Nightmare Dragon Pearl

As expected of a disciple of the demonic path, Yang Ning had to admit that he was tempted.

Not to mention the Dragon Pearl itself—just its ability to turn silver fish into Seven-Colored Rainbow Silver Fish after being soaked in water meant he could not give it up!

But—

"Why would Taiheng Sect no longer tolerate me if I took this Dragon Pearl?" Yang Ning asked. "I could hand over the inheritance inside it, couldn't I?"

"You can try!" Tuo Buchuan shrugged. "By then, I'll already be dead anyway. I won't be able to meddle in your affairs!"

Yang Ning fell silent. Was he really that confident in Taiheng Sect, convinced they would target him?

Logically speaking, handing over the cultivation method should have been a win-win arrangement.

But Yang Ning had come through five thousand years of history. He knew perfectly well that sometimes, even if you wanted a win-win outcome, the other side would not be willing to let you win.

Developed countries hoped developing countries would remain forever developing, while the rich hoped the poor would remain forever poor. Nothing could be more normal.

"But what if I take this Dragon Pearl and then you expose me?" Yang Ning asked. Wouldn't that mean that even if he did not want to become enemies with Taiheng Sect, he would have no choice?

At the very least, he would have to stand against Lin Tianheng!

Although they were opponents even now, Lin Tianheng did not know that. Yang Ning was in the shadows, while Lin Tianheng was in the light!

"Pfft!" Tuo Buchuan laughed. "If I told Lin Tianheng, he'd turn around, crush you to death, and take the inheritance for himself. What would I gain from that? Do I look like the kind of person who enjoys helping others? Helping the person who killed me, no less?"

"But what if I take the Dragon Pearl and don't do anything?" Yang Ning asked again. "What if I neither hand it over nor fall out with Taiheng Sect, and just coexist peacefully with them? Wouldn't you have dug this pit for nothing?"

"That would only mean I don't understand Taiheng Sect well enough. Then I can only resign myself to fate." Tuo Buchuan sighed, his expression turning foul again. "So, do you want it or not? Keep dawdling and I'll choose someone else. You're not the only bookboy!"

"One last question!" Yang Ning hurriedly asked. "You snatched something from him and then gave the Dragon Pearl to me. How will you explain that to Lin Tianheng? Where did it go?"

"Tch, my ring has plenty of beads in it. He has no idea that particular bead is a Dragon Pearl, so how would he know which one it was?" At this point, Tuo Buchuan's face darkened even further. "Just thinking about my hundred years of collection falling into his hands makes me sick. Enough nonsense. Hold out your hand!"

"If I take this Dragon Pearl, the Nightmare Qi won't erode me, will it?" Yang Ning asked again.

"Why do you have so many questions? I carried it around all the way here and nothing happened. How could it be so easy for it to erode you?" Tuo Buchuan pointed, and a cut immediately opened on Yang Ning's palm. Then Tuo Buchuan grabbed the Dragon Pearl and pressed it onto the wound.

"Ah!" Yang Ning cried out. The process of the Dragon Pearl acknowledging its master actually required blood?

It was not troublesome—it was simply far too easy, wasn't it?

"It really is you! Why?" Watching blood continuously seep into the Dragon Pearl, Tuo Buchuan stared blankly at Yang Ning. He had never heard of a Dragon Pearl choosing its master. Perhaps he had simply never seen one before, but the biographies and notes left behind by his predecessors had never mentioned anything like this either!

Could it be that those who obtained Dragon Pearls had happened to be the people chosen by them, while he was merely someone delivering a Dragon Pearl to its chosen master?

Seeing Yang Ning's face turn pale, Tuo Buchuan wordlessly scooped up several Seven-Colored Rainbow Silver Fish from the water. Without even cutting them up, he stuffed them straight into Yang Ning's mouth.

Body Tempering Realm cultivators could eat practically anything. They could even chew up fish bones. Tuo Buchuan came from the Myriad Saint Demonic Cult and had eaten like this since childhood, so he did not feel there was anything wrong with it.

Yang Ning nearly choked to death, but driven by his instinct to survive, he accepted everything that came his way, swallowing one fish per bite.

Half an hour later, the Dragon Pearl in his hand flashed and suddenly vanished before their eyes.

"It's done!" Tuo Buchuan said with a resentful expression. "You can leave now!"

