The teasing, flirtatious words the two had exchanged in the past years seemed to echo in her ears. Nisse flipped her hand, and a straw hat appeared within it. It was Bebe who had given it to her.
“Ninny, I brought this straw hat with me from my homeland, the Yulan continent. You won’t be able to buy another one like it in the Infernal Realm. Take good care of it. I think that in the future, when the two of us have children, I’ll give our kid a straw hat as well. All three of us will wear straw hats, haha…”
The bygone words of Bebe lingered by her ears. Nisse looked at the straw hat in her hands, and her heart trembled.
In an instant, countless spears of regret gnawed away at her soul like locusts!
Suddenly, Nisse began to cry. A soundless cry.
Salomon, when he saw this, felt a strange feeling well up in his heart… regret! Seeing his little sister like this, Salomon felt regret as well. After all, his little sister was the only family he had. He could be calculating and vicious towards others, but he had always cared about his little sister.
“Nisse…” Salomon knelt down, stretching out with his arm to embrace Nisse by the shoulders, wanting to comfort her. “Don’t be sad. Bebe’s already dead. It’s too late. It was your big brother’s fault. I’m sorry.”
“Dead?” Nisse looked at the bubbling golden magma. She suddenly remembered how Bebe had been struck by the blade of a Highgod and had been unharmed. It seemed as though Nisse had suddenly thought of something, as she immediately turned to look towards Elquin. “Mr. Elquin, Bebe’s defensive power is so formidable, he definitely should be able to resist this liquefied Goldflame! He’s at the bottom of the lake, alive, right? Tell me that Bebe isn’t dead, Mr. Elquin!” Nisse’s tear-stained face stared towards Elquin.
Nisse’s heart was filled with regret.
She wanted Bebe to be alive, to appear in front of her.
But Elquin only shook his head. He calmly said, “Miss Nisse, I’ll tell you right now that the person named Bebe is dead! Those Highgods, that Linley and his wife, all of them who fell in are dead!”
“Nisse, if Bebe were still alive, wouldn’t he come out?” Salomon urged.
Nisse lowered her head to look at the straw hat in her hands, unable to refrain from feeling agony in her heart.
At the bottom of the golden magma pool.
“Ninny!” Bebe was crying as well. Hearing Nisse’s sobs and words, he cried.
Bebe, ignoring all else, suddenly charged towards the outside.
“BANG!” A powerful force appeared above Bebe’s head, and Bebe smashed against it, then was knocked backwards.
“Are you looking for death?!” the deep voice rang out in the mind of Linley and the other two once more. “I warned you that for now, you are not permitted to emerge from within this liquefied Goldflame pool. This is your final warning. If this happens again, all three of you will die!”
Bebe was completely stunned. He looked back towards Linley and Delia.
“Boss, sorry,” Bebe said quietly. Bebe understood that right now, their lives were completely under the control of Phusro. Acting in such a way would be thrusting Linley and Delia into grave risk.
Linley patted Bebe on the shoulders, but didn’t know what to say.
“Bebe,” Delia consoled. “Don’t worry too much. Afterwards, when you go out, you’ll be able to meet with Nisse. You can endure for a while.”
“Right.” Bebe nodded slightly.
Linley, seeing how Bebe was acting, sighed to himself. “Nisse is a fine girl. But her big brother Salomon is… even if we went outside and met with him, the rift between us will still persist.” After all, Salomon had actually shouted arrogantly for Linley to be killed.
“Right. They are discussing the fortune of the Boyd clan once more.” Linley raised his head. More voices were once more coming down from up above.
The cavern was extremely hot, but the people in the cavern were talking animatedly there.
Inigo looked at Salomon. In a cold voice, he said, “Lord Elquin, this Salomon does have the talisman of Lord Aiken, but that only means… that Salomon and Lord Aiken have some sort of a relationship. It doesn’t necessarily mean that he gave the fortune of his clan to Lord Aiken!”
Salomon’s face was sinister. Inigo chuckled. “What’s more, Lord Elquin, do you actually believe that Salomon would be able to bear with parting with such a fortune and give it to someone else?”
