Volume 5: Protracted War Chapter 75 I Surrender
I used the "Soul Contract" dozens of times in a row, but it didn't work at all. It seems that with my current basic mental strength, it is still difficult to forcibly subdue the flying fire ghost. But I don't want to give up easily. After all, if I can recruit a strong follower for Taotao in the "Hell Volcano" to help each other, few other volcanic undead creatures will dare to provoke me wantonly, which is definitely more meaningful than killing Taotao and letting him take care of himself.
Forced coercion failed, and the hard approach was not sure, so I had to try the soft approach, first appealing to reason, then explaining the benefits, gradually tempting, to see if I could move Daxiu and make him willingly submit to me. After all, he is a well-known flying fire ghost, much smarter than those ordinary horror bulls and ground dragon knights of similar strength. He should not be like those stupid guys who are used to being stubborn and don't know how to be flexible. Smart people often know how to weigh the pros and cons and make choices at the right time. As long as the words are reasonable, get its approval, and offer enough tempting conditions, I don't believe that I can't break through its defense.
"Your name is Daxiu, right? You have already failed the qualification challenge. I will never show mercy to those who dare to go against me. The defeated generally have only two choices: either surrender to me and serve me as their master, or be killed and become Taotao's tonic. It seems that you are not going to join my Undead Legion and continue your glory, but are determined to choose death. In view of the strong strength and tenacious fighting spirit you have shown, you are a true warrior. I will respect your wishes and will no longer cast spells to forcibly suppress the unyielding soul of a warrior. Before taking action, I have one last question. Do you have any last words left?"
Dashu's eyes, which had been tightly closed, suddenly opened and glared at me fiercely. I felt that his mental consciousness was filled with many negative emotions such as hatred, anger, humiliation and unwillingness. Then he quickly closed his eyes again, without saying a word, refusing to communicate with me.
I had expected to be treated coldly like this . From the long-term competition between Gu Ben and Da Xiu, we can see that although both of them are extremely eager for more powerful power, they are also arrogant and unwilling to admit defeat easily. It is impossible to persuade Da Xiu to give up his freedom, let others drive him, and willingly become my slave by simply saying a few words, "Follow me, I guarantee you will have delicious food, spicy drinks, and your strength will be rapidly enhanced." I don't have such a high charm value to exude the admirable "king's aura" that everyone loves and is subdued by strange people. Da Xiu should not be so "lowly" that he easily abandons his dignity as a strong man. As the saying goes, haste makes waste. I have dealt with various types of strong people in the "Dead Spirit Space" many times, and have a slight understanding of their temperaments. I have also accumulated some experience in "bewitching". First, I must try my best to weaken their resistance consciousness and gradually arouse their desire to survive. I must use inducement as the main method and a moderate amount of coercion as the auxiliary method to have a chance of success. It is impossible to achieve success overnight.
"Daxiu, I heard that you and Gu Ben, who is also a flying fire ghost and ranked twelfth in the immersion qualification, are old friends. You have been competing fiercely for a long time. You challenge each other for the immersion qualification almost every month. Your strength is almost the same, and you have always won and lost, taking turns to get the top spot. However, in recent months, your luck has been bad. You always lose to Gu Ben by a little bit at the last minute, and lose with a slight disadvantage. You lose the qualification for immersion. That's why you decided to challenge Tao Tao, hoping to pick a weak persimmon. Have you finally realized that you are inferior in skills and really can't beat Gu Ben, and you dare not fight it anymore?"
"You're talking nonsense. That brat Gu Ben is no match for me. Every time I challenge him, he has to flee everywhere. He always relies on schemes and tricks to get the slightest advantage in the battle. How could I be afraid of him? I am the best flying fire ghost and have the greatest hope of evolving into a higher-level ghost king." Hearing me belittling him, Daxiu finally couldn't hold back. He opened his eyes and yelled at me. He was quite emotional, and his words revealed his strong hostility towards Gu Ben without any disguise.
