Book 19, Metamorphosis – Chapter 9, A Battle Between Supreme Experts of the Earth
“As you wish, then.” Linley’s body suddenly emanated an earthen yellow aura, which instantly spread out to form a spherical space that was a thousand meters long, immediately enveloping the Redcliff Lord within. This time, Linley still didn’t use his Blackstone Space at full force; he only increased the Blackstone Space to half power!
But although it was only half power, it was still enough to startle the Redcliff Lord.
The Redcliff Lord’s body sunk downwards slightly, but then he maintained his position in midair. He gave Linley a surprised glance. “Gravitational Space. What a strange Gravitational Space!” But the Redcliff Lord still stood there in midair, not moving. He said calmly, “Your Gravitational Space is excellent. Whatever techniques you have available, show them all off! If you wait for me to attack, you won’t have the chance to.”
Confidence!
The Redcliff Lord was qualified to be arrogant. He didn’t fear soul attacks at all, and as for material attacks? As an expert of the Laws of the Earth, the Redcliff Lord was most confident in material attacks. His soul and material defenses were both powerful. This was the reason why the Redcliff Lord was qualified to be confident.
Linley smirked, saying to himself, “Just keep being smug. In a bit, you will be dead before you even have the chance to feel regret.”
“Rumble...”
The ‘black stone’ within Linley’s sea of consciousness instantly spread outwards, quickly surrounding the Redcliff Ruler.
Spiritual Chaos!
“Hrm?” A hint of a smile appeared at the corners of the lips of the Redcliff Lord. He mused to himself, “So indeed, just as Ganmoly discovered, this powerful Gravitational Space is paired with a spiritual attack. It is indeed rather formidable. But against me...” Linley had first used his Gravitational Space and then his spiritual attack, which had indeed caused the Redcliff Lord to feel slightly numbed.
But right at this moment...
“Die.” A killing intent surged from Linley’s mind, and he immediately moved.
“BOOM!”
It was as though space had exploded. Linley’s entire body shot towards the Redcliff Lord as fast as a bolt of lightning, and while shooting towards the Redcliff Lord’s, the robes covering Linley’s body exploded apart as azure-golden draconic scales instantly covered his entire body. Those savage spikes and that whip-like draconic tail all sprouted out as well.
Instant Dragonform!
“What!” The Redcliff Lord was still in a state of shock, and his body suddenly sank downwards.
Blackstone Space – Supergravity!
The power of the gravitational pull of the Blackstone Space increased from half power to full power. This sudden increase in power did indeed throw the Redcliff Lord off-balance, especially combined with Linley’s Dragonform, which astonished him as well. No matter how foolish he might be, he now understood...that this Mr. ‘Ley’ in front of him had been hiding his true power this entire time! How laughable it was that he had wanted to recruit ‘Ley’ as a subordinate!
“He’s looking for death.” The Redcliff Lord howled angrily in his heart.
The Redcliff Lord’s entire body flickered. Like a crab, his shoulders suddenly expanded outwards, and the strange thing was, the space around him, with a ‘boom’, began to tremble as well. The gravitational power generated by Linley’s Blackstone Space, in the area next to the Redcliff Lord, actually began to distort and weaken. The Redcliff Lord stared at Linley with a cold face. Seeing Linley charge towards him, he just swung out with right fist, whip-fast...
The counteracting of the gravitational pull to the counter-attack happened instantaneously. The Redcliff Lord’s reaction time was extremely fast!
“Crackle!”
“Eh?” Right after the Redcliff Lord swung out with his fist, his face suddenly changed.
“Swish!” A giant tear in space suddenly appeared, as though space itself was only made of power. An invisible, shadowless sword instantly arrived at the Redcliff Lord’s forehead, between his eyebrows. The Redcliff Lord, frantic, opened his mouth and let out a furious howl as though he were a trapped beast. A clear earthen yellow aura spat out from his mouth, striking directly against the invisible sword.
“Eh?” Linley was stunned. “This Redcliff Lord is indeed even more powerful than I was aware of.”
Linley had suddenly Dragonformed, suddenly increased his Blackstone Space to full power, and then in the final moment, suddenly revealed and attacked with his godspark sword, ‘Mirage’. Especially given that Mirage left behind no traces and was completely invisible...this sort of sudden, powerful attack would be undiscoverable unless someone was paying very close attention. But clearly, the Redcliff Lord was simply too strong.
Only when Mirage drew close to the Redcliff Lord did Linley realize that a strange, unique ‘Gravitational Space’ had formed around the Redcliff Lord’s body.
