Time continued to pass in the midst of this inspection process.
IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE, two months passed.
Mount Liangya.
“Lord Baruch.” The blood-haired elder had come once more.
Linley and Bebe both looked over.
“Lord Baruch, your subordinate once more gained information regarding the red caltrop diamond,” the blood-haired elder said hurriedly.
“Oh?” Bebe just snickered. “In the past two months, you’ve brought over a few dozen reports, and even located ten red caltrop diamonds.”
In the past two months, the Bloodknife guild had indeed found more than ten red caltrop diamonds, but Linley had discovered through his divine sense that they were ‘fake’ and he had rejected them before they were even delivered to him.
“This… your subordinate is unable to verify these items.” The blood-haired elder laughed awkwardly, then said hurriedly, “But this time, this news does seem rather credible.”
“Speak,” Linley said calmly.
“Right,” the blood-haired elder said hurriedly, “Roughly thirty years ago, a magus who was training and adventuring at the borders of the Fogdeep Forest saw two experts flying through the air. They looked like a couple. The woman had a long necklace, which had a red caltrop diamond fixed into it.
Linley and Bebe’s eyes lit up.
Thirty years ago? A couple? Flying in the air?
“And that couple?” Linley said hurriedly.
“That adventuring magus only saw the two pause in midair for a moment to discuss something, and then they flew deeper towards the Fogdeep Forest. As for what happened next, the magus didn’t know.” The blood-haired elder shook his head.
“You can leave now,” Linley said.
“Yes.” The blood-haired elder left respectfully.
Linley and Bebe began to frown.
“Boss, the situation is bad,” Bebe said.
“It is fairly bad. Brodie and his wife went deep into the Fogdeep Forest. Clearly, they were flying towards the teleportation array. Most likely, they went through it to leave the Okerlund Plane.” Linley began to worry. “If Brodie and his wife really took the red caltrop diamond and left this place, things will grow problematic. Searching for them will be like searching for a needle in the sea.”
Although according to the Planar Overseer’s information, the couple had gone to the Life Realm…
How vast was the Life Realm?
In addition, could it be that the two wouldn’t then pass through the teleportation array of the Life Realm and once more teleport to another plane?
How was one to find them?
“However, there’s another possibility,” Bebe mumbled. “They were flying deep into the Fogdeep Forest. Aside from leaving with the red caltrop diamond, the other possibility is, they hid the red caltrop diamond in some lifeform within the Fogdeep Forest.”
Linley’s eyes lit up.
“This is indeed possible.” Linley couldn’t help but feel overjoyed, but then he let out a sigh.
The Fogdeep Forest was tremendously vast, and the number of magical beasts and primeval races that lived within it was very large. To search for it there wouldn’t be easy either.
“Hrm, the Radiant Temple? That ‘Radiant Goddess’ has actually voluntarily gone to find Clementine. Can it be that something special happened?” Linley had always kept his divine sense active and covering the entire plane. Naturally, he noticed this.
Within the Fogdeep continent, there was a shining lake that was more than a million kilometers in circumference. In the center of the lake, there was a small island that had a circumference of nearly ten kilometers as well. This island was known as the ‘Radiant Island’, or the ‘Sacred Island’. This was the headquarters of the number one church of the Fogdeep continent, the Temple of the Radiant Goddess.
In the center of the Sacred Island was the Radiant Temple. The Radiant Temple was divided into nine upper stories and nine underground stories.
Ever since the Paragon of Light, ‘Clementine’, led his forces to descend on this place, he had let the Radiant Goddess suffer just a little bit. Terrified, she then immediately allowed Clementine to live on the top of the ninth floor. As for the Radiant Goddess herself, she remained on the sixth floor.
The sixth underground floor. A silver-haired, silver-eyed, barefoot woman dressed in plain robes was currently frowning. This person was the ‘Radiant Goddess’, worshipped by countless people in the Fogdeep continent.
