Baruch Rising_Book 3 of the Coiling Dragon Saga

by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi

  And Linley?

  In strength and battle-qi, he was not inferior to his ancestor. However, he had a very deep understanding of the Laws. He was even more terrifying to deal with than the ancestors of the Baruch clan.

  “Heidens, the Sacred Isle doesn’t need me to defend it, does it,” Osenno asked.

  “Osenno, if you truly want to leave the Sacred Isle… I won’t try to stop you,” Heidens said calmly. “But leaving the Sacred Isle means that you are betting that Linley won’t find and kill you! Of course, your fleeing abilities are top notch. But I’m not certain if you would be able to flee from Linley.”

  Osenno had the Doppelganger Technique and was very fast.

  But he probably only had a 50-50 chance of fleeing and surviving if Linley encountered him.

  “Hmph. Fine. I’ll wait until my Doppelganger Technique reaches the peak before I have another tussle with Linley.” Osenno sneered coldly, and then with a flicker, disappeared from the ninth floor. But although his words were tough, clearly he had already submitted.

  A hint of a bitter smile could be seen on Heidens' face.

  It was virtually impossible to keep tabs on someone at Linley’s level. Right now, Linley’s flying speed was far quicker than it had been in the past. It would take him less than half a day to cross the entire Yulan continent. This sort of speed… if he wanted to chase after and kill someone, he could definitely make sure that his opponent didn’t have time to call for help.

  Yulan calendar, year 10022. May. An area outside Baruch City with wild flower and wild grass swaying, their beautiful dance so moving to behold. Right now, there were two luxurious carriages and a squad of elite knights who were escorting them down this wild road.

  “Your Majesty, we are at Mt. Blackraven,” a knight said respectfully towards the second carriage.

  Immediately, a husband and wife couple stepped out of the carriage, along with a youth. The couple was Wharton and Nina. Wharton was much more mature now than he had been. He was the King of the Baruch Kingdom, and his personal strength had dramatically increased as well. Wharton’s body emanated the aura of an expert. As for Nina, she wasn’t as unripe as she had been in the past; her body was fuller, now, and she had become even more womanly.

  As for that twelve- or thirteen-year-old child in front of them, who seemed so friendly and yet graceful? This child was the son of Wharton and Nina: Cena Baruch.

  “Wow, we are at Mt. Blackraven!” An excited voice rang out from the carriage in front of them, and a very excited youth clambered out of the carriage.

  “Taylor,” Cena laughed as he called out.

  “Big Brother.” Taylor ran over happily. Taylor was relatively handsome, but he was far more energetic than Cena.

  At this time, yet another beautiful lady stepped out of the carriage in front, as well as a pretty young girl. It was Delia and her daughter, Sasha. Sasha looked quite similar to Taylor. The two of them were actually twins, but Sasha was born just a little while before Taylor was, and thus Taylor was forced to be the ‘little brother’.

  Cena was twelve, while Sasha and Taylor were ten.

  “We’re about to see Father soon. I haven’t seen him in half a year.” Taylor was extremely excited right now, and Cena’s eyes had a hint of excitement in them as well. As the children of the Baruch clan, they all worshipped this person who supported the entire Baruch clan… Linley.

  The countless members of the Baruch Kingdom also worshipped Linley. Linley was the spiritual support for the entire Baruch Kingdom. There was no question about this.

  Although twelve years had passed, Delia’s appearance hadn’t changed at all. In fact, she actually now had a certain aura about her. Delia’s children had blissful smiles on their faces. Twelve years of peaceful, happy life. Delia truly was very satisfied.

  She stared at the distant Baruch City.

  The royal capital, Baruch City, had been expanded long ago. The normal population was over a million. Because Linley had brought the massive fortune he had taken from the Kingdom of Fenlai, the Baruch Kingdom had easily weathered the first few tough years, and now, the entire kingdom was prospering very nicely.

  Raising her head to look at Mt. Blackraven, Delia’s heart was already by Linley’s side.

  “Wharton, Nina, let’s go up the mountain.” Delia laughed. “Taylor, Sasha, Cena, follow along.”

