Winds Rise Beyond the Seas; Unexpected Troubles

Chapter 462: Winds Rise Beyond the Seas; Unexpected Troubles

“Hmph! Do you think you have any say in whether you go or not? If you refuse, this young master will exterminate you right now. Do you truly believe that just because the two old geezers of the Star Palace spoke earlier, my Extreme Yin Island wouldn’t dare to make a move on you?” Wu Chou’s small eyes glinted with murderous intent.

For some reason, although Wu Chou was only playing the role of the villain to pressure Han Li as per Extreme Yin Patriarch’s earlier instructions, he genuinely found Han Li grating.

This aversion was almost innate, utterly without reason.

Han Li, naturally, held no favorable impression of Wu Chou either. Hearing this, he merely gave him a cold glance before ignoring him entirely and addressing Extreme Yin Patriarch directly:

“Although I do not know what great use Senior has for this junior’s spirit beast, I am well aware that if the owner of a spirit beast dies, a bonded beast cannot be tamed by another. Furthermore, I can command the Blood Jade Spider to self-destruct at a moment of crisis. I trust Senior would not wish to see that happen.”

A trace of threat laced his words, causing the middle-aged man’s expression to flicker momentarily with surprise.

Han Li understood perfectly that Wu Chou was merely a fox borrowing the tiger’s might. The true decision-maker here was Extreme Yin Patriarch. Thus, he had no intention of wasting further words on Wu Chou.

This举动, however, infuriated Wu Chou. A flash of dark malevolence crossed his face, and he opened his mouth to hurl some unpleasant remark, but Extreme Yin Patriarch raised a hand, stopping him.

“Good. I appreciate a junior with backbone. Since this Patriarch intends to borrow your Blood Jade Spider, I naturally won’t have you make this trip for nothing. Once we reach the inner hall, I will…”

Extreme Yin Patriarch had just begun speaking, about to promise some condition, when his expression suddenly darkened, and his words ceased abruptly.

He slowly turned his head, fixing his gaze on a certain direction with a glare of vicious intensity.

“Who is eavesdropping there? Get out here this instant, you coward!” Extreme Yin Patriarch’s voice had turned sharp and shrill, saturated with killing intent, clearly enraged.

Han Li’s heart leaped. His first instinct was that the Profound Bone Saint had been discovered. His mind raced, rapidly calculating how he should handle the situation if that were the case.

But then an aged voice rang out, and Han Li was taken aback.

“Brother Wu, why such anger? Qing here merely stumbled upon you by chance. Surely you wouldn’t actually want to fight, would you?” A flash of azure light shimmered, and in the empty air several dozen zhang away, an old man dressed in a scholar’s robe appeared out of nowhere, gazing at Extreme Yin Patriarch and the others with a genial smile.

It was the “Qingyi Hermit” who seemed somewhat acquainted with Extreme Yin Patriarch!

“Daoist Qing, you were following me!” Extreme Yin Patriarch’s murderous intent faltered upon seeing him, his expression turning extremely unpleasant as he questioned.

“Following you? How could that be? Qing was merely wandering around, enjoying the scenery. From afar, I saw Brother Wu conversing with this young friend, so I flew over to say hello. I never expected it would make you so displeased. Tsk! Had I known, I would never have been so rash.” The old scholar chuckled dryly, explaining with an air of nonchalance.

Then, paying no heed to Extreme Yin Patriarch, whose complexion had turned pale upon hearing this explanation, he turned his gaze to the Blood Jade Spider below, letting out a series of impressed clicking sounds.

“So this is a Blood Jade Spider. Truly a rare spirit beast. From what the old cultivators of past generations analyzed, this beast seems to be one of the best spirit beasts for retrieving the Void Heaven Tripod, with a far higher success rate than your Fire Pythons or Wan Tianming’s Golden Silk Silkworms,” Qingyi Hermit remarked, shaking his head.

Wandering around? Enjoying the scenery? Then why were you concealing yourself? Hearing such a thick-faced excuse, Extreme Yin Patriarch was furious. Turning to see the old man staring down at the Blood Jade Spider and divulging the secret he had been trying to hide, his expression turned even more somber.

“This must be that junior Brother Wu has always been so concerned about, right? I, too, enjoy promoting talented young fellows. What do you say? Are you interested in becoming my disciple? I have never taken on a student before.” The old scholar withdrew his gaze from the Blood Jade Spider, let it linger on Han Li for a few moments, and, with a flicker in his eyes, said something that turned Extreme Yin’s face ashen and left Han Li stunned.

“Take me as a disciple?” Han Li blinked, unsure whether to feel happy or bitter.

“Daoist Qing, what is the meaning of this?” Extreme Yin’s face was full of cold fury. Strands of black qi began to seep from his body as he stared at the old man, enunciating each word.

