Chapter 100: On the Verge

Kill them all!

When they heard this, all of the Harpies living in Dragon Mountain City were stunned.

They were going to pay a price to watch the situation unfold.

In order to survive, Flaming Femme was willing to use any technique.

However, those Harpies also knew that they could not afford to try and flee.

Anyone who did would die!

They all turned to stare at Su Chen, their gazes filled with fear. Quite a few of them began to cry out, asking him to spare them.

Su Chen glanced at all of the Harpies prostrating themselves to him.

Dragon Mountian City was a small city, and there weren’t many Harpies living there, but there were at least tens of thousands of them present.

There had been at least ten thousand Harpies who hadn’t been able to escape from the city in time, but there was still seventy or eighty thousand of them in the sky.

Most of these Harpies were merely commoners. Only a few were Arcana Masters, and none of them were particularly high-tier to boot, so it was totally impossible for them to fight back against him based on numbers alone. After all, quality still did matter even in measures of quantity. Seventy thousand Third or Fourth-Ring Arcana Masters would have been enough to kill Su Chen, but these commoners would be asking to die if they tried to attack Su Chen.

In other words, it would have been incredibly easy for Su Chen to kill them all, not to mention if he had the help of the Seventh-Ring Flaming Femme’s help.

But was it really necessary to do so?

Even though he was human and didn’t particularly care about the lives of these Harpies, he still needed to have a bottom line when he did things, didn’t he?

Well, this thought did seem a bit laughable given that he had only just destroyed an entire city and taken the lives of tens of thousands of commoners already.

But no matter how low this bottom line was, he still needed to have one.

There was still a difference between causing deaths as a result of collateral damage and massacring innocents intentionally.

At least, there was a difference to Su Chen.

At this moment, a single sentence of Su Chen’s was enough to decide the fates of the seventy or eighty thousand Harpies kneeling before him.

After a moment’s thought, Su Chen said, “Forget about it. I’ll spare them.”

When they heard this, all of the Harpies couldn’t help but sigh with relief.

Even Flaming Femme did the same.

She had sighed with relief not for the sake of those Harpies but for her own sake.

Su Chen’s words clearly indicated that he had accepted her proposal.

And it was easier for her to accept a master who wasn’t willing to commit wanton slaughter so easily.

After accepting Flaming Femme’s offering of her soul, Su Chen had gained yet another subordinate.

Flaming Femme first sent word back to Fate’s Hands by their unique method of communication in an attempt to delay for time. Then, she said to Su Chen and Wind-Gathering Ascension, “You’ve seen everything you needed to see, so you should know what to do at this point.”

Wind-Gathering Ascension sighed sorrowfully.

His entire clan was gone at this point, so he no longer had any choice but to comply with Su Chen’s demands. He lowered his head and said, “I will tell the others to prepare to head out.

Jade Clearmist’s secret realm was located near the southern regions of Sky City in a place known as Squall Ramparts.

Squall Ramparts was constantly being beaten by powerful, bone-piercing winds. Even high-tier Arcana Masters would have a hard time enduring this kind of a beating for long periods of time.

Squall Ramparts actually covered quite a large range of territory with a variety of terrain, including deserts, hills, and wildernesses, along with some other unique features. The Harpies preferred to stay on higher terrain, so this location was relatively untouched. All kinds of strange and rare Demonic Beasts could be found roaming this territory.

A large group of flying Harpies flew over the vast territory of the Squall Ramparts, eventually coming to a stop near the Black Mountain Range.

Wind-Gathering Ascension pointed ahead and said, “Past the Ancient Gazing River is the Fairy River. The map says that the treasure realm is there.”

“Are there Harpies living there?” Su Chen glanced at the direction Wind-Gathering Ascension was pointing in.

“There’s a small town with a few Harpy commoners living there,” Wind-Gathering Ascension said. The Wind-Gathering Clan had designs on this secret treasure realm for a long time, so it was only natural that they had a deep understanding of the situation surrounding the treasure realm.

