Chapter Nineteenth: The Imperial Capital's Family Ties

  The training of Eagle Academy is gradually on the right track.

  According to the regulations set by Liú Yún, trainees get up at 6:00 am and then conduct a one-hour physical training session, which includes a five-kilometer long run and basic physical exercises. From 7:00 to 7:30, they wash up and handle personal matters, followed by breakfast at 7:30. The morning training session is from 8:00 to 12:00. Afternoon training is from 2:00 to 6:00 pm, dinner is at 6:30-7:00 pm, and from 7:00 to 8:00 pm, they organize learning sessions on various regulations by squadron unit. Night training is from 8:00 to 10:00 pm, and lights out is at 10:30 pm.

  According to the previous convention, Liú Yún set seven days as a training week. At the end of each week, there were class meetings and team meetings. Training was conducted for six days with one day of rest. Every Monday, Liú Yún personally inspected the training situation. Sundays were designated as rest time for team members. According to Liú Yún's requirements, on Sundays during rest time, team members not only had to work in the vineyard but also enter the pasture for horse riding training.

  After making all the arrangements, Liú Yún often went into the Jade Dragon Mountain alone and came back with some strange stones in his hands. He would then lock himself in his room for research. As for what he was doing, no one, including Old Kǎ, knew anything about it.

  One day later on, Liú Yún received two letters and had no choice but to temporarily stop his research work.

  One letter was from Huajianlei, and the other was from Arei from the Imperial Capital. Liuyun gently opened the letter from Huajianlei.

  "Cloud Gentleman respectfully opens: The gentleman's letter spoke of the matter, and after careful consideration, I have finally decided to follow your wishes. The Roman family will take out some money to do good deeds and start planning the establishment of the Roman Academy. As for how to use the money, please instruct me further. On the day the academy is completed, I look forward to your presence. You are a genius with extraordinary talents, doing unprecedented things, and I admire you deeply. If the Roman family can regain its glory in the future, it will all be thanks to you..."

  Enclosed with the letter was also a packaging design drawing for wine, which made Liuyun praise it repeatedly.

  This painting consists of two scenes and one poem.

  Square bottle, written with wine name "General's Tears".

  To the right below, a group of young men in armor gathered around a bonfire drinking crimson grape wine, their horses and weapons beside them telling people they were about to go on an expedition.

  In the upper left, a young commander walks alone on the battlefield after a big battle, with a sorrowful and melancholic gaze, falling on several young men lying beside him. Those young soldiers were covered in blood red, as if they had fallen asleep after drinking too much wine.

  In the middle of the two pictures, a dragon-like font is written vertically in two lines: "Grape wine and moonlight cup, want to drink pipa horse hurry. Drunk sleep battlefield don't laugh, how many people have returned since ancient times."

  Liuyun couldn't help but sigh: "This girl, Huajiu, is indeed a lovely and delicate girl. The perfect scene has fully expressed the atmosphere I had in mind, even exceeding my own expectations. Moreover, it was clearly me who helped her, yet she said 'as you wish' and made me owe her a favor."

  A bitter smile spread across Liuxing's face. In his memory, this was already the third time Huajian had said "as you wish" to him, and the more he owed her, the more he felt indebted.

  Are's letter told him that the New Year was approaching, and his father hoped he could return to the capital because this year his younger brother Xing Lei would also be coming back, so they could spend the New Year together as a whole family.

  Long-separated family affection surged into Liu Yun's heart, moving him deeply.

  Father, although this child is so useless in your eyes, you still miss him. Lovely little sister Are also makes Liú Yún (Flow Cloud) think of her a lot, and that brother he has never met before also makes him very curious. Plus his own private guard team is about to be formed, and the related procedures need to be handled by Father, so Flow Cloud quickly decided on the time to return to the Imperial Capital.

  Liú Yún quickly finished writing a reply to Huā Jiè Lèi, in which he suggested that she establish a benevolent foundation and offered his own opinions on the construction of the college, the use of the funds, and its operation. He believed that Huā Jiè Lèi would understand and successfully put the fund into action.

  After finishing writing the letter, he thought of returning to Tokyo and called Adams again.

  "Uncle Adams, is there still some wine?"

  "There's some more, young master."

  "That's good. I'll be heading back to the capital in a few days and I'd like to bring some back for my father to try."

