Chapter 57: The Knight hates exams (4)
When reading wuxia novels, two major factions often appear: the Demonic Sect and the Northern Ice Palace. If you’ve read wuxia during your student days, you’d know that these two factions are typically depicted as extremely powerful, often to the point of repetition.
The reason why martial artists from the Northern Ice Palace and the Demonic Sect are frequently portrayed as the strongest is due to the sheer strength of their individual members. Living in harsh environments, fighting every day—it’s only natural they become strong. In this world, the Lionels are essentially the equivalent of the Northern Ice Palace and the Demonic Sect.
Fighting monstrous creatures in the barren, frozen wastelands every day, building their territory amidst snowstorms and icy mountains—how could they not be strong?
In addition, in such a fierce and unforgiving environment, the people are loyal only to the Lionels, a family that bears the bloodline of the winged lion. They swear absolute loyalty to this family, and in doing so, have built a territory and military force the size of a kingdom.
In reality, they possess the most powerful military and the largest territory among the kingdom’s forces.
They are the only faction where the contradictory principles of worshipping strength and absolute loyalty to the royal family coexist.
That’s why Ihan referred to them as the "Northern Demonic Sect."
‘In modern terms, it’s like they fully developed Siberia—and then took it a step further.’
With such power, the Lionels are formidable, even for Pendragon to handle. They remain one of the founding families of the kingdom only because of ancestral vows. They could declare independence at any time.
It’s said that half of Lionel’s military strength comes from a single order of knights.
The Northern Iron Lion Knights.
Alongside the White Silver Lion Knights, they are one of only two knightly orders in the kingdom allowed to use the lion insignia. However, society places the Black Iron Lions above the White Silver Lions. It’s natural to fear a predator ruling the frozen plains more than a tamed beast in a zoo.