Book 19, Metamorphosis – Chapter 36, Blood Binding, Crown

Lupe trained in the Laws of the Earth, and had fused five of them.

Of the six profound mysteries of the Laws of the Earth, the only one he had not been able to fuse with the others was ‘Gravitational Space’. He had completely fused the other five. After having fused ‘Vitality’, ‘Worldwalking’, ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’, ‘Strength’, and ‘Essence of the Earth’, he created an extremely powerful Worldwalking technique, while devising a way so that his spiritual energy would form a continuous loop within his mind, not letting a single hint of his aura leak out.

He had reached an exceedingly high level in stealth and fleeing.

However, whenever there is a gain, there is a loss; his saber attacks contained only four fused profound mysteries. As for ‘Worldwalking’, there was no way for him to fuse that into his saber.

“Whoosh!” Lupe moved through the ‘Blackstone Space’ like a slippery fish, constantly moving about at high speed.

But Linley easily moved to follow him, always blocking in front of him.

“It’s uncertain who will be the one to die.” Lupe growled mentally, and the warblade in his hand silently sliced through the air, chopping towards Linley’s skull. In the instant that Linley’s ‘Mirage’ godspark sword collided with the warblade, with a ‘bang!’, the saber’s energy exploded outwards.

“Bang!”

One saber, one sword!

Linley’s body trembled slightly as he retreated. “Haha, excellent!” Linley laughed loudly, then charged forward again, but unfortunately for Lupe, his weapon was slightly inferior to Linley’s godspark sword.

“He’s relying on his weapon.” Lupe also realized that Linley’s weapon was extraordinary. Feeling resentment, Lupe’s eyes turned cold, and suddenly, his index finger and middle finger of his left hand suddenly struck out, and a translucent sword-finger ray shot towards Linley, at a speed so fast that it directly entered Linley’s mind.

This was a soul attack!

“Haha...Lupe, it’s best if you don’t show off that bit of soul attack prowess you have.” Linley didn’t even care about it. Experts of the Laws of the Earth were never skilled in soul attacks to begin with, and Lupe himself didn’t specialize in soul attacks either. How powerful could his attacks be? Linley, just by relying on his spiritual energy alone, was able to defeat the attack.

Lupe had only attacked in such a way due to having no other options.

“Is that so?” Lupe laughed coldly, his attacks becoming all the wilder. Linley was more than happy to accompany him in the fight.

“Clang!”

Linley and Lupe’s forms constantly exchanged blows, but clearly, the two were on par. As Linley saw it, Lupe’s power amongst commanders really was towards the lower end as well. “He doesn’t even have a single Sovereign artifact; indeed, his only option is to rely on ambushes. However, it is worth my time to learn his sort of stealth techniques.”

Linley could guess that Lupe had definitely fused ‘Worldwalking’ amongst his profound mysteries.

In addition, that saber blow which held the power in abeyance, then made it all explode forth at once.

“This saber blow can be said to have mastered and executed the Profound Mysteries of Strength to a perfect level.” Linley continued to exchange blows with Lupe, with the intentions of training his swordplay. As for Lupe, his goal was to seize any opportunity to kill Linley and thus get a chance of escaping this battle.

“Slash!”

Linley’s sword shot out.

Lupe actually delivered a backhanded blow with his saber, sliding his saber against the flat of Linley’s sword and pressing down with a blow towards Linley’s body.

“Oh? He’s really going all out.” At this critical moment, only a ‘swish’ was heard and an azure-golden blur seen as Linley’s draconic tail, carrying a terrifying surge of force, smashed viciously against the warblade. In terms of toughness, Linley’s draconic tail wasn’t weaker than Highgod artifacts at all.

The warblade was knocked off-balance. “Slash!” It originally would have struck Linley on his head, but now, it slashed Linley on the chest. After having been struck by the draconic tail, the blow of this saber was now weaker; it just barely broke through the scales, drawing forth a hint of blood.

“Slash!”

Linley’s Mirage sliced through Lupe’s head, severing it from his body.

Once one’s head was separated from one’s body, that was virtually a guarantee of death! After all, even though the spirit might be present, the body could no longer be controlled to fight back; it was as good as defeat.

“You were pretty vicious, but the end result was your death.” Linley looked at the flying head.

“If I had a Sovereign artifact, the result would definitely be different.” Lupe’s head bellowed. He knew that he had to die.

