Coiling Dragon (Pan Long)

Beirut!

Linley and Bebe exchanged a glance. Linley still remembered how Bebe had told him that not long after he was born, when he still hadn’t been able to open his eyes, a very warm, intimate voice had told to him…he was of the Beirut clan.

“Lord Beirut?” Bebe spoke. “Fine. I’ll go with you.”

Linley looked at Bebe. Bebe’s normally adorable eyes were now very solemn, and held within them a hint…of excitement! Bebe had never known anything about his parentage, and when he had been able to open his eyes, he hadn’t found any rat-type magical beasts nearby.

Bebe had always wondered if that warm, intimate voice had been his mother’s.

Unfortunately, Bebe had never seen her. The only clue he had was those three syllables; ‘Bei-Lu-Te’, Beirut.

The Violet-Gold Rat King, Harry, laughed. “Don’t be like this. My lord father has invited Bebe to go over to meet him. It definitely isn’t for any bad reasons.” As he spoke, he looked at Bebe. “Bebe, let’s go.” The other two Violet-Gold Rat Kings also looked at Bebe.

Bebe immediately flew into the air.

“This trip of Bebe’s to the Forest of Darkness will take a bit of time, most likely. Don’t be in too much of a rush.” The third of the Violet-Gold Rat Kings, Harvey, said.

Linley nodded, then said to Bebe, “Bebe, if anything major happens, immediately let me know.” Linley and Bebe could speak at a very long distance through their spiritual connection. Generally speaking, while Bebe was in the Forest of Darkness, he could still spiritually communicate with Linley.

“Got it, Boss.” Bebe cracked a smile.

Linley smiled encouragingly back at him.

The mystery of his parentage was something that had weighed on Bebe’s mind his entire life. Now that he had a chance of solving it, Bebe wouldn’t hesitate at all.

…..

Plumes of snow circled down onto the earth. The discussion in the royal palace was extremely animated.

“So the mysterious King of the Forest of Darkness is named Lord Beirut.” Rebecca held her hands over her heart, breathing excitedly. The five ultimate powers of the Yulan continent, the five Deities, were indeed figures of awe. The power of Deities was far greater than that of the Saints.

For example, Stehle hadn’t been able to resist even a finger-flick from Cesar.

“Father.” Taylor’s pure eyes were filled with energy as he looked at Linley. “Is that Beirut really powerful? Even more powerful than you, Father?”

Linley and Wharton both laughed.

In the eyes of his children, Linley was invincible.

“Lord Beirut…” Linley looked towards the north, as though seeing that expert who stood atop the entire Yulan continent from within his lair in the Forest of Darkness. “According to what those three Violet-Gold Rat Kings said, Lord Beirut is most likely the most terrifyingly powerful Deity in the Yulan continent.”

Linley patted Taylor’s head and said lovingly, “Taylor, your father doesn’t have the strength to challenge him yet.”

“Then Father will definitely surpass him in the future.” Taylor spoke with absolute certainty. “My father is the greatest genius in the Yulan continent, and the most powerful Dragonblood Warrior in history.”

“Haha…” Linley didn’t respond. He only laughed.

Linley looked at Wharton, then instructed, “Wharton, tomorrow, I plan to go to the private underground room and begin training. The founding of the Baruch Empire, I won’t get involved in.” The so-called private underground room was the pocket dimensional room in the core of the magicite mines.

“Big brother, you won’t participate?” Wharton was very shocked.

The founding of an Empire was a major event.

“Forget it.” Linley looked at Delia. Delia’s mageforce and spiritual energy had been increasing at an unbelievable rate. After reaching the ninth rank as an Arch Magus, her rate of improvement had only been increasing. This sort of improvement rate was simply astonishing to Linley.

It seemed as though to Delia, there was no such thing as a bottleneck.

“Delia, I expect when the Empire is founded, the Yulan Empire will definitely send envoys over. Your parents or other people might come over as well. You should stay at the palace and wait for them.”

