Chapter 80: I’m Not That Kind of Disciple

“Horizontal Mountain Zhu Clan?”

Shi Kaihuang’s voice suddenly grew louder and his eyebrows shot into the air, his tone both cautious and serious.

“Does Instructor know about this nobility clan?” Su Chen asked as he sat in the middle of the Origin Talisman Energy Formation, stars covering the sky above him.

Shi Kaihuang gazed up for some time before replying, “You should know that Bloodline Nobility Clans have different ranks, right? The Horizontal Mountain Zhu Clan has the bloodline of a Demonic Emperor.”

“Demonic Emperor Bloodline?” Su Chen was shocked.

The society they lived in had an extremely rigid hierarchy.

In such a society, even Bloodline Nobility Clans were divided into a hierarchy.

What determined a clan’s ranking was the source of their bloodline.

Demonic Beasts were typically split into low, mid, and high tier. Above that was Demon Lords, Demon Kings, and finally Demon Emperors. These divisions were further separated into pure and mixed blood categories.

It was worth paying attention to the fact that, among the Bloodline Nobility Clans, the majority of them had high-tier Demonic Beast bloodlines, not low-tier ones.

This was because they were all ambitious. Under the appropriate circumstances, no one wanted to possess a low-quality bloodline.

Otherwise, why weren’t there any Vicious Beast Bloodlines?

Quite plainly, it was because their tier was too low and no one had any interest in using them.

At this point, neither pureblood nor mixed blood clans really used Vicious Beast Bloodlines, and they were constantly striving for more powerful Demonic Beast Bloodlines as well. Thus, although low- and mid-tier Demonic Beast Bloodlines existed, they were still relatively low in number.

This was why Su Chen had constantly encountered individuals in the exam grounds with high-tier Demonic Beast bloodlines over and over again. Apart from him, that was basically the norm for all Bloodline Nobility Clans.

Generally, mid-to-low Demonic Lord bloodlines are above high-tier Demonic Beast bloodlines.

Above that were Demonic King Bloodlines.

Clans with Demonic King Bloodlines could be considered the nobility of nobility. They commanded immense respect, and their statuses were extraordinary. Up to this point, Su Chen had never encountered a single one before, but it could be imagined that people with such a bloodline were probably at minimum at the same level of strength as Ji Hanyan.

Demonic Monarchs were essentially commanders and overlords of the Beast Race. From ancient times until now, there were a total of 1342 recorded Demonic Monarchs. Their bloodlines had been being extracted ever since the Arcana Kingdom was around, but there were no more than 312 bloodlines that had been extracted.

After the passage of tens of thousands of years, only 108 Demonic Emperor Bloodlines remained. The remainder had perished in one of the countless battles that had taken place since.

The Zhu Clan was one of those clans.

Su Chen didn’t expect to run into a Demonic Emperor Clan before even encountering a Demonic King Clan.

Indeed, reality was not the same as a video game. The enemies wouldn’t come one after another with increasing strength.

“Yes, the Horizontal Mountain Zhu Clan, also known as the Slyheart Zhu Clan because of their Slyheart Demonic Emperor Bloodline. The Slyheart Zhu Clan is a wily demon fox that is especially good at mesmerizing people and toying with their hearts. Their mesmer techniques are especially powerful, and unlike Jin Ling’er’s mesmer techniques, which are extremely picky and can only be used to bully those who are weak, the Slyheart Demon Emperor Bloodline’s mesmer techniques will most likely succeed upon use.”

“They’re that strong? Then aren’t they invincible?”

“There’s no such thing as true invincibility. Although the Slyheart Bloodline’s mesmer techniques are powerful, they have their own limitations. They take a long time to activate, so they aren’t as useful on the rapidly changing battlefield. Mesmer techniques are best utilized in ambushes, so in this aspect their techniques are inferior to that of the Bewitching Butterfly Clan, whose techniques can be used in and out of battle. Secondly, they are also susceptible to cultivation hierarchy. If mesmer techniques are used on someone with a higher cultivation base, it might fail or even backfire. Third, only pureblood females within the clan can activate these techniques, and it is only useful against males. Thus, the individuals with high statuses in this clan should be the females, while the males are their subordinates. The bloodlines are also prioritized for the females. They tried to pull you by claiming that you could marry a woman from their clan...... Should I say that they have no sincerity or that they are too sincere?”

As Shi Kaihuang spoke, he began to laugh.

“The enemies are already at our front door, yet you still have the heart to joke about it, Instructor?” Su Chen asked helplessly.

Shi Kaihuang calmly replied, “Weren’t you prepared for this kind of outcome from the moment you decided to become my disciple?”

“Even though you say that, your calm attitude is still a bit off-putting,” Su Chen muttered. “No wonder you told me to take care of Kaihuang’s Heaven on my own. Now I’m the one in trouble and you have nothing to worry about.”

“You’re displeased with me?” Shi Kaihuang teased him with a laugh.

“How could I.” Su Chen rolled his eyes at him.

They had been teacher and disciple for over three years now, and their relationship was uncommon in that they could speak freely to each other. Of course, Shi Kaihuang was actually worried for Su Chen, but he had already been prepared for this moment ever since he chose this path.

If he had prepared for this moment for so many years and was still worried, afraid, or frustrated about the matter, then there really was something wrong with him.

