“Balo!!!” Watching Balo glide down in a perfect arc from the square, Viscount Minster’s eyes were about to burst.
“Hurry, hurry! Go save him!” Seeing Balo roll uncontrollably after landing, Viscount Minster was nearly frantic, urgently calling his attendants to retrieve Balo.
The sudden turn of events on the field shocked everyone in the stands, whether they were nobles or merchants there for the spectacle, all were dumbfounded.
After all, he was the eldest son of the Minster family, the only male heir of the Minster lineage.
To show no face and strike so hard? This Mo Li is too ruthless, giving no face even on someone else’s turf.
“Referee, shouldn’t you announce the result?” After performing this ‘awe-inspiring’ act, Mo Li coldly glanced at the hook-nosed old man whose jaw was nearly on the ground.
“This, this, this…” The hook-nosed elder trembled, looking at Balo still rolling down, pointing at Mo Li but unable to utter a complete sentence.
“You, you, you… do you know what you’ve done?”
“What have I done? You’re telling me this on the competition field? Would you only announce the result if it were me rolling down?” Mo Li raised an eyebrow.
“Do you know you’re in big trouble?”
“Big trouble? What big trouble? Sounds like the result was predetermined, that Minster should win, and I shouldn’t?” Mo Li argued.
“You…!” Perhaps infuriated, the hook-nosed elder was choked by Mo Li, unable to say a word.
“Balo, Balo! Are you okay?” When the attendants brought Balo back, he had been rolling on the sloped lawn for nearly a minute.
Viscount Minster was anxious, holding the emaciated Balo like a shriveled old man, filled with grief and anger.
“Quick! Call the doctor, call all my physicians!”
“Yes!” The guards knew there was no time to waste and immediately ran out of the field.
“My son, you must be okay…” At this moment, Viscount Minster seemed to have aged twenty years.
If the Minster family had other male heirs, it wouldn’t matter, but he, nearing sixty, had only this one son.
If anything happened, the Minster lineage would end!
“Referee, aren’t you going to announce the result?” Mo Li repeated.
“Can’t you see the situation? Can’t you see the father-son bond? Is this the time to bring it up?” The hook-nosed elder pretended to be heartbroken, but in reality, he was stalling, not wanting to announce the result.
“One thing at a time, if not now, will you acknowledge it later?” Mo Li crossed his arms. “Just announce it, it’s just a sentence, to avoid complications, hurry up.”
“You really are heartless, so unkind!” No matter how Mo Li questioned, the hook-nosed elder wouldn’t answer directly, evading the topic and standing on moral high ground to criticize Mo Li.
“Tsk, no wonder he’s an illegitimate child, no manners at all.”
“Beating someone else’s son and then standing there mocking the hardworking father, does this person even have a conscience?”
“Conscience? Please, with no one to teach or raise him, do you expect this guy to act decently?” The nobles in the stands exemplified ‘noble unity,’ all targeting Mo Li, blatantly lying.
“Don’t you feel guilty?” The hook-nosed elder continued to exploit the situation, having long been bought by the Minster family, naturally acting in their interest.
“Guilty? Guilty of what?” Mo Li chuckled.
“He activated his bloodline, not me.
He suffered the backlash, not me.
He brought it on himself, what’s it got to do with me?”
“Bah! You’re just lying! Everyone saw it, you threw an unknown liquid on Master Minster, causing his failure! Do you think you can clear your name?”
“This despicable person doesn’t deserve the championship.
If Master Minster is harmed, he should pay with his life!”
“I request the referee to revoke this vile person’s qualification! If he represents us in the Lan Yin Academy assessment, it’s a slap in all our faces!”
The nobles in the stands united against Mo Li, siding with Minster, slandering Mo Li.
They acted outraged, eager to seek justice for Master Minster.
These fools…
Mo Li looked around at the increasingly loud nobles, not angry, just once again realizing that fools far outnumber sensible people.
Meanwhile, the physician employed by Minster had arrived, and after examining the unconscious Balo, said something to Viscount Minster, whose face grew darker, eventually almost dripping water.
“Quiet!” His voice silenced the crowd, and he walked heavily down the field.
“Mo Li…” Viscount Minster looked at Mo Li with deep meaning, his eagle eyes calm before the storm.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the physician diagnosed that my Balo’s life is saved… but just barely! He may never recover, and even if he wakes, he’ll be a living dead, paralyzed in bed!” Viscount Minster spoke with extreme grief.
Mo Li pursed his lips, thinking the old man was starting to garner sympathy.
Balo paralyzed, hearing this news, Mo Li felt no sympathy.
He wouldn’t pity anyone who tried to harm him, and the backlash was Balo’s own doing, unrelated to the [Ragnarok] potion, which only temporarily nullified Balo’s bloodline power.
The real cause of his paralysis was the unknown potion used to activate his bloodline.
“As the head of the Minster family, and as Balo’s father, I am deeply saddened! And I deeply hate the culprit who brought this about!” Viscount Minster gritted his teeth, glaring at Mo Li.
“Mo Li, I ask you, what deep grudge did my Balo have with you to deserve such treatment?”
“Viscount Minster, I think you’re asking the wrong question.” Compared to the agitated Viscount Minster, Mo Li was much calmer.
“You should ask why your Minster family has such a grudge against me, always opposing me, even at the cost of paralysis.”
“Nonsense! No matter how sharp your tongue, it’s just sophistry!” Viscount Minster was furious.
Here we go again.
