Chapter 25: A Hard Slap

Strictly speaking, a knight’s training consists of only two stages.

The first stage is the “Qi Seed Stage”. After years of hardening the body and consuming medicinal supplements, a martial energy seed is cultivated in the lower abdomen.

Most cultivators can cultivate the martial energy seed as long as they keep up with their diet.

However, the vast majority of people only manage to grow one martial arts energy seed, using the faint energy that emanates from it to strengthen their bodies.

After all…

It is extremely difficult for a martial energy seed that produces true martial energy to blossom.

For example, Russell’s mother, a daughter of the Rainflower Family, had plenty of resources and was guided by great teachers from an early age, yet she still only managed to cultivate a martial arts energy seed.

Even Russell himself, had it not been for previous Russell’s desperate struggles, might have remained stuck in the Qi Seed Stage, unable to make any further progress in this life.

Fortunately, Russell had perfectly inherited the brilliant future that the oroginal Rusell had fought for.

The martial energy seed blossomed, and he entered the second stage, the “Martial Energy Stage”.

The martial energy level can be further divided into two levels. One is the Armored Knight level, where cultivators carve out their energy channels, strengthen their martial energy, and try to open all the energy channels in their bodies so that the martial energy can flow throughout their bodies, and thus reach the level of a great knight.

Therefore…

In the Dark Dreamscape, the glowing contours of an armored knight are often incomplete, missing arms, legs, or heads-this is perfectly normal.

Throughout the Black Waist Snake Estate, Charles, Tom, John, and other Armored Knights all appear in the Dark Dreamscape with missing limbs.

Only Eric, however, retains a full human silhouette.

This means that as a Great Knight, Eric has reached the peak of martial energy cultivation. To reach an even higher level, he can no longer achieve it independently.

He must either make a contract with a fantasy beast or ride a dragon.

“Wake up… call Eric, catch the assassin alive!” Russell, still asleep, had his eyes shut tightly, his brow furrowed.

It seemed like he was struggling hard, his body trembling slightly.

Suddenly…

As if reaching an extreme in his struggle, Russell’s tightly shut eyes snapped open and two sharp lights flashed in the darkness.

“Ha… ha… ha…” Russell breathed heavily as a wave of indescribable joy washed over him. “I really woke up!”

But in the next moment, he grew anxious. “Oh right, the assassin!”

He silently got out of bed and approached the window. Upon careful observation, he indeed spotted a small figure crouched on the outer wall of the second floor, pressing its face against the window and peering inside as if trying to determine who was in the room.

“Those rooms over there are all empty. Perfect opportunity!”

Russell turned quickly, opened his door and tiptoed over to the guest room where Eric was staying. The door was unlocked.

He pushed it open and entered.

Just this slight sound was enough to wake Eric from his sleep. “Who’s there?”

“Shh, it’s me, Teacher Eric!” Russell whispered, “Hurry, come with me. There’s an assassin in the annex. They’re checking the rooms, and it’s likely they’re after me!”

Eric, startled, didn’t say a word. He immediately got out of bed, barefoot, and followed Russell into the master bedroom.

Through the window they could see the assassin on the outside wall. After confirming that no one was in the empty room, the figure began climbing like a gecko toward Russell’s window.

“It’s someone from the underground.” Eric took one look and immediately identified the intruder. “Silent as a shadow, the speed at which martial arts energy circulates has been slowed down to the extreme. This is the survival tactic of the Underground Knights. No, they should be called… drifters.”

“Drifters?” Russell narrowed his eyes.

In a noble territory like Dusklight River Valley, protected by wyverns, it became a warm and fertile land. But outside Dusklight River Valley, one still had to contend with the harshness of snow and ice.

Criminals, villains, and some free people hid in the borderlands, in the dark and cold cracks of the underground. They lived humbly, like weeds, under the relentless attacks of snow demons and snow ghosts. Life and death were fleeting moments.

The knights in the territory could fight on horseback, with fantasy beasts, or even with riding dragons.

The drifters outside the realm, however, could only rely on their own strength, wandering the dangerous underground and doing their best to survive.

“My lord,” Eric whispered. “When he comes closer, you open the window and I’ll grab him inside immediately!”

“Understood.”

With a quick plan, they each hid on either side of the window, quietly waiting for the drifter who dared to enter on this rainy night.

It didn’t take long. Within a minute or two, the drifter had climbed to the master bedroom window.

The intruder’s movements were incredibly subtle, and with the rain falling tonight, it would be nearly impossible to hear any sound without careful attention.

However…

They had been watching him the whole time.

As the drifter reached the window and prepared to peer inside to see who lived there, the window suddenly flew open with a whoosh. A large hand grabbed the intruder’s arm, which was clinging to the windowsill, and pulled him violently into the room.

Thud.

The window slammed shut.

Downstairs, the attendant knight did not seem to be in a deep sleep. His eyes cracked open slightly, but after listening carefully and hearing nothing unusual, he turned over and fell back asleep.

He had no idea that an assassin had already been captured upstairs.

The drifter wore tight leather clothing, short hair, and a black mask. Russell and Eric realized immediately that it was a female drifter.

But Eric showed no mercy. He quickly grabbed the rope that Russell had prepared and tied the female drifter’s hands behind her back.

“Speak,” Russell sat in the chair and looked down at the intruder. “Who are you?”

Eric lit a gem lamp, the magical light from the gem illuminating every corner of the room. It wasn’t as bright as daylight, but still clear enough to see everything.

“I mean no harm, absolutely no harm.” The female drifter, having calmed from her shock, said, “Honorable Lord Russell Fluorescent Mushroom, is this how you treat a guest who has come to deliver a message? It is not very courteous.”

“A message?” Russell sneered. “My estate annex is not without a door. Why sneak in through the window?”

“As you can see, I had special reasons and could not… take the normal route.”

“Don’t try to talk your way out of it. Tell me, who are you really?”

“Could you untie me first? In front of two Great Knights, what danger could a drifter like me pose?” The female drifter shifted her body, leaving a wet trail on the floor.

Russell frowned.

He rose from the chair and walked up to her.

Just as the female drifter twisted her body and lifted her wrists, ready for Russell to untie her, Russell suddenly slapped her across the face.

“Do you not understand human language? I said, who are you?!”

Smack!

With a bloody corner on her mouth, the female drifter was stunned by the slap.

Even Eric opened his mouth slightly, surprised to see Russell, usually so gentle and composed, showing such a violent side.

Seeing the stunned drifter, Russell slapped her again.

“Still not talking?”

The audacity of sneaking into his room, attempting to climb through the windows at this hour – if he hadn’t ridden Little Dream Dragon and happened to spot her, she might have sneaked in already.

In fact, she might have killed him a hundred times over already!

Given the situation, no matter how good-natured Russell usually was, he couldn’t restrain his anger. He felt like killing this drifter on the spot and certainly wouldn’t let her take control of the situation, much less expect him to untie her.

“I…” The female drifter was finally snapped out of her daze by the two slaps and answered quickly, “My name is Catherine, my lord.”