Battle in the Sky (Part 1)

The next morning.

As usual, a large group of children had gathered in the open ground east of Wushan Town. Hillman and the other two instructors had not arrived yet, and the children were talking animatedly. Their topic never strayed from yesterday’s shocking battle.

“That Magical Beast yesterday was incredible. When Uncle Hillman and the others went to the center of town, I followed behind and watched from far away. You have no idea! That enormous Magical Beast just smashed the ground with one of its huge claws, and the stone pavement shattered completely. And those houses? They were like mud. Every one of them collapsed.” Hadley, the most talkative among the children, stood in the center of the group, spraying saliva and gesturing wildly, determined to look like an eyewitness.

Most of the children listened with wide eyes.

“Hadley, weren’t you on the eastern training ground with us yesterday? You didn’t dare go. How did you see anything?” a brown-haired youth of thirteen or fourteen snorted.

The older youths were not as easily fooled by Hadley as seven- and eight-year-old children were.

Hadley glared at the thirteen- or fourteen-year-old youth. “Fura, you don’t believe me? When have I ever lied to anyone?”

The brown-haired youth named Fura said disdainfully, “Everyone knows you, Hadley. You have a big mouth. How much of what you say is true? Come on, everyone, tell me: when has this little brat Hadley ever told the truth?”

The youths of twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen all laughed. “Exactly. Hadley is always talking nonsense.”

The older youths clearly stood with Fura.

Hadley immediately became anxious. “You don’t believe me? Fine, you don’t believe me!” He looked around in frustration, then suddenly spotted Linley and shouted, “Everyone knows that apart from Uncle Hillman and the other two, only Linley went there yesterday. Linley saw it with his own eyes. What Linley says must be true, right? Let Linley tell you whether I was lying!”

“Young Master Linley?” The youths looked toward Linley.

Linley held a high position in the eyes of the youths and children of Wushan Town. First, he was the eldest son of the Baruch Clan. Second, though he was only eight years old, his physical training already matched that of youths thirteen or fourteen years old. On the martial Yulan Continent, Linley’s excellence also earned the other youths’ admiration.

“Young Master Linley really did see it yesterday. Of course we believe what Young Master Linley says.” The youths all nodded.

The thirteen- and fourteen-year-olds were old enough to understand things. They knew that Linley was a noble and different from them, so they generally called him Young Master Linley. Only little children like Hadley, aged seven or eight, casually called him Linley as a friend.

“Linley, tell them. Did I lie? What was it really like?” Hadley immediately ran over, grabbed Linley’s hand, and secretly winked at him.

Linley could only feel helpless. Hadley had been boasting over there, so why had he dragged Linley into it?

“That Magical Beast is called a Raptor. It is a seventh-rank Magical Beast and extremely powerful. The scales over its body are very hard. Swords and blades cannot hurt it. Its sturdy, whip-like tail and sharp claws can smash hard stones and paving slabs as though they were paper. It can also breathe fire, hot enough to crack even stone pavement.” Linley answered honestly.

The children all listened quietly as Linley spoke.

“Actually, I need not say more. When everyone saw the Raptor yesterday, you should have been able to imagine how formidable it was.” Linley smiled at last.

The teenage youths all nodded.

When they had first seen the Raptor yesterday, they really had been stunned. Its enormous body was like a small hill. Just looking at its huge, fiery-red scales was enough to guess how hard they were.

“Did you hear that? I told you that Magical Beast called a Raptor was incredibly powerful.” Hadley began shouting loudly again.

The youth named Fura immediately widened his eyes, about to speak.

“Uncle Hillman is here.” Linley spotted Hillman, Rory, and Roger approaching from a distance and immediately shouted. All the children and youths fell silent at once, lining up neatly in three groups.

The clearing suddenly became quiet, with only the sound of Hillman and the others’ footsteps.

The three instructors came to the front. Facing the children, Hillman smiled directly and said, “Everyone knows about what happened yesterday, right?”

“We know.” Hearing Hillman’s casual tone, the children below immediately answered one after another.

“Good.” Hillman’s expression suddenly turned serious. “That enormous Magical Beast was a Raptor, and the person on its back was a mysterious magus. They are very powerful. But everyone must understand this!”

Hillman’s gaze grew sharp as he swept it across the children. “Even that mysterious magus cultivated step by step. Taming a powerful Raptor also took many years of effort. If you want to tame a Magical Beast as powerful as a Raptor, if you want to become as powerful as that mysterious magus, then you must work hard—work hard without ceasing!”

“Anyone can become strong. The only difference is whether you are willing to work hard!”

Hillman spoke with firm conviction, his eyes sharp.

The children and youths all fell silent. The older youths, however, each had their own thoughts, and their expressions changed.

“All right. We will begin morning training now. As always... face the rising sun and practice the Breath-Gathering Stance.” Hillman went straight to the point. The children in all three groups immediately began their Breath-Gathering Stance training.

...

According to the differing conditions of each group, Hillman had set different training tasks. Under the supervision of the three instructors, the children diligently completed every exercise. The atmosphere was clearly different today. Almost no one complained of being tired.

Everyone held a determination in their hearts and trained hard.

“...fifty, fifty-one...” Linley counted silently. He was doing one-handed, five-finger push-ups, supporting himself on one hand’s five fingers and the tips of both feet, his entire body taut.

One-handed, five-finger push-ups were a simple and effective way to strengthen the fingers and arms.

To become a great warrior, one generally cultivated a Battle Qi Manual. How far one advanced in Battle Qi usually depended on the strength of one’s body. The stronger the body, the more Battle Qi it could bear.

“I have the Dragonblood Warrior bloodline and cannot cultivate Battle Qi. I can only surpass others by a great margin in physical training.” Linley’s gaze was firm. His fingers gripped the ground like the roots of an ancient tree as he did repetition after repetition, making many exhausted youths beside him watch with envy and jealousy.

“Ninety-eight, ninety-nine...”

Linley continued to persevere.

...

“Today’s morning training ends here.” Hillman looked at the children in the three groups and announced in a clear voice.

After speaking, Hillman took a deep breath and thought to himself, “What story should I tell today?” It had become a custom for Hillman to tell the children a story after each morning training session.

“Uncle Hillman, tell us—”

A child’s voice stopped abruptly.

Hillman, who had been making a few preparations in his mind, was puzzled to hear the unfinished sentence. He looked up. Every child in the three groups was staring in stunned silence at the eastern sky. Rory and Roger had also turned toward the east, their eyes filled with shock.

“Hm?” Puzzled, Hillman turned and looked toward the eastern sky.

There, two or three hundred meters above the ground, a black dragon over a hundred meters long was coiling through the air. Its eyes were as large as cart wheels. Every black scale on its massive body gleamed with a chilling light, and its enormous pair of fleshy wings, stretching to a hundred meters across, beat gently and powerfully.

The Magical Beast, a Black Dragon!