Chapter 3: Provocation
The Emperor of the Empire, 'Joan', had long heard of Linley's great reputation.
That second-greatest magical genius in history, as well as the unparalleled genius who had reached the level of a Grandmaster Sculptor at merely sixteen. Back then, when Joan learned of Linley's deeds, he was full of admiration.
When he saw Linley enter.
"Truly an impressive talent." Joan praised inwardly. Whether it was his height and proportions, or his restrained aura, in Joan's eyes, he indeed possessed a special temperament befitting a Grandmaster Sculptor.
"Greetings, Your Majesty." Linley said with a slight bow.
"How insolent." The personal court attendant serving beside Emperor Joan said in a shrill voice, "When meeting His Majesty, you dare not perform the kneeling bow?"
Linley's icy gaze swept over. The court attendant felt as if he were being stared at by a venomous snake and couldn't help but shiver.
"Masters like Linley are people I have long admired. There is naturally no need for them to perform the kneeling bow." Emperor Joan glanced at the attendant beside him, who immediately fell silent.
In the O'Brien Empire, ordinary ministers were required to perform a single-knee kneeling bow. However, someone like Bloom, a personally taught disciple of the War God, only needed to bow slightly.
"Wharton." Emperor Joan looked at Wharton beside Linley. "I've long heard you had such an older brother. Why have you only brought him today?"
Wharton immediately said, "Your Majesty, my elder brother only arrived in the Imperial Capital not long ago."
Emperor Joan nodded calmly, then looked at Linley with a smile. "I heard that Master Linley, when you were seventeen, you were already a seventh-rank dual-element magus. Ten years have passed. I wonder what level you have reached now?"
Linley smiled faintly. "After ten years of hard training, I only just stepped into the threshold of the ninth rank a few days ago."
"A ninth-rank Grand Magus?" Joan was taken aback.
"Oh?" A surprised exclamation came from behind. Linley glanced at the screen behind Joan. When he entered this room, Linley had already sensed two ninth-rank experts hiding there—one a magus and one a warrior.
Emperor Joan looked behind him.
Those two knew their presence had been detected and both walked out. One wore a loose magus robe, and the other wore typical warrior attire.
"These two are my personal guards. They too were astonished by Master Linley's progress." Emperor Joan said with a faint smile.
"A ninth-rank dual-element Grand Magus. May I ask how old Linley is?" The silver-haired magus stared at Linley. As a magus, he naturally knew how difficult it was to increase spiritual energy.
In history, there were warriors who reached the Saint-level in their twenties. Yes, there were more than ten.
However, in history, no Grand Magus who reached the ninth rank was under thirty. The increase of spiritual energy could not be faked; it required steady, step-by-step growth.
"My brother is twenty-seven this year." Wharton spoke up.
"Twenty-seven!" Upon hearing this number, the ninth-rank magus's expression was very interesting.
History was history. History recorded countless geniuses over tens of thousands of years, all calculated uniformly. There were some who reached the ninth rank in their thirties. But those were all ancient people. In the present day, over the past few centuries, not a single person had reached the ninth rank in their thirties.
But—
"Twenty-seven, twenty-seven!" The silver-haired old man laughed self-deprecatingly. "I reached the ninth-rank Grand Magus at one hundred and seventy, and I thought I was doing well. But compared to Master Linley..."
The silver-haired old man shook his head and sighed deeply.
The gap was not ordinary.
"Master Gehu, what was the youngest age at which a ninth-rank Grand Magus broke through in history?" Emperor Joan immediately pressed.
The silver-haired old man said respectfully, "Your Majesty, according to historical records, the youngest ninth-rank Grand Magus in history was an unparalleled genius from over thirty thousand years ago. He broke through at the age of thirty-two. And from the first year of the Yulan calendar to the present, the most exceptional magical genius only stepped into the threshold of the ninth rank at the age of thirty-five."
Cultivating battle qi—if one obtained some heavenly treasure, their battle qi might surge dramatically.
