Immortal Sword Master

Chapter 460: Chapter 456: Please, Sir, Save Me

”How did you know I have a hidden affliction?”

Meng Tianyu stared at Ning Jiang in shock. Everyone else thought he had no talent for cultivation and had disgraced his father’s name as a King. But only he knew the truth.

Now, Ning Jiang’s words had struck right at the heart of his secret!

”It’s simple. Those with the bloodline of a King are born with a Postnatal cultivation. After just a few years of practice, they can step into the Innate Realm. For the subsequent Spirit Realm and even the Primordial Spirit Fourth Tribulation Realm, they won’t encounter any bottlenecks. This means that even the weakest descendant of a King should be able to reach the Primordial Spirit Fourth Tribulation Realm.”

Ning Jiang said calmly.

Others might not know this, but as a Legendary Venerable, he knew that once a person reached the Celestial Martial Realm, their descendants would be born different.

Unlike ordinary people who give birth to ordinary babies, the children of Kings benefit from their bloodline and are born with a Postnatal cultivation.

As the saying goes, dragons beget dragons, and phoenixes beget phoenixes.

On a fundamental level of life, Kings have far surpassed ordinary people. A dragon will only give birth to a Dragon Child, not a snake. The same principle applies to Kings.

Their descendants’ bloodlines are a cut above those of ordinary people, allowing them to avoid bottlenecks in the early stages of cultivation.

Many ordinary Martial Artists, once blocked by a bottleneck, can never advance again.

As a descendant of a King, Meng Tianyu should, by all rights, be able to reach the Primordial Spirit Fourth Tribulation Realm at the very least. Yet his cultivation was only at the Innate Realm. There was clearly something fishy going on.

”And I imagine this hidden affliction of yours was man-made.”

Ning Jiang dropped another bombshell.

Meng Tianyu’s expression changed drastically. He stared at Ning Jiang in disbelief. ”How did you guess?”

”With the power of a King’s bloodline, it’s absolutely impossible for a child to be born with any kind of natural affliction.”

Ning Jiang said calmly.

In this world, there are indeed unfortunate people born with defects—congenitally blind, deaf, or with damaged meridians, and so on...

But this would never happen to someone with a King’s bloodline. In the worst-case scenario, their aptitude might be slightly lower, but it’s physically impossible for them to have a hidden affliction.

”Your father is a Celestial Martial Realm King. If even he couldn’t resolve your affliction, it means the person who acted against you is at least at the Celestial Martial Realm as well.”

With every word Ning Jiang spoke, Meng Tianyu grew more and more astonished.

Very few people knew about these matters, yet Ning Jiang had hit the nail right on the head after just one meeting. ’This young man’s intellect is simply monstrous, isn’t it?’

”I do know of several methods in this world that can halt a person’s cultivation permanently. Simpler ones include destroying the meridians or shattering the Dantian, but those can be repaired with certain Heavenly and Earthly Treasures. For something that even your father is powerless against...”

Ning Jiang paused.

”There’s no need to guess. There’s no way you could know,” Meng Tianyu said, shaking his head.

”Is that so?”

Ning Jiang glanced at Meng Tianyu’s hand and said nonchalantly, ”Your fingernails are turning black. It must be some kind of bloodline curse.”

”You!”

Instantly, Meng Tianyu’s eyes went wide.

”This kind of bloodline curse merges with your own bloodline. The cultivation you work so hard to build only serves to strengthen it. It’s like maggots clinging to your bones, devouring you little by little... even devouring your very life! Your fingernails are already turning black. From the looks of it, you have less than three years left to live.”

At this, Meng Tianyu’s expression was one of pure horror.

Ning Jiang had been right about everything.

His heart was in turmoil, shocked to its core.

Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he exclaimed, ”Since you can tell I’m afflicted by a bloodline curse, does that mean you have a way to treat it?”

Ning Jiang didn’t answer, just looked at him with a faint, unreadable smile.

Meng Tianyu’s expression faltered. He quickly bowed to Ning Jiang and said respectfully, ”Please, Sir, enlighten me!”

In that moment, he had changed his form of address for Ning Jiang to ”Sir.”

”You’re not wrong. Lifting a bloodline curse isn’t difficult for me. But... why should I help you?” Ning Jiang asked indifferently.

After all, he and Meng Tianyu were just strangers who had met by chance. What reason did he have to go out of his way to help a stranger?

”If you can lift my bloodline curse, Sir, it would be like giving me a new life. I will agree to any request you have.”

Meng Tianyu looked directly at Ning Jiang and spoke with firm resolution.

”Oh? Aren’t you afraid I’m tricking you? After all, even your father couldn’t solve this.” Ning Jiang flicked his fingernail, which hummed in the air like a vibrating piece of steel.

”Sir, you just saved my life. My very life belongs to you now, so what reason would you have to deceive me? There are always extraordinary people in this world. I believe that meeting you today is the glimmer of hope heaven has granted me. It is my destiny!”

As he spoke, Meng Tianyu took a deep breath, knelt before Ning Jiang in mid-air, and bowed his head low. ”I beg you, Sir, save my life!”

His tone was utterly sincere.

If anyone else had witnessed this scene, their jaws would have hit the floor.

The Demon Lord of Mayhem of the Meteor Sea Region, the proud Son of the King, was actually kneeling to Ning Jiang?

But Ning Jiang could, to some extent, understand Meng Tianyu’s suffering.

He was the Son of a King, yet because of a bloodline curse, his cultivation had stagnated at the Innate Realm. He was secretly called trash by countless people, and he had less than three years to live.

How could Meng Tianyu possibly be resigned to all this?

He should have been the favored son of the Meteor Sea Region, enjoying endless glory. That was the life he was meant to have, but a single bloodline curse had ruined it all.

Now, Ning Jiang was his only lifeline, and he naturally had to grasp it with all his might.

Besides, he could tell that Ning Jiang was mysterious and probably had a terrifying background...

Ning Jiang watched Meng Tianyu for a long time before slowly saying, ”Remember what you’ve said today.”

Meng Tianyu was instantly overjoyed. ”I would not dare forget! From this day forward, you are my great benefactor, Sir! I, Tianyu, swear to obey your every command to the death!”

”Alright, get up. I don’t need you to be my slave. When I need you to do something in the future, I’ll ask.”

Ning Jiang waved his hand. He wasn’t the type to take advantage of someone’s misfortune.

With that, he took out a brush and paper from his Storage Ring. With a flourish of the brush, he wrote down dozens of medicinal ingredients and handed the list to Meng Tianyu. ”As long as you can gather all of these, I can lift your bloodline curse.”

”Yes.”

Meng Tianyu glanced at the materials on the list, then carefully put it away. ”I can find these ingredients in half a month at the latest.”

By leveraging his father’s power, finding the Heavenly and Earthly Treasures on the list would be no problem at all.

”Where are you headed next, Sir? If you have no other plans, why not be my guest on Meteor Island? You saved my life, and I haven’t had a chance to thank you properly.”

”Oh? Meteor Island? Is that where the Meteor Festival is held?”

An idea sparked in Ning Jiang’s mind.