Book 16, Starmist Sea – Chapter 9, Emotions
The waves of the sea rolled on. There was n.o.body left around them.
The twelve lucky survivors had strange looks on their faces.
Seeing Bebe continuously ‘search’ for that hidden expert, the big-bearded Bates cursed silently to himself: You know who it is, yet you put on such a show.
He immediately laughed loudly, “Bebe, if that expert doesn’t want to reveal himself, how can you know? Right?”
“Right.” Bebe nodded.
The bald youth, Boff, had a calm look on his face. His divine HighG.o.d clone was dead, leaving behind only his G.o.d clone. He said calmly, “No need to look for him. Perhaps that expert isn’t even amongst us and is an expert who was hidden near us and helped us, then left. This isn’t impossible.”
It was indeed possible for those Seven Star Fiends and Asura-level experts to escape the notice of these bandits, but under normal conditions, would an Asura-level expert be so bored as to help them?
Unless there was someone they cared about present.
“That might indeed be the case.” Aches’ face was all smiles. “Everyone, let’s not waste any more time. Let’s hurry off.” Aches was a very skilled person. Regardless of whether or not that expert was in their squad, since he didn’t want to show himself, Aches naturally wouldn’t pursue the matter and possibly make that person unhappy.
Aches was delighted from the bottom of his heart.
His squad had such an expert with it. What would they have to fear on their journey?
“Oh no!” Aches suddenly laughed bitterly.
“What is it?” The others looked at him.
Aches laughed bitterly. “That was my last metallic lifeform, and it’s already been destroyed. However, we’ve gone less than 10% on this journey. What should we do?” Aches looked at the surrounding people. “Who here has a metallic lifeform to lend me? I can buy it. Or perhaps I can pay for all of the expended divine jewels on the way.”
Everyone glanced at each other.
Metallic lifeforms were fairly high level items. Generally speaking, G.o.d-level Fiends weren’t able to buy them.
“Only prepared a few metallic lifeforms?” The big-bearded Bates chuckled, then waved his hand. Immediately, a metallic lifeform floated above the sea while transforming into a s.h.i.+p. “Aches, this metallic lifeform doesn’t have any divine jewels within it. You can fill it up yourself.”
“Hmph, he’s an expert, yet he’s so stingy.” Bebe muttered.
The big-bearded Bates immediately turned to look at him. He couldn’t help but stare at Bebe, then glanced at Linley. Only, he simply laughed, then sent through divine sense, “Hey, Linley…you are an expert of the Four Divine Beasts clan. You are a Six Star Fiend, right? Or are you a Seven Star Fiend? Why are you hiding your status?”
Six Star Fiend? Seven Star Fiend?
“I’m actually a One Star Fiend.” Linley sent back through divine sense.
“One Star Fiend?” Bates rolled his eyes, then turned and flew towards the metallic lifeform. “Hey, let’s hurry on our way. Prepare to head out.”
Only now did Linley return to his normal human form.
“I told the truth but he didn’t believe it.” Linley shook his head, laughing to himself. And then, he couldn’t help but sigh. “The power of this Blackstone Prison is indeed great. One part of it is the profound mysteries, but the other part is the special trick in exerting the profound mysteries. How could there be such a powerful trick?”
Linley didn’t understand it.
Just the special trick to using it could cause the upper limits of the gravity strength to multiple hundredfold. Most likely, even fusing another profound mystery wouldn’t result in such an extravagant increase in power.
“Also, if I were to try and extrapolate it from scratch, most likely even after countless years, I still wouldn’t be able to do so.” Linley knew very well how hard it would be to develop this completely on his own. After all, who could have come up with using 108 rays of divine power? In addition, the 108 rays of divine power could be set up in countless configurations, and in most of them, they were very weak.
But who would have imagined that under certain circ.u.mstances, they would produce such an effect?
Before Linley learned this technique, only the juvenile amethyst beast could use it, and the juvenile amethyst beast was a ‘divine beast’. This technique was his innate, ultimate technique! When using it, the power was even more extravagant than Linley’s execution.
“Rumble…”
The metallic lifeform pierced through the waves and advanced.
