Legacy of Hatred

Chapter 312: Introspection

’That hurt,’ Liam groaned internally, storing the Black Bow on his shoulder before rubbing his eyes.

The Divine Cult had trained Liam to endure physical pain. Even being thoroughly broken by the Primal Urge couldn’t stop him or delay his actions.

However, cultivators could suffer in many ways, and the rank 2 Aura’s blowback was closer to the debilitating pain that his cultivation’s glass-like structure could experience than anything flesh-related.

Truth be told, Liam hadn’t even been aware that the rank 2 Aura had such a whiplash. That was the limit of isolated training, and he had to consider himself lucky to have discovered it in such a suitable occurrence.

After all, the Church’s team was no more. The two foundation experts who hadn’t left the Poisonous Breath’s range were on the bed of darkened petals, collapsed and lifeless, blood leaking from their ghastly faces.

’There was nothing about this in the description,’ Liam pondered, recovering his bearings. ’Is it because of what I attacked?’

A punch slamming on a wall would make the former experience its firmness, its innate opposition.

In the same way, that mental attack would have to contend with the targeted mind’s innate defenses, forcing the caster to experience that resistance and the strain of overcoming it.

Still, as Robert had guessed, the rank 2 Aura was indeed strong, and Liam could look deeper into it now that he had more tangible proof of its uses and power.

’It can get much stronger,’ Liam believed. ’It’s the same as expressing my dantian’s nature.’

The rank 2 Aura was quite the flexible technique, at least in theory, but Liam mainly cared about its offensive uses.

That condensed, beam-like attack of mental energy had used Liam’s hatred as its fuel, which was one of the most intense emotions his being harbored.

Yet, Liam possessed something even stronger, immensely so. The Ancestral Snake’s all-devouring Hatred he had inherited was several levels beyond his, and using it could improve the Aura’s effects by leaps and bounds.

The problem lay with that intensity. The Snake’s Hatred risked swallowing Liam, too. Actually, that probably was one of its requirements.

Liam wasn’t confident he could summon that bottomless dark emotion on command, let alone wield it. He hadn’t had the time to explore that just-discovered ability, and applying it to the rank 2 Aura would even merely be a secondary task.

After all, Liam had Lancelot as an example to follow for the main application. Just like that genius unleashed fire rather than Qi with each of his actions, Liam had to be one with his deadly energy.

Actually, Liam had to be far superior in that regard.

Liam glanced at his bloodied right hand, wondering how the Metal Hand would work once enhanced through his core’s nature, before focusing on his surroundings. He had come out unharmed from that battle, but his victory didn’t exist in a vacuum.

’Grace will be so mad,’ Liam thought, a chill running down his spine when he imagined his companion’s fearsome smiling face.

Earning the Church’s enmity had always been a possibility due to the mission’s circumstances, but Liam had crossed a line undeniably and irrevocably.

Liam had killed members of the Church without even the excuse of self-defense. He had struck first and in a deadly manner in response to their intention to prevent him from attempting the inheritance.

That probably was an overreaction. Those white-wearing cultivators hadn’t really shown unforgivable enmity. Even their idea of stopping Liam might not have involved anything lethal. They might have just planned to restrain him for all he knew.

There hadn’t been any wrong done. The Church’s members hadn’t tried to trick Liam, steal from him, or hurt him as those he had killed had done in the past.

The group had merely been a barrier between Liam and what he desired, one he had solved in the best way he knew.

’Have I grown too used to resorting to killing?’ Liam wondered. ’But I don’t feel bad.’

A greater maturity enabled deeper insights into one’s character. Liam reviewed what he had become, finding an irrational but stark line.

Liam knew how he felt when he mistakenly took lives, and the current situation just wasn’t it. The line might have been blurrier, but one truth remained.

The Church had opposed Liam, and it shouldn’t have. He had every right to attempt that inheritance as everyone else. Its very creator said so.

Even if that weren’t the case, Liam needed those resources to fulfill his goals. He was willing to compromise and abide by his idea of fairness, but it was clear how he would act if that weren’t possible. freeweɓnovel.cѳm

Overcoming the impossible odds life had placed on Liam probably required the plundering of the entire world, so he would do exactly that. People had to step aside, or Liam would make them.

’Master,’ Liam thought, closing his eyes, ’Have I become the fiend you told me to be? Am I imposing my will on the world well enough?’

Liam’s Master wasn’t there. He didn’t even know how he was faring in the Pale Moon Sect. Liam was also stuck, unable to announce that he was Horace Rauret’s disciple, the greatest pride in his life.

The unfairness of all that put an end to the introspection. Liam couldn’t possibly doubt himself when life wouldn’t even allow him to profess his Master’s name publicly.

Yet, that wasn’t forever. The world would bend one day. Liam would become strong enough to make it chant his great Master’s name.

Liam reopened his eyes, his expression feral and intense. Despite what Robert had said, the corpses weren’t disappearing, not yet, meaning Liam could loot them to work toward the strength he needed.

Sadly, no one had much, if anything at all. Even the pouches the middle-aged man had brought only had basic supplies.

The only Qi-related item came from the rooting expert. It was a metal token carrying the same black shades as the four pillars on the crossroad’s corners, which prompted Liam to move his attention there next.

Liam stood on the dark bed of wilted petals, studying the tall, rectangular pillars full of intricate, glowing carvings. Those had to be inscriptions, but even that closer inspection failed to uncover their purposes.

Liam only felt an instinctive wariness toward those structures, which his superhuman senses placed beyond their sheer rank. He could also guess that they were foreign to the environment, having been brought there by the Church to carve the alleged shortcut.

But the lack of answers didn’t imply that Liam was completely lost. He wasn’t alone after all.

"Can you come down?" Liam asked from under the hood, still staring at a pillar, not bothering to look in the direction of what his senses had long since perceived. "This is your field of expertise, isn’t it?"

Liam didn’t need to see it to feel it happening. On a roof nearby, a chunk of air blurred, and a hand moved it aside, revealing it as a mantle that perfectly copied the environment’s scenery, under which Julian had hidden.