Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

After hearing Li Yao’s speech, Jin Xinyue felt as if she had observed a life-and-death battle between two top experts from a close distance and that the sharp swords and sabers brushed past her skin narrowly.

She could even feel that her master’s and her father’s blades of thought were rubbing her brain, causing both excruciating pain and ecstasy as if somebody had poured a bucket of icy water over her head.

The thrilled feeling made her sweat and barely able to stand.

Sorting through the whole thing, she felt that her father was more magnificent and mysterious than ever in her heart.

Jin Xinyue smiled bitterly and said, “It seems that I’ve always underestimated my father.

“It’s funny that I used to think that my father knew nothing when I killed my stepmother without alarming anyone and raised subordinates who were loyal to me in the Gold Crow Kingdom. I thought of the man as just so-so.

“As it turns out, he was crystal clear about everything, and he was indulging me on purpose!

“It’s a pity that the Red Tide Plan, which my father spent decades perfecting, has overlooked two fatal factors, one being Elder Nether Spring’s Spore Stratagem and the other being you. Eventually, somebody else is going to pick the fruit, and he is destined to fail!

“Master, there is something that has been bothering me. If my father is really as terrifying as you described, why was he fooled by Elder Nether Spring?”

Li Yao sighed and pointed at his head. “It’s all about the distribution of your computational ability.

“Nobody is omnipotent. However spectacular the computational ability of a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator or a demon emperor is, the activity of their braincells has its own limits, too.

“What an insane and extraordinary cause it is to concoct the Red Tide Plan on his own, hoping to conquer the Heaven’s Origin Sector in one war! Your father must’ve dedicated his entire computational ability to the plan. Did he really have the time to bother about anything else?

“Perhaps, he thought that other demon emperors were idiots who were likely to expose the real Red Tide Plan. Therefore, he had to keep his distance from them and act alone.

“But it never occurred to him that the mouths of his idiotic teammates were full of fangs. Not only were they hamstringing him, they were even trying to bite him hard!

“I am most familiar with such a state of mind. Tell me the truth. Do you feel that I act weird occasionally? It’s almost like I’m a genius one moment and a retard the next. Sometimes I am talking rationally and sometimes I am just talking nonsense, right?”

“Well, I dare not think that. Master is a man of great wisdom and integrity, and you are born with an innocent mind. You occasionally behave like a child because you were getting to the truth of Dao!”

Li Yao smiled. “Forget the truth of Dao. The real reason is simple. That’s because, most of the time, I allocate 95% of my computational ability to the contemplation of tactics, schemes, and studies of magical equipment and ancient classics. The computational ability that is dedicated to communication only takes up 5% of the whole, at best. It’s only natural that I look inert and weird.

“For example, although I am talking to you with a tiny proportion of my computational ability right now, I have dedicated most of my computational ability to thinking how to destroy the Eye of Blood Demon. It’s a simple example of multitasking.

“Also, sometimes, like a few days ago, in order to sort through the reasons and ramifications of the Red Tide Plan, I even burnt my life and soul and activated my brain cell activity to above 1,500%. After the crazy calculations, my braincells needed to take a long time of rest. During such a period, my wisdom would be no different from that of an ordinary person. It is very likely that I would ignore the simplest traps and schemes.

“Your father must’ve been similar to me, or even more serious, because it was ‘destruction’ on my mind but ‘construction’ on his mind. Destruction is always easier than construction.

“In order to build the Eye of Blood Demon and carry out the Red Tide Plan, he must’ve devoted 110% of his computational ability to the endeavor. His brain was overloading every day all the time. Did he really have the redundant computational ability to care whether or not other demon emperors had evil plans?

“Maybe, that was how he gradually lost control of the subordinates around him, who were compromised by Elder Nether Spring one by one. Eventually, even the Red Tide Plan became a stepping stone for the Spore Stratagem!”

Although they were on opposing sides, Li Yao still thought very highly of Jin Tuyi.

Jin Tuyi’s destined failure was perhaps because he chose an invincible enemy and an impossible mission in the beginning and met all kinds of unexpected factors at the last moment.

In short, it was not his fault!

“By the way…” Li Yao sighed and said, “I didn’t tell you everything before we went to Heavenly Path City not because I did not trust you.

“It is true that I recruited you as my disciple because it concerned my interests. For example, you are Jin Tuyi’s daughter, so I can talk to him more quickly through you. Also, because of the Divine Blood of Chaos, you have turned into a human being from a demon, which is a great example for the integration of the Heaven’s Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector in the future.

