Coiling Dragon

by welyjesch

  Indeed. If he killed Bebe, Beirut might not know who the murderer was.

  But…if Beirut was truly enraged and began to investigate and used all of his influence, in the end, it might not be impossible for him to discover who the killer was. At which point in time, he, Elquin, would definitely lose his life!

  “A godspark weapon…even if I truly were to seize, I wouldn’t dare use it myself. If I used it, wouldn’t that be as good as admitting that I was the killer? Even if I sold it, I would at most be able to earn some money. A godspark weapon isn’t as valuable as ‘Sovereign’s Might’. It would be a bad bargain for me to lose my life in exchange for making a little bit of money.”

  Elquin’s calculations were quite clear.

  When he wanted to kill Salomon, he wasn’t afraid; after all, Salomon himself had to spend the entire fortune of the Boyd clan and also a favor in order to have Aiken help out. This meant that Aiken didn’t actually care too much about Salomon. If Aiken had bequeathed Salomon a drop of Sovereign’s Might without asking for anything in exchange, that would mean that Aiken valued him highly.

  “Killing Salomon doesn’t matter, but killing Bebe…although the chances are low, if I actually were to be discovered, I would definitely die.” Eqluin didn’t wish to anger Beirut.

  “Lord Elquin.” Inigo warned, and the little golden kitten in Elquin’s arms wagged its tail gently.

  Linley was still very much on guard. Right now, he had already drawn the drop of Sovereign’s Might into his body. “I hope you won’t force me to waste this drop of Sovereign’s Might,” Linley murmured to himself.

  Elquin might have some valuable treasures, but how could those treasures compare with Sovereign’s Might? Even the entire fortune of the Boyd clan was most likely less than a drop of Sovereign’s Might.

  Elquin glanced coldly at Inigo, then turned to Linley’s group and laughed. “Linley and Bebe, right?” Elquin’s pale face had a rare smile atop it. “My apologies for getting you involved in this. The three of you can leave now.”

  Inigo was flabbergasted.

  The little golden kitten in Elquin’s arms raised its head to look up at its master as well.

  “Lord Elquin?” Inigo said hurriedly.

  “Hrm? Do you have an objection?” Elquin looked towards him. Inigo had to force out a smile and say, “No objection.” In his heart, he was angrily cursing. “On this trip, I lost over a fortune of over ten billion inkstones and many subordinates, but I didn’t get anything in exchange. These bastards. They all deserve to die. They all deserve to die!!!”

  Inigo wanted to vent his anger upon Linley’s group, but unfortunately, in front of Elquin, he didn’t dare act.

  Linley, Delia, and Bebe were overjoyed.

  “Then we truly must thank you, Mr. Elquin.” Linley said hurriedly.

  “No need to thank me. Be careful on your journey.” Elquin’s smile was very sincere, as he very much wanted to demonstrate his friendliness. This was the way some people simply were; if they didn’t want to offend you, they would go out of their way to be friendly to you. But once they decided to kill you for your treasures, they wouldn’t show any mercy.

  Linley, Delia, and Bebe exchanged glances.

  “Let’s go.” Linley laughed.

  He didn’t have to waste a drop of Sovereign’s Might. Naturally, Linley was very happy.

  Just as Linley, Delia, and Bebe were flying out, suddenly…“Swish!” A black shadow of a sword scraped past Linley. The ripples in the air created by this sword shadow alone caused Linley’s draconic scales to emit a clear sound.

  “What is this?” Linley was badly startled.

  Linley’s group immediately came to a halt and looked to the side. In front of them, a tunnel appeared, split open by this sword shadow. A callous looking man dressed in a long robe wielding a longsword flew out. It was the long-missing Six Star Fiend…Learmonth!

  Learmonth immediately discovered Linley’s group, while at the same time, as he lowered his head, he saw that below, Inigo and Elquin were standing there.

  “The others?” Learmonth asked Linley.

  “All dead.” Linley immediately replied.

  Learmonth shook his head slightly. However, seeing that Linley’s group was still alive, Learmonth still felt a hint of pleasure. After all, on the journey over, Linley’s hard work in training and his performance had caused Learmonth to feel appreciation for him.

