Coiling Dragon

by welyjesch

“Boss!” A cry of surprised joy rang out.

  “Swish!” A black blur charged over.

  “What?!” Desri, Tulily, Olivier, and the other experts all turned to stare towards the exit to the eleventh floor in astonishment. They saw a youngster dressed in a sky-blue robe, exchanging grins with a black Shadowmouse.

  Linley had returned!

  “Boss.”

  “Bebe.” Linley was currently holding Bebe in his arms, and the man and the magical beast laughed, staring at each other.

  “Wonderful, Boss. I missed you terribly. I was afraid you wouldn’t make it back, Boss.” Bebe’s beady little eyes were turning misty. The past three or four hours had been a type of torture for Bebe. He was afraid that Linley really would die.

  At this time, Desri, Fain, Olivier, Rosarie, Tulily, the two Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions, and the Blackscale Scorpion immediately hurried over. They, too, felt both astonishment and joy that Linley was able to return to the tenth floor!

  “Linley, you managed to escape?” Fain said with surprised joy.

  “I really didn’t expect that despite being pursued by a million Abyssal Blade Demons, you were still able to return to the tenth floor, Linley.” Desri’s face was covered in smiles as he spoke. “I thought that you were trying to delay underground as long as you could, and hold the Abyssal Blade Demons off until the ten year period was up.”

  “Think about how awesome my Boss is!” Bebe immediately began to grow boastful. He stood up high on Linley’s shoulders, his little paws folded proudly over his chest.

  Linley laughed, “Do you think I didn’t want to try and delay and hold them off? But those Abyssal Blade Demons were simply too clever. They set up enormous numbers of choke points in the center area, and whenever I was discovered, they would immediately have large numbers of Abyssal Blade Demons attack me simultaneously. After holding on for three hours, I simply couldn’t hold on any further.”

  “Then Linley, how did you return?” Fain and the others stared at Linley in confusion.

  Fain and the other experts simply couldn’t imagine how, under the pursuit and assault of the Abyssal Blade Demons, Linley had managed to flee to the tenth floor.

  “Luckily enough, at the critical moment, I suddenly had a breakthrough, and my speed rapidly increased, allowing me to easily throw off those Abyssal Blade Demons. After killing a few of those Abyssal Blade Demons, I managed to acquire the divine spark of the eleventh floor, and then I returned home safely.” Linley said these words quite calmly.

  But everyone, including Bebe, was stunned.

  “You retrieved the divine spark?” Fain, Desri, Rosarie, Tulily, and the other experts stared, their eyes round and shocked. Even Olivier, who stood silently behind the others, stared at Linley with hard-to-disguise amazement.

  Divine spark…

  The treasure which Fain and the others had dreamed about acquiring. Upon acquiring the divine spark of a Demigod, they would become Deities.

  The difference between a Saint and a Deity was as great as that of the earth and the heavens.

  “Linley, congratulations.” Desri was the first to recover. All he could do was say congratulations.

  The other experts forced out smiles and congratulated Linley as well. Right now, Desri and the others felt hard-to-repress envy in their hearts! After all, they had worked for simply too long to acquire a divine spark. Now that Linley had it, there was nothing they could say, as Linley had risked his life to acquire it.

  But in their hearts, they still felt a hint of envy.

  In fact, their envy made it so that they couldn’t help but think about ‘killing Linley and stealing his divine spark’, but as soon as that idea came to their minds, it immediately was tossed aside.

  After all, they weren’t despicable people like that.

  In this group, aside from Bebe, only a single person didn’t feel much envy. That person was Olivier.

  “Linley, I expect you will become the sixth Deity of our Yulan continent.” Olivier’s face revealed a hint of a smile. “Linley, you are more powerful than me right now, but…in a few more years, I will definitely challenge you.”

  Olivier felt extremely confident in himself.

  He was weaker than Linley, but that was just for now!

  “Challenge?” Linley looked at Olivier, nodding and laughing, “Wonderful, I’ll accompany you any time you choose.”

