1258 Meeting and Trial
"Toursse Rodney came looking for trouble. You missed everything, a guard puppet of the Gilded Rose came out, instantly killed his four Heaven Rank Undeads and seriously injured Toursse.
"Alright, Iet's stop discussing that. Toursse's attack is a blessing in disguise, everything in the Gilded Rose is 20% off for today. The Gilded Rose is even more impressive than the Rodney Family, I'm rushing over now, before everything is sold out…"
As Lin Yun walked down the stairs, he heard many people commenting on the fight that just happened. But it just got increasingly more outrageous. Within a few minutes, some people boasted that Toursse peed his pants upon seeing the puppet.
As he walked out of the Gilded Rose's street, Lin Yun's footsteps suddenly came to a halt as he noticed Gandaph standing in the distance with a warm smile. But it looked like the people around him didn't even notice him.
"Sir Mafa, if you have some time today, I'll take you to meet that esteemed person."
Lin Yun nodded, he had just taken care of Toursse Rodney and felt that, unless the Rodney Family was brainless, they wouldn't launch another attack on the Gilded Rose within a short period of time.
As for the person Gandaph was talking about, Lin Yun already had a conjecture, but he wasn't confident. Powerhouses that could be described as esteemed by Gandaph, and talked about with such reverence, could only be counted on one hand.
Gandaph led him out of Neverwinter City and kept flying in the distance.
This puzzled Lin Yun, 'Is he not within Neverwinter City? We will leave the boundary of the city at this rate…'
After all, Neverwinter City was huge and at least half of it belonged to the Starry Sky College.
He followed Gandaph for one hour before they arrived at an ordinary forest mountain range with very few tall peaks in the surroundings. That area was really too ordinary, none of the peaks surpassed a kilometer and mana wasn't abundant. The lifeforms living in the surroundings were mostly low level magic beasts and wild beasts.
After landing, Lin Yun immediately started examining the surroundings. But he only felt that the surroundings were ordinary and that there was nothing unusual.
Gandaph watched Lin Yun's actions and remained silent. He led the way for a few minutes, leading Lin Yun to the foot of a hill. There was a path leading to the hilltop but it was covered in weeds. It looked like people were passing by, but rarely took that path.
Gandaph pointed at the path.
"I can only lead you up to here, you have to go up on your own. The esteemed person is waiting for you at the hilltop. I can't go up without being summoned."
Gandaph flew away after saying those words. Lin Yun opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Gandaph had already turned into a small black dot in the sky.
Abandoned would be a more fitting word to describe this overgrown path, it wasn't even as good as a hunter's path.
He looked up from the foot of the hill and could directly see the hilltop. The tallest tree was no bigger than ten meters, and the vegetation was sparse. This ordinary hill didn't look like the place inhabited by a person Gandaph revered.
'Did I guess wrong? Is that person not powerful and only has a special status? Or a special ability?
'This is very possible, after all, the Starry Sky College isn't a pure mage force, they actually rely a lot on alchemy. In the Starry Sky College, status isn't a matter of strength. They have some special mages with terrifying theoretical knowledge whose strength are hindering them from being able to display these theories.'
After thinking for a bit, Lin Yun couldn't figure out who that person was and shook his head with a wry smile.
'Forget it, might as well go and take a look since I can't guess…'
Lin Yun unhurriedly walked up the path, but suddenly stopped after ten minutes, he then turned around and frowned.
Although he didn't walk fast, ten minutes should have been enough to reach his destination. But the hilltop was still far in the distance, but as he looked back, he saw that the foot of the mountain was already very far. That distance already surpassed the height the hill should have!
Under normal circumstances, he should have already reached the hilltop, but it was still where it was when he left the foot of the mountain.
Lin Yun's eyes shone, he turned around and walked back using the same speed. The foot of the hill was getting closer and closer with every step and he reached it in less than ten seconds. It felt normal, as it should be.
But crossing over a kilometer at normal walking speed was very abnormal.
And not perceiving that abnormality was abnormal in itself.
Lin Yun raised his head and looked at the unmoving hilltop and smiled.
'Looks like this person is a very formidable alchemist, he should be a Saint Alchemist at the very least, this spatial obstruction is flawless, it almost tricked me.'
After setting foot on that path once again, countless runes started appearing in Lin Yun's eyes and formed small patterns which slowly spread towards the white of his eyes.
