Chapter 14: Twenty Years of Drifting
"Oh, why is it you? Weren't the seven of you already gone? Why have you come back?" Bebe deliberately tilted his head, putting on a puzzled expression. Achi and the other six immediately felt somewhat embarrassed.
Although, given the circumstances, it was understandable that they had considered their own safety first, and if they had truly left directly, that would have been the end of it.
But now that they had returned, they felt awkward.
However, the Stellar Sea was filled with countless bandits. How could the seven of them, as mere Demigods, possibly reach the Bloodpeak Continent safely? They could only rely on the protection of Linley, Bates, and the others to arrive safely. Although relying on Linley's help now was somewhat embarrassing, compared to their lives, it was nothing.
Achi chuckled and quickly said, "Bebe, we..."
"Oh, I see." Bebe put on a look of sudden realization. "Achi, back then you were the one who borrowed Bates's metallic lifeform to use. Bates's metallic lifeform was destroyed by that Gamontin. Have you come now to compensate him for the metallic lifeform?"
"Metallic lifeform?" Achi was stunned.
Bates, however, had his eyes light up. He had just remembered his own metallic lifeform. He quickly laughed and said, "Right, that metallic lifeform of mine was used at your request for everyone to ride. Since it's been destroyed, Achi, you have to compensate me! My metallic lifeform was a high-grade one, worth eighteen million inkstones!"
"Eighteen million?" Achi's eyes bulged.
"What, you won't pay?" Big Beard Bates immediately put on a stern face, as if he was about to make a move against Achi.
Achi quickly said, "Lord Bates, don't worry. I'll pay, I'll definitely pay, alright?"
"That's more like it." Big Beard Bates grinned smugly. His metallic lifeform was actually only worth eight million inkstones. Being destroyed like this actually allowed him to make a quick profit of ten million.
Achi sighed helplessly in his heart. Who exactly had he offended? The journey through the Stellar Sea had been nothing but continuous disasters.
"If this happens a few more times, this business trip of mine will have been for nothing," Achi sighed helplessly. In truth, the value of Achi's goods this time was quite high. If he could deliver them to the Bloodpeak Continent, he could indeed make a huge profit.
But unfortunately, the price of the metallic lifeform was also high.
"You want to travel with us?" A voice rang out.
Achi and the other six Demigods turned to look. The speaker was Linley. Big Beard Bates glanced over and chuckled, "Achi, if you want to travel with us now, you still need to see if Linley agrees. What we say doesn't count; you have to listen to Linley."
The seven of them, including Achi, all understood that the strongest among this group was Linley!
"Lord Linley, we..." Achi quickly smiled and said.
"You want to travel with us? No problem," Linley said with a faint smile. Upon hearing this, Achi and the others all breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing this, Linley couldn't help but smile and continue, "But I must warn you, although I killed that Gamontin, he still has another divine clone. More importantly... behind him is a terrifying figure. That peerless expert will likely come looking for us."
"A peerless expert?" Achi and the other six looked at each other.
Bebe, standing beside Linley, deliberately scared them, saying, "That Gamontin was just a subordinate of that expert. You should be able to guess the strength of the expert behind him... Based on our estimates, that expert should be on the same level as a Sovereign!"
"A Sovereign!" Achi, Thaim, Wilburn, and the other six trembled in their hearts. To Demigods, a Sovereign was an invincible existence high above.
The green-haired giant Thaim quickly said in a simple, honest tone, "Lord Linley is so powerful, he should be able to deal with that expert, right?" Achi and the others immediately looked at Linley.
"I have no confidence at all," Linley said. "Everyone, make your choice!"
Achi and the other six looked at each other.
"We'll still go with you, Lord Linley," the seven finally decided. Relying on their own strength in the Stellar Sea, it was impossible for them to safely reach the Bloodpeak Continent. Following Linley was much safer.
Linley smiled upon hearing this.
"I'll protect you if I can. But if even I can't do anything, then you'll have to rely on yourselves," Linley said with a faint smile. "Alright, let's set off!" With a wave of his hand, a metallic lifeform appeared on the surface of the Stellar Sea.
Linley knew very well that Achi no longer had a metallic lifeform now.
Since they knew that behind Gamontin was the Lord Commander, Linley and the others naturally wanted to find a way to make it impossible for him to find them. First, Linley destroyed the spatial ring and threw away that divine artifact. Then, they took a detour towards the Bloodpeak Continent.
The Stellar Sea was vast and boundless. Even the most powerful being would find it very difficult to find someone within the Stellar Sea.
At first, Linley and the others were worried, but after traveling for a year without encountering any danger, they relaxed.
The Stellar Sea stretched endlessly. Amidst the peaceful journey, twenty years quickly passed since the battle with Gamontin.
"Splash, splash." The seawater rippled.
The metallic lifeform cut through the waves, while Linley sat at the bow of the ship, gazing at the clusters of whitecaps.
