“Right. This is the former town of Wushan.” Linley was certain about this. As a Highgod, how could he be mistaken about the geography of such a place?
“Look, that’s Wushan over there! Wushan is still there. So this is the town of Wushan.” Linley pointed to the east, where there was indeed a large mountain. Although nearly two thousand years had passed, Wushan Mountain hadn’t changed much. The western side of the town of Wushan had, however. Because…
There was an extremely beautiful educational institute built here, with an astonishing number of people. This institute, in terms of size, was far larger than the former town of Wushan.
“What’s going on here?” Linley was completely confused.
Delia was puzzled as well. “In the past… this place should have been covered with magical beasts. We just flew past the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. We saw so many buildings on the way over. Look… there are humans in other places nearby as well, but no magical beasts.”
After ‘Apocalypse Day’, the Holy Union and the Dark Alliance had much of their territory taken over by magical beasts. However… after nearly two thousand years, this area had actually been reclaimed by humanity.
“Two thousand years. Too many things have occurred.” Linley sighed. “Come. Let’s go to my ancestral manor.” As Linley spoke, he flew forward.
Although Linley’s group of six flew through the air, the people below didn’t notice them at all. This was partially because they were too high up, and partially because Linley used elemental energy to form a cloud around them. Linley slowly flew forward while looking down below carefully.
Linley’s vision was extremely good, allowing him to instantly find the centermost location of the institute; his ancestral manor!
“My ancestral manor remains standing?” Linley was surprised.
“Boss, the ancestral manor is actually in perfect shape. In fact, it seems to be in much better shape than it was in the past,” Bebe said in surprise as well.
The other areas in this enormous institute were newly constructed, but Linley’s former ancestral manor had been preserved and even renovated. Although it had been only two millennia, due to long-term caretaking, it wasn’t damaged in the slightest. Linley and Bebe, seeing it, couldn’t help but feel excited.
They had so many beautiful memories from this place.
“Let’s go down,” Linley said softly. With a “swish” sound, their six shadows flashed through the skies and landed directly within the courtyard of the ancestral manor. Because they were too fast, they dropped down in less than the twinkling of an eye from the skies. There was no way ordinary people could possibly catch Linley’s movements with their eyes.
Within the manor.
“Everything is fine… everything is in perfect shape.” Linley stood there in the courtyard, looking around carefully. Suddenly, he saw that there was a chair in the courtyard. His eyes instantly turned red. “This chair is still…?” Linley couldn’t believe it. Staring at the chair, Linley’s memories returned… to when his father, Hogg, had often reclined on this chair, reading books.
Linley took a deep breath. He could instantly tell that the chair had been recreated in that style; the original chair, after two thousand years, had to have rotted away long ago.
“Wade, this is the chair that your grandfather often sat in.” Linley pointed towards the chair as he spoke. “And there… that place. I used to study and learn from your grandfather there.” Linley still remembered how, every day, he intensively flipped through books and studied. He remembered all of Hogg’s strict tests.
“Wow…” Wade stared wide-eyed at every location.
“This is the place where I used to sleep. Bebe lived with me as well.” Linley pointed to a nearby room. Bebe couldn’t help but grin as well.
“Come. In the back yard is the ancestral hall of our clan. In the past, Bebe was born in a courtyard near the ancestral hall.” Linley’s face was all smiles, and Bebe laughed as well. “That year, the Boss seduced me by cooking ducks and wild hares for me. Poor me. I was so young and naïve back then.”
Linley and Bebe laughed as they headed towards the inner courtyard. As they walked through the ancestral manor, their hearts were filled with warmth. But right at this moment…
“Eh? Someone is coming.” Linley, Bebe, and the others moved away, instantly scurrying into the rear courtyard. Creaaak! The door to the ancestral manor swung open.
An old man led dozens of youngsters and youths into this room. “Everyone, this is the place. It was here that the mighty genius grandmaster sculptor, also a genius warrior-magus dual master, also the founding emperor of the Baruch Empire, and also the master of the sacred ‘Dragonblood Castle’, used to live in his youth. This room was the place where the legendary Deity, Grandmaster Linley Baruch, used to sleep. Be careful. You are only allowed to look, not to touch.”
