盘龙 - Coiling Dragon, by I Eat Tomatoes (我吃西红柿）UNABRIDGED

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 7, Heaven and Earth Turned Upside Down – Chapter 16, The Furnace

Linley was in a dire need of a good weapon, and so Monroe Dawson decided to immediately take Linley to Master Vincente. Monroe Dawson, Linley, Yale, George, and Reynolds all went in a group to a dwelling not too far away.

“Lord Chairman!” The guard at the entrance immediately bowed respectfully upon seeing Monroe Dawson.

The servants and guards of the Hyde clan had been personally arranged for by Monroe Dawson. They all belonged to the Dawson Conglomerate to begin with.

“Lord Dawson has arrived?” A middle-aged man who had been quietly lying in rest in the front courtyard instantly scrambled to his feet and walked over. His face filled with gratitude, he said, “Lord Dawson, if you want to see me, all you have to do is send someone for me. I would just come to your place.”

This Vincente truly did feel grateful towards Monroe Dawson.

In this past half year, Monroe Dawson had been extremely friendly and courteous towards his Hyde clan, but hadn’t required anything of them. In particular, when they had fled for their lives, if the Dawson Conglomerate hadn’t assisted them while they were in the Kingdom of Hanmu, perhaps many more members of the Hyde clan would have died.

“Haha, let’s talk inside.” Monroe Dawson slapped Vincente on the shoulders.

“Alright.”

Other members of the Hyde clan, such as Vincente’s father, and Vincente’s two sons all came out.

“Come, Mr. Vincente, let me make some introductions.” Monroe Dawson beamed as he pointed at Linley. “The three of you should already know my son, but this one here is that genius magus I have often mentioned to you. He is…”

“Linley of the Baruch clan, a master sculptor and a genius magus.” Vincente continued.

Vincente turned his eyes to Linley. Even Vincente’s father and his two children turned to stare at Linley in awe.

“Linley, I imagine you know about our Hyde clan.” There was a very special sentiment visible in Vincente’s eyes. Although both the Hyde clan and the Baruch clan had decayed in power over the years, in their heart, they were filled with pride and a certain type of arrogance.

The clans of the Four Supreme Warriors had five thousand years of history!

No matter how far they had fallen, this sort of innate pride and arrogance sprung from their hearts.

Two descendants of two Supreme Warrior clans looked at each other, sharing a very special moment.

“The Violetflame Warrior clan.” Linley said modestly. “In the books passed down within our Baruch clan, there are careful descriptions regarding the Hyde clan, one of our fellow Supreme Warrior clans.”

Hearing these words, Vincente couldn’t help but feel as though he had been given quite a bit of face, and felt all the more well-disposed towards Linley. “Linley, let me introduce you. This is my eldest son, Yotian [Yu’xing] Hyde. This is my second son, Trey [Te’lei] Hyde.” Vincente clearly was very proud of his sons. “Linley, my two sons are quite talented as well. But of course, compared to you, they have quite a distance to go.”

Yotian and Trey only nodded, but from the fierce look in their eyes, they clearly didn’t submit to their father’s claims that the two brothers were a bit inferior to Linley.

“Haha, alright, Mr. Vincente. I’ve come today to ask you for your help.” Monroe Dawson said directly.

Vincente immediately said magnanimously, “Lord Dawson, if you need anything, just tell me. As long as I am capable, I will definitely do my best.” In this past half year, the Dawson Conglomerate had helped the Hyde clan out in many matters. But the Hyde clan hadn’t been able to repay them at all. After all, the Dawson Conglomerate hadn’t asked them to do anything.

The feeling of owing someone wasn’t a good one.

Monroe Dawson laughed while gesturing at Linley. “Linley wants a good weapon. I want to ask you to be the one to forge it for him.”

“Forge a weapon?” Vincente looked at Linley. “Linley, a weapon for yourself?”

“Yes.” Linley nodded.

A gratified look was in Vincente’s eyes. Nodding, he said, “Right. We descendants of the Four Supreme Warriors can’t be physically puny and weak. We must train as warriors, and naturally we must have a fine weapon. Tell me, what sort of weapon do you desire!”

Both Vincente, and his two sons, upon hearing that Linley was a magus genius, felt a bit of disdain towards him in their hearts. In their eyes, the Four Supreme Warriors descendants should be powerful, invincible warriors. Now that Linley was asking them to help him make a weapon, they felt very happy.

“A heavy sword.” Linley said slowly. “Mr. Vincente, I am 1.9 meters tall. You decide how long the heavy sword should be. You should know what length would be most suitable to someone of my height.”

Vincente was a bit surprised. “A heavy sword? Not a greatsword or a warblade?”

Greatswords and heavy swords were two different types of weapons. “A heavy sword.” Linley said with certainty.

“Alright. Any other requests?” Vincente was the leader of the Hyde clan. The descendants of the Hyde clan weren’t just powerful warriors; they were all extremely skilled blacksmiths as well.

Linley removed the bag he was carrying. “The materials for the heavy sword must include this.”

From within the bag, Linley withdrew that fist-sized chunk of adamantine ore.

Just by looking at it, Vincente couldn’t tell that this was adamantine. After all, even Vincente had never seen adamantine before. He immediately asked curiously, “What is this ore called?”

“Adamantine.”

Linley replied directly.

“Adamantine?!” Vincente, his father, and his two sons all stared in astonishment at the fist-sized chunk of black rock in Linley’s hands.

Vincente suppressed the excitement in his heart. Looking at Linley, he said, “Can you let me take a look?”

“Yes.”

Vincente carefully accepted the chunk of adamantine. Although he had never seen adamantine before, Vincente knew that adamantine was extremely heavy, and so he had prepared himself for it. Indeed…

“At least a thousand pounds.” Vincente’s eyes shone. “Indeed. Adamantine is over a hundred times heavier than gold. The legends are true.”

Vincente suddenly came to his senses, and he stared at Linley in astonishment. “Linley, you want to use this entire chunk of adamantine in the forging of your heavy sword?”

“Right. All of it.” Linley replied.

Vincente shook his head repeatedly. “Linley, this adamantine ore is a thousand pounds by itself. Using adamantine as the base, the other materials you will need to alloy it with will have to be of high quality as well. Given the size of your heavy sword, it will most likely weigh nearly three thousand pounds. This will be my first time forging such a heavy sword. Three thousand pounds! You want it for yourself? Even most warriors of the seventh rank won’t be able to use it freely. Even a warrior of the eighth rank will be slowed down by it, despite being able to wield it with ease.”

“Mr. Vincente, just worry about the forging.” Linley laughed.

Dragonblood Warriors were immensely strong, physically. Comparatively speaking, in terms of battle-qi, Dragonblood battle-qi was a bit weaker.

Of the Four Supreme Warriors, the Dragonblood Warriors and the Undying Warriors possessed greater strength. The founder of the Baruch clan, Baruch, was someone who had dared to fight head on against a Nine Headed Serpent Emperor and win, killing it in the end.

A Nine Headed Serpent Emperor was an incredibly large creature, with strength to match. It could be considered one of the most powerful Saint-level magical beasts in existence. But Baruch still dared to fight it head on and killed it. From this, people learned how powerful and strong the Dragonblood Warriors were. Vincente glanced at Linley, then nodded. “Within my clan, we do indeed have secret methods for forging adamantine. But it will be hard for me to acquire all of the other rare ingredients right now.”

“Let me handle that.” Monroe Dawson said.

Vincente nodded. Given the power and influence of the Dawson Conglomerate, procuring some ores should be very easy. Vincente looked at Linley. Solemnly, he said, “Linley, adamantine weapons are indeed very formidable. If you only use a small amount of adamantine ore in your weapon, I’ll still be able to sharpen and put an edge on it. But if you want to use this much adamantine, I’m afraid that at most, I’ll be able to make the edges of the sword slightly thinner. But I won’t be able to put an edge on it.”

A thousand-pound chunk of adamantine ore! Vincente had never even heard of such a thing.

The sturdiness of the weapon it was used to forge would be incredible. To put an edge on and sharpen such a weapon? Vincente knew his own limits.

“Unable to put an edge on it?”

Linley suddenly thought back to the records of his clan. The first Dragonblood Warrior had used a warblade to do battle, but the later Dragonblood Warriors did not. One had even used a massive warhammer, relying purely on weight and power.

A three thousand pound heavy sword would totally be a match for that warhammer of his ancestors.

“If you can’t put an edge on it, so be it.” Linley was very confident. Such a heavy sword with such weight would be able to smash magical beasts to death with sheer kinetic force when wielded by the terrifying strength of a Dragonblood Warrior.

“Good. As long as we have the other ores needed, I can immediately begin the forging for you. A single weapon won’t take more than half a day of work.” Vincente said confidently. He, Vincente, had forged countless weapons, and he was very confident in the secret forging methods of his clan.

Monroe Dawson laughed. “Vincente, then can you provide me with your secret recipe for forging adamantine now?”

“Fine. I’ll go get it now.” Vincente immediately left.

The Dawson Conglomerate’s efficiency level was terrifyingly high. Before nightfall, they had procured a large piled of quality ores. In truth, the secret forging methods of the Hyde clan didn’t require any specific ores, as every material had possible replacements as well.

But the materials provided by the Dawson Conglomerate were the best of the best.

That night.

“The quality of these materials is extremely high, and all of these ores are high value ores.” Staring at the ores, Vincente was so excited that his face had a ruddy glow. Laughing loudly, he said, “Linley, with such good materials to work with, I’m afraid that the heavy sword will be slightly heavier than I anticipated.”

“That’s fine.” Linley laughed.

A weapon weighing just a bit over three thousand pounds could still be easily wielded by most warriors of the ninth rank, much less the astonishingly strong Dragonblood Warriors.

“Alright. Tomorrow morning, I’ll begin.” Vincent said heroically.

That night, Linley didn’t go back to his own manor. He chatted mentally with Bebe, who very obediently stayed home and didn’t come over. As far as Bebe was concerned, right now his life consisted of eat, sleep, eat, sleep. This was the type of life he liked.

Early morning. The sky slowly brightened.

Those three Hyde clan members, father and two sons, were bare-chested as they began the forging process. Vincente was the primary worker, while Yotian and Trey assisted on the sides. The flames spat forth by the bellows were at an incredibly high temperature.

“Hiss, hiss.”

Vincente Hyde’s body began to emit a blue flame, which quickly merged with the flames in the furnace. The color of the flames in the furnace actually changed as well, and those other ores began to slowly liquefy. Only the adamantine ore didn’t change at all.

Vincente picked up a cup of greenish herbal liquids and poured it directly over the adamantine ore. “Hiss, hiss.” The green liquid actually began to transform the adamantine ore somehow, as it actually slowly began to melt as well.

Finally, the general shape of a sword could be seen.

“Clang!” “Clang!” “Clang!”

The forgehammer smashed down again and again, the speed of the blows coming at a terrifyingly fast rate. The hammer danced in Vincente’s hands, giving everyone present the sense of watching an artistic performance. Clearly, Vincente’s hammer strokes had a certain rhythm to it, and the form of the heavy sword began to become more and more clearly defined.

“Hiss, hiss.”

Vincente’s body was constantly emitting that blue flame, keeping the heavy sword under high temperatures at all times. He continued hammering away at it for three hours. The heavy sword, which originally had been all sorts of colors, gradually turned into a pitch black color. Vincente was covered in sweat, and his face was turning a bit white. This was perhaps the most tiring forging project he had ever done.

“Give me mountain spring water.” Vincente shouted loudly.

His elder son, Yotian, immediately brought over a nearby barrel of water, then mixed into it a cup with a different, pre-prepared liquid inside. Using the secret liquid ingredients of their clan along with mountain spring water would definitely produce optimal tempering results.

“Hiss, hiss.” The heavy sword was placed within the barrel.

Watching by the side, Linley and Monroe Dawson’s eyes lit up. After being tempered, the heavy sword would more or less be complete. But just at this time, the gloomy, overcast sky suddenly boomed with thunder, catching everyone off-guard.

“Success!” Vincente pulled the heavy sword out, his face filled with excitement. He raised it high in the air, laughing loudly, “Haha, Linley, success! This is the finest creation I have ever made!”

“BOOOOM!”

A terrifying sound could be heard as a bolt of blue lightning suddenly forked down, striking directly on top of the heavy sword!

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 7, Heaven and Earth Turned Upside Down – Chapter 17, The Heavy Sword, ‘Bladeless’

This naturally generated bolt of lightning slashed down at high speed, and was many times faster than electrical bolts which thunder-element magi could produce. Nobody present was able to react in time, and the lightning bolt crashed onto the upraised heavy sword.

“Ah!” Vincente let out a pain-filled scream as his body was suddenly enveloped in a wild blue flame, which even had some silvery white flame mixed within!

“Thud!” The heavy sword fell to the ground.

At the same time, Vincente collapsed as well, his entire body twitching, especially his right arm, which had been charred badly enough that the scent of burning flesh could be smelled. Even after collapsing, Vincente’s body continued to jerk about, and blood was pouring from his mouth.

“Father!” The two brothers Yotian and Trey let out simultaneous cries as they immediately ran forward.

“Mr. Vincente!” Both Linley and Monroe Dawson were shocked as well.

This natural bolt of lightning had carried an enormous amount of energy. It wasn’t unheard of for even powerful combatants to die due to being struck by lightning. All of them ran over, surrounding Vincente, as Monroe Dawson roared out, “Quick, have Mr. Armand [A’man’da] come, quick!”

Armand was a light-style magus under Monroe Dawson’s command who also specialized in medicine. He was extremely skilled at healing people.

“Yes!” Seeing this, the gate guard also was frantic, and he rushed to find the magus Armand.

Magus Armand arrived shortly afterwards. He was an old man with a snowy white beard. Without saying a word, he immediately invoked a light-style spell. The totally burnt and charred right arm of Vincente began to quickly and visibly heal. Soon, all traces of the injury were gone.

“I…I’m fine.” Vincente managed to force out these words with difficulty.

“How are your internals?” Armand asked immediately.

A powerful warrior was easily capable of sensing his body’s internal condition. This assessment would be more accurate than a magus’ external observations.

Vincente shook his head. “I’m fine. I just need a little time, and I will be alright.”

“Mr. Armand, there’s no further need for you to concern yourself with my father’s injuries.” Yotian said bluntly as well.

These words raised the suspicions of Monroe Dawson, Linley, Reynolds, George, and everyone else. They could all see that right now, Vincente was very weak. Vincente was a very powerful warrior; for him to be so weak now meant that he clearly had suffered an enormous injury.

But suddenly, Linley remember a passage from his clan’s records regarding the Violetflame Warriors.

A Saint-level Violetflame Warrior possessed a power known as the Nirvana Rebirth. Generally speaking, they were able to recover from any wounds at an astonishing speed.

“This Master Vincente is only at the ‘blue flame’ level, and has just barely managed to enter the ‘white flame’ level. He is quite a distance away from the highest ‘violet flame’ level. Most likely, he doesn’t have the Nirvana Rebirth ability yet, but he should still be able to heal his wounds.” Linley understood.

The Four Supreme Warriors.

The Dragonblood Warriors could be considered as the warriors with the greatest combat potential, while the Violetflame Warriors were famous due to their Nirvana Rebirth ability. The Tigerstriped Warriors were known for their attacking speed, while the Undying Warriors were famed for their strength and endurance.

“Uncle Dawson, Master Vincente has secret techniques for recovering from his wounds. There’s no need for him to take any medicine.” Linley spoke.

Monroe Dawson nodded, then gave instructions to Armand. Armand spoke some well-intentioned words of guidance to Vincente, then left. As for Vincente, he lay down and rested for around ten minutes, after which he looked much better.

Linley couldn’t help but feel astonished. The regenerative capabilities of the Violetflame Warriors really were something special.

“Linley, your heavy sword.” Immediately after recovering a bit, Vincente began to worry about his masterpiece. “Quick, bring it over and let me take a look. I hope no damage was caused to the sword.”

Only now did any of them pay attention to the discarded heavy sword. All of them were amazed! The formerly pitch-black sword now had a faint blue glow on its surface, as though a layer of frost had formed atop it.

“Let me see!” Vincente said urgently.

Linley grabbed the heavy sword and immediately gave it to Vincente. Of all the people present, only Vincente had any true knowledge regarding weapons.

Vincente still hadn’t fully recovered from his injury, and so even lifting the sword up was hard for him. He was only able to grasp the hilt after allowing the tip of the sword to rest against the ground. Vincente’s face was extremely solemn, and with his left hand, he began rap against the flat of the heavy sword’s blade.

“Dang!” “Dang!” “Dang!”

A series of crisp, clear sound could be heard. Vincente began to apply more and more force to each blow, and the ringing sounds were growing louder as well. Vincente rapped every single part of the heavy sword, constantly changing positions.

While doing so, Vincente was staring intently at the sword while listening to the sounds.

Next to him, Linley, Monroe Dawson, and the others had stopped breathing. They knew that most likely, Vincente was assessing the heavy sword to see if the bolt of lightning had caused any damage to it or had altered it somehow. After all, the bolt of thunder had struck it just after it had been quenched in the liquid solution.

“Riiiiing.” With a single flick of Vincente’s finger, the entire heavy sword emitted a beautiful sound. Hearing this almost perfect, rich, smooth sound, a look of wild joy appeared on Vincente’s face.

“Heaven’s will. Heaven’s will.”

His face filled with wild joy, Vincente turned to look at Linley. “Linley, it must be that heaven itself desired for you to possess this divine sword.”

“Mr. Vincente, what’s the situation with this heavy sword?” Monroe Dawson asked.

Vincente explained, “The hardest part of forging an adamantine weapon is bringing out the full potential of the adamantine, since the alloyed metals are all significantly inferior to adamantine. Although the secret method of my clan allows me to alloy a high percentage of the other metals with the adamantine, I of course am not able to alloy it 100% perfectly.”

“In other words, the internals of the sword that I had just forged were not perfectly consistent, and there were minute inconsistencies in each spot.”

A look of disbelieving joy was on Vincente’s face. “But I didn’t expect that right after I finished quenching the sword, I would get struck by that bolt of lightning, which caused all of the remaining internal irregularities in the sword to be fused perfectly. The full potential of the adamantine has been released. I simply can’t believe that something like this happened. This is heaven’s will. Heaven’s will!”

Linley was overjoyed as well.

“Third Bro, congratulations.” Yale, Reynolds, and George all began to grin. They all understood. After having withstood this lightning strike, the quality of Linley’s heavy sword had just improved by another level.

“And not just that. Look. There’s a faint blue glow on the surface of this heavy sword. I’ve touched the surface of it, and it is unbelievably slick and smooth. Most likely in the future, when you kill someone using it, no blood will stick to it.” Vincente chortled.

“Killing without being stained by blood.” Monroe Dawson sighed in praise as well.

The creation of this heavy sword was indeed miraculous, causing everyone present to sigh in amazement.

“This heavy sword was originally pitch black, but now it has a layer of blue light on it. At first glance, one would say that it was dark blue.” Yale sighed in amazement.

This sword really did have quite the majestic aura to it.

“Yotian, Trey, bring me the measuring sticks.” Vincente instructed. After finishing the smithing of a sword, naturally he would have to see what the sword’s exact dimensions were. Linley could feel that this sword was very heavy, but he couldn’t say exactly what its weight was.

Monroe Dawson only chortled happily as he watched them take the measurements for this sword.

“The sword is 1.41 meters long. It weighs…” Yale and the others quickly began to weigh the sword, but when they saw the figures, they were all astonished.

“3600 pounds! The heavy sword is 1.41 meters long, and 3600 pounds heavy!” Reynolds began screaming in a high-pitched voice. This was an extremely domineering heavy sword! And as far as it was length-wise, it was just about right for Linley.

What’s more, Linley wasn’t finished growing yet, and his strength would continue to increase as well. Naturally, this sword would only grow more and more easy to use in the future.

“Third Bro. What is the name of this heavy sword? Quick, pick a name.” Yale was the first to say.

Vincente and the others all looked at Linley.

Reynolds interjected, “This was hit by a lightning bolt. I say, how about calling it Heavenly Thunder? That’s really cool, right?”

“That’s way too vulgar.” George shook his head.

“How about Lightning’s Majesty?” Reynolds continued.

Yale and everyone else began to laugh. Monroe Dawson teased, “Reynolds, why call it Lightning’s Majesty? Let’s just go ahead and call the sword Reynolds.”

[Translator’s note – There is a pun here. In Chinese, Reynolds name is Lei Nuo, with Lei meaning thunder. Heavenly Lightning is “Tian Lei”, while Lightning’s Majesty is “Lei Wei”. Everyone is teasing Reynolds for picking names that sound similar to his own.]
Reynolds pouted and fell silent after letting out a ‘hmph’. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be related to lightning.” Linley laughed. “Since there’s no way for this sword to be sharpened, then let’s just call it Bladeless.” Linley casually picked this name. It was a very simple one, but Linley liked it.

“Bladeless? The heavy sword, Bladeless? Not bad.” Yale nodded.

“Bladeless.”

Vincente, Yotian, Trey, and the others all savored the name for a while, then nodded.

That day, Monroe Dawson gifted Linley with a fine sheath for a heavy sword. It was a deep blue color and forged from precious metals. It was only half a meter long, but had openings on both ends. Linley could sheath his heavy sword into it from either direction, with half of it remaining visible.

This was how sheaths for heavy swords were usually designed. Scabbards that were meant to cover the entire sword were simply too long, and once the warrior removed the sword from the sheath, the meter-long sheath would be very impractical and get in the way. This half-meter long scabbard was very light and wouldn’t cause any hindrance.

That night at a banquet.

Linley dressed in his warrior clothes and carried this heavy sword with him. Thanks to his long-term training, his 1.9 meter tall body was rippling with muscles, and his warriors clothes put his charisma on full display. With this heavy sword on his back, he did indeed have the aura of a powerful heavy swordsman.

“Haha, Linley.” Monroe Dawson laughed as he looked at Linley. “In my opinion, nobody who sees you would believe that you were a genius magus.”

Linley was slightly startled, but then he laughed as well.

Dressed like this, naturally it would be hard for others to tell that he was a magus.

“I remember when we first arrived at the Ernst Institute, when we were in our first year, Third Bro was only nine. Even then, he was able to easily lift up and throw that nine year old who won the tournament quite a distance. Ever since then, I knew that Third Bro was extremely talented as a warrior as well.” Yale chortled.

Everyone was enjoying this banquet immensely, and after having acquired this heavy sword, Linley felt very pleased as well.

“When I have some time, I’ll definitely have to analyze and train in using heavy swords.” Linley made his decision. When he had originally acquired the Bloodviolet Godsword, Linley had also spent several months before totally comprehending all the best ways to use a flexible sword such as Bloodviolet.

But Linley had the feeling that, comparatively speaking, training with Bloodviolet wasn’t that hard, only fast and strange.

But this heavy sword weighed 3600 pounds.

On the surface, it would seem that the techniques for using a heavy sword were simple. Block, smash, etc. But Linley knew that was just the most basic of movements. Using this sword to its full potential definitely wouldn’t be that easy. He knew this because his clan’s records had described the ways in which that ancestor of his had used a massive warhammer. Clearly, there were deep mysteries with regards to how one used weapons.

To bring out a heavy weapon’s full power and potential?

This was very hard.

But upon succeeding, it would possess tremendous power.

The banquet ended.

Linley began to engage in some simple sword stances in an empty courtyard within the Dawson Conglomerate’s estate, trying to feel for the heavy sword’s balance, and how it felt when thrusting and chopping. Just as Linley was beginning to totally immerse himself in getting a basic feel for the technique behind using such a sword…

“Boss, boss! Come back, quick! That Clayde has finally appeared!” Bebe’s excited voice suddenly rang out in Linley’s mind.

Linley instantly came to his normal senses.

“Clayde is back.” Linley felt his previously calm heart suddenly fill with excitement, and his body suddenly began to brim with power. He didn’t have time to explain too much to his bros. He bid a simple farewell, and then headed for his own residence at high speed.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 7, Heaven and Earth Turned Upside Down – Chapter 18, A Missing Hand?

Bearing the adamantine heavy sword on his back, Linley quickly made his way through the streets. However, just from appearances, nobody could tell how heavy it truly was, and so Linley didn’t attract any notice from bystanders.

“Clayde finally came. I’ve waited so long!” Linley suppressed the excitement he felt. “Calm. This time, no matter what, I can’t make any mistakes again.”

The first time, he had thought he had a better than 90% chance of success, but unexpectedly, that Saint-level Fateguard had appeared out of nowhere and caused Linley’s plan to fail. This time, Linley didn’t want to make any mistakes.

“Linley.” Doehring Cowart’s slightly hoarse voice rang out. “Remember, you previously were together for a period of time with Shaq and his men. Upon Clayde’s return, Shaq might report that fact to him.”

“Understood.”

Linley had thought of this possibility long ago. But for the sake of being able to find the place where Clayde would end up, he had to travel alongside Shaq, which resulted in them arriving together in Hess City. He definitely could not kill Shaq, because once Shaq and his group of men died, then Clayde perhaps wouldn’t show himself at all.

“I had to act in this way. But even if Clayde knew that I had travelled along with Shaq for a time, there’s nothing he can do, because…I already know his whereabouts. There’s no way he can escape.” Linley was totally confident. At the same time, Bebe, who was spiritually connected to him, was watching over Clayde and his men.

As they chatted, Linley arrived at Keyan Road.

In order to prevent himself from being seen by Clayde’s men, Linley immediately headed towards his residence via a series of back alleys.

A black blur suddenly travelled several dozen meters and leapt into Linley’s arms.

“Bebe.” Laughing, Linley looked at the little Shadowmouse in his arms.

Bebe’s eyes were gleaming as he delightedly conversed mentally, “Boss, I saw Clayde come here not too long ago. But I only caught a glimpse of half his face before he entered the manor. Boss, those two people you employed were too useless. They didn’t notice him at all.”

“Hrm?”

Linley was somewhat suspicious. He had ordered those two to stay on the lookout. Logically speaking, as soon as Clayde had appeared, they should have noticed him.

“Milord, milord!”

Ah Da and Ah Er ran over and said respectfully, “Milord, we just saw a large group of people enter that manor not too long ago.”

“A large group of people?” Linley immediately asked. “Was one of them missing a hand?”

Ah Er shook his head. “No, milord. Milord, you ordered us to pay attention to any groups of people entering the manor, and you also told us to watch for a man with a missing hand. But we didn’t see anyone with a missing hand in that group.”

“Impossible.” Linley said with certainty. “There definitely was a man with a missing hand.”

Bebe had already seen half of Clayde’s face, and given Bebe’s eyesight, he definitely wouldn’t have been mistaken. Since Bebe was certain he had seen him, then Clayde was definitely in that group.

“Definitely?” Hearing how certain Linley was, the man felt awkward. “Milord, perhaps…perhaps there were too many people in the group, so my elder brother and I didn’t see him.”

Linley frowned.

Too many people?

Originally, when he fought with Clayde’s squad at the palace, Linley and Bebe had killed quite a number, leaving only ten or so knights remaining. And given the number of magical beasts on the road here, it would be quite exceptional if all ten of Clayde’s men were still alive. How could this be considered ‘too many people’?

“Many people? How many?” Linley asked.

“Very many. At least seventy or eighty.” The man said haltingly, seemingly uncertain. “Regardless, there were very many. That group suddenly appeared and then entered the manor. We two brothers couldn’t clearly see every single person in the group. Perhaps there really was a man with a missing hand amongst them.”

Linley was confused.

Seventy or eighty people?

Even when he had attempted to kill Clayde in the palace, Clayde’s Wildthunder squad had only thirty or so people. What’s more, after having been reduced in numbers by himself and Bebe, how could so many more people have appeared out of nowhere?

Linley didn’t understand it.

“Boss, there really were a lot of people.” Bebe’s voice also sounded out now, in Linley’s mind. “By the time I noticed Clayde, he was just about to enter the manor. I only had the chance to catch a glimpse of half his face. But behind him there were at least fifty or so people. But as to how many people entered the manor before Clayde, I’m not too sure.”

Linley definitely trusted Bebe, of course.

“That many people?” Linley wondered to himself.

“Alright, you can go now. This is a reward for you and your brother. Keep watching for me.” Linley tossed the half-filled sack of gold, which had fifty coins in it.

Accepting the sack, he took a peek inside through the opening. The insides were filled with gleaming gold. This half-bag had to have near fifty coins in it! His heart began to be filled with excitement. When he had escaped here to Hess City, he hadn’t even been able to feed himself. Now, after only having worked for Linley for a few days, the man tossed him a sack with fifty gold coins? How could he not be wildly excited?

“Thank you, milord. Thank you, milord.” He made up his mind. He and his elder brother would consider keeping a close watch on the people inside the manor. He immediately departed, then ran to the top floor of the nearby restaurant where he and his elder brother kept watch.

Within the courtyard.

All alone, Linley was pondering what he should do next.

A white light shone out from the Coiling Dragon ring, transforming into the white-robed, white-haired, white-bearded Doehring Cowart. Doehring Cowart stroked his beard. Chuckling, he said, “Linley, what’s wrong? Are you in a bad mood?”

Linley lifted his head up to look at Doehring Cowart. Upon seeing his Grandpa Doehring, Linley felt his heart calm down a little. With such an experienced elder by his side, at least Linley wouldn’t grow frantic or feel unsure of himself.

“Grandpa Doehring. I’m wondering where that group of people with Clayde came from.” Linley said.

Doehring Cowart chuckled. “You are wasting your time wondering about this. Why don’t you act instead? Hide in a corner of a wall in their manor and take a look for yourself. By then, you will know exactly who these people with Clayde are.”

Linley began to laugh.

Right. Why was he wasting time?

“Carrying this heavy sword will still impact my speed.” Linley removed his adamantine heavy sword, then entered his bedroom and placed it under his bed, then grabbed his bedsheets.

Standing on Linley’s shoulders, Bebe stared curiously at the adamantine heavy sword. He mentally asked Linley, “Boss, is this heavy sword the treasure which you had created for you using that adamantine ore?”

