Becoming an immortal against the will of heaven

"Please don't misunderstand, Your Excellency. It's not that I'm going back on my word, but before that, I hope you can make an oath, guaranteeing that you won't attack us during this trip. If you do that, then I'll agree to you joining us."

Seeing Hou Zhen's face instantly darken, Chen Tian suddenly smiled and explained.

"Hmm? Take an oath?" Upon hearing Chen Tian's words, Hou Zhen was slightly surprised. Then, he asked in confusion, "You just want me to guarantee that I won't attack during this trip?"

Hou Zhen was indeed a little surprised. He originally thought that Chen Tian would make a very harsh condition. But he didn't expect it to be such a small request.

Furthermore, why did Chen Tian only ask him not to attack during this trip, and not to never attack again?

Wouldn't the latter be safer?

"That's right, as long as Your Excellency can guarantee not to attack during this trip, that's fine." Facing Hou Zhen's doubts, Chen Tian suddenly smiled slightly and continued, "After all, if we were to ask Your Excellency to never attack, I suspect Your Excellency wouldn't be able to do that, right?"

As he spoke, Chen Tian slightly turned his head and glanced at Li Qianyun beside him.

Hou Zhen was stunned upon hearing this, and then a faint smile appeared on his face. Indeed, as Chen Tian had guessed, the feud between him and Li Qianyun was quite deep. If he were asked never to attack Li Qianyun for the rest of his life, then he would find it impossible to do.

But only not attacking during this trip, Hou Zhen could barely accept.

It must be said that this Chen Tian is indeed a talent, deeply versed in the art of negotiation, maximizing his gains as much as possible without exceeding the other party's bottom line.

Thinking this, Hou Zhen didn't say anything more and immediately raised three fingers towards the sky, swearing in a solemn tone: "I, Hou Zhen, hereby swear that I will never kill anyone within the Demon Domain Ruins. If I violate this oath, I am willing to be struck by five thunderbolts and die."

"Boom!"

Just after Hou Zhen finished reciting the oath, a red lightning bolt suddenly descended from the sky and drilled into his body.

This lightning bolt was an emissary of the Heavenly Dao. Once Hou Zhen violated his oath, this lightning bolt would immediately shatter his primordial spirit, causing him to die and his Dao to be extinguished.

Of course, as long as Hou Zhen kept his promise and left the Demon Domain Ruins, this lightning bolt would immediately dissipate and would not cause him any harm.

"How is it? Is it alright now?"

After retracting his hand in the sky, Hou Zhen looked at Chen Tian and asked.

"Of course, it is. Please come over, Your Excellency." At this moment, a kind smile appeared on Chen Tian's face as he invited Hou Zhen.

Hou Zhen nodded in satisfaction, and then stepped closer to Chen Tian and the others.

Only when Li Qianyun saw Hou Zhen coming over, she frowned and snorted softly, before going to the other side, not wanting to stand with Hou Zhen at all.

Hou Zhen sneered when he saw this, but he didn't say anything and stood quietly to the side.

Chen Tian looked at the appearance of these two, but his heart was without any ripples.

In fact, there were two reasons why Chen Tian didn't let Hou Zhen expand the time limit of his oath, but only restricted it to within the Demon Domain Ruins.

First, doing so would not touch Hou Zhen's bottom line, allowing him to accept it easily, and also avoiding Hou Zhen's concerns, which would be conducive to the subsequent negotiations.

Second, this Hou Zhen only had a feud with Li Qianyun, and had nothing to do with Chen Tian and the others. Therefore, Chen Tian wouldn't bother to resolve the feud between them. In fact, Chen Tian hoped that after going out, Hou Zhen and Li Qianyun would fight to the death.

Therefore, this was also a preventive measure that Chen Tian had left for the future.

Of course, Chen Tian could have originally not allowed Hou Zhen to join, after all, with the strength of the four of them, it should be enough. But after thinking about it again and again, Chen Tian finally agreed.

And one of the most important reasons was because of that fat old man.

Originally, there were only Chen Tian, Li Qianyun, and He Busi. Although He Busi had the highest cultivation, he was only at the mid-stage of the凝海境 (Spirit Sea Realm). If Chen Tian wanted to deal with him, it wouldn't be difficult.

But when this fat old man joined, everything changed. Although it was not clear what the fat old man's true cultivation was, Chen Tian understood that even if the three of them joined forces, they would never be a match for this fat old man.

Although from the current point of view, this fat old man had not shown any malice, there were exceptions to everything. If something happened inside later, causing this fat old man to attack them, then how would Chen Tian and the others resist this fat old man?

The balance had been broken, and whether good or bad, it would leave a hidden danger.

Therefore, in order to re-maintain the balance, Chen Tian had to add another weight, and this weight was Hou Zhen!

Although this Hou Zhen was a member of the demon race and had a conflict with Li Qianyun, his cultivation had already reached the late stage of the Spirit Sea Realm. Therefore, if he was recruited, then he could be used to suppress the fat old man, so that the relationship between the people would once again reach a balanced state.

Chen Tian secretly called himself lucky, because this Hou Zhen and the fat old man were obviously not of one mind, and they both had an agenda, so they could not join forces with each other.

And Chen Tian was able to suppress them so well because he used their mutually hostile relationship.

"Brother He, can you lend me that jade slip again?"

Unknowingly, Chen Tian had already become the leader of the group. Therefore, after walking to the side of the pond, he reached out and asked He Busi for the jade slip.