Chapter 13: The Mystery of the Nine Spirit Pearls
“Boss, you couldn’t kill him because of these nine spirit pearls? What the hell are these nine spirit pearls?” Bebe also flew over to Linley’s side, curiously observing the nine spirit pearls floating in Linley’s hand. “Boss, I don’t sense anything special about these nine beads.”
Linley smiled. “When I first saw the Heavenly Mountain Governor, I didn’t notice anything special about the spirit pearls either. I just thought wearing an armlet was his hobby. It wasn’t until I tried to kill him several times without success that I discovered the peculiarity of these pearls.”
With Linley’s discerning eye, he had immediately seen that the Heavenly Mountain Governor’s armlet wasn’t a divine artifact. So he had dismissed it as mere decoration. Indeed, the armlet wasn’t a divine artifact. The material of the armlet itself crumbled when Linley squeezed it. What was truly precious were the nine spirit pearls embedded in it.
“Heavenly Mountain Governor, my guess is correct, isn’t it?”
“Lord Linley!” The pale-faced Heavenly Mountain Governor quickly replied, “You’re right. Your guess is correct. These nine spirit pearls are naturally occurring treasures, containing an inconceivable vitality. As long as you wear these nine spirit pearls close to your body, an endless stream of life force will envelop your entire body and soul. Although Lord Linley’s soul attacks are powerful, with the continuous protection of the spirit pearls’ energy, even if my soul is damaged, it will recover rapidly.”
At this moment, Mulgore had no more cards to play.
He had originally believed that with these spirit pearls, no one could kill him. Moreover, Mulgore himself was powerful, and combined with these pearls, he was among the top-tier commanders. This was what gave Mulgore the confidence to come here.
Especially when he saw Linley, an unfamiliar face, he was even more self-assured.
But who would have thought… this Linley was actually a newly risen Paragon in the Infernal Realm! A Paragon… the most powerful existence among gods. The spirit pearls could only protect Mulgore; they couldn’t enhance his offensive power. Facing Linley, Mulgore could only be a punching bag!
Now that these nine spirit pearls had been taken away, he had nothing left to rely on.
“Oh, are the spirit pearls that special?” Bebe muttered in surprise.
“Mulgore, have you bonded with these spirit pearls?” Linley asked indifferently.
“No,” Mulgore quickly replied.
With a thought from Linley, a drop of blood emerged from his fingertip and flew toward one of the spirit pearls floating above his palm.
“Drip.”
The blood rolled on the emerald-green spirit pearl, then slid off, falling onto Linley’s palm.
“It won’t merge?” Linley frowned.
“Lord Linley, these spirit pearls are miraculous treasures born from heaven and earth. They aren’t divine artifacts or anything like that, so blood bonding won’t work,” Mulgore quickly explained. Linley glanced at Mulgore, then clenched the nine spirit pearls in his palm. Immediately, he felt a strange energy surge through his entire body. Under Linley’s control, this energy even seeped into his soul.
Comfortable!
Linley even felt his soul being nurtured and protected by this peculiar energy. “Truly remarkable. Only heaven and earth could produce such treasures,” Linley praised.
“Yes, yes,” Mulgore quickly echoed.
“Boss, the spirit pearls are special, but how can you be sure that Mulgore survived your soul attack because of them?” Bebe pouted. “Maybe the spirit pearls are somewhat special, but they might not be the real treasure keeping Mulgore alive. Perhaps he has another treasure inside him.”
Mulgore’s face changed drastically.
“The best way to test it is for you to launch another soul attack, Boss. If Mulgore dies this time, it proves the spirit pearls were protecting him. If he doesn’t die, it means he was lying,” Bebe said with a smile. But to Mulgore, Bebe’s smile seemed sinister and terrifying.
“Mulgore, what do you think? Am I right?” Bebe looked at Mulgore with a grin, but his gaze held undisguised murderous intent.
With this one sentence, he was essentially sentencing Mulgore to death.
