Chapter 32: Trying to Steal a Chicken but Losing the Rice
"Good." Linley was overjoyed inside. "Although this Emanuel and I have some conflicts, after all, he is still of the same clan as me." Emanuel used divine power, greatly increasing his strength.
As for the other side. Both green-browed men were dead. Only Elder Bro remained!
The situation was clear.
Elder Bro suddenly let out a low roar. The vertical eye on his forehead was so red it seemed ready to drip blood. He abruptly swung his arm. The soft, boneless arm shot across the sky, directly grabbing at Linley. Wherever the arm swept past, space itself trembled.
"Swish!" An eerie purple light flashed.
Where the purple sword light passed, space split open, revealing cracks. The soft purple blood sword slashed directly onto the arm covered in black scales.
"Sizzle sizzle~" A harsh sound came from the elongated arm. The black scales split open, and the soft purple blood sword sank into the muscle but could not penetrate any further. The muscle was incredibly tough.
"Ha!"
Linley suddenly punched with his right fist toward the swinging long arm. With a 'puff' sound, the arm actually twisted and grabbed toward Linley's elbow.
Linley had no time to dodge and was directly caught by Elder Bro's right arm.
Elder Bro's fingernails gleamed black, sharp as daggers. Elder Bro's left hand suddenly exerted force. The sharp nails were about to pierce Linley's right arm. Linley let out a low roar, and the muscles of his right arm suddenly bulged.
"Ah!" Linley suddenly kicked out, striking hard at the long arm.
"Puff!" The tip of his foot hit the arm's muscle but felt like kicking cotton.
Elder Bro's long arm vibrated slightly, actually deflecting Linley's attack. "Whoosh!" Elder Bro used the momentum to leap forward rapidly, the dozens-of-meters-tall giant pouncing toward Linley.
A fishy smell also wafted toward Linley.
"This Elder Bro. Not only is his body defense strong, but he's also as soft and boneless as a snake. How strange." Linley found it troublesome. The Nether Serpent clan, which could hold its own against the Azure Dragon clan, indeed had its unique traits.
"Emanuel. Come quickly. Join me and kill him." Linley sent a divine sense transmission.
Having used a drop of divine power, Emanuel was now very strong.
But Linley was astonished to find that Emanuel pretended not to hear and instead chased after the fleeing enemy Six Star Demons.
"Join you?" Emanuel sneered inwardly. "Dream on. Let Bro kill you first, then I'll take the Azure Dragon ring. Although you still have avatars, I can't blood-bond the Azure Dragon ring right away, but... your remaining avatars are so weak. How can they compete with me?"
Linley could only keep the Coiling Dragon ring because of his strength.
In Emanuel's view, once the strongest body was destroyed, how could Linley keep the Azure Dragon ring?
"Bastard!" Linley cursed inwardly. One curse was for Emanuel, and the other was for this Elder Bro in front of him. In pure physical combat, this Elder Bro was sometimes rigid, sometimes flexible, and Linley was completely at a disadvantage.
"Bang!"
The two separated again.
"This Linley is really troublesome." Elder Bro also found it a headache.
In pure physical combat, he was stronger than Linley, but... in the Blackstone Space, he was already at a disadvantage. Plus, Linley kept changing the direction of gravity—sometimes upward, sometimes downward, sometimes toward Linley, sometimes repelling.
The bizarre changes in gravity also gave Elder Bro a headache, and he couldn't gain the upper hand at all.
"Emanuel. Come over. Let's kill him together!" Linley said loudly.
"Emanuel?" Elder Bro was shocked.
"Huh?" Emanuel couldn't help but turn around.
The divine sense transmission earlier, he could pretend not to hear, but now Linley shouted it out loud. Even the surviving Six Star Demons of the clan and the intelligence personnel watching from afar probably heard it.
If he didn't act, and Linley died, once the intelligence personnel reported back, he would be in trouble too!
