The O’Brien Empire restricted the worship of other religions within its borders, and so the Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows were forced to keep their forces in hiding. If and when their forces were discovered, the O’Brien Empire would mercilessly stamp them out.
This attitude of the O’Brien Empire had caused the Radiant Church to never have the chance to expand its influence within the Empire’s borders.
In important places such as the imperial capital or in the provincial capitals, the Radiant Church still managed to place quite a few forces in hiding, but in prefectural cities, they would have at most a few dozen people.
As for those ordinary cities, some places had a few people, others had none.
And the towns? No need to even mention them.
The density of their web of influence wasn’t very high. Thus, the Radiant Church’s forces which had been sent to locate Linley couldn’t find any trace of him. They had no idea where this Linley had run off to.
Even though they didn’t know where Linley was hiding, the Lyndin’s team of six experts still departed from the Sacred Isle and headed towards the O’Brien Empire.
Outside Northwest Administrative Province’s provincial capital of Basil. Cloudpeaks Village.
Linley, Zassler, Barker and his brothers, Rebecca, and Leena were all living here quietly. Aside from their training, Rebecca and Leena spent their time making sure Linley and the others were all fed.
The explanation they gave to the local villagers was that Linley was a noble. Zassler was his housekeeper, and the five Barker brothers were his guards.
Linley’s team was located in the western side of the village, several hundred meters away from any other residences.
“Big sis, today the skeleton I summoned was so cute! It looked so silly.” Rebecca and Leena were on their way back from the local market, carrying baskets of fresh vegetables.
Aside from their training, they spent much of their time cooking.
“Rebecca, don’t always waste your time playing around. After summoning a skeleton, release it back. You are wasting too much time playing around with skeletons.” Leena was somewhat unhappy.
Rebecca was too undisciplined. Every day, she would play around with and tease the skeletal warriors she summoned.
“I know, big sis. I’ll catch up to you soon.” Rebecca said in a low voice. Her sister was already capable of summoning zombies.
It must be said that both Rebecca and Leena were quite talented. They were progressing quite rapidly in the arts of Necromantic Magic.
The two of them walked to an empty spot of land. Currently, the manor which Linley had designed was still in the construction phase. And thus, Linley had erected a series of wooden cabins for them to live in for now.
“Big brother Linley’s training method is so weird.” Rebecca murmured.
Right now, Linley was wielding the adamantine heavy sword in one hand and the Bloodviolet Godsword in the other. In Linley’s hands, the adamantine heavy sword danced about as though it was totally weightless. But Bloodviolet was the opposite; it seemed to carry a thousand tons of force with each blow.
“Wielding something heavy as though it were light, wielding something light as though it were heavy…”
Linley had a hint of a smile on his lips.
Regardless of whether he was using Bloodviolet or the adamantine heavy sword, his level of understanding could be applied to both. For example, the ‘impose’ level could be used with virtually any sort of attack.
Sabre, sword, staff, rod, fists, or kicks.
‘Impose’ could be used with any of these.
This is why using it could be described as ‘calling upon the force of the heavens and the earth’.
As for the level of ‘wielding something heavy as though it were light’, there was no way one could use it on the Bloodviolet Godsword, because this sword was already very light. After pondering for over ten days while seated meditatively on the floor, Linley suddenly became aware of how ponderous and all-encompassing the wind which blew through the skies really was. Finally, he had his flash of insight.
The wind was invisible. When it was gentle, it could be like the kiss of a lover. But when it was aroused into a vicious storm, it could split mountains and shatter stones.
“Wielding something light as though it were heavy.”
Linley hacked out with the Bloodviolet Godsword. The nearly invisible, diaphanous sword let out a thunder-like sound as out of nowhere, a tornado suddenly appeared.
“The wind-style single-combat spell, ‘Dimensional Edge’, is an extremely powerful one-on-one magical attack spell. The power of the Dimensional Edge spell is so great that it can hack apart the dimensional walls itself. Then…would it be possible to duplicate the effects of the Dimensional Edge through sword techniques?”
Linley considered this question.
The correct roads would all lead to the same destination, despite the path. The level above ‘impose’, when using the adamantine heavy sword, was achieved by Linley through using his insights regarding the Laws of the Earth.
As Linley saw it, with regards to the Bloodviolet Godsword, to surpass the ‘impose’ level, he would have to utilize his understanding of the ‘Laws of the Wind’.
Only by selecting the correct avenue of training would one not be led astray.
Right now, Linley was quietly considering which avenue of training he should embark on. But the fundamental Laws of the universe were very profound and very abstruse. To understand them was very difficult. Fortunately, Linley has exceptional elemental affinity for both wind elemental essence as well as earth elemental essence, and thus was able to reach a very high level of attunement with nature.
But despite that, without multiple years of training and time, it would be virtually impossible to make much progress.
“Swish.”
A blur slashed through the air, then landed behind Linley.
“Lord Cesar.” Linley turned his head, then immediately paid his respects.
Cesar laughed and nodded. “Where are Barker and his brothers?”
“They are training in the empty space behind their room. Lord Cesar, please follow me.” Smiling, Linley headed towards the area behind the room, but as he did, Cesar suddenly stared at Linley’s feet in astonishment.
Although on the surface, Linley appeared to be no different from normal people, but…
What sort of person was Cesar? How could he not tell?