As Gu Ben said, the relationship between the two was extremely bad. No wonder he would destroy Da Xiu and reveal so much internal information to Tao Tao, wanting to kill him. I sneered a few times, showing my contempt, and then said, "Don't be so arrogant. The winner is the king and the loser is the enemy. You have lost several challenges in a row, which is the ironclad evidence that you are not as good as Gu Ben. No matter how much you deny it cover up this fact, so you have to settle for the second best and go after the weaker Tao Tao. You are still bragging about being the 'best flying fire ghost, with the greatest hope of evolving into a higher-level ghost king'. Don't you see that you are going to die soon? You are still dreaming! This title should belong to Gu Ben who is still alive."
"You, you..." Daxiu glared at me and said "you" for a long time, but he couldn't say anything to refute.
Seeing that I had almost humiliated it, I sighed again and changed the subject, "But you are right about one thing. Compared with the cunning Gu Ben, oh, no, maybe it should be called agile and changeable. You are indeed too honest. You don't know how to be flexible and adaptable. You can't make the most correct judgment and choice in response to different situations. I don't know if you have ever thought about the failure of this challenge. I have never dealt with flying fire ghosts before. I should know nothing about your habits and fighting methods. How could I have set such a trap in advance and wait for you to fall into it?"
The flying fire ghost is indeed not a fool, and has a high IQ. Daxiu hesitated for a moment, and immediately understood my hint. He looked at me in surprise, "Are you saying that Gu Ben betrayed me and secretly revealed information about me to you?"
"Of course, Gu Ben's brain is much more useful than yours. He has long been tired of the endless fighting, which has consumed almost all of his energy. He cannot effectively use the 'Hell Magma Pool' to enhance his strength and become the best flying fire ghost, and evolve into a higher-level ghost king as soon as possible. However, he does not have enough ability to get rid of your entanglement, and can only continue to stalemate like this. However, you turned to challenge Taotao, which provided him with the best opportunity. He came up with a way to kill with a borrowed knife and solve the problem once and for all. He does not need to do anything himself, but only needs to reveal detailed information about you to Taotao and help Taotao win the challenge. Of course, the most ideal outcome is to kill you, so that he can get rid of the most threatening competitor without any effort, and can sit back and relax from then on, firmly occupying the twelfth place for immersion qualification."
I felt that Daxiu was a little hesitant and didn't completely believe what I said. This is also a habit of the Flying Fire Ghost - suspicious. I struck while the iron was hot and immediately asked Taotao to recount the inside story of the "transaction" such as how Gu Ben took the initiative to approach him and get close to him, and gave him information about Daxiu. In the process, I used a lot of Gu Ben's original words, and expressed them word for word in the same tone as at that time. According to the familiarity between Daxiu and Gu Ben, it should be easy for him to tell that this could not be something we made up at will.
The more Daxiu listened, the angrier he became. In the end, he couldn't help but roar "ho ho", showing his extreme anger and hysterical cursing, "This damn Gu Ben, a treacherous villain, a complete scum, actually resorted to such sinister and despicable means, colluding with outsiders to assassinate me and sell out the confidential information of our Flying Fire Ghosts. It is simply the greatest shame of the Flying Evil Ghost Clan. I will never let it go. I must tear it into pieces with my own hands to vent my hatred."
"Tsk, you're already a defeated man about to die, why are you still so angry? Once you die, all is well. Just forget all these grudges. The 'Dead Space' is all about the survival of the fittest. The ancients there were mean and despicable, but they survived and developed, and they will definitely get better and better. You, Daxiu, are noble and upright, and you wanted to maintain so-called dignity, but you died in regret. There is no future for you. You can only blame yourself for not being smart enough to make the wisest choice."
Daxiu was silent for a while, his eyes flickering, as if he was extremely troubled and unable to make a decision. I did not urge him and gave him time to think about it. After all, it would take a process for a free man to become a slave at the mercy of others and for others to dominate his destiny. There was no need to rush. As long as he could not let go of the hatred between him and Gu Ben, I believed he would choose to be a smart person who knew how to deal with the current situation.
"What benefits will I get if I am willing to submit to you?" After a long silence, Daxiu finally spoke. It was obvious from his words that his defenses had been broken and he was ready to surrender.
