Chapter 2: Breakthrough in Mental Power
The shock of six Saint-realm experts was overwhelming. It took Wotton and the others a long time before their heated minds finally cooled down. But once they had calmed, all they felt was boundless excitement.
They had been troubled lately about Nina and Wotton's marriage.
The pressure brought by the identity of the Martial God's personal disciple, along with Olivia, had truly been immense. Now, though, they had full confidence in their hearts.
Wotton's face was lit up with the most brilliant smile — his older brother had arrived with so many powerhouses. He could already picture the scene of his wedding with Nina.
"Big brother, thank you. Cheers." Wotton raised his glass.
Lin Lei smiled and raised his glass in return.
Wotton had admired Lin Lei since he was a child. Having someone from Wushan Town get into Ernst Academy was naturally extraordinary. And now, after seventeen years, Lin Lei actually possessed two Saint-realm magic beasts, with three Saint-realm experts following him as well.
"Big brother, the Yulan Festival is just a few days away, and you'll be turning twenty-seven soon. When are you going to get married?" Wotton whispered mischievously in Lin Lei's ear.
"You brat." Lin Lei laughed. "Don't bring that up for now."
"Oh." Wotton nodded obediently.
Even though Wotton was now an imperial baron and a towering two meters and two centimeters tall, in front of Lin Lei he was still the same kid he had always been.
"Actually, Lina and the other two girls are all really nice," Wotton whispered conspiratorially.
Lin Lei gave him a light smack on the head.
"Alright, alright, no more. Let's drink, let's drink." Wotton quickly changed the subject.
Standing nearby, the butler Xili and Hillman watched the two brothers interact like this, feeling genuinely relieved. They exchanged a glance and both smiled.
These first few days at the baron's estate had been wonderful for both Lin Lei and his younger brother. However, Lin Lei had instructed Wotton and the others that it was fine for his and Black Lu's Saint-realm strength to be known, but the power of the five Baruch brothers and Bei Bei should remain a secret for now.
The five Baruch brothers and Bei Bei were all important trump cards Lin Lei relied on.
Moreover, in the entire O'Brien Empire, almost no one knew that the five Baruch brothers were Undying Warriors. So keeping it secret was simple enough.
Lin Lei and Black Lu, these two Saint-realm experts, should be more than enough to deter outsiders.
On the thirtieth of December, the year 10008 of the Yulan Calendar — the day before the Yulan Festival — a heavy snow fell. The entire O'Brien Empire was blanketed in snow, and between heaven and earth there was nothing but vast whiteness.
On Fushi Road, in the training grounds of Baron Wotton's estate.
Although snowflakes danced through the air, Lin Lei sat cross-legged on the grass, meditating peacefully. As for Wotton, being the formidable warrior he was, he naturally paid no mind to the snow either.
"Whew." Wotton's bare torso steamed with heat. He set down the War Blade Slaughter to his side and prepared to rest for a moment. But when he noticed Lin Lei meditating nearby —
"Huh?"
Wotton was startled to discover that even though snowflakes swirled all around, every single one veered away in a spiral whenever it neared Lin Lei's body, as though there were some invisible whirlwind around him. There wasn't a single snowflake on his clothes.
"What's this?" Wotton was somewhat stunned.
Lin Lei, who had been meditating with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them: "Wotton, what are you looking at?" Even while deep in cultivation, he could sense when someone was watching him.
"Big brother, the snowflakes — how are you doing that? Could it be the 'Force' realm recorded in the family's texts?" Wotton asked in surprise.
Lin Lei smiled and said, "Wotton, reaching the 'Force' level does indeed allow snow and rain to stay off your body, but that requires your full attention to control the forces of heaven and earth around you. It's absolutely impossible to achieve that level unconsciously, while you're in the middle of cultivating."
Lin Lei hadn't been trying hard at all just now — it had been a single thought, and the snowflakes simply couldn't approach him.
"Something beyond 'Force'? What is that?" Wotton truly admired his big brother from the bottom of his heart.
He had trained bitterly for so many years and received the best education at the O'Brien Academy, yet he had only just reached the level recorded in the family texts as "lifting the heavy as though it were light."
In truth, Wotton didn't need to be so modest. The reason Lin Lei could break through at such a staggering pace was not only because he was genuinely a genius, but also because his supreme element affinity had helped tremendously.
For ordinary people, element affinity simply meant less time needed to cultivate magic power. But for the strong, it meant an easier connection with nature and a deeper fusion with it — a greater capacity to comprehend the laws of heaven and earth.
"This is the Wind Essence I've comprehended," Lin Lei said with a calm smile. "This is just the simplest application of it."
"Wind Essence?" Wotton's eyes lit up.
"Go back to your training," Lin Lei said, and then closed his eyes to resume his meditation.
In truth, Lin Lei spent much less time on stone sculpture carving these days, unless he felt that particular surge of inspiration — when those emotions rose up, carving allowed him to enter a state of flow more easily, and the results were all the better.
But ordinary stone carving produced effects roughly equivalent to Lin Lei's meditation.
Now, with his understanding of the Wind Element Law and the Earth Element Law, Lin Lei's degree of fusion with nature during meditation had already caught up to the effects of normal stone carving.
This kind of law-oriented meditation caused Lin Lei's mental power to advance at a steady, unceasing pace.
Evening fell.
Lin Lei, who had been in meditation the entire time, let a faint smile appear on his previously impassive face. Then his lips moved slightly. Before long —
Whoosh!
Lin Lei, who had been sitting still, moved with terrifying speed. In that same instant, across every corner of the training grounds, at various positions simultaneously, nine copies of Lin Lei appeared.
Then the nine afterimages vanished, and Lin Lei reappeared exactly where he had been sitting cross-legged.
Only then did Lin Lei open his eyes. "The so-called greatest speed-enhancement magic — the ninth-tier Wind System spell 'Wind Shadow Technique' — truly lives up to its reputation. It actually lets me, in human form, match the top speed I achieve when transforming into my Saint-realm state."
Yes!