“If you are from Starlight, you people are in grave danger right now,” Li Jialing said confidently. “Are you preparing to attack Manjusaka? It’s a trap. The army of the Imperium led by Li Lingfeng has set up a dragnet waiting for you to come! Nobody can save you now. Perhaps I’m the only one who can help you find something that will enable you to escape. So, it is absolutely possible for us to make a deal!”
“Is that so?” Li Yao smiled casually. “But has it ever occurred to you why we should continue our plan like moths darting to a flame now that you have told me such important intelligence? I can totally escape right now and leave you here alone.”
“Huh?” Li Jialing was a teenager after all. Although he had been receiving the strengthening and refinement of the Li family and Manjusaka, which nurtured his fleshly body and his soul with infinite resources, and he had spent every second of his life considering the ways of escape, he was certainly no match for a cunning man like Vulture Li Yao.
After hearing what Li Yao said, his eyes bulged out, and he was almost astounded.
“Please. Don’t show that shocked idiotic look in case somebody notices,” Li Yao said in a hurry. “It was just a joke. Don’t be so nervous!”
The young man coughed lightly and covered his embarrassment. Growing even more curious about the guy who had popped out of nowhere, he asked, “Who—Who are you exactly? Are you really a Cultivator from Starlight, or are you from some other force? What is your purpose exactly?”
“It is not important. What matters is that I’m quite interested in the deal that you talked about,” Li Yao said with a smile. “Tell me about it. What bargaining chips do you have for the deal, and what do you want to trade them for?”
After a brief silence, Li Jialing replied, “It depends on what you want exactly. I can only say that I have ways to act freely in Manjusaka and even win Li Lingfeng’s trust—at least ostensibly.
“The owner of Manjusaka is the Heavenly Eye Group, which is managed by Wuying Lan. But the Heavenly Eye Group is backed by the Li family, or to be more exact, Li Lingfeng himself. In other words, Li Lingfeng is the one with the highest rank in Manjusaka right now. Even Wuying Lan, the owner of this place, must listen to his commands. The two of them seem to be conspiring in secret.”
“Li Lingfeng and Wuying Lan?” Li Yao thought for a moment. “You mean the two experts who observed your test from the next door just now? Since you are only their test subject, why are you sure that you can win their trust?”
“Yes. That’s them.” After hesitating for a moment, Li Jialing said, “It is too complicated for me to explain quickly. All you need to know is that I am not simply a test subject to them. Li Lingfeng is also half a teacher and half a custodian to me.”
Li Yao slightly frowned.
Li Lingfeng was Li Linghai’s brother, and Li Linghai had an unknown relationship with Li Yao’s foster father. Considering the similarities between Li Jialing and his foster father, the two of them were probably connected by blood. Then, Li Lingfeng was the young man’s half teacher and half custodian, but he had been performing such cruel tests and refinements on him…
Where should Li Yao start to crack such a complicated mystery?
After thinking carefully for a moment, Li Yao proposed his requests to the young man.
“I need to know the general structure of Manjusaka, especially the locations of the mainframe crystal processor and the enemy supply base that are related to the beehive prison.
“Also, if you really can talk to Li Lingfeng and Wuying Lan, I would like to find out what they are doing exactly.
“Right now. How much do you know about Starlight? Are they an influential organization in the Imperium?”
“So, you are truly not from Starlight…” Li Jialing was not bothered by the new finding for too long. “It is not exactly an influential one. Starlight and Cultivators are both obsolete notions. Although they have occasionally been heard of in the past hundreds of years, they have never caused much trouble.”
“That’s right,” Li Yao said. “I’m told that the Imperium has secured glorious triumphs in the frontline. The Covenant Alliance suffered a crushing defeat and left a lot of territory that is waiting to be carved up. At such a critical moment, Li Lingfeng, as one of the most important people of a Kurfürst family, has come here to deal with a bunch of unworthy Cultivators instead going to the frontline trying to earn more trophies? I feel that there is a scheme behind all this. I want to find out his real goal!”
After pondering for a moment, Li Jialing said, “I should be able to move about in Manjusaka and even get Li Lingfeng to tell me something. But as for exactly what he will say, it will be beyond my control. I can’t ask him directly as it will be too obvious!”
“Alright. That’s good enough. Then, tell me, what do you want?”
“Freedom.” Ravenousness that looked like rolling magma flowed out of the young man’s eyes again, like the roar of a man who was deeply mired in a swamp before he was completely swallowed by the darkness. “I want to get out of the control of Li Lingfeng and the Li family. I want to escape from the fate of being controlled. I want to go to a place where nobody commands me or knows who I am to live a life of freedom!”
