Linley settled down in a valley outside the city.
The valley was very quiet.
The lake water flowed past the foot of the mountain, with thin mist in the mornings and wind in the afternoons. Every day, Linley sat cross-legged by the lake, his palm resting on Edgeless's hilt, sensing the faint vibrations coming from the earth.
He had already mastered wielding heavy weapons as though they were light.
Yet he still could not truly touch upon force.
With a swing of his sword, he could concentrate all his strength on the blade. But that was merely his own strength, with no true connection to the earth, lake water, or wind around him.
Doehring sat nearby, watching Linley swing his sword again and again.
He did not give him the answer outright.
Nor did Linley ask.
Both knew that Linley had to find his own way to the third level of the heavy sword.
Half a month later, Jenny rode into the valley.
She had brought two food boxes.
Jenny was still somewhat awkward as she dismounted. Carrying the food boxes, she walked toward the wooden cabin, then stopped when she saw Linley practicing his sword by the lake.
The heavy sword Edgeless descended again and again.
The blade touched nothing, yet rings of ripples spread across the lake.
Linley lowered his sword and turned toward her.
"Jenny?"
"Big Brother Lei." Jenny smiled. "I brought you some food."
She placed the food boxes on the wooden table.
Linley walked over and opened them.
Inside were roast meat, bread, and a bowl of hot soup.
"Did you make this yourself?"
"Yes." Jenny nodded. "There aren't many people in the valley. You probably haven't been eating very well, Big Brother Lei."
"It tastes good." Linley took a bite.
Jenny's eyes immediately lit up.
"Really?"
"Really."
A smile appeared on her face, as though a single word of praise was enough to satisfy her.
Bebe jumped down from a tree, landed beside the table, and reached out a paw for the roast meat.
Linley slapped his paw away.
"That's mine."
Bebe squeaked in displeasure.
Haeru lay outside the cabin and raised his eyes to look at Bebe.
Bebe immediately reached for the dried meat beside it instead.
Watching the two beasts, Jenny could not help laughing.
This was her first visit to the valley, and her first time seeing what Linley was like outside his training.
He would fight Bebe over food, check Haeru's wounds, and stop for a long time to study the grain of a few pieces of stone.
He was nothing like the supreme expert the nobles in the castle spoke of.
He seemed more like a quiet young man.
"Big Brother Lei," Jenny said softly, "can I come again?"
Linley looked up at her.
Of course he could see why she had come.
Bringing food was only a pretext.
"I don't like being disturbed while I train."
Jenny froze for a moment.
The smile slowly faded from her face.
"Oh."
She lowered her head and answered softly.
Watching her, Linley added, "If you need anything, you can send someone with a message."
"I understand."
Jenny forced another smile. "Then when you have time, Big Brother Lei, you can visit the castle too."
"All right."
Jenny packed up the food boxes and mounted her horse.
Before leaving, she glanced back.
Linley had already picked up Edgeless again and was standing on the lakeshore.
The mountain path soon hid him from view.
Doehring emerged from behind the cabin.
"You hurt her feelings a little."
"I only told her not to disturb my training."
"You told the truth," Doehring said. "But the truth can disappoint people sometimes."
Linley gazed into the distance.
"Let's leave these things for later."
Doehring said nothing more.
He could tell that Linley was not unaware of Jenny's feelings. It was just that Linley had too much on his mind now, with no energy to respond to her affection.
A few days later, the valley welcomed its first heavy snowfall.
Snowflakes drifted down from the sky, covering the lake, the grass, and the cabin roof.
Linley did not return indoors.
He stood barefoot in the snow.
The icy snow melted into water and trickled down his feet. The cold did not make him retreat; instead, it cleared his mind further.
The earth lay silent beneath the snow.
The lake water flowed slowly beneath the ice.
The wind passed through the valley, sweeping up snowflakes before brushing past Linley.
Linley closed his eyes.
He sensed the earth beneath his feet.
Heavy.
Steady.
