From the Metropolis to the Strongest in the Cosmos
Chapter 44: Dad, I’ll Get Your Face Back for You
"Zheng Qian’s father? A King Level?"
Li Yang’s expression changed slightly when he heard what Li Guohai said.
He now fully understood the weight of the King Level! There were no more than ten King-Level Cultivators in all of Hua Country. Did that mean Zheng Qian’s father was one of the top ten powerhouses in the country?
No wonder Zhao Qianxing placed so much importance on it. If they could form a relationship with a cultivation family like that, their own family’s status would probably leap to a whole new level.
After a moment of shock, Li Yang quickly calmed himself.
He was certainly shaken by this new information about Cultivators, but that was all it was!
It had been less than a month since he started cultivating, and he had already reached the Earth-Level!
By his calculations, he estimated that in just a few more weeks, he would complete the third stage of tempering in the Body Refining Chapter. Then, he could enter the fourth stage! 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮
And the fourth stage, if all went as expected, corresponded to the Celestial-Level Cultivator!
After a moment of thought, Li Yang asked, "Dad, what else did Zhao Kun say to you?"
Zhao Kun was his mother, Zhao Rou’s, older brother—his so-called dear uncle.
Just hearing about Zheng Qian’s father’s breakthrough wouldn’t have been enough to make Li Guohai consider suicide.
Li Guohai fell silent for a moment before sighing. "Zhao Kun came to the hospital, and I begged him to save your mother."
An Anticancer Agent costing over a hundred million was completely out of reach for ordinary people, but for the Zhao family, it was a trivial sum they could easily afford.
"Zhao Kun said your mother is his sister, so of course he would save her. But then he said he wasn’t sure if he gave us the Anticancer Agent now, whether your mom would choose to use it on herself or on me. So, he said he would wait until there was a clear result, when he could be absolutely certain your mom would be the one to use it, before he’d provide it," Li Guohai said, shaking his head.
"What?"
Hearing Li Guohai’s words, Li Yang’s eyes instantly filled with rage.
’What was Zhao Kun trying to say?’
’The Zhao family would provide the Anticancer Agent for Zhao Rou, but it was entirely possible she would give it to Li Guohai instead of using it herself. Therefore, the Zhao family wouldn’t provide it for now. They would wait for a ’clear result.’’
’It was obvious what that result was. They were waiting for Li Guohai to die. Only then would they give the Anticancer Agent to Zhao Rou, because with Li Guohai gone, she would have no choice but to use it herself.’
Li Yang seethed with anger. ’Weren’t Zhao Kun’s words meant to force his father’s hand?’
’That old bastard!’
Li Yang cursed inwardly in his rage.
Li Guohai gave a helpless, bitter smile. "I know how painful cancer is. I really don’t want your mother to suffer the same way I am. Since I’m going to die sooner or later anyway, I thought it would be better to choose death now. That way, your mother could get the Anticancer Agent from the Zhao family and recover immediately."
He knew the agony of cancer, and the Anticancer Agent seemed impossibly far away. In his mind, he only had a few months left to live, which is why the thought of suicide had occurred to him.
Hearing this, Li Yang quickly said, "Dad, your son is a Cultivator now, and I can even walk in the ocean. I can make money very quickly. We’ll get our hands on the Anticancer Agent soon, and both your and Mom’s cancer can be cured. You absolutely can’t have any more dark thoughts."
Seeing the anxious look on Li Yang’s face, Li Guohai felt a sense of relief and pride. He smiled and nodded. "Do you take your dad for a fool? My son is so capable now, why would I still choose to kill myself?"
Knowing his son’s situation and that there was now great hope for getting the Anticancer Agent, his mood instantly brightened!
He had already decided that the first Anticancer Agent Li Yang obtained would go directly to Zhao Rou. As for the second one, he could just wait patiently.
"Yes, that’s the right way to think, Dad." Seeing Li Guohai like this, Li Yang finally breathed a sigh of relief. His familiar old dad was back.
