Chapter 22: The Trump Card
Linley had obtained the blood essences of the Four Divine Beasts, and although he hadn’t managed to study the combined ultimate techniques of the four ancestors, he had used a portion of the Azure Dragon’s blood essence to further strengthen his body. Linley discovered… his body was clearly already too strong. Even after using the Azure Dragon’s blood essence, and then using a portion of it, using more no longer improved his physical strength.
His body was no weaker than the strength of a Sovereign artifact, and the sharp tip of his dragon tail even surpassed it.
This thrust, infused with the profound mysteries of the Laws of the Earth, could absolutely not be blocked by a Sovereign artifact.
“Damn it.” Augustus’s expression changed. His Overgod artifact attempted to block Linley’s Overgod artifact. In that instant, his only reaction was—
Swing his arm!
Augustus’s arm was now as supple as a long whip. This arm swing was a simple motion.
Like cracking a whip.
“Whoosh!” It swung up with extreme speed. At the very last moment, Augustus’s palm slammed fiercely against the side of the tip of Linley’s dragon tail. However, under Linley’s control, the tip of the dragon tail curved and stabbed into Augustus’s palm!
“Pfft!”
A white armor membrane appeared on the palm, clearly a defensive material Sovereign artifact. But under the full-force thrust of Linley’s dragon tail, blood seeped out as the sharp tip of the dragon tail pierced through his palm.
“Whoosh!” His form flickered, and Augustus’s entire body blurred as he dodged dozens of miles away in an instant.
“That palm strike of his?” Linley was greatly shocked. “Augustus’s physical strength is actually this powerful?”
After the dragon tail pierced through the defensive material Sovereign artifact, Linley had originally planned to directly stab through his palm, then pierce through Augustus’s head. But who would have thought… Augustus’s palm itself had extremely strong defenses. After successively breaking through the defensive material Sovereign artifact and the palm, the impact force of the dragon tail’s tip had been exhausted.
“Augustus, I know you’re formidable in terms of the soul, but to be this powerful in terms of the body as well, I admire that.” Linley’s voice echoed in Augustus’s mind, while Linley himself, without any hesitation, immediately pursued him.
“Linley, how about we stop here?” Augustus fled ahead at top speed.
With his full strength revealed, Augustus was clearly much faster than at the beginning.
Linley couldn’t even catch up for a time.
“Even in my Dragonform, I can’t catch up to him.” Linley was shocked inwardly.
Augustus’s true strength was about ten times greater than what Linley had initially anticipated.
This meant that Augustus and Linley were nearly evenly matched.
Even with Linley in his Dragonform, since Augustus cultivated the Laws of Light, he was also skilled in speed. While fleeing desperately, Linley simply couldn’t catch up for the time being.
“No.” Linley’s powerful divine sense clearly distinguished the speeds of himself and Augustus. At this moment, the distance between him and Augustus was decreasing at a very slight rate. “Although our speeds are close, they aren’t exactly the same. Instead… I’m slightly faster by a hair.”
This slight speed advantage was very small. Without careful observation, it couldn’t be detected.
But the distance between Linley and Augustus was limited. As the distance between them continuously shrank, there would eventually come a moment when he could fully catch up.
“Linley, why must you insist on a life-or-death struggle with me?” Augustus transmitted frantically. “I did kill the Four Divine Beasts. But the Four Divine Beasts are so many generations removed from you that you’ve probably never even seen them. You have no feelings for them, so why bother? As for my grudge with Beirut, he was the one who took my four Sovereign sparks. He provoked me! Now I’ve also agreed to let the grudge between me and Beirut go. How about it? Forget all of this. If you have any other demands, let’s both be sincere and talk it over properly.”
Linley, however, sneered coldly.
“You wanted to kill me just now, but after I entered Dragonform, you realized you couldn’t kill me, so now you want to negotiate?” Linley paid him no heed.
“Linley, do you really want to keep fighting?” Augustus was getting somewhat angry. “Fine, I’ll just rush to the Infernal Realm and destroy your Four Divine Beasts clan! I think that if I rush to the Infernal Realm now, I’ll have enough time to destroy the Four Divine Beasts clan.”
