Legacy of Hatred

The door Liam had opened had continued to broaden throughout the battle. The authority and familiarity with the infections he inflicted upon the world had kept deepening, the process being even faster than when he had fought Caspar.

Witnessing how Andrew fought had shown Liam how branching experts wielded their superior Qi, teaching him in ways his other opponents at that level didn’t.

Andrew was stronger and more experienced. As a mid-stage expert, he could wield his dantian’s nature better than anyone else Liam had seen.

The way Andrew molded the ground, bending it to his will, adding it to his spells revealed a new realm, one Liam could step into despite his lower cultivation level.

After all, when it came to dantian’s nature, Liam was pretty much set. He was even beyond Lancelot, his Qi literally unable to hold back its incredible affinity.

Since the ingredient was already suitable, Liam only had to master its behavior to wield it in a manner that reflected his level. That demanded the profound understanding known as enlightenment, which had come from the hisses filling his brain.

Liam could withstand the Primal Urge’s drawbacks without help from alchemical products. He was superior to it, but the instincts the technique called upon still flooded his mind, and some came from the legendary ancestor that had created the Hatred he had inherited.

Owning power didn’t mean knowing how to use it, but Liam had crossed that threshold. He saw the truth, which perfectly matched his initial conclusion.

What Liam killed, or swallowed, belonged to him. What he poisoned was part of his power, even carrying his energy, so he could use it even beyond the third layer of Qi mastery.

The lake receded as Liam harnessed its poison, drawing its energy into his very meridians. The slime at the swamp’s edges lost its blackness and toxicity as Liam absorbed it to fuel the rank 3 Life Qi.

The Qi density in the swamp couldn’t match what Liam’s core produced, but it was abundant. He had so much power at his disposal that quantity easily compensated for that gap, allowing him to cast the recovery-oriented technique without touching his reserves.

Moreover, the process felt somewhat good, as if completely natural and exactly what Liam’s very existence was supposed to do. He was eating what he had killed, adding it to his power, fulfilling the most fundamental nature of a snake.

Andrew obviously wouldn’t let Liam recover. Distance wasn’t an issue for him, and his brown skin was still resisting the swamp’s influence, so he thrust his cracked fists forward, shockwaves blowing from them.

Yet, Liam didn’t even look at the incoming attacks. As fast as they were, he had seen them before they could even start, and countermeasures were long overdue.

"Enough of that," Liam scoffed, the toxic water between him and Andrew bursting upward, waves splashing circularly, creating what looked like barriers.

The most distant barrier shook violently and burst, sending poison everywhere. The second-most distant one suffered the same fate, but the tremors had been less intense.

By the time the shockwaves reached the wave closest to Liam, it barely trembled. It didn’t even burst apart. It just blocked what was left of the attack before returning to the toxic lake.

Andrew might be using a different armor now, one more offense-oriented, but his attacks’ nature hadn’t changed, and Liam had taken his fair share of them, enough to analyze them and develop defenses.

Liam’s energy alone might have failed to produce such results, but drawing power from the lake had enabled a stronger display of the third layer of Qi mastery, perfectly countering Andrew’s attacks.

As the lake’s surface settled, Liam revealed himself to the stunned Andrew. He had completely healed, the stains on his arms, sides, and chin being the only proof of the previous injuries.

"I should be able to do that, too," Liam said, seemingly to himself. "Brother Lancelot could do it as a rooting expert already, after all."

Andrew had far more than shockwaves at his disposal, but his body reacted before he could realize what he was doing. He jumped, his brown skin adding power to the action, sending him high into the sky as soon as the lake started boiling.

The phenomenon was easier to inspect from above, adding explanations to Andrew’s instinctive jump. The boiling was no wild or random process. There was order in the violence brewing inside the lake. It wasn’t limited to the lake, either.

The orderly but chaotic violence also took over the darkened air and whatever else Liam had poisoned. All he had tainted receded, clearing the area, condensing inside the lake until an ancient hiss resounded from it, becoming the only sound in the world.

The hiss alone would usually have been enough for Andrew to run away, or put more distance from the swamp at the very least. Even with his incredible flying liquid destroyed, he remained fast enough to do so.

However, the hiss didn’t happen in a vacuum. That place was a forbidden zone with two overlords as its leaders.

Chills ran down Andrew’s spine as his head snapped in the distance, looking further north, seeing and hearing nothing, but certain that terrifying eyes were on him. The overlords had taken notice of the monster who had barged into their domain.

Then, an even deeper fear invaded Andrew, a feeling that spoke to the core of his being, exerting a primordial superiority that belittled the entirety of his life’s accumulations with its sole existence.

Andrew looked down, sunlight finally shining through without hindrance, only to fail to reach the ground. The lake had shrunk, darkening even further, creating a black stain that didn’t allow the illumination to get too close, as if devouring it before it could.

Liam was at the center of that condensed lake, standing on its surface, his bloodshot eyes on Andrew as the black waters morphed. Their boiling subsided, almost solidifying so that clear shapes could rise.

Two pairs of huge, curved pillars grew ahead and behind Liam before more of the lake surged. Triangular jaws rose alongside a massive reptilian head, its eye cavities pitch-black, lacking sclera and pupils.

Still, Andrew felt the terrifying gaze on him, his very presence shrinking under the primal pressure it exuded.