“Crackle.”
The bonfire was blazing. Cesar, Linley, Zassler, and the five Barker brothers sat around the campfire. Bebe was resting on Linley’s thigh, while Haeru was lying behind Linley.
Camping overnight in the wilderness was fairly dangerous. But who or what could possibly threaten Linley’s group? Especially with that Deity-level expert amongst them.
“Why did you save us?” The eldest of the five brothers said in a loud voice.
Linley and Zassler all turned to look at Cesar. This was a question they were curious about as well.
Cesar glanced at the five of them. He didn’t respond, instead asking them a question of his own. “Your father? Your mother?”
“All our relatives are dead. As for our parents? We were orphans since we were young.” Barker replied. They were now in their thirties. To them, who had spent their entire lives in the war-torn lands of the Eighteen Northern Duchies, growing up without parents wasn’t anything particular special.
After all, in those war-torn lands of the Eighteen Northern Duchies, orphans were a common sight.
“Orphans…”
Cesar let out a long sigh. “I didn’t expect that after all these years, the ‘Armand clan’ [A’man’da] whose fame shook the Yulan continent would fall to such a state.”
The five Barker brothers, Linley, and Zassler all started.
“Lord Cesar, are you saying that the Barker brothers are…” Linley had a guess as to what Cesar was saying.
Cesar nodded. “Right. These five siblings belong to the Armand clan, the clan of the Undying Warriors, one of the Four Supreme Warrior clans of the Yulan continent.”
“Undying Warriors?” Barker and his siblings all stared at each other in shock.
“How is that possible?”
The five brothers rose to their feet, stunned. They were orphans since youth. How could they dare imagine that they belonged to one of the Supreme Warrior clans?
Linley had already guessed the truth as soon as he heard Cesar say the words, ‘Armand clan’. After all, Linley’s own clan records included information on each of the Four Supreme Warrior clans; the Dragonblood Warriors’ Baruch clan, the Violetflame Warriors’ Hyde clan, the Tigerstriped Warriors’ Prey [Bo’lei] clan, and the Undying Warriors’ Armand clan.”
Five thousand years ago, these four clans indeed were extremely famous.
Aside from the War God and the High Priest, without question, the Four Supreme Warriors stood at the absolute pinnacle of human power. Although there were other so-called peak-stage Saint-level combatants, those peak-stage Saint-level combatants couldn’t match the Supreme Warriors.
Power and insight; these were two mutually supporting, mutually complementing things.
For example, right now, Linley’s level of understanding was very high; he had surpassed the ‘impose’ level, and was nearing the peak-stage Saint-level in terms of understanding. But his actual power was extremely weak. Naturally, his attack force was far weaker than that of a Saint-level combatant.
Historically, the third Dragonblood Warrior had used a heavy warhammer.
When he had reached the Saint-level, he was only at the level of ‘wielding something heavy as though it were light’. But despite that, he still possessed astonishing attack force.
This was because his body possessed a terrifyingly high degree of power and battle-qi.
A person’s strength and battle-qi were his most basic foundations. The higher one’s level of understanding, the better one would be able to utilize those basics. For example, if your basics were at 100, but you were at a low level of understanding, your actual attack power might just be 50. But if you had a high level of understanding, you might be able to use all 100 of your attack power, or perhaps even more, reaching 200 attack power.
The Supreme Warriors, by their very nature, possessed several times more physical strength and battle-qi than other Saint-level combatants. Even if they were a bit inferior in terms of insight and understanding, their attacks would still be very terrifying. This was the natural gift of the Supreme Warriors!
There was nothing that could be done for it. They were able to gain an unfair advantage over others via their natural gifts.
“Your bodies must be extremely tough.” Cesar sighed.
The five Barker brothers glanced at each other, then nodded. The second of the five brothers, Anke [An’ke], nodded and said, “It’s impossible for us to train in battle-qi, but just through our muscle power, we are on the level of warriors of the eighth rank.”
“Aside from the Four Supreme Warriors, how could anyone else possibly break past the natural limitations of the body and reach the eighth rank just based on their body and muscles?” Cesar shook his head and said.
Linley was now certain as well.
Only the Four Supreme Warriors were restricted to using their own special battle-qi cultivation methods and be unable to train normal battle-qi.
“Amongst the Four Supreme Warriors, the Undying Warriors have the toughest bodies. Their defense is very powerful, and their attacks are legendary as well. The only weakness is that you are a bit slow.” Cesar sighed. “Barker, you and your brothers are so young, but you were able to reach the eighth rank just based on your muscles and bodies. Aside from the most physically powerful of the Four Supreme Warriors, the Undying Warriors, who could possibly achieve this?”
Linley nodded as well.
Right.