“No, I don’t believe it!” Elquin laughed calmly as he looked towards Salomon.
Salomon grew tense anew. Was he really going to be forced to reveal his final card?
Salomon said in a resolute, clear voice. “I’ve already made it clear. I gave my clan’s fortune to Lord Aiken, using this fortune in exchange for Lord Aiken’s trust. Lord Aiken has instructed me to go to the Rainbow Prefecture to take care of a major undertaking. If you truly kill me, then once Lord Aiken finds out, then… hmph!”
Elquin let out a disdainful sneer.
Inigo snickered as well. “Salomon, Lord Aiken is powerful, but he isn’t so powerful as to be able to see the future. If we were to kill you and destroy your corpse and all evidence, how would Lord Aiken know that it was we who killed you?”
Salomon laughed calmly. “Right, right. I understand. The chances of Lord Aiken finding out are very low, but if he really were to find out, then you two would be finished. I can tell you clearly that the amount of money I have on me is less than ten billion inkstones. Can it be that for the sake of ten billion inkstones, you would be willing to incur the anger of Lord Aiken?”
“Ten billion inkstones?” Inigo said with a snickering laugh. “Who would believe you?”
Elquin stared at Salomon, then suddenly said, “Salomon, give me your interspatial ring and let me inspect it. If it truly is as you say, then I’ll let you leave. What do you say?”
“Fine! Let it be as you say!” Salomon said clearly, but who would have thought that just as he agreed, Elquin would continue. “Oh, and also your interspatial belt. Give it to me for an inspection as well. I almost overlooked it. I didn’t expect that your belt is also a storage device!”
Interspatial storage devices could be made in the shape of rings; naturally, they could be made into other things as well.
However, because rings were convenient, interspatial rings were extremely common.
“Belt?” Salomon’s face changed.
Elquin and Inigo, seeing the look on Salomon’s face, began to laugh. Clearly… Salomon’s interspatial belt most likely contained the fortune of the Boyd clan.
“To give Lord Aiken face, all I will do is inspect your interspatial ring and belt. If it truly is as you say it is… then I will let you out.” Elquin smiled as he looked at Salomon. “I think… that my attitude is already very good.”
Given Elquin’s level of power, how could he not have noticed that Salomon’s belt was special?
“What, are you afraid to take it out to show us?” Inigo snickered.
By Salomon’s side, Nisse was beginning to worry for her big brother as well. Although in her heart, she still felt a bit of rage towards her big brother, no matter what, Salomon was still her big brother.
“Big brother…” Nisse said softly.
Salomon’s gaze turned sharp. Looking at the cat-holding Elquin and Inigo, he said, “Mr. Elquin, I truly don’t want to be enemies with you, but you continue to force me. Fine, then. I will show you the fortune of my Boyd clan!”
Elquin and Inigo’s eyes lit up.
“Indeed, he is carrying it on him,” Elquin said to himself, and Inigo chuckled softly. “Lord Elquin, I told you long ago that this Salomon wouldn’t be able to bear giving his clan’s fortune to Lord Aiken.” Elquin smiled and nodded approvingly towards him.
At the same time, they both stared towards Salomon, seeing what he was going to take out.
But their features instantly froze. They stared in astonishment at an item held within Salomon’s hands.
“Do y
ou see it? This is the entirety of the fortune of our Boyd clan!” Salomon was holding a single black drop of water within his hand. He laughed coldly as he looked at Elquin and Inigo. “I imagine the two of you should both know what this is!”
“Sov— Sovereign’s Might?!” Inigo stuttered.
Elquin’s face had become exceedingly ugly as well.
Salomon stared at the drop of black water in his hand. His gaze became unfocused, and he said softly, “Right. This is Sovereign’s Might! A liquid drop of the power of a Sovereign. I trust that when combining this drop of Sovereign’s Might with my own profound mysteries of the Laws, I will have enough power to kill the both of you.”
Elquin and Inigo’s faces were very unpleasant.
“How do you have Sovereign’s Might? Could it be… Aiken?” Elquin instantly understood.
