Ranessa clearly knew that there was nothing here for her; how could she be willing to stay?
The other two youths immediately flew away with Ranessa as well.
“They left.” Montelo turned to look at Oman, then laughed, “Oman, now you can tell me; did you kill those two or not?” Montelo believed that Oman had lied earlier as well.
“I really did not.” Oman shook his head. “Those two weren’t weak either. That Azure Dragon clan youth was able to take several of my blows head on without dying. As for that other youngster, his body took a blow head on with my Sovereign weapon, but he didn’t die either. Afterwards, I chased them, but the youth of the Azure Dragon clan had a Gravitational Space ability that was similar to Reisgem’s; I wasn’t able to catch them, so I had to give up.
Montelo frowned.
“That youngster took a blow head on with his body? It seems he must have a defensive Sovereign artifact. That youth of the Azure Dragon clan is also capable of the Amethyst Space technique? His relationship with Reisgem must be quite deep. Forget it. Let’s find a place to rest, first.” Montelo immediately led his group of five in departing from this place.
In the desolate wilderness, Linley and Bebe were stealthily advancing. Currently, their Sovereign power was already depleted. Earlier, when Linley was radiating Sovereign power, others would easily find them, and so Linley naturally had flown forward quickly. Now that the Sovereign power was exhausted, Linley chose to carefully advance.
“Boss, what should we do in the future?” Bebe sent.
“There are two or three more centuries before the final battle of this Planar War. I hope that before that, I’ll make a breakthrough and fuse a fourth profound mystery.” Linley knew that every single person who dared to roam across the Planar Battlefield was a top-tier commander. “After I fuse my fourth profound mystery, I’ll go out roaming again. By then, I’ll be strong enough to do so.”
A person’s power was dependent on their base strength, their profound mysteries, and their weapons.
For example, Hemmers, whose original form was that of a golden mountain which had been nurtured for countless years by the Divine Earth Plane itself, then birthed. His body’s strength was enormously great, and even without fusing any profound mysteries, he surpassed most Seven Star Fiends and was close to the power of an Asura. This was a reason why he was made a Sovereign’s Emissary immediately upon being born.
After having fused four mysteries, Linley didn’t dare to block his fists at all.
Even an empty-air punch was capable of penetrating Linley’s chest. The terrifying power of his strikes were already comparable to Highgod Paragons. His base level of strength was simply too great.
Linley’s own base power naturally couldn’t compare to Hemmers. Still, he was still vastly superior to ordinary Highgods.
“Once I increase in strength tenfold, I won’t fear those people any longer.”
Linley and Bebe were looking for a place to rest. They didn’t pay attention to or notice that a piece of rubble that was less than a hundred meters away in the desolate wilderness. The ground had too many of these pieces of stone; who would pay attention to one in particular?
“Someone is finally coming this way. From the looks of it, the youth is the leader. I’ll first ambush and kill him, the strong one, then dispose of the weak one.”
Very suddenly…
“Swoosh!” The rock shot towards Linley at high speed.
Linley, while walking forward, found to his amazement that a rock had suddenly shot towards him. “Someone’s here!” Linley immediately grew cautious. He instantly Dragonformed, while at the same time spread out his Blackstone Space, spreading it to a distance of five hundred meters. Instantly, the rock that had entered the Blackstone Space sank down, but it was already very close to Linley.
“Bang!”
The rock suddenly disappeared, transforming into a person.
“Another expert of the Laws of the Earth.” Linley was startled as well.
Originally, Linley had thought that someone had shot the rock out towards him… but the rock was actually a transformed expert of the Laws of the Earth. Linley had to sigh in praise at the ability of his ambusher in concealing his aura; it was already on nearly the same level as Reisgem.
A ray of blinding saber-light slashed out, traversing the distance of less than ten meters. In an instant, Linley’s field of vision became filled with nothing but that dazzling saber light.
When that saber chopped out, space itself twisted!
“Clang!”
