Coiling Dragon (Pan Long)

Wharton was stunned by this sudden news.

Wharton truly wanted to be able to openly wed Nina in the imperial capital, rather than elope with her.

“Caylan, is this information of yours true?” Linley stared at Caylan, asking urgently.

Caylan nodded solemnly. “Master Linley, although his Imperial Majesty hasn’t publicly proclaimed it yet, this information came from my father’s conversation with his Imperial Majesty. Master Linley, I trust you can judge for yourself the authenticity of this news.”

Linley nodded slightly.

There was no need for the Imperial Left Premier to lie to his own son. And, given Linley’s spiritual energy as an Arch Magus of the ninth rank, if Caylan were currently lying, Linley should be able to sense something.

“No matter what happens, we brothers would like to thank you for your assistance, Caylan.” Linley said in thanks.

Only now did Wharton’s mind become clear again. He too said gratefully towards Caylan, “Caylan, thank you for notifying us.”

“No need to thank me. I just hope that in the future, Nina will have a happy life. Alright, I need to leave.” Caylan bowed slightly towards Linley and Wharton, then left.

Wharton watched Caylan leave, then suddenly turned towards Linley. “Big bro. What should we do?” Wharton’s mind was in chaos.

“What should we do?” Linley spoke with absolute conviction. “For now, we immediately begin moving the household out of the imperial capital.”

Linley stared coldly in the direction of the imperial palace. “We are out of options. I will immediately instruct people to speak with Yale and have him come. Right now, we’ll have to use the secret channels of the Dawson Conglomerate to take Rebecca, Leena, Jenne, and Uncle Hillman’s family members out of the imperial capital. And, ideally the Emperor must not discover that they’ve left.”

In truth, it wouldn’t be too big of a deal even if the Emperor did find out.

Even if Emperor Johann was suspicious of Linley, so what? Would he dare to offend Linley? He himself was not the War God, after all. And even if he dared to offend Linley…who under his command was actually capable of dealing with Linley?

…..

That very day, Linley invited Yale over. After discussing the issue for quite some time with Yale, Yale immediately slapped his chest and promised, “Third Bro, don’t worry about it. It’s just a few people. There definitely won’t be any issues.”

Yale then laughed. “Actually, Third Bro. Even if the Emperor found out, he would pretend he didn’t know.”

Linley smiled as well.

He had reached the Saint-level. Although the status of the Emperor was very high, Linley didn’t have any fear of the man. In truth, the only person Linley was afraid of was that man who was residing on War God Mountain.

“Still, try to avoid being discovered.” Linley instructed.

……..

Although, Jenne, Rebecca, and Leena were reluctant to leave, they knew that they would meet again with Linley’s group later, and thus they followed the directives of the Dawson Conglomerate and quietly left the imperial capital.

Actually, Linley and Wharton hadn’t given up all hope yet.

They hoped that on March 15th, Emperor Johann would choose Wharton at the Martial Palace. Although the chance was very low…it was still possible that Emperor Johann might change his mind.

After all, Nina eloping with Wharton meant parting with her family. As for Wharton, he, Housekeeper Hiri, and Hillman had all become very comfortable and used to living in the imperial capital. Unless it was absolutely necessary, they didn’t want to take the final step.

….

Each day passed, and March 15th drew nearer as well. The streets, hotels, and restaurants of the imperial capital were once again filled with discussion regarding Wharton, Blumer, and their older brothers.

Everyone was trying to guess who would be the one to wed the Imperial Seventh Princess.

The hoped for day of March 15th finally arrived. That morning, a rare snowstorm actually descended on the imperial capital early in the morning. Even though the sun came up at seven or eight, it was still hard to see anything farther than ten meters away.

“Whew.” Standing outside his manor, Wharton let out a long breath.

These past few days, he had been under a lot of mental pressure.

“Enough. We’ll know the answer today. Relax.” Linley laughed, clapping Wharton on the shoulder. Wharton turned his head to look at his older brother. Looking at Linley, Wharton felt as though Linley were his strongest source of support. With Linley there, Wharton felt a sense of confidence.

