Book 11, Necropolis of the Gods – Chapter 11: Plant Lifeforms
“Not so loud.” Linley was extremely cautious. “See that massive green snake corpse down below?”
Barker glanced down, then nodded. Linley said solemnly, “This massive green snake had transformed to the size of a finger and had hidden itself on a tree leaf. It suddenly ambushed me. If I had been too arrogant and hadn’t been in Dragonform already, my Pulseguard Defense in human form definitely wouldn’t have been able to take it, and I probably would’ve lost my life.”
“That bad?” Barker couldn’t help but say in shock.
Linley’s face was extremely grave. Staring at the surroundings, he said in a suppressed voice, “According to what Desri said, these three tunnels in the Yulan continent all lead to three different Necropolis of the Gods, and this is the most dangerous one. In the past, Desri and the others had hidden on the fifth floor and waited there until the ten years were up.”
Barker clearly was rather shocked. “And to think I wanted to go to the eleventh floor.”
“The eleventh floor? Desri didn’t even dare to go to the sixth floor, and you want to go to the eleventh floor?” Linley looked seriously at Barker. “Barker, don’t think that just because your defense is high that you can be rash. This damnable place has all sorts of creatures from different planes. There might be one that is perfectly suited for countering your abilities. If you aren’t careful, your life would be gone.”
“Do you remember what Desri said? If we are just the slightest bit avaricious, we would be lucky to see ten of us survive, out of the eighty plus total.” Linley glanced at Barker. “If only ten were to survive, I expect that five of them would be the Five Prime Saints, as well as the others who had already come here. As for me, if I’m not careful, I might die here.”
Hearing Linley’s words, Barker immediately grew much more cautious.
After all, in terms of who would be able to survive, those who had come before naturally had a higher chance of survival. In addition, amongst the eighty plus experts, there were the likes of the three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions and the terrifying magical beasts of the Forest of Darkness. When factoring in the human experts as well, there were definitely more than ten people who were as strong or stronger than Barker.
“Let’s go.” Linley whispered.
“Right.” Barker immediately followed Linley. The two of them travelled very carefully, Bloodviolet and the greataxe in their respective hands, prepared to do battle at all times.
This actually made many of the powerful creatures in the forest decide not to attack them.
“Lord Linley, in this place, there are far too many thistles and far too much foliage. We can’t even clearly tell which direction we are going in.” After flying for a long time, both of them grew impatient. From the outside, the Necropolis of the Gods had seemed to only be ten thousand meters long, but inside, the space had expanded so dramatically.
Linley and the others could only stare in amazement at this.
“Don’t worry. Be calm. Search calmly.” Linley whispered.
Suddenly...“Ah!!!” A fierce, agonized scream could be heard from afar, and ravaged pieces of leaves blasted out from afar as well.
Linley and Barker glanced at each other, then quietly moved towards the direction of the battle. Soon, the two discovered an astonishing sight; an enormous flower was wrapped itself around and ‘biting’ a Saint, like a massive mouth trying to devour something. The insides of the flower were quivering; clearly, the Saint inside was trying to fight back.
But in just a few moments, the insides of the flower regained its normal calm.
That Saint had died already.
“Man-eating?” Linley couldn’t help but frown.
In the Forest of Darkness, upon seeing that living, metallic castle, Linley had come to understand...that it wasn’t just humans and magical beasts which had life force. Even metals or plants could have intelligence, and sometimes were even more terrifying than humans.
“Lord?” Barker said in a hushed voice.
Linley gestured at him with his eyes. At this moment, Linley, too, had noticed...that some vines and thorns were slowly moving.
“These rattan vines are alive. Most likely, there’s some plant lifeform that wishes to kill us.” Linley quirked his lips. Against plant-type creatures, using the adamantine heavy sword probably wouldn’t be very effective. After all, even if one demolished half of the plant, the other half would still be alive.
But if one used a sharp, quick weapon such as Bloodviolet, the effect would be much better.
“Rustle...” Suddenly, from afar, a rattan vine dozens of meters long suddenly shot out directly towards Linley and Barker, while at the same time, the vines wrapped around the various trees also left them, moving to surround Linley.
The vines in the grass also shot out.
In an instant...hundreds of rattan vines, thin or thick, covered the skies, attacking from above, from below, and from around them. Even the rattan vines in the mud snapped out. Linley and Barker had suddenly found themselves trapped within a prison of countless vines.
