Chapter 39: The Long Years
The O'Brien Empire resisted other religions. The Radiant Church and the Dark Church lurked in the shadows, and once discovered, the O'Brien Empire would eradicate them without mercy.
This attitude of the O'Brien Empire prevented the Radiant Church from ever expanding its influence within the empire.
In important cities like the imperial capital and provincial capitals, the Radiant Church had a considerable number of personnel stationed. However, in prefectural cities, there were only a few dozen people per city.
As for ordinary small towns, some had a few people, while others had none at all.
As for villages and townships... there was no need to even mention them.
The sparse network of influence made it impossible for the Radiant Church's personnel to track Linley's whereabouts. They had no idea where Linley had fled to.
Even though they didn't know where Linley was hiding, the six people led by Randt still departed from the Holy Island and set off for the O'Brien Empire.
*******
In the northwest province, on Cloud Peak Town outside the provincial capital Basil.
Linley, Sesslar, the five Barker brothers, and the sisters Rebecca and Nina quietly stayed here. The two sisters, aside from their training, took care of the meals for Linley's group.
To the townsfolk, Linley was introduced as a noble, Sesslar as the steward, and the five Barker brothers as the five guards.
Linley's group lived on the westernmost edge of the town, with the nearest neighbors hundreds of meters away.
"Sister, the skeleton I summoned yesterday was so cute. So silly and dazed." Rebecca and Nina both carried bamboo baskets as they walked back from the town's market.
Cooking meals every day was what the sisters had to do besides their training.
"Rebecca, stop being so playful. Summon a skeleton and send it back. You always play around with skeletons; it's a waste of time." Nina was somewhat displeased.
Rebecca was too playful. Those skeleton soldiers were tormented by her every day.
"I know, sister. I'll catch up to you soon." Rebecca said softly. Her sister could now summon zombies.
It had to be said that the sisters had excellent souls and learned necromantic magic quickly.
The two sisters walked to the open space. The mansion Linley had planned was still under construction, so they had built wooden cabins to live in for now.
"Brother Linley's training is so strange." Rebecca muttered.
At that moment, Linley was holding the Black Heavy Sword in one hand and the Violet Blood Divine Sword in the other. In Linley's hand, the Black Heavy Sword felt as light as a feather, as if it had no weight at all. But the Violet Blood Soft Sword was the opposite, as if it weighed ten thousand jun.
"Treating the heavy as light, treating the light as heavy..."
A hint of a smile appeared on Linley's lips.
Whether it was the Violet Blood Soft Sword or the Black Heavy Sword, the principles were interconnected. For example, the realm of 'momentum' could be applied to almost any attack.
Swords, sabers, staffs, clubs, or even fists and feet.
This 'momentum' could be integrated into all of them.
This made the so-called 'drawing on heaven and earth' a description of a realm.
However, the realm of 'treating the heavy as light' could not be transferred to the Violet Blood Soft Sword. After all, the Violet Blood Soft Sword itself was already very light. After more than ten days of contemplation, Linley sat cross-legged on the ground, feeling the wind that filled the sky and earth blowing. After more than ten days, he finally gained some insight.
Wind is formless by nature, yet gentle wind can be like a lover's hand, while violent wind can even split mountains and crack rocks.
"Treating the light as heavy."
Linley swung the Violet Blood Divine Sword. The thin, cicada-wing-like Violet Blood Soft Sword actually emitted a sound like thunder. A violent gust of wind even swept up from the ground.
"The wind-type single-target magic 'Dimensional Edge' is the strongest single-target attack magic. Its power is even great enough to split space. Can I use sword techniques to unleash 'Dimensional Edge'?"
Linley pondered.
All great paths lead to the same destination. For the Black Heavy Sword, the layer above 'momentum' was to unleash the understanding of the 'Earth Laws'.
In Linley's view, for the Violet Blood Soft Sword, it was to unleash the understanding of the 'Wind Element Laws'.
Only with the right path could one avoid detours.
Now, Linley quietly advanced along the path he had thought of. However, the Laws were too profound, and understanding them was very difficult. Fortunately, Linley's elemental affinity for both earth and wind was super-grade, and his harmony with nature was extremely high.
But even so, without several years or more, it was almost impossible to achieve anything.
"Swish."
A blur streaked across the sky and landed directly behind Linley.
"Lord Hiss." Linley turned around and immediately bowed.
Hiss smiled and nodded: "Where are the five Barker brothers?"
"They are training in the open space behind the house. Lord Hiss, please follow me." Linley smiled and walked toward the back of the house, but Hiss suddenly looked at Linley's feet with some surprise.
Although on the surface, Linley seemed like an ordinary person.
But what realm was Hiss at?
He could clearly sense that Linley's walking was very rhythmic, as if it contained a special fluctuation. In fact, Linley was deeply immersed in training, and even when walking, his steps naturally resonated with the pulse of the earth.
"Truly a genius." Hiss praised in his heart.
After walking a short distance, Hiss saw the five Barker brothers. They were in an area covered by a yellow earthy light, lifting huge rocks the size of houses for training.
"Ha!"
The muscles on the five Barker brothers' bodies gleamed with an oily sheen, and their veins bulged like snakes, thick and powerful.
"Lord Hiss." The five Barker brothers saw Hiss and immediately stopped training.
"You five little fellows are training quite hard." Hiss smirked. "How's the training effect?"
The fourth brother, Butcher, said excitedly: "In the past, we felt no progress in our training, but training in the gravity spell area, not only our surface muscles but also our internal organs feel improvement."
In the gravity spell area, the pressure greatly increased.
