Gol D. Ace In Coiling Dragon

“Ooh right, before I forget,” Beirut suddenly said, glancing at Aiden briefly before turning back to Ace. “As you are probably aware, your master has decided to accept the offer to become my Emissary. As such, he won’t be entering the Necropolis of the Gods.”

Other than those in or attached to the Pavilion, Beirut’s words caused no small amount of shock in those listening in.

As their continent’s leading expert, Beirut’s influence was unparalleled. By becoming his Emissary, Aiden had essentially ensured the safety of the Yin-Yang Pavilion – not that they needed it.

Still, Beirut calmly continued as though he hadn’t sensed the surprise his words had caused. “I had already told him that there was a certain treasure inside the Necropolis of the Gods called the Pearl of Life, which is capable of fixing his shattered dantian, allowing him to regain his elemental affinity. Still, he insists on staying by my side during this time to try and refine the path of utilising ‘Concepts’.

Instead, he has decided to entrust the retrieval of the ‘Pearl of Life’ to you, his only disciple!”

Hearing that, the eyes of Ace suddenly bulged as he turned to his master, who still seemed more interested in his drink than the topic of conversation. Still, Beirut’s words had been enough to set off no small shock in Ace’s heart.

It wasn’t just him either; all of his classmates were just as surprised by this fact as well; the only ones who weren’t and seemed to have already known this were Arianna and the other Elders of the Pavilion.

“Hmm?” Beirut looked curiously at Ace. “Was he wrong to put his faith in you?”

Though he and his drunken master would often bicker, the space Aiden held in his heart was second only to his mother, Amira, and Killian.

There was almost nothing Ace wouldn’t do if it were for the sake of his master. As such, upon hearing Beirut’s question, Ace didn’t even hesitate before voicing his response.

“Of course not!” Ace stated matter-of-factly. “Since the old man is too lazy to go himself, I guess I’ll go do it for him.”

“Good to know,” Beirut chortled. “But you should know, there are two pearls of life, and both are being held by beings with the power of a prime saint. If the current you was to appear in front of either of them, you’d be considered nothing more than a light appetiser.”

“I understand,” Ace nodded seriously, not doubting Beirut’s words for even a second, but since he had said he would do it, then he would stop at nothing to do exactly that.

“Good,” Beirut nodded. “And one more thing, you shouldn’t think about relying on the other more powerful Elders of your Yin-Yang Pavilion either. According to your master, neither Mathias nor Lauriella are planning on entering either.”

This time, it was Wukong who spoke out as he looked towards his senior brother and sister in confusion. “Is this true? Why did neither of you tell this king?”

“It’s true,” Mathias nodded calmly. “The lower levels of the Necropolis of the Gods don’t pose much of a threat to Lauriella and I, but the upper levels are still too much for the current us.”

“Plus, someone needs to stay behind and take care of the new recruits whilst everyone else is away,” Lauriella added. “Anyway, we’ll have other opportunities to go in the future. We merely have to wait another thousand years or so.”

The words of Mathias may have sounded arrogant, as the dangers of the lower levels were so prolific that it was very possible and even likely that even prime saints could lose their lives. Still, Wukong and the others understood that Aiden and Lauriella weren’t just speaking lightly.

Both husband and wife already had the power of prime saints, but after learning the secrets of Concepts, both of their strengths had seen a large increase.

Similar to Aiden, they could be considered invincible below the deity level. Unfortunately, as much as they had improved, if they were to fight even the weakest of deities, they might only be able to resist for a little while before having to flee desperately.

Wukong hadn’t asked because he was worried about his safety and wanted their protection; he just thought it was a waste of a perfectly good opportunity. Still, he had to admit their words made sense. As such, he said nothing further.

“Well, I’ve said and done everything I came here for,” Beirut announced before turning to the newlyweds. “Congratulations again, but I’ll be taking my leave. There’s no need for you to see me out.”

