Book 19, Metamorphosis – Chapter 18, List of Names
“If we really slam into a metal wall?” Linley was rather worried now as well.
Amongst commanders, there were indeed a number of figures who could be described as being ‘invincible’. If they ran into such a figure, he and Bebe would be in true danger. This universe was capable of giving birth to a terrifying divine beast such as the Godeater Rat, as well as a divine beast capable of altering time such as the Azure Dragon. It could also give birth to other terrifying divine beasts. Beirut was only reputed to be the number one figure beneath the Bloodridge Sovereign. There were most likely some people who were comparable to him.
Linley didn’t dare to underestimate any commander.
“Forget it. In the Planar Battlefield, for commanders to slaughter each other is what happens anyhow.” Bebe mumbled. “It comes down to luck, I suppose.”
“We are at a major disadvantage.” Linley shook his head. “The commanders who have come to participate in the Planar Wars are all very familiar with the other commanders. We know too little...this will cause us to blindly attack enemies. For example, that Hemmers. If we knew who he was in advance, we could’ve just let him pass and not anger him.”
Linley was resigned.
After all, he had just barely reached the ‘Asura’ level.
“We are indeed at a disadvantage. We know too few people.” Bebe said helplessly.
Linley’s eyes suddenly lit up.
Linley slapped himself on the head, hard, then laughed at himself. “Bebe, look at me. My mind’s gone muddled. You and I don’t know them, but can’t we ask others?”
“Eh?” Bebe was startled.
“My divine fire clone is at the Yulan continent. I can go ask your Grandpa Beirut.” Linley didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry.
Bebe instantly began to laugh as well. “Right. Grandpa definitely knows a great deal. Why didn’t I think of this?”
After having come to the Planar Wars, Linley and Bebe had completely focused on the dangerous, warlike environment. They had only been thinking of hunting and killing other commanders and so hadn’t thought about other things.
“Bebe, let’s not go out for now. First, let me get a clear picture of the various commanders of the other planes, and get a sense of who is hard to deal with, who is easy to deal with. Then we’ll make our choices.” Linley laughed. Bebe nodded as well. They did indeed have plenty of time, and weren’t in a rush.
The Yulan Plane. The Forest of Darkness.
“Whoooosh.” The world was bathed in white. Drifting plumes of snow fell down from the skies, while a fiery blur was currently passing through the air above the Forest of Darkness at high speed. At this moment, a fiery, red robed Linley with fiery red hair was flying at high speed towards Beirut’s metallic castle. This metallic castle was very familiar with Linley, and didn’t bar his way at all. As Linley landed, he directly entered into the metallic castle.
Within the front courtyard of the metallic castle.
A black-robed Beirut was standing there, holding a book and seated beneath a great tree formed from the metallic lifeform. The thick leaves completely blocked out the falling snow.
“Lord Beirut.” Linley bowed respectfully.
Beirut turned and laughed calmly while giving him a glance. “Oh, Linley, is there something you need? Did you encounter some difficulties in the Planar Battlefield?” After speaking, Beirut once more lowered his head to flip through the book in his hands.
“Lord Beirut, Bebe and I are doing pretty poorly in the Planar Battlefield. We found a target, but who would have imagined...the target was so powerful that even Bebe and I combined weren’t a match for him. Fortunately, speed was not one of his strengths, nor was he skilled at long distance attacks, so we managed to escape with our lives.” Linley said ashamedly.
Beirut, surprised, closed his book.
“You and Bebe combined weren’t a match for him?” Beirut asked. “The two of you against one person; one uses an innate divine ability against the soul and divine spark, while the other uses a material attack. You two complement each other very well...there aren’t many commanders who can block that.”
“His name is Hemmers.” Linley reported the name.
“Him?”
Beirut couldn’t help but start to laugh. “Haha...you two really are fearless. You even dare go irritate that big, boorish fellow! Others run as fast as they can when they see him. The material attack of ‘Hemmers’ can be ranked in the top ten of the entire universe. Even your Patriarch, Gislason, can’t withstand a punch from Hemmers.”
