by <unknown>
"Then, we will have a real competition. If you win, I will be your disciple without further ado. The ten techniques will be my tuition fee.
"If I win, you don't have to call me your master. What I demand is that you give me your ten techniques, and that we be equal partners in the Temple of Immortals!"
Huangpu Shiyi's eyes were flickering. The techniques that Li Yao provided these days were already captivating enough. He didn't expect that there were many more even more advanced techniques inside his brain.
As a frantic refiner, he found absolutely no reason to turn down the offer.
Huangpu Shiyi grinned and replied, "So, you are still planning to take advantage of me. You are not willing to be my disciple, and you want to take away my techniques! However, your chance of winning is slim. If you unfortunately fail, you won't go back on your words, will you?"
Weird brilliance shined in Li Yao's eyes. One of the scalpels suddenly vanished and circled around his fingertip.
Blood immediately spurted out.
Li Yao moved his fingers and quickly drew a complicated rune in the midair with his blood as ink.
While he drew, he said solemnly, "I swear by the blood of my fingertip that I, Li Yao, will have a fight in the arts of refining with Huangpu Shiyi tomorrow, and if I fail, I will kneel down and respect Huangpu Shiyi as my master immediately! Should the oath be broken, my mind shall be haunted for all eternity, my hands shall be shaking forever, and I shall never refine a piece of qualified magical equipment for the rest of my life!
"Blood Oath, now!"
Li Yao finished the last stroke and opened his mouth. The blood rune in the midair immediately turned into a red streak and dashed into his mouth.
Li Yao tremored for a moment. There was hint of blood in his eyes.
The faces of Huangpu Shiyi, Black Stone, and White Dew all blanched.
A 'Blood Oath' was a general method of vowing for all Cultivators.
It was not as effective as recorded in ancient classics, which stated that what the oath taker swore would definitely come back to them when they broke their vow.
A Blood Oath was, in fact, more of a psychological phenomenon. For example, although Li Yao had made such a terrifying oath, his hands would not necessarily tremble all day when he broke it. But the idea would stay in his mind nonetheless. When he thought about it occasionally during his refining, his hands might indeed shake and thus reduce the success rate of the refining a little bit.
The thought might haunt him for a year and a half, or maybe several years. No one could tell how long they would be bothered by their vow-breaking memories.
Huangpu Shiyi believed that, if he were in Li Yao's shoes, he wouldn't bear to see any drop of the success rate of his refining, even if it was as small as one percent.
The foolish boy meant what he said!
Huangpu Shiyi was almost touched hearing Li Yao making such an irreversible oath.
In the eyes of the regular Cultivators, they might find Li Yao's arrogance in the beginning intolerable.
But for Huangpu Shiyi, an Immortal Cultivator, it was nothing unusual.
Selfishness was the greatest virtue among Immortal Cultivators. Cruel competition was everywhere in the Temple of Immortals, too. There was not the slightest warmth between masters and disciples.
Many disciples were loyal and dutiful when they hadn't learned their masters' knowledge. They only hated that they couldn't be a dog barking for their masters.
However, when their wings grew strong and their masters somehow wound up in trouble, it would be considered very nice of them to only ditch their masters immediately.
The more considerate disciples even concocted plans in secret and killed their masters without alarming anyone. Their masters' belongings would all be theirs in such a way!
Huangpu Shiyi would never dare recruit such disciples.
It was also the reason he didn't have any acolytes or assistants even though he had been in the Temple of Immortals for twenty years.
His hands were too useless. He was afraid that, if his disciple became too strong someday, they might have second thoughts.
But things were different about this silly boy, Li Yao. The fact that he was bragging about himself openly suggested that he had no other plans. If the guy were onto something else, he wouldn't have been so arrogant and tried to piss him off at all!
It seemed a better option to recruit an arrogant yet simple-minded boy as his disciple than to recruit a hypocrite whom he had to be wary of all day. Besides, there were so many techniques inside his brain. After he got Huangpu Xiaoya's hands, his capability would definitely soar with Li Yao's helpful techniques. Chances were that he might even be able to march into the high level of the Core Formation Stage and became a renowned Core Formation Stage Refiner!