“Lord Clementine has been searching for news regarding the red caltrop diamond. Then, should I…”
After hesitating momentarily, her eyes grew determined. She immediately left her residence and headed towards the top of the Radiant Temple.
“Let her in.”
Within the vast, wide Radiant Temple’s uppermost floor, Clementine was silently seated on his throne, his eyes closed. His divine sense was constantly extended, but of course, there was no way he could compare to Linley. Normally, by relying on his spiritual energy, he was able to just barely cover the Fogdeep continent.
Even Paragons wouldn’t be so wasteful as to constantly use Sovereign’s Might.
If he did do that, most likely in a single month, he would have used up an astronomical amount of Sovereign’s Might.
“Milord.” The Radiant Goddess walked in, her feet unclad.
“What is it?” Clementine opened his eyes.
Clementine’s stare made the Radiant Goddess feel as though she were a tiny boat in the midst of a wild storm, about to capsize at any moment. The Radiant Goddess trembled slightly, then said respectfully, “Milord, you are searching for a red caltrop diamond. Your subordinate remembers that a friend once told me… if many powerful Deities come in search of a treasure, I am to give this to one of the experts. He said… this is a gift for me. That friend of mine was named Brodie!” As she spoke, she produced a small red box.
In that instant…
A divine light flashed in Clementine’s eyes. He immediately spread out his divine sense, wanting to wrap it around the surrounding area and forbid other Paragons from using their divine sense to search this area.
But it was too late!
Four divine senses instantly swept over that box.
“Haha, Clementine, we have to thank you, haha…” a voice rang out in Clementine’s mind.
Clementine’s face grew ugly to behold. He also swept the box with his divine sense, and then, in an instant, with a ‘rumble’, the box transformed into dust. The box in the hands of the Radiant Goddess had been completely crushed, and she couldn’t help but be badly frightened.
“You’ve done well. Now scram.” Clementine snorted coldly.
“Yes.” The Radiant Goddess didn’t dare to say a word. She immediately left.
“Nine Paragons, five in the Fogdeep continent, four in the Beastgod continent. Only three Paragons should have discovered that secret.” Clementine frowned. “Why didn’t Linley keep his divine sense up at all times?” In reality, there had been four divine senses that had swept through the box, but Clementine had only discovered three.
As for Linley’s divine sense? Clementine wasn’t able to detect it at all.
“Linley has few subordinates and doesn’t place much value on keeping up his divine sense. And yet, he thinks to acquire the Overgod talisman?” Clementine let out a cold laugh.
Five of the nine experts knew the secret of the box. Linley naturally knew it.
“The box actually had a piece of paper inside it. The paper only had three words on it; Lion Heart City!” Linley was very puzzled. Linley didn’t question whether the information was real or false, because the paper was a type of paper that was very commonly seen in the Infernal Realm. It could exist for countless years without being damaged. There was no way a material plane could produce this sort of paper.
In addition, the Radiant Goddess didn’t have the courage to lie on purpose.
<
br /> “Just three words. Can it be that Brodie means to say… the red caltrop diamond is in Lionheart City?” Linley mused to himself.
“Tell me, what sort of a place is Lionheart City?” Linley directly spoke to Elder Shadow of the Bloodknife organization through divine sense.
Elder Shadow immediately replied respectfully, “Lord Baruch, Lionheart City is an extremely famous city in the Beastgod continent. It is the imperial capital of the ‘Snowlion Empire’.
“The Beastgod continent. The imperial capital of the Snowlion Empire?”
Linley’s divine sense covered the entire plane. He immediately noticed that within the Beastgod continent, there was an extremely lavish and large city, with the city gates having two giant words affixed to it. ‘Lion Heart’.
“Boss, what is it?” Bebe didn’t know what was going on.
“Bebe, let’s go on a trip to the Beastgod continent.” Linley smiled slightly, then a surge of wind-type divine power surrounded Bebe. The two transformed into green blurs, instantly disappearing into the horizon.
