Chapter 124: Taking Action

Three standard units of life crystals were equivalent to three hundred years' worth of life shard crystals.

The gaunt middle-aged man suddenly made an exorbitant demand, leaving the fat man momentarily stunned. He hadn’t expected these three adventurers to suddenly turn hostile.

Unperturbed, Lin Huang calmly spoke up, “Are you planning to rob us?”

“Who said we’re robbing you? Pay us, and we’ll lead you into the Misty Gorge to help you find the life-seed monsters. A fair deal!” The middle-aged, balding man blocking their escape route smiled as he replied.

“We don’t need you to guide us. Can you step aside?” Lin Huang finally realized the trick they were playing: it wasn’t robbery, but forced sales.

Even if the two of them reported this to the Adventurers’ Guild, there was nothing they could do.

“If you insist on this, I’ll just call the complaint hotline now,” the fat man threatened.

“Little fatty, we have a reason for blocking you here,” the bearded man laughed upon hearing this.

The fat man tried to open his communication device, but was dumbfounded to find no signal.

“You have two choices. First, each of you pays three life crystals, and we’ll take you into Misty Gorge, find your life-seed monsters, and safely return you to Mist Spirit City. You must promise not to tell anyone about this, and the matter will be dropped—good for everyone.” Seeming confident he’d trapped Lin Huang and the fat man, the gaunt middle-aged man raised the price again, from three life crystals total to three each.

“Why should we trust your verbal promise?” Lin Huang suspected he had a backup plan.

“Of course you can’t trust words alone, so your promise must be spoken after mine.” The gaunt man stuck out his tongue, which began to glow with dark, arcane runes.

“Such a waste of the Wordweaver craft,” Lin Huang recognized immediately—this was a Wordweaver’s mark.

Wordweavers were a rare class who wielded the power of language to curse or control actions, and some could even determine fate and death with a single word.

This gaunt man clearly only grasped the basics; otherwise, a legitimate Wordweaver wouldn’t stoop to such thug tactics.

The gaunt man glared at Lin Huang. “Your price doubles—to six life crystals.”

“Now, what’s the second choice?” Lin Huang raised an eyebrow without answering.

“The second choice is that we kill you both, loot everything on your bodies, and dump your corpses into this gorge for the monsters to devour and erase all traces. Three days later, we report to the Adventurers’ Guild that you failed to return to the rendezvous point on time.” The gaunt man’s expression turned cold as he laid out the second option.

The fat man panicked. “We choose the first one!”

“Wait.” Lin Huang put a hand on the fat man’s shoulder and scanned the three adventurers. “These two choices aren’t good enough. I’ll give you a third.”

“You brat, you’re asking for death!” The balding man cursed.

“Hold on, listen,” the gaunt man stopped him with a raised hand.

“The third choice is this: you leave now, and we pretend nothing happened, never knowing each other again,” Lin Huang said. “This is the best offer I can make. If you refuse, you’ll regret it soon enough.”

“Are you a noble?” The three frowned; only nobles would dare speak like that.

“No, I never said I was a noble, nor am I bluffing. I’m simply someone you can’t afford to provoke. I suggest you seriously consider my third option.” Lin Huang addressed the gaunt man, knowing the decision rested with him.

Lin Huang didn’t want to reveal his true strength in front of the fat man unless absolutely necessary—he was too talkative and might spill secrets.

“Boss, why hesitate? This brat’s clearly bluffing! If he was really capable, he’d have attacked us already, no need to waste time talking!” The balding man saw through it but didn’t realize Lin Huang wasn’t lacking power—he simply chose not to fight.

The gaunt man’s eyes flashed with cruelty. “Dare to bluff us? Attack! Kill those two brats!”

With a shout, the three charged, weapons drawn.

Lin Huang sighed in resignation.

A figure with white hair and a black mask appeared before Lin Huang.

Four blood-red wings unfurled—three transformed into sharp blades, striking so fast Lin Huang’s eyes couldn’t track.

Three streaks of red light flashed through the void. In an instant, the weapons of the bearded man and the balding man shattered. Blood erupted at their waists, and their bodies were severed cleanly in two.

The leader, the gaunt man, clashed his golden weapon against the white-winged figure’s blades but was flung back.

