âIâm not a Demonic Cultivator! You should have learned this from the school textbooks; âTo enter Demonhood is to be Demon for life.â When one falls to the Demonic Way, when theyâre purged with Tenebrum, one will lose their minds and become a puppet of the Beyonder Demons. An incomparably powerful aura of Tenebrum Energy lingers around their bodies. They absolutely wonât be like I am now!â
Zheng Dongming spoke suddenly at rocket speed, âLook! Other than when I shot my Demonic Blood Cannon, there isnât any Tenebrum Energy lingering around my body. My mind is also quite clear, absolutely not that of one who fell into madness! I onlyâŠâŠ had some lucky encounter to be able to cultivate in both Essence and Tenebrum!â
âOh?â
Li Yaoâs expression remained unchanged and he spoke seriously, âYoung Master Zheng. Youâre mistakenâŠâŠ Iâm not going to kill you because youâre a demonic cultivator, Iâm going to kill you becauseâŠâŠ Iâve inadvertently discovered your big secret. You will kill and silence me for certain when you finish recovering, in order to keep your identity and your fortunate encounter from being exposed. I want to save my own life, so I shall make the first move and seize the advantage!â
Li Yao took a moment to sigh, âI hope you can understand. Thereâs no private enmity between us two. Originally, it was still possible for us to become decent swine friends. But nowâŠâŠâ
He shook his head and raised the Burning Sky Battleaxe.
Zheng Dongmingâs expression changed as he urgently asked: âIf you really want to protect your life, then you really shouldnât kill me. Can you give me a minute of time to explain to you clearly why?â
Li Yao squinted his eyes, his eyes radiating with vitality. His telepathic mind spun at lightning speed, blazing his computational power to the limits. He answered a short time later:
âThirty seconds!â
Without half a second of hesitation, Zheng Dongming opened his mouth and shot in rapidfire: âFirst, the reason why you want to kill me is because youâre scared that Iâll kill you later to silence you! But when you slayed this large-eyed ape, you can be said to be my life-saving benefactor. I, Zheng Dongming, may be a scoundrel, but how could I ever lay a hand on my life saver?â
âBullshit! You still have twenty-five seconds!â
âSecond, you assume that the reason why I would kill you is to protect my own secret of cultivating in Tenebrum, to silence you from divulging my secret! But itâs pointless to kill you, since right now Fellow Student Li Yao is placed number one in the ranking and has already garnered the reputation of being a rising star of hope. The Nine Elites will always have quite a few eyes observing you! And, you must certainly have had your own lucky encounter to have your actual strength soar at a rate thatâs higher than mine. It wouldnât be that easy to silence you. I would need to use large quantities of influence and resources for sure!â
âYour Zheng Family⊠Donât you have large quantities of influence and resources?â spoke Li Yao coldly.
Zheng Dongming forced a bitter laugh and spoke, âTo mobilize large amounts of resources to kill you isnât actually the problem. The problem is the justification, see? Youâre right. My Zheng Family has several cultivators of the Refinement stage. We even have two powerful Foundation stage cultivators. But all these cultivators are my uncles or even grand uncles! If I ask them to come kill you, they would ask me for a reason. How should I respond? Should I simply say that youâve discovered my secret? If I explain it like this, not only would they not get someone else to do the work, these cousins and grandparents will kick me out of the house! Theyâll get rid of me!â
âSounds reasonable. These words youâve spoken have won you ten more seconds. Continue speaking!â Li Yao gripped the Burning Sky Battleaxe tightly; he did not relax in the slightest.
