Chapter 1176: The Only Chance
Lin Li’s mind was raging with strategies as he confronted the high priest. He was trying to think of a way to counter Poer’s attacks. Of course, instead of a confrontation, it was more accurate to say that he was trying his best to bear Poer’s beating. He knew that he would be doomed if he were to abandon his resistance against those attacks.
Lin Li definitely had a lot of powerful trump cards, which included the Lord of Nightmares and the Lord Devourer that were sealed in his Summoning Lamp, as well as Xiao Hua that was living in his Dream Garden Ring. It was they who gave Lin Li the confidence to agree to Edmund’s invitation to continue this exploration.
However, he knew that these trump cards would only be effective at the Sanctuary-realm. If he were to have a conflict with the Gilded Kingdom, these cards would definitely help the Tower of Dusk gain the upper hand. These trump cards would not suffice when his opponent was half a step from becoming a divine.
The power of Lord Devourer was definitely freakish as it could convert any material or force into his own energy. But, a powerhouse who was half a step from the divine level already had a strand of divine energy in his body. It was something that Lord Devourer had no ability to digest. If Lord Devourer were to ingest Poer’s powers in any amount, he would surely become bloated.
As for Elemental Dragon Xiao Hua that possessed unlimited mana, he definitely could be referred to as the king of team attacks. But, since he had yet to enter the Sanctuary-realm, he was even further distanced from the divine realm. The disparity in power was not something he could bridge.
While the seven pieces of the debris of the stars were powerful items, their powers could not be optimized by Lin Li’s present abilities against a demigod. When Immortal King defeated the Dragon of Destruction with the seven pieces of the debris of the stars, he complemented the debris with the Stars of Fury to maximize their effects. However, Lin Li only had a replica of the Reincarnation Crossbow. It was not enough for him to maximize the impact of the debris of the stars.
Similar to how High Priest Poer was not comparable to the Dragon of Destruction, Lin Li was not comparable to the Immortal King, either. Immortal King was a freak who could directly suppress the ancient God of Light, while Lin Li was only a high-ranking powerhouse in the Sanctuary-realm.
Lin Li could not help but sigh at this thought. Although he had many trump cards, there was none that could help turn the tables against Poer. Just when he was wondering if this would be his downfall, he caught a glimpse of the seven monuments. A thought, or a sense of hope, flashed across him.
The clash with the high priest helped Lin Li to gain a better sense of the latter’s abilities. He could detect three forms of energy running in his body. Apart from his original energy, there was also the energy from the holy artifact and that from the Power of Light.
Poer was a middle-ranked Sanctuary powerhouse. The acquisition of the holy artifact raised his abilities to the peak of the realm. It was the invincible Power of Light that turned him into a demigod. Lin Li could also feel the strong resemblance the Power of Light had to the abilities of the ancient God of Light.
In reality, Lin Li had been suspecting that the ancient God of Light had a part to play in helping Poer ascend to the status of a demigod. If not, it would be utterly absurd for a holy artifact, or rather magical equipment, to turn someone into a demigod. From how the ancient God of Light used the God’s Whispers earlier, it suggested to Lin Li that although the ancient God of Light was suppressed, it definitely had influence over this space.
Lin Li reasoned that he would have to deal with this energy to defeat Poer. He was confident in getting rid of Poer as long as he could get this energy out of the latter’s body. When Lin Li was still feeling worried about how he could do that, he thought of the seven monuments.
These seven monuments had been built by the Immortal King to suppress the ancient God of Light. They had to have incredible resistance against him. Therefore, Lin Li believed that if he could discover the secrets in those monuments, he might be able to reverse the tide.
Of course, it was not an easy job. Although he was an inscription master, the mageweaths on those monuments were at the divine level. Frankly speaking, uncovering the secrets of divine-level mageweaths would be as challenging as battling a demigod.
If Lin Li had a quiet and stable environment to study the monuments in peace, there was a possibility of him understanding the mysteries within those mageweaths. However, the problem now was the need for Lin Li to multitask in resisting Poer’s attacks and repairing the Domain World. How would he have the luxury to concentrate on studying the mageweaths?
Yet, this was the only thing Lin Li knew that could help him to turn things around. While he did not have many discoveries when he was studying the Void Spirit Mageweath in the past, he had gotten some knowledge of how a divine-level mageweath might function.
While Lin Li was not certain that he could make new discoveries to turn the tables, Lin Li was not someone who would give up easily. But, a problem he faced was whether he could buy enough time to study the mageweaths on the monuments.
