Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 1, Training Speed

“Rumble…” The waves of the Starmist Sea struck against the shores of Miluo Island. The clan leader of the Bagshaw clan, Bakwill, watched alongside Uriah and the others as Linley’s group boarded their metallic lifeform, beginning their journey towards the Bloodridge Continent.

The metallic lifeform had once more transformed into a ship. On the front of the ship.

“We finally left.” O’Brien let out an emotional sigh.

“Right. We left.” Cesar repeated. “I’ll forget this place. Forever!” Linley glanced at Cesar. Previously, Cesar had asked him to help investigate what had happened to Cecily. Although Linley had discovered that the situation seemed off, and that it was uncertain whether or not Cecily was still alive…

He still told Cesar that Cecily was perfectly fine and still living in the clan estate.

“Perhaps this way, Cesar will feel a bit better.” Linley said to himself.

“We’re finally leaving. Father, we’re finally leaving.” The elder Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lion, ‘Cleo’, was extremely excited as well. In the past, he and his brother had no idea that their father had been under soul domination. Only now did they know.

They felt a surge of terror just thinking about it.

“Right. We’re leaving. We’ve escaped.” Dylin stared into the distant southeastern skies, not turning at all. He would most likely never return to Miluo Island ever again.

“Screeech!” An ear-piercing sound suddenly shook the heavens.

Linley turned to look. It was Tarosse. Tarosse’s head was raised, and he was emitting an ear-piercing screech, his entire body trembling. After a long time, he finally ceased his howling. Tarosse turned to look at Linley, his eyes slightly red. “Linley. I won’t say too much about this great kindness you have shown me. Thank you.”

Someone who had never been soul dominated would never understand how Tarosse and Dylin were currently feeling.

“Haha, let’s go. Let’s go to the Bloodridge Continent. Let’s go to the Indigo Prefecture.” Linley held Delia by the hand.

Their trip over the Starmist Sea was very calm. They occasionally met a few bandits, but given the power of Linley’s squad, the Highgods amongst them only had to show themselves and the bandits were immediately terrified and would flee.

This trip was an uneventful one.

Within the ship cabin.

Linley was seated in the meditative stance in a corner. His original body as well as his three divine clones were all in this state. After this last experience, Linley realized what his greatest weakness was. His soul!

It wasn’t that his profound mysteries in terms of soul defense was weak!

At present, he had fused the Throbbing Pulse of the World, Gravitational Space, and the Essence of the Earth. His soul defense, in terms of profound mysteries, wasn’t weak. The biggest problem was his foundation; in other words, the strength of his soul!

The power of a God’s soul, in quality, was far weaker than that of a Highgod’s soul. Although Linley, through using soul-related profound mysteries, had soul defense comparable to that of an ordinary Highgod, and also had that damaged soul-protecting Sovereign artifact…it was precisely because of that Sovereign artifact that Linley was able to roam the Starmist Sea, slay Ganmontin, and slay so many Highgods. If he didn’t have it, how could Linley, a mere God, possibly be so strong?

Sovereign divine artifacts were simply too powerful.

“Right now, my number one target must be to reach the Highgod stage as soon as possible.” Linley knew where he needed to develop himself. “Once I become a Highgod, I can once again refine a large amount of amethysts, and with amethysts as well as the natural Highgod boost, my soul power will increase tens of times over! Once that happens, as long as I only need to defend that flaw in the soul-protecting Sovereign artifact, I won’t need to be afraid of even a Seven Star Fiend skilled in soul attacks.”

Linley knew all of this very well.

It might perhaps be easier for someone at the God level to fuse profound mysteries, as upon reaching the Highgod level, the difficulty level would rise greatly.

But at the same time, fusing a large number of profound mysteries as a God also took an astonishing amount of time. For example, the ‘Worldwalking’ profound mystery of the Laws of the Earth, up till now, still hadn’t yet even begun to be fused with any of the other three profound mysteries, much less completely fused.

“I currently have three types of profound mysteries. If I need to fuse four of them, it seems that I would have to thank my lucky stars to be able to fuse them in even ten thousand years.”

“Right now, I’ve gained a basic understanding of the ‘Profound Mysteries of Strength’. I need to hurry up and master the ‘Profound Mysteries of Strength’, and then I’ll train in the final ‘Vitality’ mystery. Once all six are completed, I will be a Highgod. By then, my power will grow dramatically! In terms of material defense or soul defense, I won’t have any glaring weaknesses. I’ll be able to deal against most Seven Star Fiends.”

Linley knew that upon becoming a Highgod, it was still possible to fuse profound mysteries. Only, the difficulty level would rise exponentially.

“Once I become a Highgod, I can continue to slowly fuse them.”