The brilliance inside the young man’s eyes made Li Yao’s soul bump quickly. He could not help but feel that he saw himself from a long, long time ago.
“Why?” Li Yao was more and more curious about the young man’s past. “Li Lingfeng is one of the most powerful people in the Imperium. If he is half your teacher and half your custodian, your days in the Li family shouldn’t be too rough, right?
“A world where the strong prey on the weak is cruel, but you are not weak at all. You are an out-and-out expert and a perfect slaughtering machine!
“If my senses were correct, the green-haired gorilla just now was no match for you after all. It would have taken you only one second to dig out his guts, wouldn’t it?
“Judging from the forms of your bones and your teeth, you can’t be too old and are no more than twenty years old. I can’t imagine how much effort Li Lingfeng has dedicated to you to make you boast such massive strength before the age of twenty. Even if you are really a test subject, you must be one of the ‘ultimate test subjects’ that he has the highest hope for.
“Therefore, if you are willing to release your strength, it should be easy for you to win a place in the Li family. You may even grow into one of the key personnel of your family, and it is not entirely impossible for you to be as influential and powerful as Li Lingfeng in the future.
“Then, why did you not fight back when you were attacked by the green-haired gorilla, and why do you want to get rid of such a fate?
“Do you not believe in the Immortal Cultivators’ ideology?
“Right. You speculated that I was a Cultivator from Starlight just now, but you showed no animosity and derision at all and wanted to cooperate with me without any hesitation. Are you a Cultivator?”
Mockery flashed in Li Jialing’s eyes as he remarked, “I don’t know exactly what I am, but if I must choose sides between Cultivators and Immortal Cultivators, of course I am a proud Immortal Cultivator!”
“Only the fittest should survive, and the weak should be swallowed by the strong. This is the natural law of the universe. What’s wrong about that?
“As for Cultivators? Such naïve, hypocritic, worthless, and idiotic things are only fit for novels and games. How can they compete with the Immortal Cultivators in reality?”
“…Young man, you are very straightforward,” Li Yao said.
“However,” Li Jialing said, “even if I am an Immortal Cultivator, and you are a Cultivator from Starlight, it does not mean that we cannot cooperate for now. I am just an insignificant nobody. Even if I run loose, it will not jeopardize your plan or your ideals, will it?
“All in all, I couldn’t care less about ideals, beliefs, or morals. I only want freedom. Absolute freedom!
“I do not want to be a perfect slaughtering machine and fight for the Li family, no matter how many gains the Li family has to offer me!
“I only want to live a free, unstrained life where nobody tells me what to do. If I must fight, I will only fight for myself. Just like that!”
From the close distance, Li Yao could sense the young man’s feeble but sharp fighting will, as if a frozen ocean was unfreezing with the cracking sounds of the ice.
Taking a deep breath, Li Yao said, “It seems that you have prepared for ‘freedom’ for many years.”
“Yes.” A hint of frustration and desperation flowed out of Li Jialing’s eyes again, only to be replaced by stubbornness quickly. A fraction of a second later, they were covered by icy mists, resembling the tranquility before the arrival of a storm again. “For a long time now, I’ve been thinking about how I can escape the Li family and Li Lingfeng. But Li Lingfeng’s strength is something that I absolutely cannot resist.
“Since I could not find an opportunity, I could only pretend to be frustrated and at anybody’s mercy while hiding my true intentions. There was no need for me to reveal who I was.
“Today may be the only opportunity that I have. So, no matter who you are exactly—not just a Cultivator from Starlight, it wouldn’t matter even if you are from the Covenant Alliance or one of the extraterrestrial devils—I only want freedom!
“I’m done. If you’ve truly been sent by Li Lingfeng to test me, I’ll admit my failure now that I have taken the gamble. Come on. Give me a quick death!”
The young man closed his eyes, as if he were ready to be executed.
Li Yao did not know how he should view the young man who was likely connected to his foster father by blood.
Although he knew that Li Jialing, born and raised in one of the four Kurfürst families of the Imperium of True Human Beings, could not have been a docile lamb, the young man’s patience that was well beyond his age and the aggression behind the patience were still somewhat shocking for him.
It was a man who was willing to do anything to achieve his goal and hid his claws and tusks just in order to soar into the sky for a lawless life one day!
Li Yao saw the shadows of Yan Xibei, Xiao Xuance, Bai Xinghe, Jin Tuyi, Elder Nether Spring, Lu Zui, and Lu Qingchen deep inside Li Jialing’s eyes.
