Coiling Dragon

by welyjesch

  “Bang.” The Snowy Panda-Cat slammed into the snowy ground again, while at the same time, a hint of blood appeared atop its pure white fur over its chest. The Snowy Bear stared at Linley, then at Clay, before finally bending over on all fours, then scampering away.

  He had fled!

  Linley and Clay both couldn’t help but laugh.

  “This Snowy Panda-Cat is really amusing. After a simple exchange of blows, he immediately fled.” But Linley was shocked by the power of the Snowy Panda-Cat. Its strength wasn’t one whit inferior to the Worldbear, but its speed was far greater.

  No wonder why it was called the Snowy Panda-Cat, and had the word ‘cat’ in its name.

  “Haha…if I had to fight this Snowy Panda-Cat by myself, it would really be troublesome. The Snowy Panda-Cat’s speed seems to be faster than mine.” Clay chuckled bitterly. “Linley, I have the feeling that at most, I’ll be able to rest on the fifth floor. The sixth floor, I probably won’t be able to break through.”

  “Enough. Let’s first find the tunnel.” Linley flew alongside Clay, searching for the tunnel.

  The Snowy Panda-Cats on this fourth floor were very strange. Aside from a few of the Snowy Panda-Cats that would suddenly attack, most of the Snowy Panda-Cats didn’t attack them at all. Instead, most of them were just rolled up into a ball and sleeping on the snow. At first, Linley and Clay had been worried, but afterwards, they felt more relaxed.

  “Listen up, the two of you.” Suddenly, an ancient voice rang out.

  Linley and Clay, in mid-flight, started, then immediately turning to look at location from which the voice rang out from.

  Beneath them was a Snowy Panda-Cat that was only one meter tall that was staring calmly at Linley and Clay. Although the Snowy Panda-Cats were much smaller than Worldbears, they were usually two or three meters tall at their full height. But this Snowy Panda-Cat was only a meter tall.

  “This Snowy Panda-Cat is extremely dangerous.” Linley immediately became guarded. This Snowy Panda-Cat, although physically small, gave Linley a sense of danger, not too far from the feeling which the War God and the others gave him.

  The ancient voice of the Snowy Panda-Cat rang out again. “I am the clan leader of this clan of Snowy Panda-Cats.”

  Linley and Clay exchanged glances. Snowy Panda-Cats had clan leaders?

  “Remember. On this fourth floor, as long as my children do not attack you, you are not to attack them either. If you kill any of them, then don’t blame me for acting viciously against you.” With a flip of the Snowy Panda-Cat’s hand, a bamboo flute suddenly appeared.

  Right. A bamboo flute.

  “Is he going to play the flute?” Linley had never seen someone who was able to injure someone else by playing the flute.

  But Linley and Clay both felt that this old fellow in front of them posed an enormous threat. They didn’t dare to say anything, and so Clay hurriedly said, “Don’t worry. Just then, when that Snowy Panda-Cat attacked us, we didn’t go full force against it either. As long as your citizens don’t attack us, we definitely won’t attack your children either.”

  “The passageway to the fifth level is over there, next to that giant tree. The passageway is inside the giant tree.” The leader of the Snowy Panda-Cats pointed towards the distant tree.

  Linley and Clay immediately began to fly in that direction.

  Seeing Linley and Clay leave, the leader of the Snowy Panda-Cats let out a long sigh. His clan of Snowy Panda-Cats had been placed here on the fourth floor of the Necropolis of the Gods, which was like being placed in a prison. As the leader of this clan of Snowy Panda-Cats, he wasn’t able to do anything about that.

  Given his current level of strength, it wouldn’t be too hard for him to kill many outsiders and then exchange their corpses for the divine spark of a Demigod. But he didn’t want to do this. The reason was, only he had the power to threaten and frighten experts on Linley’s level.

  “If I become a Deity and leave, then these children will die soon afterwards as well.” The Snowy Panda-Cat leader let out a long sigh.

  He, too, was a Prime Saint, only a single step away from becoming a Deity. But the power of this leader of the Snowy Panda-Cats was greater than that of the Five Prime Saints. This was because the profound truths he had gained insight into were different from that of others. It was much like how Linley…trained in the Throbbing Pulse of the World. In terms of attack power, it surpassed the insights which most others had gained.

