Gods of Yulan: Book 4 of the Coiling Dragon Saga

by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi

  Everyone began to laugh.

  Only, the War God, O’Brien, stared at the divine spark in Tarosse’s hands, his eyes gleaming.

  That was a full God’s divine fire spark. He, O’Brien, trained in the Elemental Laws of Fire. A God-level divine fire spark was something that he, O’Brien, desperately needed. Only, the divine God spark was simply too valuable. He didn’t dare to ask for it directly.

  “Aaaaaargh!!!!”

  Deep in the night, standing above the vast ground, Ojwin furiously smashed his fists into the earth, releasing an unrelenting, furious howl from his lips.

  “BANG!” “BANG!” …

  The earth split apart, but Ojwin still couldn’t vent the unrelenting anger in his heart.

  “First time. Second time. All failures! My divine clone… the Elemental Laws of Fire?” Ojwin was filled with boundless rage. He knew that he would never again be able to train in the Elemental Laws of Fire. He only had one body left now; his divine light clone.

  From now on, he could only train in the Elemental Laws of Light.

  “That Tarosse and that Dylin, what ability was that?” Ojwin couldn’t help but feel his heart shake as he thought back to that terrifying scene.

  When Tarosse had began to devour him, it had been a completely different sensation from when Dylin had used the ability. Tarosse had transformed into his true form, that of the Ba-Serpent. When he had used the ‘Devour’ ability, Ojwin had felt as though he had become completely separated from all other space, and that an irresistible force had surrounded him.

  And then, he was immediately swallowed into the Ba-Serpent’s stomach.

  At first, Ojwin had thought that upon entering the Ba-Serpent’s stomach, he could rip through the internal organs to flee. But who would have thought… that the stomach wasn’t a material dimension at all. And thus, entirely powerless, he had been killed.

  This was the sort of innate ability only a divine beast possessed! Even most people who trained to the Highgod-level couldn’t possibly create such an immaterial dimension within their stomach.

  This was why the likes of the Heaven Devouring Beast and the Ba-Serpent were reputed to be able to swallow mountains and oceans.

  “There will come a day!” Ojwin ground his teeth. “There will come a day when I will definitely kill Olivier, and there will come a day when I become a Highgod and will come kill that Tarosse!” Ojwin’s heart was filled with extreme hatred towards Tarosse.

  But until reaching the Highgod-level, Ojwin wouldn’t dare to irritate Tarosse again.

  And then, Ojwin transformed into a ray of light, streaking into the western skies.

  Ojwin’s divine fire clone had been destroyed. Indeed, he now no longer dared to cause trouble. Dragonblood Castle once more returned to its normal calm, and Linley began to train quietly as well. After many months had passed, when winter was starting, Linley received a bit of good news.

  On this day, Linley was currently absorbed in attuning with the Elemental Laws of the Wind.

  Suddenly, a sound rang out in his mind. “Linley, I need to entrust you with something.”

  “Lord Beirut?” Linley immediately halted his training.

  “Bebe has already reached the stage of transforming into a Deity. This final transformational stage is extremely critical. Remember, starting today, no matter what, don’t reach out mentally to Bebe. Don’t disturb him,” Beirut mentally transmitted to Linley.

  Beirut was capable of preventing others from engaging in using their divine sense to speak, but even Beirut was incapable of blocking Linley and Bebe from communicating, due to their connected souls. Thus, he had to deliver a message.

  “Transforming into a Deity? Alright, I understand. In this period of time, I definitely won’t send a mental message to Bebe and disturb him.” Linley felt delighted for Bebe as well.

  96

  Bebe Becomes a Deity

  Yulan calendar, year 10045. The entire Yulan continent was fairly calm this year.

  Linley’s original body remained within the pocket dimension, focusing on training in the Throbbing Pulse of the World. His divine clone remained within Dragonblood Castle, spending most of its time on training in the Profound Truths of Velocity, while occasionally analyzing the Profound Mysteries of Sound.

  With respect to the Profound Truths of Velocity, Linley was very, very far off from the level of mastery.

