“Regardless of whether it is the ‘World Protector’ or the ‘Sacred Earthguard Armor’, they all are considered a very basic way of using the Profound Mysteries of the Essence of the Earth.”
Leylin explained slowly, “The Essence of the Earth can transform into countless shapes. You can use it to create a human figure, a magical beast figure, or even a set of armor. The ‘Essence of the Earth’, in the late stages of mastery, represents a deep level of proficiency in utilizing elemental essences. For example… my manor!”
Leylin pointed at his manor. “Linley, look at this manor. In terms of toughness, it is comparable to adamantine. In addition, it will exist in perpetuity! Tell me, how did I accomplish this?”
“This?” Linley was very puzzled about this to begin with.
But now, Linley somewhat understood that this manor in front of him was most likely formed after reaching the level of complete mastery in the ‘Essence of the Earth’.
“Linley, experts of the Laws of the Earth should have the most powerful defenses.” Leylin’s eyes, beneath those crimson eyebrows, were shining. “Amongst them, the most powerful physical defenses rely on the ‘Essence of the Earth’, while the most powerful spiritual defenses rely on the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’.”
Linley nodded in agreement.
He himself used spiritual energy to form a spiritual ‘Pulseguard Defense’.
“The Laws of the Earth have six profound mysteries. If you want to master any of them, your best option is to start with the basics. Finish mastering the ‘Essence of the Earth’. It is the foundation!”
Leylin advised, “The Profound Mysteries of the Essence of the Earth is the best way one can gain a deeper understanding into the elemental essences. Once your understanding of the elemental essences reaches a certain level of depth, then it will become much easier for you to gain insights into the other profound mysteries of the Laws.”
Linley somewhat understood now.
“The final, Omega Wave of the Throbbing Pulse of the World is extremely hard to achieve. I’m not able to provide any direct advice, but I imagine that if you can focus and meditate on the Profound Mysteries of the Essence of the Earth, perhaps it will be of benefit to you in breaking through with regards to the Throbbing Pulse of the World.” Leylin laughed.
“Thank you, Mr. Leylin.” Linley’s heart was filled with gratitude.
“Everything relies on you yourself.” Leylin laughed. “Then, how about this. Linley, take a close look.”
Leylin looked into the air. Suddenly, in the air above, earth elemental essence began to gather.
Linley raised his head to watch as well.
An explosive surge of earth elemental essence was rapidly condensing, and even began to emit a faint rumbling sound. An enormous earthen cloud appeared in the sky above Mount Copper Gong, and then this cloud of earth transformed into an earth-colored python that was a hundred meters long.
“Hissssss.” The python seemed to be real, occasionally revealing its fangs.
This enormous python that had appeared in mid-air truly did cause Linley to feel shock in his heart.
“Is this the result of mastery in the Essence of the Earth?” Linley secretly wondered.
“Now, take a close look,” Leylin said in a low shout.
Linley immediately focused his attention while at the same time, spreading out his divine sense to carefully study every single movement of this enormous python. This hundred-meter-long coiling python suddenly whipped out its tail in a fury, its thick, long serpentine tail lashing out like the crack of a whip.
“Rumble…”
The whipping tail attack of the python actually created spatial ripples that were visible to the naked eye.
The spatial ripples were simply too great. Every single ripple caused space to crack. Instantly… in the air above Mount Copper Gong, the rippled, cracked space began to reveal itself, appearing then disappearing. Only, as the spatial ripples continued to spread outwards, the strength naturally began to decrease.
Despite that, however, the nearby trees that were impacted by these spatial ripples were instantly transformed into dust.
“This? Is this the Throbbing Pulse of the World?” Linley was astonished.
“This is the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’ at mastery.” Leylin laughed as he looked at Linley.
“The ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’ can be utilized through creatures formed from elemental essence?” Linley was very surprised.
“Why not?” Leylin laughed calmly as he spoke. “And this is just the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’ and the ‘Essence of the Earth’ used separately. If I were to fuse the two of them and then use them… most likely this Mount Copper Gong would no longer exist.”
Linley’s heart was filled with amazement.
He knew that the profound mysteries of the Elemental Laws could fuse with each other.
“So powerful.” The nearby Bebe let out a sigh of praise as well, then he looked at Leylin in confusion. “Mr. Leylin, just now, you said that of the earth, fire, water, and wind Elemental Laws, only the Elemental Laws of the Wind have nine profound mysteries. The other three only have six profound mysteries. Then doesn’t that mean… that it will be very hard to train in the Elemental Laws of the Wind?”
“No.”
Leylin let out a sigh. “The numbers might be different, but the total difficulty level is roughly the same. For example, the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’ and the ‘Gravitational Field’ profound mysteries of the Laws of the Earth are all extremely hard to learn. In order to reach mastery in either of the two, one must spend tremendous effort, have some good luck, and also occasional flashes of insight.”
“Linley, first train in the ‘Essence of the Earth’. Perhaps it will bring you some unexpected surprises.” Leylin laughed.
Linley nodded slightly.
