Beneath the blazing sun, Liu Tian strolled leisurely by himself through Coiling Dragon Mountain, near Liu Zhengde's estate.
After last night's battle, Liu Tian had proved his strength, using that formidable power to back up his "feeling."
That formidable strength had kept Liu Zhengde from dismissing Liu Tian's "feeling" as a fantasy, and prompted him to investigate seriously.
For that very reason, Liu Tian believed he had done all he could at this stage. No matter what other preparations he made, with only seven days until the birthday banquet, he could never catch up with Liu Zhengde, the local power broker.
In theory, as a native of the area with deep-rooted connections, Liu Zhengde had learned of the threat and prepared in advance. At a time when signs of unrest were only just emerging, there should be no force outside the imperial court capable of threatening the Liu family.
But Liu Tian was not the sort to entrust his life to someone else's preparations. He trusted his own fists more than the firearms unit Liu Zhengde had sworn was absolutely foolproof.
So, after breakfast, he used the valuables in Liu Zhengde's treasury to raise his Origin Points to 16, then casually picked up a decoration that looked like an eye and made an excuse to leave on his own.
Perhaps the gap between a Heavenly Martial Killing Dao fighter and a Martial Artist was simply too great, with too many limits of the human body to surpass. Even the reserves he had—enough to take him from Level 1 entry all the way to Level 5, with points to spare—still hadn't lit up the upgrade option.
But he was close.
As someone who had made an effort, Liu Tian had a good idea of how many Origin Points he needed to break through to the next stage. If he had been at the point where he'd just broken through through effort, he would have needed 20.
Now, after nearly three more months of diligent training, and yesterday's moment of enlightenment, he needed only 18.
In fact, by Liu Tian's reckoning, if he used the moment of his recent breakthrough as a baseline and pushed his physical attributes all the way to the threshold of another breakthrough, he would need only 10 Origin Points.
But to unite his essence, energy, and spirit, and comprehend his own battle mark rather than blindly follow the Heavenly Martial Killing Dao battle mark, he absolutely needed 20.
Breakthroughs through the Effort Panel had never been about barely scraping by. They were always a hundred percent perfect.
That was also why breaking through to the next level through the Effort Panel repaired damage to the body.
Liu Tian's powerful physique let him climb the thousand-meter Coiling Dragon Mountain in one go without even breathing hard. Avoiding the main paths favored by ordinary people, he leaped through the woods on the strength of his physique and soon reached a mountaintop where no one would disturb him.
The weather was excellent today: not a cloud in the sky, the sun brilliant, and all of Pei Commandery spread out beneath his gaze.
Standing atop the mountain, Liu Tian looked down over Pei Commandery. A thought surfaced in his mind: Where could he find the Origin Points he lacked? Or should he try to reduce the number required for a breakthrough through enlightenment? There were only seven days left.
Liu Tian narrowed his eyes slightly. Countless thoughts surfaced in his mind, only to burst like bubbles.
Then, from nowhere, an idea took shape. Following his instincts, Liu Tian leaped and landed on his back atop a large blue-gray boulder, enjoying the rare, brilliant sunshine.
The direct sunlight and the mountain breeze both made Liu Tian feel languid.
His breathing adjusted on its own, and the flow of his blood gradually slowed. Under these conditions, Liu Tian felt as if his whole body were slowing down.
At the same time, a sensation, a perception, kept expanding. He seemed to hear birdsong in the distance, the clear trickle of a stream, leaves rustling against one another, the wind stirring the grass, and... the low growls of beasts hidden in the mountain forest.
Hunting, fighting, devouring, hiding—the wild food chain slowly turned beneath the sunlight.
Those things, all these things, were far away from Liu Tian, very far, so distant they seemed both real and unreal. And yet they also seemed close, so close that he could feel them, even... as if he could reach out and touch the predators on the hunt, smell the scent of blood gushing forth.
Somewhere deep in the unseen, intangible realm, something seemed to link Liu Tian with all things in the world.
Liu Tian slowly closed his eyes, enjoying this moment of leisure. Killing Intent, Dominating Thought, danger, life—these meaningless things seemed to amount to nothing at all in the midst of nature. Nothing at all...
Meanwhile, Liu Tian's presence—a feeling so overwhelmingly strong it seemed to proclaim his existence to heaven and earth—continued to expand, slowly.
Gradually, the ants resting in the grass sensed danger and fled with all their might from the "ferocious beast" dozing there. Birds in the forest folded their wings and settled down, while even the hunting beasts seemed to sense something and dared not approach.
Enlightenment, something Liu Tian had thought would never happen to him, had come to him two days in a row. If he could sustain this state, he would completely understand his own thoughts in less than half a day and condense his battle mark. Then, he would only need to use effort to make up for his physical shortcomings, and he would naturally break through to become a fighter.
It was just like his master, Tian Dao, who had understood the fierce, wild, and domineering parts of his nature in his early years and condensed his battle mark while learning the entry-level martial arts.
"Ah~"
But he wasn't so lucky. A panicked scream, like a stone thrown into water, jolted Liu Tian out of his breakthrough, and once this peculiar state was broken, it was impossible to enter it again.
Liu Tian's eyes snapped open. "Fuck, what asshole had the nerve to disturb me at a time like this?!!"
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