Chapter 227: Father & Son (2)

Chapter 226

Shi Tian placed the box on the ground, ready to leave, with no intention of listening to Shi Gubing’s nonsense anymore. Just like everyone surrounding him, this man who called himself his father was nothing but a disgrace… a weakling, nothing more.

Shi Tian’s eyes remained cold and indifferent as he stood there; if not for the enormous power gap between them, he would have killed this old man a long time ago, with no hesitation whatsoever.

And unlike what an ordinary person might have suspected, Shi Tian had never once regarded the old man before him as a father figure… never. To him, Shi Gubing was nothing more than another weakling, a pathetic man who had once been publicly humiliated and beaten to the edge of death by the Li Clan Lord several years ago.

That scene… Shi Tian was never going to forget it. He could still remember the sight of his so-called father being crushed beneath someone else’s strength, unable to fight back, unable to protect his dignity.

It had been disgusting to him then, and even now, the memory still irritated him to his core. How could someone so weak and useless call himself his father?

The very thought disgusted him, it irritated him, and deep within Shi Tian’s heart, there was not even the slightest trace of fatherly affection toward the man… if anything, there was only contempt.

Shi Tian turned to leave, but just as he was about to take another step, Shi Gubing’s cold voice reached him, with no warmth in it anymore. “You do know what is at stake here, don’t you?”

Shi Tian, who was already about to step out, suddenly paused, his body becoming completely still. Then his teeth slowly gritted together, the temperature of his gaze seemed to drop, and when he finally spoke, his voice was cold enough to make the atmosphere inside the study feel heavier.

“Are you threatening me?” His voice was calm… too calm—and as he turned around to face Shi Gubing, his eyes locked onto his father.

There was no respect in them, no affection, only an icy, terrifying killing intent buried beneath the surface. Seeing the frightening look on his son’s face, Shi Gubing nearly felt his heart ache, and for a brief moment, the killing aura coming from Shi Tian made even him feel uncomfortable.

But Shi Gubing composed himself immediately, straightening his expression and looking at his son with an equally cold gaze. If anyone had been present to witness this scene, they would probably have found it difficult to wrap their heads around what they were seeing.

These two people were supposed to be father and son, yet there was not even the slightest warmth between them. Instead, they looked more like two enemies sitting across from each other, each waiting for the other to make the slightest mistake.

Shi Gubing’s gaze darkened. “It is not a threat, per se.” His voice remained cold. “I am just hoping you remember what is at stake.”

He paused for a moment before continuing. “You have the tournament to prove your worth.” His eyes narrowed. “If you fail and lose in that tournament, then you would prove that you are no different from the weaklings you have disgusted your entire life.”

The words fell heavily into the room. Shi Tian continued staring at his father… darkly. His gaze was deadly, filled with malice that he made no attempt to conceal, and for several moments, he remained completely silent.

The killing intent inside his eyes became even more apparent. Then, after a while, Shi Tian slowly shook his head, and without saying anything, he turned around and walked toward the table.

His footsteps were calm, measured. He reached out and picked up the Twin Venom Egg from the table, the tiny object resting quietly between his fingers.

As soon as he took it, Shi Tian looked back at Shi Gubing, and for an instant, an intense urge to end the old man’s life flashed through his mind.

Kill him. Right here. Right now. The thought came so naturally that there was nothing strange about it to Shi Tian, but he held himself back… not because he didn’t want to kill his own father, far from it, as he wanted to kill this bastard old man, truly did.

The only problem was that he wasn’t strong enough yet. There was still a massive power gap between them, and Shi Tian knew better than anyone that trying to kill Shi Gubing now would only be seeking his own death.

There was also another reason: there was something else he needed to keep the old man alive for, at least for the moment. So he suppressed the urge… for now.

“After the tournament, don’t forget your promise.” Shi Tian’s voice was cold as he spoke. Shi Gubing nodded. “If you win, I promise to take you there.”

His voice remained firm. “But if you lose, you will have no right to enter there.” His eyes hardened. “Get that.”

Shi Tian didn’t reply, his dark eyes remaining fixed on the old man before him. The killing intent hidden within them was suppressed, but it had not disappeared… not even slightly; it was simply being restrained, held back, waiting.

