Peering Eyes

Pei Commandery was one of the seven administrative divisions of the Crimson Cloud Empire, positioned between provinces, prefectures, commanderies, counties, towns, and market villages. Its people had been fierce since ancient times, and in the height of summer, muscular men could be seen everywhere.

Among all these muscular men, even Liu Yun and his son were nothing particularly special. They were merely average.

"What now?" Liu Tian asked his father outside the station. "Walk?"

Liu Yun had naturally come prepared. "I sent your Second Uncle a telegram. They're coming to pick us up, so we'll just wait a bit."

"Come to think of it, son, you're a lot more talkative than before. Did you break through?" The two chatted idly beneath the shade of the trees, which was like a vast canopy.

"I'm almost at the Martial Artist stage." Liu Tian opened his panel and saw that, thanks to his unceasing efforts, his accumulated Origin Points had somehow climbed back to fifteen. But the Fighter stage was indeed the last known realm. Even though he'd saved up as many points as he'd spent before, he still hadn't seen the familiar upgrade icon beside Heavenly Martial Killing Dao. The upgrade and fusion options for Flowing Dragon Steps, which he'd learned casually, were still there, though.

Liu Tian had no plans to broaden his combat repertoire right now, so he continued to save his points. He would wait until he broke through to Fighter through his own efforts before considering expanding his skills.

According to Tian Dao, Fighters who practiced Heavenly Martial Killing Dao were on an entirely different level from those below them. Liu Tian could currently punch through the earthen walls of a rural home or take a close-range shot from a small-caliber handgun to the face. After reaching Fighter and letting his body settle before improving his physical abilities again, he'd be able to charge straight into a burst of submachine-gun fire without hitting a vital spot and retain his fighting strength, or punch through a tank's armor with strength to spare.

That was exactly why Liu Tian had no reason to waste time on anything else before breaking through to Fighter. After all, nobody said a Fighter couldn't practice other martial arts.

In fact, which famous Fighter didn't practice three or four martial arts at once? Some had even broken through to Fighter in all of them.

Tian Dao was the clearest example. Ten years ago, five of his martial arts had already broken through the Fighter limit. After ten years of honing himself, he now had seven martial arts beyond that limit—far exceeding the average of two among outstanding Fighters.

After all, there had never been a first place in literature, but martial arts had always had a clear winner. Without such overwhelming strength, how could Tian Dao be universally acknowledged as the greatest under heaven?

The first martial art was the easiest to push beyond its limits, and it also brought the greatest growth. The further one progressed, the harder it became to push each successive martial art beyond its limits. Even when the martial arts were of the same rank, each one added less physical strength than the one before it.

Even a prodigy like Tian Dao couldn't have reached double digits in the number of martial arts he'd pushed beyond their limits before nearing the end of his life. Otherwise, if martial arts could be endlessly stacked and the body could grow without limit, there would have been no lament after the world war that the age of Martial Artists had come to an end.

"You're about to break through to Martial Artist? Not bad—wait, what did you say?" Liu Yun took a sip of water, about to encourage his dear son, then suddenly realized what he'd heard. "Fighter? Not Martial Artist?"

"Martial Artist? I broke through a long time ago." Liu Tian didn't think it was anything remarkable. He continued pondering the direction of his future breakthroughs while answering offhandedly. "After I broke through to Martial Artist, I felt all the potential I'd built up through years of effort burst out at once. My progress in martial arts has been incredibly smooth. I've already reached the threshold of Fighter, and with a little more effort, I should be able to cross it."

"If I weren't about to break through to Fighter, why would my master let me research the Lost Empire and put my cultivation on hold?"

"Fighter? A Fighter under eighteen, and one practicing a top-tier Secret Martial Art like Heavenly Martial Killing Dao?" Liu Yun looked at his son as if he were seeing him for the first time. "If I hadn't carried you out of the delivery room myself, I'd have wondered if you were really my son."

"How did I never realize you were so talented? You've been working hard lately..." Liu Yun instinctively went to hug his son in celebration, but Liu Tian's obvious look of disgust and step backward stopped him. All he could do was repeat himself like a broken record. "Good, good, good!"

"I have worked pretty hard." Liu Tian closed his effort panel and replied, "It took a lot of work. I guess I'm a late bloomer—according to my master, my senior brother Bai Cinan became a Fighter at seventeen. I'm almost eighteen now..."

"Wait. Is someone watching us from the shadows?" As he spoke, a strange awareness surfaced deep in his mind. In an instant, Liu Tian prepared for battle.

A Martial Artist's keen instincts told Liu Tian that someone in the crowd was watching the two of them—and that person meant them harm.

The strange sensation was unmistakable. It was called Killing Intent!

If not for the Killing Intent, Heavenly Martial Killing Dao wouldn't have reacted on its own.

Damn it, I've been spotted! This guy's trouble...

The person covertly comparing them to portraits was clearly no amateur, either. The instant Liu Tian's presence changed, he realized he'd been exposed. Without hesitation, he immediately looked away and vanished into Pei Commandery, using the crowd and his familiarity with the terrain to his advantage.

"Son, what did you say?" The instant Liu Tian's presence changed, Liu Yun had felt as if a vicious shark had fixed its gaze on him, and fear had risen in him. But blood was thicker than water, and he wasn't the target. With his considerable experience, Liu Yun quickly recovered and asked.

"Dad, you don't have any enemies in the Crimson Cloud Empire, do you? The kind who might want to kill you." Before Liu Tian could pin down the target, the feeling of being watched had already vanished. He didn't waste time searching and asked instead.

"Of course not. I left home and went to sea when I was sixteen. Apart from my relatives, hardly anyone in the Crimson Cloud Empire knows me. How could I have enemies?" Liu Yun answered immediately, then added with certainty, "I don't. Absolutely not. Are you sure you didn't imagine it, son?"

"Imagine it?" Liu Tian shook his head. "If an heir of Heavenly Martial Killing Dao couldn't tell when someone harbored murderous intent, what would be the point of practicing martial arts? If he isn't your enemy, then he's an enemy of the Liu family."

A hundredth-birthday celebration, someone arriving to seek revenge, a whole family wiped out, an orphan left behind, then revenge years later... It was the standard opening to a martial arts novel.

Except those people had inner energy, could fly over rooftops and leap across walls, and lived in a time before firearms and cannons. What made a bunch of people who relied on their bodies so confident about seeking revenge under these circumstances?

Weren't they afraid of losing more than they gained? Of ending up worse off than before?

"Do we really have to attend this hundredth-birthday celebration?" Liu Tian's first thought was to run, but he immediately rejected the idea. "Never mind. I doubt you'd agree, Dad. We'll just stay a little more alert. A thief can't stay on guard for a thousand days, but there's no way to guard against one for a thousand days."