Chapter 1: Delia and Linley
“Hoo! Hoo!” The cold wind howled, sweeping across the heavens and earth, with endless snowflakes filling the sky.
Delia, draped in a white fur robe, stood by the window quietly gazing at the world outside. Behind her were two magical beasts: the Earth Bear ‘Hatten’ and the Lightning Wind Eagle ‘Pare’. Neither beast made a sound.
A soft sigh escaped Delia’s lips.
“Father, Mother…” Delia’s face was full of bitter smiles. She truly hadn’t expected her parents to deceive her. Back then, they said her grandmother was gravely ill, but when she rushed back on the Lightning Wind Eagle, she found her grandmother was still healthy.
That night she returned…
Delia angrily confronted her parents: “Father, Mother, why did you trick me into coming back?”
Originally, Delia had wanted to keep following Linley.
Delia’s father, Dylin, said at the time: “Are you in love with that Dragonblood Warrior Linley? You haven’t accepted any other young men all these years you’ve been back—is it because of him?”
Delia was startled; she hadn’t told her father.
“How do you know?” Delia immediately asked.
Her mother sighed and said, “Delia, why don’t you tell us what’s on your mind? Your teacher, Master Rounds, told us after he returned to the empire. He asked us to prepare for your wedding with that Linley.”
Delia, who had been furious, suddenly felt shy.
Delia’s parents exchanged glances and shook their heads with bitter smiles. Her father, Dylin, said solemnly, “My dear daughter, I must tell you seriously now: you and Linley are impossible.”
“What?” Delia stared at her father.
Her father said sternly, “Delia, Linley’s younger brother is the husband of the Seventh Princess of the O’Brien Empire. Without a doubt, Linley is a Saint-level powerhouse of the O’Brien Empire. And you know the relationship between the O’Brien Empire and our Yulan Empire.”
“Yes, our Yulan Empire and the O’Brien Empire are the two most powerful empires on the continent, hostile to each other. But what does that have to do with me and Linley?” Delia said indignantly. “Do you think, Father, that being with Linley would affect our family?”
“Yes.”
Dylin nodded. “A family’s rise to power… If you marry Linley, and once our Yulan Empire and the O’Brien Empire engage in a large-scale war, the empire won’t dare to fully trust our Ryan family.”
Delia was furious now.
She found her father’s reasoning ridiculous.
“Delia, think about it. If you were the emperor, and you discovered that a child from a major family in the empire had married a Saint-level powerhouse from an enemy nation, wouldn’t you worry about that family betraying you?” Dylin said gravely.
Delia was speechless.
She had no retort, because history had precedents. In the past, a noble lady from a family in the Luo’ao Empire married the king of a kingdom on the Far East Prairie, and later the entire family defected and joined that prairie kingdom. Don’t think the Luo’ao Empire was much stronger than the prairie kingdom.
The Far East Prairie had three major kingdoms.
The prairie people were naturally fierce, each one a born warrior. Though their population was far smaller than the neighboring Luo’ao Empire and Rhine Empire, these three kingdoms had fought those two empires for so long without being at a disadvantage.
“Father, me and Linley…” Delia tried to say.
Dylin interrupted, “Delia, everything… Our Ryan family has accumulated over a thousand years to reach its current status. If you marry Linley, His Majesty might not do anything to our family, but it’s obvious… His Majesty’s trust in our family will decrease!”
“Once trust decreases, many of our family’s children will find it much harder to get promoted in the military and government.” Dylin sighed. “Delia, I hope you’ll consider the family.”
“But Father, Linley isn’t aligned with the O’Brien Empire. He’s already gone to the Chaos Territory!” Delia quickly said.
“The Chaos Territory?” Dylin was taken aback.
Delia hurriedly explained, “Yes, Father. Linley’s ambitions aren’t in the O’Brien Empire. He wants to make his mark in the Chaos Territory. He’ll only belong to the Chaos Territory in the future. Father… the Chaos Territory isn’t hostile to our empire, is it?”
Dylin was silent for a moment, then slowly nodded.
Indeed, the only empire on the continent that could rival the Yulan Empire was the O’Brien Empire. As for the Chaos Territory, a chaotic place with dozens of duchies coexisting, who would see it as a threat?
“If Linley truly carves out his own territory in the Chaos Territory, then marrying him shouldn’t be a big problem,” Dylin said slowly. These words, like heavenly music, made Delia breathe a huge sigh of relief.
