Chapter 3
In the tavern.
Seeing a large group of ascetics walking out of Clayde's mansion, Linley felt a surge of joy in his heart. Linley could tell at a glance that there were at least fifty or so ascetics. With so many people leaving together, it was likely that all the ascetics had departed.
"It's been six or seven days now. That Shaq has probably already told Clayde about my existence. Clayde must have guessed that I'm nearby."
Linley casually tossed a few gold coins on the table. Instantly, currents of air swirled around his body. Like a gust of wind, Linley floated out of the tavern with effortless grace.
Even carrying the heavy sword on his back, with the aid of wind magic, he was as light as a drifting willow catkin. Of course, this was also because Linley had reached the level of a seventh-rank mage. If he were a third-rank mage, the auxiliary magic wouldn't be nearly as effective. "Bebe, watch the back door." Linley simultaneously sent a soul message to Bebe.
"Got it, Boss."
As Linley rushed to the outer wall of Clayde's mansion, he silently chanted a spell—Probing Wind.
"Whoosh!"
With Linley at the center, a current of air began to spread in all directions. Linley closed his eyes, sensing everything the Probing Wind detected.
"Hmm? Gathering toward the back door?"
The Probing Wind could only detect objects and human shapes, not their exact appearances. But through it, Linley discovered that the people inside the mansion were continuously gathering in the backyard. Clearly, they were preparing to flee quickly.
"Hmph. Just as I expected." Linley lightly tapped his foot and drifted into the front courtyard of Clayde's mansion like a gentle breeze. He then quietly made his way to the back, familiar with the route.
"Hurry, hurry up!" Clayde barked.
The members of the Thunderbolt Squad quickly assembled, with the slowest being the princess and her daughter. Once the princess and the queen were gathered, Clayde said directly, "Let's go. Out the back door. We're leaving Hess City immediately."
The queen asked in confusion, "Your Majesty, aren't we living quite well here? This—"
"Slap!" Clayde backhanded her across the face.
"Enough nonsense!" Clayde scolded.
"Move quickly. Forget the horses. You two, take charge of the queen and princess." Clayde ordered two knights, and one of them opened the back door.
Linley, who had been hiding behind a rockery and watching everything, sneered coldly.
"Just as I thought. Not a single ascetic." Linley tapped his foot and retreated rapidly, moving to a spot where Clayde, Caesar, and the others couldn't see him. He then leaped over the wall and quickly made his way toward the back gate. But as he turned a corner, he came to an abrupt halt.
Bebe was right next to the back gate.
"Creak!" The gate swung open.
Bebe immediately darted into the weeds beside the wall. With his palm-sized body, the thick grass completely concealed him.
"Bebe, tell me when Clayde comes out." Linley hid around the corner, and black scales began to sprout all over his body. "Sizzle, sizzle—" Spikes emerged from his forehead, back, elbows, and knees.
A steel whip-like dragon tail also extended.
Linley's black eyes instantly turned dark gold, just like a Spiked-Back Iron-Armored Dragon.
Complete Dragonization! "Wind auxiliary magic: Speed." Linley also cast a wind spell on himself. After fully dragonizing, Linley felt the boundless power surging through his body.
The three-thousand-six-hundred-jin Black Dusk Heavy Sword had no effect on him now.
To a powerful warrior who could easily lift hundreds of thousands or even millions of jin, what was three thousand six hundred jin? It was like a person who could lift a hundred jin carrying a one-jin object—what difference did it make?
"Move it!" Clayde urged.
One by one, the warriors of the Thunderbolt Squad filed out.
Clayde himself followed Shaq out. The queen and princess, under the protection of two Thunderbolt Squad members, came next. Caesar brought up the rear as a guard.
"Boss, Clayde is out."
Just as Clayde stepped out of the back door, Bebe's voice rang directly in Linley's mind. Linley, who had been hiding around the corner, dared not show himself, but his dark gold pupils suddenly lit up.
"Ha—"
He stomped hard on the ground, and the surrounding air currents propelled his body forward at incredible speed.
"Whoosh!"
