"He wants a sufficient number of Dragon Whale Sect disciples as test subjects and is willing to trade the last holy relic from his ’Eternal Love’ series." A sharp glint flashed in Fan Fengfei’s eyes.
It wasn’t a surprise that the Iron Armor Man had come to her for a trade.
The subject of the trade, however, was a bit unusual.
’It seems he’s hit quite a few bottlenecks practicing the Quenching Method.’
’His talent is lower than I imagined.’ Fan Fengfei couldn’t help but smile.
Even if she didn’t fully understand the Iron Armor Man’s objective, she could guess the gist of it.
"I accept his trade. Did he say where we’re to meet?" Fan Fengfei looked at her second disciple, Helan.
Of course, she had no intention of trading. This time, she planned to launch a surprise attack and kill the Iron Armor Man outright.
He’d threatened her time and again, and now he wanted to trade? She had originally considered recruiting him, but now she wished she could make him die without a burial site.
However, she was still worried. She needed to be on guard against the fact that he wanted to kill Li Yao for no apparent reason.
But bringing Li Yao along would be inconvenient. It would be best to find someone to watch over him and prevent any complications.
"Yes, the approximate location is..." Helan said hurriedly. "Also, one more thing. We haven’t heard from Eldest Brother in three days. Do you think something’s happened to him?"
Fan Fengfei’s expression changed slightly at her words, but to maintain morale, she immediately denied it. "With your Eldest Brother’s divine will, a mere Iron Armor Man is no match for him."
"If it weren’t for that unknown holy relic in his possession, he’d be at the level of an Inner Sect Disciple at best."
Her casual tone was like a reassurance pill for her second disciple.
"Alright, leave this matter to me."
"I will have the Iron Armor Man’s head by sunset."
"You go and make it look like we’re just moving personnel around," Fan Fengfei said to Helan.
Since she was going to do it, she had to be careful. The Iron Armor Man was cunning; what if he noticed something was amiss?
"Yes, Master," Helan replied, turning to leave.
Fan Fengfei hesitated for a moment, then called out to her again.
"Wait," Fan Fengfei said. "When that boy Wei Jiang gets back, you two can get married."
After speaking, Fan Fengfei’s gaze locked onto Helan.
Wei Jiang and Helan were in love, and they were also her main subordinates in managing the Dragon Whale Sect.
If it weren’t for the Apocalypse Game, the next Sect Leader of the Dragon Whale Sect would have been Wei Jiang.
And Helan would have been the Sect Leader’s Wife.
But recently, she had grown uncertain, especially since Li Yao and Helan had shared some ambiguous interactions.
She had turned a blind eye to the matter. After all, she was scheming against a living Divine Being; what did it matter if her disciples made a small sacrifice?
She was testing Helan because she needed someone to watch Li Yao closely while she was away, to prevent any accidents.
The best candidate would have been Wei Jiang, but judging from what Helan had said, his odds didn’t look good.
Therefore, she had to make do with Helan.
Although she was worried, it was for less than half a day. She figured nothing would go wrong.
But having experienced so much, Fan Fengfei felt she had to test her, just to be cautious.
"Thank you, Master! Your disciple has been waiting for this day for a long time." Helan was stunned for a moment, then became overjoyed.
Fan Fengfei observed Helan’s expression; it didn’t seem like an act.
She breathed a sigh of relief internally.
’So she wasn’t seduced by Li Yao. That’s good news.’
After all, she was a disciple she had raised herself. She surely wouldn’t be as pathetic as those other inner and outer sect disciples.
"Good. I have a more important task for you."
"Have your Third Junior Brother handle the pretense of moving personnel."
"While I’m gone, you must not let your Little Junior Brother take a single step out of his room. If necessary, you can break his limbs," Fan Fengfei said directly.
Most of her disciples had been raised by her since childhood, so she never had to worry about betrayal.
Li Yao, on the other hand, had only joined halfway, even though he was a Closed-door Disciple. Thus, his loyalty couldn’t be guaranteed.
"But... Master, even though Little Junior Brother is a bit of a profligate, it doesn’t have to be this extreme, does it?" Helan looked confused, unable to understand why.
Fan Fengfei was actually very pleased with Helan’s words.
Martial brothers and sisters should be united and supportive of each other.
"He is not like the rest of you. Understand?" Fan Fengfei didn’t spell it out, but her words were full of profound meaning.
Upon hearing this, Helan immediately said, "Yes, Master."
She didn’t ask why. She understood that she couldn’t, that this might be one of her master’s secrets.
And it likely involved the scheme behind her master deliberately taking Li Yao as a disciple.
So she agreed without another word. In any case, she would do whatever her master told her to do.
"Then I’ll leave it to you. I’m off to kill that Iron Armor Man," Fan Fengfei said, then rose and left.
Helan went to give her Third Junior Brother his task, then headed for the room where Li Yao was being held under house arrest.
"Let’s go. Master has already left the Dragon Whale Sect." Helan did not follow Fan Fengfei’s orders. Instead, she released Li Yao from his house arrest.
Her tone was filled with an unconcealable disgust, as if she couldn’t wait for Li Yao to get as far away as possible.
Li Yao looked a bit thin and pale, but his eyes were bright and full of spirit, as if he had been completely reborn.
