Book 21, The Peak – Chapter 22, Trump Card
Linley had acquired the blood essences of the Four Divine Beasts. Although he hadn’t been able to develop the fused supreme innate divine ability of the four ancestors, he had used part of the blood essence of the Azure Dragon to further strengthen his body. Linley discovered…that his body was clearly too powerful. Even after he used a portion of the blood essence of the Azure Dragon, his body had reached a certain limit, beyond which it didn’t strengthen significantly more.
His body was no weaker than a Sovereign artifact, and the tip of his draconic tail was in fact superior.
And thus ‘stab’ with the tail that contained the Laws of the Earth was something which Sovereign artifacts definitely could not withstand.
“Terrible.” Augusta’s face changed. He needed to use his OverG.o.d weapon to block Linley’s OverG.o.d weapon, and so, in that instant, his only reaction was…
To cover up with his arm!
Augusta’s arm swung up like a soft whip in a very simple, snapping motion.
“Whap!” His arm snapped out extremely fast, and in the last moment, Augusta actually managed to strike against the side of the tip of Linley’s draconic tail with the palm of his hands. But under Linley’s control, the draconic tail twisted and pierced towards Augusta’s palm!
“Bang!”
A white, armor-like membrane layer covered Augusta’s palm; clearly, it was his defensive Sovereign artifact. But the stabbing pierce from Linley’s full-strength draconic tail attack caused blood to spew out as the sharp draconic tail pierced through Augusta’s palm.
“Whoos.h.!.+” Augusta’s body suddenly flashed backwards as he dodged aside, moving tens of kilometers away.
“That palm of his…?” Linley was shocked. “Augusta’s physical strength is actually this powerful as well?”
After his draconic tail had pierced through the defensive Sovereign artifact, Linley had been planning to pierce through the palm and continue to drill through Augusta’s head. But who could have imagined…that Augusta’s palm was also exceedingly tough. After boring through the defensive Sovereign artifact and the palm, the power of Linley’s draconic tail tip had already been spent.
“Augusta, I knew that your soul is powerful, but for your body to also be so powerful? Admirable.” Linley’s voice echoed in Augusta’s mind, and then, not hesitating at all, Linley charged straight towards Augusta again.
“Linley, the two of us should end it here.” Augusta fled away, flying at high speed.
Now that Augusta was going all out, he was clearly moving a good deal faster than before.
Even Linley wasn’t able to catch up to him right away.
“I’m actually not able to catch up to him, even in Dragonform?” Linley was startled.
Augusta’s true power was more than ten times greater than Linley had antic.i.p.ated.
This made it so that Linley and Augusta were roughly on par in power.
Even though Linley was in Dragonform, since Augusta trained in the Laws of Light, he specialized in speed. When going all out, even Linley wasn’t able to catch him for the time being.
“Wait.” Linley’s powerful divine sense could clearly sense exactly how fast Augusta was moving. At present, the distance between himself and Augusta was continuing to slowly shrink. “Although our speeds are comparable, they aren’t identical. Rather…I’m very slightly faster than him.”
This difference in speed was quite minute. If one didn’t pay extremely close attention, one wouldn’t notice it at all.
But the distance between Linley and Augusta was steadily shrinking. Sooner or later, Linley would catch up.
“Linley, why must you insist on fighting with me to the death?” Augusta sent hurriedly. “I did kill the Four Divine Beasts, but you came countless generations after them. I imagine that you’ve never even seen them, nor do you feel close to them; why must you do this? In addition, the reason that Beirut and I have enmity for each other is because Beirut stole my four Sovereign sparks. He was the one who acted against me! I can now promise to forget about the grudge between myself and Beirut. What do you say? If you have any additional requests, we can discuss them as well with sincerity.”
Linley just laughed coldly.
“Just now, you wanted to kill me, but after I Dragonformed and you discovered that you cannot kill me, you want to negotiate?” Linley didn’t pay him any heed.
“Linley, do you insist on doing this?” Augusta was growing angry. “If push comes to shove, I’ll charge into the Infernal Realm and annihilate your Four Divine Beasts clan! I imagine that I’ll have more than enough time to charge in and do just that.”
