Tainted will

In an ordinary room, Bai Ming stood near the window gazing outside lost in thought.

'From those storage bags I have gotten nearly Eighty thousand spirit stones along with a few high-grade techniques, these spirit stones should be enough to lay the foundation for the business. Maybe I should also sell all the techniques I have gotten from the villages, hmm.'

'I have to find the right puppet before the trade event begins in two days, if things go as planned I should have the financial ability to buy dozens of tier-4 essence gathering pills and consolidation pills after this trade event ends. Just a single tier-4 essence gathering pill costs around two hundred thousand spirit stones, plus those base consolidation pills will cost around 50,000 spirit stones each. But if I can get my hands on them, I can reach the peak of the spirit realm in just two months' time.'

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"Chen hu, if I ask you to sacrifice your reputation for me, will you do it?" A sweet female voice questioned, while a manly voice answered with unyielding resolve and firmness,

"I will!"

...

"Chen hu, if I ask you to sacrifice your future for me, will you do it?"

"I will!"

…

"Chen hu, if I ask you to sacrifice your life for me, will you do it?"

"I will!"

…

"It seems, for the first time in my life I was right. Having you in my life is the best thing I could have ever hoped for. No matter what happens from now on, we shall always be together. Promise?"

"I promise..."

...

In the darkness, Chen hu opened his eyes.

"Huff…" He breathed out slowly, sitting up from his bed, muttering: "I dreamed again."

This dream was not fake but originated from the deepest part of his memory.

This was a conversation he had with his beloved wife when she was alive.

"Wife forgive me, for I am an Incompetent husband. I cannot join you just yet, wait for me to eradicate that vile scum, then hopefully we can be together for all eternity." Chen hu thought deep in his heart, as he gently caressed the pendant he was wearing.

Thinking of his wife, Chen hu felt extremely guilty.

He loved his wife deeply, she was so kind, so strong-willed.

For a few years they lived a happy life, but one day the fairytale ended and then the dreadful nightmare began.

The seeds for this disaster were sowed almost four years ago when Chen hu killed a certain man while fighting for resources in the wild. But because he failed to completely hide his actions, he suffered dearly.

A year later, when both Chen hu and his wife were traveling back to teng city, they were ambushed by the victim's brother, Yang lai.

Yang lai was able to cripple Chen hu's wife and completely destroy Chen hu's spirit root, making Chen hu's cultivation base of 2nd layer of the core formation realm stagnate for the rest of his life.

But he didn't kill him immediately, instead, he first restricted Chen hu and brought them in front of the Teng city, before he heartlessly raped Chen hu's wife in the open, for everyone to see and then he burnt her alive.

Even after that, he didn't kill Chen hu, and neither did he destroy Chen hu's cultivation base. It was because Yang lai wanted Chen hu to live a life filled with pain and misery, while also becoming mad with vengeance in his very soul, but only to fail when he would act and at that time Chen hu would have his hopes ruthlessly crushed and would be brutally killed by yang lai.

"But can I ever have this distant vengeance, it's been the hardest three years of my life and I have only made this tiny bit of progress, what if my life comes to an end before the day of vengeance ever comes, no it cannot go on like this.."

Before he could even finish his words, a demonic hand suddenly gripped his neck, squeezing tightly with immense strength.

Chen hu's eyes immediately widened like full moons. With immense shock and fear in his heart, he fiercely punched and kicked trying to struggle free. But unfortunately, his efforts were wasted.

Forget getting free, he couldn't even lift his head to look at the attacker's face.

The next second, Chen hu surprisingly stopped struggling. No, he wasn't dead, he was just too stunned by the attacker's words.

"I can help you kill Yang lai."

These words were booming thunder in Chen hu's ears, he was so engrossed in those words he even forgot that his life was literally in someone else's hands right now.

He tried to speak but because of the tight grip on his neck, he was unable to utter a word.

"Fool, use your divine sense to speak." Bai Ming spoke in a mocking tone.

Begin called a fool seemed to have helped Chen hu regain some of his sense. He hurriedly transmitted using his divine sense, "Are you speaking the truth!? Can you really help me kill him!? Wait, who are you? what do you have to gain from this? speak! If this is one of his schem..."

A burst of evil laughter resounded in the room, then Bai Ming coldly spoke again, "You are really demanding, have you truly forgotten I can easily break your neck. Sending you to meet your wife, hehe but you probably won't be even able to look her in the eye."

Now, Chen hu was extremely clear on his situation, he was about to say something but he was once again cut off by Bai Ming.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you. I have absolutely nothing to gain from your death. But you staying alive is actually beneficial for me."

"Nonsense, what bull crap are you spouting." Chen hu immediately retorted, he clearly didn't buy these illogical words.

