Chapter 580: Shao Pingbo's Head

The two walked away from the others and stopped to one side.

Niu Youdao asked, “What guidance does Sect Leader Situ have for me?”

Situ Yao was remarkably candid now. With some emotion, he said, “Little brother, the danger to Jinzhou and Nanzhou may have passed, but you've also ruined certain people's plans. Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion is, after all, a major power in its own right. The imperial court doesn't dare act against us casually. You're different.”

He tapped Niu Youdao's shoulder with a finger. “Your foundation is shallow, and Dachan Mountain won't throw everything away for you. Nanzhou is safe for the moment, but I'm afraid your troubles are only beginning. Shang Jianxiong, Emperor of Yan, probably won't let you go.”

“I've seen your abilities. With you in Nanzhou, I can rest easy. Others may not be able to withstand the methods of the Yan court. Hai Wuji suffered a loss this time and certainly won't let matters end here either. Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion needs a stable rear, so I don't want anything to happen to you.”

Whether every word came from the heart or not, Niu Youdao's side had done its utmost to rescue Jinzhou from danger this time. After everything they had been through, there was now at least a foundation of trust between them.

Niu Youdao rested both hands on the sword planted before him, his expression indifferent. “Ride the jianghu, through wind or rain; in a straw cape, let a lifetime of mist and rain come as it may!”

Situ Yao listened and shook his head, admiration showing on his face. “If I were a few decades younger, I would certainly become the closest of friends with you.”

“It's not too late now.” Niu Youdao's expression instantly changed. Expectation filled his eyes. “If Sect Leader Situ doesn't disdain me, I'm willing to become sworn brothers with you!”

“Stop!” Situ Yao froze, then hurriedly raised a hand to block him. “Do you have some particular fondness for this? Linghu Qiu became sworn brothers with you and got thrown into a prison in the Qi capital. Feng Entai became sworn brothers with you, and his entire sect ended up being kicked out of Nanzhou by you. Now it's my turn? This old man cannot afford such good fortune!”

Niu Youdao said, “That was then and this is now. Sect Leader Situ is different from them. We're allies—”

“No!” Situ Yao cut him off with a wave. “I am indeed different from them. As Sect Leader of Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion, every move I make represents the entire sect. I can no longer do whatever suits my personal wishes. Something like becoming sworn brothers is no longer mine alone to decide. Better forget it.”

Niu Youdao said, “No matter. Sect Leader Situ can discuss it with the others first. What if they all agree?”

Situ Yao refused to keep arguing endlessly about it and forcibly changed the subject. “Things here are almost settled. I can't remain here forever. I'll probably leave within the next two days. Take care of yourself, little brother.”

With that, he cupped his hands, turned, and left.

After the group from Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion departed, Guan Fangyi came over. “All secretive like that. What did he say to you?”

Niu Youdao chuckled. “Nothing much. He said Shang Jianxiong won't let me go and told me to be careful.”

“Ah...” Guan Fangyi sighed.

Niu Youdao turned his head and glanced at her. “Enough sighing. Have the Spirit Essence Pills I use for cultivation been replenished?”

“Don't worry. You won't be short.” Guan Fangyi rolled her eyes, then abruptly looked suspicious. “Why do I feel that the amount you're using for cultivation is becoming more and more abnormal? The quantity you're consuming doesn't look like Foundation Establishment Realm usage. Can a Foundation Establishment cultivator really consume this many Spirit Essence Pills?”

“It feels more like Golden Core Realm consumption. You haven't already broken through into the Golden Core Realm, have you?”

Niu Youdao said casually, “I don't know much about how other people cultivate. Different cultivation arts may simply consume different amounts.”

“Is that so?” Guan Fangyi looked doubtful. She lifted her sleeve and extended one hand, making as though to press it against his abdomen. “Do you dare let me check?”

Niu Youdao was perfectly at ease. He moved aside the arm that had been resting over the sword in front of him. “What could I possibly distrust you over? Go ahead and check.”

A cultivator's dantian qi sea was the foundation of all his spiritual power. If it were destroyed, his entire cultivation would be crippled. It was effectively a cultivator's second life.