Gravity acted on every part of the body, including internal organs and meridians.
"Very good. I took a big trip and finally brought back the handwritten copy of the secret manual I left in the polar region back then." Hiss flipped his hand, and a brand-new, relatively thin book appeared in his hand.
The five Barker brothers immediately stared at the secret manual with shining eyes.
"Is this the Undying Secret Manual?" The fifth brother, Gates, widened his eyes, staring at the book with burning intensity.
"Take it back." Hiss laughed.
The fifth brother, Gates, waved his hand like a blur, snatching the Undying Secret Manual back. Then he immediately opened it, and the other four also stared with eyes as big as cow's at the manual.
Five men as strong as bears huddled together, staring wide-eyed at a book.
This scene was indeed amusing.
"Haha." Hiss laughed. A smile also appeared on Linley's lips.
Hiss looked at Linley and said in a low voice: "Linley, I can see that these five brothers are like their ancestors, thick-skinned and simple-minded. If they were out alone, they would likely be easily deceived and tricked. I hope you will lead them."
"Lord Hiss, rest assured." Linley agreed.
After spending some time with the five Barker brothers, Linley found that they were the type who clearly distinguished between kindness and enmity, very straightforward. They cursed whoever they wanted to curse and didn't hide things in their hearts.
Linley liked this kind of personality—true temperament!
"Once they train in the Undying Secret Manual, their progress will likely be even faster. Reaching the ninth rank within a few years should be no problem." Hiss thought to himself.
Then he glanced at Linley.
"This Linley should be trustworthy."
In Hiss's eyes, Linley's importance was far less than that of the five Barkers. After all, the five Barker brothers were the descendants of Hiss's sworn brothers. Linley was merely a sculptor of the stone carvings Hiss liked.
For Linley, it was only appreciation.
For the five Barker brothers, it was affection like that for grandchildren.
*******
Hiss soon left. About half a year later, the mansion was completed, and Linley and the others moved in, beginning a long, peaceful period of training.
Besides Hiss, the only one who knew Linley was living here was probably Yale.
Yale had already sent people to regularly deliver information about the Radiant Church, basic news of the Yulan Continent, and news about Wharton to Linley every month.
Although he was in a rural town, Linley still knew about some events on the continent.
......
In a forest west of Cloud Peak Town, Linley was training alone.
Three years.
He had been training quietly in Cloud Peak Town for three full years. During these three years, the Radiant Church had been unable to find him, and Linley had immersed himself entirely in training, making great progress.
The wind rose, and withered leaves fell.
Linley looked up at the sky. High in the air, a Cyan Wind Eagle was flying swiftly with wings spread. A smile appeared on Linley's lips. He suddenly thrust the Black Heavy Sword into the air.
"Pfft."
Starting from Linley's Black Heavy Sword, faint ripples spread through the entire space. These spatial ripples rapidly propagated upward into the sky.
In the blink of an eye, they reached a height of a thousand meters.
"Pfft."
The fifth-rank magical beast, the Cyan Wind Eagle, trembled and then fell straight down.
"I've finally reached the realm of a hundredfold waves." A look of confidence appeared in Linley's eyes. "If I were to let Steller take a blow from me today, it wouldn't just be a minor injury."
Earth's Mystery of a Triple Wave!
Earth's Mystery of a Tenfold Wave!
Earth's Mystery of a Hundredfold Wave!
Spending three years, Linley's understanding of Earth's Mystery had reached an extremely profound level. His attack power had become terrifyingly strong.
From a thousand meters away, he could kill a fifth-rank magical beast.
Even a Saint-level powerhouse at the initial stage would find it difficult to do this, because battle qi continuously weakened during its flight through the air, dropping to a very low level after a certain distance.
Compared to battle qi, the 'vibration wave' was weakened during transmission, but the degree of weakening was far less than that of battle qi.
When he was at the triple-wave stage, Linley could kill a fifth-rank magical beast from a distance of at most ten meters. Beyond that, the vibration couldn't kill a fifth-rank beast.
At the tenfold-wave stage, within a hundred meters, he could kill a fifth-rank magical beast.
At the hundredfold-wave stage, the power increased geometrically. Not just a thousand meters, even two or three thousand meters was no problem.
This move was Linley's trump card, and he wouldn't use it lightly unless in a dangerous moment.
"But how do I break through in Wind's Mystery?" Linley moved his hand, inserting the Black Heavy Sword into the scabbard on his back. The Violet Blood Divine Sword appeared in his hand.
After three years of training, Linley had only comprehended the first stage of the fourth layer of the Violet Blood Soft Sword, 'Wind's Mystery'—'Wind's Fluctuation'.
"That's not right. Wind-type magic isn't just about speed, ethereality, and strangeness. Its single-target attack should also be very strong. How can I unleash 'Dimensional Edge' through the sword?"
Linley had a feeling.
'Dimensional Edge' could definitely be unleashed through the Violet Blood Soft Sword. But the path forward was shrouded in layers of mist, and Linley didn't know where to break through.
"Brother Linley, Brother Linley." Rebecca's crisp voice came from outside the forest.
Linley grabbed the neck of the Cyan Wind Eagle, lifted it, and walked out of the forest. This Cyan Wind Eagle would be everyone's extra meal today.
"Brother Linley, your letter. It just arrived." Rebecca smiled brightly at Linley.
"Oh?"
The monthly letter had arrived. Linley handed the Cyan Wind Eagle over: "Rebecca, we'll eat this Cyan Wind Eagle tonight." Saying this, Linley took the letter and tore open the envelope. (Chapter 2 has arrived!)