Back when Julian had just obtained the Mega Pallet Town Physique, he had decided on a whim to learn Bajíquan from Shen in order to maximize its potential.
Aside from showing off once during his freshman year military training, he had tossed the martial art aside and let it gather dust.
If it hadn't been for seeing this old man use Bajíquan, awakening Julian's "long-buried" memory, he would have completely forgotten that he himself was somewhat of a martial arts expert.
This old man was clearly here to cause trouble.
Julian glanced at Felix. If the old man wanted, Julian didn't mind lending him a hand.
Felix's face had turned pale with shock. He shot up from his chair so abruptly that it toppled over behind him. Staring at the old man, he exclaimed in disbelief, "Cain—you're not dead?!"
'Cain?'
Julian had to admit he'd never heard the name.
But some of the elderly members of the Wish City families changed expressions when they heard Felix call him Cain.
Thirty years ago, Cain had been a renowned figure in Wish City. At forty years old, he had already reached the peak of Elite tier.
What's more, he was a self-made trainer from an ordinary background; talent, hard work, and opportunity had all aligned for him.
Back then, Cain and Felix had been close friends, and Cain had even agreed to serve as a guest elder for the Smith family.
However, after the two went to explore the Special Advanced-level secret realm Path of the Brave, Felix came out—while Cain did not. To the public, Felix had claimed that Cain had died inside the secret realm.
A peak Elite trainer perishing in a secret realm was a pity, but not unbelievable. After all, the Path of the Brave was a Special Advanced-level secret realm, with difficulty comparable to a Top-tier one and known to house Champion-level Pokémon.
It wouldn't be unusual even for a Pseudo-Champion to perish inside.
Yet now, thirty years later, the supposedly dead Cain had returned alive—and judging from his demeanor, he seemed to be here to settle accounts with Felix.
That suggested there had been some shady business in his so-called "death."
"Hahaha! So you still recognize me. That's right—I'm Cain! The Cain you almost killed!"
Cain's gaze was cold as he stared at Felix, his eyes burning with intense killing intent.
"How are you still alive? I clearly stabbed you through the heart!"
By now Felix emotions had calmed. Since Cain had come seeking revenge, he knew the truth of that year would inevitably come out, whether he tried to hide it or not. So he might as well lay it out himself.
"My heart is on the right side, you fool! And when you kicked me off that cliff, I got caught on a tree. You betrayed over a decade of friendship—all for the 'Spirit of Combat'!" Cain roared.
He tore open his upper clothing, revealing a clear scar on the left side of his chest—evidently from a knife wound.
If his heart had been on the left, he would certainly be dead. Unfortunately for Felix, Cain was both gifted and absurdly lucky.
Killing a friend to seize a treasure—Felix had really done it.
As for Cain, with his heart on the right and being caught by a tree after falling off a cliff—he practically had the template of a novel's protagonist.
The onlookers gasped when they heard that Felix had committed murder for a treasure.
"So what? The Spirit of Combat is an Ultimate treasure for Fighting-type trainers. You weren't worthy of it. Every man for himself—god condemns those who don't look out for themselves. Cain, you were just too naive," Felix said coldly.
In secret realms, killing for a treasure was all too common.
Even if it was family, friends, or lovers—if the treasure was valuable enough, killing wasn't off the table.
As cruel as Felix's words sounded, they weren't entirely wrong.
The path of a trainer was one of competition and conflict—it was how one grew quickly.
Every year, countless trainers died in the wild or in secret realms. Who could say exactly how they died?
An Ultimate treasure like the Spirit of Combat was something even a Champion would covet.
And since Felix himself was a Fighting-type trainer, his desire for it was unmatched.
So he had chosen to kill Cain and take it for himself.
Most trainers present could understand Felix's actions—in fact, many of them had also killed for treasures inside secret realms.
If you've never encountered such a thing, you couldn't really call yourself a seasoned trainer.
The trainer world operated on the law of the jungle—survival of the fittest, especially in lawless places like secret realms and the wild, where this principle was most starkly evident.
The only difference was that the people they had killed had stayed dead—unlike Cain, who had returned from the grave seeking revenge.
"Wait—if you didn't die back then, how did you survive in the Path of the Brave for thirty years? The secret realm's energy should have harmed you irreversibly," Felix asked, incredulous.
A secret realm's was beneficial only for Pokémon, and if humans stayed inside for too long, it would gradually destroy their bodies.
Especially in Advanced-level secret realms—if a human stayed for more than two years, they would suffer irreversible physical damage.
Yet Cain had stayed in a Special Advanced-level secret realm for thirty years. By all logic, the energy should have long since drained his life away.
"I was lucky. When I was gravely injured, I encountered a Urshifu. It saved me and even gave me a special berry to eat. After that, the secret realm's energy no longer harmed me."
Urshifu, a Fighting/Dark-type legendary Pokémon.
It was true that the Path of the Brave was home to Urshifu, but only a few ever encountered one.
Cain's luck was truly exceptional—not only did he meet one, but it also saved him.
As for the berry he mentioned, Julian knew about it: it was called a Realm Berry. Every secret realm had its own unique Realm Berry. Eating it made one immune to the harmful energy of that particular secret realm.
However, such berries were extremely rare. Julian had only read about them in books. Items like that weren't probably classified as treasures by the Dowsing Machine, which was why it never got detected.
Otherwise, Julian would surely have encountered and tasted one by now.
He wondered what such a berry would taste like.
"For thirty years, I've been training under Urshifu's guidance. For thirty years, the only thing driving me has been the desire to kill you and wipe out your entire family!"
Cain advanced step by step toward Felix. With each step, his aura intensified, and a fierce killing intent radiated outward.
The first to be affected were the performing celebrities, their faces pale with terror, thinking that they had only come for a few hundred thousand in performance fees and didn't want to have their lives dragged into a fight.
This aura was anything but ordinary.
Julian observed Cain with interest. The fact that he could suppress most people with his sheer presence alone was something not many could achieve.
In terms of raw presence, Julian himself was actually inferior—after all, he hadn't endured nearly as much hardship as Cain had.
But if Julian was to secretly use his psychic abilities to apply mental pressure, then ten Cains wouldn't be a match for him.
*****
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