Mo Li stopped talking, knowing that arguing with nobles was always a losing battle, as he was the weaker party.
“You will pay for your actions!” Viscount Minster squeezed out the words, then shouted to the stands.
“Ladies and gentlemen! Tell me, in my Minster Viscounty, what is the punishment for a commoner daring to overstep, openly harming a noble child?”
“Extermination of the entire family!”
“Total annihilation!”
“Capture all relatives related to this boy for ten generations and bury them alive!”
The nobles in the stands shouted angrily.
At this moment, Minster’s guards surrounded Mo Li.
“Mo Li, you dare cut off my Minster lineage! So ruthless at such a young age, today I’ll have you buried with my Balo!” Viscount Minster roared at Mo Li, like an enraged lion, but to Mo Li, it was just impotent rage.
“Your crimes are countless, once I capture you, I’ll tear your flesh piece by piece!”
“Conspiracy, assassination, manipulation, cheating, using banned substances, in the end, it’s all my fault.” Mo Li shrugged.
“Fine, whatever you say, I’m the villain, you’re all saints, is that okay?”
“Utter nonsense!” Viscount Minster, already furious, couldn’t stand Mo Li’s sarcastic tone, roaring.
“Seize this commoner!”
Hearing this, Minster’s fully armed attendants rushed forward, drawing their weapons.
So many people, this might be a bit troublesome…
Seeing this, Mo Li was about to draw his sword from his cloak when a hand pressed it down.
“Mr. Rocco?…” Mo Li looked at the man who suddenly appeared in front of him.
“You don’t need to act.” Rocco said calmly, unfazed by the danger.
“Lord Norma said to leave the rest to him.”
“He will teach these country nobles what noble ‘etiquette’ means.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the attendants attacking Rocco and Mo Li froze, as if paused, all stopped in their tracks.
In the next moment, Minster’s armed guards all fell, and as Rocco pressed Mo Li’s sword back, it was as if nothing had happened, yet something had, with only a red stain on Rocco’s sword.
“What!…” Viscount Minster was speechless, everyone present was stunned, not knowing what had just happened.
Mo Li was equally shocked, but unlike others, he saw Rocco’s actions clearly.
As he pressed the sword halfway back, Rocco suddenly dashed, sweeping across all the attendants’ necks, precise and efficient! Then he returned to his spot, fully pressing the sword back.
The movement was so fast that it was almost impossible to catch with the naked eye.
To everyone watching, it seemed like Rocco simply pressed Mo Li’s knife back, and all the attendants fell down.
It was terrifying, this level of skill was simply terrifying… Is this the average strength of the members of the Papal Kingdom’s royal guard, the Black Phoenix Knights? Mo Li was very grateful that in his previous life, when Emilia came to hunt him down, she didn’t bring this guard unit.
Otherwise, there would have been no need for Emilia to act; just two or three members of the Black Phoenix would have been enough to crush him.
“…Lord Norma!” Viscount Minster, who had just come to his senses, saw Norma walking over with his hands behind his back and immediately got angry.
“What do you mean by this?! Are you planning to completely oppose my Minster family for the sake of an illegitimate child?”
“That should be my question to you, Viscount.
Are you planning to oppose my Count Norma’s territory?” Norma looked coldly at Viscount Minster.
He had seen all of the bullying behavior earlier, and even someone like him, who rarely got angry, was trembling with rage.
This was simply too much bullying.
If he hadn’t come on this trip today, he wouldn’t have known how these rural nobles were oppressing their people.
Even Mo Li, who had his public protection, was treated like this.
What about ordinary citizens?
“What do you mean by this?!”
“Stop embarrassing yourself, Viscount.
If you want to keep your land, Mo Li is the rightful champion.
No matter how you try to cheat, it won’t work… Don’t forget, I was watching the whole time.”
“So what?!” Viscount Minster completely lost his mind.
“Dare to touch my family’s bloodline, no one can save this kid today, I swear!”
“You want to fight me to the end, Norma? Fine, fine!” With that, Viscount Minster turned to the stands.
“Everyone! Today, the Minster family bloodline is broken, and we may not be able to lead you into a new era… But it doesn’t matter, whoever takes that kid’s head today will be the new master of the Minster territory!”
As soon as he said this, all the Minster nobles got excited.
Everyone was eyeing this close-at-hand prize!
So, they all lit the signal flares given by their family, and with the brilliant fireworks in the sky, an army suddenly pressed in.
“Tsk, it looks like things are getting more and more out of hand,” Mo Li said coldly, holding Hanxi in his right hand and a crossbow in his left, already in a battle-ready stance.
“Lord Norma, please stand by my side and don’t move too much,” Rocco reminded.
“I’ll handle this.”
“Yes, Uncle Norma, you should find a place to hide,” Mo Li also said.
“No need,” Norma waved his hand, adjusting his collar.
“It’s you who should stay away from me.”
“Huh?”
“Hmm?”
“What? What’s with those expressions? … Don’t forget I’m a noble, and not the kind with a declining bloodline,” Norma shook his head, stretching his muscles.
“I forgot to tell you, when I was young, I fought a lot.
I’m not bragging, but I’ve fought Nordics and cultists… It’s been about ten years since I last fought, I wonder if I’m rusty.”
Seeing Norma looking like he was ready to fight after taking off his formal wear, Mo Li remembered that he really didn’t know Norma’s exact combat strength.
In his previous life, if it weren’t for the poison provided by Minster, he might not have been able to kill him.
