Volume 5
309 Who is the Debtor
Was everything fated from the very beginning, except that I wasn"t aware of it all?
"There"s no need to reminisce the past. What do you want?" Li Qing asked as she looked at Feng Zhu.
"How many monstrosities disrupting the Split Zone have been created in Huai Du"s demon cave? I"m sure you know the answer even if I don"t say it. Though it isn"t caused by her, it"s her const.i.tution that allows her to enter that demon cave. I have to refine her."
Oh, he has finally revealed his goal. After all that talk, he just wants to turn me into a weapon.
Si Luo said suddenly, "So are you going to treat her like how you treated me in the past? You promised to give me your Gate of Heaven, but now that I see it, history is repeating itself in the Gate of Heaven right now. You"ve simply s.h.i.+fted your target from me to somebody else."
Si Luo had been refined by Feng Zhu, just like Nie Zun?
"What does that mean? What did you do to Si Luo?"
Jiao S turned serious as she heard this. She did not care who she was speaking to, it could have been anybody else but the ruler of the Gate of Heaven. She spoke in a dead serious tone.
Feng Zhu was slightly surprised by this sudden mention of the past as he said, "Do you think you"re a finished product? If I"m planning for her to become like you, wouldn"t I be setting myself up for the scenario which faced me years ago, where I faced the betrayal of a child I had cultivated personally?"
Si Luo looked up with white fog in his eyes as he stared at Feng Zhu. "Your definition of betrayal is me not partic.i.p.ating in any of your plans and not stepping into any of the three Gates, it"s how I"d rather live among the heirs for a hundred years as I take on your sins. There"s probably no one who"d think of betraying people if betrayal was like that."
We punctually arrived at the district line as the sky turned bright. I immediately spotted Jiao S and the loathesome white-robed Guan Nie. Guan Nie"s eyes lit up as he saw Nie Zun and he quickly scuttled over. "I only agreed to come along because I heard you"d be going." Nie Zun blinked at him, flas.h.i.+ng him a bright smile. I rolled my eyes at that.
Jiao S looked over at me. Not wanting to mince words, she said, "The Southern District is different from both our districts. I want to make some things clear before we cross over." Everyone else remained silent as they listened intently.
She looked around before saying, "Because the Southern District is filled with deficient people, the district commander, Si Luo, set up an impenetrable defense system. However, while we"re heading into foreign territory, we needn"t worry for our safety as a.s.sa.s.sins are unlikely to appear in the Southern District."
"What do you mean?" Jie Pa asked suddenly.
"From what I know, we"ll be walking into an illusion created by the Split Zone"s top illusionist once we enter the Southern Forest. Once you step across the district line, you will immediately enter this dream-like state that reflects what you hold deep in your heart. If you carry a murderous intent, the illusion will cause you to retreat out of the forest of your own volition."
With a frown, I asked, "How have all of you mastered such superhuman abilities?"
The white-robed Guan Nie smirked. He looked at me with disdain as he responded, "Looks like the rumors were true. The Western Commander really is a good-for-nothing who hasn"t even been able to master anything beyond the basics." My face twitched. What the h.e.l.l.
Jiao S looked at me with a twinge of surprise. "No one in the Western District has these abilities?"
Nie Zun laughed. "Even the commander doesn"t, so how could anyone else have them?" I broke out in a cold sweat. Th-this…
Song Lu and Yu Liang both lowered their heads, unable to refute it. The white-robed Guan Nie shook his head, a grudging expression on his face. "Since I"m worried you"ll slow my extraordinary self down, I"ll put up with having to teach you."
He took a few steps forward and turned around. Lifting his white hair from the ground, he exposed the sun symbol on the back of his neck. I suddenly felt my heart drop. I quickly looked over at Nie Zun. A moon, a sun… And in the exact same spot. Did that mean anything?
Nie Zun remained calm though. With a light smile, he looked at the back of Guan Nie"s neck. It was then that I realized that there was a key inserted into Guan Nie"s split symbol!
"What"s going on?" Jie Pa asked in surprise.
"This is my own splitting key," Guan Nie responded lazily. He turned back and shot a flirtatious look at Nie Zun. Gag… As he looked tenderly at Nie Zun, he started to give an explanation that seemed like it was directed solely at Nie Zun. "Our own splitting keys cannot kill us. If we insert them into our split symbol, we gain unrestricted control over our mental force."
Hearing this, Nie Zun"s eyes lit up. "To what extent?" he asked.
"It"s limitless in the sense that you can use any type of skills. Heh. But as mental force has its limits, most people will only be able to develop a single skill." So it was like that. Things like invisibility and creating illusions, and the like, could be explained this way.
"However, many people are unable to use this technique," Jiao S added.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
Jiao S stared at me. "After you insert the key, you will receive a punishment. As long as the key remains inside your split symbol, the punishment continues. Each person"s punishment may be different. Some cannot bear the punishment, so they would rather not use this technique. I suppose this is the reason Li Qing was unwilling to let anyone in the Western District use it. So, no one ever taught you guys." She looked over at Song Lu and the rest of the group.