Comprehension could also come in a single moment of enlightenment.
There were warriors who reached the Saint-level in their twenties. History had them!
But spiritual energy was not something that could be increased at will. Even with the carving of the Flat Needle School, Linley had only broken through once at sixteen. For the ten years after that, he had trained steadily and diligently, growing continuously until he finally reached the ninth rank.
"I heard that Master Linley is not only a magus but also a formidable warrior?" Emperor Joan smiled at Linley.
Linley smiled faintly and said, "Your Majesty, you can have the person beside you test that."
The ninth-rank warrior's mouth twitched. "Could it be that Master Linley is truly such a genius that he has also reached the ninth-rank warrior level?"
"Master Lanxi, go ahead and try. But be careful—Master Linley is from the Dragonblood Warrior clan." Emperor Joan said with a smile.
This Master Lanxi directly drew the pitch-black broadsword from his back.
Linley simply flipped his hand, and the Violet Blood Divine Sword appeared in his grasp. Against a ninth-rank warrior, he didn't even need to transform.
"Hmph." A layer of hazy, dreamlike starlight appeared on the surface of Master Lanxi's broadsword. "Master Lanxi is a disciple of the Starlight Sword Saint." Emperor Joan explained from the side.
Starlight Sword Saint?
Linley didn't even care about the Starlight Sword Saint, let alone his disciple.
"This work is exclusively published by. Reprinting, excerpting, or compiling without permission is prohibited. For more latest chapters, please visit 6'!" Pfft— The broadsword seemed to tear through space itself, carrying boundless power as it slashed directly at Linley. Linley didn't move from his spot. The Violet Blood Soft Sword in his hand merely flashed—
Master Lanxi only felt a violet light filling the entire world, and the surrounding space seemed to lock him in place.
"Bang!" The flat side of the Violet Blood Soft Sword struck Lanxi's body. Lanxi flew backward, crashing heavily into the stone screen behind him. The screen exploded, and Lanxi spat blood as he fell to the ground.
Lanxi pushed himself up from the ground. There was no arrogance in his eyes now; instead, he said gratefully, "Thank you, Master Linley, for going easy on me." If the flat side of the sword had such power, if it had been the blade, he would have been dead for sure.
"It was just a spar." Linley said casually.
"Master Linley has already comprehended the level of drawing upon the power of heaven and earth. My teacher said that to reach the Saint-level, one must comprehend this layer. I am far too inferior to Master Linley." Lanxi was self-aware.
The feeling of being locked in by space—he had also felt it when sparring with his teacher.
Emperor Joan narrowed his eyes.
The intelligence reports on the Dragonblood Warriors were detailed. In human form, being able to reach the ninth rank was already extraordinary. But if one could reach the Saint-level in human form, then when they transformed, they would be invincible among Saint-levels.
"Saint-level..."
In Emperor Joan's heart, Linley's status was continuously rising.
"Haha... Master Linley, you are truly the most remarkable genius I have ever seen. Even Olivier is far inferior." Emperor Joan laughed loudly.
Olivier might match Linley in terms of warrior ability.
But in magic? The greatest genius in history—who could compare?
In sculpture? A Grandmaster Sculptor at sixteen—anyone who loved sculpture would worship him!
Reaching the pinnacle in any single aspect was already extremely rare. But reaching the pinnacle in three aspects could only be described with the word 'genius'.
"Your Majesty." Linley didn't want to waste time with Joan. "I have just arrived in the Imperial Capital and am not very clear about many matters here. But I know of Princess Nina. As the Patriarch of the Baruch clan, I would like to ask Your Majesty... would you be willing to marry Nina into my Baruch clan?"
Back when Hogg died, Linley had become the Patriarch of the Baruch clan.
But this so-called patriarch ruled over a clan of only two people.
"This..." Emperor Joan was caught off guard by Linley's sudden attack.
Indeed, Linley was a talent that Joan found very tempting.
