Chapter 138: Indenture

In truth, Duan Hu, Wu Sanliang, and Lei Zongkang had all vaguely realized the same point.

“Old Lei!” Duan Hu and Wu Sanliang urged him as well.

Lei Zongkang hesitated.

Black Peony went so far as to pull out the five gold drafts she carried. “Fifty thousand gold coins. Master Dao gave me these!”

The men stared at the drafts in surprise.

Niu Youdao said, “Someone who intended to have me killed—if I let him remain at my side, ask him whether he himself could live comfortably afterward. Wouldn’t it gnaw at him every day?”

His meaning was obvious.

Black Peony hurriedly pleaded, “Master Dao, give him one more chance.”

Niu Youdao replied, “Chances depend on the person. I don’t know him. I don’t understand his character. So I have no reason to give him one. Black Peony, it’s still the same thing I told you before. I believed what you said. Now something has happened, and you owe me an explanation. If you won’t give me one, I’ll settle it myself.”

The threat in those words was unmistakable.

“Don’t beg him!” Lei Zongkang roared.

He looked at Black Peony and the others. “We’ve been together all these years. Do you trust him or me? Which side are you standing on?”

He had sensed the danger as well and wanted to pull the others into a united front.

Niu Youdao said calmly, “Even if they stand with you, you still won’t escape.”

Shhk!

Lei Zongkang drew his sword.

Duan Hu and Wu Sanliang exchanged a look, brows tightly furrowed, then moved together to Lei Zongkang’s side.

Black Peony looked back at them, anguish written across her face.

At last she bent down and placed the gold drafts in her hand on the ground. Then she slowly backed toward the others.

“Master Dao, I’m sorry. We’ve been brothers for many years. We survived until today by supporting one another. We can’t abandon one of our own. Master Dao, you’re a great man. Don’t hold a grudge against little people like us. How about we part here on good terms?”

All four remained deeply wary of Niu Youdao’s confidence. They were saying this precisely because none wanted to risk fighting him.

A faint trace of approval flickered almost imperceptibly through Niu Youdao’s eyes.

His voice, however, remained cold.

“He conspired in secret to kill me. What kind of ‘parting on good terms’ is that?”

Duan Hu drew his sword.

Wu Sanliang drew his.

Black Peony slowly drew hers as well. The four joined together in a defensive formation and began retreating warily, guarding against a sudden attack.

Niu Youdao pointed casually toward Yuan Fang. “Old Bear has a group of brothers too. Old Bear once thought about killing me. I never took it to heart. I can still keep him beside me.”

He lifted his chin toward Lei Zongkang.

“Do you know the difference between Old Bear and this brother of yours? Do you know why I refuse to accept him?”

“In a group, a man with limited ability encounters something he cannot bear responsibility for, yet still insists he alone is right and believes there is no need to consult the others. Now that trouble has actually come, he does not dare shoulder responsibility himself and instead wants to drag his brothers into bearing the risk with him.”

Niu Youdao’s face showed open disdain.

“That is the conduct of a petty man.”

Lei Zongkang’s expression twitched under the rebuke.

Niu Youdao sneered. “Lei Zongkang, don’t say I look down on you without giving you a chance. If what you said is true, if you really did this for everyone’s sake, then step forward. Three moves. Take three moves from me without falling, and I’ll let all of you leave. If you don’t dare come out, I’ll still let you go, because killing a petty man like you would only dirty my hands. But someone will have to give his life in exchange for yours. You choose.”

Standing nearby, Yuan Fang’s mouth crooked into a grin. At first he had been worried about whether the two of them could handle several Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators. But hearing Master Dao speak this way instantly flooded him with confidence.

How could he not feel confident when Master Dao sounded this formidable?

Black Peony turned toward her companions. “Ignore him. He’s trying to sow discord between us. Let’s go!”

Lei Zongkang, however, did not move. His jaw was tight as he stared at Niu Youdao. Niu Youdao’s words had cornered him.

