Chapter 35: The Profound Mystery of the Earth
Cold as water.
The bitter night wind howled. The members of Stello’s escort team had all been killed in the brief moment just now, leaving only Stello himself on their side.
Linley’s side consisted of Linley, Bebe, Hei Lu, Sessler, and the five Barker brothers.
Their opponent was only Stello.
But at this moment, Linley and his group were undoubtedly the weaker side, and even escaping was extremely difficult.
“The Gravity Spell affects the ground. The farther you are from the ground, the weaker the gravitational pull,” Linley thought clearly. He knew that when a Saint-level powerhouse flew dozens of meters high, they probably wouldn’t feel the gravity at all.
At this moment, Stello stood in midair, about ten meters above the ground.
“Even if he’s still affected by gravity, it’s probably only about twice the normal pull,” Linley’s mind raced, thinking about how to survive.
Sessler said in a low voice, “Linley, Saint-level powerhouses can fly, and like flying magical beasts, their straight-line speed is very fast. But their ability to make sharp turns and shifts within a small area is only about one or two times faster than a ninth-rank warrior.”
The reasoning was simple.
It was like a human running—straight-line speed was naturally fast. But if you had to dart left, then suddenly right, then reverse direction, your speed would be lucky to reach one-third of your straight-line speed.
Linley understood this principle but hadn’t considered it at first. Now, thinking about it, a flash of inspiration struck him.
“What, trying to resist?” Stello held the longsword stained with green blood.
“Bebe, Hei Lu. Don’t leave the range of the Gravity Spell,” Linley said, his dark golden pupils coldly fixed on Stello in the air. “Saint-level powerhouses are formidable, but he’s a warrior and can’t negate the Gravity Spell’s effect. He can stay in the air if he wants, but once he lands, his speed will drop by two or three times. Then he won’t be faster than me, or you.”
Bebe and Hei Lu both growled in response.
But Sessler frowned—his speed wasn’t that fast.
“Let us go. The five of us brothers won’t hold you back, benefactor,” the five Barker brothers shouted in succession, their muscles bulging, exuding an aura like a terrifying magical beast.
Linley held the heavy sword of Black Dusk, watching Stello in the air. “Don’t be reckless.”
Above, Stello wasn’t in a hurry to attack. He watched coldly. As a peak Saint-level powerhouse, how could he have no way to deal with those below Saint-level?
“Speed?”
Stello’s sharp gaze fixed on Linley. “That trick of yours might work against someone who’s just entered the Saint realm. Unfortunately… I’ve been in the Saint realm for centuries. Kid, the Saint realm isn’t as simple as you imagine. It’s not just about overwhelming power—it’s a state of being.”
Linley stood with his sword in front of everyone, staring coldly at Stello.
He had no other choice. Faced with a Saint-level’s speed, he had nowhere to run. He could only stay within the Gravity Spell’s range for a sliver of hope.
“Whoosh!”
Stello shot toward Linley like an arrow from a bow, his black robe flapping loudly in the wind. At the same time, his metallic-looking longsword slashed diagonally at Linley at an ordinary speed.
With one strike, a chill filled the entire courtyard.
Linley felt as if he had instantly entered a world of ice and snow. The freezing aura completely enveloped him. At the same time, the space around him seemed locked and frozen solid. The longsword, moving at an ordinary speed, carried an irresistible momentum as it chopped toward Linley.
The state of momentum!
“Hmph.” Linley’s heavy sword of Black Dusk moved slowly, but at a constant speed.
Stello’s eyes lit up.
“Pfft.” His icy sword suddenly tore through space, its speed increasing tenfold in an instant, reaching Linley in the blink of an eye.
Linley’s heavy sword of Black Dusk moved like a fish in water, drifting lightly to block the icy sword.
One fast, one slow.
Yet they collided in a bizarre manner.
“Humm~~” There was no other sound. The collision between the sword and the icy longsword only caused a vibration in the air, while Linley’s dark golden pupils remained fixed on his opponent.
The Profound Mystery of the Earth—Triple Wave!
Stello only felt a strange wave of force transmitted to him, like three heavy blows slamming into his heart.
“Boom!”
A terrifying sound erupted from Stello’s center. The silver-white battle qi burst out wildly from his body in all directions, each strand like an arrow, easily piercing through the surrounding courtyard.
“Watch out!” Linley blocked the scattered silver-white battle qi to protect the five Barker brothers behind him. But even so, he couldn’t fully shield them. Some silver-white battle qi struck the five brothers, leaving dozens of bloody gashes. Yet they endured.
“Such strong defense,” Linley marveled inwardly.
Fortunately, Stello’s battle qi had only burst out unintentionally and in all directions, which kept the five Barker brothers from being killed, though they were covered in wounds and blood.
As for Sessler, a knight in black armor holding a long spear stood before him. This was the ‘Black Knight Captain,’ one of Sessler’s three peak ninth-rank undead.
“Boom!”
The surrounding courtyard walls shattered and collapsed, and even nearby mansions were affected. Some people were killed by the scattered Saint-level battle qi.
“Ah!”
“Help!”
…
The terrified screams of nearby residents rang out. The explosion woke many in Deko City, and people fled their homes in panic.
Linley and the others stared grimly at Stello in the air.
Stello had a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth. He wiped it away, then looked at Linley in shock. Finally, he exclaimed in admiration, “Linley, I didn’t expect your state to surpass the level of ‘drawing upon heaven and earth.’ Impressive, truly impressive.”
