Chapter 11: Victory and Defeat
The soul influence contained within the Dragon’s Roar had no effect on the Crimson Rock Lord at all.
However…
The most twisted aspect of the innate divine ability Dragon’s Roar was its influence on time. No matter what law one cultivated, none could alter the flow of time—only heaven-defying innate divine abilities could. This divine ability was a special existence that transcended the laws! And the innate divine ability of the Azure Dragon clan could indeed change time. The flow of time in the region where the Crimson Rock Lord’s soul resided began to shift!
“Whoosh!”
As Linley activated the innate divine ability Dragon’s Roar, his entire body shot forward like a beam of light. The Shadowless Divine Sword in his hand mercilessly stabbed directly into the Crimson Rock Lord’s brow—his strongest strike—
Circular Void Break!
“Bang!” A hole appeared in the Crimson Rock Lord’s brow as the Shadowless Divine Sword pierced through it, stabbing straight toward his soul!
Silence! Stunned!
The massive Azure Dragon phantom in the sky had not yet dissipated, and the over a hundred million people on the ground stared at the enormous dragon’s appearance, their hearts filled with awe. But when Linley’s Shadowless Divine Sword pierced the Crimson Rock Lord’s brow, all the spectators below were momentarily frozen.
“The Crimson Rock Lord… is he dead?”
Although they couldn’t see the Shadowless Divine Sword, the weakest among the crowd below were still high-level gods. Having watched for so long, they had guessed that Linley wielded an invisible sword. From Linley’s posture, they deduced that the invisible sword had stabbed into the Crimson Rock Lord’s brow.
Caught in the slowed flow of time, the Crimson Rock Lord felt as if he hadn’t even reacted before Linley’s Shadowless Divine Sword had already pierced his brow. In the Crimson Rock Lord’s perception, Linley’s attack speed seemed to have increased ten or twenty times over. Such speed left him utterly unable to respond.
The Shadowless Divine Sword entered his mind.
A pitch-black barrier was protecting the Crimson Rock Lord’s soul—the soul defense supreme divine artifact he possessed. It was precisely this soul defense supreme divine artifact that allowed the Crimson Rock Lord to firmly hold his position as the Nine Nether Lord.
However, a soul defense supreme divine artifact defended against soul attacks.
Just as…
Soul attacks could ignore physical obstacles, bypassing material existence to strike directly at the soul, only to be blocked by a soul defense artifact.
By the same logic,
Material attacks ignored soul defenses. If someone tried to use a soul attack to block a material attack, it would be a joke.
The composition of this soul defense supreme divine artifact was fundamentally designed to counter soul attacks. When a material attack struck, the soul defense supreme divine artifact was as if it didn’t exist. The Shadowless Divine Sword pierced straight through the artifact, leaving it completely unharmed.
No interaction at all.
Although the flow of time was slowed, the Crimson Rock Lord still knew that Linley’s divine sword had entered. He knew the moment of death had arrived. But his thinking speed was too slow to counterattack. The only thing he could do was—
“Boom!”
In his soul sea, the divine clone’s hand erupted with a drop of Death-type Overgod power! The terrifying Overgod power, channeled through the profound mysteries of the Laws of the Earth, formed countless blade shadows that surged wildly toward Linley’s Shadowless Divine Sword. At this point, the Crimson Rock Lord was nearly insane.
He only knew—
He had to block it!
So he used his strongest move, relying on this Overgod power to blast the Shadowless Divine Sword.
“Rumble!”
As the sword pierced in, Linley felt waves of immense power within the Crimson Rock Lord’s mind crashing against the Shadowless Divine Sword. Each impact was terrifyingly strong. Linley’s entire body jolted, and he was sent flying backward, staring at the Crimson Rock Lord in shock.
“What’s going on?” Linley was baffled.
“Hum—” A powerful Death-type aura radiated from the Crimson Rock Lord’s body, and his injuries were instantly healed.
The Crimson Rock Lord’s eyes suddenly blazed with fury as he glared at Linley. “Linley!” The Overgod power surged around his body, and the profound mysteries he wielded became far more potent. The Blackstone Space’s influence on him was greatly reduced. “You bastard!” Having just escaped death, the enraged Crimson Rock Lord was about to attack.
“Do you want to continue?”
Linley’s voice rang out.
“Huh?” The Crimson Rock Lord’s body trembled, and he stood still.
Though the black aura around him raged, and using the Overgod power had significantly boosted his strength—enough to kill Linley at this moment—it wouldn’t be enough to kill Linley the next moment. Because in Linley’s hand floated a drop of earthy yellow liquid—Earth-type Overgod power!
“Do you want to continue?” Linley’s voice echoed again.
The Crimson Rock Lord stared at the Overgod power hovering in Linley’s palm, his heart filled with reluctance.
But if they fought on, the outcome was clear!
A Laws of the Earth expert using Earth-type Overgod power would unleash their strongest strength.
Without using Overgod power, Linley, relying on the Blackstone Space and his innate divine ability, already held a slight advantage.
If they both used Overgod power—the Crimson Rock Lord with Death-type and Linley with Earth-type—the result was obvious: Linley’s advantage would increase dramatically. The Crimson Rock Lord would be doomed!
“Ah—” The Crimson Rock Lord suddenly roared to the sky.
The arrogant Death-type divine power exploded in all directions, and waves of immense force tore cracks in the surrounding space. The powerful aura startled the countless spectators below, who still didn’t know the battle’s outcome.
