Chapter 686: Collaboration
Translator: TYZ Editor: Lucas, TYZ
The clay doll on Autumn Water's shoulder suddenly started speaking with a coquettish voice. "So, it's really Chi Tong, huh? Has our little Ai Hui been eaten? Sigh, initially I wanted to reminisce the good old times with him."
Hong Rongyan gave a slight bow and said, "I'm Hong Rongyan and this is Autumn Water, we're from the Assembly of Patriarchs. Nice to meet you, Senior Chi Tong."
"Assembly of Patriarchs?" Chi Tong shifted his gaze to Hong Rongyan, looking slightly interested in him. "You understand me very well?"
"In those days, you commanded the entire world. Everyone in the Assembly of Patriarchs reveres you greatly. It's a pity I was born at the wrong time, otherwise I would've pledged my allegiance to you," Hong Yan said.
"Pledge your allegiance?" Chi Tong mocked, "You arrived with such a murderous look on your face, it doesn't seem like you wanted to pledge your allegiance to me."
"Senior, you're mistaken. I developed my skills based on your ideology, and you're like a teacher to me. Hence why would I try to harm you?"
"Your words do make sense." Chi Tong nodded his head, appearing to have believed Hong Rongyan's words. Suddenly, he asked, "Who made that clay doll?"
"It was personally made by a Master in the Assembly of Patriarchs. Senior, if you join us, I can introduce him to you," Hong Rongyan answered respectfully.
When Chi Tong saw how tight-lipped Hong Rongyan was, he knew the latter wasn't a simple character, but he wasn't angry. He merely smiled and continued, "Join the Assembly of Patriarchs? Are you asking me to be your leader?"
With a sincere look on his face, Hong Rongyan replied, "Senior, if you're willing to deign to join us, the position of leader will definitely belong to you."
"This sounds like a good idea, as I myself need some manpower too. Furthermore, you're much more familiar than me with regards to the current situation of this world. It's possible that we can collaborate. After all, all you want is my cultivation art. This is not at all a problem for me. We can combine forces and help each other out as long as…" Chi Tong muttered.
As Hong Rongyan listened to Chi Tong's words attentively, a look of joy appeared on his face. His mind was completely captivated by Chi Tong's words.
A grain-sized, red glowing spot silently appeared behind him.
Hong Rongyan could sense something behind him. However, before he could react in time, the red glowing spot suddenly exploded. A dazzling beam of red glow shot out of it and hit Hong Rongyan's back. His body and his facial expression froze, resembling a wooden puppet.
Chi Tong's eyes were filled with killing intent.
The red glow that hit Hong Rongyan's back kept on changing its shape. Gradually, it transformed into a tightly shut eye.
The eye trembled for a while and slowly opened up.
Chi Tong was overjoyed. As long as the blood eye was fully opened, Hong Rongyan's blood and flesh would be fully devoured by him. He sensed a familiar trace of aura from Hong Rongyan's body. It was the God's Blood!
Previously, he was still vexing over the issue of finding God's Blood. He certainly did not expect someone to deliver it right to him.
The amount of blood spiritual force he obtained from devouring blood and flesh paled in comparison to the amount contained in even the thinnest trace of God's Blood. If he could devour a trace of God's Blood, he could obliterate Ai Hui's sword embryo completely. Currently, Ai Hui's sword embryo was undulating violently. It was becoming increasingly unstable and it could crumble any moment. Even if he placed a blade of grass on it, it would collapse and vanish into thin air.
This was a God-given chance!
Chi Tong never expected Ai Hui, who had given him a huge headache, to be so weak-minded. He did not expect a genius that could cultivate a sword embryo to be restricted by worldly emotions. Chi Tong felt incredulous. How could a weak-minded individual cultivate a sword embryo successfully? Since the ancient times, all those who could successfully cultivate a sword embryo had resolute, steel-like minds. They were emotionless individuals whose minds couldn't be affected by anything in the world.
