Chapter 28: The Tease
Brody was originally a mid-level god. By chance, he obtained the Red Diamond Crystal, which allowed him to kill many bandits and robbers, acquire a dark-type high-level god's divine spark, and after refining it, he became a high-level god. His horizons were extremely narrow! Living in a tribe, how much wealth had he ever seen?
It was only after killing the tribal chief, Alot, and obtaining Alot's ring that he suddenly came into possession of hundreds of billions in massive wealth. Hundreds of billions had already left him dazed.
Just now, he had only been making an exorbitant demand, saying it casually.
"Inside this is fifty trillion ink stones and fifty drops of Sovereign's power of destruction." Linley took out a spatial ring and smiled at Brody. "As long as you give me the Red Diamond Crystal, this is yours."
"Fifty trillion ink stones, fifty drops of Sovereign's power?"
A group of Seven-Star Fiends and Six-Star Fiends around them couldn't help but feel their eyes heat up. In reality, a single drop of Sovereign's power was worth more than fifty trillion ink stones. Unfortunately, Brody didn't understand the exchange value between Sovereign's power and ink stones. He had the most contact with ink stones, so naturally, he demanded them. As for Sovereign's power, he had only heard of it.
"Very good." Brody smiled at Linley. "As expected of a Paragon high-level god. It seems I asked for too little."
That group of Seven-Star Fiends, Six-Star Fiends, and even the invited residents of the Lot tribe couldn't help but stare wide-eyed at Brody. He had demanded an astronomical price—wasn't Brody satisfied and about to raise it?
"But I, Brody, keep my word. If I asked for too little, then so be it." Brody smiled at Linley. "Lord Linley, the three conditions I proposed were: first, that you safely escort me out of the Infernal Realm."
"I, Linley, swear by the name of the Overgod of Life: if Brody gives me the Red Diamond Crystal, I will safely send him out of the Infernal Realm." Linley said very straightforwardly.
Brody was stunned.
"Very good." Brody looked down at the spatial ring in his hand, a smile spreading across his face. "Lord Linley, this spatial ring is yours!" As he spoke, he was about to toss it.
At that moment—
"Swish!" "Swish!"
Two beams of transparent light shot out from behind Brody.
"Soul attacks?" Linley's expression changed.
A Paragon high-level god was fast, but not as fast as a soul attack!
"The ring." Linley was about to dart forward.
Suddenly, a hand reached out and fiercely grabbed Linley's shoulder. Linley turned his head to see that it was Chegwyn, who was beside him. Linley's gaze instantly turned cold as he glared at Chegwyn, sending a mental message in anger: "Chegwyn, you're asking for death." At the same time, Linley shook his shoulder, breaking free of Chegwyn's grip.
"Haha, Lord Linley, don't rush." Chegwyn sent a mental message.
At that moment—
A terrifying suction force acted on Linley. He wanted to fly toward Brody, but he couldn't move quickly. "What is this?" Linley looked back and saw a massive phantom of a divine beast, the Suanni, emerging behind Chegwyn. Like Delin, Chegwyn's true form was the divine beast Suanni, and he also had that third eye, but Linley had never paid it any mind.
Chegwyn activated his innate divine ability. Perhaps the gravitational pull was strong, but it couldn't suck in Linley!
But then Chegwyn suddenly used Sovereign's power, and under those circumstances, he activated his innate ability, Devour the Heavens.
The gravitational force was so strong that although Linley could resist it, his speed was greatly reduced.
"What the..." Those Seven-Star Fiends and Six-Star Fiends were stunned. Was Chegwyn, a Sovereign's messenger, out of his mind? Daring to go against a Paragon high-level god? Bebe was also stunned. But two people didn't hesitate—the true bodies of the two Seven-Star Fiends under Chegwyn's command.
While launching their soul attacks, the two Seven-Star Fiends immediately lunged toward Brody.
Everyone wasn't far from Brody to begin with. Linley himself had been delayed by Chegwyn's grab and the use of Sovereign's power and the Devour the Heavens ability. In that brief moment, the spatial ring in Brody's hand had already fallen into the hands of one of the two Seven-Star Fiends—a cold, green-haired man.
The effect of the Devour the Heavens ability passed.
"Chegwyn!" Linley moved furiously and reached out to grab Chegwyn.
"Lord Linley... oh, great Paragon high-level god Lord Linley, please let me go. Otherwise, my subordinate will crush that spatial ring." Chegwyn, however, showed no sign of tension.
Linley glared coldly at Chegwyn.
"I have two defensive Sovereign artifacts on me. You can't kill me; at most, you can banish me into the spatial turbulence." Chegwyn said with a faint smile.
Chegwyn wasn't afraid of Linley.
Now, Linley's leverage had fallen into Chegwyn's hands. If he made a move, Chegwyn's subordinate would immediately crush the spatial ring.
