Coiling Dragon

by welyjesch

  “Are you saying…that you sold Reynolds to a slave trading organization?” Linley asked.

  “Right.” Hugh said in terror. He now knew that Reynolds was Master Linley’s bosom friend.

  “How badly was Reynolds injured?” Linley said with concern. From the reports he had heard, Reynolds had suffered life-threatening wounds. Linley was worried about him.

  Hugh said with absolute certainty, “Master Linley, don’t worry. When I took Reynolds back, I immediately invited healers to come treat him. And then, after he was sold to the slave trading organization, those slave traders definitely wouldn’t let such a valuable commodity die.”

  Valuable commodity?

  In his heart, Linley was worried about his friend. Reynolds had fallen to the point of becoming a slave?

  “Let’s go. You will come with me to find that slave trading organization. You should know where it is, right?” Linley grabbed Hugh by his clothes, and Hugh hurriedly said, “Yes, this humble one remembers it very clearly.”

  The nearby Chastre snapped, “Hugh, from today onwards, you are to accompany Master Linley. Whatever Master Linley wishes you to do, you must obey.” Chastre looked at Linley and said apologetically, “Master Linley, our deepest apologies. I hope you won’t be too upset with us.”

  Chastre truly didn’t have any other options.

  Generally speaking, in times of war, both sides wouldn’t dare to get the family and friends of Saints involved. After all, if a Saint was to go berserk, that would be quite terrifying.

  In the annals of history, there had been more than a few cases of a Saint going berserk and killing tens of thousands of soldiers.

  However, generally speaking, Saints were high and mighty people who stood above the fray. So long as you didn’t offend them, they wouldn’t stoop to causing troubles with ordinary people.

  Linley glanced at Chastre, then snatched Hugh up. “Let’s go.” He suddenly rose into the air, and then flew alongside Bebe towards the south…

  Watching Linley fly away, the entire military camp let out a collective sigh of relief. Facing such a powerful Saint, all of the warriors present truly didn’t have anything they could do.

  “Commanders, go now and manage your subordinates. I’m worried that the Golden Flame Legion will seize this opportunity to launch a sneak attack.” Seeing how disorderly and dispirited the army camp was, Chastre couldn’t help but feel worried. After all, their army was already in a state of disorder, and the spirit of the army had already been suppressed by Linley.

  Chastre’s prediction was correct. Not too long afterwards, the Golden Flame Legion once more began their ferocious assault.

  Within a border city within the Rohault Empire. Hugh in hand, Linley descended upon a seemingly unremarkable estate, which had a number of exquisitely dressed guards within.

  “Whoosh!” A sudden gust of wind came out of nowhere. Linley, now in human form again, appeared on the ground with Hugh in his clutches. Linley was no longer as grief-stricken and furious as he had been at the beginning, when he was preparing to avenge his brother’s death. He was much calmer, now.

  No matter what, at least his Fourth Bro was still alive.

  “Old White [Huai’te]! Old White!” Hugh immediately began to yell at the top of his lungs as soon as he landed.

  “Who are you guys?” Old White didn’t come out, but quickly, over ten guards appeared in a circle around them, all of whom had their weapons at the ready, prepared to attack at any moment. Only then did a silver-haired old man in a gentleman’s suit appear from a side door. Seeing Hugh, the silver-haired old man laughed loudly. “Oh, so it is my dear Hugh. Why are you in such a rush, to the point of charging straight in?”

  “Hugh, who is this?” The old gentleman named ‘White’ had very sharp eyes. He instantly could tell that this man dressed in a black robe was quite extraordinary. After returning to human form, Linley hadn’t changed his clothes, and so his pants were ripped and torn.

  Linley frowned, glancing coldly at this Old White.

  “Old White, this is Master Linley!” Hugh said hurriedly.

  “Master Linley?” Old White was startled, and then a look of shock appeared on his face. “Could it be that this is the Dragonblood Warrior of the O’Brien Empire, Master Linley?”

  Hugh hurriedly nodded. “I was flown over here by Master Linley.”

