Book 11, Necropolis of the Gods – Chapter 25, Entering the Eighth Floor
Even after one’s body was chopped into seven or eight pieces, it would still recover in one or two seconds.
Such a regenerative ability made the eyes of the surrounding experts all light up. To Saints, this sort of treasure was incomparably valuable.
“But it’s only of use to Saints. To Deities, toys like this are totally worthless.” The Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lion laughed.
Desri nodded as well. “Deities possess a divine spark, and their divine bodies are formed from divine energy. Even if they are badly wounded, as long as their souls aren’t destroyed, their body can be reborn even if reduced to nothingness.” The difference between Saints and Deities was enormous.
Linley and the others couldn’t help but sigh deep in their hearts.
The Deity-level!
Even someone as powerful as Linley, in front of a Deity, wouldn’t be able to fight back at all. A single step…but one which blocked countless Saints.
“Big brother.” The other Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lion said, “Even if a person puts this Pearl of Life into their body, and their soul is undamaged, they can still be killed. Have you forgotten what father said?”
The leader of the Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions nodded. “Oh, you are talking about the body being entirely destroyed?”
Linley, Desri, Fain, and the others all looked at the Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lion in confusion. The leading Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lion explained to Linley and the others, “The energy of this Pearl of Life can regenerate the body. In other words, you have to at least have a small part of the body left. Only then can the rest of your body be reborn from that part. If your entire body is destroyed, then you will die, of course.”
“Oh, so that’s what you mean.” Linley and the others now understood.
“But Linley…” The Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lion looked at Linley. “With the Pearl of Life, don’t end up being too arrogant. In the countless planes, there are many techniques that can used to utterly destroy an opponent’s body. Opponents who train in Elemental Laws of Fire and the Elemental Laws of Water all can accomplish such a thing.”
“I know.”
Linley laughed calmly. “The Elemental Laws are as vast as the ocean. I only know one or two drops of water in that ocean.”
“Your body is very tough, and you have a Pearl of Life. What you need to do is to focus your time improving your spiritual attacks and spiritual defenses.” The Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lion seemed to take great interest in Linley’s well-being. “There’s all sorts of spiritual-type attacks, and they number beyond counting. If you are incautious just a single time, then you’ll be done for.”
Linley nodded.
The soul was indeed a profound, abstruse thing.
For example, the Grand Magus Necromancer, Zassler, could easily command the undead, and even question the souls of others.
For example, Beirut, who was at such a level that even Saints such as Rudi and Dillon had their memories scanned, without them knowing a thing. A technique like this…was absolutely astonishing and unheard of. For experts such as him, directly controlling Saints would probably be extremely easy.
“In the past, when the Holy Emperor Heidens used his ‘Oracular Magic’ to attack me, my soul’s defense nearly collapsed. In the future, I need to be careful of this.” Linley said to himself.
Heidens, if placed amongst the countless ranks of Saints in the myriad other planes, was nothing more than average. There were far too many Saints who were more talented than him in spiritual attacks. Linley’s spiritual defensive power was actually inferior to even the likes of Saints such as Rosarie and Desri.
As least experts like Desri, when facing Heidens, wouldn’t have been nearly trounced so easily.
“Soul-based attacks include charms, hypnotism, paralysis, destruction, and all sorts of other techniques. There are forceful ones, and there are soft ones.” Desri sighed. “The more one studies this, the more one realizes how boundless and deep it is. In the past, the War God had said that the High Priest, with but a glance, could let us sink into an illusion, and if in the illusion we think that we have died, in real life, we really will have died and our soul will dissipate.”
“Oh?” Linley was greatly shocked.
The High Priest was this terrifying?
Rosarie chortled, “What can you do. After becoming a Deity, the weakest aspect one has is the spirit. Demigods, Gods, Highgods…all of them will spend their effort on studying the profound mysteries contained within the soul. After all, they don’t want to die.”
Fain laughed. “Linley, you had best bind this Pearl of Life with blood. Otherwise, we’ll all grow covetous as we stare at it.”
Chuckling, Linley immediately blood-bound it.
