Hanchen might be naive, but he wasn't completely stupid, and clearly understood that there was likely something behind this:
"May I know what is this trade senior suggests?" he asked.
"It's simple, really" Baotian replied. "Even if you're the disciple of an elder of the Xiao clan, you only barely reached Qi Refining so, tell me, how much of their scripture was actually transmitted to you?"
Hanchen didn't see how much harm revealing it could do, so he answered honestly:
"Only the Qi Refining part of the scripture" he admitted. "That much is enough to reach Qi Building, but that's it"
That was exactly what Baotian had expected:
"Hmm… junior, it seems you got tricked" he said.
Hanchen raised his eyebrows in surprise:
"What may senior mean by that?" he asked.
"Didn't your so-called 'master' tell you? Before reaching Qi Building, any scripture can be used to cultivate through the Qi Refining formula. However, once you reach Qi Building, you must either use the same scripture, or at least one that is similar, to avoid qi deviation. By giving you just enough to reach Qi Building, your master simply made sure that your potential would be stunted"
Hearing this, Hanchen couldn' help but get defensive:
"What bullshit are you spi- Ehm, I mean, why would master even do that? Instead, he could have just killed me instead of letting me run away, why go through all this trouble?"
"Why would he have endured the shame of killing his own disciple when he could just waste their potential to ensure they would never be able to come for revenge? Doing such is much easier on the mind and this way, he could keep the image of a magnanimous master, gaining a greater reputation among the righteous path cultivators of the Three Nations"
Hearing this, Hanchen clenched his teeth. He wanted to deny it, to rebuke this evil demonic cultivator but… as much as it pained him… it truly sounded like the truth.
"So what trade do you want to do?" he asked instead.
"Give me the Core Formation pill" Baotian said. "In exchange, I'll consider you my disciple, giving you a more complete scripture. It won't be a demonic one, and even though you'll be my 'disciple' by technicality, you won't be tied to me in any way if you don't want to. What about these terms?"
The young man hesitated:
"Which scripture?"
"The Liu Sword Scripture. I will give you what I have, up to the mid stage Qi Building formula, so you will be able to reach the beginning of the late stage"
Hanchen frowned: this guy wanted to trade a formula only two minor stages higher to trade? Not even allowing him to reach bottom Core Formation? Even devils wouldn't be that shameless!
But as if reading his thoughts, Baotian continued:
"Of course, along with that, I'll also tell you everything you need to know about the Liu clan, so you can use your talent to empty their treasury" he said. "Not just the next part of their scripture but also their pills, artifacts and spirit stones. It has been less than twenty years since I have been banished, and I was once an elder's disciple. Their formations, the way the sect is organized, the weaknesses of their defenses and the important places, those where treasures are hidden, I'll inform you about all of them. And with the beginning of the scripture, you will be able to blend in as a disciple, making it even easier thank to your Earth talent. After all, the Xiao clan and Divine Storm sect may be prepared against you, now, but that doesn't necessarily mean that all clans and sects of Xuanhe's Kingdom are, right?"
Hearing that, the young man's frown didn't disappear immediately: this guy truly was shameless, setting up his own previous clan to be pillaged, and he was just supposed to go with it?
But soon, he realized he didn't have much choice in the matter: without the backing of the clan, that was his only option left beside the demonic path.
And if you thought about it, wasn't it the schemings of the righteous path that got him in this situation in the first place? It was only right that he got compensation from them, right?
Convincing himself, he eventually nodded:
"Fine, I accept senior… uh, teacher's offer"
He still had some lingering loyalty toward his master, not being able to call someone else by this title, but still add the decency to call Baotian like this.
"That is great! In this case, let's proceed with the exchange!"
And so, they quickly did so, Baotian obtaining the pill and giving Hanchen the part of Liu Sword Scripture he knew of, along with intel on the Liu clan, before patting the young man's shoulder:
"Now, we probably won't see each other for a long time, so may I know my disciple's name?"
"I am Xiao Hanchen… Uh, just Hanchen now, I guess. And you, teacher, what is your name?"
