Chapter 17 Who Wants My Ball?

Poof!

The golden snake turned back into its original size of more than a hundred meters long. The sudden appearance of a giant snake produced a booming sound that startled every creature nearby making them run for their lives.

“Hmmm, not bad, but what a pity, you would have had the chance of reaching the skies if you had not met me.”

Old man Dan shook his head while feeling a little proud and took out a crude looking clay pot then filled it with golden blood.

“This would be enough, the vultures are here. Time to go,”

He had long sensed the presence of Wilky and the others. Space distorted around him and he disappeared.

The core was the most valuable thing the golden serpent could offer, though its body had value, he did not want to carry it with him. Even if he acquired the body, he could not sell it. A golden serpents body was a hot potato, once known by the others, endless troubles will follow. Other cultivators would not rest until they found out where the core went.

He got what he needed and did not want to constantly look over his shoulders.

.....

Wilky and the others were hot in pursuit and could not even sense the golden snake anymore. Their only guide was the droplets of golden blood along the way. It was too fast for them to catch up, their efforts would have been wasted if they did not kill the serpent.

Boom!

A loud sound caught their attention and they went up to a high vantage point to see what was happening. A few kilometers away, dust rose in the air and a golden light was reflected by the sun.

“There!”

Judging by the color, Wilky was sure it was the golden snake and immediately headed towards the place at full speed.

.....

Approximately three kilometers behind Wilky’s group, two silhouettes were rushing towards them leaving only flashes behind.

“What’s this all about? Why do we have to risk entering our enemy’s territory for a magical beast? It even involves Wilky and Wilfred, you know how much they hate you,”

Jack spoke with confusion while they were running and leaping over obstacles.

“Hmph! Are you scared? If my guess is correct, that magical beast is a golden serpent. It’s not particularly a top predator among it’s kind but the golden core it carries can even attract the attention of an Emperor. It’s body, although far from the value of the core can still fetch a hefty price though I don’t know its particular usage.”

Floyd answered in a serious manner, his plan was to hunt the mantis stalking the cicada. Jack did not answer and even started to get nervous, what kind of an object would attract the attention of an Emperor.

An Emperor! An existence that rules over an empire with countless beings like them, very few items would warrant his attention. This was a serious matter, if they succeeded, he could jump ranks in the military. He even started to imagine himself commanding tens of thousands of soldiers.

Boom!

A loud sound vibrated through the air disturbing Jack’s daydream. Floyd went on top of a tree and assessed the situation.

“Let’s go, something happened.”

He urged his companion and rushed with full speed.

.....

Wilky’s group lowered their speed when they were five hundred meters from the serpent. They brandished their weapons and prepared their skills.

Four hundred meters, nothing happened.

Three hundred...

Two hundred...

One hundred, still no reaction.

Wilky was sure the golden serpent was there, but could not pinpoint what’s wrong. Space was a bit distorted around the place so he did not want to rush in even though it seemed like the serpent was dead.

Gritting his teeth he increased his speed and reached the enormous serpent in no time then slashed his sword creating a crescent sword energy and cut apart a large wound, golden blood gushed but there was no reaction.

The others were about to attack but was interrupted by Wilky,

“Stop!”

Wilky shouted and headed towards the serpent’s head, a bloody hole penetrated it with golden blood flowing out. The wound was still fresh, obviously done just moments ago.

“Somebody was already here and set up an ambush,”

Wilky had an ugly look on his face, the core was gone and traces of a trapping formation were evident. He used his soul sense but did not detect anything for a radius of one kilometer.

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“Who was it?”

Wilfred jumped over and asked.

“I have no idea but I am sure he is an expert and a cunning one at that. He left the hot potato for us, it would be hard for us to prove that we did not take the core unless we swear an oath.”

Wilky had a wry smile on his face, they did not get the core and even fell into a nasty trap. A huge headache was coming.

He was thinking of a solution when he sensed something. And a heavy killing intent came out of his body.

“Floyd is here,”

Gnashing his teeth, he looked at the enemy’s direction.

Wilfred immediately gathered his energy and pulled his bow to maximum power while infusing wind energy. The surrounding air churned like a tornado was about to form.

“Tornado Shot!”

Swoosh!

He shouted and released the arrow leaving a trail of destruction, wood splinters, soil and rocks were flying everywhere the arrow passed.

.....

Floyd and Jack were sprinting through the woods, they sensed that Wilky’s group already reached the snake but the expected fight did not occur.

“Is it dead?”

Floyd furrowed his brows, they were only a kilometer away from them.

“Let’s get closer,”

He was confident in their ability to escape. They continued forward when they heard a whistling sound headed towards them followed by a trail of devastation. It was like a horizontal tornado was coming to meet them.

“Hmph!”

Floyd snorted in disdain. Frost energy gathered on his saber making it look like an ice blade and hacked it forward.

“Frozen Iceworm!”

The energy released by the saber turned into a huge ten-meter long iceworm made of ice. Opening its circular mouth full of fangs, it squirmed forward in a fast manner meeting the arrow tornado head-on while freezing its path.

Bang!

