NOVEL NEXT Chapter 101: Mind Games
Li Ling rolled his eyes at the woman before him, feeling a hint of disdain in his heart. "You think too highly of yourself. You are only conventionally attractive, with elfin features. However, you are way too slender for my liking, am I supposed to be rubbing flesh or bones?"
Kong Beiwu and Luo Roumei were left speechless by this, feeling that Li Ling was deliberately trying to humiliate Luo Roumei as part of his interests. Even Kong Beiwu, who refrained from debauchery, had to admit that it was difficult to take his eyes off the beautiful Luo Roumei, and her slender figure was exactly the type that most men found attractive on the Tian Ming Continent.
However, Li Ling was being sincere. His preference was closer to figures like Bai Ruyi, who was exceedingly voluminous in the areas of interest, but that was due to his history as Andrew Han of Earth. Since he left the mainland to live in the western world from a young age, he was exposed to the thicker and fuller figures of Latin American, African American, and Caucasian women, which formed his preferences.
Technically, in Tian Ming, women like Bai Ruyi were considered to be 'plump' and were only favored by men when it was time for intercourse, but were not appreciated when men were looking for beauty and refinement.
But Li Ling did not care to clear up the misunderstanding. Rather, as a point of interest, he paused and sized Luo Roumei up and down, then chuckled coldly.
"No wonder you've been so calm all this while. You have no idea what purpose I have for you, do you? No, you thought I wanted to use you as some sort of sexual relief? Why do all of you seem to think like this?"
Luo Roumei's lips twitched, wanting to retort that what else would anyone have thought if a male kidnapped a relatively attractive female and enslaved her? Even a person ignorant of sexual matters would suspect that something was amiss!
"No, no. My purpose for capturing you and killing your fellow disciples was to silence them, because I don't want anyone to come looking for you. After all, what I am going to do with you is the biggest taboo in the cultivation world." Li Ling hinted with a look of amusement, wanting to see if she would grasp his meaning right away.
However, Luo Roumei still seemed somewhat confused, only displaying a slight worry. Clearly, whatever she thought the 'greatest taboo' was could not match up to what Li Ling felt it was, and he saw the need to educate her so that she would know what was coming next.
"Ha, despite all your intelligence, this is all you amount to? Did you really think that by trying to fly under the radar, no one would find out?" Li Ling took a step and appeared before Luo Roumei, staring into her green eyes with malevolence.
Yet, his voice was soft and gentle as a whisper. "Luo Roumei, did you really think no one would find out about your Heavenly Wood Spirit Root?"
The contrast of his actions and his tone were disturbing enough, but his words completely broke Luo Roumei down in a way that no non-cultivator would understand. Immediately, her pupils constricted to needle points as she stepped back, tripping and falling onto her bum, but she did not have the state of mind to care.
Rather, she trembled severely as she backed away from Li Ling hurriedly, as if trying to escape his presence. Li Ling only sneered with mockery and took a few casual steps to follow her, not lowering his voice at all.
"Ah, so you do understand the weight of what is going to happen. What am I saying, as a born heavenly spirit root, you have probably been told all the horror stories by your elders, which was why you wisely shielded yourself by joining that mediocre sect and being a mere alchemy elder's disciple."
Li Ling tsked dramatically, following Luo Roumei who kept backing away until she collided with the elevated platform that led to the house itself, unable to move anymore.
"Even in a righteous sect, without proper backing, your spirit root can be seized through forced body possession or body exchange, but we in the demonic sect are not so cheap. We have many methods to perfectly extract your spirit root from your body, but all of them require you to be alive and conscious, so the pain must be extraordinary."
Li Ling knelt down before Luo Roumei and smiled. "I can promise you that with the level of expertise I will achieve, I will make it as painless as possible for you."
Luo Roumei hesitated and then had a resolute expression as she tried to bite down on her tongue, but Li Ling trapped her jaw with a lightning-fast movement.
"Ah, ah, ah! No suicide allowed, you need to be alive, remember? Also, you shouldn't be too scared, soon you will come to offer yourself willingly." Li Ling teased with a playful smile.
Even with her jaw grasped, Luo Roumei struggled a bit, but her eyes only contained defiance and disdain toward Li Ling. He may be able to suppress her to enact his evil deeds, but there was not a single iota of a chance that she would offer herself willingly!
"You don't believe me? Why not hear it for yourself?" Li Ling saw her doubt and forked a finger over to Kong Beiwu, who obediently came over with a strange expression.
Did his master like this kind of play? He seemed to be very dull and casual during normal moments but became extremely lively when it was time to kill, torture, or perform any form of cruelty on another person.
"Xiao Wu, you heard me earlier. The reason I kept you alive all this while is because you also have a top-grade fire spirit root, which is currently undergoing an upgrade to the earth level. After this is complete, with some help from me, I plan to extract it and kill you, just like Xiao Mei here." Li Ling revealed without hesitation, causing Luo Roumei's face to change as she glanced at Kong Beiwu hopefully.
