Coiling Dragon Book 18 – Highgod - Cerita silat IndoMandarin

Book 18 – Highgod

Chapter 1, What Type of Weapon?

Linley had suddenly gained an insight and broken through, right at that critical moment when the Sovereign had descended, and became a Highgod. This caused Beirut and a few others to snicker in amusement, but quite a few others present were completely shocked. The most stunned of all were the experts of the eight great clans.

“This Linley…became a Highgod?” Patriarch Boleyn stared at Linley.

“He actually became a Highgod!” Patriarch Edric and the others all had very complicated looks on their faces.

“Even if the Sovereign hadn’t descended, we probably would still have to leave.” The Nether Serpent Patriarch sighed.

The reason behind their thousand years of savagery was because they were worried about Linley. They believed that the God-level Linley had to have fused at least ﬁve profound mysteries for him, given his power. And once Linley became a Highgod, he probably would have fused all six types and become a Highgod Paragon!

The terrifying power of a Highgod Paragon would be no lower than Beirut’s!

“Fortunately, he didn’t make his breakthrough earlier.” Patriarch Reinales whispered.

“Right.” The various Patriarchs all had very chaotic, mixed emotions right now.

The descent of the Sovereign had caused them to make an unwilling decision. But now that Linley had become a Highgod, they were frightened at the ‘close call’ they had.

Once a Highgod Paragon began a slaughter, the experts of their eight great clans would be like ragdolls for dismembering. Just look at Beirut! He even dared to block attacks from Sovereign artifacts head on. Who could resist such a monster?

“The Four Divine Beasts clan is so lucky, for such a genius to have appeared in their ranks.” Patriarch Barbary said in a low voice. “Let’s hurry up and leave.”

“It really is time to leave.”

The various Patriarchs all turned and left. They didn’t dare to violate the orders of a Sovereign, and Linley’s presence made it so that they left of their own accord as well. No matter what…today, the matters between the Four Divine Beasts clan and the eight great clans had come to an end.

The members of the Four Divine Beasts clan were all completely delirious with excitement and joy. Quite a few clansmen began to weep on the spot. From this day onwards, their Four Divine Beasts clan would no longer have to experience countless dangers and live a life of humiliation.

“It’s over!” “Haha, it’s ﬁnally over!”

Celebratory voices rang out in the air above the Skyrite Mountains. Many clansmen were so excited that they fell to their knees, sobbing. The constant insults and taunts they had suffered in recent days from the eight great clans had been a sort of psychological torture to the Four Divine Beasts clan.

Finally…it was over!

“The forces of the eight great clans have left.” Bebe said.

Linley turned to look as well. The Patriarchs and Elders led the way, and the clansmen of the eight great clans, like a massive, roiling ﬂood of locusts, ﬂew into the air, then boarded multiple metallic lifeforms and left at high speed, leaving behind only those many empty castles and buildings.

“It’s all over.” Gislason had a very complicated look on his face. The White Tiger Patriarch let out an emotional sigh as well. “Ten thousand years. Ten thousand nightmarish years. Finally, it’s over! Our clansmen won’t have to hide in the Skyrite Mountains, and won’t have to always be afraid.”

Every single member of the Four Divine Beasts clan felt extremely relaxed now.

“Lord Beirut. We will forever remember your great kindness!” Gislason was the ﬁrst to bow, and then all of the other three clan leaders and Elders all bowed respectfully as well.

Beirut laughed calmly. “If you want to thank someone, thank the Sovereign.”

But Gislason and the others all understood that the Bloodridge Sovereign and the Four Divine Beasts clan didn’t have much of connection. If the Bloodridge Sovereign had truly wanted to save the Four Divine Beasts clan, he would have shown himself long ago. But he had only done so today… Most likely, the reason for this had something to do with Beirut.

“Everyone!”

Gislason’s voice suddenly rang out, and it echoed in the air above the Skyrite Mountains. Instantly, the countless clansmen all turned their gazes towards him. Gislason said in a sonorous voice, “Today is a day of rejoicing. Over the past ten thousand years, our Four Divine Beasts clan has always been under tremendous pressure, and one Elder after another has perished in battle for the clan…today, we members of the Four Divine Beasts clan have ﬁnally once more regained our freedom to roam the skies of the Infernal Realm. We absolutely must celebrate this wonderful event. All clansmen will celebrate for three days!”

“Wonderful!”

“A three day grand celebration!” Instantly, countless joyful voices rang out, reverberating throughout the air above the Skyrite Mountains.

“Lord Beirut, Phusro, the two of you absolutely must attend our celebration.” Gislason looked towards Beirut.

“Deﬁnitely.” Beirut laughed calmly and nodded.

“Haha.” Phusro chortled, then glanced sideways at Linley. As he did, he couldn’t help but laugh loudly. “Linley, you made a breakthrough just as you saw the Sovereign. I, Phusro, have lived countless years, but I’ve never seen such a thing.”

Linley could only grin rather awkwardly.

“You did see the Sovereign, right?” Beirut laughed.

“As soon as I saw him, he left.” Linley still felt rather stunned. Actually, at the moment of the Sovereign’s descent, Linley had already become absorbed in the insights he had gained upon watching the battle between the Grand Elder and Patriarch Barbary.

Linley had no idea as to when the Sovereign had arrived and what he had said.

However…from what everyone else was saying, Linley realized that the departure of the eight great clans was due to them obeying the orders of the Sovereign.

“Sovereigns really are Sovereigns. With but a single sentence, the eight great clans were forced to obediently leave.” In Linley’s mind, he could still see that massive black face, tens of meters high, that stood in mid-air. He also remembered the terrifying gaze of those two eyes.

The supremacy of a Sovereign. Linley, having experienced it, would never forget it.

“Let’s go. Your clan is going to have a huge celebration.” Beirut laughed, then ﬂew into the air.

Linley, Bebe, Phusro, Delia, and the others all followed Beirut into the air. As for Gislason and the other clan leaders, they had left early on to go arrange the banquet. This celebration would be one that was held throughout the Skyrite Mountains.

While ﬂying, Beirut suddenly began to laugh at himself.

Linley couldn’t help but to turn and look at him. Beirut glanced at him, then said resignedly, “Linley, I really did make more work for myself. I wanted to give you some encouragement, so said that I would give you a godspark weapon after you became a Highgod, but who would have imagined that a few moments later, you would suddenly break through?”

Indeed…

Linley really was a bit too efﬁcient. “Grandpa, you have to forge a good godspark weapon for my Boss.” Bebe said hurriedly.

“Since I’ve given my word, of course I’ll do it.” Beirut nodded, then looked at Linley. “Speak, Linley. What sort of weapon do you want me to make for you?”

Even Phusro began to laugh loudly. “Linley, although Beirut’s godspark weapons aren’t Sovereign artifacts, in terms of toughness and hardness, they are comparable to Sovereign artifacts. In the Infernal Realm…the godspark weapons of Beirut are priceless treasures that can’t be bought.”

“I want…”

Linley pondered for a moment. He had the Coiling Dragon ring, and his soul had just improved greatly. After he reﬁned more amethysts in the future and repaired the Coiling Dragon ring, his soul defense would rise to an extremely high level. What he lacked right now…was defense against material attacks. “Lord Beirut, you can go ahead and forge a set of godspark armor that can fuse with my scales, just like the one the Grand Elder has. That’ll let my punches and kicks become tremendously powerful as well.” Linley said eagerly. With a set of armor, he could use it for both attack and defense.

A dual-purpose artifact!

The smile on Beirut’s face suddenly turned stiff and forced.

“Boss…you want a set of armor?” Bebe stared at Linley as well.

“Linley…you really are something.” Phusro stared at Linley, not knowing whether to laugh or to cry.

Linley was rather amazed, and he looked at them in confusion. “What? Is this request of mine very excessive?” Beirut had a very strange look on his face. For a moment, he didn’t know what to say. In the end, it was Bebe who explained. “Boss, forging godspark weapons is an ability inherent to and unique to us Godeater Rats. It requires us to devour divine sparks, then reﬁne the essence within, then coalesce the essence into the shape of a weapon.”

“But every single divine spark is very small, and the amount of essence that can be reﬁned from each one is tiny. Digesting a divine spark takes a long time as well…thus, to forge a large weapon, just think about how many divine sparks will be needed, how much time would be needed, and how much effort it would take! It’s very hard. That’s why godspark weapons are generally very small.” Bebe explained.

Linley began to understand.

He also remembered how the godspark weapon in Bebe’s possession was just a dagger. As for Gislason’s set of godspark weapons, it was a pair of gloves. They were all very small weapons. But what he requested was a set of armor that could cover his entire body. In terms of size, it was probably dozens of times, perhaps even a hundred times larger than Bebe’s dagger.

“A set of armor that can cover your entire body…to make this, I’ll probably have to work for thousands of years without resting.” Beirut felt quite a bit of pressure.

But he had already given his word.

“Lord Beirut, I apologize. I didn’t understand much about the forging of godspark weapons.” Linley said hurriedly. He didn’t want to make things too hard for Beirut. “Just make a sharp sword for me. It just needs to be comparable to Bloodviolet in length.”

What Linley lacked right now was attack power. With an extremely sharp godspark sword, his attack power would rise signiﬁcantly.

“Comparable to Bloodviolet?” Beirut let out a sigh of relief.

Perhaps the amount of divine spark essence needed to make a longsword was somewhat more than what was needed for a dagger or a set of gloves, but…what Linley needed right now was, quite clearly, that sort of thin, sharp sword. The amount of divine spark essence needed would just be a few times more

than what was needed for a dagger.

“Lord Beirut, what I lack right now is attack power, and so the sharper this godspark weapon, the better.” Linley said.

Beirut said conﬁdently, “Forging something as hard as a godspark weapon and making it sharp is very easy…however, to forge this godspark weapon, I’ll still need to spend roughly a hundred years. You have to wait for a time.”

“No rush, I’m in no rush.” Linley laughed.

The Four Divine Beasts clan was in a state of peace now, and he himself had become a Highgod. Linley couldn’t think of anything he had to do right away. The only thing he ‘had’ to do was spend time with his family, and continue training as much as he could.

The members of the Four Divine Beasts clan all went wild. They all celebrated madly, and be it at the Patriarch’s residence or remote areas such as that great gorge, banquets could be seen everywhere. Everyone from the Patriarch to recently born Saints were all celebrating.

Linley, as an Elder, naturally was toasted by many people.

After three days passed…

Within the great gorge.

“The clansmen have all gone crazy with joy.” Linley laughed as he looked outside the window. The three days of mad celebration had caused the entire Skyrite Mountains to be ﬁlled with a festive aura. The stiﬂed, depressed aura that had been present for so many years had been wiped away all at once. Everyone was exceedingly happy.

“You’ve been smiling non-stop for the past three days.” Delia couldn’t help but laugh.

Linley laughed and nodded. “Right, Delia. That day, when I became a Highgod, I didn’t have the chance to carefully inspect myself, and I’ve been too busy the past three days as well. You go take care of something else. I’m going to spend some time investigating myself.” Linley said, then sat down in the meditative position on their bed.

Delia, seeing this, just laughed, then walked out of the room.

After having reached the Highgod level, he had been baptized once more by the natural Laws. The soul of Linley’s Highgod earth clone had increased in power nearly tenfold. Although the other souls weren’t strengthened much, still…

Linley’s ﬁve souls were in reality all one soul. Under the inﬂuence of his divine earth clone’s soul, the other four souls were slowly improving as well.

Actually, as long as Linley took his divine earth clone into his original body, then the spiritual strength of the divine earth clone would become the spiritual strength of his original body. After all…they were one to begin with.

“A little while later, I’ll need to spend some time reﬁning some amethysts.” With a thought, Linley reached out and connected with the plane of the Elemental Sea.

The Elemental Sea.

This was a vast, roiling, endless, boundless sea of earthen yellow light. The deeper into the sea one looked, the higher level the quality of the energy of the ‘seawater’.

By now, Linley had become a Highgod. He could already see very deep into the sea, and deep within the sea, a large amount of liqueﬁed Highgod-level divine earth power was present. “What a thick, dense layer of Highgod-level divine earth power. When I had become a Highgod earlier, I was too worried about the clan, so I didn’t spend much time examining this bottom layer, and to see what it has!” Linley controlled his divine sense to delve still deeper into the Elemental Sea.

An incredibly dense and incomparably powerful aura spread out as waves of earthen water swirled about at the bottom.

The earthen yellow water was clearly different from the ordinary liqueﬁed divine power.

“That should be…?” Linley’s divine sense wasn’t able to go down any further, but he was able to vaguely sense…“The aura of Sovereign’s Might? Right. It is Sovereign’s Might!” After having seen Sovereign’s Might for so long, Linley completely understood.

After all, the depths at which he could investigate was still a ways off from the deepest reaches. “The bottom of this Elemental Sea is ﬁlled with Sovereign power?” Linley was rather stupeﬁed.

The bottom of the Elemental Sea was boundless and limitless. So much Sovereign power made one grow desirous just looking at it…but Highgods had a limit to the depths at which they could investigate. There was no way they would be able to actually acquire any of it!

Chapter 2, Mirage

Deep within the Elemental Sea, invisible currents of power swirled about, and the endless waves of water formed from Sovereign power rolled forth.

“I can see it, but I can’t get it.” Linley felt an itchy feeling in his heart.

So much Sovereign power! However, the Elemental Sea was something which every single Deity could sense. Highgods had more powerful souls, and thus were generally all able to sense the region containing Sovereign power. “The souls of Sovereigns are far more powerful than the souls of us Highgods.”

Linley quickly cast it aside.

If he couldn’t get it, there was no point obsessing over it. “Who knows if there is perhaps a region of even more powerful energy beneath the region of Sovereign power?” This thought suddenly appeared in Linley’s mind, but moments later, Linley shook his head, no longer considering it. “I don’t even have Sovereign power. Why think of other things? But it

really is odd. Divine power is divided into Demigod-level divine power, God-level divine power, and Highgod-level divine power. But I have never heard anyone say that there are different levels of Sovereign power.”

After having lived in the clan for many years, Linley had come to learn…

The Seven Elemental Laws and Four Edicts each had seven Sovereigns, with one being a High Sovereign, two being Intermediate Sovereigns, and four being Lesser Sovereigns. Clearly, Sovereigns were divided into levels as well.

“But why is it that I’ve never heard of there being different levels of Sovereign power?” Linley was very puzzled.

The Four Divine Beasts clan and the eight great clans all had Sovereign’s Might. In addition, Linley had never before gotten the feeling that one person’s Sovereign’s Might was more powerful than another’s. It seemed as though they were all the same.

“Can it be that different levels of Sovereigns all have the same type of Sovereign power? But why then are they divided into High, Intermediate, and Lesser Sovereigns?” Linley couldn’t understand it, and so he stopped thinking about it. After all…each Law had only seven Sovereigns.

Every single Sovereign was a lofty ﬁgure. Even the most powerful of Highgods was incomparably weak in the face of a Sovereign.

Linley then inspected his soul-protecting Sovereign artifact. He saw rays of spiritual energy circulate throughout it, and a small membrane had appeared over the ﬂaw as well. As spiritual energy continued to circulate through the artifact, the bandage over the ﬂaw was slowly transforming.

“Indeed…only after becoming a Highgod can I truly begin to repair this soul-protecting Sovereign artifact.” Linley sighed in amazement.

The repairing speed was now far faster than it had been when he was a mere God.

It was like a situation where ﬂoodwaters were bursting through a broken dam. If you threw little pebbles down into the hole, even if you threw many pebbles nonstop, they would be effortlessly wiped away by the ﬂoodwaters. But if you threw large numbers of boulders down, boulders which were dozens of times larger, then the effect would immediately be much better.

The same was true for repairing this artifact. The spiritual energy of a God was, qualitatively, too inferior to a soul- protecting Sovereign artifact. Thus, repairing with it was too difﬁcult.

Ever since the Sovereign’s descent, the Four Divine Beasts clan and the eight great clans had ended their struggles against each other. The lives of the members of the Four Divine Beasts clan had returned to tranquility. Linley’s family and Bebe’s family thus began to live a peaceful life within the gorge as well.

Linley constantly consumed amethysts, strengthening his soul.

Towards the end, Linley actually used up all of the amethysts which he had. He had to end up asking Bebe for many amethysts, allowing himself to continue reﬁning them. Bebe had said magnanimously: “Boss, you just keep reﬁning. I’ll give you as many as you want.”

In the past, Bebe had spent ten full years harvesting amethysts in the Amethyst Mountains. The number of amethysts he had collected was truly astronomical.

In the blink of an eye, a century passed.

Within the gorge. Linley’s room. A long table was covered with food. Linley’s family of three and Bebe’s family of three were all gathered here. Delia, Nisse, Wade, and Ina were all handing plates of food back and forth, while Linley and Bebe were seated comfortably. “Boss, how much more can your soul absorb?” Bebe asked. “You’ve already absorbed so many amethysts.”

Upon reaching the Highgod level, Linley’s amethyst reﬁning speed had increased tens of times over as well. As his soul had risen in power, his reﬁning speed had only grown even faster. The number of amethysts he had absorbed over the past century was an astonishingly high ﬁgure. But clearly…the soul of a Highgod truly was capable of absorbing a great deal of power.

“What, jealous?” Linley pursed his lips. “Bebe, as I recall, in the past, you wanted to compete with me in seeing who would become a Highgod ﬁrst.”

Bebe rubbed his nose. All he could do was manage a resigned laugh.

That time they had gone to Meer City, Bebe had acquired from his grandmother that ﬁnal soul slice fragment. After absorbing it, Bebe only needed one ﬁnal step before reaching the Highgod level. But Bebe’s speed clearly was much slower than Linley’s.

Linley had gained his sudden insight, but Bebe had not.

“Boss, you are amazing. Happy?” Bebe said resignedly, a sour look on his face. “Still. Grandpa told me that once I become a Highgod, my power will be close to Grandpa’s power in strength. Boss, you are powerful right now, but when I become a Highgod, I might end up being even more powerful than you.”

“Being more powerful than me is a good thing.” Linley laughed.

Linley knew well what innate gifts Bebe had. This innate divine ability, ‘Godeater’, could be described as something which made Bebe invincible amongst his peers. Once Bebe reached the Highgod level, who would be able to resist his Godeater ability?

Perhaps only Highgod Paragons would be able to resist it. In addition, as a Godeater Rat, Bebe’s body was frightfully strong. Just by watching how Beirut dared to use his hands to block Sovereign artifacts, one could imagine how astonishing a Godeater Rat would be at the Highgod level. Bebe hadn’t fused any profound mysteries at all…but by relying on his innate gifts, he would still be comparable to Linley after he became a Highgod..

Still, Linley wasn’t jealous in the slightest.

Over all these years, Linley and Bebe truly were like siblings, and they were happy for each other as they grew strong.

“I want to break through and gain a sudden insight too. Why is it so hard?” Bebe let out a long sigh.

Right at this moment, Wade walked over, carrying a platter of food. Hearing these words, he couldn’t help but say, “Uncle Bebe, I want to make a breakthrough also. When I became a Deity, I only did so thanks to the Ancestral Baptism. It’s hard for me to even become a God by myself.” “Hmph.”

A low, dissatisﬁed snort. Ina walked in, carrying a plate of food as well. “Big Bro Wade, in the future, can you not complain about your situation? I’m still…not even a Deity yet.” Immediately, Linley and Bebe both began to laugh.

“Daaaad! Uuuuncle!” Ina couldn’t help but stare at them, but Linley and Bebe only laughed all the harder.

“Haha, what has all of you laughing so happily?” A loud, clear laugh rang out, and two ﬁgures descended from the skies. Linley turned his head to look. It was a black-robed Beirut and a red-robed Carolina.

Beirut’s appearance made Linley’s eyes light up.

This was because when he saw Beirut, he thought of that godspark weapon. Beirut hadn’t come to visit a single time over the past century. This time…had he come because he had ﬁnished forging the godspark weapon

“Grandpa.” Bebe was extremely happy as well.

Beirut just laughed, then turned his head to look at Ina. “Ina, come over here.” Beirut and Carolina both doted dearly on Ina. Ina immediately walked over to greet them and chatted with Beirut and Carolina for a while.

“Grandpa, is this visit of yours because the godspark weapon is ﬁnished?” Bebe went straight to the point.

Beirut, hearing this, looked towards Linley, then laughed loudly. “Linley, for the sake of this godspark weapon of yours, I spent a full hundred years. I’ve ﬁnally ﬁnished now. Take it!” As he spoke, Beirut waved his arm…

And suddenly, an illusory black blur sliced through the air.

Linley stretched his hand out, directly snatching that sharp sword. But the illusory shadow of the sword was too blurry, and Beirut had thrown it out too quickly, with the intention of making Linley look bad. When Linley caught it, he grabbed it by the blade instead of the hilt.

“So sharp.” Linley felt pain in his hand, and a line of blood sprang out from his palm.

He lowered his head…

The sword was long and slender, as thin as a butterﬂy’s wings. This longsword was actually translucent. If one took a close look at the sword, one would see that a black energy was circulating inside of the sword. It was very bizarre. Generally speaking, divine swords would have energy circulating on their surface, but this sword had black energy circulating inside of it, causing one to be stupeﬁed.

In particular, the sharpness of the sword was so terrifying as to make one’s heart grow cold.

Although Linley hadn’t transformed, he was a Highgod; his body was fairly tough. This sword wasn’t bound by anyone, but just by its sharpness alone, it had cut through the palm of Linley, a Highgod.

“This sword…” Linley couldn’t believe it.

“Sharp enough for you?” Beirut laughed.

Linley hurriedly nodded. “It truly is sharp. I’ve never seen such a sharp weapon before.”

“Grandpa, how did you make it? Why isn’t my dagger this sharp?” Bebe said hurriedly.

Beirut laughed and said, “Actually, I myself am puzzled as to how this sword ended up like this.” These words caused Linley, Delia, Bebe, and everyone else to be puzzled. Beirut continued, “I knew that Linley trained in earth, wind, ﬁre, and water; four types of Elemental Laws. Thus…when I forged this sword for you, I consciously only chose to devour and digest Highgod divine sparks of earth, wind, ﬁre, and water.” Linley couldn’t help but feel a surge of gratitude.

Actually, when making a godspark weapon, one could just pick some divine sparks at random for the forging. However, Beirut had gone out of his way to be very detailed and careful in this forging for Linley, and so had only used those four types of divine sparks.

“I was very careful in the forging. In the later stages, though…” Beirut laughed. “This sword actually somehow became like one solid whole. Those four different types of divine sparks essences actually fused to become a perfect whole. The power of this godspark weapon is such that it is the ﬁnest godspark weapon I have ever made in all these years.”

Linley couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement.

“Lord Beirut. Thank you.” Linley said gratefully. Beirut truly had expended signiﬁcant effort in forging this weapon for him.

“Bebe, as for your dagger, I only used darkness-type divine sparks to forge it. After all, you have only become a Deity in darkness.” Beirut laughed calmly. “As for Linley’s sword…I’m not too clear as to why the power of it is so great, myself.”

Sometimes…one might end up creating a perfect masterwork, for reasons one might not even understand.

Perhaps a true masterwork required a bit of luck as well.

Linley carefully stroked this sharp sword. The blood from his cut palm fused into the sword, and this sharp sword which had never before had an owner soon became wholly accepting of Linley, becoming Linley’s personal sword.

“Curious. Curious.” Linley discovered, after taking complete control of the sword…

That with but a thought, the energy ﬂowing within the sword could suddenly become hidden, resulting in the entire sword becoming translucent. Someone looking at it would think that Linley wasn’t even holding a sword at all. “Linley, pick a name.” Beirut laughed.

Linley stared thoughtfully at this incredible weapon. “When using this sword at high speed, even experts will just be able to see a blurry shadow…so let’s just call it ‘Mirage’.” Linley’s third weapon…

Mirage! Had arrived in this world!

After acquiring this precious weapon, ‘Mirage’, he naturally would often use it to train. The more he used it, the happier Linley became. Once this precious weapon was ﬁlled with Highgod-level divine power and matched with Linley’s tremendous physical strength in Dragonform…

Even Linley was astonished by the power of each sword stroke.

Linley had originally used his ﬁst to execute the ‘Firmament Splitter’ with enough power to punch a hole in space itself. But…when this incomparably sharp and tough ‘Mirage’ used the technique… Space itself would tremble, and wherever the shadow of the sword passed, a tear in space would be left behind.

Within the gorge. On the grassy ﬁeld outside of Linley’s house. Linley was currently wielding Mirage, casually twirling it about. His entire body seemed to have become a gust of wind, fusing with it. One could only see the blurry shadow of an illusory sword, also as agile and untraceable as the wind.

“Slash!”

“Swish!”

Wherever the sword passed, rips in space appeared. It must be understood…this was Linley in his normal, human form. But of course, this was Linley as a Highgod and in possession of a godspark weapon. Nonetheless, one could still imagine how powerful Linley had become now, thanks to these factors. “Great. Uncle, you are so powerful!” Ina stood off in the distance, her eyes shining as she watched Linley train with the sword.

Right at this moment…

“Rumble…”

Ripples born from the descent of the natural Laws suddenly descended. Even Linley, in the midst of training with his sword, came to a halt. He turned his head to stare towards the location where the ripples were emanating from. “Huh? Bebe’s residence? Can it be that Bebe has made a breakthrough?”

Linley still remembered the words that Bebe had spoken to him…“Once I become a Highgod, maybe I’ll be even more powerful than you.”

Chapter 3, Goals

The descent of the natural Laws attracted attention from many of the dwellers within the gorge. The members of the Yulan branch all hurried over, looking towards the building where Linley, Ina, Delia, and the others lived.

The clansmen watched as Baruch walked over as well, and they immediately parted for him.

Baruch walked towards Linley. “Linley, who made the breakthrough? Is it Bebe?” Baruch knew that this building was one where Bebe lived in, and so it was very normal for him to come to this conclusion. Linley was in an excellent mood, and he laughed while nodding.

“Bebe actually became a Highgod? He’s even faster than me.” Baruch shook his head and laughed. Baruch had also reached a bottleneck in the Laws of Water, and would become a Highgod with one more step.

“Clan leader, perhaps tomorrow, you’ll become a Highgod as well.” Linley said consolingly.

How could Baruch compete against Bebe?

Bebe had those soul slice fragments, and thus rose in power at an unnatural speed.

“Uncle, my father is now a Highgod as well. Is he going to be as powerful as you?” Ina’s eyes were shining as she looked towards Linley.

“Not so fast.” The nearby Wade said conﬁdently. “Uncle Bebe just reached the Highgod level; he’s going to need time for training, whereas my father was able to kill Seven Star Fiends even before he reached the Highgod level. He’s much more powerful now.” Wade clearly felt very proud of Linley.

“But Father himself said…” Ina didn’t really understand.

“He’ll be a match for me.” Linley laughed calmly. “Father…” Wade looked towards Linley, puzzled.

“Wade, even I don’t feel conﬁdent in my ability to resist your Uncle Bebe’s innate divine ability.” Linley explained.

Once Bebe reached the Highgod level, his normal attacks might be ordinary in power, but his innate divine ability, ‘Godeater’, was without question an absolutely dominating ability. How many Highgods would be able to endure the ‘Godeater’ attack? After all, there wasn’t even a way one would be able to counter the Godeater technique.

“Boss, stop boasting about me.” A voice rang out, and Bebe, wearing that straw hat, walked out of the room with a chortle.

“Father.” Ina immediately ran over.

Linley just laughed in surprise. “Bebe, being so modest? How rare.” This was completely different from Bebe’s normal temperament. Linley could sense…that Bebe had indeed reached the Highgod level.

“Come inside and sit.” Nisse welcomed everyone warmly.

Linley, Baruch, and the others all immediately entered the living room. Nisse quickly prepared beverages for everyone. Bebe’s face was all smiles, and he was so delighted that even his eyebrows were jumping up and down. Laughing loudly, he said, “Boss, don’t boast about me any longer. After having become a Highgod, I know what level of power I now have.”

“Oh?” Linley said, puzzled.

“I ﬁnally understand that Grandpa Beirut…tricked me!” Bebe said resignedly.

Beirut had once told Bebe that once Bebe became a Highgod, his power would be close to Beirut’s.

“My most powerful attack is indeed comparable to Grandpa Beirut’s. But that’s just my innate divine ability. I’m at most able to use my innate divine ability twice before my spiritual energy is essentially used up. Without my innate divine ability, all I’m good for is taking hits…I’m pretty much an unkillable humanoid golem.” Bebe clearly was rather unhappy. “Compared to Grandpa, I’m still a long way off.”

Linley laughed.

“Bebe, with that innate divine ability, within a short period of time, you’d at least be able to kill two supreme experts. That’s enough.” Linley said. “Your grandfather didn’t lie to you. When you execute that innate divine ability, how many Highgods can possibly overcome you?”

Bebe sighed emotionally, “I heard that when Grandpa blocked the eight great clans in the past, he only used a single black staff. Every single Elder of the eight great clans who was struck by that staff immediately died, and even the Patriarchs who used Sovereign artifacts against it were badly injured. Grandpa never even used his innate divine ability…”

Linley couldn’t help but shake his head. “Bebe, your grandfather has fused quite a few profound mysteries.” Linley said. “You haven’t even fused one. How can you compete against your grandfather?”

Lord Beirut’s punches and kicks already possessed such tremendous power…but as for Bebe, he had to use his innate divine ability to ﬁght at that level. Clearly, Bebe was rather unhappy about this.

The nearby Baruch said in a booming voice, “Bebe, innate gifts is one thing, but hard work is necessary as well…I, too, have heard that the strength of your body is even greater than Linley’s Dragonform. But you haven’t fused any of the profound mysteries at all. I imagine that given how Lord Beirut can be one of the ultimate ﬁgures of the entire Infernal Realm, he surely must have fused quite a few profound mysteries.”

“Right.” Bebe nodded.

Linley could guess, however, that the toughness and strength of a Highgod Godeater Rat’s body was probably comparable to a divine spark. Most likely, it was tens of times or even a hundred times more powerful than his Dragonform. As for Lord Beirut, most likely, even if he only fused four or ﬁve profound mysteries, he would still be more than powerful enough to dominate the continents.

With a powerful body as the base, matched with four or ﬁve fused profound mysteries…Beirut deﬁnitely had the ability to trample all comers in the Infernal Realm, especially since he had a Sovereign artifact…

“Who knows how many profound mysteries Lord Beirut has fused.” Linley was curious.

In the past, from the conversation between Linley and Beirut, Linley had learned…that Beirut hadn’t reached the Paragon level. However, his innate gifts were simply too powerful; even if he ‘only’ fused four or ﬁve profound mysteries, he would be comparable to a Highgod Paragon.

“I need to work hard to fuse profound mysteries as well.” Bebe clenched his teeth. Seeing the look on Bebe’s face, Linley couldn’t help but laugh. “Then Bebe, I’m just going to wait and see how well you do in your fusing.”

“Bebe.” Suddenly, the nearby Nisse spoke out.

“Hm?” Bebe looked towards her.

“Have you forgotten something?” Nisse stared at Bebe. “Something very important!”

Nisse’s stare caused Bebe to feel rather puzzled. He couldn’t help but scratch his head. “What are you talking about?” Nisse was so upset, she didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. In the end, she explained, “Back then, you told me that after you became a Highgod, then…”

“Oh…are you saying, go pay a visit to your brother, Salomon?” Bebe immediately realized what she was talking about, and his face went sour. “You were serious about that?” Nisse’s face immediately became unsightly, and she fell silent.

That look on Nisse’s face caused the atmosphere of the entire hall to become rather awkward. Linley frowned, then immediately sent through divine sense, “Bebe, what’s this about?”

Today clearly was a festive day; how did it end up being so unhappy?

“Boss, Nisse’s been here all these years, and has always wanted to go visit her elder brother, Salomon. But you know as well as I do…Salomon, that fellow who forgets the kindness of others, should feel lucky that I don’t go kill him. Go pay a visit to him? But at the time, I didn’t want Nisse to feel so awkward, so I coaxed her and told her that I wasn’t strong enough yet, and that the trip back would be dangerous. I said that after I became a Highgod, I would have enough strength to escort her to the Jadeﬂoat Continent. I just spoke casually, wanting to make her feel better, but who would’ve imagined…that she always kept these words in her heart.” Bebe had a sour look on his face. Linley completely understood.

Bebe hadn’t been serious about it, but Nisse had always remembered it. After all, after the death of her parents, all she had left was her elder brother. Although Salomon hadn’t treated Linley and the others with sincerity, he had always been devoted to his younger sister.

“In the past…you just said that to make me feel better?” Nisse ﬁnally spoke, a hint of moisture in her eyes.

Bebe was stunned…but he was the obstinate sort.

Back then, he used his ultimate attack with that godspark weapon, wanting to kill Salomon with that dagger. Afterwards, the Seven Star Fiend, Elquin, blocked his attack to save Salomon, resulting in Elquin even losing a divine artifact of his own.

Given the situation, how could Bebe willingly lower his head and go ‘pay a visit’ to Salomon? Most likely, in Salomon’s heart, he also felt a hint of hatred towards Bebe.

“Ninny, the way your elder brother acted towards me that year…and the fact that he tried to get my Boss and Delia killed…” Just as Bebe said these things, Nisse’s tears actually began to uncontrollably leak outwards.

Nisse only had this one brother, after all.

Delia, seeing this, knew that things were headed in a bad direction. She immediately said through divine sense, “Bebe, stop saying these things. Although Salomon’s actions back then could be considered unrighteous, it was because he falsely believed Linley had betrayed him. For Nisse’s sake, make the trip. Otherwise, Nisse will forever have a thorn in her heart… Linley agrees with me on this.” Delia simultaneously sent the divine sense into Linley’s mind as well.

Clearly, Delia knew that Linley’s words were the most effective for persuading Bebe.

“Forget it, Bebe. Give Salomon a chance. If Salomon refuses to show regret and change his ways, then you can act accordingly.” Linley sent mentally.

Linley could imagine how Nisse felt.

After all, Nisse hadn’t done anything wrong. She was blameless in this matter.

“Fine, Boss. I’ll give that fellow one chance!”

Bebe glanced at Linley, then said towards Nisse, “Your elder brother really was a bastard for doing what he did!”

“My brother has regretted it ever since. He really didn’t know. He mistakenly accused you, which is why he acted that way. Afterwards, he really regretted it.” Nisse said hurriedly.

Bebe reached out with his hand, taking Nisse’s. “Ninny, ﬁne then. For your sake, I’ll accompany you on a visit to see your elder brother…but with regards to the question of whether or not I’ll give him face when I see him, that will depend entirely on his attitude! If he still acts that way…then you can’t blame me.”

Bebe still couldn’t swallow his anger.

“My elder brother will deﬁnitely apologize.” Nisse said hurriedly, and a hint of a smile appeared on her face once more.

“Father, Mother.” Ina ﬁnally dared to speak out. “I want to go with you as well!”

“No way.” Bebe frowned. “Ina, you haven’t even become a Deity. We’ll be going to the Jadeﬂoat Continent. The journey will be a long one, and if we encounter any danger on the way over, the slightest shockwave will kill you.”

Nisse agreed. “Nana, wait for the future.” Seeing that both her father and her mother were of one mind, Ina felt helpless as well.

The next day, as per Nisse’s request, Bebe accompanied Nisse. The two left the Skyrite Mountains, heading towards the Coldcalm Prefecture of the Jadeﬂoat Continent. This was a very long trip, and the roundtrip would most likely take nearly a century.

As for Linley and Delia, they accompanied Wade and Ina in a tour of Indigo Prefecture.

Despite having been in Indigo Prefecture for so many years, they hadn’t had a chance to visit many of the famous places of Indigo Prefecture. While they encountered some difﬁculties when adventuring in the Indigo Prefecture, given Linley’s power, he was able to effortlessly resolve them.

In the blink of an eye…

A hundred years of roaming about had passed. During these hundred years, Linley’s four divine clones had focused on their training, with the fastest gains being made by his divine water clone, which ﬁnally started on a sixth profound mystery. His divine wind clone was working on the eighth profound mystery as well…but his divine ﬁre clone was doing terribly, still stuck on four mastered profound mysteries, and not having made any progress in gaining even a basic understanding of the other two.”

Clearly, Linley’s talent with regards to ﬁre was signiﬁcantly weaker.

Within the metallic lifeform. Linley was seated on a chair.

“Linley, you’ve reached the sixth profound mystery in water. Look at how happy you are!” Delia brought over a plate of food and wine.”

Linley’s eyes were gleaming. “Wrong. I’m not happy because I’ve reached the sixth profound mystery in water. Rather…it’s because my Profound Mysteries of Strength and Gravitational Space have started to connect just slightly.” Linley was indescribably happy. “It’s been two hundred years. More than two centuries have passed since the affairs between our Four Divine Beasts clan and the eight great clans have come to an end. I’ve ﬁnally made a small improvement in the Laws of the Earth! This improvement signiﬁes…that I have hope of fusing four profound mysteries.”

“Fusing four? How long will it take?” Delia asked.

“Not sure. Although the Profound Mysteries of Strength are fusing with the ‘Essence of the Earth’ and ‘Gravitational Space’, it’s just a connection; they aren’t completely fused yet. Fortunately, it is completely fused with the Throbbing Pulse of the World. After the other two are completely fused…I’ll have four profound mysteries, fused into one.” Linley knew very well that in order to have four mysteries fused, he would have to separately fuse the Profound Mysteries of Strength with the other three profound mysteries.

And then, he would begin a ﬁnal, complete fusion.

“But how long will it take?” Delia asked again. “If I’m fast, a few centuries or a thousand years. If I’m slow, ten thousand years.” Linley laughed.

“So long?” Delia laughed as well.

Linley said solemnly, “Delia, I’ve been training for roughly two thousand years now, in total. If I continue to train at this rate…to be able to fuse four profound mysteries within ten thousand years is a cause for celebration.” Linley stared out at the Infernal Realm from outside the window.

“I no longer have any regrets. I only hope that one day, I will reach the peak of training. Whether it be in ten thousand years, a million years, or even longer…I will continue to pursue my goals.” Linley’s eyes were ﬁlled with a hopeful light.

That year, Doehring Cowart had set him on the path of training. Although Linley’s number one priority had been revenge, while training to gain his revenge, Linley had fallen in love with training, and the feeling of constantly exceeding his own limits. “Linley, you will deﬁnitely succeed. I will accompany you the entire time, and wait for you to reach that peak!” Delia couldn’t help but take Linley’s hands into her own and say in a soft voice.

Chapter 4, Ironknife Gorge

Linley tightly held Delia’s hand as well.

“The pinnacle…right. That day will deﬁnitely come, one day.” Linley, in his heart, would forever remember the ﬁgures of Beirut and Dunnington. They were his goals!

Suddenly, a snicker from his side.

Linley turned to look, only to see Wade and Ina secretly looking towards them. Upon seeing that Linley had noticed them, the two quickly retreated to their own rooms. Linley couldn’t help but laugh. “Wade, Nana, hurry up and come over. Right, Nana…your father and your mother have already returned to the Bloodridge Continent. They are now heading to Indigo Prefecture. Most likely, in a year or so, they’ll have returned.”

“Father is about to return?” Ina stuck her head out, a look of surprise and delight on her face. Linley laughed and nodded. As he and Bebe were spiritually linked, the two could sense the rough location of each other.

“Oh, that was pretty fast.” The nearby Delia said. “Bebe and Nisse, on this round trip, just spent a bit more than a century. It seems they didn’t stay too long in the Coldcalm Prefecture . I wonder how Bebe and Salomon acted towards each other.”

Linley laughed calmly. “No matter what, Bebe won’t let himself get the worst of it.”

Given Bebe’s current level of power, how could Salomon be a match for him? Although Salomon was Nisse’s older brother, given Bebe’s temper, Linley knew very well that if Salomon went too far, even if Bebe didn’t kill him out of consideration for Nisse, he would still punish Salomon.

“Linley, how about let’s go visit Lord Beirut? It’s been so many years since we have visited. We can wait for Bebe there as well.” Delia advised. “Great, great. Let’s go to Great-Grandfather’s place!” Ina was the ﬁrst to react.

The Lord Prefect’s residence of Indigo Prefecture. Linley, indeed, had never visited this place before. He immediately laughed and nodded, “Fine, then. Let’s go to Lord Beirut’s place. Bebe knows exactly where I am, so he’ll head directly there as well.””

Linley’s group immediately turned the direction of their metallic lifeform, sending it towards the Lord Prefect’s residence.

Indigo Prefecture. The Lord Prefect’s residence. This was located in the northern part of the northern district of Indigo City, the chief city of the ten great cities of Indigo Prefecture. The more than half of the entire northern district seemed to reserved for the Lord Prefect, while the personal soldiers and servants of the Lord Prefect numbered in the tens of thousands.

Linley’s arrival naturally resulted in a warm welcome from Beirut. Linley’s group thus settled down here for now.

In the blink of an eye, nearly a year passed.

Linley and Delia were currently strolling through a ﬂower garden, which was ﬁlled with all sorts of fresh ﬂowers. Red ones, blue ones, yellow ones; ﬂowers were spread everywhere. The couple strolled while enjoying the fragrance of the ﬂowers. This was indeed a very enjoyable thing. But suddenly…

Linley turned to look towards the west, smiling slightly. He then turned his head to look at the nearby Delia. “Delia, Bebe and Nisse have already reached Indigo City. I imagine that they’ll arrive soon.”

“They’ll arrive soon?” Delia couldn’t help but reveal a hint of joy, but then she was rather puzzled.

“Delia, what is it? Speak.” Linley and Delia had been together for so long that Linley could tell from a single glance or a look on Delia’s face what she was thinking. Delia hesitated, then said, “Linley, we’ve been in the Infernal Realm for nearly two thousand years. The Four Divine Beasts clan has already solved its crisis, and you have become a Highgod. I think…that it might be time for us to return to the Yulan continent, right? Sasha and Taylor, our two kids…I really want to see them.”

Linley was stunned.

Return to the Yulan continent?

Instantly, Linley’s mind became ﬁlled with countless scenes. Going to study when he was young at the Ernst Institute. Playing around with Boss Yale, George, and Reynolds. Bitter training within the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. And the many friends and family he cared about.

Before they discussed the topic of returning, Linley hadn’t felt anything, but now that Delia raised it…Linley actually suddenly felt as though a pressing ﬁre was burning in his heart, surging and charging through his emotions and ﬁlling his chest with ardor. “Right. It is time to return to the Yulan continent to have a look. After so many years, I wonder how Boss Yale is doing. And Wharton and the others. Sasha and Taylor, those two…I wonder how they are doing.” Linley was ﬁlled with eagerness.

“Right. Let’s go back together.” Delia, seeing that Linley had agreed, couldn’t help but feel overjoyed. As a mother, the care and concern she felt for her children came from the deepest recesses of her heart. “I wonder how my elder brother is doing…”

Linley also remembered Dixie. Back then, when he had just entered the Ernst Institute, Dixie had been proclaimed its number one genius. But afterwards, due to Linley learning from the Straight Chisel School of sculpting, Linley’s spiritual energy had rapidly improved, allowing him to make constant breakthroughs until he had ﬁnally surpassed Dixie.

“It has been a long time since Bebe’s been back as well. Now that he’s returning, let’s have him accompany us on a trip to the Yulan continent.” Linley said eagerly. “To tell the truth, up till now, I remain quite curious as to what the Necropolis of the Gods within the Yulan continent holds. This time, we can take a look.”

After having trained for so long, Linley no longer felt too much interest in the Necropolis of the Gods, but he was still curious, after all.

He still clearly remembered how, that year, Olivier and the others had risked their lives in adventuring through the Necropolis of the Gods. But of course, to the current Linley, the Necropolis of the Gods no longer posed much of a challenge.

“The Necropolis of the Gods?” Delia sighed. “You spent ten full years on that trip to the Necropolis of the Gods. I was worrying about you the entire time in Dragonblood Castle.” Hearing this, Linley felt rather ashamed of himself.

“Boss!” Bebe’s voice suddenly rang out from afar.

“Bebe arrived. Come, let’s go.” Linley immediately headed with Delia towards the outside. Once Linley and Delia reached the outside, they discovered that Beirut, Wade, Ina, and the others were already there waiting.

Bebe and Nisse were warmly chatting with Beirut and Ina. Seeing Linley walk over, Bebe immediately walked towards him and laughed, “Boss, long time no see.” As he spoke, he gave Linley a ﬁrm hug. Linley just grinned. “How was your trip to the Jadeﬂoat Continent?”

“What do you think?” Bebe quirked his lips.

Linley couldn’t help but look at him in puzzlement.

“That Salomon hurriedly apologized, of course. Hmph, fortunately, he knew to act. If it hadn’t been for that…hmph. Hmph.” Bebe let out two snorts, and Linley couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. It seemed as though Salomon cared about his younger sister as well, and so had been rather meek in his attitude.

In reality…

After Salomon had seen Linley’s performance in the scryer recording, and after Nisse had let him know about the relationship Bebe had with the Lord Prefect of Indigo Prefecture, Lord Beirut…how could he dare to have a poor attitude?

“Haha, everyone, let’s chat inside.” Beirut laughed.

While walking towards the inner halls, Linley quietly discussed with Bebe, “Bebe, Delia and I have come to an agreement that we are planning to travel to the Yulan continent. We’ve been in the Infernal Realm for so many years, but have never gone back. Do you want to go back with us?”

Bebe’s eyes lit up upon hearing this.

“Yes, of course, yes!” Bebe immediately sent mentally. “Boss, let me discuss this with Nisse. She’ll deﬁnitely agree.”

Everyone sat down in the main hall.

Some servants walked over, carrying all sorts of ﬁne delicacies and offering them. Linley said directly, “Lord Beirut, we’ve been in the Infernal Realm for so long…Bebe and I have decided that we are planning to return to the Yulan continent.”

“Returning to the Yulan continent? I’m going too!”

“I’m going as well.”

Wade and Ina simultaneously called out.

Beirut let out a surprised sound, but then laughed and nodded. “Makes sense. It has indeed been quite some time since you came to the Infernal Realm. If you want to return to the Yulan continent, you need to be transported back through the ‘Ironknife Gorge’ of our Bloodrige Continent.”

Linley knew that there were teleportation portals scattered throughout the ﬁve continents and two seas of the Infernal Realm. But the price of each trip through these portals was very high.

“Lord Beirut, how much is the transport fee?” Linley asked.

“Generally speaking, moving between the Higher Planes or Divine Planes isn’t as expensive. But moving from the Higher Planes or Divine Planes to material planes…now that is exceedingly costly. From material planes to the Higher Planes or Divine Planes, however, is free.” Beirut explained.

Linley understood this as well. He knew that it was expensive…but how expensive, exactly?

“I don’t know if I have enough money on me.” Linley was rather nervous.

Beirut laughed. “But when you go for your trip, as long as you show this medallion, you will be able to use the teleportation portals for free.” With a wave of his hand, Beirut pulled out a blood red medallion which emanated a heart- stopping aura.

Linley and the others looked at it.

“Teleport for free?” Bebe’s eyes lit up. “Grandpa, give it to us as a gift.”

“Hey, I’m just loaning this to you for a single use.” Beirut said hurriedly. “This medallion was given to me by the Sovereign himself. In the past, when I casually roamed throughout the countless planes, I relied on this toy. Otherwise, no matter how much money I might have, I wouldn’t be able to afford all those teleportations. I’m only giving it to you for a single use. After you use it, you have to return it to me. In the future, if you need it again, I can loan it to you again.”

Bebe couldn’t help but pout.

Clearly, he was unhappy at how ‘stingy’ his grandfather was.

“Thank you, Lord Beirut.” Linley said hurriedly.

“Haha…” Beirut laughed. “Once you reach the Yulan continent, if there’s anything you need, feel free to come to the Forest of Darkness to look for me. My clone has remained in the Forest of Darkness this entire time.”

“Clone?” Linley was surprised.

Beirut laughed and nodded.

Linley couldn’t help but feel rather surprised…because the ‘Beirut’ he had met in the Yulan continent looked absolutely identical to this one, in both aura and clothing. Was the ‘Beirut’ which he had met the person in front of him now…or the clone that was currently in the Forest of Darkness?

“I’m giving this medallion to you. Don’t lose it.” Beirut said solemnly, then tossed it to Bebe.

Bebe caught it. “Don’t worry. How can I lose it?” On this trip back to the Yulan continent, Linley’s family of three and Bebe’s family of three headed out together. On the second day after they acquired the medallion, Linley’s group of six headed directly towards Ironknife Gorge.

Ironknife Gorge. The teleportation formation for the Bloodridge Continent was located here.

Linley’s group ﬂew over, and saw Ironknife Gorge from far away. Ironknife Gorge was an extremely easy-to-recognize landmark, but of course, what sealed its status was the large number of patrolling Bloodridge Soldiers which surrounded the area.

“Newcomers, halt!” The Bloodridge Soldiers called out loudly.

Linley’s group immediately landed, and the leader of the Bloodridge Soldiers, a man with short, golden, metallic- looking hair swept Linley’s group with his icy gaze, then barked, “Why have you come to Ironknife Gorge?” “We are going to return to a material plane through the teleportation portal.” Linley said.

The golden-haired man couldn’t help but be surprised. Quite a few people passed through the portal to the other Higher Planes and Divine Planes, since the price was much cheaper, but returning to a material plane? The price was terrifyingly high.

“Oh. Then come with me.” The golden-haired man led the way forward.

Linley’s group of six immediately followed after the Bloodridge Soldier, heading deeper into Ironknife Gorge. Moments later, Linley’s group arrived at the castle situated at the peak of Ironknife Gorge, where the teleportation array was located. The magic formation which formed the teleportation portal was identical to the one Linley had seen when he had arrived in the Infernal Realm.

