CHAPTER 54: CHAPTER 40 TEACHER: A MING_1

"Alright, Mr. Ding, my apologies. I was dealing with some personal matters earlier. You mentioned you have three conditions. You may state them now; I’m all ears."

"I... I will teach."

There was no questioning how Blind Bei knew him, how this matter related to Wang Li’s family, or why it had to be this way. Ding Hao simply caved in and conceded. He admitted defeat.

He could choose not to value his life; he could end it all with one decisive act. He could be fearless, even daring to taste the so-called extreme tortures. But his own men had just died protecting him, right before his eyes. He couldn’t make a choice that would implicate their families. Especially since Wang Li’s wife might be pregnant!

Of course, the most important thing was that he knew the blind man before him wasn’t bluffing.

Ding Hao considered himself worldly and a good judge of character. Moreover, this blind man had casually killed a Half-step Ninth Rank martial artist right in front of him. His expression, his words, his attitude—they all told Ding Hao one thing: he wasn’t bluffing, and human life, in his eyes... Damn, he didn’t even have eyes!

HUFF... Blind Bei let out a long breath, then immediately said to Siniang, "Siniang."

"Go ahead."

"I’ve given it some thought. It’s only a penny, after all. To kill an entire family over a penny seems a bit much; this goes against My lord’s teachings to us."

"Mhm."

"Perhaps we shouldn’t kill them."

"Okay."

After he finished speaking, Blind Bei sat upright. Continuing to face Ding Hao with his empty eye sockets, he said very kindly, "Siniang, as I was saying, we should persuade people with virtue. You shouldn’t always be thinking about torture and the like; it’s too barbaric."

A faint smile touched Siniang’s lips. At that moment, she desperately wanted to stab the needles in her hand into the blind man, one by one.

However, Siniang simply replied gently, "I see. I’ve learned something."

Blind Bei waved his hand, as if to say this was basic.

Then, Blind Bei leaned his body slightly forward, creating the impression that he was trying to get a closer "look" at Ding Hao.

"So, since you’ve agreed to be our lord’s teacher, sir, you may introduce yourself."

Since he had already agreed, Ding Hao didn’t bother with any coyness; the blind man before him wasn’t the type to play along with such performances.

"My name is Ding Hao. I’m originally from Hutou City, where I served as the City Patrolling Officer. Five years ago, I was transferred to Tuman City as the Inspector Officer..."

Blind Bei rapidly processed this information. In the Yan State’s official system, the title ’Xiaowei’ was almost as ubiquitous as Russian surnames ending in ’-sky’. However, Tuman City was a commandery capital, and ’Inspector Officer’ clearly sounded more prestigious than ’Patrolling Officer’ or ’Merchant Protection Officer’. So, it was evident that this Ding Hao had once been a significant figure.

Next, Ding Hao recounted everything that had happened to him: from his feud with the Liu Clan of the Northern Seal to slaughtering his superior’s entire family, his life as an outlaw, and all the recent events.

It could be said that his attitude was thoroughly cooperative.

This pleased Blind Bei greatly.

Smart people liked dealing with other smart people, and recognizing the lay of the land was also a sign of intelligence.

"Alright, Mr. Ding, from now on, you will live here. You are well aware that you are a wanted fugitive by the imperial court, so I won’t elaborate on what you need to be careful about. It would be best if you don’t leave this residence. Your daily activities should also be confined. As for food and clothing, someone will be assigned to take care of those for you. You can rest assured on that point.

What you need to do is impart your understanding of martial arts to our lord without any reservations.

As long as your teaching satisfies us in terms of quality and speed, we will ensure that your future compensation will also be satisfactory."

"Compensation? HEHE..." Ding Hao laughed somewhat desolately and said, "Surely, you can’t make me, a cripple, stand again?"

"Hmm..."

Blind Bei appeared to be deep in thought, then he said, "Theoretically, it’s possible. We could even potentially restore you to the level of strength you possessed before your injury."

Ding Hao’s eyes instantly reddened. With a THUD, he fell from his chair and sprawled on the floor. Still, he craned his neck stubbornly, staring at Blind Bei in disbelief as he asked, "Are you trying to fool me?"

Blind Bei very seriously pointed to his own eye sockets.

Behind him, Siniang saw Blind Bei make this gesture again and couldn’t help but rub her forehead in exasperation.

"Look into my eyes."

"..." Ding Hao.

"Just a joke, don’t take it to heart."

"Er..."

"As long as you can teach our lord well, enabling him to quickly become a martial artist and even helping him advance in rank sooner rather than later, then you will be one of us. And we are always very generous to our own.

Here, I make you a promise: the day our lord advances in rank will be the day you are restored.

At that time, you can go and seek your revenge against that so-called Liu Clan of the Northern Seal.