In the entire O'Brien Empire, there were many Saint-level warriors, especially from the War God's Gate. But Saint-level Archmagi were few and far between. Those who obeyed the imperial family's commands numbered only a pitiful one.
A Saint-level Archmage might not have much deterrent power in individual combat.
But in war, the deterrent power of a Saint-level Archmage was terrifying.
Just imagine—letting a Saint-level Archmage go directly to your Imperial Capital and unleash a forbidden-level destruction spell. The losses would be immense. Your painstakingly built million-strong army could be wiped out by a single forbidden spell, 'Annihilating Storm'.
At twenty-seven, reaching the ninth-rank dual-element Grand Magus.
With such a magical genius, if anyone said Linley couldn't become a Saint-level Archmage, Joan would probably curse them for having a problem with their brain.
"Such talent."
A Saint-level Archmage was far more attractive than a Saint-level warrior.
"Master Linley, allow me to think it over." Emperor Joan's attitude was exceptionally good.
"Then I will await Your Majesty's decision at my younger brother's residence." Linley said with a faint smile. "Your Majesty, I will take my leave now."
"Master Linley, why not dine with me?" Emperor Joan quickly said.
"Thank you for the gracious offer, Your Majesty, but I have important matters to attend to." Linley said with a smile. Emperor Joan's face showed a hint of disappointment, but he didn't insist. "Then another time."
...
Linley and Wharton walked through the palace. Wharton was very excited. "Brother, I've never seen His Majesty so humble. Not even with Bloom has he been like this."
"The O'Brien Empire has many Saint-level warriors, but very few Saint-level Archmagi." Linley said with a faint smile. "He probably values my magical talent."
A twenty-seven-year-old ninth-rank dual-element Grand Magus.
If word got out, it would scare people to death.
No one knew how terrifying Linley's future would be.
"Judging by His Majesty's expression, I think he'll be thinking it over carefully. In all my time in the empire, I've never heard of a Saint-level Archmage." Wharton sighed.
Saint-level Archmagi in the O'Brien Empire were far too rare.
"Hmm?" Wharton suddenly looked at someone in the distance.
Seeing Wharton stop, Linley asked in confusion, "What are you looking at?"
"Oh, it's you, Wharton. Going to see His Majesty?" A cold voice sounded. Linley also looked over. With just one glance, Linley judged that the young man in front of him was also quite strong.
"Bloom, where are you going?" Wharton said coldly.
Wharton was familiar with the palace, especially the residence of the Seventh Princess, Nina. The direction Bloom was heading was exactly toward Nina's residence.
Bloom smiled indifferently. "What? Can't I go see Princess Nina?"
"See Princess Nina?" Wharton suddenly calmed down. "Bloom, I'd wager you couldn't even get through the main gate."
Indeed.
When Bloom went to see Nina, Nina simply closed the main gate and refused to see him.
Bloom couldn't help but feel a surge of anger. In his life, aside from admiring his own elder brother, he had never truly respected anyone. Especially now that he had become a personally taught disciple of the War God, his confidence had only grown.
"That's right, I didn't get in." Bloom's voice was low.
Wharton smiled faintly. "Bloom, do you think that just because you became a personally taught disciple of the War God, you can definitely marry Nina? Dream on! Brother, let's go—"
Linley shook his head with a faint smile and turned to leave with Wharton.
"Stop!" Bloom suddenly shouted.
"Oh?" Wharton turned to look at him. "May I ask, personally taught disciple of the War God, do you have something else?"
Bloom stared at him coldly. "Wharton, I've heard you're from the Dragonblood Warrior clan and that your strength after transformation is remarkable. But I don't believe it. Today, I formally challenge you. Do you dare to accept?"
Linley narrowed his eyes.
Wharton was stunned for a moment, then laughed loudly. "Why wouldn't I dare?"
"One month from now, at the Imperial Capital's 'Arena of Combat'. I will invite His Majesty and the senior brothers of the War God's Gate to preside. If you don't have the guts, you can forfeit." Bloom said coldly.
Then, without another glance at Wharton, Bloom walked away.