Surely, after hearing this, he would be willing to resist along with her, right?
However, what she saw in his eyes caused her heart to sink. Kong Beiwu wore an expression of confusion, looking at Li Ling as if he had asked him whether the sky was blue or purple.
"That's to be expected, isn't it? It's not like my life was kept among my fellow brethren back then because I am the chosen one. I'm actually relieved to know that this is what you plan because I can make proper preparations for it."
Luo Roumei struggled to make muffled sounds and Li Ling released her jaw, allowing her to speak.
"What are you saying, Fellow Daoist?! Don't you understand how agonizing the process of spirit root extraction is? Even if it succeeds, of which it has a very low chance, the best-case scenario for the victim is to be physically and mentally crippled for life!" Luo Roumei shouted with agitation, her calm eyes becoming red for once.
Even when her fellow sect brothers and sisters had been slaughtered by Li Ling, she hadn't lost her cool this much. However, hearing what Kong Beiwu said made her completely erupt, because she felt that even a manufactured puppet wouldn't be so obeisant!
But Kong Beiwu's next words silenced her completely as the young man shrugged. "So what? It is the luck of my ten thousand generations to be spotted by the Master and undergo whatever procedure he has in store for me. Knowing that my spirit root can contribute to his journey to immortality is the highest honor of my life!"
Luo Roumei was stunned, her nature as a Spirit Human able to deduce that Kong Beiwu was speaking the absolute truth, with no falsehood or manipulation. This was what he genuinely thought from the bottom of his heart, and Luo Roumei couldn't understand it.
She currently resembled a lost puppy beaten by the rain, turning to glance at Li Ling who was smiling smarmily, as if he was a third-party bystander watching the show. Immediately, she thought about Li Ling's earlier words and the presence she felt a few days ago, as well as the 'M' symbol on Kong Beiwu's forehead that seemed deeper than hers and seemed to understand something.
Widening her eyes with horror, she once again attempted to bite her tongue, but Li Ling chuckled and allowed her to do it, causing a spray of blood to gush out of her mouth. Immediately, Luo Roumei groaned in pain, leaning against the edge behind her, but her eyes were filled with schadenfreude and relief as she stared at Li Ling defiantly.
Li Ling grimaced. "Whew, that must hurt! To be able to bypass your instinct for survival and do this, your willpower is quite amazing. I am even more confident you can survive the extraction process and yield me benefits never seen before."
Luo Roumei was slightly puzzled, wondering what this bastard meant. Did he not see that she was bleeding out here? Did he still think he would be able to get anything from her? She couldn't help but weakly smile with mockery at Li Ling, finding him to be far more naive than she thought.
But Li Ling just chuckled and pressed a finger to her jaw, in which a gentle light emerged that surged into her body. Immediately, Luo Roumei felt her destroyed tongue reattach and repair itself, the bleeding coming to a halt as her weakness faded rapidly.
Her heart was awash with waves of shock, glancing at Li Ling who took his finger back with a playful grin. "Why look at me like that? Aren't you going to bite again? Go ahead, I'm waiting."
Luo Roumei finally couldn't take it anymore and broke down, bursting into tears on the spot. Kong Beiwu looked at her with pity and compassion, while Li Ling's smile of enjoyment waned, becoming bored. He stood up and dusted his robes, casually forming the Big Dipper Seal.
Immediately, Luo Roumei's 'first generation' Majin Seal was moved from her Sea of Consciousness to her spiritual space, which was actually a little bit larger and sturdier than that of an average person.
After all, not only was she the first qi cultivator above the second realm Li Ling had used this on, she was also of the Spirit Human race, and they weren't called that name for fun. However, the upgraded technique coupled with Li Ling's superior overall ability, along with Luo Roumei's own disheveled and distracted state due to her mental breakdown, allowed the transition to be smoother than usual.
The moment the mark took hold, Luo Roumei paused, her tears rapidly drying up as her eyes regained a strong light. She immediately stood up and dusted herself, frowning at the blood surrounding her mouth and collar, activating the Cleansing Spell to get rid of them.
Then she glanced at Li Ling and wrung her lips, shaking her head. "Master, you are too tolerant. The moment you came back, you should have upgraded the seal right away, because I actually had some hidden methods that I could rely on."
Luo Roumei's revelation made Li Ling raise an eyebrow as he utilized a combination of the Dao Soldier Technique and the Memory Archive Extraction to peruse her memories.
Indeed, Luo Roumei was right. While her previous seal prevented her from doing anything that would betray Li Ling, that ideal was based on her own thoughts and understanding. So this past week, Luo Roumei had been brainwashing herself that by sending a secret message to her clan about his talent and danger level, it would actually benefit Li Ling since he would have more enemies to help him temper himself.