"I..." Although Yang Ning had eaten plenty of fish, he had lost too much blood at once and had yet to recover. He had become even more haggard than Tuo Buchuan. Already seriously injured, he barely managed to stand, only to nearly fall after taking a single step.

"Oh, right, these are yours!" Tuo Buchuan handed Yang Ning the talismans, the Spirit Artifact chisel, and a bottle of Grain Abstinence Pills.

"What about you?" Yang Ning put away his things and swallowed a Grain Abstinence Pill first. It was made from excellent medicinal ingredients and was just right for replenishing blood.

Sure enough, after swallowing it, his body felt much better.

Before leaving, Yang Ning adjusted his emotions and revealed a trace of concern at the proper moment.

After all, logically speaking, Tuo Buchuan had told him many truths that would otherwise have taken him years to uncover.

Whether those truths were real or false, and whether Tuo Buchuan had selfish motives, at least they would make him more cautious and keep him from trusting the sect too foolishly. In the end, Tuo Buchuan had helped him.

Of course, perhaps that was Tuo Buchuan's very purpose. But Yang Ning would judge for himself what was true and what was false.

Yang Ning was a bewildered twelve-year-old boy right now, so he ought to show all kinds of emotions—conflict, reluctance, and the like.

"What else can I do? Die, of course!" Tuo Buchuan waved a hand. "But I won't die at Lin Tianheng's hands. Oh, right, do you have any enemies? If you do, I'll help you kill them!"

"Uh, no." His only two enemies were Zhao Bu and Lin Tianheng. Zhao Bu had already been killed by Lin Tianheng, while Tuo Buchuan could not defeat Lin Tianheng.

Besides, Yang Ning could not possibly tell Tuo Buchuan that he bore hostility toward Lin Tianheng.

"Fine!" Tuo Buchuan nodded. "Take the water route. It leaves fewer traces. You can swim, right?"

"Mm!" Yang Ning nodded. He originally could not, but after learning the Calm Lake Lone Boat Meditation Method, he could.

"Then leave straight from here!" Tuo Buchuan pointed at the waterfall beside them. "Every extra step means a little more exposure. Just jump!"

"Uh..." How high was it outside? Would he fall to his death?

He was still seriously injured!

But Yang Ning also felt that Tuo Buchuan had no reason to set him up right after investing in him.

Jump, then!

Yang Ning sprinted two steps and leaped forward, but before he had even flown two meters, a vast force surged into him from behind.

It was the impact of the waterfall, with its drop of over a thousand meters!

"Fuck!"

Watching Yang Ning's figure vanish into the waterfall, Tuo Buchuan blinked.

Since he was someone chosen by the Dragon Pearl, he should not die so easily, right? If he died, would not this Dragon Pearl have been given away for nothing?

Unfortunately, Tuo Buchuan was about to die, so he would have no chance to verify it.

Turning to look at the Seven-Colored Rainbow Silver Fish in the stream, Tuo Buchuan's eyes lit up. With one scoop of his hand, he caught more than a dozen and directly fished out all the remaining Seven-Colored Rainbow Silver Fish.

Then he ate only their middles, taking only one bite from each!

Though they were merely mortal delicacies, even Golden Core True Persons would enjoy them. If Lin Tianheng saw the ground covered in Seven-Colored Rainbow Silver Fish that had each been bitten only once, would he not be furious to death?

Hahaha!

"Oh, right, there are also these footprints and bloodstains!" Just as he was about to clean up the place where Yang Ning had lain, Tuo Buchuan discovered that the ground was spotless.

Not only was the blood from Yang Ning's cut palm gone, even the blood that had dripped earlier from his twisted arm had vanished. Tuo Buchuan's task became easy—he merely needed to lie down where he was and conceal the traces a little.

"This Dragon Pearl really eats cleanly. Could it be a Blood Dragon?" Tuo Buchuan scratched his head. What inheritance did the Blood Dragon Pearl carry again? The Bloodthirsty True Scripture?

That inheritance was rather conspicuous. It would be discovered after being used only a couple of times.

I hope he'll be all right!

Tuo Buchuan stretched out a finger again and began carving words into the wall—greetings for the other party's parents and Dao Path, inherited through hundreds of thousands of years of cursing and mockery among disciples of the Myriad Saint Demonic Cult—until they filled the entire wall.

"Lin Tianheng, even in death, I'll disgust you one last time!"