  After Linley returned to the tenth floor, the experts all comfortably awaited the conclusion of the ten year time period, and they all went to find places to rest and relax on the grass. As for Linley, he naturally was with Bebe.

  “Boss, tell me, how many divine sparks were there on the eleventh floor? I expect there was more than just one.” Bebe whispered.

  Linley smiled. “Three.”

  Bebe’s little eyes instantly turned as round as the moon, and then he grinned so wide, his little mouth nearly split open. “Wow, wonderful, three divine sparks! Boss, what element were those divine sparks?” Bebe hurriedly asked. “Are they compatible with you, Boss? I hope those three divine sparks aren’t of fire, lightning, or something like that.”

  “One is earth-style, one is wind-style, one is Destruction-style.” Linley raised his head and looked up meaningfully. “They are extremely compatible with me!”

  Bebe was shocked as well. “How could there be such a coincidence?”

  “How should I know?” Linley chuckled, then shook his head and sighed. “Unfortunately, I am too weak and don’t have the power to go up to the twelfth floor or higher.”

  “Huh?” Bebe stared at his Boss in confusion. “Boss, why do you want to go even higher? The twelfth floor is only suitable for Deities to challenge. If we go, that’s as good as throwing away our lives.” Bebe also knew…that from the twelfth floor onwards, the guardians of each floor were all Deities.

  Without the power of a Deity, entering was certain death.

  “Bebe, before we entered the eleventh floor, I told you that there is something in the Necropolis of the Gods which is calling to me.” Linley sighed, while Bebe cocked his little head.

  “Ever since I arrived here in the Necropolis of the Gods, I had the feeling…that whatever is calling to me is coming from above. When I entered the tenth floor, I still felt that whatever was calling me was calling from above. At that time, I thought that perhaps it was in the eleventh floor.”

  Linley shook his head. “But after I entered the eleventh floor, I realized that I was wrong. The presence which was calling to me was still higher. Perhaps it is on the twelfth floor, or perhaps the thirteenth…it might even be as high as the eighteenth. Who knows? After all, I’m not strong enough to go higher.”

  Bebe nodded slightly.

  After Linley had been on the tenth floor for roughly a month, Desri came to Linley’s area. He was hesitating slightly, unable to speak.

  “Desri, what is it?” Linley asked in confusion.

  Desri seemed rather embarrassed. He let out two dry laughs, took a deep breath, then whispered, “Linley, I would like to know…how many divine sparks did you find on the eleventh floor?”

  Linley’s heart moved. This Desri, it seemed, had some desire towards his divine sparks. However, Linley could understand why.

  “Three.” Linley didn’t try to hide it.

  Desri’s eyes lit up. “Can I ask what elements they were?”

  “Desri, why are you asking?” The nearby Bebe said angrily. “These divine sparks, my Boss only acquired after risking his life. Don’t forget that if the Boss hadn’t used his ‘Dimensional Edge’ to open up a pathway and then blocked all of those Abyssal Blade Demons, none of you would have survived.”

  Desri looked rather awkward.

  Linley glanced at Bebe, then smiled towards Desri. “There’s no reason for me not to speak of it. They are of the earth-style, the wind-style, and the Destruction-style.”

  “Oh?” Desri nodded.

  “Linley, there’s something I need to tell you.” Desri looked at Lin
ley. “First of all, you don’t necessarily have to fuse with a divine spark of your own element. For example, you are totally capable of fusing with a fire-style divine spark. But of course…the speed would be very slow. To absorb a divine spark, the only requirement is that a person be at the Saint-level, which would allow his soul to be able to fuse with the divine spark.”

  Linley nodded slightly.

  “In addition, every Saint can only fuse a single spark.” Desri explained.

  “This, I know.” Linley nodded.

  Desri hesitated, but in the end, still forced out a smile and said, “Linley, you only need a single divine spark for yourself. If…and I’m only saying if…if you were willing, would you be willing to…one of your divine sparks…” At this point, Desri didn’t know what to say.

  What should he say? Ask Linley to sell it?

  What could he, Desri, possibly exchange for a divine spark?

  Ask Linley to gift it to him?

