Book 20, The Crown’s Riddle – Chapter 38, Lionheart City
As Bebe watched the blood-haired elder depart, he pursed his lips. “That old fellow has remained in the material plane for too long. His viewpoint is too narrow and restricted. He’s too foolish. He actually, voluntarily wishes to fuse a divine spark.”
He’s not foolish. He’s intelligent.”
Linley laughed. “The Okerlund Plane, having a huge population base, has given birth to quite a few Deities. Most likely, the people here have some degree of understanding regarding the Infernal Realm, Netherworld, Celestial Realm, and other places. Unless they are able to reach the Six Star Fiend or Seven Star Fiend, going to the Infernal Realm is a form of suffering. That old fellow, in the Okerlund Plane, is a supreme expert. He can enjoy life and relax. Why go to the Higher Planes?”
Bebe was startled. Then, he nodded. “That’s true too.”
“Right, Boss. Did you tell my Grandpa Beirut regarding this Okerlund Plane?”
“Of course I did.” Linley laughed. “Your Grandpa Beirut’s clone in the Yulan continent is currently living at Dragonblood Castle with my divine clone. I’ve told him everything about what has gone on here...Lord Beirut has also tapped his connections and investigated into the Life Realm’s various locations to see if there has been news regarding the red caltrop diamond.”
Bebe nodded. “Right. We do have to pay attention.”
The red caltrop diamond. Even in his dreams, Linley dreamed about acquiring it!
Although it was very likely that the red caltrop diamond was in the Okerlund Plane, they couldn’t rule out the possibility that it had followed Brodie to another plane.
Thus, Linley had to rely on Beirut’s assistance. Beirut had quite a few friends. It wasn’t too hard for him to pay attention to news of this nature. However, in recent days, Beirut had uncovered no information regarding the red caltrop diamond.
Fogdeep continent. Beastgod continent. The dwellers of these two continents continued their normal lives. The ‘Descent of the Gods’ hadn’t changed much. The various Highgod Paragons and those ten thousand Highgods began to search the humans, elves, dwarves, beastmen, and other races, but they did so carefully. They didn’t harm these creatures.
As for Linley...
He maintained a constant watch on the entire plane. Those Highgods and Paragons...whenever they acted a bit unusually, Linley would pay close attention.
Given how Linley’s spiritual energy surpassed that of a Deity using Sovereign’s Might, this oversight went completely unnoticed by the Paragons.
Time continued to pass in the midst of this inspection process.
In the blink of an eye, two months passed.
Mount Liangya.
“Lord Baruch.” The blood-haired elder had come once more.
Linley and Bebe both looked over.
“Lord Baruch, your subordinate once more gained information regarding the red caltrop diamond.” The blood-haired elder said hurriedly.
“Oh?” Bebe just snickered. “In the past two months, you’ve brought over a few dozen reports, and even located ten red caltrop diamonds.”
In the past two months, the Bloodknife guild had indeed found more than ten red caltrop diamonds, but Linley had discovered through his divine sense that they were ‘fake’ and he had rejected them before they were even delivered to him.
“This...your subordinate is unable to verify these items.” The blood-haired elder laughed awkwardly, then said hurriedly, “But this time, this news does seem rather credible.”
“Speak.” Linley said calmly.
“Right.” The blood-haired elder said hurriedly, “Roughly thirty years ago, a magus who was training and adventuring at the borders of the Fogdeep Forest saw two experts flying through the air. They looked like a couple. The woman had a long necklace, which had a red caltrop diamond fixed into it.
Linley and Bebe’s eyes lit up.
Thirty years ago? A couple? Flying in the air?
“And that couple?” Linley said hurriedly.
“That adventuring magus only saw the two pause in midair for a moment to discuss something, and then they flew deeper towards the Fogdeep Forest. As what happened next, the magus didn’t know.” The blood-haired elder shook his head.
“You can leave now.” Linley said.
“Yes.” The blood-haired elder left respectfully.
Linley and Bebe began to frown.
“Boss, the situation is bad.” Bebe said.
