Dragonblood: Book 2 of the Coiling Dragon Saga

by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi

  “You again?”

  “What, is there a problem?” Lyndin pouted, then tittered, “Big brother Ley, I brought you dinner, so you teach me stone sculpting, okay?”

  “No.” Linley refused.

  “Stingy.” Lyndin wrinkled her nose. “When I cook for my teacher, my teacher will do anything I ask him to. You are a stingy fellow.”

  “Your teacher is your teacher, I am not.” Linley simply wouldn’t agree.

  This stranger was at least of the seventh rank, and perhaps even higher. Linley would not permit this female warrior to draw close to him, while teaching someone how to stone sculpt would definitely require them to be in close physical contact.

  After all, this period of time was the period when he was expecting the Radiant Church to act against him.

  “Remember. I don’t want you delivering my dinner,” Linley said coldly.

  Lyndin’s face changed, and she glared angrily at Linley. “You bastard. You don’t know when someone is being good to you. I’ll definitely go tell my master. He’ll come over here and kill you.”

  “Kill me?” Linley looked at the angry expression the girl’s face.

  “Of course. My master is very powerful.” The silver-haired girl said arrogantly.

  “Who is this oh-so-powerful master of yours?” Linley asked.

  The silver-haired girl said arrogantly, “I’ll tell you. The name of my master is Haydson.”

  “The Monolithic Sword Saint, Haydson?” Linley was startled.

  In the entire O’Brien Empire, if the War God was considered the number one expert, then without question, the second highest expert would be the Monolithic Sword Saint, Haydson. This Monolithic Sword Saint had been at the peak-stage of the Saint level for many years now, and he had never lost a single duel against any Saint-level experts.

  He was flawless in terms of both offense and defense.

  In addition, he was a very cold and remote person. Virtually nothing was capable of impeding his developments. A flawless, perfect Saint-level expert who towered above all others, his sense of flawlessness was the reason why others dubbed him the ‘Monolithic Sword Saint’.

  “So now you know that you should be afraid?” The silver-haired girl laughed arrogantly. “But don’t worry. So long as you teach me how to stone sculpt, I won’t tell my teacher.”

  “No wonder.” Linley looked at the silver-haired girl. “What rank are you currently at?”

  “The eighth rank already.” The silver-haired girl said proudly. “What do you think? The entire Empire doesn’t have many experts of the eighth rank who are younger than me.”

  Linley glanced at the silver-haired girl. “Miss Danlan, you can go back and tell your teacher that I am unwilling to teach you stone sculpting. I want to see if he will come over and kill me.”

  The silver-haired girl started, and then her attitude softened. Begging, she said, “Big brother Ley, I’m begging you, just teach me, okay?” As she spoke, she walked closer to Linley.

  Linley directly took three steps back, retreating into his main hall.

  “Miss Danlan, I need to rest now. You should go back.” Linley shut the door to his manor.

  “Hrmph.”

  The silver-haired girl let out a snort, then left.

  The next two days, the silver-haired girl would try all sorts of things; she would buy beautiful clothes to bring to Linley as a gift, or pretend to be very pitiable and just watch Linley. It was as though she absolutely refused to accept the fact that Linley wouldn’t teach her how to stone sculpt.

  The fourth day.

  This morning, Lyndin came to Linley’s courtyard once more, as she had every day past.

  “Big brother Ley, I’m leaving now.” Lyndin said in a somewhat lost voice.

  Linley glanced at the silver-haired girl with some surprise. These past three days, Linley had been tormented by this girl to the point of getting a headache whenever he saw her. What’s more, Linley was still uncertain as to who this girl really was.

  Someone belonging to the Radiant Church?

  Or the disciple of the Monolithic Sword Saint?

  But the longer he had interacted with Lyndin, the more Linley came to feel that this silver-haired girl really was the playful, active type. He didn’t really think she belonged to the Radiant Church.

  “If she is an assassin of the Radiant Church, then I am truly in awe of her acting abilities,” Linley secretly said to himself.

