Chapter 351: An Offer You Can’t Refuse
Chapter 351: An Offer You Can’t Refuse
The battle lasted for several minutes.
With a final, devastating wave of sword aura, the last mutated Venom-Spitter was cleanly sliced in two. Its massive body collapsed with a heavy sound, completely lifeless.
The seven human cultivators gasped for air.
They were covered in sweat and minor injuries, but their faces were lit with the thrill of victory.
"Quickly, harvest the beast cores and the venom sacs!" the leader, a rugged man with a scar running down his cheek, shouted, lowering his heavy broadsword. "Do not leave a single piece behind!"
A younger member of the group enthusiastically dug his blade into a carcass. "What a haul! The beasts from this Basin are in extremely high demand outside. We can sell these for a very good price!"
"Exactly," another member laughed heartily. "The danger level here is insane, but the merchants pay a lot of money for these materials. At this rate, we might make twenty or thirty million Aetherium Crystals this month!"
Up on the rocky ridge, Rhain watched them carve up the beasts with a placid expression.
"Let’s go," Rhain said softly, stepping out from their hiding spot of the petrified trees.
Lyra followed closely behind him, her hand resting comfortably on the hilt of her rapier.
Crunch.
The sound of Rhain’s boots stepping deliberately onto a dried branch echoed clearly in the quiet surrounding.
Instantly, the seven cultivators froze.
"WHO GOES THERE?!" the scarred leader roared.
Within a second, seven weapons were drawn, and seven dense auras at the late and peak stages of the Core Formation Realm erupted, locking entirely onto the two figures approaching them.
Rhain stopped a polite distance away, keeping his hands casually behind his back.
"Relax," Rhain spoke, his voice calm and devoid of any hostility. "We have no ill intentions."
The scarred leader narrowed his eyes, his spiritual sense sweeping over the two newcomers.
When his perception locked onto their cultivation realms, the immense tension in his broad shoulders visibly deflated.
A third-level Core Formation Realm youth, and a fourth-level Core Formation Realm girl.
Meanwhile, his entire mercenary team consisted of late-stage and peak Core Formation experts.
The disparity in power was glaringly obvious.
A condescending smirk replaced the leader’s wary scowl.
He lowered his broadsword, signaling his men to stand down.
"Well, well. I have to praise you two," the leader chuckled, looking them up and down. "You’ve got some serious guts to wander this deep into the Basin with such pitiful cultivation. Let me guess, you two noble brats got separated from your clan guards, got lost in the fog, and now you want to join our group for protection?"
Before Rhain could even reply, the leader shook his head dismissively.
"Save your breath. We don’t take outsiders into our ranks. In this hellhole, trust is everything. A single mistake from a weak link gets the whole squad killed. I am not risking my brothers’ lives to babysit a couple of lost kids. Turn around and head back to the outer rings."
Hearing the blatant condescension, Lyra’s beautiful face instantly flushed with indignant rage.
"Join your group?" Lyra scoffed loudly, her crimson eyes flashing with haughty disdain. "Don’t flatter yourself! I have absolutely no interest in joining a team as pathetically weak as yours. It took you ten whole minutes just to kill a few mindless bugs!"
The moment those arrogant words left her lips, the faces of the seven mercenaries turned incredibly ugly.
"You arrogant little bitch!" a scarred man at the seventh level of the Core Formation Realm spat, pointing his blade at her. "You are just at the fourth level! How dare you talk big to a team of late-stage experts? If we didn’t have rules, I would cut your tongue out right now!"
"Let them wander, Derik," another member sneered viciously. "They’ll be beast dung before nightfall."
Rhain calmly took a half-step forward, placing himself slightly in front of Lyra to de-escalate the rising hostility.
"As she said, we are not here to join your group," Rhain stated, entirely unbothered by their insults. "I simply stepped out to ask for some information."
The scarred leader frowned, silencing his men with a gesture. "Information? About what?"
"A specific beast," Rhain replied. "You seem to be veterans who have operated in this basin for a while. I am looking for a mutated, multi-headed fire python. It has a distinct, glowing mark etched onto its primary forehead. Have you seen it, or heard of its territory?"
The moment Rhain described the beast, all the color completely drained from the faces of the seven mercenaries.
They stared at Rhain as if they were looking at a complete lunatic.
"Are you out of your damn fucking mind?!" the leader blurted out. "You are looking for the Marked Hydra-Python? That thing dwells in the Scorched Umbral Zone! Do you even know what that place is? It is a place where several Domain Master Realm beasts roam!"
The leader pointed a trembling finger at Rhain. "If you take a single step into that zone with your pathetic third-level cultivation, you will be reduced to a pile of bones before you can even scream!"
Rhain simply offered a calm nod.
"I am perfectly aware of the dangers," Rhain replied. "And I am looking for precisely that kind of beast. I need the core of an early-stage Domain Master python to refine a specific Mystic-Grade pill to cure a senior of mine. I just need you to guide us to the border of that zone."
He looked directly into the leader’s eyes. "You only need to escort us to the edge. We will handle the beast ourselves."
The mercenaries stared at him, utterly stupefied.
Then, they erupted in boiling rage.
"Handle the beast yourselves? You two bugs want to fight a Domain Master beast? Are you completely retarded?!"
"Fuck off! We don’t have a death wish! We aren’t going anywhere near the Scorched Umbral Zone!"
"Guide you? We’d be walking into our own graves!"