Seeing his two comrades instantly cut in half, his scalp tingled with fear. He rolled and plunged into the mist-covered gorge.

“I told you, you can’t afford to provoke me, yet you didn’t listen...” Lin Huang shook his head, unwilling to check the bodies. They were too poor to be worth looting.

The fat man stood stunned for a long while before focusing on the white figure, scrutinizing it. “Is this a Bloodthirster?”

“Something like that.” Lin Huang avoided explaining that White had evolved into a Blood Demon species. The less the fat man knew, the better.

“Four-winged Bloodthirster—that’s a Gold rank, right? How can you control such a creature?” The fat man couldn’t help but ask, eyeing the four blood-red wings.

“Not Gold rank, just mutated.” Lin Huang shook his head.

“But it can one-shot Silver rank opponents—isn’t that Gold rank?!” The fat man’s doubts grew, even questioning Lin Huang’s fighting prowess.

“Don’t ask. Let’s move on,” Lin Huang cut him off.

“Do you think that guy might be waiting at the gorge’s entrance to ambush us?” The fat man was uneasy. The thick fog made it impossible to see far.

“Don’t worry. He’s scared out of his wits, wanting to get as far from me as possible. No way he’d linger here to ambush,” Lin Huang reassured him. The gaunt man’s terrified expression when fleeing was evident—they’d fled as far as possible.

“Shouldn’t we check the bodies for valuables? They’re Silver rank after all.” The fat man suggested.

“If you want, go ahead. Whatever you find is yours.” Lin Huang was uninterested.

The fat man eagerly searched but found little of value. After a while, he stood up with a weird look. “Looks like you already knew they had nothing worthwhile.”

“Even the corpses of Iron rank monsters get stored in their rings. What do you expect them to have worth?” Lin Huang chuckled.

“That’s true.” The fat man recalled how these men had been collecting beast corpses along the way.

“It’s just past 4 a.m. Let’s find a spot to rest,” Lin Huang said. He didn’t recall White but let him scout ahead, while he and the fat man followed into the gorge.

Within the gorge, dense fog obscured vision beyond ten meters.

Anyone else would be nervous, but with White present, Lin Huang felt no fear of any lurking creatures.

In a level-four wilderness area, only Gold rank monsters could threaten White. As long as they didn’t venture deep, chances of encountering such foes were slim.

“Fatty, why were you so eager to join them earlier? Did they coerce you?” Lin Huang finally asked.

“Yeah, as soon as I arrived at the Adventurers’ Guild and asked for a team to accompany me, those three clung on. They said they urgently needed people for their escort mission and had to leave immediately. I refused—I just got to Mist Spirit City and wanted to rest and find a team with flying mounts to tag along.

“But they said as long as they were around, no other team would accept my escort request. I had no choice but to ask the receptionist, who said those three were veterans. If they got you, no other team would accept your request for at least a month. They’re average strength, but notorious for causing trouble—even Gold rank fighters avoid them. I could wait a month, but I couldn’t afford to waste your time, so I agreed to join them.”

“I planned to endure the trip and be free upon arrival. Didn’t expect they’d pull forced sales and attempt murder and robbery!”

The fat man’s explanation matched Lin Huang’s suspicions.

“If I’d known your summoned beast was this powerful, I wouldn’t have bothered finding a team,” the fat man admitted, glancing at White with envy.

“Such a trump card—I don’t want others to know unless necessary,” Lin Huang explained.

“Don’t worry, I’m a chatterbox, but I can keep my mouth shut.” The fat man mimed zipping his lips.

“Yeah, right...” Lin Huang thought. “I’m keeping this from you because I know you’d blab.”

At that moment, White stopped and pointed to a nearby rock wall.

Lin Huang nodded. “Alright, let’s rest here. Dig us a den.”

After a night of travel and over six hours of running, Lin Huang was indeed tired. The fat man, who ran only three hours, was already exhausted.

Shortly after, White finished digging a narrow entrance that required bending to enter but opened into a spacious chamber where one could stand upright.

Both men entered and were satisfied.

They unpacked portable tents, and the fat man quickly crawled inside.

Lin Huang recalled White, then summoned the Demon Vine, turning it into tendrils to seal the den’s entrance.

Only then did he crawl into his tent to catch up on sleep.