Chapter 96: The Fish Dies and the Net Breaks

  At the reminder of Xiao Wu, Hu Gao subconsciously looked towards the pond, but found it calm and peaceful below. He then scanned his surroundings and soon spotted four unfamiliar people not far away.

  "Someone is approaching us!" Hu Gao's expression turned ugly, and from Xiao Wu's senses, all four of them were martial artists with a high level of cultivation, which was somewhat troublesome.

  Especially the two older ones, one of whom had reached the peak of Tongti Realm First Stage, and the other was even stronger, like a giant dragon lurking in ambush, who was a Tongti Realm Second Stage warrior, he could only be dealt with using the Wind Thunder Pearl, and even fire poison bombs found it difficult to kill him.

  Hard work doesn't pay off, so I can only use my wits. Hu Gao's brain turned quickly, and he suddenly saw the water pool beside him. His eyes lit up immediately, and a hint of a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth without leaving any trace. Afterwards, he didn't hesitate anymore, and all the black fire lotus in front of him were stored into the spatial ring.

  "Shi Lao, look quickly." Seeing Hu Gao put all the Black Fire Lotus into his spatial ring, the young man couldn't hold back and called out to the old man beside him, rushing out first.

  And the one called Shi Lao, a second-stage martial artist of the Tong Ti realm, walked over step by step after hearing this.

  "How dare you! You little brat, leave the Black Fire Lotus behind!" The young man in front of him shouted loudly with a commanding tone, "You even have a spatial ring, considering your age, leave the treasure behind and get out of here quickly!"

  The young man's name was Shi Dong, an eighteen-year-old martial artist in the middle of the Unity Realm's first stage. He could be considered a genius. Seeing the average strength of the guys in front of him, he naturally didn't take them seriously.

  "How dare you! You think you can snatch our Black Fire Lotus? First, ask the sword in my hand!"

  Han Cong let out a loud roar, his entire body radiating an overwhelming aura, like a vast and turbulent forest. He raised the weapon in his hand, the crystal-clear Wuying Sword, although it was much shorter than his silver Tiger Soul Gun, but its grandeur was not inferior to usual.

  "These two are no ordinary people!" Unlike Shi Dong's recklessness, the old man with a sword following behind felt the aura emanating from Yun Feng and Han Chong, his face was solemn.

  Although the two young men's yuan force cultivation was not high, they had just broken through to the Tongti realm, but the killing intent and majesty contained within made even these old-timers of the Tongti realm feel a strange pressure, which could only explain one thing: they were absolutely not ordinary warriors.

  "Be careful with Fifth Master and Sixth Miss, those two are not ordinary people, their identities are unclear, don't easily make enemies with them."

  The old man, surnamed Yu, had been adventurous in his youth and was now a guard at the Shi family residence. Considering this, he thought it unwise to offend these two young people whose identities were still unclear, so he hastened to intercept the Shi siblings.

  "What's there to be afraid of!" Sixth Miss Shi Yuan retorted, turning her head, and continued: "That smelting pool is so hot, throw them all in and kill them, who would know!"

  "What a ruthless and cunning woman! Does she really think that just because there are many of us, we can be bullied?!" Yun Feng heard the woman's words and spat on the ground, saying fiercely. At this moment, Yun Feng abandoned his fine steel sword and grasped the Qingfeng Sword with both hands, his aura like a stormy sea surging with huge waves, not at all inferior to Han Chong, and charged towards the imposing Stone siblings.

  "Shut up!" Shi Dong spat out a sentence, indicating that Shi Huan didn't need to say more. The yellow origin force in his body burst forth, heading towards Han Chong who had the strongest aura.

  "If you have any opinions about your aunt, save them for when you're dead and can tell the ghosts! " Shi Yuen's mouth was unstoppable, her poisonous tongue bursting forth at the same time as a yellow yuan force shot out, staring straight at Yun Feng.

  Shi Dong and Shi Yu's sibling cultivation was roughly the same, both of their elemental forces were yellow, and when combined, it was like a storm of yellow sand sweeping towards Yun Han and his companions.

  "In two games, they were tied at one set each in the middle period, and it's unclear how long they can hold on against Yun Feng and Han Cong."

  Feeling the strong killing intent from Yun Feng and Han Chong, it seemed that as soon as they made a move, they would unleash their killing moves and quickly behead each other. Hu Gao hastily said in a low voice, "Defeat them, but don't kill them!"

  Eight words made Hu Gao and Yun Feng's eyebrows furrow, their hearts filled with doubt. However, they still nodded slightly, knowing that Hu Gao must have had a reason for doing so. They just needed to wait quietly, as they didn't think of Hu Gao as a timid person who would lower his head in front of someone with a higher cultivation level.

  They are now curious about what means Hu Gao will use next to deal with his opponent.

  "Whoosh!"

  At this time, Shi Dong and Shi Huan's attack had already approached, and the two of them hastily concentrated their minds and launched a full-force attack.

  Although they have just broken through to the Tongti realm, their combat power is far beyond that of a same-level warrior. When they were still at the peak of the ninth stage of the Ningying realm, they could already contend with the initial stage of the Tongti realm head-on, let alone now.

  Pong!

  The fight between the two sides did not last long, and soon it became clear who was stronger and weaker. Shi Dong and Shi Yu were completely at a disadvantage and showed signs of collapse at any moment.

  This made the two men's faces quite unsightly, extremely embarrassed and felt very humiliated, because their cultivation was higher than Yun Feng and Han Chong by a level, but they fell into a disadvantage after exchanging hands for not too long, it was really a joke.

  "Sixth sister, stop hiding your clumsiness and show off your trump card!"

