Paying Respects

"Marquis, the Nord Family has sent over two Giant Sun Elephants," the steward of Marquis Lanling's residence reported to Marquis Lanling, who was sitting before the mirror, combing his hair.

"Bang!" Marquis Lanling slammed his hand onto the dressing table. In an instant, the hard surface, made of fire-scorched wood, along with everything on it, was reduced to dust.

"Nord brat, I'll tear you limb from limb!" Marquis Lanling roared, his "pretty face" twisted with rage.

The steward's neck shrank in fright. Then, sharing his master's hatred, he raised his voice and said, "Marquis, I'll have someone butcher those two Giant Sun Elephants right away."

Marquis Lanling, however, had calmed down. He took out a silk handkerchief and wiped his hands, seemingly deep in thought. After a while, he spoke, "What a waste to butcher them. Giant Sun Elephants are valuable Tier Four Magic Beasts. The two of them are worth hundreds of thousands of gold coins. Accept them."

"Yes, Marquis." Having received his orders, the steward hurried out to have the two Giant Sun Elephants brought into the residence.

"Hmph, you green little brat. You want to provoke me and turn me into the laughingstock of the Imperial Capital? You're still too wet behind the ears." Marquis Lanling let out a cold snort.

At that moment, Marquis Lanling thought of Vajra beside Qi Bei—that burly body and those knotted muscles. The more he thought about him, the harder it became to restrain himself.

Marquis Lanling went to the bookshelf in the room and pressed a mechanism. The bookshelf slid apart to both sides.

A shocking scene appeared. Inside the bookshelf was a built-in rectangular metal cabinet, and standing within it was a row of **burly men like wooden puppets.

"Little Six." Marquis Lanling's gaze swept across them before stopping on the sixth man. He pointed at the man's brow from across the air.

The man's closed eyes snapped open, flashing with a dark, ghostly gleam. Then, a beast-like ferocity surfaced in them. He gave a low growl from his throat and pounced at Marquis Lanling.

In an instant, the air was charged with forbidden passion!

Nord Family, Qi Bei's courtyard.

The sky was already thick with stars. Inside the small pavilion, Feng Ruoyu rested her chin in her hands, her lake-green eyes sparkling as she let out an exclamation from time to time.

Phantom sat quietly to one side, her beautiful eyes following Qi Bei's pacing figure. Her expression alternated between tense and relaxed.

Qi Bei paced back and forth inside the pavilion, recounting in a dramatic, rhythmic voice the perilous experiences he had gone through in the Undead Mountain Range.

"At that moment, I was surrounded by tens of thousands of undead troops. There was no road to heaven above or gate to earth below, and life and death hung by a thread." At this point, Qi Bei suddenly stopped.

"And then? What happened next?" Feng Ruoyu was completely engrossed and hurriedly urged him on.

"To find out what happened next, please wait for the next installment." Qi Bei clapped his hands and laughed.

"Brother Qi Bei, good brother, just finish this part!" Feng Ruoyu sprang up and clung to Qi Bei's arm, whining coquettishly.

"It's very late. I'll tell you tomorrow. Your sister has come to pick you up." Qi Bei smiled and pointed outside the pavilion.

Feng Ruoyu turned her head and saw her elder sister standing not far away beside Huai'an, Nord, smiling as she watched them.

The two sisters returned to the courtyard arranged by the Nord Family to rest, while the two brothers drank some wine atop a rockery.

"Big brother, you're positively glowing. Come clean—did you do something unsuitable for children with my future sister-in-law?" Qi Bei teased with a mischievous grin.

"Get lost. What kind of nonsense fills your head?" Huai'an, Nord said, but the corners of his mouth stretched all the way to his ears.

"Big brother, you're the one who filled my head with that stuff." Qi Bei laughed. During his youth, Huai'an, Nord had been a delinquent. As for such matters between men and women, Huai'an, Nord really had been the one to tell Qi Bei about them in his memories.

Huai'an, Nord chuckled and gazed at Qi Bei for a long while, seemingly returning to their childhood. Back then, Qi Bei had followed him around all day with a runny nose. Whether he was getting into fights, chasing girls, or stirring up trouble, he had taken the little rascal along.

He had once thought he would protect Qi Bei like that for the rest of his life.

The ways of the world were impossible to predict. During his life-and-death tempering in the Undead Mountain Range, this foolish kid had unexpectedly matured overnight. Not only was his strength now hardly inferior to his own, but every word and action of his also shimmered with an extraordinary brilliance.

"You little brat, you've grown up." Huai'an, Nord suddenly slapped Qi Bei on the shoulder, then lifted the wine jar and took a long swig. A faint sense of loss stirred in his heart, but it was outweighed by his relief and pride.

Qi Bei's heart suddenly felt heavy. That slap from his big brother was laden with far too much brotherly affection.

An elder brother was like a father!

If Huai'an, Nord's protection of him before had existed only in his memories, and he had not felt it that deeply, then in the Undead Mountain Range, this big brother had, because of a single word from him, unsheathed his blade without a second thought and severed Princess Ruixue's maidservant's head. Even now, remembering it made his chest grow warm and damp.

"Big brother, I want to pay my respects to Mother tomorrow," Qi Bei said.

"All right. Big brother will accompany you tomorrow." Huai'an, Nord nodded.

The two brothers drank freely beneath the moon, reminiscing about the past while discussing the current state of affairs and the meanings hidden behind certain actions.

Of course, it was all Huai'an, Nord guiding him.

As one of the three commanders of the Black Armored Army and a direct descendant of the Nord Family, he knew some secrets hidden at a deeper level.

Qi Bei listened intently. He would soon be heading to his fief, West Spirit City, and the things Huai'an, Nord told him were extremely useful.

Before they knew it, dawn was about to break in the east, and the stars had faded from view.

Qi Bei's mother was buried in the Nord Family's ancestral cemetery, located in the outskirts west of the Imperial Capital. Only direct descendants of the Nord Family and their primary wives could be buried there.

The brothers' mother was named Lilith. She was not from the Golden Leaf Dynasty. According to their father, she had come from a distant country.

A lifelike portrait of Lilith was set into the gravestone. She was extraordinarily beautiful, with a clean, radiant smile like the warm sun of early winter.

It was easy to see that Qi Bei had inherited more of his mother's features. He was exceptionally handsome.

As for his big brother Huai'an, he resembled their father, with sharply defined features and a compelling, heroic air.

The instant Qi Bei saw the portrait of his mother, Lilith, his heart suddenly trembled for no apparent reason. Even separated by life and death, he could still feel that unbreakable blood bond in his heart. The feeling was far clearer than when he had met his father, Raymond, Nord.

After completing the rites of worship, Qi Bei said to Huai'an, "Big brother, go report to the military camp first. I want to stay here a little longer."

Huai'an patted Qi Bei on the shoulder and left the cemetery.

Qi Bei leaned against his mother's gravestone and slowly closed his eyes. For some reason, he seemed to feel his mother gently holding him. The sensation was so warm that he could not bear to let go.

In his previous life, he had been an orphan. Raised in an orphanage, he had learned to stand on his own two feet, and he had not even known who his parents were.

In this life, he had never met his mother, but at least he now knew what she looked like.

Suddenly, the pale golden mass of hazy inner force in Qi Bei's dantian leaped violently. His back, pressed against the gravestone, felt as though it had been branded by a red-hot iron. The divine dragon pattern on his left palm began to roil, and amid the golden radiance, another kind of golden light seemed to emerge. Then, the two merged together.