Chapter 1: Knight Examination (I)
Odin Town, containing 3,000 households, was located at the southern border of the Temple Alliance and counted itself as one of the biggest villages under the jurisdiction of the city of Haoyue.
As the morning sun was rising, its bright and warm touch carefully nurtured the earth, as if calling for everyone to wake up. At that time, at the center of Odin, in a relatively big two-story building of more than a thousand square meters, an examination was going on.
A vigorous, powerful, and somewhat rough voice rang out. “Tell me, why do you want to become knights?”
“To defend humanity! To defend the kind hearted! To defend the Temple Alliance! To defend our families!” The voices that answered the question sounded young and were coordinated. Clearly, it was not the first time they had answered that question.
That two story building was the Knight Temple Hall of Odin Town, abbreviated as Odin Hall. It was the place where children with potential were selected to undergo training to become knights.
Today, a little more than thirty children were attending the selection test to become the most basic knight, the Knight Squire. Only after they became a Knight Squire could they continue studying and cultivating there.
The owner of the vigorous voice was a tall, burly, strongly-built, middle-aged man. His name was Balza and he was the Chief Knight Teacher of Odin Hall. Reportedly, he was in his prime, and reputed to be very, very close to becoming a Genuine Knight.
Balza glared severely at the bunch of kids ranging from eight to ten years old, “Tell me, what are the standards of a knight?”
Once more, the answer was coordinated, “Modesty! Honesty! Compassion! Courage! Fairness! Sacrifice! Honor! Perseverance! Humility! Justice!”
Balza nodded, satisfied, “Good! All of you here have already been training for one year. Today, we will hold the examination. Knight Squires are classified from the 1st to 10th rank, corresponding to a spiritual energy between 10 and 100. Your task today will be to attain a spiritual energy of at least 10 and thus become a Knight Squire of the first rank. All those who successfully pass this exam will be able to remain here and train for three more years before participating in a final assessment to become an official knight. Only after you become an official knight, like me, can you be considered a genuine member of the Temple. Now, let’s begin! Jiang Hu!”
“Yes.” A youth with a big stature walked forward as he removed the wooden sword that was strapped to his back.
All these youths had the same equipment: a wooden sword that was a meter in length, with a width of ten centimeters and a thickness of six centimeters. The examination for becoming a Knight Squire was simple: in front of Balza was something that looked like a big wooden block connected to a stone groove. Within that stone groove was a stone bead. By hitting the block of wood, the stone bead would vibrate and the amount of spiritual energy one has would be determined by how high the stone bead jumped. This could be considered an outdated method to evaluate one’s spiritual energy, but it was very precise when evaluating spiritual energies below one hundred.
In Shengmo Dalu, spiritual energy was the main factor used in evaluating everyone’s ‘rank’ in their occupation. It didn’t matter if they were knights, magicians, or any other profession, the level of the spiritual energy being used was the main factor for assessing one’s strength. Ten was generally the average spiritual energy level for normal adult males.
“Aahh!” Jiang Hu shouted loudly, with both hands grasping the wooden sword as he fiercely swung it against the wooden block.
Bang! The stone bead moved up, then down.
Balza nodded, satisfied, and registered his name on a sheet of paper as he declared, “Jiang Hu, spiritual energy level: 13. You pass! Next one…”
The examination was quickly carried out and, in an instant, half of the people had already finished. Those who succeeded were about half of them.
“Long Haochen.”
When he called the name, Balza unconsciously lowered his head. Before him was the figure of a thin young boy.
In comparison to the others, the young boy looked a little malnourished. He was quite thin, but had a handsome face.
He had naturally supple eyebrows, big eyes, long eyelashes, a straight nose, white skin, and thick lips. Even though he was only eight or nine years old, he was beautiful enough to make women jealous of him; especially because of his black hair combined with his pair of dark blue eyes. If he were to cross-dress, he would become a nation-level beauty.
Long Haochen went up in front of Balza, but did not take out his wooden sword like the others. Instead, he placed his right hand on his chest and bowed, saluting Balza.
“Teacher.”
Balza’s originally serious look softened slightly. He nodded, and instructed, “Start!”
“Yes!”
Drawing his sword, Long Haochen took a deep breath and suddenly swung it with all his might, hitting the wooden block.
With a puff sound, the stone bead bounced; but it obviously did not reach the tenth division.
Balza immediately frowned, “Spiritual energy level: 9. You don’t pass.”
From the speed of the slash that he saw from Long Haochen’s sword, he could see that Long Haochen truly did use all of his power and had gone all out; but he still could not pass the examination to become Knight Squire.
Long Haochen’s pretty face became flushed and, while looking at Balza, he said pleadingly, “Instructor, I… I…”
Balza sighed slightly and said, “Go down.”
Long Haochen eagerly repeated, “Teacher, give me another chance. I will definitely pass!”
Balza scowled, saying, “But, that would be unfair to the others who didn’t pass.”
Long Haochen suddenly became silent, but the determination in his eyes persisted. Balza noticed the expression in his eyes and, at the same moment, he couldn’t help staring blankly at Long Haochen. What is that? Perseverance? The Perseverance described in the Ten Standards of a Knight? The Ten Standards of a Knight are the ten essences of the knights. Even some Genuine Knights are unable to display some of these ten essences, but this kid before my eyes…
While Balza was lost in his thoughts, Long Haochen turned to face the other examinees and, using a very sincere tone towards the ones who trained alongside him for the past year, declared, “I beg of you, give me another chance.”
As he pleaded, he had, unexpectedly, knelt down.
Balza was flabbergasted. The youths were also flabbergasted. To these kids that were eight to ten years old, it was fundamentally impossible to understand why Long Haochen was so persistent.
Balza’s eyes widened, if it was another kid, he would have believed that the kid was greedy or cowardly, but that couldn’t be the case for Long Haochen. Because, even though Long Haochen may seem thin and weak, during that past year’s training, he was the most assiduous amongst all of the kids. Not only did he perfectly accomplish the mandatory training everyday, he also came an hour earlier and left an hour later.
Balza was a Standard Knight of the 10th rank, but he had already been an instructor for ten years and Long Haochen was the most diligent student he had ever seen. That boy never needed to be supervised. Not only did he train hard every day, he was also good to everyone and helped his fellow trainees whenever they asked him for help.
That was also why, when it was Long Haochen’s turn, Balza’s look became gentle. But the fact that Long Haochen didn’t pass the exam took him aback. If such a diligent child didn’t pass the examination, the only explanation would be a total lack of talent.
{ *[ cent bills]: China has cents in bills called jiao
*[Guoshu]: Guo here means country and shu means technique
*[ 190 centimeters]: Over 6ft tall
*[Lake Cui]: Cui Hu, also means Green Lake
*[hundred dyuan bills]: 100 yuan is their biggest bill
*[Daoist Fierce Tiger]: The author of this novel
*[Noodles]: made of wheat
*[Rice Noodles]: made of rice
*[Zhang Tian Tian]: Tian means sweet
*[Bajiquan]: Also known as Eight Extremities Fist, but Bajiquan sounds nicer to me
*[Long Taos]: side characters in Chinese operas who perform acrobatics and fight scenes
*[12.47 to 13.07]: don’t ask me about the tree sap }
Chapter 2: Knight Examination (II)
“Teacher, please let him be evaluated once more.” The one who said that was Jiang Hu, the first one who passed the examination, as well as the oldest in this group of children.
“Yes! Instructor, please give Haochen one more chance.”
“Teacher, Haochen works every day with such diligence, please let him try again.”
At that moment, pleas for Long Haochen came from almost all of the children. That was the result of his popularity. Add in that they were just a bunch of kids that did not have the notion of a benefit-based relationship, and it showed that they were merely being concerned for him and had no hidden purpose.
Balza’s voice rang out, “Silence!”
Everyone in the hall calmed down.
Balza said, “Okay, I will give him a chance; but, for this to be fair, Long Haochen, you will first have to defeat Jiang Hu in a one-on-one duel. The same applies to anyone who failed, those who can beat Jiang Hu within three days starting from today will be evaluated again.”
Long Haochen was overjoyed. He thanked his classmates before turning towards Balza, “Thank you, Teacher.”
Looking at the stunning boy with a bright face and a pure smile, even if Balza was a man, he couldn’t help feeling startled. Putting aside Long Haochen, he looked at Jiang Hu, and lightly said, “Go all out, or else, I will cancel your promotion as Knight Squire, understood?”
“Yes.” Jiang Hu agreed. As he pulled out a wooden sword from his back, all the other youths scattered away, creating an empty area.
While holding the wooden sword, Jiang Hu performed a knight salute to Long Haochen. “Haochen, be careful. I will show no mercy.”
Long Haochen, likewise, saluted, “Brother Jiang, please.”
Jiang Hu let out a sound as he took a step forward with his hands gripping his wooden sword, going straight towards Long Haochen and aiming for his left shoulder.
Long Haochen appeared very calm, as if he was observing him in slow-motion. Until the wooden sword in Jiang Hu’s hand split the distance between them in half, he didn’t move. Then, at that instant, he swung his sword towards the bottom of Jiang Hu’s sword.
With a quiet Duh! sound, in a situation where Jiang Hu’s spiritual energy was far greater than Long Hachen’s, Jiang Hu was, unexpectedly, the one being swung at.
Seeing that blow, Balza’s eyes flashed, showing his surprise.
Jiang Hu was being swung at, but his reaction was quick. He rotated his body, and as he used the power of his waist to drive the force of his hand, the wooden sword in his hand circled once, cutting horizontally.
Jiang Hu’s adaptability was brilliant. At his age, the fact that he’s able to have such a good level of mastery was pretty good. However, Long Haochen’s answer was even more surprising.
By the time Jiang Hu swung his sword, he had already advanced forward. The distance between the two was already pretty close. With a few steps, Long Haochen arrived at Jiang Hu’s side, as Jian Hu rotated his body.
How does he plan to attack? Doubt appeared in Balza’s mind. The wooden swords were a meter long and, at such a close distance, Long Haochen would not be able to attack openly.
But at that moment, Long Haochen unexpectedly launched an attack using the sword’s hilt.
As his body sunk downwards, simultaneously his sword’s hilt went up, aiming right under Jiang Hu’s rib. Although that attack from Long Haochen contained no force, Jiang Hu’s body still became unsteady and was swept to the side of Long Haochen’s wooden sword.
“Stop!” Balza shouted.
Balza’s eyes flashed and he said in a heavy voice, “Balance loss. Jiang Hu, you lost. If Long Haochen really did use his force, you would be lying down on the floor right now.”
Jiang Hu embarrassedly scratched his head, “Haochen, you are so cunning.”
Long Haochen withdrew his sword, looking apologetically at Jiang Hu because he had difficulty standing firm.
Balza nodded towards Long Haochen, ”You can try the assessment for a second time!”
Back in front of the wooden block, the look on Long Haochen’s face changed, becoming more dignified and giving off an unusual feeling.
Both hands holding the wooden sword, Long Haochen’s eyes looked imposing, his body looked like it was producing light. In particular, his eyes—those clear blue eyes—wore a firm look.
Suddenly, Long Haochen turned back fiercely, taking hold of his wooden sword, he looked far more obsessed than his peers.
Bang!
The stone bead went up as Long Haocheng was being repelled by the shock and took a step back. The wooden sword in his hands almost fell, and there was a trace of blood on his hands.
“Spiritual energy: 11. You pass!” Balza shouted with a shocked voice. Going from the 9th spiritual energy level to the 11th sounded just like a little difference of two levels. However, in his previous assessment, he estimated that Long Haochen was already going all out. To produce such an increase meant that his potential had been stimulated to its limit.
After a brief surprise, Balza came back to normal, and letting Long Haochen go to the infirmary to bandage his wound, then continued the next assessments.
“The assessments are finished. Those who failed, don’t come again tomorrow. Those who passed will be assigned to new instructors tomorrow. After receiving some Elemental Training Liquid, you can go back home. Now, dismissed!”
The youths shouted in unison, “Thank you, Instructor!”
“Long Haochen, you stay a little longer.”
The youths cheerfully left. At that age, whether they passed or not, they easily found joy and happiness.
There were only two people left in Odin Hall: Long Haochen and Balza.
“Haochen, tell me, why did you choose to attack that way during your duel against Jiang Hu?” Balza asked seriously.
Long Haochen replied without hesitation, “Because my strength doesn’t match Big Brother Jiang Hu’s, so I could only look for his weaknesses. You taught us that, when attacking, the strongest point is at the tip of the sword and that the closer you get to the handle, the weaker the strength gets. Thus, at the time he attacked, I located his center of gravity on his waist, and closed the distance between us. By aiming for his center of gravity, I prevented him from using his full power so that he had no way to continue his attack.”
Balza’s eyes were full of surprise, “So, you are saying that all of this was accomplished through observation?”
He had never taught these kids combat because, at their age, laying the foundation was more important than to spend time training.
“Okay, you can go home.” Balza waved. He felt that that child had potential that the other children didn’t have.
Wearing that beautiful face and showing a moment of shyness, Long Haochen tentatively asked, “Teacher, today’s portion of Elemental Training Liquid…”
“Oh, go take it.”
“Goodbye, Teacher.” Long Haochen happily left.
As he watched from behind as the boy’s figure jumped away, Balza could not help revealing a smile on his face, “This child… he is well behaved, works hard, and it looks like he has a very promising talent for combat. He is a really rare good seed.”
“Do you know how he managed to find the opponent’s weak point so easily?” At that moment, a cool and bright melodious voice sounded around Balza. Because that sound came so unexpectedly, Balza was suddenly scared stiff.
He didn’t know since when he had been there, but at Balza’s side was another middle-aged person. He looked to be in his thirties, clad in a simple and plain robe, but he had a pair of eyes that were as bright as the stars. In the depths of those eyes appeared an ounce of disappointment, a radiance of memories, as well as a feeling of pain that could be felt by others.
Chapter 3: Knight Examination (III)
“Senior, I don’t know.” As soon as he saw that middle-aged man, Balza hurried to salute him. This middle-aged person came to Odin Hall a few days earlier, so he was not sure of this man’s identity and circumstances, and only knew that he was a figure from the group of knights coming from Haoyue city.
The middle-aged man looked back, saying indifferently, “It is because his mental capacity is different from ordinary people’s…. Otherwise, how do you think he could display that kind of talent?”
Long Haochen was happily holding a small glass bottle in his hands and jubilantly ran towards his home.
For the other kids, the liquid in that bottle was just a hard-to-drink medicine, but for him, it was actually the reason why he joined the Knight Temple.
As he walked, he said aloud, “Big brother Jiang Hu was right, this Elemental Training Liquid is a really good thing. Ever since she started drinking a bottle of this each week, Mother’s health has been getting better. Sorry, Mother. You taught me that, as a man, I can’t beg other people, but if I couldn’t pass the examination today, I would never be able to bring you another Elemental Training Liquid to drink.”
If Balza heard Long Haochen’s remark, he would be staring at him in astonishment.
To the Knight Temple, the Elemental Training Liquid was a kind of medicine that had a special effect on children under fifteen years old. It would help enable them to strengthen their basic cultivation results, assist in their training, and lay their body’s foundations. The reason why Long Haochen had almost failed the examination today was that he didn’t drink any Elemental Training Liquid at all! All of it was given to his mother. One year ago, he was just a thin and weak little boy, and today, he had to make intense efforts in order to break through the tenth spiritual energy level since he had given to his mother to drink the Elemental Training Liquid that was supposed to support his spiritual energy’s cultivation.
To that nine year-old kid, in terms of difficulty, going through that trial completely surpassed the hurdles of the examination to become a Standard Knight.
The sunlight fell on Long Haochen’s body which shone with a golden luster that seemed to have emerged from the bottom of his heart.
Long Haochen’s home was located on the western side of Odin; he even had to cross a river to reach it. Quickly, he passed over the wooden bridge. However, he didn’t go straight home, but went along a little road that gave access to a forest that was west of Odin.
Every time he got the Elemental Training Liquid, he would first pick up some vegetables. Before he could give it to his mother to drink, he’d mix the medicine with some wild vegetables, producing a soup with a strong taste.
As he went through the forest, he quickly got to work. These last few years, Long Haochen and his mother depended on each other. Even in Odin Town, their household was the poorest one and, as the child of a poor person, he had to take care of the chores early on, whereas a lot of children of the same age only knew about playing everyday. He needed to help his mother so he could help share in some of her pains. Although mother and child were relying on the mother’s meager income from sewing some clothes every day for their life expenses, Long Haochen felt that his life was still quite happy.
After a while, quite a few herbs were piled up. Long Haochen had become quite familiar with them, and, although they were only wild herbs, their flavor was not so bad. He knew that because, since infancy, he had eaten a lot of them.
As Long Haochen was preparing to pack these up before going home, he suddenly heard a low pitched Puff! sound that startled him. Actually, the forest was not so peaceful: there were occasionally some wild animals in it.
Long Haochen looked in the direction from which he heard the sound, and saw a faint, small figure that seemed to have fallen down. Urged by his curiosity, he cautiously walked towards it. After several steps, he saw that the shadow that had fallen in the forest was actually no wild animal, but was, unexpectedly, a little girl.
The little girl seemed to be seven or eight years old, had a very delicate appearance, and short purple hair. Her clothes were damaged, and blood was coming out from at least six or seven places on her body. Although she had fallen on the ground, she still maintained her consciousness. She tried to get up, but was having some difficulty.
Long Haochen hurried towards her, tried to help her get up, and asked her, “Are you okay?”
The little girl looked surprised and she unconsciously moved back, looking at him from the side. At that moment, Long Haochen saw the appearance of the little girl.
A lot of dirt was on her beautiful cheeks, and the corner of her mouth was letting out a thread of blood. She looked very embarrassed, but her delicate features would still easily shock people. However, her beauty was different from Long Haochen’s. Long Haochen’s gaze was gentle, giving people a feeling of intimacy. That little girl, however, had a stubborn and cold gaze, and as she suddenly stared at him, Long Haochen couldn’t help shivering.
Seeing Long Haochen, the little girl looked surprised. She didn’t know if it was because her affinity for Long Haochen was good enough, however, she had quickly calmed down.
“Are you okay?” Long Haochen asked one more time.
The little girl lifted a hand reluctantly and wrote a line of words: “I can’t speak, bad people are chasing me, they will arrive soon. Sister, save me!”
Looking at the words written in front of him, Long Haochen was shocked, but when he read the last words she wrote, a few black lines appeared on his forehead.
“It is brother, not sister.” After defending himself with one sentence in a depressed tone, he lifted the little girl up, full of determination. Since he was able to pass the Knight’s examination, his strength was already at the level of an adult’s. Plus, the little girl’s body was especially light, so when he held her, he did not find her heavy at all.
After lifting her up, Long Haochen went back to the spot he was at, using a rough rope to pick up the wild herbs. But at that moment, the little girl anxiously pulled the lapel of his clothing.
Long Haochen gawked at her as he hurriedly placed her on the ground, and the little girl wrote quickly on the ground: “I feel their presence, they will arrive soon. They can track my scent. Go, quickly! Otherwise, it will be too late!”
Long Haochen wrinkled his brows and firmly shook his head, declaring: “Out of the question! As a man, I must protect you.”
Even though he was only nine years old, as he said those words, his beautiful little face contained an incredible resolution.
“Your scent?” The expression in Long Haochen’s eyes changed. Very quickly, he extracted some parts from some nearby wild herbs and pressed them with his hand before he quickly rubbed them on the little girl’s body as well as his own. Afterwards, he ran to the side, carrying her towards bushes, and placed her carefully in the middle of the bushes. At that point, he lay on his stomach, using his elbows to support his body.
He didn’t notice that while he was doing that, the little girl he was protecting stared at him with a strange look, without moving at all.
When Long Haochen stopped moving, he heard some noise from beyond the bushes. From a gap between the bushes, he secretly looked out, and saw a group of men in black clothes. The men’s figures were very tall, and seemed a little fishy. Among these people were some specialized in smelling odors.
“Why does the scent trail end here? Did that little girl get someone to rescue her?” An unpleasantly husky voice resounded in the woods.
Chapter 4: Knight Squire Examination (IV)
Making use of the sunlight that passed through the space between the trees, Long Haochen clearly saw one of the black-clad guy’s appearances and almost cried out in alarm because his face was, unexpectedly, totally covered with black hair. His yellow eyes looked especially ferocious, and his nose was ceaselessly twitching, as if he was trying to smell the odors.
It was also at that moment that an ice-cold voice resounded throughout the woods, “Don’t go any further! Since you chased her, don’t think of returning.”
Then, a sparkling light appeared silently in the sky, taking a graceful shape it rapidly twinkled a few times, like lightning in the middle of the woods. The seven or eight black-clad pursuers stiffened up and then fell to the ground the very next instant.
Long Haochen could only see the bushes before him when a white-clothed person with a covered face suddenly appeared in his field of vision. Before that white-clad man’s movements were even seen, from his chest, multiple specks of light flew out. In the next instant, it seemed as if the whole forest was shaken by those rays of light. Long Haochen was dazzled and wasn’t able to keep his eyes open.
When he could finally see the scenery before his eyes, he found, to his astonishment, that the black-clad men had all disappeared. Only the white-clad man, who was standing calmly on the ground, was left.
Everything happened too quickly. The only thing in front of Long Haochen now was the bushes. Everything else was turned into dust. It looked as though the ferocious looking people were never there to begin with!
The white-clad man slowly turned around, looked at the direction of Long Haochen and the mute girl, and calmly said, “Come out.”
Long Haochen felt tense. Obviously, he had been discovered. Just then he saw that white-clad man’s pair of eyes. Those eyes appeared emotionless, with black pupils that seemed grey. His long black hair grew from the back of his head, reaching his shoulders, and he was clad in a simple, white attire without any decorations.
The formidable white-clad man made Long Haochen’s heart tremble. After all, he was only nine years old; however, as he lowered his head and saw the messy and pale face of the little mute girl below him, his blood was surging within his body, turning into a surge of courage.
Calmly shaking his head towards the little girl, hinting to her to not make any noise, he supported himself with both of his hands’ strength, and jumped out from the bushes. At the same time, he took out his wooden sword from his back.
The white-clad man stood there without moving; but even like that, Long Haochen could instinctively feel that the man in front of him was stronger than any wild beast he had ever met, as well as far more dangerous.
Long Haochen calmly took hold of his wooden sword, and firmly looked at the white-clad person. He only hoped that the man didn’t discover the little mute girl.
“We should go back.” Even though the white-clad man’s voice was still emotionless, these simple words made Long Haochen sweat, drenching his body.
Also, at that moment, with a whiz sound, a lovely silhouette appeared in front of Long Haochen. He shockingly discovered that the one that moved at a speed that his eyes couldn’t even follow was the little mute girl that he was protecting a moment ago.
She is really fast! Long Haochen stared blankly at her.
The little mute girl stretched her arms out, using her thin and weak little body to block Long Haochen. Her firm gaze was stubbornly directed at the white-clad man before her, as she energetically shook her head.
It looked as though the expression in the emotionless eyes of the white-clad, long-haired, expressionless man changed. In the next instant, his body moved, twinkling like a graceful white light. Then, unexpectedly, and at an incomparably fast speed, the little mute girl in front of Long Haochen moved as well.
Long Haochen had much better observation skills than most people his age, but he could only see something that seemed to be a little knife in the small hands of the mute girl. Her body had made several irregular movements, like those of a fierce and tough little tiger. That speed was something only someone with a spiritual energy higher than 20 could possibly have.
Unfortunately, the disparity of power between the two of them was insurmountable and before one could take a single breath, everything was finished.
The mute little girl’s dagger couldn’t be seen anymore, and she was caught under the armpit of the white-clad person. The white-clad person had taken hold of her, though Long Haochen basically didn’t see what had happened.
“Free her!” Long Haochen shouted. Using a very standard posture for knights, the wooden sword in his hand faced the white-clad man. At that time, he had completely forgotten the intimidating nature of the person before him. He only thought about saving the little mute girl.
Going all out, Long Haochen held his wooden sword, preparing to attack, but his consciousness suddenly sank into darkness, as the white-clad man lifted an arm.
Under his armpit, the small mute girl struggled violently. The white-clad man was surprised by that sudden action, because he felt that under his armpit, the whole body of the little girl started to send out a scorching heat, and a layer of dark red radiance was also coming from her skin.
“Calm down, I will not injure him.” The white-clad man’s voice finally sounded like a human’s, though he looked helpless.
The little mute girl stopped struggling, and raised her head to look at the white-clad man.
The white-clad man nodded, looking at her, then took a step forward, before arriving directly in front of Long Haochen. He picked up Haochen’s body using a single hand, and held his gaze.
After a short while, the white-clad man slowly wrinkled his eyebrows, “His innate qualities belong to the upper class, but his bones’ growth is insufficient. His temperament and innate qualities make him suitable to becoming an outstanding knight.”
As he said that, he loosened his hold on the mute little girl.
She quickly made several hand gestures.
The white-clad man said, “His future prospects? It is hard to say. Looking only at his natural qualities, he can become an outstanding knight. He’s only eight or nine years old, but already possesses some qualities of a knight: compassion, courage, perseverance, and sacrifice. His possibilities are limitless, he will become an outstanding knight who will protect the people around him and this mindset will be even more important than his natural talent.”
The little girl pointed at her own body, then pointed at Long Haochen’s, making several hand gestures.
The white-clad man nodded and said, “Alright, the courage he just showed does deserve a reward.”
A group of white lights surged out from the white-clad man’s chest, forming a shape similar to a small white stove, a stove from which thin blue flames shone.
A moment later, the blue and white light disappeared, merging with the white-clad’s man’s body. He was clearly exhausted.
“Alright, I just used the Spiritual Stove of Power to help him sort out his twelve standard channels, it will allow him to develop his potential to a good extent. Now that your trial is finished, let’s head back.”
After he spoke those words, the white-clad man calmly stood up, and waved to the little mute girl.
However, against all expectations, the little mute girl ran towards Long Haochen, took off a blue ring with a golden band from one of her fingers, and she put it on Long Haochen’s middle finger on his left hand. Strangely, when that ring was placed on Long Haochen’s finger, it enlarged itself by a bit and, in the end, fully fit itself around his finger.
“Cai’er, you…” The white-clad man cried out in a small voice. The next thing he saw was the inflexible stubborn gaze of the mute little girl. She also reorganized the wild herbs beside him before heading back to the white-clad man’s side.
The white-clad man, who had stayed completely silent for a long time, wrinkled his brow, nodded slowly, then pulled the mute little girl’s hand and disappeared with her into the depths of the forest.
Chapter 5: Mysterious New Instructor (I)
“Mmm…” Long Haochen slowly regained consciousness and blinked several times. From the looks of it, those long eyelashes of his could really make any girl jealous. He gradually came back to his senses.
After he suddenly turned over and sat on the ground, he uttered “Am I alright?”
Looking at his unharmed body, he couldn’t help feeling relieved.
He was surrounded by total silence. In the woods, the only sounds present were the cries of birds.
When he lowered his head, Long Haochen found the wild herbs neatly put in order by his side. Stupefied, he rubbed his own temples.
Did I really fall asleep? Was all that just a dream?
Oh, what’s this?
He noticed a ring on his finger. It was a blue-colored ring that emitted a slightly glowing luster. It wasn’t a kind of metallic brightness, but a porcelain or jade-like glow. The decorative circular pattern was covered with gold, with a gem the size of a grain of rice embedded on it. The precious stone was completely embedded in the ring and he could feel its smooth little surface with his hand.
The ring’s inner circle was entirely golden. When it was pressed close to his finger, it seemed to stick out a little, giving him a strange feeling.
Long Haochen blankly stared. He immediately realized that everything that happened before his coma was real, but he was still confused. His mind was full of questions.
What was the relationship between the little mute girl and the white-clad man? Also, how did the white-clad man make those ferocious-looking people chasing her disappear? And who’s the owner of this ring?
For the nine year-old Long Haochen, these issues were just too complicated and he had absolutely no clue about the answers.
After standing up, he unconsciously went to the place where their pursuers had vanished. He immediately discovered that there was something strange in this place.
After a few steps, Long Haochen saw that the ground, which was originally full of green grass, had turned into a barren land and that the area had obvious defects in some places. Farther out the grass only had traces of black burns that eventually turned into the same color as the dark-green lands.
“Well, let’s stop thinking about this, it’s better that I quickly return home and give Mother her wild herb soup.” After Long Haochen checked on himself and made sure that the Elemental Training Liquid was still there, he steadily departed. He went to pick up his wooden sword before heading towards the direction of his home.
However, he suddenly discovered a strange phenomenon and stopped in his tracks the moment he picked the wooden sword up. The wooden sword felt like it had become lighter, as if it was the weight of a feather!
The truth was, the wooden sword in his hand was not what Genuine Knights used. It was lighter and wasn’t made the same way. The sword was made of hardwood and weighed 3.5 to 4 kilograms. Despite that, he had needed a full month of training before he was able to use it. At that time, he had entered Odin Hall.
Did the wooden sword become lighter? Wrong, it still has the same appearance! Is it possible that it is my strength that has improved?
When he thought about it, both of Long Haochen’s hands took hold of the sword and he dashed forward, using the sword to slash the air in front of him. Immediately, a sound rang out. The sword’s power really scared him, but his hands remained stable. He clearly felt that his limbs’ and bones’ strengths had increased tremendously. He jumped several times, and felt as though his body was now as light as his wooden sword had become.
This is at least the strength of someone with a spiritual energy level of 20, right? In his mind, Long Haochen remembered the indifferent and stubborn face of the little mute girl and muttered, “Are you the one who gave this to me? Tomorrow, I’ll appraise my spiritual energy level at the Hall by hitting the wooden block again.”
A youth’s heart can’t be very complicated. Although a lot of matters today left Long Haochen perplexed, after a single thought about his mother being able to drink Elemental Training Liquid again, he cast everything else aside. After all, the little mute girl was someone he just met, so he could only inwardly pray for her safety.
There is a place with a little courtyard, two thatched rooms, a few shelves entangled in vines, and some vegetables drying under the sun. This was Long Haochen’s home.
“Mother, I am back!”
The door to the thatched cottage opened and a peasant woman came out. Long Haochen looked at her outward appearance, then immediately revealed a smile as he ran to her.
She was Bai Yue, Long Haochen’s mother. Long Haochen’s appearance was very similar to hers, as if he was carved out based on her appearance. Although Bai Yue was simply dressed and had undergone a lot of hardships, her exceedingly beautiful appearance would still intensely shock anyone who saw her. The only thing that separated her looks and Long Haochen’s was her eye color. Bai Yue’s eyes were black, whereas Long Haochen’s were a dark-blue color.
However, because of their beautiful appearances, they had an even harder life.
Because of her beautiful appearance, Bai Yue, as she was bearing her son, was frequently harassed by others. Though those issues were somehow resolved, it’s amazing how one was able to live such a life.
Although they came to Odin Town under an agreement, she was forced to live in a remote corner of the town, and was made to wash other people’s clothes as her job, which enabled her to gain a meager income that was only barely enough to sustain her household.
“Chenchen, you came back. How was the examination?” Bai Yue, brimming with joy, ran to her son, picked him up, and held him in her arms. The nine-year-old Long Haochen was barely at the top of her stomach in height.
Affected by his mother’s soft and pure fragrance, Long Haochen jubilantly answered, “Mother, I passed it.”
Bai Yue faintly smiled, “I knew it, Chenchen is the best. Quickly washup, Mother will prepare your lunch right now.”
Long Haochen jumped away from his mother’s bosom, “Let me go prepare it. I picked some edible wild herbs that I can use to prepare a soup for you to drink.”
As he said that, he went straight to the thatched cottage. When he reached the entrance, he couldn’t help turning his head towards his mother’s direction. He didn’t know why, but he believed that she seemed really happy today. In fact, his mother generally didn’t speak much during the day.
Bai Yue continuously followed her son with her eyes as he went to the kitchen, while murmuring, “Chenchen, you are having such a hard time, but…”
She sighed lightly as her eyes revealed signs of internal struggle, but in the end, she was able to finally restrain her inner feelings that were about to surge out.
The night silently passed.
The next day, Long Haochen woke up early and he went to eat the breakfast that was prepared by his mother before he proceeded to Odin Hall.
When he was sound asleep, his dreams had showed the scene that had occurred during the day, and even showed the moment when that little mute girl gave him the ring. It fired him up to such an extent that, in the morning, as he woke up, he was too impatient to wait much longer, and left in a hurry to confirm how much his spiritual energy grew.
Because he came so early, when Long Haochen got to Odin Hall, no one else had arrived yet. There was nothing valuable at Odin Hall, so there was basically no one monitoring the place, not even Balza, the Knight Instructor who lived right behind it.
After hurrying to yesterday’s examination place in front of the wooden block, Long Haochen drew the wooden sword from behind his back. He came early today to prove that his guess was correct by taking a spiritual energy test.
With the wooden sword slowly raised, Long Haochen concentrated. His foot was accumulating his power as he took a deep breath and, from his hands, the wooden sword went down at full speed.
Puff!—Swish!—Ping!
Chapter 6: Mysterious New Instructor (II)
Puff!—Swish!—Ping!
Three successive sounds directly resounded, all of which sounded completely different. The first one came from the chop. The second one was from the sword, snapping from the impact. The wooden sword couldn’t withstand the power of Long Haochen’s attack and snapped from the middle. Fortunately, it wasn’t completely divided into two parts, or else the upper part may have flown towards him and hurt him.
The last sound was that of the collision with the stone bead. While he was still in the middle of his motion, Long Haochen clearly saw that the bead had impressively bounced up to the twenty-fifth division, the highest one!
Is this for real? It was. The fact that the wooden sword had snapped like that proved it. Balza once told him that the wooden sword they used could bear, at most, the twentieth spiritual energy level.
Long Haochen didn’t have a lot of knowledge in regard to knights, but the fact that, in an evening, he improved from his state of Knight Squire of the first step to become a Knight Squire of the second step made him very shocked and pleasantly surprised.
“Hm?”
Then Long Haochen came back to his senses. Uttering a quiet noise, he turned his head around subconsciously, and was shocked to discover that, without his noticing, a middle-aged man was right behind him.
Long Haochen was surprised, but not scared at all. Instead, he was curiously looking at him.
The middle-aged man had a tall and thin stature, black hair, black pupils, handsome looks, and bright eyes. It cannot be said that he looked eminently talented, but he definitely looked dignified.
After showing a moment of surprise, the middle-aged man quickly came back to his senses, wrinkled his brows and looked back at Long Haochen.
“Who are you?” Long Haochen asked, full of curiosity.
The middle-aged man answered with a faint voice, “You just passed the Knight Squire test yesterday; so, starting today, I am your new Instructor. You can call me Teacher Xingyu.”
Long Haochen hesitatingly said, “But, this is the first time I’ve met you.”
Xingyu faintly said, “You are called Long Haochen. You are nine years old this year, and your mother is called Bai Yue, am I right?”
Long Haochen nodded.
Xingyu’s stare suddenly sunk down. “Then, wait for Balza and we will see.”
After he said that, he suddenly stopped speaking and stared at a certain direction, with his lips slightly sulking.
After a little time, rapid footsteps could be heard and Long Haochen saw Balza running towards them at a fast pace. His face looked greatly shocked and respectful.
“Hello, Instructor.” Long Haochen immediately presented his Knight’s salute to Balza as he saw him arrive.
Strangely enough, Balza didn’t return the salute as usual. Instead, he hurriedly went in front of Xingyu and respectfully said, “Senior.”
Xingyu nodded, “Tell him that I am his new Instructor.”
“Right.” Balza hurriedly turned towards Long Haochen and said, “Senior Xingyu comes from Haoyue City’s Knight Hall and, from today onwards, he will be your Knight Instructor for the next three years. You will listen to every order he gives you. Senior Xingyu is a Genuine Knight.”
“Yes, sir.” Long Haochen politely answered. In fact, he had no idea about what the difference was between a Standard Knight and a Genuine Knight. He simply knew that since he’s his new instructor, he had to practice with him.
“Teacher Xingyu.” As he thought about that, he kindly saluted Xingyu. Long Haochen was truly far more mature than the others that were the same age, and more steady, as well.
“En,1 we have to go.” Xingyu said that as he grabbed Long Haochen by the hand and headed for the entrance to Odin Hall. Before he stepped forward, his obscure gaze stayed fixed on Long Haochen’s beautiful face, showing an upset face.
When they exited Odin Hall, Long Haochen couldn’t help asking, “Teacher Xingyu, shouldn’t we stay here to practice?”
Xingyu replied, “This place isn’t suitable.”
Affected by Xingyu’s cold expression, Long Haochen didn’t dare to ask him any further.
Balza’s gaze was directed towards their figures as they left; he was shocked and said aloud, “Doesn’t that Senior know his own status? For him to send his greetings to someone like me… To be so powerful, he must at least be an Earth Knight. No, maybe he is a Radiant Knight? Heavens!”
As Xingyu was taking Long Haochen away from Odin Town, Long Haochen suddenly felt a surge of warmth. A simple and honest feeling came from Long Xingyu’s hand, and, in the next moment, a strange scene occurred.
Everytime Xingyu’s tiptoes touched the ground’s surface, they would cross at least thirty-three meters2 and, after a few breaths, Odin Town was already far from sight.
For Long Haochen, this traveling speed was incredible. It could be described as, “as swift as the wind and as quick as lightning.” All Haochen could do was strongly grip Xingyu’s hand, for fear of otherwise falling.
They passed through the place where Long Haochen picked the edible wild herbs in the forest, and climbed a mountain peak that was in the same direction. Long Haochen was familiar with this place; it was where he grew up, after all. The mountain was called, by the people from Odin Town, Odin Mountain. But before the mountain, there was a forest where wild beasts would often appear, and sometimes even magical beasts. Therefore, few people go there. He also went to the foot of Odin Mountain half a year ago out of curiosity. There, he discovered a famous wild beastkin, but he ran away, frightened, upon seeing it. From that day onwards, Long Haochen never penetrated the forest so deeply again, not to mention Odin Mountain.
“Teacher, there are wild beasts here and maybe even magical beasts!” Long Haochen reminded him with good intentions.
Xingyu looked like he heard him, but went even faster, and started to ascend Odin Mountain. Even during the process of climbing the mountain, his speed never decreased. The scenery quickly passed by as they were brushed by strong winds and their hair dispersed.
Odin Mountain was not very high, just 666 odd meters.3 Only after a little while did they arrive at the summit.
Three log cabins appeared before Long Haochen’s line of sight. They didn’t have courtyards, just three solitary log cabins; however, they looked brand new. They were clearly built recently.
When they arrived at the log cabins, Xingyu stopped moving, then led Long Haochen to the biggest one that was in the middle.
They pushed on the door and entered. The log cabin had a thin timber section and emitted a strange smell, but not an unpleasant one. On the contrary, it emitted a sweet smell. The central log cabin was the biggest, but the inner rooms had a simple layout. There was only a wooden bed, a wooden desk, and two wooden chairs. As simple as that, but still more than Long Haochen’s home.
“Sit.” Xingyu pointed to a chair and pulled out the other one to sit on.
Long Haochen sat down. Although he’s young, he could feel that his teacher was quite formidable. He was quite nervous, but somewhat excited at the same time.
“Tell me what happened to you yesterday. Why did your spiritual energy level increase so much?” Xingyu calmly asked. His face was expressionless, but from Long Haochen’s point of view, his words were filled with an invisible pressure.
“What happened yesterday was…” Long Haochen didn’t feel like he had anything to hide, so he told him everything that happened at once.
During the whole time he was listening, Xingyu only wrinkled his face once, slightly, but, except for that one time, his expression didn’t change at all.
Chapter 7: Mysterious New Instructor (III)
Long Haochen couldn’t help asking, “…Teacher, do you think that the girl may be in trouble?”
Xingyu shook his said, and answered. “No, she should be on the same side as that white-clad man, both of them probably belong to the Assassin Temple.”
“Assassin Temple?” Long Haochen’s eyes were full of curiosity
Xingyu pulled on the hand that wore the ring, thinking aloud, “Isn’t this an interspatial ring?”
As he said that, Long Haochen’s finger suddenly emitted a small light, and, as his fingertip touched the ring, it caused a thin blue halo to appear.
Xingyu looked astonished and told him, “You’re quite lucky. It must have been that little girl who left this to you. It has incredible value, don’t forget that. That little girl is quite interesting.”
Long Haochen scratched his head, his beautiful face looked quite doubtful. He actually didn’t understand what his teacher meant at all.
“Teacher, do you know how that white-clad man made those fierce-looking people disappear?”
Xingyu showed a smile, “They disappeared because he killed those people by using the Thousand Strikes Spiritual Stove, that’s used by those from the Assassin Temple, to break them into pieces, then burn them into ashes without leaving a single trace. It was also through the use of a spiritual stove that the spiritual energy in your body grew. It helped you break through in your twelve spiritual energy channels by burning some impurities, causing changes in your body. This is no small favor, you have to keep it in mind, and, if you have the occasion in the future, return the favor to the other side. You can’t owe them forever, unless…”
Normally, he wouldn’t interrupt him, but Long Haochen himself didn’t notice that he did so because he found a lot of interest in Teacher Xingyu’s words.
“Teacher, what is this Thousand Strikes Spiritual Stove? Was it the white lights that appeared at that moment?”
Xingyu nodded, saying, “You can interpret it like that. Using simple words, it is a smelting furnace that uses spiritual energy, making it undergo several transformations. Each spiritual stove is exclusive to a particular person. However, you don’t need to study the knowledge regarding spiritual stoves yet, so I can only tell you now that a spiritual stove is extremely rare. By possessing a spiritual stove such as the Thousand Strikes Spiritual Stove, one will not become a great powerhouse for certain, but without any, one will never be able to stand at the peak of power.”
“Oh.”
Listening to him, Long Haochen’s heart immediately let out a feeling of envy. If in the future he could get a spiritual stove, how would he feel? Looking at the ring on his finger, he couldn’t help recalling the little girl he met that day.
Xingyu said, “I already had Balza inform your family, you will be allowed to go home once a week. The other times, you will be staying here to practice with me.”
Long Haochen was startled and asked, somewhat anxiously. “Teacher, can you still give me some Elemental Training Liquid?”
Xingyu nodded, and answered, “I will do so every time, right before you go home. If your performance is good, I will even give you some better medicine that will have a very good effect on anyone’s body. On the other hand, if you don’t meet my expectations, then I will drive you away from the mountain and you will not be a Knight Squire from the Knight Temple anymore.”
As he said those words, Xingyu’s eyes looked profound, showing a small apologetic look. However, he concealed it very well. Basically, Long Haochen didn’t even see it.
The moment young Haochen heard Xingyu’s words, he immediately nodded, and showed a firm and inflexible gaze. For his mother’s health, he will seriously complete everything that was instructed by his teacher. Moreover, he knows that it’s for his own good that his teacher was teaching him.
Xingyu nodded with satisfaction, and said, “From today onwards, I will instruct you in all kinds of knowledge in the morning. In the afternoon and the evening, you will practice. You must remember the knowledge I instruct you in. For each thing you forget, I will deduct one portion of Training Elemental Liquid.”
He obviously knew the weak point of Long Haochen; with only a little warning, he scared the little guy up to the point where he was now just repeatedly nodding.
Xingyu said, “Tell me what you know about the Temple Alliance.”
Long Haochen replied, “Instructor Balza taught us that the Temple Alliance is an alliance that includes the Knight Temple, the Warrior Temple, the Assassin Temple, the Mage Temple, the Priest Temple, and the Spiritual Temple. These six temples are united in order to guard the last territory of humanity.”
Xingyu nodded and added, “You are right, but these are merely the most basic facts. During ancient times thirteen thousand years ago, mankind gradually gained control of Shengmo Dalu. At that time, in the mainland, tens of human countries were formed: they ruled the continent and caused humanity to dominate Shengmo Dalu. Each country developed their own technology and agriculture, in addition to their own intellectual knowledge. It was during this period that mankind developed the fastest. People lived at peace, at ease, and the continent was flourishing.
“After those peaceful days passed, wars began to appear. Among themselves, the ten countries were involved in ceaseless warfare, and, due to these confrontations, the number of countries lessened and the situation became a confrontation between three big countries. Nobody dared to act rashly towards these three countries and this balanced situation lasted for several thousand years. We call this period ‘mankind’s glorious seven thousand years.’
“This lasted until six thousand years later, when this brilliant period suddenly ended because of the arrival of the demon race.”
