Fame Spreads

Liewen settled down in Blackstone City with Lena. After resting for a few days and recovering from their injuries, they set out once more.

Kuhn was in the imperial capital, Chiyan City.

The O'Brien Empire had seven major provinces, and Chiyan City was located in the southernmost O'Brien Province.

Blackstone City, where Liewen was staying, lay in Northwest Province, with Southwest Province between the two provinces.

Liewen no longer intended to waste battle-qi flying to travel. Now that his strength had increased, he no longer feared the Radiant Church's experts. If the Radiant Church wanted to kill him, the Radiant Pope and several of their strongest experts would have to mobilize together.

But that was impossible. If the Radiant Church sent out all its experts and entered the O'Brien Empire, it would be a provocation against the War God. Even if Heidens had ten times the courage, he would not dare cause trouble on the War God's territory.

The O'Brien Empire was the continent's foremost military power, and its people revered martial strength.

Within the O'Brien Empire, the War God was the only faith. No other religion was permitted to spread within the empire.

The Radiant Church only dared send a small number of people into the O'Brien Empire in secret. They did not dare act openly at all.

Liewen worked out the shortest route from Blackstone City to Chiyan City.

They would first head to a nearby harbor, then take a ship along the Yulan River into Southwest Province before continuing overland to Chiyan City.

Liewen specifically hired a mercenary group and had them handle all matters along the way.

A few days later, a ten-man mercenary squad escorted Liewen and Lena as they set off.

Naturally, Liewen did not need their protection, but there were plenty of trivial matters along the road. He could not be bothered dealing with them, so he simply paid for peace and quiet.

Furthermore, these mercenaries traveled far and wide regularly and knew every part of the O'Brien Empire well, saving them much trouble.

Liewen's group was small and traveled much faster than an ordinary merchant caravan. He estimated that when they reached Chiyan City, he would still have to wait several months before witnessing Linley and Delia's reunion.

Liewen and Lena sat inside the carriage while the mercenaries guarded it from all sides.

Security within the O'Brien Empire was fairly good, and the mercenaries gradually began to relax.

"Boss, have you heard? Some time ago, two Saint Realm experts fought on the road north of the Magical Beast Mountain Range. Someone recorded the entire battle with a Recording Crystal Ball."

The mercenaries were chatting. As soon as one young mercenary spoke, the others eagerly joined the discussion.

"I heard about it too. It has been spreading everywhere lately, but those greedy merchants are charging outrageous prices. It costs a hundred gold coins just to watch it once, and buying the Recording Crystal Ball outright costs tens of thousands of gold coins. Other than noble lords, who could afford that?"

"Saint Realm experts... I've never even seen a Saint Realm expert in my life."

"Enough. Keep your eyes on the surroundings. Don't let the employers laugh at us!" The one speaking at last seemed to be the captain of this mercenary squad.

The mercenaries' discussion drifted into the carriage, and Liewen gave a bitter smile. He was naturally low-key, preferred peace and quiet, and disliked drawing attention. But after that battle, many people would probably come to know of him.

"Forget it. I should focus on training."

Sitting in the carriage, Liewen concentrated on comprehending the Laws of Light.

He had hired the mercenary group so he could save time cultivating and avoid handling the trivial matters of the journey.

The fusion of the Profundity of Purification and the Mysteries of Light Element had already reached the beginner level. Next, once the degree of fusion reached ten percent, Liewen would become a Lowgod. Once the fusion was complete, he would become a Midgod. (This setting is based on Chapter 23 of Volume Fourteen of the original work: "The two realms of 'Fast' and 'Slow' had probably only been fused by ten percent in the past, but after more than twenty years in the Yulan Continent and over thirty years in Hell, they had now fused nearly halfway." Linley initially became a Lowgod in the Yulan Continent by fusing the wind-element mysteries of Fast and Slow. The author's personal understanding is that fusing two profound mysteries to ten percent allows one to become a Lowgod.)

There were two ways to become a God Realm expert. The first was to become a god independently.

When Liewen completely comprehended one profound mystery, or fused two profound mysteries to ten percent, heaven and earth would sense it and descend with the Edicts, condensing a Lowgod godspark suited to Liewen's soul aura. His body would also transform into a Lowgod body, and the battle-qi within him would become Lowgod divine power.

At that point, Liewen would be a Lowgod.

The second method of becoming a god was refining a godspark.

After God Realm beings died, their godsparks remained behind. If a Saint Realm expert obtained one, they could refine that godspark and become a god.

However, becoming a god by refining a godspark meant cutting off one's future. At most, one could later refine another godspark to become a Highgod. Fusing Laws' Profound Mysteries would be virtually impossible, leaving no hope of reaching the pinnacle.