Although the distance between the two was only a few dozen miles, which was very close for Sovereigns.
But the difference in their speeds was too small. Even with a distance of a few dozen miles, it would still take several minutes to close.
“The Four Divine Beasts clan? Augustus, in the Infernal Realm, the Overlord of Destruction exists. I’m sure you know that the Overlord of Destruction has a special relationship with me and Beirut. Back then, he borrowed the blood essences of the Four Divine Beasts from us. Moreover, he also borrowed personnel from my Four Divine Beasts clan. As long as I send him a divine sense message, I believe he will definitely stop you.” Linley transmitted.
Augustus was going mad from being chased by Linley.
Watching the distance between him and Linley continuously shrink, he was completely helpless.
“Linley, your strength isn’t much greater than mine. Your only advantage is that your Dragonform body is comparable to a Sovereign artifact and can be used as one. If I fight to the death, it’s still uncertain who will live and who will die.” Augustus transmitted. “Are you willing to take that risk?”
From the brief exchange just now, Linley also knew.
He wasn’t much stronger than the other party. In a life-or-death battle, it was indeed hard to say who would live and who would die. However, in terms of survival chances, he should have an eighty percent chance, while Augustus only had twenty percent.
“I am willing to take that risk!” Linley said coldly.
“Fine, you madman!” Augustus’s face twisted ferociously. “Then don’t blame me.”
With that, Augustus changed direction and continued fleeing at top speed.
“Hmm?” Linley’s expression changed.
The direction Augustus was fleeing in was toward the Celestial Realm. Although the distance between the two was already only about ten miles, the time needed to cover this distance was enough for Augustus to reach the Celestial Realm.
Augustus was deliberately heading toward the Celestial Realm, which made Linley couldn’t help but speculate.
“Legend has it that the Dark Divine Plane is aligned with the Infernal Realm. And this Light Divine Plane is aligned with the Celestial Realm. Could it be that Augustus is going to seek help from the Chief Sovereign of Fate?” Linley couldn’t help but guess. It was very normal for Chief Sovereigns to have connections with each other.
“What, going to find the Chief Sovereign of Fate?” Linley transmitted.
Augustus fled while still threatening: “That’s right, I’m going to find Lord O’Brian! Lord O’Brian owes me a favor. Although he is detached from worldly affairs, using this favor to have him kill you is still no problem. This trump card… I’ve been reluctant to use it. But don’t force me.”
Linley hesitated.
“Is what Augustus said true or false?” Linley thought to himself.
But if it were true, with the strength of the Chief Sovereign of Fate, killing him would be absolutely certain. He would have no power to resist.
“Owes you a favor? How could Lord O’Brian owe you a favor?” Linley scoffed.
“Linley, if you don’t believe me, you can go ask the Overlord of Destruction and others. They all know! Go ask and see if I’m lying.” Augustus was also unwilling to waste this trump card like this.
The Chief Sovereign of Fate rarely asked for favors.
For him to ask someone to do something, this one favor was essentially a life-saving charm.
Once this favor was used, it was gone. How could he bear to use it unless it was a life-or-death moment?
Linley thought rapidly in his mind for a moment, then sneered: “Oh? Lord O’Brian owes you a favor? Fine, for the sake of Lord O’Brian, I’ll let this matter drop. But I warn you, don’t provoke the people of my Four Divine Beasts clan in the future. Otherwise… even if I have to die, I will kill you.”
After saying this, Linley flew toward the Infernal Realm.
“Whoosh.” Augustus finally let out a long sigh of relief.
Looking into the distance at the figure flying toward the Infernal Realm, Augustus couldn’t help but mutter a low curse: “How did Linley suddenly become so strong? Fortunately, his speed is about the same as mine. To deal with this Linley, unless I can cultivate to the Paragon realm, or use the second method.”
The second method was naturally to have O’Brian deal with Linley.