At that moment, Xingyu showed a gaze full of horror and hatred.
“As humans continued their normal lives, nine stars aligned, and an enormous void ripped open in the sky over the eastern part of the mainland. Seventy-two demon gods emerged from the rift, bringing with them plagues that came from their demonic breath.
“During the hundred days that followed the first appearance of these demon gods, all living beings, regardless of whether they were wild beasts, magical beasts, or humans, immediately experienced enormous biological variations once they were infected by the gas, and became demonic beings that belonged to the demon race and obeyed all of the orders issued by the demon gods. After a hundred short days, the seventy-two demon gods had an army of several million soldiers. Fortunately, these demon gods’ demonic breath was only sent out continuously for no more than a hundred days, else I’m afraid humanity would have already gone extinct.”
Long Haochen was only an early youth, he did not have a lot of responsibility and he knew it, so he listened to Xingyu’s narration as if he was listening to a tale. However, he didn’t forget how Xingyu had just threatened him and, as he listened, he tried to keep the tale firmly in his memory.
“Seventy-two demon gods, and each one has, truly, an almost impenetrable defense. They are ranked according to their strength and are the ones who led the armies of mutated demons to assault humanity with the intent to wipe us out. From the day these seventy-two demon gods arrived onwards, humanity entered into a dark age that has lasted until this day.
“After the six thousand years of mutual strife, mankind’s countries were already destroyed and, although we saved important wealth and forces, when facing these demonic armies, we were still in a disadvantageous position. We were even nearly extinct until mankind’s strongest powers, the six Temple Halls that appeared three thousand years ago, after a lot of struggling, managed to stabilize our situation, stopping the demons’ progress. However, our Temple Alliance only occupies a little area, only one quarter of the mainland.”
When he arrived at that point, Xingyu’s tone clearly rose up, both of his eyes were sending out a bright radiance, “Thus, today I will instruct you in your first lesson that will keep in mind the pain and shame that the demon race has brought us. As Knights, we must guard our homeland, our dear ones, our race. You must recite these words every day, and get enough power to protect the people we must guard.”
Chapter 8: Mysterious New Instructor (IV)
“The demon race has already murdered tens of thousands of our compatriots, causing these compatriots’ blood to stain the ground. Over the last three thousand years, we six temples have never shown remorse for them, and have done the most that was possible for the survival of mankind so that, one day, we would be able to recapture the lost territory and expel those cruel and vicious demons. We will work until our last breath.
“Long Haochen, you must keep firmly in mind that the demon race is the enemy we have the most intense and deep-seated hatred towards.”
Xingyu’s voice was full of power, and even the nine year-old Long Haochen was incredibly influenced by his words, his blood seething with excitement.
“The demon race is the enemy we have the most intense and deep-seated hatred towards.” Long Haochen’s firm tone copied the way Xingyu said this sentence.
Xingyu nodded, “We will concentrate all of our efforts to expel them from our homeland, to recapture our lost territory, and to protect our important ones. Ask yourself this: if, one day, we cannot block the demon race’s progress anymore, what will happen to Odin Town? Your friends, your mother, what sort of catastrophes will they face?”
As the clever Long Haochen did so, he shivered uncontrollably, and his look became ferocious.
Looking at him, Xingyu’s eyes revealed a satisfied expression. He could naturally see that the little child had already kept everything he told him firmly in his mind.
“Today, I will teach you only this much historical knowledge. From tomorrow on, I will tell you about the origin of the six temples. Then, I will teach you about writing, as well as some knowledge regarding the demon race.”
After a whole morning, Long Haochen was immersed in the various stories that Xingyu told him. Compared to his former Instructor, Balza, the things the new Instructor taught him were completely different. He taught every kind of lesson to him, sometimes in an allusive way, sometimes in a straightforward way. It was as if his knowledge was boundless. After only one morning, Long Haochen found out that he had already learnt a lot, which made him instantly like his teacher Xingyu.
“Tomorrow morning, I will give you an examination about everything I told you today. Now, let’s eat. You will have a half-hour rest afterwards.”
Saying that, Xingyu seemed more normal than usual, and he walked immediately to the wooden table.
A scorching hot energy surged out from Xingyu’s hand and, under Long Haochen’s dumbfounded gaze, the food immediately sent out some hot and dense steam.
A large bowl, completely filled with rice, seemed to look as if it was sparkling. There were also four very large portions of cooked dishes: two of meat and two of vegetables. Because his family had always been lacking in money, Long Haochen had never eaten such a good meal. After seeing that, Long Haochen’s eyes seemed dazzled.
Xingyu took out two pairs of chopsticks, “Eat. When you are finished, you can rest for a little while.”
Long Haochen suddenly hurried to stand in front of Xingyu and suddenly knelt before him, letting out a Puff! sound.
“What are you doing?! Don’t tell me that you don’t know men have gold under their knees, how can they easily kneel down before others?” Xingyu scolded him with fury.
Long Haochen lowered his head, speaking haltingly: “Teacher, I… I…”
“What ‘I’ ‘I’? After a little favor, you will kneel down before others like this? Don’t tell me I am teaching a submissive bug?” Xingyu’s voice became even stricter.
Long Haochen nodded. “Teacher, I want to make a request. Can I eat less every day, so that when I go home I can bring some food for Mother? Mother has also never eaten such good food before.”
Xingyu’s ferocity suddenly became dull. From his original anger, there was nothing left, and he now seemed somewhat sluggish. Because Long Haochen was still lowering his head, he didn’t notice that, at that moment, the mysterious new teacher’s lips unexpectedly trembled slightly, with both of his eyes sparkling even more.
Slowly standing up, Xingyu pushed the door and was about to leave, then sent his voice back, “Stand up and eat. I promise you that as long as you seriously follow my practice and meet my requirements, I will have someone deliver a meal for your mother every day.”
“Thank you, teacher!” Long Haochen was overjoyed, as his teacher rotated his knees towards the door, which made some Ping! Ping! Ping! sounds before closing. Then he got up, about to start eating that attractive meal.
Xingyu stood right behind the door, looking up to the sky. He was the only one who could hear these words he let out, “Modesty, honesty, compassion, courage, fairness, sacrifice, perseverance, humility, justice, just what does he lack? Is he such an inborn knight?”
When he returned to the cabin, Long Haochen had already finished eating lunch, but each of the meals had half of it left, and a bowl of rice was put in front of Xingyu’s seat. As he saw him come back, he hurried to stand up and respectfully greeted him.
“The room behind the next door is yours, go there and rest. I will call you when it’s time.”
“Yes.” Long Haochen truly thought that Teacher Xingyu was a gift brought by the heavens to him, and went to rest in great delight.
After a half hour, Xingyu called for Long Haochen.
“From the afternoon to the evening, you will practice. This is for you.” Xingyu gave Long Haochen a pair of dark green bamboo swords.
The bamboo swords were way lighter than any wooden swords Long Haochen had ever used before and the handles, although light, were quite tough.
Xingyu dragged him by the arm, jumped once more towards the mountain peak and, after a little while, he and Long Haochen were some place half-way up the mountain.
Pointing at a large rock in front of them, Xingyu said, “This is a natural owl-ant nest. Inside, there are thousands of owl-ants. Although these insects are not magical beasts, they are very aggressive, particularly to intruders. Don’t forget to use these bamboo swords to protect yourself.”
With such a simple explanation, and without even waiting for Long Haochen to understand the matter, Xingyu kicked him towards the huge rock and Long Haochen cried in alarm as he fell into a pitch-black cave.
Long Haochen’s body landed on something soft and, although he fell from a height of five meters, he was still conscious.
The large rock that was used to block the entrance, until Xingyu moved it to push Long Haochen inside of the cave, was put back, and now Long Haochen could only see barely ten meters around him.
Also, at that moment, with a buzzing sound, Long Haochen could tell that numerous creatures were flying towards him from every direction.
At that moment, he understood what Teacher Xingyu meant and brandished the pair of bamboo swords in front of him.
However, what he had learned at Odin Hall was only the most basic cuts, chops, and thrusting skills, and before him were uncountable owl-ants that were in a frenzy. In an instant, his body was bitten and stung by a lot of them.
A violent pain was transmitted to his whole body, making the young Haochen utter some pitiful cries and the bamboo swords in his hands immediately scattered.
“This is one of the practice methods I’ll instruct you in and also your first examination. If you are unable to withstand this, you can leave tomorrow.”
Xingyu’s voice spread to Long Haochen’s ears, making him panic and lose his firmness, but the severity of his body’s pain was even greater than the effect of these words. His clothes couldn’t restrain the bites of the owl-ants any longer and the bamboo swords in his hands, that were waved in disorder, were clearly hitting a large number of bodies.
“I can withstand this.” Long Haochen shouted. Thinking of his mother and of Xingyu’s words, his courage began to exceed his fear and he went all out and kept waving the bamboo swords in his hands, trying to drive away these owl-ants that were attacking him ceaselessly.
“The current you cannot see, but you have merely lost your sense of vision. You still have your sense of hearing, your sense of touch, and even your sense of taste. Use everything that can assist your abilities to feel your surroundings.”
Chapter 9: The Teacher who came from Hell? (I)
Xingyu’s voice was conveyed to Haochen once more, but he just explained some simple sword techniques before he disappeared.
The merely nine year-old Long Haochen had to stay alone in that pitch black cave with those frenzied owl-ants and an intense pain that incessantly spread throughout his body.
Because of the severe pain, his speed shot down multiple times. However, as he thought about his mother, courage surged up from within his heart.
The owl-ants only brought him severe pain; so he clenched his teeth to suppress the pain and waved his bamboo swords over and over again.
Xingyu stood outside of the hole. Feeling each minute that passed, his facial expression constantly changed. Not only once did he raise his hand with the intent to push the huge rock before him, but he resisted.
If it was another kid from Odin Hall, he would have fainted soon after getting into that hole. However, Long Haochen was still conscious, constantly exerting himself to fight those owl-ants. They are not poisonous, but can easily bring violent pain to people. Their bodies, only one-third of a decimeter long,1 were not only extremely hard, but they also had an incredible attack power.
The expression in Xingyu’s eyes was constantly changing. He really was training Long Haochen with extreme methods. So long as Long Haochen could bear that, his mental strength, which was very different from ordinary people’s, would be able to develop at the fastest speed possible. The training also had numerous other benefits. Primarily, it would forge in him an iron will.
After half an hour, a whole half hour! Long Haochen felt like a century had passed here. His whole body was already numb because of the pain; he couldn’t wave the swords in his hands anymore, and his weakened body sank into a coma.
At that moment, the stone covering the entrance of the cave was pushed aside and a great force was exerted on Long Haochen’s body, pulling it up as the uncountable owl-ants were repelled by a strange power, without any way to fly out to avoid it.
That was all done by Xingyu. As he looked at Long Haochen, he took a deep breath. It could be seen in his gaze that he couldn’t control his feelings anymore.
At that moment, Long Haochen had completely worn out his whole body. His body was swelling from the stings, his beautiful little face couldn’t be recognized at all, and traces of the impacts with the owl-ants’ bodies could be seen on the set of bamboo swords.
Xingyu hurriedly made Long Haochen inhale a special red medicine and, after a flash, he carried Long Haochen back to the log cabin at an immeasurable speed.
There was a total of three log cabins. Apart from the master and his apprentice’s log cabins, there was also another one Long Haochen had never gone into. At that moment, he was brought into that log cabin that by Xingyu.
Upon entering the log cabin, a dense hot steam could be seen coming out.
In the wooden cabin’s interior was a rock that had a pool dug out from it. To say it accurately, the pool was here first, and the log cabin was built around it.
The pool water was overflowing. The water inside the pool was brown colored, and had numerous medicines floating inside it.
Xingyu quickly stripped off Long Haochen’s ripped clothes, then carefully placed his body inside the pool. Only the part around his nose was outside of the pool.
The hot spring was, in fact, dug by Xingyu, but Long Haochen, who was still in a coma, didn’t know that. In the pool’s water, he soaked in these medicinal materials that had a value that even 10,000 bottles of Elemental Training Liquid could not compare with.
After half an hour, Xingyu saw that the swollen parts on Long Haochen’s body were gradually disappearing. Afterwards, he left the log cabin.
The sunlight was gradually disappearing, leaving room for the dim light of the night, before, unbeknownst to Haochen, it had already became dusk.
“It hurts. Waaaa–!” Long Haochen’s shouted, waking up from his coma, while being soaked in the hot spring.
His body moved, but naturally he could not keep his balance. The water in the pool wasn’t deep, but he drank some and suddenly spat it out. From the pool, a loud coughing sound could be heard.
Where am I? Long Haochen ignorantly looked at the surrounding steam and the water around him. The intense pain he originally had was already gone and, except for the fact that his whole body was completely cleaned and naked, he felt completely natural.
Opening the door, and holding clothes, Xingyu entered from outside.
“Wear these clothes and come out.” After letting out a simple sentence, he left again.
A bit confused, Long Haochen came out from the water and grabbed the towel that was next to him before putting the clean clothes on. Then, he thought back to the events that happened in the owl-ants’ nest.
When he remembered the severe pain he felt at that moment, he couldn’t help shivering intensely. At that time, he relied entirely on his courage to bear it, but after thinking back about it, he felt the severe pain of that moment once again.
After he pushed the door open, he discovered that he was in the third log cabin and, upon entering the middle cabin, he discovered a rich meal arranged on the table.
“Come and eat.” Xingyu, acting as if nothing had happened, pointed to the meal on the table and started to eat.
Looking at his teacher, Long Haochen haltingly spoke, “Teacher, I…”
“Come and eat first.” Xingyu looked at him with a stern gaze.
Long Haochen didn’t dare to say anything else, hurriedly sat down, and started to eat as if he hadn’t eaten anything for a long time. He was especially hungry tonight; his appetite was three times larger than usual. After a little while, Long Haochen had eaten everything that was edible on the table except for the little portion Xingyu ate.
Xingyu didn’t let him tidy up the table yet. Instead, he calmly inquired, “Tell me how you felt today.”
“It was very painful.” Long Haochen sincerely answered.
“Can you only do this much?!” Xingyu coldly spoke. “This was only the beginning. Come out with me and bring your bamboo swords with you.”
“Okay.”
The master and his apprentice left the wooden cabin, arriving at the summit of the mountain.
Two similar bamboo swords appeared in Xingyu’s hands, “The sword is known as the king of weapons. It can attack as well as defend. If you want to defend others, you have to be able to defend yourself first. I am going to teach you close quarters tactics now. Watch carefully.”
As the bamboo blades moved, they let out some afterimages. These sword rays that looked so unreal were shining on the summit of the mountain. The explanations that accompanied these sword rays ceaselessly entered Long Haochen’s ears. Today, his hellish practice had just begun.
As the days passed by, Xingyu instructed Long Haochen in various subjects including astronomy, geography, and history, on a daily basis. After a day of instruction, there would be an examination about the courses from the day before. To Long Haochen, that was the happiest moment of the day.
In the afternoon, hell began. The owl-ants’ nest was a required daily course, with the final result being the same every time. That inhumane pain made Long Haochen almost want to die, but every time his heart thought of giving up, Xingyu would remind him that he would be able to go home after only a few days.
Every time he was in the owl-ant’s nest, he trained until the moment he fainted, and once he woke up, he would find himself in the middle of the hot springs, with the pain already gone.
After dinner, training started. Xingyu passed some skills to Long Haochen and let him do practical memorization to learn a few things. Only when the night was very late would the training end.
The most painful thing for Long Haochen was the fact that Xingyu didn’t permit him to sleep. When it was late at night, while he was completely exhausted, Xingyu would teach him a seated meditation method that Long Haochen called ‘sleeping while sitting’. And in the morning, Xingyu’s sword would, without a doubt, hit him to wake him up.
Chapter 10: The Teacher who came from Hell? (II)
Just like that, seven days passed by. Long Haochen, who could only stay in the owl-ants’ lair for half an hour in the beginning, could now stay inside for a quarter of an hour longer.
After soaking in the hot spring, he would eat his dinner. Long Haochen, who was well behaved, would wait for Xingyu’s guidance. After a week of practice, he was not only respectful towards Xingyu, but was also sincerely afraid of him.
“No need to go on for tonight, go home. But the seated meditation mustn’t be broken off. Come back here tomorrow, early in the morning.” Xingyu threw a bottle of Training Elemental Liquid towards Long Haochen’s hands, hinting for him to leave.
Long Haochen felt relieved after seeing Xingyu’s salute and flew out of the log cabin. I can finally go home!
Looking at his figure leaving, Xingyu revealed a smile that Long Haochen didn’t see. “Stupid boy, did you forget where you are? Three years, I can only stay for a mere three years; during this time, I will teach you everything I can.”
The light feeling in Haochen’s body was truly excellent. Long Haochen ran down the mountain while feeling the changes in his body.
After a mere week, he realized that his senses were way sharper than before. Although he had really been tormented in the owl-ants’ lair, he had different sensations every time he went there. He could finally, after a week, feel each of the owl-ants’ attacks coming from each direction. His reaction speed had also evolved incredibly compared to where he was the moment he first arrived.
Although he hadn’t tested it yet, Long Haochen was sure that the biggest change in his body was his spiritual energy, which had undoubtedly risen. It was at least two levels higher, and that was after only a mere week!
Although he had to go through painful training every day, going as far as depriving himself from sleep, his originally thin and weak body clearly became somewhat stronger after the past week. His face also looked way ruddier.1 That was because, in addition to having healthy meals, he had soaked in the hot spring every day.
Long Haochen didn’t know that the combination of the hot spring and the medicinal material affected his body quite a bit. That was called a ‘bone marrow forging bath’.
As he excitedly went down the mountain, a fishy smell suddenly caught his attention.
The week he spent taking on crowds of owl-ant attacks wasn’t wasted. Instantly, Long Haochen stopped his steps and jumped to the side. At the same time, he removed the bamboo swords from his back.
With a Wizz! sound, a jet-black shadow appeared on the path he was about to cross. At that time, although it was almost dusk, Long Haochen easily saw the surprise attack coming.
The creature was 1?2 meters high and had a pitch-black body that was supported by four sturdy little limbs and had ceaselessly trembling scales on its back.
“A magical beast?” Long Haochen couldn’t help letting out a cry. He felt, at that moment, extremely nervous.
Xingyu taught him a variety of subjects on a daily basis, and amongst them was included the presentation of the different kinds of magical beasts. Luckily, he studied the magical beast varieties like the one that was currently before his eyes a few days ago.
It was a Scorpion-tailed Lizard, an elementary level magical beast. Its power was the same as a human with a vocation that uses spiritual energy between the 3rd and 5th rank.
Magical beasts were divided into four levels: elementary level, intermediate level, high level, and peak level. The biggest difference between magical beasts and wild beasts is their ability to use spiritual energy power to enhance themselves, and to attack the enemy that only the former category has.
Magical beasts of the first step are rather weak. They cannot use spiritual energy abilities to attack their enemies, but they can use them to strengthen themselves. The Scorpion-tailed Lizard is of that kind, a carnivorous magical beast. The scales on its back have great defensive abilities, its tail has a poisonous hook, and its weak point is on its stomach. However, because that beast attacks while crawling on the ground, its belly is rarely exposed.
The Scorpion-tailed Lizard fiercely looked at Long Haochen, while its big mouth exposed its thick white teeth. It looked as if it was wondering how long it had been since it had last eaten a human.
Facing a magical beast for the first time, Long Haochen felt chills running down his back. His hands were both tightly gripping the bamboo swords, but he didn’t act rashly; much less turn around to run away. To keep calm in such a situation was already quite hard for a nine year-old child, but he was behaving like that because he still remembered what Xingyu told him about the Scorpion-tailed Lizard’s sprint speed being quite fast. At the same time, he taught him to never show his back to the enemy.
Wizz!
The Scorpion-tailed Lizard didn’t give too much thought and its four sturdy and strong limbs rushed straight towards Long Haochen, its teeth directed towards Long Haochen’s thighs.
At that moment, the hellish training from the last seven days revealed its results. Almost instinctively reacting, Long Haochen took a step to the left and, at the same time, used the pair of bamboo swords to hit and cut towards the Scorpion-tailed Lizard’s head.
The reason behind that side-step dodge was not to draw back, because Xingyu taught him that he couldn’t easily draw back, unless he was sure to die if he didn’t do so. Otherwise, he could easily be attacked from behind and lose without any possibility of fighting back. Dodging to the side was different, because he could dodge while, at the same time, keeping his enemy in his sights.
Two Pu! sounds rang out. Although the bamboo sword was tough, it was also very light and its destructive power wasn’t up to much, so it hit the Scorpion-tailed Lizard like some decayed leather. However, the current Long Haochen wasn’t a newly assessed Knight Squire. His spiritual energy level, being close to 30, was enough to knock the Scorpion-tailed Lizard back on the ground.
But the Scorpion-tailed Lizard’s attack didn’t stop at that. As its body fell on the ground, the poisonous-hook on its tail swept towards him.
Relying almost completely on his reaction speed, Long Haochen leapt vertically. Raising himself in the air by one meter, the sword in his right hand blocked the attack that was coming from below him with a swing.
After that simple exchange of blows, which resulted in Long Haochen stopping two of the Scorpion-tailed Lizard’s attacks, he discovered that that magical beast was surprisingly not so scary. At that time, the oppressed feelings of resentment coming from the depths of his heart for those seven atrocious days were mostly dispelled. Compared to seven days earlier, his current strength and reaction speed were higher. Without a doubt, he owed that to Teacher Xingyu. He had never made such fast improvements before he met him. Although the experiences in the owl-ants’ nest were nightmares to him, he had no choice but to admit that they had a truly great effect.
The Scorpion-tailed Lizard didn’t give up so easily, though. After its failed attack, it rushed at Long Haochen once more and, this time, it looked as if its body had somewhat expanded.
Because Long Haochen was a bit distracted by that sudden attack right after the first round, his reaction became slightly slower; but he still managed to use the bamboo swords to chop towards its body to block it. However, the Scorpion-tailed Lizard didn’t fall onto the ground this time.
Not good, this is his Body-Strengthening skill! Long Haochen was startled, his bamboo swords were repelled and, at the same time, his body lost some of its balance and was falling backwards.
The Scorpion-tailed Lizard’s big mouth was right before his eyes. Long Haochen felt the danger he was in and his pupils quickly shrank. It seemed as if something exploded inside of his head.
At that moment, he suddenly felt as if the Scorpion-tailed Lizard’s movements became slower. As he was falling on his back, he could very clearly see each of its movements.
If someone could see Long Haochen’s current pupils, they would discover that the pupils’ in the middle of his blue-eyes had contracted to the size of a needle and that he was, surprisingly, in an extremely calm state; the hardness that appeared in ordinary people’s eyes didn’t appear in his.
Chapter 11: The Teacher who came from Hell? (III)
As he was inserting the sword he held in his right hand directly into the ground, exerting his back’s strength, the sword in his left hand thrust forward with full force. During that instant, Long Haochen felt that his spiritual energy broke into a new boundary. The sword ruthlessly hit the lower part of the Scorpion-tailed Lizard’s jaw, and, although it was in its strengthened state, that attack made it fly backwards and caused its ferocious mouth to close.
At the same time, Long Haochen’s whole body jumped on a curved path with the support of the bamboo sword in his right hand that was pushed into the ground, and his left leg kicked the Scorpion-tailed Lizard’s lower jaw upwards.
With two strikes in a row, both chained together extremely well, the Scorpion-tailed Lizard’s body was unable to keep its balance and lifted up from the ground because of the kick.
Meanwhile, Long Haochen, who still had the support of the bamboo sword he had pushed into the ground, let go of the sword in his right hand, which enabled him to jump back to the ground. The bamboo sword in his left hand took the form of thin white lightning striking upwards.
With a Bang! sound, the upper part of his body rose towards the Scorpion-tailed Lizard and its belly was penetrated by the bamboo sword, simultaneously causing its body to fall down.
After a sad, shrill, miserable, yell, the Scorpion-tailed Lizard’s tail swept around as a last intent of struggling before its death.
However, Long Haochen had already expected that possibility and, using his sword smoothly, he directly countered that last attack. He jumped aside before pulling the sword that was stuck in the ground out with his right hand, and entered into a defensive posture.
Ping!
The Scorpion-tailed Lizard fell on the ground, its body violently squirmed and repeatedly cried out miserably because of the pain from its belly.
Long Haochen looked calmly around him and didn’t discover any other magical beasts in the area. Then, he found a large tree to lean on. His breathing had become quite heavy.
In a split instant, his whole body became drenched with sweat. His physical power seemed to be completely depleted.
Since the instant he vanquished the Scorpion-tailed Lizard, only a few seconds had actually passed. During that moment, at the edge of death, it could be said that his latent potential had been completely stirred up. Before he broke through that new level, all of his abilities were used to their utmost limits. His final attack used the only skill that Xingyu had taught him: Pure-White Edge. By momentarily concentrating all of his spiritual energy at a single point of his sword, he was able to attack with 110% of his full-power.
Before Long Haochen linked these moves, a certain person, hidden in the dark, was watching him without making a single noise. Even if Long Haochen had lost consciousness at the end of the exchange of blows, that man could easily get rid of that kind of magical beast.
But, in the end, Long Haochen didn’t make a single mistake. With the two swords he carried, he got rid of the Scorpion-tailed Lizard. Meanwhile, his spiritual force also broke through the 30th level, entering into the 3rd rank of the 1st step of knighthood. That was the reason why Long Haochen had felt that sudden rise in strength at that moment.
In any vocation, as the rank grew, the feeling of a breakthrough would become more obvious.
After panting a few more times, Long Haochen noticed that the sky had already begun turning pitch-black, and felt that his energy had returned while the Scorpion-tailed Lizard was lying on the ground, motionless.
Looking at the dead Scorpion-tailed Lizard, the 9-year-old Long Haochen’s eyes revealed a glow. “Teacher, you were right. It is after enduring hardships that one can become a great man. I should not bear resentment towards you. If not for your teachings, I’m afraid I would have become unable to meet Mother again. Teacher, I won’t ever complain again, even secretly in my heart.”
As he said those words, Long Haochen turned towards the summit of the mountain, bowing with respect, and passed, with great care, the Scorpion-tailed Lizard’s body.
Generally speaking, the most elementary magical beast had a lot more value than any wild beast. Even that kind of low-level magical beast was worth at least one gold coin. Long Haochen was not willing to waste that opportunity.
He looked around carefully for a stone, and used it to deprive the Scorpion-tailed Lizard of its hooked tail and used two vines to tie it, with the intent to bring it home.
He didn’t meet any more danger on the road. He went straight to Odin Town, ran towards a shop, and explained that he wanted to sell the corpse of the magical beast that his teacher had slain. After he got a gold coin and two silver coins, he finally went home.
It looked as though Bai Yue knew beforehand that her son would come home that day. When Long Haochen passed the entrance, he saw the richest dinner he had ever seen at home.
His teacher had abided by his promise and brought tasty food to his mother. Looking at that, the young Haochen couldn’t help feeling even more grateful towards Xingyu.
“Mother, I give this to you.” Long Haochen handed Bai Yue all the money he had as a gift.
Bai Yue was flabbergasted, “Where did you get this money from?”
Because he didn’t want his mother to worry, Long Haochen told her a lie out of goodwill.
“Teacher gave me this money to give to you. He said that upon becoming a Knight Squire, I could also receive a salary. This is my first year’s remuneration, but if my improvements are fast, I will, perhaps, have some more rewards like this.”
Unexpectedly, Bai Yue didn’t persist in asking. She smiled, took the money, and said: “Haochen, you must listen to your teacher’s words, understood?”
“Yeah.” Long Haochen repeatedly nodded.
Bai Yue pursued, “Is practice hard?”
Before he killed the Scorpion-tailed Lizard, Long Haochen would surely have replied differently to that question. After all, the fear of the owl-ants nest was held strongly in his heart. But, at that moment, he shook his head and replied without the slightest hesitation, “Mother, it is not hard at all. Teacher teaches me well, gives me good food to eat every day, and lets me soak in a hot spring.”
Hearing these words, Bai Yue’s face looked relieved. She stroked her son’s head, “Hurry up. Go eat some food.”
After having eaten dinner, Long Haochen didn’t forget to use the Elementary Training Liquid to boil a wild herb soup for her before going back to his room to sleep. He was very pleased with himself.
On the morning of the next day, he returned to Odin Mountain’s road. He didn’t meet any magical beasts on the road, so he quickly headed back to the summit of the mountain.
“Teacher, I’m back.” Long Haochen excitedly entered the log cabin.
Xingyu looked like had been waiting at the same place for a long time and lightly said, “Before we continue with today’s course, I will give you an examination to see if you forgot what you have studied up to now. Tell me about Knight Squires, Standard Knights, as well as the requirements to grow in rank as a knight.”
Long Haochen answered without the slightest hesitation.
“Knight Squires are graded between the 1st and the 10th rank. After breaking through the 100th spiritual energy level, they can be promoted to Standard Knights. Standard Knights are graded the same way: they gain one rank every 10 spiritual energy levels and upon breaking through the 200th level, one can take the Genuine Knight examination. The knight examination does not only require spiritual energy, it also requires one to have the ten standards of a knight. After becoming a Genuine Knight, one can be promoted from the 1st rank after 10 spiritual energy levels as well; only upon surpassing the 210th spiritual energy level will someone be a 2nd rank Genuine Knight, and, after that, each of the eight other ranks are promoted every 30 spiritual energy levels. At the last rank, one can reach the 4th step of the vocation after accumulating 50 more spiritual energy levels and surpassing the 500th spiritual level.”
Xingyu carried on with his examination: “Why are the spiritual energy requirements to promote to each rank different after becoming a Genuine Knight?”
Long Haochen answered: “Because it is only after entering the 1st step of knighthood that one can be said to be a full-fledged knight, so each rank is merely an adaptation. You also taught me that regardless of the step, the 3rd step, the 4th step, the 5th step or afterwards, the ranks between the 1st and the 2nd are always the easiest to pass.”
Xingyu pursued with a bunch of other questions, which lasted for half an hour, before finishing that examination. Long Haochen answered all of these questions—correctly—without making the slightest little mistake, because of his astonishing memory.
“Good, you remembered everything quite clearly, we can now begin today’s course. But beforehand, I have to ask you, do you think that, for a knight, the most important thing is to attack? Or is it to defend?”
Chapter 12: The Teacher who came from Hell? (IV)
After listening to Xingyu’s question, Long Haochen couldn’t help but become somewhat shocked, and, after thinking deeply for a short while, he shook his head with a face of ignorance.
Xingyu’s face revealed a rare smile. “You are quite honest. You don’t try to give a casual answer just to satisfy me. Not to mention you, even the Knight Temple cannot easily answer this question. Precisely because of this question, regarding Genuine Knights, there are two branches of knights differentiated by the Knight Temple: the Retribution Knights, and the Guardian Knights.
“Retribution Knights focus on attack. They wield dual weapons and fight with the combination of their mounts and their offensive arts. Their fighting capabilities are very high and their strength in the battlefield surpasses the strength of soldiers and assassins of the same rank.
“Guardian Knights give priority to defense. They wield a weapon in one hand, a shield in the other, and are the core of teams. They are proficient with assisting and recovery arts. Their fighting capabilities are perhaps weaker than a Retribution Knight’s, but in collaborations, the Guardian Knight’s utility is way higher than a Retribution Knight’s.”
At that point, Xingyu stopped for a moment. Still looking at Long Haochen, he asked, “Do you believe that there are more Retribution Knights, or that there are more Guardian Knights?”
Long Haochen thought, then said: “There should be more Retribution Knights. You just said that the Retribution Knight’s offensive power was better.”
Xingyu shook his head. “It is the opposite, the Knight Temple has a Guardian Knight ratio of 10:1, compared to Retribution Knights.”
“Oh? Such a difference? But why?” Long Haochen asked, puzzled.
Xingyu answered, “Because we belong to the Temple Alliance. As the head of the six great Temples of the Temple Alliance, the Knight Temple mustn’t consider only our own individual combat capabilities. We have to consider our partners’ as well. The reason why it is called the Temple Alliance is that it is only once people belonging to these six vocations fight together that they can have the greatest fighting efficiency. But, as the team’s core, the knight does not only have to consider his own attack and defense, but the protection of his allies, as well. Thus, there are way more Guardian Knights than Retribution Knights.”
Long Haochen understood some of his words, “Then, Teacher, in the future should I become a Guardian Knight or a Retribution Knight?”
Xingyu lightly answered, “You are the only one who can make the suitable choice. In this aspect, I cannot help you. Seeing your disposition, it would probably be more suitable for you to choose to become a Guardian Knight, but I am, personally, a Retribution Knight. The vast majority of what I can pass on to you are abilities and skills used by Retribution Knights.”
“Teacher, I…”
“Don’t be impatient to answer.” Xingyu instantly interrupted Long Haochen, “You have a year to think deeply over this. A year later, you will tell me your answer.”
“Yes.”
One year later, in Haoyue City.
Walking on a wide street of Haoyue City, Long Haochen’s eyes looked curious and surprised.
What a big city! The street was at least sixteen meters wide, with shops that stood on both sides of the street. There was an incessant stream of horses and it was extremely noisy. That city’s burst of people couldn’t possibly be compared with Odin Town’s. It was as the difference between heaven and earth.
In the southern part of the Temple Alliance, Haoyue was a medium-sized city. But that was the first time Long Haochen, who lived his childhood in Odin, got to see a city of that scale.
Long Haochen was full of curiosity towards Haoyue City, and the people on the road seemed just as curious about him. He was dressed in simple clothing, but his face was similar to a porcelain doll’s. Today, after one year, Long Haochen’s face did not look unhealthy anymore and he had also grown up a lot. Although he still looked like a kid, his appearance merely looked slender.
The most surprising thing was that such a beautiful youth carried on his back two intersecting long swords. They were clearly two swords with refined-iron handles with a length of one meter, a width of a decimeter, and a thickness of more than 3 centimeters. Although they didn’t look like edged swords, they didn’t look light at all! They looked like a miniature version of a knight’s heavy sword.1 Could such a small kid possibly use that kind of heavy sword?
These people didn’t know at all that, if not for the sake of keeping a low profile, Long Haochen would not have any problem carrying two Genuine Knight heavy swords and would easily use them.
A year of bitter practice caused incredible changes within him, as if he had been reborn. On the eighty-third day in the owl-ants’ nest, he could finally rely on the bamboo swords to completely block the owl-ants’ attacks that came from all directions. However, he still had to practice in the owl-ants’ nest, but he swapped the weapons he brought with him. From the lightest bamboo sword, to a wooden sword, then an iron sword, a refined-iron sword, and finally a heavy sword. He had to adapt to pairs of swords of all kinds of weights. After he adapted to the knight’s heavy sword, he had to return from the heavy sword to the refined-iron sword for one more month, then to the iron sword, the wooden sword, and finally the bamboo sword, accomplishing a full lap.
After he accomplished all of that, a full-year had already passed. This time, he went to Haoyue City because Xingyu gave him two assignments as an evaluation of the year’s bitter training.
Upon entering the city, Long Haochen asked a few people where the Knight Temple of Haoyue City could be found. After passing through a few wide streets, arriving close to the center of Haoyue City, he identified his destination because of the symbol consisting of a shield and sword.
The Knight Hall of Haoyue couldn’t be compared to Odin Hall at all. From outside, it looked at least five stories tall and big buildings were erected there, occupying a very wide area. At the entrance stood two young knights in armor.
When Long Haochen arrived at the entrance of the Knight Temple, a young knight, who was smiling as he stood there, asked him, “Little friend, who are you looking for?”
Having no choice but to answer, Long Haochen, who had an appearance of a pretty boy, advanced.
“Hello, brothers. I am looking for the Hall Master, Nalan Shu,” Long Haochen politely spoke to the two knights.
“You’re looking for the Hall Master?” The two youths looked at him, and asked, “Why do you need to meet him?”
Long Haochen said, “My teacher told me to look for the Hall Master Nalan Shu, and then to deliver a letter to him.”
“Then, hand the letter to me,” said the young knight on the left.
Long Haochen shook his head. “Teacher said that I had to hand it to Hall Master Nalan Shu personally.”
The young knight awkwardly retorted, “I am afraid that I can’t let you do that. This is Haoyue City’s Knight Temple Hall, only people from the Temple, like us, can enter.”
Long Haochen, showing some anxiety, said, “But I am also from the Knight Temple! I come from Odin Hall.”
The young knight said, “That still won’t do, little brother, it is like this. As a kid from one of those halls, you can only enter for the examination that happens every three years. Give the letter to me; I will help you to pass it. Then, if the Hall Master is willing to meet you, you will be able to enter.”
Long Haochen wrinkled his brows, Xingyu warned him several times that that letter had to be personally delivered to Nalan Shu.
At that moment, a pleasant voice echoed, “What are you doing? Why are you embarrassing a little child?”
That voice came from someone in the Hall.
That person was a lightly-dressed teenage girl, her neatly combed pink-dyed hair formed a ponytail and her beautiful large blue eyes looked attentively at Long Haochen. She looked to be eighteen or nineteen years old. Her body moved gracefully, and behind her shoulders were exposed, on each side, a handle of a sword.
“Senior knight!” In fact, both youths had just become knights recently, so they respectfully saluted her.
The young girl arrived in front of Long Haochen, curiously looking at his face, then said to the two young knights, “I heard everything you said, but you should know that there is no general rule without an exception. Plus, this little brother is also from one of the sub-temples of our Knight Temple. I will take him to meet Uncle Nalan. Or do you believe that this child came to cause trouble?”
Chapter 13: Standard Knight Examination (I)
“Very well.” The two young knights didn’t dare refute her at all, they only answered her respectfully.
The teenage girl extended her right hand towards Long Haochen: “Little brother, I am Li Xin. Let’s go! I’ll take you to see Uncle Nalan.”
Long Haochen rejoiced greatly and took her hand. “Thank you, Elder Sister, I am Long Haochen.”
Li Xin’s tender palm’s grip was strong, her skin was clearly somewhat rough, obviously because of her sword training. However, Long Haochen’s hand gave her a different feeling. For someone of his age, Long Haochen’s hand was quite smooth and, to Li Xin, it felt soft and comfortable to hold.
Upon entering Haoyue Hall, Long Haochen immediately felt a quaint atmosphere. The ground was covered by grey slates and a total of twelve thick pillars were supporting the entire Hall. In front of them, there were six huge stone chairs; each one was 3? meters high and each of them had numerous decorative patterns drawn on them that Long Haochen had never seen before.
Long Haochen pointed at the six stone chairs as he asked, full of curiosity, “Elder Sister, what is that?”
Li Xin’s look became solemn, “This is the symbol of our Knight Temple’s supreme glory, the Divine Thrones. Only a Divine Knight can possess one of them. Little brother, do you know about Divine Knights? It is the highest rank that we, knights, can attain: the ninth step of the vocation. All of our senior Divine Knights are legendary. It is said that they faced, by themselves, the seventy-two legendary demon gods in battle.”
It was the first time Long Haochen had heard about the title of Divine Knight. Xingyu never told him anything regarding Divine Knights.
“Big sister, how formidable are Divine Knights? Why are they called Divine Knights?”
Li Xin replied, “That’s because they possess a divine throne. Only after one is approved by the throne can one become a Divine Knight! You can’t consider them as mere chairs, each of them is a genuine artifact left by the gods. My goal is to one day become a Divine Knight!”
Long Haochen, who seemed unconvinced, said, “But there are only six of these divine thrones, what if there aren’t enough?”
Li Xin chuckled, “Silly boy, how can it be so easy? What do you think Divine Knights are? How can I explain to you that we, the Knight Temple, have at present only three Divine Knights. To turn into a Divine Knight truly is incredibly difficult.”
As she was speaking, Li Xin had already brought Long Haochen to the second floor. The face of Haoyue Hall was very high, but, in reality, it was because every floor was very tall, so there were only three auxiliary floors.
Both of them went to a spacious room on the second floor and Li Xin said: “This is Uncle Nalan’s room, but it is still early. He hasn’t arrived at the hall yet. He should arrive quickly, though.”
After she said that, Li Xin lowered her voice and her face approached Long Haochen’s ear: “Long Haochen, should I call you, ‘Little Brother’? or ‘Little Sister’?”
“Eh?” Long Haochen was a little frightened by that sudden act and gave her a perplexed look.
Li Xin grinned: “You can stop pretending. I originally ran away from home, cross-dressing with male attire, to come to the Knight Temple, or else they wouldn’t have easily accepted a girl like me. You are the same as Elder Sister, right? How can a boy possibly look as beautiful as you? Plus, after a few years, once your body starts to develop, especially here like Elder Sister’s, you will not be able to conceal yourself anymore.”
As she spoke, she pulled Long Haochen’s hand to her chest.
Although she wore a soft armor, a soft feeling still entered Haochen’s hand. He originally wanted to refute her words, but couldn’t say anything at that moment. His face became incredibly flushed.
As far as he remembered, he hadn’t even been so intimate with his mother! Even if he didn’t understand the meaning of a man groping a woman, he subconsciously let out his bashful feelings and his shy face looked as if it was bleeding at that moment.
“Yah, such timidity! Little Sister, you are really lovely. Rest assured, I will properly look after you in the future, in this Haoyue Hall.” As she said that, Li Xin laughed while holding Long Haochen’s little face between her fingers.
Long Haochen reacted, “Elder Sister, I am really a boy, not a little sister…”
At that moment, his hand was still being pushed against Li Xin’s chest, his brain was completely heating up and his voice became really low.
“Eh?” Li Xin understood all of a sudden, “You are really a boy?”
Long Haochen desperately nodded. Moving his hand away, he looked like a little child who made a mistake, and took a few steps back.
Li Xin looked a little vexed: “But how can your hand be so soft? And how can you look so beautiful? Did I really misunderstand? Argh! I got groped! Little Brother, tell me, how will you compensate me?”
She wanted to leave the Hall back then, but at that moment, she saw Long Haochen at the entrance. After a single look, she was reminded of the scene of herself arriving for the first time at the Temple Hall, and she had a good first impression of Long Haochen, who tried to enter. But, at that moment, she realized her own mistake of taking the initiative to hold that little boy’s hand. Wasn’t that an excessively indecent act? In her heart, Li Xin was depressed. Luckily that little boy in front of her looked only about ten years old.
“I-I really don’t know.” Long Haochen said frankly, but, in his heart he thought, It was you who pulled my hand to make me grope you, I didn’t really want to grope you!
Li Xin’s face was white and red and after having spent a long time thinking, she said helplessly: “Okay, I’ll let you go, little guy. But you have to keep this a secret! You can’t let other people know. In the future, I will be your Elder Sister; an Elder Sister who had let her little brother hold her is no big deal.”
To be able to run away from home to choose to become a knight, that girl’s disposition wasn’t weak. She quickly found a lame excuse to deal with that twisted situation.
“Xin’er,1 what are you doing here?” at that moment, a growling voice resounded.
Long Haochen and Li Xin turned around at the same time and found a huge giant entering the Hall.
No mistake, he was really a huge giant. His body was at least two meters tall, but more exactly, he was 266cm tall, a 2? meters tall strong-man. Even in a solid building such as Haoyue Hall, the ground could be felt shaking under his weight.
“Uncle Nalan, you should really lose some weight; otherwise, you will hardly leave the first floor. If you don’t, I’m afraid of the day when Haoyue Hall will collapse from the inside.” Li Xin snappily said.
That “strong-man” was Haoyue Hall Master, Nalan Shu.
Nalan Shu, who just heard her words, didn’t get angry. He laughed out and simply said, “Even by only drinking I will gain weight, what can I do? Yi, are you the one who brought this little girl? She’s your family relative?”
“I am a boy!” To be misunderstood as a girl by Li Xin was still okay, even if she made him grope her, but upon hearing that fatty uncle speak like that, Long Haochen, who was depressed and discontent towards him, immediately protested.
“Um?” Nalan Shu seemed distracted, while Li Xin refrained from laughing upon seeing Long Haochen’s behaviour and told Nalan his goal.
“What kind of letter is it? Show it to me.” Nalan Shu directed his hand towards Long Haochen.
Long Haochen took a deep breath and calmed down his depressed heart, then he placed the letter in Nalan Shu’s hand.
Upon opening the letter, Nalan Shu looked pleased, but, after a little look, his complexion completely changed. His tall body stood straight; and when he finished reading the letter, he wore an extremely serious look.
