Linley turned his head to glance at his younger brother. Smiling, he said, Wharton, this Blumer knows how powerful you are, and yet still challenges you. It seems he is quite confident.

Wharton said confidently, Dont worry, big bro. Since when have we Dragonblood Warriors feared anyone at the same rank?

Thats exactly the sort of confidence you should have.

Linley glanced at Blumers disappearing back. I noticed the sword this Blumer fellow was carrying. It seems rather special.

Right. Blumers sword is extremely fast. When he participated in the competition to become an honorary disciple, he became famous for his fast sword speed. But fast swords are usually not very powerful. He might be able to overcome ordinary opponents of the ninth rank, but given my defensive power, even if he lands a hit on me, he most likely wouldnt be able to break my defense. Wharton was extremely confident. If the honorary disciple tournament had consisted of a winner-take-all tournament, the victor most likely wouldnt have been him.

Smiling, Linley patted Wharton on his shoulder. Enough. Honorary disciple of the War Gods College? Pfft. Lets go. Time to go home.

As the scions of the Dragonblood Warrior clan, Linley and Wharton both possessed a sort of pride.

Blumer quickly informed Emperor Johann of the duel, and Emperor Johan immediately sent someone to ask Wharton if this was the case. After knowing that this was indeed the case, Johann immediately issued the order to have his subordinates prepare the Colosseum for this duel between two geniuses.

All of the citizens of the imperial capital became excited after hearing of this impending duel.

One was the personal disciple of the War God, the ninth ranked warrior, Blumer.

The other was a scion of the Dragonblood Warrior clan, the genius of the OBrien Academy, Wharton!

Most importantly

Both of these geniuses were wooing the Imperial Seventh Princess. Given the common folks natural propensity to engage in gossip, many people began to say that these two geniuses were battling for the sake of the Seventh Princess. All sorts of rumors regarding Wharton, Blumer, and Nina began to fill the streets and alleyways of the imperial capital.

East Channe. Count Whartons manor, on Boulder Street. Within the training grounds.

Linley and Wharton were each standing on opposite sides of the training ground. Housekeeper Hiri, Hillman, Barker, and the others were watching from far away.

The duel on February 4th was one which Wharton had to win.

Linley stared directly at Wharton. Wharton, since Blumer is famous for his fast sword attacks, I will compete with you using fast sword attacks. Dont hesitate in the slightest. Use your full strength in battling me.

Yes, big brother. His upper body bare, Wharton immediately initiated his transformation.

Azure draconic scales began to cover Whartons entire body, and his arms and legs began to be covered in scales as well, as his nails also began to lengthen and sharpen. A draconic tail sprouted out from behind him, and a single draconic horn emerged from his forehead.

His eyes were still black, despite an occasional golden light flashing through them.

This is the true, authentic Dragonblood Warrior form of our clan. Seeing his little brothers transformation, Linley felt quite moved. He immediately said loudly, Wharton, attack me at full strength. Quickly!

Understood.

Whartons eyes lit up, and he forcefully leapt from the ground, causing the earth where he had been standing to tremble. Wharton transformed into a blur as he charged towards Linley, his hands tightly grasped around the warblade Slaughterer, covered as always with countless bloodstains.

Wielding something light as though it were heavy! The Bloodviolet Godsword in Linleys hands, carrying a titanic, heavy force, flew up at a seemingly slow speed towards the Slaughterer. It actually managed to block the Slaughterer in an extremely strange way.

Bang! The two forces collided.

Linley felt as though he had been slammed into by a giant meteor, as the astonishing force from that blow was transmitted to him through the Bloodviolet Godsword.

He really is ridiculously strong. An ordinary blow from him is actually on par with me in human form using wielding something light as though it were heavy. Linley couldnt help but sigh in praise. Dragonblood Warriors truly did have an astonishingly powerful level of strength.

Twisting like a tornado, Linley easily dodged past Wharton.

Swish!

