Chapter Fifty-Six: The Banner of the Immortal (Please keep reading and vote for the monthly ticket!)

As the saying goes, “If your words don’t shock the world, you might as well be silent.”

With that single sentence, the Criminal Champion’s expression turned strange. The way he looked at Ji Wu had completely changed.

“Is this boy a fool?”

Even though he hadn’t said it aloud, the look in the Criminal Champion’s eyes made his thoughts plain as day.

Ever since the annual celestial phenomena began, the State of Qi had been beset by no end of troubles. At first, the Emperor of Qi claimed that these were auspicious omens, proof of Heaven’s favor and a reward for the peace and prosperity of the realm. Yet, as time went on, the supposed “auspicious signs” brought no fewer disasters than before; it was impossible to see how Heaven was bestowing any reward.

Eventually, even the omens themselves began to appear ominous. Just a few years ago, the image of a true dragon’s fall appeared upon the heavens—a scene that led the court to kill countless people, purging its own ranks time and again. In light of this, the court’s previous proclamations seemed entirely unconvincing.

Nonetheless, there were those who believed that celestial anomalies were Heaven’s cryptic hints—if not that, then surely opportunities for immortality would arise. Otherwise, why would such phenomena occur?

As a result, all manner of rumors spread among the people of Qi: the state was on the brink of collapse, a new sage-king was destined to rise…

How did the Criminal Champion know all this so well? Because he had played no small part in spreading these very rumors.

To set the record straight, many of those tales were indeed his own inventions, not the result of scapegoating.

As the prime instigator and professional agitator bent on sowing chaos in Qi, the Criminal Champion understood these rumors better than anyone.

It was one thing to deceive illiterate peasants, but could anyone truly be foolish enough to believe them?

And yet here was a youngster, meeting him in the dead of night at the center of a lake, his very first words claiming a mandate from an immortal…

For a moment, even the well-traveled Criminal Champion could not fathom his own feelings.

He could only sigh at the workings of fate—Heaven spares no one.

To think he’d left men stationed at the original site for days after receiving the letter, and spent three consecutive nights swimming around this wretched lake…

He’d calculated every step, only to run into a fool?

“I know you probably won’t believe me, saying it so bluntly,” Ji Wu said, fully aware that he sounded like a wandering charlatan. But that was exactly the effect he wanted.

“Heh.”

The Criminal Champion forced a smile that never reached his eyes, his face growing grimmer. “It’s late. Are you still half-asleep?”

Ji Wu ignored the mocking tone. “Words alone prove nothing. Reach out your hand.”

“Hm?”

The Criminal Champion shot him a sidelong glance. Was the boy about to pull out some worthless trinket and claim it was an ‘immortal’s inheritance’?

He really was hopeless.

“Just stretch it out and you’ll see,” Ji Wu insisted.

“My patience is wearing thin,” the Criminal Champion said, taking a deep breath. After a moment’s hesitation, he extended his left hand.

He was already here, after all.

If the boy really dared produce some pitiful object and claim it as an immortal legacy, then even with the black bear on guard, he would make the boy pay dearly for wasting his time.

He was at a critical juncture in his struggle with the court, and had wasted several precious days on this—listening to a fool’s nonsense.

What a sin.

If this was truly some imperial plot, then one had to admit—stupidity could sometimes prove a potent weapon.

Whatever he thought, when Ji Wu placed his hand atop the Criminal Champion’s, a surge of inner strength immediately flowed forth.

“What?!”

The Criminal Champion started in shock as a warm energy coursed through his palm, soaking into his skin and bone. It was unexpectedly pleasant.

After five or six breaths, Ji Wu withdrew his hand. “Well? What do you think?”

“Inner strength?”

The Criminal Champion’s eyes flickered with surprise and suspicion. He was a man of experience and at once guessed the origin of the sensation.

Inner strength.

It was the vital energy forged by a martial artist, the second life they kept in reserve.

In battle, expending inner strength could greatly amplify one’s vitality, granting a temporary surge in power with no real aftereffects.

When gravely injured, it could also be used for self-healing.

Furthermore, inner strength could be transmitted to another, but since it was attuned to its owner’s life force, it might not suit someone else.

Even if forcibly used, most of it would be wasted, and what little remained depended on compatibility.

In truth, without blood ties, the benefit was negligible.

Moreover, inner strength imparted to another was a mere consumable, unable to help expand the recipient’s own reserves and even risking internal conflict.

Too many transfusions could degrade the quality of one’s future cultivation—one’s life force beginning to resemble another’s. In the short term, there were benefits; long term, it was a losing proposition.

And most people lacked the depth of inner strength to sustain even brief transmission.

But Ji Wu had not done this to help—he simply meant to prove the abundance of his inner strength.

An abundance that did not belong to someone of his age.

“Well?” Ji Wu withdrew his hand. Though only a few breaths had passed, it had cost him half his reserves. “That’s not all.”

“What are you trying to say?” asked the Criminal Champion.

Seeing this, Ji Wu realized that from his initial look of having been played for a fool to his current hesitation, the Criminal Champion was wavering.

“You must have investigated the Ji family martial school. My background, my age—you should know all of it.”

“Indeed,” the Criminal Champion replied, making no attempt to deny it.

Back when he tried to intercept the auspicious omen sent from Xishan County to the emperor—a plan that should have been foolproof—the Ji family’s Bear King tore his ranks apart. How could he not have investigated them?

“By all rights, I shouldn’t possess such profound inner strength, should I?” Ji Wu said.

“True, inner strength should only be cultivated after one’s body is fully matured. But it’s not unheard of for those with impure methods to begin training children as vessels, or for certain heretics to use techniques that drain life force.”

The Criminal Champion’s expression remained unchanged, the implication clear.

He wasn’t convinced.

“You have inner strength as well. Try examining mine—if I’ve truly exhausted my life force, you’ll know at once.”

Ji Wu smiled.

At this, the Criminal Champion placed his palm on Ji Wu’s shoulder. After a moment, his own inner strength seeped in.

Inner strength was not inherently aggressive, so even when encountering another’s, there would be no violent clash. Under Ji Wu’s deliberate guidance, the Criminal Champion’s energy quickly circulated through Ji Wu’s body, and his eyes widened in shock.

Ji Wu’s vitality was not only robust, it was positively flourishing—a blazing furnace of life.

“Well?”

“…That still doesn’t prove anything.”

The Criminal Champion withdrew his hand, his expression more grave. “I have heard that, since ancient times, there have always been extraordinary individuals—call them prodigies. Those born with supernatural strength, those who could speak with beasts, those with double pupils, rainbow-colored brows, or even four breasts…

Compared to those storied prodigies, your inner strength, though impressive, is not beyond belief.”

“A worthy champion of the past, indeed—so learned. But what if you add Bear King into the equation? Surely you don’t believe a beast as formidable as Bear King could be raised by ordinary means?”

“In terms of sheer strength, even a grandmaster would struggle to match Bear King.”

The Criminal Champion still countered, “Since there are prodigies, there are also extraordinary beasts. Perhaps you were simply lucky.”

“That’s fair, but luck is part of strength, too.” Ji Wu spread his hands. “If you still don’t believe me, next year you can come with me to meet the immortal yourself. But before then, you must agree to work with me.”

“Well? Care to take a gamble?”