Chapter Nineteen – The Truth and Brainwashing
"Xiao Rui, help me kill him!" Tian Wenlong's eyes were bloodshot; he shrieked like a madman, his voice dripping with frenzy.
"We'll split the Spirit Bone fifty-fifty."
Zhao Liuyun unhurriedly tipped a wax-coated pill from a vial and swallowed an antidote.
He made no other move, merely watched coldly while Tian Wenlongtried to recruit Fang Rui.
Worried he can't take me alone, so he's looking for allies?
Fang Rui… even Hypnosis can't dispel your hesitation or erase your malice.
What a pity~
"Liu, Liuyun… sorry." Fang Rui forced the apology through clenched teeth.
Shame flushed his face; he seemed to despise himself for ganging up on a comrade.
Yet Zhao Liuyun could sense that Fang Rui's murderous intent had crystallized.
"Qiao Qiao, you help too—kill him!" Tian Wenlong also invited Zhu Qiaoqiao, who could move only one arm.
"He's afraid we'll leak the secret; he'll never dare let us leave."
"Tian Wenlong! Fang Rui! How dare you!" Zhu Qiaoqiao's eyes were blades; she panted, her chest heaving.
Tian Wenlong gave a sinister chuckle. "Did you really think that once he knew we'd seen his Spirit Bone he'd let any of us live?"
Zhu Qiaoqiao froze, slumping weakly against a tree.
She wasn't scared of Zhao Liuyun; she feared the once-genial Mercenary Group leader.
If he could murder the gifted youth Zhao Liuyun for a Spirit Bone, he could just as easily murder her.
Fang Rui's mind was clouded; he couldn't see it, but she saw everything clearly.
Was death the only fate left for her today?
"I believe in Liuyun." Wu Qianming spoke softly, yet his tone was resolute.
"Sister Qiao Qiao, Brother Qianming, stay out of this and you'll be fine." Zhao Liuyun felt a flicker of warmth and promised.
He truly wasn't at ease.
But time was short; he could attempt to brainwash them, replacing the memory of the external Spirit Bone.
Once the external Spirit Bone was fully fused and he had Dugu Bo as backing, he could reveal it without fear.
"Don't cry; we're powerless, just watch quietly." Wu Qianmingcomforted Zhu Qiaoqiao, pity in his eyes as he glanced at Tian Wenlongand Fang Rui.
He thought the two fatally underestimated a genius's strength.
Greed blinds; Spirit Bones kill~
Wu Qianming slowly closed his eyes.
As a bystander, he saw most clearly.
Zhao Liuyun had been waiting all along.
Waiting for what?
For these people, lured by the Spirit Bone, to strike first.
The rest should survive.
The Moon Secluded Epiphyllum appeared; his First spirit ring shone.
Seeing the other two had decided, Zhao Liuyun launched his attack without hesitation:
"Spirit Ability, Dream Creation!"
With a sharp mental cry, a violet bolt shot like lightning toward Fang Rui.
Promoted to Spirit Grandmaster, his Sea of Consciousness tempered by the Spirit Bone, the quality of his mental force had risen; he could now cast his First Spirit Ability faster.
Meanwhile, the draconic silver pupil between his brows gleamed coldly, locking onto Tian Wenlong.
The silver pupil flashed—his exclusive Spirit Ability "Myriad Phenomena Return to Ruin" triggered.
Where the vertical pupil focused, space twisted, condensing an invisible node.
Boundless mental force surged through the spatial tether, ready to detonate the node in an instant and create a brief but devastating psychic blast.
The strike ignored physical defense, assaulting the mind directly.
That was how Wu Qianming had been crippled.
Tian Wenlong had seen it before; knowing its horror, he rolled aside at once as his Third spirit ring flared.
Myriad Phenomena Return to Ruin could detonate instantly or charge without limit.
But in real combat no enemy waits; best paired with a control Spirit Ability to buy the perfect charge time.
On the other side, Fang Rui's form drifted like a ghost, narrowly dodging the Dream Creation violet light.
The flaw of every flying Spirit Ability—it can be dodged.
Dream Creation was meant for close range; its long-range variant relied on Zhao Liuyun's high mental condensation.
From farther away the projectile had a clear trajectory agile attackers could evade—still lacking. "Watch his poison!" Tian Wenlong warned while sprinting.
About to activate his Second spirit ring, he suddenly felt the World spin; kaleidoscopic colors twisted, reality blurring.
