Chapter 10: One Sword
"Brother Lei, what do you think of Miss Jenny? Pretty great, right?" Lounds said with a low chuckle.
"She's quite something," Linley nodded in agreement.
Ruder next to him added, "She's more than just 'quite something.' I've been out in the world for a few years and have seen plenty of beauties. But Miss Jenny... tsk tsk, she's absolutely top-notch. Brother Lei, are you interested in Miss Jenny?"
Linley was taken aback.
Lounds also gave Linley a knowing look that said 'any man would understand.' "Brother Lei, it's perfectly normal for a strong man to have a beautiful woman. If you don't seize the opportunity now, once we leave this caravan, you'll miss your chance."
"You two," Linley said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Alice had already caused Linley to deeply freeze his emotions. At this point, Linley wasn't so desperate that he'd chase after any beautiful woman he saw.
"Miss Jenny and her brother are coming out," Ruder said in a low voice.
Linley turned to look. Sure enough, Miss Jenny and her brother Keen were walking toward a campfire, where their old servant was sitting.
The noble youth Keen couldn't help but glance curiously at the Blackcloud Panther again.
The Blackcloud Panther immediately bared its cold, sharp fangs. Keen was so frightened he tightly gripped his sister's hand. Miss Jenny, sensing something, looked in Linley's direction.
Miss Jenny nodded slightly in apology, a bit awkwardly, then led her brother to sit by the campfire.
*******
"Sister, that magical beast is so cool," Keen said, his bright eyes full of longing. "If only I could have a powerful magical beast of my own one day."
The old servant beside him chuckled, "Young Master Keen, taming a magical beast isn't that simple. To tame a powerful one, you must make it truly submit. And to make a beast submit, you have to defeat it in a direct confrontation. As far as I know, even the weakest panther-type magical beasts are at the seventh rank. That Lord Lei is a true expert."
"The weakest are all seventh rank?" Keen gasped. "Grandpa Lambert, is he as strong as you?"
In Keen's heart, the person he admired most was Grandpa Lambert. When he and his sister were in the Sacred Alliance, they had no one to rely on. Grandpa Lambert was the one who protected them. If not for him, the noble in that town would have sent people to kidnap his sister long ago. He had seen with his own eyes Grandpa Lambert punch straight through the shield of the noble's guard and easily defeat over a dozen soldiers.
"Me? With my meager skills, he could kill me with a single move," Lambert said, patting Keen's head with a smile. "Young Master Keen, once we reach the O'Brien Empire, you need to be careful. There are many experts in this world. I can only protect you in a small town like that, but in the big cities..."
"It's fine. This time, I'm going to inherit the position of city lord," Keen said proudly, lifting his little chin. "Once I'm the city lord, what do I have to fear?"
Seeing Keen like this, Jenny happily and affectionately ruffled his hair. "Keen will be a great city lord one day."
"Of course," Keen said, full of confidence.
*******
Gradually, most people returned to their carriages to sleep, leaving only a few mercenary guards patrolling the perimeter. Linley sat cross-legged on the ground, the heavy sword of blackstone resting flat on his knees.
Regarding the third realm of heavy sword training—the realm of 'force'—Linley didn't know how his ancestors had cultivated it. But his method was to attune his heart to the earth and to the boundless wind.
The earth had its unique pulse.
That unique pulse, that unique rhythm, immersed Linley completely. And the wind that filled the heavens and earth was most closely connected to space. The wind that pervaded space was also a key element in comprehending 'force.'
Immersed in nature, perceiving nature...
In this state, Linley felt no passage of time. In the dead of night, the vast majority of people in the caravan were fast asleep, with only a few mercenary guards forcing themselves to stay alert.
"Rustle, rustle~~~"
In the deep night, the cold wind blew, stirring Linley's hair. His closed eyes suddenly opened. Then he slid the heavy sword of blackstone back into the sheath on his back.
"Get up." Linley patted Ruder and Lounds twice.
Ruder and Lounds were mercenaries who lived on the edge; they didn't sleep deeply and woke up immediately. They looked around, seeing it was still the middle of the night.
"Brother Lei, it's the dead of night. Why aren't you sleeping?" Ruder grumbled inwardly but didn't dare complain aloud.
"Bandits are coming," Linley said casually.
"Oh."
Ruder's drowsy eyes seemed about to close again, but then he snapped them open, staring at Linley in shock. "Brother Lei, what did you say? Bandits?"
"A bandit group of about a hundred people is about three hundred meters ahead, slowly approaching," Linley stated directly.
Linley had been sensing the earth's pulse and feeling the wind's movement.
The footsteps of over a hundred people, several hundred meters away, were clearly detectable to him. Of course, under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have noticed them this early. But with his heart attuned to the earth, his sensitivity was far greater.
Ruder was terrified.
"Don't just stand there. Wake up the brothers," Lounds said calmly.
"Right, got it." Ruder immediately went to wake the other mercenaries, while Lounds went directly to alert the guards on watch.
The mercenaries, who had been sleeping soundly, were naturally unhappy about being woken in the middle of the night.
"Bandits are coming." Those words alone scared them into scrambling to their feet.
"Where are the bandits?" One after another, the awakened mercenaries looked around at the pitch-black surroundings. There wasn't a ghost in sight. They all grew discontented.
The mercenary leader, a bearded man, grabbed Lounds by the collar. "You said there were bandits? Where?"
"It wasn't me. Brother Lei said so," Lounds quickly explained.
"Oh?" The bearded man was startled. He didn't dare offend Linley, an expert who had joined the caravan midway, especially after seeing that black panther. An expert like that wouldn't joke around.
Just then, the bearded man also heard the faint but dense sound of footsteps in the distance.
