He is now a child. If he were to be trained using that method, not only would it fail to improve him, it would actually hinder his development.

The key to building strength lies in the word “endure”!

As for the Five Animal Frolics routine, Helen Brooks could still remember it. It seemed that the person who invented this set of Five Animal Frolics was also from this era. He couldn’t recall clearly, nor did he know whether the Five Animal Frolics was truly effective. But after persisting for a year, his strength had grown greater and greater—being able to draw a two-stone bow was proof enough that this Five Animal Frolics technique was not just an empty name.

Over these past few years, the relationship between Helen Brooks and George Brooks had not improved.

Although, at his grandmother’s request, he called George Brooks “father,” it was not done willingly. George Brooks knew this as well, so he continued to ignore Helen Brooks. The Five Animal Frolics strengthened Helen Brooks’s body, allowing him to wield his innate strength with ease, but it also caused his physique to grow at an astonishing rate. He wasn’t even seven yet, but looked as if he were in his teens. For this reason, George Brooks always harbored misgivings about him.

No wonder—what ordinary family’s child had a build and physique like Helen Brooks?

Ever since Grace Brooks married and left, there was one less person around Helen Brooks he could talk to. That so-called father left him to his own devices, and he couldn’t be bothered to beg for attention. Unable to find a master to teach him martial arts, he went to the training grounds every day to watch the family guards practice. At night, he would secretly practice in his grandmother’s courtyard, quietly and without a sound.

Over time, apart from Grace Brooks, no one in the entire Dong family knew much about Helen Brooks’s true abilities. And Helen Brooks did not deliberately show off—just as he said, the deeper he hid, the safer he would be.

Today, as usual, he came to the training grounds to watch people practice.

But he never expected that Charlotte Brooks harbored malicious intent and actually wanted to kill him. Although Helen Brooks had never killed anyone, he had worked as a forest ranger in the old woods and had seen plenty of fierce beasts. When Charlotte Brooks thrust his spear, Helen Brooks could sense that murderous aura.

Helen Brooks wanted to keep a low profile, but that didn’t mean he would let himself be slaughtered.

He hadn’t intended to go too far, but Charlotte Brooks had truly enraged him. All the people in the training ground were Charlotte Brooks’s guards. Even though they knew Helen Brooks’s identity, they thought that if they didn’t obey Charlotte Brooks’s orders, the consequences… Besides, everyone in the Dong family knew that this ugly kid was not favored by the master. If the sky fell, Charlotte Brooks would be the one to bear it.

...

Edward Thompson secretly thought something was wrong, faintly sensing that Charlotte Brooks might be in danger this time.

What kind of danger? He didn’t know. After all, Helen Brooks was just a child, even if he was a bit stronger, there were still more than a dozen of Charlotte Brooks’s guards in the training ground.

As he watched the guards rush forward, Helen Brooks’s killing intent surged.

One guard swung his saber to strike, but Helen Brooks neither dodged nor flinched. Gripping his spear with both hands, he blocked upward. With a clang, the guard’s ring-handled saber was instantly knocked flying. Before the guard could react, Helen Brooks let out a thunderous shout. Wielding his spear like a staff, he brought it down with a hum. This was originally just a standard “Splitting Mount Hua” move, but in Helen Brooks’s hands, it became something extraordinary. The speed was as fast as lightning. With a splat, the guard’s head was smashed to pieces.

This was Helen Brooks’s first time killing someone. In fact, he hadn’t expected such a result.

The opponent was far too fragile, but the man was dead. When the warm blood splashed onto his face, Helen Brooks’s mind went blank.

He was stunned, and so were the guards. Even Charlotte Brooks was a bit dumbfounded!

The dead guard was one of his trusted men. Although not particularly formidable, two or three ordinary men would not be his match.

And just like that, he was killed?

No, this brat cannot be allowed to live!

Charlotte Brooks steeled his heart. Since the grudge was already formed, there was no turning back. He turned and ran toward the weapon rack, shouting as he ran, “Kill that brat! Kill that brat! If anything happens, I’ll take responsibility!”

His shouts snapped the guards out of their daze, and they immediately brandished their weapons and charged at Helen Brooks.

Chapter Four: The Song of Killing (2)

His shouts snapped the guards out of their daze, and they immediately brandished their weapons and charged at Helen Brooks.

Likewise, Charlotte Brooks’s shouting also snapped Helen Brooks to attention. Edward Thompson, who had been watching Helen Brooks from the side, noticed a ferocious expression appear on the ugly boy’s face. He had seen that same look on George Brooks’s face before. After that, a Qiang tribe of nearly a thousand people vanished without a trace.

This ugly kid was out for blood!

Helen Brooks spun his spear in a wide arc, unleashing a move called “Sweeping Across a Thousand Troops.”

His strength was immense, and his speed was astonishing. The heavy spear, weighing over ten jin, swept through the air, the shaft bending slightly like a bow.

A guard rushed forward, saber raised to block. With a clang, the refined steel blade was snapped in two. The spear didn’t pause for a moment, continuing its sweep and sending the guard flying. Blood spurted from his mouth as he hit the ground, never to rise again.

To kill one is to kill; to kill a hundred is still to kill!

He remembered a poem from a novel he once read. He couldn’t recall the title, but the words had left a deep impression on Helen Brooks.

“A man should kill, and kill without mercy.

An immortal legacy, all lies in killing.

Once there were bold men, loyal and true.

For the slightest slight, they killed, their lives lighter than a feather.

There were also heroes and tyrants, killing in chaos like hemp.

Galloping across the world, boasting only of their blades and spears.”