Feiba's Breakdown, Battle Against a Battle Venerable
Si Tingxue's expression remained cold as stone.
Tendrils of ice mist rose from her body and spread outward in every direction.
Heiming let out a cold snort at the sight.
"That won't work on me."
He swept his Staff through the air. The shadow behind him twisted and warped — and sinister black doppelgangers stepped out of the darkness, one after another, each gripping a longsword. They surged toward Si Tingxue in a dense swarm.
Thirty to forty in all. They blanketed the arena.
Si Tingxue's expression didn't waver. Ice shards condensed around her body, each one launching toward a separate clone.
*Shhk! Shhk! Shhk!*
The shadow clones twisted and dodged, but the ice shards moved too fast to avoid completely. They pierced through regardless.
The shards passed through the clones without destroying them outright, but left frost crystals blooming across each darkened form. With every step the clones took, the crystals multiplied — until one by one, the clones froze in place and were locked into sculptures of ice.
Heiming's brow furrowed. He swept his Staff again.
A sinister black shape materialized behind Si Tingxue — a Shadow, wielding an enormous black scythe. It swung the blade toward her neck.
In that instant, an ice shield appeared at her back, placing itself perfectly between her and the descending blade.
*Clang!*
Hairline cracks spread across the shield, but it held completely, stopping the scythe cold.
At the same moment, threads of ice mist moved with an almost sentient purpose — rushing toward the Shadow holding the scythe and freezing it solid. An ice shard shot forward and pierced the frozen figure, shattering it. The destroyed Shadow dissolved into wisps of black fog that faded into nothing.
Before the echoes settled, Si Tingxue's Staff was already moving. Ice lances and ice shards condensed simultaneously — lances leading, shards orbiting around them in a spiraling halo — and together they swept toward Heiming in a tightening ring.
Heiming's eyes sharpened. A grave weight settled over his expression.
He drove his Staff into the ground. Darkness bloomed at his feet. A ring of massive black arms erupted from the shadow beneath him, closing around him in a living wall of defense.
**Boom! Boom! Boom!**
Ice shards and lances crashed against the arms, sending thunderous concussions rolling across the arena. Bitter cold radiated outward, and shattered ice sprayed in all directions.
When the barrage finally cleared, the defensive wall of arms had been frozen into a solid block of ice.
Then Si Tingxue's face went pale. A thread of black vapor rose from her brow.
Her body felt suddenly drained.
*A curse.*
She frowned. A specialized curse ability — one that sapped both Spirit Power and concentration.
*Crack... crack... crack...*
The frozen arms splintered and burst. Heiming reappeared in her line of sight.
He exhaled slowly, his face ashen. The ice mist that had been spreading outward had now reached him — and the cumulative chill from the earlier barrage had begun to seep into his bones. His movements were stiffening.
A weight settled in his chest. *This human is strong. Even without Lu Yuan, she's a dangerous opponent.*
Still, a cold smile crossed his lips.
"You've taken my Shadow Curse. How much strength do you have left?"
Si Tingxue's expression didn't shift. Her Staff blazed with a sharp ice-blue radiance.
A spectral ice crystal crown shimmered into existence above her head. A powerful aura poured outward from it — and a cascade of black vapor was forcibly drawn from her body, dispersing into nothing.
The color drained from Heiming's face. Something ugly flickered across his features.
"Damned human! You and that Lu Yuan both deserve to die!"
He swept his Staff in a frenzy, churning out shadow clones in a relentless stream. Simultaneously, grasping arms erupted from the ground beneath Si Tingxue's feet, seizing her ankles.
Si Tingxue reinforced her defenses and kept up her assault — ice shards and lances streaming outward in continuous volleys, the ice mist thickening with every passing moment.
On the arena, ice and shadow exploded in a continuous percussion. Crystals and black vapor burst and scattered across the stage. The raw force radiating from both combatants shook the air around them.
The two were closely matched — but as time wore on, Heiming's movements grew sluggish and his face turned ashen.
A cold light flared in his eyes. A dim blue luminescence pulsed across his body. Tendrils of chill were forcibly expelled from his flesh — a Combat Technique carried by his Gene Armament — and his body snapped back to full capacity.
On the sidelines, Lu Yuan watched with a slight frown. *Clever. A technique to purge cold from inside the body.*
But he felt no concern. It was only delaying the inevitable.
