Chapter 1097: Gentle
Proofreader: Papatonks
The humongous creature plunged into the sea, sending a tsunami in every direction. Heaven Sealing Sea Ao gave Zhuo Fan a dark look of confusion, “W-what’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing besides losing. I now await my sentence!”
Ding!
He let Vaulting Sword slip and stick into the ground while he sat down. Qiao’er cried, “Father!”
Sea Ao was perplexed.
[What’s the damn kid’s angle this time?]
Zhuo Fan had a genial smile on his face. Gone was the mad and sadistic expression, now looking like a real gentleman that wouldn’t hurt a fly, preaching love and peace.
A disturbing silence ensued. Heaven Sealing Sea Ao was still tense and on guard at the sudden change. His fury now cooled down to a confusing calmness. All that he could think of were questions upon questions. He even forgot what he was supposed to do.
His brain stopped working the minute Zhuo Fan gave up out of the blue.
“Why, you don’t want to punish me? I take it we can talk then?”
Zhuo Fan watched Sea Ao just staring there with a dumb look and smiled, “Senior Sea Ao, please spit out my son.”
Sea Ao flinched and then exclaimed in anger, “Are you making fun of me now, brat?”
“No games and no insults, I only have a simple request for senior to calm down and negotiate better.”
Zhuo Fan smiled like a sage of boundless wisdom. His back was straight, his gaze deep, “As I’ve said, talks are negotiations are conducted between equals. Please forgive my earlier transgression. With senior’s rage, it made it hard for my words to reach you. That is why I resorted to such tactics. I hope senior can settle down now.”
“Settle?”
Eyelid twitching, Sea Ao snapped, “You wish! Merely looking at your face get my blood boiling. There’s no settling! And why would I ever talk to you? I want nothing more than to grind your bones and flay you alive!”
“Wrong!”
Zhuo Fan’s gaze met his, unphased at the outburst, “Not us, but me. You want to flay only me, right?”
Sea Ao shuddered.
Giving a long and heavy sigh, Zhuo Fan glanced at Qiao’er behind him then at Sea Ao, “In our fight, senior Sea Ao could do nothing to me. Senior Sea Ao could at any time swallow Qiao’er and threaten me to stay put. Why didn’t you?”
“Humph, sacred beasts have their pride, unlike humans who stoop to any low, even taking hostages.” Sea Ao spat..
Zhuo Fan shook his head, “”Senior, you’re contradicting yourself. When you toyed with Qiao’er, senior had used all manner of dirty tricks humans employ. From the way I see it, besides Kunpeng, senior is the closest towards human nature among the five great sacred beasts. With danger hanging overhead, mentioning a sacred beast’s pride sounds like a tasteless joke, senior.”
“Uh, I!”
Sea Ao’s words got stuck in his throat, put on the spot, but then he grew stubborn, “That was merely out of anger that I forgot about the girl. I don’t need you to remind me!”
Zhuo Fan shook his head, the smile never leaving his face, “You should’ve said it at the start and I might’ve believed you. However, aren’t you contradicting yourself with what you said before? Ha-ha-ha, senior, you never considered Qiao’er a hostage or intended on killing her, did you?”
Sea Ao winced.
“The five great sacred beasts are unique in this world.”
Zhuo Fan took a deep breath as he gazed above, “As sole beings, no matter how much bad blood is between you, would you still be so quick to cut each other down? The very top is a place of endless solitude, even more when everyone around you dies out.”
Sea Ao was grave.
Zhuo Fan continued, “Senior does indeed hate humans to the bone, willing to even take it out on the sacred beasts that humanity corrupted. That bloodlust directed at Qiao’er did not lie. That’s why I believe senior truly wanted Qiao’er and young Sanzi dead. But humanized sacred beasts are nothing more than misled children. Regardless how furious, how outraged senior was, were you still willing to end them?
