ASER - Chapter 172
Chapter 172: Courting Death!
But A'Diao merely collected Yan Fengbai's storage ring and other items. After all this commotion, her shoes were gone. Her bare feet stepped on the bloody ground as she toyed with the storage ring, rolling her eyes and muttering, “Already a Star Realm cultivator and still robbing people. So despicable. Can't you be like me, persuading others with reason, always making them willingly offer money…”
The domineering Yinglong Rakshasa Queen from a few seconds ago instantly transformed into a money-grubber with eyes fixed on a pile of coins.
The implication was too strong!!!
Are you sure you're a Yinglong totem? Why not a Taotie, why not the most avaricious Golden Dragon, damn it!
But tell me, is she faster at killing, or are you faster at confirming your exit with the wristband?
Xia Sanlu, whose heart felt like it was bleeding, was still the most perceptive. He was the first to raise his hand: “Me, me, I'll trade one hundred thousand skeletal remains for my life!!”
Quan Lie: “Thirty thousand for me!”
Others: “…”
This works too?
She could just defeat us and take the points directly, why would she… No, wait!
She has already secured first place.
After killing four Demon Kings, how many points does she have?
Dantai Ke glanced at the leaderboard, his face ashen.
3.28 million points.
He had diligently led a group of people in team battles and against swarms of demonic spirits for so long, yet his points were only 110,000.
Even if he scraped clean the entire Ten Thousand Demon Rakshasa Courtyard next, he wouldn't be able to gather that many points.
Because there were no Demon Kings left.
She had already locked in first place, so the number of points didn't matter. Thus, she was selling lives for money.
Watching as this person's exquisitely sculpted, ink-wash painting-like features bloomed with a delighted expression, her gaze towards Xia Sanlu was as loving as that of an old mother.
Alright, we understand.
Taking a deep breath, Dantai Ke said, “Five hundred thousand skeletal remains.”
A'Diao: “One million skeletal remains, one hundred thousand Star Coins.”
You're robbing us!!!!
Damn it! Do you take me for an idiot?!
Dantai Ke, pale with blood at the corner of his mouth, looking like a battle-worn prince, expressionlessly and with difficulty spat out two words: “Alright.”
Next, Dantai Sheng offered a price for his life, second only to his younger brother's.
When it came to paying money, he could afford to lose to his younger brother, truly.
But these two royal brothers still directly raised the upper limit of resources for buying one's life, damn it!
Li Che's cheek twitched slightly… He suddenly regretted deeply not listening to Yue Xingxi. At that time, she had said: “If you submit to Dantai Ke and the imperial family out of fear, the martial spirit of a blademaster you lose today will take you at least ten years of hard cultivation to recover in the future.”
He had taken a step back, but still made a move, because he didn't believe Chen A'Diao could survive.
Unexpectedly…
It was a slap in the face.
So the teacher was right, never use “perhaps” to speculate about another's extraordinariness.
It's better to make a temporary retreat for long-term considerations than to act rashly out of momentary fear.
This mistake most directly caused him to miss out on a sum…
“Two hundred thousand skeletal remains? Me?!” Li Che's expression froze.
He thought Chen A'Diao was extorting money based on their foundation, but he didn't expect her to demand so much from him.
A'Diao swirled the blood on the ground with her palm, glanced at him, and said lightly, “If it weren't for the sake of the beautiful young lady by your side, I would have killed you!”
“Do you think you're a prince?”
The latter sentence sent shivers down one's spine.
The two princes were also suddenly startled, their feelings extremely complicated.
This person's temperament was complex, yet also simple—she knew how to assess situations, make cunning trade-offs, and always played by the rules within the appropriate circles.
She could have pressed further now, but she retreated.
Was it just money she wanted?
No, it was her even more terrifying intellect—this person was all too aware that even with Lushan's protection, a peerless prodigy like her could currently only prevent the Tang Song imperial family and nobles from openly killing her. But she wouldn't be foolish enough to incur public wrath by slaughtering all the candidates, thereby offending all the prominent families and royalty at once, and also giving them a reason to pressure Lushan into abandoning her.