As long as one became a Highgod on one’s own, there was still hope for fusing.

“I need to thank Mosi. If it hadn’t been for his sledgehammer blow, who knows how long it would have been before I would have gained basic insight into the Profound Mysteries of Strength?” Linley quieted his mind, allowing his original body as well as his divine earth clone to whole-heartedly delve into training in the ‘Profound Mysteries of Strength’.

Right now, Linley was favoring the Laws of the Earth.

As for the Elemental Laws of the Wind, Linley had only begun to train in five profound mysteries. He had four more that he needed to train in, and the amount of time that took was astonishing as well.

As for the Elemental Laws of Fire, Linley’s divine fire clone, till now, was still not even at the God level.

“Training in the Elemental Laws of Fire is simply too slow.” Linley now had an even greater appreciation for the importance of talent.

If one was talented, then one would train faster, such as Linley with the Laws of the Earth and the Laws of the Wind. In less than a thousand years, Linley had reached the level of learning five of the Laws of the Earth.

But if one’s talent was poor…

Although there was no bottleneck yet, Linley still had yet to even master a second profound mystery of the Elemental Laws of Fire.

Breaking through bottlenecks required insights, luck, and comprehension ability.

However, normal training was reliant on talent.

Linley’s elemental affinity for ‘earth’ and ‘wind’, based on the test that had been done when he was young, was ‘exceptional’! As for ‘fire’, it was only ‘average’. As for the others, his affinity was very low.

Clearly, Linley had the greatest chance of becoming a Highgod soon through his divine earth clone. His divine earth clone’s power was clearly more powerful, and so naturally, with even his original body training in the Laws of the Earth, his training speed became even faster.

The Starmist Sea. Endless and boundless. Occasionally, an island would be seen.

“Rumble…” The metallic lifeform continuously advanced through the waves.

Linley and Delia were currently shoulder-to-shoulder, staring towards the southeast. Next to them was Olivier, Bebe, O’Brien, Dylin, Tarosse, Cesar, and others. They all had smiles on their faces.

From afar, they saw a hint of a line that was extremely, extremely long. The line was a shore.

“The Bloodridge Continent. We finally arrived!” Linley was incomparably excited.

After heading out from Miluo Island, they had travelled for twenty three years, and now, they were finally at the Bloodridge Continent.

“We’re at the Bloodridge Continent now. The Indigo Prefecture won’t be far away.” Bebe’s eyes were shining. “Boss, I remember that on that map, it seemed as though the Indigo Prefecture wasn’t too far away from the sea shore. Ohoho, after nearly seven hundred years, we are almost there, finally.”

Linley and Delia held each other’s hands tightly, staring towards the shore.

“Linley, once we arrive at the Bloodridge Continent, shall we head directly for the Indigo Prefecture, or to accept another escort mission headed towards the Indigo Prefecture?” Olivier looked at Linley. After all, this was what Linley had done in the past.

“No need.”

Linley shook his head. “In the past, I was weak and was afraid of trouble. Now, we’ll head straight for Indigo Prefecture. No need to fear anything on the way over.” Linley was now extremely confident in himself, and his squad had quite a few Highgods.

In addition, Tarosse was an expert on the level of a Six Star Fiend as well.

The metallic lifeform moved forward at a very fast pace. Soon, it reached the continental shelf. Immediately, the ‘ship’ shaped metallic lifeform transformed into a panther-shape, flying in the air above the Bloodridge Continent.

The Bloodridge Continent was similar to the Redbud Continent.

Various tribes were scattered everywhere, and bandits were scattered everywhere as well. Battles could occur at any moment. But of course, no bandit squad would dare offend Linley’s squad.

“Linley, how is your training progressing?” Tarosse laughed.

On the way over, Tarosse and Dylin had finally learned that Linley was only a God. As for how a God could release such astonishing power, Linley just gave a fairly general explanation.

However, Tarosse and Dylin could tell that this all had to do with the Amethyst Mountains.

“Not bad. I’ve reached the later stages of the Profound Mysteries of Strength.” Linley revealed a hint of a smile on his face. “Unfortunately, I still haven’t even gotten a basic understanding of the Profound Mysteries of Vitality.” This was what frustrated Linley the most. ‘Vitality’.

Based on the book which had given him a general description of the various profound mysteries, the ‘Vitality’ mystery was one of the unique profound mysteries of the Laws of the Earth, and was exceedingly hard to gain insight into.

For each profound mystery, getting basic insights as well as breaking through the final bottleneck to mastery was the two hardest steps. If one was slow, one could be stuck for a million years, and that would be considered normal.

“No rush. Perhaps you’ll gain a sudden insight soon.” Tarosse laughed.

