Lord of the Mists: Book 8 of the Coiling Dragon Saga

by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi

  Linley finally stirred.

  After centuries had passed, he had finally collected enough Sovereign power from the Elemental Sea.

  “Rumble…”

  Simultaneously and suddenly, the two enormous pythons of earthen yellow liquid and green liquid suddenly contracted, instantly transforming into two giant spheres of liquid that completely surrounded each of Linley’s two divine clones. The two giant ‘globes’ of water trembled, the powerful energy contained within them causing the surrounding space to constantly shatter.

  Fortunately, this was chaotic space; there wouldn’t be much damage caused.

  “Bang!!!”

  After compressing to a certain limit, the two water globes suddenly exploded! “Whooooooosh.” Instantly, enormous spatial tears that were a million kilometers long were created. The power of this explosion was simply too great; it was absolutely stunning. But of course, this was because too much Sovereign power had been built up; the true power of this, if unleashed on a Lesser Sovereign, would at most injure them.

  Explosions rang out unabated in the void, and spatial tears stretched off into the distance, with no end in sight.

  The earthen yellow globe had exploded towards the right side, as it spewed forth its contents.

  The green globe had exploded towards the left side, as it spewed forth its contents.

  “Rumble…” Earth elemental essences and water elemental essences suddenly began to gather.

  The exploding surges of Sovereign power were like generals; each bit of Sovereign power was able to control trillions of elemental essence particles. In the blink of an eye, within a range of more than a hundred million kilometers of the explosion, a large amount of Sovereign power began to take over the vast amounts of elemental essences in this area, and a miraculous, profound change began to occur. The Sovereign power stretched to a hundred million kilometers in scope, and the elemental essences stretched to billions of kilometers.

  “These are… the Profound Mysteries of Vitality? And the Profound Mysteries of Gravitational Space are included as well? So Vitality and Gravitational Space can actually fuse in such a perfect manner.

  “Ah, ‘Illusory Fog’ and ‘Ice Edge’ and ‘Waterbody’ are able to fuse together so perfectly, merging into space? Utterly inconceivable.”

  While establishing these two divine planes, the process involved quite a few profound mysteries of the Laws of the Earth and the Laws of Water, as well as miraculous ways of using them. Linley gaped, stupefied. His soul was completely merged with the divine planes he was creating, and they thus contained the imprint of his soul.

  Naturally, he would sense everything that was happening with complete clarity.

  One insight after another flowed towards him like the endless waters of a flood. Linley was completely shocked and speechless. He couldn’t help but be completely lost in them…

  “RIIIIIIIP…” A spatial tear from the Yulan Plane formed, and two figures charged out.

  It was Beirut and Bluefire.

  “Linley has already been creating these two divine planes for 1300 years. Why isn’t he done yet?” Beirut said, rather puzzled. “He is simultaneously creating these two divine planes. He should be more or less finished by now.”

  “Perhaps there is something special about the divine planes he is making,” Bluefire said.

  The two of them looked carefully at the two large divine planes that were directly ahead of them. The divine planes had already begun to take rough shape.

  “What!” Beirut was greatly shocked.

  “This Linley…” Bluefire was stunned as well. As they had looked at the two divine planes, they naturally discovered what was special about them…

  These two divine planes… actually intersected!

  “Has Linley gone insane?” Beirut said frantically. “Within that ten thousand kilometer region of intersection between those two planes, he’s actually fused two types of Sovereign power, and two types of elemental essences… this…!”

  Indeed. After spending roughly a thousand years, Linley had already created the two divine planes, and only needed to do some finishing touches. But right at this moment, Linley’s soul was stirred, and he actually began to use his fused Sovereign power to form a small plane that was only ten thousand kilometers in size, at the empty space between the two planes.

  This plane was a plane of fused Sovereign power!

  After having sensed and watched the two previous divine planes be born, this time, Linley wanted to rely on his own power to give it a try.

  But who would have imagined…

  Previously, he had completely depended on the methods imprinted into his Sovereign spark, making the creation process simple. Now, however, it was very hard, as he was relying completely on himself to create this plane that was merely ten thousand kilometers in size. In the past three hundred years, Linley had solved one complicated problem after another regarding how to more perfectly use his two types of Sovereign power to control two different types of elemental essences.

  Acting according to a blueprint was easy, but creating from scratch was very hard.

  The two Sovereign sparks only contained methods for creating a ‘divine plane of earth’ and a ‘divine plane of water’. They held no information on the creation of a fused divine plane. Linley thus had to borrow and test various methods and come up with his own ways based on his own insights in order to build this place.

  But this meant that he made repeated mistakes that he would have to correct. Naturally, he would gain insights as well. Although Linley was technically creating a fused divine plane, in reality, Linley was training!

  “IT’S BEEN three thousand years! Linley actually still has yet to complete that fused divine plane.” Beirut and Bluefire looked at each other, not knowing whether to laugh or to cry.

  The current Linley was completely absorbed in his work.

  He had no sense of the passage of time at all. His current goal was to come up with any measures necessary to perfect and complete this fused divine plane of merely ten thousand kilometers!

