Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 4, Seize Them
After leaving the city of Fansi, Linley’s group immediately rode on their metallic lifeform to head towards the Skyrite Mountains.
“The Skyrite Mountains are located within the northern borders of Indigo Prefecture. From Fansi City, there is a distance of nearly two hundred million kilometers. To fly there will take half a year.” Linley felt rather relaxed.
After knowing where the Four Divine Beasts clan was, Linley also understood: “Most likely, this place is too far away from the Skyrite Mountains, which is why the Boleyn clan dared to be so arrogant.” This was Linley’s guess.
“Another half year to go.” Bebe stretched lazily, letting out a long sigh, then looked at Linley. “Heh heh, Boss, let’s have a contest and see who will be the first to master a fifth profound mystery. What do you say?”
Linley had already reached the late stages in training in the Profound Truths of Strength.
As for Bebe, he had already reached a peak with regards to this fifth profound mystery of Darkness, and as soon as he gained an insight, he would break through. But ‘insights’ were something that one could hope for but not count on. Who knew how long Bebe would take?
Linley immediately calmed down and began training.
While training, time passed extremely quickly. Linley was only awakened from his training on three occasions. By the fourth time he opened his eyes, they were only a few hundred thousand kilometers away from the Skyrite Mountains and were about to arrive.
The metallic lifeform’s front became transparent, and Linley’s group could completely see through the metallic lifeform to the front.
“Skyrite Mountains! The Four Divine Beasts clan!” Linley felt that his breathing was growing ragged. The blood in his body was beginning to boil. He had come all the way over here from the Yulan continent. Finally, he was returning to his own clan.
“I can see it. The Skyrite Mountains are up ahead.” Delia said in delight.
Linley’s eyes were shining.
One massive mountain peak after another could be seen piercing through the clouds and the sky, each of them astonishingly high. The reason why this area was known as the ‘Skyrite’ Mountains was precisely because so many mountain peaks here were so tall.
“That is...”
Linley’s eyes couldn’t help but light up. He saw an enormous bird of almost the same size as a mountain peak that looked as though it was about to take flight, its entire body surrounded by flames. Its feathers were fiery red, and it had green plumage on its forehead. Linley and the others could all feel the dominating aura which emanated forth from it.
“What an enormous sculpture.” Linley couldn’t help but be amazed. “It has to be at least a hundred kilometers tall.” The tallest mountain peaks of the Skyrite Mountains reached upwards of tens of thousands of meters.
This enormous sculpture was comparable in height to the tallest of mountain peaks.
From the book he had read half a year ago, Linley had gained a better understanding of the Four Divine Beasts clan and had learned that the ‘Four Divine Beasts’ referred to the ‘Azure Dragon’, the ‘White Tiger’, the ‘Vermilion Bird’, and the ‘Black Tortoise.’ Just from the names ‘Azure Dragon’ and ‘White Tiger’, Linley was able to understand what the creatures represented.
But Linley had never heard of a ‘Vermilion Bird’ or a ‘Black Tortoise’.
After carefully reading through the book as well as reviewing some of the pictures in the book, Linley learned that a ‘Vermilion Bird’ was a fire-type divine beast that was similar to a ‘Fire Phoenix’, but which was far more powerful. As for the ‘Black Tortoise’, it was an earth-type divine beast that seemed quite similar in appearance to the ‘Dragon-Turtles’ which Linley had seen before.
Even the divine beast ‘Azure Dragon’ was not like those enormous winged dragons that he had seen on the Yulan continent, nor was it like the Tyrant Wyrms. It was a dominating, noble, and utterly perfect, true divine beast.
The most powerful water-type divine beast – the Azure Dragon.
“The southern parts of the Skyrite Mountains should be where the Vermilion Bird clan resides.” Linley immediately controlled the metallic lifeform, ordering it to fly towards the northeast.
Indeed, the eastern part of the Skyrite Mountains was where the Azure Dragon clan lived.
“This...”
In mid-air, staring afar at the distant sight of the Azure Dragon’s ‘Redding’ clan, Linley was stupefied. Even Delia, Bebe, Olivier, Tarosse, and the others were so shocked, they couldn’t speak.
An enormous, coiling dragon that was over tens of thousands kilometers long was within the mountain range.
Of course, it wasn’t a real dragon.
This enormous coiling dragon covered an area of tens of thousands of kilometers, and carved atop of its massive body were giant draconic scales. At the same time, it was also, in and of itself, a long passageway in the mountains, and the entire passageway emitted an azure light. From afar, it truly looked like an enormous, terrifying Azure Dragon!
