I can hear some anger in his voice, but I didn't blame him much for it, the reason was pretty simple, he had every right to be acting out like this, he didn't volunteered to die, he didn't even volunteer .
But his anger was uncalled for,I assigned him one task and that to lead those guys to the Hall and leave, but I forgot to mention the last part and he didn't seem to do that, he instead stayed with those poisoned guys and was already starting to feel something weird with his body .
I told Mu Lu to stand outside as to guard the door and stepped inside and closed it behind me, then looked at Ti Tu and said :
" Well, don't worry much about it, I have a way to heal both of you and them back to your Peak Forms, but you all should be aware of nothing like free lunch exist in this world, I'm planning on letting you repay me for healing you .
" I need all of you to agree to my terms first before I start healing you bunch, what do you say ? .
Young Master Tian, we owe you a lot, so of course we will repay you for helping us out there and now, how much do you need ? .
One of them seem to misunderstand what I asking to be money and directly asked how much did I want them to pay, I shook my head and that left them completely bewildered, seeing them like this, I said :
" What I want isn't monkey, I want you to serve here in the Dojo for at least 5 years straight, then after that you can go wherever you wanted to go, I will have no complains nor have any issue with whatever decision you are going to make then, you would be free by then .
After I said this, all the people in the room fell into silent, then Ti Tu only gave a slight hum, he wasn't included in my words and he very much understood that, so his action was just a reminder for those engrossed in their own thoughts to hurry up and decide .
That guy is still quite the mystery for me, but his gestures and action tell of how much different he was compared to the character I had illustrated for him in my mind, I will have to ask him later about it, now isn't the right time to do so .
They had fallen into deep thoughts and all of them didn't even respond directly after hearing Ti Tu, they looked at one another and seemed to be struggling to make a decision, lacking a strong resolve and needing a one final push and I had already had a plan in mind .
" I can see that you all seem to be struggling to make that grave decision, but I will have you understand a few things, joining our dojo as much ridiculous as it could sound, might actually end up being beneficial to you guys, not only will you get a salary for your efforts .
" But believe it or not, we have a peerless alchemist among our ranks, one that should have no problem with supporting you with pills, these pills will help you advance by leaps and bounds, isn't that what you were trying to join the Alchemy Sacred Hall for .
" Those pills will only be given to those of you who contribute to the Dojo, doing tasks, eliminating dangers, doing chores, tending to the Garden, those of you who are skilled in a particular art can very much use it to make contributions, this could end up being quite the beneficial situation for both sides .
After saying this, I looked at their faces and even though their unwillingness had diminished a little, their ugly faces gave a clear sign and a window to what they might be thinking currently .
Their unwillingness had diminished but it hadn't completely disappeared, snorting coldly from the sidelines was Ti Tu, but they fortunately paid him no mind .
I wonder what expression will this guy show, once he know how powerful were those guys whom he was trying to intimidate, but this wasn't much of an issue currently, the most important thing was to make those guys willing to cooperate .
Young Master Tian, we are very much thankful for you taking our opinions in consideration, we really are, but I hope you can understand that we aren't just Rogue Practitioner or mercenaries, we have families behind us who are might be waiting for us .
Even though, your dojo might indeed be able to rise with such a Grandmaster beside you, with how severe the situation your Dojo is in currently, even such a Master won't be able to reverse the flow and get you out of your current predicament .
If we were to agree to join you, even our families behind us will be targeted, we just want to survive watching from the sidelines, I hope you could understand, we are indebted greatly to you, I can speak for all of us here and say that we very much appreciated your help, but it's just that you are asking for too much out of us .
Hearing what a bunch of them had said one after another, my expression couldn't help but turn a bit cold as I looked at their shameful expressions and after a while I said :
" So tell me how exactly are you going to survive this situation, if I decided not to help you, you might not be able to use your strength anymore, if you did try to force it, you will just end up dying a painful death .
" The only thing that is preventing you from dying is currently me, I'm not an evil person, but again why would I decide to help all of you, when you didn't even want to comply to the terms I came up with, tell me what will befell your family, if you were all to fall here today .
