A Trapped Beast Still Fights

"Vast Ocean Wave-Severing Art... Duan! Qian! Kun!" Gritting his teeth, Mi Shuhua spat out the three words "Duan Qiankun" one by one. He clutched his neck with one hand, but blood seeped uncontrollably through his fingers. Amid the brilliant blaze of lantern light, an ancient elder, looking as frail as a candle guttering in the wind, slowly stepped forward. Reaching out a hand, he beckoned, and an azure-blue flying sword settled into his grasp. Faintly, it seemed as if raging waves and stormy seas were held right in his palm. Looking up at the shocked and furious Mi Shuhua, Duan Qiankun gave a bitter smile. "I apologize. I gave my word to someone to strike once on his behalf." "Someone! Who is this someone? Does it outweigh our hundred-year friendship?" Mi Shuhua roared like an enraged demonic beast. The next moment, whistling winds howled from all directions. A familiar voice reached his ears. "Fellow Daoist Mi, I trust you have been well!" Mi Shuhua looked at the smiling face. In the past, the man had always greeted others with just such a genial smile. "Elder Zhou!" "I dare say I have never offended your Lianyun Merchant Alliance! Even after the Mountain Breaker Gang won the match on the Dao Discussion Platform last time, I expanded our cooperation with you, and I even lowered our supply prices by ten percent!" Elder Zhou sighed. "I was indeed very satisfied with your sincerity, but regrettably, the other elders in the alliance were still not quite pleased. Moreover..." "Moreover, an ordinary man commits no crime; his wealth itself is his undoing!" Yet another figure approached beneath the night sky, treading atop water waves. Wang Haichao wore a solemn expression. "Hand over the storage ring you obtained in the Golden Core ruins, along with everything inside it!" "There is no Core Formation spirit medicine in there!" Mi Shuhua retreated step by step, desperately arguing his case. Suddenly, his footsteps halted. A surge of extreme cold coalesced into a rampart of solid ice hundreds of meters long, cutting off his path of retreat. "Whether there is or isn't is not for you to say. A storage ring belonging to a Supreme Elder of Ghost Spirit Valley containing no Core Formation spirit medicine? I don't buy it!" Mi Shuhua clenched his jaw, the flesh on his round, plump face trembling incessantly. The patriarch of the Nangong family—Nangong Jin! The moment Nangong Jin appeared, Mi Shuhua knew there was no longer any room for turning this around. He swept his gaze across his surroundings, shedding his panicked and furious demeanor. "Now that the four of you have all shown yourselves, Fellow Daoist Li Yixian, there is no need for you to hide in the shadows either!" "Senior Mi possesses extraordinary methods; I had best not show my face." Beneath the veil of night, an ethereal voice drifted from left to right, front to back, like a phantom. "I ask for very little—only the Mountain Breaker Gang's Beast Hall and two or three safe hunting grounds in the Guyuan Mountain Range." Mi Shuhua sneered. "For mere scraps like that, it's worth taking action yourself?" "Alas, for the sake of my clan, I had no choice." The ghostly voice sounded once more, followed by a soft chuckle. "Besides, I am not the only one. Isn't your old friend, Senior Duan Qiankun, doing the exact same thing?" Mi Shuhua froze, looking down at the oldest elder present. Within the Mi family ancestral grounds, Duan Qiankun let out a soft sigh. "The Foundation Establishment Pill from the auction failed to help my Duan family's prodigy break through to Foundation Establishment. My lifespan is nearly spent, and I must cultivate a Foundation Establishment True Cultivator for my clan. Pressed by necessity, I used the eight-hundred-year Root of Heaven and Earth as a bargaining chip and agreed to strike once for Elder Zhou." "Then do you know that I also have a Foundation Establishment Pill in my hands!" Mi Shuhua growled. Duan Qiankun shook his head. "Old friend, why deceive yourself? How could anyone easily take advantage of your generosity? You have played that single Foundation Establishment Pill for all it's worth; how could it ever have fallen to me?" Mi Shuhua was taken aback. Past events surfaced in his mind, leaving a bitter taste at the corners of his mouth. He had played too many schemes—even his longtime friend no longer trusted him! Surrounded by enemies on all sides, five Foundation Establishment cultivators had sealed off the front, back, left, and right. There was no way into the heavens, and figures barred the earth below. Without realizing it, he had already fallen into a mortal trap. Clinging to a shred of hope, Mi Shuhua looked at Elder Zhou. "Business is business. Why push things to the point of extermination? In our future dealings, I will concede another twenty percent of profits—how about it? No, thirty percent!" Elder Zhou stroked his chin with apparent interest, seeming to genuinely contemplate the possibility of this cooperation. "Fellow Daoist Nangong!" Mi Shuhua called out toward the rear. "When your esteemed clan relocated from Snow Lotus Market to Dahe Market, you surely didn't secure any land with a spirit vein, did you? My humble Mi family has a tributary spirit vein beneath our forbidden grounds, its efficacy not inferior to the main branch. Complemented by a Spirit Gathering Formation, it can nearly rival the power of a Tier 2 spirit vein! If it catches your eye, I, Mi, shall present it with both hands!" Nangong Jin's brow twitched, visibly