It wasn’t just Linley who was making haste to the Beastgod continent. The other four Paragons of the Fogdeep continent were also hastening over there.
Paragons flew at a very fast speed. They quickly flew out of the Fogdeep continent, traversed the ocean between the two continents, then arrived within the Beastgod continent. In terms of speed, even without using his ‘fused divine power’, Linley arrived at the Beastgod continent at virtually the same instant that Clementine and the others did.
The four Paragons, Linley, and Bebe entered the Beastgod continent, and as they did, the four Paragons in the Beastgod continent immediately noticed.
“Eh? The five of them all flew over, and to the same location. Can it be that they found out something about the red caltrop diamond?”
As long as one wasn’t a complete idiot, upon seeing this, they would be able to guess that something important must have happened.
They didn’t hesitate at all! The other four Paragons of the Beastgod continent immediately flew towards the gathering spot of the five Paragons who had just entered the continent.
“Clementine, where are you headed?” The Paragon of Water, a middle-aged man with loose blue hair, laughed as he followed Clementine. Although they could guess at where Linley, Clementine, and the other three were headed based on their trajectory, they still weren’t certain about it.
Thus, it was quite natural that the four Paragons based in the Beastgod continent elected to follow after the other five Paragons.
“Hmph.” Clementine couldn’t even be bothered to pay attention to them. His speed suddenly increased, and he began to move slightly faster than the Paragon of Water.
“Everyone, you should all be heading towards Lionheart City, right?” The Paragon of Wind, Bayer, was the first to arrive at Lionheart City. He had been in the Beastgod continent this entire time, and he lived fairly close to Lionheart City. Upon seeing the direction towards which Linley’s group was hurrying towards, as they drew closer, he was easily able to recognize where they were going.
“Swoosh!” A ray of light shot towards Lionheart City, then transformed into a person. It was Clementine.
“Whoosh!” A green blur descended from the skies, then resolved into two figures; Linley and Bebe.
“How did Linley know where to go? Did Dunnington tell him?” Clementine looked at Linley, puzzled. Back then, he had no idea that Linley had used his divine sense.
“Lionheart City!” Linley’s divine sense filled the entire Lionheart City, but he didn’t find anything special.
“Bebe, let’s go in,” Linley sent.
And then, paying no attention to the other Paragons, Linley and Bebe directly entered the City of Lionheart.
39
RELIEF SCULPTURE
The Okerlund Plane. The Beastgod continent. The imperial capital of the Snowlion Empire – Lionheart City. The imperial palace’s garden.
Linley was seated silently in the meditative position in the midst of a flat, green, grassy area. Bebe was by his side. Linley and Bebe both possessed Godrealms, and so could easily distort the rays of light within their area, making it so that the maids and servants within the palace garden were completely unable to see them.
They had spent a full day in Lionheart City, but during this day, Linley’s divine sense had been constantly searching at full strength.
Linley opened his eyes.
“Boss, find anything?” Bebe asked hurriedly.
Linley shook his head slightly. “Nothing! The entire imperial capital of Lionheart City has nearly ten million people. Aside for a few youths and a few juvenile beasts that I didn’t inspect, I’ve inspected all of the other living creatures here. But none of them are hiding interspatial rings in their bodies.” Brodie had come thirty-plus years ago.
And so, he couldn’t have possibly secreted the interspatial ring into these then-unborn young children.
“It really is hard to find.” Bebe frowned and snorted. “The other eight Paragons have already ordered their Highgod subordinates to thoroughly search through the entire Lionheart City. But after a long period of time, they have yet to find anything. Those many subordinates of theirs have probably searched the entirety of Lionheart City by now.”
Linley nodded slightly.
“Boss, you’ve already completely searched the ground and the deep seas of the Okerlund Plane. In addition, this is just a material plane; very few people have interspatial rings. Those eight Paragons ordered long ago for every person with an interspatial ring to be searched.” Bebe snorted unhappily. “It seems that Brodie really did ‘that’.”
