"The first recommendation list is out," Fang Yu said. "I didn't make it."
"Mm." Fang Ping'an did not seem surprised.
He did not reproach him either; instead he offered comfort. "You haven't awakened a Void Star Aspect yet. Your Life Tier has come along well enough, but it isn't at the very top — it's your skill ranking that's high. Not making the list is normal."
Fang Ping'an knew how brutally hard his son trained, so he did not waste his breath on empty phrases.
"The second assessment is on August 15th, if I remember," Fang Ping'an said. "There's another chance at the combat assessment in September... but the combat assessment means going to the Primordial Star."
At the mention of the Primordial Star, something checked in Fang Ping'an's eyes.
Fang Yu understood why.
His mother had been a Level 28 warrior in her day, and no weak one — and just as he was starting middle school she had died on the Primordial Star. They had never even recovered her body... From that time on, it had been a thorn in his father's heart.
"The combat assessment carries an extremely high risk factor."
"They say every warrior has to face a fight to the death eventually, but it's better to wait until you're stronger." Fang Ping'an's voice went low. "So you have to fight your way onto the second recommendation list."
Fang Yu nodded slightly.
"My plan is to hire a martial arts teacher specifically for you, to coach you in person, and to buy a batch of training drugs..." Fang Ping'an said. "We'll see whether we can lift your Life Tier another notch inside a month, and try to push your martial skill through to Great Completion in Subtlety."
Warmth moved in Fang Yu's chest.
His father had not changed his attitude towards him just because his brother and sister had awakened... In truth, in an ordinary family, even after he had shown that fine talent for skill, the moment he failed to awaken a Void Star Aspect in high school they should have given up on him.
Raising a child, as a rule, meant weighing the return.
A road with little hope wasted not only money but the child's time.
There had been a time when Fang Yu wavered too.
But his father had taken the pressure and, over the years, poured several million Star Coins into his path on the martial road.
Later on.
The entrance exam ended, Fang Yu's Life Tier reached Level 8, and only then did he awaken the Innate Divine Ability Devour; and as he gradually tested it and felt how singular the ability was, his conviction hardened, and he resolved to force a road open for himself.
Only that would be worth what his father had given up.
Still.
Even having guessed that his sleeping Aspect was highly unusual, quite possibly above an Upper Aspect, Fang Yu had not told his father much about it... A Void Star Aspect cannot be manifested outwardly before one becomes an Earth Warrior.
Take the detection methods used in the high school and college entrance exams.
They all judged by the efficiency with which a student absorbed Star Force — the higher the Aspect's grade, the higher the efficiency... and Fang Yu could not absorb Star Force at all.
So there was no proving it.
And on the other hand.
Fang Yu was not certain how high his Life Tier had to climb before his Aspect would awaken. What if it took Level 30? Level 40? All of it was unknown.
None of which his father could carry.
"My father has helped me more than enough, and there is only so much money in this house."
"My brother and sister are still growing, and the resources they need will only increase..." Fang Yu had thought it through clearly. "If I want more, I fight for it myself."
That, too, was why Fang Yu had trained harder and harder across three years of junior college.
He had won a fair number of the school's scholarships, he worked part-time, and there was the money his father gave him... but the decisive thing was the boost from his Innate Divine Ability, which had sent his Life Tier climbing all the way.
Faster, even, than most of his classmates who had awakened Lower Aspects.
And still Fang Yu did not dare slacken.
"The transfer."
"Get into a university, and there'll be more chances — using the state's resources to grow is the proper road." Fang Yu saw it very clearly.
He did not want his father so exhausted.
As the eldest, in his bones, he was unwilling to spend every last coin in the house... his brother's and sister's chance at a foundation was precious too.
***
"Your martial skill is very close to Great Completion in Subtlety... and once you reach it, even without a Void Star Aspect, your hope of a recommendation is enormous."
"Of course, a breakthrough in skill is desperately hard. But it has to be tried." Fang Ping'an was still talking.
He knew Fang Yu's third-year final examination scores.
From the skill score you could judge the level of a person's martial skill.
"Once you're in a university, becoming a Mid-Rank Warrior won't be hard, and you'll be able to find decent work; if you sit the civil service exams your hopes there are good too." Fang Ping'an's voice dropped. "What I can do, as your father..."
"Dad!"
Fang Yu cut him off. "My martial skill is already at Great Completion in Subtlety."
"What?" Fang Ping'an started, hardly able to believe it.
"It's true."
"I broke through not long ago. I was at school at the time, and I thought I'd save it as a surprise for you when I got home, so I said nothing," Fang Yu explained.
Fang Ping'an hesitated for no more than an instant.
"Come on!" He took his son by the hand.
"Dad, what are we doing?" Fang Yu blinked.
"Down to the basement. Let me see it."
***
A moment later, in the basement martial arts hall.
In front of the punch-force tester.
"Fang Yu. Use hidden force, and throw one punch with everything you have," Fang Ping'an said quietly.