Linley knew that the ‘Essence of the Earth’ was fairly easy to pick up. After all, in the past, most of his magic was based off of controlling elemental essences.
“Mr. Leylin, might I ask if in the future, I can come again to ask for your aid?” Linley asked.
“Of course you can. So long as I remain here at Mount Copper Gong, you can come find me,” Leylin said.
Linley could hear Leylin’s unspoken meaning. “Mr. Leylin, can it be that you are going to leave?”
Leylin nodded and sighed. “Indeed. In the not too distant future, I will indeed leave this place.” After speaking, Leylin seemed to have thought of something. Letting out a sigh, he no longer spoke.
And then, Linley and Bebe thus settled down within Mount Copper Gong while sending a message via divine sense to the people in Dragonblood Castle. Normally, they quietly trained here at Mount Copper Gong. While training in the Profound Mysteries of the Essence of the Earth, Linley slowly began to discover the benefits to training in the Essence of the Earth.
Within a quiet courtyard.
Sadista once more spread out his divine sense to search for Linley. He couldn’t help but frown, his eyes containing a hint of anger. “This Linley is still together with that Godeater Rat. Hmph. And this mountain actually has two other Gods?”
Given Sadista’s power, he could easily discover those two Gods.
“Just Gods.” Sadista didn’t care about them at all. “But it seems we still need to wait for the right chance.”
Sadista was extremely patient. Without complete certainty, he wouldn’t send Anras to attack. After all, his number one priority was still the treasures within the Necropolis of the Gods.
But it was very strange…
That Lord of Mount Copper Gong, ‘Leylin’, lived on the mountain with his two brothers. However, Sadista was only able to discover those two Gods. He didn’t discover the presence of that third person, ‘Leylin’.
108
A So-Called Spar
The environment of Mount Copper Gong was very beautiful. Within the quiet, deep valley, there was a waterfall and a pool of wat
er beneath it. Linley and Bebe had built two stone houses and were living there. Linley didn’t want to go disturb that Lord of Mount Copper Gong. It was already enough for him to have given Linley pointers.
“Rumble…”
The waterfall cascaded down like countless white pearls, smashing down into the deep pool below.
“Splash!” The water in the pool flowed out in small streams. Linley sat in the meditative stance by the side of the pool in a patch of grass. His original body had begun to calm down and focus on attuning with the Profound Mysteries of the Essence of the Earth. As for his divine clone, it continued analyzing the Elemental Laws of the Wind.
“I have never paid such close attention to the elemental essences as I currently am.”
Linley sent out all of his spiritual energy, infusing it into every single earth elemental essence particle.
Earth elemental essence particles were extremely small. There was no way one could see them with the naked eye, but these elemental essence particles filled the entire world. Each earth elemental essence particle hovered throughout the nearby area, moving in a chaotic, random pattern. And then they would collide into each other, then separate.
The earth essence particles attracted each other, then repelled each other.
“How strange. Is this the elemental world?”
Linley sighed inwardly in praise.
And then, as Linley infused his spiritual energy into the earth, “These solidified elemental essence particles are far too close to each other.” Indeed, this was the case. Rocks and dirt were actually all formed from earth elemental essences, except the elemental density was extremely high.
“Although the boundless earth and the stones of the mountain are all formed from earth elemental essences, they don’t give off a strong elemental aura. Ah!” Linley’s heart was filled with shock. “According to the way the earth elemental particles in the air are behaving, when elemental particles reach a very close distance from each other, they will repel each other. Then why is it… that those extremely densely packed particles in the rocks don’t repel each other?”
Linley himself was capable of controlling earth elemental essence to form mounds of dirt or rocks or metal, but when he did so, it emanated a strong elemental aura.
“Why is it that stones and dirt don’t give off a strong elemental aura?” Linley had never discovered this before. So it seemed the ordinary, unassuming pieces of rocks and dirt actually contained unique profound mysteries of their own.
Linley’s mind couldn’t understand it.
All sorts of contradictions vexed his comprehension.
Training like this, Linley became completely absorbed into this world of the miraculous ‘Essence of the Earth’.
“Groooowl…”
During the past two months, Mount Copper Gong would occasionally have angry roars and bellows emanate from within it. This was because while training, Linley would control elemental essence to create all sorts of magical beasts, which would occasionally let out angry howls. Based on his insights into the nature of elemental essences, one contradiction after another was resolved.
Only now did Linley understand that applying spiritual energy to forcibly control elemental essences to form a solid was a foolish technique!
“Between each elemental essence particle and each other particle, there is a mysterious, amazing relationship. All I have to do is just to use a little bit of extra spiritual energy, and I can cause countless elemental essence particles to become one.” Linley opened his eyes, looking at the angrily howling Savage Worldbear in mid-air.
This Savage Worldbear’s entire body was faintly surrounded by a yellow light. It was currently roaring in anger while beating its chest.
This Savage Worldbear was created from elemental essences.
“Two months ago, if I were to utilize a forbidden-level magic spell to summon this ‘Savage Worldbear’, I would have used up ten times as much spiritual energy, or perhaps even more!” Linley couldn’t help but sigh. “And this is with me only understanding a little bit of the ‘Essence of the Earth’.”
