"What did you say? Asking the Torrent Fortress for help?" Qiang Jin leaned back, his hands pressed flat against the ground behind him, looking up at the earth overhead. "To repay a personal debt of mine, you want to use the lives of the Torrent Fortress warriors? If it were you, would you do that?"

Mu Gui Wuxin stared blankly at Qiang Jin, letting out a sigh. He appreciated the young man's resolute character, finding him genuinely manly, yet precisely when facing a real crisis, he wished the boy wasn't quite so stubborn, wishing he wouldn't try to shoulder everything alone.

"Uncle, you should leave," Qiang Jin said flatly, lying down on the ground and looking up at the ceiling of earth. "This time, I’ll probably really be expelled by the Conquest Academy. I can take care of myself."

"You won't be expelled. I'll speak to that girl Isabella," Mu Gui Wuxin moved closer to Qiang Jin. "However, I don't plan on leaving just yet. I’ve been thinking. Although I don't know how strong the Eight Desolations No Life truly is, if I can enter the Saint realm, perhaps I’ll have a chance to take you away!"

"Enter the Saint realm?" Qiang Jin raised an eyebrow. While the Saint realm sounded only a hair's breadth above the top-tier Soul Fighters, he was slowly beginning to understand that the difference in power between the two was far greater than that superficial, single-level gap suggested. Otherwise, so many ordinary fighters and bloodline warriors wouldn't be desperately trying to break through to the Saint realm.

"Yes! Enter the Saint realm!" Mu Gui Wuxin glanced at Te Jiaofei beside him. Fatty the Bandit shrugged with a chuckle. "You two carry on with your discussion. I won't tell anyone what I hear or see. This headquarters is too dull; challenging Wusheng King like this is just a pleasant diversion."

Qiang Jin frowned slightly. Eight Desolations No Life wasn't just powerful; it seemed he could embed that formidable power into everyone’s minds, instilling absolute confidence in him.

"I brought it," Mu Gui Wuxin pulled a massive axe from his Spirit Realm. Its dim glow resembled a dead corpse, yet it couldn't completely conceal the former glory and majesty of the great weapon.

Yi stepped forward two paces, staring fixedly at the giant battle-axe in Mu Gui Wuxin's hands, repeatedly swallowing hard. "A... Soul Weapon..."

That was right! Yi blinked hard, confirming he hadn't misread the situation. The colossal battle-axe before him was a genuine Soul Weapon! The kind ordinary warriors dreamed of until they drooled in their sleep!

Yi recognized the state of the Soul Weapon and let out a soft sigh. His head felt as though a weight of several thousand catties was pressing down, forcing him to slowly and sadly shake his head again and again. Even though this Soul Weapon did not belong to him, he felt sorrow for the death of such a magnificent artifact.

"What a pity... this Soul Weapon is dead."

Te Jiaofei made no attempt to hide the despondency in his eyes. For an ordinary fighter, even encountering a Soul Weapon that wasn't theirs, they would still hope it was alive—that was the only key to an ordinary warrior's ascension to the Saint realm!

"This Soul Weapon is merely dormant," Qiang Jin gently stroked the axe. "And it's sleeping soundly. Such a deep sleep, for it, might be a form of accumulation. When it awakens, the power it can unleash will be even stronger."

Dormant? Yi and Te Jiaofei exchanged puzzled glances, trying to glean the meaning of the word from the other's eyes.

"Since it's only sleeping then..." Mu Gui Wuxin grinned at Qiang Jin. "Boy, hurry up and wake it up. I hear it calling to me! Every night when I sleep holding it, I can hear its summons..."

Sleeping with it? Qiang Jin scrutinized the giant axe in his hands again. Didn't this uncle worry about accidentally splitting himself in half with a toss in his sleep?

"Not yet," Qiang Jin lightly tapped the axe with his finger.

"Why not? Is the whetstone not good enough?" Mu Gui Wuxin opened his Spirit Realm and carried out a massive stone with both hands.

Yi and Te Jiaofei froze when they saw the stone. Flowing Cloud Stone? Damn! Such a huge piece? Is the Torrent Fortress of Eternal Flow that rich?

"Before I came, I visited Fabradis's place and brought this stone too."

Qiang Jin looked at the Flowing Cloud Stone, which would be much more helpful for the Blade Washing Art, and shook his head gently. "It's not the stone's problem, nor the weapon's. It's the person's problem."

"The person? I'm very compatible with this Spirit Weapon..."

"No..." Qiang Jin shook his head lightly. "I am waiting for someone."

"Waiting for someone?" Mu Gui Wuxin looked at Qiang Jin in confusion. Waiting for whom, here?

"I'm waiting for Bu'er and the others," Qiang Jin lovingly stroked the battle-axe. "I've studied it. The main difference between achieving Sainthood via a Soul Weapon and the breakthrough relying on a bloodline warrior's inherent advantages is the influence on the surrounding environment. A Soul Weapon is a unique existence; when it merges with the Spirit Soul, it creates a marvelous state. Any warrior not yet in the Saint realm nearby will benefit from this phenomenon."

