Chapter 33 – Trust

Over the years, Yun Xiguang had long prepared himself mentally for a break with the Yun family.

Having spent many years within the Yun family, he understood their mindset better than anyone else.

The Yun family viewed everyone in the family as property of the Yun family, believing they held absolute rights to use and control them. Once they were no longer useful, the Yun family would discard them easily; but if they ever proved themselves useful again, the Yun family would demand their return.

Yun Xiguang was someone who liked to prepare for future troubles. From the moment he planned to steal the Heavenly Fire and make a grand display of his abilities in the Spiritbond World, he had considered the possibility that the Yun family might try to force him back into their service.

After experiencing so much, Yun Xiguang had seen through the true nature of these noble families. If given the chance to stand on his own, there was no way he would serve the Yun family again.

And once he rejected the Yun family’s orders, they would undoubtedly consider him an enemy.

What Yun Xiguang hadn’t expected was how quickly everything would happen. Before he could even demonstrate his strength, the Yun family was already eager to take his life.

He was always smart and adept at handling emergencies. As long as he didn’t panic too much, he could quickly come up with a solution.

Yun Xiguang was no longer the mediocre Spiritbond Master the Yun family imagined him to be, armed only with petty tricks. He now had numerous cards to play and many ways to deal with the situation.

Following his usual habit, Yun Xiguang outlined three strategies — superior, moderate, and inferior.

The inferior strategy was simple: run away. He would utilize the Law’s shielding effect on the Little Spirit Bird to escape with it, the Crimson Chi, and the Phoenix Feather, ensuring that no one in this world could find him.

However, he would lose everything he currently had — friends, colleagues, his name, and identity. He would become a person hidden from the rules.

Moreover, the Law wouldn’t allow him to exploit this loophole forever. It was merely slow to respond, needing time to establish a more comprehensive rule. One day, if the Law changed its method of shielding, Yun Xiguang would be exposed, becoming a fugitive constantly on the run.

The moderate strategy involved using the Crimson Chi’s ability to freeze blood to protect himself. The Crimson Chi would guard his blood and maintain a false death state for him. When the Yun family believed he was dead and deactivated the formation, he would awaken. With Li Zheng and the healers from the Zhuzhao Academy around, the Yun family wouldn’t dare to make any further moves.

This was a strategy of deception, but not the most perfect one. After this incident, the Yun family would suspect he had hidden cards and devise even more vicious methods to deal with him. The Yun family had many informants and connections throughout the Spiritbond World. If they decided to target someone, it would be almost impossible to defend against them.

While the moderate strategy could ensure temporary safety, it would leave behind greater hidden dangers.

The superior strategy was to divert the disaster elsewhere. Assuming the kinship search formation was real, Yun Xiguang would have the Crimson Chi cause a ruckus in the Yun family right after casting the spell, even having the Crimson Chi pretend to be someone’s spirit beast from the Yun family and injure several people sent by Li Zheng and the Spiritbond Master Association.

At that point, the Spiritbond World would believe that the Crimson Chi was originally his mother’s spirit beast, a power belonging to the Yun family. After her death, it was only natural for the Yun family to reclaim it.

To cover up the existence of the Crimson Chi, the Yun family intentionally pretended to help the Spiritbond World search for it, which in reality aimed to reduce suspicion toward them.

The Yun family had assumed that since the Crimson Chi had found a new Spiritbond Master, it wouldn’t be affected by the kinship search formation anymore. They never expected the formation to actually work, ending up revealing the existence of the Crimson Chi instead.

Of course, the Spiritbond World might not necessarily follow Yun Xiguang’s plan, but he could try to guide them in that direction.

When that happened, the Yun family would undoubtedly face a thorough investigation.

The Yun family indeed didn’t hide the Crimson Chi, but they couldn’t withstand an investigation.

As a century-old noble family, the Yun family had committed many shocking acts in secret to maintain their honor. The Spiritbond World knew that the nobility wasn’t entirely clean, but they had no idea to what extent the Yun family had gone.

If the Spiritbond World investigated, the Yun family would be in turmoil, severely damaged. At that point, they wouldn’t have the energy to deal with Yun Xiguang.

The superior strategy was the most perfect plan, with the only trouble being that Li Zheng already knew the formation was fake.

