Coiling Dragon (Pan Long)

“This Clay wasn’t injured at all, but he admitted defeat.” Linley chuckled, then stored Bloodviolet back into his interspatial ring, then landed as well.

By now, everyone present had a clearer understanding of Linley’s power. Clay was one of the more powerful experts present, and there were only a few present who were mightier than him. These experts knew very well…that Clay’s most powerful attack was his punches.

His body’s defense was slightly weaker than his fist’s power.

Linley’s sword had actually drawn a hint of blood from Clay’s fist. If it had landed on Clay’s body, it would have at least resulted in some blood loss.

“Linley, I haven’t seen you in thirteen years, but your power has reached such a level.” Fain’s eyes also had a hint of battle-lust in them.

From the battle just then, Fain could tell that Linley now had a fairly high level of understanding of the Laws. Paired with his natural gifts as a Dragonblood Warrior, Linley should now be able to have a proper duel with him. Fain, as well, wanted to have a sparring match with Linley.

“Everyone wants to fight with my Boss. Why don’t you guys fight with me?” Bebe sensed Fain’s desire to do battle and immediately flew in front of Fain.

Fain looked at Bebe, startled, and then he seemed to have remembered something. He hurriedly said, “Oh, Bebe, right?” Fain no longer mentioned anything about sparring. Instead, he pulled Linley and Bebe to join him in laughter, wine, and idle conversation.

…………

Midnight. The mountain wind blew gently. The night wind of early spring was very cold, but of course, these experts didn’t mind at all. They continued to chat and laugh.

“Olivier’s aura has completely changed from before.” Linley glanced sideways at the distant Olivier. Olivier was one of the twenty two experts as well. “In the past, Olivier would still talk and laugh, but now, he seems to have become much colder, and his eyes have become sharper as well.”

The current Olivier was like a precious sword that had been unsheathed, extremely sharp and fierce.

This caused the experts around him to voluntarily draw away from him. Clearly, these people weren’t very close to Olivier.

“Linley. This time, you and Olivier are the only new participants in our squad. Although Olivier’s power is weaker than yours, he is still a hair more powerful than Clay.” Fain sighed in approval. “His attack power is quite astonishing.”

“Oh?” Linley was surprised.

Linley knew very well how powerful Olivier was. “In the past, Olivier had even lost to Haydson. Although I heard that twelve years later, he killed Haydson with a single sword, it’s only been twelve years. How has he improved so astonishingly fast?”

The main reason Linley’s own power had increased was because he had broken through to the Saint level, so as a peak Dragonblood Warrior his strength had increased by more than tenfold. And, of course, he had gained deeper levels of understanding as well.

But Olivier’s battle-qi had reached the peak of the Saint-level long ago. His only improvement would have been in his understanding of the Laws. How had he risen in power so quickly?

“Although Olivier’s sword isn’t very fast, it combines two different types of Laws, both light and dark. When he strikes…even Clay is unable to take the blow.” Fain sighed in approval. “For one sword blow to contain two opposing types of Laws…I have never seen this in all my life. Even Master repeatedly sighed in praise.”

“What?!” Linley couldn’t believe it.

Linley stared disbelievingly at the distant Olivier, his heart filled with shock. “A single sword containing both types of Laws at the same time? How can two different Laws be used at the same time?” For example, Linley’s Profound Truths of the Earth was just that, and his Profound Truths of the Wind was just that.

To fuse the Profound Truths of the Earth and the Profound Truths of the Wind? Impossible!

After all, these were two different types of Laws.

“It is true. When Olivier attacks with his sword, darkness and light co-exist…and thus, Haydson was chopped directly in half by this sword.” Fain sighed in praise.

Linley nodded slightly.

Linley had to acknowledge of this attack by Olivier. In terms of Laws alone, it had already surpassed Linley’s ‘Tempos of the Wind’ attack.

“I wonder how the power of his sword would match up against my ‘Throbbing Pulse of the Earth’.” Linley was still very confident. He had already transformed the 256 layers of the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the Earth’ to 128 layers of waves, and the power of the attack had multiplied several times over. More importantly…

Relying on his inborn gifts as a Dragonblood Warrior, Linley’s battle-qi, physical strength, and defense were all ten times that of Olivier’s.

