Dragonblood: Book 2 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Read online

  Dragonblood

  Book 2 of the Coiling Dragon Saga

  Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi

  Translated by

  Ren Woxing

  Wuxiaworld Limited

  Copyright © 2018 by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi, translated by Ren Woxing

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  For the rest of the Coiling Dragon Saga

  Book 3 - Baruch Rising

  Book 4 - Gods of Yulan

  Book 5 - The Infernal Plane

  Book 6 - The Four Divine Beasts

  Book 7 - The Planar Wars

  Book 8 - Lord of the Mists

  Please also feel free to visit us at www.wuxiaworld.com to see many other translated novels, all of which can be read for free!

  For another (free) completed work by this author and translator on Wuxiaworld, you can try the story of Ji Ning, ‘Desolate Era’.

  Contents

  Prologue

  I. The Road to Revenge

  1. The Dusty Affairs of the Past

  2. The Decision

  3. Assembling at the Town

  4. A Nighttime Chat

  5. Writ of Nobility

  6. Tomes of Magic

  7. Heavy Casualties

  8. An Excessive Desire to Kill

  9. The Engagement

  10. Captured

  11. The Man Behind the Curtain

  12. The Investigation

  13. Secrets Exposed

  14. Imprisoned

  15. To Be Wronged

  16. Limits

  17. The Plea

  18. The Visit

  19. The King of Killers

  20. Poison

  21. The Trial

  22. The Enormous Fine

  23. The Bloodrupture Poison

  24. Breakthrough

  25. Producing the Powder

  26. The Scheme

  27. The Wine

  28. Mother’s Life or Death

  29. Kill However Many Come!

  30. Even if I Die, I’ll Kill You!

  31. Won’t Accept It

  32. In Dire Straits

  II. Heaven and Earth Turned Upside Down

  33. The Dusty Affairs of the Past

  34. The Decision

  35. Assembling at the Town

  36. A Nighttime Chat

  37. Writ of Nobility

  38. Tomes of Magic

  39. Heavy Casualties

  40. An Excessive Desire to Kill

  41. The Engagement

  42. Captured

  43. The Man Behind the Curtain

  44. The Investigation

  45. Secrets Exposed

  46. Imprisoned

  47. To Be Wronged

  48. Limits

  49. The Plea

  50. The Visit

  51. The King of Killers

  52. Poison

  53. The Trial

  54. The Enormous Fine

  55. The Bloodrupture Poison

  56. Breakthrough

  57. Producing the Powder

  58. The Scheme

  59. The Wine

  60. Mother’s Life or Death

  61. Kill However Many Come!

  62. Even if I Die, I’ll Kill You!

  63. Won’t Accept It

  64. In Dire Straits

  65. A Hope of Living

  66. The Divine Boon Descends

  67. Would Definitely Die?

  68. A Giant Foot

  69. Apocalypse Day

  70. Deity-Level Combatant

  71. Fleeing in Panic

  72. One Hand

  73. Interspatial Ring

  74. A Terrible Situation

  75. The Titanic Black Python

  76. The Rescue

  77. A Major Treasure

  78. The City of Hess

  79. The Clan of the Violetflame Warriors

  80. The Furnace

  81. The Heavy Sword, 'Bladeless'

  82. A Missing Hand?

  83. With Bated Breath

  84. The Full Story

  85. Fate

  86. Passing Away

  87. Crazed

  88. Stillness

  89. Departure

  90. Thunderbolt

  91. The Howling Worldwolf

  92. A Slaughter

  93. The Black Shadow

  94. The Mysterious Black Panther

  95. Another Transformation

  96. A Battle of Speed

  97. Leaving the Mountains

  98. Olivier

  99. A Single Sword

  100. Hands

  101. Blackrock City

  102. Persuasion

  103. Repeated Assassination Attempts

  104. The Apothecary

  105. The Yulan River

  106. Poison Gas Fluttering in the Wind

  107. The Prefectural City of Cerre

  108. Search and Seizure

  109. The Summer Inferno

  110. Gift

  111. The Vast Earth

  112. The Cardinal

  113. Zassler

  114. When Experts Join Forces

  115. Mutual Trust

  116. Secrets of the Church

  117. Flower-Like Sisters

  118. Investigation

  119. The Five Year Agreement

  120. Concealed by the Night

  121. The Decision

  122. The Four Bros’ Paths

  123. In Dire Straits

  124. The Profound Truths of the Earth

  125. True Experts

  126. The Undying Warriors

  127. The Church’s Strategy

  128. Time Passing Slowly

  129. Undying Warrior Transformation

  130. The Power of the Hundred Layered Waves

  131. An Appointment Kept

  132. The Gathering in Basil

  133. Neighbors

  134. Vicious Acts

  135. A Change of Plans

  136. The Angel Battle Formation

  137. The Four-Winged Angel

