"I do not practice Dao cultivation. It is the truth. I am just an Unawakened..."
The words stunned Han Li. But at the same time, it made him doubt. His Life Vision had always shown Li Shuanwei to be an Unawakened indeed. What was this?
A long silence stretched between them, and the walkie-talkie walked around. He was thinking to himself, what could have made Li Shuanwei so scarily strong if he was an Unawakened?
What was the reason?
"Elaborate," he said.
Li Shuanwei shook his head. "I am put between a rock and a hard place if you say it like that, Senior Transcendent. Now that I have your interest, why don't you bind that Heart Qi promise? I don't want many benefits, just two things. I don't want to give my method to everyone in the whole world; I want it to remain a secret between the senior and me.
"Even if you train your descendants, just bind them so that only one or two people can do it. This is just a simple request, isn't it? And also another request: you would not harm me or my interests unless I harm you after I give it to you. If you can, please also help me avoid other Transcendents interrupting my cultivation."
Hmm... If Han Li himself were a Transcendent, he indeed would have agreed to all. A measured level of request. After all, nobody would want a genius to be stolen from them by their opposition or rivals.
Han Li thought for a second and didn't act too stubborn. It was not that ridiculous of a request, anyway. In the first place, had they known his real identity, nothing would have been possible. Greed wasn't going to do it.
He knew that Li Shuanwei saying he would implode if he didn't get a Heart Qi promise was a very intelligent move on the man's part. Han Li would have done the same because, at that moment, Li Shuanwei himself was the most precious benefit here.
His death would hurt the interests of the opposition, but the man didn't seem to have the staunch heart to follow through with the idea and chose not to go through with that heated bargain with his own life as a price.
Li Shuanwei was not really afraid of death. Han Li could tell as much. It was just that the man could guess his own fate.
Now that he had been noticed by a 'Transcendent,' a greedy one at that, it was time to bow.
Han Li felt no scorn, though; there was no dishonor in bowing to your betters. Han Li himself could agree with that; he had killed many higher-status men with a knife wrapped in silk clothes.
He could also see the small path Li Shuanwei had left for himself.
Li Shuanwei's promise was an open-ended one; Han Li himself wouldn't be able to harm him as long as he didn't harm Han Li or his interests knowingly... the youth was extremely prideful of himself deep down and knew that if he had time, he could defeat Han Li.
There was also another thing: Li Shuanwei didn't really give so much importance to the method he used to fight higher levels. To him, it was not what made him special; it was being himself. In his mind, it was not the power itself but the man.
Han Li could judge many of these details now that he had seen the youth straight up. He felt a bit amused. A genius... huh... what actually made you powerful? Now, I am really curious.
The other party was just a 30-year-old youth, after all; how much could he hide from someone as old as 500 years? To Han Li, he was just a child, but a venomous one.
Calmly, Han Li and Li Shuanwei bound the Heart Qi binding.
Li Shuanwei would teach Han Li the truth about his own strength, and Han Li wouldn't harm him or spread that truth around with abandon. They were bound.
Of course, from the 'trades' it did with Cultivators. It was all along right before him.
Han Li took a second to nod, but he still nodded. He already knew it, but that was in this life, his second life. He felt ashamed.
"We are the root and also the hope for the Dao Tree. It wants to create Sacred Demons who can join together to make it be reborn again. Seven Sacreds joining together would have equal powers as the Heavens, equal powers to the Dao Tree.
"It wants to create Seven Sacred Cultivators and make them help it rebuild itself by combining their forces and absorbing energy from the Void. Only the combined force of the seven can do it."
"What is this all related to you?" Han Li asked calmly.
The youth sighed, his laziness evident. "The schemes go deep. These are mostly what I speculated. Everything in this world has already been planned by the Heavens, and we are merely pawns in the way. Seven people should be out somewhere whom it had chosen. Only they matter in the end.
All others are just never going to become Sacreds.
"They seven are the Heaven's children, we all? Just those seven's fuel. No matter how good we are... we are all destined to be slaves for the seven."
Han Li looked at the man calmly.
"When they gain control over the Great Dao, a Sacred Cultivator for each of the seven Daos... they will probably own all our lives. We are nothing but their Crystal collectors. We would collect Dao Crystals, pay them to the owner of the Dao as if in debt, and when the time comes, die.
"When I myself realized that, I was just 13. I compiled all this through my observation of the world... I lost hope. Cultivation was meaningless; it was not meant for me. Not anybody. I never Awakened even though my father asked me to do so many times. I hated cultivation, and I still do.
Thus, I am but a mere Unawakened."
Han Li was genuinely awed. If it was true, the person in front of him was probably the most terrifying mind he had ever seen. No wonder the youth had such a big eye bag. It was the mind of a Nihilist. No wonder he was lazy. He found no meaning in living.
Han Li wasn't so discouraged. At his age, he had seen many types of geniuses, and even though this one stood out, people better than him existed in this world, but in the end, what mattered the most was how one handled such people.
Circumstances were above men, always. Even now, he wasn't contending against this genius using brute strength after all. He was using conventional beliefs. Maybe, the youth himself would realize he was used some time later.
"So what did you come to know in the end? Why are you so strong?"
The youth chuckled. A profound aura began to emanate from him. An aura much weaker than the aura of the Heart Qi that Han Li could use but much more exotic.
The aura was pure. Calm. Lazy, almost. But with just that, he felt as if a blade was put on his neck, not only here but even far in the distance; his real body itself felt a shiver go through it... even while it was unconscious.
Han Li's heart tightened. "What is this Power?"
The aura of power receded, and the youth waved his hand. "It's simple, really. Beasts had the Beast Core that they inherited from the Beasts of the Everlasting Beast World. Humans? We are and have always been using the power of this world's Dao Tree, not any power we inherited from the Everlasting Human World. What power... Do the Humans have that they inherited?"
The walkie-talkie form trembled.
Indeed, what was the original Power of the Humans from the Everlasting Human World?