  The profound truths this leader of the Snowy Panda-Cats had gained insight into was one of the rarest types of profound truths of the Elemental Laws of the Wind.

  The fifth floor. The world of fire.

  Linley and Clay, immediately upon arriving in this floor, felt themselves being attacked by waves of heat. This center of this fifth floor was a volcano, while the surrounding area was filled with desolate lava flows. It was an empty land…one could see off into the distance easily.

  But the temperature of the lava flows here was very high.

  “Boss!” A black shadow suddenly flew over at high speed.

  “Bebe.” Linley could clearly feel that it was Bebe who was flying over. Bebe leaped directly into Linley’s arms, his eyes turning misty. “Boss, I arrived at the fifth floor long ago. I’ve been waiting for you here the entire time. Desri and the others said that you encountered the Ba-Serpent on the third floor. I’ve been worried about you the entire time, Boss.”

  Linley couldn’t help but think back to what happened on the third floor, his heart once more filled with fear.

  “Fortunately, nothing happened. Wonderful.” Bebe’s face was all smiles.

  Bebe’s experience had been much easier than Linley’s. He hadn’t encountered the Ba-Serpent, and the attacks of the undead and the other creatures simply didn’t pose any threat to Bebe at all.

  “Hey, Boss, where’s Barker? Isn’t Barker with you?” Bebe suddenly wondered.

  Linley’s face froze. The look on his face couldn’t help but become somewhat ugly, and his eyes had a hint of pain in them.

  Bebe was intelligent. Seeing Linley’s reaction, Bebe was able to guess what happened. “Boss, Barker, he…could it be on the third floor…?” Linley let out a sigh. “Right. On the third floor, the Ba-Serpent woke up. We didn’t have the ability to fight back at all. I was lucky and managed to rely on Bloodviolet to flee to the fourth floor. As for Barker…”

  Linley’s voice grew low, and in the end, he wasn’t able to continue.

  Book 11, Necropolis of the Gods – Chapter 15: Eight Years in the Necropolis

  Waves of heat permeated the fifth floor. It was hard to even see people in the distance, due to the distorted air.

  “Linley, hurry on over!” A familiar voice rang out from afar. Linley couldn’t help but turn to look towards the voice. The distant figure was very blurry, but Linley was still able to tell that the person standing in the distance was the Senior Apprentice of the War God’s College, ‘Fain’.

  Although Linley was very dispirited, his will was still very firm.

  In a place like the Necropolis of the Gods, unless you chose to give up, your only choice was to harden your faith in yourself and continue, one step at a time.

  “Bebe, let’s head on over.” Linley said calmly, and Bebe immediately jumped onto Linley’s shoulders.

  Transforming into a blur, Linley quickly arrived at the place where the many experts had gathered. Not only Fain was there. Desri, Rosarie, Tulily, and Rutherford were there as well. All five of the Prime Saints were together.

  Aside from the five of them, there were three of the Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions as well.

  “Now that the two of you are here, everyone is present.” Desri said with a calm laugh.

  Linley couldn’t help but feel puzzled. What did that mean? Everyone was now present?

  “Linley, come, sit.” Fain gestured. “I heard that in the lower floors, the Ba-Serpent woke up. That truly is a calamity. Fortunately, you survived. Now, l
et’s discuss the matter of ascending to the sixth floor.”

  Linley came to a rest, sitting down cross-legged.

  To Linley’s scales, the waves of blazing heat coming from below didn’t pose much of a threat.

  “You aren’t going to discuss things with those people?” Bebe pointed in confusion to another group of men and magical beasts off in the distance.

  Over thirty experts had survived and made it to the fifth floor. Amongst them were over ten magical beasts, with a similar number in men. Originally, there had been sixty human experts of the eighty plus experts present, but thirty or so had died on the third floor, and several had most likely died on the first and second floor as well. The ten or so remaining people were probably hiding on the second floor, not daring to enter the third floor again.

  “Them?” The severe-looking Tulily said calmly, “If they get involved, they’ll only disturb us.”