Drawing upon heaven and earth, or ‘momentum,’ was the typical state of a Saint-level powerhouse.
“He took my attack and wasn’t seriously injured,” Linley thought to himself.
Stello stared at Linley and sighed, “Linley, I feel sorry for you. The state you’ve comprehended now is not far from that of a peak Saint-level powerhouse. Most people are stuck at the peak of the ninth rank, unable to enter the Saint realm because their state isn’t enough. But you’re the opposite—your state is very high, yet your battle qi is far from sufficient.”
Linley understood this truth himself.
“It’s a pity that a genius like you is about to die.”
Stello’s gaze sharpened. He said coldly, “Linley, to show my respect, I’ll use my most powerful attack—Frozen World—against you.”
“In fact, do you think this Gravity Spell affects me?” Stello sneered, then his entire body erupted with terrifying silver-white light. He became like a sun, the silver-white light easily covering a range of hundreds of meters.
“Gravity Spell?” Linley was shocked to find that the earth-element energy forming the Gravity Spell was being driven away by the silver-white light.
Within hundreds of meters, everything was bathed in the silver-white light of the domain.
“Twenty-one years old, and reaching such a state,” Stello marveled inwardly. Many people spent centuries without entering the Saint realm, but Linley?
At just twenty-one, his state was already this high.
“Bebe, Hei Lu, prepare to escape immediately,” Linley transmitted through his soul.
“Boss,” Bebe immediately panicked.
“Don’t be so hesitant,” Linley roared inwardly.
Bebe and Hei Lu growled in desperation, but they had no choice. The five Barker brothers and Sessler were all at a loss for words.
Linley stood at the front, staring at Stello.
“I’ll have to use the higher-level Profound Mystery of the Earth, even if I’m not skilled at it,” Linley thought, his dark golden pupils fixed on his opponent, holding the heavy sword of Black Dusk.
The Profound Mystery of the Earth—Triple Wave was just the basics.
He could execute this basic ‘Triple Wave’ with 100% certainty, but higher-level attacks were less certain. Now, he had to gamble.
“Besides the Profound Mystery of the Earth, there’s that most dangerous move,” Linley’s eyes gradually turned red.
“Roar~~”
Linley lowered his body. Suddenly, his dragon-scale-covered legs stomped the ground, launching him like a boulder from a catapult, charging straight at Stello in midair.
“Get back,” Stello coldly slashed his sword.
“Ahhh~~” Linley suddenly roared. The heavy sword of Black Dusk in his right hand carried immense power as it slashed at Stello, while his left hand flashed with dazzling purple light.
Divine artifact—Purple Blood Soft Sword.
The moment he drew the Purple Blood Soft Sword, Linley’s spiritual energy activated the terrifying killing intent within it. The entire surface of the sword flowed with a seductive red light like blood.
“Boom!”
With Linley at the center, a tangible, faint red killing aura enveloped him. Even the onlookers hiding hundreds of meters away screamed in terror. The five Barker brothers were shaken to their core.
“Ah!”
Even Sessler felt a chill of fear. To the distant crowd, Linley, shrouded in the faint red killing aura, was an absolute god of slaughter, and they dared not resist.
As for Stello, closest to Linley—
He felt a terrifying killing aura envelop him. This aura was even more fearsome than that of the Warcraft Mountain’s ruler, Dylin. The tangible killing aura seeped into his body, rushing toward his soul.
“Kill!”
“Kill!”
…
Strange voices echoed in his mind.
Stello felt as if he had returned to his childhood as a beggar, constantly beaten with a whip by the adult leader. Fear—boundless fear.
But a Saint-level powerhouse’s will was extremely resilient.
“Ah!” Stello forcibly suppressed his terror, his silver-white battle qi erupting wildly. In this state, Stello could only use half of his strength.
“Die!”
Linley’s eyes were bloodshot. The heavy sword of Black Dusk in his hand struck Stello repeatedly.
“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!”
Three consecutive strikes. Each time the heavy sword of Black Dusk clashed with Stello’s sword, Linley felt his right hand go numb, and the tiger’s mouth of his hand split open.
“Swish!”
“Swish!”
…
While the heavy sword of Black Dusk struck three times, the Purple Blood Soft Sword had already slashed ten times. The ten slashes hit the same spot in a bizarre sequence. Although Stello’s battle qi was dense, the eighth slash pierced through his battle qi. The ninth and tenth slashes cut through his muscles, but Stello still had abundant battle qi inside.
Linley couldn’t stay in the air. After delivering ten slashes, he began to fall.
“Hmph.”
Stello’s gaze turned cold. Being pushed to this point by a peak ninth-rank warrior was a disgrace. He growled, “Frozen World!”
As Linley fell to the ground, he saw a blur of sword shadows in midair, crossing through time and space, reaching his eyes in an instant. At that moment… the entire world in Linley’s eyes was filled with this blurry sword shadow.
Linley had no time to block.
…
But to Sessler, the five Barker brothers, and the distant onlookers, it felt as if the temperature around them had dropped to an unbearable low. Frost formed on their eyebrows.
At the same time, Stello’s longsword tip reached Linley’s brow.
And Linley showed no reaction, letting the sword pierce toward him…
“Master.”
“Boss.”
…
Hei Lu and Bebe could only watch helplessly as Linley was killed.