Yone Was Actually Dad

The broken sword hummed through the air. Enraged, Yasuo had completely forgotten his rules and discipline and began acting without restraint.

As his broken blade swung down, a tornado flew from it and crashed toward Li Ke.

Damn!

Li Ke immediately retreated, but he could not dodge as fast as the wind. He only had time to raise his sword against the small tornado, intending to withstand the so-called Second Q head-on.

But how could Wind Technique be so easily blocked?

The seemingly feeble tornado possessed extraordinary force. Li Ke saw it clearly: in that instant, the wind Yasuo unleashed blew into the cracks in his blade. Under the wind's force, those cracks rapidly widened, then broke apart with a sharp snap, turning into fragments that filled the sky.

The sword fragments became deadly weapons, shooting toward Li Ke's body. They would not inflict fatal wounds on him, but he certainly would not escape without suffering flesh wounds.

But in that instant, a figure slightly taller than Yasuo suddenly rushed forward. With a simple downward slash of the twin swords in his hands, he blocked the fragments Li Ke had no time to evade. Even the tornado Yasuo had slashed out dissolved into scattered gusts.

The cherry tree in the courtyard was struck by the wind. Its petals, already continuously drifting down, now fell like rain.

"Bastard! Attacking your fellow disciples for no reason! Yasuo! Is there even a shred of honor left in your heart?!"

Yone, gripping his twin swords, glared furiously at his younger brother. The wind blowing from Yasuo carried a heavy stench of alcohol, causing his already tightly furrowed brow to crease even deeper.

"Getting drunk and causing trouble in our teacher's dojo... This is absolutely disgraceful!"

Yone's anger practically overflowed. He truly could not understand why their gentle mother had given birth to such a troublesome brat as Yasuo. He was Elder Souma's guard, entrusted with a grave responsibility, yet he cast that responsibility aside to drink and fight all day, even picking fights for no reason at all.

Since childhood, Yone had handled incidents like this more times than he could count, yet Yasuo remained the same, refusing to repent time and time again!

At the sight of Yone, the lingering fear on Yasuo's face instantly turned into impatience. He looked at Li Ke, then at Yone, and directly turned to leave the courtyard.

"Tch, what a killjoy. I was just starting to have fun. Hey, Li Ke, I'll be waiting for our next fight."

As he spoke, the fellow who had come looking for trouble disappeared from Li Ke's courtyard, leaving Yone so furious that he nearly threw the sword in his hand at him.

Yone truly wanted to chase after Yasuo and give him a thorough scolding, but things were no longer as they once had been. In the past, he could teach Yasuo a lesson with the authority and strength of an older brother, but now...

Taking a deep breath, Yone tightened his grip on his sword hilt, then released it. He let out a long sigh and sheathed both swords. After hesitating for two or three seconds, he finally looked at Li Ke with an apologetic, pained expression.

"I'm sorry, Li Ke... Yasuo, he... I'm sorry. But the damage is done, and all I can do is apologize to you."

Yone's voice was full of regret. He deeply regretted failing to raise his younger brother properly. Yet as he spoke, he removed the longsword from his waist, held it in both hands, and offered it to Li Ke.

"You cannot go on a mission without a sword. My unruly brother destroyed yours, so please accept this sword and use it."

He looked at the sword in his hands with great reluctance, and Li Ke was somewhat surprised as well.

Though Yone's twin swords were no divine artifacts, they were still excellent blades. In terms of value, it would take roughly thirty of Li Ke's broken swords to equal this sword of Yone's.

That was also why Yasuo had suddenly lost his temper earlier.

His own sword had not been cheap either, yet it had been severed by the ordinary steel in Li Ke's hand. For a swordsman, nothing was more infuriating than that.

But after hesitating again and again, Li Ke did not accept the sword in Yone's hands, because he had something he wanted to ask of Yone as well.

"Let's forget about that. Taking away a swordsman's weapon is not an honorable thing, and besides, I have something I'd like to ask of you, Yone."

Yone froze for a moment and looked at Li Ke in confusion. Li Ke did not put on airs and continued directly.

"Do you think Yasuo is truly suited to be a guard? I want you to stay and replace Yasuo as Elder Souma's guard. Do not leave Elder Souma's side until I return, and keep an eye on Yasuo as well."

These words nearly made Yone cover his face and leave. Unlike Li Ke, he did not know that Elder Souma would die in an accident because of Yasuo's negligence. Thus, he believed that his brother's behavior had made Li Ke willing to forgo compensation just to have him, the older brother, keep watch over his younger brother!

Nothing could have been more embarrassing than that.

Seeing Yone's utterly dreadful expression, Li Ke sighed softly. Although Yone had not seemed especially clever during Yasuo's defection, the Yasuo of this time clearly needed a brutal lesson from the world.

Honestly, if they had not been fellow disciples, then based on Yasuo's actions just now, even if Li Ke had chopped off one of his arms, no one in all of Ionia could say he was wrong. At most, they could say he had shown no mercy.

That was why Yone had offered up his own sword. Something like this could not be settled with a single apology.

Li Ke hurriedly grabbed Yone's arm. Looking into his complicated eyes, he spoke word by word.

"In my dream, I saw Elder Souma die because Yasuo left at night. That is why I want you to stay here!"

Li Ke directly gave the explanation he had prepared beforehand. His words made Yone's expression change again. This time, however, he was even angrier, with disbelief mixed into his anger.

"Is that true?!"

He felt humiliated, because his younger brother truly was capable of doing such a thing—or rather, no one would doubt it. His uncertainty came from fearing that Li Ke was telling the truth, or that Li Ke was dissatisfied with Yasuo and wanted to slander his brother in front of him.

But he quickly dismissed the latter thought, because Li Ke was not that kind of person.

"I do not know whether it was real, but what I saw in the dream felt as though it truly happened. A girl holding a massive rune sword came to Elder Souma and begged him to break her sword, to end the shackles of her past. But Elder Souma was too old to swiftly evade the shattered blade fragments, so..."

Li Ke quickly recounted what he had seen. Unlike Yasuo, even if Yone did not believe that Li Ke could truly foresee the future, he would still take such matters seriously. And after Li Ke voiced his doubts about Yasuo, he would make up for his younger brother's shortcomings.

And what Li Ke wanted was for Yone to guard Elder Souma, because compared to himself, Yone's abilities were more trustworthy.

Looking at the broken sword in his hand, Li Ke sighed quietly.

Even a mere Yasuo had left him unable to resist...

He needed to become stronger.