With his strength, he could now make them out clearly.
"Bandits! Prepare! Prepare—" The bearded man's terrifying roar immediately put everyone on alert. Even many of the sleeping merchants and passengers were jolted awake.
The nearly one hundred mercenaries quickly formed an orderly formation.
"Haha, Bearded Malone, I didn't expect you to be so alert. You've improved over the years. It seems a sneak attack won't work, so we'll have to go with a direct assault!" A loud laugh rang out, and then figures dressed in black appeared in front of the caravan.
"You?" The bearded man's expression changed when he saw the one-eyed, golden-haired leader.
One-Eyed Snake 'McGinley' was quite infamous in the lawless zone along this several-hundred-mile road. He was known for his ruthlessness and strength.
"Waaah~~" The cry of a baby rose from the caravan.
"Bandits!" Many people panicked.
"Quiet!" The bearded man roared. Several people in the caravan quickly organized everyone, gathering them together and arming the adults with weapons for resistance.
The bearded man looked at the one-eyed, golden-haired man. "One-Eyed Snake, don't go too far. How about this: I'll offer you five thousand gold coins, and you let us pass. Deal?"
"Five thousand gold coins?" The golden-haired, one-eyed man sneered. "Malone, do you take me, McGinley, for a beggar? One word: one hundred thousand gold coins, and I'll let you go. Otherwise... hmph."
All the mercenaries' faces darkened.
One hundred thousand gold coins? Their entire payment for this protection mission was only sixty thousand gold coins. If they gave that much to the bandits, they'd have to pay out of their own pockets. According to mercenary rules, once a protection mission was accepted, any bribes to bandits came from the mercenary team's funds.
"One-Eyed Snake, don't push it. If you don't lose a single man, you should be satisfied with five thousand gold coins," the bearded man said, gripping his battle-axe. "Otherwise, we'll see who's stronger." Bearded Malone was somewhat confident. He had fought McGinley before, and they were evenly matched. He believed that since McGinley's sneak attack had failed, he wouldn't dare risk a full-on assault.
"Fine then. Brothers, attack!" McGinley suddenly shouted.
Instantly, a horde of bandits, weapons in hand, charged forward with furious howls. This scene shocked Malone.
"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" "Whoosh!"...
The archers on both sides didn't hesitate to draw their bows, but in a battle of a hundred against a hundred, a handful of archers had little impact.
"Malone, die!" McGinley charged forward with a sharp longsword. With a single step, he leaped over ten meters into the air, then brought his blade down with tremendous force toward Malone.
Malone raised his battle-axe and struck back without backing down.
"Buzz~~" The surface of the longsword blazed with dark light.
"Thud."
Malone felt his hands tremble and involuntarily stumbled back several steps.
"You?" Bearded Malone stared in shock at the one-eyed McGinley. He knew McGinley's strength well. In a direct clash, his heavy weapon should have given him the advantage. But now the opponent had the upper hand. How?
"You guessed it. I've already broken through to the eighth-rank warrior level." McGinley's face was full of pride.
"No wonder you launched a direct assault without hesitation." Malone finally understood.
"Boss, there's a beauty over here!" A voice suddenly rang out.
McGinley immediately turned to look and saw Jenny, pale-faced and panicked, clutching her brother. Her pitiful, delicate appearance was indeed captivating.
"Haha, that woman is mine!" McGinley grew excited.
...
The mercenaries and bandits were locked in bloody combat. A bandit chopped off a mercenary's head with one swing, only to have another mercenary run him through from behind.
"Fall back! Fall back!" Malone roared as he retreated. The mercenary guards fought as they withdrew.
"Lord Lei, I beg you to save our mercenary group." Malone bowed respectfully to Linley, pleading. By now, the mercenaries had formed a circle, with the merchants and travelers inside. Linley and Malone stood at the outermost edge.
Linley nodded in response to Malone's plea.
"I'll only deal with their leader," Linley said. Malone's eyes lit up with excitement. If McGinley died, what was there to fear from the small-time bandits?
The campfire blazed. Jenny nervously held her brother.
"Sister, that mercenary leader seems to be begging that Lord Lei," Keen said, his eyes shining as he watched the scene. Jenny also looked at Linley.
Linley stood in the middle of the road, calmly watching the bandits.
"Get out of my way!" McGinley charged forward at full speed, his longsword in hand. He moved extremely fast, weaving left and right until he seemed to split into two afterimages, making it impossible to tell which was real and which was fake.
Phantom Slash!
This was One-Eyed Snake 'McGinley's' signature move!
"Ridiculous." Having reached the realm of 'force,' Linley was utterly unimpressed by such technical attacks.
"Die!" McGinley's single eye gleamed with terrifying murderous intent.
Linley's heavy sword of blackstone left its sheath. The moment it did, it erupted with astonishing momentum, as if the surrounding space had instantly frozen solid.
The heavy sword of blackstone swung simply and directly toward McGinley.
McGinley tried to dodge, but he was horrified to find that the space around him seemed sealed. In that instant, even sound vanished.
He had nowhere to flee. Worse, he couldn't see anything else. His eyes could only fixate on the heavy sword of blackstone, growing larger and larger.
He tried to raise his blade to block, but it felt as if he were trapped in an endless quagmire. His sword weighed ten thousand pounds, moving far too slowly.
"Pfft!"
The heavy sword of blackstone struck McGinley's body. From head to toe, he was instantly reduced to a pulp of flesh and blood. Whether bandits, mercenaries, or Jenny and Keen, everyone stared in stunned silence at the scene.
"Leave the small fry to you." Linley sheathed his sword and said calmly to Bearded Malone.