# Chapter 409: A Kneel
"There's no need for you to waste your breath trying to distract me with such words," Yun Che said coldly, pressing his foot down harder on the man beneath him. "And put away that powder in your hand. The illusion poison of a mere Illusion Dream Butterfly is useless against me!"
The "girl's" pupils contracted sharply in that instant, and a storm surged within his heart. The man before him had eyes like mirrors of ice. Faced with those eyes, for the first time in his life, he felt a terrifying sense of having nowhere to hide. His earlier words about being "pursued by an Overlord Emperor" were indeed meant to divert Yun Che's attention, and between the fingers of his right hand, he did indeed pinch a trace of poison powder.
And all of this—he had seen through it completely!
The Illusion Dream Butterfly's illusion poison was odorless and formless, held between his fingers without the slightest leakage... yet Yun Che had called it out in a single breath!
"Who exactly... are you?" the "girl" countered. "You're clearly not a member of the Fenghuang God Sect, yet you can use Phoenix Flame... You must really be from the Cang Feng Kingdom... but how could the Cang Feng Kingdom produce someone like you..."
Yun Che's gaze was cold and piercing as he stared at him. The man beneath his feet knew he had no right to ask questions, but he forced out a breath and said, "My disguise has never been seen through before... Can you tell me, how exactly did you see through me?"
"Your ability to conceal your tracks and aura, and your skill at mimicking voices—I'm far inferior to you in those respects," Yun Che said blandly. "But when it comes to disguise, you're slightly worse than me. Whether a person is wearing a disguise, as long as they come within three zhang of me, I can tell at a glance. Not only do I know you're disguised, I also know it's a triple disguise. Even if you peel off this face, the one beneath, and the one beneath that, still won't be your true face... It seems you're either so ugly you're afraid to be seen, or you're hiding your true appearance so thoroughly that you never dare show it to anyone."
"Obviously it's the latter!" the "girl" cried out excitedly, his voice cracking. "Look at this woman I'm pretending to be—delicate and lovely! That should tell you that even if I'm not devastatingly handsome, I'm at least graceful and extraordinary! There's no way I'm associated with the word 'ugly'! You're the ugly one... your whole family is ugly!"
"Tch!" Yun Che curled his lip, suddenly lifting his foot off the man and turning around. "You can go now."
The "girl"... well, to be precise, the man sprang up from the ground like a carp leaping, staring at Yun Che's back with disbelief still written all over his face. Earlier at the Luoyan Merchant Guild, he had personally witnessed how ruthlessly Yun Che struck. He had thought that falling into his hands would mean at least suffering greatly. But instead, he was just... letting him go?
"You... you're just letting me go like that?" He widened his eyes. "You're not going to ask who I am? Don't you want to know why I was following you? You're just... letting me go like this?"
"Because you're not a villain," Yun Che said without turning around.
"...How do you know I'm not a villain?"
"Hmph, I've seen too many villains in my life. I only need one look to tell whether someone is a villain or not." Yun Che half-closed his eyes. "Also, in the inn, you used a sleeping incense, not a toxic one. Even when I had you pinned under my foot just now, the powder you tried to sprinkle was only an illusion incense. Besides, there was no killing intent in your eyes when you looked at me... Otherwise, do you think you'd still be alive?"
The man opened his mouth, but he didn't take the opportunity to flee... He was confident that now that he was free, if he wanted to escape, ten Yun Che's couldn't catch him. Instead, he stepped forward and asked in confusion, "Aren't you going to ask why I approached you?"
"I already know."
"You... know?"
Yun Che turned around and looked at him. "You wanted to steal the Phoenix Sunflower from me!"
It was a statement of certainty, not a question.
"How... how do you know?" The man's eyes went wide.
"Smells are often harder to hide than auras. Volcano gall, Phoenix-tail banana, Roasted Blood Fire Ginseng, Purple Yin Calamus, Dragon Mushroom, Thousand Insect Purple Rattan, Cloud Forest Flower... These are the medicinal herbs I smell on you. Though you've tried hard to eliminate these scents, you handled these herbs within the last twelve hours. No matter how well you mask them, a tiny residue remains, enough for me to identify."