No matter how the lake water flowed or how the wind and snow changed, the earth bore it all.
Linley gripped Edgeless's hilt.
He suddenly understood something.
Wielding heavy weapons as though they were light meant controlling his own strength to its utmost limit.
Force, however, was not about controlling himself.
It was about drawing upon heaven and earth.
With a single swing, the surrounding wind, snow, lake water, and earth would all become part of his sword strike.
"Force..."
Linley opened his eyes.
His gaze fell upon the snow filling the sky.
There had not been a sound between heaven and earth.
Suddenly, the wind in the valley stopped.
The falling snowflakes, too, seemed to stop in midair.
Linley drew Edgeless.
The heavy sword slowly rose.
An invisible pressure began to fill the surrounding space.
It was not Linley's own strength.
It was the strength of the entire valley.
The wind, snow, earth, and lake water were all drawn by an invisible force.
Standing before the cabin, Doehring's expression shifted slightly.
"He's done it."
Linley did not answer.
He simply slashed forward.
Boom!
A fissure several dozen feet long appeared in the snow-covered ground. The snow on both sides scattered outward at the same time, while a force pressed the snowflakes in midair forward.
Linley drew Edgeless back.
The wind and snow around him began moving again.
Everything that had just happened seemed like an illusion.
But Linley knew he had stepped into another realm.
"Force." Doehring walked over. "You've finally comprehended it."
"That strike still wasn't stable enough."
"You've only just comprehended it, and you already want stability?" Doehring laughed. "You weren't this impatient when you first mastered wielding heavy weapons as though they were light."
Linley did not argue.
Just then, a low growl came from outside the valley.
An icy aura rapidly approached.
Haeru immediately rose.
Bebe also leaped onto Linley's shoulder.
A white figure charged out of the wind and snow.
It was an enormous Icy Snow Lion.
It was nearly four meters long, its entire body covered in white fur, its eyes shining with cold blue light. Making no effort to conceal its aura as an eighth-level magical beast, it opened its bloody maw the moment it appeared and lunged at Linley.
Linley stood his ground.
He pressed the heavy sword Edgeless forward.
Boom!
The surrounding space seemed to sink all at once.
The Icy Snow Lion's body abruptly halted.
It had already lunged right in front of Linley, yet it seemed pinned beneath an invisible mountain, its limbs unable to advance any farther.
It struggled in terror.
But the force of the wind, snow, earth, and lake water pressed in from every direction, trapping it firmly in midair.
Linley swung his sword.
The Black Jade Heavy Sword slashed down from above.
The instant Edgeless touched the Icy Snow Lion, the surrounding space shook violently.
Bang!
The Icy Snow Lion's body shuddered violently, then crashed heavily into the snow.
Blood stained the white snow red.
Just one strike.
The eighth-level magical beast, the Icy Snow Lion, was dead.
Bebe's eyes widened.
"Boss, that strike was way stronger than your old Rushing Thunder."
Haeru also stared at the Snow Lion's corpse, his eyes serious.
Linley lowered his sword.
"This is force."
Doehring nodded.
"You've only just crossed the threshold. You'll need to keep training before you can truly use it at will."
"I will."
The heavy snow fell for three whole days.
On the fourth day, Linley entered Chier County City.
He did not bring Haeru into the city, instead leaving him in the woods outside, while Bebe lay on his shoulder.
By now, Chier County City knew that a powerful Mr. Lei lived in the valley outside the city. When the gate guards saw Linley, they let him enter without stopping him.
Linley walked into a tavern.
The tavern was bustling.
Several young men were gathered around a table, talking.
"Have you heard? O'Brien Academy's year-level tournament is over."
"Of course I have. That seventeen-year-old Wharton actually defeated an Eighth-level Warrior and took first place."
"I heard His Majesty the Emperor has already personally made him an earl."
"A seventeen-year-old earl? That's incredible."
"I heard he's a Dragonblood Warrior, too."
Linley stopped in his tracks.
He turned to look at the group.