Within the metallic lifeform, everyone was chatting, drinking wine, and laughing. Only, occasionally, some of them would intentionally glance at the others, pondering who was most likely to be that secretive, ultimate expert.
“Who was that expert?” The green haired man, Tam, was very curious. At the same time, with a rather excited gaze, he glanced at every single lucky survivor nearby. When his glance fell upon the silver-haired ‘Wilburn’, he shook his head slightly. If Wilburn was that expert, he most likely wouldn’t have let his big brother die.
Tam continued to look at them, one by one.
“Shouldn’t be them. I know these ones.” Tam then turned to look at the big-bearded Bates, who stared at him. “What are you looking at?”
Tam immediately laughed awkwardly.
However, Tam knew that Bates trained in the Laws of Darkness and so wasn’t that expert.
“Can it be them?” Tam then glanced sideways at Linley’s group, looking at each of them. Upon seeing Linley, he paused slightly. “That shouldn’t be right either. I saw him use that violet longsword. He seems to train in the Elemental Laws of the Wind. Not him either!”
Although Deities would train in more than one type of Elemental Law, when they engaged in battle, they would generally use their most powerful profound mystery. They had seen Linley utilize the Elemental Laws of the Wind, and thus were certain that Linley was a wind-style Deity. They didn’t think about anything else.
“Linley.”
A voice rang out in his mind. Linley himself was at the side of the main hall. He was staring at the outside through the translucent metallic metal. Hearing this sound, he immediately replied with divine sense, “Bates, why have you kept on chatting with me these past few days?”
“Hmph. Ever since that day when I revealed my true power, those kids have been very careful when chatting to me. It’s really boring.” The big-bearded Bates said.
Linley chuckled. Bates was someone who liked a lively atmosphere.
“Hey, look. That Wilburn kid has had a gloomy face the past few days. He seems to have been turned into a cripple. I didn’t expect that that short big brother of his was so important to him.” Bates sent with divine sense yet again.
Linley turned to look at Wilburn. This Wilburn was someone who also valued emotional relations.h.i.+ps. If either Linley or Wharton had died, the other would probably be very heartbroken as well.
“Wharton. When I didn’t let him come to the Infernal Realm, that was the right decision.” Linley sighed in his heart.
The many dangers of the Infernal Realm had been far greater than he had imagined. However, after six hundred years of training in the Amethyst Mountains, he already was confident in his ability to protect himself. Regardless of whether it was a ‘Fogsea Storm’ or those Knifeblade Island bandits, there wasn’t much of a threat to him.
Night. The sea wind blew drearily.
Linley walked to the front of the s.h.i.+p. Although the metallic lifeform moved very quickly, Linley still walked very stably atop it.
“Huh?” Linley looked towards the front of the s.h.i.+p in surprise. “There’s someone here!” Tonight, aside from himself, there was actually someone else who had come to the front of the s.h.i.+p long ago. It was the silver-haired youth, Wilburn, who was leaning against the railings.
Linley found to his astonishment…
Wilburn’s face was covered with tears. He was quietly staring into the distant seas. Who knew what he was thinking about?
“Wilburn.” Linley sat down as well.
Wilburn was startled. The tears on his face immediately dried and vanished, and he looked as cold and emotionless as ever.
“Thinking about your elder brother?” Linley stared into the dark waves up ahead, but spoke very directly.
When Wilburn heard this, the muscles on his face couldn’t help but begin to tremble slightly.
“You had an elder brother, while I, I have a little brother.” Linley let out a long sigh. “His name is Wharton! However, this time, when I came to the Infernal Realm, I didn’t let him accompany me…and in the blink of an eye, nearly seven centuries have pa.s.sed. I wonder how my little brother is doing.”
Nearly seven hundred years.
It had only taken Linley, in the Yulan continent, a few decades to become a legend. In the Infernal Realm, he had spent nearly seven centuries. Seven centuries…how many things could happen in such a period of time? Linley didn’t know. How were his family members in the distant Yulan continent doing?
“My elder brother and I have been in the Infernal Realm for tens of thousands of years.” Wilburn suddenly said.
Linley was somewhat astonished. Wilburn was actually speaking.
