Chapter 1287: Returning To The Original Owner
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The Dragon of Destruction of Anril had been killed by the Immortal King, after which Tutankhamun and Nefa were hatched from the magical crystal. According to the Immortal King’s method, Lin Li hatched the magical crystal of the Dragon of Destruction of the Endless World. After a long time, he still hadn’t hatched anything, and thus he had long suspected that the magical crystal was missing something. Now, it seemed that the likely reason for it was the lack of the Dragon of Destruction’s soul in the magical crystal of the Dragon of Destruction of the Endless World.
“You’re Azardas of the Endless World? How did you come to this world?!” Lin Li asked with some difficulty.
The black dragon, or rather Azardas the Dragon of Destruction, finally laughed out loud again, and exclaimed, “Haha, do you finally remember it now? How did I end up here?! Of course it’s because of you. If you hadn’t killed me with the Hunter avatar, how could I have followed that Hunter that was occupied by the Immortal King, and ended up in this hellish place!?”
“What did you say? The Immortal King occupied my Hunter?!” Lin Li was once again frightened.
Although Lin Li had always felt that there was an 80% chance that his transmigration to his world was related to the Immortal King, what Azardas said was still beyond his expectation.
It also allowed Lin Li to figure out why he resembled the Immortal King that much, why he met the Hunter-like shadow in the Well of the Sun, why the Endless Labyrinth, which was known only to him, would appear in the Sky Castle, and why many things that existed only in the Endless World would appear in Anril!
Lin Li seemed to have found the answers to all his questions at this point.. It turned out that in a sense, he and the Immortal King were indeed the same person.
“Wait a minute, it’s only been a few years since I transmigrated to this world, but the Immortal King has already sealed you here for thousands of years…” Lin Li eagerly questioned Azardas when he thought of a problem with the chronology, which was like a straw to clutch at.
Although Lin Li had obtained plenty of the Immortal King’s legacies, he still couldn’t accept the fact that he shared such a relationship with the Immortal King. Even though he only had a slim chance to overturn that conclusion, he wasn’t willing to give it up.
However, Azardas sneered twice, and disdainfully said, “You now have the strength of the Sanctuary-realm. Can’t you figure it out yet? With the Immortal King’s capabilities, manipulating time is a piece of cake for him.”
Azardas’ words finally made Lin Li give up. Given the gods sealed under the Cursed Island, it was already clear that the Immortal King’s strength had already reached a height that was enough for him to override the gods. With the Immortal King’s capabilities, it was indeed not too remarkable a feat to be able to roam freely in the river of time.
Although manipulating time and traveling through time seemed unimaginable for most people, even the Dragon of Time, which was one of the five Dragon Aspects, had the ability to do so, what more the Immortal King who had managed to kill the Dragon of Destruction, and whose strength was far beyond that of the five Dragon Aspects. Perhaps the Dragon of Time that had gone missing a long time ago had already been dealt with by the Immortal King, just like the Dragon of Destruction.
Lin Li finally understood what Geresco’s shadow meant when he told him that another version of himself would return the favor in the Mage Tower of the Cursed Island. The Immortal King used Lin Li’s Hunter avatar to transmigrate back to Anril, and that was considered quite a huge favor to the Immortal King.
However, what Lin Li still couldn’t figure out was why the Immortal King had adopted such an exaggerated approach to return the favor to him. He had brought Lin Li to Anril without seeking his permission, and even made arrangements for him to progress rapidly from an insignificant mage apprentice to a Sanctuary powerhouse.
Although Lin Li was very satisfied with the achievements that he had made so far because they were, after all, things that he couldn’t have accomplished in the world he came from, he didn’t feel at ease. He felt like he had become someone else’s pawn, especially after the mysteries of everything had been unraveled.
According to Geresco’s shadow, the Immortal King was returning a favor to Lin Li, but it didn’t seem right to do so by turning Lin Li into a pawn. Lin Li had a conjecture that the reason behind the Immortal King’s actions definitely wasn’t as simple as returning a favor, but rather he might have a hidden agenda.
