Sacred Awakening, Child of Light (IV)

Using the blade, the spine, even the hilt—every part of the heavy sword in his hands that could be brought to bear—Long Haochen fended off the Bamboo Sword's attacks. For a time, sword shadows flashed, enveloping his entire body like a giant ball of light. Sacred light energy continually blossomed forth, working with his twin heavy swords to defend.

With attacks like Long Xingyu's, the slightest opening from Long Haochen would immediately bring the Bamboo Sword down upon him. Its force was countless times more formidable than the Owl Ants' assault back then. Yet strangely, Long Haochen held on. Though his expression was grave, Long Xingyu, without using spiritual power to assist himself, seemed unable to break through his defense for the moment.

After a full quarter of an hour, light suddenly flashed from Long Xingyu's Bamboo Sword. A point of white light instantly expanded as a thousand swords merged into one, stabbing toward Long Haochen.

Long Haochen's twin heavy swords were still in motion. He was far from Long Xingyu's level of being able to attack and withdraw at will, but this clearly was not the first time he had encountered such a situation.

The hilt of the heavy sword in his swinging left hand struck against the heavy sword in his right. The sword in his right hand immediately came up horizontally before his chest, while the longsword in his left swept outward. Golden light flashed, and a thrust struck directly against the Bamboo Sword.

With a light ding, the heavy sword was knocked aside. The Bamboo Sword's thrust did not deviate in the slightest, but with the brief obstruction just now, Long Haochen had managed to steady his footing.

With a crisp clang, a layer of golden radiance rippled over Long Haochen's body. It was Divine Seal Block. Long Xingyu had used enough spiritual power in that thrust that only Divine Seal Block could stop it.

"Very good. This time was not bad. You were able to turn motion into stillness; all that daily practical combat hasn't been in vain." Long Xingyu withdrew his Bamboo Sword and nodded to Long Haochen with a smile. Long Haochen, meanwhile, was panting heavily, his clothes already soaked through with sweat. Even when his father used no spiritual power at all, his attacks still put him under immense pressure.

Long Xingyu walked over to Long Haochen, slung an arm around his son's shoulders, and said with a smile, "Go back and rest for a while. Your mother has probably nearly finished making lunch."

"Okay." Long Haochen's face was also full of smiles.

Although he had trained hard every day for the past year and a half, these had been the happiest year and a half of his life. His mother's face overflowed with smiles every day, and his powerful father guided him. Not only did he not find such a life dull, it was filled with happiness.

Just as the father and son were about to enter the wooden cabin, Long Xingyu suddenly halted, a sharp gleam flashing through his eyes.

Long Haochen also sensed the change in his father's aura. That terrifying pressure, like that of an ancient colossal dragon, made it hard even for him to breathe.

Long Xingyu released Long Haochen from his embrace and slowly turned around. His toes lightly tapped the ground, and in the next instant, Long Haochen stared wide-eyed as a fierce golden blaze erupted from his father's body, propelling him straight into the air.

Though he had trained with his father for more than two years, Long Haochen had never known just how powerful his father truly was. Now, seeing his father soar through the sky solely by relying on spiritual power, the shock was simply overwhelming.

At the same time, two streaks of golden light shot from Long Xingyu's eyes as he gazed toward Odin Town.

Before Long Haochen could recover from his shock, Long Xingyu had already floated back down, his gaze turning icy. "A Devil Race raiding force has invaded. We're going."

As he spoke, he seized Long Haochen's arm and rose into the air once more.

In the next instant, a pair of enormous golden wings formed entirely from condensed spiritual power unfolded behind Long Xingyu.

Spiritual-power wings were the mark of a sixth-step Radiant Knight. Yet when Long Xingyu's wings fully spread, they spanned more than ten meters. Every golden feather upon them was clearly visible, as though they were real—how could they be anything as simple as ordinary spiritual-power wings?

The enormous wings spread wide, and a mass of golden light enveloped father and son. With a fierce beat of those wings, the two of them shot toward Odin Town like a golden meteor.

What Long Haochen could not see was that at the very instant Long Xingyu spread his wings, every Magic Beast and wild animal on Odin Mountain and in the surrounding forests prostrated themselves upon the ground, too terrified and despairing to move.

Before his eyes was a world of gold. Wrapped in dense sacred energy, Long Haochen felt as if the Internal Spiritual Power within his body were boiling. In that brief span, his Internal Spiritual Power increased by at least double. Naturally, this was only temporary, a short-lived boost caused by the overwhelming same-attribute energy around him. But even so, it showed just how powerful the sacred energy Long Xingyu had released was.

Only a few seconds seemed to pass before the golden light abruptly dispersed, and Long Haochen could see the outside again.

Odin Town—they had already returned to Odin Town. In just those few blinks?

Long Haochen could scarcely believe his eyes, yet the truth lay before him. Wasn't the town beneath his feet the very Odin Town where he had lived since childhood?

Odin Town had now completely lost its former tranquility and peace. Fires burned in many places. Cries, screams, and thunderous sounds of destruction filled every corner of Odin Town.

Long Haochen saw at least a thousand towering, powerfully built monsters clad in black armor. They were the ones rampaging through Odin Town.

Every one of these monsters stood at least 1.8 meters tall, with wolf heads and human bodies. They wielded curved blades in their hands, slaughtering Odin Town's residents amid shrill screams. Their savage wolf howls also rang out without end.

Odin Town had more than three thousand households and nearly twenty thousand residents, yet at this moment it had become a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. A thick stench of blood rose continuously from below, sickening to the point of nausea.

"Father, what are they?" Long Haochen's voice trembled with rage. This was the place where he had grown up! Right before his eyes, a companion he knew had just been cut in two beneath a wolf-headed man's curved blade. The upper half of the child's body was still crawling painfully across the ground with agonized shrieks, while his entrails lay scattered everywhere.

"Demon Wolfmen of the Devil Race." Long Xingyu's voice was like frigid ice from the depths of the underworld, and at that moment, overwhelming pressure burst from his body.

Sensing the terrifying pressure from the sky, the Demon Wolfmen below instinctively looked up. When they saw Long Xingyu with his enormous wings outspread, horror inevitably appeared in their eyes.

"Father, let me down! I want to kill them!" Long Haochen shouted excitedly.

"Your strength is still far from sufficient." Long Xingyu said in a deep voice, "Haochen, haven't you always wanted to see your father's strength? Then watch carefully."

A golden-red ring of light illuminated behind Long Xingyu. From within it, an enormous brilliant-golden throne, shining with magnificent radiance, slowly emerged.