A technologically powerful nation: The national treasure is actually myself.

Lin Yang's eyes flickered. What did this guy mean by saying these things?
The other person seemed to understand his thoughts as well, and before he could say anything, continued:

"The world has changed drastically. Outside, there's no way you could improve your cultivation level. The only possibility is here, but advancing here won't be easy."

"Let me guess, did the being who guided you tell you that the powerful enemy you are facing now requires the power of a contemporary Grand Master to suppress it, and then guide you here?"

Lin Yang remained silent, unsure of what this guy was up to.

The other party didn't seem to care and continued:

"But that person probably didn't tell you that when you become the current Great Venerable, your power will be the most delicious tonic, and you will become the most delicious delicacy in the eyes of those old things that have been silent for countless years."

"Including the person who directed you here."

"Existences like them, even if some have certain secret methods to survive that broken era and still possess considerable strength and power in the present world, would need the power of a contemporary Great Venerable to replenish themselves in order to fully recover."

"If one could devour the full power of a contemporary Grand Venerable, not only would it restore them to their peak, but it would also allow them to use the power of the contemporary Grand Venerable to offset some of the suppression of the Dao Laws, making them the strongest in future generations, without exception!"

"At that time, that old guy who devoured your power will be able to suppress everyone else, then devour their power one by one, and then use this to leverage the laws of the present world, bring out the reappearance of the ancient abyss, and then sacrifice countless lives to the ancient abyss, thereby completely transcending the suppression of the laws of the future world."

"Then, he can refine all the worlds outside, obtain a continuous supply of power, recreate a certain period of ancient times, and in the most suitable period, challenge that indescribable level."

"At that time, everything outside was just a matter of that person's will."

That concludes the discussion.

Lin Yang raised an eyebrow: "You mean, someone is deliberately guiding me and helping me, so that they can devour me after I succeed?"

“That’s right,” the other party replied. “You are nothing more than a pawn in their game. If you succeed here, you will immediately become their sacrifice.”

Lin Yang looked up: "Why should I believe you?"

What this guy said seems to make no problem, but the biggest issue is his identity!
"Hehe, little guy, let me ask you this: why would I need to lie to you?" the other party chuckled softly.

Lin Yang narrowed his eyes slightly: "You really have no reason to lie to me, but you also seem to have no reason to help me. What do you want from me?"

"Hahaha, I like smart people like you." The other party laughed loudly. "I'm helping you, naturally, so I can use you to escape from here."

"You want to possess me?" Lin Yang raised an eyebrow again.

This person seemed somewhat taken aback by Lin Yang's directness, but then said:

"That's not necessarily true. I won't possess you; I just need to borrow a portion of your power."

"Is that so? Is this why you kept calling out to me and luring me to come to you after I entered this place?" Lin Yang said noncommittally.

"Yes."

"So you're suddenly telling me all this because you're worried that if I break through, you won't be able to control me anymore?" Lin Yang asked again.

“Oh…that is one of the reasons. Your current cultivation level is indeed not my match. If you successfully break through, it will not be a good thing for me, because you will be targeted by those old guys, and I may lose this opportunity. I was not sure what you were going to do here, so I tried to lure you.”

This person was quite honest, admitting it directly.

"Then why don't you try to seduce me again?" Lin Yang continued to press. "In my current state, I shouldn't be able to resist your power. Wouldn't it be easier if you continued to use your power to bewitch me? Why are you being so honest with me now?"

"Hehe, because I want to make more than one deal with you now, and it requires your voluntary cooperation," the other party said quietly.

"What deal?"

"You help me leave this place, that's one thing. After I get out, I also need to absorb some of the power of a Great Venerable to recover, but my initial power is limited, so I need your assistance. Therefore, I want to have a normal trade and cooperation with you."

This guy says something shocking.

Lin Yang's eyes flashed: "You can devour the power of other Great Venerables?"

"I guess so. To be precise, it's not about swallowing, but rather about using," the other party said.

