"Crack! Crack!"
The bonfire crackled away as Xisai, Lin Lei, Sailis, and the five Bucker brothers sat around it. Bei Bei lay curled on Lin Lei's thigh, while Heilu rested behind him.
Spending the night in the wild was always risky. But who could threaten Lin Lei's group, especially when one of them was a god-level expert?
"Why did you save us?" asked the eldest of the five brothers, his voice a low rumble.
Lin Lei and Sailis both looked at Xisai. It was a question they were curious about too.
Xisai glanced at the five brothers and instead asked, "Where is your father? Where are your kin?"
"Our kin are all dead. As for our father? We've been orphans since childhood," the eldest, Bucker, replied. They were all past thirty now, and having grown up in the Eighteen Northern Duchies where wars raged constantly, the absence of a father from childhood was nothing unusual to them. After all, the wars had left countless orphans across the Northern Duchies.
"Orphans…" Xisai let out a soft sigh. "I never imagined that after all these years, the 'Amanda Family' — once famous across the Yulan Continent — had fallen to such a state."
Bucker and his brothers, along with Lin Lei and Sailis, all felt a jolt of surprise.
"Lord Xisai, are you saying that Bucker and his brothers are…?" Lin Lei had guessed.
Xisai nodded. "That's right. These five brothers are members of the Amanda Family — the Undying Warriors, one of the four ultimate warrior families."
"Undying Warriors?" The five brothers stared at each other in disbelief.
"Impossible!"
All five of them shot to their feet, shocked. They had been orphans their entire lives — how could they possibly imagine themselves to be members of an ultimate warrior family?
When Lin Lei had first heard Xisai mention the "Amanda Family," he had already formed a suspicion. The book in his own family's possession recorded the four great ultimate warrior families: the Baruch Family of Dragon Blood Warriors, the Haider Family of Purple Flame Warriors, the Bolei Family of Tiger Stripe Warriors, and the Amanda Family of Undying Warriors.
These four families had indeed been renowned five thousand years ago. Apart from the War God and the High Priest, the strongest humans were without doubt the four ultimate warriors. There were others who could be called peak Saint-realm powerhouses, but even they could not compare to the ultimate warriors.
Power and realm were two aspects that complemented each other.
Lin Lei, for instance, currently possessed a very high realm — he had surpassed the level of "Momentum" and his understanding approached the peak of the Saint realm. But his raw power was still weak. Naturally, his combat effectiveness was far inferior to that of a true Saint-realm expert.
The third Dragon Blood Warrior in his family's history had wielded a heavy hammer. When he had first reached the Saint realm, his realm had only been at the level of "lifting the heavy as if it were light." But even so, his offensive power had been terrifyingly overwhelming. This was because his innate strength and Dou Qi were simply monstrous.
Innate strength and Dou Qi served as the foundation. The higher one's realm, the more devastating the attack one could unleash. If the foundation was one hundred, someone with a low realm might only manifest fifty percent of that power, while someone with a high realm could unleash the full hundred — or even exceed expectations and strike with two hundred.
And the ultimate warriors possessed a foundation of strength and Dou Qi several times greater than other Saint-realm experts. Even with a slightly lower realm, their attacks remained terrifyingly powerful. That was the gift of an ultimate warrior. There was nothing to be done about it — when your talent was that overwhelming, it simply wasn't fair.
"Your bodies must be exceptionally powerful," Xisai sighed.
The five brothers exchanged glances, then all nodded. The second brother, Anko, said, "We can't cultivate Dou Qi, but relying on our bodies alone, we already have the strength of eighth-rank warriors."
"An eighth-rank body. Apart from the four ultimate warriors, how could ordinary people possibly break through the limits of the human body to reach that level?" Xisai shook his head.
Lin Lei was now certain. Only the four ultimate warrior bloodlines would find themselves unable to cultivate any Dou Qi other than the special method unique to their family.
"Among the four great ultimate warriors, the Undying Warriors have the most powerful bodies. They are renowned for their supreme defense and formidable attacks. Their only weakness is speed," Xisai said, his tone tinged with emotion. "Bucker, you five brothers are so young, and yet by training your bodies alone you've already reached the eighth rank. Who but the most physically powerful of the four ultimate warriors — the Undying Warriors — could accomplish this?"
Lin Lei nodded in agreement.
Indeed. He himself was a Dragon Blood Warrior, but if he had to rely solely on body training to reach the eighth rank, who knew how many years that would take. Even his younger brother Wotton, who cultivated the Dragon Blood Secret Manual, was only able to reach the seventh rank at the age of seventeen.
"Besides your own ancestors, I probably understand your Undying Warriors better than anyone. There is no doubt whatsoever — you are Undying Warriors," Xisai said with absolute conviction. "Moreover, your talents are remarkable. If you had cultivated the Undying Scripture, you could very well have already stepped into the ninth rank by now."
"The Undying Scripture?" The five brothers looked puzzled.
Lin Lei explained from the side, "Bucker, the truth is that each of the four ultimate warrior families has an inherent resistance to other forms of Dou Qi. You can only cultivate the special method unique to your bloodline. And your Undying Warrior family can only cultivate the Undying Scripture."
"No wonder we could never get Dou Qi cultivation to work," the youngest, Gates, exclaimed with a sigh.
"If you five brothers had possessed the Undying Scripture, you never would have been captured in the first place," Xisai said. "All four ultimate warriors have powerful attacks. Among them, the Undying Warriors have the strongest defense, the Tiger Stripe Warriors are the fastest, the Purple Flame Warriors possess the mysterious ability of 'Nirvana,' and the Dragon Blood Warriors are probably the most well-rounded — their attacks, speed, and defense are all formidable."
Xisai was a man from the era of Derinkoort. He had been alive during the time when the ultimate warriors first rose to prominence.
"Lord Xisai, until now we still don't know why you've been so… special toward us," Bucker asked curiously.
Upon hearing this, Xisai was drawn back into memories of the past. His expression shifted and changed, and after a long while he let out a deep sigh: "Your ancestor, Amanda, was the best brother I, Xisai, ever had in my entire life."