Chapter 38: Ambush on the Return Journey
Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Linley easily sensed the infinitely vast world, filled with endless earth elements. Each earth element felt so familiar, and centered on him, pulses of force radiated outward in all directions.
"Thump!" "Thump!" ...
Strange waves of energy spread out. The earth elements that filled heaven and earth trembled like ripples on water, colliding with each other and merging into the pulses of force.
Earth Pulse, Earth Element.
Linley was focused on gradually fusing these two profound mysteries.
"Linley!" Linley, who was deep in cultivation, was suddenly interrupted by a divine sense transmission. He immediately knew it was from Delia. A smile unconsciously spread across his face. "Delia, what is it? Missing me?"
"Hmph, who would miss you." Delia let out a coquettish snort. "Linley, let me ask you, how long do you plan to cultivate on Bronze Mountain?"
Linley was momentarily speechless.
He could clearly hear the hint of dissatisfaction in Delia's transmission. At that moment, he suddenly realized he had gone too far. "I left Dragonblood Castle in 10066, and now it's 10072. Ah, almost six years! I haven't gone back even once!"
Time in cultivation really slipped by unnoticed. It felt like just a moment, yet years had passed.
"Six years, no wonder Delia is unhappy." Linley felt he was in the wrong.
"Linley, aren't you cultivating? You can do the same at Dragonblood Castle," Delia coaxed softly.
"Alright... fine. Delia, I'll head back tomorrow." Linley immediately replied, then added apologetically through divine sense, "Delia, I'm sorry."
"I'm not angry. Hmm, you said tomorrow?" Delia was pleasantly surprised. "I'll go tell the servants right away to prepare a grand feast for you tomorrow. Oh, Linley, what time will you arrive at Dragonblood Castle? Noon? Or evening?"
"I'll be there before noon." Linley knew it well.
In truth, ever since he began gradually fusing the two profound mysteries of 'Earth Element' and 'Earth Pulse,' the esteemed Lord Cyanfire 'Reylin' no longer needed to guide him. Staying on Bronze Mountain wouldn't offer him much more help.
At the entrance of the elemental mansion on Bronze Mountain.
"Whoosh~" The fierce mountain wind howled wildly, bending the flowers and grass in front of the mansion, yet unable to shake the towering ancient trees. The master of Bronze Mountain, the king of the Gebados Planar Prison, Lord 'Cyanfire,' was seeing off Linley and his companion with his two brothers.
"Linley, even if you hadn't decided to go back, I would have kicked you out soon anyway," Cyanfire 'Reylin' joked. "Haha, mainly because in a little while, my eldest brother, second brother, and I will leave Bronze Mountain. We'll be leaving the Yulan continent as well."
Linley had long known that Reylin planned to leave.
"Lord Reylin, where are you going?" Bebe asked curiously.
"Not decided yet." Reylin let out a long sigh. "Maybe I'll head to the South Sea. My homeland was once there, but alas, after countless years, the continent where my home was located has long since sunk into the boundless ocean."
The battle ten thousand years ago had shattered and sunk the other four continents.
"Lord Reylin, if you ever have time, feel free to visit my Dragonblood Castle. You're always welcome." Linley and Bebe had already expressed their gratitude. After bidding farewell to Reylin and his two brothers, Linley and Bebe flew directly away from Bronze Mountain, heading toward Dragonblood Castle.
Having been away for six years, Linley was eager to return.
Within the canyon beneath the cliff of the Magical Beast Mountain Range, it was a place rarely visited by humans.
In the past, this was a paradise for magical beasts, but three years ago, no beast dared approach. Beside a babbling spring, amidst a patch of lush grass, a faint human figure could be seen—it was the Midgod from the Infernal Realm, 'Niff.'
For three years, Niff had waited without a moment's relaxation.
His divine sense was always spread out, covering the area as he waited for Linley.
"Linley will definitely return to Dragonblood Castle. If he passes through the Magical Beast Mountain Range on his way back, he absolutely won't escape!" Niff stood up, and a long spear with mottled black spots suddenly appeared in his hand. He began to move around the canyon, practicing.
After all, having waited three years without seeing Linley, Niff couldn't be sure when Linley would appear. He couldn't just waste time sitting idly.
But Niff didn't know that deep within this canyon, someone else was hiding.
"This Niff is only average among Midgods, but he cultivates the 'Wind Elemental Laws.' In terms of speed, he's a bit faster than Linley. If Linley really runs into him, it might be very dangerous." A blurry figure gazed at the distant Niff, who had now turned into a gust of wind, his spear shadows silently piercing through space time and again.
"But danger is good."
The blurry figure flickered and vanished without a sound.
Niff stopped his practice and sat down cross-legged to rest. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, his gaze sharp as a blade shooting toward the sky.
"It's him. Linley!"
A wild joy flashed in Niff's eyes, and he couldn't help but laugh excitedly. "I've waited three years. He's finally here!" In truth, Niff's position was hundreds of miles from Linley. Even if Niff shouted at the top of his lungs, Linley wouldn't hear him.
"For Renars, even death would be without regret!" Niff murmured, his eyes burning with unprecedented fervor.
Silently, Niff's entire body dissipated like powder, turning into formless wind. This gust of wind shot toward Linley at an astonishing speed—far faster than Linley's current maximum speed!
Niff was a Midgod. After refining his divine spark, he had comprehended three profound mysteries of the Wind Elemental Laws, excelling particularly in speed and movement techniques.
