Book 19, Metamorphosis – Chapter 19, An Untended Willow Grows

Linley now understood!

When he originally entered the Planar Battlefield, Linley had discovered that many army camps were situated at each side of the Stellar River, and yet there were no signs of activity. Linley didn’t understand why. Only now did he understand...that at the final part, the two armies would begin to kill each other.

“That’s too vicious. It’s tantamount to suicide.” Linley couldn’t help but say.

“Although it is vicious and cruel, it’s also a good chance to earn military merits.” Beirut said with a calm laugh. “In that sort of chaotic battle between two great armies, even commanders might die. And if one is lucky, one might be able to instantly acquire a large number of soldier badges and even commander badges! That is the time when the rewards are greatest, but yes, also when the danger is greatest.”

In Linley’s mind instantly floated an image of countless Highgods launching attacks against each other, with commanders amongst them.

Indeed, that was a terrifying scene.

“It’d be best for you to acquire enough commander badges prior to this event.” Beirut laughed calmly.

Linley nodded. When the two armies battled chaotically, that was indeed a time of great reward, but also a time of tremendous danger.

“If, within a thousand years, I don’t collect enough commander badges, then I’ll have to go participate in the mass battle.” Linley said to himself silently. For the sake of his family and friends, Linley wouldn’t cower.

The Planar Battlefield, within a fairly black mountain. Linley and Bebe were together. This sort of lifeless black mountain could be seen everywhere throughout the Planar Battlefield.

“Crunch.” Bebe was eating some fruit.

Linley, seated in the meditative posture, suddenly opened his eyes.

“Hey, Boss? Did you get the news from my grandfather?” Bebe’s eyes immediately lit up. Linley smiled and nodded. “Right. I now have an understanding of most of the commander-level experts of the various planes. From today onwards...how about this. I’ll control the Deathgod Golem by myself to draw in commanders.”

They had enough time. Linley was in no rush.

“Right.” Bebe chortled, then nodded. “Alright. I was wanting to take more naps anyhow. When you find a target, Boss, call me.” Bebe, even in the Planar Battlefield, was always in the mood for napping.

“More than eight hundred, close to nine hundred, years are left before this Planar War concludes. We need to put this long period of time to good use. Perhaps during this period of time, I’ll fuse my fourth profound mystery of the Laws of the Earth.” Linley said with a sigh.

“Eh? Four? Right, Boss, didn’t you already combine the Throbbing Pulse of the World, the Profound Mysteries of Strength, the Essence of the Earth, and Gravitational Space? Finishing the fusion should be fairly quick.” Bebe mumbled.

“I’ve combined them, but what I now need to do is to separately fuse the Profound Mysteries of Strength with the Essence of the Earth and Gravitational Space as well. Only after I complete this will all four have been completely fused. Most likely, in another century or so, the separate fusions will be finished.” Linley said with a calm laugh. Actually, Linley had already improved significantly in the past sixty or seventy years he had spent here in the Netherworld.

After all, once the fusion had started, fusing up to the bottleneck was just a matter of time.

“Hey, Boss, once you fuse four profound mysteries, your attack power will rise greatly once again.” Bebe said excitedly.

“Actually, I already have a direction in my mind.” Linley said with a calm laugh.

After having seen the attacks of the previous Redcliff Lord and of Hemmers, Linley had already gained some insights.

Bebe either napped or trained; in short, he was always just waiting. Linley’s divine clones focused on their training, while his original body controlled the Deathgod Golem outside. Time flowed on...and in the blink of an eye, two more months passed.

“It’s only been one month, but I’ve lost a Deathgod Golem already.” Linley shook his head helplessly as he spoke. “Half a year ago, when I saw that supreme expert of the Divine Light Realm, I wanted to control my Deathgod Golem to make it flee, but that person pursued and attacked, forcibly destroying my Deathgod Golem as well as the surrounding area. Fortunately, I hid deep enough...and his divine sense didn’t extend all the way down to me.”

Bebe opened his eyes and laughed, “It is just a Deathgod Golem. It is cheap. It’s nothing.”