Although the two were only a few dozen kilometers apart, which was quite close for Sovereigns, the difference in speed between the two was simply too small. Linley still needed multiple minutes to catch up to Augusta.
“The Four Divine Beasts clan? Augusta, the Infernal Realm has the Chief Sovereign of Destruction. I imagine that you know that the Chief Sovereign of Destruction has a special relations.h.i.+p with Beirut and myself, and in the past, he’s borrowed blood essences of the Four Divine Beasts from us. In addition, he’s also borrowed members of my Four Divine Beasts clan. As long as I speak to him with divine sense, I trust that he will definitely stop you.” Linley sent back.
Augusta had almost gone insane from Linley’s pursuit.
The distance between himself and Linley was continuing to shrink, but there was nothing he could do.
“Linley, your power isn’t that much stronger than mine. The only advantage you have is that your Dragonformed body is comparable to a Sovereign artifact and can be used as a Sovereign weapon. But if I go all out, it’s hard to say who will live and who will die.” Augusta sent back. “Are you truly willing to fight in such a manner?”
After their recent clash, Linley knew this as well.
He wasn’t that much stronger than his foe. In a life-and-death battle like this, it would indeed be hard to say who would win and who would lose. However, in terms of chances, Linley should have an 80% chance while Augusta only had a 20% chance.
“I’m willing!” Linley said calmly.
“Fine, you madman!” Augusta’s face turned savage. “Then don’t blame me for this.”
As he spoke, Augusta suddenly changed directions, flying towards another region at high speed.
“Eh?” Linley’s face changed.
Augusta was now fleeing towards the direction of the Celestial Realm. Although the two were only ten or so kilometers apart from each other now, the amount of time necessary for Linley to catch up was more than enough for Augusta to reach the Celestial Realm.
Linley couldn’t help but feel puzzled as to why Augusta was fleeing towards the Celestial Realm.
“According to the stories, the Divine Darkness Plane is aligned with the Infernal Realm, while the Divine Light Plane is aligned with the Celestial Realm. Can it be that Augusta is going to beg the Chief Sovereign of Fate for help?” Linley couldn’t help but guess at this possibility. It was normal for Chief Sovereigns to have relations.h.i.+ps with other Chief Sovereigns.
“What, you are going to find the Chief Sovereign of Fate?” Linley sent.
While fleeing, Augusta said threateningly, “Right, I’m going to find Lord Orloff! Lord Orloff owes me a favor. Although he never gets involved in worldly affairs, if I call in that favor and have him kill you, that won’t be a problem at all. This trump card…I’ve never been willing to actually use it. Don’t force me to do so!”
Linley hesitated.
“Is Augusta telling the truth or not?” Linley mused to himself.
If it was true…given the power of the Chief Sovereign of Fate, for him to kill Linley definitely wouldn’t be a problem. Linley wouldn’t be able to fight back.
“A favor? Why would Lord Orloff owe you a favor?” Linley snickered.
“Linley, don’t doubt it. You can go ask the Chief Sovereign of Destruction or anyone else about this favor which Lord Orloff owes me. They all know about it! Go ahead and ask, and you’ll know if I’m lying or not.” Augusta wasn’t actually willing to use up his trump card in such a manner either.
The Chief Sovereign of Fate wouldn’t casually beg someone for help.
A favor from him, in exchanging for having helped him with something…that could be used to save one’s life.
If the favor was used up, it would be gone. Unless Augusta was truly at the verge of death, how could he be willing to use it?
Linley pondered rapidly, then let out a cold laugh. “Oh, Lord Orloff owes you a favor? Fine. For Lord Orloff’s sake, I’ll let this matter come to an end. But I warn you; in the future, don’t make trouble for members of my Four Divine Beasts clan. Otherwise…even at the cost of my life, I will kill you.”
After speaking, Linley turned and flew towards the Infernal Realm.
“Whew.” Only now did Augusta let out a sigh of relief.
Augusta watched as Linley flew towards the distant Infernal Realm, and he couldn’t help but curse softly. “How did this Linley suddenly grow so powerful? Fortunately, his speed is roughly equal to mine. If I want to be able to get rid of Linley, I either have to train to the Paragon level, or use the second method.”
