Chapter 42: 108 (End of Volume 15)
Linley’s earth divine clone and his true body both immersed themselves in the laws of the earth, continuously training. Although they made constant progress in the profound mystery of the gravity space, the fusion of the earth pulse and gravity space hadn’t even begun!
Fusing two profound mysteries—the beginning was the most important. Once you started, future improvements would come naturally. But if you couldn’t even get started, no amount of time spent would be of any use.
Linley racked his brains, trying every method to fuse these two profound mysteries. However, the earth pulse and gravity space were both high-level profound mysteries. Fusing the earth pulse with earth elemental was not difficult, but fusing it with gravity space was extremely hard.
“This won’t work!” After thirty years of bitter training without even starting the fusion of the two profound mysteries, Linley grew anxious. “If I’m stuck here, even if I train for ten thousand years, I’ll still be stuck in this place without any progress. I can’t keep going like this!”
“The conditions that purple beast proposed weren’t easy after all.” Only now did Linley realize the difficulty. Gritting his teeth, he made a decision: “Then I’ll take a detour and try!”
The earth divine clone continued its bitter training, attempting to fuse the earth pulse and gravity space. Meanwhile, Linley’s true body began fusing gravity space with earth elemental!
Earth elemental had long since fused with the earth pulse. If gravity space could also fuse with earth elemental, then it might be possible, through earth elemental, to find a point of convergence between gravity space and the earth pulse. This point of convergence would be the starting point.
Once that point was broken through, the path would open, and the road ahead would be smooth!
In the thirty-eighth year of Linley’s bitter training.
“Fusing gravity space with earth elemental is much simpler.” Linley spent eight years gradually beginning to fuse these two profound mysteries. Because earth elemental and the earth pulse were already perfectly fused, through earth elemental, Linley gained some confidence in fusing the earth pulse and gravity space.
In the forty-sixth year of Linley’s bitter training!
“This detour finally succeeded.” Linley had finally begun to fuse gravity space and the earth pulse. Once the beginning was made, the rest would be easier.
Even after starting the fusion and having both his true body and divine clone train together, Linley still spent an extremely long time before finally breaking through the bottleneck and fusing these two profound mysteries—gravity space and the earth pulse. By this year, it was already the two hundred and sixth year of Linley’s training!
This was also due to the fact that Linley’s true body’s soul had absorbed a large amount of amethyst essence, making it extremely powerful.
In the two hundred and sixth year of Linley’s imprisonment, inside the cave within the Amethyst Mountains.
“Hoo… hoo…”
Soft snoring echoed through the cave. The purple beast was still lying on the ground, asleep. As it slept, it occasionally wrinkled its nose, looking very cute.
Inside the purple light sphere, Linley was covered in blood from the pressure, but his face was full of joy. “I’ve finally fused the two profound mysteries.” After spending a full two hundred and six years, with the combined efforts of his true body and divine clone, he had finally fused these two profound mysteries.
Now, Linley could actually fuse three profound mysteries—the earth pulse, gravity space, and gravity spell—because these three profound mysteries all had points of convergence with each other. He could completely fuse all three.
“But I’ll wait until I get out to do that.” Linley didn’t waste any time.
He looked up at the black stone emitting a faint purple glow, still floating above him.
“Repulsive force?” Linley frowned.
Although he had already fused the earth pulse and gravity space, Linley still didn’t understand why a repulsive force was produced.
“What’s going on? How do I counteract this repulsive force?” Linley was anxious. To counteract this repulsive force, he would at least need to be able to create a gravity space filled with such repulsive force himself. Only by being able to do it himself and fully understanding it could he find a way to counteract it!
But how?
Linley didn’t know!
“That purple beast named Reisgem said I just needed to fuse the two profound mysteries…” Linley suddenly paused.
He recalled a sentence the purple beast had said: “This is a gravity space created after fusing the earth pulse and gravity space, and it also incorporates some special applications…”
“Special applications?” Linley murmured.
In an attack, the profound mysteries of the laws were one aspect, but how they were applied was also very important.
For example, in the Infernal Realm, two Seven Star Fiends might both have fused four profound mysteries, but because of differences in application, their attack power would be different! Clever and unique applications could increase the power of profound mysteries by ten times or more!
“Turning gravity into repulsive force? How is it applied?” Linley carefully observed the purple light curtain around him.
But no matter how he looked, it was just a purple light curtain. Linley couldn’t find any clues.
“What is it?” Linley kept thinking. “How do you turn gravity into repulsive force?” Gravity and repulsive force were completely opposite forces. No matter how he thought about it, Linley couldn’t understand how it could become like that.
How could Linley know?
The purple beast dared to say ten thousand years because he was confident that an ordinary mid-level god would almost certainly be unable to leave this purple light sphere within ten thousand years.
