Chapter Nineteen: Mother and Son Truly Resemble Each Other

“……”
Inside the grand hall, everyone was solemn.
The royal mages stood in two lines, while Linley, bound hand and foot, was placed alone on the floor in the center.
“Um… excuse me…”
Unable to endure the prolonged silence, Linley spoke up. “It’s getting late. Isn’t anyone going home for dinner?”
“Dinner?!”
The king roared, stepping forward in agitation, only to wince and furrow his brows.
“Father, are you alright?”
Lin Wen looked at him anxiously.
“I’m fine!”
The king snorted coldly, his eyes fixed on Linley with a deathly glare.
The surrounding royal mages were inwardly stunned. His Majesty truly lived up to his reputation! Rumor had it that the Vast Ocean’s Fury had not only shattered the diamond throne beneath him, but he acted as if nothing had happened, moving freely and even looking quite healthy. Remarkable indeed!
“This is what it means to remain unfazed even when Mount Tai collapses before you!”
The mages were full of admiration as they compared themselves to the king. Their own explosion spells were barely half as powerful as the Vast Ocean’s Fury, yet whenever Linley so much as made a move, they’d clutch their behinds in terror—utterly shameful!
“Lin Wen, how long will the anesthesia last?”
The king secretly used magic to communicate with Lin Wen.
“Another half hour,” Lin Wen whispered back. This time, half the king’s backside had been blown apart. The royal physician was using anesthesia and magic to control the injury, but if they didn’t get proper treatment within thirty minutes, the king would likely be confined to bed for a month.
“I’ve already asked Mother to return from Twin Moon City via the portal. She’ll be here shortly.”
The “Mother” Lin Wen spoke of was the queen. The elven king had a queen and a consort. Lin Wen was born to the consort, while Linley was the queen’s child.
The queen was the most outstanding priestess among the wood elves in a century, reputed to revive the dead and mend flesh and bone. She was now headmistress of the Priests’ Academy and rarely stayed at the palace.
The king had to discipline Linley before she arrived.
“I’ve tolerated your mischief with the mages, but now you dare attack me,” the king said, growing angrier as he looked at Linley. “If I weren’t a warrior, you would have killed me. If you unleashed that spell on anyone else, do you think they would have survived?”
The mages shivered inwardly. He was right—the Vast Ocean’s Fury was far too dangerous! Thankfully, only the king had been hit; anyone else would have died.
Linley felt wronged. How was he supposed to know the spell would be so indiscriminate?
He glanced up at Lin Wen, winking at him. “Brother, put in a good word for me!”
Lin Wen forced a bitter smile but showed nothing on his face, only making a few subtle gestures: “Impossible. You blew up the biggest boss. I can’t help you.”
Linley felt even more depressed. This brother was useless—always around when not needed, but nowhere to be found in a crisis.
Since things had come to this, he could only accept his fate.
“Father, I promise never to use the Infinite Divine Art in the palace again,” he said.
The king’s anger diminished slightly, but only just. He still wasn’t pacified. After all, he’d suffered a great humiliation this time—Linley had to be taught a lesson.
“It’s not just about your training. Your teacher tells me you often skip classes too,” the king pressed on. “You live too idly here in the palace, always thinking about nothing but play. I’ve indulged you before, but if I continue, you’ll be completely spoiled!”