“I only learned that afterwards.” Linley said, laughing bitterly.
“Lord Beirut, how can Hemmers’ punches be so powerful?” Linley was completely confused. “I, too, train in the Laws of the Earth, and saw the attacks of the Redcliff Lord. But I don’t understand why Hemmers’ punches and kicks could be so...” Linley shook his head, indicating his confusion.
The previous Redcliff Lord was skilled in material attacks as well, and he had fused five profound mysteries. His power was extremely great. When Linley and him had exchanged punches, Linley had been slightly inferior.
“That’s his innate gift!” Beirut began to chortle.
“Innate gift?” Linley was startled.
“Do you know how many profound mysteries he has fused?” Beirut laughed.
“No idea.” Linley shook his head. “Is it high, or is it low?”
“He has fused four.” Beirut laughed calmly. “This is something I heard from the Sovereign when I was by his side.”
Linley was stunned. Fusing four profound mysteries put him at the Seven Star Fiend level, but the power which Hemmers had displayed was terrifyingly strong.
If one could be so breathtakingly strong after having fused just four profound mysteries, the strength of his innate gifts could be easily imagined!
“This Hemmers was born and blessed with incomparably great strength, and his defense is tremendous as well! According to legend...when the Divine Earth Plane was first created, a small golden mountain was formed. After countless years of nurturing, it eventually transformed into a living creature. Hemmers.” Beirut laughed. “Do you know? As soon as he transformed upon reaching the Demigod level, he became a Sovereign’s Emissary and was given a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact.”
“Uh...” Linley was speechless.
A Sovereign’s Emissary as a Demigod?
“His body is indestructible. Given that he also has a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact...to kill him is virtually impossible. Because his body was formed from that unique golden mountain that was formed alongside the plane itself, his power was extremely great from birth. Even without using any profound mysteries, a punch from him can shatter space. Now that he has fused four profound mysteries, there aren’t many people who can take a punch from him.” Beirut said in praise.
Linley couldn’t help but feel speechless. Some innate divine abilities really were ridiculous.
“I, a Godeater Rat, refine divine sparks to strengthen my body. But Hemmers was born with such a powerful body.” Beirut laughed calmly. “However, purely in terms of physical toughness, Hemmers is still slightly inferior to us Godeater Rats.”
Linley understood this as well. The bodies of Godeater Rats were comparable to divine sparks, after all.
“Lord Beirut, we were at a huge disadvantage this time! Thus, I want to ask you, Lord Beirut, if you can give me some information regarding the Asura-level experts of the various major planes. Let me get an understanding of them. That way, we won’t rashly compete against some truly supreme experts again.” Linley said hurriedly.
Beirut nodded slightly.
“I guessed that you would come find me.” Beirut waved his hand, and a bluish-copper colored chest suddenly appeared in front of him. “This chest has a great deal of information within it, as well as scryer recordings. Take a close look and get a good understanding of the various supreme experts of the various planes.”
Linley couldn’t help but look excitedly towards the bluish-copper chest.
With this thing, he would be prepared to deal with the enemies.
“Read it here. If there are any questions, you can ask me.” Beirut laughed calmly.
“Thank you, Lord Beirut.” Linley immediately went over and opened the chest.
Inside were a large number of scryer recordings, as well as thick realms of documents. Linley immediately moved the chest to one side and then began to read carefully, right there in the courtyard.
“Magnus [Ma’ge’nu’si], Celestial Realm. A supreme expert who ranks in the top five. Trains in the Edicts of Fate. Seems to be a Highgod Paragon...” Linley began to truly read in earnest. The information regarding one supreme expert after another entered Linley’s mind, and Linley now truly began to understand...
So each of the eleven great planes had such a high number of experts hidden in reclusion.
It must be understood that the seven Laws and four Edicts alone had a total of seventy seven Sovereigns. How could the number of supreme Highgod experts be lacking?
In but a single day’s time, Linley finished reading all of the materials and viewed all of the scryer recordings.