"Not good!" Tian Wenlong retained basic judgment, horror in his heart.
Colorless, odorless, fast-acting—what poison was this?
When had it been administered?
Zhao Liuyun's ethereal voice slipped into the minds of the poisoned pair:
"Flower Is Not Flower—an illusion poison, colorless and tasteless."
"Hic—can we negotiate?" Fang Rui, hallucinating, begged the sky.
At a time like this, are you joking?
Zhao Liuyun ignored him, his voice turning icy:
"Thank you both for your help and protection this past year—may you—"
—have a safe journey!"
The final words seemed frozen, marrow-piercing cold.
The next instant, four violet Dream Creation lights lit in succession, accurately blanketing the four present.
Zhao Liuyun sensed four dreams being born one after another.
Flower Is Not Flower hadn't spared Zhu Qiaoqiao and Wu Qianming, to weaken their already low psychic resistance.
Dream Creation plunged them into slumber so they wouldn't link death to the Spirit Bone.
If the memory became too deep, real trouble would follow.
Stepping forward, Zhao Liuyun slit Fang Rui's throat.
Double-faced traitors are never welcome.
He glanced at Tian Wenlong and murmured, "Uncle Tian, this is the last time I call you that."
Smooth, gregarious, protective to the end—yet greed flared and one wrong step… you could have had a good ending!
An indescribable emotion surged; Zhao Liuyun's eyes turned sharp as his blade stabbed into Tian Wenlong's throat—
A horizontal slash!
The blade nearly severed Tian Wenlong's head.
The dream born under Dream Creation became a dying vision.
Controlling Crane Catching Dragon suppressed the gushing blood.
Zhao Liuyun offered no further interference.
Entering Dream!
He read Tian Wenlong's final dream—his life flashing before his eyes.
His father: a Diamond Mammoth Spirit user from Elephant Armored Academy; his mother, a lowly serving girl.
His Spirit, Long-Tusked Elephant, a lesser version of Diamond Mammoth, innate level three.
Thus the "Hu Yan" clan name was stripped away; he took his mother's Tian, and his father was ridiculed.
In fury, his father expelled him from the Sect.
News of the external Spirit Bone came from childhood—just a legend he'd boasted about with other Elephant Armored kids.
Tian Wenlong couldn't recognize an external Spirit Bone; to him it was simply far rarer than ordinary Spirit Bones.
When he saw Zhao Liuyun's draconic silver pupil, years of Spirit Hunting told him no spirit ring could create it.
Recalling the childhood tale, desire blazed.
He often borrowed Elephant Armored's name to throw his weight around; obsessed with returning to the Sect.
Just as Tang Hao to Clear Sky Sect, Tang San to Tang Sect.
Zhao Liuyun finally understood his choice.
The Ghost Eye Demon Spider info had come from Elephant Armored's Spirit Beast index in childhood.
Years had washed away memory of its hallmark real illusion; he only recalled its mighty body… Gazing at the cooling corpse, Zhao Liuyunslipped the plain ring from Tian Wenlong's middle finger.
It was the spirit tool Tian Wenlong's mother had left him.
Its space was tiny—only a cubic meter—yet priceless to Zhao Liuyun.
Calmly, he walked up to Wu Qianming and Zhu Qiaoqiao.
Weakened by Flower Is Not Flower, their already frail mental resistance crumbled further.
Dream Creation dragged them into slumber, their consciousness sinking.
He'd said he wouldn't kill, but news of the external Spirit Bone must not leak.
Zhao Liuyun prepared to brainwash them with a method he'd once devised.
Hypnosis alone can't brainwash.
First use Entering Dream to scramble their dreams.
Then pair Hypnosis with dream interference to erase and rewrite new dreams.
No—no need to rewrite.
The thought flashed and Zhao Liuyun paused.
The Dream Demon had shown that Dream Creation had another use: forcibly implant dreams.
"Dream Creation!"
He cast it again—this time on himself.
Zhao Liuyun began weaving a dream almost indistinguishable from reality.
Using a hyper-real dream to replace reality, he would turn everything that had just happened into a hazy illusion, blurring the border of their memories.
Cycle after cycle, dream and reality intertwined; true memories faded while the dream deepened.
Repeated Hypnosis would then engrave the dream as authentic memory, reinforcing it again and again, erasing the shallow, conflicting real memories.
In this way, the preliminary brainwashing would be complete.