  Lyndin glanced at Linley helplessly. “Big brother Ley, I’ve always worshipped my master, and my master also likes sculpture. I really wanted to carve a good sculpture for him, but you aren’t willing to teach me.”

  “It is useless if you do not have enough time and not enough talent.” Linley shook his head.

  Lyndin’s eyes lit up. She quickly said, “I have both time and talent.”

  “Are you an earth-style magus?” Linley suddenly asked.

  “No.” Lyndin shook her head, then asked questioningly, “What does this have to do with being an earth-style magus?”

  Linley shook his head. “If you are not an earth-style magus, that means you do not have the talent necessary to learn stone sculpting from me.” Linley was telling the truth. The Straight Chisel School of sculpting required the sculptor to be an earth-style magus.

  “You are just making that up.” Lyndin took a step forward, pointing at Linley with a finger. “I’ve never heard anyone say that stone sculpting required one to be an earth-style magus.”

  “There’s many things you don’t know.” Linley laughed calmly.

  Right now, Lyndin was roughly two meters away from Linley. Lyndin was calculating to herself, “Two meters distant. In his normal human form, I am more powerful than Linley. I should have the chance to kill him.”

  Originally, Lyndin had wanted for the two of them to be in even closer proximity before making her move.

  But Linley didn’t give her the chance.

  “Big brother Ley, I know that you are lying. Big brother Ley, I just want to ask you one last time. Are you willing to teach me stone sculpting?” Lyndin looked at Linley with hopeful eyes.

  Linley shook his head.

  “Oh.” Lyndin lowered her head despondently.

  But right at this moment, Lyndin suddenly charged at Linley, moving as fast as lightning, while from within Lyndin’s right hand, a dagger appeared.

  Two meters. They were too close.

  But then, a strange violet light flashed.

  Lyndin only felt as though that violet sword flash flickered everywhere, changing positions constantly. It somehow wrapped around her dagger and her arm as well.

  “Hrmph.”

  Lyndin immediately dropped her dagger while slamming her left hand directly at Linley.

  “Boom!”

  Their two hands clashed against each other, and Lyndin hurriedly charged forward. But Linley moved in a strangely graceful way backwards, in the blink of an eye retreating to the corner of the wall.

  “Growl.”

  Haeru and Bebe were both standing by Linley’s side, but before Haeru and the others could attack, Lyndin immediately retreated.

  “You want to kill me?” Linley stared coldly at Lyndin.

  Raising her head high, Lyndin said angrily, “Ley, listen up. I, Danlan, have never begged anyone in my entire life like I did just now. Even when I’m with my master, I’ve never acted like this before. Three full days! I tried everything I could to beg you to teach me, but you refuse to do so. So what if I want to kill you now? Is there something wrong about that?”

  “Such overbearing logic.” Linley looked at Lyndin.

  Lyndin stood at the gate to Linley’s manor, staring angrily at him. “If you have the ability to do so, come and kill me. My fellow apprentices will be arriving soon. If you dare bully me, I’ll go tell them about it!”

  Right now, Linley’s desire to kill had already been aroused.

  Regardless of whether this ‘Danlan’ girl was really the student of
the Monolithic Sword Saint, or if she was not, she definitely had tried to kill him just then.

  But Linley had this strange feeling of danger.

  He couldn’t clearly explain where it was coming from, but this feeling was warning him… do not pursue Danlan. If you do, it will be very dangerous.

  “Hrmph, you don’t have the guts to kill me, right? Then I’m leaving.” Lyndin arrogantly pushed the door to the manor open, then began walking out. Linley didn’t chase after her, only mentally sending out an order. “Bebe, go through the underground tunnels and take a look to see what is outside.”

  Right now, outside Linley’s gate.

  The other five experts of the ninth rank were all outside the gate. They had taken up their positions long ago, ready to join with Lyndin in the Angel Battle Formation at any time.

  When Lyndin walked out of the courtyard, she used her eyes to signal the other five.

  Those five quietly followed behind Lyndin, quickly departing.

