Space began to flow again.
Ice fragments fell to the ground.
Linley swayed, nearly falling.
"Boss!" Bebe rushed over from a distance and barreled into Linley's arms.
The impact drove Linley back two steps.
"You're still alive!"
"I'm not dead yet." Linley looked down at him.
Bebe raised a paw and pointed at the now-empty courtyard.
"Where's that man from just now?"
"I sent him flying," Cesar said lazily.
He stood beside Linley, still holding a blade of grass he had picked up somewhere.
"He probably isn't dead yet."
"He's Steller." Sessler approached, clutching his chest, his face pale. "The leader of the special executors of the Radiant Church's Inquisition. Peak Saint Realm."
"Peak Saint Realm?" Cesar raised an eyebrow. "Youngsters these days all like making themselves so formidable."
Sessler glanced at him.
"You know him?"
"I've heard of him."
"He won't let this go."
Cesar looked toward the back wall.
Barker and his four brothers were already standing on the other side of the street.
They had not left.
Their clothes were in tatters, and bloody marks left by the dark gold ropes ringed their wrists and ankles. After prolonged suppression with drugs, they still looked terrible, but all five stood straight.
Barker, the eldest, supported Ankh.
Hazer, Boone, and Gates stood on either side, their eyes fixed on the ruins of the Church's courtyard.
They had not relaxed upon gaining their freedom.
Nor had they immediately cheered when Cesar drove Steller back.
Too many times, they had seen hope appear, only to be crushed again.
Cesar walked up to the five of them.
"What are your names?"
"Barker."
Barker stepped forward.
"Ankh, Hazer, Boone, Gates."
Cesar's gaze swept over their bodies.
At first, his gaze was casual.
The next moment, it stopped on Barker's shoulder.
The smile slowly faded from Cesar's face.
He reached out and pressed a hand against Barker's arm.
Barker's body tensed.
"Don't move," Cesar said.
His voice was still lazy, but its earlier flippancy was gone.
Barker did not retreat.
Cesar's fingers moved from his arm to his shoulder, then pressed against his chest.
Finally, he looked at the other four.
"You come here too."
Ankh and the others exchanged glances, then walked up to Cesar.
Cesar examined their bodies one by one.
His expression grew increasingly grave.
Gates could not help asking, "Is something wrong?"
Cesar did not answer.
He suddenly looked up at Barker.
"Have you been unable to cultivate Battle-qi since childhood?"
Barker froze.
"Yes."
"But your bodies are powerful, and your physical strength alone can reach the level of an Eighth-level Warrior?"
All five brothers fell silent.
They had known since childhood that they were different from others.
They were strong and had powerful bodies.
They could shatter wooden posts with their fists and withstand full-strength slashes from ordinary warriors.
But they could not cultivate Battle-qi.
They had consulted many warriors and tried many cultivation methods, but the final result had always been the same.
They were unsuited to cultivation.
"What about your families?" Cesar asked.
Barker clenched his fists tightly.
"They're all dead."
"Who killed them?"
"The Radiant Church."
When those words left Barker's mouth, even the surrounding air seemed to freeze for an instant.
Cesar closed his eyes.
A moment later, he said quietly, "Just as I thought."
Gates gritted his teeth and asked, "You know what we are?"
Cesar opened his eyes.
"You are Undying Warriors."
The five brothers froze.
"Undying Warriors?"
"One of the Four Ultimate Warriors of the Yulan Continent," Cesar said. "Your bodies are powerful, and although you cannot cultivate ordinary Battle-qi, your bodies alone can reach the eighth level. This isn't a defect. It's your bloodline."
Barker and his brothers looked at one another.
They had never heard any of this.
"Impossible." Ankh shook his head. "We're orphans. Grandpa adopted us when we were children. We don't have any clan."
"Of course you don't know," Cesar said. "More than five thousand years have passed, and Amanda's clan has declined. Even your parents might not have known about their bloodline."
"Who is Amanda?" Hazer asked in a low voice.
Cesar did not answer immediately.
He turned and looked at the courtyard, now reduced to ruins.
"The best brother I ever had."
Wind blew through the ruined walls.
The languor on Cesar's face vanished completely.
"Back then, Amanda and I traveled the Yulan Continent together. We killed people together and fled for our lives together. Several times, I nearly died, and he saved me."
The five brothers listened quietly.
"What happened afterward?" Barker asked.
"Later, his clan declined," Cesar said. "I thought the Undying Warrior line had died out. I never expected to meet you."
His gaze returned to the five brothers.
It was now completely different.
Before, Cesar had seemed to be saving people on a whim.
Now, he looked at the five brothers as though he were looking at that figure who had vanished more than five thousand years ago.
"Why did the Church capture us?" Gates asked.
"Because of your bodies."
Cesar's voice turned cold.
"You all have eighth-level bodies. To the Radiant Church, bodies like these are more precious than ordinary Saint Realm experts."
