Episode 1: The Ring of the Coiled Dragon Chapter 4: Growing Up (Up)
The spring breeze had blown the aspens around the open space on the east side of Wushan Town green, and in the open space, a group of teenagers were training feverishly. A year and a half had passed since the last time the dragonblood warrior bloodline in his body had been tested, and now Linley was eight years old. In this year and a half, Hillman clearly realized that Linley had trained even harder!
“Very good, Linley, persist, persist!”
Hillman said from the side.
At this time, Linley was only wearing pants, his naked upper body covered in sweat, Linley’s entire body lying prone on the ground like a taut string, his hands pressed down on the ground like an old tree’s coiled roots, his entire body not moving at all, relying only on his hands and the toes of his feet for support. The whole person is completely taut!
Static tension exercise!
A very simple yet effective exercise, if one could adhere to this state for an hour, then the body would not be afraid of ordinary swords.
“Tick!”
Sweat slid down from his forehead along the edges of his eyes, Linley couldn’t help but feel a soreness in his right eye and couldn’t help but squint his right eye.
“Lei is really impressive enough, only eight years old, static tension workout, all caught up with thirteen or fourteen year olds.”
Some of the kids next to them who had already given up looked at Linley with each other and talked about it.
“Ray, come on, let’s go for it, beat those thirteen or fourteen year old big kids.”
The blonde Hadley shouted from the side.
“Go Ray!”
The other kids shouted back.
Linley and the other teenagers were on very good terms, although Linley was considered a nobleman’s son, he treated the commoner kids very well. Usually, he even helped them train.
“Hold on again, hold on again.”
Linley kept saying to himself in his heart.
And Linley’s mind echoed the words his father had said to him a year ago: “Linley, we’re a Dragonblood Warrior family, and as a member of a Dragonblood Warrior family, you have advantages and disadvantages! The advantage is that even if your Dragon Blood Warrior bloodline isn’t strong enough to become a Dragon Blood Warrior, your body is still much better than the average person. It might be difficult for others to train to a rank six warrior with their physical body alone, but you, however, have it easier than others.”
“However, you also have a disadvantage. The disadvantage is that the children of the Dragon Blood Warrior family are not allowed to cultivate the Fighting Qi Tantra. Due to the Dragon Blood Warrior bloodline in his body, it is only suitable for the Dragon Blood Secret Code to resist any other Dou Qi Secret Code. However, the only way to cultivate the Dragon Blood Tantra is if the concentration of the dragon blood bloodline reaches a certain level, so you cannot cultivate fighting qi.”
“Also, the average person can theoretically reach a rank six warrior by simply exercising their physical body. But that’s just a theory, in reality such people are very, very few. But we are different, even though the dragon blood warrior bloodline in our bodies is relatively rare. It also makes us start higher than others. By simply exercising our physical body, we can cultivate to a level 6 warrior. Your great-grandfather, moreover, had once relied purely on his body to cultivate to the point of a rank seven warrior.”
Linley remembered his father’s words very clearly.
Linley growled lowly in his heart: “I’m more powerful than other people now because I have a dragonblood warrior bloodline in my body. But I can’t cultivate fighting qi, so I can only work hard, and work hard again! Grandpa Zeng was able to reach a rank seven warrior purely by physical training, then it’s possible for me to become a rank eight warrior, or even a rank nine warrior, nothing is impossible.”
Eighth level warrior!
A rank nine warrior could be considered the number one expert in the Finlay Kingdom, and if he became a rank eight warrior, even if he couldn’t bring back the family’s splendor from five thousand years ago, he would be able to improve the family’s conditions greatly.
“Hold on!”
Linley gritted his teeth.
At this time, his arms were aching as if countless ants were gnawing at them, and his entire body was constantly trembling, the muscles in every part of his body trembling. The strength of the tremor of each muscle was so clear at this moment.
After a long time, finally – “Peng!”
Linley’s entire body fell helplessly to the ground.
“So comfortable.”
Adhering to the ground, his entire body completely relaxed, Linley could clearly feel his body’s various parts tingling and itching. The muscles everywhere began to grow slowly after the workout. This kind of growth wasn’t obvious once or twice, but the body’s progress was obvious over time.
Next to him, Hillman nodded in satisfaction.
Then Hillman looked towards the group of fourteen and fifteen year olds and said with a cold face, “Hold on to me, Linley is only eight years old, you’re all almost adults, don’t compare yourselves to an eight year old.”
The morning exercise was over, Linley returned to the Baruch family residence as usual after parting ways with a group of good friends. At only eight years old, if someone unfamiliar with Linley saw him, they would definitely think that he was an eleven or twelve year old, not an eight year old.
The Baruch family’s children were indeed different from the average person.
“Brother!”
The tiger-headed Walden saw Linley and rushed up at once.
“Alright, Walden, I’m covered in sweat, let me rinse off first.”
Linley pinched Walden’s little face and said with a smile.
Wharton grunted: “I know, brother, after you rinse off, you’re going to father’s place for class.”