Rhain didn’t even blink at the barrage of curses. He simply raised his right hand.
"I will pay you one billion Aetherium Crystals."
The shouting ceased instantly.
The seven mercenaries froze, their jaws practically hitting the floor.
One billion Aetherium Crystals?!
They risked their lives every single day in this toxic wasteland, fighting tooth and nail, and on a good month, the entire team barely scraped together twenty or thirty million.
To receive one billion Aetherium Crystals at once... it was a sum that could instantly change their destinies, buy them high-tier cultivation arts, and allow them to retire like kings in the Inner Province!
The shock in their eyes quickly changed into something else entirely.
Greed.
Naked, bloodthirsty greed.
The mercenaries exchanged calculating, dark glances.
Two early-stage Core Formation kids carrying over a billion Aetherium Crystals?
They had to be spoiled, sheltered heirs from some insanely wealthy Noble Family who had snuck out from home.
They were essentially walking treasure chests.
The seventh-level Core Formation cultivator named Derik stepped forward, a vile, lewd smirk twisting his face.
"One billion, huh?" Derik chuckled darkly, tossing his dagger from hand to hand. "Why should we risk our necks walking to the Scorched Zone, when we can just take the billion right now?"
He stopped a few paces away from Rhain and Lyra, his greedy eyes sweeping shamelessly over Lyra’s perfectly tailored combat suit and her breathtaking curves.
"Just hand over your spatial rings, kid," Derik demanded, licking his lips as he looked at Lyra. "And you, beauty... why waste your time dying with this mentally retarded boy? Ditch him. Come join our team. I promise I’ll show you a very good time in the tents tonight."
Rhain’s expression did not change. He simply tilted his head slightly toward Lyra.
"Lyra," Rhain spoke casually. "Help this guy understand."
Lyra’s crimson eyes flashed with a chilling, murderous light.
She had already been tolerating these filthy mercenaries’ insults, but this lewd pig had crossed the line.
"Gladly," Lyra sneered.
She took a slow, carefree step forward.
"Oh? You’re actually coming over?" Derik laughed, completely lowering his guard as he reached out a filthy hand to grab her waist. "That’s the spirit, sweetheart. Come here and—"
Swoosh—!
Derik’s lewd smirk froze.
He hadn’t even seen her draw her blade.
An explosive burst of orange-crimson True Heavenly Flame erupted, multiplying her speed to a frightening degree.
Derik frantically tried to raise his dagger to block, but his late-stage Core Formation reflexes were entirely useless against her.
CLANG!
Lyra’s rapier effortlessly shattered his dagger in half, the flat of her blade violently slamming into his chest.
"Gah!" Derik spat blood, his knees bending as he dropped heavily onto the ground.
Before he could even gasp for air, the razor-sharp, blazing tip of Lyra’s rapier was pressed firmly against his Adam’s apple, the heat of her Heavenly Flame singeing the skin of his throat.
"Speak to me like that again," Lyra whispered haughtily, looking down at him like a goddess judging a worm, "and I will pull your tongue out."
The remaining six mercenaries gasped in horror.
A fourth-level Core Formation girl had just instantly incapacitated a seventh-level expert in a single move!
"Derik!" the scarred leader roared.
Realizing these two were not simple, sheltered brats, the leader’s eyes turned ruthless.
Swoosh!
Utilizing his peak Core Formation speed, the leader blurred, attempting to launch a sneak attack at Lyra’s unprotected back while she was focused on Derik.
"DIE!" he bellowed, swinging his heavy broadsword.
But just as his heavy blade came crashing down—
Swoosh!
Lyra’s figure blurred, leaving behind an afterimage as she vanished from the spot.
"What the—?"The leader’s eyes widened in bewilderment.
He didn’t even have time to finish the thought.
A man materialized instantly on his left side.
It was Rhain.
The leader’s pupils shrank to pinpoints. He tried to frantically twist his body, but it was far too late.
He could only watch helplessly as the man raised his fist.
BANG—!!!
Rhain’s punch connected squarely with the leader’s face.
The sound of shattering bone echoed like a gunshot.
The scarred leader was lifted off his feet, spinning violently through the air before crashing into the trunk of a tree.
He slumped into the mud, knocked out cold, his nose completely caved in.
The remaining five members of the squad stood paralyzed.
Their weapons trembled in their hands.
In exactly two moves, their strongest fighter—their peak Core Formation leader—and a Level 7 veteran had been effortlessly swatted down like annoying flies.
These weren’t noble brats. These were monsters wearing human skin!
Rhain slowly lowered his fist, casually shaking a drop of blood from his knuckles.
He looked at the five petrified mercenaries, his dark grey eyes as daunting as a bottomless abyss.
"I have plenty of other ways to force you to guide us," Rhain stated, his voice chillingly calm.
He took a slow step forward.
"But I will ask nicely one last time. Take us to that zone, and you will get your one billion Aetherium Crystals."
Rhain’s eyes locked onto the leader, who was struggling to push himself up from the dirt, spitting out a broken tooth.
"Saying ’no’ is no longer an option."
The five mercenaries retreated backward, their faces pale as ghosts.
Looking at Rhain who radiated a pressure more dreadful than any beast they have encountered in the basin, they frantically dropped their weapons.
𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚
The scarred leader clutched his swollen jaw.
He finally realized they had kicked an iron plate so hard it had shattered their own legs.
Gritting his teeth and swallowing his blood, the leader gave a stiff nod.
"We... we will take you there."