April 22, 2018

In fact, Zhao Chenlu certainly had no ability for such a blood battle.

Unleashing ten times the potential in the face of death is a setup that only appears in fiction. In reality, Wang Jiu had only seen a similar skill in one person.

The Great Demon God Emperor. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

The master of the Demon Race from the Chaos Exotic Realm, his strength had reached an unfathomable level countless times. In the great battle, he repeatedly shattered the expectations of the Jiu Immortal Venerables. Whenever they felt they had the upper hand in the battle, the Great Demon God Emperor would explode with new power, revealing unprecedented cards that would instantly nullify the painstakingly calculated strategies of the Jiu Immortal Venerables...

If it weren’t for the Celestial Divine Sword’s equally heaven-defying ability to constantly break limits, the victory in that decisive battle would undoubtedly belong to the Demon Race.

Human cultivator Zhao Chenlu’s cultivation aptitude was indeed extraordinary, but compared to the Great Demon God Emperor, it was like a firefly to the sun and moon. Naturally, she couldn’t possess any blood battle capabilities. Once in a desperate situation, all her abilities would decline sharply, and there was absolutely no possibility of her becoming stronger as she got injured.

But all this did not prevent the Celestial Divine Sword from brazenly crafting a persona for Zhao Chenlu, fabricating an image of her as nearly invincible when on the brink of death.

In the current situation, this was the only method Wang Jiu could think of to help Zhao Chenlu.

If Zhao Hongwu and the others truly set up the Broken Moon Sword Array, then even if the Celestial Divine Sword personally intervened, it would be difficult to salvage the situation. That sword formation was designed with full power during Sword World’s vibrant period, and even if it wasn’t fully arranged or lacked strong enough cultivators to oversee the array, Wang Jiu, with his current strength, couldn’t break it.

Therefore, he must prevent the opponents from setting up the array. Given his current strength, he could not directly overpower the many Mountain-Overturning Realm Golden Jade Cultivators to achieve his strategic goal, so he could only rely on cunning.

Fortunately, his intelligence advantage, when facing ordinary people, was as apparent as his martial prowess once was, with an Intelligence Index as high as 9, unparalleled in history. Even Shang Lanfei had to refine her Primordial Spirit for years and upgrade her mental circuitry to have intelligence comparable to the Celestial Divine Sword.

Of course, Wang Jiu also admitted that he had certain deficiencies in understanding the human heart, making it challenging to grasp human thoughts accurately. However, sometimes all it takes is to apply the situation to a field he’s proficient in to find similar patterns.

For example, if Wang Jiu needed to accurately gauge the psychological activities of conspirators Zhao Hongwu and Zhao Lingbo, dismantling their psychological defenses with ingenious words and persuading them to abandon setting up the Broken Moon Sword Array... this task’s difficulty was akin to having Shen Qingming decipher a multi-dimensional sword array map.

But if the current situation is understood from a different perspective, everything becomes clear. To Wang Jiu, it seemed like an extreme evil cultivator holding Qingyu True Essence Divine Thunder was holding Zhao Chenlu hostage, planning to sacrifice her on an auspicious day, and he was Zhao Chenlu’s only hope for survival.

And that entered his area of expertise—Wang Jiu was very skilled in rescues.

During the Immortal Demon War in Jiuzhou, although the Demon Race was vicious and rarely took hostages, humans often resorted to endless schemes when killing each other, with many evil beings rising in chaos, causing harm. When the Myriad Immortals Alliance’s army arrived, they would often take innocent civilians as hostages to gain breathing room.

At that time, as the greatest trump card of the Myriad Immortals Alliance, Wang Jiu had handled similar crises numerous times, gathering rich experience and developing many new tactics beyond mainstream rescue strategies, with the Jiu Immortal Venerables. For instance, eliminating hostages immediately to plunge the captors into despair, subsequently exterminating all captors, and silencing all witnesses, followed by crafting battle records at leisure...

Specifically, in this scenario, those sinister tactical approaches were, of course, unusable, and some strategies requiring force support were also not feasible. Therefore, he could only employ the secret weapon taught by Shang Lanfei—the art of persuasion.

As long as he convinced them that the hostage Zhao Chenlu had a trump card strong enough to clear the field, making the Broken Moon Sword Array lead to mutual destruction... then the captors would naturally abandon the array.

"If Zhao Chenlu’s base power is set at 100, then after days of wearing down by the Seventeen Linked Rings, along with heavy injuries, her actual power should be between 20 and 30. As for the Broken Moon Sword Array, with the current power of Golden Jade City, it can, at most, be set up to a 70% completion level in a short time, with a binding force between 100 and 120. Theoretically, it would be more than sufficient against an unharmed Zhao Chenlu, but considering the existence of a blood battle ability, she could explode with a power of 200 to 300 in the short term under a tenfold boost..."