This dominating, unstoppable blade suddenly emitted a bizarre clanging sound, and its strength weakened as well.
“Eh?” The assassin was stunned. “An invisible sword?” Prior to this, he hadn’t noticed it, but now, with his divine sense spread out, he realized that Linley was holding a sword in his hand, a sword that couldn’t be seen with the naked eye!
“Swoosh!” That assassin, having failed with his first saber-chop, immediately turned to flee.
“Lupe, you are going to flee after failing on the first attack?” Linley’s loud, clear laughter rang out. “Better for you to stay here!” After having seen that saber attack, Linley, who had gone through Beirut’s documents, already knew who it was. This was an expert of the Laws of the Earth, Lupe. At the same time, Linley felt a surge of fear; if it hadn’t been for the fact that his Blackstone Space had caused Lupe to reveal his true form a bit earlier and slowed him down, that earlier attack most likely would have put Linley in grave danger.
As soon as Linley’s words came out, the Blackstone Space changed the direction of gravity!
The downwards gravity transformed to pull towards Linley!
“Eh?” The figure’s speed immediately lessened greatly.
Linley knew what this Lupe’s abilities were; Lupe specialized in subterfuge and stealth! He was also extremely fast! However, now that he was trapped within Linley’s ‘Blackstone Space’, Lupe had met his perfect counter; his speed and his stealth abilities could no longer save him.
“Eh?” Feeling the changing direction of the gravitational pull, Lupe was instantly shocked.
“Not good!” Lupe had already begun to feel regret after seeing Linley’s transformation; he was certain that as a member of the Azure Dragon clan, Linley was definitely capable of the clan’s innate divine ability. “I wouldn’t necessarily be able to defeat this expert of the Azure Dragon clan, and he has a subordinate with him. If we really start to fight… not good!”
He didn’t hesitate any further at all.
“Bang!” Gritting his teeth, Lupe used up his precious, sole drop of Sovereign’s Might. Instantly, a strong earthen yellow glow emerged from his body.
Seeing the situation, Linley didn’t hesitate at all; his body, as well, exploded forth with a black aura. Lupe, amongst commanders, was considered below average in strength; only, he was fairly famous for his stealth abilities, and also extremely fast.
“What? He is using up Sovereign’s Might as well? This Azure Dragon clan punk is really willing…” Lupe, seeing the situation, felt his heart shake.
“This sort of opponent is perfect for practicing against!” Linley sent to Bebe. “Bebe, don’t interfere. This Lupe’s attack power is comparable to mine, but he’s fused more profound mysteries of the Laws of the Earth than I have! He’s perfect for training against. I might even gain an insight.”
Bebe snickered back, “Fine, Boss. I’ll just watch.” Bebe intentionally retreated to a distance of a hundred meters, giving Linley and Lupe more than enough space to fight.
Knowing that it was Lupe, Bebe was no longer worried.
“Hmph.” Lupe, seeing the situation, felt rage in his heart. He could tell that the opponents didn’t feel him as being worthy of concern. “If it wasn’t for this Gravitational Space, you wouldn’t even be able to touch me.” Lupe felt the power of the Gravitational Space increase greatly as well; he wouldn’t be able to escape. Since he wouldn’t be able to
escape, his only option was to fight!
68
BLOOD BINDING, CROWN
Lupe trained in the Laws of the Earth, and had fused five of them.
Of the six profound mysteries of the Laws of the Earth, the only one he had not been able to fuse with the others was ‘Gravitational Space’. He had completely fused the other five. After having fused ‘Vitality’, ‘Worldwalking’, ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’, ‘Strength’, and ‘Essence of the Earth’, he created an extremely powerful Worldwalking technique, while devising a way so that his spiritual energy would form a continuous loop within his mind, not letting a single hint of his aura leak out.
He had reached an exceedingly high level in stealth and fleeing.
However, whenever there is a gain, there is a loss; his saber attacks contained only four fused profound mysteries. As for ‘Worldwalking’, there was no way for him to fuse that into his saber.
