Chapter 39 Ancestral House
Tie Chui and Tu Dao!
Enzo followed behind the three people, entering Lin Qi’s family’s ancestral house. For the three years he’d known him, Enzo has always been curious about Lin Qi’s background. What kind of family could actually nurture such an outstanding person?
Enzo couldn’t help but recall the scene when they first met three years ago. Four members of the Knights of the Round Table had jointly attacked Enzo, threatening him to join them. Knowing well that the leader of the Knights of the Round Table, Dark Horse Hao Si, had a solid background, Enzo had been unwilling to fall out with them. Instead, he steadily retreated from their attacks, even though their actual strength was inferior to his,. Because of that, he was stabbed dozens of times.
When Enzo was almost unable to resist anymore, Lin Qi, along with several stalwart men with ferocious facial features, suddenly appeared. They used the bricks extracted from the alley’s wall behind them to smash the four swordsmen until they were covered with bumps and bruises. Then they beat them with oaken clubs wrapped in iron until they fainted. Finally, using wooden clubs, they swung at their wrist and elbow joints until they suffered internal injuries.
From then on, those four people were unable to use swords. They could still cope with ordinary manual labor with difficulty, but if they used swords, the internal injuries of their wrists and elbows would certainly mess with their swords’ power. As Army Academy students, the inability to wield a sword meant that once they entered the army after graduation, they would also become trash.
The decisiveness, ruthlessness, and mercilessness of Lin Qi’s subordinates remained fresh in Enzo’s memory.
Today, he finally came to Lin Qi’s house. He was very curious. In the end, what kind of family—what kind of parents—could nurture a person like Lin Qi? As a 15-year-old juvenile, he had formed a student faction like the Ironfist Brotherhood in Borali University City, expanding it until it had more than 300 hired thugs as its outer members. Was this something an ordinary person could do?
If the family was an ordinary one that observed the rules, how could their child do something like this?
Lin Qi’s family’s ancestral house gave people a kind of deep, serene, and steady feeling. The front part of the house was an enormous courtyard the size of almost three hectares. If Enzo wasn’t mistaken, the floor of the courtyard was paved with the extremely sturdy Black Volcanic Steel Rock that was formed from solidified lava.
Black Volcanic Steel Rock referred to volcanic rocks found in lava that contained more than seven kinds of metal. It was extremely hard, and it also possessed the most powerful defensive capability against all kinds of magic except for lightning magic. Mining it was extremely difficult. Ordinary workers would have to risk their lives, only to mine at most two to three cubic metres of this Black Volcanic Steel Rock in a year.
The extremely tough Black Volcanic Steel Rock had been refined into thick and heavy, one meter square tiles to pave the ground. On the tiles and in between them were complicated tenons that linked with one another, blending the courtyard’s surface well together. What shocked Enzo even more was that these cracks in between the tiles showed a faint, metallic luster, meaning metallic solutions had also been poured in between the tiles to make the floor even sturdier.
The cost of the courtyard floor was already extremely astonishing, but the surrounding walls were also extremely frightening.
From an ordinary person’s perspective, the surrounding walls of this residence were merely ordinary gables that were three meters taller than most. Yet from the perspective of an outstanding Army Academy student like Enzo, under the cover of the thick ivy vines, the gables of this courtyard were perhaps a miniature city wall. From the outside, it appeared to be ordinary, but its width should be enough to hold four people walking side-by-side. Furthermore, there were arrow-openings, lookout-openings, defense towers, and other defensive measures inside the brick walls.
But these defensive structures were all covered by thick ivy vines, making these murderous military installations appear thoroughly harmless.
The walls were even made from the same material as the courtyard floor. Constructed with the Black Volcanic Steel Rock with metallic solution poured in between the bricks, the surrounding walls were a lump of indestructible metal. Unless the main imperial army gathered together heavy weapons to attack this place, even an army of ten thousand soldiers wouldn’t be able to breach the walls.
Recalling what he saw outside the house just now, there was something weird with the thickness of the snow at the foot of the wall outside the house. Enzo suddenly thought of a common defensive structure called a ‘moat’. There must be a moat outside Lin Qi’s ancestral house. Moreover, its width would not be small, at least five meters wide.
Far away from the ancestral house, to the left and right, were two rows of subsidiary buildings that served as the servants’ housing. Just a quick glance at the pitch-black buildings showed that they were built using the same Black Volcanic Steel Rock materials. The buildings were crooked, as if they were built hastily. But the architecture style gave it a long strip of countless protrusions. If some enemy invaders broke into the courtyard, these two rows of buildings that extended for nearly a hundred meters became like two fortresses.
