Chapter 828: Purification
Lin Li didn’t seem to be in a desperate situation at all. He gently pinched the green ring with two fingers, smiled at Rodhart, and nonchalantly said, “You’ve seen it, eh? Willen purified you once, and I can purify you for the second time now. By the way, you probably don’t know this yet, but an acquaintance living in the big rift wanted me to tell you that the ring that your brother took away back then actually belongs to a pair of rings.”
“No, that’s impossible!” Rodhart exclaimed with a look of disbelief. He no longer hesitated, and instead stabbed at Lin Li rapidly.
Lin Li no longer looked as disheveled as he used to. Still smiling, he looked at Rodhart and infused some mental strength into the ring on his hand. All of a sudden, a strong and intense wave of holy aura spewed out endlessly, and the brilliance of Holy Light instantly filled the entire palace, enshrouding Rodhart’s figure.
Rodhart immediately froze on the spot, while the raging black flames formed by the surrounding death aura became more and more obvious under the pressure of the holy aura which seemed to be flickering like candlelight in a storm. The Eternal Frost Blade in his hand contained intense and powerful nomological power of killing, but it gradually dissipated under the holy aura.
Looking at the changes in Rodhart, Lin Li finally heaved a sigh of relief. In fact, according to the original plan, he didn’t have to experience those dangers at all. However, he didn’t expect Rodhart to be so strong that he almost killed him. Fortunately, Lin Li persisted to the very end.
The ring on Lin Li’s hand was one of the gains he’d obtained from his previous trip to the big rift—he was obviously referring to Nefa who wanted to be the next Dragon of Destruction when he mentioned the acquaintance in the big rift to Rodhart. When Nefa and Lin Li first made the deal, he once mentioned that apart from the Domain Robe, he also had other relics of the Immortal King. The ring was one of them.
The ring was not a piece of magical accessory made by someone, but an alteration of the fruit of the Tree of Eternity. It contained unrivaled Divine Power which was sufficient to purify all evil and filthy existences in the world. Speaking of Divine Power, the debris of the stars, Holy Light, which Lin Li owned actually contained much more power than the ring. However, in order to exert the infinite power contained in Holy Light, Lin Li still had to gain further enlightenment about the laws contained in Holy Light. He also had to induce his mental strength into the ring to activate it.
Nefa used to own a pair of rings which were transformed from the fruit of the Tree of Eternity. One was given to Willen for a deal that they struck when Willen and his brother Rodhart explored the big rift. As for the second ring, Nefa gave it to Lin Li, claiming that it was an eyesore. In fact, it could be regarded as a compensation for deceiving Lin Li. However, Nefa was too embarrassed to admit it.
However, although the ring was powerful, it was still not enough to subdue Rodhart, let alone purify him completely. Willen was rather powerful, and he was the Sanctuary powerhouse who had defeated Apophis. Yet, he couldn’t use that ring to really purify Rodhart. Perhaps there were emotional factors involved, but the insufficient power of the ring was certainly also an important reason. That was also the reason Lin Li didn’t take out the ring immediately at the beginning.
He decided to take it out now because he felt that it was the right timing. Although things seemed to have deviated from the original plan because of Lin Li’s underestimation of his opponent, Lin Li’s painstaking persistence finally brought everything back to the original plan.
In the palace where Rodhart awakened, Lin Li had gone all out and made plenty of arrangements, including the Requiem Array and all sorts of advanced magic traps regardless of the cost. However, his real motive was to trap Rodhart for a period of time because he had hidden a larger Holy Light Mageweath array, and the most critical part of it was not in the palace, but in the underground palace outside.
At this moment, the Archbishop Englos of the Brilliance Shrine was leading more than 300 believers of Holy Light who were above level-15 to get into a strange formation outside the underground palace. That was the most critical part of the Holy Light Mageweath Array.
The power of the Holy Light Mageweath array was omnipresent, but no trace of it could be found. Under normal circumstances, no one could detect its existence, but once there was Divine Power within it, the Divine Power would be multiplied by up to 10 times. However, the Holy Light Mageweath array could not be activated with just a few mana sources. It would still require the accumulation of power through the continuous prayers of the believers of the Holy Light.
Lin Li’s original plan was to use the various arrangements in the palace to trap the awakened Retribution Knight, Rodhart, and then get rid of him easily once enough power was accumulated in the Holy Light Mageweath array. However, Lin Li didn’t expect Rodhart to be so tough after awakening, so tough that the arrangements he’d made in the palace were nullified without even lasting for a minute. In the end, he inevitably faced an intense and horrid battle.
Lin Li released his fingers, and the ring that had evolved from the fruit of the Tree of Eternity floated quietly in the air while constantly emitting the brilliance of Holy Light towards the surroundings. The palace that was initially dim suddenly became extraordinarily bright at this time, but it was not glaring. Lin Li felt rather refreshed, as if all the impurities in his body and soul were washed away in the brilliance of the Holy Light.
However, it was definitely not a pleasant experience for the Retribution Knight Rodhart. Under the Divine Power, the death aura on Rodhart’s body was forcibly drawn and burnt as if he was having his bones removed. The pain was far beyond imaginable.
Rodhart had once experienced the pain of being purified, and cursed his brother to fall into deep sleep. He did not expect to awaken from his deep sleep hundreds of years later, only to be greeted with such pain. Rodhart’s heart was filled with infinite fury and indignation. However, the Divine Power that filled the air made him lose almost all control of his body, making it difficult for him to even move a finger.
Lin Li took a few steps back, but he did not seem to have let his guard down any lower. After all, he was dealing with a real Sanctuary powerhouse. Who knew if he might have to struggle for the last time while being on the brink of death? Seeing that the aura on Rodhart’s body was getting weaker and weaker, Lin Li felt rather amazed. He was a legend of Anril from the Dark Age, and yet he was making things hard for Lin Li.
