“Continue telling me more. How did you escape, and how did you manage to acquire divine sparks in that sort of environment.” Delia was nervous.
Delia knew very well that right now, having only partially begun to fuse with the divine spark, she could only be considered a half-god. Even her ‘Godrealm’ was incomplete, and she wasn’t able to actually apply any of the profound mysteries in the Elemental Laws at all. If she had been on the eleventh floor of the Necropolis of the Gods, most likely those massed Abyssal Blade Demons would have slaughtered her.
Linley immediately continued, describing how the experts had risked everything to charge towards the tunnel. He described how in the end, he had gone to block those Abyssal Blade Demons, and then how he had been pursued underground before finally coming to understand the ‘Profound Truths of Velocity’.
“Whew.” After Linley finished his story, Delia finally dared to let out a breath and relax.
Delia raised her head to look at Linley.
Delia still remembered how, all those years in the past, Linley had been the indomitable young genius magus of the Ernst Institute. And now, Linley was an ultimate expert who was capable of dominating a million Abyssal Blade Demons. Delia couldn’t help but feel proud of her husband.
“What are you looking at?” Linley laughed.
“Looking at you.” Delia’s current expression was like that of an innocent young girl.
Linley began to laugh. “Right, Delia. What do you think I should do with these three divine sparks? All of those experts had hinted interest in them towards me. But of course, after having been lectured by Lord Beirut, perhaps they have changed their minds.”
Linley had to admit that Delia was much stronger than him in terms of managing human relations.
“Linley, jeeze…” Delia couldn’t help but laugh in resignation, shaking her head. “You really… I don’t even want to lecture you any longer. In the Necropolis of the Gods, of the humans, Desri, Olivier, Fain, Rosarie, and Tulily remain. Of these five, Desri has the best relationship with us, right? And according to Beirut, Olivier’s potential is very high!”
“But think about it. Fain received a Pearl of Life, while Tulily and Rosarie each received a divine artifact. Olivier and Desri, on the other hand, received nothing.”
Delia laughed as she looked at Linley. “Olivier’s potential is high, while Desri is on good terms with us. Both are worthy of being pulled closer to us. But… neither of them received anything.”
Linley opened his mouth, but didn’t know what to say.
“Linley, your status is now different compared to the past. You are the pillar of our Baruch Empire. You can’t make decisions so casually any longer,” Delia said. “Look, right now, in the human societies of the Yulan continent, the two most powerful are the Yulan Empire and the O’Brien Empire, because they possess the War God and the High Priest.”
“Only with a Deity will an empire have longevity.”
“Even if you become a Deity, Linley, most likely, compared to the likes of the War God, it will still be hard for you to overcome them. After all, they have been Deities for a long time.”
Linley nodded slightly.
The power of the War God and the High Priest was indeed far greater than he could hope to fathom for now.
Delia sighed. “Desri himself lives in the borders of our Baruch Empire, and his daughter has married your good friend, Reynolds. You should pull Desri closer to our side and let us all become one family.”
“But of course, while pulling others close is important, strengthening our own people is even more important,” Delia said. “Thus, I think that of the three divine sparks, one of them needs to go to your little brother Wharton, or to one of the Barker brothers.”
“The second divine spark should be reserved for Desri.”
“As for the third divine spark, for now, just hold on to it, in case we suddenly need it. For example, if the War God or the High Priest were to come and ask for it on behalf of a disciple. Or, for example, if Dylin or Cesar came. Both are possible. Dylin has his sons, while Cesar has that Rosarie. For them to owe us a debt is a good thing for us.”
Hearing Delia’s analysis, Linley felt as though the mystery bedeviling him had suddenly been resolved.
“Alright, Delia. We’ll just do what you said.” Linley nodded.
