Zhan Lingge looked blankly at Qing Ting, not quite grasping her meaning.
âDo you not understand my words?â She repeated herself, âHand over your seed storage and all of your treasures.â
Zhan Lingge came to his senses.
âAnd if I donât?â he forced out through grit teeth. Being defeated by his would-be battle servant was humiliating enough. If she then robbed him of his treasures, he might as well slit his own throat.
âIf you donât? Then IâllâŚâ Qing Ting turned to Lu Yun, who had nothing but a wry smile for her. Sheâd gotten too addicted to robbing others.
âIf you donât, weâll strip you naked and hang you up here!â Qing Di stepped forward with a grimace before Lu Yun could respond. âQing Ting wonât have to do a thing, weâll strip you naked ourselves!â
Zhan Lingge found it hard to process what he was hearing. While he floundered, the one thousand and ninety-three cultivators thatâd passed through the dragon gate closed ranks around the cultivators and arcane beasts thatâd originally been present.
âWe canât kill people here, right?â Seven Slaughters murmured to himself. âBut we can break his limbs, strip him naked, then hang him upâŚâ
âHow can you be so cruel?!â Zhan Lingge roared. âFine, fine, Iâll hand them over!â
He severed his connection to his seed storage and gave his blood-red halberd to Qing Ting.
A strange shift had taken place in the minds of the cultivators that Lu Yun and Qing Ting had robbed. Since weâve already been robbed, who cares about anything else? Letâs drag more people down with us!
âItâs your turn next!â Qing Ting regarded the other cultivators with a frosty look. âCome here for a fight! Iâll be your battle servant if you beat me, but youâll hand over your treasures and seed storage if you lose!â
âWhat are you doing, Qing Ting?!â Purpleclad shouted her down. âDo you know youâre causing disaster for Coiling Dragon City?!â
All of the cultivators present were ranked in the top one hundred of the Dragonling Ranking. Not only were there unparalleled geniuses among them, there were also numerous characters like the Purpleclad and Bloodclad Dukes who couldnât be seen through.
Zhan Lingge wasnât part of the upper echelon; defeating him only meant that Qing Ting was worthy of being listed in the top one hundred, not that she would dominate everyone else!
Indeed, many ranked geniuses regarded her with amusement, not anger. Zhan Lingge? He was just below average in their group.
âDonât worry.â Azureclad stepped forward and patted his sisterâs shoulder. âYouâre not alone, weâre your shield.â
âThatâs right, all of us are your shield. You can be bold and rob all of the scum here! You want to claim us as your battle servants? Go look at yourself in the mirror first!â Seven Slaughters, Blackclad, and Golden Dragon cursed loudly.
âJust us alone might find it difficult to rob the top one hundred. How about thisâhey, arcane beasts from earlier! If you work with us and help rob these geniuses, Iâll gift you some jelly beans for your trouble. How about it?â Lu Yun chuckled. âI still have some of that candy lying around, it should be enough for everyone.â
âDo you mean that?!â Even the cultivators by his side gaped, not just the arcane beasts. They knew what he meant by jelly beansâPills of Creation!
Heâd given them only to Qing Ting, Azureclad, Crimsonclad, Qing Di, and Leng Che earlier. Everyone else had to just take in the pillâs fragrance. Lu Yun plainly meant to use them as remuneration in return for helping rob the top one hundred!
The arcane beasts ferociously fighting to avoid becoming battle servants cried out with excitement.
âDeal! But I want three jelly beans!â Golden Armor used the unfamiliar word instead of the pillâs actual name.
âThatâs fine.â Lu Yun nodded and looked at the cultivators again, also giving out three pills to Seven Slaughters, Blackclad, Golden Dragon, and other heavyweights among the leaders.
Twenty-nine hundred and ninety-nine cultivators and arcane beasts, Lu Yun and Qing Ting included, took to the air and surrounded the cultivators and beasts below them. An overwhelming aura bore down on those one hundred beings.
âAre you really going to rob us?â said the venerated enforcer. His expression flickered unsteadily as he studied Lu Yunâs face. Though he didnât recognize Lu Yun, the venerated enforcer might as well ram his head against a pillar if the vaunted disciple of the Purple King fell to this motley array of cultivators and arcane beasts.
There were more than two thousand titled dukes among the twenty-nine hundred and ninety-nine. This was far from a small number and the one hundred was no match for that combined strength. Qing Ting, Azureclad, Crimsonclad, the mysterious Qing Di, Seven Slaughters, and that seemingly very weak Champion Duke seemed to be the groupâs leaders.
Jelly beans? What was that?
âGolden Armor!! Are you going to team up with the cultivators against us?!â rang dissatisfied snarls from the arcane beasts.
âDidnât you want to claim me as a battle servant just moments ago?â Golden Armor was noncommittal, but firmly remained on Lu Yunâs side and didnât return to its own kind.
âAzureclad, weâŚâ Purpleclad smiled ruefully and was interrupted before he could complete the thought.
âYou are of the top one hundred of the Dragonling Assembly. Crimsonclad and I have been in a different world compared to you since a long time ago.â Azureclad shook his head. Heâd sensed Purpleclad and Bloodcladâs attitudes earlier. There would be no mercy shown to his former friends.
Since they thought nothing of previous relationships and permitted Zhan Lingge to do as he would, then there was nothing Azureclad wanted to say more on the matter. He flared his strength, condensing a dense wave of energy in the air. He wasnât any weaker than Purpleclad and Bloodclad, and was in fact, a hair stronger!
âWe wonât have to do anything if you voluntarily hand over your treasures and seed storage. That will save you the humiliation,â Crimsonclad picked up naturally. Sheâd somehow absorbed bad influences at an unknown point in time.
âTake them.â The venerated enforcer set his jaw and tossed his flying sword and seed storage to Lu Yun.
âHehehe, my good martial grandson, this is just tempering for your mind and soul. Itâll be hard for you to grow and develop if you donât encounter some setbacks,â Lu Yunâs voice echoed in the venerated oneâs mind. The latterâs expression froze.
When the other cultivators saw him capitulate and not go toe-to-toe with twenty-nine hundred and ninety-nine opponents, they didnât force the issue either. If they were truly defeated and hung up naked, that would be worse than death. Handing over their possessions didnât mean theyâd lostâit was just out of consideration for the greater picture.
Zhan Lingge wanted to cry. He was the only one out of the group thatâd been defeated!
<blockquote><b>Translator's Thoughts</b></blockquote>