Chapter 6: Two Thousand Years! The World Has Changed!

Chapter 6: Two Thousand Years! The World Has Changed!

In the backyard of the ancestral home, Linley was somewhat startled as he listened to the sounds coming from the front yard.

"Boss." Bebe grinned and gave Linley a thumbs-up.

Wei Di and Yi Na looked at Linley with adoration. Yi Na even repeated, "'The greatest and most talented sculpture grandmaster, the genius who cultivates both warrior and mage, the founding emperor of the Baruch Empire, the master of the sacred land Dragonblood Castle, and the most legendary Deity-level powerhouse—Uncle Linley Baruch.' So many titles. You're amazing!"

"He missed one: the ultimate warrior, the Dragonblood Warrior!" Bebe chimed in from the side, laughing.

Linley could only smile.

The students visiting the front yard had only toured some areas there before leaving in a group. Clearly, the backyard of the ancestral home was not open to the academy. That made sense... the backyard had been dilapidated back then too. Only the ancestral hall had been continuously repaired and maintained.

But how could the family's ancestral hall be open for ordinary students to visit?

Of course, the true ancestral hall of the Baruch clan had long since been relocated to Dragonblood Castle. The one in the ancestral home contained nothing of significance.

"It seems they also mentioned the sacred land, Dragonblood Castle. Dragonblood Castle has become a sacred land too." Linley sighed.

Dilys smiled and said, "With several Deity-level powerhouses, how could it not be a sacred land?"

"Father," Yi Na said to Bebe from the side, "where were you born?" Bebe laughed and led Yi Na and Nisse off to the side. Meanwhile, Linley walked toward the ancestral hall, with Dilys and Wei Di following. Together, they pushed open the door and stepped inside.

"Creak!" As the door opened, Linley carefully observed the ancestral hall.

Compared to the past, the ancestral hall had hardly changed, clearly well-maintained. Of course, the large number of spirit tablets that had once been placed here had long since been moved to Dragonblood Castle. The shelves were now empty.

Looking at the ancestral hall, Linley's mind drifted back to the scene when his father, Hogg, had first introduced him to the Baruch clan: "'The four ultimate warriors actually represent four ancient clans, and our Baruch clan is the ancient clan that carries the noble bloodline of the Dragonblood Warrior!'"

His father had spoken passionately in the ancestral hall, as if it had happened just yesterday.

And yet...

His father was dead!

"Father, do you know? I've been to the underworld and met Patriarch Baruch, Ryan, Hazer, and many other clan ancestors. They are all doing well, very well!" A pang of sorrow struck Linley's heart. His father had spent his entire life hoping for the clan's revival. His clan had indeed been revived, but... his father would never see it.

Dilys and Wei Di stood quietly nearby, not daring to disturb Linley.

Linley suddenly frowned and turned his head. "Someone's coming?"

"Who are you people!" A shout rang out from not far away.

"Let's go see." Linley, Wei Di, and Dilys all walked outside. When they emerged, they saw a middle-aged man in a gray magic robe staring at Bebe, Nisse, and Yi Na. When Linley and the others came out, the man was even more shocked. "There are six of them?"

This middle-aged man was the academy's principal, a Saint-level powerhouse named Hamlin.

Principal Hamlin had reached the peak of the Saint level. While passing by outside the grounds, he had sensed outsiders inside the ancestral home. The ancestral home was usually off-limits to others, so Hamlin had naturally come in to stop them. In truth, Hamlin had only sensed Yi Na's presence; he hadn't detected the other five.

He had thought there was only one person. Who would have guessed there were six?

Clearly, the other five were all stronger than him!

"Who are you?" Linley looked at him.

Hamlin said sternly, "This is the core restricted area of my Linley Academy. How did you get in? I am Hamlin, the principal of this academy."

"Hey, what academy did you say?" Bebe quickly asked.

Linley was also startled. The man named Hamlin seemed to be talking about Linley Academy.

Hamlin looked at the six of them with confusion. "What? Don't you even know about Linley Academy, one of the three great academies on the continent? Haven't you seen the statue of Grandmaster Linley inside the academy gates?" This was common knowledge. Their expressions made Hamlin suspicious.

"Linley Academy?" Wei Di's eyes widened. He then turned to look at Linley. "Father, did you hear that? Linley Academy!"

Linley was speechless.

Although Hamlin had seen the statue carved in Linley's likeness, first, the statue hadn't reached grandmaster level, and second, Linley's aura had changed greatly compared to when he was at the Saint level. Hamlin had no way of connecting the person before him to the legendary figure of the continent, Linley.

"We're just here to take a look," Linley said with a faint smile. "Alright, let's go."

