Persuading Tang Ya

### The inn.

When they returned to the inn, the sky was still bright; after all, they had set out in the morning.

Even with enrollment and the tour, only a few hours had passed.

It was far from nightfall when they returned.

The first thing Tang Ya did upon entering the room was draw the curtains. She did not like brightness; she preferred the night.

Because the night allowed her to hide from many things.

"Go on, Xiao Mu. What is it?"

Tang Ya asked Jiang Mu with her hands behind her back.

"Well, I want you, Xiao Ya, to join the force I'll establish in the future and work for me."

Jiang Mu spoke calmly.

Tang Ya's expression visibly trembled the moment he said that. Instinctively, she opened her mouth to refuse him, but then stopped herself with a raised hand.

"Tang San's growth relied entirely on the complete Xuantian Treasure Record. And his martial soul was never some ordinary Blue Silver Grass—it was the Blue Silver Emperor."

"With the mindset he had when using hidden weapons, there was no way he was some selfless saint. Why would he completely pass down the cultivation method he relied on to become a god? It must have been altered."

Tang Ya's expression stiffened further. She had thought this was going to be a heartfelt confession. Apparently, she had overthought it.

Tang Ya had indeed taken in everything Jiang Mu said, but after hearing it all, her mind felt even more muddled.

"Blue Silver Emperor?"

After a long pause, she finally sorted through the information and retorted.

"I know about the Blue Silver Emperor, but the Tang Sect records say that Sea God Tang San used his supreme methods to evolve ordinary Blue Silver Grass into the Blue Silver Emperor."

Jiang Mu spread his hands at that.

"Tang San's mother was the Blue Silver Emperor. He already had the Blue Silver Emperor bloodline in his body; all he needed later was a little guidance. What supreme method could there have been?"

After saying this, Jiang Mu saw that Tang Ya still looked somewhat doubtful. He immediately realized that the conditioning had not gone deep enough. These things had been ingrained in her memory, stories she had heard since childhood, so naturally she did not fully believe him.

He decided to put it another way.

"Xiao Ya, I trust you. There's something else I'm about to tell you, and I hope you'll keep it secret."

Tang Ya nodded.

Jiang Mu said, "Actually, I've had a special ability since childhood. The reason I appeared on the outskirts of Star Dou Forest at that time was to save you."

"Save me?"

Tang Ya was clearly confused by his jumping from topic to topic and blankly tilted her head.

But Jiang Mu answered with utmost seriousness.

"That's right. I know that in the future, because your strength will be insufficient and your eyes will be clouded by hatred, you'll develop your talent. After going to the Tang Sect's former site to hunt members of the Ironblood Sect, you'll be captured by the Holy Spirit Cult and eventually become a machine that knows only slaughter."

At the mention of talent, Tang Ya's eyes flickered. This was something she had never told anyone, not even Bei Bei.

"You... how do you know that?"

How could Jiang Mu possibly know?

Did he really have some special ability?

Seeing Tang Ya hesitate, Jiang Mu knew he had to strike while the iron was hot and continued.

"Of course I know. I told you, I have this ability because I want to save you. I don't want to see you become a tool in the future, which is why I'm trying so hard to persuade you."

"But what does this have to do with the Tang Sect?"

At last, she had asked the key question. Jiang Mu answered without hesitation.

"I know Tang San began cultivating the Mysterious Heaven Technique as a child. The Mysterious Heaven Technique can even raise one's innate soul power. Tang San's full innate soul power was raised that way. Otherwise, ordinary Blue Silver Grass without an awakened bloodline would have been enough to drag down the Clear Sky Hammer and lower the quality of his martial souls, turning him into a pair of utterly useless twin martial souls."

"Could the Mysterious Heaven Technique you cultivate be practiced from childhood to raise innate soul power?"

Tang Ya shook her head. She had never heard of such a thing. "Innate soul power can be raised?"

"Of course."

"I only started cultivating the Mysterious Heaven Technique after awakening my martial soul."

"So it was incomplete from the start."

Jiang Mu knew she still found it hard to believe. Exposing what she had been taught since childhood made him seem like a villain, and it was not easy for her to comprehend either, which was why he had chosen this way of explaining it.

"The Xuantian Treasure Record records the Mysterious Heaven Technique, Mysterious Jade Hand, Purple Demon Eyes..."

Jiang Mu gave a quick and simple explanation of the cultivation methods passed down by the Tang Sect.

Tang Ya grew more shocked the longer she listened. She had never shared these things with outsiders. How could he possibly know all of them?

"Xiao Mu, do you really have some special ability?"

"Aren't you curious? So many hidden weapons can only display their greatest value when used with poison, yet the inherited Xuantian Treasure Record contains no explanation of poisons at all?"

Tang Ya stared fixedly at the hidden weapon in Jiang Mu's hand. It was a weapon she had always recognized as the strongest since childhood.

Yet now she was being told that hidden weapons had never displayed their greatest value, because Tang San had concealed their most important function.

Her thoughts raced as she desperately sorted through the information Jiang Mu had given her. Her way of thinking was changing as well.

Jiang Mu was about to continue, but he saw a tear slide from the corner of Tang Ya's eye.

"I... I don't know what to do anymore."

Seeing this, Jiang Mu clearly knew that Tang Ya had already believed him.

This was somewhat different from what he had imagined,

but as long as it could change her mindset, it was good.

"I'm saying all this only because I hope you understand that no one is truly generous. Even the Tang San you admire, Sea God Tang San, is no exception. Don't put him on such a pedestal. He never took you, the Tang Sect's sect master, seriously. He kept things from you, so why should you still revere him as the foundation of your sect?"

"You've already done enough. Or rather, your entire family has already done enough."

Jiang Mu stepped forward and raised a hand to wipe the tears from Tang Ya's cheeks.

"If you want revenge, join my force. I can turn your martial soul into the Blue Silver Emperor and awaken your true talent. Then, you'll be able to take revenge yourself."

"Really?"

Tang Ya gradually went limp and threw herself into Jiang Mu's arms.

"Can you really evolve my Blue Silver Grass into the Blue Silver Emperor?"

"Of course. I won't lie to you."

Jiang Mu nodded. He had refined essence blood containing the Blue Silver Emperor bloodline. Even if it could not evolve her martial soul, it could still improve its quality, perhaps into the Blue Silver King.

At worst, he could refine more of it. From king to emperor—if it truly could not evolve, he could later wipe out the remaining Blue Silver Emperor and still raise Tang Ya's martial soul.

This was his promise to Tang Ya.

"Alright, Xiao Mu. As long as you can evolve my Blue Silver Grass, I'll join your sect as you said."

Tang Ya tightened her arms around Jiang Mu. Their bodies pressed close together, and both could feel the warmth and scent radiating from the other.

Tang Ya had figured it out. Why should she serve someone who guarded against even the sect master among the descendants who had established his own power?

Just as Jiang Mu said, it would be better for them to build a new force, one that held their shared memories.

Whoever helped her take revenge, she would help them.

Her parents had already died for the Tang Sect. They owed the Tang Sect nothing more.