Evil dragon has a warm heart
Chapter 219 - 219 218 Ice Age Is Coming

Chapter 219: Chapter 218 Ice Age Is Coming Chapter 219: Chapter 218 Ice Age Is Coming Katie was only twenty-eight years old this year, and had already excavated six groups of main meridians. After the successful reconstruction of her Battle Qi, there was great hope for her promotion to Great Knight.

“With this, Eric, Grof, and Katie, I would have three Great Knights, and counting myself, that makes four,” Russell squinted his eyes, leaning on Unicorn Polly, silently contemplating the future developments.

If the four Great Knights could all bond with Fantasy Beasts, that would mean four Phantom Beast Knights.

Waging war on the Snowfield for three to five years, they should be able to gather quite a few Ice Soul Pearls for Little Dream Dragon to devour.

Russell wondered if this might revive Little Dream Dragon’s true form, causing it to burst forth from the volcano.

Looking through the bamboo leaves at the sky, Russell mused, “The growth period of Great Dragons is extremely long, but if I start nurturing Phantom Beast Knights now and seize the Ice Soul Pearls to feed Ice Cream, perhaps I could mount a Great Dragon and carve out my own kingdom sooner.”

In the following days, Wuyao Snake Manor was bustling with activity.

To help the newly purchased serfs integrate into the territory quickly, Russell required that each hamlet hold a bonfire party, giving young serf men and women a chance to interact, and those who took a fancy to each other could marry and start families without delay.

Occasionally, Russell would personally appear at the bonfire parties to share in the joy with the people.

As a result, after just a few short days, a large number of young serfs chose to marry—since it was matrimony within the manor, no taxes were required. Only when a manor serf married someone from outside the area, especially if they married out, would taxes be levied.

While busy integrating the bustling serfs, Russell also frequently inspected the progress of various construction projects throughout his entire territory.

Under the management of several pig-hearding technicians, the just matured offspring of the Black Gold Pigs had successfully impregnated several Golden Black Sows.

Over at the Bear Honeybee Farm, beekeeper Kenny had finally raised several new queen bees, successfully expanding the scale of the bee colony.

Now that the local nectar sources for Bear Honeybees weren’t sufficient, Russell specially instructed Knight Attendant James, who served as the transportation captain of the territory, to escort Kenny on trips throughout the Glowing Valley to raise Bear Honeybees.

Meanwhile, at the river clam pond, Rib Jimmy was reassigned by Russell to be the clam-hearding technician, continuing to expand the cultivation scale of the precious pearl clams.

At the same time, he also appointed a serf skilled in fishing known as Cement Loach Londo to be a fish-hearding technician, raising fishes in the lower reaches of the Glowing River. Cement Loach Londo, a villager of Grotto Village, had previously used the cold springs in Echo Water River Cavern to raise fishes and possessed a certain level of fish-farming expertise.

Moreover.

Russell also assigned Mrs. Sharby, the village head of Lentil Hamlet, with a task to explore greenhouse vegetable cultivation during the ice period.

Mrs. Sharby and her physically impaired husband Sharby were skilled vegetable growers, and since the villagers of Lentil Hamlet were heavily involved in vegetable cultivation, it was a good opportunity to mobilize them to experiment with greenhouse vegetables or vegetables that could be consumed during winter.

Vegetables like bean sprouts and chive shoots, for instance, could be developed.

At the same time, Russell also instructed Charles to encourage serfs to breed more poultry such as chickens, ducks, and geese.

As for livestock like pigs, cattle, and sheep, they too needed to be gradually developed.

“Without eating more meat and eggs, how can the children of the territory foster the seeds of Battle Qi? If the youngsters aren’t up to standard, how can they train to become Knights in the future?” This was Russell’s line of thinking, as he needed a group of strong subordinates to accompany him in his venture of making a mark on the world.

Even if a kingdom were to be established in the future, people were needed to govern the territory, and to start preparing now was the best choice.

Time flew by, and November turned over its page to December.