Dylin looked at Delia and said sternly, “You… unless one day, in the eyes of the imperial clan, Linley is no longer considered part of the O’Brien Empire, only then can you be with him. Otherwise, absolutely not.”
“Father, I understand.” Delia also loved her parents, her grandparents, her brother, her cousin, and many other relatives. She didn’t want to break with her family.
Dylin nodded slightly. “For now, you’d better stay in the imperial capital and not go looking for that Linley.”
…
Recalling that night’s conversation, Delia let out another soft sigh. She knew clearly… Linley was already a Saint-level powerhouse with nearly infinite lifespan. She herself was now a seventh-level magus; cultivating like this, her lifespan would also be very long.
She wasn’t in a hurry for a year or two.
Gazing through the window toward the northeast, goose-feather snow drifted and swirled, blurring everything between heaven and earth. But Delia’s gaze seemed to pierce through space to the distant Chaos Territory, seeing Blacksoil City…
*******
Outside Blacksoil City, teams were running with heavy loads on the black soil, with officers beside each team constantly shouting: “Hurry up, hurry up, don’t fall behind. Damn it, anyone who falls behind won’t get breakfast.”
On a raised hillock, the fourth of the five brothers, ‘Boon’, and the fifth, ‘Gates’, were only wearing trousers, their muscular upper bodies bare, supervising everywhere.
During this period, Blacksoil City hadn’t been conquering territory, only training troops. The cities around Blacksoil City all felt its threat, and those city lords were nervous. But they didn’t dare start a war.
Suddenly, Linley walked over, watching the soldiers train as he headed toward Gates and Boon.
“Lord, how is it?” Gates said proudly.
Linley nodded with satisfaction. “Very good. By the way, when do you plan to start attacking the surrounding cities?” Linley didn’t interfere with war and such matters. He only stepped in at the final moment.
Boon grinned honestly. “Lord, we haven’t attacked yet, but some people from those cities have already come to surrender, saying they’ll cooperate with us from within.”
“Oh? Is that so?” Linley smiled too.
Gates quickly said, “Of course it’s true! Lord, you don’t know, after news of our five brothers’ strength spread, many surrounding cities got scared. Dealing with those cities doesn’t even need the army—just a few of us brothers charging in would be easy!”
Linley smiled.
For these small cities, a single expert could indeed decide everything. After all, cities like Blacksoil City only had a few thousand soldiers. A few thousand weren’t enough for a ninth-level warrior to kill. A ninth-level warrior could directly kill the leader and make everyone surrender!
But attacking duchies or something was different.
A duchy might have a hundred thousand troops. If they later fought the Radiant Church, the enemy might have even more… Facing a human wave tactic, how many could a warrior expert kill? Magicians would be far more useful then.
But unless it was a Saint-level magician, during human wave tactics, the quality and capability of both sides’ soldiers were the main factors.
“What’s this training?” Linley frowned, looking at the scattered squads.
Boon explained, “Lord, this is training divided by each company, with a company of three hundred as a small group. Each company’s captain and six squad leaders supervise and train together. This way, the effect is much better.”
Gates and Boon had trained troops in the eighteen duchies of the Northlands and knew how to do it.
*******
After returning to Blacksoil City to check on developments, Linley went back to Blackcloud Mountain.
Linley’s figure, like a wisp of smoke, drifted into the depths of Blackcloud Mountain. His dwelling there was in the middle of a beautiful lake, on a flat boulder dozens of meters wide. Linley had found it in the mountain, split it with a sword, moved it, and dropped it into the lake as a foundation.
In the center of the lake, the boulder’s surface was only about half a meter above the water. Linley had built a wooden cabin on it.
“Bebe, what are you doing?” Linley walked across the water, drifting to the center, but he suddenly noticed Bebe’s small body digging at the edge of the boulder.
“Boss!” Bebe turned to Linley with a grin, his little claws quickly scraping the boulder’s edge, sending stone chips flying. “I’m making steps! I’ll carve a few steps here, leading into the water. Then I can lie on the steps, half in the water—so comfortable! I’m smart, aren’t I, boss?”
Linley laughed.
“Plop—” One claw swipe, and the sixth step was done. Each step was about ten centimeters high, and this one finally entered the water. Bebe sat on the bottom step, his limbs splashing casually, looking very content.