The man stood there dumbfounded, frozen as if turned to stone... Every single herb name that Yun Che had listed—not one missing, not one extra, not one wrong!
"If these herbs were stored in a space ring, no scent would leak out. But clearly, you handled and prepared these herbs yourself. Combined, their effect is forcibly extending life. To make that forced life extension last longer, you would need a large amount of Purple Vein Heavenly Crystals... However, this forced life extension process comes with immense pain. To suppress that pain without conflicting with the medicinal power of the other herbs, the only option is Phoenix Sunflower, which can block all the body's pain meridians."
Man: "~!@#$%..."
"You followed me right after I acquired the Phoenix Sunflower." Yun Che said blandly. "Since you approached me to save someone and never harbored any murderous intent toward me, I have no reason to keep making things difficult for you. Those few stomps just now are enough. You can go. Don't think about stealing anything from me again."
With that, Yun Che turned and walked away.
By the time Yun Che had taken more than ten steps, the man finally seemed to wake from a dream. He dashed forward in one stride, "whoosh" appearing in front of Yun Che at a speed so fast that Yun Che couldn't even catch his afterimage. "Wait... brother! No, big brother! For me to offend a master like you twice is my own reckless presumption and blindness. But... the Phoenix Sunflower is far too important to me. Please, I beg you, transfer the Phoenix Sunflower in your possession to me..."
He had thought that with his abilities, once someone obtained a Phoenix Sunflower, stealing it from them would be effortless. He never expected to run into an extraordinary freak like Yun Che. Now he knew he couldn't steal it from him, and since Yun Che had generously let him go, he had no face to resort to tricks anymore. But that Phoenix Sunflower was something he had to obtain even if it cost him his life. Since theft was impossible, all he could do was... beg.
"Don't worry, I won't let you transfer it for nothing," he said with utmost sincerity. "You bought that Phoenix Sunflower from the Luoyan Merchant Guild for a thousand Purple Mysterious Coins. I'll pay three thousand... no, five thousand! No, ten thousand! I'll buy it for ten thousand Purple Mysterious Coins!"
He shouted an utterly insane price, then hastily pulled out a violet-glittering coin card, looking at Yun Che with an expression of pure pleading.
Yun Che remained unmoved, slowly shaking his head. "At any other time, I could transfer this Phoenix Sunflower. But right now, I urgently need it to increase my strength. Otherwise, half a month from now, I might lose my life in this Shenhuang City. So no matter how much you offer, I won't transfer it to you."
With that, Yun Che turned to leave.
"Big brother!"
The man rushed forward, grabbing his clothes, his hands trembling. "That Phoenix Sunflower in your hands is the last one that could be found this year. Please, by all means, transfer it to me. If ten thousand Purple Mysterious Coins still isn't enough... name whatever price you want. As long as I can afford it, I won't even blink!"
Yun Che shook his head firmly. "I told you, it's not a matter of money. This Phoenix Sunflower also concerns my fate. I absolutely cannot give it to someone else. Go look elsewhere—there might be a chance to find another."
"If I could find one elsewhere, I would have already." The man's face was etched with deep desperation. "Big brother, your eyes are like a god's. You even know exactly what herbs I've handled. Then you should also know the immense pain that using those medicines with Purple Vein Heavenly Crystals to forcibly extend life brings. Her lifespan is at most less than a year now. My greatest hope is to accompany her quietly through this final year. How could I bear to let her suffer that soul-piercing pain during her last moments? I've gone through countless hardships and found only half a Phoenix Sunflower. But that half was already half-used, its potency greatly dispersed, the effect minimal. Now my only hope is the one in your hands... Please, let me have it. I swear to the heavens, I will repay you well in the future."
