The world has turned into Hell's Game, why should I stay human?

Chapter 1414: Homecoming to Sweep Ancestors’ Graves

"Oh, well done. Anything else?"Liu Zheng praised and then asked.

"No more, boss."

Niu Daji replied.

"Alright, I’ll hang up now."

He hung up the phone and summoned the character panel, and sure enough, he found something new.

"Sword Technique Endowment (passive skill): The player’s knife skills are greatly enhanced, and during practice or combat, there is a certain chance of comprehending other skills related to sword techniques (priority to Renyi One Sword Style related skills). After comprehending five skills, this skill disappears."

"Awesome!"

The effect itself is already excellent, with the bonus of five skills, it wouldn’t be traded for even a Perfect Item.

"Shi Yidao is a good person, worth keeping around."

He gave a nod of approval in his heart.

However, Liu Zheng didn’t rush to test his newly acquired skills. Instead, he dealt with other missed calls first.

The first was from Shi Tiantian.

"Dear human gentleman, the deep-sea volcanic mud has been delivered to the flower field, my mother and brothers all asked me to thank you properly."

Shi Tiantian said sweetly.

It was mainly because Liu Zheng provided a substantial amount; ten tons of deep-sea volcanic mud was enough to lay another small flower field.

"No need to be so polite, it’s my honor to help dear Miss Stone Spirit. What about the flower seeds?"

Liu Zheng asked.

"I’ve already placed the seeds in the Hundred Ghosts, you can have someone pick them up."

Shi Tiantian replied.

"Alright, thank you very much. Oh, there’s one more thing."

He told Shi Tiantian about Shi Yidao.

Though it might not eventually happen, it’s always good to give a heads-up.

"No problem, we certainly welcome the friends of a dear human gentleman. But there’s one thing, you should remind your friend first."

Shi Tiantian’s tone shifted.

"Please go ahead, Miss Stone Spirit."

"The Ten Thousand Great Mountains have their own social rules and moral standards. We respect heroes like your friend, but the Stone Spirit Clan’s main duty is to maintain stability."

Shi Tiantian said.

"Understood, I’ll pass it on to him."

Liu Zheng nodded.

"Then I wish you a good night in advance, dear human gentleman."

Shi Tiantian hung up the phone.

"Tsk, Miss Stone Spirit, you’re really not picky, huh."

Niu Ma clicked his tongue in admiration, looking at Liu Zheng with a hint of respect in his eyes.

Even he couldn’t handle a Stone Spirit partner.

Leaving aside the weight issue, although he had the key, did the Mother Stone Spirit really have a keyhole?

"Boss, if you’re idle, do some Sudoku, consider it prenatal education for little Niu Ma in advance."

Liu Zheng said disdainfully.

"Tired of my chatter, huh? Alright, I should have left you in the delivery tunnel to rot."

Niu Ma said angrily.

"Okay, okay, I’m sorry, how about you drink and sing your songs?"

He was getting a headache from the nagging, so he took out a bottle of Copper Mark and tossed it onto the grass pile.

"Hmph, that’s more like it."

Niu Ma picked up the bottle, and somehow pulled out half a leg of some unknown creature to nibble on.

"So with all the side dishes ready, you were just waiting for my drink, right?"

Liu Zheng shook his head helplessly and called the next person.

"Liu Zheng, I want to reopen the martial arts school, do you have any ideas?"

The next call was from Ma Baoli.

"Then go ahead, how much do you need?"

Liu Zheng asked.

"Money’s not the issue. But somehow news about my dad has spread throughout the martial arts world, even the original students are unwilling to return, let alone recruiting new ones."

Ma Baoli said with a headache.

"That wasn’t me spreading the rumors, eh."

He quickly distanced himself from it.

But he could roughly guess how this happened.

It wasn’t a secret to begin with, just that the insiders had a tacit agreement not to speak about it.

But since Liu Zheng had Lin Zhengzong look into it, that tacit understanding was naturally broken.

"I didn’t say it was you, just asking you to come up with a solution."

Ma Baoli said, pursing her lips.

"Your martial arts skills aren’t fake, so why not visit other schools to make a name for yourself."

Liu Zheng said.