It was obviously impossible to count on the men below for help. Even if Edmund had not been injured, the combined abilities from both teams would not have sufficed against the high priest. Hence, Lin Li knew he could only rely on himself. The stress, however, was real.
Lin Li continued to patch up his Domain World, and dedicated careful attention to study the mageweaths on the monuments. However, he had to redirect all this attention to repair the Domain World that suffered great damage from Poer.
Not to mention that he wanted to study a divine-level mageweath. Lin Li realized that the tightness of time would not allow him to read direct texts. After a few tries, Lin Li grew anxious as well. Then, he suddenly thought of the force that was bound by the debris of the stars, Holy Light, when he killed the incarnation of the Serpent of Light.
Lin Li employed the Holy Light to engulf a huge portion of its mana when he was killing the serpent. Although it was not all of its mana, it was as powerful as the suicide attack a Sanctuary powerhouse could launch on his enemies if he were to release all of that mana at once.
Lin Li, however, had not used this strategy, as he knew that its impact was not enough to hurt the demigod. But now, what he needed was not to bring great harm to Poer. What he needed was a few minutes. If he could not uncover any secret of the divine-level mageweaths within this timeframe, it would not matter even if he were to have 10 or 100 more times of the duration.
Suddenly, a thought appeared in Lin Li’s mind, and he extracted one of the seven pieces of the debris of the stars, Holy Light, from his Domain World. This immediately caused the power of the Domain World to reduce by a level. It seemed like Poer’s Power of Light was going to rush into his Domain World as well.
But this time, Lin Li was not in a hurry to repair the damage made by Poer. He turned Holy Light into an arrow, and positioned it on the Reincarnation Crossbow. As the arrow flew from the crossbow, the energy from the Serpent of Light erupted.
Of course, the high priest did not let such an amount of force concern him. He did not even care to dodge the attack. Although the attack could badly injure a powerhouse in the Sanctuary-realm, it would not threaten a demigod like him.
The power of the Serpent of Light came from the Power of Light in this space, which came from the ancient God of Light. It could be said that both of the energy types originated from the same source. Hence, when Poer sensed that the energy from the arrow was the same as the Power of Light he manifested, he thought that it was like a supplement rather than a threat.
However, when that force hit Poer, something unbelievable happened. While the arrow carried the Power of Light, it also embodied the will of the serpent. Although it was not a strong force, it was like a virus that clashed with the energy within Poer. The energy from the ancient God of Light instinctively saw it as an intruder, and started to direct its attention to dispelling the serpent’s will.
Of course, it would not take more than a minute for the demigod to dispel the serpent’s will. How would this period of time be of any use to Lin Li? The mystery within a divine-level mageweath was not something that could be understood within a minute. Even if Lin Li were to be a Divine Smith, it would be impossible for him to figure out a divine-level mageweath that he had yet to see before.
But, Lin Li’s one minute was not equivalent to that of common men. Just when the will of the incarnated serpent took its effect on Poer, Lin Li cast a readied spell with his Helios’ Scepter.
This spell transformed Lin Li’s Domain World drastically. The time within the entire Domain World started to speed by. A second outside the Domain World was equivalent to a few days in it, and a minute outside was dozens of days inside. Lin Li had just distorted time.
Of all the laws, the laws of time and space were the most difficult to understand and master—even for divines. Fortunately, the possession of the Book of Eternity, as well as debris of the stars Nothingness gave Lin Li the chance to take a glimpse of the secrets of space and time. It was a piece of the debris of the stars that was left behind by the God of Mages, Geresco.
What Lin Li was doing now was to use his understanding of time to distort the time inside his Domain World. With that, a minute outside became equivalent to one dozen days inside his world. Of course, doing so was not without a cost; Lin Li’s mental strength and life force started to deplete significantly with the passing of every second.
This was a precarious situation that Lin Li would never dare to waste any minute or second. He devoted all of his focus to study the mageweath that was on the monuments. While a dozen of days seemed like a long time, the time was really tight for anyone to use it to study divine-level mageweaths. Not to mention a thorough study, the challenge was real for one to even uncover a trace of their mystery.
To the rest of the men below, Lin Li’s arrow had not the slightest impact on Poer’s body. The glow on his body recovered after a few flashes. They saw the high priest continue his attacks by waving his crystal swords towards Lin Li’s Domain World. While it took Poer nearly a minute to recover, none of them could see the impact this minute had on the entire situation.
What people saw was the Domain World on the verge of collapse due to Poer’s attacks and Lin Li’s passiveness towards it. Unlike before, he had stopped being active in repairing the Domain World.
Lin Li’s performance brought Edmund and the rest absolute despair.