Silver Overlord

Although Sun Bingchen’s arrangements were somewhat unexpected, his words were perfectly reasonable and logical. Hence, Yan Liqiang never doubted Sun Bingchen’s intention in ‘resigning himself’ to release and assign Yan Liqiang to Deer Villa.

In Yan Liqiang’s eyes, Sun Bingchen was a complex person. For the sake of completing his mission as a Patrol Inspector, he led a group of escorts and himself into dangerous situations without any hesitation and regarded human lives as worthless. The harshness and coldness in Sun Bingchen’s personality once shunned Yan Liqiang away so much that he didn’t even want to get too close to him. Yet toward him, Sun Bingchen’s heartfelt concern and care for Yan Liqiang moved him.

……

After leaving Sun Bingchen’s study, Yan Liqiang returned to his room and started pacing back and forth. After pondering for a bit, he finally retrieved some papers and a brush before he started writing something from his memory.

In just half an hour, Yan Liqiang wrote down a complete copy of the ‘Five Elemental Poison King Divine Technique’ he had obtained.

After the papers were dried, Yan Liqiang rummaged through his luggage again and retrieved the three rare beast crystal cores which he had stashed in a pouch in the compartment. Two of them were from Pingxi City, along with the ‘Five Elemental Poison King Divine Technique’. He obtained the remaining one from the centipede last time when he killed some priest from the Sacred Flame.

After verifying the three crystal cores in the pouch, Yan Liqiang kept the pouch and the copy of secret manual he wrote on him. He then left his room, made half a round in the yard, and arrived at the door to Liang Yijie’s room. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door.

“Brother Liang, are you in?”

The door opened with a creak, revealing Liang Yijie. He looked at Yan Liqiang. “You’re looking for me, Liqiang?”

“Yes, Brother Liang. I have something to tell you, may I come in?”

“Of course, come in!” Liang Yijie smiled and immediately welcomed Yan Liqiang into his room.

As soon as Yan Liqiang entered, he scanned Liang Yijie’s room and saw the luggage he was packing and some weapons. “You’re packing, Brother Liang?”

“Yes. Lord Sun has ordered me to prepare quickly and go into seclusion without wasting any more time!”

“Where will you seclude yourself?”

“The mountain behind the Xiangshan Dojo outside the Imperial Capital. I am a friend of the dojo master there so I can just inform him when I arrive!” Liang Yijie smiled. From the expression on his face, he didn’t seem to be nervous about the battle of life and death which would take place in a month from now. Instead, he had the demeanor of a great general. “Oh right, why were you looking for me?”

Yan Liqiang didn’t say much. He just took out a copy of the ‘Five Elemental Poison King Divine Technique’ manual he wrote just now and the three precious crystal cores he had stashed near his chest. He handed them to Liang Yijie. “Brother Liang, these are for you. See if they will be useful to you!”

Liang Yijie curiously accepted them. As soon as he flipped open the ‘Five Elemental Poison King Divine Technique’ manual Yan Liqiang had prepared, the expression on his face couldn’t help but contort as he gasped. He immediately shot a look of surprise at Yan Liqiang. “Liqiang… This… Where did you get it from?”

“Brother Liang, I found this on a corpse by chance when I was in Gan Province last year. I have a feeling that it is an unusual secret manual. But since I have no idea what circumstances surrounded it, I never told anyone about it after obtaining it. I just memorized the secret manual before I incinerated it!” Yan Liqiang gave him an explanation, then showed him the three core crystals in the pouch. “I found two of them along with this secret manual and got the other one some time ago. Since Brother Liang is going to battle someone in the Arena of Life and Death in a month’s time, I figured only these can be of aid to you. Two of the five-elemental rare beast core crystals are still lacking. If Brother Liang can find the other two rare beast core crystals, you will be able to condense a Five Elemental Poison King Core Crystal in your dantian in just a few days according to the secret manual. With that, as long as Brother Liang uses this against Xu Lang during your battle in the Arena of Life and Death, victory will definitely be in your grasp. Since the ‘Five Elemental Poison King Divine Technique’ is a technique you have cultivated, it will not be considered as an external force. Therefore, it is not against the rules to use this in the Arena of Life and Death!”

