Chapter 63: The Turning Point
At the edge of the Heaven Sacrifice Mountain Range, the clan leaders and elders of the Four Divine Beasts Clan had gathered together, discussing in secret. The move by the Eight Great Clans wasn’t particularly clever, but it was insidious enough—vicious, venomous, and hateful!
Back when the Four Divine Beasts Clan chose to retreat, they had already gritted their teeth and made that painful decision.
But now, the Eight Great Clans were openly mocking and ridiculing them. This was nothing short of pouring oil on the fire. It enraged, infuriated, and embittered the Four Divine Beasts Clan even more than direct combat would have. The four clan leaders and the elders were all discussing how to respond, while Linley’s mind was occupied with other matters: “What exactly is it that makes the Eight Great Clans so desperate to kill me? To the point where even those two clan leaders would throw away their dignity and join forces to kill me?”
Linley was filled with confusion and doubt.
At the same time, Linley looked toward the opposite side, but suddenly furrowed his brows in puzzlement: “Hey, what are they doing?” On the side of the Eight Great Clans, several warriors were working together to transport a small mountain from afar. It was nearly a thousand meters long and wide, and about a hundred meters high. The weight of divine realm mountain rock was astonishing, and given the mountain’s size, the weight was entirely imaginable.
“What are they moving a mountain for?” Bebe also looked over, puzzled.
Gaisreisen and the other three clan leaders, along with the elders, all turned to look as well, equally confused.
With a collective heave from the warriors, the massive small mountain was hurled into the air, finally crashing down from midair. With a thunderous “Boom!” it landed heavily in the open area between the Heaven Sacrifice Mountain Range and the Eight Great Clans.
A stern-faced man with long cyan eyebrows flew toward the mountain.
“It’s him?” Linley wouldn’t forget this man—he had just attacked Linley with a Sovereign artifact earlier.
The stern-faced man with long cyan eyebrows flipped his hand, and instantly a torrent of cyan-green wind blades swirled out. Countless wind blades sliced across the mountain, grinding large amounts of stone into fine powder. A fierce wind howled, and stone dust flew everywhere. In just a moment, the small mountain had completely changed shape.
It was now eight hundred meters long and wide, and fifty meters high.
A massive battle platform!
“Swoosh!” A gaunt young man with a cold, sinister gaze shot onto the platform in a flash. His eyes swept toward the opposite side, and he declared loudly, “You talk about group battles? Fine. Today, we’ll fight one-on-one, and no one else may interfere. Linley, you killed my big brother. Today, I challenge you, Linley. Do you dare to accept?”
“Linley, do you dare to accept?”
His resounding voice spread across the entire Heaven Sacrifice Mountain Range, echoing through the heavens and earth, producing layer upon layer of reverberations. Even Delia and Cendi, who had been in the grand canyon, heard the call to Linley and, unable to stay calm, flew over as well.
A crowd of people turned to look at Linley, waiting for his response.
“Linley, don’t go fight,” Gaisreisen said in a low voice.
“Linley.” Delia had already flown over. Linley nodded and gave her a smile.
At that moment, the voice turned sarcastic: “Too scared to accept even a one-on-one challenge, huh?” The tone was filled with provocation and disdain. Even so, many on the opposite side kept their eyes fixed on Linley, watching his reaction.
“Bebe, Delia, Cendi, let’s go back,” Linley said with a faint smile, turning around and walking away.
Linley could see clearly that the Eight Great Clans were obviously trying to provoke him into coming out to fight. But after the earlier siege by six experts, Linley had already understood in his heart: the Eight Great Clans were extremely eager to kill him. “Going out to fight now wouldn’t be bravery—it would be stupidity.”
Seeing Linley flying back into the Heaven Sacrifice Mountain Range, the clan leaders and elders of the Eight Great Clans couldn’t help but feel frustrated. “If you hadn’t attacked earlier and failed to kill Linley, I knew he’d become wary. Now getting him to come out is going to be hard!” a deep, rumbling voice said.
“It’s too late to say that now!”
