'Yes, I can already see the gears in your head turning,' Liu Nan said. 'Fang Yuan may look young, but he is actually over 500 years old. 500 years into the future, he refined the Spring Autumn Cicada and was forced to activate it to return to this timeline, back to when he was 15 years old. That is how he knows so much about the future, and that is how his cultivation has skyrocketed to this extent so rapidly.'
Bai Ning Bing quickly put the pieces together. 'That explains many things,' Bai Ning Bing noted. 'But it still doesn't explain how you know all of this!'
Liu Nan considered what to do further. He had revealed the secret of Fang Yuan's Spring Autumn Cicada mainly because he was allowed to by his master, Red Lotus Demonic Venerable.
Liu Nan was not being entirely forthcoming with Bai Ning Bing.
The reason for that was he had two objectives while coming here: the first was to prevent Fang Yuan from succeeding in becoming the inheritor of the Tian Ji blessed land and potentially reverse-refining the Spring Autumn Cicada. He was being forthright regarding this target with Bai Ning Bing.
But he also had a second objective, and that was to take Bai Ning Bing with him.
His master had told him that she would be an important trump card to use against Fang Yuan in their future plans. Because of that, he didn't just want Bai Ning Bing to sabotage Fang Yuan - he also needed her to completely ruin their relationship to the point where, for the time being, it would be irreconcilable. But for that, he needed Bai Ning Bing's trust first.
He had already revealed the secret of the Spring Autumn Cicada to her. If he revealed that his teacher was the Red Lotus Demonic Venerable - the inventor of the Spring Autumn Cicada in the first place - it would explain completely how he knew of its existence and of what Fang Yuan would do in the future.
Even as he weighed this choice, his master's will reached out through his aperture. 'It is fine. If things go according to what I have foreseen-' Red Lotus Demonic Venerable said. '-she'll find out sooner or later.'
'All right then. Bai Ning Bing, the reason why I happen to know about Fang Yuan's secret,' Liu Nan said, 'is because I happen to be an inheritor of Red Lotus Immor- I mean, Demonic Venerable as you may know him. The Spring Autumn Cicada was created by him and was his Vital Gu when he was still alive.'
These words shook Bai Ning Bing's thoughts even more. Red Lotus Demonic Venerable, one of the ten ancient Venerables! And the Spring Autumn Cicada was his Vital Gu?!
'Bai Ning Bing, I urge you to think about my offer,' Liu Nan said. 'I have always upheld my end of the bargain, even back in Shang Clan City when I worked with Shang Ya Zi to obstruct Fang Yuan. Although I was simply using him as a pawn, he still benefited from my scheme. I am a man of my word. If you still do not believe me, like I said, I have access to Sea Oath Gu and we can have a neutral party oversee our agreement. The next time you require your extreme physique to be stabilized, we can go off toward the sea within this blessed land and make an agreement to work together.'
Bai Ning Bing thought about the offer for some time. She knew that she was treading a very dangerous road; one mistake, and it would lead to destruction. In a way, it actually enthralled her. Being a mortal scheming against two Immortals - this was the kind of life she loved to live!
At the same time, though, she was no idiot. While Liu Nan did seem to at least be somewhat trustworthy, given the fact that he was an immortal, she would have very little recourse against him. Even with the Sea Oath Gu, it was a way to bind them, yes, but whether or not the man would have a countermeasure against it remained to be seen.
At the same time, she acknowledged that as long as she continued to remain with Fang Yuan, she would have absolutely no future and, furthermore, no freedom.
As a mortal, there was no way that she could go against any of Fang Yuan's schemes. She might even end up being directly enslaved by him, either through Enslavement Gu or some other kind of indirect method. She would prefer to detonate herself far before that happened.
But she did not have the qualifications to strike against Fang Yuan directly!
At long last, she made her decision. The next time she went to use Equality Gu, Liu Nan came disguised as the mortal in question. They wandered near the edge of White Heaven, whereupon they could see the sea below.
'This is Sea Oath Gu,' he said. 'Of course, I have another Information Path method called the Vow of One Hundred Years, a Time Path method which mimics that of an Information Path technique. But I think you will find that, given who my teacher is, perhaps a Time Path method is not what you want to agree to.'
'Indeed,' Bai Ning Bing said. If this man really was Red Lotus Demonic Venerable's inheritor, a Time Path method would be easy to undo. 'We can go ahead and use Sea Oath Gu then.'
'Well, I don't exactly have it on me,' Liu Nan admitted. 'A colleague here happens to have it, but I can hand over some contribution points so that he will help us.'
The Immortal in question wandered over towards them. She was someone from the Eastern Sea. Bai Ning Bing didn't know much about her despite the tournament going on for so long, but she seemed to make her living by facilitating deals like this. Liu Nan said he had no deep relations to this woman and that she was a 'neutral' observer... something Bai Ning Bing couldn't verify.
That was the issue - the gap in power between a mortal and Immortal were far too vast, there was no real room for proper trade or negotiation between the two if the Immortal in question was unscrupulous.
But out of all of her terrible options, this was the best one.
Liu Nan handed Bai Ning Bing an information type gu worm. Essentially, whatever was written on there would be what they agreed to, allowing them to do this entire transaction without ever speaking anything aloud.
And with that, their agreement was finalized!
***
"Land Spirit," Fang Yuan said quickly. "It was the mistake of my partner who attacked my opponent. It was not my fault whatsoever. Can you not overlook this? Or can I not find someone else to assist me?"
The land spirit shook his head and glared at Fang Yuan. "Lad, you've been rather good, and I do have some degree of sympathy toward you. But anyone who violates the rules of this tournament must be punished! I hate a lot of things in this world, but I hate cheaters the most!" he said, stamping his feet angrily.
Fang Yuan sighed inwardly. He had made quite the good impression on the land spirit earlier, but it wouldn't matter.
Once the land spirit had made its decision like this, there was little point in trying to argue against it. If this had been the actual Tian Ji, perhaps Fang Yuan's argument might have made some sense and he could negotiate to some extent.
But the land spirit was quite obstinate. Above all, even though it was a kind entity at heart having inherited this aspect from Tian Ji, it had wanted to create a grand tournament first and foremost. That was its obsession and would prioritize that above all else!
By breaking the rules of the tournament, Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing had essentially done the equivalent of smearing feces all over its face!
There was no way the land spirit would tolerate such a thing.
"Fang Yuan, when you brought Bai Ning Bing here as your partner, that meant you were also taking responsibility for her actions. You've benefited from her help, haven't you? You simply can't divorce yourself from them now that they don't suit you. This means you also must take responsibility for this!" The land spirit glared at Fang Yuan. "I'm sorry to say this, lad, but rules are rules and I must abide by them. Like I had warned at the beginning, all of the points that you have accumulated up until now are forfeit. Any of the compensatory prizes which I have not already given to you are also forfeit!"
Its decision was final and it would not listen to any sort of reason or excuse from Fang Yuan. It then opened up a portal for them to leave. "Now leave, otherwise I'll have you thrown out!"