Coiling Dragon

by welyjesch

  Even the chatting Ganmoly and Sheppard turned to look.

  “Pam is entering the field of battle.” The black-haired Sheppard began to laugh.

  The momentarily quiet Bloodbath Arena suddenly once more turned raucous. The cheers rang out unabated, and many of the viewers bellowed, “Ley, defeat that Pam!!!”

  “PAM!!!”

  “LEY!!!”

  The entire Bloodbath Arena was at a boiling point of activity. Even many formerly calm individuals were now shouting to the point of hoarseness, each screaming their support for one of the two. Clearly, the shouts for ‘Ley’, who had recently won everyone’s admiration, were somewhat louder. But Pam was also a former victor of a hundred battles.

  A battle against two experts?

  Who would win?

  Such a large battle…the level of activity in the Bloodbath Arena reached a fevered level.

  “Oh, a former victor of a hundred battles?” Linley raised an eyebrow, turning to look. At this moment, Bebe’s voice rang out in Linley’s mind as well. “Boss, this is a former victor of a hundred battles. Don’t be reckless. If you were to lose…then it’s my turn. I’ll go challenge the Tartarus Lord.”

  Linley, hearing this, couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Swoosh!” A gray blur suddenly shot out from the tunnel, then hung there in midair. Linley looked carefully…

  This Pam was dressed in a long green robe. He had a pair of downwards drooping white eyebrows. Although his hair and eyebrows were white, his face was like that of a youth’s. Pam had a perpetual smile on his face, and he was currently staring at Linley with narrowed eyes. “Ley? It’s so hard to find a good opponent, here at the Redcliff Region. Don’t disappoint me.”

  Linley laughed calmly.

  “Make your move.” Linley said.

  “Oh, quite arrogant, eh?” Pam laughed calmly. He suddenly swept out with his hand, and a green light sprang up.

  Linley and Pam’s battle caused quite a few people on the watching platform to focus their attention. Even Bebe stared fixedly at the arena. Only Sheppard and Ganmoly continued to chat silently through divine sense while watching as the great battle was about to begin.

  “Ganmoly, who do you say will be the victor?” Sheppard sent mentally.

  “It should be Ley.” Ganmoly sent back. “This Ley…I have the feeling that his power is at least on your level. As for Pam, although he has reached the Seven Star Specter level, he is just barely at that level. Although both his physical attacks and his spiritual attacks can be considered strong, they aren’t monstrously strong. However, he trains in the Laws of Water. It won’t be easy to defeat him. Pam should be able to hold on for a period of time.”

  “I was thinking the same.”

  Sheppard laughed as well. “Originally, when I beat Pam, I had to spend quite a bit of effort. An expert who trains in the Laws of Water is very hard to deal with.”

  But as the two were discussing this matter, their facial expressions suddenly froze.

  The entire Bloodbath Arena had turned silent. And then, an explosion of raucous noise. Many people began to chat amongst themselves, and the entire Bloodbath Arena turned cacophonous. Nobody could understand what they had just seen. It wasn’t just them who didn’t understand it…

  Even Ganmoly and Sheppard didn’t understand it.

  “How could that have happened?” Ganmoly said in disbelief.

  “Pam…did he lose on purpose?” Sheppard didn’t understand either.

  Just now, what happened during the battle was this. First, Linley had used his Blackstone Space to entrap his opponent. Pam was indeed strong; he was able to force himself to stay up and not crash downwards. But his speed was now incomparable to Linley’s. Linley, relying on superior speed and Bloodviolet, began to attack.

  But clearly, Pam’s defense was extremely strong. Without being able to Dragonform, he was unable to breach Pam’s defense with his attacks.

  Linley’s Dragonform was one of his trump cards. Linley wasn’t willing to use his Dragonform, and so he used his ‘Spiritual Chaos’ instead. After reaching the Highgod level, Linley’s Spiritual Chaos technique, once used, would cause even the likes of Pam, a Seven Star Fiend level expert, to have his soul enter a bewildered state.

  In that brief instant, Linley used a single blow of the sword to sever Pam’s head.

  Pam’s head flew upwards into the air, hurriedly reconnecting with the body.

