Chapter 21 The Worth of a Follower

Li Tianran didn't speak, and Lu Chi was silent as well. The scene fell into a dead silence once again.

"Are you teaching me?"

"Why are you teaching me?" Lu Chi finally spoke, unable to resist asking.

Lu Chi had naturally seen that although Li Tianran said he wanted to beat him into submission, he wasn't using such simple and violent methods. Instead, he was mixing many complex things into the violence.

"Because I want you to be convinced," Li Tianran said, looking into the distance. "I want you to become a sword in my hand, to expand my territory and overcome all obstacles for me."

Lu Chi said, "You still want to subdue me."

Li Tianran thought to himself, *You're just stating the obvious. If I didn't want to subdue you, why would I waste so much time here?*

"Even if you use this method to make me follow you, aren't you afraid that I'll seize power and authority in the future and take everything from you, reversing our positions?" Lu Chi stared directly at Li Tianran and asked in a very serious and cold voice.

This question was very important.

Lu Chi had ability, but he also had ambition.

Throughout history, there had been no shortage of cases where commanders subdued ambitious individuals, only to have everything taken away by them in the end.

Lu Chi stared intently at Li Tianran, wanting to hear his answer.

Lu Chi was very clear that his question was inappropriate. If it aroused even a trace of suspicion in Li Tianran's mind, he could very well be killed on the spot!

His heart pounded wildly, and his breathing became extremely heavy.

The oppressive atmosphere in the air grew stronger, and cold sweat trickled down Lu Chi's forehead.

Li Tianran suddenly smiled, a faint smile, but one with extremely strong confidence.

"If you want to raise a dog, you must have the patience to endure its barking! If you want to raise a wolf, you must have the means to deal with its wolfish nature! If I can't even control a follower, then I'm not qualified to possess everything I have now!" A strong sense of self-confidence erupted in Li Tianran's eyes. "If you ever feel you are qualified to defeat me in the future, you can challenge me at any time!"

Lu Chi was silent for a long time, then suddenly began to applaud.

"Your words prove that you're a guy worth following..." Lu Chi's expression was very complicated.

"Do you agree?" Li Tianran asked.

"I can become your follower, but not now." Lu Chi finally breathed a sigh of relief and said in a very serious tone, "Ancient swordsmen would offer a gift to their lord when choosing one. I'm penniless right now, I have nothing! If I just follow you like this… it would make me feel like a beggar, a slave, not a follower!"

"..." Li Tianran looked at Lu Chi, frowning slightly.

"I'm going to prepare a gift, using what you taught me." Lu Chi walked to the distance, picked up the hammer that had killed Hui Ge and Scarface, and said, "There were nearly a hundred bandits who escaped from the shelter with us, divided into four teams, now wandering in the ruins of the South City."

"The gift I offer to you will be the heads of the other teams!" Lu Chi held the hammer and looked at Li Tianran, asking, "Ten days is the limit. I will definitely let you see those heads. Do you… dare to let me go?"

Li Tianran looked at Lu Chi and said calmly, "What's there to be afraid of?"

"Aren't you afraid I'll run?" Lu Chi asked.

"If, after experiencing everything just now, you still want to escape from me, then that means you're not an unpolished sword, but a piece of stone that can't be carved… Someone like that is useless to me!" Li Tianran looked at Lu Chi and said, word by word, "Go and show me! Let me see how sharp your sword can be!"

"Ten days later, I'll still be here waiting for you!"

Lu Chi's lips curled up. He laughed and said, "Ten days later, we'll meet again!"

Lu Chi turned around, picked up a backpack, stuffed the hammer into it, packed only two days' worth of food and water, and set off.

This was an extremely arduous journey. Although Lu Chi was fierce, he was, after all, just flesh and blood.

It was as difficult as ascending to the heavens for him to single-handedly kill dozens of fierce bandits wandering in the South City!

Tang Su appeared silently. She stood beside Li Tianran, raised her eyebrows, and said, "This kid is too arrogant. Aren't you afraid he'll want to take this opportunity to escape?"

Li Tianran shook his head.

To see a person clearly, sometimes it takes a lifetime, but sometimes it only takes a few minutes.

Lu Chi would never escape.

Li Tianran had something he wanted!

"Why don't you teach me what you taught that kid…" Tang Su said in a sweet, cloying voice next to Li Tianran's ear. "I can also be a sharp sword in your hand. Whoever you want me to cut, I'll cut, okay?"

"You're not a sword. Those things are useless to you." Li Tianran turned around, grabbed Tang Su's hand, and said calmly, "At best, you can only be considered a sinister dagger, destined to be different from Lu Chi."

Tang Su felt extremely uncomfortable being stared at by Li Tianran with such an intense gaze. She forcefully shook off Li Tianran's hand and retreated a few steps.

...

Half an hour later, Li Tianran and Tang Su returned to the farm.

After going through countless hardships, Li Tianran finally returned to his long-awaited home. As soon as he walked through the gate, Li Tianran felt as if all the muscles in his body had relaxed, and an inexplicable sense of security surged up.

Xiao Hei was still the first to run up to greet him. Unlike last time, the white cat didn't seem so disgusted and repulsed when it saw Li Tianran this time. Instead, it followed Xiao Hei from a distance, softly meowing.

Hearing the meow, Xiao Hei strode back, gently patting the white cat's head with its big paws, and roared at Li Tianran.

It was like a boy in elementary school holding the arm of a female classmate, proudly patting his chest, and introducing her to his parents: "Dad, this is my classmate! We're really good friends!"

Seeing such a harmonious scene, Li Tianran's heart slowly calmed down.

The white cat being completely won over by Xiao Hei was a good thing, but also a bad thing…

The good thing was that he had finally firmly grasped this Beast King with special abilities. The bad thing was… if Xiao Hei and the white cat's relationship really became inseparable in the future, if there really came a day when the white cat had to be sacrificed to save someone's life on the farm, Xiao Hei's reaction would probably be very intense!

Li Tianran stroked his chin, thinking about how he should handle this distorted relationship between Xiao Hei and the white cat, but after racking his brains, he couldn't think of any good solution for the time being, so he could only put it aside and consider it later…

Qin Yiming walked out of the small building. Seeing Li Tianran, his face was full of surprise, and he rubbed his hands together, saying, "Boss, you must have had a big harvest this time, right? Did you bring any small gifts for us hardworking employees?"

"I've been staying up late on deck a lot lately, and I feel like my brain isn't working well enough. I urgently need some nutritional supplements!"

Hearing this, Li Tianran revealed a meaningful smile, took out something from behind him, and threw it directly over. "That's perfect!"

*Pa!*

Qin Yiming was beaming with joy, catching it in his hands. When he looked down, he was so frightened that he jumped three feet high. The head slipped from his hands and rolled a few meters away, directly hitting a rock.

"Mommy! A head!"

Li Tianran looked at the flustered Qin Yiming and said calmly, "Don't break that thing. After we're done with it, we plan to use it to make you a bowl of tofu pudding!"

Qin Yiming swallowed hard, looked at the head that had hit the rock, and asked with difficulty, "Is brain matter that's been turned into mush still considered a supplement?"