The young man’s gaze landed on Huang Xiaolong’s face, and he chuckled, “I am Zhan Bo from the Black Inferno Race. What about you brother? Is it possible to concede the piece of extremely detailed map to me? I am willing to buy from you at a high price.”
Black Inferno Race?
Chen Zhi, the Departing Sword Sage, and Yu Ming were shocked. The Black Inferno Race was one of the ancient races with the lowest number of disciples! Ten billion years ago, they had almost gone extinct! Since then, they had disappeared from the world, and it was surprising for them to meet someone from the Black Inferno Race on the streets!
Generally speaking, ancient races like the Black Inferno Race wouldn’t dispatch their disciples to the outside world without proper reasons.
Huang Xiaolong was taken aback and shook his head, “I don’t lack holy spiritual jade stones….”
An elder who was standing behind Zhan Bo frowned, and he stepped forward. However, he was stopped by Zhan Bo. He turned to Huang Xiaolong and continued to negotiate, “Hmm, which part of the Purple Clouds Sea are you headed to? We’re planning to head to the Devil Fetus Mountain Range. If you’re going the same way, we can travel together! It makes things convenient for the both of us…. Moreover, we won’t borrow your map for nothing. Making another friend is always better than making another enemy, right?”
Zhan Bo took out ten grade-seven holy spiritual jadestones and offered them to Huang Xiaolong, “This is the fee for borrowing your map.”
Huang Xiaolong looked at jade stones in his hands and pretended to think for a long while. After an appropriate pause, he replied, “That’s fine by me, I’m heading towards the vicinity of the Devil Fetus Mountain Range anyway. We can travel together.”
“Young Master!” Chen Zhi and the others yelled in unison.
They looked at each other as they knew that Zhan Bo was plotting against them. The Purple Clouds Sea was boundless, and it was very unlikely he would be heading in the same direction.
Huang Xiaolong raised his hand and stopped the three of them from going any further. He kept the holy spiritual jade stones Zhan Bo gave him, and he laughed to himself. After experiencing life, Huang Xiaolong knew that Zhan Bo was definitely plotting against him. However, he wanted to see for himself what Zhan Bo had managed to come up with. After all, the other party definitely had other intentions for following him. There was no way ten grade-seven holy spiritual jade stones could cause someone like Zhan Bo to target him.
Huang Xiaolong sneered inwardly.
If he’s planning to target me, then he’s looking for the wrong person.
“Nice! Brother, you’re a straightforward guy! We’re definitely going to be great friends!” Zhan Bo beamed warmly when he heard Huang Xiaolong’s agreement.
Before Huang Xiaolong left, they made a pact to leave in ten days.
The elder behind Zhan Bo grumbled, “Young Master, it’s just a map. Even without it, we will definitely be able to arrive at the Devil Fetus Mountain Range safely. Now that we have revealed ourselves, the brat might be able to ruin our plans!”
Zhan Bo chortled instead, “Elder Song Chen, what do you think of the ring on that kiddo’s finger?”
Song Chen froze for a second before he continued, “Young Master is wise! I’m nothing compared to you!”
Zhan Bo grinned, “With his cultivation at the Second Tribulation half-True Saint Realm, he has three subordinates with him. Are they in the True Saint Realm?”
Song Chen replied, “Young Master is right. All three of them are in the True Saint Realm, and two of them are in the early-First Heaven True Saint Realm. The other is the mid-First Heaven True Saint.”
Zhan Bo nodded and commanded, “We can deal with that. When the time comes, all of you shall act according to my commands and suppress the three of them! I’ll attack the brat personally and seize his ring!”
Even though Huang Xiaolong had three True Saints with him, Zhan Bo’s side was no weaker. In fact, there were two mid-First Heaven True Saints and one late-First Heaven True Saint on his side. He could totally suppress Huang Xiaolong’s party of four.
“Yes, Young Master!”
…
After leaving the shop, Huang Xiaolong returned to the courtyard he rented.
As soon as they got back to their courtyard, the Departing Sword Sage blurted, “Young Master, that Zhan Bo is definitely up to no good.”
Huang Xiaolong answered calmly, “I know.”
“And Young Master still agreed to travel with him? His subordinates aren’t weak though. I can’t see through three of them, and all I know is that they are stronger than me!” Chen Zhi felt distressed.
Huang Xiaolong broke into laughter, “Don’t worry, I’m well aware of their cultivation realms. There are two mid-First Heaven True Saints and a late-First Heaven True Saint. There’s nothing to worry about. They’re not the hunters and we’re not the prey.”
“Late-First Heaven True Saint Realm? Young Master, we’ll be in trouble if there’s someone as strong as that!” Yu Ming frowned. The Departing Sword Sage nodded furiously in response, “Even if the three of us work together, we’ll only be able to hold them back for a moment!”
Huang Xiaolong chuckled to himself. If he were to fight with a late-First Heaven True Saint before entering the Second Tribulation half-True Saint Realm, he could have won after a lengthy battle. However, with his current strength, a late-First Heaven True Saint was nothing more than a fly.
In the ten days leading up to his departure, Huang Xiaolong refined level-ten origin spiritual pills in his courtyard when he cultivated at night. In the day, he would bring Chen Zhi and the others out to purchase origin spiritual herbs.
The marketplace in the Mirage Pavilion was called the Mirage Sea, and it was one of the largest markets in the Holy World. High-grade origin spiritual herbs would appear from time to time, and even though they weren’t holy herbs, the quality of the herbs couldn’t be said to be inferior at all! As such, they were in extremely high demand.
The prices of such origin spiritual herbs were nothing to scoff at.
Ten days later, Huang Xiaolong and Zhan Bo met at a location they had agreed upon and Zhan Bo’s face lit up with a brilliant smile as though he had seen his long lost friend. He even addressed Huang Xiaolong affectionately as though they had an unbreakable bond of brotherhood with each other.
In the past few days, he had ordered his subordinates to keep tabs on Huang Xiaolong, and from what he had learned, Huang Xiaolong had spent nearly six thousand high-grade holy spiritual jade stones and close to two billion holy bills.
He was greatly surprised and delighted to discover that Huang Xiaolong was such a high-key individual.
Both of them chatted joyously when they saw each other again. It didn’t take long for the group to leave for the Devil Fetus Mountain Range.
By travelling as a group, it would take approximately one month to reach their destination.
Along the way, Zhan Bo was in no hurry to make a move. He made light conversations with Huang Xiaolong as he tried to fish for information on his identity.
Of course, Huang Xiaolong played the man like a fiddle as he came up with random nonsense to throw Zhan Bo off.
As they went deeper into the Purple Clouds Sea, they met several Purple Cloud Beasts. Luckily, the beasts were in the Venerable Realm and only a small number of them were half-True Saints.
Huang Xiaolong personally disposed of those in the Third Tribulation half-True Saint Realm, and he let Chen Zhi and the others deal with anything stronger. After all, he had to put on a convincing show.
As Zhan Bo observed Huang Xiaolong from the dark, he heaved a sigh of relief when he noticed Huang Xiaolong’s ‘true strength’.
Half a month later…
“Brother Huang, according to the blueprint, there is a natural Fiery Sun Spiritual Mountain ahead. We might even find a Fiery Sun Holy Herb! Shall we go take a look?” Zhan Bo pointed to one of the mountain ranges ahead and continued, “We can also rest there for the night and continue our journey tomorrow.”
“Sure!” Huang Xiaolong nodded in agreement.
It didn’t take long for them to head over.
Behind his back, Zhan Bo casually gestured to his subordinates and they knew that it was time for them to make a move.