The eight clan leaders were also filled with regret. What a perfect opportunity they had squandered. Now, to kill Linley, he wouldn’t be impulsive enough to give them the chance.
Inside the grand canyon of the Heaven Sacrifice Mountain Range, three full days had passed since the Eight Great Clans had moved in. During these three days, the Eight Great Clans had a dedicated group taking turns insulting and mocking the Four Divine Beasts Clan. Occasionally, they would pause, but for more than half the day, they kept up the insults and ridicule.
It seemed they treated mocking the Four Divine Beasts Clan as a form of entertainment.
Of course, they would also specifically name the elders and clan leaders—like Gaisreisen and the other three clan leaders, as well as Linley—often calling them out by name to mock them. Even knowing it was a trap, Linley still found himself getting furious.
“Linley, don’t go out during this time,” Gaisreisen warned solemnly.
Linley nodded bitterly: “Clan leader, rest assured, I understand. But to be honest…” Linley could clearly hear the constant stream of taunts and ridicule drifting down from above. The Eight Great Clans had moved their forces next to the Heaven Sacrifice Mountain Range for three days now.
“Even the most patient person would be boiling with rage after all this abuse,” Linley said in a low voice.
“These past three days, quite a few clan members couldn’t hold back and went to the battle platform to fight the Eight Great Clans,” Gaisreisen sighed. “Pushed to the brink, those clan members couldn’t restrain themselves, ignoring clan orders to go fight. Surprisingly, the Eight Great Clans kept their word and fought one-on-one. But the result… our people had a slight advantage.” Gaisreisen’s voice carried a note of helplessness.
The clan members fought desperately, but the clan’s experts were no match for the enemy.
In the battles of the Infernal Realm, it all came down to the top-tier experts.
Linley knew this topic was depressing, so he changed the subject: “By the way, clan leader, when you saved me that day and blocked that curved-blade Sovereign artifact, the black gloves in your hand—are they a Sovereign artifact?”
“No.”
Gaisreisen shook his head. “I don’t have an offensive Sovereign artifact. Those black gloves were a gift from Lord Prefect. They’re a divine spark weapon.”
“A divine spark weapon?” Linley’s eyes lit up.
Bebe also had a divine spark weapon. Divine sparks were virtually indestructible, so such weapons were naturally extraordinary.
“Sovereign artifacts are nurtured by Sovereigns and contain incredibly powerful energy within them, making their attacks terrifying. Divine spark weapons, on the other hand, have no inherent energy, but they have one advantage—hardness!” Gaisreisen smiled. “With this divine spark weapon, I dared to block a Sovereign artifact. But that day, that wind-element offensive Sovereign artifact was too powerful. I only dared to deflect it with leverage, not block it head-on. After all, divine spark weapons are still a notch below Sovereign artifacts.”
Linley nodded.
Perhaps in terms of hardness, divine spark weapons were on par with Sovereign artifacts, but Sovereign artifacts were nurtured with vast amounts of Sovereign power, making their attacks far more fearsome.
“When you get the chance, you should ask Lord Prefect for a divine spark weapon. I believe he’ll give you one,” Gaisreisen said with a smile. “Your ‘Blackstone Space’ is powerful, but your attack power is still a bit lacking. With a divine spark weapon, you’d be much stronger.”
Linley felt a stir of interest.
He had already seen the hardness of a divine spark weapon—far tougher than his own dragon scales.
“These people never get tired,” Gaisreisen suddenly frowned, looking up.
“The Four Bug Clan—how come all the people you send are ordinary Highgods? Where are the elders? Are they all hiding like cowards, sending small fry to fight? Hahaha…” The taunts echoed from outside.
Linley frowned as well.
Even if he could suppress his anger, hearing it constantly was irritating. And irritation made it easier to get angry.
“Bear with it for a few more days. The clan is currently carving a massive magic array to form a giant elemental barrier. Once it’s done, it will completely block out the outside noise,” Gaisreisen said helplessly. Being tormented by this noise day and night was a form of torture.
