Coiling Dragon

by welyjesch

  What’s more, the clan couldn’t just sit there and do nothing. After all, many of the other clans in Fenlai City were eying them covetously and circling around them.

  Thus…his father, Bernard, had made a very dangerous decision. To engage in the illicit mining and smuggling of water jade.

  Water jade was a type of extremely valuable gemstone. Generally, it was inlaid on top of magistaffs, and was very beneficial to water-style magi. In the Kingdom of Fenlai, there was a fairly large amount of water jade deposits, and the Kingdom of Fenlai had generated an astonishing amount of wealth through water jade mining.

  Because water jade was so precious, naturally there were many people who tried to engage in water jade smuggling.

  But his Majesty, King Clayde, bitterly detested the smuggling of water jade. Every single merchant whom had been discovered to be smuggling water jade, King Clayde had ordered to be put to death. But because the profit margin for the smuggling of water jade was simply too enormous, perhaps 500% to 600%, there were still always merchants who were willing to brave this risk.

  In the past, there was no need for the Debs clan to take such a dangerous route. But now, things were different.

  Since all normal business paths had been sealed off by the Dawson Conglomerate, the only choice for the Debs clan was to smuggle!

  “There shouldn’t be any problems.” Kalan said to himself. “The business partner which father has selected is the Minister of Finance for the Kingdom of Fenlai, the younger brother of his Majesty, Duke Patterson. With him as our partner, the chance of there being any problems should be fairly low.”

  Patterson was the Minister of Finance for the entire Kingdom of Fenlai.

  Clayde naturally had selected the person he himself trusted the most to assume the weighty responsibility of being in charge of managing the finances of the entire kingdom.

  “Uncle Bernard is back.” Rowling’s bright voice sounded out.

  Kalan raised his head.

  Bernard, his face covered with smiles, walked through the door. Seeing Rowling, he laughed. “Rowling, you are here? Have you had dinner yet?”

  “Not yet,” Rowling replied.

  Bernard nodded. “Tonight, stay here and have dinner with your big brother Kalan. Oh, right, there’s something I need to discuss with your big brother Kalan. Why don’t you and Alice have a nice chat? Later, I’ll have your big brother Kalan spend some time with you.” As he spoke, Bernard flicked a glance at Kalan.

  Kalan obediently followed by Bernard’s side as the two entered a private room.

  Closing the stone door, they lit the lamps.

  “Father, what is it?” Kalan asked hurriedly.

  A hint of satisfaction was on Bernard’s face. “I’ve already completed my discussions with Duke Patterson. He’s already agreed. But we will have to split the profits on this endeavor, fifty-fifty.”

  “Fifty-fifty?” Kalan stared. “Father, this Duke Patterson is too greedy. Our clan is carrying out the actual smuggling work and spending all of the upfront costs. We are even paying for the horses out of pocket. All he’s doing is arranging some safe smuggling routes for us.”

  It wasn’t that Kalan didn’t understand the importance of these smuggling routes.

  But for this project, the Debs clan truly had invested a massive amount of money, while Duke Patterson didn’t have to spend a single coin. All he had to do was to use some of his official powers, and he would earn a huge amount of money.

  “Fifty-fifty is within our range of acceptability.” Bernard laughed calmly. “Duke Patterson isn’t just providing us with safe smuggling routes. More importantly, he’s betraying his country and betraying his elder brother. If King Clayde found out, even though Duke Patterson is his own younger brother, he most likely wouldn’t be merciful to him.”

  Kalan nodded slightly.

  Their partner was a Duke and the Minister of Finance. With him taking on such enormous risks for the sake of arranging a safe smuggling route for their clan, it was fair that he claimed half of the profits.

  Bernard and Kalan exited the secret room and returned to the living room. Alice and Rowling were currently engaged in conversation.

  “Oh, right. Kalan. I just heard from Patterson that in three more days, his Majesty will personally confer a rank of nobility upon Linley in the royal palace.” Bernard instructed, “Prepare a gift for me. In a few days, I will give it to Linley.”

