Fenglong'ao, Huaxia.
Summers in Yuejiang Province were always sweltering, and this small mountain village was no exception. Han Youshan was dripping wet with sweat, yet he showed no intention of stopping to rest.
Whoosh! His coordination between the source energy surge and his bodily movements had long since become second nature; he didn't need to consciously think about it at all. Planted on the earthen terrace, his left foot drove down with the surge.
Flap-flap-flap... Like a heavy, sodden garment snapping under blazing sun and gale winds, Major Qing's dear old dad whipped with rustling clatter as he rocketed straight into the air.
The leap took him at least six meters high. What followed was a wild flurry of midair spins and hacking strikes.
Several branches of an old pine were unfortunate enough to be caught in his path. With a sharp crack, they snapped and tumbled to the ground, where the village children who had come up the mountain to gather firewood eagerly scrambled to pick them up.
Lately, Han Youshan had practically taken over all the firewood-chopping chores for the entire village of Fenglong'ao. All anyone had to do was follow behind him and collect what fell.
The villagers were currently pondering whether they might get him to handle harvesting the rice fields come autumn.
"Eight slashes!"
A child helping him keep count shouted the number out in excitement.
A new record. In this single leap, between swinging and cleaving, Han Youshan had chopped eight times before his momentum ran completely dry and he began to fall.
When he dropped to roughly three or four meters above the ground—
Whoosh!
He snapped his body into a sudden tuck and arched back... Han Youshan had only meant to give it a casual try, not even fully prepared himself, yet his entire form blasted violently upward once more.
"Aaaah!" he yelled chaotically in midair, limbs flailing in panic as though he had been hurled by someone else.
"Holy... shit!"
"Is that an unsupported secondary burst?!"
"What kind of fusion degree does Major Qing's dad have?! Isn't that stuff supposed to have nothing to do with genetics?" Sitting in the shade of a tree in the distance, several soldiers of the Azure guard squad tilted their heads back, murmuring in astonishment.
"Who knows? I asked once before, but Brother Han wouldn't say. Said Major Qing told him not to tell anyone. But the look in his eyes back then was faintly smug, like he was hoarding some treasure. I'd bet it's definitely not below Grade B+."
The speaker was their squad captain, Lieutenant Colonel Zhao Heshan. He and Han Youshan had become friends by now, and he often dropped by the house to sit and share a couple of drinks.
In truth, Han Youshan's degree of source energy fusion was Grade A. It had never been officially tested, but Wu Xu had judged it so. Realistically, it had to be Grade A; otherwise, with no one to teach him and only his own blind fumbling, he could never have reached this level in such a short time.
"What incredible talent."
"Yeah, shame he's training all wrong. Day in and day out, all he does is hop around aimlessly."
"Probably copying his son. What can you do when your son is Major Qing?"
"True enough. None of us have the standing to tell him he's doing it wrong." Zhao Heshan chuckled. After a moment of thought, he got up, reached into his pack, and pulled out a dog-eared copy of the *Source Energy Three-Dimensional Maneuver Gear Combat Manual*.
He intended to commit a minor "breach" of military discipline and hand this booklet over to Han Youshan. As for whether Han Youshan would read it once he got it, heed it if he read it, or keep jumping around in the days to come... none of that was within Zhao Heshan's purview to interfere with.
*Do not leap?*
Heh.
When someone's flesh-and-blood son had once leaped to the zenith of the sky to cleave Daie, no one could guarantee what kind of heights the father might reach by jumping.
Just as Zhao Heshan set out, Zhang Jiexia arrived at the training ground from the other direction, wearing an apron and clutching a cooking spatula.
"Time to eat!"
Just three words, but they carried roughly the weight of a death summons from an immortal. Major Qing had feared those words from childhood to adulthood, and Major Qing's father had feared them two years longer than his son.
Han Youshan plummeted straight out of the sky, so flustered that he nearly planted face-first into the dirt.
Of course, even if he had landed on his face, the current Han Youshan wouldn't have sustained any serious injury. His physical constitution was exceptionally robust now; even after practicing so recklessly, he only ever came away with minor scuffs.
"Train, train, train! All you do from morning to night is fool around. How old are you, Han Youshan? You're going to drive yourself mad!"
Zhang Jiexia scolded him, but deep down, she saw everything clearly.
When their son and Wen Jifei had left, they hadn't arranged for anyone to instruct Han Youshan. That spoke for itself: they didn't want Han Youshan developing too much interest in martial matters, and they certainly didn't want him going off to fight anything in the future.
Fathers and sons marching to war side by side? Out of the question.
Han Qingyu was already destined to stake his entire life on the front lines of humanity's resistance. He would never want his father to run that kind of risk.
Zhang Jiexia had seen through this long ago, and she sided with her son.
"Tell me, what are you even trying to achieve with this training?" Seeing the scratches covering her husband's body, Zhang Jiexia's heartache turned to anger, surging once more. "Han Youshan, do you think you can march onto a battlefield, or do you think you'll be able to beat your own son?"
"I..." Han Youshan gritted his teeth and looked up. "Those outsiders tried to assassinate my son! As his dad, shouldn't I train hard so I can go hack the shit out of them later?"
"That's my boy! I can't swallow this anger!" he said indignantly, brandishing his blade.
"Right." Zhang Jiexia nodded first in agreement, then rolled her eyes. "So you think with a bit of practice, you can beat Xu'er? Or Little Prince, or Sister Rusty... or Tangtang?"
