Only…
His eyes were an oily green color, like the eyes of a wolf in the night.
Behind him, there were a total of nine figures covered in silver cloaks. These voluminous silver cloak covered figures were all standing behind the old man respectfully like servants.
“Yulan continent. So this is the Yulan continent…” The ancient, low voice rang out from the old man dressed in the green cloak.
“Cough, cough…” The sound of coughing could be heard. This green-robed old man seemed to be rather frail.
Suddenly, two youths riding handsome horses appeared, galloping across the desolate road. For some reason, when the two youths saw the green-robed man and those nine mysterious silver-cloaked men, they felt a cold shiver in their hearts.
These two youths consciously decided to pull their horses aside, planning to leave from the other side of the road at high speed.
They didn’t want to get too close to these seemingly mysterious people.
“Humans…” Seeing the two youths, the green-robed old man’s oily green eyes flashed. He was so skinny that nothing more than a layer of skin was left on his bones, and when his bony, claw-like hand stretched out, a strange, invisible force suddenly bound those two youths.
“Aaaah!” “Aaaah”!
The two youths felt that they could no longer move, and then, they began to fly up in the air, their bodies no longer under their own control. They shot out like arrows towards that green-robed old man, causing them to scream in terror.
“Crunch!” “Crunch!”
His two hands gripped the skulls of the two youths, who instantly began to quiver and shake, their bodies spasming as though they were having a seizure.
“Oh, War God, High Priest? And that legendary Dragonblood Warrior?” the old man murmured to himself, and then turned his oily green eyes to peer into the eyes of the two spasming youths. “Poor children. I will give you your eternal release.”
And then, the two youths fell to the ground, but their bodies no longer had any aura at all. They were dead.
“What a pity. These two souls were too weak. Absorbing them was of little benefit to me.” The ancient man took a long, comfortable breath.
Absorbing souls?
If anyone else was near and had heard this, they would have been utterly terrified.
But the nine silver-cloaked men behind him maintained their silence, waiting respectfully.
“The Yulan continent is about to begin an era of major, large-scale warfare. This is an excellent opportunity for all of you. Go, children. Don’t disappoint me.” The ancient voice of the green-robed old man rang out, and the nine silver-cloaked figures all fell to one knee. “Yes, Grand Warlock!”
And then…
‘Swoosh’ ‘Swoosh’.
The nine silver-cloaked figures transformed into nine silver dots, disappearing into the horizon. They were so fast that if Linley and Desri had seen them, they would have felt astonished.
“Yulan continent. Ten thousand years… it has changed so much.” The green-robed old man let out a quiet sigh. “First, recover my strength. When I have the chance, then I’ll go pay a visit to Lord Beirut.” And then, with a movement, the green-robed old man transformed into a blur and disappeared.
Baruch Empire. Dragonblood Castle. The main hall.
“Big brother Yale, you came at an unfortunate time. A few months ago, my big brother started to engage in closed door training,” Wharton said helplessly towards Yale, who had come to visit.
“Third Bro is in meditative training again?” Yale frowned.
“What’s wrong? Is there some problem? Why don’t you talk to me about it. I might be able to help,” Wharton said with a laugh. He knew exactly how close Yale and Linley were, so with regards to Yale’s affairs, he naturally would get involved.
Yale hesitated for a moment, then said, “Wharton, can’t Third Bro come out and have a quick meeting with me?”
Wharton said apologetically, “Big brother Yale, I am sorry, truly. This closed-door training session is different from the previous ones. This one is rather important. Before beginning his training, my big brother had already issued an order that unless something extremely, extremely important came up, we were definitely not to permit anyone to disturb him. Actually, even if I agreed to let you see my big brother, we would still need to get the permissions of Mr. Zassler and the others as well.”
Dragonblood Castle viewed Linley’s training as an issue of paramount importance. No matter how close one’s relationship with Linley was, they definitely wouldn’t be permitted to go meet with Linley unless there was absolutely no other recourse at all.