"Very good." Linley laughed in anger.
The Red Diamond Crystal could indeed affect Linley's state of mind. Deep in Linley's heart... the final token, the Red Diamond Crystal, represented his grandfather's life. Perhaps in other matters, he would mercilessly banish Chegwyn and kill those two Seven-Star Fiends. But this matter—he couldn't do it!
Above the Nevier Mountains, under the watch of over a hundred powerful beings, Linley released Chegwyn.
"Is Chegwyn crazy? He's offending a Paragon. Does he think that Sovereign will always step in for him?"
"A Sovereign might lower themselves to deal with a god once, but they can't save him forever. He can save him once, but not forever."
Those Seven-Star Fiends and Six-Star Fiends all thought Chegwyn had lost his mind. After all, in the Infernal Realm, almost everyone believed that grudges between gods were matters for the gods themselves. Sovereigns were lofty and only occasionally intervened. If they interfered too often, they would likely be criticized behind their backs. Now, the ring had fallen into Chegwyn's hands.
"Boss." Bebe was anxious.
"It's fine." Linley stared coldly at Chegwyn in the distance, sending a mental message. "Maybe things aren't that bad."
"Huh?" Bebe looked at Linley in confusion.
"Boss? What do you mean?" Bebe didn't understand why Linley said that.
"When I saw those two suddenly attack Brody," Linley sent mentally, "what I feared wasn't that they would snatch the spatial ring. It was that, in that instant, Brody would crush it. Soul attacks are fast, but a god's reflexive squeeze is also extremely fast."
Bebe nodded in agreement.
A soul attack might be too fast for the body to dodge, but it could still react. Crushing a spatial ring was easy.
"But Brody didn't crush it. He was killed, but he didn't crush the spatial ring." Linley sent mentally.
"Boss, your meaning is?" Bebe had a guess.
"Actually, earlier, I only saw this Brody but not his wife, which made me suspicious... This Brody here was just bait! At the time, I thought he might have separated from his wife to protect her, so I didn't think much of it." Linley stared intently at Chegwyn and his two subordinates in the distance. "But now, Brody died without crushing the spatial ring. I'm really starting to doubt that ring."
"Boss, are you saying there's no Red Diamond Crystal in that spatial ring?" Bebe sent mentally.
"Possibly." Linley sent mentally. "But it's hard to say yet. If Brody still has a divine clone alive, then the ring shouldn't be openable."
Chegwyn's two Seven-Star Fiends merged all their clones into their true bodies and then presented the spatial ring to Chegwyn. Holding the ring, Chegwyn sneered at Linley: "Linley, you were quite impressive during the planar war back then. But now... this treasure belongs to me."
Though Chegwyn said this, he was inwardly suspicious. He couldn't help but glance at Brody's corpse, which had fallen into the forest: "This Brody, even at death, didn't crush the spatial ring."
Chegwyn's earlier move wasn't to obtain the spatial ring. It was to make Brody destroy it, so no one could have it!
"Drip!"
A drop of blood emerged from Chegwyn's fingertip and fell onto the spatial ring.
"If the boss's guess is right, then this Brody is just bait. If Brody has another divine clone that escaped, then this spatial ring definitely can't be opened." Bebe stared intently. Linley also watched closely... The hundred or so powerful beings around them also watched as Chegwyn performed the blood-bonding ritual.
The drop of blood fell onto the spatial ring. Under everyone's gaze, the blood slowly seeped in and was absorbed by the ring.
"Huh? What's going on?" Bebe was shocked.
"Strange." Linley was puzzled. According to his reasoning, the ring shouldn't have opened!
If all of Brody's bodies were dead, then the ring could be blood-bonded.
"Was I wrong? Did Brody, caught off guard by the soul attack from behind, not have time to crush the ring?" Linley frowned.
"Haha..."
Chegwyn laughed triumphantly at Linley. "Linley, I didn't expect this myself. The spatial ring has fallen into my hands. And it can be blood-bonded... Too bad, this ring is mine now. Even if you banish me into the spatial turbulence, I'll take it with me. The Sovereign will definitely save me... And if you do that, the Sovereign will have a reason to kill you."
Linley's face darkened.
"Haha... Angry? Furious? But it's useless." Chegwyn was smug and delighted.
"Aren't you supposed to be so powerful? Why don't you make a move?" Chegwyn laughed heartily.
He had two defensive Sovereign artifacts. Linley couldn't kill him.
"Chegwyn, you're something." Linley said calmly. "I've never seen the Red Diamond Crystal with my own eyes. Could you take it out and let everyone see?"
"Of course!" Chegwyn's smile grew even more sinister. "Even if I hold the Red Diamond Crystal in my hand, can you take it from me?" Chegwyn wasn't like Brody; a sneak attack wouldn't kill him. And with a single thought, he could store the blood-bonded spatial ring inside his body.