"Isn’t challenging other schools a bit much?"

Ma Baoli was both tempted and hesitant.

"As long as you follow proper etiquette, it’s fine. I’ll give you a separate budget for gifts."

He said generously.

"But I don’t know how to give gifts."

Ma Baoli said bashfully.

"If you can’t, your dad can, right? Let him make some contributions, it’ll help him recover faster."

Liu Zheng said.

"It’s you who needs contributions, my dad’s in great health."

Ma Baoli glared at him over the phone.

"Alright, alright, your dad will live a long life, okay? Anything else? If not, I’m hanging up."

"There is. One crucial issue remains unresolved."

Ma Baoli said.

"What’s the issue?"

"The secret techniques of our school are still only ones I can master. Even if I recruit disciples, if they can’t master the skills, it’ll tarnish our school’s reputation."

Ma Baoli said.

"You go and learn some simpler martial arts first, practice those, and then teach the disciples with them. Hold an inner sect competition every year, and the top three can learn your school’s techniques. If they can’t master them, it means they lack talent, and you move on to the next batch."

Liu Zheng quickly came up with a solution.

"Will that really work?"

Ma Baoli frowned.

It still seemed a bit deceptive.

-----------------

"One might die."

Shi Yidao replied.

"I thought it was something big, bring it on."

Liu Zheng breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, he had two lives. If one life could be exchanged for Shi Yidao’s essence of sword technique, it would be a bargain.

"Alright. Look into my eyes."

Shi Yidao said.

Liu Zheng looked down into his eyes and saw a vast ocean.

"Since childhood, I yearned for the sea. After mastering sword techniques, I went alone to the seaside. However, faced with the boundless ocean, I felt not longing but fear. If the sea were to overturn, what would become of all living things?"

"So, I practiced my sword with the sea. Cutting the sea a hundred thousand times a day, and finally achieved something."

"However, the seawater is, after all, lifeless. I can slice through water, but can’t cut through the countless terrifying creatures in the sea."

"Fortunately, I encountered the legendary delivery man Li Sang, whose character is as unpredictable as the sea and whose strength is as deep as the ocean. Like the sea itself. I used him as an imaginary foe and finally comprehended the ultimate move, which is..."

At this point, a small boat floated in the distance, and Shi Yidao stood on the boat with a sword.

"Renxia One-Slash Style: Sea Overturning Heaven Slash."

With one slash, the ocean overturned.

The endless seawater turned into boundless sword energy, slashing toward the infinite sky.

The sea is boundless, the sky is infinite, only living things are rootless, appearing and disappearing like mayflies.

Thus, he severs the finite from the infinite, overturning the sea and slashing the heavens!

"This is my sword. Where is yours?"

Shi Yidao’s voice echoed in Liu Zheng’s mind.

"My sword?"

Liu Zheng was a bit bewildered.

His sword was just a sword, or not even necessarily a sword. A sword was merely a tool for chopping.

This is why "Anger" frequently changed form in his hands, and sometimes wasn’t even a sword.

"Think about it, but don’t think too long."

Shi Yidao reminded him.

He had infused his spirit and intent into the slash, and Liu Zheng could only counter it with his own extreme spirit and intent, otherwise, even if he didn’t die, he would gain nothing from it.

"Think about it, huh?"

Countless images from the past floated before his eyes.

Liu Zheng realized that he hadn’t really changed much.

As a child, he threw punches to keep his meager living expenses, to make those insult him for being an orphan cry for their parents.

As an adult, he learned martial arts to reclaim his hard-earned wages, to make those who called him a country bumpkin eat dirt.

Upon arriving in the Metropolis, he began using a knife, but the essence remained the same.

For survival and dignity.

If someone denied him even these two things, it would make him very angry.

Thus, Liu Zheng realized.

He realized, and swung his sword.

The parched seabed split open with breathtaking wounds. Dormant, silent, and lifeless undersea volcanoes erupted one after another, spewing torrents of lava skyward like inverted waterfalls crashing into boundless sword energy.

The waterfall plummeted three thousand feet, as if the Milky Way had descended from the sky.

This scene of heaven and earth overturning, of water and fire clashing, turned out to be more spectacular than a waterfall hanging in a river.