tempted. "Fellow Daoist Li! What you seek—the Beast Hall, the hunting points—is hardly worth expending your spiritual power in battle. If you spare me, I can give you a map compiled through a hundred years of the Mountain Breaker Gang's exploration, allowing you to roam the outer regions of the Guyuan Mountain Range at will!" Without waiting for Li Yixian to reply, Mi Shuhua took a deep breath and looked toward Duan Qiankun. "Old friend, this time let us trade sincerity for sincerity. I will give you the Foundation Establishment Pill, and you may return to the Duan family. Furthermore, I will swear a Great Dao oath that after you pass away, whether your Duan family's prodigy successfully establishes his foundation or not, I will look after the Duan family for a hundred years!" One term after another was cast out. Among the five people present, four showed signs of being swayed. None of the terms Mi Shuhua offered were empty promises or wild exaggerations; they were well within his power to fulfill. His sincerity was plain to see. Out of nowhere, a quiet, chilling voice spoke up. "Am I, Wang, so beneath your notice, Fellow Daoist?" Mi Shuhua snapped his head around. "A backstabbing villain who breaks his word—what terms could I possibly discuss with you?!" He spoke with righteous indignation, projecting an air of honor and integrity. For a moment, Wang Haichao actually felt his face flush with embarrassment. He had indeed forged multiple agreements with Mi Shuhua, and after the contest on the Dao Discussion Platform, they had even signed a written covenant pledging not to attack each other in the near term. Now, the Great River Gang was leading other factions in a full-scale assault against the Mountain Breaker Gang. It truly was breaking his word. The others also cast strange looks toward Wang Haichao. Mi Shuhua maintained his righteous stance, but his heart was pounding furiously. Suddenly! Elder Zhou broke into quiet laughter. Puzzled, the others turned to look at him. "Elder Zhou, might I ask what still fails to satisfy you?" Elder Zhou shook his head. "Your terms are indeed exceptional. I must admit, you moved me. However, I am curious about one thing: after giving away so much, what qualifications will you have left to cooperate with my Lianyun Merchant Alliance?" Mi Shuhua froze. He had overlooked one thing: in his desperation, the terms he tossed out ended up contradicting each other. Shaking his head vigorously, he hurriedly said, "By virtue of the fact that I am a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator with a century of lifespan remaining!" "Not enough!" "Luo Chen! Yes, Luo Chen—he is definitely qualified!" "Oh?" "Danchenzi! Luo Chen's Daoist title is Danchenzi. He possesses monstrous alchemy talent and a terrifying success rate when refining mid-grade pills. With this young man around, the Lianyun Merchant Alliance will surely expand rapidly and become one of the premier merchant alliances in the Jade Cauldron Domain!" Hearing the Daoist title 'Danchenzi', Elder Zhou's eyes lit up. This condition was truly attractive beyond measure. "I accept your terms!" Those words were spoken like an official pardon. Mi Shuhua was on the verge of shouting in excitement. Yet the very next sentence froze him where he stood. "However, you must still surrender the storage ring of Ghost Spirit Valley's Supreme Elder, and you must also hand over your magic treasure." Elder Zhou shrugged. "It can't be helped. With an opportunity for Core Formation before us, there is no way I could give it up. I imagine the other fellow Daoists feel the same." Mi Shuhua's heart plummeted straight to rock bottom. He looked around him. Wang Haichao sneered, Nangong Jin looked greedy, and Duan Qiankun kept his head lowered, his expression unreadable. "Hahaha..." A desolate laugh burst from Mi Shuhua's lips. "Surrender my magic treasure? Wouldn't that make me a lamb waiting for slaughter? Do you all truly take me, Mi Shuhua, for a pig-headed fool?" "You can't put it that way. We can also first swear a... Wait, no!" Elder Zhou's expression shifted drastically, instantly turning as grim and heavy as deep water. "Strike!" "He is stalling for time!" Before his words had even finished echoing, a flash of fiery light lit up the dark night like day. The other four snapped to their senses in an instant. Without another word, each unleashed their techniques. At this moment, Mi Shuhua finally dropped the pretense. All the conditions, all the words, and every expression from before had merely been a disguise to stall for time. Unfortunately, even after stalling for so long, no reinforcements had arrived. "So be it!" "Let us have our battle first, then!" Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Filling the sky, flying wheels burst outward centered around him, making the very void appear fractured and shattered. A halo of black-and-white light erupted from within his body, cloaking him from head to toe. An offensive magic treasure! A defensive magic treasure! Not only that, but he swallowed a medicinal pill straight into his belly, and Mi Shuhua's eyes instantly turned crimson. Forming an incantation gesture with both hands, a miniature pagoda spiraled out from his palm and smashed down toward the earth. In the blink of an eye, it expanded to thirty zhang tall, standing upright between heaven and earth, crushing half the Mi family ancestral grounds to dust. Standing atop the pagoda's spire, Mi Shuhua roared: "If you want my life, you'll have to pay the price!"