Linley's earth divine power spread out, enveloping Yi Na, Wei Di, and the others. With a flash of earthy yellow light, Linley and the six of them vanished into the sky.

"That speed..."

Hamlin was dumbfounded. "It's much faster than my teacher! And Teacher Reno is a Deity-level powerhouse. Who are these people?"

The Baruch Empire had been founded for nearly two thousand years. The empire's sacred land was Dragonblood Castle. Most retired emperors would go to live there. Dragonblood Castle housed many Deity-level powerhouses and was guarded by numerous Saint-level magical beasts.

No one dared to cause trouble at Dragonblood Castle.

Dragonblood Castle had long been expanded, now several times larger than before. The Black Jade Garden within Dragonblood Castle was Wharton's residence. At that moment, on the grass of the Black Jade Garden, two young-looking men were sitting cross-legged, facing each other, drinking and chatting.

"Taylor, what's the matter? Don't want to find another woman?"

"Uncle Wharton, I'm tired." The burly young man with thick eyebrows was Taylor. Though nearly two thousand years had passed, Taylor looked almost the same as he had back then. He sighed softly, "Uncle Wharton, we have eternal life, but what about our wives? Watching your wife grow old and die, right before your eyes... that pain is too much."

Over the past two thousand years, Taylor had had two wives.

Both had died of old age, and Taylor was deeply pained.

"Sigh." Wharton also sighed softly. "I remember when big brother went to great lengths to help me marry Nina, even fighting Olivieri on the dueling platform. Hundreds of years passed, and Nina couldn't withstand time... It's been nearly two thousand years since big brother went to the underworld. Nina died over a thousand years ago." Wharton smiled bitterly. "Sometimes, having eternal life is painful too."

Only by reaching the Saint level could one attain eternal life.

But reaching the Saint level required talent and opportunity, which was too difficult for most mortals.

"Gates and the others were lucky," Wharton said with a sigh. Among the five Barker brothers, Barker and Gates had married the sisters Rebecca and... The sisters had pure souls and great talent for necromancy magic. After more than a hundred years, they had reached the Saint level.

For both husband and wife to have eternal life was perfect. But if one had eternity while the other slowly aged and died, it was truly painful.

"Uncle Wharton, maybe we should go to the underworld sometime," Taylor said.

"To the underworld?"

Wharton nodded slightly. "On this Yulan continent, though we have a great grudge against the O'Brien Empire, there's nothing we can do. There aren't many ties holding us back... After a while, let's go to the underworld. I haven't seen big brother in a long time. I really want to see him."

"I want to see father too," Taylor said softly.

"Wharton! Taylor!" A voice suddenly rang out in Wharton and Taylor's minds.

Wharton and Taylor trembled as if electrocuted, exchanging looks of disbelief. At the same time, they sensed a powerful aura emanating from the training ground in the front yard of Dragonblood Castle. Though strong, it felt familiar. It was Linley's aura!

"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!"

Wharton and Taylor both transformed into streaks of lightning, flying at top speed.

On the training ground of Dragonblood Castle.

Linley and his six companions stood there. Linley was actively releasing his aura while using divine sense to call out to familiar people. But as he scanned with his divine sense, he also discovered that many people he once knew were no longer there. Grandpa Hiri, Uncle Hillman, Wharton's wife Nina, Jenny...

"All dead?" Linley thought to himself.

Not being at Dragonblood Castle didn't necessarily mean they were dead, but Linley understood that for ordinary humans, if they hadn't reached the Saint level, living three to four hundred years was already good. Five hundred was the limit. Only by reaching the Saint level could one attain a long, eternal life.

Figures flew rapidly from all over Dragonblood Castle.

"Father!" A deep voice rang out. Linley's eyes lit up. It was Taylor.

"Big brother!" That was Wharton.

"Lord Linley." The extremely burly figure was Barker.

A large group of people rushed over. In an instant, nearly a hundred people had gathered around the training ground. Among them, Linley recognized only a few; most were strangers. But seeing familiar faces, Linley couldn't help but feel excited. These were his brothers, friends, and family!

"Brother!" Wharton gave Linley a tight hug.

"Wharton." Linley held his own younger brother, feeling a surge of emotion.

"Master!" Linley turned to look. The man in the black robe was Hei Lu, who had taken human form long ago. Hei Lu looked at Linley with excitement. Over the years, as the king of magical beasts, Hei Lu had always felt deep gratitude toward Linley.

After Wharton and Linley separated, Wharton said, barely containing his excitement, "Brother, I really didn't expect you to come back. I was just saying I was planning to go to the underworld to find you. Brother... there are many people here you don't know. Let me introduce you. This is Arno's son..."

Wharton quickly introduced more than a dozen important members.

