Dormant Demonic Nature, Long Haochen's Choice

The battle was on the verge of erupting.

Magical beasts would not, like knights, courteously exchange a Knight's Salute before fighting.

The moment Long Haoyu moved, all ten Scorpion Tail Lizards charged forward with reddened eyes.

Though their bodies seemed to be only four feet long, they crawled across the ground with astonishing speed.

Long Haoyu carefully watched for the Scorpion Tail Lizards' venomous hooks, while No Edge danced in his hand with effortless skill, blooming with dark light.

"Brother, I'll help you!"

Long Haochen did not dare hesitate. Gripping the Bamboo Sword, he hurriedly charged toward the Scorpion Tail Lizard Long Haoyu had assigned him.

He only had to deal with one now. He did not want to hold them back at a time like this.

Seeing Long Haochen attack alone, the Scorpion Tail Lizard on the far right turned and charged straight at him.

Its hideous jaws gaped wide, as though it meant to bite Long Haochen's leg clean off.

At the same time, its venomous hook stabbed toward Long Haochen.

Long Haochen carefully dodged, smashing the Bamboo Sword viciously toward the Scorpion Tail Lizard's head as his body instinctively twisted in the opposite direction of the incoming hook.

Man and beast immediately became locked in battle.

At the same time, Long Haoyu's battle with the remaining nine Scorpion Tail Lizards began.

Magical beasts were beasts by nature and possessed an innate alertness toward danger. Though they appeared to charge in savagely, they were actually circling Long Haoyu.

After watching for a while and seeing that the final Scorpion Tail Lizard had begun fighting Long Haochen, the nine of them swarmed him together.

Long Haoyu made no unnecessary moves. No Edge was no ordinary Bamboo Sword, and with the budding form of a Knight Skill, it struck at a Scorpion Tail Lizard directly ahead.

"Fatal Stab!"

Dark light flashed. No Edge plunged straight into the Scorpion Tail Lizard's mouth, then his wrist turned, slicing through the soft part of its belly.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. One Scorpion Tail Lizard had already died by Long Haoyu's hand.

Yet in that instant of attack, the remaining eight Scorpion Tail Lizards had already bitten at him from several other directions.

Long Haoyu leaped into the air. He was not confident that he possessed an iron head and bronze bones that could withstand their bites without consequence.

This was not Shadow Space. There were no conditions here to let him recover so quickly. An injury was an injury, and death meant real death.

After evading that synchronized assault, Long Haoyu sprang off the stone wall and opened up considerable distance, while countless Owl Ants swarmed in at that moment.

There seemed to be a beastly understanding between the two.

"Hiss—"

Long Haoyu sucked in a sharp breath.

He had focused only on the Scorpion Tail Lizards and overlooked the Owl Ants. The pain of their bites caused him to make a small mistake.

The Scorpion Tail Lizards, however, were unaffected by the Owl Ants. Their magical beast hides were naturally tough, and they endured the biting as they charged in to attack again.

While dealing with the final Scorpion Tail Lizard, Long Haochen's current strength of 40 points made handling one more than manageable.

He spared part of his attention to watch Long Haoyu. In the short time they had been fighting, he noticed that Long Haoyu had already suffered many injuries.

There were wounds from the Owl Ants' attacks, as well as bruises from the Scorpion Tail Lizards' venomous hooks striking his body.

"Go die!"

Long Haochen seemed as if he had taken some kind of stimulant, and the strength in his body suddenly surged.

All the Spirit Energy within him gathered onto the Bamboo Sword, which slashed into the Scorpion Tail Lizard with a faint whistling sound.

The Scorpion Tail Lizard was sent flying, its body lifted off the ground. Seeing this, Long Haochen silently recalled its weakness and thrust the Bamboo Sword straight at it.

With a muffled pfft, the Bamboo Sword pierced the Scorpion Tail Lizard's belly, and its venomous hook swept down in response.

Long Haochen hurriedly dodged, narrowly avoiding the venomous hook's final attack. Looking at the still-struggling Scorpion Tail Lizard, he panted heavily.

After a while, the Scorpion Tail Lizard finally stopped struggling. It had failed to fill its belly and instead died at Long Haochen's hands.

Long Haochen hurriedly pulled the Bamboo Sword from the Scorpion Tail Lizard's abdomen and looked toward Long Haoyu, who was still locked in battle with the Scorpion Tail Lizards.

Of the nine Scorpion Tail Lizards, only three remained, while Long Haoyu had suffered even more injuries.

Long Haochen was astonished. In the time it had taken him to kill one Scorpion Tail Lizard, his older brother had already killed six.

What was more, the Owl Ants, which should have treated both of them equally, were now mostly concentrated around Long Haoyu.

"Brother, I'm coming to help you!" Long Haochen shouted, preparing to rush over.

"Don't come over!"

Long Haoyu bellowed, and No Edge slashed toward another Scorpion Tail Lizard.

At the same time, the pupils at the center of his azure eyes had shrunk to the size of needlepoints.

Compared to his usual gentleness, his gaze now held an added coldness.

And beneath that coldness, something else seemed to be hidden.

Long Haoyu immediately noticed his abnormality and instantly understood the reason.

"Is this the power of the bloodline dormant within my body?"

"The demonic nature in my grandfather's bloodline really does seem incredibly powerful!"

"Today's training has brought an unexpected reward!"

Long Haoyu muttered inwardly. As he felt the changes within himself, his battered body gained a great deal more strength.

He had not expected that, despite having plenty of strength to spare against Scorpion Tail Lizards, facing the simultaneous attacks of nine of them would lead to a minor breakthrough and stimulate the deepest power within his body.

With that power awakened, Long Haoyu found dealing with the remaining three Scorpion Tail Lizards far easier. The dark glow shimmering from No Edge had become the light of death for those three Scorpion Tail Lizards.

Long Haochen was stunned by Long Haoyu's roar. Especially when he saw the unfamiliar coldness that had suddenly appeared in Long Haoyu's eyes, he shuddered for no reason.

"Why did Brother suddenly become so frightening?"

"Was it because handling so many Scorpion Tail Lizards at once had pushed him to the limit described in the books?"

Long Haochen murmured softly. Looking at the wounds on Long Haoyu's body, the worry in his eyes grew ever stronger, and his heart clenched painfully.

"If only I could give Brother some treatment. Then he should be able to fight more easily at a time like this."

"Father said that knights are divided into Retribution Knights and Guardian Knights. Brother aspired to walk the path of a Retribution Knight, so I..."

The light in Long Haochen's eyes grew increasingly bright. The choice Long Xingyu had told him to give after one year suddenly became firm in his heart.

"That's right. Brother will walk the path of a Retribution Knight, so I'll walk the path of a Guardian Knight!"

"Only then can I give Brother enough treatment when he is fighting, allowing him to fight even better!"

"Once today's training is over, I'll tell Father my choice!"

"Father should approve of the choice I've made!"