"I…"
Knowing that it was helpless before the other party as long as it was trapped within this book, the finger finally abandoned its pride and spoke. "I am the phalanges of a finger of Vicious, and it is only after several dozen millenniums of sleep that I finally gained my own consciousness. The Bluehorn Dragon Beast was the emperor of the Cloudmist Ridge, and in order to hasten my awakening, I bound his soul to me and had him work under me…"
Soon, it went through the entire story.
It wasn't too far from what Zhang Xuan had guessed previously.
No one could tell for sure what had happened in the battle between Vicious and Kong shi back then, but one thing for sure was that the phalanges of a finger of his had been left behind somehow.
Vicious had already reached the level of being able to revive from just a droplet of blood, so even though his phalanges had suffered severe damage, resulting in a lengthy sleep of several dozen millenniums, it still managed to regain consciousness.
Afterwards, by some stroke of luck, it was found by the emperor of the Cloudmist Ridge.
In order to quickly recover, it used a unique method it possessed to bind the other party's soul to him and made use of it to lord over the saint beasts of the Cloudmist Ridge.
In exchange for replenishing the Earth Vein Spirit Essence in the cavern, the saint beasts would capture master teachers to feed it.
Naturally, with its incredible means, it was able to raise the cultivation of the Golden Beartiger Beast easily as well. However, one thing that was not within its calculations was that Zhang Xuan would possess such a powerful artifact, and it was this that resulted in its current plight.
As for the matter regarding Wu Yangzi… around two thousand years ago, a few Otherworldly Demons had visited the Cloudmist Ridge to request their assistance.
At that moment, Vicious had fallen into a short moment of hibernation after consuming several master teachers, which placed the Bluehorn Dragon Beast in charge for that period of time. Learning of the motive of those Otherworldly Demons, it had sent a few saint beasts to assist them in kidnapping Wu Yangzi.
The Bluehorn Dragon Beast was only an incomplete soul, but after spending innumerable years with Vicious' consciousness, it had learned of quite a number of its secrets. While Vicious was unconscious, it had secretly told the Otherworldly Demons about the existence of the droplet of blood… Eventually, those Otherworldly Demons successfully retrieved the heart and brought it back to the underground chamber. It was under their nourishment that the heart eventually regained consciousness.
Thus, it could be said that this finger was the reason the heart was able to regain its consciousness.
After asking everything that should be asked, Zhang Xuan still had some matters that he hadn't figured out. But just as he was thinking about them deeply, a voice suddenly sounded by his ear.
"Zhang shi, allow me to devour this fellow. I should be able to recover a fair bit of my strength with this…"
It was from the heart.
"You want to devour it?"
"That's right. Based on my deduction, it seems that even though Vicious was destroyed in the battle back then, he has left quite a few hands. Most likely, there are quite a few of us out there that possess consciousness as well. Even if I absorb spiritual energy for another hundred thousand years, I still won't be able to return to my peak… The only way to do so quickly is to find my other body parts and devour them!" the heart said.
"As long as I devour a sufficient number of them, even if I can't return to my peak, I wouldn't be too far away from it!"
"I see." Zhang Xuan nodded.
When he saw the finger claiming that it was Vicious as well, he had already deduced this much.
There was a famous, albeit brutal, way to groom an expert within an organization. It was to gather a huge bunch of men and have them face off against one another, and the final one standing would be strongest of them all.
Vicious knew that there was a high chance that he could lose his life fighting against Kong shi, so he had used some secret art to preserve his heart, finger, and perhaps a few more body parts so that he could still survive if a mishap occurred. However, in order to regain his former strength, his body parts would have to devour one another, and the final consciousness standing would become the real Vicious.
"As long as you pledge loyalty to me, not only will I give you this finger to devour, I can even help you find the other parts of Vicious so that you can regain your strength," Zhang Xuan said calmly.
To him, it mattered not who became the final Vicious as long as the other party was loyal to him.
The heart had followed him for quite some time, and they had gone through quite a few ordeals together. Thus, it was the closest to him, so the probability to successfully tame it was the highest at the moment.
