Night.
Dong Bo Xue Ying leaned against the head of his bed, reading a book amongst the warm and cuddly blankets. Beside him laid a fire crystal, its light brightening the entire room.
The name of the book was "The Ten Great Transcendent Knights".
This was a biographical novel as well as Dong Bo Xue Ying’s favorite story. He especially enjoyed the stories of the legendary transcendents. Dong Bo Xue Ying was from a noble family, not to mention his mother was a mage, as a result his family had many of books. He had been reading those books since he was young, therefore gaining a lot of common knowledge.
For example, he knew that knights could be categorized into seven ranks: Human, Earth, Heaven, Meteor, Silver Moon, Legend, and also, ‘Transcendent’.
There were three tiers of knights: Mortal, Star, and Transcendent knights.
Human, Earth, and Heaven ranked knights were considered to be Mortal Knights.
Meteor, Silver Moon, and Legend ranked Knights were considered Star Knights,
and above the Star Knights, stood the Transcendent Knights.
The three great ranks….. were very difficult to break through! For instance, Dong Bo Xue Ying’s own father and uncle Tong were both stuck at the heaven rank.
As for Star Knights, what were Star Knights? These knights were dazzling stars on the battlefield that no one could harm. Even when struck by innumerable arrows, they would still survive. In short, they could turn the tides of war, slaughtering countless enemies.
But this was only the strength of mere mortals.
Even though one person in the Legend rank could destroy a military force of 100,000, and even if that man had become a "one man army," thus reaching the "limits of mortals", possessing the "power to rival God," or some other appellation, in the end they were only mortals. If one relied on numbers, these beings would be exhausted to death.
However, after entering the Transcendent Tier, there was a drastic difference. Not only was a Transcendent Knight stronger than a Star Knight, his very life force and soul would be transformed! This knight would no longer be mortal but a transcendent being! Numbers meant nothing to them, as they never got fatigued, and it was almost impossible to harm them. These amazing powers surpassed the limits of the material world!
Even gods feared those at the Transcendent Tier.
All the the beings in the Legends, Lava Giants who are thousands of meters tall or great demons in the purgatory of the abyss, were Transcendents. And humans too can become a ‘Transcendent’ through cultivation.
The strong Transcendents of the humans even repelled the invading demons, and could kill anyone who resisted!
These ‘Transcendent’ humans were the reason why the humans had ruled over all the other foreign races for so long.
"It would be great if I could become a Transcendent Knight. I could catch a few demons as pets, make a huge dragon my mount, and find a few gods to drink with." Dong Bo Xue Ying laughed foolishly while he looked at the book, imagining himself as a Transcendent Knight. Suddenly---------.
"Ding!"
The fire crystal beside him extinguished by itself.
"Ah. Why did the fire crystal go out so quickly?" Dong Bo Xue Ying was just getting to an exciting part of the book. He made a helpless and bitter expression, "Having a mage as a mother is quite pitiful, even the fire crystal lamp goes out at sleeping time"
"Sigh, time to sleep!"
Without light at night, one could only sleep.
When Dong Bo Xue Ying started sleeping soundly, he began to dream. In his dream, he was a Transcendent knight; there was nothing he couldn’t do. He couldn’t help but grin; it was clear that this dream was a very sweet one.
...….
The Dong Bo couple was also in bed, preparing to go to sleep.
"Dong Bo, I have been feeling uneasy recently." She said, as she cuddled up to her husband.
"Ah Yu, don’t worry. We’ve been here in Yi Shui city for eight years now, and it has always been quiet. Your family has never found us. Be at ease, nothing will happen. Our family will always be this tranquil, for ten years, no twenty years…..no, until our hair turns white as we grow old, they will never find us. They will never ever find us." Dong Bo Lie embraced his wife gently.
Dong Bo Yu rested her head on her husband’s chest.
She didn’t mention the subject again, because she knew how powerful her family was. Eventually they would be caught.
There was a trace of smile at the corner of her lips because she doesn’t have the slightest regret of the choice she made. It would have been a disaster if she had followed her family's plans for her. She had escaped her family and gone adventuring in many places. , she had been able to be with her loved one again, and she even had two adorable sons. She was content with her life.
"Dong Bo, do you regret it?" His wife asked with a low voice. "If they catch us, they will not let you go lightly."
"How many life threatening situations have we gone through? Do you even need to ask? Dong Bo smiled.
"Yeah."
...
It was late in the night. The whole fortress was silent. Except for the few soldiers standing guard, everyone was soundly asleep.
