Book 21, The Peak – Chapter 2, The Eighteenth Floor of the Necropolis of the Gods
The skies above the South Sea of the Yulan Plane. Beirut and the others were travelling through it at high speed.
“Become a Sovereign?” Linley stared at Beirut, up ahead.
The events which had occurred within this short day had all been too stunning. Linley felt a bit numb. At first, it had been Beirut displaying his power as a Sovereign. Then, Bluefire had also displayed the power of a Sovereign. Right afterwards, he had met the Overgod of Life. Linley truly felt as though he were in a dream.
And now, based on what Beirut was saying, it seemed as though he was going to make Linley become a Sovereign.
Linley struggled to calm himself down. Only then did he speak out. “Lord Beirut, why would you choose me for the precious opportunity to become a Sovereign? Harry, Bebe, and the others...you should choose them.” Linley spoke bluntly. Truth be told, in terms of closeness of relationships, Harry and his brothers were Beirut’s own children.
“Them?” Beirut turned to glance at Linley, then laughed. “I gave them a chance, but they weren’t able to grasp it.”
“Grandpa, what do you mean, couldn’t handle it?”
The nearby Bluefire raised a crimson eyebrow, then laughed as he stared at the vast, endless seawater in front of them. “Alright, we’ll be arriving up ahead.”
“This is...” Linley spread his senses forward. “There should be an interdimensional portal below. A corridor to the Necropolis of the Gods!” In the past, Linley had adventured through the Necropolis of the Gods. Back then, Linley had only been a Saint. After experiencing countless tribulations, he had acquired divine sparks. That time, however, Linley had come to a halt on the eleventh floor.
“Come in.” Beirut said with a smile, then directly flew downwards.
“Rumble...” The formerly placid waters of the sea instantly rose up, then parted like a curtain on two sides, revealing an immeasurably deep tunnel.
Linley and Bebe hurriedly followed Beirut and Bluefire deep into the depths of the sea.
Deep within the sea, it was completely silent. There wasn’t any hint of light. Some enormous deep sea behemoths swam about slowly. Linley’s group of four instantly reached the bottom of the sea, moving so quickly that many of the deep sea magical beasts didn’t even notice them.
The bottom of the seabed was filled all sorts of random sea plants, as well as underwater mountain ranges.
The seabed coral reefs rose up atop each other, reaching heights as great as a thousand meters. Sometimes, they would also sink down into bottomless, unfathomably deep trenches.
Linley’s group of four strode across the bottom of the sea. While striding forward up ahead, Beirut suddenly turned and went into one of the bottomless trenches next to the reefs. Linley’s group of three had no choice but to follow. This fathomlessly deep tunnel was like the bowels of a behemoth; dark, cold, and immeasurable.
“Grandpa, weren’t we going to the Necropolis of the Gods? The interdimensional portal that leads to the Necropolis of the Gods is still up ahead. Where are we going?” Bebe asked while following.
“I need to retrieve something.” Beirut said with a smile.
Linley was filled with questions, but he still maintained his silence, continuing to follow forward. After moving roughly ten thousand meters deeper, they finally reached the bottom. The bottom of this deep tunnel was an empty space that had a circumference of hundreds of meters, but the strange thing was, even the sea water was kept outside.
“Grandpa, what is this, exactly?” Bebe said, curious.
The nearby Bluefire let out a sigh. “Beirut, you prepared this in the past, but it seems your preparations no longer need to be made use of.”
Beirut waved his hand, and a powerful surge of green aura shot out from Beirut’s palm. It instantly separated into ten million strands of fine green light, penetrating into the rocky walls of this deep cave. The walls greedily drank in the green light, and instantly, a large number of magical runes began to slowly appear atop the walls.
“This is a magical formation?” Linley frowned as he spoke.
“This is a very unique sealing magical formation.” Bluefire laughed as he spoke. “In the past, Beirut had schemed to acquire it from the Infernal Realm. This sealing magical formation was altered by Beirut. If you want to activate this sealing magical formation, you must have the power of a Sovereign. Otherwise, there is no way you can open it.”
