Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race - 73: Yue Longsha
Upon discovering that the she was not randomly harming others for her own benefit, he gave up on many of the ideas that he had previously.
For him to rob a thief depended on the opponent actually being a thief. He felt uncomfortable doing so now that he knew her motives.
Of course, there were still a few other things that Su Chen temporarily could not let go.
He asked, “What is your name?”
The white-clothed young maiden replied, “Yue Longsha. What about you?”
Upon hearing this name, Su Chen was taken aback. “Yue Longsha? So you’re Yue Longsha?”
“You know me?”
“You have such a high ranking on the Hundred Refinements Pavilion list. How could I not know of you? No wonder you are so powerful. I was the one that ambushed you, but you almost defeated me.”
During their battle within the Cave Giant’s lair, Yue Longsha’s attacks had been precise and powerful, and she could adapt to situations very well. Su Chen’s attacks were hurried and flustered as a result, and to say that he had almost been defeated was the truth.
But upon discovering that his opponent was Yue Longsha, Su Chen was no longer surprised by her strength. After all, she was someone who was only slightly weaker than Ji Hanyan.
“But I was still the one that lost in the end,” Yue Longsha replied somewhat gloomily. “What tactic did you use to beat me? How come I didn’t see your attack?”
“It was this.” Su Chen pulled out a Thunderfire Ball and showed it to her.
After explaining how it was used, understanding dawned on Yue Longsha’s face.
When he had activated Whitetower Teleportation, he had surreptitiously tossed out a Thunderfire Ball as he attacked.
However, the Thunderfire Ball had been tossed behind her, and it was set to explode on a delay. Thus, Yue Longsha did not see it coming at all, resulting in a successful ambush.
Although her Moonlight Concealment was very powerful, her defensive capabilities when outside of that state were very poor. In addition, she was already wounded, so naturally she was unable to withstand this blow.
Once she understood why she had lost, Yue Longsha’s mood improved greatly. “So it’s not that I am less skilled than you, just that you are more underhanded than I am.”
“......”
To Su Chen, winning was winning and losing was losing. There was no point in making such excuses.
On the battlefield, any tactic that ensured survival was a good one.
In addition, he had spent a lot of time and energy developing the Thunderfire Ball, so it should at least be considered part of his strength.
However, he had no interest in bickering with her about this.
Yue Longsha asked, “What is your name?”
“Su Chen.”
“So you’re Su Chen, huh?”
“You know my name?”
“The genius without a bloodline who reached the top five of the Three Mountains Region exam, but disappeared without a trace after entering the Hidden Dragon Institute, never to reappear. The fallen star who didn’t even attend the end-of-year competitions.”
Su Chen rubbed his chin. “Is that the kind of impression I’ve left on others?”
“That’s at least the outward impression people have of you, but now I know how wrong it is,” Yue Longsha replied. “At the very least, you have the strength to be within the top ten of the Dragon Transformation List for our year.”
“Thank you for your acknowledgement.” The skewer of meat was finally done cooking. Su Chen picked it up and handed it to Yue Longsha.
Yue Longsha made no show of feigned politeness when she received the skewer and began to chow down on it. She asked as she ate, “Hey, what relationship do you have with the Immortal Temple exactly? Why do you want to help them?”
Su Chen explained how he had unintentionally discovered the Immortal Temple’s secrets all those years ago and been chased after. However, he had used this secret to blackmail them again and again. Of course, he only described their initial encounters and didn’t mention any details about the Spirit Burying Terrace.
Even so, Yue Longsha was astounded by his retelling.
A youth who was blind and had been discarded by his clan relied on himself to courageously resist the Immortal Temple, finally borrowing their strength to benefit himself. It cast him in quite a romantic light.
“Inconceivable. You played the Immortal Temple like a fiddle,” Yue Longsha sighed in amazement.
“You can’t call that playing them like a fiddle. It’s more like aiding each other,” Su Chen refuted Yue Longsha’s statement. “I don’t think I could have made them do whatever I wanted. The Immortal Temple put up with me not only because I controlled their weak points, but also because I gave them the hope and faith that they could reap even more benefits from me.”
From the outside, it seemed that Su Chen was constantly using the Immortal Temple, but when had the Immortal Temple not benefitted from their cooperation with Su Chen?
Regardless of whether it was eliminating the Shadow Mountain Troops or participating in the Red Cloud Slope battle, the Immortal Temple had always reaped significant benefits. Although they had paid a significant price for the matter regarding the Spirit Burying Terrace, inviting someone to concoct medicine for them cost money, but obtaining it from Su Chen meant that they would not need to outsource the job to someone else.
One could say that, in all of their dealings with Su Chen, they had never come off worse for it, and the only disputes were over who reaped the most benefits.
And for an organization whose plan was already close to the brink of failure anyways, they did not have much of a position to ask for more.
“Regardless, there are not many people who could have done what you did,” Yue Longsha said, still impressed.
“It was just luck. More importantly, their way of doing things has changed. They are no longer the organization that only knows how to massacre people to get things done. They also know how to compromise and retreat now.”
“That’s because you’ve never seen their cold-blooded, brutal side,” Yue Longsha coldly harrumphed.
Su Chen froze slightly upon hearing those words.
He realized something and asked, “Right, you haven’t told me why you want to deal with them?”
Yue Longsha’s eyes began to moisten.
Su Chen felt that something was not right.
Indeed, Yue Longsha replied, “A few years ago, they killed my father.”
“......”
Indeed, his face had been slapped quite quickly.
Slapping other peoples’ faces was quite fun, but being slapped was not so fun.
Su Chen, who had just praised the Immortal Temple, was suddenly at a loss for words.
Suddenly he thought of something and began to stare at Yue Longsha, a strange expression in his eyes.
There’s no way, he thought.
Yue Longsha was a bit unsettled by his gaze. She weakly asked, “What are you looking at?”
Su Chen thought for a moment before replying, “Is your father...... Yue Wuti?”
Yue Longsha stared at him in shock. “How did you know?”