Chapter 2: Becoming a God?
Ten years in the Necropolis of the Gods, and upon returning, he actually had a grandson.
This indeed caught Linley off guard, but holding Anuo, Linley was still very happy in his heart.
In the castle hall.
"Taylor, where is your mother?" Linley asked.
Hearing this, Taylor immediately smiled: "Father, about two years after you left, Mother reached the Saint-level Magus realm..."
"What? Two years?" Linley was not only delighted but also shocked.
In the Necropolis of the Gods, he had only finally broken through to the Saint-level Magus realm on the tenth floor, by which time he had been in the Necropolis for over nine years. Compared to Delia, Linley’s speed in reaching the Saint-level Magus was actually much slower.
"Delia, she really is strong enough." Linley thought to himself, unable to help but smile.
Taylor continued: "After Mother reached the Saint-level Magus realm, she went to cultivate in that secret chamber where Father used to train. Some time ago, when Anuo was born, Mother came out of seclusion. But after Anuo’s full-month celebration, she went back to cultivate again."
"Oh?" Linley nodded slightly.
Then he looked around at everyone: "Everyone, stay here for now. In a little while, I’ll bring Delia out, and we’ll have dinner together."
******
Deep beneath Dragonblood Castle was the mysterious spatial gate, though the obstruction of this spatial gate was much smaller than the one at the bottom of the South Sea. A layer of ‘Pulsating Defense’ formed directly on Linley’s body surface, and he walked straight in.
"Ten years."
Linley stood in the miniature plane; outside the plane’s membrane was the spatial turbulence. In this miniature plane, Delia sat cross-legged in silence, a holy radiance on her face, like a goddess.
"Hmm?" Linley suddenly frowned in confusion.
The aura naturally emitted by Delia’s body while she cultivated actually made Linley’s heart tighten.
At that moment, Delia also opened her eyes, turning her head in confusion. But seeing it was Linley, she immediately stood up in surprise and joy: "Linley!" In an instant, Delia’s eyes turned red. The feeling of being separated for ten years was truly unbearable.
Delia rushed straight into Linley’s arms, hugging him tightly.
Linley also hugged Delia tightly, whispering softly in her ear: "I’m sorry, Delia."
"Linley, I’ve been afraid, afraid that you wouldn’t come back from that Necropolis of the Gods." As Delia spoke, Linley felt his collar getting wet. Delia was already crying!
Delia looked up at Linley, her face a mix of tears and smiles, tears still clinging to her eyelashes: "Linley, you won’t leave like that again this time, will you?"
"I won’t leave. I won’t leave." Linley comforted her.
Linley and Delia walked directly to the stone bed and sat down together, embracing.
"By the way, Delia. I feel like you seem different from before?" Linley asked in confusion.
Delia looked at Linley and said mysteriously: "Linley, guess why I’m different from before?"
"Is it because you’ve cultivated to the Saint-level Magus realm?" Linley said.
Delia shook her head.
"Hmm?" Linley was puzzled.
Delia smiled slightly, then said softly: "Linley, I’ll tell you a big secret. I have... become a god!"
Linley’s expression froze instantly, as if struck by a bolt of lightning, stunned for a long moment.
"What did you say? Delia, you said become a god?" Linley looked at Delia in disbelief. Was becoming a god that easy? Look at how many years Desri and Fain had cultivated; even Linley had only broken through after a series of life-and-death battles and a stroke of luck on the eleventh floor of the Necropolis of the Gods.
Yet even so, it still took about ten years to become a god.
Delia become a god?
"Really." Delia nodded.
"Delia, don’t joke around." Linley laughed. "If you really want to become a god, it’s not hard. This time in the Necropolis of the Gods, I obtained divine sparks, including one wind-type lower-level god divine spark, enough to let you become a god."
Delia shook her head gently.
"Linley, feel this carefully." Delia said softly to Linley.
