He also knew the consequences of refusing Zhou Shou Xian. He was taking benefits from the man, yet when trouble arose, he refused to step forward—where in this world was there such an easy bargain? Whether he could continue receiving benefits from the man in the future was another matter, but once word of this got out, no other force would dare hire him either. Who would employ someone who retreated whenever trouble came?
The consequences could not be called anything but severe; it was no different from ruining his own future. Yet he understood even better that this was something he simply could not do. Going there would be no more than delivering himself to his death. Though he too was a Golden Core cultivator, he knew perfectly well that he was no match for Bai Yao, not to mention the Tianyu Sect behind Bai Yao. Once this matter came to light, the Tianyu Sect would never let him off. Those sect people were unwilling to openly fall out with the Tianyu Sect—where would a wandering cultivator like him find such courage? Only someone tired of living would dare.
Refusing Zhou Shou Xian might ruin his future, but at least it would preserve his life. So long as he was alive, everything remained possible. Once dead, there would be nothing left.
For him to say, "Please seek someone more capable," showed that he knew he had let down Zhou Shou Xian's patronage. Zhou Shou Xian would not need to drive him away; he would leave on his own.
Zhou Shou Xian waved a hand and persuaded him kindly. "Hear me out first. I am not asking you to go alone. I have already secretly deployed ten thousand elite troops to lie in ambush along Shang Chaozong's inevitable route, where