  Yulan calendar, year 10045, summer. The scorching sun baked the earth, and by the side of a pool of water in the east gardens of Dragonblood Castle, Linley and Cesar were currently seated in a pavilion, enjoying the weather.

  “I have to say that the War God really has excellent luck.” Cesar let out a sigh.

  “Are you referring to the divine spark?” Linley instantly understood what Cesar’s sigh was in reference to. Last year, when Ojwin had attacked late at night, he had been killed by Tarosse, who had acquired a divine God spark. In the end, the War God still went to ask Tarosse for that divine God spark.

  The result had been… Tarosse had actually agreed.

  “A divine God spark! If someone has a God-level divine darkness spark, can I get it, please?” Cesar sighed, his eyes filled with a hint of jealousy. “If I just continue training like this by myself, who knows how long it will take before I can reach the God-level.”

  The longer one trained, the harder it became towards the end.

  “I heard that the War God paid a price in order to acquire this divine God spark,” Linley said.

  “You call that a price?” Cesar looked at Linley.

  Linley nodded. “How is it not a price? Tarosse said that after this ‘Descent of the Gods’ event is over and resolved, the War God will need to go with him to the Infernal Realm and be under his command for the next hundred thousand years. Only after a hundred thousand years will he regain his liberty.”

  “Hmph.” Cesar let out a disdainful laugh. “Linley, after hearing Tarosse’s request, O’Brien didn’t think about it for a few days, did he?”

  “No.”

  Linley was certain about this. “The War God was quite direct. He agreed right away.”

  “I’d agree to this sort of request as well.” Cesar wrinkled his nose. “First of all, to advance from Demigod to God, given O’Brien’s level of talent, it’s hard to say if he could accomplish it in a hundred thousand years. You must understand, O’Brien became a Deity through fusing with a divine spark!”

  Linley nodded in agreement.

  He had indeed fused with a divine spark to become a Deity. But those divine sparks were formed by the universe when others became Deities, and wouldn’t completely be fused with O’Brien’s soul. There were impediments when training as well. To reach the God-level, the amount of time it would take would also be far longer than the amount of time experts who became Deities on their own would take.

  “So first of all, it will be very hard for him to become a God on his own power. In addition, aside from the Necropolis of the Gods, where else could he, a Demigod, procure a God-level divine spark?” Cesar continued, “For the sake of a divine God spark, all he has to do is listen to someone else’s orders for a hundred thousand years.”

  “More importantly…”

  Cesar’s eyes held a hint of anticipation. “He is heading to the ‘Infernal Realm’. All he has to do is listen to Tarosse’s orders in the ‘Infernal Realm’. When a person newly enters the Infernal Realm, he would be unfamiliar with the place. Only under the guidance of an expert would one have a good shot at survival, and be capable to quickly adapt to this Higher Plane, the Infernal Realm! Others who want to find such a leader will find it hard to do so, and yet O’Brien, immediately upon entering the Infernal Realm, will have Tarosse’s protection. That is a huge advantage for him.”

  Linley couldn’t help but feel startled. Hearing Cesar’s words, he felt they made sense.

  “Going to the Infernal Realm means leaving behind his homeland.” Linley sighed.

  The current Linley still
had quite a bit of affection towards the Yulan continent.

  “Hmph,” Cesar said. “What a joke. Only an exciting life is interesting. At the Deity-level, staying in these ordinary material planes no longer have much of a point for us. Actually, ever since returning from the Necropolis of the Gods, I’ve been planning to go to the Higher Planes.”

  “You are leaving?” Linley was somewhat surprised.

  “This time, when I returned, I found out that many Deities had descended.” Cesar laughed. “It seemed as though life here would be quite interesting, so naturally, I decided to stay a bit longer. If it weren’t for these Deities, I would have left for the Higher Planes long ago.”

  “After all, standing at the top is a very lonely thing. Linley, life is only meaningful when it is colorful and interesting.” Cesar sighed. “Linley, you haven’t lived for very long yet. If you live for another century, you’ll start to have this sort of feeling as well. Think about it, Linley. If in the Yulan continent, you are so powerful as to be invincible, wouldn’t you eventually grow tired of that quiet life?”