“It is fairly bad. Brodie and his wife went deep into the Fogdeep Forest. Clearly, they were flying towards the teleportation array. Most likely, they went through it to leave the Okerlund Plane.” Linley began to worry. “If Brodie and his wife really took the red caltrop diamond and left this place, things will grow problematic. Searching for them will be like searching for a needle in the sea.”
Although according to the Planar Overseer’s information, the couple had gone to the Life Realm...
How vast was the Life Realm?
In addition, could it be that the two wouldn’t then pass through the teleportation array of the Life Realm and once more teleport to another plane?
How was one to find them?
“However, there’s another possibility.” Bebe mumbled. “They were flying deep into the Fogdeep Forest. Aside from leaving with the red caltrop diamond, the other possibility is, they hid the red caltrop diamond in some lifeform within the Fogdeep Forest.”
Linley’s eyes lit up.
“This is indeed possible.” Linley couldn’t help but feel overjoyed, but then he let out a sigh.
The Fogdeep Forest was tremendously vast, and the number of magical beasts and primeval races which lived within it was very large. To search for it there wouldn’t be easy either.
“Hrm, the Radiant Temple? That ‘Radiant Goddess’ has actually voluntarily gone to find Clementine. Can it be that something special happened?” Linley had always kept his divine sense active and covering the entire plane. Naturally, he noticed this.
Within the Fogdeep continent, there was a shining lake that was more than a million kilometers in circumference. In the center of the lake, there was a small island that had a circumference of nearly ten kilometers as well. This island was known as the ‘Radiant Island’, or the ‘Sacred Island’. This was the headquarters of the number one church of the Fogdeep continent, the Temple of the Radiant Goddess.
In the center of the Sacred Island was the Radiant Temple. The Radiant Temple was divided into nine upper stories and nine underground stories.
Ever since the Paragon of Light, ‘Clementine’, led his forces to descend on this place, he had let the Radiant Goddess suffer just a little bit. She then immediately, terrified, allowed Clementine to live on the top of the ninth floor. As for the Radiant Goddess herself, she remained on the sixth floor.
The sixth underground floor. A silver-haired, silver-eyed, barefoot woman dressed in plain robes was currently frowning. This person was the ‘Radiant Goddess’, worshipped by countless people in the Fogdeep continent.
“Lord Clementine has been searching for news regarding the red caltrop diamond. Then, should I...”
After hesitating momentarily, her eyes grew determined. She immediately left her residence and headed towards the top of the Radiant Temple.
“Let her in.”
Within the vast, wide Radiant Temple’s uppermost floor, Clementine was silently seated on his throne, his eyes closed. His divine sense was constantly extended, but of course, there was no way he could compare to Linley. Normally, by relying on his spiritual energy, he was able to just barely cover the Fogdeep continent.
Even Paragons wouldn’t be so wasteful as to constantly use Sovereign’s Might.
If he did do that, most likely in a single month, he would have used up an astronomical amount of Sovereign’s Might.
“Milord.” The Radiant Goddess walked in, her feet unclad.
“What is it?” Clementine opened his eyes.
Clementine’s stare made the Radiant Goddess feel as though she were a tiny boat in the midst of a wild storm, about to capsize at any moment. The Radiant Goddess trembled slightly, then said respectfully, “Milord, you are searching for a red caltrop diamond. Your subordinate remembers that a friend once told me...if many powerful Deities come in search of a treasure, I am to give this to one of the experts. He said...this is a gift for me. That friend of mine was named Brodie!” As she spoke, she produced a small red box.
In that instant...
A divine light flashed in Clementine’s eyes. He immediately spread out his divine sense, wanting to wrap it around the surrounding area and forbid other Paragons from using their divine sense to search this area.
But it was too late!
Four divine senses instantly swept over that box.
“Haha, Clementine, we have to thank you, haha...” A voice rang out in Clementine’s mind.
Clementine’s face grew ugly to behold. He also swept the box with his divine sense, and then, in an instant, with a ‘rumble’, the box transformed into dust. The box in the hands of the Radiant Goddess had been completely crushed, and she couldn’t help but be badly frightened.
“You’ve done well. Now scram.” Clementine snorted coldly.
“Yes.” The Radiant Goddess didn’t dare to say a word. She immediately left.