Delia continued, “Linley, as for your ten divine artifacts, three red warblades, and a thousand regular Abyssal Blade Demon blades… as I see it, the thousand Abyssal Blade Demon warblades should temporarily be stored. They can be considered the guardian treasures of our empire. After all, every single one of them is comparable to your adamantine heavy sword. In addition, if we were to take them all out at once, a great tumult would be caused in the continent.”
Linley nodded.
“As for the thirteen divine artifacts, including those red warblades, that’s much easier to dispose of. Divide them out within the family, or perhaps you can give one or two of them to Desri. The divine artifacts are easy to divide up,” Delia said.
Linley began to laugh. “Alright. However, there is one item amongst the thirteen which you have to take.”
“What?” Delia asked curiously.
Linley, with a flip of his hand, retrieved a set of divine battle armor from his interspatial ring. “Delia, this divine battle armor is yours.”
“Uh?” Delia was momentarily stunned, then she immediately said, “Linley, you are the pillar of our empire. You should be the one to wear this divine battle armor.”
Linley began to laugh. “No need, Delia. First of all, I already have a Pearl of Life. Secondly… once I reach the Deity level… you need to understand that the ‘Sacred Earthguard Armor’ spell can be used at the Deity level as well. At that time… the defensive power of my ‘Divine Earth Armor’ will definitely be on par with your divine battle armor.
“Then give it to Wharton. After all, I’m fusing a divine spark,” Delia said.
Linley shook his head. “No need. Didn’t you say it yourself? One of the three divine sparks will be reserved for our own people. In a few days, I’ll go ask Wharton if he is willing to fuse a divine spark. If he is willing, then he will become a Deity. If he isn’t willing, then after I finish a final matter, I will give my Pearl of Life to him.”
“A last matter?” Delia started. “Linley, are you saying…?”
Linley nodded slightly. “I have been looking forward to this for a long, long time. Although right now, I don’t have complete confidence, they definitely don’t have the ability to injure me.” Linley’s eyes flashed with a hint of fierce light.
Wharton had already retired and given up the throne to his son, Cena Baruch, who was the new Emperor of the Baruch Empire.
After learning that Linley had returned, Wharton had immediately flown back and returned to Dragonblood Castle, and Linley’s daughter, Sasha, had returned as well. All five of the Barker brothers reunited here, and now, all of the people who had followed Linley so many years ago were together in the hall.
Linley asked Wharton if he was willing to absorb the divine spark to become a Deity. After all, Wharton was himself already a Dragonblood Warrior Saint.
But Wharton’s response made Linley feel resigned.
“Big bro, if I were to fuse with the elemental divine spark you want to give me, after I become an earth-style Demigod, would I still be able to continue training in the Elemental Laws of Fire?”
“You cannot. Once you become an earth-style Demigod, your ability to sense other elements will drop greatly, while your ability to sense earth elemental essence will greatly rise. Earth-style Demigods will find it virtually impossible to gain insights into the Elemental Laws of Fire.”
“Big bro, do you have a fire-style divine spark?”
“I do not.”
“Then I won’t use it.”
Wharton’s response had been very simple and blunt. As it turned out, upon reaching the Saint level, Wharton had begun to walk on the path of
the Elemental Laws of Fire. Although Wharton had just begun to gain insights, he truly enjoyed the sensation of understanding the Elemental Laws of Fire.
Linley didn’t argue with him.
He understood his little brother, because he, too, liked the feeling of his soul becoming one with the earth or with the wind. He liked feeling the wind’s freedom and the earth’s vastness. To Linley, training in the Elemental Laws of Wind and Earth was a sort of spiritual relaxation and enjoyment.
If someone were to give Linley a fire-style divine spark and then tell him to go fuse it, Linley wouldn’t be willing to do so either.
Because…
Once the fire-style divine spark was fused, he would immediately become a fire-style Demigod, which would make it virtually impossible for him to gain any more insights in the other Elemental Laws.
“To become a fire-style Demigod and to give up the Profound Truths of the Earth and the Wind?” Linley shook his head.
In addition, there was a big difference between becoming a Deity through using a divine spark and between achieving it on one’s own.