  “Swoosh!” Learmonth immediately flew downwards.

  Linley’s group had just flown up; the distance between them and the cavern below was merely ten meters or so. They were able to see everything within the cave clearly.

  “Boss, let’s take a look first.” Bebe said. Linley and Delia were in no rush to leave either. After all, neither side was interested in killing them. Why not watch?

  “It is you?” Learmonth frowned upon seeing Inigo.

  Clearly, Learmonth remembered having previously seen Inigo before at the battle at the castle of sand.

  Inigo, upon seeing Learmonth, couldn’t help but have his face change. However, remembering that Elquin was by his side, he still squeezed out a smile. “Inigo pays his respects to Mr. Learmonth.”

  “Phusro!” Elquin let out an unhappy growl.

  “Meow. Master. He’s very powerful. He’s able to easily breach the stone walls. I’ve already done what I could to guide him astray, but he still managed to make his way here.” The little golden kitten said in a low, aggrieved voice.

  Learmonth turned to look at Elquin. “I am Learmonth. Might I ask who you are?”

  “Elquin.” Elquin said calmly. He didn’t hold Learmonth in any regard, although he had heard from Inigo of Learmonth’s strength.

  “Elquin?” Learmonth’s eyes lit up. “You are the former Seven Star Fiend, ‘Elquin’?” Learmonth knew the names of some of the ultimate experts of the Infernal Realm.

  “Oh, you recognize me?” Elquin lifted an eyebrow.

  Learmonth’s eyes were shining, and his entire body emanated a battle-ready aura. In a clear voice, he said, “I, Learmonth, am a Six Star Fiend. That which I desire the most is the chance to challenge a Seven Star Fiend!”

  Elquin couldn’t help but frown. In the Infernal Realm, there was a group of people that dearly loved battle! They loved to challenge experts. Elquin very much disliked this type of person, because this type of person was very hard to deal with. However, this Learmonth in front of him was clearly this type of person.

  “Today, I’m in a bad mood. I don’t want to fight any longer. You can f*ck off.” Elquin said.

  “Meeting a Seven Star Fiend is a rare event. How could I give this chance up?” Learmonth laughed. “By your side, you have Inigo, who should be the mastermind behind the attack on us. Ever since I became a Six Star Fiend, I have never yet failed a mission.”

  As soon as he spoke…

  “Swish!”

  An astonishing gray sword aura suddenly appeared, scraping directly past Elquin’s body. Inigo, shocked, immediately retreated at high speed, his own flexible sword appearing in his hand.

  “Clang!” The sword energy and the flexible sword intersected.

  Inigo’s face instantly turned ashen, and then he slumped powerlessly to the floor, before completely collapsing.

  He was already dead!

  Inigo’s eyes were filled with awe and a hint of unwillingness.

  “Once again, that sword technique!”

  Linley, secretly watching from above, felt his heart tremble. “In the past, Learmonth easily killed more than ten Highgods with this. Even this Inigo is unable to withstand this sword. It is too terrifying.” Although Linley had seen this sword attack more than once, he still felt awed and shocked.

  Within the tunnel.

  “You destroyed both of his souls with a single sword attack?” Elquin was slightly startled.

  Learmonth smiled as he wielded his longsword. “Elquin, I, Learmonth, a Six Star Fiend, today formally challenge you. Regardless of who lives
or who dies!” Learmonth’s dream was to challenge an Asura, but he knew that his current level of power was not yet at that stage.

  Elquin let out a cold snort. “Your Edict of Destruction has indeed reached an impressive level. But do you think that just by relying on that, you can defeat me?”

  Elquin was smoldering!

  He had sacrificed so much, but he had to watch as Salomon left. Not just that. The worst part of it was…he, Elquin, in order to block Bebe’s ultimate attack, had lost his Highgod artifact! A Highgod artifact which was suited to him had to be nurtured for many years.

  A divine artifact such as that had been destroyed, and now, someone came to challenge him. How could Elquin not be furious?

  “Can it be you, Elquin, have lost your spine?” Learmonth raised his head slightly.

