Coiling Dragon (Pan Long)

That adorable looking bear laughed as well. “Right, right. As soon as Delia knew that Linley fellow was here, she immediately started scheming to come as well.”

“Big Yellow, do you want to die?” Delia grabbed the big bear by his ear.

“It doesn’t hurt. Haha. It doesn’t hurt.” The big bear said delightedly.

“Hrmph.” Delia wrinkled her nose and pouted. “Big Yellow, I know you are powerful, alright? You are a Worldbear and you have thick skin. You aren’t afraid of me twisting your ears.” As she spoke, she walked over to stand next to the middle-aged man and ignored the bear.

The big bear rubbed its head, said in a deep, adorable voice, “Delia, don’t be angry. It was my mistake, alright?”

Delia looked at him and started to laugh.

“Hatton [Ha’dun], Delia is just teasing you. She won’t get angry that easily.” The middle-aged man said with a calm laugh, and then he turned to stare at the skies. “Parry [Pa’lei] is coming back.”

From the skies, a hawk with wingspan of five or six meters came swooping towards the ship at high speed. This hawk was extremely fast, and it seemed to move at the speed of lightning. Its eyes were golden, and it had a crest of blue feathers atop its head. It appeared very fierce.

This was a magical beast of the ninth rank – the Wildthunder Stormhawk.

The soldiers on the ship did not attempt to block it. Clearly, they recognized this Wildthunder Stormhawk, which flew directly towards and landed next to Delia and the others.

“Little Wind, did you catch anything?” Delia devotedly rubbed the head of the Wildthunder Stormhawk.

Retracting its wings, the Wildthunder Stormhawk stood up, rising to its full height of 2 meters high. Right now, the Wildthunder Stormhawk was enjoying Delia’s attention, closing its eyes as Delia continued stroking its head.

“Parry, get over here.” The big bear said unhappily.

The Wildthunder Stormhawk glanced at the big bear, then obediently moved over to it. The Worldbear was a Saint-level magical beast, and an extremely powerful type at that.

Actually, both the Worldbear as well as the Wildthunder Stormhawk were the magical beast companions of that middle aged man, a Saint-level Grand Magus of the Yulan Empire, Longhaus [Long’er’si].

Master Longhaus was a wind-style Grand Magus.

Wind-style Grand Magi were extremely terrifying. When Longhaus had brought his Wildthunder Stormhawk into the Mountain Range of the Setting Sun, he had used the Dimensional Edge spell to heavily injure this Worldbear.

The offensive power of the Dimensional Edge spell was simply too terrifying. It cut through the walls of reality itself.

Against this sort of attack, even a peak-stage Saint such as Haydson could be split into two halves. In addition, wind-style Grand Magi could control the wind to a terrifying degree, and could also move extremely quickly.

It could easily be said that, given enough time, a Grand Magus Saint could easily defeat a Saint-level warrior. But Saint-level warriors were no fools either. Thus, most Grand Magi Saints would work hard to acquire a Saint-level magical beast.

Alas, capturing Saint-level magical beasts was simply too difficult.

Delia stood atop the ship’s deck, fiddling with her necklace as she stared to the east. A gentle wind blew, stirring her hair. She was a very beautiful, moving sight. Even those warriors off to the side couldn’t help but stare at her and feel moved.

Delia had become extremely famous in the Yulan Empire. She was a genius who had reached the seventh rank as a magus at the young age of 22. In addition, she had an extremely powerful clan behind her, and had been accepted as an apprentice by the Saint-level Grand Magus, Longhaus. In terms of appearance, she could definitely rank in the top ten of the imperial capital as well. Such a glorious, outstanding girl definitely had many suitors and paramours.

But unfortunately, Delia had refused every single one of them.

Because of her clan and because she had grown up in the imperial capital, Delia was extremely eloquent and very astute in judging the intentions of others. Ever since the news of Linley’s battle with Olivier had spread to the Yulan Empire, Delia had schemed nonstop, finally managing to convince the Emperor of the Yulan Empire to send a special envoy to the O’Brien Empire.

Before heading out, they had notified the O’Brien Empire, which had naturally agreed.

“Channe City…” Delia murmured.

That place which occupied her dreams had a person whom she longed for.

The river waters continued to rush forward rapidly. On the front deck, the Worldbear and the Wildthunder Stormhawk stood alongside Delia as the massive ship continued to sail forward at high speed.

Soon, the ship disappeared off into the horizon as it made its way through the Channe River.

