Chapter 129: Liu Tian's Decision

“Consider this for the sake of your parents—how about we just leave?” Anzhe glanced at the two barely clinging to life on the ground. “We haven't caused any damage to the Three Gorges, nor have we killed anyone.”

“I refuse!” Lu Mingfei said calmly.

“I am the captain of the Heavenly Kingdom Clean-up Squad. How can I not clear away trash when I see it? And even if you haven’t harmed the Three Gorges—” As he spoke, Lu Mingfei spread his hands, gesturing toward the countless fallen Heavenly Kingdom members around them. “This is already a grave provocation.”

“As for my parents, I swore when I joined the Heavenly Kingdom that if they stood in my way, I would step over them—and now, I often wonder if I even truly have parents.” Lu Mingfei’s expression was sorrowful, filled with an indescribable pain. Tears fell in heavy drops, emotions surging like a volcanic eruption. “Or rather, can they even be called my parents?”

“What the hell am I, really?”

“Lu Mingze contacted you?” Anzhe furrowed his brow, suddenly asking.

“Lu Mingze? Oh, so there’s another guy with the same name as my cousin secretly spying on me?” Lu Mingfei’s pain came swiftly and left just as fast. “Looks like you know quite a bit, Anzhe. Care to share?”

“That’s not possible—but if you let us leave peacefully, I might be willing to tell you what I know.” Anzhe’s expression grew serious, a murderous aura bursting forth like a fierce tide. “Don’t waste any more time—I can’t afford to.”

“If we can’t come to terms,” Lu Mingfei spread his hands and made no move to resist, “then let me see the strength of the strongest dragon slayer.”

“What a nuisance.” Anzhe’s golden spear ignited as he activated his Word Spirit, Time Zero.

In an instant, the world slowed dramatically in his eyes. Compared to the exaggerated speeds he had before, he had now reached the limits of this Word Spirit.

This was not a power that could accelerate infinitely; it had a cap. Two years ago, his maximum magnification was 1,000 times, with a top speed of fifty times the speed of sound.

Now, two years later, though his magnetic field rotation had strengthened countless times—allowing him to surpass the speed of sound with sheer physical power—his speed had only reached a ‘pitiful’ 100 times the speed of sound, far short of 1,000 times.

Time Zero didn’t actually slow down the world or speed up his own time to achieve acceleration. Instead, it accelerated his unit of time’s thinking speed, reflexes, and movement to create the illusion of accelerated time.

This characteristic revealed a profound secret about Word Spirits and dragon bloodlines, a secret that, if deeply contemplated, could be quite terrifying.

At a hundredfold speed, Anzhe leisurely circled Lu Mingfei, seeking the best angle.

The endless wind burst forth naturally with his movement, compressing the air into tangible force. If not for his damage output being limited to just beyond the speed of sound, merely brushing past Lu Mingfei at a hundredfold speed would be enough to incapacitate him.

Though acceleration had reached its limit, the duration he could maintain it extended greatly—from six seconds to a full minute.

Because of this, Anzhe was not in a hurry to attack. Instead, he planned to first take away Caesar and Chen Motong. But just as he found a perfect angle and approached Lu Mingfei to grab them, something unexpected happened—

Suddenly, the world returned to normal speed in Anzhe’s eyes, and a fierce backlash stiffened him for a moment.

Damn it, he could actually cancel the Word Spirit? Lu Mingze never told me this!

A thought flashed through his mind, but with his vast experience, Anzhe did not panic. A surge of 960,000 volts of electricity instantly erupted, helping him rapidly regain control over himself.

Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!

But as Anzhe just stepped back, Lu Mingfei, long prepared, struck him with a decisive punch to the chest. The powerful blow made even this near-magnetic field rotation master taste sweetness in his mouth.

Spit!

The blood Lu Mingfei coughed up transformed into two sharp arrows aimed at his eyes. Without hesitation, Anzhe grabbed Caesar and Chen Motong and retreated frantically.

At that moment, the word echoed in his ears—“Cancel!”

“Truly worthy of the strongest dragon slayer; these two trash are a completely different dimension.” Unable to dodge the blood that blinded him, Lu Mingfei, hiding such terrifying power, was shot in both eyes. Yet accustomed to pain, he showed no fear. The electric current cut the nerves in his eyes, allowing him to tear out the useless eyeballs and toss them aside. “I set a trap, had the first strike, and still couldn’t beat you.”

“Lu Mingze never told me you could reach this level.” With a simple sentence and no desire to linger, Anzhe activated Time Zero once more, departing the battlefield at a hundred times the speed of sound.