âEven if I was able to convince my relatives to come and get rid of you, it would be very difficult to not leave behind tracks and clues. Everyone knows of the secret special police unit of the Federation. They specialize in handling cultivator crimes. Quite a few of the secret police possess super powerful computation capabilities. Itâs very rare for criminals to escape their investigation. What if they track things down to their roots all the way back to me? Wouldnât I have overextended myself?â
Zheng Dongming had finished speaking using a single breath. He concluded saying, âIn short, to kill a ferocious person such as yourself wouldnât be easy at all. Even if Iâm successful, thereâs still a 99% chance of being discovered. Rather than go down this route, I would rather place my bets on you keeping my secret. The chances of you keeping my secret is still greater!â
âYou have a few reasonable points, but itâs still not enough to convince me. Do you have anymore reasons? Iâll give you twenty more seconds.â Li Yao spoke without relaxing a single bit.
âI do!â
Zheng Dongmingâs pale white face let out a red glow. He shouted himself hoarse saying, âYou want to kill me because youâre scared that Iâll silence you when I recover. So youâve decided to make the first move and seize the advantage. You just want to preserve your own life! But did you ever think about this? That after youâve killed me you will leave behind some tracks and clues. What if my Zheng Family discovers that youâre the killer! Then you will be hunted and killed by Refinement stage and Foundation stage cultivators! Do you think you can escape death?â
Zheng Dongming paused before he reached a conclusion, âIf you kill me, thereâs a 100% chance that my Zheng Familyâs Foundation stage cultivators will get rid of you! If you donât kill me, you can still count on a 1% chance for me to have a conscious and treat you as my life saving benefactor. As for the actual probability, you can calculate that yourself!â
Li Yao thought deeply for a moment before speaking: âDonât you worry. I wonât leave behind any feasible evidence.â
Zheng Dongming blinked his eyes: âThe secret police will need feasible evidence in their investigation. To avenge a cultivator, it would be enough for there to be a suspect!â
Li Yaoâs eyebrows shook: âI can say that I purged evil. That I rid the world of a Demonic Cultivator. Would the Zheng Family dare touch me? They might even celebrate and send me a banner as thanks for cleaning the house of the Zheng Family!â
Zheng Dongmingâs mouth pulled into a crafty smile. He spoke: âThe Tenebrum I cultivate in has an extremely odd characteristic to itâŠâŠ Aside from the moment of stimulation, the Tenebrum wonât leave the least bit of trace. Even the most supreme of cultivators wonât be able to tell. If you donât believe me, go ahead and look at the corpse of the large-eyed ape. Not even an ounce of Tenebrum energy remains!
Li Yao was shocked. He gazed unwaveringly at Zheng Dongming, and swept a glance at the large-eyed ape from the corner of his eyes.
And sure enough, there was actually not a hairâs trace of demonic energy from the gaping hole in the sternum of the large-eyed ape reeking and dripping wet of blood. It was as if essence energy had blasted out that hole.
âLook, thereâs no evidence at all that I cultivate in Tenebrum. Therefore you canât use this reason to wipe yourself clean. Of course, Iâm not worried about you spilling my secret. Anyway, you donât have proof, so I donât have a strong enough motive to kill and silence you. We donât need to take things so far where only one of us gets out of here alive!â Zheng Dongming spoke at lightning speed.
Right at this moment, a crackling sound rang from the air. Small Ji had finally struggled free from Zheng Dongmingâs camouflage clothing. A stellar aura glowed from its eyes and it flew over above the twoâs heads.
âHa. Your Puji Critter seems to have had its connection restored with the Distant Expanse. Right now every single movement are under the observation of countless cultivators. You really wonât make a move now right?â Zheng Dongming laughed with complete brightness.
