Eternal Life Starts as a Hunter-Chapter 172 - 102: The Most Unique Sixth Grade, Blood Saber Ancestor’s Identity Revealed (Big - )
Why does it turn like this?
Li Yuan didn’t know either.
It’s like someone who’s just gazed at the sky and can’t understand why the stars revolve around the sun, nor why they follow this trajectory.
He glanced at his own comprehensive strength.
His strength had changed from the original "505~905" to "635~1135".
This change in value didn’t represent a qualitative leap over a major realm, but Li Yuan wasn’t surprised. For one, he hadn’t yet practiced sixth-grade skills; for another, his "Sixth Grade" was actually split into two steps, and the combined value increase from these steps could fully meet the standards for a qualitative leap.
Moreover, his sixth-grade value, compared to General Gu Xiang and Zhao Xiantong, was already quite good.
At this moment, Li Yuan only felt his five senses become instantly clear.
With a slight closure of his eyes, the sounds from Baihua Manor and the distant corner tower all entered his ears with clarity.
He heard the back-and-forth footsteps of maids in the corridor, the whispering of brewers behind the closed doors of the workshop, the creaking of snow under the feet of the Fearless Army patrolling on the corner tower, the rustling of the cold wind through every dead branch, the heartbeat of Lady Yan and her group not far away, and the sound of his adopted daughter tinkering with a puppet in the neighboring courtyard...
When he opened his eyes again, his vision was extremely clear. He flew up onto the roof, where the crow shifted slightly to make room for him to sit.
Li Yuan patted the crow’s head and gazed into the distance. His eyes seemed to transform into high-definition binoculars, clearly seeing even a patch of snow hundreds of meters away.
This clarity was not just seeing the snowflakes, but seeing the shapes of the snowflakes, even the thickness of each one.
He took a deep breath, and various scents in the air gathered, forming continuous, clear lines in his mind. Although he hadn’t yet used his eighth-grade skill, the "Tracking Technique," he already had a similar effect.
No! It’s still missing something. That something is "blocking out all scents save for one clue." This is a capability he would gain upon perfecting the "Tracking Technique."
In other words, reaching the sixth-grade is, in a certain sense, like automatically mastering the grandmaster-level eighth-grade skill "Tracking Technique."
"Looks like skills like the Tracking Skill are about to be completely obsolete."
Li Yuan murmured to himself, then continued to feel keenly.
Apart from the five senses, the intuition brought by his emotions, and the memories in his mind, all became increasingly clear, creating an indescribable sense of overall enhancement.
"Let me try."
After a moment of thought, he jumped down from the roof ridge and went to the neighboring courtyard, calling out to his adopted daughter, who was sticking her head out: "Niannian, help your dad with something."
Tang Nian emerged from underneath a big puppet, flipping to stand in the snow. Her face was dirty, and her hair was covered in snow. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞
The big puppet she was working on was not the same one Li Yuan had seen in Qiutang County before.
The previous puppet had already been completed and now stood quietly behind her.
It was a tall puppet with no face, its hands resting on an iron sword box that was broad and obviously contained more than one sword inside.
In Li Yuan’s eyes, numbers "259~260" floated beside the puppet.
These numbers were already quite high, capable of defeating Sect Leader Tie, comparable to the Black Marquis in his best state, and its performance was extremely stable, with virtually no difference between upper and lower limits.
This puppet, Li Yuan knew, was one of the semi-finished products left behind by Tang Chou when he departed.
By "semi-finished," it meant that the puppet itself lacked some parts to be completed, and its core "Demon Beast’s Heart" had not yet been installed.
Now, it seemed that this puppet was complete, and its heart was exactly that Demon Heart.
The Demon Heart was different from the "Demon Beast’s Heart."
The Demon Beast’s Heart, once installed in a puppet, could not be removed for reuse.
But the Demon Heart, being metallic, could be repeatedly removed and installed into new puppets.
This was what Tang Nian was working on. She was diligently crafting puppets, trying to make the most perfect, most formidable puppet to bear her birth father’s heart.
"Foster father..." Tang Nian’s eyes, long focused intently on one spot, seemed dull and lifeless. It took a few seconds for her to fully grasp Li Yuan’s words, "Help... with what?"
Li Yuan looked at the puppet behind her and asked, "Why did you grind off the face? I saw this puppet before, and it had a face."
"I..." Tang Nian lowered her head.
Fascinated by puppetry yet clumsy with words, she didn’t know how to express herself. After a moment of thought, she said, "I didn’t like its original face, so I erased the nose and filled in the mouth, leaving only the eyes."
Li Yuan’s mind turned, and he guessed the reason.
This girl probably wanted to paint Old Tang’s face but couldn’t; or maybe she could, but didn’t want to see an object that would make her think of him, so she would rather erase the face, leaving only a strange blank space.
For a girl from an ordinary family, the grief of losing a father might settle in her heart and gradually fade with time.
But Tang Nian had, first, survived an extermination of her clan; second, wandered thousands of miles with Old Tang, depending on each other for survival; and third... her father’s heart was in her hands, forever accompanying her.
This wound... is hard to heal.
He squatted down, gently cradling Tang Nian’s shoulders in his hands, and after a moment said, "Foster father knows it’s still very hard for you. I’m not urging you to move on quickly, to be happy soon... Just don’t wear yourself out."
He tenderly ruffled the young girl’s hair.
"Foster father..." Tang Nian murmured, then gently nodded, "I will be careful."