“There’s actually six of you!” There were quite a few Bloodridge Soldiers present. One of them weighed Linley’s group with his gaze. “Three Highgods, one God, one Demigod, one Saint. According to the rules… returning to a material plane will cost each Highgod one trillion inkstones, and each Highgod can bring ten Gods with them…”

Linley, hearing this, was badly shocked.

He ﬁnally understood why it was that almost no Deities had returned to the Yulan continent, despite the passage of so many years. This price was too extravagant. A trillion inkstones…that was most likely the entire networth of most Seven Star Fiends. There was no way an ordinary Highgod could possibly afford it.

“So in total, you need to pay three trilli…uh…” The Bloodridge Warrior only ﬁnished half his sentence before seeing the medallion in Bebe’s hands. “Hurry up and activate the transportation magic array.” Bebe said calmly.

“Yes!” The surrounding Bloodridge Soldiers, seeing the medallion, instantly stood up ramrod straight, then quickly ﬂew to the various parts of the array, starting to activate it. Suddenly, one of them turned to look at the group. “Milords, where are you heading to?”

“The Yulan continent plane.” Linley said.

Chapter 5, Back to the Yulan Continent!

A cold, desolate wind swept across the world, carrying countless shards of ice and snow and hurling them randomly about. Within this icy world, multiple icebergs rose into the skies. After countless years of being ‘carved’ by the freezing wind, the icebergs had become completely smooth. If one stared into the surface of the icebergs, one could even see one’s reﬂections.

Within one of the tall icebergs.

Eleven mystical hexagram-shaped magic formations were set here, and next to them, not far away, was a house of ice. Currently, an old man with a white beard and white robes was walking out from within the house of ice, his blue eyes sweeping through the surrounding area. “It’s so rare to encounter someone, here in the Arctic Icecap! In recent years, the Saints that have come here to the Arctic Icecap are fewer and fewer in number. It seems I should go on a trip and roam the Yulan continent as well.”

This person was Hodan, the Planar Overseer of the Yulan Plane.

Just as Hodan was preparing to ﬂy away, suddenly…

Hodan couldn’t help but turn and look. He saw that one of the eleven magic arrays suddenly began to glow with light. Rays of light rose into the heavens in an eye-catching manner, seeming so illusory and dreamlike. Hodan couldn’t help but be greatly shocked. “The Infernal Realm. Someone is coming from the Infernal Realm back to the Yulan Plane, a material plane?”

Hodan knew exactly how astonishing the teleportation fee was. Even most Seven Star Fiends probably wouldn’t be willing to pay for such a trip.

Originally, his clan’s forces had sent out a group of people led by Sadista. Amongst that group, Sadista was the only Highgod present. Because of the cost of the teleportation fee, and how expensive it was to teleport a Highgod, a certain number of Gods and Demigods who teleported alongside the Highgod would be permitted to come for free. That time, when his clan had sent Sadista and the others, they had spent a trillion inkstones!

“I wonder which wealthy, extravagant person it is.” Hodan wondered to himself. He unconsciously bowed from the waist. How would Hodan dare to be disrespectful to a ﬁgure who came from the Infernal Realm to the Yulan Plane? Although Hodan bowed, he still looked carefully into the magic array. He wanted very much to know who this person was.

Blurry rays of light formed, slowly coalescing into six ﬁgures.

The six ﬁgures solidiﬁed, and the light of the array faded away.

“Lin…Linley!” Hodan stared with disbelief at the six ﬁgures before him.

“Hodan, it’s been nearly two thousand years since I saw you.

You look the same as always.” Linley laughed calmly. Hodan swept Linley’s group with his gaze, shock in his heart. “There are three amongst these six whom I cannot sense the auras of at all. There’s actually three of them who are Highgods. Based on the teleportation fee…they spent three trillion inkstones.” Hodan was terriﬁed by this ﬁgure. “Linley’s only been in the Infernal Realm for two millennia. How did he

become so powerful?”

More than two centuries ago, the Reinales clan and the rest of the eight great clans had ceased their struggle against the Four Divine Beasts clan.

But Hodan was just a minor ﬁgure of the Reinales clan, and was assigned here as the Planar Overseer. He didn’t know too much regarding the situation of the clan in the Infernal Realm. Naturally, he didn’t understand…what sort of status Linley now had! If he knew that Linley was an Elder of the Azure Dragon clan, Hodan probably would have been stunned.

“Lord Linley, you, on the other hand, are far more powerful than before.” Hodan was very respectful. He was just a God; how would he dare to be anything but respectful? Linley turned to look at the endless world of ice and snow. The vast world was frozen and desolate, but Linley felt warmth in his heart. Because this was his home!

“Wade, this is the Arctic Icecap!” Linley clearly was rather excited. “The Arctic Icecap of the Yulan Plane! The Yulan Plane…my homeland! After two thousand years, I’ve ﬁnally returned! Finally returned, haha…” Linley was so excited that he couldn’t help but laugh loudly.

Delia’s eyes were moist as well. She was weeping from joy.

“We’re back. I wonder how my Leon clan is doing. If my older brother is doing well or not.” Delia was incomparably excited.

In the Infernal Realm, nearly two thousand years of time had passed. But the longer they had stayed in the Infernal Realm, the more they had longed for their homeland.

“So this is Father’s homeland?” Wade looked everywhere, also quite curious.

“Not even close. The Yulan continent is to the south.” Linley laughed. “Come. Let’s go to the Yulan continent. Hodan, we’ll leave now.” Laughing, Linley summoned a surge of earth-type divine power, sweeping them all up to ﬂy away alongside him at high speed, departing from the Arctic Icecap and ﬂying towards the Yulan continent.

As for Hodan, he stared into the distance as Linley left. “That year in the past, I kept on feeling as though Linley was a genius. But who would have imagined…in less than two thousand years, he would have returned from the Infernal Realm. Terrifying. Terrifying!”

To be able to return from the Infernal Realm was a proof of power. How could ordinary Highgods possess a fortune of a trillion inkstones?

Flying was restricted and cumbersome in the Infernal Realm. Upon returning to a material realm, Linley felt his ﬂying speed rise dramatically, and he was now ten times faster than when he had been in the Infernal Realm. He used his divine earth power to wrap everyone up, so as to help Ina, Wade, and the others move more rapidly as well.

After ﬂying a short period of time, Linley saw, off in the distance, the sinuous, coiling northern shorelines off the North Sea.

“Boss, we’re at the Yulan continent!” Bebe called out excitedly.

“So this is the Yulan continent?” Ina looked around curiously.

Linley and Delia’s faces were slightly reddened. Clearly, both were very excited. It had been two thousand years since they had left, after all. Delia turned to look towards Linley. “Linley, where should we go ﬁrst? To the Forest of Darkness? Or to Dragonblood Castle?”

Linley let out a low sigh.

“It’s been so many years since I’ve paid my respects to Father. Let’s go to Wushan township.” For some reason, Linley missed Wushan township the most. Perhaps it was because that was where his roots were. His youth had been spent there. That was where he had met Grandpa Doehring. And that was where he had met Bebe.

“Wushan township. Right. Let’s go to Wushan township.” Bebe said as well.

“I was born in Wushan township.” Bebe turned, explaining to Ina and Nisse.

Wushan township was a place of tremendous meaning for both Linley and Bebe. That was the start of their life.

“Right. To Wushan township. I want to see it.” Ina said jubilantly.

“Wushan township is probably covered with magical beasts.” Linley sighed. “After nearly two thousand years…I wonder what it has become like.” Two thousand years was too long a period of time, after all. It was enough for many things to occur.

“Father, I want to see our ancestral manor as well.” Wade was very eager as well.

“Then, let’s go.”

Linley immediately led everyone directly to the western side of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, pressing forward towards Wushan township at a fast pace. Given that he was now a Highgod, he ﬂew hundreds of times faster than in the past, when he was a Saint. Flying through this material plane, where the restrictive forces were much weaker, Linley quickly arrived at the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts.

“When I was young, when I travelled from the Holy Union to the O’Brien Empire, I spent more than half a year. But now, from the North Sea to here, I only spent as much time as is needed to drink a cup of water…oh, and there’s Wushan township!” Just as Linley ﬁnished his words, he arrived in the air above Wushan township, emerging from the mountains. But in the air above Wushan township, Linley’s group came to a pause, puzzled.

“Uncle, you said there must be many magical beasts here. But when we ﬂew over here from the mountains, we saw many buildings and many people.” Ina didn’t understand. “Also, is this Wushan township? Why is it so densely populated? There has to be tens of thousands of people here.”

“Right. This is the former Wushan township.” Linley was certain about this.

As a Highgod, how could he be mistaken about the geography of such a place?

“Look, that’s Mt. Wushan over there! Mt. Wushan is still there. So this is Wushan township.” Linley pointed to the east, where there was indeed a large mountain. Although nearly two thousand years had passed, Mt. Wushan hadn’t changed much. The western side of Wushan township had, however. Because… There was an extremely beautiful educational institute built here, with an astonishing number of people.

This institute, in terms of size, was far larger than the former Wushan township.

“What’s going on here?” Linley was completely confused.

Delia was puzzled as well. “In the past…this place should have been covered with magical beasts. We just ﬂew past the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. We saw so many buildings on the way over. Look…there are humans in other places nearby as well, but no magical beasts.” After that ‘Apocalypse Day’, the Holy Union and the Dark Alliance had much of their territory taken over by magical beasts.

However…

After nearly two thousand years, this area was actually reclaimed by humanity. “Two thousand years. Too many things have occurred.” Linley sighed. “Come. Let’s go to my ancestral manor.” As Linley spoke, he ﬂew forward.

Although Linley’s group of six ﬂew through the air, the people below didn’t notice them at all, partially because they were too high up, and also because Linley used elemental energy to form a cloud around them. Linley slowly ﬂew forward while looking down below carefully. Linley’s vision was extremely good…

And he instantly found the centermost location of the institute; his ancestral manor!

“My ancestral manor remains standing?” Linley was surprised.

“Boss, the ancestral manor is actually in perfect shape. In fact, it seems to be in much better shape than it was in the past.” Bebe said in surprise as well. The other areas in this enormous institute were newly constructed, but Linley’s former ancestral manor had been preserved and even renovated. Although it had been only two millenia, due to long-term caretaking, it wasn’t damaged in the slightest. Linley and Bebe, seeing it, couldn’t help but feel excited.

They had so many beautiful memories from this place.

“Let’s go down.” Linley said softly.

And then, with a ‘swish’ sound, their six shadows ﬂashed through the skies, landing directly within the courtyard of the ancestral manor. Because they were too fast, they dropped down in less than the twinkling of an eye from the skies. There was no way ordinary people could possibly catch Linley’s movements with their eyes.

Within the manor.

“Everything is ﬁne…everything is ﬁne.” Linley stood there in the courtyard, looking around carefully. Suddenly, he saw that there was a chair in the courtyard. His eyes instantly turned red. “This chair is still…?” Linley couldn’t believe it. Staring at the chair, Linley’s memories returned…to when his father, Hogg, had often reclined on this chair, reading books.

Linley took a deep breath.

He could instantly tell that the chair had been recreated in that style; the original chair, after two thousand years, had probably rotted away long ago.

“Wade, this is the chair which your grandfather often sat in.” Linley pointed towards the chair as he spoke. “And there…that place. I used to study and learn culture from your grandfather there.” Linley still remembered how, every day, he intensively ﬂipped through books and studied, and often had to go through Hogg’s strict tests.

“Wow…” Wade stared, wide-eyed, at every location.

“This is the place where I used to sleep. Bebe lived with me as well.” Linley pointed to a nearby room.

Bebe couldn’t help but grin as well.

“Come. In the back yard is the ancestral hall of our clan. In the past, Bebe was born in a courtyard near the ancestral hall.” Linley’s face was all smiles, and Bebe laughed as well. “That year, the Boss seduced me by cooking ducks and wild hares for me. Poor me. I was so young and naïve back then.”

Linley and Bebe laughed as they headed towards the inner courtyard.

As they walked through the ancestral manor, Linley and Bebe’s hearts were ﬁlled with warmth.

Right at this moment…

“Eh? Someone is coming.” Linley, Bebe, and the others moved away, instantly scurrying into the rear courtyard. Creaaak! The door to the ancestral manor swung open.

An old man led dozens of youngsters and youths into this room. “Everyone, this is the place. It was here that the mighty genius grandmaster sculptor, also a genius warrior-magus double-expert, also the founding emperor of the Baruch Empire, and also the master of the sacred place ‘Dragonblood Castle’, used to live in his youth. The legendary Deity, Linley Baruch. Be careful. You are only allowed to look, not to touch.”

The old man explained. “This room was the place where Grandmaster Linley used to live.”

“Wow…Grandmaster Linley used to live here. It’d be so awesome if I could go sleep there as well.” A youth said softly, his eyes bright.

“Hmph.”

The old man couldn’t help but frown as he swept these students with his gaze. “Pay attention. This is the ancestral manor of Grandmaster Linley. During your studies here, this will be the only chance you have to come visit. In the future, you won’t have another chance! Enough. Let’s go to the study now. That’s the place where Grandmaster Linley used to read when he was young.”

Chapter 6, After Two Thousand Years, Even Seas Can Become Plains!

Within the rear courtyard of the ancestral manor, Linley listened to the voice coming from the front, rather amazed.

“Boss.” Bebe laughed as he looked at Linley, then gave him a big thumbs up.

Wade and Ina looked worshipfully towards Linley. Ina even repeated, ‘The mighty genius grandmaster sculptor, also a genius warrior-magus double-expert, also the founding emperor of the Baruch Empire, and also the master of the sacred place ‘Dragonblood Castle’…the legendary Deity, Linley Baruch!’ Uncle, you have so many titles. You are amazing.”

“There’s one missing, actually. The Dragonblood Warrior of the Supreme Warrior clans!” Bebe grinned.

Linley could only laugh. Those visiting students in the front courtyard only viewed some areas in the front, and then left in a group. Clearly, the rear courtyard of the ancestral manor was not open to these students. It made sense….the rear courtyard had always been in a state of disrepair. Only the ancestral hall had always remained protected.

But how could these ordinary students be allowed to view the ancestral hall?

Of course, the true ancestral hall of the Baruch clan had already been moved to Dragonblood Castle, and so there wasn’t anything within the ‘ancestral hall’ in this ancestral manor.

“Just now, I believe they mentioned the words, ‘sacred place’ and ‘Dragonblood Castle’. So Dragonblood Castle has become a ‘sacred place’.” Linley let out a moved sigh.

Delia chuckled, “It has quite a few Deities. If it isn’t a sacred place, what is it?” “Father.” Ina said to Bebe. “Where were you born?” Laughing, Bebe led Ina and Nisse to the side, while Linley headed towards the ancestral hall, with Delia and Wade following him as he pushed open the door to the hall and went into it.

Creaaaak. The door opened, and Linley carefully inspected the ancestral hall.

Compared to the past, the ancestral hall was virtually unchanged. Clearly, it had been maintained very well. But of course, the many spirit tablets that had been placed here had been moved long ago to Dragonblood Castle. The counter was completely empty.

Linley stared at the ancestral hall. His mind thought back to the ﬁrst time his father, Hogg, had introduced the background of their Baruch clan. “The Four Supreme Warriors actually represent four ancient clans. Our Baruch clan is the ancient clan which contains the exalted bloodline of the Dragonblood Warriors!” In the ancestral hall, his father had explained these things to him excitedly. This seemed to have happened just yesterday.

But now…

His father was dead!

“Father. Do you know? I’ve gone to the Infernal Realm, and met with our clan leader, ‘Baruch’. Ryan. Hazard. And the other ancestors of the clan as well…they are all doing very well, very well!” Linley felt sourness in his heart. His father had always hoped for his clan to return to glory. His clan had indeed ﬂourished, but…his father would never be able to see it again.

Wade and Delia stood there quietly, just watching, not daring to disturb Linley.

Linley suddenly frowned and turned. “Someone is coming?” “Who are you people!” A voice rang out from not too far away.

“Let’s go take a look.” Linley, Wade, and Delia all walked outside. By the time they reached the outside, they saw that a middle-aged man dressed in gray magus robes was staring at Bebe, Nisse, and Ina. When Linley’s group walked out, the middle-aged man said, stunned, “There’s actually six of you?”

This middle-aged man was the chancellor of this institute, the Saint-level expert, Hamelyn [Ha’mu’lin].

Chancellor Hamelyn was already a peak Saint. While he just so happened to walk past the courtyard, he sensed the presence of outsiders within the ancestral hall. Normally, it was forbidden for outsiders to enter this hall, and so Hamelyn naturally shouted at them. Actually, Hamelyn had only sensed Ina’s presence; he hadn’t sensed the other ﬁve.

He had thought there was only one person present. Who would have imagined that there were actually six! Clearly, the other ﬁve were more powerful than him!

“Who are you?” Linley looked at him.

Hamelyn said composedly, “This is a core area of my Linley Institute. How did you come in? As for me, I am this institute’s chancellor, Hamelyn!”

“Hey, what did you say this institute is called?” Bebe immediately said.

Linley was badly startled upon hearing this. It seemed as though this Hamelyn had just said the words, ‘Linley Institute’.

Hanelyn, puzzled, looked at these six. “What? Can it be that you’ve never even heard of the Linley Institute, one of the three great institutes of the continent? Can it be that you didn’t see the sculpture of Grandmaster Linley which lies right past the main gates to our institute?” This was common knowledge, but the looks on the faces of Linley’s group did indeed make Hamelyn feel puzzled.

“Linley Institute?” Wade’s eyes widened, and he turned to look at Linley. “Father, did you hear that? The Linley Institute.”

Linley was speechless.

Although Hamelyn had seen the sculpture of Linley, ﬁrst of all, the sculpture wasn’t at the grandmaster level of accuracy, and second of all, compared to when he was a Saint, Linley’s aura had completely changed. Thus, Hamelyn didn’t make any mental connection at all between the person in front of him and the legend of the continent, Linley.

“We just came for a look.” Linley laughed calmly. “Enough.

We will leave now.”

Linley spread out his divine earth power, including Ina and Wade within it. An earthen yellow light ﬂashed, and Linley’s group of six disappeared into the horizon. “This speed…”

Hamelyn stared, stupeﬁed. “He’s far faster than even my teacher…and Teacher Reynolds is a Deity-level expert. Who on earth are these people?”

The Baruch Empire had existed for nearly two thousand years now, and the holiest site in the empire was Dragonblood Castle. The successive generations of emperors, upon giving up the throne, almost all moved to live here at Dragonblood Castle. Dragonblood Castle had quite a few Deities, and also quite a few Saint-level magical beasts who guarded it.

Nobody dared to act wildly in Dragonblood Castle.

Dragonblood Castle had expanded long ago. By now, it was many times larger than it had been in the past. The ‘Adamantine Garden’ of Dragonblood Castle was where Wharton lived. Currently, in a grassy area of the Adamantine Garden, two young-looking men were seated in the meditative position, facing each other while drinking wine and chatting. “Taylor, what? You don’t want another woman??”

“Uncle Wharton, I’m tired.” The thick-eyebrowed, muscular youth was Tyalor. Although nearly two thousand years had passed, Taylor’s appearance had barely changed compared to the past. Right now, Taylor was sighing. “Uncle Wharton, we have eternal life, but our spouses? We have to just watch as our spouses age, then die. This sort of feeling is too painful.”

In the past two millennia, Taylor had taken two women as his wives in succession.

But these two wives had both died of old age, ﬁlling Taylor with the utmost of pain.

“Alas.” Wharton let out a low sigh as well. “I still remember how, that year, my big brother, for the sake of letting me marry Nina, did everything he could, even going so far as to duel Olivier in the arena. After a few centuries, even Nina was unable to resist the ﬂow of time…and it’s been nearly two thousand years since my big brother went to the Infernal Realm. Nina died more than a millennium ago.” Wharton laughed at himself. “Sometimes, eternal life is a painful thing.” Only upon becoming a Saint would one possess eternal life.

But becoming a Saint required talent and luck. To most commoners, it was too difﬁcult.

“Gates and the others were lucky.” Wharton let out a sigh. Of the ﬁve Barker brothers, Barker and Gates had married Rebecca and her sister, both of whom had very pure souls and thus were extremely suited and talented for training in Necromantic magic. After a hundred or so years, they had reached the Saint-level.

Only when both members in a couple were both in possession of eternal lifespan would things be ideal. If only one side possessed an eternal lifespan, then the result would be watching the other slowly age and die. This was indeed agonizing.

“Uncle Wharton, as I see it, we should go to the Infernal Realm sometime as well.” Taylor said. “Go to the Infernal Realm?”

Wharton nodded slightly. “In the Yulan Plane, although we have a great enmity against the Odin Empire, there’s nothing we can do. It can be said that there is nothing holding us here… after some more time passes, let’s go visit the Infernal Realm. It has been a long time since I’ve seen Big Bro. I truly wish to see him.”

“I want to see Father as well.” Taylor said softly.

“WHARTON! TAYLOR!” A voice echoed in the minds of Wharton and Taylor.

Wharton and Taylor seemed to have both been struck by lightning, staring at each other in disbelief. At the same time, they too sensed a powerful aura spreading out from the war training grounds in the front courtyard of Dragonblood Castle. Although this aura was powerful, it had such a familiar feeling to it. This was Linley’s aura!

“Swoosh!” “Swoosh!” Wharton and Taylor simultaneously transformed into streaks of lightning, ﬂying out at high speed.

Dragonblood Castle. The war training grounds.

Linley’s group of six was standing here. Linley was actively emanating his aura while greeting one familiar ﬁgure after another through his divine sense. However, when he used his divine sense to investigate, Linley discovered that many familiar ﬁgures of the past had disappeared, such as Grandpa Hiri, Uncle Hillman, Wharton’s wife Nina, Jenne…

“Are they all dead?” Linley wondered to himself.

Just because they weren’t at Dragonblood Castle didn’t necessarily mean that they were dead. But Linley, too, understood that the lifespan of normal humans who didn’t reach the Saint-level would generally reach at most three or four centuries. Five centuries was the utmost limit. Only by reaching the Saint-level would one possess eternal life. One ﬁgure after another ﬂew over at high speed from places throughout Dragonblood Castle.

“FATHER!” A deep voice rang out. Linley’s eyes lit up. It was Taylor.

“BIG BRO!” It was Wharton.

“Lord Linley.” The incredibly muscular Barker.

A large group of people ﬂew over at high speed, and in an instant, nearly a hundred had gathered here in the training grounds. Linley only recognized less than half of these people, and didn’t recognize the majority. However, upon seeing all those familiar faces, Linley couldn’t help but feel excited. These were his comrades, his friends, his family!

“Big Bro!” Wharton immediately gave Linley a tight, vicious bear hug. “Wharton.” Linley hugged his little brother as well, unable to refrain from feeling regretful.

“MASTER!” Linley turned to look. There was a man dressed in a long black robe. It was the transformed Haeru. Haeru was staring at Linley in excitement as well. So many years had gone by. As a King amongst magical beasts, Haeru felt extremely grateful towards Linley for what he had given him.

Wharton and Linley released each other. Wharton was completely unable to suppress his excitement. “Big Bro, I really didn’t expect you’d be back. We were just talking about going to the Infernal Realm to look for you. Big Bro…there are many people here you don’t recognize, right? Let me introduce them…this is Arnold’s son…”

Wharton, in one breath, introduced more than ten important people.

These people all stared at Linley, their eyes ﬁlled with shock, awe, and veneration. It was like they were staring at a titan from legends.

“Wade, come, meet your uncle. Also, this is your older brother, Taylor…” Linley was incomparably overjoyed right now.

Right at this moment…

“THIRD BRO!” A voice suddenly rang out from behind.

Linley turned to look.

It was a Demigod, dressed in a long black robe. Those intelligent eyes looked the same as they always had, only they appeared slightly older than before. This was the man who had been one of Linley’s closest friends…his Fourth Bro. Reynolds.

“Fourth Bro.” Linley immediately went to welcome him, tightly embracing his ‘Fourth Bro’, Reynolds.

“Third Bro.” Reynolds couldn’t help but shed tears as well.

They hadn’t met for nearly two thousand years. He had thought that they would never be able to meet again. Now that they saw each other, how could he not feel excited?

“Third Bro, it’s been so many years.” Reynolds was so excited, his entire body was trembling.

“Right.” Linley nodded repeatedly as well.

Linley immediately thought of Yale and George. He hurriedly asked, “Right, Fourth Bro, where’s the Boss and Second Bro? How are the two of them?” Linley had a hint of hope in his heart. After all, Yale and George were very talented as well. Maybe…maybe they had reached the Saint-level as well.

The chance was low, but Linley held out hope in his heart.

“All dead.” Reynolds voice sank. Linley was stunned.

“Dead…” Linley sighed.

Actually, Linley had mentally prepared himself in advance for this return. After all, he hadn’t come back in nearly two thousand years. Anyone not at the Saint-level would age and die, just from the passage of time. Becoming a Saint was extremely hard, after all. In the past, it was only because Delia had received Beirut’s gift, that divine spark, that she was able to become a Saint and then a Deity.

In truth, only a Saint should have been able to fuse with a divine spark. As for those who were not yet Saints, divine sparks weren’t of much use.

The reason why Delia’s training speed had risen so rapidly didn’t have anything to do with the divine spark itself. In truth, it was due to some special materials which coated that divine spark!

Because… That divine spark was no ordinary divine spark.

It must be understood that wind-type divine sparks should emanate a faint green aura. But on the day of the wedding, the divine spark which Delia received had no color at all. It was very ordinary! Actually, that divine spark was something which Beirut had reﬁned and reforged after using up quite a few treasures. The core of that spark was a divine spark, but the outside layer was of some precious materials which allowed Delia to more easily sense elemental essences.

And thus, she was able to quickly rise in power.

“However, they didn’t die of age.” Reynolds said in a low voice.

Linley was stunned. “What?”

“Big Bro, it’s best for us to go inside to talk about this.” Wharton said hurriedly.

Linley stared at Reynolds, who let out a sigh as well. “Third Bro, let’s go into the hall to slowly discuss this.”

Linley felt that things were a bit strange, but he tamped down his disquiet and questions, following Reynolds and Wharton into the castle, to the hall for discussing major events. Only twenty or so people actually entered the hall.

The other juniors were stopped and kept outside.

Within the great hall.

Linley’s family, Bebe’s family, Wharton, Taylor, Sasha, Zassler, and the Barker brothers were all present.

“Fourth Bro, what happened, exactly? You said the Boss and Second Bro didn’t die normal deaths?” Linley couldn’t help but speak out. “Right.”

Reynolds said in a low voice, “Third Bro, let us ﬁnish. Don’t grow impatient. You have to be calm!”

“Hurry up.” Linley couldn’t endure any longer.

Reynolds nodded. “Third Bro. At present, in the Yulan continent, there are only two Empires remaining. One is the Baruch Empire, while the other is the Odin Empire. As for the land west of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, where the Holy Union and the Dark Alliance used to rule, that has devolved into various duchies and kingdoms that aren’t worth mentioning.”

“Odin Empire?” Linley frowned.

“Right. The former O’Brien Empire, Yulan Empire, Rhine Empire, and Rohault Empire, as well as the great plains of the far east, have all been uniﬁed into the Odin Empire.” Reynolds said.

Linley couldn’t help but feel startled.

This Odin Empire took up more than half of the entire Yulan continent.

“Actually, not long after you left, Lord Beirut sent us a message through his divine sense, informing all Deities of some information. After that, those Deities gave up their plans of entering the Necropolis of the Gods and left to the Higher Planes or Divine Planes.” Reynolds said slowly. “As for the Yulan Empire and the O’Brien Empire, they were restored. Second Bro, ‘George’, became a pillar and an important ofﬁcial of the Yulan Empire, while Boss Yale worked hard for the Dawson Conglomerate…with our help, the Dawson Conglomerate truly absorbed the other two major trading unions, become the number one trading union of the Yulan continent.”

Linley just listened quietly. “But…our calm and peaceful lives lasted for just two centuries. And then, a person appeared!”

Reynolds said in a low voice, “His name is Odin. In just a single short year, he uniﬁed the various other Empires, and even wanted to annihilate our Baruch Empire. But when he attacked…fortunately, Lord Beirut appeared and stopped him with a rebuke. Ever since then, he’s not invaded so much as a single inch of the territory of our Baruch Empire. Based on the information we received from Lord Beirut, this Odin was also one of the ﬁve Kings of Gebados, and was nicknamed the ‘Vile King’.”

Chapter 7, Parting Words

“One of the ﬁve Kings?” Linley couldn’t help but narrow his eyes. Each of the ﬁve Kings of the Gebados Planar Prison was a supreme expert. Blueﬁre was one of the ﬁve Kings. Since Odin was titled the ‘Vile King’, on par with Blueﬁre, then Odin’s power was deﬁnitely at an astonishing level as well.

“The deaths of the Boss and of Second Bro have to do with him?” Linley couldn’t help but ask.

“Yes, Third Bro! You know that our Second Bro, George, was very talented in magic. In addition, he was fairly diligent in his training…a century after you left, he reached the Saint-level. He should have had eternal life, but…”

Reynolds’ face turned dark. Clearly, this ﬁlled his heart with boundless rage. However, Reynolds forced it down, so that he could continue to speak. “The ﬁrst time Odin attacked, he struck at the imperial capital of the Yulan Empire. With just a ﬂip of his hand…that Odin destroyed half of the imperial capital. In addition, he had a group of subordinates, all of whom were Deities!” “Odin issued an order. Everyone within the imperial capital at or above the Saint level was to be killed. No one was to be spared!”

“Second Bro, ‘George’, was killed there.” Reynolds continued to speak, but as he did, his tears began to fall.

Although Linley had mentally prepared himself, he still felt his head go dizzy. He still clearly remembered how of the four brothers, George was amiable, good-tempered, and yet always willing to share in the shouldering of any burdens. “Second Bro died, just like that?” Linley couldn’t believe it. George, who had always had such distant, lofty goals, had died?

How could Linley swallow his rage, after his close friend had been killing like this?

“Odin…must die.” Linley’s face was like iron.

“Big Bro.” Wharton said hurriedly.

“Third Bro.” Reynolds hurriedly called out as well.

“Reynolds, you, you said…” A trembling voice rang out. Delia, standing next to Linley, stared at Reynolds nervously, her eyes ﬁlled with fear and worry. “You said that everyone at or above the Saint level in the imperial capital was killed? What about my elder brother? How is my elder brother?”

In the Leon clan, aside from Delia, the only person to reach the Saint level was Dixie.

Over the course of two thousand years, those previous family members of hers had turned to dust long ago.

Delia truly hoped to see her elder brother, Dixie, on this return. The genius elder brother who had always taken care of her.

“Dixie?” Reynolds was stunned.

“Right, my brother! Is my brother still alive?” Delia’s entire body was trembling.

“Delia…” Linley couldn’t help but take Delia’s hand in his own. He could clearly sense how her hand was shaking.

“Dixie is dead!” Wharton said. “The ten Saints who were at the imperial capital were all killed, and Dixie was one of them! Odin and his subordinates were too vicious, and he even had Highgods serving him. There was no way such a powerful force could be resisted at all. How could any Saints ﬂee?”

Delia’s face instantly turned pale.

“My brother died?” Delia lowered her head, two streams of clear tears falling down her face.

“Delia..” Linley said hurriedly. Delia suddenly opened her eyes, grinding her teeth. “Odin. I must kill him!” Delia turned to look at Linley. “Linley…I must kill him, I must!!!”

“We must. We must.” Linley felt his own killing intent surge as well.

“No, don’t.” Taylor was absolutely frantic. “Mother, Father, don’t go! This Odin is truly too powerful. Back then, Odin even attacked Dragonblood Castle. It took Lord Beirut making an appearance to stop him. Lord Beirut said…that even in the Higher Planes, this Odin would be considered a top-tier expert.”

“Right.” Reynold said frantically as well. “Third Bro, no matter what, don’t put yourself at risk.”

“I remember Lord Beirut said something about a Seven Star Fiend. That this Odin could be considered a Seven Star Fiend.” Sasha said hurriedly as well. It was evident that they clearly remembered the scene of how Lord Beirut had appeared when Odin had attacked. They, too, were ﬁlled with the utmost of hatred towards Odin, but Lord Beirut had solemnly warned them of how powerful this Odin was, and that they would die if they fought him.

“Seven Star Fiend?” Linley’s gaze ﬂashed with cold light.

The nearby Bebe said angrily, “Even if he is an Asura, he will still die!”

Reynolds and the others didn’t understand the meaning of this. They didn’t understand what the terms ‘Seven Star ﬁend’ and ‘Asura’ entailed.

“Right. Boss Yale?” Linley suddenly thought of Yale.

Yale was a member of the Dawson Conglomerate. Odin had uniﬁed an empire, but what did Yale have to do with that? “Third Bro, ﬁrst calm down. Don’t act rashly out of anger.” Reynolds said hurriedly. As Reynolds and Wharton saw it, their biggest concern was that Linley would go insane and go try and make trouble for Odin. As they saw it…although Linley was a genius, he had only trained for two millennia, while that Odin was someone who was far more monstrously powerful than even the now-deceased Adkins.

“Fine. I won’t act impetuously. Speak, hurry.” Although Linley said these words, rage was blazing within his chest.

The death of Second Bro as well as that of Delia’s elder brother…they had to be avenged!

“Fine. I’ll speak.” Reynolds shut his eyes. He took a deep breath before opening them again, but tears began to uncontrollably appear within them nonetheless. “When Boss Yale was young, he didn’t work hard in his training, and he was also the least talented of us four brothers…and so he became stuck as an eighth rank magus. However, this didn’t prevent his becoming as the Chairman of the Conglomerate.”

Linley nodded slightly.

He remembered that Yale had once said that he dreamed of becoming the Chairman of the Dawson Conglomerate and swallowing up the other two trading guilds, becoming the single largest trading guild of the entire Yulan continent.

“That year, although the Yulan Empire and the O’Brien Empire were restored to power, they had too few experts and were too weak. In the entire Yulan continent…only the Baruch Empire could be considered a powerhouse.” Reynolds said slowly. “With our help, the Dawson Conglomerate naturally expanded nonstop, moving as easily as a ﬁsh does in water. The other two trading guilds were squeezed and nibbled down. In the end, they completely collapsed and were swallowed up by the Dawson Conglomerate. Boss Yale accomplished his goal and was extremely happy. Myself and Second Bro, along with Boss Yale, even had a special get together and celebration for this event.”

A drifting look was in Reynolds eyes.

“That year, the three of us celebrated together. We even sighed that it was unfortunate that you, Third Bro, weren’t here. Otherwise, the four of us would’ve been able to have a good get-together.”

Linley couldn’t help but feel a deeply buried part of his heart tremble. It was the deep recesses of his heart, where the love he bore for his brothers lay.

“When the three of us were together, everything was ﬁne. But…after we separated and went about our own business, not long afterwards the ‘Vile King’ Odin appeared. He ﬁrst showed off his brutal, domineering, unstoppable power by forcefully uniting the various empires into his ‘Odin Empire’. Reynolds said in a low voice. “But Odin wasn’t satisﬁed with just that. He took a fancy to the Dawson Conglomerate! Although the Dawson Conglomerate was just a merchant conglomerate, as the largest one in the continent…it had astonishingly great power secreted throughout the continent.”

Linley’s face became ugly to behold.

In the past, when the Dawson Conglomerate was just one of three major trading guilds, it was already very powerful. By the time it swallowed up the other two…Linley could imagine how formidable the hidden power of the Dawson Conglomerate was.

“One of Odin’s clones trains in the Edicts of Death.” Reynolds said somberly. “He easily took control over several major empires because he was able to spiritually dominate quite a few critical members of the various empires, and so he was able to easily unify the nations. As for Boss Yale…his soul was dominated as well.”

Linley couldn’t help but feel pain in his heart.

Boss Yale had been dominated once in the past as well. That time, Linley had rescued Boss Yale, but…this time, he wasn’t there. Nobody was there to rescue him.

“In a short year, with Boss Yale’s cooperation, the management structure of the Dawson Conglomerate was completely changed and replaced with Odin’s people. It can be said…that aside from Boss Yale, not a single member of the Dawnson clan remained, out of all the important, high-level members of the Dawson Conglomerate. They were all replaced by Odin’s men.” Reynolds’ voice was hoarse.

Reynolds suddenly stared at Linley, letting out a grief- stricken laugh. “Third Bro, do you know why Odin is known as the Vile King?”

Linley was stunned.

“why?” Linley said.

“Because he truly is vile! Not only does he have all sorts of evil techniques, he himself is an evil, vile person!” Reynolds was unable to control his voice. “After the Dawson Conglomerate fell under his control, that bastard actually controlled Yale and made him personally kill one member of the Dawson clan after another. These people included Boss Yale’s son, his wife, his descendants, his brothers…they all died. And Boss Yale personally killed them all.”

Linley’s heart grew cold. “Boss Yale no longer held any more value for him, but he didn’t just kill Boss Yale. He let Boss Yale regain his mind and his freedom!” Reynolds said in a low voice.

“This…that, that bastard! He has to die!” The nearby Ina couldn’t help but growl out as well.

Linley’s face was ashen.

“When Boss Yale regained his senses, he knew what he had done. Perhaps only an extremely few members of the Dawson clan were still alive; those who were in very distant, remote regions. The central members of the clan, however…Boss Yale’s relatives…he had killed them all, sparing none. Boss Yale was in such agony, he went insane…”

Reynolds’ body was trembling slightly.

Linley already felt as though countless knives were stabbing into his heart. “But that Odin sealed up Boss Yale’s mageforce, and then bound him and strung him up on a tree in the Odin Palace.” Reynolds sobbed, his tears pouring forth. “When bored, Odin would often go sit beneath the tree, drinking wine and enjoying the services of the palace made. When he listened to Boss Yale’s insane curses, he seemed to rather enjoy it…as though he enjoyed Boss Yale’s madness, his despair!”

Linley felt as though his head was about to explode.

Vile?

This wasn’t just ‘vile’. This was utterly perverted! Odin was a pervert!

After having stolen away the Dawson Conglomerate, which Yale had worked for all his life, he then had Yale kill his own relatives, then gave Yale his mind back! And Odin enjoyed listening to Yale’s curses, enjoyed Yale’s madness…

“When I learned this, I frantically hurried to that place.” Reynolds said bitterly. “Boss Yale barely had any life left in him. Odin was too powerful; he could’ve killed me with a single ﬁnger. So all I could do was secretly use my divine sense to enter Boss Yale’s mind and speak with him!”

“By then, Boss Yale’s mind was at the point of collapse! I am unable to imagine what sort of mental torment he must have felt during the time he had been hung up there. All I knew was that Boss Yale, ever so graceful and vigorous and carefree, was at the point of collapse.”

Linley was so angry, he could no longer speak. He just stared at Reynolds.

“When I sent out my divine sense, Boss Yale reacted, very slightly. But he just repeated the words, ‘I have sinned!’ ‘I have sinned!’” Reynolds’ voice trembled. “He begged me to kill him. He was hung there and his mageforce was sealed; he was unable to kill himself. He wanted me to kill him! To release him from it all!”

Linley’s body shook. “I agreed.” Reynolds said in a low voice. “Boss Yale was already insane. I had never seen him like that before.”

“Before he died, Boss Yale told me that Odin was extremely strong, far more powerful than the last Highgod, Adkins. Afterwards, he said one thing to me…‘Fourth Bro, no matter what, you and Third Bro are not to avenge me. Do not try to avenge me!” Reynolds’ face was covered with tears now.

Linley just stood there, stunned.

“You and Third Bro, no matter what, are not to avenge me.

Do not try to avenge me!!!”

Boss Yale’s dying shout seemed to echo in his ears. “BOOM!” Linley’s mind was utterly blank, but he felt as though an explosion had gone off within it.

“Aaaaaaah!” Linley knelt down on the ground, agonized, releasing a growling, agonized cry from his throat. “Third Bro.” Reynolds went to go lift Linley up.

He could imagine how agonized Linley was…because when Reynolds had seen Boss Yale and what terrible shape he had been in, Reynolds was utterly agonized as well. He had even killed Yale with his own hands, so as to grant Yale release.

Linley, kneeling there on the ground, lifted his head up. His eyes were red, and his entire body was shaking. He growled out, “Odin!!! I will deﬁnitely make him go insane from agony as well! I will make him go hysterical!!! Make him die!!!” Linley’s voice seemed to have been ground out from every single tooth in his mouth.

Chapter 8, Marvelous Treasures

“Third Bro, calm down!” Reynolds immediately shouted.

“Father!” Sasha and Taylor called out in terror as well.

They were afraid that after Linley learned of this matter, he would be unable to contain his rage and go attack Odin. Wharton, Reynolds, and the others all knew what it meant to be a peak Highgod expert. This was why despite Yale dying heartbroken and furious, before his death, he had instructed that Linley and Reynolds were not to avenge him!

It wasn’t that he, Yale, didn’t want revenge. It was that he was afraid that Linley and Reynolds would die because of him as well!

“Boss, let’s go kill him.” Bebe immediately charged outwards.

Linley suddenly stretched out his right hand, snatching Bebe.

Staring at him, Linley said, “Bebe, don’t be impetuous!” “Right. Don’t be rash.” Wharton said frantically as well. “Bebe, you and my brother need to calm down ﬁrst. If revenge was possible, we would’ve taken it long ago. But if we aren’t able to do so, the end result would just be that our lives are lost as well. It isn’t worth it. We have to endure. Endure!”

“Endure my ass!” Bebe roared furiously. “So what if he’s a Seven Star Fiend? Centuries ago, before the Boss made his breakthrough, he killed ﬁve Seven Star Fiends by himself, much less now! Forget Seven Star Fiend…even if that Odin is an Infernal Asura, the Boss and I don’t fear him!”

When Linley had advanced from being a God to a Highgod, his power had risen by several levels.

He now not only had a godspark weapon, he also had Sovereign’s Might to use in the event of any danger! And aside from Linley himself, Bebe’s innate divine ability, ‘Godeater’, was a monstrously powerful technique. Although Bebe wasn’t strong in his normal attacks, when executing his supreme, divine ability, his power was comparable to Beirut’s! If Linley and Bebe joined forces…how many people could possibly stop the two of them?

“What…what did you say?” Wharton was stunned.

“Before making a breakthrough? Killed ﬁve Seven Star Fiends?” Reynolds and everyone else was stunned.

Although they didn’t know much about what a ‘Seven Star Fiend’ truly represented, based on the way Beirut had said it, they all understood that Seven Star Fiends should stand at the peak of power amongst Highgods.

“Don’t worry. I’m conﬁdent in being able to kill Odin.” Linley said in a low voice. “If Bebe and I are incapable of killing Odin…Lord Beirut probably would’ve warned me about him back when we were in the Infernal Realm.” Beirut knew exactly what had happened back here in the Yulan continent. But Beirut hadn’t said anything about it.

Linley didn’t blame Beirut for Odin having tortured Yale. After all, Beirut couldn’t possibly have his divine sense spread out every moment of every day, paying attention to everything.

Nor did Linley blame Beirut for not having killed Odin in revenge!

“The reason he didn’t kill Odin was to let me do it myself.” A killing look appeared in Linley’s eyes.

“Third Bro, you are conﬁdent in being able to kill Odin?” Reynolds looked towards Linley disbelievingly.

“Big Bro.” Wharton was stunned as well, and he looked at Linley in amazed joy.

“Completely conﬁdent.” Linley’s voice was like ice. He then turned to look at Bebe. “Bebe, this Odin is nicknamed the ‘Vile King’. He tormented Boss Yale to the point of madness, to the point where life was worse than death. How can I allow this Odin to die so easily?” Only when a person was still alive would he fear terror and despair. Once a person died, that person would no longer feel a thing.

But how could a bit of fear be enough to cause the blazing embers of rage in Linley’s heart to subside? How could it allow Yale’s tormented soul to be at peace?

“Third Bro!” Reynolds suddenly said loudly.

Linley turned to look. Reynolds’ face was covered with tears, and in his eyes was an extremely complicated mixture of rage and delight. “Third Bro, you must avenge the Boss and Second Bro! You must! Let their wronged souls, in the Netherworld, ﬁnd peace!” Reynolds had wanted to take revenge for all these years, but he didn’t have the ability to do so.

He wasn’t willing to accept this!

But all he could do was hate himself for his inability! What could he do? With the little bit of power he possessed… he would probably die before even reaching Odin.

“Get revenge!” Reynolds stared at Linley, placing his hopes upon Linley’s shoulders.

“Don’t worry.” Linley suddenly turned to stare at Wharton. “Wharton, immediately go make some arrangements. Have all of our intelligence reports on Odin be sent over, including those regarding his subordinates. Have everything sent over.”

“Alright.” Wharton hurriedly went to make the arrangements.

Turning his head, Linley stared at the nearby Delia, whose face was covered in tears as well. In a low voice he said, “Delia, don’t worry. That Odin will deﬁnitely die, and his death will be agonizing. I swear it!”

The Baruch Empire had been founded nearly two thousand years ago, and so its intelligence agents were now spread throughout the entire Yulan continent. They even know what was going on within the Odin Empire’s imperial palace. In the past, the Baruch Empire had constantly been collecting intelligence reports regarding the Odin Empire. Now that Linley had given the order…

The many intelligence reports were organized, collated, then delivered to Linley’s table.

In but a single night, Linley made his preparations for vengeance.

Odin Empire. The capital city of Ides province. A lavish estate.

Within a ﬂower garden, a young noble youth dressed in luxurious robes was resting on a reclining sofa. Although it was a ‘sofa’, in reality, it was more like a bed. A beautiful maid was curled up on the bed as well, her clothes half-removed, revealing her snowy-white skin. As for the noble youth, his head was resting within the maid’s bosom.

“So slow.” The noble youth snorted unhappily.

Right at this moment, one beautiful young lady after another entered the ﬂower garden, along with a middle-aged man who looked like a housekeeper who barked, “Hurry up. Over there. Five of you in each line. Stand straight.” Twenty ﬁve attractive, slender young women.

These twenty ﬁve young women all stood there in lines, rather nervous.

“Your Highness, they are all present.” The housekeeper immediately walked over humbly and said in a respectful voice.

“Fine.” The young noble replied, but his gaze was ﬁxed on the twenty ﬁve women.

A wicked little smile appeared on his face. “They are indeed quite young, unlike those old maids of the Planar Prison who didn’t have any womanly airs at all.” With a wave of his hand, a ﬂying dart ﬂew out as he laughed loudly, “My pretty ladies, I’m going to play a game with you today. I’m going to blindly throw out this dart and whoever it hits, that person shall remove an article of clothing. Understood?”

The bodies of the twenty ﬁve women trembled, but none of them dared to resist.

“The dart won’t kill you.” The noble youth laughed softly.

He gave it a toss….

“Swoosh!” The dart ﬂew out like lightning, striking towards the group of twenty ﬁve young women. But in the blink of an eye, it then returned into the hand of that noble youth.

“Ah.” A weak, surprised cry. A hint of blood appeared on the chest of one of the young ladies.

“What fresh blood.” The noble youth extended is tongue, licking the fresh blood from the ﬂying dart, then laughed softly. “Undress.” He was conﬁdent in his skills. The darts would just barely slash open the skin of these ladies. Although it would hurt, at most there would be a hint of blood. Nobody would die.

The young lady’s body was trembling, but she still took off an article of clothing.

“Continue.” The noble youth once more threw out the ﬂying dart.

This ‘game’ continued nonstop. In but a few moments, each and every one of the twenty ﬁve women had undressed, all of them standing there, slick and naked, amidst the ﬂower garden. The housekeeper had quietly left long ago. He knew… that his Imperial Highness hated it when other men looked at his female playthings. His Imperial Highness could play with them, but if others were to watch…they would die.

The twenty ﬁve women stood there, naked and trembling, thin lines of blood ﬂowing from their bodies. The strange thing was, the bloody lines actually formed words.

“Whore.” “Love.” “Slut.”

Bloody words were on the bodies of every single woman.

This strange scene made it so that these women were all the more frightened, and unable to resist.

“Oh!” Seeing this, the noble youth suddenly grew so excited that his entire body began to tremble. “How wonderful. This is absolutely a work of art. Alright, ‘whore’, you come over. Yes, you, the one with the character for ‘whore’ on your body.” The noble youth played with the dart, which danced in the air as though it were alive.

The naked woman, terriﬁed, walked over one step at a time.

Right at this moment… “Whoosh!” Suddenly, a wild wind stirred, and the clothes on the ground suddenly ﬂew up, wrapping themselves around those twenty ﬁve women. At the same time, the twenty ﬁve women, along with the serving maid next to the noble youth, entered a dreamy, dazed state, losing all consciousness.

“Eh?” The noble youth turned to look, his gaze growing sharp as a dagger.

A brown-haired man had suddenly appeared, dressed in a white suit and with white ribbons wrapped in his hair. He was walking forward, one step at a time.

“Who are you?” The noble youth’s face changed.

“Odin is your father, right?” Linley said calmly.

“If you know this, how dare you be so arrogant?” The noble youth said, but his body was already moving.

“Rumble…” A strange soul ripple spread out. The eyes of the noble youth instantly became dull and lifeless as he entered a dazed state. This was the supreme support technique, the ‘Spiritual Chaos’ component to Linley’s Blackstone Space. When Linley had been a God, he was already capable of making ordinary Highgods enter a stupor.

And now?

“A kid who relied on fusing with a divine spark to become a Highgod thinks that he can run from me?” Linley cast him a calm glance.

Linley stretched his hand out. With a ‘slash’ sound, he drove his hand into the youth’s skull, and a surge of divine earth power instantly reduced the contents of the youth’s skull to mush.

