Chapter 52: The Path to the Peak
Linley truly wanted to understand his own strength now. The Paragon Qinghuo was a rare touchstone. If it were anyone else, how would they dare to spar with the current Linley?
"Alright." Linley nodded with a smile.
Beside them, Reisgem and Bebe were extremely excited. Reisgem, always eager for chaos, said, "Haha, a Paragon and an unprecedented four-clone soul mutant. Don't hold back your strength. Just go all out in a fierce battle. Even if it destroys this cave dwelling, it's a trivial matter."
Linley chuckled and said, "No need. This battle is just to test our strength. Mr. Lei Lin, let's both only use our physical strength, combined with our might. No divine power or Sovereign's might."
"That works too." Qinghuo also felt Linley's suggestion was good. If Linley were too strong, or if he, Qinghuo, were too strong, some unexpected results might occur, which wouldn't be ideal.
Linley and Qinghuo stood a hundred meters apart, while Reisgem, Bebe, and Lei Hong watched with rapt attention and anticipation. Bebe's eyes sparkled. "Reisgem, I bet you that my boss won't be weaker than Qinghuo. He might even be stronger."
"Who's betting with you?" Reisgem snorted. "Look, it's starting."
Linley wore a sky-blue robe, while Qinghuo was in a white robe. They exchanged a smile and moved simultaneously!
Linley's figure was as ethereal and dreamlike as the wind, leaving behind several afterimages. Qinghuo moved with teleportation-like speed. The moment they moved, the three spectators were startled. "Bebe, are they only using physical strength? Linley's speed is already this exaggerated?"
At this moment, Linley and Qinghuo's speed was far less than when Qinghuo had used Sovereign's might to rush and save Linley earlier. Back then, with a single movement, he was several miles away.
Now, Linley and the others relied solely on their bodies and might, without divine power or Sovereign's might.
"What a wonderful feeling." Linley was delighted inwardly. "Just by using physical strength and this will-based might, my speed is already much faster than before. If I used divine power, I probably wouldn't be far behind Qinghuo." His control over the surrounding space made his movements effortless.
Their speed was astonishing. The moment they moved, they clashed. Both threw punches almost simultaneously—
"Boom, rumble—" Linley's fist was like a lightning divine dragon streaking across the sky, producing a low, rumbling sound. The space trembled, and jagged spatial tears appeared.
"Bang!" Like an explosion, Qinghuo's punch burst forth with instantaneous power. His punching speed was far faster than Linley's, and a blurry red light could be seen.
The two seemingly ordinary fists, without any evasion, collided directly.
"Pfft!" A low, soft sound.
"Crack!" At the point of impact, the space could no longer withstand the terrifying force, directly tearing open seven or eight spatial tears.
Linley and Qinghuo both involuntarily took a step back.
Equal in strength!
"Haha, exhilarating, exhilarating! Linley, there's no need for us to hide our divine power. Let's just have a full, unrestrained battle." Qinghuo, who usually appeared refined and elegant, now showed rare passion, his eyes blazing.
"Then you'd better be careful." Linley teased with a smile. "My fused divine power isn't much weaker than Sovereign's might."
"Who needs to be careful is still uncertain." Qinghuo laughed heartily. "You have fused divine power, so I'll just use Sovereign's might directly."
From that single punch, Linley understood that there wasn't much gap between them. Since that was the case, there was no need to hide their divine power. Without using divine power, the battle truly wasn't satisfying enough.
The cold, biting wind of the Planar Battlefield rustled Linley's robe, but his eyes were fixed only on Qinghuo across from him. "After all these years, Grandpa Delin, I've finally reached the peak of the gods, the true peak. The one across from me is a Paragon Highgod." His battle intent surged to its peak, and Linley felt an irrepressible excitement.
"Boom!" The dark green divine power within Linley's body rolled like a coiled dragon.
Linley's gaze suddenly sharpened.
"Whoosh!" A series of afterimages appeared in the air, but Linley himself had already engaged Qinghuo.
The space of the Planar Battlefield trembled, and terrifying spatial tears occasionally split open. Earlier, when the two relied solely on physical strength infused with might, the tears were only small. Now, each spatial tear was a massive chasm. Two blurry figures, almost invisible, continuously clashed, and the spatial tears in the sky appeared and vanished intermittently.
Reisgem, Lei Hong, and Bebe stared dumbfounded at the scene.
Having two Paragons fight without restraint? That was rare.
"This, this..." Bebe was stunned, not knowing what to say.
The space before them seemed to tremble from the battle of these two supreme experts, constantly tearing and repairing itself. It was as if that vast expanse of sky was on the verge of collapse under their fight. Reisgem and the others now deeply felt the gap!
Linley and Qinghuo were giants; they were mere infants.
"So strong." Reisgem's throat moved, his eyes fixed straight ahead.
"Paragon-level strength!" Lei Hong also held his breath, his gaze locked on that patch of sky. "And Linley is no weaker than Mr. Lei Lin."
"No wonder Paragons toy with us in battle." Reisgem sighed softly. When the four of them had encountered Bayer back then, they were completely toyed with, without any ability to resist. It was only thanks to Bebe's freakish defense that they managed to escape. But if Reisgem hadn't desperately protected Bebe, Bayer would have banished Bebe into the spatial turbulence.
Provoke a Paragon? Even if you had three Sovereign artifacts and seemed invincible, a Paragon could still banish you into the spatial turbulence. Unless a Sovereign came to rescue you, and even for a Sovereign, it wasn't an easy task.
"Only when Paragons of the same level fight can they fully unleash their strength." Bebe exclaimed in awe. "Boss is too fierce."