Mu Gui Wuxin's eyes widened, nodding repeatedly. He'd heard Fabradis mention this some days ago; because his Saint Ascension Token was in the courtyard, someone present actually awakened their bloodline power directly due to that circumstance.

"Duanfeng Bu'er will come here?"

Qiang Jin smiled at Mu Gui Wuxin. "Originally, I wasn't sure if they could find this place. Since the Bandit King notified the major powers of Eternal Flow about my situation, they are bound to come looking."

"You're that certain?" Yi looked at Qiang Jin skeptically. What kind of place was this? The headquarters of the outermost bandit clans! From an outsider's view, entering here meant immediate attack from countless bandits! This scenario was no different from a suicide tour.

Qiang Jin smiled.

"Absolutely."

"Otherwise..." Qiang Jin added another line, "I'll never provide him with cigarettes anymore."

Yi was even more bewildered by Qiang Jin's utterly illogical statement. What on earth was that? Would a warrior knowingly rush toward death just for cigarettes? If he lost his life, how would he smoke?

"Is that so?" Yi looked at the Soul Weapon beside Mu Gui Wuxin, now fully convinced Qiang Jin had the qualifications and ability to help a top-tier ordinary Soul Fighter enter the Saint realm, yet he felt profoundly unwilling to simply become his shadow. "How about we make a bet?"

"A bet?" Qiang Jin handed the Soul Weapon back to Mu Gui Wuxin and looked at Yi. "Bet on what?"

"Let's bet on whether Duanfeng Bu'er, whom you mentioned, will come," Yi's eyes held a provocative glint. "If he truly comes, I will be your shadow, and you fulfill my wish for Sainthood. If he doesn't come, I won't be your shadow, and you fulfill my wish for Sainthood."

Qiang Jin laughed, a hearty, joyous sound that made the people beside him laugh along.

After his laughter subsided, Qiang Jin quietly looked at Yi. "You are destined to lose."

"Me? Lose?" Yi raised his chin, his expression turning somewhat arrogant. "Young man, you might possess unique abilities and respectable strength. But you don't understand human nature. I've lived so many years; what kind of people and what sort of things haven't I seen?"

The arrogance on Yi's face slowly morphed into disdain. "For profit, people who cling to each other day in and day out will stab you in the back immediately. For survival, one can kill the good brothers they drank and ate with daily to serve as food..."

Qiang Jin watched Yi calmly and asked, "And so what?"

"In this world..." A flash of pain crossed Yi's eyes, "the most unpredictable thing is the human heart, and the most worthless thing is trust..."

"However..." Qiang Jin changed tack, smiling at Yi. "I'm not interested in betting with you."

What? The pain in Yi's eyes vanished instantly, replaced by cold mockery and contempt. "After all that talk, you're still afraid to bet with me."

"Whether you become my shadow or not is up to you," Qiang Jin stood up and stretched his shoulders. "I never stake trust on a bet with others. Furthermore, you lack the capital to bet with me. If you don't want to heal your old wounds, if you don't want to enter the Saint realm, I couldn't care less."

Yi stared blankly at Qiang Jin. The long speech he just gave, though stemming from his past experiences, contained strong provocation aimed at inciting the young man's impulse to gamble.

"Your strength surpasses mine, but..." Qiang Jin lightly shook his right index finger. "You don't have the standing to bet with me. You only have the choice to accept or refuse. Just like when you were robbing and killing outside the border—those who were robbed only had the option to hand things over willingly or be robbed; they had no other choice."

"You..." A heavy weight settled on Yi's chest. He wanted to say something but found himself unable to articulate a response.

"Oh, right," Qiang Jin nodded slightly. "I have little patience, so you best decide quickly. Otherwise, by the time you want to be my shadow, I might have lost interest. Then you can struggle with the poison of the Nine Worms and Nine Herbs inside your body on your own."

The Nine Worms and Nine Herbs poison? Yi’s eyes suddenly widened. "Just by checking my body, you could tell what poison I have?"

Qiang Jin glanced at the slightly stunned and surprised Yi, then shook his head wearily, nodding again with an expression that implied it was the most natural thing in the world. There was nothing surprising about it; if he couldn't even manage this much, Master Adams would have kicked him out long ago and never tolerated him studying potions there. If he hadn't been able to distinguish the poison after so many years, wouldn't he have been living like a rock?

"Oh! Right!" Qiang Jin lightly tapped his forehead. "I forgot to remind you, honestly. You are tougher and more resilient than I imagined, but at most, you have one month before you can no longer control the toxins. By then, it will be excruciatingly painful, and within half a year, your strength will definitely decline. I'm truly not trying to scare you."

Yi's heart jolted. Recently, he had indeed felt the poison becoming harder and harder to suppress, as if it could erupt violently at any moment.

"If it truly reaches that point," Qiang Jin shrugged, "I won't be able to save you. Perhaps my master could manage it, but don't count on that old man stepping in."

Stepping in? Qiang Jin couldn't fathom it. Not only could Adams not leave the Endless World, but even if he did, he'd likely have little interest in saving Yi. Perhaps Master Oulala would be interested in stepping in... to turn Yi into a Poison Man.