  “Hrmph.” Exiting the hotel, Lyndin was very unhappy. “If just then, Linley had chased after me, the six of us could’ve killed Linley in the blink of an eye. But he kept hiding in his manor, with those two magical beasts beside him. Even if the six of us ran inside, given Linley’s speed, he definitely would be able to flee.

  Lyndin knew very well that killing Linley within the provincial capital was not a wise decision. After all, McKenzie was living in that nearby castle. Given McKenzie’s speed, he could probably fly over here in the blink of an eye.

  “Lord, what should we do?” The other five were looking at Lyndin.

  “Execute the next strategy.” Lyndin said coldly. “As for killing Linley in a suicide attack, that is an option of last resort, to be used only if we have no other choices.” The other five nodded.

  Even Angels wouldn’t be willing to throw away their lives too easily.

  “Hrm?” Lyndin suddenly saw a man and a woman being escorted by quite a few guards. Lyndin had seen pictures of Jenne and Keane before. “I hadn’t gone to find them yet, but they actually delivered themselves to me?” Lyndin’s lips began to curve up in a smile.

  135

  A Change of Plans

  Within the courtyard.

  “Boss, just now, when I dug my way through the tunnels and went outside, I saw that five men left alongside that Danlan chick.” Bebe’s eyes were shining with an angry light. “That bad woman! She definitely had ill intentions.”

  Linley laughed calmly. “No need to over-think things. That woman was almost certainly someone the Radiant Church sent to kill me. Just now, if I had chased out after her, most likely as soon as I stepped out of the gate, the people lying in ambush outside would’ve attacked at the same time and killed me. If she hadn’t already made up her mind to kill me long ago, why would she have arranged for people to lie in ambush? What’s more, I couldn’t sense those people at all.”

  He hadn’t been able to detect the presences of those five men hiding outside. These five men were definitely experts, experts that were no weaker than he himself.

  “Master, what should we do, then?” Haeru mentally transmitted.

  With a thought, Linley summoned his adamantine heavy sword to his hands. “What should we do? We don’t need to mind them. When Jenne returns, I’ll immediately take her away from here. If they follow, I’ll kill them.”

  As long as he wasn’t ambushed, after transforming into his Dragonform, with the adamantine heavy sword in hand, Linley was confident in dealing with even an early-stage Saint-level expert.

  A short while later.

  “Big brother Ley.” That familiar voice rang out.

  “Enter.” Linley laughed as he stood up, casually pulling the gate open. Jenne and Keane walked in.

  Keane looked at Linley, sighing. “Big brother Ley, my sis almost got taken advantage of this time. Fortunately, I was cautious and arranged people to surround and guard her room.”

  “Taken advantage of?” Linley looked at Jenne.

  Jenne shook her head and laughed. “It’s nothing. It’s just that Albert, the first successor to the clan leader position. Tonight, he was planning to secretly enter my room. Fortunately, my little bro had taken some precautionary measures. That Albert was afraid of this situation getting out of hand as well. After all, there were many people inside the castle.”

  “That Albert has always had bad intentions towards you. I don’t dare to be caught off-guard. Even if I stop being the city governor, so what? No matter what, I won’t allow you to be taken advantage of by that bastard, sis,” Keane said solemnly.

  Somewhat moved, Jenne looked at her little brother.

  Linley looked at Keane with praise in his eyes as well.

  “Sis, in the future, when you are following big brother Ley, you have to take good care of yourself.” Keane’s eyes were starting to turn red. “But as long as you are with big brother Ley, I’m not too worried about you.”

  Lyndin was standing not too far away from the hotel, and had watched as Jenne and her younger brother had entered.

  “Let’s sit down nearby and take a rest for now.” Lyndin pointed at the first floor of the hotel. “But while resting, we have to keep an eye on things outside. When Jenne and Keane head out, we’ll immediately follow them.”

  The other five all nodded, and they followed Lyndin into the hotel.

  But after one or two minutes, Albert brought around ten or so people into the hotel.

  “Is this the place?” Albert asked one of his subordinates.

  “Yes, young master. Miss Jenne entered this hotel.” Hearing this, Albert nodded. “Go investigate for me and find out who the bastard is that Jenne likes.”

