This senior brother who has spent so many years with Grandpa Henry Carter—what is really on his mind? Perhaps no one knows except himself.

After finishing his morning exercise, other disciples began to arrive at the martial arts school one after another.

Among the disciples, there were both men and women, most of them over thirty years old. Quite a few of them had already opened their own training institutions elsewhere.

The reason they still came back here was out of respect for the old master Henry Carter, and because of old habits.

Moreover, with so many senior and junior brothers and sisters gathering together, it was in itself quite a valuable network.

With so many people, William Carter didn’t know most of them, so he didn’t really have a chance to talk to the old master.

Ethan Clark also started to get busy, with many people pulling him aside to chat about martial arts.

He was caught up by others and didn’t seem to be paying attention to this side anymore, which made William Carter breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Seeing the crowd, he simply went outside the martial arts school to take a walk by the small river on the right.

Since he was very young, he liked to walk alone by this river, picking up stones to skip across the water.

When he got a bit older, afraid of being seen and called childish for skipping stones, he just walked quietly.

Later, as he grew up, William Carter would simply watch the ripples reflected on the river’s surface by himself.

Ripples coming from different directions were like two countries at war—one strong, one weak.

He would secretly make a guess in his heart, then watch the outcome.

If the side he picked lost, he would get upset and kick a few stones into the water, stirring up even bigger ripples to join the battle.

“What are you doing here alone?” Suddenly, a voice sounded unexpectedly behind William Carter.

His previously relaxed body tensed up in an instant, and he slowly turned around.

Standing behind him was none other than senior brother Ethan Clark.

Ethan Clark carried a faint smell of alcohol, his expression calm, hands hanging naturally at his sides, looking as if he was just out for a walk as well.

William Carter turned things over in his mind, but kept his face unchanged.

“I came for a walk after eating. I’ve liked coming here alone since I was a kid.”

“You like peace and quiet?” Ethan Clark walked up beside William Carter, and also kicked a stone into the water.

“It’s alright, I just want some quiet now and then.” William Carter tried to keep his expression as natural as possible. But as the other drew closer, he couldn’t help but feel a chill run down his spine.

His gaze had already caught Ethan Clark’s right hand, whose five fingers were slowly stretching out.

“When are you leaving? I’ll see you off.” Ethan Clark said slowly.

“No need, I can manage on my own.” William Carter smiled. “By the way, earlier you said you wanted to achieve victory without fighting—what exactly did you mean? You didn’t finish before Grandpa interrupted. Is there some problem?”

He tried hard to make his smile look completely innocent and natural.

It wasn’t easy, but after all, he was someone who had died once. In fact, he didn’t take death itself too seriously.

What he feared was dying and still being unable to save Grandpa. And now was an opportunity—a chance to get close to Ethan Clark and learn more.

Why did he have to do it? Why would he disregard so many years of friendship and wipe out everyone? What was really behind all this?

Ethan Clark exhaled and looked at William Carter with a strange expression.

“Do you know that living creatures can experience fear paralysis?”

“Fear paralysis?”

“Yes. In biology, this phenomenon is called one of the survival instincts.

When a creature faces an absolutely unbeatable enemy, it may become completely paralyzed. In this way, the strong enemy might spare it, seeing that it has given up resistance and shows no hostility, thus allowing it to survive.”

As Ethan Clark spoke, his tone was calm and his voice gentle, as if he was just having a casual chat with William Carter.

“What I’m pursuing is to make people feel fear and freeze up before the fight even begins.

Unfortunately, Master didn’t agree with my goal. He thought I was going down the wrong path. But in three consecutive external martial arts competitions, I achieved results far better than before. Still, he wouldn’t acknowledge me.”

William Carter noticed that his fingers were trembling slightly.

“Why? Isn’t that very effective?” he asked.

“Just because I was a bit too heavy-handed.” Ethan Clark showed a strange smile. “But that’s the only way to create fear. The essence of combat is to trample the flesh and blood of your own kind and walk the path of supreme evolution!”

“I don’t see it that way.” William Carter couldn’t help but retort. As soon as he spoke, he saw Ethan Clark’s hand tremble, veins bulging slightly, and an indescribable sense of oppression suddenly emanated from him.

William Carter’s heart skipped a beat, but he forced down the sense of threat inside.

He knew that at any moment, he could be killed by a single punch from Ethan Clark.

But this was the best chance to get close to Ethan Clark’s true thoughts. For the sake of investigating the truth, he didn’t want to give up.

“Pure violence and bloodshed might create fear, but that only makes a small group of onlookers panic. On a large scale, it’s still useless.

So your goal is just a niche path.”

Ethan Clark had already planned to make a move, kill William Carter right here, and then go back to finish off that old man, ending it all at once.