Cheng Shi couldn't tell what talent Li Jingming was preparing, but he could feel it was powerful.
So he employed a roundabout strategy, forcing the man to stay his hand.
He knew that as long as a window of opportunity remained, the other side would never burn bridges. A mory fanatic would never abandon a mory related to the Iron Law. So as long as he held Chernosly hostage—the only person in this bottom-level cell who'd confronted the Iron Law face to face—he could squeeze the Dragon King's lifeline and force him to stand down.
Sure enough, Li Jingming stopped. Seeing Cheng Shi seize the "hostage," the corner of his eye twitched violently. His expression turned frigid: "Kill him, and you'll lose your chance to learn about It too."
"I don't want to learn about It."
"Yes you do."
"Are you a parrot? The Dragon King Parrot?"
"..." Li Jingming had been matching Cheng Shi's push-and-pull with practiced composure, but the mont the words "Dragon King" hit his ears, the twitch worsened. "What do you want?"
"What do I want?" Cheng Shi laughed—laughed until he was doubled over. "Shouldn't I be the one asking what you want, Dragon King?"
"Simple enough. We cooperate. Light the Dream Peeping Candle again and enter Chernosly's mories together to find secrets lost in the river of ti."
"Cooperate? This is how you cooperate? Disguising yourself as an Investigator and luring
down here?"
"I couldn't have lured you. You were already coming down." Seeing the standoff stabilize, Li Jingming's tone softened slightly.
Cheng Shi scoffed:
"You're the Chosen of Deceit—how could you not trick ? If I hadn't been extra careful, I might be dead by now.
What, you wanted
to go into Chernosly's mories and scout the path for you?"
"..." Li Jingming said nothing.
"Wait—you actually did?! You bastard!" Cheng Shi laughed in outrage, jabbing his finger at Li Jingming. "You Deceit followers are all scheming degenerates."
"..." Li Jingming let out a soft sigh. "I'm not a Deceit follower. I follow mory."
"Oho—should I praise your loyalty to your old employer, or should I call you an ungrateful wretch on the Fun God's behalf?"
"On the Fun God's behalf? On what grounds would you speak for him?" Li Jingming's brow furrowed, suspicion stirring.
"Uh..." Cheng Shi's heart lurched. He recovered imdiately: "We're both on the Void path. He's my Benefactor's brother-god, after all. And you, as a faithless Void walker, deserve a scolding."
Li Jingming sighed again. He could tell Cheng Shi wasn't going to keep fighting. The man's concern was entirely about his own safety during the cooperation—hence the refusal to budge.
Of course, he also recognized Cheng Shi's anger over the identity deception. He genuinely had intended for Cheng Shi to scout ahead. In his original plan, after observing the Fate Weaver, he would've followed him into the dream and done his best to help if danger arose—building goodwill to smooth over the earlier disguise.
But now, the plan had gone completely sideways.
The man's excessive caution left Li Jingming with no opening.
'How is this man even more careful than that squinty-eyed Death follower?'
Cooperation between peak-level players often worked this way—one second you're backstabbing each other, the next you're allies against a common enemy because interests align. How had this rhythm completely failed where Cheng Shi was concerned?
Li Jingming revised his assessnt yet again: beyond shrewd and unhinged, there was now cautious.
A Fate Weaver who was clearly powerful yet excessively cautious.
He frowned, glanced at the ti, and realized they were running short. If this stalemate continued, every surprise this unexpectedly rewarding trial had offered would be erased by the clock.
After a mont's deliberation, Li Jingming chose to concede—for the sake of collecting mory.
"I'm willing to compensate you for my earlier deception." He fixed Cheng Shi with a steady gaze, his expression suggesting absolute certainty the man would take the bait.
And sure enough, the instant the words left his mouth, Cheng Shi's eyes lit up.
'What? Compensation?'
'Well... if you compensate enough, that tiny-tiny-tiny little misunderstanding between us... ahem, isn't entirely impossible to move past.'
'After all, eting through a fight is how bonds are forged quickly, right?'
Seeing the excitent in Cheng Shi's eyes, Li Jingming nodded thoughtfully. Recalling how the man had extorted his teammates above the dungeon, he added one more trait to his ntal profile:
A Fate Weaver who was shrewd, unhinged, powerful, warrior-priest dual-classed, excessively cautious... and greedy.
"So—the misunderstanding between us is resolved?"
