Book 8: Chapter 36: Different Alliances, Discussing Dao

Lin Xi fled through the reed covered marsh.

For the sake of avoiding some mud pools that couldn’t be recognized from the surface, he had to make sure that every step was near reeds, because these areas were almost certain to be sturdy earth.

Avoiding the incoming arrows from behind while doing this was even more exhausting.

However, he was even better at archery than the people chasing from behind him, understanding what he had to do in this type of place in order to to save strength and more effectively break free from the pursuit of archers.

That was why after running crazily for several dozen steps, his movements instead became slower and more gentle, doing his best to not let his body bump into weeds.

The arrows quickly scattered over.

The archers in the back who couldn’t lock down on his location could only fire aimlessly. Even though the chi chi air rushing sounds were extremely frightening, for Lin Xi, the pursuit instead became much less tense.

“Stop!”

Right at this time, the green-clothed young lady who continuously looked at him with fire shooting eyes instead said this through the gaps of her teeth.

“Why?” Lin Xi’s brows jumped, immediately stopping.

“If you don’t want to die, then don’t continue forward.” The green-pupiled young lady continuously took deep breaths, trying to control her own mood, saying through clenched teeth.

Lin Xi asked again, “Why?”

The green-pupiled young lady’s expression became extremely ugly. “Because what lies further ahead is a land of death, a great marsh not even cave barbarians can cross.”

“You know this place?” Lin Xi’s brows furrowed, “Then where should we continue towards?”

The green-pupiled young lady originally already made some resolutions, suppressing the anger she felt inside. However, Lin Xi’s extremely calm words instead made her unable to hold herself back, angrily saying, “If you bind my hands like this, unable to even point forward, how can I show you the way?!”

“Even if you can’t reach out a hand, at least you can say left or right, why do you need to raise your voice like that…” Lin Xi said with a bitter expression.

The green-pupiled young lady felt even more indescribable anger. However, when she heard the concentrated arrow sounds, she still held herself back, saying with a sunken voice, “Go left!”

Lin Xi didn’t hesitate, doing his best to not make any sounds, fleeing towards the left.

A hundred steps later, the arrow sounds became further and further. The arrows that were chasing after him completely lost track of his location.

“Lin Xi!”

Right at this time, a wild wounded beast-like roar filled with hatred instead sounded in this reed field swamp.

“You won’t get away! I will definitely cut you up into a thousand pieces to get revenge for my son!”

When Lin Xi heard this voice, he was immediately a bit stunned.

…

Huang Huoxiao was from East Forest Province’s Tall Pond City. He committed homicide at the age of seventeen while in a fight, banished to the military as punishment. Later on, he established great contributions, becoming the Great Commander of Black Dragon Army at thirty-five years of age, his military rank was minor fourth rank.

Di Choufei was an Immortal Academy student, aptitude extremely high, successful at every undertaking, Dragon Snake Army’s Great Supervisor at the age of twenty-six, major fourth rank. Because of several victories that seemed impossible to win, Dragon Snake Border Army deemed him a Star General.

These two people were naturally both intelligent individuals.

…

Lin Xi was also an intelligent person.

This voice was extremely unfamiliar for him,impossible for him to tell who it was just from the voice alone. However, ‘death by a thousand cuts, get revenge for my son’, these following words immediately told Lin Xi who this person was. He also immediately strung up many things together, understanding many things.

Only one person could have such a deep hatred with him, this person precisely the Three Towns Battalion Commander Xu Ningshen.

Xu Ningshen had dealings with a Great Mang cultivator, fleeing after being uncovered by him.

There were seventy or so archers who lost track of him just now. In Dragon Snake Mountain Range and Great Desolate Swamp, only refugees would use non-standard arrows.

Xu Ningshen fled to Dragon Snake Mountain Range to become a roving bandit.

In this type of great battle, only through the arrangements of some great figures in the military, could roving bandits have a chance of appearing here.

That was why the one who was providing the Purgatory Mountain Sacred Expert with support was definitely a great figure in Dragon Snake Border Army, a Great Mang cultivator spy.

“What kind of place is Purgatory Mountain?”

The green-pupiled young lady suddenly asked this.

Lin Xi didn’t stop, continuing to quickly run in the direction indicated by this green-pupiled young lady, quietly saying, “You don’t even know what kind of place Purgatory Mountain is? …do you know what Great Mang Dynasty is?”

The green-pupiled young lady’s reply was extremely simple. “I don’t.”

However, Lin Xi didn’t express any disdain or anything, explaining without any nonsense. “To Yunqin’s south is Yunqin’s enemy country, Great Mang. Purgatory Mountain is Great Mang’s most formidable cultivation land, they have many powerful cultivators.”

The green-pupiled young lady remained silent for a long time and then said, “Let’s make a transaction.”

Lin Xi gave her a look. “What type of transaction?”

The green-pupiled young lady said, “If you don’t stop me from conducting meditation cultivation, let me recover my soul force, I’ll help you deal with these people.”

“Your intention is to join hands?” Lin Xi nodded seriously, saying, “I won’t refuse, but how can I trust you? Your cultivation level is far above mine.”

