Coiling Dragon

by welyjesch

  By now, the leader of this bandit group, that muscular, red-robed man, had fled long ago. Just now, he had been calling out for combat and killing, but he only had his subordinates attack. He himself stayed in the back, not charging forward to attack at all. When he saw that destructive sword, he had immediately chosen…

  To flee!

  “What a terrifying fellow. That sword was capable of simultaneously killing ten-plus Highgods!” The red-robed man’s heart was filled with terror. “If I had been slightly slower, most likely I would have been killed by that frightening Fiend as well. How could these two old fellows have invited such a powerful Fiend?”

  The red-robed man’s eyes narrowed slightly. “This Fiend is so formidable. It seems that this time, we’ll need to invite the young master’s teacher, ‘Mr. Wind’, to personally get involved.”

  “Hmph.” The red-robed man glanced backwards. “These idiots. Did they think the money of me, Vionnaz, was so easily earned? They were able to make money, but they weren’t able to spend it. Unfortunately, the twelve Highgods that the young master gave me as subordinates all died as well.”

  The red-robed man was Vionnaz, one of Inigo’s subordinates.

  As for the bandit army, Vionnaz had spent money to invite several major bandit organizations to form a single group. After all, Vionnaz had led twelve Highgods, while the other bandit organizations all combined only had seven or eight Highgods.

  In particular, Vionnaz had given them an enormous sum of money.

  These bandit groups naturally had joined up. In recent days, they had joined forces to waylay quite a few groups.

  “I need to hurry back to let the kid immediately inform the young master.” Vionnaz immediately flew back towards his own residence.

  With two divine clones being in two locations, communications naturally were quite fast. Inigo was thus easily kept abreast of the situation regarding Linley’s metallic lifeform.

  After the leaders of the bandit group were slaughtered, and especially after Learmonth’s sword attack, all of the bandits lost their willpower and they began to flee in every direction. Instantly…not a single bandit group was now left.

  “They really ran quite quickly!” Bebe snorted.

  “This Learmonth…” Even Salomon was shocked by Learmonth, standing in mid-air. Learmonth’s face was cold and calm, as though nothing had happened. Indeed, to Learmonth, this sort of small battle was nothing at all.

  “Linley?” Delia called out softly.

  But currently, Linley was completely lost in his own world as he pondered on that astonishing sword attack. How could he notice Delia’s call?

  “Hey, what’s going on with the Boss?” Bebe noticed that Linley seemed strange as well. The nearby Nisse laughed. “Bebe, could it be that your Boss was scared silly by that sword of Learmonth’s?” Nisse teased intentionally.

  Bebe gave her a stare. “What do you know? My Boss probably had some insight.”

  At this moment, Linley returned to wakefulness.

  “Linley, are you alright?” Delia felt that the look on Linley’s face was rather odd.

  “I’m fine.” Linley shook his head and laughed. “Just now, I was thinking about a few things. I actually thought that I was about to make a breakthrough, but I was wrong.” Linley glanced at the distant Learmonth, his eyes filled with astonishment and puzzlement. “That sword…”

  Linley was also a sword-wielder, and his soul was shaped as a sword.

  With regards to the concept of a sword’s ‘intent’, he had his own thoughts as well.

  “I’ve only just mastered the basics of the Essence of Fire, and haven’t even become a Deity. Most likely, I guessed wrongly.” Linley was still lingering over those lightning-fast eight sword attacks. At his current level of power, Linley was not capable of seeing through the profound truths of that sword.

  The nearby Salomon laughed and said, “Linley, are you shocked by Learmonth’s sword? Indeed, the sword attack by Learmonth just now was definitely at an extremely high level of the ‘Way of Destruction’.”

  “Way of Destruction?” Linley raised an eyebrow.

  “What, weren’t you able to sense the aura of the ‘Way of Destruction’?” Salomon asked.

  “I sensed it.” Linley said, but didn’t follow up.

  “If Linley sensed it, why is he surprised?” Salomon was somewhat puzzled, but he didn’t speak it aloud.