  "I'll hurry up and get ready!" Hearing that it was for the old master who was far away in the Imperial City, Adams became excited.

  "Slowly, you bring the wine up, and also bring this letter, to Fengyu City to find Huajianlei Miss, ask her to pack the wine according to the diagram in the letter, then bring it back to me."

  Liu Yun didn't want to take a few broken bottles, fill them with wine and bring them back to the imperial capital. His past experiences told him that the value of packaging sometimes far exceeded the gift itself. What people cared about was not always the gift, but the taste and style it represented.

  Since it's for Father, why not give him a surprise? Liú Yún believes that as an Imperial Standard Soldier, Father will definitely like this gift with the iron blood and romance of a soldier.

  "A hundred years of wind and rain, the ancient city's vicissitudes are hard to express. A thousand years of time, only now reveals the charm of Cloud City. When we parted that day, white clothes were stained with tears, but now returning home, the sound of horse hooves is urgent. In my past life, I already had unrelenting sorrow, and in this life, I've added another sentimental chapter. Who can understand this flavor?"

  Outside Yun'an City, on the official road, three fine horses came galloping. As soon as he saw the imperial capital Yun'an City appear before his eyes, Liu Yun felt a surge of emotions.

  "Is it the feeling of being homesick? Is it the excitement of a traveler returning home?"

  Liú yún light swung his horse whip, "Imperial Capital, I'm back."

  Arriving at the Duke's mansion, Are and Shura were already waiting outside the gate.

  She jumped off the horse's back, and Liuyun walked to Are's front, pulled up her sister's hand, and said softly: "After a long time, my little sister is more beautiful and charming."

  "Second brother, you're finally back! Are is thinking of you." Holding hands tightly, a layer of mist appeared in Are's lively eyes.

  "Hehe, silly girl. Second brother is back and you should be happy, don't cry or I'll laugh at you." Liuyun comforted his adorable little sister who had always been very concerned about him.

  Jīng Léi walked forward, carefully sizing up Liú Yún's body, then stretched out his hand and calmly said: "Second Brother, it's been a long time."

  Liuyun also scrutinized his younger brother: handsome in appearance, tall and strong in build, with a resolute expression, exuding an aura of heroism. In "his" memory, the impression of Surging Thunder was not deep, it can be seen that the relationship between the two has never been very good.

  "What an extraordinary young man", he silently praised in his heart. Liú Yún also stretched out his hand and lightly shook with Jīng Léi, "Finally met you, Third Brother."

  Jīng Léi had always been studying at Cloud City Magic Martial Academy, rarely returning home. Even during holidays, he would travel with his classmates to various places. As for Liú Yún, he didn't have much of an impression, but her notorious reputation was well-known.

  During his days studying at Yun Cheng Academy, he had always kept his identity hidden (many noble children did the same in Yun Cheng Wu Academy), and few people knew that he also had such an older brother, whom he was too ashamed to mention.

  When Liu Yun was forced to divorce and leave the Imperial Capital, Jing Lei's anger burned in his heart, hating Liu Yun, the young nobles of the Imperial Capital, and even the princess. Towards Liu Yun, he hated him for not fighting back, allowing their family to suffer such great humiliation, but as a descendant of the glorious Cai family, he also couldn't accept others treating his brother like that.

  Later, when the news of Liú Yún's blood oath spread and he was admired by the girls at Mó Wǔ Academy, his view of Liú Yún changed slightly: At least he was a man who took responsibility.

  "These two are Iverson and Walker." Liú Yún turned around to introduce the accompanying Iverson and Walker, "This is my sister Arley, Third Brother Jīng Léi."

  Iverson and Walker hastily bowed their heads: "Iverson, Walker has seen Miss and Young Master."

  "The little sister has seen two older brothers." Are replied cleverly with a courtesy.

  And while Xue Zhengyuan was returning the courtesy, he curiously sized up the two of them: These two are quite strange, they don't look like attendants and haven't been seen in the mansion before, who are they?

  As they walked towards the mansion, Are rushed happily by Liuyun's side and asked in a low voice, "Second Brother, where is she?"

  "Which one is she?" Liú Yún looked at her sister in confusion.

  "It's her you want to protect for a lifetime." Are said with a mischievous glint in her eye, smiling sweetly.

  Liu Yun's face suddenly turned red, "It seems that the Wulong I set up at first had a great impact."