“Hehe! I’m just joking. Brother Wu, why so tense? If I truly took this young brother as my disciple, I’m afraid you would fight me to the death. But if Man Brutal Beard were to learn of a Blood Jade Spider here… I wonder if he would have the same thought?” The old man chuckled lightly, a strange glint flashing in his eyes as he spoke in an offhand manner.

Qingyi Hermit’s words caused Extreme Yin Patriarch’s expression to relax slightly. But the moment that name—Man Brutal Beard—was mentioned, a great headache assailed him.

According to Extreme Yin’s original plan, he intended to keep the Blood Jade Spider a secret, incite the others to drive the righteous cultivators out of the inner hall first, or better yet, let both sides suffer a mutual defeat. He would then have his Fire Python feign an inability to retrieve the treasure for the others to see, while secretly bringing Han Li along to use the Blood Jade Spider to extract the treasure. That way, he could claim the Void Heaven Tripod all for himself.

As for any promises of sharing a portion with others, they had long been cast to the back of his mind, with no intention of honoring them.

But he had never imagined that his meticulously laid plan would be ruined by this old fox standing before him.

Killing him to silence him was not something he was confident about. Moreover, even if he were, he would not act so rashly.

He still had righteous cultivators like Wan Tianming to deal with, and he could not afford to weaken his own side’s strength too much.

Now, the mention of Man Brutal Beard from the old man made the muscles on Extreme Yin Patriarch’s face twitch.

He had experienced the terror of Man Brutal Beard’s Heaven-Devouring Demonic Art firsthand back in the day.

Even though his own “Heavenly Capital Corpse Flame” had achieved a measure of success, he still had little confidence in contending with that man. If that fellow actually used a similar excuse to take the young man before him as his disciple and then insisted on taking the lion’s share during the treasure retrieval, he truly would have no recourse. Unless…

Extreme Yin Patriarch was, after all, a practical man. Seeing that it was impossible to keep the Blood Jade Spider a secret, he immediately began calculating how to avoid being taken advantage of during the treasure retrieval.

A thought struck him, and he turned to look at the old scholar with a strange expression, vaguely guessing the other’s intention in saying this.

Seeing Extreme Yin Patriarch’s expression, the scholar smiled, then moved his lips in a sound transmission.

Extreme Yin Patriarch’s expression shifted between shades of uncertainty.

“So, what do you think of this proposal?” The old man’s transmission was brief, and he quickly returned to speaking aloud.

“Fine. I agree.” Extreme Yin Patriarch did not hesitate for long, giving his consent with a dark face.

“Good, that’s settled. Now, who among the two of us do you think is more suitable to take this person as a disciple?” The old man looked satisfied, then glanced at Han Li and spoke slowly.

“Let him choose for himself whom he wishes to call master. That would be fairer.” After pondering for a moment, Extreme Yin Patriarch said this.

The old man was taken aback by this, a flicker of surprise passing over his face. After a moment’s consideration, he nodded in agreement.

Seeing this, a rare hint of a smile appeared on Extreme Yin Patriarch’s face. He then turned to Han Li on the ground and spoke flatly:

“You must have already heard our conversation. Your Blood Jade Spider is a vital element for our treasure retrieval this time. There is no way we will give it up.”

“As for your belief that, because you are the spirit beast’s master, I wouldn’t dare kill you—that is a grave mistake. You should know that this Patriarch knows a convenient method for refining a Corpse Puppet. At worst, I could simply kill the Blood Jade Spider and refine its corpse into an undead beast. Of course, doing so would greatly reduce the spider’s power. Unless absolutely necessary, I would not resort to such a measure. If you are afraid we will harm you after the deed is done, both of us are willing to take you as a disciple. That would make us all one family. If we truly obtain the treasure, you will be given a share as well. You strike me as an intelligent person. You should know how to choose.”

Extreme Yin Patriarch delivered a long mix of half-threat, half-bribe with an impassive expression. Han Li, who had been somewhat unsettled since the scholar’s appearance, finally showed a flicker of interest, as if he were tempted.

But in truth, Han Li was inwardly crying out in bitterness.

Ever since this azure-robed old man had appeared, he knew the situation had become even more dire.

He had originally harbored a faint hope that these two old monsters would come into conflict with each other, allowing him to slip away amidst the chaos. But he hadn’t expected the pair to be so cunning and calculating, reaching some kind of agreement after just a few brief words.

Even if the Profound Bone Saint were to jump out and help now, he figured it would be utterly useless.

And his threat to use the Blood Jade Spider as leverage seemed to have lost its effectiveness. Even if he were to make the spider self-destruct, he would likely be stopped by these two in time. As long as there was even a sliver of a chance to survive, he would not provoke an Nascent Soul cultivator and choose a path of certain death.

Refusing… it genuinely seemed impossible.