“Time for the next one.” Linley picked up the noble youth’s corpse. With a ﬂicker, his body disappeared. Not long after Linley left, the women regained their consciousness, but they were completely lost and puzzled. That housekeeper wasn’t too concerned; he knew that his Imperial Highness was a Highgod, and that in the entire Yulan continent, there wasn’t much who could threaten him. He thought that his Imperial Highness had suddenly gone to take care of some business.

The Odin Empire. The imperial capital. This was a city that had been rebuilt atop the ruins of the former imperial capital of the Yulan Empire. The imperial palace was particularly majestic and tightly guarded. Today, the imperial capital of the Odin Empire was particularly rowdy…because a delegation of Envoys from the Baruch Empire had come to pay their respects to his Imperial Majesty, Odin. Ever since the founding of the Odin Empire a thousand years ago, the relationship between the two Empires had been extremely tense.

But now, Envoys had actually been sent to pay their respects to Emperor Odin. This was quite a rare occasion.

The Odin empire. The imperial palace. The main hall. The senior ministers of the empire were all standing below the throne, smiles on their faces. As they saw it, for the Baruch Empire to send Envoys here was a show of subservience. This gave them a feeling of having dominated the Baruch Empire.

“Your Imperial Majesty, the Envoys are already outside the palace.” The palace attendant said respectfully.

“Haha…let them enter.” Odin, seated on the throne, laughed loudly as he spoke. Odin was someone who cared deeply about face, who cared greatly about perfection. He liked being above everyone else, liked making countless others look up to him. He liked the feeling of controlling someone’s fate in his hands…and he loved to toy with people.

To be able to control the joy, the rage, and the grief of others…this was something that made him very delighted and very happy.

“Almighty Emperor Odin, we are here representing the Emperor of the Baruch Empire and conveying his most sincere greetings.” The leading Envoy of the Baruch Empire bowed slightly, then continued, “On this visit, our Baruch Empire has prepared two marvelous treasures to offer you, Emperor Odin!”

A hint of a smile appeared on Odin’s face. “Bring it up for me to look at.”

Immediately…

The envoys brought two large chests in from outside the main hall, letting them rest heavily against the ﬂoor of the palace.

“Open them.” Odin laughed calmly.

“Emperor Odin, please take a look.” The Envoy opened one of the large chests, and as he did, shocked gasps could be heard throughout the main hall. As for Emperor Odin, seated on his throne, when he saw the ‘treasure’ within the chest, his face immediately changed. “Niemoller [Ni’mo’la]! No!” Niemoller was Odin’s one and only brother. “This…this…” The ministers in the hall were all shocked, not knowing what to say.

The Envoy just laughed cold as he opened the other chest.

“Clang!” The lid of the chest swung upon, then clanged against the ﬂoor.

Odin felt his heart clench violently, and he stared ﬁxedly at the corpse within the chest. “Son! My son!” Odin couldn’t believe it. He shook his head repeatedly.

Life in the Gebados Planar Prison was extremely dangerous. When Odin had entered it, he was a weakling as well. Although he was wild, although he liked to toy with others, although he liked to kill…he didn’t wish for his loved ones to die. Throughout all those years he had spent in the Planar Prison, he had always protected his son and his brother!

This time, they had passed through that dangerous weakness in the spatial walls and had returned to the Yulan continent.

Passing through a weakness in the spatial walls was something which had to do with the amount of energy one possessed. The strength of the spatial bindings was variable, and the more energy one had, the stronger the spatial bindings were and the harder to break through them. The spatial bindings didn’t have much to do with insight into any profound mysteries; after all, insight was illusory and immaterial.

The strength of the bindings facing ordinary Highgods and Seven Star Fiends was the same, when they attempted to pass through a spatial weakness.

He had only taken two Highgods with him.

One was his son. The other was his brother. He had risked his life to take the two of them with him, and they had managed to ﬂee the prison. As for his other subordinates he had brought, they were only Gods and Demigods. For him to be willing to risk his own life to bring these two with him made it obvious how much he cared about them. But today… Both his brother and his son had died!

Their corpses were right here in front of him.

He had been very careful in the Planar Prison, but in the Yulan continent, aside from his own forces, the only Highgod present was Beirut. There were no other Highgods. He didn’t believe his brother and son would ever be in any danger. But today…their corpses were in chests in front of him.

“No…no….” Odin bellowed in rage.

“Seize him!” Odin stared viciously at that Envoy.

Immediately, many soldiers ﬂooded forward, surrounding those Envoys.

With but a ﬂicker, Odin’s body appeared next to the two chests. He stared at the corpse in the right chest, then at the corpse in the left chest, his face like iron. “Niemoller! Chester [Qie’si’te]! You…how could you…” His entire body was trembling, and not a hint of blood could be seen in his face.

“My brother. My son! Don’t worry. I will deﬁnitely avenge you. Deﬁnitely!!! I will make them regret it. I will make their lives worse than death!!!”

Odin turned suddenly, staring at the Envoy.

“Tell me who killed them.” Odin roared. He knew very well that only a Highgod could have killed his son and brother.

“Hmph!” The Envoy just let out a cold snort.

“Me!” An icy voice rang out in the main hall.

Instantly, everyone in the main hall, Odin included, turned to look. A ﬁgure had suddenly appeared outside of the main hall. This person was striding into the hall, one step at a time, the soldiers by his side completely unable to block him. He wore white mourning ribbons in his hair, and was dressed in ceremonial white robes. Seeing this, the ministers in the hall were all stunned…this clearly was a ceremonial mourning outﬁt meant for mourning deceased family members.

Odin stared at Linley, his eyes spitting ﬁre.

“Who are you?” Odin growled.

“If you have decent memory, you should remember that you once killed two people. One was my second brother, while the other was my elder brother!” Linley said in a soft voice.

He hadn’t appeared for nearly two thousand years. There was nobody who recognized him today.

Odin frowned, completely unable to tell who this person was. “It seems you really have killed quite a few people.”

Linley stared at him coldly. “Listen up. I…am Linley Baruch!”

The ministers in the great hall were all shocked. They stared at Linley in disbelief. This youth dressed in ceremonial mourning robes was actually the founding emperor of the Baruch Empire, a ﬁgure of legend in the history of the Yulan Empire…Linley!

Chapter 9, Battle!

“Linley Baruch?” Odin immediately knew who this person was. Linley’s reputation in the Yulan continent was simply too great. In terms of status, he was on a higher level than even the War God and the High Priest had been on in the past. After all, Linley’s accomplishments were simply too legendary.

Odin’s face was ashen, and he stared ﬁxedly at Linley, grinding out one word at a time, “You dare to come!”

“If I don’t come, how am I going to kill you?” Linley’s voice was like ice.

“Ha..haha…” Odin laughed from sheer rage.

The deaths of his brother and his son had caused Odin’s rage to rise to the heavens. In addition, he knew what Linley had accomplished. Nearly two thousand years ago, Linley had just become a Deity. As Odin saw it, no matter how great a genius Linley was, he would at most be able to become a Highgod. To fuse profound mysteries?

That wasn’t something that could be done in such a short period of time.

In the instant in which Odin laughed from rage, his entire body transformed into a blur, instantly appearing before Linley. With a ‘crunch’ sound, Linley’s body was struck and sent ﬂying outside of the palace. Odin let out a cold laugh towards the outside of the palace, then ﬂew out as well.

“Linley and Emperor Odin are battling…”

Immediately, all of the ministers within the hall ﬂooded outwards. Even many of the palace maids and attendants ran out as well. All of them looked about wildly and also towards the skies, hoping to see Linley and Odin. But they saw nothing.

“His Imperial Majesty against Grandmaster Linley…who do you think will win?” The ministers discussed this amongst each other. “With a wave of his hand, his Imperial Majesty destroyed half of the imperial capital of the Yulan Empire. Given his power…he will deﬁnitely win.”

“Grandmaster Linley has disappeared for two thousand years. Given his dominating talent, he’s deﬁnitely grown even more powerful.”

Just as the many ministers were chatting amongst each other, suddenly, a terrifying explosive sound rang out from the corner of the imperial palace.

BOOM!

From afar, a palace suddenly blew apart, sending countless pieces of rocks and tiles shooting everywhere at high speed. When these pieces of rocks smashed into the palace walls hundreds of meters away, they smashed giant holes into them. Countless miserable cries could be heard as well as many helpless maids and attendants were struck by then. Some had their heads smashed apart, others had their limbs severed… But the ministers continued to stare into the skies.

As for those Envoys who were being guarded by the palace guards, they were watching as well.

In the air above the Odin Empire’s imperial palace, Linley and Odin had come to a pause. Linley was in full Dragonform, his entire body covered with draconic scales. He stared coldly at Odin with his dark golden eyes. As for Odin, a look of disbelief was on his face. “Imp…impossible. Impossible!”

The exchange of blows from earlier had completely stunned Odin.

“Material attacks?” Linley said coldly. “I understand that you are specialized in the Edicts of Death. Why don’t you use those attacks?” Linley realized through the exchange of blows with Odin that this person was only using wind-type Laws, and was emanating a wind-type aura as well, with no hint of a Death- type aura.

Based on what Linley knew… This Odin, reputed to be the ‘Vile King’, was an expert who specialized in the Edicts of Death.

Odin gritted his teeth, staring ﬁxed at Linley. “Against you, I don’t need it! I’ll let you know…what regret is!” After speaking, his body suddenly moved as a tornado sprang into being out of nowhere. Odin, in the center of the tornado, charged towards Linley with an aura of power that seemed capable of destroying the world, landing a powerful knife-edge palm blow against Linley…

“Crackle…”

A clearly visible crack in space appeared…but this was a material plane. Highgods were capable of easily shattering space here.

“Laughable.” Linley didn’t even dodge. He just charged at Odin, allowing this ‘knife-edge palm’ to land on his body. “CLANG!”

When the knife-edge palm blow landed on Linley’s body, a metallic ringing sound could be heard. A faint white smudge appeared on Linley’s draconic scales, but that was it. This absolutely stunned Odin, leaving him gaping. But Linley seized the opportunity to reach out with his draconic claws, grabbing Odin by his right shoulder and giving it a vicious twist…

Riiiiip.

Blood and ﬂesh ﬂew everywhere, as the right arm was directly ripped off.

“Whoosh!” The draconic tail came sweeping over as well, moving as fast as lightning.

Odin hurriedly dodged, but despite how fast he moved, a deep wound was left upon his waist, with fresh blood dripping out of it. Odin stared at Linley, stunned. “How can your body be so…” He muttered, as his wounds quickly healed. Only, it took a bit of time for his severed arm to grow out.

“Too weak. Too weak!”

Linley said calmly. At the same time, he released his right hand, allowed the torn-off right arm of Odin’s to fall down from the skies, smashing into pieces on the surface of the imperial palace. The material attack Odin had launched, the one which had created the tornado, had caused quite a bit of destruction in the imperial palace. Those ministers had their faces smudged with dirt and ash, and they were hiding behind the protection of the palace guards.

“Impossible!” Odin bellowed, charging forward once again. Odin’s entire body transformed into a blurry sword-shape, and the illusory greatsword chopped directly at Linley.

Linley let out a cold, calm laugh. His speed suddenly increased dramatically as he dodged this sword attack, while at the same time delivering a mighty blow with his claws to Odin’s face. A large chunk of ﬂesh was ripped off of Odin’s face, and he was knocked ﬂying backwards. “Too slow as well.” Linley continued. After having become a Highgod, Linley’s speed had improved dramatically as well, especially given how powerful his draconic body was. His speed was vastly superior to Odin’s divine wind clone. Odin wasn’t able to ﬁght back at all; after all, Odin was only using

his divine wind clone at present, not his strongest Death-type clone.

Odin turned to stare at Linley, his eyes ﬁlled with shock and rage. He wasn’t able to accept this!

“How can he be so strong?” Odin couldn’t believe it.

“Where is your Death-type clone?” Even as Linley’s words came out, Linley himself appeared before Odin, launching out his right leg in a kick that was like a decapitating blade towards Odin’s neck. Terriﬁed, Odin frantically dodged backwards, but although he was able to dodge the kick, and before he even had the chance to take a breath, with a ‘bang’ sound, Odin was slashed by Linley’s draconic tail, which slammed against his waist. Odin’s body was bisected into two. His bones and his organs all came ﬂooding out from his upper torso.

The upper half of his body was knocked ﬂying back.

“Aren’t you supposed to be very powerful?” Linley’s voice rang out.

“Bang!” Linley’s ﬁst smashed against Odin’s chest, which split open like mud, caving in at Linley’s blow, fresh blood spewing out. However, Odin’s lower torso quickly began to grow out, and his left arm swung violently against Linley’s body.

“Aren’t you supposed to be the ‘Vile King’?”

“Bang!” A leg landed against that left arm, sending Odin ﬂying away yet again.

“Aren’t you supposed to make me know what regret is?” Linley landed a palm against Odin’s head, and Odin was shot out like an arrow, smashing downwards with a ‘bang’ into the stone ﬂoor, causing the entire ground to shake and split apart, while Odin himself was completely submerged into it.

Linley slowly descended, landing on the ground.

“Come on. If you aren’t dead, that is.” Linley said calmly.

From the very beginning, Linley had refrained from using killing blows. If Odin were to die so easily, that would be too merciful towards him. Linley clearly remembered how Odin had tormented his Boss Yale.

There were quite a few people watching this battle, and there were tens of Deity-level experts in the imperial palace of the Odin Empire. These were all Odin’s subordinates. They were watching in disbelief…their invincible ‘Vile King’ was being utterly trampled, without being able to ﬁght back at all. “His Imperial Majesty….” The senior ministers were all stupeﬁed as well.

“Hmph. Your Odin Empire is ﬁnished!” Those surrounded Envoys of the Baruch Empire raised their heads high.

At this moment, a group of people watching this battle from afar in the sky ﬂew over as well. It was Bebe, Wharton, Delia, Taylor, and some others. They all ﬂew into the imperial palace. To them, the imperial palace was a place where they could roam about as they pleased. Nobody was able to stop them.

Reynolds, watching this battle, couldn’t help but shed tears. “Boss. Second Bro. Odin is going to die. Your deaths will be avenged!”

Right now, in the center of this ‘arena’, the earth lay cracked and shattered. A ﬁgure slowly crawled out from within. It was Odin. Odin’s body was now completely repaired, but his eyes were still ﬁlled with rage and disbelief.

“Any other ‘ultimate attacks’?” Linley laughed coldly.

As he spoke, Linley’s body suddenly advanced at such speed that although Odin struggled to dodge, Linley’s leg ﬂashed out and kicked him viciously in his crotch. An explosive, ripping sound could be heard, followed by Odin’s anguished howl as he was sent ﬂying upwards before landing on the ground again.

“Where is your Death-type clone?” Linley stared at him emotionlessly. “What, would you rather sacriﬁce your divine wind clone than let your Death-type clone come out?” As Linley saw it, this clone of Odin’s wasn’t very strong. Linley’s true target was Odin’s Death-type clone.”

“You…you…” Odin stared towards Linley with utter hatred.

He wanted to kill Linley, but he wasn’t able to.

“Linley. You are vicious. You are a piece of work!” Odin said with fury. “But you won’t be able to kill me!” With a bellow, Odin instantly transformed into thousands of doppelgangers, all of which ﬂed wildly every which way. This was the ‘Doppelganger’ technique of the Laws of the Wind. Seeing this, Linley didn’t even move.

Suddenly…

A blurry earthen yellow aura instantly spread out to a diameter of a thousand meters, and a terrifying gravitational pull was instantly applied to all of Odin’s doppelgangers. But of course, the other people within this area, such as the maids, servants, Reynolds, Bebe, and the others weren’t affected by it at all. “Bang.” “Bang.” A series of explosions could be heard as those doppelgangers began to implode from the terrifying pressure! Explosive bursts of energy rocked the grounds of the imperial palace, and the palace walls were once more damaged by it. The scene was one of utter chaos.

Linley’s most powerful technique…Blackstone Space! The gravity was centered towards Linley!

The only one of Odin’s bodies which had yet to explode was his divine wind clone. This was normal. After having become a Highgod, Linley’s Blackstone Space had risen tenfold in power, far greater than it had been in the past. In such a terrifyingly powerful area of gravity, even Seven Star Fiends would ﬁnd it hard to resist. If a body was too weak, it wouldn’t just sink downwards. It would…

Collapse and implode!

Bodies that were formed purely from energy had to be stable; if the stability was impacted and unable to withstand such a powerful gravity, the only result was collapse and explosion.

“Crackle…” Odin frantically tried to resist the gravitational pull, but his body continued to be drawn towards Linley’s.

“This…this…” Odin didn’t dare believe it.

“What, you still aren’t going to reveal your Death-type clone?” Linley laughed coldly. He had already sent out his divine sense, encompassing the entire Yulan continent. But Linley wasn’t able to ﬁnd or sense the aura of Odin’s Death- type clone.

“I admire you.” Odin returned to his icy calm. “In two thousand years, you’ve become so very powerful. Your Gravitational Space is indeed formidable. Go ahead and kill me…” Odin actually chose not to ﬁght back. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to; it was that he understood he wasn’t able to.

Thus, he chose death!

“You want to die?”

Linley snickered. “Have you forgotten what you did to my big brother, Yale?”

Odin’s face had a stunned look on it.

“Rumble…” Spiritual energy came sweeping out, and the ‘Spiritual Chaos’ affect was applied to Odin’s soul. Linley’s ‘Spiritual chaos’ technique was extremely monstrous by now… as a Highgod, he was able to cause ordinary Five Star Fiends and Six Star Fiends to enter a state of stupor.

And indeed…

Odin’s eyes grew dim and lifeless.

“So indeed, he only has the power of a Five Star Fiend. At most, he just barely approaches the power of a Six Star Fiend.” Linley’s appearance changed as he returned to human form, while at the same time, those white funeral robes appeared around him once more.

Odin just stood there dumbly.

Linley turned to look, sweeping the imperial palace with his gaze, then said in a clear voice, “Odin is no longer able to ﬁght back.” As he spoke, Linley gave Odin a kick, and Odin, like a puppet, was kicked into the ground, not moving at all. The experts who saw this all felt stunned. Clearly…Odin was unconscious.

“Now…the eighty two Deities within the imperial palace are all to come out. If you do not, the next to die will be you!” Linley’s cold voice rang out, while he also spoke out with his divine sense, allowing it to enter the minds of those eighty two. Those eighty two were originally the subordinates of Odin. Now, terriﬁed, they immediately ﬂew over.

Linley’s gaze turned towards Odin.

“Die? I will make sure you die in agony and humiliation.” Linley’s gaze was as cold and emotionless as ice.

Chapter 10, The Manner of Death

Dozens of ﬁgures ﬂew over in the air in an impressive host, and the tens of Deities already present in the imperial palace ﬂew over as well, terriﬁed. In a short period of time, all eighty two Deities were assembled. Frightened and nervous, they stared at Linley. They didn’t know…what Linley was going to do to them.

They were frustrated as well. How could Linley be so powerful? They had come with Odin from the Planar Prison to the Yulan continent, but they had never held the ‘legendary’ Linley in any regard.

But it seemed…as though Linley was unreasonably strong.

“Lord Linley, these things have nothing to do with us. We just obeyed the orders of Lord Odin.” One of them, a green- haired, middle-aged man said hurriedly.

“It had nothing to do with us. Lord Linley, spare our lives.” The eighty two all begged for mercy. Having seen Linley’s power, they understood that Linley was completely capable of just using his divine sense to attack all eighty two of them. Not a single one of them would escape.

“Shut your mouths.” Linley said emotionlessly.

Immediately, all of the eighty two Deities fell silent, not daring to say a word. The entire devastated imperial palace was deathly silent. Those ministers, palace attendants, maids, and guards who stood in the distance were in a state of panic as well. All these years…they had known that the experts under the control of Odin were all exceedingly strong.

But today, Odin had been beaten like a dog and was now lying on the ground. Those eighty two ﬁgures were standing there like a pack of slaves, not daring to make a sound. And the person who had caused all this was that brown-haired man!

“Fourth Bro. Delia. If you want to take revenge, do what you please to him.” Linley sent mentally. Linley had no other options. He was unable to seal this clone’s divine power, because this person was a Highgod! Linley had to rely on the black stone in order to send Odin into a dazed stupor.

“This bastard!” Reynolds bellowed, and he ﬂashed forward, moving like lightning. His entire body began to blaze with ﬂames, and his right leg spun out like a tornado. “Bang!” It violently clashed against Odin’s waist, smashing Odin and sending him rolling forward on the ground into the distance, colliding with a distant stone pillar of the devastated palace. As Odin’s body smashed into the stone pillar, the stone pillar collapsed as well.

“Bastard. Bastard!” Reynolds muttered, his eyes crimson as he stared at Odin. He ﬂew over once more, stepping on Odin repeatedly.

“Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!”

Reynolds was giving vent to his rage. As for Linley, he just emotionlessly watched this happen. At the same time, a ball of water ﬂoated out from Linley’s forehead, and a blurry blue light reﬂected the events in the distance. Linley was using his divine water clone to execute the scryer technique, and was recording these events.

“Reynolds.” Delia growled.

Reynolds took a breather, turning to look at Delia, then stepping away to make way for her. As for Delia, she held the Spear of Cortez in her hands, then stabbed it viciously at Odin’s body. Chest, legs, thigh, arms, waist…Delia savagely used the spear to stab him while cursing nonstop at him, and as she did, her tears began to fall as well. “Big Brother…”

Dixie had died. No matter what sort of revenge she took, Delia still was unable to accept it.

“Delia, she…” Linley could completely imagine what sort of pain Delia was in…because he was suffering that same pain! Death wasn’t frightening, in and of itself, but to die the way Yale had, after having been tortured to the point of insanity? That was terrifying. “No matter what we do to torture this Odin, it won’t be enough. Won’t be enough!!! And his Death- type clone…I will deﬁnitely destroy it as well!”

“How vicious.” Those eighty two distant Deities watched as Delia and Reynolds took their vengeance, and their hearts quailed as they watched.

Reynolds and Delia were both taking a breather.

“The eighty two of you.” Linley turned to look at them.

“Lord Linley.” The eighty two were extremely respectful.

Linley said icily, “Each of you, come up with a method to humiliate Odin. Remember – humiliate! Just stabbing him with a sword isn’t enough! If someone is unable to come up with something…I will kill that person.”

The eighty two Deities were stunned. “Oh?” Linley’s gaze was like an icy dagger as he swept them with his eyes. “Would you prefer death instead?”

The eighty two Deities stared at each other. Odin was their leader, after all. But after hesitating slightly, they all began to walk towards Odin. They knew their own limits…and they could tell that Odin was deﬁnitely going to die. Since he was going to die, humiliating him wasn’t a big deal.

“Odin, who would’ve thought that you’d have a day like this?” One of the Deities said, stabbing Odin viciously in the throat.

“Don’t kill him!” Linley growled.

The most important part was the head, as that was where the divine spark was located.

“Remember. Humiliate him!” Linley said coldly. “You call that humiliation! Not enough!” These Deities looked at Linley, and then, gritting their teeth, they began to use all sorts of methods to humiliate him, either using the spears to stab at Odin’s nether regions, or even tearing his clothes off. Moments later…Odin’s body had become utterly horriﬁc to behold. But seeing this, Linley didn’t feel satisﬁed at all.

His eyes were still like ice.

“Big Bro, everything’s ready.” A voice rang out from behind.

It was Wharton.

“Bring those people over.” Linley ordered.

Immediately, a group of people began walking over from the various shattered walls of the palace. They were…beggars! These were beggars that had been summoned over from all over the imperial capital. Although the imperial capital was fabulously rich, it had its poor regions as well, along with a large number of beggars. Hundreds of ﬁlthy beggars had entered the imperial palace. “Oho, so this is the imperial palace.” The eyes of the beggars were all shining.

“Go. Please, use your imagination to come up with ways to humiliate that person on the ground. Each of you will receive a gold coin, and whoever does well will be gifted with a hundred additional gold coins.” The youthful looking man leading these beggars said in a clear voice.

“A hundred gold coins?”

The eyes of the beggars lit up.

“Haha, humiliate someone? Easy.” A big fellow rushed forward.

“Those hundred gold coins are deﬁnitely mine.”

The hundreds of beggars, all wanting to be ﬁrst and none wanting to be last, charged forward. They had no idea that the person on the ground was a Highgod. No idea that this was the emperor of the Odin Empire. All they knew…was that if they performed well, they would receive a hundred gold coins. To these beggars, a hundred gold coins was a sum of money which could make them go crazy.

“All of you, come.” The youthful leader immediately barked.

“Haha…” The ﬁrst beggar immediately urinated into Odin’s mouth.

“That’s nothing.” The second beggar sneered, walking to Odin as well.

One beggar after another came forward, summoning all of their imaginations in their desire to win the hundred gold coins, and using all sorts of ways to humiliate this person.

“This…this…” Seeing this, the eighty two Highgods were in shock, and their faces turned white. Compared to these beggars, they were simply too gentle; what they did could only be considered ‘punishing’. What these beggars were doing truly caused one to be in a state worse than death.

“Hey, this fellow’s skin is so tough. I’m not able to cut it open no matter what I do!” One beggar called out. This beggar was holding a needle, as though wanting to do something to punish him, but unfortunately…this was the body of a Highgod, after all. Although Odin didn’t specialize in body training, his body was still made from divine power.

How could an ordinary beggar possibly pierce the skin of a body formed from divine power?

“Next.” The young man said emotionlessly.

“I should be the winner. Those hundred coins should be mine. I haven’t even had the chance to use my skills.” The needle-holding beggar immediately called out. “F*ck off.” A beggar in the rear pushed him aside. “Haha, it’s daddy’s turn now.” As he spoke, he ﬂipped Odin’s body over…

“That’s…going a bit too far.” Some of the ministers weren’t even able to watch any further.”

But Linley just watched this emotionlessly, not a single hint of an expression on his face. Linley had to admit…these techniques did go a bit too far, and were enough to make a person go insane from humiliation. But he was only humiliating a single person, Odin. As for Odin? He destroyed all of the core members of the Dawson Conglomerate, forcing Yale to kill his own family.

In addition, he didn’t even let Yale die; he tormented Yale instead.

Compared to this, what was happening to Odin was quite ‘benevolent’.

“Let them go.” Linley said calmly.

“Yes.” The youth said respectfully, immediately leading the beggars away.

Linley stared at the ﬁlthy, naked, bloodstained body wearing tattered clothes, but felt no pity in his heart at all. At the same time, Linley retracted his spiritual power, but expanded his Blackstone Space once more, trapping Odin within.

Odin’s eyes opened!

“Eh?” Odin looked at himself. His face immediately changed.

“Bang!” Divine wind power swirled, and Odin’s body became completely puriﬁed, and a new set of robes appeared as well.

Odin forced himself to his feet, staring at Linley. “What did you do to me?” “What did I do?” Linley laughed calmly. “Why don’t you watch for yourself as to what was done” With but a thought, Linley made the crystal ball above his head shoot out rays of blue light, forming a massive image in the air above them. The images began to move, replaying what had just happened.

Linley naturally had recorded it all.

After all, Odin had been in a state of spiritual stupor. If he didn’t know what had happened, how could Odin be tormented by it?

“This…” Odin’s face changed, and he couldn’t help but look towards Reynolds and Delia.

The scryer recording had ﬁnished displaying the images of what Delia and Reynolds had done. Next, it began to broadcast what the eighty two Deities had done. The tactics the eighty two Deities had used were far more excessive. Odin’s face was ashen, and he couldn’t help but turn to stare at those eighty two men. “You had the gall!” The group of Deities couldn’t help but feel startled…but then they recovered, and one laughed, “Hmph, Odin, you are about to die. What are you being so arrogant for?”

“You…” Watching the various events occur, Odin grew speechless from rage.

“Odin, keep watching. The best part has yet to start.” Linley said calmly.

In the scryer recording, the beggars had appeared.

Odin’s eyes turned round. “Beggars?” He, Odin, was a venerable, exalted Highgod. To Highgods, even Saints were like ants. As for ordinary mortals, they were to be killed as he pleased…people as lowly as these beggars, Odin couldn’t even be bothered to look at.

He, a Highgod, to be spat on by mortal beggars? He thought he might go insane. But the scryer recordings showed something even worse than he imagined.

The ﬁrst beggar had urinated into his mouth.

Odin’s ﬁsts were clenched, and his face ﬁrst turned ashen, then turned black, before turning red. His eyes seemed to spit ﬁre at the images.

Those beggars, for the sake of the hundred gold coins, had used up all of their imagination, each one more excessive than the last. The scenes were utterly depraved and utterly disgusting. Odin was a person who pursued perfect and who cared deeply about his face. But what was happening in the scryer recordings was even worse to him than killing him. Odin’s entire body was trembling, and his mind was in a state of chaos.

Humiliation!

Incomparable humiliation!

Worse than death!

“Linley, you will deﬁnitely die in my hands. Deﬁnitely!!!” Odin stared at Linley with a deathly gaze.

“Odin, today’s just the ﬁrst day. We’ll continue tomorrow.” Linley said calmly.

Odin was so angry that a hint of blood came out from his lips.

But then, Odin suddenly turned his head to the skies, laughing wildly. “Haha…you are vicious. Vicious!” Odin stared at Linley, as though he wanted to skin Linley alive. “Linley, I have to say though…your skill in humiliating someone is still rather lacking. Compared to what I did to your older brother, Yale? You are a long way off! Do you know how I tortured him, when I hung him up on that tree in the palace? Haha, I imagine…that he wouldn’t dare tell anyone of it. He wouldn’t even dare think about it. Haha…” Although he was saying this, Odin had already been tormented to the brink of madness. Linley just stared at him coldly.

“No matter how incredible you are, all you will be able to do is destroy my divine wind clone. My most important body is my Death-type clone. If my divine wind clone is destroyed, it is destroyed. It doesn’t matter. If my son dies, I’ll have another one. Haha…let me tell you this. My Death-type clone went to the Netherworld long ago. If you have the ability to do so, come ﬁnd me in the Netherworld! Haha, as for further humiliating me…haha, in your dreams!”

“BANG!”

While wildly laughing, Odin’s body suddenly exploded.

“Self-explosion?” The surrounding group of experts were all stunned. None of them had imagined that Odin would actually choose to die like this. Clearly, Odin was no longer able to withstand this sort of torment and humiliation, and had chosen suicide instead.

Linley’s gaze was like ice.

“The Netherworld?” Linley murmured to himself.

Chapter 11, A Pleasant Surprise

Odin’s sudden self-detonation caused the eighty two Deities to be shocked. They all waited nervously.

Suddenly…

Linley turned to look towards them. The eighty two Deities immediately said, “Lord Linley, we completely obeyed your orders. Please spare us.” “What we did in the past, we did at the orders of Lord Odin. We had no choice.”

They were all begging for mercy.

“Father, you cannot spare them!” Taylor’s frantic shout came from behind.

“Hrm?” Linley turned to look. Reynolds, by Taylor’s side, said in an equally frantic voice, “Third Bro, these eighty two absolutely cannot be spared. When those Saints were killed, it wasn’t Odin who personally did the deed; it was these ‘claws’ of his. George was killed by this group of people as well, and Dixie was killed by them as

well!”

“It was them.” Delia couldn’t help but turn and look, her eyes ﬁlled with hatred.

What sort of status did Odin have? How could he possibly lower himself to kill Saints? All of these vicious acts had most likely been carried out by these ‘claws’ of his.

The eighty two began to panic. “Lord Linley, we can’t be blamed. It was Lord Odin’s orders.”

Linley swept them with a cold look. One of the Deities, terriﬁed, actually began to ﬂee while frantically calling out through divine sense, “Flee, quick!” He could already sense that things were growing grim from Linley’s gaze. As he ﬂed, immediately, the other eighty two began to ﬂee as well.

Some ﬂew into the skies, others drilled into the ground.

“Rumble…”

An earthen yellow aura instantly spread out in every direction, forming an enormous sphere that was thousands of meters in diameter. It even sank two thousand meters into the ground. Within this sphere, the eighty two Deities were completely trapped. Even Seven Star Fiends would ﬁnd it hard to resist this gravity.

“Bang!” A minority of them, those who had weak bodies, crumbled and collapsed from the gravity alone.

Fortunately, as long as a Deity’s soul wasn’t destroyed, death would not come. The eighty two Deities, although controlled by that powerful gravity and being pulled towards Linley, didn’t die at least. “Lord Linley.” The Deities who had been trying to ﬂee were frantically begging for mercy.

“Father. Kill them. Avenge Uncle.” Taylor said frantically.

“Third Bro.” Reynolds said as well.

Linley swept the eighty two with his cold gaze. “True, you were the subordinates of Odin and had to obey his orders. But in the past thousand years, none of you have departed from the Yulan Plane. You willingly remained behind…and so you were serving Odin and obeying him out of your own free will. You cannot blame others for your death!”

If these Deities had wanted to escape Odin’s control, they could’ve simply gone to the Arctic Icecap and departed to the Higher Planes. Odin wouldn’t have cared.

“Linley, you, you…” The eighty two Deities began to beg for mercy in terror, curse in rage, or just mumble. But under that gravitational pull, they ﬂew at high speed to Linley’s side. Linley sent out a surge of divine earth power like arrows into the eighty two.

A low rumbling sound could be heard. The eighty two ﬁgures transformed into dust.

“Wharton, you take care of these things.” The ﬂoor was littered with divine sparks, interspatial rings, and divine artifacts. They were caught up in a surge of divine power and ﬂoated towards Wharton. These Demigod sparks and God sparks, in a material plane, were still very precious.

Wharton immediately collected all of the things.

“Let’s return.” Linley didn’t have a hint of a smile on his face.

He just charged into the skies.

The forces of Dragonblood Castle immediately ﬂew into the skies as well, leaving behind only two Saints. These two Saints immediately headed towards the surrounded and bound Envoys of the Baruch Empire. Seeing the situation, the soldiers around the Envoys were so frightened, they hurriedly loosened the bonds.

“Haha, your Odin Empire is ﬁnished.” An Envoy said in a clear voice.

The ministers of the Odin Empire all looked at each other. They understood as well…that in front of the overwhelming power of the Baruch Empire, the Odin Empire had indeed been ﬁnished.

“The Empire is ﬁnished.”

This battle in the imperial capital of the Odin Empire and Linley’s sudden appearance and killing of Odin as well as eighty two Deities caused the entire Yulan continent to once more enter a state of chaos. Those experts who previously had been subjugated by Odin’s power…how could they remain loyal to the Odin Empire now? They immediately rebelled against the Odin Empire. In the space of a single night, the entire Odin Empire collapsed.

Although Odin had more than eighty two Deities under his control, with a few more scattered throughout the Yulan continent, once they learned that Odin and the eighty two Deities had died, they were so terriﬁed that they immediately ﬂed to the Arctic Icecap, all of them leaving the Yulan Plane.

The Odin Empire disintegrated at an astonishing speed.

And the Baruch Empire? It expanded at an astonishing speed. The entire Yulan continent once more knew of Linley’s presence.

Grandmaster Linley, who had disappeared for nearly two thousand years, had suddenly reappeared.

That Emperor Odin had been killed. The entire Yulan continent was rocked by the news of this battle.

Dragonblood Castle.

It had been nearly half a month since the killing of Odin. During this half month, Linley and Bebe had remained within Dragonblood Castle. Although Linley knew that Odin’s Death- type clone was in the Netherworld, the Netherworld was simply too vast. How could he ﬁnd him? It was like searching for a needle in the sea.

“Third Bro, drink less.” Reynolds said.

At this moment, Linley and Reynolds were seated facing each other within a courtyard, drinking wine. None of them wanted to discuss Odin or Yale. Linley was actually just drinking nonstop, gulping down one bottle after another of wine into his belly.

“Third Bro.” Reynolds grabbed Linley’s arm, forcing Linley to halt.

Linley slammed the bottle to the side, then looked bitterly at Reynolds, sighing softly, “Fourth Bro, I feel miserable!”

Linley raised his head, tears in his eyes. “When I think of what happened to Boss Yale, I feel miserable. Have I ‘avenged’ him? With all my power, all I did was kill Odin’s divine wind clone. To Odin, his divine wind clone wasn’t nearly as important as his Death-type clone. And that clone is in the distant Netherworld.”

“And Boss Yale? He was so shattered that you had to go kill him, Fourth Bro.” When Linley thought about what Yale had experienced, he couldn’t help but feel the rage build in his heart, making it ache. “I want to go to the Netherworld and kill Odin, but…ﬁnding Odin is too difﬁcult. The Netherworld is simply too vast, too vast!”

The Netherworld was like the Infernal Realm; both were Higher Planes. Just by looking at the Infernal Realm, one could imagine how if Odin had secreted himself into a corner of the Netherworld, that Linley could spend countless years without being able to ﬁnd him.

“Third Bro.” Reynolds was heartsick as well, but he consoled Linley, “This isn’t your fault. Boss Yale did die an unjust death…and extremely unjust one! But if you hadn’t returned, we wouldn’t have been able to kill even as much as Odin’s divine wind clone. You’ve already done very well. I think…if Boss Yale knew of this, he would also feel slightly consoled.”

Linley laughed bitterly.

At most, ‘slightly consoled’.

In terms of pain, in terms of humiliation, in terms of torment…Yale had suffered far more than Odin had. The loss of his divine wind clone didn’t have too great an impact on Odin. He was still a Seven Star Fiend, and was still a powerful ﬁgure in the Netherworld. Whenever Linley thought about how Odin was free to roam the Netherworld, Linley felt the unjustness of it all.

He wanted to torment Odin, but in terms of what he was capable of, he had done all that he could.

“Odin truly deserves to die.” Linley couldn’t help but say this yet again.

“He does deserve to die. Ten thousand deaths wouldn’t be enough.” Reynolds said viciously as well. “If he had simply killed Boss Yale, I wouldn’t hate him as much as I do right now. But he…” Whenever Reynolds thought of the last time he had seen Yale and had seen how Yale was at the point of collapse, of that dispirited, tormented body…

Yale had been too pitiable!

He had already gone insane.

“Alas!” Linley was still furious. He couldn’t help but slam the table, and with a ‘bang’, the table split apart.

“Boss, Boss!” A voice rang out from afar.

Linley turned to look, only to see a black robed Beirut and Bebe enter together, with Wharton, Delia, Nisse, Wade, and the others following from behind. Beirut looked at the shattered table in surprise. “Oh, Linley, what is it? Why’d you smash the table?”

“Lord Beirut.” Linley forced a smile out. He was indeed in a terrible mood.

“Feeling angry and upset over what happened to your friend?” Beirut laughed calmly.

Linley didn’t say a word. Actually, deep in his heart, Linley was still slightly upset at Beirut. Beirut deﬁnitely had known that Odin’s Death-type clone had left the Yulan Plane. But Beirut hadn’t stopped him at all. Still…Linley didn’t say anything. Because…

Why should Beirut help him? The fact that he occasionally helped out was enough. He couldn’t always be looking after Linley’s affairs.

“I know exactly what happened.” Beirut let out a low sigh. “Originally, I was planning to leave Odin for you to handle. But on one occasion, I was on a visit to inspect the Necropolis of the Gods. During that period of time, Odin’s Death-type clone left to go to the Netherworld.” Beirut voluntarily explained, making Linley feel a surge of gratitude.

Actually, Beirut hadn’t needed to explain.

The reason he explained was because he now considered Linley as a member of his family.

“The Netherworld.” Delia shook her head. “The Netherworld is too vast. Finding Odin will be too hard.” “Unfortunately, yes.” Beirut sighed as well.

Bebe said resignedly, “Grandpa just so happened to be in the Necropolis. Jeeze!” Suddenly, Bebe’s eyes lit up and he looked at Beirut. “Grandpa, my Boss said that this time, we should go adventure in the Necropolis of the Gods. Help us open it up sometime.” This was something which Linley and Bebe had already discussed in the Infernal Realm.

On this return trip, investigating the Necropolis of the Gods was indeed something they had planned. But after the Odin event, Linley was no longer in the mood.

“Investigate the Necropolis?” Beirut raised an eyebrow, then shook his head. “Bebe, there’s no point for you going to the Necropolis. As for Linley…” Beirut looked towards Linley.

Linley couldn’t help but listen carefully, musing to himself, “When I went to the Necropolis of the Gods, I sensed that deep within it, something was beckoning to me. I wonder what lay hidden deep within.” “Linley, you should indeed make a trip to the Necropolis of the Gods.” Beirut laughed calmly. “However, your strength isn’t sufﬁcient yet.”

“Not yet sufﬁcient?” Linley was startled.

In terms of power, he should be decent by now. He was deﬁnitely approaching the Asura level. But Beirut actually said his strength wasn’t sufﬁcient yet?

“Based on what I know, the reason you are at such a level of power has something to do with the Redbud Sovereign.” Beirut laughed gently. “Your true power is far weaker.”

“Lord Beirut, when will it be enough?” Linley asked.

Beirut laughed softly. “When you reach Blueﬁre’s level.”

Blueﬁre’s level? Linley was slightly puzzled, but then he understood. Actually, he wasn’t in the mood to investigate the Necropolis of the Gods either. Yale’s affair had caused him to feel mentally exhausted and worn out. He had no interest in going right now.

“Alas, your friend did indeed die an unjust death.” Beirut let out a sigh. “Unfortunately, I’m not the Emissary of a Netherworld Sovereign. Otherwise, I could go beg a Netherworld Sovereign to have him help you ﬁnd the undead which your friend’s spirit was transformed into after dying and being drawn into the Netherworld. If a Sovereign were to intervene, then it would be easy for the undead to regain its former memories.”

Linley was stunned.

“Spirits are drawn into the Netherworld?” Linley’s mind seemed to suddenly explode. “Right. If a soul isn’t destroyed, then a person hasn’t truly died. Even if one is drawn into the Netherworld and becomes an undead…the soul will remain! They can regain their memories as well! Right, Boss Yale, Second Bro, Dixie, and…and my father!!!” Linley’s face instantly turned red.

Red from excitement!

Linley’s greatest regret was his father’s early death, and the unfairness of it. His father didn’t know that he had gotten revenge and killed their enemies, and also didn’t know that the Baruch clan had been restored to glory.

And Yale, who had died so unjustly. His friend.

“Lord Beirut…” Linley hurriedly spoke out.

“Lord Beirut, my elder brother, he…” Delia spoke out hurriedly as well.

“Lord Beirut, then Boss Yale, he…” Reynolds spoke out as well. Instantly, everyone began to ask questions frantically and excitedly.

Chapter 12, Entering the Netherworld

Linley was so excited, he felt his heart was about to explode. He had never been so excited before. “Father can regain his memory, and can come back to life! And Yale, George, Dixie…” The depressing emotions he had felt the past few days suddenly disappeared. Linley was incomparably excited. He felt as though the world had instantly become colorful and beautiful.

“Don’t be hasty. All of you, don’t be hasty.” Beirut quickly urged.

Everyone forcibly repressed their excitement.

“I was speaking casually, just now.” Beirut said hurriedly. “After ordinary mortals die, their souls will enter the Netherworld and become undead. There’s no way for a Highgod to ﬁnd the speciﬁc undead which a person’s spirit became. Only the seven Netherworld Sovereigns who rule the Netherworld can ﬁnd them! However, Sovereigns are Sovereigns; do you think that they’ll help you just because you ask?” Immediately, everyone fell silent. Linley felt his heart tighten as well.

Sovereigns were lofty, proud individuals. They most likely wouldn’t pay any attention to the request of a Highgod.

“If I don’t try, how would I know what the result is?” Linley said hurriedly.

Whether it was for the sake of Yale, George, Dixie, or his father, Linley wasn’t willing to give up.

“Give it a try. Maybe you’ll succeed.” Delia said hurriedly as well.

Beirut shook his head helplessly. “To do this, there’re two great difﬁculties. The ﬁrst is to ﬁnd and see the Sovereign, while the second is to have the Sovereign agree to help you. These two difﬁculties are tremendously hard to overcome. Linley, I know you want to see your father and your brothers. But do you know where the Netherworld Sovereigns live?” Linley was stunned.

Where a Sovereign lived? That was a deeply guarded secret. For example, the Redbud Sovereign. Although Linley had visited the Amethyst Mountains, he only later learned that place had been the residence of the Redbud Sovereign.

“To ﬁnd a Sovereign…even if you ﬁnd the right location and the Sovereign happens to be there at that moment, if the Sovereign doesn’t wish to meet you, what will you do?” Beirut said. “In addition, even if you see the Sovereign, why would the Sovereign so easily accede to the request of yourself, a mere Highgod?”

It was too difﬁcult!”

“I want to give it a try.” Linley said determinedly. “No matter what, I will not give up. There are a total of seven Netherworld Sovereigns. I’ll go searching for them. If the ﬁrst one doesn’t work out, I’ll ﬁnd another one.” Beirut, hearing this, couldn’t help but shake his head.

“You really are stubborn.”

“Fine, then.” Beirut nodded. With a wave of his hand, he made a ten centimeter thick book appear. “Linley, this book describes the Netherworld. Take a look. It will help you understand the Netherworld better.”

“Thank you.” Linley accepted the book.

While in the Infernal Realm, he had never paid much attention to the affairs of the Netherworld. He had thought that he would never go there, but who would have imagined that all of these things would have occurred?

“If you truly are going to go to the Netherworld, then let me give you this bit of advice.” Beirut said resignedly. “This isn’t really advice; I imagine you can think of it as well. When you go ﬁnd the Netherworld Sovereigns, ﬁrst ﬁnd the Emissaries of the Sovereigns…there are quite a few Emissaries, and you should be able to ﬁnd them. If you aren’t able to ﬁnd them, then ﬁnd a Lord Prefect of a Prefecture. Those Lord Prefects might know where the Sovereign that manages them is located.”

Linley nodded.

Although it might be possible to ﬁnd a Sovereign through seeking out a Sovereign’s Emissary or a Lord Prefect…would the Emissary or Lord Prefect be willing to tell him?

“Continue carrying that medallion I gave you.” Beirut said. “The medallion, after all, represents the Bloodridge Sovereign. With that medallion, perhaps it’ll be a bit easier for you.”

Linley’s eyes lit up.

Right, the medallion! It had been bestowed upon Beirut by the Bloodridge Sovereign. That thing might convince a Netherworld Sovereign to at least listen to what he had to say. “Grandpa, thank you.” Bebe beamed with wide eyes.

“If I didn’t do this, you’d say that Grandpa is being stingy.” Beirut laughed loudly.

Bebe beamed. There was no question that he was going with Linley to the Netherworld.

“Thank you, Lord Beirut.” Delia said gratefully as well. Beirut laughed, “Alright then. You have your plan. I’ll go back now. If there’s anything else you need, go to the Forest of Darkness and look for me there.” After he spoke, Beirut transformed into a black blur, disappearing into the distance.

In mid-air.

Beirut turned to glance at Dragonblood Castle, a hint of a secret smile appearing at the corners of his lips. “Just as I predicted! Only…I don’t know if this kid is going to live up to my expectations or not.” And then, chortling to himself, he ﬂew back to the Forest of Darkness.

After learning this news, everyone in Dragonblood Castle was in a state of excitement. But immediately afterwards, they felt a sense of pressure. To go ask for a Sovereign to assist them…this was simply too hard. Everyone was worried about whether or not Linley would be able to succeed. They also feared…that the Sovereign might be enraged and kill Linley!

“Sovereigns…shouldn’t have bizarre, violent personalities, right?” Wade said, worried.

“Don’t speak rashly.” Delia immediately scolded.

Bebe laughed in a very certain manner. “Don’t worry. After the Netherworld Sovereigns see the Bloodridge Sovereign’s medallion which the Boss and I have, they shouldn’t kill us.” Bebe, although appearing outwardly conﬁdent, was still very nervous in his heart. After all…would a Netherworld Sovereign necessarily give face to the Bloodridge Sovereign?

In fact, it might be possible that the Netherworld Sovereign might just so happen to have a grudge against the Bloodridge Sovereign.

Nobody could be certain!

“Sovereigns view themselves as far above us. As long as we don’t offend them, they won’t lower themselves to kill us.” Linley said calmly. “As for this trip to the Netherworld, only Bebe and myself will go.” Linley and Bebe had already discussed this through their spiritual connection. There was no telling what would happen on this trip to the Netherworld.

If he and Bebe headed out by themselves, they would have nothing to fear. But if they brought others along…they wouldn’t be able to protect them in a dangerous situation.

“Right.” Delia, hearing this, nodded as well.

“Bebe.” But Nisse was rather reluctant. “We’ll return soon.” Bebe chortled. At this time, Linley’s body split into two, as a ﬁery red haired Linley walked out.

“Delia, my divine ﬁre clone will remain here. And Nisse…if there’s anything you need, you can just tell my divine ﬁre clone. I will immediately know and notify Bebe.” Linley laughed calmly. By leaving behind a divine ﬁre clone, communication became easier.

Nisse and Delia both felt slightly molliﬁed. With Linley’s divine ﬁre clone present, they would know Linley’s situation in the Netherworld at all times.

The second day after Beirut’s departure from Dragonblood Castle, Linley and Bebe decided to head out. In but a single night, Linley ﬁnished reading the book on the Netherworld, and gained a basic understanding of the place.

The Netherworld. Sacred Undead Mountain.

This was a great mountain, tens of thousands of meters high. The entire mountain was the color of white bones, and white skeletons could be seen throughout the mountain. At the peak of the mountain, there was an enormous, ancient castle that was entirely black and surrounded by black fog. This castle had already existed for countless years.

Occasionally, metallic lifeforms would ﬂy out from the castle, with some voices coming from within as well.

