As soon as Hua Yan and Hua La left the place, the first thing that Hua La did was to pull at Hua Yan, halting him in his footsteps.
Hua Yan was just about to brush the man's hands off of him, but he chose not to after he felt how much they were trembling. Perhaps he had tested Hua La too much today and caused him to be on the verge of collapse.
Anyway, he was just holding his sleeve, so it wouldn't hurt to hear what Hua La had to say. Hua Yan was quite satisfied with the way things went inside Raining Tea Pavilion, so he was in a good mood. After that drinking contest, he was almost certain that those hoodlums had accepted him.
As such, he would be kind to Hua La for once and not ruthlessly beat him up.
"You said you wouldn't drag me into this!" Hua La screamed out, once they were a sufficient distance away from the pavilion, "Yet, what have you done?! What sort of a mess have you involved me in!"
"I said I wouldn't get you killed," Hua Yan corrected him, "Never did I say anything about not involving you."
"It's the same thing! Lying to Hua Pan in such a bold manner is asking to be killed!"
"That's only if word of the lies got out," Hua Yan said, staring at Hua La as if to tell him that Hua Pan would only learn of the truth if either one of them told it to him of their own accord.
Hua Pan was not such a jobless man as to investigate the origins of all his goons. He had more important things to be doing, so unless there was a real problem, he would not be so frivolous.
"You showed him such shocking power," Hua La screamed, "This isn't an ordinary matter! I know Hua Pan! He has ambitions that you'd be shocked if you heard. He's sure to investigate you! And when he does, neither of us will make it out alive."
"It's just one Hua Pan," Hua Yan chuckled, "Even if he dares to come, he won't be leaving as anything more than a corpse. There's nothing to be worried out."
Saying these words, Hua Yan made Hua La shut up.
What else could Hua La do? Faced with such aggressive and overbearing words, he could only stay silent. Even in the face of Hua Yan's bold claims, Hua La strangely found himself to be believing every single word…
If Hua Yan said he could finish Hua Pan, then he definitely could!
That was what was running on in Hua La's mind, though he did not quite understand why. Was Hua Yan really that charismatic? Or was it because he wasn't all bark and had real power behind his every move?
"We'll part ways now," Hua Yan said, not even acknowledging Hua La as he set off somewhere else, "I'll see you later."
"Peh," Hua La spat, seeing that Hua Yan had moved out of ear-reach, "Who wants to see you! I hope we never meet again!"
As Hua La said that, another person somewhere else had some completely opposite ideas. Hua Ci wanted to see Hua Yan again. She wanted to find out how things went with Hua Pan. She wanted to know if Hua Yan was alright. It had already been a long day, so she was also curious if he had finished his meals…
She did not know why she was thinking these things for a stranger that she had just met today. Perhaps it was because she was still young, but it all just felt so normal to be thinking about Hua Yan.
As she fiddled around in her residence, Hua Yan was on his way to leave the manor.
He wanted to see Hua Yin again!
The wounds on his hands were a shocking reminder to him that she had almost been killed by him last night. He was so close to losing her to Frenzy!
He wanted to see the aftermath. After almost killing her, he blacked out, so he didn't know how she was faring. He was somewhat scared that Frenzy had done something to her while he was not awake.
If that were the case, he needed to see her immediately…
Only, it seemed as though Frenzy had other ideas.
"With your current strength, you won't be able to achieve a thing," Frenzy's voice echoed, fixing Hua Yan in one spot, "You can forget about the ashes and your sister. You won't even be able to protect your own life."
Hua Yan was tired of hearing this already. He knew he was weak, but he was doing something about it. All the elaborate measures that he had employed today were undertaken with the intention to nullify his weaknesses.
"These are all but petty tricks. In the face of true power, they will all shatter into nothing. All your effort will be wasted."
Hua Yan didn't like it when his efforts were wasted. But, he really did not know how to get stronger. All this time, he was only lucky that he had awakened some terrifying compatibility with a blade while chopping away at trees.
To raise his proficiency, he would perhaps need to go and continue doing that. Yet, that would take such a long time to get any noticeable results. He didn't have the luxury of time on his side.
"Cultivate. These Peasants Stages aren't worth much at all. But, in this lowly place, they will get you somewhere and will be enough to help you accomplish your goals."
Peasant Stages? Hua Yan didn't quite understand what these were. Thankfully, perhaps because Frenzy had an agenda in mind or maybe because it was grateful for the alcohol, it decided to explain some more for him to hear.
"Cultivation is a path that consists of many milestones. It's a lifelong journey that can be applied onto almost anything. Everyone cultivates something, but not everything that is cultivated can equate to raw power. The Peasant Stages are a realm of cultivation that you mortals call the Body Building Stages. As the name implies, these are the stages where a person develops their bodies to survive in this harsh world."
Hua Yan knew this much, but he seemed to get a new understanding of the world when he heard Frenzy discussing these things in this manner. His worldview started to shift when Frenzy started talking the Body Building Stages down and calling them the Peasant Stages.
It was as if Frenzy did not put these stages in his mind at all! They were nothing more than common trash to him.
It had to be said that the Body Strengthening Stages were just about the strongest stages that any beings in the region could possibly achieve. There was nothing higher than them!
Even the strongest entities that resided within the Hua Clan Central Branch, a place full of monsters, were not at a level that surpassed the so-called Peasant Stages.
These were people that could shake a city and eradicate whole clans by themselves if they wanted. Yet, in the face of Frenzy's words, they were nothing more than peasants.
Hua Yan wanted to know just what level of power Frenzy was at to be able to speak like this