Suddenly—
A strange pressure instantly enveloped the surrounding area. Linley felt as if he were pinned by an invisible force, his body unable to move.
"God’s Domain?" Having experienced this before, Linley immediately recognized it.
But Linley’s battle qi vibrated according to ‘Earth Pulse,’ and he directly shook off that ‘restraint.’ Linley was somewhat stunned. This so-called ‘God’s Domain,’ he had broken free from it so easily?
Linley looked at Delia in disbelief.
Delia said shamefully: "I’ve only been refining that divine spark for eight years, and I’ve only comprehended a very small part of the laws and mysteries it contains. I haven’t even fully refined the divine spark. This ‘God’s Domain’ can only scare people. Once the divine spark is fully refined, this ‘God’s Domain’ of mine will be a true ‘God’s Domain.’"
Delia said this, but Linley stared at her in shock.
"Delia, what’s going on?" Linley asked.
Linley was truly bewildered.
Returning after ten years, having a grandson was one thing, but his wife had become a god?
"Linley, do you remember when we got married, how Bebe said that his friend, the Violet-Gold Rat King, gave him a black stone? Then Bebe took that black stone and said it was a wedding gift for us." Delia said.
Linley’s heart trembled.
"Delia, you mean that black stone?" Linley wasn’t stupid; with Delia’s hint, he began to understand.
"Yes, that black stone was exactly a wind-type lower-level god divine spark!" Delia said.
"Is that really the case?" Linley found it all too absurd.
Everything was too absurd.
The importance of a divine spark went without saying. Desri and the others had pursued it for years, and even Linley had only obtained those three divine sparks after countless crises, narrowly escaping death. But now he suddenly learned... that when he got married, the gift someone gave was actually a divine spark!
"I find it hard to believe too, but I’ve started refining this divine spark, so it can’t be fake, right?" Delia said honestly.
Linley nodded slightly.
"Back when we got married, even though I dripped a drop of blood on that black stone and it entered my body, I couldn’t feel its presence at the time... But from then on, whether it was my mental strength or magical power, the speed of improvement was ridiculously fast." Delia said.
Linley laughed: "With a divine spark inside your body, how could cultivation not be fast?"
"But I never felt the divine spark’s existence until about two years after you left, when I reached the Saint-level Magus realm. It was only after reaching the Saint-level Magus realm, when my soul underwent a transformation, that I clearly sensed the divine spark’s presence. Then I understood everything."
Linley nodded and said: "Yes, only by reaching the Saint-level realm can the soul truly be strong enough to refine a divine spark."
Why she hadn’t felt the black stone before, why Delia’s cultivation speed was so fast—everything was now clear.
"Delia, according to what you said, you’ve spent eight years refining the divine spark and only refined part of it?" Linley pressed. Linley himself knew that if one didn’t cultivate on their own but instead refined a divine spark to become a god, it also required an extremely long time.
Now, Linley had a real understanding of ‘extremely long.’
"Yes." Delia nodded. "Maybe it’s because I had no understanding of elemental laws before. Now it’s like reading a book, slowly reading and comprehending the laws and mysteries contained in the divine spark. When I fully comprehend them, then this divine spark will be completely refined, and it will truly be mine."
Linley nodded.
For an ordinary person to become a god, it was like a blind person feeling an elephant, step by step.
With a divine spark, it was like having the laws and mysteries placed right in front of you for you to look at. Once you understood them, it was done.
"I estimate it will take at least another ten or twenty years to fully refine this divine spark and comprehend the laws and mysteries it contains." Delia then said helplessly, "But even though I now understand some of the mysteries within the wind-elemental laws, I don’t know how to apply them..."
Linley was taken aback.
"Delia, what do you mean by that?" Linley didn’t understand.
Delia said sheepishly: "I’ve comprehended some of the laws, but I don’t know... how to use them for attacks."
Linley suddenly understood.
"Haha..." Linley burst into laughter.
