Vol 4. Chapter 87: Pipi and Lingluo

Wisteria, the imperial capital of Saint Lomari.

Inside an estate located somewhere in the western part of the imperial capital,

At this moment,

Following the estate owner’s instructions, the enormous training hall in the central area of the estate had already been completely cleared out, leaving no one inside except the two figures currently exchanging blows.

Accompanied by one crisp clash of blades after another, an intense swordsmanship match was underway within the training grounds.

However...

Strictly speaking, the word ‘match’ might not be particularly suitable for describing the situation between the two people inside.

A one-sided crushing would probably be a more accurate description of the battle.

The green-haired, one-eyed youth was desperately swinging the sharp sword in his hand, persistently launching attack after attack at the purple-haired youth opposite him.

And this one-eyed youth was none other than the owner of the estate, as well as one of Saint Lomari’s candidates for Imperial Sovereign—

Lingluo.

“Aaaaaaaaaah!!”

Accompanied by Lingluo’s roar and the rapid spread of emerald-green sword aura, he relentlessly swung the weapon in his hand, attacking the purple-haired youth from multiple directions.

Unfortunately,

Although Lingluo’s attacks appeared flawless, in the purple-haired youth’s eyes, they were nothing more than child’s play.

“Tch...”

With a cold snort,

The purple-haired youth instantly saw through Lingluo’s intentions and simply turned sideways to avoid his sword technique.

Then, with a light swing of the wooden sword in his hand, he casually knocked Lingluo’s treasured sword flying away.

At the same time, the purple-haired youth stretched out one foot and kicked Lingluo directly in the ankle.

In an instant,

The Imperial Sovereign candidate lost his balance and stumbled onto the ground in an extremely embarrassing manner.

By the time Lingluo turned around and tried to get back up to continue fighting, the wooden sword in the purple-haired youth’s hand was already pressed against his throat.

Clearly, if this had been a real battle, Lingluo’s head would already have been separated from his body.

The outcome of the match had been decided.

After realizing this, Lingluo did not get angry.

Instead, he resigned himself to the result, relaxed his body, and sat weakly on the sandy ground.

“Haah, I lost again, just as expected.”

Faced with Lingluo admitting defeat, the purple-haired youth likewise showed no joy at winning.

After tossing the wooden sword aside, he gave the other person a disdainful roll of the eyes and spoke in a slightly androgynous voice.

“Tch... With your level, there’s no way in hell you could beat this great me... Your intentions were already written all over your eyes! And after training for so long, your lower body is still this unstable. I barely hooked your leg and you went down. Aren’t you way too weak?”

“I’m not weak. Back when I was at Yexinlian Academy, my swordsmanship scores were among the best.”

Lingluo raised an eyebrow, apparently somewhat unconvinced.

“I think... Pipi, maybe you just couldn’t stand losing and deliberately used a little more power than you were supposed to~”

“Tch!”

Hearing this, the purple-haired youth known as Pipi immediately rolled his eyes at his ‘master.’

“If I said I’d use Fifth-Tier strength, then I used Fifth-Tier strength! This great me has no interest in bullying people! Forget using power above the Fifth Tier, I didn’t even use the full strength of the Fifth Tier! You’re obviously just too weak, okay?!”

Pipi puffed out his cheeks and spoke somewhat agitatedly.

“Alright, alright~”

Seeing this, Lingluo stopped teasing Pipi and waved his hand playfully.

Although Lingluo thought teasing the purple-haired youth in front of him was quite entertaining, he also understood that there was absolutely nothing good about genuinely angering him.

“I was joking. Pipi really does take everything so seriously.”

“Hmph!”

“Alright, alright. Thank you for your instruction, Teacher Pipi. It really is troublesome for you to practice swordsmanship with me every day.”

“Heh. Good that you know.”

Pipi looked nothing like a servant as he crossed his arms over his chest and spoke arrogantly.

“Since you know, hurry up and get stronger. Learn your sword techniques properly already. Stop calling me over to help you practice every single day. I hate morning shifts!”

“Yes, yes. Sorry for troubling you, Pipi. But... from what I can tell... it’s not just morning shifts, is it? As long as it has anything to do with work, you seem to hate it.”

“Tch!”

Pipi turned his head away without denying it and began removing the completely useless protective equipment from his body.

Clearly, now that his sparring session with his master had ended, this head servant could hardly wait to go back and slack off.

And as the pieces of light armor were removed one by one, the skin that had been hidden beneath them was exposed beneath the sunlight.

