Luo Yi took a bite of the Manticore sausage before catching up to the Shadow Thieves.
Xue La had told him before they parted—what she made was crucial for battle.
Luo Yi was skeptical.
“Not eating your fill leaves you too weak to fight” was an eternal truth.
But crucial… his young mind couldn’t quite grasp it yet.
He only planned to take one bite.
The rest would go to his little sister, Asuna.
Now, he truly regretted it—regretted how harsh he had been to her. She should be…
Since she was his master’s granddaughter, by extension, she was practically his junior disciple.
Luo Yi really shouldn’t have treated her that way!
They were supposed to be family.
And of course, there was Xue La, too…
The Shadow Thieves’ lair was a pitch-black maze of alleys, so dark that even daylight couldn’t penetrate.
Grino was already a city with poor public order, and this place was clearly the worst of the worst.
The Shadow Thieves had been rooted here for years. This black street was their territory, armed to the teeth.
No one would know that beneath the courteous facade of the street vendors, they might be the white-gloved fences colluding with the thieves.
Even Bali Saihe, with his ascetic life of wandering exile, would not casually enter such a place.
But for his kidnapped granddaughter Asuna, Bali Saihe had to take this enormous risk.
Luo Yi knew this too—the enemy’s lair would be tough to crack.
But he couldn’t back down.
He himself had pushed poor, innocent Asuna into danger.
If he couldn’t save her, then—
What difference would there be between him and that arrogant, rude Lady Katarina Lyoncourt, mother of Xue La?
So the boy quickened his pace.
From the black shadows, countless blades and nets flew toward him—
The trial had begun.
Ke Lun sat confidently on his unique throne of darkness, deep within the alley labyrinth.
He knew that the dark maze of streets he had spent years building was his eternal lair!
No one in Grino City dared challenge his underground kingdom.
Otherwise, they would be caught by the blades and traps hidden in the shadows and fall flat on their faces.
Ke Lun studied the round crystal in his hands, watching the show unfold.
A Communication Crystal Ball—something arranged in major cities and wizard tower garrisons throughout the kingdom, a magical device for long-distance information transmission.
Unless one was a clueless nouveau riche noble from the countryside, almost everyone had seen one of these.
(Count Briang Lind: Is someone cursing me?)
Of course, Ke Lun was just a local big shot.
His Communication Crystal Ball was a secondhand piece bought on the black market—low transparency, rough craftsmanship, likely a discarded item from some mage.
But it was enough to rule the dark kingdom Ke Lun had built.
His black eyes watched the twisting, maze-like alleys.
The smile on Ke Lun’s lips slowly faded, then turned downward.
Finally, rage took over.
“Goddammit! How can they not stop an old blind man and a red-haired brat?”
If the crystal ball weren’t so expensive, Ke Lun would have smashed it to pieces.
Darkness could not stop Bali Saihe and Luo Yi, master and disciple.
For the former, Bali Saihe had spent the latter half of his life blending with the darkness—explaining the dangers of darkness to him would only make the old man nod and smile.
No: besides eyes, there were other ways to “see.”
Luo Yi had learned that.
A clever kid—the pair, who were more like grandfather and grandson than actual kin, moved like fish in water, dodging hidden arrows and traps, closing in on Ke Lun’s lair!
Ke Lun’s face darkened.
He turned and ordered his men to bring out their precious trump card.
The Shadow Thieves could survive in Grino City because they had other tricks.
A gem—one that could trigger a magical trap.
Crush it!
Ke Lun placed the fragile gem in his palm, then clenched his fingers inward!
It wasn’t just turning the gem to dust—Ke Lun wanted Bali Saihe and Luo Yi dead!
Because that person had said he only wanted the girl Asuna back.
As for the others, it was best to kill them cleanly, leaving no loose ends!
A silent alarm rose in Bali Saihe’s heart:
“Not good!”
He tried to sense Luo Yi’s location, but it was too late.
It was his fault for not teaching enough!
What he had taught these past few days was only how to avoid enemy attacks and counter in the darkness.
But dodging a magical trap was another matter.