  As he spoke, Albert rubbed the wound on his face.

  Last night, he really did cut quite the sorry figure.

  He knew that Jenne was a magus of the third rank, but he himself was a warrior of the fourth rank. He was planning to slip in while she was asleep and rape her. That shouldn’t have been too hard. So, late at night, he stealthily crept towards Jenne’s room.

  But who would’ve expected that Jenne’s room had a female guard in it, and not just Jenne.

  What’s more, there were guards hidden outside the room as well.

  He, the stately successor to the clan leader position of the Jacques clan, was soundly thrashed by that female guard. Fortunately, Jenne and the female guard knew who he was and so had not dared to kill him. At the time, Jenne had also told him to give up, because in the future, she was going to travel to the ends of the earth by the side of the man she loved.

  “Could it be that she is going to go by the side of this mysterious warrior of the ninth rank and travel the world with him?” Albert’s heart was filled with suppressed rage.

  “Let’s sit here for a while. We’ll have some food and wait.” Albert shouted.

  Albert led his group of men into the Nile Hotel as well, into the main floor. But as soon as the fuming Albert entered the hotel, his eyes immediately lit up as he saw who was inside.

  Albert stared fixedly at Lyndin.

  “This beauty is as lovely as an angel.” Albert sighed to himself.

  Albert was quite choosy. He was already bored with ordinary beautiful girls. But Lyndin truly was astonishingly beautiful. Not only were her facial features exquisite, she also had that cold, holy aura about her.

  Lyndin, no longer putting on an act, had totally returned to her usual temperament.

  The holier and purer a woman seemed, the more Albert desired her. Albert felt extremely satisfied when he had a holy and pure woman beneath his thighs.

  “Pretty lady, your humble servant is named Albert Jacques. Very happy to meet you,” Albert walked over, saying modestly.

  Lyndin glanced at him, not paying him any attention.

  “F*ck off.” One of the golden-haired men next to Lyndin barked.

  “You lookin’ to die?” The guard behind Albert immediately drew his weapon, staring coldly at the golden-haired man. This
time, as he followed Jenne over, Albert had been very careful.

  He knew that Jenne’s paramour was a warrior of the ninth rank, and thus everyone he brought today was an expert. One of them was a student of his great grandfather, a warrior of the ninth rank.

  “Jacques?” Lyndin suddenly turned to look at him. She only now had paid attention to the lineage of the buffoon in front of her.

  “Yes.” Albert smiled proudly.

  One of Albert’s servants said arrogantly, “The young master of my clan is the successor to the clan leader position. Your group actually dares to be impolite to the young master?”

  The Northwest Administrative Province was the domain of the Jacques clan. Albert was the successor to the clan leader position. Indeed, he had the right to act so overbearingly.

  “Albert.” A middle-aged man standing behind Albert said softly, “None of those six, including that woman, are weak. It is very likely that they are all warriors of the eighth rank, and perhaps even of the ninth.”

  Albert was startled.

  At this moment, Lyndin rose to her feet, smiling. “Young master Albert, hello. I’ve come with my five fellow apprentices in search of a man we intend to kill.”

  “Five fellow apprentices? Who is your master?” the middle-aged man behind Albert asked.

  “The Monolithic Sword Saint, Haydson,” Lyndin said.

  The reason why Lyndin dared to make wild claims like this was primarily because the Monolithic Sword Saint was a man who liked to roam all about the world. Thus, there were most likely very few people in the entire O’Brien Empire who knew exactly who the apprentices of the Monolithic Sword Saint were.

  “The Monolithic Sword Saint?”

  Everyone was shocked.

  “Young master.” A servant of Albert’s came running over. “Young master, we have the information. The man whom Miss Jenne came here to meet registered under the name of ‘Ley’.”

  “Ley?” Albert frowned.

  “Never heard of him.” Albert turned to look at the expert he had brought. “Uncle Slan, are you confident you can deal with him?” The middle-aged man frowned.

  But hearing this, Lyndin’s heart was suddenly swayed.