Linley laughed and nodded.

“How heavy is this heavy sword?” Bebe asked curiously.

“3600 pounds.” Linley replied honestly.

Bebe rubbed his little nose with his paws in surprise, while his beady little eyes spun around in shock as well as he stared at the adamantine heavy sword.

“Enough. You’ll have plenty of time to look at it later.” Linley put down the bedsheets, hiding the heavy sword.

“Ah. Hey boss, I suddenly remember something. That Clayde probably already knows that you are right here.” Bebe looked at the interspatial ring on Linley’s finger and cried out in alarm.

“What? Why?” Linley was extremely shocked. “Boss, you personalized and bound your Bloodviolet Godsword using a drop of blood. I remember you saying that when you were imprisoned within the Radiant Temple, although Bloodviolet was confiscated, you could still sense where it was. Interspatial rings are also personalized through blood. Wouldn’t Clayde then be able to sense the location of his interspatial ring?” Bebe urgently transmitted his thoughts to Linley.

But hearing this, Linley only began to laugh.

“Haha.” Standing next to them, Doehring Cowart began to laugh as well. Only, Bebe wasn’t able to hear Doehring Cowart’s laughter.

Immediately upon leaving the city of Fenlai, Linley had already questioned Doehring Cowart regarding this interspatial ring he had taken.

“Bebe.” Linley laughed as he explained. “This interspatial ring is different from a divine artifact such as Bloodviolet. Technically speaking, an interspatial ring isn’t a divine artifact, just a very valuable magical item. Its basic underpinnings are quite similar to the magicrystal cards, which use fingerprints to personalize and recognize an owner, while interspatial rings use blood to do the same. Only the owner of an interspatial ring can open it and take out its contents. However, when a magical item is taken away, there’s no way for the owner of it to sense the exact location of his item. Do you think divine artifacts are that common? Even my adamantine heavy sword, Bladeless, isn’t at the level of divine artifacts.”

Divine artifacts.

It was impossible for a divine artifact to be forged within this material plane, in the Yulan continent. Things such as the Coiling Dragon ring and the Bloodviolet sword were both very ancient items.

“The Coiling Dragon ring had suddenly emitted a terrifying burst of energy back at the Radiant Temple and saved me. What’s more, when using magic through it, it reduces the amount of mageforce and spiritual energy needed to a sixth of normal. Bloodviolet, in turn, can become flexible or straight as the wielder chooses, and is virtually indestructible.”

Linley had a certain theory.

It was already a fact that the Coiling Dragon ring had secrets hidden within that he hadn’t yet discovered. That terrifying burst of energy at the Radiant Temple was proof.

As for Bloodviolet?

For it to be used as a focusing seal for that mysterious magical formation meant that it definitely had special qualities to it as well. Only, right now Linley was still too weak and couldn’t discover what was so special about it.

“Bloodviolet.” Linley glanced at the sword at his waist which he was wearing like a belt. What was the real ability of this mysterious Bloodviolet flexible sword?

“Bebe, you stay here for now.” Linley instructed.

“Got it.” Bebe obediently remained within the courtyard, while Linley stealthily slipped out of his residence and headed quietly towards Clayde and Shaq’s manor.

Linley pressed himself against one of the walls of the manor which Shaq had purchased.

“Snick.”

Linley’s sharp claws emerged. He easily cut a small opening into the wall, then transformed his hands back to normal as he peered inside through the opening.

That night Linley had stayed at the residence with Shaq, he had memorized the entire layout, including the manmade hill and which rooms were which. Linley had chosen to make his cut in a very particular location; through this cut, he was able to see into both the front courtyard and the back courtyard, without anything obstructing his vision.

“My royal father.”

Linley’s sensitive ears actually managed to pick up the conversation between Shaq and Clayde in the back courtyard. Linley carefully peered in that direction. Indeed, Clayde and Shaq were walking shoulder by shoulder within Linley’s area of vision.

“It’s Clayde.” Linley watched carefully.

But what he saw utterly stunned him. “Clayde’s hand…his hand…”

Right now, both of Clayde’s hands were in perfect condition. But Linley had clearly seen Clayde’s hand fall off after being cut. He had even stolen the interspatial ring from the hand. There definitely was no mistake.

“To regenerate a lost hand would require the services of a light-style Arch Magus of the ninth rank at least.” Linley was astonished.

When Clayde left, he didn’t have a single magus with him. How did he get mixed up with an Arch Magus of the ninth rank?

“Royal father, how did you end up encountering forces belonging to the Radiant Church? Those people are all so formidable.” Shaq said in a somewhat astonished voice.

Clayde nodded. “Of course they are. These people are amongst the most terrifying people the Radiant Church leads. The Ascetics led by Lord Fallen Leaf have many combatants of the ninth rank amongst them. Travelling by their side, we were quite safe the entire time.”

Clayde was speaking in a normal tone. Logically speaking, someone from the opposite side of a distant wall shouldn’t be able to hear him. But Linley, as a Dragonblood Warrior, possessed freakishly enhanced hearing, and heard every word clearly.

“A group of Ascetics? Led by Lord Fallen Leaf?” The look on Linley’s face changed.

Lord Fallen Leaf was a peak-stage Saint-level combatant. And he had with him a group of freakishly strong Ascetics, quite a few of whom had reached the ninth rank.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 7, Heaven and Earth Turned Upside Down – Chapter 19, With Bated Breath

Linley quietly left, returning to his own manor.

On the road back from Clayde’s residence to his own, Linley’s face was a mask of unhappiness. This news he had just received had made Linley think that things would be much more difficult now.

“Linley. What decision have you come to?” Doehring Cowart appeared from within the Coiling Dragon ring.

There was still a degree of distance between Linley’s residence and Clayde’s manor. Doehring Cowart, this five-thousand year old ghost of a peak-stage Saint level combatant, wasn’t afraid that Lord Fallen Leaf would see him here.

“Me?”

Linley balled his fists. “Endure. I can only endure and wait.”

Doehring Cowart nodded with satisfaction. He had watched every step of Linley’s journey and growth. Doehring Cowart felt affection and love for Linley as he might a grandson.

He didn’t wish for Linley to act too rashly.

“Linley. Don’t worry.” Stroking his beard, Doehring Cowart spoke confidently. “That Fallen Leaf probably just let Clayde travel along with him since it didn’t inconvenience him. He definitely won’t stay with Clayde for too long. In the past, when Clayde was still the king of a kingdom, his status was already much lower than that of Fallen Leaf. As for the current Clayde…the Kingdom of Fenlai itself has been destroyed, making him even less important. What’s more, based on my calculations, the new Holy Capital which the Radiant Church will select most likely will not be Hess City. Thus, Fallen Leaf won’t stay here too long.”

Linley nodded.

The previous Holy Capital, ‘Fenlai City’, had been totally annihilated by the army of magical beasts from the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. Only rubble was left. The Radiant Church definitely would not permit such an event to happen again. Naturally, they wouldn’t erect the new Holy Capital in a location like Hess City, which was so near their new borders.

After all, the ‘King’ of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, Dylin, had previously said that the magical beasts under his domain could possibly expand to the point of taking up half of the Holy Union. Right now, they had only taken up a third of the Holy Union’s territory. If they were to truly take over half, then Hess City would fall into that area as well.

Heidens and the other top level members of the Radiant Church simply did not have confidence in their ability to resist this Deity-level Dylin.

Although the Radiant Church still had untapped powers of its own that it hadn’t put on display yet, once they deployed those powers against Dylin, it would be equivalent to them expending all of the resources they had saved up over ten millennia in one battle.

Heidens didn’t dare to act in such a way.

“Just wait.” Linley took a deep breath, forcing himself to remain calm. He already knew where Clayde was. So long as he didn’t make any mistakes, Clayde definitely wouldn’t be able to escape.

Within a restaurant opposite of Shaq’s manor, the same restaurant where Linley’s two servants maintained their vigil over Shaq and Clayde.

That very day.

Wearing a very ordinary sleeveless sweatshirt, Linley’s powerful chest muscles were plainly visible. Those two mighty, muscled arms and that heavy sword on his back gave the impression of an extremely strong man.

A heavy sword warrior!

Linley’s current appearance was a very commonly seen one. Warriors prioritized muscular training the most, and thus many of them had powerful bodies, and quite a few used heavy swords as well.

“Two plates of roast meat and two bottles of Bullfighters.” Linley said in a deep voice.

“Sir, please take a seat first.” Seeing how powerful Linley appeared, the waiter was extremely respectful to him. Linley selected a seat located towards the interior of the restaurant which still offered a clear vantage point to see through the door and the windows towards Clayde’s manor.

The waiter immediately pulled the chair out for Linley to sit on.

“Sir, please wait a moment.” The waiter said with a smile. At this time, another waiter came over with those two bottles of Bullfighters. Bullfighter was a type of extremely strong liquor, particularly favored by powerful warriors.

Casting a sneak glance at the heavy sword on Linley’s back, the attendant was secretly shocked. “Oh my lord. What a long, thick heavy sword, and from the coloration, it must have been made from special materials. It must weigh at least a few hundred pounds. This gentleman must be an extremely strong warrior.”

At this restaurant, when the servers were bored, they would sneak peeks at their various customers. After having done so for a long time, their eyes had become quite sharp and their guesses accurate. Seeing how easily Linley was carrying this heavy sword about, they could immediately tell that Linley was an extremely powerful warrior.

The elder of the two brothers whom Linley had stationed in this restaurant walked over at this time.

“Take this roasted meat back and give it to Bebe.” Linley didn’t give him a chance to speak before issuing orders. “Yes, milord.”

The elder of the two brothers didn’t have anything important to do either. He immediately carried out Linley’s instructions and took the roast meat back.

And then, Linley just quietly sat in the restaurant and drank his liquor.

Linley drank wine very slowly. A single bottle of liquor was enough to last him two or three hours. He just continued to drink while keeping an eye on Clayde’s manor.

That night.

In the higher levels of the restaurant, a travelling bard was belting out songs, and the entire bar was extremely rowdy. Quite a few warriors were shouting and laughing at each other.

Because of the catastrophe, Hess City was more lively than it had ever been.

Many powerful warriors patronized this restaurant, and all of them were very energetic. They actually began to compete in arm wrestling.

“Ten thousand gold coins! The winner gets ten thousand gold coins!” The contest organizer shouted in a high pitched voice.

To many of the powerful warriors who had fled here after the disaster, although ten thousand gold coins wasn’t a small sum of money, it wasn’t a particularly large sum either.

“I’ll join. These ten thousand gold coins are mine.” A 2.2 meter tall brown-haired warrior with a barrel-sized chest sat down. His arms were definitely thicker than most people’s legs.

“Hrmph, I’ll give you a go.”

A red-haired man with a body similar to Linley’s walked over and sat down as well. The two immediately stretched their arms out and clasped hands. Immediately afterwards, the muscles in their arms began to bulge.

Those warriors drinking next to them all began to shout out loudly in encouragement.

“This sort of life isn’t that bad.” Linley knew that waiting for Fallen Leaf to leave would be an extremely boring event. Who knew how long Fallen Leaf would stay? One day? Two days? Ten?

Linley turned to watch with interest as well.

“Neither of these two are weak. They are at least warriors of the sixth rank.” Linley nodded to himself. Right now, experts could be seen everywhere in Hess City.

Their arms locked against each other, these two warriors were exerting ten thousand pounds of force against each other.

“Grrr!” That brown-haired warrior whose arms were thicker than most people’s legs suddenly let out a mighty shout, and all of the veins on his arm began to pop out, criss-crossing his arm like worms beneath the skin. Anyone looking at him would think that his veins were about to explode at any moment.

The red-haired man’s face had turned red as well, as he wasn’t willing to back down in the slightest.

“Creak. Creak.” The table underneath their arms was beginning to shiver as well.

The tables and chairs in this restaurant were all made from steel, and were extremely sturdy. Generally speaking, powerful warriors were able to carefully calibrate and control the amount of power released from their wrists as they engaged in arm-wrestling above the table. For the table to begin quivering due to their strength was a sign that both men were at their limits.

“Haha, let’s go Harold [Ha’luo’de]!”

“Damnit, Harold, try harder!”

“Second Bro, don’t lose in front of me!”

All the warriors who were drinking around them were howling loudly in support. Slowly, that large man with massive arms named Harold gained a slight advantage, causing the red-haired warrior to immediately try desperately to resist.

“Haaaaah!”

With a loud roar, Harold smashed his opponent’s arm against the table, causing a impression to be left upon the steel table.

“Haha, I win!” Harold laughed loudly.

“****. Second Bro, beat it. Let me come. This big dumb idiot wants to win ten thousand gold? Hmph.” A one-eyed red-haired warrior walked over.

The restaurant was very rowdy, and those energetic warriors screamed and shouted, while up above, the travelling bard was also singing loudly so as to get that bit of gold the restaurant had promised him.

Noisy.

But in this rowdy environment, three or four people remained silent. The warriors around them quite conscientiously didn’t disturb those people. All of these warriors had significant outside experience, and they had good judgment. They knew who they could afford to offend, and who they could not.

The next morning, soon after Linley sat down.

“Hrm?”

Linley suddenly saw a familiar face. Lord Fallen Leaf.

As skinny as a beggar, Lord Fallen Leaf casually walked out of Clayde’s manor and departed, with two barefooted Ascetics dressed in sackcloth by his side.

“He left? But only Fallen Leaf and two Ascetics have left.” Linley considered for a moment. He knew that many Ascetics had come on this journey, and many experts were amongst their ranks. Right now, only three had left.

“Continue to wait.” Linley took a sip of liquor. He would keep waiting.

Clayde, Shaq, and the others sent off Lord Fallen Leaf, watching him leave from the gate.

“Royal father, there is something that I forgot to tell you.” Shaq slapped himself on the head. “Royal father, Lord Linley travelled with us for a time, but two days ago he left. He was heading north.”

“Linley.”

Hearing this name, Clayde almost shouted aloud in surprise.

This Linley had nearly taken his life on two separate occasions.

“What’s wrong, royal father?” Shaq questioned. As far as Shaq could tell, this wasn’t a major issue. After all, the Kingdom of Fenlai had already been annihilated. Their royal clan was royal only in name now, and not in truth. It would be surprising if Linley had actually continued to be loyal to them.

“He travelled with you. Did he know that you are living here?” Clayde immediately asked.

“Yes. He even stayed here a night.” Shaq said, confused.

Clayde’s heart began to shudder. “This Linley is definitely still in Hess City.” Clayde knew that Linley wanted to kill him, and wouldn’t leave just like that.

“No worries. There’s still a large group of Ascetics living here.” Clayde comforted himself.

“But when the Ascetics leave, I will leave with them.” Clayde made his decision. Only by travelling together with the Ascetics would he feel safe.

Clayde carefully looked in every direction.

He even had this strange feeling that Linley was looking at him from somewhere nearby.

A day passed. A second day passed. Aside from going back at night to sleep, Linley spent all his time at the restaurant. Once, a foolish person tried to cause Linley some trouble, but Linley booted him from the back of the restaurant to the front of the restaurant with one kick. Thereafter, no one else disturbed Linley.

In the blink of an eye, six days passed.

During these past six days, aside from Fallen Leaf and those two Ascetics, none of the other Ascetics had left.

Within Clayde’s manor.

“Everyone, why are you in such a rush to leave?” Clayde looked at the three representatives of the Ascetics in front of him, trying to persuade them.

An old, golden-haired man said calmly, “Clayde, we must head towards the new Holy Capital now. Sorry for inconveniencing you these past days. We’ll leave now.”

These three Ascetics totally ignored Clayde’s entreaties as they prepared to leave immediately.

“Milords, you are heading to the new Holy Capital? I wish to go as well. How about I travel alongside you?” Clayde said immediately, while at the same time, he instructed his son Shaq, “Shaq, prepare some things. We leave immediately.”

At this point in time, Clayde didn’t feel any sense of security at all.

If only Kaiser was left with him, Clayde didn’t feel confident that Kaiser would be able to protect him against both Linley and that freakish magical beast of his.

“Travel along with us?” The golden-haired old man frowned.

In truth, they were not making a trip towards the new Holy Capital at all. They had a secret mission.

“Impossible. We are under strict orders from the Church.” The golden-haired man said coldly.

The other two looked coldly at Clayde as well. “If you follow us secretly, you should know what the end result will be.” After they spoke, the three turned and left, leaving behind a pole-axed Clayde.

Clayde hadn’t expected that these Ascetics would forbid him from travelling with them.

“Milords!” Clayde chased out from the main hall, but the fifty or so Ascetics had already left the manor via the gate. Not a single one of them turned to look back at him.

Clayde considered what to do. He didn’t dare to follow them. Although the Radiant Church taught that men should be benevolent, when they decided to act against someone, they were definitely without mercy. Right now, Clayde was no longer of particular use to the Radiant Church. Those Ascetics definitely would not fear to kill him.

“Royal father.” Shaq walked over, looking at Clayde.

Clayde frowned. He was quiet for a moment. Then, he gave his orders. “Let’s leave from the back gate. We will leave immediately. Yes, immediately. The danger grows with each passing minute.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 7, Heaven and Earth Turned Upside Down – Chapter 20, The Full Story

Within the restaurant.

Seeing a large group of Ascetics leave Clayde’s manor, Linley was wildly exultant. At a glance, Linley could tell that over fifty people were in that group of Ascetics. For such a large group of them to leave most likely meant that all of them had left.

“It’s been six or seven days. By now, it’s almost certain that Shaq has told Clayde about our meeting. Most likely, Clayde has already been able to guess that I’m nearby.”

Linley casually tossed down a few gold coins. Suddenly, gusts of air began to wrap around him, and moving like the breeze, Linley agilely flew out of the restaurant.

Despite bearing the heavy sword on his back, with the assistance of wind-style magic, he still moved with great ease. But of course, this was due to Linley having become a magus of the seventh rank. If a magus of the third rank had been the one to cast the spell, the effect wouldn’t have been nearly as good. “Bebe, watch the back door.” Linley mentally instructed Bebe.

“Boss, got it.”

As Linley rushed towards one of the exterior walls of Clayde’s manor, he began to mumble the words to another spell – Windscout.

“Whoosh!”

With Linley at the center, a gust of air suddenly spread out in all directions. Closing his eyes, Linley could clearly sense everything the Windscout had detected.

“Hrm? Gathering near the back gate?”

The Windscout spell could only detect bodies and objects. It couldn’t actually make out faces clearly. However, through the usage of the Windscout, Linley had already been able to discover that the people inside the manor were all hurriedly moving towards the back courtyard. Clearly, they were all getting ready to flee.

“Hmph. As predicted.” With a quiet movement, Linley flowed into Clayde’s manor, moving into the front courtyard with movements as light as the wind. Quietly but quickly, Linley made his way on the inside paths towards the back courtyard.

“Hurry, hurry!” Clayde berated angrily.

“Let’s go from the back gate. We are heading out immediately. We are leaving Hess City.” Clayde said directly.

The royal consort was confused. “Your Majesty, aren’t we all living here just fine? Why-”

“Whap!”

Clayde slapped her across the face.

“Enough crap.” Clayde snarled.

“Hurry up. Forget about the horses. You two, you are responsible for the Princess and the Royal Consort.” Clayde ordered two of his knights, and then had a third one open the back gate.

Linley, hiding behind a manmade hill, watched this all while laughing coldly.

“As I thought. Not a single Ascetic is left.” With a leap, Linley retreated at high speed, moving to a place where Clayde and Kaiser wouldn’t be able to see him, then he leapt past the wall. And then, Linley turned and moved at high speed to the back gate. But just as Linley had rounded the corner, he came to a sudden halt.

Bebe was right next to the back gate.

“Creaaaaak.” The back gate began to open.

Bebe immediately scurried over at high speed to a patch of wild grass nearby. Given that Bebe was only fist-sized, the wild grass was totally capable of covering and hiding Bebe’s entire body.

“Bebe. When Clayde comes out, tell me right away.” Linley hid behind the corner, and his entire body began to be covered with black scales. “Snick.” His forehead, back, elbows, and kneecaps all began to sprout sharp spikes.

And that long, iron-whip-like draconic tail sprouted out as well.

Linley’s black eyes suddenly transformed into a dark gold color, the same color as the eyes of the Armored Razorback Wyrm.

Total Dragonform! “Wind-style supporting magic – Supersonic.” At the same time, Linley reinforced himself with a wind spell. After having completely Dragonformed, Linley felt that his body was full of limitless power.

Right now, that 3600 pound adamantine heavy sword didn’t have any impact on Linley at all.

To a mighty warrior who could easily lift up something weighing hundreds of thousands of pounds, what was a mere 3600? Comparatively speaking, it was like asking an ordinary man who could lift 100 pounds to carry a one pound item on him. Would it impact him?

Clayde continued to urge his men, and one Wildthunder knight after another began to step out of the back gate.

Clayde himself walked through the gate, with Shaq by his side. And then the princess and the royal consort, under the protection of the Wildthunder knights, headed out as well. As for Kaiser, he was at the very end, serving as their guard and escort.

“Boss, Clayde came out.”

Just after Clayde stepped out of the manor, Bebe’s voice rang out in Linley’s mind. The eyes of Linley, who had been hiding behind the corner this entire time, suddenly began to shine.

“Whoosh!”

A mighty leap forward, combined with the wind around him propelling him forward at high speed.

“Swish!”

In the blink of an eye, a black, human-sized blur slashed through a distance of seventy meters, charging directly at the back gate to Clayde’s manor. Somewhat caught off guard, Clayde turned to look, and when he did, he saw that this human-shaped blur was already next to him. That familiar figure made Clayde’s heart quail. Before he even had a chance to call out or to react, a powerful force suddenly bound him.

“Don’t move. Otherwise. You die.” Linley’s voice was transmitted directly to Clayde’s ear.

“Ah!” The royal consort had just stepped out of the gate. Upon seeing Linley, she was so frightened that she immediately screamed. But then, with a ‘snick’ sound, the consort’s head went flying off.

Linley retracted his claws.

The severed head of the consort oozed blood everywhere, while her body collapsed to the floor.

“Mon…monster!” The princess, terrified, retreated backwards.

“Release his Majesty!” The Wildthunder knights who had left along with Shaq immediately charged over, but as they did, a black blur flashed towards them. The little Shadowmouse, Bebe, who had suddenly transformed to half a meter in length, landed on the ground. As he did, those two warriors who had wanted to charge over collapsed, as half of their necks had been severed.

“None of you resist. Resistance is futile.” Linley’s cold voice rang out.

At this time, Kaiser charged over as well.

“Lord Kaiser, what…what is that monster?” The princess was terrified. But Shaq, whom Clayde had explained everything to, knew that this monster was actually Linley.

The aberration in front of them was covered from head to toe in black scales, and there were spikes sprouting from his forehead, knees, elbows, and back. Its scale covered feet and claws were all extremely sharp.

And what’s more, it had an iron-whip-like draconic tail.

Right now, that draconic tail was wrapping tightly around Clayde, preventing him from moving at all. With each small swaying motion of Linley’s draconic tail, Clayde’s body swayed as well.

This scene stunned everyone present.

“Kaiser. This time, you don’t have any chance.” Linley’s cold voice rang out.

A pained look was on Kaiser’s face. He knew that even if he fought one on one against Linley, victory was no sure thing. What’s more, Linley had that freakish magical beast companion who was on the same level of power as him.

Kaiser wasn’t confident in his ability to deal with either Linley or the magical beast, Bebe.

And now that Clayde had been caught by Linley, he, Kaiser, did indeed have no chance at all.

“Lin…Linley! Release my royal father!” Shaq shouted angrily.

Linley glanced at Shaq with his cold, dark golden eyes. Shaq shivered, no longer daring to speak. Right now, Linley’s appearance had stupefied everyone present. Those Wildthunder knights who had followed Clayde had also battled against and been slaughtered by Linley and Bebe in the past. They knew exactly how powerful Linley and his freakish magical beast companion Bebe were.

“Linley.” Just as Clayde was going to beg for mercy…

“Crunch!” “Crack!”

Linley actually tore off Clayde’s ring finger and index finger, then casually tossed them in the direction of the princess and Kaiser’s group.

“Ah…ah!” Clayde couldn’t refrain from howling from the agony of having his fingers ripped off.

“Clayde, I’ll tell you right now that you are definitely going to die.” Linley said casually.

Clayde turned his fierce, tiger-like glare towards Linley.

But what welcomed his gaze was Linley’s cold, emotionless pair of dark gold eyes.

“Right now, you have two choices. The first is to be tortured to death. The second is to tell me who you gave my mother to, and who killed her. And then, I’ll let you die an easy death.” Linley said calmly.

Linley knew very well that the best way to deal with someone like Clayde was to lay it out clearly for him.

Otherwise, Clayde would think that there was still some hope of living. He would grit his teeth and refuse to answer, for the sake of that hope.

“No! If you are willing to spare me, AH!!” Linley once again remorselessly ripped out another one of Clayde’s fingers. Calmly, Linley said, “You are definitely going to die. The only question is, will you tell the truth early and spare yourself some pain and suffering?”

“Your Majesty!”

Kaiser was about to immediately rush over.

“Kaiser, do you want everyone present to die?” Linley’s dark gold eyes stared at Kaiser. Kaiser instantly halted. He understood that Linley and Bebe definitely had the power to kill everyone present.

Even he, Kaiser, would only have the ability to flee. Facing a combined attack from both Linley and Bebe, he didn’t have any chance of victory at all. “Ah…” Kaiser really didn’t know what to do.

Linley looked back at Clayde.

Clayde’s face was totally pale. Large beads of sweat the size of soybeans had gathered on his forehead. Right now, the amount of force Linley was exerting on him with his tail was very high.

“Continue thinking. The longer you think, the more pain you will be in.” Linley’s scale-covered claw reached out and grabbed Clayde’s ear.

Guessing what Linley was about to do, Clayde howled, “No!”

“Riiip.”

Clayde’s left ear was ripped off by Linley, and he howled in agony while cursing wildly, “Linley, you bastard, you are a goddamn devil!”

“Keep on wasting time.” Linley’s claws slowly reached towards Clayde’s face.

“This time, it’ll be your eyes. Tell me, would you prefer your left eye, or your right eye?” Linley’s face was still expressionless. When Clayde looked at Linley, hoping to gather anything from Linley’s eyes or facial expressions, all he could see was that unmoving, scale-covered face, and those cold, merciless dark gold eyes.

“If you don’t decide, I’ll decide for you. Just then, it was your left ear. Now, it will be your right eye.” Linley reached out with his claws.

“No! I’ll talk. I’ll talk.” Clayde howled with all his might.

Linley retracted his claws. “Then speak.”

“I’ll talk. I’ll talk.” Tears actually appeared in Clayde’s eyes. He really had mentally collapsed. Linley had no intention of sparing him whatsoever. No matter what he did, he was going to die. If he talked, at least he would die an easy death. If he didn’t, he would be tortured to death.

None of the Wildthunder knights standing off in the distance dared to say a word. Linley and Bebe, man and magical beast, were really too terrifying, too formidable.

Clayde was roaring furiously in his heart, “Radiant Church, this time you didn’t give a damn about me and left me behind. Don’t blame me for giving you an enemy which will be terrifying to deal with in the future!”

“Linley, I’ll tell you. Each year, the Radiant Church will offer extremely pure souls to the Radiant Sovereign. The Radiant Sovereign needs only two things: The faith of worshippers, and pure souls.” Clayde said directly.

Linley’s stared at Clayde with his emotionless eyes. “What does this have to do with my mother?”

Clayde continued, “The purer the soul offered to the Radiant Sovereign, the greater the gifts the Radiant Sovereign will bestow upon the Church. That year…my younger brother Patterson and I had just stepped out of the Radiant Temple. When I saw your mother, I was instantly stunned. Her eyes looked so pure, so innocent. From that first glance I had of your mother, my mind was made up. I had the feeling that your mother’s soul must be extremely pure.” After having heard this, Linley could guess the rest.

“I could tell that your father was only an ordinary person, and thus I ordered Patterson to go and directly abduct your mother. The next day, I delivered your mother to the Radiant Church.”

Clayde took a deep breath. “Indeed, your mother’s soul was incomparably pure. When the Radiant Church killed your mother, offering her soul as a sacrifice to the Radiant Sovereign, the Radiant Sovereign blessed them with greater gifts than they had ever received.”

“And this was the reason why the Radiant Temple decided to reward me with a divine blessing like none they had ever given before. The blessing raised me directly from a warrior of the seventh rank to the ninth rank. Although it would make my future advancement impossible, I was still satisfied. In addition, the Radiant Temple gifted me with a Saint-level Fateguard.”

Clayde looked at Linley. “Your mother’s soul really was very remarkable. The Radiant Temple actually gave me so many things for her. From this, you can imagine how heavily the Radiant Sovereign had rewarded them when they had sacrificed your mother’s soul to him.”

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 7, Heaven and Earth Turned Upside Down – Chapter 21, Fate

Hearing Clayde’s words, Linley fell silent.

“Haha, Linley, now you should know who your true enemy is, right? But are you capable of dealing with the Radiant Temple?” Clayde laughed wildly, on the edge of hysteria. Clayde knew that he was going to die, and at the moment of his death, he had decided to bring as much chaos to the world as he could.

“Do you speak the truth?” Linley’s voice was hoarse.

Actually, Linley already believed what Clayde had just told him, precisely because this was the only possible explanation as to why the Radiant Church would have given Clayde a Saint-level Fateguard.

“You yourself know whether I speak truly or not.” Clayde laughed wildly.

Linley fell silent.

“Linley, you should’ve considered the fact that you are a genius magus and a Dragonblood Warrior. In the eyes of the Radiant Church, you have much more potential than me, a warrior who was only raised to the ninth rank due to secret magical methods. In the future, you will most likely be both a Saint-level Supreme Warrior and a Saint-level Grand Magus. If it wasn’t for this secret I just divulged, even if you had killed me, the Radiant Church probably wouldn’t bear to execute you.” Clayde laughed loudly.

Linley understood this reasoning.