There were no other possibilities.
The only possibility… was that the red caltrop diamond had been put into an interspatial ring, which was in turn placed within some living creature.
Unfortunately, the population of the Okerlund Plane was simply too great. Eight quadrillion people! And that was just the humans. There were also elves, gnomes, and other races… and the magical beasts that lived in the ground, in the skies, and in the seas were astonishingly numerous as well. In terms of number, in fact, magical beasts vastly outnumbered humans.
Given Linley’s spiritual strength, if he were to carefully search in a manner that caused no soul damage, Linley would have to spend an entire day to search just ten million people.
His personal speed was definitely comparable to the speed of hundreds or thousands of ordinary Highgods searching.
Ten million would take Linley a day.
Then eight quadrillion… how long would that take? And that’s not even mentioning the magical beasts.
The number was astronomical!
This was why the ten thousand Highgods, eight Paragons, and Linley and Bebe had yet to find the red caltrop diamond despite having spent months. In the Yulan continent, this group would have probably searched everyone within just ten days or so.
“Brodie, that bastard… he definitely chose this Okerlund Plane on purpose.” Bebe snorted.
“Be patient. We aren’t able to find it, but others also aren’t.” Linley’s divine sense continuously maintained a watch over the entire plane. “Once they do, I will be the first to know as well.”
“Right.” Bebe said, puzzled, “Boss, then, do you think that the information Brodie left behind for the Radiant Goddess to convey to us… those three words, ‘Lion Heart City’… what do you think those words mean? Boss, I have the feeling… that the hiding place of the red caltrop diamond should have something to do with this information.”
Linley frowned. “Brodie shouldn’t have been so bored as to leave behind some random information to misguide us. The three words, ‘Lion Heart City’, definitely hold a secret within. And that secret will guide us to the red caltrop diamond’s hiding place. But what does ‘Lion Heart City’ refer to?”
All the experts, Linley included, upon seeing the words ‘Lion Heart City’, bel
ieved that the red caltrop diamond had to be hidden within Lionheart City.
But after investigating it, it seemed off.
“Bebe, let’s go. I want to go to the magus libraries of Lionheart City and search through it for information regarding Lionheart City. Perhaps I might discover something.” Linley rose to his feet.
“Right. Lionheart City involves these secrets. Perhaps those materials will have information regarding it.” Bebe was overjoyed as well.
Linley and Bebe immediately disappeared from within the palace.
As Linley and Bebe were advancing to the ‘Lionheart Magus Institute’, in a lavish, towering estate within Lionheart City, Clementine was leading his subordinates to set up shop here.
“Milord, we’ve already searched the entire Lionheart City. No person or magical beast has an interspatial ring within them, much less a red caltrop diamond,” a short silver-haired youth bowed and spoke. Those hundreds of Highgods searched quite quickly, but were only comparable to Linley searching by himself.
“You can leave now,” Clementine said calmly.
“Yes.” The silver-haired youth bowed, then left, leaving behind just Clementine himself within the courtyard.
Linley wasn’t the only one pondering. Clementine was pondering as well. “That paper only had three words; ‘Lion Heart City’. No other words. What do those words mean?” Clementine’s gaze flashed, and he immediately activated his Sovereign’s Might!
A powerful divine sense swept out, passing out from the Beastgod continent and stretching deep through the ocean until it encapsulated the entire Fogdeep continent as well.
“Do you know what the meaning of the three words on that paper, ‘Lion Heart City’, refer to?” Clementine sent.
Far away in the distant Fogdeep continent, within the Radiant Temple, the Radiant Goddess felt her heart tremble, and she immediately responded, “Milord, the three words, ‘Lion Heart City’… I am unclear as to the true meaning of those words.”
“How many Lionheart Cities exist in this continent?” Clementine asked.
“Just that imperial capital of the Snowlion Empire of the Beastgod continent,” the Radiant Goddess was completely certain.
Lord of the Mists Page 32