Chapter 14: Standard Knight Examination (II)
Li Xin was standing off to the side, full of curiosity. Nalan Shu wasn’t just Haoyue Hall’s master, but also a genuine Earth Knight, the 5th step of the vocation. In the Temple Alliance, people that could match him were not plentiful. If a simple letter could make him so reverent, there ought to be an explanation.
While she thought about that, Nalan Shu, who had already read the letter, nodded towards Long Haochen, and said, “Come with me.”
As he said that, he headed outside.
Long Haochen followed Nalan Shu to the third floor, accompanied by Li Xin, who was full of curiosity.
Haoyue Hall’s first floor was the main reception. The second floor was the one where all kinds of affairs were handled, and the third floor was known as the place where examinations took place. All the knights who belonged to Haoyue Hall lived in a dwelling place in the area behind the Hall.
The third floor had a dome at the top of the hall of the first building. As he entered, Long Haochen felt a kind of discouraging atmosphere. The third floor was an extremely broad hall that was approximately five meters high, and was without any decorations. On the surrounding walls, there were some symbols and lines, forming a faint brilliant array.
Nalan Shu, who continued to advance, arrived at that examination hall before he stopped. A soft blue light was sent out from his right hand and, from the ground surface, a stone pillar had immediately risen up. It was pitch-black, and the nature of its material was hard to identify.
Nalan Shu faced Long Haochen and said, “Do you know for what purpose your teacher told you to come here?”
Long Haochen shook his head. “Teacher said that you would tell me.”
Nalan Shu nodded: “Senior Xingyu wanted you to undergo the Standard Knight Examination. Let’s start now. Hit this black stone with your full force, from whichever side you want.”
Hearing the words “Standard Knight Examination,” Li Xin, who was off to the side, thought she had misheard him.
How old was Long Haochen? Eleven or twelve years old, at most? She, herself, was called Haoyue Hall’s greatest genius, and it was when she was thirteen years old that she passed the Standard Knight Examination. Nalan Shu didn’t seem like he was joking, and hearing his tone, she realized something.
Could Long Haochen’s teacher be even above Hall Master Nalan? Could he be a 6th step Radiant Knight? Heavens! Radiant Knights could be called the elites of the Temple Alliance! Why would he have his disciple go to Haoyue Hall to undergo the examination?
As Li Xin had her heart filled with uncertainty, Long Haochen had already gotten himself prepared.
Long Haochen removed one of his refined-iron swords, flashing a black color, from its sheath. The moment he gripped that sword, his temperament suddenly seemed to have undergone an incredible change.
From that originally shy-looking child, a stern atmosphere suddenly appeared. His gaze became firm and inflexible as his whole body gave a feeling close to a steady rock and was sending out a powerful intent. Where had his characteristics of a ten-year-old child gone?
A step forward, and a cut: this attack consisted of the two most basic movements for a knight.
A *Ping!* sound echoed, the refined-iron sword ruthlessly hit the black stone block.
With a *Buzz!* sound, a gentle shining blue mist was coming from the surrounding walls of the Hall and on the black block of stone, a number appeared.
“107”
A spiritual energy of the 107th level! Nalan Shu and Li Xin both, at that instant, couldn’t help opening their eyes wide. A spiritual energy level of 100 meant the 2nd step of the vocation. So even though the 107th spiritual energy level only corresponded to the 1st rank of the 2nd step, it was still the 2nd step! However, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Long Haochen had not used any skill to improve his body’s capabilities. It was only a pure cut!
It wasn’t just them, Long Haochen was also shocked. My spiritual energy has already reached the 107th level?
The last time he was in Odin hall, his spiritual energy was only at the 25th level. It was the first time he had tested it since then, but he didn’t imagine that there would be such a result. A Standard Knight… I have, unexpectedly, already become a Standard Knight!
An excited feeling ran through his whole body. In that instant, Long Haochen felt that all of his efforts over the past year had just gotten rewarded.
Xingyu enabled a little child to grow, within a single year, from the 25th spiritual energy level to over the 100th level, breaking through to the 2nd step of the vocation. Even though it couldn’t be spoken of as a unique case in Shengmo Dalu, it could nonetheless be described as a miracle!
Long Haochen made undeniably great efforts by himself, but it was also because of the assassin from the Assassin Temple, and that Xingyu allowed him to soak in the hot springs, that brought incredible benefits to his body channels. Without soaking in the hot springs, how could Long Haochen possibly continue such a strict training regime? A single coma would have been enough to force him to rest for a long time!
In a single year, his body’s foundations had already become solid.
Nalan Shu’s look gradually recovered. The gaze with which he looked at Long Haochen underwent an incredible change, as if he was seeing a rare treasure. His plump face revealed a somewhat flattering expression. “Your name is Long Haochen, right? How old are you this year?”1
Long Haochen answered without even thinking, “Ten years old.”
Nalan Shu and Li Xin took a deep breath once more. A 10-year-old Standard Knight? The word ‘genius’ couldn’t even be used to describe him, it should be called a talent that’s even greater than genius!
“Hall Master Nalan, I passed the examination, right?” asked Long Haochen.
Nalan Shu replied, “It looks like it. According to the procedure, you only need a spiritual energy level of 100 to pass to the 2nd step, but your teacher said, in the letter, that you ought to challenge a Genuine Knight2 in battle, and stand this knight’s attacks for fifteen minutes or else it won’t be considered passing the examination.”
In regards to that demand, Nalan Shu believed that that condition was too harsh. Even a 5th rank Genuine Knight may not be capable of withstanding a Genuine Knight’s attacks for a quarter of an hour, let alone a youth like Long Haochen, who had just entered the Standard Knight step.
“Okay, then please assign someone to this task.” Long Haochen said that as he unsheathed his second refined-iron sword.
“I’ll do it, I’ll do it!” Li Xin didn’t show the least bit of hesitation as she advanced. Her charming eyes, small and pretty, couldn’t hide her overflowing curiosity. A ten-year-old Standard Knight, what kind of concept was that? She absolutely had to test that little knight’s fighting capabilities.
Nalan Shu gave a look to Li Xin and nodded his head. “Take care!”
Li Xin smiled. “Rest easy Uncle Nalan, I am not willing to injure him, he has just become my little brother, after all.”
As she said that, Li Xin also took out the two swords from her back. Compared to Long Haochen’s, her pair of swords looked more magnificent. On each sword’s body, a golden brightness was sent out. Each sword’s length was just over 1.06 meters long,3 and a strong sacred atmosphere was issued by the engraved symbol.
Li Xin, holding her two swords, looked at Long Haochen. She was secretly surprised because, as he gripped his weapons, his temperament clearly changed from his past appearance of a shy youth. His current appearance looked rather fierce and, unexpectedly, the pressure he sent out faintly affected her.
Nalan Shu moved back a few steps, and said in a low voice, “Start!”
By acting as the referee, he had confidence that he wouldn’t let them injure each other.
“Elder Sister, take care.”
Chapter 15: Standard Knight Examination (III)
“Elder Sister, be careful.”
When Long Haochen warned her, his foot had already moved. The distance crossed by each of his steps wasn’t much, but his pace was high. What he just executed was a knight’s short distance charge. Both of his swords, the first in front of Long Haochen and the second one behind his back, almost arrived in front of Li Xin in a flash.
A fast and strong thrust went straight towards Li Xin’s left shoulder, filled with the power of the sheer momentum concentrated in the charge.
Li Xin showed a smile as she quickly raised the sword in her left hand, blocking Long Haochen’s attack. She then calmly attacked with her other sword. She wanted to see if that little guy could be harmed by an attack of that level.
Bang!
Without any sign, Long Haochen’s right foot suddenly stomped on the ground, causing him to cancel its previous motion, forcefully ending his all-out charge, and making his body float for a moment. Meanwhile, the thrust out refined-iron sword was quickly retrieved along with the motion, just in time to counter Li Xin’s provocation.
Nalan Shu’s eyes shined. Skill interruption?
Long Haochen took back into his hand the refined-iron sword at this moment. The edge of his sword momentarily shined and, right afterwards, with at least twice his prior speed, a light shined on the edge, aiming for Li Xin’s left shoulder once again.
Pure-White Edge, Thorny Charge. He was using two knight abilities and, practically perfectly, mixed them together, which created an opening in Li Xin’s offense.
The knight skill called Thorny Charge was able to raise the speed of the attack and, at the same time, gather spiritual energy. Coordinated with the second ability that condenses the spiritual energy, Pure-White Edge, that hit’s power had already greatly outstripped Long Haochen’s 107th spiritual energy level.
However, Li Xin was not a Standard Knight, she was a Genuine Knight, and the instant the sword moved, she was already prepared to guard against it, with her right hand’s sword arriving in front of her body in that critical situation. No matter how much Long Haochen enhanced his attack, it couldn’t be enough to pierce her defenses.
Ding!
When the two swords met each other, Long Haochen’s thrust hit near the top of the blade. The power of the thrust wasn’t really lacking compared to a cross cut; however, because of the superiority of Li Xin’s spiritual energy compared to Long Haochen’s, she blocked the attack but couldn’t help drawing two steps back.
Pa!
The sword in Long Haochen’s right hand was repelled, but his movements were not stopped so easily. The sword in his right hand was raised at the same time he took a step forward, unexpectedly continuing his assault.
A second charge, and at such a close-distance! But it was repelled, even though that attack was the second one in a row.
Long Haochen’s tough right hand was swept in from the side. The second charge only consisted of three steps, but during those three steps, his body seemed very stable. Then, his foot rotated, shifting his body into a swift whirl. The sword in his left hand was raised, and the thin, shining white light of Pure-White Edge’s severe chop was directed straight towards Li Xin.
Li Xin’s eyes were filled surprise, but she showed her inborn talents of a genius knight at that moment. Her right foot was directed towards the back, her body taking a stable posture. Then, bending forward with a sword in each hand, she stabbed ahead letting out a sort of lightning which took the shape of ten sword shadows aimed at the front of Long Haochen’s body.
Lightning Thrust, a 3rd step knight’s skill.
A defense and counter-attacking move.
But the next scene completely dumbfounded Nalan Shu, who was standing to the side.
A sound rang out and Long Haochen’s full-force attacking sword immediately collided against Li Xin’s sword. Although there was a difference of almost 100 levels between Long Haochen’s and Li Xin’s spiritual energy, that attack of his was supported by skills and managed to draw force from the momentum. As both swords met, the result was surprising: No one had the advantage. However, Li Xin was the one who was slightly repelled.
Suddenly, Li Xin used Lightning Cut, which quickly headed towards Long Haochen. At that moment, Nalan Shu thought about interrupting the fight and Li Xin was already preparing to stop her hand.
But Long Haochen’s right hand, that was just repelled by the attack, suddenly moved.
A sort of illusion was emitted by the sword, blasting the area in front of his body and with a loud noise: Lightning Cut was completely blocked.
Because she was afraid of harming Long Haochen, Li Xin didn’t go all out and her attack was not only warded off, but also countered at that moment.
Wielding both swords, one horizontally and one vertically, was a sign of the knight skill Instant Blast Cross Cut.
There was already nothing left of Li Xin’s previously amused look. After she had released her Lightning Cut, she had no power left. Additionally, because she didn’t expect Long Haochen to be able to block her previous attack, she didn’t prepare any response to that counterattack.
A thin golden light started shining from Li Xin’s body. Her right hand was placed on the ground and a golden ray suddenly burst out, rising to two meters in height.
With two Dang! sounds, Long Haochen’s Instant Blast Cross Cut was stopped by a layer of golden light and bounced back. At that moment, he also drew back a few steps, taking a defensive posture. The energy consumption of the previous succession of attacks wasn’t small.
Li Xin shot a serious look toward Long Haochen, who just drew back. “Little guy, you compelled Elder Sister to use the Heavenly Battle Array to deal with your attack. Be careful, now Elder Sister is going to attack.”
Heavenly Battle Array, a 3rd step Retribution Knight skill that draws support from the holy light of the knight and takes the shape of a layer of light, with an effect that’s similar to an all-out defense formed of spiritual energy.
With her foot pushing on the ground, Li Xin jumped as the sword in her right hand chopped straight towards Long Haochen. She was truly somewhat depressed at that moment because to defend against his attack, she was forced to act shamelessly by using the Heavenly Battle Array against Long Haochen. Her face was starting to look hectic. The important matter was to reclaim the face she just lost.
This time, Long Haochen didn’t strike back. He lifted his right hand, and, in a split second, he seemed like a venerable sculpture. Even though it was only for a little moment, it made Nalan Shu widen his eyes.
With a neat Dang! sound, Li Xin was shocked and was moved back, stupefied.
Her spiritual energy was at least twice Long Haochen’s. Not only that, she had jumped into the air. So even if she was showing mercy, her attack force would still be considerable. To Li Xin, Long Haochen should be the one to draw back; however, she was the one who was forced back. Her right hand, which still held the sword, was completely paralyzed.
“I can’t attack, how is that possible!?” Li Xin fell to her knees with a depressed look. It could be seen on her face that she didn’t understand Long Haochen’s current defensive posture.
Seeing that Li Xin stopped, Long Haochen sheathed his own pair of swords. Feeling embarrassed while seeing Li Xin’s depressed look, he didn’t know what he ought to do at that moment.
“Uncle Nalan, please tell me, what is all of that about? Long Haochen is only a 1st rank Standard Knight, so how is it possible? How was he be able to repel me?”
As she said that, Li Xin saw the expression on Nalan Shu’s shocked face. This time, he was the one who looked like a sculpture, standing there while showing a stupefied appearance.
“Uncle Nalan, what is up with you?” Li Xin asked with an expression full of doubts.
“Divine Obstruction? Xiao Haochen, quickly tell me, was what you just used the Divine Obstruction?” Nalan Shu made a few steps before arriving in front of Long Haochen, his eyes full of impatience and showing a shaken expression.
Li Xin’s heroic face was immediately struck dumb with amazement, “Uncle Nalan, aren’t you mistaken? That was a Radiant Knight’s Divine Obstruction? That’s impossible, absolutely impossible! Aren’t Radiant knights the only ones able to use Divine Obstruction?”
Radiant Knight, the 6th step of the vocation. Divine Obstruction was a skill that was their trademark and also the skill known to cause the most changes to a knight’s body.
Chapter 16: Standard Knight Examination (IV)
TL Note: On the last chapter, Li Xin said she “couldn’t attack” (because of the Divine Obstruction), but it could also be understood as “I cannot harm him/pierce his defense at all”. The way she said it was ambiguous. Well interpret this yourselves in this chapter.
Long Hao Chen replied showing a somewhat confused look: “I don’t know what [Divine Obstruction] is, Teacher only told me that this was an obstruction skill.”
Nalan Shu took a deep breath, calmed himself, and muttered: “No mistake, it is without a doubt [Divine Obstruction]. Xin Er (kid Xin), I did not see [Divine Obstruction] only once. Whether they are Retribution Knights or Guardian Knights, once at the level of a Radiant Knight, they will all practice this skill. If it wasn’t for the [Divine Obstruction], Hao Chen couldn’t possibly have kept off that earlier attack of yours. No wonder, no wonder senior Xing Yu would let him challenge a knight to battle. With the [Divine Obstruction], withstanding a knight’s attacks for a quarter of an hour is not impossible.”
“The threshold to the [Divine Obstruction] is, without a doubt, the grade of Radiant Knight, but this is merely our Knight Temple’s threshold, it is not the threshold for the study of the ability. Provided one has the inborn talent, enough ability, and the necessary reaction speed, a sixth step knight can pass any ability onto him, but this premise needs the authorization of our Temple Knight to be done. There was formerly a great knight who because of his great merits, got the authorization to break this rule and be able to pass them on.”
Nalan Shu is an Earth Knight so he knows much more than Li Xin in regard to the skill [Divine Obstruction], but because of that, he became even more shaken.
The [Divine Obstruction] is a skill that can be easily described. It enables one to momentarily transform his defense entirely. Simply said, it causes one’s defense to become like an iron rock so that only attacks that exceed the defensive power of the skill can break through it. However, if the attacks use weapons of the same volume and hardness as an iron rock, when attacking, it cannot possibly break this defense.
[Divine Obstruction] is like the process of the transformation of an ore of iron into a bar of iron. It is easily explained, but extremely hard to do because it takes a lot of talent.
Though, if [Divine Obstruction] is trained to a certain level, it can use at least a part of the power of the opponent’s attack to become its own force and use it for attack as well as defense. Practiced to its utmost potential, [Divine Obstruction]’s defensive power is worthy of being called “divine”.
To possibly break [Divine Obstruction]’s defense, one must have at least three times the spiritual force of the user of [Divine Obstruction].
“Nalan Master, can we consider that I have passed the examination?” Long Hao Chen didn’t know what startled these two people before him, and simply asked.
“Naturally, you passed. Wait a little, I have to look for the thing senior Xing Yu wanted you to bring back.” Nalan Shu turned around and left, but he didn’t show signs of having calmed down yet.
Li Xin looked at Long Hao Chen as if he was some kind of monster, “Little brother, tell me, what was this skill that you used to repel my [Lightning Stab]?”
Long Hao Chen shook his head and answered: “No no! I only used pure physical force.”
“You broke my [Lightning Stab] with only your physical power?” Li Xin couldn’t help raising her voice. She naturally didn’t know that Long Hao Chen’s attack had been enhanced a lot. Over the last year, the torment in the owl-ant’s crypt didn’t go to waste. In addition to that, he soaked in the hot spring and had his spiritual energy’s twelve standards enhanced, its impurities dispelled. That year of practice equaled at least three years of practice for an ordinary person.
After a short time, Nalan Shu came back, handing two things over to Long Hao Chen, a circular badge with a sword and a shield engraved on it and a golden yellow gem the size of an egg.
“This is your insignia of a Standard Knight. On it, there is a star that symbolizes the fact you are first ranked. Once there are all the stars, will you be able to once more take an examination. This awakening stone is something Senior Xing Yu told you to bring back. You must keep it well.”
“Thank you.” after receiving these two items, Long Hao Chen respectfully saluted Nalan Shu.
Nalan Shu asked: “Should I have Xin Er accompany you out of Hao Yue Hall?”
Long Hao Chen shaked his head, answering: “No. Teacher gave me another task to accomplish. I should hurry up.”
Nalan Shu didn’t insist and asked Li Xin to send him directly to the entrance.
“Xin Er elder sister, how can I go to the adventurers’ guild?” Long Hao Chen asked Li Xin right before leaving.
Li Xin replied: “The adventurers’ guild isn’t far from here. Look, go to the front and then turn at the right. After about a kilometer, there will be an intersection where you should finally turn left.”
“Thank you, Xin Er elder sister, I am glad to have met you. I have to go first. Nalan Shu hall master, goodbye.”
After bidding farewell to both of them, Long Hao Chen took the route shown by Li Xin.
Looking at his leaving figure, Li Xin can’t help asking Nalan Shu: “Uncle Nalan, from where does this little guy come from?! It is impossible to find another such outstanding talent of his age in our Knight Temple. And how could he learn the [Divine Obstruction]? What kind of person is his teacher?”
Nalan Shu let out a sigh, shaking his head, and replied: “I cannot tell you that yet. All you need to know is that towards the fact that he already learnt the [Divine Obstruction] is in accordance with the rules of our Temple. In the near future, I expect that it is unthinkable that our Hao Yue Hall stays unknown. Xin Er, did you see, you are not the only genius in this world! You have to practice seriously or otherwise, you will fail the Alliance’s hunting beast selection in four years.”
Li Xin quietly nodded, “I wonder when I’ll see this beautiful little brother again.”
Nalan Shu revealed a smile: “There is something I can tell you; in two years, he will come back. He will at least stay for the duration of the magical hunt of the Alliance.”
Long Hao Chen moved according to the direction given by Li Xin and quickly found the place of his second task, the adventurers’ guild.
Compared to this place, the Knight Temple of Hao Chen was rather calm: the surroundings of the adventurers’ guild were in a total mess. Numerous people came in and out of this place and people dressed in every kind of outfit could be seen.
His eyes shone, he had already found the place he was looking for. Not far from the left side, on a counter, was where assignments were taken.
By chance, there was someone at the counter. Long Hao Chen advanced towards it and looked at a woman in her twenties: “Elder sister, I want to receive a task.”
“Ah?” The young woman at the counter saw someone who was only a head taller than the counter. She couldn’t help but be distracted by Long Hao Chen’s pretty face.
“Haa, our adventurers’ guild really accepts anyone! Even this little thing ran looking for an assignment, it is really hilarious.” A severe voice resounded near them.
Long Hao Chen turned his head around, only to see a strong statured, full beard man laughing as he looked at him with a face full of disdain
Long Hao Chen wrinkled, not understanding what is up with him, and asked once more to the young woman: “Elder sister, I want to receive a task.”
The youth behind the counter looked full of curiosity, “Little brother, what kind of task would you like to receive?”
Without letting Long Hao Chen have the time to speak, the loud voice already rang for a second time, “What little brother, she is clearly a little sister. Little sister, how about this uncle buys some excellent lollipops for you, haha — —” This straightforward man’s speech caused a stream of laughter in his surroundings.
“I want to receive a second step assignment. The best would be one that consists of killing magical beasts.” Long Hao Chen wrinkled even more, but the girl’s answer wasn’t very satisfying.
She answered, with a little awkward tone: “Little brother, I’m afraid that it is impossible. Second step assignments require you to be at the second step in a vocation to be received.”
“Then, quickly go back home to suck the breast of your mother. Or is it that you don’t know if she still has milk to give you. If she still has some, what about letting me drink two sips of it? Looking at your pretty appearance, I guess your mother should be not bad. If you could also have an elder sister, it would be even greater.”
It was the same voice. Hearing it again, Long Hao Chen’s expression suddenly became cold.
Chapter 17: The Knights’ Sacred Mountain (I)
The girl behind the counter hurried to tell him in a low voice: “Little brother, make haste to go please. This isn’t the kind of place where you should come. Ignore them, these adventurers are blood thirsty people, they often display that they are up to no good. But they shouldn’t do anything bad to you, we are in the guild after all.”
After she said this, the girl suddenly discovered that the youth in front of her had a clear firm gaze.
“You shouldn’t insult my mother.” As he said this, Long took something out from his bosom to hand to the girl and left her.
The ten years-old Long Hao Chen’s height wasn’t even at this brawny man Luo Sai Hu’s stomach’s height, but his steps were very steady.
“Huu, huu, huu, quickly take a look everyone, this little fledgling is still angry. Tch tch, look at these pretty cheeks! This delicate tearful face. Even if she’s a little chick now, after being sent to the brothel, she’ll just become a first class girl there.”
In Luo Sai Hu’s hands were a pair of edged battle axes that he struck the floor with, giving a playful look to Long Hao Chen, his body leaning on one of the axes.
Long Hao Chen moved and arrived 3.3 meter (1 Zhang) in front of Luo Sai Hu. His face was tranquil, and his back was perfectly straight. He clenched his left hand into a fist, placing it on the right side of his chest, performing a knight’s salute.
The next instant, he took out a white glove and threw it at the other party, meanwhile taking out the pair of swords from his back, the tips of the swords pointed downwards. Saying in a little voice: “If you dare insult my mother, I, Long Hao Chen, challenge you according to the Knight Alliance’s rules by throwing my glove down. This is a fight to death.”
Long Hao Chen’s voice was clear. The nearby people could all hear it clearly, and at this moment, the guild members who had exploded in laughter a while before had calmed down. Luo Sai Hu also became stupefied.
However, Luo Sai Hu quickly came back to his senses: “Haha, I’m dying from laughter. Look quickly, everyone! This little bastard can say a lot and also learned the challenge of a knight, and is also a Standard Knight. Did your breast’s hair already grow ? I accept your challenge! Come! Come to snap at me! Hahahaha.”
Long Hao Chen lifted his right hand’s sword, coldly facing the exit, “Please.” It is the first time he came to the adventurer’s guild, but he knows they cannot fight inside, even if it was an official knight’s challenge to battle.
As he had said this word, he already left first.
The axe-wielding warrior Luo Sai Hu also came outside without hesitation, and a group of excited people followed. The girl behind the counter was left alone; she was staring blankly at the badge in her hand. “First ranked Standard Knight, could it be that he really is a Standard Knight?”
Leaving the adventurers’ guild, the exposure to the warm sunlight doesn’t solve the dejection in Long Hao Chen’s in his heart. At this moment, Xing Yu’s teachings resound in his heart. You don’t need to say anything to your foe. Use the sword in you hand and your foe’s blood to wash your shame.
Luo Sai Hu also left, carrying on his shoulders the pair of edged battle axes, raising his finger towards Long Hao Chen, “Come! Little bastard, this grandpa is gonna teach you a lesson. After this grandpa has beaten you, he will not kill you, but rather sell you to a brothel, earning some Gold Coins… …”
With the sound of the roars of laughter ringing out, Long Hao Chen moved.
Charging, his hurried steps resounded and in a slight moment, Long Hao Chen elevated his speed to its utmost point and people from either side could tell with a glance that the refined-iron swords in both his hands showed a white glow.
[Pure White Edge] was actually regularly used by low-level knights belonging to the Knight Alliance.
Instantly, the intense sound of laughter stopped and Long Hao Chen already arrived in front of his opponent.
Upon seeing Long Hao Chen’s charge, Luo Sai Hu was a little frightened. He also knew about [Pure White Edge]. His complexion temporarily changed. How could he have known that this little child was really someone from the Knight Temple? To offend the head of the Six Great Temples, the Knight Temple, how could an ordinary adventurer dare to do that ? No matter what, he had to get rid of this little kid first and afterwards, in the worst case, he would just immediately run.
Thinking about that, Luo Sai Hu’s felt a great hatred. His hand swung the pair of edged axes, using his [Heavy Chop] against Long Hao Chen who was coming. Regarding his vocation, he was a second step, third rank warrior. His spiritual energy was at the 120th level. His full-powered strikes used the damage potential of his wooden weapons to the maximum.
However, Long Hao Chen had encountered magical beasts almost every time he came back home, so he wasn’t a novice in fighting. The result was that at this moment, he kept his calm as usual.
He stomped his right foot on the ground before using the skill that had the effect of breaking off his charge, as he did when he was facing Li Xin. However, he linked it up with another skill this time.
Holding both swords, in the instant before the pair of axes was going to fall down, he completed a [Divine Obstruction].
It required incredible accuracy to be done! Without his mental capacity, which was so different from ordinary people’s, Long Hao Chen couldn’t possibly accomplish the linking of these skills.
A huge sparkling sound rang and the pair of edged axes crossed with the pair of enhanced swords during their ruthless chop.
A lot of people couldn’t help but shut their eyes. The contrast between Long Hao Chen’s body and Luo Sai Hu’s was, after all, too big. From a lot of people’s point of view, he should have chosen to parry the attack because he had no other choice. How much Spiritual Energy could such a young boy have? In addition, Luo Sai Hu’s [Heavy Chop] was similar to [Pure White Edge] in the fact that it also increased the power of the attack, but was a skill for heavy weapon users.
However, the reinforced-iron sword in Long Hao Chen’s hand didn’t snap. To Luo Sai Hu’s surprise, with a snapping sound, the pair of edged war axes fell and his chest was wide open.
Long Hao Chen’s [Divine Obstruction] couldn’t be broken by a third step knight, Li Xin, so how could this second step warrior possibly break it?
It seemed that a faint light had appeared on Long Hao Chen’s body as the overlapping swords in his hands took advantage of this moment to launch an [Instant Blast Cross Cut].
With two _Puff_ sounds, the pair of iron swords cut through the top of Luo Sai Hu’s leather armor and the sound of bones shattering behind the leather armor could be heard.
Luo Sai Hu’s eyes widened as blood flowed thick and fast out of his body
Long Hao Chen’s [Divine Obstruction] wasn’t at a profound level. The proof was how he couldn’t make use of Li Xin’s spiritual energy against her, but this Luo Sai Hu’s force was only slightly superior to his, just at the right level at which Long Hao Chen’s [Divine Obstruction] could borrow 20 levels of spiritual energy. In addition to the boost of [Pure White Edge], Long Hao Chen’s attack exceeded, by 100 levels, his actual spiritual energy. This attack’s power greatly outstripped Luo Sai Hu’s strength. How could the ordinary leather armor that covered his body withstand such an attack?
“Third brother!” Two voices cried in alarm. Two big fellows came out from the the middle of the crowd, they were clearly partners of Luo Sai Hu. Being an adventurer was a dangerous job so, people generally formed a team.
However, it was already too late when they came out.
_Puff_ — –, after the [Instant Blast Cross Cut] wounded the opponent, Long Hao Chen didn’t show the least hesitation and linked it with a stab and the iron sword sharply penetrated into Luo Sai Hu’s throat like a lightning bolt.
“Asshole!” The two robust men ran straight towards Long Hao Chen.
“Stop.” A cold voice rang and golden rays of light followed, rising from Long Hao Chen’s back, stopping the two adventurers from coming.
Li Xin coldly stood there with her two swords hanging on the side of her body; thin golden spiritual energy threads emanated from both sides of her body, clearly showing her strength as a third step knight.
“Ah, it is the Hell Rose… …” The crowd suddenly cried in alarm.
Chapter 18: The Knights’ Sacred Mountain (II)
“If you want to court death, I don’t mind helping you join the one who just passed away.” Li Xin’s cold voice was full of murderous intent.
The two robust men were also warriors; the first one held a greatsword and the second one a sword and shield. Looking at Li Xin, they showed uncertain faces. They knew that they couldn’t intervene: Long Hao Chen had just killed Luo Sai Hu in a duel, so even the defense of the city did not have the right to interfere.
The warrior that held a greatsword shouted in anger: “My third brother merely joked a little, but this little kid killed him. Is this your knight’s kindness?”
The first of these warriors was a third step, second rank war master and the second was a second step, eighth rank warrior. Although, together, they didn’t fear Li Xin, they couldn’t disregard the Knight Alliance backing Li Xin.
Li Xin said, full of disdain, “Are you blind? My brother is a Retribution Knight, not a Guardian Knight. The Retribution Knights’ norm is to get rid of their enemy, and knowing my little brother’s temperament, if not for your companion speaking horribly to him, how could he have possibly lowered himself to kill him? If you are not convinced, then come at the same time.”
As she was speaking, the pair of long swords in both of Li Xin’s hands ran through a series of strange paths, thin golden energy gushing out from her body.
“Lulu.” With an extended sound, this strange light took the form of a tall and robust horse with a pair of wings coming out from its back.
This winged horse was of an extremely rare pink color, its body was 2.66 meters (8 chi) long and 2 meters (6 Chi) tall. The wings coming out from its back were not really wide, it looked as if it didn’t enable it to fly. At some place atop of its head, something stuck out. Its eyes were rose colored and a strong smell came out from its body. Both rose colored eyes gave a dignified feeling.
Li Xin mounted on the horse’s back and looked at the two knights with eyes full of contempt and disdain.
Li Xin’s nickname, the Hell Rose, came from this horse, a young fully rose colored unicorn. Even if it was not fully grown yet, it was still a real fifth step magical beast. Against it, a third or even a fourth step warrior wasn’t a worthy opponent. To begin with, even humans of the same step weren’t a match for magical beasts.
“She’s a knight from the Knight Alliance?” exclaimed the man holding a shield. Both exchanged looks and didn’t say anything else, fleeing while carrying their companion’s corpse.
A lot of nearby adventurers commented in a low voice, “These guys are, for sure, outsiders for not knowing the greatest genius of Hao Yue Hall, the Hell Rose. Serves them right. But she’s still… …”
“Elder sister.” Long Hao Chen was standing by Li Xin’s side all this time, but after having killed someone, his face still didn’t show the slightest change.
Li Xin descended from the Rose Unicorn, smilingly saying: “Little idiot, why did you come to the adventurer’s guild in the first place?” She had previously asked someone from the guild about Long Hao Chen because she wasn’t at ease letting him go alone to such a snake nest-like place, so she followed after him and came at just the right time to see the previous scene.
Long Hao Chen answered: “Teacher wanted me to accept a second step mission.”
Li Xin answered, somewhat speechless: “This teacher of yours must really trust you. Let’s go, I’m coming along with you.”
Entering once more into the adventurer’s guild, the look the adventurers gave Long Hao Chen changed. Not to mention about the powerful sister by his side, the display he showed by killing, in a few seconds, that axe-wielding warrior showed that his strength was, without a doubt, a Standard Knight’s.
They didn’t know about [Divine Obstruction], but looking at Long Hao Chen’s age, they guessed the Knight Alliance ought to protect such a treasure. They didn’t dare act rashly anymore.
“Knight, Senior Knight, I have to give you back your badge.” The girl who was behind the counter advanced hurriedly as soon as she saw them come back, respectfully giving back to Long Hao Chen his badge. After she took a look at this badge, she immediately ran out and saw the whole fight from afar. The current gaze she gave Long Hao Chen was full of curiosity.
Now that he had taken care of the matter, Long Hao Chen chose a mission that was north of the city of Hao Yue that consisted of killing ten second step magical beasts.
“Little brother, let me come with you or else I won’t be at ease. Although there aren’t high step ranked magical beasts around Hao Yue, there are still third step ones and sometimes even fourth step ones can appear. Plus, you will be able to go faster if I come along.”
“I can’t, elder sister. Teacher wanted me to accomplish this mission alone.”
“What is the problem? You will be accomplishing it alone! You will be killing magical beasts while I will only be in charge of making sure that you are not caught off-guard by others. Now that it’s decided, let’s go.”
As she spoke, Li Xin pulled Long Hao Chen out of the adventurer’s guild and immediately left the city on the Rose Unicorn.
Long Hao Chen was very excited as this was the first time he was riding a mount.
The rose mount’s back was very smooth and Li Xin was right behind him. He could smell a thin scent of rose, but didn’t know whether it came out from elder sister or the Rose Unicorn.
They both left quickly. Long Hao Chen was surprised that as they were leaving the city, not only did Li Xin not stop at all, but in addition, she was saluted by the guards at the entrance.
Leaving the city of Hao Yue, the Rose Unicorn accelerated even further, shaking Long Hao Chen who discovered a red radiance coming out from the Rose Unicorn’s body that clearly was raising the temperature nearby and increasing its speed. However, he didn’t feel any pressure from the wind because of the protection of the red barrier. The Rose Unicorn’s wings often stretched, becoming more steady; the travel speed was as fast as a flying engine’s.
“So fast! Elder Sister, your mount is awesome. How can I possess such a mount?!” Long Hao Chen was, after all, still a kid; how could he not be excited by this kind of new sensation?
Li Xin smiled: “If you answer one question, I will tell you.”
Long Hao Chen said: “Please ask, elder sister.”
Li Xin: “Was it the first time you killed someone? If it was, how aren’t you disturbed at all after that? I have never forgotten the pain of the first time I killed someone; I threw up for three days and three nights!”
Long Hao Chen scratched his head, saying: “I haven’t killed anyone else before, but I have killed magical beasts. Teacher said that killing foes was just like killing magical beasts, I cannot show the slightest mercy and as long as they aren’t dead, I cannot relax. Since he is like a magical beast, why should I feel uncomfortable? I have killed many magical beasts. And after I delivered the last blow, I didn’t take a single look at his appearance.” Actually, he didn’t know himself that because of the bitter training in the owl-ants’ crypt, his fear of this kind of situation was now nonexistent.
Li Xian couldn’t help but react: “I really don’t know if he has an extremely pure heart or is cold blooded. But it is as his teacher said, evil must be completely eradicated.”
Long Hao Chen was truly eager to have a mount as good as this Rose Unicorn and anxiously asked: “How did you acquire this Rose Unicorn?!”
Li Xin answered: “Don’t be in a hurry. In fact, even if I didn’t tell you, you would still know in the future. Because, like me, you will need to go to the Knights’ Sacred Mountain to choose a suitable magical beast.”
“What kind of place is this Knights’ Sacred Mountain?”
“In our Temple Alliance, the vast majority of knights have to select a mount or to tame a magical beast to serve them as a mount. But there is an exception; it is regarding exceptionally gifted young knights. Those who pass the Genuine Knight examination before hitting twenty years and thus become third step, first rank knights have the qualifications to enter the Knights’ Sacred Mountain. You are a ten years-old Standard Knight, so you should have no problem becoming a Genuine Knight before hitting twenty years-old.”
Chapter 19: Knights’ Sacred Mountain (III)
“The Knights’ Sacred Mountain is a place where our Knight Temple raises various kinds of magical beasts. In the Knights’ Sacred Mountain, there is a peculiarity discovered by our ancestor from the Alliance three thousand years ago. That place is very good for the growth of magical beasts and will reduce their wild nature. Taming them becomes really easy. A young knight just needs to be approved by one of them and then he can take it away, making it his mount. It is also one of the best privileges our Knight Temple has, just like the enchanted equipment that a young genius mage from the Mage Temple can receive. But you should know that among those in our Knight Alliance’s top ranks, all of them visited the Knight’s Sacred Mountain.”
Long Hao Chen’s dark blue eyes immediately lit up, “What if all of the magical beasts from the Knights’ Sacred Mountain are tamed?”
Li Xin couldn’t help laugh: “How can it be so easy?! In our entire Knight Temple, if there are a few tens of Knights below 20 years old in the same year, it is already not bad, and sometimes, there are not even ten knights. Also, at the Knights’ Sacred Mountain, there is a great summoning array that seems to be able to connect to a particular place from which a magical beast will be summoned from after a time interval. Thus, you don’t have to worry about the Knights’ Sacred Mountain having a shortage of magical beasts. That said, on the mountain, there are even ninth step magical beasts. If one can get a ninth rank magical beast, it can be considered equivalent to having reached at least the seventh step of the vocation.”
Long Hao Chen asked: “Elder Sister, at which step is your Rose Unicorn?”
Li Xin proudly answered: “My Rose is, at the moment, a fifth step magical beast, but it isn’t mature yet. After it has grown up, it can attain the seventh step at the least, with power equivalent to someone with a sixth step vocation . Your elder sister will also become at least a sixth step Radiant Knight, so you should double your efforts too haha.”
“Yeah, then I’ll double my efforts with my first goal set to becoming qualified to visit the Sacred Mountain.”
The mission was easy to complete. With the protection of a Genuine Knight who had already visited the Mountain: it wasn’t a difficult task at all for a second step knight who could use [Divine Obstruction] to kill ten magical beasts. After only half a day, the task was accomplished. He got 25 gold coins and his first entry of completed mission on his adventurer certificate.
Sometimes, a new meeting was truly a wonderful thing. That was how Li Xin felt: she really liked her new little brother; not only did she help him with his mission, she also accompanied him to the Town of Odin located more than 100 kilometers (200 Li) apart from Hao Yue City and they were both very reluctant to part.
It would soon be night and, looking at the red-colored sunset at the horizon, Long Hao Chen couldn’t help but show a triumphant smile: “Teacher gave me two days to complete a mission, but I only needed one. Let’s go back home to see Mother, and then I’ll go back to the summit of the mountain tomorrow morning to surprise Teacher.”
Thinking about it, he jubilantly headed home, but at the same time, his head is filled with envy, reminiscing about the beautiful reddish silhouette of the Rose Unicorn. How fantastic would it be if he could, in the future, have a magical beast as his mount! Long Hao Chen clearly knew that it would have been impossible for him to pass the examination if Li Xin had ridden her Unicorn.
Filled with this sentiment of admiration, he quickly saw his cottage. To give a good surprise to his mother, he gently and stealthily opened the entrance door. But after a single step inside, he became dumbstruck.
His pair of blue eyes instantly became dull and his whole body couldn’t help trembling.
Because of his mental strength that is different from ordinary people’s, Long Hao Chen had, generally, a calmer attitude than people of the same age. But at this moment, he couldn’t control himself at all. In from of him was the most unimaginable scene he could ever dream of.
Bai Yue was in the courtyard, but was seated on a man’s lap. This man was the one who had a place second only to his mother’s in his heart; the one who enabled him to become, within a single year, a Standard Knight. Teacher Xing Yu.
“You, you… …” Long Hao Chen stood there, completely speechless; his mind was completely blank at this moment.
“Chen Chen.” Bai Yue tried to stand up from Xing Yu’s lap, but he suddenly held her in his arms and a thin light appeared, making her seemingly unable to move and even to speak.
Xing Yu stood up, moving Bai Yue on the side, and gave a cold look to Long Hao Chen.
“Why? Why are you bullying my mother?” Long Hao Chen stood there, shouting hysterically. Right after, he took out his pair of refined-iron swords. His eyes had become very red.
Xing Yu’s wrist slightly moved and used a mysterious trick. In his right hand appeared a bamboo sword. With his left hand placed behind his body and his sword’s tip turned towards the ground, he faintly said: “Come.”
There was nothing left of the excited mood Long Hao Chen had been in; instead, despair, agony, hate, and all sorts of negative feelings were rising in him.
“Aah!!!” Long Hao Chen let out a cry, charging towards Xing Yu. This time, he didn’t use any skills, just swinging his both swords, going all out against Xing Yu.
He didn’t know Xing Yu’s actual strength nor his speed at all; in fact, it was impossible for him to match his teacher. _However, Teacher bullied Mother_ and because he discovered that there was this kind of matter between the two people who had the biggest places in his heart, there wasn’t an ounce of reason left in him.
_Bang_ — —
With a little swipe from the bamboo sword in Xing Yu’s hand, it was as if Long Hao Chen was crushed by a mountain; he was sent flying backwards, falling in the courtyard.
“What did I teach to you? Regardless of what kind of foe you are facing, even if it is me, you have to remain calm.” said Xing Yu faintly.
At this moment, Long Hao Chen still listened to his lesson: his body crawled and rolled on the ground; his heart was filled with hate and he felt betrayed; all the blood in his whole body seemed to be burning. He charged once more without the least bit of hesitation.
[Pure White Edge], [Thorny Charge]. Using an enhanced charge, he launched his most powerful attack.
However, it was completely useless.
Xing Yu used spiritual energy at the same level as Long Hao Chen’s. He had a mere bamboo sword in his hand, and it was a very thin one, but it hit at the weakest spots on Long Hao Chen’s sword that was swung at full power.
The bamboo sword collided and the shock reached both of Long Hao Chen’s hands. His iron swords fell on the ground, letting out two _Puff_ sounds. Long Hao Chen also fell back, his bottom sitting on the ground.
“Argh — –” It didn’t stop at that. Long Hao Chen, still in pain, even without weapons, charged like a mad tiger once more towards Xing Yu.
Xing Yu’s brow wrinkled, the bamboo sword thrust forward straight towards Long Hao Chen’s stomach. However, Long Hao Chen didn’t even try to avoid it and directly jumped towards the sharp point of the sword.
Xing Yu had a fright; although it was only a bamboo sword, it was still sharp. Without anything protecting Long Hao Chen’s body, even if he wasn’t killed, he would still be greatly wounded. Thus, he subconsciously stopped the bamboo sword and let Long Hao Chen dash against his body.
Without hesitation, Long Hao Chen bit Xing Yu’s arm.
At Xing Yu’s level, it would have been easy to get rid of him, but he didn’t move. Letting Long Hao Chen’s teeth ruthlessly sink into his arm, his only reaction was the one of wincing slightly.
Chapter 20: Knights’ Sacred Mountain (IV)
Affected by Xing Yu’s scent that gave him an intimate feeling, Long Hao Chen started crying, he couldn’t control his tears that suddenly started to drip. Then, he let his mouth loose. Looking at the place on Xing Yu’s armpit where he bit, it was bleeding and had a bite mark. He shouted with a hoarse voice: “WHY? WHY DON’T YOU KILL ME?”
“Because I am your father.”
With that simple sentence, Long Hao Chen’s face that was full of anger suddenly calmed down, he stood there motionless, his eyes looking straight at Xing Yu.
“What, what did you say you were?” Long Hao Chen showed an ashen face that was gradually being filled with disbelief.
Long Xing Yu sighed and took a step forward, pulling him into his bosom and tightly hugging him, “I am, I am your father, the father you had never met before. Xing Yu is my name, you have your surname from me, we both are from the same ‘Long’ family.” After he said these words, his hand released a white light, untying the restriction on Bai Yue’s body.
Bai Yue quickly rushed at them, pulling Long Hao Chen from Long Xin Yu’s bosom, glaring at him, “Are you mad? You just frightened me to death.”
Long Xing Yu laughed: “I just wanted to test Hao Chen’s ability to keep his calm during fights in all circumstances, but from what I saw, you are his biggest weak spot.”
