Chapter 87: Negotiating with the Evil God
Facing He Dayou’s burst of power, Zhang Yu smiled faintly, already clear on the situation.
He thought to himself, The competition team really is impressive. They’ve improved so much in just these few days. He Dayou’s physical strength is even a little bit higher than mine, but…
Zhang Yu had chosen to compete in raw strength precisely because he wanted to test the results of his recent training.
At this very moment, as Zhang Yu’s muscles tensed up all over, his body seemed to twist together like a single rope. Individual muscles pressed and leveraged against each other, ultimately transforming into a terrifying explosive force that was channeled from his entire body into his hands.
Under the enhancement of the level 10 Crimson Marrow Primordial Qi, with Zhang Yu’s control over his entire musculature, the instantaneous physical power he could unleash… far surpassed that of an opponent with a similar level of physical strength.
With a loud bang, He Dayou felt an irresistible force slam into his body, sending him flying through the air before he crashed onto the ground with a thud.
Again, the familiar disorienting shift in perspective, the hard and cold floor, the pain spreading through his entire body.
He Dayou dazedly pushed himself up.
This feeling was so familiar.
Had he been defeated in an instant again?
Just like his last fight with Zhang Yu, after his physical strength had greatly increased, he had lost again?
He snapped his head up, his widened eyes staring at Zhang Yu in disbelief as his mind still struggled to accept it.
How can his strength possibly be so much greater than mine? Has his physical strength already surpassed my own?
Not far away, Qian Shen and Zhao Tianxing were also watching, their eyes filled with amazement as they saw He Dayou thrown to the ground.
Qian Shen said, “Has Zhang Yu improved even more than He Dayou?”
Zhao Tianxing thought, How did he do it? Just how much has Zhang Yu increased his physical strength in such a short time? It’s even more effective than the special development program?
After school that day, He Dayou went to the sports competition team’s training ground and told Lan Ling what had happened.
Lan Ling frowned. “His physical strength couldn’t possibly be higher than yours.”
“The reason he was able to defeat you is likely because his power-generation technique is superior to yours, while you…”
Lan Ling glanced at him, then casually lifted and shook He Dayou, who instantly felt as though he had lost all control over his own muscles.
Placing him back down, Lan Ling said coolly, “Your control over your own muscles, especially the transplanted ones, is too poor. You haven’t been able to unleash your true strength at all.”
“Continue with the upcoming surgeries and training. Once you have more muscle fibers transplanted and can utilize more of their power, you won’t lose to Zhang Yu again.”
…
At the same time, after school, Zhang Yu was walking toward his rented apartment, circulating the Crimson Marrow Primordial Qi as he went.
But the moment he pushed open the door, he froze at the sight of the tattered rag doll sitting on his bed.
“Evil god?”
It was a raggedy, dilapidated doll. Its two button eyes looked like a pair of dark, empty sockets, and they were staring intently at Zhang Yu as he opened the door. It was none other than the evil god from whom he had made a wish.
As Zhang Yu stood there, momentarily stunned, the rag doll spoke.
“My good servant, kneel before me. This is my wish.”
With the ritual’s nagging cry echoing in his mind, Zhang Yu had no choice but to drop to one knee with a thud.
The doll on the bed cackled. “Unexpected, truly unexpected.”
“In just two or three short months, a pawn I casually placed has actually managed to grow up.”
“If I hadn’t heard the news that a student from Songyang High School had won first place in the martial arts competition, I would never have imagined you would improve so quickly…”
As she said this, much of the gloom in her heart seemed to vanish.
She had come back to find Zhang Yu partly because of his performance, but also for another reason… she had discovered that she couldn’t go back.
She thought of how she had once stood at the apex of all evil gods, having achieved both financial freedom and freedom in her cultivation. Yet, due to a failed investment after her retirement, she had been forced to re-enter the workforce and return to the front lines.
But she hadn’t cared at first. If she couldn’t stay at the peak, she would simply walk the path again!
With her years of expertise in the scamming industry, she had expected it to be the tale of a supreme evil god’s stroll through the mortal world, a story of a max-level character coming to whip the workplace into shape.
Who could have known that the major sects’ anti-fraud measures were improving day by day, causing even a treasure of the evil god world like herself to suffer heavy losses? Compounded by betrayal, she was now stranded on the first layer of Kunxu, her power at rock bottom, with no way to turn the tide.
Dammit… if I’m caught and deported, it’s all over… who betrayed me?
My power is draining so quickly, and my intelligence feels like it’s dropping again. If this continues… I’m really going to become a mindless toy.
And so, at this very moment, she had found Zhang Yu again, intending to use this promising asset to rise once more.
To win first place in the martial arts competition with the identity of a poor kid, I must have unlocked some incredible potential within him.
Hehe… I thought it was a losing proposition, but it turns out I managed to buy a rising stock at its lowest point.
