A Frank Talk

As the dizziness in his mind faded, Ye Wudao opened his eyes.

Hu Lianfeng held his mobile bed in the air to keep him from falling to the ground and worsening his injuries.

Seeing this, Ye Wudao felt a little warmth in his heart.

He sighed inwardly. If Hu Lianfeng didn't have his eye on making me his cultivation furnace, he'd be a pretty good master.

He struggled to turn his head and looked around.

They weren't at the edge of the cliff or in the dense forest. They were on a beach.

He even saw several business vans not far away, though their own vehicle was nowhere to be seen.

"Master, where are we?"

Ye Wudao asked Hu Lianfeng softly.

Hu Lianfeng shrugged and sighed. "We'll have to walk a bit. We landed on the other side from where we came in."

"The Sea City Rift has one drawback: it randomly transports people to the beaches on either side of the cliff."

"If you're unlucky, your vehicle is parked on one side, but you land on the other when you come back. Then you have to take a long detour."

With that, he pushed Ye Wudao's mobile bed forward.

He had only taken two steps when he stopped.

The mobile bed's wheels had sunk deep into the sand.

The sand on this side was softer, and the mobile bed's wheels were small, so they sank into it easily.

Hu Lianfeng shook his head helplessly and lifted Ye Wudao off the bed.

"I'll have to carry you. This mobile bed won't roll across the beach. If anything hurts, tell me!"

He spoke softly to Ye Wudao.

Ye Wudao nodded. "Master, sorry for the trouble!"

Hu Lianfeng sighed. "What trouble? You wouldn't be this badly injured if it weren't for me!"

Then he carried Ye Wudao along the beach.

He walked at a decent pace, but Ye Wudao barely felt any jostling.

Moonlight filtered through the clouds and fell on them, as if coating them in silver.

After walking for about seven or eight minutes, Ye Wudao looked up at the cliff and asked, puzzled, "Master, is this the cliff we jumped from?"

"Why can't I see that Rift from here?"

Hu Lianfeng smiled. "Space is three-dimensional, but a Rift is two-dimensional."

"So we can only see the Rift from its front. You can't see it from the back."

"It's like a tear in your clothes. You can see what's behind the clothes through the hole."

"But if you dig a hole in the sand, you can't see what's behind the sand, because there's only more sand and dirt behind it."

"Otherwise, why do you think there are guards only in the forest, despite how enormous that Rift is?"

Ye Wudao nodded. Hu Lianfeng had explained it simply enough for him to understand.

As Hu Lianfeng carried him, he gazed at the moon overhead and gradually lost himself in thought.

After a while, Hu Lianfeng asked softly, "Disciple, let me ask you: do you know the true purpose of the Northern Dark Divine Art?"

Those words instantly brought Ye Wudao back to the present.

He looked at Hu Lianfeng's serious face and thought, No way! Did he figure it out? He shouldn't have. I didn't give myself away!

Seeing that Ye Wudao didn't respond, Hu Lianfeng already had a good idea of the answer.

He smiled. "You must have figured it out, right? After all, the last few lines of the Northern Dark Divine Art are pretty explicit."

"You've already begun cultivating it, so it's only natural you'd see through it."

"Just say it openly. Even if you know, I won't make a move against you before the time is right."

At that, Ye Wudao smiled.

He hadn't expected Hu Lianfeng to be so blunt.

He replied in a calm voice, "That's right. I've figured it out."

"'With Shaoshang, take another's inner strength and store it in my qi sea. Only the orthodox Xiaoyao Northern Dark Divine Art can do this. Take a measure, store a measure; it never leaks, and grows ever more abundant, like the vast waters of the Northern Dark Sea, able to bear a giant fish spanning a thousand miles.'"

"This passage describes how the Northern Dark Divine Art can absorb another person's inner strength to strengthen its user."

"But if you hadn't told me the last few lines of the technique, I wouldn't have guessed your intentions so easily."

Hu Lianfeng smiled at that. "You mean the warnings in the technique?"

"'If the enemy's inner strength exceeds mine, the sea will pour backward into the rivers. The danger is beyond measure. Take great care, take great care.'"

"'Therefore, anyone who has ever practiced inner cultivation must completely forget their previous training and devote themselves to the new technique. If even the slightest trace is mixed in or goes awry, the two arts will clash, causing immediate madness and blood-vomiting, and crippling every meridian. It is the most perilous thing imaginable.'"