  “Hmph.” Elquin, who had a belly full of fire already, finally lost his temper. With a flip of his hand, a long black whip appeared. An expert generally wouldn’t have only a single offensive divine artifact. For example, Linley himself had Bloodviolet as well as his adamantine heavy sword. This Elquin naturally had other Highgod artifacts which he often used.

  “Since you insist on dying, then I will send you to your death!” The rage smoldering within Elquin’s breast was finally let loose.

  “Haha…”

  Seeing this, Learmonth began to laugh loudly with excitement. “Elquin, this place is too small. How about we go find another place to battle?” “Fine.” Elquin sneered in response.

  Immediately…

  Learmonth and Elquin flew out into the shattered gorge, flying straight past Linley and the other two, immediately appearing in the horizon. One was a Six Star Fiend. The other, a Seven Star Fiend. Today, a true battle was about to occur.

  From below, Linley and the other two watched intently, especially Linley, whose eyes were gleaming.

  A battle between experts. How could he miss it?

  Book 15, Priceless Treasure – Chapter 24, Insight

  In the dark night sky, the Violet Moon’s hazy light was like a light layer of gauze covering the earth. In the air above the volcano range, Elquin and Learmonth were wielding their weapons, facing each other. Below them, Linley’s group and the little golden kitten raised their heads to watch.

  “Linley, who will win?” Delia said softly.

  Linley’s head was raised as he looked at the two in mid-air. “Hard to say. I keep on having this feeling that Elquin seems to be slightly stronger. However, no matter what, Learmonth’s attack is truly astonishing.” Linley wasn’t blinking at all, for fear of missing any of it.

  The little golden kitten, Phusro, just hovered there in mid-air, gently swaying its tail while raising its little head to watch.

  “I, Learmonth, in countless years, have challenged a total of eighteen Six Star Fiends. In each battle, I was victorious! This will be my first time challenging a Seven Star Fiend.” Learmonth hovered in mid-air and said in a clear voice. Normally, Learmonth was very emotionless and seemed to care about nothing.

  But at this moment, Learmonth’s eyes flashed like lightning, and he was filled with battle intent.

  Elquin’s battle intent had been aroused as well.

  “Hmph. Those that you defeated were nothing more than Six Star Fiends. Today…I will let you know the difference between a Six Star Fiend and a Seven Star Fiend!” Elquin’s long black robes fluttered, and the long black whip in his hand gently swayed like an agile viper.

  Seven star missions were the hardest missions available in the Fiend Castle!

  One star to two star, two star to three star, all the way up to the fifth star and sixth star, the increase in the difficulty of a mission wouldn’t be too extravagant. However, leaping to seven star missions was extremely difficult. This is why despite so many years having passed in the Infernal Realm, the number of Seven Star Fiends was still incomparably low.

  Learmonth, despite having defeated eighteen Six Star Fiends, wasn’t certain in being able to defeat Elquin. But it was precisely because he wasn’t certain that this was all the more challenging and arousing!

  “Haha…” Learmonth began to laugh loudly.

  “Crackle…” A terrifying gray sword energy emanated out from Learmonth’s body. In the blink of an eye, an enormous illusory sword that was over a hundred meters high appeared, while Learmonth himself was at the nucleus of this enormous illusory sword. The fierce sword energy had already caused space to tremble.

  “You truly have trained the Edicts of Destruction to an extremely high level.”

  Elquin let out a calm sigh in praise, but his face didn’t have a hint of concern on it at all.

  “Rumble…” The area within a hundred meters of Elquin instantly turned pitch-black, without a hint of light. At the same time, the entire area began to twist and distort. Even the light of the moon was completely sucked in within this area of a hundred meters of darkness around Elquin.

  Only Elquin himself was visible.

  “Hmph. Feel free to use whatever techniques you feel proud of. Otherwise, you won’t have the chance to do so after you die.” Elquin said calmly.

  Learmonth let out a chuckle. “Then…first receive my thirteen swords!”

  Instantly, he unleashed the sword…

  The sword shadow flickered, and suddenly, an awe-inspiring thirteen black sword shadows appeared, striking out through the air like thirteen viperous dragons. Multiple scars in space appeared as the thirteen sword shadows slashed out in different arcs, but came striking down at Elquin at the same time.

