Transcendent

Night.

In a warm bed, Dongbo Xueying was leaning back, reading a book, the light from the nearby fire crystal lamp illuminating the entire room.

The title of the book was The Ten Great Transcendent Knights.

This was a biographical novel, and Dongbo Xueying loved reading stories, especially those about the legendary Transcendent beings. As a noble whose mother was a mage, he had access to a vast collection of books, and Dongbo Xueying had long since learned a great deal of common knowledge.

Knights were divided into seven levels: Human, Earth, Sky, Meteor, Silver Moon, Title, and the "Transcendent" realm.

Among these, the Human, Earth, and Sky levels were considered ordinary knights.

Meteor, Silver Moon, and Title were considered Star Knights.

Above the Star Knights lay the Transcendent realm.

These three major tiers were incredibly difficult to bridge. His own father and Uncle Tong were merely Sky Knights.

As for what defined a Star Knight, it meant that on the battlefield, they were as dazzling and eye-catching as the stars themselves. Countless arrows could not harm them; they could seize the enemy commander amidst three armies and rampage through the ranks, invincible.

However, these still belonged to the realm of mortal power.

Even a Title Knight, who could destroy an army of a hundred thousand alone—despite being called a "one-man army," the "limit of mortals," or possessing "near-divine power"—was ultimately still mortal. With enough numbers, they could still be exhausted to death.

But to step into the Transcendent realm!

That was a qualitative difference, a leap in the entire level of life. They were no longer mortals, but Transcendent beings. Simple mortal numbers held no meaning for them; under normal circumstances, no matter how many mortals there were, they could not exhaust them, nor could they even harm them. They possessed incredible power that transcended the material world!

Even gods were wary of them.

Legendary thousand-meter-tall lava giants, the great purgatory demons of the abyss, and the like were all Transcendent beings. Humans, too, could become "Transcendent" through cultivation.

The Transcendent powerhouses of humanity repelled invading demons and slaughtered all who dared to resist!

They were the race-protecting strength of humanity, striking fear into all foreign races!

"If only I could become a Transcendent Knight, I'd catch a few demons to play with, get a dragon as a mount, and drink with the gods." Dongbo Xueying giggled as he looked at the biography, as if he had transformed into the Transcendent Knight within, when suddenly—

"Ding!"

The fire crystal lamp beside him automatically extinguished.

"Ah, why did the lamp go out? So soon?" Dongbo Xueying, excited by the book, immediately pulled a bitter face in frustration. "Having a mother who is a mage is truly pitiful; even the fire crystal lamp turns off automatically when the time is up."

"Fine, time to sleep!"

With no light, he had no choice but to sleep.

Dongbo Xueying drifted into a deep slumber, dreaming that he had become a Transcendent Knight, capable of anything. Dongbo Xueying slept with a grin on his face, clearly having a very sweet dream.

******

Dongbo Lie and his wife were also in bed, preparing to rest.

"Dongbo, I've been feeling uneasy lately," his wife said, lying in her husband's arms.

"A Yu, don't worry. We've been in Yi Water City for eight years now, and it has always been calm. Your family hasn't tracked us down yet. Rest assured, nothing will happen. Our family will continue to live in peace, for ten years, twenty years... until we grow old together. They won't find us, never," Dongbo Lie said, gently embracing his wife.

His wife rested her head on her husband's chest.

She didn't say much more. She knew all too well how powerful her family was; she feared that one day, they would be caught.

A faint smile touched the corners of her lips. She did not regret her choice back then at all. If she had submitted to her family, that would have been the true disaster. She had escaped her family to adventure across the lands, eventually ended up with the person she loved, and even had two adorable sons. She was already very satisfied.

"Dongbo, do you regret it?" his wife asked softly. "Once we are caught, they won't spare you either."

"How many times have we faced life and death together? Why ask this?" Dongbo Lie laughed.

"Mm."

The night was deep, and the castle was quiet.

Except for the soldiers on duty, almost everyone was fast asleep.

"BOOM~~~" A giant bird, like a dark cloud, flew in at high speed. The rumbling sound of it breaking the sound barrier caused some of the castle's glass windows to vibrate.

The giant bird hovered high in the sky.

The gray-robed figure and the silver-armored man looked down.

"We've arrived." The gray-robed figure's gaze was complex. "Little sister... I really don't want to take you away."

