Zinnia frowned, unsure what to make of his reaction.
"My lord?" she asked carefully.
Aksai opened his eyes and looked at her with a thoughtful expression. "Zinnia," he said, "you’ll need to share an Argent-level Martial Compendium with the Grand Martial Hall."
The words hit her like a slap. Her eyes widened, and she straightened in her seat imdiately. "My lord, what?!" she exclaid.
"We can’t! We mustn’t share Celestial Harmony with those bastards under any cost!" Her voice trembled slightly with anger and disbelief.
Aksai’s calm smile didn’t waver. "Who said anything about sharing Celestial Harmony?" he asked lightly. "I said we’ll give them a different Martial Compendium. An Aurous-level one."
Zinnia blinked at him for a mont, then let out a short laugh, half from relief and half from realization. "Ah... I see now," she said, shaking her head with a faint smile. "You’re setting a trap for them."
Aksai didn’t deny it. His lips curved just a little more.
But then Zinnia’s smile faded as she thought of sothing. Her face turned serious again. "My lord," she said, her tone careful, "even if we share a different martial technique while pretending it to be Celestial Harmony, it might not work. The martial experts of the Grand Martial Hall are not fools. They might see through any dummy techniques we hand over."
"Who said we’ll give them dummy techniques?" Aksai replied, his tone calm but firm. "We’ll give them real ones—legitimate martial techniques that can actually be practiced with ease. It’s just that..." He leaned forward slightly. "It won’t be Celestial Harmony."
Zinnia looked uncertain but nodded slowly. "If you say so, my lord," she murmured. "Still, I can’t help but feel uneasy about this."
Aksai gave her a reassuring look. "Don’t worry," he said.
"They won’t notice anything until it’s too late. Besides, once they realize we’ve given them Aurous-level techniques, they’ll be too excited to question the details. Their greed will blind them to the flaws."
Zinnia’s eyes widened again. "Aurous-level techniques?" she repeated, shocked. "You an... you plan to give them techniques from the third realm? My lord, we shouldn’t do this kind of unfair exchange. I feel that we’d be at a disadvantage if we go through with this."
Aksai slowly shook his head, still smiling. "Knowledge is ant to be shared, Zinnia. Only when shared does it grow. Only then can it return to you in a more refined form."
Aksai was an old player when it ca to dabbling in human experints. He was even more brutal and cruel at it than all of the Grand Martial Hall’s researchers combined. As such, he knew the importance of data-sharing when it ca to such experints.
He stood up from his chair, his movents calm and deliberate. "And besides," he continued, looking out of the window at the training yard below, "we’re not being unfair. Just like the Grand Martial Hall, the techniques we’ll give them won’t be perfect either. They’ll have their own flaws. In fact, we’d be outsourcing our troubles—to test our creations, to see what works and what doesn’t. They’d conduct the experints using their people and we’d simply obtain valuable information in exchange."
Zinnia looked at him in silence, concern evident in her eyes. Aksai turned to her again and said.
"You’ll cooperate with them completely. Share the techniques, let them believe you’ve finally given in. But in return, demand sothing valuable. Ask them to share their findings and research after they test our techniques. We’d also get our hands on the experintal results they have already conducted so far.
Every ti we hand them a new set, they’ll owe us their experintal results and the derived techniques they create after using them on their... guinea pigs."
He paused, his gaze once again moving outside. The young Argent Body martial artists were training under the bright afternoon sun, their bodies drenched in sweat as they practiced their forms.
"There’s no need to fight the Grand Martial Hall right now," Aksai said quietly. "Why fight when cooperation can bring us benefits?"
He clasped his hands behind his back, his posture straight and composed. "As for my old grudges with them..." He smiled faintly, his tone turning cold yet confident. "They can wait. Once I step into the Aurous Body Realm with a perfected technique, I’ll settle those debts in my own way."
Zinnia said nothing, but a small chill ran down her spine as she looked at him. The calmness in Aksai’s eyes was the kind that belonged to soone who had already decided the fate of his enemies long before the first strike was ever made.
***
The next afternoon.
Aksai stood quietly on the upper floor of Zinnia’s martial school away from the prying eyes, watching distantly through the open window as the eting took place below.
In the courtyard, Zinnia stood face-to-face with Jin Jolan, a tall, wiry man with a single eye gleaming under his dark brow. His gray robes were embroidered with the golden insignia of the Grand Martial Hall, a reminder of the authority he carried wherever he went.
Behind him stood several martial experts, each cloaked in the sa colors—disciples and enforcers of the Hall.
Zinnia’s expression was unreadable at first, but her clenched jaw betrayed her emotions. Her silver Qi faintly shimred around her before she suppressed it completely.
In her hands was a small jade box. Inside were the two Aurous-level Martial Compendiums Aksai had prepared.
Jin Jolan extended his hand with a smile that didn’t reach his eye. "To new beginnings, old friend" he said, his tone pleasant but sharp underneath.
Zinnia took a slow breath before grasping his hand. Her grip was firm, but her face made it clear that the act was forced. "To new beginnings," she repeated.
The martial experts from the Grand Martial Hall stepped forward, opening the jade box carefully. The mont they began to read through the scrolls, the color drained from their faces.
One of them looked up in disbelief. "These... these are genuine Aurous-level Compendiums," he said. "The Qi flow patterns, ridian pathways, and Martial Intent Diagrams—these are far beyond Argent-tier."
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