Chapter 164: ‘Knight and Assassin Forming a Single Entity’ (whole) (1/2)

Chapter 164: ‘Knight and Assassin Forming a Single Entity’ (whole)

These youths suddenly shut their mouths, and looked at each other, astonished inside. Internal spiritual energy: 23,000. Such a terrifying number! Even if they added up the seven people in the whole group, the amount would not even reach 14,000. With such a gap of spiritual energy, how could they be compared?

Sheng Yue’s look fell one last time on Cai’er, “The one making the most trouble is you. That’s right, sure, that power you tried to unleash was capable of threatening him. However, it would have definitely forced him to go all out to handle you. The reason why I came out was not to help him, but to help you. Otherwise, although you would have definitely inflicted heavy wounds on him, you would surely have died in the process.”

Cai’er calmly stood there, not saying a single word. Toward this great-grandfather of hers, she didn’t have any familiar feelings at all.

“Long Haochen, come with me. I have something to tell you.” Sheng Yue’s look turned ice-cold, like a sharp knife, as he turned back to look at the weakened Long Haochen.

Hearing these words, Cai’er finally showed some reaction, her body slightly shivering.

Sheng Yue shot her a glance before taking a step forward. With it, there was already a distance of ten meters between them.

Long Haochen retrieved his weapons and equipment before chasing after Sheng Yue with big strides.

Gao Yingjie turned to look at everyone, his resolute face revealing a faint smile, “Although I suppressed a part of my strength you forced me to take out my Mythril Foundation Armor for defense today, which is something you can be proud of. There will be a day when you will reach my level and even surpass it. Alright, you may rest for half an hour. Then, we’ll set off.”

In this instant, Chen Ying’er seemed to have already been revitalized, hopping vivaciously to Cai’er’s side, “Cai’er, you’re really strong! Just now, what was that called? So strong!!!”

Cai’er didn’t say anything, only shaking her head before sitting in her previous seat, silently recovering her consumed spiritual energy. Aside from Long Haochen, she acted coldly towards everyone, and didn’t speak much. This was not really an attitude that she displayed deliberately.

Chen Ying’er secretly made an dissatisfied grimace to Cai’er before running off toward Wang Yuanyuan.

Long Haochen headed to the other side of the stadium together with Sheng Yue, who stopped his steps there before turning back to look at him, “Long Haochen.” Calling out the name of this youth, Sheng Yue had a feeling of not daring to speak to him.

The word ‘beautiful’ could be used to describe this handsome youth possessing an abundance of special qualities not present in normal people. Even if Sheng Yue was extremely picky by nature, he had difficulty in finding defects in this youth. However, he still felt somewhat uneasy in his heart; no matter what one may say, he was still the one who snatched his own great-granddaughter.

“Heroic Senior.” Long Haochen raised his right hand to perform a knight salute to Sheng Yue.

Sheng Yue stayed silent for some time before saying gently, “Cai’er, this girl, has been in much pain since she was young. I don’t know why you hold such importance to her, neither do I know what attracts you to her, but you are a knight. And as such, I wish that you’ll fight together with her in the future and protect her in those moments.”

Long Haochen resolutely replied, “I made an oath that I would protect Cai’er during my entire life. That I would use my life to protect her.”

Sheng Yue directed a deep look toward him, his face easing up, “Use your actions to prove it to me. Also, just now, you should have seen the ability Cai’er was trying to use. Keep in mind that unless it is a situation of death or life, where her life really is threatened, you must not let her use this move lightly. This is because that ability will bring great harm to her body. Do you understand?”

Long Haochen’s thoughts shivered. Previously, when Cai’er released that terrifying killing intent at Gao Yingjie, how could Long Haochen not be alarmed by it? He didn’t expect that Cai’er would be so powerful to such an extent, so much that he began to look up to her. Pondering over this matter, he realized, How could Cai’er, who only reached the fifth step of cultivation, display such a formidable ability? As it turned out, it actually came with a great price to pay.

She said that she definitely did not want to lose because it was her first battle by my side. Cai’er, ah, Cai’er! Even though I swore that I would protect you for a lifetime, you were the only one to sacrifice yourself so far.

Looking at Long Haochen, Sheng Yue’s eyes gradually turned more and more red, knowing that he understood his point. “Now go. And remember, both you and Cai’er are even more important than divine artifacts. In your capacity as the squad captain, you should never permit your squad and yourself to enter a situation of unforeseen danger. Until you mature to twenty years old of age, your priority will be to keep yourself and Cai’er safe. After that moment, you will be more than qualified enough to defend yourself.”

“Thank you for your guidance, heroic senior.” Long Haochen saluted Sheng Yue once again.

