Chapter 112: Let Ye Chao Suffer a Bit More

"Disciple Ye Chao greets you, Master!"

Wang Ping bowed deeply on the spot. Without the slightest hesitation, he knocked his head against the ground three times with heavy thuds. His earnest attitude made Kongzhi even more satisfied.

"Good, good, good!"

He did not notice anything amiss with Wang Ping. His current appearance as Ye Chao had been forged using the Heaven-Deceiving Great Method, and the disguise was absolutely flawless.

"Amitabha."

Kongzhi pressed his palms together, his expression amiable. "Good disciple, I possess three thousand Dao methods, divided into the Four Methods of Pacification, Augmentation, Subjection, and Subjugation. Which one do you wish to learn?"

As his voice faded, Kongzhi watched the Child of Destiny reply with an obedient face, "This disciple's knowledge is shallow. I leave the decision entirely to Master."

Kongzhi nodded slightly. "In that case, how about I teach you the Pacification Method? This method focuses on warding off disasters and resolving hardships. It holds the power to divine the innate trigrams, allowing one to pursue good fortune and avoid misfortune."

"With this, can I become an immortal?" the Child of Destiny asked.

Kongzhi shook his head. "No."

At these words, the Child of Destiny immediately shook his head. "I won't learn it! I won't learn it!"

Kongzhi smiled even more joyfully. "In that case, how about I teach you the Augmentation Method? This method focuses on increasing fortune and wealth, and it also extends one's lifespan."

"With this, can I become an immortal?" the Child of Destiny asked again.

Kongzhi shook his head. "You can attain longevity and live in this world forever without dying, but you cannot become an immortal. You would have cultivation in vain, with no means to protect the dharma—just like scooping the moon out of the water."

The Child of Destiny looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"It is ultimately a fruitless endeavor!"

As Kongzhi finished speaking, the Child of Destiny shook his head even faster. "All for nothing, and I still can't become an immortal? Then what use is longevity? I won't learn it! I won't learn it!"

Hearing this, Kongzhi was not angry. Instead, he unhurriedly continued, "In that case, how about I teach you the Subjection Method? This method allows one to resonate with the Brahma heavens, offering incense to the Buddhas and inviting countless deities and Buddhas from the Brahma realm to bless your body. It possesses inconceivable wonders and combines the strengths of the previous two methods."

Upon hearing this, the Child of Destiny responded with just one sentence:

"Can I become an immortal?"

"It is like water without a source." Kongzhi shook his head again. "Although the various Buddhas of the Brahma heavens are boundlessly profound, their power is an external force. It is not your own, so you cannot become an immortal."

"I won't learn it! I won't learn it!"

At this point, a hint of anger finally appeared on Kongzhi's face. He said in a deep voice, "In that case, I will teach you the Subjugation Method, which holds the might to subdue demons and vanquish monsters."

"How about it?"

The Child of Destiny tilted his head. "Can I become an immortal?"

Kongzhi sighed. "No."

"Then I won't learn this either! I won't learn it!"

The moment the Child of Destiny finished speaking, Kongzhi suddenly stepped forward and said angrily, "You won't learn this, and you won't learn that. You are truly a stubborn, unruly disciple!"

With that, the Brahma cultivator pulled out a disciplinary ruler from who knows where and struck the top of the Child of Destiny's head three times with all his might. Only then did he feign a sigh. "Forget it, forget it. Since you and I are destined to be master and disciple, I will teach you a true method that leads to immortality."

Below him, the Child of Destiny immediately rejoiced and bowed deeply.

Seeing this, Kongzhi silently put away the disciplinary ruler, the satisfaction in his eyes growing even deeper... On the other side, Wang Ping had also discovered an anomaly in his own body.

'He's eating my [Fate]?'

Wang Ping could feel that something had gone wrong with the [Ye Chao Trial Card] on his body. A portion of his [Fate] had been knocked away by Kongzhi's three strikes with the ruler.

Of course, that [Fate] was illusory to begin with. As long as he deactivated the [Ye Chao Trial Card], it would disappear instantly, so Wang Ping did not take it to heart. What truly caught his attention was the real Ye Chao, who was currently inside the banner's spatial realm. Noticeable abnormalities were gradually surfacing on his body.

'It's the Fate-Peering Bone-Slicing Mirror.'

'The rate at which this bizarre artifact is eroding him has sped up. It seems this Brahma cultivator has a massive appetite. Becoming his disciple costs a significant amount of [Fate].'

Even so, Wang Ping quickly came to terms with it.