  “Got it,” Taylor said loudly.

  His sister, Sasha, was very quiet. The squad of knights came to a halt at the foot of Mt. Blackraven, while Wharton, Nina, Delia, and the three children went up Mt. Blackraven together. Mt. Blackraven was as beautiful and graceful as ever.

  Following the little creek, they finally saw the lake in the distance.

  There were now three massive flattened boulders in the center of the lake. The central boulder was the first one that Linley had put down, and the stone house was naturally the one he had built long ago. As for the other two boulders, Linley had arranged them after his wedding, for when people came to visit for a while.

  A faint blue figure was currently fishing in the middle of the lake.

  “Father!” Taylor’s voice rang out from far away.

  That blue-robed figure turned around. It was Linley. Linley looked slightly more mature than he had in the past, and looking at him from a distance, one had the sense that he had totally become one with nature. Linley immediately stood up and laughed, “Haha, Taylor!”

  Linley’s standing motion gave the sensation of moving with the wind itself, but it also gave an extremely solid, stable sensation as well. These two opposite sensations, merged into one person, was simply unimaginable for those who didn’t personally experience it.

  Linley waved his hand…

  “Bang!” Part of the flowing water instantly came to a halt, forming a bridge of water. The other parts of the lake continued to flow normally. Taylor and Sasha, quite experienced, stepped directly onto the bridge of water and ran over.

  The water bridge was solid and durable.

  If one looked at it closely, one would see that on top of the water bridge were minute, tiny flows of air.

  “Taylor. Come. Hug.” Linley happily lifted Taylor into his arms, and the nearby Sasha immediately stared at Linley with her big, innocent eyes. Linley immediately reached out and lifted his beloved daughter into his embrace as well. “Taylor, Sasha, it’s been half a year since you’ve seen Father. Have you missed Father?”

  “Yes,” Taylor said immediately. “Every day.”

  Linley’s face instantly was covered with smiles. He could now totally understand how Grandpa Doehring had felt towards him, and how his father’s superficial severity masked a deep layer of love.

  “Hey. Taylor, Sasha, Cena, you all came.” A happy voice emanated from the skies, and a black shadow suddenly appeared in the middle of the lake. It was the magical beast Bebe, now two meters long.

  Linley looked at Bebe and couldn’t help but laugh inwardly.

  Whenever Bebe was in front of these three ‘juniors’ — Taylor, Sasha, and Cena — he always made his body a little bit bigger. As Bebe put it, ‘if my body is too small, I won’t have the aura of an elder’.

  “Uncle Bebe.” Taylor immediately broke free from Linley’s embrace and went to hug Bebe.

  When Taylor was young, Bebe often played around with Taylor.

  Wharton chuckled. “Big Brother, let’s sit down first. We can talk while eating. I brought many delicacies with me.” As he spoke, the family sat down around a long rectangular table, and within his interspatial ring, Wharton withdrew the freshly prepared dishes.

  The family began to eat.

  “Big Brother, have you heard of the big battle that occurred in the O’Brien Empire?” Wharton asked.

  With an ‘Oh’ sound, Linley said, “Are you talking about half a month ago, how Olivier challenged Haydson to another duel?” Olivier had already returned from the Arctic Icecap, returned with the aura of utmost confidence.

  Wharton sighed appr
eciatively. “Right. With just a single sword blow, he killed Haydson, who was famous for his defense. How terrifying.”

  “Haydson. Is it the Haydson who dueled with father at Mt. Tujiao?” Taylor raised his head up high and asked. This little fellow deeply venerated Linley, and he knew the details of Linley’s famous battles as well as anyone.

  Linley laughed and nodded.

  The nearby Delia also sighed in approval. “This Olivier really is formidable. Just one sword blow! Haydson’s defensive abilities were legendary. To be killed in one blow…” Delia also sighed repeatedly. The nearby Cena suddenly looked at Linley and asked, “Uncle, if you were to duel with Olivier again, can you win?”

  Linley laughed calmly.

  “Olivier’s improvement speed was faster than I had anticipated. In just twelve years, he reached the level of being able to kill Haydson with one sword blow. Without actually competing with him, it’s hard to say who would win and who would lose.” Linley laughed.

