My Misfortune Crushed Instances-Chapter 68: Who Would Agree to Such a Proposal
"Oh my god!"
Wu Sun saw the main character and couldn’t help shouting.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t calm; the other two young men weren’t doing any better, their faces ashen and trembling.
"It seems that all my puppets have died at your hands."
The scholar approached step by step, his demeanor relaxed, as if taking a stroll. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦
Li Rui didn’t ask how he knew or how he found this place.
For a top-level master with extraordinary abilities, it’s not surprising what means they possess.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"My surname is Zuo."
The scholar smiled, "My things are in your hands. Return them to me, and then you can leave."
The three remaining looked at each other, unable to decide.
Li Rui reached out to He Chengli, who understood and took out a stack of soul boxes the size of a palm from his chest, placing them in his hand.
Their minds weren’t functioning well now because of the immense pressure coming from the scholar.
"Yes, those are the things. Give them to me, and I will spare your lives."
Everyone looked to Li Rui but held little hope.
Everyone knew that a scholar who makes puppets from human skin isn’t a benevolent person and is bound to kill, regardless of him saying they could go free; it’s hardly possible.
In their current thinking, the only thing they could imagine was the most disastrous outcome, where they scattered and fled, hoping that maybe not all of them would die, but the hope was slim.
In fact, the despair in their hearts was telling a reality: if they did as he said, maybe they could die more quickly.
However, Li Rui didn’t think that way. He glanced at the soul box in his hand, then placed his palm over the seal of the box.
"Mr. Zuo, you don’t want me to open this box, do you?"
The three others doubted their ears; someone actually dared to threaten a world NPC, which filled their hearts with enormous anxiety but also a sliver of hope.
"Pfft."
The scholar couldn’t hold back and laughed, "You don’t think that by opening the box, I can’t retrieve those souls, do you?"
Crackle.
Golden arcs of electricity leaped from Li Rui’s body: "What about this?"
The Divine Thunder struck rapidly, especially skilled at dealing with ghostly entities.
The scholar’s smile suddenly vanished, and he coldly said, "Shenxiao Thunderbolt Heart Scripture... Who are you?"
His smile didn’t actually disappear; it just transferred to Li Rui’s face: "Me? I’m your father. Just kidding, I’m an outsider."
He continued talking to himself: "We people are different from the locals, right? You seem to care a lot about the souls in the box. I want to make a deal with you."
"Go ahead."
The scholar quickly regained his composure. Someone like him wouldn’t be easily angered by a ’I’m your father’ joke; instead, he seriously considered the current situation.
He knew the problem was with himself; he underestimated these people, asked for the soul box as soon as he arrived, exposing his thoughts, a price must be paid.
Of course, that price was something he would demand back after getting the soul box.
"You let the other three go, and I’ll go with you into the forest. You must have some pet you’re raising there; am I right? Let’s be more daring - that thing needs souls, especially souls of people from outside, right?"
Li Rui shook the items in his hand, "There are at least a dozen souls of outsiders in here. All you have to do is let the three of them go, and you can get a dozen back, quite worth it."
"If you insist on seeing if you can outrun the Shenxiao Thunderbolt Heart Scripture, it’s possible, but the result may be you get four new souls but lose more than a dozen."
Wu Sun and the other two were speechless; they were shocked that Li Rui actually noticed what mattered to the scholar. They couldn’t believe the scant words revealed by the puppet and the shadowy clues from Huo Yun were connected by him.
The key was, judging from the scholar’s reaction, he guessed correctly.
But they didn’t know that Li Rui could guess because he had obtained information in advance at Demon Wind Temple and Gu Xuan Town.
In Gu Xuan Town, a peculiar scholar handed the Elder Council the task of capturing live people.
At Demon Wind Temple, Sun Qian, having failed in the fight for the Fengdu Emperor’s throne, with his Divine Soul wounded, also used human sacrifices to recover.
He could only boldly guess that this scholar had at least some connection with that scholar, perhaps even being the same person, since the Evil Dao is not tolerated by Shenxiao Palace and similar righteous sects and isn’t practiced by many.
So, now he was collecting living people’s souls, likely intending to perform some kind of evil ritual, given the overwhelming and dangerous aura deep in the Silent Forest, gambling that perhaps it was similar to what Sun Qian was doing.
After some deliberation, the scholar calmly said two words.
"Get lost."
