Chapter 37: Drawing Swords

Arthur, who had been laughing and talking merrily, now stared at Lin Qi with a livid face. His lone eye gleamed with a venomous, cold light. He said nothing, only clenched his fists tightly as he watched Lin Qi. Beneath his feet, a thick slab of blue stone suddenly cracked with several fine fissures.

One of the men surrounding Arthur, a middle-aged man with disheveled, filthy hair that looked like it hadn’t been washed for months, strode forward and shouted harshly, “Where did this scoundrel come from, daring to speak to Young Master Arthur like that? Kneel and apologize, or else!”

The middle-aged man wasn’t just dirty in hair; his clothes were tattered and torn, with spiderwebs and moss hanging from them. He looked even worse than a corpse in a garbage dump. Even from several meters away, a nauseating stench wafted from him. It was hard to imagine how he had ended up in such a state.

Lin Qi paid no attention to the man and strode directly toward Arthur. The last remnants of the Magic Tiger Potion were flowing rapidly through Lin Qi’s bones and muscles, releasing their final effects. Lin Qi silently activated his family’s inherited Qi cultivation method, his entire body’s energy swirling like flowing water, mingling with the intense heat released by the Magic Tiger Potion to temper his whole body.

As he walked, a low, powerful, and clearly audible sound of bones cracking came from within Lin Qi’s body. He took deep breaths, causing the falling snow within three feet around him to dance with his inhalations and exhalations. The hot air he exhaled was like a Dragon Breath, jetting out several meters away.

Arthur groaned softly, “Lin Qi, you’re back?”

He instinctively touched the left eye covered by his eyepatch, his body trembling violently. His face was ashen, covered with an unconcealable murderous intent. But that killing intent vanished in a flash, and Arthur suddenly broke into a smile as brilliant as a blooming flower. With his red hair, purple eyes, and exceptionally handsome features, Arthur’s smile was like the legendary sun god descending to the mortal world.

Seeing Arthur’s smile, the other men around him, who had been aggressive, simultaneously released the hilts of their swords. They stared at Lin Qi in astonishment, wondering where Lin Qi had found the courage to speak to the young master of the ‘Black Tiger Family’ in such a manner.

Only the extremely dirty, ragged middle-aged man was almost upon Lin Qi. As he had no eyes in the back of his head, he failed to notice Arthur’s strange change in expression. He screeched in a weird tone, “Young Master Arthur, today is my first day under your command. Let me use this boy’s blood to show you my loyalty!”

Lin Qi didn’t even glance at the middle-aged man. He continued striding toward Arthur, sneering as he walked, “Oh, not bad, Arthur. You’ve started recruiting lackeys? Is this your new hired thug? Are you so short on Copper Coins that you couldn’t clean him up a bit before bringing him back? Remember, this is the family’s Ancestral Residence. Having someone like this here brings shame to the family!”

He cast a sidelong glance at the aggressive middle-aged man and mocked, “Even a stray dog is cleaner than him!”

The middle-aged man’s anger had reached its limit. With a furious roar, he suddenly drew his sword and slashed at Lin Qi’s neck. Unlike the rapier Enzo often used, the middle-aged man wielded a common medium-sized arming sword. The blade was two fingers wide and about three feet long, with only the front foot or so sharpened. A faint tinge of blood red was visible on the bluish gleam of the sword’s edge, clearly indicating that the sword had tasted the blood of many people.

Where the sword rose, a faint red glow covered the blade. This middle-aged man was actually a Mortal Knight.

But Enzo, who was following closely behind Lin Qi, also drew his sword. The four-foot rapier, with its multi-faceted blade and exceptionally sharp point, was covered with a deep red glow of Combat Qi. Enzo moved with the short, quick steps of the fencing dance taught at the Army Academy, sweeping like a gust of wind to Lin Qi’s side. In the blink of an eye, he thrust seven times toward the middle-aged man.

Seven crimson sword beams tore through the air and the cold wind, shattering dozens of palm-sized snowflakes in front of the sword tip.

The middle-aged man never dreamed that Lin Qi would have such a skilled swordsman like Enzo by his side. Enzo’s Combat Qi was stronger, his youthful muscles more powerful, and his reflexes considerably faster. As the seven sword beams rapidly closed in on him, the middle-aged man frantically and with all his might pulled back his sword, slashing diagonally downward.

The two blades met. Six of the crimson sword beams vanished, but one deftly evaded the slash of the arming sword, grazing along its blade and piercing the middle-aged man’s left shoulder. The rapier, capable of easily piercing through standard armor, effortlessly stabbed a thumb-sized hole through the man’s left shoulder. Enzo quickly retracted the rapier and followed up with a kick to the man’s abdomen.

In typical Noble fencing, one would never use their feet. But Enzo was not a Noble; he was a student of the Army Academy, and the sword techniques taught in the military were entirely different from those of the Nobles. The sole aim of military sword skills was to kill the enemy as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Blood spattered. The middle-aged man felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. Before his agonized scream could escape his lips, Enzo’s combat boot, reinforced with an iron plate, slammed hard into his abdomen. A dull thud echoed as the man was lifted over a meter into the air, coughing up blood as he was kicked flying backward more than two meters.

The arming sword clattered away pathetically. The middle-aged man curled up on the ground, clutching his abdomen, twitching and struggling, spitting mouthfuls of blood.

Arthur’s smile stiffened for a moment, but he quickly forced an even brighter, more affectionate smile. “Lin Qi, when did you get back? Why didn’t you let the family know? We could have sent someone to the dock to pick you up!”

As for the middle-aged man lying severely injured on the ground, Arthur didn’t give him a second thought, as if he weren’t a swordsman he had just recruited but merely a pile of trash.

Lin Qi walked up to Arthur, his face dark, and threw a punch straight at Arthur’s face. It was a blow delivered with all his strength—the Combat Qi Lin Qi had cultivated since childhood, combined with the brute strength he had built up over years of training, plus all the power enhanced by the Magic Tiger Potion. Every muscle in his body was tensed tightly, leaving no reserve as he struck.

The fist whistled through the air, a faint orange halo glowing around Lin Qi’s knuckles.

Arthur’s expression changed. He instinctively retreated several steps backward, shouting, “Lin Qi, what are you doing?”

Lin Qi said nothing, quickly closing the distance. His fist, still whistling with the force of the punch, continued toward Arthur’s handsome face.

The other men around Arthur flushed with anger. They drew their swords simultaneously. Five blades, whistling through the air, followed different trajectories as they thrust toward vital points all over Lin Qi’s body. Regardless of why Arthur had just smiled at Lin Qi, Lin Qi now posed a threat to Arthur’s safety—and Arthur was their leader!

As the five men attacked Lin Qi with their swords, Enzo’s face changed, and he hurriedly raised his own sword to meet them.