“Clayde should be telling the truth.” Doehring Cowart’s voice sounded out in Linley’s mind. Given Doehring Cowart’s experience, his ability to judge whether someone was telling the truth or not was much better than Linley’s.

Linley had deep faith in Doehring Cowart.

…..

At this time, on Keyan Road within the city of Hess, there were six ruthless looking men dressed in violet robes. These six violet-robed men all naturally emitted the aura of cold, arrogant experts, causing everyone else around them to avoid them.

These six people were heading directly for Clayde’s manor.

Right now, they had no idea as to what had happened at Clayde’s manor.

“Waiters [Wei’te’si], are the Ascetics located here?” One of the violet-robed men said in a low voice.

The leader of the violet-robed men nodded. “Right. From what I understand, the Ascetics are all staying in this Clayde’s manor. This assignment of ours is extremely important. It’s best that we head out together alongside the Ascetics.”

These six people were the six Special Executors of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal.

They had just arrived at Hess City, and this was the only address they had on hand. They didn’t know that a few minutes ago, the Ascetics had all left. They had just barely missed them.

“Hrm? Why is there no one here?”

Upon entering Clayde’s empty manor, they couldn’t help but look around in confusion. The other five Special Executors looked at Waiters. Waiters was the leader of the squad for this assignment.

“Let’s go inside and take a look.” Waiters said calmly. The six headed directly into the manor, but the inside of the manor was totally devoid of people as well.

“Linley, release my royal father. My royal father has already told you everything.” A voice rang out from beyond the back gate. Instantly, the six Special Executors turned to look at the back courtyard.

The six men’s faces turned solemn.

“Linley?”

The six men exchanged glances.

“Linley? His name is on the Red List. Kill on sight.” The six Special Executors immediately hurried towards the back gate.

The Ecclesiastical Tribunal had two special lists. One was known as the Red List. The other was the Black List.

The people on the Red List were to be killed on sight, but there was no need to expend too much effort on those targets. Those on the Black List were to be killed no matter the cost.

Actually, given Linley’s future potential, the threat he could pose towards the Radiant Church in the future should’ve been enough for him to be placed on the Black List. However, while the high levels of the Radiant Church were fleeing, they believed that since Linley was not a member of the Church, the chances of him being able to discover that his mother had been killed by the Radiant Church was very low. Thus, they only placed Linley on the Red List.

The Special Executors of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal all possessed astonishing power. These six Special Executors were all warriors of the ninth rank. They stealthily began to surround Linley.

…..

In the little alleyway behind the back gate of Clayde’s manor.

Linley’s iron-whip-like draconic tail was still wrapped tightly around Clayde.

“Release your royal father?” Linley stared at Shaq. Letting out a cold laugh, he said, “I can release your father, but what of my mother and father? Although it was the Radiant Church which killed my mother, at least half of the responsibility lies with your father. And over half the responsibility for my father’s death lies on your father as well.”

As Linley spoke, he began to exert more pressure with his tail.

“Crack, crack.” All sorts of strange noises were emitting from Clayde’s body. Clayde was in such agony from the constricting draconic tail that he began to try and struggle again.

“Ah! Ah! Linley, kill me cleanly in one stroke!” Clayde moaned in agony.

“Crunch.”

Clayde’s two arms snapped off. Right now, Clayde had been constricted so tightly by Linley that his formerly broad waist was now more slender than a woman’s.

“Die.”

Linley looked at Clayde, then exert a bit more force with his tail.

“Smush!” Clayde spat out a large amount of blood from his mouth, and his entire face turned red. While spitting the blood out, he was coughing nonstop, and some bits and pieces of his internal organs were coughed out as well.

Right now…

Clayde had been ripped into two parts at the waist. Even his spine had been snapped apart. The only thing keeping his upper body and lower body connected was a bloody layer of skin.

Clayde let out a few more moans. “Ah…ah…” His entire face was red. A few seconds later, his breathing stopped, and his soul left this earth.

But right now, Linley didn’t feel any happiness or sense of accomplishment.

The only thing he felt was a deep grief, a deep sadness.

“Father. Mother. Can you see me?” Linley said to himself.

Shaq, Kaiser, the princess, and the Wildthunder knights all stared at Linley. Many of them had hearts full of fear. After seeing how Clayde had died, they didn’t dare to try and avenge him. They could only hope that Linley would leave now.

Linley’s dark gold eyes glanced at everyone present.

“Cough.” Shaq cleared his throat, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead. His father had died, but he didn’t want to die as well.

Linley’s draconic tail swayed slightly, then he turned and began to walk away.

“Bebe. Let’s go.” He called to Bebe.

Just as Bebe, who was off to the side this entire time, was about to scurry away with him, Bebe suddenly paused, all the hair on his body sticking up. Right afterwards, Linley as well sensed sudden danger, which seemed to come from all directions.

“Whoosh.”

Several gusts of wind could be heard as six violet-robed figures appeared, surrounding Linley from six different points. Linley and Bebe were both trapped within their encirclement. Four of these six were standing on nearby rooftops, while the other two were at each end of the alley Linley was in. There was no place Linley could flee to at all.

“Special Executors from the Ecclesiastical Tribunal.” Linley immediately understood who these people were upon seeing their uniform.

Seeing this formation, Shaq and the Wildthunder knights all turned pale. These six Special Executors hadn’t just encircled Linley and Bebe. They had also encircled Shaq and his men as well.

“Milords, I am the Second Prince of the royal clan of Fenlai. Please allow me to leave first.” Shaq immediately begged.

Kaiser recognized the Special Executors from their outfit. He also immediately said, “Milord Special Executors, I am Kaiser, and I am also a servant of the Radiant Church. May I leave first?” Kaiser knew very well about some of the special methods available to the Special Executors of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal. Given the current situation, he, Kaiser, wouldn’t be of any use to them, and would actually serve to disrupt their actions.”

“Kaiser, you can leave.”

One of the violet-robed men standing at one of the ends of the alley said in a cold voice.

“Yes.” Kaiser immediately began running towards one of the ends of the alleyway. The six violet robed men didn’t block him at all, allowing him to flee past them. Kaiser was an expert of the Kingdom of Fenlai, true, but he was also a holy knight of the Radiant Church.

“Milords, what about me?” Shaq immediately said.

“Milord Special Executors.” That princess immediately begged towards the Special Executors as well.

But the six Special Executors didn’t even glance at them. The six Special Executors were clear-headed. When Kaiser left, he was but one person, and a warrior of the ninth rank at that. Linley definitely wouldn’t be able to find a chance to slip past. But if they allowed Shaq and the others to leave as well, given Linley’s current prowess, he definitely might be able to find a way to slip past at a critical moment.

Linley stared coldly at the six of them.

“You want to kill me?” Linley said calmly. He felt total confidence in himself. Even when surrounded by the attacks of that group of giant dragons, he was still able to flee and survive.

To these six Special Executors, killing him and Bebe wouldn’t be an easy affair. The protective scales on Linley’s body were no joking matter.

“Those on the Red List are to be killed on sight.” The leader of the Special Executors laughed coldly.

The six Special Executors stared fixedly at him and Bebe, ignoring everything else entirely. As high level members of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal, they naturally knew that Linley was a Dragonblood Warrior. Dragonblood Warriors were one of the Supreme Warriors. They didn’t dare to look down upon him.

“Oh? Kill on sight?” Linley’s draconic tail began to swing.

“Swish!” Like a steel sabre, Linley’s draconic tail casually slashed across the ground, cutting a deep gouge into it. Linley’s dark gold eyes were fixed on this group of people as well.

“Milord Special Executors.” Shaq and his men were really terrified now.

“Let’s go!” One of the Wildthunder knights let out a deep roar, and immediately, a group of knights charged en masse towards one of the alleyway exits. The remaining Wildthunder knights numbered amongst them more than ten knights of the eighth rank. For them to charge en masse like this, even a combatant of the ninth rank would find it difficult to stop them.

Linley’s eyes lit up.

Linley immediately charged towards the wall on his left. Ignoring the wall’s existence, Linley slammed into it as though he were a large magical beast.

“BAM!” Linley knocked the section of wall over while fleeing at high speed to the north.

“Whoosh.”

The bodies of those six Special Executors suddenly began to emit a hot, burning white light. The light from these six Special Executors was totally interconnected, forming a strange, glowing hexagram.

Linley just happened to ram against one of the edges of the hexagram.

“Bam!”

Linley felt as though he had just been slapped by a Violet Tattooed Bear. His entire body quivered as he was sent flying backwards. He remained surrounded by the six Special Executors.

“Ah!!!”

The bodies of those Wildthunder knights who struck against the glowing white hexagram all exploded, drenching the area with blood. Every single one of the Wildthunder knights who had touched the glowing white hexagram died.

“What is this?” Linley was shocked.

“Linley, quick, do your best to escape! This should be one of the combination attack methods of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal.” Doehring Cowart immediately recognized the danger that Linley and Bebe were now in. If they continued to be trapped in such a manner, it was very likely that Linley and Bebe would not be able to escape at all.

Those six Special Executors charged forwards towards Linley and Bebe in a very practiced manner. And as they did, the area of movement within the hexagram began to shrink at an extremely fast rate.

“Ah!” “Ah!” “Ah!” “Ah!”

Shaq and the remaining knights who had not touched the glowing white hexagram were unable to dodge with the six Special Executors drawing closer and closer. One after another was forced to come into contact with the glowing white hexagram, and when they did, their bodies began to vibrate before exploding.

In the blink of an eye, no one in Shaq’s party was left alive.

But Linley and Bebe were trapped in an increasingly small, tight space.

“Boss, that white thing seems really powerful. What should we do?” Bebe was frantic.

Linley had both felt and could sense the power of this glowing white hexagram. When it had struck his body, he still felt extreme pain despite his defensive powers, and all the blood in his body had been agitated.

“Bebe, you go down through the earth, I’ll go up from the skies. Flee!” Linley mentally directed Bebe.

This black-scaled aberration, Linley, and his freak of a Shadowmouse companion, Bebe, acted at almost the same time. One flew up into the sky like an arrow leaving the bow, while the other burrowed deep into the ground.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 7, Heaven and Earth Turned Upside Down – Chapter 22, Passing Away

“Haaah!” The six Special Executors simultaneously stomped the ground viciously, and suddenly the light around them penetrated the earth. Bebe, who had just burrowed into the earth, struck against the white light and was immediately knocked back.

“Whoosh!”

At the same time, the six Special Executors retreated at high speed, suddenly expanding the area within the glowing white hexagram. With each leap, Linley was usually only able to travel a few dozen meters to a hundred meters at most. In the end, he still had to fall to the ground after all.

As for the Soaring Technique….

Under the current conditions, he simply didn’t have enough time to utter the incantations necessary to cast the Soaring Technique.

“Haaaaah!” Bebe didn’t dare to touch the glowing white hexagram the six Special Executors had created again. Bebe jumped up in the air as well. At this time, five of the Special Executors suddenly rose into the air as well. Of those five, four rose to the same height in the air as Linley, while the last one rose above Linley.

“Whoa!” One person was above him, four were around him, and one was underneath him.

Glowing with white light, the six Special Executors had formed a totally air-tight octahedron, keeping Linley and Bebe totally sealed in within.

“What the hell is this?” Linley was rather stunned.

Doehring Cowart’s voice sounded out in Linley’s mind. “This special combination attack of these Special Executors of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal consumes an enormous amount of light-style battle-qi. But perhaps they have some secret treasures of the Radiant Temple on them. Five thousand years ago, the Radiant Temple didn’t possess such mysterious, agile combination attacks.

Even if they practiced the same type of battle-qi, every person’s battle-qi would have fine, minute differences. To be able to totally combine battle-qi like these six Special Executors were doing, to the point of even being able to transform their battle-qi to dramatically increase its power was virtually impossible. But the Radiant Temple had succeeded.

“Whoosh.”

Above, below, front and back, left and right. These six Special Executors flew towards Linley simultaneously at high speed. All six of them were wielding very thin, slender longswords.

No place to dodge!

“Boss.” Bebe was frantic. Linley mentally roared, “Bebe, let’s go all out against the one below us. If we can kill one of them, this formation will be broken.”

“Got it.”

Linley and Bebe, man and magical beast, began to fall at high speeds, launching simultaneous attacks against the combatant of the ninth rank beneath them. But the combatant of the ninth rank didn’t seem to be afraid at all. On the contrary, his lips quirked up slightly, a hint of disdain and mockery on his face.

“Thruuuum.”

The white light flowed at high speeds. The light dimmed from the other five Special Executors, while the light from the one below began to blaze like the sun. Launching off from the ground, this Special Executor chopped towards Linley and Bebe with his sword.

“Ah!” Ignoring everything else, Linley struck out with his draconic tail, risking everything to try and constrict the Special Executor.

“Slash!” The sword chopped against Linley’s chest. Linley only felt an incomparable degree of pain, and his protective scales instantly began to crack. It felt as though an iron rod that had been heated until it was glowing white had been pressed against his skin, causing such pain that Linley’s entire body began to twitch, but he continued to constrict the Special Executor with his draconic tail. Fresh blood began to flow from Linley’s wound.

The scales of the Armored Razorback Wyrm weren’t able to block this sword.

“That sword blow’s power was only a bit weaker than the power of a Saint-level expert.” Doehring Cowart was astonished as well. After entering their combination attack formation, the attacks of the Special Executors could reach an incredible level of power.

The Radiant Temple was confident that unless the opponent was a Saint-level combatant, this formation attack would always be victorious!

“Ah!” The draconic tail gripping the Special Executor suddenly came under assault by that powerful light-style battle-qi. Linley felt enormous pain coming from his tail, but Linley continued to go all out, risking everything to constrict this opponent. Those dark golden eyes stared fixedly at the Special Executor.

“Hmph.” The Special Executor let out a cold laugh.

“Bam.”

White light exploded forth from the Special Executor, and Linley’s draconic tail uncontrollably slackened. Linley’s constrictive power simply wasn’t able to overcome the opponent’s counterattack.

At this time, the other five Special Executors came charging at Linley as well.

“Boss!” Bebe kicked off from Linley’s shoulders, charging directly towards those five Special Executors. But on his very first attack, Bebe was struck simultaneously by all five swords, and his body was knocked back downwards.

“Bebe!” Linley said worriedly.

“Boss, I’m fine.” Bebe flipped to his feet, but a hint of blood could be seen on his firm, tough fur. However, Bebe’s defense really was remarkably powerful. He barely suffered any damage to his skin and fur.

These six Special Executors stared at Bebe in astonishment.

Too monstrous. Even that hadn’t been able to pierce the skin of this Shadowmouse? As far as the Special Executors were concerned, even magical beasts of the ninth rank should have their defensive armor and skin be pierced by that blow.

Even someone with defense as monstrously powerful as Linley saw the scales over his chest crack and split from a single blow.

“The target is Linley!” The six of them knew that killing this monster of a Shadowmouse would probably force them to use quite some effort, but killing Linley would be much easier.

A single sword had been able to penetrate his defenses. Thus, a few sword strikes should be enough to kill him.

“What on earth is going on?! Their light-style battle-qi seems to be limitless!” Linley mentally roared with fury, as he swept his claws to attack the Special Executors who were charging towards him.

“Shkreeeee!” Bebe’s piercing screech rang out as well.

Light wrapped around their bodies, the six Special Executors did a pincer attack against Linley and Bebe, while Linley and Bebe used all their force to try and counterattack.

“BAM!!!”

A wild series of attacks. Both sides totally ignored their defense, only focusing on attacking.

The six Special Executors retreated at high speed.

More than half of Linley’s black scales were shattered now, revealing multiple wounds beneath. Fresh blood oozed out past the scales, and even the scales on Linley’s tail were shattered.

Linley wasn’t able to suppress the fresh blood which had risen to his throat, and he vomited it out.

“Their defense…” Linley was truly angry and frantic now.

He had finally met people whose defensive powers were even greater than his own. These six Special Executors were using light-style battle-qi in an extravagantly wasteful manner. Their combination formation attacks gave them both terrifying offense as well as astonishing defense. Linley’s attack hadn’t managed to wound them at all.

“Boss, are you okay?” Bebe said in shock and fright. Those beady eyes of him stared at Linley with concern.

Bebe was in much better shape than Linley. The primary target of those six Special Executors had been Linley. In addition, Bebe’s defense was even more monstrous than Linley’s. Once again, only a hint of blood could be seen on Bebe’s fur.

“Fi, fine.” Linley wiped the blood from his mouth.

“That was the first attack.”

One of the violet-robed Special Executors standing on a distant rooftop said calmly, “Your defense isn’t bad. Let’s see how many of our formation attacks you can take.”

“Waiters, let’s not waste time.” One of the other Special Executors also standing on a rooftop said coldly.

“Move.” The Special Executor shouted in a loud voice.

Many of the buildings nearby had toppled, and the battle aroused the interest of a large number of powerful combatants, who were watching from afar. But seeing such a large scale, intense battle, they didn’t dare draw too near.

The aura of that powerful light-style battle-qi alone filled them with dread.

“Swish!” The six Special Executors moved at the same time, transforming into six streaks of white light that flew towards Linley. Surrounded on all sides by the walls of light, Linley had nowhere to run.

Linley ground his teeth.

“Raaaaaargh!” Linley let out an angry howl, then pulled out the adamantine heavy sword from his back, wildly chopping it towards the six Special Executors.

“BOOM.” Linley’s adamantine heavy sword collided viciously against a Special Executor, who didn’t even attempt to dodge. That Special Executor suddenly felt a terrifying force passing towards him.

“Hrm?” The violet-robed Special Executor was knocked flying backwards by the blow, but under the protection of that light-style battle-qi, he still didn’t suffer any major injuries.

Only a heavy sword such as this could allow the astonishing power of a Dragonblood Warrior to be put on full display.

“Slash!”

The other five swords continued to chop at Linley’s body. Linley used his claws, his tail, and the spikes on his body to wildly attack, and the five Special Executors once more flew backwards.

Linley fell to one knee.

The majority of the scales on Linley’s body were shattered now, and that wound on his chest had suffered yet another slash. The wound was so deep that Linley’s bones could be seen, and it was rapidly oozing blood.

However, the Dragonblood Warrior’s powerful bloodline gave Linley an extremely fast recovery.

Linley’s muscles were constantly rippling and stretching out, try to once more mend themselves and stitch themselves back together. This wound, however, was simply too severe. Even Linley’s bloodline only resulted in the wound growing stronger. The loss of a large amount of blood, however, was causing Linley to grow dizzy.

“The next one will be the one that kills you.”

One of the six Special Executors said arrogantly. Filled with fear, Bebe crouched next to Linley. Both Linley and Bebe felt a sense of despair.

“Hmph.” Linley angrily shook his head, forcing himself to try and focus a little.

But he had lost too much blood, and even Linley’s vision had grown slightly blurred. But right at this moment, a magical, illusory ray of light shone forth from the Coiling Dragon ring, transforming into an old man with white robes, a white beard, and white hair.

“Grandpa Doehring.” Linley was startled. He didn’t understand why Doehring Cowart had appeared all of a sudden.

Doehring Cowart looked exactly the way he did when Linley had first encountered him. A little smile on his face, Doehring Cowart gently rubbed Linley on the head.

“Linley, in the future, you’ll have to rely on yourself.” Doehring Cowart said, a fond smile on his face.

“Grandpa Doehring, what are you…” Linley was stunned.

Doehring Cowart’s spirit suddenly rose into the air. Hovering a meter above the ground, he spread his hands wide. A terrifyingly powerful burst of spiritual energy suddenly erupted forth from Doehring Cowart.

Right now, Doehring Cowart felt extremely calm and at peace.

“In the past, when I lived in the Pouant Empire, my life was a life of training and slaughter. In the Pouant Empire, I was extremely arrogant and a difficult person to get close to. I had no children and no grandchildren. But after having spent five thousand years in the Coiling Dragon ring, my temperament has changed. And then, I met you, Linley.”

Hovering in the air, Doehring Cowart was still gazing at Linley.

“Grandpa Doehring, what are you going to do?” Linley had an terrible premonition…

“I’ve watched you grow up and become mature, one step at a time. In my heart, I felt very proud of your successes. I’ve even come to consider you as my own grandson.” The amount of spiritual energy Doehring Cowart was emitting grew even greater.

The amount of spiritual energy was so high that aside from powerful combatants such as Linley and the six Special Executors, even those warriors watching the battle from far away could sense it. All of the six Special Executors were shocked and alarmed.

“Linley, don’t be sad. In truth, trapped as I am within this Coiling Dragon ring, I don’t have much of a future. Let this, then, be one final demonstration of my power.” Doehring Cowart’s smile became all the more brilliant.

But Linley was now shaking with terror.

“What is going on?!” The six Special Executors were beginning to be genuinely frightened. That vortex of spiritual energy was simply too powerful, so powerful that they too were beginning to quake with fear.

The power unleashed when a peak-stage Saint-level combatant was igniting the spiritual energy present in his very soul was incomparably more powerful than the power which even a peak-stage Saint-level combatant normally possessed.

“WHOOSH!” All of the earth elemental essence around the entire city of Hess suddenly flowed towards Doehring Cowart at high speed. Bound by Doehring Cowart’s terrifyingly powerful spiritual energy, all of the earth elemental essence began to coalesce.

No mageforce. This was a spell that relied solely on spiritual energy to control the earth elemental essence!

Under normal conditions, this would render the attack power of the earth spell to be very weak. But the spell which Doehring Cowart was now casting was so powerful that one could only shiver in terror.

“HEAVENLY METEOR’S DESCENT!”

Doehring Cowart’s spirit had begun to grow blurry, but his voice remained as cold and calm as that of a celestial spirit. Six enormous earth-colored meteors fell forth from the sky, smashing towards those six Special Executors.

“SWOOSH!” Those six gigantic meteors formed purely from earth elemental essence, each the size of a house, smashed towards the six men at such a high speed that it seemed as though they were tearing through space itself.

Those six Special Executors fled in terror, but those six meteors only chased after them.

“Linley.” Doehring Cowart looked at Linley. “Goodbye.”

Linley looked up at Grandpa Doehring, with his white beard, white hair, and white robe.

“Remember this. Live well.” Doehring Cowart’s face suddenly blossomed into his trademark smile…and then his now translucent spirit disappeared, like smoke being blown away by the wind.

Linley opened his mouth, but felt as though no words could come from his throat. His tears began to uncontrollably roll down his face.

“Ah…Ah!!!” As though he were mute and incapable of speech, Linley howled to the heavens, and his tears came pouring down.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 7, Heaven and Earth Turned Upside Down – Chapter 23, Crazed

“BAM!” “BAM!” “BAM!” “BAM!”

…..

The six giant meteors smashed down viciously towards those six Special Executors. The six Special Executors all used their hands to rip the ground apart beneath them and try to tunnel downwards.

Those six giant meteors struck the ground, causing the earth to shake furiously with colossal booms, as though giant waves of thunder were suddenly emanating from the ground.

“BOOOOM!”

Six massive, deep gouges appeared in the earth, each of them around ten meters wide. The tremendous shockwaves spread out in all directions, and the earth itself began to buckle and roil about, toppling houses and snapping trees in every which way.

Within a circular area with a circumference of several hundred meters, everything was turned to dust.

This terrifying explosive boom caused the entirety of Hess City to take notice. Whether it was the Ascetics who had just stepped out of the gates of Hess City, or the men of the Dawson Conglomerate, or other powerful experts, everyone felt the vibrations coming from this place.

…..

The roiling waves of force reached Linley as well, but Linley only stood there like an idiot, not moving at all. He allowed the waves of force to buffet him as they pleased.

Linley just stood there like an idiot, his tears flowing down without stopping.

“Ah…ah…ah…” Linley seemed to have forgotten how to speak, and his entire body trembled with panic and heartbreak as he roared into the sky.

Linley fell to his knees.

A sense of utter heartbreak, of his heart being ripped to shreds, consumed Linley.

Linley’s mind suddenly began to swim with images of him and Doehring Cowart together.

…..

That first time he had seen that ray of light transform into an old man with white robes, white beard, and white hair. The child-Linley had shouted in astonishment, “You…who are you?”

“Hello, kiddo. My name is Doehring Cowart. I am a Saint-level Grand Magus of the Pouant Empire!” That was the first time Doehring Cowart had interacted with Linley.

….

“Grandpa Doehring, why aren’t you talking? How is the strength of my affinity for earth elemental essence?” The first time Linley had been tested for his talent as a magus.

“Good. Extremely good. Your affinity for earth elemental essence is extremely high.” Doehring Cowart’s face was wreathed in smiles. “Based on what I know, only perhaps one in a thousand magi would have as strong an affinity for earth elemental essence as you. Truly.” Doehring Cowart’s praise had caused child-Linley to be unspeakably excited.

….

A Saint-level Grand Magus of the era of the Pouant Empire. A young child. And so, under the tutelage of this Grand Magus of the Pouant Empire, the child embarked on the road to being a magus.

…..

Stonesculpting using the Straight Chisel School method. Training within the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. Under the tutelage of the experienced Doehring Cowart, Linley had progressed and matured at an astonishing rate.

But when Linley had become the center of attention for everyone…

…no one knew that behind him stood the spirit of a Saint-level Grand Magus of the era of the Pouant Empire.

….

“Linley. In the future, you’ll have to rely on yourself.” Grandpa Doehring had fondly rubbed Linley’s head one last time.

After casting that world-shaking forbidden spell, ‘Heavenly Meteor’s Descent’, Grandpa Doehring had faded away.

“Linley. Goodbye.”

“Remember this. Live well.”

…..

Linley’s mind swam with images of the time he had spent with his Grandpa Doehring. That kindly, forbearing old man who had taught Linley so much, had long since become someone whom Linley couldn’t bear to be apart from.

“No…no….”

Linley shook his head repeatedly.

He wasn’t willing to believe it. Grandpa Doehring had truly passed away. What’s more, his very soul had dissipated upon his death.

“Impossible. Grandpa Doehring, come out. Come out.” Linley stared at the Coiling Dragon ring, howling nonstop at first, before his words took on begging tones as his tears splashed against his ice cold scales.

Blood continued to leak out of Linley’s body, but Linley didn’t feel anything at all.

“Grandpa Doehring.”

Linley so dearly hoped that once more, that ray of white light would shine forth from the Coiling Dragon ring and transform into the white bearded, white haired, white robed Grandpa Doehring. Linley simply couldn’t believe that Grandpa Doehring had died, just like that. Never to be by his side again.

He had been together with Grandpa Doehring since he was a child.

Since then, Linley had never been separated from Grandpa Doehring. Never!

In the depths of his heart, Linley had truly become accustomed long ago to Grandpa Doehring’s presence. Even when Linley had been imprisoned within the Radiant Temple, he hadn’t felt as alone or as helpless as he did now.

His heart had always been steady…because behind him, he had the support of Grandpa Doehring.

But now…

Grandpa Doehring had left forever. Forever!

“Why. Why.” Linley’s voice was shaking. “Heaven, first my mother died, then my father died. Why. Why did you have to take even Grandpa Doehring away as well?”

“WHY!!!” Linley raised his head, howling towards the heavens.

His voice echoed in the sky.

“Ah…ah….” Linley fell to his knees, powerless. He began to sob madly, but no matter how hard Linley cried, that kindly old man would never appear again.

He had died and left forever.

“Grandpa Doehring.”

Linley felt more feeble and fragile than he ever had before. It was a spiritual fragility. No father. No mother. And now, even Grandpa Doehring, who had always been by his side, had left.

The only one left by Linley’s side was Bebe, who had never even known about Grandpa Doehring’s existence.

“Boss. Hey, Linley, Boss!” Bebe nudged Linley, somewhat frightened.

Linley turned his head to look at Bebe.

“Bebe.” Linley suddenly pulled Bebe into his arms.

“Boss, just now, you were calling out for a ‘Grandpa Doehring’. Who is Grandpa Doehring? Just now, I sensed a terrifying spiritual energy burst. What was that?” Bebe was totally baffled.

Linley’s heart was shot through with agony once more upon hearing Grandpa Doehring’s name.

He lowered his head to look at the Coiling Dragon ring on his finger. But…Grandpa Doehring would never come out from it again.

“Rustle.” Suddenly, a series of extremely light sounds could be heard. Linley turned his head to look.

Within the giant craters created by the meteors, a violet-robed figure was struggling to crawl out. Not only him. The other five men were also slowly struggling to crawl out as well.

Heavenly Meteor’s Descent – An earth-style forbidden spell.

If a Saint-level Grand Magus were to use this spell, the six of them would have been dead without a doubt. But Doehring Cowart was a Saint-level Grand Magus who didn’t have a single shred of mageforce.

Based on the laws of magic, mageforce was the generals commanding the army of soldiers known as elemental essence. Through mageforce, spiritual energy was able to command these soldiers to form powerful magical spells.

What Doehring Cowart had done was to consume the spiritual energy within his very soul, using this powerful burst of spiritual energy to directly control the elemental essences and execute the forbidden spell, Heavenly Meteor’s Descent.

But because he had no mageforce, even though he consumed all of his own spiritual energy, the power of Doehring Cowart’s spell was only 10% – 20% of a normal Heavenly Meteor’s Descent. Despite that though, even 10% to 20% of the power of a forbidden spell had smashed those six Special Executors to the brink of death.

Watching those six violet robed figures crawl out, Linley’s heart was suddenly filled with unbridled, boundless, unquenchable rage.

“Ah!!!!!” With a scream, Linley charged like a bolt of lightning towards one of the violet robed figures. The Special Executor, seeing Linley charge towards him, was so terrified that his eyes turned as round as the moon.

“Ah!!!!!” Exerting force with his arms, Linley ripped the Special Executor into two halves with his bare hands.

“Die.” Linley physically ripped off the head of another Special Executor.

“Haaaargh!” Linley’s sharp claws pierced into the chest of a third Special Executor, ripping his heart out and crushing it to pieces with his claws.

“Go die!” Linley latched onto the throat of the fourth Special Executor with his teeth, ripping his throat out.

He wanted to eat their flesh and drink their blood!

