Zhu Lingyun shot him a glance.
Zheng Pingzhang's smile froze. "Is that wrong?"
Zhu Lingyun said, "Two more strikes, and I'll be dead first!"
"This..." Zheng Pingzhang did not understand.
Ji Qingyun said, "This scepter consumes too much mental energy."
Zhu Lingyun said blandly, "What it consumes is far more than mental energy."
"What else?"
"Lifespan." Zhu Lingyun said, "Those two strikes just now cost ninety years of lifespan!"
"Ah?!" Zheng Pingzhang jumped in fright. "Ninety years of lifespan?"
Zhu Lingyun plucked a white hair from his head and released it, watching it drift gently to the ground.
Without his noticing, several white hairs had already appeared on his head.
He drew the Golden Scepter from his sleeve again and tossed it to Zheng Pingzhang. "Try it."
Zheng Pingzhang caught it as though it were a red-hot branding iron, wishing he could throw it away at once.
He forced a smile. "I'd better not try it."
Ji Qingyun's expression changed as well. "It actually consumes lifespan?"
Zhu Lingyun said, "How many times have you used it?"
Ji Qingyun hurriedly shook his head. "It couldn't be used before. I only used it once."
"If it was once, it should have cost ten years of lifespan. The second time costs thirty years, the third sixty years, the fourth a hundred years... more or less." Zhu Lingyun chuckled softly. "Your luck is rather good."
Zheng Pingzhang hurriedly laughed. "The Sect Master has always had excellent luck. Otherwise, how could he have obtained such a treasure?"
Ji Qingyun said, "It's hard to say whether this thing is really a treasure."
Its power was indeed formidable, but its backlash was equally ferocious, and the conditions for using it were harsh.
After using it, one would become meat on the chopping block. If the enemy had