Black Peony tugged his sleeve. “Come on!”

Niu Youdao met Lei Zongkang’s eyes, mockery plain on his face.

“I’ll take another step back.”

“One palm.”

“Take one palm from me without falling, and I’ll let all of you leave. Otherwise, I kill Black Peony.”

Yuan Fang immediately chimed in, “Lei Zongkang, if I were you, I’d worry about saving my own life first. Let Black Peony die in your place. Why make things so difficult for yourself?”

He had trained with Niu Youdao and Yuan Gang before and had personally taken Niu Youdao’s Qiankun Palm. He knew exactly how that felt.

An unforgettable experience.

He was very much looking forward to seeing Lei Zongkang taste it too.

Lei Zongkang shouted angrily, “You’ll keep your word?”

Niu Youdao replied, “Does asking that even matter? If you can’t withstand a single palm from me, do you truly think any of you can escape? Isn’t that worth gambling on?”

“Let’s go!” Black Peony said urgently, pulling hard at Lei Zongkang.

Lei Zongkang suddenly turned his head. “Boss, when he first went to Shang Chaozong, the rumors said he was only in the Qi Refinement Realm. At most, he’s in the Foundation Establishment Realm now, just like us. I refuse to believe I can’t take a single palm from him in a direct clash!”

Rip!

His sleeve tore apart.

Lei Zongkang broke free, flashed forward decisively, and faced Niu Youdao.

The other three understood there was no point trying to stop him now.

Niu Youdao’s words had pushed Lei Zongkang into a corner. If he fled after this, he would never again have the face to stand before his companions.

Black Peony stamped her foot in frustration, threw aside the torn sleeve in her hand, and could only watch nervously alongside Duan Hu and Wu Sanliang.

Lei Zongkang gritted his teeth. “One palm?”

Niu Youdao nodded. “One palm.”

“Take this!”

Lei Zongkang rushed forward without another word and struck with his palm. Niu Youdao’s robes stirred without wind.

Of the two hands resting on the sword hilt before him, one suddenly rose.

He met the attack with a fierce palm of his own.

Boom!

The two palms collided with a heavy crack.

Lei Zongkang’s eyes flew wide.

Something was wrong.

Two entirely different currents of force were spiraling rapidly through Niu Youdao’s arm. The moment Lei Zongkang’s palm force met them, they dismantled and dispersed it, preventing his power from concentrating enough to break through.

His heart lurched.

What the hell was this?

Then came something even more alarming. An incomparably domineering spiral force surged out of Niu Youdao’s palm and drove straight into Lei Zongkang’s body. Lei Zongkang staggered backward several steps, eyes bulging.

The spiral force entering his body split into two separate currents and invaded his internal organs.

As he retreated, half his face rapidly turned flushed and scarlet. The other half became deathly pale. A layer of white frost even began forming across it.

“Pfft!”

Unable to suppress the strange force raging within him, Lei Zongkang spat a mouthful of blood. His body tilted, and he crashed to the ground.

Niu Youdao slowly returned his extended palm to rest atop the other hand before him.

The robes that had been snapping around his body gradually settled.

In truth, the two men’s cultivation levels were not very far apart.

For Niu Youdao to receive Lei Zongkang’s palm without moving a single step, and for the disparity between them to appear so overwhelming, was not merely because of the domineering power of the Qiankun Palm. He had dared make this wager for a reason.

He had already begun to glimpse the **Qiankun Dissolving Force** within the Qiankun Art.

Naturally, as his cultivation increased, the power of his Qiankun Palm had advanced as well.

The next technique he intended to study when he had time was the movement art known as **Qiankun Shift**.

When Yuan Fang saw half of Lei Zongkang’s face flushed as though scorched and the other half covered in frost, he broke into a delighted grin. At last someone else could share the experience. Black Peony and the others, however, were shocked.

None of them had expected the disparity between Lei Zongkang and Niu Youdao to be this enormous. Lei Zongkang had failed to withstand even one palm.