Immediately, this translucent Pearl of Life, glowing with a hazy green light, entered Linley’s body. Linley could clearly sense that his heart, his muscles, and his bones were all filled with boundless life force. Even if part of his body was severed, he would still quickly be able to heal.
Linley’s group was in no rush to go to the eighth floor. They first rested and made preparations here on the seventh floor. After all, once they entered the eighth floor, who knows what sort of terrifying creatures they would find there?
Off in the distance, Tulily was constantly training with using his scimitar.
It hadn’t been long since he had this Bloodshadow scimitar, and so he was now constantly testing how to best utilize its power. As for Olivier, Desri, and the others, they all sat off to the side, meditating quietly.
“I’ve been at the rank of Arch Magus of the ninth rank for so long, yet I still haven’t made a breakthrough.” Seated in the meditative posture on the sand, Linley sighed to himself. But he understood that something like this couldn’t be rushed. The more you tried to rush it, the harder it would be to break through.
Bebe was curled up on Linley’s leg, sleeping comfortably.
“Bebe.” Linley spoke. Wharton was his little brother. And Bebe…was also his little brother. Towards his family, Linley always had a protective instinct.
“Yeah, Boss?” Bebe raised his little head to stare at Linley.
Linley said softly, “Bebe, each layer of the Necropolis of the Gods grows more and more dangerous. I can no longer imagine what we will encounter when we go to the eighth floor, or what will happen! But Bebe, it’s best if you don’t go to the eighth floor.”
“Boss?” Bebe’s eyes instantly turned round.
“Bebe, is your defense stronger than the Flame Tyrant’s? Is your attack superior to his? Bebe…you are still growing. There’s no need for you to risk yourself like this.” Linley himself wasn’t afraid, but he was somewhat worried for Bebe.
“Boss, if you go, I go.” Bebe was very stubborn.
Linley shook his head. “That isn’t it. I have the Pearl of Life. It’s much safer for me. More importantly, I feel as though there is something in this Necropolis of the Gods which is waiting for me, which is calling to me.” Especially after actually entering the Necropolis of the Gods, Linley could even more clearly sense that calling sensation.
It was a call which set his soul a’strumming.
Whether it was because of his desire to train himself, or because it had to do with discovering the profound secrets of the Four Supreme Warriors, or because of the call to his soul, Linley didn’t want to retreat.
“Boss, I’ll go with you.” Bebe stared at Linley with his little eyes. “It’s just a bit of danger. What are you afraid of, Boss. In the past, when we were in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, we were so weak, but we even managed to survive the attack of the Armored Razorback Wyrm. When the Radiant Church pursued and tried to kill us, we still made it through. Back then, we were very weak, but we still weren’t afraid. Now that we are strong, are we going to start being afraid?”
“You better understand that I, Bebe, am really badass now!” Bebe stood up straight, intentionally puffing his little chest out.
Linley couldn’t help but laugh, but at the same time, he felt a surge of gratitude.
In addition, Linley couldn’t help but think back to his memories of his youth, when he and Bebe together ventured into the Foggy Gulch.
“Haha, fine. Whether we live or we die, we’ll do it all together.” Linley laughed as he hugged Bebe, and Bebe laughed as well.
They stayed at the seventh floor for seven days. Linley’s group came to the entrance to the eighth floor. The Grand Magus Saints, Desri and Rosalie, had already prepared defensive spells for themselves, while Linley had transformed into his Dragonblood Warrior form. Everyone was ready now.
“Everyone, be careful. Now…let’s head out!” Desri said.
Immediately, the eleven experts entered the tunnel into the black pyramid one by one. This tunnel was completely covered with black light. After walking for but a short while, Linley’s group arrived at the eighth floor.
“It is so similar to the third floor.” Linley stared at his surroundings.
The eighth floor of the Necropolis of the Gods had an extremely thick layer of ice as its ground. This was a world of ice. From afar, there were enormous glaciers and icebergs which gleamed with dazzling light. Only the cold, desolate wind howled across the landscape, blowing a few pieces of ice here and there.
Desri, Linley, Fain, Bebe, the three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions, and the other experts all carefully inspected their surroundings.
“Search for the exit.” Desri said softly while flying up.
