Zhan Lingge looked blankly at Qing Ting, not quite grasping her meaning.
This is a robbery?
This is a what now?
“Do you not understand my words?” She repeated herself, “Hand over your seed storage and all of your treasures.”
Zhan Lingge came to his senses.
“And if I don’t?” 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.
“If you don’t? Then I’ll…” Qing Ting turned to Lu Yun, who had nothing but a wry smile for her. She’d gotten too addicted to robbing others.
“If you don’t, we’ll strip you naked and hang you up here!” Qing Di stepped forward with a grimace before Lu Yun could respond. “Qing Ting won’t have to do a thing, we’ll strip you naked ourselves!”
Zhan Lingge found it hard to process what he was hearing. While he floundered, the one thousand and ninety-three cultivators that’d passed through the dragon gate closed ranks around the cultivators and arcane beasts that’d originally been present.
“We can’t kill people here, right?” Seven Slaughters murmured to himself. “But we can break his limbs, strip him naked, then hang him up…”
“How can you be so cruel?!” Zhan Lingge roared. “Fine, fine, I’ll hand them over!”
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 we’ve already been robbed, who cares about anything else? Let’s drag more people down with us!
“It’s your turn next!” Qing Ting regarded the other cultivators with a frosty look. “Come here for a fight! I’ll be your battle servant if you beat me, but you’ll hand over your treasures and seed storage if you lose!”
“What are you doing, Qing Ting?!” Purpleclad shouted her down. “Do you know you’re causing disaster for Coiling Dragon City?!”
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 couldn’t be seen through.
Zhan Lingge wasn’t 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.
“Don’t worry.” Azureclad stepped forward and patted his sister’s shoulder. “You’re not alone, we’re your shield.”
“That’s 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!” Seven Slaughters, Blackclad, and Golden Dragon cursed loudly.
“Just us alone might find it difficult to rob the top one hundred. How about this—hey, arcane beasts from earlier! If you work with us and help rob these geniuses, I’ll gift you some jelly beans for your trouble. How about it?” Lu Yun chuckled. “I still have some of that candy lying around, it should be enough for everyone.”
“Do you mean that?!” Even the cultivators by his side gaped, not just the arcane beasts. They knew what he meant by jelly beans—Pills of Creation!
He’d given them only to Qing Ting, Azureclad, Crimsonclad, Qing Di, and Leng Che earlier. Everyone else had to just take in the pill’s 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.
“Deal! But I want three jelly beans!” Golden Armor used the unfamiliar word instead of the pill’s actual name.
“That’s fine.” 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.
“Are you really going to rob us?” said the venerated enforcer. His expression flickered unsteadily as he studied Lu Yun’s face. Though he didn’t 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 group’s leaders.
Jelly beans? What was that?
“Golden Armor!! Are you going to team up with the cultivators against us?!” rang dissatisfied snarls from the arcane beasts.
“Didn’t you want to claim me as a battle servant just moments ago?” Golden Armor was noncommittal, but firmly remained on Lu Yun’s side and didn’t return to its own kind.
“Azureclad, we…” Purpleclad smiled ruefully and was interrupted before he could complete the thought.
“You 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.” Azureclad shook his head. He’d sensed Purpleclad and Bloodclad’s 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 wasn’t any weaker than Purpleclad and Bloodclad, and was in fact, a hair stronger!
“We won’t have to do anything if you voluntarily hand over your treasures and seed storage. That will save you the humiliation,” Crimsonclad picked up naturally. She’d somehow absorbed bad influences at an unknown point in time.
“Take them.” The venerated enforcer set his jaw and tossed his flying sword and seed storage to Lu Yun.
“Hehehe, my good martial grandson, this is just tempering for your mind and soul. It’ll be hard for you to grow and develop if you don’t encounter some setbacks,” Lu Yun’s voice echoed in the venerated one’s mind. The latter’s expression froze.
When the other cultivators saw him capitulate and not go toe-to-toe with twenty-nine hundred and ninety-nine opponents, they didn’t force the issue either. If they were truly defeated and hung up naked, that would be worse than death. Handing over their possessions didn’t mean they’d lost—it was just out of consideration for the greater picture.
Zhan Lingge wanted to cry. He was the only one out of the group that’d been defeated!
