Chapter 226: Father & Son (1)

Chapter 225

Shi Tian really hated what he was about to do. He hated it more than words could describe, but he had no choice. This young man had proved to be more than a handful, and Liyu had already pushed him farther than he had expected, forcing him into a situation where he could no longer rely solely on his own strength to bring the battle to an end.

So he was going to take it, even though doing so would make him feel weak, useless, and like those people around him whom he looked down upon. Shi Tian hated that feeling. He hated the thought of needing to rely on something external to accomplish what he should have been able to do with his own strength.

But there was nothing he could do anymore... not at this crossroads. His heart had been pierced. The Void Piercer had gone straight through his chest, and although his mastery over wind qi had allowed him to forcibly contain the damage and prevent his condition from deteriorating further, that did not mean the injury had disappeared.

The pain was still there: deep, sharp, constant. Every movement reminded him that his heart had been pierced. The wind qi was merely holding the damage together. It was preventing things from becoming worse, but it could not erase what had already happened.

And there was no more time. There was no time to search for another method, no time to consider whether there was something else he could have done, and no time to hesitate. Shi Tian understood that very clearly.

So, with that realization, he reached into his storage and brought out a small, round object. It was roughly the size of a pebble... an egg. One side of it was pure white, while the other side was pitch-black. The strange contrast between the two halves made the object appear even more unnatural.

Shi Tian stared at it. Disgust filled his eyes... pure disgust. Not toward Liyu. Not toward anyone else. Toward himself. Why? Why did he need to stoop this low? Why did he have to use this kind of thing?

He hated it. He hated the fact that he had been forced into this situation. He hated that a young man who had only recently entered his sight had managed to push him to the point where he had no other option.

But there was nothing he could do... not anymore. His fingers tightened around the small egg, and then his gaze shifted toward Liyu.

The moment Liyu met those emotionless, hate-filled eyes, his skin crawled. A chill immediately ran down his spine. There was something deeply wrong with that gaze.

There was no madness in it, no panic, no desperation. Only an emotionless hatred that seemed to have been buried so deeply within Shi Tian that it had become part of his very existence.

Liyu’s eyes then dropped toward the strange little egg in Shi Tian’s hand. The instant he saw it, his senses of danger went completely haywire. Warning. Danger. Extreme danger.

Every instinct in Liyu’s body screamed at him to stop whatever was about to happen. His mind nearly shut down for a second. "What is that...?" But before he could react... Shi Tian raised the small egg and swallowed it whole.

Liyu’s pupils contracted. His heart jumped. Then... BOOOOM! Shi Tian’s body suddenly shuddered. The ground beneath him violently quaked.

A terrifying wave of power exploded outward in every direction. The atmosphere trembled, the earth shook, and a massive wave of World Qi surged through the surroundings, converging toward Shi Tian with frightening speed.

The sheer amount of World Qi was overwhelming. It gathered, compressed, and then formed a massive dome around Shi Tian. An enormous egg-like dome of World Qi appeared, with Shi Tian standing at its very center.

The entire battlefield was instantly swallowed by the terrifying phenomenon. The crowd fell completely silent. No one understood what was happening. Even those watching from the highest seats couldn’t immediately explain the transformation.

Inside the dome, Shi Tian remained motionless. His expression was still emotionless, still cold, still terrifyingly calm. Yet for the first time, a flash appeared in his eyes: disgust.

Pure disgust... not toward anyone else, but toward himself. His fist slowly clenched, his fingers dug into his palm, and then... the memory of the previous night surfaced in his mind, the night before the tournament.

Shi Tian had just returned from clearing out a bandit camp. The camp wasn’t particularly far from the portion of the Night Region under the jurisdiction of the Shi Clan. He had stepped into the place alone and killed all of them.

There had been no hesitation, no mercy. Shi Tian had never possessed much mercy for anyone, and bandits in particular were no exception. It wasn’t because he held some deep moral hatred toward them, nor because he cared about justice, nor because of some noble principle or righteous belief.

No. Nothing like that. Shi Tian simply couldn’t have cared less about their reasons for becoming bandits. If anything, the very existence of bandits disgusted him for a much simpler reason: they were weaklings.

Nothing more. They were weak... pathetically weak. And instead of trying to become stronger, they had chosen to prey upon others. They made themselves targets. Foolish weaklings.

That was what disgusted Shi Tian. Weakness. The sight of people who lacked the strength to protect themselves yet still dared to cause trouble irritated him.

And Shi Tian had never possessed any qualms about ending the existence of anything or anyone he found irritating. If something annoyed him... he erased it. If someone irritated him... he ended them.

Completely. Without hesitation. So the bandit camp had been nothing more than a side chore. Something insignificant. Something barely worth remembering.