A surprised expression appeared on Song Lu"s face. "Master Li Qing could use this technique?"
"Of course," Jiao S said with a nod.
Guan Nie suddenly covered his mouth and laughed. "As an example, for the duration that my splitting key is inside my split symbol, my entire body will feel a constant pain that is 100 times more painful than an ordinary person could endure."
Nie Zun raised his brow. "How do you endure it then?"
Guan Nie"s smile deepened. "It"s nothing much. At first, the pain was indeed difficult to bear, but I"ve grown used to it now."
A gust of wind blew past us. I already felt the cold sweat pouring out of me. Being able to adapt to a constant pain that most couldn"t handle, living every day with such a pain — what did that feel like. I figure I would never feel that kind of pain.
Jiao S turned back to me. "This technique requires that your split symbol be activated. While using the technique, your strength will not decrease as you use your mental force. For example, if you want to use 30 MF to create an illusion, once the illusion ends, you will regain your 30 MF, but you won"t lose 1 MF for activating your mental force. However, this will take a toll on you once you remove your splitting key. When you return to your ordinary state, your mental force will decrease according to your usage. In this case, your mental force will drop 30 levels, and remain as such for a month before it"s recovered."
I became apprehensive. If that"s the case, then this technique costs a lot of mental force. Afterwards, you"d be left very weak, essentially living like a cripple for a month. And you would be in danger during that time.
"While our own splitting key is inserted in our split symbols, can others still kill us?" Jie Pa asked a key question, trying to a.n.a.lyze this information.
Jiao S explained, "Of course. Others will still be able to kill you. Additionally, while your key is in use, you naturally cannot kill another. When you remove your key, your mental force will have decreased dramatically, so you"ll still unlikely be able to kill another. This technique can only be used for combat, and it does not allow for killing."
"Since the a.s.sa.s.sin who attacked me would have been using a stealth ability, meaning his splitting key was unavailable, why was he still trying to kill me?" I didn"t understand.
"I would guess that he wasn"t trying to kill you, but I don"t know what his motive could have been." Jiao S appeared to be deep in thought. I couldn"t help but furrow my brows. Things were getting more and more complicated.
Jiao S suddenly gave a sinister laugh. "It doesn"t matter. Whatever his motive may have been, my death squad is sure to make him spit it out." A chill ran down my spine as I looked at that savage, smiling face of hers.
Yu Liang stepped forward. "You"re telling all of this to us now because you want us to unlock this extraordinary power before we enter another district. You think that we won"t be able to pa.s.s through the illusion otherwise."
Jiao S seemed to appreciate Yu Liang"s understanding of this as she regarded him with what looked like praise in her eyes. "That"s right. Though we"re not planning on killing anyone, and it"s unlikely that any of us carry any kind of murderous desires, that illusion isn"t something to think lightly of. Even if we don"t plan on killing, our motives aren"t entirely pure either. I"m worried that traveling through the forest will be time-consuming and draining. I hope that you can all activate this technique so that we won"t have to slow down."
Did this mean that she wanted us to insert our splitting keys now? But who would reveal their split symbol to others so easily? Not everyone possessed Guan Nie"s confidence, so sure that no one could kill him.
As if sensing my apprehension, Guan Nie scoffed. "We won"t look. Jiao S and I will cross first. As for the rest, you can determine for yourselves what you"ll do. Just know that the Southern District isn"t the gentle place that you may think it is."
After he said that, he stepped across the district line without a hint of hesitation, not even giving us a moment to prepare. His body quickly disappeared into the forest on the other side. I then realized that he had addressed Jiao S by name instead of addressing her as Commander. Looks like this Guan Nie character really wasn"t someone Jiao S could order around at will.
With what looked like slight concern, Jiao S gave me a long hard look before she turned and crossed the district line as well. These Easterners were really firm in their workings…
Nie Zun lazily scratched his head. "So, should we use it or not? Hmm?"
Jie Pa adjusted his gla.s.ses as he stepped forward and said, "I"ll use it."
We exchanged glances with one another, and then we nodded at Jie Pa, expressing our agreement. We turned away as he inserted his splitting key. Maybe it was because I had my back to him, but time seemed to be crawling along at a snail"s pace.
After a long time, he finally said, "I"m done." His voice trembled ever so slightly.
When I turned to look at him, he was standing in the same spot and it didn"t seem that anything had changed. But I noticed that Jie Pa"s calm and steady gaze carried a hint of fear and his body seemed to be trembling.
Nie Zun was the first to notice something amiss. He frowned and put a hand on Jie Pa"s shoulder. "What is it?"
Jie Pa"s expression slowly turned to one of pain. "I-it"s nothing. I"m fine."
Since Jie Pa didn"t seem to want to say more, we didn"t probe him further, but Song Lu and Yu Liang exchanged a look. Yu Liang comforted her, "I"ll go first." Song Lu looked at him uneasily.
Once again, we proceeded as before. When we turned back around, I saw that while Yu Liang didn"t appear to be in pain, he had a very helpless look about him.