Nine flashes of violet light appeared. This was just the ordinary attack speed of the Bloodviolet Godsword. As far as Linley was concerned, even if Blumers sword was very fast, he probably should only be able to reach this level of speed at best.

Tapping the ground with the point of his foot, Wharton quickly leapt backwards with a dodge while also using the warblade Slaughterer in his hands to block Linleys attack.

But although he was able to block six of the attacks, the other three attacks from Linley landed on Whartons body. These attacks were simply ordinary attacks by Linley in his human form.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Three metallic ringing sounds could be heard, as three faint white lines appeared on Whartons azure blue scales.

HahaWharton, it looks like if I dont use a bit of power, I wont be able to hurt you at all. Linley laughed loudly, but in truth, he was very happy.

Wharton looked seriously at his big brother. Big brother, dont hold back.

In his human form, Linley was only an early-stage warrior of the ninth rank.

But right now, Wharton was already a peak-stage Dragonblood Warrior of the ninth rank. In terms of strength, battle-qi, or defense, he vastly outstripped Linley.

Lord, if you keep on holding back, Im afraid Wharton is going to simply beat you down. Gates shouted loudly from the side.

Laughing, Linley shook his head.

Wharton, be careful.

Linley grew solemn, and then he suddenly began to move at rapid speed. The entire training yard seemed to have suddenly been filled with a wild gust of wind as Linleys body reached a terrifyingly fast speed.

Whoosh! The Bloodviolet Godsword chopped towards Wharton, and seemed to press down against Wharton along with the very space around him.

Impose!

Wharton felt an incredible pressure coming towards him, but faced with this dangerous situation, the Dragonblood in his body began to boil. Letting out a deep growl, Wharton exploded forth the Dragonblood battle-qi in his body, allowing this wild strength to be burst forth from his warblade, Slaughterer

Swoooosh.

The locked space was chopped open and the warblade collided directly against Linleys Bloodviolet Godsword.

But Linleys Bloodviolet only trembled slightly, then immediately transformed into six sword-shadows. At such close range, Wharton was totally unable to use his warblade to block it.

Haargh! Wharton clenched his left fist, which suddenly had become covered with azure light, then smashed it against the nearest sword-shadow.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

The six sword-shadows once more transformed into a single physical shape as Bloodviolet once more pierced towards Wharton, carrying with a terrifying penetrative aura which made Wharton tremble.

Wielding something light as though it were heavy! As fast as lightning!

In the blink of an eye, Linley had stabbed four times at a single spot on Whartons body. These repeated stabs pierced through Whartons battle-qi and his protective scales, punching into his flesh.

As soon as he pierced through the scales, however, Linley immediately retracted his sword and flew back.

Wharton stood there, stupefied, then raised his head to look at Linley. Disbelievingly, he said, Big bro, how could you be so fast? He didnt even have the ability to react. From this, one could imagine in what a short period of time those attacks had occurred. And yet, Linley had sent out four full attacks!

You call that fast? If I were to reach my limit, then in a situation like that, I could have sent out another six sword attacks. This was relying purely on speed, not relying on any mysteries or deep insights. If I were to utilize the Rippling Wind technique A hint of a smile was on Linleys lips. In the blink of an eye, I can execute several hundred sword attacks, or even more!

Wherever there was wind, his sword could appear.

The power of the Rippling Wind technique lay in a single word: Fast. So fast it seemed like teleportation. But for the speed to reach such a level meant the power of each strike couldnt be extremely high. But with hundreds of sword blows combined together, the total strength was still astonishingly high.

Hundreds of sword attacks? Wharton was shocked. Butgood thing Blumers speed is far inferior to yours, big bro. If he was this fast, Id rather just admit defeat.

Never hope to rely on luck. Linley rebuked coldly. Wharton, are you so sure you know Blumers absolute highest speed?

No, I dont. Wharton shook his head.

Use your most powerful attack against me. Linley said seriously.