The brainwashing had yet to be successful, but if Li Ling had done as she expected, used her for sexual relief, it would have eventually been successful and she would be able to enact her plan.
Even more interesting, Li Ling found out with a cold smile that she had been acting this whole time. When Li Ling first said that he was going to perform the greatest taboo on her, she immediately connected the dots but pretended not to know.
When he spelled it out, she then followed his tempo and played the role to the end, hoping to buy herself more time to finish the brainwashing and especially because she had a trump card. Her master, an Alchemy Elder at Soul Formation, had sealed one of his peak attacks in her sect token, which she still held.
She planned to detonate it when Li Ling was in the midst of the spirit root extraction, because that would be when he would be at his most vulnerable, with his guard down. Since she planned to brainwash herself, she could also rationalize in her mind that doing so was for Li Ling's good, as it would allow him to resolve the last hidden danger on her body.
Li Ling closed the book of her memories with a cold smile, sighing that indeed, the cultivation world was a place where the foolish would be eaten up without knowing how. Look at how convincing this young woman had been earlier, and it made one wonder about Bai Ruyi, who was in a similar but even less controllable situation.
What about Fatty Pang Wen then? Was that pig-like demeanor of mercantile greed and lustfulness also a cover for deeper, more insidious thoughts?
Li Ling was amused, because he knew he was not the intelligent, scheming type who could lay out plans. That had never been his strength, and he was not going to walk down that path because he knew there would always be those smarter than him who could out-scheme him to death.
But he did have his strengths, which was his ability to respond to situations as they came, even if he lacked foreknowledge of things. That was how he survived on Earth before his transmigration, that was how he survived until he awakened the system slightly over a fortnight ago, and that was how he would survive until he reached the top.
Whether it was Bai Ruyi, Pang Wen, Luo Roumei, Tang Huo, or even the Six Paths Demon Sect, he would smash all their schemes apart with his various advantages and come out on top!
But as Luo Roumei said, such a thing did not mean that he could encourage foolishness or arrogance. Just as easily as he could weave through various schemes with the help of his growing arsenal, he could also prevent some unpredictable issues by simply showing a bit more thoughtfulness and caution.
As such, he nodded toward Luo Roumei. "I am aware of what you had in mind. I am also aware that the order I gave you to complete this past week has not yielded any real benefits, but that's not your fault. I underestimated the cohesion of this sect and their reluctance to provoke sect rules."
Indeed, Luo Roumei had heeded his orders and found some skimpy clothes to wear while going out, doing her brainwashing sessions along the way to distract herself from the disgusting, lustful looks. However, when they inquired and found she belonged to Path Walker Li Ling, even the interested Path Lords looked away, feeling that she was not worth the trouble.
It was not that Li Ling's name was thunderous—at least, not at the time—but rather that as a demonic sect, the overt enforcement of rules was very strict. Some even thought that Li Ling had been put up by the Divine Deva Hall to 'fish' for troublemakers, otherwise did he think that no one could see through his intentions with Luo Roumei?
Even with Bai Ruyi back then, the fellow who tried to molest her only did so because his practice of the Blood Asura Descent was poor, leading to mental problems, and Li Ling was not one of them yet—just a casual loose cultivator by the roadside—so he wasn't protected by sect rules, only the city's rules.
But even in a righteous sect, the sect rules stood above the rules of anything below it, and the Six Paths Demon Sect was no different.
So Luo Roumei's actions yielded no benefits whatsoever, making Li Ling rethink his plans and especially rethink his notion of the sect. It was clear that his thoughts of killing Tang Huo, for example, would have to be done extremely cleverly because disciples killing each other was the premier taboo rule of the sect.
Whatever the case, Li Ling had other matters to attend to at this moment, so he dismissed Kong Beiwu and Luo Roumei, the latter immediately beginning to tidy up the courtyard in a more thorough way than before.
Meanwhile, Li Ling, who had just come back to rest, walked out of his courtyard and toward the Sect Outpost's Marketplace. This was where the disciples who had looted the spoils of the pseudo-region came to exchange what they needed for what they did not, causing the place to be extremely bustling with a variety of goods, both of the righteous and demonic paths.
Li Ling, in his own opinion, had limited funds, the spirit stones he had only ever meant to be spent enhancing his power. As such, he came here with a fixed purpose, which was to head to the branch of the Six Paths Pavilion opened by the sect to cater to disciples, which formed the core of the marketplace.
Here, one could buy almost anything present in the Feeding Blood Wing at cost price with no markup if using sect merits, but could also purchase using spirit stones, at a 100% markup after going through the already brutal conversion rate of 1 Blood Credit to 100 low-grade spirit stones.
In other words, what would have cost you 1,000 Blood Credits, like the second layer of the Blood Asura Descent, would now be worth 200,000 low-grade spirit stones!