Book 19, Metamorphosis – Chapter 20, A Tranquil Heart
“Rustle...”
A cold wind howled, and the grass swayed, bending down in supplication.
Lancelot and Roland’s corpses lay there on the ground, with no hint of life. Prior to this, they were both supreme experts of their respective planes, commander-level experts who imposed their will on their world! The reason they entered the Planar Battlefield was because they hoped to rise to yet another level; to accumulate enough military merits so as to trade for a Sovereign artifact, allowing them to become high-level experts even amongst commanders.
Unfortunately...
For some to succeed, others had to fail.
One commander’s success represented the deaths of ten commanders, or a hundred thousand Highgod soldiers! This was the price of success! Unluckily, Lancelot and Roland had just become failures.
“Whooooosh!”
The wind arose, and then stopped!
Two figures appeared within the battlefield. These two were dressed in long green robes, and had long green hair. Even their faces and body shapes were similar. From the surface, the only difference between the two was that...one had golden eyebrows while the other had white eyebrows. Someone who didn’t recognize them, upon seeing them, would take the two to be a single person’s clones.
If Linley was here, he would recognize these two as being the legendary twin commanders of the Divine Wind Plane.
“Elder Brother, did you see that?” The man with the white eyebrows said solemnly.
The youth with the golden eyebrows took a look at the two corpses on the ground as well, nodding slightly. “I saw it. Although I’ve never personally seen the legendary innate divine ability of Beirut, based on the scryer recordings that I saw, I can affirm that just now, that illusion should’ve been one of a Godeater Rat!” Prior to this, when Bebe had used his innate divine ability, the illusion of a Godeater Rat had been a hundred meters tall, allowing others to see it from far away.
This was the reason why Linley and Bebe had immediately left.
The youth with the white eyebrows nodded. “Lancelot...even if we joined forces against him, it would be a hard fight. He was hard to deal with. Lancelot’s soul defense was exceedingly strong, and to kill him, a Highgod Paragon would be needed. But of course, there is also Beirut, who possessed such a terrifying innate divine ability. Beirut’s innate supreme technique ignores all ordinary soul defenses. The person who attacked just now...was most likely Beirut!”
Beirut had become famous just a bit more than ten thousand years ago!
As for Bebe, too few people knew of him. Bebe hadn’t done anything particularly breathtaking yet after having become a Highgod. How could these experts of other planes know about him? Thus, they all believed that it had been Beirut who had attacked!
“Beirut...why has he come to the Planar Battlefield?” The youth with the white eyebrows said, frowning. “Given his power, he doesn’t need to come to this place. His punches and kicks are already comparable to Sovereign weapons. The Planar Battlefield is already a chaotic enough place. With him joining the mix...this is absolutely unfair!”
“So what if it is unfair? Dare you go and have a grand battle against Beirut?” The youth with the golden eyebrows said with a laugh.
It was precisely because they had seen the illusion of a Godeater Rat that they had intentionally waited quite a while before returning. They were afraid they might run into Beirut.
“Enough, Second Brother. Let’s go. Be careful. If we see that Beirut, let’s make sure we stay far away from him.” The youth with the golden eyebrows glanced at the two corpses on the ground, and then transformed into a blur and departed, with his younger brother following him. This empty area now only had those two lifeless corpses remaining.
Within that small black hill was an empty cave.
Linley and Bebe had emerged from underground and dug out this giant cave from within the hill.
“Haha, Boss, what great rewards, what great rewards!” Bebe excitedly called out, while tossing out one item after another; the violet armor, the interspatial rings, and everything else. Just as Bebe was about to excitedly say a few things, he suddenly froze.
“Boss!” Bebe looked at Linley, stunned.
Linley was currently staring at the golden badge in his hands. His eyes were filled with excitement, and even tears.
“Finally. I finally have a golden badge.” Linley clenched his hand tightly around the golden badge, pressing it against his heart. In this moment, Linley felt as though this golden badge had transformed into his father, into George, into Yale. He couldn’t help but think of those precious memories from back when he was a toddler or when he was a youth.
