Chapter 3: Saturation
Hongyang Prefecture’s Blue Maple City lay at the southeastern corner of the entire Violet Thorn Continent. From Blue Maple City, a short flight would bring one to the shores of the vast Star Fog Sea.
For anyone traveling from the Violet Thorn Continent eastward to the Bi Fu Continent or southeast to the Blood Peak Continent, Blue Maple City was the nearest point. A massive number of people passed through here, and many large merchant caravans had established outposts in the city. This was what made Blue Maple City so prosperous—far surpassing the bustle of any other city on the Violet Thorn Continent.
“It’s quite peculiar that there are even Violet Thorn Legion soldiers at the city gates of Blue Maple City,” Olivia remarked with a faint smile of approval. By now, Linley and his three companions had already entered Blue Maple City and were walking along its main avenue.
“Blue Maple City is an extremely prosperous city. Trade causes a great number of merchant caravans to set out from here, and many powerful individuals who seek to travel to other continents also depart from this place. For such an important location, stationing some Violet Thorn Legion soldiers here is only normal,” Linley said as he looked around, taking in the sights.
Appreciating Blue Maple City’s style, which was different from that of ‘Imperial Wing City,’ Linley was in excellent spirits.
And how could he not be? After all, the journey to the Azure Prefecture had already taken a major step forward.
“Linley.”
Delia sent a mental message.
“Hmm?” Linley looked at her in confusion. Delia gave him a meaningful glance and then nodded toward Bebe. Only then did Linley notice that Bebe’s mood was off.
Since arriving at Blue Maple City, Bebe—usually the most lively of them—hadn’t said a single word.
Wearing a straw hat, his head slightly lowered, he paid no attention to the surrounding buildings or people. Bebe just walked silently. It was hard to tell from his expression what he was thinking, but seeing this, Linley had some idea.
The only thing that could make Bebe like this was probably the matter of Nisse.
“Bebe,” Linley called out.
Bebe suddenly snapped to attention, looking up at Linley with a blank expression. “Boss, what did you call me for?”
“Thinking about Nisse?” Linley looked down at Bebe.
“Yeah.” Bebe nodded slightly, looking a bit sad. “Nini went to the Bi Fu Continent. She must have left from this Blue Maple City too.” Arriving at Blue Maple City, Bebe couldn’t help but think of Nini. Then he let out a low sigh. “But… she came to Blue Maple City a few hundred years ago.”
Bebe then raised his head, grinning. “Boss, I’m fine. Anyway, Nini has been on the Bi Fu Continent for a few hundred years. Finding her would be troublesome. I’ll look for her when I get the chance later. Come on, let’s head to the Demon Castle.” With that, Bebe took the lead and walked forward.
Linley and Delia exchanged a glance and followed.
Olivia, however, hesitated slightly, as if thinking of something. By the time Linley and the others had walked some distance away, he called out, “Olivia, what are you thinking about?” Only then did Olivia snap out of it and quickly catch up.
“Olivia,” Linley began.
“Hmm?” Olivia looked at Linley.
“Have you really decided to come with us to the Blood Peak Continent?” Linley asked with a smile. On the way to Blue Maple City, he had already discussed it with Olivia. “The Star Fog Sea is vast. Who knows what dangers we might encounter along the way?”
Olivia smiled faintly. “Linley, I’ve been wandering aimlessly in the Infernal Realm. Going with you to explore isn’t a bad idea. Besides, if there’s danger in the Star Fog Sea, isn’t there a strong person like you to rely on?”
A strong person?
As the two of them talked on the main street, given the dense flow of people on Blue Maple City’s avenue, many passersby naturally overheard. Some glanced at Linley with disdain or amusement. But clearly… they didn’t consider Linley a strong person.
Because Linley was a mid-level god!
In the boundless Infernal Realm, a mid-level god was merely an ordinary person, hardly a powerhouse.
