<h4>Chapter 1790 - Threats</h4>


    A venerable old man in gray robes sat upright in the centermost seat of a resplendently lit hall. His face was waxy, sallow, and gaunt. His eyes were turbid, and he looked entirely unassuming. But the moment Su Yi and Xi Ning followed Jing Hongyu into the hall, they sensed that he was a Great Martial Stage powerhouse!!


    Before long, Jing Hongyu introduced the old man: Jing Cheng. The high elder of the Giant Whale Spirit Race, an expert of the True Martial Stage!


    Years ago, he’d been afflicted by divine misfortune, and his vitality was badly damaged. The Giant Whale Spirit Race sold off those Great Unity battle clothes to find someone capable of treating Jing Cheng’s divine misfortune.


    “Please take a seat, my fellow Daoists,” Jing Cheng said with an amiable smile. Once Su Yi and Xi Ning were seated, he ordered an attendant to pour them tea. His manners were impable.


    But Su Yi had never liked pleasantries, so he got straight to the point. “Please enlighten me. What have you called me here for?”


    Jing Cheng said solemnly, “''Enlighten'' you? I dare not call it that, but I won’t deceive you. We have arge number of simr bronze tes covered in the secret glyphs of the Dragon Pce. We’d like your help deciphering them, Fellow Daoist.”


    Su Yi didn’t find this at all strange. “I can do that.”


    “How straightforward of you!” Jing Cheng smiled. “Hongyu, bring out the secret glyphs and let Fellow Daoist Li get started.”


    “Got it!” Jing Hongyu nodded, then slipped a scroll from his sleeves.


    Unfurled, it was covered in numerous strange and contorted glyphs. This was the long-lost writing of the Primeval Era’s Dragon Pce!


    But Su Yi furrowed his brow. <i>The Giant Whale Spirit Race is far too disingenuous! They’re obviously on guard against me. They’re worried I’ll grasp whole texts, so they’ve copied portions of them for me to decipher instead.</i>


    Su Yi didn’t even need to think to know that the writing on the scroll was out of order. There was no way to assemble it into sentences. It was almost certainly iplete, too.


    They’d done this to prevent him from learning any big secrets!


    Xi Ning obviously noticed this too, and her gaze was a bit strange. She was curious to see how Su Yi would respond.


    But Su Yi just got up and said, “Fellow Daoist Xi Ning, we’re leaving.”


    And indeed, he turned to leave without another word.


    “Wait!” Jing Hongyu cried out. “Do you intend to renege on our agreement?”


    “If we’re to cooperate, we must both show sincerity, but the Giant Whales are showing no sincerity whatsoever,” Su Yi said tly.


    Jing Hongyu’s brow furrowed, but Jing Cheng smiled. “Please don’t be angry, Fellow Daoist. To tell the truth, we’re certain that these treasures hide enormous secrets, and we were worried that you’d decipher them, then hide the truth from us. If that happened, it''d be a major loss for us.”


    “Oh,” said Su Yi. “It’s simple, then. Bring the treasures to me, and I’ll decipher the characters for you one at a time. With your capabilities, I’m sure you can easily tell whether or not I’m deceiving you.”


    If he deciphered the gylphs one by one, it would be very difficult to deceive anyone.


    Jing Cheng fell silent, then said, “Fellow Daoist, we’ve already agreed to let you apany us to the ruins of the Dragon Pce unbound by the Talisman Contract. Isn’t that already proof of our race’s sincerity? Why insist on learning the secrets transcribed in the Dragon Pce’s glyphs? Don’t you think... your demands are a bit excessive?”


    His tone was a bit cold.


    Su Yiughed dryly. “Listen up: you’re the ones asking for <i>my </i>help. If you think I’m asking for too much, we don’t have to work together.”


    Jing Cheng''s turbid eyes stared Su Yi down. “Fellow Daoist, it would be terrible if we were to have a falling out.”


    His voice was low, with a clear implied threat. The atmosphere was a bit stifled and oppressive.


    Jing Hongyu tried to y peacemaker. “Fellow Daoist, the secrets of the Dragon Pce are of the utmost importance. All you need to do is help us decipher them, and you’ll benefit considerably, without any danger. Why refuse?”


    Su Yi disregarded Jing Hongyu and looked at Jing Cheng. He smiled faintly, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Are you threatening me?”


    Jing Cheng frowned. He was a Great Martial Stage expert, yet a young man was tantly provoking him. He felt thoroughly ufortable.


    But before he could respond, Xi Ning raised her finger and pointed.


    <i>ch!</i>


    A streak of blue light as sharp as the edge of a sword appeared out of nowhere, right between Jing Cheng’s eyes. It was just three inches from his forehead.


    It was dazzlingly, stingingly bright, and full of terrifying lightning. Moreover, it had appeared out of nowhere.


    Jing Cheng’s hair stood on end, and chills coursed down his spine.


    Despite his cultivation base, he couldn’t react in time at all! He understood that, had Xi Ning wished to kill him, he’d be dead already!


    n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    “Fellow Daoist Xi Ning, what are you doing?” Jing Hongyu broke out in cold sweats. He’dpletely lost hisposure.


    Even if you’d hit him over the head, he would never have guessed that this seemingly tranquil, ethereal woman would attack at the drop of a hat. Much less that she’d be this terrifyingly strong!!