Just like that, Beirut’s body disappeared, seemingly moving at a speed none present could even begin to fathom.

After Beirut, Dylin was the next to take his leave after delivering his gift. After the two deities took their leave, one by one, others began to do the same, each of whom left a gift for the newly married couples.

On the whole, the gifts couldn’t be said to be all that impressive, with most leaving gold or some other treasures that, whilst most would consider valuable, couldn’t enter the eyes of those from the Pavilion.

Still, there were a few gifts that made Ace and the others raise their brows.

First was the gift from Linley and his Baruch Clan. Like Ace, Linley was also preparing to enter the ruins in about five months, at which point his territory would be without their true leader.

After speaking with his father and the others, they agreed that whilst Linley and Bebe were in the Necropolis of the Gods, the Baruch Kingdom would temporarily submit to Ace’s Gol Kingdom.

When he saw that, Ace merely smiled and shook his head. It was true that although temporary, this would be an excellent boon for his Gol Kingdom, but he also knew the Baruchs would be getting just as much, if not more, out of the deal.

Aside from himself, Amira, Wukong and Leona who were all planning on entering as soon as the gates opened. Neither Cirulus nor the rest of his classmates were entering the ruins – at least not immediately.

So between Cirulus, Killian, and now Alissa, with her having recently comprehended a trace amount of the Profound Mystery of Spatial Winds, their Gol Kingdom now had three experts with the power of saints staying behind.

Though, with that said, Killian and the other Acolytes have already said that they too will be entering the ruins at a later date. They were just waiting till all of them had the strength to enter, at which point they would be staying together.

Still, until that point, Linley’s Baruch Kingdom would be the ones benefitting from their protection.

The next gift that came as a surprise to Ace and the others were the ones from Beirut.

Lance was given a High-God full body armour of the water element, as well as a golden soul pearl, which, according to Arianna, would increase the strength of Lance’s Spiritual Essence to that of a mid-staged saint, potentially even to that of a saint at the peak stage.

That High-God armour would be more than enough of a reason to spark a war between all the major forces on the continent. If not for the fact that it was gifted by Beirut himself, it was likely that not even Dylin and the other deities would be able to calm their greed in the face of such a treasure.

It had to be understood that even Dylin, a powerful Full God, wouldn’t be able to cause so much as a dent in an armour of that level.

That being said, if Dylin were to attack, Lance would be lucky to survive more than one strike. Although the armour was virtually impervious to attacks at that level, it wouldn’t be able to absorb all of the impact, and even 1% of Dylin’s full power would be able to reduce a mortal like Lance to a bloody pulp.

Still, Lance was more excited about the latter of the two gifts. A golden soul pearl was a treasure created by experts who trained in the Edict of Death. By refining millions of souls, they can create this pearl, which, when absorbed, allows the user to increase their spiritual essence significantly.

For Lance, whose talent could only be described as being ordinairy, this was literally the perfect gift. Even though his affinity for the laws of water was utterly ordinary, when holding the Azure Dragon spear, his affinity spiked to the exceptional level, and now, with this, his perception would see another drastic increase, at which point his talent would be no less than any of the other disciples of the Pavilion.

Finally, Lance would be able to stand proudly beside his wife!

Still, as precious a gift as it was, it couldn’t compare in value to Milianna’s. Whilst Lance was given a High-God Armour, Milianna was given a High-God Soul Protecting Artifact, and as most people knew, the most expensive types of Divine Artifacts were, without question, Soul Protecting Artifacts.

According to Arianna, unless it was an expert who specialised in spiritual attacks at the six-star fiend level or higher, one could forget about harming Milianna’s soul now. The other gift appeared to be a simple note, but when reading it, everyone saw that Milianna had been shocked down to her very soul, something no one had seen since her soul had healed.

Still, when asked, Milianna said that Beirut asked her to keep the contents of the note private for now and that all would be revealed after the closing of the Necropolis of the Gods in 20 years’ time.