Book 17, Indigo Prefecture – Chapter 55, Beirut’s Craftiness
It had been Forhan who had leaked the information. This had already shocked quite a few people, but the sudden attack by the Grand Elder, who had personally executed Forhan...this caused the entire hall to fall completely, utterly silent.
“I didn’t expect that it really was him!” A long, low sigh echoed in the main hall.
The speaker was Gislason. At this time, Linley was looking very carefully at the Grand Elder. “The Grand Elder actually straightforwardly executed her own son!” Linley was completely astonished.
“Elder Brother, Forhan has already been punished in accordance with the rules of the clan!” The Grand Elder said in a cold, calm voice. “This matter is concluded. I’ll leave for now.”
“Alright. You can go back and rest.” Gislason understood that his little sister was feeling terrible right now.
“Wait a moment.” A voice suddenly rang out.
The Grand Elder had already started to leave, but now she came to a halt, turning to stare at the seated Beirut. In a low voice, she said, “Lord Prefect, is there something else you need?” Although her voice was very calm and tranquil, Linley could sense the unbridled anger that was hidden within that calm!
Her son was already died, but Beirut still wouldn’t give it a rest?
Linley couldn’t help but look towards Beirut, who had a calm smile on his face. Beirut said, “According to the rules of the Four Divine Beasts clan, those who betray the clan shall have all their bodies and clones destroyed, correct?”
“Correct.” The Grand Elder raised her chin, looking towards Beirut. “Lord Prefect, why do you ask this?”
“I simply would like to ask, how many clones did Forhan have?” Beirut laughed calmly.
The Grand Elder was silent for a moment. The mask on her face prevented others from seeing her expression, but Linley could see that the Grand Elder’s entire body was trembling slightly. Clearly, she was already utterly livid.
“Including his original body, three clones in total.” The Grand Elder said in a low voice. “However, my son’s original body was still at the Saint level. Thus, when I killed him, only two divine sparks came out. Lord Prefect, I wonder if my answer is satisfactory for you?”
“Little Sis.” Gislason reproved softly.
The Grand Elder’s words and attitude were clearly hostile.
Beirut let out a calm laugh. “It’s fine. She just killed her own son with her own two hands. I can understand why she is in a poor mood. But...Gaia [Gai’ya], I hope that you will remember that your son was a traitor to the clan. He deserved his death!” Beirut spoke with no mercy or remorse.
The Grand Elder’s body shuddered once.
“Alright.” Beirut stood up. “This matter is at an end! Dunnington, Phusro, Linley, come, let’s all go back.”
Linley’s group immediately rose.
As Beirut walked past the blood-stained corpse, he glanced sideways at it and said calmly, “Hurry up and dispose of the body. It is foul to behold!” After speaking, Beirut left, while Dunnington and the others followed.
As Linley left, he glanced at the Grand Elder. The Grand Elder just waved her hand, and the corpse on the ground transformed into dust.
“Let’s go. Let’s go. I didn’t expect that Forhan was a traitor.” The Elders left, all disgusted. In but a few moments, the only ones remaining in the hall were Gislason and the Grand Elder.
The Grand Elder stood in the center of the hall, not moving at all.
“Little Sis, Forhan was a traitor to the clan. He deserved to die!” Gislason walked over, resting his hand on the Grand Elder’s shoulder. Once a person became known as a traitor to the clan, the other members of the Four Divine Beasts clan would hold that person in contempt. Even though Forhan was dead, nobody felt pity for him.
“I know.”
The Grand Elder’s voice was very low. “But I still feel miserable. Alright, Elder Brother. I’ll go back now.” The Grand Elder didn’t say anything else. She turned and immediately left. Her son had become a traitor to the clan and had been killed by her with her own two hands. Perhaps the person hurt the most by Forhan’s affair, in the entire Skyrite Mountains, was the Grand Elder.
Linley and the others flew down, entering their gorge.
“Haha, awesome, awesome!” Bebe laughed loudly. “I never liked that father-son duo. They lusted after the Boss’ Coiling Dragon ring from the very beginning, and I suspected them long ago regarding this event as well. So it really was them. An excellent death! An excellent death!”
Linley laughed as well.