“To build an enormous edifice of tens of thousands of kilometers long in the Infernal Realm is...unbelievable.” Tarosse sighed in shock.
“Look carefully. The entire body of this Azure Dragon is actually one long passageway, with many castles and residences around that passageway.” Dylin said loudly.
Linley was completely lost in the awe-inspiring sight before him. A ‘dragon passageway’ that was tens of thousands of kilometers long and which coiled through the mountains, with castles and estates surrounding its perimeter and which formed a perfect whole with it.
In front of the dragon’s head was an enormous golden castle, which looked like a dragon pearl.
“The aura and majesty alone far surpasses any clan that I’ve ever seen.” Linley was truly stunned.
The Four Divine Beasts clan had originally dominated the Four Higher Planes and Seven Divine Planes. Even after their fall, they wouldn’t forget the former glory of their clan. Naturally, they cared deeply about the construction of their clan’s headquarters.
Although they had seen it from afar, Linley’s group had to fly for quite a while before arriving at the base of the Skyrite Mountains.
Standing at the base of the mountains, Linley’s group stared afar through the ‘dragon passageway’, staring at the many patrolling soldiers dressed in azure armor. For a moment, they felt their hearts clench. At a glance, the warriors here were more than ten thousand in number.
But Linley’s group could tell that every single one of them was a Highgod!
“So many experts!” Tarosse sighed in amazement. “The Four Divine Beasts clan really lives up to its name. At least in the number of Highgod warriors, it isn’t the slightest bit inferior to the Bagshaw clan.”
“This is a true, powerful, great clan.” Dylin sighed in amazement as well.
Salomon’s ‘Boyd’ clan had been decent, but these clans, when compared to the Bagshaw clan or the Four Divine Beasts clan, were nothing at all. Look at the Bagshaw clan or the Four Divine Beasts clan; every single soldier in their clan army was a Highgod.
“This is the Azure Dragon clan!” Linley felt his blood pumping. “My roots, the roots of my Baruch clan!”
This seemingly endless dragon passageway gave Linley such a familiar feeling, one which made the blood in his veins thunder. It was a feeling akin to when the prodigal son returned home. The sense of belonging was extremely strong.
“Linley.” Delia held Linley’s hand.
Linley turned to glance at Delia. The two, looking at each other, couldn’t help but laugh. They had experienced nearly seven centuries of turbulence. When they had first come to the Infernal Realm, Linley was just a Demigod. But now, he could effortless kill ordinary Highgods.
They had made their way over. And now, finally, they had reached their destination.
The root and foundation of the Four Supreme Warriors!
The legendary Four Divine Beasts clan’s gathering point: The Indigo Prefecture’s ‘Skyrite Mountains’!
“Who goes there!” A loud shout from up above.
From the wide dragon passageway, ten soldiers who had previously been on patrol flew over, and the captain of the squad barked, “This is an important area of my Azure Dragon clan. You need to leave immediately.”
Laughing, Linley replied, “Gentlemen, I myself am a branch member of the Azure Dragon clan. I have been in the Infernal Realm for a very long time, but I’ve finally made it here.”
“Hurry up and welcome us.” Bebe said loudly. “It’s been so long, and we’ve really been exhausted.”
“You belong to a branch of my Redding clan?” The captain looked at Linley dubiously. “Kid, the members of my clan returned a long, long time ago.” The other members of the patrol didn’t quite believe it either.
“You should know that our Azure Dragon clan is capable of Dragonforming.” One of the patrolling soldiers said.
Linley laughed.
“Crackle...” Immediately, azure-golden draconic scales sprouted from everywhere on Linley’s body, and a spike emerged from his forehead. Linley’s dark golden eyes stared at the captain. “Now, do you believe me?”
Those patrolling soldiers all began to laugh as well.
The captain was also all smiles. “Indeed! And judging from your body’s aura, it seems as though you come from a fairly pure lineage. But how come you have those spikes on your back? Still, there’s no mistaking that aura.”
Dragonforming was a very simple way by which one could tell if one was a member of the Azure Dragon clan or not.
The Draconians of the ‘beastmen’ race were completely different from the Dragonform of the Azure Dragon clan. In terms of both power as well as aura, the difference was tremendous. They just looked a bit similar.
