Chapter 2: The Eighteenth Floor of the Divine Graveyard
Above the southern sea of the Yulan continent, four figures—Beirut and the others—streaked across the sky in an instant.
"Become a Sovereign?" Linley looked at Beirut ahead of him.
In the span of a single day, one shocking event after another had left Linley feeling numb. First, Beirut had revealed his Sovereign-level strength, then Qinghuo had displayed Sovereign power, and just now, he had met the Life Overgod. Linley felt as if he were dreaming.
And now, Beirut's words implied that he, too, might be made a Sovereign.
Linley struggled to stay calm before speaking: "Lord Beirut, why would you choose to give me such a precious opportunity to become a Sovereign? What about Harrison and the others, and Bebe... you should choose them instead." Linley said bluntly. In terms of relationship, Harrison and his two brothers were Beirut's own children.
"Them?" Beirut glanced back at Linley and smiled faintly. "I gave them the chance, but they couldn't seize it."
"Grandpa, what do you mean by 'couldn't seize it'?" Bebe quickly asked.
Beside them, Qinghuo raised his crimson eyebrows and chuckled, gazing at the surging sea in the distance. "Alright, we've arrived ahead of schedule."
"Is this?" Linley sensed their location. "Below here should be the spatial gate. The one leading to the Divine Graveyard!" Years ago, Linley and his companions had ventured into the Divine Graveyard. Back then, Linley was only in the Saint realm, enduring countless trials before finally obtaining a divine spark. That time, he had stopped at the eleventh floor. "Come on." Beirut said with a smile, then flew downward.
"Whoosh!" The previously calm sea instantly churned violently, and the waters parted like curtains, revealing a bottomless passage.
Linley and Bebe followed Beirut and Qinghuo, diving into the depths of the sea.
In the deep ocean, it was silent and pitch-black. Massive deep-sea beasts swam slowly, but Linley's group of four darted into the seabed so swiftly that many deep-sea magical beasts didn't even notice them.
The ocean floor was covered with tangled seaweed and underwater mountain ranges.
The reefs were stacked layer upon layer, some nearly a thousand meters high. Occasionally, the ground would suddenly sink, forming a dark, bottomless pit.
Linley's group of four walked along the seabed. Beirut, leading the way, suddenly turned and plunged into a deep crevice among the reefs. Linley and the others had no choice but to follow. The bottomless crevice resembled the esophagus of a giant beast—cold, dark, and unfathomable.
"Grandpa, aren't we going to the Divine Graveyard? The spatial gate to the plane where the graveyard is located is still ahead. Why are you going this way?" Bebe asked as he followed.
"I need to retrieve an item." Beirut said with a smile.
Linley was full of doubts but remained silent, continuing to follow. After descending about ten thousand meters, they finally reached the bottom. At the deepest part of the crevice was an open space several hundred meters in radius. Strangely, even the seawater was excluded from this area.
"Grandpa, what exactly are you retrieving?" Bebe asked curiously.
Qinghuo sighed beside him. "Beirut, with all this preparation you made back then, it seems it won't be necessary now."
Beirut extended his hand, and a powerful green light shot out from his palm. In an instant, it split into thousands of green threads, merging into the walls of the deep pit. The walls greedily absorbed the green light, and soon, countless magical runes began to appear on the surface.
"Is this a magic array?" Linley frowned.
"It's a very peculiar magical sealing array." Qinghuo said with a smile. "Beirut managed to obtain it from the Infernal Realm and modified it. To activate this sealing array, one must possess the power of a Sovereign. Otherwise, it cannot be opened."
"Lord Beirut?" Linley was puzzled. "You set up this magical sealing array in the Yulan plane. But other Sovereigns can't enter the Yulan plane. Why be so cautious?"
"I was just preparing for the worst."
Beirut sighed. "I was afraid that one day I might be killed by that Radiant Sovereign, and he would take this treasure. So I never kept it on me; instead, I left it in the Yulan plane. I worried that the Radiant Sovereign might send Highgods to seize it, so this magical sealing array requires the power of a Sovereign to break."
"If I were to die one day, this treasure would be entrusted to Qinghuo." As Beirut spoke, the light on the walls of the deep pit grew increasingly dazzling, almost blinding.
Suddenly—
"Boom!"
The surrounding walls and the ground shook violently, then crumbled into fine dust.
"Sealing array?" Linley now fully understood. Beirut had used the array to seal a half-meter-thick layer of the pit's walls. With Beirut's power, anyone else would need at least equal strength to break it.
But setting up such an array was no easy task.
"Lord Beirut, why are you breaking this sealing array yourself today?" Linley asked in confusion.
"It no longer serves a purpose, so breaking it is fine." Beirut smiled. Then, with a wave of his hand, a gust of wind swept the dust aside, revealing a black box the size of a palm. Beirut's eyes lit up as he reached out and grabbed it.
Qinghuo smiled at the sight.
"Grandpa, what's inside?" Bebe asked curiously.
"What do you think?" Beirut chuckled.
"Is this the treasure that made the Radiant Sovereign want to kill you? Is it a Sovereign spark? Or something on the level of an Overgod artifact?" Bebe guessed.
"Haha, you're quite sharp. Alright, it's time to head to the Divine Graveyard." Beirut said with a laugh.