The difference in their base abilities was simply too great.

This was the reason why Fain and Desri considered Linley as someone on the same level as them.

….

While making conversation and jesting throughout this night, Linley came to get to know these experts. The only ones that Linley got to know well, however, were Clay, Bowditch, and three of the personally trained disciples of the War God’s College. The rest, he only memorized their names and their appearances.

Dawn.

The red sun peeked out from the eastern mountains, slowly casting its light down upon War God Mountain. The twenty two experts hadn’t slept at all last night, but none of them felt uncomfortable at all. At their level, they had long since transcended the need to sleep.

“Creaaak.” The door to the quiet little courtyard finally opened.

Twenty two experts simultaneously rose to their feet, looking respectfully towards the person who walked into the courtyard. The man had a head full of long, scarlet red hair, and his gaze flashed with dagger-like light. His powerful, dominating aura made even these twenty two experts feel afraid to breathe.

This man was the War God, O’Brien!

The War God swept the group with his gaze, pausing for a moment on Bebe, who was on Linley’s shoulders, then said calmly, “Since all of you have come, then follow me.” After speaking, the War God immediately flew into the air.

“The War God is blunt enough.” Linley couldn’t help but chuckle in his heart.

But on the surface, Linley was like the others, quite obediently flying into the air and following the War God to fly towards the east. These twenty two people flew in a particular order, and in the very forefront of the group were Fain and Linley.

Everyone had a sense of how powerful everyone else was.

The strongest were in front. The weakest were in the back.

“Fain, are we going to the Forest of Darkness?” Linley looked in front of him, at the heroic figure flying at their forefront. They were heading in the direction of the Forest of Darkness. He couldn’t help but query Fain quietly.

“Right.” Fain spoke very quietly as well. “Each time we head to the Necropolis of the Gods, the experts of the Yulan continent will first gather at the Forest of Darkness. After all, only Lord Beirut is capable of opening the passageway to the Necropolis of the Gods.”

“Oh.” Linley secretly nodded in understanding. “It seems it is very difficult to open the gateway to the Necropolis of the Gods. Even the War God isn’t able to do it.”

“Bebe, right?” A powerful, incisive voice.

Linley and Fain were both frightened. The Lord War God had actually appeared next to Linley and spoken. The frightening thing was, the War God actually had a hint of a warm smile on his face. Fain had almost never seen his master smile.

“That’s me.” Bebe looked at the War God.

The War God looked at Bebe carefully, then nodded. “Lord Beirut was actually willing to let you enter the Necropolis of the Gods.”

“What’s there to be afraid of? If the Boss goes, how can I not go?” Bebe raised his head proudly.

The War God let out a calm laugh and didn’t say anything else.

“Lord War God.” Linley spoke.

The War God looked at Linley, waiting for Linley to continue. Linley instantly said, “Lord War God, I have a good friend, Barker. He also wishes to go to the Necropolis of the Gods. I wonder if…”

“Lord Beirut only gave me the authority to bring twenty two people.” The War God said calmly. “If you want to bring someone else into the Necropolis of the Gods, just have Bebe tell Lord Beirut. After all, Lord Beirut is the final decider of who will be allowed into the Necropolis of the Gods.”

After speaking, the War God flew back to the front.

Linley let out a secret sigh of relief. “Deities. Even when they are chatting and smiling, they have such an enormous, pressuring aura.” Just then, Linley had the feeling that it was hard for him to breathe, just like when he was young and had seen the Velocidragon for the first time. He had felt that sort of terror which came from the bottom of his heart.”

“This must be what Divine Presence is all about.” Linley said to himself.

…..

The group continued to fly towards the deepest parts of the Forest of Darkness at high speed. Soon, Linley’s group, under the direction of the War God, arrived at the heart of the Forest of Darkness. This was the first time Linley had gone so deep into the Forest of Darkness.

“The legendary Lord Beirut. What will he be like?” Linley was extremely curious.