“Ah!!!!” Linley’s figure suddenly appeared next to the fifth Special Executor. The heavily wounded Special Executor, unable to defend himself, could only watch in terror as Linley ripped him apart into two pieces by his legs.

As for the sixth Special Executor…

“You…you…” The heavily wounded sixth Special Executor, upon seeing the terrifying scene before him, saw Linley charge towards him like a demon from the Infernal Realm. He was so terrified that his body began to shake, and then he collapsed dead from fear.

Although the sixth Special Executor was already dead, Linley still smashed a vicious punch at his head, exploding it.

Watching this, Bebe was somewhat frightened.

The warriors watching from far away had been scared stupid as well. They had never imagined that a human could be so vicious, so brutal, so terrifying. This was especially true because of how Linley currently appeared. His body was covered in broken scales, and blood dyed his entire form red. Even his dark gold eyes were dimly flashing red.

“Boss, you…you…what’s wrong?” Bebe was worried.

After Linley had brutally killed all six Special Executors, he suddenly sat down on the ground, his energy gone. He sat there, staring into nothing, with no clue as to what he was thinking.

“Boss.” Bebe pushed Linley frantically.

Linley suddenly raised his head, but he was unable to restrain his tears from coming out again. He then lowered his head, burying it against his legs and beginning to cry once more.

…..

Those six giant meteors had turned the entire area around for hundreds of meters into rubble. Those six violet-robed men had all been killed by that demonic freak.

But then, that demonic freak suddenly put his head against his legs and began to sob.

……

There were nearly ten thousand onlookers now, watching from hundreds of meters away. None of these people could understand what they were seeing.

“That demon is crying?”

All of them were astonished.

“That demon seems…seems really sad.” A young person said uncertainly to a nearby friend of his. That friend started, then nodded slowly.

None of the onlookers moved any closer. They had seen the terrifying scene of just moments ago. Even the combatants of the eighth rank knew exactly how much stronger this person in front of them was.

“The demon is crying?” Yale, George, and Reynolds had just gotten here, having travelled quite far. Hearing these words, they all started.

“Out of the way! Out of the way!” Yale shouted angrily.

Immediately, the guards of the Dawson Conglomerate began to push aside the various onlookers. Yale, George, and Reynolds ran frantically towards the center of the battlefield.

But upon reaching the epicenter, all of them were stunned.

Everything within several hundred meters had been turned to rubble. Looking at the six craters, one could imagine how terrifyingly powerful those six giant meteors had been. And just looking at the corpses of those six men, one could imagine how brutal the person who had killed them was.

The demon’s body, covered with broken scales, was sitting there, sobbing.

Upon seeing Bebe by the side of the ‘demon’, and that adamantine heavy sword which had been tossed to the ground, Yale and the others became all the more certain that this was Linley.

“Third Bro.” Yale, George, and Reynolds immediately rushed over.

By now, Monroe Dawson had arrived as well. He immediately ordered his subordinates, “Quick, dispose of those six corpses, then leave immediately. Don’t let anyone know that the Dawson Conglomerate had anything to do with this.” As he spoke, Monroe Dawson immediately left as well.

“Third Bro.” Yale, George, and Reynolds all called out with worry.

Back during Linley’s assassination attempt on Clayde at Fenlai City, Yale had already guessed that Linley was capable of transforming into a Dragonblood Warrior. He had informed Reynolds and George as well. And now, seeing Bebe as well as the discarded adamantine heavy sword, they naturally were certain that this was Linley.

Linley’s body shook slightly.

Raising his head and glancing besides himself, Linley saw Yale, George, and Reynolds. Linley finally spoke. “You guys…”

“Let’s go, quick.” Yale immediately urged. “You just killed Special Executors. If the Radiant Church finds out, it’ll be a disaster for you.” Yale immediately helped Linley up.

Linley allowed himself to be raised to his feet.

“Bebe. Let’s go.” Linley hugged Bebe, then headed out.

Yale was startled, because he noticed that Linley didn’t pay any attention at all to his adamantine heavy sword. He couldn’t help but call out urgently, “Third Bro, your heavy sword.”

“Heavy sword?” Linley turned his head. After a moment, he seemed to understand, and he walked over, picking his heavy sword up.

Just then, the subordinates of the Dawson Conglomerate arrived as well, and they quickly disposed of those six violet robed Special Executors’ corpses.

“What’s wrong with Third Bro?” George said quietly to Yale and Reynolds.

Yale shook his head as well, confused. “No idea. Bebe seems to be fine as well. Why then does it seem as though Third Bro just suffered a worse blow than that time when he had his heart broken? He seems so downcast that it is like he has lost his soul.”

Linley allowed the Dawson Conglomerate’s men to lead him away, as they crept away via small alleyways and arrived at a mysterious residence.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 7, Heaven and Earth Turned Upside Down – Chapter 24, Stillness

Within the dark, quiet residence, there was only Reynolds, Yale, George, a few dozen female attendants, and a few dozen guards. All of them were here for Linley.

Beneath branches of hanging grapes, George, Yale, and Reynolds were standing around a stone desk.

“Boss Yale. What do you think is going on with Third Bro?” Reynolds face was filled with confusion as he said helplessly.

Yale shook his head. “I don’t know either. It’s been ten days since Third Bro has come here, and in these past ten days, Third Bro hasn’t had any of his usual energy. He isn’t even training, nor does he joke around and laugh with us anymore. He’s always off by himself.”

George nodded as well. “In the past, no matter what happened, Third Bro wouldn’t stop his training. But now he seems to have transformed into a totally different person.”

“So who can tell me what exactly is going on with Third Bro?” Reynolds gnashed his teeth. “It would be great if I knew.” Yale sighed resignedly.

The thing which hurt their heads the most was that they had no idea what had caused Linley to become like this. He no longer trained, nor did he joke around with the three of them. He was always off by himself, looking as though he had lost his soul.

He had become like this for no apparent reason whatsoever.

As the dear bros of Linley, how could they not be worried?

“Third Bro must have suffered some sort of tremendous shock.” Yale sighed quietly. George and Reynolds were all startled for a moment, then they fell silent. They couldn’t help but think back to what they had seen that day.

Thousands of observers surrounding a circular area where everything for hundreds of meters around had been reduced to rubble. Within that disaster area, those six astonishingly deep craters and fallen meteors.

Linley, in full Dragonform, had brutally massacred those six Special Executors, then sat down and began to cry. He had been sobbing like a child. “I’ve never seen Third Bro this heartbroken, this fragile.” Yale said in a low voice.

George nodded as well. “Third Bro is very tough. Even when he suffered heartbreak from breaking up with Alice, after completing the ‘Awakening From the Dream’ sculpture, he headed directly for the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts to engage in more training.”

“Right. Even when his father died, Third Bro had managed to endure and hold on. But this time…” Reynold simply couldn’t understand.

They were all certain that their beloved bro was in a fragile state right now, but none of them could find a reason why.

Next to a murmuring creek in the back courtyard of the residence, Linley was sitting on top of a decorative polished stone. He stared at the creek, not moving.

Bebe was standing on the stone as well, right next to Linley.

Utter silence. The only sound that could be heard was the murmurs of the flowing water.

Although Linley’s eyes were aimed at the creek, his thoughts were still with Grandpa Doehring and the time they had spent together.

How he had played around with Grandpa Doehring as a child.

How Grandpa Doehring had strictly supervised and trained him as a young man.

In the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, how Grandpa Doehring had lectured him time and time again to be careful without growing tired of it.

With each memory swimming to the surface, Linley felt his heart grow still.

“After my father died, I thought that I was now very lonely. But I didn’t realize that in reality, I was very fortunate. No matter what happened, Grandpa Doehring was always behind me, supporting me, consoling me, encouraging me, reminding me…”

“But why didn’t I realize this in the past? Why didn’t I treasure the time I had spent together with Grandpa Doehring?” Linley’s heart was filled with agony.

Grandpa Doehring had never made any excessive requests of him, but he had never considered about how Grandpa Doehring had felt. He hadn’t truly valued the time he had spent with Grandpa Doehring. Perhaps subconsciously, he had believed that Grandpa Doehring would forever be with him within the Coiling Dragon ring.

“Coiling Dragon ring? Grandpa Doehring was always inside the Coiling Dragon ring by himself. It must have been very painful and miserable for him to always be alone in there. Grandpa Doehring probably also hoped that I would chat with him often, right?” Only now did Linley think of these things.

But…

In the past, Linley usually would only ask for Grandpa Doehring’s advice when he met with some insurmountable difficulties. He would very rarely actively seek out Grandpa Doehring just to chat.

He only took, without giving back.

“Why is it that only after I have lost, that I now understand how to cherish?” Linley’s body began to tremble. How he hoped that Grandpa Doehring would return and would be by his side again.

Unfortunately….

This was impossible.

Grandpa Doehring was dead. Dead and gone forever.

Linley could feel his heart clenching, as though it were contorting. His entire body was convulsing with pain. But there wasn’t a hint of pain on Linley’s face.

Deep in Linley’s heart, he even began to think…

If he could just die now from the pain, then he would have escaped from it all.

“Boss.” Bebe’s voice rang out in Linley’s head. Linley turned to look at Bebe. Bebe’s beady little black eyes were staring at Linley, a look of concern in them.

“You…you are thinking about that Grandpa Doehring again?” Even Bebe only learned after Doehring Cowart’s death that Linley previously had a ghost Saint-level Grand Magus by his side.

Linley nodded.

Bebe mentally spoke to Linley. “Boss, can you…can you tell me all about that Grandpa Doehring?”

Looking at Bebe, Linley nodded slightly, then reached out and held Bebe in his arms, hugging him. He began to tell Bebe all about Doehring Cowart. “That year, I was eight years old. There were two Saint-level combatants who had appeared at Wushan township….”

Standing outside the gate to the back courtyard, Reynolds and the others quietly watched as Linley hugged Bebe while seated on that smooth, polished decorative stone.

“I feel extremely miserable myself, seeing Third Bro like this.” Reynolds sighed softly.

Yale and George were both silent.

“We have to think of something.” George’s eyes suddenly sharpened, became fierce. “No matter what, we can’t let Third Bro just collapse like this.”

Yale and Reynolds both nodded.

“Second Bro, do you have any ideas?” Reynolds and Yale looked at George.

George said, “We have no idea what has caused Third Bro to become like this. But there are a few things that we can extrapolate.” George said gravely, “Third Bro’s clan was the Dragonblood Warrior clan. As a clan which once dominated the entire world, the members of the clan naturally wish to revive their clan to their former glory.”

Yale’s eyes lit up. “Right. Third Bro values his clan highly. For the sake of acquiring his ancestral heirloom, the warblade ‘Slaughterer’, he was even willing to auction off ‘Awakening From the Dream’.”

“Exactly.”

George nodded. “My theory is, the reason why Third Bro was always so hard on himself in training was because he had something important to him that was driving him. Most likely, restoring his clan to its former glory was that motivating impulse. Third Bro has worked hard for so many years now. He definitely wouldn’t give up that easily. We have to use this to agitate and encourage him.”

“Agitate him? Would that work?” Yale was a bit suspicious.

George said helplessly, “Do we have a better method of helping him?”

“We’ll use this method.” Reynolds harrumphed. “I can’t stand watching Third Bro continue to act like this any longer. Let’s go. The three of us will go talk with him. Let’s see what exactly is going on.”

“Fourth Bro, let Second Bro do the talking. The more you talk, the more you screw things up.” Yale reproved.

Knowing his own temperament, Reynolds nodded. George, Yale, and Reynolds looked at each other, then walked towards Linley.

After listening to Linley’s story, Bebe was quiet as well. He was also very heart-sick, heart-sick for Doehring Cowart’s death. Suddenly, Bebe felt people approaching them from behind. He leaped out of Linley’s arms and looked towards that direction.

It was Yale, George, and Reynolds.

But right now, having just finished the tale of Grandpa Doehring, Linley was lost in his memories once more, and didn’t even realize that people were approaching him.

Yale, George, and Reynolds glanced at each other, all sighing internally. Linley was an expert. Normally, Linley probably would’ve noticed the three of them before they had even entered the courtyard. But now, all three of them were right behind Linley, and yet Linley didn’t react at all.

“Third Bro.” Yale spoke.

Linley trembled, then slightly turned his head to look at the three of them. His eyes were very calm. “You guys came.” After speaking, Linley turned his head back towards the creek, continuing to stare at the water.

Yale, George, and Reynolds immediately walked to stand next to the boulder Linley was sitting on.

“Third Bro.” Yale suddenly grabbed Linley by his shoulders, forcing Linley to look at him. “Third Bro, do you remember those things which had happened at the Ernst Institute, and what you often said to me?”

“Forgot.” Linley said calmly.

Yale stared. “Forgot? Third Bro, you often put me down, saying that I don’t work hard or train hard, and that in our dorm, I would be the weakest out of us four, despite physically being the largest.”

Back when the four of them were dorm-mates, naturally they would often joke with each other.

But Linley remained silent.

George looked at Yale, nodding slightly. Yale released Linley’s shoulders, and then George walked in front of Linley, saying solemnly, “Third Bro, I want to ask you. You have trained so bitterly for all these years. What was it all for?”

Linley started.

He couldn’t help but think about how he had been focused on training, ever since he was young.

“For the clan.” Linley finally responded.

Next to him, a hint of delight appeared on the faces of Yale and Reynolds. George immediately said, “Then let me ask you this. As you are now, are you behaving responsibly towards your clan?”

Looking at George, Linley smiled bitterly. In a dreary, desolate voice, he said, “My father’s dead. My mother’s dead. Tell me. What’s the point of working hard on behalf of the clan?”

Linley rose to his feet, walking towards the back courtyard.

Yale, George, and Reynolds all stared at Linley’s back, then exchange stunned looks.

“Pointless. Everyone is dead. What’s the point of doing my best?” Linley’s desolate voice said desolately, before he disappeared past the door.

Fifteen days.

Linley had stayed within the residence for fifteen days. During these fifteen days, Yale and the others had tried everything they could think of, but no matter what they did, Linley remained as he had.

George, Reynolds, and Yale were seated together, drinking unhappily.

“What should we do? What exactly should we do? We can’t just watch as Third Bro drowns in this abyss of despair.” Reynolds angrily smashed the wine cup against the floor.

Yale and George both shook their heads as well.

These past few days, they had tried everything they could. They also asked Linley what had caused him to become like this, but Linley didn’t say a word, remaining silent.

What could they do?

“When I see how silent Third Bro is, I really worry about him. My heart hurts. Third Bro, alas…” Yale grabbed the bottle of wine and poured it directly into his mouth, drinking half of it at a swig.

They had grown up alongside Linley, and their love for each other was even greater than that between real brothers. How could they just watch as Linley collapsed like this?

Seated on a chair within his room, Linley stared at the Coiling Dragon ring on his hand. Linley could clearly recollect how Grandpa Doehring looked each time he came out of the ring.

But that scene would never, ever play out again.

On Linley’s other hand, he was wearing a second ring, an interspatial ring. After Clayde had died, the ring and its contents had become items without an owner. When he had been engaging in battle against the six Special Executors, the blood from Linley’s body had covered the ring long ago, and it naturally had become personalized and bound to him.

But…

These past fifteen days, Linley hadn’t so much as glanced at this interspatial ring or its contents. His mind was elsewhere. Even when he didn’t actively dwell on it, his thoughts would always turn to scenes of him together with Grandpa Doehring. How Grandpa Doehring had looked when stroking his beard, or how he had looked when he was sternly instructing Linley. All sorts of memories, all of them so clear and vivid.

“Why. Why. Even Grandpa Doehring, the last person I had, was taken away?”

After having lost Grandpa Doehring, Linley had also lost his strongest source of support. He felt more fragile and more lonely than he ever had before. Linley tightly held Bebe in his arms. In that quiet little room, he continued to sit there, alone…

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 7, Heaven and Earth Turned Upside Down – Chapter 25, Departure

At the borders of the Kingdom of Hess was an army numbering over 800,000 soldiers. On a vast expanse of ground, military camps dotted the land like a series of mountain ranges, limitless and without end. This enormous army was, however, quite organized.

But in front of the military camp, there was a vast expanse of empty land.

“Hey, Uncle Rand [Lan’te]. If the army of magical beasts attack, will we be able to hold?” An armored young man who looked to be in sixteen or seventeen said in a soft voice.

Next to him was a muscular, bearded man. Removing a small flagon of liquor from his pouch, he took a small swig, then laughed loudly. “Relax. This time, in addition to the elite troops of our Kingdom of Hess, the knights of the Radiant Temple have been sent by the Radiant Church, along with many lord magi. Don’t worry. The spells of magi are quite powerful.”

“Right.” This was the young man’s first battle. Hearing the words of the veteran, he felt slightly steadier.

But that muscular man was sighing to himself inside. Because he, in fact, had seen how vicious and powerful magical beasts were. If thousands or tens of thousands of magical beasts charged towards them, the only way humanity would be able to survive was by paying a price in blood.

“Roaaaar!”

Suddenly, a low growl could be heard coming from an extremely far distance.

“Uncle Rand, I think I heard something.” The young man was growing nervous.

“It’s fine.” Rand said loudly, but suddenly, Rand squinted and looked to the south. Atop that barren, empty plain, a countless number of thickly clustered dots could be seen.

“Magical beasts. A horde of magical beasts!”

From another part of the military camp, a shrill cry rang out. Instantly, the entire military camp began to move. From the highest ranking generals to the lowest level soldiers, everyone heightened their vigilance.

The entire 800,000 man army was preparing to do battle.

“So, so many!” Many human soldiers, upon seeing the horde of magical beasts off in the distance, couldn’t help but suck in a cold breath. From far away, countless Vampiric Iron Bulls had formed into a series of formation lines. Their muscles knotted, they were charging towards the humans at high speed.

There was well over ten thousand Vampiric Iron Bulls.

“Rumble, rumble.” The Vampiric Iron Bulls charged wildly, causing the very ground to shake. The eyes of each and every Vampiric Iron Bull had turned red, and their bodies were emitting flames. They looked like a sea of fire.

The shaking earth. The endless sea of flame.

“Swish!” “Swish!” “Swish!”

Suddenly, the sky became filled with many translucent, azure-colored javelins. These javelins fell down upon the Vampiric Iron Bulls like the rain.

“The lord magi!” Many human soldiers exulted.

“Puchiii!” Every single javelin possessed astonishing power. As one of the water-style’s pure water-element spells, they were extremely powerful against fire-type magical beasts.

These icy javelins descended, either piercing into the ground or into the bodies of the Vampiric Iron Bulls. “Puchiii!” Some of the icy javelins penetrated directly through the internal organs of the Vampiric Iron Bulls, who roared in fury, ran a few steps more, then collapsed.

One Vampiric Iron Bull after another died, but the vast majority of them continued to charge forward. Even if they had suffered some light injuries, they would only grow more furious.

Fresh blood stained the ground.

“Snooort!” The Vampiric Iron Bulls roared angrily.

“Archers! Ready…Fire!” The officers shouted loudly.

Instantly, the skies were filled with countless arrows. The thickly clustered arrows arced down from the heavens in a dense wave.

One sharp arrow after another struck the Vampiric Iron Bulls, but their tough, knotted muscles easily deflected many of the arrows.

The tactics which human armies used against other human armies wasn’t necessarily effective against magical beasts.

“Pikemen, formations!”

One heavily armored and thickly muscled warrior after another strode forward, all holding steel pikes. Assuming a defensive formation, they quietly awaited the onslaught of the Vampiric Iron Bulls. “Snooooort!” The red-eyed Vampiric Iron Bulls charged forward.

Countless steel pikes were there to welcome the Vampiric Iron Bulls, but the Vampiric Iron Bulls only lowered their horns and continued to charge forward while roaring. Like a solid flood, they slammed viciously against the pikes.

“Puchiiii!” The Vampiric Iron Bulls were skewered by those steel pikes.

The people capable of wielding steel pikes were all at least warriors of the third rank. In addition, all of the pikemen were mutually supporting each other in their bristling pike formation, borrowing and lending strength as needed.

The first wave of Vampiric Iron Bulls were not able to break this defensive line. But behind them, more Vampiric Iron Bulls continued to charge.

The battle between the army of magical beasts and the army of men was extremely fierce. The army of beasts was composed of more than just Vampiric Iron Bulls. There were also packs of Windwolves, and also elite prides of the even more terrifying Fire Lions. There were also Landwyrms, Velocidragons, and more…

But the human army wasn’t weak either. In addition to the ordinary common soldiers, they also possessed some truly powerful magi who hadn’t yet made their moves. In addition, the Radiant Church had also sent a number of magi of the seventh, eighth, and even ninth ranks. There was also a division of elite Knights of the Radiant Temple…

The battle raged for three days, and in the end, the human army was forced to retreat. In just three days, the human side had lost over 300,000 soldiers, and the number of wounded was even more staggering. But the magical beast’s army had suffered high casualties as well.

However, both armies seemed to have a tacit understanding, as neither side made use of their Saint-level combatants. The Saint-level combatants only watched from afar, and didn’t act.

Hess City was in a state of chaos.

This battle at the border had resulted in the human army retreating a hundred kilometers at once. They were now extremely close to Hess City, and many of the people within Hess City had made the decision to evacuate.

Hess City. The quiet manor where Linley was residing.

“Yale, we’re leaving immediately. Quick. Don’t waste any more time.” Monroe Dawson shouted. “I expect that the human army won’t be able to hold for many more days. The flames of war are about to engulf Hess City.”

Yale nodded. “Understood, father.”

“But Third Bro, he…” Yale was still concerned about Linley. George and Reynolds, by Yale’s side, were both worried as well.

Monroe Dawson frowned. “How about this. You go try to persuade him one final time. No matter what though, we must leave tonight.” After he spoke, Monroe Dawson turned and left.

Yale, George, and Reynolds looked at each other.

Finally, the three of them headed in the direction of Linley’s room. As soon as they entered the rear courtyard, they saw Linley sitting on a chair next to a stone table, calmly staring at the straight chisel in his hand. Seeing this, Yale, George, and Reynolds didn’t feel happy or excited at all.

For the sake of wanting to help Linley wake up, they would often place the straight chisel there, along with sculptures. But Linley didn’t seem to have any desire at all to sculpt. Each time he saw the chisel, he would think back to how Grandpa Doehring had painstakingly trained him to sculpt.

He could still remember how proud and majestic Grandpa Doehring had looked when he had first imparted to Linley the secrets of the Straight Chisel school. At that moment, Grandpa Doehring really had the regal bearing of a grandmaster.

“Third Bro.” Yale walked directly over to him.

Linley raised his head to look at Yale. A smile formed on his face, but he said nothing.

“Third Bro, the army of magical beasts is about to break through the borders. The human side has already been forced to retreat a hundred kilometers. It’s only a matter of time before they break into Hess City. We have to leave.” Yale said solemnly. “Leave?” Linley was briefly startled. “Oh. Got it.”

Seeing how Linley was acting, Reynolds, the most hot-tempered of the four, grabbed Linley by his clothes. Staring straight into Linley’s eyes, he angrily shouted, “Third Bro, what the hell is wrong with you? Speak! Why have you become like this? The person whom I, Reynolds, admire most in this world is you. I often brag to others about you. But now? Look at yourself! Look at what you have become!”

“Admire me?” Linley said self-mockingly. “Admire what?”

“I heard Boss Yale say that because of the enmity between you and Clayde, you were willing to throw away everything to be able to kill him. You dared to act and you dared to accept the consequences. As your brother, I admired you! But now? You killed Clayde, then you killed six Special Executors of the Radiant Church. Isn’t this something you should be proud of? Why have you become like this?” Reynolds was truly furious now.

Next to him, George frowned.

“Third Bro.” George suddenly shouted at Linley.

Reynolds and Yale both turned to look at George. Linley looked at him as well.

“Third Bro, why did you kill those six Special Executors?” George asked with a shout. George suddenly realized…even if Linley were to kill Clayde, there was no reason for Special Executors of the Radiant Church to try and kill Linley.

After all, Clayde was no longer one of their kings. “They wanted to kill me.” Linley said in a low voice.

“Why did they want to kill you?” George had a feeling that he had touched upon the reason behind Linley’s depression.

“Because it was the Radiant Church who killed my mother.” Linley said calmly.

Standing next to Linley, both Yale and Reynolds were both surprised, but a flash of insight suddenly appeared within George’s mind. He immediately roared, “The Radiant Church killed your mother? But you, Third Bro, aren’t going to seek revenge? What, are you afraid?”

“Not seek revenge?”

Those three words seemed to have struck Linley like a lightning bolt.

“Right. It was the Radiant Church.” Linley’s dull eyes slowly began to sharpen.

“If it wasn’t for the Radiant Church constantly searching for pure souls to offer to the Radiant Sovereign, then Clayde wouldn’t have given my mother to the Radiant Church, resulting in my mother’s death.”

“If it wasn’t for my mother’s death, my father wouldn’t have died.”

“If my father was alive, why would I go seek revenge? How could Grandpa Doehring have died as a result? What’s more, Grandpa Doehring died as a result of helping me against those six Special Executors.”

Linley began to feel hatred in his heart.

“This was all due to the Radiant Church!!! Radiant, radiant, haha! The Radiant Church is radiant? If it was radiant, then why would they murder people with pure, innocent souls and offer them to the Radiant Sovereign?” Linley’s heart began to beat with hatred.

The Radiant Temple’s actions were really too vicious.

Because of their viciousness, a series of tragedies had occurred, and his own life was one of those tragedies.

“Boss.” Bebe saw that Linley’s face was growing firm. He was worried that Linley would be rash. He mentally said, “Boss, the last words that Grandpa Doehring said to you were that he hoped you would live well.”

Linley’s heart trembled. How could Linley forget the final words which Grandpa Doehring’s had said just before his soul had dissipated.

“Bebe, don’t worry. I will never act rashly again. I will endure…the entity I will act against is the Radiant Church, rather than one specific individual. I know my own limits.” Linley’s eyes had grown firm and hard.

Seeing the changes in Linley’s eyes and expression, Yale, George, and Reynolds couldn’t help but feel ecstatic.

In recent days, Linley had always seemed so lost, so distant. He had never looked as resolved as he now did, and his eyes had never been so firm.

“Boss Yale. Second Bro. Fourth Bro. I’ve decided to leave.” Linley made his decision.

“Third Bro, you…” Yale and the others were surprised.

“Don’t worry. I’m fine.” Linley laughed, giving each of his three bros a punch to the chest. Yale and the others began to laugh as well. Seeing Linley like this, they felt much more relieved.

Wearing a warrior’s uniform, carrying the adamantine heavy sword on his back, and with Bebe on his shoulders, Linley left by himself.

After leaving the chaotic city of Hess, Linley headed towards the east. After half a day, Linley arrived at the border to the outer regions of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. Seeing the boundless Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, a hint of a smile appeared on Linley’s face.

“Radiant Church, just wait. There will come a day when I will pull you out by the roots.” Linley’s gaze was extremely firm.

He lost his father. He had lost his mother. He had lost Grandpa Doehring.

The only one Linley could now rely on was himself.

“Boss, are we going to cut through the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts?” Bebe was confused.

Linley laughed, shaking his head. “No. First, we go to the core regions of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, and then we’ll head straight north, until we reach the very end.” “That’s a distance of ten thousand kilometers!” Bebe was somewhat stunned. “And the core regions have a lot of extremely powerful magical beasts.” Bebe was absolutely shocked that Linley wanted to travel in the core region of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts for ten thousand kilometers.

“If not, how shall I train? I haven’t yet mastered the correct way to use the heavy sword. If I can’t even master the heavy sword and use it properly, how will I deal with the Radiant Church?”

Linley immediately strode forward, entering the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. And with this, Linley began the longest period of training in his entire life…

End of Book 7

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 8, The Ten Thousand Kilometer Journey – Chapter 1, Thunderbolt

The central regions of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts rarely saw humans passing through. Here, magical beasts of the seventh to ninth ranks could appear at any time. Most likely, only warriors of the ninth rank would dare trespass here. But Linley, upon arriving at the central region, began to embark on a northwards journey, along the central lines of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. Such an incredible journey was something which even most combatants of the ninth rank wouldn’t be so wild as to attempt.

Linley was only wearing a pair of raggedy hempcloth pants. His upper body was bare, and he was bare-footed as well. On his back, he carried the adamantine heavy sword. Step by step, he continued on this path which few dared tread.

As always, Bebe stood on Linley’s shoulders, scanning the nearby area.

“Rustle, rustle.”

Linley walked through a thick layer of dried leaves, his face calm. His backpack, Bloodviolet, straight chisel, and other clothes were all stored inside the interspatial ring. Within Clayde’s interspatial ring, aside from that enormous fortune of 2.2 billion gold coins worth of magicrystal cards, there were also dozens of precious items. Even the least valuable of them was worth millions of gold coins. The wealth accumulated by the royal clan of Fenlai over centuries was indeed a terrifying figure.

But to Linley?

Wealth was merely a worldly possession. What he truly valued was his own strength. Hadn’t the Dawson Conglomerate been willing to directly offer him a hundred million gold coins to join them? And this was just based on the mere possibility that Linley would reach the Saint-rank. To truly invite a Saint-rank to join, the price would be astronomical and astonishing.

From this, one could tell how important one’s personal strength was.

….

Although Linley was in the core regions, Linley still quite sensibly avoided a region where he couldn’t detect any magical beasts for tens of kilometers around. For such a large place within the core regions of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts to be devoid of magical beasts most likely meant that the region was the territory of a Saint-level magical beast. Although Linley was self-confident, he still didn’t want to irritate a Saint-level magical beast.

Cutting his way through brambles and thistles, Linley wasn’t travelling at a particularly high speed.

“Everything needs to start from the basics.” Linley was extremely pragmatic. Every day, he carried the adamantine heavy sword on his back. Slashing, chopping, piercing, upward swinging. Linley continuously practiced with every possible move, trying nonstop to raise his attack power.

Linley didn’t train using only one method either.

He would often ponder how to train next. Using the scant information in his clan’s records regarding how some of his ancestors had trained, he tried to form a correct training regime for himself.