The ice mist on the arena was only growing thicker — and thicker meant colder. The cold was inescapable now. It would reach Heiming again faster than before.
Heiming knew it too. With a low growl, black fog erupted across his entire body, his aura surging sharply. His clone-generation rate accelerated; the clones themselves grew stronger.
It made no difference.
In mist this dense, each clone managed only a few steps before freezing solid and dissolving. One after another, without exception.
Before long, the cold breached Heiming's defenses again — and this time, he had no means left to expel it. Ice crystals began to form along his body.
He watched an ice lance come screaming toward him, fury and defiance blazing in his eyes.
Then the lance stopped mid-flight. A gust of wind surged across the arena, sweeping the ice mist skyward. The lance shattered.
Dushan had lowered his hand. Heiming drifted down from the dispersing cloud. Dushan gestured once, and someone moved forward to tend to him.
Every Gnoll combatant present had their brows knitted tight, eyes fixed on Si Tingxue where she stood on the arena, expression as cold as the frost around her.
A silence settled over the arena.
"I didn't expect the Red Maple Empire to produce a genius like this," Dushan finally said, his voice flat and cold. "We concede this round. Stone — you're up."
Stone was a Gnoll with unremarkable gray fur. He wore gray leather armor and carried a longbow. His build was tall and lean.
He gave a short nod and stepped onto the arena.
Si Tingxue exhaled quietly. Cold resolve returned to her face. The spectral ice crystal crown above her head flickered, neither quite there nor quite gone.
Stone glanced at the crown and offered a faint smile.
"That's a Combat Technique from your Staff, isn't it? Impressive power. Too bad it won't last much longer."
There was a fundamental difference between Combat Techniques carried by a Gene Armament and those inscribed through a Transcendent Gene.
Techniques from Transcendent Genes — barring special types — could be used repeatedly. Techniques from Gene Armaments, on the other hand, generally had time limits. Some of the most powerful Gene Armament Combat Techniques could only be used once a day. Push the armament too hard, and it could shatter outright — an irreversible loss.
Si Tingxue's current technique was clearly potent, which meant it couldn't sustain indefinitely.
Si Tingxue said nothing. Her expression remained cool. With a sweep of her Staff, she began condensing ice mist again. Simultaneously, a dense volley of ice shards materialized and launched toward Stone.
Stone laughed softly. His figure blurred into an afterimage and vanished from his spot — every last shard striking empty air.
Unlike Elemental Type Gene Warriors, Long-range Attack Type warriors who fought with bows typically possessed considerable speed and strength alongside their ranged capabilities. They needed to loose arrows while moving, intercepting targets mid-sprint — which meant speed was every bit as essential to them as it was to any front-liner.
Dark green Spirit Power churned around him. Six arrows formed along his bowstring.
He drew and released.
*Fzzzt! Fzzzt! Fzzzt! Fzzzt!*
The dark green arrows streaked through the air as phantom blurs, changing trajectory mid-flight and driving straight at Si Tingxue. They punched through the ice mist and struck her ice shield.
The moment they hit, the shield turned dark green — and cracked apart. A corrosive hiss followed.
Si Tingxue's brow tightened slightly.
*Poison arrows.*
From across the arena, a flicker of red light passed through Stone's eyes. Red light pulsed along his body. His hands blurred into motion. A torrent of poison arrows erupted from his bow.
Si Tingxue frowned. The light across her robes flashed — and she became an afterimage and vanished.
Most Elemental Type Gene Warriors equipped at least one Gene Armament with either acceleration or defensive capabilities. Without it, any opponent who closed the gap would find them helpless — and surrender would be the only remaining option.
Si Tingxue wove across the arena, her Spirit Power flowing steadily, the ice mist thickening at an accelerating pace.
Her plan was simple: stall until the mist covered the entire stage. Once it did, she could use it to disrupt her opponent's perception and maneuver him wherever she pleased.
Stone had read her intent clearly.
His was equally clear: end this fast.
Stone stamped the ground. A thread of dark green light sank into the ice crystal surface of the arena.
Beneath Si Tingxue's feet, vines erupted — and coiled around one of her ankles before she could react.
For the first time, Si Tingxue's expression actually changed.
She looked at the dense storm of dark green arrows raining down at her, brow creased, and threw up layer after layer of thick ice shields. At the same time, ice shards materialized in a ring around her body.
A cold blue light flashed in her eyes. All the ice shards began spinning in a tight, rapid orbit.