Noticing the looks from others, Linley couldn’t help but find it both amusing and frustrating. “Olivia, since when did you learn to say things like that?” Olivia was supposed to be the serious, aloof type, not one for jokes. But Linley understood in his heart that Olivia had come to regard him as a true friend.
In a foreign land, fellow countrymen felt especially close.
In the Infernal Realm, those who also came from the Yulan Continent naturally felt a kinship.
The Demon Castle—every Demon Castle, no matter where, looked exactly the same.
Following custom, Linley and his group went to the second floor of the Demon Castle. Along the side of the second-floor hall was a row of rooms, all used for one-star demons to accept missions. Linley and his three companions entered one of the empty rooms directly.
Inside the room was a woman with golden hair and a purple robe.
The purple-robed woman looked up at the four of them and said indifferently, “Speak. What mission do you want to accept?”
“The four of us want four two-star missions, hoping to travel from Blue Maple City to ‘Nishan City’ on the Blood Peak Continent,” Linley said.
Nishan City was located at the northwestern corner of the Blood Peak Continent. From the Violet Thorn Continent, people usually arrived at Nishan City.
“Blood Peak Continent? Wait a moment.” The purple-robed woman’s blue eyes glanced at Linley, then she closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, a thick volume of records appeared in her hands. She flipped through it and said, “From Blue Maple City to the border city of ‘Nishan City’ on the Blood Peak Continent, within the past month, there are a total of 1,304 missions. Among them, 183 are two-star missions. You choose.” She placed the thick volume in front of Linley.
Linley and the others were stunned.
Over ten thousand types?
“Linley, when we came from Imperial Wing City, there were only eleven missions. And only three were two-star missions,” Delia exclaimed in amazement.
The purple-robed woman said calmly, “Every day, a large number of people leave Blue Maple City for the Blood Peak Continent, the Bi Fu Continent, or the Star Fog Sea. But most of them have their own merchant caravan teams. Those who actually issue missions are not many. Even so, having over ten thousand types is normal.”
Linley looked through the list of two-star missions one by one.
“Boss, which one should we pick?” Bebe was dazzled by the choices and didn’t know which to select.
Linley turned to look at the others. “Then I’ll pick a simple, easy one.”
After the last experience, Linley had no intention of choosing a mission that hired a large group of demons again. The more demons hired, the more complicated the mission was likely to be. On the other hand, if too few demons were hired, the journey might involve more trouble and danger.
So, Linley selected a two-star mission that hired twenty demons.
“This one,” Linley decided.
“This one?” Bebe leaned in to look and muttered, “The reward is so small. Crossing the vast Star Fog Sea, and it’s only fifty thousand ink stones.” The last escort mission Linley had accepted had a reward of two hundred thousand ink stones. Of course… that time, the black-horned elder and white-horned elder who issued the mission had both died, and Linley’s group failed the mission, gaining nothing.
“If you can’t get it, what’s the use?” Linley said with a laugh.
Delia also smiled. “Bebe, do you even care about that?”
Bebe had spent a full ten years mining violet crystals. The wealth he possessed was probably not far off from the entire Boey family’s assets.
“I was just mentioning it casually,” Bebe muttered. Linley, however, thought to himself that the higher the reward, the more likely the mission had hidden strings attached. The last escort mission—was that really a two-star mission? Their group had basically been sent to their deaths. Apart from Linley’s group being lucky enough to be spared by Pusslow, the only other hired demon who escaped was Rielmont, thanks to his strength.
“Give me your demon badges,” the purple-robed woman said.
After completing a series of formalities, Linley and his three companions left the Demon Castle. They also learned the departure date—it was in three days! One of the reasons Linley had chosen this mission was that it set off in three days.
Linley and the others first went to have a good meal, then bought a large supply of preserved food and fine wine before checking into an inn.
The next three days were spent in the inn’s private courtyard.
