Coiling Dragon

by welyjesch

  The fame of the Fiend known as ‘Royalwing’ had long ago spread across the entire Infernal Realm. Perhaps he wasn’t as famous as the likes of ‘Bloodviolet’ and ‘Silvermoon’, who had become famous through slaughter, but in terms of power, as Seven Star Fiends, there wasn’t a big difference between them.

  “Seven Star Fiend!”

  Anji looked excitedly at this person in front of him. He dreamed of one day also becoming an exalted Seven Star Fiend.

  “How terrifying. Definitely not any weaker than Bluefire.” When Linley saw Royalwing, in his heart, for some reason, he had a feeling that he never had before…that a person could, just with a glance, cause his soul to shudder. Such power was utterly breathtaking.

  The white-eyebrowed, golden-pupiled Royalwing glanced sideways at Crompton. “You said just now that others who participate in the Fiend trials would definitely die?”

  Crompton’s entire body was trembling.

  None of the surrounding Fiends dared to make a sound. Crompton, terrified, hurriedly said, “Lord Governor, I, I was just saying that this brown-haired kid and that black-haired kid at the counter, if they participate, they will definitely die.” As he said this, Crompton didn’t have any conviction in his voice.

  “Oh? Why do you say that?” Royalwing seemed to be intrigued.

  “This, this brown-haired kid is just a Demigod. If a Demigod takes part in the Fiend trials, he will definitely die.” Crompton had no idea that Seven Star Fiends were so terrifying. Royalwing’s gaze alone was causing his heart to quaver.

  They were both Highgods, but the difference between them was enormous.

  “Oh, a Demigod is going to participate in the Fiend trials?” Royalwing nodded slightly. “And the other one?”

  “The black-haired kid has already tried twice, twice in a row to take the Fiend trials, but failed both times. He was lucky enough to preserve his life, but he wants to participate in the Fiend trials again…” Crompton said, then no longer dared to make a sound.

  But Royalwing only gave the black-haired kid, ‘Anji’, an approving glance.

  And then, he turned his gaze to Crompton. “What is your name?”

  “Crompton.” Crompton stuttered.

  “You are a Highgod, but you became one through fusing with a divine spark.” Royalwing laughed calmly.

  “Yes.” Crompton hurriedly nodded.

  Royalwing continued, “If my senses are correct, you should only be a Three Star Fiend!” From the surface, the medallions of all Fiends, be they one star or seven star, were identical and generally couldn’t be distinguished from one another. One could only tell the difference through using certain special appraisal methods.

  Royalwing could tell at a single glance. This was indeed astonishing.

  “Yes, yes I’m a Three Star Fiend.” Crompton nodded.

  “A Highgod who is only a Three Star Fiend. Low ranked.” Royalwing said calmly.

  Crompton felt incredibly ashamed. It was indeed very embarrassing for a Highgod to be a Three Star Fiend. How could he not be ashamed, with Lord Royalwing pointing it out?

  “This black-haired kid has failed twice, but still doesn’t give up. Although he’s a bit rash, his spirit and vigor is quite admirable…if you were able to learn to have that sort of mindset, you would have reached the four star level long ago.” Royalwing said calmly. Crompton could only make a sound of acknowledgment.

  Even if Lord Royalwing was to curse him out, all he would be able to do was accept it.

  Royalwing then turned and walked towards Linley. Laughing calmly, he said, “You plan to participate in the Fiend trials?”

  Linley hadn’t expected that this Royalwing could come speak to him. The man was a Seven Star Fiend, the governor of Royalwing City!

  “I just came to take a look today. I plan to participate in the Fiend trials a few decades from now.” Linley replied respectfully.

  “A few decades?” Royalwing laughed calmly, then said, “Young fellow, it isn’t a shameful thing for a Demigod to want to participate in the Fiend trials. In the past, when I was a Demigod, I participated in the Fiend trials myself.”

  Many of the nearby Fiends immediately perked up and began to listen carefully. They had never heard that Lord Royalwing had done such a thing.

  However…Royalwing City had been built countless years ago. One could imagine how long Royalwing had been training for.

  Surprised, Linley raised his head to glance towards Royalwing.

