Chapter 166: Are You Willing... To Be Rich or Poor
Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy
"Brilliant Sword Heart is not an invincible method. Its shortcomings and advantages are equally prominent. Although it has a strong attack, its defense is not so. Therefore, the basic ideas of Ten Thousand Arts Sect are not wrong. However, they were wrong in underestimating the ever-changing characteristic of the Brilliant Sword Heart. They were too eager to seek for the outcome of the fight in the first few exchanges. As a result, they were caught off-guard and beaten by Liu Li. This girl actually doesn’t have many complex thoughts. She just relies on her intuition to win. But those Ten Thousand Arts Sect losers couldn’t even deal with the intuition of a girl."
At the Non-Phase Peak, the white-clothed Fifth Elder revealed a rare serious expression.
"Actually, if we look from a different point of view, they were not that far away from victory. The key to determining the victory or defeat lies in the ability to withstand the full power sword attack from Liu Li. If Lu Qiancai could withstand the Limpid Water Sword, his two gloomy ghost talismans would’ve been enough to dominate his opponent. And if Zhan Ziye could shoulder the combined attack of the twelve flying swords, he could use his Annihilation Thunder to injure the opponent rather than exploding it, which would result in his victory. Unfortunately, they never thought to try to withstand Liu Li’s Brilliant Sword Heart; all they could think of was to dodge, escape, or use some tricks. And then...Hey, hey, little Wang Lu, since there are so many martyrs that died in front of you, you should know what to do, right?"
Wang Lu said, "Giving up the mentality of ‘leaving it to chances’, and directly shoulder the full frontal attack of the Brilliant Sword Heart. However, it seems like a direct frontal clash is simply suicide. She doesn’t need to call out the twelve flying swords, just her fiery sword alone could break my sword defense. This Non-Phase Method is really not that powerful."
"Damn, obviously, it’s because your cultivation base is not enough, don’t slander your cultivation method. Although I’m one stage below Senior Brother Zhou Ming, I’m not afraid of him. Your biggest problem right now is that your foundation is too thin, and your magical power stage is too low. If your cultivation base is similar to Liu Li, it wouldn’t be this troublesome."
Wang Lu said, "Then the imperative is to enhance my cultivation base, therefore, should I look for Seventh Uncle?"
Ao Guanhai shook his head. "I do have a lot of elixirs that could improve cultivation base, but to enhance the cultivation base by leaps and bounds in just two days… This is not easy. Even with strong elixirs, it takes some time for its result to come out. Moreover, using strong elixirs to improve cultivation base will, in turn, make the foundation unstable."
Wang Lu was rather nonchalant about these. "Instability caused by a sudden improvement in cultivation base only affect those with inherently poor balance. Therefore, you can rest assure in giving me those strong elixirs; it would be better if it can quickly let me reach Jindan."
His Master sneered. "Quickly reach Jindan you say? There’s actually something like that, it’s called Demonic Disintegration Pill. After consuming it, in about five to ten minutes your cultivation base will reach Jindan. However, the side effect is that your body will explode and die, and your soul will fly away and scatter; want to try it? Listen, you only have two days. Strong elixirs are indeed essential, but you can’t rely on elixirs to stand a chance against Liu Li. As a Successor Disciple, she has already consumed quite a lot of elixirs."
"So?"
"So, you can only take evil path. However, since it’s an evil path, there will inevitably be side effects. Thus, you have to think it carefully." The look on his Master Wang Wu was unusually serious which was quite jarring for Wang Lu.
"Tell me about it."
"Big Heart Demon Oath," Master coldly replied, "through the oath of the heart demon, you can have a power increase in exchange for a price."
"Big Heart Demon Oath can be used as so?" Wang Lu was extremely surprised. This was unlike the offering sacrifices at the evil cult; even if he had a mind to do an exchange, he must have an object to be traded. Who provided the power in this power increase in exchange for a price?
"How to take this oath?"
"It’s very simple. Swear, henceforth, you will never take the initiative to hurt people using immortal path’s methods."
Wang Lu immediately frowned. "Mustn’t hurt people using methods?"
"Yes. If we take an extreme example of it. Even if your archenemy stands before you, you must not inflict any harm to it. Otherwise, the heart demon will enter your body and your Primordial Spirit will collapse."
Wang Lu immediately appeared thoughtful. With his excellent understanding immortal cultivation, he immediately understood the main point. "Hmm, applying this kind of extreme oath to myself so that I have no choice but to concentrate on defense, and then promote my defense ability? Although I’m still not too clear on its operation principle, overall, it’s actually a good deal. In any case, Non-Phase Method doesn’t have any attack power to begin with…"
"Who says it doesn’t have attack power to begin with?" His Master softly interrupted, "Think again."
Wang Lu stared blankly for a moment, and then exclaimed, "So you’ve also taken the oath! Because of the restraint of the Big Heart Demon Oath, you didn’t have the means to attack, so later on, you focused your Non-Phase Method on defense because developing attacking method is simply not making any sense."
"Well, it’s not that Non-Phase Method couldn’t hurt people. Actually, after Non-Phase Sword Bone helped you break through the shackles of your spirit root, theoretically, you can already practice powerful offensive methods. And when you reach the Foundation Establishment, your methods can be smoothed out… Non-Phase Method can also be considered as a comprehensively good platform. With your talent and perception, you actually could practice those astonishingly powerful immortal level methods in our sect; when the time comes, it’s not impossible for you to be like Liu Li with her invincible sword."
Wang Lu chuckled. "Master, you don’t have to test me with these words… Let’s not talk about the others, even if I can practice Brilliant Sword Heart now, could it let me win the fight the day after tomorrow?"
