Chapter 23: The Elemental Sea
The terrifying laws of heaven and earth descended, and even Delia, who had been cultivating on the stone bed, was fully awakened. She watched in shock as Linley floated in midair, a peculiar aura spreading around him. In an instant, Delia understood what was happening.
"Is Linley about to become a god?" Although Delia had never seen anyone else become a god, sensing the vast, boundless presence of the laws of heaven and earth, she could naturally guess.
At this moment, Linley didn't need to do anything.
A special force directly entered Linley's mind, enveloping his soul. At this moment... all the mysteries of Linley's soul were laid bare, and the laws of velocity that Linley had comprehended were naturally seen through by this special force.
"Chi chi~~"
Above Linley's head, a power imbued with the aura of 'laws' began to coalesce, and at the same time, wind elemental power frantically gathered as well. A massive amount of elemental energy surged wildly from the spatial turbulence, pouring into the micro-plane, eventually condensing into a single point.
"What is this?" Linley felt a hint of confusion.
In just a moment—
The surging elemental energy dissipated, and a black crystal emitting a faint cyan light hovered above Linley's head. It was a wind-type Demigod divine spark. The moment this divine spark formed, it naturally established a connection with Linley's soul.
Because this divine spark was formed based on Linley's soul aura, it was perfectly attuned to him.
Refining another's divine spark, even if successful, could never match this divine spark, which was condensed by the laws of heaven and earth based on one's own soul.
"A divine spark."
Looking up at this hovering divine spark, which emitted a faint cyan light, a surge of excitement welled up in Linley's heart. When he was young, under his father's guidance, Linley's goal had only been to reclaim the heirloom treasure. He never imagined he could become a god!
To become a god like the War God or the High Priest!
And moreover, to become a god through his own ability, not by refining a divine spark.
"Finally... I've become a god." A smile appeared on Linley's face. At that moment, a piece of information naturally came to Linley's soul. "The laws of heaven and earth are asking me to choose whether the divine spark should be outside or inside my body."
If Dein hadn't told him, Linley wouldn't have known the difference between the two choices, and he might have found it difficult to decide.
But now...
Without hesitation, Linley controlled the divine spark, making it hover beside him.
"Ah!" Linley couldn't help but let out a cry of extreme pain. The intense agony caused all the muscles in Linley's body to twitch and spasm. Deep within Linley's mind, in the sea of his soul, the sword-shaped soul that had been floating there suddenly split into two with a 'bang' under the envelopment of the laws of heaven and earth.
The soul splitting in two—this pain was millions of times more excruciating than physical torment.
At this moment, Linley completely stopped thinking. He could only instinctively let out agonized screams.
"Linley!" Delia, not far away, seeing Linley like this, couldn't help but feel worried. But Delia also knew... that during this crucial moment of becoming a god, no matter what happened, it was not something she, Delia, could interfere with.
Delia was tense, her body trembling slightly uncontrollably.
She clasped her hands in front of her chest, praying in her heart: "Linley, you must be okay." Delia had been married to Linley for so many years, and she had never seen him in such pain.
Gradually...
Linley's agonized screams subsided.
The two halves of Linley's soul, which had broken apart in his mind, had now both transformed into a 'sword shape'. To be precise, Linley's original sword-shaped soul had become two smaller 'sword-shaped souls'. One sword-shaped soul remained deep within Linley's mind, while the other sword-shaped soul flew directly out of Linley's body.
"What is that?" Delia stared in shock at the sword-shaped soul.
But Delia had never seen Linley's soul before, so she didn't know what it was.
This sword-shaped soul, radiating a seven-colored light, flew toward the divine spark. Then, this sword-shaped soul effortlessly merged directly into the divine spark. The soul and the divine spark fused into one—this was a sign of successfully refining a divine spark.
"That was Linley's soul?" Delia finally understood.
She had cultivated for over a decade but still hadn't fully merged her soul with her divine spark. Yet Linley's soul had merged with the divine spark in an instant, all because this divine spark was condensed based on Linley's own soul.
"Whew." At this point, Linley regained his ability to think.
He also felt much weaker. The splitting of his soul had caused immense damage. It would probably slow down his comprehension and deduction of the laws several times over. However, in order to continue comprehending the laws of the earth, Linley had no choice but to make this decision.
"How peculiar."
Both the main body and the divine spark contained Linley's soul. Suddenly—
"Rumble~~"
The space around him trembled. The soul within the divine spark mysteriously sensed a peculiar place. It was the core of the boundless space, a vast and infinite plane that only those who had reached the level of a god could sense—
The Elemental Sea!
...
"Boom~~"
This was a misty, hazy space. There was no light in the sky, only the faint cyan glow emitted by the Elemental Sea itself, barely illuminating the plane.
The boundless elemental tides surged, waves rising and falling. This was the wind-type Elemental Sea.
The surface of this Elemental Sea was composed of elemental energy condensed into liquid form. Through his divine spark, Linley's soul could sense a certain depth below the surface of the Elemental Sea.
The Elemental Sea had a surface of elemental liquid, and below it... was an endless sea of divine power!
This divine power became purer the deeper it went in the sea. However, Linley could only barely break through the 'elemental liquid surface' and sense the area ten meters below the surface. From the divine power just below the elemental liquid surface to the divine power ten meters down.
A mere difference of ten meters.
Yet the purity of the divine power differed by nearly two times.
Linley didn't know that for those who became gods by refining a divine spark, they could only barely sense the area one meter below the 'elemental liquid surface' at the start.
