Chapter 127 – Despicable Means

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After having cultivated the ‘Divine Acacia Power’, Zhang Guanyu’s heart had a strong wish. That wish was to cultivate the ‘Divine Acacia Power’ to the peak of the seventh layer, and achieve a long period of youth, the time where his Yang essence would never fade.

Once he achieved this boundary, he would have several hundred years of youth. He would be able to play with all the various beautiful and worldly women in society, take them, and plunder them. From the beauties of today to the beauties of several hundred years later, he would establish a massive harem that surpassed the Royal Family’s harem of 3000 beautiful woman. Every day he would go visit his personal harem and wantonly engage in reckless fun with them. Thinking of this, Zhang Guanyu would be filled with burning desire, and his blood would bubble to the brim with a maddeningly ecstatic excitement.

But with Zhang Guanyu’s talent, to cultivate the ‘Divine Acacia Power’ to the peak seventh layer was easier said than done.

He had just begun cultivating the ‘Divine Acacia Power’. If everything went smoothly, and he picked the best beautiful women to cultivate from, there was a small possibility that he would be able to reach the peak of the seventh layer. But if four months from now, he was defeated by Lin Ming in front of the eyes of everyone, then his spirit and heart would be suppressed and his Yang essence would not flow smoothly. In that case, it would be very difficult to reach the peak of the seventh layer!

So, Zhang Guanyu decided to completely and thoroughly defeat Lin Ming in the match four months from now. He would mercilessly trample over him so that he would never be able to stand up from his failure in his entire life! He would snatch everything from him; all the haloes that surrounded him and all the beautiful women that admired him!

His heart would be serene, his Yang essence would flow unimpeded, and his cultivation would increase by leaps and bounds.

That middle-aged man said, “Young Master, this subordinate is too dull-minded. But this subordinate only thinks that if you do such things, it will enrage Lin Ming. When the time comes, it will only deepen the animosity of an enemy.”

“Humph! So what if I enrage him!? You think I am going to admit defeat without a fight!?”

“But…”

“No buts! Lin Ming is scary, yes, and the Tenth Prince does not dare to move against him. I have to respect the Crown Prince, but this does not mean that I must be servile to him. If others rode on your head, would you also lie on the floor and act like a dog? Since this Lin Ming wants to defeat me, then I will eliminate him!

“Young Master is ready…” The middle-aged man did not understand what his upcoming plans and defeating Lin Ming had in common.

“I ask you, what is most fearful about Lin Ming?”

The middle-aged man thought for a moment and said, “His perception, martial intent, and heart of martial arts.”

“Yes, but the most fundamental of all these is his heart of martial arts. As long as I can break his heart of martial arts, then he will lose his martial intent. If he does not have his martial intent, then he will just be some garbage third-grade talent. Even if he has monstrous heaven-defying perception, his cultivation will be limited to below the Pulse Condensation Period. What sort of achievements could he possibly have? As long as he doesn’t become stronger, his halo will gradually disappear until everyone has forgotten about him. At that time, he will be nothing to but an ant. I’ll crush him to death with a single step.”

“He is under the protection of the Seven Profound Martial House now. It is impossible for me to publicly deal with him. I can only break his heart of martial arts!”

“To deal with Lin Ming, it must be before he grows!”

Zhang Guanyu devilishly grinned, revealing a trace of his teeth. But that middle-aged man only felt sorrow in his heart. If he could defeat Lin Ming’s heart, then that was of course good, but what if he failed? Then they would have seriously offended Lin Ming, and that might possibly affect the Young Master’s future status in the Allied Trade Association.

The Allied Trade Association would never appoint a successor that had offended a Seven Profound Envoy or the Martial House Master.

However, Zhang Guanyu was paranoid by nature, and he practiced the ‘Divine Acacia Power’ which strengthened his possessive instincts. How would he listen to his words?

Many cultivation methods could affect a person’s mind. For instance, cultivating the ‘Abiding Buddha Mantra’ could cause one’s thoughts to be stable, and pure in heart. The ‘Golden Bone Forging Divine Formula’ would cause a person’s Qi and blood to be filled with Yang energy and become indomitable. However, what the ‘Divine Acacia Formula’ did was cause a person’s possessive instincts to grow stronger and stronger, and their thoughts would be increasingly extreme and violent.

𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

“Young Master, perhaps we should discuss this matter with the Master…”

“Mm?” Zhang Guanyu’s complexion immediately went cold, and he emitted a faint murderous intent.

The middle-aged man jumped in fear, hurriedly saying, “This subordinate should die, this subordinate should die!”

“Too much talk leads to error. All you have to do is your duty as a servant!” Zhang Guanyu withdrew his murderous aura. This so-called Master was naturally Zhang Guanyu’s father. Zhang Guanyu knew that if this matter was known by his father, he would absolutely not be allowed to do so. Because in the eyes of his father, the Allied Trade Association’s future was far more important than Zhang Guanyu’s future martial arts cultivation!

His father would never run the risk of offending Lin Ming and going up against him. In his opinion, in the worst case scenario, Zhang Guanyu would lose and that would be it.

But as for Zhang Guanyu, no matter how large the influence of the Allied Trade Association was, it was impossible for them to give him several hundred years of youth and never-ending Yang essence. Only strength would bring him this. As long as he had strength, all the worldly possessions of the Allied Trade Association were nothing but floating clouds!

Geniuses were confident. Lin Ming was confident and Zhang Guanyu was similarly confident. A truly proud talent would never recognize from the beginning that they were inferior to others. Otherwise, his heart would be blocked, and Zhang Guanyu would be more paranoid.

Geniuses always thought that they were the protagonists of the world’s future, and so they would fight. However, these fights must have casualties.

