Chapter 38: Opportunity and Taboo

Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Opportunity and Taboo

Seeing Su Han step back, a flash of confusion crossed the young man’s eyes.

Then, his powerful will to survive overcame his human instinct of curiosity. The young man struggled to crawl toward Su Han.

"Sir! Master! Great ancestor! Don’t cut out my tongue! My whole livelihood depends on this tongue.

Don’t cut out my tongue, and I’ll do anything you ask!"

Su Han: "..."

’His livelihood depends on this tongue?’

’He’ll do anything?’

Su Han had to admit, he couldn’t help but let his mind wander to inappropriate places.

He decisively lifted his foot and kicked the young man, who was still crawling toward him, back. Looking at the bloodstain on the sole of his shoe, Su Han felt a wave of nausea for no apparent reason.

"You... What the f*ck are you trying to do?"

"Master! I’ll tell you anything you want to know! Just please don’t cut out my tongue!"

Su Han: "..."

"You’re supposed to be a disciple from a Major Sect. How can you be so..."

"No! I’m not!"

The young man had lost all of his previous composure. Faced with what he perceived as a fatal threat from Su Han, he finally stopped putting on a brave face.

"I’m not a disciple from some Major Sect at all. I’m a con artist!"

Su Han: "...A con artist?"

"Yes, that’s right. I’m a con artist."

The young man dropped all pretense and spilled his guts, revealing everything about his background.

The young man’s name was Liu Ming. Just as Su Han had initially suspected, he wasn’t from the Jing Country, but from the distant Central State.

However, although he was from the Central State, he was no disciple of a Major Sect. He was a habitual swindler from the Central State region.

Liu Ming was originally a young beggar. With no parents and no one to adopt him, he grew up surviving on handouts from the Hundred Families, which fostered his idle and emotionally detached nature.

When he was eleven or twelve, the young beggar Liu Ming failed to get any food all day. Exhausted and hungry, he returned to the dilapidated temple where he took shelter.

He had planned to get a good night’s sleep, where in his dreams there would be food, drink, and no worries.

But just as he pushed open the temple’s half-broken door, Liu Ming saw an old man covered in blood lying on the floor.

Liu Ming fought the urge to turn and run. He cautiously went over to investigate and found that the old man was already dead.

His years of experience as a beggar allowed him to search the old man’s body without any psychological burden. Perhaps it was a stroke of incredible luck, but Liu Ming found two Secret Manuals on the old man.

To understand the contents of the two Secret Manuals, Liu Ming hid outside a schoolhouse and secretly learned to read by listening to the students.

It took him two years to fully recognize all the characters in the two Secret Manuals.

Of the two Secret Manuals, one was a barely passable Cultivation Method.

The other, surprisingly, recorded two mystical Secret Magics—the Concealing Breath Technique and the True Sight Magic.

The Concealing Breath Technique could hide Liu Ming’s aura, making it difficult for even a legendary Celestial Being to discover his true cultivation level.

In fact, unless he revealed himself willingly, an ordinary Celestial Being would have trouble even detecting his presence without seeing him with their own eyes.

As for the True Sight Magic, it allowed him to see through the cultivation of others up to three major realms above his own. It wasn’t just limited to people’s cultivation; he could even see through the superficial appearance of some items to perceive their true essence.

His years of experience as a beggar told him that these two Secret Techniques were countless times more valuable than the Cultivation Method.

Therefore, for a long time afterward, he cultivated the Cultivation Method to reach Foundation Establishment while secretly practicing the Concealing Breath Technique and True Sight Magic.

Perhaps because his own aptitude wasn’t bad, it took him five years. By the age of seventeen or eighteen, Liu Ming had reached the Perfection of Foundation Establishment and had also cultivated both the Concealing Breath Technique and True Sight Magic to the minor success stage.

He had reached the Perfection of Foundation Establishment, and achieved minor success with his Concealing Breath Technique and True Sight Magic. Relying on his ability to see through most people’s cultivation while they couldn’t see through his, Liu Ming began a career of swindling and scamming for cultivation resources.

In five or six years, Liu Ming had scammed his way across more than half of the Central State.

Despite his own low cultivation level, he relied entirely on his glib tongue to swindle people. Yet, many were so thoroughly duped that they were completely charmed, willingly offering him benefits.

Some even went so far as to offer their wives and daughters for his pleasure in exchange for his guidance.

Because his True Sight Magic could see through the cultivation of any Cultivator within three major realms of his own.

The cultivation of even an Immortal Platform Realm master was completely visible to Liu Ming, who was at the Perfection of Foundation Establishment. As for the higher Celestial Beings, he couldn’t see through them, but this meant anyone whose cultivation he couldn’t penetrate had to be a Celestial Being at the very least.

Through this bluff, Liu Ming obtained a substantial amount of resources in just five or six years, forcefully pushing his own cultivation to the Perfection of the Spirit Platform realm.