  138. Saint-Level Dragonblood Warrior

  139. An Appointment

  140. Wharton

  141. The Beirut Clan

  142. Guest

  143. Personal Disciple

  144. A Saint-Level Battle

  145. The Magicite Core

  146. Yet Another Saint-Level

  147. Blumer’s Request

  148. The Brothers Meet

  III. The Ten Thousand Kilometer Journey

  For the rest of the Coiling Dragon Saga

  Prologue

  Linley had finally brought the Baruch clan’s most important heirloom, the warblade ‘Slaughterer’, back home. This had been the dream of countless Baruch ancestors before him as well as the dream of Hogg Baruch himself. Alas, what should’ve been the proudest moment in his life was shattered as he received news from Uncle Hillman of his father’s death…

  Part I

  The Road to Revenge

  1

  The Dusty Affairs of the Past

  Hillman was being gripped so tightly by Linley’s claws that his clothes were torn open. Scarlet blood slowly leaked out, staining his clothes red, but Hillman didn’t notice in the slightest. Staring at Linley, he said in a downcast voice, “Linley, calm down first.”

  “Tell me.” Linley was staring at Hillman.

  Hillman said solemnly. “The troop of Knights following you is about to arrive. For now,
let’s not allow others to know about the affairs of your clan. Come with me first.” Hillman shook his shoulders loose of Linley’s claws, then grabbed Linley’s scaled arms with the intention of pulling him into the ancestral halls… only to find that he was unable to budge Linley.

  “Linley!” Hillman turned his head, a spark of anger in his eyes.

  “Uncle Hillman, I know how to act.” Linley’s face was deeply sunken, but he took a deep breath, retracting the scales on his arms into his body and returning to normal. Just as he once more returned the warblade ‘Slaughterer’ to its case and held it, Linley could hear the sounds of hoofbeats outside drawing near.

  The troops of Knights of the Radiant Temple had finally arrived. Linley turned, glancing at them coldly, but paid them no mind. He said directly to Hillman, “Uncle Hillman, lead the way.”

  “Alright.” Seeing that Linley was able to calm down, Hillman felt a little bit better. He immediately led Linley in the direction of the ancestral hall. Linley’s face remained sunken. At this moment, aside from Linley himself, perhaps nobody knew that beneath that calm expression there lay hidden an incredibly deep, painful wound.

  Neither the Shadowmouse Bebe nor Doehring Cowart made a sound. They were connected to Linley’s soul. Naturally, they could feel the unimaginable grief and pain which Linley was currently suffering.

  The wind rose, catching up and hurling into the air countless leaves which had been lying on the unimaginably ancient stone-tiled grounds. Creaaaak. Hillman pushed open the door to the ancestral hall, then turned to look back at Linley.

  Holding the warblade ‘Slaughterer’, Linley stepped inside, his face calm. His gaze was fixed upon those rows of spirit tablets placed in the middle of the ancestral hall. Given Linley’s current visual acuity, he could clearly read the words on the newest spirit tablet, located at the front.

  There were only two words on the front: Hogg Baruch.

  Linley felt his mind growing dizzy, as though he was hallucinating. He just stood there for a long moment without moving… and then, still carrying the warblade ‘Slaughterer’, Linley stepped forward to the stone platform in front of the spirit tablets. He placed the ‘Slaughterer’ on top of the platform.

  Linley looked at the spirit tablet, a peaceful smile appearing on his face. In a soft voice, Linley said, “Father. I’m back.”

  “I know that all your life, your greatest desire was that we recover our ancestral heirloom and regain the bygone splendor of our clan, the Dragonblood Warrior clan.” Linley spoke very carefully and softly, as though he were afraid of disturbing someone. His voice was so gentle and oh-so light.

  Linley stared at the spirit tablet. “I didn’t disappoint you. I have already brought back to the Baruch clan, to the Dragonblood Warrior clan, our ancestral heirloom, the warblade ‘Slaughterer’. Very soon, I will restore our Dragonblood Warrior clan to glory. I will make sure the entire Yulan continent knows of the splendor of our Dragonblood Warrior clan, and will make sure everyone in the Yulan continent knows your name.”