Linley followed Beirut as they flew out of the deep pit and toward the spatial gate. The spatial gate was located above a pitch-black boulder at the center of an underwater canyon. The strange spatial fluctuations were clearly perceptible from a distance.
"Enter." With a thought, Beirut opened the spatial gate.
The four of them flew through one after another.
Crossing from one side of the spatial gate to the other, they arrived in a different plane.
"The plane of the Divine Graveyard." Linley had been here before. Feeling the binding force of this plane, he couldn't help but look at Beirut in confusion. "Lord Beirut, this plane seems to be on a much higher level than a material plane. Why is it so closely connected to the Yulan plane?" When Linley first entered here as a Saint, even Fain, the senior disciple of the War God and one of the five peak Saint-level experts of the Yulan continent, could only extend his divine sense a few dozen meters.
"This is a plane created by a Sovereign." Qinghuo said calmly. "It's a divine plane, so its binding force is naturally much stronger than that of a material plane."
"But compared to the Infernal Realm, the binding force here is much weaker." Linley commented.
Beirut smiled beside him. "Linley, once you reach the Sovereign level, you can create your own plane. Legend has it that the Infernal Realm, the Netherworld, the Celestial Realm, and the Life Overgod Plane were each created by the four Overgods alone. Naturally, their binding force is the strongest. As for the seven divine planes, they were created by the seven Sovereigns of each element working together. For example, the Radiant Divine Plane was created by the Radiant Sovereign and six other Sovereigns. It's far more stable and powerful than my plane, since this is just a plane created by a mere Lower Sovereign."
"I see." Linley had vaguely guessed that this might be a plane created by Beirut.
"Creating a divine plane? Wow, that's amazing!" Bebe cheered excitedly. "But Grandpa, Sovereigns can enter this plane, right? Aren't you afraid the Radiant Sovereign will come?"
"Don't worry. My divine plane is connected to the Yulan plane. If another Sovereign enters my plane, I, as its creator, will know the moment they touch its borders. If the Radiant Sovereign comes, I'll retreat to the Yulan plane in an instant." Beirut smiled.
Linley marveled inwardly. "Beirut is indeed cautious enough."
"Ahead is the Divine Graveyard." Beirut pointed into the distance.
The sea currents surged violently, but Linley could clearly see the massive graveyard. It was a rectangular structure nearly twenty thousand meters high and ten thousand meters wide, with a pointed top. On the front wall was carved a colossal wingless dragon, coiled and imposing.
The other three walls bore carvings of three other divine beasts.
Last time Linley was here, he hadn't noticed. But now, he understood completely. He urgently asked, "Lord Beirut, these four carvings—the dragon carving looks exactly like the azure dragon phantom that appears when I use my innate divine ability. And the other three divine beasts look just like the carvings I found in the Tianshan Mountains of the Infernal Realm. Is there a special connection?"
"Yes. These four carvings depict the Four Divine Beasts." Beirut sighed.
"Follow me." Beirut flew toward the top of the Divine Graveyard.
Linley quickly followed. The Divine Graveyard had eighteen floors. Normally, one would have to ascend from the first floor. But this time, Beirut led Linley and the others directly to the pointed top. A passage appeared on the wall, and Beirut and Qinghuo stepped inside. Though puzzled, Linley and Bebe followed.
This was an empty space. The ground was paved with ten-meter-wide green stone slabs, stretching endlessly into the distance.
The ground was green.
The sky was also green, pure and bright without a trace of other colors.
On the green stone ground stood Beirut, Linley, and the others.
"Is this?" Linley looked around in confusion. Normally, each floor of the Divine Graveyard should have guardians, but this floor was completely empty.
"This is the top floor of the Divine Graveyard, the eighteenth floor." Beirut said with a smile.
Bebe exclaimed in surprise, "Grandpa, isn't this supposed to be the most dangerous and terrifying floor? Why is there no one here?"
"Who said the eighteenth floor is dangerous?" Beirut chuckled.
"Doesn't it get more dangerous the higher you go?" Bebe muttered in confusion. "Hey, boss, where are you going?" Bebe noticed Linley walking forward.
Beirut smiled. "Let's go. Linley has already sensed it."
Indeed, Linley had sensed something. The first time he came to the Divine Graveyard, he felt something above calling to him. But back then, he lacked the strength to continue. Now, Linley realized that what had been attracting and summoning him was right here on the eighteenth floor.
"Lord Beirut, what's beneath these green stone slabs?" Linley turned to look at Beirut.
"Wait a moment." Beirut walked over with a smile, his gaze fixed on the ground.
"Rumble..." Countless green stone slabs began to shift in an orderly fashion. A massive object rose from beneath them. In the blink of an eye, the slabs formed a towering altar. Lying on the altar was a colossal azure dragon corpse, tens of thousands of meters long. Its familiar, warm aura drew Linley in.
"Ancestor, the Azure Dragon?" Linley's eyes widened in shock as he immediately recognized it.
Beirut walked over and sighed. "Yes. There are three Divine Graveyards in total. The other two only hold the corpses of ordinary gods. But this one is the largest. On the eastern side of this graveyard's eighteenth floor lies the corpse of the Azure Dragon. On the other three sides of the eighteenth floor lie the corpses of the Vermilion Bird, the White Tiger, and the Black Tortoise."