Coiling Dragon

by welyjesch

  “A few more months? Whoaaaah. I look forward to it. They say the Abyssal Mountain is dangerous, but how dangerous, really?” Bebe’s eyes were gleaming.

  “We’ll know when we get there.” Linley laughed, while his mind thought back to the descriptions of the Abyssal Mountain the book he had read.

  The Abyssal Mountain was the greatest of the mountains of the Netherworld. It was more than a million meters tall, with a circumference of over ten thousand kilometers. The Abyssal Mountain was constantly surrounded by tri-colored fog clouds, which actually formed Heaven-Earth Chains around the entire mountain. The wall of fog was not to be touched, as any who touched it was almost guaranteed to perish. The Abyssal Mountain was filled with dangers, and people were not to casually enter it!

  “Tri-colored fog clouds? Heaven-Earth Chains?”

  Linley’s mind was filled with questions. The descriptions the book had regarding the Abyssal Mountain was very sparse. It just repeatedly warned that the Abyssal Mountain was not to be entered, and that it was very dangerous. As for the tri-colored fog clouds and the Heaven-Earth Chains, it didn’t describe them in detail.

  Linley spent the next few months in quiet training, and time passed quickly. On the thirty-plus years of this journey, Linley’s divine clones remained constantly in training, while his original body assisted his divine earth clone in meditating on the Laws of the Earth. However, the amount of improvements he made in thirty years wasn’t that significant. For example, his divine water clone had reached the bottleneck in the sixth mystery long ago, but despite so much time having passed, he had yet to make any breakthroughs and reach the Highgod level.

  “Boss, Boss!” Bebe’s jubilant cries rang out. “Hurry, hurry, look, look! Abyssal Mountain. Abyssal Mountain!!!”

  Linley, who had been seated in the meditative position within the metallic lifeform, absorbed in training, suddenly opened his eyes.

  Swoosh!

  Linley hurried to the front of the metallic lifeform, staring out through the metallic metal. In the distance, a towering, dazzling mountain spire had appeared, surrounded by a layer of faint blue light. It looked like a blue mountain, but upon taking a closer look, Linley realized that the blue light was constantly flashing.

  “It lives up to its reputation as being the greatest mountain of the Netherworld.” A smile appeared on Linley’s face.

  Bebe rubbed his chin, then said in praise, “The Abyssal Mountain really is tall. The books say that it is a million meters tall, and before seeing it, I doubted if that was true!”

  Seeing this tall mountain, Linley couldn’t help but laugh.

  The mountains of his homeland, the Yulan continent, were tens of thousands of meters high at most. In the Infernal Realm, he had seen some extremely tall mountains that were hundreds of thousands of meters tall, but he had never once seen a mountain that was a million meters tall.

  “The Abyssal Mountain. We’re here!” Linley let out a sigh.

  “Woo, we’re here!” Bebe called out jubilantly. “Goshdarnit, the past thirty years have bored me to death. We finally made it! Everyone says the Abyssal Mountain is very dangerous, but I want to see what exactly is so dangerous about this place. I want to see what it can do me, Bebe.”

  Linley glanced sideways at Bebe, not knowing whether to laugh or to cry.

  It truly was quite hard for Bebe to feel as though he was in any danger!

  Bebe’s body was so tough that it could be said to be even tougher than godspark weapons. His material defense could be said to be invincible. As for his soul defense…although Linley wasn’t certain, given that Bebe was capable of executing an innate divine ability such as the ‘Godeater’, Bebe’s soul was definitely not weak, and he also had a soul-protecting artifact.

  “Don’t be incautious! The Abyssal Mountain is the residence of a Sovereign. No matter how mighty you are, can you be mightier than a Sovereign? Be low-key, be low-key!” Linley laughed.

  “Sovereigns wouldn’t lower themselves to attack me, and as long as it isn’t a Sovereign, what have I to fear?” Bebe laughed.

  Although they were able to see the Abyssal Mountain from far away, in truth, Linley and Bebe were still more than a hundred thousand kilometers away from the mountain itself. It was precisely because the Abyssal Mountain was incredibly high that they were able to see it from such a distance. However, a hundred thousand kilometers…given the flying speed of the metallic lifeform, they were able to traverse it in less than an hour.

