Dong Wu Shang’s face was like a plate of steel. For a long time, he did not move.
After a long while, he lowered his head and said, “Li Xiong Tu, what are you doing this for?” Li Xiong Tu said sharply, “Dying by your blade is my goal! Dong Wu Shang, take out your saber! Kill me! Be quick about it! Don’t dilly-dally. If not, I’ll lose my respect for you!”
“I am not sparing you because I value you as a hero! Just because I don’t kill you now doesn’t mean I can’t kill you in the future!” Dong Wu Shang said coldly. “You owe me nothing! There is no humiliation in this!”
“You want to die honorably. I understand that. However, I have a mission to not kill you!”
“Hence, if you think that I’m looking down on you, you can spare me the next time we fight!” Dong Wu Shang’s sharp gaze stared right at Li Xiong Tu as he said, “So? Do you think you can do that?”
Li Xiong Tu looked carefully at Dong Wu Shang’s face and his face turned cold. Slowly, he said, “Are you sure?”
Dong Wu Shang did not answer him. He stepped around him and strode back.
Behind him, Li Xiong Tu shouted, “Dong Wu Shang! I will remember you! Next time, I won’t kill you!” He started to laugh tragically and wildly. Then, he said, “I want you to experience this sensation too!” Dong Wu Shang stopped. However, he did not turn around as he said, “I’ll wait for you! I’ll wait for the day when you can beat me and not kill me!”
Then, he strode off in great steps.
When he was at the center, he suddenly shouted, “Li Ba Tian! Hurry up and carry him away! Remember, you owe me a fight too! In the future, if I can bash my way up to the Upper Three Heavens, I will kill you personally!”
With one grunt, Li Ba Tian descended from his platform. He did not care about what Dong Wu Shang said. He had been waiting for the line ‘carry him away’. In panic, he rushed toward Li Xiong Tu.
Li Xiong Tu was just about to say something but he missed his chance. Li Ba Tian slapped him unconscious and carried him away.
He knew that with Li Xiong Tu’s potential and endowments, the Li Clan would place a great deal of importance on his development! Once he achieved something, Li Ba Tian, as the person who brought Li Xiong Tu back, would have done something worth merit!
Since Dong Wu Shang, who was the enemy, allowed it, the Enforcers could not stop him.
As Dong Wu Shang slowly strode back in great steps, he looked very majestic. Mo Lei Er was beaming. With tears in her eyes, she rushed forward and grabbed his hand. Instantly, she channeled her pure vital energy to him to help heal him.
Chu Yang and the rest could see that Dong Wu Shang’s steps were getting weaker and weaker as he walked. He was evidently finding it hard to continue walking like this for long. They were afraid that by the time he stepped in front of them, he would collapse.
However, none of them rushed up to help him.
This concerned Dong Wu Shang’s pride! If he needed someone to hold him, his triumphant return as a hero would have lost its significance.
Hence, from Dong Wu Shang’s perspective, he would rather fall than to be carried!
However, Mo Lei Er was different!
This was because she was a girl!
It was an extremely proud moment for a woman to hold her man after he returned in victory! No matter who saw this scene, they would only feel pride and definitely would not blame them!
If a woman was blamed for supporting her man, would the person who did the blaming want his wife to be treated the same way when she tried to help him? What was the point of finding a wife then?
Hence, the benefits of having a wife were fully demonstrated here.
Supported by Mo Lei Er, Dong Wu Shang slowly walked in front of Mo Tian Ji. With a serious face, he looked at Mo Tian Ji and said, “Why?” This was because before his fight, Mo Tian Ji told him, “If the disparity is not too wide, stay safe and kill him! If the disparity is slightly big, injure him but don’t kill him! Keeping him will be helpful!”
When Dong Wu Shang heard this, he went and did that.
He understood Mo Tian Ji’s intentions. If the disparity was not too wide, there was a possibility that the opponent would try and take him down too. Hence, the best option would be to kill him!
However, if he was clearly stronger than Li Xiong Tu, then he should try and spare him to fulfill a plan which would benefit their side.
Dong Wu Shang had no objection.
Hence, with his strength, he seemed to be not much stronger than Li Xiong Tu. In fact, however, he preserved a good deal of his strength.
However, after this fight, Dong Wu Shang was suddenly repulsed by his own actions.
He knew that Li Xiong Tu would survive this. However, he also knew that since he had spared Li Xiong Tu, the latter’s life was probably infinitely miserable!
Had the roles been reversed, he would have felt the same way too.
Many times, Dong Wu Shang thought if it would be possible to ignore Mo Tian Ji’s instructions and just finish Li Xiong Tu off! That was Li Xiong Tu’s biggest desire, and it was the most respectful thing he could do to an opponent like Li Xiong Tu!
However, he decided not to do it.
Hence, he had to interrogate Mo Tian Ji.
Mo Tian Ji said plainly, “There are some things you don’t understand, but I want to use Li Xiong Tu to create a false impression for the Li Clan of the Upper Three Heavens! In the future, when we invade the Upper Three Heavens, we’ll have something to work with.” Dong Wu Shang said angrily, “However, don’t you feel any guilt for manipulating such a heroic character?”
