On the sixth day after leaving Deke County City, Linley and his companions arrived in Yunfeng Town.
Yunfeng Town lay on the outskirts of Basil Provincial Capital.
It was not on a major thoroughfare, and the town had only one flagstone road. A few taverns, smithies, and homes stood scattered along either side. Farther west lay rolling wasteland and woods.
Linley stood at the edge of the wasteland and looked around.
Even the nearest home was several hundred meters away.
Behind the woods stood a low mountain, with a stream at its foot. Whether for training or concealing their whereabouts, this place was well suited.
"Here," Linley said.
The nobles of Yunfeng Town soon came.
Linley did not give his real name, saying only that he was a nobleman from elsewhere who intended to live in seclusion for a long time. He paid ten thousand gold coins for a large tract of land west of town, then hired craftsmen from Basil Provincial Capital.
Ten thousand gold coins could buy only an ordinary residence in the provincial capital.
In Yunfeng Town, however, it was enough to build an extremely luxurious estate.
Linley had no interest in luxury.
He made only three requests.
The walls had to be high, there had to be plenty of living quarters, and enough open space had to be left behind the residence.
That would be the training ground.
Once construction began, the group first built several wooden cabins beside the woods.
To outsiders, Sessler was the old steward.
Barker and his four brothers were guards.
Lina and Rebecca were the maids accompanying them.
As for Doehring, the townspeople knew only that he was an elder Linley respected.
No one asked further questions.
Yunfeng Town rarely saw more than a few genuine nobles in an entire year. Its residents knew only that a generous, quiet young man had come to live west of town.
A dozen or so days later, Cesar arrived.
He appeared directly in front of the cabins, a brand-new, slim booklet in his hand.
"Take it."
Before Barker could react, Gates had already rushed forward.
He reached out to take the booklet, his gaze falling on its cover.
"Undying Codex."
Those four large characters made all five brothers hold their breath.
"This is our clan's training method?" Gates asked.
"A copy," Cesar said casually. "The original is still with the Saber Organization. You just need to train according to it. Don't lose it."
Barker took the codex and opened it to the first page.
After reading just a few lines, his hands began to tremble slightly.
The method of circulating battle-qi recorded there was completely different from ordinary battle-qi manuals. Many bodily reactions they had never understood were clearly documented in the codex.
Their inability to cultivate ordinary battle-qi was not because their aptitude was too poor.
It was because they were Undying Warriors.
"Lord Cesar," Barker said solemnly, closing the codex. "Thank you."
Cesar waved a hand.
"If you want to thank someone, thank Amanda."
His gaze passed over Barker and suddenly stopped a short distance away.
Doehring was walking out of the woods.
For the first time, the languid look vanished from Cesar's face.
He stared at Doehring for a moment.
"Doehring Cowart?"
Doehring looked at him as well.
"That little freak who dared to storm an assassin organization's base five thousand years ago, just after entering the Saint Realm." Doehring laughed. "I never thought you'd still be alive."
Cesar narrowed his eyes.
"I should be saying that to you."
Neither continued speaking in front of the others.
Cesar turned and walked into the woods, and Doehring followed.
Only after they were several hundred meters from the cabins did Cesar stop.
His divine sense swept over Doehring.
"You're more than just alive," Cesar said quietly.
"And you're more than the Saint Realm warrior you were back then," Doehring said.
Cesar glanced toward the cabins.
"Does the Church know?"
"No."
"Then let them keep not knowing."
Cesar did not ask how Doehring had returned from the dead, nor did he ask why he had already become a Deity Level expert.
Everyone had their own secrets.
Especially Deity Level experts.
"I'm leaving Barker and his brothers in your hands," Cesar said.
"You're not staying?"
"I hate teaching people how to train more than anything." Cesar yawned. "The codex has been delivered. The rest is up to them."
With that, Cesar's figure vanished from the woods.
That evening, Barker and his four brothers began cultivating the Undying Codex.
Linley cast Gravitational Field behind the cabins.
Earth-yellow light covered an area dozens of meters across.
The moment Barker and the others stepped inside, their footsteps grew abruptly heavy.
Gritting his teeth, Gates took a dozen or so steps, his forehead already covered in sweat.
"This is a good place." Gates grinned. "One day of training here is worth several outside."
"Circulate your battle-qi according to the codex first," Barker said in a low voice. "Don't just rely on brute strength."
The five brothers sat down cross-legged.
For the first time, battle-qi that truly belonged to Undying Warriors appeared within their bodies.
Half a year later, the residence was complete.