More importantly, this person understood even better that although Lushan was at odds with the imperial family, it was purely due to a conflict in their respective interests. The imperial family wanted centralized power, but Lushan would not bow down; education should not be controlled by power. However, Lushan's higher purpose was—to safeguard the national interests of Tang Song.
Internal strife and infighting were permissible, but large-scale internal attrition was absolutely not.
It was true she was a Suppression Star Realm cultivator, but Tang Song also needed other stars to shine; they were all future Grandmasters.
So A'Diao took a step back, using resources to achieve a reasonable balance for both sides.
She didn't lose out, and these people didn't get off cheap either, but at least it was stuck at the most delicate point.
In the future, who would dare to cross this red line by even half a step first?
She was very certain it definitely wouldn't be these candidates; they wouldn't dare—if even someone like her had to yield to the general situation, on what grounds would they still dare to be presumptuous? Who gave them the audacity?
Dantai Ke, on the contrary, felt even more terrified of Chen A'Diao in his heart, even having a death-courting thought: he actually would have preferred her to go on a killing spree, as that would have simultaneously exposed her weaknesses.
But she didn't.
Six Star Realm cultivators, yet she only killed Yan Fengbai and only extorted money. Even though they had clearly tried to kill her several times, she calmly endured it and even extorted money with a smile.
Perhaps, his current imperial clansmen and those imperial relatives and nobles outside were all feeling regretful.
Indeed, they were extremely regretful.
Treasonously, the imperial family even felt that trading the lives of the two princes and everyone else for Chen A'Diao's life would have been worth it.
Unfortunately, three seconds ago they were still shocked that Chen A'Diao's heaven-defying act had actually succeeded; the next second they hoped she would become overly arrogant due to such great success and go on a killing spree, giving them a chance to eliminate her; but by the third second, she had withdrawn most of her sharpness and was smilingly extorting money.
She gave everyone a way out.
But it also meant she forced them into a corner, leaving them with no moves.
This Chen A'Diao… how was she raised?
Back then, why didn't that Chen Ran, who favored sons over daughters, kill this daughter? Or was it precisely because of the harsh treatment that she became so abnormal?
Anyway, there were probably only three types of mentalities in the audience seats now.
Ordinary people: Holy crap!
People who hated her and wanted her dead: Damn you!
Chen Yang: My sister, she's my sister, she's my sister!!
Mental Power exploded.
But suddenly… as A'Diao was completing the skeletal remains transactions with everyone, the blood collected in her palm suddenly made her raise an eyebrow.
“This blood is? Huh?”
With a flick of her fingertip, she extracted the bloodline energy, and suddenly, the totem of a three-tailed demon fox materialized.
Cao Juanzhi and the others were stunned.
Dantai Ke and the few Star Realm cultivators also reacted. The Qu family's? The Qu family's Demon Fox bloodline…
How could it be?
Was it a coincidence, or did it mean that the Qu family's true trump card was not Qu Hanzhou, but the fused entity of Yan Fengbai and Wen Shaoyao?
“It seems the racial trait of the three-tailed demon fox is that it's difficult to distinguish male from female. Could it be that after they fuse, they give birth to even stronger power?”
“That's not right. The Qu family ancestors don't have such a history. Does that mean the female bloodline progenitor is stronger, so…”
Everyone couldn't figure it out, but they saw Chen A'Diao's expression turn to disbelief, then sudden realization, and her face visibly turned ashen, as if terrified of something. She roared angrily, “I finally understand! Damn it!”
Then she actually pressed her wristband directly, not even wanting the life-buying money from the remaining half of the people, and with a whoosh, she exited.
Everyone: “???”
Dantai Ke and the others were dumbfounded; Shen Huajing was also alarmed and suspicious.
Something that could make the current Chen A'Diao so terrified must be related to the Qu family, and also to Qu Jiangnan.
To the extent that such a money-grubbing person like her disregarded the remaining money and directly exited the assessment.
Then what did she exit to do?
Shen Huajing didn't overthink it, but quietly made a move.
She attacked Dantai Sheng with lightning speed.