“If I don’t make use of him, you will all die, and I will feel guilty,” said Mo Tian Ji coldly. “However, if I use him to save all of you, including me, I won’t feel a shred of guilt!”
He smiled coldly and said slyly, “It’s exactly because he is a hero which makes it easy to make use of him! It’s exactly because he’s a hero which will cause him to die earlier! Many corpses in this world which had already decomposed into bare white bones had all been heroes!”
Dong Wu Shang was incensed as he said, “You!””If a hero can’t be used, how can he become a hero?” Mo Tian Ji said coldly. “If I give you a choice, one of which is to let a hero you respect kill your brothers, and the other is to use the hero to let your brothers live, which one will you choose?”
Dong Wu Shang turned to leave. His face was purple as he said, “We have no common ground, Mo Tian Ji!”
Mo Tian Ji was not angry as he said plainly, “If we have a common ground, then you aren’t Dong Wu Shang but the God of the Abacus and Ghost of Calculations!”
Mo Lei Er smiled slightly. She supported the incensed Mo Tian Ji into the tent for the wounded.
Opposite. The Black Devils.
As the Black Devil watched his daughter support Dong Wu Shang, he beamed happily. He sighed contentedly when he saw how happy his daughter was.
Even if she accompanied him for the rest of her life, she may not be this happy.
Today, when he saw his daughter’s smile and the look of joy on her face, he felt that everything he had done for her was worth it!
Mo Tian Ji looked at Chu Yang and said plainly, “What do you think?” He was not just asking Chu Yang but Gu Du Xing and the rest.
Ji Mo and Luo Ke Di shook their heads and said, “Don’t ask me. I think what you did was reasonable.” Gu Du Xing fell silent for a while and then said, “I support Dong Wu Shang!” Chu Yang thought for a long while before he spoke, “I’m conflicted. On one hand, I know that it makes sense to keep Li Xiong Tu around. This will help us avoid many dangers in the future. In my heart, however, I also wish that he could have died like a real man!” Mo Tian Ji nodded his head.
Chu Yang took two steps forward and weighed his thoughts. Then, he said, “If I were Dong Wu Shang, I would have killed Li Xiong Tu without a second thought! Furthermore, I would not have given him the chance to catch his breath!”
Mo Tian Ji smiled.
He understood what Chu Yang meant.
Ji Mo said, “That’s right. Wu Shang should have knocked him out.”
“You’re right,” said Chu Yang seriously. “Now that they clarified their stance at the very start, Li Xiong Tu would not become depressed. However, if he woke up in humiliation, he would surely kill himself! Furthermore, he would die uneasy! That is the greatest humiliation!”
“All of you understand heroes! And respect good men!” Mo Tian Ji said coldly. ‘However, only I, Mo Tian Ji, won’t care about these…”
“All I see is victory and defeat, and your survival,” said Mo Tian Ji, “As for others, even if they are heroes, as long as they are our enemies, I’ll trick them as and when as I can. If I have to kill them, I will. If I can make use of them, I’ll do that too!” He chuckled coldly and said, “If he has no utility value, can we still call Li Xiong Tu a hero?” Mo Tian Ji turned and prepared to leave as he said pensively, “Among our brothers, one of us have to bear a bad name. Let me, Mo Tian Ji, take it! Li Xiong Tu views death as glorious. For me, Mo Tian Ji, the more who curse me, the prouder I’ll be! A lion won’t bother himself with the opinions of sheep!”
Chu Yang smiled and said, “This is where you’re successful. As for us, we’re successful because of how we are resilient! Since we are brothers, we should accept diversity in our ranks. There’s no need for everyone to be the same, right? Tian Ji, if we think like you, I’m afraid we’ll be enemies and not brothers.”
Mo Tian Ji’s smile became warm as he said, “That’s right.”
“Those from the same type could not co-exist. Dong Wu Shang and Li Xiong Tu respect each other but the moment they see each other, they want to fight. This is the reason.”
“We’re in this together because we’re all different!”
Mo Tian Ji did some calculations with his fingers and said, “Since that’s the case, we need to work harder on Li Xiong Tu.” He turned to look at Young Master Yu and said, “Brother Wei, the rest of us are too weak and I’m afraid I have to trouble you for this.” Young Master Yu said, “It’s fine.” Mo Tian Ji continued, “Later, after the battle, when Li Ba Tian brings Li Xiong Tu back, Chu Yang, you must give your medicine to Brother Wei. Then, Brother Wei, you must conceal your identity and offer him the pill. Reveal your powerful skills! You must be secretive. You have to do it fast but also leave a lasting impression.”
Young Master Yu chuckled and said, “That’s interesting!”
Chu Yang’s heart missed a beat as he thought, “If Li Xiong Tu takes the medicine, then, with the understanding the Nine Great Clans have of the Master of the Nine Tribulations Sword, they will naturally assume that that is the Nine Heavens Pill. This will arouse their suspicion.”
Nothing else in this world could cause this reaction.
Even if Li Xiong Tu swore to the elders of the Li Clan that he did not know the Master of the Nine Tribulations Sword, they would not believe him…
Mo Tian Ji’s trick was devious indeed. He did not give any chance to Li Xiong Tu to explain himself…