However, Linley still listened carefully. Given how heartbroken Wilburn was, he would indeed feel better after speaking out.
“My elder brother cared greatly about me. I still remember what it was like back in our homeland, that material plane.” Wilburn’s gaze drifted away as he returned to his memories. “My elder brother was fairly honest and simple, while I was fairly arrogant! When I was young, because of my arrogance, I didn’t have many friends. Only, my elder brother always cared about me.”
“Afterwards, when I grew up, because of an certain matter, a rupture appeared in the relations.h.i.+p between myself and my elder brother.” Wilburn said bitterly, “I killed my elder brother’s fiancée!”
Linley was startled.
Seeing the look on Wilburn’s face, Linley could imagine that the situation back then must have been very complicated. Otherwise, given how much Wilburn cared about his brother, he wouldn’t have done such a thing.
“From that day onward, my elder brother stopped meeting with me. As for myself, I became all the more arrogant. Because of some complicated matters, in my anger, I attacked the Imperial palace and killed that detestable Imperial crown prince, and even the Emperor. That night, blood flowed into a river…”
“Only, the power of the Imperial palace was also very strong. They actually had eight Saints! I killed five of them, but was badly injured as well. I could see death coming for me.”
“I had given up. After all, I had killed that Imperial crown prince and that dogs.h.i.+t Emperor. I was willing to die. Only, at that moment, my elder brother appeared. He saved me! Doing so meant that he was directly opposing the Empire!” Wilburn thought back to the events of that year.
Wilburn shook his head and said bitterly, “Actually, back then, I had killed my future sister-in-law by accident. I had always felt guilty towards my elder brother…”
“After killing the Emperor, things became extremely troublesome. The elder chairman of the Empire’s magus a.s.sociation normally never got involved in matters, but after learning about this, he would definitely intervene.”
Wilburn sighed. “Thus, we immediately fled, and then immediately found the Planar Overseer to go to the Infernal Realm!”
“You came here as Saints?” Linley was shocked.
Wilburn nodded. “Only after arriving did we learn…how dangerous it was. For Saints in the Infernal Realm…this place is a nightmare…” As he spoke, Wilburn turned silent, and his tears began to quietly cascade down again.
“Enough of that.” Wilburn shook his head. “After arriving here and experiencing the myriad dangers of the Infernal Realm, my elder brother and I understood that death could descend at any moment. I always hoped that if we were to die, I should be the first to die. I didn’t want my elder brother to die…because in my entire life, he was the only true family and friend I have ever had!”
Linley glanced at Wilburn, then sighed to himself.
However, Linley himself didn’t feel too sad. He had experienced too much, here in the Infernal Realm. He had seen these things often. Those Fiend trial partic.i.p.ants, only a few dozen survived from a thousand partic.i.p.ants. For the people who had come to the Infernal Realm, how many of them were ‘ordinary’?
Linley quietly sat there.
At some point in time, Wilburn returned to the s.h.i.+p’s cabin. Linley continued to sit there and stare at the waves of the sea.
Tonight, only a tiny hint of a crescent of the Violet Moon remained. The entire Starmist Sea seemed so dark and gloomy. The waves of the sea seemed like part of some incomparably enormous monster.
“The Infernal Realm is just like this Starmist Sea. It is incomparably vast, and it devours one living creature after another. Only a truly powerful expert can remain here in the Infernal Realm and reach the pinnacle. Experts die, and only still more powerful experts can live!” Linley stared into the boundless waters in front of him. For some reason, he felt his heart tremble slightly.
The dark sea waters were vast and endless.
Linley quietly sat there at the head of the boat, silently staring into the boundless sea, not a single hint of light in his eyes.
Perhaps a long time pa.s.sed, or perhaps just a moment later…
Linley opened his eyes.
In Linley’s mind, illusory rays of divine power actually were forming. The rays of divine power formed into the ‘Blackstone Prison’. The ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’, ‘Gravitational s.p.a.ce’, ‘Essence of the Earth’…all sorts of profound mysteries were fusing into his soul.
Dawn.
Linley stood up as well. Staring at the Blood Sun, blurry behind those thin clouds, he had a hint of a smile on his face.