"Well, it’s good if you have this awareness. With your intelligence, you should be able to clearly realize how much you will sacrifice once the oath is established. You and I are different in that you have a choice. There’s no need to let yourself be so passive."
With Wang Lu’s intelligence, he immediately realized that there was quite a story behind his Master’s Non-Phase Method.
"You didn’t have a choice? Speaking of which, when I cast the Nameless Sword, indeed…"
"That’s enough, we can talk gossip at a later time. Now tell me, what is your choice?"
Wang Lu pondered for a moment. "Once the oath is established, I can’t take the initiative to harm people. However, can I use the Prickly Shell?"
"In theory, you also can’t use the Nameless Sword. You can’t use wordplay to Big Heart Demon Oath. However, with your disposition, you can’t be bound to death by the oath. But the Nameless Sword is also your only method." His Master smiled. "Of course, there’s an alternative method. Language violence is not restricted, so at least you can curse at people."
"Hahaha, since there’s room to maneuver, then there’s nothing to hesitate about. Teach me how to take the oath."
"Very well… Junior Brother, bring me the solidifying spirit powder. We need to temporarily solidify this kid’s primordial spirit into void form [1] before the Heart Demon Oath can be taken."
In theory, only Xudan Stage cultivators or higher that could use the Big Heart Demon Oath. However, for the Five Unique Sects, there would always be an exception to the rules.
Although not many people knew about solidifying spirit powder, its efficacy was enough to put it as a first rank elixir. As soon as he swallowed down a dose of solidifying spirit powder, Wang Lu suddenly felt as if there was a great release of light in his mind. His primordial spirit quickly solidified into void form and continued to solidify until it was in the half-void half-real stage before it stopped... According to the standard of the Spirit Sword Sect, this was the degree of strength of the primordial spirit of a Xudan cultivator. Although the elixir could only keep this form for a few seconds, it was more than enough time to take the Big Heart Demon Oath.
The Big Heart Demon Oath was not an oath that was difficult to take. Previously, after his Master explained the key, Wang Lu had also practiced to take it for several times. Therefore, at this time, he easily ran the power of the one-hundred-times-more-valiant primordial spirit, successfully condensing the oath. Although the oath was in the name of the Demon Heart, when he took the oath, his Inner Mansion and primordial spirit were calm; there was only a colorless invisible ripple that spread out from the center of the Inner Mansion, which swept everything in the Inner Mansion before fading away at the edge. Except for this, there was no other sign that the Demon Heart oath had taken place...However, Wang Lu was very clear that once the oath was established, if he dared to violate, he would die for sure.
After taking the oath, Wang Lu slowly opened his eyes. The feeling of completely grasping everything because of his blooming primordial spirit that he felt just now had already dissipated. However, the effect of the oath had been retained which was engraved in his Inner Mansion, his mortal body, and primordial spirit...basically everything. As Wang Lu took a little stretch, the bones in his body issued ‘ka-ka’ sound, his whole body had changed considerably.
"There are two days for you to digest the Big Heart Demon Oath before it can bring you any benefit. However, you also have to change your tactic. Henceforth, any initiative to attack is strictly prohibited...In general, if a Xudan cultivator takes an oath, its primordial spirit is strong enough to restrain its own behavior. However, if the oath is taken with the help of elixirs, there is a risk of an accident. But that shouldn’t be a problem to you, right?"
Wang Lu nodded his head. "Rest assured, I’m a qualified professional adventurer."
Just as his voice fell, his Seventh Uncle directly interrupted.
"Right, then let’s begin the next item on our schedule, the actual combat."
The time was limited. Ao Guanhai, who knew full well the style of the Non-Phase Peak, didn’t want to waste time. However, Wang Lu also seemed to have been well-prepared. He smoothly swung the Sword of Mount Kun just in time to block his Martial Uncle’s attack.
"Oh?" When the two swords intersected, Wang Lu was startled. Although of course his Martial Uncle didn’t go all out, the sword still carried the power of a Xudan Stage cultivator. In the past, he would always be affected by this kind of power, which caused him to carry some internal injury. However, right now he only felt the shock on his body, but it wasn’t difficult for him to resist it at all.
Unexpectedly, in such a short time, the Big Heart Demon Oath had begun to work wonders.
"Don’t be happy too soon. This sword strike only has fifty percent of the standard power of Liu Li. You still need to work hard in the next two days." The Seventh Elder sighed, and the sword in his hand swung again, its power increased a notch.
"Hahaha, bring it on!"
Wang Lu didn’t show any weakness. Not only his Sword of Mount Kun successfully parried that attack, more outrageously, his Non-Phase Sword Bone vibrated, returning back the damage via the Nameless Sword!
Such a fierce fighting even shocked the Seventh Elder. Wang Lu, this child, had just taken the Big Heart Demon Oath, so he ought to be extra careful with his ability to return the damage! Yet, he really dared! However...if he didn’t have such disposition, there was no need to fight the match two days later, it was best if he should just throw in the towel. If one didn’t personally fight Liu Li, it would be difficult for it to understand how fierce Liu Li was.
In two days, even if Wang Lu continued his special training with this kind of mentality, his odds were still not more than thirty percent, which was already an optimistic estimate by the Seventh Elder.
After all, there was a few years gap in cultivation time of Liu Li and Wang Lu. And for peerless rare talents like them, this few years difference had already put a nearly insurmountable distance between them...
"Humph!"
Before long, Wang Lu had already received internal injury by the shock from the tide-like sword attack. However, that was only the beginning...
"Damn it, it’s so unlucky to be bled by Uncle Black."
...
[1] Xu in Xudan means virtual/void/empty.