However, given Lin Li’s current ability, he was far from being qualified to have a conversation with the Immortal King on equal footing, and it was even more impossible for him to find out the Immortal King’s real motive.
Of course, Lin Li could be certain that the purpose that the Immortal King wanted him to achieve in this world as the Immortal King’s pawn would definitely come to light one day. Now, the best he could do was to improve his strength as much as possible so that he might one day be able to get rid of the status of a pawn.
After a long time, the shock that Azardas’ words had brought to Lin Li finally dissipated as Lin Li began to calm down. He knew that regardless of what problems he was going to face and what the Immortal King’s agenda was, the only thing he needed to and could do at present was to become stronger. There was no point in dwelling on the other issues.
Having figured that out, Lin Li’s gaze also regained clarity as he looked at Azardas who was in the form of a soul. He said, “Alright then, your words have provided the answer to a long-standing doubt I’ve had. So, what are your plans now? Are you going to stay here or follow me out?”
“Of course I’m going to go out. Who would want to continue staying in such a sh*tty place?” Azardas was excited to hear Lin Li’s words, but he immediately became sullen again. Staring at Lin Li with suspicion, he asked, “Why? Are you planning to open this seal and let me out of here?”
However, Lin Li shook his head, glanced at the surroundings of the altar, and said, “The thing that was used to seal you is a Divine-Smith-level mageweath. Although I can enter and leave freely, I can’t bring you out like this.”
Lin Li wasn’t deceiving Azardas, for a Divine-Smith-level mageweath really wasn’t that easy to undo. Although Lin Li had done some in-depth research on Divine-Smith-level mageweaths, and even gained some knowledge thereof, he was still far from being able to undo a Divine-Smith-level mageweath. With his attainments in inscription, it would be a Herculean task to break the seal and take Azardas away.
However, as soon as he heard Lin Li’s words, Azardas flew into a rage, and hollered at Lin Li, “Are you playing a prank on me!? If that’s the case, why are you asking me that question?!”
It was no wonder that Azardas was so enraged. If it were anyone else, they would definitely feel horrible to be given hope while in a state of despair and hopelessness, only to have their hopes dashed again a moment later. Besides, Azardas had blamed his tragic state on Lin Li to a certain extent, so he naturally wouldn’t think of him as a nice person.
However, Lin Li wasn’t annoyed. He simply glanced at Azardas calmly, and after the latter’s emotions stabilized a little, he smilingly said, “It’s true that I can’t take you away just like that, but there’s another method, though it will require a compromise. Are you willing to accept it?”
Azardas had initially already calmed down, but Lin Li made him get worked up again. However, he didn’t curse loudly anymore, and instead sneered, “A method that requires me to compromise? Tell me then, what method can I use to get out of here?!”
“Actually, this method is very simple,” Lin Li said while taking out a hideous-looking stone from the Ring of Endless Storm, which was Azardas’ Dragon Crystal. Immediately afterwards, he said, “I can let you enter this Dragon Crystal so that your form of existence will change. That would be tantamount to disappearing from the seal, and so you would naturally be able to break free from the restraint of this seal.”
Although Azardas wanted to leave this place very much, it didn’t mean that he would lose his ability to think straight. After hearing the solution that Lin Li proposed, he did not immediately agree to it, but instead sized Lin Li up from head to toe for a while before cautiously saying, “Since it requires a compromise, I’m afraid I have to bear a lot of consequences, right?”
Lin Li didn’t intend to hide it from him, and nodded honestly. He said, “Nothing in this world is perfect. Since it’s an approach that requires some tricks, it will naturally come with some flaws. The flaw of this method is that after you enter this Dragon Crystal, you will never be able to leave again.”
“In other words, I’ll still be sealed, but just in a different place from here, right?” Azardas asked with a tone of derision, seemingly mocking Lin Li and also mocking himself self-deprecatingly for being in such a predicament.
“You can say that. So, you can make your choice now. Do you want to continue being sealed here or move to another place? To say the least, you can still look at the outside world if you’re sealed in the magical crystal,” Lin Li said as he weighed the Dragon Crystal in his hand.
