Painful Lesson

Ye Qin faced Nan Tianba across a thin barrier of light atop the Floating Island's great stone stele.

"White-haired brat, don't let me find an opening. When I do, I'll grind your bones to dust and scatter your Primordial Spirit to the winds, so you'll vanish forever. Believe me?" Nan Tianba glared as he pressed himself against the barrier, pointing at Ye Qin inside and cursing him out.

"Save it until you can break through the barrier. If you can't, don't make such a bold claim. Yellow Sphere, you don't seem all that powerful to me. What was that Fireball Technique you used just now?"

"White-haired brat, you tell me who you are first. How'd you end up in this damned place?"

"No, you first."

"Fine. I used an immortal spell, the Fireball Technique. Your turn. What kind of damned place is this?"

The two of them kept trying to outdo each other with their words.

But Ye Qin was secretly plotting. This yellow sphere was the first being he had ever met who was truly like him. The things it casually mentioned—"Possession Technique," "Qi Refining Stage," "Fireball Technique," and the like—filled him with wonder and astonishment. At the same time, he was deeply encouraged; they had revealed a glimpse of the path ahead. He wanted to coax out more things he had never heard of from the yellow sphere.

After all, Ye Qin had always cultivated the Sitting-in-Forgetfulness Sutra alone. He vaguely knew he seemed to have stepped into some mysterious, unknown world, but he was utterly in the dark about it. Now he had met a senior expert many times stronger than himself. Everything felt utterly novel, and naturally he wanted to use the chance to learn more about this world from its mouth, to discover where the path ahead would lead.

A crafty gleam flickered in Nan Tianba's eyes as he thought, This brat doesn't even know what the Fireball Technique is. He's probably just a low-level Rogue Cultivator at the Qi Refining Stage who stumbled onto the immortal path by chance. I may as well trick him a little and see what I can get out of him.

After all, it also wanted to find out from Ye Qin what this Floating Island was, why Ye Qin was here, how it had ended up here, and where those White Glows came from. The questions had been eating it alive.

If Nan Tianba was a sinister, cunning old fox with a wealth of experience, then Ye Qin was certainly a sly little fox, too, with his own schemes.

Ye Qin played dumb and refused to say where the Floating Island was.

He only said that he had arrived here by chance half a year ago and discovered the island. He had blundered inside the barrier, and the great stone stele had recognized him as its master, making him the lord of this Household Island. He knew everything about the place. As for the White Glows, they all obeyed his commands. If he told them to appear, they would; if he told them to stay away, they wouldn't show.

Ye Qin sweet-talked and bluffed, demanding an outrageous price: Nan Tianba had to do as he said, or the Floating Island would never produce another White Glow.

Nan Tianba was cunning and worldly, with far more experience than Ye Qin. How could it possibly believe him so easily? The idea that a mighty fourth-layer Qi Refining cultivator like itself would obey a little nobody at the second layer was a huge joke.

But the White Glows held far too much temptation for Nan Tianba. Though it had its doubts about Ye Qin's words, it would rather believe they were true than risk them being false.

"Brat, if you can make those White Glows appear again, I'll believe everything you've said. If you can't, then don't expect me to believe you again."

"I can make them appear, but you can't touch them. Those White Glows are mine. You're not allowed to lay a finger on them!"

"Fine. I won't touch them."

"Swear it first."

"Hmph, you don't trust me? Fine. If I touch them, may I die without descendants. Is that enough?" Nan Tianba savored the taste of the White Glows again, licked its lips, and casually swore an extremely vicious oath.

Only after hearing it swear that oath did Ye Qin set his mind at ease and shift his divine sense outside. After consuming a stalk of Dew Grass, he sat down to cultivate. No matter what, though there was now a threat inside his Purple Mansion, he couldn't stop cultivating his technique.

Before long, wisps of White Glow appeared again across the Floating Island.

Nan Tianba was astonished and overjoyed. It darted toward them, having already tossed its oath aside.

Ye Qin's divine sense had only just returned to the Floating Island when he saw Nan Tianba breaking its oath, chasing the White Glows all over the island and devouring them.

So this is what the seniors of this world are like. An oath is worth less than a fart to them. They do whatever they want. Even people of the martial world know to keep their oaths, but in its eyes, they mean nothing at all.

I was still too naive. I actually believed that old scoundrel's empty promises. I thought I could use a little cleverness and bind it with an oath, but to that old scoundrel, such a trick probably wasn't even worth mentioning. The only hateful thing is that I have no way to deal with this shameless oath-breaker. In the end, it all comes down to strength. If I were strong enough, would I have to fear this old scoundrel brazenly stealing my vital energy?!

His face was livid, twisted with fury.

This directly led to Ye Qin's deep distrust of other cultivators in the years to come. He would never again believe in any so-called oaths or promises, trusting instead in his own strength as the only sure way to protect his interests.

What Ye Qin didn't know was that cultivators took oaths very seriously and wouldn't break their word lightly, lest they give rise to inner demons. But Nan Tianba was a lone ghost who knew it had no hope of cultivating immortality after death. Having nothing left to lose, it simply didn't care about its oath. As a result, Ye Qin became intensely wary of the entire cultivation world.

Ye Qin said nothing and stopped cultivating his vital energy. He had no way to deal with the old scoundrel. The only thing he could do was stop cultivating and refuse to let it benefit from him any further.

After devouring all the White Glows on the Floating Island, Nan Tianba cried out in surprise, "Hey, where'd all the White Glows go? Bring out some more. Just a little more. Hurry, hurry!"

Ye Qin glared at him and said in a frigid voice, "Old scoundrel, I curse you to die a horrible death without descendants. You still think you can trick my White Glows out of me? Do you think I'm that easy to fool? In your next life!"

Nan Tianba was taken aback by Ye Qin's vicious curse, then nearly laughed itself into a fit. "Brat, don't you know I've been a ghost for ages? I suffered a horrible death twenty years ago. My body was destroyed, leaving only my lone Primordial Spirit to drift through the world. If my Primordial Spirit hadn't luckily taken shelter inside a Cyan Jade Pendant, I'd have been scattered to the winds by the baleful energies of the mortal world, both yang and yin. You're cursing me to die a horrible death? Hahaha, that's hilarious! As if I could have died any worse!"