"Although you are slightly stronger than Taotao, I have seen many more powerful undead than you, and I don't take you seriously. It's just that due to the special natural environment of the 'Hell Volcano', my other subordinates cannot go deep into it. I want to find some people to accompany Taotao. There are still many undead creatures on the volcano. At most, it will just take more effort, and it is not necessary to subdue you. As for the benefits, you have also seen the changes in Taotao. His growth rate is definitely higher than yours. That's because..." I pointed to the subordinates who were evacuating the volcanic barrier in the distance, "I can mobilize a large number of subordinates to help. They can easily kill other undead creatures and absorb a large amount of them. Soul energy, no worries of nutritional deficiency. If you become my subordinate, I promise to let you get the qualification to soak in the 'Hell Magma Pool', and provide various conveniences to strive to make you evolve into a ghost king as soon as possible and become the best flying fire ghost. I have always valued capable and loyal subordinates. If you don't believe it, you can ask Taotao and Hongxing for confirmation. They are all carefully cultivated by me step by step from being weak. After several evolutions, they are so powerful today. "The undead creatures can refuse to answer, but they will not lie. What they say is naturally credible. It's just that the two most outstanding representatives of my subordinates who are guarding by their side and providing testimony happen to be. Besides, I didn't lie to Daxiu. I deliberately added the word "capable" as an adjective above loyalty. As long as it is still useful and has value, it will certainly not be easily abandoned.
"Okay, I can agree to be your subordinate, but I want to challenge Gu Ben. I must kill it with my own hands to vent my hatred." Daxiu was really honest. He carefully asked Taotao and Hongxing, confirmed what I said, and then roared with gritted teeth, revealing his immense hatred for Gu Ben.
"No problem. Although Gu Ben provided Tao Tao with a lot of information about you, which was of great help to our easy victory this time, we just used each other and did not establish any friendly relationship. As long as you become my subordinate, according to the rules, I can openly send Tao Tao to help you challenge Gu Ben. It will be very easy to defeat it with two against one. At that time, Gu Ben will be at your disposal, and its soaking qualification will naturally be replaced by you." The main task at present is to consolidate Tao Tao's position and deter those guys with ulterior motives. It is enough to have Daxiu's help, so don't be greedy and think about conquering Gu Ben, so as not to cause Daxiu's dissatisfaction and cause the breakdown of negotiations.
With Daxiu's willing cooperation and trying my best to weaken his mental resistance, the success rate of signing the "Soul Contract" would be much higher. However, it was still not that easy. It took me nearly a hundred attempts before I succeeded. I officially incorporated the Flying Fire Ghost Daxiu into my organization and made him Taotao's follower in the "Hell Volcano".
Now that Da Xiu has been seriously injured and failed in this challenge, he must wait another month before he is eligible to challenge Gu Ben. I decided to take him away from the "Hell Volcano" first and return to the territory of the Terror Knight to have a good rest. Although unlike the Taotao with multiple attributes that can evolve, for these native volcanic undead creatures like them, absorbing the soul energy of non-fire undead creatures can only produce one-tenth or one-twentieth of the effect, but I can supply them in large quantities to make up for the lack of quality with quantity.
Just as I was about to leave, I suddenly received an alarm from Taotao and Hongxing, who had been on guard. I looked up and saw a black shadow swooping down from the sky like lightning. In the blink of an eye, it was already in front of me. However, the target it attacked seemed to have recovered a little strength, Daxiu who had just climbed up from the ground. Taotao spread his wings and flew up quickly, blocking the way. With a "bang", he collided with the black shadow. Both sides retreated a few steps, and Hongxing's reaction was not slow. In order to ensure my safety, he automatically launched a counterattack without waiting for my instructions. With his right hand raised, the "life-seeking flying gun" had already been fired. The distance was so close that it instantly pierced the black shadow's body.
I was shocked and angry when I was suddenly attacked. Fortunately, I was careful and was in the complicated "Hell Volcano". For the sake of safety, I had not cut off the spiritual connection with the three corpse kings. How could I be polite to the attackers at the moment? After reacting, I launched a "mental attack" as soon as possible, causing the black shadow's body to sway in the air again.
Before I could continue organizing the offensive and mobilize some of my men to come back for support, the attacking shadow quickly sent me a message, "Stop attacking, I surrender!"