  “But of course, I failed. Fortunately, I was able to stay alive, and then after I reached the God level, I tried the Fiend trials again.” Royalwing said with a calm laugh. “Young fellow, it’s best if you wait to reach the God level first before taking part in the Fiend trials. The Fiend trials are at the difficulty of a one star mission. Generally speaking, even full Gods have to expend a tremendous amount of effort to complete such missions. A Demigod…the chances of completing such a mission is too low, too low!”

  Linley felt gratitude in his heart for this Lord Royalwing who stood in front of him.

  At least he was giving him advice.

  Lord Royalwing, despite possessing a noble, lofty status, was smiling and gently remonstrating with him. How could Linley not feel grateful?

  Royalwing then took a long look at Linley, before turning and leading his three subordinates towards the stairs. After Lord Royalwing left, the entire main hall of the Fiend Castle exploded into a hubbub of noise. All of the Fiends were incredibly excited.

  “That was Lord Royalwing! The expert I worship!”

  Many Fiends were extremely excited as they discussed Lord Royalwing. They no longer discussed Linley and Anji. After all, Linley and Anji were small matters to begin with.

  At the top of the Fiend Castle.

  “Today was truly intriguing. That brown-haired kid actually had a hint of the aura of the Four Divine Beast clans about him.” Royalwing sighed.

  “The Four Divine Beast clans? Milord, don’t they come from the Indigo Prefecture of the Bloodridge Continent? How is it that they have appeared in our place?” One of Royalwing’s three subordinates said.

  Royalwing laughed calmly, “The Four Divine Beast clans are a very widespread clan. Their descendants are extremely numerous. It isn’t a big deal for one of their members to appear here.” Royalwing only felt somewhat intrigued. After all, a mere descendant of the Four Divine Beast clans wasn’t worthy of his actual concern.

  Book 14, Fiend – Chapter 16, The Full God Level!

  Linley’s group of three left the Fiend Castle, returning to their own residence.

  “Hmph!” Bebe threw his grass hat onto the table, furiously saying, “I really have to hold my temper here in the Infernal Realm. That foul baldy doesn’t dare to offend powerful people, so he comes to mock us instead. If we were outside the city, even if it cost me my life, I’d take him on.”

  Delia pursed her lips with a laugh. “Take him on? Bebe, that baldy is a Highgod. Will you be able to take him on?”

  “So what if he’s a Highgod?” Bebe raised his head, but then he lowered his head again. “Oh, um, a Highgod…”

  Seeing Bebe act this way, Linley and Delia both began to laugh.

  “Grandpa…ugh. He has Highgod sparks, but he forbade me from using them. He wants me to break through on my own. Otherwise, I would’ve become a Highgod long ago.” Bebe looked towards Linley. “Enough about this. Boss, when we will take the Fiend trials? A few decades in the future?”

  Linley nodded.

  “I’m not confident right now in my ability to pass the Fiend trials. No rush. In a few decades, I will definitely be able to reach the God level in the Laws of the Earth. By then, our chances of success will be significant.” Linley couldn’t help but think of his Elemental Laws of the Wind.

  Linley had never dared to slack off in his training of the Elemental Laws of the Wind.

  However, up till now, Linley still had only a partial understanding of the ‘Fast’ and ‘Slow’ profound mys
teries.

  “I’ve mastered the Throbbing Pulse of the World long ago, and the Essence of the Earth is one of the simplest profound mysteries of the Laws of the Earth. Naturally, the speed of fusing them is rather fast. But the Profound Truths of Velocity requires me to simultaneously gain insights into these two different profound mysteries while fusing them. The speed is much slower.”

  Linley sighed to himself.

  If he himself was able to reach the God level in both the Laws of the Wind and the Laws of the Earth, his power would naturally increase greatly.

  “Just a few decades. No rush.” Bebe chortled. “There’s no danger in Royalwing City anyhow, and it is so huge. I have plenty of places to stroll about now. Oh, right. Boss. In the Black Dragon Tribe, I often heard people praise the delicacies of Royalwing City. Shall we go for a taste tomorrow?”

  With regards to delicacies, Linley was somewhat eager as well.