  Old White didn’t dare to believe it. He was nothing more than a local supervisor for his slave trading organization. How could he be worth Master Linley, one of the towering figures of the Yulan continent, to come and visit him?

  “Old White…” Linley looked at Old White.

  “Master Linley.” Old White was extremely humble.

  Linley went straight to the point. “Old White, roughly a month ago, Hugh brought a young magus of the seventh rank and sold him to you, I believe.”

  Old White glanced at Hugh, then nodded towards Linley. “That is correct.”

  “That magus of the seventh rank, his name is Reynolds! He is the bosom friend of me, Linley!” Linley’s voice was very calm, but his eyes stared coldly at Old White.

  Old White’s eyes instantly turned as round as an ox’s. “Mas…Master Linley’s bosom friend?!” Old White’s eyes were filled with shock, terror, and disbelief.

  Although these slave trading organizations were quite powerful and had some connections to the four major assassin’s guilds, no matter how powerful they were, they wouldn’t dare offend a Saint, much less a peak-stage Saint such as Linley!

  “Hugh, you…” Old White stared furiously at Hugh.

  It was Hugh who had sold that Reynolds to their organization. Their organization dared to sell almost anyone, even the disciples of major clans, but why had Hugh sold them the close friend of a Saint?

  A bitter smile was on Hugh’s face.

  He didn’t know either. If he knew, would he have dared to offend Reynolds? Now, Hugh’s life was in Linley’s hands.

  “Old White.” Linley spoke.

  Old White’s reaction speed was extremely fast. He hurriedly said to Linley, “Master Linley, don’t worry. Since this Mr. Reynolds is your friend, Master Linley, our organization definitely will not do anything to Mr. Reynolds. I will immediately send someone to inform our headquarters…”

  “What’s the matter? Where is Reynolds?” Linley asked.

  “This…this…” A hint of terror was on Old White’s face. After all, Reynolds had been sold off as a slave almost a month ago.

  Linley could sense that something was wrong, and he immediately barked, “Speak!”

  Old White had a feeling of terror in his heart. If a Saint such as Linley were to grow angry with him, it was totally possible that their entire organization would be wiped off the map. He hurriedly said, “Master Linley, when Mr. Reynolds was brought here, we first arranged for his wounds to be treated, and then roughly ten days later, we sent him off with a large group of slaves in one shipment. From my understanding, Mr. Reynolds should probably already have arrived at our headquarters.”

  “Headquarters?” Linley frowned.

  Hugh was puzzled as well. “Old White, what’s this all about? Doesn’t your organization usually sell off slaves directly at the slave markets? Why would you send Mr. Reynolds to your headquarters?”

  Old White hurriedly said, “We do sell off ordinary slaves at the slave markets, yes, but Mr. Reynolds was different. He is a magus of the seventh rank! He poses an extremely great risk. If we were to sell Mr. Reynolds to a customer, and then Mr. Reynolds was to use a magic spell and kill the customer, then our organization would have to pay a huge fine.”

  Linley stared at Old White.

  “Therefore, for powerful people such as Mr. Reynolds and other dangerous, top-quality slaves, they all are sent off to the headquarters, where they will be trained for three months. They will be trained and taught to never dare to disobey a command and obediently obey their masters. Only then would we deliver them to customers.” Old White explained.


  Linley’s face changed.

  Train them so they wouldn’t dare to disobey? Obediently obey their masters’ orders? The person being trained was an expert like Reynolds…Linley could totally imagine how sinister and terrifying this ‘training’ was.

  “Where is your headquarters? Take me there.” Linley’s face changed and he immediately shouted.

  Old White hesitated for a moment, but seeing the terrifying look in Linley’s eyes, he immediately nodded. “Yes, Master Linley, I will immediately guide you to our headquarters.”

  “Our headquarters is deep within the Rohault Empire and is far from the borders. Given the winding roads, it is a journey of three thousand kilometers from here.” Old White said.

  “My Boss can just fly you over there.” The nearby Bebe said unhappily. Bebe was worried for Reynolds as well. After all, when they were at the Ernst Institute, Bebe would often have fun alongside and play around alongside Reynolds.