Of course, if you can manage to suck up to our master...

COUGH COUGH.

If you can genuinely build a good relationship with our master, then as soon as he gives the order, all of us can help you take revenge on the Liu Clan of the Northern Seal."

Hope initially filled Ding Hao’s face, but it soon faded as he regained his composure. However, this calm was a vast improvement over his previous deathly pallor.

"I... I still feel like you’re deceiving me."

Blind Bei remained unfazed and replied, "The art of deception is never about its cleverness, but about whether the person facing it—their inner self—is willing to be deceived.

Are you... willing?"

"I am willing."

At this, Siniang, who had been listening nearby, felt a cringeworthy sensation and said, "TSK TSK, this feels like the perfect moment to play a song by Tao Zhe."

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"If you want to listen, you can fetch the erhu you gave me."

"Don’t say it, I get the feeling you actually quite like it."

"I still prefer the piano."

"Then next time, I’ll ask the merchant caravans from the West if they’ve managed to make one over there yet. If they have, I’ll order one for you. If not, you draw up some blueprints, and I’ll find someone to custom-make it."

"If I design it myself, I might not be very used to it."

"Considering the times, what are you being so fussy about?"

Seeing the two of them continuously chatting about such strange topics, Ding Hao, who was beside them, couldn’t help but speak out, "When... can we begin the lessons?"

Now, it seemed the eunuch was more anxious than the emperor.

But Blind Bei was very satisfied with this display of initiative and said, "You’ve met our lord, I presume, Mr. Ding. Formal instruction, however, will begin tomorrow. For the remainder of today, I need you to first explain to me your understanding and methods of martial cultivation. To be precise, this will give us a foundation and allow us to better assist your student—our lord—in his learning and progress during your subsequent teaching."

The seven demon lords would learn first, and then guide Zheng Fan. This felt like seven brilliant students from Tsinghua and Peking Universities accompanying Zheng Fan, an elementary schooler, to a tutoring class. After class, they would still need to give Zheng Fan extra lessons, breaking down the elementary school concepts into tiny pieces before drilling them into him. Such treatment was truly unparalleled.

Ding Hao nodded readily. "Alright."

...

Blind Bei and Siniang left the room together. Blind Bei stretched his arms, gave a light stretch, and said at the same time, "Siniang, instruct the servants to prepare a meal for Mr. Ding. Tell him he can rest for two hours after his meal. Oh, no, I mean, for one shichen."

"I already gave the order."

"Good."

"By the way, Blind Bei, I knew you were insidious before, but I didn’t expect you to be so ruthless as to threaten him with Wang Li’s family."

"Well, Wang Li just died in front of him to protect him. Is there anything inappropriate about me threatening him with Wang Li’s family?"

Siniang nodded as if it were a matter of course. "Extremely appropriate."

"There you have it. What are you trying to say?"

"The problem is, Wang Li’s wife is pregnant."

"Hmm, it seems she is." Blind Bei appeared to only just realize this.

"So, your threat included leveraging the life of your own child?"

"My child?"

"Haven’t you been constantly sending her talisman water lately?"

"Oh, HEHE." Blind Bei chuckled, then stated with certainty, "The child in her womb is definitely not mine."

"Are you infertile?"

"..." Blind Bei.

"It’s alright. None of the seven of us, including My lord, have children. Liang Cheng and A Ming, with their rare bloodlines, are like the ancient Pixiu—it’s incredibly difficult for them to produce offspring. So, no one will discriminate against you."

"I never touched her," Blind Bei said seriously. "Every time I delivered the Fu Water to her, I had her drink it. Initially, I used hypnosis. Later, after my strength recovered a bit, I directly used my spiritual power to help stabilize her emotions. Perhaps, because her state of mind calmed down and she wasn’t so agitated, she successfully conceived with her husband."

"Hey, why didn’t you say so earlier? You had me thinking you were ruthless enough to risk even your own child. That was scary!"

"I am pure and kind. It is your own minds that are too filthy and wicked."

"Alright, alright, I get it, I get it."

"By the way, have A Ming come over later."

"What do you want him for?"

"Didn’t our new teacher just say that martial cultivation requires circulating qi and blood within the body? There’s a specific pathway for it."

"Yes, he asked us to get paper and a brush to draw it."

"A drawing won’t be three-dimensional enough. Our lord will find it quite obscure."

Siniang immediately covered her mouth and stifled a laugh. "HEHEHE, so, you’re having A Ming come over because you want to..."

"We have a ready-made human anatomical model; it would be a waste not to use him. I’ll trouble you later to embroider the energy circulation pathways directly onto A Ming."

"But, having needles stuck into him like that... it’s going to be very painful, you know."

"You can’t bear to do it?" Blind Bei asked.

"No, it’s that I can’t wait."