"This Bro is really an idiot." Emanuel cursed inwardly.
Shouting out loud takes time. In the midst of intense battle, Linley had no chance to shout. If Bro could gain the advantage and suppress Linley until he killed him, Emanuel's plan would succeed.
But now Linley and Bro were evenly matched, so Linley naturally had the chance to shout.
"Fine. Linley. Let's kill him together." Emanuel deliberately said loudly.
These words finally forced Bro to take the last step—using divine power!
"Want to kill me? Haha..." An aged laugh echoed through the sky. Elder Bro's body returned to its original size, and at the same time, his entire body was shrouded in a faint black light, emitting a terrifying aura, almost identical to Emanuel's.
"He has divine power too?" Linley was shocked. "The Patriarch said that the advantage of our Four Divine Beasts clan is having more divine power. I didn't expect this Bro also has divine power. This is bad."
The ancestors of the Four Divine Beasts clan were Sovereigns, so they could afford to give each Elder almost a drop of divine power.
But the ancestors of the Eight Great Clans weren't that powerful. Divine power was very rare. Only the most elite Elders would have a drop of divine power. This Bro had one!
"Emanuel, come quickly!" Linley sent a divine sense transmission urgently. Emanuel was actually standing in midair, not rushing to attack. Linley instantly understood: "This Emanuel is playing that kind of game!"
Emanuel sneered inwardly: "Using divine power? Good. Go kill Linley first."
"Linley!"
With a low roar, Elder Bro suddenly charged at Linley.
Linley's face changed. "Buzz~" The gravity direction in the Blackstone Space suddenly shifted, becoming repulsive! A powerful repulsive force pushed Elder Bro outward.
However, divine power was too strong.
Even trapped in the 'Blackstone Space,' Elder Bro could still forcibly resist the repulsive force and move at great speed, frantically chasing Linley. Linley turned around and madly rushed toward Emanuel.
"If you won't come, I'll go!" Linley thought.
In an instant, Linley charged over.
"Hmph. I'll kill you first then." Elder Bro, seeing Emanuel nearby and sensing the divine power aura emanating from Emanuel's body, turned and attacked Emanuel instead.
After all...
Emanuel was the greatest threat to him!
Linley, however, couldn't be bothered with Emanuel: "This Bro is too strong. Even trapped in the Blackstone Space, he's on par with me. And in terms of soul... he only mistakenly thought my soul defense was strong because of his innate divine ability. If he uses a soul attack, I'm definitely no match."
The misunderstanding made Elder Bro refrain from using soul attacks.
But Linley also realized that even if he used divine power, he probably still couldn't defeat the opponent. After all, under normal circumstances, he was weaker. If both used divine power, the strength comparison wouldn't change.
"Flee!"
Linley directly flew north.
"Boom!" A terrifying explosion came from behind. The battle between two experts using divine power was incredibly fierce and dreadful.
"Whoosh!"
Linley flew at top speed, also feeling the violent tremors from the explosions behind.
"This commotion is too big." Linley was alarmed.
If using divine power could defeat the opponent, Linley would definitely use it. Knowing he was no match, it was better to flee quickly.
"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!"
Two figures, one after the other, suddenly flew past above him. At the same time, a voice entered Linley's mind: "Linley. Hurry up and use divine power. Let's join forces and kill him!"
Linley looked up.
Above, a cyan light cluster was fleeing, and a black light cluster was chasing.
"Linley!" The cyan light cluster suddenly turned and flew back toward Linley.
Linley was now in the same situation as Emanuel. He didn't want to help Emanuel, but Emanuel was running toward him... forcing him to get involved.
"Linley, if you still don't act, once my water-type divine clone dies, I will definitely tell the Grand Elder. Definitely!!!" Emanuel urgently sent a divine sense transmission to Linley.
A drop of divine power contained an astonishing amount of energy.
After all, it was liquefied divine power.
