Purple light cluster?
Dugu Qiu pondered when he heard this: "Could it be a Dragon Pearl Fragment? This person swallowed a Dragon Pearl Fragment and then awakened a Mysterious Power? That would at least make some sense."
"In my whole life, this old man has never owed anyone a favor. Whatever wish you have, just tell me, this old man will definitely do his best to fulfill it. Wealth and rank, or riches you can’t spend in a lifetime, you can ask for it all." Dugu Qiu said with a squinty smile.
Once your cultivation reaches his level, the thing you fear most is Cause and Effect Force; if there is any, it must be cleared as soon as possible.
Hearing this, Zhang Chen shook his head, looking just like some simple mountain boy, eyes full of innocence, hugging Judgement in his arms as he said, "I really don’t have any big wishes. Saving you was what I truly wanted to do from the bottom of my heart, you don’t need to feel any psychological burden."
Dugu Qiu immediately grew anxious at these words. At his cultivation level, what he feared most was karma. The medicinal effect of that Golden Core was powerful, and it even brought him back from the dead—what a huge karmic tie was that? If he didn’t pay it off in advance, when he crossed the Three Calamities in the future and this got settled then, the price would be even greater.
So Dugu Qiu stared fixedly at Zhang Chen with both eyes: "No! You must state a wish."
Zhang Chen looked at Dugu Qiu’s pressing gaze, rolled his eyes, and said, "But I really don’t have any wishes."
"You have to have one! How can a person not have wishes? As long as you say it, no matter what wish it is, I can make it come true for you." Dugu Qiu’s voice was full of confidence.
As the number one man of the Imperial Palace of the Great Victory Dynasty, he really did have the qualifications to say this.
"Any wish will do? You can realize any wish?" Zhang Chen opened his mouth and probed.
Dugu Qiu nodded at these words: "That’s right, any wish will do! I can realize it."
"Since you insist I say one, then... my parents are dead, can you bring them back to life? That’s my only wish." Zhang Chen blinked at Dugu Qiu, his eyes full of expectation.
Of course he knew Dugu Qiu didn’t have that kind of ability, but if he didn’t first提出 an excessive request, how was he going to secure the right to comprehend Judgement later?
Dugu Qiu’s expression froze on his face at these words; a flush rushed to his head as he said, somewhat furious from embarrassment, "If I had the ability to raise the dead, would I have ended up like this? You brat are being far too unrealistic. Change to another request, don’t make such impractical dreams. As long as you提出 something you can see and touch, this old ancestor of yours can make it happen."
At this, Zhang Chen lowered his eyelids, pouted, and muttered, "And you said you could realize any wish... just another blowhard."
Though he muttered very quietly, with Dugu Qiu’s cultivation he heard it loud and clear; the veins on his forehead bulged, but facing his own benefactor, he couldn’t explode. Besides, the other party was a child—how could he argue with a child?
Right after, Zhang Chen lifted his head indifferently and said, "I really don’t have any wishes. If you have to make me offer one just so you can feel better, then just give me this spear. When I used this spear earlier to stab that Golden Core–level Demon Beast in hiding, it felt pretty handy."
Zhang Chen looked utterly relaxed, as if he truly didn’t know the background of Judgement at all and just treated it as an ordinary long spear, as if the wish he was making was just casual perfunctory talk to stop the other party from pestering him and get this whole topic over with.
Of course, Zhang Chen also knew Dugu Qiu would absolutely never give him this spear; he only wanted to secure one chance to test it out.
Who would have thought that when Dugu Qiu heard Zhang Chen’s words, the muscles on his face twitched, and he looked at Zhang Chen opposite him, his face turning green then purple, at a loss for words for a moment.
"What? Even such a simple request is beyond you? It’s just a spear. Yet you said you could satisfy all my wishes—are you toying with me on purpose?" Zhang Chen sized Dugu Qiu up and down, using his words to needle him.
Dugu Qiu smiled bitterly in his heart. This Divine Artifact belonged to the Great Victory Court; how could he have the authority to decide its fate?
Having bragged twice only to be slapped in the face by this young man each time, Dugu Qiu faced Zhang Chen’s expression of "Are you messing with me on purpose?" and stammered, "If you want weapons, I can满足 you with any number of Divine Weapons. All kinds of spears, even a thousand or ten thousand of them is fine—but this one alone won’t do."
Needled by Zhang Chen, Dugu Qiu’s confidence grew flimsy; he didn’t even dare raise his voice, his entire face smarting from how hard Zhang Chen had just slapped it metaphorically.
"I think you’re just deliberately looking for an excuse to dodge, bullying me for being young, trying to erase the value of that Golden Core of mine. But I was willing to save you; if you don’t want to repay me, why bother toying with me like this? Truly insincere." Zhang Chen kept needling him, leaving Dugu Qiu’s face alternating between green and purple. He wanted to explain how extraordinary this spear was, but Zhang Chen didn’t give him the chance: "I don’t think you’re truly sincere—you’re just trying to brush me off. I won’t make things hard for you. Lend me this spear for one day, and we’ll call the Cause and Effect settled. You don’t need to force me to提出 a wish; we’ll be even."