As the young man ask, his new 'master' hesitated. Liu Baotian? No, he had no such ties with the clan anymore, as he had accepted Zhang Ming's help and became a demonic cultivator. Just Baotian then?
"Zhang Baotian. Your new master's name is Zhang Baotian"
And soon after exchanging their names, creating a connection between their fate, they separated and quickly left the place to avoid the reinforcements of the Xiao clan and the Divine Storm sect.
'Great, everything went according to the plan' Baotian thought.
Even though he seemed naive, his new 'disciple' didn't look like a complete idiot either. Surely, he would be wary of a scripture provided by a demonic cultivator, and thoroughly examine it. After all, he was an Earthly Talent, so surely he could compare to the Xiao clan's scripture to find out if a mere Spiritual Talent tried to alter the original Liu Sword Scripture, right?
And indeed, Baotian had slightly altered the scripture. The thing was, he only changed insignificant details, meaning that the scripture was still perfectly valid!
However, seeing these incoherent little details in the scripture, Hanchen would definitely focus his attention on them, not willing to take any risk. He might even choose to keep using the Xiao clan's scripture or find a new one.
The thing was that, while focusing on these little details, he wouldn't notice the true scheme: a Blood Mark that Baotian left when he patted his shoulder, allowing to know his position at any moment!
"Haha, an Earthly talent! If I use the Spiritual Source Annihilation and conduct the correct rituals, I can refine his Earth talent and use it to upgrade mine! With this, I'll finally be close to what a real genius is!"
Of course, there were limits. Just absorbing an Earthly Talent, he would still remain a Spiritual one, not gaining any additional ability. However, even then, both his cultivation speed and realm potential would skyrocket thanks to the absorption, allowing him to reach much higher.
Just that was more than enough to put effort into it. But as, to absorb an Earthly Talent with Zhang Ming's scripture, one had to wait for them to reach Qi Building, Baotian was planning to wait until he himself reached the middle stage Qi Building before starting to chase Hanchen, leaving him just enough time to advance.
'Let's see, advancing in stage at the Qi Building stage usually takes twice the time at the Qi Refining stage, but I already half-completed my Qi Cube, meaning it shouldn't take me more than fifteen years. In this time, even with his talent, Hanchen should at best be at the late stage of Qi Refining or close to it.
Of course, they were variables.
If Hanchen chose to keep practicing the Xiao clan scripture, he would definitely be stuck at the bottom of Qi Building for a long time. If he chose to find a new scripture by himself, he would take a long time to find it, and then learn it, and it probably would be of lower quality, making his progress much slower. In both those cases, Baotian could even wait to reach late stage Qi Building before giving chase, without fearing that Hanchen would catch up.
On the other hand, if he actually went to the Liu clan, trusting Baotian's words, he would be able to obtain resources to progress faster, artifacts to fight better, and could immediately begin to cultivate the Liu Sword scripture. In this case, to avoid being catched up, Baotian would have to start chasing him from the moment he reached the mid stage. The difference in realm would only be one minor stage, a gap that Hanchen could definitely bridge if he stole enough artifacts and used his Earth talent, making it a much harder fight.
On the other side, in this case, since Baotian had practiced the Liu Sword scripture too, he would have a much higher absorption rate while assimilating Hanchen's Earth talent, making the reward proportional to the risk.
'Yes, in any case, I should be able to manage' he thought.
In a few dozen years, once his plan was achieved, he would be able to transcend his current limits.
"And by then, the question won't be if I can reach the Core Formation realm, but the NAscent Soul realm! Ha, haha, hahaha!" he laughed.
And then, he stopped in his tracks. He became silent once again, looked at the heavens, then looked down at his hands. The smile that was previously on his face completely disappeared.
"Ahh… So that's it, I truly became a demon"
It wasn't just about bringing shame to his master and junior brother. Baotian knew that, if they were watching from the afterlife, his parents too were deeply ashamed, and disappointed by his actions.
"Why… am I trying this hard and going so far? Why… am I ready to go this low?"
But in truth, Baotian already knew the answer:
"To avoid death catching up to me"
And so, Baotian resumed walking.
Just like that, twelve years passed.