“Lord Beirut?” Linley didn’t understand. “This sealing magical formation was constructed in the Yulan Plane. But other Sovereigns aren’t able to enter the Yulan Plane. Why be so cautious?”
“I was just preparing against all eventualities.”
Beirut let out a sigh. “I was worried that one day, I would be killed by the Chief Sovereign of Light, and also have my treasures be taken away. Thus, I never carried them on me. Rather, I kept them here in the Yulan Plane. I was worried that the Chief Sovereign of Light would send Highgods to come seize it, and so it requires that someone have the power of a Sovereign in order to be able to break this sealing magical formation.”
“If one day I were to die, this treasure would enter Bluefire’s safekeeping.” Beirut said. The deep underwater tunnel had already slowly grown brighter, to the point of being eye-piercingly brilliant.
Suddenly...
“Bang!”
The four walls of the cave and the floor all suddenly trembled, and then completely transformed into dust which flowed down.
“The grand sealing formation?” Linley now completely understood. Beirut had used this grand formation to completely seal off a meter-thick layer of rock at the bottom of this underwater cave. Given Beirut’s abilities in setting up this grand formation, if outsiders wished to break it, they would have to at least be as strong as him.
But setting up this formation was definitely no simple task.
“Lord Beirut, why did you come to break this grand sealing formation today?” Linley said, not understanding.
“It no longer has any purpose, so I might as well break it.” Beirut smiled, then waved his hand. A gust of wind swept downwards, blowing all of the sand to one side and revealing a black box that was just the size of a palm. Beirut’s eyes lit up, and he stretched his hand out to grab the black box.
Bluefire, seeing this, laughed as well.
“Grandpa, what is inside?” Bebe said, puzzled.
“Guess?” Beirut chortled.
“Can it be that it was because of this treasure, that the Chief Sovereign of Light wishes to kill you, Grandpa? Is this treasure the Sovereign spark? Or is it a treasure that is on the level of an Overgod talisman?” Bebe guessed.
“Haha, you are quite clever. Alright, it is time for us to go to the Necropolis of the Gods.” Beirut chortled.
Linley followed behind Beirut, flying once more out from that deep tunnel and towards the interdimensional portal. The portal was located atop an enormous, pitch-black stone that was in the center of a deep ocean valley. The strange spatial ripples could be seen and sensed clearly by Linley’s group from far away.
“In you go.” Beirut willed it, and the interdimensional portal opened.
The four immediately flew in.
They flew through and to the other side of the portal, where they arrived at a different plane.
“The Necropolis of the Gods.” Linley had come here before. He could sense the restrictive power of this plane, and he couldn’t help but look towards Beirut in confusion. “Lord Beirut, this plane should be on a much higher level than a material plane; how can it be so tightly connected with the Yulan Plane?” Linley had entered this place as a mere Saint.
Even one of the five Prime Saints of the Yulan continent, such as Fain, disciple of the War God, had been limited to a divine sense of just ten or so meters.
“This is a plane that was created by a Sovereign.” Bluefire laughed calmly. “This is a so called ‘divine plane’. Naturally, its restrictive power will be far greater than a material plane’s.”
“However, compared to the Infernal Realm, the restrictive power is much smaller.” Linley evaluated.
The nearby Beirut laughed, “Linley, upon becoming a Sovereign, one can create a plane. According to legend, however, the Infernal Realm, Netherworld, Celestial Realm, and Life Realm were created separately and individually by the four Overgods. Of course their restrictive power is great. As for the Seven Divine Planes, they were jointly created by the seven Sovereigns of each element. The Divine Light Plane, for example, was created by the Chief Sovereign of Light and the other six Sovereigns of Light working in concert. It is more stable and powerful than this plane of mine as well. After all, this is a plane that I, a Lesser Sovereign, made by myself.”
“Indeed.” Linley already had a vague suspicion that perhaps it was Beirut who had created this plane.
“Create a divine plane? Wow, that’s incredible.” Bebe called out in surprised joy. “But Grandpa, Sovereigns should be able to enter this divine plane, right? Aren’t you afraid that the Chief Sovereign of Light will come?”
