Chapter 35: Fangs and Claws
Flying through the air, Linley directly spread out his divine sense and began to search carefully.
"Southeast direction." Linley quickly discovered the nearest Saint-level powerhouse. "This Saint-level powerhouse has a very unique aura and an unusual appearance. Not human."
"Let's start with him." Desri's gaze turned cold and sharp. "Hmph. This other-plane Saint-level is ninety percent likely to be following the orders of the god-level powerhouse hiding in the shadows. If he hadn't been involved in the slaughter, he wouldn't be staying so calmly in the O'Brien Empire."
Linley nodded slightly.
If he was unwilling to collude with that god-level powerhouse, he would have fled long ago. Why would he still be staying in the O'Brien Empire?
Linley and Desri immediately flew at top speed toward that other-plane Saint-level powerhouse.
A dark-skinned, wiry man with a turban wrapped around his head was lounging comfortably in a chair. Beside him, a beautiful maidservant respectfully held a fruit platter. A faint smile always hung at the corners of the wiry man's lips. Yet the maidservants were all extremely nervous.
They all knew that their master had a very strange temper. He might be smiling happily now, but sometimes he would fly into a rage and whip them mercilessly.
"This life is really comfortable." The dark-skinned wiry man sighed with enjoyment.
He had arrived in the Yulan Continent four years ago. Life in the Yulan Continent was millions of times better than in the Gebados Plane Prison. There, he was at the very bottom, but here in the Yulan Continent, he could easily control the life and death of others.
"I came a bit late. Quite a few guys arrived here six years ago." The wiry man was still somewhat dissatisfied in his heart.
Deep within the Misty Valley cave in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, the spatial structure was unstable. A single Demigod was enough to tear through space and come to the Yulan Continent. Even for Saint-level powerhouses, if eight or ten of them joined forces, they could also tear through space and come to the Yulan Continent.
"Hmm. You. Come here." The wiry man's gaze swept toward the maidservant beside him.
The maidservant immediately knelt respectfully and offered the fruit platter. Only then did the wiry man take the fruit with satisfaction, take a comfortable bite, and think to himself: "I, Bulong, can also enjoy these things. In the Gebados Plane Prison, fruit was a delicacy that only god-level powerhouses could enjoy."
Only through comparison could one know happiness.
Only after losing something could one know its value!
Back in his own material plane, Bulong had once been a big shot. But when one has power, one naturally doesn't care too much about it.
After enduring countless hardships in the Gebados Plane Prison, he came to appreciate the enjoyment of power.
"Hmm?" The corner of Bulong's eye suddenly noticed two people appearing in the hall. This startled Bulong immensely. He was a Saint-level limit powerhouse, yet these two powerhouses had already reached his hall. He only noticed them when his eyes saw them—
Bulong abruptly stood up.
"Two lords, you are?" Bulong's attitude was extremely humble.
Bulong had a feeling, as if he had returned to the Gebados Plane Prison. Facing god-level powerhouses, he was just as humble. Standing before Bulong were Linley and Desri.
"Master, he?" The maidservants were greatly shocked. They had witnessed their master's strength.
"Let them leave." Desri spoke.
Bulong immediately winked at the maidservants, urging them to leave quickly. The maidservants, trembling with fear, carefully departed one by one. As they left, they all secretly stole terrified and curious glances at Linley and Desri.
What kind of people could make their master so terrified?
"We are people from the Yulan Continent plane." Linley spoke.
Bulong was stunned.
But in an instant, Bulong understood the meaning of the man in the sky-blue robe. Clearly, the other party had already seen through his identity.
"You should understand why we've come, right?" Linley and Desri's expressions were cold.
Bulong's heart trembled. Could it be...?
Bulong forced a smile onto his face. "I wonder what you two lords..."
"Hmph." Linley let out an angry snort. "Do you dare tell me you don't know what has been happening in the O'Brien Empire recently? Speak. The one billion people who died—which god-level powerhouse is behind all this, pulling the strings?"
Bulong's heart clenched. He wanted to speak but didn't dare. He knew very well how terrifying the god-level powerhouse behind it all was.
"Two lords, I am merely a Saint-level. How could I..."
"Slap!"
A heavy slap landed squarely on Bulong's face. Bulong's entire body was sent flying like a torn sandbag, blood spraying from his mouth and several teeth knocked loose. He spun several times in the air before crashing to the ground.
"So fast." Bulong's heart was filled with fear. He hadn't even seen the other party move.
Linley glanced coldly at Bulong and said indifferently, "If you don't speak now, you will die now. If you do speak... I think that god-level powerhouse won't necessarily kill you."
"Two lords, I'll talk. I'll talk." Bulong didn't dare put on any airs before Linley and Desri. He quickly said, "The matter of killing large numbers of humans and collecting their souls was all arranged by Lord Bormont."
"Bormont?" Linley and Desri exchanged glances.
Another unfamiliar name.
Another god-level powerhouse!
Desri said coldly, "Bormont. I don't think Bormont would personally go and kill humans, would he?"
Bulong hesitated for a moment, but upon hearing Linley's cold snort, he quickly said, "Lord Bormont naturally wouldn't do it himself. He ordered a large number of Saint-level powerhouses to do it. Those who helped Lord Bormont would receive some benefits." Bulong now somewhat understood that the people before him were probably here to cause trouble for Bormont.
"A large number of Saint-levels. You're probably one of them, right?" Desri sneered.
"No, no. Not me. Not me." Bulong quickly denied it. Bulong was most afraid that the other party would kill him in a fit of rage. How could he dare to admit it now?