The correct way of training was to not aim too high and too far right away.

The dawning spring, the flourishing summer, the cool autumn, the freezing winter. No matter what season it was, Linley continued to only wear those tattered pants, which had been ripped countless times due to his Dragonform transformation. His upper body remained bare.

Linley had discovered something…

When he was barefooted, he could more clearly sense the thrumming pulse of the earth. Standing on the ground, his heart was as steady as the vast earth itself. Linley’s usage of the adamantine heavy sword also began to embody the weight of the world itself.

His upper body was bare.

Feeling the movement of the air against his body, Linley felt as though his entire being had become part of the wind itself. Wind, by its nature, was invisible and formless. When using the Bloodviolet flexible sword, Linley felt that he was wielding it with greater and greater ease.

Because of this, Linley now emanated an aura that was both stable and immovable as well as graceful as the wind. These two auras should have been opposites, but the strange thing was, coming from Linley, they felt very natural and innate.

…..

Focusing primarily on the heavy sword, secondarily on the flexible sword, and also sparing some time for stonesculpting. At night, Linley would be in the meditative trance. Linley’s entire life had entered a very particular regime of training.

Sometimes, when he saw massive waterfalls crashing down from the top of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, Linley would feel excited and leap into the waterfalls, training beneath the water.

Seeing those long, pure rivers, Linley would often wade into their waters.

When he saw boulders atop mountain peaks, if Linley felt struck by inspiration, he would directly climb onto the top of the peaks and carve out a statue, perhaps spending several nights on each one.

…..

He did whatever he wanted.

Linley’s mind and spirit were more natural and more at-ease than they ever had been before. Training under these conditions, Linley totally forgot the passage of time. He only felt that his strength was improving every single day, and every single improvement made him feel happy and moved.

The path of training was a long, winding one.

This was a hard road to travel, but on this path there were constant new breakthroughs, making one feel gratified and moved.

……

Linley began to grow a beard, and his originally short hair began to grow long as well. His eyes, previously filled with a proud aloofness, had become calm and tranquil, due to the influence of being in touch with nature for so long.

Only occasionally while training would his eyes become terrifyingly sharp.

Linley’s temperament, as well, had become molded by nature to become more stable. Without Doehring Cowart’s guidance, Linley had no one to rely upon. Naturally, he continued to develop and mature even more.

…….

“Rumble.”

Water thundered down from the hundred-meter high waterfall, smashing down against the deep pool below, spraying water everywhere. Right next to the waterfall, there was a large boulder sticking up from the ground.

There was a person seated cross legged atop the boulder, with a black heavy sword resting atop his legs.

It was early dawn. The sky was just beginning to lighten. Within the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, one of the things Linley enjoyed doing was enjoying the clear dawn air.

“Ah…” Linley opened his eyes.

He glanced behind him, and saw Bebe curled up right next to him. Bebe’s two little claws were stuck directly into the stone itself, so as to make sure there was no possibility he could roll off and fall.

“Bebe, time to move.” Linley said with a laugh.

Bebe opened his eyes lazily, glancing all around himself. Then he shook his head, clearing it of the last remnants of sleep, and stood up. “Boss. I’m hungry.”

“Let’s go. We’ll eat later.” Linley leaped off the boulder. Moving as gracefully as the wind itself, Linley traversed several dozen meters with that leap, landing on the opposite shore of the pond. Also jumping off the boulder, Bebe transformed into a black streak, finally landing next to Linley’s feet.

A man and a magical beast once more began their voyage.

But before they had gone too far, Linley’s footsteps suddenly halted. Bebe looked questioningly at Linley.

“There’s a magical beast nearby.” Linley said mentally.

Bebe stared. Bebe could now be considered an early-stage magical beast of the ninth rank. Generally speaking, there were very few magical beasts that could draw near without him sensing it. But this time, he hadn’t sensed anything.

With his feet pressed against the earth and his ability to sense the wind, it would be difficult for anything moving nearby to not attract Linley’s attention.

“This magical beast’s movements are light and graceful. I can’t sense its movements on the earth at all. But when it moves, it causes vibrations in the wind.” Linley said mentally.

Bebe nodded.

…..

A Golden Tattooed Panther was latched onto a tree trunk, not moving at all. Panthers could be considered one of the fastest type of land-based magical beasts.

In particular, the Saint-level Electrobolt Panther’s movement speed made it an incredibly terrifying Saint-level magical beast to deal with.

Golden Tattooed Panthers were magical beasts of the seventh rank. But as a panther-type magical beast, it naturally possessed the high speed which all panthers were known for. Its explosive, short distance pouncing speed was even superior to magical beasts of the eighth rank.

The Golden Tattooed Panther suddenly exerted pressure with its four limbs.

“Swish.”

It leapt atop another tree. Panthers were extremely skilled at running and leaping about on tree tops, and were very well known for that as well. From within the dense leaves, the Golden Tattooed Panther had already seen that distant human figure.

The Golden Tattooed Panther waited quietly. Waited for the human to draw near.

Indeed, the human and the black Shadowmouse were beginning to come nearer.

“A black Shadowmouse? Not a threat.” Magical beasts of the seventh rank possessed very high intelligence. The primary focus of the Golden Tattooed Panther was that human. The aura that human emitted had already raised the Golden Tattooed Panther’s caution level. But the Golden Tattooed Panther had the feeling that this human shouldn’t be too powerful.

Indeed, in his base form, Linley was only a late-stage warrior of the seventh rank.

Generally speaking, when a magical beast of the seventh rank fought a human of the seventh rank, the magical beast would have the advantage.

“Swish.” Leaping off from the tree trunk, the Golden Tattooed Panther transformed into a vicious golden blur, gracefully soaring towards Linley.

The seemingly totally unprepared human, suddenly….

As fast as lightning, drew that adamantine heavy sword from his back while retreating! At the same time, he chopped down with that sword against the Golden Tattooed Panther with tremendous power.

Already in mid-leap, there was no way for the Golden Tattooed Panther to change its trajectory. The only thing it could do was to do his best to move his head away.

“Bam.”

Flashing out like a lightning bolt, the adamantine heavy sword viciously slammed against the Golden Tattooed Panther’s body. Where it landed on the Golden Tattooed Panther’s body, a deep crevice appeared. The sounds of bones shattering could be heard.

With that ‘bam’ sound, the Golden Tattooed Panther’s body crashed to the ground. It lay twitching there, blood pouring out of its mouth. But within ten seconds, the Golden Tattooed Panther moved no more.

Linley gracefully resheathed his adamantine heavy sword.

“Bebe, our breakfast today will be panther flesh.” Linley said casually.

To Linley and Bebe, this was just a very ordinary event. Within the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, they would kill several magical beasts every day.

If an expert at using the sword had been present, they would clearly be able to tell that Linley, despite only being a late-stage warrior of the seventh rank, was able to utilize this 3600 pound heavy sword at an extremely high level. Not only did the weight of the heavy sword not hinder Linley, Linley was even able to make use of its weight to make the speed of the heavy sword’s blows faster.

When chopping, he could actually chop a magical beast of the seventh rank to death at one blow. This power was simply astonishing.

Linley and Bebe began to roast panther flesh in the middle of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts.

“Boss, how powerful is the most powerful attack you can now use with that heavy sword? A few days ago, you said you had a breakthrough.” Bebe asked.

They had been in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts for over a year now. During this year, Linley’s mind had become one with nature, and he had completely immersed himself in his training. This year and a half of training had improved his abilities at an extremely rapid pace.

“My most powerful attack? Hard to say. Speaking in more general terms, I should be able to fight most magical beasts of the eighth rank in human form alone.” Linley said confidently.

This wasn’t arrogance. This was confidence in his own power.

“The panther meat smells so good.” Bebe sniffed the air with his nose.

“Hrm?” Linley frowned, then suddenly laughed. “Bebe, when we roast meat, we often attract attention from magical beasts. Only, this time, this magical beast seemed to be quite a slow and clumsy one.”

After waiting a good while, Linley and Bebe finally saw a magical beast appear.

A Velocidragon.

“Velocidragon?” Linley began to laugh. Linley was now quite familiar with Velocidragons. Despite being magical beasts of the seventh rank, they possessed extremely powerful defense. Although both were of the seventh rank, a Velocidragon’s defense was far more formidable than that of a Golden Tattooed Panther. But in turn, the Golden Tattooed Panther was far faster than a Velocidragon.

“Boss, you say that your attack power is really high now. Do you think you can chop a Velocidragon to death with one sword stroke?” Bebe suddenly said.

The scales of a Velocidragon were nearly half a meter thick, and the bones of its skull were extremely hard and dense. Although Velocidragons were fairly slow, their defense could match an ordinary magical beast of the eighth rank.

“One sword blow? I haven’t tested it yet. Let me give it a try.”

Linley drew the adamantine heavy sword from the sheath on his back, then began walking step by step towards the Velocidragon.

The Velocidragon was two stories tall and nearly twenty meters long. Compared to this enormous creature, Linley was nothing more than a small speck.

“Grooooowl.” The Velocidragon roared angrily at Linley.

But wielding the adamantine heavy sword in his hands, Linley continued to walk towards the Velocidragon, one barefooted step at a time.

Suddenly….

Linley’s movements sped up dramatically as he charged towards the Velocidragon. Letting out an angry roar, the Velocidragon sent its draconic tail whipping towards Linley. The Velocidragon’s tail was an extremely quick weapon.

“Clang.” Linley’s adamantine heavy sword suddenly moved at high speed and blocked the draconic tail.

Despite the great lashing force of the Velocidragon’s tail, Linley leapt off the ground, borrowing the force of the tail to fly over the Velocidragon.

“Uh, this is a human?” The Velocidragon was surprised to discover that the man in front of him had wielded that adamantine heavy sword as easily and as naturally as the grass bowing from the wind. And now, that man was smashing directly down at his head with the sword.

The Velocidragon was extremely confident. Its skull was, after all, the toughest part of its body.

Indeed…

When that agile, flowing black heavy sword touched his skull, it posed no danger to the Velocidragon at all. But all of a sudden, just as it touched the skull, an incredibly powerful force exploded from the sword. Like a sudden flood bursting through a dam, that astonishing power poured out all at once. It only heard a ‘crack’ sound, and then everything went dark.

Bebe watched this scene in astonishment.

Linley had only struck the skull, the toughest part of a Velocidragon’s body, with a single blow from his sword. And then, the Velocidragon’s head had split open like a fragile egg, with brain matter and blood pouring out. The massive, powerful body of the Velocidragon slumped to the ground, as Linley gracefully landed as well.

“Boss! Wow! You are that powerful now?” Bebe ran over excitedly.

Linley laughed. “Over the past year, I have been able to almost perfectly merge my own strength with my Dragonblood battle-qi. And then, based on what I have learned from my connection to the earth, I broke past the simple levels of using ‘strength’ and ‘battle-qi’. I have arrived at the level which the ancestors of the Baruch clan described as ‘wielding the heavy as though it were light’. Only now, I have managed to develop this technique: ‘Thunderbolt’.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 8, The Ten Thousand Kilometer Journey – Chapter 2, The Howling Worldwolf

The most basic underpinnings of training with the heavy sword lay in combining battle-qi along with physical strength in utilizing it.

Right after the adamantine heavy sword had been forged in the city of Hess, when Linley had used the adamantine heavy sword to attack the violet-robed Special Executors, he was not capable of combining his strength and his battle-qi to use the heavy sword in a meaningful way.

The heavy sword was not meant to be used with pure brute force.

It lay in conserving every little bit of strength to allow the heavy sword to reach its maximum possible velocity, while at the same time combining physical strength and battle-qi to reach the most optimal level possible.

After spending more than a year, Linley had finally become able to wield the adamantine heavy sword as easily as though it were his hands, without wasting any strength at all. Despite a limited amount of strength and battle-qi, he was able to raise the power of the adamantine heavy sword to an extremely high level.

But this was still just the basics.

Above this basic level was the second level, a different realm of possibilities. This was something Linley had suddenly awoken to when he saw the crashing waterfalls within the mountain grotto.

To wield something heavy as though it were light was easy to say, but hard to do.

In truth, it required one to be able to perfectly control one’s battle-qi and physical strength. And then, one could suddenly unleash all of one’s power, like the unending, cascading waters of the waterfall. The power that erupted from a blow such as this was extremely great.

This was the principle underneath Linley’s ‘Thunderbolt’ technique.

But this was easier said than done. It required an extremely solid grasp of the basics. If one didn’t have enough control over one’s strength and battle-qi, even after one understood the principles of this technique, one still wouldn’t be able to utilize it.

“As powerful as that? Boss, is this the most powerful way to use the heavy sword?” Bebe said in surprise.

Laughing, Linley shook his head. “Not even close. Based on the information contained within my clan’s records, the way of using heavy weapons can be described as having three levels. The first is to master and perfect the basics. The second is to be able to wield something heavy as though it were light. And the third is known as ‘impose’.”

“‘Impose’?” Bebe was a bit confused. “What is that?”

“I don’t know either.” Linley shook his head. “After all, my clan’s records, aside from the Secret Dragonblood Manual, primarily consists of general descriptions of the history of my clan and some stories of my ancestors. With regards to that ancestor who was able to ‘wield something heavy as though it were light’, there were only a few lines describing his power. That record also mentioned that the third level was ‘impose’, but what exactly ‘impose’ is, it didn’t describe in detail, so I don’t know either.”

Linley didn’t understand.

Could ‘impose’ be referring to an imposing manner?

But when wielding the adamantine heavy sword, how much could an imposing manner possibly add to attack power?

“I haven’t had that moment of enlightenment yet. No way to understand it.” Linley shook his head.

Linley knew very well that he had not yet in fact mastered this level of ‘using something heavy as though it were light’. Because the most important part of the ‘Thunderbolt’ technique was to suddenly release all of the power available at the last moment.

How would one further increase the power of this technique?

Right now, Linley was suddenly releasing all of his strength and battle-qi in a brute force manner, but Linley knew that this was a stupid, crude method.

“Pity that there’s no signposts on the path of training.” Linley chuckled, then ceased his idle speculations.

…..

Deep autumn. The prime, virgin forests of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts were covered with yellowing leaves.

This was the late autumn of year 10001 of the Yulan calendar. Linley had already entered the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts for more than a year and a half, but he had only travelled five or six thousand kilometers thus far.

He spent most of every day in training, progressing only a few dozen kilometers at most in his journey.

Late at night, not a sound could be heard. Within the central areas of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, beneath a giant tree which would take five or six men linking hands to embrace the trunks of, Linley was quietly sitting cross-legged in the meditative trance.

Slowly…

The skies began to brighten. Linley opened his eyes, a hint of a smile on his face.

The light, pure dawn wind was blowing. Several leaves slowly spun about and fell down. Watching these leaves fall, Linley was silent.

“Boss?” Bebe casually opened his eyes. Questioningly, he said, “You woke up? Why didn’t you wake me?”

Actually, every day, when Linley woke up, Bebe would wake up as well. But every day, Bebe would wait for Linley to wake him up before he would be willing to open his eyes. Today, though, Linley hadn’t called him.

“Bebe, I seem to have made a breakthrough.” Linley suddenly said mentally to Bebe.

“A breakthrough?” Bebe immediately jumped to his feet. He asked with excitement, “What sort of breakthrough have you had?”

Linley laughed. “My spiritual energy has finally reached the level of a magus of the eighth rank.”

“A magus of the eighth rank?!” Bebe immediately yelped in surprise.

That winter, when he was sixteen years old, Linley had crafted the sculpture ‘Awakening From the Dream’, and the rapid improvement he had gained over those ten days and ten nights had resulted in Linley’s spiritual energy strengthening tenfold, arriving at the level of spiritual power possessed by a late-stage magus of the seventh rank.

He was sixteen years old that winter, and already at the late-stage seventh rank!

From then until now, three years had passed.

While he had been at Fenlai City, Linley’s spiritual energy hadn’t improved that fast, and based on that rate of improvement, Linley probably would’ve needed five or six years to advance from the late-stage of the seventh rank to the eighth rank. But this year in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, Linley had totally submerged himself into nature, and each time he had engaged in stonesculpting, he had been so natural and unrestrained.

His rate of improvement in spiritual energy was quite noticeable.

Right now…

Linley’s spiritual energy finally reached the eighth rank as a magus.

“Boss, how powerful are spells of the eighth rank?” Bebe said curiously.

“You’ll find out if you are willing to give it a try.” A hint of a smile was on Linley’s face. Bebe stared at him, then said proudly, “Come. I, Bebe, am not afraid of magical beasts of the eighth rank, much less a spell of the eighth rank.”

Linley immediately begin to chant the words to a spell.

Shortly afterwards, a large amount of earth elemental essence began to rapidly solidify and condense near Linley. The mageforce in Linley’s body, as well, was beginning to rouse.

“Whoosh.” A wind suddenly arose in front of Linley, catching and tossing up all the fallen leaves around him. An angry howl could suddenly be heard, as an earth-colored, three-meter tall wolf suddenly appeared in front of Linley. This massive wolf was three meters tall and ten meters long. All the muscles on its body seemed as tough and gnarled as steel, and its four limbs were filled with power.

Earth-style spell of the eighth rank – the Howling Worldwolf!

“Hooooooowl!”

The Howling Worldwolf let out an enraged snarl, then charged at Bebe, but Bebe only playfully stood there with confidence, staring at the Howling Worldwolf.

“Swish!” Suddenly, an Earthen Spear Array erupted from the ground beneath Bebe.

“Whoah!” Bebe let out a cry of surprise, leaping into the air.

The Earthen Spear Array hadn’t managed to hurt Bebe in the slightest, but at this time, the Howling Worldwolf had arrived next to him. Bebe immediately let out a shrill screech, and his body suddenly enlarged.

“Hoooooooowl!”

Fangs bared and maw bloody, the Howling Worldwolf bit down at Bebe, while Bebe also bit angrily at the Howling Worldwolf. With a ‘crunch’ sound, Bebe ripped apart the throat of the Howling Worldwolf.

But the Howling Worldwolf didn’t seem to be hurt at all as it slashed at Bebe with his fierce claws.

“Whap!”

Bebe was knocked flying, smashing against the ground, creating a minor crater. Bebe immediately crawled out, staring angrily at the Howling Worldwolf. Just then, the Howling Worldwolf had carried a tremendous amount of power in its claws.

“Bebe, this Howling Worldwolf isn’t a magical beast. It’s an earth-element construct, totally composed of mageforce and elemental essence. It has no vital weak points.” Linley’s voice rang out playfully.

Bebe instantly understood.

To a construct created solely from mageforce and elemental essence, whether you bit it on the tail or at the throat, there really was no difference in terms of damage done.

“Shkreeeee!”

Bebe was truly furious now. Transforming into a black blur, he flew at the Howling Worldwolf, which ripped towards Bebe with its fangs. But Bebe dodged its attack, and then raked the Howling Worldwolf with his claws. In the blink of an eye, Bebe had raked the Howling Worldwolf nearly a hundred times, forcibly bringing his opponent to the breaking point.

“Bam!” The Howling Worldwolf’s body suddenly began to grow brighter, and then the blink of an eye, it exploded.

Bebe was knocked flying by the force of the explosion, smashing hard against a nearby tree, snapping the tree in half, then falling to the ground.

“Bebe, what do you think?” Linley knew exactly how powerful Bebe was. This bit of offensive force wasn’t enough to hurt Bebe.

Bebe quickly ran over to him. In a wounded voice, he said, “Boss, that Howling Worldwolf’s offensive attacks weren’t lower than an ordinary magical beast of the eighth rank. And it doesn’t have any weaknesses either. What a freak. Even when it was about to die, it engaged in a suicidal explosion.”

When its body was about to collapse, a construct formed from mageforce and elemental essence would naturally explode.

A dual-element magus of the eighth rank. Now, even in human form, Linley would still be considered a truly formidable person. The power of eighth rank spells was very astonishing.

For example, the ‘Brutal Tornado’ wind-style spell. This Brutal Tornado spell could easily annihilate an army of thousands of soldiers. In truth, even the attack of the Howling Worldwolf would destroy most small armies. The Howling Worldwolf possessed astonishing defensive powers. Only a freak like Bebe would be capable of so easily penetrating the Howling Worldwolf’s defense.

The Howling Worldwolf was extremely fast and possessed astonishing defensive powers. And, it had no weak points.

One could imagine how much havoc it would wreak upon an army.

“To a kingdom, a magus of the eighth rank is more important than an army with 10,000 soldiers.” Linley understood this logic. And magi of the ninth rank, in turn, were more important than an army of 100,000 soldiers. As for Saint-level Grand Magi, they were more important than an army of a million soldiers.

By casting a single forbidden spell, ‘Annihilating Tempest’, an entire army of a million soldiers would instantly be destroyed.

……

Linley’s elemental essence affinity was exceptional. Naturally, he didn’t need too much time to refine more mageforce. Given the additional support provided by the Straight Chisel School of sculpting, Linley didn’t need to spend too much time training himself as a magus.

And since he could Dragonform now, the speed of his training as a warrior was many times faster than before as well.

……

His adamantine heavy sword in hand, Linley was walking atop a large mountain. He casually swung and chopped the adamantine heavy sword in every direction. Whap. Slap. Every movement was very natural and graceful.

But whenever the adamantine heavy sword touched any boulders, the boulders would immediately shatter.

Either they would shatter into dozens of pieces, or they would explode, or they would turn to dust…

Linley constantly tested himself and tested out how to have his ‘Thunderbolt’ technique release more power. How to, using the same amount of battle-qi, increase the effectiveness of his attacks.

“Whew.” Sensing that he had used up over half of his Dragonblood battle-qi, Linley immediately sheathed his adamantine heavy blade.

With a flip of his hand, Bloodviolet appeared in his grasp.

Linley immediately began to leap about, the Bloodviolet flexible sword in his hands flashing every which way gracefully. The strength of the Bloodviolet sword lay in its speed and its ability to attack unpredictably.

“Swoosh!”

The Bloodviolet sword slashed in the direction of a small nearby tree. Halfway there, though, Bloodviolet suddenly curved like a serpent, and in a flash, it wrapped itself around the tree. With another violet flash, the tree was cut in half.

With a quiver, the Bloodviolet sword suddenly became straight again.

“Swish.” The Bloodviolet sword stabbed forward. Its sharp edge wreathed with a greenish-black light, the sword easily plunged straight into a nearby stone wall.

“Hrm?”

Linley suddenly frowned, pulling out Bloodviolet. He stared at the Bloodviolet sword suspiciously. “Inside the sword…what in the world…” Just then, Linley had been focusing his spiritual energy on Bloodviolet, controlling its fluctuations and contortions. As he had done so, he suddenly had discovered an aura that made his heart tremble with fear.

“Can it be that?” Linley’s heart suddenly clenched.

Previously, when he had been in that dangerous situation in the Radiant Temple, the Coiling Dragon ring had emitted a tremendously powerful burst of power. This Bloodviolet flexible sword was also a divine artifact, but it wasn’t as powerful as Linley had thought it would be. Linley had always been wondering if there was some secret contained within this Bloodviolet flexible sword.

Linley immediately focused his spiritual energy inside Bloodviolet, carefully probing it from within.

In the past, Linley also tried to do this before he had reached the eighth rank as a magus, but he hadn’t been able to find anything. But now, he was a magus of the eighth rank.

“Hrm?” Linley’s spiritual energy finally seemed to detect something.

A bloodthirsty, crazed aura suddenly came into contact with Linley’s spiritual energy. Linley suddenly seemed to see a boundless sea of blood. Countless corpses. An endless number of bones.

That crazed, bloodthirsty, violent aura directly invaded Linley’s spiritual energy, and then, as fast as lightning, it began to pervade Linley’s very soul…

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 8, The Ten Thousand Kilometer Journey – Chapter 3, A Slaughter

That endless sea of blood was filled with countless white skeletons, and all sorts of different corpses. Some of the corpses belonged to ten meter tall giants that were covered in scales with two horns sprouting from their heads. Others had white skeletons that glimmered with a faint gold color…

“Ah…”

Linley’s eyes began to turn red, as he suddenly began to emit a terrifying, baleful aura. That baleful aura somehow seemed to take physical form as a faint, bloody mist began to emanate from around Linley’s body. And surrounded by that baleful aura, Linley seemed like he was a fiendish god.

Bebe, not too far away from Linley, naturally could feel that oppressive, baleful aura.

Shocked, all the fur on Bebe’s body stood straight up, and Bebe could clearly feel that all of his muscles were quivering, and his blood was pumping faster. Even his claws were shaking, not entirely under his own control.

Terror.

Terror the likes of which he had never felt before!

“Bo-, Boss, what’s going on?” Bebe said frantically.

Right now, Linley was still in control of himself. Only, after being pervaded by that baleful aura, Linley felt a powerful desire to go out and kill.

“This Bloodviolet is?…” Linley forcibly suppressed his desire to kill, lowering his head to stare at the sword.

“Hiss…” Linley could see that in his hands, Bloodviolet was glowing with a devilish red light that flowed, as though blood was flowing on and through it. The entire Bloodviolet sword was shuddering slightly. Linley could feel the intense desire of Bloodviolet to kill! Kill unceasingly!

But right now, the more strongly Linley tried to suppress the urge to kill, the more powerful that urge grew. Linley’s eyes began to turn more and more red.

“Ah!!!” Linley let out a wild howl.

As though he had transformed into a tornado of movement, Linley ran down the mountain. In his hand, Bloodviolet was flashing everywhere like lightning. Every place Linley passed by, the trees and the stones were all transformed into rubble and debris.

Seeing Linley’s wild charge, Bebe stood where he was hesitantly for a moment. Bebe had truly been terrified by that baleful aura, the likes of which he had never felt before. But for the sake of his Boss…

“Grr!” Bebe ground his teeth, then suddenly flew down the mountain as well.

….

Not too far away from the mountain Linley had been on was a clear pond of water. There was a pack of Goldmane Mastiffs living next to the pond. Goldmane Mastiffs were pack type creatures, unlike the solitary panthers or tigers. Generally speaking, panthers or tigers might band together for major battles, but in their day to day lives, these types of magical beasts would generally live separately. But Goldmane Mastiffs were different.

Goldmane Mastiffs had a strong pack mentality and were adept at teamwork.

Goldmane Mastiffs possessed extremely powerful claws. This pack of Goldmane Mastiffs numbered over a hundred. Although Goldmane Mastiffs were magical beasts of the eighth rank, even your average magical beast of the ninth rank wouldn’t dare provoke such a pack. They definitely were a local power to be reckoned with.

Right now…

These Goldmane Mastiffs were either lying in rest next to the pond, or casually strolling about, or perhaps frolicking and swimming in the water. This wasn’t yet the time for them to hunt for food, and given their strength, they never feared that they would lack for food.

But many Goldmane Mastiffs suddenly looked cautiously up the mountain. Given their alert senses, they could easily sense that something living was moving towards them at high speed. The Goldmane Mastiffs which had been lying down all stood up, staring coldly at this creature which was moving towards them.

Goldmane Mastiffs were three meters tall and six meters long. Their entire bodies were covered with golden fur, and they seemed lion-like. But their eyes radiated a strange golden glow.

“Grrrrrrrrr.” The pack of Goldmane Mastiffs suddenly began to growl.

They finally saw the creature which was provoking them. It was a human wielding a devilish violet sword whose body was wrapped up with a red light. These extremely intelligent Goldmane Mastiffs suddenly felt at ease again. It was just a human. Unless this human was at the Saint-level, he wouldn’t be able to do anything to them.

But suddenly…

When the human drew close enough for that red mist to cover them, all of the Goldmane Mastiffs suddenly felt terrified like never before. This terrifying aura was far more powerful than even the aura of a Saint-level magical beast. Under this oppressive, baleful aura, all of the Goldmane Mastiffs felt as though their limbs were no longer under their own control, and one after another knelt down in terror as they lowered their proud heads.

“Blood…blood…”

Linley was doing his best to remain clear-minded, but he could feel the intense desire of Bloodviolet to drink blood. After having roused the baleful aura contained within Bloodviolet, Bloodviolet had to be sated by drinking enough blood.

“Swish!”

Transforming into a violet ray of light, Bloodviolet passed straight through the neck of one of the Goldmane Mastiffs. A meter-high mastiff head flew off.

Linley’s speed was simply too fast.

No. Accurately speaking, Bloodviolet’s killing speed was too fast. Only after it had chopped through eight Goldmane Mastiffs heads did the first head fly off. And only now did the remaining Goldmane Mastiffs, who had all been kneeling in terror, wake to their senses.

“Hoowwwl!” Nearby, the largest of the Goldmane Mastiffs forced itself to stand up, then raised his head up and began howling angrily. But despite this, its limbs were still trembling, and its eyes were still filled with disbelieving fear.

Their intelligence, however, was very high.

These Goldmane Mastiffs all knew that this human emitting this terrifying aura was going to kill them all. Even though they were terrified, they were still going to resist.

Having drank so much fresh blood, Bloodviolet emitted a joyful sound.

“Die! Die!” The more he killed, the more Linley felt as though the desire to kill was consuming him. Right now, the only desire he had was to kill.

The remaining hundred or so Goldmane Mastiffs didn’t dare to directly face Linley. All of them turned tail and ran.

“Swish!” Linley’s Bloodviolet sword chopped towards the head of another Goldmane Mastiff.

Knowing that it wasn’t going to be able to flee, this Goldmane Mastiff turned back and opened its mouth, biting down at Linley while breathing flames from its mouth. Instinctively, Linley’s body became covered by his azure-blackish Dragonblood battle-qi, which protected him and blocked the flame breath of this Goldmane Mastiff.

When the violet sword drew close to the Goldmane Mastiff’s head, the Goldmane Mastiff could clearly sense that the baleful aura this violet sword was emitting was now several times stronger than before. This terror, the likes of which it had never felt before, caused its limbs to go soft. Even the energy being generated by the magicite core in its body had come to a halt, and it just stood there, allowing the violet sword to cut its head off.

Surrounded by a baleful aura that had taken physical form, Linley constantly chased after and killed one Goldmane Mastiff after another.

