Chapter 881: Chapter 751: Are You Kidding Me?
Rhine heard Qu Jianlei’s words and casually shook his head, "It’s not what you think, this land has some stories..."
This land was originally owned by a small family, but later the government planned this area for office use, and the land price skyrocketed.
There were many disputes surrounding this land, and the people of that small family were almost completely wiped out, with the land deed disappearing mysteriously.
Later, the government’s allocation changed, and the heat around this land cooled down, but even so, transfer of ownership would still pose potential troubles.
Rhine, being a local, was aware of the possible troubles here.
"Consider this land as given to our Haiyin Family, I’ll exchange a manor for you... only better than this."
Qu Jianlei nodded at these words, "Alright then, how much balance needs to be paid?"
"We’ll waive the balance," Rhine smiled, "If I asked you for a balance, would I still be considered humane?"
"You just move in and live, and leave everything else to me."
Xiang Xue suddenly spoke up, "Leave a couple of guards, and tell them not to wander off, okay?"
"Of course," Rhine nodded with a smile, "I knew you were difficult... rest assured, no one would dare disobey me."
So that afternoon, the group moved into a manor.
This manor occupied an entire hilltop, with springs flowing from the top, truly a place surrounded by beautiful mountains and water.
The Paranoid spoke, "Niaoming Stream... this was once a debate battlefield."
Rhine kept pondering which Supreme this was, and couldn’t help but ask, "Have you been here before, senior?"
The Paranoid ignored her, simply stating, "Cultivating here is indeed nice."
That afternoon, the manor was transferred under Claire’s name—her false identity’s name.
Then Qu Jianlei started setting up arrays, and after setting up defense arrays, he further set up Qi Gathering Arrays.
Bentley and others were already familiar with Qi Gathering Arrays, and once the array was set up, they began cultivating routinely.
Xiang Xue saw it for the first time, noticing Qi Gathering Arrays outside the military, though she didn’t express much surprise.
After all, her Supreme father wasn’t exactly rule-abiding, hitting the borderline quite frequently.
So after the initial shock, she happily joined in the cultivation, "The boss really knows his stuff!"
As for secretly hiding Qi Gathering Arrays, it might be a serious illegal act, but so what?
The law restrains the common people forever, while occasional bends from privileged classes aren’t considered major issues.
As everyone began cultivating, the Paranoid looked at Qu Jianlei, "And the Spirit Gathering Array?"
Qu Jianlei reached out his hand, "Your array... hand it over!"
The Paranoid hesitated momentarily, but still retrieved a non-metal, non-stone plaque from the Storage Talisman, looking like a shield.
Qu Jianlei glanced at it, his face darkening immediately, "Half a piece... are you kidding me?"
"I..." The Paranoid hesitated again, finally gritting his teeth, "I only have half a piece!"
"You could die!" Qu Jianlei didn’t bother with Finger Techniques, launching a heavy Divine Sense Attack, "How dare you!"
"Don’t!" The Paranoid quietly hummed, raising his hand to release a puff of gray powder, "Listen to my explanation!"
Not to mention, this puff of gray powder was truly magical, absorbing quite a bit of Spiritual Power.
The Paranoid’s Spiritual Power was slightly lower than Qu Jianlei’s, but with the aid of this gray powder, he actually blocked the hit.
His body swayed, face turning pale, but he still shouted, "Don’t you want the next half?"
"I’d rather not have the next half," Qu Jianlei sneered and launched another Divine Sense Attack, "I won’t accept deceit!"
"The next half is at the Divine Text Association!" The Paranoid scattered another handful of gray powder, his body swayed, and blood flowed from his nose and mouth!
"I was ambushed, and the other half was stolen from me, I’ve never claimed to have a complete array!"
Qu Jianlei heard this and carefully recalled, indeed, the guy never claimed his array was complete.
However, does intentional misdirection not count as deceit?
He sneered and put away the Spirit Gathering Array, "I’ll take this half-set array, providing you with a body for possession, consider us even!"
Though he felt unwilling, he saw too many familiar shadows in the Paranoid.
Indeed, once upon a time, he also felt and reacted similarly.
If given the opportunity to extricate oneself as the Paranoid, would one not seize it?
While seizing this opportunity, a little lying is necessary—or maybe not even lying, choosing not to speak the truth?
That’s how empathy works; not long ago, he almost considered giving Kerry a chance, but that idiot practically sought death.
Now he chose to spare this one, cooperation is impossible, but it’s not necessary to become enemies, right?
But if the other party is unwilling to part with this half-set array, then you can’t blame him for not providing another chance.
"Even?" The Paranoid rolled his eyes at him, "Are you looking for an opportunity to silence me?"
