Leverage

"With whom?" That was a crucial question. National Preceptor Qingyang's illicit refining and sale of the elixir of immortality would certainly bring retribution from the celestial gods. Her facing trial in the Heavenly Palace was not at all surprising. The key lay in who had brought her up. "The Demon Emperor." *Just as I thought.* He Lingchuan exhaled a long breath. "It seems they've reached an agreement after all. Did you hear what she confessed to?" Juju shook his head. "The barrier around Zhaixing Tower blocks my eavesdropping." He was curious too, but unfortunately had not caught a single word. "Then has she gone back down the mountain?" "Still inside the Heavenly Palace." Juju could at least be certain of that. He Lingchuan pondered for a moment. "By the way, can you disable the teleportation arrays going up and down Tianshu Peak?" "I cannot!" Juju replied in irritation. "Suppressed by the Spirit Gathering Grand Formation, I can't damage any buildings or formations on Mount Xu!" "But once the formation is broken, you can?" "Naturally!" Juju vowed solemnly, patting his chest so hard that sparks flew everywhere. "You just focus on breaking the Spirit Gathering Grand Formation and leave the rest to me. Just watch me unleash my divine might!" He had personally verified that the formation core was not hidden in the void, and his confidence had surged as a result. He Lingchuan smiled. "Each sticking to their duties, right?" "Without a doubt!" Then He Lingchuan drew a set of fetters from his robes and said to Juju, "Come, let's make a pact." Juju scrutinized the fetters, asking suspiciously, "What is this?" "The Chain of Oaths," He Lingchuan introduced it to him. "We each wear one cuff, then swear to aid each other and not renege. Whoever fails to comply will suffer inner demon backlash." He smiled faintly. "This came out of the Demon Heart Furnace. Not even ancient immortals could escape it." Flames roared across Juju's face, concealing any expression, yet the fire wreathing his entire body seemed to freeze for an instant. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded sharply. "You don't trust me?" "The premise of cooperation is honesty and keeping faith," He Lingchuan smiled. "Since you and I are both sincere, what's the big deal about wearing fetters?" "My sincerity requires no proof!" Juju said furiously. "Who knows what devilish contraption this really is?" He Lingchuan lifted his hand, causing the chain to emit a crisp clink. "With a treasure like this, anyone who touches it lightly will understand what it's used for." Magic artifacts did not come with instruction manuals; how were people to use them when first acquiring them? An intact ancient magic artifact usually imparted understanding upon touch, requiring no extra explanation. So-called appraisals in later eras were necessary either because the artifact's spirituality had faded, or because its maker hadn't wanted it to be understood at a mere touch. Of course, there was another possibility: that it did not belong to this realm. Juju glared at He Lingchuan. "You want to back out? It won't be that easy with me!" As he flared with rage, both men felt scorching heat blast their faces, and the bat demon puppet retreated straight behind Dong Rui's back. Seeing his towering fury, He Lingchuan's smile vanished. The rock-fire monster's sudden wrath showed that it had harbored its own petty schemes all along and had never planned to honor its word in earnest. "If we don't seal a pact, our cooperation ends right here." With that, he stepped back two paces, paused, and turned as if to leave. Dong Rui silently turned to follow, palms sweating cold. He understood the reasoning, but this was Juju's domain—the rock-fire monster could overturn both of them without breaking a sweat. Even riding the snail-toad, what were the odds of successfully escaping from this mountain spirit? "Thinking of leaving?" Juju indeed smashed a fist onto the ground. Instantly, a massive weathered boulder tumbled from the mountain above, shattering into eight pieces on impact and completely blocking He Lingchuan and Dong Rui's escape path. Even the smallest of these stone chunks weighed several tons, and the impact was tremendous, not only kicking up a storm of dust but also startling the roosting birds nearby into fluttering wildly with shrill cries of alarm. Such a commotion was bound to alert the Heavenly Palace guards. "Fulfill the agreement meekly, or I'll blow you both to ashes in one breath—or hand you over to the Heavenly Palace!" Juju thrust out a hand, flames surging in his palm. "Choose for yourself!" In his fury, the fire around him turned blazing white, silently melting the nearby trees. Given his capabilities, neither threat was an exaggeration. Dong Rui could barely withstand the blistering heat, retreating several large paces while feeling as though his face were burning off. Anyone else faced with such overwhelming might would probably be trembling with fright and yielding on the spot. Yet He Lingchuan stood motionless. Sheltered by the divine bone necklace, he felt only a gentle breeze brush his face. "Your jailbreak plan will go up in smoke along with us, and you'll have to keep slaving away like a beast of burden for the celestial gods on Mount Xu. If you can't display your grand might to awe Lingxu City, the dog food the Ke family throws your way will only dwindle." He said coldly, "After starving for ten years, will you still be this magnificent? Even if you manage to wait for a second group of rescuers, who knows what terms they'll demand—and whether you'll keep your word then?" Juju clenched his fist. The flaming fist, larger than a door plank, came hurtling straight down toward He Lingchuan's head! The momentum was terrifying. Dong Rui fell back two more steps, blinking in terror. Even if He Lingchuan was immune to fire, a direct blow from that fist would leave him half-dead if not outright crushed. Yet He Lingchuan did not even flinch. He merely looked up at Juju, as if what was descending were not blazing rock, but a fluttering butterfly. Dong Rui knew this fist probably wouldn't land, but he couldn't