“If that’s the case…” Yale paused for a moment.
“Then Wharton, I won’t disturb Third Bro. Anyhow. I have some other affairs to attend to. I’ll leave for now,” Yale said.
As far as Dragonblood Castle was concerned, Yale’s visit was just a small affair. No one paid much attention to it.
The next day.
The imperial capital of the Baruch Empire. The imperial palace.
Cena strode into the flower garden, smiling towards Yale who was waiting for him there. “Chairman Yale, I am truly sorry to have made you wait for so long. Chairman Yale, please, sit.” Cena, upon hearing that Yale had come to visit, had immediately put down everything he was working on to come meet Yale.
After all, Cena knew how close Yale and Linley were as well.
“Emperor Cena, I was in no rush. Your matters are of more importance, your Imperial Majesty,” Yale said with great modesty.
Although when Cena was young, Yale had met him and played with him while meeting Linley, Cena was now the Emperor of an Empire. Within the imperial palace, Yale’s attitude still had to be very respectful and modest.
“Chairman Yale, don’t stand on so much ceremony. Why are you standing on so much ceremony with me?” Cena chortled. “Speak, what is it? If I can help, I definitely will.”
Yale said, “Then, Emperor Cena, I’ll speak plainly. My visit this time is to request your help, Emperor Cena. Emperor Cena, you are currently beginning large-scale warfare against the Rohault Empire, are you not? And you are winning a series of battles.”
“Right.” Cena nodded slightly.
He was wondering why Yale mentioned this.
“I have a request that is perhaps a bit excessive,” Yale said.
“Oh?” Cena looked at him.
Yale chuckled, then said, “This is the situation. I know that the alliance of your three major empires has the goal of completely conquering your opponents. These battles will definitely be very fierce, and I also trust that your Baruch Empire will have captured many of the enemy’s soldiers.”
“That is correct. What of it?” Cena looked at him.
It was normal to capture the enemy’s soldiers in warfare.
In addition, the goal of this war was to conquer the entire Rohault Empire. How could the imperial clan of the Rohault Empire submit to them? Naturally, they would fight back.
“Emperor Cena, the vast majority of those enemy soldiers that you’ve kidnapped will be used as slaves. I would like, Emperor Cena, to ask if you would be willing to sell all of the soldiers you’ve kidnapped to my Dawson Conglomerate?” Yale finally got around to making his request.
Cena instantly began to frown.
Sell all of the captured enemy soldiers to the Dawson Conglomerate?
Generally speaking, captured enemy soldiers would be used as cannon fodder in future battles, or put to work in building roads, mining, clearing forests, and so on and so forth. All types of hard, manual labor. Perhaps a small portion of the slaves would be sold off.
But… to sell all the captured soldiers to a single Conglomerate?
This was indeed rarely seen.
The reason for this was because in this sort of large scale, ‘total war’ type of warfare between major empires, each empire would probably have roughly two or three million active duty soldiers, with pe
rhaps millions more in reserve. This sort of war of utter annihilation would generally result in many captured soldiers. For example, if a large army was destroyed, it was possible that a hundred thousand people would be captured.
Over the course of conquering the Rohault Empire, the number of captured soldiers would definitely be in the hundreds of thousands, or perhaps even more.
Several hundred thousand soldiers, even enslaved, were still a capable military force. To give such an enormous military force to a trading union?
“This…” Cena hesitated.
Although this was Yale, Linley’s big brother, Yale really was asking for quite a bit. He wanted the Baruch Empire to sell all of their captured soldiers to the Dawson Conglomerate?
“Emperor Cena, what are you worried about? Our Dawson Conglomerate neither has a large amount of territory, nor do we have Saint-level experts such as Third Bro. They are just some captured slaves,” Yale persuaded. “Emperor Cena, I hope you can help me out.”
Yale’s words were said with great sincerity.