After a few seconds, Lin Yun's irises, pupils, and the white of his eyes could no longer be seen. There was only a circle of small runes forming a multi-colored halo densely covering Lin Yun's entire eyeballs.
This was a spell Lin Yun had developed after researching the truth runes, it was tailored for array observation. As long as there was an array, or something related to alchemy, Lin Yun would be able to see through the runic structure.
Even if he couldn't see through the arrays, he might be able to find a few nodes. As long as he found those nodes, cracking the path leading to the hilltop wouldn't be too difficult. Even if it was a Heaven Grade Array which he couldn't thoroughly break, Lin Yun still had the confidence to be able to find a path.
But Lin Yun was stunned after walking for ten more minutes.
He couldn't see a single rune, he couldn't sense a single wisp of mana, he couldn't find anything related to alchemy, he couldn't even find anything related to magic.
He scattered the halos covering his eyes and his expression hardened. This was too abnormal…
There was such a big change in space, and thus, he must be inside an array. He tried going out of the trail and climbing to the top from other directions, but all his attempts had the same results. The hilltop just remained in the distance.
Lin Yun stopped his attempts after half an hour, frowned, and started pondering.
He didn't find any trace of array, nor any trace of alchemy material, because it was impossible for an array affecting this space to exist without him being able to discover a trace of its existence.
Lin Yun still had self-confidence, because even the strongest array at the peak of Noscent couldn't accomplish such a feat. Thus, there was only one possibility.
He encountered an illusion!
An illusion could come from an array, from a Magic Tool, it could even come from some special magic beast or thing. Too many things could create an array.
Since there was no array, then there might be a Magic Tool or something else setting up the illusion. This illusion didn't affect the body, thus it couldn't be noticed.
The Mirage Dragon living in the darkest depths of the Endless Sea's seabed could create a huge city and even vivid and lifelike lifeforms that couldn't be told apart from real lifeforms.
When a powerful Starry Sky Fantasy Beast drifting in endless void hunts for food, it transforms into a lifelike world and anything entering that world would be devoured.
Lin Yun examined his surroundings for a few minutes, but didn't discover how to break that illusion. If it came from a Magic Tool, he wouldn't be able to break the illusion unless he found the Magic Tool's main body.
But as long as it was an illusion, there was a 100% efficient shortcut.
He only had to stimulate his soul until he felt a stab of pain. In that split second, he would become very sensitive to the surroundings as it was an instinct of the soul against danger.
That might just be a mere instant, but it was enough to find clues. And with clues, he could find the way to solve this.
Lin Yun transferred his own soul power into a few illusory thin needles and ruthlessly pricked his own soul. The pain he felt at that moment was indescribable, it came from the soul and brought up a terrifying aura of death.
In that instant, Lin Yun's sense and capture of his surroundings was at least 100 times better. Every wisp of air flowing around him, even wisp of mana fluctuation, he could sense everything clearly.
Even the world before his eyes turned in a magnificent flow of radiance that eyes couldn't bear to watch. His soul sustained a very high pressure.
This was soul sight, it enabled one to see the most fundamental source of the world, as well as the world's most basic features.
The information captured by his eyes instantly made Lin Yun's Magic Array operate at its peak. Even the Spell Wheel joined in deciphering the information. Only then was he able to barely manage this kind of huge information overload.
There was a kind of supernatural powerful soul beast which was most proficient at observing the world through soul sight due to their bodies being pure soul bodies. The world they saw was several hundred times more detailed than humans' sight.
With Lin Yun's current strength, if he used a soul beast's sight to look at the world, the huge amount of information would be enough to burst his soul.
A few seconds later, the pain coming from his soul completely disappeared. The thin needles that pierced his soul were made out of soul power, it was only returned somewhat roughly and wouldn't bring any injury to his soul.
After a minute, Lin Yun frowned and opened his eyes. He had deciphered the huge amount of information twice. He didn't neglect any part of the information both times, but the outcome was that this place was completely normal.
There was no array, no magic power influence, no illusion. This was just an ordinary hill.
Looking at the distant hilltop, Lin Yun spat out a rune. The rune transformed into a Wind Blade which condensed itself until it was finger-sized. Then, he marked the Wind Blade with a mana imprint and shot it towards the hilltop.
The Wind Blade instantly disappeared, and half a minute later, Lin Yun lost contact with that Wind Blade. In that half a minute, the speed of that Wind Blade surpassed the speed of sound and flew over twenty kilometers.
