Chapter 2 – His background?
“Not good!” The grey-robed Meteor Knight trembled upon seeing the teenager take out a spell scroll.
The teenager focused on him. Clearly, this young man targeted the Meteor Knight with whatever powerful magic the scroll contained.
Hong! Hong! Hong! Hong! Hong! Hong!
Several huge green thunderbolts flashed down from the clear sky, striking the ground and creating a virtual forest of electrified green flashes! Among these densely packed thunderbolts… eight of them, twisting, struck the Meteor Knight. The knight had no time to dodge. With a hong, his entire body was atomized into ashes.
Normally, without a spell scroll, even a Silver Moon mage would require significant casting time before being able to cast such a powerful grade-five thunder spell; however, the power such a magic would produced would be unimaginable.
“No!” The white-robed triangle-eyed man cried, hiding far away behind his shield. He gaped in terror at the scene of his knight’s destruction, and exclaimed with his eyes wide-open, “I—”
Hong!
His body was also disintegrated into fragments! He was simply too weak and had no hope of withstanding the powerful thunderbolt attack.
A total of 99 mighty green thunderbolts rained down from the sky, resembling a grove of large tree trunks. Such was the grade-five spell – Thunderbolt Forest!
Qing Shi was barely strong enough to focus the falling thunderbolts on that Meteor Knight. He did not have the mental strength to guide the other thunderbolts, falling like a great green forest, to any other directed target. As Qing Shi could only do his utmost to ensure the thunderbolts struck in the general direction of their enemies, it was to their fortune that a single powerful thunderbolt actually struck that triangle-eyed teenager.
“Ah Ah Ah Ah.” Some of the crimson-armoured riders were struck by the spell and also immediately perished.
Because Snow Eagle Territory’s soldiers had already been spread apart in a fairly wide-spread pattern and their numbers quite few, as Qing Shi guided the ‘Thunderbolt Forest’s barrage towards the direction of the enemies, none of his soldiers were struck.
“Escape.”
“Quick, escape.”
Those 20 crimson riders who were fortunate enough to escape from the Thunderbolt Forest area of effect, immediately leaped onto their horse and rapidly retreated from the place.“Xiu.” “Xiu.” “Xiu.”
The soldiers of Snow Eagle Territory though, realizing the opportunity, shot their Star Breaking Crossbows at the retreating foes.
“It’s alright now,” Qing Shi pulled on his girlfriend’s hand.
“I… I… “ Ji Rong was still terrified, “We almost… almost died. It’s really fortunate that you, Qing Shi, had that powerful spell scroll with you.”
“My brother gave me it to me to use as a protective treasure,” Qing Shi never continued on after that, because Xue Ying had actually ordered him keep quiet about the information regarding the existence of his spell scrolls. He only exposed them because of today’s near-death incident..
Soon, the Snow Eagle Territory’s soldiers returned from chasing after the escaping crimson riders..
“Young master Qing Shi, most of the enemy soldiers actually escaped. Because using the Star Breaking Crossbow is so difficult, 16 of them actually escaped from us,” The head of the escort team said.
“Clean up this place. We will head back to Snowrock Castle now.” Qing Shi, who felt uneasy, commanded.
……
Evening.
After getting the message from his servants about his brother’s deadly encounter, Xue Ying along with Zong Ling and Tong San waited at the castle gate for Qing Shi’s return. As the drop-bridge slowly lowered and the castle gates opened.
Outside the castle, Qing Shi and his entourage carried with them several of the crimson rider corpses.
“I’ll return to the Great Mage’s Building first,” Ji Rong said in a low voice,
“Mn,” Qing Shi nodded.
The door was open.
Qing Shi walked towards Xue Ying, head lowered, “Brother.”
“Go back and rest first. We’ll talk more tonight,” Xue Ying did not blame his brother for his actions. After all, he could see how flustered Qing Shi was after dealing with a life and death situation for the first time. Qing Shi lightly nodded and disappeared into the castle.
“You, follow me,” Xue Ying commanded.