Arrow after poison arrow slammed into the rotating shard field. The spinning shards deflected or shattered most of them. Only a handful pierced through to reach the shields behind — and those began corroding the ice crystal surfaces.
Below the stage, both human and Gnoll onlookers blinked in surprise.
Dushan's brow creased. He watched Si Tingxue, his voice low and even.
"This human pup has high combat IQ. She's taking offensive techniques and turning them into a defensive formation. Her talent is no small thing, either. In the team battle — find an opportunity to eliminate her."
The other Gnolls gave quiet nods.
On the human side, Meng Jiang watched with open surprise.
"The Ninth Princess possesses wisdom as clear as ice and snow. Her command of Combat Techniques is already remarkably refined. A future powerhouse, without question."
The others murmured in agreement.
A rare, genuine smile broke through Si Tingyu's composed expression — pride for her younger sister.
Wang Lingling raised an eyebrow at the improvised shard barrier Si Tingxue had conjured, and smiled faintly.
"Interesting idea."
Rebecca watched with anxious eyes. Her grip on Lu Yuan's arm was so tight it left marks.
"Ah-Yuan, is Xiaoxue going to be okay?"
Lu Yuan kept his eyes on the arena.
"Hard to say. The way things are going, these two probably won't resolve it quickly. If the mist density gets high enough, Tingxue has a decent chance — but she's burning through Spirit Power fast. Whether she can hold out that long is the question."
A flicker of worry crossed Rebecca's eyes.
It played out much as Lu Yuan had described. Stone, seeing his attack repelled, used some technique Lu Yuan couldn't immediately identify to split each arrow into two. The arrow rain doubled in density, hammering relentlessly at Si Tingxue's defenses.
But Si Tingxue kept replenishing her shards and shields. The two sides locked into a stalemate.
Time passed.
Si Tingxue's resupply rate began to slip. More arrows reached the shields. The shield layers dwindled.
Then Stone felt it — a sudden cold creeping over him.
He stopped. Looked around.
The ice mist density had spiked.
"What's happening?!" His face tightened in disbelief. "There wasn't this much mist before!"
Those watching from the ground could see it clearly: nearly all the ice mist on the arena was drifting — slowly, deliberately — toward Stone's position, as if guided by a conscious will. The concentration around him was climbing fast.
His perception blurred. The vines at Si Tingxue's feet crumbled. She slipped clear of the next arrow volley. It missed. The one after that missed too. The barrages grew sparser.
Si Tingxue's face was pale as chalk, but her ice-blue eyes burned bright.
Spirit Power surged through her body. She threw everything she had into generating mist. The dense fog coiled into a vortex, swallowing Stone within it.
Stone realized he was surrounded and lunged for the edge of the mist — but with his perception scrambled, every time he broke through the boundary, a wall of ice shards drove him back inside.
Like a fish in a barrel.
Meng Jiang and the others began to laugh.
Rebecca turned to Lu Yuan with a delighted grin.
"See that? Xiaoxue won! You said you weren't sure — hmph!"
Lu Yuan stared at the arena, genuinely taken aback. He hadn't expected Si Tingxue to control the mist to that degree.
*She couldn't do this before. She must have been training incredibly hard.*
He was happy for her.
The mood among the humans was celebratory. Among the Gnolls, it was the opposite.
Dushan watched Stone trapped inside the vortex — thrashing, attempting to escape, driven back every single time — and his face was grim.
"Useless."
If Stone had noticed the mist converging on him and moved away in time, he still would have had a real chance. Instead, he missed the window and gave Si Tingxue exactly the breathing room she needed. He'd cornered himself.
*Idiot.*
Stone's movements slowed as the cold worked deeper into him. Dushan drew a steady breath.
"We concede."
His hand swept outward. The ice mist was scattered skyward.
Inside the dissipating cloud, Stone was nearly a frozen statue.
A cold light moved through Dushan's eyes as he handed Stone over to the Gnoll Battle Sovereign healers.
Si Tingxue, for her part, stood white-faced on the arena — and the moment Stone was claimed, her legs buckled. She began to fall backward.
Lu Yuan moved to help, but a flash of golden light beat him to it. Si Tingyu had already appeared on the stage, arms catching her sister.
"Sister?"
The cherry color had drained completely from Si Tingxue's lips. She had wrung herself entirely dry.
A tender expression passed across Si Tingyu's face. She smiled at Si Tingxue, gentle and warm.
