Inside the enormous mansion.
Whoosh!
Flash!
The man and the rat moved swiftly through the grounds.
Suddenly, Zhao Xuan saw the Golden Rat leap straight into a nearby pond.
"Damn it. Not this again."
He cursed inwardly.
But curse as he might, his body was very honest.
He dove in right after it.
Moments later—
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
A full squad of Golden Guards, all clad in golden armor, patrolled past along the road beside the pond.
"This is way too dangerous…"
"That's the fourth squad already! The fourth one I've seen!"
"I've only been inside this mansion for a few minutes!"
"No wonder those geniuses from seven years ago vanished without a trace after entering. With so many Eighth-Rank mid-tier Golden Guards around, how could they possibly make any noise before dying?"
As Zhao Xuan complained inwardly, the Golden Rat had already jumped out of the pond.
Zhao Xuan shook his head, temporarily clearing his thoughts, and followed.
Just like that, the man and the rat navigated through the massive estate.
After avoiding squad after squad of patrolling Golden Guards, they finally arrived at a small, independent courtyard located deep in the backyard.
The Golden Rat suddenly stopped.
The excitement on its face faded, replaced by a rare seriousness.
Zhao Xuan halted immediately as well.
The moment he looked at the small courtyard ahead, his Observation Haki began to issue faint warnings on its own.
His expression turned solemn.
"Ji ji ji ji!"
The Golden Rat began squeaking urgently.
"What?"
Zhao Xuan frowned. "You're saying this is the place where all those spirit herbs and Life Stones are stored?"
"Ji ji! (Yes!)"
"And inside, there's a guard slightly stronger than me. I need to hold him off for a while so you can open the relic space entrance hidden in there?"
"Ji ji! Ji ji! (Yes, yes!)"
"It's only a little stronger than you!" the rat added.
"How long do I need to stall him?" Zhao Xuan asked.
The Golden Rat paused for a few seconds, then suddenly took out a cactus flower.
Right in front of Zhao Xuan, it held the flower to its nose and inhaled deeply with a blissful expression.
After a short while, it snapped out of the trance and looked at Zhao Xuan.
"Ji ji ji ji! (The time I just spent smelling the flower—multiply that by fifty!)"
"What!?"
Zhao Xuan's expression changed instantly.
"Fifty times!?"
He calculated silently.
From start to finish, the rat had only spent about two seconds.
But—
Two seconds times fifty…
That was one hundred seconds.
Over a minute and a half.
That was not a short time.
Zhao Xuan turned his gaze toward the small courtyard again.
His Observation Haki continued its faint warning.
"You're sure the guy inside is only slightly stronger than me?"
He narrowed his eyes at the Golden Rat.
"Ji ji ji ji… (Actually, not just slightly… a tiny bit more than slightly…)" the rat squeaked awkwardly.
"Really?"
"Ji ji! (Really!)"
Zhao Xuan fell silent.
His mind began rapidly weighing the pros and cons.
The benefit was obvious—the large amount of spirit herbs and Life Stones the rat mentioned.
Judging from the heavy Golden Guard patrols in this mansion, there was definitely something valuable inside.
The risk was the potential danger.
His Observation Haki was telling him clearly: the enemy inside was very strong.
But, just as the rat promised, not overwhelmingly stronger.
The warning was mild—not the violent alarm he had felt before.
However—
What Zhao Xuan truly feared wasn't the treasure guard inside.
What he feared was this:
During those one hundred seconds of fighting, the Golden Guards from all over the estate rushing in to reinforce.
He had already seen five patrol squads inside this mansion.
Each squad had fifteen Golden Guards.
Five squads meant seventy-five Eighth-Rank mid-tier powerhouses.
This was insane.
Forget Zhao Xuan, whose strength only allowed him to clash with an Eighth-Rank high-tier.
Even an Eighth-Rank peak expert—maybe even a pseudo Ninth-Rank Emperor—might not survive against seventy-five Eighth-Rank mid-tiers.
Seeing Zhao Xuan remain silent for so long, the Golden Rat panicked.
"Ji ji ji ji!"
It squeaked urgently beside his ear.
"What? You're saying that after this, for the next fifty tasks, you won't ask for any payment? And in exchange, you only want to take one item from the treasury after it's opened?"
Zhao Xuan's heart moved.
Fifty free tasks.
That was an incredible deal.
A huge reason Zhao Xuan had grown so explosively over the past few days was because of this Golden Rat's absurdly sharp nose.
"Looks like there's really something inside that treasury it desperately needs…"
Thinking of the two times he had received the divine medicinal stone bamboo from the rat before, Zhao Xuan's eyes rolled slightly.
Then he spoke.
"Not enough. Not enough. This is way too dangerous. One mistake and I could be seriously injured or even die."
"Unless… unless you give me a few of those stone shoots from before."
"Ji ji? (Stone shoots?)" the rat looked confused.
"The stone pillars covered with your bite marks!"
"Ji ji ji ji! (Oh, you mean my chew sticks!)"
The Golden Rat suddenly waved its paw and opened a mysterious space.
Under Zhao Xuan's bright gaze, it reached inside and pulled out a divine medicinal stone bamboo.
"Ji ji? (This one?)"
"Yes, yes! That's the one!"
Zhao Xuan nodded quickly.
"If you can give me two… no, five of these, I'll agree to your plan and hold that guy off for one hundred seconds."
"Ji ji! (Deal!)"
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Read Chapters ahead: [email protected] / KaiOynx