Tall walls enclosed the woods west of town and the training grounds. The residence had little decoration, but it contained over a dozen separate courtyards and two spacious training grounds.
From that day onward, they truly settled down.
Lina and Rebecca studied necromancy with Sessler every morning and went into town to buy food in the afternoons.
Sessler spent most of his time shut inside a stone chamber.
Whenever he occasionally emerged, he would first check his two disciples' magic, then turn his gaze toward Barker and his brothers in the gravity training ground.
Five Ultimate Warriors whose bodies alone had reached the eighth level-their cultivation speed was astonishing.
Even Sessler felt pressured by this.
Bebe and Haeru often ventured into the nearby mountain forests.
Two shadows, one black and one white, raced through the woods, and ordinary wild beasts did not dare approach the western side of Yunfeng Town at all.
Linley's life was even simpler.
Cultivating battle-qi.
Meditating.
Swinging the Black Jade Heavy Sword.
Every time his foot came down, he sensed the omnipresent fluctuations deep within the earth.
In the autumn of the first year, Linley stood in the center of the training ground and struck a block of bluestone with the Black Jade Heavy Sword.
Only a shallow mark appeared on its surface.
A moment later, the entire block suddenly split apart.
Its interior had already been reduced entirely to fine powder.
Doehring walked over to the bluestone and scooped up a handful of stone dust.
"Tenfold," he said.
Linley nodded.
"The three vibrations were spaced too far apart. To increase their number, each vibration has to be closer to the next."
"I can't teach you this path directly," Doehring said.
Linley looked at him.
"The Laws of the Earth are boundless. What I comprehend is the earth element, but the path you're following now is the pulsation deep within the earth." Doehring let the stone dust spill between his fingers. "I can tell whether you've gone astray, but I can't give you the answer."
"I understand."
Linley raised the Black Jade Heavy Sword again.
"I'll walk it myself."
Winter passed, and spring came.
The leaves outside the residence fell and grew anew.
The footprints in the gravity training ground grew deeper and deeper, and the auras of Barker and his brothers grew stronger and stronger.
Lina could now reliably control several skeletons, while Rebecca began attempting to summon higher-level undead. Sessler still had not broken through to the Saint Realm, but he was quieter than before, devoting almost all his time to meditation and teaching.
Haeru remained at the peak of the ninth level.
Bebe, however, grew faster and faster.
Once, even Linley could only catch up with him by using Wind Element magic.
"Boss, in a few more years, you definitely won't be able to catch me without magic," Bebe said smugly through Soul Transmission.
Linley did not answer.
The Black Jade Heavy Sword descended again.
Vibration after vibration gathered within the heavy sword.
Tenfold.
Twentyfold.
Thirtyfold.
The further he progressed, the harder it became to add even one more layer.
Linley often stood in the woods for an entire day.
He neither swung his sword nor moved.
He only listened.
Listened to the wind blowing through the leaves.
Listened to the stream striking the rocks.
Listened to the slow, weighty pulsation of the earth beneath his feet, which never ceased.
Early winter, in their third year in Yunfeng Town.
The wind swept up the dead leaves on the ground.
Standing in the woods, Linley suddenly looked up.
A thousand meters overhead, an Azure Wind Eagle spread its wings and flew swiftly past.
A faint smile appeared on Linley's lips.
The Black Jade Heavy Sword thrust into the air.
"Pfft!"
An extremely faint ripple appeared in the air, starting from the tip of the heavy sword.
The ripple shot high into the sky.
Almost in the blink of an eye, it caught up with the Azure Wind Eagle.
The Azure Wind Eagle's body shuddered violently.
Its wings stopped beating.
It plummeted straight down from a thousand meters in the air.
Standing nearby, Doehring's eyes lit up.
"A hundredfold?"
"A hundredfold," Linley said.
Three years of arduous training.
Profound Truths of the Earth, Hundredfold Waves.
With only the Triple Tremor, it was difficult to kill a fifth-level magical beast beyond ten meters.
Ten vibrations could reach a hundred meters.
Hundredfold Waves, however, could traverse a thousand meters into the sky and directly shatter the Azure Wind Eagle's internal organs.
Linley lowered his head to look at the Black Jade Heavy Sword in his hand.
Back when he had faced Steller, his Triple Tremor had only inflicted a slight injury on him.
Now, if he landed another direct hit, the result would certainly not be the same.
"Unfortunately, your battle-qi is still insufficient," Doehring said.
"I know."
Linley put away the Black Jade Heavy Sword.
His strength as a warrior had already reached the peak of the eighth level, while he remained an eighth-level magus.