Sheng Yue revealed a faint smile, shaking his head, “In the future, you can call me great-grandfather, just like Cai’er.” Having spoken these words, he once again revealed his overwhelming superior capability by disappearing after taking a single step, leaving nothing behind.

Long Haochen returned to Cai’er and sat by her side. His previous consumption of spiritual energy was just too great, so he needed time to recover.

Half an hour hadn’t passed, but Gao Yingjie seemed to have already recovered completely, reverting back to his normal state. Long Haochen previously dealt him severe wounds, but there wasn’t the slightest trace of them anymore.

“Let’s depart.” His appearance was average, but the entire soldier 1st Demon Hunt Squad acknowledged their leader’s formidable strength.

After all, this man had already exhibited his strength to them. The seventh step, this was a real powerhouse of the seventh step!

Leaving the Knight Stadium, an absolutely large carriage was waiting for them at the entrance. Using the word gigantic to describe this carriage would not even be an exaggeration. The carriage was three meters wide, about five or six meters long, had eight fine horses pulling it, and two drivers were seated in front of it.

Each newly created Demon Hunt Squad would receive this treatment. After all, not everyone amongst themselves would have mount, and they couldn’t go on this journey by walking. If they did so, their efficiency would just be too low.

In the moment everyone was prepared to get on the carriage, a young girl suddenly ran up to them from nearby.

Most of them were powerhouses at the fifth step, so their perception was naturally not weak. They all unconsciously stopped their steps to look at this young girl.

It was a lady looking 17 or 18 years-old, about the same age as Wang Yuanyuan though she looked more delicate. Her round face was puffing up and her astute-looking eyes seemed full of bitterness. Having short golden hair, she looked nimble and very lovely.

“Uncle master, are you insisting on leaving me behind like this?” The girl hurriedly went in front of Gao Yingjie, opening up both of her arms to block his path.

Looking at her, a hint of helplessness appeared on Gao Yingjie’s previously cold and stern face, “Xiaoxue, don’t be noisy and hurry up and return. Uncle has to go on a mission. I will be back as soon as it is completed. Stay at home and train well.”

“I don’t want to, I want to go on this mission with uncle! I’m also a knight!” The girl called ‘Xiaoxue’ stubbornly stared at Gao Yingjie.

Gao Yingjie’s face dropped, “Xiaoxue, your actions are making uncle angry. Furthermore, you are not young anymore, you can’t stay with uncle for your entire life.”

Xiaoxue’s eyes flashed with a hint of red, “Papa and mama all left. Could it be that uncle also doesn’t want me anymore? That’s right, I just want to spend my whole life with uncle; if she stays alone at home, Xiaoxue will be afraid.” As she was declaring these final words, her voice was already accompanied with sobs. However, this was clearly not just an act. The grievance and fear in her eyes was not fake. From her looks, she was older than Long Haochen and Cai’er, but in terms of maturity, she seemed quite below the both of them.

Having heard these words, Gao Yingjie looked down helplessly, his brows wrinkling. With a sigh, he finally said, “Okay okay, just come together with us then. Let me introduce you to them.”

As he said so, he looked at everyone in the 1st soldier grade Demon Hunt Squad and said, “Her name is Shi Xiaoxue, she’s a a fifth ranked Retribution Knight of the fourth step.”

Long Haochen inquired with some curiousness, “Fourth step fifth rank? With her cultivation level, she should have been able to participate in the Demon Hunt Selection? I’m curious on why I didn’t get to meet her.”

Hearing him, Shi Xiaoxue immediately pouted, “Humpf! It was uncle who didn’t let me participate. Otherwise, I would have gone through the qualifiers without a problem.”

Gao Yingjie sighed before speaking in response, “Her mother was a Demon Hunt Squad member, my battle companion, but she lost her life in battle, leaving this child behind. How could I let her face the danger of entering a Demon Hunt Squad? I only hope for her to live calmly within the Alliance. Ever since her parents both passed away, this child had suffered mentally, making her especially uncourageous. She just never accepts to be separated from me. Sorry everyone, please permit me to bring her along during this operation. Rest at east, she will not disturb you; I make sure to take responsibility for her safety.”

Hearing that Shi Xiaoxue had lost both her parents and seeing her mournful and pitiful appearance, how could anyone not give their agreement? Her grief turning into relief, Shi Xiaoxue mounted the carriage.

The inside of the carriage was really spacious and there was even a specialist to take care of the rations on the road.

With his height of four meters, even by doing his utmost to curl up, Haoyue still occupied quite a large a area. Han Yu had sent his Demonic Eye back to its own space, but Haoyue was not the same. Unless it was by his own will, Long Haochen would never force him to return. After all, he had personally seen the vile environment and formidable foes in it. After he gave a simple explanation to his comrades, everyone naturally accepted Haoyue’s presence.