If he had completely mastered the Profound Mysteries of the Essence of the Earth, the difference would be far greater.
“If you take two people with the same amount of spiritual energy, one of whom has trained in the ‘Essence of the Earth’ while the other has not, the difference in power of the ‘Sacred Earthguard Armor’ they created over their bodies would be as great as the difference between the heavens and the earth.”
“Elemental essences are indeed marvelous.” Linley felt some gratitude towards the Lord of Mount Copper Gong, Leylin.
Leylin’s words were correct. The Profound Mysteries of the Essence of the Earth was just the basics. The entire Laws of the Earth were actually nothing more than the many profound mysteries that were created from the countless earth elemental essences. Understanding the ‘Essence of the Earth’ would be of great benefit to understanding the other profound mysteries.
Mount Copper Gong. Leylin’s residence.
Within that elemental manor, Leylin was with his two brothers.
Leylin’s crimson eyebrows rose. Sighing in praise, he said, “This Linley’s innate talent really is quite good. In two short months, he has already reached such heights in his insights into the ‘Essence of the Earth’. Given his current speed… with the ‘Essence of the Earth’ being a simple type of profound mystery, most likely in just two or three years, he would have completely mastered it.”
“Linley has innate talent, but can it compare to yours, Third Brother?” That bald man, Burgess, laughed.
The white-robed man also said, “Third Brother, you are the only true, most powerful genius in the history of our Yulan Plane.”
The white-robed man and Burgess both looked at Leylin with a hint of admiration in their eyes.
“You can’t say that.” Leylin gazed towards the southeast, as though he were capable of piercing through the walls of reality with his gaze and seeing that distant Linley, training within the mountain gorge. Laughing calmly, he said, “This Linley is only a Demigod. He has only just started on the road to training. Who can predict what his future accomplishments will be like?”
“At least given his current speed, he’s only slightly slower than I was in the past. As for his future accomplishments, that is hard to say.”
The bald man and the white-robed man both nodded slightly.
“That Beirut has also informed me that in other planes, there are absolute geniuses who were able to reach the Demigod stage in ten years, the God stage in a hundred years, and the Highgod stage in a thousand years. But to stupid, foolish people, they might be stuck at a bottleneck for ten million years without being able to break through to the Demigod stage.” Leylin laughed calmly.
“That is what insight and perception means.”
Leylin sighed, “This Linley is a very insightful and very perceptive person.”
“Become a Highgod in a thousand years. This is simply inconceivable.” Burgess and the white-robed man both sighed.
Leylin laughed calmly. “This has to do with each person’s destiny and life experiences. Those ultimate geniuses aren’t worth envying either!”
Leylin clearly felt rather disdainful towards those geniuses.
“Those geniuses desperately desired to reach the Highgod-level as soon as possible. But how could they know that if one doesn’t begin trying to fuse the various profound mysteries from early on, if they only begin attempting to fuse them upon reaching the Highgod stage, it will be too late!”
“The profound mysteries of the Laws must be fused early on. The earlier you do, the easier it will be.” Leylin sighed. “If I had understood this when I was a Demigod, most likely I would have been able to fuse the six profound mysteries and have become a Paragon.”
“Fuse all of the profound mysteries? Third Brother, in all the countless planes, how many people have accomplished this?” the white-robed man said.
Leyl
in chuckled, no longer continuing on this subject.
“Big Brother.” Leylin looked towards that bald man. “It can be considered that Linley helped contribute to our successful flight from the Gebados Planar Prison. You are also someone who trains in the Laws of the Earth. Go have a spar with him.”
“Fine.” The bald man, Burgess, nodded straightforwardly.
Leylin looked at the white-robed man. “Second Brother, I have received great kindness from that Beirut. You go help take care of that Godeater Rat, and spar a bit with him as well.”
“And here I was, just feeling a bit bored,” the white-robed man laughed as he spoke.
The water gurgled forward in the creeks.
Linley was completely absorbed in attuning with the elemental essences. One drop of wisdom after another filled his mind, causing Linley to unconsciously reveal a hint of a smile on his face. While Linley was training, Bebe had also calmed down and begun to train.
Suddenly, a man appeared here.
“This Linley.” The bald man, Burgess, saw the hint of a smile on Linley’s face. “He actually smiles while he is training. This really makes one jealous!”
Only a few experts were able to treat training as a source of pleasure.
If you liked to do something, then once you became absorbed in it, your effectiveness would be extremely high. If, on the other hand, you didn’t like to do something and instead forced yourself to do it, the effectiveness would be very low.
The vast majority of experts forced themselves to train because they didn’t want to be inferior to others, didn’t want to be killed by others, or for other reasons.
How could they, who forced themselves to train, possibly compare to someone who liked training?
These countless experts all understood this reasoning, and they wanted to try and make themselves enjoy training and make training a source of pleasure, thus allowing themselves to train faster, gain insights more easily, and break through.
But whether or not you liked something was something determined by your nature and soul.
Gods of Yulan: Book 4 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 85
