Chapter 68

"我可不是修魔者，你在教科书上应该学过，‘一日入魔，终身是魔’，堕入魔道，被幽能荡涤之后，人就会丧失心智，变成域外天魔的傀儡，周身缭绕着强大无匹的幽能，绝不会是我现在这个样子！"

Zheng Dongming suddenly said quickly, "Look, except for the moment I released the ‘Demon Blood Cannon’, there is no aura of darkness surrounding me, and my mind is very clear. I am definitely not a demon cultivator! I just... had some extraordinary experiences that allow me to cultivate both spirit energy and dark energy simultaneously!"

"Oh?"

Li Yao's expression remained unchanged as he said seriously, "Young Master Zheng, you’ve got one thing wrong—I want to kill you not because you are a demon cultivator, but because... I accidentally stumbled upon your big secret. To prevent your identity or your extraordinary experiences from being exposed, once you recover, you will definitely kill me to silence me. I want to save my life, so I have to act first!"

He paused for a moment, then sighed, "I hope you understand, there is no personal grudge between us. We could have really become good friends, but now..."

He shook his head and raised the Heaven-Burning Battle Axe.

Zheng Dongming's expression changed, and he said urgently, "If you really want to save your life, you shouldn’t kill me. Can you give me one minute to explain clearly?"

Li Yao narrowed his eyes, his gaze sharp, and his mental commands flew at high speed, his computational power reaching its limit. After a moment, he said, "Thirty seconds!"

Zheng Dongming didn't hesitate for even half a second and blurted out, "First, you want to kill me because you’re afraid I will kill you to silence me after I recover! But you killed this giant-eyed ape, which makes you my savior. No matter how much of a scoundrel I am, how could I possibly harm my savior?"

"Nonsense! Twenty-five seconds left!"

"Second, you assume my motive for killing you is to protect my secret of being able to cultivate dark energy. But killing you won’t work. You, Li Yao, are currently at the top of the points list, a well-known rising star. Many eyes from the ‘Nine Greats’ are watching you! Plus, you must have had some extraordinary experiences, and your strength has increased even faster than mine. It won’t be easy to silence you, and it will definitely require a lot of resources and power!"

"Your family, the Zheng family, has a lot of resources and power, doesn’t it?" Li Yao said coldly.

Zheng Dongming smiled bitterly and said, "Using a lot of resources to kill you isn’t the problem, but what about the reason? Yes, the Zheng family has several qi refinement cultivators, and even two foundation establishment cultivators, but they are all my uncles and even my ancestors! If I ask them to kill you, they will ask for a reason. How can I explain it? Should I directly say that you stumbled upon my secret of cultivating dark energy? If I do, these uncles and grandfathers will directly clean house and get rid of me!"

"Reasonable, this gives you ten more seconds. Continue!" Li Yao gripped the Heaven-Burning Battle Axe tightly, not relaxing at all.

"Moreover, even if I convince my family to get rid of you, it will be hard to leave no traces. Everyone knows that the Federation has a special secret police force dedicated to handling cultivator crimes. Many of these secret police have extremely high computational power, and very few criminals can escape their investigation. If they trace it back to me, won’t I be outsmarting myself?"

Zheng Dongming said all this in one breath and concluded, "In short, killing a tough guy like you is not easy. Even if I succeed, there is a 99% chance of being found out. Instead, I might as well bet that you will keep my secret for me, which is more likely!"

"Reasonable, but still not enough to convince me. Do you have more reasons? Twenty seconds left," Li Yao said without relaxing.

"Yes!"

Zheng Dongming's pale face turned red again, and he said in a hoarse voice, "You want to kill me because you’re afraid I will kill you after I recover, so you act first to save your life. But have you thought about it? If you kill me, you will also leave traces. If the Zheng family finds out you are the murderer, you will be hunted by qi refinement and even foundation establishment cultivators! Do you think you can escape death?"

He paused and concluded, "If you kill me, you will be 100% killed by the foundation establishment cultivators of the Zheng family! If you don’t kill me, there is still a 1% chance that I might have a change of heart and treat you as my savior. Which probability is higher, you figure it out!"

Li Yao thought for a moment and said, "Don’t worry, I won’t leave any solid evidence."

Zheng Dongming blinked his eyes, "The police need solid evidence to solve cases, but cultivators only need a suspect to seek revenge!"

Li Yao's eyelashes twitched, "I can say I was slaying demons and getting rid of you, a demon cultivator. How can the Zheng family dare to touch me? They might even beat drums and give me a banner, thanking me for cleaning up their family!"

Zheng Dongming pulled at the corners of his mouth, revealing a mysterious smile, "The dark energy I cultivate has a very peculiar characteristic—except when it is activated, it leaves no trace at all, not even the most skilled cultivators can detect it. If you don’t believe me, go check the giant-eyed ape’s body; there is no trace of dark energy left!"