“Haha, brother, you’ve had an arduous trip.” The captain immediately laughed and went to welcome them, saying in a sincere voice, “When our clan retreated from the various planes, we really were in too much of a rush. Most likely, at that time, you weren’t able to come back with everyone else at the time.”
The captain let out a long sigh.
“At that time, our main army returned as well, but it was disastrous. That year, my brother died in battle.” Tears glimmered at the corner of the captain’s eyes. “Let’s go. Let’s go home! At home, you’ll be safe.”
The two words, “go home”, caused Linley to tremble with emotion.
“These friends of mine came alongside me.” Linley said.
“Them?” The captain frowned.
“What is it?” Linley was puzzled.
The captain said with a frown. “These are your friends, and you plan to live with them?”
“Right.” Linley nodded. “They risked life and death to travel with me. It would be good if we can live together. What, is that forbidden?”
“It’s not that it cannot be done.” The captain reflected for a moment, then said, “The administrative rules of our clan are quite strict. If it was just you by yourself, you would receive a superb welcome, but if you want to bring them in, you’ll have to live in a fairly distant, remote part of the Skyrite Mountains.”
“Remote is fine with me.” Linley shook his head.
“That’s fine then.” The captain nodded, then laughed. “Come, go with me to register yourself. We’ll investigate what branch you belong to. Hey, you guys can come along as well.” The captain addressed Tarosse and Bebe and the others.
Linley’s group immediately flew in along with the ten patrol soldiers.
“Brother, my name is Yeer [Yi’er]. I came back from the Divine Fire Plane. Which plane are you from? How could your lineage be so pure?” While walking, the captain asked in a warm, friendly manner.
“Right, which plane are you from?” The other patrolling soldiers laughed as well.
“I, I’m from the Yulan Plane.” Linley laughed.
The captain’s expression instantly hardened, and the same thing happened with the other soldiers.
“Seize them!” Captain Yeer shouted icily, and immediately, the other nine patrolling soldiers moved aside as fast as lightning, immediately surrounding Linley’s group of people. From higher up the ‘dragon passageway’, many patrolling soldiers who saw these going-on’s immediately flew over as well.
Linley’s group was stupefied.
“Hey, what’s this all about?” Bebe immediately shouted.
Linley just looked at the captain. “Captain Yeer, what’s going on? Why are you suddenly seizing me?”
Captain Yeer said calmly, “Sorry, brother! The Azure Dragon ‘Redding’ clan, although spread out across many planes, is only spread out across the Higher Planes and the Divine Planes. I’ve never heard of a Yulan Plane.”
“Aren’t I a member of the Azure Dragon clan?” Linley asked.
“You are. I’m certain of this.” Yeer nodded.
“However, if we can’t be completely certain of your history and which lineage you belong to, then you can’t be completely trusted either.” The captain said emotionlessly. “Some members were scattered across the universe when they were young, and were raised by other clans, who trained them and then sent them back to be spies! This has happened more than once.”
In the past ten thousand years, the Azure Dragon clan had become exceedingly cautious. Because...they had suffered too much previously when they weren’t.
“You suspect me of being a spy?” Linley found it hard to believe.
“Captain Yeer, if I were a spy, I wouldn’t say I’m from the Yulan Plane. I would make up a perfect identity and status.” Linley said urgently.
Delia spoke out as well. “Captain Yeer, you might not have heard of the Yulan Plane lineage, but that doesn’t mean others in your clan haven’t heard of it either. Please go investigate first.”
“Hmph. Which lineage am I unaware of?” Captain Yeer was extremely confident.
“What’s going on here?” A bark rang out from above, and a middle-aged man dressed in light gray robes flew over.
Captain Yeer, upon seeing this person, immediately said with respect, “Milord, there is a person here who claims to be a member of our Azure Dragon clan, and indeed, he has the lineage of the Azure Dragon clan. However, he claims he is from the Yulan Plane lineage. I have never heard that our clan has a branch in a ‘Yulan Plane’.”
“Oh?” The middle-aged man looked towards Linley’s group in astonishment.
“The Yulan Plane branch?” The middle-aged man looked towards them. “Who?”
“Me.” Linley stood up.
The middle-aged man laughed. “Right, our Azure Dragon clan does in fact have a branch on the Yulan Plane.”
Captain Yeer and the other soldiers were all surprised.
“This was something from six thousand years ago. Not many people know this.” The middle-aged man said with a calm laugh. “Their branch called themselves the ‘Baruch’ clan. Quite peculiar. Nobody knows which elder ended up starting up this branch.”