"Twenty years!" Linley held a bottle of wine and took a casual sip. "Time really does pass quickly in the Infernal Realm. Even crossing the Stellar Sea takes decades. We've only covered about half the distance so far."
During these twenty years, Linley had been worried at first about encountering the Lord Commander.
But as time passed, Linley relaxed. After traveling for twenty years, it would probably be troublesome for that Lord Commander to find them. After all, even an Overgod-level Highgod's divine sense wouldn't cover that much area.
How could he possibly find Linley and the others?
"Boss." Bebe darted out from the cabin, his face full of excitement. "Boss, they're talking in the cabin about a very famous island we're about to reach. It's called Moluo Island!" During this journey, Linley and the others had also stopped at some cities.
The Stellar Sea was vast and boundless, with countless islands. It was divided into over ten prefectures, each with ten cities, all built on islands.
The islands in the Stellar Sea were generally tens of thousands of miles in circumference. Large islands could be millions of miles in circumference, even larger than Linley's homeland, the Yulan Continent. Building a city on such an island was more than enough.
"Moluo Island?" Linley was somewhat surprised.
"They say Moluo Island is very prosperous. I also heard something about a Battle Arena on Moluo Island," Bebe said, a bit confused.
Linley, however, remembered the book that described the geography of the Infernal Realm. The book had a rather detailed description of Moluo Island.
Moluo Island was a large island, hundreds of thousands of miles in circumference, located within the Silverblue Prefecture of the Stellar Sea.
Moluo Island was extremely prosperous, with a huge floating population. A large number of merchants and warriors gathered there every day. Its level of prosperity was in no way inferior to the ten cities of Silverblue Prefecture.
This was a very strange thing. An island could actually rival the ten cities of a prefecture.
"Hey, Linley, what are you discussing?" Big Beard Bates also walked to the bow.
"Just talking about Moluo Island," Linley said with a faint smile.
"Moluo Island?" Big Beard Bates sighed in admiration. "This is a very special place. It has no Stellar Army for protection, nor any prefectural troops, yet it's as prosperous as a large city. Inside the island, there's a Freedom Castle, specifically for merchants to conduct transactions."
The Stellar Army was similar to the Violet Thorn Army; it was the military force of the Stellar Sea.
"On Moluo Island, there is a very powerful army that maintains order," Bates praised. "The soldiers of this army are all Highgods, very elite. For countless years, Moluo Island has never declined!"
Linley couldn't help but feel puzzled.
A prefecture only had ten cities. Yet this Moluo Island could attract so many merchants and maintain itself for so many years. It was truly astonishing.
"There are two most famous places on Moluo Island: one is the Freedom Castle, and the other is the Battle Arena. Within the Freedom Castle, fighting and killing are not allowed. If discovered, the island's army will show no mercy! Within the Battle Arena, spectators are not allowed to fight or kill. Violators will also be surrounded and killed by the army!"
Bates's eyes were full of awe. "Moluo Island is too domineering. To this day, no one dares to provoke it."
"So many merchants trading? No one dares to rob them?" Bebe snorted. "I don't believe it. Ordinary people might not dare to rob, but what about the prefectural troops? What about the Stellar Army, for instance?" The Stellar Army was the army of the Sovereigns.
Didn't they come to deal with Moluo Island either?
"I'm not sure about that," Bates shook his head and said.
"Moluo Island has existed for who knows how many billions of years. There must be a special reason for it," Linley said. He only knew the general idea about Moluo Island, but even from that general idea, Linley could deduce... being able to build an army composed of Highgods.
And being independent of other cities, establishing a trading hub.
This was too outrageous.
"There must be an astonishing force backing Moluo Island," Linley thought to himself.
"Hey, I heard you say earlier that we'll reach Moluo Island in three days?" Bebe suddenly asked.
Big Beard Bates nodded with a smile. "Right, three more days. Moluo Island is very interesting and exciting, especially the Battle Arena. Especially the Highgod-level Battle Arena. The battles there sometimes involve extremely powerful experts. Very exciting!"
Linley couldn't help but feel a sense of anticipation in his heart.
Moluo Island, a free island in the Stellar Sea, a prosperous place without prefectural troops or the Stellar Army. At the entrance to Moluo Island, one could see a dense mass of metallic lifeforms heading towards it.
"At every moment, a large number of metallic lifeforms arrive," Linley marveled. "How many people come to Moluo Island every day? It's hard to calculate. The prosperity of Moluo Island is indeed no less than any city."
Linley had seen many cities along the way.
Their level of prosperity was at most comparable to that of Moluo Island.
"Boss, come on, let's go see what Moluo Island is like!" When the metallic lifeform docked at the entrance, Bebe was the first to excitedly rush out.
Entering Moluo Island required no fee. Linley and his group stepped onto this legendary island.