“Chairman Yale, in the past, your Dawson Conglomerate never got involved in the slave trade. Why are you buying so many captured soldiers now?” Cena asked.
Yale laughed. “That’s an internal secret of the Conglomerate. We’re currently working out a special developmental plan.”
Cena was silent for a few more moments, then looked at Yale.
Actually, the captured soldiers were of limited use to the Baruch Empire. After all, their goal was the destruction of the Rohault Empire. Thus, there was no question of ransoming the soldiers back to the Rohault Empire after the battle was concluded. In addition… as Cena viewed it, so what if he sold the slaves to the Dawson Conglomerate?
Could it be that the Dawson Conglomerate also wanted to rule the world?
What a joke!
After all, the true foundation of any empire was its most powerful experts!
“Alright. I agree,” Cena said.
“Emperor Cena, thank you, truly.” Yale instantly smiled. “You really are helping me out tremendously. Thank you so much, truly.”
Cena and Yale chatted for a while longer, then shared a lunch together before Yale left.
After Yale left, Cena was still puzzled as he pondered this matter carefully. “Why is the Dawson Conglomerate suddenly entering the slave trade for no apparent reason? In addition, based on what I know, Yale and Uncle are on extremely close terms, but Yale himself is an extremely valiant figure who almost never asks difficult favors from others. But this time…”
54
A Sudden Change
The winter of year 10034 of the Yulan calendar was an extremely bad one for Emperor Gaffney of the Rohault Empire.
“Your Imperial Majesty.” Gaffney’s most beloved consort, an eighteen-year-old who was also a water-style magus, was lying atop of him, intentionally using the two firm points on her chest to massage Gaffney’s body. Emperor Gaffney was a warrior of the seventh rank, and his body was quite tough.
In the past, he probably would have already flipped this beautiful woman over and pressed her beneath his thighs.
But today, he wasn’t in the mood.
“Scram. Fuck off.” Emperor Gaffney irritably pushed the beautiful consort away from him.
The brown-haired beauty couldn’t help but take two stumbling steps back, and then, forcing out a smile, she bowed and stepped back.
Beautiful women?
He was about to lose his empire. How could he be in the mood to frolic and cavort with beautiful women?
“All of you, fuck off! All of you!” Gaffney waved his arm, sending the books and documents on the table in front of him, as well as some ornaments, flying away, smashing against the marble floor. The palace maids and attendants were instantly frightened, and all of them immediately left respectfully.
“This Baruch Empire is too audacious, too audacious!” Gaffney’s eyes were blazing, but his forehead was covered with sweat.
He was livid!
But at the same time, he felt powerless.
“Why? Why does it have to be like this?” Gaffney was filled with resignation and panic. “Why is it that all of the Saints of the Rohault Empire are no longer paying attention to Us? Why have they all vanished? Are they that afraid of Linley? That Linley has only been famous for a few decades. What’s there to be afraid of?”
Gaffney cursed angrily… but in his heart, Gaffney knew that all he could do was curse.
Faced with the multiple layers of incursions from the Baruch Empire, there was nothing he could do at all. All of the Saints of his empire seemed to have vanished. He couldn’t find a single one. That one and only Saint who was loyal to the imperial clan had been smashed into meat paste by a single tail swipe on the field of battle from a Saint-level Tyrant Wyrm.
He had no Saints at his disposal!
“What to do? What to do? Is my Rohault Empire going to be destroyed, just like this?” Gaffney truly had no idea what he should do.
Ever since the news had spread that the Yulan Empire, the O’Brien Empire, and the Baruch Empire had formed an alliance, many of the Saints of the Rohault Empire had vanished. After all, these Saints all understood that the alliance of these three empires represented…
An alliance between the War God, the High Priest, and Linley!
Not long ago, Linley had destroyed the Radiant Church’s Sacred Isle. Perhaps ordinary people weren’t aware of this, but virtually all of the Saints had been made aware of this. Even the Radiant Church, whose roots were ancient and deep, had been destroyed. The Saints of the Rohault Empire knew that resistance meant nothing more than death.