“Fine.” Delia couldn’t help but think of how her parents looked.

She had left her clan only twelve years ago. The clan and Delia had reconciled long ago. Only, because the distance between the two was so vast, they rarely had a chance to meet.

This time, with the Baruch Empire being founded, her parents would most likely come.

Linley continued with his instructions. “Delia, the private underground room is over ten meters wide. I’ve already divided it into two layers. After you are finished, you can come find me. At that time, I’ll help you enter the private underground room. You and I can train together. I expect that in a few years, you’ll be able to reach the level of Grand Magus Saint, even before I do.” Linley sighed as he spoke.

Delia’s eyes held a hint of excitement in them.

Each time Linley went into seclusion for training, he would disappear for who-knows how long. Delia naturally wanted to be with Linley during that time.

“Right. I’ll definitely come looking for you at that time.” Delia hurriedly said.

The next day, Linley flew directly to the magicite mine. After the battle, the magicite miners had began to quite orderly but quite frantically resume the excavations. In a short month, sixty or seventy percent of the gems in the magicite mine had been excavated, and only a small number of deposits were left.

But of course, various major buildings were constructed around the ‘door’.

Linley walked into the tunnels, opened a stone door, and then arrived at the mysterious dimensional door. Linley’s body immediately became covered with a layer of deep azure battle-qi, which spun about him rhythmically. Linley immediately stepped inside.

“Crackle crackle.”

Terrifying knife-like blasts of energy tore at Linley, but Linley’s Pulseguard Defense was fully able to defend against them.

Stepping into the pocket dimension, Linley felt his heart become at ease. Earth, fire, water, wind. All the elemental essences seemed so close. Even the Throbbing Pulse of the Earth became so clear to him. Raising his head…he saw that translucent membrane, and saw the multicolored chaotic space outside of it.

“I’ve already reached the level of 256 layers for a long time. I hope this time, I can make a true breakthrough.” Linley immediately sat down cross-legged, beginning to meditate and to attune.

Last time, Linley had an insight, but he had only learned that from the 256 layers, he now needed to consolidate them all into a single vibrational wave. Only then would the Profound Truths of the Earth be perfected. But as to how that would be accomplished, Linley was still very uncertain.

Within that pocket dimension, the flow of time couldn’t be noticed at all.

Linley began to train in seclusion.

Yulan calendar, year 10022, December 28th. In two more days, it would be the Yulan Festival. This would be a very historically special Yulan festival, because…on this Yulan Festival, the Baruch Empire would be formally founded.

Baruch City was a hubbub of activity. Outsiders had filled Baruch City to the brim.

Ten guards were escorting a simple, unadorned carriage on the streets of Baruch City. Just by looking at those warriors of the fifth rank and higher, one would know that the people inside the carriage were no ordinary people indeed. A long time later, the carriage arrived at a hotel.

The guards immediately halted the horse.

“Madame, we are at the hotel.” The carriage driver said respectfully into the carriage.

“Understood.” A calm voice from within the carriage. A jade-white hand pulled open the carriage curtains, then stepped out. This noble lady wore violet clothes, covered by a black cloak. If Linley had been here, he would definitely recognize her…

Alice!

It had been almost twenty three years since the Apocalypse Day.

Back then, Alice had been very young. After twenty three years, she had now acquired the natural grace and elegance of a noble lady.

“Twenty three years.” Alice looked at the city, her heart filled with emotion. She knew the name of this city; Baruch City. This city had been founded based on the name of Linley’s clan. The fifth great empire of the Yulan continent would be formally founded in two days.

The name was also the Baruch Empire.

“Linley Baruch.” Alice murmured Linley’s name.

That year when she and Kalan had met with danger in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, Linley had suddenly descended from the skies and saved her. That year, Linley was nothing more than a youth with potential, while she was a beautiful, carefree young girl. Kalan was the successor to a major noble clan.

