A Professional Scapegoat for Thirty Years

Li Xin's expression was strange, and she could hardly believe what she was seeing.

Long Haoyu had dealt with two people as casually as if it were nothing, yet with such violence—and somehow, it even carried a strange touch of elegance. She simply could not calm down.

Long Haochen was staring wide-eyed as well. He had seen Long Haoyu strike at Wolf Demons before.

After carefully comparing the two in his mind, he vaguely understood what Long Haoyu's earlier lecture had meant.

Seeing his two companions die one after another, the last burly man's eyes filled with bloodshot veins. With an explosive roar, he raised his axe and charged forward.

Seeing this, Long Haoyu released the burly man pinned against the wall, turned, and kicked the man rushing at him. Then he stepped forward and brought No Edge down heavily upon the man's battle axe.

With a sharp crack, the broad axe blade, much wider than No Edge, was split straight down the middle. The two halves fell to the ground.

A faint bloody line appeared between the man's brows. Then, crimson blood began to seep out clearly as his body crumpled limply to the floor.

Even in the final second before his death, disbelief remained in the man's eyes.

A little brat they had looked down on had effortlessly wiped them all out. How was that possible?!

Long Haoyu slung No Edge back over his shoulder, tightened the cloth strap securing it, and slowly walked over to Long Haochen.

"Haochen, did you see everything clearly?" Long Haoyu asked gently. He seemed like a completely different person from the one who had dispatched the Bearded Man and the other two with every casual movement.

Long Haochen nodded. "I think I understand a little. What you meant, Brother, was that as long as we don't let anger get to our heads, we can make the other side expose a weakness first."

"When you fought those three just now, they may have looked down on you, but they were even more uncertain about what you had up your sleeve."

"If I hadn't controlled myself and gone up to challenge them, they probably would have used my anger against me and eventually found my weakness."

Long Haoyu nodded in satisfaction. "That is one reason, but the more important thing is four words: weighing the pros and cons!"

"Because there were three of them. If you acted impulsively, you could only deal with one of them, not all three at once. If Sister Xin'er hadn't been with us today, our impulsiveness would have cost us dearly."

"Only by not acting impulsively can we better analyze everything and nip every danger in the bud."

As Long Haoyu said this, his gaze swept over the Bearded Man and the other two.

Then, his eyes fell upon the many Adventurers watching the spectacle.

With the bloody scene left by the Bearded Man and his companions before them, the remaining adventurers all looked at Long Haoyu as though he were a monster.

Was he really just a child?

Was it really appropriate for a child to possess such mature and steady thoughts?

Long Haochen finally understood what Long Haoyu had been trying to convey. He also understood the true meaning behind the fact that anger had its own way of handling things, and so did not being angry.

All of a sudden, his gaze toward his elder brother became even more worshipful, and his breathing quickened uncontrollably.

Brother was Brother. Whether in actual combat ability or combat experience, he was worth learning from!

"Brother Haoyu, who taught you all this experience?" Li Xin walked over and asked with some concern.

Her feelings were complicated. From Long Haoyu, she could sense warmth toward others, yet also an extreme cold-bloodedness.

It was a very strange feeling. She could not say whether it was good or bad.

Long Haoyu smiled. "Our teacher taught Haochen and me all this. Haochen is relatively more impulsive, though, so I used this chance to let him experience it firsthand."

Li Xin: "...Your teacher really trusts you two, teaching you combat experience like this."

With Long Haoyu's explanation, the concern in her heart suddenly eased.

Long Haochen came back to his senses and looked at Li Xin in slight astonishment, then secretly glanced at Long Haoyu.

Dad didn't seem to have taught us like that, did he?

He remembered that his elder brother had always adhered to the idea of life and death are nothing; if you don't accept it, fight, which should have been completely at odds with what he was saying now.

Brother was...

At that moment, Long Haoyu looked over with a smile.

Meeting Long Haoyu's faint smile, Long Haochen suddenly seemed to understand. All the curiosity in his heart settled down.

Well, Dad wasn't here anyway. Brother could do whatever he wanted now.

Long Haoyu had "intimidated" his little brother without feeling the slightest pressure over making Long Xingyu take the blame yet again.

And to be honest, while his current temperament was certainly related to himself, Long Xingyu's original arrangements would also have helped shape it.

The belief in thoroughly eliminating evil had already been deeply planted in the souls of the two brothers during the past year of Long Xingyu's instruction.

So...

Making Long Xingyu take the blame was completely reasonable.

A father taking the blame for his son and sparing him some unnecessary trouble was perfectly appropriate.

"Sister Xin'er, thank you for helping witness what happened today. Haochen and I will go pick up a mission first."

Long Haoyu left it at that and urged Long Haochen to quickly take the Second Rank mission he needed for his trial.

With Long Haoyu having killed three adventurers, and after learning that the two brothers were both Second Rank Quasi-Knights, the process of accepting the mission went extremely smoothly.

About five minutes later, Long Haochen left the Adventurer's Guild with the mission in hand. His gaze paused briefly on Li Xin's Rose Unicorn.

"Brother, this should be the mount Dad... Teacher mentioned, right?" Long Haochen asked.

Long Haoyu nodded. "Yes. Once we both reach the corresponding level, we can go to the Knight Sacred Mountain to seek out our Mount Partners. No need to rush."

Seeing that Long Haochen was very interested in her Rose Unicorn, Li Xin said with a smile, "Brother Haoyu, Brother Haochen, since you're so interested in your sister's mount, how about I give you a ride back?"

"Thank you, Sister Xin'er."

The matter of the second-rank task was successfully settled, and the course of events was more or less the same as in the original timeline.

With Li Xin's protection and Long Haoyu urging him from the side, Long Haochen completed the second-rank task in less than half a day.

After finishing those tasks, Long Haoyu finally allowed Li Xin to escort the two brothers all the way back to Odin Town.

"Little brothers, I'll leave you here. Head home early."

After seeing the two brothers back to Odin Town, Li Xin reluctantly bid them farewell. "When you two come to Haoyue City in the future, remember to come find your sister."

"Things were a little rushed today. Next time, I'll take you to Haoyue City for a grand feast. And when the time comes, you're not allowed to deny that I'm your sister."

Although she had sensed a somewhat abnormal cold-bloodedness from Long Haoyu, her naturally gentle disposition still made her like these two newly recognized younger brothers, Long Haoyu and Long Haochen, very much.

Looking somewhat unwillingly at Odin Town in the distance, she suddenly felt the urge to follow them inside.

"Thank you, Sister Xin'er," Long Haochen said gratefully.

Long Haoyu also thanked Li Xin. "Sister Xin'er, see you next time."

Li Xin gave a soft hum, suppressed the thoughts in her heart, and decisively rode away on her Rose Unicorn, just as straightforward as her personality.

Long Haoyu and Long Haochen watched Li Xin leave before setting off for home.

Unlike when they had left Odin Town, the two brothers now each held an Awakening Stone in their hands.

They had already learned from Long Xingyu about the true cultivation methods of knights and the cultivation of internal spiritual power.

Long Haochen was extremely excited now. He wanted to set foot upon the path of cultivating internal spiritual power.

Long Haoyu felt the same. He had already honed himself for nine months in the Shadow Space.

He, too, eagerly awaited the moment he would draw out his internal spiritual power.

The 100 points of Innate Internal Spiritual Power that the system had arranged for him long ago were finally about to reveal themselves.

His Retribution Knight Path would set sail from this moment onward.

And while he was at it, he could see the dumbfounded look on his old man's face!

After all, one Child of Light and two Children of Light carried vastly different meanings.