A sense of foreboding crept into Linley’s heart.
“I’m planning to send you to a school for some proper discipline,” the king announced. The mages’ expressions changed instantly.
“No, Your Majesty!”
“Absolutely not!”
“The young prince cannot go to school!”
They rushed to intervene. The king looked at them, puzzled. “Are you that attached to him?”
“Not at all.”
The mages shook their heads vigorously. In fact, they couldn’t wait for Linley to leave the palace. With the enchanted earring, he could transmit his cultivation data back no matter where he was. The problem was, no school could possibly contain him.
“Your Majesty, people die in schools.”
“Absolutely, there’ll be casualties!”
“It’d be a miracle if no one dies!”
The mages feared he’d cause a deadly incident at a school—a real possibility, given his lack of control over his powers. In the palace, no one had died because the residents were tough, but among the schoolchildren, it would be a massacre.
There were apprentice mages in the palace as well, but the mages kept them far from Linley; the young prince was a walking disaster.
The king was dissatisfied. “If school won’t work, I still need to teach him a lesson. What do you suggest?”
“Send him to the battlefield?”
“Yes, the battlefield!”
The mages weren’t exactly benevolent themselves. They seized the opportunity to suggest the one place they knew could restrain Linley—the battlefield.
“No, that’s too dangerous,” Lin Wen objected.
“He’ll have guardians. There won’t be any problems.”
“The battlefield is perfect for the young prince to practice cultivation!”
The mages held firm, but Lin Wen continued to oppose them.
“Enough,” the king decided on a compromise. “Send him to the Fontaine Archipelago for a month.”
The Fontaine Archipelago was an untamed chain of islands used for new recruit training. While not an active war zone, it was crawling with wild beasts and monsters, making it almost as perilous as the front lines. Many nobles sent their children there for tempering.
“The Fontaine Archipelago is a good idea.”
“But the young prince is too young.”
The mages approved, but travel to the archipelago was restricted to elves over sixteen, and Linley was far too young.
“No problem. We’ll say he’s sixteen,” the king replied coldly. “He’s articulate, and with a mask, no one will suspect a thing.”
Lin Wen immediately pictured a group of rookies crowding around Linley, full of curiosity.
“Hey, are you really sixteen?”
“Yeah—what, you got a problem? I’m just short by nature. If you’re prejudiced, I’ll knock you out!”
—Yes, that scenario would definitely happen!

Lin Wen could only smile wryly. Their father might intend this as punishment, but Linley would never see it that way. In fact, he’d probably consider it a reward—he’d been longing to leave the palace for ages!
He glanced at Linley, who was indeed gleaming with excitement, clearly not viewing this as punishment at all.
“I can finally leave the palace!”
Linley was overjoyed. He’d never been outside before—this was perfect! An archipelago, no less—a true honeymoon destination!
“Wait, you haven’t asked for my opinion yet!”
A voice suddenly rang out from outside the hall.
Linley shuddered, his smile vanishing at once.
“That voice…”
Trembling, he turned to see a silver-haired elf woman stride in.
The moment she appeared, it seemed as if all the light in the hall vanished, leaving only the sacred white glow surrounding her.
“Good heavens, she’s dazzling…”
“So dazzling!”
Everyone was nearly blinded by her radiance. Linley squeezed his eyes shut and cried out, “Too bright! Mother, turn off your illumination spell!”
The elf woman chuckled, and the white glow behind her faded away.
“My dear child, it’s been so long.”
She walked over and scooped Linley up. This beautiful woman was Winnie, Linley’s mother—and the one he most dreaded meeting, for the two were too much alike!
When Winnie still lived in the palace, her pranks had made Linley suffer countless times. Their personalities were almost identical. She was a woman who lived entirely by her whims, and a few years ago, she’d left the palace to become a headmistress simply because she wanted to build a Gundam—no, a mecha!
Linley had told her about cultivation novels with mechas, and she’d promptly decided to make one herself. The king had forbidden her from tinkering in the palace, so she’d gone off to head a school, diverting funds as she pleased.
This queen was whimsical to the extreme, acting on every impulse, and she knew Linley inside out—always forcing him to do whatever he hated most.
“I don’t agree with sending Linley to the Fontaine Archipelago. I have my own method of punishing him!”
Winnie ruffled Linley’s hair. “Darling, I’ve prepared an animal costume for you. You’ll be the mascot at the Twin Moon City New Year Festival—and you’ll have to show your face, of course.”
“What? I don’t want to be in the festival! I want to go to the Fontaine Archipelago!”
Linley began to struggle. He refused to be a mascot. It was bad enough that his cultivation antics had already caused a national uproar; if he became a recognizable mascot, he’d never be able to adventure incognito again!
“This is punishment—you don’t get to choose,” Winnie said sweetly, turning to the king. “Your Majesty, you know what to do.”
It was a threat—if the king didn’t cooperate, she wouldn’t treat his injuries.
“Mother and son are truly cut from the same cloth,”
Lin Wen thought to himself.