After finishing the task, Shi Tian was informed that the Clan Lord of the Shi Clan wanted to see him... or rather, his father wanted to see him. At first, Shi Tian rejected the summons. He had no interest in wasting his time.

But after learning that there was another reason for the meeting... something beyond his usual training with the weaklings who would be participating in the tournament the following day... and that his father wanted to see him personally, Shi Tian eventually decided to go.

After all... no matter how powerful he had become, he was still no match for his father. And crossing that old man would bring nothing but unnecessary pain... pain Shi Tian was not willing to deal with.

So he headed toward his father’s study after arriving at the clan manor. Along the way, everyone who saw him immediately made distance. Fear was written plainly across their faces.

Those unfortunate enough to be standing too close lowered their heads in greeting, their backs already drenched in cold sweat. No one dared to meet his eyes. No one wanted to attract his attention.

Shi Tian didn’t give any of them even the slightest bit of attention. He simply continued walking, step after step. His expression remained blank, and his pace remained steady.

Soon, he arrived before his father’s study.

And just as he reached the entrance, four people were coming out. They were none other than the four other contestants who would be heading to the tournament with him the following day.

Shi Tian didn’t know their names... or rather, he had never bothered to learn them. He couldn’t care less. In Shi Tian’s eyes, they were nothing more than useless, meaningless trash. Pathetic weaklings.

Why should he waste his time remembering the names of people who were beneath his notice? The four people... Shi Lan, Shi Yuan, Shi Meng, and Shi Mo.

The moment they saw the devil standing before them, all four froze. Their bodies stiffened, their expressions became pale, and then, almost simultaneously, they lowered their heads.

Their bodies trembled slightly. "We greet the Clan Heir..." Their voices were respectful, careful, fearful.

Shi Tian said nothing. For several seconds, the corridor remained completely silent. The four didn’t dare raise their heads. They simply waited.

Their hearts pounded nervously in their chests. Then, finally, Shi Tian spoke. His tone was blank and completely emotionless. "What did the Clan Lord tell you?"

The four were slightly stunned. The devil had actually spoken to them. That alone was surprising. After all, Shi Tian almost never spoke to them.

In fact, they could count the number of times he had directly addressed them on one hand. But they didn’t remain stunned for long. They quickly gathered themselves and presented their answer.

They told him everything the Clan Lord had instructed them to do. They were to make sure they won the tournament, they were to crush the Li Clan, they were to ensure that the Shi Clan emerged victorious, and so on and so forth.

After they finished explaining everything, the four quietly waited for Shi Tian to speak again. Perhaps... perhaps he would say something to them. Maybe a few words of encouragement.

Not that they were actually expecting such a thing. They knew better than anyone what kind of person Shi Tian was. Encouragement? From him? That was almost impossible. Still, they waited.

Shi Tian remained silent for a while. Then he finally spoke. "Leave." The four nodded immediately. Not one of them dared complain about how rude he sounded.

They weren’t tired of living. They turned around, preparing to leave as quickly as possible. But before they could take even a few steps... Shi Tian’s emotionless voice reached them once more. "Wait."

The four froze. Then his voice followed. "And listen." They all paused immediately. No one dared to move. They simply stood there and listened to what Shi Tian wanted to say.

His emotionless gaze swept across the four of them. "All of you must win all your matches tomorrow." His voice was flat. There wasn’t even the slightest trace of emotion in it.

"If you lose your matches and bring disgrace upon me and the clan..." His eyes narrowed slightly. "I will kill you all myself."

The moment those words fell, the hearts of all four people thumped violently. Their bodies stiffened. Fear nearly overwhelmed them.

They had already known that Shi Tian was terrifying, but hearing those words directly from his mouth still sent an icy chill through their bodies. There was no doubt in his tone, no warning, no empty threat.

He meant every single word. The four rapidly nodded. "Yes... Clan Heir." They didn’t dare say anything else.

They immediately turned around and ran. They fled down the corridor as quickly as their legs could carry them, as though remaining in Shi Tian’s presence for even another second could cost them their lives.

Shi Tian watched the four of them running away. His expression remained completely emotionless. He hadn’t been joking when he said he would kill them.

Not even slightly. Shi Tian hated weakness more than anything else. Weakness disgusted him. It irritated him.

And if those four proved to be even more useless and weak than he already believed them to be, then he would end them without hesitation. To Shi Tian, there was no complicated reasoning behind it.

If they were useless, they had no value. If they had no value, then there was no reason for them to continue existing.

Soon after, Shi Tian entered the study. He sat across from his father, the Clan Lord of the Shi Clan, Shi Gubing.

