Book 11, Necropolis of the Gods – Chapter 9: The Necropolis’ Sculptures
“Rumble, rumble.” The sea roiled, and then four pathways into the sea appeared, and the High Priest, the War God, and the others all dove into the sea as well.
The eighty-plus human and magical beast experts didn’t hesitate at all, hurriedly entering the water.
“This deep sea is quite interesting.” Linley’s battle-qi was swirling around him. With his Pulseguard Defense, he was able to easily offset the outside water pressure. As for Linley himself, he curiously stared at the various scenes here, deep in the ocean. This was Linley’s first trip into the seas.
In the deepest part of the ocean, it was silent and pitch-black. The only things that could be seen were a few creatures that naturally radiated light.
Fain and Linley flew down together. Fain glanced at Linley, then his voice rang out in Linley’s mind. “Linley, in this vast expanse of land here in the South Seas, there are actually a great many magical beast, such as Aquatic Dragons, Dragon Turtles, Nine-Headed Serpents, Titanic Octopi...all of these are Saint-level magical beasts.” Fain naturally had the ability to engage in spirit-projecting communication.
Linley secretly nodded.
The South Seas were far larger than the Yulan continent in size. It would be unnatural if they didn’t contain a large amount of magical beasts in them.
“But even if the magical beasts of the depth drew near, upon seeing us, they would be so frightened they would immediately flee.” Fain smiled calmly as he mentally spoke to Linley.
Linley chuckled as well.
The group continued to fly deeper into the dark, silent depths of the sea, while at the same time, they enjoyed the sight of these rarely-viewed sceneries. Occasionally, an enormous magic beast would appear, but upon discovering that so many experts were descending, it would invariably be so frightened that it wouldn’t even dare to move.
The farther down they went, the greater the pressure was.
At the end, the pressure was so great, it was as though a small mountain was weighing down upon them. Fortunately, all of these people were amongst the most powerful Saints in the world, and thus they could take it. They would either cast magic spells, or use protective barriers of battle-qi. The rainbow of colors surrounding them was quite resplendent to behold.
“We’re at the sea floor.” The experts all came to a halt at the sea floor.
There were some life forms such as corals down here, which radiated a bit of light. The bottom of the sea was covered with rows upon rows of coral reefs, while the ground was not level, sometimes convex while other times concave. It could rise up to a height of hundreds of meters, and sink down so deeply that the bottom couldn’t be seen.
“Almost there.” Fain said mentally to Linley.
Linley nodded slightly.
Everyone continued to follow the leaders at the bottom of the sea. After travelling for several kilometers, they arrived at an enormous, pitch-black boulder. This pitch-black boulder stood by itself in the middle of a gorge, and in the water above the boulder, there was a translucent ‘door’ which was emitting strange ripples.
“Here we are.” The gravelly voice rang out in everyone’s ears.
Everyone stopped in front of this pitch-black boulder.
“Hrm? This ‘door’ seems quite similar to the ‘door’ of my pocket dimension. Only, it’s twice the size.” Linley was intrigued.
Lord Beirut’s voice could be heard in each person’s ears. “This interspatial door is the tunnel which leads to the Necropolis of the Gods. Normally, this interspatial door is shut and covered by a layer of invisible force.” As he spoke, Beirut’s body suddenly emitted a ray of black light.
This ray of black light struck directly against the interspatial door.
“Rumble...” The quiet sea floor suddenly began to shudder, and the previously translucent ‘door’ suddenly emanated with a blinding, dazzling light, as though a membrane had suddenly covered and sealed it.
But a few seconds later, it burst apart like a popped bubble.
“Pop!” With a very soft sound, the membrane collapsed.
“Follow me. All in at the same time.” Beirut flew to the interspatial door, and with one step, crossed through to the other side. As he did, Beirut completely disappeared from the line of sight from the people present.
The High Priest, War God, Dylin, and Cesar didn’t hesitate at all. They immediately entered the interspatial door as well, disappearing from line of sight.
“So the Necropolis of the Gods is actually another plane.” Linley now understood. “Only, the plane of the Necropolis of the Gods is connected to the Yulan continent’s plane.”
This was much like his pocket dimension. The hidden location of the Necropolis of the Gods was also linked up with the Yulan continent.
All of the experts present entered the interspatial door together, and Linley and Fain entered as well.