But it still didn't reach the hilltop, and it seemed to still be far from the hilltop.
In other words, the hilltop was so far away, but even after flying for years, he might still not reach the hilltop. The distance from the foot of the mountain to the top might be higher than the entire Noscent world.
But Lin Yun's frown slightly relaxed, because he more or less understood what the problem was.
This was a possibility Lin Yun had overlooked: The Laws of this place had been changed!
Heaven Rank powerhouses' comprehension of Laws was limited to using the laws. They could control the Laws, but they couldn't alter a single iota. The Laws could only remain as they were.
To change the Laws, surpassing the Heaven Rank was required. A powerhouse that ignited their Godfire had the power to change Laws to their own advantages and even connect their own Laws.
The trial before his eyes wasn't an array, it wasn't a Magic Tool, not an illusion, not a spell. Everything was normal. There was only one possibility that he hadn't considered from the start, the Laws here had been changed!
Only that method would make him unable to find abnormalities when examining the place.
Looking at that ordinary hill less than a kilometer in height and sparsely covered in vegetation, Lin Yun couldn't help being shocked.
'No wonder it's a person that Sir Gandaph reveres, it's a powerhouse that can already change Laws!'
That thousand-meter-wide distance was stretched to infinity, but there was no lethality. This showed that the area wasn't meticulously controlled by that powerhouse, but the Laws were just altered by the other side's presence to adapt to his presence, this was undoubtedly a terrifying state.
This was the terrifying characteristic of those that ignited their Godfire. As long as the other side altered Laws, if Heaven Rank powerhouses couldn't resist, they might die from a simple Fireball. Comprehending Laws in this place was a mistake, grasping the truth in this place was also a mistake.
'No wonder this hill didn't need to be guarded, as long as that person is here, no one can approach. Even if the distance is one meter, it would turn into ten thousand kilometers…'
After finding the reason why he couldn't reach the hilltop, Lin Yun grinned.
This was just a test, nothing more. There wasn't a lot of power put into it and the Law alteration wasn't really controlled. It was as if the other side just breathed and involuntarily caused this.
Lin Yun knew that in Noscent's peak, there was a powerhouse specializing in a certain Spatial Law. That transcending powerhouse was an unequalled existence, he killed large numbers of people that offended him, but no one could get rid of him.
Even powerhouses at the same rank who could resist some Law alterations were completely unable to attack him. No matter who, it was like they were separated by a whole world and couldn't go through it. They couldn't even graze his clothes.
Although the situation before his eyes was different, it was similar.
Lin Yun stood motionless, deeply thinking how to throw off the Law alteration. Completely avoiding it was impossible. The other side was so powerful his strength couldn't be estimated. Even if over a thousand Heaven Rank powerhouses came over, they wouldn't be able to reach the top of the hill. Every method based on numbers was completely useless here.
After pondering for a few minutes and filtering his own power once, Lin Yun suddenly froze and made a conjecture as to who was at the top of the hill. He then immediately smiled.
A formidable aura was emitted from Lin Yun's body and his expression became serious.
Slowly, the shadow of the Demiplane appeared behind Lin Yun. The shadow was over ten kilometers in width and it looked like a miniature Natural Demiplane. Everything within was shrunk countless times. Only the central pillar could be seen clearly.
Great waves started appearing in the surrounding space as the huge Demiplane Shadow appeared. It was like the original "normal" world turned into an angry God using the surrounding Law to forcibly suppress the Natural Demiplane.
The dozen-kilometer-big Natural Demiplane was rapidly suppressed to four meters and its power was cloaking Lin Yun's body, resisting the spatial suppression.
The space within the Demiplane faintly shook, but the pillar instantly emitted light. Radiant truth runes drifted and the Mana Water contained within the mana lake rapidly dissipated. The Demiplane stopped shaking, but the Mana Water was rapidly dissipating.
The Demiplane spread around Lin Yun's body to resist the surrounding spatial suppression.
The Spatial Law of this place was different from the Natural Demiplane's. Even if it wasn't too different, it was a completely different Law. The clash of the Laws didn't have much to do with Lin Yun himself, rather, it was a fight over authority between the Demiplane's Law and the world's Law.
The core of the world didn't allow different versions of the Laws to appear within its range, that would mean that the world wasn't complete.
To be continued