I maxed out the Scholar talent at the start, but I want to be a Warrior.

The barbarians retreated.

They weren't driven back—they were scared off by Gu Chang'an's outburst.

The remaining soldiers retreated north into the mountains, leaving behind a trail of corpses and burning houses.

The fire was quickly extinguished.

Young men, carrying torches, searched the ruins for survivors and wounded barbarian soldiers.

Gu Cheng leaned against a wall that hadn't collapsed yet, watching all of this.

He had just used the Flying Knife again—after the cooldown ended, he encountered a lone wounded barbarian soldier on his way to the North Gate.

Three throwing knives, two hit their mark, one missed.

The skill has gone on cooldown again.

His current stats are: Constitution 22, Strength 18, Spirit 69, one rib broken, covered in blood, and his throwing knives are on cooldown.

He's basically a useless person.

"Xiao Cheng!"

A voice came from afar.

Gu Cheng looked up and saw a middle-aged man running over with a torch.

The original owner's memories told him that this was his distant third uncle, Gu Daliang.

"You're not dead?" Gu Daliang rushed to him, grabbing his shoulders. "The walls in your house collapsed, I thought you..."

He was halfway through his sentence when he saw the barbarian corpse behind Gu Cheng.

Gu Daliang was stunned.

"This...you killed him?"

Gu Cheng remained silent.

Gu Daliang squatted down and examined the wounds on the barbarian corpse—three charred holes in the right wrist, throat, and between the eyebrows.

The edges are blackened, as if they've been branded with a hot iron.

His hands began to tremble.

"This is... a combat technique?"

His voice rose.

Several young men who were searching nearby heard this and gathered around.

"What? Combat techniques?"

"Who has awakened?"

"Xiao Cheng? Xiao Cheng has awakened?"

"That can't be right, he's only fifteen..."

The crowd grew larger and larger.

Then, someone shouted out first—

"A chosen one! The Gu family has produced another chosen one!"

The cheers spread like wildfire.

"Okay! Okay!"

"The Gu family has an heir!"

"Thank God!"

Several young men rushed up, patted Gu Cheng on the shoulder, rubbed his arm, and their eyes were red.

Anle Village has not seen a person favored by heaven for a long time.

Now, one has appeared.

Gu Cheng was surrounded and slapped all over, his body aching – he already had a broken rib.

He wanted to say "be gentle," but seeing the expressions on those people's faces, he swallowed his words.

That wasn't just a polite congratulation.

It is a blessing to have survived a disaster.

These people almost died just now.

They witnessed their comrades being cut down with scimitars, saw houses being set on fire, and saw barbarian cavalry charging in like harvesting wheat.

They thought they were going to die too.

Then Gu Chang'an erupted, the barbarians retreated, and they survived.

Now I've heard that those favored by Heaven have appeared—

They need this message.

I need a reason to believe I won't die tomorrow.

Gu Cheng didn't say anything, letting them take pictures.

North Gate direction.

Gu Chang'an was sitting on a rock, his spear propped up in front of him, his eyes lifeless, looking like a stone statue.

It's not an injury.

It means my heart is dead.

After that outburst, he rushed to Gu Cheng's room—the walls had collapsed, broken bricks were scattered all over the floor, and the body of a barbarian cavalryman lay in the ruins with a charred hole between his eyebrows.

Gu Cheng is not here.

He searched the ruins but found neither his nephew's body nor any other living person.

Ten years ago, he failed to save his brother's family.

Overnight, he and his five-year-old nephew were left out of dozens of people.

He spent ten years raising this nephew.

Now, it's gone again.

The backlash from the inner demons was only physical—their combat power decreased from 15% to 30%, an old wound on their left shoulder reopened, and they felt sore all over, but these were all minor injuries.

With his foundation as a second-rate warrior, even if he were to fall to fourth-rate, these few barbarians wouldn't be a match for him.

But he didn't want to fight anymore.

He sat there, watching the firelight, thinking of nothing and seeing nothing.

Like a corpse that is still breathing.

Then he heard cheers in the distance.

"The one blessed by heaven!"

"The Gu family has produced another blessed individual!"

Gu Chang'an's eyes twitched.

The one blessed by heaven?

Gu Cheng?

He suddenly stood up.

Gu Cheng saw a figure striding towards him from the firelight.

His white hair was disheveled in the wind, and blood seeped from the bandage on his left shoulder, but his steps were steady and his back was straight.

It's Gu Chang'an.

Gu Cheng scanned it with his probe—

[Gu Chang'an] [Status Update: Under the influence of inner demons] [Combat power reduction: 15% → 30%]

The combat power reduction jumped from 15% to 30%.

But his eyes—

Completely different from when he was sitting on the rock. His cloudy, lifeless eyes now held a light.

Gu Chang'an rushed to Gu Cheng and grabbed his shoulder.

