Coiling Dragon (Pan Long)

Deep within Dragonblood Castle. Within the pocket dimension.

Linley was seated on the ground in the meditative posture, his adamantine heavy sword resting across his legs. Linley was currently using his spiritual energy to encompass and nourish it. He didn’t dare to use his divine power yet. According to Linley’s plan, when he later had a divine earth clone, he would have his divine earth clone wield this weapon.

Thus, he had to use earth-style divine power to nourish it, but right now, the only type of divine power in Linley’s body was wind-type.

“Dong!” “Dong!” The unique throbbing pulse of the world thudded in Linley’s mind.

After becoming a Deity and absorbing twenty million soul essences, at present, Linley’s soul was already extremely powerful, and he could clearly sense the Throbbing Pulse of the World. Within Linley’s mind, a visualization even came to mind; the heart of the world, which possessed a unique tempo.

With each beating tempo, a water-like ripple spread forth.

From the 64 Fused Waves to the 32 Fused Waves, Linley had only needed three months.

But from the 32 Fused Waves to the 16 Fused Waves, Linley had to spend one year and three months. And this was after Linley’s soul had changed, with his hypothesizing and visualizing abilities increased a hundredfold.

“If I were at the Prime Saint level, most likely I would have had to spend over a hundred years before being able to transform the 32 Fused Waves to the 16 Fused Waves level.”

Linley broke through to the 16 Fused Waves, but he didn’t pause at all, continuing to train.

From the 16 Fused Waves to the 8 Fused Waves, all he had to do was fuse them in eight pairs of two. The number of fusions wasn’t very high…but every single fusion was so complicated that Linley felt extreme difficulty.

Within Linley’s mind.

Sixteen illusory adamantine heavy swords were constantly demonstrating various moves at various speeds. In every second, they transformed tens of thousands of times. This nonstop visualization resulted in occasional improvements, while at the same time he continued to attune with the sensations of the Throbbing Pulse of the World itself and the correct direction towards which he should try.

Complicated, vast.

“Only when I fuse it to the single wave will I have truly mastered the Throbbing Pulse of the World.” The more he trained bitterly, the more Linley sighed to himself. “But with each level, the difficulty of fusing the waves yet again increases tenfold. From the 16 Fused Waves to the 8 Fused Waves, it will most likely take several years.”

Linley didn’t care too much about several years.

But Linley had the feeling that from the 8 Fused Waves to the 4 Fused Waves, it would take even longer. And then he would have to fuse them into the 2 Fused Waves, before the final destination of the Throbbing Pulse of the World, the single, true wave of the earth.

That last step was a barrier!

For the likes of Desri, that barrier had halted them for thousands of years.

“For them to all become one! I don’t know how long it will be before I’ll be able to completely comprehend the true Throbbing Pulse of the World.” Linley was filled with anticipation towards the profound truths within the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’. He had the feeling that once this profound truth was mastered, its power would definitely be exceptional.

Since his conversation with Muba, Linley had trained for another three years.

Within those three years, with regards to the Profound Truths of the Earth, Linley was still stuck at the ‘16 Fused Waves’ level of the Throbbing Pulse of the World. He worked hard to break through to the 8 Fused Waves level. As for the Profound Truths of Velocity, although he had some improvements, compared to the vastness of the Profound Truths of Velocity, his improvements didn’t count for much.

“What the War God had originally said was very true. If one’s understanding of the Elemental Laws were measured in percentages, then only after one mastered 10% of an Elemental Law would one become a full God. Right now, my understanding of the Profound Truths of Velocity is perhaps only a tenth of just the Profound Truths of Velocity, to say nothing of the Elemental Laws of the Wind.”

Linley was in no rush.

He had trained for just dozens of years. He knew that he should be satisfied with the amount of accomplishments he already had.

There were some poor people who had been stuck at the Prime Saint level for ten million years, after all.

Within these three years, the greatest breakthrough for Linley was…

In his soul!