"Unexpectedly fast. Looks like I need to take this seriously!"
A few seconds after Niff flew off, a streak of light shot out from the valley, chasing after 'Niff.' In terms of speed, this streak of light far surpassed Niff.
Linley and Bebe were chatting and laughing as they flew toward Dragonblood Castle. They had no idea that a Midgod's divine sense was covering them. If they had known a Midgod was hunting them, they would have rushed back to Dragonblood Castle at top speed. Unfortunately, they didn't.
"Boss, do you think Reylin will go to the Infernal Realm?"
"Who knows? But with Lord Reylin's strength, no matter which plane he goes to, he'll be a top-tier powerhouse." Ever since seeing Cyanfire 'Reylin' kill the seemingly powerful Sadista with a single strike, Linley had regarded him as a peak-level Highgod.
"Hmm?" Bebe suddenly frowned.
"What's wrong?" Linley asked in confusion.
"Something feels off." Bebe cultivated the Laws of Darkness and was currently a Demigod. He had trained in the same stealth techniques as Hiss, making him highly sensitive to other auras. Bebe suddenly turned his head and shouted in alarm, "Boss, run!"
Linley turned around.
In the distorted space, a blurry figure had already appeared in his field of vision. Those cold eyes stared directly at him. This person was the Midgod 'Niff'!
"Trying to run?" Niff sneered coldly, immediately releasing his divine domain. Just like when he was ambushed by Anras, Linley felt as if he had fallen into a quagmire. Without hesitation, Linley quickly activated his two Demigod domains. "Bang!" The sky-blue robe on his body burst apart, and cyan-gold scales covered his entire body. Spikes sprouted from his forehead and back. Linley's speed increased another notch as he turned into a streak of light, darting toward Dragonblood Castle at full speed.
If he couldn't even detect the other party, they were at least a Midgod.
"Not good!" As he fled, Linley realized that the person chasing them was much faster than that 'Anras' from before. Anras's Midgod avatar cultivated the Laws of Fire, while his Wind-elemental body was only a Demigod. So he wasn't particularly fast. But Niff was different.
"Linley." A figure suddenly appeared in front of Linley—it was Niff. Linley immediately stopped abruptly. Niff sneered, "You can't escape." Strangely, these words echoed from all directions.
Linley turned his head!
Around Linley and Bebe, there were now a full twelve figures, each one 'Niff.'
Twelve 'Niffs' completely surrounded Linley and Bebe.
"What... what is this?" Linley was shocked. "This definitely isn't a divine avatar. There are only seven elemental laws. Even adding the four rules, that's only eleven. Even if someone cultivated all eleven, they'd have at most eleven divine avatars. But these twelve people all have the exact same aura!"
"Boss, only one of them must be the real body." Bebe looked around anxiously.
Linley understood this too. But he couldn't tell which of the twelve figures was special.
The twelve 'Niffs' surrounded Linley and Bebe.
"Die!" A fanatical gleam appeared in the eyes of all twelve 'Niffs.' Then, the twelve figures charged in from all directions. The most peculiar thing was... all twelve figures completely ignored Bebe. Their target was only one—
Linley!
From all directions, above and below, he was completely surrounded. Linley had no way to escape.
"Which one is the real body?" Linley's heart raced. But he still had a sliver of confidence, stemming from his Earth Pulse 'Void Sword Wave' and that broken defensive Sovereign artifact. With that broken defensive Sovereign artifact, his chances of survival were high.
As the twelve figures closed in.
An eerie purple sword light flashed, and countless sword shadows burst outward like blooming flowers—it was the Wind Element profound mystery 'Wind Wave'! Although the sword shadows were numerous, each one lacked power. A series of clashing sounds rang out, and all twelve 'Niffs' emerged unscathed. Linley's expression changed.
He had thought the eleven fake bodies would be destroyed, but all twelve bodies were equally formidable.
Twelve pairs of cold eyes stared at Linley, as if looking at a dead man.
"Pfft!"
Twelve leg shadows sliced through the air like war blades, striking at Linley.
"I have no choice but to fight." Linley couldn't care less now. He swung his Black Grief heavy sword wildly. Unable to determine which was the real body, he could only attack randomly.
"Boss!" In his panic, Bebe didn't hesitate. He threw his head back and let out a piercing screech: "Yoo~!" The screech shook the heavens. At the same time, Bebe transformed into his 'Godbeast Rat' form, and behind him appeared a phantom of a Godbeast Rat hundreds of meters tall.
Innate Divine Ability—God Devouring!
Bebe locked onto all twelve figures at once, intending to devour them all. But Bebe's devouring ability could only handle Demigods. Against a Midgod like Niff, Bebe couldn't devour him at all.
The twelve figures paused briefly but were immediately unaffected.
Unable to devour, he suffered backlash!
"Pfft!" Blood sprayed from Bebe's mouth, but he joyfully transmitted to Linley, "Boss, the real body is that one!" In an instant, Bebe used soul communication to convey the location of Niff's true body to Linley.
Bebe hadn't used his innate divine ability to kill Niff, but to determine where the divine spark was.
This ability devoured divine sparks. When Bebe activated it, he could sense which of the twelve bodies contained a divine spark. Only the body with a divine spark was the real one. The rest were fakes.
"It's him!" Linley swung his Black Grief heavy sword in an arc, slashing directly at the 'Niff' on his left—that was Niff's true body!