“Right.” Wharton nodded strongly.

Linley and Wharton immediately got on their carriages, heading in the direction of the imperial palace. Because of the snowstorm, the carriages advanced very slowly. In addition, there were many carriages heading towards the imperial palace this day.

At the gates of the imperial palace.

One carriage after another stopped at the gates, and the various nobles exited their carriages and exchanged pleasantries with each other.

“Lord Olivier has arrived.” Seeing Olivier and Blumer walk out of the carriage together, many of the nobles and ministers outside the gates welcomed them warmly.

Seeing the nobles and ministers walk towards him as soon as he left the carriage, Olivier couldn’t help but frown.

“Second brother, let’s go inside.” Olivier didn’t so much as glance at the nobles as he emitted a wave of force from his body, directly pushing aside the oncoming nobles and senior ministers, yet not harming them in the slightest.

The nobles and ministers all exchanged glances. They couldn’t help but be surprised.

“Your Lordship, we’ve arrived.” A carriage-driver’s voice rang out, and then Wharton and Linley exited the carriage. This time, the nobles and ministers very wisely did not try to draw too near. They just called out words of welcome at a safe distance.

Linley and Wharton didn’t pay too much attention to those nobles either, heading directly for the palace.

“Linley.” Olivier came to a halt, turning his head and bidding Linley welcome.

“Olivier.” Linley still felt a degree of respect towards a powerful rival such as Olivier. Nobody could reach such a level of power without focusing for many years on painstakingly training one’s self.

Linley, Wharton, Olivier, and Blumer walked forward in a line, heading towards the Martial Palace together.

“Linley, that day, at the Colosseum…to be honest, I really wanted to keep fighting with you.” A friendly smile appeared on Olivier’s face.

“Oh? Then why did you give up the chance? I refuse to believe you were afraid of Haydson.” Linley said with a calm laugh.

Olivier and Linley had both sensed each other’s power. Although that day, they had been forced aside by Haydson, aside from Haydson’s power, one of the main reasons they had been forced aside was because they had not yet allowed their attacks to explode at full power.

“It wasn’t that I was afraid of Haydson. It was more that…challenging Haydson was the goal I set for myself six years ago. After mastering the obsidian sword, I absolutely must challenge him.” Olivier glanced at him. “At the Colosseum, I very much hoped to continue to do battle with you. But this battle must come after my battle with Haydson.”

“I don’t want to let Haydson know the secrets to my obsidian sword technique. If I were to battle you with it, wouldn’t I be exposing myself to him?” A hint of a smile was on Olivier’s face. “I really want to see if the ‘Monolithic Sword Saint’ Haydson, famed for his defensive abilities, can withstand my attack.”

Linley nodded.

“In the duel between myself and the Monolithic Sword Saint roughly a month from now, who do you think will win?” Olivier suddenly asked.

Linley paused for a moment.

That day, Linley had seen the layer of flowing black energy on the obsidian sword’s blade. It gave off a very strange sensation. Linley was very confident in his own adamantine heavy sword, but he wasn’t necessarily confident in his ability to withstand his opponent’s blow.”

“It’s possible for either you or the Monolithic Sword Saint to win. But I think the Monolithic Sword Saint, Haydson, has a higher chance of winning. After all, in all these years, no Saint-level expert has been able to beat him. For him to be able to accomplish such a feat means that he surely has some power to rely on.” Linley said impartially.

Olivier nodded. “Right. I admit, six years ago, when I dueled with Haydson, he only revealed a portion of his true power. Haydson…his power is unfathomably deep. But I am filled with confidence towards my obsidian sword as well. No matter how strong his defense is, he shouldn’t be able to withstand it.”

Linley laughed.

How could it be that this Olivier was so similar to him? He himself had that same sort of confidence in his adamantine heavy sword.

“What sort of attack does your obsidian sword possess? Why are you so confident in it?” Linley asked curiously.

Olivier laughed. “My obsidian sword?” Olivier looked at Linley. Pausing for a moment, he said, “I can tell you this. You should know by now that the technique of my obsidian sword is based on my insights into the Elemental Laws of Darkness.”