"How strange." Bebe suddenly frowned. "That space shattered like that, yet it can instantly repair itself without collapsing. Really strange. The strangest thing is... Boss and Qinghuo aren't affected at all by the attraction of those large spatial tears. They aren't pulled into the spatial turbulence."
Reisgem and Lei Hong nodded slightly.
In ordinary battles between experts, spatial tears weren't too exaggerated, and experts would usually dodge them a bit.
But Linley and Qinghuo didn't care about spatial tears at all, even continuing to fight at the edges of them.
"This must be the effect of might." Reisgem said softly. "When might reaches the level of a Sovereign, one isn't even afraid of the spatial turbulence and can roam freely within it." Falling into spatial turbulence could only be saved by a Sovereign-level being; even a Paragon hadn't reached that level. That was the might of a Sovereign.
Their guess was correct.
Linley felt it clearly. His control over the space made the suction of the spatial tears completely unable to affect him.
"Boom, rumble—" With a single punch, ten dark green divine dragons burst forth from Linley's fist, instantly engulfing Qinghuo. A terrifying gravitational force bound Qinghuo from all directions. This gravitational space also contained Linley's will-based might, making its power extremely formidable.
If before Linley's transformation, this move would have affected ordinary commanders but was child's play for a Paragon, now... this move posed a significant threat even to a Paragon.
"Whoosh!" Like lightning, a red light flashed.
Qinghuo's fist was always astonishingly fast.
"Bang!"
The moment their fists collided, Linley felt as if a volcano had suddenly erupted, an endless explosive force transmitting toward him. Meanwhile, Qinghuo felt a series of impacts, like mountains continuously crashing into him.
Both were pushed back by the recoil.
"Let's end the battle here." Qinghuo transmitted mentally.
Linley nodded with a smile. In the distance, some commanders had noticed the commotion, but seeing the terrifying, world-destroying spatial tears over a hundred meters long, they were too scared to approach. This battle was simply too terrifying.
They were also puzzled...
Which two Paragons were so bored, or had such an irreconcilable hatred, that they were fighting?
"Boss, haha, I'm so happy!" Bebe laughed triumphantly. "From today onward, who the hell would dare to cause us trouble? We won't be the ones looking for trouble from others. We've been bullied enough on the Planar Battlefield, and now we've finally turned the tables." Bebe seemed to vent all his grievances.
"Haha, let's drink!" Linley was also overjoyed, unable to contain himself.
With this breakthrough, he no longer had to rely on others' goodwill.
Being on the same level as a Paragon—what did that mean? It meant that within the realm of gods, no one could threaten him. As for Sovereigns? Unless absolutely necessary, Sovereigns wouldn't meddle in the conflicts of gods. Moreover... even for a Sovereign, killing a Paragon wasn't easy.
If things looked bad, one could flee into a material plane.
Furthermore, Paragons would be courted by Sovereigns. All Sovereigns wanted a Paragon as their emissary. Naturally, the Paragon would pick and choose, selecting a Sovereign they liked or the strongest one as their patron. For ordinary commanders, Sovereigns chose them.
But for Paragons, they chose the Sovereigns.
Or, if they were aloof, they simply wouldn't become a Sovereign's emissary, not wanting to take orders. That was also fine. Paragons had that right!
"Linley." Reisgem grinned. "Have you considered becoming a Sovereign's emissary?"
Linley was taken aback.
Lei Hong nodded in agreement. "Yes, Linley. Now that your strength has reached this level, few people know about it yet. But once your strength spreads, it will definitely attract the attention of some Sovereigns. They will do their utmost to make you their emissary."
"Sovereign's emissary?" Linley hesitated.
Bebe quickly nodded. "Yeah, Grandpa also said that Paragons are very rare, and many of them are too proud to become Sovereigns' emissaries. The Paragons who have become Sovereigns' emissaries are only a handful. But there are a total of seventy-seven Sovereigns. Boss, you'll probably be in high demand."
Reisgem immediately tried to persuade him. "Linley, actually, my mother is a very powerful Sovereign. And she's been quite good to you, even giving you a soul stone back then. How about becoming my mother's emissary?"
Linley was a bit hesitant.
"Mr. Lei Lin?" Linley looked at Qinghuo, seeking his opinion, since Qinghuo was a Paragon.
"Why become a Sovereign's emissary?" Qinghuo said with a faint smile. "If you refuse, the Sovereigns can't possibly target you for that. After all, once you show your strength, there will definitely be many Sovereigns inviting you. You can't accept all of them. Most importantly... once you've become a Paragon, why still be an emissary?"
"We cultivate to pursue the peak. Even if becoming an emissary means the Sovereign will respect us, without any binding demands or requiring us to kneel, I still prefer freedom." Qinghuo said calmly.
Linley inwardly agreed with Qinghuo's view.
"Is being a Sovereign's emissary necessarily being a servant?" Reisgem glared at Qinghuo and retorted. "Ordinary emissaries, the Sovereign naturally doesn't value them much. But a Paragon... that's a being with might. The Sovereign will also respect them, not as a servant, but as a friend."
Qinghuo couldn't help but laugh. "Reisgem, let's stop this. In the end, it's up to Linley to decide."
"Linley, you say." Reisgem turned to look at Linley.
Linley smiled gently. "No rush. For now, I have no intention of becoming a Sovereign's emissary. The most important thing is... as a Paragon, the profound mysteries of the laws have reached their peak, with no room for further breakthroughs. Maybe if I get bored, I'll consider becoming an emissary. But I still have many things to do. In terms of the laws, I haven't reached the peak yet. I'm thinking... if, after billions of years, my profound mysteries of the laws also reach Paragon level, what will happen then? I'm very much looking forward to it."