Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“Why would I lie to you?” Li Tongtian smiled affably at him, his eyes warm but smug, just like a weasel that had just caught a chicken. “Brother Zi, old big brother here is a sixth-grade Supreme Martial Artist who has gone past the boundary of immortal and mortal! Do you think someone of my status would deceive you?”

Chu Yang replied repeatedly, “My apologies, my apologies! Of course, you wouldn’t, not at all, not at all.”

“Hurhurhurhur…” A sharp glint flashed within Li Tongtian’s eyes. “See, you’re already in my hands. Threatening you with your life or making use of other methods to make you do as I say… That’s not very difficult for me, right?”

Chu Yang agreed repeatedly, looking like he was terrified to the extreme. His back drenched in perspiration, he said, “Not at all, not at all!”

Li Tongtian nodded in satisfaction. “But I’ll still offer you the chance of working together with us… Hmm?”

Overjoyed, Chu Yang replied, “As long as your clan can offer me a certain degree of fairness and keep your promise, why would I, Zi Xiaoyan, be too stingy to put in this effort?”

Laughing, Li Tongtian said, “Exactly! Our clan wants to expand while your clan wants to survive… We can offer you the biggest assistance you need! While you can also give us the help we need and solve our problem… Everyone benefits by taking what they need, isn’t that great? Reaching a common agreement on the terms and conditions and then working together with sincerity is always better than scheming against each other, right?”

Chu Yang laughed and replied, “Elder Li is indeed someone who does great things!”

Li Tongtian smiled and said with restraint, “However, these things that you said… is just your one-sided account. I’ll need to verify the authenticity of it before I can introduce you to the clan without any reservations.”

Raising his head dispassionately, he stated, “I need to see what you’re capable of.”

Chu Yang replied confidently, “In what way do you want to check that?”

Li Tongtian drummed his fingers against the table. He said in an unreadable manner, “What ways do you have?”

Chu Yang said enthusiastically, “Any way you want!”

“Great!” Li Tongtian clapped. “As long as you can find a Purple Crystal mine for me nearby, I’ll believe what you said!”

Chu Yang flew into a rage. “There’s no Purple Crystal mines near this place at all. The only large-scale Purple Crystal mine is 150 kilometers north-west from here. Where am I supposed to find one for you?”

Li Tongtian was stunned for a moment. He thought to himself, “Isn’t 150 kilometers north-west from here where the Li Clan is?”

This guy is certainly no simpleton.

“If not for the fact that the Li Clan had occupied the Purple Crystal mine’s main vein for themselves, why would I need to go through so much trouble and risk being struck by lightning to come here and hack down this Wind Thunder Platform?” Still in a state of fury, Chu Yang grumbled.

Li Tongtian contemplated for a moment before he replied, “Since that’s the case, let’s not make any further delay. We’ll return to the clan at once!”

The six Supreme Martial Artists left immediately, not even bothering with the tent. Surrounding Chu Yang in the middle, they shot ahead in the direction of the north-west at the fastest speed they could gather.

At the back, Li Donghai and the others had a look of absolute misery on their faces. “Shouldn’t you tell me… whether I’m supposed to continue surveillance here or retreat…”

…

At the Li Clan!

This was the first time Chu Yang had been to the north-western region. It was also his first time seeing the world-famous Li Clan. Just a glance from afar and he had already gotten a shock. When he got nearer, he was even more astounded!

The Li Clan was completely different from the Zhuge Clan which was situated on flat ground!

Houses and buildings spanned the entire mountain range, tall and towering! As though a gigantic dragon winding through the mountain range!

There were buildings and pavilions everywhere, as well as exquisitely carved beams and painted rafters!

A majestic aura naturally surfaced, as though a ferocious tiger howling in the valley and awing the world. Just the architectural style alone was already unimaginably haughty!

The gigantic piece of rock at the mountain pass had been dug through to form an enormous gate! Above it was a mighty statue of an imposing Divine Dragon with its claws extended! The sight was extremely impressive!

“So majestic!” This time around, Chu Yang’s words were absolutely sincere.

“Isn’t it?” Li Tongtian chuckled. “You can stay here on a long-term basis in the future and be just as majestic!”

Chu Yang let out a wry laugh. “Actually I just want to leave right now… Too bad you won’t agree to it for sure.”

Li Tongtian laughed and gestured in invitation. “This way!”

Holding his head high, Chu Yang strode into the Li Clan.

There were constantly guards saluting them the whole way in. In the open as well as in the dark, one couldn’t tell just how many guards there were. From the moment they passed through the gates, Chu Yang kept count all the way till they reached the clan’s assembly ground. There were a whole 35 lines of defense!

Besides, there was an expert leading a team at every line of defense! The further in they went, the higher the leader’s cultivation was. In the end, it had already reached a point where the guards in charge were a third-grade Supreme Martial Artist leading a team of Martial Saints.

The main hall of the Li Clan was very grand. The moment they reached the main hall, the doors opened and two groups of people filed out neatly.

It was obvious that Li Tongtian was used to this. He led Chu Yang in eagerly.

The moment the host and guest took their seats, Chu Yang’s expression changed a little. He exclaimed, “To think that the Purple Crystal mine is right underneath this hall!”

Li Tongtian burst into laughter. However, there was a hint of astonishment in his eyes. He thought to himself, “This guy is not bluffing after all! I had purposely lured him here intending to test him, but he had already detected it before I even said anything.”

Chu Yang reached out his arm. In his palm, that purple line could be seen clearly. It looked different from it was previously; this time, it was rather dazzling!

When Li Tongtian looked at it, he actually found it somewhat blinding!