“As such, I’ve always been watching you from the start, senior, to see if the madness was real or not and whether you’d be willing to kill young sacred beasts. I’m glad to say senior has not crossed that line. That can only mean young Sanzi is safe. So I ask senior to heal him.”
Zhuo Fan gave a full bow of respect.
“Damn you, human, are you tricking me, is that it?”
Heaven Sealing Sea Ao set his jaw, his huge eyes turning bloodshot as he raved, “Over many years, I’ve seen more people than I could count and know the darkness that lies in a human’s nature, but you are the most sinister and cunning of all. I knew it the moment you used old dragon’s attack. Now you’re breaking my principles, twisting my beliefs so you can get your young Qilin back as good as new. No, I will not listen to you! Come fight me if you dare, but I will never do what a human asks even if it kills me!”
Qiao’er’s face fell, looking worried at Zhuo Fan. He shook his head, “Don’t say that, senior. I said it’s my loss already.”
“You call that a loss? Look what you did to me, and you’re holding all the cards. You can leave when you want or even kill me. Why is it I can’t see you lose out on anything?”
“I lost from the very beginning.”
Zhuo Fan sighed, saluting, “Young Sanzi’s Qilin Shield is damaged and senior is the only one that can restore it. I brought him to request your help. This put me at a loss, from which I could never recover. The only thing left for me to do was not to suffer a total defeat, losing even that with which I came. Nothing I could do will ever change senior’s refusal to help. That is why I ask senior to lend a hand for the sake of the five sacred beasts.”
Heaven Sealing Sea Ao gave him a long look then snickered, “Hi-hi-hi, after all that yapping we’ve finally reached the real issue. Let me tell you…”
“Senior…”
Zhuo Fan’s shout cut him off, his gaze steeled in determination, “Senior won’t heal Qilin all because of me. Let me bear all of senior’s loathing towards humanity. As long as senior agrees to save him, senior can take a life for a life.”
“Father!” Qiao’er cried.
Heaven Sealing Sea Ao shook, his eyes having a strange glint.
“Senior might deny all you want, but know that you can’t do anything to me unless I let you. Qilin and Qiao’er are both your juniors and can’t do anything to stop you. I am the one who earned your ire, your bitter enemy. If you want to take it out on someone, would you feel better killing me or them?”
Zhuo Fan smiled, “Senior’s malice needs to be let go and I’m willing to be the means to do it. On the condition that senior lends a hand.”
Qiao’er quivered, her tearing eyes never leaving Zhuo Fan as she bit her lip, drawing blood.
She knew no one could change Zhuo Fan’s mind once he was made up. This was also his only option.
Sea Ao was stunned, suspicion flashing in his eyes. Then he cackled, “Hi-hi-hi, you’re just too shrewd. Are you up to your mind games again? He-he-he, you think I’ll sympathize and won’t kill you? Wrong! I will definitely crush your bones and scatter your pieces everywhere!”
Sea Ao slammed his palm on Zhuo Fan’s head. The violent winds were sharp enough to rend the ice around.
Qiao’er’s tears flowed down her cheeks.
“Wait!” A shout came just as the palm reached Zhuo Fan.
The heavy palm grounded to a halt. Sea Ao parted the claws to peek at Zhuo Fan with a mocking smile, “Hi-hi-hi, I just knew you were working an angle. You played the noble sacrifice thinking you could earn my sympathy. Once I save the Qilin, you can just use it for your mind games, making these two pups want to die for you. Sneaky human, I’ve seen this old trick already and it won’t work on me, ha-ha-ha….”
“Senior, that’s not it. Since senior mentioned trickery, senior ain’t exactly trustworthy either.”
Zhuo Fan’s eyes shone, taking off his ring and throwing it to Qiao’er, “My sacrifice can’t be in vain. Once I die, senior Sea Ao must save young Sanzi. But if senior breaks his word, there’s another Dragon Breath Pill in there you can throw immediately in his face. He’ll be sure to join me and young Sanzi in hell once he takes another one. Just remember not to waste words or listen to him. The instant he stalls, throw it!”