  Immediately, the lucky, surviving Fiends all headed towards Learmonth and the black-horned silver-haired elder. Soon, more than fifty Fiends gathered around them.

  The black-horned, silver-haired elder and the white-horned, silver-haired elder looked at each other, a hint of worry in their eyes. They had already begun to guess…the reason why so many bandits had come to waylay them. It must be understood that generally speaking, when a bandit group discovered so many Fiends, they wouldn’t attack.

  The black-haired elder said loudly, “Everyone, I didn’t expect that we would encounter so many bandit attacks on this trip. I truly am sorry. In such a short time, more than sixty Fiends have died. Thankfully, Mr. Learmonth as well as Edwards and his brothers were here…”

  “When we reach Bluemaple City, we will add additional money to your compensation.”

  The black-horned elder said, and then a golden light flashed as the metallic lifeform once more formed in mid-air. However…the metallic lifeform was now clearly smaller in size.

  The Fiends once more filled it, entering the metallic lifeform.

  Soon, the metallic lifeform headed out once more. Fiends lived a life on the bloody edge of a blade to begin with. These Fiends who had lived for countless years only wanted their lives to be more exciting and to reach the peak of power in the Infernal Realm. To them, life and death…

  Right, death was something they didn’t wish to face, and when they encountered any dangers they weren’t able to resist, the Fiends would flee.

  But when death truly came, they wouldn’t be in terror.

  After all, ever since they became Fiends, every single one of them had become mentally prepared for that possibility!

  “The black-horned elder has a bit of a conscience. He knows he should increase our compensation.” Bebe snorted. “I keep on having the feeling that this escort mission isn’t simple.”

  Linley nodded as well. “Right. Only, when we took on the mission, the only thing we noticed was that more than a hundred One Star Fiends and Two Star Fiends had been recruited. Who would have imagined…that there were Four Star Fiends, Five Star Fiends, and even a Six Star Fiend taking part as well!” Linley understood that this sort of ‘group mission’ was divided into different parts.

  It was much like the battle at Moon Lake Castle.

  Linley’s group was responsible for dealing with gold-robed guards, while the powerful Highgod Fiends were responsible for dealing with black-robed guards as well as the castle’s master.

  This mission, with a Six Star Fiend involved, wasn’t a simple one either.

  “Everyone is already on board. What is there to think about?” Salomon shook his head. “If just now, when facing the attack of the bandits, taking the chance to flee would have been one thing. But right now, we are already aboard the metallic creature. If we want to leave and retreat now, once this gets out…we’ll lose face.”

  Spineless, fearful cowards.

  They would definitely become a laughingstock.

  “Everyone, calmly train.” Linley said seriously. “No matter what, even if we encounter enemies, the primary target isn’t us. It is the black-horned elder and the white-horned elder. We just need to work hard to protect ourselves.”

  Linley didn’t have any intention of protecting their employers. After all…

  Those two elders were both Highgods, while Linley himself was just a God.

  “Right.”

  Everyone nodded, and then scattered towards their own rooms to begin training. In this room, only Linley and Delia were left.

  “I won
der why those two old fellows chose us, these Gods, to participate in the mission.” Linley was still filled with confusion. “Forget it. Protecting Delia and Bebe is enough.” Linley looked at Delia, and then closed his eyes and began to train.

  “I hope that in a short period of time, I’ll be able to quickly break through this bottleneck in the Profound Truths of Velocity. That way, I’ll be able to protect us better.” Linley chanted to himself quietly.

  Red Orchid City. Within a courtyard in a hotel.

  Inigo received the news that had been delivered from his subordinate, VIonnaz. He couldn’t help but frown. “I didn’t expect that those two old fellows actually invited such a powerful Fiend. To have trained to such a level in the Way of Destruction means that he is most likely a Five Star Fiend or a Six Star Fiend.”

  Inigo didn’t dare imagine that it would be a Seven Star Fiend.

  This was because Seven Star Fiends were ultimate experts with their own titles. They didn’t lack for money, and they were at the top of the rankings as Fiends. They generally wouldn’t take on missions.

