Without a Charge Knowing Defeat, How Could This Fine World Deserve the Light?

"Two months? You sure have a lot of confidence in him!"

The carriage firm owner laughed and pulled out two Silver Dollar Vouchers. "I'll bet on a month and a half. After all, he's a kid I watched grow up. These twenty dollars can count as drinking money for you."

"Then I won't stand on ceremony."

The tall, thin man chuckled and snatched the two vouchers straight into his hand, clearly already treating them as his own.

"Come to think of it, that kid's talent really is incredible. Even if two months is a bit exaggerated, if he polishes himself for half a year, he might really be able to go a step further after reaching the Manifest Strength Pinnacle, comparable to those peerless prodigies...

"Tsk, invincible Manifest Strength at twenty. I wouldn't even have dared dream of it before. To witness such a prodigy rise with my own eyes!"

The tall, thin man sighed emotionally, somewhat wistful.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. This isn't something so easily polished. Plenty of geniuses racked their brains and spent one or two years at it, yet couldn't advance even half an inch."

The carriage firm owner shook his head. "Besides, who among us wasn't a genius back then? When I was young, I reached the Manifest Strength Pinnacle at nineteen too. I was high-spirited and arrogant, thinking I could go further, but after polishing myself for more than half a year without the slightest progress, I could only begin Heart-Mind Unity."

Just then, the door to the quiet room creaked open, and Huo Yuanhong walked out.

"You finished training so quickly? Not going to train a little more?" The carriage firm owner froze.

"I'm a little tired. I'm going back to rest."

Huo Yuanhong said.

"That makes sense." The carriage firm owner suddenly understood. "I nearly forgot—you fought Old Ghost Luo tonight. You should get some proper rest. Come on, come on, go back and sleep."

"Alright. Oh, right, I damaged the wall inside a little. How about I pay for—"

"What's there to pay for? It's just a little chipped paint. I can repaint it myself."

The carriage firm owner did not know whether to laugh or cry.

"You really don't want me to pay? Then... I'll go first?"

Huo Yuanhong felt slightly guilty.

"Go on, go on."

The carriage firm owner was thoroughly baffled, unable to understand why Huo Yuanhong was so hung up on the wall.

After watching Huo Yuanhong's back disappear, he picked up a bucket of paint and entered the quiet room with the tall, thin man.

"Let me see where the paint chipped... Oh, here... here... here..."

The carriage firm owner's voice suddenly began to stammer. He stared blankly at the wall before him, and the paint bucket in his hand fell with a smack, spilling paint everywhere. Yet he did not notice at all.

"What's wrong?"

The tall, thin man walked over, utterly confused.

"The ultimate... the ultimate..."

The carriage firm owner muttered unconsciously, his eyes losing focus, as though he had encountered something utterly inconceivable and even his soul had flown away.

"The ultimate? What ultimate?"

The tall, thin man was even more confused.

"A-Hong... Huo Yuanhong... he... he might... perhaps... possibly... have reached the ultimate Manifest Strength? And the true ultimate Manifest Strength?!"

The carriage firm owner's tone was filled with incomprehensible shock, so shocked that he had become somewhat numb.

"Oh, ultimate is ultimate... What?! Wait, what did you say? Manifest, Manifest, Manifest... ultimate Manifest Strength?!"

The tall, thin man was completely dumbfounded.

What the hell, had Big Brother gone mad?

How long had Huo Yuanhong even been inside training? Not even half an hour, right? And he had already reached the ultimate Manifest Strength?

Did that sound like something a human could say?

The tall, thin man walked to the wall, lowered his head for a look, then reached out and poked it. Then...

He froze too!

Looking at the powder on his finger, his eyes were vacant, as if he had seen a ghost in broad daylight.

Only an expert who had reached Heart-Mind Unity could produce this kind of destructive power, yet Huo Yuanhong clearly had not begun Heart-Mind Unity.

Then...

There was only one possibility!

"The ultimate... ultimate Manifest Strength..."

The carriage firm owner's voice trembled.

He had actually been able to personally witness the birth of a martial arts freak, a monstrous genius who surpassed even peerless prodigies.

The tall, thin man finally came back to himself, joy appearing on his face. "Good, good, wonderful! If we have one more ultimate Manifest Strength like Huo Yuanhong, our odds of winning might reach thirty percent!"

"Old Six, our wagered battle with the Red Robe Society is on the afternoon of the twelfth, right?"

The carriage firm owner suddenly asked an inexplicable question.

"Right. What's wrong?" The tall, thin man asked doubtfully.

"Change the time. Move it to the morning."

The carriage firm owner's tone brooked no argument.

The tall, thin man paused, then hesitantly said, "Should I go notify Huo Yuanhong?"

"No need. Don't let him know."

The carriage firm owner waved a hand.

"But... if he doesn't come, we'll be back in a situation where death is almost certain..."