The scorching summer season had passed, and the temperature began to decrease gradually.

At the Grand Scholar Roundtable of Red Castle, a group of Grand Scholars calculated this year’s warm terranean climate and announced the results—the warm season might end by late December, and at the latest would not exceed mid-January of the following year, by which time the Snow Demon would sweep through again.

The cold was about to return.

Of course, the advent of the ice period did not mean that snow would immediately begin to flutter down; the ice period often lasted about four months, with only the coldest two months experiencing snow and ice in the warm lands.

On this day.

Russell stood on the lawn in front of the Cigar Courtyard, his fine steel longsword swinging continuously. After practicing a set of “Radiant Swordsmanship Technique”, he started to cultivate the Shadowflame Asura Swordsmanship. Sword Qi burst forth around him like fluttering ribbons.

With a thrust of his sword, leveraging its movement, his Battle Qi suddenly blasted open a tiny subsidiary meridian.

“Huff!”

Sheathing his sword, Russell exhaled a breath of turbid air, “Another small meridian has been opened, and the Grand Circulation is not far away! At most another half a month, by the end of this year, I will definitely connect all the meridians into one and advance to Great Knight!”

From the beginning of September to the start of December, a full three months had passed, and he had hardly missed a morning or evening session of Battle Qi cultivation.

Effort never betrays the diligent, and he was gradually reaching the realm of a Great Knight.

Wiping away his sweat, Russell didn’t stop to rest but instead shouted to someone not far away, “Grove, come fight!”

Big Dumb Bear Grof had already become the captain of the manor’s guard knights, so he practiced with Russell every day.

Upon hearing this, he immediately left the four knight attendants and strode up to Russell, “Yes.”

A moment later, the two of them were locked in combat in the center of the lawn, but it was clear that Russell had the upper hand.

The reason was simple: although Grof was indeed a Great Knight, his swordsmanship was much weaker and not as refined as Russell’s. Nonetheless, as a Great Knight with his meridians unified and Battle Qi solidified, it wasn’t easy for Russell to defeat him.

The two exchanged blows, Russell dominating the scene, but Grof stood unyielding with the might of his Qi Round Vigor.

Finally, Russell, out of breath, leapt out of the battle circle, “That’s enough for today. Your Tortoise Strategy is getting more proficient. Until I become a Great Knight, it’s going to be tough to defeat you.”

“Sir, your swordsmanship is unpredictable. If we fought to the death, I wouldn’t last long,” Grof admitted honestly.

This was not only the truth but a grand one at that.

With his transcendent swordsmanship alone, Russell could put pressure on Grof, not to mention his two major skills: the Six Meridian Divine Sword and Thorn Whip. No mere Great Knight could stand against him, and even a Phantom Beast Knight would be a fair match.

Russell smiled and said, “You need to get your spirits up, too. Every time we spar, I can’t feel your desire to fight.”

“Heh heh,” Grof scratched the back of his head.

“I’ve had you join more bonfire parties. What’s the matter, still haven’t found a girl to your liking?”

Grof looked slightly embarrassed, “No.”

“It seems the girls in our territory aren’t up to par, not catching your eye. I’ll have Charles arrange for you to get out more, maybe then you’ll meet someone,” Russell hoped that Grof would ignite his passion soon.

Not to always be complacent.

A complacent follower can hardly play a significant role, neither keen on cultivating nor fighting, how could he help build achievements in the future.

Grof gave a goofy smile.

Russell then gestured toward a female knight nearby and said, “Katie has been eager to try for a long time. Grof, go and have a proper duel with her.”

“Yes.”

Since Katie had successfully restarted her Battle Qi cultivation, Russell had her come over every morning to practice together, hoping to nurture her talent.

Female Great Knights are indeed rare, and female Phantom Beast Knights even rarer.

But if he had a female Phantom Beast Knight follower in his ranks, that would be really cool, and it might even inspire more girls to cultivate Battle Qi and achieve something in the future.