  Linley thought about it for a moment, and his heart trembled.

  Standing alone at the top of the Yulan continent, living a tranquil life… just thinking about it made Linley feel some revulsion. In his mind, he quickly began thinking about everything he had experienced.

  “An interesting, colorful life with ups and downs. Only that is meaningful.” Linley had to admit this was true.

  He himself wasn’t willing to live an ordinary, common life. Although he knew that the Four Higher Planes and the Seven Divine Planes had countless experts there, if as a result he decided to live an ordinary life and remain hiding on the Yulan Plane like a frog in a well, this would be too laughable.

  “After this affair concludes, I will leave and go to the Infernal Realm. Linley, come with me,” Cesar urged. “In the Infernal Realm, there are experts from countless planes. All sorts of races, and also, the Four Supreme Warrior clans have all gone to the Infernal Realm. Don’t you want to go visit your ancestors?”

  The Four Supreme Warrior clans? His ancestors?

  The very first Dragonblood Warrior of the Baruch clan, Baruch! And the second, the third… all of his ancestors who had already gone to the Infernal Realm.

  Linley couldn’t help but feel a sense of anticipation as they discussed this, but then he immediately said with a laugh, “Cesar, stop enticing me. I’m in no rush. I’ll stay here with Delia for a while. When the time comes that we, husband and wife, feel bored, perhaps we’ll make a tourist trip to the Infernal Realm.”

  “Tourism trip?” Cesar didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. “What do you take the Infernal Realm for?”

  Yulan calendar, year 10045. Early winter. Snow flew everywhere.

  Within the pocket dimension.

  The pocket dimension was divided into two layers. The lower layer had Olivier and Desri there in training, while the upper layer had Barker, Haeru, and two of the Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions. Linley himself was also seated in the meditative position on the bed on the upper layer, training in the Throbbing Pulse of the World.

  The profound mysteries of the Laws were all interconnected, from the simple to the profound.

  Precisely because this was the case, Linley utilized this sort of visualization technique to train. But of course, Linley wasn’t visualizing wildly, but was doing so in accordance with his insights into the ‘Elemental Laws’ themselves. Occasionally, he would have a new spark of insight, causing him to make a breakthrough via his visualization.

  Linley’s original body had already completely finished absorbing those hundred million soul essences.

  Last time, when he had absorbed twenty million soul essences, Linley’s visualization speed had dramatically increased. From the 32 Fused Waves to the 16 Fused Waves, he had only taken one year and three months. After absorbing a hundred million additional soul essences, his visualization speed increased several times over.

  The amount of time that he needed thus also shrank by several times.

  In addition, Linley had already been training in fusing the 16 Fused Waves to the 8 Fused Waves for two years at the time of Beaumont’s death.

  Now, yet another year had passed.

  Three years time.

  Seated in the meditative position on the stone bed within the pocket dimension, Linley’s eyes opened, a hint of a smile on his face. “The Throbbing Pulse of the World truly is extremely complicated. At last, I have broken through to the 8 Fused Waves level.” Linley was currently feeling extremely pleased.

  “Only, why is it that I feel as though even prior to the level of complete mastery, the Throbbing Pulse of the World is hundreds of times more complex and vast than the insights I have gained into the ‘Profound Truths of Velocity’?” Linley couldn’t understand it.

  Based on what Linley knew.

  Training any of the profound mysteries of the Elemental Laws to the level of complete mastery would result in one becoming a Demigod.

  As for the Profound Truths of Velocity, actually, the Profound Truths of Velocity wasn’t just a simple profound mystery; it was the result of the fusion of the ‘Fast’ and ‘Slow’ mysteries. Reaching complete mastery in the Profound Truths of Velocity was equivalent to reaching mastery in both the ‘Fast’ and the ‘Slow’ mysteries. Naturally, it would be different from reaching the level of mastery in a single mystery.

  “I won’t over-think it.” Linley immediately closed his eyes and continued training.