  "She didn't come with me." Before departure, Old Ka had mentioned to Liu Yun that he should bring Shui Ling'er back together.

  But Liu Yun immediately refused, because he felt that if he had to face Shui Ling'er every day, he would rather go and face the Huo Yun beast. It wasn't that he disliked Shui Ling'er, but her melancholic eyes were a kind of invisible pressure on him, making him want to go mad.

  The old card refused to give up and ran to do the work of Shuiling, but ended up with a nose full of dust, and had no choice but to give up.

  Yan Tian and Mu Feng had not returned to the mansion yet, after Liu Yun rested for a while, he suggested going to see A Lei's training situation. So, they all came to the martial arts hall in the mansion.

  "Third brother, you and little sister have a match. I'll see how far she's progressed." Flowing Cloud thought that among the people present, only Lei Hong's martial skills were slightly inferior, making him suitable to practice with A'Lei, so he said to him.

  Jīng léi wúnài de yáo le yáo tóu.

  Translation:

  The thunder helplessly shook its head.

  "Second Brother, Third Brother has been forbidden from martial arts and leaving the house by Father. He... " Are couldn't continue what she was about to say, being glared at by Shui Lei, she quickly shut up.

  Later, Liú Yún came to know that his younger brother, after returning from the Mó Wǔ Academy, would often go out and cause trouble for those young nobles, knocking them down in groups. He even went so far as to boast that he would beat those scoundrels until they disappeared from the streets. The reason he did this was to avenge Liú Yún's past grievances. When the informants came to the door, Huǒ Tiān was furious, and Léi Léi was confined to his quarters for a month, forbidden from practicing martial arts. This left Liú Yún crying with laughter, but at the same time, he also felt that his younger brother was a man of strong emotions: A true hero should act on his feelings.

  "Let's go practice with Are, Walker," said Liú Yún, turning to face him and adding in a low voice, "Be gentle."

  Warrior facing a close-range magician has an absolute advantage, plus the reminder of Liuyun, Walker is relaxed and became a sparring partner.

  Under Walker's attack, Are didn't show a hint of disturbance. Apart from using agile steps to dodge, she also easily dissipated the occasional bursts of energy that hit her. At the same time, the magic she released continued to cause trouble for Walker. As time passed, Walker's expression became increasingly solemn, and he also brought out a few parts of his true strength.

  "Yun Shao, you're a freak, and your sister is too. If this continues, I won't go all out, it's just waiting for humiliation." Walker scolded Yun Shao in his heart.

  "Alright."

  The sound of the flowing clouds was like celestial music in Walker's ears, and Walker, who was covered in sweat and had a red face, walked off the court, whispering to Iverson: "Next time something like this happens, I'd rather die than go on stage."

  Liu Yun was very satisfied with Are's performance. On this continent, magicians usually fought against other magicians and rarely clashed with warriors. With Are's current strength, she should be able to defend herself against a primary swordsman. Adding magic attacks would make her unbeatable.

  Watching Arre's performance, Shura was very surprised. In his memory, no magician could remain undefeated and counterattack in a warrior's close-range attack, but Arre did it.

  Those magical steps, the precise moves, made him look as if he was drunk and infatuated. Especially one move that almost locked Walker's throat, which shocked him to the extreme. And Walker's attacks, even though some of them landed on Arey, were dissolved by a surge of energy, yet it wasn't internal energy, which left him baffled.

  "Second brother, I didn't do too badly, did I?" Aretha said, completely unaware of Walker's awkward expression.

  "Uh, not bad, you must keep practicing seriously. Just now, Walker was afraid of hurting you and didn't dare to be too serious, don't get complacent." Noticing Walker's expression, Liuyun spoke up for him to ease the situation.

  "Woak spoke out upon hearing Yun's words, 'Yun is being too modest, Miss Are's performance was enough to surprise people.'"

  "Third brother, what are you staring at? Haha, I know, you're jealous of me, right?" Are walked up to Jing Lei's face, pulled his sleeve, and whispered in his ear: "Second brother taught me, isn't it awesome? You have to keep it a secret for me, I'm saving it for next year's magic competition. If you want, pester second brother more, he'll teach you too."

  Jīng Léi heard this and couldn't help but look at Liú Yún in surprise. "Could it be that this miracle was created by him? Mó Wǔ Shuāng Xiū, isn't he considered to have the least prospects on the continent? Why wasn't ā Lěi affected?"