“Mother, he, is he really?…” Only at this moment did Long Hao Chen react, all his negative emotions turned into shock, and he gave his mother a flabbergasted look.
Bai Yue gently nodded, “I am sorry, Chen Chen. Mother didn’t tell you until now, but a year ago, your father found us. He hoped that you could become a knight as formidable as him and thus we hid from you the fact that he came back.”
Long Xing Yu acquiesced and nodded, “It seems that no matter how much one plans things out, life always intervenes. I was afraid that after you knew that I am your father, you wouldn’t put in anymore effort, and that I wouldn’t be able to discipline you.”
Long Hao Chen gave his mother a lifeless look. The words his father just said were the most unexpected things he had heard in his life. For as long as he could remember, he only had his mother by his side.
Bai Yue gently caressed her son’s head, unable to stop her tears, “Sorry, Chen Chen. In the past, you mother didn’t say anything to you regarding this matter. Ten years ago, a very painful thing happened to your mother and she didn’t know at all how to face your father, so she had to leave her native place and come here. At that moment, I discovered that I was already pregnant with you. Don’t blame your father, everything is my fault. He had to painstakingly look for us for nine years. If you have to hate someone, hate me.”
The expression Long Xing Yu’s eyes showed to this mother and son was complex as he gently said: “Yue, this is already over. All the pain has already left us. Don’t think about these painful memories anymore, okay?”
Bai Yue nodded, she was sobbing: “Last year I promised you that for your sake, for Hao Chen’s sake, I’d free myself from those unbearable memories. I will devote my future life only to the both of you. During these years, Hao Chen must have suffered a lot because of me. Honestly, I don’t really want him to become a knight like you, I just want him to live safely.”
Long Xing Yu frown, showing once more a complex expression in his eyes, unconsciously clenching his fists, seemingly in an intense internal struggle.
Long Hao Chen gradually came back to his senses and took a look at his mother, then at his father, his eyes revealing a fiery look.
“No, Mother, I want to become a knight. To become a formidable knight.”
Long Xing Yu was stunned. He was previously really wavering, wondering whether what he was doing was right. He was well aware that for both Bai Yue and Long Hao Chen’s sake, a peaceful life would be, by far, the best choice possible.
Xing Yu showed a wry smile: “Will you recognize an irresponsible father like me?”
“No, you are not responsible at all. It’s my fault, everything is my fault.” Bai Yue’s tears, which had just stopped, immediately resumed flowing.
“Father!” Breaking free from his mother’s embrace, Long Hao Chen fiercely threw himself on Long Xing Yu’s bosom. At this moment, he only felt true happiness.
He was a mere child, a ten years old child. Although he never said it to Bai Yue, every time he saw those little kids and their fathers together in Odin Town, how could he not feel envious?
But now, his father was back. They had been separated for so many years, but his father was even more formidable than those other kids’: he was a formidable knight. In Long Hao Chen’s heart, all the past anger turned into joy.
Hearing this shout, Long Xing Yu didn’t display his excitement. He just stood there, expressionless, before using his firm arms to gently hold his wife and his child in his embrace. However, neither Bai Yue nor Long Hao Chen noticed this: the current him looked as restrained as before.
After having rushed for a day, and experiencing both sadness and joy upon arriving home, Long Hao Chen went to bed early. It was the first time in a year that he didn’t spend the night seated, but in a deep sleep.
Long Xing Yu hugged Bai Yue by their son’s side, “Yue.”
Bai Yue gently nodded, shutting both her eyes, “You don’t need to say more. Chen Chen is like you, he cannot simply live a quiet and peaceful life. You were both born like this, with a need to cause big issues. He has already made his choice, thus I can only support him. I have one sole wish, it is for him to live well. Regardless of what you will teach him, the most important matter will be to protect him, okay?”
“Un, I promise you.” Long Xing Yu slowly nodded, gently caressing Bai Yue’s long hair.
On the next morning, Long Xing Yu brought both Bai Yue and Long Hao Chen to the mountain peak. Since he had already been exposed, he didn’t have anything left to hide.
Bai Yue went to tidy up Long Hao Chen’s room while Long Xing Yu called his son in front of him.
“Hao Chen, you still chose to continue to follow my practice despite knowing the relationship between us. For this reason, I will be only stricter than in the past. You have one last opportunity to change your mind.”
Long Hao Chen replied without hesitation: “Father, I understand that you are only strict for my sake. This time, I experienced a lot of things when I went to the City of Hao Yue. Father, I have to ask, are you even higher ranked than a Radiant Knight?”
Long Xing Yu took a step back, standing still for a moment and looking unsure, then lowered his head in front of Long Hao Chen.
“Wa, so cool.” Long Hao Chen excitedly hop, “Father, I will, in the future, become a knight as great as you.”
Long Xing Yu smiled: “How do you know that your father is a great knight?”
Long Hao Chen stubbornly said: “It must be so.”
Long Xing Yu added: “I see. You will learn how great father’s prowess is in the future. But if you want to become a great knight, you cannot slack off. From today onwards, you won’t need to go to the owl-ants crypt anymore. The type of practice that you will have to do is going to change completely.”
“I won’t need to go?” Even though he went for a year nonstop, it was still a very dark place. Long Hao Chen was still somewhat afraid of this place
Long Xing Yu nodded: “In the past year, the main goals of the practice were to enhance your reaction speed, your mental capacity, and improve your body as well. Soaking every day in the hot spring filled with medicine was also done with the same motive. Now that your spiritual energy level is above hundred, we can start to train your inner spiritual energy.”
“Inner spiritual energy?” Long Hao Chen gave his father an uncertain look. During the past year, everything Long Xing Yu taught him was regarding history, skills used by knights, and various knowledge, but he never mentioned the matter of internal spiritual energy.
Chapter 21: Sacred Awakening, Scion of Light (I)
Long Xing Yu said: “Two kinds of spiritual energy exist: the external and the internal. External spiritual energy is used to cause changes to the body and to enhance it. Simply said, it is generated in the body with physical practice and enables the power and the toughness of your body to be enhanced, attaining a new level. But since it is the body’s power, it has its limits. This limit is the 200th spiritual energy level.”
“Like I have already taught you, the division between the second and the third step is the watershed moment in any vocation. The majority are unable to break through the second step throughout all their life, not even speaking about entering the third one. For knights like us, it is impossible to train inner spiritual power, just like for mages it is impossible to change the mastery element.”
Your current external spiritual energy still has room for progress, but if we were to wait until you reach the 200th spiritual energy level by external practice, it would just be a waste of effort. I had you sit in a meditative posture for a year to get your internal energy ready for this moment. You have to know that along with the growth of his inner spiritual energy, the strength of one’s body will also grow. When one’s spiritual energy is higher, completing skills will require him to use his inner spiritual energy together with his external spiritual energy.
“Give me the awakening stone you brought from Hao Yue Hall.” Long Xing Yu extended his hand towards Long Hao Chen.
Long Hao Chen handed the yellow rock to his father.
Long Xing Yu told him: “For the next two years, I will make you cultivate your inner spiritual energy and, at the same time, practice to get your external spiritual energy to the peak level and you will have to study the secrets of spiritual stoves as well. Right now, I have to make you first accomplish the most solemn ceremony for us, knights, the Sacred Awakening.”
Long Hao Chen listened carefully. On this early morning, he was very clear-headed because he had slept earlier the day before. He pledged that he wouldn’t let his father down, and that he would train even more seriously than before, for the sake of this father he troubled so much.
Long Xing Yu continued: “From some points of view, we knights belong to the magical swordsmanship school. Those swords skills I taught you use your spiritual energy. The next step is the cultivation of the inner spiritual energy, and we have a single mastery element and it is the holy attribute”.
“This awakening stone that I told you to bring will transform the light attribute of your body. The higher your innate mental capacity is, regardless of your physical condition, the more effect the awakening stone will have. But you have to know that our holy arts and the magic from the mages are not the same. Mages use the power of magic elemental spells, but we, the knights, directly use the spiritual energy in our bodies to form our holy arts. But in fact, there is an important factor. The deeper one grasps the Ten Rules of A Knight, the stronger his holy magic will be. Understood?”
Long Hao Chen pondered for a moment before replying: “Father, are you saying that knights like us only need to seriously practice our inner spiritual energy to be able to master sword skills and holy magic, these two different styles?”
Hearing these words, Long Xing Yu was surprised. He didn’t expect Long Hao Chen to understand so quickly.
“That’s right. You can interpret my words like that. The spiritual energy of knights is used for sword skills as well as magic. This is what makes us completely different from warriors who cannot use magic. Okay, let’s begin the Awakening now. Come out together with me.”
Part 2:
With these words, Long Xin Yu brought Long Hao Chen out of the log cabin and they headed towards the peak of the mountain.
Long Xing Yu waved his left hand and a thick layer of golden light spread out from his body, forming a golden mantle that was quickly growing, from 16.5 meters (5 Zhang) to 33 meters (10 Zhang), enveloping both father and child.
This rich light seemed as if it tried to fill Long Hao Chen’s soul; when bathing in this golden radiance, his whole body felt stronger. The [Heavenly Battle Array] that Li Xin used released a holy light, but compared to the golden mantle that Long Xing Yu formed, it was simply the same as comparing a firefly to the moon.
“This is the [Bright Blessing], a high ranked defensive skilled used by high step knights. Hao Chen, close your eyes and stay focused. Regardless of whatever you feel, you must stay calm, and quietly feel the changes in your body. Specifically, try to comprehend the light, understood?”
“Yes.”
Long Xing Yu looked at the kid in front of him, took a deep breath, and slowly lifted the awakening stone in his right hand. He didn’t tell Long Hao Chen at all that, compared to an ordinary knight’s [Sacred Awakening], his [Sacred Awakening] was going to be way more painful and hard to bear. Because his spiritual energy didn’t reach the 110th rank yet, compared to the peak Standard Knight who went through this awakening, the burden that was going to be put on his body was immeasurable. Naturally, it was by this way that Long Hao Chen’s potential would develop the most.
According to the Knight Temple’s rules, taking the [Sacred Awakening] in advance like this was strictly forbidden for fear that it could permanently injure the knight’s body. The risks of failing the awakening could go as far as endangering his life.
Of course, Long Xing Yu didn’t want at all to put Long Hao Chen’s life at stake. But no one understood better than him the mysterious process of the [Sacred Awakening], and Long Xing Yu didn’t care at all about the Knight Temple’s rules. Originally, Long Hao Chen’s mental capacity was far higher than ordinary people’s and, at the same time, he had a caring and almost flawless heart. In addition, he had already grasped most of the Ten Rules of a Knight, and he had the support of Long Xing Yu, so it was almost guaranteed that he would successfully bear this pain.
A twinkling golden radiance rose from Long Xing Yu’s hand; its brightness surpassed the rising sun’s. However, this radiance was motionless, it was completely blocked from spreading out by the [Bright Blessing]’s shining mantle. At this very moment, the shining mantle covered the father and his son and their silhouettes disappeared completely.
Long Hao Chen suddenly felt that his own body became hotter; his body’s temperature was in fact raising and he felt like a nucleus formed in the middle of his internal organs (Footnote: author’s metaphor; since it’s very hot, this nucleus is compared by the author to a sun “一颗太阳一般”). At this moment, he clearly discovered that his own body contained countless channels, and each of these channels was an extension of the newly formed internal nucleus.
Shutting his eyes, he saw a bright golden color. It was the golden color from the insides of his body. A violent pain emerged at this moment.
A thin grey colored gas violently emerged from Long Hao Chen’s body, disappearing in the golden radiance; it was the internal impurities in his body. This was one of the results of the [Sacred Awakening], a purification effect.
During this purification, Long Hao Chen felt that his own body was pierced by a myriad of sharp arrows. Meanwhile, this scorching hot sensation became even more violent than during the beginning.
The [Sacred Awakening] does not only enable the knight to transform their spiritual energy into holy light useable with magic. At the same time, it purifies his soul and his body. Therefore, knights who went through the [Sacred Awakening] rarely went against their own beliefs and convictions.
Long Hao Chen’s body is violently shaking. If someone could see what happened inside the [Bright Blessing], he would discover that at this very moment, Long Hao Chen’s whole body’s pores were all bleeding from inside. But precisely by this process, on his chest, a golden ring of light gradually appeared and was becoming more and more imposing.
Chapter 22: Sacred Awakening, Scion of Light (II)
“Persevere! For our beliefs, for protecting everyone we care about!” Long Xing Yu’s voice clearly resounded in Long Hao Chen’s mind, making his pain gradually reduce and his spirit rise.
The awakening stone in Long Xing Yu’s hand was being dissolved, continuously being refined in his hand before finally taking the form of a drop of pure golden liquid floating and heading towards the pit in the middle of Long Hao Chen’s stomach. Compared to the awakening of ordinary knights, with Xing Yu’s refining, this drip of Holy Liquid didn’t have a trace of impurity. It was only golden colored and it merged with Long Hao Chen’s body.
_Puff_ — –, in the instant after the drip of Holy Liquid merged with Long Hao Chen’s body, an intense golden light shone on his forehead.
The golden light reacted with the [Bright Blessing], slowly heading towards the top of Long Hao Chen’s head, then growing up little by little.
Long Xing Yu nervously looked at this golden pillar. It would determine Long Hao Chen’s future potential regarding the use of the holy attribute.
During the [Sacred Awakening], knights would acquire the holy attribute in their inner spiritual energy and during this process, their innate quantity of internal spiritual energy, one of the most important standards for determining the potential of a knight, would be determined. Generally speaking, if one’s innate internal spiritual energy level couldn’t even exceed 10, then that knight would have no way to break through the third step.
From the top of Long Hao Chen’s head, a golden thread was suddenly growing before falling backwards; it had quickly already reached the length corresponding to the tenth spiritual energy level. His body was suffering and shaking as violently as before, but the growth speed of the golden thread was really astonishing.
10, 20, 30, 40… …
At the moment the spiritual energy level reached 40, Long Xing Yu couldn’t help clenching his fists. When one’s innate internal spiritual energy reached 40, he was already a rare genius in the Knight Temple. But this golden column was still growing at the same speed.
_Such a formidable innate mental capacity_ , Long Xing Yu couldn’t help but secretly sigh. He suspected beforehand that Long Hao Chen’s mental capacity was abnormal, but he had no way to be sure before performing the [Sacred Awakening]. At that moment, he would be able to see how formidable Long Hao Chen’s mental capacity really was.
50, it exceeded 50!
55, 58, 60. It surprisingly even exceeded 60.
Long Xing Yu remembered that he was known as the greatest genius of the century in the Knight Temple, and during his [Sacred Awakening], his internal spiritual energy peaked at the 77th level. Although he took care of Long Hao Chen during the past year, building his foundation by making him sit in meditation, the fact his spiritual energy exceeded 60 meant a lot of things, and this golden pillar of light was still continuing to grow.
65, 67, already 67!
Long Xing Yu’s pupils violently shrank. For innate internal spiritual energy, every 10 levels corresponded to a step and if Long Hao Chen’s internal spiritual energy exceeded 70, his capacity for using holy magic would not be inferior to any light element mage’s.
70, it really was 70!
At this instant, Long Xing Yu couldn’t help but hold his breath; when Long Hao Chen’s innate internal spiritual energy broke through the 70th level, he stopped shaking.
With another _Puff_ sound, numerous golden threads of light burst out of Long Hao Chen’s body. The pain was, at this moment, all gone and Long Hao Chen’s clothes disappeared because of these golden lights.
His fair white skin shone like a crystal, the thin golden threads wandering about, piling up on his whole body, covering it of a gold color. The golden ring of light was gradually drawn into the middle of Long Hao Chen’s chest before finally taking the form of a little soybean.
Part 2:
Long Hao Chen had a very strange feeling when his innate inner spiritual energy reached 70, he felt as if the pain carried by his whole body had disappeared, replaced by a heavenly sensation.
Everything became clear and transparent, including his heart and his soul. This rich divine atmosphere improved his body. The inner spiritual energy was still growing, though, and Long Hao Chen seemed to have somewhat changed, influenced by the laws of light.
Heavens! 80, his innate spiritual energy actually even exceeded 80!
Long Xing Yu’s body shivered once more. This frightening innate spiritual force actually didn’t make Long Hao Chen formidable for the moment, but it would definitely have a great influence on his potential.
81, 83, 85… …
The golden light rose as before, even after having surpassed the 70th inner spiritual energy level. In the history of the Knight Temple, there were 17 records of this accomplishment. Among these 17 people, except for six of them, all of the others became the most formidable Divine Knights of history.
However, his inborn spiritual energy outstripped 80. This happened only three times in history. Among those three knights, two did not manage to rise up: only one succeeded. On the year of his 36th birthday, that one broke through the threshold of the ninth step of the vocation, the 10,000th spiritual energy level, the divine achievement.
Heavens! 90, really 90?! The only one in the Knight Temple’s History who reached the 90th spiritual energy level!
Long Xing Yu struck dumb with amazement. A pure heart, a mental capacity different from ordinary people’s, a good grasp on the Ten Rules of a Knight, and such a terrifying innate internal spiritual energy level.
The golden pillar seemed to have reached its bottleneck, its growth clearly reduced by a great amount. Now, it was rising slowly.
An innate internal spiritual energy of 70 was known as giving a physique of angel, one of 80 was known as having a physique blessed by Gods, and above the 90th spiritual energy level, even though this case never appeared in the Knight Temple, in the original Knight Temple’s records written by the ancestors, the physique associated was known as the physique of a Scion of Light, the purest holy body that could exist. With it, he would innately be able to use any holy weapon and be friendly with any magical beast of the light attribute.
In the end, the golden pillar wasn’t able to keep raising and stopped at the position of the 97th level.
Innate spiritual energy level, 97.
The golden light became gradually weaker, revealing the silhouette of both father and son.
“It feels so good!” Long Hao Chen just came back to his senses, released from this special holy atmosphere.
Opening his eyes, Long Hao Chen discovered to his surprise that the father in front of him showed a shocked expression on his dull face.
“Father, what’s wrong?“ Long Hao Chen made haste to ask.
Long Xing Yu’s body shook, and coming back to his senses, he looked at Long Hao Chen in the eyes.
Long Hao Chen’s originally dark blue colored eyes changed into a peculiar gold
color. Light gold colored eyes were not something completely unusual, but it was the first time Long Xing Yu saw this kind of transparent gold colored eyes.
“Scion of Light, it is really a Scion of Light! God bless the humanity, God bless the Knight Temple.” Long Xing Yu couldn’t control his slightly trembling voice. As he spoke, he took back his [Bright Blessing].
“Father, what is the ‘Scion of Light’? Ah, and what about my clothes?” The wind blew from the mountain and Long Hao Chen felt a chill, discovering that he became unexpectedly naked. He immediately cried out in alarm.
Long Xing Yu reacted at this moment, his right hand trembled and from it, a long gown appeared, covering Long Hao Chen’s body
Carefully looking at his son, Long Xing Yu discovered that Long Hao Chen’s skin now had a golden luster that could only be noticed because of the sunlight. But the strange fact was that there wasn’t as much holy atmosphere left on his body as the other knights after their [Sacred Awakening]; all the holy atmosphere was in fact in his body, and no slightest amount spilled out. Only Long Xing Yu’s eyes could notice such a special phenomenon.
Chapter 23: Sacred Awakening, Scion of Light (III)
Due to the fact that in the Knight Temple, there were less than 10 people who truly knew the profound mysteries of the Scion of Light, Long Xing Yu wasn’t worried at all about his son’s inborn gifts being exposed.
“Hao Chen, your [Sacred Awakening] has just been completed. Did you realize that after taking into account your internal spiritual energy, you are already a Genuine Knight?”
“Oh? So easily?” Long Hao Chen was surprised, but he could feel in his body a kind of warm air current that reacted to his thoughts and movements.
“Easily?” Long Xing Yu’s face revealed a forced smile, thinking that this little fellow didn’t know hunger or famine. After a knight’s awakening, it was already praiseworthy if one gained from it, 20 spiritual energy levels.
“Your innate gifts are not bad, but this is merely what the [Sacred Awakening] brought you. Regarding your practice in the future, you will not only have to make efforts as great as before, but possibly even greater. Understood? Let’s head back and talk over this matter.”
“Father, I will make great efforts for sure.”
Upon seeing Long Xing Yu holding Long Hao Chen’s hands as they came back to the log cabin; Bai Yue’s face revealed a smile and she silently looked at this scene, standing close. She didn’t know much about swordplay, but she understood her husband well. She could also see clearly from Long Xing Yu face that he was somewhat shocked. By the fact that her formidable husband was unexpectedly shocked by her son’s innate gifts, it seemed that Chen Chen’s choice to walk on the road of chivalry was the correct one. However, if one day, they, father and son, really had to face _that person_ … …
Heading back to the log cabin, Long Hao Chen donned the clothes he had brought before continuing to listen to Long Xing Yu’s instructions.
Long Xing Yu said with a heavy voice: “Now you ought to tell me what your choice is, do you want to become a Retribution Knight or a Guardian Knight?”
Long Hao Chen answered without delay, in a firm voice: “Father, I want to become a Guardian Knight.”
“A Guardian Knight?” Long Xing Yu was stupefied, “So you are unexpectedly willing to give up on the formidable attack power and combat effectiveness of the Retribution Knights?”
Long Hao Chen rigidly answered: “Father, you told me that to be a match against the demon race, we needed the power of the humanity as a whole, that the power of a single person is, in the end, insignificant. I want to turn into a Guardian Knight to protect the people I want to protect even better and, at the same time, to assist the people fighting beside me in the battlefield even more.”
Long Xing Yu was clearly somewhat disappointed and he sighed: “But to finally battle the 72 Demon Gods, what we will need will be the greatest force humanity can bring.”
Long Hao Chen immediately asked: “Then is it impossible for Guardian Knights to battle the demon gods?”
As he listened to this question, Long Xing Yu’s eyes revealed a glow, “That’s it! With your innate internal spiritual energy of 97, your [Sacred Awakening] as the Scion of Light, and your incredible mental capacity as a support, why can’t you learn some more things? Retribution and guardian are just classifications, maybe you will be able to create a miracle. Perhaps the correct choice for you is to train in both specializations at the same time, in order to bring out the most of your innate potential as the Scion of Light.”
Long Hao Chen seemed to have understood something and asked with a shocked voice: “Father, are you saying that I should study at the same time, the skills and abilities of a Retribution Knight?”
“That’s right. From now on, I will train you as a retribution knight, and in two years, you will leave for Hao Yue Hall, where you will train as a guardian knight. This may reduce the cultivation speed of your spiritual energy, but as long as you are able to advance as both a Retribution and a Guardian Knight, in the future, you will become a formidable knight without precedence in history.
Time passed day by day, the training as a knight at Odin Mountain’s peak continued, and in a blink of an eye, a year and a half passed.
_Dang_ — — a neat chime resounded and the youth’s body suddenly shone a golden color before condensing just like the brilliance of the rising sun, as a shining blade broke through space.
A bamboo sword was lightly waved, its edge shone of a golden color as the space before this bamboo sword with a little handle was shattered.
“Not bad, your [Shining Solar Cut] is already at its peak mastery level; it only lacks in duration and degree of heating, and spiritual energy level for the moment.”
Long Xing Yu was impressively using a bamboo sword to parry this dazzling cut, and the youth putting this shining blade to good use was Long Hao Chen.
After a year and a half, Long Hao Chen was 12 years old, and compared to his original life in Odin Town, he underwent changes that could torn heaven and earth upside down.
The only 12-year-old Long Hao Chen had already grown close to 1.60 meters. He didn’t look muscular at all, his slender figure’s proportions looked flawless. His black hair fluttered on the back of his head and his sparkling gold colored eyes were dazzling. His originally beautiful little face had become quite heroic, but his appearance looked as flawless as before. Looking at his physical dispositions, if he were to say that he was 14 or 15 years old, there would definitely be people who would believe that.
At this moment, Long Hao Chen’s hands both surged up, each of them holding an epee, the standard weapon for a knight; they were 2 meters long (6 Chi), 16.5 centimeters wide (6 Cun) and an impressive thickness of 12.3 centimeters. The weight of this kind of knights’ epee was 25 kilograms (50 Jin) but they looked very light, as if they were nothing in his hands.
During a year and a half, Long Hao Chen had learned a lot from his father. His internal spiritual energy didn’t improve much from its innate 97th level, as it had only grown to the 120th level; but his external spiritual energy grew to the level of a peak third step knight’s, a total level of 200.
Altogether, it amounted to a total level of 320, the level of a fourth ranked knight. He wasn’t far from the 330th spiritual energy level of the fifth rank.
If it wasn’t for the fact that Long Xing Yu tried to build solid foundations in him, his growing speed would have perhaps been even more fearful.
Even if Long Xing Yu was strict, when looking at an 11-and-a-half-years-old youth who reached the fourth rank as a knight, he could only reveal a satisfied smile. In the history of the Knight Temple, this was absolutely unprecedented. He had, himself, only reached this level of practice at the age of 15.
However, with his external spiritual energy reaching the peak level, the speed of growth of Long Hao Chen’s spiritual energy significantly reduced. He could, after all, only rely on the strengthening of his inner spiritual energy to practice it. Only after reaching the next step of the knight vocation would he be able to keep practicing his external spiritual energy.
Listening his father’s praise, Long Hao Chen couldn’t help but reveal a big smile,“Papa, this [Shining Sunlight Cut]’s power is so high, but it consumes 50 units of internal spiritual energy and even consumes some external spiritual energy. My spiritual energy is still too lacking.”
Long Xing Yu revealed a smile: “You are still eleven years old. You should know that the [Shining Sunlight Cut] is a skill that any great knights ought to master. You cannot be impatient, you should try to progress step by step. Okay, get ready, let’s see how long you will be able to last today.”
After having heard his father, Long Hao Chen’s expression immediately became serious. His hands took a tight grip on the swords.
Long Xing Yu moved, his body seeming weightless, and in a flash, the bamboo sword in his hand arrived in front of Long Hao Chen.
After the epee in his left hand was pushed back, Long Hao Chen quickly took a step back, dodging the bamboo sword’s attack at the same time. Though clearly, Long Xing Yu didn’t use any spiritual energy in his bamboo sword.
However, in the next instant, countless bamboo shadows appeared in front of Long Hao Chen’s body, just like drops of water.
Long Xing Yu was already gone and there were only endless bamboo shadows that came from all directions, aiming to stab Long Hao Chen, but Long Hao Chen looked already used to these kind of situations. The pair of epees in his hands danced in the air with a fast speed. Puffs that sounded like banana leaves in the rain rang unceasingly.
Chapter 24: Sacred Awakening, Scion of Light (IV)
(Sorry, it’s not that I completely mistranslated the word, but that the word 重剑 could have these two meanings, so since it was generally dual-wielded by Retribution Knight, I misinterpreted, guessing that it would probably be a sword that is rather not so voluminous. Thus consider that the ‘epees’ were from the beginning ‘heavy swords’. Thanks a lot to Bagelson & Njonjo for the remark & sorry about this sudden change. I’ll change from now on from epee to heavy sword, & do when I’ll ~~not be too lazy~~ have the time, the changes on the earlier chapters. The change has been applied to this chapter I hope it sounds good.)
Long Hao Chen used the edge, the flat part, and even the handle of the heavy swords in his hands; it seemed to be able to deal with all the opponent’s bamboo sword attacks. Momentarily, the sword’s shadow glimmered, coating his whole body just like a huge ball of light. Sacred light capabilities were continuously used, coordinated with his defense using the pair of heavy swords.
When facing Long Xing Yu’s attacks, if Long Hao Chen showed the slightest flaw, the bamboo sword would immediately fall on his body and hurt a lot more than the owl-ants’ attacks. However, the strange thing was that Long Hao Chen managed to resist: although Long Xing Yu looked quite serious, at the same time, he wasn’t able to break through Long Hao Chen’s defense.
After a quarter of an hour of continuous battle, Long Xing Yu’s bamboo sword suddenly shone. A white radiance expanded and thousands of swords appeared in front of Long Hao Chen.
Long Hao Chen was still waving his pair of swords. He didn’t expect this attack from Long Xing Yu, but this was clearly not the first time this kind of situation had occurred.
The handle of the heavy sword in his left hand was knocked against the one in his right hand, then he slashed before him with the heavy sword in his right hand, while swinging the one in his left hand. With a flash of golden light, a [Thorny Charge] was used towards the bamboo sword.
A soft tinkling sound rang. The swords were swung but the bamboo sword that was in the path of the charge didn’t show the slightest change. Using the momentum from his previous block, Long Hao Chen advanced.
With a neat ringing sound, a layer a golden light immediately undulated from Long Hao Chen’s body, it was the [Divine Obstruction]. Against Long Xing Yu’s stab, he had to use all the spiritual energy he had left to form a [Divine Obstruction], enabling him to withstand it.
“Great, you did well this time. You were able to act calmly. I see that the actual combat training we did on a daily basis did not go to waste.” Taking his bamboo sword back, the smiling Long Xing Yu nodded in front of Long Hao Chen. However, Long Hao Chen was panting, his clothes soaked in sweat. Even though his father didn’t use spiritual energy related attacks, Long Hao Chen was still overwhelmed by his power.
Long Xing Yu went in front of Long Hao Chen, patting his shoulder, and said with a smile: “Let’s go home to rest for a little while, your mother should soon be done with the midday meal.”
“Okay.” Long Hao Chen’s face was also joyful.
Despite the fact that during this year and a half, he painstakingly trained everyday, it was still the happiest period of his life. His mother’s face was always smiling, and his formidable father instructed him. This kind of life was far from a dull one: it was, on the contrary, full of happiness.
When both father and son arrived in front of the log cabin, Long Xing Yu’s foot suddenly stopped, his eyes revealing a severe gaze.
Long Hao Chen also felt the change in his father’s breath: he gave a terrifying almighty ancient-dragon-like feeling that prevented him from breathing calmly.
Long Xing Yu loosened his grip on Long Hao Chen’s hand and slowly turned back, taking light steps and, in the next instant, Long Hao Chen opened his mouth wide: from his father’s body, a dense gold colored radiance spurted, raising his body into the sky and enabling him to fly.
Despite having trained for more than two years with his father, Long Hao Chen didn’t know at all, at which level his father’s true strength was. At this very moment, seeing that his father could go as far as to be able to rely on his spiritual energy to soar in the sky gave him an extremely big shock.
At the same time, two golden lights could be seen in Long Xing Yu’s eyes as he gazed from afar towards Odin Town.
Without waiting for Long Hao Chen to recover from the shock, he went down to the ground, his eyes revealing a cold expression. “The demon race’s armed forces launched a sneak attack, we have to go.”
Simultaneously, he grabbed Long Hao Chen’s arm and soared once more in the sky.
His fully condensed spiritual energy took the form of a pair of golden wings spreading out from Long Xing Yu’s back.
Spiritual energy transformation was an ability used by 6th step Radiant Knights, but Long Xing Yu’s wings were over 10 meters wide, covered by dozens of gold colored feathers that looked just like real objects. How could an ordinary spiritual energy accomplish such a feat so easily?
As the enormous pair of stretching wings appeared, a gold-colored aura enveloped Long Xing Yu and his son. The pair of wings suddenly fanned and they both immediately headed straight in the direction of Odin Town with the speed of a meteor.
What Long Hao Chen didn’t notice was that, upon seeing Long Xing Yu’s pair of wings, all the beings from Odin Mountain, to the insides of the forest, regardless if they were magical beast or wild beast, all crept on the ground: they were so alarmed and hopeless before this sight that they did not dare move in the slightest bit.
The scenery turned into a gold-colored world, the dense sacred energy wrapped everything around them and Long Hao Chen could feel his internal spiritual energy boiling. During this short moment, his inner spiritual energy raised a lot, but this was only because the light-attribute energy temporarily produced around them at this moment was too formidable. This showed how powerful the sacred energy released by Long Xing Yu was.
It felt as if only a few seconds had passed when the golden light suddenly scattered and Long Hao Chen could see the outward situation.
_Odin Town, we are actually already back in Odin town. After such a small amount of time?_
Long Hao Chen couldn’t believe his own eyes, but the fact was that before his eyes, below his feet, wasn’t this the Odin Town where he grew up?
The current Odin Town had lost its originally calm and quiet atmosphere. A lot of places were burning, sounds of crying resounded nonstop, miserable shrieks and destruction sounds flooded each corner of Odin Town.
Long Hao Chen saw at least thousands of black armored, tall, and big monsters with robust bodies. They were the ones wreaking havoc in Odin Town.
These monsters were at least 1.8 meters tall. Each had the head of a wolf and the body of a human at the same time. They waved curved swords. Odin Town’s inhabitants were currently being slaughtered by them; sad and shrill cries could be heard everywhere, but these ferocious wolves were also unceasingly howling even louder.
More than 3,000 households were supposed to be living in the town of Odin, making 20,000 inhabitants, but at this moment, it had become a sea of blood and corpses, dense blood was scattered everywhere, the scene could make anyone feel like vomiting.
“Father, what are they?” Long Hao Chen’s voice was filled with anger, this is the place where he grew up! He had seen just now with his own eyes one of his former little companions being cut into two parts by a wolf-headed monster wielding a curved sword, the front part of his body was lying on the ground and after he let out his last agonizing sad and shrill cry, his internal organs started spreading all around.
“Werewolves from the demon race.” Long Xing Yu answered with a cold voice, an impressive pressure could be felt released from his body.
The people below, completely terrified by the werewolves, subconsciously looked up. Seeing the two enormous wings spreading from Long Xing Yu’s back, they couldn’t help but feel completely astonished by his appearance.
“Father, let me go down, I am going to kill them!” Long Hao Chen shouted excitedly.
“Your strength is far from sufficient.” Long Xing Yu said in a low voice: “Hao Chen, didn’t you always want to see your father’s actual strength? Then, take a good look.”
A gold-red ring of light surged out from Long Xing Yu’s back: an enormous bright gold throne shone with a magnificent brilliance, slowly appearing from the gold-red ring of light.
Chapter 25: The Divine Throne of Doom and Slaughter (1)
The enormous throne was 33 meters (10 Zhang) high; on its back, countless precious stones were set and a man could faintly be seen floating behind this chair, spreading severity, dignity, and even terror out all around.
At the top of the back of the chair, there was a semicircular bright red gem that seemed like the sun looking over mother earth. But its brilliance was dark orange colored, giving the impression that it was bringing doom and terror.
At the height of the chest of this figure, also at the back of the chair, an intensely dazzling golden red diamond gem could be spotted. Each crest line drawn on it seemed to try to show the man’s formidableness; a huge part of it released a bright brilliance.
At the front of this wide chair, two crawling lions were carved on the left and right sides, seeming as if they were roaring. Countless magnificent decorative patterns seemed to completely fill the back of the throne.
At the moment this throne appeared, a golden column of light arrived on Long Xing Yu’s body, completely enveloping both him and Long Hao Chen. As the golden light completely enveloped both of them, Long Hao Chen disappeared and Long Xing Yu’s body enlarged ten-folds before slowly sitting on the throne.
In Odin Town, whether they were the werewolves or the former inhabitants, no one could move under this tremendous display of power. The inhabitants were all panic-stricken while the werewolves’ gazes were filled with despair.
A golden yellow haired werewolf who looked much more robust than the others of his race said in a trembling voice, “This, this is the Divine Throne of Doom and Slaughter.”
The immense Long Xing Yu was slowly sitting straight on his throne, his cold gaze was endlessly awe-inspiring, and at the moment he was seated, the gold red diamond gem at the back of the chair suddenly appeared on his chest as the whole sky started to become gold red colored.
“[Judgement].”
A cold word came out from Long Xing Yu’s mouth. An orange luster gushed out from his back, turning into an immense sword that floated in the sky, right above his head.
The gold haired werewolf had already given up all hope, he couldn’t imagine why such a big shot could appear at the border of the Temple Alliance. Even though these werewolves wanted to run away, it wasn’t possible now.
A myriad of reddish orange colored rays of light fell from the sky, they seemed to grow as they grew closer, falling on each of the werewolves.
No matter how much they struggled, they were unable to do anything against it, and all the werewolves sadly disappeared from this world, just like that. There wasn’t a single trace left of them, they had simply vanished.
“[Salvation].”
The gold red radiance turned into a heavenly scene, and the werewolves disappeared from the world. The people from Odin Town started to get up from the shock. Only a handful of people stood in this warm, gold red colored radiance, but the wounds on their body were being healed at an astonishing speed. The places that were burning were also already extinguished. The only things that couldn’t be restored were the lives of the people who had already died and the destroyed buildings.
With a flash of golden light, Long Xing Yu who was still seated on the throne was already in front of one more person, the gold haired werewolf.
In regard to demon race monsters, humans ranked them the same as magical beasts. This gold haired werewolf was at least a fifth step demon. However, in front of Long Xing Yu, he was like a little ant who couldn’t even struggle the slightest bit. Besides him, each of the demons had already been eliminated.
“What is your goal by invading the southern part of the Temple Alliance?” Long Xing Yu’s cold voice sounded full of suspicions.
This gold haired werewolf still put up a tough front, even though by his gaze, it could be seen that he was despaired and unwilling, he still didn’t answer.
“This Divine Throne of Doom and Slaughter… You, aren’t you the Adjudicator, the Divine Knight, Long Xing Yu?”
Long Xing Yu faintly answered: “That’s right, I’m in charge of adjudication and judgement. Now, answer to my question.”
The gaze of the gold haired werewolf became ferocious, “Even if you are a Divine Knight, the demon gods are coming soon: our senior demon gods will avenge us. Even if I die, I won’t tell you anything.”
Long Xing Yu, with a cold gaze, “In that case, go to hell.”
The golden light disappeared together with this gold-haired werewolf. Long Xing Yu was still seated on the Divine Throne of Doom and Slaughter, revealing a somewhat anxious look. A short while later, after the golden light faded away, his Divine Throne was turning into yellow stars as it disappeared.
The survivors of Odin Town had thrown themselves on their knees earlier, thinking about the golden light that disappeared in the sky. They didn’t know who Long Xing Yu was, but from their point of view, this ‘judgement’ that overpowered all the werewolves was really a divine act.
After a flash of golden light, there were immediately two more people at the peak of Odin Mountain.
Long Xing Yu looked just like before, dressed with a simple robe, his black hair fluttering. After the gold colored banishment, he had restored every inhabitant their original appearance.
Long Hao Chen stood by the side of his father, but he couldn’t say anything at this moment: even though he had hundreds of guesses related to his father’s actual strength, he could not imagine that his own father could unexpectedly pull out such a godly move.
The act a moment ago had truly shaken him way too much. After two years of practice, Long Hao Chen had some confidence in his own power, but at this moment, he felt that compared to his father, he was still nothing more than a little grain of dust.
Long Xing Yu gently patted his shoulder, “Here, I am only a husband as well as a father.”
“Demon invasion?” Bai Yue was, also at this moment, at the mountain peak. This place wasn’t so close to Odin Town, but she could also distinctly see the Divine Throne that Long Xing Yu unleashed. Its bright radiance could even be seen from Hao Yue City that was 50 kilometers (100Li) away.
Long Xing Yu’s brows wrinkled and he briefly nodded, “This was an exploratory attack, no real demon powerhouses appeared. It looks like I have to shift my return to the Alliance to an earlier date.”
Bai Yue lightly nodded, holding Long Xing Yu’s large hand.
Long Hao Chen’s inner shaking didn’t disappear yet, “Father, you, you are a Divine Knight?” he courageously asked.
Long Xing Yu nodded, “You should have heard it during this attack from the werewolves. In the Knight Temple, I am known as the Adjudicator. I am in charge of the crusades of the Temple Alliance.”
Long Hao Chen’s face was full of worship: “Father, what is exactly a Divine Throne? Is, is it possible for me to become as formidable as you through training?”
Long Xing Yu nodded, sternly answering: “Of course it is possible. I achieved my rank of Divine Knight during the year of my 47th birthday, even before I met your mother. As long as you try your best, I believe that you will be able to achieve this stage even earlier than me.”
Chapter 26: The Divine Throne of Doom and Slaughter (2)
Looking from afar, Long Xing Yu let out a sigh, “It looks like the demon race is coming back. Hao Chen, remember, the demon race is powerful, but we mustn’t yield to them. As knights, we have to protect our homeland until the last drop of our blood is exhausted.”
“Em! ” Long Hao Chen nodded as he gave this answer. In his heart, his father wasn’t a mere teacher, but a target of his worship. Without personal experience, he couldn’t imagine that a Divine Throne was so formidable. In this vast sea of spiritual energy, he ravaged the heavens and the earth. This bright [Judgement] left in Long Hao Chen’s heart, an indelible mark.
“Father, do we have to leave this place?” Long Hao Chen asked
Long Xing Yu lowered his head towards him and said: “Yes, but, you are not coming with us.”
“Ah?” Long Hao Chen was astonished, giving a look full of incomprehension to his father.
Long Xing Yu faintly said: “A little chick who never leaves his parent’s protection will never be able to reach the heights of the heaven in the great sky. I had planned to guide you for 3 years, but it looks like we will have to part earlier. I will take your mother back to the Temple Alliance to deal with a few matters and to honor an agreement of mine.
The Temple Alliance isn’t a suitable place for you. If you are to come along with us, I am afraid you will never turn into a Divine Knight like me. You have to walk on your path, step by step, relying on your efforts to gain everything, and you will possess your own honor as a knight.”
“Father, I don’t want to part with you and mother.” Long Hao Chen suddenly held his father’s waist, his gaze looking very sad.
Bai Yue looked at Long Xing Yu with an imploring gaze.
Long Xing Yu stroked Long Hao Chen’s head, “Silly boy, if you stay by the our side from beginning to end, your heart will forever be filled with a feeling of dependence and concern. And even if you were to come with us to the Temple Alliance, you wouldn’t be able to stay forever by my side. Thus, I have to leave you for a few years, I have too many matters to handle. I have already made this decision: you have to remain here.”
Long Hao Chen was still shocked, he tried to control the tears that were dripping from his eyes. Bai Yue had already returned to the log cabin, crying uncontrollably.
Long Xing Yu pulled Long Hao Chen in front of him, and told him in a low voice: “Hao Chen, before we leave, Father has to teach one last thing.”
Long Hao Chen answered absent-mindedly: “What is it?”
Long Xing Yu said in a low voice: “Spiritual stoves.”
“Spiritual stoves?” Hearing these two words, Long Hao Chen’s body couldn’t help but shake. During these 2.5 years he trained by his father’s side, he heard Long Xing Yu speak about Spiritual Stoves countless times. But at those moments, Long Xing Yu didn’t give him directions regarding his training in the use of spiritual stoves.
Long Xing Yu nodded: “Spiritual stoves are spiritual smelting furnaces. Learning to use them is not really about ability. It is rather one of the most valuable magical treasures in nature. There are a lot of knight abilities that can be chosen. But except from a few that will depend on your inner talent, most will be acquired from practice. But spiritual stoves are not the same. The vast majority of the spiritual stoves enable you to use abilities that cannot be acquired through practice, and spiritual stoves are all different. Each of them has unique properties, and even if different people practice using the same spiritual stove, the result produced will be different.
There are many kinds of spiritual stoves, a total of 74 types have been catalogued at present. Each of them are only suited to some vocations, and there are a total of 23 that are suited for the knight vocation. Some are more suited toward knights, but warriors can also use them.”
Long Hao Chen was gradually becoming more and more fascinated by his father’s explanation about spiritual stoves, “Father, where can I acquire a spiritual stove?”
Long Xing Yu answered: “Generally speaking, they can only be found in places where a lot of spiritual power has gathered or in ancient ruins. In whichever vocation, there is, on average, only one person out of 1000 who possesses a spiritual stove. That also applies for knights. However, spiritual stoves are a common goal seeked by all vocations. It is because only by possessing a spiritual stove, can one really become more formidable than those of the same step.”
Speaking these words, Long Xing Yu took out the black colored ring on the index finger of Long Hao Chen. As if it had synchronized with his finger, this black ring had contracted enough to be a perfect fit.
“This is a six-layered seal. I sealed, in your ring, all the powerful skills used by Retribution Knights from the 4th to the 9th rank. Every time your spiritual energy reaches a high enough rank, you will be able to break through a part of the seal and study each of these skills one by one.”
Then, he drew out a book and passed it to Long Hao Chen, “All you have to know regarding spiritual stoves is explained in detail in this book. I don’t have the time to show you in person, so you will have to learn by yourself, understood?”