A giant elemental barrier formed over the Heaven Sacrifice Mountain Range, completely isolating the outside noise. No matter what the Eight Great Clans said, the clan members couldn’t hear it. But even though they couldn’t hear it anymore… everyone still felt terrible inside.
This act of plugging their ears also felt like a humiliation!
“This Life Force profound mystery—the final bottleneck is really hard to break through.” Linley sat cross-legged on the grass, constantly trying to push the Life Force profound mystery to its peak, hoping to reach the Highgod level.
During this time, the Eight Great Clans had been insulting and mocking them, and later the clan built the massive magic array to block out the sound.
All of this had kept a fire of anger smoldering in Linley’s heart.
“Boss,” Bebe’s voice suddenly rang out. “Grandpa is here.”
Linley opened his eyes and saw Beirut, Bebe, and Phusro flying down together from midair. Beirut had a faint smile on his face. Linley quickly stood up and went to greet them.
“Linley, you really can keep your mind calm,” Beirut said cheerfully.
“What else can I do?” Linley replied helplessly.
“There are one-on-one fights going on outside right now. Why don’t you go?” Phusro asked with interest. Linley shook his head helplessly: “Phusro, the Eight Great Clans are absolutely determined to kill me. And besides… my strength is still lacking. I’m no match for their eight clan leaders.”
Phusro laughed: “Let me tell you, if you don’t go now, you might never get the chance to fight later.”
“What do you mean?” Linley asked in disbelief.
Never get the chance to fight later? Linley looked at Phusro and Beirut suspiciously: “Lord Beirut, are you planning to…?”
“This farce needs to end,” Beirut said with a faint smile. “Come on, take me to see your clan leader.”
“Grandpa, the clan leader doesn’t know you’re coming?” Bebe was a bit surprised.
Phusro smiled helplessly: “Your grandpa wanted to see you quickly, so he just flew straight in. The patrol captain recognized me and Beirut and didn’t dare to stop us.” As they were speaking, several gusts of wind sounded.
“Lord Prefect.” Gaisreisen and a few others flew down.
“Lord Prefect, if you had informed me, I would have come to welcome you,” Gaisreisen said with a smile.
Beirut said calmly, “Alright, Gaisreisen, quickly send word and gather the other clan leaders and important members. Today, I’ll help settle the grievances between the Four Divine Beasts Clan and the Eight Great Clans.”
Gaisreisen was stunned. The elders behind him were also frozen in shock.
Over this period, especially since the Eight Great Clans had moved next to the Heaven Sacrifice Mountain Range, the mental oppression had worn Gaisreisen and his group down to exhaustion. They had no idea when it would end.
Sometimes, they too wanted to go crazy like the ordinary clan members and fight to their hearts’ content!
But they were the clan leaders and elders—they had to think of the clan’s future!
Bearing this heavy burden, these oppressive days were driving them to the brink of madness.
“Lord Prefect, what… what did you just say?” Gaisreisen stammered.
“Isn’t this what you’ve been hoping I would do?” Beirut said with a faint smile.
A look of ecstasy spread across Gaisreisen’s face. With a loud “Thump!” he fell heavily to his knees, tears glistening in his eyes: “Lord Prefect, I… this great kindness—the Four Divine Beasts Clan will never forget it!” The elders behind him also had tears welling up uncontrollably.
“Hurry, go invite the other three clan leaders. Have the Grand Elder and the others come as well,” Gaisreisen quickly ordered.
“Yes, clan leader!”
The elders were now brimming with energy.
Linley kept his eyes fixed on Beirut. Beirut turned to look at him: “Linley, why are you staring at me like that?”
“I… I can hardly believe it,” Linley said, still feeling as if he were dreaming.
The Eight Great Clans—though no one could match Beirut in strength—still had several Sovereign’s Messengers among them. If Beirut stepped in to resolve this grudge, wasn’t he afraid of stirring up a heap of trouble?
“Clan leader! Something terrible has happened!” A figure shot down at top speed. “The Grand Elder… the Grand Elder has gone to the battle platform and is fighting the Eight Great Clans!”
“What?”
Gaisreisen immediately panicked.
“Come on, let’s go take a look,” Beirut said with a smile.