A black humanoid afterimage crossed the seventy or eighty meters in the blink of an eye, charging straight to the back gate of Clayde's mansion. Clayde, startled, turned his head to look—and saw the afterimage already before him. The familiar figure made Clayde's heart tremble. Before he could resist or shout, a terrifying force bound him.
"Don't move, or die." Linley's voice directly entered Clayde's ears.
"Ah!" The queen, who had just stepped out, saw Linley's appearance and screamed in terror. But with a "pfft," her head flew off.
Linley retracted his claws.
Blood gushed from the queen's severed neck, and her body crashed to the ground.
"M-monster!" The princess screamed and stumbled backward.
"Release His Majesty!" The Thunderbolt Squad warriors who had left with Shaq charged forward. But a black shadow flashed—the Shadowmouse Bebe, now expanded to half a meter in length, landed on the ground. The two warriors who had rushed forward had their throats nearly severed and collapsed.
"Don't resist. It's useless." Linley's icy voice rang out.
Caesar also rushed out at that moment.
"Lord Caesar, w-what is that monster?" The princess was terrified. Shaq, who had heard about this from Clayde, knew that this monster was Linley.
The monster before them—
Its entire body was covered in black scales, with sharp spikes on its forehead, back, elbows, and knees. Its hands and feet were also scaled and razor-sharp.
And then there was that steel whip-like dragon tail.
At that moment, the tail was tightly coiled around Clayde, rendering him completely immobile. Linley's tail swayed slightly up and down, and Clayde's body bobbed along with it.
This scene utterly stunned everyone.
"Caesar, this time, you have no chance." Linley's cold voice sounded.
Caesar's face was full of bitterness. He knew that even in a one-on-one fight with Linley, he had no certainty of victory. And Linley had a nearly equally monstrous magical beast by his side.
Whether it was Linley or the magical beast Bebe, Caesar had no sure way to defeat either.
Now that Clayde was in Linley's hands, Caesar had no chance at all.
"L-Linley, release my father!" Shaq roared.
Linley's dark gold pupils coldly glanced at Shaq. Shaq shuddered and dared not speak again. Linley had completely intimidated them. The Thunderbolt Squad warriors who had followed Clayde had once been slaughtered by Linley and Bebe and knew their strength.
"Linley." Clayde was about to beg for mercy.
"Crack! Crack!"
Linley directly snapped Clayde's right index and middle fingers off, then casually tossed the two fingers in front of the princess, Caesar, and the others.
"Ah, ah..." The pain of having his fingers broken—the fingers connected to the heart—made Clayde howl uncontrollably.
"Clayde, I'm telling you, you're going to die." Linley said casually.
Clayde glared at Linley with tiger-like eyes.
But what met his gaze was Linley's cold, emotionless dark gold pupils.
"You have two choices now. One is to die in agony. The other is to tell me who you gave my mother to and who killed her. Then I'll let you die cleanly." Linley said flatly.
Linley knew well that with someone like Clayde, it was best to be direct.
Otherwise, the other party might cling to the hope of survival and grit their teeth, refusing to speak.
"No, if you just spare me—ah—" Linley snapped off another of Clayde's fingers without expression and said coldly, "You will die. The only difference is, the sooner you talk, the less pain you'll suffer."
"Your Majesty!"
Caesar immediately tried to charge forward.
"Caesar, do you want everyone here to die?" Linley's dark gold pupils locked onto Caesar, who stopped in his tracks. He understood that Linley and Bebe had the strength to kill everyone here.
Even he, Caesar, could only try to escape. Against a combined attack from Linley and Bebe, he had no chance.
"Ah!" Caesar was furious but didn't know what to do.
Linley looked at Clayde.
Clayde's face was pale, and sweat as big as soybeans poured down like water. Meanwhile, Linley's dragon tail tightened its grip.
"Keep thinking. The longer you think, the more pain you'll suffer." Linley's scaled fingers grabbed Clayde's ear.
Guessing what Linley was about to do, Clayde roared, "No—"
"Rip—"
Linley tore off Clayde's left ear. Clayde screamed in agony and began cursing wildly: "Linley, you bastard, you're a demon!"
"Keep stalling." Linley's fingers slowly moved toward Clayde's face.
