Helping each other with countless me.

Chapter 592 Extraordinary + Technology
Baron Ryan Wolfe hurried back to his castle on his beloved horse.

He felt a subtle sense of guilt mixed with a greater sense of calculation.

Leaving the territory, while there may be official business, is it not also a form of tacit consent?
The eldest son, Wanda, was talented, but his personality was too "upright." His mother's clan had long since declined and could no longer provide much help to the territory.

Although the youngest son is still young, his mother Elena's family is very powerful, and the benefits of the marriage are obvious.

If an "accident" occurs... it might be more beneficial for the future of Wolfsburg.

He had expected to return to find a “sad” funeral and a family of Elena that he needed to “appease” and “regain control of”.

However, the closer he got to the castle, the more his heart sank.

It's so quiet.

The castle was as quiet as if it were dead.

Where are the guards? Where are the servants? Even the people who usually patrol the city walls are nowhere to be seen.

The air was filled with a sweet, rusty smell that even the autumn wind couldn't dispel.

It smells like blood! And it's terrifyingly strong!
'What happened? Why did Elena need to make such a commotion? How many people did she kill?'

Baron Renn frowned, a sense of foreboding gripping him.

He spurred his horse to speed up and charged through the wide-open castle gates.

The plaza inside the gate was deserted, with only a few fallen leaves swirling in the wind, and the stench of blood almost solidified here.

He dismounted, placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, and cautiously approached the main castle.

The journey was silent, but occasionally bloodstains and marks from sharp weapons could be seen on the ground and walls that had not been completely wiped clean.

'Traces of battle? No… this looks more like… a scene of massacre?'*
The Baron's heart began to race. He strode through the corridor and finally stopped before the magnificent oak door to the main living room.

The door was ajar, and the pungent, nauseating smell of blood was emanating from it.

He suddenly pushed the door open.

Then, he saw it.

That was a scene he could never forget, a nightmare that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

The living room resembled a slaughterhouse.

Broken corpses, torn armor, and broken weapons were mixed together and spread across the expensive carpet, the congealed blood making the ground sticky and slippery.

In the center of this devastation, a small "pyramid" made up of a dozen or so heads stands quietly.

The head at the very top, with its eyes wide open and filled with extreme fear, and its pale, childlike face, was none other than his ten-year-old son!
"No……!!!"

Baron Renn let out a heart-wrenching scream. All his scheming and ruthlessness were shattered in that instant by his paternal instincts and fear!

He staggered backward, barely able to breathe, his stomach churning.

Just then, a calm, almost indifferent voice rang out from behind him.

"Father, you're back."

Baron Renn turned around abruptly and saw Wanda leaning against the door frame, arms crossed, her short golden hair shining brightly in the light streaming in from the doorway, her handsome face expressionless, her eyes as deep as a frozen lake.

"It was you! You beast! You killed your brother! You killed Elena!!"

Baron Renn was instantly consumed by rage and grief, his reason vanished, and his powerful Grand Knight-level battle aura erupted, covering his entire body with a pale silver light. He drew his sword and roared as he charged toward Li Zhongren!
"I'll make you pay with your life! You unfilial son!"

Faced with his father, the great knight who was like a mad tiger, attacking with all his might, Li Zhongren did not even change his posture.

He merely shifted his body slightly, narrowly avoiding the swift slash imbued with violent fighting spirit. Baron Renn changed his move with lightning speed, his sword sweeping horizontally with a sharp wind capable of cutting through steel.

Li Zhongren simply leaped backward, drifting away like a feather, allowing the sword tip to glide perfectly across his chest.

"too slow."

Li Zhongren offered a brief comment.

Baron Renn roared repeatedly, his sword strikes pouring down like a storm. He displayed the exquisite beauty of the Iris Flower Sword Technique to its fullest extent, swift, precise, ruthless, and focused on vital points.

However, in the face of Li Zhongren's agility of 150 points and extraordinary dynamic vision, all of this was like a slow-motion replay. He moved through the sword light like a ghost, each dodge was precise and elegant, and he even had the leisure to flick away the spine of the sword that was stabbing at an unimportant part with his fingers.

"His strength is decent, but his technique for generating power is rough."

