Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 16, No Mercy!
In the air above the Skyrite Mountains. A tall, powerful figure slashed through the skies, his long robe fluttering as he arrived to a high point above Dragon Avenue, at the ‘Dragonhead’ location, where there was an enormous castle.
His azure hair fluttered in the breeze. His cold, grim face appeared to have been chiseled out by knives. This person descended directly in front of the castle gates.
The patrolling soldiers in front of the castle gate, upon seeing this person, immediately bowed with respect. “Patriarch!”
The person was the awe-inspiring Patriarch of the Azure Dragon clan, the number one expert of the Azure Dragon clan...Gislason [Gai’si’lei’seng] Redding! The son of the Sovereign ‘Azure Dragon’. Gislason’s power was simply unfathomable.
“Mmm. Why are none of the Elders present in the castle?” Gislason frowned. He had been able to instantly tell that the castle had no Elders within it.
“The Elders all went to Death Valley to watch a life-and-death duel.” A patrol warrior immediately replied.
“Life-and-death duel?” Patriarch Gislason frowned. “A single life-and-death duel attracted so many Elders? What’s this about?”
“Elder Emanuel initiated a life-and-death duel against a God named Linley.” The patrol warrior said.
“Linley? A God?” Gislason was utterly confused. “A venerable Elder, engaging in a life-and-death duel with a God? Hmph.” A cold snort. The Patriarch ‘Gislason’ transformed into a streak of light, flying at high speed towards Death Valley.
At this moment, the situation at Death Valley was very peculiar.
The duel had begun, but Elder Emanuel, who clearly should have had the upper hand, was actually hesitating. He hadn’t attacked yet, and his face was filled with shock, fear, anger, and regret!
“It’s actually him! It’s actually him!!!”
Emanuel was utterly enraged. “He has the Azure Dragon ring. His soul defense is definitely very powerful. But his body...” Emanuel had originally been planning to use ‘material attacks’ to gain victory. He was very confident, as his own body was very powerful. But he had seen the scryer recording...
Emanuel knew very well that Linley’s body was even tougher than his!
Who would have imagined that Linley was actually that expert who had appeared at Miluo Island.
“Emanuel, what is it? You want to let me go first?” Linley laughed coldly.
Instantly, the entire Death Valley buzzed with conversation. Those patrol warriors, in particular, were puzzled as to why Emanuel still hadn’t attacked.
“Linley...” Emanuel wanted to say something.
“Since you are letting me go first out of courtesy, Elder, then I’ll go first.” Linley said coldly, and then he exploded with speed, transforming into a blur that slashed through the skies. Emanuel immediately let out an explosive shout...
“Rumble...” The world suddenly gave birth to enormous watery waves, and these waves swept down towards Linley. And then, instantly, the wave transformed into mist, ensconcing Linley within. For a moment, Linley wasn’t able to see what was going on in front of him.
“Swish!” “Swish!” “Swish!” .....
Sharp icy bolts suddenly emerged from the mist, all of the icy bolts arcing in curved lines. The countless icy arrows were actually all arcing in different curved lines towards Linley, and as the icy arrows drew near, they actually tore the skies apart...
Multiple tears in space appeared.
“He lives up to being an Elder.” Linley said to himself.
Linley didn’t even dodge. He just stood there in mid-air, like a celestial divinity.
Rays of divine earth power emerged from Linley, sweeping outwards with Linley at the center. Immediately, that dim earthen yellow light spread out, forming an enormous sphere that was five hundred meters in diameter. Emanuel was unable to dodge, and he was immediately trapped within.
Blackstone Space!
The terrifying gravitational pull, when applied to those icy arrows, caused their direction to change slightly. This slight change in direction caused the vast majority of the icy arrows to very naturally miss their mark, and be unable to converge on the target.
“Crunch!” “Crunch!” “Crunch!”
Eight icy arrows struck Linley, but a clear sound like metal clashing on metal rang out. The icy arrows immediately shattered, while only a few white spots were left on Linley’s draconic scales.
“What!” Emanuel’s face changed dramatically.
Although he had been mentally prepared already, he was still astonished at Linley’s defensive power.
“Terrible!” Emanuel could feel that his body was under the effect of that inexhaustible gravitational power. He immediately wanted to throw it off, but in an instant, the downwards gravitational pull suddenly transformed into a pull towards Linley’s direction.
“You want to flee?” Linley let out an angry laugh, then threw himself towards Emanuel.
Emanuel’s speed was naturally inferior to Linley, now that he also had to fight off the gravity.