  Linley immediately understood. Glancing at the distant Olivier and Hayward, he thought to himself, “Tulily’s intentions are very clear. Only these ten experts are the cream of the crop. Bebe and I aren’t any weaker than them. As for those three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions, their power is also unfathomable. As for Olivier, Hayward, the disciples of the War God’s College, and the various magical beast experts…they are at least a level lower in power.”

  In a place like this, the top tier experts naturally would form a unit.

  Those twenty plus slightly weaker experts formed into a second unit.

  Although the second unit contained people like Desri’s good friends, ‘Hayward’ and ‘Higginson’, along with several fellow disciples of Fain’s, and two of Tulily’s apprentices, there was nothing that could be done.

  “Linley, Bebe, Cleo [Ke’li’ao] and your two brothers, you five probably aren’t that familiar with the sixth floor of the Necropolis of the Gods. Let me explain.” Desri said solemnly. “Bebe, you saw just a while ago that the only creatures here on the fifth floor are a few ‘Magma Demons’. In terms of power, they are only comparable to the likes of Hayward.”

  “Magma Demons?” Linley was puzzled.

  He had never seen any Magma Demons. Desri looked at Linley. “Linley, you didn’t come in time. Those Magma Demons are formed from lava, and are roughly comparable to a human in size and shape. They are extremely strong and possess great defense, but they are a bit slow. Their power…is most likely comparable to your good friend Barker, although their defense is perhaps a bit weaker than Barker’s.”

  Linley now had a clear understanding of these creatures.

  “The fifth floor is the weakest floor of the first five. Those Magma Demons have already been destroyed by us.” Desri continued. “This fifth floor is a floor for us to prepare and rest. But soon, we will be entering the sixth floor…”

  Linley, Bebe, and the three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions were listening carefully.

  On the sixth floor, the danger level would rise dramatically, far beyond that of the fifth floor.

  “The sixth floor is a world filled with lava and rocks. There is a powerful creature there; the Flame Tyrant.”

  Flame Tyrant?

  “To be precise, this Flame Tyrant is hundreds of meters tall, and his body is composed of countless tough boulders. His strength is boundless, and his defense has also reached a terrifying level.” Desri’s face was solemn. “Most importantly of all, he wields a Bloodlust Greataxe. If any of us are hit by that greataxe, we will most likely die.”

  Linley’s heart twitched.

  As long as one was hit, one would die. That was too terrifying.

  “And that’s not all. Aside from the Flame Tyrant, the sixth floor also has hundreds of Magma Demons.” Desri’s face grew even more solemn. “One or two Magma Demons aren’t a problem, but hundreds of Magma Demons are extremely dangerous.”

  Linley felt himself at a loss for words.

  “Hundreds of Magma Demons. Isn’t that equivalent to hundreds of Undying Warriors?” Linley was inwardly shocked. “Although these Magma Demons have slightly weaker defense than an Undying Warrior, there are hundreds of them. That is simply terrifying.”

  Desri continued, “These large numbers of Magma Demons all obey the orders of the Flame Tyrant. Actually, I have a feeling…that the Flame Tyrant is an evolved form of the Magma Demons. Think about it. They are all formed from lava rocks, except the Flame Tyrant is as massive as a mountain, while Magma Demons are the size of a human.”

  The nearby Rutherford laughed coldly. “A Flame Tyrant is essentially a Magma Demon magnified hundreds of times over. Its strength and attack power is also hundreds of times that of a Magma Demon.”

  Linley and Bebe looked at each other.

  “Boss, those Magma Demons really were strong, on par with Barker. If the Flame Tyrant’s power is hundreds of times greater than the Magma Demons’…” Bebe’s voice rang out in Linley’s mind. Linley maintained his silence.

  Linley now had a clear understanding of what the sixth floor was like.

  The sixth floor’s adversary was a Flame Tyrant who commanded hundreds of Magma Demons. The Flame Tyrant itself was like a mountain, and had the power to smash a mountain to dust with a single punch. Nobody could withstand that sort of power.