By that time, he would be appreciated by everyone in the Temple of Immortals. Who should he be scared of then?
Thinking about that, Huangpu Shiyi laughed. "Great! Great! Great! I crushed the Skyhill Sword Seminar thirty years ago, the only one that I ever participated in, without meeting any trouble whatsoever. The matches were even getting boring for me as I proceeded.
"This year, I interrupted your Skyhill Sword Seminar. It's only reasonable that I make up for that.
"Then, tomorrow at this time, the two of us will have a special Skyhill Sword Seminar in the sea of stars!
"It will decide whether I, the dominator of the Skyhill Sword Seminar thirty years ago, or you, the most brilliant star in the Skyhill Sword Seminar thirty years later who outshone all the other contestants, are the real King of Skyhill Sword Seminar!"
"It's a deal then! This time tomorrow, a Skyhill Sword Seminar in space!"
Li Yao took a long breath and walked up to Huangpu Xiaoya. He drew a line on her elbow with the pommel of the scalpel and smiled at her vaguely. "I'll keep these hands of yours for another day."
Huangpu Xiaoya was already exhausted. She gazed at him, not even having the strength to curse anymore.
Chapter 518: As Venomous as Viper |
An hour later, in their suite…
The manacle that confined Huangpu Xiaoya had been relieved. But she was imposed upon yet another few barriers. It was fine for her to eat or drink, but she could only summon the least spiritual energy. Whenever she had the idea of self-torturing, she would immediately receive an electric shock and be paralyzed to bed.
Therefore, just like a beast that had fallen into a trap, Huangpu Xiaoya could do nothing but glare with her bloodshot eyes at the bed on which Li Yao was reading an ancient book comfortably on the other side of the room. The book was Huangpu Shiyi's personal collection. It was offered to Li Yao without him asking because Huangpu Shiyi felt extremely good today.
Huangpu Xiaoya stared at Li Yao for a long time, only to discover that he was smiling as airily as before. She gnashed her teeth. "Shameless!"
Li Yao laughed and replied, "You think this is shameless? Then I'm afraid that your eyes will be opened today. Do you want to hear it?"
Huangpu Xiaoya was dazed, not knowing what he meant.
Li Yao continued instead of waiting for a reply. "When I reflected on the whole thing, there are several points that have been bothering me. Look, according to Huangpu Shiyi, his sole reason for going to the Skyhill Domain was to invite you to join the Temple of Immortals and become an Immortal Cultivator, was it not? At that time, he was not aware of my capability yet. He merely planned to kill me as a favor for Fengyu Zhong, who is also a member of the Temple of Immortals.
"I was never his focus; you were.
"Then, here comes the question. Do you not think that there should be a step-by-step process to lure in other people, especially hardcore Cultivators who were born in the noble families in the Cultivation world and firmly believe in the ethos of Cultivators?
"For example, he could've elaborated to you about how merciful and beautiful the Temple of Immortals is, or that it was established for the peace of the universe and for
the happiness of the people. At the very least, he should've explained that there were good reasons that the Temple of Immortals were killing other people, say, killing some was actually saving more, or that it was not the Immortal Cultivators who were wrong but the other living souls in the multiple worlds, bla bla bla.
"Then, he could've shown you the dark side of the Cultivators and let you realize that Cultivators were actually pretentious people whose actions turned out to be the very opposite of their claims, and so on.
"The process could be repeated until you were brainwashed and gradually accepted their stance. You would've been transformed slowly but surely.
"This should be the standard procedure to get more people to join his organization!
"But what did Huangpu Shiyi do exactly?
"He showed the serial explosions in the Skyhill Domain to you before anything else, as if he was afraid that you could not see through his evilness. He seemed to be trying to trigger your fury and resistance against the Temple of Immortals.