“Swish!” Linley’s Mirage flashed with light, and Lupe’s voice came to a halt, and a thin red line appeared through his head.

At this moment, Lupe’s Highgod artifacts, interspatial ring, and a gold badge all fell out.

“If you had a Sovereign artifact, the results would be different?” Bebe flew over, chuckling. “Everyone can say that. If my Boss had a Sovereign-level soul protecting artifact, defensive artifact, and weapon, aside from Paragons, who would he fear?”

Linley shook his head and sighed to himself.

This world was a world where the strong devoured the weak. Strength was exalted. People had to rely on their own abilities to acquire Sovereign weapons as well!

Only the strong would be valued and be made Emissaries, and be bestowed a Sovereign artifact. Only the strong would acquire sufficient military merits and be able to trade for a Sovereign artifact. Everything depended on individual effort. As for the children of Sovereigns, they did indeed have a great advantage, but sometimes luck, too, was part of one’s power.

“This Lupe’s ambushing abilities weren’t bad. Unfortunately, once the battle really begins, he’s definitely one of the weakest commanders. It makes sense that a Sovereign wouldn’t select him as an Emissary.” Linley shook his head and sighed. “Thus, as far as the profound mysteries go, even amongst those who have fused five profound mysteries, there are still differences in power.”

There were six profound mysteries of the Laws of the Earth. Upon fusing five of them, there were six possible fusion results, with the different fusions resulting in different specialty areas.

“This commander badge was fairly easy to acquire.” Linley collected the gold badge, feeling joy in his heart. “I now have three badges. I’m only lacking for one more.”

“Bebe, let’s go.”

Linley and Bebe moved at high speed, leaving the scene of the battle.

A place like the Planar Battlefield was a place where the experts who entered had to be mentally prepared for death. Some experts had to die in order for others to live.

Deep within the heart of an ordinary, large mountain in the Planar Battlefield. Linley and Bebe had carved out a cave for them to temporarily live in. This cave was separated from the outside world by hundreds of meters of mountain rocks; generally speaking, commanders wouldn’t be able to use their divine sense to scan inside here.

But of course, there were three exceptions.

One was if they used Sovereign power to do the scanning.

The second was a Highgod Paragon. They had very large scanning ranges as well.

As for the third, that was Highgod Soul Mutates. Soul Mutates had very special souls, and their souls were generally far stronger than the souls of ordinary Highgods. But of course, there were differences amongst Soul Mutates as well. The chances of a successful soul mutation with two different types of divine power was decent; the vast majority of soul mutates were in possession of two types of divine power, with Olivier being on this level as well. But virtually all individuals who had three types of divine power and yet underwent a soul mutation would die. In the entire Infernal Realm, there was only a single person who successfully underwent and survived a soul mutation with three types of divine power. And as for the soul power of three-power Soul Mutates, it was extraordinarily great!

As for those who underwent a soul mutation while having access to four types of divine power, in the countless planes of the universe, over the countless years, there had never been a single successful case. No one had any idea what the result would be, if a person with four types of divine power underwent a soul mutation.

Within the cave.

Linley was hefting that tattered crown, staring carefully at it and inspecting it. The crown didn’t have a hint of luster to it; if he tossed it into a rubbish pile, even if a Deity noticed it, they wouldn’t pay it any attention.

The nearby Bebe stared at it as well. After a long time, he mumbled, “Boss, is there something special about this tattered crown? Why can’t I see anything special about it? It makes me feel as though it is just an ordinary item.”

“It isn’t.”

Linley shook his head. “Still, I can’t see anything special about it either.”

When Linley had received that surge of unusual energy from the crown, it had healed his wounds. In addition, this thing had flown out from chaotic space; Linley naturally was certain that it was extraordinary.

“I know it’s not ordinary; anything that can survive in and fly out of chaotic space is either a godspark weapon or a Sovereign artifact.” Bebe stared carefully at the crown. “But for it to be in the shape of a crown...as I see it, it should be a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact.” This was Bebe’s judgment.

“If it really is a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact, given how tattered it is, it should be a damaged Sovereign artifact.” Linley laughed.

If the master of a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact was still alive, there was no way that the Sovereign artifact could be damaged! A damaged soul-protecting Sovereign artifact meant that the defenses of the artifact had been breached, and the master had died!

“There’s only one option right now.” Linley nodded slightly as he spoke.

“Boss, quick, give it a try.” Beb urged.

The only option was...to bind it with blood!