  WITHIN THE FUSED DIVINE PLANE.

  One side was filled with water that reached the heavens, while the other side was filled with towering mountains. Linley hovered in the air above.

  “Haha…” Linley laughed so hard, his eyes turned into slits. He finally let out a breath of relief.

  “I finally succeeded!” Linley stretched his senses out slightly, and immediately knew how much time had passed. “I only spent a thousand years creating those two divine planes, but I spent four thousand years creating this fused divine plane.” Linley felt quite moved. This time… Linley had, amazingly, spent five thousand years of time!

  Given how fast Sovereigns trained, five thousand years was indeed enough to make astonishing improvements.

  But Linley, absorbed in his high-difficulty work, had gained astonishing insights during the past five thousand years.

  “I didn’t imagine that over the course of creating the divine planes, I would end up finishing my fifth fusion of the profound mysteries of the Laws of the Earth. I’ve even fused four profound mysteries of the Laws of Water.” Linley didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. All of his new insights had come because he wanted to create his own fused divine plane, and so it was normal that he had some accomplishments in the Laws of the Earth and the Laws of Water.

  But of course…

  In the past five thousand years, Linley’s greatest gains were still in his insights into fusing the profound mysteries of different Laws!

  58

  SWORD INTENT

  Earth, fire, water, wind. Four Laws. The four profound mysteries that Linley had chosen from them were, respectively, the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’, the ‘Profound Mysteries of Explosion’, the ‘Profound Mysteries of Circular Softness’, ‘Dimensional Attack’. Of the four, the hardest to fuse was the ‘Profound Mysteries of Explosion’.

  During the past five thousand years, Linley had gotten
a deeper and deeper understanding of the Laws of Earth and Laws of Water.

  This had made it so that Linley had, long ago, completely fused the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’, ‘Dimensional Attack’, and the ‘Profound Mysteries of Circular Softness’ into one. As for the ‘Profound Mysteries of Explosion’, it had reached a bottleneck in its fusion with the ‘Dimensional Attack’. Once the fusion was completed, then only the final step would remain; completely fusing all four of the profound mysteries into one.

  “Rumble…” Waves struck against the slopes of the mountains.

  Linley hovered there in midair. “Now, I have two steps to go. The first is to completely fuse the ‘Profound Mysteries of Explosion’ with ‘Dimensional Attack’. Then, I need to completely fuse the four together into a whole. By then, with four profound mysteries all fused together, the power of the attack will be so great that surpassing Augusta will be simple.”

  And then, Linley took a breath to calm himself as he stared around himself. There was not, however, any sun in this world of ten thousand kilometers.

  Linley raised his head, then said a single word. “Light!”

  Instantly, with Sovereign power serving as the core, countless particles of elemental essences began to gather. They frantically compressed, and then formed a dazzling sphere that hung high in the sky; a sun! The sun hung high in the skies, wantonly releasing light which illuminated the entire plane.

  With but a thought, Linley willed a membrane to form around this sun, protecting it.

  “Normally, it will constantly draw in elemental essence, and afterwards, it will release it in the form of sunlight in a perpetual cycle.” Linley smiled calmly, and then used the technique upon the other side of the plane, creating a moon. Within this plane, the sun and the moon swiveled around the plane in a constant rotation.

  When the sun dropped beneath the edges of the plane and reached the back side of it, the moon would just so happen to rise.

  “Everything has been completed.” Linley looked at his surroundings. There was the earth, the mountains, the seas… but no life. However, Linley wasn’t capable of creating new life; at most, he would be able to bring some living creatures from other places to this place.

  “Crackle…”

  A giant spatial tear appeared in the distant skies, and two figures flew in. One was a black-robed Beirut, while the other was a white-robed Bluefire. The two were clearly rather surprised and curious.

  “Haha, Linley, although this fused divine plane of yours is a bit small, in terms of its spatial stability, it has actually surpassed the Seven Divine Planes and is close to the Four Higher Planes.” Beirut waved his hand, chopping out a spatial tear, then evaluated, “And in this place, both earth and water are fairly dense in terms of elemental essences.”

  Linley let out a resigned chuckle. “Don’t make fun of me. I spent more than four thousand years, but was only able to make such a tiny plane.”

  “We aren’t making fun of you.” Bluefire looked at the surrounding area, then laughed. “We can create planes, but alas, we cannot create new life.”

  “The creation of new life is not a domain that we Sovereigns can interfere in.” Beirut laughed calmly, then looked towards Linley. Rather expectantly, he said, “Linley, you have spent five thousand years here. Given your training speed, especially after becoming a Sovereign with two Sovereign bodies… I imagine that you now train at least a hundred times faster than before you were a Sovereign. In the past five thousand years, how has your training progressed?”

  Bluefire’s eyes lit up as well as he looked eagerly towards Linley.

  “I’ve fused five profound mysteries of the Laws of the Earth, and four of the Laws of Water.” Linley sighed with a frown. “However, I’m still somewhat lacking when it comes to fusing four different Laws. The further I go in my training, the harder it becomes. I imagine that in order for me to truly master the fusion of these four Laws, it will take me anywhere from a few thousand years to… an indeterminate amount of time.”

