Chapter 11: The Secret
In the vast, desolate desert, dozens of shattered, bloodstained corpses lay scattered. Both the demon forces and Inigo's group had momentarily ceased their attacks on each other. At this moment, Linley and Delia were tightly embracing.
"Delia!" Linley's heart finally settled.
Ever since falling into that desert castle, Linley had harbored a deep fear in his heart—the fear that Delia might die. Linley would forever remember Delia from her maiden days at the Ernst Magic Academy, and their reunion in the O'Brien Empire.
After decades of sharing life's ups and downs, Delia had become the other half of Linley's existence.
Upon seeing Delia, Linley's heart was filled with tranquility.
Linley felt this way, and Delia felt no different.
"Thank the heavens," Delia whispered softly in Linley's arms. "Linley, that was truly dangerous just now. I almost got killed by that Highgod, but I didn't want to die… I wanted to see you." Delia's heart trembled as she recalled her desperate struggle for survival.
In the face of danger, Delia had indeed fought with all her might, unleashing the Death God Puppet and the profound mysteries of the wind-elemental laws.
It was only thanks to her mastery of 'Doppelganger Technique' and her proficiency in 'Wind Space' that she managed to escape with her life.
"I won't let you face danger again," Linley said, holding Delia's hand. Holding his beloved's hand, Linley felt his soul truly complete.
Just as Linley and Delia were immersed in the joy of their reunion—
"Boom!"
A terrifying roar echoed from midair. A flash of green light and a flash of black light clashed several times, each collision shaking heaven and earth. Then, the two beams of light landed on the desert, transforming into the green-robed elder and the black-robed Reisgem.
The green-robed elder's face was pale. Staring at the Reisgem before him, he was filled with extreme terror: "This Reisgem's strength is even more terrifying than I imagined. That Sword of Destruction is simply monstrous." Originally, the green-robed elder had only intended to stall Reisgem.
Unfortunately, Reisgem's power exceeded his expectations.
This instead put the green-robed elder in a crisis. He didn't even dare to divert his attention to control the 'Desert Ancient Castle.' So, he voluntarily dispersed the Desert Ancient Castle and focused entirely on dealing with his terrifying opponent—Reisgem.
Reisgem held his longsword, looking at the green-robed elder with indifference, a faint hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth: "Your strength is decent. You're qualified to receive my strongest strike."
The green-robed elder's expression instantly changed drastically.
"What? Still the strongest strike?" A chill ran down the green-robed elder's spine. He had already exhausted all his strength just to survive until now.
Observing this scene and hearing Reisgem's words, the other experts present were all stunned.
"Delia, let's move back a bit," Linley said, taking Delia's hand and retreating to where Salomon, Bebe, and the others were gathered, preparing to watch the duel between these two supreme experts. "I'm really looking forward to seeing what their attacks will look like!"
Earlier, when encountering the bandits, Reisgem's single sword strike had already left Linley deeply shaken. This opportunity was not to be missed.
"Those two old bastards played me for a fool!" Inigo cursed inwardly. He glanced at Salomon. "No mistake about it, but there's no chance now. My teacher seems to be losing. I'd better get out of here first!" Then, Inigo quietly merged his entire body into the desert sand and vanished. The crowd, focused on the duel between the two supreme experts, didn't notice Inigo at all.
Moreover—
Among the demon experts present, the only one who truly recognized Inigo was the white-horned elder, who had barely survived. However, the white-horned elder hadn't even noticed Inigo in the distance.
"Boom!"
Reisgem's entire body erupted with a terrifying sword intent. A hazy, illusory giant sword appeared around Reisgem's body, and he seemed to become the core of this illusory giant sword. Sharp sword energy swirled around him.
The sword intent continued to rise!
"Sizzle, sizzle~" The sword energy caused space itself to tremble.
Everyone who saw this scene couldn't help but change color. The Hell, being a higher plane, had far greater stability than a material plane. If the unleased sword energy alone could reach such power, then what level would Reisgem's strongest strike achieve?
"Madman, truly a madman," the green-robed elder thought, a chill running down his spine.
Reisgem's strength had already instilled fear in him.
"Hmph, so what if you're strong? The wind-elemental laws still have the best escape techniques!" The green-robed elder, now fearful of Reisgem, instantly split into hundreds of doppelgangers and fled in all directions.
The Doppelganger Technique of the wind-elemental laws!
"So many doppelgangers?" Delia was shocked. Linley was also amazed.
Delia could use the Doppelganger Technique, but her current limit was nine doppelgangers. This green-robed elder, however, had transformed into hundreds. The same 'Doppelganger Technique' profound mystery, when used by experts of different levels, had vastly different effects.
"The Doppelganger Technique is indeed a good way to escape. With hundreds of doppelgangers, their auras are indistinguishable. It will be difficult for Reisgem to catch him," Linley thought to himself. Still, he watched Reisgem to see how he would handle this.
"Running? How disappointing," Reisgem's voice rang out.
At the same time—
"Hum~"
Within a thousand meters around Reisgem, countless sharp sword energies materialized out of thin air. The hundreds of doppelgangers that had just fled were instantly shredded by the sword energy. In just a moment, all the doppelgangers were annihilated, leaving only the original green-robed elder.
"How is this possible?" The green-robed elder's expression changed drastically.
Reisgem's figure moved like a soaring dragon, flying at incredible speed. Wherever his body passed, ripples appeared in space. Reisgem's speed was in no way inferior to the green-robed elder's.
"Can't escape!" The green-robed elder realized this as soon as he saw Reisgem's speed.
