“Hey Lei, what do you think of that Miss Jenny? Pretty nice, huh?” Lanz whispered with a chuckle.
“Very nice indeed,” Lin Lei nodded in agreement.
Lud, standing nearby, chimed in, “More than just nice. I’ve been out in the world a few years myself and seen my share of beauties. But Miss Jenny? Tsk, tsk, she’s absolutely stunning. Lei, you interested in her?”
Lin Lei was taken aback.
Lanz gave Lin Lei a knowing look—the kind only men share. “Come on, Lei. It’s only natural for a strong man to have a beautiful woman. If you don’t seize the chance now, once we leave this caravan, the opportunity’s gone.”
“You two…” Lin Lei didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Alice had already caused Lin Lei to deeply ice over his feelings. The current Lin Lei wasn’t so desperate that he’d chase after every beautiful face he saw.
“Miss Jenny and her brother are coming out,” Lud said quietly.
Lin Lei turned to look. Indeed, Miss Jenny and her younger brother Keane were heading toward a campfire. An old family servant was waiting there for them.
The noble youth, Keane, couldn’t help but stare curiously at the Blackscale Cloud Leopard again.
The Blackscale Cloud Leopard immediately bared its cold, sharp fangs. Keane was so startled he tightly clutched his sister’s hand. Miss Jenny seemed to sense something and looked toward Lin Lei’s direction.
A faintly embarrassed Miss Jenny gave a slight nod of apology before leading her brother to sit by the campfire.
“Sister, that magical beast is so cool,” Keane said, his eyes shining with admiration. “I hope one day I can have an awesome magical beast like that.”
The old servant beside them chuckled. “Master Keane, taming a magical beast isn’t so simple. To truly tame a powerful one, you must make it submit completely. And to make it submit, you have to defeat it in fair combat. From what I know, the weakest of the leopard-type magical beasts are at least Seventh Level. That Lord Lei is a true powerhouse.”
“The weakest is Seventh Level?” Keane gasped. “Grandpa Lambert, are you stronger than that?”
In Keane’s heart, the person he admired most was Grandpa Lambert.
When he and his sister were in the Holy Alliance, they had no one to rely on. It was Grandpa Lambert who protected them. If not for him, that noble in the small town would have already sent men to seize his sister. He had seen with his own eyes how Grandpa Lambert had shattered the guard’s shield with a single punch and easily defeated over a dozen soldiers.
“Me?” Grandpa Lambert smiled. “With my little bit of skill, someone could kill me in one move.” He patted Keane’s head fondly. “Master Keane, when we arrive in the O’Brien Empire, you must be careful. There are many experts in this world. I can only protect you in a small town like ours, but in the big cities…”
“It’s fine. I’m going there to inherit a city lord’s position!” Keane puffed out his small chest proudly. “Once I’m the city lord, what is there to fear?”
Seeing Keane like this, Miss Jenny smiled and affectionately stroked his hair. “Our Keane will be a great city lord in the future.”
“Of course!” Keane said with great confidence.
Gradually, most people returned to their carriages to sleep, with only a few mercenary guards patrolling the perimeter. Lin Lei, however, sat cross-legged on the ground, the Blacksteel Heavy Sword resting horizontally across his knees.
He was cultivating the third realm of the heavy sword’s three realms of mastery: “Momentum.” Lin Lei didn’t know how his ancestors had trained this, but his method was to attune his spirit to the earth and to the boundless wind.
The earth had its own unique pulse.
That unique rhythm and tempo immersed Lin Lei completely. The boundless wind, which filled heaven and earth, was most closely tied to space. This wind permeating space was also a key element for comprehending “Momentum.”
Immersing oneself in nature, comprehending nature…
In this state, Lin Lei lost all sense of time. By the late hours of the night, most of the caravan had fallen sound asleep, with only a handful of mercenary guards forcing themselves to stay alert.
“Swoosh, swoosh…”
The cold night wind blew, rustling the tips of Lin Lei’s hair. His closed eyes snapped open abruptly, and he sheathed the Blacksteel Heavy Sword onto his back.
“Wake up.” Lin Lei gave Lud and Lanz two pats.
Lud and Lanz were mercenaries who lived by the sword; their sleep was never deep. They woke up instantly. Lanz and Lud glanced around; it was still the dead of night.
“Lei, it’s the middle of the night, why aren’t you sleeping?” Lud grumbled internally but didn’t dare voice his complaint.
“Bandits are coming,” Lin Lei said casually.
“Oh.”
Lud’s drowsy eyes seemed ready to close again, but they suddenly flew open as he stared at Lin Lei in shock. “What did you say? Bandits?”
“A group of roughly a hundred bandits, about three hundred meters ahead. They’re slowly closing in,” Lin Lei stated flatly.
Moments ago, Lin Lei had been sensing the earth’s pulse and feeling the wind’s movement.
He had clearly detected the footsteps of over a hundred people from hundreds of meters away. Normally, Lin Lei wouldn’t have noticed them so early. But with his spirit attuned to the earth, his sensitivity was vastly heightened.
Lud was stunned.
“Don’t just stand there like a fool. Wake the others!” Lanz, however, remained calm.
“Right, I’m on it.” Lud immediately began rousing the mercenaries one by one, while Lanz went to alert the guards already on watch.
The mercenaries, woken deep in the night when they had been sleeping soundly, were naturally unhappy.
“Bandits are coming.” That single sentence scared them into scrambling up instantly.
“Where are the bandits?” The newly awakened mercenaries peered into the pitch-black surroundings, seeing not a soul. They began to grumble.
The mercenary leader, a man with a thick beard, grabbed Lanz by his tunic. “You said there are bandits. Where?”
“It wasn’t me; Lei said it,” Lanz quickly clarified.
“Oh?” The bearded man’s heart skipped a beat. He didn’t dare offend Lin Lei, the expert who had joined them midway. Just seeing that black leopard was enough to warn him off. If such an expert said it, he surely wouldn’t be joking.
At that moment, the bearded leader also heard the very faint, dense footsteps in the distance.
With his level of ability, he could hear them clearly.