Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 27, Bestowal
Above Bloodbath Gorge, at the edges of the cliff. Arge group of people was standing here, with the leader being the Patriarch and the Grand Elder.
“What are they doing here?” Linley was somewhat puzzled.
Linley immediately flew over, but before he even had the chance to salute, the Patriarch, ‘Gison’,ughed and said, “Wee back, Linley!” By the side of the Patriarch was the Grand Elder, dressed in a long ck robe and wearing that silver mask.
“Well done, Linley.” The Grand Elder spoke as well.
“Linley, quite impressive. You killed two Seven Star Fiends. Admirable, admirable!” The nearby Elder Garveyughed loudly as well.
“Elder Linley’s very first act is so impressive.” The golden-haired Elder, ‘Forhan’,ughed brightly as well.
Faced with the praise of the Patriarch and this group of Elders, Linley was rather stupefied. “My clones as well as clones of the other squad members left behind in Bloodbath Gorge haven’t gone to inform the Patriarch or the Grand Elder of this matter yet.”
Because the trip back wasn’t too long of a trip, Linley had been nning to make the report upon returning.
Who would have imagined that the Patriarch and the Grand Elder already knew about it?
What he didn’t know...was that this sort of wonderful news pertaining to their nsmen would also be very quickly reported back to the Four Divine Beasts n by their intelligence agents.
“Enough. Everyone, don’t just stand here. Come. I’ve already ordered for a grand banquet to be prepared for celebration.” Gisonughed loudly, then looked at Linley. “Linley,e, walk with me.”
Linley immediately flew over.
Gison pped Linley on the shoulders, his face wreathed in smiles. “Well done.”
“Just luck.” Linley immediately said. If he had fought them head on, those two Seven Star Fiends definitely would have been stronger than him. Thus, he seeded only because he suddenly killed one, and then gathered his forces to join together to kill the other one.
“Why so humble?” Gisonughed.
“This time, I really was quite worried about him. I didn’t expect that the mission would bepleted even more perfectly than I could have hoped for.” The Grand Elder said.
Immediately, Gison, the Grand Elder, and Linley flew together in front of that group of Elders, as well as the lucky survivors of Squad Thirteen, straight into the depths of the Skyrite Mountains. After a long time, Linley’s group arrived at avishly, gray crystal pce.
Quite a few maidservants of the n were carrying tters in a steady stream into the pce.
The pce was very wide, and it was tens of meters high as well. Within the pce, there were nine stone pirs that were holding the ceiling up. The Patriarch and the Grand Elder flew straight to the front of the pce, then sat down together. In the n, the status of the Patriarch was just slightly higher than that of the Grand Elder.
However, in the n, the Patriarch and the Grand Elder were considered the highest level figures, while the other Elders were subordinate to them.
“All of you, take your seats.” Patriarch ‘Gison’ waved his hand andughed.
“Linley, you can take the seat of honor to the left.” Gison pointed to a seat, thenughed. “After all, today’s celebratory banquet is held in your honor.”
“Me?” Linley was stunned.
There were quite a few Elders more powerful than him, and his record of aplishments was still quite low.
“Linley, since the Patriarch told you to sit, then sit!” A silver-haired, cold-faced youth walked over, a rare smile on his face.
“Elder Blue.” Linley nodded, then sat.
As for this Elder Blue, he sat down directly next to Linley, in the secondary seat of honor on the left. Nobody dared say anything when he took this spot. After all, this Elder Blue was the n’s ‘Genius Elder’!
ording to legend, his power was only inferior to that of the Patriarch and the Grand Elder, and was vastly superior to that of the other Elders. One of the three ‘trump cards’ of the n!
In addition, when their ancestor, the ‘Azure Dragon’ was still alive, he doted dearly on Blue, and had spent arge amount of effort to strengthen Blue’s body, making Blue’s body extremely powerful.
“Our Four Divine Beasts n has battled with the eight great ns for ten thousand years, but such major victories have been very rare.” Seated at the front of the pce, Gison let out a sigh. Normally speaking, if one side felt they would be unable to win, they would immediately flee.
To kill a Seven Star Fiend who was trying to flee was very difficult. Killing two Seven Star Fiends in a row, with one’s own side suffering only minimal losses, was extremely rare.