  Shi Dong suddenly let out a loud roar, he could no longer tolerate it.

  "Stop!"

  Just then, Shi Lao, who had been silent all along, suddenly let out a loud roar, and a vast and powerful aura burst forth, like a tidal wave crashing against the four sides, instantly surging towards the four people.

  Shi Dong Shi Wan was unscathed under his pressure, but Yun Feng and Han Chong felt as if they were hit by a raging wave, cursing in their hearts, "Son of a bitch!" One foot had almost stepped into the coffin, yet he still dared to launch a sneak attack. Did he have no shame?

  "Boom!"

  A sharp and fierce aura emanated from the two of them, directly dispersing his momentum, but they thought back to what Hu Gao had said earlier and didn't dare show off too much. So although they withstood Shi Qianqiu's intimidation, their faces still showed a hint of pallor, as if they had suffered some internal injury.

  "You old scoundrel, you actually dare to play a sneak attack? Do you still have any face?" Yun Feng and Han Chong's faces were filled with anger as they glared at Shi Qianqiu.

  "Sneak attack? If I wanted to take you down, would I need a sneak attack? What a joke."

  Shi Qianqiu sneered, neither confirming nor denying. From the exchange between the four of them just now, he felt that Yun Feng and Han Chong's strength was indeed extraordinary, but it was only slightly stronger than an ordinary Tongti realm first-stage martial artist. Not to mention him taking action, even if Old Yu took action, they could subdue them, so there was no need to worry about the three of them escaping at all.

  "Shi Lao, don't waste your breath on them. Just take them down directly. Today, I'll have their corpses thrown into the Scarlet Furnace." Shi Dong said in a furious tone.

  "These two bastards must be killed!" Shi Yuqiao's face was covered with frost, gritting her teeth as she spoke, now hating the two men so much that she wished to eliminate Yun Feng and Han Chong immediately.

  "Are you all really going to die with us?" Hu Gao returned the Tiger Soul Gun to Han Chong, glaring at the four of them and shouted.

  "You think you can discuss 'the fish dies and the net breaks' with us? You're just a minor Nine-Stage Condensed Shadow Realm cultivator, how ridiculous!"

  Shi Wei sneered coldly, looking at Hu Gao's gaze with disdain. She had just seen that the yuan force in his body was only a lowly red color, which was clearly the lowest level of the first-order totemic talent. In her eyes, he was simply a useless thing.

  "This senior, we entered the Fire Beast Forest for the sake of competing for benefits, and not to make enemies, right?"

  Hu Gao calmed down and continued, "Senior, we've already gained a lot. If we continue to take more benefits from this place, it would be self-destructive. But you're different, not only are you a powerful expert, but you also have several top-notch experts by your side. If you were to take all the remaining Black Fire Lotus, I believe no one would dare to fight for it. So, we hope that you'll let us leave, and as for the Black Fire Lotus in the Scarlet Furnace Pool, consider them yours."

  "Is there still a Black Fire Lotus in the Scarlet Magma Pool?" Shi Qianqiu's eyes lit up.

  "If I didn't sense it wrong, the entire pool of magma below is filled with Black Fire Lotus. However, my strength is too weak and I can only bring up a dozen or so at a time. But you're different, Senior. I believe that if you were to take action, it wouldn't take more than a few moves to bring all the Black Fire Lotus from below to the surface. As for the exact number..."

  Hu Gao sank into thought for a moment, as if considering specific numbers.

  "What's the exact amount? Spit it out!" Shi Qianqiu urged impatiently, shouting loudly.

  Shi Dong and Shi Wan's eyes widened in unison, "Heavens! The entire pool is filled with Black Fire Lotus, how many are there?!"

  "Elder, with my weak cultivation, how could I sense the exact number? I just roughly estimated it. Even if there aren't tens of thousands of Black Fire Lotus, there should be at least several thousand." Hu shook his head and shrugged, feeling helpless, but immediately realized that his expression was not suitable, so he quickly put on a weak posture.

  "Several thousand?" Shi Qianqiu and his group almost exclaimed. Several thousand black fire lotus, heavens, if all of these were exchanged for gold coins, how much would that be?

  Now, Yun Feng Han Chong finally understood Hu Gao's tactics, thinking that the latter was planning to deceive them into picking the black fire lotus under the Chi Yan Dan pool, and then lure the fire beast king under the pool to attack them.

  "Stone, we can't be careless. What if this kid is just pretending and there's actually danger lurking beneath the surface?" Yu Lao hastily pulled Stone Qianqiu back, reminding him.

  It's fortunate that he can still maintain a certain level of clarity, mainly because he just saw Yunfeng and Han Chong protecting Hu Gao behind them, affirming that Hu Gao's identity is not ordinary, yet at this time he appears so weak, which is somewhat unreasonable.

  "Huh? What's going on?" Shi Qianqiu narrowed his eyes, only then realizing he had just acted impulsively. A cold sweat suddenly broke out on his back. This was terrible, he almost fell for the kid's trick. What if there really was danger under the Red Furnace Pool, and it wasn't just ordinary danger? If he went over, wouldn't he...

  "Are you kidding me? Do you think there's danger lurking beneath the Scarlet Flame Pool? You think I'm playing a trick on you, letting you trigger the danger below and then I'll reap the benefits? If you're afraid, why don't I go get the Black Fire Lotus for you instead, and then hand it over to you?" Hu Gao sneered, his tone somewhat disdainful.

  "Are you going to bring out the Black Fire Lotus and hand it over to us?"

  "Of course! I guarantee that I will hand them all over to you, every single one. How's that?" Hu Gao tried his best to make his face look sincere, with a silly expression.