"Hong~~~" A huge bird flew through the sky like a black cloud, and a rumbling noise broke through the atmosphere, causing some of the glass windows in the castle to reverberate..
The big bird hovered in the sky.
A grey robed man and a silver armored man were looking down at the place.
"We’re here." The grey gowned man had a complicated expression "Little sister…... I really don’t want to take you away."
"Alert, intruders!!!"
Lion-man Tong San’s vigourous roar rang throughout the castle.
"It’s a Lionman from the Beastman clan?" The silvered armoured man looked down and asked curiously.
"It’s the Lion-man slave that was given to younger sister by the family last time. Who would have thought that this Lionman still follows my sister after so many years? He’s quite loyal." The grey robed man looked at the vigourous Lion-man slave. He recalled the Lion-man teenager that had been locked in a cage back then. That Lion-man slave had quietly followed his sister until now, and he had become so powerful, both strong and impetuous.
The lower part of the castle occupied 1 km of land, and it was divided into the inner castle and the outer castle. In the outer castle, there lived four camps of soldiers and servants. Knights could bring their family to live in the outer castle. There were guards on duty every night stationed on the wall surrounding the outer castle.
"There’s an enemy!"
"There’s an enemy!"
The 300 soldiers on the castle wall raised the giant, dark red crossbows by their sides. Each of the big, thick crossbows already had large arrows drawn. They aimed at the four-winged vulture in the distance.
"Go." The grey-robed ordered.
"Yes sir." The silver armored man jumped off the bird onto the ground. It was an approximately 56 meter fall, and he landed without any cushion. With both feet, he crashed into the fortress grounds, shaking the earth as he did. The stone slate below his legs cracked in all directions.
The silver armored man look ahead. At this moment, the married couple had come out; even Dong Bo Xue Ying and his little brother had woken up.
Who could sleep through the roaring and rumbling outside?
"What’s going on?" asked Dong Bo Xue Ying, carrying his little brother and standing behind his parents.
"Mo Yang Yu!" The silver armored guy standing on the open of the castle. A large number of soldiers were pointing their crossbows at him on the castle walls. He coldly said, "You still dare to resist, even in this situation? You had better come with us obediently."
"Look around you!" Dong Bo Lie shouted.
The silver armored man looked around; in the distance, there were soldiers on the walls of the stronghold, and on the ground, every soldier around him was holding up a large, dark red crossbow. The pupils of the silver armored man slightly contracted, and he said with a simple smile. "Star Breaking Crossbow. Not bad, a county town within a small mediocre territory can surprisingly provide so many Star Breaking Crossbows. With this many, you have some hope of killing me."
"You are a Meteor Knight. In a one-on-one battle, there is nobody in our castle who could match you." Dong Bo Lie said. "But with 500 Star Breaking Crossbows, each of which is capable of injuring you. If we besieged you from all sides… I’m confident we could slaughter you."
"This is the territory of the Dong Bo family." The purple-gowned lady Mo Yang Yu also said, "You are invading a noble’s territory; this is a provocation towards our family. We have all the reason to kill you. You will die without any consequences."
In the Law of the Empire, nobles had special authority, and the territories of nobles were inviolable.
"You, the married couple, should just come with me. Stop resisting." The silver armored man frowned.
"Nobles are under the empire’s protection. Are you going to violate the law by seizing two nobles?" The purple-gowned lady Mo Yang Yu coldly asked.
"Xiao Yu."
A slightly hoarse voice could be heard.
Everyone raised their head and looked up to see the big bird carrying the staff-wielding grey-robed person. Suddenly, a fearful and turbulent pressure gathered. Layers of thick clouds appeared in the sky out of nowhere. Within the layers of clouds, thunder and lightning flashed. Thin threads of lightning suddenly appeared, striking many places within the open castle grounds. These countless lightning bolts made a splendid and magnificent scene in the blackened night. They landed on the soldiers, causing them to immediately fall onto the ground twitching and screaming, one after another. The Star Breaking crossbows were all dropped onto the ground.
In a blink of the eye, several hundred soldiers lost their wills to resist. They could tell that the man had been lenient. If he had truly been serious, all of these soldiers would have been roasted and turned into charcoal.
The majestic four winged vulture landed, and the grey-robed person got off. He lifted his hood, revealing a pale yet handsome face. The facial features of the grey-robed youth were very similar to Mo Yang Yu’s.
"Xiao Yu, do you still wish to resist?" The grey-robed youth asked.
"Big brother…." The purple-gowned Mo Yang Yu eyes widened, her body slightly trembling.