside of it.

  “I’ve already reached the level of 256 layers for a long time. I hope this time, I can make a true breakthrough.” Linley immediately sat down cross-legged, beginning to meditate and to attune.

  Last time, Linley had an insight, but he had only learned that from the 256 layers, he now needed to consolidate them all into a single vibrational wave. Only then would the Profound Truths of the Earth be perfected. But as to how that would be accomplished, Linley was still very uncertain.