Chapter 24: Two Paths of Life and Death
Above the border between the East Island and West Island of Luoluo Island. Tens of thousands of upper-tier god island-guarding warriors formed an encirclement, making Linley and his group like fish trapped in a jar, with no escape. The greatest threat to Linley was still the four people confronting him.
Four Seven Star Demons!
"One slash of his blade cut my Blackstone Prison 'Cube' in half. The remaining blade energy was scattered by my fist, but the power of that strike was truly terrifying." Linley felt his right fist tingling, and looking down, he could see a white mark on the fist's surface.
Linley's heart was filled with shock.
This was only the remaining blade energy after cutting through so many walls of the Blackstone Prison! If the full-force blade energy had struck his body, it was hard to say whether his dragon scales could withstand it!
"Seven Star Demon! Definitely a Seven Star Demon!"
Linley stared at the red-robed burly man who had unleashed that strike. He was a robust man with messy yellow hair, like a lion's mane, standing respectfully beside the red-haired man.
"Who is this red-haired man?" Linley felt wary in his heart.
Three red-robed elders stood beside the red-haired man, and even Young Master Sekra had arrived at his side, showing great respect. However, the red-haired man glared at him, and Sekra lowered his head and stood obediently to the side.
"Even Sekra is so respectful, and he looks somewhat similar to Sekra. Could he be Sekra's father?" Linley speculated inwardly as he observed. After a brief assessment, Linley reached a conclusion—
The situation was very bad!
The three red-robed men were likely all Seven Star Demons, and the red-haired man was no weaker.
"Using Sovereign's power is one thing, but the most important thing is to protect Delia and the others." Linley was still somewhat worried, after all, around his group were tens of thousands of densely packed upper-tier god warriors!
This group of upper-tier god warriors posed a significant threat as well.
"It seems I have no choice but to do this!" Linley gritted his teeth.
He had to fend off the enemy while also protecting Delia and the others. But the opponent might be four Seven Star Demons. Even using Sovereign's power, he would have to go all out.
So, in the worst-case scenario, he would have to use two drops of Sovereign's power at once!
His main body would use one drop to deal with the four Seven Star Demons.
His divine clone would use one drop to protect Delia and the others.
"That's the worst-case scenario." Linley felt a bit reluctant, after all, two drops of Sovereign's power were precious, but the enemy was too strong!
"I hope you don't force me to take that final step."
Linley silently prayed in his heart.
While Linley was sizing up the enemy, they were also carefully examining him. They were shocked to find that even the four of them, all Seven Star Demons, could not see through Linley.
"This person is very strong." The patriarch of the Bagshaw family, 'Bokway,' was startled and glared fiercely at his son.
If not for his son, how would they have provoked such an enemy?
"Paslow!" Bokway shouted.
"Sir." The lion-headed red-robed burly man stepped forward.
"Test him. If you're confident, kill him." Bokway ordered via divine sense transmission. Bokway knew that among the three red-robed elders he had brought, 'Paslow' had the strongest defense.
Sending Paslow to test the enemy's strength was the best choice.
"Yes, sir!" Paslow seemed somewhat excited instead.
Then Paslow turned, his golden eyes locking onto Linley, and he grinned broadly, saying cheerfully, "Haha, since you managed to block my strike, you're worthy of knowing my name. I'm Paslow. Don't die without knowing who killed you!"
Linley stood coldly in midair.
His body suddenly blurred, and his wind-type divine clone flew out, landing beside Delia, Bebe, Olivia, and the others. Delia and the others were full of worry, and Bebe transmitted via divine sense, "Boss, are you going to use the Sovereign's power?"
"Yeah. My wind-type divine clone also carries a drop of Sovereign's power. I'll use it immediately if danger arises." Linley transmitted back.
Two drops of Sovereign's power—one was in the Coiling Dragon Ring of his main body, and the other had been moved to the spatial ring of his wind-type divine clone. If the situation changed drastically, Linley would use the Sovereign's power immediately!
"Haha, before I've even killed you, you're already scared into splitting off your divine clone?" Paslow laughed loudly.
His laughter echoed like thunder over Luoluo Island.
"Enough nonsense!" A cold voice came from Linley's mouth. Paslow paused briefly, then his expression turned serious. With a flip of his hand, a pitch-black long blade, two meters in length, appeared.
Instantly—
The tens of thousands of surrounding upper-tier gods and the countless gods below, looking up, fell silent. Everyone eagerly awaited this earth-shattering battle.
"I didn't expect to encounter such a battle on Luoluo Island." A black-haired man carrying a war blade appeared in the crowd, looking up at the fight. He was none other than the recently famous Luomu & Piersen on Luoluo Island!