"You summoned me." Shi Tian cut straight to the point. "What is it for?"

Shi Gubing raised an eyebrow. "Is that how you greet your father?"

Shi Tian didn’t reply. He had already greeted him. There was no reason to answer the question.

Shi Gubing stared at his son for a moment before letting out a small sigh. "Is this how you will continue to act toward your own father?"

There was a faint hint of hurt in his voice, as though the way Shi Tian treated him genuinely affected him. Shi Tian’s gaze didn’t change even for a second.

He simply spoke once more. "What is it you summoned me for?" His tone remained cold, direct, impatient.

Shi Gubing knew that he couldn’t get through to his son. Trying to lecture Shi Tian about the relationship between father and son would accomplish nothing.

And besides, there was something important that needed to be dealt with. So he decided to let it pass. He reached out and passed a small box across the table. "Open it."

Shi Tian did as he was told. He opened the small box. Inside was a miniature egg. It was incredibly small... almost no bigger than a pebble.

Shi Tian picked it up between his fingers. He examined it carefully, turned it over, and inspected every detail. Then he brought it closer and smelled it.

For the first time, his gaze slowly changed. The change was extremely subtle. Someone who didn’t know him well would probably never notice it.

But it was there. His analytical mind had already begun processing everything. He placed the egg back into the box. Then he looked toward his father.

"What do you think I am?" His voice was cold. "A weakling?"

Shi Gubing didn’t answer immediately. He didn’t need to. Shi Tian had already analyzed everything.

The small egg was none other than the infamous Twin Venom Egg. It was an extremely rare treasure and an incredibly expensive one to obtain.

The egg came from a powerful beast and possessed an ability that could be described as heaven-defying: it could forcibly raise a cultivator’s cultivation by one stage. And in certain circumstances, it could even raise them by more than one level.

It was an extraordinary treasure... a treasure that countless cultivators would be willing to kill for. However, just as it possessed an advantage that was almost too incredible to believe, it also carried a devastating side effect.

Once the temporary boost ended, the cultivator would suffer a cultivation regression. And the regression could become more severe depending on just how much power had been borrowed.

The greater the increase... the greater the price. The Twin Venom Egg was therefore a double-edged sword. It could allow someone to reach a level of power they normally couldn’t achieve, but afterward, they would have to pay for that borrowed strength.

The Clan Lord wanted Shi Tian to use this. But to Shi Tian... this kind of thing was meant for weaklings. And Shi Tian was far from being a weakling.

The very thought that he was being asked to rely on something like this made anger rise within him. It felt like an insult. An insult to his strength. An insult to everything he had achieved.

Shi Tian turned toward his father. He picked up the small box, then pushed it back toward Shi Gubing. His gaze was emotionless.

"I wouldn’t be needing this." He paused. "Now, can I leave?" His voice was cold and completely devoid of emotion.

It was almost as though he wasn’t speaking to his father at all; it sounded as though he were speaking to some old enemy.

Shi Gubing remained silent for a while. Then he shook his head. "Take that." His voice became more serious. "I heard some rumors about Haoran of the Guan Clan."

Shi Tian’s eyes narrowed slightly. "I believe Guan Ju might have some foul card hidden up his sleeve." Shi Gubing looked directly at his son.

"If things get out of hand, use it." Shi Tian didn’t answer. He simply placed the small box on the ground. He was ready to leave.

He wasn’t interested in listening to Shi Gubing’s nonsense anymore. Just like everyone else surrounding him, this man who called himself his father was nothing more than a disgrace... a weakling, just like the rest.

If not for the enormous gap in their strength and the difference between the two of them, Shi Tian would have killed him a long time ago. That was how little regard he had for the man.

Shi Tian had never truly viewed Shi Gubing as a father figure. Never. To him, Shi Gubing was simply another weakling... a 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 had never forgotten it. How could he? The image had been carved into his mind.

His so-called father had been crushed before everyone, defeated, humiliated, and beaten until he was barely able to remain alive. And yet this weak and useless man still called himself his father.

The very thought disgusted Shi Tian. It irritated him to his core. How could someone so weak call himself his father? How could such a person have the right to stand above him?

Shi Tian found it disgusting, irritating, almost unbearable.

He turned around and prepared to leave. But just as he was about to step out of the study, Shi Gubing’s cold voice suddenly reached him.

There was no warmth in it anymore... not even the faint pretense of it. "You do know what is at risk here, don’t you?"

Shi Tian stopped. His footsteps came to a halt. For a moment, the room fell completely silent.

Shi Tian, who was already about to step out, paused . His teeth gritted together, his expression became cold, and then he spoke, his tone carrying an unmistakable chill: "Are you threatening me?"