Before he could finish, Zhao Lingbo interrupted, "Enough! Though you speak convincingly... blood battle? I’ve never heard of such an ability. A tenfold increase in a near-death state, tell me, in which Immortal Cultivation Theory does such a thing exist?"

Wang Jiu said, "May I ask, a 15-year-old Golden Jade Champion, in which Immortal Cultivation Theory has that occurred? Moreover, the Broken Moon Sword Array, which you regard as a killer move, can it be explained by current Immortal Cultivation Theories? Using conventional thinking to fathom Zhao Chenlu is a ridiculous and dangerous notion, especially in the current situation, where a single misstep could lead to the city’s demise accompanying you."

While speaking, Wang Jiu employed a profoundly deep and oppressive tone in his voice, imbuing it with a strong emotional impact that unwittingly furrowed Zhao Lingbo’s brows.

"Indeed, I admit Zhao Chenlu is an extraordinary being. From her birth, she has repeatedly challenged common sense and limits. However, as someone who has served by her side for over a decade, I am intimately acquainted with her every detail. She may have secrets unknown to me, but a blood battle type of heaven-defying trump card is something I would’ve detected in over a decade!"

Wang Jiu said, "Did she ever, over the past decade and more, experience being forced into a desperate situation, gravely wounded and close to death?"

Zhao Lingbo was rendered speechless.

"So it’s entirely logical for you to be unaware of a trump card she can only activate in such near-death conditions."

Zhao Lingbo retorted with a sneer, "How did you know something I didn’t? Not only the blood battle, but you’re also familiar with the Broken Moon Sword Array. Who exactly are you?"

Simultaneously, Zhao Hongwu also spoke up, "I just contacted Zhao Taotao. He said you claimed to be the child of my distant aunt’s family, but I don’t recall having such a nephew!"

Wang Jiu, unfazed: "That identity was, of course, fabricated. Otherwise, how else could I have entered this venue directly and engaged with you in conversation in so little time?"

"If even your identity is fake, what makes any word of yours credible?"

Wang Jiu said, "Credible or not, I can provide some clues for you to verify. For instance, the Golden Jade Zhao Family’s core techniques require cultivators to periodically absorb Moonlight, but Zhao Chenlu always prepares a layer of filter before doing so."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Lingbo’s expression changed.

It was true that Zhao Chenlu would always prepare a special filter whenever she absorbed Moonlight. The method of making the filter was known only to Zhao Chenlu herself. Even her personal maid was acquainted with merely some basic raw materials. That filter was regarded as one of Zhao Chenlu’s core secrets and was deemed by Zhao Lingbo as the primary reason for Zhao Chenlu’s extraordinarily fast cultivation pace.

Hence, Zhao Lingbo found it all the more baffling how Wang Jiu knew even about this!?

In fact, Wang Jiu, of course, made a simple deduction. As a cultivator from the Jiuzhou Era, Zhao Chenlu, in the Xiangzhou Continent where the Laws of Heaven and Earth had subtly shifted, needed to adjust various details to restore her cultivation by following past methods. The Moonlight from the Jiuzhou Era and the Xiangzhou Era had subtle composition differences, so Wang Jiu inferred that Zhao Chenlu would certainly make a simple filter.

"Besides, she is picky with food and never eats carrots."

"How did you..."

This time, Zhao Lingbo was truly astonished.

Even Zhao Lingbo had only discovered Zhao Chenlu’s pickiness by chance—on the surface, Zhao Chenlu never seemed picky about food. However, after every meal, she would secretly spit out the carrots. She did it very discreetly, even hiding it from her personal maid, but over a dozen years, there were inevitably some clues left behind. Yet Zhao Lingbo always believed she was the only one who knew this secret.

Wang Jiu said, "I know more than you can imagine, which is why I know that if you set up the Broken Moon Sword Array, it would result in certain death for you all."

This time, Zhao Lingbo asked with an unprecedentedly serious tone, "I’m asking you for the last time—who are you!?"

Meanwhile, Wang Jiu was contemplating the answer to this question.

Humans are a type of being that identifies more with identity than with reason. To gain their trust, rather than crafting a perfect theory, it’s better to craft a perfect identity. In Wang Jiu’s understanding, the most trustworthy identity to the opponent was that of an allied adversary, and one who, despite being at odds with Zhao Chenlu, is familiar with her most private matters...

"I am her betrayed and abandoned ex-husband,"

Wang Jiu said with utmost seriousness.