Liewen had no intention of refining a godspark. He roughly estimated that, at the current rate of fusion between the Profundity of Purification and the Mysteries of Light Element, the fusion degree would reach ten percent in at most twenty or thirty years.

In the original work, Linley fused the two profound mysteries of "Fast" and "Slow" to ten percent in less than ten years. Compared to him, Liewen's cultivation speed was much slower.

There was nothing Liewen could do about that. His current potential was only enough to fuse two profound mysteries and become a Highgod. He could not compare to Linley yet.

Lower potential meant slower cultivation.

In the Four Supreme Planes and the Seven Divine Planes, many God Realm experts spent tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years without managing to fuse two profound mysteries.

That was the limitation of one's own potential.

Aside from profound mystery fusion, Liewen's cultivation of the Profundity of Purification was also progressing smoothly. He had already overcome the stage of fusing 256 rays of light into 128 rays. He only needed to proceed step by step.

Liewen was confident that he would succeed within three years at most. By then, his strength would rise again, enough to rival experts at the Saint Realm Limit.

After traveling overland for ten days, Liewen's group arrived at a harbor by the Yulan River.

The Yulan River was the largest river on the Yulan Continent. Its main channel flowed through the four great empires, including the O'Brien Empire, Yulan Empire, Rhine Empire, and Luo'ao Empire, while its tributaries spread throughout every region of those four empires.

The Yulan River alone sustained more than half of the Yulan Continent's human population.

Liewen's group planned to follow the Yulan River all the way to Southwest Province before transferring to land travel.

The mercenaries hired a multi-decked ship and arranged everything. Liewen only needed to pay.

Hiring the ship from Northwest Province to Southwest Province cost Liewen tens of thousands of gold coins.

Liewen had long since deposited his gold coins into a Magic Crystal Card from Four Empires Bank, which he carried with him.

Four Empires Bank was a bank jointly established by the four great empires. It could store gold coins, and Liewen kept his own wealth there.

To the current Liewen, such gold coins no longer amounted to much.

"Big Brother Liewen, come look! The river is so wide!"

It was little Lena's first time on a ship, and she was extremely excited as she pulled Liewen onto the deck to look around.

The Yulan River stretched for tens of thousands of miles. At its widest points, it spanned several miles, and even at its narrowest, it was several hundred meters across. Its waters were vast and magnificent, with surging waves rolling endlessly.

The journey was expected to take nearly twenty days to reach their destination harbor in Southwest Province.

A few days later, the ship passed a harbor near Basil, the provincial capital of Northwest Province. The harbor was only a hundred li from Basil City.

Only after hearing the sailors' introduction did Liewen learn that they had already arrived near Basil.

"By my calculations, Linley should have nearly reached the 9th level in human form by now." Liewen stood on the deck and gazed from afar in the direction of Basil City.

After Linley left Hess City, he entered the Magical Beast Mountain Range for three years before arriving in Northwest Province. After rescuing Sessler, the Rebecca sisters, and the five Undying Warrior brothers led by Barker, they secluded themselves in Northwest Province.

Linley and the others lived in Northwest Province for nearly six years. In the end, in the provincial capital Basil, they were discovered by Lantan, who had been sent by the Radiant Church to assassinate Linley.

Lantan's group consisted of six descended angels. Although their physical bodies were only at the sixth level, by risking bodily collapse and unleashing their full power, they could briefly display Saint Realm strength.

Linley and Lantan fought a great battle outside Basil City. Linley won by a narrow margin, and after the battle, he broke through to become a Ninth-Rank Warrior. After Dragon Transformation, he even became a Saint Realm expert.

After that, Linley traveled to Chiyan City to reunite with his younger brother Wharton. His reunion with Delia also took place in Chiyan City.

As Liewen sailed along the Yulan River, half a day after he passed the harbor near Basil City, Linley's group also arrived at that harbor around dusk.

"Brother Mackenzie, there is no need to see us off any farther." Linley bid Mackenzie farewell.

Mackenzie was the ancestor of the Jax Family and a Saint Realm expert.

The Jax Family controlled Northwest Province. Naturally, Mackenzie had been alerted when Linley and Lantan fought outside Basil City.

After the battle, Linley and Mackenzie sparred and exchanged insights, becoming friends. In the end, Mackenzie escorted Linley to the harbor.

Mackenzie arranged a multi-decked ship for Linley's group, and Linley and the others boarded it for Chiyan City.

The moment they boarded, Gates, Lao Wu among the five Barker brothers, impatiently shouted.

"My lord, hurry, hurry! Come look at this Memory Crystal Ball!"