Chapter 815 Forced Upon Him
David leaned forward, getting serious.
"I'm sure your organization has noticed the increase in strange appearances: mutated animals, strange beings, and whatnot. I believe an organization like yours is smart enough to know it isn't a coincidence. But let me tell you more, if just as a show of good faith."
Elder Bai squinted at him again.
'For a young man, he certainly knows a lot…'
"We had noticed, yes. But does that have to do with your aggressive stance?" he asked.
"It has all to do with it," David stated.
Elder Bai was confused about his answer.
David could see the confusion in his eyes and kept talking.
"Tell me, old man. How much has the Zhong Kui done to cull those threats? Have you acted overtly, or only from the shadows?"
Elder Bai took a moment to think. He wasn't part of the founder's circle, so he wasn't aware of everything.
But he did know that there were very few attempts at helping quell the appearance of strange creatures in mainland China. There were some snatch and grabs here and there, but no serious attempts.
But again, he wondered how the young man would know this.
"What does that have to do with how hateful you are with us? Should our organization announce to the world that it exists? That we hunt demons? That the supernatural is real?"
David snorted.
"You still don't get it. What the Zhong Kui has been hunting for the past millennia is not demons. They are remnants, at best. Once you are faced with the real deal, a veritable demon, your organization will crumble like the fragile house of cards that it is. That is my problem."
Again, the elder looked confused.
"What veritable demon? What are you talking about, boy? Be clear."
David grinned at him.
"I'm saying the end is coming, and your entire organization isn't ready. You will all die and leave the rest of China, nay, the world, on its ass. That's why I hate you. You will fail to uphold your main purpose, the only reason you exist."
Elder Bai's eyes widened a bit.
"And that's where I come in," David added.
He had used the stick. Now it was time to offer the carrot.
"If your organization is ready to accept a few changes to its training regimen, I can make sure some of you are at least ready for what is to come. Otherwise, you will only get in my way. How about it?" David asked, smiling.
The Elder's eyes narrowed.
"I cannot make that call, young man. This is way beyond my station."
"I figured as much. But I will need you to promise that you will push for this when I offer it to your leaders, which I will do very soon. If you can't promise that, then you are not leaving here. At least, not in one piece."
The Elder was stuck between a rock and a hard place. This decision was not something he could make.
And promising such a controversial thing to his superiors could get him into a lot of trouble.
The founders were extremely traditionalist men, and asking them to review the training regimen for the recruits would stir up a lot of fuss.
He would be lucky to get demoted. His other options were banishment, at best, and execution, at second best.
He didn't want to think about the last option.
"I can't pro—" he opened his mouth to say.
But David lifted his arm, interrupting him.
"I'm not asking, old man. You need to understand something about me. I will kill you and everyone who gets in my way. And I will sleep like a baby at night, imagining how much simpler my task has become without you in my way."
Alex glanced at him from the corner of his eye.
'And then people think I'm the violent one. Heh.'
But he couldn't agree more with him. Getting rid of future obstacles was always a better thing to do.
And David knew who almost all his future obstacles would be. Perks of being from the future, Alex assumed.
The old man was grinding his teeth together, feeling helpless. He had sent away half his team and already had trouble in four against one.
The odds were overwhelmingly in the enemy's favour at the moment.
'I can always promise it now and not uphold that promise later,' Bai Fend thought.
"Don't even think about it. The promise you will make with me will bind you to it. There is no going around it. Unless you want to cripple yourself. I know your ways, old man."
What David wasn't telling anyone was that he had learned the ways of the Zhong Kui in his last life. At least a part of them.
One of their men had been stuck in North America when the convergence had happened, and his code of conduct had made him try to teach people around him, so they stood a chance against the demons.
So, David knew a few things.
Of these things being how to make a soul binding oath. An oath to the heavens, as the man had called it.
And he had seen what happened to those that went against this. The people who still thought gods weren't real had something else coming their way.
Swearing an oath to the heavens entailed making an oath unbreakable, unless you wanted to die. The gods themselves upheld these oaths.
And the result of breaking one wasn't pretty.
Elder Bai almost scoffed at him, doubting his words. How would an outsider know about the Oath to the heavens, after all?
No amount of research into their ways would tell them this.
David smirked at him.
"If you don't believe me, then how about you repeat after me, old man?" David said tauntingly.
Then he started reciting a promise, his words aimed from the old man to himself, making sure the elder repeated after him.
After the third phrase, Elder Bai was already sweating profusely. These were the exact words of an oath to the heavens!
And he was already too far in to back off.
'How did he know?! There is a traitor among us! It has to be Gu Fang! This trash!'
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