These local tyrants, the Goldmane Mastiffs, were now truly panicked. They had no idea where this fiendish god had come from. That baleful aura was now so strong that even their bodily functions were being affected. Even if they wanted to fight, their bodies were no longer under their total control.

Blood sprayed everywhere.

Hacked limbs and severed heads flew everywhere…

In the blink of an eye, thirty Goldmane Mastiffs had died on the spot.

“Boss, boss!” Bebe called out frantically.

Bebe could sense the state which Linley was currently in. He was terrified that in the future, Linley would have permanently transformed into a constantly slaughtering madman. Slowly, Linley’s form slowed its movements.

“Bebe. I’m fine.” Linley’s voice rang out in Bebe’s mind.

Bebe immediately ran over. Bebe could clearly see Linley’s bare upper body, his forehead covered in sweat, and that faint layer of red on his skin. Right now, Linley’s eyes were closed, and his chest was rising and falling like a blacksmith’s bellows.

“Whew…”

Letting out a long breath, Linley finally opened his eyes. Linley’s eyes had now returned to their normal clarity.

“Boss, you…what happened to you?” Bebe said worriedly.

With a hint of lingering fear, Linley looked at the Bloodviolet sword in his hands. Right now, Linley was very certain that this Bloodviolet sword had been a slaughterer’s sword, and that it had killed an extraordinarily high number of people. Linley even suspected that the endless sea of blood, bones, and corpses that he had sensed earlier had all been the handiwork of Bloodviolet.

But those corpses…Linley didn’t even recognize most of them, or what races they belonged to.

“Is there a race of humans with the heads of bulls? Can it be that these are the legendary minotaurs from other planes?” Linley thought to himself questioningly. From his books, Linley had seen references to minotaurs before, but there were no such creatures in the Yulan continent.

But many of the other corpses, Linley had never seen or heard of, even in the books and records he had read.

For example, those massive giant creatures that were ten meters tall, covered with thick black scales, and had two massive horns sprouting from their foreheads. The aura emanating from their corpses alone filled Linley with dread. Linley had the feeling that those massive creatures definitely were not one whit weaker than some of the Saint-level magical beasts he had seen.

But there were innumerable numbers of corpses of those giant creatures!

It was true! Those corpses of creatures which were no weaker than Saint-level magical beasts could be seen everywhere in that boundless sea of blood.

“Who was the previous owner of this Bloodviolet sword? He actually killed this many powerful combatants.” Linley was secretly shocked. He was absolutely certain that this sword definitely came from one of the Higher Planes, because the Yulan continent simply never had this many powerful combatants.

As he thought back to how he had originally acquired Bloodviolet, Linley understood something. This Bloodviolet Godsword truly did not originate from the Yulan continent.

With a thought, Linley absorbed Bloodviolet into his interspatial ring.

“Whew. Unless it is absolutely necessary, I definitely cannot activate the baleful aura hidden within this Bloodviolet sword again.” Linley had already made up his mind about this.

At this time, Bebe leaped onto Linley’s shoulders.

“Boss. What just happened?” Bebe asked.

Linley laughed as he looked at Bebe. “Bebe, do you remember how we discovered that magical formation back when we were in the Foggy Valley? At that time, Grandpa Doehring had said that the mysterious magical formation was even more complicated and mysterious than Saint-level magical formations. And Bloodviolet was used to support that magical formation. At that time, we suspected that Bloodviolet wasn’t as simple a sword as it appeared to be. And indeed, that is the case.”

Bebe immediately listened alertly.

“This Bloodviolet Godsword most likely has experienced endless amounts of murder and slaughter, and also killed many powerful combatants, including those of the Saint-level, or even higher! And precisely because that is the case, within this Bloodviolet sword there is a terrifyingly powerful baleful aura. Once it has been activated and agitated, even those Goldmane Mastiffs quaked and knelt down in fear. But despite having its positives, it also has its negatives. Once it’s been activated, Bloodviolet absolutely must be fed blood. Otherwise, Bloodviolet will refuse to obey my intentions and won’t obediently go into my interspatial ring.”

Bebe nodded.

“Boss, this Bloodviolet sword really is terrifying. Just then, that baleful aura even made me tremble with fear as well, and my limbs were shaking too. In a situation like that that, even though I’m a magical beast of the ninth rank, I perhaps would’ve only been able to use half of my power.” Bebe said honestly.

As for magical beasts of the eighth rank, when oppressed by that baleful aura, they probably wouldn’t even be able to use a tenth of their power.

When the baleful aura within Bloodviolet was activated, the opponent’s own power would be impacted and drop. If even a magical beast of the ninth rank would be influenced so dramatically, one could easily imagine how useful this sword would prove to be in battle.

“But being possessed by that cruel, vicious, wild, murdering urge really is not a good feeling. Once the baleful aura is activated, I absolutely must kill a large number of living creatures before that wild, cruel, murdering urge is sated.” Linley had just experienced that urge, so he knew full well what it was like.

Unless it was absolutely necessary, it was best not to activate that baleful aura.

“Alright, Bebe. Let’s collect the magicite cores and continue.”

“Magicite cores? Wow, so many.” Bebe excitedly went to collect the magicite cores.

After collecting the cores of those several dozen Goldmane Mastiffs, Linley and Bebe continued on their journey, letting the corpses of the Goldmane Mastiffs remain there. In the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, once dead, even the most powerful of magical beasts would be no more than food for other animals.

Their discovery of this secret contained within Bloodviolet was nothing more but a side event.

Linley continued his lifestyle of training. Every day, he would travel around ten kilometers, with most of his time spent training. As far as how the heavy sword was meant to be used, almost every day, Linley would have a new insight. Linley was totally immersed in that wondrous feeling of training and improving.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 8, The Ten Thousand Kilometer Journey – Chapter 4, The Black Shadow

The first snow of that winter was a major one. Many places in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts were covered with snow as well. Various tracks could be seen clearly, some belonging to humans, and as well as magical beasts of various sizes.

“What a large blizzard.”

Linley still wore only those ragged hempcloth pants, his upper body bare. Although the temperature was so cold that even rapidly flowing water would freeze, Linley didn’t fear it in the slightest.

Barefooted, Linley continued to stride forward.

“Boss, it should almost be the time of the Yulan Festival, right.” Bebe guessed.

After having been in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts for so long, Linley didn’t even have a rough idea of what day it was. Although Linley did have a pocket watch, the watch was only capable of keeping simple time, and didn’t track dates.

“Should be around that time.” Linley nodded.

After having been in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts for around two years, Linley’s prowess as a warrior had increased at a fairly rapid rate. He was at the peak-stage of the seventh rank now. But in terms of using the heavy sword, his skill in wielding his adamantine heavy sword was immeasurably higher than it was originally. In particular, after becoming a dual-element magus of the eighth rank, when he used his magic and his warrior skills simultaneously, his power was raised to a very high level.

“Hrm?” Bebe and Linley both turned to look back.

Not too far away, two sturdy warriors dressed in leather armor and holding weapons were running frantically, seemingly panic-stricken. Seeing that it was other humans, Linley continued on his path. The Mountain Range of Magical Beasts had a large number of human experts training within it, and in these past two years, Linley had encountered quite a few humans. With respect to the humans in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, Linley had a simple principle – Don’t irritate others.

After all, plenty of people were here with the intention of taking the magicite crystals in other people’s bags for themselves. Because Linley had an interspatial ring, he didn’t have to carry his bag with him. Thus, there were very few people who had the desire to act against Linley.

“Wait, wait!” A frantic shout from behind.

But Linley didn’t pay them any mind at all, continuing to walk forward. Those two people ran quite fast, and they quickly overtook Linley. When they drew near, Linley immediately halted and turned around.

“What do you want?” Linley stared coldly at those two men.

Linley could tell that these two were not weak. However, a human’s level of power was hard to judge at a glance. Linley was fairly cautious in dealing with these two.

“Us?” The two sturdily built men exchanged glances, and then forced out awkward smiles towards Linley. One of them, a one-eyed bald man, said apologetically, “We don’t have any bad intentions. Only, the core regions of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts are too dangerous. We two brothers…would like to travel with you, friend. That way, we can help each other out. Wouldn’t that be safer?”

The other bald man started momentarily, then quickly nodded repeatedly. “Right. The core region is very dangerous. If we travel together, we can help each other out. How about this? Once we all leave the core regions and leave the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, we’ll go our own ways.”

“Not interested.”

Linley frowned. Turning back, he continued on his journey forward.

Linley wasn’t that easily fooled youngster of the past. He could tell that these two were clearly lying. Helping each other out in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts? What a joke. These two people definitely didn’t have any good intentions in wanting to travel with him. Linley didn’t want to cause any trouble, and couldn’t be bothered to kill these two either. Naturally, he wouldn’t want them to travel with him.

Seeing how bluntly Linley refused and continued on his journey, these two bald men glanced at each other. Hesitating only slightly, they immediately rushed over again.

“Wait, friend, please wait.” The two bald men caught up again.

Linley couldn’t help but frown as he turned his head to stare coldly at these two.

The two men looked awkwardly at Linley. The one-eyed man said apologetically, “I’m so very sorry, but we two really would like to travel alongside you. Don’t worry, once we leave this place, we’ll definitely show gratitude to you.”

Linley glanced at each man.

“If you want to follow, then follow.” Linley said calmly.

After having been in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts for so long, Linley was quite experienced now. If these two insisted on travelling with him, then let them. Linley was confident in his own ability to deal with them. After all, Linley had Bebe with him as well, on his shoulders.

“Thank you, thank you.” Those two bald men said gratefully.

Immediately, those two moved together to walk alongside Linley. At the same time, they constantly scanned the area around them, a hint of dread in their eyes.

“Friend, we hail from the O’Brien Empire’s southwest district administrative province. Where are you from?” The one-eyed bald man seemed to want to have more friendly relations with Linley.

Linley’s eyebrows twitched.

The O’Brien Empire?

Linley knew very well that if he were to cut directly through the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, he would be able to arrive in the territory of the O’Brien Empire quite quickly.

“Why so many questions?” Linley glanced at the man. “If you want to follow, then follow. Don’t make a sound.”

“Alright, alright.” The one-eyed bald man nodded repeatedly.

They could tell that Linley definitely was no ordinary person. It wasn’t too strange for him to be only wearing hempcloth pants in the winter, but what was quite amazing was that a human in the core region of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts could be so calm and unhurried.

It was as though this dangerous region was nothing more than a flower garden to him.

“Big brother.” The bald man pulled at the arm of the other, one-eyed bald man. In a low voice, he said, “Big brother, do you think we’ll be able to preserve our lives?”

The one-eyed bald man looked at their surroundings in fear, then said in a low voice, “Don’t over-think things. For now, let’s follow this mysterious fellow. If we follow him, we might have a chance.”

“Right.” The first bald man nodded. But in his heart, he still felt fearful.

Up ahead in front of them, Linley was walking very naturally. Linley noticed that the two men behind him were whispering, but Linley had a feeling that these two men were not the type to try and act against him.

After a while, Linley took a rest.

Each day, Linley would only travel ten kilometers. The rest of his time was spent in training. The two men behind him became truly frantic when Linley rested so soon.

“Why have you stopped?” The one-eyed bald man said frantically.

“Hrm?” Linley glanced unhappily at the two men.

The younger man hurriedly laughed. “Milord, this is still the core regions. Wouldn’t it be better for us to hurry out of the core regions before resting?”

Linley frowned, then spoke. “Don’t annoy me. If you want to follow me, then follow. If you want to go, then go. As for me, if I want to stop, I’ll stop. If you keep kicking up such a fuss, then don’t blame me if I kill you both.”

The two bald men exchanged glances, then laughed awkwardly.

“Sorry, sorry.”

The two immediately retreated slightly, no longer daring to disturb Linley.

“These two are acting in a strange way.” Linley glanced at these two men. These two men said that they wanted to leave the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, but they insisted on following him. If he didn’t leave, they wouldn’t leave either.

Why did they insist on following him?

He didn’t know these two men at all.

Linley sat down cross-legged, placing the adamantine heavy sword across his legs. But just at this moment, Linley suddenly felt a tinge of fear in his heart….

“Swish!”

Linley suddenly turned his head. A black shadow suddenly flashed in front of him, then disappeared.

“Ah! Ah!” From far away, a terrified cry could be heard, but after two or three cries, it fell silent. Only now did Linley realize that of the two bald men, only one was left now. The one remaining was the one-eyed bald man. As for his younger brother, the man was gone now. Next to the man, there was a pool of blood.

“Ah! Ah! No, no!” The one-eyed bald man seemed to have suffered some sort of unspeakable shock, as he began to scream.

Linley solemnly rose to his feet, and Bebe began to grow cautious as well.

“Boss, that creature is extremely fast!” Bebe mentally spoke solemnly. “We’ve been in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts for a very long time. This is the fastest creature we’ve encountered yet. I couldn’t even clearly see if it was a man or a magical beast.”

Linley hadn’t been able to see it clearly either.

That creature’s speed was simply too fast. In terms of movement speed, it was even a bit faster than Bebe.

“What exactly was that? Bebe has entered the ninth rank now, and we have spent quite some time here in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. But in terms of speed, we’ve never met anything that was faster than Bebe.” Linley began to feel suspicious.

Bebe’s speed was his greatest strength.

It was hard to find a magical beast able to outspeed Bebe, even amongst the ninth rank.

“What was that strange creature? Could it have been a Saint-level creature?” Linley felt a slight shock. Saint-level magical beasts would naturally be fast. It would make sense for it to be faster than Linley.

Linley immediately turned his head to stare at the one-eyed bald man.

Right now, the eyes of the one-eyed bald man were filled with fear, and his mouth was continuously muttering something. Every so often, he would look around in fear, as though in terror of being attacked again.

“Ah!!!” Feeling himself being grabbed, the one-eyed bald man couldn’t help but scream in terror.

But when he came to his senses and looked behind himself, he saw that it was Linley who had grabbed him by his clothes.

“Speak. What is going on.” Linley stared at him accusingly. “Otherwise, I’ll abandon you here and travel by myself.”

“No, no, don’t abandon me.” The one-eyed bald man directly fell to his knees. “I’ll talk. I’ll talk.”

Seeing this, Linley couldn’t help but frown.

He had heard long ago that the O’Brien Empire was a major military power. The people of the O’Brien Empire deeply venerated the War God, and thus many of the citizens of the Empire would train in the path of the warrior. Powerful warriors were extremely proud. For this bald man to be able to enter the core region of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, he clearly wasn’t weak either. Even if he wasn’t a warrior of the seventh rank, he must be a warrior of the sixth rank at least.

But the one-eyed bald man had just fallen to his knees, showing no spine at all.

“Milord, you don’t know how terrible these recent days have been. They’ve, they’ve been like a terrible, terrible dream.” The one-eyed bald man’s eyes were beginning to fill with tears.

Linley immediately began to listen closely.

“This time, myself, my younger brother, my wife, and a group of friends formed a squad to enter the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts and begin our training. We hoped to acquire some magicite cores as well. To people like us, who had entered the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts for more than five times, this was an ordinary trip. But we didn’t expect…”

The bald man’s entire body was trembling. “On the third day after we entered the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, just as we entered the inner regions, we entered a nightmare.”

“This squad of mine had six warriors of the seventh rank, and two magi of the sixth rank. As long as we stayed within the inner regions of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, there shouldn’t have been any danger. But who would’ve thought…that we would encounter a terrifying monster.”

“Monster?” Linley frowned.

“The first time we encountered it, it immediately ambushed us, killing one of my good friends, just like how it acted just now.” The one-eyed bald man’s entire body was shaking. “I was furious, because this monster was simply too fast. We couldn’t even tell what it looked like. Only after hearing our friend’s miserable cries did we know that we were under attack. And then, seeing the blood on the ground, we realized that our friend was most likely dead.”

“At the time, we all believed that magical beast was only able to attack from ambush, and didn’t dare to face us directly. Clearly, it wasn’t that strong. In our fury, we even thought about killing it to gain vengeance. But at first, we couldn’t find the monster.”

The one-eyed bald man took a deep breath, calming his agitated heart before continuing. “But that very night, shortly after we finished dinner, the monster came again.” As he spoke, the lone eye of the man opened wide. Clearly he was very nervous.

“This time, like the previous time, that monster ambushed and carried off one of our magi. But this time, it carried the magus only a few dozen meters away before beginning to eat him. Right in front of us, the monster began eating our squad’s magus.”

“What did this monster look like?” Linley immediately asked.

“It looked like a panther whose body was almost totally pitch black.” The one-eyed bald man said.

“Totally pitch black body? The eighth ranked magical beast, Blackstripe Panther?” But saying this, Linley found that he didn’t believe it. A magical beast of the eighth rank couldn’t possibly reach such an astonishing speed. Not even a panther, a land-based magical beast of incredible speed.

“It wasn’t a Blackstripe Panther. Our squad was fairly experienced, and we know that Blackstripe Panthers are covered in extremely dense straight black stripes, while this monster’s body was covered in curved black stripes that looked like a decorative pattern.”

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 8, The Ten Thousand Kilometer Journey – Chapter 5, The Mysterious Black Panther

Linley was beginning to frown.

He, too, had never heard of such a creature. There were several types of panther-type magical beasts, but one which was entirely pitch-black and covered with dense black wavy lines which formed decorative patterns, was totally unheard of.

Generally speaking, creatures that one had never heard of must not be underestimated.

The one-eyed bald man said, “That monster decided to eat the meat on the face and the legs of our magus right in front of us, one large bite at a time. Watching this, we were all furious, and we instantly charged forward to attack it.

“However…”

The bald man shook his head. “What we didn’t expect was that the monster was far too powerful. We originally thought that the reason it attacked from ambush, then slipped away was because it was weak. However…when our entire group attacked it, it only heavily wounded us.”

“Heavily wounded?” Linley questioned suspiciously.

“Right.” The one-eyed bald man said in fear and anger. “That monster definitely was capable of killing us all, but it didn’t. It only heavily wounded us.

“We originally thought that we still had a chance of living, only to find that the monster was focused on us now. Each day, it would take away two of our people. Sometimes, it would take them away, while other times, it would just eat our friends not too far away from us.”

Linley’s heart trembled.

He knew that magical beasts were highly intelligent. The magical beast that this one-eyed bald man had encountered clearly was extremely powerful and extremely intelligent. Most likely, this magical beast was a perverted creature.

“We wanted to flee back, but each time we tried to head away from and out of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, that monster would come again and heavily injure us again.”

That one-eyed bald man laughed bitterly. “We simply weren’t able to escape the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. Each day, that monster would come and take away one or two people. In the blink of an eye, our twelve person squad only had six left.”

“Having already seen this happen several times, my wife finally broke down mentally when the monster once again began to eat our friends in front of us. She begged me. Begged me to kill her.”

The one-eyed bald man laughed bitterly. “You have no idea the terror we felt after those three days. All of us were at the point of collapse. My wife was fairly weak, even weaker than me. Faced with this terrible choice, in the end, I finally made the choice to put my wife out of her misery.”

“You killed your wife?” Linley frowned.

“Yes. I killed her with my own hands.” The one-eyed bald man said painfully. “But the very day I killed my wife, we encountered several other people, one of whom was a major figure in our Southwest Administrative Province. A combatant of the ninth rank named Pruitt [Pu’lu’te].”

“We had been at the brink of despair and collapse. I killed my own wife, but right afterwards, a combatant of the ninth rank appeared. How do you think I felt?”

The one-eyed bald man’s entire body was shaking. “I almost went mad. Truly. I almost killed myself, I was in such pain.”

Linley could totally imagine how, when overcome by despair and mentally broken down, one would personally kill one’s wife, so as to not allow one’s wife to suffer the fate of being eaten alive, one bite at a time. But then, after killing one’s wife, a combatant of the ninth rank appeared?

This sort of contrast was definitely capable of driving someone insane.

“I was filled with pain, but my other friends were very happy, because they knew that we now had a chance. A combatant of the ninth rank! That was someone whom only the Saint-level would surpass. We told our story to him, and Lord Pruitt immediately promised to dispose of this beast for us.”

“When that monster once more came for us, Lord Pruitt immediately made his move.” A strange expression was on the face of that one-eyed bald man. “Just one blow. The monster took a blow from Lord Pruitt head on, then smashed Lord Pruitt’s head open with a blow from its paws.”

Linley’s heart shook.

It was actually able to take a blow from a combatant of the ninth rank head on? Its speed and defense were both incredibly terrifying. A monster like this definitely couldn’t be underestimated.

“This time, the monster was extremely excited. Right before our very eyes, it suddenly transformed, increasing in size from two meters tall to nearly five meters tall and ten meters long. It devoured Lord Pruitt with one gulp.” The one-eyed bald man said in terror.

The look on Linley’s face changed.

“Able to change its size?” Linley was truly shocked.

All Saint-level magical beasts were capable of changing their size. They could easily make themselves much larger or much smaller. But of course, a very small number of magical beasts of the ninth rank with extremely high natural talent could do this as well.

For example, Bebe was capable of changing his size slightly.

In other words…

This magical beast was either a Saint-level magical beast, or an extremely talented magical beast of the ninth rank.

“It wouldn’t be a Saint-level, would it?” Linley’s heart was somewhat unsettled. Although Linley was very self-confident, he still didn’t have any hopes of dealing with a Saint-level magical beast at all.

That one-eyed bald man laughed painfully. “Just like that, the monster continued to torment us, eating two of us each day. In the end, only my younger brother and I were left. We continued to flee along the core regions, hoping in vain that this monster would engage in battle with some other powerful magical beast, giving us a chance to flee. But clearly, no magical beasts were capable of stopping that monster.”

Linley nodded.

He now totally understood.

But this one-eyed bald man didn’t have any good intentions towards Linley, insisting on following Linley. Clearly, this was out of the hopes that Linley would protect him. Acting like this showed that this man didn’t care about whether Linley lived or died at all.

The expression on Linley’s face grew hard.

“Milord, I…I had no other choices.” The one-eyed bald man knew what Linley was thinking. He hurriedly said, “I have kids. My second brother had kids as well. We didn’t want to die.”

“Do you think I want to die?” Linley said coldly.

Just based on what that one-eyed bald man had said, Linley had a general sense of how powerful this monster was.

It was faster than Bebe, and wasn’t hurt from a sword blow from a combatant of the ninth rank.

Just based on these two points, Linley couldn’t help but feel nervous. What’s more, that was only the power that had been revealed. What was the true level of power possessed by this monster?

Was it a Saint-level magical beast?

Linley couldn’t be certain. If it was a Saint-level of magical beast, then even if he and Bebe joined forces, they still wouldn’t be a match at all.

“You didn’t want to die, so you pulled us under water as well?” Linley felt extremely dissatisfied.

“Bebe, let’s go.”

Linley immediately sped up his footsteps, heading forward. The one-eyed bald man continued to follow Linley. Linley couldn’t help but turn his head and stare at him coldly.

This bastard was still following?

Clearly, that monster had its mind set on that one-eyed bald man.

“Milord, you…please save me.” The one-eyed bald man’s eyes were filled with a beseeching look.

But his actions only made Linley dislike him more and more. This man was selfish, only caring about himself. He didn’t care about others at all.

“Even a ninth rank combatant died. Do you think I’m a Saint-level combatant?” Linley suddenly drew the adamantine heavy sword from his back, and the one-eyed bald man was frightened into beating a hasty retreat.

“If you continue to follow me, then don’t blame me for being merciless to you.” Linley said coldly.

Linley was now a peak-stage warrior of the seventh rank, and a middle-stage warrior of the ninth rank in Dragonform. Although he was somewhat more powerful than when he was in Hess City, in Hess City, Linley was only capable of fighting that warrior of the ninth rank, Kaiser, to a draw.

Right now, it would be very difficult for Linley to be able to kill a combatant of the ninth rank in one blow.

But that monster had easily done just that, killing a ninth ranked combatant.

Risking his own life for a person he didn’t even know? Was that worth it?

Linley returned his adamantine heavy sword to its sheath, then left by himself. The one-eyed bald man just stood there, not daring to follow. He only stared with despair and hatred at Linley’s back.

“Ah!!!”

After walking less than a hundred meters, an agonized scream came from behind him. Linley immediately turned to look back.

On the snow ground, there was a black panther that was two meters tall and nearly four meters long. The black panther had, in its maws, the body of that one-eyed bald man.

“Save…save me!” The one-eyed bald man was still alive.

Linley’s attention was totally focused on the black panther. The black panther’s body was covered with a large number of wavy, patterned lines. It was quite beautiful, actually. And right now, that black panther’s cold eyes were currently looking at Linley with curiosity.

Clearly…

The black panther was playing a game. The previous game had just come to an end, and now, Linley had become the next victim in its game.

“Save me!” The one-eyed bald man stared at Linley, begging Linley with his eyes.

But that black panther just bit down viciously. With a crunching sound, half of the one-eyed bald man’s waist was bitten off, and his intestines began to slide out. The one-eyed bald man spasmed on the ground a few times, not dying right away.

The black panther walked forward gracefully, stepping on the one-eyed bald man’s chest with its sharp paws.

“CRUNCH!”

The one-eyed bald man’s chest caved in, and seconds later he stopped moving.

The black panther looked at Linley with interest, and then it began to slowly, gracefully move towards Linley. It must be said that its graceful stride was indeed quite beautiful to behold.

“Bebe. Prepare to ambush him. This time, we’re going all out.” Linley could tell that this unidentifiable panther-type magical beast now had its eyes set on him. Instead of allowing this creature to ambush him as it pleased, it was better to engage it head on.

Linley drew the adamantine heavy sword from its sheath, staring at the black panther.

“Hmph.” Linley’s body began to transform. Cold, sharp horns erupted from his forehead, while black scales quickly covered his entire body. That sturdy tail erupted from behind him as well, and his knees, elbows, and spine became lined with sharp spikes.

In the blink of an eye, Linley had totally Dragonformed.

The black panther, seeing this human suddenly transform into a strange, human-shaped aberration, couldn’t help but be startled. Its sleek, glossy hair immediately rose up in caution.

One was a Dragonblood Warrior.

The other, a mysterious panther-type magical beast.

“Come.” Wielding the adamantine heavy sword in his hands, Linley didn’t move at all, just standing there on the snowy ground. As stable and unmoving as a mountain.

The black panther’s body began to crouch down slightly. It was gathering its power!

“Whoosh!”

His dark golden eyes locked onto the black panther, this time Linley was just barely able to see the black panther’s movements. In the blink of an eye, the black panther had crossed the hundred meters distance between them and arrived in front of him.

“WHAP!”

Moving as fast as lightning, Linley’s draconic tail swung at the black panther’s body. In terms of speed, the attack speed of Linley’s tail was actually much faster than the black panther’s movement speed.

The black panther was knocked back over ten meters onto the snowy ground.

But immediately upon landing, the black panther let out a deep growl as it stared at Linley with its cold eyes. This time, the creature was clearly going to attack at full power. With a leap, the black panther charged at incredible speed, so fast as to make one’s heart tremble.

Linley could clearly tell that there wasn’t a single hint of blood on the black panther’s body.

The draconic tail of a middle-stage Dragonblood Warrior of the ninth rank wasn’t able to injure it at all.

The adamantine heavy sword of Linley swung downwards, chopping as fast as lightning. Black light seemed to flow off the blade of the adamantine heavy sword. The black panther actually dared to swing a paw to directly claw at Linley’s adamantine heavy sword.

“CLANG!” Linley’s adamantine heavy sword was actually deflected to the side by the black panther’s paw.

“Slash!”

The other paw slashed against Linley’s arm. On the black scales covering Linley’s arm, a rather deep scratch could be seen, and two scales had been split open as well.

The man and the magical beast had each exchanged a blow. They immediately separated.

“Growl…growl…” Standing in the middle of the snow, the black panther stared coldly at Linley. He now saw Linley as a serious opponent. Just now, his attack hadn’t been able to totally rip apart that scaled defense and tear off Linley’s arm. This made the black panther very surprised.

Linley stared at the damage done to his scaly armor.

Most magical beasts of the ninth rank were not capable of breaching Linley’s defense. But just now, that panther had been able to rip two scales apart.

The black panther’s body suddenly increased in size, transforming from two meters tall to five, and lengthening to ten meters as well. That black tail of the panther was waving around like a whip. The panther continued to stare coldly at Linley.

“Growl…”

This enormous creature once again charged towards Linley.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 8, The Ten Thousand Kilometer Journey – Chapter 6, Another Transformation

“Boss.” Bebe’s voice rang out in Linley’s mind.

Holding the adamantine heavy sword with one hand, Linley leapt backwards in an arcing dodging pattern. At the same time, he mentally said, “Bebe, don’t panic. Let me first have a good fight with this mysterious black panther. If I can’t beat it, you can make your move against it. You are my secret weapon.”

Bebe, understanding, rapidly retreated to one side.

Right now, Linley had been filled with a growing urge to do battle. Despite having spent this much time in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, he hadn’t yet encountered an opponent who required him to truly use all of his power. Saint-level beasts were too powerful, while Linley could now totally dominate ordinary magical beasts of the ninth rank through his higher speed.

Only, this mysterious black panther was even faster than Linley.

“Growl!” The enormous black panther landed on the ground, cold gaze fixed upon Linley.

But Linley only had a hint of a smile on his lips.

“It increased in size, but no doubt its speed is now slower.” Linley could clearly tell that this black panther’s speed had dropped by 20% to 30% just now. With the support of the wind-style Supersonic spell, Linley was totally confident in his ability to deal with it.

But Linley also understood something.

With greater size came lesser speed…but most likely, the black panther’s offensive abilities had just greatly increased. Even in its normal form, the black panther had been able to rip open two of Linley’s scales. Linley no longer dared to allow the black panther to land any more claw attacks against him.

With a ‘swish’, that mysterious black panther once more pounced towards Linley at high speed, arriving in front of Linley in mere moments.

“Whoosh.”

Right at this moment, Linley suddenly slid down on the snow beneath the black panther, passing below it while simultaneously stabbing at the black panther’s chest with his adamantine heavy sword.