  The nearer they drew to it, the harder Linley and Bebe found it to breathe.

  “Boss…it really is ridiculous!” Bebe was completely stunned.

  “Heaven-Earth Chains, tri-colored fog clouds…so this is what the book referred to!” Linley couldn’t help but feel astonished as well.”

  The Abyssal Mountain, as they saw when they drew near, gave off the feeling of being so tall that it pierced the very heavens.

  But it wasn’t the height of the Abyssal Mountain which was the most astonishing.

  The Abyssal Mountain was completely wrapped in fog. The lower half of the mountain was wrapped in a white fog, while the top half of the mountain was wrapped in gray fog. As for the very peak of the mountain, that area was wrapped in a violet fog. Because fog of three different colors surrounded it…there was no way to see deep into the Abyssal Mountain.

  The strange thing was, Heaven-Earth Chains had appeared!

  They saw…

  That like waterfalls, from the top of the Abyssal Mountain to the bottom, countless chains of lightning snaked downwards. These countless chains of lightning were as thick as a normal-sized person, covering the surface of the fog. There was roughly just one or two meters between each chain of lightning.

  “Good heavens…every single chain of lightning has to be a million meters long.” Bebe said in praise.

  Linley sighed in praise as well. “No wonder they are described as Heaven-Earth Chains! These countless lightning chains that cover the entire mountain…where in the world do they come from? Only a place like this could possibly form such oddities. How marvelous.”

  “Let’s go in.”

  Linley and Bebe flew out of the metallic lifeform. After storing it away, Linley headed directly to the base of the Abyssal Mountain, flying at high speed. Although they were already quite close, they still had to fly for some time before reaching the base of the mountain.

  “Boss, let’s go in.” Bebe began to fly inwards as he spoke.

  “Hey, you two, milords, halt, halt!” A cry suddenly rang out from nearby.

  Bebe couldn’t help but come to a halt, and Linley turned to look as well. A youth dressed in a long green robe flew out, his face filled with tension. He hurriedly said, “Milords, this area is covered with Heaven-Earth Chains. No matter what, don’t go inside. If you run about inside wildly and touch any of the Heaven-Earth Chains, you’ll die for sure.”

  “We know that the Heaven-Earth Chains cannot be touched. We’ll go in from between them.” Bebe laughed.

  Linley nodded as well.

  Although countless chains of lightning descended from the peak, there was still one or two meters between each pair of lightning chains. This space was more than enough for people to fly through.

  “It seems you two don’t know anything.” The youth picked up a rock from the ground, then casually tossed it towards the ‘crack’ between a pair of lightning chains. As the rock passed through the space between the lightning chains…

  “CRACKLE!”

  Between the chains of lightning, a semi-translucent membrane suddenly formed, which completely blocked the space between them. In addition, it had countless electric spark snaking across its top, flowing between the two ‘chains’. These electric sparks reduced the stone into nothingness.

  Linley and Bebe were both stunned.

  “Under normal conditions, the translucent membrane between the chains of lightning are invisible. But they are always present. Thus…if you want to go through, you’ll suf
fer attacks from countless sparks of lightning. This lightning is no ordinary lightning…even powerful Highgods will instantly be reduced into ash by those lightning bolts!” The green-robed youth repeatedly warned.

  Book 18, Highgod – Chapter 17, Abyssal Fruit

  Linley and Bebe both couldn’t help but feel stunned.

  “If I truly were to fly through, I probably would have died!” Linley felt seized by terror. He hadn’t been in Dragonform, and had been planning to Dragonform upon entering the Abyssal Mountain. But who would have imagined that the safe ‘cracks’ between the chains of lightning would be so dangerous as well? If he wasn’t in Dragonform, he definitely wouldn’t be able to take it. Still…

  Since Bebe was flying in front of him, once Bebe drew near and was struck by the sparks of lightning, Linley would’ve been able to react in time.

  Linley turned to look towards the green-robed youth, saying gratefully, “Thank you, truly. Right. If I may ask, why are you in the Abyssal Mountain region?”