The captain of the escort team immediately respectfully followed.
The two of them strode through the castle.
“What happened?” Xue Ying asked. Zong Ling and Tong San also with him, listening to the explanation given.
“My Lord, today, as usual, we were escorting both the young master and Miss Ji Rong to Water Rites Town,” That captain described, in detail, what exactly had happened to them. After finishing his report, he sighed, “It is really fortunate that young master Qing Shi used that spell of his. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been just the two of our brothers-in-arms dying today.”
That grey-robed Knight had been too fast. Before being struck by the Thunderbolt Forest spell, he had already killed two Snow Eagle Territory soldiers.
Xue Ying nodded, “Double the pensions given to those who died! As for their families, we will continue supporting them. To the other soldiers who went with you, give each of them 10 pieces of silver.”
“Thank you my Lord,” Captain Wu said gratefully.
“Do you know who that white-robed young master is?” Xue Ying asked.
“No, I don’t. But by his spoken accent, it seems that he isn’t part of our Water Rites Town,” Captain Wu replied.
Xue Ying frowned.
Trouble was brewing.
Without a doubt, Xue Ying’s little brother had killed of a child of some nobility. Whether this matter would be blown up, only time would tell! According to the laws of the empire, Qing Shi acted entirely in self-defense! If the young master who died was part of an ordinary clan, then this matter would probably be considered closed. However, if white-robed young man originated from a big clan, then this matter would not be so easily solved. Trouble would definitely come knocking on their door.
“Xue Ying, since the young-master Qing She killed is not part of Water Rites Town, then investigating his identity would be hard. The entire Azure River County is too big, having so many clans of nobility. Who knows which clan he is from?” Zong Ling’s head throbbed just imagining searching for this youngster’s identity among the myriads of noble houses in the county.
“Did you bring the young man’s body with you?” Xue Ying asked.
“Yes, we carried what we could back with us. However, the white-robed young master was actually totally disintegrated by the thunderbolt that struck him and nothing was left behind. However, the Meteor Knight’s body is still around with us. But because of being struck by several of the thunderbolts, it’s going to be hard for us to identify him.” Captain wu said.
“Are there any hostages?”
“At the time, our brothers were all so furious that we did not give any mercy to the enemies. Every time we shot them with our Star Breaking Crossbow, it was a fatal wound. We even killed those too heavily injured to fight back,” Captain Wu said, “No hostages were kept.”
After hearing all this, Xue Ying a baleful aura began leaking from his body.
Identifying one’s enemies should not be this difficult.
‘Damn it!’
If anyone dared accost him and accused him using the law, Xue Ying would argue that his brother was victim and had acted in self-defense! On the other hand, if someone tried to illegally get revenge, regardless of whether they were the strongest person in Azure River County – Si Liang Hong or the terrifying Xiang Pang Yun… Xue Ying did not fear. Xue Ying wondered if he was worrying too much over this matter. Whichever noble clan this dead young master was from should not be so powerful.
“Investigate,” Xue Ying commanded, “Use their belongings to see if you can find any clues as to who they are.”
“I’ll go arrange it,” Zong Ling said. He was meticulous and thorough in his work as well as his thoughts, “Three hours is enough.”
“If you still can’t find out where they are from, I guess I’ll have to ask Dragon Mountain Manor for help,” Xue Ying concluded.
******
The Third Division stationed within Azure River County was actually located somewhere near the Mountain Range of Desolation.
Usually, those guards stationed within the various towns of Azure River County were from the Si Clan. As for those stationed at the Mountain Range of Desolation, they were actually the Empire’s soldiers! Being the army of the empire, they were even more powerful and more mysterious. The Si Clan could only borrow on some relations they had with the empire to influence those empire soldiers stationed within their territory. However, it was impossible to have total control over these soldiers.
As for the backing behind the empire’s army, it was a powerful force. Whenever a huge troop of army entered the Mountain Range of Desolation, a Transcendent would be behind the scenes to command the troops!
The Third Division, within a spacious house.
“Second elder.”
“Young master has passed away.”