The Infernal Realm had seven teleportation locations. But the Netherworld only had two. Sacred Undead Mountain was one of them!

“Hey, all of you, stand there obediently.” A group of white- robed warriors shouted out casually.

Within the enormous teleportation array, rays of light were shooting everywhere, with some ﬁgures appearing on occasion. These ﬁgures stared in surprise around them. These people were Saints or Demigods, with a very few Gods. As for Highgods…the chance of a Highgod coming was very low! “Only at the Saint-level, and yet they came to the Netherworld. They really have come to throw their lives away.” A black-haired, young-looking warrior in white robes kicked a middle-aged Saint away, sending him ﬂying out of the teleportation array into the corner of a wall.

The person who had been kicked turned around angrily. “What are you looking at, kid. Do you want to ﬁght?” The white-robed warrior smirked as he spoke. The middle-aged Saint just gritted his teeth, lowering his head and leaning against the corner of the wall, not daring to make a sound. Seeing this person didn’t resist, the white-robed warrior couldn’t help but shake his head and chuckle. “Saints are everywhere in the Netherworld. If you don’t learn to endure, you will probably die on the very ﬁrst day!”

“Bucher [Bu’si’er], you always like to tease them.” A white- robed warrior in another corner laughed while drinking wine.

The black-haired youth, Bucher, laughed as well. “If we don’t help them learn the rules now, when they really enter the Netherworld, they’ll die even faster.” Quite a few people had already been teleported in by now.

“More coming.” The black-haired, white-robed youth immediately turned to look. The enormous teleportation array once more lit up with that hazy glow, and two ﬁgures emerged from within. After the glow disappeared…

“Highgods!”

The surrounding white-robed warriors immediately turned to look. Even the white-robed warriors who had been seated all came to their feet. It was very rare for Highgods to come through the teleportation array. If one appeared, it generally meant someone was coming from another Higher Plane, and an extraordinary individual at that.

The group of white-robed warriors stared carefully at these two ﬁgures.

One was a brown-haired youth, while the other was a skinny youngster wearing a straw hat. The brown-haired youth’s body suddenly lifted into the air, glancing around himself before saying, “This is the Sacred Undead Mountain! It seems we will need to move to the south. Still, before leaving, let’s take a trip around the ‘Undead Realm’.”

Hearing the words ‘Sacred Undead Mountain’, these white- robed warriors immediately grew certain that these two came from other Higher Planes.

“Fine, Boss.”

The brown-haired man nodded slightly towards the nearby white-robed warriors, then led the youngster with the straw hat into the air, ﬂying away from Sacred Undead Mountain.

“Adventuring through the Higher Planes…how long will it be before I, too, am able to do this? But the teleportation cost truly is high! I’ve been here so many years, but I still haven’t earned enough netherstones for a single teleportation.” The black-haired youth in the white robes let out an admiring, praising sigh. The horizons were vast and endless. Dark black clouds covered the world, and tongues of lightning would occasionally ﬂash out from the dark clouds, like dragons of lightning dancing about within.

This was an empty, desolate plains.

Two endless hordes of undead which stretched as far as the eye could see were arrayed into two camps, staring at each other. There were many skeletons, foul zombies, drifting, translucent wraiths, and also grim, forbidding black knights. There were also strange wights and ancient liches, all of which were separated into different levels.

There were weak skeletons, but also skeletons at the Saint- level.

“Kabuser [Ka’bu’si’er], you only have two choices…” A booming voice shook the heavens. “Submit to me or die!”

But the reply was just a cold laugh.

“Attack!” Immediately, the booming voice roared in anger.

“Attack.” Another voice, a cold, ﬁerce one, howled as well.

Immediately, the vast swarms of undead in the two camps attacked the other side wildly. A battle between undead was like waves crashing against each other. The entire world was ﬁlled with skeletal dragons, and skeletal grifﬁns howled through the skies, while venomous fogs billed out, ﬁlling the world. Large numbers of undead on both sides died.

Right at this moment…

The two armies of undead came to a sudden halt, as their leaders both stared towards the skies, stunned.

In mid-air, two ﬁgures ﬂew past at high speed. The terrifyingly powerful aura they emanated was causing the countless undead below to feel terror in their hearts. This was an aura that was countless times more powerful than the auras of the two undead who ruled them. They didn’t dare to resist it at all. But moments later, the two ﬁgures disappeared into the horizon.

“We just released a hint of our aura, but they were so terriﬁed they wouldn’t even dare move.” Bebe laughed with a chortle.

“You really are bored, aren’t you.” Linley didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry.

Just now, when they had departed from Sacred Undead Mountain and began to ﬂy towards the northern part of the ‘Undead Realm’ to take a look. Bebe realized that his Highgod aura would cause these undead to be extremely terriﬁed, and so he constantly released his aura, intentionally frightening those undead. As for Linley, there was nothing he could do with regards to Bebe’s trouble-causing antics.

The Netherworld was different from the Infernal Realm. It was just a single, terrifyingly enormous continent. This vast continent was even larger than the ﬁve continents of the Infernal Realm put together!

The northern part of the continent had countless undead populating within it, and so this area was known as the ‘Undead Realm’.

As for the southern part of the continent, this was the real, so-called ‘Netherworld’.

As for the Sacred Undead Mountain, it was located at the borders between the Netherworld and the Undead Realm.

“Large numbers of undead are dying at every moment in the Undead Realm. Undead grow in power by devouring the spirits of other undead! What I fear the most is that the undead which Yale, George, and my parents have become have already been devoured by others.” Linley was rather worried. Still, he ﬂew with Bebe away from the Undead Realm, ﬂying south towards the border it shared with the Netherworld.

Chapter 13, Northbone Prefecture

The vast continent of the Netherworld was ﬁlled with undead in the north, and thus it was known as the ‘Undead Realm’. The weak undead who lived there were at most Saint- level undead. Generally speaking, upon becoming Deities, the vast majority would ﬂy to the south, entering the world of experts…the Netherworld.

South of Sacred Undead Mountain. That was the place which was viewed as the true Netherworld.

As one of the four Higher Planes, the management structure of the Netherworld was quite similar to that of the Infernal Realm; the Netherworld had a total of eighty one prefectures. As Linley and Bebe ﬂew into the Netherworld from Sacred Undead Mountain, the ﬁrst prefecture they entered was the number one prefecture of the northern Netherworld… Northbone Prefecture!

Currently, in the air above Northbone Prefecture, a metallic lifeform that was less than ten meters long was ﬂying forward at high speed. Linley and Bebe were within it, but right now, Linley was frowning in concern. Just now, Linley and Bebe had gone to the borders of the Undead Realm to take a look. After doing so, Linley began to worry.

The slaughters happening in the Undead Realm were even more terrifying and even more common than the Infernal Realm’s! The undead constantly battled each other, devouring each other’s souls to strengthen their own, increasing their own power! “Father died nearly two thousand years ago, while George, Yale, and Dixie died a thousand years ago. So much time has passed…have they, too, died within in the battle between undead?”

Linley was worried about this.

Once the undead creature a departed soul was formed into was killed, the soul would be devoured, and the person would truly be dead! Even if Linley managed to ﬁnd a Sovereign, it would be useless.

Linley couldn’t help but feel concerned. Too much time had passed, after all, and the battles in the Undead Realm were too vicious!

“Boss…don’t worry!” Bebe said hurriedly. “Your father, George, and Yale…none of them have weak souls. Even if they were transformed into undead upon entering the Netherworld, they would be powerful undead. The chances of a powerful undead surviving are much better.”

“That’s all I can say to myself.” Linley nodded slightly.

But Linley understood that with each passing moment in the Undead Realm, countless powerful undead were being killed and devoured.

“What we need to do is make use of every moment.” Linley frowned. “If I want to ﬁnd a Sovereign, I can’t just run about blindly. It’s best to ﬁnd a Sovereign’s Emissary or a Lord Prefect and make an inquiry.”

“Boss, do you know who the Emissaries are, here in the Netherworld? Or where the Lord Prefects live?” Bebe asked. Linley shook his head.

“Best I ﬁnd a Highgod and ask, ﬁrst.” Linley only knew some basic information regarding the Netherworld. As for where the various Lord Prefects of the Netherworld lived, that was hard to say. Some lived within their prefectural palaces, while others lived in cities. But some Lord Prefects lived in very distant, remote mountain ranges.

Since he had to ﬁnd a Highgod, Linley began to pay attention to the outside world.

He couldn’t just scan every single metallic creature that ﬂew by for Highgods, then stop them and force them out and ask them. That would just anger them, and although they might be afraid of Linley’s power, they might lie to Linley out of enmity.

While ﬂying, Linley paid close attention to the outside.

On the third day, while drinking fruit wine and staring through the translucent window, Linley’s eyes suddenly lit up.

Several kilometers away, there were nearly ten thousand Gods under the command of tens of Highgods who were in pursuit of ten or so people.

“Bebe, here’s our chance!” Linley said.

“Chance?” Bebe glanced sideways casually. “What chance? It’s just a group of bandits ﬁghting outside.” On the way over, Linley and Bebe had encountered quite a few scenes of bandits ﬁghting people. However…the forces involved were small, and the conﬂicts were also small-scale.

“Just follow me.” Linley said in a low voice. The metallic lifeform immediately vanished, giving Bebe no choice but to follow Linley and ﬂy towards the distant battleﬁeld.

The many bandits were attacking in every which way as those ten or so people wildly tried to ﬂee in every direction. However, the Highgod leaders of those bandits were chasing after two Highgods in particular. “Which bastard revealed our information! Almost as soon as we entered Northbone Prefecture, the bandits of eighteen mountain ranges joined forces to attack us!” A three meter tall, red-skinned man with a single horn on his forehead sent through divine sense, his ox-like eyes bloodshot with rage.

“Big Bro, don’t be angry. Fleeing is more important.” The other, a younger man, said.

“Once we escape, we deﬁnitely must investigate.” The ox- headed man was extremely angry, but he still ﬂew away at high speed. “We’ll be lucky if we can escape.” The youth glanced back sideways. Those who had been slow to ﬂee were all dead now, and of those who had ﬂed to the south, only the two of them remained.

But of course, they had some comrades who had ﬂed in other directions. By now, nobody was able to take care of anybody else.

“Swoosh!” “Swoosh!” Eight ﬁgures suddenly appeared in front of the ox-headed man and the youth. The eight stared at them coldly. “Not good!” The ox-headed man and the youth immediately came to a halt. As they looked to the other sides, they found out that the other directions also had people barring their path.

“The two of you still want to ﬂee?” A deep voice rang out, and a muscular, bearded dwarf who was 1.5 meters tall said. The dwarf ﬂoated there in mid-air, staring at them with his emotionless golden eyes.

“Big Bro, we’re ﬁnished!”

The youth and the ox-headed man looked at each other, feeling powerless.

Surrounded by bandits. Their losses were catastrophic this time!

“If you are able to kill us, then do so.” The ox-headed man swept the surrounding bandits with his gaze, then laughed coldly with anger. “Even if you kill us, you won’t be able to obtain our things.” Generally speaking, people with valuable possessions would keep clones in their headquarters. If this ox- headed man was killed, his clones would remain alive…and thus, his interspatial ring would still be inaccessible.

The dwarf laughed coldly.

As the general commanders for the bandits of the eighteen mountain ranges, these people had done this more than a few times before. They were quite experienced. They knew that others had clones in other places, and so even if they killed these people, they wouldn’t be able to acquire the treasures within.

“I’ll give you two choices.” The dwarf’s deep voice echoed in the heavens. “Choice number one, you hand over these treasures and give us the interspatial rings’ contents. We’ll let you two leave. Choice number two…you don’t hand them over. Then none of us will gain anything, while the two of you will die!”

“Then you die ﬁrst.” The ox-headed man bellowed, and his entire body instantly transformed into that of a mighty black bull, surrounded by blazing ﬂames. He shot out towards the dwarf like a ﬂaming mirage.

The dwarf just laughed disdainfully, and in his hands, a two- meter long black greataxe appeared. Hefting the black greataxe, the dwarf gave a casual chop towards the ﬂaming mirage, and where the greataxe passed, space itself trembled like ripples in water.

Suddenly…

An earthen yellow aura descended from the heavens, spreading out to a diameter of a thousand meters, forming a hemisphere of earthen yellow light and trapping all of the Highgod bandits within, as well as the ox-headed brothers. In addition, beneath that hemisphere of earthen yellow light, a round ‘plate’ formed from divine earth power was formed, ‘covering up’ this hemisphere.

“Swoosh!” “Swoosh!” “Swoosh!” In an instant, the thirty three Highgod bandits and the two ox-headed brothers trembled as their bodies irresistibly were drawn downwards, smashing heavily against the ‘round plate’ formed by divine earth power. The group stood there in terror, unable to take to the air.

They all raised their heads, looking towards the skies in terror.

A brown-haired youth dressed in a sky-blue robe was there, along with a youngster wearing a straw hat. They stood in the air, side by side.

“Milord!” The big-bearded dwarf immediately bowed respectfully. “My name is Kleopatra [Ke’li’ao’pa’te’le], the overall leader of the eighteen northern mountain ranges of the Northbone Prefecture. I don’t know what you need, milord. Our eighteen mountains will deﬁnitely comply!” Instantly, the other thirty two Highgod bandits bowed as well.

Within this ﬁeld of gravity, they could already sense the terrifying power of the gravitational pull. “Good heavens, there’s actually such a powerful Gravitational Space. If he wanted to kill us, he could slaughter us with ease.”

In this sort of area, killing them would be utter simplicity for Linley.

“Milord, my name is Amos [A’mo]. I’m willing to serve you, milord.” The ox-headed man immediately bowed as well, and the youth by his side also bowed. In the Netherworld, they all knew when to be arrogant and when to be respectful. Clearly, the person who had just appeared was an invincible expert.

A hint of a smile was on Linley’s face.

“I have a question, gentlemen.” Linley asked.

“Milord, pray tell.” The big-bearded dwarf immediately said, and the ox-headed man was listening carefully as well. Linley laughed calmly. “I want to know if a Sovereign’s Emissary lives in Northbone Prefecture!”

“I know the answer to this. The Lord Prefect of our Northbone Prefecture is himself a Sovereign’s Emissary.” The big-bearded dwarf immediately replied, while the ox-headed man also said, “The Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture is one of the supreme experts of the Netherworld, and he is indeed a Sovereign’s Emissary.”

Linley felt a surge of delight.

It seemed as though this Northbone Lord Prefect should know quite a bit about the Sovereign.

Bebe immediately asked as well, “Where does the Lord Prefect live? You, speak!” Bebe pointed at the ox-headed man.

The ox-headed man said respectfully, “The Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture lives in a grassland located thousands of kilometers to the east of the city of Hide [Hai’de]. Ordinary people aren’t able to enter…but of course, given your statuses, milords, it will be very easy for you to pay a visit.”

“Outside the city of Hide?” A map instantly appeared in Linley’s mind. Linley already knew the general locations of the cities of the Netherworld like the back of his hand, and currently, Linley had already focused on a speciﬁc location.

“Is he outside of Hide?” Linley looked towards the dwarf, who hurriedly nodded as well.

Only now was Linley certain.

“Fine. You can leave now.” Linley said calmly, retracting his Blackstone Space.

The group of bandits and the ox-headed brothers were stunned, looking at each other. “Thank you, milord!” The ox-headed brothers immediately bowed, then ﬂed to the south at high speed.

Quite a few bandits immediately prepared to give chase.

“You still want to kill them?” Bebe barked. Instantly, the group of bandits halted. Linley glanced at them, then at the dwarf and said calmly, “Perhaps you should just forget about this particular business transaction.”

“Right, right.” The dwarf immediately acknowledged the other.

“Kleopatra. A ﬁne name.” Linley laughed calmly, then ﬂew with Bebe into the skies, disappearing into the horizon.

“Boss, should we chase or not?” The other bandits looked at the big-bearded dwarf. “Chase my ass. We won’t be able to catch up. And…if we really chased just now, I imagine that lord would’ve been able to kill us all with the wave of a hand.” The dwarf snorted coldly. The other bandits couldn’t help but feel a surge of fear. “Enough. Let’s collect the interspatial rings from the battleﬁeld, then go back.”

The dwarf immediately led the vast host back to their headquarters.

The bandits of the eighteen northern mountains of Northbone Prefecture were indeed a powerful force, and their leader, Kleopatra, was someone who was nearly at the Six Star Fiend level of power.

The bandits had eighteen chiefs, but of course the dwarf was the overall leader. In one of the eighteen mountain ranges, a bald man dressed in black battle armor ﬂew into a castle, and the bandits at the gates of the castle all bowed and said, “Chief!”

“Hmph.” The bald, black-armored man just strode into the hall, ﬁlled to the brim with rage.

“Chief, why are you so angry?” A gentle voice rang out.

“Ugh!” The bald man sat down upon his throne in the main hall, grumbling unhappily, “You have no idea. Today, we brothers of the eighteen mountain ranges all joined forces, and were at the verge of success. But who would have imagined that a pair of supreme experts would suddenly appear out of nowhere, and ask us questions about the Lord Prefect and Sovereign’s Emissaries? And they even forced us to let those two fat sheep escape.”

“Then our luck really was terrible.” The gentle voice said.

“Ugh.” The bald, black-armored man stood up again. “Enough, George. Quite a few of the brothers of our mountain range died this time. The squads need to be rearranged. Help me handle it. I’m not in the mood.”

“Yes, Chief.” The reply came from a youth with a very friendly smile on his face. If Linley was here, he would have immediately recognized that this was his brother…George!

Chapter 14, Sayant

The bald, black-armored warrior glanced sideways at George, then went to rest. He was very satisﬁed with George’s performance as his housekeeper. First of all, George was a Demigod, and thus didn’t pose any threat to him. Second of all, George was indeed talented, and made suitable arrangements for all of the forces throughout the mountain range. He now believed that his decision in the past to not kill George was one of his wisest decisions.

This time, there weren’t many casualties, and so George quickly ﬁnished the arrangements.

Night. Within the mountain castle. George stood in front of a window, staring through it at a curved, devilish red moon. This curved devilish red moon reminded him…this was the Netherworld! Not his homeland, the Yulan continent.

“How much longer will this sort of life continue for?” George mused to himself. “I wonder what has happened to the Yulan continent in the past thousand years. According to the tyrannical actions of that Odin, most likely Boss Yale and even Dragonblood Castle suffered greatly.” George was a very calm and cool-headed person. No matter what sort of environment he encountered, he would quickly adapt to it.

In the Netherworld, there was something that everyone knew – undead wouldn’t possess memories of their past lives. Only after they evolved and transformed into Deities would their souls be baptized by the natural Laws, and in that moment, the dusty memories of their past life would be restored to them as well.

When George died, he had been a Saint.

When his soul had been drawn into the Netherworld and had been transformed into an undead departed soul, his power had been determined by his soul’s power. George’s soul had been that of a Saint, and so when he had become an undead, he had become a Saint-level undead. When George had been a Saint- level undead, George hadn’t had any memories regarding his past life; all he knew was to kill other undead, to devour their souls, and to strengthen himself! As he strengthened himself, his soul constantly grew in power. And then, as he continuously, slowly gained insights… suddenly, he had broken through and become a Deity!

In that instant of becoming a Deity, George had regained all of his memories.

He knew that in the past his name had been…George.

As a senior minister of the former Yulan Empire, George’s diplomatic skills and interpersonal relationship skills were far superior to Linley. When they were young and at the Ernst Institute, George made friends very easily, and in the government of the Yulan Empire, he had been at home as a ﬁsh in water.

Now, he was in a base for bandits.

Perhaps bandits were talented in training and battle, but with regards to management, they were far inferior to George. Thus, everyone acknowledged whole-heartedly George’s talents as housekeeper.

“Right now, my ﬁrst goal is to gain enough money in order to buy a house within a city.” George had already made a plan for himself. “Afterwards, I will train within the city in safety! By then, I won’t have to spend so much energy.” As housekeeper for this mountain range, George’s status was very high, second only to the leader of their mountain range. He could have easily acquired a God-level divine spark and fused with it, but he didn’t want to.

He wanted to independently become a Deity!

Thus, although he didn’t dare to openly embezzle, given his abilities, if he were to secretly secrete a large amount of wealth into his own interspatial ring, how would others be able to ﬁnd out?

If someone had enough money, why would they want to stay in a bandit’s nest?

“Unfortunately, Third Bro is in the Infernal Realm. It will be very hard to see him again.” George sighed to himself.

Northbone Prefecture was indeed vast. The metallic lifeform Linley was riding ﬂew for several months before reaching the grasslands outside the city of Hide.

“This residence of the Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture feels like a city.” Bebe stared through the window and spoke out in praise. “The forces stationed here station in the hundreds of thousands, and they are arranged into rows of houses. They really do seem quite imposing. And that tall castle in the center…that must be the actual residence of the Lord Prefect.”

Linley looked over as well. That tall castle was over a hundred meters tall, and was an ivory white color.

“I hope the Lord Prefect is at home.” Linley sighed to himself. “If this Lord Prefect isn’t present, we would’ve made this trip for nothing.” Linley immediately stored away his metallic lifeform, and then he and Bebe ﬂew towards the distant residence. The residence of the Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture was naturally under heavy guard, and many prefectural soldiers were on patrol.

“Who goes there!” The distant soldiers shouted from far away, before Linley even drew near.

But Linley and Bebe continued to ﬂy over. Tens of prefectural soldiers immediately ﬂew forward, with the leader being a soldier with a single horn on his forehead. The leader barked, “This is the residence of the Lord Prefect. Outsiders are not permitted to wander about freely here. The two of you had best leave immediately.”

“Please go report to the Lord Prefect that Elder ‘Linley’ of the Four Divine Beasts clan wishes to pay his respects.” Linley laughed calmly.

“And are we supposed to believe that you are an Elder of the Four Divine Beasts clan just because you say you are?” The leader of the soldiers snickered. Linley laughed calmly. An earthen yellow aura spread out from his body, immediately capturing the soldiers within it, catching them completely off-guard. Their bodies trembled, and they fell down to the ground. Gritting their teeth, they just barely made it back to their feet.

“Now do you believe me?” Linley laughed calmly, while at the same time withdrawing the earthen yellow light.

“I believe you, I believe you.” The soldier said hurriedly.

He had been completely stunned. The power of the Gravitational Space made him completely convinced that this person in front of him was deﬁnitely someone of the Seven Star Fiend level. “The two of you, please wait here a moment… I’ll go make the report.” The horned soldier said, and then immediately turned and ﬂew towards the tall castle.

“Is your Lord Prefect present?” Linley queried the other soldiers. These soldiers all understood that the two in front of them were extraordinary ﬁgures. One of them, a big-bearded soldier, laughed in response, “Milord, We are just ordinary soldiers. If the Lord Prefect was to leave, we probably wouldn’t be made aware of it. Soon, when the captain returns, we’ll know.”

Linley could only wait there quietly, while Bebe mumbled, “I hope the Lord Prefect didn’t head out.”

Moments later…

“Lord Linley, Lord Linley.” The soldier who had made the report shouted from far away as he ﬂew back, moving like a ﬂash, his face covered in smiles. “When the Lord Prefect learned that you had arrived, milord, he was extremely happy. He’s already ordered a feast to be prepared for you. Lord Linley, please follow me this way.”

Hearing this, Linley couldn’t help but exchange glances with Bebe.

“So friendly?” Bebe mumbled.

“That’s a good thing.” Linley laughed, then immediately ﬂew forwards. “Lead the way!”

While hurrying towards the castle, Bebe asked through divine sense in a puzzled manner “Boss, it seems as though this Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture is being very courteous upon knowing that you are here. Can it be that he has heard of you? Can it be that your fame, Boss, has spread all the way from the Infernal Realm to the Netherworld?”

“We’ll know when we see him.” Linley felt very joyful right now. “Also, when we meet the Lord Prefect, don’t cause any trouble. We’re here to ask him for help.”

“I know. If necessary, I just will stay silent.” Bebe rubbed his nose.

Linley couldn’t help but chuckle. This trip to the Netherworld seemed to be going rather smoothly. He was able to so easily meet with the Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture.

“Lord Linley, here we are.” The soldier stood outside the castle gates.

Linley could already see quite a few maids moving towards the castle with platters of food. Linley and Bebe immediately entered this castle.

A few hundred meters away from the Lord Prefect’s castle, there was another, slightly smaller castle. At this moment, a man dressed in long gray robes was standing on the veranda, casually enjoying the scenery. If Linley were to see this person, Linley would immediately recognize him. This was the person he dreamed about killing…the Vile King of the Gebados Planar Prison, ‘Odin’.

When Odin had arrived in the Netherworld, he had been transported here by the Sacred Undead Mountain as well.

Thus, his ﬁrst stop was to Northbone Prefecture. While journeying through Northbone Prefecture, he quickly understood that given his current level of power, although he could be considered a supreme expert in the Netherworld, he hadn’t truly reached the pinnacle of power. There was no way he could compare to the Lord Prefects of the Netherworld. And while journeying, he had encountered the Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture.

After sparring multiple times with the Lord Prefect, he wholeheartedly submitted to the other man’s power, and so had become the Lord Prefect’s subordinate, becoming the third Envoy controlled by the Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture.

“Eh?” Odin looked into the distance in surprise.

He saw two ﬁgures be led into the Lord Prefect’s castle.

“Them!” Odin’s pupils suddenly contracted, and his face changed dramatically. “How has Linley come to the Netherworld as well?” How could Odin forget the humiliation his divine wind clone had suffered, back in the Yulan continent? Even though that sort of humiliation, to him, was quite basic… But to Odin, it was still the greatest humiliation he had ever suffered!

He hated Linley!

Back then, he had viciously snarled at Linley, telling Linley to come to the Netherworld to ﬁnd him.

But who would have thought that Linley would actually come to the Netherworld! “It seems he is ﬁxated on killing me.” Odin’s gaze was cold. “He even dares to come meet with the Lord Prefect. Does Linley know that I’m here, or is he here on other business?” Odin was still rather puzzled as to whether or not Linley knew he was here.

If he did, would Linley dare to so openly meet with the Lord Prefect?

It must be understood that Odin was the Lord Prefect’s subordinate. “I had wanted to just let things be done with. Who would have imagined that you would chase me into the Netherworld? Hmph.” Odin was so angry that he suddenly moved, ﬂying out of his own castle towards the Lord Prefect’s castle.

His divine wind clone had gotten a complete sense of Linley’s power. Odin understood…that in terms of material attacks, Linley far surpassed him. Even in soul attacks…Linley had enough power to make him, Odin, enter a dazed state and lose consciousness. Through this, Odin had become certain…

That Linley wasn’t weaker than him in terms of soul attacks either!

“To kill Linley…by myself, I won’t be able to do it. I’ll have to ask the Lord Prefect to help.” Odin immediately ﬂew in through a side door, entering the Lord Prefect’s castle. The guards all knew who Odin was, and so didn’t block him.

Within the guest hall. A long table was covered with all sorts of delicacies, and bottles of precious wine had been prepared as well. Linley and Bebe were seated off to one side, while facing them was a blue- robed, graceful woman. In the host’s seat, there sat a handsome, middle-aged white-robed man with a white beard, beaming so widely his eyes were creased.

This middle-aged man was the Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture.

“Linley, although I’m of the Netherworld, I’ve heard of the famous name of Elder Linley of the Azure Dragon clan. For you to come visit me today, Linley, is truly a joyous occasion.” The middle-aged man said in a very gentle voice. “Let me make the introductions. This is my wife, Anita [A’ni’ta]! Oh, and I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Sayant [Sai’yin’te]!”

“Mr. Sayant. Madame Anita.” Linley smiled. “This is my good friend, Bebe.” Bebe immediately squeezed out a smile.

Linley was still quite happy. Given the reaction of the Lord Prefect, it should be easy to negotiate with him.

“I just heard of you not too long ago, Lord Linley, and now you are here in my prefecture. This truly is a joyful surprise. Lord Linley, might I ask if there’s a special reason for your presence?” Sayant beamed, his eyes twinkling. “If there’s anything you need, just speak. If I, Sayant, can help, I will.”

Linley felt relieved, and the nearby Bebe immediately laughed, “You’ll deﬁnitely be able to help. You are a Sovereign’s Emissary, after all.”

Sayant was startled, then laughed and nodded.

“Mr. Sayant, the main issue is that I have some very important business, and so I need to meet with a Netherworld Sovereign. Only…I have no idea where they live. I’d like to ask you, Mr. Sayant, to give me some guidance as to where I should go in order to meet with a Netherworld Sovereign. It doesn’t have to be a speciﬁc one of the seven; any of the seven will sufﬁce.” Linley said hurriedly. “You wish to see a Sovereign?” Sayant was shocked, and his nearby wife also stared at Linley and Bebe in surprise.

“Can you tell me why you are going to meet with a Netherworld Sovereign?” Sayant asked.

Linley hesitated slightly.

Sayant immediately laughed, “I’m just asking. Right…if you want to meet a Netherworld Sovereign, this will be rather tricky. I do know where a Netherworld Sovereign lives, but even if you go there, if the Sovereign isn’t willing to meet you, your trip will have been in vain. Sovereigns are proud and lofty individuals.”

Linley felt overjoyed. So Sayant did indeed know!

“Mr. Sayant, please tell me where a Sovereign resides. As for whether or not the Sovereign is willing to meet with me, that’ll be up to my own luck.” Linley said hurriedly. Sayant hesitated momentarily, then nodded slightly.

Right at this moment…

“Lord Prefect!” A voice echoed in Sayant’s mind. Sayant couldn’t help but frown, then sent back in response through divine sense, “Odin, what is it?”

Chapter 15, Throwing One’s Life Away

Odin’s interruption did indeed irritate Sayant.

“Lord Prefect, there is currently a person named Linley present visiting you, correct?” Odin sent through divine sense.

“Right, that is indeed the case.” Sayant was rather surprised at how quickly Odin had found out.

Odin hurriedly sent back through divine sense, “Lord Prefect, why has Linley come?”

“Linley wishes to meet with a Sovereign, and asked me where a Sovereign lives. Why?” Sayant was rather puzzled.

Odin was shocked as well. “Meeting with a Sovereign?” Odin thought it had to do with him, but he still immediately responded frantically, “Lord Prefect, this Linley and I have an irreconcilable enmity between the two of us. My son and my brother were both killed by him! Even my divine wind clone was humiliated and tortured to death by him. Lord Prefect… please, help me get revenge. So long as we can kill Linley, I, Odin, will never forget your benevolence, Lord Prefect.”

As Odin saw it, Lord Prefect Sayant was a Sovereign’s Emissary who had a Sovereign artifact. He was deﬁnitely a truly supreme expert.

He should be absolutely conﬁdent in being able to kill Linley!

“Kill Linley? Out of the question.” Sayant was rather angry now.

“Lord Prefect.” Odin was frantic. “Lord Prefect, if I was able to kill him, I would have killed him long ago. But I’m not able to. Lord Prefect, I beg you, kill Linley. So long as you kill him, if you have any orders for me, Lord Prefect, even if it costs me my life, I will carry them out.”

Sayant sent back angrily through divine sense, “Listen clearly. It isn’t that I don’t wish to help you gain revenge. Only…I’m not conﬁdent in being able to do so either!” “Not conﬁdent?” Odin didn’t dare believe it. “How can you not be conﬁdent?”

“Odin, you should be aware that not long ago, I went to visit an old friend and that I just returned not long ago.” Sayant said.

“Right.” Odin knew of this.

“I had gone to visit the Patriarch of the Ashcroft clan. It was the Nether Serpent himself who told me about Linley. Do you know…that when Linley was a God, he was able to kill multiple Seven Star Fiends by himself!” Sayant barked back through divine sense.

Odin was stunned. “God? How is that possible?”

“Based on the projections of the eight great clans, now that Linley is a Highgod, it is very likely that he has reached the level of being a Paragon! Even if the projections of the eight great clans are incorrect, given his amazing performance as a God, now that Linley is a Highgod, his strength is such that even I am not certain of victory against him!” Sayant sent back.

Not to mention, ‘victory over’ and ‘killing’ were two different concepts.

Sayant wasn’t conﬁdent of even being able to defeat Linley, much less kill him.

“Tell me, am I supposed to go kill a presumed Paragon-level expert?” Sayant sent back.

Odin was stupeﬁed.

He knew that Linley was powerful, but not even in his wildest imaginings would he have thought that the Ashcroft clan’s Patriarch would acknowledge Linley’s power, and even suspect him to be a Paragon. This was an extremely high-level appraisal! After all, there was no way to judge from the surface if someone was a Highgod Paragon or not.

For example, Dunnington. Others only ‘suspected’ him of being a Paragon.

Even after someone fused all six profound mysteries, others wouldn’t be able to judge that just from looking at the person.

It was precisely because he knew Linley to be incredibly powerful that Sayant was so courteous. Otherwise, given his status as a Sovereign’s Emissary, why would he act in such a manner? Unfortunately…none of them knew that Linley had the ‘black stone’ which the Redbud Sovereign had bestowed upon him, which was why he had such astonishing power.

“Lord Prefect. Lord Prefect!” Odin sent back frantically. “Linley is ﬁxated on killing me. Lord Prefect, I beg of you, please help me come up with a way to kill Linley. Oh, right… Lord Prefect, Linley wants to meet a Sovereign, right? Have the Sovereign kill him.”

“Have you gone stupid?” Sayant was truly beginning to grow angry now. He immediately sent back, “Do you think the Sovereigns will act at your beck and call?”

Only now did Odin come to his senses.

“But your suggestion does remind me of a method.” Sayant said.

“You have a method?” Odin was overjoyed.

“Enough. Don’t speak to me through divine sense again. Wait there.” Sayant barked.

Conversations through divine sense occurred at lightning speed. Although they had exchanged tens of sentences, in truth, not even a second had passed. In the banquet hall, Linley and Bebe were looking at Sayant, awaiting Sayant’s answer.

“I do know where a Sovereign lives, but Linley.” Sayant said with a solemn expression. “The residence of a Sovereign is set up to prevent others from disturbing them. Thus, their residences are in very dangerous locations…even Seven Star Fiends wouldn’t dare to casually go barging in. Thus, Linley, I urge you to reconsider it.”

“Mr. Sayant, no need for you to be concerned. Please tell me where to go.” Linley said urgently.

“Tell us where it is. We’re growing really impatient.” Bebe mumbled to the side.

Sayant hesitated momentarily, but then nodded. “Fine, then. Our Netherworld has a very dangerous location; the number one mountain peak of the Netherworld, the Abyssal Mountain! Everyone in the Netherworld knows that the Abyssal Mountain is an extremely dangerous place, but what they don’t know…is that within the Abyss Mountain lies the residence of a Sovereign!”

Sayant’s wife, ‘Anita’, glanced towards Sayant in surprise upon hearing this. Clearly, this response by her husband caused her to feel surprise! “Abyssal Mountain?” Linley frowned.

In the book provided him by Beirut, the descriptions of the various places had also included a description of the number one tall mountain of the Netherworld…Abyssal Mountain. According to what the book said, the Abyssal Mountain was the most dangerous location of the Netherworld, and that no matter what, no one was permitted to barge in.

“I want to see how dangerous it can be.” Linley made his decision.

“Madame Anita, what’s that look on your face?” Bebe’s eyes were keen, and he noticed that Anita’s expression seemed strange. “Can it be that the Lord Prefect’s words are incorrect?”

“That’s not it.” Madame Anita laughed in response. “I’m just surprised. Abyssal Mountain actually has a Sovereign living there? I didn’t know about it prior to this either.”

“Oh.” Bebe nodded as though suddenly enlightened.

“Boss, I feel as though something is off.” Bebe sent through divine sense to Linley. “When Madame Anita heard Sayant say ‘Abyssal Mountain’, the look in her eyes was very strange. Something is off.” Although Bebe had a rather childish disposition, as a Godeater Rat, his senses were very keen.

“Don’t guess rashly.” Linley sent back.

Sayant then urged, “Linley, Abyssal Mountain is far too dangerous. I urge you not to go. How about this…why don’t you stay here with me? As a Sovereign’s Emissary, although I’m not able to actively reach out to the Sovereign, perhaps at some point, the Sovereign will summon me…at which point, I’ll be able to help you convey the message to the Sovereign.”

“Unable to actively reach out to the Sovereign?” Linley frowned.

How long would he have to wait? “That’s not necessarily so.” Bebe snorted. “I saw a Sovereign’s Emissary burn a sheet of sheepskin parchment covered in magic runes, and the Sovereign appeared.”

This was what Beirut had done, and then the Bloodridge Sovereign had appeared. With but a single word, he had sent the eight great clans away, dispersing them.

Sayant glanced at Bebe in astonishment, then laughed. “Bebe, I didn’t imagine that you’d even know about this. Indeed, this is a type of method by which one can summon a Sovereign. Only, that paper with magic runes isn’t something that I can create; the Sovereign has to personally create it. That’s the only reason why the Sovereign would sense the paper being burned.”

“However, the Sovereign didn’t bestow one upon me.” Sayant said apologetically.

And Linley understood that even if Sayant had one, why would he use up such a precious item on behalf of Linley? “Mr. Sayant, I am already extremely grateful to you. But Abyssal Mountain is deep within the Netherworld, and it will take me thirty or forty years to travel there from here. It will take too long. I wonder…if you know any of the residences of the other six Sovereigns?” Linley asked.

Linley wanted to waste no time in saving his father and brothers.

Abyssal Mountain was indeed a bit too far.

“I’m not.” Sayant shook his head regretfully. “Linley, although I’m a Sovereign’s Emissary, I don’t know where the Sovereigns live. The only reason I know of Abyssal Mountain as being one such place is because I once heard the Sovereign speak of it. As for the others…I truly have no idea. I imagine the Sovereigns don’t wish to be disturbed.”

Linley felt rather resigned.

Still… He had already gained something on this visit. At least he now knew that Abyssal Mountain was the residence of a Sovereign.

“Abyssal Mountain!” Linley had made up his mind.

His father and brothers had spent nearly two thousand years in the Undead Realm. If they had been able to last for so many years, lasting a few more decades probably wouldn’t be too hard.

“Linley, let’s not just chat. Come, taste some of the special delicacies of the Netherworld.” Sayant laughed while speaking.

Linley and Bebe continued to chat casually with Sayant and his wife while drinking wine…spending quite a bit of time in the process.

Afterwards, Lord Prefect Sayant of Northbone Prefecture and his wife, Madame Anita, escorted Linley and Bebe all the way out to the perimeters of the guard camp.

“Mr. Sayant, Madame Anita, no need to see us any further.” Linley said gratefully.

Sayant let out a sigh. “Linley, to be honest, I truly do not wish to see you go to Abyssal Mountain. Abyssal Mountain truly is dangerous…although I haven’t gone deep into it myself, I’ve heard others speak of how dangerous it is long ago. Watching you head to Abyssal Mountain, I…alas! Linley, I urge you to just wait. In a few hundred thousand years or a few million years, perhaps the Sovereign will summon me.”

Hundreds of thousands of years? Millions of years?

If his father and siblings hadn’t transformed into Deities, they would die in the battles between undead. No matter how hard Linley worked, by then, it would all be fruitless.

“No need.” Linley laughed. Bebe, standing there to one side, seemed rather unhappy.

Linley suddenly thought of something. On this trip to the Netherworld, aside from helping his father and his brothers regain their memories, which was his primary goal, he had another goal…if he had the chance, he would kill Odin!

As Linley saw it, since Sayant was the Lord Prefect of Northbone Prefecture, he should know quite a few experts.

“Mr. Sayant, Madame Anita. I would like to ask you if you’ve heard of a person. This person is roughly at the Seven Star Fiend level of power. His name…is Odin!” Linley looked at Sayant and Madame Ania. Sayant raised an eyebrow, but Anita began to laugh.

“Haha, Odin. Of course we’ve heard of him.” Madame Anita laughed as she spoke.

Linley’s eyes immediately lit up, and Bebe turned to look as well.

“You know him?” Linley said in surprised delight.

Madame Anita let out two chuckles. “Yes. When Sayant and I were roaming within the borders of Northbone Prefecture, we once ran into Odin. Odin’s power was indeed not bad…but compared to my husband, ‘Sayant’, he was still quite a ways off. He lost multiple times, and submitted whole-heartedly, and so chatted with us for a time. We asked him to stay with us for a while, but he said that he had just arrived in the Netherworld, and wanted to roam about the other regions of the Netherworld and do some adventuring. We didn’t stop him. I have no idea where in the Netherworld he is now.”

“Oh.” Linley and Bebe couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

“Then we won’t disturb you any further.” Linley and Bebe bade them farewell, then entered their metallic lifeform and ﬂew to the south, disappearing into the horizon.

“Why did you want me to deceive them?” Anita turned to look at her husband. When she said these words, Anita also vigilantly set up a Godrealm, preventing others from hearing.

Sayant laughed calmly, “Do you know that between Linley and Odin, there lies a tremendous and irreconcilable hatred?”

“Ah?” Anita said, surprised. “Then just now, when you said that the Sovereign was at Abyssal Mountain, it was also because…?”

“Right.” Sayant laughed calmly. “Odin is one of us, after all. In addition, Linley and the Nether Serpent can be considered antagonistic…although Linley isn’t an enemy, he can’t be said to be a friend either! However, Linley is very powerful. It isn’t worth offending Linley for the sake of Odin. Still…all I did was give him a location.”

“But you are having him throw his life away.” Anita said.

“He is indeed throwing his life away.” Sayant laughed. “However…Abyssal Mountain is indeed the residence of a Sovereign!”

“Huh? It really is?” Anita looked towards him in surprise.

“Right. And not an ordinary Sovereign; the most powerful of the seven Sovereigns of the Netherworld. It is the residence of the Chief Sovereign of Death!” Sayant laughed calmly. “I urged Linley not to go, but he insisted. If he dies, it has nothing to do with me.”

“The Chief Sovereign of Death…”

Sayant let out a sigh.

Chapter 16, Abyssal Mountain

That eerie, crescent red moon hung up high in the void.

A metallic lifeform ﬂew through the skies, bathed in that eerie red glow. Linley peered through the window towards the outside, seeing the occasional castle pop up in the distant mountain forests. Surrounding those rare castles were some massive ﬂying dragons, immortal phoenixes, and other Saint- type magical beasts. These enormous magical beasts were reared in captivity.

Within the metallic lifeform.

“Boss.” Bebe was holding a goblet of wine. Sipping from it, he frowned. “Are we really going to the Abyssal Mountain? The book Grandpa gave us spoke of it, and said that it was the most dangerous location in the entire Netherworld. Although I want to adventure as well, I keep on having the feeling that Sayant’s words are unreliable.”

“Whether his words are reliable or not, we can’t be certain for now.” Linley put down his goblet, laughing calmly. “We’ve just spoken to a single Lord Prefect. The Netherworld has more of them than just Sayant himself. When we reach the next Prefecture, we’ll ask again. After having spoken to a number of Lord Prefects, we can make our decision!”

Speaking with a Lord Prefect would only take a day or two, but travelling to the Abyssal Mountain would require decades.

Nursing his goblet while walking to the front of the metallic lifeform, Linley stared through the window again, into the ancient night-time scenery of the Netherworld. Linley sighed emotionally, “I hope that the souls of Father, Yale, George, and Dixie were able to stay alive in the Undead Realm.”

From Northbone Prefecture to the Abyssal Mountain was a journey that entailed crossing through six other prefectures. In two of them, the Lord Prefects were situated in rather remote, distant corners. If Linley was to go visit with them, he would have to deviate signiﬁcantly from his route by hundreds of millions of kilometers…and so Linley gave up and didn’t go visit them.

He went to visit the other four Lord Prefects instead.

Of the other four, two of the Lord Prefects were not present within their residences. It was possible that they were outside adventuring, and so Linley left empty-handed. But Linley did, in fact, meet the other two. One of the two was present in his prefecture and received Linley, but this Lord Prefect didn’t know a thing about the residences of the Sovereigns.

As for the other Lord Prefect, this one did indeed know a bit regarding the Sovereigns.

He said to Linley, “Linley, based on what I know, deep within the Nether Sea, in the Azurewave Island, there lies the residence of a Sovereign. But of course, based on what I know, the ‘Abyssal Mountain’ which Sayant mentioned also does indeed have the residence of a Sovereign. Only, Abyssal Mountain is far too dangerous. It is best if you go to the island instead!” Upon hearing this, Linley immediately expressed his gratitude and leave.

The entire Netherworld was formed from one enormous continent which was vaster than the ﬁve continents of the Infernal Realm put together. At the ends of the Netherworld was a vast, endless sea which was known as the Nether Sea. The Nether Sea was truly endless, and the Azurewave Island was deep within it.

“Go to Azurewave Island?”

Linley shook his head internally. “Traversing the entire Netherworld alone will take nearly two centuries. To then venture into the Nether Sea and travel to Azurewave Island will most likely take another century or two. The trip to Azurewave Island will take at least three or four centuries!” Linley sighed to himself. “In addition, who knows if I will even be able to meet the Sovereign once I reach Azurewave Island? If I’m not even able to meet the Sovereign, I’d have to leave and head to the Abyssal Mountain and spend another three or four centuries! This round trip would take seven or eight centuries. Not worth it. Not worth it!” The danger level of Azurewave Island was much lower, but it was too far.

Time. Time was precisely what he couldn’t afford to waste right now. The sooner he could save his father and the others, the better. If too much time passed, his father, Yale, and the others might have truly died.

“Boss, you made your decision? We are going to the Abyssal Mountain?” Bebe asked.

“Right. We’re going to the Abyssal Mountain. So what if it is a bit dangerous? At least I am now certain that the Abyssal Mountain is indeed the residence of a Sovereign. If we fail in our journey to the Abyssal Mountain, we can then hurry to Azurewave Island. No matter what, we can’t waste any time on roundabout trips!” Linley said.

“Hey, Boss, take a look outside.” Bebe suddenly said in astonishment. Linley looked through the translucent metal to the outside as well. He saw that far in the distance, above a tall mountain, in the air above an ancient castle, two men were standing in mid- air, staring at each other. Both were dressed in long black robes, while one had long silver hair and the other had long violet hair. The violet-haired man’s entire body was crackling

with lightning.

The two ﬂashed like lightning across the skies, exchanging blows.

BANG!

A large crack in space appeared.

“These two are both fairly strong. They should be at the Seven Star Fiend level of power.” Linley evaluated.

“This journey was so boring. All we saw were some Gods or some weak Highgods ﬁghting amongst themselves. It’s rare to see supreme experts battle. Boss, let’s take a break and see who wins!” Bebe’s eyes were shining as he spoke. Bebe was rather interested in battles between supreme experts.

Linley was helpless.

“We’ll only stop for a short period of time.” Linley still brought the metallic lifeform to a halt.

In the distant horizon, those two supreme experts exchanged multiple blows, their power causing the skies to split open time and time ago. But a few moments later, the body of the silver- haired man suddenly vanished like an illusory shadow as he ﬂed at high speed into the distant skies. As for the violet-haired man, he pursued at high speed.

“Hey…that’s boring. They ran away before anyone died.” Bebe said resignedly.

“Enough. It doesn’t matter who lives or dies. We aren’t too far from the Abyssal Mountain by now. We’ll be there in a few months. Let’s make haste.” Linley once more controlled the metallic lifeform, sending it ﬂying forward.

“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 suffer 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.

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.

“Don’t worry.” Linley laughed as he spoke.

And then, Linley led Bebe into a corner of the restaurant and sat down. Immediately, a waiter came to greet him and brought over a menu. “These prices are extraordinarily high.” Bebe muttered. Still, Linley and Bebe were mentally prepared. They casually ordered a few dishes and two bottles of ﬁne wine, with the cost being near ten thousand inkstones. “Boss, why do you think these people are here? Can it be that they are like us, here to meet the Sovereign?” Bebe sent mentally. He didn’t understand why these experts had come.

“Sovereign? There’s not many who know that the Abyssal Mountain has a Sovereign here.” Linley sent back.

He had met with three Lord Prefects after coming to the Infernal Realm, one of whom hadn’t known at all that the Abyssal Mountain held a Sovereign. And Sayant had said…that he head only learned it from his own Sovereign. Clearly, the fact that Abyssal Mountain held a Sovereign was a secret.

“Don’t worry about other people’s business.” Linley laughed calmly.

Linley was in quite a good mood after arriving here. Linley and Bebe began to drink the ﬁne wine and eating while chatting leisurely.

“Motherf*cker, even people from the Infernal Realm have come over here to ﬁght over the Abyssal Fruit!” A grumbling, unhappy voice rang out from another side of the restaurant, and the words attracted the attention of Linley and Bebe.

“Abyssal Fruit?” Bebe looked towards Linley. “Boss, do you know what the Abyssal Fruit is?”

“No idea. Never heard of it.” Linley shook his head, puzzled.

Because this wasn’t a secret, Linley and Bebe continued to chat.

“Friends from the Infernal Realm, you’ve come for the sake of the Abyssal Fruit, and yet you won’t admit to it? This is a bit too laughable. You’ve come all the way from the Infernal Realm to our Netherworld and now are at the Abyssal Mountain. If it isn’t for the sake of the Abyssal Fruit, what is it for?” A calm voice rang out from nearby.

Linley turned to look. The speaker was a silver-haired, seemingly quite soft and feminine looking youth. “Hey, what’s so amazing about the Abyssal Fruit? Tell me about it.” Bebe said, raising an eyebrow.

Quite a few of the other guests in the restaurant gave Bebe an unfriendly look. None of them said anything.

“The Abyssal Fruit is a legendary treasure.” A cold, ﬁerce voice rang out. The red-haired woman who had been ﬁshing walked in, carrying her ﬁshing rod in one hand and a bucket in another. “It is a priceless treasure which only the Abyssal Mountain has. Anyone who acquires and eats an Abyssal Fruit will not only become a supreme expert of the Netherworld, this person will also…be met by a Sovereign and become the Sovereign’s Emissary!”