He was only one step away from reaching the ninth level in human form.
But no one knew how long that step would take.
In the summer of the fourth year, a burst of laughter suddenly rang out from the gravity training grounds.
"Haha, I did it!"
Linley rushed out of the stone chamber.
Barker stood in the center of the training grounds, Undying Battle-qi surging within him as a powerful aura battered his surroundings.
Ankh and the other three stood around him, their faces filled with excitement.
"Big Brother has reached the ninth level!" Gates shouted.
Barker took a deep breath.
"Undying Transformation!"
His body suddenly swelled.
His bones gave off a dense series of explosive cracks.
His body, originally over two meters tall, grew to three meters in the blink of an eye. His skin turned bluish-green, and his muscles bulged like rocks.
Then a layer of white stone armor grew out of his body.
The armor covered his entire body, leaving only his face exposed.
A white helmet also appeared on his head.
Barker's feet left the ground.
He used no flight magic at all.
He shot straight into the sky, flew a circuit around the entire estate, then landed back in the training grounds.
"Flying." Barker looked down at his hands, his voice filled with excitement. "It's just like walking."
Sessler stared at Barker.
"The initial stage of the Saint Realm."
Only four years.
The eighth-level warrior who had once been bound with dark-gold ropes in a prison wagon now possessed Saint Realm power.
Ankh, Hazer, Boone, and Gates had all reached the peak of the eighth level as well.
They, too, were only one final step away from the ninth level.
Barker looked at his four younger brothers.
"From now on, if the Church wants to capture you again, they'll have to step over my body first."
"Who steps over whose body remains to be seen," Gates said with a grin. "Big Brother, you only got there a little earlier than us."
The brothers all laughed.
That very evening, a carriage stopped outside the estate.
It was the Dawson Chamber of Commerce's monthly mail carriage.
For the past four years, Yale had been sending important news from across the continent to Yunfeng Town through the chamber of commerce. Although Linley lived in seclusion, he had never lost touch with developments concerning the Radiant Church and the imperial capital.
Rebecca brought the letters into the courtyard.
Linley opened an envelope.
The first half of the letter covered the Radiant Church's recent movements.
The second half, however, was entirely about Wharton.
Wharton had taken part in the selection for honorary disciples of the War God Sect.
He had made it into the final ten, but had not been chosen by the War God Sect.
The person who had won that place was named Blumer.
Blumer was thirty-two this year and already a ninth-level warrior. His elder brother was none other than Olivier, the O'Brien Empire's most brilliant genius Sword Saint.
Meanwhile, Wharton's relationship with the seventh princess, Nina, was no longer a secret.
In the imperial capital, people had begun using Blumer's admission to the War God Sect to discuss the seventh princess's marriage. Behind Wharton stood only the declining Baruch Clan, while behind Blumer stood Olivier, as well as the War God Sect.
After finishing the letter, Linley remained silent for a long time.
"Has Wharton run into trouble?" Doehring asked.
"Not yet." Linley folded the letter. "Blumer has only secured a place in the War God Sect. The marriage hasn't been settled."
He turned and entered the study, taking another, older letter out of a wooden box.
It had been sent from Chier County City.
Very little time remained before the end of the five years he had agreed upon with Jenny.
Linley had promised her that he would return after five years. If she still insisted then, he would no longer refuse to let her accompany him.
He would not wait until the last day.
"We'll go to Chier County City first," Linley said.
Barker and his four brothers all looked at him.
"I promised Jenny I would go back to see her." Linley put the old letter into his interspatial ring. "Once things in Chier County City are settled, I'll return by way of Basil. Then we'll go to the imperial capital together."
Barker stepped forward.
"I'll go with you."
"No." Linley shook his head. "You've only just broken through. You still need to familiarize yourself with your strength after transforming. Ankh and the others are on the verge of breaking through as well. Stay here and keep training."
He looked at Sessler.
"I'll leave the estate to you and Grandpa Doehring."
Sessler did not object.
"Who are you planning to take?"
"Bebe and Haeru."
This was a journey to keep an appointment, not an expedition.
Early the next morning, Linley changed into a fitted warrior's outfit and draped a long black robe over it.
Haeru lay outside the estate's gates.
Bebe jumped onto Haeru's back and looked back at everyone.
Linley swung himself onto Haeru as well.
"A few days at the shortest, half a month at the longest."
Haeru became a black blur and charged out of Yunfeng Town.
Linley did not look back.
First, he would fulfill the promise he had made five years ago.
Then he would go to the imperial capital to see Wharton.