Chapter 387: Hidden Intentions Exposed

Zu An’s heart skipped a beat. He immediately said, “Elder has obviously treated me well! What you have shown me can be considered life-changing grace!”

After all, if not for the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra, he wouldn’t have had any foundation for cultivation, let alone any way to activate the Keyboard system.

“It seems like a kid like you still has some gratitude. My efforts weren’t wasted after all.” Old Mi nodded in satisfaction.

Zu An was curious. Why was he talking about this now?

The old man continued, “I’m sure you heard our conversation as well. I haven’t had any adopted children in this life of mine, nor do I have any successors. To a certain degree, you are my adopted son, my successor.”

Zu An’s heart softened when heard the weakness in his voice. He was surely about to pass away. “I will never forget the kindness Elder has shown me! If Elder doesn’t mind, I can look after you and make arrangements after you pass on.”

“I’m surprised at your filial piety.” Old Mi laughed. “Unfortunately, I am not blessed enough to be able to enjoy that.”

“Is Elder’s injury really that serious? I’m sure that, considering the cultivation you possess, you should be able to recover after a period of recuperation!” Zu An even considered using some of his own medicine on him. He had the red bottles that granted instant restoration, as well as Ji Dengtu’s Soul Return Pills. He should be able to treat this old man’s injuries.

However, the final treacherous clash between Old Mi and Wei Dan was still fresh in his mind, and there was no way he could forget all the suspicions that he’d had all this while. He decided to wait a little longer. After all, he could bring the old man back as long as he still had one last breath in him.

“It’s hopeless. I clearly understand my own injuries best.” Old Mi continued on, “Let’s not waste any more time. I want to use this last bit of time to pass on to you everything I know. That way, some part of my existence will live on even after I pass on.”

Zu An frowned. “Elder, you should treat your injuries first! Let’s talk about the rest afterwards.”

“Not bad, you do have a conscience. I didn’t choose the wrong person.” Old Mi’s smile suddenly altered. “But now is not the time for this. If you refuse to accept a gift bestowed upon you by the heavens, then you are the only one to blame.”

There was nothing else Zu An could say. “Thank you, Elder!”

“All right, listen well.” Old Mi sat down and said, struggling for breath. “I’ve already passed on to you my Sunflower Phantasm. The other move is the Sunflower Finger. Remember the way to summon it:

“Calm the heart as the sun rises, abandon all distracting thoughts. Imagine the descent of a goddess’ fragrance, the birth of ki from an ocean of ki…”

Zu An immediately cleared his mind when he saw that this old man was really passing on his technique. At the same time, he began to wonder what this all meant. After all, this was a deep and profound technique!

When Old Mi was finished, he said, “That’s all you need to summon this technique. How much of it do you remember?”

“All of it,” Zu An subconsciously replied.

“All of it?” Old Mi frowned. “How could that be? Kid, you shouldn’t lie. You have to clarify any doubts you have while I’m still alive.”

Zu An was startled. His transcendent aptitude allowed him to pick up anything quickly, but Old Mi didn’t know about that.

He remembered Jiang Luofu’s warning, so he kept this secret to himself. He hurriedly said, “I only remember about half of it.”

“Only half?” Old Mi snorted. “You’ve forgotten so much, yet you dare to boast like that?”

However, he realized that he was being too harsh, and mellowed his words. “Fifty percent is not bad, considering your aptitude. Pay close attention! I’ll repeat it a few more times. You have to remember it completely.”

“Okay.” Zu An smiled sheepishly to mask his confusion. This old man had said that he was about to die. Did he really have the time to explain this over and over?

Old Mi not only repeated the summoning technique for the Sunflower Finger several times, he even explained several of the more difficult areas.

Zu An was already extremely familiar with it after listening to it so many times. He even felt as though he could use this technique right now. Even if it wasn’t as powerful as Old Mi’s, it would still be the Sunflower Finger.

His eyes darted around suddenly, and he said with an apologetic smile, “Elder, the  move that you used to escape from the Inescapable Net was really awesome! You were actually able to produce a lotus with every step!”