Salomon said softly, “I didn’t lie to you at all. I really did give my entire clan’s fortune to Lord Aiken. In addition, Lord Aiken previously owed my Boyd clan a favor. I gave that astonishingly vast fortune to Lord Aiken, and asked Lord Aiken to help me refine a drop of Sovereign’s Might! Thus… this is the entire fortune of my clan.”
Sovereign’s Might was divided into types as well.
Earth, fire, water, wind. Darkness, light, lightning, Life, Destruction, Death, Fate.
“Although every single inkstone and azurite contains within it an extremely, extremely miniscule and almost negligible amount of Sovereign’s Might, when countless inkstones and azurites are put together and refined, in the end, a single drop of Sovereign’s Might can be forged!” Salomon said softly.
Sovereign’s Might in gaseous form would naturally dissipate. Therefore, it had to be refined into liquid form.
A drop was the smallest stable amount.
However, a single drop of Sovereign’s Might required the consumption of an astronomically large sum of inkstones and azurites. More importantly… it was extremely hard to refine Sovereign’s Might!
“In the entire Infernal Realm, there are very few experts capable of refining Sovereign’s Might. Fortunately, Lord Aiken has this ability,” Salomon said as he looked towards Elquin and Inigo. He didn’t want to take out this Sovereign’s Might at all. This was his one and only backup.
Once he used it, he would be unable to advance his plans. How would he, a single Highgod by himself, be able to resurrect the Boyd clan?
But even if he didn’t use it and if these two let him leave, the news that he had Sovereign’s Might would definitely spread out.
Every possible outcome was a bad one for Salomon!
53
Water Drop, Sovereign’s Might?
Now that he had taken out a drop of Sovereign’s Might, he could either use it to either kill his opponents, or to cause the opponents to let him go out of fear. No matter what, he could leave safely! However, upon taking it out and revealing it, he had revealed his trump card, and it would no longer be a trump card.
Salomon felt rage whenever he thought of this!
Glancing sideways at Elquin and Inigo, he saw that clearly, the two of them were very desirous of this drop of Sovereign’s Might, but they also didn’t feel confident in being able to take it.
Salomon said softly, “The inkstones and azurites of the Infernal Realm are all created by the Sovereigns of Destruction. This drop of black water is in fact a drop of Destruction Sovereign’s Might, and I just so happen to train in the Way of Destruction. Destruction Sovereign’s Might, paired with the Way of Destruction… the power will be even greater.”
Elquin’s face was truly terrible to behold.
In the Infernal Realm, Seven Star Fiends could be considered supreme experts, with Asuras being the greatest figures who could roam the entire Infernal Realm. However, there were 108 Asuras, many Seven Star Fiends, and retired Asuras. Throughout the course of the countless years of history, there were many powerful experts in the Infernal Realm.
To be able to stand at the very peak of even these experts, generally one of the below criteria had to be true.
1. Like Aiken, be capable of refining Sovereign’s Might! Who would dare do battle against someone who was capable of using a drop of Sovereign’s Might?
2. Be a supreme expert who possessed a Sovereign artifact! With a Sovereign artifact in one’s possession, naturally one would be far above the others.
3. Be a Highgod who had reached the level of being a Paragon, of completely fusing all of the profound mysteries in one of the Elemental Laws. Naturally, such a person would stand at the very peak amongst Highgods.
4. Of course, there were always some special cases.
Special cases being that the Seven Star Fiend’s original form was that of a divine beast that had an extremely monstrous divine ability, such as the ‘Godeater’ ability. With such a monstrous divine ability, then of course one would be exceedingly powerful. There were also soul mutations, and some other special circumstances.
In short, whether it was ‘Aiken’ whose fame overawed the Redbud Continent, or ‘Beirut’ of the Bloodridge Continent, these experts all had something they relied on.
But Elquin, in turn, could only be considered a rather talented Seven Star Fiend. He didn’t have Sovereign’s Might, nor a Sovereign artifact, nor had he reached the level of Paragon… naturally, it would be very hard for him to face Salomon.
Using ‘Sovereign’s Might’ to attack, compared to using ‘Highgod divine power’ to attack, was as different as the heavens and the earth. Even if the understanding of the profound mysteries of the Laws were exactly the same, the difference in base power was simply too great.