  “Inigo.” The green-robed elder suddenly appeared in the courtyard again.

  Inigo, seeing this person, immediately stood up and said respectfully, “Teacher, the results of Vionnaz’ mission is already known…” Inigo immediately told the results of that battle in detail to his teacher.

  The green-robed elder frowned. “Oh? Trains in the Way of Destruction, and killed ten Highgods with one sword? Power like this is indeed hard to oppose.” The green-robed elder, although somewhat worried about the power of this opponent, didn’t feel that things were hopeless.

  “Teacher, do you feel confident?” Inigo said softly.

  The green-robed elder said in a low voice, “Since he’s accepted a mission, then this Fiend shouldn’t be a Seven Star Fiend. Since he is a Six Star Fiend…I should be able to defeat him. However, based on the power of that sword attack you described, the attack of that Fiend is simply too powerful. I still can’t take it on head on.”

  “No need to take him head on, Teacher. You only need to kill those two old fellows.” Inigo said hurriedly.

  The green-robed elder nodded slightly. “If that’s the case, then I am confident. I just need to separate the Fiends from them for a time.”

  “Then I’ll entrust everything to you, Teacher.”

  The green-robed elder laughed calmly.

  Linley, in his room, continued to train for nearly a year.

  “Huh?” Linley opened his eyes. “Why do I feel uneasy all of a sudden?”

  For some reason, Linley suddenly felt some restlessness in his heart. Linley immediately took a deep breath, letting himself calm down.

  Delia opened her eyes as well. “Linley, what is it?”

  Through the window, Linley looked at the outside. “Nothing. Only, while I was training, I felt my mind grow uneasy for some reason.” Right now, the area below the metallic lifeform was a boundless desert. The wild wind howled and desert sand filled the skies.

  The metallic lifeform continued to fly at high speed.

  “You felt it also?” Delia said in surprise. “I felt some unease as well.”

  At this moment, the metallic lifeform was completely covered by yellow sands. Originally, the metallic lifeform’s Fiends didn’t care about the sand, but…for that instant the metallic lifeform was covered by sand, the entire metallic lifeform suddenly, in the blink of an eye…

  “BOOM!”

  Blew apart!

  Book 15, Priceless Treasure – Chapter 6, The Ancient Castle of Sand

  The metallic lifeform had completely exploded, and the Fiends that had been inside instantly became surrounded by the boundless sands. Each grain of yellow sand seemed to weigh a million kilograms, and Linley was completely surrounded by sand, completely unable to move.

  “Delia!” Linley couldn’t help but try to grab Delia’s hand.

  “Linley!” Delia also wanted to grab Linley’s hand.

  “Whoosh!” Boundless amounts of yellow sand swirled over. Linley was completely unable to control himself.

  “What is this?!” Linley wanted to break free of the constricting binds of the yellow sand, but Linley was completely unable to resist that strange, unusual binding energy. In an instant…’boom!’ Linley was thrown to the ground.

  Linley immediately stood up, staring around him. “This…what is this?” Linley’s heart was filled with questions and puzzlement.

  This was a massive, ancient-looking structure formed completely from yellow sand. Linley, when raising his head, was only able to see the enormous roof formed from yellow sand, and was unable to see the sky at all. This was an enormous edifice made completely from yellow sand, which Linley was now trapped within.

  What astonished Linley the most was…

  “Nobody. There’s nobody around me. Where is everyone?” Linley stared around himself.

  But within this edifice of sand, not a single person could be seen.

  Linley spread out his divine sense, but was shocked to find…“How is this possible? My divine sense, even in the Infernal Realm, can cover an area of a hundred meters. But why is it that in this damn place, it only spread to ten meters?” Linley was shocked.

  “My divine sense is being affected?”

  Linley began to understand. “Can it be that this sand construct is a space of its own?”

  Although Linley had discovered that nobody was here, he was still able to sense one person – Bebe! Bebe and Linley’s souls were linked. No matter how far away they were, they would still be able to sense the other’s existence.