Chi Tong's [Deathly Seeds of Demonic Consciousness] cultivated the mind. He clearly knew how difficult and dangerous it was to train the mind. The slightest mental wound could consign a practitioner to eternal damnation.
However, Ai Hui had the protection of the Banner of God. Hence, it was not that easy to destroy him.
No doubt, Ai Hui and Hong Rongyan, who both possessed the aura of God's Blood, were the best nourishment for him.
Suddenly, a strong sense of danger arose in his heart. Without any hesitation, Chi Tong surged forward. At the same time, the remaining blood swords rose into the air and transformed into a bloody screen that protected his back.
Boom!
A deep and low sound of collision resounded through the air, resembling the sound of a charging rhinoceros colliding against a steel plate.
A few blood swords flew past Chi Tong from his sides.
Not good!
Chi Tong's facial expression changed slightly. He formed a hand sign and slapped his hand towards his left. His movements were gentle and effortless. A ball of blood in his palm exploded and the bloody screen behind his back expanded rapidly, resembling a gigantic bloody mouth.
And at this moment, a glass-like, multi-colored palm pierced through the expanding bloody screen at a great speed.
Chi Tong's eyes shrunk abruptly.
The bloody screen froze. Following which, the glass-like palm clenched and the bloody screen exploded into smithereens.
The image of Autumn Water was reflected in Chi Tong's eyes.
Autumn Water began to grow in size. Her usual fragile skin was brightly colored and transparent like a piece of colored glass. The lovely and sexy beauty looked as though she had been painted in various colors. Her indescribable fiendishness caused one's hair to stand on end. Her face remained expressionless and her body exuded an ice-cold aura of death.
The eyes of the clay doll on Autumn Water's shoulder lit up with an eerie red glow and its mouth began to move.
A lovely voice rang across the air. "Where is your [Deathly Seeds of Demonic Consciousness]? I have been looking forward to it."
Chi Tong's face darkened, but he still remained calm. The enemy's understanding of him far exceeded his expectations.
Autumn Water's colored-glass-like body reminded him of the five elemental energy that could restrain his blood spiritual force. It was like… the crystalized form of the five elemental energy. But how could it be? A crystallized form of the five elemental energy? And that clay doll looked weird. Anything that could act as a host for a soul was definitely an extremely rare artifact. However, this clay doll was obviously man-made. How was it possible?
Chi Tong was feeling exceptionally terrible.
Even though he had encountered "surprises" time and time again, he did not really mind them. However, these two members of the Assembly of Patriarchs had legitimately struck a sense of danger in him.
He was not afraid of the so-called "moment of brilliance" by geniuses. After all, which era didn't have geniuses?
Instead, he was afraid of people that patiently hid in the dark to study him and find out about his weaknesses. This made him shiver in fear.
Even when his strength was at its apex, he was extremely fearful of this kind of people. Furthermore, now he was at his weakest form.
Hong Rongyan, who was frozen by the red glow, suddenly blinked his eyes once. He looked as though he had woken up from a dream. He stretched his back and cracks began to appear on the blood eye on his back. In the blink of an eye, the cracks spread and extended like a spider web. Pop. The blood eye collapsed into a burst of fragmented bloody glow and vanished into thin air.
Hong Rongyan turned around. His facial expression remained the same as before. With a respectful tone, he said, "Senior, please consider my suggestion. I believe you can see our sincerity. Senior's [Deathly Seeds of Demonic Consciousness] is unpredictable and possesses the might of both God and Devil. The Assembly has been admiring you for a very long time. After putting in so much effort for so many years, the Assembly did not make much progress. If we can join forces, the world will be ours. When that day arrives, the Assembly can seek our revenge and you can command the entire world again. How mighty it is to be able to conquer the world!"
"Such a resolute individual… I didn't expect anyone to remember me after I died and disappeared from the world for such a long time. Other than crystallized elemental energy, what else have you come up with?" Chi Tong asked coldly.