Looking at the buildings’ narrow windows with fixed steel bars as thick as a child’s arms, they were obviously made as openings for crossbow shooters to position themselves.
What made Enzo even more speechless was that in the vicinity of the two subsidiary buildings were stables, a granary, a small mill, and various kinds of living facilities that a large family should have. But these facilities were built using the Black Volcanic Steel Rock without exception, and were all built according to the rules of a military fortress.
On the grounds was also a circle of walls, inside which stood Lin Qi’s family’s main fortress. The tallest lookout tower was nearly a hundred meters in height, and around it were dozens of ‘decorative’ minarets that during a battle could absolutely serve as the main fortress’ arrow tower.
This main fortress occupied a vast area. Judging merely from the outside, the six-storey main structure was sufficient to hold two to three thousand people inside. In case of an upheaval, this fortress would certainly be enough to support two to three thousand people for a battle of attrition.
An enduring battle was definitely possible, because encircling this fortress were actually twenty-four deep wells!
Enzo looked until his fingers grew numb. Even in the drill regulations of the imperial army, a frontline defensive fortress only required three deep wells to provide enough water for the army. Lin Qi’s ancestors had indeed taken a lot of precautions, to actually make twenty-four deep wells, which was eightfold the requirements of the imperial army.
Enzo subconsciously glanced at Lin Qi, but Lin Qi was talking in a low voice with Tie Chui and Tu Dao, narrating his wonderful experiences from the past three years. Tie Chui and Tu Dao had nearly ‘pure’ smiles while listening attentively to Lin Qi’s anecdotes. The smiles on their faces were actually filled with a kind of ‘affection’ and ‘care’?
Two thugs like them were actually so ‘affectionate’ and ‘caring’? Enzo’s scalp couldn’t help but tingle.
People were constantly milling around Lin Qi’s family’s main fortress. A lot of people who were already up were all robust men with puffing noses, wide eyes, and arms as wide as an ordinary person’s thigh. Several men who were feeding the horses had faces that were distorted and filled with knife scars. Each and every one of their appearances was ferocious and ugly to the extreme.
Even the older female servants who were walking away from the cowshed, carrying a bucket of milk, wore only short gowns in this great winter, their bare arms rippling with muscles! Looking at the calluses on their hands and arms, it was obvious that they were also masters of sword and gun.
Enzo suddenly realized; only this kind of family was capable of nurturing an outstanding person like Lin Qi!
Chapter 39 Ancestral House
Tie Chui and Tu Dao!
Enzo followed behind the three people, entering Lin Qi’s family’s ancestral house. For the three years he’d known him, Enzo has always been curious about Lin Qi’s background. What kind of family could actually nurture such an outstanding person?
Enzo couldn’t help but recall the scene when they first met three years ago. Four members of the Knights of the Round Table had jointly attacked Enzo, threatening him to join them. Knowing well that the leader of the Knights of the Round Table, Dark Horse Hao Si, had a solid background, Enzo had been unwilling to fall out with them. Instead, he steadily retreated from their attacks, even though their actual strength was inferior to his,. Because of that, he was stabbed dozens of times.
When Enzo was almost unable to resist anymore, Lin Qi, along with several stalwart men with ferocious facial features, suddenly appeared. They used the bricks extracted from the alley’s wall behind them to smash the four swordsmen until they were covered with bumps and bruises. Then they beat them with oaken clubs wrapped in iron until they fainted. Finally, using wooden clubs, they swung at their wrist and elbow joints until they suffered internal injuries.
From then on, those four people were unable to use swords. They could still cope with ordinary manual labor with difficulty, but if they used swords, the internal injuries of their wrists and elbows would certainly mess with their swords’ power. As Army Academy students, the inability to wield a sword meant that once they entered the army after graduation, they would also become trash.
The decisiveness, ruthlessness, and mercilessness of Lin Qi’s subordinates remained fresh in Enzo’s memory.
Today, he finally came to Lin Qi’s house. He was very curious. In the end, what kind of family—what kind of parents—could nurture a person like Lin Qi? As a 15-year-old juvenile, he had formed a student faction like the Ironfist Brotherhood in Borali University City, expanding it until it had more than 300 hired thugs as its outer members. Was this something an ordinary person could do?
If the family was an ordinary one that observed the rules, how could their child do something like this?
Lin Qi’s family’s ancestral house gave people a kind of deep, serene, and steady feeling. The front part of the house was an enormous courtyard the size of almost three hectares. If Enzo wasn’t mistaken, the floor of the courtyard was paved with the extremely sturdy Black Volcanic Steel Rock that was formed from solidified lava.