Linley’s eyes turned round upon hearing this.

Someone who acquired and ate the Abyssal Fruit would become a Sovereign’s Emissary?

“Truly?” Bebe didn’t quite believe it.

“Of course it’s true.”

The pretty red-haired lady cast her cold gaze across Linley and Bebe. “Over the course of countless years, three Abyssal Fruit have appeared here, in the Abyssal Mountain. If this news was false…why would there always be groups of people coming here to try their luck?” As she spoke, she glanced at the people in the restaurant. And then, the red-haired beauty headed upstairs, her footsteps ringing out against the stairs.

Linley and Bebe exchanged glances, still unable to believe it.

“Friends from the Infernal Realm, can it be that you truly don’t know that the three castle lords of Greenleaf Castle were the three lucky fellows who acquired Abyssal Fruits? Upon eating an Abyssal Fruit, one’s power will grow rapidly and one will become a supreme expert on par with a Lord Prefect. In addition, one will have a Sovereign artifact bestowed upon them and become a Sovereign’s Emissary!” The soft, feminine- looking youth laughed coldly as he glanced at them. “If you want the Abyssal Fruit, no need to pretend you don’t know what it is.” Bebe couldn’t help but grow angry.

“Bebe, drink.” Linley said with a calm laugh, while sending mentally to Bebe, “Bebe, there’s no need to waste your time on these people.”

Linley and Bebe, in truth, had never heard of the Abyssal Fruit. Still, Linley and Bebe weren’t too interested in it either. Since only three had appeared in countless years…they clearly were far too rare. But of course, the allure of the Abyssal Fruit was quite great, as it allowed one’s power to dramatically increase and even become a Sovereign’s Emissary.

Suddenly…

Footsteps rang out, and someone entered from outside.

Linley turned to look. “Him?” The person who had come wore a long black robe and had long violet hair. This was the person whom Linley and Bebe had seen on their journey here to the Abyssal Mountain; the victor of the battle between those two supreme experts who had fought high up in the air.

Chapter 18, The Young Red-Haired Lady

The black-robed, violet-haired youth had a calm look on his face. He swept the others in the restaurant with his gaze, then directly paid the fee at the service counter and followed the waiter to his room.

“More and more intriguing.” Linley’s face was all smiles. Nursing his cup of wine, he took a small sip. “Bebe, this Abyssal Fruit does seem to be rather enticing to people.” While chatting, Linley voluntarily set up his Godrealm, preventing others from hearing the conversation between himself and Bebe.

Otherwise, these words would deﬁnitely irritate the others.

“All of them dream of suddenly increasing in power, acquiring a Sovereign artifact, and becoming a Sovereign’s Emissary, I suppose.” Bebe snorted. “I don’t understand it. What exactly is this Abyssal Fruit, anyhow? Why is it that if you eat it, you’ll increase in power so much, and even be granted an audience by a Sovereign and become an Emissary? I don’t get it. I don’t get it!” “I don’t get it either.” Linley shook his head. But then, Linley suddenly thought of something…his black stone!

The black stone he had acquired in the Amethyst Mountains!

“That single precious black stone caused my power to advance greatly. If I didn’t have the ‘black stone’, given that I am a Highgod who has completely fused three profound mysteries, as well as possess the Coiling Dragon ring and have the innate divine ability ‘Dragon Roar’, I would at most be at the level of ordinary Seven Star Fiends. But with the black stone…I’m able to easily kill Seven Star Fiends.”

Linley began to wonder whether or not the Abyssal Fruit was something similar to his own ‘black stone’.

“It is quite possible!”

“Over the passage of countless years, there have only been three Abyssal Fruit.” Linley had come to a conclusion regarding this.

Linley and Bebe ﬁnished their meal in the restaurant, then left and entered their own reserved residences as well.

Life in the hotel was very peaceful. In the blink of an eye, ﬁve days had passed. On the ﬁfth day, early in the morning, Linley and Bebe made a rare trip to the restaurant and ordered some dishes as well as two bottles of wine. Linley and Bebe sought out an empty corner of the restaurant, sat down, then chatted while eating, waiting for night to come.

“Boss, there’s quite a few people in the room.” Bebe swept the room with his gaze.

“Everyone is preparing to enter the Abyssal Mountain tonight, so they all came today.” Linley also noticed that many people were in the room today, more than thirty in total. In addition, every single person present was a Highgod. As for what level of Highgod, that was hard to say. Linley had to sigh in amazement at how enticing the Abyssal Fruit was to people.

“However, we are different from them.” Linley sent mentally. “Reaching the peak of the Abyssal Mountain and meeting with the Sovereign is our goal.” Abyssal Fruit? It held no interest for Linley. Although it was a treasure, there had only been three found in countless years. One could imagine how hard it was to acquire one.

“Creak…” A nearby seat was pulled aside, and the black- robed, violet-haired youth sat down.

Linley glanced sideways at the black-robed, violet-haired youth who was only four or ﬁve meters away from him. “Him again!”

This youth only ordered some wine and nothing else. He sat there alone, quietly drinking. Although he just sat there, Linley had the feeling…that although this person was like a glacier, if someone were to anger him, however, he would explode like a volcano.

“Big Sis, we have a guest.” The green-robed youth ran in, and behind him was a muscular youth with a single, cyclopean eye. The muscular youth strode in, sweeping the group of people in the room casually with his single eye.

But when he did so!

“Huh?” The youth’s face suddenly sank, and a two meter long blade suddenly appeared in his hands, brimming with ﬁery ﬂames.

“Swish!”

From the counter to the restaurant was a distance of twenty meters. The muscular cyclopean youth left behind only a ﬁery red shadow as he swept forward, that blade of his chopping down directly at the head of the black-robed, violet-haired youth. Wherever the blade passed, tears in space could be seen. This sudden attack caused everyone else in the restaurant to feel startled.

“Hmph!” The black-robed youth, who had been drinking his wine, let out a low snort. He suddenly threw out the winecup in his hand, and that tiny winecup, wreathed in an electric light and howling desolately through the air, ﬂew out and smashed directly against the edge of the blade. With a low, shuddering sound…

The winecup transformed into dust.

As for the black-robed youth, he disappeared, transforming into a bolt of lightning and retreating backwards at high speed.

“Halt!” The fee-collecting green-robed lady at the counter shouted angrily.

But the cyclopean youth didn’t pay her any mind. Wielding his blade, he charged into the skies like an ascendant divine dragon, continuing to pursue and attack the violet-haired youth. Because he was too fast, cracks in space began to appear, and the earth itself trembled. These ripples caused the tables, chairs, winecups, and plates touched by it to transform into dust.

“You are looking for death!”

A low, gravelly voice echoed in the restaurant, and a devilish electric light ﬂashed.

“Bang!” The ﬁery red shadow and the electric shadow collided within the restaurant.

“Whoosh!” The two shadows instantly exploded backwards, both retreating!

The ﬁery red ﬁgure was just about to smash into the counter, but the green-robed woman behind the counter, her face like ice, stretched out with that ‘weak’, soft right hand of hers. The entire arm suddenly turned jade-green, and almost as translucent as jade as well. The jade-green hand slapped against the back of the ﬁery red ﬁgure.

“Bang!” The explosively retreating ﬁery red ﬁgure was brought to a sudden halt by that palm slap.

As for that electric ﬁgure, when it retreated, it was clearly being sent ﬂying towards Linley and Bebe. Linley frowned. He continued to nurse his wine, but an earthen yellow aura suddenly emanated from his body, forming a hemisphere that extended only as far as was necessary to protect himself and Bebe.

Blackstone Space – Repulsive Force!

The electric ﬁgure, as soon as it fell into the Blackstone Space, was pushed outwards by that astonishingly strong repulsive force. His body swayed for a moment, and then he found his bearings. The violet-haired youth, his body wreathed in lightning, turned to glance at Linley, his eyes ﬁlled with surprise and ardor.

“So powerful!” A desire for battle had actually awoken in the heart of this violet-haired youth.

“You dare ﬁght in our Abyssal Inn. How truly audacious of you two.” An angry roar rang out, and the green-robed woman walked out from behind the counter, staring angrily at the two combatants. However, the two combatants were staring at each other, not paying any attention to that green-robed woman.”

“Bloan [Bu’long]!” The cyclopean youth stared angrily at the violet-haired youth. “What a coincidence for us to meet here!”

“You are still too weak. Come ﬁnd me when you grow stronger.” The violet-haired youth said emotionlessly. And then, the violet-haired youth gave the nearby Linley a sidelong glance, his cold eyes ﬁlled with a powerful desire for battle. The black-robed youth clearly had noticed Linley’s power, and wanted to have a tussle with Linley.

As for the other Highgods in the restaurant, they just watched this all happen in astonishment.

“How powerful.” These people were all stunned. The cyclopean youth. The violet-haired youth. The green- robed woman. Linley. In that split second, they had all revealed a hint of their power. That hint, however, was already enough to make these people quail.

“The two of you!” The green-haired woman’s face seemed to be covered with frost. “You are going too far!”

“Swoosh!”

The green-haired woman charged directly towards the cyclopean youth, while at the same time, green palm shadows appeared, seeming to cover the sky, each of them seeing so soft and weak. The cyclopean youth, with a growl, swung his blade in a vicious chop against the green-robed woman, a merciless chop!

“Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!”

When those green palm blurs collided against the blade, that blade which was enough to create tears in space seemed to have been trapped and surrounded by many of them while still other palm blurs came smashing down towards the chest of that cyclopean youth. “Crunch!” The cyclopean youth’s chest caved in, and he spewed out a large mouthful of blood as he was sent ﬂying backwards.

This scene caused the entire restaurant to fall silent.

“Oh!” Linley’s eyes lit up. “An expert of water!”

This green-robed lady, who collected fees for the Abyssal Inn, was actually an expert who was very nearly at the Seven Star Fiend level of power.

“And you!” The green-robed woman turned to stare at the black-robed youth. “I’m going to ask you to leave as well!” The green-robed woman thrust out her hand, and a jade-green whip appeared, which instantly transformed into countless willowy branches, sweeping and swirling towards the black- robed, violet-haired youth.

The violet-haired youth’s eyes lit up.

“Wonderful!” An explosive shout, followed by a dazzling bright violet electric light. A devilish sword shadow chopped directly through the countless willowy branches, then continued to chop down towards the green-robed woman.

“Bang!” Her many willowy branches shattered, the green- robed woman had to retreat.

“You aren’t a match for me yet.” The black-robed youth said arrogantly.

“Boss, this fellow is quite powerful.” Bebe sent mentally in praise, while Linley nodded slightly as well. “His lightning- type swordplay is quite devilish, very similar to my own Bloodviolet.”

Right at this moment…

“Tap, tap…” The sound of footsteps from the stairs rang out. The ﬁshing pole carrying, bucket-holding red-haired beauty walked down the stairs, her eyebrows creased in a frown. The red-haired beauty gave the black-robed, violet-haired youth a cold look. “What’s this all about?”

“Boss!” The green-haired woman immediately bowed slightly. “This violet-haired youth and the person outside were ﬁghting. However, this violet-haired youth is very strong, slightly stronger than me. I’m not able to handle him.”

“Tap, tap…”

Still carrying her ﬁshing pole, the red-haired beauty walked towards the violet-haired youth, a hint of a smile on her face. “You dare ﬁght in my inn? You really are audacious! There’s no need for you to pay compensation for these things, but…I still need to give you a bit of a punishment.” The beauty said, while the violet-haired youth just smiled coldly.

“Swish!” The red-haired woman suddenly whipped out her ﬁshing pole, which arced bizarrely through the air towards the violet- haired youth.

“Hmph!” An icy snort. The violet-haired youth’s body suddenly shot forward, while that electric longsword in his hands arced out, piercing through the air and causing space to slightly crack apart.

“Rumble…” In the instant when the electric longsword and the ﬁshing pole collided, the electric longsword actually slid to one side, while the violet-haired youth’s own body ﬂew forward with it uncontrollably. This sliding of his longsword, however, caused it to slide towards the nearby guests who were drinking wine and watching this scene.

These people, frightened, hurriedly dodged, but the longsword was too fast. This off-base slash caused ripples of power to strike the guests within ten or so meters, including Linley’s group. The other Highgods all dodged, but Linley did not, because… “Crunch!” A palm suddenly stretched out, clamping onto the electric sword’s blade.

The violet-haired youth was stunned, while the red-haired beauty looked over in amazement as well.

Bebe, gripping the electric longsword in his right hand, said in a discontented manner, “Hey, we aren’t here in this inn to watch you ﬁght. If you want to ﬁght, then ﬁght, but don’t interfere with me and my Boss in drinking wine!” As he spoke, he casually tossed the electric longsword aside. This scene caused everyone in the room to be stunned.

To use one’s hand to snatch the sword of a Seven Star Fiend who was attacking with it?

Linley just shook his head and laughed. Even in Dragonform, if he were to use his hand to snatch or black the longsword, he would have been injured. He couldn’t have acted as Bebe had, and Bebe’s hand was completely uninjured. “Oh…formidable.” The red-haired beauty laughed. “Well- spoken. We shouldn’t disrupt you.”

As she spoke, the red-haired beauty once more swung out with her ﬁshing pole, which sent out a ﬁshing line which constantly danced in the air. The strange thing was…with each twirl of the ﬁshing line, it was as though a wave of power was emanating from it, forming a strange vortex which surrounded the violet-haired youth.

Linley and Bebe’s faces instantly changed.

“A supreme expert! A supreme expert of water!” Linley was stunned.

The swirling of the ﬁshing line was causing space itself to form into a vortex. In an instant, Linley could sense countless rays of invisible spatial matter swirl about in a vortex like a dense ﬁshing net, surrounding the violet-haired youth. The violet-haired youth was the ﬁsh! Even though he frantically struggled, those countless strands of space surrounding him grew tighter and tighter!

In but the blink of an eye…

The ‘ﬁshnet’ had completely bound up the violet-haired youth, and it seemed to shine with a green light. The violet- haired youth was completely immobilized, and his eyes were ﬁlled with amazement. He stared at the red-haired beauty in disbelief. “You? Who are you?” The youth had the power of a Seven Star Fiend, but compared with this red-haired beauty, he was far weaker.

“There’s no way you are a member of Greenleaf Castle. You… right…you must be…one of the castle lords of Greenleaf Castle!” The violet-haired youth said hurriedly.

Chapter 19, Warning – Snakes and Trees!

Everyone in the restaurant had fallen silent. The technique displayed by the red-haired woman had stunned them all. The dancing ﬁshing line had seemed to take control of the surrounding space, forming countless vortexes that transformed into a spatial ﬁshnet. This was simply too bizarre!

“So powerful!” The Highgods in the restaurant all understood why it was proclaimed…that nobody was permitted to ﬁght within this inn.

“Hmph!” The violet-haired youth let out an angry snort. His entire body ﬂashed with explosive electric light, while he himself transformed into a bolt of lightning, seeking to escape from this ﬁshnet. But the ﬁshing line which bound him ﬂashed with green light, completely surrounding and sealing off this violet-haired youth’s movements. No matter how he struggled, he wasn’t able to escape!”

“Causing trouble in MY inn? You really are audacious.” The red-haired beauty said with a cold snort. “There’s no need for you to pay me for the things you broke, but you’ll have to serve as my ﬁshbait.”

As she spoke, the red-haired woman lifted up the ﬁshing pole, with the violet-haired youth trundled up at the other end of the ﬁshing line. And, just like that, the red-haired woman walked out of the inn, towards that grassy area. Once she arrived by the side of the pool, with a ﬂick of the pole and a ‘plonk’ sound, the violet-haired youth was sent ﬂying into the water of the pool.

“He really is being used as ﬁshbait.” Bebe said in surprise. “Boss, that woman…hey, Boss!”

At this moment, Linley was currently processing the astonishing scene he had just seen. The waves formed by the ﬁshing line, which had twisted into countless swirling vortexes in a never-ending stream. Linley had trained for so many years in the Elemental Laws of Water. He had reached the bottleneck in the sixth Profound Mystery, ‘Circular Softness’, and had been unable to break through. The Profound Mystery of Circular Softness was one of the easier profound mysteries of the Elemental Laws of Water to begin training in, but it was hard to master.

Water…was extremely soft!

Something as soft and gentle as a ﬁshing line was capable of causing space itself to move like a wave of water, forming countless spatial lines that entangled a person like a spatial ﬁshing net, trundling them up. This sort of technique required a person to have reached a terrifying level of power in the Elemental Laws of Water. And when Linley saw this, he suddenly understood something.

He suddenly gained an insight!

“Rumble…”

A surge of natural Law ripples descended into the hotel, and a large amount of water-type elemental essence gathered in the air above Linley, forming into a watery fog. A terrifying presence descended. This awe-inspiring presence was lofty and noble. Faced with this presence, everyone would choose to submit to it.

Within Linley’s body. Suddenly, Linley’s divine water clone ﬂew out…that ‘green-haired Linley’.

“Boss, you made a breakthrough?” Bebe was delighted.

By the pool outside the hotel, the red-haired beauty who was currently using a person as ﬁshing bait frowned, turning to glance towards the restaurant in surprise. “Hey? After seeing that technique of mine, he was able to make a breakthrough? This person’s comprehension abilities is quite astonishing.” At the same time, the red-haired woman gave the ﬁshing pole a ﬂick, causing the ‘ﬁshbait’ to be whisked out and tossed to one side.

The violet-haired youth rolled on the ground, then immediately stood up.

“Enough. I’m not in the mood to punish you!” The red- haired beauty said coldly. “Remember. You had best not cause trouble in my inn. This time, I’ll spare you, but if there is a second time…I will just kill you!”

The black-robed, violet-haired youth looked at her silently, then walked to a nearby area, closed his eyes, then sat down and began to meditate.

As for the red-haired woman, she put down the ﬁshing pole, standing up and heading towards the inn.

Within the inn, the waiters were currently cleaning up. Quite a few Highgods in the restaurant were chatting amongst themselves, discussing either the red-haired woman, Linley, or the violet-haired youth.

“It seems we have no chance this time. Even if we are lucky and the Abyssal Fruit appears, we won’t be able to overcome them.”

“Those two from the Infernal Realm are truly strong.” “Let’s not give up. The insides of the Abyssal Mountain are shrouded in fog, and everyone will be spread around searching. Just because a person is strong doesn’t mean that this person will acquire the Abyssal Fruit! Perhaps we will be lucky and be the ones to acquire it instead.”

Those people, after seeing how strong Linley and the violet- haired youth were, knew they wouldn’t be able to out-ﬁght them. They still didn’t wish to give up, however. In searching for the Abyssal Fruit, strength was one part of it, but luck was very important as well. In countless years, only three Abyssal Fruit had ever emerged. Although their chances of acquiring it was low, they still wanted to give it a try.

If they didn’t even try, they would remain ordinary Highgods in the vast Netherworld.

But if they gave it a try, perhaps they might suddenly gain in power and become Sovereign’s Emissaries, and stand at the peak of the Netherworld.

“Boss, congratulations.” Bebe happily raised his goblet while setting up his Godrealm, preventing others from hearing their conversation.

“It seems my luck is excellent.” Linley was all smiles. “My divine water clone actually reached the Highgod level at a time like this. It seems as though our visit to the Abyssal Mountain tonight will be a successful one!”

“Right, it deﬁnitely will be a successful one!” Bebe said as well.

To enter the Abyssal Mountain and to see the Sovereign! This was indeed too difﬁcult. Even the likes of Linley and Bebe felt worried.

“Eh?” Linley turned to look.

He saw the red-haired beauty walk towards his table, then pull out a chair and sit down at their table. The red-haired woman pulled out a goblet, pouring herself a glass with Linley’s wine. Not saying a single word, she drained it. Linley and Bebe couldn’t help but look at the red-haired woman, puzzled.

“Kid.” The red-haired woman looked at Linley, her lips curving upwards. “You just became a Highgod in water. Shouldn’t you thank me?”

“Right.” Linley laughed, raising his own winecup. “I do indeed need to thank you. Otherwise, who knows how long it would have been before I made a breakthrough?”

“Boss, what does this woman intend?” Bebe sent mentally, puzzled. Linley was puzzled as well, and he sent back, “Bebe, I also have the feeling that this woman is very weird. An expert who seems to be at the level of power of an Asura of the Infernal Realm is actually here running an inn? This really is unfathomable.”

The red-haired woman drained a few more cups of wine, tilting her head back. “The two of you are here for Abyssal Fruit as well?” The red- haired woman laughed calmly. “From the power you revealed, you two are at least at the Seven Star Fiend level of power, or perhaps even stronger. It seems to me as though the two of you don’t need this sort of lucky break or the Abyssal Fruit, right? The power you already wield is already enough to allow you to become heroic, renowned ﬁgures in either the Netherworld or the Infernal Realm.

“Nobody ever complains about being too strong.” Linley laughed calmly.

Linley didn’t wish to let others know that he wanted to meet a Sovereign.

“Oh, that’s true.” The red-haired woman nodded. “But let me give you some advice. It’s best if you don’t enter the Abyssal Mountain.”

“Why is that? Because it is dangerous inside?” Linley asked. The red-haired woman laughed gently. “It is indeed dangerous! Only three Abyssal Fruit has ever appeared in the Netherworld. Countless billions of years will pass between each fruit. These people who have come in search for it…” The red-haired woman glanced sideways at the others. “These are all people whose lives in the Netherworld are not to their satisfaction, and so they have come to try their luck. But trying one’s luck comes with a cost! Even someone as strong as you two, in the Abyssal Mountain, might lose your lives if you aren’t careful!”

Linley couldn’t help but narrow his eyes.

“The power you wield is more than enough to allow you to roam about and dominate the Netherworld. Why risk your lives for a single Abyssal Fruit that only appears once in countless years?” The red-haired youth said.

Linley nodded.

Although ordinary Highgods, Five Star Fiends, and Six Star Fiends were powerful, it was impossible for them to stand at par with the peak experts of the Netherworld. These people would thus risk their lives and hope that their destinies would be changed by it. But for experts who were nearly at the Asura level, it wasn’t worth it. Their lives were precious!

“We are willing to go risk it.” Bebe just laughed. “I’m very curious as to what is so dangerous about this Abyssal Mountain.”

“I’m just giving you some advice. It’s none of my business whether or not you go in and whether or not you die.” The red- haired woman laughed calmly. “Only, far, far too many people have gone into the Abyssal Mountain without being able to come out!”

“Can you tell me what is so dangerous about the Abyssal Mountain?” Linley asked.

Since this young woman owned and operated an inn next to it, and seemed to be connected to the three castle lords of Greenleaf Castle, and perhaps was one of them…she deﬁnitely knew things about the situation in the Abyssal Mountain. “Why should I tell you?” The red-haired woman asked.

Linley and Bebe were stunned.

The red-haired woman giggled as she stood up. “The higher up you go in traversing the tri-colored fogs of the Abyssal Mountain, the more dangerous it is! Remember. Beware the snakes, and the trees!” After speaking, the red-haired woman turned and left, leaving behind Linley and Bebe, both of whom were befuddled.

Linley had been prepared for the higher parts of the Abyssal Mountain to be dangerous.

But…

“Snakes? Trees?” Bebe muttered. “Of course there’s going to be trees in mountain forests. Can it be that we need to beware every single tree? Then how are we supposed to go up the mountain?” “Don’t worry about it. Let’s just remember to be wary regarding ‘snakes’ and ‘trees’. Still, we can’t be incautious about other things either.” Linley said after reﬂecting. “That woman might know many things about the Abyssal Mountain, but she doesn’t necessarily know everything about all the

dangers of the Abyssal Mountain.”

The night of the full moon. An eerie red moon, as round as a plate, hung there in the skies. Under the light of the moon, the Abyssal Mountain, always crackling with faint electric light, seemed to have a red aura emanating from it as well.

The northern base of the Abyssal Mountain.

The vast, endless chains of lightning fell down from the peak of the mountain like waterfalls. At the northern base of the mountain, there was an enormous gate that was ten meters long, and the gate was covered in carved runes as well. Large amounts of electricity crackled and ﬂowed around the mountain gate, but the gate itself didn’t have any electricity present.

Tens of ﬁgures were at the gate.

“This is the only entrance.” Bebe murmured. “I really want to enter from other areas and see how powerful that lightning is, exactly.”

“It’s always best to be careful.” Linley raised his head as well.

The entire mountain was covered in the tri-colored fog, but the density of the fog was now a bit lower.

“My four brothers!” Next to them, ﬁve Highgods were gathered together, one of whom had a very solemn look on his face. “For many years, we’ve lived a dazed, blurred life…let’s go in and give it our best shot. At worst, we might just fail and die! But if we succeed…the brother who succeeds has to help the others take care of their matters.”

“Don’t worry, Elder Brother.”

Those people all had steely, resolved looks in their eyes. They stepped forward, passing through the gate and entering the Abyssal Mountain.

“They are just throwing their lives away!” An effeminate, soft voice rang out.

The speaker was the silver-haired, effeminate man. “They think they are worthy of acquiring the Abyssal Fruit?” The silver-haired man entered the Abyssal Mountain as well. The other Highgods were speaking to each other as well, and they all entered the Abyssal Mountain. Those who dared to enter it…had already decided to risk their lives for it.

“Abyssal Fruit?” The black-robed, violet-haired youth entered as well.

“Boom!” Linley instantly Dragonformed. Azure-golden draconic scales covered his entire body, and savage spikes appeared on his back, forehead, and other areas. With a ﬂip of his hand, a nearly translucent longsword appeared as well. “Let’s go, Bebe.” Linley and Bebe entered the Abyssal Mountain. Linley’s sudden Dragonforming badly startled the others.

“So this person was concealing his strength!” Those people felt their hearts quail.

“That sword seems to be a treasure as well.”

Although the other Highgods were stunned, they still passed through the gate.

Moments later, only two people were left outside the gate; the red-haired beauty and the green-robed woman.

“Boss, those two from the Infernal Realm really are powerful.” The green-robed woman said.

The red-haired beauty had a hint of a smile at the corner of her lips. “If my guess is correct, that weapon from the Azure Dragon clansman should be a godspark weapon made by Beirut! It really is extremely rare to see such a large godspark weapon. The relationship between this youth and Beirut is deﬁnitely quite special. As for that youngster, he was able to grab the sword of a Seven Star Fiend with his bare hands without suffering any wounds at all, but his body doesn’t have any Sovereign artifact’s aura…as I see it, he most likely is that legendary successor to Beirut, the second Godeater Rat.”

“Oh. Let’s go back.” The red-haired woman turned and left.

“Boss, how many of them do you think will make it out alive?” The green-robed woman asked.

“Based on past precedence…the strength of this group isn’t bad. Several of them should be able to return. But if they get too greedy and attempt to go to the peak of the Abyssal Mountain? Quite possibly, not a single one of them!” The red- haired beauty said calmly. “Don’t worry about them. The Netherworld is ﬁlled with people. So what if a group of people die?”

The green-haired woman followed the red-haired woman, heading back to the hotel.

Chapter 20, Lost

As soon as Linley entered the Abyssal Mountain, he felt a heart-palpitating presence spread out from it.

“What a powerful presence!” Linley’s face turned solemn. “Even in the Infernal Realm, when I faced the Bloodridge Sovereign, I didn’t feel such a terrifying pressure!” After having been pressured by this presence as soon as he entered the Abyssal Mountain, Linley had a feeling…as though he had returned to his childhood years in Wushan township, and was once more facing that magical beast, the ‘Velocidragon’ for the ﬁrst time. It was that sort of terror and shock that he now felt.

His heart was shaking! This sense of pressure pressed down on his soul!

“Boss, I can’t even spread my divine sense out.” Bebe turned to look at Linley. “This pressure is too powerful, even more powerful than that of the Bloodridge Sovereign.”

“That’s because when the Bloodridge Sovereign appeared, it was just an energy construct, rather than his true form.” Linley carefully inspected his surroundings.

Behind him was the Abyssal Mountain gate. For now, none of the Highgods who had entered dare go any deeper into the mountain, as they were all carefully inspecting and getting accustomed to their new surroundings. The Abyssal Mountain was ﬁlled with danger. Even Seven Star Fiend level experts who entered might perish. Such a dangerous area…how could any of them dare to be incautious?

“Within the Abyssal Mountains, even gravity is gone. It is as though this place is completely cut off from the outside world.” Linley just hovered there.

“This white fog can even cause people to go dizzy. However, for myself and Bebe, the inﬂuence is negligible.” Linley was still constantly weighing his surroundings.

There were many trees, bushes, and other types of vegetation growing atop the Abyssal Mountain, which was completely covered by the white fog. Outside of the white fog was the ‘Heaven-Earth Chains’. The power of the endless chains of lightning was something which Linley had heard of long ago. Linley didn’t want to touch them or to personally experience how powerful that lightning was.

“Whoosh!” Linley’s body sank down, and he descended until he stood atop the mountain stone.

“Bebe, within the Abyssal Mountain region, let’s advance while on the ground.” Linley sent mentally, speaking solemnly. “If we ﬂy, the white fog will completely block our ﬁeld of vision. If we aren’t careful, we might run into the lightning chains. That would be terrible.”

“I rather want to give them a try.” Bebe laughed, but he still descended until he stood atop the mountain stone as well.

“Remember, beware the snakes and the trees!” Linley sent, while at the same time, he stared vigilantly at the trees nearby. The trees who were living in this unique environment of the Abyssal Mountain were all fairly short, and had unusual shapes as well. “Perhaps these trees are capable of attacking people.”

Linley didn’t dare to be incautious.

“Don’t worry.” Bebe looked at the nearby trees as well. “These trees won’t be able to hurt me.”

The other Highgods had gotten a good sense of their surroundings by now as well, and they all began to head out.

“Let’s move out.” Linley gave the order.

Linley and Bebe, sticking close to the surface of the Abyssal Mountain, began to ﬂy forwards. However, they didn’t dare to ﬂy too quickly…for fear that the trees might suddenly attack them mid-journey. In addition, Linley had yet to see a single ‘snake’ which the red-haired woman had warned him about.

Moments later…

“Swish!” Linley and Bebe came to a halt, puzzlement in their eyes. “Boss, which direction should we advance towards?” Bebe stared around himself.

“This damn place.” Linley was frustrated as well.

Linley was surrounded on all four sides by endless fog. Despite Linley and Bebe’s ocular prowess, they were at most able to see to a distance of a few dozen meters. In addition, given the terrifying pressure emanating from the Abyssal Mountain, they weren’t able to make their divine sense leave their body. And given that the Abyssal Mountain had no gravity within its borders…

These things combined to make it impossible to determine a direction!

Although the mountain did have slopes and inclines, given that there was no gravity at all, even though Linley and Bebe might be standing atop the mountain they wouldn’t be sure which direction they were standing. The trees that grew in this gravity-less region also grew in strange, distorted directions. “It’s impossible to even tell directions clearly within this Abyssal Mountain. There’s no way to tell which way is ‘up’ the mountain and which way is ‘down’!” Linley carefully inspected the surroundings, but everywhere around him were those bizarrely shaped trees and some ordinary plants. As well as that thick, endless white fog…

Bebe had a sour look on his face. “All I know is that if we leave the surface of the mountain and ﬂy upwards, we’ll encounter those lightning chains. As for front, back, left, right…I have no idea where to go.”

Linley and Bebe had encountered the ﬁrst difﬁcult trial of the Abyssal Mountain…

The loss of a sense of direction!

“Forget it. Let’s just move forward.” Linley gritted his teeth. “The white fog only extends for a few hundred thousand meters, a distance of less than a thousand kilometers. We’ll just charge forward blindly…and perhaps we’ll be able to charge out.” By now, the only option left to them was a foolish method such as thing; by relying on their speed to burst out of it.

“Right.” Bebe said in approval.

The two immediately began to advance in the direction they considered ‘forward’!

But Linley and Bebe didn’t dare to run forward at full speed. They still had to be vigilant of the nearby trees, as well as the heretofore unseen ‘snakes’. Thus, of course they moved a bit slower.

“Someone’s there!” Bebe sent mentally.

Linley and Bebe immediately came to a halt. From afar, there was a blurry ﬁgure in the white fog, which was also drawing closer to their direction. Only now did Linley and Bebe clearly recognize who this person was; it was the black-robed, violet- haired youth. He, too, had noticed Linley and Bebe, but with a low snort, he simply continued to move forward.

Suddenly…

“CRACK!”

A bolt of lightning suddenly descended from the heavens, smashing directly against a large tree that was only ten meters or so away from Linley. The tree was instantly transformed into ashes.

“What’s going on?” Bebe was badly startled.

“You two, be careful!” The violet-haired youth, who by now was fairly close, said in a cold voice. “Within the Abyssal Mountain, lightning will occasionally descend from on high. This lightning is the lightning contained within the Heaven- Earth Chains, and the power of it is exceedingly great! When ﬂying forward, best pay attention to what is going on above you. If you are struck…hmph…”

His voice slowly grew distant, and then faded away.

The reason why the Heaven-Earth Chains were always ﬁlled with endless amounts of electric power was because the Heaven-Earth Chains were constantly absorbing the natural surrounding lightning-type elemental essence to nourish itself. But once the Heaven-Earth Chains absorbed a certain amount

of lightning-type elemental essence, it would begin to randomly cast down bolts of lightning as some energy began to leak out.

This was why…

Even if you didn’t go touch the Heaven-Earth Chains, sometimes, the Heaven-Earth Chains would still strike you.

Linley and Bebe couldn’t help but raise their heads, staring upwards.

“This damn place.” Bebe gritted his teeth. “This is ridiculous. Lightning bolts that will suddenly descend for no reason? If we aren’t careful and end up getting hit, that would have been such an unfair death.” “Anyone who dares to enter the Abyssal Mountains has to be mentally prepared for death.” Linley laughed calmly. “Let’s go. Let’s continue to move forward.”

Both Linley’s group and the other groups which entered the Abyssal Mountain knew that since they had chosen to enter the Abyssal Mountain…if they died, they couldn’t blame others. The Abyssal Mountain was the residence of the mightiest of the seven Sovereigns of the Netherworld, the Chief Sovereign of Death. How could it be a place where others could easily enter?

Linley and Bebe felt as though their path forward was a straight line.

After advancing for a long time…

“Hmm…we haven’t reached an end yet?” Bebe said, puzzled. “We should’ve advanced for more than a thousand kilometers by now.” “It seems as though we went the wrong way.” Linley said.

There were no other possibilities. If they had gone the right way, they would’ve left the region of white fog long ago.

In an ordinary place, Linley and Bebe would’ve been able to walk out of it by now, even if their eyes were closed. But the Abyssal Mountain constantly radiated that terrifying pressure, and the white fog was somewhat impacting their souls. Thus, Linley and Bebe’s senses of direction were inaccurate, and so, unknowingly, they had gone off-track and begun to move in a circular manner as opposed a straight one.

“Forget it. Let’s just keep going forward.” Bebe said.

Linley nodded as well, and the two immediately advanced deeper into the white fog. On the way over, Linley still didn’t discover any ‘trees’ or ‘snakes’ that were able to attack. Aside from the occasional bolts of lightning that descended down and the disorienting loss of direction, the Abyssal Mountain didn’t see to hold any other dangers. “Hm. The white fog is growing sparse.” Linley was immediately excited.

The tri-colored fog clouds of the Abyssal Mountain represented that the mountain was divided into three regions. The borders of the three regions were areas with fairly sparse fog. The sparseness of the fog here was an indication that they had reached the borders!

“We made it!” Bebe said with surprise and delight, but then Bebe’s expression changed. “How can this be?!”

Linley and Bebe walked out of the white fog, but within their ﬁeld of vision, the Heaven-Earth Chains once more appeared. The thick chains of lightning had that invisible membrane between them, and through the membrane, Linley could see that on the opposite side…was the vast, endless plains.

“We…returned to the base of the mountain?” Linley couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. After entering the mountain through the gate, they had blindly wandered for so long, but in the end, they had actually walked back to the base of the mountain. Still, at least they hadn’t walked back to the gate.

“Let’s go. This place is only one or two thousand kilometers in size. In an hour, we should be able to criss-cross it several dozen times. I refuse to believe that we won’t be able to make it in an hour.” Linley turned and immediately re-entered the white fog, while Bebe followed from behind.

“CRACK!” From not too far away, yet another bolt of lightning descended.

Linley and Bebe didn’t slow down, continuing to advance forward.

Linley had believed that leaving the white fog region would be fairly simple, but three times in a row, he ended up returning to the base of the mountain. Even by taking a circuitous route, however, the distance was just a few thousand kilometers. Given Linley’s speed, each trip was a very fast one, and so Linley had more than enough patience to continue advancing.

“There is someone up ahead.” Bebe’s eyes lit up.

Linley had noticed the person up ahead as well. It was a muscular man with short golden hair, who was carefully advancing forward. As though he sensed something, he turned to look towards them, and when he did, he was badly startled…Linley’s Dragonform made him think that he had encountered some sort of monster. But he quickly realized who it was.

At the mountain gates, they had all seen Linley’s Dragonform.

“The two of you haven’t made it out yet, either?” The man with the short golden hair actually moved towards them as he spoke.

“There’s no sense of direction in this damn place.” Bebe said.

“The white fog region of the Abyssal Mountain is actually the safest place here.” The golden-haired man laughed calmly. “It’s just an inability to tell directions, right? If we try a few extra times, we might get lucky and make it out. It’s just a matter of time. If once isn’t enough, then ten times, a hundred times…

we have plenty of time.”

Linley said with a laugh, “Then good luck to you in being able to make it out. We won’t disturb you any further. Bebe, let’s head out.”

Linley and Bebe immediately advanced forward.

The golden-haired man had a hint of disappointment ﬂash past his eyes. He had come to chat with Linley because he wanted to travel alongside Linley and Bebe. This was because at the hotel, they had all learned that Linley and Bebe were supreme experts. It would be much safer if he travelled alongside them in the Abyssal Mountain. “They are ignoring me?” But then, the golden-haired man’s eyes lit up, and he actually chased after Linley and Bebe while saying, “The two of you came from the Infernal Realm, and so I imagine you aren’t familiar with the Abyssal Mountain. I know a few things about this place.”

As he spoke, he caught up.

Linley and Bebe couldn’t help but turn and glance at the golden-haired man.

“Boss, this guy is really annoying.” Bebe sent mentally.

“Just let him follow if he wants to.” Linley didn’t mind. But suddenly, Linley saw a hint of a green blur ﬂash past from the corner of his eyes, shooting out from a nearby tree. Linley instantly grew guarded, and the semi-translucent godspark sword, ‘Mirage’, appeared in his hands. But that green blur shot towards the golden-haired man behind Linley instead.

Linley and Bebe immediately turned.

“Haaaargh!” A bellow rang out, and the golden-haired man’s hands suddenly became ﬁlled with a warblade, which he swung directly towards the green blur. At the same time, a black aura sprang up, ensconcing the golden-haired man in layers of defense.

“Swish!” The green blur twisted in mid-air, dodging past the golden-haired man’s blade chop.

The green blur slammed directly onto that black aura, which actually wasn’t able to block it at all. The green blur instantly broke through the black aura, and also shot directly towards the golden-haired man. The strange thing was…the green blur actually merged into the man’s body. The layer of light surrounding the golden-haired man vanished, and the warblade in his hand fell to the ground as well.

“Ah…ahhhh!” A terrifying sound rang out from the man’s mouth, and his entire body trembled. But an instant later, the man’s body became stiff, and no more sound came from his lips. “Thud!” The man fell down to the ground, smashing against a nearby tree, and then ﬂoating up into the air and drifting about randomly.

Linley and Bebe stared carefully at the man’s corpse.

“Hiss…”

From the forehead of the corpse, a hole suddenly appeared, and a thin green serpent that was only the size of a man’s palm wriggled out from the hole. The green serpent’s body suddenly trembled, then it transformed into a green ﬂash of light, disappearing into the white fog.

Linley and Bebe’s facial expressions turned solemn.

“Snake!”

Chapter 21, Green Snakes

That red-haired beauty had warned Linley about the ‘snakes’ and the ‘trees’, and so Linley and Bebe had been on their guard the entire time. But only now did Linley realize that the so- called ‘snakes’ referred to that extremely slender green snake.

“Crunch!” Linley and Bebe walked forward, stepping on thick layers of fallen leaves and branches as they walked towards the corpse. Linley and Bebe both carefully inspected the golden-haired man’s corpse. Linley ﬁrst inspected the corpse’s chest, from whence the green serpent had entered the man’s body.

“As I thought!” Linley realized that there was a tiny hole in the man’s chest, identical to the hole in the man’s skull.

“And I had originally believed that the green serpent had truly merged into his body. So the snake actually bit a hole into the body, then entered it. Only, the green snake really was quite fast, and its burrowing abilities are very powerful!” Linley said with a sigh. “That man was a Highgod, but his divine power defense wasn’t able to block the snake at all.” The divine power that had surrounded and protected the Highgod had been as weak as paper in front of the green snake.

“That green snake’s fangs really are sharp.” Bebe laughed.

“Don’t be careless.” Linley looked at the corpse in a weighing manner. “That green snake was extremely fast, and it was able to easily change direction in midair.”

“Right.” Bebe had seen the earlier scene as well.

“Boss, that green snake killed that man, but why didn’t it continue to attack us next? Instead, it ﬂed.” Bebe asked.

“The green snake most likely wants to rely on ambushes.” Linley said. “We were already on guard against it, and so it gave up attacking us. Be careful…perhaps that green snake might return to attack us again.” “Don’t worry. If it comes back, I’ll just squeeze it to death!” Bebe said conﬁdently.

“Let’s keep moving.” Linley laughed. At this point, Linley and Bebe both felt slightly relieved. Before this, they didn’t know how the ‘snakes’ and the ‘trees’ would attack, and so were extremely nervous. The more mysterious something was, the more frightening it was. But now they knew that the ‘snakes’ referred to that sort of small green snake.

Even though the small green snakes were dangerous, Linley and Bebe now at least knew what they were up against.

On the path forward, Linley and Bebe paid careful attention to whether or not there were any little green snakes in the surrounding areas. But of course, Linley and Bebe were very careful when they saw those short dwarf trees as well.

“Whoosh, whoosh!”

Linley and Bebe moved as fast as lightning as they passed through the white fog. On a green leaf of a nearby dwarf tree, a strange green energy suddenly emerged from the leaf, transforming into a green serpent. This little green serpent was currently staring at Linley and Bebe’s backs.

Suddenly…

The green serpent once more merged into the leaf, disappearing. A few hundred meters away, on the leaf of a large tree close to Linley and Bebe, a green energy once more appeared, forming into a green serpent. The green serpent stared towards Linley and Bebe. Its stealth abilities really were quite impressive.

Although it didn’t immediately attack, it continued to stare, ready to attack at any moment.

It quietly, stealthily followed them. Linley and Bebe didn’t notice it at all. In fact, Linley and Bebe didn’t even sense that there were any energy signatures near them.

“Eh?” Linley turned to look up ahead.

A human ﬁgure appeared. It was that silver-haired, effeminate youth. That effeminate youth gave Linley and Bebe a cold look, then continued to advance, disappearing into the white fog.

“Hey, that fellow always looks so cocky, but he’s not able to make it out either, eh?” Bebe snickered. “I’m irritated just looking at him. He always has that ugly look on his face, as though someone owes him something…if he gets close to me, I really want to teach him a lesson. How dare he be so arrogant without the power to back it up?”

At this moment, on a leaf of a tree that was ten meters or so behind Linley, the green serpent was staring at the grumbling Bebe. A light suddenly ﬂashed through its oily green eyes.

“Don’t get distracted. Focus on the road.” Linley growled.

“What’s there to be afra…” Bebe was in mid-sentence, but suddenly… “Swish!”

The green serpent shot out from behind at high speed towards Bebe, its speed so fast that it left behind only a green blur in the air. The animatedly talking Bebe only noticed the green blur when it had already drawn close to him, and Linley noticed it now as well, but…it was too late!

Bebe sent a backhand slap directly towards the green blur.

The green blur strangely twisted in mid-air, easily dodging past the blow, then biting straight towards Bebe’s waist..

“Crunch…”

The green snake had used this technique to chew through the bodies of countless people, burrowing through their organs and killing them. It had felt certain that the same would happen to this handsome-looking youngster, but when it bit down, it discovered…that this youngster’s skin was so tough that it made his fangs go numb.

It knew that the situation was bad, but before it had a chance to escape…

“WHAP!” A large hand descended, seizing it!

“Your mother…you bit me?!” Bebe stared with furious wide eyes. “I’ll squeeze you to death!” As he spoke, he suddenly applied force with his hands, and darkness-type divine power coalesced. With an explosive ‘bang’ sound, the little green snake blew apart from the force of the squeeze, and a strange violet blood ﬂowed out.

With a toss of his hand, Bebe pushed out some more divine power and got rid of the vestiges of blood on his palm.

“Hmph. It dared to bite me. It really wanted to die!” As he spoke, he gave the shattered remnants of the serpent’s corpse on the ground a few stomps for good measure. Seeing this, Linley couldn’t help but start to laugh. “Enough, Bebe. You already killed the green snake.” Linley sighed in praise as well. Bebe’s physical toughness was indeed astonishing. Since the green serpent lived on the Abyssal Mountain, it was capable of threatening many Highgods and so its attack power was certainly tremendous…but in front of Bebe, it wasn’t even able to break his skin.”

“Hey, green snakes, little green snakes…I’m right here. If you have the ability to bite me, come bite me! Bite me!” Bebe intentionally shouted to the surrounding area.

“Hurry up. Let’s leave.” Linley couldn’t help but urge.

Bebe chortled, then followed Linley from behind. Clearly, Bebe was very self-delighted at how easily he had squeezed the green snake to death.

On their fourth trip…they still ended up returning to the base of the mountain! “I have a premonition that we’ll succeed on the ﬁfth try for sure.” Bebe gritted his teeth as he spoke. Ending up at the base of the mountain four times in a row had clearly caused Bebe to become rather unhappy.

“Be patient! We spent thirty-plus years just travelling to this Abyssal Mountain. What’s a little bit of extra time?” Linley had an excellent attitude regarding this situation. Not ﬂustered and not in any haste, he continued to advance forward while carefully inspecting his surroundings, giving it yet another attempt…within the Abyssal Mountain, although not many green snakes attacked, quite a few bolts of lightning descended.

“Boom!” Occasionally, the sound of a thunderbolt could be heard from afar.

“Fortunately, the Abyssal Mountain is so large that the chances of being struck are very low.” Linley laughed as he spoke.

“If we get hit, we get hit. But Boss, tell me, how do you think the lightning bolts of these Heaven-Earth Chains are formed? How can they be so powerful?” Bebe asked, not understanding.

Linley laughed calmly, “This is the number one tall mountain of the Netherworld, the residence of a Sovereign. It’d be strange if there was nothing special about it.”

While chatting, Linley and Bebe continued to advance forward.

On the leaf of a dwarf tree a few dozen meters behind Linley, a green mass of energy appeared, then formed into a small green snake. The green snake stared ﬁxedly at Linley and Bebe’s backs, and then merged into the leaf once more.

As Linley and Bebe advanced at high speed, the little green snake constantly moved forward as well, as though it was following Linley and Bebe.

Only, the green snake was choosing to wait for an opportunity. “Boss, this…” Just as Bebe was speaking, he suddenly sent mentally in astonishment, “Boss, careful!”

“BANG!” From high up above, a bolt of lightning came crashing down towards Linley. The speed of the lightning bolt was simply too astonishing, but since Linley had been vigilant this entire time, as soon as he noticed it, without hesitating at all, he launched off from the ground, his body dodging away to one side at high speed.

“BOOM!” The lightning bolt hit the ground, and the branches and leaves on the ground instantly turned into dust, and a large hole in the ground appeared.

Right at this moment…

“Swish!” The green serpent that had been following them the entire time suddenly shot out, and a green blur appeared in midair, charging straight towards Linley.

Linley was in mid-dodge, having just avoided the dangerous lightning bolt. His attention was all on the lightning bolt as well, and so the amount of attention he was paying to rest of his surroundings had lowered. When the green snake reached a distance of ﬁve meters from Linley, its speed suddenly lessened dramatically, and only now did Linley suddenly turn to look at it.

“Fortunately, I kept up my Blackstone Space this entire time.” Linley, upon seeing it, was badly startled.

After Bebe had suffered that last attack, Linley had immediately set up his Blackstone Space within a range of ﬁve meters. Although the green serpent had seen that earthen yellow glow, it thought that it was the ordinary divine power protection which normal Highgods used, and so it hadn’t paid it any heed…but that earthen yellow aura had caused it to suffer a major disadvantage now!

Blackstone Space – Repulsive Force!

This repulsive force was proportional to an object’s size. The little green snake’s speed slowed down dramatically when affected by the repulsive force, but it was still able to ﬂy forward towards Linley at high speed. From this, one could imagine how astonishing its original speed had been.

“Die.” A calm look on his face, Linley swept out with his godspark sword, ‘Mirage’.

His divine power ﬁlled Mirage, when instantly turned completely translucent as it swung towards the serpent, and wherever it passed by, a clear tear in space appeared. The green snake, its speed lessened, was unable to dodge easily. It strove to turn its body, but Linley’s ‘Mirage’ sword still chopped down towards it.

One sword blow. Two pieces!

“Swoosh!” The remaining half of the green serpent, its speed not lessening in the slightest, charged directly towards Linley.

“Oh? It’s ﬁne?” Linley was shocked. They were too close, and Linley wasn’t able to use his sword to block. He immediately swept out with a draconic claw, clawing down towards it.

