Chapter 287 - 285: I Shall Offer You My Loyalty
Inside the ruined great hall, the Human Skin Evil Book opened up. Its two sides acting like a pair of legs, it wiggled and squirmed, stealthily trying to sneak out.
Just then, a mocking voice suddenly rang out. "You’re quite good at hiding. Just a little short on patience."
The pages of the Human Skin Evil Book trembled violently. In the next instant, the Power of Li Yan Blood Fiend transformed into a great net, enveloping the book completely!
Without the protection of the Array, the Human Skin Evil Book was actually quite fragile.
The moment its pages touched the net formed from the Li Yan Blood Fiend, they seemed to be scorched and recoiled instantly.
Chen Yuan planted his foot on its cover. The ink on the visible part of the cover swirled, forming the image of a delicate, pitiable woman. She knelt, kowtowing to Chen Yuan and begging for mercy, even revealing a hint of alluring cleavage.
Chen Yuan had noticed that this thing was adept at bewitching people. When at a disadvantage, it would transform into a seductive woman to lower one’s guard, occasionally throwing in something suggestive.
But when it had the upper hand, it became smug and relentlessly mocking.
But this thing had clearly underestimated him.
’What’s so great about these 2D paper figures? In his past life, Chen Yuan only watched 3D.’
Picking up the Human Skin Evil Book, the Li Yan Blood Fiend in Chen Yuan’s hand erupted, burning with scorching intensity.
The Human Skin Evil Book immediately burst into flames, its pages turning to ash and scattering away.
However, only the outermost pages burned; the inner ones remained intact. Black and red characters quickly coalesced upon them. When Chen Yuan looked, he saw that the remaining pages were all filled with the two words: "Spare me."
Chen Yuan retracted the Li Yan Blood Fiend, giving the Human Skin Evil Book a moment’s respite. Its pages stretched like actual skin, and the previously scorched sections slowly began to regenerate.
"Don’t burn me! I may not be omniscient, but I can help you deduce Cultivation Techniques! I also understand Arrays, I’m an expert in Gu Techniques, and I’m well-versed in everything from Shaman Witchcraft to Southern Border Secret Techniques!"
The words coalesced rapidly on the Human Skin Evil Book, a clear display of its will to survive.
But Chen Yuan acted as if he hadn’t seen the words at all. After a moment of thought, the scorching Celestial Fire in his hand suddenly flared to life.
In an instant, the Human Skin Evil Book began to burn again, even faster than it had with the Li Yan Blood Fiend.
A hideous face appeared on the Human Skin Evil Book. "I’ve already begged for mercy and agreed to serve you! Why are you still burning me?"
Chen Yuan, however, seemed not to notice. He was simply calculating how much power it would take to burn the Human Skin Evil Book to cinders.
He had pretty much figured it out through his experiment: this thing was afraid of fire.
Not ordinary fire, of course, but fire imbued with the Power of Origin.
The Li Yan Blood Fiend was a type of Blood Fiend Power with a Fire Attribute, but its core Attribute was the Killing Intent Origin, so its damage to the Human Skin Evil Book was limited.
What truly inflicted immense damage was the Celestial Fire Power, which carried the Fire Origin. Now *that* was an intense burn.
Seeing not a flicker of change in Chen Yuan’s expression, the Human Skin Evil Book finally grew terrified and began to plead again.
"Stop burning me! Any more and I’ll really be nothing but ash!"
"I’m really useful! Over countless ages, I’ve devoured thousands upon thousands of Cultivation Techniques! Just give me a fragment of a technique, and I can deduce the rest for you! I can even help you create and fuse Cultivation Techniques!
And I really do know so many things! I’m useful, I can be of great help to you!"
"Please, stop burning me! There are only a few pages left!"
"Demon! You’re a demon!"
"Ple... please..."
The edges of the Human Skin Evil Book’s pages had been completely burned away, leaving only a palm-sized remnant. It could only display a few words at a time now.
It was truly afraid.
It could manipulate people’s minds and bewitch them into doing all sorts of things, but it had no answer for someone like Chen Yuan, who seemed to want nothing more than to burn it to death.
Guan Tianming had threatened to burn it to death, too, but the book could tell he was just making threats out of desperation.
Chen Yuan, on the other hand, would actually do it!
Only when the Human Skin Evil Book had been burned down to the size of a thumb and was nearly extinguished did Chen Yuan finally retract the Celestial Fire Power.
’When dealing with this kind of evil thing, you can’t have the slightest bit of greed or feel even a shred of pity.’
’The moment you sense something is off, you must act immediately and burn it to cinders. That’s the only way to resist its bewitchment and keep the upper hand.’
The thumb-sized piece of skin began to expand, but very slowly.
"Stop playing dead. Recover. Return to your original form within three breaths, or I’ll burn you to nothing."
Chen Yuan said coldly.
The next moment, the Human Skin Evil Book puffed back to its original size like an inflating balloon, but its surface was now a withered yellow, lacking any of the lustrous sheen of real skin.
"You demon! You’re more of an evil creature than I am!"
The Human Skin Evil Book trembled, the words appearing on it were faint and unsteady.
Chen Yuan shot it a cold glance, and the Human Skin Evil Book shuddered. The words on its surface changed instantly.
"Master! From this day forward, you are my master! I offer you my absolute loyalty!"