Black Volcanic Steel Rock referred to volcanic rocks found in lava that contained more than seven kinds of metal. It was extremely hard, and it also possessed the most powerful defensive capability against all kinds of magic except for lightning magic. Mining it was extremely difficult. Ordinary workers would have to risk their lives, only to mine at most two to three cubic metres of this Black Volcanic Steel Rock in a year.
The extremely tough Black Volcanic Steel Rock had been refined into thick and heavy, one meter square tiles to pave the ground. On the tiles and in between them were complicated tenons that linked with one another, blending the courtyard’s surface well together. What shocked Enzo even more was that these cracks in between the tiles showed a faint, metallic luster, meaning metallic solutions had also been poured in between the tiles to make the floor even sturdier.
The cost of the courtyard floor was already extremely astonishing, but the surrounding walls were also extremely frightening.
From an ordinary person’s perspective, the surrounding walls of this residence were merely ordinary gables that were three meters taller than most. Yet from the perspective of an outstanding Army Academy student like Enzo, under the cover of the thick ivy vines, the gables of this courtyard were perhaps a miniature city wall. From the outside, it appeared to be ordinary, but its width should be enough to hold four people walking side-by-side. Furthermore, there were arrow-openings, lookout-openings, defense towers, and other defensive measures inside the brick walls.
But these defensive structures were all covered by thick ivy vines, making these murderous military installations appear thoroughly harmless.
The walls were even made from the same material as the courtyard floor. Constructed with the Black Volcanic Steel Rock with metallic solution poured in between the bricks, the surrounding walls were a lump of indestructible metal. Unless the main imperial army gathered together heavy weapons to attack this place, even an army of ten thousand soldiers wouldn’t be able to breach the walls.
Recalling what he saw outside the house just now, there was something weird with the thickness of the snow at the foot of the wall outside the house. Enzo suddenly thought of a common defensive structure called a ‘moat’. There must be a moat outside Lin Qi’s ancestral house. Moreover, its width would not be small, at least five meters wide.
Far away from the ancestral house, to the left and right, were two rows of subsidiary buildings that served as the servants’ housing. Just a quick glance at the pitch-black buildings showed that they were built using the same Black Volcanic Steel Rock materials. The buildings were crooked, as if they were built hastily. But the architecture style gave it a long strip of countless protrusions. If some enemy invaders broke into the courtyard, these two rows of buildings that extended for nearly a hundred meters became like two fortresses.
Looking at the buildings’ narrow windows with fixed steel bars as thick as a child’s arms, they were obviously made as openings for crossbow shooters to position themselves.
What made Enzo even more speechless was that in the vicinity of the two subsidiary buildings were stables, a granary, a small mill, and various kinds of living facilities that a large family should have. But these facilities were built using the Black Volcanic Steel Rock without exception, and were all built according to the rules of a military fortress.
On the grounds was also a circle of walls, inside which stood Lin Qi’s family’s main fortress. The tallest lookout tower was nearly a hundred meters in height, and around it were dozens of ‘decorative’ minarets that during a battle could absolutely serve as the main fortress’ arrow tower.
This main fortress occupied a vast area. Judging merely from the outside, the six-storey main structure was sufficient to hold two to three thousand people inside. In case of an upheaval, this fortress would certainly be enough to support two to three thousand people for a battle of attrition.
An enduring battle was definitely possible, because encircling this fortress were actually twenty-four deep wells!
Enzo looked until his fingers grew numb. Even in the drill regulations of the imperial army, a frontline defensive fortress only required three deep wells to provide enough water for the army. Lin Qi’s ancestors had indeed taken a lot of precautions, to actually make twenty-four deep wells, which was eightfold the requirements of the imperial army.
Enzo subconsciously glanced at Lin Qi, but Lin Qi was talking in a low voice with Tie Chui and Tu Dao, narrating his wonderful experiences from the past three years. Tie Chui and Tu Dao had nearly ‘pure’ smiles while listening attentively to Lin Qi’s anecdotes. The smiles on their faces were actually filled with a kind of ‘affection’ and ‘care’?
Two thugs like them were actually so ‘affectionate’ and ‘caring’? Enzo’s scalp couldn’t help but tingle.
People were constantly milling around Lin Qi’s family’s main fortress. A lot of people who were already up were all robust men with puffing noses, wide eyes, and arms as wide as an ordinary person’s thigh. Several men who were feeding the horses had faces that were distorted and filled with knife scars. Each and every one of their appearances was ferocious and ugly to the extreme.
Even the older female servants who were walking away from the cowshed, carrying a bucket of milk, wore only short gowns in this great winter, their bare arms rippling with muscles! Looking at the calluses on their hands and arms, it was obvious that they were also masters of sword and gun.
Enzo suddenly realized; only this kind of family was capable of nurturing an outstanding person like Lin Qi!
