Chapter 322 - 313: What?! You Want Me to Help You Rebel

Chapter 322: Chapter 313: What?! You Want Me to Help You Rebel

"My name is... Helian."

The woman forced the words from deep in her throat.

Fu Juemin’s eyes flickered when he heard this.

’Helers... Profound Banner.’

Under the moonlight, Fu Juemin stood atop the rockery, dangling the woman from one hand as he fell into thought.

At first, the black tentacles extending from the woman’s body continued to lash out at him. Soon, the sound of the whipping grew faint... until finally, they hung down, limp.

The woman’s limbs also went limp and dangled uselessly.

Fu Juemin finally moved.

WHOOSH—

Inside a small room near the Demon Pool, a candle flame ignited on its own.

Fu Juemin strode into the room and casually tossed the woman to the floor.

The woman had been choked into a dead faint by Fu Juemin. She lay on the ground as still as a corpse, not moving for a long while.

A moment later, she suddenly jerked awake with a long, honking gasp, like a goose. Her whole body convulsed as she pushed herself up.

Immediately after, she clutched her neck and fell into a fit of violent coughing.

"Cough, cough... cough..."

The woman coughed for what felt like an eternity before she finally caught her breath. She stood up, her pretty face twisted into an ugly mask, her beautiful eyes filled with rage and resentment.

She glared at the composed Fu Juemin, who sat at the zitan wood table, and spat through gritted teeth, "You’re not one of the Manchus... As expected, you’re all just barbaric, disrespectful..."

Before the woman could finish, Fu Juemin suddenly raised his eyes to look at her.

Their eyes met in the candlelight.

The woman’s words died in her throat, and she looked somewhat at a loss.

The next second—

WHOOSH—

The woman in the black dress had instantly darted to the doorway, one foot nearly over the threshold, when a large hand once again clamped down hard on her slender, pale neck.

"Ghk, ghk, ghk..."

Fu Juemin squeezed the woman’s neck, slowly forcing her face back around. Looking at her expression, once again filled with terror, he said in a flat tone, "Everyone else calls me Young Master."

"Y-Young Master!!"

The woman in the black dress cried out, her face a mask of terror.

Fu Juemin nodded in satisfaction, slowly released his grip, and returned to his seat at the table.

After being choked like a chick by Fu Juemin twice, the proud woman in the black dress was finally and thoroughly humbled.

Head lowered, she timidly walked over and sat down opposite Fu Juemin, daring only to perch on the edge of her chair.

"What did you want to discuss? Let’s discuss it."

Fu Juemin said, casually flicking the wick of the oil lamp on the table with his finger.

"Huh?"

Startled by his voice, the woman looked up abruptly. The black veil covering her face had long since fallen off, revealing a bewitchingly beautiful face. A small lotus flower was tattooed beneath her left eye, adding to her charm.

Of course, right now, that face was a picture of bewilderment.

’He must have choked me so hard I forgot why I even came here.’

"Oh, oh."

The woman finally seemed to come to her senses. In the candlelight, her gaze was slightly evasive as she said in a low voice, "To discuss a partnership, of course."

"So it’s your Profound Banner Helers Clan that truly wants to rebel!"

Fu Juemin sighed softly.

The woman shot to her feet with a scrape of her chair, staring at Fu Juemin in disbelief, her expression screaming, ’How can you say that word so casually?’

Fu Juemin gestured with a gentle downward press of his hand, signaling for the woman to sit back down.

"When I moved against the Mu Shulu, Ninggu, and Chaha Clans, I was after the Demon Fiends they held as Tributors."

Fu Juemin spoke slowly, "I seek Spirit Awakening and to Enter the Dao, which requires materials from many different Demon Fiends. I have no interest in the affairs between your Upper Three Banners and the Top Royal Banner..."

"Hah... Regardless of your motives, killing a Demon Official of my Nine Banners is a capital offense!"

The woman sneered.

Fu Juemin glanced at her, his tone flat. "There you go again."

The woman’s expression changed in an instant. She hurriedly clutched her neck and quickly corrected herself, "But you’re not a member of my Nine Banners’ Banner Races, so it’s understandable that you don’t know the rules."

"We won’t interfere with what you want to do, and you don’t need to interfere with what we want to do."

"But some of our goals are aligned, so there’s definite potential for cooperation!"

After rushing through that long speech, she aggravated the bruises on her neck and started coughing softly again.

Fu Juemin tapped his fingers lightly on the tabletop. "Elaborate. Do your best to convince me."

The woman’s expression eased slightly. She steadied herself and continued, "You help us secretly consolidate the scattered Banner Races of the Lower Five Banners, just like you’re doing now."

"If you can replace the Banner Lord families loyal to the Royal Banner with our people, that would be even better..."

"In exchange, we can guarantee your safety within the Nine Banners and provide you with Fake Internal Energy Methods from the Upper Three Banners, and even the Royal Banner."

"All the Tributor Demon Fiends of the Lower Five Banners will be yours for the taking. Oh, and Human Pills, too..."

Fu Juemin "furrowed his brow" slightly, as if pondering and weighing his options.

The woman watched him, feeling apprehensive. ’To be honest, everything I’m saying is just an idea I came up with on the spur of the moment. I have no idea if it’s even feasible. All that matters right now is placating this brute in front of me. Otherwise, I fear I’ll meet my end here tonight.’

An agonizingly long silence followed.