In terms of temperament, as a divine beast, Bebe was even more ruthless than Linley. Anyone who posed a threat to him or Linley, or who attacked them, was someone Bebe believed should be killed.
“Boss, if Mulgore doesn’t die, he’ll always be a threat. He’s the Heavenly Mountain Governor now and doesn’t dare to retaliate against you because he’s not strong enough. But what if one day he breaks through and reaches Paragon? He might not fear you then. Even if he can’t retaliate against you, Olivier will be in danger,” Bebe transmitted mentally.
Bebe thought far ahead. Anyone who posed a threat should be eliminated!
“Lord Linley…” Mulgore said in panic.
At this moment, Mulgore’s attitude was completely opposite to his earlier arrogance when he wanted to kill.
“When strong, he attacks; when weak, he submits.” Having experienced the brutal place of the Planar Battlefield, Linley wouldn’t be soft-hearted. “Swish!” A wave of ethereal sword energy suddenly shot out from Linley’s forehead. Its speed was so fast that Mulgore couldn’t react, and it directly entered his body.
Mulgore’s body trembled, then his eyes dimmed, and he collapsed.
“Clang!” A blood-red suit of armor emerged from his body and fell to the ground. It was the defensive Sovereign artifact.
“He’s really dead this time,” Bebe said with a laugh.
Olivier, Dina, and their child, Daiya, walked over. Olivier looked at the dead Heavenly Mountain Governor, then gratefully at Linley. “Linley, thank you. You’ve helped me again.” If the Heavenly Mountain Governor hadn’t died, Olivier would indeed have been uneasy.
“Thank you, Uncle Linley,” Daiya also said, then glared fiercely at Mulgore’s corpse, as if blaming the Heavenly Mountain Governor for his brother Leya’s death.
“When dealing with Boning, I had already prepared for Mulgore’s response. I just didn’t expect Mulgore to have such a heaven-and-earth-born treasure,” Linley said, looking at the nine spirit pearls in his hand with a sigh.
“What a letdown. Mulgore still has a clone elsewhere,” Bebe said as a drop of his blood fell onto the armor but wasn’t absorbed.
“Forget it. Just leave it here,” Linley said with a faint smile. “Having lost his strongest divine clone, Mulgore is no longer a threat.” Without his strongest divine clone, even if he had a Saint-level original body and continuously refined divine sparks up to Highgod, he could no longer improve. This meant Mulgore had no hope of reaching Paragon. Without Paragon-level strength, killing him would be easy for Linley.
“Hmph. I won’t leave him any benefits,” Bebe said, reaching out to suck Mulgore’s spatial ring into his hand. Then, with a squeeze, “Crack!” The spatial ring was crushed.
If he couldn’t have it, Mulgore wouldn’t either!
As for the Sovereign artifact… since it was forged by a Sovereign, Bebe didn’t dare destroy it. Killing an emissary wouldn’t bother a Sovereign; it was just that the emissary wasn’t strong enough. But destroying a Sovereign artifact or sending it into spatial turbulence would anger the Sovereign, as it had taken great effort to forge.
“This treasure is good, but it’s not very useful to me,” Linley said, glancing at the nine spirit pearls.
“Let’s go.”
With a thought, Linley stored the nine spirit pearls into his spatial ring. “Let’s go! Back to Azure Blue Prefecture!” Bebe said cheerfully. Olivier looked at his wife and son and smiled contentedly. The group of five then boarded the metallic lifeform again, speeding westward toward Azure Blue Prefecture.
Inside Linley’s spatial ring.
In this lifeless space, a large number of items floated. There were gourds containing Sovereign power, the Black Heavy Sword, the Bloodviolet Flexible Sword, as well as Mo’erstone and Zhanstone. On a small hill formed by a pile of Mo’erstone and Zhanstone sat an inconspicuous, worn, and dim crown.
The worn crown just sat there.
