Li Jialing was stunned again.
Li Yao’s words cast him into deep thought for a long time. In the mirror, he was covered in an obscure mist.
“All you said makes a lot of sense.” Li Jialing’s eyes were suddenly sharper than ever, tearing apart the mist and staring at himself in the mirror. “Who are you exactly? Why do I feel that you seem to know everything? Or rather, you did not show up by accident but had always considered me as your target?”
“Well, that is not exactly the case. My target at the beginning was really not you but Li Linghai, Wuying Lan, or Manjusaka itself,” Li Yao admitted frankly. “However, there is indeed something in you that interests me very much, which is the reason I risked approaching you. As for what exactly it is, we’ll talk about it after you get rid of the control of Li Lingfeng and I destroy Manjusaka. It will be useless even if we talk about it now!”
The young man raised an eyebrow. “Are you really going to destroy Manjusaka?”
“What, any problem with that?” Li Yao asked.
“Not at all.” The young man smiled. “That’s exactly what I want.”
Li Yao smiled, too. “That’s good. On a completely irrelevant note, we have been talking about tricks and schemes all the time, which are truly annoying. Should we change a topic so that we can get to know each other better?”
The young man frowned. “Like what?”
“Like, you can tell me the feelings you had when you grew up or your values and outlook,” Li Yao replied. “Huh. I’m starting to understand how you got your slightly extreme and sordid personality.
“A poor kid who lost the protection of his parents at a young age was thrown into such a perilous place as the Li family where strength was all that mattered. He suffered endless bullying and humiliation, and he was sent to laboratories for the cruelest refinement now and then. But after he was granted massive strength through the procedures, he could not unleash the fury and hatred in his heart at all because of the constraint of a weird barrier.
“He wanted to get rid of the dark fate, but it was such an unparalleled expert like Li Linghai who was manipulating him with a string from up above. He wanted to live a free, unrestrained life, but he was covered in the ubiquitous shadow of the Li family… As time went by, he was gradually reduced to what he is today. How heartbreaking!”
Li Jialing’s lips were trembling as he said in amusement, “What do you mean by ‘reduced’? I’m feeling very good about myself right now. What are you trying to say exactly?”
“All I want to say is that, although fate treated you unfairly, you should not completely give up hope, and you should believe in brightness and justice,” Li Yao said sincerely. “Try to be sunnier wherever you can. It is not a bad idea to help other people in need now and then, too. Also, it is very important that you do not vent the darkness that other people poured on you onto the innocent people…”
“Wait a moment, Brother Yao,” Li Jialing interrupted Li Yao impolitely. “What’s your problem?”
“Huh? Watch your manners, kid!” Li Yao said.
Li Jialing turned off the showerhead. Wiping his wet hair, he said, “If this is not a trap of fancy words and you do not have a problem, are you one of the Cultivators from the tales?”
Li Yao pondered for a moment. If Starlight was about to launch a massive attack like moths charging into a fire, it was impossible for him to turn a blind eye to their inevitable doom. So, his identity as a Cultivator would be exposed sooner or later.
At the very least, he would not be able to conceal it from Li Jialing.
Besides, he did not want to conceal it. It was not like he could just watch the young man who was suspected of being the blood son of his foster father grow into ‘the most perfect Immortal Cultivator’, could he?
“Yes,” Li Yao admitted straightforwardly.
“Huh?” Li Jialing blinked. “You are really a Cultivator. Then how come you do not know anything about Starlight?”
“You can consider me a wild Cultivator,” Li Yao said. “Why are you so surprised? You haven’t seen any Cultivators before?”
“I haven’t,” Li Jialing replied dutifully. “The Cultivators, as foolish and childish creatures, went practically extinct hundreds of years ago across the entire Imperium. Occasionally, a few kittens jump out and make some noise, but they barely cause any trouble.
“To be frank, I’m not surprised to see a few Cultivators, but it is indeed beyond my expectation that the Cultivators have an expert like Brother Yao among them. How could you have advanced to such a level with your juvenile and idiotic beliefs?”
“It seems that you have some misunderstandings about Cultivators.” Li Yao smiled, trying to turn the waves that he released into a gentle spring breeze. “That’s fine. There will be a lot of time in the future for me to discuss the path of the Cultivators with you. I believe that you will certainly perceive a lot of things, for example, ‘the greatest service is the service for the people and the country’, ‘with great power comes great responsibility’, and so on. Trust me. You will certainly be enlightened and reborn!”
“…May I refuse it?”
“Of course you can. I am a very reasonable man. As long as you can stop me from sending waves of information to your brain incessantly, you can absolutely refuse it. Come on. Try to resist my overwhelming waves!”