Upon the orders of the drivers, the eight healthy horses pulled the carriage outside of Holy City.

Gao Yingjie sat in the most exterior seat of the carriage, and Shi Xiaoxue sat at his side. If someone was to look at her carefully, they would notice that this girl had her eyes glued on Gao Yingjie’s figure. As for him, he simply ignored her completely.

“Alright, let’s take advantage of this time to sum up our previous battle. Answer this first, on what aspect of this battle did you do well, and on what aspect were you lacking?” Gao Yingjie said in a deep voice.

Naturally, the point of the battle they had just before was not to stake everything for an nonexistent chance at winning. It was actually not only to assess everyone’s ability, but at the same time to enable everyone to have a better understanding of everyone else’s strength when pressured to a great extent.

Chen Ying’er, as a girl with a mind full of shit, immediately declared, pleased with herself, “Putting Cai’er aside, the strongest one should be me. I have, after all, summoned a formidable magical beast of the eighth step. We really had some chances of winning.”

Sima Xian chuckled before speaking, “Little sister Ying’er, if I were to tell you to do so, would you be able to summon another magical beast of the eighth step?”

Chen Ying’er’s look immediately changed as she muttered hastily, “There will inevitably be a time when I can.”

Gao Yingjie turned to look at Long Haochen and said, “Haochen, you are the captain, give us your thoughts.”

Long Haochen nodded and replied, “Let’s start with the strong points. Our strong points are pretty obvious, the main one being that almost everyone here possesses an offensive strength surpassing the average; my Bright Rain Hibiscus Thrust, Wang Yuanyuan’s Gigantic Divine Soul Shield, Sima Xian’s combination of Madness with Sacred Hammer, Ying’er’s summon using the Creature Summoning Gate, as well as Cai’er’s extraordinary power. In comparison, Han Yu and Lin Xin are closer to the role of support, but their utility in battle remains quite considerable.”

Everything he said up to there was a thorough observation of everyone’s capabilities, just casually fiddling around and ordering his thoughts.

“Possessing these abilities that transcend our own ranks, we should easily display strength surpassing our enemies’ expectations. As long as our team’s power has the chance of being displayed, I believe that we can definitely be called the strongest newcomer Demon Hunt Squad.”

Hearing him up to there, everyone spontaneously nodded in succession. During the course of the previous battle, the most dazzling one was, without a doubt, Cai’er. But in his capacity as the captain of the team, Long Haochen’s ability couldn’t be neglected either. If not for his control over Gao Yingjie using his Saint Spiritual Stove combined with a defense that reached the greatest of heights, even granted that Gao Yingjie didn’t use his full strength, they would have had a lot of difficulties to fully use those ultimate techniques of theirs. Long Haochen’s last blow also left a deep impression on everyone else. After all, Bright Rain Hibiscus Thrust’s formidable penetrative offensive power had even managed to wound Gao Yingjie despite the fact that he equipped his Mythril Foundation Armor. That was how great Long Haochen’s offensive power was. As a result, everyone just grew more convinced that the strength of Long Haochen, their captain represented the first position well after all. Even Wang Yuanyuan, who was originally not totally convinced, could only feel admiration toward Long Haochen having personally witnessed the immense efficacy of both Bright Rain Hibiscus Thrust and the Saint Spiritual Stove.

Even though everyone wasn’t clear on Long Haochen’s age, they could still clearly see that, in the team, the three youngest were him, Cai’er, and Chen Ying’er. And from the fact that Cai’er and him had even managed to reach the fifth step at such an age, everyone could see how immense their future prospects were.

Gao Yingjie nodded and said, “Now tell us about the shortcomings?”

Long Haochen said, “It is also obvious that we were quite lacking. First of all, we weren’t familiar with each other, so we didn’t know each other’s skills, preparation time, power, efficacy, as well as fighting patterns. In such circumstances, it was hard to act in coordination, and thus, we were unable to fully display our combat power. To reach the level of perfect coordination, we will need to exercise continuously and increase our fighting experience. In the future, we’ll definitely pay attention to this aspect. The second shortcoming is of the indefinite nature. This point is in regard to Ying’er’s side; Ying’er’s Creature Summoning Gate is indeed a formidable summoning spell, but she herself is unable to know what summon will come out. As a result, in the middle of battle, I find it hard to include her capability to our calculations. Even in the case that she calls out a formidable magical beast, it will still be a bad situation if it cannot act in coordination with us. For instance, just previously, that Demonic Eye Ruler’s attack had actually disturbed Haoyue’s magic.”

On the side, Chen Ying’er stuck out her tongue, “If the summoned magical beast is too powerful, I’m indeed unable to control it completely.”