That was especially true at close range. Allowing another cultivator to send spiritual power directly into one's abdomen to examine it left no time to react if the other person harbored malicious intent. It was little different from letting someone hold a blade against one's throat.

Under normal circumstances, cultivators would rather let another person touch almost any other part of their body than allow direct contact with the dantian qi sea. Anywhere else at least left some margin for resistance.

Seeing him trust her so completely, Guan Fangyi looked disdainful on the surface, but inside she was genuinely delighted.

She slowly placed one hand against Niu Youdao's lower abdomen and gently sent her spiritual power into his dantian qi sea to examine it.

What she found was that the true qi inside his qi sea had indeed been refined to an extraordinary purity. Yet the dantian itself was empty. There was no Golden Core formed from his cultivation.

After withdrawing her spiritual power, Niu Youdao smiled at her. “I wasn't lying to you. Believe me now?”

Guan Fangyi muttered suspiciously, “Strange. Could it really be related to your cultivation art?”

He had indeed told her the truth. He truly had not yet reached the stage of forming his Golden Core.

But she could not make sense of it.

Leaving aside the abnormal quantity of Spirit Essence Pills he consumed, the purity of the true qi within him was also far beyond what the Foundation Establishment Realm should possess. Yet he had not formed a Golden Core. She could only suspect that the explanation lay in Niu Youdao's cultivation art.

Was it Shangqing Sect's cultivation method?

She wanted to ask what cultivation art he practiced, but that was a major taboo in the cultivation world.

With sect disciples, one generally knew what cultivation art they practiced simply from the sect they belonged to. There was no need to ask. Asking directly implied suspicion that the other person had betrayed his sect and was therefore an insult.

As for someone without sect or faction, there was even less reason to ask. A person's methods for preserving his own life were not something he would casually reveal to outsiders, flaws and all.

Just as Niu Youdao had never pried into who Guan Fangyi's master had been or what cultivation art she practiced.

At that moment, a guard from the Provincial Inspector's Residence came to report. “Sir, Jin envoy Chu Xiangyu requests an audience.”

Guan Fangyi was surprised, and Niu Youdao found it strange as well. “What does Jin's envoy want with me?”

The guard replied, “I don't know. He's outside the residence now. Will Sir see him?”

Niu Youdao considered briefly, then decided he might as well find out what the man wanted. “Invite him in.”

The guard departed.

Guan Fangyi muttered under her breath, “You've killed two envoys in succession and there's still one who dares deliver himself to your door?”

Niu Youdao rolled his eyes at her. “I'm not some murdering madman. Why would I kill him for no reason?”

Guan Fangyi still could not suppress a quiet laugh.

Before long, Jin envoy Chu Xiangyu arrived. Before he had even drawn near, he cupped his hands from a distance. “Master Dao, we meet again.”

Niu Youdao waved a hand and smiled. “Before Lord Chu, I wouldn't dare accept the title ‘Master Dao.’”

Chu Xiangyu laughed. “I hear everyone around you calls you that, so I'll simply follow the crowd.”

The usual exchange of courtesies was unavoidable. Since Chu Xiangyu insisted on addressing him that way, Niu Youdao could do little about it.

They sat in a pavilion. After Guan Fangyi served tea, Chu Xiangyu signaled, and she withdrew.

“Lord Chu, can you tell me now?” Niu Youdao did not circle around the subject. He set down his teacup and asked directly.

Chu Xiangyu lowered his voice. “Master Dao, do you understand your current situation? The danger to Nanzhou may have passed this time, but Emperor Shang Jianxiong of Yan is probably filled with hatred for you!”

Niu Youdao smiled. “Lord Chu has suddenly begun worrying about my safety. Somehow that feels a little strange.”

Chu Xiangyu grew mysterious. “Someone has learned of Master Dao's predicament and is willing to guarantee your safety.”

Niu Youdao could not help studying him more closely. Given the man's identity, one possibility immediately came to mind. “Don't tell me Emperor Taishu Xiong of Jin intends to protect me?”

Chu Xiangyu said solemnly, “His Majesty is a sovereign of heroic caliber, thirsting for men of worth. He has long admired Master Dao...”

A torrent of praise followed.

Niu Youdao eventually understood.