“What a strange vibration.” Linley could clearly sense that the moment he stepped across the interspatial door, he had a strange feeling, as though he were a person swimming in the water who suddenly stepped onto dry land. It was as though the entire environment had changed.”
The many experts had arrived at a different plane.
They were all still at the bottom of the sea. Only, it was the bottom of the sea of a different plane.
“What a strange feeling.” Linley had a sense of being ill at-ease upon entering this new dimension.
Fain drew near Linley and said to him spiritually, “Linley, in this plane, even my spiritual energy can only encompass ten or so meters. In addition, this plane is filled with countless experts. We can’t fall behind the others, as if we do, if we are surrounded by those countless magical beasts, we will die for certain.”
Linley was secretly shocked.
The group of people followed Beirut forward. Beirut wasn’t the slightest bit nervous, leading them flying for over ten kilometers.
“That mountain-sized building over there is the Necropolis of the Gods.” Fain drew near Linley yet again and spoke to him spiritually. Linley stared at that distant, massive structure. He couldn’t help but feel his heart shake. “This Necropolis of the Gods really is astonishingly large.”
Linley was certain that this Necropolis of the Gods was over a hundred kilometers away from them, but Linley could nonetheless make it out clearly.
“The Necropolis of the Gods is nearly twenty thousand meters tall, and each of the four sides of its base is over ten thousand meters long.” Fain spoke to Linley spiritually. He was very familiar with this Necropolis of the Gods.
“How was such an enormous edifice built?” Linley couldn’t help but sigh nonstop with praise.
Given their flying speed, the distance of a hundred kilometers was quickly reached. Once they drew near it, Linley began to sigh in amazement yet again. The reason he sighed in amazement...was because although the Necropolis of the Gods was primarily cuboid, the top of it still tapered off into narrow edges.
The Necropolis of the Gods had four sides, and the side facing Linley had a massive carving on it.
“Dragon?”
Staring at this twenty thousand meter high, ten thousand meter, massive carving, Linley saw that it was of an enormous, winding dragon. This dragon was different from the dragons of the Yulan continent’s plane, because this dragon didn’t have wings. And yet, the sculpture of the dragon gave off an aura of majesty which made others want to bow towards it.
“The four sides of the Necropolis have four different carvings.” Beirut’s voice rang out in everyone’s ears. “This side is of a massive dragon. It truly is the carving of a dragon. The opposite side is the massive carving of a white tiger. On the other two sides are massive sculptures of a phoenix and of a dragon-turtle.”
A massive dragon...a white tiger...a phoenix...and a dragon-turtle?
“Why does this Necropolis of the Gods have these four sculptures here?” Linley was puzzled.
Beirut patted Bebe, still in his arms. At this point, Bebe jumped off and scampered onto Linley’s shoulders. Beirut then laughed calmly and said, “These four massive sculptures represent four different parts of the Necropolis of the Gods. As for the side of the massive dragon, beneath it, there are a large number of smaller sculptures.”
Linley and the others saw it as well.
The massive sculpture of the dragon took up roughly 70%-80% of the entire area, while the other sculptures, all combined, only took up 10%. The rest was just blank.
“These sculptures...” Linley carefully inspected the smaller sculptures below the massive dragon. All of them, amazingly enough, were in the form of a dragon or serpent-type magical beasts. There was a certain rhythm and sequence to them as well.
“Judging from these small sculptures...” Beirut looked at the smaller sculptures as well. “This time, it seems that the guardian of the first eleven layers of the Necropolis of the Gods will be the divine beast, the ‘Ba-Serpent’.”
“The divine beast, ‘Ba-Serpent’?”
The eighty-plus experts of the Yulan continent’s plane were all very confused, but they all knew one thing...since it was termed as a ‘divine beast’, this ‘Ba-Serpent’ clearly had already reached the Deity-level. How would the Saints here possibly break past it?
“Ba-Serpent? Lord Beirut, but...how will they even stand a chance?” Dylin spoke.
Lord Beirut glanced at him, then laughed calmly. “This divine beast, ‘Ba-Serpent’, reached adulthood tens of thousands of years ago. From what I understand, it has already reached the level of being a full God. Let’s not discuss the Saints for now; even if the four of you went in, once you got into a fight with the Ba-Serpent, you would definitely die.”