“Wow… Grandmaster Linley used to live here. It’d be so awesome if I could go sleep there as well,” a youth said softly, his eyes bright.
“Hmph.” The old man couldn’t help but frown as he swept these students with his gaze. “Pay attention. This is the ancestral manor of Grandmaster Linley. During your studies here, this will be the only chance you have to come visit. In the future, you won’t have another chance! Enough. Let’s go to the study now. That’s the place where Grandmaster Linley used to read when he was young.”
6
AFTER 2000 YEARS, SEAS CAN BECOME PLAINS
Within the rear courtyard of the ancestral manor, Linley listened to the voice coming from the front, rather flabbergasted.
“Boss.” Bebe laughed as he looked at Linley, then gave him a big thumbs up.
Wade and Ina looked worshipfully towards Linley. Ina even repeated, ‘The mighty genius grandmaster sculptor, also a genius warrior-magus dual master, also the founding emperor of the Baruch Empire, and also the master of the sacred ‘Dragonblood Castle’… the legendary Deity, Grandmaster Linley Baruch!’ Uncle, you have so many titles. You are amazing.”
“There’s one missing, actually. The Dragonblood Warrior of the Supreme Warrior clans!” Bebe grinned, while Linley could only laugh.
Those visiting students in the front courtyard only viewed some areas in the front, and then left in a group. Clearly, the rear courtyard of the ancestral manor was not open to these students. It made sense… the rear courtyard had always been in a state of disrepair. Only the ancestral hall had always remained protected, but how could these ordinary students be allowed to view the ancestral hall?
Of course, the true ancestral hall of the Baruch clan had already been moved to Dragonblood Castle, and so there wasn’t anything within the ‘ancestral hall’ in this ancestral manor.
“Just now, I believe they mentioned the words, ‘sacred’ and ‘Dragonblood Castle’. So Dragonblood Castle has become sacred grounds.” Linley let out a moved sigh.
Delia chuckled, “It has quite a few Deities. If it isn’t a sacred place, what is it?”
“Father,” Ina said to Bebe, “Where were you born?” Laughing, Bebe led Ina and Nisse to the side, while Linley headed towards the ancestral hall, with Delia and Wade following him as he pushed open the door to the hall and went into it.
Creaaaak. The door opened, and Linley carefully inspected the ancestral hall.
Compared to the past, the ancestral hall was virtually unchanged. Clearly, it had been maintained very well. But of course, the many spirit tablets that had been placed here had been moved long ago to Dragonblood Castle. The counter was completely empty.
Linley stared at the ancestral hall. His mind thought back to the first time his father, Hogg, had introduced the background of their Baruch clan. “The Four Supreme Warriors actually represent four ancient clans. Our Baruch clan is the ancient clan which contains the exalted bloodline of the Dragonblood Warriors!”
In the ancestral hall, his father had explained these things to him excitedly. This seemed to have happened just yesterday.
&nbs
p; But now…
His father was dead!
“Father. Do you know? I’ve gone to the Infernal Realm, and met with our clan leader, ‘Baruch’. Ryan. Hazard. And the other ancestors of the clan as well… they are all doing very well, very well!” Linley felt sourness in his heart. His father had always hoped for his clan to return to glory. His clan had indeed flourished, but… his father would never be able to see it again.
Wade and Delia stood there quietly, just watching, not daring to disturb Linley.
Linley suddenly frowned and turned. “Someone is coming?”
“Who are you people!” a voice rang out from not too far away.
“Let’s go take a look.” Linley, Wade, and Delia all walked outside. By the time they reached the outside, they saw that a middle-aged man dressed in gray magus robes was staring at Bebe, Nisse, and Ina. When Linley’s group walked out, the middle-aged man said, stunned, “There’s actually six of you?”
