Chapter 9: The Descent
With the appearance of the divine domain, the smoothly operating "Great Six-Pointed War Array" began to malfunction, and the entire formation instantly collapsed. Bebe, in the very first moment the array broke, immediately killed a Saint-level powerhouse.
"Haha, let the slaughter begin!"
Thunderbolt, who cultivated the path of destruction, roared loudly. Every time his blood-colored crescent blade flashed, another Saint-level expert was cleaved in two.
"Kill!" Buck and his four brothers, the five Saint-level undying warriors, their faces twisted with ferocity, roared as they swung their giant axes toward the nearby Saints.
The undying Saint-level Archmage Sessler cackled sinisterly. While launching soul attacks, he commanded his eight Saint-level undead to besiege the pitiful Saint-level experts of the Radiant Church: "Die, die... Haven't you been killing heretics all along? Go to your deaths."
Among the group, the fastest was undoubtedly Linley.
With a flicker of movement, Linley shot toward Lord Fallen. If anyone in the Radiant Church was the strongest, Linley believed it was this spiritual leader of the ascetics. The gaunt Lord Fallen, seeing Linley flying toward him, was both startled and enraged as he immediately retreated.
"Lord Fallen, no need to run," Linley's voice echoed in Fallen's mind.
"Swish!" An eerie purple light flared up.
The edge of the purple light even carried a faint trace of cyan. Wherever this purple sword light passed, space instantly split open into a thin crack. Countless white rays shot out from Lord Fallen's body, attempting to entangle the Purple Blood Soft Sword, but upon contact with the spatial fissures, these white rays instantly collapsed.
"Pfft!"
Linley's Purple Blood Soft Sword directly cleaved into Lord Fallen's head. A thin line appeared on Fallen's forehead. As the sword passed through his head, the skull did not split apart, but a stream of blood flowed from the center of his forehead.
"Lin... Linley..." Lord Fallen stared at Linley. In the moment of death, he recalled the scene years ago when Gilmore had brought Linley to seek him as a master.
At that time, Lord Fallen had rejected Linley—
"I only teach those with kind hearts and pure souls. As for you... your killing intent is too strong. I will not teach you."
Recalling that scene, Fallen's heart was bitter.
Too strong a killing intent?
Who would have thought that now, he would die at Linley's hands.
Then, Fallen's consciousness faded and dissipated.
...
While Linley's side's many experts were slaughtering the Radiant Church's Saint-level powerhouses, Heiting at the door of the Radiant Temple trembled slightly all over in shock. He immediately berated a white-robed female priest behind him via soul transmission: "Quick, go invite Lord Kigita here. Hurry!!!"
"Yes, Your Holiness the Pope." The white-robed female priest inside the Radiant Temple immediately sped toward the temple's underground.
Pope Heiting, clutching the Bible, watched the scene before him, his heart trembling: "Dead, they're all dead!" Heiting's heart ached. These fallen Saint-level experts were the Radiant Church's greatest foundation for standing in the Yulan Continent.
Some of these Saint-level experts might have eventually replaced his position and become the new Pope.
"Too late. Everything is too late!" Heiting's heart was filled with grief and fury.
"But there is still hope!" Heiting gritted his teeth. "As long as Linley is killed, my Radiant Church, after centuries of recovery, will surely rise again."
Heiting's face suddenly changed as he cried out in shock: "Fallen!"
It was at this moment that Lord Fallen's corpse fell from midair.
At the instant of Fallen's death, of the original thirty-six Saint-level experts on the Radiant Church's side, twenty-eight had already fallen.
Only eight remained!
The speed of their deaths left the church personnel watching from within the Radiant Temple terrified.
"This Linley..." Heiting was horrified to discover that Linley had already charged toward Thunderclap. At this moment, Thunderclap and the others had finally broken free from Delia's "Divine Domain." After all, this divine domain was incomplete and could only suppress them for a second or two.
"Linley!" Thunderclap could only roar in fury as he swung his staff with all his might at Linley.
Where the staff passed, ripples appeared in space.
"Die," Linley said coldly.
An eerie purple light swept past the staff, cutting it in two. Where this eerie purple light passed, a spatial crack flashed and vanished. The spatial crack passed directly through Thunderclap's body, splitting his tall, sturdy frame in half.
Dimensional Slash!
The sword shadow trembled, and Thunderclap's head exploded.
Linley now turned his gaze to Heiting in the distance.
"Heiting, now it's your turn." Linley's voice echoed through heaven and earth like thunder.
With Thunderclap and Fallen dead, the remaining Saint-level experts of the Radiant Church were mostly at the early or mid Saint-level. Before super Saint-level experts like Thunderbolt, Desri, and Bebe, they had no power to resist.
Within seconds, all thirty-six Saint-level experts of the Radiant Church were dead, not even able to escape.
"Heiting, what's the matter? Now you only dare to hide inside the Radiant Temple, under the 'Glory of the Lord of Light' defensive formation?" Standing midair, holding the dripping Purple Blood Soft Sword, Linley looked down at the somewhat panicked Radiant Pope Heiting.
Once upon a time...
In Fenlai City, the young Linley had wanted to kill King Clay of the Fenlai Kingdom for revenge. At that time, Pope Heiting had stood in midair, toying with Linley as if he were a plaything.
...
Inside the Radiant Temple, there were now several hundred church personnel, but they couldn't even flee!
The remaining Sacred Island was surrounded by ocean. To escape, they would have to fly across the boundless sea. But they had no ability to fly. Even if there were wind-style Archmages among them, their flight speed would be too slow to escape under the watch of Linley's side, which included over thirty Saint-level experts, among them undying Saint-level beings.