  Old White hurriedly nodded. He didn’t dare to say a word.

  “Master Linley, there’s no need for me to go with you, right?” The nearby Hugh was filled with terror.

  Linley turned to stare at Hugh. Currently, Reynolds was probably being tormented by those people in the slave trading organization’s headquarters. Thinking of this, Linley couldn’t help but feel a hint of fury.

  “Slash!” A blurred claw swiped out. Hugh clutched his throat with terror, but fresh blood still flowed out of his throat. A few moments later, Hugh toppled to the floor.

  Floating in mid-air, Bebe cast a dissatisfied glance at Hugh. “You bastard, you thought you would be able to save your worthless skin? Are you damn stupid or what? When you were killing the soldiers of Reynolds’ corps, you thought it was quite enjoyable, right? Well, today, when I, Bebe, killed you, I felt it was very enjoyable as well.”

  Seeing this scene play out, Old White’s body was trembling slightly.

  “Old fellow, don’t be afraid. As long as you obediently follow my Boss’s orders, I, Bebe, definitely won’t mistreat you.” Bebe smiled widely, revealing his sharp fangs.

  Old White had heard of how, during Linley’s duel with Haydson, Linley’s two Saint-level magical beasts had appeared, one of which seemed to be a mouse-type magical beast and which had easily trampled Haydson. Staring at the hovering Bebe, Old White was beginning to suspect that this Bebe was most likely that very terrifying magical beast.

  Terrified, Old White could only force himself to smile at Bebe.

  Linley snatched Old White then soared into the air, flying towards the southeast. “Old White, lead the way for me!” The terrified Old White cleared his throat a few times, stared at the ground below, then began to direct Linley towards their headquarters.

  Book 9, His Fame Shakes the World – Chapter 45, Cruelty

  Let us return to year 10009 of the Yulan calendar, September 21st. A few days had passed after Wharton and Nina’s grand wedding. At this time, Linley was under the belief that Reynolds had died.

  However…

  “This is the third day on this ship. That bastard just tortured another slave to death, then tossed him into the river.” Through the steel-barred windows, Reynolds could see the outside world. He had watched a seemingly powerful, yet blood-stained body be tossed into the river. A human being, just like that, sank into the river with a ‘plop’.

  In the army, Reynolds had already seen how worthless a human life was.

  However, on this slave journey, Reynolds had been truly shocked by how terrifying these slavers were. Fortunately, he, Reynolds, was an extremely valuable commodity, and so those slavers didn’t dare to kill him.

  “Whap!” A whip struck Reynolds heavily on his body, and then against Reynolds’ face. Instantly, a bloody welt could be seen forming on his face, and his ragged clothes were covered with rips as well.

  “Motherf*cker, what are you looking at?” A large whip-wielding thug shouted angrily at Reynolds.

  Reynolds could only huddle into a corner of the ship, not daring to make a sound. He had learned to be obedient. If he wanted to try and be brave and stare back at him…he probably would be tortured this entire night.

  This slaving vessel was extremely large. The bottommost deck held those cheapest of slaves. Those slavers would sometimes go down to that deck, and if they saw someone they disliked, they would strike them heavily.

  Reynolds, as an extremely valuable slave, was imprisoned within a special room in the second level. The windows to this room were barred with steel, and there were two thugs on watch at all times.

  Quite a few thugs were stationed in the other rooms on the second floor as well.

  The third and uppermost floor was used for transporting the leaders of this slaving vessel. One was an expert of the eighth rank, while two were experts of the seventh rank. If it wasn’t for Reynolds, this slaving vessel wouldn’t have had an expert of the eighth rank sent along with it.

  On the deck of this ship, a tall, strong, bald man walked down from the third floor.

  “Lord Peel [Pi’er].” The surrounding thugs said respectfully.

  Seeing the bloodstains on the deck of the ship, the bald man frowned. “Wipe those bloodstains away. Also, slaves are worth f*cking money. All of you be careful when you hit them. Don’t kill them. If you kill a slave, that means the organization will lose some money.”

  Those thugs didn’t dare to make a sound.