  “Thank you!” Pam said gratefully. If Linley had struck his head instead of his neck, Pam would have died.

  He didn’t lose unfairly. The Spiritual Chaos of the Blackstone Field was the supreme technique of Purgatory Commander Reisgem. It was natural for him to lose to this technique.

  In the viewing platform.

  “Whooosh!” Sheppard suddenly stood up, but one of his clones sat down. He stared at the distant Linley, standing there in the air above the Bloodbath Arena. “Ganmoly, I’ll go test him.” He left behind his divine spark, as he was worried that Linley might use a killing technique. Although prior to this, Linley had shown mercy, that didn’t mean he would always show mercy.

  “Be careful!” Ganmoly said hurriedly.

  “Don’t worry. It won’t be so simple for him to beat me.” Sheppard said, and he walked forward.

  In the Bloodbath Arena, many people began to call out in joy.

  Many of them were now treating Linley as a model for themselves! A target for them to surpass!

  “Everyone, today, Ley has already consecutively won nine times in a row, and one of his opponents was Pam! However, even Pam lost to Ley. And now, the tenth challenger for today is standing right beside me. To be honest, I am already excited over the battle that is about to begin. The person by my side, is an expert even more powerful than Pam! Everyone, can you guess who he is?”

  Immediately, everyone in the Bloodbath Arena turned to look, and many of them began to call out excitedly.

  It was already very rare for them be able to watch a single battle between Seven Star Specter level experts. But today, there would be a second? It seemed as though this one would be even more powerful!

  “He…is Sheppard!” The host’s voice rang out.

  In the air above the Bloodbath Arena.

  Linley still stood there calmly in midair, looking at the many spectators and how they were excitedly shouting. Linley was rather curious. “Sheppard? How powerful could he be?” Linley looked towards the entry passage, and saw a black-haired, middle-aged man drift over. As soon as he flew into the Bloodbath Arena, he looked towards Linley.

  “I didn’t expect that you were capable of soul attacks, and such unusual ones at that.” The black-haired, middle-aged man said. Just now, outside the challenger’s tunnel, he had already met Pam and chatted with him. However, Pam only thought that Linley had used some sort of strange soul attack to cause him to enter a dazed state.

  Linley smiled slightly. “Enough chitchat. Let’s fight.”

  Sheppard frowned.

  “Hmph.” Angered, he narrowed his eyes slightly.

  “Swish!” “Swish!”

  Two rays of black light suddenly shot out from Sheppard’s eyes, striking directly towards Linley. Linley couldn’t help but retreat, flying at high speed. “What an unusual spiritual attack.” The speed of the spiritual attack was too fast. Linley wasn’t even able to dodge before the two black rays of light entered his body.

  “Crackle…” Linley’s spiritual energy struck out like the Voidwave Sword, blocking in the area of the flaw.

  As for the black light, the majority of it exhausted itself against the soul-protecting Sovereign artifact, while the remaining bit of power wasn’t able to threaten Linley at all.

  The Blackstone Space and the Spiritual Chaos almost instantly encompassed the enemy.

  Sheppard’s spiritual prowess wasn’t particularly impressive. He, too, fell into a dazed state, and just stood there, letting Linley slice off his head with one blow.

  “You lose!” L
inley said calmly.

  The entire Bloodbath Arena once more fell silent.

  “What happened?” Ganmoly asked repeatedly.

  “What a powerful soul attack.” Sheppard shook his head. “I was instantly bewildered as well and defeated.”

  “Soul attack?” Ganmoly felt relaxed now. “This Ley is indeed strong, but if he encounters his Lordship, he will definitely lose.”

  His Lordship, the Redcliff Lord, feared no spiritual attacks. Actually, this was one of the reasons why Linley displayed his ‘Spiritual Chaos’ attack. When seeing Linley use this technique…the Redcliff Lord wouldn’t feel the slightest bit of fear towards Linley.

  After the two major battles of the seventh day, no one further was able to hold Linley back from winning. Linley consecutively passed through the eighth, ninth, and tenth days. A complete success! He became the only victor of a hundred battles which the Redcliff Region had seen in recent years.

