Chapter 628: Father

Given the topic’s seriousness and how close it was to Liam’s heart, his brain didn’t connect the glare to its actual reasons. When Uriah stood and approached him, he braced for a battle to the death with a high-stage branching expert he didn’t want to hurt.

"Dark Wanderer, Black Qi, Liam, or whatever," Uriah growled when he stopped face-to-face with Liam. "Did you dare to get my daughter pregnant?! Before formally marrying her?! Before begging me for the privilege of dedicating your unworthy life to my beautiful flower’s happiness?!"

Liam didn’t even blink. He had basically conditioned his brain to shut down at the first whiff of that family’s shenanigans, but he fought his training to force words out.

"I haven’t?" Liam responded, but his survival instincts suddenly screamed.

The hall shook violently, cracks opening on its surfaces. The silver symbols flickered, their light growing intermittent, and similar tremors ran through the transparent membrane isolating the area from the outside world.

However, everything immediately stabilized, and more followed. New symbols appeared, shining with pale light, filling the air with deep creaking.

The noise came from the damaged surfaces. The cracks actually moved, closing, seemingly possessing some self-repair function.

Liam couldn’t inspect that marvelous function. His gaze was locked on Uriah’s furious eyes, and the same went for their hands. Uriah had delivered a punch, but Liam had blocked it with his palm.

Uriah applied more strength, but Liam’s hand didn’t even tremble, the sight eventually claiming his gaze. Uriah hadn’t used any martial art, but his imposing size and the Qi of his high-stage cultivation had made for a devastating blow, which Liam had stopped effortlessly.

That shouldn’t be possible. After all, Qi mattered more than muscles for cultivators, and the gap was significant. However, Liam’s basic strength was in the realm of rank 2 martial arts, and Rachel’s treatment had even begun to improve it.

The feat alone didn’t prove Liam’s claim about his lineage, but Uriah didn’t probe any further. He withdrew his fist and turned away, snorting as he showed Liam his broad back and crossed his muscular arms.

"You brought catastrophe to my family," Uriah snorted again, still hiding his face from Liam.

Liam lowered his gaze in guilt. Uriah was completely right. As innocent as Liam was, those problems were still his fault.

"That wasn’t my intention," Liam admitted. "The plan was never to stay in one place for too long or plunder what I could and continue escaping. I didn’t expect anyone to treat me well or for me to start caring for them."

Uriah voiced a third snort, at which Liam sighed. Being kicked out had always been an option. He wouldn’t even blame the Tribe. If anything, he would help it establish the right optics.

"We could arrange a distraction," Liam suggested. "I could cause a mess in the region. The Dark Heaven Tribe can claim that I tricked it, expose my identity to the Church, and disavow me publicly."

That was the best compromise Liam could think of. It was far from perfect since the Church could still launch a purge to be on the safe side. The problem would even return on a far greater scale once Liam’s lineage inevitably got exposed, but it was something.

"I would be grateful if you gave me a head start," Liam continued. "If not, at least don’t fight me here. I will try my best to escape, and I’d rather not hurt the Tribe in the process."

As sad as that outcome would be, Liam had several goals to pursue. Grace was even waiting for him. He couldn’t get captured or worse. He would hate to harm the Tribe or its members, but returning to his Dao partner took priority.

"Also," Liam added, not sure how to address that point. "Rachel ..."

In an ideal world, Rachel would forget Liam and continue her life in the safety of the Tribe. He just didn’t think that was possible with her character. The dangers that would eventually befall the Tribe also created an unsolvable issue there.

Uriah had peeked back at Liam when he mentioned his daughter, and the genuine helplessness he radiated made him lower his gaze, too. Years might have passed, but his blinding innocence still surfaced at times and was as deadly as ever.

"Are you some kind of agent of the Ancestral Snake?" Uriah eventually asked, refocusing on Liam. "Born just to oppose the Dragon King?"

Liam understood what Uriah meant and matched his gaze, shaking his head.