“But there’s no need to fear this Linley.” Augustus looked into the distance and smiled faintly. “This Linley is a Paragon! His potential is exhausted. As for me, I’ve only fused five profound mysteries. I’m still one step away from Paragon. Once I reach the Paragon realm one day, I can easily deal with him.”
“When I go back this time, I need to settle down and cultivate properly.”
Afterward, Augustus turned around and flew toward the Light Divine Plane.
The four Higher Planes were adjacent to each other, and the seven Divine Planes were also adjacent.
These eleven planes were together, and at the center of these eleven planes was the Planar Battlefield.
“I didn’t expect Augustus to be this strong.” Flying through the void, Linley frowned. If Augustus had been a bit weaker, Linley would have killed him in an instant. But Augustus’s strength was about the same as his. Once Augustus ran to the Chief Sovereign of Fate, that would be the end.
Linley couldn’t die. If Linley died, Beirut, Bluefire, and others would also suffer.
The Yulan lineage would probably be forever suppressed by this Augustus, with no hope of ever turning things around.
So, Linley chose to temporarily retreat.
“The Chief Sovereign of Fate owes him a favor? Hmph, let this Augustus live a little longer for now.” Linley thought to himself. “I’ll go back and cultivate in seclusion, fusing the laws. If I can reach the perfect realm, let alone Augustus, even if I encounter that O’Brian, he won’t be my match.” At this moment, Linley had already flown to the edge of the Infernal Realm.
He stretched out a single hand and tore open the plane.
Linley then entered the Infernal Realm like that! Three profound mysteries. One must know that for every additional profound mystery of a different law that was fused, the power increased a hundredfold! Moreover, according to Linley’s estimation, fusing different laws to the extreme would probably also grant the bestowal of willpower from the universe.
At that time, who would Linley still fear?
Infernal Realm, above the Bloodridge Continent.
Linley’s form instantly streaked across the sky. Compared to Linley, those seemingly fast metallic lifeforms were like ants crawling. Their speeds were on completely different levels.
“Whoosh!” His divine sense covered the entire Bloodridge Continent.
Linley immediately discovered Beirut, who was staying in the Celestial Sacrifice Mountains. That was Beirut’s clone.
“Grandpa Beirut.” Linley transmitted.
Beirut’s divine clone had always been staying in the Prefecture of Netherworld of the Bloodridge Continent.
Within the Celestial Sacrifice Mountains of the Prefecture of Netherworld, in the mansion that had been built for Linley back then, Beirut was temporarily residing there.
“Hmm?” Beirut looked up and saw a figure descend from the sky, arriving in front of him as if teleporting. It was Linley.
“Linley.” Beirut was overjoyed. “How did it go? Did you kill Augustus?” Beirut’s eyes were full of anticipation. Seeing Beirut’s expression, Linley couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
“I failed.” Linley shook his head and sighed.
“How could this happen?” Beirut was shocked. “With your true strength, killing him should have been easy.”
Linley shook his head and said: “Grandpa Beirut, everyone has been deceived by that Augustus. His true strength… is not at all what we thought. His strength is ten times greater than we imagined! He’s not weaker than me. Even if I fight to the death with him, it’s uncertain who will live and who will die… Most importantly, the Chief Sovereign of Fate seems to owe him a favor. Do you know about this?”
“The Chief Sovereign of Fate owes Augustus a favor?” Beirut shook his head. “I’m not too clear about that. After all, I’ve only been a Sovereign for about twenty thousand years.”
“I feel that Augustus probably wasn’t lying.” Linley smiled helplessly. “Alright, I’ve endured for so many years. I’ll endure a little longer. Now that I’ve refined the Wind-type Sovereign spark, I’ll go and open up a Wind-type divine plane again to improve my comprehension of the Wind-type laws. Perhaps it will help me in fusing the laws.”
Beirut nodded.
For now, it seemed this was the only option.
But Beirut wasn’t worried. With Linley’s potential, he had hope of surpassing even the four Chief Sovereigns of the Edicts, let alone Augustus. It just… required time!
PS: Chapter 2, to be continued.