The two skills collided and debris flew everywhere, some shredded by the wind blades and others frozen.

Wasting no time, Floyd and Jack sprinted and stopped a hundred meters from Wilky’s group.

“We meet again, tri-, ow sorry, should I say duo killers now?”

Floyd greeted them with a mock.

“Hmph! An arrogant tone from a man who only sneaks on his enemy’s back and stab them.”

Wilky retorted in disdain. He wanted to attack but did not want to stay here any longer. Who knows how many experts might come and things would become more troublesome.

Floyd ignored him and sneered,

“Wilky, oh, Wilky, you think you are the only one who knows about that serpent? How about you give us the core, the body will be yours and we would even close the mines on our side and return every gold”

“Phe! Over my dead body!”

Wilky was furious, his enemy was treating him like he was stupid.

“We don’t have the core, but even if we did, why would we give to you? If you want I can give you one of my “cores” as a souvenir. Hahahaha”

He laughed heartily while patting his private area. Everyone laughed with him in unison.

Floyd’s face was beet red due to anger after being insulted.

“Laugh all you want Wilky, do you think you can hold on to that with your measly power? A war might erupt because of you.”

He also predicted that the core was not taken by them, it was impossible that there would be no sign of fighting before acquiring it. But he did not want his efforts to go to waste, he knew in his heart he will not get anything today unless he risked his life.

“Hmph! How I handle my affairs is not your problem. Now scram or do you wanna go all out?”

Wilky really hated Floyd but now is not the time to fight, the longer they stayed here, the riskier it gets. He rotated his energy then raised his sword, sword intent gathered and formed a gigantic hundred-meter-long sword intent that floated above him.

“Sword’s Descent!

A heavy pressure descended while his sword and the gigantic sword intent slashed forward at the same time towards Floyd.

“Tsk!”

Floyd had ugly look on his face, he chanted and did a series of hand movements. Frost energy gathered immediately.

“Ice Wall!”

A thick ninety-meter tall ice wall formed in front of them.

“Celebrate while it lasts, I will have the last laugh. Let’s go,”

With great hesitation, they sprinted away, as much as he wanted they were in the enemy’s territory with no backup at all. All he can do is go back and inform his superiors about the event.

Bang!

Another loud collision, everyone prepared to do battle but when the dust settled the enemy was already gone.

“I’ll have your head next time,”

Wilky stared at the distance with coldness.

.....

The serpent was too big and heavy so Wilky had to transfer his belongings from his spatial ring to Wilfred then sucked it in into his ring.

“As discussed earlier, you will be paid in gold coins. I know you are unresigned with this but it is better than holding a hot potato and dying because of it. The core is the most valuable part but as you know it is gone, although the body is valuable it is nothing compared to the core. If you want to continue working in the mines, you can do so, but I bet the cavern has been emptied now. You decide it yourselves, just show this bank card to any bank and you can get your payment.”

Wilky handed out three blue cards which already contained his seal for authenticity.

Winston and the group were delighted, they did not want the serpent’s body. Basing on their observation, it’s an item of death so when Wilky proposed a payment method like this, they immediately agreed.

After some more discussion, the three mercenary captains left to do their own business. They planned to leave the mines and head out to another location. The subordinates of the other captains would be divided by them if they are willing. Besides, they had enough money for them to get by for years.

.....

“What now?”

Wilfred asked after the other group left.

“Ai, what a headache. I will head out to headquarters and talk to the higher-ups and request a scroll oath for them to believe us and I will offer the serpent’s body. It is still valuable you know, even without the core. I have to go personally and show them, sending a message won’t do. It would bring us great merits, I will be back as soon as I can.”

Wilky answered with a helpless look on his face.

“While I am away, assist brother Batista here, I am sure Floyd will do something sooner or later.”

Wilfred nodded in agreement and both disappeared with a flash.

.....

A stream of water flowed in the nearby forest creek beside the road, only a few kilometers from Sin city. The water was freezing cold but did not yet freeze. A red-orange dye stained the crystal clear water, it became thicker until the water’s clarity was gone.

Eznho was upstream dipping himself in a shallow pool of water, frozen blood melted when it made contact with the water. His wounds stopped bleeding for a while now and found this stream to wash. His body was underwater while his head was popping out.

He raised his right hand and a small hole was right in the middle of his palms. After staring it for a while, he clenched his fist and submerged his head wanting to feel numb, he did not want to think about what happened previously.

Splash!

Eznho stood up with his naked body while steam rose from it. Although he was still quite young, muscle lines started to manifest indicating a good body physique with some scars that had yet to disappear found all over. Thes changes were thanks to his arduous training, the arrow wound on his chest was still visible and did not fully heal. He walked out of the stream and changed to a new set of clothes.

.....

Entering the city was an easy task, the guards were slacking and did not want to move much due to the cold weather.

There was still a week before his big brother could come home and he did not want to worry his aunt if she ever saw his wounds so he stayed at an inn. He ate at the inn's restaurant and tried to observe everyone and gather information. To his dismay, there was no major news so he went back to his room, meditated and applied medicine on his wounds.

He was about to sleep when a creepy voice whispered into his ear.