Linley smiled, then looked at some scattered rocks on the shore. He waved his hand—
“Whoosh!” A fierce wind howled, and a terrifying whirlwind easily lifted a man-sized boulder from afar, bringing it before Linley. The beautiful environment of Blackcloud Mountain calmed Linley’s mood, and he unconsciously thought of the person he cared about.
A slight smile curled at the corner of Linley’s mouth.
He took out a flat chisel and began carving on the boulder. Stone chips flew, and gradually, a rough human shape appeared. Bebe, his little paws resting on the steps, looked up at the stone carving.
“Ooh, boss, you’re carving a woman! Ha, I know—it must be Delia!” Bebe chirped playfully.
But Linley was completely absorbed in the carving. The chisel moved swiftly as lightning at times, gently as a soft breeze at others. With his master-level carving skill, Linley could perfectly express what was in his heart.
Rough shaping, fine detailing… Linley carved with all his heart.
From morning until the evening of the next day—a full two days and one night—Linley finally stopped the chisel.
“Hoo!” Linley let out a soft breath, and fine stone chips flew. The carved woman had a unique heroic spirit, especially her eyes… making the statue seem alive.
Linley looked at the carving with satisfaction, then gazed toward the southwest, thinking to himself: “Delia should have received my letter by now.”
PS: Sorry, only one chapter today. I owe you all one. Later, Tomato will post a free chapter to discuss some important matters.
A Letter to Readers
Tomato has been writing novels for nearly three years now.
Writing novels is a very enjoyable thing for Tomato. I love writing! Tomato has always tried to describe the worlds and stories in my imagination through words, and just like that, I’ve written nearly seven million words.
Seven million words—if someone had told me three years ago I could write that much, I wouldn’t have believed it myself.
Tomato needs to thank everyone.
Starting from “Legend of the Star Peak,” the rise of “Cun Mang,” the glory of “Stellar Transformations,” all the way to “Coiling Dragon.” The results of “Coiling Dragon” have been very good too. The new book had 180,000 public collections, and 24-hour subscriptions exceeded 20,000. Tomato is very content. I’ve always been grateful.
…
In September, Tomato said he wanted to sprint for first place in the monthly ticket rankings.
At the beginning, Tomato was indeed very passionate, with continuous bursts of updates. But recently, you’ve probably noticed that over the past seven or eight days, I haven’t been pushing for monthly tickets as hard as before. Because… I’m tired. Tired of campaigning for votes. Tired of the series of problems that come with it.
The most headache-inducing is the comment section. The insults toward Tomato have reached a hysterical level.
Tomato’s character, humanity, and so on have all been slandered.
Tomato asks himself: From my first book, “Legend of the Star Peak,” to the current “Coiling Dragon,” my update speed has always been relatively steady. If Tomato says I’ll update, I update. I never stockpile chapters! What I owe, I repay. If I say I’ll burst with updates for twelve consecutive days or seven consecutive days, I keep my word.
Everyone should have a fair judgment of Tomato’s character.
As for deleting posts in the comment section, Tomato did grant moderators that authority. There’s no choice—I read the comments every day. I can’t “ignore the comments.” Being attacked repeatedly sometimes really hurts me and makes my mood sink.
Tomato is tired.
Tired of all of this.
From today on, I won’t force the monthly ticket issue. Maybe one day when I’m passionate and burst with updates, I’ll shout for monthly tickets. Probably just the old routine—occasional bursts at the beginning and end of the month. Normally… forget it. I’m tired of campaigning, and you all get tired seeing me campaign. Many people even curse.
Tomato knows that shouting a few times casually won’t get me first place on the monthly ticket list.
I don’t want to compete anymore. I just want to write novels quietly.
“Coiling Dragon” is a book I’ve planned for a long time and poured a lot of effort into. I don’t want external factors to affect it.
“Coiling Dragon,” protagonist Linley, from his youth as a genius, to the blow of his father’s death setting him on a path of revenge, to three years of fugitive-like bitter cultivation, five years of quiet seclusion… only then did he begin to rise in the O’Brien Empire.
After many trials, he truly grows.
The new volume, “Baruch,” has begun. This volume is named after Linley’s surname, indicating that Linley will reach his true peak. Likewise, this volume will reveal all the hidden aspects of the continent. And in this volume… Linley’s feelings will find their final destination!