“Whoosh!” Lupe moved through the ‘Blackstone Space’ like a slippery fish, constantly moving about at high speed.
But Linley easily moved to follow him, always blocking in front of him.
“It’s uncertain who will be the one to die,” Lupe growled mentally, and the warblade in his hand silently sliced through the air, chopping towards Linley’s skull. In the instant that Linley’s ‘Mirage’ godspark sword collided with the warblade, with a “bang!”, the saber’s energy exploded outwards.
“Bang!”
One saber, one sword!
Linley’s body trembled slightly as he retreated. “Haha, excellent!” Linley laughed loudly, then charged forward again, but unfortunately for Lupe, his weapon was slightly inferior to Linley’s godspark sword.
“He’s relying on his weapon.” Lupe also realized that Linley’s weapon was extraordinary. Feeling resentment, Lupe’s eyes turned cold, and suddenly, his index finger and middle finger of his left hand suddenly struck out, and a translucent sword-finger ray shot towards Linley, at a speed so fast that it directly entered Linley’s mind.
This was a soul attack!
“Haha… Lupe, it’s best if you don’t show off that bit of soul attack prowess you have.” Linley didn’t even care about it. Experts of the Laws of the Earth were never skilled in soul attacks to begin with, and Lupe himself didn’t specialize in soul attacks either. How powerful could his attacks be? Linley, just by relying on his spiritual energy alone, was able to defeat the attack.
Lupe had only attacked in such a way due to having no other options.
“Is that so?” Lupe laughed coldly, his attacks becoming all the wilder. Linley was more than happy to accompany him in the fight.
“Clang!”
Linley and Lupe’s forms constantly exchanged blows, but clearly, the two were on par. As Linley saw it, Lupe’s power amongst commanders really was towards the lower end as well. “He doesn’t even have a single Sovereign artifact; indeed, his only option is to rely on ambushes. However, it is worth my time to learn this sort of stealth techniques.”
Linley could guess that Lupe had definitely fused ‘Worldwalking’ amongst his profound mysteries.
In addition, that saber blow that held the power in abeyance, then made it all explode forth at once.
“This saber blow can be said to have mastered and executed the Profound Mysteries of Strength to a perfect level.” Linley continued to exchange blows with Lupe, with the intentions of training his swordplay. As for Lupe, his goal was to seize any opportunity to kill Linley and thus get a chance of escaping this battle.
“Slash!”
Linley’s sword shot out.
Lupe actually delivered a backhanded blow with his saber, sliding his saber against the flat of Linley’s sword and pressing down with a blow towards Linley’s body.
“Oh? He’s really going all out.” At this critical moment, only a “swish” was heard and an azure-golden blur was seen as Linley’s draconic tail, carrying a terrifying surge of force, smashed viciously against the warblade. In terms of toughness, Linley’s draconic tail wasn’t weaker than Highgod artifacts at all.
The warblade was knocked off-balance. “Slash!” It originally would have struck Linley on his head, but now, it slashed Linley on the chest. After having been struck by the draconic tail, the blow of this saber was now weaker; it just barely broke through the scales, drawing forth a hint of blood.
“Slash!”
Linley’s Mirage sliced through Lupe’s head, severing it from his body.
Once one’s head was separated from one’s body, that was virtually a guarantee of death! After all, even though the spirit might be present, the body could no longer be controlled to fight back; it was as good as defeat.
“You were pretty vicious, but the end result was your death.” Linley looked at the flying head.
“If I had a Sovereign artifact, the result would definitely be different,” Lupe’s head bellowed. He knew that he had to die.
“Swish!” Linley’s Mirage flashed with light, and Lupe’s voice came to a halt, and a thin red line appeared through his head.
At this moment, Lupe’s Highgod artifacts, interspatial ring, and a gold badge all fell out.
“If you had a Sovereign artifact, the results would be different?” Bebe flew over, chuckling. “Everyone can say that. If my Boss had a Sovereign-level soul-protecting artifact, defensive artifact, and weapon, aside from Paragons, who would he fear?”