The countless rattan vines formed a giant, ten-meter wide green rattan sphere.
Linley and Barker were within that giant sphere.
“This will be troublesome.” Linley tried to use his arms to push apart the rattan vines that were wrapped around him, but the rattan vines were extremely soft and pliable. They only bulged outward slightly. Raw strength alone simply wasn’t capable of breaking through this rattan vine cage. In addition, Linley had the sense that countless sharp needles were piercing out at his entire body from those rattan vines.
Although his ‘Pulseguard Defense’ was able to take it, his battle-qi was beginning to deplete at a rapid pace.
“Lord, I’m unable to break free.” Barker was frantic as well. He wanted to wield his greataxe, but the large number of rattan vines surrounding his arms made it impossible for him to wield it. The elasticity and endurance of those vines was simply terrifying. “Lord, what should we do?”
Barker was frantic.
Although he was powerful, the life force of these enormous rattan vines was even greater.
Suddenly...
“Haha, the two of you, accept your death. After killing the two of you, I will kill three more, and then I’ll have enough corpses. Once I offer the corpses to his Lordship, I will also become a Deity. Don’t resist. You aren’t able to resist. The strength of you humans can’t possibly match mine.” A thin, wild voice echoed from within this rattan cage.
“Enough corpses?” Linley was shocked.
He was beginning to understand why all of these creatures in the Necropolis of the Gods wanted to kill them.
“Die.” That thin, sharp voice rang out again.
Linley sensed a terrifying force coming at him through the rattan vines. Every single one of the vines was exceedingly strong, and right now, hundreds or perhaps a thousand of them were exerting force at the same time. Even Linley and Barker felt themselves to be under tremendous pressure.
The large number of vines coiling around Linley had caused his arms, legs, and draconic tail to be bound. Even when using all of his raw strength, he was only able to move slightly.
“You want to kill the two of us?” Linley laughed coldly, and then with a flick of his wrist...
A devilish purple light immediately flashed. Under the attack of the ‘Tempos of the Wind’, wherever Bloodviolet passed by, rattan vines immediately split apart. Linley’s Bloodviolet sword quickly transformed into a blur, and countless vines split apart. A desolate, miserable cry could be heard.
Those remaining, unbroken vines quickly fled at high speed.
Soon, those undamaged vines disappeared, while the shattered vines lay there on the floor, but continued to twitch as though they were living tentacles.
“Hrmph.” Linley stared at his surroundings.
Linley was searching for the core of that plant life-form. And soon, Linley discovered some tiny tracks, but as he did, Linley could only shake his head and sigh. “This fellow’s main body is actually hidden under the ground. Killing him will be troublesome.”
Barker still felt some fear. “Lord Linley, if I were by myself and encountered this rattan life form, what could I have done? Bloodviolet is small and easy to use with but a flick of the wrist, but my greataxe is different. If I had to wield it with just my wrist, the attack power would have been weak and I wouldn’t be able to break apart those rattan vines.”
Linley nodded slightly.
Barker had huge strength and strong defense, and his greataxe was used for powerful chopping blows. But just then, with his entire body wrapped around by vines and his arms unable to move, it would have been very hard for him to break through the vines.
“Against this sort of plant life-forms, brute strength is far inferior to sharp weapons.” Linley glanced at Barker.
“The main problem is that your understanding of the Laws is not very high. Even empty-handed, I could use the ‘Tempos of the Wind’ technique and use the edge of my hand to chop apart those rattan vines. Using the ‘Profound Truths of the Earth’ would also be sufficient to disintegrate those rattans.” Linley reminded Barker, “In the Yulan continent, it is fine for you to rely on your great strength and your mighty defense, but if you are to encounter any creatures with strange powers, you would really be in trouble.”
“Right.” Barker firmly took this lesson to heart.
“Let’s go.” Linley said.
But after the two had flown only a few dozen meters away, Linley suddenly turned and charged towards the ground as fast as a thunderbolt. He smashed down with his right hand like a heavy mace and delivered a vicious blow to the ground. The entire world seemed to tremble slightly.
Profound Truths of the Earth – Throbbing Pulse of the World, 128 Layered Waves
This was Linley’s current limit, and it was far more powerful than his previous 256 layered waves.