The green serpent delightedly charged straight towards Linley’s draconic claw, and then ‘bit down’ towards the ‘palm’ of Linley’s claw. With a ‘crunch’ sound, Linley’s draconic scales in the palm of his hand split apart, but at the same time, Linley squeezed down with his claws. A terrifying energy pressed down, instantly reducing the green serpent into mush.

Violet blood ﬂowed everywhere.

“Not good.” Linley’s face changed.

Linley felt a strange, numb sensation that instantly passed through his entire body. The strange energy poured directly towards his head.

“Hmph.” Linley’s spiritual power in his mind ﬂowed out like repeated waves, completely obliterating that strange energy.

“Boss, are you alright?” Bebe asked hurriedly.

“I’m ﬁne. Fortunately, it was just a little bit of serpent’s venom that entered my body. If this green serpent had entered my body, however, it would have been troublesome.” Linley was still very nervous. That strange energy had indeed been quite powerful. The only reason why he had been able to defeat it so easily was because after becoming a Highgod, he had been absorbing amethysts for centuries and strengthened his soul tens of times over, compared to when he was a God.

But if the entire snake had entered his body…

Even Linley felt rather apprehensive.

“His fangs really are sharp.” Linley lowered his head to look at his palm.

A small patch of draconic scales in the palm of his hand had been split apart, revealing two very small ‘spots’.

The defensive power of Linley’s draconic scales was simply too powerful. When the green serpent had bitten down upon them, although its fangs had broken through at those two points, it hadn’t been able to completely bite out a hole which it could burrow through. Naturally, the green snake was then crushed to death. Only…as the fangs of the serpent had pierced the draconic scales, its venom had passed into Linley’s blood and ﬂesh.

“And this is the white fog region, the ‘safest’ region! What of the gray fog region, or the highest violet fog region?” Linley couldn’t help but feel a sense of pressure. “No wonder anyone who acquires the Abyssal Fruit will become a Sovereign’s Emissary! Given the danger level of the Abyssal Mountain, anyone capable of acquiring the Abyssal Fruit should be at an impressive level of power already. With the help of the Abyssal Fruit, the victor would indeed have enough power to become a Sovereign’s Emissary.”

Linley and Bebe continued to advance.

Moments later…the white fog grew sparse.

“We returned to the borders again. Hopefully, we reached the base of the mountain.” Bebe no longer was calling out in celebration as he had previously.

But then, Linley and Bebe’s eyes both lit up. As they walked out of the white fog region, they saw that up ahead, there was an empty area of no fog. And further up ahead…was a dark, gloomy region of gray fog.

“We made it out?” Bebe said in delight.

“Haha…” Linley couldn’t help but start to laugh. “Bebe, your premonition was an accurate one, it seems. We really did succeed on our ﬁfth try.”

Just as Linley and Bebe were celebrating, a series of angry bellows rang out from the gray fog region.

“Eh?” Linley and Bebe couldn’t help but feel puzzled, and they looked towards the gray fog region. What was within this gray fog region?

Chapter 22, The Gray Fog Region – Slaughter!

The white fog region and the gray fog region had an empty region between it which encircled the mountain. Linley and Bebe were in no hurry to enter the gray fog region. They remained outside, carefully listening to the sounds emanating from within.

“Humans, shouting angrily.” Linley frowned.

“What’s going on inside this gray fog?” Bebe was puzzled as well.

Even if the gray fog held danger within, only a few people had entered it, most likely. In addition, those people should have been spread out throughout the area. “Even if they are ﬁghting, the ﬁghting shouldn’t go on nonstop. Why are those angry shouting sounds ringing out again and again? And we are here at the borders, but can still hear them!” Linley’s forehead was creased. The gray fog region was similar in size to the white fog region.

Given the enormous amount of surface it took up, battles that went on within it from afar shouldn’t be hearable by Linley and Bebe, who were only at the border.

“Eh?” Linley suddenly turned his head.

In the distant white fog region, two male ﬁgures suddenly emerged. These two had azure armor formed over their bodies, and when they emerged, they looked vigilantly towards Linley and Bebe. Seeing the two of them, they relaxed slightly. “Haha, I didn’t expect to run into you two here. It seems we two brothers are meant to encounter you.”

The man who spoke was a skinny man who had a smile on his face. The other man by his side seemed rather sturdy, and had some stubble on his chin.

“Indeed.” Linley said. “I am Linley, and this is my brother, Bebe. Who are you??” “Lache [La’qi]!” The skinny man laughed.

“Valette [Wa’li’te]!” The bearded man said emotionlessly.

“Lache, Valette, we come from the Infernal Realm and don’t know much about the Abyssal Mountain. Listen…there are angry bellows and roars constantly ringing out from the gray fog region. Do you know what is going on in there?” Linley immediately asked. The reason why he was conversing with these two was for the sake of gaining information.

Lache and Valette both listened carefully, frowns appearing on their faces.

“Hey, that is rather queer.” Lache said with a frown. “There were a few dozen people who entered the mountain this time, and there should have been less than ten people who entered the gray fog region ahead of us. Such an enormous region…if ten people entered, they would be like drops of water in the sea. How could the sounds of angry shouts and battle ring out nonstop?” Bebe said helplessly, “You don’t know either?”

“No idea. The affairs of Abyssal Mountain are very mysterious.” Lache explained. “The outside world has some rumors, at least, of the white fog region, but no one knows anything about the gray fog region or the violet fog region. Most likely, even if someone knows something, they wouldn’t tell anyone. What do the two of you plan to do?”

Linley and Bebe looked at each other.

“Wait!” Linley said.

“The same decision as we two brothers.” Lache chortled. “Most likely, the people who go in will come back here due to having no sense of direction within. When they emerge, we’ll ask them and so be better prepared.”

Linley nodded slightly.

Lache laughed, “Then we two brothers will go over there to that part of the mountain. You two can move over there. That way, the two of us can keep watch over a region of a hundred kilometers. We’ll easily see anyone who emerges.”

“Fine.” Linley nodded.

And then, Linley and Bebe immediately hurried to a prominent, arching spot on the mountain. They stood there, able to see to a great distance.

“Boss, we’re just going to wait here?” Bebe was rather impatient.

Linley swept the gray fog region with a glance, then shook his head and said, “Let’s wait half a day. If we don’t ﬁnd anyone in half a day’s time, we’ll go in! The white fog region we passed through just now was already rather dangerous. This gray fog region will most likely be even more troublesome. It is best if we go in after ﬁnding out what the situation inside is like!” They had hurried for thirty years to get to this place. Linley had the patience to wait here for half a day. Rashly running inside might result in them suffering for it.

They waited quietly.

The distance between Linley’s group and Lache’s group was roughly ten kilometers. But because there was no fog here, they were still able to see each other at a glance. Roughly half an hour of quiet waiting went past, and the result was… Linley’s ‘squad’ grew more powerful!

Another person had walked out from the white fog region; the effeminate-looking silver-haired man.

The effeminate-looking man was patient as well. He was in no hurry to enter, and began to wait quietly.

A long time later… “Eh?” Linley, who had been seated atop a rock in the meditative posture with his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes, turning to look into the distance. That black-robed, violet-haired youth emerged from the gray fog. Seeing that the black-robed youth was about to turn and re-enter the gray fog region, Linley immediately called out, “Bloan!”

During the battle in the inn, Linley had heard the violet- haired man’s name be called out.

“Swoosh.” Linley and Bebe immediately ﬂew over, while more than ten kilometers away, the three other Highgods also saw them and immediately ﬂew over.

“Eh?” The violet-haired youth, Bloan, turned his head.

“Hello, Bloan.” Linley greeted him.

“Oh…is there something you need?” There was no expression on Bloan’s face. At the same time, he noticed that the other three were hastening here as well. Lache laughed and said, “So it’s Bloan. I knew that given your power, Bloan, you would be able to easily emerge from the white fog region. Right, my friend Bloan, we aren’t familiar with the gray fog region. Can you tell us a bit?”

The violet-haired youth, Bloan, glanced at them, seeming rather concerned about Linley and Bebe. He still said calmly, “I can tell you, but there’s a price!”

“Pray tell.” Lache laughed.

“In the gray fog region, I will travel with you two!” The violet-haired youth, Bloan, looked towards Linley and Bebe..

Linley, hearing this, raised an eyebrow. Travel with them? Although he wasn’t too familiar with the violet-haired youth, in the short period of time they had known each other, Linley had come to understand that this Bloan should be a very cold, arrogant person. But…Bloan was asking to travel alongside Linley. Clearly, the gray fog region was very dangerous!

Lache and the other two immediately looked towards Linley and Bebe.

“Fine.” Linley nodded.

The violet-haired youth said calmly, “The ‘fog’ in this gray fog region is actually a type of unusual energy. If your soul is weak, the gray fog region will ensnare you in countless, endless illusions! By then, you won’t be able to tell friend from foe, and you’ll constantly slaughter others…you will never be able to emerge from the gray fog region, and will forever be trapped in illusions!”

Everyone who heard this felt their hearts tremble.

Forever be trapped in illusions?

They had eternal life, but if they were eternally trapped in illusions…that would be more miserable than death.

“There are many, many Highgods within!” The violet-haired youth, Bloan, said emotionlessly. “Over the course of countless years, I imagine that on each trip, there are Highgods who are trapped within the gray fog region. Because Highgods will not starve to death, the only possibility for death is in battle. Thus…over the course of countless years, an astonishingly high number of Highgods have accumulated within this region. Once we encounter those Highgods who have become trapped in illusions, they will consider us to be their mortal foes and immediately battle against us.

The faces of Linley and the others grew ugly.

“On each night of the full moon, some people will go in.” Lache said with a frown. “This Abyssal Mountain has existed for who knows how many years…how many Highgods are there in this gray fog region?!”

Linley couldn’t help but look towards the gray fog region as well.

Angry shouts. The sounds of slaughter. Bellows. They continued to ring out nonstop from within. Linley’s group now understood why these angry roars were continuing unabated; it was because the number of Highgods within was far too great!

“I want to warn you of something; don’t underestimate the Highgods who have been trapped in illusions.” The violet- haired Bloan said with a cold laugh. “In training, there are those who specialize in the soul and those who specialize in material attacks. Those who were trapped in illusions were just a bit weak in terms of the soul, but their material attacks might be terrifyingly strong, even at the Seven Star Specter level.”

Linley couldn’t help but take a deep breath.

“In addition, slaughter goes on unabated within this region. Over the course of countless years, this has resulted in the deaths of many Highgods, but those who remain alive are virtually all exceedingly powerful in terms of material attacks.” The violet-haired Bloan said solemnly. “Just now, when I entered, if it hadn’t been for the fact that I am fast, I probably would have…”

Lache and the other two had ugly looks on their faces now. They knew how strong Bloan was. A Seven Star Specter! And yet, he had almost been destroyed as well.

“However, don’t worry. Those who were trapped within and still alive are roughly at the Six Star Specter level of power. Seven Star Specters are rare.” Bloan said.

Linley and Bebe glanced at each other.

“Boss, the experts within the gray fog region are most likely even more numerous than within the Four Divine Beasts clan.” Bebe said.

Linley nodded slightly. Who could say how many experts had been attracted to the Abyssal Mountain over the course of countless years?

Bebe sent mentally, “No wonder he wants to go with us.” Linley swept the others with his gaze, all of whom felt the pressure. “Everyone, prepare to enter. Those who enter should enter together. If you feel that you don’t have the power to do so, wait outside.”

“I’ll go.” The effeminate looking man was the ﬁrst to speak.

“Enter.” Valette nodded.

“I…will go in as well, then” Lache hesitated momentarily before speaking.

“Big Brother.” Valette immediately barked. “It’s best if you don’t enter. Your soul…” Lache just shook his head and said, “Don’t worry. Although I’m somewhat weaker than you in terms of the soul, I’m not actually weak. I should be able to handle it!”

Linley gave this Lache a calm look. “Let’s head out.” Linley said calmly.

This squad naturally accepted Linley and Bebe as their leaders. In a dangerous situation, everyone, mortal or Deity alike, would naturally follow the most powerful individuals around.

As soon as he entered the gray fog region, Linley felt his head go slightly dizzy, while at the same time, Linley noticed….that a misty layer of gray energy was already beginning to accumulate atop the translucent membrane that was his soul- protecting Sovereign artifact. The gray fog energy was currently trying to invade his soul, but Linley was able to resist it.

“Halt!” Linley barked.

After having just entered the gray fog region, everyone was now under the inﬂuence of the gray fog. Bebe had a soul- protecting artifact and so was able to resist it as well. As for the violet-haired youth, he had prior experience. The effeminate man was frowning, but he maintained his clarity of mind. Valette, that sturdy-looking fellow, remained clear-headed as well. But that Lache…

Lache’s face began to change, and his entire body was quivering.

“Aahhhhh!” Suddenly, a furious, insane roar rang out. A warblade appeared in his hands, and he angrily chopped down towards the nearby Valette. Valette was too close to him, and didn’t even have enough time to dodge.

“Bang!”

An azure-golden light ﬂashed past, and Lache was knocked bodily backwards, ﬂying out of the gray fog region.

“Eh?” The violet-haired youth and the others couldn’t help but look towards Linley’s draconic tail, ﬂashing with azure- golden light. In that instant, Linley had actually used his draconic tail to strike out and knock Lache out of the region. “Big Brother, are you alright?” Valette said frantically.

Having left the gray fog region, Lache had regained his presence of mind. His chest was caved in, and blood stained his clothes, but he immediately called out, “I’m ﬁne. Mr. Linley, thank you for your kindness in saving me!” If it hadn’t been for Linley, he probably would have killed Valette, and would have forever been trapped here?”

“Know your limits.” The effeminate-looking man let out a chuckle.

“Let’s go.” Linley said calmly.

“Valette, be careful. I won’t be able to accompany you inside.” Lache called out from outside.

“Right.” Valette immediately bade his brother farewell, and then immediately followed Linley and the others as they truly entered the gray fog region. Within the gray fog region, Linley’s squad advanced very carefully, always paying attention to their surroundings. The sounds of constant battle and slaughter and angry shouts continued to ring out nonstop in their ears. Suddenly, Linley saw from the corner of his eyes a ray of black light shoot towards them.

“Swish!”

The black light was shooting towards the seemingly-weak Bebe.

“Crackle….” Wherever the black light passed, space itself split apart. This sight caused the violet-haired youth, Bloan, to be secretly amazed as well. Bebe just let out a loud laugh and went forward to welcome it. Bebe used his left hand to block and the dagger in his right hand to stab forward…

“Clang!” A ray of black light chopped down across Bebe’s chest, but Bebe grabbed the enemy, ensnaring him while stabbing down into the enemy’s head with the dagger in his right hand.

The person died. Even in death, he had a crazed, bloody look in his eyes…but then, his eyes dimmed and lost all life.

“Madman.” The effeminate-looking man said in a low voice.

A madman who would ignore the attacks of the enemy if it meant being able to kill the enemy. These were the actions of a madman, but when Bebe did it, it was actually perfect… because Bebe didn’t have even a hint of a scar on his body.

“Boss, what do you think?” Bebe delighted glanced at Linley.

“Let’s hurry!” The violet-haired youth suddenly shouted explosively.

“Eh?” Bebe and Valette couldn’t help but glance at him. Similarly, the look of puzzlement on Linley’s face suddenly changed, because he could sense tremors coming from the surrounding areas. Clearly, quite a few people were making haste towards them. Linley didn’t understand why these Highgods who had been trapped in illusions could be so sensitive and perceptive to their presence.

But…

They were attacking!

“Flee!”

No one knew how many Highgods had been trapped in the gray fog region over the years. Linley’s group immediately ﬂed, but what they didn’t realize was that atop the leaf of a tree, a green snake was staring at them.

The green snake merged into the leaf, disappearing.

Chapter 23, A Strange Situation

Multiple blurs shot through the mountain forests of the gray fog region of the Abyssal Mountain.

“Halt.” Linley growled.

Linley’s squad of ﬁve realized that no one had been able to catch up to them. “Those Highgods trapped in illusions…why are they chasing after us like madmen?” Bebe said, rather discontented. That effeminate man snickered, “They ARE madmen!”

“They are trapped in illusions!” The violet-haired youth, Bloan, barked rather angrily.

“I called them madmen, not you. Why are you so upset?” The effeminate man said with some surprise.

The violet-haired youth just gave a cold snort. “Stop arguing.” Linley stared at the surroundings, then said in a low voice, “Regardless of whether they are madmen or just trapped in illusions, their souls are already abnormal thanks to the inﬂuence of this gray fog region. I didn’t expect that as soon as a battle started, they would be drawn here. It seems…

we have to move faster and quickly leave this gray fog region.”

“No rush.” The effeminate man laughed. “Perhaps this gray fog region will have Abyssal Fruit within it.”

Linley glanced sideways at him.

The Abyssal Fruit might be at any place within the Abyssal Mountain, but of course, the chances of it being within the violet fog region was the greatest, while the chances of it being in the white fog region was the smallest.

“If you want to remain here in the gray fog region, I won’t oppose it.” Linley said calmly. “Let’s head out!” Immediately, Linley and Bebe continued advancing. Valette and the violet- haired Bloan didn’t hesitate either, immediately following after Linley. As for the effeminate man, he frowned unhappily, but after glancing at the surroundings, he still followed as well.

On the way over, gray fog swirled as far as they could see.

Linley’s squad of ﬁve carefully advanced. If they sensed that battles were occurring ahead of them, they would take a roundabout path and maneuver past it. Linley’s group realized that in the Abyssal Mountain, if they tried to walk in a straight line according to their senses, it would actually be impossible to reach their destination. If, however, one just walked about randomly and made multiple attempts, one might succeed.

One step at a time.

Although it seemed as though they were advancing slowly, in truth, all of them were very fast.

“Whoosh!”

A ﬁery blur suddenly descended from the skies, and space itself instantly began to boil and froth. An unstoppable aura suddenly pressed down towards Linley; the ﬁery blur had chosen to throw itself directly at Linley, the leader. Linley’s dark golden eyes swept towards the blur coldly, and from his body, an earthen yellow aura suddenly spread out, capturing the blur within it!

Blackstone Space – Repulsive Force!

At the same time, Linley swept out with his wrist. The completely translucent ‘Mirage’, with a slash, cut a large tear through the space above Linley, as easily as cutting through paper.

As for the ﬁgure which had been trapped within the Blackstone Space, his speed immediately lessened, and he was caught off-guard. Linley’s sword slashed directly through his skull.

One sword. Two halves!

He died! The violet-haired youth Bloan, the effeminate man, and Valette couldn’t help but feel astonished. The aura of the ambushing attacker had caused even space to tremble violently; one could imagine how powerful the person was. But the attacker hadn’t been able to withstand a single stance of Linley’s!

“Let’s hurry.” Linley said calmly while accelerating! The others accelerated as well. After each battle within this gray fog region, they had to immediately leave the scene of the battle, as otherwise, in the blink of an eye, the crazed Highgods of the surrounding area would all immediately charge and attack.

“He really is powerful.” The effeminate man looked at Linley, frowning. “Given his strength, if I follow him, even if I encounter the Abyssal Fruit…I won’t be able to obtain it.” Although it was safer following Linley, if they ended up ﬁghting over the Abyssal Fruit, they wouldn’t be able to overcome Linley. After all, even ordinary Seven Star Fiends who fell into the Blackstone Space would be slaughtered by Linley. After having become a Highgod, Linley’s power was now close to that of an ordinary Asura of the Infernal Realm.

“Whoosh!” Linley’s group continued to advance. As soon as they sensed any spatial ripples, they would immediately change directions. This strategy resulted in them not encountering any more crazed Highgods for a time.

………….

With the mountain forests of the gray fog region of the Abyssal Mountain.

Beneath an enormous tree that would need ﬁve or six men holding hands to embrace its trunk, dozens of ﬁgures were seated in the meditative posture. These people had bloodshot eyes which held madness in them, but they didn’t ﬁght against each other. They were seated in different locations beneath the trees. When they looked at each other, they seemed like wild animals vigilantly watching other wild animals.

“Whoosh!” Multiple blurs suddenly ﬂashed past at high speed.

In almost an instant, those dozens of people silently seated in the meditative posture all looked over. And in that moment….the gazes of these people and of Linley’s squad of ﬁve intersected.

“Eh?” Linley’s squad of ﬁve was stunned.

The expressions on the faces of these dozens of ﬁgures became twisted, and they all shot out from the ground, ﬂying forward as fast as lightning.

“Let’s go!” Linley immediately bellowed.

It wasn’t that he feared these people; rather, he was afraid that these people would slow them down, with the resulting battle attracting hundreds or thousands of crazed Highgods who would attack. That would be truly disastrous! To be able to survive here meant that these crazed Highgods were all powerful experts, most approaching at least the Six Star Fiend level of power.

“Haaa!” A violet-haired woman wildly brandished a scythe, chopping down with it. A circular arc of black light immediately sprang out towards Linley’s group at high speed.

“Grr!” A muscular, armored warrior also wildly struck out with his ﬁst. When his ﬁst punched out, round ripples of power sprang forth from his hand, piercing out in a straight line at high speed towards Linley’s group.

In that instant, those dozens of ﬁgures had all launched their most powerful attacks. And, without question, these were all material attacks.

These varied, beautifully multicolor types of material attacks caused multiple cracks in space to appear. Other attacks were translucent or blurry…the attacks completely surrounded Linley’s squad of ﬁve. No matter how fast they were in ﬂeeing, they weren’t faster than the speed of these attacks. The dozens of attacks, because they were focused on a region rather than a person, were rather spread out. Thus, each person only had to face three attacks. In this group, Bebe naturally had it the easiest. He just casually used his ﬁst to smash apart the oncoming attacks. As for Linley, by relying on

his godspark weapon, he was also able to easily resist.

But the other three were in terrible shape.

“Flee!” The violet-haired youth just barely managed to block two attacks, with the third attack injuring his left arm. He bellowed while ﬂying forward at high speed.

“Bastards!” The effeminate man let out a growl as a black blur ﬂashed in his hands as he chopped apart a ray of black light that was attacking him.

The effeminate man’s chest had been pierced through as well, but he still gritted his teeth and ﬂed.

The worst off was poor Valette! Valette specialized in soul attacks, and clearly he found it rather difﬁcult to defend against these material attacks. He was barely able to defend against the ﬁrst one, but of the two successive attacks, one slashed past his lower body while the other slashed past his shoulder. Instantly, one of his legs was torn off and sent ﬂying, while his right arm was severed as well.

But Valette continued to frantically ﬂy forward at high speed.

“Faster.” Linley barked, while at the same time setting up his Blackstone Space. Linley’s squad of ﬁve advanced forward at high speed. As for tens of maddened Highgods, they continuously howled as they chased after the squad of ﬁve without resting, as though they were chasing after their most hated enemies.

Giant trees could be seen everywhere throughout the Abyssal Mountain. On the leaf of one large tree in particular, a green serpent suddenly appeared, staring at Linley’s ﬂeeing squad of ﬁve.

Moments later, Linley’s group of ﬁve re-emerged in the space between the white fog region and the gray fog region. Clearly… the route they had taken was wrong, and they had not reached the violet fog region.

“We’re back.” Bebe said helplessly.

“It’s fortunate that we made it out.” Valette let out a sigh of relief. He hurriedly seized the opportunity to heal the wounds on his body. The violet-haired Bloan and the effeminate man also began to heal themselves. That wild ﬂight had indeed caused them to be extremely nervous. If they had been surrounded by a second group of Highgods, it would have been disastrous.

Fortunately, as they ﬂed frantically, they had quickly emerged from the gray fog region.

“Make your preparations. In a while, we will re-enter.” Linley said.

“You can go in. I’ll travel by myself.” The effeminate man said with a calm laugh. “Thank you for your assistance, Mr. Linley…but I’m still more used to being by myself. In addition, a squad of ﬁve is too large a target and easily attracts more enemies.”

“Eh?” The violet-haired Bloan and Valette both looked at him.

“As you wish.” Linley said calmly.

Bebe glanced at him, snickering. “Oh, by yourself? As I see it, you want to ﬁnd the Abyssal Fruit.”

The effeminate man’s facial muscles twitched, but he still said with a laugh, “Abyssal Fruit? That’s completely a matter of luck. I can’t ﬁnd it just because I want to ﬁnd it.”

Bebe let out a snort, not saying anything further.

Moments later, Linley looked towards Valette and the violet- haired Bloan. Their wounds were already healed. Linley spoke out. “The two of you should be ready now. Then let’s head out!” Valette and the violet-haired youth both followed Linley and Bebe, once more advancing into the gray fog region.

When Bebe entered the gray fog region, he even turned his head to glance at the effeminate looking man, chuckling disdainfully.

The effeminate man maintained his smile, watching the four leave.

“Hmph!” The effeminate man let out a cold snort. “Finding the Abyssal Fruit isn’t just a matter of strength, but also luck. You are currently more powerful than me, but if I end up ﬁnding the Abyssal Fruit, my power will greatly improve. Once I acquire a Sovereign artifact…then at that time…!” The effeminate man became covered by a layer of swirling black energy, causing him to become very indistinct and blurred.

Like an illusion, the effeminate man silently slipped into the gray fog region. Linley’s group continued to advance carefully, not daring to move too quickly.

“So these maddened Highgods aren’t always ﬁghting. Sometimes, they will quietly hide somewhere.” Linley vigilantly watched his surroundings. “These maddened Highgods are just like the magical beasts of the Yulan continent’s Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, savage and ruthless.”

As he moved through the Abyssal Mountain, Linley suddenly felt as though he were in his younger days, adventuring through the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts.

Only, back then, what he had to deal with were magical beasts. But now, what he faced was…a group of maddened Highgods! And the place he was at was the number one mountain of the Netherworld, the residence of a Sovereign… Abyssal Mountain!

“Look!” Bebe suddenly let out a low breath. Linley’s group immediately looked over. Right in front of them, a corpse was hovering there, caught by some branches. On this journey over, Linley’s group had seen quite a few corpses. But…this corpse was of a familiar person. That effeminate man!

“Him?” Linley frowned, drawing closer.

The effeminate man’s face was ashen, and there was a hole in his forehead.

“It was the green snakes!” Linley instantly deduced, and Bebe snickered, “This fellow always had an incredibly arrogant attitude about him. He thought he was so amazing, and wanted to go ﬁnd the Abyssal Fruit for himself…hmph, I didn’t expect that he wouldn’t even be able to deal with a single green snake!”

Linley secretly shook his head as well.

If he hadn’t even been able to deal with a green snake by himself, why travel alone? He was perhaps too self-conﬁdent.

“Let’s go. Be careful on the way.” Linley continued to advance.

Valette and the violet-haired Bloan also gave the effeminate man’s corpse a vigilant look as they, too, shook their heads inwardly. And then, they advanced as well.

But what Linley’s group hadn’t noticed was…

There was more than just a single hole on the effeminate man’s body. His chest and thigh had them as well. Three holes in total! If they had noticed all three holes, Linley’s group probably would have become even more vigilant.

“Boss, I feel as though something is off.” Bebe sent mentally.

Linley’s expression was solemn. “I have the same feeling. There’re no sounds of slaughter in this region.” After having become accustomed to the angry shouts of battle, now that everything was silent, it did indeed feel strange. As for the black-robed, violet-haired youth, Bloan, as well as Valette, they too looked around vigilantly as they continued to follow Linley in slowly advancing.

In the surrounding area…

On the green leaves of one large tree after another, one green snake after another was secretly staring at Linley’s group. The number of green snakes was so high…that Linley’s group would have gone numb in fear had he known. Unfortunately, Linley’s group wasn’t able to detect the presence of the green snakes in the slightest.

“Boss, a green snake!” Bebe suddenly sent mentally, his gaze staring towards an unremarkable tree in front of them. A green snake was stealthily staring at them from it. But when the green snake realized that Bebe was staring back at it, it instantly vanished, transforming into green energy which merged into the leaves of the tree and disappearing.

“It disappeared? It was able to merge into the leaves?” Linley couldn’t help but feel astonished.

Linley had a sudden suspicion, and he instantly turned to look. His gaze ﬂashed lightning-fast towards the leaves of the surrounding trees, and as he looked carefully, what he saw caused his face to change dramatically…

This single visual sweep turned up more than ten green snakes!

Chapter 24, Fortune? Misfortune?

“Hurry, let’s go!” Linley’s face was savage as he barked furiously.

The others, hearing Linley shout so frantically, didn’t dare to dawdle and see what was going on. All of them, like Linley, quickly ﬂed, advancing forward.

“There were actually so many green snakes. What is going on?” While ﬂying forward, Linley was frantically pondering this question. “In addition, when we entered the gray fog region originally, we didn’t see so much as a single green snake. But here, there’s so many! These green snakes….how are they able to merge into the green leaves without causing any energy ripples at all?”

When Deities used techniques such as Worldwalking or the Flamebody technique, they too would transform their bodies into energy. But these sorts of techniques would result in energy ripples. There was no way they would be like the green snakes, so silent and stealthy that those nearby wouldn’t be able to notice anything.

Linley felt that this was extremely bizarre!

But at this moment, he didn’t have any time to think carefully.

“It should be about time now. Those green snakes won’t be chasing after us.” Bebe sent back mentally. “Continue, faster.” Linley didn’t hesitate at all.

As Linley’s group of four ﬂed forwards, suddenly…

“Swoosh!” “Swoosh!” “Swoosh!”

In an instant, dozens of green blurs shot out into the sky. They seemed to be primarily coming from both the sides as well as from behind, with only a small number of green blurs coming from the front. The green snakes ﬂew forward at an astonishing speed…they were like green arrows, instantly slashing through the skies. The number of them was too great!

The faces of everyone in Linley’s group changed dramatically.

“Rumble…” The Blackstone Space suddenly expanded.

It expanded from a diameter of ﬁve meters to ﬁfteen meters.

Every single green snake which entered this Blackstone Space slowed dramatically, but they still charged at Linley’s group of four. The strange thing was…not a single one of these dozens of green snakes attacked Bebe. They all attacked Linley, Bloan, and Valette instead. Each person suffered an attack from nearly ten green snakes.

Linley’s eyes turned cold. Instantly, with a ‘crackle’ sound, the space around him formed into an earthen wall.

“Crunch!” The green snakes easily pierced through the earthen wall. Linley wielded Mirage in his hand, and it instantly transformed into a gust of wind, consecutively slicing countless times towards the green snakes like multiple sword blurs. After having battled the green snakes, Linley knew…that to kill them, he had to completely obliterate their heads. However, the green snakes were too agile, and their heads were too small. To kill them and crush their heads was very hard!

One green snake after another entered the Blackstone Space, and they too felt the tremendous impact of it.

“Crackle…” The countless rays of sword light were like a meat grinder, instantly crushing one serpent after another.

Within the Blackstone Space, the green snakes were ‘slower’, yes, but that was comparatively speaking. Their original speed was simply too astonishing…and within the space of less than ten meters, they still worked hard to dodge past Linley’s sword blur. In an instant, of the nine green snakes attacking Linley, six of them had their heads smashed to a pulp, and they immediately fell to the ground. As for the other three green snakes, although they were wounded, they still charged towards Linley.

“Swish!” Linley’s draconic tail ﬂashed out, smashing two of the green snakes into pulp.

The remaining green snake…just as it was about to bite Linley, it was smashed to death with one palm blow!

“The two of them…” Linley turned to look.

That violet-haired youth, ‘Bloan’, had actually been able to deal with the green snakes very easily, given how their speed had been dramatically lessened. The violet-haired youth had ﬁrst relied on his devilish longsword to slaughter ﬁve of the green snakes, and then set up a ﬁeld of lightning fog around his entire body.

Those green snakes had already been slowed down within the Blackstone Field. Once they entered the lightning fog ﬁeld, they had been slowed yet again.

The violet youth naturally found it very easy to slaughter the remaining green snakes.

“Valette…” Linley frowned.

Valette was an expert who trained in the Edicts of Death, and he dispatched a few green snakes as well. But there was still a single green snake which broke through Valette’s hand, tunneling into Valette’s body.

“Is he alright?” Bebe and the violet-haired Bloan all looked as well.

Valette was still standing there, not moving at all.

Moments later…

“Everyone, I’m ﬁne now. Let’s continue.” Valette laughed, but his face was somewhat ashen.

“The snake entered your body. What’s it like?” Bebe asked.

Valette nodded and replied, “When the green snake entered my body, I immediately grew frantic and used both divine power and spiritual energy to simultaneously attack!” Linley laughed to himself; if the green snake had entered his body, he probably would have hastened to use the same methods.

“But who would have imagined…the green snake actually transformed into a ray of green energy and threw itself at extremely high speed towards my mind? Still…the green snake constantly weakened under my spiritual attacks. I had to go all out in order to just barely, completely obliterate all of that green energy!” Valette said with a hint of fear.

Linley nodded to himself.

“So these green snakes, when under spiritual attack, will constantly weaken!” Linley began to somewhat understand. The ‘green energy’ which formed the green snakes should be something akin to spiritual energy based constructs.

“Alright. Everyone, be even more careful!” Linley said. “I’ve done all I can to help out. Whether or not you’ll be able to survive is up to you.” Linley continuously maintained the Blackstone Space, and with it present…Bloan and Valette were under much less pressure as well.

Otherwise, the two would have died long ago in that earlier situation.

“Linley, thank you.” Valette and Bloan both felt rather grateful. After all, Linley was absolutely capable of just discarding them.

“Let’s continue.” Linley said.

Shortly after Linley left, a brown-haired man slowly emerged from the ground, his gaze as cold as the deep sea. He carefully inspected the surrounding area. “So many green snakes…” The muscular man’s eyes slowly brightened. “It’s been so many years. I’ve forgotten the very existence of time itself. But this day has ﬁnally come!” The muscular man was so excited that his body trembled. He then carefully inspected the surroundings, and then, as though he sensed energy ripples from up ahead, he hurriedly advanced forwards.

Linley’s group never would have imagined that after having fought with such a large number of green snakes not too long ago, after having travelled for a short period of time, they actually suffered yet another attack from a large number of green snakes. In addition…the scale of the attack from the green snakes was clearly much greater than last time. There were more than a hundred green snakes.

And it was just the same as last time…

The green snakes didn’t attack Bebe, only attacking Linley, Valette, and the violet-haired Bloan.

“Hiss…” A large group of green snakes threw themselves towards Linley in mid-air, utterly crazed.

“Boss!” Bebe scurried over as well to help Linley.

“These snakes are insane!” Linley’s godspark sword, ‘Mirage’, began to move. In an instant, Linley had created countless sword blurs, and those green snakes which were struck by Mirage were all crushed into pulp. Of the nearly ﬁfty snakes, only a single one broke through Mirage’s block.

And this one was captured by Bebe.

“Hey, Boss, why is it that your sword is so much faster than last time?” Bebe asked in astonishment.

Linley let out a calm laugh. “Because this time, I used the Elemental Laws of the Wind!” Linley, too, had to sigh emotionally. All these years, because his insights in the Laws of the Earth surpassed his insights in the Elemental Laws of the Wind, Linley almost exclusively used the Laws of the Earth…it had become a matter of habit. But just now, when faced with so many green snakes, Linley ﬁnally came to his senses! Given how powerful his body was and how sharp his godspark weapon was, his attacks were more than strong enough to slaughter the green snakes.

If he used the Laws of the Earth, the only effect would be to make his attacks even stronger, to the point of causing space to tear apart!

But against these green snakes, his Dragonformed strength and Mirage was more than enough! Further strengthening his attacks would be a waste.

His swordplay with the Laws of the Earth was indeed powerful, but it didn’t improve his speed much.

As for the Elemental Laws of the Wind…although each sword attack with Mirage wasn’t improved in power, the speed of each attack was thousands of times greater. Even though there were many more green snakes this time, almost all of them were crushed into pulp.

“Only, my rate of improvement in the Elemental Laws of the Wind is too slow. It has been nearly two thousand years, but I’ve only been able to fuse the Profound Truths of Velocity with the Profound Mysteries of Spatial Wind just slightly.” Linley sighed to himself. There were nine profound mysteries in the Elemental Laws of the Wind, and he had only managed to master the Profound Truths of Velocity back in the Yulan continent, when he merged the ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ profound mysteries together.

The Profound Truths of Velocity and the Profound Mysteries of Spatial Wind were somewhat close in nature, which was why Linley was just barely able to begin fusing them.

But he was still far off from completing fusing them.

“Still, against this sort of group attack, using the Elemental Laws of the Wind is already enough.” Linley let out a relieved sigh.

In terms of attacks, his attacks with Earth were clearly more powerful, but against this sort of group attack by green snakes, it clearly gave him some trouble.

Still, only someone like Linley was capable of using a method like this!

This was because each individual green snake had very strong defense as well. It was fairly hard to kill them. One had to have enough attack power! How could Bloan and Valette be like Linley, who could kill the green snakes just based on physical strength and the sharpness of his weapon?

“Those two…” Linley turned to look.

The violet-haired Bloan and Valette were still standing there.

“Valette died.” Bebe said with resignation. In that dangerous situation, Linley had to completely focus on himself, and Bebe naturally helped Linley. Valette and Bloan had to rely on themselves.

“Whew!” Bloan opened his eyes, his forehead covered with cold sweat.

“Valette died?” The violet-haired youth, Bloan, was stunned.

“Right.” Linley nodded.

Bloan looked at Linley, a complicated look on his face. “Linley, where should we go next? I keep on having the feeling that something is off. The ﬁrst time, we were attacked by tens of snakes, and this time, by more than a hundred. I’m worried…that next time, there will be even more!”

Bloan had lost his conﬁdence as well. This was because just now, a green snake had entered his body. Luckily, Bloan’s soul defense was very strong, and so he had just barely managed to extinguish it.

“Where should we go?” Linley looked at the surroundings.

The area was surrounded by fog, dwarf trees, and mixed bushes. Linley didn’t know where to go either.

“Straight forward.” A voice rang out.

Linley, Bebe, and Bloan immediately turned to look. A muscular, brown-haired man emerged from the ground. The brown-haired man glanced at Linley, whose aura and posture in Dragonform caused the muscular, brown-haired man to unconsciously frown slightly.

“Bloan!” The muscular man turned to look at Bloan, his face wreathed in smiles. The violet-haired youth, Bloan, upon seeing this man was completely dazed.

“Big Brother…” Bloan called out in disbelief.

The muscular man immediately laughed.

“You…you are still alive, Big Brother?” Bloan’s formerly cold face was now ﬁlled with excitement, and even his tears began to fall uncontrollably. Bloan would never forget…those days he had spent by his elder brother’s side as they had roamed the Netherworld. When the two of them had been together, he had relied on his elder brother!

He had never feared anything, because his elder brother had been with him!

But on the very day he became a Highgod, his elder brother had gone to the Abyssal Mountain! But then…countless hundreds of millions of years had passed. Bloan couldn’t even be sure as to how much time had gone by. He had thought his elder brother had died long ago, but… “Haha.”” The muscular man laughed and immediately walked over, embracing Bloan.

The icy, cold Bloan seemed to have become a child. He tightly clutched the muscular man. “Big Brother, you didn’t die. This is wonderful, wonderful!”

“Big Brother, let me make the introductions. These two came from the Infernal Realm. He is Linley, while this other one is Bebe. I was only able to just barely stay alive here in this gray fog region thanks to Mr. Linley.” Bloan said.

The muscular man gaze Linley an astonished glance, then said, “Mr. Linley, my name is Bailey [Ba’le’lei]. Thank you for looking after my little brother.”

Linley nodded.

“Bloan, follow me.” Bailey grabbed Bloan, wanting to move forward.

“Big Brother?” Bloan just looked at him, puzzled.

Bailey glanced at Linley, then laughed straightforwardly. “It can be said that you showed kindness to my little brother, so I’ll tell you…normally, there’s no way so many green snakes would appear within the gray fog region. Countless years ago, when I ﬁrst arrived here, I encountered the very same situation. That time…the Abyssal Fruit appeared within the gray fog region. However, that time, someone else acquired it. Based on my predictions, most likely, the reason there are so many green snakes is because the Abyssal Fruit is about to appear once again. You showed kindness to my little brother, so I’ll give you this chance. The Abyssal Fruit will belong to whoever acquires it!”

“The reason the snakes are attacking you is because you are headed the right way. If my predictions are correct, a thousand meters or so up ahead is where the Abyssal Fruit lies!” Bailey said.

Bloan was stunned. “Big Brother…” He wasn’t surprised at the presence of the Abyssal Fruit; rather, he was puzzled at why his big brother would actually tell this secret to Linley and Bebe.

“Let’s go. It can be considered that we’ve repaid your debt.” Bailey immediately strode forward. “However, if you encounter the Abyssal Fruit, that can be said to be both a stroke of fortune as well as misfortune. If you want to acquire the Abyssal Fruit…you need to be prepared to lose your life.”

Linley gave Bailey’s retreating back a curious glance.

“Bebe, should we go?” Linley laughed calmly. Originally, Linley hadn’t planned to go after the Abyssal Fruit, as the chance was too low, but…it had now appeared.

“Of course we have to go take a look.” Bebe laughed.

Linley and Bebe, not hesitating at all, hurried forward.

Chapter 25, The Abyssal Fruit Appears

Bailey and his brother, Linley and his brother; the two groups walked in a line, striding forward. However, the four of them didn’t advance at too high a speed, and on the way over, they continued to vigilantly watch the surrounding areas.

“Boss, tell me, what do you think that power-increasing Abyssal Fruit looks like?” Bebe’s eyes were ﬁlled with curiosity as he sent mentally.

Linley looked at the surroundings as well. “Abyssal Fruit… Abyssal Fruit…it might look like an ordinary fruit. Hmm… something feels weird!” Linley sniffed the air, and as he did, he felt a very unusual odor waft by, entering his body. His mind instantly grew clear, and the bewildering effects of the fog, which had always been present, dissolved away greatly as well.

“Boss, the gray fog is much fainter up ahead.” Bebe said hurriedly.

Linley had a thought. “It seems we are almost there. Let’s go!” He strode forward hurriedly, and Bailey and his brother did the same. Linley advanced by roughly another hundred or so meters, then discovered that the fog had completely dissipated. “What sort of tree is that?” Linley stared towards the center of the empty area up ahead, and saw that an extremely large and

ﬂourishing dwarf tree was present.

The main trunk of the dwarf tree was large enough to need two people holding hands to wrap their arms around it, and was less than thirty meters tall.

However, the tree had ten million branches, each of which was at least one or two hundred meters long. These extremely long branches also had many more twigs extending from them. This resulted…in this single large dwarf tree to take up an area with a diameter of hundreds of meters.

“Boss, look, what’s that?” Bebe called out in surprise.

Linley’s pupils contracted. At the crown of that dwarf tree, on a particularly large branch, within the leaves, there was a fruit that was slightly larger than the size of a ﬁst. This fruit was almost completely spherical, with a violet skin that was crystalline and translucent, swirling with brilliant light, dazzling to behold. At

the same time, it continued to faintly emanate that hazy fog.

“What a refreshing feeling.” Linley took a deep breath, and his mind felt all the clearer, and his soul felt very comfortable as well. “This…? Is this the Abyssal Fruit?”

Linley couldn’t help but glance at the nearby Bailey and his brother. Bailey’s eyes were shining as he stared at the Abyssal Fruit, but he didn’t charge forward. Instead, he said in a clear voice, “Linley, that’s the Abyssal Fruit! However, I must warn you, Abyssal Fruit isn’t so easily harvested. The Spirit Snake which guards the Abyssal Fruit has yet to appear.”

Having already undergone the Abyssal Fruit harvesting process countless years ago, Bailey clearly knew how dangerous it was.

Linley knew as well… That although it looked as though the Abyssal Fruit was simply placed there, if he were to rashly charge forward, he would undoubtedly suffer for it.

“Boss, I’ll go.” Bebe very conﬁdently prepared to charge forward.

“Bebe, don’t be rash.” Linley barked.

“Eh?” Bebe looked towards him.

“Just watch for now.” Linley stared appraisingly at his surroundings. Suddenly…

“Rustle…” The green leaves on the branches of the tree with the Abyssal Fruit, as though stirred by the wind, began to tremble. That sound instantly disrupted the surrounding, quiet calm. At the same time, the leaves which were spread out over that space of hundreds of meters all began to glow with a green energy. And slowly… One green snake after another, each the size of a palm, began to form atop the green leaves.

“So many!” Bebe sucked in a breath of cold air.

Although he didn’t fear the green snakes, upon seeing so many of them, he still felt his scalp crawl. Linley couldn’t help but narrow his eyes; with but a single sweep, he saw thousands on thousands of green snakes. The countless green snakes were visible on virtually every single part of the tree.

“And that’s just the opening course.” Bailey said coldly.

“Spirit Snake, you might as well come out.” Bailey’s voice rang out. “What, do you want me to come over for you to ambush?”

Linley and Bebe were stunned. Spirit Snake? Could it be that these green snakes weren’t the Spirit Snake?

“Haha, I didn’t expect that you would be aware of my existence!” A clear, evil sound rang out from amidst the branches. “This is absolutely too intriguing. I wanted to play with you a bit more ﬁrst. For me to reveal myself now…spoils the surprise.” As the voice continued to ring out, it slowly began to reveal its true form atop the Abyssal Fruit tree!

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

A large green snake that was nearly ten meters long and as thick as an arm suddenly, slowly emerged from a branch of the tree. This large snake coiled around the tree trunk, its head raised and its cold, insidious eyes ﬂashing with a violet, serpentine light as it stared at the distant Linley, Bailey, and the other two.

The serpent’s violet gaze seemed to stab at them! Linley and Bebe couldn’t help but narrow their eyes, not willing to stare directly into the green snake’s gaze.

“Linley, what we need to do is…while being attacked by countless green snakes, and also being blocked by the Spirit Snake, acquire the Abyssal Fruit.” Bailey said calmly. “Let me warn you of one thing; the Spirit Snake is capable of controlling the Abyssal Fruit Tree to attack and constrict you! Alright…whoever gets the Abyssal Fruit is whoever it will belong to.”

After speaking, Bailey’s entire body slowly began to emanate an earthen yellow aura.

“Divine earth power?” Linley frowned.

Bebe excitedly licked his lips. “Boss, watch me get that Abyssal Fruit! I have no fear of those little green snakes. The Abyssal Fruit…will deﬁnitely be mine!” That godspark dagger appeared in Bebe’s hands, and he gave Bailey a careful look as well. Bailey was clearly building up his power…

“Haaaargh!”

With a sudden, explosive shout, the earthen yellow aura on Bailey’s body suddenly coalesced around his right leg. Bailey lifted up his right leg, and then smashed down in a vicious, straight line towards the ground. “BOOM!” The entire earth roared with a terrifying explosive sound as an earthen yellow light emanated outwards from his feet through the earth.

The strange thing was…

The ground beneath Bailey’s feet wasn’t damaged at all.

“An explosive burst of the Throbbing Pulse of the World?” Linley could guess at what profound mysteries were contained within this attack, but for now, Linley himself wasn’t capable of it. Linley immediately looked towards the tree. “Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!”

In the ground beneath the giant tree, one explosive rumbling sound after another rang out, and a large hole appeared in the rocky mountain terrain as shattered rocks ﬂew everywhere. The smaller branches of the Abyssal Fruit Tree were also smashed and ﬂattened and sent ﬂying, as many green serpents hurriedly dodged as well.

Even the main trunk of the Abyssal Tree trembled, but the main trunk and the larger branches weren’t damaged much. Clearly, they were very sturdy; only the smaller branches and leaves were damaged.

Chaos!

The shattered small branches and many leaves were ﬂying everywhere, causing the Abyssal Fruit Tree to turn into a picture of chaos.

“Let’s go!” Linley’s eyes lit up, and he shot forward like an arrow from a bow.

“This is the moment!” Bebe simultaneously charged out as well.

But Bailey had reacted slightly faster than even Bebe and Linley. He charged forward at high speed, his body once more beginning to emanate with that earthen yellow aura which was constantly emanating ripples. Bailey’s gaze was ﬁrm, and in his hands, a pitch-black warblade appeared.

“Haha…” An evil laugh rang out from the tree.

Instantly…

“Swish!” “Swish!” “Swish!” “Swish!”

Countless green snakes rained down from the green leaves of the tree like raindrops in a storm. The countless green snakes simultaneously attacked Linley, Bebe, and Bailey. As for the violet-haired youth, Bloan, he stood far away and didn’t charge forward.

Linley, seeing so many green snakes ﬁll the skies and charge towards him, was forced to go all out as well.

An earthen yellow light suddenly emanated from Linley’s body as well, instantly encapsulating both himself and Bebe and forming into a hemisphere that was ﬁfteen meters across in diameter. When those green snakes, moving like arrows, fell into the Blackstone Space, their speed suddenly dropped and they became much slower.

Under the command of the Spirit Snake, these green snakes were aware of the repulsive power of the Blackstone Space.

But if they didn’t enter the Blackstone Space, they wouldn’t be able to harm Linley at all. Thus, they had no choice but to charge in.

“Haha, come bite me, all of you come bite me.” Bebe bellowed loudly as he charged in front of Linley, where a large number of green snakes were gathered and charging. At the same time, Bebe’s body transformed into dozens of ﬁgures, and with banging sounds, his dagger began stabbing into the bodies of the snakes, while his palm began to crush their bodies…these sounds rang out unabated!

With Bebe up in front, the pressure on Linley was greatly reduced.

The dispersed green snakes began to cluster around them from all sides. Linley calmly began to brandish about Mirage, ﬁlling it with wind-type elemental essence and causing it to transform into countless sword blurs, ﬁlling the surrounding space. The drifting, agile movements of the sword blurs were so fast as to seem devilish, and even space itself seemed to constrict and tighten around those green snakes.

