"Li Lingfeng had been 'treating' the disease with me since a long time ago. At that time, I was too young to tell the difference between 'treatment' and 'modulation'."
Li Jialing went on, "Other than injecting all kinds of weird drugs into my body, irradiating my internal organs with a super high dose of mystic rays, and torturing me in all kinds of unbearable ways, he and Wuying Lan mainly filled my head with tremendous things.
"It was like … 'enlightenment'. Sounds, pictures, and data streams flooded into my head crazily like an ocean. I couldn't hide from them no matter how hard I tried. They were all about killing techniques and schemes.
"Hehe. Therefore, I should really thank the big shot of my family for what I am today. Perhaps even he did not expect that I would be so 'successful' in the modulation that it was far beyond his expectations!
"However, being familiar with a certain killing technique and actually mincing someone into pieces are two entirely different things. At that time, although I had uncanny strength and was adept at almost a hundred ways to kill someone in half a second, the feelings of extreme disgust and fear were still there and bound my soul tightly.
"As long as I was determined to kill someone, my head would be dizzy, my heart would be racing, and my head would be splitting. I could not even hold my saber or sword, much less carry out my plan.
"Therefore, in other people's eyes, I was still the poor, cowardly wretch and garbage who was born cowardly!"
"Then, when was the 'barrier' broken?" Li Yao asked.
"Two years ago," Li Jialing said expressionlessly.
Li Jialing said expressionlessly, "After a refinement two years ago, I discovered that the barriers in my head were gradually loosening. There was no telling whether it was because of the refinement or because the barriers were automatically gone as I grew older. All in all, by a year and a half ago, I was no longer bothered by the goddamn barriers at all.
"Although I did not really do anything, I could clearly sense that I no longer had the slightest fear or disgust about killing. I could absolutely kill anyone who stood in my way at my will!"
After a brief silence, Li Yao asked, "But you did not tell Li Lingfeng?"
"That's right. Why did you tell him?"
With a cunning smile, Li Jialing said, "Just because I couldn't kill people in the past doesn't mean that I didn't have feelings and will of my own. I've been thinking about how to get rid of Li Lingfeng's control since a long time ago, and I can't let him know my real situation.
"Don't be fooled by what he is saying right now. He is obviously treating me as some sort of 'test subject'. Perhaps seventy to eighty percent of what he said is true. He has indeed devoted tremendous energy and effort to me, but so what? Tools were tools, and test subjects were test subjects!
"If I had told him the truth at that time, he would've certainly asked me to enter the 'second phase' of training in a hurry. He would've given me all kinds of killing missions and asked me to risk my life for him and the Li family. The higher my combat ability was, the more arduous the missions that he would've given me would be. One day, I would've been killed on a certain battlefield where the Li family fought for interests as a 'major cannon fodder'. Why?
"Therefore, I chose to conceal the mutation deep inside my brain and pretend that I was a piece of garbage who hated killing by nature and couldn't fight other people. I was waiting for the best opportunity.
"In the most ideal 'opportunity', I couldn't be in the nest of the Li family, because it was absolutely impossible for me to get away from there. Also, it would've been best if Li Lingfeng was stalled by a certain matter or an expert. That would've given me, a small fish, a chance to escape from the dragnet.
"Today was perhaps the best opportunity. I could tell that Li Lingfeng was already losing patience with me. If I didn't unlock the seal this year, there was no telling whether or not he would've modified me through crueler approaches.
"In the meantime, Brother Yao, you and Li Lingfeng were obviously not on the same side. It was possible that there were great contradictions between the two of you. Therefore, although you showed up so abruptly, and all kinds of accidents and variables were possible, I had no choice but to take the risk!"
Taking a deep breath, Li Yao said, "Have you never considered the possibility that Li Lingfeng was not lying? Or rather, although he did lie about certain things, he sincerely hoped that you could be his heir and even control the entire Li family one day? "
After a brief silence, Li Jialing chuckled.
"You haven't completely figured it out yet, Brother Yao."
Looking at his burning eyes in the mirror, Li Jialing said, "From the beginning to the end, I never wanted to be like Li Lingfeng. Or rather, I despised being like him!
"Even if he does become the leader of the Li family and one of the four Kurfürsten of the Imperium one day, so what? He is still just a spokesperson that the Li family elected and a component on the enormous machine that has to work for the interests of the Li family until his death!
"I don't want to live such a life. I don't want to be bound and manipulated by anybody. I am … absolutely free!
"Therefore, even if Li Lingfeng does arrange a smooth and brilliant path of life for me, I still don't want to live my life according to his command!"
