Legacy of Hatred

Adrian’s story matched what Liam had predicted for the most part, featuring a few unexpected details.

An envoy of the Church of the Man came to pick up Adrian shortly after the Recruiters Guild, escorting him to the nearest Church, where he began paying off his debt.

Nothing fishy came of it. Adrian did charity work, moving between villages and towns. Traveling was dangerous for mortals, but the Church had cultivators, and no one was crazy enough to attack that force.

The only dangers had come from occasional run-ins with magical beasts. Adrian witnessed a few deaths, but most of the corpses in his experience came from working in hospitals or whatever battle the Church had been called to mediate.

It was tough work, but Adrian saw it through, successfully paying his debt back, only for Cyrus to fall ill again.

With no real alternative, Adrian extended his debt with the Church to get his father the cures he needed. As playful and as easy-going as Liam recalled his friend to be, he was a filial son.

Cyrus got better and resumed his job as the village’s blacksmith, but Adrian had the new debt to deal with. However, at some point during that, the Church issued new wanted posters, one with a vaguely familiar face.

There were also rumors about an inheritance, but Adrian was no cultivator, nor did he know how that world worked. The Church could awaken dantians, so Adrian put his name up for that service, and his request was eventually granted.

Adrian’s talent was average, but his new status gave him access to additional information. Yet, everything was fragmented. There were talks about a William, then a genius, a certain Black Qi, and a Liam. He didn’t ask much because he knew about the troublesome nature of his friend’s revenge, but he still sought to see the truth for himself.

Liam was actually to blame there. It seemed his sudden departure without saying goodbye made Adrian worry.

Luckily for Adrian, that specific mission had plenty of open spots for no other reason than the target was an infamous figure. Even newbies like him could join as long as they were willing to accept the risk.

It turned out Adrian’s team had reached the northern region far before Liam, while he was stuck in the battle cages. The Church’s influence on the border was poor, but it was its belief that Liam would eventually move north, so it had waited for its arrival.

Once news about Liam’s appearance spread, Adrian’s team gave chase, eventually getting to the current events.

As for the bald head, that apparently was mandatory for all new foundation experts in the Church.

There were a few points Liam could surmise from that story.

First, Adrian was no true Church believer. He was just taking care of his father. He barely considered himself a cultivator, either. He had studied the basics, but getting nutrients through the Church apparently wasn’t straightforward, and he had awakened his dantian just to see what Liam was up to.

Second, none of those Liam had killed were Adrian’s friends. He had made plenty of acquaintances as a mortal. He was a talkative, friendly guy after all. Yet, the atmosphere had shifted once he was a cultivator among cultivators.

While Adrian hadn’t asked questions, he had realized that something was off, so he had kept to himself. Chasing Master Black Qi still counted as repaying his debt anyway.

’But he has at least one and a half years of debt left,’ Liam considered. ’And now I got him in a mess.’

Curing Cyrus again had been more expensive, and awakening a dantian hadn’t been free, either. Adrian could have kept to easy missions in normal times, but he had now become the only survivor in Liam’s slaughter.

It would have been different if Adrian were capable, but his survival would sound suspicious now, and he was a known figure. His father was, too. If the Church suspected betrayal, investigating them would take but an order.

Of course, Liam worried about someone learning that his burn mark was fake. Yet, he mostly considered Adrian and Cyrus’ safety there. He owed both too much, and Adrian’s decision to check on him had been his fault, so he had to fix it.

The problem was, there was no fix.

’I could get Adrian and Cyrus somewhere far away without revealing my involvement,’ Liam thought. ’But Cyrus is all the way to Krosstoen village. There’s no way I can get there without a mess happening, let alone run away afterward.’

Having mortals to take care of was another immense liability, and it would go against Horace Rauret’s last orders. With everything Liam had caused along the way, the idea was simply unfeasible.

’I could just take Adrian away,’ Liam considered. ’Fake his death, have him change his name, and let him live in some other village. I could even drop him to Brother Lancelot’s Sect or the Heavenly Sword Cult as a favor.’

That was a more realistic option, but one Liam still didn’t like. He would basically ruin Adrian’s life and inflict unbearable heartache on Cyrus. That was no way to repay his lifelong debt to the two.

Instead, the third option seemed to meet every requirement.

’I could kill the Church,’ Liam realized, a hiss in his voice joining his thoughts. ’No Church, no problems.’

That goal was already set in stone, but Liam could accelerate his plans. He would have good reason to, but it sounded hard to accomplish in a reasonable time.

Even if Liam waged war on the Church openly and started pillaging anything that belonged to it, he was just a rooting expert. He would get resources and improve in the process, but completely wiping out the Church likely demanded far more than the branching stage.

Getting there might take decades or longer, which Liam could accept, but not Cyrus. He might accomplish his goal, only for one of the reasons behind it to have died of old age.

It was an impossible situation that had already degenerated past any form of happy-ever-after for the people Liam cared about. Still, Adrian actually gave him an idea with his next comment.

"Though I worried for nothing," Adrian exclaimed, smiling honestly. "You became an oh-mighty, feared cultivator and even got a beautiful wife. I thought you would have ended up all moody and damned."

Adrian understood that cultivators lived by different rules and knew that Liam’s path had always been dark. Killing had been his goal from the start, but seeing it firsthand had been a shock.

Revenge was a depressing affair, but blaming Liam on the spot sounded unfair and narrow-minded, especially before hearing his reasons.

Also, Adrian could put the slaughter aside for a bit and enjoy the reunion with a childhood friend who still treated him as such despite what he had just done. That much at least felt good.

Liam experienced some relief. The discussion wasn’t over, but there was happiness in Adrian’s face. Liam had been ready to face disgust, but it hadn’t arrived, not yet at least.

As for the idea, it was right in Liam’s grasp. He had someone in his life who could come up with the kind of miracle he wanted to accomplish. She wasn’t quite his official wife, but he couldn’t see the difference at that point.

Liam found Grace matching his gaze. He hadn’t told her everything about that matter for the exact reason behind his current conundrum, but she had all the right clues now, and she was too smart not to have picked up on them.

Grace knew that Liam’s dragon burn was fake, but he had been vague on how to avoid involving people dear to him. Adrian had revealed that his father was the village’s blacksmith, creating an obvious connection.

Cyrus had made Liam’s fake burn, and Adrian knew about it. They were the reason he had survived the Bloodline Screening, his saviors.

Still, Liam wasn’t voicing the matter, meaning that Cyrus and Adrian didn’t know about his lineage, which was likely his doing. It was Liam’s style after all, his way of protecting them.

With how things had developed, it was obvious what Liam was asking of Grace through his hopeful, begging eyes. She could read it clearly, so she diverted her gaze in thought until an idea arrived.

"He could sell us to the Church," Grace suggested.

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