The potential of a four-clone Soul Mutate truly was much higher than even that of Paragons.
“If my Boss isn’t formidable, who is?” Bebe said smugly. He had no idea what ‘humility’ meant.
“The power of fused Laws is great, but so too is the difficulty.” Linley shook his head and laughed. “I know a person. I met him when I was adventuring in the Redbud Continent; Learmonth. He was the one who killed Phusro’s master, ‘Elquin’. Despite Learmonth’s talents, he was only able to make his breakthrough at a dangerous point in the battle against Elquin. He was a Soul Mutate who only had two types of divine clones! It was so hard for him to fuse even just two different types of Laws.”
Bebe just chortled. “Boss, don’t be modest. You were even able to successfully undergo a four-way soul mutation. If you could do that, what can’t you do?”
Linley chuckled, then drank a cup of wine.
“But Boss, your soul is now mutated. Your training speed should increase greatly as well. Are you confident in being able to help your divine fire clone to train faster and more quickly reach the Highgod level?” Bebe asked. “By then, with four types of divine power fused together, your strength will surpass that of when you use Sovereign’s Might.”
Linley’s original body’s soul was now thousands of times more powerful than before his mutation.
The rate at which he comprehended and visualized had also become much faster. If his original body’s soul also focused on analyzing the Laws of Fire, the rate at which his divine fire clone would increase in power would rise dramatically. When the Planar Battlefield concluded, he would reach the level of Highgod.
“No rush.” Linley shook his head and laughed. “For now, I don’t wish to reveal that I am a Soul Mutate, and so I’m not in a hurry to make my divine fire clone reach the Highgod level. Right now, what I need to do is fuse the different Laws; that matters more. My energy is all focused in this direction.” Linley knew very well.
His divine fire clone trained very slowly, true!
But he had spent nearly seven hundred years in the Planar Battlefield. Over these seven centuries, his divine fire clone had nearly mastered a fifth profound mystery. Although it was fairly slow compared to his other divine clones, Linley was in no hurry.
However, Reisgem’s guess was a correct one; in the century after Linley’s soul mutation, Linley had connected the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’ of the Laws of the Earth with the profound ‘Circular Softness’ mysteries of the Laws of Water. But of course, this was just a connection.
As time flowed on, the final battle drew closer and closer.
WITHIN THE STONE ROOM.
Linley was quietly seated in the meditative position, his four souls simultaneously visualizing and comprehending.
Within his mind, there was an illusory image of the vast, boundless earth. The throbbing pulse of this land was continuously emanating forth, but one line of energy tangled through and wrapped around it, much like the lines of energy the Chief Sovereign of Death had used at the Abyssal Inn. The lines wove throughout the ripples of the Throbbing Pulse of the World, influencing the pulse.
Slowly, the Throbbing Pulse of the World began to mutually influence and be influenced by this endless, circular soft stream of energy. The two connected with each other…
“Boss, Boss!” suddenly, a voice rang out.
Within the stone room, Linley opened his eyes and saw Bebe. “What is it, Bebe?” Linley laughed.
“Boss, have you been training so much that you’ve gone dumb? Have you forgotten what time it is? This year is the 1000th and final year of the Planar War. I heard from Reisgem that most likely, in a month or two, the last battle will begin. Aren’t we even going to go watch the final battle?” Bebe asked.
“The final battle?”
Linley immediately rose to his feet and laughed. “Of course we are going to go watch! I’ve been training for so long. It is time for a break.”
The ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’ and ‘Circular Softness’ profound mysteries… Linley’s four souls had been training on for three centuries after his soul mutation, but he wasn’t able to completely fuse them. He was still trapped in a bottleneck. No wonder the power of fused Laws was so great; the difficulty was incredibly high as well.
He exited the stone room and arrived in the main hall.
Reisgem and Reihom were already standing there in the main hall. Reisgem laughed cheerily, “Linley, I was worried that you wouldn’t go. I know that you have enough commander badges, but I don’t have enough yet.”
“We’re a squad. If you’re going, how can I not go?” Linley said with a laugh.