"This Wharton you're talking about-where is he from?"
His question caught them off guard.
One of them said, "The O'Brien Empire, of course. Earl Wharton is famous now. The whole academy is talking about him."
"O'Brien Academy?"
"In the imperial capital."
Linley fell silent.
Wharton was already seventeen.
Yet he, his older brother, had not seen him all this time.
"Boss, are we going to find Wharton?" Bebe asked.
"Yes."
Linley turned and left the tavern.
By the time he returned to the city lord's castle, the sky had darkened.
Jenny was sorting through account books in the hall.
When she saw Linley enter, she immediately stood up.
"Big Brother Lei, you're back."
"I'm leaving."
Jenny's smile froze.
"Where are you going?"
"The imperial capital."
Jenny's fingers slowly tightened.
Of course she knew Linley would not stay in Chier County City forever. She just had not expected this day to come so soon.
"I'll go with you."
She mustered her courage to say it.
Linley looked at her.
"The imperial capital is dangerous."
"I'm not afraid."
"You're Chier County City's administrator now."
"Keane is already the city lord, and Grandpa Lambert will help him," Jenny said. "I can go with you."
"No."
Linley's answer was blunt.
Jenny's eyes reddened slightly.
"Big Brother Lei, I won't cause you any trouble."
"I know."
"Then why can't I?"
"I need to find somewhere to train, and I have my own affairs to deal with. There could be danger at any point on the road ahead. You have no need to follow me."
Jenny was silent for a long time.
She looked at Linley and finally said softly, "But I want to follow you."
The lamplight in the hall flickered gently.
Linley did not answer immediately.
It was not that he had failed to understand what Jenny meant.
It was just that he could not give her the answer she wanted right now.
"Jenny."
It was the first time Linley had addressed her directly by name.
Jenny raised her head.
"I have my own path to follow," Linley said. "It won't be peaceful, and it won't be safe. If you stay in Chier County City, you can help Keane and live your own life."
Jenny gently bit her lip.
"Then will you come back?"
"Yes."
"When?"
Linley was silent for a moment.
"In five years at most."
A glimmer of light flashed in Jenny's eyes.
"Really?"
"I promise you. Five years from now, I'll come back."
Linley looked at her and added, "When that time comes, if you still want to follow me, I won't refuse again."
Tears welled in Jenny's eyes.
She did not let them fall, only nodded firmly.
"All right."
Linley took a gold coin from his interspatial ring and placed it on the table.
"This is the original deposit."
Jenny froze.
"You already protected us all the way to Chier County City."
"Our agreement isn't over yet," Linley said. "Keep this gold coin for now."
"Why?"
"Give me the rest of the gold coins when I come back."
Jenny reached out, picked up the gold coin, and held it tightly in her palm.
She knew Linley had no shortage of gold coins.
But he was willing to keep this agreement.
That was enough.
"Big Brother Lei."
"Yes?"
"What's your real name?"
Linley looked at her.
After a moment of silence, he said, "Linley."
"Linley?"
"Linley Baruch."
Jenny softly repeated it once.
"I'll remember."
Linley nodded.
Early the next morning, Linley left Chier County City.
Bebe crouched on his shoulder, and Haeru followed behind. Doehring walked beside Linley and glanced back at the city wall.
Jenny stood atop the wall.
She did not come down to chase after him, nor did she try to persuade him to stay again.
The five-year promise was already the answer she could get.
Linley looked up.
Jenny's figure was tiny.
Yet he could see her clearly.
Linley did not wave. He only nodded.
Jenny nodded gently as well.
Linley turned and walked toward the imperial capital.
"Will she wait for you?" Doehring asked.
"That's her choice."
"You gave her five years."
"What I gave her was a choice," Linley said. "Whether she waits is for her to decide."
Doehring looked at Linley and smiled.
In the distance, Chier County City gradually grew smaller.
Ahead lay the imperial capital of the O'Brien Empire.
It was also where he and his brother Wharton would reunite.