Yun Che glanced sideways at him but still shook his head. "Your abilities show you're a true master thief, but clearly, your heart isn't wicked. Every word you've spoken is genuine. However, you and the person you're trying to save have no relation to me. I'm not so benevolent as to use something that concerns my own life and safety to save a complete stranger. Give up. Don't follow me anymore!"
Yun Che flicked his hand and used Star God Remnant Shadow to flash ten zhang away.
"Thud!"
The sound of knees hitting the ground heavily rang out behind Yun Che. He stopped abruptly and turned around, his brow furrowed. "You..."
The man was kneeling with both knees on the ground, his face full of deep pleading, tears glistening in his eyes. "Big brother, I've never begged anyone in my life, and I've never kneeled to anyone. Even when my parents were alive, I never had the chance to kneel to them even once. I beg you... have mercy... She really has less than a year left... I beg you... Even if you want me to be your beast of burden..."
Yun Che's heart was deeply shaken. Though he had only met this man for the first time today, this was someone as elusive as a ghost, someone whom seven Overlord Emperors couldn't lay a hand on. He knew what this man's tears and kneeling meant...
It was all his pride and dignity...
This was indeed most likely his first time kneeling, or his knees wouldn't tremble so violently. His eyes were helpless, and if he refused again, that helplessness would completely turn into despair...
Those eyes were exactly like his own back then, when he had held Ling'er's fading body and wept at the heavens.
"Haah..." Yun Che sighed inwardly. He couldn't bring himself to take another step. He walked over and said, "The person you want to save—what is she to you?"
"...My wife." Seeing Yun Che come back, a glimmer of hope lit up in his eyes. "Big brother, I beg you. As long as you're willing to give me the Phoenix Sunflower, I'll agree to any condition."
"Tell me, what illness does your wife have?" Yun Che asked.
"She's not sick," the man shook his head, his expression pained. "Five years ago, our family was ambushed by enemies. Both my parents were killed. They gave their lives to allow me and my wife to escape. But my wife was severely wounded and poisoned with a strange cold poison that no one could cure. Over the years, I've done everything I can to keep her alive, but such life extension can't last forever. This year is the final limit..."
"Ambushed?" Yun Che was slightly surprised. "You're an expert at stealth and ambush. Your parents should have been even stronger than you. How did it come to this? Five years ago, your strength probably wasn't that far from where you are now, right?"
The man's face showed a struggle, but finally, he spoke slowly: "It was the Sun Moon Divine Palace..."
Yun Che: "!!"
"Our family has been thieves for generations, generations taking joy in robbing the rich to aid the poor. One of my ancestors once infiltrated the Sun Moon Divine Palace and stole an Overlord Emperor Blade from them. So for hundreds of years, the Sun Moon Divine Palace has been hunting our tracks. Somehow, they found one of our hideouts, and calamity descended..."
"I understand. Get up." Yun Che pulled him to his feet... A special family of thieves for generations, one ancestor having even entered and exited a sacred ground like the Sun Moon Divine Palace, and even made off with an Overlord Emperor Blade—such a family must have an extremely renowned name across the Tian Xuan Continent.
"Take me to see your wife," Yun Che said seriously. "I believe you wouldn't dare leave her too far away. She should be here in Shenhuang City, right?"
"Ah?" The man was taken aback.
"I have some medical skill. Perhaps I can cure your wife's injury and poison. And don't worry, I won't reveal a single trace of your whereabouts, nor will I even look at your true face," Yun Che said calmly.
The man opened his mouth. "But... this... but..."
"No buts." Yun Che cut him off. "Since you care about her so much, you have no choice but to trust me. Even if the world's number one divine doctor told you she was incurable, you must believe someone who claims they might be able to heal her! Because if you let me go... you might be letting go of her life!"
"Alright!"
Yun Che's final sentence shattered all of the man's doubts. He had nothing left to think about and nodded firmly. "You could identify all the herbs I've handled in an instant. I believe your medical skills must be astonishing. I also believe you won't harm us, and have no reason to. If you really can heal her, my life will be yours!"