“I concede!” A low voice rang out.
Linley smiled.
This was within his expectations. If they continued to fight, relying on the Earth-type Overgod power, Linley was confident he could kill his opponent. But doing so would cost him his only drop of Earth-type Overgod power—hardly worth it. Perhaps the opponent had a soul defense supreme divine artifact.
But even if he obtained that artifact, the Overgod would eventually take it back.
So Linley didn’t want to fight on, preferring to keep his sole drop of Earth-type Overgod power.
This drop of Earth-type Overgod power had originally been used to save Elder Garvey during the conflict between the Four Divine Beasts clan and the Eight Great Clans. After the conflict ended, the clan naturally replenished Linley’s supply as a token of gratitude for Beirut’s help to the Four Divine Beasts clan.
“Linley,” the Crimson Rock Lord said, looking at him. “To be honest, I’m very unwilling to lose this battle. In terms of law profound mysteries, you’re far behind me. From what I can see, you’ve only fused three or four types of profound mysteries.” With his experience, the Crimson Rock Lord could naturally judge the law profound mysteries behind each of Linley’s attacks.
“I admit that,” Linley nodded.
“But you have Resheph’s innate ability, your Azure Dragon clan’s innate divine ability, and your not-so-weak law comprehension,” the Crimson Rock Lord said with a self-deprecating laugh.
Linley alone possessed two heaven-defying innate abilities. The Crimson Rock Lord felt a deep sense of injustice.
“Haha, Lord Crimson Rock, you flatter me,” Linley said with a smile.
“Hmph, I’m not flattering you. I’m just saying I lost unfairly. But since I lost, I’ll keep my word. From today, the Nine Nether Lord’s position is yours.” The Crimson Rock Lord glanced at Linley, then turned and flew away, disappearing into the horizon.
Linley looked at the distant figure and let out a long breath.
“Phew, I finally won.”
Linley felt a surge of joy. He had successfully become the Nine Nether Lord. From now on, he could enter the planar battlefield.
“Haha, boss, you’re amazing!” BeBe jumped up from below, laughing heartily.
Linley smiled and looked down at the countless spectators. The entire battlefield was silent for a moment, then erupted in thunderous cheers.
“Lord Nine Nether!”
“Lord Nine Nether!”
The shouts shook the heavens.
Linley waved his hand, signaling silence, and said, “From today, I am the new Nine Nether Lord. All rules remain unchanged. You may all disperse.”
The crowd gradually left, but many still looked back at Linley with awe.
In the crowd, a figure in fiery red robes stood out. He had long fiery red hair and eyebrows, and he was smiling as he watched Linley and BeBe above. This person was none other than the super expert who had once guided Linley—Qinghuo!
“It seems Beirut was overthinking things. Linley’s strength is already higher than I imagined. There’s no need for me to stay here… Oh, the planar war is still ongoing. I should find a way to enter the planar battlefield.” Qinghuo turned and walked away.
His figure was very real, but as he walked, it seemed like a phantom.
In a blur, he easily passed through the dense crowd of over a hundred million people. Once out of the crowd, his entire form turned into a hazy fiery red phantom. With a flicker of red light, he vanished into the horizon.
In terms of speed alone—
He was even slightly faster than the Crimson Rock Lord, who had made Linley tremble.
The Crimson Rock Lord’s mansion now became Linley’s residence.
“Lord,” Gan Mo Lei said respectfully. He also felt the unpredictability of fate. Not long ago, he had brought Linley to meet the Crimson Rock Lord. In the blink of an eye, Linley had become the Crimson Rock Lord. Of course, he now knew that Linley was actually an elder of the Azure Dragon clan.
Linley glanced at Gan Mo Lei and asked, “Gan Mo Lei, I need to enter the planar battlefield. Do I need any items to prove my identity?”
“No need,” Gan Mo Lei replied with a smile. “Rest assured, Lord. Once you defeat the previous lord and take this position, the news will spread to all the lord’s mansions in the Nine Nether Domain within a day. At the same time, your information will be sent to Flame Bone Mountain.”
Linley nodded slightly.
“You just need to go there, and they’ll recognize you. At most, Lord, you might need to briefly display the legendary invisible divine sword,” Gan Mo Lei said with a laugh.
“Within a day?” Linley nodded again.
“BeBe,” Linley turned to look.
“Huh?” BeBe was sitting on a chair in the distance, eating various fruits native to the Underworld. “What’s up, boss?”
“Within a day, Flame Bone Mountain will have my information. When do you think we should set off?” Linley asked with a smile.
“A day?” BeBe jumped up. “Damn, it’ll take a while to fly to Flame Bone Mountain. Boss, let’s go now! Set off immediately!”
“Now?” Linley was startled, then laughed.
Gan Mo Lei was also surprised.
“Oh, right,” BeBe turned to Gan Mo Lei and ordered, “Gan Mo Lei, those fruits taste pretty good. Bring more—I want to take them on the road.”
“Uh… yes!” Gan Mo Lei replied.
PS: Four chapters done! Ah, that’s 16,000 words! Yesterday was also four chapters. In just two days, I’ve written 32,000 words. Tomato finds that if I squeeze myself, there’s still some juice left. Hmm, I’ll keep pushing tomorrow! Also, brothers, today is the last day of March! If you haven’t voted your monthly tickets, don’t let them go to waste! Vote now!
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