"This time, it's your eye. Which one should I take, the left or the right?" Linley remained expressionless. When Clayde tried to read Linley's face or eyes for any clue, all he saw was the scaled face and the dark gold pupils devoid of any emotion.
"You won't choose? I'll choose for you. It was the left ear just now, so now it's the right eye." Linley reached out.
"No, I'll talk, I'll talk!" Clayde screamed hoarsely.
Linley withdrew his hand. "Speak."
"I'll talk, I'll talk." Tears actually appeared in Clayde's eyes. He was completely broken. Linley had no intention of letting him go. Whether he spoke or not, he would die. Speaking meant a clean death; not speaking meant dying in torment.
None of the Thunderbolt Squad warriors in the distance dared to make a sound. Linley and Bebe, this pair of man and beast, were simply too terrifying, too horrifying.
Clayde roared inwardly: "Holy See, since your people didn't care about me at all, don't blame me for bringing you a future enemy that will make you tremble in fear."
"Linley, I'll tell you. Every year, the Holy See offers pure souls to the Radiant Lord. The Radiant Lord only needs two things: faith and pure souls." Clayde said directly.
Linley stared at Clayde expressionlessly. "What does this have to do with my mother?"
Clayde continued, "The purer the soul offered to the Radiant Lord, the greater his blessings. That year... my brother Paderson and I came out of the Radiant Temple and saw your mother. The moment I saw her, I was stunned. Her eyes were so pure. Seeing her, even my heart calmed down. I had a feeling that her soul must be very pure."
Hearing this, Linley had already guessed the rest.
"I could tell that your parents were just ordinary people, so I had Paderson send someone to capture your mother. The next day, I gave your mother to the Holy See."
Clayde took a deep breath. "Sure enough, your mother's soul was unprecedentedly pure. When the Holy See performed the sacrifice, killing your mother and offering her soul to the Radiant Lord, the Radiant Lord bestowed unprecedented blessings."
"Because of this, the Radiant Temple also performed an unprecedented Divine Blessing for me, elevating me directly from a seventh-rank warrior to a ninth-rank warrior. Although I can never advance further, I was satisfied. Moreover, the Radiant Temple granted me a Saint-level magic scroll, Fate's Protection."
Clayde looked at Linley. "Your mother's soul was truly extraordinary. The Radiant Temple was willing to give me so much, so you can imagine how much the Radiant Temple received from the Radiant Lord."
(Three chapters for today, done!)
Statement!
Since the big promotion on August 1st, the comment section of "Coiling Dragon" has come under heavy attack. A large number of people have started belittling Tomato's novel.
They've dismissed Tomato's novel as worthless.
Haha...
If you don't like Tomato's novel, just don't read it. But every day, you stir up trouble in my comment section, and when you get banned, you use alternate accounts to keep attacking relentlessly.
I say, for someone with such high standards, spending several hours a day on a novel you look down on—isn't that ridiculous?
Tomato doesn't want to defend himself. I admit there was a bug in a recent chapter: how could the protagonist walk around with a heavy sword weighing over three thousand jin without leaving holes in the ground? Honestly, I didn't think of that issue at first. It's like how Sun Wukong, holding his Ruyi Jingu Bang, doesn't stomp a huge hole in the ground with every step.
For now, Tomato can only explain that Linley used a simple wind auxiliary magic to offset the sword's weight.
...
Well, for a novel, Tomato averages over eight thousand words a day. At this pace, I can only try my best to keep the story as error-free as possible.
If you don't like it, or as someone said, you don't even read it—then why attack me? Isn't that called 'being pathetic'?
Tomato will keep writing as long as there are readers who support me.
As for those who don't read Tomato's novels or don't like them but still spend all day cursing and attacking in my comment section—honestly, I have nothing to say to you. I just think there's something wrong with your heads.
If I don't like an author's novel, I just don't read it.
After all, anyone who writes eight thousand words a day and keeps it up requires a certain amount of perseverance. If you don't read it and still curse, what gives you the right?
That's all I have to say.
Tomato's novel will continue as usual. Tomato's readers will still support me. With their support, that's enough. As for those troublemakers, you're just fodder for after-dinner jokes.