Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 929 - 929 0560 Exhausting the Last Resort_2

Chapter 929: Chapter 0560: Exhausting the Last Resort_2 Chapter 929: Chapter 0560: Exhausting the Last Resort_2 After a bowl of Snake Soup, Zhang Ting felt her entire body warm and relaxed, the fatigue from the journey swept away entirely, feeling quite content.

Qi Tian served her another bowl of Snake Soup and asked seemingly casually, “You haven’t yet told me what exactly brought me here. Is it just for these ugly snake demons?”

Zhang Ting still refused to disclose anything, saying, “Don’t be in a hurry. When it’s time for you to know, you’ll know. For now, there’s no rush.”

Qi Tian shrugged his shoulders and said, “Your attitude towards cooperation seems to be problematic. Although I’ve agreed to help you, I can only risk my life to keep you company. But let me make it clear, the battles ahead are going to become increasingly dangerous. With my puny arms and legs, I might not be able to handle it. If I can’t hold on, you’ll have to allow me to retreat. Of course, when that time comes, if you choose to follow me, I won’t object.”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Ting almost ground her teeth to pieces. She had recognized Qi Tian’s exceptional combat abilities and saw him as a strong ally. That was why she had risked exposure and brought Qi Tian here. Instead, apart from lending her a thousand middle-grade spirit stones, Qi Tian had only moved some stones for her and cooked a pot of Snake Soup, essentially doing nothing else she had envisioned, which was a significant deviation from her initial plan.

Zhang Ting wasn’t foolish; she knew that Qi Tian’s words were a show of force, indicating that if she continued to withhold the purpose of their visit, Qi Tian might indeed drop everything and leave.

Without any leverage over Qi Tian, Zhang Ting felt somewhat powerless. While it wasn’t true that she depended on Qi Tian for everything, in reality, she needed his help in many ways. Conversely, Qi Tian might also need her assistance, but not presently—rather, in the future. However, if she failed to seize the current opportunity, her future prospects were far from certain.

Zhang Ting quickly came to understand the precariousness of the situation. With a cough, she said, “Qi Tian, it’s not that I can’t tell you our purpose for coming here. I’m just worried that once you know the truth, you’ll leave me and refuse to help any longer.”

Qi Tian responded, “That hurts me. Ask yourself, since we’ve known each other, have I been of little help to you? When threatened by Long Yangyang and his group, who helped you escape the tight spot? Who assisted in upgrading your spirit crow? And who, despite the young master’s advice, traveled thousands of miles with you to this godforsaken place? It was all me. I’ve done all this for you, and still, you don’t trust me. My heart aches—do you understand?”

Qi Tian spoke with both sentiment and passion, yet Zhang Ting’s eyes remained ice-cold. Nevertheless, she pretended to be deeply remorseful towards Qi Tian, saying, “I’m sorry, Qi Tian. I really went too far. I apologize to you and will reflect on my mistakes. Now, let me share with you the reason I invited you here.”

Qi Tian nodded and said, “Alright, go ahead and tell me.”

Zhang Ting said, “Back then, I went to many places and looked through a lot of materials to get the spirit crow. Among them, I found this cave in a manual that had been dusted for who knows how many years. Afterwards, I came here with great expectations, only to suffer a great loss the first time I entered. Later, I found the spirit crow elsewhere, so I brought it with me the second time I came here, and the result was a bit better than the first time. After using the spirit crow to scout the area, I confirmed that there should be something here that is particularly beneficial to the spirit crow. As to what exactly that thing is, I don’t know.”

While Zhang Ting narrated, Qi Tian had been using the Heavenly Dao Engine to keep a lock on her. He could basically determine that most of what Zhang Ting said was true, but there was one thing: Zhang Ting certainly concealed a lot in many places.

Qi Tian let out a chuckle and said, “I thought you brought me here specifically because there were treasures that could directly enhance your strength. So it turns out that there aren’t treasures that can directly enhance your strength, but there are treasures that can enhance your spirit crow. If this is so important, why didn’t you choose your close friends and relatives to help you? Why did you choose me?”

Zhang Ting replied, “Mainly because I took a fancy to you. Just as you’ve helped me so much, isn’t it because we have a good connection?”

Qi Tian nodded repeatedly and said, “What you said is absolutely right. We really do have a good connection.”

The two of them were probing each other with a mix of three parts truth and two parts lies; neither of them fully trusting the other. To Qi Tian, this was not a big deal. His strength was more than enough to crush Zhang Ting. No matter how she struggled, she could not escape his control. However, for Zhang Ting, the psychological pressure was immense. Qi Tian’s formidable power was suffocating her. She was walking a tightrope, constantly making sure not to anger Qi Tian yet trying to win him over so that he would not harm her and would be of use to her. It was exceedingly difficult, but for the sake of her future, she had no choice but to risk it.

This was actually a common state for many cultivators, including Qi Tian. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have kept a low profile after entering the Imperial Family Secret Territory and finding it to be quite different from what he had imagined. He had been biding his time for so long because he hoped to gain advantages from the Imperial Family Secret Territory at a low cost and leave it safely. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been indulging Xiang Bo and Zhang Ting, who were at the Foundation Establishment Stage.

The communication between Qi Tian and Zhang Ting seemed to serve its purpose. Afterward, the wary atmosphere between the two of them slightly lightened. Qi Tian was no longer just an observer, occasionally stepping in to give a hand when Zhang Ting faced danger, helping her out of predicaments. Even so, during the latter part of their journey, Zhang Ting was still injured several times.

In fact, Qi Tian did this deliberately. The snake demons they encountered later on became increasingly formidable, no doubt about that. But no matter how powerful, these snake demons were only strengthening themselves within the Foundation Establishment Stage, which posed no threat to Qi Tian. If he wanted to, he could swipe his hand and kill several at once. He refrained from intervening and helping Zhang Ting out of trouble because he wanted to force her hand. He knew that Zhang Ting had more than one Storage Bag on her. Although he had taken the largest Storage Bag from her, she still had another one, where she kept her flying sword, talisman, and other items. Inside there were some valuable items, some of which could be considered Zhang Ting’s trump cards.

These items were not that threatening to Qi Tian, but they could significantly enhance Zhang Ting’s strength, at least increasing her chances of survival when faced with danger. Qi Tian wanted to owe Zhang Ting some favors, so he couldn’t allow her to have too many trump cards. Yet he couldn’t directly rob her, so he had no choice but to keep her in constant danger until she exhausted all her trump cards.

Moreover, although Qi Tian could put aside the Storage Bag and sense that Zhang Ting had many trump cards, the Heavenly Dao Engine could only identify what type of trump cards and how powerful they were. It couldn’t always determine exactly what they were. After all, some cultivation resources in the Imperial Family Secret Territory were different from the outside world. Lacking previous data, Qi Tian could not make accurate judgments with the Heavenly Dao Engine. He needed Zhang Ting to deplete her trump cards in front of him so that not only could he collect some data on cultivation resources from the Imperial Family Secret Territory, but he could also make further judgments about Zhang Ting through these trump cards.