Chapter 38: The Strongest Attack
"Haha..." Elder Gavi couldn't help but laugh, pointing at Linley as he said, "Elder Linley, I never expected you to know how to cook. I'll have to taste what you've made." Elder Gavi said as he walked over.
Let Elder Gavi taste it?
If he ate it and found it terrible, word would spread throughout the entire clan.
"Elder Gavi." Linley quickly stood up, blocking Elder Gavi's path, and said with a smile, "Elder Gavi, this is my first time cooking, so there's no need for you to taste it, right? By the way, looking at your expression, it seems you have something on your mind."
Linley changed the subject, and sure enough, when he said this, Elder Gavi couldn't help but let out a low sigh and sat down to the side.
"What happened?" Linley asked.
Elder Gavi smiled bitterly. "Elder Linley, in these past two hundred years, you haven't been to the Blood Battle Valley, have you?"
"Right." Ever since the four clan leaders summoned him and told him he didn't need to participate, he indeed hadn't gone to the Blood Battle Valley even once.
"Just two hundred years!" Elder Gavi seemed full of pent-up frustration and pain. "Linley, do you know? In these mere two hundred years, our Azure Dragon clan has lost five elders!"
"Five?" Linley was shocked by this number.
The Azure Dragon clan usually lost two or three elders in a thousand years. Losing five in two hundred years was far too exaggerated.
"If we include Emanuel, Solhaus, and the others... our Azure Dragon clan now has only a little over twenty elders with the strength of Seven Star Fiends!" As Elder Gavi spoke, his eyes grew moist. "My teacher... in yesterday's mission, he also lost his strongest divine clone and no longer has Seven Star Fiend strength."
Linley fell silent.
Dylia and Bebe also didn't dare to interrupt at this moment.
"It's only been over ten thousand years. More than ten thousand years ago, the clan had over sixty elders. In just over ten thousand years, we've lost more than half!" Elder Gavi sighed deeply. "At this rate, the Blood Battle Valley won't have enough elders. This time, they'll probably call us in early."
Normally, Blood Battle Valley elders rotated every thousand years.
However...
The rate of loss was too fast. If it continued, the Blood Battle Valley would run out of elders. Those idle elders like Gavi would have to be sent in.
"What's going on? Why are there so many casualties?" Linley couldn't believe it. "Defeating a Seven Star Fiend is easy, but killing one is very difficult."
"The eight great clans have gone mad!"
Elder Gavi snorted angrily. "In these two hundred years, they've completely lost their minds. Every battle, they send out three or four Seven Star Fiends. And among them, there's always one carrying the power of a Sovereign! Every battle, our clan's elders barely escape with their lives."
Linley's expression changed involuntarily.
"The eight great clans... why is this happening?" Linley felt a trace of doubt.
Why hadn't the eight great clans gone mad before? After that battle I witnessed, they started acting crazy.
"Could it be related to me and Pussro? Or is it a decision by the eight great clans themselves?" Linley couldn't help but think this way.
"Alright, Linley. I won't disturb you anymore. You should cultivate well here... Originally, I thought our battle with the eight great clans would drag on like this, but now it seems the final decisive battle is coming soon!"
After saying this, Elder Gavi stood up, shot into the sky, and flew away.
"Decisive battle?" Linley murmured to himself.
"Boss, what decisive battle?" Bebe's eyes lit up.
"Don't ask. You're not qualified to get involved yet. Wait until you cultivate to the level of a Highgod," Linley said with a smile. Once Bebe reached Highgod, with his innate divine ability, God Devouring, he would be an utterly monstrous existence.
"Ugh..." Bebe pouted. "I've only comprehended five profound mysteries now. I can't even get started on the sixth. Grandpa Beirut is something else—why didn't he give me a soul fragment for the sixth profound mystery back then? That would have saved me so much trouble."
Linley and Dylia both laughed.
Bebe had now comprehended five profound mysteries. The first one he naturally understood upon reaching adulthood. The other four came from four soul fragments containing profound mysteries of the laws that had reached a bottleneck.
Having taken shortcuts so smoothly, Bebe found it hard to comprehend things on his own.
"Bebe, if you can't comprehend it, you could try fusing other profound mysteries," Dylia said with a smile. "Once you succeed in fusing them, your strength will greatly improve."
"That's not a bad idea. Even though it's difficult, I might just succeed," Bebe said, his interest piqued. He immediately darted toward his own residence. Linley and Dylia both laughed.
"I bet Bebe will last at most a year," Linley said with a chuckle.
"A year? Maybe he'll last a year and a half," Dylia added.
"I'll definitely last two years!" Bebe's voice came down from above. Linley and Dylia exchanged glances and laughed. Then Linley said seriously, "Dylia, hearing what Gavi said just now puts some pressure on me. I plan to start cultivating my main body as well, starting today."
"Mm." Dylia's eyes also held concern. "I'm a bit worried too. The situation is getting worse. You should cultivate well—I won't disturb you."
Linley nodded with a smile.
The eight great clans continued their frenzy. Elders from the eight great clans and the Four Divine Beasts clan fell one after another, and Six Star Fiends died in succession—it was a brutal scene. Meanwhile, Linley's four divine clones and his main body all focused on quiet cultivation.
In cultivation, time flowed like water...
Ever since obtaining the Blackstone, Linley had made his Earth divine clone his primary divine clone, focusing all his efforts on cultivating the Laws of the Earth.
