As he strode into the large hall, Linley swept it with his gaze. “Only twelve Elders have arrived?” The Azure Dragon clan had thirty six Elders. The other Elders in the hall, upon seeing Linley, all laughed while greeting him.
“Linley, sit over here.” Elder Garvey beckoned towards him.
Linley walked over and sat down by Garvey’s side.
This Conclave of Elders was held in a large hall, where a very large, dark red circular table was placed in the center, with a ring of chairs around the table. Linley swept it with his gaze and discovered: “Eh? Just sixteen chairs?”
The round table was very large, and there was more than enough space for forty chairs. But they had only sixteen chairs prepared.
“Garvey, there’s only sixteen chairs? Aren’t there supposed to be thirty six Elders?” Linley said softly.
“The Elders of Bloodbath Gorge do not attend.” Garvey explained.
Linley sighed to himself.
Bloodbath Gorge was the most central area of the entire Skyrite Mountains. It was also the place where the most powerful experts of the Azure Dragon clan, the Vermillion Bird clan, the White Tiger clan, and the Black Tortoise clan gathered. The Azure Dragon clan had twenty Elders stationed there.
“They won’t even attend the Conclave of Elders.” On the day that Linley had become an Elder, there had only been ten or so Elders present in the palace. Not a single one of the Elders who had been in the Bloodbath Gorge had come on that day either.
“The Elders at Bloodbath Gorge truly are risking their lives to battle for the clan.” Fifteen days ago, Linley had chatted with Garvey, and had discussed the responsibilities of Elders. At that time, Garvey had explained Bloodbath Gorge to him.
The eight great clans were always watching like rapacious tigers. The Four Divine Beasts clan were faced with great danger, and although they could hide in the Skyrite Mountains and live their lives there like turtles hiding in their shells…
Given the arrogance of the Four Divine Beasts clan, how could they possibly forever hide?
In addition, how could a large clan like theirs be perpetually cut off from the outside world? The Four Divine Beasts clan was connected to the outside world, but the people who connected them would be slaughtered and attacked by the eight great clans.
Would the Four Divine Beasts clan just quietly accept this?
Impossible!
The Four Divine Beasts clan would counter-attack, deliver vicious counter-blows to its enemies. Thus, the ‘Bloodbath Gorge’ was formed.
Bloodbath Gorge was where more than half of the experts of the Four Divine Beasts clan were gathered. The Azure Dragon clan had twenty-plus Elders, and of course, many Six Star Fiends were present as well. The requirement for one to enter Bloodbath Gorge was having the power of a Six Star Fiend.
Bloodbath Gorge. The gathering spot for the true elites of the Four Divine Beasts clan.
“The sixteen Elders are all present.” A silver-haired Elder at the side of the round table said clearly. “This millennial Conclave of Elders, compared to the previous one, has an additional Elder present. This is something worthy of celebration.”
Quite a few Elders grinned towards Linley.
Linley smiled back at each Elder in a show of friendliness, then glanced at the silver-haired Elder. Linley recognized this silver-haired Elder; he was the Second Elder of the Assembly of Elders, the son of Patriarch Gislason.
“With regards to everyone’s assignments, let’s set that aside for now.” The Second Elder said solemnly. “Let me first explain to everyone the final battle results of our twenty-plus Elders of our Azure Dragon clan in Bloodbath Gorge, over the past millennium.”
The faces of all the Elders turned solemn.
Bloodbath Gorge was a representation of the constant slaughter and warfare between the Four Divine Beasts clan and the eight great clans.
“Our twenty-plus Elders of the Azure Dragon clan, in the past millennium, killed two enemy Seven Star Fiends and thirty six enemy Six Star Fiends! The number of other Highgods slain was not recorded.” The Second Elder said forcefully.
So many?
Linley was secretly shocked. A thousand years, to Deities, was a very short period of time. But in a thousand short years, the Azure Dragon clan alone had killed two of the enemy’s Seven Star Fiends, and thirty six of their Six Star Fiends.
How many enemies, then, had they killed in Bloodbath Gorge in total?
“The battle between the Four Divine Beasts clan and the eight great clans truly is vicious.” Linley said to himself.
“However, amongst our twenty-plus Elders, two of our Elders had their power dramatically reduced. They were the twenty first elder, ‘Bangden’ [Bang’dun], and the ninth Elder, ‘Jeffs’ [Ji’fo’si]. Elder Bangden’s divine water clone was destroyed, and he no longer has the power of a Seven Star Fiend. He is currently in closed door training. As for Jeffs, his most powerful clone, the divine water clone, was destroyed as well. Luckily, however, his original body has never fused a divine spark. His original body thus once more fused with a divine water spark and his strength is thus returned…but from this day forward, he will most likely find it incredibly hard to advance a single step.” The Second Elder said solemnly.
Immediately, the atmosphere in the hall became depressed.
“Two Elders. One no longer has the power of a Seven Star Fiend, while the other won’t be able to advance at all in the future.” Linley sighed to himself.
Linley knew what the rules of Bloodbath Gorge were. Those Elders who went out to do battle all left their weaker divine clones within Bloodbath Gorge. That way, even if they died in battle outside, they would still have a surviving divine clone.
Most likely, the enemies were doing the same.
Although they described the battle accomplishment as being the killing of two Seven Star Fiends, most likely, the divine clones of those two Seven Star Fiends had similarly been left back at their own bases.
“So for the original body not to fuse with a divine spark actually has a benefit like this.”
The Elder named ‘Jeffs’ had his most powerful divine water clone destroyed, but his original body had never fused with a divine spark, just like Linley. Thus, the Elder could use his original body to constantly fuse with water-type divine spark, all the way to becoming a Highgod.
This was because he already had the necessary insights into how to fuse the Laws of Water.
Thus, even if he became a Highgod through fusing a divine spark this time, his power wouldn’t be much different from in the past. Only…in the future, it would be very hard to advance further.
For example, if Linley’s divine earth clone was destroyed, he would become unable to use the Blackstone Space. However, Linley absolutely could let his original body continue to fuse a Demigod divine earth spark, a God divine earth spark, and a Highgod divine earth spark.
When the time came, Linley would still be able to execute the ‘Blackstone Space’. Only, he wouldn’t be able to make any further improvements.
“This time, aside from the two aforementioned Elders retiring from Bloodbath Gorge, there are also six Elders who have fought in Bloodbath Gorge for three thousand years already who will be retiring from Bloodbath Gorge! Thus, of our group of sixteen, there needs to be three who will fill the positions.”
Immediately, the Elders began to chat with each other through divine sense or ponder to themselves.
“Three Elders need to go to Bloodbath Gorge?” Linley also knew what going to Bloodbath Gorge represented.
“Because of the order of the Patriarch, punishing Emanuel to go serve with the Grand Elder, thus of the sixteen of us, Emanuel absolutely must go to Bloodbath Gorge. Two more must therefore be chosen out of the remaining fifteen.”
Linley couldn’t help but glance at the distant Emanuel out of the corner of his eyes. Emanuel remained silent, his face unchanging. Clearly, he already knew about this.
“Everyone, let’s choose two Elders to participate.” The Second Elder looked at everyone.
“Me!” A voice rang out from next to Linley. It was Elder Garvey. Elder Garvey laughed, “I wanted to go last time, but in terms of power, I was weaker than the others, so I was excluded. This time, it is my turn, right?”
“I nominate myself for a slot!” Immediately, another Elder spoke out. “The other Elders are battling for the clan outside, while I am remaining within the mountain. I feel miserable!”
“Garvey, it’s not your turn yet.” Yet another Elder spoke out. “I nominate myself.”