Chapter 115: Importance and Tradition

No pursuit followed.

As Liu Tian had said earlier, this was his territory. A foe relying solely on speed without any other strength—though Liu Tian himself was unafraid—chasing and killing such an opponent wouldn’t be a matter of moments. At best, the result would be turning the entire city into ruins.

Since he had resolved to establish a heaven on earth, it was acceptable to impose some self-restraint for its sake. After all, this Angre bore him no grudge, posed no threat to his abilities, and caused no real damage. His purpose in coming was merely to invite Lu Mingfei to transfer schools.

If he chose to let it go, then so be it.

Moreover, Liu Tian clearly sensed that the old man still had trump cards. Fifteen times the speed of sound might not even be his limit. If a fight broke out, Liu Tian had only two options: one, play defense and counterattack, using recoil to obliterate him; two, launch a massive assault to scour the land.

Liu Tian could certainly do both—the first he had mastered during his era as the King of the Century, having learned to reflect attacks; the second, large-scale assaults, were even easier for him.

Although he could not directly command the elements or wield what was called “Word Spirit,” he still had ways to indirectly harness the elements.

With the unique elemental aid on this planet, his maximum attack range expanded a hundredfold, allowing him to affect areas measured in hundreds of kilometers with a single strike.

While the damage per point of impact at that scale was minimal at his level—barely more than a mere scratching—for an opponent who relied only on speed, it was a perfect countermeasure to death.

No matter how fast they moved, escaping the attack range was meaningless—after all, the propagation speed of magnetic fields was, damn it, the speed of light; the crackling of lightning was also at light speed.

Manipulating magnetic fields and playing with lightning was instinctive to him. Given Angre’s physical prowess displayed earlier, if he were to endure a thunderstorm charged with billions of volts, there would be no way out other than being struck dead.

But in the city now, if they truly fought, Angre might die anytime, yet the entire city would certainly be reduced to utter ruin before that.

Liu Tian was not like that magnetic field madman; he refused to engage in meaningless slaughter of future citizens.

“So fast,” Shami jumped out from the hole just then. She had collided head-on with Angre as he charged out. Fortunately, Angre didn’t realize she was a Dragon King; otherwise, he might have casually slashed her.

Unlike Liu Tian, whose basic defense was akin to a hundred meters of thick steel, Shami’s defense without her dragon form was only marginally better than that of an ordinary girl—nowhere near comparable to Chu Zihang’s wind barrier, which was always active and automatically defended like Liu Tian’s.

“A hybrid can be this fast? We can’t even match that speed. If someone pulled a close-range sneak attack at this velocity, I might not even have time to cancel the Word Spirit before it’s too late,” Shami said with a hint of fear. “Why are there so many monsters on this planet?”

“That’s because your alertness is too low, and your physical fitness is weak. The so-called spiritual element is essentially an electromagnetic wave carrying personal will, and electromagnetic waves travel at light speed. How could you not have time to cancel the Word Spirit?” Liu Tian turned his head and said, “I haven’t seen other Dragon Kings, but if they only have this speed, then Odin—yes, even the substitute of his I killed—would have had enough time to cancel the Word Spirit.”

“Eh, I’m just an ordinary pretty girl,” Shami said unashamedly. “How could I compare to you guys? Besides, senior, you’ll protect me, right?”

“Starting tomorrow, you’ll train in secret martial arts,” Liu Tian said without answering her question. “Your reaction speed isn’t bad, your learning ability should be okay, and your basic qualities are not weak. Get trained to be a fighter within two years.”

“Eh! Helping out and training too—I won’t even have time to sleep.”

“Then don’t sleep,” Liu Tian said coldly. “I just discovered how buggy Time Zero is. You must have self-protection abilities.”

“Alright, alright, fine, fine,” Shami replied helplessly. “I’ll agree to whatever you say.”

This recent discovery increased Shami’s importance in battle, and Liu Tian resolved to improve the girl’s defense and combat skills.

Upon realizing that Dragon Kings might still possess means to amplify their speed by tens or even hundreds of times, Liu Tian’s sense of crisis grew. If Dragon Kings could achieve such amplification, and it was impossible to cancel this shameless Word Spirit, then in the worst case, his only solution would be to directly obliterate the star.

Unlike fragile humans, Dragon Kings were already very fast, heavily defended, and had long health bars. The large-scale damage Liu Tian could deal might not be lethal to them.

If the fight dragged on, the Dragon Kings could simply escape, and he wouldn’t be able to pursue.

Moreover, Dragon Kings would possess enough power to threaten him. Based on the Odin substitute he had fought, if its speed were amplified a hundredfold further, it could truly threaten Liu Tian’s life during the speed boost. Beyond that, the threat would be even greater.

If no one could cancel this Word Spirit, then besides scorched-earth tactics, Liu Tian might be forced to shamelessly rely on continuously refreshing his physical state through sheer effort to endure a war of attrition.

God only knows how much destruction that would cause. Liu Tian was now a disaster-level combat force, capable of annihilating a small city in mere seconds at full power.

Aside from the two Dragon Kings currently by his side, there were six more. Counting Odin, the Black King, and the White King who might appear anytime, the best-case scenario was that Liu Tian would win the battle—but humanity would be nearly finished.

“Senior,” Lu Mingfei stepped forward, as if to announce he still existed after the two had seemingly finished their discussion.

“You really gave me quite a surprise,” Liu Tian said, turning to size up Lu Mingfei, lingering for several seconds on the war marks that bore a striking resemblance—if not identical—to the Dark Nine. Then he asked, “Are you really determined? To join the heaven on earth as a guest official? Your situation now differs from mine before, after consuming the gift I gave you—you already have a solid foundation. Under these circumstances, I suggest you choose the second option. It’s immediate and gives you freedom.”

“If I were you, I’d definitely pick the second option. Joining the heaven on earth means you want to redeem my secret skills—but that takes quite some time. Right now, you’re still a bit weak.”

“...” Lu Mingfei, sensing Liu Tian’s honesty—since apart from battle, he rarely concealed his emotions—was silent for a moment before saying, “I want to exchange goodwill for martial arts, and then officially join heaven on earth.”

“Not as a guest official who can leave anytime, but as a full member.”

“Are you sure?” Liu Tian asked. “I heard Angre earlier; it’s clear your parents have long since joined other factions. If you officially join my heaven on earth, you must follow my orders. That means, if we ever meet on the battlefield, I want you to kill Lu Lincheng and Qiaowei Ni without hesitation—not even for a second.”

“Otherwise, it’s betrayal. I’ll obliterate them along with you!” Liu Tian patted Lu Mingfei’s shoulder and pulled out a phone. “This is my phone. Think carefully and give me your answer tomorrow.”

“If you’re sure, call Shao, ranked third. A life-changing decision like this cannot be made in a moment of passion...”

...

At night, inside a huge bath, Shami suddenly asked candidly, “Senior, was what you said to Lu Mingfei true? If he turns hostile, will you really let him go?”

“What else?” Liu Tian retorted. “Once he joins heaven on earth, he’s mine. If he can’t carry out even the most basic orders, isn’t that betrayal?”

“However, under normal circumstances, I won’t let it come to that. But young people are impulsive. If I don’t tell him the worst-case scenario, he might not truly grasp the gravity of his choice.”

“After all, he has a choice. The previous members of heaven on earth never did.”

“Zihang, wipe my back.”