The green-robed elder retreated while a silver-thread-like soft sword appeared in his hand: "Since I can't escape, I'll fight to the death!" A mad killing intent burst from the green-robed elder's eyes. Green energy swirled around his body, forming a seemingly solid dragon.
"Roar~" The green dragon roared.
Linley, watching from the sidelines, was shocked: "The profound mysteries of Wind Element and Sound." Linley could tell how powerful this move was. "That green dragon not only protects the body but also produces a sound attack to affect the opponent's state."
It was a support technique.
"Haha, die—Boom!" Reisgem, usually cold and aloof, now revealed a wild side. He laughed maniacally as he thrust his longsword forward.
A sword thrust!
It seemed to pierce through the void. A black 'hole' directly appeared in space, and the longsword twisted as it passed through the spatial rift. Wherever the sword went, spatial cracks extended, and everything around the sword was reduced to nothingness.
Facing Reisgem's strongest strike, the green-robed elder gracefully swung his silver-thread-like soft sword.
"Hum~"
The silver soft sword, longer and thinner than Linley's Bloodviolet, whipped through the air like a flail. With this simple slash, space directly split open into an extremely fine spatial crack, accompanied by a strange, melodious sound.
The entire desert fell silent.
Linley and the others were stunned by these two strikes. One was a terrifying strike imbued with the Sword of Destruction, and the other was a sharp strike of the wind-elemental laws.
"Pfft!"
The silver soft sword eerily slashed onto the blade of Reisgem's longsword.
"Bang!" The silver soft sword suddenly exploded, shattering into countless silver fragments that scattered to the ground.
"Swish!"
The tip of Reisgem's longsword almost simultaneously pierced through the green-robed elder's forehead. The speed was so fast that the green-robed elder had no time to dodge. His eyes were filled with shock as blood slowly trickled from the wound on his forehead.
"Boom!" The green-robed elder's body crashed to the ground.
"That soft sword… that simple slash…" Linley's heart trembled. It seemed to remind him of something, and he quietly closed his eyes.
On the desert, others were still watching the two experts, but Linley had fallen into contemplation.
Indeed, the green-robed elder's strength was still a notch below Reisgem's. However, in terms of his understanding of the 'wind-elemental laws,' the green-robed elder had already fused several profound mysteries, including the 'Fast' and 'Slow' mysteries.
That simple slash contained the fusion of several profound mysteries.
Linley had been stuck at the bottleneck of the 'Speed' profound mystery for some time, racking his brains over how to break through and fully fuse the 'Fast' and 'Slow' profound mysteries.
After experiencing the life-and-death struggle in the Desert Ancient Castle, the intense emotional shifts of worry and relief, and now observing the green-robed elder's strongest strike, the bottleneck in Linley's understanding of the 'Speed' profound mystery finally began to crack…
The green-robed elder's corpse lay on the desert.
"Alas," Reisgem sighed. This sigh also contained disappointment.
Reisgem glanced at the green-robed elder's corpse: "Using a soft sword as well, your strength is far inferior to the Bloodviolet Demon. You spent almost all your time on defense and trapping techniques. In terms of attack… you're too weak," Reisgem murmured.
Suddenly, a figure emerged from the green-robed elder's corpse. It was the green-robed elder's doppelganger, but this doppelganger was only at the Demigod level.
"Reisgem, you're right," the green-robed elder said bitterly. "But I won't have the chance to cultivate the wind-elemental laws anymore." The green-robed elder didn't try to escape. His doppelganger was only at the Demigod level—how could he possibly get away?
"Mr. Reisgem, please kill him," the white-horned elder said, walking over with eyes full of hatred. "My brother was killed by him. I hope you'll kill him, or let me do it myself." The white-horned elder's heart was filled with vengeance.
His big brother, the black-horned elder, had been with him for so many years. Although he knew this trip to the Azure Continent would be dangerous, now that his big brother was truly dead, the white-horned elder's heart was still filled with rage.
"There's no need for you to do it yourself," Reisgem said.
In Reisgem's heart, although the green-robed elder now only had a Demigod doppelganger left, he had once been a supreme expert. A strong man should not be humiliated.
"Hmph," the green-robed elder glanced at him, then looked at Reisgem and said, "Reisgem, I accept my defeat willingly. If you're willing to let me go, then I'll tell you a big secret!"
"What are you doing?" The white-horned elder immediately became anxious.
The green-robed elder sneered coldly: "Scared?"
"Swish!" The white-horned elder suddenly lunged forward, his eyes filled with killing intent. But a flash of sword light abruptly struck the white-horned elder, sending him flying.
"Mr. Reisgem, you!" The white-horned elder was furious.
Reisgem smiled faintly: "I'm a bit curious now. What secret is it?" With that, Reisgem looked at the green-robed elder.
The white-horned elder was frantic.
The green-robed elder glanced disdainfully at the white-horned elder, then nodded and said, "Alright, I'll tell you. Actually, the employers you were escorting this time are the old servants of the Boye family from the Jing'an Prefecture of the Azure Continent…"
"You—" The white-horned elder was desperate. "Reisgem, you, how could you!"
Reisgem coldly looked at him: "Shut up."
A smile appeared on the green-robed elder's face as he continued, "Later, the Boye family was destroyed, and these two old fellows fled with the enormous wealth accumulated by the Boye family over countless years. Reisgem, you must know… in Hell, the wealth accumulated by a massive family over countless years would be astonishing."
The white-horned elder's face turned pale with rage.
At this moment, beside Bebe, Nisse was also filled with indignation, while Salomon watched all of this coldly.