Luomu squinted his eyes, watching the two about to fight like a venomous snake.
The battle, watched by countless eyes, began!
"Rumble—" The frenzied red-robed burly man 'Paslow,' wielding his long blade, instantly accelerated to his peak speed. Because of the excessive speed, the very air trembled and roared. In an instant, Paslow reached a high altitude.
Then Paslow's figure froze!
Silently, Paslow, holding his long blade, dove from high altitude, slashing fiercely at Linley. But strangely—this strike made no sound at all, and there was no spatial vibration.
It seemed like a very ordinary strike.
"Hmm?" Luomu, watching from below, his eyes lit up. "To have cultivated the Way of Destruction to such a level, Luoluo Island truly hides dragons and crouching tigers!" But Luomu noticed that Linley remained standing still, completely unconcerned.
Luomu felt a chill in his heart.
Even he wouldn't dare to be so casual in the face of such a powerful strike.
"Impressive." A voice of admiration came from Linley's mouth. But then—
Paslow traced a perfect arc, and when he was about two hundred meters from Linley, his figure involuntarily swayed strangely, and he even retreated several meters, disrupting the momentum of his strike.
"What kind of power is this?" Paslow was startled. He had clearly felt a tremendous repulsive force acting on his body. Even with his strength, caught off guard, he couldn't help but retreat.
Even Bokway and the others watching from afar were greatly shocked.
"Father, that person's gravity space is very strange. It can not only pull downward but also suck inward and repel outward." Sekra immediately explained to his father via divine sense transmission. Bokway looked at Linley in surprise: "Gravity space, reaching such a high level?"
He couldn't believe it!
"Haha…" Paslow let out a low, rumbling laugh, like an endless surging river. His golden pupils, gleaming with sharp light, locked onto Linley. "I underestimated you."
Paslow gripped his blade with both hands, resisting the repulsive force, and charged at Linley.
Linley stood still.
"Die." Paslow's hands slashed downward. Where the blade passed, the space split like silk cut by a sharp knife, revealing a large gap. The massive long blade came straight at Linley's head.
Before the blade even arrived, the spatial shockwaves it caused had already reached Linley.
"Now!" Linley's eyes suddenly burst open!
The repulsive force instantly turned into a downward gravitational pull!
Paslow felt as if an immense mountain weighing billions of pounds had suddenly pressed down on him. Caught off guard by this sudden gravitational force, his movements naturally distorted. In a battle between experts, such an abrupt change had a huge impact.
Caught off guard, Paslow sank heavily. Originally, he was slashing at Linley, but now he was below Linley—how could he slash at him?
"Hmph!" A cold snort.
A flash of cyan-gold light appeared as Linley's right leg came down like a guillotine toward Paslow's head. The immense power of his dragonized body caused the space to violently tremble with this leg strike.
Paslow was also an expert. He immediately changed his downward slash to an upward thrust. Where the blade passed, space split apart like waves.
"Bang!"
Linley's right leg slammed heavily onto the blade. The strange force penetrated through the blade and entered Paslow's body. Paslow's whole body twitched slightly. Almost simultaneously, Linley's dragon tail also struck Paslow's body fiercely.
Paslow was already under the downward gravitational pull of the gravity space. Now, after being struck by Linley's leg and then slammed downward by the dragon tail—
"Bang!" The ground shook, and Paslow was directly smashed into the earth, leaving a large deep crater on the surface.
The tens of thousands of island-guarding warriors and the countless people on Luoluo Island who were looking up were all stunned.
He dared to use his leg to block Paslow's blade? And he even smashed Paslow into the ground!
"How hard is his leg?"
Countless people wondered.
"Swoosh!" Paslow flew out of the ground at top speed, disbelief still on his face. At that moment, a voice sounded in his mind: "Paslow, what's going on?"
"Sir, his strength is too great. I've never encountered anyone with such immense power!" Paslow transmitted.
The power was truly terrifying!
When Linley's leg had struck Paslow's blade, Paslow felt as if thousands of mountains were continuously slamming into him. The sheer force was unprecedented!
"Sir, did my strike injure him?" Paslow asked. He hadn't noticed when he was smashed into the ground.
"It only shattered the dragon scales on his leg, not causing him much injury." Bokway said.
"My strike contained a soul attack. Didn't he feel it?" Paslow quickly asked. Although he specialized in material attacks, his soul attack wasn't weak. Without a soul defense artifact, it would be hard to withstand.
"His soul defense might be good. I didn't notice any change in him." Bokway was troubled.
This mysterious expert from the Four Divine Beasts family seemed far too strong.