  Book 19, Metamorphosis – Chapter 7, A Blaze

  Above the Bloodbath Arena.

  Many people were chatting amongst themselves, and the topic was virtually all related to Linley, currently standing above the Bloodbath Arena. Because just now, Linley had successfully gained his hundredth victory. But his success caused them to all understand…that most likely in the future, it would be hard for them to see Linley fight again.

  “Hey, just now, you were shouting so excitedly, ‘Boss’, ‘Boss’. Do you know Lord Ley?” A silver-haired young lady glanced sideways at Bebe.

  “Of course I know him. He’s my Boss.” Bebe rubbed his nose and said confidently.

  “Yeah, sure. And he’s my elder brother.” The silver-haired woman snorted, and then continued to look at Linley with a rather worshipful gaze. The silver-haired woman grew up in Tartarus and was affected by the local environment. The admiration the people here felt towards experts was even stronger than in the other parts of the Netherworld.

  “She doesn’t believe me.” Bebe was speechless in the face of the silver-haired woman’s disbelief.

  Right at this moment…

  A deep voice echoed in the Bloodbath Arena. “Everyone!” The voice continued to ring out as the person’s figure flew to the air above the Bloodbath Arena, standing next to Linley. This person was dressed in a long golden robe, and had a head full of long, dazzling gold hair. He was laughing while saying clearly, “Today, yet another victor of a hundred battles has emerged from our Bloodbath Arena. He is…Ley!”

  Linley smiled and made a nodding gesture towards the golden-haired man.

  Linley was waiting to be given his proof of having won a hundred battles…the ‘Bloodbath Emblem’. With the Bloodbath Emblem, he would truly have the qualifications to go challenge a Lord of Tartarus.

  “Everyone, quiet!” The golden-haired man said in a clear voice.

  Instantly, the spectators of the Bloodbath Arena all halted their conversations and looked over.

  “Right now, I will give this medal of honor, the ‘Bloodbath Emblem’, to our victor of a hundred battles, Ley!” As he spoke, the gold-haired man withdrew a six-pointed star-shaped red emblem and, with a smile, gave it to Linley. “Ley, from today onwards, your name and your victories will be displayed within our Bloodbath Arena.”

  Linley laughed and accepted it.

  “So this is it?” Linley lowered his head to give it a glance. The reason he had fought these hundred battles was for the sake of becoming qualified to challenge a Lord of Tartarus.

  “But of course, this Bloodbath Medallion also represents that you now are qualified to go challenge our mighty Lord of the Redcliff Region!” The golden-haired man said with a loud, clearly laugh. “Mr. Ley, I ask you this. Are you going to go challenge our Lord of Redcliff Region?” These words caused the entire Bloodbath Arena to once more turn rowdy.”

  “Challenge his Lordship!”

  “Challenge him!”

  “Ley, challenge his Lordship!”

  Many of the spectators in the Bloodbath Arena began to cry out. However, everyone understood that this was a question that would be asked each time the Bloodbath Medallion was handed out. As for the spectators, they were just shouting to be rowdy. Everyone hoped to see a battle over the position of Lord of Tartarus. But they all understood…

  This was just a formality.

  It was extremely rare for someone to actually challenge a Lord of Tartarus. Generally speaking, it would happen only a few times every hundred million years. Each time someone dared to challenge a Lord of Tartarus, that person generally had a certain degree of confidence as well as some special skills to rely on. Although Linley seemed quite good, as the spectators saw it, he was still quite a ways off from the level of a Lord of Tartarus.

  After all, whether it was Pam or Sheppard, compared to a Lord of Tartarus, they were like infants compared to an adult.

  “You said Ley is your Boss. Then tell me, will Ley challenge the Tartarus Lord?” The silver-haired lady laughed while looking at Bebe, and Bebe nodded with absolute certainty. “Without question, my Boss will definitely challenge the Tartarus Lord!”

  “Haha…” The silver-haired lady immediately began to laugh softly. “You don’t even know how to lie properly.”

  “If you don’t believe it, just watch.” Bebe said.

  “To tell the truth, the reason I have come to the Bloodbath Arena to fight…!” Linley’s voice suddenly rang out.