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Sky Fortune City, Southwestern Suburb –

The Sky Fortune City Royal Palace faced south. The northern end of town was where most of the mansions of the nobility were, and it was a relatively prosperous location. The south of the city was deserted, especially near the suburbs, where it was quite deserted.

In the southwest suburb, there were some low-rise houses. Although these houses had been here for years, they did not look old. It was just that under the rain, the dull gray tiles, blank white walls, and the shading from the trees, did not have a fresh feeling.

In the midst of all these houses, there was a new shop. The shop’s original owner had returned to the countryside to retire, and had put his shop on sale.

After the new owner took over, the shop doors were painted with fresh new tung oil, and the inside was spotlessly cleaned. There were even some flowers and plants that were placed around; it looked much more elegant.

At this time, in the shop entrance, there was a young girl wearing a simple blue cotton dress. She was quite beautiful, with supple, tender skin; she gave off fresh and crisp feeling. She was fiddling with some cloths on the shelves.

This girl seemed to be in delicate health, and the cloth she was moving appeared extremely cumbersome. However, the girl’s skill was actually high, and she stacked the large and small fabrics neatly.

This girl was Lan Yunyue. Because her engagement contract had become invalid, Lan Yunyue had left the Seven Profound Martial House. She had helplessly walked through Sky Fortune City for an entire day. She was too ashamed to return home, and she did not know where to go or what to do. In the end, she decided to set her foot down in Sky Fortune City.

Therefore, she pawned some of her jewelry, and opened up this small fabric shop.

All of the neighbors ridiculously loved this new young girl.

The girl wore simple blue clothes every day, and she was always busy at work in her small fabric shop. Such a delicate and juicy young girl that was actually willing to endure such hardship was rare. Not only that, but this girl’s hands and feet were deft, her strength was great, and she also cooked a good meal. It stood to reason that such a girl that had endured this hardship since childhood would have rough skin, and both her hands should at least have callouses, but they actually didn’t think that both of this girl’s hands would be soft and creamy like liquid jade. It was simply amazing.

What kind of girl was this?

After knowing that this girl was one person alone by herself, many of neighborhood aunts’ hearts were aroused with overwhelming sympathy. They curiously asked about the girl’s life experiences, but the girl always ambiguously answered in vague terms.

Some of these aunts even wanted to act as a matchmaker for this beautiful young girl, but to these offers, the girl always faintly smiled and refused.

……….

“Young Master, we’re here.” The middle-aged man pointed to a sign hanging over a fabric shop. That sign hadn’t been hanging there for a long time.

“Ha! What an elegant shop! Good!” Zhang Guanyu shook the fan in his hands, and his face revealed a pondering smile as if was looking at a delicious prey.

In order to break Lin Ming’s heart of martial arts, he had to find the flaw in Lin Ming’s heart of martial arts. To Zhang Guanyu, it seemed the only flaw in Lin Ming’s heart of martial arts was Lan Yunyue.

When Lin Ming had spent half an incense stick of time to overcome the Pass of Desire, that person in the dream realm must have been Lan Yunyue.

Although Lan Yunyue’s matter had already passed, Zhang Guanyu still believed that Lan Yunyue was a knot in Lin Ming’s heart.

If, he could take Lan Yunyue, and cultivate his ‘Divine Acacia Power’ with her, what would be the outcome once Lin Ming found out?

Zhang Guanyu very much wanted to know.

In a matter like a duel, if one was defeated, they would be fine to fight a second time. There would not be a situation where their ‘spirit’ would be suppressed and blocked.

But a girl was different. As long as he got her in his bed, that was a forever matter. Zhang Guanyu believed that even though Lan Yunyue betrayed Lin Ming, she still had a place within his heart. If he took Lan Yunyue, then this would forever be a thorn in his mind. This thorn would be something he could never ever erase. Even if Lin Ming defeated him, that thorn would still remain!

If one’s ‘spirit’ wasn’t smooth, then their thoughts would be clouded and their cultivation would be blocked. When Lin Ming tried to breakthrough a bottleneck of his martial arts cultivation, this would be a demon of his heart that stopped him.

And the key to this was, could Lin Ming defeat him?

It was true that the Seven Profound Martial House protected Lin Ming. But, they did not protect Lan Yunyue, and this girl had already withdrawn from the Seven Profound Martial House. If Lin Ming knew that he had obtained Lan Yunyue for himself, would he rush towards him, head full of anger, and ask him to a duel?

If Lin Ming came to his front door, that would simply be too good. At this moment, Zhang Guanyu had a 100% assurance that he could defeat Lin Ming.

Even if he waited four months, he still had 90% assurance that he would win against Lin Ming. This was because recently, his ‘Divine Acacia Power’ had reached the Large Success stage of the first layer, and his strength had grown by a large margin. This was something that Lin Ming did not know.

Zhang Guanyu expected that on the day of that decisive battle, Lin Ming, because of anger, would ruthlessly attack him, with each move desperately aggressive.

In Zhang Guanyu’s imagined scenario, that would be perfect. He would be perfectly justified to use some of the sinister and sadistic styles of the ‘Divine Acacia Power’, and leave Lin Ming to suffer with irreversibly severe injuries; injuries that would seriously impact his future cultivation.

Even if he could not reach that point, he could still make it so that Lin Ming would be confined to bed for at least half a year!

If Lin Ming had to recuperate in bed for half a year, then what would happen?

Could he still pass the Seven Profound Valleys’ core disciple test?

The test’s deadline was in little more than a year. This was his only chance. As long as Lin Ming did not pass the test, in Zhang Guanyu’s eyes he had nothing to fear. In addition to his future achievements and the disparity in their influence, Zhang Guanyu had full confidence that he could suppress Lin Ming for a lifetime!