As I finished saying what I have, they all went silent and had ugly expressions on their faces, seeing this I once again tried to sway them kindly to our side by saying :
" But not only I unlike those at the Alchemy Sacred Hall won't let you suffer any loss or plot against you, but as I said before, you mind end up getting more benefits here than you could possibly have imagined, but even with such a promising future, I can see that bunch of you are still against the idea and the families behind you doesn't seem to be the reason as well, is it pride ?.
Even though my body was already aching from just moving a bit, I still managed to use the Spiritual Qi to urge the Resentment Energy to show itself, the second it appeared, all of their expressions become wary and they looked quite tensed too, seeing them like this, I already understood that their shields were starting to collapse and so was their argument .
None of those people had dare to even think of embracing death, not only that but they were also powerless in front of me, what did this mean, it meant that they were aware of no longer having any control on their own fate and this was indeed the emotional state I wanted to get them all to have .
Some were easy to break than others, 6 Organ Quenching experts had already knelt on the floor and they accepted my offer, but they haggled for the time they need to serve in the Dojo for, from 5 years, it went down all the way to 3 years, not a second day more, not a second day less .
As these guys opened the path of negotiation, the others stared at the outcome with anticipation, after seeing me nodding, one person after another knelt down and said :
We are willing to serve .
Even though I was able to tell that some of them had other thoughts on their mind, I let it go for the time being, instead I blocked Ti Tu nodes and meridians as to prevent him from suffering a uncalled for calamity, then told those guys that I will come back to heal them after half an hour .
They were excited to hear this, in fact I could heal them in my current state, but there was the issue of not completely trusting them, so to prevent them from have any funny idea, I had to be prepared for any kind of situation .
After dealing with them, I stepped out of this Hall and went to the Garden with Ti Tu standing uprightly behind me, he was silent for most of the way, but maybe he could no longer hold back his curiosity, or maybe it was something else that made him say :
So why are you so determined to recruit these guys, they look strong, but I don't think they are at the level required to be acting all high and mighty like this, don't you think ? .
Locking at him dead in the eye, I said :
" Among those guys there are 4 Bone Forging Realm experts and the rest are all in the late stages of the Organ Quenching Realm .
Saying this I continued to take a few steps forward and only after the distance between us had already become wide enough to normally not see each other backs, did he finally regained his senses and just let out a long sigh, before he smiled .
I still kept an eye on him, wondering what might be going inside his mind, seeing him smiling and seemed to be completely content, my suspicions of him being mysterious character only deepened and I made a note to myself to check what exactly up with him .
Reaching the Garden, I saw that the gates were open and thought nothing of it, after all who would dare to come inside and steal anything from under Uncle Li's nose, wasn't this the same as courting death .
I also couldn't help but recall and wonder on why and even after what he saw me capable of doing, he didn't ask much about it and just accepted it as it's, I no longer doubted him and his intentions, not that I had any right to do so from the start .
But normally, if someone who had barely started practicing Martial Arts suddenly showed this much capability, it would indeed raise a lot of suspicions, but then again this wasn't the case here, which made me somewhat unable to stop dwelling on it .
Arriving inside the Garden, I saw that Uncle Li wasn't inside there alone, Boa'er was with him, she was caressing the tree trunk of the Moon-Whispering Willow affectionately, after I took a few steps inside, both of them had become aware of my arrival .
Uncle Li didn't open his eyes and still continued to meditate in peace, but his eyebrows twitched slightly and I saw that his face was quite pale and even his mouth had traces of blood on it, I was quite certain of how he become like this .
This was most likely caused by seeing the state of the Garden, but I had nothing to say regarding this, I only managed to save what was remaining of it, maybe if I had come earlier, I would have actually managed to save a bit more of it by then, but it's all over .
Not to mention that the important section where exotic herps and plants were still untouched, the resources there ar way more important, even the Enlightenment Conscious Tree had started to grow buds .
This was my biggest surprise, that thing actually somehow shortened the time it needed to produce fruit, which was of course an amazing piece of news, in 4 months there should be 5 mature fruits decorating this tree .
Its aura was getting stronger too, but it wasn't acting out of order or anything, in fact it was a lot with how it treated Boa'er and once it recognized my presence, it extended a branch towards me, seeing that there was no enmity or malicious intent from it, I let it brought me in front of it and beside Boa'er .