Of course, Rodhart was unwilling to be purified. Although he was unable to wave the Eternal Frost Blade in his hand or even take another step, it did not mean that he really wanted to give up on struggling. Rodhart was glowering at Lin Li with bloodshot eyes while muttering a string of obscure notes. With the emergence of every note, the death aura of his body that had been gradually weakened by the purification of Divine Power unexpectedly began to rise again immediately.
Seeing this change, Lin Li was instantly astonished, but he soon figured out that the spell Rodhart chanted just now was probably the spell used by the Retribution Knight to gather the power of his underlings. In other words, every bit of strength that Rodhart had now was drawn from the Death Knights outside. Unfortunately, there were only 100-something Death Knights outside. If they were the 1000 Death Knights recorded in legends, Rodhart might really get a chance at a comeback.
However, at the thought of this, Lin Li was still rather worried; hence, he immediately took out his debris of the stars, Holy Light. Although the power he could manipulate was inferior to the holy ring’s, it was still rather impressive. The only unfortunate thing was the presence of the Death Knights outside. Lin Li’s original plan was to subdue and take in the Death Knights after purifying Rodhart. However, it seemed to be a little unlikely.
With the addition of the power of the debris of the stars, Holy Light, the pressure that Rodhart had to withstand suddenly rose sharply, and the original death aura of his body was once again relentlessly suppressed. Rodhart looked at Lin Li with immense fury and anger in his eyes. He even regretted not using his full strength to kill Lin Li.
Rodhart, who had just awakened, simply regarded Lin Li, an insignificant Legendary-mage, as a thing to toy with to kill time. Why would a Sanctuary powerhouse need to use all his effort to deal with an insignificant Legendary-mage? Had he not reached this point, how could he have imagined that the insignificant Legendary-mage would pose a threat to him and bring him so much trouble?
However, it was too late to regret. Rodhart was chanting the curse even more quickly. Although the Death Knights had been following him for hundreds of years, and made great contributions that helped him enter the Sanctuary-realm, now that he was facing the threat of being purified, he couldn’t care about them anymore. Anyway, if he were to get purified, Lin Li would stand to gain by getting to acquire the Death Knights.
As Rodhart chanted a spell quickly and desperately, a strange scene took place on the battlefield outside the palace.
The fierce and menacing Death Knights suddenly stopped fighting, while the soul fire in their eyes flickered. Everyone on Lin Li’s side tensed up as they thought that the Death Knights were about to become stronger again. The current strength and abilities of the Death Knights were already difficult for them to deal with, and if they were to increase further, it would be fatal.
However, everyone did not stay nervous for long when they saw to their astonishment that the soul fire in the eyes of the Death Knights was getting somehow extinguished after flickering violently. As the soul fire went out, the bodies of the Death Knights also began decomposing rapidly, and they turned into piles of ashes.
“Hah, I knew it. That kid had a solution,” Connoris said while holding the broken cross-shaped spear in his hands. Although his body was heavily wounded, he was still looking at the surroundings with a grin. In fact, he even acted like he hadn’t cursed at Lin Li during a moment of hopelessness.
There were groundbreaking changes on the battlefield, but the situation on Lin Li’s side in the palace was rather unsatisfactory.
Although the abilities of the Death Knights were restricted to the peak of level-19, their soul fire was extremely powerful, and Rodhart swallowed the soul fire of over 100 Death Knights in one go, resulting in a sudden surge in power. The black flames that surrounded him were ignited again, and he swung the Eternal Frost Blade while dashing towards Lin Li menacingly.
I want to save some effort and energy, but I can’t! Lin Li thought to himself helplessly while manipulating the debris of the stars Holy Light and holding the Helios’ Scepter in his hand. At this point, Lin Li was no longer afraid of Rodhart. Under the suppression of the infinite Divine Power, Rodhart barely had 1% of his previous strength, even though he was still in the Sanctuary-level.
This battle was quite even, but under the suppression of the Divine Power, Rodhart’s momentary outburst could not last long. Lin Li wasn’t too bothered about Rodhart’s situation, either. He went all out to deal with every attack from Rodhart.
The fight did not last long. Soon, Rodhart was once again suppressed by the Divine Power, leaving him with no choice but to remain standing in place with the Eternal Frost Blade. Perhaps because of his resistance towards the Divine Power, his body was trembling a little. However, Rodhart no longer looked at Lin Li with so much menace and hatred like before. The redness of his eyes seemed to have faded a little too.
“How interesting. I never thought that I would be forced into this situation by someone who has yet to even reach the Sanctuary-realm,” Rodhart said in a low voice. Actually, he didn’t sound too indignant, but rather a little self-deprecating.
Lin Li remained silent and looked at Rodhart coldly. Even though Rodhart seemed to be on the verge of giving up, Lin Li dared not let his guard down at all. At the same time, Lin Li also continuously reminded himself that the person in front of him was the terrifying figure who had killed hundreds of thousands of lives in the Breezy Plains. Everything would not end until he was completely purified.
“Since you’ve seen the black dragon, you must also know about my relationship with Willen. You find it peculiar that I chose the opposite path from my brother, don’t you? He’s a Son of The Holy Light, while I’m the fallen Retribution Knight who has done plenty of evil and killed countless people. Who would believe that we are brothers?” said Rodhart, who sounded like he was talking to himself even though he was saying those words to Lin Li.
Rodhart closed his eyes slightly as if opening his eyes was painstaking in his current situation. The menacing armor on his body gradually changed from black to a little gray too, just as if it would break with a poke of the finger.