"Right now, we've been held captive for more than half a month, but he's only spoken to you less than three times. By logic, it's perfectly normal that an avid believer of the Cultivators' creeds could not change their mindset in such a short amount of time, is it not? Why doesn't he take you to the headquarters of the Temple of Immortals and ask a few more kindly-looking, preferably middle-aged, nuns to take their time to work together and talk sense into you?
"If the Temple of Immortals really is so bad at recruiting new people, I can only wonder how the organization has existed for such a long time and is even showing signs of thriving.
"The Huangpu family is a noble family of refining and one of the most renowned families in the circle of refiners. You are the most talented genius in the younger generation of such a family. To deal with such an important figure like yourself, it won't be a waste of time even if it has to take several years, will it?
"Thirdly, even if Huangpu Shiyi is in dire need of a pair of new hands, does he really have to be so hasty? The medical staff on this starship are definitely less proficient than the doctors in the headquarters of the Temple of Immortals. Why can't he wait until we reach the headquarters and ask a professional doctor to do the transplantation? Why is he not patient enough to wait for another half a month?
"Those three points have been baffling me for an entire hour. However, I suddenly figured everything out when you called me 'shameless' just now!"
Huangpu Xiaoya was dazed. She pondered for a long time and still failed to get what Li Yao was trying to say. She murmured, "What do you mean?"
Li Yao smiled knowingly. "It's simple. If Huangpu Shiyi's purpose was to tempt you to join the Temple of Immortals, what he has been doing is idiotic and unreasonable.
"So, the fact is, since the very beginning, he had never wanted you to join the Temple of Immortals, and he was even scared that you might decide to join it.
"His one and only purpose at the Skyhill Domain was your hands!"
Taking a deep breath, Huangpu Xiaoya felt that several bolts of lightning were striking inside her head.
After she heard Li Yao's explanation, she found everything clearer and yet more desperate!
"So, this was his scheme all along. He—he is my blood uncle, but he has been coveting my hands!"
Huangpu Xiaoya was trembling beyond her control. "Terrible. You Immortal Cultivators are too terrible! You are not humans. Definitely not humans!"
Li Yao smiled. "Huangpu Shiyi is a super refiner. Since he was in need of a pair of new hands, he definitely wouldn't choose any random person's. Inside the Huangpu family, the hands of his relatives of his generation or senior to him were too old. He wouldn't be able to use them for long even if he transplanted them. So, he could only look for alternatives in the younger generation.
"Who in the younger generation has better hands than you, the talented heir of the Huangpu family?
"As it happened, you were his blood niece. Your father and him were brothers. You shared the same bloodline. His body wouldn't have a problem to accept organs from you.
"Therefore, these young and vigorous hands of yours were apparently destined for him!
"He played the scenes of the Skyhill Domain's explosions on purpose so that you wouldn't even consider surrendering to the Temple of Immortals. He is so eager to chop off your hands now because he wants to settle everything as soon as possible.
"There will be too many uncertainties when you return to the headquarters of the Temple of Immortals. Let's say you suddenly change your mind and decide to join the Temple of Immortals. If so, there will be absolutely no reason for him to cut off your hands anymore! Haha!"
Huangpu Xiaoya was almost stunned. She stammered, "If—if you have seen everything through, are you still willing to be a disciple of such a venomous viper?"
Li Yao chuckled. "What's wrong with that? I've slain my own master before, haven't I? Huangpu Shiyi and I are merely taking advantage of each other. Now that we are still of value to each other, we will always restrain ourselves and be friendly to one another. A relationship bound by interests is so much more solid than one built on feelings!"
"Indeed."
Huangpu Xiaoya closed her eyes, cold tears dripping down her face. She mumbled, "I almost forgot. You are also a vicious, filthy, cowardly, and selfish Immortal Cultivator!"
…
Inside a dark room near the suite…
Although Li Yao had proved himself to be loyal enough, Huangpu Shiyi and Su Jiuzhen had never let loose of monitoring him.