He gave in.
Li Rui gave the other three a nod: "Go quickly."
He Chengli gritted his teeth, Huo Yun looked uncertain, and Wu Sun grabbed their arms and ran in the other direction without looking back.
If they stayed, they’d only drag him down, and he had to think of other ways, like going to the edge of the Secret Realm to look for any world NPCs who might come upon hearing the news.
Li Rui certainly wasn’t a saint, but he was the only one present who could hold off the scholar with the surname Zuo. It was either he died alone, or they all died.
"They’ve already left. Now, give me the things," the scholar said.
Li Rui said, "Go where you want to go. I’ll give you one soul box every now and then."
With that, he threw one of the boxes in his hand over.
This was a game of tactics; he couldn’t outright refuse and couldn’t say he’d only give back the soul boxes when he was safe, otherwise, the other party might just flip the table.
He had to keep giving a little hope but couldn’t lose all his negotiating chips.
Doing so was like dancing on the edge of a knife but there was no choice under the circumstances. Usually, when encountering such an Evil Dao world NPC, they should have been annihilated long ago.
The scholar briefly frowned before regaining the previous composure, knowing that this young man was stalling for time but not knowing what exactly he was stalling for.
After all, as a person directly involved, even if one understood what an outsider was, one couldn’t fathom something called game mechanics.
He forcibly closed the task point, so the Secret Realm system would certainly mobilize other world NPCs to repair it.
"Then, shall we go?" He smiled again, taking the lead into the depths of the Silent Forest.
.....
A while later, the two walked together, chatting and laughing. If not for the several meters of distance between them, one might think they were old friends.
"So Brother Zuo, how do you know about outsiders?"
The scholar, named Zuo Qiutian, smiled: "Few in this world can see through the truth, even those Celestial Masters and Nether Emperors from Shenxiao Palace and Fengdu can’t penetrate the illusion. It’s no wonder, as the Heavenly Dao is not something easily understood."
He subtly bragged about himself but didn’t answer the question directly.
"The Heavenly Dao, what’s that?"
Li Rui thought since he couldn’t escape now, he might as well take the chance to learn more inside information, "Is it related to the Upper Realm?"
Zuo Qiutian didn’t answer but extended his hand.
Li Rui tossed another soul box over.
"Do you truly believe in the Upper Realm? Perhaps related, perhaps not."
"... Damn it, pay me back."
That answer was lousy.
The scholar laughed, "No refunds. Ask another question."
"The Five Thunders Skill, how much do you know?" Li Rui didn’t hold back.
"You seem really interested in the Upper Realm."
Zuo Qiutian had evidently heard the tales of ascension through the Thunder Division, "I can tell you that the foundation of Community Thunder lies in Liangting, but it’s been lost for many years and should be related to the Wu family."
The Wu is the surname of the Liangting royal family.
[Long-term mission updated.]
[Details 2: The Community Thunder clues relate to the royal family of the ancient state of Liangting.]
The mission hint had changed, indicating he spoke the truth. This person, though practicing Evil Dao techniques, had a sense of honesty.
As they spoke, they had already crossed Little Moon Lake and were approaching the depths of the Silent Forest, with Li Rui still having two soul boxes left in his hand.
Clap clap.
Zuo Qiutian clapped his hands twice.
"Alright, now you’re out of chips. Don’t think I don’t know those two boxes are empty."
Li Rui remained unfazed: "Well, you could have killed me earlier. Why didn’t you act?"
"Because I’ve changed my mind. I have a proposal."
Zuo Qiutian said, "Join us, and you won’t have to die."
"... Are you interested in me or something? This is so baffling. Why?" Li Rui almost felt like laughing; it was nonsense.
Zuo Qiutian answered honestly, like a trustworthy man: "You act unconventionally and possess the methods of Shenxiao Palace, which are helpful to our major undertaking. Most importantly, I can see that you are a Celestial Killer; with you, many things will become much easier."
"What is the major undertaking?" Li Rui asked.
"I can’t tell you now."
"Who are you people?"
"Join us, and you will find out."
"If I join, will you have to put something in me to ensure loyalty?"
"Naturally."
Li Rui smiled somewhat helplessly: "Who would accept such a proposal?"
"You’re wrong. Someone has accepted before, someone like you from outside the world."
Zuo Qiutian raised an eyebrow as if he’d won a victory.