“The moment this bloodline purple aura detects a Purple Crystal mine, it will automatically react. But… it has never been this bright before…” Chu Yang mused. Frowning, he muttered, “Could this be…”

All of a sudden, he jumped to his feet in astonishment. “Could this be… A Purple Crystal Core mine?!”

Completely reassured now, Li Tongtian let out a loud laugh.

In their clan, only Supreme Martial Artists and above had the authority to know of this. It was impossible for this information to be leaked to outsiders.

Not to mention to this fellow.

But this fellow… had pointed it out immediately.

With this, it should be… for certain.

“But this isn’t right either…” Frowning, Chu Yang became suspicious. “Why is this aura so pure yet so vague? Did your clan use a special method to hide the Purple Crystal mine?”

This guy was totally just using the information provided by the Sword Spirit to bluff his way through.

But one must admit that there was no one else in these Nine Heavens whose information was more accurate than the Sword Spirit!

“Hahaha… Brother Zi is impressive indeed!” Li Tongtian burst into laughter.

Li Tongtian’s laughter was of course a signal to the people inside —’How is it? If you think it’s alright, you can come out now…’

As expected, a few people entered the hall. They were the current generation of Li Clan leaders.

The partnership discussion officially began.

Everyone started to haggle back and forth intensely.

The proposal of the Li Clan was as follows — First, to help the Purple Crystal Clan to rebuild their clan! Second, for as long as Zi Xiaoyan lives, the Li Clan shall provide all the Purple Crystals he needed. Third, they would provide a stand-alone residence for Zi Xiaoyan in the inner grounds of the Li Clan. Fourth, both parties would form an alliance instead of a superior-subordinate relationship. Fifth, Zi Xiaoyan would receive the same treatment given to a super highly-ranked member of the Li Clan!

One must say, these conditions were sincere indeed.

But this Zi Xiaoyan was surprisingly greatly dissatisfied. He counter-proposed — The first condition should be invalidated; even if he takes a wife, she must not be from the Li Clan. If someone of the Li Clan ended up with the Purple Crystal Bloodline… What was he to do then? Would he still be able to survive? Second, he didn’t want them to provide him Purple Crystals; instead, he wanted 30 percent of the Purple Crystals extracted by him! He had no other issues with the third, fourth and fifth conditions.

Only the first and second conditions were disputable.

Chu Yang took on an extremely shameless attitude. The grace and understanding attitude which he had displayed in the valley had completely disappeared. He became a piece of hob meat1 through and through.

If they couldn’t reach an agreement, fine, Chu Yang would raise his head in dissatisfaction and get to his feet. His attitude screamed, “Either you let me go or you kill me. If not… then agree to my conditions.”

Toward the end, this fellow refused to budge a single step. The Li Clan could only begrudgingly agree to the first condition, thinking to themselves that they could re-work this another time…

As long as you’re here, with our Li Clan’s innumerous beauties, as if we’ll be afraid that no one will be able to seduce you? As long as you impregnate any of our women, wouldn’t the Purple Crystal Bloodline naturally fall into our hands?

At that point, would you have any choice other than to groom your own son? When you’ve successfully groomed him… That’s when you’re going to die.

As for the second condition, there was a huge difference in opinion!

Chu Yang’s demand for an exorbitant 30 percent practically threw the Li Clan members into a burning frenzy! They had never seen such a greedy person before… Their tens of thousands of people could only get 70 percent while he alone got 30 percent?

What kind of reasoning was that!

Then wouldn’t that become the Li Clan doing labor for him instead?

Both parties fought hard in a battle of words. This time around, the Li Clan did not give way at all!

Two choices — Either they provide him Purple Crystals! Or he gets 0.004 percent.

0.004 percent and 30 percent were obviously worlds apart. How could Chu Yang be willing to take things lying down? Toward the end, he played possum, neither responding nor saying anything.

The Li Clan members became incredibly anxious. None of them were able to do anything about Chu Yang.

They seriously didn’t expect this bastard to be such a piece of hob meat that couldn’t be sliced apart, boiled nor chewed!

Yet they couldn’t beat him up, scold him or kill him…

Chu Yang was filled with helplessness inside as well.

If I don’t put on pretenses with all my effort, you’ll end up becoming suspicious of me instead. Yet you don’t agree with my conditions when I take on a serious attitude… Do you think I want to rot here with you people too?

In the end, Chu Yang finally proposed a compromise. “How about this, if there are only 100 Purple Crystals, I won’t take a single piece! If there are 1000 crystals, I want 100 pieces. If there are 10,000 crystals, I get 1,200 pieces. If there are 100,000 crystals, I get 15,000… So on and so forth.”

The Li Clan still felt like they were losing out. And so, over ten Supreme Martial Artist experts haggled and bargained fiercely and intensely in the main hall, as though they were in a market!

For a brief period of time, saliva and bad breath flew everywhere. Wrinkled old faces and smooth young faces were all sprayed full of saliva…

Toward the end, they finally agreed on the numbers and finalized it at eight percent!

Out of 100 pieces, he would get 8 pieces! Out of 1,000 pieces, he would get 80! Out of 10,000 pieces, he would get 800! So on and so forth, without any increase nor reduction.

This was their absolute limit!

Chu Yang begrudgingly agreed to it.

At the side, Li Tongtian had almost fallen asleep when this bunch of people finally agreed on how to split the gains!

The few old men were so furious that their eyes glowed blue. The way they glared at Chu Yang was as if they wished they could swallow him in one gulp!

This fellow was too difficult to deal with. He was practically a miser and penny-pincher; trying to take advantage of him… was harder than ascending to heaven!