“How did this come to pass?” The thousands of patrol warriors were all flabbergasted. This life-and-death duel which they had been certain was going to be one-sided was indeed one-sided, but the person who had the advantage was that ‘God’.”
“This Linley, how can he...” These people only stared, their tongues tied.
“Linley. He isn’t a God. He definitely isn’t.”
For now, let’s ignore the stupefied patrol warriors. Those Elders who were watching the battle from the side, after seeing Linley’s transformation, grew certain in their hearts.
“Emanuel is doomed, this time!”
“He’s kicked a steel board this time.”
Those Elders all maintained their silence. After all, Emanuel was participating in a life-and-death duel. It wasn’t appropriate for them to intervene.
“Bastard.” Trapped in the gravitational sphere, Emanuel was like an ordinary person trapped in quicksand, finding movement incredibly difficult. Linley, however, was drawing near at astonishing speed. Emanuel didn’t dare to engage in close-quarters combat with Linley.
“Aaaaaah!”
Emanuel seemed to have gone insane as he let out a bellow.
“Crackle...” Strangely, a large amount of ice appeared out of nowhere, forming an enormous, thick wall of ice directly in front of Emanuel, the blocks of ice flashing with dazzling light. This wall of thick ice was also affected by the powerful gravity...
And they flew at high speed against Linley!
Not only was the wall of ice affected by the gravity, Emanuel himself also intentionally sent the ice wall flying towards Linley.
In an instant, the ice wall reached Linley’s body.
“Break!” Linley let out a low growl. His right fist, carrying boundless power, utilized the ‘Profound Mysteries of Strength’ of the Laws of the Earth, smashing down viciously against one point on the icy wall.
“BANG!” The entire icy wall trembled, then exploded into countless shards of ice.
As Linley was flying past those shattered shards of ice, Emanuel had managed to flee to the edges of the gravitational field. But right at this moment, Emanuel actually stopped fleeing, turning and letting out a low roar...
Suddenly, an Azure Dragon Phantom appeared behind Emanuel, which stared at Linley with a pair of icy eyes, preparing to let loose a low roar.
Innate divine ability – Dragon Roar!
“Not good.” Linley’s face changed.
A blurry azure light instantly shot towards Linley, who felt his head grow numb for a moment before he instantly regained clarity. But Linley discovered...that both Emanuel as well as the countless distant spectators suddenly began to move much faster.
“Time?” Linley immediately understood.
In that instant, the region where Linley had been had its time slowed down. For every ten seconds which passed for others, one second would pass for Linley. This allowed Emanuel to flee from Linley’s gravitational field.
“I finally escaped.” Emanuel immediately flew to the far end of Death Valley.
“Emanuel, you won’t be able to flee.” Linley flew over.
“Halt!” Emanuel furiously shouted.
Linley was startled, but he still halted. With a cold laugh, he said, “Emanuel, what, you have something you want to say?”
“I acknowledge your strength. I admit defeat. Let’s just bring an end to this life-and-death duel.” Emanuel sent through divine sense. “It’s my fault for being blind. I didn’t realize you were an expert. Let’s just leave it here.”
“Leave it here?” Linley threw himself forward once more.
“Linley, I don’t want that Azure Dragon ring anymore.” Emanuel said hurriedly. “I originally thought you were a God. Who would have imagined...that this Azure Dragon ring, when carried by you, can still unleash such tremendous power. I won’t try to take it.”
Linley just laughed coldly.
When Emanuel had thought he was weak, Emanuel wanted to kill him. But now he was submitting tamely. However, without a doubt, currently the only outsider who knew that Linley was in possession of the Coiling Dragon ring was Emanuel. If he killed Emanuel, then there was no longer any danger of outsiders finding out.
Kill!
“I admit defeat!” Emanuel’s voice rang out throughout Death Valley.
“Eh?” Linley was stunned.
Emanuel was actually so shameless as to directly admit defeat in the midst of a life-and-death duel. “Can it be that this Emanuel doesn’t know that there are only two possible outcomes of a life-and-death duel? One is fighting to the death, while the other is the victor sparing the life of the loser!”
Admitting defeat in a life-and-death duel was meaningless!
“He admitted defeat?” The many patrolling warriors and Elders were all astonished. As for Delia, Bebe, and the others, they grew excited.
“Linley, since Emanuel has admitted defeat, just spare him.” An Elder said loudly. But even he couldn’t break the rules of a life-and-death duel. Only Linley could make the decision to spare Emanuel.