After all, he wasn't the one suffering the bad luck.

'But then again, when it comes to a Child of Destiny like Ye Chao, Book Mountain and the Brahma Cultivators have completely different ways of using him. Is this also the difference between the Immortal Gate and the Brahma Nation?'

Wang Ping vaguely came to a realization:

'Over at Book Mountain, their attitude toward a Child of Destiny is to treat him as a tool. They use magical treasures to squeeze out his [Fate] and exploit him to achieve a certain goal... In contrast, the Brahma Cultivators are much more straightforward. They directly consume the Child of Destiny's [Fate] to nourish themselves.'

Thinking this, Wang Ping glanced at Kongzhi again.

He noticed that after Kongzhi put away the ruler, his complexion had noticeably improved, and his aura had also risen slightly. Obviously, this was because he had consumed the [Fate].

Right at this moment, Wang Ping suddenly felt a stir in his heart. He saw Kongzhi bring out a glittering golden Prayer Wheel and readily shove it into his arms.

"I shall impart this method to you. It is called the Other-Transformation Freedom Control Desire Realm Celestial Manual, and it holds immense benefits for you. This is a supreme true method that can lead to immortality. It is unlike the Four Methods of Pacification, Augmentation, Subjection, and Subjugation. If it were those, you and I would still have the bond of master and disciple, but once you receive this true method, our master-disciple destiny will be severed."

"Many thanks, Master!"

Wang Ping didn't hesitate at all. He accepted the Prayer Wheel but wasn't in a hurry to read it. Instead, he tucked it away in his robes, then lifted his head and looked at Kongzhi with eager, pleading eyes.

"Master... your disciple has one more presumptuous request."

"If not for Master's helping hand this time, your disciple would have already met with calamity. Now, although I have received Master's imparted method, true methods are difficult to cultivate. For the time being, I don't have the ability to protect the dharma and defend myself."

"This disciple's own life and safety are secondary."

"I'm just afraid of running into assassins on the road again. If they kill me and snatch the true method away, causing Master's legacy to be lost in the mortal realm, that would truly fail Master's great trust."

The moment Wang Ping finished saying this, he immediately felt a reaction.

Inside the banner's spatial realm, another chunk of Ye Chao's [Fate] was gnawed away.

At the same time, Kongzhi looked entirely happy to oblige. He immediately nodded. "Since that is the case, I will bestow a treasure upon you to help you protect the dharma."

As his words fell, the halo behind Kongzhi's head opened to the heavens. Sanskrit chants and Zen hymns echoed endlessly as a solemn, two-faced, four-armed Buddha statue majestically manifested. Its four arms each held a magical artifact wreathed in divine light. Wang Ping took one look and realized that not a single one of them was inferior to the Dragon Head Guillotine before its ascension!

'Four semi-divine weapons!?'

A second later, the solemn Buddha statue slowly lowered one arm. Kongzhi reached out, took down one of the magical artifacts, and placed it in front of Wang Ping.

"This..." Wang Ping swallowed hard.

"This treasure is called the Wind-Thunder Demon-Subduing Pestle. It possesses the wondrous ability to 'drive the wind and harness the thunder.' The former can help you fly through the azure sky, and the latter can assist you in subduing demons and vanquishing monsters."

"How about it?"

Wang Ping tremblingly accepted the precious pestle handed over by Kongzhi, thanking him repeatedly. Yet, his gaze drifted uncontrollably toward the other three arms of the Buddha statue.

"What, you still want more?"

Kongzhi wore an amiable expression.

On the other hand, the exact moment he took the Wind-Thunder Demon-Subduing Pestle, Wang Ping once again felt the sensation of his [Fate] being swallowed, and it was even more intense.

Simultaneously, Ye Chao in the banner's spatial realm let out a muffled groan. The erosion of the Fate-Peering Bone-Slicing Mirror on his body grew increasingly severe, gradually spreading from his sternum to other areas. Signs of sloughing flesh and blood also appeared. He was already starting to somewhat resemble the original Soul-Falling Studio Master.

'But... it's still not enough!'

Wang Ping sighed inwardly. There were four semi-divine weapons; taking just one would only slightly weaken Kongzhi. Only by taking all of them could he cause the monk's strength to drastically plummet.

'I have no choice. It's time for Ye Chao to suffer a bit more.'

'I'll shoulder the benefits!'

Thinking of this, Wang Ping piled a smile back onto his face. "Master, this Wind-Thunder Demon-Subduing Pestle is more than enough for offense, but it's slightly lacking in defense."

