Chapter Twenty-Seven: Peering

Pei County, situated in the middle tier of the Red Cloud Empire’s seven-level administrative hierarchy—province, prefecture, circuit, county, township, town, and market—had always been known for its fierce and robust folk traditions. In the height of summer, it was especially common to see brawny men everywhere.

Among these muscular men, even with the standards of Liu Yun and his son, they could only be considered average, nothing exceptional.

“What’s next?” Liu Tian asked his father at the station entrance, “Should we walk?”

But Liu Yun was well prepared. “I’ve already sent a telegram to your second uncle. They’ll come to pick us up. We just need to wait a bit.”

“By the way, since you’ve returned, you seem much more talkative than before. Have you reached a breakthrough?” They chatted idly under the shade of a tree as large as a greenhouse.

“I’m about to break through to Fighter.” Liu Tian glanced at his panel. After all his relentless efforts, his accumulated Source Points had unknowingly risen to fifteen. But no wonder the Fighter realm was known as the final stage—despite saving as many points as he’d spent on all previous levels combined, he still couldn’t see the familiar upgrade icon for Martial Path of Heaven’s Slaughter. Only the icon for upgrading or fusing the Draconic Steps, which he had learned on a whim, was still there.

Liu Tian wasn’t planning to expand his combat abilities for now, so he kept saving his points, waiting for the day he could break through to Fighter through sheer effort before considering any further expansion.

According to the description from the Dao of Heaven, there was an immense gap between Fighters of the Martial Path of Heaven’s Slaughter and the levels below. For example, Liu Tian could currently shatter a mud wall in the countryside with a casual punch and take a small-caliber bullet to the face. But once he broke through to Fighter and further honed his physique, he could withstand submachine gun fire to non-vital points without losing combat effectiveness, and punch through tank armor with strength to spare.

Therefore, Liu Tian saw no reason to waste time on anything else before becoming a Fighter—after all, no rule said he couldn’t learn other martial arts after reaching that level.

In fact, every renowned Fighter was skilled in three or four different martial arts, and some had even broken through the Fighter realm in all of them.

The most prominent example was the Dao of Heaven himself. Ten years ago, he had already broken through the Fighter limit in five martial arts. Now, after a decade of refinement, he had seven martial arts at the Fighter level, far surpassing the average of two that excellent Fighters managed.

After all, as the saying goes, “There is no first in literature, no second in martial arts.” Without overwhelming power, how could the Dao of Heaven be universally acknowledged as the world’s greatest?

The first martial art is always the easiest to break through, and also brings the greatest growth. Each subsequent breakthrough becomes more difficult, and even with martial arts of the same grade, each one enhances the body less than the last.

Even a prodigy like the Dao of Heaven would be hard-pressed to achieve an even number of breakthroughs before reaching the end of his lifespan. Otherwise, if martial arts could be endlessly stacked, physical strength would grow without limit, and there would be no lament for the end of the martial artist era after the world wars.

“You’re about to become a Martial Artist? Not bad—wait, what did you say?” Liu Yun took a sip of water, ready to encourage his dear son, but suddenly realized, “Fighter? Not Martial Artist?”

“I surpassed Martial Artist long ago,” Liu Tian replied nonchalantly, contemplating his next direction of advancement. “After I broke through, all the potential I’d built up seemed to erupt at once. My progress in martial arts has been smooth ever since, and now I’m right at the threshold of Fighter. With a bit more effort, I’ll cross over. If I weren’t about to become a Fighter, would Master have permitted me to spend time researching the Lost Empire instead of training?”

“Fighter? Not yet eighteen, and already a Fighter? And in a top-tier secret art like Martial Path of Heaven’s Slaughter?” Liu Yun looked at his son as though seeing him for the first time. “If I hadn’t carried you out of the delivery room myself, I’d suspect you weren’t my own son.”

“How come I never realized you were so talented before? You’ve really been working hard lately…” Liu Yun instinctively moved to embrace him in celebration, but seeing Liu Tian’s obvious reluctance and his step back, he gave up and could only repeat himself, “Good, good, very good!”

“I have worked hard,” Liu Tian closed the effort panel. “It took a lot of work, but I suppose I’m just a late bloomer. According to Master, my senior brother Bai Ci’nan broke through to Fighter at seventeen. I’m almost eighteen…”

“Wait—a moment. Someone’s watching us?” As he spoke, a strange awareness surged in Liu Tian’s mind. In an instant, he was ready for battle.

That martial artist’s keen instinct told him someone—someone with ill intent—was observing them from the crowd.

The feeling was unmistakable: killing intent.

If it weren’t for the killing intent, the Martial Path of Heaven’s Slaughter would never have reacted instinctively.

Damn, I’ve been discovered! This one’s tricky…

The person secretly comparing portraits was clearly no amateur. The moment Liu Tian’s aura changed, he realized he’d been exposed. Without hesitation, he averted his gaze and used the crowd and his knowledge of the area to slip away into Pei County.

“Son, what did you say?” At the moment Liu Tian’s aura shifted, Liu Yun felt a chill as if a fierce shark had set its sights on him. But blood is thicker than water, and since he wasn’t the target, Liu Yun, seasoned by experience, quickly recovered and asked.

“Dad, you don’t have any enemies in the Red Cloud Empire, do you? Anyone who’d want to kill you?” Before Liu Tian could lock onto the target, the sense of being watched vanished. He didn’t waste time searching, but turned to his father.

“How could I? I left home and went to sea when I was sixteen. Besides family, I hardly know anyone in the Red Cloud Empire, let alone have enemies.” Liu Yun replied immediately, and then affirmed, “No, definitely not. You must be mistaken, son.”

“Mistaken?” Liu Tian shook his head. “If the successor of the Martial Path of Heaven’s Slaughter can’t even sense killing intent, I might as well give up martial arts. Since it’s not your enemy, then it must be someone who hates the Liu family.”

A centennial birthday, a vengeful visit, a massacre, a lone survivor left to seek vengeance someday—a classic martial arts novel opening…

But those stories had inner energy and people flying over rooftops, and no guns or cannons. How could a bunch of muscle-bound fighters have the confidence to seek vengeance in such circumstances?

Aren’t they afraid of losing more than they bargained for?

“Do we really have to attend this centennial celebration?” Liu Tian’s first instinct was to run, but he quickly dismissed the idea. “Forget it, you probably wouldn’t agree anyway. We’ll just have to stay alert—there’s no such thing as a thief who can steal for a thousand days, nor a family that can guard against one for that long.”