  Kalan nodded.

  Alice, who was chatting with Rowling not too far away, couldn’t help but turn her head and glance at them.

  “Big brother Linley is being conferred a rank of nobility?” Alice murmured to herself.

  Within the royal palace of Fenlai City.

  Dozens of important ministers were lined up in orderly fashion in the court, while King Clayde was sitting up high, overlooking at everyone below.

  “Everyone. Today, I have something important to announce.” The smile on Clayde’s face was radiant, and he spoke in a bright voice. The major ministers who had received the news in advance all knew what King Clayde was going to say. Clayde glanced at an attendant by his side. Instantly, the attendant shouted in a loud voice, “Linley Baruch, enter the palace!”

  His voice echoed in the palace. Shortly afterwards, Linley, dressed in black and gold magus robes, entered the palace. All of the nobles and ministers in the palace turned to look at him.

  “I pay my respects to his Majesty.” Linley bowed as he spoke.

  Clayde looked at Linley, and a smile appeared on his face like a flower blooming. “Linley, for you to be willing to labor on behalf of our kingdom is something I am extremely gratified about. I now confer upon you the title of Prime Court Magus, and also bequeath upon you the rank of Marquis.”

  “Does anyone have an objection?” Clayde swept the court with his gaze.

  All the nobles and ministers stared enviously at Linley, but none of them voiced any objections.

  “Your Servant thanks you, Majesty!”

  Actually, per what Cardinal Guillermo of the Radiant Church had originally said, the Radiant Church could let Linley instantly become a Duke. But Linley had felt this would be too amazing and draw too much attention to himself, especially given that he previously never had a rank of nobility. If he rose in rank too fast, that wouldn’t necessarily be a good thing.

  That’s why they decided to go a step lower and confer the rank of Marquis.

  “Linley, as the Prime Court Magus and as a Marquis, naturally you can no longer reside as a mere guest of the Dawson Conglomerate. I have already arranged for an extremely peaceful, secluded estate to be granted to you. It is on the Greenleaf Road, not too far from the palace.” Clayde said with a smile to Linley.

  Linley immediately once more thanked the king for his generosity.

  In reality, Clayde had already discussed the question of conferring rank and land to Linley with Linley. Today, they were simply openly announcing it in court.

  Upon leaving the palace, Linley engaged in some idle conversation with the other ministers.

  The highest level of power in the Kingdom of Fenlai was mostly occupied by the Minister of War, the Left Premier, the Right Premier, the Inspector General, and other people on the similar plane. These people virtually governed the entirety of affairs in the Kingdom of Fenlai.

  Most of these people had the rank of Marquis. Even the lowest ranked amongst them, the Inspector General, was a Marquis.

  On Greenleaf Road.

  Linley was seated within his carriage, closing his eyes while quietly training.

  “Lord Linley, we’re here.” The servant’s voice rang out from outside the carriage.

  Linley opened his eyes, then pushed the curtain to his carriage open. Bebe directly leapt from the carriage seat onto Linley’s shoulders.

  “Wow, what a big estate!” Bebe’s eyes were gleaming as he stared at the mansion.

  Linley was also carefully inspecting the estate which the ruler of Fenlai had gifted him
. This estate took up a vast expanse of land, and the main gate alone was over ten meters wide. Through the open gate, Linley could see there were many male servants, female servants, and also many Knights of the Radiant Temple.

  “Not bad.” Linley nodded as he entered.

  “Milord.” Seeing the gatekeeper bow respectfully, instantly all of the male and female servants in the courtyard suddenly stopped whatever it was they were doing and bowed respectfully towards Linley.

  It was important for them to give Linley a good first impression. These servants all knew how incredible their new master was.

  “Master Linley, congratulations, congratulations!” Suddenly, a very familiar voice rang out from not far away.

  Linley turned his head. “Mr. Bernard.”

  The person who had come was the leader of the Debs clan, Bernard Debs. Bernard smiled at Linley. “Master Linley, what a coincidence. My clan’s manor is also on Greenleaf Road. We’re only one house over. In the future, it will be quite easy for us to visit each other.”