“This Gravitational Space is actually centered around his forehead.” Linley was completely unable to understand this technique. The vibrations which rippled out from the Redcliff Lord formed into a unique Gravitational Space that was like two loops of power with different strengths. This caused Linley’s sword to be affected.
Despite that, however...
Linley had hidden his power too deeply; the explosive triple combination of his Dragonform, the Blackstone Space, and Mirage caused the Redcliff Lord to not have enough time to fully react.
“Slash!”
When Mirage was struck, it changed directions slightly. Suddenly, the Redcliff Lord’s right arm slashed over, seeming to attract Linley’s sword towards it like a magnet. Linley just laughed coldly while exploding forth with his full power, and with a ‘slash’ sound, Mirage instantly pierced through the Redcliff Lord’s right side of the chest, penetrating straight through to the Redcliff Lord’s lungs.
“BANG!”
The Redcliff Lord’s furious punched landed towards Linley.
“Rumble...” Space instantly exploded forth and blasted towards Linley.
“Swoosh!” In Dragonform, Linley moved as fast as lightning, instantly scurrying into the distance. As for the Redcliff Lord, his eyes seemed to spit violet fire as he stared angrily at Linley. When he breathed, he was forced to cough, as his lungs had been slashed through. But of course...he quickly recovered.
“You...hid your powers very deeply!” The Redcliff Lord stared at Linley.
“I’m just average. I trust, your Lordship, that you too have a supreme attack that you’ve hidden away.” Linley said calmly.
“Tell me your true name! Which Elder of the Azure Dragon clan are you? I’ve never heard of the Azure Dragon clan having an expert named ‘Ley’.” The Redcliff Lord said coldly. By now, after having seen Linley’s Dragonformed appearance, it would be strange indeed if he wasn’t be able to guess that Linley was a member of the Azure Dragon clan.
Linley’s dark golden eyes stared into the Redcliff Lord’s violet ones.
“Let me re-introduce myself. I, an Elder of the Azure Dragon clan...am Linley!!!” Linley said in a cold voice.
Utter silence!
The hundred million Highgods watching this in the eastern wilderness were all stunned. Although in their heart, they knew that this sort of duel could result in the birth of a new Lord of Tartarus, they also knew that the possibility was very small. Almost everyone here believed...that this battle was just a performance for the Redcliff Lord!
Perhaps this Mr. Ley’s performance might bring some unexpected surprises for everyone, but virtually all the spectators had come for the sake of watching the Redcliff Lord. But as soon as the battle had begun, they had become stupefied.
In midair, there was a man whose entire body was covered in draconic scales, with his knees, elbows, and spine all covered with sharp, savage spikes, and with a draconic tail waving behind him. The former ‘Mr. Ley’ now looked completely different, and their Redcliff Lord, after the first clash in the battle, now had a huge hole in his chest as well as blood flowing out.
In the very first exchange...
The Redcliff Lord had been injured!
“Lin...Linley?” Everyone stared, wide-eyed.
“Linley, Elder of the Four Divine Beasts clan! I’ve heard of him. He once killed five Seven Star Fiends by himself.”
“It’s him. I saw his scryer recording before.”
Instantly, the entire eastern wilderness exploded with noise. Everyone became excited and agitated. They had all believed that this one be a one-sided show, but now, it seemed...this person was an amazing figure of legend, Elder Linley of the Azure Dragon clan of the Four Divine Beasts clan, and he was the one who would be engaging in this thrilling duel with their Redcliff Lord!
The cacophony suddenly faded away, as everyone once more focused their attention on the scene in midair.
Because...the Redcliff Lord had already revealed his weapon.
A completely pitch-black knife. The Redcliff Lord hefted the knife, staring coldly at Linley. “So it is Linley! I was wondering how such an expert would suddenly emerge in our Redcliff region. I must admit that based on our exchange just now, you are qualified to be my opponent. To show respect to you, I will attack with all my might.”
Linley just watched all of this coldly.
“It seems as though beating this Redcliff Lord won’t be so easy.” Linley’s thoughts spun through his mind. He had a tremendous advantage earlier; he had suddenly revealed his Dragonform, his true Blackstone Space, and Mirage; only then had he been able to wound his opponent. From this, one could tell how powerful this enemy was.
“What a bizarre Gravitational Space.”
The Redcliff Lord shook himself, as though seeming rather uncomfortable and needing to get accustomed to this Gravitational Space. But that simple movement suddenly...