Naturally, none of them were willing to meet with Emperor Gaffney, nor obey his commands.
With the Rohault Empire no longer having any Saints, the outcome of the battle had naturally swayed strongly in Linley’s favor.
“The empire has been in existence for thousands of years. Can it be that it is going to collapse during the reign of myself, Gaffney?” Gaffney was in agony. This afternoon, he had just received the news that yet another city had been conquered by the Baruch Empire. Although the armies had done their best to defend…
The enemy had three Saint-level dragons!
Although the Saint-level dragons hadn’t actually attacked much, with but a lazy flyby, they had killed three of the Rohault Empire’s leaders. Naturally, the morale of the Rohault Empire had tumbled, and many soldiers, seeing the Saint-level dragons, had been so frightened that their legs had gone soft.
How were they supposed to fight a battle like this?
“You are Gaffney, right?” a hoarse voice rang out in the study.
Gaffney, who had been in the middle of venting his anger, was instantly frightened so badly that his heart clenched. This was his personal study, and the door to it was shut and surrounded by guards. The door wasn’t open, and it hadn’t budged at all.
But someone was inside the study.
Gaffney suppressed his terror and turned to look at the source of the voice.
There were two skinny men dressed in short-sleeved clothes. Being dressed in short sleeves despite it being winter was of no surprise; after all, as a warrior of the seventh rank, he could do that as well. But what shocked Gaffney was that these two men’s eyes seemed to be filled with a fierce, devouring gaze.
Although the two men hadn’t acted, in but an instant, they saturated the room with a cold, cruel, vicious aura.
“How… how did you get in here?” Gaffney said in terror.
“How did we get in here?” a skinny, bald man said with a sneer. “Easy. We killed the guards outside, then opened the door, came in, then closed the door. As easy as that.”
“Opened the door, closed the door?” Gaffney couldn’t believe it.
He was in the study, but he hadn’t noticed the door being opened or shut.
Gaffney’s heart was filled with terror. The cruel, killing aura these two men emanated made him wonder, “Could it be that the
y are here to kill me? They are here at Linley’s command?” As Gaffney saw it, perhaps only the legendary Linley was capable of ordering experts both powerful enough and willing to come here and kill him.
“Gaffney, listen closely,” the skinny bald man said with a cold laugh. “The arrival of us two brothers is your good fortune.”
“Good fortune my ass. This is terrible,” Gaffney secretly cursed, but he didn’t reveal a hint of displeasure on his face. He was afraid that if he angered these two, they really would kill him.
The other skinny man had a head of short golden hair that looked as hard as nails. The golden-haired man glanced at Gaffney, then said coldly, “We two brothers have very simple conditions. First, confer upon us the rank of Dukes. And then, you can casually assign us a few thousand palace maids and servants for us to use as we please. Naturally, we two brothers will then dispose of those three irritating Saint-level dragons for you.”
Gaffney rubbed his eyes, staring at the two men in front of him in shock.
He was rather stunned.
“Didn’t you hear me?” the skinny bald man barked angrily.
The two brothers had lived for thousands of years in the Gebados Planar Prison, a life that was worse than that of a dog’s.
In the Gebados Planar Prison, peak Saints were the weakest creatures there. They had lived a life of battle and fear. For each day they survived, they would fear that the next day would bring death. This was because the Gebados Planar Prison had no natural elemental essence at all. The energy that they used up couldn’t be replenished at all; the only method of recovering energy was to kill other experts, then absorb the energy within the bodies of those experts.
Saints engaged in constant slaughter against each other.
As for Deities, if they encountered one, they could only obey the orders of the Deities while being terrified. Deities could devastate them, not giving them the slightest chance to fight back. In addition, the natural environment of the Gebados Planar Prison was itself extremely dangerous. If one wasn’t careful, one would easily die.
Gods of Yulan: Book 4 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 43