Linley let out a cold laugh. At this point, arguing about this issue was meaningless, since they hadn't been at the scene.
"Alright. I'll ask you. Where is Bormont?" Linley demanded.
Bulong shook his head blankly.
"Hmm?" Linley's expression changed, and he stared coldly at him. "It seems you are truly loyal to that Bormont."
Bulong's face changed drastically, and he quickly said, "I really don't know. Two lords, I'm telling the truth. I only know one thing—Lord Bormont doesn't usually live on the Yulan Continent. He lives in the boundless sea."
Linley and Desri exchanged glances. They both felt that things were getting tricky.
In the sea?
Although Linley's divine sense was very strong after absorbing the essence of twenty million souls, it could only cover an area of about ten thousand miles. On the Yulan Continent, this range was still considerable. But in the boundless sea, it was nothing. And whether he was on the sea or under the sea was another question.
"How do you usually contact him?" Desri barked.
"We don't contac..." Bulong quickly said.
"Stop the nonsense." Linley said coldly. "You can stay in the O'Brien Empire, yet you have no connection to Bormont at all? If you still try to deceive us, you know the consequences." Linley was already getting angry. He could guess that some of what Bulong was saying wasn't true.
Real liars mix truth and lies together.
Bulong was terrified and immediately answered honestly: "Two lords, Lord Bormont is very cautious. He usually sends us divine sense messages individually to arrange tasks. He also promised that once the Soul Gold was refined, we would get our share."
Soul Gold?
Linley understood somewhat. Refining soul essence didn't necessarily require a specific number of souls.
For example, the essence of twenty million souls could be refined into a Soul Gold Bead about two to three centimeters in diameter. But using one million soul essences, one could also refine a smaller Soul Gold Pellet.
"This Bormont, he can refine souls?" Linley finally asked the question that had been bothering him.
Demigods who cultivated the Edicts of Death should be very rare.
"Lord Bormont cannot refine souls." Bulong answered affirmatively. "We know this too. Among the Demigods we've heard of, only the Great Sage had the ability to refine souls. But I heard the Great Sage died three years ago." Bulong had spent a long time in the Gebados Plane Prison and knew quite a bit of information.
Linley understood in his heart. The Great Sage was the one he had killed.
"If he can't refine them, why is he collecting souls?" Desri continued to ask.
"I don't know that either." Bulong answered.
"How often does Bormont contact you?" Linley asked coldly.
Bulong quickly said: "Usually once every four or five days." He didn't dare say the rest, because every four or five days, Bormont would come to collect the crystal balls filled with enough souls and give them empty ones.
"How strong is Bormont compared to that Great Sage?" Linley asked.
Bulong smiled bitterly: "They are both god-level powerhouses. To us, they are all high and mighty. I can't be completely sure, but I've heard that Lord Bormont is a bit stronger."
Linley and Desri exchanged a look.
"Alright." Linley spoke to Bulong. "Remember this. The next time Bormont comes to find you, tell him to come to my Dragonblood Castle to see me. I'm sure... he can guess who wants to see him." Linley didn't hide his identity.
After all...
Those god-level powerhouses all knew that the only native human god-level powerhouses on the Yulan Continent now were Linley and Desri. Even if he didn't say it, they would know.
"Yes. I will remember." Bulong lowered his head in fear and said respectfully.
But when he looked up, Linley and Desri were already gone from the hall. Bulong let out a long sigh of relief. "My life... at least it's saved."
That Bormont was hiding in the boundless sea. This was indeed hard to find. Linley and Desri could only temporarily choose to return. On the way back, Linley and Desri began to worry about how to deal with Bormont.
"Linley, kill him?" Desri looked at Linley. "First of all, that Bormont is stronger than the so-called Great Sage. He's not someone like us, newly ascended Demigods, who can compare to. The two of us against him—our chances of success aren't high."
Linley continued to listen.
Desri said seriously: "That's the first problem. The second problem is, even if we can kill Bormont, I think we would probably be severely injured. And we don't know how many god-level powerhouses are still on the Yulan Continent. If we kill Bormont, fine. But if we are killed by Bormont, then... the Yulan Continent will have no one to intimidate those other-plane god-level powerhouses."
Linley nodded.
This was indeed a problem.
Actually, there was still one 'Beirut' on the Yulan Continent, but Beirut was a magical beast god-level powerhouse! In the eyes of magical beasts, humans and other species weren't much different. Look at how many humans Dylin killed during the Calamity of Destruction when he allowed the beast horde.
Moreover...
Beirut had also spoken. His requirement was—no destruction in the North Sea Eighteen Duchies and the Dark Forest. He never said that those other-plane powerhouses couldn't slaughter humans.
"Most importantly, our strength isn't enough. We have too few god-level powerhouses." Desri frowned. "Unless it's absolutely necessary, we shouldn't fight Bormont to the death." Although this conclusion was a bit hard to accept, the other side was simply too strong.
If we don't kill him, but we end up dead ourselves, wouldn't that be the end for the humans of the Yulan Continent?
"Even if I don't kill him, I'll make him withdraw from the Yulan Continent and hand over all the soul essence. Otherwise... we'll see if I can kill him or not." Linley wasn't like Desri. He was much stronger now than he was three years ago.
Desri glanced at Linley, wanting to say something.
Suddenly—
Linley and Desri both looked toward the north.
"Someone else has become a god?" Linley and Desri both had shock in their eyes. Once the Edicts of Heaven descended upon the Yulan Continent plane, even from a great distance, it would still cause some fluctuations. Linley and the others could naturally detect this faint fluctuation.