Linley stretched out his index finger. With but a thought, a drop of fresh blood oozed out of his skin, then dripped down onto the crown.

“Eh?” Bebe stared.

“Eh?” Linley frowned.

The drop of blood hit the crown...and it then it splattered and rolled down onto the ground.

“It wasn’t absorbed?” Linley was puzzled.

“What’s going on? This thing has an owner?” Bebe frowned.

Linley pondered for a moment, then nodded. “There’s one possibility. The owner of the crown might have been fighting in the Planar Battlefield, and then died, with the Sovereign artifact falling into chaotic space. However, the owner of the crown still has a divine clone outside, and so there is no way to bind it with blood.”

“Makes sense! Ah, wait! Boss.” Bebe suddenly said. “This crown is damaged, but there is no way for chaotic space to damage a Sovereign artifact, right? There is no way for Highgods to damage Sovereign artifacts either.”

Linley was stunned. He couldn’t help but nod slightly.

When Highgods did battle, generally speaking, after one died, the Sovereign artifact would be completely undamaged. There was no way for the power of a Highgod to damage a Sovereign artifact.

“Can it be that the owner of this crown was a Sovereign?” This was Linley’s guess. “This crown was then damaged in a battle between Sovereigns, just like my Coiling Dragon ring?”

“If it was a Sovereign, then, the Sovereign definitely must have fallen.” Bebe said. “If the Sovereign fell, the other Sovereign who killed him definitely wouldn’t have spared his clones; he definitely would have pulled up the grass by the roots. This crown should then be an ownerless item. It should be bindable by blood.”

Linley didn’t understand either.

He was able to bind the Coiling Dragon ring with blood, but not this crown.

Still, for now, this was all speculation.

“Forget it.” Linley shook his head. “Bebe, if we can’t figure it out, let’s not worry about it. Long story short, there’s no way to bind it with blood. Perhaps...this crown isn’t a Sovereign artifact at all.”

“What else, besides a Sovereign artifact, can survive in chaotic space?” Bebe mumbled.

Linley and Bebe couldn’t understand it. Based on the knowledge available to them, the only thing that could survive in chaotic space, aside from Sovereign artifacts and godspark weapons, was perhaps divine sparks! As for ordinary materials made of ores or metals, there was no way they would be able to survive in chaotic space.

Unable to get a clear understanding of the crown, Linley had to give up for now. He stored it back into his interspatial ring, and then, based on his earlier line of thoughts, began to train. Only three hundred years remained from now until the final battle of the Planar War. Linley wanted to make a breakthrough in advance.

“That blade blow of Lupe’s...”

Completely storing up all the power, and then letting it all explode forth with amazing force.

“The fists of Hemmers...”

That utterly unblockable punch...it continued to swirl about Linley’s consciousness.

“That spiked mace of the golden-robed man...”

Linley carefully pondered the attacks of that spiked mace as well.

Over the past few years, he had encountered many experts of the Laws of the Earth, such as the Redcliff Lord or Bailey...

Every single one of those experts of the Laws of the Earth had analyzed and developed a supreme technique that belonged to them. But those were their techniques, not his! Still, Linley wanted to discover some of the secrets behind those supreme techniques, hoping to find something which would help him suddenly break through the bottleneck he was facing. And just like that, Linley began to tirelessly analyze them.

Bebe, utterly bored, just rested there within the cave, his eyes half-lidded as he occasionally munched on fruit. He was currently controlling a Deathgod Golem outside. “It has been three years, but we only encountered a single person. And that person wasn’t someone that was easy to deal with. The weaker people have all hidden away, as cowardly as rats. Uh...wait. I’m a rat as well.”

Bebe suddenly turned to look at Linley.

“Huh?” Bebe’s eyebrows rose slightly.

A large amount of earth elemental essence suddenly appeared around Linley’s body. Slowly, with Linley at the center, it formed into an earthen yellow sphere.

“What’s going on with the Boss?” Bebe didn’t understand.

“Whoosh!”

Very strangely, the earthen yellow aura suddenly contracted, from a size of three meters to just a tiny dot. This sort of high-speed contraction actually caused a spatial tremor, and the ripples from this tremor caused the stones nearby which were within the cave to instantly transform into dust. The entire cave had just transformed into a giant sphere.

At this moment, Linley opened his eyes, a hint of a smile on his face.

“Boss? You...broke through?” Bebe guessed.

Linley looked at Bebe. He nodded slightly.