Chapter 19: Martial God, Hiss
Killing twelve high-level gods with a single sword strike intimidated the opponent, and Linley and his group left safely.
“Linley, will that young master of the Bagshaw family bring strong experts to seek revenge?” Olivier asked, frowning with some concern.
Linley just smiled.
Delia, however, replied, “Olivier, that dispute with the Bagshaw family’s young master was just over a set of clothes. Then Linley killed those twelve ordinary high-level gods. For some ancient, noble families, losing twelve ordinary high-level gods is nothing. I think that young master won’t be reckless enough to seek revenge without first investigating thoroughly.”
“If he comes, we’ll just kill him directly!”
Bebe snorted, “Anyway, we’re leaving Miluo Island soon. No matter how powerful the Bagshaw family is, can they control everywhere else?”
“Let’s go. Those noble families look down on insignificant people, but they are somewhat wary of true experts.” Linley chuckled. With this display of power, the other party would surely take him for a high-level god. But his aura was that of a middle-level god!
They would definitely think Linley was concealing his aura.
In truth, Linley was a middle-level god! How could they possibly detect a high-level god’s aura from him?
They would only think Linley was too powerful and his aura-concealing ability too high!
Being able to conceal his aura to this extent, combined with that sword strike just now, would give them plenty to think about. No matter how strong a family, they wouldn’t want to offend a supreme expert. After all… against a true expert, a tactic of overwhelming numbers would fail.
For a matter of pride, offending an expert suspected to be a Seven-Star Fiend—that young master Sekra wouldn’t dare do that.
Linley’s group walked straight out. After a while, Linley didn’t notice anyone following them. He understood in his heart that young master Sekra had probably truly given up on revenge.
Bebe muttered, “Miluo Island is such a beautiful island. Too bad we have to leave after just one day. I wanted to get a hundred consecutive wins in the battle arena.” Fighting against middle-level gods, how could Bebe possibly lose? He could just stand there and let them hit him.
Unless they also had divine artifact weapons or Sovereign artifacts, they probably couldn’t even hurt Bebe.
“Let’s go. We can come back another time.” Linley said with a faint smile.
“Linley, look!” Delia exclaimed, pulling Linley with some shock. Linley immediately turned and followed Delia’s gaze. What he saw startled him as well. Through the transparent window of a distant restaurant, he could see the red-haired, cold-faced man sitting by the window!
The Martial God, O’Brien!
“Martial God!” Linley was overjoyed.
“Martial God?” Olivier also looked over in confusion, then was pleasantly surprised as well.
All experts who entered the Infernal Realm understood how rare it was to encounter a friend from their own material plane. That feeling of meeting a fellow countryman was enough to make them all excited and thrilled.
“Haha! Martial God!” Bebe was the first to rush toward that restaurant.
Linley and the others immediately followed, entering the restaurant. It was relatively quiet, with few customers. O’Brien was sitting there, quietly sipping a cup of tea.
“The Martial God has become a high-level god?” Linley was somewhat surprised. Back then, the Martial God had only reached the middle-level god stage by refining a divine spark. Reaching the high-level god stage in less than a thousand years was only possible one way—by refining a high-level god’s divine spark.
“Hey, Martial God!” Bebe ran straight to O’Brien’s table.
O’Brien, who had been lowering his head to drink tea, was startled. Martial God? How many years had it been since anyone in the Infernal Realm had called him that?
O’Brien looked up and saw Bebe by the table, along with Linley, Delia, and Olivier walking over. The Martial God O’Brien’s expression froze, then immediately showed surprise and delight: “Linley, it’s you!”
“O’Brien. Long time no see.” Linley said with a smile.
“Long time no see.” O’Brien also laughed.
“Aren’t you going to invite us to sit down?” Bebe snorted.