“It’s rare to have such a magnificent victory. If we can kill two of their Seven Star Fiends every time, no matter how many experts the eight great ns have, they won’t be able tost against us.” Immediately, some Elders began tough.
The entire pce became filled with the sound ofughter.
“Linley, what is it?” Blue, seated next to Linley, realized that Linley wasn’tughing.
“I’m fine. I’m just thinking about Elder Arhaus, and the sacrifices of the many other Elders.” Linley sighed softly.
Immediately, quite a few Elders in the hall fell silent.
Over the past ten thousand years of nonstop battle, when they had ughtered the enemy Seven Star Fiends, their own side’s experts had been steadily dwindling as well. Six Star Fiends died in entire batches. The foundation of power which the n had built up over countless hundreds of millions of years was being steadily whittled away.
“What sort of attitude is this, all of you!” The Grand Elder barked.
Everyone couldn’t help but look at the Grand Elder.
The Grand Elder said coldly, “Even if our entire Four Divine Beasts n dies out, we won’t permit those eight clowns to besmirch the reputation of our n! When our ancestors were present, did those eight great ns dare to resist us? But now that the ancestor is dead, they’lle for revenge? Hmph. How can clowns like these possibly make our Four Divine Beasts n submit?”
“For the sake of the n, so what if we die?” Elder Blue said arrogantly as well.
“For the sake of the n!”
Linley, too, could sense the arrogance and pride of the many Elders in the pce. That they would rather die than submit.
As they saying goes, better to be a shattered piece of jade than an undamaged tile of brick!
“For the sake of the n?” Linley said quietly in his heart. When he was young, Linley had always wanted to retrieve the ancestral heirloom of the Baruch n, the warde ‘ughterer’. Linley had a deep sense of belonging towards the Baruch n.
Nowadays, although he had joined the Azure Dragon n and met countless nsmen who had the same draconic lineage as he did, and thus had a sense of belonging...
...Linley still couldn’tpletely understand that sort of pride and arrogance.
If Linley was in control of the n, he probably would have his nsmen all hide themselves within the Skyrite Mountains and wait for the day when they had a 90% chance of sess in gaining revenge before going and battling with the enemy.
“Perhaps...it’s because I never experienced the glory days of the Four Divine Beasts n.” Linley said to himself.
The arrogance of the Four Divine Beasts n came from countless years of being mighty. Countless years of glory. The illustriousness of the n had long ago been embedded in the hearts of every single Elder.
“Enough.” Gisonughed loudly. “Just look at those looks on your faces. Today is a day of celebration. Why are we all discussing those things? Come, let’s have a toast. Enough of that topic. Today, let’s just drink to our heart’s content and have a good celebration, a celebration for Linley’s victory!”
“Yes, let’s celebrate!” All of the Elders raised their wine sses while looking towards Linley.
Linley couldn’t help but feel the blood boiling in his veins. He, too, raised his ss, and each and every single member of Squad Thirteen, seated at the margins of the pce, all raised their cups as well.
“Cheers!” Gison said brightly.
“Cheers!”
Everyone in the pce replied, and they all downed their wine in one gulp.
During this banquet, nobody else raised any dispiriting matters. There had been far too many brutal, vicious happenings over the past few years. A good celebration was long past overdue. But this sort of happiness only made Linley feel all the more aware of the dreary sadness hidden behind this formerly unsurpassably powerful Four Divine Beasts n!
The dreary desteness of an ancient n which had fallen.
But although they had fallen, the n still had their pride! Even in the face of despair, they wouldn’tpromise at all! Anybody who wanted to attack the n in their moment of weakness would have to pay an enormous price as well!
The celebratory mood of the banquet finally came to an end, and each of the Elders left. Linley and the members of Squad Thirteen were about to leave as well.
“Linley. Stay.” The voice of the Patriarch came from the front of the pce.
Linley couldn’t help but feel puzzled, but he immediately instructed the members of Squad Thirteen, “You can go back first.”
“Yes, Captain.” Melina and the others all flew back.
Linley returned to the pce. The many tters within the pce were currently being taken away by the serving maids at high speed. Patriarch Gison walked down from his position at the front of the pce, then instructed, “Linley, let’s chat inside.”
“Yes, Patriarch.”
Linley followed Gison into a side room next to the pce.
The side room wasn’t veryrge. After Linley walked into it, he only heard a ‘squeak’ as the door actually closed automatically.
