Chapter 38: Lionheart City
Seeing that blood-haired old man leave, Bebe walked over and curled his lips, saying, "That old fellow, staying in a material plane, his horizons have narrowed, he's too foolish. He actually volunteered to refine a divine spark."
"Not foolish, but smart."
Linley smiled and said, "In the Oaken Plane, with its large population, the number of divine-level experts born is also high. He probably has some understanding of places like Hell, the Netherworld, and the Celestial Realm. Unless one can reach the level of a Six-Star Demon or Seven-Star Demon, staying in Hell is nothing but suffering. That old fellow just now, in this Oaken Plane, stands at the very peak and can enjoy himself comfortably. Why would he go to a higher plane?"
Bebe was stunned for a moment, then nodded. "That's true."
"By the way, boss, did you tell Grandpa Beirut about the Oaken Plane?"
"Of course I did." Linley laughed. "Now, your Grandpa Beirut's clone in the Yulan Continent is at my Dragonblood Castle, staying with my divine clone. I've told him everything that's happened here... Lord Beirut is also using his influence to investigate whether news of the Red Diamond Crystal has appeared in places like the Life Higher Plane."
Bebe nodded. "Right, we need to keep an eye on it."
Linley dreamed of obtaining the Red Diamond Crystal!
Although it was likely in the Oaken Plane, it couldn't be ruled out that Brodie had taken it to another plane.
So Linley could only ask Beirut for help. Beirut had many friends, so keeping track of such information wasn't difficult. However, in these past days, Beirut hadn't found any news of the Red Diamond Crystal.
Their lives continued as usual, unchanged by the arrival of the gods. Although the various Paragons and the over ten thousand High Gods had begun inspecting humans, elves, dwarves, magical beasts, and other lifeforms, they did so cautiously, without harming any lives.
As for Linley...
He was constantly monitoring the entire plane. Any unusual move by the High Gods or Paragons would immediately alert him.
With his soul power surpassing that of Overgod power, this surveillance went completely unnoticed by the Paragons.
Amidst this intensive inspection and search, time flowed on.
In the blink of an eye, two months had passed.
At the Mengya Mountain base.
"Lord Baruch." That blood-haired old man came again.
Linley and Bebe both looked over.
"Lord Baruch, I have new information about the Red Diamond Crystal." The blood-haired old man quickly said.
"Oh?" Bebe sneered. "In these two months, you've brought dozens of pieces of news, even found over a dozen Red Diamond Crystals."
Indeed, over the past two months, the Blood Knife Organization had found over a dozen Red Diamond Crystals. But before those crystals could be delivered, Linley's divine sense had already detected them and judged them all as fakes.
"Well... I can't determine their authenticity." The blood-haired old man smiled awkwardly, then quickly added, "But this time, the news is somewhat credible."
"Tell me." Linley said indifferently.
"Yes." The blood-haired old man hurriedly said, "About thirty years ago, a mage training at the edge of the Misty Forest once saw two powerful figures flying in the sky. They appeared to be a married couple. Among them, the woman was wearing a necklace, and on that necklace was set a Red Diamond Crystal."
Linley and Bebe's eyes lit up.
Thirty years ago, a married couple? Flying in the sky?
"And that couple?" Linley quickly asked.
"That training mage only saw the couple pause briefly in midair to discuss something, then they flew deeper into the Misty Forest. He didn't know anything else." The blood-haired old man shook his head.
"You may withdraw." Linley said.
"Yes." The blood-haired old man respectfully retreated.
Linley and Bebe frowned.
"Boss, this isn't good." Bebe said.
"It's not good. That couple, Brodie and his wife, flying deep into the Misty Forest, were likely heading toward the teleportation array. They probably used the array to leave the Oaken Plane." Linley grew worried. "If Brodie and his wife really took the Red Diamond Crystal and left, that would be troublesome. Finding them would be like looking for a needle in a haystack."
Although the message left by the plane guardian said the couple had gone to the Life Higher Plane, how vast was that plane?
And couldn't they use the teleportation arrays in the Life Higher Plane to transfer again to other planes?
How could they find them?
"But there's another possibility." Bebe muttered. "Besides leaving with the Red Diamond Crystal, another scenario is that they hid the Red Diamond Crystal inside some creature in the Misty Forest."
Linley's eyes lit up.
"That's possible." Linley felt a surge of hope, but then sighed inwardly.
The Misty Forest spanned millions of miles, teeming with magical beasts and various ancient races. Searching it wouldn't be easy.
"Hmm? The Radiant Temple? That Radiant Goddess is actually going to see Clementine on her own. Could something special be happening?" Linley, who had been maintaining his divine sense covering the entire plane, naturally noticed this.
In the central region of the Misty Continent, there was a Radiant Lake a hundred miles in circumference. In the middle of the lake was an island nearly ten miles across, known as Radiant Island, or Holy Island. It was the headquarters of the Misty Continent's largest religious organization, and the Radiant Goddess's temple was built there.
At the center of the Holy Island stood the Radiant Temple, which had nine floors above ground and nine below.
Since the Radiant Paragon Clementine and his forces had arrived, the Radiant Goddess had suffered a bit and had to nervously let Clementine reside on the top floor of the Radiant Temple's above-ground section. As for the Radiant Goddess herself, she lived on the sixth floor underground.
On the sixth underground floor, a woman with silver hair, silver eyes, and bare feet, dressed in a simple robe, was frowning slightly. This was the Radiant Goddess, worshipped by countless people across the Radiant Continent.
"Lord Clementine has been searching for that diamond-shaped red crystal. Should I..."