  The conversations around the Bloodbath Arena suddenly lowered in volume.

  Linley had a smile on his face. “…was precisely for the sake of becoming qualified to challenge the Redcliff Lord!”

  Instantly, everyone fell silent.

  Everyone looked towards Linley. The golden-haired man by Linley’s side looked at him in disbelief. “No way. This Mr. Ley…can it be that today, he really is going to challenge the Redcliff Lord? Too crazy, too crazy!” Although victors of a hundred battles were powerful, there would be one every so often.

  But someone who would challenge a Lord of Tartarus? This was something which would happen a few times every hundred million years.

  “No way.” The silver-haired lady grew nervous. She couldn’t help but glance sideways at Bebe, who just laughed confidently towards her.

  Everyone listened carefully and eagerly.

  “Now, I have finally acquired the necessary qualifications.” Linley stared at them. “Today, in front of everyone, I publicly proclaim! That I…am formally issuing the Redcliff Lord…a challenge!”

  “CHALLENGE!!!”

  His voice echoed throughout the Bloodbath Arena. Everyone was silent for a long time.

  This was the first time in the past ten million years that someone within the Redcliff Region had issued a challenge to the mighty Redcliff Lord!

  The Redcliff Lord was exalted and powerful!

  Everyone who challenged him had perished.

  But the many experts amongst the spectators wouldn’t give up. For the sake of their dreams, their goals! Even if they had to die, they would constantly challenge themselves, constantly clash…there would eventually come the day when they would defeat the Redcliff Lord and become the next Redcliff Lord. However, on this road…many, many would die!

  More than a million spectators were present, and they were staring at Linley, in the center.

  In their eyes, Linley was a fearless warrior, a new challenger for the position of Lord of Tartarus!

  “Ley!” The silver-haired elder was the first to call out solemnly.

  “Ley!” Immediately, a large number of people in the surrounding area called out as well.

  “LEY!” The entire Bloodbath Arena reverberated with this unified chorus.

  It was like a thunderclap splitting the world. These people used whatever methods were available to them to express encouragement to Linley! In their eyes, everyone who dared to challenge a Lord of Tartarus was a hero! A fearless hero!

  Everyone in the Redcliff Region wished to challenge a Lord of Tartarus and become the next one
, but they all knew that their own level of strength was insufficient, and so they didn’t have the courage to do so. But deep in their hearts…they still had this desire. For Linley to now go make the challenge…this group of people very naturally came to feel that Linley was their representative.

  They hoped to see Linley win!

  Even though deep in their hearts, they believed that Linley would die, just like the previous challengers to the Redcliff Lord.

  Within the Bloodbath Arena, in front of more than a million people, the winner of a hundred consecutive battles, ‘Ley’, thus publicly issued his challenge to the Redcliff Lord! This news quickly swept through the entire Redcliff Region, like a blazing wildfire burning through a desolate, dry prairie. The hundred million people populating the Redcliff Region all were discussing this.

  They were all eager to watch it!

  Eager for Linley to duel the Redcliff Lord!

  Redcliff City. Within a hotel’s courtyard.

  Linley and Bebe were casually sipping wine.

  “Bebe, tell me, the Redcliff Lord should have heard of my public challenge by now, right? There’s no need for me to go in person to his door to challenge him again.” Linley said with a hint of uncertainty.

  “Enough, Boss. Just wait.” Bebe said casually. “The Lords of Tartarus…what sort of status do they have? They are like the Lord Prefects or Purgatory Commanders of the Infernal Realm. They are exalted figures. In terms of status alone, they are beneath only the Sovereigns themselves. How could someone with that sort of status possibly ignore your open provocations?”

  Linley laughed as he looked at Bebe. “The way you put it is really…”

  Linley suddenly turned, looking towards the courtyard door. Bebe looked as well.

  “Knock!” “Knock!” The sound of the door being knocked.

  “I imagine his Lordship’s men have arrived.” Bebe hurriedly ran over and opened the door. A black-robed, silver-haired youth was standing outside, looking towards the courtyard. When his gaze fell upon Linley, he revealed a smile on his face. “Mr. Ley, I am Ganmoly, the steward for the Redcliff Lord.”