Chapter 114: A Joint Visit

By the time Lin Qi left the family’s secret treasury, dawn was just beginning to break. Blackbeard had vanished without a word, and Lin Qi went off in search of Enzo with the delighted excitement of a child who had just acquired a fascinating new toy.

The bitter wind still blew, but the heavy snow had stopped. The dim gray sky was darkening, and even the howling wind carried a murderous chill. Blade-sharp gusts swept across the earth with a shrill, slicing roar. Lin Qi forcefully exhaled several times, but the white clouds of breath that burst from his mouth were instantly scattered by the freezing wind.

Enzo was wearing nothing but a small pair of briefs. He carried a massive stone on his shoulders and ran at an even pace around the main residence. White steam rose from his body, and sweat drenched him from head to toe. Clearly, he had already been running for quite some time.

This was one of the habits Enzo had developed at the army academy. Every morning, he rose early without fail to exercise. Even during those days at sea aboard the Great Windmill, he would climb onto the deck at dawn and sprint back and forth hundreds of times.

Panting heavily, Enzo jogged slowly past Lin Qi. He bared his teeth in a grin, then continued running.

Enzo was extremely diligent. He always seized every spare moment to train and cultivate. Lin Qi, on the other hand, had never seriously devoted himself to bitter cultivation.

That was precisely the problem. Though Lin Qi never trained in earnest, his battle aura always advanced faster than Enzo’s. This had once been a source of great imbalance for Enzo. But after learning how vast and powerful Lin Qi’s family truly was, that small grievance had long since vanished. It was simply a privilege his leader was entitled to enjoy.

“Hey, Enzo!”

Lin Qi reached into his boot and rummaged around for a while before slowly pulling out a four-foot-long rapier.

The bizarre sight left Enzo momentarily stunned. His left foot caught against his right, and he nearly plunged headfirst into the ground. After stumbling forward several paces and finally regaining his balance, he tossed the great stone onto a nearby mound of snow and asked in astonishment, “How did you do that?”

“Just a little trick. Nothing worth mentioning!”

Lin Qi proudly flourished the sword, then tossed the rapier toward Enzo.

“Try it out. It’s a fine thing I got from my father—a magical weapon. See how it feels.”

A magical weapon?

Enzo’s lips parted, and a thread of saliva nearly slipped from the corner of his mouth. Could it really be a magical weapon? Instinctively, he thought of Aunt Lily’s terrifying spiked club. He caught the rapier Lin Qi threw him and examined it with ecstatic delight.

The blade was slender and elegant, possessing exactly the proportions a fine rapier should have. It was forged from some kind of special alloy, utterly unlike ordinary steel. Narrowing his eyes, Enzo leaned close and studied the blade along the line of its edge. Layer upon layer of uniform patterns, resembling dragon scales, covered the metal. Against the pale-steel surface, those scale-like designs glimmered with a faint blue-green hue.

Among the patterns, six pairs of runes flickered in and out of sight. Unless one stood very close to the blade, their existence would be impossible to detect.

Enzo gripped the hilt and gave the weapon a gentle sweep. Its length and weight were perfectly balanced. What surprised him most was that when he swung it, the rapier made not the slightest sound as it cut through the air. It was as though a fish were gliding through water—the air offered the blade no resistance whatsoever.

“Excellent, excellent!”

Enzo’s eyes narrowed with delight as he looked left and right, searching for something to use as a target.

Lin Qi thrust out his chest and suddenly shouted, “Aunt Lily! Do we have a calf ready in the kitchen? Throw one out here so we can test the sword!”

With a heavy crash, the distant kitchen door flew open. Aunt Lily emerged with a broad grin, carrying a young bull weighing more than a thousand pounds.

When she was still some thirty yards away, Aunt Lily exerted herself, lifted the calf overhead, and hurled it straight at Enzo.

Enzo was startled, but he quickly charged forward. His right hand drove the rapier ahead in a lightning thrust. His battle aura naturally flowed into the weapon, and a faint yellow radiance suddenly spread along the slender blade. Around the outer edge of that glow, a pale blue-green wind flickered indistinctly.

In that single instant, Enzo thrust eighteen times.

Every strike plunged deep into the bull’s body. Skull, spine, ribs, abdomen—each of the eighteen thrusts passed clean through. Even the bull’s hardest bone, its skull, was pierced effortlessly by the rapier.

What delighted Enzo even more was that as the blade pierced the animal, he felt not the slightest resistance.

There was no doubt about it: if he used this rapier to kill a man, he would feel no resistance either.

Throwing back his head, Enzo laughed loudly. He shifted aside and let the blood-spraying bull crash past him, then began fondling the miraculous magical rapier as though he could not bear to put it down.

Just moments ago, he had unleashed eighteen thrusts in succession—twice as fast as his previous limit. Clearly, the Gale spell imbued in the sword had given him enormous assistance. To deliver nine additional thrusts in the same amount of time—how much had his combat power increased? More than double. In fact, it had likely tripled.

Aunt Lily clapped her hands enthusiastically and praised him. “Not bad, lad! You handle that sword quite well. Hahaha! Though your battle aura is a little weak.”

She shook her head, warmly embraced Lin Qi, then hoisted the young bull with one hand and swaggered back toward the kitchen.

Enzo was struck speechless by Aunt Lily’s remark.

His battle aura was weak?

At his age, he had already reached the level of an Earth-ranked knight. Could that really be called weak?

Lin Qi grinned and moved closer to Enzo. From inside his boot, he produced a tiny medicine bottle containing two Panther Essence Pills.

Lowering his voice, he explained the pills’ extraordinary effects. Enzo’s eyes instantly shone like polished metal. He snatched the bottle from Lin Qi and hurriedly tucked it into his pocket.

Medicinal pills capable of expanding and stabilizing one’s meridians were legendary treasures. Even in the imperial capital’s auction houses, they were priceless and nearly impossible to obtain. The two pills were worth no less than two large estates—and perhaps considerably more.

Enzo looked at Lin Qi with gratitude. He was just about to say something embarrassingly sentimental when a sudden commotion erupted beyond the distant gate.

A moment later, the Butcher darted inside like a ghost. He glanced at Lin Qi and Enzo before saying gravely, “Go change and prepare yourselves. Three lords who stand as equals with the master in the Night Alliance have arrived together.”

Enzo stared blankly at Lin Qi.

What was the Night Alliance?

Lin Qi’s expression changed slightly. Of course he knew what the Night Alliance was. It was an alliance formed by all the dark forces along the northern coast of the continent. Lin Qi’s father, Blackbeard, was one of the Night Alliance’s thirteen Black-Robed Stewards. Anyone who stood as his equal was naturally a regional power like Blackbeard, a formidable lord who dominated his own territory.

For three such figures to arrive together was an event the Black Tiger Family had no choice but to treat with the utmost seriousness.

Pighead has finished today’s update and is off to bed. Good night, everyone!

There will be a major release on Monday!

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May Pighead’s laughter linger in your dreams!

C