"You did beautifully."
She carried her sister off the arena, feeding Spirit Power into her steadily.
Lu Yuan glanced at Si Tingxue and flashed her a wide grin, giving her a deliberate thumbs-up.
"Tingxue — not bad at all. Four in a row."
Si Tingxue was pale and weak, but when she heard it, her chin lifted just slightly. A touch of pride.
*This ice queen really does love being praised,* Lu Yuan thought with some amusement. *Stroke her ego once and she's preening.*
Si Tingyu looked at him.
"Your turn."
Wang Lingling covered a laugh behind her hand, eyes curved in a sweet smile.
"Ah-Yuan, knock them all out so I don't have to go up. Please."
Stevenson grinned at Lu Yuan, anticipation lighting his eyes.
"I've been hearing you're something special. Time to see just how special."
Bakula crossed his arms and said nothing, though his gaze was fixed on Lu Yuan.
Lu Yuan smiled, gave a small spring, and stepped onto the arena.
He swept his gaze across the Gnoll camp. Beyond Feiba, Bloodrage Fang, Wenlin, and Shuiji, there were only three unidentified hidden Gnoll geniuses remaining — ones he hadn't placed yet.
He let his eyes pass over each of them, grinned at the lineup, then settled his gaze on Feiba.
"So — who's next?"
Feiba felt something sharpen inside him the moment Lu Yuan looked his way. Ice filled his eyes. Every ounce of warmth had turned to killing intent.
For revenge, he had petitioned his Emperor-father for a Sacred Spirit Fruit — an extraordinarily rare reward — specifically for this rematch. Consuming it had boosted his attributes considerably. Even if he'd lost training time in the Land of Origin, there was simply no way he would lose to this human again.
Watching Feiba's aura kindle with killing intent, Dushan glanced at him once and spoke evenly.
"Feiba. You're up. Don't embarrass the Blood Bone Tribe again."
Feiba bared his teeth in a savage grin, white fangs gleaming.
"Don't worry. I know."
He leaped onto the arena and came to stand before Lu Yuan. Killing intent blazed from his eyes. Flames licked at his body.
Lu Yuan looked him over and raised an eyebrow mildly.
*He's gotten stronger.* A notch or two, at least.
It made no difference to his inner calm.
"Begin," Dushan said flatly.
The word was barely out of his mouth.
Lu Yuan's face went cold. He stamped one foot onto the ice crystal stage — which, despite absorbing the force of every preceding battle, now showed faint hairline cracks from this single impact alone. A shockwave rose across his skin, and he covered the distance to Feiba in an instant, as though space itself had folded.
His expression was blank. His heavy sword swept toward Feiba's neck.
An inch from landing, a cyan light shield materialized in front of Feiba. The sword struck it. *Clang.* The impact shunted Lu Yuan backward.
A heartbeat later, the boom rolled across the arena — the belated report of a broken sound barrier.
Lu Yuan clicked his tongue. *Blocked, as expected.* He wasn't particularly surprised. This had been a probing strike — nothing more.
He hadn't used White Jade Spirit Body. He hadn't used Black Steel Force.
His Space Teleportation was now 70% tempered, and the Emperor Grade Silver Radiance Ring elevated everything further. Even without those two trump cards, he was already stronger than he'd been during the last arena fight.
On the other side of the stage, Feiba finally caught up to what had just happened.
His eyes went wide. A chill spread through him that had nothing to do with the flames wreathing his body.
He stared at Lu Yuan standing motionless not far away, face expressionless.
*Fear.*
The recognition was humiliating.
He was of the Blood Bone royal line. He *could not* feel fear.
He tried to crush it down, but his mind kept snapping back to the same image — Lu Yuan's empty eyes. That heavy sword.
A strange stillness fell over the arena.
Dushan, the other Gnoll Battle Emperor beside him, and the assembled Battle Sovereigns were all stone-faced, eyes riveted on Lu Yuan.
The power he'd displayed was staggering. Far beyond anything they had imagined.
*If he's allowed to grow...* A cold weight settled in Dushan's chest. *Even Battle Emperor won't be his ceiling. Battle Saint is a real possibility. And that chance — however slim — of walking the War God's path, of wielding the laws of the cosmos themselves...*
The War Gods were called divine beings for reason.