"Rumble~~"
Ten meters below the surface of the Elemental Sea, a large amount of divine power suddenly vanished, traveling through a special channel formed by the laws of heaven and earth, directly descending to the micro-plane where Linley was. Then, centered around the wind-element divine spark that had merged with the sword-shaped soul, a divine body began to form.
"Chi chi~~" Clearly, starting from the head and moving downward, a physical body almost identical to Linley's main body took shape. Linley, with a thought, immediately controlled the divine power within his body to form a set of light cyan robes on the surface.
At that moment, the special power representing the laws of heaven and earth vanished without a trace, and the micro-plane returned to calm once more.
"It's over." A joyful smile appeared on Linley's face. He immediately controlled his divine clone to merge back into his main body.
This divine clone directly merged with Linley's body, becoming one. It was incredibly strange.
"Linley, this, this?" Delia had already been shocked enough to see two 'Linleys' earlier, and now seeing the two bodies merge into one, she was even more astonished.
Linley looked at Delia and smiled: "Delia, wait a moment. I'll explain to you later. There are many things I haven't figured out myself yet." Having just become a god, there were indeed many things he needed to understand. But Linley didn't expect that when he asked Delia to wait... it would be a very long wait!
"Okay." Delia nodded obediently.
Linley immediately sat cross-legged and began to carefully observe his changes.
...
Deep within his mind, above the sea of his soul, not only was a smaller sword-shaped soul floating, but below the sword-shaped soul, on the surface of the soul sea, a figure was also sitting cross-legged. It was the divine clone wearing the light cyan robes.
"This soul space is also very peculiar." Linley marveled inwardly.
In truth, there wasn't much difference between the divine clone and the main body in terms of which was the clone and which was the main body. After all, both bodies contained a soul, and both bodies were equally important.
"That Elemental Sea..." Through his divine spark, Linley once again sensed that plane at the core of the boundless universe. The endless elemental tides surged violently, and Linley could also sense the area ten meters below the surface of the elemental liquid.
He tried to absorb this wind-type divine power.
"Hmm?" Linley was shocked to find that the speed of absorbing this divine power was far too slow.
The divine power traveled through a special channel, trickling bit by bit directly into Linley's body. Although he was still absorbing divine power, the speed was nowhere near what it had been when the laws of heaven and earth were controlling it. Back then, a massive amount of divine power had been absorbed in an instant to form the divine body.
"It seems I'll have to be careful in the future. If this divine body is destroyed, it will consume far too much divine power to reform it." Linley sighed in amazement.
He could clearly sense the endless divine power in the Elemental Sea, but he could only absorb it in tiny trickles.
"Dein was right. Once the soul merges with a divine spark, it's impossible to cultivate other elemental laws." The 'soul' of the divine clone tried to sense the fluctuations of earth elements, but the fluctuations were far too vague. Linley couldn't discern them clearly.
It was millions of times more indistinct than the earth elements Linley had sensed when he was a child.
"Thank goodness I didn't place the divine spark inside my body. Otherwise... I wouldn't be able to cultivate the laws of the earth." Linley felt a wave of fear.
Although the soul of the divine clone couldn't sense the laws of the earth, when it came to sensing the laws of the wind element, it was thousands of times clearer than before he became a god. However, sensing clearly was one thing; comprehending it was another matter entirely.
The path of cultivating elemental laws only became more difficult the further one progressed.
"First, I'll refine my main body." Linley could clearly feel how powerful his divine clone's body was, while his main body's physical form was comparatively weaker.
Linley began to channel the tiny amounts of divine power he had absorbed from the Elemental Sea into various parts of his main body. The effect of divine power was indeed extraordinary. Linley's body was slowly undergoing a transformation. His muscle strength, meridians, and internal organs were all evolving and strengthening. However, this transformation ended after a relatively short time.
"Although it was brief, this body has improved by a level." Linley sighed inwardly.
Because he was already a Dragonblood Warrior, his physical body was already quite powerful. Even after being tempered by divine power, it had only improved by one level.
"Switching between the main body and the divine clone is simple."
With a thought from Linley, Delia suddenly noticed... that the Linley in front of her, who had been wearing a sky-blue robe, had transformed into a Linley wearing a light cyan robe.
"Is Linley changing clothes?" Delia was both amused and bewildered, but she guessed that Linley must have switched to his clone.
Indeed, he had switched to his clone.
What now appeared in the outside world was Linley's divine clone. Deep within the divine clone's mind, there was also a sea of souls. Above the soul sea floated a divine spark radiating a hazy, seven-colored luster, with the faint cyan light being the most prominent.
Below the divine spark, on the surface of the soul sea, sat Linley's main body, wearing a sky-blue robe.
"Switching between the two bodies at will is quite marvelous." Linley marveled.
Not only that, but items that required blood recognition, such as the space ring, the Violet Blood Soft Sword, and the Coiling Dragon Ring, could also be used by the divine clone. After all, whether it was the main body or the clone, the soul was identical, so divine artifacts could be used by both.
"Using wind-type divine power to execute the 'Profound Truths of Velocity' is much more powerful."
Linley marveled inwardly. With a single movement, dozens of afterimages of Linley appeared in the micro-plane in an instant, eventually merging into one. In terms of pure speed... even the War God himself might not be able to match Linley now. After all, Linley had become a god through the 'Profound Truths of Velocity'.
Each has their own specialty. Linley's greatest strength now was naturally speed!
"Now that I've become a god, it's time to see what secrets the Violet Blood Soft Sword and the Coiling Dragon Ring hold." Linley flipped his hand and took out the Violet Blood Soft Sword.