"My family died in the Bloodline Screening," Liam explained. "I initially just wanted to kill the butchers who came to my village. I learned about my lineage and the Screening’s purpose only after awakening my core."

Memories from mental struggles that seemed to belong to a different life resurfaced. Liam also crossed his arms as he diverted his gaze, planning to be as honest as possible.

"Even then," Liam said. "I decided to extend my revenge to the Dragons only after realizing that I couldn’t have a full life as long as they existed."

Uriah understood more than he let out. It was now clear why Liam had given Rachel the antidote before getting anything in return. Even his positive stance toward the Dark Heaven Tribe and all his gifts suddenly made sense.

Liam’s entire cultivation journey had his lost family at its foundation. Uriah, Amber, and Rachel might be eccentric, but their bonds were genuine, stirring an emotional response in Liam.

"You are still a child," Uriah scoffed before heaving a sigh and lowering his voice. "But a good one."

Uriah headed back to the table, pouring wine into two cups under Liam’s confused gaze, glaring at him when he saw him standing still.

"What?!" Uriah cried. "I want to see if you at least drink like a man!"

’Is he asking me to drink with him?’ Liam wondered, his feet already bringing him to the table. ’What does drinking like a man even mean anyway?’

When in doubt, Liam always defaulted to imitation. He sat down and took his cup, only for Uriah to down his wine, so he did the same.

Uriah didn’t hesitate to refill both cups, and another round of downing wine followed. That happened six more times, requiring two additional jugs, in which Uriah grew angrier and angrier.

Still, when that strange challenge ended, Uriah threw another intense glare at Liam before heaving a helpless sigh and focusing on the full cup in his hands.

"Rachel has gotten stronger," Uriah commented.

"She told me about her core’s nature," Liam said. "I don’t know if I should be glad that my involvement is helping her cultivation."

Rachel’s dantian had basically confirmed that Liam brought chaos, which was the exact opposite of protection.

"Stop," Uriah scolded. "You protected my daughter in the Red Sandstorm Tribe and twice against that dog Andrew. We underestimated your warnings, but you are one of us."

Liam got a taste of his own poison there. That statement tugged at his heartstrings in a good way. It turned out he was quite weak to father figures.

"And," Uriah continued, flashing a proud smirk at Liam. "My beautiful flower inherited my headstrongness. How could a mere son of an Ancestral Beast stop her from getting involved?"

Liam chuckled, going for his cup, this time sipping. Even physically throwing Rachel away didn’t work. If anything, she liked it.

"Are you serious about my daughter?" Uriah suddenly asked, and Liam almost choked on the wine. He had never expected that question to reach his ears, especially from Uriah.

Moreover, the matter was tense, but in a strange way. It wasn’t Uriah’s fault since he hadn’t done anything special, not even his usual shouting. It was all in Liam’s mind.

’Oh,’ Liam thought as the realization dawned upon him. Melissa and Grace had been isolated relationships, limited to the two of them, but Rachel’s father had gotten involved this time.

There probably was something atavistic about the tension of asking a parent for his daughter’s hand. Still, the matter didn’t apply to Liam, not exactly.

"I’m ready to take care of her," Liam declared. "But not as her lover. I have a partner I love dearly, one I can’t and don’t want to imagine my life without. Also, harems aren’t a custom where I grew up. I’m not used to thinking like that."

Liam had only considered polyamory because both Melissa and Grace existed. The idea of having multiple lovers was still foreign in his mind, and those weren’t rules he could affect by wanting to.

People liked what they liked. Time and experience could change that, but Liam couldn’t force it. Besides, he didn’t want to.

Yet, Uriah had a simple approach to that unsolvable issue.

"You will learn for my daughter’s happiness," Uriah threatened, his face stern. "She also wants children, so you’ll give her them, but don’t you dare to touch her!"

Liam opened his mouth, but closed it right afterward, his frown preceding a question born of genuine curiosity. "How would that even work?"

The fury that followed reminded Liam why he shut down his brain around that family.