Chapter 26: The Struggle
“The Sovereign venting his fury?” Bebe understood the gravity of the situation as he heard Linley say that.
“Boss, you’re a soul mutant. For this battle, you don’t need to bring all your divine clones.” Bebe sent mentally.
Linley felt this made sense. “Right. I’ll just bring my true body and my wind-style divine clone. As for the other three clones, they’ll return to the Yulan continent.” After his soul mutation, the differences between Linley’s divine clones weren’t significant. Aside from his true body having the strongest willpower and might, the souls of his water, earth, and wind systems were roughly equal, with the fire system being the weakest.
Coupled with his soul mutation, even his wind-style divine clone could use earth-style divine power to attack.
Linley only needed to bring his true body and one divine clone to unleash his full strength.
“Bebe, give me that divine artifact you forged.” Linley sent mentally.
He knew that the other two tokens were hidden inside that divine artifact.
“Boss, why don’t I just go with you?” Bebe sent mentally. “If you carry that divine artifact staff yourself, others will get suspicious. After all, you don’t use a staff as a weapon. If I carry it, no one will suspect a thing.”
Linley hesitated for a moment, then agreed.
Earlier, he had planned for Bebe to lead the group. Now that his divine clone was leading them away, whether Bebe led them or not was irrelevant.
“Alright, let’s do it this way! We’ll set off immediately.” His fire, water, and earth divine clones merged into one, taking Delia and the large group to the teleportation array in the Bifrost continent to return to the Yulan continent.
Meanwhile, Linley’s true body and wind-style divine clone, along with Bebe, directly left the Bifrost continent and headed for the Muya continent!
The Bifrost continent was in the eastern part of the Infernal Realm, while the Muya continent was in the southern part! The distance between them was much shorter than that between the Violet continent and the Muya continent.
Given Linley’s strength, their travel speed was extremely fast.
“Whoosh!”
A metallic lifeform skimmed across the surface of the Stellar Sea of Mist, racing forward at top speed. Two years had passed since they left the Demon Castle.
“According to the intelligence we received, that Brody killed the tribal chieftain eight years ago.” Linley frowned. “In eight years, who knows where Brody has fled.”
“Boss, do you think Brody is like you? He’s just a Highgod who refined a divine spark. He can’t have gone far.” Bebe was confident. “The Muya continent is huge, but based on the tribe’s location, Brody definitely hasn’t left the Muya continent.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about. It’s the teleportation array.” Linley said with concern. “The Lott tribe is nearly a billion miles from the Muya continent’s teleportation channel. For a Highgod, even carrying his wife, a billion miles is enough to travel back and forth in eight years.”
“Boss, you mean…” Bebe was startled.
“Right. If he spends money to teleport to another plane, that’s a problem.” Linley was most worried about this.
Teleporting through arrays, especially to divine planes or higher planes, was tricky. For example, going to the Netherworld would randomly place him at one of two teleportation arrays there.
“Uh…” Bebe frowned. “Boss, we got the news a bit late. Plenty of people must have heard about it before us. And many strong individuals were already in the Muya continent. They’ll act faster than us. Under their pursuit and siege, Brody probably won’t escape so easily.”
Linley nodded slightly.
“But boss,” Bebe suddenly frowned, “I’ve noticed a problem. We saw Brody in the floating image, but we have no idea what his aura is like. If he changes his appearance, even if he stands right in front of us, we won’t recognize him!”
Linley couldn’t help but smile wryly.
“I already thought of that. It’s true—we’ve never met this person! So if he changes his appearance, we won’t recognize him. What we can do is: first, go to the Lott tribe and bring a resident with us. The Lott tribe residents definitely know Brody and his aura. If they see Brody in person, they’ll recognize him. Second, we can rely on others hunting Brody. After all, there are plenty of people after him, and they’re all seasoned experts with their own methods and networks.”
“That’s the only way.” Bebe nodded.
At this moment, the metallic lifeform entered the territory of the Muya continent. The Lott tribe was still in the central part of the Muya continent. After spending three years, they finally arrived at a city near the Lott tribe. The city’s Demon Castle lord recognized Linley’s identity and immediately offered enthusiastic assistance.
“Lord Linley, recently, many strong individuals have been hunting Brody. Just at our Demon Castle, there have been over a hundred Six-Star and Seven-Star Fiends. They’ve all invited Lott tribe residents and used their influence to search extensively.”
“Has there been any trace of Brody?” Linley asked.
“Three years ago, Brody returned to the Lott tribe once. Then he left immediately.” The bald, silver-robed man said quickly.
“Three years ago?” Linley was pleasantly surprised.
At the speed of a Highgod who refined a divine spark, three years wasn’t enough to go too far.
“Besides that time three years ago, has no one found Brody in these three years?” Linley inquired.
“Someone did. Just two months ago, a Six-Star Fiend found him. But Brody was too cunning and escaped again.” The lord said with a smile.
Linley nodded slightly. Two months ago? It seemed Brody hadn’t fled far.
“Give me the exact address of the Lott tribe.” Linley said.
“Lord Linley, how about I accompany you to the Lott tribe myself?” The lord was very enthusiastic.
“That won’t be necessary.” Linley said with a faint smile.
After getting the exact address, Linley and Bebe immediately set off for the Lott tribe.
Over the years, many people from the Lott tribe had been invited away by Seven-Star and Six-Star Fiends, who offered high prices.
