Do you think the chips in my hand are enough

The smile on the face of the Pavilion Master of Tingfeng gradually faded away.

"Your story sounds fascinating."

"A Golden Core demonic cultivator slaying a Soul Formation expert against the odds, monopolizing the legacy of an Immortal Venerable, and swaggering away... Tsk tsk, if this were written into a storybook, I imagine it could swindle quite a few spirit stones."

"But the problem is, it's too fake."

"So fake... that it doesn't arouse the slightest desire to believe it."

"The Zhao family getting the legacy is called enjoying the advantage of a favorable position. It is a matter of timing and destiny."

"People will marvel, they will be jealous, and they will sigh that the Zhao family's ancestral tombs must have been blessed, but ultimately, they will accept this fact."

"Because such a thing, although outrageous, is still within the realm of common sense."

"Just like in a mortal kingdom, a poor boy lives for eighteen years, and one day his father suddenly tells him that their family has endless wealth, and the past bitter days were just a test for him."

"People will be envious and feel it's unfair, but they will believe it, because they too have fantasized about such good luck falling on their own heads."

"There might even be some crazy ones who, after hearing this, simply string their own fathers up and whip them, demanding to know when they plan to confess."

"But what about your story?"

"On what basis could you slay numerous Soul Formation experts against the odds? With that mouth of yours?"

"How many people do you think would believe it?"

"Even if my Tingfeng Pavilion spread this news throughout the entire Canghuang Realm, people would only think that my Tingfeng Pavilion had gone mad from poverty and started fabricating such low-class stories to swindle money."

"Or else, they'd think you and I are in cahoots."

"If it blew up even more, it's not like there aren't existences proficient in divination. Calculating my fate might be a bit difficult, but calculating your background..."

"In the end, not only would I fail to salvage my reputation, but I would also become the laughingstock of the entire Canghuang Realm."

He looked at Su Ji, his eyes devoid of any joking intent.

"Therefore, your chips are worthless to me."

"Because they cannot bring me what I want the most."

Su Ji stood silently in place, his eyes downcast, revealing no emotion.

Zhao Tianyang, who was sprawled on the ground, felt a trace of hope quietly surface in his heart, which had already sunk to rock bottom, after hearing these words.

As expected of the Pavilion Master of Tingfeng!

With a mind as sharp as a demon's, in just a few words, he had strangled all of this kid's schemes in the cradle!

This kid was ultimately still too green!

Who did he think he was?

Was he worthy of negotiating terms with a True Immortal?

A bizarre silence fell.

Only the muffled, thunderous sound of a heartbeat coming from beneath the abyss remained.

"Thump..."

"Thump..."

"Thump..."

After a long time.

Su Ji finally seemed to recover from the massive blow.

He let out a long breath of stale air.

"What the Pavilion Master... says is true."

His voice was weak and listless.

"It was me... having wild fantasies."

"Since that is the case..."

A miserable smile appeared on Su Ji's face.

"Then... there is nothing left to talk about."

He turned around and walked toward the bottomless, pitch-black abyss.

"Anyway, it's death either way."

"Rather than being treated as a tool by you, used and then thrown away, it would be better to..."

He stopped his steps and stood at the edge of the cliff. His desolate back looked exceptionally frail.

"Choose a quicker way to die myself."

The Pavilion Master of Tingfeng looked at his ashen appearance, ready to jump off the cliff and commit suicide, and frowned almost imperceptibly.

Was this kid's mental fortitude really this fragile?

A few words were enough to make him break down?

Right at the moment he was about to speak and dissuade him.

He frowned: "Do you think I will still believe you, kid? Your resistance to the baleful aura is so high, so what if you jump down? I think you fucking want to fake your death and escape!"

Su Ji: ???

You saw through this too?

Damn it...

Those who play with intelligence are indeed not easy to fool...

I cannot underestimate his intelligence network...

Su Ji struggled for a moment.

He still decided to throw out something substantial.

"Pavilion Master."

He did not look back, merely staring at the bottomless darkness and muttering to himself.

"Actually, I have another story in my hands."

"A story... that is absolutely true, and absolutely... will leave you satisfied."

"It's just that this story is too big."

"So big... that I don't dare to tell it."

"I'm afraid that if I tell it, before the Zhao family even makes a move, I will first be silenced by you."

The brow of the Pavilion Master of Tingfeng furrowed even tighter.

What the hell was this kid up to now?

Playing hard to get?

Or was there really some hidden secret?

"Let's hear it."

The voice of the Pavilion Master of Tingfeng remained flat.

"Before I tell this story."

Su Ji turned around, and on his pale face was an unprecedented seriousness.

"May I first ask the Pavilion Master a question?"

Su Ji did not turn his head back.

He had his back facing that lofty True Immortal, his voice carrying a calmness that bordered on self-deprecation.

The Pavilion Master of Tingfeng did not reply immediately.

He only looked at Su Ji's frail back, an imperceptible trace of amusement flashing through his bright eyes.

This kid was at death's door; what kind of tricks did he still want to play?

"Speak."

A single word was spat from his mouth, flat yet carrying a condescending sense of charity.

Su Ji took a deep breath, and the cold wind blowing from beneath the abyss, carrying a rotten scent, filled his lungs.