  Desri couldn’t even force out the words to ask. The only reason why he had come and so shamelessly discussed this was Linley was because he simply had too great of a desire to become a Deity. Even if the element was different and his rate of fusion was slow, and his future rate of understanding the Laws would be impeded…he didn’t care.

  “Aside from Olivier and those two Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions, the other experts all have this wish.” Linley secretly said to himself.

  Over the past few months, almost all of the other experts had secretly come over to talk with Linley.

  Even if Linley himself didn’t need the divine sparks, he still valued them highly. It must be understood…that a single divine spark represented a Demigod! He could give these three divine sparks to Gates and his brothers, or to his own brother Wharton, and let them become Deities!”

  “Let me delay for now.” Linley secretly said to himself.

  The experts only hinted at their interest. After all, their lives had been saved by Linley, and Linley had only managed to acquire these divine sparks after a extremely dangerous experience.

  “Rumble…”

  Suddenly, the entire Necropolis of the Gods began to shake.

  “What’s going on?” Linley and Bebe immediately turned their heads to stare about them.

  Instantly, they saw that off in the distance, an exit covered by a black aura had appeared out of nowhere. From within that black exit, a person walked out. He had long black hair, a long black beard, and wore a long black robe. It was the number one expert of the Yulan continent. Beirut.

  Linley, Desri, Tulily…all the experts immediately stood up.

  Beirut glanced at the experts, and then said, “The ten years are up. Everyone can now leave the Necropolis of the Gods.” And then, he turned his gaze to Linley, a hint of a smile on his lips. “Haha…Linley, I must congratulate you.”

  Book 11, Necropolis of the Gods – Chapter 39, The Predictions of Beirut

  “Grandpa Beirut, you already know what happened?” Bebe instantly rushed over to him.

  Beirut beamed as he hugged Bebe, nodding. “I manage the Necropolis of the Gods on behalf of the almighty Sovereign. Of course I know what happened within the Necropolis of the Gods.” Beirut cast Linley an amused, meaningful glance.

  Linley suddenly understood.

  Perhaps…

  It was Beirut who had placed those three divine sparks there for him. If the person to successfully overcome the challenges of the eleventh floor had been Olivier, perhaps the divine sparks would have become of ‘light-style’, ‘darkness-style’, and ‘Destruction-style’ instead.

  But of course, this was just Linley’s hypothesis.

  “Linley.” Beirut laughed calmly as he looked at Linley. “I trust you have already had a dim sense of the Deity-level. You should be at the precipice now, yes?”

  Linley nodded, secretly saying to himself, “It seems that Beirut knows everything which happened within the Necropolis of the Gods. Beirut…he should be the ‘housekeeper’ for the Sovereign, in charge of managing this Necropolis of the Gods.” Linley understood.

  The Necropolis of the Gods was nothing more than a game to the Sovereign, so he could send any one of his subordinates down to manage it.

  Only, any one of the subordinates of a Sovereign was someone far and above Linley’s level.

  “If my prediction is correct, within ten years, you should reach the Deity-level.” Beirut said.

  Linley’s ‘Profound Truths of Velocity’ included both the ‘Fast’ and the ‘Slow’ aspects. If Linley were to fully master the ‘Profound Truths of Velocity’, then he would have fully mastered and fused those two major aspects into one, and he would have risen to the full God level.

  “Ten years?” Linley murmured to himself, then nodded slightly.

  This speed was roughly on par with what he had anticipated.

  The nearby Desri, Fain, and other experts all looked at Linley in shock. They all knew what Beirut was saying. Linley, not by relying on a divine spark, and only by relying on his own insights, would be able to reach the Deity-level, and it would be within ten years.

  Even if Linley had been training since the day he was born, he would have been training for around half a century.

  Ten more years would only be sixty plus years. In sixty years, he would have reached the Deity-level by his own efforts!

  “But Linley, you’d best not slacken off. The potential of that young fellow, Olivier, is perhaps even a bit higher than yours.” Beirut laughed calmly, turning to look at Olivier.