Soon, a black, metallic castle appeared before them in the Forest of Darkness. This castle’s size was approximately on par with Linley’s underground castle, with just an area of several square kilometers. Only, this castle was pitch black, and was made from some sort of strange black metal.

“Everyone, stay in the area outside this castle for now. Do not go in without authorization.” The War God said calmly, but then he himself flew into the castle.

There were already quite a few experts milling around the black metal castle.

“Many of these people are Grand Magus Saints. They should have been brought here by the High Priest.” Fain landed from the skies while explaining to Linley, and Linley nodded slightly. The experts of the Yulan continent mostly belonged to a particular Deity’s side.

“None of you are to go in without authorization. This metal castle will automatically attack any invaders.” Fain said loudly.

Actually, aside from Linley and Olivier who were coming here for the first time, everyone else here knew this.

“Automatically attack invaders?” Linley was quite surprised, but Bebe snickered quietly. “Boss, this metal castle is actually a metallic life form. It has intelligence.”

Linley was secretly shocked.

This ‘King of the Forest of Darkness’ was truly incredible. Even his castle had lifeforce of its own. This was the first time Linley had encountered such a curious lifeform as well.

“Boss, wait here for now. Didn’t you want to discuss Barker’s matter? I’ll go ask Grandpa Beirut.” Bebe said.

Linley nodded slightly.

With a flicker of his body, Bebe immediately entered that pitch black castle. Seeing Bebe go in, many of the experts outside the castle were quite surprised. They all knew…any invaders would be attacked. But just then, Bebe hadn’t been attacked at all!

“Linley, you came.” He heard the sound of laughter. Linley turned his head and looked.

He saw Desri, Hayward, and Higginson walk over towards him, and Linley immediately went to greet them. “Mr. Desri, where is your wife? She didn’t come?”

“She’s a bit too weak.” Desri laughed. “But I must say, I truly must congratulate you, for you to possess a magical beast such as Bebe. Twenty three years ago, Lord Beirut personally communicated to several of us mentally, and we were all curious as to what fortunate youngster managed to acquire Bebe as his magical beast companion.”

Linley understood why.

Soon after Bebe had been born, Lord Beirut had probably discovered Bebe’s existence by some coincidence. Thus, he had immediately mentally contacted the War God, the High Priest, Desri, Rosarie, and the other Prime Saints, asking them to look after the two of them a bit.

Lord Beirut certainly must have been paying close attention to Bebe this entire time.

“Those ‘several of us’ included myself, Rosarie, Tulily, and Rutherford. Only the four of us answer directly to Lord Beirut’s commands.” Desri explained. “In the Yulan continent, the Saints in training are divided into three camps. Lord Beirut’s, the War God’s, and the High Priest’s.”

Linley now understood.

Although the Yulan continent had five Deities, Dylin and Cesar had only appeared in recent years, and they didn’t have many Saints subordinate to them.

“Lord Cesar has arrived as well.” Desri suddenly said.

Linley raised his head and saw Cesar, dressed in a long, loose robe, a lazy smile on his face, fly into the metallic castle.

“All of you, stay here, don’t go in. Otherwise, if you die, don’t blame me.” A calm, cold voice rang out. Linley and the others couldn’t help but turn to look, and they saw a devilish young man who wore a dark golden robe issuing instructions to the magical beasts who had followed him here. And then, he entered the metallic castle as well.

“It’s Dylin!” Linley had personally seen Dylin once, when he was in Fenlai City.

Behind Dylin were three ‘kittens’ and six Saint-level magical beasts that had transformed to a size roughly equivalent to a normal human’s. Linley inspected them carefully. Indeed, these three ‘kittens’ had a pair of wings on their backs, and on their face, above their two eyes, there were another two pairs of shut eyes.

Six eyes, two wings.

“Saint-level magical beasts, Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions. The children of Dylin.” Linley secretly said to himself.

Right at this moment, one of the Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions looked towards Linley. Suddenly…all six of its eyes opened, and he grinned at Linley. “Linley, right? Thank you!”