The deeper the fusion of profound mysteries, the harder it became. In the Laws of the Earth, Linley had fused three and was now attempting to fuse four. However, the profound mystery of Earth Travel couldn't mesh with those three at all. He also tried to fuse the not-yet-mastered profound mystery of Strength with those three. From a distance, he could clearly see many clan members.
"Finally, a breakthrough." Linley's face was full of smiles.
"Seeing you so happy," Dylia said with a smile.
The biggest breakthrough in this cultivation session was that the profound mystery of Strength began to align with the profound mystery of Earth Pulse, starting to fuse. However, to fuse Strength with the other three, it had to fuse with all three.
"Of course I'm happy, Dylia. The profound mystery of Strength allows me to better utilize my power," Linley said quickly. "And Earth Pulse is also good for material attacks. Once they fuse... I'll be able to better leverage the power of my Dragonformed body."
His greatest advantage was his body!
The power of his Dragonformed body—a single punch could match a powerful sword strike from a Six Star Fiend. And that was just an ordinary punch. Once infused with the profound mystery of Strength, its power would greatly increase.
If he also fused it with Earth Pulse, the power would increase even further!
"Different profound mysteries suit different attack techniques. So, generally, after fusing profound mysteries, one creates techniques that unleash the strongest power."
Linley sighed in admiration. "For example, among Seven Star Fiends who have fused four profound mysteries, some excel at escape, some at soul attacks, and some at material attacks. That's because of the different profound mysteries they've fused!"
Dylia nodded.
Previously, Linley had fused three profound mysteries: Earth Pulse, Earth Element, and Gravity Space. With the Blackstone, the most powerful technique from these three was the Blackstone Prison.
As for material attacks?
The most suitable profound mysteries in the Laws of the Earth for material attacks were Strength and Earth Pulse.
What was suitable was good.
"Once these two profound mysteries are fused, the attack power of my Dragonformed body will reach a new level," Linley said confidently. His Dragonformed body was already strong, providing a solid foundation. Once he fused these two profound mysteries...
The power would be terrifying to imagine.
Linley's Blackstone Prison could trap enemies, but his attacks were too weak. The divine energy in his body was only at the Highgod level, so he had to rely on his Dragonformed body... But while this power was strong, it couldn't achieve a one-hit kill.
"Once these two profound mysteries are fused, I can trap an enemy with the Blackstone Prison and then land a punch—they'll either die or be severely injured." Linley was full of confidence.
Dylia smiled as she watched Linley speak with such enthusiasm.
"Boss!" Suddenly, a voice rang out.
Linley and Dylia both turned to look. Bebe flew over with a grin. "Boss, I'm going out for a bit."
"Going out? To Mill City?" Linley asked with a smile.
"Yeah. I haven't seen Tarosa, Dein, and the others in a while. I'll go check on them," Bebe muttered. "I heard Olivia is leaving Mill City to travel and explore. I don't know if he's still there."
"Alright, go ahead. Be careful on the road," Linley said with a smile.
"Hehe, don't worry," Bebe said with a grin, waving his hand before shooting into the sky.
Linley suddenly remembered that since returning to the Grand Canyon, Dylia hadn't gone out even once. He turned to her and said, "Dylia, do you want to go out? How about we go to Mill City together soon?"
"No rush," Dylia shook her head. "Linley, focus on your cultivation. Once you've mastered the fusion of the profound mysteries of Strength and Earth Pulse, we can go out then."
"Thank you," Linley said gratefully.
Dylia just smiled.
Linley ignored the chaos outside and focused on his cultivation. Occasionally, his main body would stop to spend time with Dylia. The fusion of Strength and Earth Pulse progressed steadily...
In cultivation, time felt almost imperceptible.
In the blink of an eye, five hundred years had passed since Linley withdrew from the Blood Battle Valley.
In the Grand Canyon, in front of Linley's residence.
Dylia sat alone in front of the house, reading a book. Suddenly—
"Haha..." A burst of laughter came from inside the house.
Dylia was startled, then turned around in joy. Linley strode out, his long hair flowing freely, and looked at Dylia with a smile. "Dylia, I've finally broken through. Five hundred years—I've finally done it."
"Broken through what?" Dylia quickly stood up.
"The profound mystery of Strength is finally mastered, and it's fully fused with Earth Pulse," Linley said happily.
From now on, of the six profound mysteries of the Laws of the Earth, five were mastered, leaving only the last one: the Power of Life.
"But fusion is really difficult. Strength only fused with Earth Pulse. It has no compatibility with Gravity Space or Earth Element," Linley sighed.
He had hoped to fuse with those two as well, allowing him to work toward fusing four profound mysteries.
Now it seemed the path of fusion was indeed long.
"That's still good," Dylia encouraged with a smile. "Didn't you say that once Strength and Earth Pulse fused, you'd have your strongest material attack?"
"Of course." Linley smiled at the thought. "Strength and Earth Pulse are the most suitable for material attacks. But now that they're fused, I still need to carefully study and create attack techniques that best utilize these two profound mysteries," Linley said. "That won't take long—at most ten days to half a month, or at most a year or two."
Linley was looking forward to it.
Once he created these techniques, combined with the Blackstone Prison, even if he faced someone like Bro, he wouldn't punch them and leave them unscathed. Even if he couldn't kill them, he could severely injure them.