Chapter 289 – The Battle Unfinished, an Old Friend Visits Cloudpeak Province - Part 2
“Burned his lifespan to forge?” Zhu Ban exploded. “That fool! Idiot! Your lifespan can’t forge anything worth a damn! With so little left, what kind of weapon do you expect?!”
He roared toward the northern sky. “What did I teach you? Did I ever tell you to spend your years at the forge? Moron! Blind old me, how did I ever take an apprentice like you?”
When his fury finally ebbed, Peng Mi asked, “Burning lifespan sounds impressive. Why won’t it work?”
Red‑faced, Zhu Ban drained a cup of black lotus medicated wine before he could breathe. “Burning one’s lifespan to forge is heresy...pure, unadulterated heresy.”
“Oh? Heresy?” Peng Mi brightened. “Perfect fit for us, then. I always said Master Li belonged in our cult. You insisted on leaving him in the Holy Tree Temple. Look at the mess now.”
Zhu Ban jabbed a finger at Peng Mi, trembling with rage, about to let fly.
Peng Mi raised both hands. “Easy, easy, I’m just talking. If it’s heresy, it must be powerful, right?”
Zhu Ban snorted. “I’ve read that Life Devour manual. What survives is a crippled fragment. Even if you could finish that secret art, it’s worthless. The skill is only half of a pair.”
“I see.” Peng Mi nodded, half understanding.
“My Heavensense needs to find a place of extreme Yang to work. Similarly, Life Devour must be paired with a skill that steals life from others, and that second secret art vanished long ago. No one in their right mind would keep such a taboo.”
Peng Mi cut in with a grin. “I’d keep it. No breaking, no rebirth; only destruction breeds the new. The world is weak. Let mountains of corpses lift us to the heavens and open a new age. Life Devour sounds perfect.”
“Save the cult sermons; I don’t serve you out of faith.” Zhu Ban sighed. “Even if someone mastered what’s left of Life Devour, the weapon they forged would never rank with the very best, at most a shade above mediocrity.”