Li Tianjiao Had Only Himself to Blame

"Extra! Extra! Li Ziye of the Yuzhou Li Clan has become the Plum Blossom Sword Immortal's disciple!"

"Extra! Extra! Li Ziye recreated the Taiji Sword Art! Heavenly phenomena descended, and ten thousand swords bowed low!"

"Extra! Extra! The Plum Blossom Sword Immortal said Li Ziye of the Li Family has the makings of a sword immortal!"

"Extra! Extra! The Plum Blossom Fairy intends to become Dao companions with Li Ziye of the Li Family!"

"Pfft!"

In the rear courtyard of the Li residence, Li Ziye sprayed out a mouthful of tea after hearing the rumors circulating through Yuzhou City from a household servant.

"I never told anyone to spread that!"

Seeing the strange look Zhang Lata gave him, Li Ziye immediately explained, "I only told people to spread the news that Old Qin had taken me as her disciple. I really don't know anything about becoming Dao companions."

"Oh."

Zhang Lata replied blandly, "I believe you."

Like hell I believe you!

"Young Master, Fairy Qin is here."

Just then, another servant hurried over and announced.

"Oh, no."

Li Ziye's expression turned alarmed. Had Old Qin come to call him to account?

Before Li Ziye could gather his wits, however, a graceful figure entered the rear courtyard. Her steps were unhurried, yet she crossed the distance as though it were nothing. In the blink of an eye, she was beside the lake.

Qin Enuo glanced at Li Ziye without saying anything, then turned her gaze to Zhang Lata beside him and said calmly, "You really are here."

"Fairy Qin, long time no see."

Zhang Lata opened his eyes and smiled faintly.

"Not that long. We only met two days ago."

Qin Enuo stepped forward. "I'm curious. Why would you help him?"

"He's rich. With money, you can make ghosts turn a millstone."

Zhang Lata spoke as though it were only natural. "Weren't you repeatedly going easy on him because you accepted his Fish Intestine Sword and Heavenly Silkworm Soft Armor?"

Qin Enuo fell silent. A moment later, she said earnestly, "I took a liking to his martial talent."

"Martial talent?"

A peculiar smile appeared on Zhang Lata's face at her words.

Beside them, Li Ziye also coughed several times, choking on his tea.

"Qin Enuo, you haven't examined his meridians yet, have you?" Zhang Lata asked, his face full of schadenfreude.

"His meridians?"

Qin Enuo's delicate brows drew together slightly. "Why would I need to examine his meridians? His bones are exceptionally suited to martial arts, and the blood Qi in his internal organs is vigorous. The potential of his divine repositories must surpass that of ordinary people."

"This old man thought so too, before," Zhang Lata said with a hollow smile.

Sensing something was wrong at his words, Qin Enuo immediately stepped forward and seized Li Ziye's arm.

Gradually, Qin Enuo's expression changed.

"Ha ha!"

At the sight, Zhang Lata finally lost control and burst into laughter.

He had waited a long time for this day.

All eight meridians were blocked, and True Qi could not circulate. What did it matter how vigorous the blood Qi in his organs was?

As the brat had put it, was he supposed to train himself into a bomb and blow himself up?

"You two joined forces to deceive me!"

Qin Enuo withdrew her hand, her eyes brimming with coldness as she spoke icily.

"We didn't deceive you."

Zhang Lata laughed heartily. "From beginning to end, neither this brat nor I said anything. You simply trusted your own eyes too much, then believed those rumors."

A trace of embarrassment appeared on Li Ziye's face as well. He rubbed his nose, feeling rather sheepish. It was hardly an honorable business, after all.

Qin Enuo clenched her slender hands, her chest heaving with anger. The look she gave them could practically devour them both.

"Qin Enuo, you announced you were taking this brat as your disciple in front of the whole of Yuzhou City. It's too late to go back on your word now."

Zhang Lata gloated, "Or you could find a way to open his eight meridians. Wouldn't that be more challenging than simply taking a genius as your disciple?"

