A Painful Lesson

Ye Qin stood on the Floating Island before the large stone tablet, separated from Nan Tianba by a thin layer of light.

"White-haired brat, don't let this old man find an opening, or I will surely grind your bones to dust and scatter your ashes. I will make your Primordial Spirit dissipate into nothingness, gone forever. Do you believe me?" Nan Tianba pressed his face against the light barrier, glaring at Ye Qin inside and cursing him roundly.

"Wait until you have the ability to break this barrier before you talk. If you don't have the skill, don't make such empty boasts. Yellow Sphere, I don't think your strength is all that impressive. What was that fireball you used just now?"

"White-haired brat, you tell me who you are first, and how you ended up in this godforsaken place?"

"No way, you go first."

"Fine, what I used was the immortal art known as the Fireball Technique. Now it's your turn to speak—what kind of hellish place is this?"

The two engaged in a battle of wits.

Ye Qin, however, harbored secret thoughts. This Yellow Sphere was the first of his kind he had ever truly encountered. The terms the Yellow Sphere mentioned—"Possession Technique," "Qi Refining Stage," "Fireball Technique"—all left him feeling astonished and shaken. At the same time, he felt a surge of excitement; a corner of his future path had finally been unveiled. He wanted to fish for information from the Yellow Sphere about things he had never heard of before.

One must know that Ye Qin had previously practiced the Sitting-in-Forgetfulness Sutra in solitude. He had vaguely sensed that he had stepped into some mysterious, unknown world, but he had been completely in the dark, knowing nothing about it. Now that he had encountered a senior expert far stronger than himself, everything felt incredibly novel. Naturally, he wanted to take this opportunity to learn more about this world and discover where his future path might lead.

Cunning flickered in Nan Tianba's eyes as he mused, This brat doesn't even know what a Fireball Technique is. He's likely just a small, wandering cultivator in the Qi Refining Stage who stumbled onto the path of immortality by pure luck. I might as well fool him and pry some information out of him.

After all, it also wanted to understand what this Floating Island was, why Ye Qin was here, why it had arrived here, and where those White Glows came from. These questions had been eating away at it.

If Nan Tianba was a sinister, cunning, and experienced old fox, then Ye Qin was undoubtedly a smaller fox, calculating his own little schemes.

Ye Qin played dumb, refusing to say a word about where the Floating Island was located.

He merely claimed that he had arrived here by accident half a year ago and discovered the island. He had stumbled into the light barrier, and the large stone tablet had accepted him as its master, making him the lord of this island, fully aware of everything within it. As for the White Glows, they all obeyed his commands; he could make them appear or vanish at will.

Ye Qin cajoled and deceived, making outrageous demands that Nan Tianba must follow his arrangements, or else not a single wisp of White Glow would ever appear on the island again.

Nan Tianba was an old, slippery fox, far more experienced than Ye Qin; there was no way it would easily believe his words. The idea of a high-level expert at the fourth layer of the Qi Refining Stage submitting to the whims of a small fry at the second layer was a massive joke.

However, the temptation of the White Glows was too great. Even though it harbored doubts, it preferred to believe they were real rather than risk that they weren't.

"Brat, if you can make those White Glows appear again, I will believe everything you say. If you can't, hmph, don't expect me to believe you ever again."

"I can make them come out, but you are not allowed to touch them. Those White Glows are mine; you cannot move!"

"Fine, I won't touch them."

"Swear it first."

"Hmph, you actually don't trust me. Fine! If I touch them, may I be left without descendants! Is that enough for you?" Nan Tianba recalled the taste of the White Glows, licked his lips, and casually swore a vicious oath.

Hearing the venomous oath, Ye Qin finally set his mind at ease and shifted his consciousness back to the outside world. After consuming a stalk of Dew Grass, he began to meditate. Regardless of the situation, even though a threat now existed within his Purple Mansion, he could not stop his cultivation.

Soon, wisps of White Glow appeared once more within the Floating Island.

Nan Tianba was astonished and overjoyed. It flew toward the White Glows, having long since tossed its venomous oath to the back of its mind.

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

So this is what the seniors of this world are like. A so-called venomous oath isn't even worth a fart; they do whatever they please. Even commoners in the pugilistic world know to honor their oaths, yet in its eyes, it means nothing.

It seems I was too naive to believe the empty words of this old thief. I thought I could use my petty cleverness and a venomous oath to restrain it, but to this old scoundrel, such tricks are likely not even worth mentioning. It is hateful that I have no means or methods to deal with this shameless, oath-breaking thief. In the end, one must rely on strength. If I had sufficient strength, would I fear this old thief openly robbing my vital energy like this?!

His face turned ashen, looking exceptionally grim.

This incident directly led to Ye Qin's severe lack of trust in other cultivators in the future. He would never again easily believe in any so-called oaths or promises, choosing instead to believe that his own strength was the only guarantee to ensure his interests remained unharmed.

In truth, Ye Qin did not know that cultivators generally valued oaths highly and would not break them easily for fear of developing inner demons. It was only because Nan Tianba, this lonely ghost, knew it had no hope of further cultivation after death that it had abandoned all restraint and disregarded the oath. This, in turn, caused Ye Qin to develop a high level of vigilance toward the entire cultivation world.

Ye Qin said nothing and stopped his cultivation of vital energy. He had no way to deal with the old thief, so the only solution was to stop practicing and prevent the thief from gaining any further advantage.

Nan Tianba finished devouring all the White Glows on the island and shouted in surprise, "Hey, why are there no more White Glows? Give me more, give me more! Quick, quick!"

Ye Qin glared at it fiercely and said in a cold voice, "Old thief, I curse you to a miserable death, to be left without descendants. You still want to trick me out of my White Glows? Do you think I'm that easy to fool? Not in your next life."

Hearing Ye Qin curse him with such vicious words, Nan Tianba was stunned, then nearly laughed until it had a cramp. "Brat, do you not know that I have long since become a ghost? I already died a miserable death twenty years ago. My physical body was destroyed, leaving only my Primordial Spirit to wander the world as a lonely soul. If my Primordial Spirit hadn't luckily been stored within a Cyan Jade Pendant, avoiding the Yang Sha and Yin Sha of the mortal world, I would have long since dissipated into nothingness. You are cursing me to a miserable death? Hahaha, you're killing me with laughter! Do you think I could have possibly had a good death?"