Urban All-Round Master

Chapter 384: Chapter 386: I Need an Identity

”Come, today I specially asked someone to bring me a bottle of wine. Since you’re here, first come, first served. Let me let you taste it first,” Long Zaitian said with a smile as he walked over with the wine.

Lin Zifeng was in no hurry.

He was smoking a cigarette as if waiting for something.

”Young man, you should smoke less. It’s not very good for your health,” Long Zaitian advised kindly upon seeing the slight yellow tinge on Lin Zifeng’s fingers from the cigarette smoke.

Lin Zifeng shrugged his shoulders and smiled, ”I can hardly imagine what I’d become without cigarettes.”

”Hehe, even without cigarettes, you can try the wine. Knowing full well that cigarettes are harmful and useless to your health, why keep drilling into it like a stubborn mule?” Long Zaitian’s skill in using objects to illustrate people really impressed Lin Zifeng.

He smiled, ”Long Zaitian, you invited me here today. It can’t be just to taste wine, right? Besides, though cigarettes are harmful, they are the best medicine when one feels lonely and empty.”

”Medicine?” Long Zaitian just smiled.

He took out two tall red wine glasses and started pouring one for Lin Zifeng.

After placing it in front of Lin Zifeng, he also poured one for himself and drank.

Lin Zifeng held the wine from the crystal table up to his nose and sniffed..

He closed his eyes, enjoying the alcohol stimulating his senses.

He just quietly smelled the purity of the wine and said nothing more.

Finally, Long Zaitian could no longer endure his attitude of not taking anything seriously.

”How does it feel? Does this wine suit your taste?”

Long Zaitian had snow-white hair but a very young face. He didn’t look anything like a man nearing seventy.

”The wine is indeed good, but it’s hard to say what it tastes like. Tsk tsk, even the finest wine, after being tasted, loses its allure. It’s the same with a man desiring a beauty, no matter how beautiful she is. Before he gets her,

he might find everything she does enchanting, but once he tastes her flavor, there always comes a time when he grows tired of her. By then, he’s already lost his initial longing and admiration for her,” Lin Zifeng explained his view with a smile.

Little did he know that Long Zaitian’s eyebrows had tightened even more.

The Martial Arts Alliance wasn’t devoid of masters, nor was it lacking them.

But to have someone as influential as Lin Zifeng, the Martial Arts Alliance admitted it hadn’t reached that level.

If Long Zaitian wanted to kill Lin Zifeng, it would definitely be an easy task.

With a mere flick of his finger, Lin Zifeng could die ten thousand times over.

But the masters of the Martial Arts Alliance were all a highly clandestine force of the Empire, revealed only in dire circumstances.

There were many masters, but none as renowned as Lin Zifeng.

Without any rallying power at all.

”So what kind of wine would catch your attention? Or what kind of wine would make you long and yearn for it?” Although a hint of murderous intent flashed through Long Zaitian’s dark eyes just now, he relaxed eventually.

”Long Zaitian, since we’ve already got to this point, I think you’re a wise man and wouldn’t need me to elaborate further. Let’s speak frankly. If you have any requests, feel free to voice them. But still...” Lin Zifeng ended with a smile.

Speaking half, leaving some suspense, this is what others find most intolerable.

”But what?” Long Zaitian squinted his eyes, sizing up the young man before him, feeling that this guy was a hundred times more difficult to deal with than he had anticipated!

”I can serve the Empire, but the Martial Arts Alliance must help me!” Lin Zifeng said firmly. After all, he was holding a valuable ace too, and he needed to turn passivity into initiative.

”How do you want to be helped?” Long Zaitian took a deep breath, fearing that this guy would give him a hard time, which would make him even harder to handle since history had recorded many such instances of nurturing a threat.

The Empire would absolutely not tolerate any force developing to the extent that even the Empire itself would fear it.

”Give me power! Give me an imperial status; I need the power of the Empire,” Lin Zifeng said earnestly, his eyes sharp as arrows.

Long Zaitian’s body shook, nearly flipping the table over and drawing his Hand Arrow to strike him.

He hadn’t expected Lin Zifeng to be so bold.

He had thought that by recruiting Lin Zifeng, the Martial Arts Alliance would at most promise to protect him, but this guy had really asked for a lot.

To demand power from the Empire!

Give him an identity!

In Huaxia, almost no underground forces, even those apparent on the surface, could possibly obtain the power to exercise the authority of the Empire, right?

The Empire has already shown you great favor by not destroying you.

”No way!” Long Zaitian glared at the other party and flatly rejected Lin Zifeng’s request.

He even nearly crushed the tall red wine glass in his hand.

”If I can’t even meet this small request of yours, Mr. Long, then I’m sorry, perhaps today’s negotiation should be postponed to another day!” Lin Zifeng stood up, straightened his clothes, ready to leave with dignity.

”Do you know the consequences of threatening me?” Long Zaitian no longer looked frail and sickly as before, and even the kindly demeanor of an old man he had earlier was instantly gone.

An invisible pressure of a superior bore down on Lin Zifeng.

”I don’t know.” Lin Zifeng answered earnestly.

”Are you trying to challenge the dignity of the Empire?”

”I’m not.”

”Then why are you still bargaining with me?”

”This is not a bargain, this is just a transaction, mutually beneficial to both parties. I know if Mr. Long wants me dead, I probably won’t survive past midnight tonight. But don’t forget, Mr. Long, apart from me, no one else is more suitable than me.”

”Are you that confident?”

”It’s not confidence, it’s just self-assurance! Unless I’m dead, my mouth will absolutely not loosen, even if you, Mr. Long, wish to put me to death, I can only accept my fate.”

Under Long Zaitian’s intense pressure, Lin Zifeng could feel the sweat on his forehead uncontrollably trickling down.

This was the instinctive fear of a weaker person towards someone stronger.

But Lin Zifeng firmly believed he had the ability.

To survive, to progress, without the protection of the Empire, even with Heaven-reaching abilities, Lin Zifeng would still face certain death.

At least his strength still wasn’t strong enough!

Even under Long Zaitian’s tiger-like gaze, Lin Zifeng showed no fear.

His eyes even filled with immense confidence.

After a long while—

Long Zaitian’s cold and indifferent face finally showed some signs of softening.

Instantly, Long Zaitian burst into a hearty laugh, saying, ”Young man, I really admire you!”

Long Zaitian exclaimed in admiration.

”I also admire Mr. Long, never expected Mr. Long’s strength was hidden so deeply. Even I was mistaken.”

One has to admit.

This Mr. Long is a real bastard.

Indeed a true master!

Lin Zifeng even had the illusion, if Long Zaitian wanted to kill him.

He probably wouldn’t last even ten moves against him!

This isn’t an exaggeration, it’s a fact.

Because from the aura emanating from Long Zaitian, Lin Zifeng could feel the same powerful presence he felt from the old man in the Dark Prison.

The old man’s power, Lin Zifeng, to this day, could not guess to what level his strength had reached.

However, the aura coming off Long Zaitian was very similar, very similar to the old man’s!

Though not as intense as the old man’s, it was enough to kill him.