"DEFEND!!!"

A powerful roar echoed throughout the entire castle; the lion-man Tong San had let out a thunderous shout.

"Is that a lion-man from the beast race?" the silver-armored man asked, looking down with curiosity.

"He was a lion-man slave assigned to my sister by the family back then. I didn't expect that after so many years, this lion-man would still be following my sister. He's quite loyal." The gray-robed figure looked at the burly lion-man, recalling the young lion-man slave who had been locked in a cage all those years ago. That young slave had always followed his sister in silence, and now, he had grown so formidable.

The castle below covered an area of two li, divided into an outer castle and an inner castle. The outer castle housed four battalions of soldiers and servants. Knights were permitted to bring their families to live in the outer castle, and on this night, a battalion of soldiers was patrolling the walls of the outer castle.

"There are enemies."

"There are enemies."

On the city walls, those three hundred soldiers each grabbed the massive dark-red heavy crossbows beside them. The thick bolts were already loaded, aimed from afar at the Four-Winged Vulture high in the sky.

"You go," the grey-robed figure commanded.

"Yes." The silver-armored man leaped down from high above. Falling from a height of nearly fifty-six meters without any cushioning, his feet slammed into the stone-paved ground of the castle. The earth shuddered, and the flagstones beneath him cracked and spiderwebbed outward.

The silver-armored man looked ahead. By now, Dongbo Lie and his wife had both emerged, and even Dongbo Xueying and his younger brother Qing Shi had gotten up.

With the roaring and booming sounds outside, how could anyone possibly sleep?

"What is going on?" Dongbo Xueying stood behind his parents, holding his younger brother as he watched.

"Moyang Yu!" The silver-armored man stood in the castle courtyard, ignoring the large number of soldiers on the high walls in the distance who were aiming their heavy crossbows at him. He said coldly, "At this point, do you still intend to resist? You had best come with us obediently."

"Look around you," Dongbo Lie shouted.

The silver-armored man swept his gaze across his surroundings. On the high walls of the castle in the distance, as well as among the soldiers surrounding him on the ground, each one held a dark red heavy crossbow. The silver-armored man's pupils constricted slightly, then he laughed: "Star-Breaking Crossbows. Impressive. A common, ordinary little territory within a county, yet it can equip so many Star-Breaking Crossbows? With so many Star-Breaking Crossbows surrounding and attacking me alone, there is indeed a hope of killing me."

"You are a noble Meteor Knight; if it were one-on-one, no one in our castle would be your match," Dongbo Lie said. "However, with five hundred Star-Breaking Crossbows, each one capable of wounding you, if they all attack you at once, plus the few of us joining in... we are confident we can surround and kill you."

"This is the territory of the Dongbo Clan," the purple-robed woman Moyang Yu also said. "You have invaded the territory of a noble; this is a provocation against our clan. We have every right to strike you down, and your death would be in vain."

According to imperial law, nobles possess special privileges, and the territory of a noble is inviolable.

"You two should just come with me; don't resist," the silver-armored man frowned.

"Nobles are protected by imperial law. Do you intend to defy the laws of the empire and forcibly abduct two nobles?" the purple-robed woman Moyang Yu said coldly.

"Xiao Yu."

A somewhat hoarse voice drifted down.

Everyone looked up. They watched as the grey-robed figure on the back of the giant bird high in the sky held a staff. Suddenly, a terrifying, surging power gathered. Thick clouds appeared out of thin air in the high sky, and countless bolts of lightning slithered and flickered within them. In many places throughout the castle below, wisps of electric light manifested out of nothing. In the dark of night, the countless flashes of electricity were beautiful, yet as these sparks touched the soldiers, they immediately screamed, convulsed, and collapsed to the ground, their Star-Breaking Crossbows clattering into a heap.

With a mere wave of his hand, hundreds of soldiers were rendered powerless to resist. He had already shown mercy; otherwise, every one of those soldiers would have been reduced to charcoal.

The Four-Winged Vulture from high above descended as well. The grey-robed figure stepped down and pulled back his hood, revealing a face that was slightly pale yet still handsome. The features of this grey-robed youth bore a seventy to eighty percent resemblance to those of Moyang Yu.

"Xiao Yu, do you still intend to resist?" the grey-robed youth said.

"Brother..." the purple-robed woman Moyang Yu widened her eyes, her body trembling slightly.