“Don’t chase him,” Lu Mingfei said, eyes closed. “If you pursue, you’ll be killed meaninglessly. That 960,000-volt electricity plus a century of combat experience creates a complete realm—damn, this guy’s strength far exceeds my estimates. He’s truly a psychological monster.”

...Three hours later...

In an ancient city purely cast from bronze beneath the riverbed.

Liu Tian leaned against the throne, toying with a short blade resembling a Japanese tanto. In earlier contact, he had absorbed all the Source Points carried by both the blade and the bronze city.

Closing the panel labeled [Effort] with 312 points stored, Liu Tian lowered his head to look at Shao Qian and Shao Yifeng kneeling on the ground. A smile played on his face, making it impossible to discern what he was truly thinking.

Liu Tian now understood every detail of the situation. Having kept his mind-reading ability off, he now activated it, effortlessly seeing through the two men’s inner thoughts.

“Shao Yifeng, you know I despise betrayal,” Liu Tian said, resting his chin on his hand, tapping the throne’s armrest with the blade. “Although this incident was within my expectations, and you didn’t do it intentionally, betrayal is betrayal. You’re involved—how do you expect me to deal with you?”

There was no reply. Shao Yifeng simply bowed his head, awaiting his fate.

“Looks like you have no suggestions.” Liu Tian was unsurprised. He turned to the logistics commander nearby. “Shao Qian, you probably have another heir. With his intelligence, he cannot inherit your position—though considering your current physical state, it’s not impossible to have another child.”

“Yifeng has been my biological son for over twenty years,” Shao Qian said, bowing his head. “I beg you, leader, for his sake, spare his life.”

“Good. At least you’re not foolish enough to ask me to let him go.” Liu Tian stepped down from the throne and casually destroyed the ancient piece, thousands of years old. “This thing is uncomfortable to sit on anyway. It digs into the butt.”

“For old times’ sake, I’ll give you a chance,” Liu Tian said. “Shao Qian, prepare a sealed room for him, a computer, and all materials related to computing.”

“The Heavenly Kingdom is about to be officially established. Undoubtedly, more and more matters will arise. I need an artificial intelligence to help me handle trivial tasks I’m too lazy to deal with.”

“Make it happen—or die inside it.”

“Oh, by the way.” Liu Tian stopped suddenly. “For the next three generations, you’re only allowed to eat salt-boiled pork.”

“Th-thank you, leader.”

“Did you let them go?” Lu Mingfei asked, walking down the long corridor of the bronze city with his eyes closed.

“Since no one died and there was no intent to deceive me—and without that fool’s help, I couldn’t have stopped the Cassel Academy’s many insiders,” Liu Tian said. “I was just waiting for them to activate their inside men—how else would I have known about this bronze ancient city? But I didn’t expect I’m so capable, yet my son is such a complete simp.”

“Forget it, enough said.” Liu Tian paused. “When will your injuries heal?”

“It takes a day to regrow, two days to recover enough not to affect combat,” Lu Mingfei replied.

“Good. In three days, I’ll take you to destroy Cassel. When we return, the Heavenly Kingdom will be officially established.” Decisions that determined countless lives were as easy to Liu Tian as deciding what to eat tomorrow. “By the way, you should start using other Word Spirits. Stop obsessing over that immortal Asura body of yours.”

“But I don’t know any other Word Spirits,” Lu Mingfei said, confused. “Wait, can I use multiple Word Spirits?”

“You didn’t know?” Liu Tian turned to ask. “The fact that you can cancel Word Spirits means your bloodline is extremely high. How could you be like ordinary hybrids, limited to just one Word Spirit?”

“Besides, haven’t you noticed only you use Chinese when activating Word Spirits? Everyone else uses Dragon Script. If you can use Chinese, why not master several Word Spirits?”

“……” Lu Mingfei scratched his head, muttering, “I never really thought about it...”

“Clark Asina will teach you these two days.” Rarely, Liu Tian sighed. “Then I’ll give you a special training session for a day and teach you a new skill as a reward.”

“What skill?” The mention of new skills instantly perked Lu Mingfei up.

“The Hell War God—this is especially suited to you.” Liu Tian turned off his mind-reading and glanced at Lu Mingfei. “Even more fitting than the Asura Path...”

“Brother Tian, are you saying I have split personalities?” Lu Mingfei suddenly realized something. Only then was his mind incredibly sharp. “Wait, Lu Mingze, am I really schizophrenic?”

“What do you think?” Liu Tian looked at him with pity. “Maybe you’re the split personality after all—but it doesn’t matter. With me here, no matter who the original personality was, from now on, you’re the main one!”