After Li Yao finished his speech, Jin Xinyue felt that she had just observed a life-and-death battle between unparalleled experts at a close distance. The unstoppable blades brushed past her.
She could even feel the sharp blades of her master's and her father's thoughts rubbing against her cerebral cortex, resulting in the exhilaration that felt like ice water pouring into her head.
The soul-stirring feeling made her sweat hard, and her hands and feet were shaking.
She sorted through her memories from the beginning to the end. The image of her father was even more magnificent and mysterious in her heart.
Jin Xinyue smiled bitterly. "It seems that I've been underestimating my father all the time.
"How laughable. In the past, I actually thought that I could secretly kill my stepmother, stir up trouble in the Golden Crow Nation, and secretly nurture my own faction. Yet, my father actually knew nothing about it. He is nothing more than that."
"But now, it seems that he knew everything clearly and was merely indulging me on purpose!
"It's a pity that the Red Tide Plan that my father had carefully planned for decades ignored two fatal factors. One of them was Elder Nether Spring's Spore Stratagem, and the other was Master. In the end, it was inevitable that other people would benefit from the plan. It was destined to fail!
"Master, I don't understand why my father was fooled by Elder Nether Spring if he is as terrifying as you described."
Li Yao sighed and pointed at his head. "It's a problem of the distribution of computational ability.
"It must be noted that every human being has their limits. Regardless of whether they are a Yuanying or a demon emperor, there is a limit to the activity and activity of their brain cells.
"Initiating the Red Tide Plan on his own, hoping to conquer the Tian Yuan Realm after a single battle, how whimsical was that? What kind of madness, what kind of magnificent undertaking was this?! Your father must've devoted all his computational ability to the plan. How could he have the spare time to consider other problems?
"Maybe. He once thought that other demon emperors were all 'pig teammates'. The truth of the Red Tide Plan might be exposed. He had to get rid of them and act on his own.
"But how could he have foreseen that the mouths of those 'pig teammates' were full of tusks? Not only would they be a hindrance to him, they might even bite him back?"
"I understand this state the best. To be honest, do you think my personality and thinking are different? Sometimes, it's weird. It's like his IQ fluctuates. Sometimes he says shocking things, and sometimes he's just talking nonsense. "
Jin Xinyue said, "Uh, this disciple wouldn't dare. Master is a person of great wisdom and virtue. He was born with a pure heart. Occasionally, he would be naive, but his Dao heart was clear. The performance of returning to one's natural state! "
Li Yao smiled. "What do you mean by returning to one's natural state? It's actually very simple. They have to allocate 95% of their computational ability to consider the tactics, make plans, and study the structural designs of magical equipment and the ancient classics. The computational ability that can really be used for communication is only 5% at best. Naturally, they are somewhat sluggish and weird! "
"For example, at this moment, I am using a very small amount of computing power to communicate with you, but I am distributing most of my computing power. Consider how to destroy the Eye of Blood Demon! This is the principle of multitasking. "
"Sometimes, for example, a few days ago. In order to sort out the causes and effects of the Red Tide Plan, I would even burn my life. After activating the activity of my brain cells to more than 1500% and condensing 150% of my computational ability, my brain cells would need a long rest. At that time, the wisdom that I could show would be no different from that of an ordinary person. Chances are that I wouldn't even be able to see through the simple traps and arrangements.
"Your father's situation should be the same as mine, if not even more serious, because I was only thinking about 'sabotage', while he was thinking about 'construction'. Sabotage is always easier than construction.
"In order to build the Eye of Blood Demon and implement the Red Tide Plan, he must've devoted 110% of his computational ability to it. His brain was overloaded all the time. How could he have spare computational ability to care about other demon emperors' schemes?
"Perhaps, it was because of that that he relaxed the monitoring of the people around him, which led to Elder Nether Spring's infiltration. In the end, even the Red Tide Plan became a 'stepping stone' for the Spore Stratagem!"
Although they were on different sides, Li Yao still thought highly of Jin Tuyi.
Jin Tuyi's doomed failure might've been because he had chosen an enemy that was impossible to defeat and an impossible mission since the very beginning, and he had run into all kinds of unexpected factors at the last moment.
In short, it was not his fault!
"By the way …"
Li Yao sighed in his heart and said, "I didn't tell you the whole story before we came to Heavenly Path City not because I didn't trust you.
"It's true that I recruited you as my disciple because of a lot of interests, including the fact that you are Jin Tuyi's daughter, which means that I can communicate with him more quickly through you. Besides, you boast the Divine Blood of Chaos, which turns you from a demon into an out-and-out human being. It will be of great help to the integration of the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector in the future, too.