“But......” Wind-Gathering Ascension hesitated.

“But what?” Su Chen asked.

“But there have been some bandits in the area recently.”

“Bandits?”

“Yes, the Hunting Wind Bandits.”

Hunting Wind Bandits?

Su Chen squinted his eyes when he heard this name.

He had yet to forget the run-in he had with them earlier.

At that point in time, the Hunting Wind Bandits had come on the orders of someone to probe the strength of the diplomatic party.

However, the Hunting Wind Bandits did more than doing dirty work for their superiors. They also had their own goals and missions. Actually, the main reason they did anything for their superiors was to make carrying out their own missions easier.

That was what they were doing here.

Based on what Wind-Gathering Ascension had said, there was a small bandit stronghold here, primarily responsible for hunting the Ill-Fated Gophers that lived here.

Ill-Fated Gophers were a rare kind of Demonic Beast that lived here. They weren’t very powerful, but their perceptive and tunneling abilities were quite impressive. The Harpies could fly as they pleased in the air, but it was hard for them to do anything about lifeforms that lived in the ground.

The Ill-Fated Gophers had a pouch that was a rare ingredient. The Hunting Wind Bandits relied on harvesting these pouches to support their lifestyle.

Of course, they would also perform some unscrupulous acts from time to time.

In any case, this place was a private plot of land belonging to the Hunting Wind Bandits.

Wind-Gathering Ascension only mentioned this to be cautious.

However, Su Chen didn’t seem to care at all. He waved his hand and said, “Got it. Let’s continue advancing. This problem isn’t actually a problem at all.”

Wind-Gathering Ascension cursed in his heart when he saw Su Chen’s careless expression, You said that you would be able to keep the Wind-Gathering Clan safe, but we lost our home anyways.

Of course, he knew that this wasn’t entirely Su Chen’s fault. After all, he had resisted handing over the map to Su Chen in the first place as well. If he had done it sooner, there wouldn’t have been any issues. Yet he had insisted on holding onto his clan’s profits a bit longer in order to test out Su Chen’s strength.

He had gotten what he had asked for, and his clan had also been ruined.

He was already lucky that most of his clan members were able to make it out alive.

The procession headed for the small town, arriving very soon after.

The small town was known as Cloudy City. Even though it was a Harpy city, it was actually built on the ground, since there were no mountains nearby.

There weren’t many Harpies in the small town, so it was very quiet and peaceful. Even though the Hunting Wind Bandits were vicious, they left their neighbors alone and never did anything to terrorize the town. After all, they needed to survive themselves; if all of the commoner Harpies around them were chased away, how would they survive in the future?

The procession stopped automatically above the small town. They needed to stop there and buy some living necessities before moving on.

Su Chen wandered around the city, as was his habit, trying to see if there was anything interesting he could find in the city. Youthful Abundance and Flaming Femme followed him around, clever like a maidservant.

Even though there wasn’t much of interest within the town, there were some unique products that Su Chen was able to find.

Some of them were useful for his experiments, and some of them could be used to concoct medicines. Most importantly, these ingredients were very cheap, so Su Chen bought some.

Just as he was feeling extremely happy with himself, he suddenly saw a group of merchants heading in his direction.

Upon closer inspection, Su Chen was taken aback.

𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

It was Li Daohong.

Why was this guy here?

Li Daohong was a human, so his appearance was incredibly eye-catching in this kind of a location.

He didn’t seem to mind at all. Actually, it seemed that he was enjoying the gazes of everyone around him.

Li Daohong was currently marching through the street imposingly with his procession. After a moment’s thought, Su Chen decided to step to the side and make space.

Even though he wanted to understand this Li Daohong better, Jade Clearmist’s treasure store was much more important. It was better to have one less matter to worry about. In any case, since he was wearing a mask, Li Daohong wouldn’t be able to identify his face, and he wouldn’t be able to find out who he was.