And when she thought about the wish Zhang Yu still owed her, the doll’s heart swelled with even more excitement.
But in the next moment, she froze. Zhang Yu, who should have been kneeling on the ground after she made her wish… was slowly standing up?
“What are you doing?”
“Are you insane? Get on your knees, now! Or do you want to die from the ritual’s backlash?”
Zhang Yu, however, was silently sensing the changes in the ritual’s power within his body.
After she had made the wish for him to kneel, the chill from the ritual had indeed dissipated as he knelt.
But just a few seconds after he had knelt, that idiotic ritual had started nagging him again.
Zhang Yu was momentarily stunned, then he understood.
Is it urging me to cultivate?
But the other wish is for me to kneel.
Is this a conflict between wishes?
Zhang Yu grew curious. So… in this situation, which wish takes priority?
He tried to stand up, and immediately, a voice from the ritual sounded, urging him to kneel down at once.
Zhang Yu could feel the ritual’s power splitting into two currents. One was urging him to cultivate immediately, while the other was urging him to kneel at once.
So it is a conflict.
And when he circulated the Crimson Marrow Primordial Qi and entered a state of cultivation, all the nagging cries stopped.
But in the end, cultivation took precedence over kneeling. Is it because… of the order the wishes were made?
Seeing Zhang Yu stand up, the doll initially thought he had gone mad and no longer valued his life.
But seeing his composed expression, she immediately realized that something was wrong.
However, the doll was not like Zhang Yu, who had been accompanied day and night by the ritual, receiving its 24-hour, intimate attention for the past two months.
Although the doll remembered the two wishes she had given him, she didn’t immediately consider that the ritual’s operations had integrated the plan to fulfill those wishes—get into a good university, join a major sect, work hard to earn money, and then buy the antiques in his shopping cart—into every single moment of Zhang Yu’s life.
But… even though she didn’t immediately grasp the details of the situation or the conflict that had arisen with the ‘kneel’ wish, the moment she sensed something was amiss, she immediately made another wish.
“I command you not to harm me!”
But just as the doll spoke those words, a roar echoed through the air as a large hand, wreathed in layers of white astral qi, had already seized the doll.
The doll raged, “I command you! Release me immediately.”
Zhang Yu’s grip loosened slightly, but in the next instant, an even more ferocious tide of astral qi swept over it, squeezing and kneading the doll like a training implement.
As Zhang Yu felt the shifting chill within his heart, he thought, So, when wishes conflict with each other, the key is the order in which they were made?
Studying, training, getting into a university, joining a major sect… this series of plans, triggered by the initial wishes, has priority over subsequent wishes because of its sequence.
In other words, as long as I maintain a state of studying and cultivating, then any subsequent wishes that contradict that state… can be temporarily suppressed…
And at this moment, Zhang Yu was using the rag doll as a prop to practice his Formless Cloud-Astral Qi. Under these circumstances… he found that the ritual was not urging him to kneel, nor was it telling him to release the doll.
With this thought in mind, Zhang Yu looked at the doll, who was still trying to speak, and said coolly, “Shut up.”
The Formless Cloud-Astral Qi pulsed, gently pressing on the doll’s surface, seeming as if it could tear the doll to shreds in the next moment.
At the same time, Zhang Yu’s voice continued.
“What you just said was not to harm… you.”
With the grinding of the Formless Cloud-Astral Qi, the doll felt the pressure on its body gradually intensify, as if in the next moment it would be truly harmed, truly attacked.
“So that means if I destroy this doll right now, I’ll be able to harm you, correct?”
Feeling Zhang Yu’s gaze, which was filled with killing intent and battle spirit, yet remained incredibly calm, the doll’s heart sank.
Dammit… how did he react so quickly? Wait, could it be that my intelligence has dropped again?
The doll quickly issued a warning. “Zhang Yu, if you actually harm me now, you will undoubtedly be killed by the ritual’s backlash!”
“You should be able to feel it, right? The ritual’s power is already monitoring you.”
Zhang Yu said nothing, but his recent test had shown him that as soon as he had the intention of harming the doll, the ritual would start its nagging cries again.
Zhang Yu thought, It seems the rule against harming the evil god has an even higher priority than the wishes.
But he understood that this was the worst possible time to show any weakness. He immediately began to circulate the Heavenly Martial Heart-Tempering Art at full power, erupting with the aura of one prepared to fight to the death.
He had to adopt an attitude of being willing to tear down the roof, just for the chance to ask for a window to be opened.
And so, Zhang Yu continued, “Then we’ll just perish together. Otherwise, what’s the point of living my whole life as your servant?”
Feeling the death-defying aura radiating from Zhang Yu under the effect of the level 10 Heavenly Martial Heart-Tempering Art, the doll’s heart sank even further.
In his gaze, she could genuinely sense a will to fight to the death.