“Sit.” A hint of a smile was on Gison’s face.
Linley sat down, then asked, “Patriarch, is there something you need?”
“I made you an Elder, but I didn’t expect that during the Conve of Elders, they would actually have you go to Bloodbath Gorge. By the time I found out about it, I couldn’t order you toe back.” Gison sighed. “You are only a God. It isn’t very appropriate to have you in Bloodbath Gorge.”
Gison valued Linley very highly. One reason was because of Linley’s connection to his father, the ‘Azure Dragon’, while the other reason was because of the power which Linley had disyed.
“I originally thought that my younger sister wouldn’t give you any assignments, but who would’ve thought that she did?” Gison continued.
“The other Elders are all fighting on behalf of the n. How can I be an exception?” Linley said.
Gison’s eyes lit up. Laughing, he nodded. “Actually, my younger sister and I were both mistaken about each other. I had thought...that my younger sister wouldn’t send you to do battle. But my younger sister thought...that I had already given you Sovereign’s Might, and so you would be able to protect yourself. That’s why she sent you off.”
“Sovereign’s Might?” Linley said, puzzled.
“Right.”
Gison nodded as he spoke. “Generally speaking, anyone who can be an Elder of our Four Divine Beasts n would soon afterwards be bestowed a drop of Sovereign’s Might. But there must be an exnation given for this bestowal of Sovereign’s Might. You have to have aplished some sort of meritorious deed, at least. That matter between you and Emanuel? That was just causing trouble. Although you became an Elder, it wasn’t appropriate for me to bestow a Sovereign’s Might upon you right away.”
“But this time, you can be considered to have rendered great merits.”
With a flip of his hand, Gison revealed a drop of azure ‘water’. Contained within that azure water drop was a power that made one’s heart tremble.
“Today, I bestow upon you this drop of water-type Sovereign’s Might.” Gison said. As he spoke, the drop of Sovereign’s Might floated towards Linley. Linley, watching that drop of Sovereign’s Might float towards him, was utterly stunned.
Bestowing Sovereign’s Might to him?
He himself already had two drops. But of course, at a time like this, Linley couldn’t refuse.
“Thank you, Patriarch.” Linley hurriedly stretched his hand out, epting this drop of Sovereign’s Might.
Gisonughd and nodded. “Now that you have a drop of Sovereign’s Might, even if you run into some sort of critically dangerous situation, you’ll be able to stay alive. But Linley, unless the situation is truly critical, you cannot waste this drop of Sovereign’s Might. If you are forced to use it, you need to wipe out the enemy.”
Linley lowered his head to look at the drop of Sovereign’s Might.
This was a drop of the power of a Sovereign, but could it truly be used to save his life? Would it be able to defend against the soul attacks of others? Linley still clearly remembered that scene of how that Mosley executed his innate divine ability.
“Patriarch, can it be that Sovereign’s Might can be used to defend against soul attacks?” Linley hurriedly asked.
As Linley saw it, a Sovereign’s power should be to a Sovereign what divine power was to a Deity. It shouldn’t have much to do with the soul.
“Of course it can.” Gisonughed.
“How?” Linley said, puzzled. “It shouldn’t be possible for ordinary material force to block soul attacks, right?”
Gisonughed even harder. “Linley, are you under the impression that a Sovereign’s power is just the ‘advanced’ version of ‘divine power’?”
“Isn’t it?” Linley said, puzzled.
“Wrong.” Gison shook his head. “Sovereign’s Might is very unique. For example...it can actually strengthen our bodies.”
Gison took a deep breath, then said seriously, “Linley, that year, my father exined to me that after he became a Sovereign...his body only contained a single type of energy. Sovereign power!”
“What do you mean?” Linley said, puzzled. “Of course a Sovereign would have Sovereign power.”
“What I mean is...Sovereigns don’t even have spiritual energy!” Gison said.
“Wha?!” Linley was stupefied.
The soul was a person’s foundation. Anyone who had a soul would naturally have spiritual energy.
“Or, to be more precise, Sovereign power is the same as spiritual energy!” Gisonughed. “Thus, Sovereign’s Might is capable of not just being a material energy source, it can also be used an energy source for the soul.”
“Ah!?” Linley was shocked.
“You can rely on it to unleash material attacks, but you can also use it to unleash soul attacks. Naturally, you can also rely on it to block against soul attacks.” Gison said.