His hand was squeezing hard, making Gu Cheng's bones ache.

"You're not injured?"

"I broke one rib, but I'm fine otherwise."

Gu Chang'an loosened his grip slightly, but didn't let go. His gaze swept from Gu Cheng's face to his chest, and then from his chest to his limbs, as if to confirm that every part was still there.

Then he saw the barbarian corpse behind Gu Cheng.

Three charred holes.

His eyes flickered.

It wasn't surprise—it was confirmation.

"Awakened?"

"Um."

"What combat technique?"

"Flying Knife Control".

Gu Chang'an nodded.

"OK."

In short, it was decisive and efficient.

The crowd quieted down.

The young men who were just patting Gu Cheng on the shoulder are now looking at Gu Chang'an, their expressions changing from excitement to worry.

"Chang'an, your injury..."

"It's just a minor injury, nothing serious." Gu Chang'an waved his hand, glanced down at the blood-soaked bandage on his left shoulder, and casually tugged at it. "I won't die."

He glanced at the young men around him—their legs were trembling, their faces showing relief at surviving the ordeal, but also fear.

How many of us were killed or wounded tonight?

"Two...twenty-three."

Gu Chang'an remained silent for a moment.

Of the 120 fully armed knights against the 80 poorly equipped young men, 23 died—that was already a miracle.

"Everyone pack your belongings, we're going to hide in the mountains."

The young and strong men looked at each other in bewilderment.

Someone muttered under their breath, "Weren't the barbarians driven back by us...?"

Gu Chang'an glanced at him but didn't say anything.

But after just one glance, the man fell silent.

"Tonight, a centurion and a hundred-odd cavalrymen have come, but they're just barbarian scouts. What about next time? Next time, a chiliarch will come, a barbarian chiliarch, who will at least be a fourth-rate warrior."

He looked at the crowd. "I had a sudden burst of strength today, reaching the third-rate level, so that centurion led his troops away. But my strength has declined significantly; I'm at most a fourth-rate level now. If they come again..."

Everyone fell silent.

"So, don't be careless, let's go into the mountains and hide first. The border garrison will definitely know about the large-scale barbarian raids." Gu Chang'an sighed, his tone softening. "We'll come back after the border garrison drives the barbarians away."

He waved his hand.

"Everyone, disperse. Clean up the battlefield, treat the wounded, and we'll leave this place before dawn."

After the crowd dispersed, only the uncle and nephew remained.

Gu Chang'an sat down against the wall.

Gu Cheng sat down next to him.

There was a moment of silence.

"Is it a breakthrough in spirit or a breakthrough in strength?" Gu Chang'an suddenly asked.

Gu Cheng was taken aback.

"Spirit."

Gu Chang'an turned to look at him.

There was a two-second silence.

"Good. It seems you've awakened your scholarly talent. From now on, you can stay in the back and avoid charging into battle. Safe!"

But Gu Cheng sensed the weight in the word "safety".

When he spoke of his spirit, Gu Chang'an visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

After a moment of silence, Gu Cheng spoke.

"Uncle," he looked up, "I want to learn martial arts."

Gu Chang'an looked at him, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

It wasn't because of "martial arts" itself—but because the person who said those words was Gu Cheng.

In the original owner's memories, this boy hated martial arts from a young age.

It's not that I'm afraid of hardship, it's that I hate it.

Ten years ago, the barbarian invasion took away his parents, grandparents, and almost everyone in the Gu family. Five-year-old Gu Cheng was carried by his uncle out of a pile of corpses. From then on, he would hide at the sight of weapons and frown at the sound of martial arts practice.

In his eyes, learning martial arts was equivalent to going to the battlefield, and going to the battlefield was equivalent to dying.

His father was pushed to the front because of his outstanding martial arts skills, and then he died at the front.

Therefore, the original owner of this body never wanted to learn martial arts and hated war.

Now, this boy, who hates martial arts, has taken the initiative to say that he wants to learn martial arts.

Gu Chang'an stared at Gu Cheng for a long time.

"Practicing martial arts?"

"Um."

"You haven't always..."

"The past is the past," Gu Cheng interrupted him.

He offered no explanation.

How do you explain it? Say you're a time traveler? Say your memories of your past life taught you a lesson—in this chaotic world, those who don't know martial arts don't even have the right to choose how they die?

He simply looked into Gu Chang'an's eyes and said very seriously, "I want to learn."

Gu Chang'an remained silent for a long time.

A long wind blew across the ruins, stirring up a cloud of ashes.

Finally, he stood up.

"Alright. Even though I've awakened the scholar's skills, I still need to learn some martial arts to protect myself."

"I'll teach you once you've recovered."

He leaned on his spear, turned, and walked towards the north gate. After taking two steps, he stopped again without looking back.