Chapter 550: Mage Temple’s Head (III)
Li Xin heard about Cai’er’s loss of memories long before. Filled with feelings of tenderness, her sight was hazy with tears as she hugged her. Lin Xin and Han Yu were holding each other’s right hand firmly: after two years passed, the brothers were so happy to reunite they were at lost for words.
Before they had the time to start conversing, Long Haochen returned. Lin Xin let go of Han Yu’s hand, and shouted loudly, “Boss!” Dashing quickly, he gave Long Haochen an enormous hug.
Everyone was full of excitement, and almost unable to control themselves. Although Long Haochen was clad in Golden Foundation Armor, his voice didn’t change.
“Haochen!” Li Xin let go of Cai’er and stepped forward with an expression of nice surprise. Despite her strong nature, she was totally dripping with tears.
Letting go of his hug with Lin Xin, Long Haochen closely hugged Li Xin. The surging emotions made Long Haochen speechless as he was choked with emotions.
After quite a while, everyone’s emotions came back to tranquility, and Long Haochen declared, “Let’s talk after we get inside the room.”
The five of them entered Long Haochen’s room together. After shutting his room well, Long Haochen tookoff the Golden Foundation Armor on him in a rush. In front of his elder sister and brother, how could he be willing to stay estranged in this layer of metal?
At this time he could observe Li Xin and Lin Xin with attention. Compared to the time before their separation, Li Xin seemed a lot more mature, her build was even more fiery and sexy. Her pink hair was combed behind her head, and her eyes showed great focus. Her cultivation had obviously progressed greatly.
Compared to Li Xin, Lin Xin’s changes were even more huge. Before their separation, Lin Xin used to give off a frivolous feeling, but at the current time, the changes in his looks weren’t huge but it felt clear that he had become much more resolute. He also looked quite dignified, giving him a steady’ look, which was something unthinkable to describe the past him. In particular, the expression in his eyes was focused and steady, lacking the erratic wandering of before. It seemed that he had matured greatly over these two years of separation. Without looking at his appearance, Long Haochen may have been unable to recognize him.
Even without asking, Long Haochen could imagine that Lin Xin had experienced a lot over the past two years.
“Lin Xin, these two years have been hard on you.” Long Haochen declared sincerely.
These words weren’t fired blindly. The one who contributed the most for the 64th commander grade Demon Hunt Squad over these two years was Lin Xin. The pills he made gave huge boosts to everyone’s external spiritual energy, and he also supplied a lot of pills for everyone’s survival. And their captain Long Haochen didn’t do any such thing, only remaining in secluded cultivation all this time.
Hearing Long Haochen speak so, Lin Xin’s expression had a change. Abruptly standing up, he stood straight in front of him like a child in the wrong, “Captain, don’t say that. What I did was only natural. But, but...”
Li Xin suddenly stepped in, “Let it be, this is all the past. Now that everyone has reunited with such difficulty, what do you want to say that for?”
Lin Xin turned his head to glance at Li Xin. To Long Haochen’s surprise, Lin Xin who was originally head over heels for Li Xin shook his head resolutely, “Xin’er, I have to say it no matter what. If I don’t let Boss know about this matter, I won’t be able to rest for this whole lifetime.”
Long Haochen, who understood the seriousness of the matter, asked in puzzlement, “What’s has happened in the end? Just what kind of matter?”
Lin Xin lowered his head, “I didn’t defend Xin’er well. During this Holy War, her arm was cut off by the enemy.”
“What?” Long Haochen stood up in shock all of a sudden. The look in his eyes immediately becoming severe. To him, Li Xin was no less than a blood-related big sister. Back in Hao Yue City, Li Xin’s meticulous care gave him a moral support that was no inferior to a parent’s. There’s no way Long Haochen’s attachment to Li Xin could ever weaken.
Li Xin hastily stood up, “This is all in the past, didn’t this arm just get connected back? For my sake, Lin Xin has been suffering a lot over more than a year. Haochen, don’t blame him, this was absolutely not his fault.” While saying that, she took the initiative to join Lin Xin’s side and held his right arm, nestling against him, full of warmth.
Seeing them, Long Haochen immediately came to an understanding. Lin Xin had a guilty look, both his eyes reddened, while Lin Xin had a warm and happy look. Obviously, their feelings towards each other had made a qualitative leap.
“Lin Xin, just tell me what has happened in great detail. I also heard that you are now the captain of the number one mage squad of the Mage Temple.”
Right when Lin Xin wanted to start to talk, Li Xin rushed to be the first, “Let me tell you everything. If you listen to him, it will surely end up as a speech of himself trying to take all blame. He’s just totally blind with love!