"My thanks, Second Sister. I will be sure to repay you generously in the future." Li Yao started with a compliment.
However, the disgust in Helan’s eyes only grew stronger.
"No need. Eldest Brother and I are getting married. Staying far away from him is the greatest reward you could give me." Helan’s disdainful tone was practically dripping.
"Rest assured, Second Sister. I definitely won’t pester Eldest Brother anymore," Li Yao said with a grin.
He had left many contingency plans in his wake, each one targeting the weakness of a particular martial sibling.
Take his Second Sister, Helan, for example. Through a series of misunderstandings and careful suggestions, he had led her to believe that he had a crush on their Eldest Brother.
How could Helan tolerate that? It wasn’t that she had never seen a junior brother fight a senior brother for a senior sister, but this was the first time she had ever seen a junior brother fight a senior sister for a senior brother.
And he was trying to steal from her, his childhood sweetheart! Especially when it seemed her dear Eldest Brother was actually starting to waver.
If Li Yao really succeeded in stealing him away, what would she do?
So, two days ago, when Li Yao announced he was going to find Wei Jiang, Helan had exploded, nearly beating Li Yao to death on the spot.
As it turned out, Helan’s temper was actually quite good; she only gave him a beating.
Afterward, through some choice words, Li Yao had promised that if Helan could help him escape their master’s "deformed love," he would never pester Eldest Brother again.
If she didn’t help, he said, then Helan could look forward to spending her wedding night alone in an empty room.
Under such an absurd threat, Helan was ultimately forced to submit.
She felt utterly humiliated.
To be threatened by her junior brother with her own man—it was despicable.
"Get lost! I don’t want to see you ever again," Helan cursed.
"Then this Junior Brother will take his leave. Farewell—no, never see you again." Li Yao left decisively.
But he hadn’t taken two steps before Helan called out to him.
"Wait a second... did you... do anything with Senior Brother?" Helan hesitated again and again, but finally asked the question.
She was mainly asking just to be sure.
Li Yao gave a strange smile. "Remember when I went drinking with Senior Brother half a month ago?"
"Impossible! When I got there..." Helan immediately denied it.
"Right, Senior Sister arrived just in time. If you’d been just a little bit later..." Li Yao left the sentence unfinished and turned to leave.
Helan’s blood pressure shot up. She almost killed Li Yao on the spot.
In the end, however, she held back, muttering under her breath, "It’s fine as long as nothing happened. It’s fine as long as nothing happened."
As for secretly letting Li Yao go, the worst that could happen afterward was being punished by her master.
When the time came, she could claim that Li Yao escaped on his own. At worst, she would be accused of being a negligent guard.
For the sake of Wei Jiang’s reputation, her own suffering was worth it.
Meanwhile, after escaping his cage, the smile on Li Yao’s face slowly vanished.
Of course, everything he had said was a lie. He had simply been drinking with Wei Jiang while creating a false impression for Helan.
A first impression, continuously exaggerated, had turned into the current misunderstanding.
His reputation was damaged? If he lost his life, what good would his reputation be?
Surviving was the key.
’I have to get out of Longjing City as soon as possible, or Fan Fengfei will find me sooner or later.’ Li Yao quickly began to disguise himself.
Fan Fengfei would be back before sunset, and he had to take advantage of that window of time.
-----------------
"Fan Fengfei has left. It seems she took the bait."
"Li Yao... he actually managed to get away." Qi Suian’s eyes narrowed. "Quite capable."
Qi Suian didn’t care if it was luck. The ability to escape was a skill in itself.
Luck is also a form of strength.
"Lock onto him. The moment Li Yao is out of Longjing City, kill him," Qi Suian said directly.
The reason for not acting within Longjing City was, of course, that Fan Fengfei had left a holy relic there that served as an early warning system.
If he made a move, she would definitely know.
Furthermore, making a move within Longjing City could very well trigger the "protagonist halo" effect surrounding Li Yao.
At that point, someone would show up to delay him.
In the wilderness, however, the protagonist’s halo was less likely to trigger.
Inside Longjing City, Li Yao had a slight home-field advantage. Outside of Longjing City, Qi Suian would have at least half of the home-field advantage himself.
Complications could arise while waiting for him to leave, but the probability of an accident was far lower than it would be inside Longjing City.
[It is recommended that you do not use the Floating Cannon for the kill. According to data feedback, the Dragon Whale Bloodline within Li Yao has begun its initial awakening.]
[If you capture him as a test subject, you can further research the Dragon Whale Hide and the Dragon Whale Five Techniques.]
"We’ll see about that. If I can get my hands on it, I will. If not, I’ll just kill him." Qi Suian was greedy, of course, but he understood how to be greedy and what was worth being greedy for.
To be honest, snatching an opportunity that’s already in the protagonist’s hands is harder than killing the protagonist himself.
Intercepting it beforehand was understandable. After all, he had his own protagonist halo, and he would be getting it before the protagonist did.
But as for things the protagonist had already obtained, Qi Suian couldn’t use most of them anyway.
That’s why Qi Suian rarely bothered trying to steal opportunities the protagonist already had. It was more time and energy-efficient to just kill them.
A bloodline was a special case, though. It might be obtainable.