“Then let’s go. Head out!” Reisgem and Bebe were in front, while Linley and Reihom followed from behind. The four of them exited this cave estate.
Although three hundred years had gone by, the Planar Battlefield was as cold and desolate as ever. When striding forth from the cave tunnels, that knife-like, icy wind scraped against their faces. It only caused Linley’s vigor to stir, however, as he stared at the desolate wilderness. “This trip to the Planar Battlefield is almost over! The final battle… the last ‘banquet’ to this event!”
This trip to the Planar Battlefield, to Linley, was indeed a truly life-changing journey.
Linley’s group of four headed straight for the Stellar River.
The desolate wilderness. Wild grass grew everywhere.
There was a person lying on the ground. At first glance, one might take him for a corpse left behind by a battle. This person had wild, grass-like hair, and a pair of hungry, man-eating golden eyes. It was Hemmers!
“I only need one commander badge! It’s been two centuries, and I haven’t run into a single person,” Hemmers lay there on the ground, grumbling to himself. “All of them rely on their speed; if they can’t beat me, they flee. Hmph. That Azure Dragon clan punk in particular. I ran into him twice, but he relied on his Gravitational Space.”
Hemmers had a belly full of fire, but no place to vent it.
“The final battle is about to arrive,” Hemmers muttered.
“It seems I’ll have to take part in the final battle in order to acquire a commander badge. After acquiring a final commander badge, I will definitely ask the Sovereign to make me a spear! I can throw it and use it for long range combat, or for close combat. Hmph, given my material attack power, I’ll be able to throw it a great distance. By then, I want to see if those bastards will have any chance of fleeing again!”
Indeed, a material attack strength comparable to Highgod Paragons, when combined with a ranged Sovereign weapon, would make it so that Hemmers would be a threat comparable to Paragons.
“Hmph. Hmph. I hope that Azure Dragon clan kid will participate in the next Planar War. By then, I’ll have a ranged Sovereign weapon. I’ll definitely teach him a lesson.” Hemmers never forgot about that person who had escaped from him twice.
Suddenly…
“Huh?” Lying on the ground, Hemmers raised an eyebrow. “Someone is coming. Roughly ten thousand meters away!”
Hemmers himself was formed from part of the Divine Earth Plane. He was its first golden mountain, which the plane nurtured over countless years. He was born with an innate, supernatural connection to the earth and the ground. When lying there on the ground, he could clearly sense the ground within a certain area, and if there was anyone stepping on the ground.
“Haha.” Hemmers sat up, staring into that direction, his golden eyes gleaming. “Perhaps this will be the last military merit. I won’t have to participate in the final battle after all.”
And then, Hemmers immediately merged into the earth itself. Worldwalking!
On the desolate ground, Linley and the other three were walking shoulder-to-shoulder, chatting and laughing casually. Given the power of this group of four, there was no one they feared here in the Planar Battlefield. Anyone who made trouble for them was courting death.
Linley’s gaze suddenly sharpened, and he laughed calml
y. “Someone is coming over. Be careful, everyone.”
“Someone is coming?”
Reisgem, Bebe, and Reihom were startled. They didn’t sense anything. But Linley, after his soul mutation, had an extremely strong control over the universe; as soon as anyone drew near, Linley would easily notice them.
“An expert of the earth, using Worldwalking,” Linley said, spreading out his divine sense.
“Oh, him?” Linley had a hint of laughter on his face.
Hemmers thought that he was being stealthy; generally speaking, a person using Worldwalking would only be detected upon reaching a distance of a hundred meters or so. This was common knowledge, but for Paragons and people like Linley, this wasn’t true. Hemmers’ usage of Worldwalking was detected by Linley from far away.
“Rumble…” Suddenly, a hundred meters away, an enormous figure erupted forth from the earth, bounding forward like lightning towards Linley.
“It is you, you Azure Dragon clan brat!” Hemmers realized who Linley was now. “This Azure Dragon clan brat is able to transform, and also use Gravitational Space. Killing him is rather hard!”
He charged towards them, bounding forward like lightning.