Bebe snorted coldly as he watched Chegwyn.
"Everyone." Chegwyn glanced around at the crowd. He also wanted them to spread the story of how he had bested Linley today. "The Red Diamond Crystal is said to be a token of the Overgod. Of course, its authenticity is uncertain. Since Lord Linley wants to see it, I'll grant his wish."
With that, Chegwyn's divine sense entered the spatial ring.
A smile bloomed on Chegwyn's face. A red diamond-shaped crystal suddenly appeared in his hand. Chegwyn smiled at the crowd: "This is the Red Diamond Crystal! Lord Linley, have you seen it clearly?" He looked at Linley mockingly.
"It really is the Red Diamond Crystal." Bebe was shocked.
Linley frowned, then spread his divine sense. A trace of a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth: "Chegwyn, legend says the Red Diamond Crystal can allow a god who refined a divine spark to defeat a Six-Star Fiend. Have you sensed any great power from this crystal?"
Chegwyn was stunned.
In his ecstasy, he hadn't thought of that. Now he realized... this Red Diamond Crystal had no special energy at all.
"Impossible. This came from Brody's spatial ring. It must be real." Chegwyn refused to believe it.
"Hmph. There are too many fakes like this. Brody's forgery skills aren't good enough. A careful scan with divine sense reveals the artificial traces." Linley said with a faint smile.
"Haha, Linley, stop your nonsense. You couldn't get it, so you're trying to trick me? No one has ever seen the Red Diamond Crystal. Who knows what's real or fake? Maybe its special abilities need some special method to activate." Chegwyn said confidently. "And one thing is certain about an Overgod's token: it's indestructible... Look at how hard it is..."
As he spoke, he applied slight pressure with his fingers. He was just putting on a show and didn't dare use much force.
"Crack!"
The Red Diamond Crystal was extremely fragile. With a light squeeze, it shattered into countless crystal fragments that fell to the ground.
"What..." Chegwyn's eyes went wide, and he froze.
The hundred or so powerful beings watching erupted in an uproar. They were all shocked. So after all these years of chasing Brody, the Red Diamond Crystal that appeared was a fake!
"It was fake!"
"Could it be that there's no such treasure as the Red Diamond Crystal at all?"
"Lord Chegwyn, he's been wasting his time."
The powerful beings buzzed with discussion. In their eyes, the Red Diamond Crystal being fake was more interesting than if it were real. If it were real, they couldn't get it anyway. But if it were fake... that was truly spectacular!
At that moment, Linley glanced coldly at Chegwyn, then turned to the round-faced young man beside him and sent a mental message: "Do you know how many divine clones Brody has?"
"Although Brody hid his strength, I'm certain he has more than one divine clone." The round-faced young man confirmed via mental message.
Linley nodded slightly. He glanced at Brody's corpse below. His divine sense had already detected only one divine spark in the body: "This Brody still has a divine clone elsewhere. And the fact that he didn't destroy the spatial ring before dying was intentional. Because this ring was meant to be left for all of us."
Linley understood that Brody himself probably hadn't blood-bonded the ring!
Only then, after Brody's divine clone died, could Chegwyn and the others blood-bond it.
"This Brody toyed with a group of super-powerful beings." Linley glanced at Brody's corpse below. "In the end, he left this ring with a fake Red Diamond Crystal. Clearly... he was mocking and ridiculing this group. A god who refined a divine spark, playing with so many people in the palm of his hand. Ruthless."
Linley sighed inwardly.
"This Brody, it seems, still can't bear to part with the Red Diamond Crystal." Linley fully understood Brody's thinking now.
Using one divine clone as bait to lure a large group. Probably years ago, when Brody returned to the tribe and deliberately showed himself, it was to draw people in.
"I'm afraid Brody's true body, along with the Red Diamond Crystal and his wife, has long since fled to who knows where." Linley shook his head inwardly.
But he could accept this outcome.
At least, if the Red Diamond Crystal had fallen into the hands of the Sovereign of Light, he would never get it. But with Brody... there was still hope.
"Haha..." Chegwyn laughed in fury, looking down at Brody's corpse. "I never thought I, Chegwyn, would be outdone by a god who refined a divine spark." Chegwyn wasn't stupid. Knowing the Red Diamond Crystal was fake, he quickly deduced many things.
Many of the surrounding powerful beings couldn't help but look at Chegwyn.
For the sake of the Red Diamond Crystal, Chegwyn had completely offended Linley! Just now, he had been boastful and smug, but in the end, what he got was a fake. The loss of face was enormous. Many of the powerful beings present had secretly recorded it with their projection spells.
PS: Two chapters, nine thousand words, completed.