Chapter 425: Flawed Divine Art
Chapter 425: Flawed Divine Art
Translator: chuchutrain Editor: DavidT, Rock
No wonder he had felt a sense of unease when he chanced upon the battlefield! So it was because the strength involved had already exceeded his original expectations by at least one fold!
"What are you thinking about? To be so deep in thought." Li Xue sat down beside him, stretching out her long and toned legs into a comfortable position. Her arms propped up her body as she faced Ling Tian.
"I'm thinking about whether Justice would die from this encounter. Under my calculations, if Justice was me, the best case scenario would be that of serious internal injuries, to the point that I would be left with sequelae for the rest of my life." Ling Tian's mind constantly revolved, but he was at his wit's end. Whatever angle he looked at it, Justice would either die or be seriously injured! There were no other visible signs of evidence on the battlefield, only a mouthful of blood spat out by the fifteen people fighting him. Those were signs of internal injuries, but from the looks of it, they didn't die either!
This was because their internal injuries probably resulted from a clash between them and Justice after he was injured! By that time, Justice probably didn't have any strength left, or else, why would they even get off so lightly?!
"The world number one expert wouldn't die so easily, right?" Li Xue spoke with a little uncertainty.
"Hard to say." Ling Tian only furrowed his brows in response.
"Then do you wish for him to die? Or wish for him to live?" Li Xue blinked her eyes as she asked.
Ling Tian laughed bitterly, "If I were to speak the truth, I am pretty confused. I really hope that he died because of this, but at the same time, I also hope that he's still alive."
"Faints…" Li Xue imitated a fainting look, before laughing, "You men and your mindsets are really strange. I can't even imagine!"
Men are strange?? Ling Tian's mouth dropped open. Have you gotten something wrong somewhere?
"Anyways, I'm not sure if you've considered this point." Li Xue suddenly let out a sly smile as her mouth moved closer to Ling Tian's ear, "This matter could actually bring you a lot of benefits!"
"What benefits?" Ling Tian was startled, and turned to face her about to say, "What sort of benefits can this provide for me?" But he suddenly felt a warm feeling on his ear, sending a pleasingly numbing feeling into his whole body. This was because, the moment he turned, Li Xue's lips had perfectly closed around his earlobe.
Ling Tian felt a dizzy feeling. This… this lass was actually so…. daring!
Turning his head over, he only saw Li Xue hurriedly averting her gaze with a tomato-red face, after which she probably felt that merely turning her head was not enough, and stuck her head in between her coiled up legs, looking much like an ostrich in the desert, sticking its head deep into the sand.
This was a situation that both parties didn't expect to happen. However, seeing the shy look on Li Xue's face, Ling Tian found this situation a little funny. Could a person's character change when they leaped across lifetimes? He remembered that Li Xue used to be candid and straightforward, seldom being as shy as now.
"Alright, alright." Ling Tian pretended to be a little impatient as he chided her, "To think that in the past you crawled up my body in nothing but diapers, but right now, not only am I the one not responding after you've molested me, but you actually are more embarrassed than I am. Is this the so-called first mover's advantage?"
"You're the one wearing diapers! You're the one with no shame!" Li Xue shouted out in her embarrassed posture.
"Okay, you've already taken advantage, and you've already molested me, so what more do you want?" Ling Tian put on an expression of a victim, wanting to cry but having no tears.
Li Xue huffily raised her head, saying with a reddened face, "What about our past, why are you still harping on it? You've already said that the past has nothing to do with us. My surname is Li, yours is Ling, we have no relations at all. Don't try to pretend to build relations with me!"
Ehh. Ling Tian was a little dumbfounded at this. This was a sensitive topic, and this lass's words seemed to hold a deeper meaning. Ling Tian felt a little guilty, and immediately changed the topic, "So, you were saying that we can obtain some benefits?"
"What about 'we can obtain some benefits'? What have you got to do with me? Don't lump us together! You're the great noble Ling Tian, and I'm the country girl Li Xue!" Clearly sensing Ling Tian beating about the bush, Li Xue couldn't care less about her embarrassment, immediately getting angry, but at the same time feeling wronged and sad. A muffled sound was heard, and suddenly two large teardrops begin to fall from her eyes!
Not again! Ling Tian inwardly sighed. Women are really hard to please! He could only put out a bitter smile as he placated her, "Alright, alright, since you're so interested, then I'll let you molest me more. Anyway, it isn't the first time you've done it." Ling Tian put on an expression as though he was a martyr doing something for the greater good, sending his ear towards her mouth!
"You!" Li Xue was angered beyond belief, and with one move she grabbed onto his ear and turned it into a fried dough twist. Both of them instantaneously fell into a messy fight. However, when they recalled those times of their past childhood, both involuntarily let out a smile. A warm feeling surged out from their hearts, causing the originally depressing atmosphere to vanish immediately.
"I was saying just now that with this batch of experts that the Xiao family has sent out, we could probably obtain some benefits from them." Li Xue tidied up the messy hair strands on her forehead, a tinge of red still on her face as she slowly spoke. To joke around was still fine with her, but to make trouble without reason touched upon her bottom line, and this was something that Li Xue observed very closely for herself.
Hearing her speak thus, Ling Tian couldn't help but take in a deep breath. "Speak clearly, I'm a little confused over this. With their line-up and strength, do you think it's something I can use?"