He, too, had suspected Forhan, but he wasn’t sufficiently certain. Why, however, had Beirut dared to act in such a way? Wasn’t Lord Beirut concerned...that Forhan might have been wrongly accused? How would Lord Beirut have resolved the situation, if that had been the case?
Linley was puzzled about this the entire time.
Beirut, Dunnington, Phusro, and Linley sat down within Linley’s home, around that stone table. Linley hesitated for a moment, but in the end still voiced his puzzlement. “Lord Beirut, how could you be so certain that Forhan was the traitor?”
Beirut looked at him, a hint of satire in his gaze. “You were the one who told me that it was he!”
“I told you that I didn’t have any evidence, just suspicions.” Linley said hurriedly.
“Haha...” The nearby Dunnington seemed to have heard something enormously funny as he began to laugh loudly.
Linley couldn’t help but feel lost. What was so funny? The nearby Bebe spoke out. “Grandpa, can it be that you really did learn about this early on from a Sovereign?”
“How could I have known about this early on?” Beirut laughed. “If I had known early on, I would have sent someone to warn Linley long ago. In truth, before today, I wasn’t completely certain either.”
Linley was stunned. Not completely certain?
“But Lord Beirut, you even invited Dunnington over, then did a forcible hypnotism. If Forhan hadn’t been the traitor, wouldn’t that have been embarrassing?” Linley immediately said.
“Haha...” Dunnington once again started to laugh loudly as he glanced sideways at Beirut. “Beirut, stop intentionally teasing Linley. I’ll tell him!” Dunnington immediately began to explain the truth.
As for Linley, he listened intently.
“This Lord Beirut of yours wasn’t sure at all about whether or not Forhan was the traitor.” Dunnington laughed. “That’s why he invited me over. After I hypnotized Forhan, I first did a quick review of Forhan’s memories!”
Normally speaking, there was no way to review a Deity’s memories.
But once a person was hypnotized and completely unable to resist, a terrifying figure like Dunnington was able to easily review the memories of the hypnotized person.
“After reviewing his memories for just a moment, I knew!” Dunnington laughed. “That he was the traitor!”
“But what if he wasn’t?” Bebe immediately asked, and Linley looked at Dunnington as well, puzzled.
Dunnington laughed. “If he wasn’t? Easy!”
“Then I would have immediately allowed Forhan to regain consciousness.” Dunnington glanced sideways at Beirut. “Afterwards, I would say a few words of praise, along the lines of, ‘The Azure Dragon clan really does live up to its name. Even I am unable to forcibly hypnotize him.’”
Dunnington’s words completely flabbergasted Linley, Delia, and Bebe.
Indeed, when a person was hypnotized, they would lose their consciousness. If Dunnington was successful in his hypnosis attempt, he could let Forhan regain his consciousness after investigating Forhan’s memories. Even Forhan himself would only have felt that his head had gone dizzy for a moment. He wouldn’t feel much else.
“Formidable.” Linley sighed to himself.
If Forhan wasn’t the traitor, Dunnington could just deliberately lie and claim that he had been unable to hypnotize Forhan. The end result would simply be that Gislason, the Grand Elder, and the others would feel that they had gained a great deal of face. After all...even a supreme expert such as Dunnington had been unable to forcibly hypnotize an Elder of the clan.
“This really was an excellent idea.” Bebe sighed in amazement as well.
“Excellent my ass.” Dunnington stroked his beard. “If Forhan truly hadn’t been the traitor, then I, Dunnington, would have suffered a blow to my reputation.”
“Stop worrying.” Beirut began to laugh. “Your reputation wouldn’t have suffered anything. Even if you publicly acknowledged that you were unable to hypnotize Forhan, others would just think that this innate ability of the Azure Dragon clan is incredible. They wouldn’t think that you are weak.”
Dunnington raised his eyebrows, laughing.
His power was something that was publicly acknowledged, after countless shocking, world-shaking battles. The number one expert of the Chaotic Sea, aside from the Sovereign. Who would dare belittle him?
“Linley, Bebe.” Beirut suddenly said. “After this affair, although the Grand Elder has nothing to say for herself, in her heart, she certainly is unhappy. I think you’d best leave the Skyrite Mountains and come to my place.”