“There’s no war without deceased and wounded. At that time, he was busy making pills inside the Temple, while I was participating in the Tombal Mountain Pass’ defense, and in one battle, my arm was cut off by the enemy. Afterwards, it was attached back, but had lost a lot of its agility. Like a madman, Lin Xin then kept insisting that he didn’t protect me well. And then he changed, and broke that oath he made once, starting to train using offensive magic, while developing all kinds of pills to try to treat my arm. Now this broken arm has already recovered completely, and after training in the use of offensive magic, greatly increasing his capabilities, he joined in battles, and rose in ranks swiftly due to his own strength and outstanding performance. Gaining appreciation from the Mage Temple’s higher-ups, he accumulated military deeds until gaining the position of captain of the number one mage squad.”
Hearing Li Xin’s whole story, both Long Haochen and Han Yu were in great shock, and Han Yu asked, “Have you really learnt offensive magic?”
Li Xin’s story sounded very simple, and could sound like a very ordinary story from an outsider’s viewpoint. But with Long Haochen’s understanding of Lin Xin, he could sense that when Li Xin’s arm had been cut off, Lin Xin he been greatly provoked.
In fact, the reason why Lin Xin had pledged to never learn offensive magic was that his parents both died while researching magic in the past. This shadow influenced him as one might well imagine. But because of Li Xin’s injuries, Lin Xin actually walked out of this shadow. For the sake of protecting Li Xin, he learnt offensive magic. This instant, Long Haochen finally relaxed. So that unreliable mage who was unable to attack finally matured, and finally became someone who’s able to protect his big sister well.
Stepping forward, Long Haochen came in front of Lin Xin.
Seeing Long Haochen’s pure eyes, Lin Xin’s heartbeat immediately quickened. Anyone could tell his nervousness. Li Xin seemed to want to keep speaking, but was stopped with one gesture from Long Haochen.
Lifting up both his hands, Long Haochen grabbed Lin Xin’s shoulder, “It’s enough brother. These days have been really hard on you.”
Lin Xin was blank. He used to imagine many times in the past the attitude his captain would have after hearing that story. But he didn’t imagined that he would receive this response.
Tears were brimming from his eyes. Over the past two years, he just paid far too much. His frantic magic cultivation even greatly impressed Tan Wan, renowned as the number one genius of the younger generation. While keeping such a frantic rate of cultivation he took time outside for developing a medicine for Li Xin. The real times of rest he had were below two hours daily. Only by madly indulging himself in training could he lighten that pain and guilt he had. Many times, he encountered a dangerous situation of elemental backlash, but even so, he kept forcing his limits.
At this very moment, that simple sentence from Long Haochen made Lin Xin feel that all he invested was worth it. His captain didn’t blame him for that!
“Boss...” The immense pressure filling him was finally abandoned, and Lin Xin’s closed heart finally opened totally. Losing his voice in bitter cries, his pent up emotions raged out like a mountain torrent.
Han Yu wanted to advance to console him, but was blocked by Li Xin. She understood Lin Xin’s current mental state the most clearly. Now that he was finally liberated from these emotional issues, letting him cry his fill was definitely far better than holding these sentiments back inside him.
Lin Xin’s burst of emotion lasted for over a quarter of an hour before calming down. Although his eyes became inflamed due to crying, his look was clearly a lot softer, and his repressed heartstrings finally loosened. He didn’t have that immense mental pressure anymore, but the intense tiredness made him directly fall asleep in Li Xin’s arms. The pressure he inflicted upon himself these days was too much. After letting it all out, he needed to have a good rest to let his body and mind recover their normal state.
Two days later, on the Tombal Mountain Pass’ fortress.
What does the Mage temple rely on most to defend the Tombal Mountain Pass? It’s without a doubt their mages. The Mage Temple had a total of ten main mage squads, all formed of five hundred people, all of whom reached at least the fifth step of cultivation. The ones below the fifth step only served as backup forces, and weren’t allowed to join the battlefield. This was a protective action the Mage Temple chose for the sake of defending the mages of lower cultivation. After all fostering a mage wasn’t an easy thing at all, and maybe another Li Zhengzhi could appear among these mages of currently low rank.
Aside from the ten main mage squads, they had some even more powerful mage squads, constituted of powerhouses. All of the main mage squads were specialized in only one element, because this was the only way to avoid the appearance of elementary clashes in the battlefield. It wasn’t because of being the strongest in the team that Lin Xin managed to distinguish himself as captain, but because the number one mage squad, known as Ignition Corps, was only composed of control mages.