Finally, Fu Juemin spoke slowly, "I have my own Fake Internal Energy Method, so I don’t need you to provide one."

"However, since you brought up Demon Fiends and the Fake Internal Energy Method... I’ll add a condition."

"I want all the Tributor Great Demons of the entire Upper Three Banners, including the Royal Banner, to serve as my materials for the Fake Internal Energy Method."

"That’s impossible!"

The woman cried out, stunned.

Fu Juemin’s eyelids lifted slightly, and the hand resting on the table twitched.

"I mean..."

Sweat beaded on the woman’s fragrant brow as she quickly corrected herself, "We can’t give you all of them!"

"The Ghost Flood King tributed by our Profound Banner is certainly no problem. There might be a chance with the Purple Banner’s Spirit Deer and the Red Banner’s Kuiniu."

"But the Royal Banner’s two Great Demons have always been personally guarded by the National Preceptor. It’s impossible for an outsider to even take a single hair from them..."

"The Top Royal Banner holds two Great Demons as Tributors?"

Fu Juemin’s eyes lit up for a moment before he frowned. "The Top Royal Banner has two Great Demons standing guard, including a Supreme Marquis Great Demon, plus the National Preceptor you mentioned. That National Preceptor must be the world’s only Grandmaster, right?"

"With a lineup like that for the Royal Banner, what rebellion can your Profound Banner even mount?"

"You might as well give up and go to bed."

"The Sang Luo National Preceptor is indeed a Grandmaster, but he isn’t necessarily the only one in the world."

The woman shook her head and said nonchalantly, "It’s also true that the Royal Banner has two Great Demons as Tributors, but the one they can actually deploy is probably a notch weaker in terms of power and rank than our Profound Banner’s Ghost Flood King..."

The woman sneered, "A world born of the Chi Dragon; Heaven is Profound, Earth is Yellow."

"These Nine Banners should have been led by my Profound Banner from the beginning. My Profound Banner is the true orthodoxy. The Golden Rice Yellow Banner’s Wuhuan Jin Clan are nothing but usurpers."

"What we are doing is not rebellion, but correcting our position! A restoration!"

The woman narrowed her eyes and continued, "Now, of the Wuhuan Jin Clan’s direct bloodline, only an eight-year-old child remains."

"All they have to rely on, aside from a few obstinate old fools from the Lower Five Banners who can’t tell right from wrong, are a handful of concubines, eunuchs, and idiots from the Purple and Red Two Banners..."

"You don’t need to worry about the matters of the Upper Three Banners. You just need to help us gain control over the entire Lower Five Banners."

"Once this is done, all the various Great Demons will be yours for the taking. What’s more, we could even make you the overlord of the Lower Five Banners!"

"Even if I’m not one of the Manchus?"

Fu Juemin was clearly "tempted" by her offer and "couldn’t help" but ask.

A brilliant, enchanting smile spread across the woman’s face. Her eyes danced as she whispered, "Rules can be changed. With the Dragon Heaven Technique, anything is possible."

For the first time since the conversation began, the woman felt the rhythm of the discussion was finally in her hands.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK—

Fu Juemin tapped his fingers on the table repeatedly, "mulling it over" for a long moment before finally nodding.

"Alright."

Fu Juemin looked up, his expression serious. "But your words are no guarantee. You’ll have to show me something tangible for me to believe in this cooperation you’re proposing."

"You want proof for a rebellion?"

The woman stared at Fu Juemin, her face a picture of disbelief.

"Of course. I’m an outsider. How can I trust you without proof?"

"You yourself called it a rebellion. In the previous dynasty, a slip-up could get your head chopped off and your entire clan executed."

Fu Juemin said impatiently, "If you can’t produce something tangible to convince me, do you believe I’ll go to the Royal Banner and report you right now?!"

"You... you, you..."

The woman was stunned speechless at the table, almost dumbfounded. She couldn’t utter a word for a long time.

"Fine!"

After a moment, she gritted her teeth and nodded. "Wait for me to go back and report this to my superiors. I’ll give you an answer then!"

Upon hearing this, Fu Juemin immediately stood up, his expression turning cold.

"So after all this talk, it turns out you’re not the one who can make the decision."

The woman shot up as if someone had stepped on her tail. Staring at his slowly rising right hand, its fingers slightly spread, she shrieked in terror, "I... I-I’m confident I can persuade my superiors."

"In any case, at the very least, we won’t be enemies!!"

Seizing the moment Fu Juemin’s expression softened, the woman’s figure suddenly blurred and shot out of the room with a WHOOSH.

From the darkness of the night, she left behind a single, panicked sentence.

"Don’t make any reckless moves for the next two days! Wait for my reply!"

’With [Yao Ling] active, I can’t detect any sound of the woman’s departure. This must be the ability she gained after using the Ghost Flood Dragon in her Fake Internal Energy Method.’

However, his Perception as a Martial Artist clearly caught the traces of her escape.

As he felt the figure of the woman named Helian rapidly receding into the distance, Fu Juemin’s expression gradually returned to calm.

He sat back down at the table, picked up a teacup, and slowly poured himself some water.

’I was about to leave, but then... what an unexpected opportunity.’

’"Help" the Profound Banner rebel?’

Fu Juemin took a small sip of tea, a gleam in his eyes.

’The Nine Banners in turmoil, Great Demons battling in chaos.’

’Tsk, tsk...’

’Just thinking about it is exciting. This should be fun.’