Chapter 10: Cautious and Careful
After all the human experts and magical beast experts had entered the Necropolis of the Gods, the High Priest finally spoke.
"Lord Beirut?" The High Priest looked at Beirut. "If that Bebe encounters the divine beast 'Basilisk', what then?"
Beirut might not care about the lives of others, but he would certainly care about Bebe's life or death. And in the Necropolis of the Gods, even Beirut couldn't save them. The High Priest was naturally puzzled... why would Beirut dare to do this!
Beirut smiled and said, "It's fine. Bebe won't encounter the Basilisk, because he's taking the right passage."
"Lord Beirut. What do you mean?" Hisset's expression changed.
Beirut nodded calmly. "When the passage first opened, I had already scouted it. That Basilisk is in the left area, and below the fifth level... So, I let the magical beast Saint domains enter from the right passage."
The High Priest, the War God, Diling, and Hisset sighed inwardly.
"And Linley..." Hisset said in a low voice.
Beirut said indifferently, "I hope he has good luck. I can't protect them forever. This Necropolis of the Gods is also something they willingly entered. Alright, let's go. We'll come back in ten years." Beirut turned and flew directly toward the passage they had come from.
The High Priest, the War God, and the other two immediately followed.
In the deep, black-glowing passage, a group of human experts advanced in order. The deep-sea water couldn't enter this passage at all. Faen and Linley walked side by side.
"Linley, remember. If you encounter any danger, the safest method is to retreat to the next level." Faen shared his experience. "Each level here has a large number of terrifying creatures or undead, but they only stay on their own level."
Linley nodded slightly.
"Also, in the Necropolis of the Gods, never release your spiritual energy." Faen said seriously. "If your spiritual energy brushes against some creatures, they will discover your presence."
"I know." In such a dangerous place, actively releasing spiritual energy would be like telling the creatures and undead on this level where you were. That was simply asking for death.
Linley asked doubtfully, "Faen. This Necropolis of the Gods was built, and each level inside has various creatures and so on... I always feel like someone deliberately set this up." It was too strange. If gods had died, it should have been more chaotic.
But as it seemed now, it was more like a massive tomb.
"According to my teacher, Lord Beirut mentioned to him that this Necropolis of the Gods is actually a game of the Sovereigns." Faen said bitterly.
"A game of the Sovereigns?" Linley was stunned.
In an instant, Linley understood in his heart: "That Hodan said that in the higher planes, there are countless trillions of Deity-level experts. But each element has only seven fixed Sovereigns. The Sovereigns are high above, sending their subordinates to build a tomb for a group of dead gods. Then they deliberately let some Saint-domain or Deity-level experts come in to seek treasures." Linley felt a sense of helplessness.
The Sovereigns were high above.
They, including the High Priest, the War God, and these Demigods, were just small pawns in their game.
"Perhaps the Sovereigns are even watching us fight for our lives with interest." Faen sighed.
Linley understood. The Sovereigns were high above, watching them struggle and die. It was like when he was a child, a group of kids watching a colony of ants on the ground.
This group of people, including the High Priest and the War God, were just 'ants' in the eyes of the Sovereigns. Perhaps even the seemingly powerful Beirut was just a slightly stronger ant in the eyes of the high and mighty Sovereigns.
"But no matter what, the chance of obtaining a divine spark here is much greater than going to a higher plane to get one." Faen took a deep breath and said.
Linley also took a deep breath.
Ready to fight.
"Even if I get a divine spark and don't use it myself, giving it to Delia would be good." Linley felt great affection for Delia. He was leaving for ten years, and Delia had no complaints. Marrying a wife who thought of everything for him was his good fortune.
"Everyone, we've reached the end of the passage." A cold, middle-aged man with a headband at the front of the passage said loudly. "Going in is the first level. Remember, don't be too greedy. If you die, it's your own business. Don't drag others down."
After saying this, the middle-aged man with the headband walked out of the passage.
This man was one of the five Saint-domain limit experts, the number one expert of the Far East Prairie, the War Saint 'Tulley'.
Then, one by one, the human Saint-domain experts entered.
"I wonder what the first level is like. I hope I don't encounter that terrifying Deity-level magical beast 'Basilisk' right away." Linley looked at the end of the black-glowing passage and stepped directly into it. Immediately, the world spun around him, and the surrounding environment changed drastically.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!" The wind howled, and yellow sand filled the sky.
This was a desolate desert world. The wind-blown yellow sand blurred the sky and earth. The heat waves even distorted the air.
"There's a magical beast." Linley clearly saw in the distance a ferocious magical beast, hundreds of meters tall, with three horns on its head, roaring. Its entire body was covered in metallic-looking scales, and its sharp fangs had some mucus on them. "This magical beast looks like it should be very powerful."
Linley was secretly alarmed. Then, he directly activated his Dragonblood Warrior transformation.
In this place, he didn't dare to be careless.
"Huh?" Linley suddenly noticed that some of the swirling yellow sand actually passed right through the body of that 'ferocious magical beast'. After a moment, that ferocious magical beast simply disappeared.
"An illusion?" Linley understood somewhat.
Many Saint-domain experts, after entering, observed carefully for a while, then quickly flew off to find the passage to the second level.
"Where is Barker?" Linley couldn't find Barker. "This damn place, yellow sand everywhere, space distorted, illusions appearing all the time. I can't even see people clearly." Linley cursed inwardly. Except for a few Saint-domain experts near him, he couldn't see the ones further away at all.
Linley stopped thinking about it and flew straight ahead.
"Linley." Suddenly, someone approached Linley.