Ten thousand years to fuse two profound mysteries? Not difficult!
Some geniuses could do it in a hundred years.
But the most peculiar thing about this purple light sphere wasn’t the profound mysteries! It was a special application, something Reisgem was very proud of.
“How is it applied?”
Ignoring the intense pain, Linley closed his eyes and continuously simulated in his mind.
Both his earth divine clone and true body were fully immersed, constantly thinking, deducing again and again… Time flowed on as the deductions continued.
In the four hundred and eighty-second year of Linley’s imprisonment!
After more than two hundred years of bitter thought, Linley had already come up with many powerful ways to apply the fusion of the earth pulse and gravity space. But he still hadn’t figured out how to turn gravity into repulsive force.
“What do I do?”
Linley was extremely anxious. After more than two hundred years of bitter thought, he still couldn’t find a way to create repulsive force.
“I’ve thought of every method. There’s no way. I’ve thought of everything. What do I do? What do I do?” Linley looked at the purple light curtain around him and couldn’t help but grow angry. “Could it be that I really have to do what Delia said and just give up on this earth divine clone?”
Linley didn’t want to give up on his earth divine clone!
It wasn’t because the earth divine clone represented an extra life, nor because the earth divine clone had the strongest soul attack.
But because…
“Earth!” Linley’s mind flashed back to that old man in white robes with white hair and beard. “Grandpa Doehring…”
It was Grandpa Doehring who had guided Linley onto the path of earth magic. Linley knew that Grandpa Doehring had always wanted to break through to the Saint realm and become a god, but he never had the chance. Linley had trained hard and finally became a god in the laws of the earth, and now he had even stepped into the highest plane, the Infernal Realm.
Linley sometimes thought: “Grandpa Doehring, if you knew that I became a god in the earth attribute and stepped into the highest plane, you would be very happy, right?”
The earth divine clone wasn’t just an extra life.
It was also a kind of sustenance for Linley’s feelings toward Grandpa Doehring!
He didn’t want to give up!
“No, I can’t give up! I have to continue training in the laws of the earth. I absolutely cannot let the earth divine clone die.” Linley kept telling himself. Then he looked at the purple beast. “It’s been less than five hundred years. The purple beast gave me ten thousand years. I still have over nine thousand years. I will succeed. I will definitely succe—”
Suddenly, Linley stopped mid-sentence. He stared at the sleeping purple beast.
More precisely, he stared at the 108 spikes on the purple beast’s back!
Linley stared blankly, as if stunned. He murmured to himself: “108? Plane?”
A flash of lightning seemed to strike through Linley’s mind. Immediately, he closed his eyes, and at the same time—
In his mind, he simulated a series of divine powers, exactly 108 strands of divine power. First, he arranged them according to the arrangement of the 108 spikes on the purple beast’s back. Linley continuously deduced what special effects such an arrangement would produce.
The arrangement of 108 strands of divine power was extremely complex.
After half a month of deduction, Linley was overjoyed: “Indeed, just by changing the arrangement, the gravity is increased a hundredfold.” Linley understood that normally, when using gravity space, it would at most affect an opponent’s movement, but the effect wouldn’t be too exaggerated.
But with this arrangement, on top of the original gravity limit, it was increased a hundredfold! It could probably prevent a high-level god from flying.
“No, it’s still not as strong as the gravity of the Amethyst Mountains.” Linley shook his head internally. “That’s not right either. The gravity of the Amethyst Mountains isn’t all directed downward; it’s like a sphere attracting everything from all directions. No matter where you are, you’re pulled toward the Amethyst Mountains.”
Linley opened his eyes, and his gaze fell on the purple spherical light curtain before him. He just stared at it—
“Plane? Sphere?” Linley murmured. Gradually, a gleam appeared in his eyes. “Yes, sphere!!! It’s not a simple plane!”
“Crack!”
The shackle that had been binding Linley’s thoughts shattered at that moment.
“Haha, so that’s it. Haha, I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. But… deducing from a plane to a sphere is countless times more complex.” Linley could fully imagine the complexity of this deduction. If a plane required a thousand deductions, then a sphere, being three-dimensional, would require three thousand multiplied together—that’s ten billion times!
A thousand times versus ten billion times!
The gap was enormous!
Moreover, Linley’s deductions for various situations on a plane were far more than a thousand times, so for the even more complex sphere, the number of deductions would naturally be even greater.
“If I really used exhaustive deduction with 108 strands of divine power, even if I deduced for billions of years, I probably wouldn’t get it.” Linley understood that this application method couldn’t be achieved through exhaustive deduction alone; it required insight and understanding.
“But fortunately, I know that the real secret is somewhat related to the arrangement of the spikes on this purple beast’s body.” Linley opened his eyes and carefully observed the 108 spikes on the purple beast’s body, diligently memorizing their lengths and positions.