It was comparable to an infant who was an expert in swordplay fighting with a giant who had boundless strength. How could the infant win, even if the giant didn’t understand swordplay?
Same logic.
Salomon, in terms of understanding the profound mysteries of the Laws, might only have 10% the level of attainment his opponent had, but the power of Sovereign’s Might was simply too great when compared to that of a Highgod’s.
“What, you want to try and acquire this drop of Sovereign’s Might?” Salomon chuckled.
“Mr. Elquin?” Inigo turned to look at Elquin. Inigo's personal power was weaker than Salomon’s to begin with. Once Salomon used the Sovereign’s Might, killing Inigo would only take an instant.
Elquin hesitated slightly, then let out a low sigh. “Sovereign’s Might… such a small drop of water that contains such exceedingly terrifying power.” Elquin’s words contained a hint of envy. He dreamed of himself possessing a drop of Sovereign’s Might.
Although it was a one-use item, even if he didn’t use it, he could use it to threaten others. At a critical moment, he might be able to use it to save his own life.
Linley stood there at the bottom of the golden magma pool as though thinking about something.
“What is the Boss thinking about?” Bebe and Delia both noticed that Linley seemed to be a bit strange. “There’s no need for the Boss to act like this just because he heard the conversation up above about ‘Sovereign’s Might’, right? Although I have to say, this Sovereign’s Might truly does make one envious.”
Delia said softly, “Envious. Didn’t you hear what Salomon said? Refining Sovereign’s Might is extremely difficult, and only an extremely few people in the entire Infernal Realm are capable of refining Sovereign’s Might. In addition, the amount of inkstones and azurites that would be consumed is absolutely astonishing. The entire fortune of the Boyd clan was only enough to forge a single drop.”
Linley’s spiritual energy was completely focused on entering the Coiling Dragon ring.
Within the Coiling Dragon ring, there were two drops of blue water remaining!
“Water drops? Water drops? Sovereign’s Might?” Linley felt rather numb. No matter how stupid he might be, he would still immediately connect the dots. “I’m an utter idiot. A single drop of blue water that is able to make my body transform and become so powerful that I can take on a H
ighgod artifact attack head on… such a monstrous water drop… aside from Sovereign’s Might, what else could it be?”
It had raised his body’s power so much that the amount of energy it had consumed was surely enormous as well.
A single water drop that was able to provide so much power? Only the legendary ‘Sovereign’s Might’ was capable of such a thing.
“Argh, I’m too foolish. When I received the Coiling Dragon ring, this damaged soul-protecting Sovereign artifact… it is a Sovereign’s artifact! Clearly, in the past, the master of this Coiling Dragon ring was a Sovereign! Since the master was a Sovereign, this water drop is naturally Sovereign’s Might.”
Everything made sense.
Aside from a Sovereign, who else would leave behind three drops of Sovereign’s Might in the Coiling Dragon ring upon death?
After all, if it was a Highgod, the Highgod would most likely have used up the Sovereign’s Might during the battle. Only to someone as mighty as a Sovereign would these drops of Sovereign’s Might not mean that much. After all, Sovereigns possessed boundless amounts of divine Sovereign power. Leaving behind three drops of Sovereign’s Might before death was normal.
“I used a drop. I still have two remaining. If I were to sell them, what sort of price would they fetch?” Although Linley was curious about it, he wasn’t so stupid as to actually go do it.
A single drop of Sovereign’s Might was a priceless treasure!
The entire fortune of the Boyd clan, accumulated over countless years had to be expended, as well as the favor which Lord Aiken owed the Boyd clan, with the result being that Aiken had forged a single drop of Sovereign’s Might. In truth, to an expert on Aiken’s level, a debt was actually far more valuable than any treasure.
If that wasn’t the case, no matter how much treasure had been offered to him, Aiken probably still wouldn’t have refined the Sovereign’s Might.
After all, if he made Sovereign’s Might for someone, it was very possible that one day, that drop of Sovereign’s Might could fall into the hands of an enemy.
The Infernal Plane: Book 5 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 41