  The thirteen sword shadows were incredibly fierce, like giant man-eating beasts, trying to chop Elquin into mincemeat.

  “Hmph.” Elquin, faced with these thirteen extremely fierce sword shadows, only let out a calm snort while at the same time lightly waving the long black whip in his hands. This seeming thin long black whip began to dance, and it seemed as though it had transformed into an enormous black python.

  In addition, this ‘large black python’ carried with it a fog that seemed like strips of black silk.

  “Crackle….”

  The black whip, transformed into the ‘large black python’, coiled about like an enormous buckler, and the ‘large black python’ which carried within it that black silken fog coiled firmly against the thirteen extremely fierce and aggressive sword shadows.

  “Bang!” “Bang!” Many of the strips of black silk instantly collapsed upon touching the sword energy, but upon dissipating into black fog, they once more reformed.

  There were simply too many strips of black silk, and as soon as they shattered they reformed.

  In addition, that ‘large black python’ very firmly blocked the attacks of those thirteen sword shadows. Soon, the thirteen sword shadows dissipated.

  Using soft to overcome hard. Despite being incredibly sharp, those thirteen sword shadows were still ground down.

  “Is that the best you can do?” Elquin said calmly.

  “Excellent!” Learmonth’s eyes lit up. “This technique of yours contains at least three different profound mysteries of the Laws of Darkness! Elquin, of the six profound mysteries of the Laws of Darkness, how many have you fused?” Learmonth was an expert as well. With but a single glance, he was able to tell how many profound mysteries were contained within the enemy’s defense.

  Elquin chuckled. “Why should I tell you? That was just the opener. That small attack of yours isn’t qualified for me to use my ultimate technique!”

  Linley, quietly watching the battle, was trying to analyze the profound mysteries contained within Elquin’s technique. “Hm? Learmonth said that this technique contained three profound mysteries. Aside from the ‘Essence of Darkness’ and ‘Evil’, these two profound mysteries, what else is there?” From the surface, Linley was only able to recognize these two profound mysteries.

  Linley suddenly laughed. “Right. Learmonth’s attack contained a soul attack component. Since that was blocked, the third must be a spirit-type profound mystery.”
>
  A simple technique contained three different types of profound mysteries. This showed that Elquin had at least fused three of them.

  “I’ve only fused two. It seems that I still have a long way to go.” Linley said to himself.

  “Huh?” Linley’s eyes suddenly lit up.

  In mid-air, Learmonth began to bellow in excitement. “Haha….” While laughing loudly, Learmonth began to move at high speed, transforming into countless shadows which surrounded Elquin, each one of which was carrying a sword shadow.

  “Competing in speed? How laughable.” How could Elquin be afraid of this?

  Elquin’s body flickered, then instantly transformed into hundreds of illusory shadows as well. IT was the Shadowshape Doppelganger technique. Elquin was capable of shifting to any one of those hundreds of shadows, making him completely unpredictable. Elquin’s loud laughter rang out. “Haha, there’s no way you can touch me!”

  “I’m not competing with you in speed!” Learmonth’s voice rang out, while at the same time, those moving shadows completely dissipated. Learmonth himself flew back at high speed, but then…

  Countless sword shadows split the air apart.

  “Crackle…”

  Just as Learmonth began to move at high speed, he had already unleashed hundreds of sword shadow attacks, each one slightly different, whether in time of attack or location. Learmonth executed them all perfectly, and as he launched his final sword shadow…

  Instantly, the countless sword shadows in mid-air formed into a single shape…a blossoming lotus flower.

  In this moment, as those countless sword shadows attacked, the ‘blossoming lotus flower’ came into full form, and at the center of it was Elquin.

  “Hrm?” Elquin’s face instantly changed.

  This sword lotus had already completely sealed off the area around him, giving him no place to flee. His only choice was to take it head on.

  “This Learmonth truly is powerful.” Elquin said to himself. And then, with a flip of his right palm, Elquin’s blackened yellow right palm instantly became as scarlet-red as blood while increasing to the size of a fan. Elquin let out a cold snort.

  His right palm suddenly slammed upwards!