“Father… …” Long Hao Chen let out this word, his eyes uncontrollably red.
“Do not forget the favor you owe to the one who gave you this ring.”
Long Hao Chen gently nodded; after he awakened his inner spiritual energy, Long Xing Yu had told him to what extent he had to be grateful towards the mute girl who left him this ring.
As spiritual energy was poured into it, the thin golden pattern on the ring looked almost alive, and a thin blue light appeared, shining strongly. Long Hao Chen took the book recording the mysteries of the spiritual stoves.
This ring he received was an extremely valuable space ring; inside, up to 10 cubic meters of various articles could be stored. It originally only contained a defensive ability that created a thin blue shield when stimulated. As long as spiritual energy was poured into this ring, the shield would always exist, and its strength would increase together with the spiritual energy. Long Xing Yu said that it was a rare kind of enchantment.
Looking at Long Hao Chen who was packing his book, Long Xing Yu lightly sighed: “Hao Chen, although I have a lot of pretty good equipment, I don’t plan to give it to you. It is because weapons and equipments are only valuable when you obtain them by relying on your own efforts: this way, you will really be able to treasure them.”
“Father, I don’t want to separate from you.” Long Hao Chen’s tears finally stopped dripping.
Long Xing Yu held his son in his embrace, sighing: “Hao Chen, your emotions are your strong point, but also your weakness. Remember, neither Father nor Mother will be by your side in the future; you will have to become a taciturn person, you cannot wear your heart on your sleeve.
Don’t cry, this is only a temporary separation. Father hopes that the next time we’ll meet each other, you will be able to make me look at you with new eyes.
Father and mother are going to leave. I cannot leave you any equipment, but there is a gift that I prepared for you a long time ago.”
As he said that, Long Xing Yu let go of his son’s hand, putting his right hand on his own chest. Tightly pressing, a strange white light was released.
The white light was gentle, followed by a particular energy undulating before pulsing, giving a dizzy feeling to the ones who looked at it.
This was definitely neither the energy from the Sacred Light nor Long Xing Yu’s spiritual energy. Long Xing Yu slowly stretched his palm under the gaze of Long Hao Chen who looked quite impressed; in his father’s palm, there was a white radiance. A three foot long little cauldron appeared in Long Xing Yu’s palm.
The white radiance was emitted from this white cauldron, softly moved up and down, creating a mesmerizing sight.
Chapter 27: Saint Spiritual Stove (I)
Despite the fact they were going to leave each other soon, Long Hao Chen couldn’t help but become fascinated by the sight of this little white-colored cauldron.
“Father, what is that?”
Long Xing Yu answered: “This is a Saint Spiritual Stove. Father has prepared it as a gift to you. There are a lot of different kinds of spiritual stoves and each one has specific properties as well as a specific classification, but the more formidable the spiritual stove is, the bigger the price to pay to use it will be. This Saint Spiritual Stove is the 68th spiritual stove among the 74 types, but in terms of rarity, it belongs to the top ten.”
“The utility of the Saint Spiritual Stove is detailed in the book I gave you. Simply said, the Saint Spiritual Stove has neither offensive nor defensive abilities, but is able to help the cultivation of your Spiritual Energy. It is ranked among the top 20 spiritual stoves and can evolve at least three times.. And for knights, it has an enormous utility. When using the Saint Spiritual Stove, you can attract the enemy’s aggression so that enemies will only attack you instead of your companions.Unless you die or you choose to deactivate your Saint Spiritual Stove, the enemy will only be able to target you.
Perhaps you are unable to comprehend this mysterious effect at this moment, but you will, in the future, come to understand how amazing it is. At the same time, the biggest benefit of the Saint Spiritual Stove lies in the fact that it doesn’t put a burden on your body when you are using it and, at the same time, its consumption of spiritual energy is really low. In addition, it won’t influence your absorption of other spiritual stoves in the future. Therefore, father chose it as your first spiritual stove; I hope you will like this gift. As for the other abilities it will acquire after evolving, father doesn’t know either; I can only tell you to try to find out by yourself.
Also, you have to keep this firmly in mind that Spiritual Stoves are not omnipotent at all. The most formidable one is absolutely not always the most suited one. The ones in the top ten ranks all require their user to pay a big price. Some of these costs are really hard to bear. In regard to spiritual stoves, it really isn’t the more you have, the better: you have to absolutely carefully think before deciding if you should fuse with a new spiritual stove.”
Long Xing Yu’s tone was really severe, each of his words came from the sum of his own experience.
“Then, Father, how many spiritual stove can someone fuse with?” Long Hao Chen asked.
Long Xing Yu shook his head: “I don’t know. In theory, there is no restriction of quantity, but spiritual stoves easily conflict among themselves. If that happens, you will risk death in regard to the fusion. The record until now was five spiritual stoves being fused. I personally fused with three, but it isn’t necessarily better to fuse with more of them. And you have to continuously make great efforts if you want your spiritual stove to evolve. After a spiritual stove evolves a few times, its power will surpass the power of several spiritual stoves put together that have not evolved. Alright, I explained you the most important basics. Hao Chen, don’t forget what your mother told you: whatever the circumstances are, you have to give priority to your own security.”
As he said these words, Long Xing Yu’s left hand rose and was placed on Long Hao Chen’s chest and, at this moment, his body became enveloped by a misty gold-colored brilliance, preventing him from moving.
Long Xing Yu’s left hand scintillated and on Long Hao Chen’s chest, four lights appeared. Long Hao Chen felt as if his body was being penetrated and his internal spiritual energy was ignited, circling around his father.
Pulling Long Hao Chen with his right hand, he carefully cut a bit of the skin of his fingertip, squeezing out a drop of blood from it. The fresh blood floated in Long Xing Yu’s spiritual energy before precisely falling onto the Saint Spiritual Stove.
At this moment, the little cauldron released a soft white brilliance, shining brilliantly . A white light was then released by it, reaching Long Hao Chen’s chest.
A warm feeling stimulated all the pores on Long Hao Chen’s whole body. His circling inner spiritual energy spread out and scattered, as if it was an invader in his body.
With a white radiance, the little white cauldron shining with a white glow slowly flew to the level of Long Hao Chen’s chest, entering his body little by little.
The originally warm feeling became scorching hot just as if an iron skewer had entered his body. Long Hao Chen couldn’t help but let out a miserable shout. It frightened Bai Yue who suddenly ran to him from the log cabin.
Fortunately, the burning feeling didn’t continue for long: after a few breaths, the white colored little spiritual stove had disappeared.
A thin white radiance was emitted from Long Hao Chen’s body, making his skin’s surface gradually appear a smooth jade-colored luster.
Long Hao Chen felt the capabilities of the incredibly hot energy diffused in his chest. It was spread to each corner of his body, including even his cerebrum. This hot energy included countless mysterious energies that entered his mind.
All of his senses were stimulated and Long Hao Chen was stiff like the summit of a mountain, his body shining with a white-colored radiance. His chest shone especially, a little mark of spiritual stove appearing on it.
This Saint Spiritual Stove was fusing together with Long Hao Chen, using the essence of heavens and earth, with his fresh blood and his spiritual energy as an intermediary to form a magical spiritual, the stove fused with his body, becoming a part of it. When looking to fuse with a spiritual stove, the most basic requirement was the starting point of the third step of the vocation: 200th spiritual energy. Long Hao Chen had surpassed it a long time ago.
Long XIng Yu stood there, quietly looking at his son, his eyes gradually revealing a few signs of disappointment.
Bai Yue silently went to Long Xing Yu’s side, and as she was holding his hand, her tears couldn’t help but drip, “Do we really have to leave Chen Chen? I, I am not at ease. From childhood to now, he never left my side.”
Long Xing Yu held her in his embrace, “Rest assured, I arranged the safest plan possible for him. If he doesn’t leave our side, he will forever be unable to become a real man. The confrontation between us and the demon race is going to become harder and harder as time passes. With such an outstanding inborn talent, our son will inevitably become the central pillar of the Temple Alliance in the future. If you really love him, let him spread out his wings and freely soar in the sky.”
“This agreement, do you have to fulfill it?” Bai Yue let her tears fall. She clearly knew that this was the first reason why her husband had to leave their son.
Long Xing Yu’s eyes revealed a determined spark, “The warrior Anan and I cannot avoid this. I have already waited too long for this. If we can get rid of him , this will be a blessing for mankind. Be at ease. For the sake of both of you, I will try my hardest to come back alive.”
Everything was as plain as before, but there wasn’t a single other silhouette. Long Hao Chen was confused and lost in his thoughts for a long moment, his heart completely in discord.
With a _puff_ splitting sound, he fell on his knees, his tears flowing dramatically. Even though they had just parted, he seemed, at this moment, as if he was alone in the world.
Chapter 28: Saint Spiritual Stove (II)
“Father, even if you took me by your side, I wouldn’t have stopped putting in efforts!” Choking back the sobs, Long Hao Chen painfully curled up, ruthlessly digging into the ground with his hands, feeling the pain of being alone for the first time in a long time.
Meal time had already passed and Long Hao Chen started crawling on the ground. He was actually a resolute kid, but his mood just took control of his whole heart. _Without notice, Dad and Mom suddenly left_ , this fact was too hard to accept in his heart.
As he stood up, Long Hao Chen looked around, at a complete loss. From his gaze, scenes of all sorts of events that happened in the past 2 years appeared unceasingly in his mind: his father’s seriousness, his mother’s gentleness.
“Why are days of joy and happiness so brief?” His tears fell once more, and at the same time , Long Hao Chen noticed two letters on the nearest table.
After taking two or three steps, he grabbed the letters.
On the envelopes containing the two letters, it was written that they were respectively designated to Hao Chen and Nalan Shu. Obviously, one of the letters was for him and the other one had to be given to Nalan Shu Hall Master of Hao Yue Hall.
Long Hao Chen calmed down and slowly took apart the envelope that contained the letter that was written to him.
———————————————————————————————————————
Hao Chen, when you will have noticed this letter, I would have already left with your mother. We didn’t want to bear the pain of separation. It is only a temporary farewell: you are already a grown up, and now that you are a man, you have to stand strong because the only thing you will be able to rely on in the future will be your own power.
After reading this letter, you should go directly to Hao Yue City. In Hao Yue Hall, there is a place where you can study all kinds of Guardian Knight skills, and there is an Instructor that is particularly outstanding. Keep in mind that, unless it is absolutely necessary, you mustn’t easily expose your situation as being both a Retribution Knight and a Guardian Knight. I will also warn Nalan Shu about this fact. Nalan Shu is someone worth trusting, you can ask for his guidance. Also, you must learn all of the skills used by Guardian Knights from the first to the fourth step and be able to use them proficiently before you leave for the Sacred Mountain to get your mount.
Regarding the Spiritual Communication in the Sacred Mountain, if you cannot resist the aura emanated by strong beasts, you will be unable to get a suitable mount as a companion. Meanwhile, studying the abilities used by Guardian Knights should also help you to grow even more tremendously. Remember, remember.
You should unceasingly train with spiritual stoves. After owning a spiritual stove, it will turn into an intermediary for the practice of your internal spiritual energy and thus raise your training potential. Now that you have already fused with a Saint Spiritual Stove, your internal spiritual energy will most likely drop due to the fusion. However, there is no need to worry, this is a process between your internal spiritual energy and your spiritual stove. In half a month, or at most one month, it will be back to normal. Saint Spiritual Stoves are especially suited to be used by Guardian Knights and you should be able to learn this fact through personal experience in the future.
Hao Chen, Father and Mother also hate the fact that we have to part with you, but Father hopes that the next time we meet with each other, you will show us your outstanding ability. If Mother and I don’t come to look for you, then it will mean that we are busy with very important matters. Only when you are able to reach the seventh step as a Knight of the Temple, pass through the examination, and are able to get a Silver Foundation Warrior Armor; only at this moment can you look for us.
———————————————————————————————————————
Arriving at the end of the letter, Long Hao Chen gave a agonizing look. His heart, filled with motivation, already aimed to reach the highest heights.
Suddenly, he turned around, fleeing from the entrance of the log cabin and shouting at the top of his lungs: “FA– — THER — –, MO– — THER — –!”
Long Hao Chen did not immediately leave Odin Mountain. He stayed there for 3 more days until the log cabin did not have the fragrance of his parents left. He then put in order his depressed feelings due to the separation and descended from the mountain with his luggage.
On the road to Odin Town, he saw that, in the town, the rebuilding job was in progress and that at least 2,000 private troops of the Temple Alliance were stationed in the area.
It was already high noon when he arrived at Hao Yue City, and it looked like there wasn’t much change. The instant he crossed the threshold of the city, Long Hao Chen secretly pledged that he would absolutely make the greatest of effort so that he could become a seventh step knight as soon as possible.
Hao Yue City looked like it was not in disorder because of the surprise attack of the demon race. From what he could remember about its location, Long Hao Chen went back to the Knight Hall, Hao Yue Hall.
“Please, I want want to see Hall Master Nalan Shu.” said Long Hao Chen as he handed his badge of a Standard Knight.
The two people who guarded the entrance changed and although they didn’t know him, they could clearly see that he was a ten-something-year-old youth who unexpectedly already owned a Standard Knight insignia. They didn’t dare treat him brashly and hurriedly reported his arrival.
After a little while, accompanied by a thin fragrance, a silhouette arrived from the inside of Hao Yue Hall’s.
“Lil’ Bro Hao Chen, you finally came.”
The one who came out from the Hall was Li Xin. She was dressed the same as last time with light armor, a pony tail, and looking quite heroic. A year and a half didn’t leave any significant change on her body except her expression which looked even more imposing than in the past. It was obviously due to training; like him, she made great progress since the last time they had met.
“Big Sister Xin’er.” Looking at her, Long Hao Chen immediately had an a feeling of intimacy; his depressed feelings from the last few days almost faded. Under the stupefied look of the two guards, he threw himself directly into Li Xin’s bosom.
Li Xin gave him a big hug and, affected by Long Hao Chen’s sentimental behaviour, she hurried to ask: “Hao Chen, what happened? Anything bad?”
Long Hao Chen choked with sobs: “Father and Mother left. They left me alone.”
Li Xing was astounded, “Are you saying that during the demon race’s surprise attack…?”
Long Hao Chen suddenly heard her misunderstanding and hurried to clear it: “No, Father and Mother went to another place and left me to join Hao Yue Hall to continue my practice.”
Li Xin lowered her tall and erect posture; she looked relieved, “I was really scared. You jumped at me so suddenly! What’s the problem? I personally have no problem with the fact that I’m separated with my parents. In the future, Hao Yue Hall will be your home. Whoever dares bully you will hear from me. Come, let’s go in and then talk in more detail.”
As she spoke, Li Xin pulled Long Hao Chen’s hand and took big steps towards the center of Hao Yue Hall.
The two guards at the entrance exchanged a glance, revealing to each other their shocked expressions.
“Who is this youth? How can he be so affectionate with our Hell Rose Knight?”
“Be quiet, you dare inquire about the private life of Miss Li Xin? Even if you can turn into someone handsome and as talented as her, it is not set in stone that she will possibly view you in a new, favorable light.”
Li Xin pulled Long Hao Chen inside of Hao Yue Hall. This place looked the same as before except that the six Divine Thrones in the center of the Hall shone in a different light in the eyes of Long Hao Chen: the feeling he had upon looking at them was completely different.
With a proud and, at the same time, somewhat sad feeling, he found with a glance, the second throne from the left symbolizing the Divine Throne of Doom and Slaughter. _This is Father’s glory!_
There will inevitably be a day when he will, for sure, possess one of these six Divine Thrones. Long Hao Chen’s eyes had a certain kind of fire in them.
The steps he took with Li Xin felt like they were becoming slower before their pace had both halted: “Lil’ Bro, in the lapse of a whole year, you grew up so much! Two years from now , I’m afraid that you will have already surpassed this Big Sister. Em, you will even be better looking. It’s a tragedy. After you have grown up, I wonder how many girls would get confused and disoriented.”
Li Xin’s figure straightened. Despite the fact that Long Hao Chen grew up a lot, she was, nevertheless, still one head taller than him. However, when she looked at Long Hao Chen, her heart couldn’t help but admire him, going as far as showing signs of an increase in her heartbeat.
( It’s your chance Li Xin! Attack, take the heart, or at least the body of your ideal future husband!!!)
Chapter 29: Saint Spiritual Stove (III)
Long Hao Chen, who would soon be 12 years old, was different from a year and a half ago: his pretty face and his delicate cheeks looked tougher. From his formerly weak and beautiful appearance, he now looked quite robust. His body was still slender and well proportioned, and his shoulder also grew larger. His appearance was basically flawless.
_Li Xin, what’s up with you? He’s your Lil’ Bro and he’s eight years younger! Don’t tell me you want to become like the old cow that eats soft grass_? She rebuked herself in her mind; she was supposed to be quite a resolute person but, at the same time, she was quite fond of Long Hao Chen. In fact, she was the youngest at home and had always yearned for a younger brother, so even though she hadn’t been with Long Hao Chen for a long time, in her heart, she felt unusually close to him.
“Wow, Lil’ Bro, from what I can remember, your eyes didn’t have this color! They should have a dark blue color, so why have they taken this golden color?”
Long Hao Chen came back to his senses and scratched his head: “Father helped me undergo the Divine Awakening and then they became like that.”
Li Xin became stupefied, “Divine Awakening can result in a change of color of your eyes? How is it that I have never heard about this? Ah! You have already undergone the Divine Awakening you say? Then your spiritual energy has already broken through the 200th level! Quickly tell Big Sis, how high is your innate internal spiritual energy level?”
Long Hao Chen nodded and said: “Big Sis, I don’t want to fool you; the truth is that my father forbade me to reveal it.”
Suddenly, Li Xin looked as if she realized something and covered her own month before muttering in a low voice: “Heavens! A third step knight below 12 years-old. Let’s go, I’m bringing you to see Uncle Nalan Shu; he will be absolutely frightened by your progress.”
“What is going to frighten me?” Hearing a voice that seemed a bit playful, Long Hao Chen and Li Xin turned their head, only to see that Nalan Shu has just come down the stairs.
Upon seeing Long Hao Chen, Nalan Shu was quite surprised, but he quickly took an earnest expression. He hurried in front of Long Hao Chen, looking at him from top to bottom, before asking without restrain: “That day… that day, wasn’t it your teacher that…”
Long Hao Chen was a little surprised, but he quickly understood what he meant and proudly nodded.
Nalan Shu took a deep breath, his eyes revealing a scorching hot feeling of adoration, “I knew it! I knew it!”
Li Xin answered, unconvinced: “Uncle Nalan, what are both of you talking secretly about?”
Nalan Shu took a serious expression before asking her: “Why haven’t you already left for practice? You are already a seventh rank knight, so whether you can participate in the Magical Hunting Selection and Competition prior to breaking through the level of Grand Knight will relate to how well you will be able to do in this magical selection.”
Li Xin stuck out her tongue and looked at Long Hao Chen: “Lil’ Bro, I am going to practice first. In the evening, dinner will be my treat, I’ll invite you to eat a large meal. Hihi.” As she finished, she turned around and ran out.
Nalan Shu said with a helpless smile and, at the same time, doting tone: “This kid, she’ll soon be 20 but is still so mischievous. Those who come from normal households are supposed to marry by this age.”
Turning back, Nalan Shu took a look at Long Hao Chen before nodding and said: “Hao Chen, come with me.”
Long Hao Chen went together with him to his office on the second floor, where Nalan Shu couldn’t hold back his feeling of anxiety any longer: “The Divine Throne of Doom and Slaughter! Hao Chen, do you know how big this surprise attack of the demon race was? But with a single move from your teacher, their five army forces simply fled from the Alliance’s border. He’s your teacher right? Would it be possible to let me meet Senior Xing Yu?”
Long Hao Chen shook his head: “Nalan Hall Master, he left. This is for you.” As he spoke, he took out the letter that his father left to him, passing it to Nalan Shu.
Nalan Shu couldn’t hold himself back and took apart the letter before taking a look, and a surprised look quickly appeared on his face. Still looking at the contents of the letter, he revealed a look full of disbelief as he looked at Long Hao Chen, “You, you were actually Senior Xing Yu’s son? But, why would Senior Xing Yu let you study abilities used by Guardian Knights together with us? Why is it not the path of a Retribution Knight? Senior Xing Yu is the number one Retribution Knight of the Knight Alliance!”
Long Hao Chen said: “Nalan Hall Master, Father did not want me to reveal everything, so I cannot tell you anything that was not written in his letter.”
Nalan Shu took a deep breath and, while putting the letter away with a great care, he said: “Okay. Regardless of his reasons, I cannot disobey Senior Xing Yu’s instructions. From now onwards, you will become a genuine member of Hao Yue Hall. I will give my best in training you. In his letter, Senior Xing Yu explained that he wanted you to participate in the magical selection.”
“Em, I will follow your guidance.” Long Hao Chen straightened his posture and faced Nalan Shu with a basic knight salute.
Nalan Shu clapped his shoulders and said: “In the future, you will be like Xin’er, so call me Uncle Nalan. Honestly, the knight skills I will pass on to you are, from my honest point of view, rather imperfect; but I believe that in the near future, you will definitely be able to become the biggest glory of our Hao Yue Hall. Come, I will bring you to a nearby location that I have arranged for you to stay at.”
“Thank you, Uncle Nalan.”
Hao Yue Hall occupied an enormous area. It was definitely not limited to what Long Hao Chen could only see: from behind the hall, there was also a big region. Among the three main parts, there was one where knights could rest as well as a public square where they could practice as knights and be passed on knowledge and skills belonging to the Knight Hall.
At the center of Hao Yue City, the scheduled arrival of the group of Knight Squires from the villages and small towns to Hao Yue Hall for their examination would happen in three years. Those who were successful at becoming Standard Knights would be able to remain in Hao Yue Hall to study and practice. If they could break through the third step within five years, they would then turn into genuine members of Hao Yue Hall as well as genuine members of the Knight Hall. If they couldn’t, the alternative for these Standard Knights would be to join the army or take up another kind of occupation in the Knight Temple.
Actually, what Long Hao Chen saw was only the facade of Hao Yue Hall. The real Hao Yue Hall was actually hidden behind this facade; 100 Knights and 2,000 Standard Knights lived there, but according to Nalan Shu’s presentation, besides its outward appearance, Hao Yue Hall actually also had an Earth Knight as well as seven Grand Knights. All those who could advance to the step of Grand Knight would sooner or later leave for the Knight Temple to begin a new journey.
Together with the differences in rank, the living conditions also varied. Standard Knights had to share a room among four people, but each Genuine Knight had his own room.
Nalan Shu arranged Long Hao Chen’s room to be next to Li Xin’s room, and after eating, Nalan Shu told Long Hao Chen to rest for the remainder of the day. The next day, he would come back for practice.
When people reached the third step, no matter from which Temple they came, they would be treated well because they would be the main force against the demon race in battle.
Long Hao Chen’s room was currently inside of a three-story monastery reserved for Genuine Knights. It was a suite. There was a bedroom, a quiet meditation room for practicing, and a private bathroom for personal hygiene. Inside the meditation room, there was a simple Magic Circle surrounded by a few Light-based magic crystals. Since the light-element affinity inside the room was much higher than outside, it had a supplementary effect when practicing inside.
Unaffected by the generosity he received, Long Hao Chen just took out his clothes from the space ring before sorting himself out a bit and went into the meditation room to practice.
Practice made time pass quite faster, a whole afternoon quickly passed. Before night fell, a clear yet calm knocking sound on the door could be heard.
“Who is it?” Long Hao Chen regained consciousness from his quiet practice.
“Lil’ Bro, it’s me.”
Long Hao Chen opened the door and saw Li Xin standing at the entrance. At the moment, she did not wear her light armor but had changed into a white-colored attire, looking as though she had just taken her bath. Her pink colored hair that hung down to her shoulders’ level was still somewhat wet. Her current appearance looked quite less heroic and much more charming.
“Come with me, Uncle Nalan wanted me to take you to test your spiritual energy, but before I take you there, let’s have a good welcome dinner.”
Chapter 30: Saint Spiritual Stove (IV)
“Oh?” Long Hao Chen, who was still immersed in the practice of his internal spiritual energy and studying the knowledge regarding spiritual stoves, gave a simple reply before heading out together with Li Xin.
Li Xin had arranged her long hair, using a blue ribbon to tie it into a ponytail; then she left together with Long Hao Chen, going back to the main hall and heading straight to the third floor.
Nalan Shu was already waiting for them: upon seeing them, he came to Long Hao Chen and said, with a smile, “How was your rest? Were you satisfied with the residence?”
Long Hao Chen first gave Nalan Shu a salute, then replied, “I really liked the residence. Thank you Uncle Nalan.”
Nalan Shu faintly smiled. He was liking this child more and more: he had such a formidable father but didn’t show the slightest bit of arrogance.
“You have already completed the Sacred Awakening, proving that you have the potential to be a knight; however, in order for you to join our Hao Yue Hall, we have to carry out your registration. Therefore, it will be necessary to test your current spiritual energy. Tomorrow, you will have to start studying in the knight class to learn the skills and abilities of a Guardian Knight. If there is anything that you don’t understand, come to me and ask me directly.”
“Yes.” Long Hao Chen replied, moving his wrist and slowly drawing the heavy sword from his back. Because his father did not want him to reveal his abilities of a Retribution Knight, he only carried a single heavy sword on his back, the other one was, naturally, stashed inside the spatial ring.
“Lil’ Bro, you want to become a Guardian Knight?” Li Xin looked puzzled.
Long Hao Chen laughed, “I made this choice after coming back from the last test.”
The tool used for the test this time was the same as the last time, still that black stone pillar.
“Start now.” Nalan Shu nodded at Long Hao Chen.
Long Hao Chen focused his gaze and took one step forward, the heavy sword on his right hand chopping and unleashing a sort of lightning; several layers of golden light obviously surrounded the blade. This was not a skill, but a phenomenon caused by pouring spiritual energy into the blade.
A _Ping_ sound muffled, and a blue glow softly rose from the walls of the examination hall; whether it was Nalan Shu or Li Xin, both nervously stared at the top of the black stone pillar.
“268.” A huge number appeared there.
Nalan Shu and Li Xin both gasped at the same time, completely speechless, and she cried out: “You are only two spiritual energy levels away from being a third rank Genuine Knight. Lil’ Bro, are you really a normal human? A third rank knight who’s not twelve years old yet.”
As a matter of fact, a year and a half ago, when Li Xin met Long Hao Chen for the first time, she also had just reached the level of Genuine Knight. In merely a year and a half, Long Hao Chen had more than doubled his spiritual energy level. Although this growth speed was closely related to the fact that both his inner and outer spiritual energies had been cultivated, it could be still described as terrifying talent.
Long Hao Chen put his sword away and stood motionless; he was not surprised at all by his spiritual energy ranking, but this was obviously not the real spiritual energy he had reached. After fusing the Saint Spiritual Stove, his inner spiritual energy dropped by over fifty levels. Otherwise, his spiritual energy level would be at a level surpassing a fourth rank and almost at the level of a fifth rank Genuine Knight.
“Genius, a real genius.”, Nalan Shu murmured.
Li Xin blinked her big eyes, fiercely looking at Long Hao Chen, and said: “It’s such a pity that you are so young compared to me, otherwise, this Big Sis would definitely have chosen to seize you.”
Looking at her, Long Hao Chen couldn’t help but blush. He could still clearly remembered the scene that occurred more than a year ago, when Li Xin had grabbed his hand, making it grope some highly located place that was soft.
“Let’s go, it’s time to eat.” Li Xin pulled Long Hao Chen’s arm and said some greetings to Nalan Shu before running out.
Getting out of Hao Yue Hall, Li Xin dragged Long Hao Chen to one of the biggest restaurants in the neighborhood and entered.
As soon as they entered, a waiter immediately came to serve them: “Welcome, Miss Xin’er.”
Li Xin nodded and said: “Get us something to eat.”
The waiter looked somewhat surprised upon seeing Li Xin pull Long Hao Chen’s arm, “Both of you, please follow me onto the second floor.”
Li Xin shook her head and said: “No need, the two of us will be fine in the main dining hall. We will be sitting there, close to the window. Bring out the menu, I’m starving to death.”
While talking, she pulled Long Hao Chen before sitting down.
Around this time, the main hall of the restaurant was fairly crowded. Immediately after sitting down with Long Hao Chen, Li Xin ordered food, but she did it in a way that broadened Long Hao Chen’s horizons.
Receiving a menu from the waiter, Li Xin pointed at five or six dishes on it. While Long Hao Chen was still wondering why the waiter did not record her choice of dishes, Li Xin said: “Except for these, bring out everything.”
That was almost a full menu: there were twenty to thirty dishes!
“Big Sister Xin’er, there is really too much. There’s no way we can finish it.” Long Hao Chen made haste to say, having understood more about this new older sister. This easygoing side of hers made him feel very comfortable staying around her.
Li Xin put on a serious face and said: “How can there be no way we can finish? You’re still growing, so you need to eat quite a bit.”
“Come on, what is that? Making people eat more? Clearly it’s just you who are a big eater.” After Li Xin finished ordering food, a somewhat cold, mixed with mockery, voice reached her.
Long Hao Chen turned around and saw two men and a woman, three people who had also just entered the restaurant. When the three of them passed near them, they stopped advancing; more exactly, it was the girl who spoke.
This young girl was wearing a dark blue robe. It seemed as if elemental energy loomed around the robe, making it glow in a light blue color. On the left side of her chest, there was a three-starred emblem surrounded by six golden stripes.
_A magical Robe. Is this a Mage?_ Long Hao Chen only knew about mages through his Father’s teachings, this was the first time he saw one in his life.
Three stars plus six stripes, that was the mark of a third step, sixth rank vocation. So this was a Genuine Mage. The three first steps of the vocation of mage were named Mage’s Assistant, Magical Student, and Genuine Mage.
_Bang_ , Li Xin who violently pounded the table stood up, and angrily said: “Lin Jia Lu, who did’ya describe as a big eater?”
Lin Jia Lu snorted, “Who is the one who eats so much?”
Long Hao Chen, who at first paid principally attention to the magical robe, took another closer look at the mage’s looks.
Lin Jia Lu and Li Xin could be described as rare beauties, yet their styles were completely different. Li Xin, straightforward and full of vigor, was a kind of robust beauty. On the other hand, Lin Jia Lu had a more ladylike, clever look.
White skin, medium build, long light blue colored hair letting loose behind her back, graceful eyebrows, beautiful nose, a pair of perfect, identical blue eyes, and her gentle face; all of those easily made people feel like treasuring her.
However, she was holding a 0,66 meter (2 Chi) long magic black wand made of wood in her hands, on top of which sprouted branches shaped like a small hand, just big enough to hold a fist-sized blue water gem. The magical elemental power that could be felt coming out of the magic wand was much more intense than the one from her robe.
“Are trying to pick a fight or what?” With anger sparking in her eyes, Li Xin stepped in front of Lin Jia Lu.
The two young men who arrived together with Lin Jia Lu rushed two steps forward, one on each side of Lin Jia Lu, looking rather nervous. Both of them were leather-armor-clad warriors, obviously Lin Jia Lu’s bodyguards.
What mages feared the most was being attacked. Despite possessing with magic a formidable destructive power, they were very vulnerable. Therefore, a good mage would always have attendants following to protect them.
“You two ladies, please calm down. Exactly a month ago, you two received punishments from the Head Officer and the Minister.” The warrior on the left nervously reminded.
“Hmph!” Li Xin and Lin Jia Lu reacted almost at the same time, glaring at each other.
Chapter 31: Radiant Shield (I)
Li Xin voice trembled with anger: “Last month? You dare speak about last month? If my father and Uncle Lin had not arrived so quickly, I would have killed you with a single slash.”
Lin Jia Lu sneered: “If my father had not protected you, I would’ve turned you into an ice statue.”
Li Xin disdained: “If you have the skills to beat me, then don’t use any magic equipment.”
Lin Jia Lu contemptuously rebutted: “If you have the skills, don’t summon your unicorn mount.”
Seemingly not able to stifle her anger anymore, Li Xin moved her palm towards her back, drawing out one of her two swords she challenged the other girl, “Let’s go outside. This time I will not summon Rose, let’s see if you can do anything against me.”
Lin Jia Lu then handed her wand to the warrior apprentice next to her, “Well then, I will not use my wand either, I’ll let you see this lady’s casting speed.”
“Young ladies, the Head Officer and the Minister have already warned you that if the two of you were to raise a ruckus again,then both of you will be getting detentions.” Cold sweat broke out the warriors’ face as they stood between the girls who showed forced smiles mixed with frustration, having no choice but to agree.
Upon hearing the word ‘detention’, Li Xin and Lin Jia Lu immediately showed signs of restraint, once again a “Hmph” escaped their lips.
Li Jia Lu sneered: “Consider yourself lucky this time.”
“Lucky? This lady is a seventh ranked knight, unlike someone here who’s only a sixth ranked mage. I’m not sure who’s the lucky one here. Are you looking for a fight? Alright! Lin Jia Lu, would you dare make a bet with me?”
Lin Jia Lu grunted and said: “What bet?”
Li Xin pointed at Long Hao Chen standing behind her, “This is my little brother, he’ll go for me. You also send someone from your side. Since we are not duelling directly, the problem of getting detention does not rise.”
Long Hao Chen had been hidden by Li Xin’s body before, but now that Li Xin had moved aside, Lin Jia Lu could finally see him. Up on seeing the boy, Lin Jia Lu’s eyes sparkled. Long Hao Chen had a beautiful, near-perfect face and a unique pair of rare clear golden eyes, it felt like he had some more imperceptible qualities that were enough to make her dumbstruck.
Looking at Long Hao Chen, then at Li Xin, Lin Jia Lu toned down a bit, asking Li Xin: “Is she a girl crossdressed as a guy like you?”
Long Hao Chen’s face twitched, he dropped his hair and his brows wrinkled: “I’m a boy.”
He thought to himself, _why can’t you people stop being like that?! Why does everyone see me as a girl? Can’t you people not see that I have an Adam’s apple? Can’t you have a little common sense?!_
Li Xin triumphantly said: “So? My little brother is handsome, right? Have you ever seen anyone as handsome as he is?”
Lin Jia Lu, curling her lips, said: “So you have this kind of hobby. You like them younger, eh? However, you are much older than he is. Don’t you have any shame?”
“You…” Li Xin angrily said: “Tell me, do you want to bet or not? Let me tell you the truth: my little brother is also from Hao Yue Hall. He just joined today.”
Lin Jia Lu was somewhat surprised, “Aren’t you making a mistake? You want to send him out? How old is he? Is he even fifteen years old?”
Li Xin said: “Don’t worry about that, just tell me if you want to bet or not. If you don’t dare, quickly go away; don’t ruin your Aunt’s eating mood.”
“Whose Aunt? Let’s bet if it’s what you want. Isn’t he just a little kid? Xu Tiankong, you go.” Lin Jia Lu didn’t know herself why she and Li Xin were always at odds; it was obvious that they could not stand each other’s provocation.
Li Xin said: “Let’s duel outside so as to not affect other people’s business. Also, since it’s a bet, let’s put something at stake.”
Lin Jia Lu said: “What do you want to bet?”
Li Xin who had clearly decided long ago what she wanted to bet, pulled out a white-colored crystal and said: “I’ll bet this magic crystal from the light-element fifth ranked beast Elegant Gold Tiger against the Radiant Shield from your house’s business.”
Lin Jia Lu fretted, “Are you crazy?” She also vaguely felt that something was off. An Elegant Gold Tiger’s magic crystal was fairly rare. Among the fifth-ranked magic crystals, it was one of the best ones. Even though the Radiant Shield was good, its value was not as high as this magic crystal at all. So why was she so confident?
The magic crystal kept bouncing in Li Xin’s hand, she looked at Lin Jia Lu and sneered: “If you are afraid to bet, then get out of my sight and from now on, remember to take another path when you meet me.”
“What is there for me to be afraid of? Fine, Let’s bet.” Lin Jia Lu impulsively agreed.
Long Hao Chen had been standing next to them, without saying anything. He did not know what caused the tension between Li Xin and Lin Jia Lu. But he realized that even though these two were really noisy, they still had managed to keep their cool, and they were not really enemies either. Li Xin had been very nice to him. For the sake of his Big Sister, he could not refuse.
The group then got out of the restaurant together. Li Xin, pulling Long Hao Chen’s arm, whispered: “Lil’ Bro, I’m so sorry for making you do this even though you haven’t eaten yet. However, you have to try your best! Sis did it with good intentions, you must win.”
Long Hao Chen clearly saw there was some slyness in Li Xin’s eyes, so he quickly nodded: “Big Sister, I’ll try my best.”
On the other side, Lin Jia Lu was also cheering her own attendant: “Xu Tiankong… this little kid seems to have some skills, but you have to win. If you win, I’ll give you a good sword. However, remember not to hurt him.”
Xu Tiankong helplessly said: “Miss, can you promise me that after the duel ends, regardless of the outcome, you won’t cause problems with Miss Xin’er anymore? Otherwise, I will have to report it to the Head Officer.”
Lin Jia Lu impatiently replied: “I know.”
In front of the restaurant, there was an empty lot reserved for parking carriages; at this time, there weren’t many carriages so there was just enough space for them to hold the duel.
Long Hao Chen stepped forward with a heavy sword already in his hand. On the other side, Xu Tian Kong also moved forward. Long Hao Chen looked at Lin Jia Lu and said: “Sister Lin, I’ve never faced a mage. I’m looking forward to your guidance.”
“Huh?” Both Li Xin and Lin Jia Lu were stunned.
Li Xin quickly said: “Lil’ Bro, calm down.” She had seen Long Hao Chen fight. She knew that his fighting experience was not bad and his spiritual energy ranking wasn’t low either. Lin Jia Lu’s two guards had, at best, just reached the third step as warriors. If the two had not mastered any sacred skills, it would be difficult for them to win against Long Hao Chen. However, Lin Jia Lu was completely different. She and Li Xin were considered prodigies of Hao Yue City.
Looking at Li Xin, Long Hao Chen said in a serious tone: “Big Sister, my father told me that first hand experiences, in many cases, are more important than training. I want to try dueling a mage. So please guide me well!”
Lin Jia Lu went around the puzzled Xu Tian Kong and suspiciously asked: “Kiddo, you want to duel me? If so, your sister Xin’er will surely lose.”
Long Hao Chen slowly lifted his heavy sword, shook his head, and replied: “One cannot know if one does not try. Big Sister Xin’er, may I?”
Li Xin looked at the calm and decisive posture that seemed to belong to someone much older than Long Hao Chen. She then smiled: “Good, that’s my Lil’ Bro! Show her how strong you are. Lin Jia Lu, don’t cry when you lose.”
“I’m gonna lose?” Lin Jia Lu stared at Li Xin, without taking out her wand, she pointed at Long Hao Chen and said: “Then come.”
“Sister Lin, please.” Long Hao Chen spoke, lightly tapping his heavy sword on his right shoulder, exercising a knight’s salute, pointing his toes downwards; he started charging towards Lin Jia Lu.
Not retreating, Lin Jia Lu quickly and quietly recited her spell,. There was a layer of pale-blue light spreading out from her body. Pointing her right index finger at Long Hao Chen, an [Ice Ball] was shot straight at him, all of this happening in less than a second.
Chapter 32: Radiant Light Shield (II)
Long Haochen slightly lowered his brows and, without trying to dodge, he approached the Ice Ball, intending to meet it head-on.
However, as if it knew what Long Haochen was trying to do, the Ice Ball suddenly sank. With a cracking sound, the attack targeted the ground. A blue halo of light immediately covered an area within a two-thirds of a meter diameter, and Long Haochen’s charge was interrupted simultaneously.
With a chilling sensation on his foot, his steps halted. Long Haochen’s body stumbled as if he had lost his balance.
Lin Jialu’s face revealed a smile filled with self-confidence as she chanted another incantation, and a thin blue light enveloped her. That was the 2nd step mage spell Ice Mantle.
But her smiling face quickly became filled with surprise.
Long Haochen had arrived before her in an instant, and, suddenly, a golden radiance appeared below her with a cracking sound. A layer of the ground was unexpectedly frozen below his foot before being broken by his foot stepping on it, letting his body return to a steady state. He resumed his charge, but his speed, surprisingly, was not dramatically reduced. Instead, it had tremendously increased. His hand began executing a Thorny Charge, as he prepared to pierce the cover of ice with a stab.
A 3rd step Knight!
Regardless of whether it was Lin Jialu or the two retainers, all of them became flabbergasted. To be able to use the Sacred Light element internal spiritual energy was something only a 3rd step knight was capable of. Was that youth, who looked like he was probably not even fifteen yet, unexpectedly already a 3rd step knight?
Puu! Puu! Puu!
A series of sounds of something hitting ice echoed.
Although Lin Jialu was extremely frightened, she did not stop her actions.
Nonetheless, an Ice Ring made of white colored ice appeared all around her body and Long Haochen’s formidable thrust merely pushed her back.
The Ice element spell, Ice Ring was the spell most commonly used by Ice Mages to deal with close combat vocations. Even without using her magic wand, Lin Jialu could still cast the spell swiftly and consistently; that made her well suited to her title as a genius.
Long Haochen, who was just released, became startled. He realized how different a fight against a mage was compared to fighting a warrior.
At that very moment, ten icicles rose at lightning speed by his side, blocking his route from the left as well as the right. The frozen air made Long Haochen feel a chill and he felt as if the speed of his internal spiritual energy had slowed somewhat.
Lin Jialu’s forté was her calm mind. She was almost equal to Li Xin. What she didn’t know was that, although this little fellow was a 3rd step knight, she would not necessarily be a match for a person as gifted by the Heavens as him.
From the point of view of Li Xin, who was standing at the other side, it appeared that while being caged, Long Haochen would definitely be restrained by ice magic, thus reducing his combat ability. And, even before he could escape from the surrounding barrier, Lin Jialu would have probably beaten him.
However, at that moment, Long Haochen had already jumped up.
“This silly kid.” Li Xin could not help but whisper. While dueling a mage like her, why did you jump up while you are still within her range? Isn’t that making yourself a perfect target?
Lin Jialu’s purpose when casting Ice Cage was to make him jump up. It seemed that he really didn’t have any experience in combat against a mage.
Seeing the boy predictably leap into the air, Lin Jialu showed a knowing smile. She started bombarding Long Haochen with Ice Balls aimed straight at him. She was already going easy on him. Had she not used the first rank Ice Ball but the second rank Ice Edge or Ice Cone instead, the attack would have been even more powerful.
However, the next move of Long Haochen surprised the audience once again.
Long Haochen’s body emitted a pale-gold aura, which spiraled upwards. He held the heavy sword with both hands to lift it over his head, setting off a golden aura that added a kind of divine feeling to his already handsome face.
Every single Ice Ball that was flying at Long Haochen disappeared around 33 centimeters away from him. Even the cold air that each of them released was unable to pass through that golden aura.
Lightning Cut, two words instantly popped up in Lin Jialu’s mind. Her smile immediately froze. She then cast another Ice Mantle without hesitation.
Long Haochen dropped down from the sky. Brandishing his heavy sword, the pale-gold aura suddenly became more intense, forming a 33-centimeter-wide light-edged blade around the sword.
Lightning Cut was a 3rd step knight skill practised by both Retribution Knights and Guardian Knights and consumed 50 units of spiritual energy. By withdrawing holy power from the body, one can condense it into a blade to attack enemies. The attacking distance and power are proportional to one’s own level of spiritual energy.
This was the first long-range offensive ability relying on internal spiritual energy that knights could use. Even though it consumed the same amount of spiritual energy as Shining Solar Strike, its power was a lot less comparatively. The reason was that Lightning Cut was a long-range ability that could be used as both an offensive and a defensive measure.
Even so, only Genuine Knights who were 5th ranked or above could use Lightning Cut to its full potential. As a knight ranked up and had more spiritual energy, the power of the skill also increased.
The golden blade of light collided against the icy shield as a snapping sound rang out. The Ice Mantle instantly broke, and, simultaneously, the blade of light emitted by Lightning Cut also disappeared.
Long Haochen’s actions did not stop at that. As soon as he landed on both of his feet, he immediately initiated another charge towards Lin Jialu.
As she realized that her Ice Mantle had managed to block the Lightning Cut, Lin Jialu felt relieved. She thought to herself, Fortunately, this kid’s spiritual energy level isn’t that high. Otherwise, it would have been hard to stop that one attack. I’ve underestimated him!
