Chapter 66: Cooperation

Chapter 66 Cooperation

Thud!

The gray-clad youth's eyes were shut tight, his face planting straight down into the mud.

Under the corridor eaves not far away, a suit of exoskeleton armor sat on the steps, its gauntlet covering the vertical eye-like ornament at the helmet's brow, as if unable to bear witness to the scene before it.

"He's always been this brave?"

Li Jun sheathed the Ink Blade and sat sprawled beside the Horse King, his tone full of bewilderment and surprise.

"I didn't expect it either."

The crimson eye at the brow lit up, the Horse King's melancholy voice ringing out.

"I thought this kid might wise up a bit after advancing to Ink Eight, but who knew the moment he saw you he'd turn into a lust-crazed demon, not even using me, fighting you stark naked."

"Lust-crazed demon? What kind of talk is that." Li Jun's mouth twitched.

The gauntlet scratched against the helmet with a screech. "Seems a bit off. Let's change the term. Brain-dead?"

"Right, Zhao Qingxia this useless wretch is brain-dead!"

The red eye flared bright, the Horse King's tone certain. "A blacksmith artisan insisting on trading fists with a martial artist—if that's not brain-dead, what is?"

Li Jun glanced at the body still twitching beside him and subconsciously nodded in agreement.

This Mo School Initiate named Zhao Qingxia's obsession with martial arts had truly reached the point of qi deviation.

Every time they met, he had to duel.

"Indeed not smart."

One man, one armor exchanged a smile, then fell into silence, the atmosphere under the eaves suddenly turning eerie.

"Everyone here's been killed by you. Why not head to the main hall?"

The black armor sitting astride like a human, its armor plates silently closing shut.

"No rush. The tall tree catches the wind. Going over now isn't a good thing."

The Ink Blade lay across his knees, Li Jun's thumb slowly stroking the hilt.

A faint hum of a mechanism activating suddenly sounded, the Horse King's tone mocking. "What, already too tired to fight?"

The thumb flicked. With a crisp *click*, an inch of cold light slid from the scabbard.

"A bit tired, yeah."

The night wind suddenly tightened, stirring the blood-scent permeating this patch of heaven and earth.

"Hahahaha!"

A hearty laugh suddenly rang out. The nerve-taut Li Jun was startled, nearly drawing his blade in a violent rise.

"Sequence Nine Outlaw Nurturing Heart Lake Raging Flood Dragon, Sequence Eight Red Blood Nurturing Body Crimson Dragon. Whether you fight or not, the bearing must be sufficient. Worthy of the Martial Sequence."

Li Jun exhaled, pushing the blade back into its sheath, narrowing his eyes as he asked: "From your words, you seem to know the Martial Sequence well?"

"The origins of the Ink and Martial two sequences run deeper than you imagine."

That red eye in the helmet gazed at Li Jun with profound meaning. "At least the Mo School has never betrayed you. Even when Buddhism and Daoism set the Martial Nine Extermination Plot, the Mo School people still stood up for it."

"Otherwise, in the Great Ming Empire's civilian world, you wouldn't see Martial Injectors at all."

Martial Nine Extermination Plot.....

Li Jun's brows knotted tight, killing intent roiling endlessly on his body, cold light flickering in his eyes. "Why would Buddhism and Daoism do this?"

The Horse King's tone sighed. "Tormented too severely. Hatred deep as the sea."

Li Jun froze, momentarily unable to understand. All men—how could they torment each other?

"Besides Buddhism and Daoism, who else has enmity with the Martial Path?"

The Horse King said blandly: "Except for Ink, the whole world is enemies. The difference is merely some scheme for wealth, some for lives."

Li Jun fell silent for a long time. At this moment he felt a bone-piercing chill envelop his whole body. "Why?"

"Tall trees catch the wind."

The Horse King enunciated each word. Four simple words, yet they had already spoken all causes.

Li Jun's gaze turned dazed. Face after face flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern.

Embroidered Uniform Guard, Heavenly Prefecture Heavy Industry, Bodhi Company.....

Dao Sequence Yu Kou, Ru Sequence Gu Yong, Fo Sequence Mu Cuo.....

The tangled complex thoughts in his mind gradually cleared. Many questions seemed to have finally found answers.

Li Jun at this moment seemed to somewhat understand why a mere Muddy Water Bag Elder would be chosen by an Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander as an informant, then absorbed by Shu Dao Logistics as Security Department Head.

The reason wasn't complex. Useful when able to fight, damned when not needed.

Won't draw outsider attention, won't chill insider hearts.

"Wouldn't exterminating them all be more worry-free?"

"On one hand they dare not. On the other they cannot."

"Humans haven't learned to speak before learning to fight beasts."

The armor raised its right hand, five fingers clenching tight.

"This action of clenching a fist is engraved in the genes. Can't kill clean."

"Why tell me these things now?"

Li Jun's voice was somewhat muffled, like thunder gathering in cloud layers on a rainy night.

"Zhao Qingxia, though Mo School Sequence, is a martial fanatic. Even if I don't say it, he'll tell you. If your temperaments match, he'd even help you regardless of everything."

The Horse King's voice was full of helplessness. "These Mo School people, when helping others, never count the cost."

Li Jun was long past being some naive fledgling. Naturally he heard the implication behind the words.

"I, Li Jun, do things never liking to implicate others."

"Bold enough."

The Horse King raised a thumb, the conversation suddenly turning: "Helping loses capital, but cooperation can be win-win."

Li Jun pointed at the unconscious Zhao Qingxia not far away. "Man's still passed out there. Just you talking cooperation with me?"

"Haven't read those novels and storybooks circulating in the Yellow Millet Dream? Artifact spirits can be more formidable than hosts." The Horse King raised a hand to pat his chest, a metallic clang ringing out.

Regarding the Horse King's words, Li Jun didn't doubt them.

On this armor, he sensed a threat even stronger than Fei Baiju.

This Ink Eight might not refer to Zhao Qingxia, but to this human-like exoskeleton armor—the Horse King.

Li Jun raised an eyebrow. "Ru School Sequence things, useful to you Mo School people too?"

The Horse King took it as a matter of course. "Blacksmiths need brain supplements too."

Li Jun laughed in spite of himself. "How much do you want?"

“A quarter-slice of the brain tissue of Yang Zhan, progenitor of the Yang Clan.”

Li Jun gave no commitment either way. “Since it’s a partnership, what’s in it for me?”

“Seventh-rank internal arts.”

Li Jun trapped a breath in his chest and belly, forcibly tamping down the sudden, violent hammering of his heart, and shook his head. “Not enough.”

“You already made a killing last time, and now you want to gouge me again?”

“Sequence Seven is still too distant for me; I can find another source without you. But this slice? Miss it now, and you’ll likely never find its like again.”

The crimson glow within the helmet dimmed, as though the man behind it had fallen silent.

Li Jun’s tone was flat. “And I ask little this time. A mere trifle, a small add-on.”

Lord Ma mused a moment. “What trifle?”

“Tianfu Heavy Industry. Wu Jinfeng.”

Lord Ma chuckled low, leaning back, bracing his arms on the gallery steps, and casually hooking one leg over the other.

“So long as it isn’t goods. One third, and I’ll see this little matter done.”