O’Brien immediately laughed heartily: “Haha. It wouldn’t matter if I didn’t invite others to sit, but how could I dare not invite you, Bebe? Come on, everyone sit down.” As he spoke, O’Brien waved at a distant waiter, who immediately came over. “I don’t want to eat anything right now.” Linley quickly said.
“Then have some drinks.” O’Brien casually ordered some wine and started chatting with everyone.
O’Brien asked Linley and Olivier about their experiences over the years. Linley only gave a rough description of what had happened since arriving in the Infernal Realm, without going into detail about the dangers they had encountered. In a few brief sentences, Linley and the others finished recounting their experiences in the Violet Continent.
“We also got trapped in the Violet Crystal Mountains and were lucky to escape.” Olivier glossed over it. When mentioning this, Delia specially expanded her divine domain to envelop them, isolating the sound so no outsiders could hear.
Linley had expected O’Brien to be surprised, but O’Brien didn’t seem to react.
In fact, O’Brien had always been in the Stellar Sea of Mist and knew very little about the Violet Continent, so he didn’t understand the significance of being trapped in the Violet Crystal Mountains and escaping.
“Linley, you really have guts. The Infernal Realm is full of hidden dangers. If I hadn’t followed Tarosa, I would probably have died in the Stellar Sea of Mist long ago. And you, you’re actually traveling from the Violet Continent all the way to the Bloodpeak Continent. Impressive, I admire you!” O’Brien exclaimed in amazement.
Olivier just smiled.
In Olivier’s view, with Linley’s current strength, he could roam the Infernal Realm freely. As long as he didn’t provoke a major enemy, he wouldn’t be in any real danger.
“O’Brien, what about you? How have things been in the Infernal Realm?” Linley asked with a smile.
“Us? Not bad.” O’Brien nodded. “After arriving in the Infernal Realm, among our group, we had Tarosa and Dylin. Although we encountered dangers, Tarosa and the others could handle them. Later, Tarosa even broke through from the middle-level god stage to the high-level god stage. He reached the high-level god stage on his own!”
Linley couldn’t help but be surprised.
“Once Tarosa reached the high-level god stage, he became even more formidable.” O’Brien praised. “Tarosa had already fused two types of profound mysteries. Combined with his innate divine ability… he was especially powerful in the Stellar Sea of Mist. He even killed three Five-Star Fiends!”
“Three Five-Star Fiends?” Linley and the others were also somewhat shocked.
Thinking about it, Linley understood. Tarosa had naturally reached the high-level god stage and had fused two types of profound mysteries. If his attack techniques could perfectly combine with his divine beast’s innate divine ability, it was possible he could match an ordinary Six-Star Fiend.
“Right, Tarosa even achieved a hundred consecutive wins in the battle arena on Miluo Island!” O’Brien sighed.
Linley nodded inwardly. Generally, a Six-Star Fiend could achieve a hundred consecutive wins, and a lucky Five-Star Fiend might also manage it. Tarosa achieving this was possible.
“Dylin achieved a hundred consecutive wins in the middle-level god battle arena on Miluo Island.” O’Brien laughed. “Because of this, Tarosa and Dylin both got residences on the West Island. Tarosa even gave us divine sparks, allowing me, Hiss, and Dylin’s children to all reach the high-level god stage.”
Linley understood now.
So that was it. Dylin’s two sons, the Six-Eyed Golden Lions, had also become gods by refining divine sparks. O’Brien as well. Since they had already refined divine sparks, they naturally refined them all the way. But reaching the high-level god stage by refining divine sparks meant their future prospects were very limited.
Delia smiled gently: “It seems you’ve been living well here.”
“Not bad.” O’Brien nodded, then seemed to remember something and shook his head. “But Hiss, on the other hand…”
“What’s wrong with Hiss?” Linley pressed immediately.
Linley had a fairly deep friendship with Hiss. Back in their hometown of Fenlai City, Hiss had helped him. Later, when Linley went to rescue the undead warrior Barker and his five brothers and faced a life-or-death crisis, Hiss had also stepped in to save him.