Li Yao was stunned, staring intently at Zheng Dongming, and cast a glance at the giant-eyed ape’s body.

Indeed, although the hole in the giant-eyed ape’s chest was bloody and gruesome, there was no trace of demonic energy, and the wound looked exactly like one caused by spirit energy.

"See, there is no evidence to prove I cultivate dark energy, so you can’t use this to clear your name. Of course, I’m not too worried about you revealing this secret, since you have no evidence. So, my motive to kill you to silence you is not strong, and we don’t need to make it a life-or-death situation!" Zheng Dongming said quickly.

At this moment, a "popping" sound came from the sky, and Xiao Ji finally broke free from Zheng Dongming’s camouflage suit, his eyes glowing with starlight as he flew down to the two of them.

"Ha, your Pujie seems to have reconnected with the Liaoyuan. Now, every move we make is under the watch of countless cultivators. You won’t act in public, right?" Zheng Dongming smiled broadly.

Li Yao was silent for a moment, then laughed and threw the Heaven-Burning Battle Axe aside. Under Xiao Ji’s watchful eyes, he walked to Zheng Dongming’s side and sat down, covering his mouth and speaking in a voice only they could hear:

"Very well, you’ve convinced me, but I have discovered your big secret. If one day you become a master of supreme dark arts and are confident you can get rid of me without leaving any traces, I think you will still act!"

"Very likely."

Zheng Dongming also covered his mouth and said frankly, "Then I should also be worried. If one day you become a master of supreme arts, can withstand the Zheng family’s retaliation, and are confident you can escape the secret police’s investigation, you will be worried about me killing you to silence you and act first to get rid of me, right?"

Li Yao thought for a moment and laughed, "The possibility is indeed not small."

Zheng Dongming struggled to prop his arm under his head, half-closing his eyes, and said comfortably:

"But for now, we are both weaklings. It’s impossible to kill each other without being discovered by the secret police. So, before we both become masters of supreme arts, we can still be friends, right? Maybe even true friends who would do anything for each other!"

"Two ribs pierced? No, I don’t like that. Pig friends and dog friends are fine. A gentleman’s friendship is as light as pig and dog," Li Yao said.

"Alright, dear pig friend and dog friend, thank you for saving my life. I’ll introduce you to some beautiful women when we get back. What type do you like? Hey, you’re not one of those who doesn’t like women and only likes cultivation, are you?"

Zheng Dongming smiled broadly and asked in a lecherous manner.

"Of course not, I like the type who is innocent but slightly provocative, provocative but slightly shy, shy but with a hint of resistance, and in that resistance, there is a hint of reluctance to let go."

Li Yao said seriously.

"Got it, a saintly lady in public but a wild tiger in bed, very common. I know a lot. You can come to our school when you have time..."

As he spoke, Zheng Dongming’s voice grew weaker and weaker, and he finally tilted his head and fainted.

He had forcibly used dark energy, leaving his body in a state of great depletion. Later, he had to muster his strength to outwit Li Yao, and his mental energy was almost exhausted. Being able to hold on until now was already his limit.

Li Yao rested for a moment, recovering some of his energy, and his gaze lingered on Zheng Dongming’s neck for a long time.

"Li Yao, please stay in the supply point and don’t move. Cultivators are coming soon!" Xiao Ji suddenly said.

Li Yao’s pupils contracted, and he finally looked away, leaning on his chainsaw sword and standing up.

A sense of curiosity welled up in his heart, and he staggered to the giant-eyed ape’s head, kicking it with his foot, and the huge head flipped over.

The three-eyed ape’s combat power was not strong, and even the mutated giant-eyed ape could not have made the two of them so miserable.

What was so peculiar about this giant-eyed ape that made it so frenzied?

The giant-eyed ape’s face was still frozen in a hideous grimace, but the stinking breath no longer spewed from its interlocking fangs, and the huge eye on its forehead was tightly closed, looking much more pleasant.

Li Yao plunged his sword into the giant-eyed ape’s mouth, fixing the entire head to the ground, and then drew his dagger, finally squatting down to examine it.

Unexpectedly, the moment he squatted down, the giant-eyed ape’s huge eye on its forehead suddenly opened, emitting an extremely intense blood-red light, like a sharp blade piercing into Li Yao’s forehead, reaching deep into his brain!

In an instant—

"Boy, you actually!"

Li Yao felt an unbearable pain in his brain, and a deep, old voice cried out in agony from the depths of his brain. A transparent, white-haired figure shattered into countless pieces, a tiny fraction of which continued to flow into the depths of his mind, while the majority of the pieces spun wildly, forming a violent vortex.

Li Yao’s consciousness was also sucked into this strange vortex, falling into endless darkness!

In the last moment before falling into darkness, Li Yao saw three cultivators riding their swords through the wind, leaping out from the dark clouds, shooting toward him and Zheng Dongming!

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