"What you say makes sense."

Kongzhi smiled. He reached out and took down another magical artifact from the hands of the towering Buddha statue behind him. "In that case, I will bestow another treasure upon you."

It was a glazed umbrella.

"This treasure is called the Sumeru Vajra Umbrella. The surface of the umbrella features a diagram of Mount Sumeru and guardian vajras. As long as you rest safely beneath it, even if the sky collapses and the earth caves in, you will not be harmed."

"How about it?"

Wang Ping gladly accepted it with a smile, simultaneously feeling his [Fate] being bitten off again. The condition of Ye Chao in the banner's spatial realm was also growing more and more severe.

However, he didn't care in the slightest.

The former belonged to the trial card and didn't matter at all. As for the latter... he was doomed to die anyway, so Wang Ping figured he might as well make good use of his value as human livestock.

"Master, offense and defense are now covered, but this disciple's aptitude is dull. I will still have difficulties cultivating the true method. I wonder if there is anything that can increase cultivation efficiency?"

"There is, there is."

"Master, I now have a treasure to increase cultivation efficiency, but your disciple heard that cultivating too fast makes it easy to breed inner demons. Do you have anything that can suppress inner demons?"

"There is, there is..."

When it came to Wang Ping, Kongzhi granted every request. In no time at all, he had taken down all four magical artifacts from the Buddha statue. Aside from the Wind-Thunder Demon-Subduing Pestle and the Sumeru Adamantine Umbrella, there was also a Mani Pearl and a Dragon-Elephant Vajra Wheel. All of them were stuffed into Wang Ping's arms.

"Many thanks, Master!"

Carrying four supreme-grade magical artifacts, Wang Ping didn't hesitate to store all of them in the banner's spatial realm. Only then did he look at the rosy-complexioned Kongzhi.

He saw that the Brahma cultivator was still smiling joyfully.

After all, even Kongzhi himself hadn't expected the Child of Destiny to be so insatiably greedy as to dare take all four magical artifacts. He could only assume that the boy's horizons were simply too narrow.

'The magical artifacts are just being temporarily loaned out, that's all.'

'In comparison, I have eaten a full third of this Child of Destiny's [Fate]. This is the true harvest, which will greatly benefit my future cultivation.'

'As for the magical artifacts, once the Child of Destiny dies, how hard will it be to take them back?'

'It's nothing more than waiting a few years.'

This was like issuing a high-interest loan. It looked like lending out a sum of principal, but in reality, he could make his money back just by eating the interest. Retrieving the principal afterward meant a guaranteed profit with zero losses.

Of course, the premise was that he must have the ability to collect the principal and interest... But with his cultivation level, could a mere Child of Destiny possibly default on his debt?

At this moment, within Kongzhi's sea of consciousness.

Looking out, there was a patch of brilliant golden light roughly the size of a pond.

'With this amount of fate, when I make my grand vow in the future, my chances of surviving the fate tribulation will increase by thirty percent out of thin air. My hopes of becoming an ascetic monk will also...'

Before Kongzhi could finish his grand daydreams, in his empty sea of consciousness, the brilliant golden color that had just been right before his eyes suddenly let out a sharp crack and shattered like glass.

And then, just like that, it vanished into nothingness.

"...Ah?"

Kongzhi blinked blankly. He couldn't even comprehend what had just happened. It wasn't until he reached out to touch it, only to grasp nothing but empty air, that he finally reacted.

Where was the [Fate] he had just eaten?

Gone!?

"Impossible!!!"

Kongzhi's thoughts withdrew from his sea of consciousness and returned to reality, only to lock eyes with the Child of Destiny right in front of him. He met a pair of eyes filled with mockery.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

In an instant, Kongzhi felt the ground tremble beneath his feet, as if someone were using the earth as a drum and smashing it with a hammer. In his daze, a dragon's roar also echoed from far to near.

What was going on?

Looking back, he saw that at some point, the Child of Destiny had already hoisted up Ji Wuhen, who had been immobilized this whole time, and pulled away with a single flash of movement.

What happened?

Even now, Kongzhi still felt like he was in a dream. A vague guess formed in his heart, but he found it hard to believe. His face could no longer squeeze out the slightest hint of a smile.

Immediately after, he suddenly felt something stir.

He raised his head and looked at the sky.

What entered his vision was a world of black and white. It was a divine general clad in armor, charging over on a dragon. It was a saber strike that was already right before his eyes, yet impossible to dodge.

This saber strike sought to cut down an immortal with martial arts!