"…Deal?" Long Chen was still fuming at Wei Wuyin's admonishing and threat towards Na Xinyi, suppressing his desire to unsheathe his sword and deal a lethal strike at Wei Wuyin when those words left his lips, causing him to become confused. He slightly sneered, "And why would I ever make a deal with you?"
Wei Wuyin didn't react to Long Chen's ill-attitude, instead he continued to smile with a joyous excitement within his eyes. "Don't worry, this is a deal you won't be able to say no to. Because if you don't accept it, then while Qing Qiumu will not die today, she'll still be crippled, and Lin Ziyan, the woman who you owe too much to, and was a sacrifice to your enmity, she'll never recover."
"What?!" Long Chen grew agitated hearing this. How could he not after hearing that Qing Qiumu will still be crippled and Lin Ziyan would be unable to recover.
"Lin Ziyan, oh Lin Ziyan." Wei Wuyin folded his arms and tilted his head slightly. "Did you know, I was 'this' close to marrying her all those years ago. To think she would end up like this, tch tch. Her life might've been better if she…" He shook his head with a wisp of pity in his eyes, but the implication was clear.
"Shut up! She would never marry you!" Long Chen's breathing became erratic as his Slaughter and Sword Intent flared within his eyes, unleashing a faint spiritual pressure.
Wei Wuyin remained entirely unbothered, his eyes similarly flickering with Saber Intent. He was completely unaffected by this level of spiritual suppression, and shrugged it off as he calmly stated: "She once came to the Scarlet Solaris Sect and said that anyone who could reach a certain level of the Haven Heart Qi Method would earn her hand in marriage. As you can clearly see…"
Wei Wuyin lifted a finger, causing Saber and Elemental Qi to flow upwards and become two wisps that intermingled and swirled around each other above his finger. It was quite a beautiful and elegant display of qi control.
Long Chen gritted his teeth.
"Oh? It seems you already knew about her promise. She must've given it out often. Then, you should know that I cultivated it fully when I was twenty-six. You would've been, what? Twenty-one at the time, right?" Wei Wuyin was somewhat shocked that Long Chen knew, but it didn't halt his verbal intentions. Thinking about it, was this one of the reasons he went to such lengths to 'rescue' her from marriage?
Long Chen froze. Twenty-six? He had cultivated the method after obtaining the spirit within the ring and given a safer alternative for the incomplete technique, but he cultivated it in his mid-twenties. Considering he was five years younger…
Wei Wuyin saw it all in his expression, and he clapped with amazement. "I wonder…with a Seer beside her, was she waiting for her fated one? I wonder if she was mistaken. Do you?"
"Seer?" It wasn't just Long Chen, but the other four women revealed confused and uncertain expressions. They didn't know Lin Ziyan had a Seer beside her, or that it was Ming Shufeng!
Wei Wuyin didn't know this either.
Interesting.
"Anyways, the deal. Are you interested?" Wei Wuyin deliberately and abruptly changed the topic. While he wanted to rile up Long Chen's emotions to influence the situation, he had obviously completed that. His current state was one filled with rage and pain, unwillingness and a desire to prove. People like this were quite easy to manipulate.
Long Chen wasn't an idiot either, and he knew the severity of the damage Lin Ziyan suffered. Not only was she crippled, but her primal yin essence was extracted, and her sea of consciousness was heavily damaged. This could be considered as thoroughly ruined as a cultivator, as a human, and as a female.
He clenched his teeth, balled his fist, and glared. "What can you do?"
Wei Wuyin's smile never left his face, "A lot of things. Firstly, I can completely brush aside this matter; Qing Qiumu, Long Tingyu, and Grand Elder Jar Vin will be acquitted of all charges. You can protect your woman, adopted sister, and her family. Secondly, I'll clarify to the world that Na Xinyi isn't my fiancee or wife, but she's an acquaintance who I owe a favor to. I'll tell them that I told her to say this if she found herself in danger, but no longer owe her after today.."
"How would the second help me?" While the first was what he wanted, the second felt like it didn't really benefit him, but absolved Wei Wuyin of his responsibility of taking care of Na Xinyi.
Wei Wuyin knew Long Chen would think this and replied without hesitation, "If I don't make a statement, then countless people will think that you're a little 'too' close to Na Xinyi, and they might try to…misguidedly help me and, well, kill you. And this might even include the vast majority of the sect. No, my mistake. The vast majority of the starfield."
His status was exceptional. Everyone would seek ways to better their relations with him, and if that meant killing a weak Qi Condensation cultivator to do so, there would be five million elites willing to take that offer.
"…" Everyone. However, they all understood the truth in these words and the implication. Even Long Chen didn't want raving people seeking to eliminate a love rival and obtain a place by Wei Wuyin's side going after his life.
"Good, you understand. Lastly, I'll have the sect provide Lin Ziyan with sufficient care and resources to recover. She'll be admitted on my order, so she'll definitely be given the best doctors, treatment, and resources. This way, she might have a chance to recover. Or, at least, her condition can be stabilized until you possess enough strength and ability to treat her or find a way to help her."
While Wei Wuyin could easily give her various seventh-grade and eighth-grade products that could, not only heal all her afflictions, but completely enhance her innate talent at the same time, he didn't feel like investing that much. However, his words caused Long Chen's eyes to sparkle intensely.
It seemed he knew that the sect had facilities that could help with her condition. In fact, it was likely that he had not only learned about it, but tried to get her admitted but failed due to various factors like lack of wealth, rank, status, and strength.
"So, what do you think? You're interested in saving the woman you love?"
"…" Long Chen truly couldn't find the heart to refuse, but he had a faint trace of unwillingness etched into his heart, an unwilling to concede anything to Wei Wuyin. If it was anyone else, perhaps he would accept, but Wei Wuyin was someone he wanted to not just kill, but eclipse.
°You may be a Heavenly King now, but in the future, my status, power, and influence will exceed yours by a thousand times!° This was his thought whenever Wei Wuyin's name would float around. After all, the Dao of Alchemy had its limitations, and only cultivation could ensure one a true path to the peak beneath the heavens!
If Wei Wuyin heard his thoughts, no, if any true expert that understood the world heard this, they would be laughing their asses off on the floor for three days and three nights, and those in their graves would revive and laugh as corpses.
Such juvenile thinking was truly a frog in a well, and this becomes more and more apparent in the Astral Core Realm! After all, the number one mantra of the cultivation world was: Cultivation is difficult. While that was three simple words, it embodied so much.
However, Wei Wuyin didn't care and he needed to hammer the final nail into the coffin.
"Tch, here I thought you were willing to do anything for the people you love. They can give up everything for you, but you aren't willing to do anything for them, even if its to save them. Guess you're not the man they think you are." Was all that needed to be said, especially in front of Lian Yu, Wu Baozhai, and Na Xinyi—especially Na Xinyi.
Long Chen was like a stick of dynamite that went off. He withdrew his sword, its tip flickered with a sword qi, and he seemed ready to fight to the death if Wei Wuyin said another word that attacked his character.
"What do you want?!" Long Chen demanded with a wintry tone.
There it is.
Wei Wuyin calmly and smilingly answered: "Just one thing. A little thing, really."
"What little thing?" A wisp of confusion flashed in Long Chen's eyes.
"Your ring."
