In the dim underground chamber, dense gray mist instantly filled the entire space. If Lin Lei chose to dodge, he could only retreat — and the Great Sorcerer would seize the chance to flee far away. When divine-level experts fought, everything happened in the blink of an eye.
"Hmph!" Lin Lei's gaze was resolute. Ignoring the gray mist, he charged straight after the Great Sorcerer.
"When did I make an enemy of this person?"
Seeing Lin Lei charging straight at him without any attempt to evade, the Great Sorcerer panicked. Abandoning all caution, he flew diagonally upward.
"Boom!" The rock above was like tofu — the Great Sorcerer easily blasted a tunnel through it.
The gray mist completely ignored the wind-system divine energy barrier surrounding Lin Lei's body and also passed through his dragon scales without issue, merging directly into his body and surging toward the region of his brain. Lin Lei sneered inwardly, "So it really is a soul attack!"
Having fought this Great Sorcerer before, Lin Lei had already mentally prepared himself for this.
"Ssss~~" The gray mist desperately tried to rush toward Lin Lei's soul, but the moment it touched the transparent membrane shaped like scales, it simply dissolved. Only the mist that struck the gap managed to stalemate with the "patch" Lin Lei had formed from his mental power for a brief moment.
There was too little gray mist in the gap region, and Lin Lei had deployed massive amounts of mental power there to block it.
"This old fellow is fast." Lin Lei's speed soared as he raced upward along the tunnel.
In truth, once one reached the divine domain, there was no longer a distinction between mages and warriors. Both mages and warriors had the ultimate goal of becoming gods, and once they reached the divine level, they all cultivated the same elemental laws. The only difference was that having been a mage or warrior beforehand meant one would have certain advantages during combat.
And when it came to speed!
Take a Holy Light Grand Mage, for instance. Once such a person became a god, their speed would likely surpass that of an ordinary warrior who became a god.
The Great Sorcerer was fast — above average among lower gods, even. But Lin Lei's speed... was absurd. The only thing Lin Lei dared to compete with other gods on was speed. From underground to the canyon surface, the distance was less than a thousand meters.
In that short distance, Lin Lei caught up to the Great Sorcerer.
"Die." Lin Lei's Purple Blood Soft Sword slashed out mercilessly.
The sword sang with a crystal-clear note. The Great Sorcerer struggled to keep his soul from being affected: "This divine-level expert even uses sonic soul attacks? When did I offend someone like this?" Resentment burned in his heart, but facing the deadly follow-up strike, the Great Sorcerer swung his black great scythe.
"Clang!"
The speed at which the Great Sorcerer swung his blade was beyond imagination — he actually managed to block Lin Lei's strike.
Now that he had reached the divine domain, the power of the dimensional slash amplified by divine energy was tremendous. Space cracked open, and a terrifying shockwave slammed directly into the black scythe. But the Great Sorcerer had clearly been through many battles and had far more experience than Lin Lei.
"Boom!"
Using the momentum of the impact, the Great Sorcerer actually shot upward even faster. With an explosion, the buildings on the canyon surface were shattered as the Great Sorcerer burst through them, and he soared alone into the sky.
Lin Lei, even faster, caught up in an instant and intercepted the Great Sorcerer in midair.
It should be noted that this great canyon was a major branch office of the Dawson Trading Company, overseeing all of the company's affairs within the Baruch Empire. Over ten thousand people were stationed here permanently. The battle between Lin Lei and the Great Sorcerer shook the canyon floor and caused buildings to explode, sending lights flickering on throughout the canyon.
Angry shouts rang out one after another as the branch officers of the Dawson Trading Company tried to restore order.
"What in the world is going on?" Yeru barked, striding out into the open area.
At that moment, most of the people in the canyon had already left their homes and gathered in the open space. The earlier tremors and sudden building explosions had filled many with fear — no one dared stay inside anymore.
"President, that building just exploded out of nowhere. One person was killed by falling rubble, and three more were injured," someone reported to Yeru.
"There's someone up there!" someone suddenly cried. "Floating in the sky!"
"Saint-level experts!" many exclaimed. The crowd in the canyon's open area all craned their necks upward. Though it was nighttime, the lights throughout the canyon and the hazy moonlight still made it possible to make out two blurry figures in the sky.
When Yeru saw the two figures above, his expression changed.
"The Great Sorcerer? And... a Dragon Blood Warrior?" Because of their spiritual connection, Yeru could clearly sense the Great Sorcerer up there. But as for the Dragon Blood Warrior — who was that? Yeru wasn't certain. The dragon scales of the warrior above seemed to carry a faint golden glow.
"That's a Dragon Blood Warrior!" someone cried out.
Below, the crowd watched with excitement.
Lin Lei looked at the Great Sorcerer before him, startled inwardly: "I didn't expect him to be this skilled in close combat as well."
His three consecutive sword strikes had all been blocked by the Great Sorcerer's black scythe.
If the Great Sorcerer hadn't been proficient in melee combat, he would have been killed long ago in the Gobada Plane Prison. To survive in a place like that, one couldn't have any major shortcomings. A significant weakness would absolutely be seized upon and lead to death.
"Who are you? I don't think we have any grudge," the Great Sorcerer said, hovering in the air as he regarded Lin Lei. "Have you made some kind of mistake?" He didn't want to fight a pointless battle, especially in his currently injured state.
Looking at the transformed Dragon Blood Warrior before him, the Great Sorcerer's first thought was Lin Lei.
But he immediately dismissed it: "It's not Lin Lei. Lin Lei is only at the Saint Realm. And Yeru told me that after Lin Lei became a Saint-level Dragon Blood Warrior, his scales should be dark teal, not this color... The person before me is clearly a divine-level expert."
"Could it be an ancestor of the Dragon Blood Warrior family?" the Great Sorcerer thought.
After returning to the Yulan Continent, he had learned some things. He knew that over five thousand years ago, four great ultimate warrior families had emerged.
"Could it be that my sending Yeru to kill Lin Lei was discovered by this Dragon Blood Warrior ancestor?" the Great Sorcerer couldn't help but speculate.
"No grudge?"
A cold voice came from Lin Lei. "If we had no grudge, would I have come —" Halfway through his sentence, Lin Lei's body dissolved into a gust of wind and instantly struck at the Great Sorcerer. The Great Sorcerer's black scythe fragmented into a cascade of blade shadows to intercept.
"Hmph." Killing intent surged within the Great Sorcerer. Since the other party refused to back off, he would risk further injury to kill this person before him.
The black scythe trembled, the green light in the Great Sorcerer's eyes blazed, and a sinister, low-pitched shout escaped his lips. Instantly, a massive illusory black scythe materialized out of thin air and slashed toward Lin Lei. Lin Lei twisted to dodge, attempting to evade, while simultaneously thrusting the Purple Blood Soft Sword at the Great Sorcerer.
Billions of purple sword-light phantoms appeared —