After hesitating for a moment, the Radiant Goddess's gaze grew firm. She immediately left her residence and headed for the top floor of the temple.
"Let her in."
In the spacious hall on the top floor of the temple, Clementine sat silently on his throne, his eyes closed, his divine sense constantly spreading outward. However, he couldn't compare to Linley. Under normal circumstances, using his own soul power, he could barely cover the Misty Continent.
Even a Paragon wouldn't waste Overgod power on constant searches.
If he did, in just a month, the consumption of Overgod power would be astronomical.
"Lord." The Radiant Goddess walked in barefoot.
"Is there something?" Clementine opened his eyes.
Under Clementine's gaze, the Radiant Goddess felt like a small boat caught in a raging storm, on the verge of capsizing at any moment. Her body trembled slightly, and she said respectfully, "Lord, you are searching for the Red Diamond Crystal. I recall that a friend of mine once told me that if a large number of powerful divine-level experts came here searching for treasure, I should offer this to the strongest among them. He said... it was a gift for me. That friend of mine, his name was Brodie!" As she spoke, a small red box appeared in her hand.
At that moment—
A brilliant light flashed in Clementine's eyes, and his divine sense instantly spread outward, trying to envelop the surroundings to prevent other Paragons from probing.
But it was too late!
At that very instant, four streams of divine sense swept across the box.
"Haha, Clementine, we have to thank you, haha..." A voice echoed in Clementine's mind.
Clementine's face turned ugly. His divine sense also swept over the box, and in the next moment, the box exploded into dust. The Radiant Goddess, seeing the box in her hand turn to powder, was startled and her face changed.
"You've done well. Get out." Clementine snorted coldly.
"Yes." The Radiant Goddess didn't dare to speak and quickly retreated.
"Nine Paragons, five on the Misty Continent, four on the Beast God Continent. The ones who just discovered the secret should be three Paragons." Clementine frowned. "Why didn't Linley keep his divine sense spread out?" In truth, four streams of divine sense had swept over the box, but Clementine had only detected three.
As for Linley's divine sense, he couldn't detect it at all.
"This Linley, with so few people, doesn't take divine sense scanning seriously, and he still wants to obtain the Sovereign's artifact?" Clementine sneered coldly.
Of the nine powerful figures, five now knew the secret of the box. Linley, of course, also knew.
"In that box, there was only a piece of paper, and on that paper were just three words—Lionheart City!" Linley was puzzled. He didn't doubt the authenticity of the message, because the paper was a common type from Hell, capable of lasting for eons without decaying. In a material plane, such paper couldn't be made.
Moreover, the Radiant Goddess wouldn't dare to deceive him.
"Just these three words. Could Brodie mean... the Red Diamond Crystal is in Lionheart City?" Linley thought to himself.
"Tell me, what is Lionheart City?" Linley directly sent a divine thought to the Shadow Elder of the Blood Knife Organization.
The Shadow Elder quickly responded, "Lord Baruch, Lionheart City is a very famous city on the Beast God Continent. It is the capital of the Snow Lion Empire."
"Beast God Continent, capital of the Snow Lion Empire?"
Linley's divine sense, covering the entire plane, immediately noticed a luxurious city in the central part of the Beast God Continent. On its city gate were two large characters: Lionheart.
"Boss, what's wrong?" Bebe didn't know what had happened yet.
"Bebe, let's go. We're heading to the Beast God Continent." Linley smiled slightly. Wind-type divine power spread out, enveloping Bebe, and the two turned into a cyan blur, instantly disappearing into the sky.
At this moment, Linley wasn't the only one heading to the Beast God Continent. The other four Paragons on the Misty Continent were also rushing there.
Paragons flew extremely fast. Soon, they left the Misty Continent, crossed the ocean between the two continents, and entered the Beast God Continent. In terms of speed, even though Linley held back and didn't use fused divine power, he still arrived almost simultaneously with Clementine at the Beast God Continent's border.
As Linley, Bebe, and the four Paragons entered the Beast God Continent, the four Paragons already there immediately noticed them.
"Hmm? All five of them are flying here, and in the same direction. Have they found news of the Red Diamond Crystal?"
Anyone with half a brain would guess that something important was happening.
Without hesitation, the four Paragons on the Beast God Continent immediately headed toward the convergence point of the five figures from the Misty Continent.
"Clementine, where are you going?" The Water-type Paragon, a middle-aged man with flowing cyan hair, followed Clementine with a smile. Although following the direction of Linley, Clementine, and the other five could give a rough idea of their destination, it was still vague.
So, some of the four Paragons on the Beast God Continent chose to tail the others.
"Hmph." Clementine ignored him, suddenly increasing his speed, barely outpacing the Water-type Paragon.
"Lionheart City." The Wind-type Paragon, Baier, was the first to arrive at Lionheart City. He was originally on the Beast God Continent and lived not far from the city. Judging by the direction Linley and the others were coming from, especially as they got closer, it was easy for him to deduce.
"Swoosh." A beam of light shot toward Lionheart City, then materialized into a figure—Clementine.
"Whoosh!" A cyan blur also flew in from the sky, then condensed into two figures—Linley and Bebe.
"How did Linley know to come here? Did Dannington tell him?" Clementine looked at Linley with confusion. He hadn't detected Linley's divine sense earlier.
"Lionheart City!" Linley's divine sense covered the entire city, but he found nothing special.
"Bebe, let's go in." Linley transmitted telepathically.
Then, ignoring the other Paragons, Linley and Bebe directly charged into Lionheart City.