“Over six hundred years of cultivation. My earth and wind elements have improved considerably, but this fire-element divine clone is progressing too slowly,” Linley mused, sitting in the courtyard, contemplating his training.
During the six hundred-plus years in the Violet Crystal Mountain Range, his earth-element divine clone had achieved the most. His wind-element divine clone had finally managed to fuse the two profound mysteries of ‘Sound Wave’ and ‘Sound Music’ into one, and had also cultivated the simplest ‘Wind Element’ profound mystery to the late stage. However, the wind-element laws had a total of nine profound mysteries, and the further he went, the slower it became…
As for his fire-element divine clone, after six hundred years, he had only just begun to grasp ‘Fire Body Art’ and had not yet reached the mid-level god stage.
Linley closed his eyes.
His soul ocean rippled. On the surface of the sea sat three figures cross-legged—Linley in a earth-yellow robe, a pale cyan robe, and a fiery red robe. The three ‘Linleys’ sat in a triangle, and above them was the seven-colored sword-shaped soul.
Beneath the seven-colored sword-shaped soul was a black stone.
At the same time, strands of golden mist were being absorbed by the sword-shaped soul. However, the absorption speed had become very slow.
“Hmm?” Linley frowned and opened his eyes. “Over the past six hundred years, I’ve been refining and absorbing a large number of violet crystals in the Coiling Dragon Ring, absorbing continuously for over six hundred years. Now, the absorption speed seems to be getting slower and slower.”
This phenomenon had only started a few days ago. In the past, the absorption speed had never slowed down.
“Could it be that the soul has a limit to absorbing soul essence?” Linley wondered.
Then he nodded slightly. Yes, there should be a limit. Otherwise, if the soul grew stronger endlessly without stopping, what would be the result?
Linley wasn’t sure.
Although absorbing soul essence could strengthen the soul and even cause a qualitative improvement, that was actually just a result of quantitative change leading to qualitative change. It was like a bottle—if you filled it with gas, too much gas might even compress into liquid.
This was quantitative change leading to qualitative change.
But there was a limit. Because if you kept filling it endlessly, even if it turned into liquid, too much liquid would cause the bottle to explode—the soul would shatter.
That was Linley’s situation now. His soul had reached its limit and could no longer absorb.
To make the soul stronger again, he would need to increase the ‘bottle’s’ volume and make it more durable, so it could hold more gas and increase the liquid’s density. This kind of change was the most fundamental. There was only one way to achieve it—a breakthrough in divine rank: from low-level god to mid-level god, from mid-level god to high-level god.
Even refining a divine spark would cause a fundamental change in the soul’s nature.
Of course, achieving godhood independently, with the descent of the laws of the universe, brought the greatest improvement to the soul’s essence.
That was why many high-level gods, even if they had never absorbed soul essence, still had souls stronger than those of mid-level gods! Linley had absorbed so much soul essence that he was at best at the peak of the mid-level god stage, still a bit short of the high-level god stage.
Three days later, outside the gates of Blue Maple City, a massive crowd had gathered. There were many teams preparing to depart. At the city gate, several Demon Castle personnel were present. Linley and his group presented their demon badges for inspection, and the Demon Castle staff led them to a spot below a metal lifeform.
“Your people are here,” the Demon Castle staff member said briefly before turning and leaving.
“The four of you, I am the employer for this mission, Aichi!” A short, middle-aged man with golden curly hair said with a smile. “Wait a bit longer. The people I’ve hired should be almost all here. Once everyone’s gathered, we’ll set out to sea.” Suddenly, this man named ‘Aichi’ stared at Delia without blinking.
Delia was taken aback by his stare.
Linley frowned, and Bebe said discontentedly, “Hey, kid, what are you staring at? Is that any way to act?”
“A high-level god! Haha, you’re actually a high-level god demon?” Aichi’s face was full of surprise and delight. “Jackpot, jackpot! I hired twenty one-star and two-star demons, and one of them turns out to be a high-level god demon!”