“Eh, he didn’t transform or use his Gravitational Space?” Hemmers was amazed. Having fought several times with Linley, he knew how strong Linley was; why was it that when he charged in front of them, Linley didn’t react at all?
Hemmers, who had been preparing to attack ‘Reihom’, chose to attack Linley instead!
“You yourself are courting death. Don’t blame me.” Hemmers smashed out with his fist, causing a deep, thundering sound as cracks in space appeared.
Reisgem, Bebe, and Reihom just watched and laughed. Linley very casually swept out with a punch, and instantly, 108 rays of earthen yellow light swept out, instantly forming a Gravitational Space that trapped and compressed Hemmers within it. Linley swept out with his space-shattering punch…
Microcosm!
“This… what’s going on?” Hemmers felt as though the surrounding space was compressing powerfully around him, slowing him down significantly and making him feel miserable. He had tasted this technique of Linley’s before, but the power was far, far greater than it was last time!
His fist was extremely slow, completely unable to block Linley’s punch.
“Bang!” The fist rose upwards in an uppercut, connecting with Hemmers’ lower jaw and sending Hemmers flying into the air.
87
THE EXPERTS BY THE BANKS OF THE STELLAR RIVER
A bone-shattering sound rang out, and Hemmers was knocked flying backwards.
“This… what is this?” Hemmers was completely stunned. “The Azure Dragon clan brat, what’s going on with him? The first time I met him, he wasn’t able to fight back at all. He had to rely on Sovereign power, his Gravitational Space, and his innate divine ability in order to escape. The second time I encountered him, the brat was able to fight me head on. This third time… I’m completely unable to fight back?”
Stupefied!
Completely stupefied!
“No matter how much of a genius a person is, this is ridiculous.” Hemmers landed on the ground, staring at the distant Linley, his mind a mess.
Blood dribbled down his face. Hemmers shook his head, then muttered to himself, “Impossible. Something must be wrong.” Hemmers still hadn’t reacted, but he hurriedly began to cure his wounds. “This Azure Dragon clan punk’s fist actually broke my lower jaw and shattered my teeth.”
Hemmers possessed terrifyingly strong material defense. When Linley had first met him, a full-force sword blow was only able to barely scratch his skin.
Hemmers’ skin possessed weak defense. His muscles were strong and his bones were stronger!
Linley’s casual punch was able to shatter his jaw?
“Hey, Hemmers, why are you just standing there like an idiot? Didn’t you want to kill us to get our commander badges?” Bebe smugly began to laugh loudly towards him.
“Impossible. Something must be wrong!!!” Hemmers howled furiously.
“BOOM!” Hemmers’ entire body suddenly began to glow with an earthen yellow light, and a brilliant golden light flooded through him as well, making his fists and legs especially bright. Hemmers was like a crazed bear, transforming into a ray of lightning as he charged once more towards Linley.
Hemmers clearly had gone mad.
“He really is a big dumb idiot,” Linley said with a calm laugh.
Hemmers was howling furiously. His full-strength punch smashed through the skies, and he moved like a dragon as he attacked Linley. “Rumble…” Where his fist passed, the space of the Planar Battlefield was constantly torn asunder like fragile glass. Multiple spatial tears that were tens of meters long were created.
“Although he’s a bit stupid, he really is quite strong.” Linley still smiled.
The same response!
A fist struck out, and over a hundred black dragons of energy swept towards Hemmers. This time, Linley actually used Destruction-type Sovereign power. “This Hemmers used Sovereign power; to subdue him, I really will have to use Sovereign power.” Although he was able to easily defeat Hemmers, Linley had to acknowledge his opponent’s strength.
“Crackle…” The hundred plus dragons formed into a cage, binding Hemmers within… Microcosm!
That compressive power that was far greater than before once more formed, making Hemmers feel very uncomfortable throughout his entire body. In this situation, his speed slowed drastically, and he could only watch as Linley’s fist smashed against his body.
“BANG!”
A fist landed on Hemmers’ chest, and a bone-splitting sound rang out yet again as Hemmers was knocked flying backwards, his legs being driven deeply into the ground.