“Hrm?” Linley was startled.
He could clearly sense how the strange Gravitational Space emanating from the Redcliff Lord’s forehead transformed as well. Although in terms of power, it was vastly inferior to Linley’s Blackstone Space, it was still able to ablate the influence of the Blackstone Space. It was as though the Redcliff Lord had been trapped in quicksand, but a protective layer of energy had suddenly surrounded him, allowing his movements to quicken.
“Swoosh!” The Redcliff Lord suddenly flashed forward in an arc, pouncing towards Linley.
This strange arcing movement lanced at an incredibly high speed.
“He is indeed fast, but not as fast as me!” Linley’s speed reached a limit as well. Clearly, Linley was almost twice as fast as the Redcliff Lord. The Blackstone Space was the supreme technique of Reisgem, after all. Linley had spent five hundred years entrapped before gaining insight into it, and after having acquired the Black Stone, the power of his technique was already comparable to Reisgem’s.
Although the Redcliff Lord adapted much more quickly than others to it, his speed was still dramatically lessened.
“Swish!”
It moved as fast as a bolt of lightning. A tear in space suddenly appeared as the completely invisible ‘Mirage’ pierced directly towards the Redcliff Lord. The only thing the Redcliff Lord was able to sense was a terrifying power oncoming, a power that could easily rip apart the spatial walls of the Netherworld. Faced with this attack, the Redcliff Lord’s body suddenly paused.
“WHAP!”
He threw out his arm, and his fist suddenly shot forward like a rock from a catapult. That faint, earthen yellow light was emanating from his fist, while also flowing with a black light.
“BANG!”
The fist collided directly against the tip of the godspark sword, Mirage.
And just as the fist shot out, the Redcliff Lord actually borrowed the powerful surge of force, swiveling slightly as he stabbed with the black knife in his left hand towards Linley’s head. “Swish!” Where the black knife passed, space itself blew apart. This attack was so terrifying as to make a person’s face change color from fear.
But Linley seemed to instinctively strike back with his own left fist!
The clenched draconic claws pressed down like an entire mountain, as the terrifying divine earth power completely exploded forth – Firmament Splitter!
“BANG!”
The black dagger and the fist collided, and space instantly blew apart.
“Swoosh!” “Swoosh!”
Linley and his opponent were both knocked backwards.
“What a powerful fist.” Linley stared coldly at his opponent. The Redcliff Lord had actually dared to use his fist to fight against Linley’s godspark weapon.
“What a sharp sword.” The Redcliff Lord glanced at his right fist. The sword had pierced through the bones of his right fist. His fist was comparable to a Highgod artifact, but it had actually been wounded. Actually, he couldn’t be blamed; it was a godspark weapon which he faced, after all. The Redcliff Lord then glanced at Linley’s fist. “Your fist is pretty tough as well.”
Some of the draconic scales covering Linley’s fist had been shattered as well.
That short exchange of blows had caused both Linley and the Redcliff Lord to understand something; they couldn’t let the enemy hit them in their vital points. Linley had to rely on his fist executing an attack with his understanding of the Profound Mysteries in order to block that dagger. If the enemy managed to strike him in the head, the draconic scales would definitely not be able to block them.
And the opposite was true as well.
If Linley’s sword was to stab into the enemy’s forehead, he would definitely pierce through and kill the enemy.
The countless people watching this duel in the eastern wilderness were completely breathless. Above them, two supreme experts were battling, and they were absolutely too powerful.
“That Elder Linley has an invisible weapon. His Lordship is incredibly powerful; he dared to use his fist to accept that blow.”
“Lord Linley is powerful as well. He too dared to use his fist to block his Lordship’s knife.”
The hundred million spectators were completely cowed by the might and strength of these two experts. All of them watched unblinkingly, wanting to see what would happen.
“Ahhhh, look, what’s going on?”
“What’s going on? How is that possible?”
Many people’s faces suddenly changed dramatically. “His Lordship, his Lordship can transform as well?”
Linley’s face changed dramatically as well. He had never watched the Redcliff Lord transform in any of the scryer recordings he had seen.
“In the past, when I challenged the previous Redcliff Lord, he wasn’t able to force me to transform. Congratulations...you are the very first person I have encountered since becoming the Redcliff Lord capable of making me use my full power.” The Redcliff Lord’s violet eyes stared at Linley. His entire body was undergoing a sudden change. His shoulders began to bulge, and his entire body began to emanate a black light...”