“Hiss….”

The green snakes, their speed greatly lessened within the Blackstone Space, when faced with Mirage…a dense cluster of sounds could be heard as one snake after another was instantly ground apart by those countless sword blurs and transformed into pulp. Last time, Linley didn’t have experience, but this time, Linley was prepared in advance, and so his execution of this technique became all the more relaxed.

The vast majority of the thousand-plus tightly clustered snakes which ﬂew towards Linley were all struck.

However, there were still three which were only slightly wounded and thus fearlessly charged towards Linley, wanting to bite him.

“Hmph.” Linley just instantly changed the direction of the gravity.

Blackstone Space…the gravity suddenly changed to go downwards!

The sudden change in the direction of the gravity caused the three green snakes to be caught off-guard and sink downwards, not able to bite Linley at all. “Swish!” “Swish!” “Swish!” Those three fast sword blows cleaved down upon the green snakes which had sank down to the ground, instantly killing them.

Sometimes, suddenly changing the direction of gravity was an extremely effective tactic.

“That Bailey…” Linley glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes, and couldn’t help but feel startled. The layer of earthen yellow light on Bailey’s body was constantly trembling. When the many green snakes attacked, Bailey just let them strike at him, but as soon as they entered the range of that earthen yellow light, their bodies would begin to tremble and then, moments later, with a ‘bang’ completely crumble into pulp.

“The Throbbing Pulse of the World, the never-stopping ‘Vitality’, as well as the Essence of the Earth.” With a single glance, Linley realized which three Profound Mysteries were being used by Bailey.

Different fusions of profound mysteries had different results. What Linley didn’t know was that this was the best technique Bailey had come up with, after countless years of painstaking pondering, for dealing with these green snakes. He had spent nearly a hundred million years coming up with this technique. But in terms of ﬂying speed…Bebe, who didn’t have to pay the green snakes any mind at all, was a bit faster than even Bailey. Bebe moved like lightning, scurrying to the side of the tree trunk.

“Haha, the Abyssal Fruit is mine!” Bebe called out jubilantly as he snatched towards the Abyssal Fruit.

“Hiss…” A strange sound entered Bebe’s mind, and Bebe couldn’t help but feel his head grow dizzy.

Suddenly, the giant head of the large green snake suddenly emerged from next to Bebe. It opened its mouth wide and bit downwards towards Bebe. The emergence of this snake head happened as fast as lightning, and Bebe, his head dizzy, wasn’t able to react in time. The giant green snake landed a vicious bite against his head, and the giant green snake bit down with full force… “CRUNCH!”

“Bebe!” Linley was shocked.

“F*ck off!” Bebe bellowed, furiously shaking it off and escaping from that giant maw.

But that giant green snake stared towards Bebe in shock. A black, illusory object fell out from within the mouth of the giant green snake. Linley glanced at it…and saw that, amazingly enough, it was a shattered poisonous fang!

“When the green snake bit Bebe, it broke its tooth?” Linley couldn’t help but feel speechless.

While the giant green snake was dealing with Bebe, Bailey scurried towards the Abyssal Fruit Tree. But just as Bailey was about to seize the Abyssal Fruit…

“Swoosh!” The Abyssal Fruit Tree violently twisted, ﬂashing past and dodging Bailey’s snatch while many branches suddenly swept towards Bailey, clutching at him like countless arms.

Bailey’s face couldn’t help but change.

“Big Brother!” The violet-haired Bloan, watching this from afar, couldn’t help but feel shocked. Bailey instantly roared angrily, using full force with the pitch-black warblade in his hands. Instantly, a booming sound rang out, and spatial ripples and cracks were given birth to as the warblade chopped towards the surrounding, encoiling tree branches.

Right at this moment…

“Swoosh!” Linley also charged towards the Abyssal Fruit.

“Bastard.” Bebe, bellowing, charged forward once more as well.

“Raaaaaaawr!” The giant green snake angrily opened its maw, emitting a thick black fog towards Linley and Bebe, and the poisonous black fog instantly trapped Linley and Bebe once more within it.

Chapter 26, Choice

The black fog instantly invaded Linley’s sea of consciousness, and even began to invade and corrode the repaired part of the ‘ﬂaw’. The level of the current repair work was something which Linley had accomplished after spending nearly two hundred years after becoming a Highgod. If it was broken, then the efforts of two centuries would have all been for naught!

“Hmph.” Linley’s spiritual energy instantly surged out in waves against the black mist.

His spiritual energy, glowing with that azure light, moved as fast as lightning, constantly clashing against the poisonous black fog and extinguishing it.

“Boss, this big snake is rather tough to deal with.” Bebe sent mentally.

“Raaaaaaaaaaaaaawr!” The large green snake’s tail swung about angrily, transforming into multiple blurs which struck towards Linley and Bebe.

Linley’s gaze turned cold.

“Swish!” Linley’s draconic tail swung out viciously as well, intersecting with the snake’s tail. With a ‘whap!’ sound, Linley couldn’t help but be knocked back by a few dozen meters, while the giant green snake once more coiled itself around a branch of the Abyssal Fruit Tree.

“This large snake’s skin really is tough.” Linley was secretly surprised. “And quite slippery!”

“Hmph.” After Linley was sent ﬂying backwards, Bebe charged straight towards the Abyssal Fruit. The giant green snake naturally struck out with its tail again, which twirled about like a tornado, causing the nearby space to twist and distort as it lashed out towards Bebe. Bebe just gave a sinister grin, and the godspark dagger suddenly appeared in his hands. He gave the oncoming serpentine tail a vicious swipe!

“Slash!” The dagger, when meeting the serpentine skin, couldn’t help but slip aside. It only left behind a fairly deep white impression, and only managed to crack three of the thin scales.

“Hey?” Bebe was surprised, and at the same time he also sent mentally, “Boss, this big snake’s body is much stronger than those of the little green snakes, and it is also quite slippery. Not even my godspark weapon was able to break through it at one blow! Right, Boss…you hurry up and get the Abyssal Fruit, and let me tie down this big snake! He’s not able to do anything to me!”

“Punk, I’m going to make you die!”

The giant green snake, seeing that three of its serpentine scales had been cracked, was instantly enraged. Bellowing, it once more coiled towards Bebe. Its venomous fangs were sharp, but they weren’t that tough; in terms of toughness, its skin was the toughest. Over the course of countless years… nobody had ever been able to leave behind any wounds on its body. “Swoosh.” Linley was very conﬁdent in Bebe, and so he charged straight for the Abyssal Fruit.

“Rumble…”

Bebe was surprised. As soon as the giant green snake touched Bebe, it instantly began to wrap around and constrict Bebe, as though wanting to crush him to death. “Hey, you are pretty strong. But if you want to crush me to death with this bit of strength…keep dreaming.” Bebe raised his head proudly, staring directly at the giant green snake’s head, not afraid at all.

The giant green snake was exerting pressure with every part of its body as it sought to crush Bebe to death.

Constriction was one of its innate talents. It was very easy for it to rely on its body to constrict Highgods to death. Even Highgod artifacts, when gripped and ground down upon by its body, would begin to twist and distort. But today, it discovered…that the youth it was currently constricting was like an incomparably tough and resilient chunk of metal.

“Hey, use more strength.” Bebe chortled. Bebe was happy to be keeping the giant green snake occupied, and he also paid attention to Linley’s situation..

“Eh?” Bebe was suddenly startled.

When Linley drew near the Abyssal Fruit, many soft, willow- like branches suddenly coiled towards Linley. Irritated, Linley lashed out with Mirage, ﬁlling it with divine earth power and raising its attack power to the limit. With a gentle sound, tears in space began to appear.

“Slash!” Mirage chopped down upon one of the branches.

This branch was as thick as a person’s thighs, but when Linley’s Mirage godspark sword chopped down, it was only able to cut to the center of the branch and no further. “Eh?” Linley suddenly had the feeling…that when the branch of the Abyssal Fruit Tree and Mirage collided, a surge of powerful, rippling force was transmitted through. It was attacking his mind!

“Rumble…” Linley’s mind couldn’t help but go momentarily dizzy, but he was still able to endure the attack. At this moment, many other branches swung towards him as well.

“Retreat!” Linley hurriedly pulled his sword out, retreating at high speed!

At the same time, an earthen yellow aura emerged from his body, immediately forming into his Blackstone Space. The powerful repulsive force immediately activated against those branches. Although the branches now moved much more slowly, they still came wrapping around towards him from every direction. Linley could only choose to run even farther away.

Linley was in a tough situation, but it wasn’t easy for Bailey either. He, too, was unable to do anything against the Abyssal Fruit Tree. “Bailey, you said the Spirit Snake controls the Abyssal Fruit Tree? Then how is it that the tree is capable of using spiritual attacks?” Linley couldn’t help but bark. He had already retreated a hundred meters, while Bailey had also retreated to a distance of a hundred meters. Shaking his head, Bailey replied, “Back then, when I ﬁrst encountered the Abyssal Fruit Tree…there were simply too many green snakes, so I couldn’t draw near at all. I didn’t know the Abyssal Fruit Tree was capable of spiritual attacks. Now, it seems, the Abyssal Fruit Tree itself possesses sentience!”

Linley suddenly realized…

What the ‘tree’ and ‘snake’ the red-haired beauty was referring to.

“The ‘snake’ should be this sort of large snake, while the ‘tree’ should be this Abyssal Fruit Tree.” Linley was now aware of the power of this Abyssal Fruit Tree. A single branch…was actually able to endure his full-force sword blow. Despite using a godspark sword, he was only able to chop to the center of the branch. “Eh? It already repaired the damage?” Linley discovered to his surprise that the damage he had done by chopping down against the branch was already repaired.

“This Abyssal Fruit Tree is just like normal Deities; its body can easily repair itself when damaged.” Linley felt a headache oncoming.

“Haha…nothing left? Then it’s my turn!” Bebe’s voice suddenly rang out.

Linley couldn’t help but to turn and look…

Bebe was currently still being constricted by the giant green snake, which seemed to want to crush Bebe. But suddenly…

“SHKREEEEEEEEEE!”

With an ear-piercing, savage sound ringing out, Bebe opened his mouth, while at the same time, around his body an enormous illusion of a Godeater Rat appeared, which stared coldly at the giant green snake.

The giant green snake was stunned. It couldn’t help but have a bad feeling!

A cold look ﬂashed through Bebe’s eyes.

“Aaaaaah!” A miserable scream rang out, and from the head of the giant green snake, a black divine spark ﬂew out, entering Bebe’s mouth. As for the giant green snake, it fell down lifelessly, dead!

Innate divine ability – Godeater!

In the same instant of the giant green snake’s death, the surviving little green snakes which had remained on the leaves of the Abyssal Fruit Tree all transformed into green energy, then disappeared from the world. They, too, had died! “Oh?” Linley suddenly understood.

Those little green snakes should have been a part of the giant green snake. Or perhaps their lives were linked to the giant green snake’s soul. Now that the Spirit Snake was dead, the little snakes perished as well.

“How dare you be arrogant in front of me!” Bebe snorted.

The distant Bailey and Bloan both stared towards Bebe in disbelief. Just now, they had both seen Bebe use the ‘Godeater’ divine ability. This innate divine ability didn’t belong to any sort of Law or Edict. It surpassed them, and once it was used… Bailey and Bloan were completely stunned.

In the face of this technique, what could they do against it?

This technique acted directly against one’s divine spark. Most likely, even if you had incredibly deep understandings of the Laws, you still wouldn’t have any chance to use your techniques!

“The Abyssal Fruit is mine!” Bebe once more charged towards the Abyssal Fruit Tree.

“Rustle, rustle…” The Abyssal Fruit Tree seemed to have gone mad, and many of its branches began to swing about, encircling and wrapping towards Bebe. Linley, seeing the situation, activated his Blackstone Space with a thought, instantly spreading it out to a circumference of hundreds of meters.

Gravity, downwards!

Those branches couldn’t help but drop downwards, but they all strove to rise up and go snatch Bebe.

“Swish.” Linley charged forward as well.

“Swoosh.” Bailey didn’t hesitate either, hurriedly seizing the chance to charge forward.

The Abyssal Fruit Tree’s movements were indeed now much slower, and it found it hard to catch Bebe and Linley, but…the tree branches didn’t try to seize Linley. Many of the branches actually easily began to twist and distort, completely wrapping up the Abyssal Fruit.

Linley, Bebe, and Bailey were stupeﬁed.

Now that the Abyssal Fruit was wrapped up in branches, how would they acquire it?

“Last time, the Abyssal Fruit Tree just casually blocked for a time. It wasn’t as savage as this!” Bailey said uncomprehendingly.

Linley and Bebe ﬂoated in the air, staring at the Abyssal Fruit Tree.

“Boss, what should we do?” Bebe asked.

“This is rather tricky.” Linley frowned, and then immediately launched Mirage against the Abyssal Fruit Tree. Mirage was already translucent, and as the sword ripples lashed out, one tear in space after another appeared. Mirage struck at the trunks multiple times, but each sword blow found

it hard to break through.

Hundreds of consecutive blows! But after each blow, the branches immediately healed.

“Whoosh!”

Suddenly, many branches exploded forward, attacking the nearby Linley.

Linley’s face changed, and the direction of his Blackstone Space suddenly changed to be…repulsive!

The branches couldn’t help but slow down, and Linley ﬂew back, retreating.

“Bebe, these branches are simply too tough, and there are too many of them. As soon as I launch one blow with my sword, the branch has already healed the damage before my second blow arrives. And it is also capable of a powerful soul attack. I’m not afraid of a blow from a single branch, but if hundreds of them strike me with the great power they possess…or if they constrict me, it’ll be even tougher to deal with than the constriction of that giant green snake.” Linley sent mentally.

“Looks like there’s only one option.” Bebe ﬂew forwards.

Suddenly…

The illusion of a Godeater Rat that was tens of meters tall appeared before Bebe. That powerful aura caused Bloan and Bailey to both feel shock in their hearts, and a unique energy was applied to the Abyssal Fruit Tree.

“Yet again. After using it this second time, Bebe will need some rest.” Linley couldn’t help but say to himself. Linley was very conﬁdent in Bebe, but the result caused Linley to feel astonished. “How is that possible?” No divine spark ﬂew out from the Abyssal Fruit Tree, and it wasn’t damaged at all. As for Bebe, he landed back on the ground, looking puzzled. “Boss, I…I can’t sense its divine spark!”

“Can’t sense it?” Linley was stunned.

“This Abyssal Fruit Tree has no divine spark.” Bebe was completely certain.

“If that’s the case, then this will be troublesome. This Abyssal Fruit Tree…no wonder it is capable of nurturing and creating a holy object such as the Abyssal Fruit. It is indeed hard to deal with.” Linley frowned. “But from what Bailey said, last time the Abyssal Fruit appeared, the Abyssal Fruit Tree didn’t prove to be such an obstacle. It just went through the motions of defending before allowing someone to harvest the fruit. Why is it that this time…?”

Right at this moment… “Swoosh!” Bailey transformed into a blur, once more charging towards the Abyssal Fruit Tree. Linley and Bebe were in no rush, allowing Bailey to go make the attempt.

“There’s no way he’ll be able to deal with the Abyssal Fruit Tree.” Linley said to himself.

He didn’t believe that Bailey had any hope!

“Whoosh!” Those protective branches surrounding the Abyssal Fruit suddenly opened up, while at the same time reached out towards Bailey in an embrace…and Bailey suddenly struck hard against a nearby branch, relying on the counter-force to propel himself forward towards the Abyssal Fruit. As for those surrounding branches, their speed seemed to have been lowered signiﬁcantly…

Bailey managed to just barely escape the embrace of those branches, and immediately plucked the translucent, crystalline Abyssal Fruit.

“It is mine!” Bailey was wildly overjoyed.

At the same time, without hesitating at all, Bailey chomped down, swallowing it into his stomach in a matter of seconds.

Linley and Bebe seemed to have been thunderstruck.

“What’s going on?” Bebe didn’t dare to believe it.

“Why didn’t the Abyssal Fruit Tree try to block it?” Linley couldn’t understand it either. Given how many branches the Abyssal Fruit Tree had, it was completely capable of blocking Bailey. Even if it didn’t block him…it could do the same thing it had done to Linley and Bebe, just wrap up the Abyssal Fruit Tree. Bailey naturally wouldn’t be able to acquire it.

But…

The Abyssal Fruit Tree had voluntarily opened its branches, just blocking him slightly. “It seems as though the Abyssal Fruit Tree was partial towards Bailey.” Linley said, not understanding.

“Rustle…” Suddenly, the entire Abyssal Fruit Tree began to tremble. The main trunk of the Abyssal Fruit Tree sank downwards into the ground, and then its many branches sank into the ground as well. It also pulled the corpse of the giant green snake into the ground. In but the amount of time necessary for a few breaths, the Abyssal Fruit Tree had completely gone undergone.

The Abyssal Fruit Tree had departed!

“Haha…” Sudden, excited laughter rang out. Bailey once more opened his eyes.

“Eh?” Linley had the feeling as though Bailey’s very aura had changed.

“Thank you, you two.” Bailey looked towards Linley and Bebe, while Bloan excitedly ran over as well. “Big Brother, you succeeded?” Bloan knew exactly how much suffering his elder brother had endured for the sake of this Abyssal Fruit. The ﬁrst time he entered the Abyssal Mountain, although he had seen it, he hadn’t acquired it.

And then, he had waited resolutely while training, preparing for the next time.

Countless years of loneliness. He had successfully endured and also succeeded.

“Gentlemen, last time, the Abyssal Fruit Tree just did some cursory blocks as well. This time, it clearly acted with intent against you two.” Bailey laughed as he looked at Linley and Bebe. “I think…it should be because Bebe killed that Spirit Snake!”

“Spirit Snake?” Linley and Bebe both felt shock in their hearts.

“This Spirit Snake and the Abyssal Fruit Tree were always together. After countless years, they deﬁnitely must have formed an extremely strong emotional bond. Tell me…how could the Abyssal Fruit Tree possibly be willing to give you the Abyssal Fruit which it nurtured?” Bailey said, laughing.

Chapter 27, Sovereign’s Emissary

Because they had killed the Spirit Snake, the Abyssal Fruit Tree felt enmity towards them?

Linley and Bebe couldn’t help but look at each other, not knowing what to say.

“Haha.” Bailey laughed as he spoke. “But of course, that’s just my deduction! Otherwise, I have no other explanation for why the Abyssal Fruit Tree would act in such a manner towards you two, while differently towards me. But no matter what…this matter is at an end, and I need to thank both of you for me being able to acquire the Abyssal Fruit.”

Linley laughed calmly.

Linley still felt a hint of goodwill towards Bailey. No matter what, Bailey had at least informed him of the appearance of the Abyssal Fruit. If Bailey didn’t want for Linley to know…he didn’t have to tell Linley at all. In addition, Bailey had toiled for countless millions of years for the sake of this Abyssal Fruit.

Such perseverance made him worthy of acquiring this most precious of treasures, the Abyssal Fruit.

“Wasn’t it said that after acquiring the Abyssal Fruit, one would be received by the Sovereign and become a Sovereign’s Emissary?” Bebe muttered. “So where’s the Sovereign?”

Linley’s eyes lit up, and he hurriedly swept the surrounding area with his gaze.

If the Sovereign appeared, his goal would be accomplished.

“Whoooosh.”

Because of the departure of the Abyssal Fruit Tree, the gray fog once more ﬁlled this region. Suddenly, not too far away, a humanoid ﬁgure suddenly appeared, causing Linley and Bebe’s eyes to light up. “”Could it be that the Sovereign has come??” Linley and Bebe were both very eager.

In but an instant, that ﬁgure appeared before them.

The person was very skinny but very tall, and he had a head of unbound, long silver hair. His eyes swept past Linley’s group like the eyes of a hawk, ﬁnally halting on Bailey’s body. Laughing calmly, he said, “Bailey, congratulations on acquiring the Abyssal Fruit! Come with me now to the Sovereign’s palace and await the Sovereign’s summons.”

“It’s you!” A look of astonishment appeared on Bailey’s face. “Arthurs [A’se’si]!”

“Right.”

The silver-haired man laughed calmly. “It’s been so many years, but you still remember me. You’ve remained at the Abyssal Mountain all these years. I know all these things. I, too, was surprised…that you actually managed to endure all these years of loneliness and the countless years of waiting. I have to say, I admire you!” Bailey began to laugh loudly. “That year, when we entered the Abyssal Mountain together, I swore an oath as we entered! That I, Bailey, would either die in the Abyssal Mountain or emerge as the Sovereign’s Emissary!”

Linley and Bebe now completely understood.

So this person wasn’t a Sovereign; rather, it was the person who had acquired the Abyssal Fruit on Bailey’s ﬁrst trip to the Abyssal Mountain.

“So this person is a Sovereign’s Emissary!” Linley had a thought. “Since he lives at the Abyssal Mountain, his relationship to the Sovereign should be fairly close. Perhaps through him…”

The goal of Linley’s trip to Abyssal Mountain was to meet the Sovereign.

“Big Brother, congratulations.” The violet-haired youth, Bloan said with whole-hearted sincerity.

Bailey beamed towards his little brother as well.

“Bailey, let’s go. Come with me to the Sovereign’s palace.” Arthurs urged.

“Arthurs.” Bailey said. “How about this. Let me send my little brother out of the gray fog region, and then I’ll accompany you.”

“No rush.” Arthurs laughed calmly. “Come with me, and bring your little brother as well. He can ﬁrst wait at the border region between the gray fog region and the violet fog region. He’ll just wait there a day or so. After you see the Sovereign and have the arrangements made for you, you can send your little brother away at that point. Your little brother is in no particular rush, right?”

“Big Brother, it’s just a day.” Bloan said very excitedly. “The next time we meet, you’ll be a Sovereign’s Emissary.” “Actually, the power your big brother now wields after having eaten the Abyssal Fruit is already comparable to that of ordinary Sovereign’s Emissaries.” Arthurs said calmly. “However, the reason why your big brother is so powerful is because of the Abyssal Fruit. After having acquired the Abyssal Fruit, he has already, naturally become the Emissary of the Netherworld Sovereign.”

Bailey laughed and nodded. “Then Arthurs, let’s go.”

“Wait a moment.” Only now did Linley speak.

“Eh?” Arthurs and Bailey both looked over, and Bailey hurriedly introduced, “Arthurs, this is Linley, who came alongside me. The two of them are reputedly from the Infernal Realm, and also exceedingly powerful.”

“The two of them, even without Abyssal Fruit, are already quite powerful.” Arthurs had a calm look on his face, and he said unhurriedly, “I know exactly what happened in that grand battle. Linley, you are an expert of the Four Divine Beasts clan, and yet you came to the Netherworld for this Abyssal Fruit? I rather don’t believe it. What other business do you have?” Linley’s Dragonformed appearance already caused quite a few experts to easily guess his status.

Linley’s heart clenched.

This Arthurs seemed to have a rather poor attitude towards him.

“Mr. Arthurs.” Linley said hurriedly. “It is indeed true that the purpose of my visit to the Abyssal Mountain was not for the sake of the Abyssal Fruit. I have an important matter which I wish to ask the Netherworld Sovereign regarding. I would like to ask for your help…to lead me forward to see the Sovereign! I have something extremely, extremely important to discuss!”

Linley’s attitude, appearance, and manner of speech all gave voice to his sincerity.

“Arthurs.” Bailey looked towards Arthurs. Clearly, he too wished for Arthurs to help.

Arthurs just let out a calm laugh, then said casually, “You’ve come an unimaginable distance from the Infernal Realm to the Netherworld, and charged into the Abyssal Mountain without any care for your own life. To do this…of course I know that you must have an important matter to discuss with the Sovereign. However, over the countless planes, there are also many people who wish to see the Sovereign! Can it be that just because you wish to see the Sovereign, that I must lead you? What sort of status does the Sovereign have? Why would the Sovereign be willing to see all of you? In addition, I’m not qualiﬁed to lead you there!”

Linley couldn’t help but say frantically, “Ar…”

“Enough.”

Arthurs said calmly, “I’m simply a Sovereign’s Emissary. Don’t make things hard for me. If you truly have made up your mind to meet the Sovereign, then continue adventuring forward. After exiting the gray fog region, enter the violet fog region! After you reach the violet fog region, you’ll be able to reach the Sovereign’s palace. By then, whether or not you will see the Sovereign is a decision for the Sovereign to make.” Linley understood now as well. Arthurs was just a Sovereign’s Emissary; in other words, a servant. How could he be qualiﬁed to lead Linley over?

When he understood this, he no longer tried to persuade Arthurs.

Arthurs glanced at Linley, then shook his head and said, “Linley, I’ll offer you one more word of advice. Just give it up and leave the mountain! The path up ahead isn’t so easily walked. Bailey, let’s go.” As he spoke, Arthurs, Bailey, and Bloan all ﬂew away at high speed.

Linley and Bebe didn’t follow. They just stayed there.

“Boss?” Bebe looked at him.

“Continue forward.” Linley said calmly. “Arthurs advised me to go down the mountain, yes, but I knew long ago…that the violet fog region is deﬁnitely dangerous. But no matter how dangerous it is…I will still go through it!” Whether for the sake of his father or for the sake of his dead friends, he had to go deeper into the Abyssal Mountain.

Bebe nodded slightly. “Wherever the Boss goes, I go.”

Linley glanced at Bebe. He couldn’t help but laugh, but in his heart, he felt a hint of apology. For now, no one could say exactly how dangerous the violet fog region was. Bebe, however, ignored it all and continued to loyally follow Linley deeper in. Still, over the course of thousands of years, there was no need for Linley and Bebe to say words of thanks to each other, as though they were outsiders.

“Let’s go.” That’s all Linley said.

“Right.” Bebe followed as well.

The two fearlessly advanced into the gray fog region. In the gray fog region, since they were no longer affected by the gray fog, it was just a matter of luck for exiting it. Linley and Bebe spent nearly half an hour searching, encountering and battling quite a few maddened Highgods on the way. Linley and Bebe didn’t dare to engage in battle for too long, ﬂeeing each time. After half an hour, they ﬁnally exited the gray fog region.

While they had been at the base of the mountain, they had seen that the white fog region and the gray fog region took up more than ninety percent of the entire Abyssal Mountain. When Linley and Bebe arrived at the empty space where the gray fog region and the violet fog region intersected, they discovered that, upon taking a closer look, the violet fog region was also fairly large.

“The two of you made it out?” A voice rang out.

Linley and Bebe, who had just made it out of the gray fog region, turned to look. They saw the violet-haired youth, Bloan, laugh while walking towards them. “The two of you came faster than I expected.”

“We can’t compete with you. You had a Sovereign’s Emissary guiding you.” Bebe pursed his lips. Bloan laughed calmly.

In the past, Bloan had always been frost-faced, but now he often laughed and smiled. There was nothing for it…his only family member, his big brother, was still alive. To Bloan…this surprise was an even greater and better one than acquiring an Abyssal Fruit!”

“Linley.” Bloan looked at Linley. “My big brother and the Sovereign’s Emissary, when leaving, asked me to once more warn you that this violet fog region is very dangerous, far more so than the gray fog region. Although the two of you are very powerful, you killed the Spirit Snake…once you go in, you will have virtually no chance of making it out again.”

Linley frowned.

“Killed the Spirit Snake?” Linley said.

“What does killing the Spirit Snake have to do with the violet fog region?” Bebe asked.

Bloan said, “That Arthurs told me that the Abyssal Fruit Tree normally remains within the violet fog region. Only once in countless years will it enter the gray fog region! Those Highgods have a chance in the gray fog region to acquire the Abyssal Fruit, but there’s no way they will make it in the violet fog region. Now that you’ve killed the Spirit Snake, it’s best if you don’t go to the violet fog region.”

Linley and Bebe exchanged glances.

They couldn’t help but feel the situation was bad!

So over the course of countless years, the Abyssal Fruit Tree always resided within the violet fog region.

“Thank you for your warning. However, we will still go make the attempt.” Linley said.

“Of course we’ll go. Why should we fear the Abyssal Tree?” Bebe said disdainfully. Although he said this, however, in his heart, Bebe wasn’t conﬁdent either. This was because earlier, when he used his innate divine ability against the Abyssal Fruit Tree, he hadn’t been able to ﬁnd its divine spark.”

Bloan, seeing they wouldn’t be dissuaded, had no choice but to say nothing further.

Linley and Bebe ﬂew directly into the violet fog region. Bloan watched them ﬂy in, then let out a sigh. “I hope the two of you will make it out alive.” On this trip to the Abyssal Mountain, Linley helped him and also let him see his big brother. Bloan felt quite a bit of goodwill towards Linley and Bebe.

The violet fog region!

“Hey, it feels really nice.” Bebe looked suspiciously around, while Linley also vigilantly kept watch. The surrounding area was ﬁlled with endless violet fog, and indeed, it was very different from the white fog and the gray fog. Within the violet fog region, not only were there no negative effects to the violet fog, the two felt refreshed and relaxed. It was much like…

That refreshing feeling they had when they smelled the Abyssal Fruit.

“This violet fog region is so quiet!” Bebe sent mentally. “Boss, it seems as though the violet fog region doesn’t have much danger.”

“Don’t be careless. Advance with caution.” Linley said with a frown as he advanced.

Tri-colored regions. From the white fog region to the gray fog region, then to the violet fog region! Linley didn’t believe that the violet fog region would really be as calm and peaceful as it seemed on the surface. That Arthurs had also repeatedly warned him as well; clearly, this violet fog region was extremely dangerous!

Large amounts of dwarf trees and bushes were growing on the ground.

There were no other lifeforms present.

Linley and Bebe didn’t dare to relax at all, but after advancing for quite some time, they still didn’t sense anything.

“Can it be that we are going to just be allowed to advance like this?” Bebe murmured.

Linley’s pupils suddenly contracted as he stared to the front.

“What’s that!” Bebe called out in shock.

From afar, a large number of branches and leaves could be seen at an astonishing density. The violet fog region had much greater visibility than the other regions, allowing nearly a thousand meters of vision, but despite that, all they could see up ahead was those dense clusters of leaves.

“Let’s take a closer look.” Linley said in a low voice.

Linley and Bebe advanced forward. Once they drew closer to the trunks of these trees, Linley discovered to his astonishment that…“This…this branch is actually the branch of an Abyssal Fruit Tree!” Linley could recognize it at a glance. The Abyssal Fruit Tree was not like ordinary trees; the branches were very unusual.

An enormous, sturdy branch of multiple meters was present, and not just one; many branches of similar thickness were present!

The many branches all intersected, giving birth to countless smaller branches.

“This is the crown of a tree! An astonishingly large tree crown!”

Linley couldn’t help but feel stunned. Originally, when they had been in the gray fog region, they had seen that the Abyssal Fruit Tree stretched out to hundreds of meters, with the main trunk being just two or three meters. But this same exact type of tree present here…the branches alone were multiple meters thick. What they saw was nothing more than the crowns of the tree. They hadn’t even seen the main trunk yet. How enormous must this tree be?!

“There’s more than just one Abyssal Fruit Tree?” Linley couldn’t help but feel breathless.

Chapter 28, Repercussions

Clearly, the revealed portion of the Abyssal Fruit Tree was like the tip of an iceberg; this deﬁnitely wasn’t the one which had appeared within the gray fog region. This tree was terrifyingly large, and its branches were sturdier than the trunk of the ﬁrst Abyssal Fruit Tree.

“Boss, such an enormous Abyssal Fruit Tree.” Bebe was somewhat numb.

He hadn’t been able to do anything to the Abyssal Fruit Tree earlier.

“Continue forward.” Linley growled. At the same time, he immediately set up his Blackstone Space, forming it into a hemisphere that was twenty meters in diameter. A powerful repulsive force was in effect within the Blackstone Space, and any outside objects that entered it would suffer from it.

As they walked… After having walked for thousands of meters, as far Linley and Bebe could see, there was only that terrifyingly enormous tree crown. That astonishingly large tree crown was formed from countless thick branches in a titanic coil, which was why it was supportable.

“Boss, look up above.” Bebe suddenly said.

Linley couldn’t help but follow Bebe’s gaze. Within the scattered green leaves, a small green snake had appeared atop one of the leaves.

“Green snake!” Linley was astonished. “This small green snake represents that a giant green snake must be here as well! These small green snakes all rely on the lifeforce of the giant green Spirit Snakes. In other words…aside from the Spirit Snake which Bebe killed, there are other Spirit Snakes present!” Linley felt his heart begin to clench.

Suddenly… Linley couldn’t help but narrow his eyes. On many of the tree leaves above, one green snake after another began to emerge. These palm-sized, ﬁnger-wide green snakes all stared at Linley and Bebe, but they didn’t attack.

“So many!” Bebe sent mentally in alarm.

“Keep going forward.” Linley ignored the green serpents, continuing to advance forward.

While advancing forward, Linley discovered that a large number of green snakes were appearing everywhere. On the road over alone, hundreds of thousands of green snakes had appeared, far more than the number which had appeared within the gray fog region. Linley felt astonished and shaken as well.

There were so many little green snakes…then what of the Spirit Snake?

“There’s the main trunk!” Linley and Bebe couldn’t help but stare into the distance.

After ﬁrst having seen the tree crowns, they had walked for nearly ten thousand meters. Linley and Bebe now ﬁnally saw the main trunk of this Abyssal Fruit Tree, and when they saw it…good heavens, how could this be a ‘trunk’? This was a wall! A tall, towering wall! The main trunk of this Abyssal Fruit Tree’s diameter was hundreds of meters long!

The main trunk had a diameter of hundreds of meters!

As for the crown, it reached nearly ten thousand meters!

How enormous a tree was this? And more importantly…it was an Abyssal Fruit Tree! In the Netherworld, there were other thick trees like this! But the material those trees were made of was inferior. It must be understood…the branches of these trees, which served as their arms, were unbreakable even for Linley, who only managed to chop halfway through with a full strength blow.

The more precious something was, the rarer it was. This sort of large tree was far too sturdy, and so it should be a bit smaller. But this was too enormous.

“The trunk alone is hundreds of meters thick. There’s no way I would be able to chop through it.” Linley sighed to himself. The material a tree’s trunk was made out of was generally of higher quality than even the branches. And given how thick the trunk was? How could it be destructible?

“Boss, look above, look, quick! Abyssal Fruit!” Bebe cried out in alarm.

Linley raised his head to look.

Above this Abyssal Fruit Tree, spots of violet light could be seen ﬂashing through the branches. Although they were very far away and covered up by branches, making them hard to see, the dots of violet light were ﬂashing like precious gemstones and so were very eye-catching. “Abyssal Fruit! And…there’s dozens of them!” Linley couldn’t help but draw nearer, and Bebe did the same. After drawing closer, they were able to see it more clearly as well.

That crystalline skin, that tender, watery violet fruit…the Abyssal Fruits was amidst the green leaves. These fruits were like little lanterns hanging in the sky. There were dozens of them.

“So much Abyssal Fruit!” Bebe was stupeﬁed.

“But in countless years, there’s only been four Abyssal Fruit to appear in the Netherworld, including the one Bailey just acquired! But here, there are actually so many!” Linley was still calm, because Linley understood…that these Abyssal Fruits wouldn’t be easily taken by him, as if they were, others would have taken them away long ago.

After entering the violet fog region, he hadn’t met with any danger yet.

“Haha, Abyssal Fruit. So there are so many of them.” Bebe’s eyes were shining.

“Spirit Snake, where are you? Emerge.” Linley said coldly. At the same time, his gaze ﬂashed past the crown of a nearby tree, where the tightly clustered green snakes were all staring at Linley and Bebe. Bebe immediately laughed loudly, “Hey, why have so many little snakes pop out? Are you trying to scare us? Hurry up and have your main form pop out as well.”

“As you wish!” A cold, ﬁerce voice echoed out from within the Abyssal Fruit Tree.

Linley and Bebe immediately turned to look.

“Hisssss…”

A giant green snake that was as thick as an arm but which was tens of meters long slithered out from within the leaves. That soft, serpentine body coiled around one of the thick branches, its serpentine head raised and staring coldly at Linley and Bebe. “You…” Bebe was about to say something, but he came to a sudden halt.

Because next to this giant green snake, yet another giant green snake appeared, its body slightly larger. This giant green snake also coiled around a branch, but its body drooped downwards slightly as it rested against it. Its twin eyes glowed with violet light as it also stared at Linley and Bebe, its gaze ﬁlled with a killing intent.

“Hissssss…”

The leaves constantly trembled as one giant green snake after another emerged from the depths.

Bebe kept counting aloud. “Three, four, ﬁve…eight, nine!”

He ﬁnally stopped counting. There were nine giant green snakes which coiled about, close to each other, wrapping themselves either around the trunk or the branches. These nine giant snakes all stared angrily at Linley and Bebe. In terms of size, these giant green snakes were all roughly comparable, and were similar to the giant green snake in the gray fog region as well.

“There’s nine of them. This is a bit tricky.” Bebe frowned.

These giant green snakes were very hard to deal with. If Bebe wanted to kill them, he would have to rely on his innate divine ability, ‘Godeater’. After such a long period of time, Bebe’s spiritual energy had recovered, true, but there were nine of the giant green snakes here.

“Nine of them!” Linley felt that this was rather nettlesome as well.

“Bebe, we don’t want the Abyssal Fruit. Let’s go now.” Linley sent mentally. After so many years, nobody had been able to acquire so many Abyssal Fruit. Forget about the nine troublesome Spirit Snakes for now; what was truly terrifying was that frighteningly thick and enormous Abyssal Fruit Tree. If such an enormous Abyssal Fruit Tree were to attack the two of them, that would be troublesome. It was best to leave quickly and depart the violet fog region.

“We don’t want it?” Bebe was stunned.

“Hurry and go.” Linley glanced at him, and Bebe acknowledged, “Fine, then.”

“Swoosh!” “Swoosh!”

Linley and Bebe simultaneously transformed into two blurs, ﬂeeing to the side at high speed.

“Running?”

Those nine giant green snakes instantly shot out from the Abyssal Fruit Tree. They were like nine bolts of green lightning, streaking directly towards Linley and Bebe. Unfortunately, Linley and Bebe were ﬂeeing at high speed, and the space around them had the Blackstone Space set up. Those nine giant snakes weren’t able to catch up to Linley at all.

“You want to chase us? In your dreams.” Bebe laughed as he spoke.

“Rustle…” Suddenly, many branches from the tree crown up above lowered, pressing down like a mountain and falling to the ground. Linley and Bebe only felt the ground ahead of them turn black; the road was completely sealed off.

“The Abyssal Fruit Tree will block us when we ﬂee?” After having previously tested the toughness of these branches, Linley and Bebe turned without even hesitating.

And as they did, they saw that the nine giant snakes had already come to a halt and were coiling on the ground in front of them.

“You want to ﬂee! Haha…” A deep, rumbling voice echoed out from the mouths of one of the green snakes. Its insidious violet eyes ﬂashed as it stared at Linley and Bebe. “Let me tell you this. The violet fog region of the Abyssal Mountain will be your tomb!” A cold voice rang out from another giant green snake. “The two of you are called Linley and Bebe, right? You are quite formidable. You actually killed our elder sister! Over the course of countless years, we ten siblings have always been happily together. Our elder sister went to deliver the Abyssal Fruit to

you, but you actually killed her! Haha…even if all nine of us have to die, we will kill you and avenge our elder sister!”

“Right, avenge our elder sister!” Another giant green snake howled angrily as well.

The nine giant snakes all had rage and hatred ﬂashing in their violet eyes.

Linley couldn’t help but feel that his head hurt.

“So that Spirit Snake really did have a connection to these nine Spirit Snakes. It was actually their elder sister?” Linley had known long ago that there would be trouble, but he hadn’t expected that the Spirit Snake had nine siblings. “Hey, what are you talking about? Your elder sister went to ‘deliver’ the Abyssal Fruit to us?” Bebe said angrily. “You all have mental issues. Your elder sister was ‘delivering’ us Abyssal Fruit? Then why did she do everything she could to impede us? If your elder sister hadn’t gone too far, why would I be so bored

as to kill her?”

Actually, acting as a guardian was the mission of the Spirit Snakes. It was the same each time.

By using the Spirit Snakes as guardians, a person with sufﬁcient power would be selected.

As the other nine siblings of the ﬁrst Spirit Snake saw it, their elder sister had indeed gone to deliver the Abyssal Fruit to these outsiders. That ‘impeding’ she did was nothing more than a test. She went to deliver Abyssal Fruit, but ended up being killed? How could her nine siblings not be infuriated?

“Second Brother, don’t waste words with them. Kill them!” A giant green snake said. “Kill!” The deep voice rang out again.

Instantly, the nine giant green snakes split up into nine directions, forming a spherical trap around Linley and Bebe. However, Linley’s Blackstone Space was twenty meters in diameter, while this ‘trap’ was also very large. The nine giant green snakes were all outside of the Blackstone Space. The nine giant green snakes began to slither about, and nine pairs of three-star violet pupils stared unblinkingly at Linley and Bebe.

“Hiss…” They slithered about at high speed, forming countless blurs.

Linley and Bebe weren’t able to clearly see the snakes at all, just nine streaks of violet light. The streaks of violet light actually started twisted about, seeing like strings which began to constrict the space between them, like a ﬁshnet compressing down towards Linley and Bebe.

“What sort of technique is this?” Linley couldn’t quite understand, but he didn’t overthink things. His immediate response was…the sudden expansion of the Blackstone Space, which instantly expanded to trap the nine giant green snakes within. The powerful repulsive force was applied to the green snakes, and the speed of the green snakes couldn’t help but drop, and their bodies couldn’t help but be moved as well.

Their joint attack was disrupted!

“Attack that Linley!” A furious shout rang out.

Instantly, those nine giant green snakes almost simultaneously shot out, transforming into nine green streaks of light as they charged towards Linley, biting down towards Linley with their fangs bared. But because of the Blackstone Space, their speed wasn’t that fast. Actually, the most powerful attack of these Spirit Snakes was to use their venomous fangs to bite others, but they knew…

Bebe’s body was too powerful. Their elder sister’s fangs had shattered, and yet she still wasn’t able to harm Bebe.

Thus, they temporarily chose to deal with Linley ﬁrst! The venomous fangs of these Spirit Snakes were on a completely different level from the venomous fangs of the little green snakes. A bite from the venomous fangs of these Spirit Snakes was even more terrifying than the little green snakes wriggling in one’s body!

Linley saw those nine giant maws swing open and bite towards him. He couldn’t help but be stunned. “Given how troublesome it was to be bitten by those little green snakes, if these Spirit Snakes bite me…I’m not Bebe!” The defense of his draconic scales was indeed powerful, but even the draconic scales of Patriarch Gislason wasn’t as powerful as the defense of Beirut and Bebe…the level of godspark weapons.

“Hmph.” Linley, with a thought, made the repulsive force of his Blackstone Space transform into a downward pull!

The nine serpentine heads bit down, but as they did, they suddenly sank downwards. Linley instantly activated his ‘Spiritual Chaos’ technique. Linley’s current Spiritual Chaos technique would somewhat affect even Seven Star Fiends. “Eh?” Linley discovered, to his surprise, that these nine giant snakes weren’t affected by the Spiritual Chaos at all. The nine giant green heads once more rose up, biting towards Linley. Linley wielded the godspark sword, Mirage, and delivered a full force blow using the Laws of the Earth. Where Mirage slashed past, space trembled and split apart.

In the Blackstone Space, the giant green snakes found it hard to dodge.

“Slash!” One of the giant green snakes was struck. Its entire body trembled, and a large wound appeared on its body, with violet blood oozing out of it.

“What tough skin.” Linley was secretly surprised. His attack contained the profound mysteries of the Laws of the Earth, and in terms of attack power, was much stronger than Bebe’s strikes. But he was only able to wound the giant green snake.

“Raaaaaaaaaargh!” The giant green snake howled in agony, biting down in rage as its two sharp fangs glistened with a strange black light.

“Swoosh.” Linley instantly retreated, lightning-fast.

Nine in pursuit, one ﬂeeing while occasionally delivering a few sword blows.

“Second Brother, the gravitational power of this bastard’s Gravitational Space is too strong. We aren’t able to catch up to him within the range of his effect.” A giant green snake said frantically. These nine green snakes realized what the problem was now.

“Rustle…” Right at this moment, the Abyssal Fruit Tree began to tremble violently.

Chapter 29, Invincible

“Boss!” Bebe was alarmed.

Linley’s face changed dramatically as well. From the leaves of the Abyssal Fruit Tree, those truly innumerable little green snakes all shot out towards him, whether from close by or from afar. They formed a vast web in the sky, ﬁlling Linley’s ﬁeld of vision as they shot out towards him from within. The number of little green snakes was so great, they were more than enough to completely bury Linley alive!

The nine giant green snakes laughed coldly as they watched.

“First kill that Linley, then deal with the other one.” They were very conﬁdent, because Linley’s draconic scales were not yet so powerful as to allow him to ignore the bites of those little green snakes.

“Hrm?” Linley, with a thought… “Rumble…” A thick earthen yellow light sprang up, and large amounts of earth-type divine power wildly spread out. With Linley at the center, in a range of a hundred meters, an earthen yellow cube of a hundred meters in length suddenly appeared.

Blackstone Prison!

Many little green snakes had already entered the Blackstone Prison, while many other green snakes threw themselves against the walls of the Blackstone Prison, attempting to bite through and charge in. But when they charged in, they discovered that they were separated into yet another little room. Immediately, the little green snakes began to wildly bite everywhere and ﬂy everywhere.

Every single sealed room was cube-shaped and was 2.5 meters long.

There were 64,000 little sealed rooms within this hundred- meter long Blackstone Prison. “Raaaaaawr!” A furious roar rang out as the nine giant green snakes all twirled their bodies, biting through and smashing one room after another. But as soon as they shattered one wall, it would quickly reform. At the same time, the Blackstone Prison was constantly changing and moving about, quickly

separating the nine Spirit Snakes.

Within the Blackstone Prison.

Linley suddenly emerged from within one of the sealed rooms, easily killing the little green snakes present within this room, then quickly departing. The other little green snakes, knowing that Linley had appeared, all hurried over, but by the time they arrived, Linley had moved elsewhere long ago.

In the Blackstone Prison, Linley was able to move about at high speed!

And given that the sixty four thousand rooms were all ﬁlled with a powerful gravitational pull, the green snakes were completely unable to surround him and attack en masse. “You want to kill me with one move?” Linley laughed calmly as he slaughtered these little green snakes. “These little green snakes possess tremendous amounts of energy as well. By killing them, I am deﬁnitely injuring the nine Spirit Snakes as well.” Linley didn’t mind working a little harder and killing a

few more of the little green snakes.

Linley began to wildly slaughter and massacre the little green snakes. The Blackstone Prison was under Linley’s control, and Linley knew exactly where there were numerous little green snakes and where there were few of them. The little green snakes suffered, but were unable to group up en masse to surround and attack Linley. In the Blackstone Prison, they could do nothing but wait as though they were blinded.

The nine giant green snakes, now outside the Blackstone Prison, were already furious.

“What is this damn thing?” A clear voice rang out from the mouth of one of the giant green snakes. She stared angrily at the enormous earthen yellow cube. “It repairs as soon as we break it!” “If this continues, we’ll lose a great deal of energy.” A hoarse voice rang out. “We won’t be able to kill Linley within those rooms.”

Immediately, under their control, the many green snakes began to wildly ﬂee, biting through one wall after another before escaping the Blackstone Prison. All of the green snakes ﬂed, returning to the Abyssal Fruit Tree.

“Rumble…” The Blackstone Prison transformed into energy, then vanished.

Linley and Bebe appeared.

“Haha, you wanted to kill us, right?” Bebe laughed from rage. “Come, then. Let me see what other tricks you have?”

Linley stared coldly at the nine giant green snakes as well. “You are indeed very strong!” A deep, hoarse voice rang out. Linley and Bebe couldn’t help but turn to stare at the crown of the Abyssal Fruit Tree. The sound came from there. With a ‘rustle’ sound of leaves parting, a serpentine form covered in golden scales and which was more than two meters thick slowly slithered out.

A powerful aura emanated forth from it.

Linley and Bebe couldn’t help but hold their breaths.

“My heavens…” Bebe stared with wide eyes.

“This…” Linley couldn’t help but narrow his eyes. The colossal golden snake continued to slither out from the crown of the trees. The part of its slithering, serpentine body that appeared was already more than two hundred meters long. Moments later, the entire body of the colossal golden snake was completely revealed. This was an enormous golden snake that was nearly ﬁve or six hundred meters long and two meters thick. The golden snake coiled around the branches of the Abyssal Fruit Tree. Its ice-cold pupils were jade-green, and it stared down towards Linley and Bebe.

“Father.” The nine giant green snakes immediately scurried over.

“Father, it’s the two of them! You have to avenge our elder sister!” The nine giant green snakes all spoke in the human tongue.

“Don’t worry.” A low, hoarse voice rang out from the giant golden snake’s mouth.

“Leave one of them for me.” An icy cold voice rang out from behind. Linley and Bebe couldn’t help but stare, then immediately swivel to look. A giant silver snake whose body was comparable in size to the giant golden snake ﬂew out from afar. The thing which astonished about Linley about this giant silver snake was…

It had nine heads!

And each head of this nine-headed silver snake had black pupils, as black as the deepest recesses of the abyss itself.

“Mother.” The nine giant green snakes immediately called out.

“You returned?” The colossal golden snake said.

“My daughter died. How could I not?” The nine-headed silver snake said coldly.

Bebe let out a snort. “No wonder you gave birth to a pack of little freaks. The parents are both freaks as well!” The aura emanating from these two colossal snakes was simply too terrifying, to the point where the aura alone made Linley and Bebe feel their heads go slightly dizzy. Linley and Bebe both understood that this gold-silver snake pair was far more powerful than their children. “Hmph, aren’t you a freak as well, you little creature?” The colossal golden snake stared at Bebe, its jade-green eyes ﬁlled with a cold look.