Lin Yang's eyes narrowed slightly: "If I agree, what can you do for me?"
"Whatever you want to do here, I can do it for you."

The other party smiled slightly:
"For example, right now, you can't enter the valley, but I can help you get in. And given your situation, you probably don't have a chance to reach the Great Venerable level. I just sensed the ancient power in your body, and it was borrowed. It's too little and not enough to support your breakthrough. I can provide you with more ancient power and other necessary assistance to ensure your success."

Lin Yang's heart skipped a beat; this condition sounded...really tempting.

He really wasn't very confident about breaking through to the Great Venerable realm.

If this guy can ensure he can break through, that would naturally be a good thing.

Whether this guy is telling the truth or not, his cultivation level has improved, so he has a lot more confidence to deal with anything.

only……

"Aren't you afraid that I'll renege on my promise after I succeed? You yourself said that if I succeed, you won't be able to do anything to me," Lin Yang said calmly.

"Hahaha, isn't that simple? Just make a vow together, and we won't break our promises or harm each other, right?" The other party couldn't help but laugh.

Lin Yang was somewhat surprised to hear this.

Could this guy be sincere?
But he always felt that something was not quite right.

He paused, neither agreeing nor immediately refusing, but instead asked, "What about the Ancient Abyss you mentioned earlier?"

"The Ancient Abyss... is a very special place in ancient times, containing some very mysterious power that is hard to explain. It has not disappeared in the past, but has always existed in a special space. For the Great Venerable, as long as there is enough power, the Ancient Abyss can be brought out and its power can be used to achieve certain purposes."

The other person paused for a moment, then continued:

"For the present world, if the ancient abyss can be reactivated, the Great Venerable can use its power to do many unimaginable things."

Lin Yang suddenly seemed to be deep in thought.

The other party continued, "I will help you become a Great Venerable and help you escape the fate of becoming a sacrifice. In return, you will help me leave this place and help me regain my power. You won't lose out in this deal."

Lin Yang was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "I am indeed not at a loss, and you could even say I've made a huge profit, but, I'm sorry, I refuse!"

"Huh? You refuse? Why? Do you want to become a sacrifice for those old things? Or are you planning to give up entering the valley and not try to break through?" The other party was clearly taken aback.

Lin Yang grinned: "Neither." "Then what is it?"

Lin Yang looked up at the boundless darkness of the night sky and said softly:
"Everything you said sounds reasonable and is in my favor, but you underestimate me, or rather, you are too confident."

"Do you think that by saying these things you can disturb my resolve? Do you think you can make me give up trusting a senior who has saved and protected me many times?"

Upon hearing this, the other party seemed to fall silent for a moment, after which Lin Yang heard even more forceful words:

“Little guy, you’re too naive and too sentimental. Do you think that just because someone has saved you multiple times, they’re trustworthy? They’ve just been setting things up all along.”

"That person saved you only for himself. After all, finding a suitable candidate is not easy, so why would he let you die so easily?"

"That person saved you multiple times, which is the real brilliance of this person. They started planning when you were still insignificant, and did not hesitate to spend tens of millions of years to make you trust them completely."

"But you are nothing more than her tool."

Lin Yang laughed out loud: "Am I supposed to believe a strange person I don't even know, have only met twice, and can't even be seen in the light of day in this Origin Void Ancient Domain?"

"I said we can swear an oath, and I can guarantee that everything I say is true!" The man's voice was solemn, and he sounded truly trustworthy.

"An oath? That's certainly very credible."

Lin Yang's smile vanished, his expression turning cold:
"Unfortunately, I still can't trust you!"

"Why? I can even make a vow, what reason do you have not to believe me?" The man's words were full of incomprehension.

Lin Yang's gaze sharpened: "Do you think you can completely lull me into a false sense of security by saying these seemingly heartfelt things to me?"

He shrugged:
"You're still too hasty. I can't verify the truth of your words for now, but I can feel that every time you speak, you're trying to influence my thinking."