Fang Yu understood what his father wanted: he would not believe it until he saw it, and small wonder, since it was scarcely credible. He hesitated no longer, adjusted his breathing, planted his legs apart, and let the sinew, bone and spine of his whole body loosen by degrees.
Hoo!
Fang Yu's spine was a great dragon; his mind felt the strength through his four limbs and hundred joints with ease; his right foot drove off the ground and the force turned up through waist and belly.
Five fingers closed into a fist!
The fist struck the huge sandbag hanging in front of him like an artillery shell.
"Boom!" A dull, exploding crack.
"Hm?" Fang Ping'an's eyes went to the display of the punch-force tester, where a clear figure stood: 1,867 kilograms.
"1,867 kilograms?" Fang Ping'an's eyes lit and he could not help exclaiming, "Good!"
He was a Low-Rank Warrior himself.
He knew perfectly well that at Fang Yu's Life Tier of 15 or 16 there was no possibility of putting out a punch force that terrifying. It was already approaching the standard of a Level 20 Mid-Rank Warrior.
Only supremely high martial skill could do it.
Plenty of rich men used natural treasures to lift themselves to Level 20 or even Level 30, and with no martial skill they could not bring out half the strength in their bodies...
But with superb martial skill, perceiving every muscle and every sinew and bone in the body, the strength could be brought out perfectly — and that was Lesser Completion of Subtlety.
As for Great Completion of Subtlety.
That meant circulating the blood and qi through the four limbs and hundred joints and bringing that blood and qi to bear on the limbs, so that the strength of the limbs increased enormously, even doubled — which was why it was also called hidden force.
And the penetrating power of blood-qi hidden force was extreme.
That was the terror of high martial skill: tempering yourself more efficiently, and putting out greater force... and it was exactly why the Blue Moon Alliance took the training of a warrior's skill so seriously.
"Skill. Great Completion in Subtlety." Fang Ping'an looked at his eldest son with not a shred of doubt left in him.
He had never imagined it.
Today.
All three of his children would hand him an enormous surprise.
"Fang Yu, you've had a long day. Go and rest," Fang Ping'an said, low. "I need to think this through properly."
"Mm." Fang Yu nodded. "Dad, with my skill in Subtlety and my blood and qi circulating, training normally should be enough to get me onto the recommendation list. I had my reasons for saying I don't need the allowance — there's a fair amount on my card now. It's enough for the moment."
"All right, I know."
"Go to bed." There was something in Fang Ping'an's voice that did not permit argument.
Soon enough.
Only Fang Ping'an was left in the basement hall, and it went quiet. He took out a cigarette, lit it, and smoked in silence.
He never smoked in front of his three children.
"The Upper Aspect, the Star-Devouring Python."
"A twenty-one-year-old junior-college student, Level 15, Great Completion in Subtlety, and a future that might still hold a Void Star Aspect..." Fang Ping'an smoked one cigarette after another, thinking it through and through.
A long while passed.
Fang Ping'an dialled a number. The other side picked up quickly, and a rough voice came out of the phone. "Boss Fang! It's been a long time. Where are you making your fortune these days?"
"Boss Zhao."
"You were interested in my supermarket last time, weren't you? Care to talk..." Fang Ping'an came straight to the point. "Only, I need cash..."
***
"Old Tian, emergency aid between friends — I've run into something urgent..." Fang Ping'an put through another call.
Decades in business.
He had helped a great many people and built up no small stock of goodwill... and this was the moment he was going to turn all of it into money.
***
The calls ran on very late.
Fang Ping'an dialled the last one. "Brother Dong, I need you to rush this — pull a few items for me from your Star River Group. Two Myriad-Form Genesis Fruit."
"Five Ice-Heart Marrow-Cleansing Fruit."
"Six doses of Cell Vitality Serum, six of Vital Regeneration Serum."
"Yes, I know. Six million Star Coins at the discount price. I'll come for them tomorrow." Fang Ping'an ended the last call, feeling the weariness a little.
He was about to go upstairs.
Then, suddenly.
He saw a slightly stooped figure standing at the turn of the stairs, and it looked as though it had been standing there a long time.
"Dad?" Fang Ping'an was mildly startled. "You're still up."
"You can't sleep. What made you think I could?" Fang Zhiyuan's voice was gentle. "I heard most of those calls just now. You want to sell the supermarket?"
"Mm." Fang Ping'an nodded, hiding nothing from his father. "Business has got harder every year. I've wanted to sell up and change trades for a long time. This time, Fang Yu and Xiao Long and the rest of them made up my mind for me."
Then, suddenly.
Fang Ping'an's phone buzzed, and he glanced at it out of reflex.
"Your account ending 7625 has received Star Coins... transferred from account ending..." The message sat pinned at the top of his notifications.
"Dad, you—?" Fang Ping'an was staggered.
He recognised the sending account at a glance. It was Fang Zhiyuan's.
But his father lived on a pension. Where had money like that come from?
"Your grandfather's estate, all those years ago. You thought I'd spent the lot." Fang Zhiyuan sighed softly. "What I have is basically all here."
"This time, it's all yours."