Insufficient balance

  "A deal?" Li Yi rubbed his nose and chuckled to himself, muttering: "It's really a turn of fortune, just now I was asking that Ruo Lin to do business with me, who would have thought that now I myself..."

  "Old man, you might as well say it, what's the deal after all."

  "It's a noble being, not an old man," the snake-like being hummed, its semi-transparent body flickering slightly. "You've already figured out that I'm a spiritual entity, so you probably also know that my current situation is strange. But as for why it's become like this, you don't need to know. What you do need to know is that your cultivation of the Heavenly Demon Nine Transformations has a profound connection with me. The aura produced by cultivating the Heavenly Demon Nine Transformations would be greatly beneficial to my spiritual body. So, if you're willing to use your future cultivation to nourish me, I might consider taking you under my wing and training you into a formidable warrior. Otherwise, even if you do achieve something at your age, starting with the Primordial Qi Refining Technique, it will still be limited."

  Li Yi hesitated for a moment before shaking his head and saying, "No!"

  "What did you say?!"

  With a loud shout, a strong breath suddenly burst out, and Li Yi's entire body was pressed down by this breath. With a "whoosh" sound, he flew up and violently collided with the smooth and steep mountain wall on one side of the pond.

  The serpent-like figure slowly floated in front of Li Yi, its semi-transparent palm grasping his throat, and said word by word: "You have to agree whether you want to or not, my demands are not to be questioned, when did I ever allow you to doubt?"

  Li Yi's face suddenly turned pale, he strained himself to speak in a low, hoarse voice: "If I'm not mistaken, if it weren't for the fact that I happened to be cultivating the Tianmo Nine Changes, you would have sensed it and wouldn't have been able to come out today! What nonsense about you training me into a strong person? And then I'd use my Qi to nourish you? This is all just rubbish... The path to becoming a strong person has countless possibilities, why would I need to make this kind of deal with you? On the other hand, if it weren't for the Qi from my cultivation of the Tianmo Nine Changes to nourish you, what consequences would there be? You know that in your heart... So, when you want to trade with me, wouldn't it be better to come and beg me first?"

  The face of the snake's master changed instantly, his cold eyes fixed on Li Yi's body, but Li Yi didn't retreat at all and stared back at him.

  Finally, the Snake Deity let go of Li Yi and threw his head back in a loud, hearty laugh. "Good! Very good! You indeed have some brains and some spirit! If you had submitted to me just now, I would have slapped you to death with one palm! This deity doesn't need a successor who only knows how to be humble and yield!"

  Li Yi coughed a few times on the mountain wall, then rubbed his sore throat and said in a hoarse voice: "Old man, if you want to kill me, just do it. What's with all the nonsense?"

  The snake-like figure smiled coldly and said, "Who says I want to kill you? I haven't even had time to miss you yet!"

  The word "pain" was spoken by an old man, and it really made Li Yi's whole body feel cold. A hint of fear arose in his heart... This old pervert, he wouldn't have that kind of hobby, would he?

  The snake尊者 couldn't see through Li Yi's thoughts at this moment, he just lightly waved his hand, and Li Yi fell back onto the stone platform. Then, still floating in mid-air, he said in a low voice: "Youngster, I'll give you an opportunity now, kneel down and acknowledge me as your master, and I'll pass on all my skills to you, how about it?"

  Li Yi's eyes narrowed into a line, although he knew in his heart that this so-called Snake Zun was extremely powerful and it was a rare opportunity to meet him. But as a man, Li Yi naturally had some pride in his heart, he smiled coldly and said indifferently: "No need to bow, go find the second person."

  The snake revered one stunned, after a moment of silence, said: "Little boy, do you believe I can kill you right now?"

  Li Yi snorted and said: "Do you dare to kill? Do you dare guarantee that after killing me, you can still meet a second person who cultivates the Tianmo Jiubian?"

  At this point, Snake Zun was also at a loss for what to do with Li Yi. With his experience, he could naturally see that the idiot in front of him couldn't be forced into anything.

  "Well, why don't you tell me, how are you going to do it?"

  Li Yi's eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at the Snake Deity in mid-air, before speaking faintly after a moment: "A transaction, still just a transaction. Since you said that the Tianmo Nine Transformations have a profound connection with you, then presumably you have a way to help me cultivate faster. Moreover, I need high-quality martial skills, not those low-level goods - at the very least, they should be comparable to the Vermilion Bird Middle Stage used by Ruolin. Lastly, regarding the nourishment of my martial energy, after I successfully cultivate it, only when I am willing will I use it to nourish you. If I am unwilling, then don't even think about it. You can carefully consider these conditions and see if you accept them."