“Master, it seems that you are paying this Harpy particular attention,” Flaming Femme suddenly said.

As a Seventh-Ring Arcana Master, her observational skills were quite powerful.

She immediately noticed Su Chen’s particular attention to Li Daohong.

Su Chen said indifferently, “This place is pretty remote. It would be strange if I didn’t pay him particular attention. Also, any human

“It’s better not to make trouble,” Su Chen said as he turned around to leave.

Flaming Femme was a bit disappointed when she saw Su Chen’s response.

At this moment, Li Daohong happened to pass by. He couldn’t help but leave his glance on Youthful Abundance and Flaming Femme for a bit longer.

When Flaming Femme saw that this Li Daohong was so lascivious, an idea surfaced in her mind. Since her master had forbidden her from making trouble, then she was going to let this guy make some trouble instead. She shot Li Daohong an innocent glance, licking her lips slightly. Her actions were clearly flirtatious.

Even though she hadn’t directly activated her charming abilities, her natural beauty was enough to arouse his lust.

When Li Daohong saw this, he chuckled. “I didn’t expect for such a refined lady such as yourself to be here.”

As he spoke, he reached his hand out to stroke Flaming Femme’s face.

In his view, Flaming Femme was enticing him of her own accord, so his actions weren’t over-the-top in the slightest.

Unexpectedly, Flaming Femme twisted her head slightly to the side in order to avoid this stroke as she clung to Su Chen, grabbing his hand. “Master, there’s a person here taking liberties with me.”

“Hm?” Su Chen turned to glance at Flaming Femme.

Flaming Femme’s expression was one of total innocence.

Li Daohong was also taken aback. He was immediately incensed. “You were messing with me?”

Flaming Femme harrumphed coldly at him, turning her head around and ignoring him.

Su Chen had some idea of what was happening when he glanced at Li Daohong and at Flaming Femme.

He wanted to overlook the matter, but unexpectedly Li Daohong had no intention of agreeing.

He was already quite an arrogant individual, and he was used to having his way with others. When had anyone managed to toy with him and gotten away with it? He was forced to rein himself in when under the watchful eye of the Harpies, but he was currently in a small, remote town, and there was nothing for him to fear. As such, he immediately turned on Su Chen and said, “Brat, your woman was teasing me. I demand that you hand her over to me!”

Su Chen turned to glance at him, his gaze incredibly cool and emotionless.

He didn’t say anything as he stared intently at Li Daohong.

Li Daohong asked angrily, “What are you looking at?”

Su Chen said in a low, raspy voice, “Please, I hope that you will be willing to overlook this incident.”

He and Li Daohong had only met once, and hadn’t spoken to each other much either. Li Daohong shouldn’t have been able to recognize his voice. But when Su Chen considered that Li Daohong had the Attendant’s Brain, Su Chen decided to lower his voice so that Li Daohong wouldn’t be able to recognize him.

Flaming Femme glanced suspiciously at him, seemingly considering something.

Li Daohong couldn’t tell it was Su Chen. He laughed fiercely, “What if I refuse to overlook the situation?”

Su Chen’s gaze grew firm. The two of them faced off against each other, neither side willing to back down. They first engaged in a battle of consciousness power.

Shockingly, Li Daohong’s consciousness power was very high. Even though Su Chen hadn’t used his full consciousness power in this confrontation, most people should have been easily defeated. Li Daohong, however, was not only able to easily handle the attack, but he even had enough spare consciousness energy to counterattack.

A Desolate Beast Bloodline was truly extraordinary.

Li Daohong similarly revealed a surprised expression. “Hey, it seems that you have some skill.”

As he spoke, his aura began to surge. Su Chen’s fighting intent also skyrocketed from Li Daohong’s provocation. The two of them immediately faced off against each other as a formless pressure began to envelop their surroundings.

A fierce battle was only moments from unfolding.