Chapter 134: Chapter 133: Barking

The sun was bright for the next two days, and most of the snow had melted, leaving only patches on shady slopes and behind buildings.

Falling snow isn’t cold; melting snow is.

Although Ronin was now an Advanced Level Knight with a much-strengthened Constitution, he could still feel the temperature drop over the past two days.

Furthermore, everything was quite damp.

The rooms were damp, the castle paths were damp, and the mountain roads, washed over by snowmelt, were even more so.

Ronin rode his Cloud Stepper along a mountain road for a while. The parts with more loess were muddy, and he figured a carriage’s wheels would sink right in.

He planned to wait another two days before setting off.

In an open area of the Inner Castle, Ronin threw a small wooden stick high into the air. “Black Tiger, catch!”

The words had barely left his lips when a black shadow shot out, racing toward the stick. Just as the stick reached the end of its arc, the creature leaped up and snatched it from the air.

“Nice one!”

Ronin exclaimed in admiration. Black Tiger’s leap had been at least a meter and a half high.

That might not seem very high, but Black Tiger was only a month-old cub, no more than fifty centimeters long. For it to jump that high, its explosive power was incredible.

Having caught the stick, Black Tiger wagged its tail and quickly ran over.

Ronin wasn’t stingy. He took a piece of dried meat from the clay bowl Bella was holding and tossed it to the cub.

Black Tiger caught it deftly and trotted to a corner to gnaw on it.

Though Ronin had separated him from the dogs for the past two days, Black Tiger had retained the habits he’d picked up from them.

Ronin walked to Black Tiger’s side and reached out to take the jerky. Sure enough, the little guy bared his teeth and let out a low growl—a classic sign of a dog guarding its food.

WHAP!

Ronin smacked the cub on the head and smoothly took the jerky.

“Guarding your food, are you!”

He then offered the jerky again to repeat the lesson. Black Tiger reacted the same way, earning it a second smack, then a third…

After an unknown number of smacks, Black Tiger seemed to get it. When Ronin’s hand reached out, the cub subconsciously flinched back and let him take the jerky.

At the same time, it wagged its tail, looking up at Ronin with a fawning expression that seemed to say, ’Here, boss, you have it.’

“That’s more like it.”

Ronin gave Black Tiger’s head a good scratch and let him eat the jerky in peace.

“Alright, that’s enough for today.”

Ronin clapped his hands and washed them in the basin of water his butler, Chahar, brought over.

“When I leave in a couple of days, remind Erin to continue this obedience training with Black Tiger. Make sure she’s careful, though. Don’t want the little guy to bite her.”

“Yes, my lord. I understand.”

Chahar had been uncharacteristically free to stay at the castle lately. “My lord, when do you plan to set off for Wushan Castle?”

“Around the fifteenth.”

Ronin dried his hands with a towel. “Leia is making good progress on the silk scarf. She said it’ll be done in another five or six days, so I’ll wait for her.”

“Oh, right. And get that Storm Demon Wolf coat the tailor finished. I need to pack it for the trip.”

These two items were the birthday gifts Ronin was bringing for Lurans.

“The Marquis will be delighted with these gifts.”

“I suppose so.”

Waving his hand to dismiss Chahar to his own tasks, he then began to stroll leisurely through the castle.

He wandered into the hall of the Outer Fortress and saw Erin, with the air of a stern elder, teaching David, Bella, and the others how to read. The students, all eighteen or nineteen years old, were scratching their heads and furrowing their brows, looking utterly miserable.

They grew especially nervous when they saw Ronin, terrified their Lord would decide to quiz them.

Ronin offered a few words of encouragement before climbing a tower. From there, he watched a squad of Guards returning to their posts as twilight fell in the west—

Cavalry had also been recruited over the past half-month. They didn’t have enough horses yet, but they could still train alongside the Guards.

After his walk, Ronin returned to his chambers in the castle and sat at his desk.

Black Tiger, having finished his jerky, followed him inside. Despite the cub’s small size, he was surprisingly fast on the stairs, sometimes leaping several steps at a time.

He circled Ronin’s pant leg a few times, and seeing that his master had no intention of paying him any attention, he lay down to one side and started chewing on a chair leg.

Ronin couldn’t be bothered with the little guy. He took out parchment and a Feather Pen and began to sketch Porcelain designs to serve as a reference for making ceramic ware in the future.

In fact, he’d been drawing one or two sketches from memory before dinner every evening for the past few days. A pile of seven or eight of them already lay on his desk.

Ronin felt his artistic skills had improved considerably since he’d transmigrated. He figured he might even become a famous painter in the future.

’When I have more people under my command,’ he mused, ’I’ll have to compile a book to collect all my designs.’

The Feather Pen scratched across the parchment, slowly outlining the form of a small, heavy-bottomed teacup. Beside the drawing, he noted its dimensions and features.

Ronin was focused on his design, and Black Tiger was diligently chewing on the chair leg. But suddenly, the “little dog” stopped and stared intently at the doorway.

Ronin didn’t notice anything unusual until the little creature started to whimper.

“What’s wrong, Black Tiger?” Ronin set down his pen and looked over, surprised.

He saw Black Tiger get to its feet, staring at the doorway as if facing a powerful enemy, as though something it deeply feared was there.

But Ronin saw nothing out of the ordinary. His manservant, Gallon, was standing guard in the corridor outside, and everything seemed normal.

“What’s gotten into you?” Ronin scolded laughingly.

Outside, Gallon couldn’t help but glance over. Thinking Black Tiger was baring its teeth at him, he shifted further away, his figure disappearing from the doorway.

But then Black Tiger started barking frantically.

Ronin was about to scold him again, but a sudden sense of foreboding rose in his heart.

’It couldn’t be…’

Without a second thought, he activated Wind of Inquiry. Through the eyes of the Wind Element, he sensed a human figure standing starkly just two or three meters in front of his desk.

In that instant, the figure lunged at him.

“Shit!”

Ronin cursed. With no time to react, he kicked hard against the floor, sending himself and his chair tumbling to the side.

At that very moment, a figure clad entirely in black robes appeared in the room. The dagger in his hand stabbed into the spot where Ronin had been.

If he hadn’t moved, that dagger would have plunged right into his heart!

“So, you dodged it.”

The man let out a sinister, mocking laugh, sheathed his dagger, and drew a Longsword. He leaped over the desk and thrust down from above.

“Get back!”

The Flowing Flame Sword appeared in Ronin’s hand, and as he poured Fighting Qi into it, it erupted with a fierce Flame.

“You’re not a Basic Level Knight!”

The man was stunned, but his reaction was instantaneous. He immediately channeled his own Fighting Qi, forming a long Sword Aura and wrapping his body in a suit of cyan-black Fighting Qi Armor.

The two swords collided with a loud CLANG, kicking up a violent storm in the small study. All the papers on the desk were blown into the air, creating a scene of utter chaos.

Black Tiger barked even more frantically. It charged forward, only to be thrown back by a blast of air.

Outside, Gallon had heard the chair topple and was about to check on the commotion. He never imagined what was actually happening inside and froze in the doorway, stunned.

The stalemate lasted but a moment. The immense Power of the black-clad man overwhelmed him, and Ronin was sent flying by the force of the strike, slamming hard against the wall.

“Die!”

The black-clad man didn’t hesitate. He lunged forward, raising his Longsword to take Ronin’s head with a single strike.

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