  “Oh.” Thinking back to when he had first rescued Alice and delivered her and Kalan back to Fenlai City, it did seem as though Kalan’s manor was not too far away.

  “But Master Linley, your manor is much larger than mine. This manor of yours used to be where his Majesty himself lived.” Bernard said admiringly.

  Linley also felt that this manor was astonishingly large, much larger than his ancestral mansion. To have such an enormous estate in Fenlai City, where each inch of land was as valuable as an inch of gold, was not something which simply having money could accomplish. So it turned out this was the former residence of his Majesty, King Clayde. No wonder it was so large.

  “Mr. Bernard, I have to head back now. In the future, we’ll be able to chat quite often.” Linley smiled modestly, then turned his head and walked towards his own manor.

  Right at this moment, at the gate to the Debs clan’s manor, Kalan, Rowling, and Alice were standing and watching from afar.

  Book 6, The Road to Revenge – Chapter 6, Tomes of Magic

  In terms of both furnishings and layout, this estate was definitely first rate.

  Linley was particularly fond of the Hot Springs Garden.

  The Hot Springs Garden within the estate was the place where his Majesty would engage in training when he lived here. Clayde was a warrior of the ninth rank. In order to become such a mighty warrior, naturally he didn’t rely solely on his personal ability. He also spent years of painstaking effort.

  The right half of the Hot Springs Garden was covered of a large, grassy area, filled with all sorts of exercise equipment.

  On the left side of the Hot Springs Garden, next to a man-made hill, was a hot springs pool. The hot springs within this pool came naturally from underground. After a day of wild training, spending some time relaxing in the hot springs pool definitely was a godly, wonderful feeling.

  Linley was currently bathing nude within the pool. The bubbling hot water rushed against his skin, making Linley feel so comfortable that his eyes began to close.

  “Boss, when are we going to kill that Patterson guy? Last night, during the dinner, I really wanted to kill him for you already.” Bebe hopped out of the pool, all the fur on his body wet.

  “Don’t be impatient.”

  Exiting the hot springs, Linley changed into a clean set of training clothes, then walked over to the grassy area while beginning to mumble the words to a spell. After a few moments, an earthen glow began to cover the ground beneath Linley in a certain area as earth elemental essence began to swirl about him.

  Earth-style magic – Supergravity Field.

  Linley immediately leapt into the air, then inverted himself, head pointed down, feet pointing up. Using his two hands, he kept himself upright. Next, he moved to holding himself up with just one finger on each hand. Relying on just one finger, under the pressure of the Supergravity Field, Linley began to push himself up and down.

  “One. Two…”

  Linley counted silently. Each time he reached a thousand, Linley would change to a different finger.

  The most important thing for a fighter was the quality of his body. Only a strong body would be able to accommodate a high amount of battle-qi. Only through this method would he be able to quickly grow strong! Even though he was now a Dragonblood Warrior, he still needed to maintain his daily training regime.

  “Hrm?”

  After training for about half an hour, Linley returned to the normal upright position. Linley stared coldly at the attractive female attendant who had just entered the Hot Springs Garden, carrying a tray with tea and fruit on top of it.

  “My…my lord, this is your tea and fruit.” The female attendant was made somewhat uneasy by Linley’s stare, and she stammered a bit.

  “Who instructed you to come in?” Linley said coldly.

  The female attendant started. Stammering, she said, “Milord, I…I was worried that you were thirsty.”

  “Thirsty?” Linley glanced at her expressionlessly.

  “Attend to me!” Linley shouted.

  Instantly, four burly warriors rushed in from outside the Hot Springs Garden. These four warriors all belonged to the Radiant Church. After all, the Radiant Church had dispatched over a hundred knights to safeguard Linley.

  “Mercy, milord!” The attendant was so scared, she fell to her knees.