“I wouldn’t lose.” Shi Tian finally spoke, his voice filled with absolute confidence, and there wasn’t even the slightest hesitation in it.

After saying those words, he turned around and walked toward the door. “Wait.” Shi Tian paused, but he didn’t turn around.

Shi Gubing looked at his son’s back and spoke. “Before you go, I have one last word for you.” Shi Tian remained silent.

“If you feel your back pushed to the wall, use that pill immediately.” Shi Gubing’s voice became more serious. “No matter what happens, or whatever situation you find yourself in, you must get the golden tokens.”

His tone carried an unmistakable weight. “You must suppress and crush the Li Clan. Do you understand that?”

Shi Tian remained silent for a while; he did not turn around, and he did not reply to his father’s words. Instead, he simply reached out, opened the door, and walked out, the door slowly closed behind him.

The moment Shi Tian left, Shi Gubing finally exhaled a breath he had been holding, his shoulders relaxing slightly. He remained silent for a moment before shaking his head.

He was the stronger of the two… there was no doubt about that—and yet… his son’s killing aura was far more potent than his own.

That cold aura, that terrifying, emotionless killing intent, was something that made even Shi Gubing uncomfortable. He knew, of course, that his son had no good intentions toward him; the moment Shi Tian became strong enough to kill him, he would probably try to get rid of him almost immediately.

There was no doubt about it. Shi Gubing understood his son better than most. Shi Tian had never truly seen him as his father.

In his eyes, Shi Gubing was simply another weakling who happened to possess enough strength to keep him alive, and if that power gap ever disappeared… if the day came when Shi Tian no longer needed to fear him… then there would be nothing left standing between them.

Not blood, not family, not the word “father,” nothing. For Shi Tian, strength was everything, and weakness was a sin that deserved to be erased.

Shi Gubing exhaled a slow breath and shook his head. He had been trying to change that kid’s personality and behavior for a very long time now… but it seemed completely unchangeable.

Ever since the moment his mother died, something inside Shi Tian had changed… or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that something inside him had completely broken.

From that moment onward, Shi Tian had slowly turned into what one could only call a devil, a monster, a disaster. A picture suddenly flashed through Shi Gubing’s mind: a young child, barely ten years old, his entire body covered in blood from head to toe.

His small hand was tightly gripping the head of a man, while countless other corpses lay scattered across the vast ground behind him. Every single one of them had been killed in cold blood, with no fear in the child’s eyes, no guilt, no hesitation, nothing… only that emotionless gaze.

Those eyes. Shi Tian’s eyes. Even now, after all these years, the memory still made Shi Gubing feel a chill run down his spine.

That was the first time he truly realized that something was wrong with his son, something far beyond ordinary hatred, far beyond anger.

The child standing before him that day had looked less like a human being and more like a little devil that had just crawled out of hell, and that gaze… that emotionless gaze his son had stared back at him with on that day… still haunted him.

Shi Gubing had never been able to forget it. Shi Tian was a disaster, a disaster that Shi Gubing had planned to control, and if he failed to do that, then he would have no other choice but to go with the second option.

It didn’t matter much for now; there was still time. For the moment, Shi Gubing would use him… he would use Shi Tian to get his hands on the golden tokens.

Once he obtained them, the rest of his plans would finally be set into motion, everything he had been preparing for, everything he had been waiting for, it would all begin.

Shi Gubing took another sip of his tea, allowing the warmth to settle inside his mouth as he tried to erase the dark, eerie eyes of his son from his mind.

He forced his attention back toward the grand plan he had carefully set, with no doubt in his heart that Shi Tian would bring him the victory.

He would win, and if Guan Haoran posed too much trouble, then with the Twin Venom Egg, Shi Tian would be able to put an end to him for sure.

Thinking of this, a smile slowly appeared on Shi Gubing’s face… it was the smile of someone who had already seen his victory, a smile filled with confidence.

“Just you wait, Li San.” His eyes became cold. “I promised I would crush you.”

He took another sip of tea. “Just a little while longer…” Shi Gubing thought, as he could almost see it, the moment everything he had planned finally became reality.

Meanwhile, far away from the Clan Lord’s study… Shi Tian stared at the Twin Venom Egg, disgust and rage written plainly across his face.