  The delicacies of the Infernal Realm were made using extremely precious ingredients and by genuine maestros. The quality naturally was high.

  “Fine. We’ll go for a taste tomorrow.”

  An occasional splurge was necessary.

  Royalwing City. At the doorway to a restaurant.

  “This place is pretty good.” Linley’s group looked at the exterior decorations of this restaurant. Satisfied, they pushed the door open and went in. When Linley’s group entered, immediately the waiters of the hotel came in. Bebe glanced at the waiter, then used his divine sense to speak to Linley. “Boss, this waiter is a God.”

  In his heart, Linley felt this was ridiculous.

  A God, waiting on him?

  But in Royalwing City, Gods were indeed commonly seen. It wasn’t too absurd for a waiter to be a God.

  “Our three guests, please follow me.” The waiter had a smile on his face as he led Linley’s group forward.

  “Drip, drip.”

  The restaurant had a miniature artificial mountain and spring waters. The spring water gurgled forward, its flows separating the restaurant into multiple areas.

  Linley’s group was taken to one part of the restaurant, where they sat down. With a flip of his hand, the waiter retrieved a menu containing a list of delicacies. Smiling, he put it on the table. “After you have ordered your dishes, please just call for me.”

  After speaking, the waiter retreated to another corner.

  “I’ve never seen the prices of dishes in the Infernal Realm before.” Bebe excitedly flipped open the menu.

  Linley was somewhat curious as well.

  “Wow, it really is expensive.” Bebe continuously flipped through the pages of the menu. “Boss, the cheapest dish I’ve found still costs twenty inkstones.” As he spoke, Bebe stared with wide eyes, still reading the menu. “The introductions to each dish are quite detailed. It clearly explains the uniqueness of every single dish. Oh, this dish actually costs seven hundred inkstones. So expensive.”

  After reading it all, Bebe handed it over to Linley and Delia, a mocking smile on his face.

  Linley and Delia began to read the menu together and the dishes within.

  “Hey, Linley, look. This dish is made from the liver of a Hellfire Phoenix. It costs thirty inkstones. The price isn’t too extravagant.” Delia pointed at a dish.

  Linley flipped through the menu as well, and he couldn’t help but sigh.

  “As long as you have money, you can eat any sort of Saint-level magical beast or even Deity-level magical beasts, even those from other planes.” Linley, seeing the detailed descriptions of each dish, couldn’t help but sigh. “Delia, you and Bebe pick. I’ll eat whatever.”

  They ended up ordering six dishes.

  “Bebe, you only picked the expensive ones.” Linley began to laugh.

  The six dishes came to a total price of 215 inkstones. It must be understood that in the Infernal Realm, a Demigod artifact was worth less than ten inkstones, while a Demigod spark was less than a hundred inkstones. But these six dishes alone cost a total of 215 inkstones.

  Fortunately, the total networth of the three of them was in excess of several million, so they naturally wouldn’t care too much about this sum.

  “These two dishes will definitely take a bit longer, especially this one. The slow roasting alone will take six hours.” The waiter smiled as he explained.

  “Understood.” Linley nodded.

  When ordering food, there were explanations beneath each of the dishes. After all, Linley’s group wasn’t in a rush. They could sit there and wait an entire day if necessary.

  “Boss, life for people with money in the Infernal Realm is pretty good.” Bebe sighed. “When we were back in our homeland, how could we possibly eat food like this?” Bebe currently felt that he was in a state of bliss. He loved to eat.

  Linley looked outside the window.

  The metallic window of the restaurant was translucent. One could see everything going on outside.

  “These cities are the only safe zones in the entire Infernal Realm.” Linley said to himself. “In Royalwing City, we can relax and sit here quietly while enjoying fine food. But if we were outside the city, every moment would be dangerous, and perhaps we might lose our lives.”

  The enormous Nightblaze Prefecture stretched to a circumference of a billion kilometers.

  But there were only ten cities.

  One could tell from this that in the Infernal Zone, almost all the experts lived a life of near-constant danger. Only an extremely small number were able to live lives of comfort.

  “Even if you want to live a comfortable life, you still need an enormous sum of money to accomplish it.” Linley understood that while Royalwing City was very comfortable, the amount of money they were spending was astonishing as well.