This middle-aged man was the chancellor of this institute, the Saint-level expert, Hamelyn.
Chancellor Hamelyn was already a peak Saint. While he just so happened to walk past the courtyard, he sensed the presence of outsiders within the ancestral hall. Normally, it was forbidden for outsiders to enter this hall, and so Hamelyn naturally shouted at them. Actually, Hamelyn had only sensed Ina’s presence; he hadn’t sensed the other five.
He had thought there was only one person present. Who would have imagined that there were actually six!
Clearly, the other five were more powerful than him!
“Who are you?” Linley looked at him.
Hamelyn said composedly, “This is a core area of the Linley Institute. How did you get in here? As for me, I am this institute’s chancellor, Hamelyn!”
“Hey, what did you say this institute is called?” Bebe immediately said.
Linley was badly startled upon hearing this. Did Hamelyn just say the words, ‘Linley Institute’?
Hanelyn, puzzled, looked at these six. “What? Can it be that you’ve never even heard of the Linley Institute, one of the three great institutes of the continent? Can it be that you didn’t see the sculpture of Grandmaster Linley which lies right past the main gates to our institute?” This was common knowledge, but the looks on the faces of Linley’s group did indeed make Hamelyn feel puzzled.
“Linley Institute?” Wade’s eyes widened, and he turned to look at Linley. “Father, did you hear that? The Linley Institute.”
Linley was speechless.
Although Hamelyn had seen the sculpture of Linley, first of all, the sculpture wasn’t at the grandmaster level of accuracy, and second of all, compared to when he was a Saint, Linley’s aura had completely changed. Thus, Hamelyn didn’t make any mental connection at all between the person in front of him and the legend of the continent, Linley.
“We just came for a look.” Linley laughed calmly. “Enough. We will leave now.”
Linley spread out his divine earth power, including Ina and Wade within it. An earthen yellow light flashed, and Linley’s group of six disappeared into the horizon.
“This speed…”
Hamelyn stared, stupefied. “He’s far faster than even my teacher… and Teacher Reynolds is a Deity-level expert. Who on earth are these people?”
THE BARUCH EMPIRE had existed for nearly two thousand years now, and the holiest site in the empire was Dragonblood Castle. The successive generations of emperors, upon giving up the throne, almost all moved to live here at Dragonblood Castle. Dragonblood Castle had quite a few Deities, and also quite a few Saint-level magical beasts who guarded it.
Nobody dared to act wildly in Dragonblood Castle.
Dragonblood Castle had expanded long ago. By now, it was many times larger than it had been in the past. The ‘Adamantine Garden’ of Dragonblood Castle was where Wharton lived. Currently, in a grassy area of the Adamantine Garden, two young-looking men were seated in the meditative position, facing each other while drinking wine and chatting.
“Taylor, are you absolutely sure you don’t want another wife?”
“Uncle Wharton, I’m tired.” The thick-eyebrowed, muscular youth was Taylor. Although nearly two thousand years had passed, Taylor’s appearance had barely changed compared to the past. Right now, Taylor was sighing. “Uncle Wharton, we have eternal life, but our spouses? We have to just watch as they age and then die. This sort of feeling is too painful.”
In the past two millennia, Taylor had taken two women as his wives in succession. Alas, both of these wives had died of old age, filling Taylor with the utmost of pain.
“Alas.” Wharton let out a low sigh as well. “I still remember how, that year, my big brother did everything he could for the sake of letting me marry Nina, even going so far as to duel Olivier in the arena. Alas, not even Nina was unable to resist the flow of time… and it’s been nearly two thousand years since my big brother went to the Infernal Realm. Nina died more than a millennium ago.” Wharton laughed at himself. “Sometimes, eternal life is a painful thing.”
Only upon becoming a Saint would one possess eternal life. However, becoming a Saint required both talent and luck. To most commoners, it was too difficult.
“Gates and the others were lucky.” Wharton let out a sigh. Of the five Barker brothers, Barker and Gates had married Rebecca and her sister, both of whom had very pure souls and thus were extremely suited and talented for training in Necromantic magic. After a hundred or so years, they had reached the Saint level.