“Nine Paragons, five in the Fogdeep continent, four in the Beastgod continent. Only three Paragons should have discovered that secret.” Clementine frowned. “Why didn’t Linley keep his divine sense up at all times?” In reality, there had been four divine senses which had swept through the box, but Clementine had only discovered three.
As for Linley’s divine sense? Clementine wasn’t able to detect it at all.
“Linley has few subordinates and doesn’t place much value on keeping up his divine sense. And yet, he thinks to acquire the Overgod talisman?” Clementine let out a cold laugh.
Five of the nine experts knew the secret of the box. Linley naturally knew it.
“The box actually had a piece of paper inside it. The paper only had three words on it; Lion Heart City!” Linley was very puzzled. Linley didn’t question whether the information was real or false, because the paper was a type of paper that was very commonly seen in the Infernal Realm. It could exist for countless years without being damaged. There was no way a material plane could produce this sort of paper.
In addition, the Radiant Goddess didn’t have the courage to lie on purpose.
“Just three words. Can it be that Brodie means to say...the red caltrop diamond is in Lionheart City?” Linley mused to himself.
“Tell me, what sort of a place is Lionheart City?” Linley directly spoke to Elder Shadow of the Bloodknife organization through divine sense.
Elder Shadow immediately replied respectfully, “Lord Baruch, Lionheart City is an extremely famous city in the Beastgod continent. It is the imperial capital of the ‘Snowlion Empire’.
“The Beastgod continent. The imperial capital of the Snowlion Empire?”
Linley’s divine sense covered the entire plane. He immediately noticed that within the Beastgod continent, there was an extremely lavish and large city, with the city gates having two giant words affixed to it. ‘Lion Heart’.
“Boss, what is it?” Bebe didn’t know what was going on.
“Bebe, let’s go on a trip to the Beastgod continent.” Linley smiled slightly, then a surge of wind-type divine power surrounded Bebe. The two transformed into green blurs, instantly disappearing into the horizon.
It wasn’t just Linley who was making haste to the Beastgod continent. The other four Paragons of the Fogdeep continent were also hastening over there.
Paragons flew at a very fast speed. They quickly flew out of the Fogdeep continent, traversed the ocean between the two continents, then arrived within the Beastgod continent. In terms of speed, even without using his ‘fused divine power’, Linley arrived at the Beastgod continent at virtually the same instant that Clementine and the others did.
The four Paragons, Linley, and Bebe entered the Beastgod continent, and as they did, the four Paragons in the Beastgod continent immediately noticed.
“Eh? The five of them all flew over, and to the same location. Can it be that they found out something about the red caltrop diamond?”
As long as one wasn’t a complete idiot, upon seeing this, they would be able to guess that something important must have happened.
They didn’t hesitate at all! The other four Paragons of the Beastgod continent immediately flew towards the gathering spot of the five Paragons who had just entered the continent.
“Clementine, where are you headed?” The Paragon of Water, a middle-aged man with loose blue hair, laughed as he followed Clementine. Although they could guess at where Linley, Clementine, and the other three were headed based on their trajectory, they still weren’t certain about it.
Thus, it was quite natural that the four Paragons based in the Beastgod continent elected to follow after the other five Paragons.
“Hmph.” Clementine couldn’t even be bothered to pay attention to them. His speed suddenly increased, and he began to move slightly faster than the Paragon of Water.
“Everyone, you should all be heading towards Lionheart City, right?” The Paragon of Wind, Bayer, was the first to arrive at Lionheart City. He had been in the Beastgod continent this entire time, and he lived fairly close to Lionheart City. Upon seeing the direction towards which Linley’s group was hurrying towards, as they drew closer, he was easily able to recognize where they were going.
“Swoosh!” A ray of light shot towards Lionheart City, then transformed into a person. It was Clementine.
“Whoosh!” A green blur descended from the skies, then resolved into two figures; Linley and Bebe.
“How did Linley know where to go? Did Dunnington tell him?” Clementine looked at Linley, puzzled. Back then, he had no idea that Linley had used his divine sense.
“Lionheart City!” Linley’s divine sense filled the entire Lionheart City, but he didn’t find anything special.
“Bebe, let’s go in.” Linley sent.
And then, paying no attention to the other Paragons, Linley and Bebe directly entered the city of Lionheart.