The second method was naturally to go ask Orloff to dispose of Linley.
“However, there’s no need for me to fear Linley either.” Augusta stared into the distance and let out a calm laugh. “Linley is a Paragon! He has already maximized his potential, whereas I have only fused five profound mysteries, and am just a step away from becoming a Paragon. When, one day, I too become a Paragon, I will be able to easily deal with him.”
“This time, when I go back, I need to calm my mind and focus on my training.”
And so, Augusta turned and flew towards the Divine Light Plane.
The Four Higher Planes were all neighbors, while the Seven Divine Planes were close by as well.
These eleven planes were located in the same area, and in their center was the ‘Planar Battlefield’.
“I didn’t expect that Augusta would actually be so powerful.” While flying through the void, Linley frowned pensively. If Augusta had been just slightly weaker, Linley would have killed him long ago. But Augusta’s power was almost on par with his own. Once Augusta fled to the Chief Sovereign of Fate, then there would be no hope.
Linley couldn’t afford to die. If he died, Beirut and Bluefire would be in trouble as well.
The Yulan branch would probably be forever suppressed by Augusta, never to rise again.
Thus, Linley chose to temporarily retreat.
“The Chief Sovereign of Fate owes him a favor? Hmph. I’ll let Augusta live a bit longer for now, then.” Linley mused to himself. “I will go back and focus on fusing the Laws. If I become a Paragon, then even Orloff will be no match for me, much less Augusta.” Linley had already reached the borders of the Infernal Realm.
With a wave of the hand, he tore open a spatial rift.
And so, Linley re-entered the Infernal Realm!
In terms of fusing the different Laws, Linley had currently only fused three of them. It must be understood that with each increase in the number of different Laws, the power of the fusion would increase a hundredfold! In addition, based on what Linley believed, once he fused all four of the Laws, the heavens would probably bestow him with another portion of Will.
By then, who would Linley have to fear?
The Infernal Realm. The air above the Bloodridge Continent.
Linley’s figure was soaring through the skies. Compared to Linley, the nearby metallic lifeforms seemed to be slow, crawling ants. They were on completely different levels of speed.
“Whoos.h.!.+” His divine sense covered the entire Bloodridge Continent.
Linley instantly discovered Beirut, located within the Skyrite Mountains. This was Beirut’s divine clone.
“Grandpa Beirut.” Linley sent.
Beirut’s divine clone always remained within the Indigo Prefecture of the Bloodridge Continent.
Indigo Prefecture. The Skyrite Mountains. Beirut was temporarily living within the estate that had been built for Linley.
“Hm?” Beirut raised his head, only to a figure descending from the skies, moving towards him at a speed comparable to teleportation. It was Linley.
“Linley.” Beirut was overjoyed. “How did it go? Did you kill Augusta?” Beirut’s eyes were filled with hope. Upon seeing the look on Beirut’s face, Linley couldn’t help but laugh bitterly.
“I failed.” Linley shook his head and sighed.
“How?!” Beirut was shocked. “Given your true power, you should have been able to easily kill him.”
Linley shook his head. “Grandpa Beirut, everyone has been deceived by Augusta. His true power…isn’t even close to what we thought it was. His power is more than ten times greater than what I had expected! He isn’t much weaker than me at all. Even if I fought with him to the death, it’s uncertain as to who would be the one to perish. More importantly…the Chief Sovereign of Fate apparently owes him a favor. Have you heard of this matter?”
“The Chief Sovereign of Fate owes Augusta a favor?” Beirut shook his head. “I’m not too sure about that. I’ve only been a Sovereign for twenty thousand years, after all.”
“I have the feeling that Augusta wasn’t lying.” Linley laughed helplessly. “Alright. We’ve been waiting and enduring for so many years; we’ll just wait for a while longer. Now that I’ve fused with my wind-type Sovereign spark, I’m going to establish a divine plane of wind and increase my insights in the wind as well. Perhaps it will also help me improve my level of understanding with regards to fusing separate Laws as well.”
Beirut nodded.
It seemed as though this was the only option.
However, Beirut wasn’t worried. Given Linley’s potential, he had a chance to surpa.s.s even the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts, much less Augusta. Only…he needed time!