Murderous intent boiled in Dushan's eyes. He wanted to act — to cut this human down here and now, before the sapling could become a tree. But multiple qi-auras had locked onto him the instant the thought surfaced. He could not move.
Neither could the others. Every Gnoll face was taut, but no one lifted a hand.
On the human side, the atmosphere was no less somber.
Meng Jiang's group had gone rigid.
Li Xinghai and Adams — both of whom had been watching earlier bouts with casual disinterest — had sharpened entirely. Their eyes were cold and fixed on the two Gnoll Battle Emperors across the way, prepared for any sudden move.
Li Xinghai glanced at Lu Yuan and something bright moved through his gaze.
"I'd heard this kid was putting up good numbers. Didn't really register until now." He paused. "Seeing it in person — I'll admit, I'm actually a little shaken."
Adams smiled faintly, though something heavier underlay it. "Letting him fight here was a miscalculation. The Gnolls won't forgive this."
Li Xinghai looked at Lu Yuan again and lowered his voice.
"That's already not the main concern, is it... There's still the team battle coming."
Adams's expression shifted. The corner of his mouth twitched.
"...An absolute handful, this kid."
Li Xinghai cracked a smile. "The way this is going, I might need to call another person in. Things could get hairy."
Nearby, Wang Lingling's beautiful eyes were alight as she watched Lu Yuan. A soft, warm smile lingered on her lips.
"He's grown this much in such a short time... how impressive." She seemed to catch some private thought, and her smile deepened. "If the Lady hears about this, she might just shut herself away in seclusion from sheer despair."
Stevenson and Bakula hadn't stopped staring at the arena.
Stevenson's fists were clenched at his sides. Battle-hunger glowed in his eyes. He muttered steadily, barely audible even to himself:
"He's incredible. Lu Yuan is actually incredible..."
Bakula shot Stevenson a sideways look, then turned back to the arena. He gave a quiet sound that might have been dismissal.
"...He does have some ability."
Lu Yuan noticed the prolonged silence and let a slightly awkward look cross his face. He looked toward Meng Jiang.
"Commander Meng — does that count as my win?"
Everyone snapped back to the present.
Dushan looked at Lu Yuan one long moment. His voice came out flat and cold.
"This round — we concede. Feiba, come down."
Feiba descended from the arena with the hollow movements of a sleepwalker. The life had gone out of him entirely.
Dushan noticed. His brow drew together.
*He's been mentally broken.*
Two consecutive near-instant defeats to the same person. For someone as proud as Feiba, that was close to unbearable. If this shadow wasn't dealt with, it would hobble him for the rest of his life.
*At this rate, he might not even break through to Battle Sovereign.*
Dushan's gaze lingered on Lu Yuan's back for a moment. Then he turned away.
"Zhiliang. You're up."
A Gnoll with yellow-and-white mottled fur stepped forward with a nod. He looked at Lu Yuan, and something serious settled into his expression.
"Understood."
Zhiliang stepped onto the arena and came to stand across from Lu Yuan.
Lu Yuan studied him. This was one of the three hidden Gnoll geniuses.
Purple robes. Staff in hand. The Spirit Power emanating from him was barely leashed — savage and powerful.
Lu Yuan's eyes narrowed slightly.
*Battle Venerable.*
So one of the three hidden ones was indeed a Battle Venerable. Just as he'd suspected.
Zhiliang's expression cooled as he regarded Lu Yuan. Lightning crackled along his hand, violent energy bleeding outward.
"Human — you're Lu Yuan, correct? Decent talent. Too bad you're only a Battle General."
He delivered it in a flat, measured tone.
Lu Yuan smiled. "Looking down on Battle Generals? Didn't you come up through Battle General rank yourself?"
A soft white luminescence began to rise from his body.
*White Jade Spirit Body.*
His aura climbed another step.
Zhiliang's expression shifted slightly. He quietly began layering thunder shields around himself.
Meng Jiang spoke.
"Begin."
Before the word had fully left his mouth, Lu Yuan was gone — and standing before Zhiliang.
Even faster than before.
But Zhiliang was a Battle Venerable who had inscribed a King Grade gene. His reaction speed far outpaced a mere Battle General-rank fighter like Feiba.
He caught the motion. He responded.
His Staff swept out. A bolt of lightning as thick as an arm blasted toward Lu Yuan.
Lu Yuan's eyes were hard and cold. He took the bolt head-on. His heavy sword continued toward Zhiliang without pause.