"Are you dumb?!" Li Xue laughingly scolded, and innately she felt a little superior at the fact that Ling Tian actually couldn't guess what she was talking about. "I've mentioned before to you that the current taboo in the Xiao Family is probably you, right?"
A meaningful look immediately passed through Ling Tian's face as he nodded his head, "That's right, this is indeed the meaning of 'a single sentence enlightening a man lost in his dreams'! I definitely can utilize this to my advantage, and possibly even gain from it! All the knowledge that a postgraduate student has studied really can't compare to an expert's single sentence!"
How could Ling Tian's perception be lacking? Li Xue only needed to give a small hint, and he immediately understood the key concepts behind the whole matter.
"The greatest enemy that the Xiao Family faces at the moment is me, and the one they're most concerned about is also me. The greatest obstruction to them conquering the world is definitely not the Yu Family, but instead is me! On this point, I am extremely clear! As such, their number one target is definitely me! Even when I was hiding inside the tree, I overheard that Meng JueChen saying that the number one mission of the Xiao Family was to get rid of me."
Ling Tian laughed out loud, "Under such circumstances, what they should do now would be to wait for Justice to kill me, or to wait for myself to be inflicted with heavy injuries after colliding with Justice before hurrying to finish me off. Only after confirming my death would they then make a move against Justice, that should be the actual sequence! However, the fact that they chose to move against Justice first represents something."
Ling Tian spoke with confidence, "The Xiao Family's greatest threat is me, but the one that Above Heavens pays attention to is instead Justice! And since Above Heavens is the driving force of support for the Xiao Family, this means that there is some form of hostility between the Xiao Family and the Above Heavens Sect! To the point that even at such an important juncture they can allow their private feelings to outweigh the public opinions!"
"And to you, you can use this hostility to cause a ruckus from it, can't you?" Li Xue let out a knowing and sly smile. "However, to actually carry it out might not be as easy as we think it is."
"Of course it won't, if it could be so easily done, then that old man Yu ManLou would probably have done it long ago, why would he leave it to me?" Ling Tian chuckled. "However, as long as this animosity exists, there will come a day when I can use it to my advantage!"
"According to my understanding, this bunch of people doesn't seem to consider the orders of the Xiao Family as a very important thing." Li Xue slowly continued, "Thus, I would say that their relations are actually a little fishy."
A smile played on Ling Tian's lips as he considered her words before he darkly replied, "Under different days, who is to say who will be the final winner? Above Heavens might not be as outstanding as compared to the Beyond Heavens! Hehehe…"
Li Xue stared in shock and suddenly caught on. She clapped her hands as she giggled, "Ingenious! An ingenious plan!"
Ling Tian smiled, as his mind began to set up the wheels of another scheme. His eyes grew ever brighter…..
"Oh that's right, Tian'ge, what level have you reached in your Divine Shocking Dragon Formula right now?" As Li Xue asked, it was unknown why, but her face started to get a little red.
Ling Tian sighed, "The ninth layer." As he spoke, he couldn't help but feel some sort of defeated feeling within his heart. He had already broken through to the ninth layer for quite some time and had even consumed the Great Cyclic Pellet totally. Together with the pressure brought about by Justice's pursuit, his cultivation realm achieved a major breakthrough, but he remained firmly stuck in the ninth layer, without a single feeling of stepping into the next layer. How worrying!
"Ninth layer? My God!" Li Xue couldn't help but exclaim in shock. "How the hell did you practice, we're about the same age, so how could you have such startling results, almost at the peak?"
"The peak?" Ling Tian suspiciously asked, before narrowing his eyes dangerously. "What do you mean?"
"Cough cough," Li Xue cleared her throat nervously, looking a little embarrassedly at Ling Tian, before finally forcing her mouth open, "Tian'ge, you also know that you were part of the branch family, so… cough cough cough…."
"The main family tampered with the Divine Shocking Dragon Formula that they gave us?" Ling Tian coldly replied. Since he was already living his second life, in a totally new world, whatever the case, there was no way he could seek out those old fogies to get his revenge. There was no point in blaming Li Xue for it, thus he quickly calmed down."
"It has indeed been tampered with." Li Xue slowly stated, "Starting from the fourth layer, the sutra has been made full of holes. If one continues to forcibly cultivate it, then while their martial arts will still show a rise, the damage to one's body will also be equally big. Those elders in your faction more or less have some sort of hidden injuries because of this reason. Do you know why the family in our previous life couldn't wait to get rid of you?"
Ling Tian remained silent. Upon recalling those elders of his in his past lives, screaming out in agony every time there was a drastic change in the weather, everyone had thought it was because of their old injuries flaring up, but to think that the actual reason was this!
"It was because you were a heaven-sent genius! There had never been a precedent where someone had rushed up to the sixth layer of the Divine Shocking Dragon Formula before twenty without suffering any sort of problems! So long as we gave you a few more years of time, then you would have broken past the seventh layer. By that time, you would have spotted the errors within the formula, and while we normally remain apart, there was bound to be a war! It could even be the reason for the decline of our family! However, the main family actually had no one that could suppress you! Thus at that time, an internal fight was already inevitable, so the clan decided that you had to first be removed, before using you to firmly press down the branch family!"
Ling Tian let out a cold smile, choosing to remain silent.