In the end, the young man was even gnashing his teeth angrily.
Taking a deep breath, he smiled and continued, "Excuse me. I got too excited. Perhaps I've been manipulated and suppressed for too long. How about it? What do you think, Brother Yao, now that you've heard the whole story? As a bystander, can you speculate the questions that have been bothering me in the past?
"When Li Lingfeng proposed the 'Origin Plan', my first reaction was that I would never believe it. However, the sense of disgust and fear that troubled me in the past seemed to be the remnants of some sort of mutated 'Three Fundamental Laws', which was quite reasonable.
"Therefore, if Li Lingfeng was lying, and there was no 'Origin Plan' at all, and I was not corrupted by the evil forces of the Holy League, how do you explain my problems?"
"It's very simple."
Thinking carefully for a moment, Li Yao still said, "You were not corrupted by the evil forces of the Holy League. However, one of your parents was from the Holy League, which would explain everything."
Li Jialing was stunned.
It was the first time that Li Yao had seen undisguised dumbfounded expression on the face of the precocious young man. For some reason, he chuckled in his heart.
"It does seem to make sense."
His lips twitching, Li Jialing mumbled to himself.
"Yes. If you are a pure member of the Holy League, you will naturally be suppressed by the 'Three Fundamental Laws'. All your feelings and self-will will even be deprived."
Li Yao said, "However, if you are 'half' a member of the Holy League, and the person who passed on the 'Blood of the Holy League' to you had certain fortuitous encounters and was already breaking the 'Three Fundamental Laws' himself, he cannot be counted as the purest member of the Holy League. Then, the barriers that can really be passed on to your genes and soul will only be broken pieces, which will be easier to be broken."
"Brother Yao, you said just now that you were scared of me."
Li Jialing couldn't help but hold his abdomen softly and said, "But right now, I suddenly feel that you are truly immeasurable and terrifying. Did you really infer everything based on the scattered information in such a short moment? Why do I feel that you are so certain about it, as if it were a fact?"
Li Yao's real body blinked in the spaceport not far away and said, "Didn't you say just now that a bystander sees more clearly?"
Li Jialing sniffed, obviously not satisfied with the answer.
However, as a smart man, he naturally knew that it was unnecessary to waste his time asking further.
"The Holy League …"
He said gloomily and looked at himself in the mirror. Different colors were added to his eyes.
"If it's true, how will you feel?"
Li Yao said, "Will you feel … awkward?"
"It doesn't matter."
The young man took a long breath in relief and suddenly relaxed. He opened his hands and said, "The Cultivators, the Immortal Cultivators, the people of the Holy League, or the offspring of any other devils, I don't care. After all, I am just me. I do whatever I want and do whatever I want. As long as other people don't mess with me, I don't care what happens to me!"
"But right now, Li Lingfeng is obviously messing with you and making use of you."
Li Yao said, "I suggest you pay more attention to the woman 'Li Linghai'."
"Right. You mentioned 'Li Linghai' at the very beginning."
Li Jialing's eyes suddenly turned sharp. "Why?"
"Assuming that Li Lingfeng has been lying all the time, that the so-called 'Origin Plan' does not exist, and that you are just a 'perfect experiment subject' that he carefully refined, it is obvious that he did not invest so much time, resources, and effort in you on a whim. He must be using you to deal with somebody."
Li Yao said, "That's also why you asked him who the mastermind behind the destruction of the 'Origin Plan' was, isn't it?"
Li Jialing was somewhat surprised. He admired Li Yao even more. "You've seen through it, Brother Yao?"
"Of course. Whoever Li Lingfeng said was likely to be the mastermind behind the destruction of the 'Origin Plan' was the one he wanted you to deal with."
Li Yao smiled. "It seems that Li Lingfeng wants you to deal with Li Linghai."
Li Jialing sniffed and said, "Like I said just now, I am not interested in the power struggles and intrigues among the leadership of the Li family at all. I would've been out of my mind if I wanted to deal with the queen of the Imperium!"
"Not interested is far from enough."
Li Yao said, "Have you ever wondered why Li Lingfeng wants you to deal with Li Linghai? Despite the cutting-edge refinements that you have received, you are not even twenty years old yet after all. With your current combat ability, you might not even be able to defeat Li Linghai. Why does Li Lingfeng think that you are good enough to deal with Li Linghai?"
Li Jialing frowned. "Hehe. Wuying Lan is nothing. I kept part of my strength just now. However, Brother Yao does have a point. It is indeed a great problem."
"Is there such a possibility —"
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