  Beirut and Bluefire exchanged a glance.

  Linley’s progression was what they had expected it to be. After all, five thousand years of training as a Sovereign was definitely comparable to five hundred thousand years of training as a Highgod.

  The three Sovereigns just stood there in the newborn fused divine plane, laughing and chatting.

  “Linley, when are you returning to the Yulan Plane?” Beirut suddenly asked.

  “I’m in no rush. My original body is still in Dragonblood Castle, so I don’t need to hurry back. I’m preparing to develop what will be my most powerful attack to date.” Linley laughed calmly. “Now that my understanding in the profound mysteries of the Laws has increased, my previous supreme attack, ‘Microcosm’, is no longer suitable.”

  “Makes sense.” Beirut and Bluefire both nodded.

  “Then we will wait for you in the Yulan Plane. Haha, after you finish developing it, you have to show it off to us.” Beirut chortled, and then he and Bluefire both left as well.

  To develop a technique that suited one’s self wouldn’t take too long. Generally speaking, ten days or so would be enough.

  Earth, fire, water, wind. These four Laws had a total of twenty-seven profound mysteries. To select the four most appropriate profound mysteries out of them was extremely difficult. However, given Linley’s level of understanding regarding them, and the fact that he had decide to develop towards ‘material attacks’, he had chosen the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’, ‘Circular Softness’, ‘Dimensional Attack’, and ‘Explosion’.

  Amongst them, ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’, ‘Dimensional Attack’, and ‘Explosion’ were exceedingly, terrifyingly powerful attack-focused profound mysteries.

  To fuse them together by force was virtually impossible. Thus, Linley had selected ‘Circular Softness’ to serve as the chain which allowed the other three profound mysteries to perfectly fuse together.

  According to Linley’s plan…

  If he selected the most attack-focused aspects of the four Laws and bound them together, the power should definitely reach an inconceivable level.

  Within the void. Chaotic energy streamed everywhere, forming countless ‘comets’ that streaked about in a bewildering, beautiful manner.

  Linley stood there within the void, holding Mirage in his hands. He would occasionally shut his eyes and ponder, and then occasionally wave his hands to test out his attacks. Every single test caused space to crumble.

  “Although I’ve already fused three profound mysteries, with the fourth profound mystery of ‘Explosion’ not yet being fused in, that’s fine. ‘Explosion’ will simply make it so that the power of my attack will gather together at one point, then instantly blast out.” If countless streams of energy could be focused onto one point, how powerful would that attack become?

  Just as Linley continued to perfect his technique, a light suddenly flashed in his mind.

  “A sword?” Linley’s eyes lit up. “My spiritual energy is far more powerful than that of an ordinary Sovereign’s. Why don’t I infuse a spiritual component into the attack. When I strike out with my sword, I will simultaneously launch a material attack and a soul attack!”

  Intrigued, he immediately began.

  The sixteenth day of research in the void.

  After countless setbacks and improvements and reconfigurations… he had continuously perfected his technique, to the point where Linley was now unable to perfect it any further. He had finally created his most powerful, supreme technique!

  “I’ve finally perfected it. However, the material attack and soul attack both require me to use all my power to control it. It seems that I will need to use two souls to separately control each aspect.” Both the soul attack and the material attack were supreme techniques; using either of the attacks would force Linley to be completely focused and unable to be distracted.

  Thus, his only choice was to have two of his souls separately control each technique.
<
br />   “It is time to test my most powerful attack.”

  With a smile, Linley waved his hand. Mirage vanished, and what appeared was the Life Overgod Sword!

  Holding the Life Overgod Sword in his hand, he stared with a sharp gaze towards the void in the distance.

  Fused Sovereign power filled the Life Overgod Sword, and instantly, a terrifying aura spread out. “Riiiiiiiiiip.” Countless streams of chaotic energy in the void shattered, as countless spatial tears appeared in the surrounding area. Even before the Life Overgod Sword had struck out, its power could already be felt.

  “Rumble…”

  The sword moved!

  It was like a jade-green bolt of lightning that slashed out.

  The tip of the Life Overgod Sword emitted countless rays of sharp sword energy, tearing open countless spatial fractures that extended as far as the eye could see. It seemed as though countless giant dragons were coiling about; the countless spatial fractures affected and pulled at each other as well, instantly causing large regions of space in the void to collapse!

  The collapsed region was roughly a hundred meters wide, but in length, it was more than a million kilometers. Apocalypse!

  When this attack was unleashed, more than just countless rays of sword energy shot out; actually, a tiny, unremarkable, translucent sword shadow that was just the size of a palm shot out as well.

  “Sadly, I wasn’t able to add ‘Explosion’ into the fusion as well, and so the strike zone of this sword is actually a hundred meters wide! If I could focus it into a single line, then that would be true perfection,” Linley evaluated. But although he said this, a smile was evident on his face, showing that Linley was quite satisfied with himself.

  This attack simultaneously contained a soul attack and a material attack.