He had tolerated Shi Gubing for a long time now… far too long… and yet that old man kept trying to push him toward the edge.

Shi Tian’s hands clenched firmly around the tiny egg, his fingers tightened around it, and for a moment, it looked as though he wanted to crush it right there.

Did that old man think everyone was a failure like him? What did he think Shi Tian was… a weakling?

The thought alone made the killing intent in his eyes become even colder before his grip slowly loosened. Many people would have been angry at the fact that their father had asked them to use something like this, especially when they clearly understood what would happen afterward.

The Twin Venom Egg was not some ordinary treasure; its side effect was devastating. Anyone who consumed it and borrowed its power would have to pay the price once that power disappeared, and the cultivation regression could be severe, potentially fatal to one’s future.

Yet Shi Tian wasn’t thinking about it like that. His anger was completely different. Just as his father saw him as a powerful and useful tool that needed to be taken good care of, Shi Tian also saw his father as nothing more than a tool… a useful tool.

He was still allowing that man to live because there was something that only by keeping him alive could he obtain, something he needed from him, and the moment he got it… Shi Tian wouldn’t hesitate to end his useless life.

There would be no mercy, no hesitation, no second thought. Shi Tian looked down at the Twin Venom Egg with an expressionless face.

He wanted to crush it, truly did, but he wouldn’t. He would win that match without ever consuming this thing, he would win using his own strength, and after the tournament was over, he would throw the Twin Venom Egg straight back into Shi Gubing’s face.

That was what he wanted, that was what his pride demanded. With that thought, Shi Tian placed the egg back into the box and kept it inside his pocket, knowing that just as he had told his old man earlier, only those filthy weaklings would resort to such an underhanded tactic to deal with their opponents.

Pathetic. There was no way he would become filth like them, and no way he would allow himself to become the very thing he had spent his entire life despising.

Back to the present… Shi Tian’s gaze was filled with disgust and hatred, not toward Liyu, not toward Shi Gubing, but toward himself.

He hated himself for having no choice but to take the egg. He had become a filthy weakling… the very thing he had despised his entire life, the very thing he had looked down upon in everyone else, and now… he had become one of them.

Shi Tian hated this feeling, genuinely hated it, and his disgust-filled gaze locked onto Liyu as those eyes became cold and deadly.

“You are the cause of all this.” The thought appeared in his mind, his killing intent surged, and, “And so… I will make you pay.”

At that moment, the Twin Venom Egg finally dissolved. The tiny egg transformed into a strange energy that instantly merged with Shi Tian’s ten refined Qi beads, and the moment that happened… BOOM!

The World Qi surrounding Shi Tian was forcefully sucked into his body. The air around him violently trembled, and the enormous amount of World Qi rushed toward him from every direction as though an invisible vortex had suddenly appeared.

It poured into his body, and then, under the terrifying force of the Twin Venom Egg, the ten refined Qi beads began to move, forced together closer and closer until they finally began merging.

The sharp pain that followed shot through Shi Tian’s entire body… an intense, piercing pain that spread through his flesh, meridians, bones, spirit, and soul.

Yet Shi Tian’s expression didn’t change, not even a bit. His eyes remained cold, his face remained expressionless, and he simply endured it.

The ten refined Qi beads continued to swirl faster and faster until they finally began forming something entirely different: a Qi vortex.

The ten beads spun around one another like a miniature black hole, devouring and compressing the surrounding energy.

The vortex grew increasingly powerful, and with every rotation, an overwhelming force surged through every part of Shi Tian’s body… his flesh, his meridians, his spirit, his soul… everything being transformed by that terrifying power.

Then… BOOM! A terrifying aura suddenly erupted from Shi Tian’s body, and the entire atmosphere changed.

In the outside world, Liyu’s gaze changed completely, his eyes widening as he sensed the sudden transformation occurring before him.

That aura, that pressure, that terrifying increase in power… Liyu’s expression became ugly. He could clearly sense it: Shi Tian had advanced.

Foundation Realm!

“What the hell…” For what seemed like the hundredth time in one day, Liyu cursed once more, and this time… even he couldn’t help but feel like the heavens were deliberately playing a joke on him.