Chapter 373: Giving You a Chance

"Cooperation? You want to cooperate with me?"

Seeming somewhat unable to believe his own ears, the Villa Master of Cangjian Villa discussing cooperation with him sounded unreliable no matter how he listened to it.

He was the one who had killed his people, and he also wanted to claim Mu Zishan's Sword Qi as his own; logically, he shouldn't be itching to strangle him the moment they met.

Yet not only did the other party not do so, but he instead wanted to talk about cooperation—there was a conspiracy, there must be a conspiracy!

With his thoughts racing, Yu Renqing suddenly seemed to have guessed something and immediately raised his head to look at the other party.

"I know now. I guess you must have seen that Mu Zishan's Sword Intent is slowly merging with me, and that is why you changed your mind at the last minute."

"I suppose that since I have already begun to merge with the Sword Intent, even if your Cangjian Villa wanted to extract the Sword Intent from my body, you would have to pay a certain price, or it would cause the Sword Intent to be damaged, which is why you are feigning a desire to cooperate with me."

"Let me tell you, don't even think about it, hahaha!" Unable to hold back, he laughed out loud; Yu Renqing had no intention of compromising at all, his laughter filled with mockery.

"Did I guess right? What does it matter to me if the Sword Intent is damaged? If it no longer belongs to me from now on, then what does it matter to me if it is damaged or destroyed!"

"I will not cooperate with you. What room is left between us? Don't even think about making me sacrifice myself for you."

"Young man, you are overthinking it!"

"Heh, whether I am overthinking it or not, you know in your heart. If you had experienced a great upheaval, you would discover overnight that you have to face everything yourself, and you would be as mature as I am."

"My father told me, one must always be on guard against others!" Closing his eyes, a cold sneer appeared at the corner of Yu Renqing's mouth.

If even Cangjian Villa could not extract the Sword Intent from his body, wouldn't that mean he still had a chance?

As long as there was even a sliver of a chance, he would grasp it with his life. Before the other party extracted the Sword Intent from his body, they would absolutely not let him die; as long as he was alive, he still had infinite possibilities.

"Interesting, a young man like you is truly interesting, but young man, don't be too confident!"

"There is one point you got wrong: it is not that I cannot extract the Sword Intent from your body, but that I genuinely want to cooperate, and we shall each take what we need. The opportunity was clearly given to you, but you could not grasp it!"

"Since that is the case, then I will just change to someone else. There are plenty of people in this world willing to cooperate with me!"

With a cold snort, Zhuo Yi waved his hand lightly, and the entire Great Array began to operate; countless streaks of Sword Qi appeared, like chains piercing through Yu Renqing.

Afterwards, under the operation of the Array, these streaks of Sword Qi began to move outward, pulling at the Sword Intent within Yu Renqing's body, which also began to riot as a result.

At this moment, Yu Renqing felt that the Sword Intent within his body seemed capable of leaving him at any time. He tried desperately to stabilize it, but all his efforts were in vain.

In a trance, he had the illusion that he was afraid he would not be able to keep this Sword Qi.

So it turned out that the other party really could extract the Sword Intent from his body at any time, and it turned out that the other party could not care less. It was he who had been too presumptuous, thinking that they could not do without him.

Subconsciously, Yu Renqing roared loudly, "Stop, stop, I am willing to cooperate!"

"Too late. The Sword Intent in your body is indeed something an ordinary person cannot bear, but it is not impossible. Since you are so unwilling, I will not force you."

"After extracting the Sword Intent and killing you, it will serve as an explanation to everyone in the villa."

"Wait, wait!" Feeling the Sword Intent in his body almost on the verge of breaking out, Yu Renqing shouted in a panic, "I am willing to pledge my loyalty to you from now on, I am willing to do things for you!"

"Oh?" Hearing these words, Zhuo Yi's movements paused slightly, and the Great Array also halted for a moment.