“…”
“However,” Li Yao said, “first things first. Let’s go to Li Lingfeng and Wuying Lan’s control center now and see what those two bad guys are up to exactly!”
Li Jialing took a deep breath in relief and put on a sloppy robe. Rubbing his belly, he said, “Okay. But before that—”
“What?” Li Yao asked.
Li Jialing smiled. “I’m hungry.”
…
When Li Jialing stepped into the dining room specially prepared for the honorable guests who had come to Manjusaka for trials and visits, he happened to run into a batch of Immortal Cultivators who had just returned from the ‘paradise of sins’ after playing or taking their trials.
Those people still carried the stench of dust and blood of the Land of Sins, not entirely freed from the extreme stimulations in the battlefield slaughters. They were swaggering arrogantly and talking loudly. The entire lobby was filled with their laughter.
“Eight. I took down eight in a row. It feels good!”
“You didn’t see it, but the sinners were actually quite clever. They were like rats hiding in a gutter. It was not an easy task to catch their tails. I had to burn all of them in the end. Hahaha!”
“Unsatisfying. I haven’t enjoyed myself enough yet before I was summoned!”
“Isn’t it supposed to better prepare us for the upcoming epic quest, Dying Light? You will definitely enjoy plenty then!”
Thrilled, the many Immortal Cultivators raised their cups and toasted themselves.
There were also a lot of Li Jialing’s peers in the room, who were unqualified to take part in the real trials in the Land of Sins and could only stay in Manjusaka for simulation training. They could only visit and experience the Land of Sins in a couple of days after the epic quest was over.
At this moment, they surrounded the adult Immortal Cultivators and listened to their brothers and sisters talking about the stories of slaughter full of envy.
Like a moving block of ice, Li Jialing passed everyone and picked the simplest foods from the buffet window. Then, he sat in a corner and began to savor them.
Drinking the soup slowly, he shifted his big eyes and stared at the heated crowd.
Such direct eye contact meant provocation in many places.
“You are not hungry; you are just in a mood for trouble, aren’t you?” Li Yao said.
Li Jialing tore the bread into shreds and tossed it into his mouth casually. “How did you know?”
“Of course I know. A useless young man who has always been bullied by his companions suddenly gains unparalleled strength. Then, he ‘accidentally’ runs into the companions who used to despise him. Even an idiot knows what will happen next!” Li Yao sighed. “Those people are unlucky enough to be here.”
Li Jialing smiled and intentionally made noises as he drank the soup.
As he expected, somebody soon noticed him sitting in a corner by himself.
“Hey, boy!”
A few tall and brawny young men of the Li family, just as Li Jialing wanted them to, swaggered up to him with hideous grins.
The young man in the lead was 1.5 times the height of Li Jialing, and he had a neck thicker than Li Jialing’s waist. His short, spiky hair was as hard as needles. His energy and agitation that had nowhere to be vented seemed to be emanating from his every pore, making his whole body shine in grease.
The young man’s name was Li Yingxiong. He was one of the guys who ranked top on the ‘ledger’ in Li Jialing’s heart.
“Why haven’t we seen you in the past couple of days? We were doing the simulation training of the highest level. Where were you?” Li Yingxiong knocked Li Jialing’s desk so hard that his soup was splashing. “You did not hide in fear because you were intimidated by our declaration that day and thought that we were really going to kill you in the simulation training, did you?
“Hahaha. It was just a joke. In any case, there are so many members of other families here. Even if we wanted to kill you, we wouldn’t do it until we return to the Li family. Why would we do it here? It will only make the Li family a joke for everybody else.
“However—”
Li Yingxiong suddenly put on a grave face. He roared with additional fury, “The brothers of our family have just returned from the trials in the Land of Sins. Everybody is greeting them. How dare you drink your soup slowly here? Did you not see their arrival because your eyes are blinded by your sh*t, or have you completely forgotten the rules?
“Hehe. Even if your eyes are blinded, have your ears been blocked, too? I’m talking to you! Do you hear me or not?”
Holding the bowl with both legs, Li Jialing took another sip of the soup comfortably. Savoring it for a moment, he replied slowly without raising his head, “The soup is delicious. You are very lucky.”
Li Yingxiong was slightly dazed. Looking at the members of his family who used to bully Li Jialing a lot, he frowned and asked, “What are you talking about?”
“I’m saying…”
Unhurriedly, Li Jialing watched the bottom of the soul bowl, which had been cleared, and smiled. “You are very lucky that the soup here is delicious. So, if you shut your mouth and get lost right now, chances are that I will choose to have another bowl of soup instead if knocking out all your teeth.”