  Linley couldn’t be blamed for feeling puzzled, because this green-robed youth was just a God.

  The danger level of the Netherworld was no less than that of the Infernal Realm. For Gods to roam about in the outside world was as good as courting death.

  “I live right over there.” The green-robed youth pointed with a laugh to a nearby location.

  Linley followed the pointing finger, only to see that a few thousand meters away, there were a number of constructed courtyards, in front of which was a three-story building. The three-story building had some words in front of it: ‘Abyssal Inn’!

  “Someone opened an inn here?” Linley was rather astonished.

  “Abyssal Inn?” Bebe said, puzzled. “Who opened this inn of yours? Someone is capable of opening an inn here in the wilderness…how formidable.” In such a desolate area, opening an inn was the equivalent of giving bandits a place to be robbed. Only a supremely powerful being would dare to open an inn in such a desolate area.

  The green-robed youth said proudly, “Our inn belongs to Greenleaf Castle. Who would dare cause trouble here?”

  “What’s Greenleaf Castle?” Bebe asked, and Linley looked at the green-robed youth in puzzlement as well.

  The youth was startled, and looked towards Linley and Bebe as though he was looking at a pair of strange creatures. “Can it be that you haven’t even heard of Greenleaf Castle? You are both Highgods. You’ve spent so many years in the Netherworld; can it be that you’ve never interacted in the outside world?” The green-robed youth didn’t dare believe that these two had never heard of Greenleaf Castle.

  “We came from the Infernal Realm.” Linley said.

  “Oh, so that’s the case. I didn’t expect you two came from the Infernal Realm.” The green-robed youth said, now understanding.

  “Let me tell you, then!” The green-robed youth said with a laugh. “Our inn is owned by Greenleaf Castle. Greenleaf Castle, in our Netherworld, is extremely famous! Our Greenleaf Castle has a total of three castle lords, and these three castle lords…are all powerful Sovereign’s Emissaries!”

  Linley and Bebe, hearing this, couldn’t help but feel startled.

  The three castle lords were all Sovereign’s Emissaries? No wonder Greenleaf Castle was so mighty.

  “Where is your Greenleaf Castle located?” Linley asked. He had read that book, which had some rough geographical information regarding the Netherworld, and which included descriptions of some of the more famous areas of the Netherworld. If Greenleaf Castle truly was so famous, why hadn’t the book described it?

  “I don’t know.”

  The green-robed youth shook his head. “The exact location of Greenleaf Castle is one of the secrets of the Netherworld.”

  Linley laughed, then no longer discussed this subject, going to the main point. “Might I ask, do you know…how one would enter the Abyssal Mountain?”

  “Enter the Abyssal Mountain? Oh…at the base of the Abyssal Mountain, roughly a thousand kilometers from here, there is a mountain entrance. All who enter the Abyssal Mountain must pass through this entrance.” The green-robed youth laughed. As he lived here, he understood everything clearly.

  “Oh. Thank you.” Linley laughed, then prepared to leave with Bebe.

  “Hey, wait a moment.” The green-robed youth saw Linley was preparing to leave, and hurriedly called after him.

  “Eh?” Linley and Bebe turned to look at him.

  The green-robed youth said, “The two of you are in such a hurry. It seems as though you really don’t know anything about the Abyssal Mountain at all! The Abyssal Mountain is very dangerous…”

  “We know it is dangerous.” Bebe snickered. “Danger is nothing to be afraid of.”

  The green-robed youth said resignedly, “I know the two of you are powerful, milords, but…the layer of fog clouds covering the Abyssal Mountain are extremely bizarre. However…on the night of each full moon, the fog of the Abyssal Mountain will grow sparse and the danger will dramatically decrease as well. Generally speaking, those who enter the Abyssal Mountain will enter at that time!”

  “The night of each full moon?” Linley did some mental calculations. “Five more days!”

  “Milords, if you truly insist on entering, I advise you to do so after waiting five days. By then, the danger level will lessen as well. You can enter then.” The green-robed youth said.

  Linley and Bebe looked at each other, coming to a decision.

  “Fine then. We’ll wait five days. Then for now, we’ll stay at your Abyssal Inn.” Linley said with a laugh.