Looking at the hideous scars covering Pipi’s pale arms and back, Lingluo narrowed his eyes slightly.

“Speaking of which, Pipi.”

“What?”

“There’s something I’ve wanted to ask you for quite a while. What happened to those wounds on your body?”

“Wounds?”

Hearing this, the purple-haired youth frowned and slowly shifted his gaze toward his own arms and back.

“You mean these scars?”

“Yeah. I’m a little curious. You’re so strong, so where exactly did injuries like these come from?”

Lingluo slowly stood up from the ground as he asked curiously.

In truth, Lingluo had been curious about the scars on Pipi’s body for a long time.

Lingluo had at least some idea of just how powerful Pipi was.

If Pipi wanted to, he could destroy Saint Lomari, one of the Four Great Empires, at any time...

So how exactly had such a terrifyingly powerful existence ended up with scars this hideous on his body?

Seeing those scars again today, Lingluo finally could not resist asking.

However,

The purple-haired youth’s answer instantly made Lingluo frown.

“As for the scars, I actually don’t know either.”

“Eh? You don’t know?”

“Yeah.”

Pipi answered quite honestly.

“Those wounds are this serious, yet you don’t even know how you got them?”

“I really don’t know! It happened when I was little... Anyway, when I woke up back then, I already had all these wounds. According to my mom... uh... anyway, someone told me that my big sister was the one who gave me these wounds... As for exactly how she did it... I have no idea.”

“Your... big sister did this?”

Upon hearing that, an increasingly strange expression appeared on Lingluo’s face, and even his tone carried disbelief.

“You have an older sister...?”

“What? Is that not allowed? I don’t just have an older sister, I’ve got a whole bunch of little sisters too!”

Pipi’s voice carried a trace of smugness.

“Then why did your sister hurt you like this? Do you two not get along?”

“...”

Faced with this question, Pipi fell briefly silent.

After a moment, the purple-haired youth slowly shook his head.

“At least I think... we probably got along pretty well. She was always cold and distant, but she usually took pretty good care of me. Even though my mom... uh... no, someone told me that my big sister was the one who hurt me, I still feel like she wouldn’t do something like that to me.

“Unfortunately,

“I don’t have any memories from that period either, so I can’t really be certain about anything............ Hm? Wait?!”

As he spoke, Pipi seemed to suddenly realize something.

Belated anger appeared on his face as he abruptly whipped his head around and glared viciously at Lingluo.

“Wait a second?! Didn’t I tell you before?! You’re not allowed to ask about my family?!”

“Hm? D-Does casually asking something like this count too?”

“It counts! Ask any more and I’ll kill you!”

“Oh, alright.”

“You’re also not allowed to tell anyone what you just heard. If you dare tell anyone, I’ll kill you! Understand?!”

Pretending to look vicious, Pipi suddenly raised his hand and pointed straight at Lingluo’s forehead, leaving the latter utterly speechless.

“You’re obviously the one who told me all that yourself~”

Lingluo complained inwardly.

However,

Considering that this was hardly the first time something like this had happened, Lingluo had no intention of arguing with the purple-haired youth about it.

After obediently nodding, Lingluo smiled and replied,

“Alright, I understand... I won’t tell anyone. It’s not like you don’t know me. I always abide by contracts. I won’t tell anyone about these things.”

“Hmph. You’d better not.”

Pipi arrogantly planted both hands on his hips, his expression once again returning to its usual indifferent state.

He then turned around and prepared to leave the training grounds to begin enjoying the free time he rightfully deserved.

However, the purple-haired youth had only taken his first step when Lingluo’s voice came from behind him once again.

“By the way, Pipi, I need you to do me a favor.”

“What?”

Pipi impatiently glanced behind himself.

“What the hell do you want now?”

“Well, the Elders saw that I’ve been performing pretty well lately, so they gave me a new assignment.”

“Huh? What assignment now?”

“They want me to go to the Crimson Leaf Empire in my capacity as a Consul—or rather, as a diplomat—to discuss some matters of cooperation.

“And while I’m there... Silver Elder also wants me to return to Yexinlian Royal Academy and finish my studies, while seeing whether there might be an opportunity to get my hands on the Sacred Dragon Heart.

“So... Pipi~”

As he spoke, Lingluo smiled faintly and continued in an exceptionally sweet and pleasant voice,

“Pipi, come with me to the Crimson Leaf Empire~”

“Huh??”