"Fairy."

Beside them, Li Ziye spoke earnestly. "As long as I can open my eight meridians and successfully set foot on the martial path, any price is fine. Old Li lacks plenty of things, but silver isn't one of them."

Hearing the youth's words, Qin Enuo gradually recovered her reason from her anger. The timber had already been made into a boat; anything she said now was too late.

"I don't know how to open your eight meridians," Qin Enuo said slowly, forcibly suppressing her anger.

Li Ziye trembled slightly at her words, and his expression dimmed.

If even Qin Enuo did not know how to open his eight meridians, didn't that mean he truly had no fate with martial arts?

"There's something else I need to tell you."

Qin Enuo sneered. "The reason I was in such a hurry to take a disciple is that I have a wager with the old sect master of the Vermilion Bird Sect. Three years from now, my disciple must compete against his disciple. If you lose, I'm afraid you won't be able to bear the consequences."

"Who is the old sect master of the Vermilion Bird Sect's disciple?"

Li Ziye looked at Old Zhang and swallowed, a bad feeling rising in his heart.

"Huo Liner."

Zhang Lata grinned. "One of the four great heaven's chosen of this world. Who knows how many times stronger he is than that Third Prince?"

Li Ziye shuddered at that. Then he was dead for sure.

A light breeze brushed past. Beside the lake, the three fell silent, and the atmosphere grew somewhat awkward.

A dead end!

Qin Enuo had never expected to take a useless disciple, while Li Ziye had never expected Qin Enuo to have a wager like this with someone else.

Who had trapped whom?

For a time, none of the three knew what to say.

"None of you save me."

Beside the lake, after Li Ziye came back to his senses, he said those words, then jumped into the lake with a splash.

Just let me drown!

On the bank, Qin Enuo and Zhang Lata exchanged a glance, then silently looked away.

"Qin Enuo, you'd better think of something. This brat has no bottom line. If you wash your hands of it, he really will dare to surrender outright at the match three years from now. There's nothing this brat wouldn't dare do," Zhang Lata warned.

A bottom line? This brat's bottom line was having no bottom line.

He never played by the usual rules.

What normal person would dare send people to beat a prince so badly he couldn't get out of bed on the night before their match?

Qin Enuo narrowed her eyes slightly. After a long while, she said, "What about having him temper his body? Practicing external arts might be an option."

"Body tempering?"

Zhang Lata smiled faintly. "How far do you think those skinny arms and legs of his can get him? Without True Qi to refine his body, he won't amount to much even if he tempers it."

Qin Enuo fell silent, thought showing in her eyes. After an unknown stretch of time, she said slowly, "Then there's only one way."

With that, Qin Enuo looked toward the center of the lake ahead, a cold light flickering in her eyes. "Force his meridians open."

Zhang Lata's expression grew grave at her words. "Are you trying to kill him? An ordinary person's meridians are extremely fragile. Forcing them open means certain death."

Qin Enuo sneered. "An ordinary person couldn't survive it, but perhaps he can. Don't forget, the Li Residence has money. Plenty of money. For every inch we break open, we'll use hundreds of precious medicinal ingredients to repair it, until we've opened every meridian in his body."

"That truly couldn't be a worse method."

A strange light flashed through Zhang Lata's eyes. "Are you sure his meridians will open before you torment him to death? Even a mountain of precious medicinal ingredients is no guarantee he can endure it. The pain of shattered meridians isn't something an ordinary person can withstand, much less having them shattered hundreds or thousands of times."

"We'll only know if we try," Qin Enuo said flatly.

As the two spoke, the center of the lake remained perfectly still.

"Hm? Where's that brat?"

Zhang Lata suddenly snapped back to his senses and looked toward the middle of the lake, asking anxiously, "He hasn't really drowned, has he?"

Qin Enuo frowned and also looked toward the center of the lake.

"Save him!"

Zhang Lata immediately rose to his feet and spoke.