    Xi Ning’s red lips parted, and she said simply, “I’m threatening you.”


    “....” Everyone fell silent.


    Su Yi was surprised, but he couldn’t help but want to give her a thumbs up. <i>Her character is quite admirable. To think she beat me to the punch...</i>


    “Let’s talk this over, let’s talk this over.” Jing Cheng took a deep breath and squeezed out a smile. “Since we’ve decided to work together, there’s no room for fighting and killing. How about this? I’ll bring out those treasures now and let you look them over. We’ll treat you withplete sincerity, and we absolutely won’t hide anything!”


    Xi Ning flicked her fingertip, and the blue light hovering between Jing Cheng’s eyes disappeared.


    Jing Cheng felt a massive weight lift from his shoulders, but he didn’t dare to hesitate. He waved his sleeves, and six bronze fragments floated into the air. Thergest was two feet long and simr to the te Su Yi had acquired at the auction house.


    The smallest was only the size of a fist.


    Without exception, they were badly patinated and covered in the strange, contorted glyphs of the Dragon Pce.


    “Fellow Daoist, I’ll have to trouble you,” Jing Cheng said with a smile.


    <i>The old-timer sure changes his tune quickly. He’s quite adaptable, </i>thought Su Yi. Out loud, however, he said nothing. He couldn’t be bothered to make fun of the old man.


    He just gathered the bronze tes and started looking them over. At the same time, he used his divine sense to make contact with Lei Ze, who was currently inmand token form.


    Before long, Su Yi deciphered everyst glyph on the six tes. However, the tes were badly damaged and iplete, like a document ripped into countless pieces. Some of the phrases were too damaged to even decipher.


    In the end, only three fragmented sentences drew Su Yi’s attention.


    “Blessings and disasters are not predetermined. People bring them upon themselves!


    “Rewards and retribution follow good and evil like a shadow!”


    “The lineage of the Dragon Pce has sinned, but did we truly deserve this?”


    ...When Su Yi saw this, he recalled the fragmented text on the first bronze te, and concluded that the disappearance of the Dragon Pce of the Eastern Sea was due to an enormous catastrophe.


    But even in the face of destruction, the people of the Dragon Pce couldn’t grasp why this disaster had befallen them, leading to bitterness and fury. The experts of the Dragon Pce likely left behind the bronze fragments as a record of the disaster that had befallen them!


    s, the fragments were so badly damaged and corroded that it was hard to decipher any further details.


    Something urred to Su Yi, and he looked at Jing Cheng. “These treasures are iplete.”


    Xi Ning’s cold gaze focused on Jing Cheng, and he instantly stiffened, then hurriedly exined. “It’s like this, Fellow Daoists. We acquired these fragments in the ruins of the Dragon Pce, and we indeed only acquired a portion of them. Most remain scattered throughout the ruins. These are the only ones in our possession. We aren’t hiding any others!”


    He pointed to his chest and said solemnly, “I can swear on my Dao Heart!”


    “If you knew there were more fragments to be discovered, why not find them and bring them back too?” asked Xi Ning. “Ah, I see. You couldn’t do it.”


    Jing Cheng grimaced. “That’s indeed the case. The ruins of the Dragon Pce are perilous and unpredictable. Danger lurks at every corner. When this old man visited the outer perimeter of the ruins, I encountered terrifying danger, and I dared not recklessly advance any further.”


    Lingering terror was written all over his face. There was no doubt about it; he was reying the perils he’d encountered in the ruins of the Dragon Pce.


    If even a Great Martial expert was so afraid, it was obvious how dangerous the ruins were.


    Su Yi pondered briefly, then read all of the glyphs he could decipher out loud. He didn’t hide any of them, and there was no need to hide them either; the secrets transcribed weren’t really much at all.


    Jing Cheng and Jing Hongyupared and confirmed everything he deciphered, and when they found that nothing was amiss, they instantly rxed. However, the glyphs’ contents left them bothpletely baffled.


    “Those who delight in wealth will surely die because of it... Greed is the source of countless tribtions...?”


    Xi Ning’s dreamlike eyes shed, and she sank into thought. “‘Blessings and disasters are not predetermined. People bring them upon themselves. Rewards and retribution follow good and evil like a shadow....’ Could it be that the demise of the Dragon Pce had something to do with that treasure?”


    “Fellow Daoist, have you perhaps realized something?” Jing Cheng couldn’t help but ask.


    Xi Ning said calmly, “If you bring out additional simr treasures, I might be able to figure something out.”


    Jing Cheng’s smile froze, and heughed bitterly.


    Jing Hongyu faced Su Yi and sped his fist. “We’ll re-enter the ruins of the Dragon Pce in a month. I’m sure we’ll find numerous simr treasures then. Fellow Daoist Li, when the timees, we hope you won’t be stingy. Rest assured that we’ll reward you generously for your assistance!”


    Jing Cheng nodded.


    Su Yi and Xi Ning set off shortly after. Along the way, Xi Ning repeated her earlier invitation.


    “Fellow Daoist, how about we find a ce for a private chat?”


    She was a slender, graceful beauty, and her jade-like legs were long and straight. She was only half a head shorter than Su Yi.


    Her eyes sparkled like stars as she gazed intently at Su Yi, a hint of eagerness on her extraordinarily beautiful face.