Magic, a seemingly intangible force, was essentially the caster calling upon the star tracks in the high heavens, forming a “descent and summoning.”
It borrowed the various powers the gods used to create the world and made them manifest in the mortal world—the Stars, the Star Children, the Ishtar Gods were the maintainers and implementers of this magical rule.
The field and wave formed by this calling was called “Ether.”
Though invisible and untouchable, it was the key to spell operation.
Bali Saihe knew how to sense changes in the Ether field and how to avoid them.
But he hadn’t taught Luo Yi yet.
So the trap had sprung—Luo Yi’s presence quickly disappeared beside the old man.
Bali Saihe stopped, bewildered.
Ke Lun laughed.
So the old man finally knew how serious this was, didn’t he?
He then ordered his men:
“You’ve confirmed the brat Luo Yi’s teleport location, right?”
“Yes, Lord Ke Lun…”
The underling flattered.
“That’s the basement we usually use to execute traitors. Completely sealed, and the poison gas mechanism has been activated. No one can live long in there—even the most famous Mirza horse from the Eastern Kingdom could only survive a quarter of an hour in that room!”
“Change your metaphor!”
Ke Lun grumbled, feeling victory was in hand.
“I can’t afford a Mirza horse. Those things were expensive before the war, and now that the civil war in the Eastern Kingdom of Istanaria hasn’t ended, warhorses aren’t for sale, and the price keeps rising.”
The subordinate forced a flattering smile…
Ke Lun continued watching the crystal ball with relish.
Bali Saihe had stopped, and from the shadows of the alleys, countless Shadow Thieves wielding short knives emerged.
Ke Lun had long thought it through—even a man as strong as a lion would die under the bites of countless hyenas.
But this sleazy black goat might have forgotten one thing.
A lion is always a lion.
With just a roar and its presence, it can retreat unscathed.
Bali Saihe wasn’t completely old yet.
“Good… good…”
The old man suddenly laughed, wildly and wantonly, like a beast that had shed all shackles.
“Since you insist on putting us to death, then I don’t mind slaughtering this whole street!”
Ke Lun’s hands trembled.
Before he was expelled, he knew his old boss Bali Saihe’s skill—though it was just some legends…
Because Bali Saihe might be the strangest Brave in history.
He didn’t choose to set off alone to slay the Demon King.
Instead, he stayed in the army, dedicated to building an efficient force to fight the Demon Race.
But in the end, it all fell short…
The old man swung his long staff, accompanied by a nameless war chant and roar.
Amid the swirling dance of the staff, sparks flickered.
Flames—yes, flames.
The first ray of hope for humanity’s rise in the ancient era, and one of the earliest elemental magics humans mastered.
The fire burned brighter and brighter, illuminating the alley like daylight.
“Please die.”
Bali Saihe said coldly.
Even an old Brave was still a Brave.
Ke Lun gritted his molars until they nearly cracked—why hadn’t anyone told him that Bali Saihe wasn’t just a brute, but a master of both magic and martial arts?
Bali Saihe knew this well.
Because anyone who could sense changes in the Ether field and had magical talent would usually devote themselves to magical research rather than training in sword and martial arts—it was a pity:
Bali Saihe had planned to teach Luo Yi.
Now, he could only use this skill to mourn that foolish boy!
Ke Lun had no choice but to pin his hopes on Luo Yi’s death breaking the old man’s will—but the odds were slim.
What Ke Lun didn’t know was that the men he sent to collect Luo Yi’s corpse would never return.
In the dark underground torture chamber, the moment the Shadow Thieves entered, they were swallowed by darkness, leaving only screams.
Luo Yi swung his heavy sword in the dark, utterly crushing their morale.
“Ghost! A ghost! No one has ever survived the poison fog—”
One insane thief, too scared to flee, collapsed onto the steps connecting the basement to the ground.
Luo Yi swung his heavy sword, ending the coward’s wretched life.
He himself didn’t know why he was unharmed in the poison fog—he only vaguely felt it had something to do with the Manticore sausage Xue La had given him.
He owed her again!
Luo Yi climbed the steps step by step—
It was time to settle the score with that black goat!