"By the way, Yangyang, what’s your strength level now? Are you at the Huang-Level?" Li Guohai asked.
Li Yang shook his head with a smile and said, "No, I’m at the Earth-Level now!"
"Earth-Level?"
Li Guohai was stunned. From their earlier conversation, he knew his son had only been exposed to cultivation for less than a month. He had reached the Earth-Level in such a short time?
Even though he wasn’t a Cultivator himself, he knew from what he’d heard that it was incredibly difficult for Cultivators to increase their strength. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be fewer and fewer powerhouses at the higher levels.
In Hua Country, Huang-Level Cultivators were the most numerous. Reaching the Earth-Level already made one a top-tier expert, and as for Celestial-Level Cultivators, there were only a few dozen in the entire country.
Even an ultra-wealthy family like the Zhao family would want to befriend and curry favor with a Celestial-Level Cultivator.
"Dad, I don’t know what’s going on either," Li Yang said helplessly. "The Cultivation Technique I got is a little strange. It’s not from a manual. It’s more like a cultivation method that was directly implanted in my mind, kind of like how the Wine Sword Immortal gave it to Li Xiaoyao in *Chinese Paladin*. I don’t know why my cultivation speed is so fast either. If it were a manual, you and Mom could have cultivated it too."
Because of the way it was transmitted, he had naturally learned how to cultivate, but if he were asked to teach someone else, he wouldn’t even know where to begin.
Hearing what Li Yang said, Li Guohai nodded and chuckled. "Don’t find it strange. There are too many things in this world we don’t know about. Your fast cultivation speed is a good thing! Your mother and I have already lived half our lives, what’s the point in us cultivating now?"
Li Guohai was clearly overjoyed to know that his son’s strength was now at the Earth-Level.
He thought for a moment and then advised, "Yangyang, you can continue to cultivate quietly. If you can keep progressing this quickly, once you reach the Celestial Level, you can choose to reveal your strength. By then, not even the Zheng family will be able to do anything to you."
Hearing this, Li Yang asked in confusion, "But Dad, doesn’t the Zheng family have a King-Level Cultivator?"
A King-Level Cultivator is a Land Immortal, possessing all sorts of unimaginable abilities. A Celestial-Level Cultivator would probably be killed instantly in front of one.
Li Guohai smiled. "Once someone reaches the King Level, they are not allowed to attack Cultivators below the King Level. This is a rule set by the strongest one of all, and no one dares to defy it."
"I see." Li Yang nodded. He thought of that powerhouse who had withstood a nuclear explosion and completely changed the status of Cultivators, and a hint of curiosity appeared in his eyes.
’When will I be able to meet that powerhouse? A being who can single-handedly stand against an entire country... What kind of presence would an expert like that have?’
"Alright, you decide how to handle your cultivation. When you’re progressing quickly, keep a low profile. Once you feel yourself hitting a cultivation bottleneck, then you can reveal some of your strength. Dad doesn’t know how to cultivate, but I’m sure cultivating alone can’t compare to cultivating with other Cultivators," Li Guohai said with a smile.
Li Yang nodded solemnly. His thoughts were similar to Li Guohai’s.
Looking at the smile on his father’s face, Li Yang suddenly declared, "Dad, I will definitely get back the dignity the Zhao family took from you! I’ll make every single person in the Zhao family see that my mom’s choice was not a mistake!"
’Heaven knows how much pressure his father had been under. He knew about the Cultivation Realm and the Zheng family’s situation, so he must have wondered if he was inferior to Zheng Qian.’
’On top of that, there was the Zhao family’s complete disregard for him, acting as if he didn’t matter at all.’
’Li Yang could imagine how bitter and aggrieved his father must have felt, yet utterly powerless to do anything about it.’
Looking at the earnest expression on his son’s face, Li Guohai felt his eyes begin to sting, as if tears were about to fall.
He took a shallow breath, forcing the feeling back, and nodded with a smile. "Alright, Yangyang. Dad will be waiting for that day."
’He was gratified. In his own eyes, his life was undoubtedly a failure, but his children were his greatest success!’