The O'Brien Empire rejected all other religions. The Churches of Light and Darkness could only operate in the shadows, and the moment they were discovered, the empire ruthlessly stamped them out.
This stance meant that the Church of Light could never expand its influence within the empire.
In major cities like the imperial capital and provincial capitals, the Church of Light maintained a fair number of operatives. But in the smaller commandery cities, there were only a few dozen at most.
As for ordinary small towns—some had a handful of people, others had none at all.
And rural villages? Don't even mention them.
This sparse network of influence meant the Church of Light's people had no way to track down Lin Lei. They had no idea where that wretched Lin Lei had actually fled.
Even without knowing his exact location, a group of six led by Lan Dan still departed from Holy Island and made their way toward the O'Brien Empire.
In the northwestern province, on the outskirts of the provincial capital Bazier, in a small town called Yunfeng.
Lin Lei, Seisser, the five Buck brothers, and the two Rebecca sisters—all of them were living here quietly. The Rebecca sisters took care of cooking and chores for the group in between their cultivation sessions.
To the townsfolk, Lin Lei was presented as a noble, Seisser as his butler, and the five Buck brothers as his bodyguards.
The group lived at the westernmost edge of the small town, with the nearest neighbor several hundred meters away.
"Sister, that skeleton I summoned yesterday was so cute. It just stood there looking all dazed." Rebecca and Lina were walking back from the town's market, each carrying a bamboo basket.
Preparing meals every day was a chore the sisters handled alongside their cultivation.
"Rebecca, stop fooling around so much. Summon a skeleton and send it back immediately. You waste too much time playing with them," Lina said with some不满.
Rebecca was far too playful. The skeleton soldiers were tormented by her every single day.
"I know, Sister. I'll catch up to you soon," Rebecca said quietly. Her sister was already capable of summoning zombies.
It had to be said—the two sisters had exceptional souls, and their progress in necromancy was remarkably swift.
The pair walked onto the open ground where the mansion Lin Lei had planned was still under construction. For now, they had built simple wooden houses to live in.
"Big Brother Lin Lei trains in such a weird way," Rebecca muttered.
At that moment, Lin Lei held the Black Jade Heavy Sword in one hand and the Purple Blood Divine Sword in the other. In his grip, the Black Jade Heavy Sword floated as though it weighed nothing at all. The Purple Blood Soft Sword, on the other hand, seemed to carry the weight of ten thousand tons.
"Heavy made light, light made heavy…"
A faint smile played at Lin Lei's lips.
Whether it was the Purple Blood Soft Sword or the Black Jade Heavy Sword, their realms were interconnected. The concept of "momentum," for instance, applied to virtually any form of attack.
Swords, sabers, staffs, fists, or feet—momentum could be infused into any of them.
This was what gave rise to the notion of "moving heaven and earth" as a description of one's level of mastery.
However, the realm of "making heavy things light" couldn't simply be transferred to the Purple Blood Soft Sword. After all, the Purple Blood Soft Sword was already inherently light. Lin Lei had spent over ten days in contemplation, sitting cross-legged on the ground and feeling the wind that permeated all of heaven and earth, before he finally achieved a breakthrough.
Wind was formless by nature. At its gentlest, it was as soft as a lover's caress. At its most violent, it could split mountains and rend stone.
"Making light things heavy."
Lin Lei swung the Purple Blood Divine Sword downward. The blade, thin as a cicada's wing, emitted a thunderous roar. Even on flat ground, a violent gust of wind erupted and swept outward.
"The wind-type single-target spell 'Dimensional Blade' is the most powerful single-target offensive magic. Its power can even tear through space itself. So… could I replicate the Dimensional Blade through swordsmanship?"
Lin Lei pondered this.
The great Dao led to the same destination through many paths. The level above "momentum" for the Black Jade Heavy Sword meant channeling one's comprehension of the Laws of Earth.
And in Lin Lei's view, for the Purple Blood Soft Sword, it meant channeling one's comprehension of the Laws of Wind.
With the right approach, one wouldn't wander down blind alleys.
Now Lin Lei quietly pressed forward along the path he had envisioned. But these laws were profoundly mysterious, and comprehension was exceedingly difficult. Fortunately, Lin Lei possessed superlative affinity for both earth and wind elements, making him extraordinarily attuned to nature.
Even so, without several years or even longer, achieving any real breakthrough was nearly impossible.
*Whoosh.*
A blurred figure sliced through the air and landed behind Lin Lei.
"Lord Xise." Lin Lei turned around and bowed respectfully.
Xise nodded with a smile. "Where are the five Buck brothers?"
"They're training in the clearing behind the house. Lord Xise, please follow me." Lin Lei smiled and started walking toward the back, but Xise suddenly looked down at Lin Lei's feet with a hint of surprise.
On the surface, Lin Lei appeared to walk just like anyone else.
But what level was Xise at?
He could clearly sense that Lin Lei's footsteps followed an incredibly precise rhythm, as though they carried a special kind of pulse. In truth, Lin Lei had been so immersed in his cultivation for so long that even his natural gait carried the rhythm of the earth's pulse.
"A true genius," Xise thought with admiration.
After a short walk, Xise spotted the five Buck brothers. They were inside a region bathed in a yellowish-brown glow, each hoisting enormous boulders the size of houses to train their bodies.
"Hah!"
The muscles on the five brothers gleamed with an oily sheen. The veins on their bodies bulged out thick and powerful, writhing like serpents.
"Lord Xise." The five brothers spotted Xise and immediately stopped their training.
"You five little rascals, you've been training hard, I see," Xise said with a smirk. "How are the results treating you?"
Buck's fourth brother, Butte, spoke excitedly: "Before, we'd hit a wall and couldn't feel any progress. But training inside the gravity field—we're not just building surface muscle anymore. Even our internal organs are improving."
Inside the gravity technique's area, gravitational force was dramatically amplified.
Gravity affected every part of the body, including the organs and meridians.