  These words instantly stunned Desri, Tulily, and the other experts. If Linley was powerful, fine. After all, in the Necropolis of the Gods, based on his performance…Linley was clearly more powerful than them, and he had single-handedly procured divine sparks on the eleventh floor. They admitted inferiority to him.

  But Olivier…

  Linley was rather surprised as well.

  “Lord Beirut.” Olivier paid his respects.

  Beirut smiled and nodded. “Your luck wasn’t bad. You were able to fuse both light and darkness without your soul being destroyed…I’ve wandered through countless planes, but situations like yours are rare, incredibly rare! Even I am rather envious of what you have become.”

  Olivier’s face changed slightly. Although Beirut hadn’t said it openly, Olivier could tell that this Beirut knew his secret!

  “Could it be that this Beirut is capable of inspecting my soul?” Olivier was somewhat astonished. He didn’t know…that Beirut was so powerful that he could even easily riffle through someone’s memories without them knowing about it. Compared to that, how trifling a matter would it be for him to inspect Olivier’s soul?

  Linley looked towards Olivier as well.

  “This Olivier…when we encountered the Beholder King and were hit by the Beholder King’s attack, I became utterly helpless, but Olivier was able to break the Beholder King’s technique.” Bebe had later told Linley about what had happened.

  At the time, the Beholder King had been quite surprised by Olivier’s soul as well.

  “Based on your current rate of improvement, if my prediction is correct, in ten years if you are fast, fifty years if you are slow, you should reach the Deity-level as well.” Beirut said with a calm laugh.

  “No wonder Olivier was so confident to say that after training for a few years, he would come challenge me.” Linley had a hint of anticipation in his heart as well. Previously, he hadn’t paid much attention to Olivier’s words, as he now possessed the ‘Profound Truths of Velocity’. He had only replied out of politeness.

  But now, Linley rather looked forward to it.

  Desri, Fain, Rosarie, and the other experts felt their hearts clench.

  What a difference!

  They had trained for thousands of years, but compared to Linley and Olivier, the difference between them was simply too great.

  “Lord Beirut, might you tell us how long we need until we can reach the Deity-level?” Desri said respectfully. Rosarie, Tulily�
�even the two Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions and the Blackscale Scorpion all looked towards Beirut with anticipation. They wanted to hear Beirut’s judgment.

  Given Beirut’s power, it was very easy for him to judge the level of understanding a Saint was at.

  “You?” Beirut glanced at them. “For you to reach the Deity-level, hrm, if you are fast, just one or two days…”

  The eyes of Tulily, Desri, and the other experts all lit up.

  “But if you are slow, it could take you trillions of years.” Beirut finished, causing Tulily and the others to be utterly stunned. These experts deeply desired to become Deities. This was their reason for existence, the goal they had pursued for thousands of years, which they had never reached.

  Beirut shook his head and laughed. “You young fellows…there is such a thing as ‘genius’, and both Linley and Olivier can be considered geniuses. In addition, the ‘Profound Truths’ which they are training in are more powerful than yours.” Beirut said with a lecturing air.

  Desri, Fain, and the other experts who had trained for thousands of years all listened obediently, as though they were children listening to a lecture.

  “Your vision is too narrow and limited. You must understand…these countless dimensions possess countless material planes, but your gaze is limited to just the Yulan continent. Genius? Amongst the geniuses I have seen, one of them reached the Deity-level ten years after being born, but I’ve also met those who have trained for tens of millions of years while being trapped at the Saint-level.”

  Linley and Olivier were both stunned.

  Reach the Deity-level ten years after birth? This was simply monstrous. Could it be some sort of divine beast race? But even a divine beast such as Bebe would take nearly a hundred years to grow into maturity.

  “Linley, Olivier.” Beirut looked at the two of them. “The Yulan continent has existed for countless years, and the experts it has produced are numerous beyond measure. But of course, in the past hundred thousand years, the two of you can be considered to be the two most talented.”

  Linley and Olivier didn’t display a hint of self-satisfaction.

  “But if we look at the countless planes of the universe, there are simply far too many people who are greater geniuses than you two.” Beirut sighed. “There are some geniuses whom even I can only stare at in dumbfounded awe.”