  "Of course, before completing this transaction, you still have to do one thing, that is to make me a fighter within two months! Otherwise, the transaction will be invalid!"

  "Good... good kid... you're ruthless......" Snake尊者 said, almost gnashing his teeth. "When I, Snake尊者, was roaming the Divine Fighting Continent in my heyday, how many of these little guys wanted to join me? I didn't even give them a glance! Who would have thought that today, when I decided to take on an apprentice, you'd still be making all sorts of demands......"

  "I've made myself clear, I'm talking about a transaction, not me becoming your disciple." Li Yi cut off She Zun's words and said calmly.

  The Snake Deity stared at Li Yi for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing and said: "Alright! Kid, I'll grant your request. But I believe that one day, you'll be begging me to take you on as my apprentice!"

  Li Yi curled his lips and said, "When that day comes, we'll talk about it then... As for now, let's focus on the main task at hand. Since you agreed to my request, let's get started with the first thing. Within two months, make me a warrior. You said it was easy, so it shouldn't be difficult."

  The snake revered one sound, said: "Good a practical little boy, it seems I don't take out some skill, you really don't believe me... So good, I ask you...... Little boy, do you know what is magic?"

  Li Yiduan faintly shook his head and said: "If I knew, would I still ask you?"

  The snake revered one looked at him and continued: "As for the demon, simply put, it's harming others to benefit oneself. This is also the key to cultivating the Tianmo Nine Changes. The initial method of cultivation has two methods. The first is to slowly cultivate through gradual progress. Of course, you can use your clumsy method to absorb some blood evil energy and speed up a bit... But no matter how fast this method is, it's not going anywhere; As for the second method, it's actually the fastest and safest way to cultivate Tianmo Nine Changes... Only...

  "What's the big deal?"

  The snake revered one hehe smiled and suddenly changed the subject, saying: "Young man, do you mind killing people?"

  Li Yi rolled his eyes and said calmly, "Look at what kind of person he is. If someone poses a threat to me, I'll kill them, no big deal. But if they have nothing to do with me, why would I bother killing them? Am I just trying to get rid of excess energy or something?"

  "You're indeed interesting," said the Snake Deity, glancing at Li Yi, "since you don't mind killing people, I now have a way to greatly increase your power... go kill that little girl over there."

  Li Yi furrowed his brow and said, "Kill her? What's the benefit?"

  The snake-like figure burst into a loud laughter, saying: "Kill her and use the Tianmo Jiubian Gongfa to devour her soul. Then you'll be able to obtain the little bit of Dou Qi seed that she has cultivated throughout her life. As long as you can refine that little bit of Dou Qi seed within your body, it will only take a moment for you to condense out a Dou Qi vortex and become a Dou practitioner. How about giving it a try?"

  "Refine someone else's soul? You think I'm a pervert!" Li Yi snorted, "Moreover, didn't you just protect her earlier? How can you forget gratitude and turn against her in the blink of an eye?"

  The snake deity smiled coldly and said: "Since I have already agreed to your transaction, it is only natural that I should complete it as soon as possible. As for what others think, what does it have to do with me?"

  Li Yiyang raised an eyebrow and said lightly, "No way, you think of another method... the martial skills on that woman's body I still need to figure out a way to get my hands on, killing her would be such a waste?"

  The snake deity chuckled and said, "Young one, you indeed have a few similarities to my own demeanor back in the day. Your fondness for women is also quite similar to mine. Since you're not willing, let's change our approach... We'll still rely on the Blood Refining aura to increase your cultivation speed."

  As soon as he finished speaking, the Snake Deity slightly stretched out his hand, and the weapons in the water tank "clattered" and all floated up into the air.

  The gaze of the Snake Deity swept across and let out a "heh" sound, then he allowed those weapons to fall back into the pond. He said faintly: "Young one, although these things you've found have some bloodthirsty aura, they're so weak. Do you want to increase your cultivation speed? Don't make me laugh to death... With such a low-grade weapon, isn't this humiliating? This pile of stuff can't even compare to the four-star curved knife that little girl had earlier!"

  Li Yi frowned and said: "What does it mean?"

  The snake revered one looked at Li Yi carefully, then smiled softly: "It seems that you really don't understand, little one. So I'll tell you, the weapons in this world are divided into nine grades, and above the ninth grade is the divine artifact... The higher the grade of the weapon, the heavier the blood curse will be after it sees blood! If you can get a divine artifact from the divine artifact list to refine the blood curse on it, your cultivation speed will increase by at least tenfold!!!"