Linley now truly had the feeling...that there were so many experts in the universe!
“The eleven great planes...it seems as though there are less than thirty Highgod Paragons.” Linley was secretly amazed. “In other words, each plane has, on average, just two or three Highgod Paragons. And these are only those who are suspected to be Paragons! As for the Sovereigns, the eleven planes each have seven Sovereigns.” Linley finally realized how truly rare Highgod Paragons were!
As for commander-level experts? There were far more!
For example, in the Infernal Realm, there were 108 Lord Prefects and 108 Purgatory Commanders! The Infernal Realm alone held 216 commander-level experts, and that didn’t include many retired experts or supreme experts who never formally held the title of Lord Prefect. It was truly hard to calculate how many had retired, in fact.
The Infernal Realm alone had hundreds, perhaps nearly a thousand experts who were at the commander-level of power.
And the other three Higher Realms and the other Seven Divine Planes?
“There really are so many!” Linley said to himself in amazement. “Only, the vast majority of them won’t participate in the battles at all.”
This was because the eleven great planes had existed for too long. When Linley had been with the Azure Dragon clan and encountered some of the Elders of the clan, he realized that these Elders had lived for unknowably long periods of time already. From this, one could imagine...how long the histories of the various planes were.
It made sense that after countless years, many experts had arisen.
“Thud.” Linley shut the chest.
At this time, Beirut walked over from the courtyard. With a calm laugh, he said, “Oh, done reading?”
“Yes.” Linley took a deep breath.
This list of names of powerful experts allowed Linley to truly understand the concept of ‘a heaven beyond heaven’. Although he had just barely crossed the threshold of an ‘Asura’, there were many Asura-level experts, after all. The Infernal Realm alone had 216, not even counting the retired or hidden experts.
“After learning these things, don’t be overconfident in the future.” Beirut said with a calm laugh. “The Planar Battlefield is a place of life and death! Thus, commanders who aren’t very confident generally won’t show their real faces to people.”
“Won’t show their real faces?” Linley was stunned. “Then isn’t it pointless for me to read these things?”
After having viewed the materials and scryer recordings, Linley learned what these people looked like and what their supreme techniques were. But if they changed their appearances, how would he tell them apart?
“Don’t worry too much. It is only the weak who change their appearances. As for the experts who are truly, completely confident in themselves, they can’t be bothered to change their appearances, because they fear no one.” Beirut said.
Linley couldn’t help but nod.
It was hard to judge superiority or inferiority amongst the truly high-level, supreme experts amongst the Asuras. For example, some Highgod Paragons could only be said to be in the top three or the top five of a particular plane; there was no way of saying if he was definitely the best. After all, after training to the very peak...even if there were slight differences in power, it would be hard for one of them to kill the other.
“Lord Beirut, in other words, as long as I encounter someone I don’t recognize, I should attack.” Linley laughed.
“Right.” Beirut laughed as well.
“Actually, the Planar Wars are very pointless.” Beirut suddenly shook his head. “It’s simply a charnel house meant for reducing the number of supreme experts...but of course, it will also give birth to a few supreme experts.”
“Eh?” Linley was startled.
Charnel house?
“Lord Beirut, what are you saying?” Linley couldn’t help but speak out.
Beirut said with a calm laugh, “There are too many people and too many experts in the various planes! In addition, these planes have existed for countless years. Their long existences have resulted in countless experts! The Planar Wars are a tool meant to be used to reduce the number of experts. Every trillion years, every plane will undergo a Planar Wars, thus reducing the number of experts.”
“A single Planar War will continue for a thousand years! In the course of those thousand years, it is virtually only the commanders who will fight against and slaughter each other, while those who don’t wish to battle hide in their camps! At the very end of the Planar War, the armies of both sides will fight each other at the ‘bridges’ through the Stellar Sea and engage in a wild slaughter!” Beirut said with a chuckle. “To the vast majority of people, this is suicide. But to a few people, this is an excellent opportunity.”