As for the finger… considering that it had brutally slaughtered so many master teachers and devoured their flesh and blood, Zhang Xuan was reluctant to have it serve as his subordinate even if he could tame it.
"Pledge loyalty?" The heart fell silent.
Even though it was powerless after getting trapped in the book, its consciousness was still one of the domineering Vicious who had fought head-on against Kong shi. As such, it was difficult for it to lower its pride and pledge loyalty to another.
"That's right." Placing his hands behind his back, Zhang Xuan waited patiently for the other party to make his decision.
Possessing the Library of Heaven's Path, it was only a matter of time before he reached the top of the world. In his view, Vicious' loyalty could only be considered icing on the cake. With or without it, he would still be able to forge a path ahead.
After a moment of silence, the heart finally gave the word. "Fine, I agree."
The capabilities and means that the young man had displayed thus far could even leave the legendary 9-star master teachers astounded.
Perhaps, the other party might really be able to bring it to greater heights, and perhaps… surpass even Kong shi!
Agree, and there would be a chance that it could make a full recovery and even reach greater heights. Reject, and it would be trapped in the book forever, never to make a comeback. Which was the correct choice? It didn't take a genius to figure that out.
Seeing that he had the other party's agreement, Zhang Xuan said, "Offer your soul then!"
The other party's betrayal wasn't a risk he could afford to take, and a couple of words and promises held no weight at all.
Only with the other party's soul held hostage in his hands would he be able to put his unconditional trust in the other party.
"Yes."
Without any hesitation, the heart sent a fragment of its soul into Zhang Xuan's glabella, entering his consciousness.
Feeling the soul fragment, Zhang Xuan nodded in satisfaction.
Previously, he was only able to make Vicious obey his commands through the prowess of the Book of Heaven's Path. However, after the soul offering, he now possessed absolute control over the other party, similar to a tamed beast. The other party had no choice but to obey his commands unconditionally.
"Master!"
Offering one's soul was equivalent to acknowledging the other party as one's master; the heart put aside its pride and lowered its posture.
Zhang Xuan waved his hands. "Call me young master instead."
"Yes, Young Master!" the heart responded.
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"With your current strength, will you be able to devour him? Do you need my help?"
"Young Master, my strength is currently beneath his, so it will be extremely difficult for me to succeed. However, if you can lend me Kong shi's writing to use, I am confident that I should be able to overpower him!" the heart said.
"You want to borrow Kong shi's writing?" Zhang Xuan frowned.
It hadn't been easy for him to obtain Kong shi's personal handwriting, and his heart had nearly bled dry when he realized that Vicious had devoured a third of it the previous time that he helped his clone act as Yang Xuan. To think that he would still dare think of devouring more of it…
"Young Master, Otherworldly Demons grow by consuming humans, and that finger has devoured many master teachers over the years. As such, its strength and spirit are far stronger than mine. Without Kong shi's writing, I fear that I won't be an opponent for it, and I might even end up being the one devoured instead!" the heart said.
"… Alright then. Here is the remaining two-thirds of Kong shi's writing. Tell me, how much do you need to successfully devour that finger?" Zhang Xuan asked with a deep frown.
"That… I am not too sure either!" the heart said hesitantly.
After a moment of contemplation, Zhang Xuan sighed deeply and said, "Fine, I will help you weaken that finger first before you make a move. That should save a bit of Kong shi's writing…"
He might not be a match for the finger outside, but within the Book of Heaven's Path, his Heaven's Path zhenqi was a lethal weapon.
Having come to a decision, Zhang Xuan began infusing his zhenqi into the book.
"AHHHHH…"
Under the assault of the zhenqi, the finger began rolling around the place as a shrill scream echoed from its consciousness. It took a while before the voice began to die down.
Watching this sight, the heart couldn't help but convulse slightly. Nevertheless, knowing that this was a chance for it to strike, it rushed forward and sent a surge of killing intent toward the finger, attempting to subdue it.
…
Sometime later, the movements of the finger finally came to a complete halt. Abandoning its previous arrogant attitude, it lay humbly in the book.
…
"Young Master!"
After an inestimable length of time, a voice sounded from the consciousness in the finger.
