85: Chapter 85 Back Then

And then there was Dad, Gu Yanxiao. It was as if he were possessed by a god of misfortune. Whenever he worked for a company in the past, that company would inevitably run into trouble. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him a jinx in the industry; either the boss would abscond with the funds, or he would be fired for no reason.

In the end, he was forced into such a desperate situation that he had no choice but to go and work for Zhao Kun.

Mom, Tang Yanran, wasn't faring any better. Every time she tried to start a small business using her Divine Kingdom, just as things started to pick up, either the supply chain would suddenly break, or customers would cancel orders for no reason. Something would always go wrong at the most critical moment.

He didn't understand it before he awakened his Divine Kingdom, but now he knew it all too well. Logically speaking, since both of his parents had awakened their Divine Kingdoms, even if their aptitude was terrible, they shouldn't have struggled so much just by doing some basic farming or cultivation. It was so tight that they could barely scrape together his tuition.

At one point, Gu Han even fantasized that his parents were actually wealthy and were just testing him with a harsh environment.

In short, many things defied logic, as if they had been latched onto by something unclean, as if a giant hand was forcefully keeping their family stuck at the bottom.

Gu Han stacked the washed plates into the cupboard, his mind drifting back to the days before the college entrance exam.

Back then, he was studying at home when Grandpa Zhang upstairs suddenly became obsessed with playing the erhu. It was impossible to tell what he was playing; it sounded like sawing wood. He would start "sawing" promptly every night, making Gu Han's head ache from the noise.

Mom, Tang Yanran, went upstairs to negotiate several times. Each time, Grandpa Zhang would be full of apologies, saying that since he was old, this was his only hobby and he would be more careful next time. But as soon as the door closed, he would continue playing just the same the next night.

Gu Han, unable to take it anymore, decided to retaliate and spent a day tailing this Grandpa Zhang.

It turned out that the old man was a chess enthusiast. He would head to the central park first thing in the morning carrying a thermos, and sit there playing chess all day long.

The point was, Gu Han watched him several times, and Grandpa Zhang was truly obsessed with chess. He would even study the board on his own, and never even touched an erhu during the day.

A person who had no interest in the erhu during the day and didn't even practice basic fingering would take it out and squeak away at the exact same time every night.

This wasn't a hobby; he was either mentally ill or doing it on purpose. It continued right up until their family moved away.

Gu Han draped the rag over the edge of the sink, his eyes growing cold. He needed to find an opportunity to go fishing and see which bastard was causing trouble behind the scenes.

Gu Han wiped his hands and walked out of the kitchen, spotting Gu Yanxiao on the sofa, rubbing his lower back with his hand. He had said it was a minor issue while eating, but now he could finally no longer hold it in.

"Dad, is your back okay? Do you want me to put a medicinal patch on it for you?" Gu Han pulled over a plastic stool and sat down beside him.

"It's fine, it's fine. It's an old ailment. I just moved too abruptly earlier and strained a muscle." Gu Yanxiao waved his hand, attempting to sit up straight, but ended up gasping in pain.

Gu Han didn't press the issue; his dad's health had indeed deteriorated. He asked instead, "Dad, have you finished with your resignation? What have you been busy with lately? What exactly is the situation with your Divine Kingdom now?"

At the mention of his Divine Kingdom, the expression on Gu Yanxiao's face immediately slumped. He sighed, took a cigarette from the pack, and stuck it in his mouth without lighting it.

"The resignation was taken care of a long time ago. As for the Divine Kingdom… I redeemed it, but it's basically ruined." Gu Yanxiao rubbed his waist, his tone filled with deep helplessness. "In that final underground match back then, the guy on the other side played too dirty and pumped poison gas directly into my Divine Kingdom."

"Poison gas?" Gu Han raised an eyebrow.

"Otherwise, I wouldn't have had to rent out the Divine Kingdom as a warehouse; not a single animal could be raised there." Gu Yanxiao gave a bitter smile. "It can't be fixed in the short term. I've gotten some plants that purify poison gas now."

After hearing this, Gu Han felt a stir in his heart. Poison gas?

His own Divine Kingdom was currently planted with a ring of Cyst Demon Grass specifically for absorbing poison gas. While others feared poison gas, Cyst Demon Grass treated it as nourishment.

However, Gu Han didn't rush to take them out. He still had some suspicions, and given his dad's current condition, he had to take things one step at a time.

"Dad, what actually happened during that underground match back then?" Gu Han cut to the chase.

Gu Yanxiao's hand holding the cigarette paused, his eyes becoming somewhat complex, as if he had fallen into distant memories.

"That match back then… I wasn't supposed to participate. One of the competing parties didn't show up." Gu Yanxiao leaned back against the sofa, his voice sounding raspy. "It was a Level 5 Demigod match."

Gu Han was stunned. "A Level 5 Demigod match? You were already a Demigod back then?"

"No, I was just a Level 4 God Lord, not yet a Demigod. The highest-level unit in my Divine Kingdom at that time was only at the peak of Level 4."

"Because the prize money was too high—high enough to drive people insane." Gu Yanxiao smiled self-deprecatingly. "Besides, I had [Blade of Breaking Formation]."

Gu Yanxiao sat up straight, a rare flash of the sharpness of that genius from years ago appearing in his eyes.

"My skill could allow friendly attacks to reduce the target's defense by fifty percent. Do you know what that means? It means the opposing Level 5 Transcendent being was just a glass cannon in front of me! I had a complete chance to win."

"That match was a huge draw, with the total underground betting pool reaching 500 billion. If I won that match, not only would I get the resources of that Demigod, but just from the share of the prize money, I could take home a full 300 million! I would have had the money to buy you the best supplements."

Gu Han felt a slight soreness in his nose, but he was also shocked by the prize money. Being able to take 300 million credits in one go—how could one not be tempted?

At the same time, he felt a bit uneasy. Fortunately, his dad wasn't in the same era as him. With the strength to defeat a Demigod while at a lower level, if he were to participate in the defense tournament, it would probably be very difficult for him to get the spirit root network.

The God Lord skill aspect was truly a huge variable.

"Then what happened?"

"Actually, I was guaranteed to win. The opponent was quickly defeated under my offensive, but he refused to accept it and secretly used a Level 6 Cyst Demon he had bought. Cyst Demons are an extremely terrifying race; they use poison to transcend, and can kill Transcendents with poison gas."

Cyst Demon—what a coincidence, Gu Han thought, falling into deep contemplation.

Speaking of this, Gu Yanxiao subconsciously clenched his fists. "Because the battle was taking place inside my Divine Kingdom, the poison gas flooded my Divine Kingdom. My believers and all the creatures in my Divine Kingdom were completely poisoned to death."

"His believers were also poisoned to death, but the Level 6 Cyst Demon was still alive, and the event organizers ruled that he won. My Divine Kingdom's origin was completely absorbed. It was Uncle Zhao who called for a stop and paid money to buy my life; otherwise, the opponent likely would have moved to destroy my core. But with 8,000 square kilometers worth of poison gas compressed into a 300,000 square meter Divine Kingdom, I was completely ruined."

It seems cheating is an old tradition in underground matches.

"After that, I was in a coma for a long time, and everything that happened afterward was handled by Zhao Kun."