  “All of this, I will accomplish. I so swear.” Suddenly, a fiendish look appeared on Linley’s face. “But of course, before I do all of these things… I will first avenge you.”

  There was no question at all in his mind that his father, Hogg Baruch, had been killed by someone. Given his father’s prowess as a warrior of the sixth rank who had been in the prime of his health, there was no way he could’ve died to a normal illness. What was more, if he had died of illness then Hillman wouldn’t have acted so secretively. Linley’s intuition was telling him that his father’s death was no ordinary death!

  “The person who caused you to die... I will make sure he dies as well!” Within Linley’s eyes, once more there seemed to be a hint of that terrifying, dark golden color of the eyes of the Armored Razorback Wyrm.

  Linley turned to stare at Hillman fiercely. “Uncle Hillman, tell me. How did my father die, exactly? In addition, where was my father buried? Also, you said my father died three months ago. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Hillman opened his mouth, but did not speak right away. A long moment passed. “Linley, calm down first,” Hillman finally said slowly.

  Calm down? How could he calm down?

  “I wish so very much that my father could be here and personally see the ‘Slaughterer’ with his own eyes. I long to tell my father that I have become a Dragonblood Warrior. I deeply desire to see my father’s smile, hear his gratified laughter, and see the pride on his face when I assume the Dragonform! However… all of this is now impossible.” Linley felt as though his heart had been sliced by knives. Hillman was actually asking him to calm down?

  Linley wanted to angrily shout at Hillman, but he restrained from doing so. Taking in a deep, unwilling breath, he swallowed his rage. Staring at Hillman, Linley said, “Uncle Hillman, tell me everything that happened. I want to know everything.”

  “Your father died three months ago. But before he died, his instructions to me were that only after you had the power of a warrior of the seventh rank could I tell you. Otherwise, I cannot tell you the circumstances surrounding his death,” Hillman said solemnly.

  “A warrior of the seventh rank?”

  “Yes.” Hillman nodded slightly. “This was the reason why I went to the Institute to look for you, but didn’t inform you of your father’s death or why he had died. Your father’s dying wishes were that I was to not allow you to learn of his death, so that you could calmly focus on your studies.”

  Hillman looked at Linley. “Linley, it isn’t that I’m not willing to tell you. It’s that this was your father’s dying wish. I cannot go against it. Only once you become a warrior of the seventh rank would I be willing to tell you everything.”

  Linley understood. A warrior of the seventh rank, eh? He withdrew a leather-wrapped book from his clothes and handed it to Hillman.

  “What’s this?” Hillman looked at it with surprise.

  “A magus’ proof of rank.” Linley’s face was calm. Every single magus, from the day he began to be evaluated, would be issued a certificate with his proof of rank. Each time he advanced a rank, there would be a record of it.

  Hillman opened the book and saw that under the ‘wind-style’ and ‘earth-style’ entries, there were a total of seven stars. “Seventh rank… a seventh rank dual-element magus?” Hillman was stunned. He stared disbelievingly at Linley.

  How old was Linley? Only seventeen years of age. What did a seventeen-year-old dual-element magus of the seventh rank represent? Hillman wasn’t too clear on the specifics, but he knew that in the Kingdom of Fenlai the most powerful magus present was a magus of the eighth rank... but that was an old man, well over a hundred years old.

  Hillman remembered how, when he had joined the army, there had been a magus of the seventh rank who had arrived at the same time. He remembered the glory, the pomp of it all. And now, little Linley whom he had watched growing up, had become in the blink of an eye a dual-element magus of the seventh rank.

  “This… is this real?” Hillman asked an extremely stupid question. Hillman knew very well that this certificate of rank definitely couldn’t be fake.

  “Uncle Hillman. Now you can tell me what happened, right?” Linley stared at Hillman.

  Hillman nodded, then headed for the private room behind the ancestral hall. A few moments later, he came out. Walking over to Linley, he withdrew an envelope from his clothes. Presenting it to Linley, he softly said, “This was written by your father right before he died. Once you read it, you will understand.”

  His hands trembling, Linley reached out and accepted the envelope. There weren’t any words on the envelope itself. He opened it up and withdrew the letter inside, which had two full pages of content.

  “Linley: By the time you actually read this letter, I will most likely have died a long, long time ago.”

  “Towards you and Wharton, my heart is filled with boundless remorse, but there is no way for me to do right by you two any longer. I o
nly hope that you two will be able to live for many years in peace, which is why I have instructed your Uncle Hillman to only provide this letter to you when you become a warrior of the seventh rank.”