The green-pupiled young lady coldly said, “Could it be that you still want to bring me back and report for contributions? You should understand that it is hard for even you to make it out of this alive…”

Lin Xi shook his head, directly cutting her off. “It was you who never gave me any chance to have a conversation from the very start. I already told you that we have our own choices, even if I have the ability to bring you out alive, I might not necessarily bring you there. I know that you might not even know about Green Luan Academy, but I can tell you that the two of us are different from normal Yunqin military officers here. I can tell that you understand this region, that you have a way to smoothly escape, moreover with high probability of success. However, for me, trying to wait for teacher’s rescue here is also a great opportunity. My teacher’s strength isn’t something you haven’t seen before, even in this Great Desolate Swamp, there might not be many who can stop him. My strength isn’t enough, unable to grasp any authority of initiative… so if you want to cooperate with me, you have to give me enough reason to trust you.”

The green-pupiled young lady became angry again, saying, “I am not shameless like you, I won’t go back on my word!”

“This reasoning isn’t enough.” Lin Xi looked at the green-pupiled young lady, his words a bit laughable, but his tone was extremely sincere. “I am not shameless… In reality, teacher and that red-clothed zither master should only be secretly watching over me, it wasn’t like you thought, me feigning kindness, trying to win your trust. As for you, I believe you also need a reason to trust me.”

“I want to establish a relationship where we can mutually trust each other. Even if we are enemies, perhaps there are ways to bring benefits to this place, let less people die meaninglessly.” After a slight pause, Lin Xi looked at this green-pupiled young lady and said, “But right now, there isn’t the slightest reason for us to have any sense of trust. It is because I understand what you said before… you still have to take responsibility for the lives of those cave barbarians. In this type of situation, you might even do some things that go against your beliefs.”

The green-pupiled young lady’s brows furrowed deeply, saying, “Then what do you want to do?”

When he heard this clearly softening tone that was extremely beneficial to himself, Lin Xi instead began to think with a bit of difficulty.

Just what should he do?

…

While Lin Xi was wondering what he should do, in Great Mang. the place this green pupiled young lady didn’t know anything about, Li Ku who was publicly recognized by Great Mang’s cultivators as number one was standing underneath a mountain, considering a matter.

What he had to think about was actually extremely simple.

There was someone on the mountain who wished to meet him. However, when he reached the bottom of this mountain, he began to wonder if walking up to here was already enough, if the other party should get down from the mountain to see him since they were the one asking for him.

The problem was simple, but he was never the smartest type of person. Moreover, he rarely considered issues outside of cultivation, so after waiting here for a long time, the answer to this problem might still not come.

As such, he directly and naturally sat down on a large rock at the foot of the mountain.

The mountain was extremely high, the peak reaching deep into the clouds.

A man, before this mountain, seemed as insignificant as an ant.

However, the moment Li Ku sat down on this rock, a grand sigh sounded from the peak that reached who knew where in the clouds. “Li Ku… I left Purgatory Mountain for you, coming all the way here, yet you actually aren’t even willing to come up the mountain for me?”

The problem Li Ku was struggling to get an answer to suddenly received a reply, his ordinary brows became relaxed, saying, “Since we can talk even like this, then there’s no need to ascend the mountain.”

His appearance was ordinary, voice also ordinary, but when facing that mountain peak rumbling, divine king-like majestic voice, it didn’t seem to be inferior in the slightest.

A faint sigh sounded from the mountain peak, as if it was helpless before Li Ku’s logic.

The clouds on the mountain peak suddenly scattered, a streak of white light descending, drifting towards Li Ku.

It was only an ordinary white jade cup, the inside completely empty.

However, in front of Li Ku, there was a burst of flames that surged from the cup, as if a volcano surged from nothing.

Li Ku only looked at this jade cup.

His body trembled slightly and then this jade cup flew back.

His expression was pale white. The surrounding dozens of meters of earth instead split apart, becoming entirely red and then became scorched black again, as if they were formed from magma.

“I know that your dao is precisely power… I have the power to suppress you.” The grand voice on the mountain peak continued.

Li Ku thought to himself and then shook his head. “No, you cannot.”

The voice on the mountain peak became a bit sluggish. “Why?”

“Even though you are stronger than me right now, you cannot kill me… Ten years later, you should die from old age… that is why if you want to subdue me, ten years later, I will slaughter everyone you care about.” Li Ku calmly said. “Actually, back then, when I stared into that roadside stream, apart from shrimp, there were also some small black fish and a turtle. At first, the shrimp were larger, always bullying the black fish and turtle, but later on, those black fish grew larger, instead eating many of the shrimp… At that time, I was a bit worried that if all of those shrimp were eaten by the black fish, then there would be no chance of them jumping out. However, a year later, the water dried up… those black fish also died, only that turtle growing larger year by year, eating whatever it wished. That is why I understood the reasoning, that power… is not only the current power, it also depends on who lives longer, as well as future power.”

The one on the mountain peak didn’t say anything for a long time. In the end, he released a sigh, descending the mountain and leaving.

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