However, as she blocked the Lightning Cut, another smile appeared on Lin Jialu’s face; she cast Ice Ring once more to stop Long Haochen’s assault.
Since Lightning Cut consumed 50 units of spiritual energy, it was obvious that this kid did not have much internal spiritual energy left, so as long as she could stop another one of his attacks, his loss was confirmed.
The Ice Ring appeared in a blink and Long Haochen’s stance suddenly changed. His right foot stomped strongly on the ground, interrupting his charge and stopping him, as he lifted the heavy sword up in front of him.
Ice Ring split around Long Haochen; however, he was not pushed back this time. A pale gold-colored layer of light now encompassed his entire body.
The heavy sword arrived, gently stopping right above Lin Jialu’s shoulder.
Hiss!
Lin Jialu’s retainers both gasped almost at the same time. Lin Jialu, who was prepared to continue, also froze in space.
Although Long Haochen’s heavy sword did not hit her, she could clearly feel the touch of its divine aura.
“Sister Lin, please give in.” Long Haochen took a few steps back, standing there with his sword withdrawn.
“Impossible… This is simply impossible! Even 4th step vocations would be pushed back when facing against my Ice Ring!” Lin Jialu had a look of disbelief on her face. Looking at Long Haochen, her smile from before had changed into a shocked look filled with incomprehension.
I… Have lost?
Being Haoyue City’s genius female mage and losing to someone so much younger than her, how could she continue to live without feeling ashamed?
Even though she had been lenient to the boy by not using any magical equipment, she had lost even with the strength of a 6th rank 3rd step mage.
It wasn’t only Lin Jialu herself; even Li Xin was puzzled at what had happened. However, because she knew more about Long Haochen than Lin Jialu did, after a brief moment, she had come to an understanding.
Divine Obstruction! As soon as Lin Jialu used Ice Ring for the second time, Long Haochen had used Divine Obstruction!
Chapter 33: Radiant Shield (III)
Compared to what he could do a year and a half ago, it was safe to say that, now Long Hao Chen had acquired a higher degree of technical proficiency in [Divine Obstruction]. In fact, even though [Divine Obstruction] was a powerful skill, perfect timing was crucial when using it. His use of the skill only lasted for a brief moment, therefore, it was necessary for him to predict accurately the opponent’s move to effectively use it.
By using [Divine Obstruction], Long Hao Chen was able to resist [Ice Ring] hence was not knocked back. Lin Jia Lu never expected such a move, ultimately leading to his victory.
If Lin Jia Lu had decided to use her magic equipment, or if she had been more careful from the beginning, Long Hao Chen could hardly be considered as an opponent, considering that he had been depleted of a lot of internal spiritual energy to fuse with the Spiritual Stove. However, Long Hao Chen’s young age confused her, plus he was using the heavenly countering spell, [Divine Obstruction], so Lin Jia Lu met a tragic end.
Li Xin was shocked at how well Long Hao Chen had used [Divine Obstruction], but what she did not know was that it was the result of his extreme daily training with Long Xing Yu. Thanks to the daily two hours of combat exercises, Long Hao Chen could already use intuitively the [Divine Obstruction], and predict perfectly the opponent’s moves based only on his intuition.
Looking at the blank and troubled Lin Jia Lu, Li Xin broke out of her initial shock and laughed: “What are you calling impossible? You know nothing. If you can’t even beat my Lil’ Bro, don’t even think of challenging me. Come on, you lost, so fulfill your end of the deal.”
“Haha, that felt good.” While speaking, Li Xin grabbed Long Hao Chen and gave him a forceful kiss on the cheek.
Long Hao Chen was stupefied; the next moment, his handsome face suddenly flushed with embarrassment.
Li Xin couldn’t help but smile, “Lil’ Bro, you look so cute when you are embarrassed. Though, you look cooler when you are fighting. Let’s get back to eating.”
With Lin Jia Lu’s retreat, Li Xin was in a good mood. Together with Long Hao Chen, they had a scrumptious meal. They ordered a lot of food, but the portion she ate was unexpectedly a lot bigger than Long Hao Chen’s, even though he was still growing. The two of them unexpectedly almost finished everything on the table by themselves.
“Woah~, I’m so full, Lil’ Bro. If we have dinner together every day from now on, Sis will definitely gain weight.”
Long Hao Chen had already recovered from being so suddenly kissed. The warm feeling when her cold, soft lips touched his cheeks only lasted for a little moment, but this feeling was deeply imprinted in his mind. After his parents left, that was the first time he felt the warmth of having a family. _It is so nice to have a Big Sister_.
“Big Sister, what exactly happened that caused such friction between you and Sister Lin?” Long Hao Chen curiously asked.
Li Xin grunted and said: “I get pissed off just at mentioning it. Originally, when we were young, we did not talk to each other much, but we were still good friends. About five years ago, we fell in love with the same guy, someone from the Mage Temple. He was not as handsome as you, but he was still good-looking. He was also talented. At that time, Lin Jia Lu and I were still good friends. When I knew that she also liked him, I was ready to give up on him. However, that guy came up to me, saying that Lin Jia Lu used her family’s power to force him to be with her and that for his future advancement, he had to yield. Since then, I have yet to see that guy again.”
“I then went to ask Lin Jia Lu about it, and we had a quarrel. She said that I was a liar, that I was despicable and all other sorts of things. The more we quarreled, the angrier we became; then we came to blows. Since then, our relationship has become like what you just saw. Who is the despicable one now…”
Long Hao Chen said unconfidently: “It might just have been a misunderstanding. Big Sister, I think you should talk it out with Sister Lin one more time.”
Li Xin said: “Misunderstanding? That guy has disappeared. She must have harmed him. Well, let’s not talk about that anymore,remembering these things of the past will only annoy me more. However, this Lin Jia Lu, although annoying, always keeps her word. Haha, we won big time. The Radiant Light Shield will be a very suitable shield for you to use, even after you’ll reach the fifth step as a knight.”
“Are you giving it to me?” Long Hao Chen seemed a bit surprised.
Li Xin said: “Of course it’s for you! Why else would I make a bet with her? I don’t need her things. Didn’t you want to be a Guardian Knight? What kind of Guardian Knight does not have a shield? There aren’t many decent shields you can get from Hao Yue Hall. However, with this Radiant Light Shield, your defense will be improved by a huge margin.”
Long Hao Chen suddenly felt as if his heart was bursting with warmth. He really did not expect that the fact she made him fight and the bet she made against Lin Jia Lu were to get him a decent shield.
Li Xin sighed, playing with her fingers, somewhat embarrassed: “It is all my dad’s fault. He refused to give me more pocket money. Otherwise, I would directly have bought you new equipment. Why would I have to use this method?”
“Big Sister –” Long Hao Chen let out a soft cry.
Li Xin smiled, “What’s wrong? Why have your eyes become red? Ahhh, you are such a sentimental little boy! Come on, let’s go back. You have to start school tomorrow, and Big Sis still has some advice to give you.”
When they arrived at the entrance of the Knight Hall, there was a middle-aged man who was respectfully waiting for them there with a huge bag in his hand.
“Miss Xin’er, my Lady ordered me to bring this to you.” The middle-aged man gave the bag to Li Xin, then turned away.
Looking at the man leaving, Li Xin laughed: “I can’t imagine how regretful Lin Jia Lu must have felt about this. It looks like she does not have much more pocket money than I do.”
After returning to Hao Yue Hall, Li Xin followed Long Hao Chen directly to his room.
“Lil’ Bro! Look! It is the Radiant Shield.” Li Xin spoke while excitingly opening the bag in her hand, then gave the shield to Long Hao Chen.
It was a circular shield about 0.83 meters (two chis, five cuns) in diameter, a medium-sized shield. The whole shield was dark silver colored, making it look somewhat ancient.
At the center of the shield, there was a round gem about the size of an egg of pigeon. The gem gave off a pale gold color. Using the crystal as the center, a sun was engraved on the shield with patterns fanning out all the way to the edge.
It appeared that the shield was not too heavy. There was, however, a pure light aura emitting from it.
“Quickly try it on.” Li Xin handed the Radiant Light Shield to Long Hao Chen.
Long Hao Chen did not decline. When he recognized someone as one of his loved ones, he would never refuse a present from them; at the same time, he would be willing to give his all for them.
Having received the Radiant Shield, Long Hao Chen realized that, behind the shield, there was not just a simple handle; it was something similar to a gauntlet. He slid his left hand in. The gauntlet seemed to be a bit too big, covering his entire arm. His hand reached all the way inside the gauntlet, just enough to grab a metal handle that was inside the gauntlet. As a result, the shield completely covered his arm. One could say it fit him in general. The shield, and especially that faint light aura that it released, gave a very comfortable feeling to Long Hao Chen.
Li Xin came forward to adjust the gauntlet on his arm. Inside the gauntlet, there were a series of buttons to adjust its size so that it would fit Long Hao Chen’s arm better. After adjusting, it seemed as if Long Hao Chen and his shield were a unified entity when Long Hao Chen waved his arm again.
The Radiant Shield was not that heavy. After gently waving his arm and feeling its weightless nature, Long Hao Chen immediately fell in love with it.
Li Xin said: “The Radiant Shield, by itself, can defend against direct attacks of opponents with a spiritual energy level lower than 300. After pouring inside your internal spiritual energy, it will be enhanced. The light aura coming from the shield can protect you against negative effects from most magic spells, for example, the freezing effect of Lin Jia Lu’s ice magic. It is also very powerful when combined with some of a Guardian Knight’s skills. Look at this gem, it is a Harmony Crystal. With such a crystal, as long as the shield does not take too much damage, it should be able to repair itself. This shield might not be the strongest shield under the fifth rank, but it is definitely the most practical magic shield.”
Chapter 34: Radiant Light Shield (IV)
Long Hao Chen tried to transfer some of his spiritual energy into the shield and at that moment, the sun pattern in the center of the Radiant Shield shone brightly, making the entire exterior of the shield emit a thin gold radiance, but this light aura didn’t consume much of Long Hao Chen’s spiritual energy.
“Big Sister, thank you so much.” said Long Hao Chen from the bottom of his heart.
Li Xin smiled: “What are you thanking me for? You are the one who won this. Okay, I’ll have to tell you about what you will study in our Hall.”
After staying for an hour in Long Hao Chen’s room, she finally left. After her introduction, Long Hao Chen’s knowledge about Hao Yue Hall improved drastically.
Bright morning.
After Long Hao Chen took a simple bath, he ate the breakfast that was brought to him; only Knights were treated with such a preferential treatment, on the other hand, Standard Knights had to go to the dining room. After having his breakfast, he went to the Knight Main Hall on this early morning.
The Knight Main Hall consisted of two floors, it was not too big at all. The first floor was used for the Guardian Knights’ lectures and the second was for the Retribution Knights.
When Long Hao Chen came, the classroom where lessons were supposed to be given to Guardian Knights was absolutely empty. He put down his heavy sword and his Radiant Shield in a corner of the room and calmly waited.
Other knights began to arrive one after another to the classroom, and in a little while the room became completely full. Long Hao Chen counted; there were about 80 knights around him, but there were a lot more Guardian Knights than Retribution Knights.
Long Hao Chen was sitting in the corner, but he still paid attention, just like the others who focused their attention on him. These numerous knights all wore imposing attire and couldn’t help but look at him with a strange eye. It was because he was much younger than them.
“Take a look, who’s this little guy? Wow, that can’t be a Radiant Shield? His family must be quite rich!“
“But one shouldn’t be able to come to our Knight Main Hall just because he has money, can it be that he’s the relative of an instructor?”
“It’s hard to say. I heard yesterday from my little brother who was on duty that our Hell Rose brought a good-looking guy. Probably this little fellow here. Only, how can the Hall Master permit him to take class together with us?”
A large young knight came in front of Long Hao Chen and gently asked: “Little brother, aren’t you at the wrong place? This is the Knight Main Hall, the classroom of the Standard Knights is on the other side.” From these knights’ point of view, Long Hao Chen could be considered a great genius if he was already a Standard Knight at this age.
Long Hao Chen got up hurriedly and politely turned towards his side, performing a knight salute: “Hello, I came to the Knight Main Hall’s class. My name is Long Hao Chen.”
As the knight looked like she still had something to say, a hoarse voice could be heard: “Class will now begin.”
The knights were quite frightened, and as if they feared this hoarse voiced master, they hurried to turn away and get back to their seats.
Long Hao Chen’s gaze turned to the direction of the speaker; there stood a tall and thin middle-aged man with a circular shield on his back. This middle aged man also looked at him.
“Do you have a problem?” The middle aged man calmly asked.
Long Hao Chen quickly shook his head.
The middle aged man continued in a serious and powerful voice: “Then why are you standing there?”
Long Hao Chen was startled by this unexpectedly loud voice and hurried to sit down.
The whole classroom was completely silent; each of the knight looked respectfully at the middle-aged man. The gazes directed toward him seemed to be completely filled with fear.
“Little newcomer, I am Ye Hua, the main Instructor of Hao Yue Hall. I don’t care how much of a genius you are, but as soon as you have arrived here, you have become an ordinary knight. If you cannot reach my expectations, I will chase you back to the Standard Knights’ place. Understood?”
“Yes.” Long Hao Chen stood up once more and performed another authentic knight salute in the direction of the head Instructor.
An ordinary knight? These few words created an uproar among the knights in the room. This youth, who was not even 15 yet, was a Knight? Wasn’t this a mistake?
“Everyone, stand up!” Ye Hua suddenly shouted.
As a reaction to this sharp voice, all the knights rapidly got up.
Ye Hua coldly looked at them, “Do you have so few prospects? What did I teach you? What is the most important thing to become a Guardian Knight?”
“To stay cool-headed in whichever circumstances.” The crowd of knights loudly agreed.
“And what have you accomplished up till now?” Ye Hua’s gaze intimidated these knights.
This time, no one answered.
Ye Hua said: “Put on your heavy equipment and run 50 laps around the training field. Otherwise, you won’t remember this lesson. Right now, hurry up.”
“Yes.” No one dared refute. The Guardian Knights started trotting one by one out of the classroom.
Long Hao Chen was also quite intimidated. He did not expect this Head Instructor to be so hot-blooded.
“Why on Earth are you standing still? Aren’t you a part of their group? Go together with them.” Ye Hua pointed angrily at Long Hao Chen as he shouted.
“Yes.”
The equipment warehouse was in the basement of the Knight Hall. After Long Hao Chen received a set, he couldn’t help but feel like crying. Since he was too young, his body was far from having grown enough. The heavy armor that was intended to protect one’s whole body was heavier than 50 kilograms (100 Jin) and could not be worn because his body was too small. He could only use it to cover his body, wrapping it from above, and he still had to use both his hands to carry the armor from both sides if he did not want it to fall down.
A metallic ringing sound resounded from afar. The training field was circular and 666 meters (200 Zhang) long. In addition to the requirement of having to wear heavy equipment, even for these 200th external spiritual energy level knights, this was not an easy feat.
Ye Hua who stood in the middle of the training ground, looked at him running, “Don’t fall behind. The ones who drop out will have to run fifty more laps. Long Hao Chen, come this way.” He obviously knew his name from Nalan Shu.
“Yes, Instructor.” Long Hao Chen dragged the heavy armor as he ran in front of Ye Hua.
Ye Hua said lightly: “You are a newcomer, so you still don’t know the rule here: I am going to give you a chance and as long as your attacks can push me back, you won’t have to run together with them.”
Hearing these words, the knights who were running in circle clearly hastened their pace, no one dared to look towards Ye Hua. A lot of looks, however, were filled with pity.
“Yes.” Long Hao Chen quickly stripped off the heavy armor on his body; he had his shield on his left hand and his sword on his right hand. He had a first-class practical combat experience, had experimented enough pressuring situations, and could utilize his internal spiritual energy. The key point was that he did not fear losing. At worst, he would just have to run laps.
Ye Hua picked up his shield and, without paying attention to the impressive Radiant Shield that Long Hao Chen was using, he coldly said: “You can attack first.”
“Yes, please give me pointers, Instructor.” The left-handed shield and right-handed sword didn’t seem to suit Long Hao Chen too much. After all, it was the first time he was using a shield and that gave him an awkward sensation. Still, from his point of view, having a shield was better than being empty handed. Long Hao Chen had decided before coming to Hao Yue Hall that he would not rashly fight using dual swords against people. Only when he would be practicing by himself would he use the abilities of Retribution Knights.
Long Xing Yu gave his son a very important practical pointer when training him: he had to be careful never to let the opponent realize his weaknesses.
He rushed with a neat charge; Long Hao Chen’s pace raised and, just like a little leopard, he rushed towards Ye Hua. His speed wasn’t the best, but his steps were quite steady. His pupils locked onto Ye Hua’s body and, using his first class observation skills, he analyzed the Instructor.
Last evening, if we put aside the fact that Lin Jia Lu went easy on him, the most important assets that enabled Long Hao Chen to achieve victory were his excellent judgement and calculation capabilities that were both built with his excellent mental strength.
Chapter 35: Asura Ye (I)
Looking at Long Hao Chen who was facing him, Ye Hua nodded to himself, _This kid’s assault has not only met the standard, but he has also an excellent attack rhythm; he is not going all-out, and this way, his attack power is a little weaker, but there are more patterns in his attacks._
While shifting his body, taking advantage of the power coming from his assault, Long Hao Chen pointed the heavy sword in his hand forward; he then made an ordinary thrust. A silver-white aura seemed to have appeared almost instantly on the heavy sword and at the same time, a [Pure White Edge] was launched.
When the heavy sword was only less than a third of a meter (1 chi) away, Ye Hua moved. His movement was very swift; right hand behind his back, he lift the shield on his left hand to block in front. He did not directly block Long Hao Chen’s heavy sword; instead, he slightly tilted his shield on contact.
_Dang~_ , Long Hao Chen only felt that the sword grazed the shield, there was no direct hit. His sword just slipped past the tilted shield. The [Pure White Edge] grazed the face of Ye Hua’s shield, bringing out a series of sparks. The next moment, he saw a big shield closing on his face.
_Bang_ , Long Hao Chen was knocked flying back seven or eight meters away and he fell terribly on the ground.
During this whole process, he protected his body by using the Radiant Shield just in time before being sent flying away in the next instant.
Before standing up, Long Hao Chen started crawling on the ground, with a completely stupefied face.
Ye Hua wasn’t holding any weapon, he only had a shield, but this shield was enough to end the battle and beat him.
“Trash.” Ye Hua coldly spit out this word.
Long Hao Chen’s gaze was frozen; as soon as he picked up his heavy sword, he saluted once more Ye Hua, “Instructor, please give me your guidance. ” After saluting him, he charged once more.
The knights who were running in circles were all peeping at this exchange of blows, and seeing Long Hao Chen get up after being beaten up like that, they could only look at each other in blank dismay.
“This little fellow is quite capable! It is the first time that I see someone in our Hall who dares challenge Asura Ye twice in a row.”
How could they know how cruel his training with Long Xing Yu was? Falling down once was nothing to him. In addition, it was his Radiant Shield that had absorbed most of the strike’s power. Long Xing Yu had trained him to become more and more courageous every time the boy tasted defeat; he was taught to learn from each defeat and find ways to improve himself.
Long Hao Chen charged once more, his steps briefly adjusting; his speed had clearly lowered, but his steps were even steadier. This time, the skill he used was not [Thorny Charge], but [Lightning Thrust].
With a flash of golden light, the internal spiritual energy from his Sacred Awakening burst out. The difference between [Lightning Thrust] and [Thorny Charge] was that [Thorny Charge] was a simple charge forward, whereas [Lightning Thrust] could easily change directions.
Internal spiritual energy? Third step? The knights who were running in circles were flabbergasted.
There wasn’t any change on Ye Hua’s face. He moved as before, his shield preparing to parry him the same way as before. The heavy sword sent out a crisp sound as it came in contact with the shield but, this time, it was retrieved by Long Hao Chen after having just been in contact for a short moment and his balance hadn’t been lost yet.
However, the shield on Ye Hua’s hand was drawing nearer to Long Hao Chen. It was just like his previous move, a bump.
Lunge and shield block; Long Hao Chen raised his Radiant Shield, firmly blocking in front of him.
_Bang_ , Long Hao Chen’s body was sent flying away once more. This time, he fell much more brutally than the last instance, panting for a few seconds before standing up once more.
“Do you know why I could beat you just now?” asked Ye Hua in a desolate tone.
Long Hao Chen’s brows wrinkled as he answered without hesitation: “Because you have trained much more than me.”
Ye Hua nodded: “Correct. And do you believe that it is unfair that I am relying on my internal spiritual energy to fight you, even if I am not using any skills?”
Long Hao Chen nodded once more after hesitating for a little moment.
Ye Hua snorted, full of disdain: “Fool. On the battlefield, if you meet a foe that is much more powerful than you, will you complain like that? If so, you will only be able to complain in Hell. Facing a much more powerful foe, what you need to do is to surpass your limits to make up for the gap. Defeat the opponent by all means, even unfair ones, in order to defend yourself.”
Long Hao Chen briefly pondered before showing a determined look on his talented face and strongly nodded: “I understand, thank you Instructor.” As he said that, he faced him once more, performing a salute, “Please give me your guidance, Instructor.”
Ye Hua answered in a calm voice: “Do you really understand? Come at me once more. This time, I will be using even more strength to push you down.”
“Please give me your guidance, Instructor.” Long Hao Chen shouted. His gaze was brimming with a stubborn and persistent radiance in contrast with his cute appearance and pretty face.
“Come.” As before, Ye Hua showed a cold expression.
Charge and jump. This time, Long Hao Chen had leapt very high, and his heavy sword which shone brightly moved towards Ye Hua.
“Fool.” Ye Hua gave an angry look to Long Hao Chen. Knowing that the opponent is far stronger yet jumping into air? Wasn’t this the same as seeking for death?
But the anger that filled Ye Hua’s eyes quickly became surprise instead. Because at this moment, Long Hao Chen who had jumped, had unexpectedly arrived above Ye Hua’s head, the heavy sword in his hand targeting Ye Hua’s back. But it looked like Long Hao Chen had already lost his balance.
Still, Ye Hua couldn’t possibly expect his next move because he was looking at Long Hao Chen’s eyes. The eyes of Long Hao Chen who had just failed naturally did have a look that was as inflexible and firm as before.
Making a half turn, Ye Hua’s shield swept in the air.
Right then, Long Hao Chen who looked as if he had lost his balance a while ago suddenly moved. The shallow light that was, till then, emitted by the heavy sword in his hand suddenly vanished. The Radiant Shield was placed in front of his chest, and he made a little curving movement in the sky.
The spiritual energy issued by Ye Hua was enormous; his shield looked as if it had changed color, even though he moved it slowly, he could easily manage to block Long Hao Chen. His whole body had rotated at the same time.
_Puff_ , the heavy sword was pushed into the ground as an imposing light appeared around Long Hao Chen.
[Heavenly Battle Array], a third step knight skill.
Ye Hua didn’t imagine that Long Hao Chen would use such a method at close quarters. His body was strong and flexible enough to forcibly change his stature while still in the air. At the same time, he raised his shield. A spiritual energy of the level of this [Heavenly Battle Array] couldn’t possibly harm Ye Hua, but the impact was on his shield arm, making him unable to adjust his shield’s position. He also let out a huge burst of gold color energy from his body to form a protective aura.
Using the heavy sword buried into the ground, Long Hao Chen completed the [Heavenly Battle Array]. At the same time, he stabilized his body and used the Radiant Shield on his left hand to make a horizontal strike. With a burst of bright golden light coming from the Radiant Shield, the brightest one used since he first attacked, Long Hao Chen struck at Ye Hua’s waist.
_Pa——_
Ye Hua’s right hand that was behind his back all this time finally moved, grabbing the Radiant Shield, but the surprise look in his eye suddenly became that of astonishment.
A dazzling golden light came from his hand. He also released a body-protecting spiritual energy. However, upon the impact with the golden light, he was pushed back half a step momentarily.
Long Hao Chen was also surprised; he had done everything he could. The burst of light coming from Radiant Shield was [Shining Sunlight Strike], a fourth step knight skill. This was also his strongest skill so far. Because the shield’s edge was not sharp, Ye Hua could grab it with a single hand; this showed how big the gap between them was.
Chapter 36: Asura Ye(II)
Ye Hua’s right hand was directed forward; but Long Hao Chen had moved three, four steps back.
“Okay, you won. I underestimated you because of your outward appearance. This was my fatal mistake. Thank you for giving me this lesson.” Saying this, Ye Hua’s right hand formed a fist against his chest as he performed a knight salute, facing Long Hao Chen.
Long Hao Chen made haste to return the salute, “Thank you for your guidance, Instructor.”
The knights who were still running had completely stopped, eyes wide and mouths opened on the side. Even though they did not see how Ye Hua lost, they were still surprised at the scene, especially when they actually saw this Asura Ye salute a student. It was weird, as inconceivable as seeing a cat kissing a mouse.
“What are you doing?! Taking your Father’s words as farts?! Go back to running, fifty more laps!” In the next instant, the Asura Ye as they remembered him deep inside reappeared. His threatening roars frightened the other knights who all made haste to resume their laps.
“You, come with me.” Asura Ye said this sentence in a cold voice before turning back and starting to walk.
Long Hao Chen hurried to follow him, entering in the Knight Main Hall after Ye Hua.
A huge person seemed like he had been waiting there for a long time. Watching them come in, he smiled and asked: “How was it? Just like I said, right?”
“Nalan Hall Master. ” Long Hao Chen said in a somewhat surprised tone.
The huge person present there was Nalan Shu. This time, he appeared like an old fox, showing his beaming face to Long Hao Chen and Asura Ye.
“Fat bastard.” Asura Ye coldly let out a loud _Hmph_.
Nalan Shu laughed and said: “Zombie face, this time we are at Hao Yue Hall, but are going to stay so proud. By the way, I forgot to tell you about his age. Hao Chen, are you twelve yet?”
Long Hao Chen shook his head and answered: “I’ll be twelve years old in four months.”
“What?” As the originally cold Ye Hua heard him, some changes finally appeared on his face, it looked as if his expression revealed shock and fanaticism at the same time.
“Not twelve yet? You are not twelve yet and you can still use [Shining Solar Strike]?” How could he not have noticed the shield skill that Long Hao Chen had previously used.
Nalan Shu proudly answered: “Didn’t I tell you that a peerless genius came to our Hao Yue Hall? Do you understand the word ‘peerless’? Idiot.”
Ye Hua looked as though he didn’t notice Nalan Shu’s taunt at all. His ice-cold face was incredibly serious, as he fixed his gaze at Long Hao Chen: “Since you can use both [Shining Solar Strike] and [Heavenly Battle Array], then all you have studied up to now were Retribution Knight abilities right? Why didn’t you continue practicing as a Retribution Knight, but instead chose to be a Guardian Knight?”
Long Hao Chen replied without hesitation: “I hope to have the ability to protect everything I want to protect. After all, Father told me that the power of a single person was limited. When fighting against the demon race to protect our homeland, a Guardian Knight has a much more important role than a Retribution Knight.”
Ye Hua’s eyes lit up; he smiled, slowly nodding and said: “Good, starting from today, you will follow me alone in learning the Guardian Knight skills. Without my permission, you are not to duel with other knights. Do you understand?”
Long Hao Chen was stunned for a moment, then said: “But if I have not enough real combat experience, will that not affect my training?”
Ye Hua coldly hummed, “Say that after you’ve beaten me. Go to the practicing field and wait there for me.”
“Yes.” Long Hao Chen replied with a somewhat puzzled expression, then after saluting Nalan Shu, he turned around and left.
Looking at him leave, Ye Hua gradually looked fired up, “Fat bastard, where did you find such a treasure?”
Nalan Shu triumphantly said: “Zombie face, did you get served yet? You did not believe me when I told you all of this yesterday, do you believe it now? With this little guy joining us, in the future, our Hao Yue Branch Hall will shine, and maybe its status will be promoted to that of Chief Hall. You will also be able to show those who scorned you how powerful your disciple is.”
Ye Hua simply ignored Nalan Shu’s showing off. He pondered for a moment and said: “Do you know how high the innate internal spiritual energy of this little kid is?”
Nalan Shu nodded and answered: “I don’t know. I tried to ask him, but he wasn’t willing to tell me. However, I tested his spiritual energy and it was at the 268th level. Thus, it looks like this little fellow’s innate internal spiritual energy cannot be lower than 40; it may be even higher. But why are you asking this? Didn’t you hate to deal with those with a high innate internal spiritual energy?”
Ye Hua’s ice-cold face suddenly took a somewhat unusual expression, “If the inborn could be changed, the current me wouldn’t be limited to the level of a mere Earth Knight. If my innate internal spiritual energy was 50, I would inevitably become a Divine Knight. However, the abominable Heavens that decided to give me wisdom and understanding deprived me of inborn capability.”
Nalan Shu’s plump palms patted his shoulder: “Okay okay, don’t blame everyone and everything but yourself. Didn’t the arrival of this child, Hao Chen, give you an occasion to put your talent to use? Even if you can’t aim to sit at that place, your disciple can. Isn’t it the same?”
Ye Hua took a deep breath, excitement appeared on his cold face that gradually became redder, “Thank you fat bastard.”
Nalan Shu laughed: “You’re still calling me this way? Originally, if it wasn’t for you, I would have left these 150 kilograms (300 Jin) of fat meat on the battlefield.”
Ye Hua said in a little voice: “You will have to help me take care of a few matters. First, from today onwards, except for carrying the knight examinations, I want to be independant from the other Alliance obligations, apart from the examinations. Second, block the news; I especially want the news about this child’s age to be tightly hidden. In particular, we cannot let other hall masters or branch halls know. During the Magical Selection and Tournament that is coming in two years, I want to shock and amaze the world with this child’s feat.”
“Okay, no problem. Only, Zombie Face, I don’t want you to be too impatient and eager on your quest for success. Regardless of the circumstances, you cannot harm this child. After all, being excessively enthusiastic will only have the opposite effect.”
Ye Hua said in a thin voice: “This child is stronger than you can imagine. I can see in him my hope, not because of his age and his talent, but because of his perseverance. From the Ten Standards of the Knight, he has at least already grasped courage and perseverance. Plus, he is a kid who never admits defeat, and moreover, he has a different sense of observation and an imagination beyond limits. Although a duration of two years and a half is brief, I believe that he will shock the whole temple as much as he did me.”
Nalan Shu faintly nodded: “I still have the same words, don’t be too impatient and eager. I can not tell you of this kid’s origin but, in the near future, he will be able to become our humanity’s new hope.”
Ye Hua laughed, a smile was finally drawn on his ice-cold face; it was honestly uglier than his crying face, but Nalan Shu could be sure that he was smiling. On his face, a smiling expression that did not appear for almost ten years was finally revealed.
As he was laughing, Ye Hua left, and his voice was resounding one last time in Nalan Shu’s ears, “I treasure this kid even more than you. He is the continuation of my dream.”
Long Hao Chen had no way of knowing that after being freed from the tiger’s den that was his father’s training, he was going to enter in the clutches of a biased devil Asura.
From that day onwards, the head instructor of Knight Temple Hao Yue Hall, known with the nickname of Asura, Ye Hua, finally quitted his position of chief instructor Knight Main Hall, letting Nalan Shu personally take over this job of head instructor. And the short-lived legend of the juvenile genius knight also disappeared, together with him.
(Common Chinese expression, the meaning of the word ‘Father’ is in this context closer to ‘Uncle’)
(Be careful, innate internal spiritual energy is the internal spiritual energy he starts with after his Divine Awakening, and unlike the internal spiritual energy, it is something innate: it cannot be changed throughout all one’s life, and determine his internal spiritual energy’s potential. As long as one’s IISE is higher than 10, he can be considered as talentuous in this regard.)
Chapter 37: Asura Ye (III)
A lot of people conjectured that this young knight was probably the descendant of a big shot, but got bullied by Ye Hua. And this important figure became furious and fired Asura Ye from his position. Either way, it was a joyful thing for the knights that they finally did not have to see that zombie face everyday anymore, nor undergo that hell-like training anymore.
Time passed day by day and even the person Long Hao Chen was the most familiar with, Li Xin, did not see him often. All she knew was that he was receiving Asura Ye’s guidance. Even when they saw each other, Long Hao Chen avoided to disclose the training method used by Asura Ye.
The food served in Hao Yue Hall was pretty good, not to mention that Long Hao Chen himself received special treatment; training improved his physique, he received a sufficient and comfortable nutrition, and as a result, his body grew very quickly. The fact that could surprise anyone was that his face had become even softer and more glamorous.
Two years later.
Hao Yue Branch Hall’s examination ground.
_Dang, Dang, Dang_ , weapons were colliding against each other as a sacred atmosphere completely filled the examination ground that was protected by a magical barrier. Its exterior wouldn’t be affected either.
_Peng —_
A figure could be seen. It was knocked back and continuously flew towards a wall more than twenty meters away before slowly falling down.
The figure that was sent flying away had a height of approximately 1.7 meters. It looked quite robust, but at the same time, very slender. The figure wore a blue-colored attire, had black hair, yellow-colored pupils, bright red-colored lips, its eyebrows looked extremely soft, and it had white delicate skin where the slightest pore could not be found. If this figure were to crossdress, its appearance would absolutely look natural.
“Long Hao Chen, get up! You trash, what did I teach you?! When your opponent is far stronger than you, a direct confrontation is the most unsuitable choice. Don’t tell me that because I just said you were a wimp, you cannot keep going anymore? A Guardian Knight’s most important trait is supposed to be patience! Once more!”
“Yes.”
This youth who was sent flying was, undoubtedly, trained individually by Asura Ye.
The astonishing growth he underwent during these two years was due to training: Asura Ye had no way to compare with Long Hao Chen’s father but, while training under his guidance, Long Hao Chen could faintly feel that this Asura Teacher was different from his father in a lot of ways, especially regarding their field of specialization; regarding understanding and mastery of the skills, he was not as good as his father at all, but he lent priority to practice.
Of course, following Ye Asura’s guidance was not a joyful thing at all. Asura Ye’s temperament regarding training made him worthy of his title. He always looked quite discontent, immediately beating him up nonstop.
Regarding Long Hao Chen’s combat experience, Asura Ye was fully satisfied.
The kind of combat training that Asura Ye gave to Long Hao Chen was different from the one given by Long Xing Yu. Long Xing Yu did not use spiritual energy at all, training his skills by relying only on technique to attack Long Hao Chen.
However, this was not the case with Asura Ye. He seemed as if he was a teacher from hell, going all out at every fight, at best showing little mercy. However, he would still never harm Long Hao Chen’s bones and muscles for real, a typical case of the strong bullying the weak.
In such an oppressive environment, Long Hao Chen’s speed of growth was astonishing. Everyday, he would end up completely worn out before seated meditation training, but his body’s potential was coming out little by little.
Nonetheless, the gap between this master and disciple was really too big: a mere two years couldn’t possibly make up for it despite the following cultivation training that happened daily. Even though Long Hao Chen’s speed of cultivation was gradually becoming faster and faster, the enormous gap between him and Asura Ye was still present.
In fact, Genuine Knights who want to reach the tenth rank are required to cultivate their spiritual energy from the 201th to the 500th level; but for Earth Knights, the requirements extend from the 2000th to the 4000th. The disparity between the two steps is close to being tenfold and this applies to any vocation. The reason for this disparity is that as the step grows higher, the difficulty to grow in ranking increases tremendously.
For example, Long Hao Chen’s father, the Divine Knight Long Xing Yu, had a 9th step vocation’s spiritual energy level of at least 10,000.
“Dang–.”
“Hum? Time is up. ”
Two successive colliding sounds resounded practically at the same time, and the fight on the examination ground finally came to a halt.
The reason of the two successive sounds was simple, it was that Long Hao Chen relied on his Radiant Shield to block Ye Hua’s heavy sword.
A thick golden aura was emitted by both master and disciple; although Ye Hua said that the time was up, Long Hao Chen did not show the slightest bit of negligence. This teacher frequently surprised Long Hao Chen by his acts, such as sneak attacking.
“For you to be able to block this frontal attack, even if you relied on the Radiant Shield, means that your spiritual energy has already made a breakthrough. Rest for an hour, and then we will test your spiritual energy.” As he said these words, Ye Hua’s ice cold face couldn’t help but show a smiling expression. Every time Long Hao Chen was sent flying, he would reveal a smiling face intentionally. Of course, Long Hao Chen never treated his expression as a smile, he just thought that his stiff face’s muscles were simply suddenly twitching, and apart from the fact his face looked even more ferocious, it had also another effect…
“Yes.”
An hour later.
“Bang– –” A dazzling light momentarily brightened the whole examination ground, as if a layer of gold was coating it.
Ye Hua silently nodded: “1,014. Very good, you finally broke through the 1,000s, just like me. I had already stopped my progression at the 5th step 5th rank six years ago. My current spiritual energy level is approximately at the 3,000th level.”
If someone were to see this scene with his own eyes, and knew Long Hao chen’s precise age, he would most likely be so shocked that his jaw would drop.
With each spiritual energy round number level becoming a bottleneck, breaking through the last rank of each step was truly hard. Ye Hua was personally stopped by the bottleneck of the 3,000th level and, for six years, he wasn’t able to pass it! Regardless of his efforts, and his cleverness, he was just unable to breakthrough. However, he clearly remembered that approximately one week ago, he tested Long Hao Chen’s spiritual energy and it was still roughly at the 980th level that time. In other words, within a week, his spiritual energy grew and gained thirty levels despite the fact that he just broke through a bottleneck.
“Hao Chen, these few days, when you practiced, did you feel any sluggish feeling?” Ye Hua asked.
Long Hao Chen shaked his head: “I didn’t. It was as usual.”
“Ah –” Ye Hua, who didn’t expect this answer, let out a kind of nervous cry.
Long Hao Chen stood on the side unperturbed, looking at him; this was clearly not the first time he got to see this kind of expression on his teacher’s face.
After quite a while, Ye Hua’s mind recovered to a somewhat stable state, and he coldly said: “Go back and pack up your things, you will go out with me tomorrow.”
“Yes.” Long Hao Chen put away his Radiant Shield and his heavy sword, respectfully performing a knight salute in front of his teacher before turning around.
As he looked towards Long Hao Chen who was disappearing from the entrance, Ye Hua looked up and loudly bellowed, filled with grief and indignation: “The Heavens have no limit; evil Heavens, you bastards, you are just inhuman! This brat actually did not even feel the bottleneck, what kind of level will these innate gifts make him reach?! In two years, he broke through the 1,014th spiritual energy level from the 268th! Holy shit, didn’t these bastards from the Temple say that below 20 years-old, the spiritual energy growth couldn’t be very fast, and only after 20 years old would it become truly faster?! Bunch of divine cocks, did you see that?! 13 years-old and has a 1000th spiritual energy level, fuck it, a fourth rank Grand Knight! I’m not a fifth of this kind of genius; I, your Father, am not even a Radiant knight!”
Long Hao Chen came back to his room, washed his whole body, and changed into clean clothes. He ate a simple meal and was about to head back to practice before a knocking sound could be heard…
Chapter 38: Asura Ye (IV)
“Sis.”
The one who was coming was Li Xin.
Although they could still occasionally meet each other, the way Li Xin looked at Long Hao Chen’s charming appearance had not changed compared to before. She couldn’t help but blankly stare at him, especially since his body still let out a faint fragrance from the bath he just took.
“I just finished my practice and happened to see you return, so I decided to come over and visit you.” Li Xin showed a beautiful smile as she spoke, caressing Long Hao Chen’s wet hair.
Long Hao Chen had a shy reaction: “Sis, you should come inside, I’ll serve you a cup of water.”
“Don’t be so formal. I just came to see you.” Li Xin held Long Hao Chen’s shoulder in a very natural way as she entered. Although Long Hao Chen had already a height of 1.7 meters, Li Xin was 1.75 meters. Her slender thigh, her slim waist, as well as her round butt could excite to death an unimaginable number of people. Only, no one dared to approach her, the woman known as the Hell Rose.
After she patted Long Hao Chen’s shoulder, she started pinching his arms, and said with an amused smile: “It looks like results are finally showing up. You are becoming more and more tempting. Sometimes, Big Sis really wants to eat you. It would be so great if I had a skin as nice as yours!”
Long Hao Chen spoke helplessly: “Sis, here we go again. Do you think that I feel the same way? My appearance was given to me by my parents, I cannot do anything about it. I just resemble Mother, nothing more.”
Li Xin fell into laughter: “Okay okay, I’m stopping, let’s have a proper talk. After half a year, the Magical Hunt and Selection Competition will take place. I have already broken through the second rank of the step of Grand Knight so, this time, I will work hard to be selected as a participant of the Magical Hunt. I have already told Uncle Nalan to bring you along for your personal experience, to experience this scene. Five years later, you, who are not even 12 years-old yet for the moment, will also be able to advance to the Magical Hunt and Selection. You will already have some first-hand experience at that moment. Only, we still need Asura Ye’s agreement. It is better that you tell him yourself. At worst, Uncle Nalan will just order him to let you go, and he will not be able to do anything about that.”
Long Hao Chen chuckled: “Okay, I will tell him. Sis, I am going out with Teacher Asura tomorrow. I will tell him at that time.” He felt quite helpless because Asura Ye was really too uptight, he would never permit him to show the results of his training to anyone else, including Nalan Shu. Using Nalan Shu’s words, this zombie face could be described as the most troublesome thing possible, with his resolution fixed at amazing the world with Long Hao Chen’s brilliant feat.
Li Xin’s eyes had an astute feeling, “Lil’ Bro, you are not allowed to tell me about your training, but since you are following this Asura Ye, it shouldn’t be lacking. This time, when we from Hao Yue City participate in the Magical Hunt and Selection Competition, there will be several people, like this fucking servant Lin Jia Lu who also intended to go. So you should help your big sis later.”
Long Hao Chen was somewhat speechless: “Sis, you have been babbling for so long, forget about it. From what I can conclude, although the both of you quarrel whenever you meet, in reality you consider each other like a friend.”
“ _Peuh, peuh, peuh_ , who considers this girl like a friend? Alright, I’m leaving, you have to train hard for this half year too.” This girl was the high-paced type.
Looking at her leaving figure, Long Hao Chen felt a very warm feeling: after he left his parents, the only affection he could receive came from this big sister. In his heart, Li Xin had long ago become his dearly loved big sister that he was willing to use his life to protect.
Long Hao Chen was not good at all at expressing his feelings, but deep inside, he was very grateful towards her.
Returning to his quiet room, Long Hao Chen sat cross-legged; he seemed like he was finally going to enter the meditative state. Gifted people weren’t always meant to become successful. Countless geniuses fell down during their period of practice, and even more of them died because of their temperament. Long Hao Chen’s training speed was incredibly fast, but his mental state was as important as his innate gifts.
Going step by step, with a serene mental state, he didn’t have any distracting thoughts during his practice: his state of mind was much better than average people’s.
It looked like a supple wave of spiritual energy rippled around him. A faint shining light could also be faintly seen, spreading out from his body. On his chest, another light shone even more brightly, the pulsation and fluctuation of this light seemed to be matching the pace of his heartbeat.
The pure holy aura released from Long Hao Chen’s body, with his physique of a Scion of Light, absorbed a great part of the essence from Heaven and Earth, and way more easily than average people. The most important thing was that his internal spiritual energy was unceasingly increasing as he trained; Long Hao Chen discovered that the sacred light element internal spiritual energy he had was purer than the other knights’. This was something he discovered as he was practicing using the Guardian Knight skills.
When he used a skill taught by Asura Ye that was supposed to consume 50 units of spiritual energy, it used only 30 units.
This was, however, a secret he didn’t even reveal to him. In his heart, although he was fully aware that Asura Ye deeply care about his well-being and, at the same time, considered him as the person he was the closest with, the place Asura Ye occupied in his heart was nowhere close to the place he held Long Xing Yu. As a result, he never forgot his father’s words that he should never completely expose his talent. In addition, the details were something completely inconceivable from the point of view of ordinary people.
The gold color faintly discernible on his chest was the Saint Spiritual Stove’s undulating energy. This Saint Stove inside of his body floated quietly, and, around it, his internal spiritual energy was rotating, acting like a funnel.
This internal spiritual energy shaped like a thin gold colored mist that was spinning quite slowly, but could be stimulated by meditating: it would increase its rotation speed. Even without stimulation, the time needed to complete a whole cycle was only two hours.