Linley then went to ask the Barker brothers.
Gates and the other three insisted that their boss, Barker, be the one to fuse with the divine core, while Barker himself just so happened to like the earth-style. Thus, Linley gave the earth-style Demigod divine spark to Barker, who began to fuse with the divine spark and train in seclusion.
In the rear gardens of Dragonblood Castle.
Four young men were seated around a round table, laughing loudly and drinking loudly. These four people were: Linley, Reynolds, Yale, George.
“It has been over ten years since we four bros have met. Come, cheers, everyone!” Yale laughed loudly as he spoke. Right now, the weakest of the four of them was Yale, but even he was a magus of the seventh rank by now and possessed a lifespan of centuries.
Their appearances still seemed very young.
“Boss Yale, congratulations on becoming the Chairman of the Dawson Conglomerate.” Linley laughed.
Linley was incomparably delighted to be together with his closest friends of his youth.
“Haha, Third Bro, I can’t compare to you at all.” Yale chortle, and then slapped George on the shoulders. “Second Bro, the two of us have been out-competed by Third Bro and Fourth Bro. Third Bro goes without saying; he reached the Saint level long ago. After founding the Baruch Empire and getting married, it’s been, what, twenty-four years, right? In the past twenty-four years, our Fourth Bro, who was previously a magus of the seventh rank, is now a magus of the ninth rank. But the two of us?”
George began to laugh as well. “Boss Yale, don’t group me in with you. Two years ago, I finally became a magus of the eighth rank. I’m a level higher than you.”
This year was year 10034 of the Yulan calendar. Linley’s wedding had been on year 10010.
Twenty-four years.
Of course, for ultimate experts, they might go into seclusion for training for a century at a time. A few decades was nothing.
“I’ve been busy and haven’t had enough time to train. Fortunately, I’ve finally reached the seventh rank as a magus, at least.” Yale let out two laughs.
George was an important minister of the Yulan Empire, while Yale was busy managing the affairs of the Conglomerate. Indeed, they hadn’t spent enough time on their training.
“Third Bro.” Yale clapped Linley on his shoulders twice. “Life truly is interesting for someone like you. You founded a massive empire and became one of the ultimate experts of the continent. There are so many hot-blooded youths in the continent who have set you as their goal. Those hot-blooded youths are just like how we four bros were in the past!”
Linley, George, Yale, and Reynolds fell silent for a time.
They couldn’t help but think back to the events of their youth.
Reynolds suddenly laughed. “Boss Yale, you are now the Chairman of one of the three great trading unions of the Yulan continent. Your wealth rivals that of an empire. According to what you say, you should be satisfied as well, right?”
“Not yet. There’s still two other trading unions.” Yale’s eyes were shining. “I really want to swallow up both the ‘Snow Island Syndicate’ and the ‘Gere Group’. Unfortunately, it’s too hard. Still, that just makes it challenging and interesting.”
Linley stood up.
“Right. Only something hard is challenging.” Linley raised his head to look at the sky.
The Yulan continent was just a material plane. In the boundless universe, there were countless planes, and above the ordinary planes, there were Four Higher Planes and Seven Divine Planes.
He himself was nothing more than at the top of the Yulan continent.
“Walk to the ultimate peak of training! Only that is interesting and challenging.” Linley had a hint of a smile on the corner of his lips.
“But before that, there’s still something I have to do.” Linley couldn’t help but turn to stare into the west, in the direction of the ‘Sacred Isle’ of Radiant Church.
Linley still remembered the death of Grandpa Doehring. Still remembered the oath he had sworn when he had left the City of Hess and entered the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. “Radiant Church, just wait. There will come the day when I will destroy you all and pull you up by the roots!”
“It’s about time,” Linley murmured to himself.
43
A Major Event
Dawn. Sunlight illuminated the rear garden of Dragonblood Castle. For the first time in a long time, Linley had the desire to go to the rear garden and devote himself to stonesculpting. While sculpting, Linley couldn’t help but think back to one scene after another of himself with Grandpa Doehring.