“CLANG!”

Linley’s heavy sword once again slammed against the sharp claws of the panther. Although the black panther’s speed had decreased with its increased size, the attack speed of its paw strikes was still astonishingly fast.

“Swish!” That seven or eight meter long black panther tail ripped through the air, viciously slashing towards Linley.

Linley kicked off powerfully against the ground with his right foot, launching himself towards an enormous nearby tree. As he arrived, Linley kicked viciously against the massive tree with both legs.

“CRACK!” The tree was broken in half and fell down, while its dense array of branches also smashed everywhere.

With astonishing speed, Linley used the bounce-back force to dive back towards the mysterious black panther, while at the same time, gripping the adamantine heavy sword with both hands in a vicious downward stroke against the black panther.

“Slash!” The adamantine heavy sword moved so fast that it ripped through the air, creating an ear-piercing, howling sound.

But right at this moment, the black panther turned its head to stare at Linley, staying there without moving, allowing Linley to strike it at will. Clearly, this black panther understood that after having transformed to a larger size, it would no longer be able to rely on its speed to suppress Linley.

“Swish!”

The adamantine heavy sword in Linley’s hands suddenly seemed to lose all weight and force, floating gracefully downwards at an astonishing speed. The tip of the sword, however, was beginning to tremble.

“Bam.” The adamantine heavy sword collided against the black panther’s body.

A look of surprise appeared in the cold, arrogant eyes of the black panther, because this sword blow seemed to have no force behind it at all. Without hesitating in the slightest, it sent its seven or eight meter long tail slashing fiercely towards Linley.

“Thunderbolt.” Linley’s formerly calm eyes suddenly seemed to spit lightning bolts.

The black panther suddenly felt as though that adamantine heavy sword which had just touched its back suddenly exploded with a terrifyingly powerful blast of force. The force was like the eruption of a volcano, blasting out power wildly and at high speed.

“BAM!”

The black panther felt its limbs grow soft, and its body was pressed down by a significant amount. Its glossy black fur suddenly began to ripple like the waves of the sea.

“Growl!!!!” A small amount of blood leaked out from the corner of the black panther’s mouth.

This level of ‘wielding something heavy as though it were light’ required perfect coordination between physical strength and battle-qi. It wasn’t just raw, brute force; rather, it was concentrating all of the rushing power and unleashing it at one blow. Although the black panther possessed astonishing defensive capabilities, with its fur neutralizing more than half of the offensive power, a significant amount of power still entered its body, causing the black panther some internal injuries.

“Whap!”

That whip-like black tail of the black panther landed viciously on Linley’s body, smashing apart the armored scales on Linley’s waist and sending Linley flying.

Just as Linley was about to smash into the top part of the trunk of another large tree, Linley suddenly stretched out his right hand and plunged his claws into the tree trunk like a grappling hook. Hanging onto the trunk, Linley looked down from his position at the upper trunk of the tree.

“As I thought. Once it transforms to a large size, its offensive power increases greatly.” Linley looked at the shattered scales on his waist and the fresh blood leaking from beneath it. He now understood much more about this mysterious black panther. “As for its defense, however, it didn’t increase that much.”

When it transformed to a larger size, the black panther’s defense didn’t change much. Its speed dropped, and its attack power increased.

“It seems as though my ‘Thunderbolt’ technique is still effective against it.” Linley was very satisfied with the effect of his ‘Thunderbolt’ attack.

This black panther possessed a terrifyingly powerful defense. Even the explosive power unleashed by ‘Thunderbolt’ was largely blocked by its extremely tough black fur, and the fur itself seemed to be totally undamaged.

If Linley were only to use raw, brute force and battle-qi against this black panther, he probably wouldn’t be able to wound it at all.

“Time to use my magic.”

Linley began to mumble the words to a magical incantation. Right now, Linley was hanging around thirty or so meters up above the ground off that tree trunk, while the black panther was staring up at him coldly from below. Seeing that Linley didn’t come down, this peak-stage, highly intelligent magical beast of the ninth rank, came to a snap decision.

If you aren’t coming down, I’m coming up!

“Swoosh!” That five-meter tall, enormous black panther suddenly flew into the air, leaping directly towards Linley. With its astonishing springing force, it cleared thirty meters with a single bound.

Linley’s heart was as tranquil as water.

Despite seeing the enormous black panther fly upwards towards himself, he still continued to chant the words to his spell. Only, he slapped the trunk of the tree with his right hand, sending himself flying upwards at an incline at high speed.

The tree which Linley had just slapped instantly split apart by the force of that blow.

“Crash!” The tree toppled to the ground towards the panther.

This tree was enormous enough that when it was falling, it took up half of available space. To the physically small Linley, it didn’t prove a problem at all, but the enormous panther was forced to slash at it with its paws and rip it in half.

Seizing this moment, Linley finally completed the magical incantation he was chanting.

“Swiiiish.” On Linley’s back, a pair of translucent, blue wings suddenly appeared. Flashing with azure light, the translucent wings seemed extremely beautiful. With a gentle flap of the wings, Linley’s body rocketed into the air.

Wind-style spell of the eighth rank: Airwings!

Seeing this, the enormous black panther instantly howled with fury. It actually pounced once more towards Linley at high speeds, as Linley flew higher.

“Bam!” Although the black panther had increased in size, it was still extremely dexterous and agile, capable of leaping dozens of meters at a single bound. Borrowing force against the tree trunk, it continued to leap higher and higher up the trees.

But after five or six leaps, the enormous black panther had reached the top of the tallest tree, while right now, Linley flew high above the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts with his translucent wings.

“Now, time for me to thrash you.” Linley saw that the enormous black panther had already leapt towards him from the top of the tallest tree. But now, with nothing to grab on, the black panther had no choice but to allow its body to fall down.

Just as its body began to fall…

“Whoosh!” Linley suddenly spread his wings and rocketed downwards at an astonishing speed.

Through using the astonishing downwards speed granted to him by the Airwings spell, Linley quickly arrived next to the falling enormous black panther. The enormous black panther glared angrily at Linley, but in mid-air, it had nothing to latch onto.

“Haaaaaaaaargh!” Linley suddenly activated all of the Dragonblood battle-qi in his body.

Reaching the absolute maximum limit of Dragonblood battle-qi power in an instant, and with both hands gripped tightly around the adamantine heavy sword, Linley delivered a vicious mid-air chop against the falling black panther, which had nowhere to dodge.

“CLANG!” The black panther’s sharp claws once again clashed against the adamantine heavy sword.

But Linley only confidently swung his adamantine heavy sword against it again at high speed. At this moment, the dancing adamantine heavy sword in Linley’s hands had seemed to become one with the wind, slashing down more than ten times against the falling black panther in the space of one second.

With each sword blow, he executed the ‘Thunderbolt’ technique.

“Bam!” “Bam!”

After blocking the very first strike, the black panther’s body had begun to accelerate its downward falling speed. But using his Airwings spell, Linley was still able to match the black panther’s rate of descent. One sword, then another, then another…

The black panther felt as though each sword stroke of Linley’s was more forceful and heavier than the last, and each sword stroke unleashed the same explosive, flood-like burst of power, causing its internal organs to shake.

After taking over ten blows, the body of the enormous black panther was smashed all the way into the ground by Linley.

“BOOM!”

An enormous crater appeared, and cracks appeared in every direction on the ground. The roots of the massive trees around them began to emerge from the ground, uprooted from the force of this collision.

In the middle of the crater, the enormous black panther spat out a large mouthful of fresh blood, and even a hint of blood could be seen coming out of its fur. These repeated blows by Linley’s heavy sword had caused even the black panther’s fur to be unable to withstand all of the attack force.

“Black panther.” Linley stood in midair, over ten meters above it. His translucent wings fluttered. “I know that you understand the human tongue. I’ll give you a chance. As long as you submit to me, I’ll spare your life.”

Right now, Linley really wanted to tame and acquire this magical beast.

Linley had been in sore need of a good mount this entire time. And, even more importantly, this black panther was an extremely superior creature, especially after it transformed in size. Its enormous, two-story tall body, combined with its astonishing speed and defense made it an absolute war machine.

“Growl!”

The enormous black panther stood up, staring coldly at Linley. Its deadly eyes were filled with boundless wrath. Its head was still raised proudly. How could it possibly submit so easily? But right now, the black panther understood that this human warrior in front of it wasn’t the prey it had thought he was. For a warrior to possess such terrifying power and also be able to use a high level wind-style spell such as ‘Airwings’ was an expert which was extremely rare in the human world.

“Are you willing to submit?” Linley shouted from up high.

As far as magical beasts were concerned, only martial force could make them submit and subdue them. And the higher the rank of a magical beast, the more difficult it was to make them submit.

“Groooowl!” The enormous black panther let out an angry roar.

“If you won’t submit, then I’ll beat you until you do!” Linley was very confident.

When combining his magic with his warrior abilities, his power could rise to an astonishing level. Right now, due to the pair of translucent Airwings on his back, Linley was in total control of the battlefield.

“Swish!” Linley once more dived downwards.

The movement speed of the pair of translucent wings was higher than that which four limbs provided. In the blink of an eye, Linley appeared in front of the enormous black panther as he once more smashed downwards viciously against it with his adamantine heavy sword.

But the black panther only retreated over ten meters at high speed, then pounced forward again.

Flexing his translucent wings, Linley began to dodge about very agilely in the air while constantly chopping downwards with his adamantine heavy sword. Every sword carried with it a terrifying force, capable of flattening a hill.

“Bam!”

The enormous black panther’s body was once more struck by the adamantine heavy sword and knocked flying. Blood had matted its glossy black fur with a red color. Linley stood confidently in midair, ready to strike another blow at the black panther at any moment with his adamantine heavy sword.

“Will you submit?” Linley said in a solemn voice.

The black panther once more rose to its feet, staring coldly at Linley. Suddenly…the black panther’s body began to shrink. It once more shrunk down to a height of two meters and a length of four meters…but the strange thing was, this time, the black panther’s entire body began to glow with a hazy black and white light.

“What on earth?” Sensing danger, Linley quickly flew a bit higher using his translucent wings, cautiously staring down.

That black and white light disappeared. The black panther’s body, previously covered with a large, dense amount of black stripes, now only had a few thick black stripes on its upper body, while the fur on its four limbs had turned as white as snow.

Seeing this, Linley sucked in a cold breath. “Blackcloud Panther? The legendary Blackcloud Panther?”

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 8, The Ten Thousand Kilometer Journey – Chapter 7, A Battle of Speed

The most powerful panther-type magical beast would probably be the Saint-level magical beast, “Electrobolt Panther”, a lightning-type magical beast. It was so incredibly fast that other Saint-level beasts simply couldn’t compare to it.

But the most secretive, most mysterious panther-type magical beast would be the ninth-ranked magical beast, ‘Blackcloud Panther’.

According to records, the last time a Blackcloud Panther appeared was over a thousand years ago. Despite so many years having passed, the amount of information which people had managed to collect regarding Blackcloud Panthers remained very scarce.

Blackcloud Panthers were magical beasts of the ninth rank, and extremely fast. Their bodies were covered with just a few black stripes, but their four limbs were snow white, as though they were travelling within a cloud. This was why people gave them the name, ‘Blackcloud Panthers’.

But with regards to what special abilities the Blackcloud Panthers had, or what element they were, the records had no information.

“Most likely, all of the experts who encountered Blackcloud Panthers lost their lives. As for those Saint-level combatants who knew the truth about Blackcloud Panthers, perhaps they intentionally did not reveal any information.” Linley knew very well that many of the more powerful organizations held secrets which were closely guarded. Even spells of the seventh rank would not be revealed. From this, one could imagine how secretive these organizations were.

….

Within this densely forested area in the core region of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, the Blackcloud Panther was exchanging stares with Linley, who was floating in mid-air with translucent wings on his back.

“Blackcloud Panthers can change their size as well as their appearances. They truly are quite mysterious.” Linley didn’t dare to relax at all.

The Blackcloud Panther stared coldly at Linley, its icy eyes filled with fury.

“Swish!”

In the blink of an eye, the Blackcloud Panther crossed the fifty meter gap between itself and Linley. Compared to before, when it was in its first form (normal size and covered with wavy black stripes), it was almost 50% faster.

50%!

For its speed to increase by that much prevented Linley from being able to dodge, and the Blackcloud Panther landed a vicious blow against Linley’s chest. Immediately, the scales on his chest shattered. “Crack!” With a cracking sound, fresh blood leaked out from behind the scales.

“Whoosh.” Linley immediately activated his translucent wings, rapidly rising higher into the air.

“What incredible speed.” Linley felt shocked in his heart.

The Blackcloud Panther, in its first form, was slightly faster than Bebe. In its second form, the large form, the speed of the Blackcloud Panther decreased by 30%, roughly on par with Linley. In its third form, the one it was in right now, it was 50% faster than the original form.

At this current speed, it could cross a hundred meters in the blink of an eye.

How utterly terrifying!

“Grooowl.” The Blackcloud Panther raised its head to look up at Linley, its eyes filled with arrogance.

Linley slowly flapped his translucent wings, but didn’t descend yet, merely hovering. Linley knew very well that once he descended, he would find it very difficult to deal with the Blackcloud Panther’s speed.

“Boss, my turn!” Having watched for so long, Bebe could no longer hold himself back.

“Shkreeeeech!”

With a terrifying, high-pitched shriek, Bebe transformed into a ferocious black blur, charging at the Blackcloud Panther. The Blackcloud Panther, which hadn’t paid any attention to Bebe at all, was now shocked by Bebe’s speed.

“Supersonic!” Linley immediately cast this supportive magic spell.

He cast the supportive Supersonic spell directly on Bebe. In the past, Bebe had never encountered any magical beasts of the ninth rank faster than himself. Thus, Linley had never seen the need to cast Supersonic on Bebe. But now, Linley finally did so.

In truth, this Supersonic spell was generally used by magi to increase the power of warriors in their squad.

“Swish!” Aided by a Supersonic spell of the eighth rank, Bebe’s speed instantly increased by 30%.

“Slash!” The Blackcloud Panther clawed at Bebe with its fierce claws.

But with his speed increased 30% by the Supersonic spell, although Bebe was still slightly slower than the Blackcloud Panther, the difference wasn’t too huge. More importantly, Bebe was extremely small and nimble.

Bebe constantly changed the direction he was moving in.

“Shkreeech!” Bebe suddenly sped up, pouncing towards the Blackcloud Panther. In mid-pounce, Bebe’s body suddenly enlarged, and then Bebe swiped viciously at the Blackcloud Panther with his paws.

Staring coldly at Bebe, the Blackcloud Panther clawed viciously at Bebe with its own paw as well.

“Slash!”

“Slash!”

Both magical beasts landed blows on each other. Bebe’s claw managed to leave a clear mark on the body of the Blackcloud Panther, and fresh blood began to seep out. But although Bebe was knocked flying as well, he just flipped up to his feet and stood back up, not harmed at all.

“Hrm?” Linley’s eyes turned round in surprise.

“Bebe’s attack power is about on par with mine. So how could Bebe so easily wound it?” Linley was shocked.

Linley knew very well how powerful Bebe’s defense was. After all, when they had been in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts last time, Bebe was just an early-stage magical beast of the eighth rank, but he could withstand the dying blow of an Armored Razorback Wyrm without perishing. Now that Bebe had entered the ninth rank, his terrifyingly strong defense was even more powerful than Linley’s. Linley didn’t find it surprising at all that Bebe was uninjured. But the strange thing was, the defense of the Blackcloud Panther had just dropped.

“Ah! I understand.”

Linley suddenly understood the special characteristics of the three forms of the Blackcloud Panther. The first form was a balanced one in terms of defense, speed, and offense. The second, giant form, prioritized offense at the expense of speed. As for this form, the third one, although it raised speed to an astonishing level, its defense dropped in turn.

Right now, the Blackcloud Panther and Bebe were staring at each other. The Blackcloud Panther could feel that it was bleeding, and it was beginning to worry…because this freak of a magical beast in front of it hadn’t been hurt at all.

“Blackcloud Panther.” Linley spoke.

The Blackcloud Panther looked up at Linley.

Linley didn’t speak to the Blackcloud Panther as though it were an inferior life form. Rather, Linley spoke to it as he would a creature of equal intelligence. “Blackcloud Panther, in your current form, you should possess great speed but low defense. In this form, you aren’t even able to overcome Bebe.”

“Growl.” The Blackcloud Panther snarled unhappily.

The Blackcloud Panther then stared at Bebe, and from its jaw came a series of strange growls. Bebe was startled for a moment, and then let out an enraged growl of his own.

“Boss. This Blackcloud Panther can speak the tongue of us rodent-type magical beasts.” Bebe said mentally to Linley.

Linley knew very well that Bebe was born understanding the rodent language. But the languages of other magical beasts were different; each different type of magical beast had their own language.

Some extremely long-lived magical beasts, however, were skilled at communicating using the languages of other types of magical beasts.

This Blackcloud Panther was a peak-stage magical beast of the ninth rank. Not only did it know many languages of other types of magical beasts, it also understood the human tongue. Only, it was unable to reproduce the human sounds due to physical reasons. Only upon reaching the Saint-level, when it could begin to alter its body, could it speak the human tongue.

“What did it say?” Linley asked.

Bebe and the Blackcloud Panther engaged in a discussion through growls and angry snarls. Suddenly, Bebe and the Blackcloud Panther seemed to get into an argument, as the fur on both magical beasts stood up straight.

“Growl!!”

“Shkreeech!”

The two magical beasts suddenly began to engage in a wild battle, as their shadows flashed against each other again and again. Fresh blood began to fly everywhere…

Their angry growls unabated, the two magical beasts exchanged blows at high speed, and the trees and boulders nearby suffered the brunt of their fury.

The trees toppled. The boulders shattered.

Every place these two magical beasts crossed through turned into a debris-strewn area.

Suddenly, the two beasts separated again. Bebe hunched down, growling as he stared at the Blackcloud Panther. The Blackcloud Panther stared at Bebe in the same manner, as though facing a fierce opponent.

But the Blackcloud Panther’s body was covered in blood.

With its defense lowered, it was unable to resist Bebe’s claw attacks. And in terms of speed, boosted by the Supersonic spell, Bebe was only slightly slower than it was.

Bebe growled angrily towards the Blackcloud Panther.

The Blackcloud Panther roared back towards Bebe.

“Boss, this Blackcloud Panther isn’t willing to submit. It says that you simply don’t have the ability to defeat it on your own.” Bebe said mentally to Linley. “Boss, let me kill it.”

Right now, the Blackcloud Panther was extremely frustrated.

If it used its first two forms, its speed was inferior to its opponent and it would be trampled. But after increasing its speed by entering its ‘wind-style form’, its defense was lowered.

The Blackcloud Panther knew that the human opponent was capable of flight.

The speed one could reach flying was definitely greater than the speed one could reach through running on all fours. In terms of short term bursts, it could exceed Linley in speed. But if it were to flee, Bebe and Linley would definitely be able to easily catch up to it.

“Blackcloud Panther, you think I can’t beat you?” Linley said loudly.

The Blackcloud Panther immediately raised its head arrogantly as it looked at Linley. In close quarters combat, the speed boost provided by the translucent wings couldn’t be put on full display. It didn’t fear Linley at all.

“Fine.” Linley nodded.

And then, Linley began to mutter the words to another spell as well, causing the Blackcloud Panther to be suspicious. But as a wind-type magical beast as well, the Blackcloud Panther wasn’t afraid of Linley having access to any particularly powerful wind-type spells. In addition, it knew that if it were to now flee, Linley would be able to catch up to it.

“Thruuumm.”

Centered around the body of the Blackcloud Panther, a circular area a hundred meters in circumference suddenly began to glow with a layer of earth elemental essence. These earth elemental essences were throbbing with a certain frequency.

The Blackcloud Panther suddenly felt a terrifyingly powerful gravitational force tug at it, causing it to hunch over. Even the blood inside its body as well as its heart were affected, causing it to feel rather dizzy.

Earth-style magic – Supergravity Field!

The Supergravity Field created by a magus of the eighth rank was able to increase the local gravity by a factor of eight. This increased gravitational field’s effect wasn’t as simple as say adding 1000 pounds of weight to a man who already weighed 200 pounds. The eight-fold gravity also impacted the heart, the spleen, and the other internal organs.

An ordinary person might be able to carry 100-200 pounds of weight.

But under a double-strength gravitational field, his heart might not be able to stand the pressure and might break down.

After all, although the external muscles were easily trained, it was very hard to train internal organs such as the heart. At the very least, the rate of training the internal organs was much slower than the external muscles.

Suddenly ambushed by a field of eight-fold gravity, the Blackcloud Panther couldn’t help but feel dizzy.

Not giving it a chance to recover, Linley, his entire body covered with earth elemental essence, charged in, and began to wildly unleash upon the Blackcloud Panther…vicious punches and kicks!

Yes, he didn’t use the adamantine heavy sword!

Only his fists and his feet!

“Growl!” The body of a magical beast of the ninth rank was extremely sturdy, and very soon, it became used to the greater gravity. But under the influence of an eight-fold gravity, it didn’t even have half the speed it previously had.

“Swish!” “Swish!”

“Bam!”

A kick landed hard against the Blackcloud Panther’s waist, and then Linley rushed to the opposite side, landing a vicious punch on the Blackcloud Panther’s body and sending it flying back in the other direction.

In ten short seconds, the Blackcloud Panther had been thoroughly ravaged by Linley’s punches and kicks. Its current speed was totally insufficient for escaping the confines of the Supergravity Field. And what’s more, Bebe was watching intently from the side as well.

“Do you submit?”

“Do you submit?”

…..

While shouting loudly, Linley wildly continued to whale away at it with his fists and feet. Linley was beating this peak-stage magical beast of the ninth rank, the Blackcloud Panther, into a state where it couldn’t resist at all. One mouthful after another of blood was leaking from its mouth.

“Grooooowl!” The Blackcloud Panther suddenly let out a howl of grief and anger.

“Boss. He submits.”

“Bam!” Linley’s fists were moving too fast, and he landed one final punch on the Blackcloud Panther’s skull, smashing it to the ground.

Laughing, Linley looked at the Blackcloud Panther, which was on all fours, pressed against the ground. Under the influence of the eight-fold gravity, the blood flowing through the veins of the Blackcloud Panther had grown sluggish as well. And now, after having been beaten wildly by Linley in such a manner, the Blackcloud Panther had become quite dizzy.

“Do you submit?” Linley laughed as he looked at the Blackcloud Panther.

Although Linley was laughing, under the total Dragonform transformation, Linley’s eyes were still that calm, emotionless dark gold color. And how could one tell that Linley was smiling beneath all of those scales on his face?

The Blackcloud Panther raised his head to look at Linley, paying particular attention to the translucent wings on Linley’s back. His heart trembled. He was afraid of being brutalized by Linley yet again. Immediately, it nodded. And in fact, he really had mentally submitted to Linley’s display of prowess. For a combatant to be so powerful as a warrior and as a magus was more than enough to force it to submit.

Smiling, Linley immediately began to set up a soul-binding magical array!

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 8, The Ten Thousand Kilometer Journey – Chapter 8, Leaving the Mountains

Virtually all magi knew how to set up a soul-binding magic array. But in terms of actually setting one up, there were certain requirements. Generally speaking, only upon reaching the seventh rank as a magus did one have sufficient spiritual strength to set it up.

A nearly translucent pentagram was floating in mid-air.

And then, the pentagram magic formation flew towards the head of the Blackcloud Panther, who didn’t resist at all, allowing the magical formation to enter his mind. Suddenly, both Linley and the Blackcloud Panther could feel that their spirits were now interconnected.

This was not the same as the ‘bond of equals’ which Linley and Bebe shared.

In the ‘bond of equals’ between Linley and Bebe, both of their souls had become intermingled. With this soul-binding magic array, however, was formed solely from Linley’s spiritual energy. When the Blackcloud Panther accepted the soul-binding compact, naturally Linley was the master.

“Master.” The Blackcloud Panther was extremely respectful.

Linley looked at the Blackcloud Panther. “What is your name?” Linley knew that some high-class magical beasts had names of their own. For example, that Armored Razorback Wyrm which Linley had encountered in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts’ Foggy Valley had been named Sartius.

The Blackcloud Panther’s voice sounded in Linley’s mind. “Master, my name is Haeru [Hei’lu].”

“Haeru?” Linley memorized the name.

“Haeru, tell me about your transformation abilities.” Towards this topic, Linley felt quite a bit of interest.

The Blackcloud Panther nodded. “Master, it is because I am a dual-element magical beast of both darkness and wind elements. In my brain, I have two magicite cores; one is darkness element, the other is wind element. Normally, I am in my first form, where my defense, offense, and speed are all equal.”

“When I rely primarily on the energy from my darkness magicite core, my body will increase in size and my attack power will go up, at the expense of speed. When I rely primarily on the energy from my wind magicite core, I will be in this form, the wind-style form, with great speed but weaker defense.”

The Blackcloud Panther, Haeru, said honestly.

Linley now understood.

So Blackcloud Panthers were dual-element magical beasts of wind and darkness, and this current form was the wind-style form. The giant form was the darkness-style form, and only the original form was the ‘normal’ form.

“I had originally thought that Haeru’s current form was his normal form.” Linley snickered to himself.

Linley suspected that the person who had written the records which Linley had read regarding Blackcloud Panthers had only seen this wind-style form, and thus mistook this as the only form of the Blackcloud Panthers.

“Growl!” Bebe ran over, growling in a low voice towards the Blackcloud Panther.

The Blackcloud Panther began to chat with him as well.

“Looks like our journey will be more interesting in the future.” A hint of a smile was on Linley’s face.

…..

Alongside his two magical beast companions, Bebe and Haeru, Linley continued his daily training regime. Linley immersed himself in the world of sword-training. Every so often, Linley would have some new insights regarding how to use his heavy sword.

Spring left, autumn came.

In the blink of an eye, another year had passed.

That fall in the second year, the temperature had dropped to a murderous low. Linley was seated cross-legged beneath an ancient oak, training. The Dragonblood battle-qi had suddenly begun to boil, causing his blood vessels and his heart to once again begin to change and transform.

In addition, within Linley’s dantian, the Dragonblood battle-qi had finally begun to change as well. Excited, Linley let out a laugh. He had finally broken past the late-stage of the seventh rank and reached the eighth rank. He had become a warrior of the eighth rank!

As a warrior of the eighth rank, upon totally Dragonforming, Linley’s power was now at the peak-stage of the ninth rank.

There was a significant difference between a peak-stage ninth rank warrior and an early-stage ninth rank warrior.

“When I was in Hess City, it was hard for me to even break past the armor of an ordinary magical beast of the ninth rank. But now, even without using the adamantine heavy sword, I can kill most magical beasts of the ninth rank.” Linley was extremely confident.

A peak-stage Dragonblood Warrior of the ninth rank could definitely vanquish a peak-stage magical beast of the ninth rank.

Aside from Saint-levels, perhaps there was nobody in the world who could threaten him anymore.

“Only, the higher level of using this adamantine heavy sword, this so-called ‘impose’ level…what is it?” Linley began to frown. Right now, Linley had completely mastered the technique of ‘wielding something heavy as though it were light’.

He walked barefooted on the ground.

Linley continued on his path of training, constantly harmonizing himself with the pulsing thrum of the earth and the indistinct ebbs and flows of the wind. In turn, Linley’s spirit became purified by nature, becoming more agile and graceful.

….

Winter arrived.

In the morning, a great blizzard had descended, covering the entire world with blankets of falling snow. Standing in the middle of the snowstorm, Linley stared up at the snowflakes falling from the sky. His heart was very peaceful.

Suddenly, Linley sat down cross-legged, placing the adamantine heavy sword across his lap. His upper body was still bare, and he still wore that ragged pair of hempcloth pants.

The snow settled on top of Linley’s body, but Linley didn’t notice it at all.

Time passed. The snow continued to fall from morning until nightfall, covering the entire area with a layer of snow as thick as one’s foot.

Bebe and Haeru had hidden themselves underneath a large pine tree, where they watched Linley.

“Impose.”

Linley’s eyes opened. Within them, there was a hint of a smile. Raising his head to stare in front of him, he saw that the snow had ceased to fall. Although it was almost dark, the entire world had been painted a light white color by the snow.

“Grooooowl!” From far away, the roar of a magical beast could be heard.

A Glacial Snow Lion was striding on the snow. Apparently having discovered Linley, it began to draw close to Linley, one step at a time. Watching the Glacial Snow Lion draw near, Linley didn’t seem to react at all.

“Swoosh!” With a mighty leap, the Glacial Snow Lion pounced towards Linley.

Linley watched as the Glacial Snow Lion pounced towards him. Very casually, he grabbed the adamantine heavy sword that had been lying in his lap and chopped directly towards the Glacial Snow Lion.

“Rumble!” The moment Linley swung the adamantine heavy sword, space itself seemed to suddenly be compressed in the area around the sword, in the direction of the Glacial Snow Lion.

Terrified, the Glacial Snow Lion wished to flee, but the entire area around it was compressed by that pressuring force. It had nowhere to run.

Facing this heavy sword, it had no choice but to take it head on.

“Bam!”

The heavy sword slammed against the Glacial Snow Lion’s body. The Glacial Snow Lion’s entire body trembled momentarily, then suddenly disintegrated into a pile of flesh and blood.

“So ‘impose’ refers to ‘imposing’ one’s will on the heavens and the earth, to the point where even space itself can become used to constrict someone. Haha…” Linley laughed.

After having experienced that huge blizzard, Linley finally entered the third level of wielding heavy weapons; the ‘impose’ level. Only, Linley understood that he had just barely begun to grasp this level.

“To be able to so quickly grasp the ‘impose’ level, I really must give thanks to my training as a stonesculptor as well as my insights as a magus.” Linley felt very happy.

Because he was a magus, Linley’s soul could more clearly sense the throbbing pulse of the earth as well as the flows of the wind. His soul was capable now of becoming one with nature. In addition, this entire time, Linley had been extremely focused on his training and had accumulated a great deal of experience. This allowed Linley to finally surpass that initial barrier and enter the ‘impose’ level of wielding the heavy sword.

