"Linley..."
The instant the voice sounded, Mo Ers's dragon claw came crashing down.
Ferocious gravity bore down on Linley. Gripping the Edgeless heavy sword in both hands, Linley strained to block upward. Beside him, Bebe kicked off the ground and lunged at the enormous dragon claw.
Deep within the Coiling Dragon Ring, Doehring Cowart's consciousness finally awoke.
He had no body, and even his soul energy had weakened to the extreme. Yet Bebe's words just now, along with Linley's familiar aura, had reached him clearly.
Linley was still alive.
And he was facing certain death.
Doehring wanted to get out, but he could not control himself at all. More than five thousand years ago, his physical body had been destroyed, leaving him no choice but to hide in the Coiling Dragon Ring. During the battle at Hess City, he had burned his soul to cast Meteor Fall one final time.
At the time, he had known full well that his soul would scatter into nothingness.
Yet in the final instant before his soul burned away completely, a strange power had suddenly appeared within the Coiling Dragon Ring, forcibly protecting his last trace of true spirit. But that trace had been too weak to regain consciousness, and he could only remain asleep.
Over nearly the past year, every time Linley practiced Earth Element magic or swung the Edgeless heavy sword, the Coiling Dragon Ring would tremble ever so slightly.
Those tremors had continually reached the depths of the ring.
Although Doehring had not awakened, his insights into the earth had continued to accumulate.
Now, the Earth Element under Mo Ers's control surged wildly toward them. Before the dragon claw even touched the Edgeless heavy sword, the rock beneath Linley's feet had already cracked.
Doehring could clearly sense every particle of earth essence.
For more than five thousand years, he had always treated earth essence as the foundation for casting magic. Whether it was Sacred Earthguard Armor or Meteor Fall, he had to use spiritual energy to control vast quantities of earth essence and rearrange them according to magical structures.
But at this moment, he suddenly understood.
Earth essence had always existed between heaven and earth.
Whether or not a mage controlled it, the earth would still support mountains, rivers, and countless lives. What they called Earth Element magic merely borrowed a portion of the earth's power.
No, Doehring suddenly realized. It isn't that I'm commanding earth essence. It's that I never truly understood it before.
Everything became clear.
More than five thousand years of cultivation and insight, the forbidden spell he had cast at Hess City, and the countless tremors Linley had brought him over the past year all came together at this moment.
The Earth Element Profound Mysteries had reached complete mastery!
Humm!
A vast and extraordinary power suddenly descended, enveloping the Coiling Dragon Ring directly. The space around the ring warped completely. Before these Laws of the Universe, even Mo Ers's previously swift dragon claw seemed to slow.
That power completely encompassed Doehring's consciousness.
Before the Laws of the Universe, he had no secrets. His comprehension of the Earth Element Profound Mysteries was laid bare as well.
Within the Coiling Dragon Ring, endless Earth Element gathered in a frenzy.
Hiss~~
Vast amounts of earthen-yellow light gathered above Doehring's true spirit. In mere moments, a black crystal radiating earthen-yellow light condensed into being.
An Earth Element Lowgod Spark!
This divine spark had formed entirely according to Doehring's soul aura. The instant it appeared, Doehring felt an extraordinarily close connection between it and his true spirit.
At the same time, changes took place within the ring.
Streaks of pale azure light emerged from the darkness, forming enormous dragon-shaped patterns. Those patterns coiled around Doehring's true spirit. They were what had protected his last trace of true spirit at Hess City.
This Coiling Dragon Ring is no ordinary divine artifact, Doehring thought in shock.
But he had no time to consider it now.
Mo Ers's dragon claw was still descending, and Linley could not hold out much longer.
"Fuse with my soul!" Doehring immediately made his choice.
He had no physical body, nor did he need to preserve another body. Under the control of the Laws of the Universe, the Earth Element Lowgod Spark fused directly into his true spirit.