"Do you think."

"That a Golden Core cultivator truly cannot slay a Soul Formation expert against the odds?"

As soon as these words came out.

An unconcealed sneer of disdain appeared on the already ashen old face of Zhao Tianyang, who was sprawled on the ground.

He was crazy.

Did this kid really think a True Immortal was so easy to deceive?

A Golden Core slaying a Soul Formation expert?

Who did he think he was?

Was he the Immortal Venerable Fallen Dragon from tens of thousands of years ago, who appeared out of nowhere and almost pierced through to the throne of the Immortal Emperor?

It was simply the ravings of a lunatic!

Hearing this, the Pavilion Master of Tingfeng was also taken aback, and then, he laughed.

The laughter was filled with undisguised mockery.

"Kid."

"I know you are unwilling to accept this."

"But even when dreaming, you should pick the right occasion."

He looked at Su Ji's back as if he were looking at an overconfident, jumping clown.

"If you had that kind of ability, how could you have been reduced to this state today?"

"And why would you need to bargain in front of me?"

Su Ji slowly turned around.

"I do indeed."

He didn't mean to joke in the slightest.

He looked at the Pavilion Master of Tingfeng, pausing after every word.

"I almost did it."

The ridicule on the face of the Pavilion Master of Tingfeng slowly froze.

He looked at Su Ji.

Looking into the other party's calm eyes, the originally certain judgment in his heart wavered a little for the first time.

This kid...

Didn't look like he was lying.

"On the day of ascension."

"As soon as I arrived at that white jade platform, I felt something was wrong."

"The two cultivators responsible for receiving us both had Soul Formation cultivation bases."

A look of reminiscence appeared on Su Ji's face.

"The expression in their eyes when they looked at us wasn't like they were looking at favored children of heaven ascending from the lower realms."

"It was more like they were looking at... a flock of sheep and pigs waiting to be slaughtered."

"I was thinking at the time that this upper realm seemed a bit different from what I had expected."

"So..."

The corners of Su Ji's mouth curled into a chilling arc.

"I prepared to strike first and gain the upper hand."

"To attack directly and suppress and kill the two of them on the spot."

The Pavilion Master of Tingfeng did not speak; his eyes merely narrowed slowly.

Zhao Tianyang, who was groveling on the ground, felt his heart pound with fear upon hearing this.

This kid...

"But right at the moment I was about to make my move."

A perfectly timed look of lingering fear appeared on Su Ji's face.

"I don't have many other skills, but I just so happen to be proficient in some superficial divination arts."

"When I calculate good and bad fortune on ordinary days, it is actually quite accurate."

"At that time, on a whim, I cast a hexagram for myself."

Speaking up to this point, Su Ji let out a long breath of stale air.

His expression was like that of someone rejoicing over escaping a calamity.

"I saw it."

"If I had truly struck and killed those two Soul Formation cultivators."

"Because the battle would take too long."

"A man dressed in a luxurious golden robe would rush over upon hearing the commotion."

"I fought him until the mountains and rivers were overturned, fought until we went mad."

"But in the end, because of the spiritual energy I expended killing those two Soul Formation cultivators earlier, I fell short by a hair and lost by a single move."

"So, I backed down."

"I obediently put on the spirit-locking ring and followed them to the mining area, becoming a mining slave at their mercy."

"Staying alive is more important than anything else."

Su Ji finished his story.

The edge of the abyss once again fell into a deathly silence.

Only Su Ji's muffled, thunderous heartbeat remained.

Zhao Tianyang, lying on the ground, was completely dumbfounded.

He stared blankly at Su Ji, his mind completely empty.

Divination arts?

Killing Soul Formation cultivators?

Did staying in the mines for too long break his brain?

Meanwhile, the Pavilion Master of Tingfeng fell into a long silence.

He looked at Su Ji, light flickering in his eyes as he rapidly analyzed the immense amount of information in those words.

A man in a golden robe...

A name quickly flashed through the mind of the Pavilion Master of Tingfeng.

After a long time.

The plain voice of the Pavilion Master of Tingfeng slowly rang out.

"Listening to your description..."

There was a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

"That person should be Zhao Teng."

"The Qilin Son of the Zhao family."

Zhao Teng?

"That brat Zhao Wuji."

The voice of the Pavilion Master of Tingfeng carried an inexplicable hint of mockery.

"His favorite phrase to keep on his lips is, 'My son Zhao Teng has the bearing of an Immortal Venerable'."

"In fact, what he really wants to say is 'the bearing of a Great Emperor'."

The Pavilion Master of Tingfeng sneered.

"It's just that he doesn't have the guts."

He looked at Su Ji.

"And it is exactly because of this."

"That he would take such a desperate risk, not hesitating to bankrupt his entire family just to obtain this inheritance of an Immortal Venerable."

"He wants... to pave the way for his Qilin Son."

Everything was finally connecting.

No wonder that golden-robed man could appear so quickly every time.

He probably left behind some kind of method, so that the moment he noticed something wrong, he would rush over immediately.

"Pavilion Master."

He looked at the Pavilion Master of Tingfeng, a smile returning to his face.

"Now."

"Do you think the bargaining chips in my hand are enough?"