In terms of power, the ‘impose’ level was far more terrifying than the level of ‘wielding something heavy as though it were light’. It was also far more profound and mysterious.

….

Spring. Year 10003 of the Yulan calendar. The northernmost edge of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts was only a few kilometers away from the North Sea. In fact, from the northernmost point in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, one could see the vast, endless expanse of water known as the North Sea.

Between the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts and the North Sea, there was a corridor which linked the Holy Union and the O’Brien Empire together. Almost every day, large numbers of people passed through this wide road.

Virtually everyone, be it the merchants of the O’Brien Empire, the merchants of the Holy Union, or others, passed through this corridor.

However, the citizens of the O’Brien Empire, when facing the citizens of the Holy Union, felt a sense of natural superiority. This was because the O’Brien Empire was the most powerful Empire in the entire Yulan continent. What’s more, it possessed the ‘War God’. In the war-loving O’Brien Empire, virtually every citizen was proud to belong to the O’Brien Empire.

Right now, on the wide corridor, there was a merchant caravan with hundreds of people that were camping and resting. Many people were currently eating.

“Old Hett [Hei’te].”

A young man riding on a carriage chuckled at a chubby man next to him. “You’ve made a fortune on this latest deal.”

“Haha.” That middle-aged fatty laughed contentedly. “Petrie [Pi’te’li], you are a smart young fellow. If you continue to work for me, in three years time, you’ll be able to buy a manor in your hometown, then buy a few beautiful serving maids and hire a few manservants. You’ll be able to live a happy life as an estate owner.”

“Three years? Shit, in three more years I probably will have lost my life.” The youngster swore. “A new person like myself is always assigned the most dangerous tasks. Alas…in one year, I’ll go back home, buy a beautiful girl, and enjoy life. Estate owner? That’ll depend on whether or not I have that good fortune.”

The middle-aged fatty began to laugh. “You are a newcomer. Of course it falls on you to take on the most dangerous tasks. However, that means you get a large share as well. Oh, right. Petrie, this time in our caravan, there’s a very beautiful girl. As we are headed the same way, we are escorting her.”

“Are you talking about Miss Jenne [Zhan’en]?” The young fellow’s eyes instantly lit up. “If I had a woman like that, I’d be willing to work for ten more years. That figure. That aura. Oh, man…”

“But she clearly is a noble, and that old servant of hers isn’t weak either.” The middle aged fatty chortled.

“Can’t I at least fantasize?” The youngster said unhappily.

The middle aged fatty began to laugh, but then he suddenly looked towards the south. “Hrm? Petrie, look. Someone is coming out from within the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts.” Petrie immediately looked south towards the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts.

Dressed in an ordinary blue warrior’s uniform, a man carrying a heavy sword on his back was walking out from within the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. His long brown hair just barely reached his shoulders. By the looks of it, he was nearly two meters tall.

By his side was a black panther that was nearly as tall as he was, and on the back of that black panther was a black Shadowmouse.

“What is that black panther?” Petrie said in astonishment.

Staring with wide eyes, the middle-aged man said, “Don’t cause a ruckus! I’ve heard that all panther-type and lion-type magical beasts are very powerful. Generally speaking, they are at least magical beasts of the sixth rank, or even higher.”

Immediately, Petrie no longer dared to make a sound.

Right at this moment, the brown-haired man began jogging towards their caravan with long strides. The caravan guards immediately became alert. The person coming towards them was clearly a powerful warrior.

…….

Right now, Linley was in an excellent mood. After three full years of hard training, he had finally left the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts.

“The Northern Sea is indeed vast.” This was the first time Linley had seen the North Sea, and the sight of that enormous, boundless sky-blue sea stunned Linley, filling him with awe.

Seeing the resting caravan in front of him, Linley jogged in that direction.

“Hey, friend, what do you want?” A heavily bearded guard shouted out loudly. Smiling, Linley replied, “I’m headed for the O’Brien Empire. I hope you can take me along with you.”

The heavily bearded guard looked at Linley, then turned towards a middle-aged, golden-haired man next to him. After exchanging a few words, he said to Linley in a loud voice, “That’s easy. Twenty gold coins, and we’ll take you with us.”

“Fine.” Linley agreed very readily. He immediately pulled out a small sack of gold, counted out twenty gold coins, and handed it over.

This outfit Linley was currently wearing had been stored in the interspatial ring, ready for just an occasion such as this. In his interspatial ring, Linley naturally had prepared quite a few things.

“Hey, friend, since you already have a mount, do you plan to ride in a carriage, or on this panther?” The heavily bearded man asked warmly.

“In a carriage, I suppose.” Linley said.

“Fine. You can go get inside that cart in the back. That one right there, the flat cart with two people in it.” The heavily bearded man pointed as he spoke. Actual covered carriages were rather expensive, and in this caravan, the majority of the soldiers all rode in flat carts.

“Sure.” Linley agreed quite casually.

As he walked over to and reached that flat cart, the two men already in the cart, previously engaged in conversation, were immediately terrified by Haeru, who was walking alongside Linley. Panther-type magical beasts were generally high class magical beasts, after all.

“Ah, friend, please, sit.” The two men were incredibly friendly.

Linley entered the cart. The cart had mattresses made of hay inside, which were covered by a thick cotton cloth. As Linley sat on top of a hay mattress, Bebe jumped right onto Linley’s shoulders as well.

“Come, friend, have some wine.” The slightly older one of the two men warmly offered.

“Thanks.” Linley accepted the wineskin and took a large gulp.

“Hey, everybody, get ready. We’re about to start moving again!” A loud voice rang out, and all the people who had got off their carriages for a rest immediately got back into their carriages.

The caravan began to move forward again, embarking once more on its journey towards the O’Brien Empire…

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 8, The Ten Thousand Kilometer Journey – Chapter 9, Olivier

Travelling on this seemingly endless, winding road, this caravan with hundreds of people didn’t move at too rapid a pace. All of the guards of the caravan maintained a careful eye in the direction of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts at all times.

There were two major sources of danger on this road. The first was the magical beasts in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. The second was bandits. Because this road which was hundreds of miles long was controlled by neither the Holy Union nor the O’Brien Empire, there naturally were many bandits here.

“Squeak. Squeak.” The carriage wheels squeaked rhythmically, and Linley lay back, enjoying the strong liquor in the wineskin.

“It’s been three years since I’ve touched alcohol. This rough liquor feels even more enjoyable to me than those exquisite wines the Jade Water Paradise used to have.” Though he laughed, Linley was sighing in his heart as well. Meanwhile, by his side, Bebe was very enjoyably munching on pieces of roasted meat.

The older of the two soldiers whom Linley was sharing this cart with said, “Friend, my name is Lowndes [Lang’si]. This is my younger friend. His name is Luther [Lu’de].”

Linley was slightly startled. He understood that these two wished to know his name, but Linley knew that his name was already on the Red List of the Radiant Church as someone who must be killed on sight.

“You can call me ‘Ley’.” Linley said with a laugh.

“Ley, what level of magical beast is this panther of yours?” That young fellow named Luther immediately asked enthusiastically. “This magical beast’s fur is so smooth. Riding on such a magical beast really would be so majestic! I think it must be at least a magical beast of the seventh rank.”

“All you need to know is that he is a high-class magical beast.” Linley said casually.

The Blackcloud Panther, Haeru, who had been loping alongside the cart, suddenly fixed Luther with its cold eyes. Seeing Haeru’s gaze, Luther immediately was so frightened that he could only smile weakly in response.

Everyone in the Yulan continent knew that magical beasts possessed intelligence which was no less than that of men. They definitely couldn’t be treated like domesticated household pets. If you tried to, the results would be disastrous.

“The two of you belong to the Holy Union? Or to the O’Brien Empire?” Linley asked.

Linley knew very little regarding the O’Brien Empire.

“We are both from the O’Brien Empire.” Lowndes said with a chortle. “Ley, how about you?”

“This will be my first trip to the O’Brien Empire. I’ve long heard that the O’Brien Empire has a tremendous martial spirit, but have never experienced it for myself.” Linley said calmly.

Both Luther and Lowndes lived by the edges of their blades. They possessed quite good insight, and could easily tell that Linley was an extremely powerful person. After all, in order to be able to subdue a powerful magical beast, one had to be able to totally dominate it with power first. Only then would it submit.

“Ley, we citizens of the O’Brien Empire greatly revere powerful combatants. No matter where you go, you will be received with great courtesy, given your power.” Lowndes said with a chuckle. “Ley, if this is your first time visiting the O’Brien Empire, do you know much about it?”

“Aside from knowing that the O’Brien Empire has seven administrative provinces and knowing about the War God, I don’t know much.” Linley laughed.

As the most militarily powerful of the Four Great Empires, the O’Brien Empire’s territory was also the largest amongst the six major powers. Each of those seven provinces was significantly larger than a kingdom.

“Ley, let me explain. Our Empire has a large number of experts. Even combatants of the ninth rank don’t dare to be arrogant in the Imperial Capital. After all, the War God’s College is settled down atop one of the mountains just outside the Imperial Capital.” Lowndes explained enthusiastically.

“The War God’s College?” Linley had no idea what this was.

Next to him, Luther hurriedly said, “Ley, you absolutely must be aware of this. The highest, most holiest training site in the entire O’Brien Empire is the War God’s College. Every hundred years or so, or sometimes every few hundred years, the War God will accept a single disciple whom he will personally teach. The number of direct disciples he has is extremely few, but eight or nine out of every ten people whom the War God accepts as a disciple will become a Saint-level combatant.”

Hearing this, Linley was truly stunned.

Previously, he was under the impression that the O’Brien Academy was the most elite training academy in existence, but now, clearly, this War God’s College was far superior to it.

“But it really is too difficult for one to be accepted as a disciple by the War God. Even the honorary disciples whom he doesn’t personally teach will only see one added to their number every two years or so.” Lowndes sighed.

Just one disciple every year or two, and an honorary one at that.

This acceptance rate was even lower by far than that of the Ernst Institute. But one could understand if one thought about it. After all, this had to do with taking the War God as one’s teacher and master. The War God…an entity who had surpassed the Saint-level over five thousand years ago.

“Therefore, Ley, in the future, if you meet anyone from the War God’s College, you have to be careful. Even if they decide to kill someone, usually no one will interfere.” Lowndes advised.

Linley understood.

The War God, O’Brien, was the founding Emperor of the O’Brien Empire. Although he had abdicated long ago, his influence in the O’Brien Empire was much higher than the reigning Emperor. The War God O’Brien absolutely was the backbone and main pillar of the entire O’Brien Empire.

“Right. Have you heard of any geniuses appearing recently in the O’Brien Empire?” Linley suddenly asked. What Linley was thinking was, “The density of Dragonblood in the veins of Wharton was even higher than mine, hence he could naturally become a Dragonblood Warrior. His potential should be higher than mine as well. By now, Wharton should be seventeen. He should be very famous in the O’Brien Empire.”

Given the speed at which a Dragonblood Warrior trained at…

Generally speaking, in a few decades, they could reach the Saint-level. If one trained hard, one would be able to reach the ninth rank within twenty years, and the eighth rank within ten.

Wharton’s innate talent definitely should be enough to stun the Empire.

“Prodigy? Are you talking about Olivier, the Prodigy Sword Saint?” Lowndes asked.

“The Prodigy Sword Saint, Olivier?” Linley had never heard this name before. “Why is this Olivier known as the Prodigy Sword Saint?”

Next to him, Luther hurriedly said, “Ley, if in the Empire, someone hears you say that you don’t know who the Prodigy Sword Saint is, they will laugh at you. Do you know how old Lord Olivier was when he reached the Saint-level?”

He was a Saint-level combatant?

“How old?” Linley actually was extremely calm. He was a member of the Dragonblood Warrior clan, who generally could reach the Saint-level in a few decades. Generally speaking, those so-called Prodigyes would still need nearly a century.

“Forty seven!” Luther said worshipfully. “Lord Olivier was a combatant of the ninth rank by age thirty, and by age forty seven, entered the Saint-level. And three years ago, that year when the Holy Union and the Dark Alliance suffered the ‘Apocalypse Day’, Olivier entered the Saint-level.”

Linley nodded slightly.

It seemed as though that cataclysmic day had been dubbed the ‘Apocalypse Day’.

“No wonder I haven’t heard of him.” Linley understood now. When this person’s fame became widespread, Linley had just entered the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts and embarked on his three years of toilsome training.

That Luther clearly worshipped this Prodigy Sword Saint, Olivier. He hurriedly said, “Ley, let me tell you something. When Lord Olivier reached the ninth rank, the War God actively reached out to him and invited him to become his student. But Lord Olivier refused. He wanted to walk on his own training path.”

Linley couldn’t help but begin to admire this Olivier. A War God who had surpassed the Saint-level long ago wanted to accept him as a disciple, but he actually refused. Indeed, only a man with supreme confidence could do such a thing.

“This is the first person to refuse the War God in all of history.” Luther said worshipfully. “Ley, at first, many people thought that Olivier was insane and insulted him. But…Lord Olivier wasn’t just bragging. Three years ago, when Olivier entered the Saint-level, he immediately challenged the Stellar Sword Saint, Dillon.”

“Dillon?” Linley frowned.

Linley could still clearly remember that when those two Saint-level combatants did battle in the skies above Wushan township, one of them had been the Stellar Sword Saint, Dillon. The other was a Saint-level Grand Magus, Rudi. These two names had been forever engraved in Linley’s mind.

“Right. Lord Dillon, the Stellar Sword Saint, has been famous for a long time, and he has been a Saint-level combatant for nearly a century. Olivier had just entered the Saint-level, and he immediately went to challenge Dillon. Many people thought that Olivier was too brash and arrogant. But the day of their duel…”

Luther’s eyes were filled with awe and worship. “Within three sword strokes, the Stellar Sword Saint, Dillon, had been defeated. To be able to defeat the Stellar Sword Saint, Dillon, as soon as he entered the Saint-level was something which stunned everyone. Only now, due to his power, was he publically acknowledged as a genius.”

Linley, too, was filled with admiration.

In the past, he had often discussed powerful combatants with Grandpa Doehring. Linley knew very well…that there was a large difference between early-stage Saints, middle-stage Saints, late-stage Saints, and peak-stage Saints.

Dillon had reached the Saint-level nearly a hundred years ago, but he was defeated in just three sword strokes by the Prodigy Sword Saint, Olivier. Linley had to admit that Olivier was incredibly powerful. What’s more, he had only been forty seven years old.

For someone to reach the Saint-level at forty seven years of age, and be so powerful.

Even the Supreme Warriors wouldn’t be much better than this.

…….

Chatting with these hired soldiers who travelled everywhere, Linley learned a great deal regarding the O’Brien Empire, giving him a good sense of the area.

By nightfall, the caravan once more came to a halt.

Campfires were lit everywhere, and all sorts of wild roasted dishes were brought out. Linley followed Luther and Lowndes to a campfire, where they began to roast chunks of leg meat.

Linley suddenly turned to look in the direction of Haeru. Right at that moment, a young nobleman dressed in a suit was standing next to the Blackcloud Panther, looking excitedly at it.

“What a beautiful panther.” The young nobleman’s eyes were shining like gems as he stared at the Blackcloud Panther. He even stretched his hand out, intending to touch him.

The Blackcloud Panther was a peak-stage magical beast of the ninth rank. He was extremely arrogant. How could he allow an ordinary person to touch it?

The Blackcloud Panther suddenly swung its head , fixing its cold eyes upon that young nobleman. Unhappily, he began to let out a menacing growl. “Grooooowl.”

“Ah!!!” Terrified, the young nobleman quickly retreated, falling on his back as he did. His face was white with fear.

“Haha.” Luther, Lowndes, and Linley all began to laugh.

At this time, the brocade door to a nearby carriage was pushed open, and a young woman dressed in a light violet dress immediately jumped out of the carriage, frightened. “Keane [Ji’en], Keane, what happened?”

Seeing this woman, Linley’s eyes suddenly lit up.

This full-body dress was rather tight, revealing her lithe, slim little waist, as well as making her chest swell all the more. As she ran, her long hair fluttered about.

That slender figure was one of the top three female figures Linley had ever seen. Judging by her appearance, she should be seventeen or eighteen years old.

“Big sis, big sis!” That young noble clutched this lady in terror.

Haeru, the Blackcloud Panther, let out another dissatisfied growl in the direction of the young nobleman. This terrified the young noblewoman so much that her face instantly turned white as well.

“Don’t be afraid. Haeru won’t hurt you.” Linley called out, laughing.

“Haha, Miss Jenne, you need to take good care of your little brother. This powerful magical beast isn’t one of your household pets. If he pisses it off, it might eat him. Hahaha!” Lowndes laughed loudly.

These words made the faces of both Jenne and the young nobleman turn white.

Jenne pulled the young nobleman to his feet, and then quickly curtsied in apology. “Sorry, sorry.”

“No need to apologize to us. This black panther is Ley’s. You can apologize to him.” Luther joined the fun as well.

Jenne glanced at Linley. Clearly, she wasn’t good at interacting with people. Her face immediately turned red upon looking at him. “Lord Ley, so sorry.”

“It’s fine. In the future, just make sure your little brother doesn’t irritate Haeru anymore.” Linley laughed. It had been a long time since he had met a girl who was so easily embarrassed.

Jenne immediately pulled the young nobleman by the hand in the direction of that nearby carriage.

“Amusing, amusing.” Linley laughed, raising the wineskin to his lips for another swig.

[AnimeFan9001]

Book 8, The Ten Thousand Kilometer Journey – Chapter 10, A Single Sword

“Ley, what do you think of that Miss Jenne? She’s quite something, isn’t she?” Lowndes said with a quiet chortle.

“She is quite something.” Linley nodded in praise.

Next to them, Luther walked over. “She isn’t just ‘something’. In all these years I’ve been roaming about, I’ve seen countless beautiful women. But Miss Jenne…heh heh…she’s absolutely tops. Ley, are you interested in Miss Jenne?”

Linley blinked in shock.

Lowndes also glanced at Linley with a wink that all men understood. “Ley, it’s quite normal for powerful people to have beauties with them. If you don’t seize the opportunity, after you leave the caravan, you won’t have another chance.”

“You two…” Linley didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Alice had long ago caused Linley to seal off his heart with respect to romantic love. And right now, Linley wasn’t yet at the stage where he was ravenous and would just go chasing after every beautiful girl he saw.

“Miss Jenne and her little brother just came out.” Luther suddenly said in a soft voice.

Linley turned to look. Indeed, Miss Jenne and her younger brother Keane were headed towards a campfire, which was currently manned by her elderly servant.

That young noble, Keane, couldn’t help but turn to look at the Blackcloud Panther again.

The Blackcloud Panther immediately revealed its gleaming, cold fangs. Keane was so terrified that he tightly clutched his sister’s hands. Miss Jenne, as though sensing something, turned to look in Linley’s direction as well.

Nodding somewhat apologetically at Linley, Miss Jenne led her little brother to sit next to the campfire.

….

“Big sis, that magical beast is so handsome!” Keane’s eyes were as bright as gems and filled with longing. “It’ll be great if one day, I too have a powerful magical beast.”

The old servant chuckled. “Young master Keane, taming a magical beast is no easy feat. To tame a powerful magical beast, you must totally subdue it, and to subdue it, you must defeat it head on. From what I know, the weakest type of panther-type magical beasts are all of the seventh rank. That Lord Ley is a truly powerful combatant.”

“The weakest is a magical beast of the seventh rank?” Keane sucked in a cold breath. “Grandpa Lambert, is it as powerful as you, Grandpa Lambert [Lan’bo’te]?”

In Keane’s mind, the person he worshipped the most in the world was his Grandpa Lambert.

When him and his sister were in the Holy Union, they had no one to rely on at all. The entire time, it was Grandpa Lambert who had protected them. If it wasn’t for Grandpa Lambert, those nobles in the town they lived in would’ve sent people long ago to seize his sister. He had personally seen Grandpa Lambert shatter a noble’s guard’s shield with one punch, then easily defeat ten guards.

“Me? I just have a bit of ability. He could kill me in one blow with ease.” Lambert chuckled, rubbing Keane’s head. “Young master Keane, when we arrive in the O’Brien Empire, you must be careful. There are many experts in this world. I’m only able to protect you in places like those small towns. But when we reach the big cities…”

“It’s fine! This time, we’re going to assume the position of city governor, right?” Keane arrogantly raised his little head up high. “When I’m the city governor, who will I fear?”

Looking at Keane, Jenne couldn’t help but also affectionately pat Keane on his little head. “Keane, in the future, you will be a majestic city governor.”

“Of course.” Keane was very confident.

………

Slowly, most people in the caravan began to drift off to sleep. Only a few mercenaries remained awake in a defensive perimeter around the caravan. Linley was seated cross-legged on the ground, the adamantine heavy sword placed on his lap as always.

Linley didn’t know how the ancestors of his clan had trained in the third level of using the heavy sword, the ‘impose’ level. But Linley’s training method was to allow his soul to become one with the great earth and one with the boundless wind.

The earth possessed a wondrous throbbing pulse of its own.

That unique pulse had its own unique rhythm, which Linley submerged himself into. As for the boundless wind which filled all the skies, it had a deep, intimate connection with space, which was also an important part of being able to understand the essence of the ‘impose’ level.

Submerged within nature…understanding nature…

In this state, Linley didn’t notice the passage of time at all. By the second half of the night, when the vast majority of the caravan was asleep, only a few hired mercenaries maintained their watchful vigilance.

“Rasp, rasp.”

Deep night. The cold wind was blowing, and it rustled against the tips of Linley’s hair. Linley’s closed eyes suddenly opened, and then he sheathed the adamantine heavy sword onto his back.

“Get up.” Linley patted Lowndes and Luther twice each.

Lowndes and Luther were both mercenaries who lived by the edges of their weapons. They slept very lightly. Immediately, they woke up. Lowndes and Luther quickly saw that it was still midnight.

“Ley, it’s late at night. Why aren’t you sleeping?” Lowndes was a bit unhappy, but he didn’t dare to complain.

“Bandits are coming.” Linley said casually.

“Oh.”

Luther’s eyes were drifting closed again, but then suddenly they snapped open. Staring at Linley in shock, he said, “Ley, what’d you say? Bandits are coming?”

“A group of roughly a hundred or so bandits are approaching us from approximately three hundred meters in front. They’re slowly making their way here.” Linley continued.

Just then, Linley had been communing with the throbbing pulse of the earth and the flows of the wind.

Linley could clearly feel those hundred or so feet coming from hundreds of meters away. Naturally, under normal conditions, Linley wouldn’t have been able to detect them so early. But after having become one with nature, he naturally was far more sensitive.

Luther was frightened.

“Don’t stand there like an idiot. Wake up all of our brothers.” Lowndes was far calmer.

“Oh. Got it.” Luther immediately left to wake up one mercenary after another, while Lowndes went to warn all of the mercenaries who were on guard.

Being woken up from their sweet dreams in the middle of the night, the mercenaries were naturally all unhappy.

“Bandits coming.” But that phrase was enough to shock them into scrambling up.

“Where are they?” Staring in all directions into the pitch black night, the awakened mercenaries couldn’t even see the shadow of a bandit. All of them began to grow unhappy.

The leader of the mercenaries, a heavily bearded man, grabbed Lowndes by his shirt. “You said there are bandits. Where?”

“Not me. It was Ley who said there are bandits.” Lowndes hurriedly explained.

“Oh?” The heavily bearded man was shocked. With regards to this expert whom they picked up mid-way through their journey, just by looking at that black panther, the heavily bearded man knew that this was no one he could afford to offend. For an expert to make this claim, he clearly wouldn’t just be playing a prank.

And just at this moment, the heavily bearded man could also begin to hear the extremely soft sounds of stealthy footsteps coming from afar.

Given the heavily bearded man’s power, he could make out the sounds quite clearly now.

“Bandits. Prepare, prepare!” The heavily bearded man’s terrifying roar immediately woke everyone up. Even many slumbering merchants as well as their carriage drivers were woken up.

These hundred or so mercenaries lined up in an orderly fashion.

“Haha, Big Beard Malone. I didn’t expect you to be so alert. You’ve made some progress over these years. Looks like our ambush failed. We’ll have to make a frontal attack then.” A loud laugh could be heard, and then a figure dressed in black appeared in front of the caravan.

“It’s you?” The heavily bearded man’s face changed as he stared at that one-eyed, golden-haired man.

McKinley [Mai’jin’li], the One-Eyed Viper. In this long road which nobody controlled, this name was a very famous one. This person was famed for both his viciousness as well as his power.

“Waaaaa!” An infant in the caravan behind began to cry.

“Bandits!” Many people began to panic.

“QUIET!” The heavily bearded man roared angrily. Many people in the caravan immediately began to arrange themselves in groups, making sure that everyone was together. A number of youngsters armed themselves with weapons, preparing to resist.

The heavily bearded man looked at the one-eyed golden-haired man. “One-Eyed Viper, don’t push things too far. How about this. I’ll offer you five thousand gold coins for you and yours to allow us past. Deal?”

“Five thousand gold coins?” The one-eyed man laughed coldly. “Malone, do you take me, McKinley, to be a beggar? Listen up. A hundred thousand gold coins, and I’ll let you go. Otherwise…hmph.”

The faces of all the mercenaries sank.

A hundred thousand gold coins? Their compensation for this escort mission was only sixty or seventy thousand gold coins. If they were to offer a hundred thousand gold coins, they would be paying out of pocket. After all, according to the mercenary escorting rules, once they accepted an escort mission, even if they had to pay off some bandits, the mercenary company would have to pay out of pocket.

“One-Eyed Viper, don’t go overboard. You should be satisfied to earn 5000 gold without a single man of yours dying.” The heavily bearded man hefted his battleaxe. “Otherwise. We’ll just have to see who is stronger.” Big Beard Malone was quite confident. In the past, he had battled against McKinley, and they were about equal in strength. He believed that with the ambush a failure, McKinley wouldn’t dare to risk everything in an all-out assault.

“That’s how it should be. Brothers, attack!” McKinley shouted in a high voice.

Instantly, all of the bandits drew their weapons and, howling angrily, began to charge. This really did completely shock Malone.

“Swish!” “Swish”! “Swish!”

The archers on both sides began to release their arrows without mercy, but in a small-scale skirmish like this with only a hundred people on each side, archers didn’t have too great an impact on the overall battle.

“Malone, die!” McKinley charged forward, a sharp polearm in his arms. Leaping into the air, with all his might, he delivered a tremendous blow against Malone.

Malone swung his battleaxe upwards, unwilling to show any weakness.

“Thruuum.” The dark aura covering the polearm suddenly dramatically intensified.

“BAM!”

Malone felt his hands grow numb, and he couldn’t help but take a few steps back.

“You…?” Malone stared at McKinley in astonishment. He knew exactly how powerful McKinley was. In terms of frontal assaults, his own weapon held an advantage over McKinley’s. But just then, the opponent had an advantage over him. This…

“Your guess is correct. I’ve already entered the eighth rank as a warrior.” McKinley’s face was filled with arrogance.

“No wonder you weren’t worried about making a frontal assault at all.” Malone now understood.

“Boss, there’s a pretty woman here.” A voice suddenly rang out.

McKinley immediately turned his head and saw Jenne, her face pale from terror and shock. Right now, Jenne was frantically protecting her little brother. The pitiable look on her face was quite stirring indeed.

“Haha, that woman is mine!” McKinley immediately grew excited.

….

The mercenaries were battling against the bandits. A bandit decapitated a mercenary, and then was run through the chest by another mercenary’s sword.

“Retreat, retreat!” Malone bellowed as he quickly retreated. All of his mercenaries retreated with him as well.

“Lord Ley, I beg of you, please rescue our caravan.” Malone said respectfully towards Linley, begging him for aid. Right now, the mercenaries had formed into a circle, with all the merchants and the others inside the ring. Linley and Malone were both located at the outermost layer of the circle.

Faced with Malone’s plea, Linley nodded once.

“I’ll only help you deal with the leader.” Linley said. Malone instantly was so excited that his eyes shone. If McKinley was killed, how could they be afraid of those remaining bandits?

Jenne was tightly holding her younger brother near the campfire.

“Sis, that mercenary captain seems to be begging Lord Ley.” Keane’s eyes were glowing as he watched all of this. Jenne turned to look at Linley as well.

Linley was standing in the middle of the road, calmly looking at the bandits.

“**** off!” Wielding his polearm, McKinley charged forward at high speed. He was advancing at an extremely fast speed, and his body was also flickering from left to right, as though he had transformed into two separate figures, making it difficult for one to determine who the real McKinley was, and which was the illusion.

Illusionary Blade!

This was the trademark special skill of McKinely, the One-Eyed Viper!

“How laughable.” Linley, having already reached the level of ‘impose’, held techniques of this level in absolutely no regard at all.

“Die!” A terrifying, ferocious gleam appeared in McKinley’s eye.

Linley drew the adamantine heavy sword from its sheath on his back. This drawing motion carried with it an astonishing, imposing aura, as though all of the space around it had suddenly become frozen.

The adamantine heavy sword chopped towards McKinley in a very simple manner.

McKinley immediately wanted to dodge, but to his terror, he discovered that the space around him seemed to have become suddenly compressed and locked. In that moment, not even sound could escape from the area.

He had nowhere to dodge, and in fact, he couldn’t even see anything else. His eye could only watch as the adamantine heavy sword drew closer and closer.

He wanted to raise his polearm to block, but he felt as though he had been mired in an endless pit of quicksand. The polearm felt as though it weighed ten thousand pounds, and was extremely slow.

“Bam!”

The adamantine heavy sword landed against McKinley’s body. Suddenly, McKinley’s entire body, from head to toe, transformed into meat pulp. The bandits, the mercenaries, Jenne, Keane, and the others all stared in astonishment, their mouths hanging open.

“The rest of those little bandits are for you to handle.” Linley replaced his sword into its sheath as he spoke calmly to Big Beard Malone.