Chapter 1320: The Overlord’s Scheme
People were looking silly due to this unbelievable spectacle. An overlord of a region kneeled so easily. Others would rather have their legs cut off before kneeling, but not the overlord.
Everyone wanted to see how Li Qiye would deal with this.
“Really now?” Li Qiye only smiled in response.
“I know Brother Li won’t trust me.” The overlord sincerely responded: “People say that a man has gold under his knees. Even though I didn’t give the order, it is true that I’m still at fault, so I am kneeling to apologize. However, this might not appease you completely, so I’ll sever one hand to show my sincerity.”
“Whoos.h.!.+” The overlord instantly tore off his left arm. Blood sprayed everywhere as the overlord placed his severed hand on the table.
The overlord didn’t even bat an eye as he earnestly asked: “Has your anger subsided, Brother Li?”
This actually shocked the crowd; they stared at the overlord in astonishment.
Even though cultivators could recreate their bodies when they reached a particular cultivation, the process was costly and required the use of longevity blood. Thus, the stronger a cultivator, the more they cherished their own body.
What’s more was that for a master, losing one’s arm was extremely humiliating. If an enemy were to cut off their arm, it would be an irreconcilable feud.
A few started to waver before this submissive display. Could it be that the whole thing had nothing to do with the overlord and the culprit was just his attendant who wanted the bounty?
Those who had a better understanding of him snorted instead. They knew just how devious the overlord was, so it wasn’t so simple to deceive them.
Li Qiye smiled after seeing the severed arm: “So you really don’t know?”
The overlord swore: “If I knew about it, it would have never happened. I admire you like the endless sea, so how could I do such a heartless thing? If I told half a lie, then let the heavens send down its thunder.”
Li Qiye kept on smiling after hearing the vow. Ruyan’s expression was hidden behind her veil so no one could see it. However, a happy spark flashed in her eyes.
The overlord raised his voice: “If Brother Li still doesn’t believe me and think that I am the mastermind behind all of this, then just have my head to get rid of your anger and enmity.”
“If Brother Li could discard this hatred, then my death would be worth it.” Having said that, he stretched out his neck so that Li Qiye could wring it off.
Even more people were persuaded by this display and began to believe his words. The skeptical crowd simply chuckled without commenting.
Eventually, Li Qiye happily said: “Since you have gone this far, I will believe that this wasn’t carried out by you. Forget about it.”
The overlord hastily stated: “Brother Li, you are a magnanimous and benevolent man for which I am grateful to the point of tears. No matter what, this was my fault for not properly disciplining my underlings. I’ll bow my head again as an apology.”
After that, he got down to the ground again and bowed with his head, hitting the ground three times with force.
At this point, some believed him and felt that both his words and actions were full of sincerity.
“Such flexibility and ruthlessness, this kind of person will always be successful.” Among the guests, an older cultivator quietly voiced his praise with a sigh.
A few saw that Li Qiye had accepted the explanation and whispered: “Li Qiye might be fierce, but he is still too inexperienced. Sooner or later, he’ll suffer because of this.”
After everything was settled, the overlord let the servants bring up his finest wine and poured a cup: “Spilling blood during this celebration must have ruined your vibe, Brother Li. I will drink three cups to apologize.”
Having said that, he drank three cups in quick succession.
After the gesture, he poured some for Li Qiye and Liu Ruyan before happily smiling: “A toast for Brother Li and Schoolmaster Liu as well as the wise sages of this world. I wish that you will be able to reach the peak and obtain the Heaven’s Will in the future!”
Li Qiye smiled and drank without commenting. Liu Ruyan also did the same. The overlord filled their cups once more for another toast: “The entire banquet glows with your presence. Please have another cup, everyone.”
The slightly unwilling guests raised their cups as well.
After several rounds from the overlord, Ruyan said: “My tolerance isn’t great, I’ll be leaving first.”
But the moment she got up, she tumbled and fell back in her chair while shouting: “My, my blood energy has been blocked!”
“What’s wrong?” Li Qiye busily came over to help her up, but the same thing happened when he tried to stand up.
He blurted: “There’s poison in the wine!”
Many guests were shocked after seeing the two and quickly channeled their blood energies. However, they found it to be un.o.bstructed; they were relieved to find that their bodies were perfectly fine.
“It was you!” Li Qiye slumped in his chair and pointed at the overlord while being both frightened and angry.
“Li, even if you are fierce, you will still have to drink my feet-was.h.i.+ng water soon. So what if you are strong? Your boat has capsized.” The overlord smugly laughed.
“Impossible, the wine was clearly fine, how were we poisoned!” Liu Ruyan was astounded.
The overlord was very pleased with himself and laughed: “Yes, the wine was fine. If I poisoned the wine, it would have been hard to hide it from you, so I only added a bit of a sinister dragon’s saliva. It will only make the wine taste even more delicious…”
“... This saliva isn’t poisonous at all, but the two of you are sitting on a chair made out of shadow wood. When the fragrance of this wood is mixed with a sinister dragon’s saliva, it will turn into a dangerous poison, devoiding cultivators of their blood energy and power. I’m sure you didn’t expect this method at all.” The overlord grew complacent as he guffawed.
“Saliva of a sinister dragon and shadow wood!” People were surprised to hear this.
A sinister dragon was a very powerful sea creature in Heaven Spirit. Both its saliva and the shadow wood were very precious items. It must have cost a sky-high price for him to obtain both.
“You! Everything you said earlier was lies? You were the culprit?!” Li Qiye kept on pointing at the overlord in amazement.
“Hahahaha, yes, I’m the mastermind behind everything.” The overlord loudly laughed: “That attendant was only a scapegoat! Just a bit of goading from me and someone as arrogant as you would come, so I prepared the bait…”
“... Geniuses like you think you’re superior and smarter than others. I just needed to kneel and play my part. This might be humiliating for others, but I never valued that kind of reputation. The method doesn’t matter as long as I can achieve my purpose! I simply wanted to make you two drop your guard. I didn’t expect for it to work so quickly, capturing the both of you right now will save me a lot of effort!” He felt quite proud of his plan.
Ruyan shouted in response: “You dare to do this in front of everyone?”
This was met with a manic laughter from the overlord: “So what? This is only dealing with a personal vendetta. Many cultivators cherish their reputation, but I don’t care what others call me. A scoundrel? A madman? So be it. Even if the world knows that I have used a despicable method to kill the two of you, so what? They can keep on calling me shameless…”
“... Plus, if everyone knows that I am the one to torture Li Qiye to death, it would be an even greater accomplishment. Yes, watch me kill my prey, it will only make the process even more satisfying.” His eyes shot out an excited glint.