The words formed a simple stick figure, which bowed to Chen Yuan with a fawning expression.
"I’ll ask, you’ll answer. If I find anything amiss, I will burn you to death."
Chen Yuan stared at the Human Skin Evil Book, and the stick figure on its pages immediately began to nod frantically.
"What exactly are you?"
"I’m not a thing... no, to be precise, I don’t know what I am.
But I suspect I am a type of Divine Artifact Demon Soldier.
When I gained sentience, the Divine Demons had vanished and the world was in chaos. I was just a human skin book that knew nothing—a blank slate.
I passed through the hands of countless people and discovered that Cultivation Techniques and Secret Arts could provide me with power. So, I used every means at my disposal to obtain all sorts of techniques from them, and have continued to do so to this day."
𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞
"So you’re just a con artist in book form?"
"No, no, no! I’m truly useful! Over millions of years, I’ve absorbed countless Cultivation Techniques and Secret Arts. While most of them were low-level trash, they still provided me with power.
I genuinely can deduce and fuse Cultivation Techniques, but it consumes my own power, so I don’t do it for just anyone. I would only offer such loyal service to you, Master.
Also, over countless ages, I’ve seen many people and learned many secrets. I might not be an all-knowing encyclopedia, but I know far more than any of those so-called learned scholars."
The Human Skin Evil Book seemed genuinely terrified of being burned again, so it did everything in its power to showcase its value.
"Then what was the deal with Guan Tianming? Was that all your doing?"
"It wasn’t entirely my influence. Guan Tianming himself was desperate for power to stabilize the Sun-piercing Alliance.
The *Evil Bone Godslaying Sword* is an Ancient Evil Secret Technique. I do possess such a technique, but only a fragment of it. Guan Tianming chose to cultivate it himself.
If he had brought me enough Cultivation Technique Manuals to use as ’ink,’ I could have deduced the complete *Evil Bone Godslaying Sword* for him."
Chen Yuan pointed to the thousands of manuals scattered about. "There are several thousand Cultivation Technique Manuals right here. Wasn’t that enough for you to deduce the technique?"
The words on the evil book formed a stick figure, which gave a coy, wiggling smile.
"It was enough, but I couldn’t just deduce the technique for him for free, could I? I had to get something out of it.
Besides, aside from the *Sun-Piercing Heart Scripture*, which was decent, the other techniques he brought were all garbage. There were just a lot of them.
So, I wanted to provoke him into attacking the Murong Family. Getting my hands on their cultivation techniques would have been ideal.
But before Guan Tianming could make a move, you arrived, Sir."
Chen Yuan sneered. ’This thing truly is an evil book. Guan Tianming was desperate for quick results, which created a weakness in his mental state, allowing this book to wrap him around its little finger.’
’Even if Guan Tianming had attacked the Murong Family and brought back their techniques, this book probably still wouldn’t have given him the complete version. It would have just kept stringing him along.’
"So that Asura Blood Pill... that’s fake too?"
"The Asura Blood Pill is real. Once the malevolence in the hearts of the Martial Artists imprisoned in the dungeon reaches its peak and they begin to slaughter one another, you can indeed refine an Asura Blood Pill. Taking it allows one to develop an Asura Body, causing their physical strength to skyrocket.
However, it has side effects. After absorbing it, the user is assaulted by killing intent, which affects their state of mind and willpower. To counteract these side effects, one must refine some complementary Elixirs.
So my plan was to wait for his power to soar after he took the Asura Blood Pill, then compel him to go seize more cultivation techniques."
In front of Guan Tianming, the Human Skin Evil Book had held back, bewitching and provoking him into collecting cultivation techniques to increase its own power.
Now, however, in Chen Yuan’s hands, it was like an obedient kitten, answering every question he asked, terrified he would set it on fire again.
Even so, Chen Yuan didn’t fully believe a word it said.
The thing had existed for millions of years; who knew how many lies it had told over the ages. Chen Yuan didn’t even believe its story about its origins.
For the time being, however, Chen Yuan couldn’t find any holes in its story. And while it was sinister, it was also undeniably a rare and peculiar object, which was the only reason he was letting it live.
Holding the Human Skin Evil Book, Chen Yuan headed straight for the underground passage.
He had only descended a short way earlier and had been waiting below, without ever truly entering the chamber.
As he entered the underground secret chamber now, Chen Yuan was instantly struck by a dense wave of Sword Qi radiating from within.
Intricate Arrays were carved all over the secret chamber. In the very center of the room was a single object: a Long Sword, bound by eight Vajra Lock Chains.
The Long Sword was pitch-black, its blade wide and unadorned, inscribed with ancient, golden seal script.
Although Chen Yuan couldn’t read the script, he could feel an incomparably sharp Sword Qi washing over him, suffused with a masculine, scorching power so oppressive it was hard to breathe.
This was the Sun-piercing Alliance’s Divine Weapon, the Sun-piercing Sword.
But the Sun-piercing Sword, once the foundation of the Sun-piercing Alliance, had now become a ticking time bomb, liable to explode at any moment.
Even now, suppressed by the Array and bound by the Chains, the Sun-piercing Sword still trembled intermittently, unleashing terrifying bursts of Sword Qi that echoed with loud cracks.
Chen Yuan could even clearly feel the rage emanating from the Sun-piercing Sword.