  The bald man snorted, then walked to the chain links at the deck’s edge. The cool night wind blew against him as he enjoyed the beautiful night scenery of the Bonai [Bo’nai] River.

  “Right. What’s going on with that magus?” The bald man snorted.

  A nearby thug immediately said obsequiously, “Lord Peel, that little pretty-boy magus started off all high and mighty, but after the boys spent a bit of time trainin’ him these past few days, he’s learned his lesson.”

  “Excellent.” The bald man said calmly, “All of you, be careful and keep a close eye on that magus. The only valuable commodity we are escorting this time is that magus of the seventh rank. And, by the looks of it, this magus is a noble. When we sell him, the price will be extraordinarily high.”

  Those thugs all nodded.

  A young magus of the seventh rank was definitely one of the best auction items that would appear in the slave markets. People would go even crazier for him than they would for a beautiful virgin.

  “What’s that noise?” The bald man suddenly frowned, then turned his head and stared at the cabin. “That sick bastard keeps on coughing. Drag him out. Motherf*cker, he pisses me off.’ A hint of bloodlust was in the eyes of the bald man.

  Soon, a skinny young man was dragged out. By the looks of him, he was eighteen or nineteen years old. His body was covered with a foul odor as well as bloodstains. The eyes of this youngster were rather vacant. This long period of imprisonment had caused him to go crazy. He was nothing more than a young man who had left his hometown in search of his dreams, but who would’ve thought that he would suddenly have been seized and sold to a slaving organization? Just like that, he had entered a nightmare.

  “Hrm?” The bald man stretched his hand out, and a nearby thug very conscientiously filled it with a whip.

  Holding the whip, the bald man cracked it in the air, creating a clear, crisp sound. Suddenly, a hint of fear appeared in the blank eyes of the youngster.

  “If you aren’t dead, why do you keep coughing? You ruined the wonderful mood I was in.” The bald man suddenly landed a vicious whipping blow onto the skinny youth.

  This whip blow was far stronger than the blows of those common thugs.

  The skinny youngster’s body suddenly trembled violently, and a terrifyingly deep whip-scar was left from his face to his waist. Blood immediately began to flow out. As for his clothes, they were destroyed long ago.

  “Whap!” “Whap!” “Whap!” “Whap!” ….

  The bald man viciously whipped him, fully venting his temper on this poor young man’s body
. The skinny youngster, quite experienced by now, immediately tried to protect his head and curled into a ball. What he thought was that as long as he could endure, he might still be able to preserve his life.

  Sadly. Although the bald man didn’t dare to kill Reynolds, the bald man dared to kill him.

  “Lord Peel, he’s dead.” A nearby thug whispered.

  The bald man casually tossed his bloodstained whip to a nearby thug, then turned back to stare at the raging river waters, stretching lazily. “Damn, that feels good. You guys, toss that piece of trash overboard. Also, make sure you scrub the deck clean.”

  “Yes, Lord Peel.” The surrounding thugs quickly began to work as instructed.

  “Plop!” With a plopping sound, yet another body was tossed into the river.

  Each slaving ship carried several hundred slaves within it, and on each trip, over ten would be tortured to death. The ones which the thugs would beat to death were the ones who were physically the weakest. The physically stronger ones would be able to hold on for longer. Thus, the slaving organization didn’t lose too much.

  “Yet another one.” Reynolds sighed in his heart. He didn’t expect that after managing to escape Neil City alive, he would have fallen to such a state.

  Reynolds didn’t know what his future would be like.

  “Be a slave?” Thinking about the debased, dark life of a slave, Reynolds shuddered.

  “Pretty-boy, what are you mumbling? Do you want to cast a spell?” With an angry roar and a ‘WHAP!’ sound, another whip blow came, striking him directly on his face.

  Pain. Humiliation!

  These thugs clearly knew that Reynolds was a magus of the seventh rank. All of those petty, despicable thugs wanted to whip Reynolds whenever they could, so as to satisfy their petty pride.

  “Motherfcker, fck off!” Reynolds was truly angry now.

  The more he endured, the more overbearing these men became.