  “Boss, what are you being modest for?” Bebe said unhappily. “Haydson’s defense was on par with yours in the past. But now? Just by relying on your post-Saint transformation, the defensive power of your draconic scales alone is on a higher level than the combined power of your draconic scales and Pulseguard Defense of twelve years ago. And now, your Pulseguard Defense is more than ten times greater than before. In front of you, that Olivier isn’t worth a fart. Even people on the second tier, like Osenno, don’t dare to offend you. I think… only the five Prime Saints are able to compete with you now.”

  Wharton also said, “Big Brother, you are the most powerful Dragonblood Warrior in the history of our clan. Why be modest?”

  Wharton and the others knew exactly how formidable Linley had become.

  After twelve years of painstaking training, Linley’s level of achievement in understanding the Elemental Laws of the Earth and the Wind was so high as to make Wharton and the others utterly speechless.

  76

  Blueheart Grass, Dragon’s Blood

  Power?

  Linley knew exactly how powerful he currently was.

  He had reached the Saint level in human form. Once he Dragonformed, his draconic scales were ten times as powerful as they had been in the past. His strength and battle-qi had also risen to terrifying levels. Linley could fully understand… the reason why his ancestors, despite not having a high level of insight, could rely on Dragonform alone to defeat peak-stage Saint-level magical beasts.

  As for insight…

  The Throbbing Pulse of the World. He had already mastered 256 layers of vibrational waves. The more waves, the more difficult improving became. It had always been like that, but upon reaching the 256th layer of waves, after spending an entire year, he hadn’t been able to improve whatsoever.

  It seemed… as though 256 layers was some sort of limit.

  “It can’t be a limit.” Linley was very certain. “According to the War God, if one follows an aspect of the Elemental Laws to its limits, then one would enter the Deity level. I’m far, far away from the Deity level. So what exactly comes next, after the 256 layer level?”

  Linley didn’t know either.

  His understandings of the Throbbing Pulse of the World were unique, and there was no one he could ask for advice. All Linley could do every day was to try and immerse himself in the Throbbing Pulse of the World and try to make a breakthrough.

  As for the Elemental Laws of the Wind, Linley continued to slowly but surely improve. He hadn’t reached a bottleneck yet.

  “However, spiritual energy really is hard to build up. After twelve years, I’m still only at the peak of the ninth rank. Breaking through to the Grand Magus Saint-level really is hard.” Linley sighed in his heart. If anyone else heard what Linley was thinking, they would have cursed him to hell and back.

  As a magus, going from the sixth to the seventh rank was one bottleneck, while going from the ninth rank to the Saint level was the other major bottleneck.

  How could this bottleneck be so easily broken through?

  Linley looked at Delia, and he couldn’t help but think back to that black rock that Bebe had given her on their wedding night. “In just twelve years, Delia has advanced from the seventh rank as a magus to the ninth rank as an Arch Magus. Although she previously had already been at the seventh rank for quite a few years, this sort of improvement rate really is shocking .”

  Delia was already an Arch Magus of the ninth rank.

  After the wedding, Delia had discovered that it wasn’t just her elemental essence affinity that had been raised to a terrifying level; she was even able to absorb mageforce at an astonishing speed, and her spiritual energy rapidly increased as well… her rate of improvement vastly outstripped Linley’s. As Linley saw it, there was only one explanation for this change.

  That mysterious black rock.

  After the meal.

  Cena, Taylor, and Sasha were having fun by the lake, while Linley, Wharton, Delia, and the others all sat down.

  “Big Brother.” Wharton finally brought up the purpose of their trip. “Cena and Taylor were tested when they were young. The density of dragonblood in their veins hasn’t reached the required level. It seems we’ll have to use that method you spoke of in the past.”

  Linley frowned.

  “Oh? That’s right. It is time to use fresh dragon’s blood to activate the dragonblood in their veins, so they can begin training in the Secret Dragonblood Manual early on.” Linley nodded slightly. When Linley had chatted with the Planar Overseer, Hodan, he had realized…

  There were far more Dragonblood Warriors in the history of the Baruch clan than the book had mentioned. The real number was very high, and they relied on dragon’s blood.