A little over a year ago, by a chance opportunity, Liu Ming learned a piece of news from a Major Sect’s True Disciple whom he had managed to fool.

Afterward, for his own safety, Liu Ming found a way to entrap and kill that Major Sect disciple.

One year ago, he resolutely set out on the path to Qing Province in search of a great opportunity.

Su Han could basically guess what happened next.

It was nothing more than Liu Ming arriving in Lingzhou City, pulling his same old tricks, and scamming the Liu Laoer family.

With Liu Ming’s divine-level bluffing skills that had fooled half the Central State, it was naturally a piece of cake to make Liu Laoer believe he was a disciple from a Major Sect.

And so, Liu Laoer, who was so thoroughly scammed he would’ve helped the conman count his money, began to spare no effort in helping Liu Ming find this legendary opportunity, all while dreaming of how he and his family would ascend along with him.

So...

"What is this ’opportunity’ you mentioned?"

Seeing that Su Han no longer seemed intent on cutting out his tongue, Liu Ming relaxed a little.

Hearing Su Han’s question, he couldn’t help but hesitate.

"Unwilling to talk?"

Su Han smiled. "Then I guess it’s back to cutting out your tongue."

Liu Ming: "..."

’FFS, can’t a guy get a moment to breathe?’

"I’ll... I’ll talk."

He looked up at Su Han with a dejected expression. Before revealing the opportunity, Liu Ming first asked a question.

"I wonder, have you ever heard of the Immortal-Demon War from the Ancient Times?"

Su Han thought for a moment and nodded. A few days ago, there were suspected traces of a Night Demon in the Prince’s Residence. When his mother was analyzing the situation, she had mentioned the Demon Race and the Immortal Race, stating that a war had occurred between the two races in the Ancient Times.

"Then I won’t say much more about the Immortal-Demon War."

Seeing Su Han nod, Liu Ming secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

’In reality... his knowledge of the Immortal-Demon War was limited to the fact that a great war had occurred between Immortals and Demons during the Ancient Times.’

’Yup. Don’t ask him what an Immortal or a Demon is, because he doesn’t know either. But... he figured they must be titles for Cultivators who reached a very high realm.’

’Please don’t laugh at his ignorance. After all, he got this information by bluffing. Posing as a grand expert above the level of a Celestial Being, when someone mentioned the Immortal-Demon War, he had to act like, ’Oh, that war? I’m very familiar with it.’’

’Otherwise, was he supposed to ask them what the Immortal-Demon War was?’

’You, a grand expert, don’t know about the Immortal-Demon War? You don’t even know what Immortals and Demons are?’

’That one question alone would expose him, no matter how f*cking good his bluffing skills were, right?’

So, all Liu Ming had managed to bluff out of that Major Disciple was the news that an opportunity left behind from the Immortal-Demon War existed somewhere in Qing Province, within the borders of the Jing Country.

As for what the specific opportunity was...

When Su Han asked, this was Liu Ming’s answer.

"Well... do you know about the Taboos?"

Liu Ming looked at Su Han, expecting him to nod again.

However... Su Han just looked completely baffled by this question.

So...

"What are the Taboos?"

Liu Ming: "..."

"The Taboos, well, they are existences that cannot be mentioned."

’Yeah, that should be right?’

Liu Ming thought uncertainly, smoothly bluffing his way through an answer for Su Han.

"Really?"

Su Han stared at the unblinking Liu Ming. His deadpan expression looked exactly like a habitual con artist trying to pull a fast one.

Especially after learning that he was, in fact, a scammer with exquisite skills.

"Of course!"

Liu Ming nodded with great certainty. At a time like this, how could he dare admit he was bluffing Su Han? That would be suicide.

’Besides... what the Taboos are doesn’t really affect the opportunity itself, right?’

Su Han gave Liu Ming a suspicious look and nodded, though in his heart, he didn’t really believe the explanation he was given.

"Then... what does this opportunity have to do with the Taboos you mentioned?"

Liu Ming glanced at Su Han, gesturing for him to lean in closer, wary of eavesdroppers.

Su Han shot him a disdainful look, then released his Divine Thought to form a barrier, isolating them from all external probing.

"Alright, talk."

"It is said that right here, near Lingzhou City, there is an opportunity left behind from the Immortal-Demon War.

And the one who left it was the legendary Second Tab... Tab... Holy sh*t!"

After the words tumbled out of his mouth, Liu Ming suddenly cursed.

Su Han’s brow furrowed as he saw Liu Ming pointing at him, his face a mask of existential crisis.

"You... Divine Thought? You’re a Divine Sea Realm Cultivator?

How is that possible? In my eyes, you’re clearly at the early stage of the Spirit Platform realm! True Sight Magic has never deceived me.

You... How can you possibly be a Divine Sea Realm Cultivator!"