  “Boss, how are you doing? I’m in a sand-formed building. I can’t see anyone. Everyone seems to have disappeared.” Bebe’s voice rang out in Linley’s mind.

  Their two souls were connected. They didn’t have to speak using divine sense; they could speak through their souls.

  Linley, hearing Bebe’s words, began to understand. “Bebe, my situation is the same as yours. This is an ancient structure completely made out of sand. I can’t see a single person within. Bebe, be careful…I have the feeling that we are in a special dimension.”

  “Right, got it.” Bebe replied. “Boss, I’m going to start heading in your direction.”

  “Alright.” Linley could sense Bebe as well.

  The two would always be able to sense the general direction of the other. Naturally, they could draw closer to each other, even if they weren’t able to see each other.

  “This sand structure?” With a flip of his hand Linley withdrew Bloodviolet.

  “Swoosh!” Linley flew into the air, the Bloodviolet in his hand suddenly moving at a high speed. A ray of violet light flashed, and the roof of the sand structure rumbled, and a small pile of yellow sand was smashed and fell down.

  However, the yellow sand roof only trembled, then quickly returned to its normal calm.

  Linley’s face changed. His Profound Truths of Velocity had already reached a bottleneck. This most powerful physical attack in his possession, the ‘Dimensional Decapitator’, was now many times more powerful than it had been when he was in the Yulan continent. But it hadn’t been able to budge this castle of sand at all.

  “What a bizarre power.” Linley frowned. “A strange energy has completely infused this yellow sand.”

  “This strange place…” Linley didn’t waste any more time, immediately drawing closer to Bebe.

  “Boss, this damn place is too weird. I have no way of getting over. There are no paths in front of me, and the walls are too weird. I can’t break them apart at all. Whenever I break them apart slightly, the yellow sand will move back.” Bebe said frantically.

  Linley couldn’t help but feel surprised.

  “Bebe, wait.” Linley continued to move in Bebe’s direction as well.

  The enormous sand structure had many openings and many corridors. It was like an enormous maze. Linley, after walking a while, discovered that there was a dead end in front of him, a wall formed from
yellow sand. Linley could clearly sense that Bebe was right there, but he was unable to cross over.

  “Bebe, my path has also been blocked by a wall.” Linley frowned, turning to stare at his surroundings.

  “So many roads and passages?” Linley couldn’t help but think back to the Yulan continent, and a type of entertainment he had seen there; mazes.

  In mazes, there were many corridors and avenues. However, there was only a single true pathway. If one took a single wrong step, one wouldn’t be able to exit the maze.

  “Could it be that this structure made out of sand is a maze?” Linley guessed to himself.

  “No other choices. For now, let’s just treat it as a maze.” Linley immediately began to walk along other roads. While walking, he thought back to the previous pathways he had taken. Given Linley’s visualization abilities, if he knew the rough locations of the corridors, he would be able to eventually extrapolate the correct pathway.

  “Bebe, this strange place is most likely a maze.” Linley said to Bebe mentally.

  “Maze?” Bebe was greatly shocked.

  “Right. Think of a way to draw closer to me from a roundabout way.” Linley continued to memorize every single corridor; if he went down a wrong pathway, he would immediately turn back.

  “So it’s a maze…fine, I’ll definitely find the right path.” Bebe was very frantic as well. Both him and Linley had people they were worried about. Linley was worried about Delia, while Bebe was worried about Nisse.

  ………..

  Twenty or so people were together, with the leader being Inigo and his teacher.

  “Teacher, for you to reach such a level in the Elemental Laws of the Wind…most likely, there’s only a few people in the entire Infernal Realm who can do this.” Inigo’s face was all smiles, and he spoke respectfully.

  The green-robed elder laughed calmly. “Stop flattering me. This is the one and only ultimate technique that I have. In terms of pure power, that Fiend is perhaps still somewhat more powerful than me. Whew…he really is powerful. He broke open the walls of my ‘Castle of the Winds’ in a single sword blow.”

  “So what if he broke them open? You can change the walls as you please, Teacher.” Inigo knew well how powerful this technique of his master’s was.