"Silence?" Qu Jianlei was initially stunned by these words but then laughed, "I almost forgot!"
To be honest, the other party has mastered quite a few of his secrets; the key ones are the Spirit Gathering Array and artificial intelligence, and even the Attributeless one counts.
He had long decided that if the other dared to leave voluntarily, he would definitely silence them.
However, the half-piece of Teleportation Array data was somewhat unexpected, making him overlook this point.
In anger, he only wanted to sever ties with the other party—actually, it was that subconscious empathy acting up.
Now, the other party surprisingly reminded him: if you want to let me go, you must silence me!
Paranoid is just paranoid, not stupid!
"Really forgot?" the Paranoid looked at him suspiciously, "Why do I feel like... you’re setting me up?"
He held himself in high regard, having once stepped foot above the Supreme, he wouldn’t bother with the Supreme casually.
But facing an Attributeless Supreme, he also had to admit, this person could indeed cause him significant trouble.
Not to mention, now that he had a body, the other had a precise target to strike at, which made it even more dangerous.
It seems it’s really not easy to cut ties! Qu Jianlei shook his head helplessly.
"Then I’ll give you another chance, where is the remaining half of the array located in the Divine Text Association?"
"It was taken by one of my assistants," the Paranoid replied through gritted teeth, "His name is Pierre."
The reason he didn’t mention this to Qu Jianlei beforehand was partly because he feared his bargaining chips were insufficient and partly out of embarrassment.
But now, having to hand over the half-piece of the array, it’s like he’s exposed himself completely, so there’s no need to cover up anymore.
Pierre was his personal assistant at the Divine Text Association, with some other connections as well, a clever young man who gained his trust greatly.
He didn’t hold an official position at the Divine Text Association, more like an advisor, joining just to access more Divine Text Materials.
So when he saw Qu Jianlei and claimed he was from the Divine Text Association, it wasn’t really a lie.
When he found out the association was of little help to him, he left without even needing to go through formalities.
At that time, Pierre was already at the A-level peak, young and promising, yet he left the Divine Text Association with him.
The Paranoid looked at Pierre as if he saw his younger self, taking great care of him.
However, generally speaking, he still didn’t quite understand how to show concern for someone.
Because his personality was very self-centered, being kind was also a matter of mood, and outwardly it even appeared as constant scolding.
Does scolding necessarily mean torture? Not necessarily, for the Imperial people revered iron and blood, disliking nurturing greenhouse flowers.
The mindset of "beating is for your own good" is truly quite common.
Initially, the Paranoid was not aware of this problem, anyway, he felt his intentions were good.
But being dormant underground for four hundred years... two hundred years was enough to make him think carefully and reflect on his life.
How could Pierre, whom I trusted and cared for so deeply, betray me?
He speculated it was for this reason, but up to now, he isn’t quite sure.
Because Pierre always acted very respectfully, he invited him to be the Dharma Protector when he was impacting above the Supreme.
Generally, for A-level impacting the Supreme, you’d invite a Supreme to be the Dharma Protector—if conditions didn’t allow, hiding in a Military Cultivation Room would suffice.
But when impacting above the Supreme, you basically need to find a secluded place to undergo closed-door training.
The reason is simple, above the Supreme is merely a theoretical realm with no recognized path to tread.
The process of exploring and impacting is inherently a very private matter.
If you invite another Supreme as a Dharma Protector, if you fail, death isn’t the hardest to accept, barely surviving to be ridiculed is more embarrassing.
And what if you succeed? Please, after going through so much trouble to explore a path, why let others benefit for free?
This has nothing to do with being selfish; it’s just how the societal norms of the Imperial are, constructing information barriers is basic knowledge.
So impacting above the Supreme is a very private matter, not appropriate to find a High Tier Awakened as a Dharma Protector.
Yet at the same time, it’s a prolonged process, having no one to oversee things is inappropriate.
The Paranoid believed that impacting above the Supreme might take him several years.
So he arranged for Pierre to look after things, just in case he needed some external help from the other.
As proven, his thoughts weren’t wrong; that impact took more than three years.
At the beginning, Pierre indeed took very good care of things, often arranging matters without needing his directions.
However, when he finally impacted above the Supreme and began consolidating his realm with all efforts, Pierre had issues.
This individual waited for about a month, probing once to ask what happened.
At that time, the Paranoid was quite vexed because that body was simply too difficult to consolidate.
He wasn’t even sure if he could succeed, so he did not reply.
Then, after waiting another seven or eight days, seeing him increasingly motionless, Pierre actually tentatively packed up half of the array.
(Update to: summon monthly tickets, chase subscriptions, and recommend tickets.)