Linley nodded.

“Thus, in addition to astonishing penetrative power and attack power, my obsidian sword also possesses a spiritual attack.” Olivier said directly with confidence.

“Spiritual attack?” Linley was shocked.

Darkness-style magic did indeed include spirit-based curses. The Elemental Laws of Darkness included all sorts of soul-related properties. But for Olivier to be able to develop a spiritual attack with his obsidian sword based on his insights into these laws was indeed astonishing.

“Perhaps the ordinary, physical attacks of the obsidian sword are very easy to defend against, but the assault on the spirit…ordinary defenses are virtually useless against it. I want to see how Haydson can block it!”

As Olivier spoke, a look of excitement appeared on Blumer’s face as well.

Linley had to admit…

The obsidian sword was indeed very terrifying.

“How frightening. To directly attack the spirit…” Linley was amazed at the power of this technique as well.

“The more powerful one’s spirit is, the greater the chance that they will be able to block this attack. But warriors generally do not have very powerful spiritual energy. Even Saint-level warriors usually don’t have as much spiritual energy as an Arch Magus of the ninth rank.” Olivier was very confident.

Warriors had far less spiritual energy than magi of the same rank.

This technique was aimed precisely at the weak point of warriors.

“Linley. What about the attack for your technique?” Olivier asked as well.

Blumer also looked at Linley. Right now, a hint of arrogance was in Blumer’s eyes. He was certain that Linley wouldn’t be able to match up to his big brother.

Linley didn’t try to hide anything. He said directly. “My technique with the adamantine heavy sword also renders exterior defenses useless. It directly strikes against the internal organs in the opponent’s body.”

“Renders defenses useless?” Olivier’s face changed.

Generally speaking, experts would slowly build up their spiritual energy. On the path to gaining insight into the Laws, their rate of growth in spiritual energy would increase rapidly. For example, Haydson’s spiritual energy should be able to match an Arch Magus of the ninth rank.

But the internal organs were different.

Although it was easy to train one’s muscles, it was extremely hard to train the heart or the intestines. They could only absorb a little bit of elemental essence, which would slightly fortify the heart and the organs.

If one’s organs were destroyed, one would definitely die.

“Renders exterior defenses useless and strikes directly at the insides of the body…” Olivier felt admiration in his heart towards Linley as well. This sort of attack was simply too bizarre, yet Linley had managed to develop it.

Linley similarly felt admiration towards Olivier. The obsidian sword was able to attack someone’s spirit!

……..

The nobles and ministers behind them, upon seeing Linley and Olivier chatting on seemingly amicable terms, couldn’t help but feel surprised.

Soon, Linley and the others arrived outside the Martial Palace.

Linley and Olivier glanced at each other, then led their younger brothers into the Martial Palace together. Actually, even though they had described their ultimate attacks to each other, the attacks would still be very hard to defend against.

Both the spirit and the internal organs were definitely vital points. This was why these two geniuses were so confident, and why they weren’t afraid of telling their rival their secret.

So what if I tell you? Let’s see if you can do anything about it!

…………

Quite a few people were gathered in the Martial Palace. Upon Linley and Wharton entering the palace, a palace attendant immediately walked over. “Lord Linley, his Imperial Majesty has already arranged a seat for you. Please take a seat over there.”

Ordinary ministers had to remain standing, but Linley did not.

Linley calmly sat down, while Olivier was also led to a seat by a palace attendant. The eyes of the various nobles and ministers in the palace were all focused on Linley and Olivier with a hint of respect and dread.

“Linley, who do you think his Imperial Majesty will select?” Olivier chatted casually with Linley, as though those watching nobles and ministers weren’t present at all.

“My younger brother Wharton, of course.” Linley said directly.

Olivier glanced at Linley. “I don’t think I agree. Oh, his Imperial Majesty has arrived.” Linley and Olivier both looked towards the palace gates. At that moment, a number of palace attendants, the Empress, the Imperial Consorts, and seven princesses entered the palace alongside his Imperial Majesty, Emperor Johann.