"Close call. Thank goodness the soul defense Sovereign artifact negated ninety percent of the attack." Linley also felt a lingering fear. The material attack in that strike was powerful, but it only shattered his dragon scales and injured his flesh.
But the soul attack contained within was like a thunderbolt crashing into a transparent membrane.
It collided with the soul defense Sovereign artifact and naturally dissipated. One collision dispersed sixty to seventy percent of the energy. Then the scattered energy spread across the entire transparent membrane, found the gap, and broke through the 'patch' there, consuming most of the remaining energy.
The tiny bit left, Linley managed to resist with his own soul power.
"This person specializes in material attacks. If I encounter someone who specializes in soul attacks…" Linley had already gripped a drop of Sovereign's power in his hand, ready to use it at any moment.
Bokway and the three red-robed elders hesitated. This Linley truly baffled them. Even the Seven Star Demon 'Paslow' seemed to be at a disadvantage. They didn't know that if they found a Six Star Demon skilled in soul attacks, it would be enough to deal with Linley.
Unfortunately, they didn't know Linley's true situation.
After all, up to now, they believed Linley was concealing his aura.
"If his soul aura is concealed to this extent, how could his soul attack be weak?" Bokway and the others thought this way, which was why they sent Paslow, who was strongest in material attacks.
"Father." Sekra said softly.
"Get out of the way." Bokway growled.
Bokway was troubled, and Linley was equally troubled. Linley knew his own strength. He only had this powerful body to intimidate the enemy. If a real fight broke out, he would have to use Sovereign's power.
Linley then flew toward Bokway.
"What are you doing!" Bokway immediately transmitted via divine sense, and Bokway and the three red-robed elders immediately went on alert, staring at Linley, as if ready to strike at the slightest provocation.
"Is Lord Linley flying over to fight one against four?"
Countless people on Luoluo Island looked up, eagerly anticipating this. Luomu also watched silently.
Linley continued flying until he was about three hundred meters from Bokway, then stopped. Seeing Linley stop, Bokway and the others relaxed slightly.
"I'm not looking for trouble with you. How would you know… at such a distance, I can't even reach you with divine sense transmission!" Linley was inwardly amused. He was only a mid-tier god. A typical mid-tier god's divine sense range was only about a hundred meters.
Although he had refined a large amount of amethyst and his soul had grown to the limit of a mid-tier god, unable to absorb more, his divine sense only extended to about three to four hundred meters. Upper-tier gods usually reached a thousand meters.
Only by getting closer could he transmit to the other party!
"I am Linley!" Linley transmitted to Bokway.
"Bokway." Bokway responded. "Linley, your friends are all within the encirclement. If I give the order, tens of thousands of upper-tier gods will launch a joint attack, and your friends will all die. With your strength, you should know the true power of my Bagshaw family. If you tear off the mask, even if you are an Asura, our Bagshaw family can still kill you."
The Bagshaw family's strength was not limited to this.
"I understand. I've only shown part of my strength." Linley transmitted back. At the same time, Linley extended his right hand, and a drop of cyan liquid appeared in his palm!
This cyan liquid exuded a soul-shaking power.
Bokway and the three red-robed elders' expressions changed drastically: "Water-type Sovereign's power!"
"I don't want to tear off the mask. You should know that with my strength, if I use this drop of Sovereign's power… the consequences!" Linley transmitted.
The muscles on Bokway's face twitched slightly, and then he sneered!
With a flip of his hand, Bokway also produced a drop of black liquid. Linley could sense the terrifying energy contained in this black liquid, on the same level as his cyan liquid, but it exuded an aura of destruction.
"Destruction-type Sovereign's power?" Linley was also startled.
"Your Four Divine Beasts family has Sovereign's power. Does my Bagshaw family not have any?" Bokway transmitted. "You have a drop of water-type Sovereign's power, so your status in the Four Divine Beasts family must be quite high."
Bokway, as the family patriarch, naturally carried a drop of Sovereign's power.
For an ancient family like the Bagshaw family, ranked in the top ten in the Infernal Realm, their hidden strength was extremely formidable.
"You killed so many of my people. Although they were small fry, it still tarnished the face of my Bagshaw family. I'll give you two paths! The first path: we tear off the mask and fight to the death. My Bagshaw family might lose some experts, but we will still kill you. Your Four Divine Beasts family probably wouldn't dare to come to Luoluo Island to retaliate!" Bokway was full of confidence.
Linley's expression remained unchanged as he continued listening.
"The second path: my Bagshaw family can give you face and let the deaths of those small fry slide. But you must serve as a red-robed elder in my Bagshaw family, working for us for ten thousand years without pay, as an apology. Then this matter will be settled."
"Which path do you choose?" Bokway stared at Linley.