"You have been trying to guide me, bewitch me, and influence my thinking to make me believe in you and develop feelings of goodwill and trust in you."

"If what you say is true, and you are sincerely cooperating with me, and what you say is 100% true, then why do you still use that kind of bewitching power to try to influence me?"

"This is the biggest problem!"

Quiet.

As Lin Yang finished speaking, an eerie silence fell.

The other person seemed stunned for a moment before speaking again:
"You can sense that I'm trying to bewitch you? How could that be? I didn't do that!"

Lin Yang laughed instantly: "You think you've done something very clever? But unfortunately, you may not know that I was once tried to control by a Grand Venerable of the Underworld several times. So when I broke through to the Ancient Realm, I put some protection in my soul to prevent myself from being tricked without realizing it."

"This protective measure is actually very simple. It can't even prevent real violent intrusion, but it allows me to detect subtle abnormalities."

"If you try to control me by force, I might not be able to deal with it, since you are indeed stronger than me. But you want to influence me silently, which is a bit embarrassing. You've given yourself away."

"..."

silence.

After a brief silence, the guy suddenly laughed: "Hehehe, this is really interesting. I did intend to control you by force, but for some reasons, I thought it would be better to make you cooperate willingly. Who knew it would backfire?"

"What a pity, but kid, I wasn't lying to you all along."

"You can still consider cooperating with me."

Lin Yang didn't linger on the topic of cooperation, but instead said:
"If I'm not mistaken, some of the reasons you mentioned are because of that senior actor in the red costume, right? It's not that you think it's better for me to cooperate willingly, but rather that you can't force me to cooperate, right? That's why you can only use these half-truths to confuse me and try to influence me."

The other person was silent for a moment, then said, "How can you be so sure?"

"Isn't that simple?"

Lin Yang smiled again:
"After I was rescued by that senior, she sent me a great distance away. Along the way, I didn't encounter any accidents or troubles."

"Actually, before you spoke to me, I was also wondering why the journey was so smooth even though it was a longer one."

"Now I know, it's because of that senior, she must have done something to protect me, which is why I was able to get through this journey smoothly."

"But even now I wasn't 100% sure. It wasn't until you kept trying to seduce me without attacking me that I was 100% sure that the senior might have left some kind of protective measure on me."

At this point, Lin Yang shrugged again:

"After all, I am still injured. There is no reason for you not to force your way in, but instead to secretly tempt me."

"This time, when I first entered this place, you never stopped trying to lure me to find you. You kept tempting and calling out to me along the way, and you even made me almost deaf. If it weren't for Senior Yue's protection, I would have really been unable to resist."

"When I was not injured, you forced yourself on me, but now that I am injured, you are not forcing yourself on me anymore. Isn't that strange?"

"So there's only one possibility: it's not that you don't want to, but that you can't!"

"But I haven't done anything that would suddenly prevent you from attacking me, so the answer is obvious: it was that senior actor in red costume who made the move."

Lin Yang spoke slowly and deliberately in one breath.

This time, the other party didn't remain silent, but instead let out a strange laugh:
"You're really perceptive. To be honest, I really hate guys like you who are too smart."

"Thank you for the compliment. If you have nothing else, let's end our exchange here," Lin Yang said calmly.

Although he was certain of the guy's ill intentions, there was nothing he could do about it.

"Hehehe, kid, although you saw through me, I'll still say the same thing: I only tried to seduce you to ensure my own escape. And what I said wasn't entirely false. You'd better reconsider. Cooperating with me won't do you any harm. At least, I can swear I won't hurt you in any way."

To Lin Yang's surprise, even though he had already exposed the other party, the guy was not embarrassed or even angry. Instead, he still wanted to cooperate with him.

This surprised him somewhat.

……

P.S.: Chapter Two is here! This chapter is 4,000 words long. Two chapters totaling 6,000 words today, which is a small but significant chapter. I'll keep working hard tomorrow… (End of Chapter)