The golden badge, to Linley...did it represent a Sovereign artifact?
No!
This was something which would allow the father he had lost in his youth to return. To let his brothers who had died such unjust deaths to return.
“Father. Boss Yale. George.” Linley shut his eyes and murmured. “I...can save at least one of you now! My father, my brothers...you have to wait for me. Wait for me to emerge from the Planar Wars. You’ve already endured for nearly two thousand years. Just endure a little longer!”
“Wait for me...”
Tears unconsciously began to seep out from the corners of his eyes.
Ever since he had entered the Netherworld, over the past few decades, Linley had been under great pressure. He felt as though a giant stone was constantly pressing against his heart! First, he had to go to the Abyssal Mountain to meet the Chief Sovereign of Death, from whom he just barely saw a glimmer of hope. He then went to Tartarus to challenge the Redcliff Lord, finally succeeding and becoming qualified to enter the Planar Battlefield.
But that had only been the beginning.
After entering the Planar Battlefield, Linley was under constant pressure, and he had a lost feeling in his heart. Deep in his heart, he even felt a hint of dread.
This seemingly peaceful Planar Battlefield had too many powerful experts hiding within it! Linley was afraid that he could encounter a truly supreme expert who would kill himself and Bebe. He wasn’t afraid of dying himself, but if Bebe were to die, Linley would forever regret it. And...if that happened, he would never again be able to save his father and his brothers.
After having been in the Planar Battlefield for more than half a year, and after repeated failures, Linley had even begun to doubt himself.
Nervousness, restlessness! These emotions had constantly ensnarled Linley!
Although on the surface, it appeared as though Linley had lain in wait calmly, in his heart, Linley was frantic. This was because he hadn’t killed a single commander. He had begun to doubt if he would be able to acquire a single commander’s badge. This was the sort of nervous restlessness in which Linley had been living. But now...just now, such a huge battle had suddenly erupted.
And it had brought such an unexpected delight.
“I finally succeeded. A gold badge.” Linley said to himself. “Bebe and I, working together, will definitely succeed. It hasn’t even been a year, but I’ve already acquired a gold badge. In addition, there are nearly nine centuries left to this Planar War. I will definitely acquire enough gold badges.”
This success had allowed Linley’s heart to calm down greatly!
No matter how vicious and dangerous the future days would be, Linley would confidently face them!
“Right. There’s another gold badge.” Linley suddenly turned to look towards Bebe, saying hurriedly, “Bebe, that interspatial ring. Hurry up and open it and take a look. When Roland was killed, that gold badge was placed into the interspatial ring.” Linley was feeling rather excited.
Bebe had been paying attention to Linley’s facial expressions this entire time, and he immediately laughed. “Alright, I’ll open it up right away.” Bebe understood that the tears Linley had just shed were tears of joy.
A single drop of blood flew out from Bebe’s skin, landing atop the interspatial ring.
“Eh?” Bebe stared.
Linley couldn’t help but frown.
The drop of blood actually splashed onto the interspatial ring, then rolled off and fell to the ground, striking it with a ‘whap’ sound.
“Damn! That Lancelot has a divine clone that is still alive!” Bebe said angrily.
“So it really was the case!” Linley had been mentally prepared for this all along.
Generally speaking, the vast majority of commanders who entered the Planar Battlefield would leave a divine clone outside. After all, the chance of death in the Planar Battlefield was simply too high. As for Lancelot...clearly, he had left a divine clone outside as well, causing Linley to be completely unable to open this interspatial ring.
“Aaaargh!” Bebe immediately called out furiously. “The defensive Sovereign artifact! The defensive Sovereign artifact is also useless!”
If even the interspatial ring couldn’t be bound, then the same would naturally be true for the defensive Sovereign artifact.
Linley glanced at the dark golden armor, then laughed and said, “Bebe, don’t worry about that. You should know...this defensive Sovereign artifact was given to Lancelot by a Sovereign. Even though we killed him, the Sovereign will still take back the Sovereign artifact. At most, we’d be able to use it temporarily for a time.”
