Chapter 52: Travel Planning: Four Years of Progress

Emma looked enviously at the blood droplet beside her.

Having mingled with Louis, she knew well how powerful that thing was, but Louis never showed any intention of teaching her.

But he had always demonstrated these right in front of her!

Emma felt a longing in her heart, yet she did not speak up urgently.

After all these years, she understood Louis well enough to know his mind was firm; annoying him would only make him displeased.

After placing the blood droplet away, Louis glanced at the several corpses beside him, and only when he confirmed none had matured did he stand up.

“Let’s go back.”

The two returned to the house ahead.

Over the past four years, David’s business had thrived, especially after the eastern Bear’s decline became more apparent; life in America had become utterly vibrant, with every industry flourishing.

David, eager to seize this opportunity to escape the ranks of lower-class capitalists and become a true capitalist, worked with all his might, and thus returned home less frequently.

Yet no matter how busy he was, he always reserved weekends to spend with his family, taking them on trips every year, so their family bonds remained strong.

Back home, Jenny was cooking, and David was just at home, feeding fish with feed. “You’re back?”

“Mm. Dad, are you free today?”

Emma opened the fridge, took out a cold Coke, and handed it to Louis, then got herself an Häagen-Dazs.

“Yes, I got a deal these past two days, but whether it goes through depends on luck—I can’t do anything about it, so I came back for now.”

“Uncle David, that deal over there?” Louis turned on the TV, took the cold Coke, and lay comfortably on the sofa.

“Mm, there seems to have been some internal conflict over there.”

David nodded.

Not long ago, Louis had told him the Bear’s side was profitable, urging him to gather as much capital as possible to buy heavily, and had even informed him that the Cano gang was already doing the same.

David, half-skeptical, gave it a try—and it actually worked!

Over there, it was utterly insane; they were willing to sell anything. After all, America and the Bear were enemy nations!

Yet even so, their own insiders dared sell him industrial machinery; he even heard that if you provided enough basic supplies, the top people would dare sell fighter jets!

It truly stunned him.

“Then good luck, Uncle David—chances like this probably won’t come again.”

David tossed the last handful of feed into the goldfish tank, turned to Louis and Emma, and clapped his hands.

“Clap! Clap!”

Seeing both look over.

“Jenny and I have discussed it—you’re about to graduate middle school. This summer, would you like to go on a family trip together?”

A trip?

Louis instinctively recalled the Camp Clara incident years ago, and Jason from Crystal Lake who had passed by just north of Camp Clara.

He quickly shook it off—hadn’t they traveled before these past few years? Nothing had happened. Why fear it now?

Emma beside him didn’t care either; Estella was already a distant memory, and she truly wasn’t afraid.

“Great, it’s settled! I’ll see if I can invite Angela and her family too—we’ll go camping and enjoy the scenery.” David sounded enthusiastic.

Suddenly he remembered something. “Oh right, Angela’s planning to go out with Olivier these days—I’ll call and ask later.”

After a while, Jenny finished cooking and came out. Over these years, Jenny had stayed quiet at home, doing laundry, cooking, and caring for the children—she was an excellent housewife.

But Louis would not forget: she had also been complicit in Yulenc’s murders.

So he had always maintained a measure of caution.

Dinner was served.

A slender, golden-yellow dog appeared out of nowhere, wagged its tail at Louis first, then began eating from its bowl—it was Golden.

……

After dinner.

Louis walked outside.

Emma ran to watch TV; David made a phone call, and the other end answered quickly—a faint voice of Angela came through… Eden Lake Community…

Meanwhile, Louis had gone as usual to the temple beside the house to burn incense. Over these years, the incense offerings had remained abundant, but the Kitchen God had never appeared to him in dreams again.

Yet Louis always maintained a respectful attitude—he was, after all, his adopted father.

After burning incense, he returned to his room.

He began practicing the stillness portion of the Qi-Consuming Qi Guidance Diagram—this had been his habit for years; he devoted a significant portion of each day to Qi cultivation, never missing a single day.

Four years later, Louis had not undergone a complete transformation, but he had made substantial progress.

The elixir’s potency had fully released; though he was only twelve, he now looked like a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old teenager, and his physical capabilities far surpassed that of his age.

Beyond that, Qi cultivation remained the top priority. Unfortunately, it was a slow, painstaking process—whether due to the method’s emphasis on foundational training or Louis’s own low compatibility, after four years he was merely proficient, still distant from mastery and the birth of internal Qi.

Proficient-level Qi cultivation merely granted physical strength, immunity to illness, and greatly increased stamina—seemingly nothing extraordinary.

But Louis once, frustrated by the weak offensive power of the movement exercises in Qi cultivation, happened to see a martial arts school opening and enrolled briefly—and immediately discovered the true purpose of this Qi method.

To improve one’s innate constitution!

The school taught family-style Baguazhang, and Louis mastered it entirely in just one year, wielding it with far greater power than ordinary students.

According to the school’s master, his innate constitution would have been top-tier even a hundred years ago; with diligent practice, he could one day fight twenty men at once. Too bad the martial arts were incomplete, otherwise…

Louis did not believe this was coincidence—the only possible reason was his Qi cultivation.

Besides Qi cultivation, Louis had also practiced the other five techniques revealed back then.

The Fire Basin Exorcism Technique was learned effortlessly.

The Wealth-Devouring Technique was also mastered, and he even used it once—next day he lost a card with one hundred thousand dollars on it, which he deeply regretted.

Incidentally, Louis tried letting someone else perform the final step—feeding the toad with the target’s bodily tissue—but it had no effect; clearly, no bug could be exploited.

The Chopstick Technique, since he mostly lived a three-point life—home, school, temple—with only rare travel, had yet to offer him any opportunity to test it.

The Willow-Leaf Golden Knife Technique was peculiar—he still hadn’t mastered it; the inscription of the talisman was genuinely difficult, though perhaps this was also due to insufficient daily practice time.

As for the Blood Curse Technique, it had progressed at lightning speed!

This was likely thanks to the abundance of raw materials here; with the Black Gang as his assistant, during his early training, he could capture two low-level drug dealers almost every day, sometimes even a few human traffickers or thugs.

The most remarkable part? Their disappearances stirred not the slightest ripple!

As if they had never existed!

The result? A string of eighteen blood droplets on Louis’s wrist, two more strings he carried on his person, and three strings locked in his room’s cabinet.

Exactly one hundred and eight!

Perfect—just right!

(End of Chapter)