The truth behind all this was something even The Elder could never have imagined, not even in his dreams. Yet as The Elder's battle energy increased, the cold, sinister aura not only failed to dissipate, but actually grew stronger, causing The Elder even more pain.

And the person who injured The Elder back then must have planned this all along. Although The Elder's battle energy was greatly enhanced, the pain increased proportionally. Even if they were to clash again, in The Elder's current state, he might not even be able to exert thirty percent of his strength, making defeat inevitable.

"Old man, how about we make a deal?" William Carter grinned.

Chapter 0006: The Cold, Sinister Aura

William Carter stared wide-eyed at The Elder, who chuckled and asked curiously.

"What kind of deal?"

"I'll help you cure your old injury, and you let me study you, okay?" William Carter said seriously.

"Study?" The Elder couldn't help but show a look of surprise. This little kid actually knew about research, and with his crippled body, how could he possibly be cured?

William Carter didn't know much about battle energy, so he hoped to use The Elder's body to further study it.

Although The Elder didn't believe William Carter could really heal him, he couldn't refuse such an innocent child. In the end, he nodded gently.

William Carter's grin grew even wider, and he began treating The Elder even more earnestly. With The Elder's current physical condition, he probably wouldn't last more than two years.

Moreover, as time passed, the cold, sinister aura would only grow stronger. By then, it would surely overpower everything else, directly taking control of The Elder's battle energy. This meant that the nature of The Elder's battle energy would directly shift to a yin attribute.

The most direct result would be that The Elder simply couldn't withstand the immense pain brought by this transformation. At that time, The Elder would experience the most agonizing moment of the past fifty years.

Even if he survived, and his attribute completely turned to yin, he wouldn't know how to control yin-type battle energy. The result would still be a loss of control, leading to inner turmoil and disaster.

This is the so-called "two tigers cannot share one mountain"—two types of battle energy with different attributes can only fight to the death.

William Carter used his immortal energy to gently pinch a trace of the cold, sinister aura. The aura clung to the immortal energy like a maggot to bone, immediately sticking to it, and as William Carter withdrew his immortal energy, it returned to William Carter's body.

A slight smile curled at William Carter's lips. This trace of cold, sinister aura was quite interesting—extremely stubborn. William Carter tried to refine it, but it had no effect at all.

This reminded William Carter of a martial arts classic, "The Nine Yin Manual." The Nine Yin internal energy was just like this cold, sinister aura, but even colder and more domineering, not inferior to some cultivation techniques.

William Carter didn't immediately dispel the cold, sinister aura, but left it in his body to continue observing its changes.

Only by experiencing it personally could he truly understand its transformations and determine the best treatment.

That trace of cold, sinister aura was indeed vicious. The moment it entered William Carter's body, he immediately felt a heart-piercing pain.

William Carter didn't suppress it with immortal energy, but let the cold, sinister aura remain, continuing to stimulate his body and battle with the immortal energy.

Cold sweat was already forming on William Carter's forehead. This heart-piercing pain was indescribable, as if countless sharp blades were stabbing at his heart at every moment.

William Carter glanced at The Elder, finding it hard to imagine that The Elder had endured such excruciating pain for fifty years.

Moreover, immortal energy had a tremendous suppressive effect on this cold, sinister aura, so William Carter's pain was reduced by nearly ninety percent. The Elder's battle energy didn't have such overwhelming power, so his suffering was far more intense than William Carter's.

Although William Carter didn't directly suppress the cold, sinister aura, the immortal energy he cultivated from the "Tongtian Treasure Canon" was extremely domineering. In the face of this immortal energy, the cold, sinister aura was like a maggot before a dragon. As long as William Carter willed it, he could instantly wipe out the cold, sinister aura.

However, that wasn't what William Carter wanted. Instead, he allowed the cold, sinister aura to invade, wanting to clearly understand its properties in order to prescribe the right remedy.

As the cold, sinister aura continued to linger, it actually began to take root in William Carter's body. William Carter was a bit surprised by this behavior.

This cold, sinister aura was truly shameless. Realizing it couldn't resist the immortal energy, it actually retreated on its own, and since William Carter's immortal energy didn't pursue it, the cold, sinister aura settled down and began to take root and grow in William Carter's body.

However, William Carter's body was different from The Elder's. The Elder was powerless against this cold, sinister aura, but in William Carter's body, it wouldn't have the chance to thrive.

Still, William Carter fed it with immortal energy, as if raising a pet. You could also say William Carter was playing with fire—if he wasn't careful and the cold, sinister aura backfired, it wouldn't be so fun.

But William Carter enjoyed this kind of risky behavior. To the cold, sinister aura, the immortal energy in William Carter's body was simply too domineering to erode, but William Carter kept feeding it immortal energy.

The cold, sinister aura immediately swallowed and wrapped around a trace of immortal energy, but immortal energy wasn't so easy to consume. Moreover, the cold, sinister aura was too weak. As soon as a trace of William Carter's immortal energy merged with the cold, sinister aura, the immortal energy actually took the upper hand.