The news that a special envoy from the Yulan Empire was coming quickly spread across the imperial capital, and the imperial clan as well as the nobles quickly learned of this as well. But as far as the imperial capital was concerned, they only cared about two things right now.

They only cared about two major duels.

The first duel was the duel which had just happened between the Prodigy Sword Saint, Olivier, and the Monolithic Sword Saint, Haydson. The second one was the duel which would occur three months from now between the Dragonblood Warrior, Linley, and the Monolithic Sword Saint, Haydson.

Would Linley learn from the mistakes of his predecessor, Olivier? Or would he come to the same disastrous end?

Nobody knew.

But in the hearts of the citizens of the Empire, most believed that the strongest Saint, Haydson, would gain victory yet again.

Boulder Street. Count Wharton’s estate.

“In the next three months, nobody is permitted to disturb Lord Linley unless there is something critical!” This declaration came forth from the manor ever since that stormy night.

The atmosphere in the estate was extremely tense.

In the rear training courtyard, Wharton trained for a short while. Then, not in the mood for more training, he placed the warblade ‘Slaughterer’ to one side, then sat down unhappily.

“That Haydson really goes too far.” Wharton cursed. As soon as he thought about Linley, he began to worry. “Haydson, if you are so tough, why don’t you wait ten years and let my big brother reach the Saint-level in his human form before dueling with my big brother! What’s the point of dueling now?”

“F*ck his grandmother. He doesn’t just go too far. He’s absolutely vile!”

Gates walked over, saying angrily, “There are plenty of Saints in the Empire, and the War God’s College has many experts as well. Why doesn’t Haydson go challenge them? Instead, he challenges his Lordship. His Lordship is only twenty seven years old. That Haydson is several centuries old.”

“No point in cursing him.”

Barker walked over, resting his massive long-handled greataxe against the artificial hill. “His Lordship has already agreed to duel with Haydson. Right now, our only option is to hope that his Lordship will win.”

“His Lordship definitely will win.”

Gates clenched his fist and pumped it in the air several times as he said angrily, “I refuse to believe that Haydson’s internal organs are as defensively powerful as his external defense. What’s more, that weird thing which his Lordship developed a while ago seems to be really mysterious as well. It definitely must be extraordinary.”

Gates and the others didn’t really understand how powerful the Pulseguard Defense was.

Linley was within his private courtyard. Right now, he was seated in the meditative stance beneath a tree, constantly training in accordance with the ‘Secret Dragonblood Manual’. Right now, Linley already was at a very high level of understanding. All he needed was battle-qi.

Whenever Linley had any free time, he would train in battle-qi, trying to absorb as much of the energy from the Dragonblood in his veins as possible, ideally until reaching the Saint-level. However, training battle-qi actually didn’t require too much focus. As long as one trained in accordance with the set methods, that would be enough. Thus, right now, Linley was pondering other questions in his mind.

“Last time, when I encountered the War God’s first disciple, Fain, and when I encountered the War God, I found that they were both capable of soul-based attacks. Olivier also mastered such a form of attack. Most likely, there are many people who have mastered this type of technique. Should I also try to develop this sort of soul-based attack? Even if I don’t, I should at least learn how to defend against it, right?”

While cultivating his battle-qi, Linley continued to wrestle with this question in his mind.

What were the principles underlying soul-based attacks?

And how would one guard against it?

While Linley was thinking and training, Haeru lay resting against the ground, while Bebe was curled up comfortably on Haeru’s back, his eyes half-closed.

“Bebe, do you think Master will be able to beat that Haydson in their duel?” Haeru said in a low voice.

“Naturally.” Bebe opened his eyes and said with complete confidence.

But then, Bebe said in a low voice, “But of course, that Haydson seems to be really powerful as well. But no matter what, if the Boss ends up at the point of death in his duel against Haydson, I, Bebe, will immediately charge forward to assist. Hrmph. Two nights ago, everyone just watched as Olivier was beaten half to death. He still hasn’t woken up yet. I can’t let the Boss succumb to such a state.”

“Isn’t that a breach of rules?” Haeru said questioningly.

When two people dueled, regardless of victory or defeat, others were not to interfere.

“Screw the damn rules. The earth is big and the heavens are bigger, but nothing is bigger than the Boss. How can the rules compare in importance to my Boss’s life?” Bebe said arrogantly. “What’s more, so what if I, Bebe, interfere? My Boss is a magus, ya know! When a magus duels against a warrior, they usually bring their magical beasts. If I interfere, that isn’t a violation of the rules.” As he spoke, Bebe felt as though his argument had a lot of merit, and he laughed delightedly.