"I am humbled to hear that. We have created [Pure Fusion Elemental Body] and fusion elemental energy. These were created to deal with Blood of God. [Pure Fusion Elemental Body] is formed using crystallized fusion elemental energy. It is very effective against blood spiritual force," Hong Rongyan answered.
"I guess it is exceptionally effective against me." Chi Tong was neither smiling nor frowning.
"Senior, you have overestimated us." Hong Rongyan continued to speak with a respectful tone. Then he changed his tone and continued, "If your strength was at its peak, our creations would definitely be useless against you. However, you have just woken up and obtained a host body, and therefore you have a low chance of overcoming [Pure Fusion Elemental Body]. If I'm not wrong, you can only rely on [Deathly Seeds of Demonic Consciousness]. Fortunately, the Assembly has done some research on [Deathly Seeds of Demonic Consciousness], but we need your pointers on it."
Chi Tong's heart sank. Hong Rongyan's words hit the nail on the head. Hong Rongyan knew his situation exceptionally well!
In fact, his situation was much more worse than Hong Rongyan had expected!
Hong Rongyan did not know that Ai Hui's sword embryo was still surviving tenaciously. It had not been destroyed yet.
If Hong Rongyan knew...
"How do you want to collaborate?" Chi Tong asked bluntly.
"What demonic god? From the look of it, you're still a human after all," Autumn Water sneered.
Chi Tong was a shrewd individual. His facial expression remained as calm as usual even after hearing Autumn Water's sneer, acting as though he had never heard her words. He then stared at Hong Rongyan.
On the contrary, a look of admiration flashed across Hong Rongyan's eyes. He and Autumn Water were very confident in this trip. They understood Chi Tong and his situation extremely well. However, Chi Tong had many treasures in his hands; it would be best that they did not need to snatch them by force. As long as they could get Chi Tong on their side, they would obtain a treasure trove that possessed countless treasures.
"Senior's blood refinement art surpasses all others'. Your [Deathly Seeds of Demonic Consciousness] is a peerless skill. If you can teach the Assembly of Patriarchs a thing or two about it, we will be indebted to you forever," Hong Rongyan said respectfully.
Chi Tong was surprised by Hong Rongyan's words. "I understand why you want [Deathly Seeds of Demonic Consciousness], but why do you need the blood refinement art?"
"We can only improve by accepting others' criticism. Our arch-enemy, the Blood of God, specializes in blood refinement. If you can give us some pointers, we can identify the weaknesses of Blood of God and seek revenge against them," Hong Rongyan replied.
Chi Tong stared at Hong Rongyan's face, but he couldn't tell anything about him. His intuition told him that this matter wasn't as simple as it seemed.
Chi Tong never exposed Hong Rongyan. Instead, he asked, "Whether it is [Deathly Seeds of Demonic Consciousness] or the secret to blood refinement, we can negotiate about it and make a transaction. But what do I get in return?"
"Senior, you're right. Since it is a transaction, both parties must have some sort of gains." Hong Rongyan's eye were blazing. "How about God's Blood?"
Chi Tong's eyes lit up. Soon after, he asked with doubt, "You still have God's Blood?"
"Of course the Assembly doesn't have it," Hong Rongyan replied, "But the Blood of God has it. However, the Holy Emperor is overseeing the Blood of God. I have yet to regain my strength, so if I confront him alone, I'm afraid that I can't defeat him. However, if you join forces with the Assembly, we have some chance of defeating the Holy Emperor."
"Your words do make sense," Chi Tong nodded his head and replied. "But how do I make sure that you will hand over the God's Blood to me?"
"Without the God's Blood, we can't obtain your secrets. It is a very fair transaction. If we want to obtain your secrets, we will definitely hand over the God's Blood to you."
"That's true." Suddenly, Chi Tong pointed to the unconscious figures on the ground and said, "I want their blood and flesh."
"You can have everyone except for my people," Hong Rongyan replied.
The clay doll on Autumn Water's shoulder cast a glance at Hong Rongyan but did not say anything.
Hong Rongyan lowered his gaze and his facial expression remained as per usual.