“Ah!” A miserable cry could be heard from underground.
“Hrmph. You are fortunate to not die.” Linley quickly flew up again. “Barker, let’s go.”
When the rattan vines had fled, Linley had actually been able to more or less calculate the general location of the rattan life-form beneath the ground. But this was just a general area. As Linley saw it...this rattan life-form’s main body was undoubtedly huge.
Linley predicted where it probably was, and then delivered the ‘Profound Truths of the Earth’ into the center of that area.
“Although I am not able to attack the heart of the creature, I should still be able to attack the general location it is in.” Linley had thought to himself. Indeed, as he had predicted, although he hadn’t struck the creature’s core and the rattan life-form had been lucky enough to survive, Linley still had caused it great harm.
Soon after their battle against the rattan life-form, Linley and Barker found where the second gateway was hidden. It was a set of stair surrounded by a large amount of vegetation. Linley and Barker climbed directly up the stairs, finally arriving at the entrance to the third floor.
“Be careful. Every single floor potentially has the divine beast, ‘Ba-Serpent’, within it. You cannot be too rash.” Linley reminded Barker.
“I know. If we discover the Ba-Serpent, I won’t even say a word.” Barker nodded.
Linley and Barker then headed directly into the third floor. Upon entering it, Linley and Barker both couldn’t help but shiver. It was too cold. This sort of cold, Linley and Barker had never felt before.
This was a world of ice.
Icebergs dotted the landscape like mountain ranges, and a large amount of white energy was flowing everywhere. When that white energy drew near them, Linley and Barker couldn’t help but shiver yet again.
“How can it be so cold?” Linley was secretly shocked. “I have both my Pulseguard Defense and my draconic scales, but I still feel cold. This is monstrous.”
But although both Linley and Barker thought this, they didn’t dare to make a sound. Before fully ascertaining whether or not this floor contained the divine beast, ‘Ba-Serpent’, the two wouldn’t dare to make any noise at all. Linley and Barker flew carefully.
Suddenly...
“It is Eddins.” Linley saw the Saint from not too far away. Right now, Eddins was currently flying carefully with two other Saints.
When Linley and Barker drew near them, Eddins seemed to have noticed Linley as well, and he hurriedly gestured at Linley with his eyes.
“What is it?” Linley was secretly surprised.
Eddins’ glance clearly conveyed that he was worried, while at the same time, he pointed in a certain direction.
Linley immediately looked towards the direction which Eddins was pointing at, and he saw what looked like a serpentine creature, covered with green scales. It was over ten meters thick, and as for length...Linley was only able to see a few dozen meters of its length. The rest of it was blocked off by the various icebergs.
“Could that be the Ba-Serpent?” Linley’s heart shook.
Barker was astonished as well. He shared a glance with Linley, and they both flew cautiously and quietly. It wasn’t just them; Eddins and the other two Saints didn’t dare to make any noise at all either, afraid that they might awaken the terrifying divine beast, the Ba-Serpent.
After flying for a while, Linley was able to see the main part of the Ba-Serpent’s body.
The body of the Ba-Serpent was actually wrapped around a mountain-like iceberg, and one couldn’t see the end of its body. But the part wrapped around the iceberg alone had to be thousands of meters long. This was the physically largest magical beast which Linley had ever witnessed in his life. Normal magical beasts were at most a hundred meters long or so.
But the visible portion of this Ba-Serpent was already thousands of meters long.
“Could it be that it is over ten thousand meters long?” Linley, Barker, and the others continued to fly about in search of the next gateway. Linley saw that from behind, more experts had entered the third floor as well. “I hope these people won’t awaken the Ba-Serpent. If we get dragged down by them somehow, that would be disastrous.”
There were now quite a few experts on the third floor. If a single one of them made noise, all of them would be doomed.
“The head of the Ba-Serpent.” Linley saw from afar a massive serpentine head, at least twenty meters high. The Ba-Serpent’s eyes were closed. Its breathing wasn’t very loud, but in the silent atmosphere of the third floor, Linley and the others could make it out very clearly.
When the Ba-Serpent was asleep, it would constantly emit puffs of black gas from its mouth. The black gas scattered towards the surrounding area like the wind, and whenever the black gas touched the nearby icebergs, the icebergs would immediately crumble into ground ice dust.