Linley as a noble son, noble education that is to start from childhood, Baruch family, has more than five thousand years of history of the ancient family, in this aspect of education than the kingdom of the great nobles to do even more severe.
“Alright, Walden, at noon brother will play with you.”
Linley said with a smile.
Walden was still a child, while Linley was much more understanding.
After rinsing off and changing into a clean set of clothes, Linley entered the living room, and at this time, his father, Hogg Baruch, was sitting waist-straight at the dining table at the edge of the living room. In front of Hogg were three thick books.
“Father!”
Linley bowed respectfully.
Huo Ge nodded indifferently, and Linley then walked to stand not far from Huo Ge.
“Yesterday I recounted all the countries of the entire Yulan Continent to you, you now repeat it.”
Huo Ge said indifferently.
This was the real Hogg.
Like when he had hugged Linley in the clan hall, that was a very rare thing. Normally, Huo Ge’s demands on Linley were ‘severe’, no matter what, Huo Ge pursued perfection. Linley was not allowed to make a single mistake.
“Yes, father.”
Linley said calmly.
“The entire Yulan Continent has three major dangerous places, which are the first mountain range, the ‘Demonic Beast Mountain Range’, the second mountain range, the ‘Sunset Mountain Range’, and the first forest, the ‘Forest of Darkness. ‘. The three major danger areas were all vast. Among them, the Demon Beast Mountain Range runs through the north and south of the continent, and the entire Demon Beast Mountain Range is over 10,000 miles long, with countless Demon Beasts within it, and even a Holy Realm Demon Beast that possesses the power of ‘destroying the sky and destroying the earth’. The entire continent has also formed a different pattern due to this Demonic Beast Mountain Range.”
“West of the Demon Beast Mountain Range, there are a total of 12 kingdoms and 32 duchies. Among the multiple kingdoms and principalities west of the Demonic Beast Mountain Range. It is mainly divided into two factions. One is the Holy Alliance led by the Finlay Kingdom. The Holy Alliance and the Dark Alliance, because one side belongs to the ‘Church of Light’ and the other side belongs to the ‘Church of Darkness’, they are constantly at war with each other.”
“On the other hand, in the east of the Magic Beast Mountain Range, there are four great empires, six great kingdoms, and many principalities! And these four great empires are the most enormous and are not influenced by the Light Clergy or the Dark Clergy. In the four great empires, imperial power is the most exalted. Any of the four great empires can be compared to the Holy Alliance.”
“The four great empires are the ‘Yulan Empire’ in the center, the ‘Rhine Empire’ in the southeast, the ‘Roao Empire’ in the east, and the ‘O’Brien Empire’ in the north.”
Linley said this in one breath, and let out a sigh of relief.
“Is that all?”
Hogg’s face turned cold.
Immediately, Linley was about to continue, but Hogg said directly, “Let me ask you, how many kingdoms and duchies does our Holy Alliance have in total?”
“Our Holy Alliance has six kingdoms, ten, ten,” Linley suddenly frowned.
Just how many principalities were there within the Sacred Alliance? Linley’s heart was a little fuzzy, as if there were fifteen principalities, or as if there were seventeen kingdoms. For a time, Linley couldn’t be sure.
“Hmph.”
Hogg’s face turned cold as he took out a thorn from the side, and Linley obediently stretched out his right hand.
Hogg’s eye muscles twitched, and the thorn in his hand was then smacked onto Linley’s right hand with a loud ‘snapping’ sound. Immediately, a bloodstain appeared on Lin Lei’s right palm, Lin Lei just gritted his teeth and endured it, not even grunting.
“Linley, you must remember that we are now living amongst the Holy Alliance and must know the most about the affairs of the Holy Alliance!”
Hogg looked at his son indifferently, “The entire Yulan Continent, probably on the most dominant are the six major powers. The four great empires as well as the two great alliances!”
Linley nodded.
Although his father had said it simply, it also made it easy to understand in one’s mind.
“The Holy Alliance borders the ‘O’Brien Empire’ in the extreme northern location. The Dark Alliance, on the other hand, borders the ‘Yulan Empire’ in the south. The Holy Alliance that we’re a part of is under the leadership of the ‘Church of Light’, and our level of unity is no weaker than that of the four great empires in the slightest.”
As Linley listened to what his father said, he agreed in his heart.
Yesterday, he had also flipped through quite a few books, and it was clear that the Holy Alliance should be considered the ‘art center’ of the entire Yulan Continent. At the same time, the Holy Alliance’s economy, in the entire Magnolia Continent. It was also comparable to the first economic powerhouse ‘Yulan Empire’.
Together with the Illuminati behind it, the Holy Alliance is indeed very powerful.
The Holy Alliance was, indeed, very powerful.
“Today, we learn about art.”
Hogg said coldly, “To be a noble, one must be proficient in art, art, can cultivate a noble’s inner temperament!”
With that, Hogg took out a fist-thick book from the side and flipped it open.
“In the year 3578 of the Yulan Calendar, the great ‘Proulx’ stone carving master was born in” Hogg sternly educated from the side, while Linley was just trying to memorize and understand, trying to make himself meet his father’s requirements.