The faces of the eighty-plus experts changed.
“Last time, the leader of the upper eleven floors was only a Two-Headed Vile Dragon from the Infernal Realm. I didn’t expect that this time, it would actually be the divine beast, ‘Ba-Serpent’. And a God level one at that.” Fain’s face was extremely sour.
Linley understood this as well.
This Necropolis of the Gods was for the group of Saints to enter. Even if the Deities entered, they wouldn’t enter alongside them. Given the power of Saints, upon encountering a full God, they would definitely die. There was no question about this whatsoever.
Lord Beirut laughed calmly. “Don’t worry. The path before you isn’t a path of certain death. First, let me explain some basics regarding the Necropolis of the Gods to you. The Necropolis of the Gods has a total of eighteen layers! The top ten layers definitely do not have divine sparks. From the eleventh layer onwards, there will definitely be corpses of Deities as well as divine sparks to be found.”
Many of the experts who had never been here before immediately had looks of joy on their face.
Hearing that there were divine sparks on the eleventh floor, many people immediately made the decision that they absolutely had to break through to the eleventh floor. Once they found a divine spark, they would become a Deity. The prerequisite, of course...was that they find the divine spark of a Demigod.
“The part of the Necropolis of the Gods which you are about to enter into has the divine beast, ‘Ba-Serpent’, as the leader of the top eleven floors. As for the twelfth floor and beyond...even Deities which enter it have a very high chance of death.” Lord Beirut laughed calmly, and the people who had unconsciously contemplating giving the twelfth floor a try immediately gave up the notion.
Beirut looked at the people present. “As for the Ba-Serpent, he might be on the first floor, or he might be on the eleventh floor. Regardless...he is definitely within one of the eleven floors.”
Linley couldn’t help but feel nervous.
“If we run into the Ba-Serpent, doesn’t that mean we are doomed?” Linley worried.
Beirut seemed to know what Linley was thinking. He explained, “Regarding the Ba-Serpent...the Ba-Serpent is fond of sleeping, and when asleep, a Ba-Serpent generally will not wake up, unless there is a huge commotion of some sort. If you encounter the sleeping Ba-Serpent on your floor, you’d best not wake him up, as otherwise, you would definitely die.”
Everyone present was secretly cursing in their heart.
Who would be idiotic enough to wake up the Ba-Serpent? But everyone knew as well that if the leader of these first eleven floors was the Ba-Serpent, then there would definitely be other barriers as well.
“The Ba-Serpent is fond of sleeping, but if the Ba-Serpent just so happens to be awake when your group enters...all you can do is blame your own terrible luck.” Lord Beirut explained.
The faces of all the experts present changed.
If they encountered the divine beast ‘Ba-Serpent’ while it was awake, most likely not a single one of them would be able to escape.
“Haha...” Lord Beirut laughed loudly. “All I can do is wish you good luck. Remember. The first eleven floors has more than just the divine beast, ‘Ba-Serpent’. It also has all sorts of other monsters, or undead creatures, or aberrations from other planes. There are quite a few creatures within that are much more powerful than even the most powerful of you.”
The faces of Fain and Desri were extremely solemn.
They knew this very well, because last time, they had suffered as a result of it.
“Remember. Be careful and be vigilant. Don’t be greedy.” Lord Beirut said. “If you die inside, I won’t be able to rescue you from outside either.”
As he spoke, Beirut’s hands flashed with two rays of black light which struck the bottom of the wall. Instantly, two gateways appeared there at the bottom of the massive wall. “Human Saints will enter through the left gateway, while magical beast Saints will enter through the right gateway. If you survive the first four floors, then...you’ll meet again on the fifth floor.”
Linley immediately understood.
The insides of the Necropolis of the Gods were very complex, and these two tunnels led to different paths through the first four floors. Only on the fifth floor would it all merge together.
“All of you, go inside now.” Beirut laughed calmly. “Remember. If you are afraid, you can just hide on the first floor, which has the least danger, and wait ten years. In ten year’s time, every single floor will have portals to the outside world appear, at which point you will be able to leave.”
Ten years!
Nobody hesitated. The human Saints and the magical beast Saints all separated into their own groups.
“Bebe, be careful.” Linley said mentally.
“Boss, you be careful too.” Bebe couldn’t bear to part from Linley either.