Dugu Qiu’s face twisted for a moment: "If you like this spear, just take it and play with it. Just return it to me when I leave. What I said still stands, only your conditions must be limited to wealth and rank. Those I can satisfy; you can’t提出 those outrageous demands."
Zhang Chen gave Dugu Qiu a sideways glance: "I’ve already mastered a Mysterious Power. Wealth and rank are within easy reach for me—why would I need to beg you for them?"
His tone was full of disdain, making Dugu Qiu look very hypocritical.
Dugu Qiu was momentarily speechless. He looked Zhang Chen up and down and finally said helplessly, "I can take you as my disciple."
Zhang Chen’s heart jolted. He cultivated the Immortal Dao and was full of secrets he couldn’t let anyone see; how would he dare get tangled up with Dugu Qiu?
He sized Dugu Qiu up and down, then said:
"Forget it, you should take care of yourself first. You’re already this miserable—if I拜 you as my master, wouldn’t I end up just as miserable?" Zhang Chen said irritably.
"I..." When Dugu Qiu heard this, he felt stifled. Looking at the youth’s contemptuous gaze, he was speechless to the extreme.
He, a top expert known across the land, the Great Victory Royal Family’s Sea Calming Force, was actually despised by some country bumpkin—what the hell happened to the laws of heaven?
There were countless people in this world who dreamed of taking him as their master and never got the chance, yet this brat in front of him couldn’t care less. Dugu Qiu’s feelings were a mess of sweet, sour, bitter, and spicy, and for a moment he couldn’t get a word out.
Zhang Chen stroked the Judgement in his arms and muttered curiously, "Speaking of which, this spear of yours doesn’t look all that special. What’s there to be so reluctant about?"
As he spoke, Zhang Chen quietly circulated his own Divine Techniques, the True God Golden Light, and silently probed it into the interior of the spear.
Zhang Chen’s True God Golden Light was already fifth tier, capable of harming Tenth Tier evil spirits; it was currently the strongest method he had at hand.
As Zhang Chen’s words fell, the True God Golden Light seeped into the spear. Judgement seemed to sense the invasion of Monster Power, and the next instant a terrifying force revived, about to strike back at Zhang Chen.
As the owner of the Mysterious power, Dugu Qiu sensed the abnormality in Judgement at once. With a wave of his palm he hastily summoned Judgement back, suppressing the awakened force within it, then turned his eyes to Zhang Chen—only to see Zhang Chen trembling in terror, face deathly pale as he looked at Dugu Qiu and stammered an explanation like a startled bird: "I just tried to rouse the power in my body and attach it to the spear to swing it around a bit..."
Seeing Zhang Chen’s soul-almost-gone expression, Dugu Qiu knew the kid had been badly scared and could also guess it was an unintentional move, so he didn’t blame him. Instead he warned solemnly, "Brat, this spear is anything but simple, don’t mess around with it! The Mysterious Power you control must not come into contact with it. If you provoke this treasure into going all out, even I won’t be able to save you."
"This spear of yours is really weird and dangerous. No wonder you wouldn’t give it to me—I almost died to it just now." Zhang Chen said, his lips still trembling.
As he spoke, Zhang Chen looked down at the ball of transparent light at his feet. That light cluster had dropped from Judgement, and he had no idea whether it was a Skill or experience points.
Dugu Qiu set the spear aside and, seeing the shaken Zhang Chen, spoke a few words of comfort: "Don’t be afraid. All the good treasures in this world have a temper. Whatever wish you have, hurry up and think it through, and tell me before I get off the boat."
Zhang Chen ignored Dugu Qiu, sitting there as if pondering what condition he should raise, while in truth his attention was fixed on that ball of light on the ground. This thing had dropped from a Twelfth Tier Mysterious being—who knew what kind of Skill it might give him.
[Skill detected, would you like to pick it up?]
The Golden Finger Interface popped up at just the right time.
"It’s actually a Skill." Zhang Chen was thrilled inside and silently said, "Pick up!"
[Picking up Skill...]
[New Skill: Time Acceleration.]
Then Zhang Chen’s Golden Finger Interface twisted, turned into a flurry of snowflakes, and refreshed directly:
[Skill 21 (Unranked): Time Acceleration (0/10000000)]
[Note 1: When you activate this Skill on a certain item, you may accelerate time for it by one year.]
[Note 2: The same item can only be accelerated once per day.]
"Holy shit! Time Acceleration!" Zhang Chen stared at the Golden Finger Interface, his eyes full of disbelief.
A Time Skill! This was absolutely a taboo power!
Was this really a Skill he could wield?
Even if it could only accelerate by one year each time, it was still an utterly unbelievable method.
Judgement actually had a Time Attribute?
Wasn’t Judgement Celestial Punishment? How could it drop a Time Skill?
Zhang Chen’s breathing grew rapid, his eyes full of disbelief.
He’d hit the jackpot! He’d traded a single Golden Core for the power to grasp time—no damn way would he trade that even for an even greater stroke of fortune!
"Stepped in dogshit luck." Zhang Chen’s little heart pounded wildly.
On the side, Dugu Qiu, who was Refining the Elixir, noticed Zhang Chen’s irregular breathing and gave him a glance. "Brat, judging from how worked up you are, you must’ve finally thought of what you want to ask of me? As long as your request is reasonable, this old ancestor will absolutely not refuse and will grant it on the spot."