  Desri was silent for a long time. After Linley and the others had fully absorbed this news, Desri continued, “None of us are a match for the Flame Tyrant by ourselves. Only if we join forces and work together will we be able to charge into the sixth floor.”

  Linley nodded slightly.

  “Three thousand years ago, we did battle against the Flame Tyrant.” Desri said.

  The eyes of Linley, Bebe, and the three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions lit up. Only with experience could one form a good strategy on how to deal with the Flame Tyrant.

  “In truth, last time, it was Fain and Tulily who attacked the Flame Tyrant. As for the rest of us, we were sent fleeing by a swarm of Magma Demons.” Desri added. Three thousand years ago, he hadn’t even had the chance to touch the Flame Tyrant.

  Fain spoke. “Of the five of us, Tulily possesses the strongest attack.”

  No one disputed this.

  Linley couldn’t help but look at this person, the number one expert of the great plains of the far east, the man known as the ‘War Saint’, Tulily. Tulily said calmly, “The defense of the Flame Tyrant is the most terrifying defense I have ever seen. But three thousand years ago, our power was weaker than it is right now.”

  The others all nodded.

  After three thousand years, the five of them had become Prime Saints. Their power had improved dramatically compared to three thousand years ago.

  “Once we enter the sixth floor, the seven of you need to help me, Rutherford, and Rosarie clear a path. The three of us, joining forces, should be able to deal with that Flame Tyrant.” Tulily said. Rutherford and Rosarie both nodded.

  Desri explained to Linley, Bebe, and the three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions, “This is a powerful attack which the three of them have developed together after researching for a long time. Most likely, this is the most powerful attack we are capable of.”

  “Alright. I’ll help clear a path.” Linley nodded.

  Since Tulily was publicly acknowledged as the Prime Saint with the greatest attack, and had two others helping him, the power of their combined attack definitely would not be weak.

  “Now, what we need to do is…” Desri laughed calmly. “Train here and prepare on the fifth floor!”

  Fain laughed as well. “We’ll first train for eight years, then head off to the sixth floor.”

  “What?” Linley was somewhat astonished. They only had ten years in the Necropolis of the Gods, but they were going to spend eight of them here on the fifth floor?

  But Linley quickly understood. He had learned from Clay that the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth floors were extremely dangerous. In these four floors, they probably wouldn’t even have the chance to rest.

  To go past these four floors, if they were successful, most l
ikely they would only need ten days or half a month.

  “Prepare well. Each of the following floors, if we aren’t careful, will be the death of us. If you are afraid, you can also stay here on the fifth floor and wait for the ten years to be up.” Tulily stood up as he spoke calmly, and then flew by himself off into the distance to begin his meditations.

  Not just Linley and the other nine experts. Even Olivier, Hayward, and the other twenty experts knew how terrifying the sixth floor was, and so nobody was in a hurry to enter. All of them focused on seizing every available moment to train. Perhaps in this short period of time, they might make some breakthrough.

  Waves of heat distorted the air. Embers could be seen everywhere.

  The experts in the fifth floor of the Necropolis of the Gods began to train and meditate.

  Linley stared at the distant figures, all made blurry by the waves of heat. Olivier, the human experts, the magical beast experts…these thirty plus people were the most elite group of experts in the Yulan continent. Right now, all of them were training quietly.

  Linley and Bebe glanced at each other, their minds linked. The man and his magical beast began to train.

  “Thrum!” “Thrum!” “Thrum!” “Thrum!” …..

  The Throbbing Pulse of the World was omnipresent. Even though Linley was in the Necropolis of the Gods, Linley could still clearly feel that mysterious, profound throbbing pulse of the world. Every single pulse contained extremely profound mysteries. Linley began to meditate and attune himself to it, while at the same time, quickly mentally experimenting the ‘Profound Truths of the Earth’ over and over.

  One year. Two years. Three years.

  Many of the experts would train for a year or half a year, and then get up and test out the attacks they had developed or improved. Just like that, time continued to move forward.

  In the past, Linley had needed only a year to condense the 256 waves of the Throbbing Pulse of the World into 128 waves, but he needed five full years to make it a bit past halfway on his attempt to further condense the 128 waves into 64 waves.