That being said, there was no way that Shi Kaihuang could really just stand off to the side and watch.

As a master and disciple, they were basically a single entity. This matter was directed at Su Chen, so it was also directed at Shi Kaihuang.

However, Shi Kaihuang wanted to test his disciple. He would not make a move until Su Chen couldn’t take it anymore. The Zhu Clan had the same approach. If Su Chen eventually conceded, they would deal with Shi Kaihuang next. They would tackle them one at a time.

“Right, Instructor, what do you think they will do after I reject them again? Will they really try to kill me right then and there?” Su Chen asked.

When faced with such a powerful opponent, Su Chen still needed Shi Kaihuang’s advice.

Shi Kaihuang thought for a moment before he replied, “No, they won’t. If they kill you, then no one will be able to remove Kaihuang’s Heaven from the Dreamrealm Castle. You are already a Tier Five Dream Officer, so even if you die, you can continue to sell and distribute products.”

The Horizontal Mountain Zhu Clan had bought Su Chen’s Kaihuang’s Heaven already, so they already possessed the cultivation technique.

Thus, their goal in coming here wasn’t to obtain it, but rather to stop it from spreading.

Su Chen understood. “So they have to convince me to take down Kaihuang’s Heaven. Otherwise, Kaihuang’s Heaven will remain there indefinitely if they kill me.. If they want to conceal it, they will need to expend a large amount of money every day. One or two days isn’t a big deal, but it will become more and more difficult to handle as time goes on. And death...... is infinite.”

“That’s right.” Shi Kaihuang nodded. “So they won’t try to kill you, but they will try to move you with their words and convince you to give up on it. However, that doesn’t mean that you can use it as a trump card, and that doesn’t mean they won’t be willing to use force against you. There are secret techniques that can control a person’s consciousness. If they control your consciousness, they can make you do anything they want, and the Slyheart Zhu Clan just so happen to be experts at this.”

“You’re telling me that they will forcefully take over my consciousness and take down Kaihuang’s Heaven from the Dreamrealm?”

“If you don’t listen to them, then yes, but you don’t need to be too worried. Controlling a person’s movements within the Dreamrealm is very different from controlling their movements in the outside world. The biggest difference is that people in the outside world come into contact with your body, not your soul. The opposite is true in the Dreamrealm; people won’t come into contact with your physical body but your soul. This means that there will be several complications. In particular, your privilege tier went up this time because you sold the Adamantine Battle Body, and you only sold that many copies because......”

“Because of Meng Lan,” Su Chen interrupted.

Without Meng Lan’s help, there was no way that the Adamantine Battle Body would have sold that well, nor would his privilege tier have gone up that much.

Shi Kaihuang said, “That’s right. They should also be able to realize that the Dreamcastle Lady doesn’t like their tactics. If at this moment you suddenly decide to take down Kaihuang’s Heaven, the Dreamcastle Lady will not just stand by and watch it happen.”

“You’re absolutely right.”

The only reason Su Chen had gotten to know Meng Lan was because he had threatened to take down Kaihuang’s Heaven in the first place.

One could imagine that if the Zhu Clan tried to control his soul to take down Kaihuang’s Heaven, Meng Lan’s suspicion would definitely be aroused, and she would investigate or even directly interfere.

“But they might have a way around that too. You know that some issues can be solved as long as you are willing to pay a price for it,” Shi Kaihuang said.

“Yes, your disciple understands.” Su Chen nodded.

Meng Lan was willing to help him because it benefitted her. Naturally, she could also be bought out by even greater benefits.

“Thus, they won’t make any rash moves, but if they realize that they have no way of convincing you, then they will definitely try something. You need to be aware that even though the Slyheart Demonic Emperor Clan is a mesmer clan, their combat ability is not weak. They are not a clan that cannot do battle simply because they specialize in bewitching techniques. In reality, the women are responsible for bewitching people, while the men are responsible for doing battle!”

“So in the end what’s waiting for me is still a bottomless pit,” Su Chen sighed. “This really is a situation that makes you feel hopeless.”

Shi Kaihuang calmly said, “I told you in the beginning that I needed a disciple who could continue to forge on even if the path forward was blocked by countless people. So? Can your current self handle it?”

Su Chen’s thoughts drifted slightly.

Shi Kaihuang’s rebuke echoed in his ears. It was as if he were a prophet - everything he had said had come to fruition.

And now, it was Su Chen’s turn to respond.

He thought for a moment and then said, “I remember you saying something like this at the beginning: ‘The entire time, I wanted a student who would fight to live on a field of death, so to speak – one with the resoluteness and audacity to forge onwards no matter what the difficulty was. Unexpectedly, the student I accepted in the end is someone who is cunning and good at arguments, who possesses elegant, articulate speech and who has his own way of thinking, and who is able to become disillusioned with my own way of thinking’...... You are right. I am not the kind of disciple that you wanted.”

Shi Kaihuang didn’t speak. All he did was stare quietly at his own disciple.

Su Chen continued, “If my enemies come looking for me, I cannot be as impassioned, courageous, or bold as you want me to be. I will not die as a brave martyr for my ideals; I have my own way of doing things......”

He stared at Shi Kaihuang and then quietly laughed. “I would choose to kill them!”

“With any tactic, at any cost, any plan, and do it with all my strength......”

“I’ll kill them all!”