However, who was Long Di to look a gift horse in the mouth? He just rolled with it.
“Woe is you indeed! For I will NOT have this technique anymore!”
****
The elders stared at the duo and their ‘performance’.
The Peach Blossom Sage’s Spiritual Intent over-acting and Long DI’s… underacting somehow achieved a bizarre equilibrium.
An equilibrium which somehow made their performance believable. Remember, one of them was doing too much, and the other was barely doing anything at all as far as efforts were concerned.
The only remaining constant between the two was that they were both terrible actors. Going by this logic, there was no reason for their performance to be anywhere near the realm of believability, but here we are.
For lack of a better metaphor, the two’s actions took on the remarkable properties of kool-aid. If we take Long Di’s lacklustre acting as the water in this combination, then the Peach remnant will’s overacting was the powdery goodness that is kool-aid that added flavour to his otherwise tasteless performance.
They were horrible, yes, but they were horrible together and this made it work for some reason, reasons that went beyond the ken of mortal men. Maybe this is what is called teamwork makes the dream work.
“And now, my failed young protege who is NO LONGER qualified to wield the power that I entrusted to you and can take back ANYTIME I WANT, it is time for me to make a move and relinquish myself of this woe!”
Making exaggerated hand gestures that seemed to signal the end of this play, the Spiritual Intent drifted over to Long Di and placed his index finger on Long Di’s brow as if to take back what he granted him.
Long Di closed his eyes to await the incoming nothing that he expected, but not before saying something else to seal the deal for all the spectators.
“it is so unlucky that I will NEVER again possess, NEVER to even GIVE to other people that move with the finger that I got from the Peach Blossom Sage’s Spiritual Intent… Did I mention that I got it from the Spiritual Intent!? Because I did!”
Long Di gave himself a mental high five. It may not have been the best at the start, but once he really got into it, he could see that his acting skills have certainly improved.
Weiyuan Yaochuan’s face was extremely ugly at the moment, ‘Damn it! How could we encounter such bad luck!? To think that we won’t be able to get our hands on such a divine technique! But is it true? I mean their actions at the moment seem so in sync, and it’s like I can feel their grief at the moment, but then… why does it feel like if I look at one of them, their acting is slapping me in my face with reckless abandon because of how horrendously bad it is!? This makes no sense!’
While the teacher dealt with this internal struggle, Shen Dai’s face burned red with shame and embarrassment.
For benefits that he will no longer be able to take advantage of, he lost the goodwill of a once-in-a-lifetime genius like Long Di.
A bright light shone at the point of contact between the finger of the Spiritual Intent and Long Di’s brow.
Even though it was not supposed to mean anything, mental fluctuations could be felt coming from the two, which made this even more believable than it already was. However, it was the Spiritual Intent and Long Di communicating in secret.
‘Young one, I need to ask you something. That technique, where did you learn it? Is it something from your clan that you could only use recently?’ The Spiritual Intent was right to think this way if he was dealing with normal people.
After all, the technique Long Di used was so powerful that it could only be something achievable after many years of training, and considering the boy’s age, it could only mean that it was something he had access to in his years of infancy.
However, that only applied to your normal, run-of-the-mill prodigy of the ancient super-powerful clan. How could he know that Long Di was beyond freaky?
‘Do you remember that technique from the scroll that you had in the room with the bunch of spirit stones?’ Long Di asked back in his mind.
The Spiritual Intent thought for a moment before something came to him. ‘Do you mean Nature’s Touch?’
‘Yea, I’m not calling it that,’ Long Di indirectly admitted that this was the one he meant.
Though it wasn’t a relic, there were a few things of value there that were useful to cultivators.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
‘But Nature’s Touch—’
‘Not calling it that...’
‘You only looked at the scroll once!’ The Spiritual Intent ignored Long Di’s earlier interruption. ‘Plus, what you used was nothing like my touch. My touch is gentle and elegant, while yours is tyrannical and overbearing. Plus it’s made out of tribulation lightning! It also ripped the sky asunder and brought forth an ocean of will that lesser Kings could only dream of!’
‘…’
‘Boy…?’