The instant the divine spark and his true spirit fused, Doehring sensed a vast, boundless, extraordinary place.
The Elemental Sea!
Boundless earthen-yellow liquid churned. The deeper it lay, the purer the Earth Element divine power it contained. A stream of Earth Element divine power vanished into thin air, traveling along a passage formed by the Laws of the Universe and descending directly into the Coiling Dragon Ring.
Hiss~~
With the divine spark as its core, Doehring's body rapidly took shape.
White hair, his face, his arms, his chest...
In the blink of an eye, a divine body identical to Doehring's original appearance had formed. With a thought, Doehring used Earth Element divine power to form a moon-white robe over his body.
The power of the Laws of the Universe began to dissipate.
Doehring opened his eyes.
He still remembered the Pouant Empire, the battle in year 4280 of the Yulan Calendar, and the more than five thousand years he had spent trapped in the Coiling Dragon Ring.
Above all, he remembered Linley.
There was no memory loss, nor was there another soul. Within this divine body was only one whole Doehring Cowart.
"Linley!"
Doehring stepped out of the Coiling Dragon Ring.
A moon-white figure appeared out of thin air before Linley. As his newly formed divine body touched the ground, Doehring swayed slightly, instinctively pressing his left hand against the rock wall beside him.
Cold. Rough.
The sensation against his palm made Doehring freeze.
More than five thousand years.
At last, he had truly touched stone again.
"Grandpa Doehring?"
Linley stared blankly at the old man before him, seemingly forgetting even the descending dragon claw.
But Doehring had no time to answer.
Mo Ers's dragon claw was already overhead.
Bang!
Doehring raised his right hand and caught the enormous dragon claw with his palm.
The terrifying power within the dragon claw erupted. The rock beneath Doehring's feet immediately fractured, cracks spreading in every direction.
Doehring frowned.
Pure Earth Element divine power surged out through his palm. The gravitational force Mo Ers had unleashed collapsed instantly. The dragon claw, several meters wide, simply stopped in midair, unable to press down even a fraction farther.
"This..."
Mo Ers's dark golden eyes went wide.
It was a Saint Realm magical beast, a Black Armored Earth Dragon with exceptionally powerful defenses and strength at that. Yet this white-haired old man had blocked its full-force blow with just one hand.
Mo Ers could clearly sense that the old man's aura had completely surpassed the Saint Realm.
Deity Level!
"Impossible!" Mo Ers let out a low roar.
Doehring looked up at Mo Ers, his gaze turning cold.
"Using your Saint Realm strength to bully two little fellows of the ninth rank. Mo Ers, you certainly are capable."
As he spoke, Doehring shifted slightly to the left, placing both Linley and Bebe completely behind him.
As Linley gazed at that familiar back, his hands began to tremble uncontrollably. The Coiling Dragon Ring was still on his finger, but Doehring was truly standing before him.
"Grandpa Doehring..." Linley's voice trembled.
Doehring paused slightly.
He did not turn around, only saying, "Little fellow, stand back for now."
Linley stood rooted to the spot.
That "little fellow," that tone of voice-both were exactly as they had been before.
It was no illusion.
Grandpa Doehring had truly returned.
"Boss!" Bebe's delighted voice rang out in Linley's mind. "It really is Grandpa Doehring!"
Linley opened his mouth, but not a single word came out. He stared fixedly at Doehring, tears already streaming down his Dragonformed cheeks.
Doehring still held up Mo Ers's dragon claw.
He had only just become a deity and was not yet familiar with controlling Earth Element divine power. But there was a fundamental gulf between a deity and the Saint Realm. As long as he stood here, Mo Ers could no longer hurt Linley.
The fluctuations produced by the descent of the Laws of the Universe had already spread throughout the Yulan Continent.
From within the Dark Forest, a powerful divine sense instantly reached toward them.
In the core region of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, another divine sense pierced through layer after layer of rock, locking onto the underground cavern where Doehring stood.