“Haha.” Azardas laughed, seemingly resigned to his fate. He said to Lin Li, “Okay, as long as I can get out of here, I’ll do your bidding. What do I have to do?”
Hence, Lin Li told Azardas to give up on resisting, and then chanted a demonic rune under his breath, and it was the very same one that he used when subduing the Lord of Darkness with the Dragon Crystal. Given the level of Azardas’ strength, the demonic rune would not work as long as he had a wisp of conscious resistance. However, he indeed wavered due to Lin Li’s words.
A few moments later, Azardas turned into a mass of light and flew into the Dragon Crystal in Lin Li’s hand. Immediately afterwards, the Dragon Crystal, which was initially extremely hideous, changed drastically. It seemed to have turned into a dazzling pearl that was shining brightly under several brilliant rays of light.
As Azardas’ aura and breath vanished from the altar, the surrounding seal also changed immediately. The mana that was initially calm seemed to have become extremely menacing and explosive like a storm in the ocean. The entire cave also began to shake violently, while large chunks of stone landed everywhere.
Lin Li didn’t dare to procrastinate or slow down at all as he frantically retreated from the altar before slashing open a spatial rift in the air, and stepping into it. Almost simultaneously with Lin Li’s departure, the cave already started collapsing violently, and everything around the altar and the seal was buried in the depths of the earth in the blink of an eye.
When Lin Li came out of the spatial rift, he was already in the sky above the square. At this moment, the abyss seemed to have turned into a massive vortex that pulled in everything in the square. Fortunately, there was no longer anyone else in the square at this moment. Otherwise, they probably wouldn’t escape the fate of being buried in the cave.
After more than an hour, the vibrations in the ground finally stopped, and the Gilded Kingdom’s Hopra Square had almost vanished too. The lazurite the ground was paved with had also been sucked into the cavern, turning into a filler for it. The entire square turned into a small basin, while the center, which wasn’t filled, turned into a large, deep pit.
Immediately afterwards, the people of the Gilded Kingdom who noticed the strange situation, as well as the representatives of the various forces, rushed over. However, when they arrived, Lin Li had already left the square, and returned to the embassy of the Tower of Dusk. Thus, all that they saw was the wreckage and ruins of the square, but none of them knew what had actually happened here.
Lin Li’s team returned to the embassy of the Tower of Dusk, and Connoris, who was originally guarding the mouth of the cave, finally found the chance to ask Lin Li about what happened in the abyss.
However, since the matter involved the secret of his transmigration, Lin Li merely gave Connoris a brief account of what happened while withholding some information. He then asked,
“Connoris, you said that you can already replace Mosari, so will those demons of the Endless Abyss and the Demon Lords become an obstacle for you in taking charge of the Endless Abyss?”
Now that Connoris had fused Mosari’s Heart of Demon with his body, it was akin to becoming the successor of Mosari. However, his current strength had yet to reach the Divine-realm, and there were countless powerful Demon Lords in the Endless Abyss. Hence, it was still unknown if they would willingly concede to him, and accept him to be their master.
An extremely bold concept had already surfaced in Lin Li’s mind because he was no longer satisfied with the current small-scale transformation of the Sky Castle. The abundant resources in the Endless Abyss were the foundation necessary for his bold idea. Hence, whether or not Connoris could gain full control of the Endless Abyss was very important to him.
After hearing Lin Li’s question, Connoris smiled confidently as he said, “Don’t worry, Felic, I’ve already obtained the method to control the Endless Abyss from the Heart of Demon. As long as those demons are within the abyss, they will be subject to the abyssal force regardless of how strong they are. Hence, subduing them is not a problem at all.”
“Alright then.” Lin Li was thrilled to hear his answer, and he immediately gleefully said, “Return to the abyss immediately and mobilize all the resources in the Endless Abyss. I need a huge amount of resources and materials for the transformation of the Sky Castle.”
Although Connoris was now the master of the Endless Abyss, and everything in the Abyss could be considered his belongings, Connoris wasn’t stingy after hearing Lin Li’s request. On the one hand, he was still bound by the Soul Contract with Lin Li, and on the other hand, he didn’t feel the pinch, because he had gained all of this effortlessly.