maintain He Lingchuan's calm. Hadn't the fear of the strong been etched into the very marrow of human bones? Sure enough, the fist halted three feet above He Lingchuan's head. The powerful gust of wind forced the weeds on the ground flat in disarray. Crimson magma trickled down, stopping less than an inch from the tip of He Lingchuan's nose. With several sharp hisses, it burned deep pits into the earth. Dong Rui felt scorched just looking at it, but He Lingchuan acted as though he had seen nothing at all. "If I dare make a move against the Heavenly Palace, would I fear a petty mountain spirit like you?" He spoke with composed confidence, having seen through Juju's bluster in an instant. "Will you put on the Chain of Oaths and faithfully fulfill the agreement, or tear up the pact and let both sides perish? The Heavenly Palace guards will be here soon. Choose for yourself." Juju was indeed in a bind. All he dreamed of was escaping, but he had no desire to offend the Heavenly Palace to the point of no return. Consequently, he had never taken He Lingchuan's subsequent plans seriously—such as blasting Zhaixing Tower or kicking down the Celestial God Terrace. He had simply intended to agree first; when the time came, claiming he couldn't do it would settle the matter. What could this tiny mortal do to him? Yet he hadn't anticipated that this little creature would produce this cursed Chain of Oaths, insisting that spoken words be binding. That went entirely against a rock-fire monster's creed. Juju was deeply disgruntled, feeling that he had been played. He Lingchuan waited in place for several breaths. Seeing Juju hesitate, he said to Dong Rui, "Let's go." Just as Xu Shichu and Fang Canran had said, this monster was crafty. When you sought cooperation, it calculated how to maximize its own gain, and might very well stab you in the back later. He had seen such people and such nations before; there was nothing new about it. Dong Rui pivoted on his heel, ready to leave with him, when Juju finally spoke: "Wait! I'll put it on!" He Lingchuan stopped and looked back at him. "Are you sure? Once it's on, there's no backing out. This job must be carried through to the end!" He had deliberately waited until tonight, after successfully testing the trajectory of the formation core, before producing the Chain of Oaths. He had to show Juju that such an absurd-sounding operation actually had a real chance of success before the monster would steel its heart to bind itself. Otherwise, this fickle fellow might have turned against them on the spot. Juju glanced upward. Looking down at the dark underground valley from the peak, the view was mostly obstructed by giant boulders, revealing at most a flicker of firelight. But the noise from the collapsing weathered rock earlier had been too loud; guards were already running down along the path to see what had happened below. Juju waved a hand, and a fire spirit avatar went out to meet them. Once it encountered the Heavenly Palace guards, it would explain the situation. "Give it here!" Juju reluctantly extended a hand toward He Lingchuan and touched the chain. Sure enough, he immediately sensed the nature of the Chain of Oaths. This truly was the power of a covenant—one that even he could not defy. With a sharp click, He Lingchuan locked the cuffs onto their wrists. A human wrist and a rock-fire monster's arm were obviously not the same thickness, but fortunately, immortal treasures could expand and contract at will, always finding an appropriate fit. The runes on the cuffs lit up one after another in a brilliant reddish-gold. Both swore their oaths facing the cuffs, explicitly listing each task to be completed. Juju tried to play clever with some word games at this stage, only to be called out mercilessly by He Lingchuan. He Lingchuan even set a precise time limit. Once the oaths were fully recited, Juju looked down at the cuffs. The chain connecting the two cuffs seemed to drop into molten steel, melting away slowly in a crimson radiance until it vanished entirely. From this moment forth, the oath would remain in effect until every term was fulfilled. The cuff around He Lingchuan's wrist transformed into an unassuming silver bracelet, a single plain hoop without ornamentation or mana fluctuations. Juju's cuff transformed into an intricately patterned armlet, at least two feet wide. These cuffs were remarkably intelligent, knowing how to adopt a suitable appearance for their wearers. Yet their presence bound both parties to fulfill the covenant. Even if one severed a hand or split into an avatar, it would reappear precisely on the oath-taker, clinging like sticky candy that could never be shaken off. Juju said sullenly, "Satisfied? Now get lost!" According to the oath, as soon as he broke free, he had to immediately bombard Zhaixing Tower and do everything in his power to help He Lingchuan secure the divine relic; a grand battle was unavoidable. On this point, he was truly displeased. When all was said and done, He Lingchuan might brush himself off and make a clean getaway, but Juju and the Heavenly Palace were immovable neighbors. If relations turned so sour, who knew how they would coexist in the future? Those people in the Heavenly Palace were sinister to the core. They might not be able to crush him in the open, but they could play all sorts of dirty tricks in the shadows. He Lingchuan, by contrast, looked at him with great concern. "Let me confirm one more thing: you don't have any equals in the Heavenly Palace, do you? I heard that when the great earthquake struck Lingxu City more than ten years ago, it was only quelled after a celestial god took action." Now that they were partners, it was best not to speak too bluntly. More than ten years ago, during the final assembly of the Spirit Gathering Grand Formation, Juju had awakened and run amok, causing an earthquake in Lingxu City that resulted in countless casualties. In the end, the Heavenly Palace had invoked a "divine descent" to suppress this mountain spirit. In other words, Juju had been defeated by a celestial god last time. Would he be knocked flat on his back just as swiftly this time around?