“However, now that I have recruited you as my disciple, I will not keep anything from you or manipulate you like a chess piece.

“I didn’t tell your earlier for a simple reason. It is because your acting skills are still a bit naïve and far from immaculate. In such an important dialogue between such two influential participants such as your father and me, you would’ve given us away very easily. Do you understand?”

Jin Xinyue was dazed. “My acting skills… are too bad?”

“Correct.”

Li Yao walked to the entrance of the cave with his hands in his back. Looking at the three lackluster bloody moons in the sky, he casually said, “You have certainly honed your acting skills in the Pantheon of Demons, too. I can tell that you’ve received professional training in acting, and it is not a problem for you to fool normal experts.

“However, in the eyes of the top experts such as your father and me, many of your movements and expressions are still too unnatural and exaggerated.”

Jin Xinyue frowned and could not help but rub her cheeks. “Are—are they?”

“Yes.”

Li Yao turned around and looked at his disciple solemnly. “Let’s take your reaction when I was analyzing the entire Red Tide Plan for example.

“In fact, with your intelligence, you must’ve realized that our trip to Heavenly Path City was not just for the purpose of convincing your father, and you should’ve guessed a lot of things while you listened to my introduction, right?

“But still, you pretended that you knew nothing about it. You were stunned and sweating all the time, trying to highlight my wisdom with your clumsiness as comparison.

“That was very thoughtful of you, but I’m afraid that you overdid it. Such a way of ass-kissing is too crude.”

Jin Xinyue was lost for words and lowered her head in embarrassment.

“Don’t think that I am despising you,” Li Yao said solemnly. “In fact, your acting skills are quite excellent for your age!

“In fact, I always regretted one thing.

“What I’m best at is fighting and refining. Of the two disciples that I recruited, your Senior Brother is a genius in martial arts and will likely pass on my knowledge in combat, and your Senior Sister, although not very talented, is more passionate and hardworking about the arts of refining than anybody. She could more or less pass on the experience and knowledge that I have grasped in the arts of refining.

“But few people know that, other than fighting and refining, the skill that I’ve attached the greatest importance to is acting!

“I was born in a magical equipment graveyard where the competition was as cruel as the Blood Demon Sector. Before I learned fighting and refining, I only struggled to survive by resorting to my acting skills!

“What are acting skills exactly?

“Observation, analysis, contemplation, pretense, decoy, traps, schemes, feints, double feints, triple feints… All those abilities are entailed in your acting skills!

“Acting skills are almost the only trick to defeat the strong when you are weak! There are too many perils and too many great experts in the sea of stars. Nobody can really be invincible in the universe. In many situations, if you want to survive when you are dead for sure, and if you want to reverse your failure into victory, you will have to count on your acting skills!

“It has always been a pity that, although my previous two disciples will distinguish themselves sooner or later in the arts of fighting and refining, they can never pass on my knowledge in acting skills at all with their personality and wisdom. Therefore—”

Jin Xinyue was suddenly greatly touched. She was shivering as if she had foreseen what her master was going to say!

Li Yao patted her shoulder and said solemnly, “If my sole purpose was to approach your father, I had a lot of options, and I didn’t have to bind myself in a master-disciple relationship.

“Your talents and abilities in acting are the most important reason for me recruiting you as my disciple.

“Do you understand now?

“In fact, I have very high hopes for you. Just follow me and see how to perfect your acting skills in future!”

Jin Xinyue took a long breath and held back the urge in her nostrils. Bowing, she said earnestly, “As you wish, Master!”

The declaration was like a sharp blade that ripped apart the camouflage that had been covering him.

Jin Xinyue’s eyes were as clean as water, and she was standing straighter, like a sword that was half unsheathed.

She was no longer the loyal, ‘dumbfounded’ audience when Li Yao was analyzing the situation. She was back to the ambitious, ruthless, and meticulous saintess of the Pantheon of Demons.

Her tightening muscles and her gradually spreading spiritual energy were even shrouding her in an aura of hostility!

The blood-like moonlight sprayed into the carve, dying their clothes red.

Li Yao and Jin Xinyue, the weird master and disciple, confronted each other in silence under the moonlight that felt both like blood and like mist.

Li Yao smiled. “In fact, this is the real you. After running away from Void Turmoil City, you’ve been keeping something to yourself that you did not want to talk to me about until now, right?”

Jin Xinyue nodded, her eyes turning sharper and sharper, as if part of Jin Tuyi had been reincarnated inside her body. “That’s right. Perhaps I did not consider you as my one true master sincerely until this moment. Therefore, I do not want to conceal anything from you anymore!”