Only when both members in a couple were both in possession of eternal lifespan would things be ideal. If only one side possessed an eternal lifespan, then the result would be watching the other slowly age and die. This was indeed agonizing.
“Uncle Wharton, as I see it, we should go to the Infernal Realm sometime as well,” Taylor said.
“Go to the Infernal Realm?”
Wharton nodded slightly. “In the Yulan Plane, although we have a great enmity against the Odin Empire, there’s nothing we can do. It can be said that there is nothing holding us here… after some more time passes, let’s go visit the Infernal Realm. It has been a long time since I’ve seen Big Bro. I truly wish to see him.”
“I want to see Father as well,” Taylor said softly.
“WHARTON! TAYLOR!” a voice echoed in the minds of Wharton and Taylor.
Wharton and Taylor seemed to have both been struck by lightning, staring at each other in disbelief. At the same time, they too sensed a powerful aura spreading out from the war training grounds in the front courtyard of Dragonblood Castle. Although this aura was powerful, it had such a familiar feeling to it. This was Linley’s aura!
“Swoosh!” “Swoosh!”
Wharton and Taylor simultaneously transformed into streaks of lightning, flying out at high speed.
Dragonblood Castle. The war training grounds.
Linley’s group of six was standing here. Linley was actively emanating his aura while greeting one familiar figure after another through his divine sense. However, when he used his divine sense to investigate, Linley discovered that many familiar figures of the past had disappeared, such as Grandpa Hiri, Uncle Hillman, Wharton’s wife Nina, Jenne…
“Are they all dead?” Linley wondered to himself.
Just because they weren’t at Dragonblood Castle didn’t necessarily mean that they were dead. But Linley, too, understood that the lifespan of normal humans who didn’t reach the Saint level would generally reach at most three or four centuries. Five centuries was the utmost limit. Only by reaching the Saint level would one possess eternal life.
One figure after another flew over at high speed from places throughout Dragonblood Castle.
“FATHER!” a deep voice rang out. Linley’s eyes lit up. It was Taylor.
“BIG BRO!” It was Wharton.
“Lord Linley.” The incredibly muscular Barker.
A large group of people flew over at high speed, and in an instant, nearly a hundred had gathered here in the training grounds.
Linley only recognized less than half of these people, and didn’t recognize the majority. However, upon seeing all those familiar faces, Linley couldn’t help but feel excited. These were his comrades, his friends, his family!
“Big Bro!” Wharton immediately gave Linley a tight, vicious bear hug.
“Wharton.” Linley hugged his little brother as well, unable to refrain from feeling regretful.
“MASTER!” Linley turned to look. There was a man dressed in a long black robe. It was the transformed Haeru. Haeru was staring at Linley in excitement as well. So many years had gone by. As a King amongst magical beasts, Haeru felt extremely grateful towards Linley for what he had given him.
Wharton and Linley released each other. Wharton was completely unable to suppress his excitement. “Big Bro, I really didn’t expect you’d be back. We were just talking about going to the Infernal Realm to look for you. Big Bro… there are many people here you don’t recognize, right? Let me introduce them… this is Arnold’s son…”
Wharton, in one breath, introduced more than ten important people.
These people all stared at Linley, their eyes filled with shock, awe, and veneration. It was like they were staring at a titan from legends.
“Wade, come, meet your uncle. Also, this is your older brother, Taylor…” Linley was incomparably overjoyed right now.
Right at this moment…
“THIRD BRO!” a voice suddenly rang out from behind.
Linley turned to look.
It was a Demigod, dressed in a long black robe. Those intelligent eyes looked the same as they always had, only they appeared slightly older than before. This was the man who had been one of Linley’s closest friends… his Fourth Bro. Reynolds.
“Fourth Bro.” Linley immediately went to welcome him, tightly embracing his ‘Fourth Bro’, Reynolds.
The Planar Wars: Book 7 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 5