‘… Do you hear yourself when you talk?’ Long Di finally responded, wanting to know if the Spiritual Intent truly didn’t realise the dangerous double meaning of the first part of his words.
‘What do you mean?’ The Spiritual Intent was genuinely confused.
‘Forget it. Anyway, I used your technique as a foundational base and saw some flaws that needed fixing. After that, I simply supplemented it with my element instead of your freaky peach blossom petals, and voila. It became what you saw.’
The Spiritual Intent’s brow furrowed in irritation when he heard this, confusing the spectators still watching outside.
Was he failing in retrieving the technique from Long Di? Because that would be for the best. The only reason why they didn’t dare to interfere was because this was the Spiritual Intent of a True Star Sage, an existence at the Star Creation realm.
Even if it wasn’t as strong as its peak, it was not something that they could resist. Its aura alone intimidated them. So they patiently waited to see if there were any benefits that could be dredged up.
‘Flaws!? What flaws!?? Where did you find flaws?’ The Spiritual Intent couldn’t believe one of his moves had flaws. This technique, although not the best, was still created by a True Star Sage.
How could Long Di, a mere Core Flame Evocation expert, improve upon a technique created by such an expert?
‘It wasn’t a lot. I just fixed the flaws in the stability of the foundation, the execution of the technique, and the flexibility of its flow.’
‘TH-THAT’S THE WHOLE TECHNIQUE!’
‘Hey, you said it, not me. So anyway, let’s finish up. I don’t think we need to stretch this out any longer.’ Long Di advised.
‘You…!’
The Spiritual Intent felt like it wanted to explode in anger, but it managed to calm itself down. After all, Long Di was entrusted with a very important mission that it could only leave to him.
“Sighs…”
The Spiritual Intent released a soft breath of air. ‘Young one, this old one has barely any energy left to spare. I’m sure you realised how ghostly my form looked compared to before.’
Indeed, the Spiritual Intent's current appearance was extremely faint compared to how solid-looking it was before.
‘Right now, what little energy I have left is being focused to keep up the shadow of an aura equivalent to a True Star Sage.’ The Spiritual Intent confessed its current state. ‘I want you to leave here while I deal with these old foxes. Even if they don’t want to, all the experts here will have to give me face.’
“Wait, what are you—”
“It is done.” The Spiritual Intent removed its finger from Long Di’s brow, cutting him off before he was able to verbally question that last mental message.
He then turned to the experts, who were still standing some distance away from them.
Long Di stared at the Spiritual Intent’s back with a complicated look, before the last mental message made its way to him. ‘Go now, and don’t look back.’
He took a deep breath and turned around and took the first step back. It became easier with the second step and before long he started on his way to meet up with Yaomu Shou and the others.
…
Faraway from where all of this took place, a distortion in space could be seen before the Di Ming appeared once more with the near-dead Gang Heng.
It dropped the Iron Body Forging Sect's outer elder to the ground with a thud. The outer sect elder only grunted when he landed, but did nothing else.
The Di Ming looked at him for a moment before it fished out a small black bead from the inside of its mouth.
It then fed it to the elder and forced him to swallow it. Not long after, the elder issued a blood-curdling scream.
The Di Ming did nothing and simply watched as if it expected this outcome.
It took a long time after, but the screams of the elder finally died down. Miraculously, however, the wounds that covered the entirety of Gang Heng’s body began healing at a pace visible to the naked eye.
The Di Ming stared at the elder’s sleeping face before it released a vicious kick to the elder’s side!
Boom!
Gang Heng crashed into a boulder a few feet away.
“Ugh! What the…! Who the hell dares to—”
“Ask nothing, say nothing. Do you understand?”
The minute Gang Heng heard the smooth voice and saw what it was that spoke, all colour drained from his face. “You—you—”
Before he could even correct his stuttering, a long claw-like nail silently found its way in between Gang Heng’s brow.
“Sshhh…”
A thin trail of blood streamed down from the point of contact, yet Gang Heng didn’t dare to move. Fear on a different level paralysed him as he just sat there and waited to hear what such a being wanted with him.
“I will help you to get far within the true Iron Body Forging Sect and you, in return, will do everything in your power to destroy that boy. Nod if you understand.”