Liang Yijie stared at Yan Liqiang in a daze. After Yan Liqiang finished speaking, his gaze shifted between Yan Liqiang’s face and the items in his hands before he broke out in laughter. Feeling extremely moved, he patted Yan Liqiang’s shoulder hard. “Liqiang, my good brother! I, Liang Yijie, wasn’t wrong about you after all! You are definitely a brother for life! But I can’t possibly accept these things from you!”

“Why not, Brother Liang?! Why can’t you accept them?” Yan Liqiang was slightly worked up. “These are sincere gifts from me! It might be difficult to find the other two five-elemental rare beast core crystals in other places, but didn’t Brother Liang say that the Imperial Capital is full of surprises and that one can buy almost anything as long as they have money? I have some money here too. Please take if it can be of use to you, Brother Liang!”

“You misunderstand me, Liqiang!” Liang Yijie smiled and sat him down. “Do you know the origin of this ‘Five Elemental Poison King Divine Technique’?”

Yan Liqiang shook his head. Realization only dawned on him when he saw the look on Liang Yijie’s face. “Ah, could it be that Brother Liang knows about it?”

Liang Yijie nodded as the expression on his face turned grave. “I happen to have heard about it from my master. This ‘Five Elemental Poison King Divine Technique’ is a secret technique which originated from the Poison King Sect. I refuse to accept these items because the ‘Five Elemental Poison King Divine Technique’ is a secret manual that no one has ever succeeded in cultivating. Not only that, this secret manual once caused quite a lot of bloodshed where many lives were lost. However, everyone who cultivated according to the content in this secret manual to form the Poison King Core Crystal in their dantian all died as a result of their body exploding without exception. No one has ever survived it. This secret manual eventually vanished from the eyes of the world. It has been many years since anyone last heard of it. The last time it appeared was about sixty years ago. Therefore, your cluelessness on the circumstances surrounding this secret manual is understandable, Liqiang!”

“Oh, why did that happen?”

“That is because this ‘Five Elemental Poison King Divine Technique’ was conceived from an exceptional genius in the Poison King Sect who wished to attain the Heavenly Bestowment and thus be known as a founder. Unfortunately, he was the first to die from cultivating the secret manual he created himself. Quite a number of people who obtained the secret manual were later tempted by the might of the ‘Five Elemental Poison King Divine Technique’ and went on to cultivate it. In the end, none survived. So now you know why I can’t accept this…”

Yan Liqiang was stunned and couldn’t help but shudder. He didn’t expect the ‘Five Elemental Poison King Divine Technique’ secret manual he obtained to have such history — it was a semi-finished product that could only have been created by a madman and a genius. Fortunately he never got the chance to cultivate it yet because he couldn’t fulfill the prerequisites. If he did, he would have cultivated it a lot sooner and he would have met the same fate.

Truth be told, Yan Liqiang was actually wondering if he could buy two rare beast core crystals somewhere in the Imperial Capital to cultivate it when he was escorting Sun Bingchen to the palace this morning. He had taken the risk in giving this secret manual to Liang Yijie this time because he wanted to help him. Little did he expect that his action would unintentionally save his own life and successfully prevent him from falling into this great pitfall and thus meeting his end.

If he didn’t give the secret manual to the Liang Yijie this time, he would probably be killed by it at any time. If he died this time, having the Heavenly Realm or the Heavenly Stone would have been for nothing.

Yan Liqiang wiped the sheen of cold sweat on his forehead away. “Thank you, Brother Liang. If it wasn’t for you, I might have just cultivated it at any given moment!”

Liang Yijie let out an emotional sigh. “This is thanks to Liqiang’s spirit of loyalty and good fortune. It would be best for you to not take this thing out again. If someone saw it and word got around, you might find yourself in big trouble…” Liang Yijie pressed the secret manual Yan Liqiang had written between his hands. The papers instantly turned into ashes and fell to the ground. He then returned the three rare beast core crystals into the pouch and handed it over to Yan Liqiang again. “Keep this, my good brother…”