At the same time, Song Ling and others from outside charged in on a large scale—taking advantage of the fact that several Star Realm cultivators had been thrashed by A'Diao, their strength less than one-tenth of what it was, while the others were on the verge of death.
They charged in.
At this moment, A'Diao suddenly rushed out, leaving others bewildered, not even someone as exceptionally intelligent as Xiao Jin could understand.
The people from Lushan were the same. Before they could even ask, they saw this person appear. Her body hadn't even left an afterimage in mid-air when the bloodline totem behind her was activated, an ancient spirit gathering array spun beneath her feet… Tri-Origin Thunder Drops crackled into existence, and a black staff appeared in her hand.
Buzz… Her right hand transformed into the likeness of a silver-scaled dragon claw, and she pointed with the scepter she held.
All thirty billion units of Mental Power she had just collected were completely emptied and channeled into a spiritual fusion.
BOOM!!
A thumb-thick bolt of spiritual lightning shot out.
The dignified middle-aged man who had been sitting in the audience froze for a moment, his pupils trembling. His body tried to flee, but it was too late. He could only manifest his true body armor… armor of at least the hundred-billion level.
He was, in fact, a State Duke.
But it was too slow, too slow, too slow. No one had expected it, not even the Mountain Head secretly observing. They only knew that Chen A'Diao had suddenly exited the assessment point and then instantly attacked…
BOOM!!!
Before the armor could fully form, Qu Zhen, one of the five great State Dukes of Tang Song, was struck by a bolt of lightning and turned to ash. His armor, the mid-grade Star Realm strength he had just released, were all like dregs.
He was instantly killed.
Moreover, not only was he instantly killed, A'Diao actually made a gesture with her hand, her fingertips joined, and declared: “Blood Shadow Tracking, Qu family bloodline holders, kill!”
With this technique unleashed, the crackling lightning twisted and shot through all the surrounding Qu family disciples, instantly killing them all, skewering them one by one.
Such slaughter shocked everyone. Even the people from Lushan were stunned and shouted for her to stop. The other nobles and imperial family members, seeing this scene, subconsciously thought Chen A'Diao was retaliating against the Qu family.
Although this was unlikely.
It was just said that her scheming was unparalleled, that she was forbearing and cunning. How could she suddenly turn hostile and become emotional? Wasn't this courting death?
But regardless, she was courting death!
“Audacious!”
“Presumptuous!!!”
“Such a vicious culprit, kill her!”
All the hidden experts present made their moves. Some wanted to kill A'Diao, but others tried to stop them.
For example, the Duanmu, Xie, and Zhao families were all trying to stop them.
But the imperial family's members couldn't be stopped… The Grandmaster Swordsman present made his move, a sword strike surged forward!
The powers from both sides clashed…
Chen A'Diao seemed like a drop in the ocean, on the verge of death.
But at this moment, she was still trying to kill all the Qu family members. Soon, amidst her own life-and-death crisis, she brazenly attempted to kill the last remaining Qu family disciple present.
But just then… terror ripped through the air, and the pressure of a Lesser Spirit King suddenly descended.
“Killing my Qu family members! Such a monstrous talent will surely become a demon for our Tang Song! This old man will kill you today for the sake of Tang Song!”
A palm struck down…
A'Diao looked up and saw supreme authority.
This was a true Lesser Spirit King.
The Qu family's Lesser Spirit King.
She narrowed her eyes. At this moment, no amount of tricks could allow her to survive.
Was there a glimmer of regret in the eyes of this peerless heavenly prodigy?
No. Instead, the old man bringing down his palm saw a cunning, cold smile.
He was startled, seemed to sense something, and his expression changed slightly.
A conspiracy! This was a conspiracy, right from the very beginning!
His body tried to merge back into the void and return to the mountain cave where he had been hiding.
But it was too late.
He had been locked onto.
Or rather, the body of that last Qu family disciple rotted. Amidst screams, a large amount of blood energy twisted and surged out, and a chilling corpse aura howled forth.
And on the other side, space tore open, and a slender, pale corpse hand with stitched patches appeared from the torn space…
She had arrived.
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