"They planned to take you to the Holy Island and use your bodies to receive descending angels."
Killing intent flashed in Barker's eyes.
"Angels?"
"The Radiant Church's angels aren't deities descending in person," Sessler took over. "They have angel souls enter suitable bodies. Your souls would be erased, and the angels would occupy your bodies."
All five brothers' expressions changed.
They had known all along that the Church was transporting them under guard, but they had not known what awaited them.
Barker looked down at the bloody marks on his wrists.
"So that's why they wouldn't let us die."
"Yes," Sessler said. "You weren't prisoners. You were vessels."
Gates suddenly smashed his fist into the wall.
Boom!
The ruined wall collapsed.
Only a few white marks remained on his fist.
"They killed Grandpa, killed our families, and still wanted to use our bodies for their angels!"
Barker pressed a hand against Gates's shoulder.
"Gates."
Breathing heavily, Gates slowly withdrew his fist.
Cesar looked at them.
"Do you want revenge?"
"Yes," Barker answered.
"With the bodies you have now?"
Barker fell silent.
Together, the five of them might be able to kill an ordinary ninth-level warrior.
But against someone at the Peak Saint Realm like Steller, they could not even get close.
Let alone face the Radiant Church.
Cesar took a black token from inside his clothes and spun it once in his hand.
"I have something back at my place."
"What?" Gates asked.
"The cultivation method for Undying Warriors."
"The Undying Codex," Cesar said.
All five brothers looked up at once.
"Where?" Barker asked.
"Warblade headquarters."
Cesar tucked the token back inside his clothes.
"I'll go get it."
Cesar spoke casually, as though he were merely going out to buy a few things.
But Linley knew that the place Cesar spoke of could not possibly be nearby.
Cesar was someone too lazy to take even an extra step in battle.
Yet now he was willing to fetch a cultivation method himself.
Solely because of Amanda.
Linley looked at Cesar.
"Thank you."
Cesar waved a hand.
"I'm not doing it for you."
"I know."
"Or for Sessler."
"I know that too."
"Much less for the Radiant Church."
Cesar turned and looked at Barker and his four brothers.
"I'm doing it for Amanda."
Barker and his brothers all lowered their heads.
After a long while, Barker raised his head.
"We owe you our lives."
"Don't say that." Cesar frowned. "I hate people owing me anything."
Cesar looked at Linley.
"As for you, Master Linley, I've already repaid the favor I owed you."
Linley froze.
"Repaid me?"
"When I asked you to sculpt last time, I wasn't just watching for free," Cesar said lazily. "I liked that stone sculpture very much."
Bebe grinned beside them.
"Boss, when did you sculpt anything for him?"
Linley did not answer.
He remembered that meeting.
He also remembered Cesar's strange requirements for the sculpture.
He just had not expected Cesar to bring it up at a time like this.
In the distance, footsteps came from the ruins.
Steller emerged from behind a collapsed wall.
His silver-white robe was already in tatters, blood stained the corner of his mouth, and his expression was grim.
But he had survived after all.
Steller looked at Cesar, his eyes full of wariness.
"Lord Cesar."
"That's me." Cesar yawned.
"These five are criminals the Church must take away."
"Steller, you can leave."
Steller's expression darkened.
"Lord Cesar, they are the Church's..."
"I said, you can leave."
Cesar's voice was not loud.
But the air in the courtyard suddenly grew heavy.
"The five of them stay."
Steller tightened his grip on his longsword.
The blade trembled slightly.
He could not accept this.
This escort mission was extremely important. The Holy Emperor had personally ordered that the five brothers be brought safely back to Holy Island.
But Cesar stood there.
He had already experienced the power of that blow firsthand.
Before a Deity Level expert, someone at the Peak Saint Realm had no right to resist.
Steller finally loosened his grip on the hilt.
"Fine."
He turned and walked away.
Cesar's voice came from behind him.
"Go back and tell Heidens."
Steller paused in his tracks.
"If anyone from your Church dares go after these five again, I'll fight my way to Holy Island."
Steller did not answer.
He quickened his pace and disappeared at the end of the street.
Only frost, bloodstains, and severed dark-gold ropes remained amid the ruins.
Cesar looked in the direction Steller had left, the coldness still lingering on his face.
"Linley, take them away from here."
"What about you?"
"I'm going to get the Undying Codex."
Cesar yawned, returning to his casual manner.
"And get some sleep while I'm at it."
Barker looked at his retreating figure.
"Where should we wait for you?"
Cesar did not look back.
"No need."
"I'll find you myself."
With that, his figure flickered and vanished into the night.
Linley looked toward the end of the street.
Sessler put away his staff.
"What do we do now?"
Linley looked at Barker and his four brothers.
"Let's leave Deke County City first."
Barker nodded.
The five brothers stood shoulder to shoulder.
They still did not know where their future would lead.
But at least, this time, they were not being marched forward under guard.
Instead, they had chosen their own path.