It looked like the cultivation of the internal spiritual energy was extremely slow, but even though this process looked full difficult to comprehend, it could be simply summarized: every time the golden light rotated six times around, Long Hao Chen’s internal spiritual energy increased a little bit.
In other words, even if he didn’t do anything, his internal spiritual energy would still be cultivated a bit everyday. This little quantity of spiritual energy should not be underestimated; a bit every day would become 365 bits in a year. In fact, even if he only spent all of his days sleeping, after three years, he would still promote from a Grand Knight to the realm of an Earth Knight.
This period of countless bouts started a month after he arrived in the city; his internal spiritual energy was constantly being used up and refilled. At the beginning, Long Hao Chen could not sense the rotations at all and could only go all out while fighting, he was full of flaws. What differed back then, compared to the present in which he had broken through the 1000th spiritual energy level, was that he could now control these rotations. Long Hao Chen’s current cultivation speed was completely astonishing.
Long Hao Chen by nature couldn’t spend all of his days sleeping, his diligence combined with Asura Ye’s training were bringing great results together.
Perception, attraction, absorption, assimilation, filtration, condensation, this was the process of the cultivation of Long Hao Chen’s internal spiritual energy; it was very fast, especially when he entered this peculiar state.
Bright morning.
Long Hao Chen arrived in time in front of Asura Ye.
“Time for us to go.” Asura Ye still had his zombie face.
“Teacher, where are we going?”
“To the Knights’ Sacred Mountain.”
“For my mount?”
“Yeah.”
An intense feeling of excitement appeared in Long Hao Chen’s heart. With this bright red fiery feeling, hoping that a mount that was as fast as the Rose Unicorn could belong to him, Long Hao Chen shouted from inside, _I want my own mount too!_.
Chapter 39: Knights’ Sacred Mountain (I)1
That day, Asura Ye was wearing a different outfit than usual. He had put on a suit of silver coloured light armor, covering his whole body. Apart from the shield he used when he trained Long Hao Chen, there was also a heavy sword on his back. His portable luggage was thrown on to Long Hao Chen who placed it into his spatial ring, ‘Forget-Me-Not’.
Long Hao Chen’s attire was very plain compared to his teacher’s. He did not even wear his armor suit, he only had a sword and a shield, the shield being the same Radiant Shield that Li Xin gave him.
“Teacher, aren’t we going to the Knights’ Sacred Mountain?” Long Hao Chen asked with a puzzled look as he came back. It seemed as if he was heading to the rear of Hao Yue Hall.
“Just follow me.” Asura Ye said relaxedly.
His response was like so only because Long Hao Chen was the one who asked. If it was another person, he would just have been discredited while being cursed.
When they entered into the training ground, the knights’ training had not started yet. Most of them were still probably having breakfast in the cafeteria, so it was really quiet inside the training ground.
Asura Ye stopped and like a double edged sword, he thrust his right hand suddenly into the void. Pale gold glows gathered together to form golden patterns that moved in the air.
Long Hao Chen had seen these actions before. Li Xin had used them once, _isn’t this the method to summon a battle mount? Could it be that this teacher also became a Genuine Knight before the age of twenty, and furthermore, visited the Knights’ Holy Mountain?_
Golden light rose and bright golden glows formed a gate that shone with a bright light. Together with a loud scream that could be heard, a figure came out from the golden light.
Seeing this figure clearly, Long Hao Chen could not help but stare at it. He had been training with Ye Hua for two years, but this was the first time he had seen Ye Hua’s battle mount.
It was a big bird with its whole body colored light yellow. It came out from the golden light, its height was over two and a half meters, its yellow feathers were in exotic circular shapes, and its head was also perfectly round. Its body looks very rough and tough, and there seemed to be a faint earth-element yellow layer of light emanating from it.
During his practice with his father, aside from the everyday training, Long Xing Yu also taught him all kinds of knowledge; that naturally included knowledge about magical beasts.
After a brief moment of surprise, Long Hao Chen recognized this was a rare earth-elemental flying magical beast; its name was Vibrant Mountain Bird, a sixth ranked magical beast.
Generally speaking, the majority of flying magical beasts belonged to the wind-elemental system, the rest were in other elemental systems, but earth-elemental system flying magical beasts were the most rare of them all. The Vibrant Mountain Birds’ speed might not be very fast, but whether in terms of loading limit or defense, there was no flying magical beasts of the same rank that could match them.
“Teacher, so you are an Airborne Knight.” Long Hao Chen said with admiration.
Among fifth stepped knights, only one who had a flying battle mount could call himself ‘an Airborne Knight’, otherwise he could only be called an Earth Knight. Without a doubt, within the same rank, Airborne Knights were naturally the stronger ones.
As Asura Ye revealed rare gentle eyes, the Vibrant Mountain Bird lowered its head, letting him pet it a little before expanding its huge wings wide, five meters across, and slightly crouching down.
Asura Ye pulled Long Hao Chen, slightly jumped up and landed on top of the Vibrant Mountain Bird’s back. Before Long Hao Chen could react, fierce wind rose up, the Vibrant Mountain Bird did a short head start, strongly flapped its two wings, then took flight into the sky.
This was the first time Long Hao Chen traveled on a flying magical beast; feeling a little nervous, he grabbed the Vibrant Mountain Bird’s feathers subconsciously.
The scenery below quickly became smaller, and soon, the Vibrant Mountain Bird was already high into the air.
A layer of yellow-colored earth essence was released from this Vibrant Mountain Bird’s body, it wrapped Long Hao Chen and Ye Hua, making sure that they wouldn’t be blown away by the wind. Its pair of wings was still flapping, advancing towards the horizon.
Long Hao Chen knew that magical beasts mounts were spiritually connected with their master, so this Vibrant Mountain Bird naturally knew where they were headed.
_So fast_ , Hao Yue Town was gradually becoming smaller under them as the Vibrant Mountain Bird rose in the sky until reaching an altitude close to a kilometer, the height for flying. Being seated on its wide back gave one an unexpectedly smooth feeling.
After all, Long Hao Chen wasn’t fourteen years old yet, it was the first time he got to see such a fantastic scene. This Vibrant Mountain Bird was clearly a fully grown magical beast, the feeling when flying on its back was truly wonderful! _When we will arrive in the Knights’ Sacred Mountain, it would be awesome if I could get this magical beast!_
Ye Hua reacted: “So envious?”
Long Hao Chen nodded without the least restrain.
Ye Hua told: “You will also have the opportunity. I am gonna to tell you about the places at the Knights’ Sacred Mountain where you can look for a magical beast companion, you have to remember what I’ll say.”
“Yes.”
Ye Hua continued: “The Knights’ Sacred Mountain is the magical land our Knight Temple was established on. This mountain range is a cornerstone that several generations established after great efforts. More precisely, the Knights’ Sacred Mountain is, in itself, a huge magical array. Inside of its range, all the magical beasts become friendly with humans, while their power is restricted.”
“In the Knights’ Sacred Mountain, the oldest magical beasts can even communicate mentally. Each human who enters the mountain has to be below 20 years old, his spiritual energy must have reached the 200th level, he must have undergone the Sacred Awakening, and he must also have the approval of the Knight Temple to get close enough to these magical beasts.”
“You have to keep in mind that, there, what you will be looking for is a companion for life, not simply a mount. He will be your most loyal friend and, unless you die, he will accompany you for your whole life. He will even be more reliable than the future companions you will have.
When looking for a mount in the Knights’ Sacred Mountain, there is a big factor of luck. By chance, you will perhaps find your suitable mount after your first step. But if you don’t have this chance, I am afraid that even if you wait for ten years or a hundred years, there will be no magical beasts that will pay attention to you. Thus, entering the Knights’ Sacred Mountain, in some kind of meaning, is a process consisting to seek chance.”
Hearing up to this part, Long Hao Chen asked: “Teacher, how can I seek this chance?”
Ye Hua let out a sigh, gently caressing the feathers on the back of his companion, “Everyone has a different fate. At that time, when I met my Vibrant Mountain Bird, it wasn’t a third of a meter high yet, and yet the first time I saw it, my heart had an intense feeling of intimacy with it.
“The vast majority of the magical beasts in the Knights’ Sacred Mountain won’t attack humans, but there are some with a violent temperament that will warn you as soon as you step into their territory. If you meet this kind of magical beast, the tile provided by the Temple will inform you to some extent. Don’t rashly enter in the range of its territory. If both of you are brought together by fate, it will naturally come to you. These kinds of magical beasts are often comparatively powerful existences in the Sacred Mountain Knight.”
Long Hao Chen kept in mind Ye Hua’s pointers: he wouldn’t dare be the slightest bit careless. _A companion, Teacher is right, in the future I will have my own mount and companion. But what kind of mount will it be?_
“Teacher, will the kind of mount that I am destined to tame be related to my innate potential?” Long Hao Chen curiously asked.
Ye Hua nodded and answered: “Of course it will be related. Simply said, to a mount, acknowledging you is kind of like acknowledging your innate potential. The more formidable the magical beast, the more exigent it will be regarding its companion’s abilities. About this matter, my luck was very good at that time.”
Chapter 40: Knights’ Sacred Mountain (II)
While he was speaking, Ye Hua’s look became very gentle.
“Hao Chen, do you know how high my innate internal spiritual energy is?” Ye Hua asked. At this instant, his voice sounded as cold as ice.
Long Hao Chen shook his head.
Ye Hua said: “My innate internal spiritual energy is only nine.”
“Ah?” Only nine? Long Hao Chen clearly remembered his father’s words: if one’s innate internal spiritual energy could not even reach ten, it would be very hard for him to break through the third step to enter the fourth step.
Ye Hua said this with a smile, but this smile looked even uglier than a crying face.
“Yeah, only nine. At the time the evil Heavens gave me a smart brain, they also gave me a poor innate potential. Even if I wracked my brain completely, thought of countless training methods, in the end, I will never bypass the rank of Airborne Knight. In the end, I am afraid that I will never reach the stage of Radiant Knight in my life.
On the year of my fifteenth birthday, I completed the cultivation of my external spiritual energy and became a Knight. The me of that time was very ambitious, acclaimed by everyone around as a genius. However, on the day of my Sacred Awakening, to me, it was as if thunder fell from the clear sky: innate internal spiritual energy, nine. The worst trash possible. The teachers who had valued me weren’t willing to teach me anything anymore. They didn’t even let me know where the Knights’ Sacred Mountain was located. The 15-year-old me wasn’t willing to believe that at all! It was impossible… impossible that a low innate internal spiritual energy could prevent me to become a formidable knight. I was really not willing to believe that at all! I was convinced that, as long as I could rely on hard word, I would be able to break through and overcome this restriction from Heaven.
As a result, I relied on my own two legs to go to the Knights’ Temple to request permission. And then, I relied on my own two legs to go to the Knights’ Sacred Mountain, before finally arriving. Every Knight below 20 years old who entered could only remain for a month after entering, and if he didn’t find his opportunity within a month, he would be forced to leave the mountain by the Temple’s authorities.
I was looking for the opportunity day after day, persistently looking for it day after day. Every time I met a magical beast, even if it was a second or a third ranked small and weak one, I was willing to interact with it, but even these small and weak fellows didn’t accept me.
Time passed day after day. Finally, as a month had passed, it looked like I was going to be ordered to leave. I was really unwilling, really really unwilling! As I looked up high in the sky, I was so frustrated that my bitter tears flowed. I knew that if I was forced out of the mountain like that, I could only remain as a trash. Losing the little thread of hope to become a formidable knight that I had, I would not have any more opportunity.
However, at this moment, I met him. He heard my cries and before I noticed him, he had appeared on my shoulder. It was as if he could read and understand the pain in my heart. Since then, he became my only close relative, my best partner. I am willing to protect him with my life, because he is like a little brother to me. ”
At this point, from the ice-cold Ye Hua, a drop of tear flowed as the Vibrant Mountain Bird slowly turned its head, looking at it with a gently look, as if trying to comfort it.
Ye Hua calmly patted his back, “Don’t worry, old partner, I’m okay.”
“Long Hao Chen, I am an orphan. In this world, I have never experienced what familial love felt like. In the past, I would never imagine that I would one day feel such an unreal thing. That was until I met him, this little brother. And then, I realized that fate really existed. This affection that he let me feel, unceasingly encouraging me to try all kinds of training methods. And then, after twenty years, from trash, I managed, little by little, to break through the realm of an Airborne Knight. I suffered countless bottlenecks. I am afraid that a little genius like you will never be able to understand it, this feeling. ”
“After having said so much, there is one last thing Teacher wants to tell you. It is that, after you possess your own companion, you have to treat him well, consider him as a member of your family. This kind of opportunity is something that will appear only once during your whole life: you have to grab it. Protect him well; otherwise, when you lose him, you will regret it for your whole life.”
Hearing such an emotional speech from Ye Hua, Long Hao Chen unconsciously tightened his fists. He was full of respect for both this teacher and this Vibrant Mountain Bird under him.
The personal efforts he made were not few, but how could they compare to his teacher’s? If he had the same innate talent as his teacher, would he be able to, like him, spend a few dozens of years as if it was a single day, to try to complete an impossible goal, and struggle so much for it?
“Teacher, don’t worry, I understand. I will put my life at stake to protect my companion.”
Ye Hua slowly nodded, “This fat bastard, Nalan, doesn’t want me to ask you, but, Hao Chen, I really want to know how high your innate internal spiritual energy is. This is for the sake of looking for your suitable mount. The most formidable magical beasts are also the most proud ones. I have not been able to estimate your innate talent up to now. During this trip, you will perhaps be able to show Teacher a really nice surprise.”
“Teacher, I… ” Long Hao Chen looked at Ye Hua somewhat hesitantly. Long Xing Yu clearly told him that his innate internal spiritual energy was something extremely important to keep secret. Moreover, this teacher before him, who was known by others as Asura, couldn’t compare with him at all in terms of innate internal spiritual energy. However, did he really have to conceal it to such stubborn teacher?
Ye Hua waved his hands, letting out a light sigh: “Let it be. It is your private matters, and even the fat bastard, Nalan, doesn’t know. No need to reveal it, I don’t want to seem irritating to you.”
“Teacher, I want to let you know.” Long Hao Chen blurted out these few words. He had never been moved as deeply as just now, with Ye Hua’s lonely eyes revealing the pain engraved deeply in his heart.
“Mh?” Ye Hua’s eyes shone, looking at him with a burning gaze.
Long Hao Chen took a deep breath and said: “Teacher, since two years ago, you devotedly taught me all kind of things regarding Guardian Knight knowledge and skills. You were very strict, forcing me into a life full of beating and scolding, but deep inside, I knew that you did all of that for my own good. When I followed Father to train, his guidance was completely different to yours. Without you, I wouldn’t have grown so much. I heard Nalan Hall Master say that I was your sole disciple. You did not hold back any of the knowledge you acquired in your many years when teaching me. How could Hao Chen be unable to recognize your good intentions? In Hao Chen’s heart, you are a father as well as a master. To others, my secret will forever remain secret, but to you, I am willing to reveal it, as you are like a father to me.”
Looking at Long Hao Chen, the muscles on Ye Hua’s face started to relax as he hurriedly shook his head: he didn’t want to let him see the sparkling tears that began to flow from his eyes. He didn’t expect at all that, on such an ordinary day, such a clever kid, usually silent but never refusing whichever hard training, his innately gifted disciple with the appearance of beautiful kitty, would speak out these words. Behind such a delicate outward appearance, he apparently had a very large heart.
Such fantastic words came out from Long Hao Chen’s mouth, before a pure gold colored radiance enveloped Long Hao Chen and Ye Hua inside of it.
[Divine Light Mantle], a third step defensive skill used by Guardian Knights isolating him while producing a sound effect. A defensive skill acting like a monomer . With Long Hao Chen’s current spiritual energy, he could barely use [Divine Light Mantle] to fully envelop him and his teacher inside.
Chapter 41: Knights’ Sacred Mountain (III)
“Hm?” _Such caution?_ Ye Hua gave a puzzled look to Long Hao Chen. Long Hao Chen’s voice rang out at this moment.
“Teacher, my innate internal spiritual energy level is 97.”
“Mh.” Ye Hua let out a little reaction; he was still thinking about Long Hao Chen’s words, describing him as a teacher as well as a father. His heart felt warm and his joy could not even be described anymore. He lived his whole life as an unmarried man. Having such a sensible treasure as a disciple, it was natural that he regarded him like his son.
“97. Eh? Wha’did’ya’say?” Ye Hua’s look suddenly became overly fierce, the tears that were flowing from his eyes completely disappeared. His tone had completely changed, he could only yell.
Long Hao Chen’s face showed a faint smile: “That’s why I was reluctant to tell you. I knew you would show this kind of reaction.”
Ye Hua’s body was clearly somewhat drawn out, forcefully gulping a mouthful of saliva as he suddenly waved his hands, creating a much more imposing [Divine Light Mantle] that spread out from his body, covering both master and disciple inside with one more layer.
“You, you said, your innate internal spiritual energy is 97?” Ye Hua’s eyes were wide opened.
Long Hao Chen nodded.
“No, that’s impossible.” Ye Hua said resolutely, “When you just came to our branch Hall, Nalan Shu, that fat bastard, told me that your internal spiritual energy was only at the 268th level. When you underwent the Sacred Awakening, you should have had a 200th level external spiritual energy, so even if your innate gift is so formidable, your innate internal spiritual energy shouldn’t be higher than 68.”
Long Hao Chen scratched his head: “At that time, my internal spiritual energy was much greater than 100. Only, I had fused with a spiritual stove, so my internal spiritual energy was temporarily depleted. Had you not noticed that during the first month we trained together, my internal spiritual energy was cultivated at a phenomenal speed? It was the restoration of the spiritual energy depleted from fusing with the spiritual stove.”
“Spiritual stove… you, you even have a spiritual stove…” Ye Hua almost plucked the feathers of his Vibrant Mountain Bird out of surprise as he frantically looked at Long Hao Chen.
“Stinky little kid, do you know what I really want to do right now?” Ye Hua’s eyes revealed an ominous glint.
Long Hao Chen gave him a surprised look, “Teacher, what do you want to do?”
Ye Hua’s cheeks were streaming with tears, “I really want to kick you down. Fucking shit, why did you have to tell me?! You have just injured me mentally, why did I have to ask?! A disgrace, this is simply a disgrace!”
After a full hour, Ye Hua’s emotional state was finally stabilized. But every time he turned around to look at Long Hao Chen’s gentle jade like face he could almost see a nine written on his left cheek, and a seven written on his right cheek, with a spiritual stove drawn on his nose…
After another full hour, as Ye Hua’s mind could finally be considered as stable, Long Hao Chen requested: “Teacher, I’ll depend on your help to find a magical beast that is suitable to become my companion.”
Ye Hua glanced at him, “Naturally, the higher is the cultivation level, the better it is, but with your potential, even the 7th or 8th stepped magical beasts can only be ashamed at their inferiority upon looking at you, there is no way they will be self-confident enough to become your companion. At best, we could find a ninth stepped young magical beast. Right, what kind of spiritual stove did you get?” As he asked, he took out a water gourd to drink a mouthful.
“Saint Spiritual Stove.”
“Puff–” The mouthful of water that Ye Hua just drank splashed out. “You, you, are you even human?! Please don’t be so cruel to me!” Ye Hua’s face was full of grief and indignation.
Long Hao Chen distractedly asked: “Teacher, are you alright? The Saint Spiritual Stove should be a spiritual stove that is suitable for us knights to fuse with, ranked at the bottom of the ranking, right?”
Ye Hua took a deep breath, “I am going to tell you this once more, this uncle’s heart has just been violated! You don’t understand at all, dammit! That’s right, Saint Spiritual Stoves are at the bottom of the ranking, but did you know that among the three Grand Divine Knights, two of them are old Guardian Knights, and they both possess a Saint Spiritual Stove?”
“I didn’t know.” Long Hao Chen gave a sincere answer.
Ye Hua angrily said: “A Saint Spiritual Stove can be described as the most optimal spiritual stove in collaborative battles. A knight who has fused with a Saint Spiritual Stove will be able to take care of all of his teammates at the same time, and increase their security by at least 30%. Fortunately, you told me all of this; after we come back from the Knights’ Sacred Mountain, I will properly teach you how to use this Saint Spiritual Stove.”
The Vibrant Mountain Bird continued to fly towards the south: even if its flying speed was slow compared to most magical beasts of the sixth step, it was still a lot faster than travelling on the ground.
The Knights’ Sacred Mountain was located in the northeast of the Temple Alliance; it was bordering the Knight Temple. From Hao Yue City, it was very distant; more precisely, Hao Yue City was in the southern part of the Temple Alliance. It thus required travelling across almost all the Temple Alliance’s region before reaching it.
The positions of all of the Six Great Temples were at the borders of the Temple Alliance, completely surrounding it and protecting its territory. The headquarters of the Knight Temple was actually at its center, and the six Temples were approximately at equal distance to the center of the territory. Because of the apprehension and the protection brought by these Six Great Temples, for so many years, the demon race was unable to proceed with their invasion of the human lands.
Among the Six Great Temples, the Knight Temple was the most formidable, the Warrior Temple had the most people, and the Mage Temple was the richest.
The strength of the Knight Temple and the Warrior Temple was known in almost each village. The influence of the Mage Temple also extended to most towns, from little ones to big ones.
The Assassin Temple, the Priest Temple, and the Spiritual Temple, because of their lesser number of members, only had branch halls in big cities: even in a medium sized city like Hao Yue City, there was only a Priest Temple, and the most mysterious ones, the Assassin Temple and Spiritual Temple, never set up a branch hall there.
However, this didn’t mean that these three Great Temples, with fewer people, were not powerful. Their capability was something the Temple Alliance could not do without.
The Vibrant Mountain Bird kept flying unyieldingly: he only needed to go back to the ground to rest once. Long Hao Chen had already told his biggest secret to his teacher, and every day, as they were flying on the back of the Vibrant Mountain Bird, he cultivated his inner spiritual energy. Ye Hua could clearly feel Long Hao Chen’s spiritual energy rising.
15 days later.
“We have finally arrived, old partner, let’s go down.” Ye Hua said with a happy voice.
Long Hao Chen, gazing from afar, was startled as he discovered that far away them, a drizzling gold-colored brilliance shone, but because of the hazy fog before them, this brilliance could not be clearly seen at all.
This faint golden envelop had an extremely wide range, and inside, it seemed that a mountain peak could faintly be seen.
The Vibrant Mountain Bird landed on the ground, his wings intensely flapping before resting on the weeds below.
Long Hao Chen jumped to the ground together with his teacher. This 15-day journey was not tiring at all for him; he was cultivating everyday, and during this trip, his spiritual energy increased by approximately 50 levels.
“Old partner, go back first.”
The Vibrant Mountain Bird lowered its head, it seemed reluctant to part with Ye Hua, and as it was rubbing against him, Ye Hua canceled his summoning to send it back.
“Teacher, does the Knights’ Sacred Mountain have a protective barrier? Why do we have to walk more than fifty kilometers, instead of directly entering from the sky?” Long Hao Chen asked.
Ye Hua answered: “There is no protective barrier, but you have to keep in mind that, in the Knights’ Sacred Mountain, there are countless magical beasts. These magical beasts won’t take the initiative to attack people, but a foreign magical beast flying above them can be interpreted as a taunt. Only if your mount possesses the strength to deal with all of the magical beasts here, can you enter from the sky; otherwise, don’t even try. Let’s go.”
Both master and disciple advanced, facing the Knights’ Sacred Mountain, when suddenly, a gale of wind blew as an enormous silhouette descended from the sky.
Chapter 42: Knights’ Sacred Mountain (IV)
Long Hao Chen moved his arm and took his Radiant Shield out; he was taught that all knights were required to stay on constant alert.
This enormous silhouette was slowly nearing the ground, currently at a distance of 3.3 meters (10 zhang). This incredible figure was a flying magical beast.
However, this flying magical beast was even more imposing than Ye Hua’s Vibrant Mountain Bird. With its appearance of a divine enchanting horse; its height of roughly six meters, and its whole body emitting a faint golden light, it was a dragon-headed beast with a body of bird. Its head as well as its tail was covered with long feathers with five different colors. After landing on the ground, it slowly folded its wings and raised its head; what a beautiful creature!
Seventh step magical beast, Dragon Eagle. Long Hao Chen instantly recognized the specie of the beast.
A Dragon Eagle is a light attribute flying beast. To knights, light attribute mounts are the most valuable ones, because they are able to substantially increase their fighting capability.
Two people jumped down from the back of this Dragon Eagle, a middle-aged man accompanied by a young boy. They just got down from its back, so they didn’t see Long Hao Chen yet.
“Oh! Look who it is. It turns out that it is Elder Brother Ye Hua, long time no see!” Looking at Ye Hua, they were a little surprised at first, but quickly wore smiles on their faces as they approached.
Ye Hua looked as cold as before and he did not even bother to welcome them.
This middle-aged man wore golden armor, clearly letting out a holy aura. He didn’t have any weapon, nor a helmet, and his long golden hair was spread out behind.
He seemed a little younger than Ye Hua, his face looked a little feminine, specially his pair of sensual eyes, giving off a vague impression of someone who thinks he is hot stuff.
The youth beside this middle-aged man resembled Long Hao Chen a lot: he looked approximately 17-18 years old from his appearance, and his body was quite tall. His face was clearly showing some arrogance.
The middle-aged man approached, asking with a smile: “What’s wrong? Doesn’t elder brother Ye Hua recognize me? Even though it was only six or seven years since the last time we met? Still, we grew up together. I just saw this Vibrant Mountain Bird from afar and although it is only a sixth step magical beast, its species is quite rare so I deduced that it was most likely yours.”
Ye Hua coldly talked back to him: “Gui Ying, you are still as arrogant as before.”
The expression on the face of this middle aged man changed, and the youth beside him could not help but blurt out in an angry voice: “What did you just say?!”
“Shut up!” The middle-aged man faintly smiled; his face’s expression was already back to normal, “Ye Hua, Teacher really misses you, you know? It has been a while since you left our Xiu City, but you haven’t even come back once to visit Teacher. Teacher for one day, father for life, have you forgotten that!? ”
Ye Hua’s complexion became colder than ever before, “I don’t need you to teach me that. We will leave.” While speaking, without paying the slightest attention to Gui Ying, he grabbed Long Hao Chen’s hand and they left together in the direction of the Knights’ Sacred Mountain.
Looking at their leaving figure, the youth couldn’t help but ask Gui Ying: “Dad, who is he? How can he be so insolent?”
Gui Ying unenthusiastically answered him: “He is nothing more than a trash. This time, it looks like he came with this youth to the Knights’ Sacred Mountain to help him in getting his mount. After entering the Mountain, if you have the chance, you have to cause trouble for him.”
The young guy excitedly nodded, “I will make him understand what power is. Let’s see what kind of magical beast will be willing to get close to him after I break one of his legs.”
Gui Ying narrowed his eyes, they looked as if they were intensely shining as his memories from a few dozens of years before flashed little by little before his eyes.
……
“Big Bro Ye Hua, you’re gonna turn into a Knight soon. How are you cultivating your spiritual energy so quickly? Do you have any kind of secret? Is it okay to teach it to me?”
“You have to rely on your own efforts and practice diligently, there isn’t any shortcut.”
“Hmph, I’m sure Teacher favored you and taught you a special training method. Otherwise, how could you turn into a Knight while you are only three years older than me?”
_Pow–_
“You dare hit me? You dare hit me… ”
“What if I hit you? If you dare tell it to Teacher, I’ll just break all the limbs in your body, and the Hall Master of Xiu City will lose his interest in you. Get lost, I never want to see you again.”
That year, he was twelve years old, while Ye Hua was fifteen years old.
……
“Gui Wu, if you have the occasion, go ahead and break all the limbs of this little boy.” With a cold sneer, Gui Ying took big steps forward.
An air of arrogance appeared on Gui Wu’s blank face, “To break all his limbs! Isn’t that too ruthless? Never mind, I like this idea.” A fierce expression was drawn into his face.
Ye Hua silently stepped forward, his face was as cold as before, and Long Hao Chen, who was so familiar with him, could feel that his state of mind was currently quite unstable.
“Teacher, is this person an enemy of yours?” Long Hao Chen asked in a calm voice.
Ye Hua gave him a quick glance, “We were formerly from the same place; Xiu City, a city adjacent to the headquarters of the Temple Alliance, the biggest city of the Alliance. My teacher was a Temple Knight. He possessed a Silver Foundation Warrior Armor. I joined the Xiu Chen Chief Hall at 13 years old and broke through the third step at 15 years-old. I was acclaimed as the best genius of the 100 last years in Xiu City. I was Teacher’s direct disciple. But after taking a step into Heaven, I took a step into Hell. When we discovered that my internal spiritual energy was nine, from a genius, I became a useless individual in their eyes. I trained with great efforts for two more years in Xiu City, but the cultivation of my internal spiritual energy was incomparably slow. As a result, Teacher drove me away from Xiu City Main Hall, and the among the few people responsible for driving me out, Gui Ying was included. The one who ridiculed me the most, calling me a useless trash nonstop, was him.”
After he finished speaking, Ye Hua became completely silent. It almost seemed as if all he said was completely unrelated to him. And the pace of his steps suddenly sped up. He was relying on his spiritual energy to speed up, as if an arrow was shot at him from behind.
Long Hao Chen couldn’t refrain from clenching his fists as he pledged that the disgrace of his teacher, would be cleansed. Although Ye Hua explained his situation casually, he could imagine that his teacher of those days had surely suffered a lot from this situation too, and that Gui Ying was the first person who provoked this situation of his.
Turning his head to peek a glance at Gui Ying and his son, a third of a kilometer away, Long Hao Chen’s golden colored eyes shone brightly from afar.
A distance of fifty kilometers was nothing at all for them, and after an hour, Long Hao Chen and Ye Hua were already near the Knights’ Sacred Mountain.
As they approached the Knights’ Sacred Mountain, the light-element aura became even stronger. A haze filled with light element aura was being emitted from behind. The mountain peak was faintly visible, towering in the sky. Clearly, the Knights’ Sacred Mountain was not a single mountain, but a mountain range. The haze scattered as they approached it, so the sight was not as unclear as one may think.
Slowly walking across this haze that faintly shone, Long Hao Chen discovered, to his surprise, that this haze was imbued with a very pure light attribute, and after entering the haze, the light attribute was at least five times superior compared to outside, and did not contain any impurity.
“Feel it. The light element attribute here is a lot stronger than outside. The Knights’ Sacred Mountain is actually, in itself, an enormous magical array that extends throughout an entire mountain range. This light essence is also issued out by the magical array, and if knights like us cultivate here, it will be, as a result, twice more effective, but obviously, this is impossible because as long as these light essences exists here, the violent nature of these magical beasts will be suppressed. Thus, no knight is allowed to stay in the Knights’ Sacred Mountain to cultivate. None of the elders that guard it would allow it. Otherwise, the balance of the light attribute magical array would be destroyed and it would likely result in the rebellion of the magical beasts that reside here. Upon entering the mountain, the self-rotations of one’s internal spiritual energy will not matter anymore, and obviously, you will be forbidden from meditating to increase your cultivation speed.”
(Gui Ying means ‘sly shadow’)
(Xiu City literally means Cultivation City.)
(Gui Wu means sly military)
Chapter 43: Starlight Unicorn (I)
After listening to Ye Hua’s advice, Long Hao Chen felt a little regretful. However, when he entered the area, he clearly felt in his body that the rotation speed of his internal spiritual energy around his spiritual stove accelerated significantly. Even without meditating to accelerate his cultivation speed, the rotation of his spiritual energy would not be much slower.
“Your name?” asked a deep, hoarse voice.
Long Hao Chen was startled; with the increase of his cultivation speed, his mental capacity also became all more formidable here. At this moment, he did not know that the fact using skills depleted less of his spiritual energy was not only because of his physique as a Scion of Light, but also because of his excellent mental capacity. Despite all of that, he still did not detect this person who was approaching.
“Gui Ying, the Hall Master of Xiu City Hall has brought his son Gui Wu to the Sacred Mountain to choose a companion mount.”
A shadow flashed: Gui Ying and his son, who were behind them all along, came close, standing next to Long Hao Chen and Ye Hua.
The figure of an old man slowly came out in front of them; his body was like a part of the pale golden haze, and his breath was completely overshadowed by the haze.
This elder had a hunchback posture and, inside his armor, he was clad with simple grey-colored clothes. He was mostly bald, but still had a few sparse and fragmentary strands of white hair. A simple wrinkle of his brows was a weapon that could catch mosquitoes and the yellow color of his eyes was very pure. The appearance of the old man is like someone who is in his last days and seemed like a gust of wind could end his life.
“Ye Hua from Hao Yue Branch Hall, I came with my disciple, Long Hao Chen, to the Sacred Mountain to choose his companion mount.” Ye Hua’s voice sounded as cold as ever. Even here, his old habit did not change at all.
The old man slowly approached them. When Long Hao Chen clearly saw his appearance, he couldn’t help but feel somewhat startled.
The old man had a single arm: his left arm was cut off, and he was blind in the right eye. He even had a very large scar on his face, extending from his lower jaw to the top of his head. It was as if his head had been split open.
When he could clearly see the appearance of this old man, Long Hao Chen also discovered that his teacher with a usually ice-cold temperament unexpectedly had a respectful look on his eyes at this moment. He was slowly bowing down before this elder, and Gui Yin was doing the same at the other side.
Long Hao Chen didn’t dare to slack off and hurriedly gave his respects as well.
Although Gui Wu was bowing down like his father, a disapproving look could be seen in his eyes. Since his childhood, he had been the proud son of the Hall Master of Xiu City. Regardless of whether they were people from the Knight Temple or Xiu City, everyone was polite and courteous with him. He was really unwilling to bow down to a disabled old man in his late days.
The gaze of this elderly man swept in front of these four people, before saying in a hoarse voice: “Take out your certificates.”
“Yes.” Gui Ying and Ye Hua answered simultaneously, and Gui Ying, a step faster, handed over a scroll to him. Ye Hua shot him a cold glance before handing over a scroll at his turn.
The elderly man first gave a look to the scroll handed by Gui Ying and nodded. When he next gave a look to the scroll handed by Ye Hua, he couldn’t help but look at Long Hao Chen, analyzing him from top to bottom.
Long Hao Chen vaguely knew already that this scroll recorded everything about the time after he joined Hao Yue Branch Hall, naturally including his age and his cultivation records.
Being stared by this elderly man, he felt a huge pressure in his whole body, as if a formidable power had penetrated his inner being.
The elderly man gave him another look before waving in his direction, “Come.”
Gui Ying pushed his son, giving him a meaningful glance.
Gui Wu quickly took a step forward, showing a respectful expression.
The elder lifted his hand, consciously moving it on Gui Wu’s shoulder. As a reaction, Gui Wu subconsciously shook with his entire body, struggling, but when the dried up and old-looking palm touched his shoulder, he instantly became stiff and completely unable to move.
A drop of sweat flowed from his forehead: he could clearly feel that the palm of this elder was as imposing as a mountain, and he felt as if he was disappearing without hope of returning.
“Hm, 18 years-old. You have my approval. You may enter.” was the next sentence he told to Gui Ying.
Turning his hand, he grabbed a long black colored tile. He handed it to Gui Wu’s hand before telling him: “Upon meeting magical beasts of different levels, this token will take on a different color. In the Knights’ Sacred Mountain, the weakest beasts are at the second rank, corresponding to a red color. In a similar fashion, the others colors are yellow, green, dark green, blue, purple, white, and silver. Ninth is the peak level here. If a shining golden color appears, it means you have encountered an aggressive beast. Unless you feel a compatibility between the both of you, you are to stay as far from it as possible. If you cannot initiate a link among the both of you, keep searching until you find your target. The time limit is 30 days, you have 30 days to look for the suitable magical beast for yourself. Also, you will be transported out of the mountain 20 seconds after this tile shines with a pure gold color. Is everything clear?”
“Yes.” Gui Wu answered.
Then, the scroll that was in the elder’s hand suddenly turned into ashes as a grey colored energy was sent out, covering the black colored tile in Gui Wu’s hand. The tile quickly shone before going back to normal.
“Thank you very much, senior.” Gui Ying respectfully saluted this elder before heading back to the mountain. Gui Wu did not dare be negligent, and shot a glance at the nearby Long Hao Chen before moving forward and stepping in the haze, disappearing inside.
The elder faced Long Hao Chen and beckoned, “Come, little fellow; let this old man take a closer look to you. I want to see if you can really amaze an old man like me.”
“Yes.” Long Hao Chen gave a glance to this teacher before approaching him at a slow pace and respectfully standing in front of him.
Like before, the elder placed his hand on his shoulder, and a warm feeling was instantly transmitted. Long Hao Chen didn’t move the slightest bit, and calmly stood there.
After a short moment, the elder opened his eyes wide, and after withdrawing his hand he stared at Long Hao Chen’s face once more.
“Hao Yue Branch Hall.” the old man murmured in a deep voice.
“This young one is listening.” Ye Hua took two steps forwards, respectfully saluting him.
The old man turned his head, looked at Ye Hua, and said: “Where did you find such a little freak? He is really not 13 yet, but he is already a Grand Knight. Moreover, his spiritual energy is above 1,000, ten years earlier than that little fellow Long Xing Yu, whose innate talent cannot even compare to his. This is a genuine genius! You can report my approval to the executive of the Temple and let him directly pursue his cultivation in the Temple.”
Ye Hua’s complexion faintly changed: he didn’t expect this elder before him to become so fond of Long Hao Chen, and a thought came to him, _it seems that even within a century, such a prodigy will not appear for sure._
“Senior, it is not that this young one is unwilling, only, in half a year, there will be the Magical Hunt and Selection, that major competition. And this young one firmly believes that his teachings are definitely not lacking.”
The old man pondered for a little while, before nodding: “Alright. This old one will not meddle in your affairs. He will simply leave you be. Kid, did you clearly hear what I said earlier?”
Long Hao Chen respectfully answered: “I heard clearly.”
The old man nodded, “Then you can go. However, as you broke through the step of Grand Knight before you turned 20, you can have one more privilege. If after 30 days, you haven’t found a fitting mount for yourself, you can enter the Sacred Mountain’s summit to summon a magical beast to serve as your mount from another place. Only, if we have to come to this, it means we are leaving everything to chance: it will be for sure a suitable mount for you, but it is hard to say whether it will be a strong one or a weak one, and it can even be a first step magical beast; hence, you have to make great efforts when searching during these 30 days. Understood?”
Chapter 44: Starlight Unicorn (II)
“Thanks a lot for your instructions, senior.”
“Hm, you go too.” The elder waved his hand, and the scroll was consumed and assimilated into a tile that was then handed to Long Hao Chen.
Long Hao Chen turned towards Ye Hua and performed a knight salute.
“Go.” Ye Hua returned the salute. His face displayed a smile that seemed kind of forced, but his gaze was as fiery as before.
Long Hao Chen faced the other side before going through the haze and fading away inside.
After looking at his leaving figure, Ye Hua wanted to take his leave as the handicapped elder told him : “This kid is a very rare good seedling. Young fellow, to be able to foster this kind of disciple, you are pretty good.”
Ye Hua looked pleasantly surprised by this praise, “Many thanks for senior’s praise.”
The elder indifferently told him, “I never praise others, I just state the facts. You go too.”
“Yes.”
Ye Hua withdrew into the haze; he still looked as respectful as before. Before coming here, he never told Long Hao Chen about the kind of existences that were the elders here, because when he came before, he was actually not qualified to know about them.
These guardians of the Knights’ Sacred Mountain were all at least seventh step knights from the Alliance who completed their personal task, got a suit of Secret Silver Foundation Warrior Armor, enjoying their life in retirement here.
There were even some eighth step Saint Knights here. And if not for the fact that Divine Knights could only hand over their Divine Throne upon dying, there would perhaps be some who would appear here.
With the Knight Temple being the head of the Six Great Temples, the power gathered at the Knights’ Sacred Mountain could only be described as an absolute terror.
Except from the Divine Knights, no one knew how many formidable knights this mountain range contained. However, no matter from where one entered, he would always run into a guardian immediately upon entering the mountain.
The elder who appeared at that moment seemed quite feeble, he was still at least a seventh step powerhouse! Even though he was handicapped, even Ye Hua together with Gui Yin could not possibly be a match for him. Besides, the scars and deformities on his body were all brought by battles against the demon race. It could be said that the guardians of the Sacred Mountain were all genuine heroes.
Even if the three Divine Knights of the Knight Temple showed up, they had to salute these elders who deserved respect. They were the pride as well as the glory of the Knight Temple. Thus, even a strange phenomenon such as Ye Hua was respectful when facing the elder they met earlier.
“You also came out, Elder Brother Ye Hua? It looks like this disciple of yours is really young. Such a young knight is really a rare thing. I wonder what his current rank as a Knight is.”
Gui Ying hadn’t left yet, and looking at Ye Hua who just appeared before his sight, he asked with a serious tone.
Ye Hua answered in a cold voice, “What does it have to do with you?”
Gui Ying laughed out loudly: “It naturally has nothing to do with me. Only, we will have to wait here for a while, so how about we make a bet? Between this disciple of yours and my son, which one will get the highest ranked magical beast as a mount? If I win, I won’t even bother you, just let me give you a good slap like in those days. If you win, as the loser, I will give you 3,000 gold coins, how about it?”
The purchasing value of gold coins was considerably high. With 3,000 gold coins, he would be able to buy a pretty good magical equipment.
Ye Hua coldly looked at him, “Then let’s wait until the Demon Hunt Selection Competition and then bet. After all, mounts cannot decide everything. Let us compare their rankings during the Demon Hunt Selection Competition; would you have the guts to dare? If I win, I don’t want your gold coins, just let me give you a slap.”
Gui Ying showed a cold expression, “You are still as arrogant as before. Look at the age of your disciple, how could such a young kid even participate in the Demon Hunt Selection Competition? This is just so ridiculous. Can it be that you forgot that the upper age limit for the Demon Hunt Selection Competition was 25 years-old?”
Ye Hua indifferently answered: “All you have to do is to give me your reply, whether you dare or not.”
Gui Ying’s pupils shrank, “I dare, what is there to fear? I originally also wanted Gui Wu to participate in this Demon Hunt Selection and Competition to temper himself. He will participate in this Demon Hunt Selection and Competition at 23 years-old and amaze the world! My son is already an eighth rank Knight, so he may even be able to fight his way to reach the final phase of the competition before becoming a Demon Hunter.”
Ye Hua said: “Let’s wait for that moment then. Wash your face well for that moment, I don’t want to make my hand dirty.”
Gui Ying’s complexion changed, but he didn’t dare be rash here; they were in the territory of the Sacred Mountain, so in the case that the guardians acted, his position as the Hall Master of Xiu City would not be enough to excuse him.
Long Hao Chen stepped into the haze. Feeling the surrounding light attribute becoming increasingly dense, it gave him an indescribable comfortable feeling. Deep inside, even if he managed to find his magical beast companion earlier, he would still want to stay here for thirty days. After all, he could clearly feel that the speed of the circulation of his internal spiritual energy was doubled here, not much less compared to when he meditated. In these circumstances, he would gain at least three or four spiritual energy levels daily.
Walking forward, he suddenly paused. Looking at the scenery before his eyes, it seemed that he had already passed through the haze, as this scenery had become much more distinct.
Lifting up his head, he discovered to his astonishment that what he could see was completely different from the past haze: the sky was clear and blue.
With a warm feeling coming from the bright sunlight, before his eyes there was a tree swaying to the breeze, letting out a fresh and sweet natural sound, restoring his energy and alleviating his fatigue.
At this moment, he arrived at the foot of the mountain range; he could only see a mountain forest before his eyes. There were thick and solid trees, at least 40 or 50 meters high. There were many kind of trees in this diverse mountain forest, and there wasn’t a single straight path.
Holding the Radiant Shield in his left hand, drawing out the heavy sword with his right hand, and clenching the black-colored tile together with the hilt of his sword, he was ready to react to any circumstances.
_Whoosh_ , a yellow colored figure appeared in front of him, it was a monkey specie magical beast. It was lurking near a tree, but grinned upon seeing Long Hao Chen before turning around and running away.