The tall, thin man's voice was hoarse as he spoke with difficulty.

"He can't be allowed to come."

The carriage firm owner took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a hard drag. He passed it to the tall, thin man and exhaled a ring of smoke. "The Red Robe Society is powerful. Even with him, we still can't beat them, and we'd only drag him down with us..."

"We old men have already exhausted our potential. This is all we'll ever amount to in this life. But Huo Yuanhong is different. Ultimate Manifest Strength at nineteen—though he may not reach beyond Transformation Strength in the future, becoming a Transformation Strength expert is still very hopeful!"

"Such a monstrous martial arts genius cannot be dragged down by us. We cannot take even the slightest risk!"

"When the time comes, I'll use a forbidden technique and stake everything on one try, dragging the Red Robe Society Leader and Old Ghost Luo down the road with me. Your movement technique is excellent. Once you seize the Tiger Blood Grass, charge out and kill your way through at once!"

"Even if you die, you must deliver the medicine into Huo Yuanhong's hands!"

The carriage firm owner said fiercely.

He knew Huo Yuanhong's family circumstances. Once Huo Yuanhong reached the Heart-Mind Unity stage, there was a ninety-percent chance he would be unable to obtain top-grade Great Medicine.

And without top-grade Great Medicine, it was easy to leave behind flaws. Those flaws were like a foundation missing a brick; as one's realm grew, their impact would become greater and greater, and in the end, one might very well be stuck at Dark Force forever, with no hope of Transformation Strength!

If he consumed this top-grade Great Medicine for Spirit Nourishment himself, he would only take another step forward in the Inner Three Harmonies, while Dark Force would still remain distant. But if Huo Yuanhong consumed it, Dark Force would be guaranteed, and Transformation Strength would also be greatly hopeful!

"Do you know... yesterday, Old Five's child was bullied at school again. His classmates mocked him as the child of a stinking carriage puller. The children of other brothers have also run into trouble, more or less..."

"Those brothers left too early and entrusted their children to me, but I've never been capable of taking proper care of them. I've never been capable of letting them grow up with their heads held high. I can't even stand up for them..."

"Why?"

The carriage firm owner's voice was somewhat hoarse.

"Because the Chauffeur's Association has no Dark Force! And at Jin Gate, without Dark Force, you have no right to speak!"

"But things will be different in the future. If our Chauffeur's Association can have a Dark Force expert—or even a Transformation Strength grandmaster beyond Dark Force—standing guard, who the fuck would dare laugh at us for being stinking carriage pullers?! Who the fuck would dare bully our brothers' children?!"

"Second Brother, Third Brother, Old Five, and all the other brothers who went ahead of us—their children will be able to walk beneath the sunlight with their heads held high in the future, because behind them will stand a powerful Chauffeur's Association! A Dark Force Martial Master! A Transformation Strength grandmaster!"

As he spoke, the carriage firm owner looked toward his sixth brother. "Are you afraid of death?"

"Afraid? Afraid my ass!"

The tall, thin man took a hard drag from his cigarette. His eyes reddened slightly as he gritted his teeth. "Back then, seven of us brothers came to Jin Gate to make our way in the world. Now only the two of us are left, clinging to life. I've long had enough of living. I just don't want to die too humiliatingly! Now this is good. Before dying, I got to see a martial arts monster from our side. When I get below, I'll even have something to boast about!"

"Just as expected of my brother."

The carriage firm owner patted the tall, thin man's shoulder, smiling happily, as though he did not realize in the slightest that he was about to die. "Using these two old sets of bones of ours in exchange for someone with guaranteed Dark Force and hope for Transformation Strength in the future, in exchange for a bright future for our brothers' children—it's worth it!"

"Big Brother, tell me... if the Chauffeur's Association really becomes a great force in the future, will the two of us get to leave our names in the history books?"

The tall, thin man suddenly asked expectantly.

"We will. We definitely will." The carriage firm owner chuckled, not exposing his sixth brother's final shred of hope.

To leave one's name in history—what an impossibly difficult thing that was. If Huo Yuanhong could successfully grow to Transformation Strength, perhaps he might leave behind an inconspicuous surname in the history books.

But the two of them...

There was no need to even think about it!

Of course, he knew that Old Six had only brought it up on a whim.

They had founded the Chauffeur's Association and opened this carriage firm, desperately protecting those poor people beneath the oppression of Jin Gate's many great families and their lackeys. It had never been for the sake of leaving their names in history, nor had they ever dared hope for such a thing.

They...

Only wanted to fight for a breath of dignity.

They only hoped that their descendants could live like proper human beings.

The carriage firm owner's gaze turned distant, as though he saw, far away, those towering buildings steeped in debauchery and gold—the Concession.

"Without a charge knowing defeat was certain, how could this fine world deserve the light!"

"We won't live to see it, but A-Hong and the others surely will! During the holidays, burn a little more paper for us, tell us a little more about their world—that will be enough..."