*What?! No defense?!*
Shock flickered across Zhiliang's face.
**Boom!**
Lightning crashed into Lu Yuan's body. His sword crashed into the thunder shield.
The thunder shield flared brilliantly and shattered. The sword kept coming — still aimed at Zhiliang.
Where the lightning had struck Lu Yuan: a faint wisp of smoke. Nothing else. Not a scratch.
Zhiliang processed this for a split second — then instinct took over. His body dissolved into a bolt of lightning and reappeared several paces back.
He stared at Lu Yuan.
Ice was creeping down his spine.
Once he confirmed Lu Yuan was genuinely uninjured, his expression hardened into stone.
*How does he have that kind of defense?*
Yes, it had only been his Chief Grade Combat Technique — but he was a Battle Venerable. Every attribute exceeded a Battle General's ceiling. Even a Battle General using a Lord Grade technique wouldn't match a Battle Venerable's output. And yet this human had absorbed it like it was nothing.
*Not even injured. Doesn't even look bothered.*
Lu Yuan had already closed the gap again.
Zhiliang's jaw set. A cluster of thunder orbs materialized around him, crackling and hissing, and he launched them at Lu Yuan in a blazing salvo.
Lu Yuan felt the raw power packed into those orbs and thought better of tanking them. His figure flickered — footwork, not Space Teleportation — weaving between the orbs as he pressed forward.
He was deliberately not using Space Teleportation. He was saving it for the team battle. A little surprise for the Gnolls.
Zhiliang retreated, dissolving into lightning whenever Lu Yuan drew near, reappearing at range and launching another attack.
They traded. Advanced and retreated. Their silhouettes strobed across the arena — lightning crackling from Zhiliang, savage wind pressure gusting from Lu Yuan — until the stage was blanketed in arcing electricity and force.
Both sides of the arena watched in stunned silence.
Rebecca — who had been gripping Lu Yuan's arm during the earlier fight — had now transferred her grip entirely to Si Tingxue's arm.
Si Tingxue had fully recovered. Color had returned to her cheeks, and her breathing was calm.
Rebecca's eyes were wide as she stared at the arena.
"Xiaoxue, Ah-Yuan is incredible! His opponent is a Battle Venerable — a genius Battle Venerable with a King Grade gene — and he's fighting him on equal footing!"
Si Tingxue watched the arena, her voice quiet.
"I can see that... He really does keep getting stronger..."
Watching Lu Yuan's power climb past her own was a complicated feeling. It made her chest tight. She clenched her fist without realizing it.
"Do you think Ah-Yuan can win, Xiaoxue?"
Si Tingxue considered for a moment, then looked toward Si Tingyu.
"Sister — what do you think?"
Si Tingyu's golden-red eyes were fixed on the arena. Lu Yuan's figure moved within their depths. She was quiet for a moment, then answered with calm certainty.
"He can win."
Si Tingxue gave a small nod. "I think so too."
Rebecca let out a slow breath.
The other spectators murmured among themselves, shock written on every face.
Stevenson's knuckles were white. Battle-lust shone in his eyes as he muttered over and over under his breath:
"He's so strong. Lu Yuan is actually so strong..."
Bakula glanced at the battle-obsessed Stevenson and quietly shook his head. *No saving this one.*
Weili and his father Hart Kaine were also watching. Hart stared at Lu Yuan on the arena — and couldn't help knocking Weili on the head again. Weili clapped a hand to his forehead and looked over at his father blankly.
Hart's expression was one of profound parental disappointment.
"Look at Lu Yuan, then look at yourself. He's your *junior*, for crying out loud. How can you not be able to fight a Battle Venerable?"
Weili: *???*
His head was full of question marks. Feeling deeply aggrieved, he kept his voice low and fired back.
"Look — Lu Yuan is a freak of nature. I'm a normal person. Can you compare a normal person to a freak? Can you really? And you're on about me not being able to fight a Battle Venerable — could *you*, back when you were a Battle General? Could you have gone up against a genius Battle Venerable with a King Grade gene?"
That landed. Hart opened his mouth — then paused.
A faint smile crossed his face.
"They say sons are supposed to surpass their fathers. You're worse than me, you little — and you've still got the nerve to argue? Get home. I'll deal with you there."
Weili: "......"
He looked at his father's smile and felt a chill run to his toes. He began quietly calculating the probability of running away from home without being caught.
*This household was impossible to live in.*