Linley laughed and nodded as well. It was true. For example, he had suddenly gained an insight into the ‘Profound Mysteries of Strength’, and so he had gained a basic understanding.

“Your training speed is already very impressive. You’ve trained for less than a thousand years, and yet you’ve gained insights into five of the six profound mysteries of the Laws of the Earth. And, more importantly…you’ve fused three of them.” Tarosse was quite admiring of Linley.

Tarosse himself had only fused two profound mysteries, and had relied on his innate divine ability, along with those two profound mysteries, to reach the power level of a Six Star Fiend.

“Hey, Tarosse, that goes without saying. My Boss has always been awesome.” Bebe walked over as well and said arrogantly, “Look at you. You’ve been training for I don’t even know how many years, but you’ve only fused two profound mysteries. Hmph.”

Tarosse couldn’t help but laugh. “Bebe, don’t be so smug. You train in the Laws of Darkness, right? I want to ask you, of the six profound mysteries of the Laws of Darkness, how many have you trained in, and how many have you fused? As I recall, you’ve been training with Linley for about the same length of time.”

“Haha…” The nearby O’Brien and Cesar both began to laugh.

Linley couldn’t help but begin to laugh towards Bebe as well.

Everyone knew that Bebe didn’t have any patience for training. At most, he’d be able to calm his mind and train for a year or so, after which he’d begin to get restless. With an attitude like that…no matter how talented he was, if he didn’t work hard, how could he improve?

“Tarosse, you know that’s just how Bebe is, and yet you ask him this question?” Dylin said.

Bebe was so angry, even his nose was trembling. “Right. I haven’t even fused a single profound mystery!”

“Bebe, enough. Don’t be angry.” Linley laughed as he patted Bebe on the shoulder, but Bebe raised his head proudly. “But of the six profound mysteries of the Laws of Darkness, I, Bebe, have gained insights into four of them!”

Everyone within the cabin immediately fell silent.

Linley wondered if he was hearing things. He couldn’t help but look at Bebe. “Bebe, what’d you say?” Linley remembered quite clearly that Bebe hadn’t spent much time training. Normally, he would just mess around, and only occasionally would he train.

“Bebe, say it again. I suspect I misheard.” Tarosse said, and even Dylin and Olivier were looking at Bebe.

Neither Dylin nor Olivier had, as of yet, successfully mastered four profound mysteries.

“Listen up, and listen clearly.” Bebe raised his eyebrows smugly, then said loudly, “I, Bebe, despite not having fused a single profound mystery, have already mastered four of the six profound mysteries of the Laws of Darkness, and am currently training in a fifth!”

Linley himself had only mastered four of the profound mysteries of the Laws of the Earth, and was currently working on the fifth.

“Bebe, it’s fine if you are slow in training, but you can’t just make things up.” Cesar said.

“Make things up?” Bebe was so angry, his eyes bulged out.

Bebe flipped his hand, and darkness-type elemental essence swirled around, forming a black serpent which wrapped around Bebe’s arm. It even emitted a hissing sound, as though it were real.

“This is the Essence of Darkness.” Bebe said smugly. “See it?”

“You knew that one all along.” Olivier laughed.

Bebe’s body flickered, and instantly, dozens of doppelgangers of Bebe appeared within the cabin. Everyone remained calm; they all knew that Bebe was in possession of the Shadowshape Doppelganger technique.

“Hmph.”

Bebe suddenly let out a cold snort.

Very bizarrely, one black tentacle after another emerged from Bebe’s body. Instantly, Bebe had become like an octopus, with the area around his body being filled by dozens of long, icy cold tentacles. The black, misty aura they emanated was exceedingly bizarre.

Linley was surprised, and everyone else was stunned.

Laws of Darkness – The Profound Mysteries of ‘Evil’.

“That was the third. This is the fourth.” Bebe’s body flickered, and those evil tentacles disappeared. Bebe reached out with his right hand, and from within it, a vortex appeared which seemed to be devouring everything around it, swallowing up even light itself. The area of darkness grew larger and larger.

Laws of Darkness – The Profound Mysteries of ‘Devour’.

Everyone in the cabin was speechless. Olivier, up till now, had only mastered two profound mysteries of the Laws of Darkness, and was currently researching a third. As for Dylin, he had only mastered three and was currently training in a fourth.

But Bebe had actually been faster than them.

“How is this possible?”

“Hmph. You actually didn’t believe me. Bebe! Let me tell you, it’s possible that tomorrow, I’ll have mastered the fifth one.” Bebe smugly adjusted his straw hat, his head raised proudly.

“Bebe, what’s this all about?” Linley was utterly puzzled.