Yun Jhin was cultivating in the blood river while the patriarch of the Dead Bones sect just got the news that the tournament had ended.
The old hunchbacked man who looked to be only bones and skin chuckled as he suddenly disappeared from his bone tower and started to fly at uncalculable speeds towards the location of the Blood Throne sect.
He had a gleeful smile on his face as he flew towards the sect, it wasn't known if the smile was a good or bad thing for Yun Jhin but considering his current defensive measures it wouldn't matter if the old man wanted to attack or not.
Yun Jhin's eyes opened up in the blood mist as he got out of it and felt shivers going through his whole body, this meant that a God Realm expert was going to arrive at the sect!
Yun Jhin's intuition was never wrong when it came to those old fogies actions but he was rather surprised one of them would actually leave their sect behind to come and visit him, it must be one of the ones that he had a better relationship with during his past life.
It didn't take him much time for the duo he enslaved to send him a message that a hunchbacked old man wanted to see him, the duo were scared out of their wits as they shivered while waiting for Yun Jhin to arrive.
The gaze of the skeleton-like person in front of them was really unnerving and the cold and yin evil aura he exuded made him even more intimidating than Yun Jhin when he was angry!
The man was very creepy and even though those two were early Gods they still felt a pressure coming from his aura that indicated his cultivation base was above theirs!
Yun Jhin knew that the man would arrive but his arrival speed was so fast that he didn't even identify him when he entered the territory of the sect!
As he arrived outside the cave where the blood river was he looked at the old man that stood a few meters away from him.
As he analyzed him he realized who he was... the patriarch of the Dead Bones sect! He came personally!
The man chuckled showing his sharp beast-like teeth, he came closer to Yun Jhin as he took a few steps and said:
"It seems you haven't broken through the God Realm yet old friend."
Yun Jhin frowned as the man easily saw through his cultivation base even though he was on his home territory and if he analyzed him properly he realized why he hadn't been able to feel him enter the territory of the sect!
He was here just as a projection and not his main body, while he looked terrifying on the surface he didn't even have the strength of a peak sage realm expert!
It wasn't his avatar but an aura projection coming from his main body and from what Yun Jhin knew about him he usually kept this projection in his tower of bones as a lookout, it was actually quite strange that he would use his projection as a messager.
The man didn't say anything as he stood there while letting Yun Jhin analyze him to his heart content, he chuckled as he looked into Yun Jhin's eyes and said:
"You haven't changed at all, still the same brooding and thinking type with a touch of perfect scheming, anyways I didn't come here today to stir up trouble, I actually have a proposal for you since you are back."
Yun Jhin eyebrows rose as he looked at him and asked with a tinge of curiosity:
"Proposal? Even though our sects were quite friendly back then we didn't have such a close relationship."
"Aiyah, don't be so quick to think that I'm going to fool you Yun Jhin, you know that I'm not like those other old fogies who like to scheme, I'm a little bit more simple-minded and I think a head-on fight is a better way to solve conflicts."
Yun Jhin found his words to be quite untrue as in his last life even though they could be considered allies he surely let his sect go to waste after he died.
Seeing Yun Jhin's disapproving expression made the man chuckle a bit as he said:
"If I died would you take care of my sect in my stead until I reincarnated and came back to reclaim it without any problems?"
"Atleast you could have kept the legacy alive you know? You sure are a backstabbing prick just like the others Gu Manshu."
"You should know best about backstabbing so don't go and be the pot calling the kettle black."
"Yeah yeah, why have you come here anyway? What do you need?"
"I need your help."
The old man's eyes seemed pretty truthful to Yun Jhin but trying to identify the truth from the old fogies was harder than scaling a mountain of blades and going through a sea of fire naked, and Yun Jhin had done both.
"I know you don't trust me but it will be a beneficial cooperation to the both of us just like the good old days, I can also wait for you to break through the God Realm first so you can get your proper powers first but I really need your help."
Yun Jhin really couldn't see through him so he asked directly what he needed help with.
The man directly went to the core of the problem and said:
"It's just that we need to be alone for this kind of conversation."
The slave duo immediately disappeared as if they were never there as they felt the pressure from the higher-ups increasing more and more on their bodies as they talked.
"Ok now that we are alone please do tell me what do you want?"
The man coughed as if he had a bone stuck in his neck and said:
"You should know about my condition better than anyone right?"
Yun Jhin nodded, Gu Manshu could reincarnate earlier than Yun Jhin and more often than him but his lifespan was also shorter standing around 100,000 years maximum regardless of his cultivation.
There were both advantages and disadvantages to this technique of his that he employed, the earlier he reincarnated the bigger the advantage he had over his enemies but his lesser lifespan meant that he had to go first, he came first, and went away first.
In this way, he would have advantages early but in the late game he would still end up being worse than everyone else, Yun Jhin guessed that at this point he realized that his technique was actually pretty trashy and he must have wanted his help to either fix him or create a new technique so he would fix himself rather as he reincarnated.
But it seemed his guess was wrong as he didn't want that.
"I need your help as an ally, the Brilliance Radiance and Light sect has eyed my sect for quite a long time now and they would surely want to attack it sooner or later, I need a war ally!"
Yun Jhin shook his head as he said:
"A war ally? With my current disciple count and the extreme lack of talents?"
"While you are lacking talents and disciples that's for now, in the future, you will surely grow to an impressive size maybe even bigger than your former life!"
Gu Manshu decided to do a bit of brown-nosing to convince Yun Jhin but empty words would never work on him and the old man knew that as well.
He took out a small exquisite spatial ring and threw it at Yun Jhin while saying:
"Just a small gift for our happy future alliance."
Yun Jhin knew from the smile of the old man in front of him that there was something rather precious in the ring and he decided to look into it.
His eyes widened as he started to shake, this was something imperative for his breakthrough in the god realm in the spatial ring! His chances of reaching the God Realm would be at least 70 to 80% if he used the item that Gu Manshu gave him!
Inside the space of the ring stood a mountain of blood-colored circular fruits that had tons of warts on them, those warts had the faces of despairing humans, beasts, elves, and a lot of other races.
These were fruits infused with the blood and souls of millions of beings and cultivated with their bones and bone marrow.
They were the perfect items for Yun Jhin's current needs!
Seeing this gift perfectly prepared for him made Yun Jhin unable to say anything for a short while.
Then he looked towards Gu Manshu and asked:
"In how much time do you think you will be attacked?"
Gu Manshu's sharp fangs showed themselves as he smiled and thought that he had captured Yun Jhin's attention with the fruits.