“If I knew, I would’ve brought some more here with me.” Linley said.

At this moment, Linley was controlling another Deathgod Golem, patrolling outside.

“In two months, we haven’t seen a single suitable opponent.” Bebe let out a sigh.

“Don’t sigh. If we hadn’t gone to your Grandpa Beirut and found out some information, most likely against that previous person, we would’ve gone to go fight against that supreme expert of Light. Fortunately, we avoided that disaster.” Linley laughed. Just as Linley and Bebe were sighing, suddenly...

“BOOM!”

The entire mountain trembled violently, and quite a few rocks smashed down atop Linley and Bebe.

“What’s going on? What’s happening?” Bebe said with a frown.

“Wait a moment. The Deathgod Golem that I’m controlling is thousands of meters away...oh, the Deathgod Golem sees it. Two experts are battling!” Linley said, surprised.

Next to the mountain where Linley and Bebe were residing, there were two figures clashing. One was a violet blur, while the other was a white blur. One violet saber flash after another flew out of the body of the violet blur, with one of them landing viciously against the nearby small mountain.

“BANG!”

An explosive collision. The two were both knocked flying back by the collision. The violet blur was actually a green-eyed, violet-robed, vicious-looking youth, while the white blur was a handsome, silver-haired, blue-pupiled youth. The silver-haired youth’s face was filled with rage.

“Lancelot [Lang’si’luo]! Don’t go too far! You and I are on the same side. Why must you insist on killing me?” The silver-haired youth roared.

“Hmph, so what if we are on the same side? You should have been prepared for death the moment you entered the Planar Battlefield.” The violet-robed youth let out a cold laugh. He said nothing else, immediately beginning to fill the surrounding area with violet bolts of electricity, and it seemed as though lightning bolts were beginning to fill the skies as well.

The silver-haired youth’s face changed.

In terms of speed, he couldn’t compete with the lightning-element Lancelot. He wouldn’t be able to flee! Battle was the only option!

He knew that he was weaker, but all he could do was fight it head on. With a low growl, he said, “Lancelot, if you don’t give me any chance, then I won’t let you have an easy time of it either!” The silver-haired youth’s body began to glow with a white aura, and then, with a cold shot, a white spear suddenly appeared next to him, along with a translucent spear.

The material attack and the spiritual attack converged into one!

“Swish!”

The two spears folded onto each other, and the illusory white spear shot straight towards the front.

“Die, then.” The green-eyed, violet-robed youth said emotionlessly.

“Rumble...” The lightning bolts in the skies suddenly crashed down in the form of an enormous lightning serpent. At the same time, a green bolt of lightning emerged from the body of the violet-robed youth, also in the form of an enormous serpent. These two enormous lightning serpents attacked from opposite directions, encircling the silver-haired youth.

Right at this moment, the spear arrived before the violet-robed youth’s body.

“Hmph!” The violet-robed youth let out a cold sneer.

He stretched out his right hand, and between his fingers formed a ball of violet light, which he smashed directly onto the illusory spear.

“BANG!”

That illusory white spear was a combination material attack and spiritual attack. And now, the illusory white spear completely shattered. The material attack...wasn’t even able to damage the violet-robed youth’s fingers. The spiritual attack was broken as well.

“Crackle...”

The violet and green electric serpents swirled around the silver-robed youth, whose face changed. The two different electric serpents actually created an unusual spatial electric field, causing the space itself to become electrified. That unusual electric field rippled throughout the silver-haired man’s body.

“Ahhhhhh!” The white-robed, silver-haired youth raised his head, roaring angrily.

A powerful aura swept out from his body, and the white glow strengthened.

“At a time like this, you want to fight by using up Sovereign’s Might? You use yours, and I’ll use mine. Isn’t the result the same?” Lancelot laughed in his heart. His body also emanated forth a powerful aura, and the violet light began to fill his entire body as well.

As the two experts both began to use their Sovereign’s Might, Linley and Bebe also quietly slipped out of the mountain, moving underground until they arrived at a place with a large amount of random vegetation. The two hid there, staring at the experts battling in the distance.