“Don’t worry. This divine plane is connected to the Yulan Plane. If another Sovereign wishes to enter this plane of mine, as soon as they touch the borders of it, I, as the creator of the plane, will know. If the Chief Sovereign of Light comes, I will instantly enter the Yulan Plane.” Beirut smiled.
Linley secretly sighed in praise. “Beirut truly is cautious.”
“The Necropolis of the Gods is up ahead.” Beirut pointed into the distance.
The waters of the deep sea surged forward. Linley could clearly see that up ahead, there was an enormous, sharp-tipped necropolis that was nearly twenty thousand meters tall and which had a circumference of ten thousand meters. At the front of the necropolis was still that enormous carving of a wingless dragon, an enormous dragon that lay coiled. Its aura was truly astonishing.
The other three sides had carvings of the other three divine beasts.
Last time, Linley hadn’t understood, but this time, Linley completely understood. Linley hurriedly asked frantically, “Lord Beirut, of the four carving, this enormous dragon carving is absolutely identical to the Azure Dragon Phantom that appears when I execute my innate divine ability. As for the other three divine beast carvings, they are identical to the other three divine beast sculptures I saw within the Skyrite Mountains of the Infernal Realm. Is there something special about this place?”
“Yes. This four carvings are of the four divine beasts.” Beirut said with a sigh.
“Follow me.” Beirut immediately flew towards the top of the Necropolis of the Gods.
Linley immediately followed. This Necropolis of the Gods had, in total, eighteen floors. Logically speaking, one should have to enter from the first floor, then constantly advance. But this time, Beirut actually led Linley and the others directly to the very tip of the Necropolis of the Gods, and at the top of the wall, a tunnel appeared out of nowhere.
Beirut and Bluefire stepped forward. Although Linley and Bebe felt puzzled, they still followed from behind.
This was a vast, empty space that they had moved into. The entire floor was formed from large pieces of bluestone that were ten meters long. This giant bluestone floor seemed to stretch off into infinity.
The ground was azure.
The sky was azure. Azure with no hint of other colors; it was so clear and bright.
Beirut, Linley, and the others appeared on the bluestone floor.
“This is...?” Linley stared around, puzzled. Logically speaking, each floor of the Necropolis of the Gods should have guardians, but this floor actually had no one in it at all.
“This is the top of the Necropolis of the Gods. The eighteenth floor.” Beirut smiled.
Bebe said in surprise, “Grandpa, why is it that there is no one here at the legendary eighteenth floor? Isn’t it supposed to be the most terrifyingly dangerous?”
“Who said that the eighteen floor is dangerous?” Beirut laughed.
“Doesn’t it get more and more dangerous, the higher up you go?” Bebe mumbled, not understanding. “Hey, Boss, where are you going?” Bebe realized that Linley was actually moving forward.
Beirut, seeing the situation, laughed. “Let’s go. Linley has already discovered it.”
Linley had indeed discovered it. In the past, the very first time he had come to the Necropolis of the Gods, he sensed that something within the upper reaches of the Necropolis of the Gods was calling to him. But, at that time, he didn’t have the power to advance farther up. Now, Linley discovered that it was this eighteenth floor that called to him, that drew him.
“Lord Beirut, this, this bluestone floor...beneath it...” Linley turned to look at Beirut.
“Wait a moment.” Beirut laughed while walking over, his gaze landing on the bluestone floor.
“Creaaaaak.” Countless bluestone floor tiles began to move about in an orderly fashion. Beneath the bluestone floor, an enormous object began to slowly rise. The bluestone tiles that had simply served as a floor, in the blink of an eye, actually formed into a giant platform, atop which lay an enormous Azure Dragon corpse that was more than ten thousand meters long. That close, familiar aura was calling to Linley.
“The ancestor...the Azure Dragon?” Stunned, Linley stared with wide eyes. He was immediately able to recognize it.
Beirut walked over, then sighed, “Right. There are, in total, three Necropolis of the Gods. The other two are only used to store the corpses of ordinary Deities, while this one is the great one. This Necropolis of the Gods, on its eighteenth floor, has the corpse of the Azure Dragon within it. As for the eighteenth floors of the other three directions, they store the corpses of the Vermillion Bird, the White Tiger, and the Black Tortoise.”