Suddenly…
The nine spirit pearls appeared in this dead space. Their crystal-clear emerald green shone brightly in the lifeless void.
Strangely, the worn crown floated up, flying toward the nine spirit pearls, and the nine spirit pearls also flew toward the worn crown.
The nine spirit pearls formed a circle around the worn crown.
“Swish!” “Swish!” “Swish!”
The nine spirit pearls shot from all directions toward the worn crown, instantly sinking into the inlay grooves on the crown. Then, everything fell silent. A faint green glow flowed over the worn crown, giving it a subtle green sheen, no longer appearing as dilapidated as before.
The crown’s grooves consisted of one large and nine small ones!
The nine small grooves were arranged in a circle around the crown’s rim. At the front center of the crown, there was a diamond-shaped large groove, which was empty.
Linley himself was unaware of what was happening inside his spatial ring. He had previously studied the worn crown carefully. Even after his soul mutation, he had examined it thoroughly but found no secrets. So he had tossed it into the spatial ring and ignored it.
Perhaps one day, when Linley took out the crown or the spirit pearls, he would discover its secret.
But when would that day come? No one knew.
A tiger-shaped metallic lifeform hovered above the mountain range. Inside this massive metallic lifeform were over a hundred people, led by a silver-haired, silver-robed Mulgore.
Standing at the front of the metallic lifeform, Mulgore looked into the distance through the transparent metal.
“Go there and retrieve the armor,” the silver-haired Mulgore said coldly.
“Yes, Governor.” The white-browed man knew where the battle had taken place. He immediately led a ten-man squad, flying rapidly toward the mountain hollow.
The silver-haired Mulgore stared coldly at the distant mountains, his heart seething with murderous intent. He could still sense the Sovereign artifact’s presence. Clearly… Linley and the others hadn’t taken it or destroyed it.
“Now that my strength has greatly diminished, if someone challenges me now…” Mulgore was most worried about this. As a Governor and one of the 108 Lords of the Infernal Realm, he had to fend off challengers. The loser stepped down, and the winner became the new Lord. So Mulgore had to retrieve the Sovereign artifact.
With the defensive Sovereign artifact in hand, Mulgore was confident he could hold onto his position.
After a long while—
The white-browed man’s squad flew back, with the white-browed man holding the blood-red armor.
“Hmph.” The silver-haired Mulgore’s eyes lit up. The metallic lifeform immediately opened a door, and the blood-red armor flew toward Mulgore, merging into his body.
“Set off. Return,” Mulgore said indifferently.
“Yes, Governor,” the group responded.
Mulgore strode to one of the sealed chambers in the rear compartment of the metallic lifeform. The chamber was completely sealed, with no light.
The silver-haired Mulgore sat cross-legged in the darkness. In the dim chamber, his face appeared shadowy. His wolf-like, green eyes glowed eerily, making the room even more chilling.
“You destroyed my son and ruined my future prospects!” In the chamber, Mulgore made no attempt to hide his murderous intent. A violent aura filled the room, but his divine domain contained it, preventing any leakage. His subordinates had no idea what was happening.
Mulgore’s eyes flashed with ferocity. “Fine. Since you’ve destroyed me, I’ll destroy you too!”
“Unfortunately, I destroyed that special paper. Otherwise, it would have been much easier to gain the trust of the Sovereigns. With a little scheming, I could have gotten Linley killed! But now that the paper is gone, it’s a bit troublesome.” Mulgore pondered for a moment, then sneered. “But it doesn’t matter. Even though the paper is destroyed, I still know the secret. Since the spirit pearls are no longer in my hands, there’s no point in keeping this secret.”
Mulgore imagined how things would unfold, feeling a trace of satisfaction.
“You destroyed me, so I’ll destroy you!” Mulgore said in a low voice. “I’ll make this secret public… I’ll spread it far and wide, so all the Sovereigns know!” His voice, filled with resentment, echoed coldly in the chamber, sending chills down one’s spine.