“They are both so strong.” Bebe said in praise.

“The white-robed youth is a commander of the Divine Light Plane, Roland [You’lan’de]. That green-eyed, violet-robed youth is a commander of the Divine Lightning Plane, ‘Lancelot’. According to the information provided by your Grandpa Beirut, this Lancelot is an extremely hard to deal with commander.” Linley said mentally. “Roland is specialized in spiritual attacks, while Lancelot is skilled in both spiritual and material attacks, and he is also extremely fast. In addition, he’s also fused a defensive Sovereign artifact into his body.”

Bebe couldn’t help but feel startled.

“Fused a defensive Sovereign artifact into his body? Isn’t that the same as the Grand Elder?”

Linley nodded slightly, continuing to watch the two battle in the distance. “That Lancelot should be unbeatable in terms of material defense, due to possessing a defensive Sovereign artifact, and he is also extremely skilled in soul defense. Thus, to break through his soul defense is also very hard. This person...is a very powerful commander.”

Lancelot was, indeed, virtually flawless.

He trained in the Laws of Lightning and was thus very fast. He was strong in every single aspect. Even amongst the many commanders of the universe, he was considered a high class one.

“However...” Linley laughed. “Bebe, you perfectly counter him.”

To resist Bebe’s innate divine ability, ‘Godeater’, one had to either be a Paragon or have a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact. This Lancelot had met his black star! Normally, Lancelot’s soul defense should be considered incredibly powerful, but unfortunately...Bebe’s innate divine ability wasn’t something which a normal soul attack could compete with.

“Haha, Boss, leave’m to me.” Bebe grew excited.

“The battle is about to end.” Linley sent mentally.

Indeed, the white-robed youth, ‘Roland’, was in a completely inferior position. The violet-robed Lancelot launched a final material attack, causing Roland’s entire body to blow apart.

“Haha...” Lancelot laughed as he walked over, snatching up a golden badge as well as an interspatial ring from the ground.

Right at this moment...

“Who!” Lancelot barked irritably while turning his head. He could already sense that there were movements nearby, but he didn’t care too much. There were very few, even amongst the commanders, capable of killing him.

“Eh?” What Lancelot saw stunned him.

He saw a black blur flying towards him at high speed, while at the same time, in midair, the enormous illusion of a Godeater Rat appeared. The Godeater Rat illusion was staring coldly at him, and when Lancelot saw this, his face couldn’t help but change. “Beirut?! Ah!!! NO!!!”

Lancelot had gone completely mad.

He had almost no weaknesses, but that was only against the vast majority of commanders. It didn’t mean he was completely flawless. If he was completely perfect and flawless, why would he even need to come to the Planar Battlefield? Beirut’s innate divine ability, ‘Godeater’, was extremely famous, and it perfectly countered people like Lancelot. Against this technique, all would perish, save those who had soul-protecting Sovereign artifacts and Paragons.

This was how dominating innate divine abilities were!

Lancelot didn’t understand. The legendary Beirut had a body which was even tougher than divine sparks, could use his bare hands to clash against Sovereign weapons, and who had a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact. He was that sort of completely flawless supreme expert with no weaknesses. Someone like him...already stood at the very top of the universe.

Why did he have to come to the Planar Battlefield?

Lancelot didn’t understand!

But...he wouldn’t have a chance to understand in the future either!

A unique rippling power spread across his soul, and in the face of this attack, his soul defense wasn’t able to do a single thing.

Lancelot stood there, stunned. That sinister look would never again flash past his green eyes. He seemed completely wooden...and then, with a ‘bang’ sound, he collapsed against the ground. A divine spark drifted out, along with a golden badge which emerged from his body, along with a dark golden armor.

“A gold badge and a defensive Sovereign artifact.” Linley’s eyes lit up.

Linley and Bebe transformed into two blurs, immediately collecting the golden badge, the defensive Sovereign artifact, and the interspatial rings.

“Let’s hurry and leave. We can’t tarry here.”

Linley and Bebe didn’t stay to do a thorough investigation, instead immediately leaving.