"The angle is tricky, but the prediction is too obvious."

"Is this the strength of a great knight that you're so proud of?"

Li Zhongren's words were like cold needles, piercing Baron Renn's pride and nerves.

This was not a fight, but a mockery, a humiliation! The more Baron Renn fought, the more alarmed and desperate he became. He realized that even with all his strength, he couldn't even touch the hem of his opponent's clothes!

Finally, after Li Zhongren seemed to have gotten tired of playing around, he spotted an opening, simply pointed his fingers like a sword, and struck out with lightning speed.

"puff!"

A highly condensed battle aura instantly pierced through Baron Renn's protective battle aura and struck an acupoint on his wrist.

"Clang!"

Baron Renn felt a numbness in his entire arm, and his sword slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.

He tried to resist, but in a flash, Wanda appeared before him, picked up the knight's longsword from the ground, and lightly placed the cold blade against his neck.

That seemingly casual gesture contained a terrifying power that made his soul tremble, as if it could easily sever his head with the slightest force.

All movement came to a sudden halt.

Baron Renn was panting heavily, his hair soaked with sweat, and the madness and anger in his eyes had faded, leaving only immense shock and unspeakable fear.

He stared intently at his son—no, he was a monster!

The Knight King… his power is definitely at the Knight King level! Even stronger! How could he…?

"Now."

Li Zhongren's voice remained calm, yet carried an undeniable air of authority.

"Have you calmed down, my dear father?"

The cold touch of the sword brought Baron Renn to his senses completely; he had been defeated, utterly defeated.

In the face of absolute power, all scheming is a joke.

Surprisingly, the grief and anger on Baron Renn's face quickly subsided. Although his face remained pale, his eyes became unusually complex, eventually turning into an almost cold calm.

He didn't even look at his youngest son's head, but took a deep breath and spoke in a hoarse voice, "You've won, Wanda. Now, what do you want?"

"Request?"

Seeing that Renn had calmed down immediately, Li Zhongren couldn't help but be a little surprised. As expected of a nobleman, his composure and self-control were impressive.

"My request is simple: I want to control the heavens... cough cough, I want to control all the troops within my territory."

"Okay, I'll find some time later to pass the position of baron to you."

Seeing the fleeting sarcasm and disgust in Li Zhongren's eyes, Baron Renn seemed to understand what he was thinking. He smiled self-deprecatingly and said in a low voice.

"You think I'm cold-blooded? Heartless? Wanda, this is how nobles survive. Anger and sorrow cannot bring the dead back to life, nor can they ensure the continuation of a territory. The Wolf family has been passed down for five generations and cannot be destroyed in my hands. Since you have demonstrated the power to protect and even expand the territory, then you are the future."

He paused, and even tried to offer a “better” suggestion.

"Given your current strength and age, I can mobilize all resources, and even compromise with Elena's family to secure their support, in order to earn you a spot to go to the wizarding world!"

"Oh? Won't they avenge their daughter?"

"Revenge? Revenge against the Knight King?"

Renn smiled dismissively.

“They are only worse than me. In the eyes of nobles, the continuation of the territory and the interests of the family are above all else. Everything else can give way to this.”

"Ah"

After chuckling a few times, Li Zhongren shook his head.

"That won't be necessary."

“But Wanda, your talent is so high, you should strive for higher positions. You should know that we nobles, and even the kingdom itself, are all groveling at the feet of wizards. You should.”

“Dear father, take your head out from under your heels and think about why the wizarding community would allow mystical knowledge to be shared with outsiders? Would you teach the essence of breathing techniques to those knights outside?”

"I...I don't know how."

"That's right. Unless you have a deep relationship with wizards, going to the so-called wizarding world will only result in you becoming a consumable or a servant. I have no interest in being a dog for wizards. As for the rest, I have my own methods. You don't need to worry about it."

"as you wish."

Baron Renn was stunned for a moment, then quickly lowered his head, because he realized something. A fourteen-year-old knight king was unprecedented. Did this mean that his son actually possessed some kind of powerful ability?

"call"

Thinking about it this way, he couldn't help but take a deep breath. From his son's fear and disdain for wizards, he saw a possibility.
Seeing this cheap father seemed to remind her of something.