Yes, big bro. Wharton grew solemn as well. This attack was one I developed based on my understanding of wielding something heavy as though it were light. The name is Single Stroke Execution. Wharton gripped the warblade Slaughterer with both hands, and a metallic light flashed atop the warblades edges.

A hint of a smile was on Linleys face.

Thats a rather murderous name. Linley wielded Bloodviolet in one hand.

Whoosh! Wharton sped up to his maximum speed, appearing before Linley in the blink of an eye. The warblade, Slaughterer, seemed to dance in his hands, as agile as a falling leaf. Swish! It chopped towards Linley.

Although the impression it gave was that it seemed to be moving quite slowly, in the blink of an eye, it arrived in front of Linley. Facing this chop, Linley could actually feel a murderous, bloody aura emanating from it.

Linley didnt dare to be the slightest bit careless.

Clang! Clang! Clang! ..

Linley seemed to have transformed into the sun as he seemed to radiate a million flashes of violet light. These violet flashes of light all converged against the warblade Slaughterer. The terrifying attack power that the warblade Slaughterer originally had possessed was slowly, yet totally being cancelled out by the force of those countless violet flashes of light.

Bang! The warblade was actually sent flying, and Wharton himself was chopped countless times by those flashes of violet light and sent flying as well.

Wharton coughed twice, rubbing his chest as he stood up.

Not bad. It is quite powerful. Linley said approvingly. It actually took tenno, sixteen hits from my sword to cancel out your attack. When using the Rippling Wind, every sword blow was fairly weak.

In truth, if Linley were to attack at full strength, each blow would probably be around 25% of the power of that one chop of Whartons.

Logically speaking, Linley shouldve been able to cancel out the attack with just four hits.

In principle, there shouldnt be any expert of the ninth rank who is a match for you, unless they are a Supreme Warrior, in which case you might have a fight on your hands. Linley said approvingly.

Also. Linley looked at Wharton. You need to learn how to more agilely control your battle-qi, and also how to move more fluidly. You shouldnt let the opponent land several blows on you in one spot.

Wharton nodded.

Lord. A servant ran over and bowed respectfully. Lord, there is a fellow called Reynolds who says he has come to see you, Lord Linley.

Reynolds? Linleys eyes lit up.

Not bothering to chat any longer with his little brother, Linley immediately rushed towards the outside of the manor. Linley hadnt seen his fourth bro, Reynolds, for nine full years.

Reaching the front courtyard, Linleys footsteps slowed.

Seeing the figure outside the gate, Linley felt as though he had gone back in time. His most carefree, happy youthful years had been spent with his beloved bros, when the four young men had went to the Jade Water Paradise to drink and have fun.

Those distant days were so happy.

And now, the current Reynolds

Reynolds was wearing a long, plain robe. But his waist was now ramrod straight. His long years spent in the army had given Reynolds the aura of a military man. And by now, Reynolds was nearly 1.9 meters tall.

Fourth bro!

Reynolds, who had been waiting at the gate, heard the shout. He immediately looked over, and his eyes lit up. Linley had changed as well. That dazzlingly genius had now become much more reserved and composed. Third bro!

Haha

The two bros rushed towards each other, clutching each other in an embrace.

I didnt expect that you, fourth bro, would join the army. Its been seven or eight years now, right? When you were at the gate, I actually wasnt sure if it was you. I was wondering to myself, why has a military official come here? Linley teased.

Reynolds clubbed Linley on the chest. Third bro, damn, I had no choice but to join the army. My old man forced me to. What was I supposed to do?

Fortunately, this time when I took my leave of absence, Yale sent someone to inform me that you had arrived at the imperial capital. On my way back, I came to pay a visit to your little bro and look for you. I felt sure that upon arriving at the imperial capital, youd definitely head to your little bros place. And see? Here you are.

Haha, lets go inside and chat.

After having been separated for nine years, these bros had countless things to say to each other. They had been separated for nine years. Nine years later, those two youths had both become accomplished young men.