“They all stand on the hilltops, hoping some strong person will take them to find Brody. Aren’t they all just after money?” A dark-faced, cold old man glanced at some residents on a hilltop and snorted disdainfully.
“The strong ones offer very high prices, usually over a million inkstones. A while ago, our team leader got a reward of a hundred million inkstones. He sent his divine clone to the city with the money to live a peaceful life. If someone invited me and gave me a hundred million inkstones, I’d gladly lose a divine clone.” A round-faced, chubby, cute-looking youth said with anticipation.
Many Lott tribe residents had indeed changed their lives because of this.
After all, recognizing someone only required sending a divine clone.
“Dream on! Do you think those strong ones don’t care about money?” The dark-faced old man sneered. “Most give a million inkstones. Only one gave a hundred million. You think someone will give you a hundred million? Ridiculous. Focus on training. Everything depends on your own strength!”
“Hmph.” The round-faced youth snorted softly and stopped talking to the cold old man.
“Whoosh!”
A blur flashed, and two figures appeared nearby.
The round-faced youth and the cold old man were both startled. The speed was incredible. They looked closely at the newcomers. One was a brown-haired youth, and the other was a thin, cute-looking youth.
“Who are you?” The cold old man asked, trembling. He had never seen anyone move so fast.
Linley’s gaze swept over the two. “You two know Brody, right?”
“Yes, yes.” The round-faced youth immediately perked up. “I’ve been neighbors with Brody for over a thousand years.”
“Don’t listen to his nonsense.” The cold old man quickly said. “This kid just lived on the same mountain as Brody. Brody and I weren’t neighbors, but we often met. I’d recognize him at a glance.” Earlier, he had dismissed the idea, but now that an opportunity arose, the cold old man was excited too.
Linley smiled faintly and nodded. “Alright. Both of you come with me. With so many strong people fighting over the treasure, I might not be able to protect you during the chaos. So, I’ll pay each of you five hundred million inkstones.”
“Five hundred million inkstones?”
The round-faced youth and the cold old man exchanged glances, then quickly looked around cautiously.
“There’s no one around.” Linley said with a faint smile.
“Hey, old man, we’re in the same boat now. Don’t go bragging about this until we get to the city. You can brag then.” The round-faced youth sent mentally.
“Don’t worry about me. Worry about yourself.” The cold old man sent mentally.
“Get ready to leave.” Linley immediately paid each of them five hundred million inkstones. In his view, having two Demigods face life-and-death danger for five hundred million inkstones wasn’t too much. But for the bottom-dwellers of the Infernal Realm, five hundred million inkstones would allow them to live a very free and comfortable life.
A black, sword-shaped metallic lifeform sped through the air.
“So fast.” The round-faced youth and the cold old man were both astonished.
They had each sent a divine clone with the money to stay safely in the Lott tribe. They would wait for an opportunity to leave when a metallic lifeform from the tribe headed to the city.
“Boss, according to the intelligence from the city, Brody was spotted in this area two months ago.” Bebe said.
“I know.”
Linley’s divine sense spread out, covering a radius of eight million miles, everything within his perception.
“There aren’t any strong individuals nearby.” Linley continued to accelerate.
With Linley’s speed in controlling the metallic lifeform, he could thoroughly search a hundred million miles in just a few days. Given Brody’s speed over two months, he could only have covered a hundred million miles. As for other Seven-Star Fiends, even if they used Sovereign power to search, their range was far smaller than Linley’s.
Moreover, Sovereign power dissipated constantly, so they couldn’t search for long.
That’s why these people had such difficulty finding Brody!
But Linley didn’t recognize Brody. What he was searching for now was where large numbers of strong individuals gathered. Brody should be nearby!
“Lord Chegwine, Brody fled into the Neville Mountains.”
A dragon-shaped metallic lifeform soared through the air. Inside were six people, led by a man in a green robe with purple lips and a closed vertical eye on his forehead. This was Chegwine, who had escaped death at Linley’s hands!
Back on the Stellar River passage in the planar battlefield, Linley had killed two people in one go, but Chegwine had escaped thanks to his two defensive Sovereign artifacts.
“You two, each take a Lott tribe resident and search for Brody inside. No matter what, I must have the Red Diamond.”
“Yes, my lord.” The two Seven-Star Fiends bowed, then each took a person and entered the Neville Mountains. They also left divine clones in the metallic lifeform to report to Chegwine at all times.
From two months ago until now, as time passed, Brody, no matter how cunning, had been forced into an increasingly smaller area. Now, he could only hide in the Neville Mountains!
“Lord Chegwine, I’ve found Brody. But another Seven-Star Fiend has also found him.” One of the Seven-Star Fiend’s divine clones quickly reported.
“Let’s go.” Chegwine’s eyes lit up, and he shouted.
He immediately put away the metallic lifeform, ignoring the Lott tribe resident, and rushed over under the guidance of the Seven-Star Fiend’s divine clone.
“Chegwine, why are you in such a hurry?” A familiar voice entered Chegwine’s mind.
Chegwine turned his head and saw four figures flying over.
“You… Linley?” Chegwine’s face changed drastically.
“I noticed several groups heading in that direction. It seems the dark-style Highgod being chased is Brody.” Linley said with a faint smile. As soon as his divine sense detected Chegwine, he had rushed over. Given Chegwine’s strength… he was definitely the most likely to catch Brody.
Unfortunately…
Linley had arrived!