“What is going on?!” Hemmers stared at his chest, where a large, bloody hole had appeared, with blood leaking out. This injury was even more severe than the previous one; his ribs were completely shattered. Fortunately, Hemmers’ body was tough enough that the punch didn’t go straight through his chest.
But a blow of such power… if it landed against his head, he definitely would have died!
Hemmers was shocked to his senses!
“Hemmers, do you want to come again?” Linley chortled.
“Hey, Hemmers, aren’t you really tough? What, are you stupefied now?” Reisgem laughed teasingly, and as he spoke, Reisgem voluntarily released his aura.
“You are… Reisgem?” Only now did Hemmers recognize him.
“My aura-hiding abilities are too great. Unless I wish it, someone like you, Hemmers, would never be able to recognize me,” Reisgem said smugly. His aura-suppressing abilities really were formidable, but against the likes of Linley or Magnus, he would still easily be detected.
Hemmers looked carefully at Linley.
“You… in the past, were you intentionally toying with me?” Hemmers said in a low voice.
“No.” Linley laughed and shook his head.
Hemmers stared at Linley. He couldn’t help but grow a bit angry. “Azure Dragon clan brat, your strength is so great; why did you toy with me like that? Although I, Hemmers, am a bit slow to react, I’m not so stupid to the point where I’ll believe that a brat who wasn’t able to fight back a few centuries ago could, a few centuries later, easily trample me!”
Hemmers didn’t flee, because he knew…
Given his pitiful speed, there was no way he could flee.
“Why would I deceive you?” Linley laughed calmly. “You can leave now. I don’t want to kill you.”
“Not kill me?” Hemmers was stunned.
In the Planar Battlefield, if you couldn’t beat someone, you would generally be killed. But today…
“Fine. I believe you when you say you weren’t previously toying with me.” Hemmers gave Linley a long look. “Can you tell me, how long have you been training for?”
“Less than three thousand years.” Linley didn’t hide anything.
Hemm
ers was stunned, and he blinked twice. “Less than three, three, three… thousand years?” Hemmers stared at Linley in disbelief. “I really want to ask you something. Are you toying with me, or did I hear incorrectly? Or perhaps you meant less than three thousand millennia.”
Hemmers was able to believe three million or thirty million years, but three thousand? This was a bit too frightening.
“You didn’t mishear.” Linley laughed while shaking his head. “Bebe, let’s go.”
Linley, Reisgem, Reihom, and Bebe chortled as they walked away. Bebe turned and look at Hemmers. “Haha, big idiot, don’t just stand there like a fool. Even if you stand there for three millennia, you still aren’t comparable to my Boss.”
“Less than three thousand years? The Planar War has only been going on for a few centuries, and he’s fought with me three times. But each time…”
Hemmers, previously stupefied, was finally starting to come to his senses. He stared with a bit of trepidation as Linley left. “What a truly terrifying person. In less than three thousand years, he’s constantly advanced. He’s also a member of the Azure Dragon clan. For his material attack to be this strong… he should be a Paragon.”
“Three thousand years. Paragon?”
Hemmers suddenly sat down on the ground, then lay down casually, his head still woozy.
“Gack!” Hemmers suddenly slapped himself against the head. “Forgot to ask’m what his name is! Ah, forget it,. I’ll just refer to him him as that ‘Azure Dragon clan brat.’” Hemmers, had firmly memorized this Azure Dragon clan brat, who apparently had the terrifying power of a Paragon.
“It seems this final battle will be very exciting,” Hemmers mumbled. “So many experts. Mm. I have to go watch.” Hemmers rose to his feet as he spoke, also moving towards the Stellar River.
Only, he was still rather leery of Linley. Thus, the route Hemmers took was slightly different from Linley’s.
The Stellar River was a thousand kilometers wide, and more than a million kilometers long. The entire Planar Battlefield was divided into two.
The wide Stellar River was extremely brilliant, and the rainbow-colored regions of spatial chaos flowed about, but the experts of the Planar Battlefield all understood that although the chaotic space was beautiful, they contained terrifying levels of energy. If one became trapped within, they would quickly be lost. Even Paragons didn’t dare enter spatial rifts.
The Planar Wars: Book 7 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 70