Knowing that the fake formation summoned the Crimson Chi, Li Zheng would surely suspect the relationship between the Crimson Chi and Yun Xiguang. There was no way to hide this from him.

To incite the Spiritbond World to question the Yun family, they needed someone influential. As the head of the Special Affairs Bureau, Li Zheng represented official power and was best suited to challenge the Yun family.

There was no way around Li Zheng in this matter; he had to secure his cooperation.

Yun Xiguang quietly looked at Li Zheng, contemplating how to persuade him.

In Yun Xiguang’s understanding, there was no such thing as complete trust in someone. All he could think of was coercion and inducement.

Li Zheng’s spirit beast was the Peng bird, a legendary bird from ancient tales whose wingspan could reach ninety thousand miles — the true divine beast of the Golden-Winged Great Peng lineage, possessing the ability to blot out the sun and moon.

The reason Li Zheng became an Earth-grade Spiritbond Master at the young age of thirty-five and took the position of head of the Special Affairs Bureau was because he possessed such a powerful divine beast.

He was also the most likely candidate in the Spiritbond World to become a Heaven-grade Spiritbond Master.

Li Zheng’s greatest weakness must certainly be power and his path to advancement.

Coincidentally, the Little Spirit Bird had united with the first phoenix feather. As long as the Little Spirit Bird was willing to appear, the Peng bird would bow in submission.

The Little Spirit Bird’s name contained the character ‘qiong,’ representing the sky as its domain, where all flying spirit beasts must submit under its wings.

Snow Wolf and White Tiger merely respected the Phoenix Venerable and wanted to curry favor with him. But the Peng bird was completely dominated by the Phoenix Venerable, unable to even fly in front of him.

As long as Yun Xiguang asked the Little Spirit Bird, it could appear with the phoenix feather, forcing the Peng bird to submit.

The degree of the contract between a Spiritbond Master and a spirit beast was determined by the mental state of both parties. In other words, if either party lost heart, the Spiritbond Master’s strength would weaken.

Once the Peng bird submitted, the Little Spirit Bird could command it to distance itself from Li Zheng. At that point, Li Zheng’s strength would plummet drastically in a short period of time.

No Spiritbond Master could face the fear of losing their power head-on.

Yun Xiguang could use this to threaten Li Zheng, forcing him to cooperate.

Of course, he wouldn’t harm Li Zheng. Li Zheng was a kind person, and kind people deserved kindness.

After this matter was resolved, the Little Spirit Bird would order the Peng bird to completely drop its guard against Li Zheng, fully entrusting its power to him. Li Zheng would become the fourth Heaven-grade Spiritbond Master in the world.

As long as Li Zheng was willing to cooperate, this would be a win-win situation.

The only problem was that Li Zheng probably wouldn’t look at him with such gentle concern anymore.

Yun Xiguang quickly thought of this method, but he just stared at Li Zheng, hesitating to act.

It wasn’t that Li Zheng’s words were difficult to understand; it was that Yun Xiguang never expected Li Zheng to go to such lengths for him.

Li Zheng said, “You’re just a young adult, still a child a year ago. You shouldn’t bear such a heavy burden on your shoulders.

“I won’t let you face the Yun family’s formation alone. I’ll enter the formation.”

“What did you say?” Yun Xiguang nearly cried out in shock.

It wasn’t that Li Zheng’s words were incomprehensible; it was that Yun Xiguang never expected Li Zheng to do so much for him.

Li Zheng explained, “My spirit beast is the Golden-Winged Great Peng, a legendary Buddhist divine bird. It possesses the innate ability of the Five Supernatural Powers: divine eye, divine ear, swift foot, reading hearts, and knowledge of past lives. What you know as the knowledge of past lives is the ability to comprehend the past and future, but I don’t have the prophetic abilities of a Bai Ze.”

“You all assumed that I’d only be able to grasp this power when I became a Heaven-grade Spiritbond Master,” Yun Xiguang said.

Li Zheng shook his head. “It’s not that I haven’t mastered this ability, but rather, the Golden-Winged Great Peng’s knowledge of past lives differs from what everyone knows. Its ability concerning fate isn’t about knowing destiny, but rather, it is about exchanging destinies.

