Radiant Era - Chapter 37

Chapter 37 Drawing the Sword

Arthur, who was originally cheerfully talking, looked at Lin Qi with an ashen complexion, a gleam of hatred flickering inside his single eye. He didn’t say a word, merely looking at Lin Qi with clenched fists. A limestone tile under his feet suddenly cracked open, several thin fissures radiating outwards.

A middle-aged man stood next to Arthur, his hair dishevelled and filthy as if he hadn’t cleaned himself for several months. He stepped forward with large strides and shouted in a stern voice, “A bastard from out of nowhere actually dares to talk to young master Arthur like that? Kneel down and apologize, or else!”

The middle-aged man not only had filthy hair, the clothes he was wearing were also tattered. Cobwebs and moss were caught on them. Even a corpse in a garbage heap was better off than him. A strange odor emanated from him, making people standing several meters away feel sick from a small whiff. No one knew how he managed to become so disgusting.

Lin Qi didn’t heed this man and merely strode towards Arthur. The last bit of that bottle of Magic Fierce Medicine was circulating in Lin Qi’s bone marrow and muscles, distributing the last bit medicinal efficacy. Lin Qi silently utilized the secret arts handed down in his family to condense battle qi, making the aura all over his body seethe like flowing water. It mixed with the rolling, warm current from the Magic Fierce Medicine and washed over his whole body.

As he walked forward, deep and powerful sound of bone joints popping could distinctly be heard from within Lin Qi’s body. He inhaled deeply, the powerful strength all over his body seething in tandem, and when he exhaled, it was just like the breath of a gigantic dragon, puffing out continuously for several meters.

Arthur groaned in a low voice, “Lin Qi, you’ve come back?”

Subconsciously stroking his left eye that was covered with an eye-patch, Arthur’s body violently trembled. His complexion was ashen, his face covered with a layer of thick killing intent that couldn’t be concealed. But like a flash, his killing intent disappeared, and he suddenly showed a brilliant smile like a blooming flower. Red hair, purple eyes, and his extremely handsome face, together with his smile, was as if Apollo himself from the legends suddenly descended to the mortal world.

Looking at Arthur’s smile, the aggressive men around him simultaneously loosened their grips on their sword hilts. They looked at Lin Qi in astonishment, not knowing where Lin Qi got the guts to actually dare to talk to the eldest son of the Black Tiger Family like that.

Only that middle-aged man, with his filthy hair and tattered clothes, walked up to Lin Qi. He didn’t grow eyes in the back of his head, and so he couldn’t see the strange change in Arthur’s expression. He shouted emotionally, “Young master Arthur, today is my first day serving you. Let me use this boy’s blood to express my loyalty to you!”

Lin Qi didn’t pay any attention to this middle-aged man. He continued walking towards Arthur in large strides with a sneer on his face and said, “Oh, not bad, Arthur. You actually started gathering henchmen? This is the thug you recently recruited? Is it possible you are lacking copper coins? Can’t you clean him up a bit first and then bring him back? Remember, this is the family’s ancestral house. For someone like this to appear here, it will make the family lose face!”

Casting a sidelong glance at the middle-aged man, Lin Qi ridiculed him. “A stray dog is cleaner than him!”

The anger in the middle-aged man’s heart had already accumulated to the limit. He roared in rage, suddenly pulled his sword out, and swung it at Lin Qi’s neck. Different from the sharp sword Enzo usually used, the middle-aged man used a commonly seen, medium-sized broad sword. The edge of the sword was two fingers wide, one meter or so long, with only the first one-third of the sword possessing a sharp edge. Looking at the faint blood-red color seeping through the sword’s clear tip, it was obvious that it had already spilled the blood of many.

The sword rose, the tip covered with a layer of thin, red light. This middle-aged man was obviously a Man Knight.

Enzo, who closely followed behind Lin Qi, similarly pulled out his sword and the blade assumed an arris form. His one and a third meter-long sword glowed with a layer of deep-red battle qi. Enzo implemented the fencing moves taught by the Army Academy, sweeping past Lin Qi’s side just like a gale. In a flash, he had already stabbed seven times in the middle-aged man’s direction.

Seven, red-colored sword tips tore through the cold air and the winds, and ten snowflakes the size of a child’s palm were crushed in front of the sword tip.

That middle-aged man, even in his wildest dreams, didn’t expect that the one who stood behind Lin Qi this whole time was actually such an extraordinary swordsman. Enzo’s battle qi was more powerful than his, his physical strength and young muscles were greater than his, and Enzo’s reaction speed was a lot faster than his. Seven sword tips rapidly closed in on his body. The middle-aged man spared no effort in lashing his sword back, slanting it in a downward chop.

The two swords collided with each other. Six blood-red sword tips vanished, while the last nimbly evaded the chop of the broad sword, brushing by the blade and stabbing into the middle-aged man’s left shoulder. The sharp sword that could effortlessly pierce through standard armours pierced a hole the size of a thumb in the middle-aged man’s left shoulder like a hot knife cutting through butter. Enzo then retracted his sharp sword and seized the opportunity to kick that man’s lower abdomen.

In aristocratic fencing, the feet absolutely couldn’t move. But Enzo wasn’t an aristocrat. He was an Army Academy student, and their objective was totally different from that of the aristocrats’; their sole objective was to use the fastest speed and the highest efficiency possible to kill the enemy.

Blood spattered everywhere. The middle-aged man initially felt pain on his shoulder, but before he was able to utter a miserable howl, Enzo’s battle boots that were inlaid with iron had already ruthlessly stamped on his lower abdomen. The dull sound of the kick could be heard, and the middle-aged man’s body flew up more than one meter. He spat out blood and flew upside down for more than two meters from Enzo’s kick.

The broadsword was pathetically thrown very far. As the middle-aged man hugged his lower abdomen and curled up on the ground struggling and twitching, one mouthful of blood after another continuously spurted out.

Arthur’s smiling face stiffened for a while, but he quickly squeezed out an even more brilliant and affectionate smile. “Lin Qi, when did you return? Why didn’t you tell the family beforehand? If not, some people would’ve been arranged to go to the dock to welcome you!”

Regarding the middle-aged man’s severe injury, Arthur didn’t spare a glance, treating him as though he were a pile a garbage rather than a swordsman he’d just recruited.

Lin Qi walked up to Arthur with a gloomy expression before throwing a punch at Arthur’s face. This was an all-out punch, containing Lin Qi’s whole body’s battle qi that he had cultivated since childhood. He spared nothing, using the brute force from his entire body, plus all the physical strength the Magic Fierce Medicine had enhanced for him. Every muscle in his whole body were firmly stretched, and he punched out without leaving behind even a shred of residual strength.

The wind whizzed from the punch, Lin Qi’s fist faintly emitting tangerine-yellow light.

Arthur’s expression changed. He anxiously retreated several steps, then loudly shouted, “Lin Qi, what are you doing?”

Lin Qi rapidly approached without saying a word, his fist continuing to ram towards that charming face of his while accompanied by the sound of tearing wind.

The looks of the several other men around Arthur agitatedly changed. They simultaneously pulled out their sabres, their five longswords carrying the sound of tearing wind as they stabbed towards different vital parts all over Lin Qi’s body from different trajectories. It didn’t matter why Arthur smiled at Lin Qi earlier. He was now a threat to Arthur’s safety – and Arthur was their leader!

Five people wielding swords attacked Lin Qi. Seeing this, Enzo’s expression changed, then he hastily waved his sword to welcome the attacks.