The heart had successfully devoured the 'Vicious' within the finger and assimilated it into a part of it.
"Young Master, the clash with that fellow's will while devouring it has depleted my spirit. I need to rest for a moment… I have already wiped away the consciousness in the soul of the Bluehorn Dragon Beast, so you should be able to absorb it to nourish your soul," Vicious said.
Following which, he felt a surge of soul energy leaving the book.
Sensing the incredible purity of the soul, Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.
Even though the emperor of the Cloudmist Ridge was only an incomplete soul, it wielded power comparable to a Saint realm 5-dan. If he could absorb the energy in the soul and assimilate it into his own, his soul cultivation could rise significantly.
However, this wasn't the time to do so yet. The battle against the Cloudmist Ridge had just ended, and there were many other things that he still had to attend to.
Taking Kong shi's scroll back from Vicious, Zhang Xuan took a look at it and saw yet another thousand words had disappeared from it, meaning only a third of the original writing remained. His eyelids began twitching furiously, but a moment later, he sighed deeply and stowed it into his storage ring.
Any other master teacher who obtained Kong shi's writing would worship it as if it was their ancestor. He was probably the only one who trampled on it in such a manner.
After returning to the cavern, Zhang Xuan instructed the Myriad Anthive Queen to devour the folded space.
With the Bluehorn Emperor Beast, the culprit behind the deaths of countless master teachers, destroyed, the Cloudmist Ridge would no longer pose a threat anymore. The deceased master teachers who had died under its tyranny should also be able to rest in peace now.
As the folded space wasn't too large, and the Myriad Anthive Queen's cultivation was also significantly higher than before, it only took an hour this time for it to devour it completely.
After which, he returned the Myriad Anthive Queen to the nest before heading out.
When he finally returned to the area where the Earth Vein Spirit Essence was stored, he saw the Golden Beartiger Beast lying flat like a pancake on the ground, deader than ever.
Upon noticing him, the Golden Origin Cauldron immediately rushed over to greet him.
"Master, I have killed this fellow for you, and he had quite a few good things with him…" With a fawning smile, it took out a storage ring and passed it over to Zhang Xuan.
"Storage ring?" Zhang Xuan frowned for a moment before he suddenly recalled something.
While spirit beasts were unable to access storage rings, saint beasts could. As the oldest king of the Cloudmist Ridge, the Golden Beartiger Beast had at least lived for a thousand year now. Over the years, it had killed many experts and collected their possessions as spoils of war, so it should have considerable wealth in its ring.
Zhang Xuan hadn't really thought of that earlier, but it seemed like his loyal Ding Ding had already helped him settle this matter.
The seal on a storage ring would be erased upon the death of its master, so Zhang Xuan was able to easily claim possession of it using a droplet of blood. Immersing his consciousness into the ring, he took a peek at what was within.
The area inside was far larger than his current storage ring, spanning a diameter of several hundred meters. There were all kinds of treasures stacked up into towering piles all around, and just the number of middle-tier spirit stones in itself numbered in the tens of millions.
There were also around several hundred high-tier spirit stones placed together as well.
Besides that, there were also valuable medicinal herbs, high-grade pills, and rare ores of all sorts scattered all around the place in unimaginable quantities
As for weapons, there were several hundreds of them, of which, around forty were at Spirit pinnacle, and three of them were even at Half-Saint!
"Incredible!" Zhang Xuan was rendered speechless by the grandeur before him.
Ever since his transcension to this world, he had worked diligently to earn money, not willing to spare even a single gold coin in his path. He had thought that with his hard work, he had already accumulated quite a large fortune for himself, but compared to this king of the Cloudmist Ridge, what he had was truly nothing in comparison.
But thinking about it… the Cloudmist Ridge had kidnapped Elder Wu Yangzi back then, so it must have taken quite a bit of treasure from the latter too. Just that in itself was sufficient to make it filthy rich.
It had been two thousand years, so the Golden Beartiger Beast might not have even been born back then, but as the spokesperson of the Bluehorn Dragon Beast, it should have inherited most of the accumulated wealth of the Cloudmist Ridge.