  “Would it be very dangerous?” Delia was a bit nervous.

  “As long as the dragon’s blood is mixed in with Blueheart Grass, there is no danger at all to activating the dragonblood in their veins,” Linley said with absolute certainty, while at the same time, he looked at the three children by the lake. “Taylor and Cena need to have their blood activated. What about Sasha?”

  “Sasha?” Wharton and Delia both looked at the distant Sasha.

  Sasha was just a girl. Although male warriors generally were somewhat superior to female warriors, that didn’t mean girls couldn’t become experts.

  Delia smiled calmly. “Let her make her own choice.”

  Linley nodded slightly.

  “Become a Dragonblood Warrior?” Taylor was the first to whoop in joy. “Oh, I’ll do it, I’ll totally do it. I dream about being a Dragonblood Warrior like Father. Wow! I’m excited just thinking about it.”

  Cena nodded slightly as well. “I’ll do it.”

  Linley, Wharton, Nina, and Delia weren’t surprised. It’d be weird if any of the male children in their lineage passed on this opportunity. Now they all looked at Sasha. Sasha was very quiet. Although she was just ten years old, the beauty she had inherited from Delia was beginning to show.

  “I… I’ll do it also.” Sasha bit her lips, but nodded firmly.

  Delia stroked Sasha’s head and praised, “Sasha, in the future, you are going to be a powerful female Dragonblood Warrior.” A smile appeared on Sasha’s face.

  “Alright.” Linley nodded. “If that’s the case… then Wharton, Nina, you can just hand Cena to me. I’ll take the three of them to… the Mountain Range of the Setting Sun to search for Saint-level dragons. It’s time to engage in some bloodletting with Saint-level dragons.” Linley chuckled.

  Engage in bloodletting with Saint-level dragons. These words filled the eyes of Sasha, Taylor, and Cena with shock and joy.

  “I’ll go as well.” Wharton was somewhat nervous.

  “Hey, little Wharton, you’re only at the ninth rank. Even after transforming, you are only an early-stage Saint.” Bebe flew over here and said unhappily, “Do you think your level of insight is comparable to the Boss of twelve years ago?”

  Although he was also an early-stage Saint afte
r transforming, in terms of insight, Wharton was far inferior to Linley.

  “I’ll go with the Boss. Shit, if one dragon comes we’ll kill one dragon; if two comes, we’ll kill one, then capture the other one to use as a mount.” Bebe was extremely boastful, but he had the strength to back it up. After the past twelve years, Bebe’s power was far stronger than it had been twelve years ago as well.

  Wharton nodded and laughed. “Since you are going as well, Bebe, then I won’t be worried at all.”

  The squad was thus decided as being: Linley, Bebe, Delia, and the three kids. Delia was responsible for taking care of the kids, and Bebe’s job was to protect them. As for Linley… he would deal with any Saint-level dragons.

  The skies stretched off far into the distance, and a few white clouds were drifting here and there. A ten-meter-long magical beast was soaring through the air at high speed. It was the transformed Bebe, with Delia, Cena, Taylor, and Sasha on his back.

  Delia had cast a magic spell to form a protective invisible barrier, preventing the wind from scraping against the children’s bodies.

  “Wow… Mother, that city is the biggest one I’ve ever seen.” Taylor pointed below at a ‘fist-sized’ city. Although the city seemed small from up above, the size of this ‘fist’ was actually a huge space.

  A complicated look was in Delia’s eyes. Sighing, she said, “That is my homeland, the imperial capital of the Yulan Empire.”

  “The imperial capital of the Yulan Empire?” Taylor, Sasha, and Cena all looked down.

  “Hungry yet?” Delia withdrew some food they had brought along from the interspatial ring. Bebe had transformed to ten meters in length, and his back was naturally very wide. Given that Delia had then used magic to block the wind, this made Sasha, Cena, and Taylor feel as stable as when they were on the ground.

  They sat down and began to enjoy the food.