They wanted to recruit him.

“Nanzhou may have survived the danger before it, but sooner or later it must face another calamity. It is hardly a place where one can remain for long. Jin is different. Forget the distant future and look only at what lies before you. Shang Jianxiong will certainly use every means he can to harm you. If you go to Jin, you will have no such concern...”

Niu Youdao slowly drank his tea and patiently listened until Chu Xiangyu finished.

Then Chu Xiangyu waited for his answer.

In truth, Chu Xiangyu himself was filled with mixed feelings.

The envoys of the other states had all left. He alone had been bold enough to remain.

Han, Qi, and Wei had left because they had no need to shoulder the risk. Yan and Zhao no longer dared remain; if war broke out while their men were still inside Jinzhou, the result was easy to imagine. After what had happened to Song's delegation, those who needed to leave had left, and those who needed to return to Song to report had done so.

Only Chu Xiangyu remained.

He had no choice.

He had secretly received an imperial decree ordering him to find a chance to kill Niu Youdao.

Yet before he had found an opportunity to act, another decree arrived from His Majesty instructing him to recruit Niu Youdao instead.

The speed of that reversal left him speechless.

After waiting for quite some time and seeing no reaction, Chu Xiangyu tentatively asked, “His Majesty is truly sincere. What does Master Dao think?”

Niu Youdao answered slowly, “I appreciate His Majesty's goodwill, but I don't dare go. If His Majesty is truly sincere, perhaps he should first show me some sincerity.”

Chu Xiangyu asked, “What kind of sincerity does Master Dao want?”

“Shao Pingbo's head!” Niu Youdao replied. “Give me his severed head, and I won't say another word. I'll leave for Jin immediately.”

Chu Xiangyu was momentarily speechless, then tried again. “Young Master Shao has already promised His Majesty that so long as Master Dao is willing, he is prepared to cast aside all former grievances with you. His Majesty himself can guarantee it!”

Niu Youdao said, “Do you take me for a three-year-old child? He says he'll cast aside all former grievances and I'm supposed to believe him? Lord Chu, this isn't perhaps a trap His Majesty and Shao Pingbo have set together to lure me in, is it?”

“Absolutely impossible. If you don't believe it, His Majesty can publicly guarantee your safety before all beneath Heaven!”

“What good is a guarantee? Once I arrive in Jin and fall into your hands, how difficult would it be to invent some charge against me? There's no need to waste your breath, Lord Chu. I'll say it again: bring me Shao Pingbo's head, and I'll immediately go place myself under His Majesty's command.”

There was no way to continue the discussion.

Niu Youdao returned to this same demand again and again: Taishu Xiong had to kill Shao Pingbo.

Chu Xiangyu had no authority to decide anything of the kind. In the end, he could only take his leave awkwardly and report back for instructions.

Forget Niu Youdao. Even Chu Xiangyu himself privately wondered whether His Majesty and Shao Pingbo had set a trap together.

Once the guest was gone, Guan Fangyi returned. “What did he come see you for?”

“Taishu Xiong supposedly wants to recruit me...” Niu Youdao briefly explained the situation.

Guan Fangyi was astonished. “Doesn't Taishu Xiong know you and Shao Pingbo are mortal enemies?”

“Everyone beneath Heaven knows it. How could he not? So if you say this is some crude trick meant to kill me, that doesn't make sense either. I'm not stupid enough to walk willingly into something so obvious.”

Niu Youdao considered the matter, then suddenly raised his brows. “Damn it. I know that bastard Shao Pingbo too well. Heaven knows how many good things he's been saying about me in front of Taishu Xiong. Cast aside all former grievances? Like hell I believe him. Borrowing another man's knife to kill me sounds a lot more likely!”

Guan Fangyi warned him, “Among the rulers of the seven states, Jin alone has state power and cultivation power joined as one. The cultivation-world strength Taishu Xiong can mobilize is nothing like what the other emperors possess. His face isn't something you can easily reject.”

Niu Youdao said, “That's exactly why I didn't dare refuse. I told him to give me Shao Pingbo's head first!”

“...” Guan Fangyi was left speechless.

That condition was more than a little direct.

[End of Chapter 580]