Three crystal cameras and detectaphones had been hidden in the corners of the room. They were five times more inconspicuous than the previous ones!
It was a smart psychological strategy.
After Li Yao dismantled so many crystal cameras and detectaphones in the beginning, he would inevitably think that Huangpu Shiyi's methods about deploying surveillance equipment were only as good as that.
Therefore, Li Yao had never discovered the last three crystal cameras and detectaphones that were much more discreetly than previous ones.
However, his blunt words, since he thought no one was watching him, cast the dark room into awkward silence.
Su Jiuzhen said coldly, "Is it true, what Li Yao just said?"
Sweat appeared on Huangpu Shiyi's forehead, as he stuttered, "Well, about that…"
Su Jiuzhen snorted. "It's your own business to chop off Huangpu Xiaoya's hands. But you have mobilized so many resources of our organization without telling us your true purpose. Have you notified the Lotus King of your jobbery?"
Huangpu Shiyi was trembling violently. With a bitter face, he replied, "I… I…"
"I suppose that's a no?"
Su Jiuzhen sighed and said, "Rest assured, I will not report the matter. After all, we are both subordinates of the Lotus King. If I were to blab about it, we might have to turn against each other. What benefits can I get from that?
"However, what if someone else learns of the matter and attacks the Lotus King for his lack of control over his subordinates?
"When we return, you have three days to explain yourself to the Lotus King. If you don't tell him everything after three days, I'm afraid that I'll have to brief the Lotus King myself.
"Huangpu Shiyi, I'm not criticizing you, but why didn't you talk to the Lotus King before you did such a thing, which is not entirely forbidden? Why were you so self-willed? How foolish you were!"
Huangpu Shiyi's face was as pale as sand. He murmured, "I thought… I thought…"
Su Jiuzhen looked him in the eye and said, "You didn't think that the Lotus King would help you, did you? Then you couldn't have been more wrong! Now that you have chosen to serve the Lotus King, and you are well aware of the Lotus King's power inside our organization, you should have every faith in him!
"I'm clearer than you about how the Lotus King returns his subordinates' loyalty. If you had talked to the Lotus King in advance, he would've arranged everything perfectly for you.
There wouldn't have been the slightest chance that other people might see through the operation.
"Alright. What is done is done. It's needless to say anything else. After your competition with Li Yao tomorrow, just ask him to chop off the hands and replace yours with them as you planned. Then, you'd better be prepared to ask for the Lotus King's pardon. I will try to say something nice for you, too."
Huangpu Shiyi wiped his sweat quickly. "Thank you very much, Master Su! After my body is accustomed to my new hands, I will immediately turn on my furnace and refine a set of the most delicate 'Thirteen Ghost Soul Needles' for you!"
Huangpu Shiyi's promise was apparently what Su Jiuzhen had been waiting for. But he simply grunted, not showing approval or disapproval. He squinted and looked at Li Yao inside the light beam again. "This boy was smart enough to see through your ruse, though.
"However, since he is speaking evil of you, his future master, so patently, it is evident enough that he does not know that there are other bugs inside the room and that we are still supervising him to this moment!
"His declaration about joining the Temple of Immortals for his own benefits seems more valid now.
"Alright, now, I can finally say with a hundred percent certainty that Li Yao is willing to join the Temple of Immortals sincerely and that he is a real Immortal Cultivator!
"Excellent. A great talent has joined the Lotus King's cause. How can the other three expect to compete with the Lotus King now?"
Chapter 519: Sparks in Darkness |
Watched by the hidden crystal cameras, Huangpu Xiaoya took a deep breath and tried to resume her calmness. She bit her lips so hard that blood was zigzagging out the corners of her mouth like crimson snakes.
She gnashed her teeth. "You are telling me all this because you want me to be more depressed and devastated before I die?"
Li Yao sneered. "I'm telling you this because I want you to clearly see the reality. 'Survival of the fittest' is the only truth in this dark universe. It is also why I decided to embark on the path of immortality to make myself stronger!