The situation was quite awkward, but I already have a clear mind on what I should do, I bowed down to her and cupped my fist while saying :
" Junior Brother Tian Long greet Senior Sister Boa'er, I also want to sincerely apologize for my outburst yesterday, but Master's absence was just troubling me more than I could have imagined, I hope that you will forgive me .
With a sad face and tone, she turned her head towards me and said :
I'm sorry for keep pushing you too hard, I too had trouble in cooping with the current state of things, so if you shall accept mine, I shall accept yours .
I was surprised to hear her say this, so I couldn't help but raise my head up and see her eyes filled with grief and sadness, I forgot to answer her and that made her lock eyes with mine and she broke the eyes contact with a blush, then turned his head and said :
You also don't need to call me Senior Sister, I had already abolished my practice for a selfish wish of mine, I hoped to walk the path of Full Body Tempering as my Father and Master wished for me to do so, I also hope that you don't take this the wrong way, but I want to be able to beat you one day .
She said all that in one breath, after saying that, she finally seemed to have regained some of her fighting spirit and vigor, she gave a slight smile and fluttered like a butterfly around the tree that seemed to react weirdly to her every movement .
" Senior Sister is not selfish at all, I believe that Master will now rest peacefully knowing that his heir was this wise and had such a loving heart and poised mind .
I saw her faint smile widen a little bit more and her sickly complexion turned rosy in a weird manner, still averting to look me in the eyes, she nodded her head and offered me her thanks for the warm words, just as the situation become engulfed in silence, a coughing sounds followed by the voice of none other than Uncle Li saying :
Cough, cough, so do you have something to do with me, or did you come to finally uproot what remained of the place ? .
" Uncle Li must be joking, I swear that in yesterday's incident, I delt the least amount of damage to the Gard..., hey, what was that for ? .
Just as I was about to finish saying what I have to say, my back was hit by a thin branch that extended out of the Enlightenment Conscious Tree behind me, I couldn't help but wonder what's up with it ? .
See, even the tree had witnessed your rampage and you still want to deny it ? .
He glared at me and was acting all serious all of a sudden, I just swallowed the rest of words I was about to unleash, but accepting that the only thing that they might do is to make the situation worse, so even though I vowed to uproot that tree after getting the fruits it will bear .
Evading another whip like branch attack, I looked at the tree and instantly my power of resentment flashed slightly on the sheath of my sword, instantly forcing it to comply with me, after that I looked at Uncle Li and said :
" I managed to secure the guys upstairs and convinced them to accept getting recruited into the Dojo, but I need to heal them first and that's why I'm here .
Boa'er seem to have finally stopped laughing at the scene between me and Uncle Li and that damned greedy tree, was quite curious on what I was saying and asked me to explain what method was that .
I had briefly told her what I intended to do and the tree was also eavesdropping on the conversation, after hearing what I'm planning to do, its leaves and the whole tree began shaking left and right, as if making its rejection to the idea clear to all .
Seeing it acting like this, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, this thing's consciousness seemed to have grown up together with its size, it was now capable of showing emotions and even shaking itself like how humans shook their heads .
It was fascinating, but to the current me it was nothing but daunting, I tried to convince it to share some of its massive Soul Power with me, helping me recover my lost soul power more quickly, or as these guys here called that energy Mental Energy .
But it didn't even give me a chance to present my offer to it, before it directly refused, I looked at the people who were present and currently deep in thought about something and reached for the tree trunk .
No
A soft voice of what seemed to be a child's voice sounded in my ears instantly refusing to budge even a little bit,the voice was quite resolute as well and left no room for any try of reasoning with it .
I established the connection once again, after that tree spirit cut it off directly after answering me, I then said :
" How about I in exchange for you helping me this time around, I would let you absorb some of the Yin Qi that you very much need and like .
The tree on the other side of the connection was completely silent for a while before it said :
Human aren't trustworthy, I also don't believe that you have any spiritual... .
It stopped talking once a wisp of my Yin Qi was infused into it, then the only voice that came after was it saying :
This, this can't be possible .