"Ah Yin, you don't want to die either, do you?"
"You've lived a second life and lost your hundred thousand years of cultivation. If you're killed again now, can you live another life?"
"Cooperate with us obediently now, and you'll have your only chance to live. Otherwise... don't blame me for showing no mercy!"
Wearing a villainous expression, Gu Chen threatened her.
Under normal circumstances, killing Ah Yin outright would have been the best choice. After all, she was Tang Hao's wife and Tang San's mother. With an identity like that, keeping her by his side would sooner or later earn him a vicious knife in the back.
But then again.
Killing Ah Yin offered him little benefit.
Cutting the grass and pulling out the roots was important, of course.
But he preferred to squeeze the greatest possible benefit out of everything.
The Blue Silver Grass Clan had a rule: there could be only one emperor. Although his Martial Soul had evolved into the Blue Silver Emperor, meaning he had effectively claimed the throne, and although the Blue Silver Emperor was quite good, the Golden Tree offered him a far wider sea and sky.
Once he upgraded the Blue Silver Emperor into the Golden Tree, the Blue Silver Grass Clan's throne would be vacant again. Wouldn't that give Little Scumbag an opportunity?
To prevent Tang San's Blue Silver Grass from having a chance to awaken as the Blue Silver Emperor, he decided to spare Ah Yin for now and use her to occupy the Blue Silver Grass Clan's throne, leaving Tang San's Blue Silver Grass with no path forward.
As for why he didn't just kill Tang San?
To tell the truth.
He had his suspicions about Tang San.
Tang San had transmigrated after jumping off a cliff at twenty-nine, yet at the age of nine, he had managed to secretly learn the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record. That was no different from an ordinary civil servant slipping past layer upon layer of national security and stealing a nuclear bomb. It was utterly absurd.
It was no less absurd than the minister of war in a female-oriented novel being forced to stand outside until he froze to death, or a general commanding an army of three hundred thousand being ordered to take his own life.
So...
He suspected that the Asura God had already set his sights on Tang San back then, and had even secretly helped him steal the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record. Otherwise, how could he have pulled it off? Was it because Tang San had such a big face, or because the Tang Sect elders were blind?!
He had also read plenty of Douluo fanfiction in his previous life. Before transmigrating, he could have accepted the possibility that the author had simply been careless, leaving plot holes everywhere. But after transmigrating, there had to be a reasonable explanation for these things.
He didn't know whether Tang San had been singled out.
But as far as he was concerned.
Tang San was hardly a threat at all. He was even weaker than Gu Chen, and if they really fought, Gu Chen could string him up and beat him. How could he possibly care about an ant he could crush underfoot whenever he pleased?
So whether or not Tang San had already been chosen by the Asura God, there was no need for him to test that possibility at this stage.
The one he cared about was Tang Hao.
Tang Hao was the greatest threat. As long as he remained alive, Gu Chen was in danger anytime, anywhere. So Tang Hao had to die. As for anyone else who posed no threat to him, he paid them no mind.
"Brother Chen, the look on your face right now... you really look like a villain!"
Xiao Wu was speechless.
"You idiot, go crack some melon seeds over there!"
Gu Chen pulled out a handful of melon seeds and gave them to her.
"I... fine, I will!"
Xiao Wu pouted angrily, snatched the melon seeds, and went to a corner to crack them.
She couldn't beat him, so she could only retreat from his sharp edge for now. But she would remember today's humiliation. Thirty years the river flows east, thirty years it flows west-don't bully a young girl for being poor! Someday, she would make him pay for calling her an "idiot."
"Cough, cough, cough-"
Suddenly, Xiao Wu, who was still fuming, choked on a melon seed and began coughing repeatedly.
Seeing this.
Gu Chen shook his head helplessly. With an intelligence like that, she was probably beyond treatment. He might as well give up trying to cure her.
He turned to look at Ah Yin.
Her leaves had curled into a ball. He didn't know whether his earlier words had frightened her into that state, or whether the presence of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast on him had scared her.
But in any case, she had fallen into his hands and had nowhere to run.
If she didn't cooperate, she could hardly blame him for being ruthless.
At worst.
Once his Martial Soul evolved in the future.
He could use his cheat to evolve a Blue Silver Emperor to occupy the throne.
Afterward.
He searched the stone chamber as well.
Before long, he found the Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone, stored in a lead box. The surging vitality within it and the power of its Blue Silver Emperor origin, shared by his own, were undoubtedly a tremendous attraction to Gu Chen.
"Forget it!"
In the end, Gu Chen closed the lid and tossed the Soul Bone into the Void Ring.
"Brother Chen, that's a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone! You're really not going to absorb it?"
Seeing this, Xiao Wu's eyes widened in disbelief.
As a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, she knew all too well how tempting the Soul Rings and Soul Bones produced by Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts were to human Soul Masters. It could be said that not a single Soul Master could resist the temptation of a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring or a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone.
If there was one.
They must have already become a god.
"One of the Soul Skills in this Soul Bone is pretty good, but the other doesn't really suit me. Besides, it's only a Soul Bone produced by a Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor. With my methods, I can get a better-quality Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, so I'll keep this one as material."
In response to Xiao Wu's question, he told her what he thought.
It wasn't that a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone held no appeal for him. He simply wasn't entirely satisfied with this one.
If he didn't have the Leveling Cheat, he would have gone ahead and absorbed this Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone. After all, the Soul Skill it contained, "Wildfire Cannot Burn It All Away, the Spring Breeze Brings It Back to Life," really was good. It was just the "Flight" Soul Skill he was dissatisfied with. How ridiculous! It was a plant Soul Beast, rooted in the earth to replenish its Soul Power, yet it had given him a flight skill instead. It really made Gu Chen laugh.
And since he had a cheat.
Naturally, he wanted something better.
Among the many plant Soul Beasts, the Blue Silver Emperor was indeed the emperor of the Blue Silver Grass Clan, but in terms of rank, far too many plant Soul Beasts stood above her. He could easily choose a better one, or even upgrade one into a Million-Year Soul Bone before absorbing it. Wouldn't that be better?
"You're right. After all, you have the Divine Power of Evolution. Never mind Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones-even with Hundred Thousand Year Soul Rings, you can have as many as you want."
The envy in Xiao Wu's eyes couldn't have been more obvious.
As for that.
Gu Chen chose to ignore it.
And now.
Ah Yin was in his hands, and he had collected the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone. It was time to lure Tang Hao over.
Several days later.
Nuoding Academy.
Looking at the academy he hadn't seen in nearly a month, he felt a little nostalgic after so long away. But he hadn't come to reminisce. He had come to find Tang Hao, though he didn't know where the man was.
But Tang Hao hadn't been with Ah Yin, which meant he was probably protecting Tang San.
So he decided.
First, he would give Tang San a vicious beating to vent his anger!!!
Tang San still didn't know Gu Chen had set his sights on him.
If he had known.
He would have had only one thing to say.
"Don't come any closer!!!"