  But this time, ten days later, before he had a chance to train for long…

  “Boss, Boss!”

  A familiar voice rang out in Linley’s mind. Linley instantly stopped his training, and sent back a spiritual message in surprise and delight. “Bebe, you, you succeeded?”

  “Right, I succeeded. Boss, I’m already a Deity!” Bebe’s delighted voice rang out in Linley’s mind.

  Linley felt a surge of excitement and joy in his heart. Bebe, who had grown up by his side, had already become a Deity as well.

  “Wonderful.” Linley didn’t know what he should say.

  “Boss, I’m immediately heading out from the Forest of Darkness. Wait for me.” Bebe had finally reached the adult phase as a Godeater Rat. Having become a Deity, Bebe immediately, excitedly, flew straight out from the metallic castle within the Forest of Darkness towards Dragonblood Castle.

  Beneath the setting sun, Dragonblood Castle seemed to be covered with a dusky red layer of sunlight.

  Within the rear gardens of Dragonblood Castle, the War God and the High Priest were seated opposite to each other with a stone table between them. The War God and the High Priest were both fusing with divine sparks, only… neither the War God nor the High Priest would spend all of their time fusing with divine sparks.

  “After this Descent of the Gods event is completed, I will accompany Lord Tarosse to the Infernal Realm. And you?” the War God asked.

  The High Priest felt rather moved.

  She and the War God had actually struggled for many years. Not long ago, she had succeeded in the Necropolis of the Gods and acquired a divine God spark. Now, the War God had acquired one as well.”

  “You can go. As for myself…” The High Priest laughed. “The Necropolis of the Gods is more and more dangerous as the levels progress. It had been extremely dangerous for me just to acquire even this God-level divine spark. If I want to acquire a Highgod spark, who knows how long it would take. A hundred thousand years? A million years?”

  The High Priest sighed. “After this event is concluded, most likely the many Deities will all leave the Yulan continent. I don’t want to be here by myself. When the time comes, I will choose to go to the Life Realm.”

  The Four Higher Planes were the Infernal Realm, the Celestial Realm, the Netherworld, and the Life Realm.

  The Infernal Realm was made by the Overgod of Destruction. The Celestial Realm was made by the Overgod of Fate. The Netherworld was made by the Overgod of Death. As
for the Life Realm, it was naturally created by the Overgod of Life.

  “You’ll go to the Life Realm?” The War God was somewhat astonished. He then let out a laughter filled with mixed emotions. “If that’s the case, then who knows how long it will be before we meet again.”

  “If we have the chance, we’ll meet again,” the High Priest, Catherine, said calmly. Her face hidden behind that mask, it was hard to say what the expression on the High Priest’s face was.

  These two Deities who had been opponents for thousands of years were now both silent.

  “Wow, O’Brien, Catherine, what are you two doing here? Ah, secretly dating?” A voice suddenly rang out in the rear gardens. Instantly, both the silent War God and the High Priest were greatly startled.

  Especially because these words made them feel very awkward.

  A seemingly skinny youth, with inch-long hair and a sleeveless shirt had suddenly appeared. This youth had sparkling, crystalline skin that was very bright, and a pair of eyes that were black and lively. Those eyes seemed capable of speech, and they were intentionally staring at the War God and the High Priest in a meaningful manner.

  The youth instantly pointed at the High Priest, a delighted, surprised look on his face. “Ha, Catherine, you’re blushing!”

  The High Priest didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. She was wearing a mask. Nobody could possibly see her facial expressions. Since nobody could see her facial expressions, it was of course possible that her face was indeed red.

  “Bebe, stop making trouble.” Linley immediately walked into the rear garden.

  “Wow, Boss!” Bebe immediately ran over excitedly.

  97

  Profound Mysteries, High and Low

  “Uhh…” Bebe suddenly halted, staring at Linley’s shoulder in confusion.

  Linley began to laugh as well. “You still want to stand on my shoulders?” In the past, Bebe often stood on Linley’s shoulders. But now Bebe was in human form, although, at 1.7 meters, he wasn’t that tall.