  The dishes came, and Linley’s group began to enjoy these wondrous delicacies.

  “Mm!” As Bebe ate, his eyes began to grow lidded in enjoyment.

  Delia and Linley also had the feeling that eating these delicacies was indeed a sort of absolute enjoyment.

  “Whew.” Bebe said with a sour look on his face, “Boss, after eating this food, in the future, I won’t be able to swallow the food of our homeland. Man, this is simply too delicious. This is absolutely one of the best ways one can enjoy one’s self.” Bebe continued to eat as he spoke, while praising the food nonstop.

  Linley couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Linley.” Delia nudged Linley gently

  “Huh?” Puzzled, Linley looked over. Delia said softly, “Linley, look outside the window.”

  Linley immediately looked outside the window. He saw many people clustered outside on the streets, amongst which included some who were looking into the restaurant with a hint of envy in their eyes.

  “This is very normal. There are many people there who just entered Royalwing City.” Linley said softly. “Delia, this is much like how, when we first arrived at Royalwing City and saw these places for the first time, we also looked everywhere with curiosity and anticipation, right?”

  The Infernal Realm was a very brutal place.

  If you had money, you could enjoy all sorts of delicacies.

  But in the Infernal Realm, most people were struggling to survive.

  But of course, the worst off were the Saints. Many Saints had come from material planes to the Infernal Realm, but only after they arrived did they discover that they were the lowest rungs in this place. Their lives could be taken from them at any moment…what they wanted was to acquire a Demigod spark.

  But a Demigod spark wasn’t even as costly as the table of food in front of Linley.

  “Big brother, congratulations on becoming a Fiend. Today, the two of us have to have a good celebration.” From behind Linley, a voice rang out. Upon hearing the word ‘Fiend’, Linley’s couldn’t help but listen carefully.

  “Haha, this time it was really dangerous. Fortunately, I’m skilled in the Elemental Laws of the Wind.” The thick, deep voice rang out. “Only, several of my dear friends failed. Alas…before
this, we were saying that we would all succeed and all celebrate together.” As the man spoke, his voice lowered.

  Upon hearing this, the mood at Linley’s table dropped as well.

  The Fiend trials were very brutal.

  “Delia, in the next few decades, you need to focus on training in the Elemental Laws of the Wind. When the time comes, if anything dangerous appears, at least you’ll have a better chance of staying alive.” Linley was worried about Delia. Once he became a God, the weakest of the three would be Delia.

  “Right.” Delia nodded gently.

  As for Bebe’s power, Linley actually felt rather confident in his heart.

  “Fortunately, Delia has learned the profound mysteries involving the ‘doppelgangers’.” Nieff, who had tried to assassinate Linley, utilized the doppelganger technique.

  Time flowed on. Linley, Delia, and Bebe lived a quiet life in Royalwing City. In the blink of an eye, thirty two years passed. Linley’s training had reached the final step long ago, and he was about to break through and reach mastery at any moment.

  Within the inner courtyard.

  Bebe was wearing his straw hat, a sour look on his face as he mumbled, “Boss said he reached a bottleneck two years ago, and he’s been in closed-door training ever since, not coming out. It has been two years…didn’t he say that the Profound Mysteries of the Essence of the Earth is the simplest profound mystery of the Laws of the Earth? But he hasn’t broken through after spending two years.”

  It actually wasn’t too hard to gain insights into the Profound Mysteries of the Essence of the Earth.

  But what Linley was doing was simultaneously gaining insights into the Essence of the Earth while fusing it with another profound mystery.

  “Boss being in training is one thing, but Delia is by his side training as well. I’m bored to death.” Bebe once again let out a long sigh. With a flip of his hand, Bebe retrieved a God spark, then tossed it into his mouth and swallowed it.

  “As for Grandpa Beirut, ugh. He gave me a whole sack full of divine sparks and told me to eat them all. But digesting these divine sparks is so slow.”

  Bebe let out another sigh.

  “So many divine sparks. How many years will it take me to eat them all? Right, once Boss is out of money, I’ll sell some of them off,” Bebe mumbled to himself.