“Right, Linley. He’s admitted defeat. Just forget it.” The other Elders spoke out as well.
At present, in their hearts, they had already begun to consider Linley as an expert on the same level as them.
Although Emanuel felt humiliated in his heart, he still knew very clearly: “This Linley’s body is so incredibly powerful, and he has a Sovereign artifact for soul defense. Although the Sovereign artifact is damaged, it still isn’t something I can break through.”
Emanuel couldn’t see any hope of victory for himself.
He didn’t want to die!
“Spare him?” Linley’s dark golden eyes had a cold light flash through them. Suddenly, a terrifying howl rang out, and Linley’s body slashed through the skies, charging towards the distant Emanuel. Showing no mercy at all!
“You forced me into a life-and-death duel, and now you want me to spare you? In your dreams!” Linley’s furious roar echoed nonstop throughout Death Valley.
Emanuel immediately turned and fled, but Emanuel didn’t leave the confines of Death Valley. If a person was to truly violate the laws of a life-and-death duel and flee out of Death Valley, the entire Azure Dragon clan would chase after him, and he would, without any question, die.
Thus, he could only dodge and evade within Death Valley.
Linley pursued at high speed.
“You won’t be able to escape.” Linley, seizing the opportunity, once again unleashed his Blackstone Space, directly capturing Emanuel within the pull of his gravitational sphere. Emanuel’s speed immediately slowed dramatically, and Linley laughed coldly as he charged over.
But right at this moment...
“Swoosh!” Emanuel threw out a ray of white light from his hand.
“Crackle...” Where the white light passed by, space split apart.
Linley didn’t dodge at all, directly sending a palm to smash towards that light. “BANG!” Linley just felt his right hand completely go numb. His draconic scales split apart, and fresh blood began to leak out. That white light, however, was completely destroyed as well.
Despite this, Linley didn’t slow down.
“Linley, you can’t kill me.” Emanuel was growing frantic now, but within that Gravitational Space, his speed was far inferior to Linley’s.
“Die, then.” Linley came for him.
“STAY YOUR HAND!” A furious roar sounded out. Linley felt as though this roar bored directly through his mind, causing his head to grow slightly dizzy. Linley couldn’t help but pay attention to the air above him. And in the air above...
A man dressed in an azure robe with many embroidered patterns was descending, his long azure hair fluttering in the wind.
His gaze was like thunder, and he was staring directly downwards.
“Patriarch!” Emanuel was overjoyed. He wouldn’t have to die.
“Patriarch!” Those Elders, upon seeing this person, all immediately bowed respectfully.
“Patriarch!” Those thousands of patrolling warriors all immediately bowed in respect as well.
Linley’s heart trembled. “Patriarch?” However, seeing that Emanuel was not too far away, and how he had already relaxed, the murderous intent emerged once more in Linley’s heart. “This Emanuel cannot be spared!” With a ‘swish’, Linley charged over.
Emanuel’s face changed dramatically. “Linley, you...” He never imagined that Linley would dare disobey the orders of the Patriarch.
What he didn’t realize was...
Linley had joined the Azure Dragon clan less than a century ago, and so he didn’t have a clear idea of what the Patriarch of the Azure Dragon clan represented, nor did he feel much fear towards the man. He wasn’t like Elder Emanuel and the other Elders. In their eyes, the Patriarch was an invincible expert.
The commands of the Patriarch were not to be disobeyed.
Linley’s right draconic claw landed mercilessly towards Emanuel, and within the range of that gravitational pull, Emanuel couldn’t dodge at all.
“CLANG!” Suddenly, another draconic claw appeared, clashing directly with Linley’s scale-covered right hand. Linley just felt his entire right arm tremble violently, and his fingers immediately lost all feeling. That draconic claw, with a flipping movement, trapped Linley’s own right hand.
Linley raised his hand to look. It was the awe-inspiring Patriarch!
“Wasn’t he over there just now? How could he be so fast?” Linley didn’t dare believe that the Patriarch’s speed could be so incredibly fast.
“I told you to stay your hand, and yet you still attack? What audacity!” The Patriarch’s gaze was like ice as he stared at Linley. The Patriarch’s draconic scale covered right hand grabbed Linley, and Linley actually had the feeling that wasn’t able to resist at all.
This was the first time...
The first time Linley had encountered a person whose body and physical strength completely, utterly outclassed his own!
The number one expert of the Azure Dragon clan...the Patriarch, ‘Gislason Redding’!