Leave the Skyrite Mountains? Linley couldn’t help but turn and look at Delia.
“Excellent!” Bebe said jubilantly. “The Skyrite Mountains are rather boring. I haven’t even gone to Grandpa’s prefectural manor. I want to go and have some fun.”
“Delia, what do you think?” Linley looked towards Delia as he spoke to her through divine sense.
Delia looked at Wade, nestled in her arms, then replied through divine sense, “Wade is still young. It’s best not to make him tired by running all over the place. When Wade can take care of himself, we can go out wandering again.”
“Right.” Linley nodded. After their discussion through divine sense, Linley had come to his decision.
“Boss, wanna go?” Bebe immediately asked through divine sense.
Linley laughed, then shook his head. “Lord Prefect, Bebe, I won’t go for now. Wade is still young...and with Delia and myself living in the gorge with the other members of the Yulan branch, life is still fairly comfortable. As for what the Grand Elder will do...I won’t go to Bloodbath Gorge. Even if she isn’t happy, what can she do?”
“Fine, then I won’t pressure you to come.” Beirut laughed calmly and nodded.
“Alas.” Bebe let out a sad sigh. “Boss, you accompany Delia and your son, then. I’ll head there for now.”
Linley laughed and nodded. He could tell that although Bebe had always stayed here with him, Bebe’s heart wasn’t here. “Most likely, Bebe is still missing Ninny.” Linley sighed to himself. “However, Nisse is in the Jadefloat Continent.”
That very night, Beirut, Dunnington, Phusro, and Bebe all left the Skyrite Mountains. The four clan leaders of the Four Divine Beasts clan as well as a large group of other people came to send them off. Afterwards, Linley’s life returned to a rare calm.
Linley spent the calm days accompanying his wife, his son, and training.
In the blink of an eye, three years passed.
Linley was currently in his room, reading a book, while his four divine clones were all in the midst of training.
“Father, the snow is so thick. Quick, come look!”
Suddenly, a bright, clear voice rang out in the room. Hearing it, Linley couldn’t help but grin as he stood up, walking towards the outside. A youthful, tender-looking lad was outside, grabbing fistfuls of snow, while Delia was there playing with him.
“Father, look. That’s the snowman that I made.” Wade, seeing Linley come out, immediately ran over while calling out to him.
As Wade ran over, he leapt off the ground, giving Linley a flying hug. “Father, the snowman is over there. Look.” Wade’s little face was tender and ruddy, so soft, it seemed as though one would be able to squeeze water out of his face with a pinch.
Linley liked Wade very much.
By contrast, when he had been in the Yulan continent, Linley had always been training when Sasha and Taylor had been growing up. He hadn’t spent any time with his children.
“Oh, Wade. This is the snowman you made?” Linley turned to look. The snowman was just a pair of snowballs, one large, one small, with a few gems serving as the eyes and nose. There were actually a total of three snowmen; two large ones and one smaller one.
“Right..” Wade nodded solemnly, as though this were a weighty matter. “Father, look. That one is you. That one is Mother. That one is me.”
Hearing this, Linley couldn’t help but start to laugh.
“Wade, stop hanging on to your father. Come down.” Delia said.
“Oh.” Wade obediently let go of Linley and fell down, but the ground was slick. As he landed, he slipped and fell, and Delia couldn’t help but immediately go help him back up.
Linley chuckled, then casually, leisurely began to walk forward on the snowy ground. With each step, he left a footprint behind. The snow had come to a halt long ago, but the snow on the ground was fairly thick. Everything within his field of vision had turned a silvery white color.
“Father, Father.” Wade’s call rang out from behind.
Linley turned to look, but as he did, he saw out of the corner of his eyes his own footprint. He had left a deep impression in the snow, but a hint of green grass was still forcing its way out from within it. In that instant, when Linley saw that hint of green...
And when he heard his son calling from afar, ‘Father, Father!’...
Linley’s mind suddenly swept through the various events of recent years, from Delia’s life-threatening crisis to his own despair, then his escape from that despair, followed by last few years of calm, blissful life.
“BOOM!”
A green spot of light suddenly sprang into existence within Linley’s mind, and in the next instant, it transformed into a green sun, illuminating his entire mind.