Under normal combat conditions, it could last for a while, but Emanuel had used his divine power first, and it had been some time. Once the divine power ran out... he would surely die.
"Hurry up, Linley!" Emanuel urged.
"Bang!"
The cyan light cluster and the black light cluster clashed violently again. The cyan light cluster plummeted and crashed into the ground. Emanuel was clearly at a disadvantage.
"Hey, fighting so fiercely?" A cheerful voice rang through the sky, reaching the ears of the three. Involuntarily, Emanuel, Elder Bro, and even Linley turned to look at the source of the sound—
A burly man, a full three meters tall, wearing fiery red armor, with long, flowing crimson hair. His tiger-like eyes looked around, his face full of smiles.
"Oh. Linley!" The burly man smiled at Linley. "Long time no see. I heard you've become an Elder of the Four Divine Beasts clan? Tsk tsk. It's been less than a thousand years since we parted, and you're already this powerful."
Linley stared at the man before him, stunned for a long time, before saying, "Pusro!"
"Haha. You still remember me." Pusro laughed heartily.
This man was none other than the volcano giant, the super expert 'Pusro' who, bound by a master-servant contract, had to turn into a little cat and endure billions of years of grievance. Even Seven Star experts could only choose to flee in front of Pusro.
"Whoosh!" The cyan light cluster shot to Linley's side. Linley turned to look at 'Emanuel.' He saw that the faint cyan light on Emanuel's body was growing weaker and weaker until it completely dissipated.
"My divine power is exhausted." Emanuel stared at him. "Now, it's up to you."
Elder Bro, shrouded in a faint black light, hovered not far away: "Divine power exhausted? Haha, both of you, die!" He transformed into a black light and charged directly at Linley.
"Bang!"
A flash of fire struck the black light, sending it flying backward.
Pusro stretched out his hand and retrieved the fiery red large awl. Elder Bro stood in midair, shocked, looking at Pusro: "You, you..." It was Pusro who had sent him flying with one strike of the awl.
He, Bro, even when using divine power, not even an Asura could knock him away so easily.
"Hey. What's going on?" Pusro frowned at him.
"Who are you?" Elder Bro snorted.
"Who cares who I am? This Linley is my friend. You want to kill him..." Pusro grinned. "I haven't really killed any super experts with this weapon yet." The fiery red awl in Pusro's hand was two meters long.
One end was sharp, the base thick, like a giant ox horn.
Linley watched the scene in disbelief.
Pusro was strong, but... Bro was using divine power! At this moment, even an Asura probably couldn't repel him so easily.
"Linley. He, who is he?" Emanuel was also dumbfounded.
"An old friend of mine." Linley could only answer that way. At the same time, Linley was also puzzled. Pusro's weapon used to be a giant axe. How had it become this fiery red awl? This awl...
Seemed extraordinary!
"Then you're asking for death!" Elder Bro roared angrily. A black long whip appeared in his hand, covered in divine power, and he lashed it directly at Pusro. Where the whip passed, space shattered.
Pusro, however, grabbed the large awl and swung it directly—
Like throwing a dagger, the fiery red large awl turned into a flash of fire and shot out. With a 'puff' sound, the black long whip was actually melted and severed. At the same time, a large hole appeared in Elder Bro's chest.
The fiery red large awl flew back into Pusro's hand.
"Get lost. This time I only wounded you. Next time, I'll kill you." Pusro said, holding the fiery red large awl.
"That, that is..."
Elder Bro stared at the red awl in disbelief. "A Sovereign artifact?"
"Hehe. Not bad. You have good eyes." Pusro grinned smugly.
Divine power was abundant for Sovereigns, but a Sovereign artifact... was something a Sovereign painstakingly crafted, using their essence and blood, and constantly nurturing with divine power. The power of a Sovereign artifact far exceeded that of divine power!
Especially an offensive Sovereign artifact. Killing an upper-tier god was practically a massacre.