"No need for all that trouble."

Qin Enuo waved her hand and gripped her sword. Her divine repositories thundered, True Qi surged around her, and she slashed toward the lake ahead.

Boom!

In an instant, her sword opened heaven's gate. The entire lake surface split with the sound, dividing into two like upside-down waterfalls.

Splash!

At the same time, a figure shot out from beneath the water on the left side of the divided lake. He turned his head and was instantly startled at the sight of the lake cleaved open by a single sword strike.

"Holy shit, what's going on?"

Li Ziye jolted and let fly a fragrant curse.

"This damned brat scared the life out of this old man."

Seeing him out on the lake, Zhang Lata breathed a sigh of relief. He had nearly lost his thousand jars of Drunken Flower Brew.

In the lake, the water fell back down, sending waves churning.

Li Ziye swam to the bank and looked at Qin Enuo standing before him with her sword in hand, his adoration so great that he all but went up and kissed her.

"Want to learn?" Qin Enuo asked calmly.

"Yes." Li Ziye's head bobbed like a drumstick.

"You'll have to suffer just a tiny little bit," Qin Enuo said lightly.

"That's fine, that's fine. I can handle a little suffering." Li Ziye nodded vigorously.

Beside them, Zhang Lata's lips curved slightly. That really was quite a "little" suffering.

Just wait to die!

"Have your father prepare precious medicinal ingredients. I'll write down their names. Gather as many as you can-the more, the better," Qin Enuo said blandly.

"How much is 'the more, the better'? Give me a rough range," Li Ziye asked.

Qin Enuo thought for a moment, then turned and pointed at the room behind her. "Enough to fill that room will do."

"Fuck!"

This time, even the worldly, extravagantly wealthy Li Ziye could not help swearing.

A whole room full of precious medicinal ingredients? Did Old Qin think they were cabbages?

"You can choose not to prepare them. Then you can just wait for Huo Liner to beat you to death three years from now," Qin Enuo said flatly, then turned and left.

Li Ziye froze. A moment later, he recovered his senses and looked at Zhang Lata beside him. "Old Zhang, do you know what Old Qin is planning?"

"No."

Zhang Lata shook his head without hesitation. He was only here to watch the fun. Everything else had nothing to do with him.

Suspicion appeared on Li Ziye's face. What exactly was going on? Why did he have such an ominous feeling?

Half a day later.

In the study of the Li residence.

As Li Baiwan looked at the list of precious medicinal ingredients on the desk, his fleshy face kept trembling.

"How... how much do we need?" Li Baiwan stammered.

"Little Brother said a roomful," Li Youwei said softly.

"Fuck!" Li Baiwan, too, could not help letting fly a fragrant curse.

"Father."

Li Youwei picked up the list of precious medicinal ingredients and smiled. "I'll take care of this. I'll find a way to get the silver."

"Youwei."

Li Baiwan's face twitched. "Do you know how much silver this will take?"

"I do."

Li Youwei smiled faintly. "It's only silver. How could it be more important than Little Brother's dream?"

"You..."

Li Baiwan shook his head helplessly. "All right. I'll leave this to you."

Li Youwei smiled and said nothing more, turning to leave the study.

Four hours later, every precious medicinal ingredient in Yuzhou City's hundred medicine shops had been swept clean.

A day later, waves of mysterious buyers likewise arrived at hundreds of pharmacies in the three large cities neighboring Yuzhou City and bought up every precious medicinal ingredient.

Ten days later, there were no precious medicinal ingredients left for sale in the cities across half the Great Shang Imperial Dynasty.

The terrifying wealth of the Yuzhou Li Clan bared its fangs in a single day, shocking the world.

Meanwhile, Li Ziye of the Li residence was drinking tea at the Yuelai Inn-not with Qin Enuo, but with the Third Prince of Great Shang.

"Your Third Highness, please."

In the Third Prince's room, Li Ziye raised his cup and smiled.