Li Zhongren sheathed his longsword.

He kept this adopted father not out of any so-called kinship; he had no feelings for this man. He only kept him around for the sake of the law. Infighting among his offspring to purge the family was not honorable in the kingdom, but it was acceptable.

If one were to seize power by killing one's father, it would be a challenge to the order of the entire noble class, inevitably leading to unnecessary trouble and even a kingdom's attack.

Although he is strong now, there is no need for him to immediately stand against the entire kingdom or any potential wizard collaborators.

The key is to develop secretly, collect extraordinary materials, and continue to grow stronger.

He could sense that the LV5 breathing technique was far from the end; as long as he had enough skill points, there was still a road ahead!
-
Dividing line

The bloodshed and slaughter at the castle that day seemed to have been blown away by the autumn wind, settling into distant rumors occasionally mentioned by the people and then quickly silenced.

Just as Ryan Wolf had predicted, after Elena's maternal family, the Murphy family, sent a high knight as an envoy to personally experience and confirm Li Zhongren's unfathomable and tangible aura of a knight king, all their hatred and resentment instantly turned into the most practical considerations of self-interest.

Revenge? Not a chance.

The Murphy family's envoys brought a more lucrative trade contract and a respectfully worded congratulatory gift to celebrate the arrival of such a young knight king in the Iris Territory.

The logic of the aristocratic world is cold and efficient: a living, limitless knight king is far more valuable than a dead daughter and grandson.

In fact, to solidify this nascent "friendship," the Murphy family offered even greater preferential treatment in grain trade.

With internal threats eliminated and external pressures turning into support, Baron Rennes took the opportunity to announce his abdication, formally passing the baronial title to his eldest son, Wanda.

The coronation ceremony was simple yet solemn enough. Li Zhongren, now the rightful Baron Wanda, became the new master of the Iris Territory.

Sitting on the baron's throne, a symbol of power, Li Zhongren's gaze had already extended beyond the small hall.

He knew all too well that titles and territories were nothing more than appendages of power in a world where great power belonged to oneself.

He is not in a hurry to implement any social reforms, as that would be meaningless to him at this stage and might instead attract unnecessary attention and unrest.

His only concern was supernatural matter!

The Baron's treasure trove made him realize that such items were rarer than he had ever imagined.

They are scattered among the people, perhaps as family heirlooms, perhaps as decorations by those who do not know their value, or perhaps in the hands of wandering knights, impoverished nobles, or secret organizations.

To acquire them, a large amount of money is required, but more often than not, money is useless. The other party demands barter, exchanging them for extraordinary items, potions, or precious materials of equal or even greater value.

This reminded Li Zhongren of the famous analogy from his previous life: exchanging hundreds of millions of shirts for an airplane.

He now faces a similar predicament: the ordinary produce of the Iris Territory—fish and ore, even if piled up like mountains—might not be enough to exchange for many valuable items in the true supernatural circle.

The entire territory's productivity was a drop in the ocean compared to his enormous demand for "skill points".

"We must change our thinking and have unique, high-value-added products that can attract elite circles."

Li Zhongren's fingers tapped unconsciously on the table.

He ordered a thorough census of the population and resources of the territory.

With a total population of about 100,000, nestled against mountains and facing a river, its main industries are mining and fishing. It is not self-sufficient in food and needs to import it from the fertile plains of the Murphy family. It is a typical medieval territory that is not particularly rich in resources.

How long will it take for him to achieve "skill point freedom" by selling mines and fish?
His gaze finally settled on his unique ability: Qi Mimicry.

This special fighting technique, which originated from the combination of his transmigrated soul and LV5 breathing method, has potential far beyond simply using simulated firearms for killing.

Its most essential ability is to precisely construct any form he perceives using battle aura and endow it with corresponding physical properties. Furthermore, due to the nature of battle aura, it can even have a slight effect of breaking magic or conducting energy.

A bold, groundbreaking idea gradually took shape in his mind.

"What if... I didn't mimic weapons, but rather mimic tools?"

A glint of light flashed in Li Zhongren's eyes.

"Extraordinary + Science, is that a good idea?"

(End of this chapter)