Chapter 124: The Contest of Words and Pens (Part 1)
If he could, Arkanis would toss everyone in the world into a garbage bin.
But Ji Ma’s intuition told her that this smiling old man was not a good person. In short, there was a reason for Arkanis’s unpleasantness.
The history professor with crow’s feet, dressed in a manner that indicated he was a learned scholar, stood before the two.
“Good evening,” he said with a smile, making his crow’s feet more pronounced. “I wonder if I could trouble you for a moment regarding the matter of discerning truth from falsehood in history, leaving behind some reliable records for future generations, so they may learn from history and avoid many pitfalls.”
The witch hunter Arkanis said, “Don’t believe his big talk. Someone who dresses so properly will say sweet lies about doing it for everyone and future generations, but inside he’s just full of his own little ideas.”
The history professor’s smile did not fade: “I never expect someone uneducated, who at such an old age still reads fairy tales and likes to cling to those in power, to understand the conscience of a scholar.”
“Have you become stupid from reading too much, bookworm? Don’t you still think rat people don’t exist?”
“Ha, are you saying you pretended to be a rat person to scare me yesterday?” The history professor’s laughter deepened the lines around his eyes. “Are you a child? It seems flattery can make one foolish. Madam, may I speak with you?”
“You haven’t finished your sentence with me yet, are you scared?”
“Who would want to talk to a mere dog?”
“What did you say? Repeat that!”
“Sorry if I was too blunt.” The history professor pointed at a dog in the distance. “Look at this hunting dog; even if it’s in a palace, with a master of noble status, it’s still just a dog.”
“I really want to give you a slash across the neck.” The witch hunter Arkanis could no longer hold back, gripping the hilt of his sword tightly and stepping forward. “If it weren’t for my boss telling me not to move, I’d like to see if I break your hand, would you still be able to smile?”
The history professor didn’t even glance at Arkanis, taking out a pen and writing on paper: “The loyal witch hunter, obstructing my exploration of the truth behind the Battle of the Black Abyss, unsheathes his sword and threatens to break my hand.”
“You!” Arkanis directly drew his sword.
The history professor remained even more composed, adding on paper: “He is agitated, unsheathing his sword, the tip directed at my throat, forcing me to thank the emperor.”
Ji Ma felt she had met her match; he was like her, adept at taking things out of context, using facts to fabricate lies, and likely an extraordinary being. Ji Ma was sure that the words he wrote carried some kind of magical power.
Arkanis was even angrier, his sword trembling. The fact that he didn’t chop the history professor into pieces indicated that he was indeed too loyal to the emperor.
Ji Ma reached out to block the witch hunter Arkanis’s sword, smiling as she said, “Mr. Witch Hunter, you seem to need a good rest. Why not take a stroll in the garden? In such a short time, even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to plot any schemes.”
The witch hunter Arkanis sheathed his sword and turned to walk away, still feeling unsatisfied. He forcefully slashed at a plant with his sword.
The history professor wrote this down, shaking his head as he looked at the back of the witch hunter Arkanis, saying in a sympathetic tone, “I don’t know what method the emperor used to make him pretend to be a goblin shaman; the cost must have been high. He looks like half a green-skinned creature, lost in himself, yet his loyalty to the emperor remains unwavering. Truly pitiful.”
Ji Ma asked, “If I’m not mistaken, you are also an extraordinary being.”
“Naturally, as long as I wish, the words I write will surely be recorded in a book of dark history, alongside the upright writings of many historians.”
Ji Ma knew about the book of dark history, a magical book that ensured the words recorded within would surely be passed down. There were various methods; walls would reveal text after rain, and a thick book could suddenly turn into the book of dark history. Specific rituals could also allow one to read the book.
There had been tyrants who tried to destroy the book of dark history, but they never succeeded no matter what they did.
So it was a useless extraordinary being wielding a pen instead of a sword.
Ji Ma secretly scorned him while showing an admiring expression on her face. “It’s no wonder the emperor instructed you not to harm me, a scholar capable of inscribing history in the book of dark history. I have always wanted to meet a scholar who does not succumb to power; I am fortunate today.”
The history professor felt quite pleased and said, “Little girl, I like you very much, but no matter how you praise me, I will never betray the pen in my hand. Hehe, Van Helsing doesn’t know that even if my hand were cut off, I could still record history in the book of dark history.”
In Ji Ma’s “desire-filled eyes,” a purple aura, symbolizing overconfidence, gradually expanded in the chest of the aging history professor.
Hehe. Ji Ma sneered inwardly. She could imagine what this history professor was thinking.
He must think she would use her beauty to tempt him, offering herself as a bribe, and after he finished, he would wipe his mouth and write in the history book, “The emperor sent a succubus to tempt me, attempting to persuade me to cover up his unspeakable secrets, but I remained true to my heart, without yielding,” and similar lines.
He might also casually write about this amorous affair in his personal biography, prompting others to follow up and boast about how he remained true to himself under the succubus, rising above the heroes in history who were dazed by the succubi.
Men, after all, have similar thoughts.
Ji Ma said, “Of course I won’t.”
“That’s for the best… Do you feel sorry for Van Helsing?”
“Pitiful.” He lost his freedom; had he still had freedom, he would have hollowed out your head to use as a night pot.
“I have read the accounts of him in the book of dark history. His family was slaughtered by evil beings, and he swore vengeance, burdened with the mission to revitalize his family. Naturally, he has to think of ways to be a dog for the emperor; the emperor also likes such dogs.”
“I see now.”
“I say so much to reveal my personal extraordinary abilities, hoping you can cooperate. I can see you are a clever person.” The history professor added, “I have also seen your history in the book of dark history.”
Then you can wait to be fooled by me.
Ji Ma sighed, flipping her hair and said, “You know I had a master before, right?”
“The one who once killed the demon king Jima with a single sword and slaughtered the green dragon, the former hero George?”
“Yes.”
“He was quite the womanizer; the book says he had romantic relationships with one hundred and eight women.”
It seems this book of dark history isn’t anything special.
As a fabricator of rumors, Ji Ma turned her face away, looking upset as she whispered, “Who wants to be one of one hundred and eight? Hehe, there are so many disappointments in life.”
The history professor excitedly wrote on paper: “The hero’s slave succubus acknowledges that the hero has one hundred and eight lovers.”
I’m sorry, George. I’m only doing this to lure him in. She thought without any remorse.
Ji Ma had already finalized her deceptive plan. She suspected that the history professor’s so-called interview was meant to take things out of context and record the dark side of this glorious battle in the history book, smudging the emperor’s contributions.
So this way, she planned to exploit men’s common “advice to reform the prostitute” mentality, step by step to fool him.