They all stared at Linley, their eyes full of surprise and admiration, as if looking at a legendary hero.

"Wei Di, come here. Meet your uncle. And this is your brother Taylor..." Linley was overjoyed at that moment.

Just then—

"Third brother!" A voice suddenly came from behind.

Linley turned to look.

The man in the black robe was a lower-level deity. His lively eyes were the same as before, but with a hint of weariness. This was Linley's old and steadfast brother, Fourth Brother Reno.

"Fourth brother." Linley quickly went over and gave Reno a tight hug.

"Third brother." Reno's eyes grew moist.

Nearly two thousand years apart, having thought they would never see each other again, how could he not be emotional?

"Third brother, how many years has it been?" Reno's body trembled slightly with excitement.

"Yeah." Linley nodded repeatedly.

Linley then thought of Yale and George and quickly asked, "By the way, fourth brother, what about big brother and second brother? How are they?" Linley held a glimmer of hope. After all, Yale and George were quite talented. Maybe... maybe they had reached the Saint level.

The chances were low, but Linley still hoped.

"They're both dead." Reno's voice dropped.

Linley was stunned.

"Dead..." Linley let out a sigh.

In truth, Linley had been prepared for this when he returned. Nearly two thousand years had passed. For anyone who hadn't reached the Saint level, the long years alone would have been enough to cause them to die of old age. Reaching the Saint level was extremely difficult. Back then, Dilys had only reached the Saint level and become a deity after receiving that divine spark gift from Beirut.

In fact, a divine spark alone required one to reach the Saint level before it could be refined. Before the Saint level, obtaining a divine spark was useless.

Dilys's accelerated training back then had nothing to do with the divine spark itself but rather with the other substances on the spark's surface!

Because—

That divine spark was not an ordinary one.

Wind-type divine sparks normally emitted a faint cyan glow. But the one Dilys received on their wedding day had no glow at all. It looked very ordinary! In truth, that divine spark was crafted by Beirut using many rare treasures. The core was a divine spark, but the outer layer contained other precious substances that made it easier for Dilys to sense the elements.

That was how she had improved so rapidly.

"But they didn't die of old age," Reno said in a low voice.

Linley was startled. "What?"

"Brother, let's talk inside," Wharton quickly said.

Linley stared at Reno. Reno sighed and said, "Third brother, let's go to the hall and talk slowly." Sensing something was wrong, Linley suppressed his confusion and followed Reno, Wharton, and the others toward the castle's main hall. Only about twenty or so people actually entered the hall.

The younger generation was kept outside.

Inside the hall.

Linley, Bebe, and the others gathered with Wharton, Taylor, Shasha, Sessler, the five Barker brothers, and more.

"Fourth brother, what exactly happened? You said big brother and second brother didn't die naturally?" Linley couldn't help asking.

"Yes."

Reno said in a low voice. "Third brother, listen carefully. Don't get worked up. You need to stay calm!"

"Hurry up and tell me," Linley urged.

Reno nodded and said, "Third brother, right now on the entire Yulan continent, there are only two empires. One is the Baruch Empire, and the other is the O'Brien Empire. As for the area west of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, which used to be the Holy Alliance and Dark Alliance regions, it's now a mess of scattered dukedoms and kingdoms, not worth mentioning."

"The O'Brien Empire?" Linley frowned.

"Yes. The former O'Brien Empire, Yulan Empire, Rhine Empire, Luoao Empire, and even the far eastern prairie region have all been conquered and unified into the O'Brien Empire," Reno said.

Linley was shocked.

The O'Brien Empire occupied an area nearly as large as most of the former Yulan Empire. "In fact, not long after you left, Lord Beirut sent a divine sense message to all Deity-level powerhouses. Later, those Deity-level powerhouses gave up on entering the Necropolis of the Gods and one by one went to the higher planes and divine planes," Reno said slowly. "The Yulan Empire and the O'Brien Empire were both restored. Second brother George became a pillar of the Yulan Empire's government. And big brother Yale worked hard for the Dawson Conglomerate... With our help, the Dawson Conglomerate truly swallowed the other two major conglomerates and became the number one conglomerate on the Yulan continent."

Linley listened quietly.

"But that peaceful life lasted only two hundred years. Then a figure appeared!"

Reno's voice grew heavy. "His name was O'Brien. Within a single year, he conquered the other major empires. He even tried to destroy our Baruch Empire. When he attacked... fortunately, Lord Beirut stepped in and stopped him. Since then, he hasn't touched our Baruch Empire at all. According to Lord Beirut's information, this O'Brien is one of the five kings of the Baghdad plane prison, known as the Evil King."

PS: Two chapters, nine thousand words, completed.