"Listen carefully, I am going to help you kill Yang lai. But this isn't charity work, this is a fair deal. You should know with just your 3rd layer core formation cultivation base, you stand no chance against Yang lai with a 9th layer core formation cultivation. But you should also know just because your cultivation base is lower than his, it isn't totally impossible to kill him. Now, this is where I am going to help you, but whether you want to take this opportunity or not depends completely on you." Bai Ming spoke unhurriedly, giving Chen hu enough time to absorb them.

Chen hu immediately fell into deep thought, his mind extremely chaotic. After a long time, he spoke "I will consider it, first tell me how are you going to help me and why are you doing this."

"Huhuhu, looks like you have already made up your mind. Listen closely, I am a formation path master. I will generously give you a third-tier offensive formation to battle against Yang lai, with the help of this formation you can surely kill Yang lai. As I said this isn't charity work, but don't worry I only have a small request. First I want you to challenge him to a battle two days from now, in the death battlegrounds in the teng city, next during the battle when you're in a desperate situation I want you to use my formation to kill him. With you displaying the strength of the formation, the spectators are bound to get interested in the formation. What I want you to do is to advertise my formation. You see I am going to put up a stall during this month's trade and want to earn spirit stones that's all. I assume you have understood both my actions and words till this moment. Now answer, will you do it?"

Fighting was restricted in Teng city, but the death battlegrounds were an exception. This is the place one would usually settle their conflicts in teng city.

Chen hu's eyes shone, and his entire body shook. But the light in his eyes immediately dimmed. Seeing this change Bai Ming slightly loosened his grip, but if wanted he could still kill him instantly.

Chen hu spoke in a low voice, "This 3rd tier formation can it really kill him, you underestimate him too much. And why would he even accept my challenge in the first place."

Bai Ming chuckled, "Don't worry he doesn't have a choice and I am not the one underestimating him, You are the one who's underestimating the abilities of my formations."

Chen hu immediately wanted to rebuke him, but his expression immediately changed. He felt his vision starting to turn blurry, he could no longer see Bai Ming nor could he feel Bai Ming's grip on his neck.

Actually, it was not his vision turning blurry.

It was the whole space surrounding him turning blurry.

'Crack, Crack...'

Before long he could hear sounds of glass cracking, immediately a dim light screen filled with cracks could be seen trapping Chen hu.

At the next second, the barrier completely broke apart.

Chen hu was covered in cold sweat, as he intensely stared at his surroundings. To his relief, he was still in his house.

The only exception was the masked individual seated a few meters before him, it was none other than Bai Ming.

Bai Ming spoke in a cold tone, "So do you still doubt my formations, from the beginning of this charade you have been undoubtedly trapped inside my illusion formation, now are you willing?"

Chen hu looked at Bai Ming with an unfathomable gaze as tears rolled down his eyes, he immediately kneeled down towards Bai Ming, choking on his words, "I.. I am willing."

Bai Ming nodded with satisfaction, he conversed with Chen hu for nearly ten more minutes, properly instructing him on his duties.

"Okay, before that go and sell these martial techniques in lotus treasure Pavillion. You should be able to earn roughly about 50-60 thousand spirit stones, exchange 70 percent of the spirit stones to buy 3rd tier formation flags and with the remaining 30% buy 3rd tier formation base. Go, quickly I will wait for you here." Bai Ming handed Chen hu all the high-grade and below techniques he had gotten from the villages he had plundered, but restrained himself from selling primeval sword art and the techniques he had gotten from Ji wumeng and those demonic path cultivators.

"Senior, I'll do as you say." Chen hu bowed deeply before heading out to complete his task, after all the events which transpired today Chen hu had tremendous respect for Bai Ming, even though Bai Ming constantly spoke of the term business, deal, etc. It didn't affect him in the least, as long as he could get his revenge nothing else really mattered.

Bai Ming watched Chen hu leave until he was completely out of his divine sense range.

Bai Ming turned to a certain corner of the room, he waved his hand as a golden barrier suddenly showed itself. Inside the barrier was a 30-year-old male, he directly walked through the concealment barrier.

He looked at Bai Ming with a wariness hidden in his eyes, he spoke in a humble tone "Senior, please instruct."

Bai Ming retrieved the formation before glancing at him slightly, he spoke in his usual cold tone, "Yang lai, if you want to get rid of that soul-binding vow you have to accept his challenge and kill him using the formation I gave you and advertise my stall. Otherwise, the soul-binding vow will immediately destroy your soul, Be careful."

Yang lai immediately agreed, but his eyes showed slight confusion.

Bai Ming noticed this and chuckled, "Are thinking why I also gave him a formation."

Yang lai silently nodded.

Bai Ming smiled as he spoke, "Don't you think when people watch your battle and see Chen hu's formation's terrifying might, wouldn't their hearts be moved. But then, when your formation completely outshines his mighty formation, how do reckon the spectating cultivators will feel?"

Yang lai's expression changed as he right away understood Bai Ming's intentions, he could only lower his head at this.

This life-and-death battle was just a promotional event in Bai Ming's eyes.