After having absorbed twenty million soul essences, the quality of Linley’s soul had risen dramatically, and his ability to control his soul was much stronger now as well. In particular, faith energy’s nourishment allowed Linley’s spiritual energy to be further purified and be controlled more easily.

In the past, Linley could only expand or contract his spiritual energy, but now, Linley could control it effortlessly.

For example…

Soul defense!

Linley was able to control a large amount of spiritual energy as if it were battle-qi, forming a ‘Pulseguard Defense’ via the usage of a large amount of spiritual energy which would form a spherical membrane around his sword-shaped soul, protecting it. This ‘Pulseguard Defense’ of spiritual energy was far more powerful than the raw ‘patch’ of spiritual energy which Linley had used to defend himself in the past.

“In the past, it wasn’t that I didn’t have any idea of what I wanted to do. It was that I didn’t have enough control over my spiritual energy.”

Linley felt very moved.

A more powerful soul, as well as the transformation of his spiritual energy, did indeed bring many changes.

“Big bro.” Wharton’s voice rang out as he walked into the pocket dimension.

Linley opened his eyes.

“Big bro, the Yulan Festival will be in two days.” Wharton said. Linley and Delia would generally pause their training around the Yulan Festival. Linley and Delia, exchanging glances, rose to their feet, following Wharton out.

Yulan Festival. The most important holiday of the Yulan continent.

Even in times of war, generally speaking, during these days, there would be a temporary truce, allowing the warriors and commoners to enjoy the Yulan festival. However…right now, the citizens of the Rohault Empire were filled with terror, grief, and rage!

“Don’t be afraid, child. We’re almost there.” A thin woman, dressed in tattered clothes, carrying a child on her back, was running towards the north nonstop.

“Mother, where’s Father?” The five or six year old child on her back asked with a confused look. “When will Father come to see us? I want to see Father.” Hearing these words, the woman’s eyes turned red. “Be good. We’ll see Father soon.”

But the woman knew very well in her heart…that the two of them, mother and son, would never be able to see the child’s father again.

It wasn’t just the two of them. There were many other fleeing people as well. The entire road was filled with people carrying their possessions and fleeing.

A wave of refugees!

Today was year 10044 of the Yulan calendar, January 1st. It should have been a day of celebration.

By now, the Baruch Empire and the Rohault Empire were separated at the Spring River. The Rohault Empire had two powerful Prime Saints, while on the Baruch Empire’s side, Linley, despite being a Deity now, didn’t want to hasten the speed of the battle.

The two sides had naturally thus fallen into a state of stalemate.

Over the past few years, the grand armies of the two sides had been separated by Spring River.

“You call this a war?” On the Baruch Empire’s side, a sentry was grumbling. “I’ve been sent to the front lines for two years now, but I haven’t killed a single enemy. All we do is stand guard, train, and rest…this is so boring.”

“Isn’t this great? People will die in wars.” An older soldier next to him clearly didn’t like wars.

“But wars will also have excitement. This sort of life is utterly boring.” The younger soldier grumbled. Suddenly, he heard the sound of a commotion from the other side, and he hurriedly turned to look. “Hey, quick, take a look. What’s going on, over on the opposite shore?” Actually, the two military camps of the two Empires were separated by two or three kilometers of river water.

The sentries all moved forward.

“Refugees. So many refugees.” The two soldiers were both shocked.

A large number of refugees streamed around the military camp, rushing towards a large bridge over the Spring River. Only, the bridge was guarded by the soldiers of both sides. However, there were simply too many refugees, and amongst them there were some powerful people as well.

Soon, the refugees charged through.

Actually, the soldiers on each side didn’t try to stop them either.

“What is going on?” The two sentries were very puzzled.

“Who cares. As long as these refugees don’t attack the military camp, don’t bother with them.” With battle having ground to a halt for two years, the soldiers of the two sides weren’t too cautious. Generally speaking, refugees who didn’t charge the military camps wouldn’t be attacked either.