Old Mi couldn’t keep the annoyance out of his voice. “Brat, are you hinting to me to teach you that method? Hmph, it’s not that I can’t pass it on to you. It’s just that your cultivation is too low, and this skill is way beyond your capabilities. You won’t be able to learn it even if I teach it to you.”

“How would we know for sure unless you teach it to me? I guess I don’t need it, but having another skill never hurts!”

Old Mi was clearly still hesitant. Zu An kept on pressing him. “Elder, didn’t you say that you were going to pass everything on to me? How can you withhold this most formidable Steps of the Rising Lotus?”

“What you say makes sense.” Old Mi sighed. “All right, I’ll pass on the Steps of the Rising Lotus to you as well.

“However, this skill isn’t something you can comprehend right now. How about this? I’ll engrave this skill onto a spiritual sense seed and plant it inside you. This way, the skill will appear in your mind automatically once you reach a certain level of cultivation.”

Zu An was stunned. Was there a need to make things that difficult?

Just thinking about letting the other party’s spiritual sense enter his body sounded like a terrible idea that should be immediately rejected. However, the temptation of the Steps of Rising Lotus was difficult to resist.

Old Mi had gotten back up to his feet slowly, and was walking towards him with unsteady steps. A streak of purple radiance appeared on his fingertip, which appeared to be a small seed. A small sunflower was vaguely visible within that seed.

Even though this sunflower was much smaller than all of the previous ones, it was sparkling and translucent, shimmering with brilliant colors. It seemed more powerful than any of the other sunflowers he displayed before.

“Relax yourself both physically and mentally. Do not reject it, or else the transfer will fail. I do not have the strength left to condense a second seed,” Old Mi said in a serious tone.

Zu An grunted in acknowledgement, but couldn’t shake the sense of unease within him, although he didn’t know what exactly was wrong.

Old Mi’s finger slowly moved towards Zu An’s brow. As the distance grew smaller, a smile gradually appeared on the old man’s lips.

He’d pretended to be a dying elder who wanted to pass on everything he knew before he died. He hadn’t even hesitated to pass on the Sunflower Finger. This was precisely engineered to lower Zu An’s guard step by step.

From their interactions, he knew that even though Zu An’s wasn’t particularly strong, he was a crafty and cunning fellow. That was why he was taking such a cautious approach.

Possession techniques were always extremely dangerous. There was always a chance of failure.

The stronger the will of the target, the higher the chance of failure.

On the contrary, if the target didn’t put up any resistance, then the probability of success would be close to a hundred percent.

That was why he’d willingly gone through so much trouble to set this up.

The feeling of unease within Zu An grew intensified as he saw the smile on Old Mi’s lips. When that sunflower closed to within an inch from his head, his fine hairs all began to stand on end.

It was as if every single cell in his body was warning him that he was in extreme danger.

Without a conscious thought, his body instinctively employed the Sunflower Phantasm, instantly sending him more than a dozen zhang away.

Old Mi’s entire body trembled. He hadn’t expected this to happen. He jerked his head towards Zu An. “You’ve already managed to undo the seal?”

Zu An laughed awkwardly. “Falling from the branch earlier somehow loosened the restrictions binding me, and I managed to recover somehow. I instinctively tested it out just now, and I somehow ended up here.”

Old Mi’s expression grew dark. “Come back here right now. It’s not easy for me to maintain this seed in its condensed form. Soon, it will scatter, and you won’t be able to learn the Steps of Rising Lotus.”

Zu An waved his hand and said, “Umm… Elder, I suddenly don’t want to learn it anymore. You should find someone with better aptitude to pass this technique to.”

Old Mi snorted. “How am I supposed to find anyone else in this state? Come back here right now!”

The panic in his voice and the threatening tone he used made Zu An wary of actually learning this technique. He chuckled and said, “Really, there’s no need.”

Old Mi’s expression turned frosty. “That’s not for you to decide!”

His figure flickered, and his hand stretched out towards Zu An.