Linley shook his head and sighed to himself.
This world was a world where the strong devoured the weak. Strength was exalted. People had to rely on their own abilities to acquire Sovereign weapons as well!
Only the strong would be valued and be made Emissaries, and be bestowed a Sovereign artifact. Only the strong would acquire sufficient military merits and be able to trade for a Sovereign artifact. Everything depended on individual effort. As for the children of Sovereigns, they did indeed have a great advantage, but sometimes luck, too, was part of one’s power.
“This Lupe’s ambushing abilities weren’t bad. Unfortunately, once the battle really begins, he’s definitely one of the weakest commanders. It makes sense that a Sovereign wouldn’t select him as an Emissary.” Linley shook his head and sighed. “Thus, as far as the profound mysteries go, even amongst those who have fused five profound mysteries, there are still differences in power.”
There were six profound mysteries of the Laws of the Earth. Upon fusing five of them, there were six possible fusion results, with the different fusions resulting in different specialty areas.
“This commander badge was fairly easy to acquire.” Linley collected the gold badge, feeling joy in his heart. “I now have three badges. I’m only lacking for one more.”
“Bebe, let’s go.”
Linley and Bebe moved at high speed, leaving the scene of the battle.
A place like the Planar Battlefield was a place where the experts who entered had to be mentally prepared for death. Some experts had to die in order for others to live.
Deep within the heart of an ordinary, large mountain in the Planar Battlefield. Linley and Bebe had carved out a cave for them to temporarily live in. This cave was separated from the outside world by hundreds of meters of mountain rocks; generally speaking, commanders wouldn’t be able to use their divine sense to scan inside here.
But of course, there were three exceptions.
One was if they used Sovereign power to do the scanning.
The second was a Highgod Paragon. They had very large scanning ranges as well.
As for the third, that was Highgod Soul Mutates. Soul Mutates had very special souls, and their souls were generally far stronger than the souls of ordinary Highgods. But of course, there were differences amongst Soul Mutates as well. The chances of a successful soul mutation with two different types of divine power was decent; the vast majority of soul mutates were in possession of two types of divine power, with Olivier being on this level as well. But virtually all individuals who had three types of divine power and ye
t underwent a soul mutation would die. In the entire Infernal Realm, there was only a single person who successfully underwent and survived a soul mutation with three types of divine power. And as for the soul power of three-power Soul Mutates, it was extraordinarily great!
As for those who underwent a soul mutation while having access to four types of divine power, in the countless planes of the universe, over the countless years, there had never been a single successful case. No one had any idea what the result would be, if a person with four types of divine power underwent a soul mutation.
Within the cave.
Linley was hefting that tattered crown, staring carefully at it and inspecting it. The crown didn’t have a hint of luster to it; if he tossed it into a rubbish pile, even if a Deity noticed it, they wouldn’t pay it any attention.
The nearby Bebe stared at it as well. After a long time, he mumbled, “Boss, is there something special about this tattered crown? Why can’t I see anything special about it? It makes me feel as though it is just an ordinary item.”
“It isn’t.”
Linley shook his head. “Still, I can’t see anything special about it either.”
When Linley had received that surge of unusual energy from the crown, it had healed his wounds. In addition, this thing had flown out from chaotic space; Linley naturally was certain that it was extraordinary.
“I know it’s not ordinary; anything that can survive in and fly out of chaotic space is either a godspark weapon or a Sovereign artifact.” Bebe stared carefully at the crown. “But for it to be in the shape of a crown… as I see it, it should be a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact.” This was Bebe’s judgment.
“If it really is a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact, given how tattered it is, it should be a damaged Sovereign artifact.” Linley laughed.
If the master of a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact was still alive, there was no way that the Sovereign artifact could be damaged! A damaged soul-protecting Sovereign artifact meant that the defenses of the artifact had been breached, and the master had died!
The Planar Wars: Book 7 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 55