“The one who killed our daughter was him?” The nine- headed silver serpent stared at Bebe.

“Right.” The colossal golden snake said.

“Then…let me deal with that little creature.” The nine- headed silver serpent said in its hoarse voice.

The colossal golden snake’s giant head turned slightly as it stared at Linley. “Fine, then hand this punk from the Four Divine Beasts clan to me! Hmph…even when his ancestor, the Azure Dragon, was still alive, they wouldn’t dare act in this manner towards our Abyssal Mountain. But now, the Azure Dragon’s descendants actually dare to kill our children!”

“Enough of that.” The nine-headed silver serpent said emotionlessly.

Linley and Bebe exchanged glances.

With Linley at the center, an earthen yellow aura instantly spread out, encompassing an area of nearly a thousand meters, swallowing up the colossal golden snake and the nine-headed silver serpent. The two giant snakes, suffering the sudden attack of the gravitational pull, couldn’t help but have their massive serpentine bodies droop down slightly. Moments later, however, they recovered and adjusted to compensate.

“What powerful gravity!” The colossal golden snake looked towards Linley. “You actually have some sort of a connection to the Redbud Sovereign of the Infernal Realm. However…despite that, you still must die!”

“What, you think you’ll be able to kill us just because you say so? Do you have the ability?” Bebe said coldly.

Very suddenly… The colossal golden snake opened its mouth, and instantly, a thick, jade-green light shot out from within the colossal golden snake’s mouth, enveloping towards Linley. This jade-green light wasn’t impacted at all by the Blackstone Space. Linley wasn’t able to dodge in time, and was completely covered by the jade-green light, which instantly invaded Linley’s body.

Within Linley’s mind.

The green light formed into countless specks of green, wildly corroding, striking against, and chewing against Linley’s soul- protecting Sovereign artifact. Much like attacking a city, the many green spots were dispersed everywhere, with quite a few of the green spots wildly attacking the ‘bandage’ over the ﬂaw.

Linley had spent two hundred years of work on the bandage, and as a result of his repair work, the bandage was now exceedingly sturdy.

Although it couldn’t compare to the other parts of the soul- protecting Sovereign artifact, it was still comparable to most ordinary soul-protecting artifacts.

“Crackle…” The bandage was quickly being depleted.

“Not good.” Linley felt that things were going wrong.

He immediately controlled his spiritual energy to help defend as well. As those jade-green spots ravenously slammed against the bandage, with a ‘bang!’, the bandage was ﬁnally broken through. Only a sliver of green spots remained, however. Linley’s spiritual energy wildly charged through, ﬁnally extinguishing the remnants of the energy.

Linley’s defense had held.

But…the repairs he had carried out on the soul-protecting Sovereign artifact over the course of two centuries were completely wiped out in this single attack.

At the same time… The nine-headed silver serpent used its supreme technique as well. The black eyes in its nine enormous silver heads stared at Bebe, while at the same time, its body began to form into an enormous illusion. The nine-headed silver serpent began to activate its awe-inspiring innate divine ability…

“Swish!” “Swish!”

The nine-headed silver serpent’s nine pairs of eyes simultaneously shot out with nine rays of pitch-black light.

Eighteen rays of light shot towards Bebe. Bebe dodged, but the black light curved as though sentient, then pierced into Bebe’s pupils.

“Arrrrgh!” Bebe let out an agonized call.

Linley just ﬁnished his defense. Turning to look, Linley was shocked. “Bebe!” “Not dead?” The colossal golden serpent, seeing that Linley had taken his attack without dying, couldn’t help but feel amazed. It knew very well how powerful this technique of his was…even ordinary soul-protecting divine artifacts wouldn’t be able to resist it.

“Haha…that was rather powerful.” Bebe suddenly began to laugh loudly as he stared furiously at the nine-headed silver serpent.

Linley couldn’t help but feel relieved.

“Impossible.” The nine-headed silver serpent couldn’t believe it. “This…his body is already so powerful. How could his soul be so powerful as well?” The heavens were equitable. Bebe’s body was already so tough that even the nine-headed silver serpent was jealous of him. With his body so powerful, logically speaking, his soul should be a bit weaker.

But… Bebe had actually been able to endure her innate divine ability.

“I don’t want to kill you. Don’t go too far.” Linley shouted. He had come this time to ask the Sovereign for help. Linley had the feeling that these two giant snakes should have some sort of connection to the Sovereign, and so didn’t want to unleash killing attacks.

“Roaaaaaaaaaaaaar!” The colossal golden snake wasn’t the slightest bit receptive to this. With a bellow, it suddenly shot forward, spreading wide its maw and biting viciously towards Linley.

“His speed is actually so fast.” Linley was inwardly surprised.

However, Linley didn’t dare to allow himself be bitten by this colossal golden snake.

“Boss, let’s do it.” Bebe sent mentally. “Hmph.” Linley stared at the attacking colossal golden snake.

His eyes grew cold.

Behind Linley and Bebe, illusory blurs simultaneously appeared. Behind Linley was a coiling Azure Dragon Phantom, which was staring coldly at the colossal golden snake. As for Bebe, behind Bebe appeared the enormous illusion of a Godeater Rat, which was also staring at the nine-headed silver serpent!

Innate divine ability – Dragon Roar!

Innate divine ability – Godeater!

“BOOM!” Suddenly, the earth split apart, and large amounts of slender, long tendrils shot outwards, blocking directly in front of Linley and Bebe. The energy which Linley and Bebe had expended in using their innate divine abilities was directly blocked by these tendrils. Or, to be more precise…were all expended upon the tendrils.

Linley and Bebe were stunned.

The many branches and tendrils which were hit by these two mighty innate divine abilities weren’t affected at all. “Why is there no response?” Bebe couldn’t believe it. Suddenly, one of the tendrils shot backwards, landing upon Bebe’s body. Although it passed through the Blackstone Space, the speed at which this tendril struck out still was enough to make it impossible for Bebe to dodge.

“WHAP!” Bebe was struck and sent ﬂying far away.

Red blood splattered out into the air.

“BANG!” Bebe slammed into the ground. He stared at his chest, where a wound that was so deep that bones were visible had appeared. Blood was dripping out of it. Bebe stared at his wound, stupeﬁed.

Linley stared at this in disbelief as well.

Bebe was actually injured?

His body was comparable to a godspark weapon…but he was actually injured?

“Bebe.” Linley immediately moved to Bebe’s side. Bebe’s wound was naturally closing, but Bebe still stared at the branches in front of him in disbelief. These branches were clearly those of the Abyssal Fruit Tree.

“Enough. Killing their daughter was one thing. There’s no need to kill any further.” A deep voice rang out from within the Abyssal Fruit Tree.

Atop the main trunk of the Abyssal Fruit Tree, an enormous face suddenly appeared, hovering there and staring towards Linley and Bebe.

“This is…?”

Linley and Bebe both felt a powerful aura.

“Sovereign!” The colossal golden serpent and the nine- headed silver serpent immediately looked towards the Abyssal Fruit Tree and said hurriedly, “He killed our daughter. Sovereign, you cannot pardon them!”

“Sovereign?”

Linley and Bebe stared, stunned, at the Abyssal Fruit Tree.

Chapter 30, Unable to Help

Linley now completely understood everything. No wonder the Abyssal Fruit Tree which had appeared within the gray fog region was able to so easily deal with Linley and Bebe, and Bebe’s innate divine ability, ‘Godeater’, wasn’t able to locate the divine spark of the Abyssal Fruit Tree either. Now, it seemed, the former Abyssal Fruit Tree was nothing more than a small part of the Abyssal Fruit Tree before them. It wasn’t strange for a part of a Sovereign to have such power.

The connection between the Abyssal Fruit Tree in the gray fog region and this Abyssal Fruit Tree was like the relationship between the green snakes and the Spirit Snakes. The green snakes didn’t have a soul, and that small Abyssal Fruit Tree naturally had no soul either.

“Sovereign!”

Linley hurriedly called out, while at the same time, he sunk to his knees with a banging sound. The colossal golden snake and the nine-headed silver serpent stared angrily at Linley and Bebe, then the colossal golden snake begged, “Sovereign, these two harmed my daughter. Sovereign, you know very well what occurred. Sovereign…you must avenge our daughter!” The colossal golden snake pressed its enormous head against the ground as well.

“Bang!” Bebe fell to his knees as well, saying urgently, “Sovereign, we can’t be blamed. Back then, we didn’t know.” Bebe was afraid that the Sovereign wouldn’t assist Linley.

“Hmph.” The nine-headed silver serpent and the colossal golden snake stared angrily towards Bebe and Linley.

Linley didn’t interject further. He just knelt there, awaiting the Sovereign’s words.

“Enough.” A hint of jade light ﬂashed through the eyes of the enormous face atop the main trunk of the Abyssal Fruit Tree as the face stared at this group of people. Everyone its gaze swept past, whether currently nervous or enraged, instantly fell silent. “Gold, although it is true that they are at fault in this matter, their sins do not warrant death…as they didn’t actually know the truth.”

The Sovereign had branches present. Naturally, the Sovereign had seen everything clearly.

He, too, had wanted to save the Spirit Snake, but the power of the branches present was unable to block Bebe’s innate divine ability.

The nine-headed silver serpent immediately glanced at the colossal golden snake.

She knew that her husband was on very good terms with the Abyssal Fruit Tree Sovereign.

The colossal golden snake hurriedly said in supplication, “Sovereign, my daughter, Tina [Ti’na]. You watched her grow up. Can it be that you truly won’t avenge Tina’s death?” Others wouldn’t dare to speak to a Sovereign in such a matter, but he did! This was because he had slowly grown up over the course of countless years along with the Abyssal Fruit Tree, from antiquity until present.

“Gold!” The Abyssal Fruit Tree’s enormous face frowned. “Leave it at this.”

When these words came out, the nine giant green snakes, the nine-headed silver serpent, and the colossal golden snake didn’t dare say anything further. Since the Sovereign had already made his proclamation, there would be no good result if they continued to persist.

“Linley, the two of you can leave.” The giant face said emotionlessly.

“Sovereign!”

Linley knelt there and said in supplication, “I have come from the Infernal Realm to the Netherworld for the sake of meeting with you, Sovereign. I have something to beg of you. I hope…” As soon as Linley’s words came out, and before he ﬁnished speaking, the nearby colossal golden snake and nine- headed silver serpent instantly breathed through their nostrils in rage.

“In your dreams!” The colossal golden snake bellowed. “The Sovereign has already shown grace and kindness to you by not killing you. You still dream of having the Sovereign help you? F*ck off! Immediately f*ck off!”

“Immediately f*ck off!” The nine green snakes also bellowed out in succession.

As for the nine-headed silver serpent, she was so angry that her serpentine scales began to shine as she stared at Linley. “Hurry up and leave, and we two, husband and wife, will spare you. If you stay here and futilely hope for the Sovereign to help you, then I, Yennaway [Yin’na’wei], will today kill you, even if it costs me my life!” The reason why she didn’t immediately attack Linley and Bebe was ﬁrst because of their power, and second because of the Sovereign’s command.

Linley dared to ask the Sovereign for help? Naturally, they were no longer able to suppress their rage.

“The Sovereign hasn’t even spoken, and yet all of you interject?” Bebe bellowed angrily.

It was indeed very impolite to interject in front of a Sovereign, but Bebe clearly had no idea about the nature of the relationship between the Abyssal Fruit Tree and the Spirit Snakes. The giant face atop the Abyssal Fruit Tree’s trunk swept everyone with its gaze. “All of you, quiet. Let’s listen to Linley speak ﬁrst.”

“Sovereign.” The colossal golden snake stared in surprise towards the Abyssal Fruit Tree.

The Abyssal Fruit Tree glanced sideways at him, and he immediately fell silent.

Linley said gratefully, “Sovereign, the reason I have come to beg you for your help is that I hope you can help me…help me ﬁnd my family and friends, who have become undead within the Netherworld. To let them regain their former memories! I know that you, Sovereign, are able to do this. I hope you will take pity on them, Sovereign.” Linley pressed his forehead against the ground.

Bebe, seeing this, couldn’t help but feel his eyes turn moist.

When had Linley ever acted in such a manner?

“I hope you will take pity on them, Sovereign.” Bebe also knelt down, his head pressing against the ground.

Linley and Bebe both begged, while the Abyssal Fruit Tree was momentarily silent. Linley, on his knees, felt restless nervousness in his heart. He had come all this way for the Sovereign’s response. What Linley feared the most was…the Sovereign’s refusal. Linley didn’t wish for his hope to be destroyed!

“You can leave.” The deep voice rang out anew.

Linley’s entire body trembled.

Bebe also raised his head in disbelief as he looked towards the Abyssal Fruit Tree.

“Sovereign, can’t you just help out?” Bebe stuttered.

Linley raised his head to look at the Sovereign as well, his eyes ﬁlling with tears. He begged earnestly, “Sovereign…”

“Enough. There’s nothing I can do to help.” The deep voice rang out.

“Nothing you can do to help?” Linley raised his head, staring at the Abyssal Fruit Tree. Not a hint of emotion could be seen on the giant face atop the Abyssal Fruit Tree. Linley said frantically, “How could you be unable to help? I know, Netherworld Sovereign, that any of you are able to ﬁnd the undead which the souls of the dead are transformed into, and to restore their memories to them.” “Hmph.” The nearby nine-headed silver serpent let out a cold snort, while the colossal gold snake and the nine giant green snakes all stared coldly towards Linley and Bebe.

“You are begging the wrong Sovereign.” The colossal golden snake snickered.

Linley and Bebe were stunned.

A deep voice rang out from atop the Abyssal Fruit Tree. “It is indeed a fact that I cannot help you in this. Because…I am not a Netherworld Sovereign. I am a Sovereign of Life.”

Linley and Bebe, hearing this, were stunned.

The Sovereign of the Abyssal Mountain wasn’t a Netherworld Sovereign?

“You’ve come to the Abyssal Mountain. If you wish to ﬁnd a Netherworld Sovereign, it’s still simple…continue forward, to the Sovereign’s palace within the violet fog region and wait patiently. However, let me give you a word of warning…the Sovereign of Death’s temper isn’t as good as mine. This Sovereign of Death might just kill you because of Tina’s death.” The Abyssal Fruit Tree said.

Linley and Bebe exchanged glances.

So this Abyssal Mountain actually had two Sovereigns!

One, a Sovereign of Life. The other, a Netherworld Sovereign of Death!

Linley was able to guess why this Abyssal Fruit Tree said he had a good ‘temper’. He had stayed here for countless years, and trained in the Edicts of Life. It was normal for him to be good-tempered. But the Sovereign of Death trained in the Edicts of Death. In the Infernal Realm and the Netherworld, Linley hadn’t met a single practitioner of the Edicts of Death who had a good temper.

Most of them were resolute and violent!

“Boss, should we go?” Bebe sent mentally.

“Of course.” Linley didn’t hesitate.

Bebe hurriedly sent mentally, “Didn’t you hear what the Sovereign of Life just said? That Sovereign of Death has a temper, and isn’t as good-natured as this one. If he kills the two of us because that Spirit Snake died, then that would be such a stiﬂing, unhappy death. As I see it, there are seven Sovereigns in the Netherworld. Let’s go somewhere else and try.”

Linley frowned.

Linley was prepared to make the attempt for the sake of saving his father and friends. Too much time had already passed, and so he deﬁnitely had to try. But if Bebe were to suffer for it… “Bebe.” Linley looked towards Bebe, then sent mentally, “Don’t go see the Sovereign of Death. I’ll just go by myself.”

“Boss.” Bebe stared at Linley.

“Don’t go.” Linley’s mentally transmitted words carried the weight of an order. “I still have my divine ﬁre clone, but if you were to die, you would have no divine clones left.”

But Bebe hurriedly said, “Boss, say no more. If the Sovereign of Death truly wishes to kill me, even if I ﬂee from the Abyssal Mountain, the Sovereign will easily be able to ﬁnd and kill me. As I see it, it’s best I don’t run. I can’t be completely blamed for what happened anyhow. That Spirit Snake tried to kill me, after all. Can it be that I am not permitted to ﬁght back? I imagine that the Sovereign of Death will listen to reason.”

Linley said helplessly, “Bebe, you think a Sovereign will listen to you reason with him?”

“We have the medallion from the Bloodridge Sovereign. The Sovereign of Death, for the sake of the Bloodridge Sovereign’s face, probably wouldn’t kill us.” Bebe said hurriedly, “And if he wants to kill me, there’s no point in running.”

Linley nodded slightly.

Indeed. If a Sovereign wished to kill someone, there was nowhere to run.

“The two of you actually dare to go see the Sovereign of Death?” The nine-headed silver serpent snickered.

Linley and Bebe genuﬂected once more towards the Abyssal Fruit Tree. “Thank you for your guidance, Sovereign. Might I ask, how can we exit the violet fog region?”

“Just go straight, that will be enough.” The Abyssal Fruit Tree’s deep voiced echoed, and then the branches began to tremble. Instantly, the violet fog up ahead began to roil and billow. It parted into two sides, revealing a clear path with no fog at all. “Follow this path and walk straight forward. You will be able to reach it.” The Abyssal Fruit Tree had already given its advice.

Although it was good-natured, it wouldn’t repeatedly warn them.

“Thank you, Sovereign.” Linley and Bebe said gratefully.

The enormous body of that Abyssal Fruit Tree moved slightly, and then transformed into a hazy azure blur before vanishing. That enormous Abyssal Fruit Tree, which took up a space of ten thousand meters or more, vanished just like that. Linley and Bebe just stood there, immediately advancing forward along the designated route.

The colossal golden snake and the nine-headed silver serpent just laughed coldly.

“You really are useless.” The nine-headed silver serpent snickered. “You’ve been with the Sovereign for so many years, but you still can’t persuade him.” “Alas, the Sovereign is simply too good-natured.” The colossal golden snake said resignedly.

“Watch me.” The nine-headed silver serpent stared coldly at Linley and Bebe’s backs. “Given my Sovereign’s temper, as long as I say something…these two will deﬁnitely die!”

The colossal golden snake was on good terms with the Abyssal Fruit Tree, while the nine-headed silver snake was on good terms with the Sovereign of Death.

On the way over, Linley and Bebe moved extremely quickly, and they didn’t encounter any dangers on the way over. Very soon, Linley and Bebe saw that in the distance, there was an empty area where there was no violet fog at all. Linley and Bebe immediately sped up, transforming into two blurred streaks and exiting the violet fog region!

“We ﬁnally arrived.” Bebe said jubilantly. Linley raised his head to look as well.

In front of them was an empty area ﬁlled with grass and ﬂowers.

“Up above!” Linley couldn’t help but look upwards, as in the skies above, a violet-black palace was hovering in the air. This violet-black palace was hundreds of meters tall, like a small mountain. The top of the violet-black palace was a tower-styled tip, and at the top of the tip was an enormous sphere.

The sphere ﬂashed with countless bolts of lightning.

With the sphere as the origin, large amounts of lightning chains scattered downwards in every direction.

“So this is where the Heaven-Earth Chains come from.” Bebe’s eyes lit up. “It seems this is the Sovereign’s palace.” Linley took a deep breath.

Right at this moment, outside the Sovereign’s palace gate, two ﬁgures ﬂew out. Linley immediately recognized that it was Arthurs and Bailey. The two of them, seeing Linley and Bebe, immediately ﬂew over.

“Linley, you really came!” Bailey said in surprise.

Arthurs said in disbelief as well, “Yennaway and her husband, those two great snakes, didn’t attack?” Arthurs knew exactly how strong those two were. Even he would ﬁnd it hard to act against them.

“Of course they did, but they weren’t strong enough and couldn’t do anything to us.” Bebe said with a snort.

Arthurs and Bailey couldn’t help but feel surprised. “Arthurs, Bailey, the Sovereign, he…” Linley just was about to speak.

“Hmph!” A cold snort rang out.

Linley and Bebe couldn’t help but turn their heads to look back. Arthurs and Bailey looked over as well. Two skinny ﬁgures, a male and a female, were walking over. The grim- looking man was dressed in a long golden robe, while the woman with black pupils wore a long silver robe. Behind them were nine young men and women, all dressed in long green robes.

“We weren’t able to do anything to them, true.” The silver- robed woman snickered. “However…very soon, they will still die.”

Chapter 31, The Chief Sovereign of Death

From the aura alone, Linley could clearly tell that this silver- robed woman in front of him was that nine-headed silver serpent. The others were her husband and her nine children transformed into human form.

“Arthurs, is the Sovereign back yet?” The silver serpent, Yennaway, said.

Arthurs shook his head. “Not yet. Bailey acquired the Abyssal Fruit and is awaiting the Sovereign as well. However, the Sovereign should know that Bailey acquired the Abyssal Fruit and should arrive soon.” Linley and Bebe, upon hearing this, had no choice but tamp down their franticness and wait to one side.

“Linley.” Bailey walked over, saying in a low voice, “You’d best hurry up and leave.”

“Eh?” Linley raised his head, looking towards him.

“Bailey, he isn’t willing to leave. Why get involved in something that is none of your business?” The silver serpent, Yennaway, snickered.

Bailey didn’t pay any mind to that silver serpent. He continued, “Linley, this Yennaway is very close to the Sovereign, and when this Sovereign wants to kill someone… the Sovereign will do so without a second word. Nobody can disobey a Sovereign’s will.” Bailey clearly had learned quite a bit from Arthurs regarding the Sovereign of Death.

Linley frowned as he glanced sideways at the silver serpent, Yennaway.

A green-robed woman laughed coldly, “Now you are panicking? Let me tell you this. You won’t even be able to ﬂee! The Sovereign will quickly arrive…and by then, as long as you are within the Netherworld, the Sovereign will be able to quickly ﬁnd and kill you two! You dared to kill my elder sister…hmph!” The nine green serpent siblings were all furious, but they had tasted Linley and Bebe’s power.

“What have you to be smug about?” Bebe let out low, muttering curse.

“Bebe, ignore them. We’ll just wait over here.” Linley sent mentally. And then, he and Bebe immediately walked to a fairly remote area in this grassy, ﬂower-ﬁlled region, awaiting the return of the Sovereign.

Linley saw that in the distance, the snake couple and their nine children were all discussing something softly, occasionally looking over towards Linley and Bebe. As for Bailey and Arthurs, they just stayed there, silent. Clearly, Linley and Bebe wouldn’t listen to their entreaties at all…so all they could do was await the Sovereign’s return.

In the blink of an eye, three hours passed.

“The Sovereign still hasn’t returned.” Bebe sent mentally, rather impatient. “What’s the Sovereign doing?” “You and I can’t possibly understand a Sovereign’s mind.” Linley had waited for three hours, and he felt as though he were steaming with impatience as well. “Bebe, judging from what that silver serpent Yennaway said, her relationship with the Sovereign must be excellent. Tell me…will the Sovereign be unwilling to help us because of this?”

Bebe gave Linley a glance.

Bebe had very few memories of Linley looking nervous, but right now, Bebe could completely sense how nervous Linley was.

“Boss, the Sovereign will deﬁnitely help out. Deﬁnitely.” Bebe sent back.

Linley took a deep breath, feeling slightly calmer.

“Linley!” A voice suddenly rang out. Linley turned to look, and saw Arthurs ﬂying over. As he looked at Linley, he couldn’t help but secretly shake his head while saying solemnly, “The Sovereign just mentally spoke to me and ordered me to bring you and Bailey to the Sovereign’s palace. The Sovereign should be returning soon.”

Linley’s eyes instantly lit up.

“The Sovereign’s back?” Linley felt as though heart was about to leap out of his chest.

“Follow me in.” Arthurs warned with a solemn expression, “You must remember, this Sovereign’s temper is very poor. If the Sovereign takes a liking towards you, you might be treated very well, but if the Sovereign takes a disliking to you…you might die in a heartbeat. Thus, you and Bebe must not be the slightest bit disrespectful.”

Linley hurriedly nodded. “Understood.”

“I won’t anger a Sovereign.” Bebe said hurriedly as well. Bebe knew very well that at this point, they couldn’t afford even the slightest mistake.

Linley could already tell from Arthurs words…that this Sovereign of Death should be the sort of person with an odd, unusual personality who might very well kill someone for no reason at all. It was very hard to deal with this sort of person. Sometimes…one might die without even knowing why.

Arthurs glanced at Linley and Bebe. He couldn’t help but sigh to himself.

Arthurs knew very well that the silver serpent, Yennaway, was on very close terms with the Sovereign. Once Yennaway complained and indicted Linley, it was very possible that the Sovereign would kill Linley and Bebe without even giving them a chance to speak.

“Let’s go.” Arthurs immediately ﬂew in front, while Linley and Bebe followed from behind. Bailey was waiting in midair. The four gathered together, then began to ﬂy towards the palace that was ﬂoating above the peak of the Abyssal Mountain. The gates of the palace were open, as the colossal golden snake and the nine-headed silver serpent and their children had already entered.

The palace was made out of a violet-black material, and a bone-piercing chill slowly emanated from the palace.

“Follow me. Don’t disobey in the slightest.” Arthurs said in a low voice.

“Understood.” Linley said.

“Don’t worry.” Bailey clearly was rather nervous as well. This was his ﬁrst time meeting the Sovereign of Death as well.

Linley, Bebe, and Bailey immediately followed Arthurs, passing through the large front platform and entering the palace itself. Linley, Bebe, and Bailey didn’t even dare to raise their heads to look, for fear of angering that Sovereign of Death.

“Boss, the cold aura of this palace is really oppressing.” Bebe sent mentally.

At this moment, Arthurs knelt and said, “I pay my respects to the Sovereign!”

“I pay my respects to the Sovereign!” Linley, Bebe, and Bailey all knelt as well. After having entered the palace, the three of them didn’t even dare to raise their heads without the Sovereign’s permission. Or, to be more precise…to look directly at a Sovereign without permission was also quite presumptuous. Linley naturally didn’t dare to act in such a way right now.

Right at this moment…

“Sovereign!” A grief-ﬁlled voice rang out. “Tina died. It was that person called Bebe. He was the one who killed her. That Bebe wanted to kill me as well. If it hadn’t been for the Sovereign of Life interfering, most likely I would never have been able to see you again. You must avenge Tina, Sovereign!”

Hearing this, Linley felt his heart shake. So the silver serpent was indeed complaining.

“Motherf*cker, I really want to kill her!” Bebe sent mentally. “Boss, that nine-headed silver serpent really makes me feel disgusted.”

“Bebe, listen to what the Sovereign says.” Linley continued to kneel there.

“Yen!” An icy cold voice rang out from above. “I will deal with this matter.”

Linley and Bebe, upon hearing this, were both stunned.

The Sovereign of Death was a woman?

“The three of you can lift up your heads.” The icy voice echoed in the palace. Only now did Linley, Bebe, and Bailey dare to lift their heads up. Only now did Linley discover that the interior of the palace was empty; not even pillars could be seen. Linley swept forward with his gaze, looking up until he saw the Sovereign of Death, seated on her throne!

A pitch-black throne.

Seated atop the throne was a woman dressed in long violet robes. The long violet robes were embroidered with branches and vines and a silver snake. This Sovereign of Death had long, blood-red hair, exquisite features, and a pair of eyes that seemed to ﬂash with a bolt of lightning that struck into Linley’s heart.

As soon as Linley saw the Sovereign of Death’s face, he was stupeﬁed.

Bebe was stupeﬁed as well.

Bailey was stunned as well.

“You…” Bebe didn’t know what to say.

“What, very surprised?” An icy voice rang out.

Linley, Bailey, and Bebe were momentarily speechless. This Sovereign of Death…her facial features looked completely, absolutely identical to the red-haired beauty who was the boss of the Abyssal Inn at the base of the Abyssal Mountain! Even the look in her eyes was the same. Linley and the other two immediately recognized…that this Sovereign was the owner of the inn!

“The Sovereign of Death…is the boss of the Abyssal Inn?” Linley felt his head go numb.

A Sovereign would actually go run an inn?

“Haha…” The Sovereign of Death let out a peal of utterly delighted laughter. “Those looks on your faces really make me feel quite happy. Over the course of all these countless years, I’ve remained at the Abyssal Inn, watching you people go in, one by one, in search of the Abyssal Fruit. I’ve watched you all risk your lives and die, and it was indeed quite interesting. But what really makes me happy…is this moment! Right, that look on your faces! Haha!”

Linley and the other two were completely stupeﬁed.

The Sovereign of Death…acted like this?

She intentionally concocted the story of the Abyssal Fruit to entice countless experts of the Netherworld to adventure here, while she herself, a Sovereign, opened an inn and became the boss of it, happily watching one person after another enter and perish.

“The Sovereign of Death…really has nothing better to do?” Linley said to himself.

But indeed; the Sovereign of Death possessed an eternal lifespan. The Abyssal Fruit matter most likely really was nothing more than a game to the Sovereign of Death. And, to the Sovereign of Death…when she sat there in her Sovereign’s palace and granted an audience to those who acquired the Abyssal Fruit and came to pay homage to her, when she saw the stupeﬁed looks on the faces of those who saw her, she was indeed very happy and delighted!

The nearby Arthurs didn’t dare to make a single sound either.

That year, he had been the same. When he had lifted his head up and looked at the almighty Sovereign of Death and saw that it was the hotel owner, he too had been stupeﬁed. All Arthurs could do was think to himself, “This is how this Sovereign of Death is…this is a hobby of her, despite her being so powerful as to be invincible.”

“Bailey! You wait over there for now.” The Sovereign of Death looked with curiosity towards Linley and Bebe. “It really is surprising. The two of you actually managed to make it past ‘Yen’ and ‘Gold’. Linley, for you to be able to take Gold’s attack head on was within my expectations. But Yen’s power is far greater than Gold’s. Bebe, for you to be able to endure Yen’s attack…I truly am astonished.”

Bebe, hearing this, was rather smug, but he didn’t dare to act too wildly, just revealing a hint of a smile instead.

“Don’t be smug. The reason you were able to endure it should have something to do with that Beirut.” The Sovereign of Death let out an emotional sigh. “I have to admit, that kid Beirut, to you, really is…”

Linley was secretly puzzled.

“Bebe?” Linley sent mentally.

“Boss, I don’t know either. I just relied on myself to endure it.” Bebe sent mentally.

“Linley, I hear that you have come on this trip for the sake of ﬁnding the souls of your family and friends, who have become undead. You wish for them to regain their memories, correct?” The Sovereign of Death said.

Linley raised his head to look at the Sovereign, saying with hope, “Yes, Sovereign. Please help me, Sovereign.” “Based on the rules which I myself laid down, since the two of you charged all the way to this place from the base of the Abyssal Mountain, I should grant a request of yours.” The Sovereign of Death said. Linley and Bebe both stared at the Sovereign of Death, who continued, “However, you killed Tina. Logically speaking, I should also kill the two of you and avenge Tina!”

Linley and Bebe were stunned.

“I should reward you for making your way here. I should punish you for killing Tina! So then…the reward and the punishment cancel each other out. I will not agree to your request, but I won’t kill you either. The two of you, leave immediately. When I think of the look on your face just now, you really…haha…” The Sovereign of Death couldn’t help but begin to laugh again.

She refused?

“Sovereign!” Linley and Bebe immediately called out.

“Sovereign!” Yennaway also called out urgently.

Neither side was willing to accept this.

“What, you have an objection?” The formerly laughing Sovereign of Death suddenly turned cold as her face sank. She swept the three with her gaze. This sweep of her gaze alone caused Linley and Bebe to feel as though their souls had been shaken. As for Yennaway, she too was so frightened that she no longer dared to say a word. She knew very well what sort of temper the Sovereign of Death had.

Although she had been laughing happily, it was very possible that in the next instant, she would ﬁercely punish someone.

Yennaway didn’t dare to say a word, but how could Linley be willing to give up?

“Sovereign.” Linley hurriedly called out, while at the same time, he ﬂipped out the medallion of the Bloodridge Sovereign. Linley once more knelt down and begged, “Sovereign, for the sake of the Bloodridge Sovereign, please give me a chance. Let me save my parents and my brothers. I just need a chance!”

“Laughable!” A cold voice rang out.

Linley raised his head to look.

The nearby Yennaway was snickering, “Linley, what’s the big deal about the Bloodridge Sovereign? Do you know…that my mistress is the most powerful Sovereign of the entire Netherworld. The Chief Sovereign of Death! In the countless planes of the universe, only the other three Chief Sovereigns of the other three Higher Planes are equals who are on par with my mistress! And you mention the Bloodridge Sovereign to her? Even if you mentioned that Redbud Sovereign of yours, it would be useless!”

Chapter 32, The Netherworld Heart

Linley’s heart trembled.

Chief Sovereign of Death?

Linley knew that each Law or Edict had seven mighty Sovereigns, with one High Sovereign, two Intermediate Sovereigns, and four Lesser Sovereigns! Seven Elemental Laws and four great Edicts. In total, there were only eleven High Sovereigns, and these eleven High Sovereigns were also termed Chief Sovereigns! They were the supreme kings of their Laws and Edicts, chief-like ﬁgures!

They were the greatest of existences beneath the Overgod level.

As for the Overgods, they were the personiﬁcations of the Edicts. They had no human emotions, nor would they interfere in struggles and battles. They couldn’t be counted as people. Thus, the eleven Chief Gods could absolutely be considered the most supreme existences of the universe.

And, from what Yennaway was saying, it seemed as though the four Chief Sovereigns of the Four Higher Planes were the most powerful of the eleven Chief Sovereigns. One could completely imagine what sort of status this Sovereign of Death, seated on her throne, possessed! It was indeed laughable for Linley to mention the Bloodridge Sovereign to her!

“Sovereign.” The nearby Bebe said frantically as well. “My Boss, he…”

“Shut your mouth.” The Sovereign of Death, seated atop her throne, said calmly. Bebe instantly felt a tremendous pressure crush down on him, preventing him from speaking. “The decisions I have made are deﬁnitely irreversible. The reward and the punishment cancel each other out. I will not help you.”

Linley raised his head to look at the seated Sovereign of Death.

She still was dressed in that long violet robe, and her hair was still long and blood-red. This woman had that beautiful, graceful face…but the aura she naturally emanated caused Linley to feel powerless. This was one of the four Chief Sovereigns of the Four Higher Planes…the Chief Sovereign of the Netherworld! A powerful, supreme, invincible existence!

“Sovereign, then my brother and I will depart.” Linley rose to his feet, still bowing.

“Mm.” The Sovereign of Death acknowledged calmly.

Bebe couldn’t help but turn to stare at Linley, transmitting mentally with franticness, “Boss, are we leaving now?”

“Right, we’re leaving right now! The Sovereign’s decision is irrevocable. What we need to do is seize every moment and hurry to ﬁnd the other Netherworld Sovereigns.” Linley sent mentally. He had begged the Sovereign of Death repeatedly, but hadn’t been able to move her in the slightest. “This Sovereign of Death isn’t willing to help us, but I refuse to believe the other six will be the same!”

There was no way Linley would give up!

When he thought of how his father, Yale, George, and the others were in a life-and-death danger, Linley felt panicked! They had died in the Yulan continent, but that wasn’t a true death, as their souls had survived. But dying in the Netherworld meant their souls would disperse, just like his

Grandpa Doehring, never to come to life ever again!

Linley wasn’t willing to stand by and watch their souls disperse!

Even if he risked his life, he would have to rescue them!

Linley glanced at the Sovereign of Death, seated on high. “Right. Let’s go.”

Linley and Bebe still bowed very courteously towards the Chief Sovereign of Death, then turned and strode outwards towards the outer palace. As for the gold snake and the silver serpent, as well as Arthurs, Bailey, and the others, they watched as Linley and Bebe left, the expressions on their faces varied. The gold snake and the silver serpent, husband and wife, just laughed coldly.

“Wait a moment.” A cold voice suddenly rang out.

Linley and Bebe, who had already reached the doorway of the palace, suddenly came to a halt. Linley turned his head to look towards the Chief Sovereign of Death with surprise and joy in his eyes. Linley’s eyes were blazing. “The Sovereign called out to me…can it be that she changed her mind? Why would the Sovereign change her mind? But then again, the Sovereign was once an ordinary person. Perhaps she might really change her mind. There’s still a chance!”

Linley grew tense.

Bebe raised his head to look at the Chief Sovereign of Death as well, both puzzled and expectant.

“Linley, let me warn you that you do not need to go ﬁnd the other Sovereigns of the Netherworld. You can go directly back to the Infernal Realm.” The Chief Sovereign of Death said calmly, but her eyes continued to look with interest at the expression on Linley’s face.

“Why?” Linley’s heart trembled. He had a bad feeling.

“When ordinary people die, their souls will enter the Netherworld and form into an undead. This is part of the natural Laws, while control over the management of this Law was transformed into a treasure, the supreme treasure of my Netherworld, the ‘Netherworld Heart’. If one wishes to ﬁnd out which undead your father and friends transformed into, this Netherworld Heart must be used. And this Netherworld Heart…is under my control.” The Chief Sovereign of Death said coldly.

Linley couldn’t help but stare at the Chief Sovereign of Death.

Netherworld Heart?

So it was the Netherworld Heart which controlled everything. This supreme treasure was under the control of the Chief Sovereign of Death. This was indeed reasonable.

The Chief Sovereign of Death stared down towards Linley, her lips curving upwards slightly. “I told you. As punishment, I will not save your father and your friends. Thus…forget about saving them. Even if you go beg other Netherworld Sovereigns, I will not permit them to use the Netherworld Heart. I imagine…they wouldn’t have the gall to disobey me. And you aren’t qualiﬁed to make them wish to disobey me!”

“Thus, you can go straight back to the Infernal Realm.” The Chief Sovereign of Death said calmly.

“BANG!”

Linley felt as though an explosion had gone off inside his brain. ‘Netherworld Heart’. ‘Father’. ‘Boss Yale’. ‘George’. All sorts of things chaotically jumbled together within his mind. Linley’s mind had completely lost all logical thought. He was completely stunned. It seemed a long time passed…Linley felt as though he were in a dream, as though his mind was in a stupor!

And suddenly, he awoke!

“No!” Linley suddenly raised his head, staring at the Chief Sovereign of Death. “Sovereign, you cannot do this, you cannot do this! Sovereign, if you aren’t willing to save them, I, Linley, won’t say a single word of complaint. But you cannot stop the other Sovereigns. You cannot. You cannot!” Linley had already sunk into despair.

Faced with the Chief Sovereign of Death, he was completely unable to resist her power or to require her to do anything. All he could do was speak powerlessly. In his despair, he even forgot to speak with respect. If he were clear-minded, he would never have errored in such a way.

Bebe stared at the Chief Sovereign of Death as well, his eyes also ﬁlled with disbelief.

“This is your punishment.” The Chief Sovereign of Death said calmly. “Sovereign!” Bebe suddenly strode forward.

“Impudence!” There were two maids standing at the two ends of the upraised dais of the palace. One of them barked coldly, “Stand back!”

Bebe stood there, his head raised as he stared at the Chief Sovereign of Death. “Sovereign, you are an invincible Chief Sovereign! Right, I did kill a Spirit Snake. As to whether or not that was ‘Tina’, I have no idea.” Bebe held his head up high. “Sovereign, you arranged for people to test us. How was I supposed to know it was just a test? She was trying to kill me. Was I not allowed to ﬁght back?”

“Bang!”

Bebe suddenly fell to his knees, but his head was held high as he stared at the Chief Sovereign of Death. “I don’t believe that I was wrong. If the Chief Sovereign of Death feels I was wrong, then punish me. Just punish me directly, and not my Boss. It was I who killed the Spirit Snake. I did the deed, and I will accept the punishment for it. Don’t get my Boss involved! Come, if you want to kill me, then kill me!” Bebe, head held high, stared straight at the Sovereign with an unruly, untamed look.

Linley, hearing this, was stunned.

Arthurs and Bailey, at the front of the palace, stared at Bebe in amazement. Even the golden snake and the silver serpent, that husband-and-wife couple, were rather stunned.

“Excellent.” The Chief Sovereign of Death looked downwards calmly at Bebe.

“Bang!”

A terrifying presence swept out, and with a ‘whap’ sound, Bebe was crushed downwards, smashing into the ﬂoor of the palace. However, Bebe still pressed his ﬁsts against the ground, forcing his waist straight. He continued to hold his head high as he stared at the Chief Sovereign of Death. “Swish!”

Linley suddenly moved in front of Bebe. He raised his head high, staring at the Chief Sovereign of Death. “Chief Sovereign, it was I who ordered Bebe to kill that Spirit Snake. At that time, we wanted to acquire the Abyssal Fruit. But that Abyssal Snake was preventing us, so I ordered Bebe to kill him, while I would seize the chance to acquire the Abyssal Fruit! Bebe was just obeying my orders.”

“Bebe.” Linley mentally shouted at him, “Are you insane? Once you die, you won’t even have a divine clone left behind. You’ll truly be dead. What will Ninny do? What will your daughter, Ina, do? And Beirut will be heartbroken as well.”

“Boss.” Bebe looked at Linley.

“Shut your mouth. Don’t say a thing.” Linley shouted mentally.

Bebe stuttered, but in the end, maintained his silence.

Linley raised his head to look at the Chief Sovereign of Death, seated high above him. That invincible aura was indeed enough to inspire dread. Linley stared at the Chief Sovereign of Death. “Sovereign, punishment is punishment, reward is reward. How can they cancel each other out? I am willing to

take my punishment! I only ask you, Sovereign, to save my father and brothers. Even if you want to kill me, I won’t say a single word of complaint!”

Kill Linley?

Bebe suddenly turned, staring at Linley, who was standing there with his back ramrod straight.

“What?” Arthurs and Bailey stared in disbelief. As for the colossal golden snake and the silver serpent, they and their nine children all stared in Linley in amazement.

“Boss, what are you doing?!” Bebe shouted back frantically. “Bebe, if I’m killed, I’ll still have my divine ﬁre clone back at the Yulan continent. Although I won’t be able to become a supreme expert by relying on my divine ﬁre clone, for the sake of my father and my brothers, so what if I’m not able to be a supreme expert?” Linley sent mentally. “But if my father and brothers end up having their souls dispersed and destroyed in

the Netherworld, even if I become an expert on Beirut’s level, I will never be at peace and regret it my entire life! Grandpa Doehring once, for my sake, allowed his soul to be dispersed. My brothers, my father, they still have hope. I can’t give them up just for the sake of becoming a supreme expert!”

Bebe was stunned.

“If I can let my family and friends all be alive and well, even if I give up glory and power, so what?”

Linley raised his head, looking towards the Chief Sovereign of Death.

“Reward is reward, punishment is punishment?” The Chief Sovereign of Death repeated these words, and then stared downwards at Linley. “Linley, your future is limitless. Are you willing to give up your future potential for the sake of those weak little undead?” The Chief Sovereign of Death’s words caused Linley’s body to tremble.

Clearly…

The Chief Sovereign of Death also knew that Linley had a divine clone in another plane.

“I am willing.” Linley held his head high.

Sometimes, a person should maintain his pursuits.

Sometimes, a person had to give them up.

Today, giving up his pursuits might mean he would never become a supreme expert. However, he would have his family and have his lifelong friends. This was enough to satisfy Linley. After all, it was hard to achieve perfection in everything! The Chief Sovereign of Death stared at Linley, then said calmly, “You are willing to give it up, but…I’m not going to agree.”

Linley, who had already prepared himself, was stunned.

“You feel that rewards and punishments cannot cancel each other out, but…as far as I’m concerned, they should. This is a rule which I have set. What you need to do is to obey my rules!” The Chief Sovereign of Death laughed coldly as she stared down towards Linley, as though she were looking at a maddened ant.

Bebe suddenly rose to his feet.

“Sovereign…”

Linley stretched his hand out to stop him while shouting mentally ,”Bebe!” Bebe’s face was purple. He turned to stare at Linley. “The result of offending a Sovereign is to die for nothing.

Understood?” Linley sent mentally.

Linley raised his head, looking at the Sovereign. He said, one word and sentence at a time, “Sovereign, really…is there really no hope at all?” When Linley thought of the grief his father had lived in for so many years, and how he had died without even successfully avenging Linley’s mother…and how Boss Yale had collapsed to the point of begging for George to kill him… Linley felt heartsick when he thought of his father and friends.

“Boss.” Bebe looked at Linley, sensing his grief.

“Sovereign!” Suddenly, the nearby Arthurs spoke out. “Sovereign, aren’t the Planar Wars starting soon? Didn’t you say that if a Commander is killed…why not just change that a bit?”

“Oh?”

The Chief Sovereign of Death actually let out a rare laugh. “Arthurs, you really are clever. I nearly forgot.” And then, she turned to stare at Linley and Bebe. “Linley, I have wonderful news for you. You wish to save your father and friends, yes? There is hope. There is still a little bit of hope.”

Linley and Bebe both immediately raised their heads to stare at the Chief Sovereign of Death up above.

“Hope?” Linley felt a blaze of eagerness in his heart.

The Chief Sovereign of Death said, “Seven Divine Planes, Four Higher Realms. Between them, there is an extremely rowdy event that will occur every trillion years. The Planar Wars.”

Linley’s heart trembled.

Planar Wars. He had heard of them long ago, but all he knew was that the battle between two planes was extremely ﬁerce. A war which resulted in an extremely high number of experts falling. “And now, the Divine Darkness Plane and the Divine Light Plane are currently undergoing a Planar Wars battle! The Divine Darkness Plane belongs to my Netherworld side! The Netherworld’s Lords of Tartarus are qualiﬁed to participate. To encourage them, the rules of the Planar Wars state…that if they are able to kill ten enemy commanders, they would be able to make a request of a Sovereign of their side. You could ask the Sovereign to make a Sovereign artifact for you; attack, material defense, spiritual defense, you can choose for yourself what you want. The Sovereign will deﬁnitely accomplish it for you!”

“But of course, you can make an earlier request.” The Chief Sovereign of Death said. “You can now go assist the Divine Darkness Plane’s side. If you kill a commander, I will help you ﬁnd one of your family or friends and allow them to regain their memories. If you kill two, I will help you save two. If you want to save many people, work hard to kill the enemy commanders.”

Linley’s eyes instantly lit up.

“Done.” Linley hurriedly said. “Don’t be impatient. I forgot to warn you; in the Planar Wars, commander-level experts are all at the Lords of Tartarus level, which is what the Infernal Realm calls ‘Purgatory Commanders’.” The Chief Sovereign of Death said calmly. “The weakest amongst them should be comparable to you, while the strongest…are Highgod Paragons.”

Linley’s facial expression instantly froze.

They were all Purgatory Commander level experts? Those who were commanders…were the likes of Reisgem, or the castle lord of Miluo Island, ‘Mosi’. For Linley to kill experts like them?

“In the Planar Wars, ‘commander’ is a position of high rank. Naturally, they consist of the supreme experts of the various planes.” The Chief Sovereign of Death said slowly. “If you wish to become a commander, the prerequisite is that you are a Lord of Tartarus, or a Lord Prefect of a prefecture. Only by doing so are you qualiﬁed to enter. You can imagine what level of strength is needed. If you go kill them, but end up meeting someone who is stronger…you’ll be ﬁnished.” Linley felt as though a massive boulder was crushing down upon his chest, making it hard to breathe.

He wanted to go ﬁght!

But…did he have the ability to? Those weren’t mere Seven Star Fiends; they were Purgatory Commanders, Lords of Tartarus, the most supreme of experts, and they included amongst them invincible ﬁgures comparable to Beirut and Dunnington. To kill them?

The Chief Sovereign of Death stared down at Linley. “This is the ‘hope’ which I spoke of. Originally, killing an enemy commander came with a reward! But you can use it to instead save your loved ones. For each commander you kill, I will save one of your loved ones!”

Bebe stared angrily at the Sovereign.

This was too unfair! Killing a commander was a tremendous merit, but the Chief Sovereign of Death would only save a single person? However, if Linley wished to save his loved ones, this was the only path. There were no other options!

“If you are afraid, you can leave now.” The Chief Sovereign of Death said calmly.

“I accept!” Linley raised his head, staring up at the Chief Sovereign of Death.

Even if he had to climb up a mountain of knives or descend into a sea of ﬂames, Linley would make the attempt!

Cerita silat IndoMandarin

Coiling Dragon Book 18 – Highgod

Chapter 1, What Type of Weapon?

Chapter 2, Mirage

Chapter 3, Goals

Chapter 4, Ironknife Gorge

Chapter 5, Back to the Yulan Continent!

Chapter 6, After Two Thousand Years, Even Seas Can Become Plains!

Chapter 7, Parting Words

Chapter 8, Marvelous Treasures

Chapter 9, Battle!

Chapter 10, The Manner of Death

Chapter 11, A Pleasant Surprise

Chapter 12, Entering the Netherworld

Chapter 13, Northbone Prefecture

Chapter 14, Sayant

Chapter 15, Throwing One’s Life Away

Chapter 16, Abyssal Mountain

Chapter 17, Abyssal Fruit

Chapter 18, The Young Red-Haired Lady

Chapter 19, Warning – Snakes and Trees!

Chapter 20, Lost

Chapter 21, Green Snakes

Chapter 22, The Gray Fog Region – Slaughter!

Chapter 23, A Strange Situation

Chapter 24, Fortune? Misfortune?

Chapter 25, The Abyssal Fruit Appears

Chapter 26, Choice

Chapter 27, Sovereign’s Emissary

Chapter 28, Repercussions

Chapter 29, Invincible

Chapter 30, Unable to Help

Chapter 31, The Chief Sovereign of Death

Chapter 32, The Netherworld Heart

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