Accidental Encounter

For the Hundred Flowers Kingdom, it was hard to say whether it was fortunate or unfortunate—before the conflict in the royal palace escalated, Her Majesty the Queen, who had always been in robust health, successfully awoke and suppressed everything.

It was truly cause for celebration that a bloody conflict had been averted for the time being, but all of this was ultimately temporary.

As the conflict became open, the hidden undercurrents had already surfaced. If there had been any chance of a bloodless coup before, that opportunity was now completely gone.

Even if the Queen were to confirm the Second Prince or the Third Prince as the next successor, neither the Second Prince's faction nor the nobles' faction would simply surrender.

But all of this was still very far from Liu Tian. A practitioner of Secret Martial Arts who wasn't even a Fighter could not possibly interfere in the power struggles of a kingdom.

On the first day after Liu Yun's return, Liu Yun, who particularly wanted to see his wife and clansmen whom he hadn't seen in a long time, took Liu Tian with him on the long road back home.

It wasn't actually that long. As one of the largest and strongest countries on this planet, the Crimson Cloud Empire had established a civilian air route with the powers above almost all the kingdoms in the world decades ago.

It was just that the Crimson Cloud Empire, located at the easternmost end of the old continent, was a bit too far from the Hundred Flowers Kingdom at the western end. Even by plane, it required several transfers and more than three days to reach the capital of the Crimson Cloud Empire. Upon arriving at the capital, they would immediately have to take a train to the Liu family's stronghold, Pei Commandery.

The journey was arduous. Fortunately, Liu Yun and Liu Tian, with their striking muscles alone, were clearly not to be trifled with. Coupled with their characteristic black hair and yellow skin of the Crimson Cloud Empire, they encountered no trouble along the way.

This continued until the two boarded this green-skinned train that went directly to Pei Commandery.

"Speaking of which, Dad, why did you have to drag me back this time?"

The arduous journey had been a torment for Liu Tian, who disliked traveling. He had spent his time on the transportation by alternating between practicing horse stance and sleeping. It was only after boarding the train, with no more transfers required, that Liu Tian felt in the mood to ask his father why he had brought him along.

"Your mother is about to give birth, and you don't even want to see it? To be the first to know if it's a brother or a sister?" Liu Yun said from across from him, holding a briefcase containing some clothes and the special currency of the Crimson Cloud Empire.

The briefcase was about the size of a high schooler's schoolbag. Inside, besides three sets of clothes, there was only money.

In fact, there was no need to prepare too many clothes—after all, money could get you anywhere these days, and without it, you couldn't move an inch. They could just buy them on the spot if needed.

"I'm really not interested. Anyway, I'll know sooner or later, and knowing earlier won't change anything." Liu Tian shrugged. He would rather spend his time examining antiques from the Lost Empire.

After all, unlike the Hundred Flowers Kingdom next door, which was part of the Dawn Alliance, the Crimson Cloud Empire and the Dawn Alliance were separated by the Morning Star Alliance. Moreover, the Gayn Family was considered top-tier in the Hundred Flowers Kingdom, while the Liu family was only mid-tier. Therefore, Liu Tian didn't have much expectation for antiques from the Lost Empire.

Furthermore, although the Crimson Cloud Empire was closer to his previous life's residence than the Hundred Flowers Kingdom, there were still differences. In this life, the Hundred Flowers Kingdom was Liu Tian's birthplace and upbringing, so Liu Tian had no desire to visit his hometown.

Considering both factors, Liu Tian truly didn't want to travel thousands of miles just to see his younger sibling a little earlier, possibly getting entangled in a lot of so-called 'family' troubles.

"You brat, don't think I don't know what you're thinking," Liu Yun said with a chuckle, pretending to tap Liu Tian's forehead. "There's another reason for coming back this time. Your grandfather's 100th birthday is next month. Although we've been away for a long time, we definitely have to come back for such a major event. Also, your Second Uncle, who was an officer and led troops in battles in the current Dawn Alliance, might have collected some related antiques back then—there might be a surprise..."

"Oh," Liu Tian replied indifferently.

"With this kind of language, are you people from the Hundred Flowers Kingdom?"

Just as the father and son were chatting, a voice suddenly interjected, also speaking in the language of the Hundred Flowers Kingdom. Although it wasn't fluent, it was clear and distinct, like something learned from a textbook.

Liu Tian turned his head to look at the source of the voice. It was a young man with an excited expression, about middle school age, with the standard black hair and black eyes of the Crimson Cloud Empire, wearing a school uniform.

"Blood-red eyes, I've never seen that before." Seeing Liu Tian turn his head, the young man became even more excited. "My name is Liu Wenqian, I'm a student at Pei Commandery Primary School 1, and I'll be attending Xiangjun Academy next semester. Nice to meet you."

Standard textbook speech.

Even if he might have a certain blood relation to him, Liu Tian still didn't want to talk to him. Turning his head back, he casually replied in the Crimson Cloud Empire's language that Liu Yun had taught him, "You're mistaken. I'm actually an unknown life form from Nebula 78, who just happened to arrive on this planet. We are beings who should not meet. Please forget about me."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Liu Wenqian was clearly disappointed and wanted to say more, but was interrupted by two coughs.

"Don't get too excited, younger brother." It was a clear, crisp female voice, sounding about the same age as Liu Tian.

"Sister Wenhan..." It was clear that the woman called Sister Wenhan held a significant position in Liu Wenqian's heart. Just one word from her made the boy, who had intended to pester Liu Tian, lose his spirit and sit back in his seat.

"Wen..." Liu Yun, however, seemed to have discovered something and murmured, "Shou, De, Chuan, Zheng, Wen, Guang, Zhen, Xi, Ji, Shi, Hong, Chang. The 'Wen' generation, which is exactly the same generation as you, my son."

"Huh? Our family has generations?" Liu Tian asked, surprised.

"The Liu family claims to have a tradition of poetry and scholarship, so of course, there have always been generations," Liu Yun said. "It's just that I was quite rebellious back then and thought that since I left, I should leave completely, so I removed 'Zheng' from my name. When I named you later, I didn't follow the generational order."

"Liu Wentian, it doesn't sound grand at all. It sounds worse than Liu Tian," Liu Tian commented. "So, here I have to call you Father Liu Zhengyun, and you have to call me Liu Wentian?"

"You can be taught, young man." Liu Yun nodded with satisfaction. "Wentian."

"Then I might as well just call you Dad, and you call me son, it's so troublesome," Liu Tian said, showing no intention of cooperating and directly undermining the situation.

"Forget it, forget it, to avoid trouble. Father Zhengyun—tsk, let's finish this quickly..."

Amidst their conversation, with a whistle of the train's horn, the clattering sound slowly faded. Pei Commandery had arrived.