It was impossible!
They could only hide in the Radiant Temple.
This temple was their last hope.
"What do we do, what do we do?" Heiting's heart was frantic. "This Radiant Temple absolutely cannot hold out."
The Radiant Church's greatest reliance was the "Great Six-Pointed War Array." This "Glory of the Lord of Light" was only supported by the magic crystals stored within the temple. Its defensive power could never withstand the continuous attacks of over thirty Saint-level experts.
"Why hasn't Lord Kigita come yet?" Heiting's heart was anxious.
"Quick, you go to the underground too and invite Lord Kigita here immediately," Heiting berated an ascetic behind him via soul transmission.
"Yes, Your Holiness the Pope." That ascetic was also filled with worry.
Pope Heiting looked at Linley and his group hovering in midair, and his face changed. He noticed that Linley, Delia, and the others had fallen silent, not speaking to anyone else, as if their attention was elsewhere.
"They're chanting magic incantations!" Heiting instantly judged.
"There are several Saint-level Archmages among them, launching forbidden spells simultaneously. If they combine that with a full assault from all of them, the Radiant Temple absolutely cannot hold." Heiting was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.
He looked back: "Why hasn't Lord Kigita come yet? What's going on?"
The "Lord Kigita" on whom Heiting had placed all his hopes had still not appeared.
"Crackle~~~"
A massive, twenty-meter-long, pale cyan "Dimensional Blade" flew out from in front of Linley, carrying a world-destroying momentum as it slashed toward the Radiant Temple before them. In front of Delia, a five-to-six-meter-long Dimensional Blade also flew out.
Two Dimensional Blades, one large and one small, flew out simultaneously!
"This Dimensional Blade... why is it so big?" Everyone inside the Radiant Temple, including Heiting, who saw this through the windows, was stunned.
Dimensional Blades were usually three to four meters long. A five-to-six-meter one indicated that the Saint-level Archmage was going all out.
Twenty meters?
But how could they know about the existence of the Coiling Dragon Ring, a perverse auxiliary artifact?
"Crackle~~" The Dimensional Blades struck the surface of the Radiant Temple's walls. The temple's surface immediately lit up, emitting a dazzling holy light as it desperately resisted the blades. But Linley's Dimensional Blade was simply too large.
"Crack!"
The entire Radiant Temple shook. Many people, including Heiting, noticed that cracks had appeared in the temple's walls.
"This Radiant Temple is finished. Everyone, attack together and break it down!" Wharton roared, then charged forward with his war blade "Slaughter." Immediately, three Saint-level dragons, Bebe, Buck and his five brothers... a group of experts all rushed in to attack.
Delia noticed Linley's change at this moment.
"Linley, what's wrong?" Delia asked softly.
Linley looked at the cracked Radiant Temple before him, his heart complex. How long had he waited for this day—the destruction of the Radiant Temple?
"It's nothing," Linley said with a smile. "Hmm, what is Heiting doing?"
...
When Heiting saw the horde of Saint-level experts charging at him, he gritted his teeth and immediately knelt down. The Bible in his hands floated up, hovering before him. Heiting straightened his back and lowered his head.
Heiting's entire body began to emit a blinding light.
Trickles of blood began to seep from Heiting's body, staining his white robe. Heiting suddenly looked up, and two piercing golden beams shot from his eyes, directly striking the Bible.
"Lord, let your glory descend and destroy these blasphemers!"
Heiting's voice was ancient and hoarse.
"Boom!" At this moment, the Radiant Temple finally collapsed under the combined heavy strike of over thirty Saint-level experts, its defensive magic array shattered. The nine-story temple crumbled, and many church personnel screamed in agony.
But at the same time, the Bible emitted an intensely blinding golden light. The golden light formed a golden flower above Heiting's head.
This "golden flower" slowly bloomed.
Linley, Bebe, Thunderbolt, Desri, Delia, and all the other experts watched this scene warily. From within the golden flower stepped a barefoot, silver-haired, muscular man dressed in linen. In his hand, he held a javelin.
A terrifying aura emanated from this linen-clad, barefoot, silver-haired man.
"Is it you who summoned me?" The muscular man with the javelin looked down at Heiting. "Where are the blasphemers?"
Heiting's eyes lit up. He immediately pointed at Linley and his group: "Great being, these Saint-level experts before you are all blasphemers."
The muscular man with the javelin stepped through the void, taking two steps outside the temple, and looked at Linley and his group before him.
The aura emanating from this muscular man was familiar to Linley and Desri.
It was the aura of a god.
"Linley, this is a god from the Radiant Divine Realm, a projection avatar on the Yulan Continent. A god's projection avatar is merely an energy aggregate and does not possess a divine spark. Its energy limit is only at the Saint-level limit; it cannot reach the level of a lesser god," Desri's voice echoed in Linley's mind.
Linley's heart steadied.
"But be careful. Although the projection avatar is limited by the plane and its power is only at the Saint-level limit, its comprehension of the laws is the same as its original body. If its original body is a highgod, it will possess a highgod's understanding of the laws!" Desri's expression was serious.
With the same Saint-level limit power, but combined with a highgod's law comprehension, it could easily kill even a lesser god.
The muscular man's gaze swept over Linley and his group: "I am the third patrolman under Lord Preequayre, Balcazar. Blasphemers, accept your death!" The javelin in the muscular man's hand instantly pierced through space, already arriving before Linley.