"However, now that I've recruited you as my disciple, I won't keep it a secret and make use of you as a chess piece.
"The reason why I didn't tell you in advance is very simple. It's because your acting skills are still a little immature and haven't reached the point of perfection. In a heavyweight meeting between me and your father, it's too easy for you to give yourself away, do you understand?"
Jin Xinyue was dazed. "My acting skills … are not good enough?"
"Exactly."
Li Yao walked to the entrance of the cave with his hands behind his back. Looking at the three lackluster blood moons in the sky, he said casually, "Of course, you must've honed your acting skills hard in the Pantheon of Demons. I can tell that you are a professional. It won't be a problem for you to fool the general experts.
"However, in the eyes of experts at the level of your father and I, many of your actions and expressions still cannot be rid of a deliberate air of artificiality. They are slightly exaggerated and immature."
Jin Xinyue frowned and could not help but touch her face. "Am — am I?"
"Yes."
Li Yao turned around and looked at his disciple solemnly. "The simplest example is your reaction when I analyzed the Red Tide Plan just now.
"In fact, with your wisdom, you must've realized that our purpose in sneaking into Heavenly Path City was not simple. Also, you must've guessed a lot of things when you listened to my analysis, didn't you?
"But you still pretended that you didn't know anything about it. You were shocked, sweating, and dumbfounded every now and then. You used your clumsiness to set off my brilliance.
"Of course, it was a good idea, but too much is as bad as too little. Such flattery was not subtle enough."
Jin Xinyue was rendered speechless. She lowered her head in shame in front of her master.
Li Yao said solemnly, "Don't think that I'm belittling you. For your age, your acting skills are already remarkable!
"In fact, there's one thing that I've always regretted.
"I'm best at fighting and refining. I recruited two disciples before. Your eldest senior brother is a genius in martial arts and has the potential to inherit my abilities in fighting. Your second senior sister, despite her mediocre talents, is incomparable to anybody else's passion and hard work in refining. She is more or less qualified to inherit some of the knowledge that I've accumulated on the arts of refining.
"However, few people know that, other than fighting and refining, I have another skill that I value most, which is acting skills!
"I grew up in the magical equipment graveyard, where the competition was as cruel as the Blood Demon Sector. Before I learned fighting and refining, I had been struggling to survive with my 'acting skills'!
"Acting skills. What is acting skills?
"Observation, analysis, thinking, thinking as the enemy, camouflage, bait, trap, scheme, misdirection, secondary misdirection, tertiary misdirection … The combination of such abilities is the real acting skills!
"Acting skills are almost the only secret for the weak to defeat the strong! In the vast sea of stars, perils are everywhere. Experts are as common as clouds, and demons are as common as rain. Everybody is a Cultivator, but it is impossible for them to be truly invincible. In many cases, the only way to survive and turn a failure into a victory is through acting skills!
"It's a pity that my first two disciples may have made some achievements in fighting and refining, but their temperament and wisdom are not enough to inherit my acting skills. Therefore …"
Jin Xinyue was greatly touched. She seemed to know what her master was going to say next. She couldn't help but shiver!
Li Yao patted her shoulder and said solemnly, "There are many ways to approach your father. I don't need to tie myself up with the shackles of a master-disciple relationship.
"Your talents and abilities in acting are the most important reason why I recruited you as my disciple.
"Do you understand now?
"In fact, I've always had high hopes for you. You will study your acting skills together with me in the future!"
Jin Xinyue took a deep breath and held back the impulse in her nose. She bowed and said sincerely, "Yes, master!"
His words were like a sharp saber that tore apart the camouflage that covered her.
Jin Xinyue's eyes were as clear as water. She stood straighter and straighter, like a sword that had been half unsheathed.
She was no longer the loyal listener who was dumbfounded by Li Yao's analysis. She was back to the ambitious, ruthless, and meticulous saintess of the Pantheon of Demons again.
The tightness of her muscles and the faint release of her spirit energy even made her reveal a hint of … hostility!
The moonlight that was as red as blood sprinkled into the cave and covered both of them in a thin veil of blood.
Li Yao and Jin Xinyue, the weird master and disciple, confronted each other in silence under the moonlight that was as red as blood.
Li Yao smiled. "So, this is the real you. You have been troubled since you escaped from Heavenly Path City, and you are not willing to open your heart to me until this moment, right?"
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