With a sharp swish,the air itself buckled.
Treasures erupted into existence, flooding the space around Arian until the desert felt small—insignificant—like a stage unworthy of what had appeared upon it.
Treasures of different varieties and nature filled the whole space around him.
Plants resembling the fabled Immortality Ginseng hovered nearby, their faint aura seeping into flesh and bone. Just standing close made Arian's heartbeat steadier, his blood warmer, as though time itself were being bribed to move slower. Freezing flowers bloomed beside burning ones, absolute contradictions coexisting without resistance, mocking the laws that governed lesser worlds.
Weapons followed.
Some gleamed with righteous brilliance, humming like the legacy of fallen heroes. Others exuded a sinister pressure, radiating slaughter and dominion, as though they had tasted countless souls. Ancient tomes drifted silently, their sealed pages pulsing with truths so profound that merely sensing them made Arian's skull ache violently.
Some treasures were worse.
Looking at them felt like staring into something unfinished—as if reality itself had not decided how they should exist.
Arian swallowed hard.
This isn't wealth… This is temptation weaponized.
Then—
Everything else lost meaning.
A crystalline calabash, nearly fifteen meters wide, hovered at the center of it all. Inside churned a liquid that shifted endlessly between colors—sometimes radiant, sometimes utterly colorless, as though the concept of color itself bent around it.
Arian's breath hitched.
Longing surged through him with brutal clarity.
Not curiosity.
Not desire.
Hunger.
Every cell in his body screamed for that liquid, a primal demand that drowned out reason. His hands trembled as if already reaching for it, his mind reduced to a single, violent thought:
Mine.
He forced his gaze away—
And paid for it.
The second treasure assaulted his existence.
Looking at it was like trying to perceive space itself—or time. His vision fractured instantly. A sharp, blinding pain lanced through his skull, blood spilling from the corner of his eye.
Arian staggered back, breathing hard.
Who… who was powerful enough to gather all of this in one place?
The answer came in the form of greed.
Heavy, ragged breathing echoed around him.
The elves.
Every single one of them stood frozen, eyes bloodshot, pupils dilated, their discipline shattered in seconds. Centuries of hierarchy, loyalty, and restraint evaporated under the sheer weight of temptation.
Even Princess Lilian was no longer watching Arian.
Her obsidian eyes were locked onto the calabash.
Nothing else existed.
That was when control snapped.
With a bestial roar, the burly elf surged forward, emerald wind wrapping around his body.
"Mine! Mine!! It's all mine!!!"
No orders.
No coordination.
No fear.
Only greed.
A blazing arrow of fire tore through the air, warping and distorting the air itself. The elf barely raised his arm in time.
It disintegrated.
His hand turned to ash as he screamed, flung backward like trash.
"How dare a slave like you touch what belongs to me."
Lilian stepped forward, fire boiling around her. Her voice was cold, but her eyes burned.
"I have been far too lenient," she thundered. "Step back now—or I will kill you all myself."
Shame flickered across the elves' faces.
Then envy.
Then rage.
"You think you can stop us alone?!" the burly elf snarled, clutching his ruined arm, eyes never leaving the treasures.
Lilian didn't argue.
She summoned a crimson longsword.
"Come together, then."
Fire swallowed her form, shrouding her body in raging red fire.
---
Arian smiled faintly.
Good.
Greed had fractured them better than any blade ever could.
"Well," he muttered, already moving, "looks like I've been forgotten."
He rushed forward.
His hands moved with ruthless efficiency, heart pounding with the awareness that every breath could be his last.
Sixty percent of the plants—gone. Any more, and Bing Xue's attention would snap back to him.
A massive, unassuming piece of brown wood—three meters long—rested quietly among the chaos.
It didn't shout.
It didn't shine.
The best ones never do.
He took it.
Ores followed. Then a tome of living darkness, its surface flowing like liquid night, stars glimmering beneath. Even holding it made his soul recoil.
Straight into the storage pouch.
A glance back—
The elves weren't fighting.
They were dying.
Greed had destroyed cooperation. Each wanted everything. Lilian carved through them like fire through dry grass.
She's still holding back, Arian realized grimly. And she doesn't even notice me.
Perfect.
He activated his soul ability.
ASSIMILATION: WIND.
The sound barrier shattered.
The world screamed as he tore across the battlefield at Mach 4, air collapsing behind him. Three transparent crystals flashed into view.
He didn't inspect them.
He grabbed them.
Then—
The calabash.
The heart of greed itself.
Arian pushed harder, assimilating more wind.
Agony ripped through him. Muscles tore. Bones screamed. Blood streamed from his nose and ears.Arian could feel his body tearing apart piece by piece,but he held on—- barely.
Then—
Death.
A massive palm of molten fire—fifty meters wide—descended from above, turning the desert into a furnace.
Lilian had remembered him.
Too late.
Arian gambled everything.
He scooped seventy percent of the liquid using a wooden bowl he'd stolen long ago, hands shaking violently—
And crushed a black bead.
Reality folded and twisted, space inverted.
The fiery palm struck—
Nothing.
---
A shrill scream of hatred tore across the desert.
Filled with intense murderous intent.
Bing Xue stood at the center of a palm-shaped crater, sand turned to glass for kilometers. The calabash remained—untouched.
Snarling, she gathered what remained and stepped into the transparent crystal pond, drawing the liquid to herself using divine sense.
Surging forward—-
A multicolored cocoon formed and sealed her away, suppressing the battlefield into eerry calm.
Then—
The sky warped.
Hundreds of figures appeared, floating effortlessly, their presence alone crushing the desert beneath them.
False Immortals.
Elves. Demons. Giants. Dwarves. Humans. Beastkin. Treants.
Each one radiated an aura so dense it distorted space, their mere existence enough to kill a mortal instantly. These were beings who had clawed their way through cultivation, greed, slaughter, and obsession to stand above the world.
Among them—
A towering figure three meters tall, deep blue hair flowing like water, fish-like scales gleaming across his bare chest. The sea itself seemed to bow to him.
Beside him hovered a demon nearly three and a half meters high, red skin veined with black, massive horns curling from his skull, claws dripping with invisible malice.
But even they dimmed.
She stood at the center.
Two meters tall. A body sculpted like divine blasphemy.
Massive tits that stood tall and proud looking— defying gravity.
A thin and delicate waist,wide hips with round and firm ass.
Long silver hair that reached her back, streaked with black.
An equally silver eyes looking like the most precious treasure in existence, donning a sky blue kimono with stripes and designs of black.
Impossibly stunning.
Massive black wings spread behind her, swallowing light.
A fallen angel.
Their gazes locked instantly onto the remaining treasures.
Greed bloomed again.
---
Far away—
Arian collapsed onto solid ground, lungs burning, body broken, storage pouch heavy at his side.
He laughed weakly.
"Greed," he whispered.
"Even immortals can't escape it."