“I can perform a destiny exchange on you, transferring your past destiny onto me while my past destiny goes onto you.

“Our appearances remain unchanged, but our destinies have been exchanged. To outsiders, you are Li Zheng, and I am Yun Xiguang.

“I’ve only transferred the ‘past destiny,’ not the ‘present’ or ‘future,’ so I’m still Li Zheng, possessing Li Zheng’s powers.

“The formations in this world are either defensive, strong on the outside and weak on the inside, or restraining, weak on the outside and strong on the inside. To prevent someone from rescuing you from the outside, the Yun family will definitely reinforce the outer perimeter of the formation, making the inside less solid.

“Yun Xiguang can’t break the formation from the inside, but Li Zheng can.

“If I exchange places with you, once the Yun family tries anything, I’ll destroy the formation.”

Yun Xiguang looked at Li Zheng’s righteous expression, momentarily speechless.

Li Zheng smiled at him. “I was the one who sent you back to the Yun family back then. I thought it was for your own good, but I didn’t expect it to cost you your clear, innocent eyes. Since I was the one who sent you back, it should be my responsibility to bring you out of the Yun family.

“Your shoulders are too rigid, always bearing the weight alone, never getting a rest.

“You’re just starting out as a young man. Don’t carry the entire world on your back. Trust the adults. Our responsibility is to protect children as they grow into stronger adults, isn’t it?”

Yun Xiguang stared at Li Zheng and shook his head. “I don’t have such adults around me.”

“It’s not too late to meet them now.” Li Zheng’s smile was reassuring.

Sitting across from Li Zheng, Yun Xiguang struggled internally.

His mind was filled with pros and cons, while Li Zheng thought about how to shoulder the heavy burden of fate for him, ensuring his lifelong safety.

What a reliable adult.

Li Zheng wasn’t in a hurry, patiently waiting for Yun Xiguang to make a decision.

At that moment, the phone in his office rang. It was someone from the Yun family urging him to hand over Yun Xiguang as soon as possible.

Li Zheng picked up the phone and spoke in an official tone. “I want to hand him over to you as soon as possible, but you can’t directly ask me for him. Yun Xiguang is currently our intern, so helping the Yun family is considered external public service, which requires due process.

“As for the specific procedure, you need to submit an application report first, which must be approved by my superior department. Since it’s a collaboration between three parties, you also need to get signatures from the Spiritbond Master Association. I won’t accept faxed copies; I need the original.

“After obtaining the signed report, I’ll issue a transfer letter, which also needs to be signed by all three parties. The transfer letter should clearly state the reason for the transfer and the duration, which you need to fill out. We can’t approve it if the time is too long.

“The transfer letter can’t just have my signature; it also needs Zhao Yu’s signature as his direct supervisor. Additionally, since he’s a student, his homeroom teacher’s and principal’s signatures are necessary.

“We have no choice. The procedures are just complicated like this. Every time I need signatures, it’s annoying, but regulations are regulations, and they must be followed.”

After hanging up, Li Zheng leisurely took a sip of tea and said to Yun Xiguang, “You don’t have to rush. Take your time to consider it. I can’t stop this from happening, but I can delay it. Even if he gets all the signatures today, I can make Zhao Yu ‘faint’ for a day, giving his direct supervisor’s signature the day after tomorrow.”

Unable to resist, Yun Xiguang laughed — a young, cheerful laugh, like the one he should have.

Li Zheng said, “That’s the right way to laugh. You shouldn’t be so tired.”

Yun Xiguang’s shoulders slightly drooped, his posture not as straight as before, but more relaxed, as if he had shed a great burden.

He said, “I think I can trust you.”

“It’s not what you think; it’s the truth,” Li Zheng replied.

Yun Xiguang said, “You don’t know what my trust means. It means you have to bear the weight of the world.”

“That’s fine. The Golden-Winged Great Peng’s wings are strong enough,” Li Zheng said.

Ten minutes later, Li Zheng’s cry of shock echoed through the office: “What!!!”

“The Crimson Chi is with you? You have the first wisp of spirit energy in your possession? You openly killed the termite fish in front of me and Senior Hai, and we were blind enough not to see it?”

“That’s correct,” Yun Xiguang replied.