They were just some refugees.

However…

Ever since that day, one wave of refugees after another passed through the border between the two countries, from the Rohault Empire to the Baruch Empire. The numbers grew greater and greater, attracting the attention of the Baruch Empire. But when they began to investigate, they discovered something astonishing.

Within Dragonblood Castle.

Just a few days after the Yulan festival was over, Cena came to visit Linley from the imperial capital.

“Uncle, starting a few days ago, there has been a nonstop flow of refugees from the Rohault Empire to our Empire’s borders. The number of people coming is simply astonishing.” Cena took a deep breath. “The most important thing is, it isn’t just the citizens of the Rohault Empire. Even many soldiers are fleeing to our Baruch Empire.”

“Huh? What’s this all about?”

Linley was puzzled.

The citizens might be fleeing to his side because of danger, but soldiers were under strict supervision. Any who were caught fleeing would be put to death.

“Cena, speak clearly.” Wharton was there as well.

Cena nodded. “I can put it like this. Citizens and some soldiers are moving in streams. Some fleeing to our Empire, others fleeing to the Yulan Empire. The morale of the citizens of the Rohault Empire has been completely destroyed!”

“What’s going on?” Linley, hearing this, was shocked.

The morale of the citizens had been completely destroyed? Everyone in the Empire was fleeing in all directions? This was unheard of.

When he had first arrived in the Anarchic Lands, at that time the Anarchic Lands were engaged in constant warfare, but there still hadn’t been this sort of a large-scale wave of refugees who fled in every which way. After all, people had some affection towards their homelands. If they had any options at all, they wouldn’t leave them behind.

“Did you investigate what this is about?” Linley asked.

“We’re not sure. But we did find out one thing, and this one thing, by itself, was enough to make me feel horrified to the bones.” Cena’s eyes were filled with amazement.

Cena took a deep breath. “Based on our investigations, many of the cities of the Rohault Empire have already turned into dead cities. The situation is very similar to what the situation in our Bluelion City had been. Only, this time, the situation is a hundred, no, a thousand times as severe…and it should have happened recently.”

“Dead cities?”

Linley instantly thought of that Deity he had killed.

“Can it be yet another Deity who trains in the Edicts of Death and is absorbing a large amount of souls?”

Linley was somewhat puzzled. Zassler had said before that refining souls was an extremely difficult process. Even most full Gods weren’t capable of such a thing. But a Deity who trained in the Edicts of Death was a very rare thing; it was quite rare for a plane to have a single one. And now there was one?

What’s more…

Linley had killed the last one. If there was yet another Deity who trained in the Edicts of Death, wouldn’t he be afraid that Linley would deal with him as well?

“Or perhaps, is it that this hidden culprit is extremely confident?” Linley was far more powerful than he was three years ago.

His soul was much stronger, and his spiritual energy could now form into a spiritual ‘Pulseguard Defense’. Given that translucent scaly membrane’s defense of his soul…Linley had a degree of confidence in dealing with other Deities.

“According to our rough estimates, the population of the dead cities of the Rohault Empire add up to nearly a hundred million.” Even Cena, when saying this number, felt a cold shudder.

The death of a hundred thousand people in Bluelion City was already astonishing.

A hundred million?

“I’ll personally go investigate this affair.” Linley’s heart was filled with fury. “These Deities from other planes don’t treat the people of our Yulan continent as human beings at all. A hundred million? The entire Rohault Empire has only a few hundred million.”

Currently, the War God and the High Priest were not present. The human experts of the Yulan continent at the Deity level were only Linley and Desri. The Yulan continent’s plane was their homeland! How could Linley possibly forbear and permit these experts from other planes to wantonly slaughter people here?

“I’m heading out.” Linley couldn’t sit still for a minute longer. After saying those words to Wharton and the others, he flew out of Dragonblood Castle, then began to fly to the south.