Twenty three years later.

Linley had already reached a height which she couldn’t hope to approach.

Alice felt gratitude from the depths of her heart towards Linley. On the Apocalypse Day, it was Linley who had entrusted her to Director Maia, who for Linley’s sake had taken care of her and Rowling the entire time they were fleeing. Director Maia had been very kind to the two girls.

Afterwards, Alice and Rowling had become the adopted daughters Director Maia.

And then, Alice had begun helping him take care of the matters of the Proulx Gallery. Rowling wasn’t good at management, but by contrast…Alice was very talented at managing the various Galleries, and so Director Maia slowly gave more and more authority to her. This time, it was Director Maia who had sent her to come to Baruch City.

The reason was…she was going to start up a new Proulx Gallery, here in Baruch City!

Generally speaking, all of the enormous cities had a Proulx Gallery present. In the future, Baruch City would become the center of the Baruch Empire (the Anarchic Lands). Naturally, they had to have a Proulx Gallery here.

“Madame?” A nearby guard reminded gently. “It is snowing outside.”

“Oh.”

Only now did Alice return to the present. With a calm laugh, she said, “Let’s go.” Alice, escorted by her guards, entered the hotel. The guards behind Alice were very respectful to her. They knew that Alice’s husband had died years ago, on the Apocalypse Day.

They actually were all puzzled…

Why was it that Alice had never remarried?

Yulan calendar, year 10023. January 1st. The Baruch Empire was founded.

On this day, the envoys of each nation came, and Baruch City was full of festivities. However…at the same time, some of the experts hidden in seclusion throughout the Yulan continent were beginning to stir.

They had begun to receive orders from the various Deity-level experts.

O’Brien Empire. Outside the imperial capital. War God Mountain.

“Welcome back, Master.” Over twenty Saints were standing there respectfully, while the War God, O’Brien, landed atop the mountain, his scarlet red hair flowing like knives.

The War God O’Brien nodded slightly, then began to issue orders. “Castro.”

Castro immediately took one step forward, awaiting the War God’s order. The War God said calmly, “Immediately head to the Anarchic Lands. Inform Linley that he is to come assemble with us next year on March 3rd at War God Mountain.”

“Yes, Master.” Castro said immediately.

“Lanke.” The War God spoke again. His disciple, Lanke, immediately took one step forward. The War God ordered, “Head to that little island in the North Sea where Kefande [Ke’fan’de] lives. Inform Kefande as well that no matter what, next year on March 3rd, he must come assemble with us at my War God Mountain.”

“Yes, Master.” Lanke immediately assented.

The War God spoke yet again. “Kenyon.” Kenyon also took a step forward. The War God continued, “You head to…”

He issued orders to twelve disciples in a row, then immediately ordered ten other disciples to stay behind. These ten disciples were the most powerful of the War God’s personally taught disciples, and they included his very first disciple, Fain.

“The ten of you, make your preparations. I don’t want you to end up like your Third Brother.” The War God said calmly.

“Yes, Master!”

The ten of them responded respectfully. They knew what their master was referring to.

“If you are afraid to die, you can choose to give up instead. There are many Saints who would be willing to accept this opportunity.” The War God said calmly, then glanced at his ten disciples. Seeing the look on their faces, the War God nodded with satisfaction, then left.

……

In an underground hall, Castro sat down. He had flown for a long time, first to Baruch City, then to here under Barker’s guidance. Castro had thought that Linley was still living at Mt. Blackraven.

“Castro, wait a moment. Let me go notify Linley.” Barker smiled as he spoke.

“Fine.” Castro was very polite.

Barker then left the hall, and in three steps, headed towards that mysterious door. Castro quite orderly sat there, not daring to investigate with his spiritual energy. After all, Barker was a Saint as well. He would easily detect any spiritual energy probing.

Barker arrived at the door.

With one step, Barker entered the pocket dimension.