Ye Wudao replied softly, "Those two warnings basically mean you can't absorb the inner strength of someone stronger than yourself, or of someone who practices a different inner art. You can only absorb the strength of someone who also practices the Northern Dark Divine Art."

"When I saw those two lines, I more or less understood what was going on."

"My mother told me that no one in this world is kind to you for no reason."

Hu Lianfeng fell silent for a moment, then smiled. "I never expected you to have such a talent for understanding cultivation techniques."

"Those two lines were mixed in with the incantation. Even when I first encountered the Northern Dark Divine Art, I couldn't make sense of them. It was my master who explained them to me later."

"No wonder Elder Qin said your future achievements would surely surpass mine."

Ye Wudao looked surprised, then caught on and murmured, "Elder Qin?"

He glanced at Hu Lianfeng and more or less understood.

No wonder Hu Lianfeng was telling him all this. Elder Qin must have spoken with Hu Lianfeng.

Hu Lianfeng paid no heed to Ye Wudao's surprised expression. He merely said, "Elder Qin told me to decide for myself."

"I want to know what you think."

Ye Wudao was silent for a while, then said softly, "To be honest, I'm grateful that you taught me martial arts."

"But I still have to avenge myself. If you really intend to use me as a cultivation furnace, I certainly won't just sit back and wait to die."

Hu Lianfeng nodded. "That's only natural."

He paused, then continued, "I'll be honest with you, too. I really did plan to devour your inner strength when you reached Houtian Minor Accomplishment."

"Elder Qin told me that even if I devoured your inner strength, I still wouldn't be able to reach the Xiantian Realm."

"I'm already over seventy. A Houtian Realm practitioner can live to, at most, a little over a hundred. I don't think I'll ever get out."

"Rather than gamble on an uncertain outcome, I'd rather choose the path with a greater chance of success."

"Elder Qin said you had good talent in the Martial Path, and I believe him."

"So I've changed my mind. I want you to help me get revenge!"

Ye Wudao was stunned. He hadn't expected Hu Lianfeng to speak so openly with him about this while he was injured.

He asked quietly, "Is your enemy the Houtian Minor Accomplishment practitioner you mentioned?"

Hu Lianfeng smiled and shook his head. "No. I made that up."

"In my life, I've never left things unfinished."

"I'd never let a Houtian Minor Accomplishment martial artist live, and I'd never keep him in my thoughts."

"The weak don't deserve to be my enemies!"

"My true enemy is the Zhang Family, the undisputed ruler among all the families in Sea City."

"Back when I reached Houtian Great Accomplishment, I was full of confidence, but I accidentally offended Zhang Yuanlin."

"That bastard Zhang Yuanlin ignored the rules of the martial world and slaughtered all six members of my family."

"To avenge them, I killed thirty people from Zhang Yuanlin's wife's family."

"Then I turned myself in and entered Haicheng First Prison."

"I knew that was the only way to escape the Zhang Family's assassins."

"No matter how powerful the Zhang Family was, they wouldn't dare sneak into Haicheng First Prison to kill me. After all, the prison system was connected to the Rift world, and Grandmaster Realm experts kept an eye on it."

Ye Wudao pressed his lips together and asked, "What level of cultivation did this Zhang Yuanlin have?"

Hu Lianfeng gave a disdainful snort. "Zhang Yuanlin? He was only at Houtian Minor Accomplishment."

"The truly terrifying one wasn't Zhang Yuanlin, but his father, Zhang Jianye."

"Zhang Jianye was a Xiantian Great Accomplishment martial artist, and the only one among all the families in Sea City. In Sea City, only the commander of the Demon Slayer Guard could keep him in check. Everyone else had to go out of their way to avoid him."

"Let me tell you something else about Elder Qin."

"As it happens, Elder Qin was also sent to Haicheng First Prison by Zhang Jianye himself after offending the Zhang Family."

"Elder Qin was the leader of the Azure Dragon Gang, once the biggest gang in Sea City. He was at Xiantian Minor Accomplishment, and in all of Sea City, he'd been able to walk with his head held high."

"Unfortunately, Zhang Jianye broke through to Xiantian Great Accomplishment first."

"Elder Qin lost by just one move, and the Azure Dragon Gang's legacy went up in smoke."

"If you can win Elder Qin's support, you'll have a chance of helping me get revenge."

"The condition is that your talent in the Martial Path has to impress him."

"Right now, Elder Qin is merely paying attention to you. You're still a long way from winning him over."