The eleven experts began to fly together, beginning to stealthily search for the exit to the ninth floor. But of course, as they flew, they were very cautious, afraid of finding living creatures here on the eighth floor. But after flying for a long time…
“Hey…this eighth floor is strange.” Rosarie was puzzled. “We’ve been searching for such a long time. Why haven’t we seen a single living thing?”
Indeed.
In both the sixth and the seventh floor, as soon as they stepped in, they discovered living creatures, such as the ‘Magma Demons’ of the sixth floor, or the ‘child’ plants of the seventh floor. They were very easily discovered.
But here on the eighth floor, Linley and the others had flown for at least a thousand kilometers, but hadn’t seen a single living thing.
“This eighth floor is quite bizarre.” Fain was staring at his surroundings as well.
The three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions were also on their guard, constantly scanning the area, hoping to find any hints or clues.
Staring at the surrounding area, Linley lowered his voice to a whisper. “No matter what sort of creature this eighth floor has, it would be best if we could enter the ninth floor without disturbing it. Let’s look for the exit first.” The others all nodded in agreement.
If they could avoid a battle, that would be for the best.
Everyone continued to carefully search for the tunnel
Linley and the others were still worried that they might encounter the creatures of the eighth floor later, but….
“Whooooosh.” On the eighth floor, Linley and the group only heard the howling cold wind, and didn’t see any living creature at all. After flying for nearly an hour, they finally discovered the stairways, covered with black light. This was the exit to the ninth floor.
Linley, Desri, Olivier, Fain, and the other experts all exchanged glances, surprise and joy in their eyes.
“We really are lucky this time. We didn’t encounter a single creature before finding the exit.” Rosarie laughed softly.
The others laughed and nodded as well.
“Let’s go. We’re going to the ninth floor.” Fain said, somewhat excited. He immediately moved towards it.
But what none of the eleven experts had noticed was that on the slick, gleaming surface of a seemingly normal iceberg nearby the stairs, there was a black pattern. Suddenly…the black pattern exploded forth, revealing an eye that was at least three or four meters tall!
A golden eye!
“Bang!” The iceberg shattered apart with a boom, and from within it appeared a giant formed from ice. The only part of the giant that wasn’t formed from ice was that single, glowing golden eye. “Humans, you killed Lachapalle? That is truly excellent.”
This gigantic ice-man’s voice seemed to shake the eighth floor like thunder.
At the same time…
Fain, who had just walked towards the exit, suddenly discovered that the tunnel to the ninth floor became sealed by ice out of nowhere. The layer of ice was many meters thick.
Linley, Fain, Desri, and the others all simultaneously discovered this gigantic ice-man who had suddenly appeared, and they quickly flew back.
“What sort of creature is this?” Linley looked at the place on the face of the gigantic ice-man where its eyes should be, but unlike humans who had two eyes, this creature only had that single, golden glowing eye. Linley only cast a single glance towards the gold eye, but as he did, he felt as though his soul had suddenly suffered a powerful blow, and he instantly felt dizzy.
“You killed Lachapalle. I’m very happy about that. As your reward…I will only kill six of the eleven of you. The other five will be permitted to return to the seventh floor with your lives.” The gigantic ice-man’s voice was very gentle, as though he were a kindly old man.
Linley, Fain, Desri, and the others felt their hearts tremble.
“A Beholder? Careful, don’t look at its eye.” A Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lion growled.
Linley had recovered to his normal mental state by now.
“Beholder?” The gigantic ice-man laughed. “No. You shouldn’t refer to me as a Beholder. To be more precise…I am the ruler of the race of Beholders from the Bintelan [Bing’te’lan] plane. You can refer to me as the Beholder King.” The gigantic ice-man said brightly.
And then, its glowing golden eye stared down at the group of people below. “So I’m going to kill six of you. Um. I’ll start with you two humans first.”
As he spoke, the golden eye suddenly emitted two rays of nearly translucent gray light. The two rays of light were simply too fast, and the worst part of it was, neither Linley nor Olivier had dared to look at its golden eye. They only realized what had happened when the gray light had almost reached them.
It was too late!
“Pew!” “Pew!”
The two rays of gray light sank into the bodies of Linley and Olivier.