Cheng Shi shook his head rapidly:
"That depends on what you're willing to compensate.
Let
tell you—being deceived leaves lasting scars. I've never been deceived before. Having it happen for the first ti hurts even more, and it's going to make it very hard to trust anyone in the future.
So..."
"You want extra?"
Cheng Shi's eyes glead: "How considerate! So yes, you'll need to add a ntal-distress surcharge."
"..."
'He isn't greedy. He's extrely greedy.'
Li Jingming was speechless. He couldn't even fathom how greed and caution could coexist in one person.
But overthinking was pointless. Every second saved mattered now. He reached into his storage and produced a single page—a sheet of shimring azure light, stretched from "foam that never bursts."
"One page from his Chronicle of Ti. Originally good for three uses of Return of the Past—but only one remains.
I trust you understand the value of Return of the Past."
'Understand? You bet I do!'
A sharp gleam flashed through Cheng Shi's eyes and vanished. He slowly withdrew the hand he'd been extending toward Chernosly as a gesture of goodwill, nodding with satisfaction—then promptly shaking his head:
"That only covers Li Zhen's hiring fee. Next cos the compensation for Dragon King Li Jingming himself."
"..." Li Jingming's eyelid spasd. A fire ignited sowhere inside his chest and began climbing. "Cheng Shi, I should tell you—sotis, mories don't absolutely have to be collected."
"Oh really?" Cheng Shi snickered, extending the threatening hand once more.
Seeing this, Li Jingming gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and drew a deep breath: "I'd originally hoped we could be friends."
"We absolutely can. Just add a friendship welco gift and we're golden."
"..."
Fists clenched.
Never in his life had Li Jingming felt so powerless in a negotiation. This man was impervious to both hard and soft tactics—and the most maddening part was that he was clearly fascinated by the Iron Law situation, had even specifically returned from the Void to reach the Howling Iron Prison, yet he refused to value ti, instead squabbling over petty trifles in this pointless standoff.
What was he doing?
Whose will was he practicing?
Was this really how you walked Fate's path?
It felt more like the path of Deceit. He wasn't demanding compensation—he was manufacturing entertainnt.
Li Jingming's mind blurred. In that mont, the images of the two gods of Void seed to overlap faintly in his consciousness.
Was this the true path of Fate? If not, why had Fate itself deigned to summon Cheng Shi for an audience?
But if Cheng Shi's path was the real one, then how had the Blind One beco Fate's number-one-ranked Chosen?
While Li Jingming was lost in thought, Cheng Shi cleared his throat with helpful timing.
"Ahem—watch the clock. Class is almost over."
"..." 'Class is almost over.'
Li Jingming's eyes snapped open. Gnashing his teeth, he pulled two more items from his storage.
A thread of hazy, barely-there gossar light—and an exquisitely crafted miniature wooden mallet, two fingers long and one finger wide.
"mory's Past Reflection and mory Sea Insight. One lets you leave a shadow of your past self behind. The other grants you historical revelations about your current ti and place.
Two S-rank items plus one SS-rank Return of the Past. Is that enough to cover the fee, the compensation, and the consolation money?"
Cheng Shi stared at the three high-tier mory items in Li Jingming's hands, sucking in a sharp breath.
'Good Lord!'
'What kind of big-spender behavior is this?!'
No wonder the man always managed to trade for other people's mories. If the Dragon King was this generous every ti, who wouldn't want to swap mories with him?
Dragons of legend loved their jewels. This might just be the genuine article.
Cheng Shi did his best to mask the shock and satisfaction in his eyes, nodding with feigned nonchalance—an attitude so casual it almost looked like he was the magnanimous one granting forgiveness.
But then—
"Ahem. And don't forget about Li Zhen's ransom—the three A-rank Law Texts."
"..."
"...Fine! Fine! FINE!"
Li Jingming couldn't even identify the emotion behind those three words as they forced their way out of his throat. Face black as coal, he handed over every last item. Cheng Shi received them with a beaming grin and swept his rightful compensation into his storage.
'Mm, another day of bountiful harvests!'
Once the "fair" transaction concluded, the Fate Weaver—whose heart was blooming like a garden—lifted his head with a warm, pleasant expression and said, all smiles:
"So... Dragon King, are we still on for that friendship thing?"
"?"
The sound of tightening fists echoed through the dungeon once more.
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