  In the Yulan continent, nobles had a much higher status than commoners, especially high ranking nobles, who could casually kill a commoner without repercussion. As for Linley, whom even the king of the Kingdom of Fenlai treated courteously, without question Linley was one of the highest ranking nobles in the Kingdom of Fenlai.

  Linley glanced at the attendant. In a cold voice, he said, “Remember, in the future, when I am in the Hot Springs Garden, no one is permitted entry. Anyone who does enter will be punished with twenty strikes of the military rod.”

  “Twenty strikes of the rod?” The attendant’s face turned pale.

  Military rods were extremely heavy. Even most muscular warriors would not be able to move for ten days or half a month after receiving twenty strikes of a military rod. A physically weak female attendant might very well die from such a beating.

  “Mercy, milord, mercy!” The female attendant hurriedly pled.

  Linley continued, “Since this is your first time committing this offense, I sentence you to twenty lashes of a rattan whip. If you make this mistake again, I definitely will not be merciful.”

  “Thank you milord! Thank you milord!” The female attendant felt relieved.

  In terms of pain, the strikes from a rattan whip might even be more painful than that of the military rod, but it would cause nothing more than a superficial wound. It wouldn’t cause any harm to the bones or to the organs. It would hurt, but it wouldn’t kill.

  “Remove her.” Linley ordered the four warriors.

  “Yes, Lord Linley.” Two of the warriors stepped forward, pulling the attendant away and frog-marching her out. As for the tea and the fruit on the tray, those were all left on the floor.

  Linley turned and once more returned to the grassy area.

  The Bloodviolet Godsword was one of Linley’s secret weapons. Although whenever he trained with it, Linley usually made sure to keep it straight and hard, on occasion, Linley would also let it remain flexible and wield it in a bizarre, flowing manner. Linley had to make certain that this secret of the Bloodviolet Godsword was not discovered by anyone.

  Naturally, he could not allow anyone to watch him train.

  With his right hand, Linley stroked his waist. Instantly, with a cold, violet flash, an extremely thin, violet blade appeared in Linley’s hands.

  “Swish!”

  From within the Hot Springs Garden, one ray of violet light after another began to appear, while Linley roved back and forth within the garden like a wandering dragon. Having totally merged the support of the wind-style Supersonic spell with his own power, not only was Linley’s movement speed fast, it wa
s also extremely agile.

  Through the usage of the Secret Dragonblood Manual, Linley trained his body. When he was relaxed, he would engage in the carving of sculptures to raise his spiritual energy, while he would enter the meditative trance in the middle of the hot springs to refine his mageforce.

  His training permeated his every daily activity.

  Only, Linley still had not been able to find the best time to make his move against Patterson. After all, he had relatively few encounters with Patterson. If Linley went directly to Patterson’s manor, or Patterson came to Linley’s residence, once Linley killed Patterson, within perhaps just half a day, King Clayde would know what had happened.

  No matter how great Linley’s potential was, if he murdered King Clayde’s own brother, Clayde definitely would not be gentle with him.

  Within the main hall, Linley was gracefully eating lunch.

  After he finished his lunch, Linley once again began thinking about Patterson. “This Patterson fellow hasn’t come to visit me at all. Seems like I’ll have to personally pay a visit.” Linley decided to no longer be the hunter setting a snare for the rabbit. He would head directly to the Patterson manor.

  “Milord.” Just at this moment, an attendant ran over from outside. “Milord, Lord Cardinal Guillermo of the Radiant Church has arrived.”

  “Guillermo?”

  Linley’s body trembled, and then he immediately headed for the door, going out to personally welcome Guillermo.

  Within the main hall.

  “Linley, I hear that recently, your life has been leisurely and carefree. Every day, either you are training, resting in the hot springs, or engaging in stonesculpting. This sort of life really makes one envious of you.” Guillermo said with a laugh to Linley.

  Linley nodded and laughed as well.

  “But Linley.” Guillermo said solemnly, “I must remind you that although your sculptures are worth money, the thing which truly determines a person’s status is power! Just look at that nearby Debs clan. Don’t they have money? But in terms of status, they are inferior to you.”