Li Yao kept quiet for a moment before laughing. He tossed the Burning Sky Battleaxe to the side, walked to Zheng Dongmingâ side, and sat down on his butt under the gaze of Small Ji. He covered his lips and whispered in a voice that only themselves could hear:
âVery good. Youâve convinced me. But in the end Iâve discovered your big secret. If one day you push your demonic cultivation to an exceptional level that you can get rid of me without leaving behind even half a speck of evidenceâŠâŠ I believe you will still make a move!â
âThatâs highly likely.â
Zheng Dongming also covered his lips as he spoke calmly, âWouldnât I have to worry as well? What if one day you miraculously make it big and you donât fear the retribution of the Zheng Family? And what if youâre confident that you can escape the investigation of the secret police? And you worry that Iâll kill and silence you, so you will make the first move to gain the upperhand? To get rid of me as before?â
Li Yao pondered for a moment before laughing automatically: âThe probability of this happening isnât small.â
Zheng Dongming took his arms and rested them under his head as a pillow with great difficulty. He comfortably spoke with half opened eyes:
âAnyway, right now we are both meager weakling cannon fodder. It would be impossible for us to kill each other without being discovered by the Secret Police. So, before any of us learns an exceptional god-like skill, we can still be friends right? We might even be friends worth taking a knife for!â
âThereâs no need to be friends worth taking knives for. I donât like to go stabbing around with guys.â Li Yao spoke. âBeing swine friends is fine enough. We can be light acquaintances like a pig and a dog.â
âSure my beloved swine friend. Many thanks for your kindness of saving my life. Iâll introduce to you beautiful girls to get to know. Whatâs your favorite type? Hehehe, Surely youâre not one of those upright people who wonât get close to a girl and only likes to cultivate right?â
Zheng Dongming was beaming with smiles as he asked pervertedly.
âOf course not. I like a pure girl whoâs slightly provocative. And within that tease there would be a faint shyness to her. But she actually wants it under that shyness. And what she wants would be a mix of different kinds of unspeakable passions and desires.â
Li Yao spoke earnestly.
âGot it. You have before you a pure high class woman whoâs a beast in bed. Those are pretty common man~ I know a lot of those. When you have time come over to our schoolâŠâŠâ
As he spoke, Zheng Dongmingâs voice trailed weaker and weaker. In the end his head lay to the side; he had passed out.
He had forcefully used Tenebrum and so he had overtaxed his body too greatly. Then he used an enormous amount of mental energy in the battle of wits against Li Yao. His mind was practically spent. He was pushing his limits to hold on until now.
Li Yao rested for a moment, restoring his stamina by a bit. His gaze stopped and remained at Zheng Dongmingâs neck artery for quite a while
âStudent Li Yao. Please remain in the supply point and donât move. Cultivators are rushing over quickly!â Small Ji suddenly spoke.
Li Yaoâs pupils shrank before he moved his gaze. He used a Chainsword to support himself and stand up.
A strand of curiosity had arisen in his heart. He staggered over to the front of the large-eyed apeâs head. And with a kick, the giant head flipped over.
The combat strength of the three-eyed ape actually wasnât that powerful. Even the mutation of the a large-eyed ape couldnât possible drive these two into such a sorry state.
What sort of oddity did this large-eyed ape possess to transform into this crazy state?
The large-eyed apeâs face was still frozen in this ugly grimacing state, only that mouth, with crossed canine teeth, would no longer puff out a putrid stench. The bizarre incomparably giant eye on its forehead was closed tightly. It was much nicer to look at.
Li Yao stabbed his sword into the mouth of the large-eyed ape, firmly securing the large head to the ground, and took his daggers. Only then did he feel at ease to squat down and examine it.
Right about the instant he squatted down, the bizarre eye on the large-eyed apeâs forehead opened suddenly, releasing an incomparably strong blood red glow. It was as if an extremely sharp blade had ferociously stabbed into Li Yaoâs forehead, reaching to the deepest depths of his mind!
A split second laterâŠâŠ
âKid, how could you!?â
Li Yao felt his head be in incomparable pain. An aged scream came from the deepest depths of his mind. A transparent figure of a person with aged white hair exploded and disintegrated, transforming into countless shards. A handful of these insignificant shards continued fleeing towards every nook and corner in the depths of Li Yaoâs mind. And the majority of these shards spun at crazy speeds, becoming a berserk vortex.
Li Yaoâs consciousness was also dragged into this strange vortex of shards. He sunk into endless darkness!
The instant before he sunk into this darkness, Li Yao saw three cultivators flying on swords and leaping down from the cloud filled sky. They shot like lightning towards him and Zheng Dongming!