A few soldiers awkwardly stood there.
Sitting in front of them was a one-eyed officer. The one-eyed officer’s expression turned so gloomy that tears could be seen forming in his single eye. “Young master actually died? All you useless trash, trash! My big brother will definitely become crazy, definitely! Tell me, who was the one who did this. And why did he die?”
“Yes,” The soldiers all hurriedly described the whole incident.
The more the one-eyed officer heard, the more his facial expression twitch.
The fact that he could become the commander of the Third Divisions logistics department was all due to his brother who spent a huge sum of gold and utilised his connections for this to happen. His brother was actually insane. In the entire Azure River County, everyone called him the loyal dog of the Si Clan! But why did they use the word ‘dog’ as an expression? It was precisely because his big brother was so batty, that he would frequently do very crazy things like a mad dog.
As for that young master ‘Cui Hu’ who died? He was his brother’s only son!
“Snow Eagle territory, Dong Bo Xue Ying’s little brother? Dong Bo Qing Shi?” The one-eyed officer gritted his teeth, “How dare he kill someone from our Cui Clan! Dong Bo Qing Shi must die! His brother must die too! The entire Snow Eagle Territory must compensate for his death!”
Initially, during the encounter, these soldiers did not know who the other young master was. All they knew was that he was just from the Snow Eagle Territory’s controlling clan. But due to Ji Rong exclaiming his name, they now knew he was actually Dong Bo Qing Shi – Xue Ying’s little brother. As a result, they understood who the enemy was.
“Better send a message as fast as possible to my big brother,” One-eyed officer did not hesitate at all. Utilising the Empire’s army network, he sent a message in order to inform his brother at Azure River County! After all, being the commander of the logistics department, sending such a simple message to his home was a small matter easily accomplished.
……
On the high mountain 16 km away from where the Third Division was located.
A coyote with a snow white body and pitch-black legs stood, watching the Third Division from a place far away. A faintly dark qi surrounded the coyote. While this canine looked to be only a few months old with some tenderness still in its body, its eyes expressed a desolate sadness and an endless hatred.
He had just been birthed to this world not long ago, yet his mother was already killed by people.
Moments ago…
Soldiers had also killed the coyote’s father before bringing his father’s corpse into their camp. Using his natural born instincts, the young coyote was able to follow the soldiers all the way to this location, yet it did not enter their camp precisely because it was afraid.
“Child,” A gentle voice was heard beside the coyote amongst the dark qi congregating beside it. That dark qi eventually form into a black-robed, white-haired old man. With an expression full of love, he asked, “Do you hate humankind?”
The coyote eyed this old man, before angrily growling despite his natural inclination toward gentleness.
Hate.
Definitely hated them very much!
“Your parents were just some ordinary creatures, yet you have in your hands, an extraordinary power. However, this power must be fully controlled before you could have the opportunity to take your revenge against humankind,” That black-robed, white-haired old man stretched out his hand, displaying a strange bone scepter in it, “I shall grant you this opportunity.”
Omm—-
A surge of a blood-coloured stream of energy gushed out of the bone scepter, enveloping the coyote’s body. The coyote began transforming under the blood-red magical stream, slowly, it became more and more upright, with its fur disappearing from the naked eyes and its four legs turning into human limbs. That canine-head slowly transformed, with human facial features gradually appearing.
In just a moment, a naked child of five-six years old stood right where the coyote was.
“This is your human body – a true human body. No one will be able to discover any flaws indicating you aren’t a human,” The black-robed, white-haired old man said, “Only when you are able to fully assimilate into the humankind world could you have a better opportunity to take your revenge. Let’s go. But before you enter the world of humans, it’s better if you follow me for 10 years. For now, call me… father!”
“Yes. Fa… ther?” The child stuttered. Although he stammered out his words, what came out was still coherent.
“Really extraordinary. Turning into a human just moments ago and yet, he can already speak,” The black-robed, white-haired old man smiled, “Let’s go.”
A sea of black qi enveloped both of them…
And followed the two as they disappeared into the background.