Inside the courtyard, now littered with the corpses of Golden Armor Guards, silence fell the moment Zhao Xuan finished speaking.
The big golden mouse froze.
Completely frozen in place.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds…
Nearly half a minute passed before it finally recovered from Zhao Xuan's outrageous demand.
"Ji ji!? (How many?)"
"Ji ji ji ji!? (Human, how many did you just say!?)"
The mouse stared wide-eyed in disbelief.
"Fifty."
Zhao Xuan raised his right hand and asked seriously,
"What? Is fifty a lot?"
"Ji ji ji ji! (Isn't that obvious!?)"
The mouse's fur stood on end as it shouted angrily,
"Ji ji ji ji! (Human, I'll compensate you with five at most! No more!)"
"Five won't do."
Zhao Xuan shook his head.
"That's too little. Ten. Ten is more reasonable."
He had expected a long bargaining session.
After all, even though the mouse treated these divine stone shoots like chew toys, they were still Tenth-rank divine medicine, packed with terrifying life energy.
Zhao Xuan did not believe the mouse had many of them.
But—
The moment his words fell—
"Ji ji! Ji ji! (Deal! Deal!)"
The mouse immediately cried out.
Then, without hesitation, it began tossing out the stone shoots one after another in front of Zhao Xuan.
Seeing how eager it was, Zhao Xuan's face instantly darkened.
Damn it!!!
I got played!
This mouse absolutely has a huge stash of these stone shoots!
Otherwise it would never agree so quickly!
Realization struck him hard.
He could have gotten fifteen… maybe even twenty…
But now he was stuck with ten.
Even though Zhao Xuan wouldn't lack life energy after looting the other treasuries and collecting tolls at the gate—
The key point was:
The life energy in these stone shoots was far purer than that in Life Stones.
"Sigh…"
"Miscalculated… completely miscalculated…"
"To think I, Zhao Xuan, got outplayed by a mouse…"
He shook his head.
Forget it.
Judging by the mouse's attitude, it didn't value these much anyway.
There would be plenty of chances later.
At least now he knew one thing clearly—
The mouse definitely had twenty to thirty of these, maybe more.
Recovering himself, Zhao Xuan said calmly,
"Fine. Ten is ten. Better than nothing."
He picked them up.
The mouse visibly relaxed, which made Zhao Xuan's eyebrow twitch.
After storing them away, Zhao Xuan looted the puppet corpses and obtained twenty High-grade Life Stones.
In just a few minutes, he had gained 62 million life energy.
His earlier frustration faded.
"Let's go. Lead the way."
"Ji ji! (This way!)"
They left the mansion.
Strangely, despite the violent battle earlier, nothing outside the estate showed any signs of damage. Clearly, a formation had isolated the area.
They headed toward the southern district.
Suddenly—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Sounds of battle echoed in the distance.
Zhao Xuan's eyes lit up.
In a flash, he vanished toward the sound.
Elsewhere, a team of six ability users was locked in fierce combat with a city guard squad led by two Golden Armor generals.
A girl suddenly shouted,
"Someone's coming! Very fast!"
Before they could react—
A black figure appeared.
"…Why is it them again?"
Zhao Xuan's expression turned strange when he saw Filimon's group.
Filimon and the others froze upon seeing him.
That hesitation cost them.
BOOM!
Filimon was struck and sent flying.
Just as a Golden Armor guard rushed to finish him—
WHOOSH!
A sharp wind blade tore through the air.
A head flew skyward.
Thud.
The headless body collapsed.
Before they could process it—
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!
Countless wind blades spewed from Zhao Xuan's mouth.
Heads shot into the sky one after another.
In an instant, every guard became a headless corpse.
Yes.
Zhao Xuan had helped them.
Why?
Simple.
To him, Filimon's group were walking ATMs.
In one day, they would hand over 500 billion worth of Life Stones.
As for helping "enemies"?
He didn't care.
He had absolute confidence in his strength.
Even if they improved in a day, it wouldn't matter.
To Zhao Xuan, they were like ants.
Would a giant fear six ants?
Of course not.
In fact, he hoped they would grow stronger.
That way, he might gain more proficiency when fighting them later.
"You guys carry on."
Zhao Xuan glanced at them and vanished again.
Silence.
A full minute passed before the six came back to their senses.
Looking at the headless corpses…
Recalling Zhao Xuan spewing wind blades like a natural disaster…
Their expressions grew heavy.
Then gradually—
Relief appeared.
Before this, they had been unwilling inside.
They were geniuses of great factions.
They had only "submitted" temporarily.
After leaving the city, they had planned to challenge Zhao Xuan again to reclaim their pride.
But now—
They were completely convinced.
"Monster…"
"He's only a Sixth-rank Grandmaster, but that strength…"
"Only an Eighth-rank High expert can one-shot an Eighth-rank puppet like that! And he didn't even use full strength!"
"Could he already rival Eighth-rank Great Perfection?"
A cold chill ran through them.
Their eyes were now filled with genuine awe.
They were truly, completely, utterly convinced.
They had bowed in submission.
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