Linley looked and saw that it was 'Edens', the fifth personal disciple of the War God. Edens reminded him, "Linley, remember. This damn place often has illusions, hard to tell real from fake, and it's the most annoying. Don't stay in one place. What you need to do is run around everywhere and find the passage to enter the second level. If you keep staying on this level, you'll just waste time. And you might have a lot of trouble coming your way."
After saying this, Edens flew off alone at high speed.
The hot air waves distorted space, and Linley soon lost sight of Edens.
"I'll just have to do what Edens said." Linley flew around everywhere, looking for the passage to the second level. The most common plant in this desert world was giant cacti. As for living creatures... he hadn't found a single one.
Linley flew in mid-air, carefully observing everywhere for the passage.
"Swish!" A beam of light suddenly shot out from the yellow sand below, heading straight for Linley. Linley's dragon tail, forged like steel, lashed out like lightning. With a 'crack', the beam of light was shattered by the strike.
Immediately after, six skeletons with a diamond-like luster rushed out from the yellow sand at extreme speed.
"Dragonman, you'd better hand over your corpse obediently, and we'll give you a quick death." One of the six Saint-domain undead spoke, its eye sockets burning with soul fire. The six Saint-domain skeletons surrounded Linley, each holding a weapon.
Linley glanced at the six Saint-domain undead.
"Dragonman?" Linley glanced at the six Saint-domain undead. "Do you think I am..." Before Linley could finish his sentence, the six Saint-domain undead simultaneously thrust their weapons—bone scimitars, bone spears, and so on—at Linley.
The air screamed. The combined attack of the six Saint-domain undead was not to be underestimated.
Suddenly, countless purple sword shadows rose into the air. With a series of metallic clangs, the six Saint-domain undead were sent flying back.
"Huh? Not dead?" Linley noticed that the six Saint-domain skeletons only had some cracks on their surfaces, but they hadn't collapsed. Although this Wind Shadow technique was extremely fast and delivered many strikes, its pure attack power wasn't strong.
An eerie purple light flashed again.
The six Saint-domain skeletons, without any hesitation, dove straight down into the yellow sand.
"Pfft!" "Pfft!" "Pfft!"
Three of the Saint-domain skeletons were cut in half at the waist, breaking into two pieces. The other three skeletons escaped deep into the yellow sand.
"They sure run fast." Linley flew away at extreme speed.
After Linley left, the three skeletons that had been cut in half immediately grabbed their other halves. For undead, as long as their soul fire was intact, they wouldn't die. They could easily reconnect their broken bodies.
"Sizzle sizzle—" Several Saint-domain skeletons emerged, surrounded the three severely injured skeletons, killed them, and then divided and devoured the soul fire of those three Saint-domain undead.
"That Dragonman is terrifying." One of the Saint-domain skeletons looked up into the distance. "I wonder when we'll collect enough corpses." These Saint-domain skeletons then dove back into the yellow sand.
As Linley had expected, as long as the divine beast 'Basilisk' wasn't on this first level, then this first level was the least dangerous in the Necropolis of the Gods. After dealing with a few Saint-domain skeletons that tried to kill him, Linley finally found the staircase leading to the second level.
He climbed the stairs.
The second level of the Necropolis of the Gods. This was a jungle world. The dense leaves, thorns, and so on made it very difficult to see if there was any danger.
"This place has no illusions, but I still have to be careful of ambushes." Linley formed a 'Pulsating Shield' of battle qi on his body's surface, then held his Violet Blood Soft Sword and sped through this jungle world. Suddenly, Linley stopped and looked into the distance.
A human Saint-domain expert appeared not far away.
"It's him?" Linley breathed a sigh of relief. Although he didn't know the names of many of those human Saint-domain experts, Linley had memorized their appearances.
Linley flew up, but the trees in this jungle world were so tall they reached the ceiling of this level, dense and completely blocking the view.
Linley didn't notice a green snake, only as long as an index finger, coiled on a leaf. Its body color matched the leaf, and at Linley's flying speed, he couldn't detect it. However, the green snake's eyes were cold, staring straight at Linley as he flew past below.
"Swish!"
Like lightning, the finger-long green snake shot straight at Linley, then bit toward his neck.
"Huh?" Linley's expression changed. His Pulsating Shield was pierced through seventy percent in an instant. Its attack power was simply terrifying. If a weaker expert encountered this green snake, they would probably die.
The green snake, without hesitation, immediately tried to flee.
"Swish!" An eerie purple light flashed. Space sometimes seemed to slow and stop, sometimes produced overlapping images. Amidst the green snake's screech, the Violet Blood Soft Sword slashed directly through the snake's body.
Wind Essence — Second Layer of the Rhythm of Wind!
"Slap!" The green snake was cut in half. After being severed, the two halves rapidly expanded, turning into two sections of a green snake, each a hundred meters long and as thick as a bucket. The corpse of the green snake fell directly below.
Linley took a deep breath: "Among Saint-domain snake-type magical beasts, the Yulan continent doesn't have this type." Linley glanced at the corpse below. "Good thing I transformed. My battle qi increased a lot, or I wouldn't have been able to withstand that."
Linley now understood why both Beirut and Faen said to be cautious and careful.
"Someone?" Linley suddenly turned his head to look.
A burly monster, three meters tall, flew over at extreme speed. Linley smiled. It was Barker, transformed into his Undying Warrior form.
"Lord Linley." Barker flew over.
"I saw you from afar on the first level, but when I flew over, I couldn't find you." Barker flew to Linley's side and said helplessly.