Chapter Fifty-One: Farewell

"Not bad at all!"

Although he had intentionally gone easy on them, Liu Tian was not someone who couldn't accept defeat. Since he had carelessly allowed his tire to be shot out, it proved that the group had barely passed the test.

"I hope that in real battles in the future, you can be just as decisive." He hauled up each of the bruised and battered youngsters, comforting them, "But it would be best to avoid fighting altogether. Though your skills have reached a certain level, in real combat, blades and bullets are unforgiving. No one will hold back like I did."

"For all of you, no matter how strong you become in the future, remember this principle—fists can't beat guns, guns can't beat rocket launchers, rocket launchers can't beat artillery, artillery can't beat tanks, and tanks are no match for the army. As long as you can win, any means are acceptable."

"You only have one life. It's better to win by any means necessary than to lose honorably. Only the ones who survive are the true victors!"

"True battle is about using your strengths against your opponent's weaknesses, overwhelming the few with the many, and the essence of martial arts is that after you've grown strong, you use that strength to crush the weak."

"Martial arts were created to make people stronger. Practicing secret techniques is martial arts, genetic modification is martial arts, using firearms is martial arts, and summoning an army for a brawl is martial arts too."

"Maybe, in the future, someone will tell you that such victories are dishonorable."

"But remember—there is no such thing as an unworthy victory in this world. If only trading blows face-to-face and defeating your enemy head-on counted as martial arts, then humanity would still be gorillas!"

"Martial arts were invented as a means to overcome one's enemies. As long as you use your strengths cleverly to secure victory, it all counts as martial arts."

"If only bare fists counted as martial arts, what would be the point of weapons? How could martial arts be so impractical?"

Whether or not they could truly understand or accept his words, Liu Tian spoke his piece.

For this group of youths, whose talent in martial arts was far from outstanding, his words were pearls of wisdom. Since they couldn't keep up with others on the traditional path of martial arts, they naturally needed to use their brains and resources, to overtake others from another direction.

This was the easiest and most reliable road for them.

If it had been a month ago, Liu Tian wouldn't have said so much. But after personally training them for one or two months, he had developed a bit of affection for them.

He wanted to nip in the bud any notion they might have, after graduating from his tutelage, that they were invincible and could go around causing trouble, only to get themselves killed and bring shame to his name.

After all, for these scions of noble families, using family resources was always one of their tools. If they could get others to risk their lives, why should they risk their own, especially since they simply couldn’t outfight others themselves.

Liu Tian had never imagined that teaching martial arts so earnestly could be this exhausting. It was much easier when he taught Alice.

Was there truly such a vast gulf in talent?

Thinking of this, Liu Tian couldn't help but recall the now gentle and kindly Heaven's Path.

When they first met, Heaven's Path had not been so amiable; the battle marks on his face had never faded. It was only as Heaven's Path taught Liu Tian the Heavenly Martial Fist that those marks gradually lightened and finally disappeared.

For nearly six years, Liu Tian hadn't seen the battle marks on Heaven's Path's forehead again. If not for the clarity brought by his breakthrough to Martial Artist, sharpening his childhood memories, he might not even remember that Heaven's Path had once possessed those marks and such a dark, forbidding face.

Now, it seemed as if Heaven's Path had always been a gentle little goldfish.

No wonder, in his memories, his master’s face was always dark during those early days learning the Heavenly Martial Fist.

Teaching those with poor talent could truly test one's patience. Many times, you think you've explained everything plainly and simply, but they just don't get it, or they just can't do it.

People really are different from each other. Like higher mathematics—if you can't do it, you just can't.

Fortunately, I was diligent enough. Through relentless effort, I made up for my innate shortcomings and have finally caught up.

Looking back on these days, and the fifteen source points I painstakingly stored on my panel, Liu Tian praised his own hard work.

In just one and a half months, he had managed to break through a martial art to Martial Artist level, and that was after already breaking through two others, with his body’s modifications already solidified and further progress growing ever more difficult.

Who in this world could have greater talent or work harder than me?

With such extraordinary talent and diligence, I am destined to be the greatest under heaven!

Tian Ge is at it again—off in his own world, who knows where.

Following Liu Tian to the dining hall, Liu Wenqian nudged his old friend with his elbow, shooting him a look that poked fun at his somewhat narcissistic cousin.

So what exactly are you trying to say?

Bai He rolled his eyes, a faint scar still visible on his face. He had no intention of responding to Liu Wenqian and simply turned away.

I just want to know what Tian Ge is thinking every time he zones out like that.

Unable to pester Bai He, Liu Wenqian turned to harass the other two.

But they each raised a hand and took two steps back, clearly signaling that if he wanted answers, he should ask his own cousin—Liu Tian was his cousin, not theirs, and they had no interest in the matter.

With just a few glances and gestures, the group conveyed a wealth of information.

After so many years as friends—especially these last six weeks of eating, living, and training together, not to mention hunting in the mountains and being beaten up by Liu Tian—their bond had grown as deep as life-and-death comrades. A single look or motion was enough to express anything.

Perhaps that was why their families had them train under Liu Tian in the first place.

When a hero draws his sword, it signals another decade of hardship for the people.

With the skin of the Crimson Cloud Empire about to be peeled away, these ancient clans were once again preparing to place their bets according to tradition.

And when it came to preserving the family, who could compare to the Liu clan, backed by Liu Tian, who, even in the worst-case scenario, could become a wealthy landowner?

Unlike others, the Liu family's strength did not lie in landholdings, connections, money, or so-called heritage.

Liu Tian’s invincible master and senior apprentice, and, judging by current trends, Liu Tian himself—destined to become invincible—were the clan’s greatest pillars.

As long as Liu Tian and his master and senior lived, as long as the world had no way to counter these supreme beings, the Liu family would stand unshaken, impervious to any storm.

As for the opinions of the civil and military officials and His Majesty the Emperor, who had lost face before the world because of the Second Son’s Way—who cared?

An empire may last a century, a noble house a millennium, but even a mighty dragon cannot crush a local snake.

As long as appearances were kept up and one’s dealings were clean, even the emperor would have to play by the rules.

Besides, as the Second Son once said—Your Majesty, you wouldn’t want someone to come to your door, pin you to the ground, and humiliate you, would you?

By the same logic—future warlords, you wouldn’t want to die mysteriously in the night, would you…

As long as they clung tight to Liu Tian, surviving this looming change of dynasties would be more than enough.