Han Youshan fell silent.
"Can't you save Qingzi some worry? Relax. Xiao Fei, Xu'er, and the others are with him. They won't let anything happen to him."
Zhang Jiexia was worried sick herself, but she maintained that front, feeling a mixture of irritation and helplessness as she spoke.
Of all the sons in the world, why did she have to bear Major Qing? He had fought his way through life and death, fought until he was crippled and lost his memories, yet the weight of the entire world still hung squarely on his shoulders.
Mid-conversation, footsteps approached. Turning around, they saw Zhao Heshan, and husband and wife hurriedly reined in their emotions.
"Captain Zhao... Oh dear, I need to head back first. Remember to come over for lunch in a bit!" Zhang Jiexia greeted him, then suddenly remembered they were out of liquor at home. She quickly took her leave, hurrying off to buy some.
Naturally, they knew who their son was and what status he held, but by nature, they remained hospitable, down-to-earth mountain folk who looked down on no one.
"Brother Zhao." Being quite familiar with him by now, Han Youshan stepped forward, grabbed his arm, and said, "Come on, perfect timing for lunch."
"I timed my arrival for this very moment!" Zhao Heshan didn't stand on ceremony. He laughed, falling into step beside him. Along the way, he covertly shoved the combat manual into Han Youshan's hand. "Shh. I see you practicing out there alone every day. Here, take this and flip through it when you have time."
"Oh!" It seemed this booklet was indeed a secret manual of combat. *So my son wouldn't find someone to teach me, but thank goodness I've got my buddies!* Excited, Han Youshan nodded and tucked the manual away.
Only after watching his wife walk far into the distance did he say, "By the way, Brother Zhao, if you have some free time lately, could you spar with me a couple of times? Hacking at trees alone all day isn't getting me anywhere."
"Me?" Zhao Heshan hesitated. As a sparring partner for Han Youshan, he felt confident enough that there shouldn't be much of an issue. Even if Han Youshan's degree of fusion was fairly high, Zhao Heshan was a Grade B fighter himself, with over a decade of battlefield experience.
"I'm confident I can knock you down, but if you ask me to play defense, I might not be able to handle it properly," Zhao Heshan hedged, trying to deflect.
Han Youshan was startled. "Am I that strong?! You won't be able to catch my attacks if you're not careful?"
"No, it's that you can't control yourself yet, so things would easily get messy between us." Zhao Heshan refused to admit he actually had the very concern Han Youshan mentioned, adding, "Besides, as things stand right now, I can't even hit you."
"Can't hit me? Why?" Han Youshan asked blankly.
"We're operating in completely different spatial dimensions right now, you know?" Zhao Heshan chuckled, pointing upward, then down at the ground. "You never come down. And as for me, I don't jump."
"Huh?" *You don't jump?* Han Youshan thought to himself, *My Qingzi is always hopping around while chopping Great Spikes.* He was just about to ask further when a faint voice sounded from behind them.
"How about I spar with you?"
Han Youshan and Zhao Heshan turned around.
Master Longchi was dressed in a gray Buddhist robe. Having just returned from rambling nonsense to the villagers outside, his awareness of himself as a monk was running high. He solemnly pressed one palm against his chest, bowed slightly, and pointed forward. "That contraption strapped to your back looks familiar to me. I feel as though I probably know how to use it."
"Yes, you do," Zhao Heshan and Han Youshan blurted out in unison.
"Then give me a set as well. And give me some of those shiny blocks stored in the iron boxes. Then I will spar with you," Master Longchi continued in all seriousness, extending an open palm.
*This man!* A meritorious general of the Huaxia Front, a peak super who once stood second only to one man in the Sole Witness Legion, and a warrior who had once ranked among the top ten of the Dome Leaderboard...
Han Youshan's eyes flickered with hesitation. He was tempted, but fear inevitably crept in. He whipped around to Zhao Heshan. "Will I die?"
If Han Youshan couldn't control himself well yet, Jiang Longchi was in an even worse state—he didn't even know who he was.
If he struck a bit too hard... the whole village would be attending a funeral feast tomorrow, and Jiang Longchi would probably have to preside over the rites himself.
"No, you won't." Zhao Heshan's answer was entirely unexpected, his eyes brimming with envy. "General Jiang's mastery of source energy combat is on another level. He doesn't need to consciously control it or think about it at all, so this has nothing to do with whether he has his memories or not. As long as he keeps in mind that he shouldn't hurt you, you'll be completely safe."
"...!" Han Youshan stood dumbfounded for two seconds before excitement rushed through him.
A Grade A fusion degree, a practically limitless supply of source energy blocks, and a former Dome Leaderboard super as a sparring partner and coach...
*I might not dare claim I can beat Wu Xu, Rusty Sister, or Little Prince, but one day I'll definitely be stronger than Tangtang! Tangtang is only a Grade B+!*
With such thoughts and visions of the day he would step up to protect his son, Han Youshan suddenly caught himself and grew vigilant.
"Then what about me? Could I accidentally hurt him? You just said my control isn't up to par yet, and I'm worried..."
"..." Zhao Heshan took a deep breath to steady himself, then reached out and patted Han Youshan on the shoulder. "You're overthinking it, Brother Han. Even if you are Major Qing's dear old dad."
Chapter 752