Having helped him several times, Linley naturally felt grateful to Hiss.
“Hiss is very depressed now.” O’Brien sighed and shook his head.
“Depressed?” Bebe’s eyes widened. “That Hiss always seemed so carefree. How could he be depressed?”
Linley was also puzzled.
“It’s a relationship problem.” O’Brien said.
Linley and the others showed surprised expressions. Back in the Yulan continent, Hiss had been very free and unrestrained. He changed women frequently, never settling down with any one woman. Even that saintess of the Ice Goddess Temple, Hiss had avoided her like the plague.
In Linley’s view, someone like that shouldn’t suffer major setbacks in love.
Seeing their expressions, O’Brien said, “I felt the same way you did at first. But Hiss is truly obsessed with that woman named Sesilia. He and that Sesilia woman really did fall in love. Hiss even told us that this time, he had truly found love!”
Linley and the others listened in stunned silence.
“Of course, I don’t know the details of their relationship, and we don’t pry into his private affairs. We were all happy to see Hiss and that Sesilia continue like that.”
“Logically, that would have been fine.” O’Brien shook his head with a wry smile. “Unfortunately, this Sesilia had a special identity. She turned out to be a core member of the Gadros family, one of the five great families of Miluo Island. And just a while ago, she married young master Sekra of the Bagshaw family!”
Young master Sekra?
Linley and the others exchanged glances. It was actually connected to that Sekra. And just recently, Linley and his group had had a conflict with that Sekra.
“What, surprised? We were too. But that’s how it is.” O’Brien sighed. “Divine-level experts should have firm hearts, but who would have thought Hiss would be so devastated? He’s been in a daze all day, either drinking, staring blankly into space, sleeping, or training. He’s completely depressed.”
Linley couldn’t help but sympathize with Hiss.
O’Brien made it sound ordinary, but Linley had experienced heartbreak himself. He understood the heart-wrenching pain of having your woman taken away, that suffocating agony. The deeper the love, the deeper the wound.
“Hiss really fell hard this time.” Linley sighed inwardly.
As they talked, they finished their drinks.
“Give it time. This only happened a while ago. Hiss can’t get over it in such a short time. As time passes, he should get better.” O’Brien said, standing up. “Linley, come on, let’s go to our place. Tarosa, Dylin, and Dylin’s two sons are all there. They’ll be thrilled to see you.”
Linley and the others immediately stood up.
“Boss, are we still leaving with Aichi and the others?” Bebe asked.
“No, we’ll travel alone this time. Besides, Bates is with them, so safety shouldn’t be an issue.” Linley didn’t want to leave in a hurry now that he had met these old friends. As for the conflict with Sekra, since Sekra hadn’t rushed to retaliate, it was clear he wouldn’t seek revenge anymore.
After all, if someone truly wanted revenge, they would act immediately.
Linley and his group followed O’Brien, quickly heading west.
Miluo Island was divided into the East Island and the West Island. The West Island was the residence of the island’s guardian warriors and the five great families. Outsiders were not allowed inside.
“It really is beautiful.” Linley could see rows of lovely two-story buildings in the distance.
“These are the residences of the guardian warriors.” O’Brien said with a smile. “I live here too. With Tarosa’s help, I also became a guardian warrior. The guardian warriors rotate every year; this year is our break.”
Some people were patrolling this residential area for guardian warriors.
“Can we go in?” Bebe asked with some concern.
“It’s fine. The management of the guardian warriors’ residences isn’t strict. As long as a guardian warrior escorts you, you can enter. The area that’s really strictly managed is the five great families’ zone. But that’s further inside.” As O’Brien spoke, a blood-red standard armor materialized on his body.
This was proof of his identity as a guardian warrior. The patrolling guardian warriors immediately let them pass.
Linley and his group followed O’Brien into the guardian warriors’ residential area.