The gates to the imperial capital were open. The path from the imperial palace to the east gate of the city were all lined with guards from the imperial army, who had been divided up into two neat lines on each side of the street.

The knights of the imperial palace formed into lined regiments, following behind the Emperor’s carriage, with a large number of nobles following behind them.

The Saint-level experts of the War God’s College, Kenyon and Lanke, had both arrived as well.

This was because they knew that the delegation from the Yulan Empire included a Saint-level Grand Magus. If their side had no Saints present, then their side would seem weaker.

“Why aren’t they here yet?” Emperor Johann said unhappily to a nearby palace attendant.

“Your Imperial Majesty, the ship of the Yulan Empire’s special envoy is about to reach the river’s harbor. Most likely, they’ll be here soon.” The palace attendant said respectfully.

Emperor Johann nodded.

Without question, the two most powerful nations in the Yulan continent were the Yulan Empire and the O’Brien Empire. Emperor Johann very much wished that his own O’Brien Empire could be superior to and suppress the Yulan Empire.

But alas, the Yulan Empire had its own strong points.

The Yulan Empire had been in existence for over ten thousand years now, and was an ancient nation. What’s more, the Yulan Empire had become one of the greatest sources for magi in the world. If the O’Brien Empire had the most Saint-level warriors, then the Yulan Empire could be said to have just as many Saint-level Grand Magi.

After all, Saint-level Grand Magi were far more threatening than Saint-level warriors. For example, that wind-style Saint-level Grand Magus, Longhaus. Not even Haydson would dare say that he was totally confident of defeating him. After all, so long as Longhaus was given a bit of time to prepare, his Dimensional Edge spell could chop Haydson into two halves.

“They are here!”

The many spectators of the O’Brien Empire saw the enormous ship sail over. When they saw that adorable big bear on the deck, as well as that large hawk, many people felt astonished.

“A Worldbear? And a Wildthunder Stormhawk?”

Kenyon and Lanke exchanged glances. They couldn’t help but feel astonished. Even if they joined forces, they weren’t certain that they would be able to defeat a Saint-level Worldbear.

Delia was dressed in a beautiful long robe and standing next to the wind-style Saint-level Grand Magus, Longhaus. They disembarked together, and behind them came the two magical beasts, the warriors on the ship, and the magical beasts of the warriors.

“Clang!”

The knights of the Empire formed into two ranks, while at the same time raising their pikes high into the air. These knights were specially selected from the finest knights of the imperial palace. All of them were of the seventh rank, and their leader was a warrior of the eighth rank.

“Teacher, the warriors of the O’Brien Empire really are more powerful than those of our Yulan Empire. They even have a totally different aura. Our imperial capital is a bit too dissolute.” Delia chatted quietly with her teacher as though no one else was present.

Longhaus nodded slightly as well.

The imperial capital of the Yulan Empire was an extremely ancient city, and the ancient clans of the capital only thought of enjoying life. To the contrary, the O’Brien Empire was a nation of warriors, and all of them strove to outdo each other. No wonder it was hailed as the most militarily powerful nation.

Emperor Johann, Lanke, Kenyon, and the palace attendants went to welcome them.

“Delia Leon, right? Haha…” Emperor Johann laughed loudly.

Delia very courteously curtsied. “Special Envoy Delia of the Yulan Empire pays her respects to the mighty ruler of the O’Brien Empire, Emperor Johann. I bring with me the sincerest greetings and well-wishes of the Emperor of the Yulan Empire.”

“Emperor Johann, this is my teacher, Saint-level Grand Magus Longhaus.” Delia smiled as she made the introductions.

Emperor Johann looked at Master Longhaus. “Very happy to meet you, Master Longhaus.”

“I am very honored to meet you as well, Emperor Johann.” Longhaus said with a smile.

Delia couldn’t help but glance around at her surroundings. A hint of disappointment appeared in her eyes. She didn’t see the person she was looking for. But at the same time, she said to Emperor Johann, “Emperor Johann, these two should be two powerful Saint-level experts, correct? Can you introduce them to me?”

Before Delia had arrived, she had already acquired quite a bit of information, and she already knew quite a bit about Kenyon and Lanke.

Special Envoy Delia of the Yulan Empire, the wind-style Grand Magus Longhaus, and the others had now formally entered the imperial capital of Channe, where a grand welcoming ceremony awaited them.