Chapter 159 – The Members of the Raizel Clan

“It’s still too early… ”

The Patriarch whispered to himself while staring at the statue in front of him. Bolts of azure lightning darted across the artifact’s surface, and it almost seemed like the statue of the Divine Bird was about to awaken and come to life.

*shua*

A silver strand of energy flowed from the Patriach’s chest and enveloped the Divine Bird, instantly devouring the bursts of lightning on the statue and stopping whatever process the statue was about to undergo.

“Let’s see why the brat came now?”

The Patriarch chuckled with amus.e.m.e.nt, and vanished from his spot.

……………………….

“Haah… haaah… ”

Calron gasped for breath, re-seizing control of his body after the Azure Lightning abruptly backed down and retreated back into his elemental core.

“Master, what happened?”

Ellie asked with worry while Roran glanced around trying to see if someone had attacked Calron.

“I don’t know… ”

Calron stared around in confusion while grasping his chest. It did not feel like an attack, but more of a foreign being calling out to him.

“I’m a.s.suming that you must be Calron.”

A deep masculine voice sounded out, as a man in black and green robes slowly walked over to where Calron and his group was.

Seeing the blank look on the trio’s faces, the man let out a small laugh and introduced himself.

“My name is Kail Raizel, and I am the Commander of the Royal Army. Welcome to the Raizel Mansion, Calron.”

“Nice to meet you, Uncle Kail. I wanted to see the Patriarch, so I hope it’s alright that I came unannounced.”

Calron responded politely, giving a slight bow to the man in front of him.

“I’m sure that father will like to see you as well. Follow me.”

Kail smiled at Calron who was already referring to him as his ‘Uncle’, and asked the group to follow him into the mansion.

He’s actually that old man’s son? He is very different than that crazy guy… 

Calron was stunned that the composed man who came to greet them at the door, was in fact the Patriarch’s own son and moreover, the commander of the Royal Army.

Kail turned around and began walking into the large mansion, as Calron and the others quietly trailed behind him. None of them knew how to start a conversation with the man in front of them, so an awkward atmosphere settled over them.

Stepping inside the mansion, Calron discovered that it was an open-air place with no roof on top. Since the mansion was so big, outsiders could not even see the roof from the bottom.

“Hua! Hu! Haa!”

A clamor of noises erupted from Calron’s right, as he saw a courtyard full of youngsters sparring against each other. Both boys and girls practiced their martial arts together, while some of them even used lightning-based attacks against each other.

This is crazy…

Calron pondered, noticing that the majority of the young people’s cultivation had already reached the third rank of the Vajra stage, and several of them were already at the seventh and eighth rank of the same stage.

Calron thought that he was a genius amongst his generation, but based on the movements and strength behind the individual spars of the clan’s young members, he did not think that they were far behind him.

Detecting the newcomers’ presence, the teens sparring at the courtyard stopped in their tracks and curiously observed Calron and his group. Within the crowd, Asra’s eyes widened in surprise when he saw Calron appearing inside the Raizel clan’s mansion.

They let an outsider in!?

Asra raged inside, still bitter about the scolding that he had received from his grandfather when he ordered an attack on Calron.

“Why are they here, uncle?”

Asra shouted from the courtyard, seeing that it was his uncle, Kail, that was escorting the strangers.

“You will find out soon anyways. Get back to training and I’ll come to observe your progress in the evening.”

Kail responded, indicating for Calron to continue following him.

“Wait, you never let me bring my friends inside, so this is not fair!”

Asra complained, as several other youngsters nodded their heads in agreement. They had to follow the strict rules of the clan and were not allowed to bring outsiders inside the mansion, so they echoed Asra’s sentiments.

“Yeah, who are they? They don’t seem to be our clan members as I’ve never seen them before.”

A pony-tailed girl standing next to Asra stated in an accusing tone.

“Are you trying to anger me?”

An intense pressure of violent aura erupted underneath Kail, his cobalt-blue eyes glaring at the youths in front of him.

The teenagers trembled under the pressure, but Kail immediately withdrew his aura before it hurt anyone.

“It’s fine, Uncle Kail… they will find out soon enough anyways.”

Calron smiled at the man before him, and suddenly exploded into a smoke of crimson cloud as his body reappeared in front of Asra.

The reason that Calron chose Asra was because he could sense that this teen was the pseudo-leader of the youngsters, so it was better to manage him first.

Meanwhile, Asra raised his eyebrow at Calron’s use of the Blood Mist step and let out a snide chortle.

“I see that you have a problem with me entering the house. I wanted to tell you tha- “

Before Calron could finish his sentence, Asra abruptly struck a powerful punch towards Calron’s face.

Acting entirely upon reflex, Calron dodged the incoming strike by a hair’s breadth. His azure eyes flashed with a trace of coldness as he gazed at Asra’s smug face.

“Not bad… I just wanted to see if you could handle that weak punch.”

Asra commented, ignoring Calron’s intense glare.

Calron detected that Asra was at the peak of Vajra stage and close to breaking into the Saint stage, so the teen’s strength was definitely above his own. Judging by the looks, it also appeared that Asra was not much older than him as well.

“Sigh… ”

Calron breathed out, realizing that the teen in front of him bore a hidden grudge against him. He could sense that grudge shadowed within his previous punch. 

*CRACKLE*

Gusts of wind spiraled around Calron, as dozens of violent bolts of lightning gathered around his body. His azure eyes glowed brightly while the golden lightning continued to revolve around him.

The onlookers let out gasps of shock and astonishment, finally realizing that the stranger before them inherited the same bloodline as them. Which meant that he was part of the Raizel clan!

Asra’s thoughts furiously swirled inside his mind, as he gradually understood why his grandfather was so angry with him ordering an attack on Calron.

Shaking his head with a smile, Asra finally let go of his hostility against Calron. Regardless of their previous situation, Calron shared the same blood as him and was hence his family. Although Asra might be reckless in his actions, he still held the clan and its members above everything.

“Sorry for my rude behavior.”

Asra lightly bowed his head, causing Calron to now stare at him in surprise. 

“However, since you are a clan member, I would still like to test your strength.”

Asra interjected, a compet.i.tive spirit rising within him.

On the side, Kail closed his eyes while a small smile crept through. Ellie tightly held Roran’s hand, inaudibly whispering for Calron to win.

“Sure.”

Calron composed himself, taking this spar seriously. He was on the threshold of breaking into the ninth rank, so this spar with another lightning cultivator might prove to be extremely beneficial for him.

*swish*

The moment that Calron agreed, Asra bolted straight at him in a flash as wild static lightning surged behind the teen.

“Pay close attention, brother.”

Asra smiled, his face instantly appearing in front of Calron.

“Wha- How?”

Calron coughed out a mouthful of blood, slowly glancing down to see Asra’s fist submerged into his gut.