In Linley’s mind, the 108 strands of divine power continuously changed, and at the same time, 108 strands of divine power flowed on the surface of his body.
As he deduced various situations, the divine power on his body naturally arranged itself. As time passed, the repulsive force began to decrease. To be precise… the repulsive force didn’t weaken; rather, Linley was counteracting part of it. As his deductions grew closer to the true form, more and more of the repulsive force was neutralized.
“Huh?” The purple beast suddenly opened its eyes and looked at Linley. It stared in shock. “This, this kid actually?”
The purple beast immediately stood up, its nose twisted in anger. “It’s only been five hundred years, and this kid has already started to grope at the threshold of my Lord Reisgem’s ultimate technique.” Under the purple beast’s gaze, a brownish-yellow light flowed over Linley’s body, containing the profound mysteries of the laws.
“Yes, that’s it!” Linley opened his eyes in surprise.
The moment he opened his eyes, he saw the purple beast staring at him, full of annoyance.
“Mr. Reisgem, I’ve finally met your requirements.” Linley said with a smile. Although there was still some repulsive force, this was because the purple beast’s divine power was high-level divine power. The same technique, when used with higher-level power, would naturally be more powerful.
But after counteracting it, the remaining repulsive force was negligible.
Linley flew up easily, reached out, and grabbed the black stone emitting a faint purple glow that was floating above him. Immediately, the purple light sphere dissipated.
The purple beast glared at Linley angrily: “You little brat, you actually managed to comprehend my technique?”
“Actually, I have to thank Mr. Reisgem. If it weren’t for the spikes on your back, I wouldn’t have broken through so quickly.” Linley was in a good mood. The purple beast suddenly realized: “Damn it, I helped myself!” But the purple beast also understood that even if someone saw the arrangement of the spikes, how many could connect it to gravity space?
The purple beast knew very well that this special kind of gravity space was his innate ability. Combined with the spikes on his body, its power was immense.
“I’ll keep my promise. Kid, you can leave.” The purple beast said unhappily.
“Then, Mr. Reisgem, I’ll take my leave.” Linley said politely.
“Sigh, once you leave the Amethyst Mountains, I won’t see you again.” The purple beast curled its lips helplessly.
“Leave the Amethyst Mountains?” Linley was startled. He turned to look at the purple beast.
The purple beast glanced at him and snorted: “I’ll tell you. Now that you’ve comprehended my ultimate technique, this gravity space method can completely counteract the gravity of the Amethyst Mountains. As for the soul-influencing wind sounds, with that stone, you don’t have to worry anymore.”
“Black stone?” Linley looked at the stone in his hand.
“Just drip blood to bind it—damn it, the more I talk, the more annoyed I get. I won’t waste words with you. Get lost now.” The purple beast was very displeased.
Linley was full of doubts: “Drip blood to bind this black stone?” Despite his confusion, Linley still dripped a drop of blood onto the black stone. After it was absorbed, the black stone merged into Linley’s body, directly entering his soul sea. Linley could feel the extraordinary nature of this black stone.
“This black stone?”
Linley sensed the vast, profound energy contained within the black stone. It was extremely deep. Besides that, he also felt the power of 108 souls moving within it, constantly changing and arranging themselves in various formations.
Linley was horrified to discover—
The application method he had spent so long figuring out was only a very shallow one among them.
“What exactly is this black stone?” Linley was shocked. He also looked at the purple beast with surprise. “Although this purple beast said it was tormenting me, it gave me this black stone. This black stone is definitely no ordinary item.” Linley was very puzzled.
Why did the purple beast do this?
“Thank you, Mr. Reisgem.” Linley said gratefully.
“Hmph.” The purple beast just turned its head away.
Linley didn’t say much more. He immediately used earth travel and left the cave.
The purple beast sat down in the cave. Suddenly—the rock on the cave wall twisted and turned into a large face.
“Jingjing, what’s wrong? Are you angry?” The stone face actually opened its mouth and spoke.
“Hmph, yes, I’m angry.” The purple beast, Reisgem, said angrily. “And don’t call me Jingjing! I finally got a plaything, and I had a whole bunch of ways to torment him, but you made me do this and even give him such a benefit in the end.”
The stone face’s mouth moved slightly: “Jingjing, don’t be angry. I owe a favor to the former patriarch of the Four Divine Beasts clan—” But before it could finish—
“I told you, don’t call me Jingjing!” The purple beast roared. Then it snorted, turned around, and slammed directly into the wall, merging into it and disappearing.
“After all these years, still like a child.” The stone face on the wall said helplessly. Then it disappeared, and the wall returned to its smooth state.
PS: Two chapters finished. Volume 15, “Precious Treasure,” ends here. The Infernal Realm chapter gradually unveils its mysterious veil—these peerless experts, the Purgatory, and so on…