More terrifying still, Niu Youdao had never moved from where he stood. Fear spread through all three of them. At last they understood where Niu Youdao’s confidence came from. The three flashed to Lei Zongkang’s side and supported him. Blood kept pouring from his mouth.

He desperately circulated his spiritual power to suppress the strange force inside his body. One current was cold, the other hot, both invading his organs at once. Half his body burned while frost accumulated more and more thickly over the other half. The three had no time to think.

They immediately joined forces and poured spiritual power into him, trying to dissolve the invading force before Lei Zongkang lost his life.

Footsteps approached.

The three looked up.

Niu Youdao was walking slowly toward them, using his sword like a cane. He stopped in front of them and looked down.

“I said that if he could take one palm from me, I would let him go. If he can’t take it... is there still any need to save him?”

“I don’t want to make things difficult for the rest of you. If you don’t want to stay, then leave. He stays.”

The three exchanged anxious looks.

If all four had fled earlier, there might still have been some chance.

But now, carrying a badly injured Lei Zongkang, they probably would not get away at all.

Black Peony suddenly turned and dropped to her knees before Niu Youdao.

She pleaded, “Master Dao, you’re someone who has seen the greater world. There’s no need to make life difficult for small people like us. Please show mercy and let him go.”

Lei Zongkang weakly turned his eyes. Seeing Black Peony kneeling for his sake, his emotions surged.

“Pfft!”

He spat another mouthful of blood.

Niu Youdao asked, “Old Bear, what do you think?”

Yuan Fang was busy picking the gold drafts off the ground and stuffing them into his clothes.

At the question, he walked over with his saber in hand and chuckled. “A fool who doesn’t know whether he wants to live or die actually dared scheme against Master Dao. Master Dao, the grudge is already formed. Better not leave future trouble behind. You’re too murderous. I don’t like all this fighting and killing.”

Niu Youdao gave him a contemptuous look, then turned back to the others.

“Still, what he says isn’t entirely wrong. Keeping a hidden danger beside me would indeed be foolish.”

“So I’ll give you two choices.”

“He stays and the rest of you leave.”

“Or all of you stay, and he leaves.”

At this point, Black Peony and the others seemed to have little room left to choose, yet none could bring himself to say the words. Lei Zongkang forced out a muffled voice.

“I’ll go.”

Black Peony and the other two fell silent, complicated emotions on their faces.

Niu Youdao said, “If you agree, I’ll treat his injuries and let him leave. From today onward, the lives of you three belong to me. You will serve me. If you refuse, I take his life. Three lives for one is admittedly a poor bargain. Think it over yourselves.”

Lei Zongkang made muffled sounds and shook his head desperately. Yet his reaction only pushed Black Peony toward her decision.

She gritted her teeth. “I agree.”

Duan Hu nodded with difficulty. “I agree.”

Wu Sanliang nodded as well. “Please treat his injuries, Master Dao.”

Niu Youdao said, “Since you’ve all decided, then put it in blood and sign your indentures.”

Tears ran down the flushed half of Lei Zongkang’s face as he continued shaking his head. Black Peony and the other two looked desolate.

They took paper from their packs, bit their fingers, and wrote the contracts in blood. One by one, they pressed their marks and handed over the signed indentures. Niu Youdao tipped his head in indication.

Yuan Fang went forward warily and collected them one by one. After inspecting all three, he grinned and nodded to Niu Youdao. Only then did Niu Youdao wave a hand.

“Move aside.”

Black Peony and the others retreated. Niu Youdao casually handed his sword to Yuan Fang, hauled Lei Zongkang upright, and pressed one palm against his back.

After a short while, the burning redness and frost on Lei Zongkang’s face began fading together. His breathing and expression gradually eased as well.

Smack!

Niu Youdao suddenly struck with his palm. Lei Zongkang stumbled forward and spat another mouthful of blood. Mixed in it were small bloodstained chunks of ice. They landed on the ground trailing wisps of cold vapor.

[End of Chapter 138]