"Master Han, I say this man is dead. Do you agree?"
Yang Wuji held the young scholar's corpse by the throat and spoke with a hint of smugness.
Master Han sighed. "Fellow Daoist, how cunning you are. With your cultivation, once you have this young man in your grasp and sever the vitality of his body, his life and death are yours to dictate. What difference does my agreement make?"
Yang Wuji admitted frankly, "Indeed. If you say he is dead, I will infuse him with vitality, restore the vigorous Yang of his blood and qi, and awaken the latent potential of his soul. He will return to life in an instant. But if you say he is alive, I will destroy his soul and shatter his true spirit, denying him even rebirth!"
"Even so, this is a wager, and you must choose. Tell me whether you think this man is alive or dead."
Master Han said, "Heaven cherishes life. Naturally, this old man hopes that he lives."
"Ha ha ha ha!" Yang Wuji laughed heartily. "Aren't you afraid I'll actually kill him?"
Master Han said, "Life and death are ordained by fate."
At those words, Yang Wuji said nothing more. He unleashed his magic power and truly shattered the young scholar's soul and true spirit with his own strength.
With his strength as a Great Power, it all happened in the flash of lightning and the strike of flint. No one in the world could have saved the scholar. Once his soul shattered and his true spirit was annihilated, even gods and immortals could not save him. He was dead in the ordinary sense of the word.
Just as Yang Wuji himself had said, life and death lay entirely within his grasp.
This was a wager between two Great