  “Wonderful. I’ll lead the two of you there.” The green-robed youth said with a laugh. Actually, as soon as he had seen Linley and Bebe fly towards the Abyssal Mountain, he had immediately hurried over towards them…he had already used this sort of method to pull in customers on many occasions.

  The Abyssal Inn was right next to the Abyssal Mountain.

  The main door of the inn was situated on a grassy area, at the center of which was a pool of water. Once Linley and Bebe flew over, under the guidance of the green-robed youth, the first thing which drew Linley’s attention was the young, pretty, red-haired girl who was fishing by the side of the pool. The pretty young lady even gave Linley and Bebe a glance, then continued fishing as though completely uninterested.

  “How interesting.” Linley chuckled.

  “Hey, who is that lady over there?” Bebe asked the green-robed youth.

  The green-robed youth immediately responded with a laugh. “The two of you need to be careful. That lady is the boss of our inn. She was sent over by Greenleaf Castle. I don’t know much about her either…but I hear that she, our boss, has an extremely close relationship with one of the three castle lords of Greenleaf Castle. The Boss is extremely powerful as well.”

  “Quin [Ke’win], don’t be a blabbermouth!” A cold, sharp rebuke rang out.

  “Ahhh! Sorry, Boss!” The youth bowed, then said with a laugh to Linley and Bebe, “Our boss is very cold towards outsiders, but she’s very good to us.”

  While speaking, the green-robed youth led Linley and Bebe into the inn.

  The main hall of the inn was extremely large, and it was divided into two parts. The first part was for welcoming guests, while the other part was the restaurant. The restaurant had tens of tables within it, and there were roughly ten or so people in the restaurant right now, drinking and chatting.

  “Gentlemen, how long will you be here for?” A green-robed woman seated behind the counter.

  “Five days.” Bebe said.

  “Ten thousand netherstones each day! Five days, fifty thousand netherstones.” The green-robed woman said.

  Hearing this, Linley couldn’t help but to turn his head and look at her. Ten thousand netherstones a day? The netherstones of the Netherworld were comparable to the inkstones of the Infernal Realm. In the Infernal Realm, even the inns and hotels within the city would usually only charge a few hundred inkstones for an entire year. But this Abyssal Inn
actually had a much higher price that was more than ten thousand times greater!

  “This is robbery.” Bebe said rather angrily.

  The green-robed woman just laughed calmly. “That’s the price of our inn. We can guarantee the safety of anyone who stays within our inn. Every year, quite a few experts will stay here…ordinary inns wouldn’t dare entertain such experts.”

  “Experts?” Linley lifted an eyebrow.

  He noticed that the people chatting within the hotel were all Highgods. As for what level of power they were at, without fighting, it was hard to judge within a short period of time. But from what the green-robed woman was saying, these people should all be quite powerful.

  “We only have inkstones.” Linley said. Immediately, quite a few people drinking wine in the restaurant turned to look at them. Someone who only had inkstones had to have come from the Infernal Realm. To travel from the Infernal Realm to the Netherworld…this was enough to draw quite a bit of attention.

  “Our Abyssal Inn welcomes guests from all planes.” The green-haired woman wasn’t surprised in the slightest. “The same price. Ten thousand inkstones a day…fifty thousand inkstones in total. Right. If you want to eat and drink, you have to pay extra.”

  Laughing Linley waved his hand, paying the fee.

  “How is it that this place of yours has so many customers?” Bebe looked towards the woman, asking in puzzlement. “The Abyssal Mountain is in such a desolate location. Can it be that so many people have come here to enter the Abyssal Mountain and throw their lives away?” These words caused quite a few people in the restaurant to look at Bebe, with quite a few unkindly looks.

  “Hmph, throwing our lives away? Aren’t the two of you coming to ‘throw your lives away’ as well?” A cold voice rang from nearby, within the restaurant.

  Linley glanced calmly at the speaker as well.

  “Bebe, stop causing trouble.” Linley said with a calm laugh.

  Although he didn’t fear them, Linley didn’t want to cause trouble either.

  “You had all best remember that here in our Abyssal Inn, you are not to fight.” The green-robed woman said.