“I know this principle, but we should’ve at least been able to wear it for a time, right?” Bebe said helplessly.
“For a time? Who knows when the Sovereign would come and take back the Sovereign artifact.” Linley said with a calm laugh.
Linley even suspected that Sovereigns were monitoring the Planar Wars at all times. The Sovereigns might immediately take back their artifact, or they might wait...wait for a bit of time to pass before taking it. But one thing was certain; a Sovereign artifact acquired through killing someone would definitely be taken away by the Sovereign in the end.
“To me, what I really feel is unfortunate is the loss of that badge.” Linley shook his head and sighed.
“Right. We can’t take the badge out either.” Bebe said resignedly.
According to the rules of trading for military merits, once the Planar War concluded and the combatants exited through the interspatial gate, they would immediately receive military merits based on the number of badges acquired. Even if Linley found Lancelot’s clone in the future and forced him to withdraw the gold badge, it would be useless.
“So some badges actually end up going to waste like this.” Linley said with a bitter laugh.
Perhaps an expert might kill seven or eight other commanders and acquire seven or eight badges. But if the expert was in turn killed, that person would only acquire a single badge. As for the seven or eight badges in the interspatial ring, there was no way to retrieve them. They had to go to waste.
“There must be many that go to waste. For example, during the final battle in the Stellar Sea corridors.” Bebe said with a sigh. “That’s a place where you gamble with your life. Perhaps you’ll end up fighting all the way into the chaotic space regions of the Stellar Sea. Also, some badges will fall into the chaotic space regions or the spatial tears of the Stellar Sea.” Bebe said.
Linley nodded slightly.
“It seems as though relying on taking advantage of the work of others isn’t a simple thing. Unless the person has no divine clone outside, of course. But the number of people who would do that is too little.” Linley said, shaking his head.
Acquiring enough military merits wasn’t a simple task. It had to be done step by step.
“Boss, what should we do with the interspatial ring? Destroy it, or keep it?” Bebe said.
“Keeping it will only result in problems and no benefits. Destroy it.” Linley said with a calm laugh.
“Whap!” Bebe exerted some force, completely crushing the interspatial ring in his fingers. The items within the interspatial ring all transformed into nothingness as well.
“This Sovereign artifact...leave it here for the Sovereign to collect.” Linley said with a calm laugh.
“Haha, actually, even if we wanted to destroy it, we wouldn’t be able to.” Bebe said, then he gave the dark golden armor a few kicks. “Damn, it’s pretty hard. Hmph...my body hasn’t reached its limits yet. In the future, I definitely won’t be weaker than any Sovereign artifact.” Bebe harrumphed.
Although Bebe’s defensive power was great, each time he devoured a divine spark, he continued to use the essence of the divine spark to strengthen his body.
It was a process that took some time. The amount of time Bebe had spent at the Highgod level was a million years less than what Beirut had spent. There was still a difference between the two of them.
Linley calmly trained there in the cave, while his original body continued to control his Deathgod Golem as bait.
The Planar Battlefield was the same as it previously had been. On the surface, it was calm, but in the shadows, battles and massacres occasionally erupted. Although the Planar Battlefield was very dangerous, Linley, having succeeded once, was now confident in himself. He had acquired a gold badge in less than a year. If he could acquire one every ten years, much less every year, he would easily accomplish his goal.
He calmly waited. Waited for a big fish to bite on his bait.
“With my heart at peace...my training has increased in speed as well.” Linley laughed calmly, opening his eyes.
“Eh?” Bebe, as though sensing it, opened his eyes to look at Linley as well. “Boss, what is it?”
“Bebe, make your preparations. I’ve already discovered people nearby.” A hint of light flashed through Linley’s eyes.
“We have a target?” Bebe instantly grew excited, jumping to his feet. “Haha, it’s been less than half a month, but we have a new target. It’s time for me to show my skills off yet again. Haha!” Bebe was extremely energetic.
“Don’t be impatient. Let’s see if they are enemies first. Let’s go!”
Linley and Bebe immediately, quietly slipped through the underground tunnels, leaving the mountain.