_What a miraculous magical array!_ Long Hao Chen sighed loudly. In the outside world, the majority of magical beasts were hostile to humans. In eight cases out of ten, they would immediately take the initiative to attack upon meeting a human. They were friendlier here, because of the influence of the Knight Temple’s magical array and the holy aura it emitted. _The Knights’ Sacred Mountain is really a miraculous place._
Lowering his head to look at the token in his hand, he saw an orange colored glint, symbolizing that this magical beast was of the third rank.
Without delay, Long Hao Chen advanced and entered the mountain forest. A sound was emitted as a powerful defensive [Divine Light Mantle] was released, enveloping him inside. As he was advancing forward, he carefully observed his surroundings.
Ye Hua told him earlier that after entering the Knights’ Sacred Mountain, if he wanted to reach his objective, the first thing he had to do was to climb the mountain and advance towards the interior of the Sacred Mountain. While approaching the center, the magical beasts he would meet would be more powerful.
The vegetation in this mountain forest was really dense; it went to the extent that Long Hao Chen had to use his heavy sword to make his way through quickly. After half an hour of labor, he had finally climbed to the summit of the first mountain.
On the road, he also met several magical beasts, but they were all low ranked, at most third or fourth step magical beasts. Upon seeing him, these magical beasts didn’t show any desire to get close to him.
Climbing over the mountain, the scenery before his eyes suddenly became clear and open, and after continuously moving up and down this mountain range, he was respectful before this scenery.
It was a green colored ocean, and from the distant peak, some trees appeared especially tall. Even from his current position, they could be clearly seen.
Chapter 45: Starlight Unicorn (III)
So beautiful! Long Hao Chen couldn’t refrain from gasping in astonishment. Such a magnificent wide-opened scenery could only relax him and add a beautiful feeling of clarity to his mood. Taking deep breaths, he felt the abundant light attribute whirling all around him. Resisting, with great difficulty, the urge to enter into seated meditation, he simply took a look around, then directly advanced at a high pace toward the direction of the core of the Sacred Mountain.
The Knights’ Sacred Mountain was enormous, and covering it was challenging. Five days passed in a flash. Long Hao Chen had climbed to the peak of dozens of mountains, and had discovered that he had only covered a third of the total distance. He was still far from the core of the mountain.
In addition, the deeper one went, the higher the peak of the mountains would be, and climbing it would accordingly become harder.
However, he still advanced unceasingly, and the grade of the magical beasts he met also increased accordingly. Fifth and sixth step magical beasts seemed to appear endlessly. Sadly, none of them expressed any will to approach him.
In the ‘Forget-Me-Not’ ring, a sufficient amount of food and water was stored. Long Hao Chen would rest for approximately three hours every day, and although he did not meditate here, he could clearly feel the progress of his spiritual energy.
“Pfiou, need water.” After reaching the summit of another mountain, Long Hao Chen could see to his astonishment that on the other side of this mountain, there was a lake.
From a height, this lake looked like a huge block of sapphire embedded in the mountain, reflecting the shining sun. It looked just like the entrance to a wonderland in this human world.
“Excellent. Teacher said that there would be a lot of strong water type beasts in this kind of region. Maybe I can find my destined companion here.”
Without a single pause, he hastily went down the hill. Maybe it was because he had a goal set, but this time he sped up a lot, and descended the mountain in little time.
From afar, he saw that some magical beasts were drinking water on the lakeside, and halted his steps, advancing slowly, approaching them from the front.
He could quickly see a marvellous scene and Long Hao Chen’s heart skipped a bit. _What is that?_
More than ten unicorns were lingering near the lakeside. These unicorns were clearly a community, they all had a snow white body, gold-colored mane, and a spiral pattern could be seen drawn on the front of their proud faces. Each one of them had a pair of enormous wings, pure-white colored wings with gold-colored feathers at the edge.
_This, this is…_
__
_Starlight Unicorns?_
Unicorns were certainly the mounts knights were the most fond of. Regardless of whether on the sky or on the ground, they were extremely powerful. They were really formidable magical beasts on the surface as well as the air. In addition, unicorns were gentle beasts, and relatively docile. Without a doubt, they were also arrogant. Only by conquering one, or if it took a fancy toward a person, would it perhaps consider concluding an agreement.
Starlight Unicorns are among the most commonly known kinds of unicorns. A fully grown Starlight Unicorn is a peak eighth step magical beast. Its strength is just a step away from that of a ninth step magical beast, second only to the ninth step Divine Unicorn.
A Starlight Unicorn was, in addition, a light attribute magical beast, so if a poll was to be done, inquiring _What kind of mount do knights desire the most as their companion?_ , at least half of those who were asked would have chosen it.
Looking at these Starlight Unicorns, Long Hao Chen ceased breathing while approaching them, they were indeed even more formidable than his big sister’s Rose Unicorn!
They were so pretty, their body simply looked beautiful as well as powerful. The rich holy aura they released was very pure, as if they seemed to have completely merged with the lake, their bodies emitting a faint golden rippling radiance.
Taking a deep breath, Long Hao Chen took out his heavy sword as well as his shield, he knew that the opportunity had come.
He did the best he could to stay tranquil, slowly walking towards these Starlight Unicorns.
Even if it wasn’t in the Knights’ Sacred Mountain, the kind-hearted Starlight Unicorns would probably not rashly attack humans; besides, they weren’t influenced much by the magical array here.
In this group of Starlight Unicorns, there was an especially big one; its body was 6,6 meters (20 feet) long, 4 meters (12 feet) high, and its horn was, in itself, two-thirds of a meter (2 feet) long. Also, it had a pair of completely dazzling gold-colored eyes. While the other Unicorns were drinking water, it was the only one who calmly stood there, observing the surroundings.
Without a doubt, this unicorn was their king.
Seeing Long Hao Chen slowly coming towards it, this Starlight Unicorn looked a bit surprised, its right leg lightly hitting the ground.
Long Hao Chen hurriedly stood in front of it, and sincerely requested: “Respectable Starlight Unicorn, I am a knight from the Knight Temple. I came here to seek a companion. I wonder if it is possible for both of us to initiate an exchange?”
High leveled magical beasts were generally extremely wise creatures, not the slightest bit inferior to humans, and gaining their acknowledgement was accordingly difficult. Establishing communication was the first step.
This Starlight Unicorn King stared at Long Hao Chen’s figure with its pair of golden eyes and upon seeing Long Hao Chen’s golden eyes that were even more limpidly dazzling than his, could not help but feel surprised.
An intense light was emitted by the horn at the top of its head, spraying out some gold colored powder that started to envelop Long Hao Chen’s body.
Simultaneously, a faint gold color was released from Long Hao Chen’s body, especially his chest that was sparkling in golden light.
Such an abundant holy aura came from Long Hao Chen, giving a warm and intimate feeling; he immediately felt exalted form the bottom of his heart, this Unicorn King was willing to communicate with him, it was the proof that he had gotten an opportunity to gain its acknowledgement. It gave him in addition a cordial feeling.
“Hello there, human. ” A gentle, manly sound resounded in Long Hao Chen’s mind.
Although Long Xing Yu had told Long Hao Chen before that all high-ranked magical beasts had the ability to communicate with humans, it was the first time he encountered this kind of magical telepathy, he was thus quite nervous. He hurriedly answered, in his thoughts: “Hello there, Starlight Unicorn.”
The Starlight Unicorn then said: “The holy aura released by your body is extremely pure. It is clearly above the level of mine, it makes me feel very comfortable.”
Long Hao Chen’s heart skipped up a beat, “In that case, can I become your companion?”
The crucial moment arrived. If this Starlight Unicorn gave his agreement, in that case, Long Hao Chen would obtain a peak eighth step formidable magical beast as his mount. Exactly, a young unicorn! If he was to possess such a formidable mount, even Earth Knights would not necessarily be a match for him.
The Starlight Unicorn became silent upon hearing Long Hao Chen’s question. The golden radiance it released became even more intensely strong, and under its influence, Long Hao Chen’s eyes became even more sparkling, clear like crystal, reflecting this unicorn’s silhouette.
“I really want to agree to thine request.” The Starlight Unicorn suddenly started using respectful tone, “But, I don’t want to deceive thee.”
Long Hao Chen was stunned, “What… what do you mean by that?”
“Respectable Scion of Light, I can clearly see the source of your light. I would really like to become your mount, your companion. If I did so, in my lifetime, it would probably be possible for me to become a ninth step magical beast. But I cannot do that. For the simple reason that we, unicorns, are honest beings. With my innate talent, I do not have the qualifications to serve the Scion of Light. I am sorry, I can only decline your offer.”
“Oh? You don’t have the qualifications?” Long Hao Chen suddenly gasped. _Even if this Starlight Unicorn says he doesn’t have the qualifications, he cannot be so much in awe. Before my eyes is a peak eighth step formidable being after all! If he doesn’t have the qualifications, what kind of magical beast would be suitable to become my companion?_
“I am afraid that this time, you went on an errand for nothing. From what I know, inside of this Knights’ Sacred Mountain, I am not the only one who doesn’t have the qualifications, but even the other ninth step magical beast as well as their descendants don’t have the qualifications to become your companion.” The Starlight Unicorn spoke to Long Hao Chen in a helpless tone.
Chapter 46: Starlight Unicorn (IV)
Reminder: The feet used here are Chinese feet: 1 feet = ? of a meter.
Long Hao Chen was flabbergasted, “Then, what kind of magical beast should I seek to become my companion mount?”
The Starlight Unicorn answered: “You need a companion with the same innate talent as you. How can there be that kind of existence in the scope of this mountain range? Although this environment is not bad, unless we make a contract, we have no real freedom here, and we are forever unable to leave.”
Long Hao Chen showed a forced smile, “Then, how am I supposed to look for a
companion?”
The Starlight Unicorn answered: “You may still have some chance. Inside of the great array of this Sacred Mountain, there is a magical core array. Every so often, new magical beasts will be transferred through it. If those humans can let you directly pick a beast from a fresh transfer, then you may be able to get a fitting partner. However, it is also possible that what you will get will be a low level partner.”
“Thank you.” Long Hao Chen said, somewhat disappointed.
Withdrawing his light aura, the Starlight Unicorn nodded once more in the direction of Long Hao Chen before shifting his gaze to his clan’s members.
“The disciple of trash is also trash. Being deluded enough to attempt to get a Starlight Unicorn as a mount, it’s so ridiculous.” A voice full of disdain could be heard. From the middle of the forest, a figure came out.
Long Hao Chen stared attentively, his expression immediately becoming filled with anger.
What came out from the forest was an excessive 6.6 meter (20 feet) long figure on a 5 meter (15 feet) tall magical beast.
This magical beast had a red colored body and was entirely covered by thick scales, making it very sturdy. On its back, a man was seated, but wasn’t that the person who entered a step earlier than Long Hao Chen into the Knights’ Sacred Mountain, Gui Wu?
A Scarlet Shelled Earthworm, a seventh step magical beast belonging to the inferior-dragon species. However, the Scarlet Shelled Earthworm before his eyes was clearly underaged. It couldn’t fly but, on the ground, it was extremely powerful in terms of fighting capability. It was a beast of the fire attribute.
After no more than a few days, this Gui Wu had surprisingly already found a personal mount. In terms of potential, this Scarlet Shelled Earthworm was an existence of the same rank compared to his father’s Dragon Eagle.
“I won’t allow you to insult my teacher!” Long Hao Chen shouted loudly.
Gui Wu snorted before saying in response, full of disdain, “Unconvinced? Very well! Come and duel me then. Don’t worry, I will not kill you, At most, I will just break all your limbs, nothing more.” At the same time, something shone in his hand, and on his left hand appeared a shield while on his right hand appeared a 6.66 meters (twenty feet) lance.
There were two kinds of weapons generally used by knights: heavy swords and lances. Without considering that he had gotten a mount, even if there wasn’t this Scarlet Shelled Earthworm, Gui Wu was confident enough in his ability to defeat Long Hao Chen.
Not stepping back, Long Hao Chen, holding his shield and drawing his sword, faced Wu Gui who was riding this Scarlet Shelled Earthworm. Right when he was about to accept Gui Wu’s challenge, suddenly, a beam of golden light was shot out from the side.
This dazzling beam of light enveloped Gui Wu together with his Scarlet Shelled Earthworm inside. The previous Starlight Unicorn appeared by Long Hao Chen’s side, upright and unafraid.
Fear appeared in the eyes of this Scarlet Shelled Earthworm; Gui Wu also felt a formidable oppressing power, he was completely aghast at this scene.
_Can it be that he really got acknowledged by a Starlight Unicorn? No, that is impossible!_
However, Gui Wu was no fool, he wouldn’t dare contend against a peak eighth step formidable magical beast; he had practically instantly used his spiritual energy to stimulate his tile. A rich shining golden light was emitted and he fled together with his Scarlet Shelled Earthworm.
The changes before his eyes caused Long Hao Chen to become astonished, this Starlight Unicorn King slowly lowered its head, its shoulder shaking down, gently looking at him. It apparently wanted to say, _The dignity of the Scion of Light is not something that can be offended by such a clown._
With a respectful cry, the Starlight Unicorn looked once more at Long Hao Chen before suddenly moving out, closely followed by the group of Starlight Unicorns that were previously drinking the lake’s water; they spread out the wings on their back, gracefully flying through the sky, leaving a golden luster behind and disappearing behind the mountains in a blink of an eye.
Standing lifelessly at the same location, Long Hao Chen looked disappointed for a long time because the Starlight Unicorns were magical beasts that were the most suitable to become knights’ mounts. Both Long Xing Yu and Ye Hua had described to him the features of this kind of magical beast.
Starlight Unicorns were a symbol of the light element; they were naturally kind-hearted, gentle, truthful, they treated their companions well, and were sure to defend them with their life, but never killed their foes mercilessly. In the Temple Alliance, young girls often fantasized about a Prince Charming on his white horse coming to get them, the white horse being this kind of Starlight Unicorn.
_If it didn’t deceive me, then I will not have any result this time. I can only leave it to my luck and rely on the magical array, or hunt magical beasts by myself in the future, with the goal of taming it._
Both routes were uncertain but, without a doubt, the former one had a higher chance of success. After all, if he relied on the magical array to gain a companion magical beast, it could potentially result in summoning a quite formidable one. However, taming a magical beast was impossible, as his current cultivation level would only enable him to confront a magical beast of the fifth step at most. If a peak eighth step Starlight Unicorn said that it could not match his innate talent, how could a fifth step wild magical beast be willing to see itself as Long Hao Chen’s companion?
Moreover, his current goal was his own father, chasing after his father’s steps to become a Divine Knight. If a future Divine Knight were to have a mere fifth step magical beast acting as his companion, how could this not be as ridiculous as the heavens turning upside down?
After pondering for a little moment, Long Hao Chen made his ultimate decision. He chose to take the bet.
Although he had already made his decision, Long Hao Chen did not immediately convey the leaving message. After all, he could not inform this elder, a guardian of the Sacred Mountain, of the Starlight Unicorn’s words. In that case, he would just expose the fact that he possessed the body of a Scion of Light.
Therefore, he decided to simply remain in the mountain, until thirty days had passed. In addition, even though he believed the words of the Starlight Unicorn, in the end, he still wanted to leaving it to luck try one last time. What if a ninth step magical beast took a fancy for him here?
The reality is always cruel; the words of the Starlight Unicorn weren’t the slightest bit biased. During the following twenty days, Long Hao Chen had crossed almost the entire mountain range constituting the Knights’ Sacred Mountain, even entering into the domain of several ninth step magical beasts. However, after a single glance, they only drove him out. There was even a very aggressive magical beast that almost seriously wounded him in the process.
Thirty days passed in a blink of eye, and the tile in Long Hao Chen’s hand undulated while shining in a pure gold color. The spreading radiance turned into a light mantle that enveloped him inside, and at the next instant, with a flash, the scenery before his eyes changed completely.
The scenery became once more distinct. The first thing Long Hao Chen saw upon opening his eyes was his teacher. Ye Hua was waiting, showing an anxious expression on his face. Thirty days. During the whole thirty days, Long Hao Chen did not take the initiative to convey the leaving message. It could only mean that he did not find a suitable mount. But how was that possible? After all, he possessed the physique of a Scion of Light. How could it be that no magical beast expressed the desire to get close to him?
The handicapped elder was also here, looking at Long Hao Chen all along after the leaving message had been conveyed, he slightly scowled, looking at him with a look filled with doubts. A knight who is not fourteen yet, but is a Grand Knight in terms of cultivation training. Those magical beasts should be fighting among themselves to become his companion! Could it be that he was too high from their scope?
Chapter 47: Long Hao Chen’s Companion Mount (I)
Besides Ye Hua and the elder guardian, Gui Ying and Gui Wu were, unexpectedly, also there.
Gui Wu was so frightened by the Starlight Unicorn that he immediately used his tile, though hearing afterwards about the bet with Ye Hua and its stakes frightened him even more. He hastily told his father everything that happened when he met Long Hao Chen.
Gui Ying was also flabbergasted. If that Long Hao Chen got a mount like a Starlight Unicorn, his son had absolutely no way to even be a match for him. Therefore, the father and son decided to remain, cultivating outside of the Sacred Mountain while waiting for Long Hao Chen’s return, to see what kind of mount he would get.
The wait lasted twenty days in total; seeing that Long Hao Chen didn’t show up at all, Gui Ying’s smile became wider and wider day after day, and he occasionally provoked Ye Hua with a few sentences.
At this moment, Gui Ying couldn’t help but feel as if he was in heaven upon seeing Long Hao Chen coming back empty handed. He laughed out loudly, looking at Ye Hua, “Elder brother Ye Hua, don’t forget the stake of our gamble. I look forward to meeting you at the Demon Hunt Selection Competition. Wu’er, let’s go.” At the same time he was speaking, Gui Ying made Gui Wu summon his Scarlet Shelled Earthworm on purpose. Showing on his face an expression full of disdain, Gui Ying left with the arrogant Gui Wu at high speed.
Long Hao Chen’s gentle jade face was filled with anger, he coldly looked at Gui Ying and his son who were leaving as he engraved this disgrace in his memory.
“You didn’t find a companion?” Ye Hua showed a bitter face. He absolutely did not think that his disciple would follow in his steps; this time, he did even worse than him.
Long Hao Chen lowered his head, “Sorry Teacher, I disappointed you.”
The elder, puzzled, reacted: “With such an innate talent, how is it that you couldn’t find a mount? Don’t tell me that all of these magical beasts are blind? It’s so strange.”
Long Hao Chen showed a forced smile, “I don’t know why it went like that either. I crossed the entire Sacred Mountain, meeting a variety of magical beasts, but none of them was willing to let me approach it.”
The elder let out a sigh, “You don’t have to care so much about that. A lot of warriors who didn’t have a formidable mount either, still became powerhouses. A mount is very important to knights like us, but it isn’t everything. What is your final choice? Do you want to tame a magical beast by yourself in the future, or do you want to try out your luck here? Only, you have to know that if you use the magical array to summon a mount, you will have to conclude a contract with it, so the magical beast that will be summoned will only be able to complete a contract with you. We, knights, can replace regular mounts, but when summoning it completed with a contract of equals, the contract is only nullified when the companion mount dies. Your teacher and I can dirty our hands and take care of this little matter for you, but if we are to do it, it will, for sure, be likely to leave a traumatic experience in your heart, which will be detrimental to your future cultivation.”
Long Hao Chen gave his reply without hesitation: “Elder, I am willing to try out my luck.”
The elder nodded, “Then it’s okay. However, don’t get your hopes up too high. The more one expects, the bigger his disappointment will be.” At this point, he seemed as if he was speaking about his personal experiences, as the handicapped elder showed a disappointed and frustrated face.
A golden tile appeared in the elder’s hands, and with little gestures, he created a golden colored light that enveloped the three of them inside. High overhead, six bizarre symbols appeared, twisting the space around it.
Long Hao Chen vaguely understood that the elder was using the power of the magical array, using a peculiar method to control the inner power of the Knights’ Saint Mountain. Apparently, the reason why some mysterious phenomenons occurred here was inextricably linked to this magical array.
The golden light was glittering, causing Long Hao Chen to keep his his eyes shut; he discovered to his astonishment that during this teleportation, the self-rotations in his chest had become more and more fierce, moving with at least tenfold the ordinary speed.
This process only lasted for roughly ten seconds, after which the self-rotations immediately slowed down, recovering to its original speed. Long Hao Chen then opened his eyes, discovering that the scenery around him had completely changed.
They were, to his surprise, inside of a cavern, and in its walls, blocks of precious stones were inlaid. An insipid golden light illuminated the entire cavern.
Inside the cavern, the light attribute was not strong. It couldn’t compare to the Knights’ Sacred Mountain at all, it was just at most a little stronger than outside.
This cavern was enormous. Lifting his head, one could see that the roof was 66,6 meters (200 feet) high, the cave had an irregular circular shape as far as one could see, and its diameter was at least 333 meters (1000 feet) long, just like a sort of enormous public square.
However, this place was absolutely empty, no one else other than them was inside.
Long Hao Chen looked at the ground and discovered, to his astonishment, that there were on the ground some kind of trapezoidal pattern, tightly linked to each other, forming an enormous ring with the shape of a symbol he did not recognize. These patterns were darkly colored.
“No need to look, and neither do you need to say you are unable to recognize it. Even old geezers like us don’t recognize these patterns. It is a spiritual language from ancient times, the language used by an ancient race that is already extinguished. Our ancestors from the Knight Temple wondered what kind of mystery it was upon discovering it too, but around this enormous magical array in the Knights’ Sacred Mountain, a lot of areas existed since an ancient time, drawing their power from mysterious spiritual incantations. This is the first transportation array. Through it, a link can be established to a parallel space for a little moment. To activate it once consumes a huge energy, so it will only last fifteen minutes. If, within fifteen minutes, you cannot find and complete a contract with a companion who is willing to get close to you, I am afraid that you will really have to return empty-handed from this trip.”
The elder’s voice sounded like he felt quite sorry for a genius such as Long Hao Chen; he had never met such a genius in his life before. If such an outstanding young child could not obtain a formidable mount, it would really be a pity.
“Thank you elder.” Long Hao Chen respectfully saluted the elder.
The elder shook his head, “Come in the transporting array and sit down. After I activate it, you should be able to feel it to some extent.”
“Yes.”
Long Hao Chen acted in accordance to the elder’s instructions, taking large strides towards the center of the array. It was shaped like a circle with a diameter of 10 meters (30 feet) and there was a large symbol in its center.
This symbol looked somewhat similar to the word “如”, but it had a kind of distorted appearance, and for an unknown reason, when Long Hao Chen saw this enormous word, the Saint Spiritual Stove in his chest began throbbing all of a sudden.
Sitting cross-legged, Long Hao Chen got rid of all of his distracting thoughts. This was his last opportunity.
Ye Hua was almost as nervous as Long Hao Chen. He tightly clenched his fists to the extent that the veins could be seen, his fingernails almost digging in his palms.
The elder slowly raised his hand with the gold colored tile inside. Ye Hua clearly saw that at this instant, his right hand turned into a golden colored penetrating light, his palm seemingly becoming just like a sort of precious stone.
It was [Brilliant Body], the symbol of seventh step knights, turning a portion of their body into light. Temple Knights with a formidable level of cultivation could even turn their entire body into light. In this form, the holy attribute spiritual energy they could use would double. Even though it could only be maintained for a short time, it would double the defense of the body against any type of attack, what kind of notion was that?
Chapter 48: Long Hao Chen’s Companion Mount (II)
Soon enough, Ye Hua discovered that it was not only the hand of the elder that turned into a body of light, but even his head and his few sparse specks of white hair that suddenly became gold colored, his head becoming transparent. As if it was soaking in an enormous ocean of holy aura, his hair was rising; Ye Hua, feeling surprised, was falling back, leaning his body against the stone wall at a side of the cave.
“A [Complete Brilliant Body]?” Ye Hua cried out in alarm.
[Brilliant Body] was, after all, something only knights of at least the seventh step, Temple Knights, could use. But in a higher cultivation level, the range it could cover would be increased. Only when the appearance of one’s whole body turned into something similar to a crystal could the ability be called [Complete Brilliant Body], symbol of a ninth rank Temple Knight! In other words, the elder before their eyes could be an eighth step Saint Knight, or at least a ninth rank Temple Knight. This kind of existence, in the outside world, could become the Hall Master of a regional Knight Hall.
The effect of [Brilliant Body] could not go to the extent of affecting an entire area. At most, it could double the offensive power, and the higher one’s cultivation level, the longer [Brilliant Body] could last.
The elder coughed before suddenly pouring the light elemental spiritual energy into the golden tile; at this moment, a rich bright light spread out.
The bright light spread out in every direction, the ancient trapezoids on the ground were all stimulated, shining one after another while an imposing magic undulation started occurring.
As Ye Hua was leaning against the wall, looking at this scene, he felt as if his eyes were drawn into the scene, and he had a strange feeling as if he had finally broken through the threshold of the 3,000th spiritual energy level.
_Psh– —_
All the ancient symbols were set aflame in a split second, the multitudinous patterns composing of ancient symbols turned into ripples of light, intensely shining throughout the room.
At this moment, Long Hao Chen felt that the Saint Spiritual Stove in his chest was wriggling violently in his body. The dense external light attribute element seemed to stimulate the Spiritual Stove in his body, passing through Long Hao Chen’s body with a part of it remaining inside, stimulating the self-rotations in his body.
The myriad of golden bright patterns soared and began to whirl in this process. What it formed looked like a huge tornado that did not have the slightest bit of air inside: this huge and terrifying shape was made of light element.
Long Hao Chen suddenly felt his body shake. It was as if an inexhaustible source of light energy had filled his body, boosting the self rotations that occurred in it.
_Mh_
A sound similar to a bird humming could be heard as the light pattern converged at a point, making a golden circular vortex of light appear, while simultaneously, from this vortex, a golden light grew suddenly bigger and bigger. Long Hao Chen, seated upright in the middle of the great array, was being enveloped by this vortex.
The voice of the handicapped elder reached Long Hao Chen’s ears, “The selection may now start. You will be able to feel the aura of countless magical beasts. From these auras, you have to find the one that seems the most intimate and suitable to become your equal for a contract. Keep in mind that you have to find the one that seems the most intimate to you, otherwise, the contract will be impossible to make and there will be no way to bring it to our world.”
Long Hao Chen could clearly hear everything the handicapped elder said, but he did not give a single reply because a bizarre feeling was already filling his body.
At the moment this golden light dropped, Long Hao Chen felt as if his soul was already far away, entering in another mystical world.
This world was filled with countless specks of light. These specks of light converged to form an essence of light element that surrounded him. The current him seemed as if he was the center of this world; the light essence contained countless specks of light that followed his gaze, as if they were under his control.
However, the specks of light were really too numerous and brilliantly colored. Each speck of light had a different aura. A quarter of an hour, he firmly kept in his mind that he had only a quarter of an hour. He had a single chance at this.
Unwilling to spend too much time pondering, even more unwilling to waste time, Long Hao Chen began casually looking at the numerous specks of light, filtering the aura of each one of them.
He had no way of knowing that each one of this essences of light was a parallel space, and these specks of light composing it were the auras emitted by magical beasts coming from this parallel space. This location, the antique great array, was precisely a formidable existence that included this parallel space. It was also the core of the Knights’ Sacred Mountain.
Coldness, fear, opposition, wrath… he could feel countless states of emotions, each one of them launching attacks against him mentally. Only, these attacks were not powerful at all. Relying on his formidable mental strength, he increased his perception. It seemed as if every split seconds, dozens of golden specks were filtered out.
The benefits of having an exceptional innate mental strength were undoubtedly manifesting right now. If it was someone else, he would perhaps not even be able to examine a tenth of these specks of light.
Time passed, minute by minute, second by second, and Long Hao Chen could not help but feel more and more anxious. He could feel that the auras that were affectionate to him were way too few, the overwhelming majority of these specks of lights was transmitting terror, as if they were afraid of him.
The quarter of an hour was going to soon come to an end, and Long Hao Chen could feel that everything before his eyes gradually looked more and more illusionary.
_No, no, I have to find my companion!_ Long Hao Chen unwillingly bellowed. At this moment, his perception of the surroundings suddenly became a bit clearer.
Inside of the cave, the elder kept observing Long Hao Chen. The reason why the time limit was only set at a quarter of an hour was that the extreme limit of time Long Hao Chen’s spiritual energy enabled him to bear this was precisely a quarter of an hour. It was also the reason why only young talents under 20 years of age could use this method. If the age exceeded this number, the magical array would instead harm the user.
At this moment, a quarter of an hour had passed, but the golden light Long Hao Chen emitted had not disappeared yet. His face was very pale and he was clenching his teeth in pain.
_What formidable willpower!_ The elder secretly gasped in admiration. He clearly knew that when too much spiritual energy had been consumed, and the body could not stand the process anymore, the magical array would send the person back. Only formidable willpower could enable one to endure it longer and stay for a few more moments.
“I found it!” The scenery before Long Hao Chen’s eyes became unreal. He was in a fuzzy state and subconsciously shifted his look at the direction of the light essence. An intense feeling of affection and happiness was completely filling his soul.
Without hesitation, Long Hao Chen initiated the contract of equals. The stamp that Ye Hua handed him earlier used his mental strength to connect the two souls. As long as both sides agreed, it would succeed, but otherwise, it had no way to succeed. It was a kind of peaceful magical contract. As time was running out, he did not even have the time to show his excitement.
With a bright radiance, the link was completed in a flash, and as he was filled with joy and cordiality, his breath seemed to have accelerated intensely. Both sides had agreed to the contract in a split second.
The light specks disappeared together with the wide area of light essences and everything turned back to a golden color. In the middle of this blazing gold color, Long Hao Chen felt that another presence was together with him. It was an aura that was brimming with affection.
Chapter 49: Long Hao Chen’s Companion Mount (III)
“He succeeded!” The handicapped elder called out, pleasantly surprised. His [Brilliant Body] was gradually reverting back to normal as the bright colored lights that filled the whole cave accordingly disappeared.
The elder’s forehead was already full of sweat; clearly, supporting this enormous transporting magical array was a huge burden for him.
Hearing about the situation, Ye Hua hurried together with the elder to the center of the cave.
As the bright light became weaker, Long Hao Chen’s figure gradually appeared before them. Except for the fact his face was somewhat pale, there wasn’t any other change on him.
As his soul returned, Long Hao Chen felt completely empty, inside as well as outside. Almost all of his internal spiritual energy had been consumed, making his originally slow-moving self-rotations almost stagnate, together with an important dimming of the light emitted by his Saint Spiritual Stove. Fortunately, as a knight, he still had his external spiritual energy. Although he felt empty inside, it still did not affect his ordinary movements.
Subconsciously, Long Hao Chen’s vision shifted towards the presence that was in front of his body. The fact that he exerted so much mental and physical strength, that it was precisely a month ago that he came to the Knights’ Sacred Mountain, wasn’t that just for his sake?
However, when Long Hao Chen saw the companion he concluded a contract of equals with facing him, he was immediately astonished; the nearby Ye Hua and handicapped elder were astonished as well.
The reason why they looked so sluggish wasn’t that Long Hao Chen’s companion magical beast looked too formidable, but it was actually that…
It was a lizard, a little more than a meter tall, with a layer of thin black scales covering its skin. These scales formed an exotic shape somewhat resembling a trapezoid. Two arcs were formed from both sides and linked together, forming a final shape quite similar to that of a tower shield like those used by heavy armored knights.
Its head did not look special compared to ordinary lizards, its pair of little red colored eyes winking while looking at Long Hao Chen, expressing an indescribable familiarity. It was sticking out its tongue ordinarily, seemingly able to feel Long Hao Chen’s flavor under his foot.
If it was only that, Long Hao Chen would not look so dull, the fact it was at most a second step Earthfire Lizard was no big deal for him. However, on the body of this lizard, there were dozens of crip-crossed scars, its blood was flowing all around, and a big bulge could be seen on its neck, buckling upwards; this bulge was almost as thick as its neck. Using the word ‘ugly’ to describe the scars on its body would almost seem like a compliment.
Long Hao Chen didn’t expect at all that all those hardships he went through to finally manage to summon his companion would result in summoning a seemingly handicapped creature. Additionally, it was a second step evil mutated Earthfire Lizard. Since the time Long Hao Chen began cultivating, everything went smoothly until now; this was the first blow he ever received.
“Woo woo–” The Earthfire Lizard seemed like it enjoyed Long Hao Chen’s smell: it was rubbing against his body, showing intimate little red eyes.
A sort of forced smile appeared on Long Hao Chen’s face: through the pact of equals, he could feel how strong this lizard was. It had a cultivation level corresponding approximately to the second step.
_Starlight Unicorn King, did you deceive me? You told me that because of my body of Scion of Light, you weren’t qualified to become my companion, but then, what is it that I have before my eyes right now? A second step Earthfire Lizard!_
Ye Hua silently walked to Long Hao Chen’s side, pulling him from the ground. He unenthusiastically said: “What you have to bear is nothing compared to what happened to me. You couldn’t find a satisfactory companion mount in the Sacred Mountain, so you will simply have to rely on hunting magical beasts to find one in the future. If you can reach the step of Divine Knight, even making an enormous dragon to yield will not be impossible.”
With the sound of jingling metal, Ye Hua took out the heavy sword from his back, preparing to launch a powerful blow.
The Earthfire Lizard seemed to be able to sense its life being threatened, and although it was covered all over in scars, it hid behind Long Hao Chen’s back, exposing only its drum-shaped head, shooting terrified looks at Ye Hua.
“Teacher, what are you doing?!” With a _Dang_ sound, Long Hao Chen took out his sword and used its handle to block Ye Hua’s chop.
Ye Hua didn’t expect that, “Little fool, don’t tell me that you want to keep this useless cripple? You have to know that if it is not killed, the contract with you will be completed and you will never be able to conclude another contract of equals with another magical beast.”
Long Hao Chen’s look was unwilling, helpless, and even angry, but he did not show the slightest murderous intent.
“Teacher, do you remember the story of you and your Vibrant Mountain Bird? In that extremely difficult moment, he chose you, and as a result, you regarded him like your closest relative. Don’t you know that it was at the last moment that this little guy answered to my call? Despite the fact that he’s not powerful at all, that he’s handicapped, he’s the one who accepted making a contract with me at the very last moment.”
“We are companions, so I want to protect him, to keep him safe, even if I cannot get a genuine mount for the rest of my life. I cannot give up on him because of what he is. It is not by fear of being haunted by a traumatic experience. It is because at the moment we concluded the agreement, he already became my dear relative.”
As he said this, Long Hao Chen slowly crouched down, gently patting this Earthfire Lizard’s head. He could feel that its scales were covered in a kind of silk-like material that did not feel thick at all.
The Earthfire Lizard did not move the slightest bit. It was as if it had turned into a statue, looking attentively at Long Hao Chen with its two red colored eyes.
“Don’t worry little guy, I will not abandon you. Neither will I require you to fight with me. I just wish that you could become my friend, is that okay?”
The Earthfire Lizard recovered its ability to move, and gently stretched out its tongue, licking Long Hao Chen’s hand.
Ye Hua withdrew his heavy sword and sighed, “Kid, you are really too soft-hearted, your feelings are too deep.”
Long Hao Chen gave his teacher an apologetic look, “Teacher, trust me, I will cultivate very seriously, so even if I don’t have a companion mount to assist me, I won’t lose to this Gui Wu. Teacher, my internal energy is nearly exhausted, can you please help me treat the injuries on my companion’s body?”
What else could Ye Hua say? He simply silently nodded, “Okay.”
Using holy light in his hands, he released a recovering skill, while the handicapped elder, who didn’t say anything until now, suddenly interrupted him: “Wait a moment.”
“Mh?” Long Hao Chen and Ye Hua turned towards him at the same time.
The handicapped elder said in a deep voice: “If you don’t want him to die, don’t treat him.”
Long Hao Chen stood, doubtfully asking, “Senior, why?”
The handicapped senior gave him a serious look, showing a sincere smile: “You are a good person, a really good person. I can see in you the standards of a knight that are pity and compassion. Unfortunately, although you are kind-hearted, you must bring yourself to abandon this little guy. I am afraid that you cannot take him away, for the simple reason that he possesses a physique with the darkness attribute. If you are to use holy light skills to treat him, it will only harm him instead.”
“Darkness attribute!” Long Hao Chen was astonished.
The elder nodded, answering: “When summoning a magical beast through the magical array, some will come from a place similar to the abyss. Regardless of their elemental attribute, those ones will innately have a physique with the darkness attribute. All the darkness attribute magical beasts, upon leaving this cave, will get killed by our great holy light array. But here, you cannot send him back to cancel the contract and any kind of magical beast has no way to affect this magical array. Although it looks strange to me that a a magical beast with this kind of dark attribute physique could be attracted to you, and furthermore make an agreement with you, I have no other option but to tell you that by choosing to answer to your call, he followed the path of his own demise.”
“Wha–?” Long Hao Chen was shocked. It seemed as if this Earthfire Lizard had understood everything, as it pressed up against Long Hao Chen’s body, trembling and showing a pair of little red eyes brimming with fear.
Chapter 50: Long Hao Chen’s companion mount (IV)
The elder bitterly said: “Give it up. I know you are really unwilling, but it will not influence your future cultivation. Even through the option of taming a magical beast yourself, you would get a much more powerful mount than this mutated Earthfire Lizard.”
Long Hao Chen lowered his head and saw the Earthfire Lizard’s pair of eyes. They were linked by contract, so he could feel the current state of mind of this Earthfire Lizard.
This little guy seemed like he could understand the content of their conversation. His current face was full of fear, loneliness, pain, and unwillingness.
Long Hao Chen naturally wanted a formidable companion mount, but seeing the changes on this Earthfire Lizard’s complexion, he was reminded of the time when his parents left Odin Mountain. That time, did he not experience the same feelings? _He’s my companion! How can I abandon him like that?_
“Elder, is there really no other solution? I don’t want to abandon him.” Long Hao Chen stooped, and hugged it without avoiding the slightest bit the parts of its body that were dirtied and full of dark, red-colored blood.
Held in Long Hao Chen’s embrace, the Earthfire Lizard’s mood became better, moving its head on Long Hao Chen’s bosom. Just like a kid who found a close relative, its two thick and solid claws were holding Long Hao Chen’s shoulder, tightly hooking his clothes.
The elder hesitated for a moment, and lightly sighed, “You are actually such a kind-hearted kid. It’s not that there’s no solution, but it will be enormously harmful to your body.”
Long Hao Chen held the Earthfire Lizard, weighing 25 kilograms, and feeling his heartbeat, pursed up his lips, “Please give me your pointers, elder.”
The elder’s voice sank down, “If you want him to leave this place alive, there will only be a single solution: to change his physique. Turn its attribute from darkness to light. Only then, he will be able to safely leave.”
Ye Hua was flabbergasted, “Elder, it doesn’t seem very realistic. How can a darkness attribute body turn into a light attribute?”
The elder answered, “Of course it is impossible for us, but it is possible for him. Relying on the existence of this contract of equals, this Earthfire Lizard receives a lot of power from you. And using your body which possesses a strong light attribute, you may transmit your blood into the Earthfire Lizard’s body, to wash off its darkness attribute.”
Ye Hua took a deep breath, his ice-cold face showing a look full of incomprehension, “How much blood would be needed to accomplish that?”
The elder shook his head, “I don’t know either. It depends on how much of Long Hao Chen’s blood the Earthfire Lizard will reject during the process, as well as the quality of the light attribute energy contained in his blood. Regardless of whether it succeeds or not, the vital energy of this kid will be reduced. In my opinion, it is really not worth saving a second step magical beast of this kind.”
“Hao Chen.” Ye Hua turned at the direction of Long Hao Chen, he was shocked like never before.
“Teacher, no need to say it, I have already made my decision. Since we entered into an agreement, this is the destiny that links me to him. If I am to abandon such a little guy and forsake his life, how can I deserve to be called a Guardian Knight?” Long Hao Chen, full of determination, tightly held the Earthfire Lizard in his embrace; bowing little by little, he performed a salute to the elder, “I await the Elder’s guidance on how to do it.”
The elder sighed, “A kid with your temperament is really a rare thing; even though you didn’t get a formidable mount this time, your future accomplishment will be limitless. The method is simple: make use of your contract of equals and let your blood pass through your agreement mark to enter his body.”
“Many thanks, elder.” Long Hao Chen quickly replied before slowly crouching down, facing the Earthfire Lizard on the ground.
The Earthfire Lizard lifted its head, gave a look to Long Hao Chen, unceasingly letting out ‘Boo hoo’ sounds.
“Don’t be afraid, I will do all I can to save you. I am already your companion, if I cannot protect you, how can I be considered a Guardian Knight?”
Long Hao Chen sat cross legged, facing the Earthfire Lizard; before thinking, he had already pulled and brought the marks of equals on both sides closer.
A contract of equals, also known as the summoning contract of equals, required a human initiating a link and launching the request, enabling him to summon the magical beast.
A drop of purple-colored radiance lit on Long Hao Chen’s forehead, the purple light gradually growing to the size of a fingernail, faintly discernible on his forehead.
“Yi.” The handicapped elder gave Ye Hua an astonished look, “It’s so strange, his agreement contract mark seems extremely complex.”
Normally, the more formidable the magical beast that agreed to the contract was, the more complex the agreement contract mark would be.
Ye Hua looked full of doubts, “What?! Isn’t that a mere speck of light?”
The elder shook his head, answering, “No, it is nowhere so simple: the agreement contract mark is just covered by this purple light; even though I cannot see how it is shaped, it is for sure not so simple. Look at this Earthfire Lizard.”
Accompanying the activation of Long Hao Chen’s contract, a contract mark appeared on his forehead as well as on the body of the Earthfire Lizard.
Generally speaking, the human as well as the magical beast were supposed to have the contract mark appear on their forehead, but it was not the case with this Earthfire Lizard. An excessively large bright purple-colored pattern was slowly appearing on its back until it almost covered the lizard entirely. This dense bright purple color looked like a layer of mist, covering its back. Although it was many times bigger than Long Hao Chen’s head, they could not see clearly the pattern of the purple-colored mist enveloping its back.
Long Hao Chen told the Earthfire Lizard in a calm voice, “Little guy, don’t be afraid. I will use the light attribute in my blood to change the attribute of your body. I don’t know if it will be painful, but you have to endure, okay?”
Upon hearing his words, the Earthfire Lizard unexpectedly nodded, showing a look full of comprehension, its pair of red eyes filling with gratitude and affection.
Long Hao Chen lifted both of his hands, and a thin ball appeared in his left hand’s forefinger. Immediately, a gold-colored light appeared from his fingertips that released a golden light about 6.6 centimeters long. Externalizing the internal spiritual energy, this ability was the symbol of knights of the fourth rank. Third step knights could, through the use of [Lightning Cut], externalize their spiritual energy, but fourth step Grand Knights did not have to use a skill to externalize their spiritual energy.
With a spark of golden light, Long Hao Chen cut open his right wrist and, at this moment, fresh blood gushed out, funneling into the big mark on the Earthfire Lizard’s back.
“Woo—-” The companion screamed; the Earthfire Lizard lifted its head, its body violently shaking. Its four claws exerted a lot of physical force, grabbing the spiritual mark on the ground to stabilize its own body and keep itself from moving suddenly.
The handicapped elder displayed an astonished face once more, “This Earthfire Lizard is really mentally capable. It seems that he is more mysterious than his appearance would suggest it.”
Ye Hua showed a smile that looked kind of forced, “I hope it’s true.” He really wanted to prevent Long Hao Chen from proceeding with this; a second step Earthfire Lizard was really not worth it at all! Besides, the Demon Hunt Selection Competition was going to take place in half a year. With his vital force decreased at this moment, it was uncertain whether Long Hao Chen would be able to handle the competition. However, could he really block this disciple of his? Long Hao Chen did not lose his spirit yet; he did not give up hope and, from Ye Hua’s point of view, this was something even more precious than the title of _Demon Hunter_.
Long Hao Chen’s blood dripped onto the mark on the Earthfire Lizard’s back, instantly melting into it, and golden halos spread all around this purple mark, covering the entire body of this Earthfire Lizard.
As each halo of golden light flowed around, and the Earthfire Lizard’s body shivered violently, as if its body was withstanding electric shocks. However, like before, it did not move.
In a similar way, layer after layer of golden halos flowed around, as a terrifying darkness attribute gas was being emitted from the Earthfire Lizard’s body and progressively dispersed.
(Little reminder, [Lightning Cut] is the ability of Genuine Knights that can be used both in close quarters and at a range)
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