The reasoning was simple. For example, a lower-level god divine spark contained the mystery of ‘Earth Pulse.’ If a Saint-level powerhouse refined this divine spark, they would also understand the ‘Earth Pulse’ mystery. But they wouldn’t know how to apply it.
Applying ‘Earth Pulse’ to vibration-wave attacks became Linley’s unique ‘Earth Mystery.’
Applying it to defense became ‘Pulsating Defense.’
The laws and mysteries were just theories. To actually kill people and so on, one still needed to know how to apply them.
For example, if someone comprehended the ‘Fast’ realm, could they perform ‘Ten Thousand Swords as One’? Could they?
That was a form of application!
This was the difficulty of refining someone else’s divine spark. The divine spark only contained the laws and mysteries, not how the original owner applied those laws and mysteries.
"Applying them is indeed a bit troublesome. By the way, Delia, what aspect of the wind-elemental laws does this lower-level god divine spark you have contain?" Linley asked. "If it’s about speed, I might be able to give you some advice."
Delia shook her head: "I can’t say for sure either. I’ve only comprehended a very small part. Well, let’s put it this way: the mystery in this divine spark I’m refining is somewhat similar to the wind-type magic ‘Vacuum Absolute Kill Technique.’"
"Vacuum Absolute Kill Technique?" Linley nodded slightly.
"I really don’t understand that at all." Linley was helpless to help.
Linley then smiled and said: "Alright, Delia, first focus on comprehending it. Once you’ve fully understood the divine spark, then think carefully about how to apply it. Actually, just the divine spark’s control over wind elements can directly form a ‘God’s Domain.’ Within that domain, Saint-level experts can’t move at all."
Delia also smiled. This was the biggest difference between gods and Saint-level beings.
The divine spark itself represented a kind of authority.
In fact, Sovereigns and Highgods might not differ much in their understanding of laws. But... a Sovereign could probably kill a Highgod with a single thought. This was because the ‘Sovereign Divine Spark’ possessed supreme authority. However, across countless planes, the number of Sovereigns was fixed.
"Delia, it’s great that you can become a god. But you need to work hard. I estimate that with another ten years or so of cultivation, I can also reach the divine realm." Linley said with a smile.
"Ah?" Delia looked at Linley. "Cultivate on your own for ten years? Aren’t you going to refine a divine spark? Don’t you have divine sparks?"
Linley shook his head: "No need. Refining a divine spark also takes a relatively long time, and when using it, it’s still not as good as a divine spark obtained through one’s own comprehension." Linley shook his head with a smile: "I obtained three divine sparks in the Necropolis of the Gods. One of them, a wind-type divine spark, was originally for you. But now it seems... it’s extra."
"Three divine sparks?" Delia was shocked.
Delia also understood the meaning of divine sparks. With three divine sparks, three lower-level gods could be created. Lower-level gods were indeed the pinnacle of existence on the Yulan continent.
"Three divine sparks isn’t much." Linley sighed. "The Necropolis of the Gods we went to this time was the most dangerous of the three Necropolises. No one had succeeded before. With such danger, getting three divine sparks in the end is only normal."
If it had been just one divine spark, Linley would have felt cheated.
"The most dangerous?" Delia quickly said, "Linley, tell me about what happened in the Necropolis of the Gods."
Linley nodded and immediately began to speak, starting from when he entered the South Sea seabed.
But all along, Linley was puzzled in his heart: Back then, at the wedding, the gift of a divine spark—behind the Violet-Gold Rat King was undoubtedly Lord Beirut. What did Lord Beirut mean by giving this divine spark to Delia? Did he not care about divine sparks? Yet his three sons were all still at the Saint-level.
Linley was full of confusion.
The three Violet-Gold Rat Kings were all at the Saint-level and never entered the Necropolis of the Gods. They seemed unconcerned about becoming gods. As for this ruler of the Yulan continent, ‘Beirut,’ Linley only felt that he was becoming more and more mysterious and difficult to understand.