“A stone’s appearance, quality, grains, and coloration impact not only its appearance, but its entire potential and true form. We use chisels to remove the excess parts and allow its natural beauty to be revealed. This is stonesculpting.”
“The stonesculpting way is really a way of controlling space and appearance. When stonesculpting, one must…”
The scene of Grandpa Doehring teaching him about stone sculpting was still so fresh, so vivid in Linley’s mind.
After understanding the ‘Profound Truths of Velocity’, Linley’s straight chisel moved even more gracefully and agilely, sometimes transforming into countless blurs while at other times, moving so slowly and gently… the human-shaped stone in front of him slowly took form. Linley’s carving attracted the attention of Hillman, Taylor, and many others, who watched from afar.
“Father’s sculpting method is so strange,” Taylor said in surprise.
Hillman sighed in surprise as well. “Right. Your father’s stone sculpting gives me the feeling… as though the sculpture itself already exists. All he is doing is removing the excess stone and dust that is covering it up.”
The straight chisel flashed, and flecks of stone flew about.
Indeed, it was as Hillman had said. Linley was truly just removing a layer of useless stone atop the sculpture, and as the flecks of stone flew off, the sculpture slowly began to reveal its true appearance.
“Shedding the shell. This is the feeling known as ‘shedding the shell’ which stone sculptors talk about.” Jenny sighed in amazement. “Only, I have never realized that someone could be able to sculpt in such a natural manner.” Jenny herself had learned stone sculpting, but what she learned was the normal type of sculpting which required many tools.
“Hrm…”
To Linley, a single straight chisel was enough.
He started sculpting at dawn, and continued until dusk. Only then did Linley finally set aside his chisel, reaching out with a hand to gently stroke the sculpture.
“Grandpa Doehring,” Linley murmured to himself. “In the past, I promised that there would come a day when I would utterly destroy the Radiant Church and pull them up by their roots. Soon, very soon… I will be able to accomplish this.”
The sculpture in front of him was tha
t of ‘Doehring Cowart’. Doehring Cowart’s face had that ever-present hint of a benevolent smile on it.
“Linley.” Suddenly, a voice came from behind him.
Linley turned and saw that the speaker was actually Fain. Next to him, Hillman immediately said, “Linley, Mr. Fain has been waiting here for quite some time now. But when he saw that you were sculpting, he didn’t want to disturb you.”
“It truly looks as agile and real as a spirit.” Fain sighed in amazement as he stared at the statue.
The statue seemed to be alive, and for a moment, it was as though a real person was standing there.
“Linley, who is this person that you sculpted?” Fain asked curiously.
Linley didn’t respond. “Fain, you came because…?”
Fain hurriedly said, “Oh, this time, I’ve come to invite you to make a trip to War God Mountain. Tomorrow, which is to say April 6th, all the various Deities will be convening at War God Mountain, while a few Saints have also been invited to attend.”
“Oh?” Linley was suddenly intrigued; a gathering of Deities, with only a few Saints being invited? Clearly, this meeting was of great importance.
“Might I ask what this is about?” Linley asked.
Fain shook his head. “I’m not sure either, and Master didn’t tell me. But if you go, you’ll definitely find out.”
“Alright. I’ll definitely go tomorrow.” Linley nodded as he spoke.
Yulan calendar, year 10034, April 6th. The O’Brien Empire. Outside the imperial capital. On War God Mountain.
Within the quiet, secluded courtyard of War God O’Brien, four Deities, including the War God, the High Priest, Dylin, and Cesar, along with four Saints, being Fain, Linley, Desri, and Tulily, all casually sat down.
“So only the four of us came.” Desri also felt rather curious. “Linley, do you know what is going on?” Linley and Desri were engaging in a mental conversation.
Gods of Yulan: Book 4 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 34