Feeling the Sword Intent within his body gradually return to calm, Yu Renqing finally let out a sigh of relief. Only with this Sword Intent could he live; if he lost this Sword Intent, how could the other party possibly keep him alive?

At the same time, Yu Renqing felt secret resentment in his heart; he was just having a run of bad luck. If he were only given a little more time, how could these people be his match!

As he was now, he could devour the blood and Qi of others for his own use and improve himself in the shortest amount of time.

Besides that, he could slowly refine Mu Zishan's Sword Intent; with both methods working in tandem, Yu Renqing was confident he would climb higher, so high that everyone could only look up to him.

Alas, his luck was poor; his mission had failed before it even began, and he had already fallen into the hands of Shen Yu before his plan could even start.

Even now, he did not understand how Shen Yu had seen through it; his performance should have been flawless.

Yet what he did not know was that under Shen Yu's Super Perception, these disguises were full of flaws everywhere.

Never mind him, even those corrupt officials who appeared clean on the surface but were actually greedy beyond measure—which one of them wasn't an Oscar-worthy actor, which one of them didn't lead others around by the nose? But what was the result? Weren't they all seen through by Shen Yu at a single glance?

Trying to deceive others with this level of acting, he was afraid he couldn't even fool some of the experienced Black-Clad Guards.

People, one really shouldn't be too confident.

"You are truly willing to submit to me?" Looking at the shivering Yu Renqing, Zhuo Yi looked down at him from above, his eyes cold and filled with killing intent. It was as if, should they disagree, he could finish him off at any moment.

"I am willing!" Although he was very unwilling, he had no choice at this moment and could only kneel on the ground, pretending to submit.

"Very good!" Nodding with satisfaction, Zhuo Yi then took something out from his bosom and handed it over. "Eat it!"

Taking the porcelain bottle from Zhuo Yi, Yu Renqing's expression was uncertain. "Is this poison?"

"Yes, and it is the kind of lethal poison that rots the intestines. Besides that, I must also plant a secret technique on you to prevent you from betraying me in the future."

"You had best not resist, otherwise, you won't even have the chance to be my dog!"

"I understand!" Taking a deep breath, Yu Renqing knew what he had to do now. With others as the butcher's knife and himself as the fish, he could only save his own life first.

Very quickly, Zhuo Yi's hand struck him rapidly, and streams of powerful Inner Breath that felt as if they were tearing his body apart surged into his meridians and dantian, quickly lying in wait.

Throughout the entire process, Yu Renqing did not resist, only gritting his teeth and enduring it. After a long while, Zhuo Yi finally stopped his movements.

"From now on, you are my person. If you harbor even the slightest disloyalty, I can take your life with ease!"

"Rest assured, Villa Master, your subordinate will be loyal and devoted, and will never betray you!"

"That would be best, otherwise you will surely die a miserable death!" With a wave of his hand, the Great Array enveloped Yu Renqing, concealing all of his aura.

"You wait here for now. I am going to deal with Shen Yu; once I send him away, I will tell you what to do."

"Yes, Villa Master!"

"Hmph!" Glancing coldly at Yu Renqing, Zhuo Yi then slowly walked out of the Great Array, where an old man stood outside, as if he had been waiting for a long time.

"Villa Master, this young man is rebellious; I fear he will not submit so easily!"

"The more you suppress him, the more it will likely backfire. Are you not afraid he will play tricks behind your back?"

"I am not afraid; he cannot stir up any waves. Do you think the Mu Zishan Sword Intent in his body is still the same as it was in the beginning? Do you think that over all these years, I have done nothing?"

Suddenly laughing inexplicably, Zhuo Yi said indifferently, "This young man is sensitive and suspicious. If I had talked to him properly about cooperation, he would only have been suspicious. By doing this now, he will instead feel at ease."

"As for his little tricks, heh, I am actually afraid he might be too honest and not know to secretly improve himself!"

"Just wait. Everything of his will belong to me. When that time comes, he will know what it means to 'bitterly hate the years spent pressing gold thread, only to make wedding clothes for others'!"