"Surnamed Shao, since we managed to make it this far, it's only appropriate for us to take a few items, right?"
One of the Sinners, who hadn't signed a contract with the Ashen River Hall, asks this, and towards him, Shao Tianming smiles, and answers—
"Of course."
Hearing this to be the case, the Sinner smiles back, and quickly makes his way forward.
"…"
"…"
Under the watchful eyes of everyone nearby, the Sinner walks into the oasis's waters, and looking around, he picks up a lavishly decorated dagger, while remarking—
"This should be worth enough for me to pay my way out of service."
Turning towards the group, the Sinner opens his mouth to say something else, but in the same instance—
"Care-!"
Before Ye Chen can even finish his sentence, a portion of the oasis's water rises upwards, and taking on the form of a scythe's blade, it mercilessly severs the Sinner's head off.
"…"
"…"
As fresh blood dyes the oasis's waters crimson, silence looms over the remaining survivors.
"Surnamed Shao…"
Recovering from his state of shock, Ye Chen directs a glare at Shao Tianming, who is smoking a cigarette, and asks—
"What's the big idea of not saying anything?"
"I didn't finish explaining, and the guy immediately went for it. What was I supposed to do?"
"…"
Ignoring Ye Chen's look of doubt, Shao Tianming turns to the remaining survivors, and says—
"Well, as you can see, things like this can happen during the reward session—if you're not careful. Treasures are indeed free for the taking, but they're only free—if you have the skills to grab them."
Having said this, Shao Tianming shrugs his shoulders, and turns to face the oasis without doing anything else—seemingly waiting for something, as he continues to smoke with an air of leisure.
Turning to Long Hua, Yu Ji directs an expression of uncertainty towards the former, and asks—
"Surnamed Long, you mentioned how souls that die in the desert get stuck here forever, and those monoliths that we saw on the way here, are they…?"
Shrugging a shoulder, Long Hua replies—
"50-50 chance of this oasis serving as… I guess, an offering ground for the people—who got their names carved onto those monoliths?"
Forming an expression of distaste on his face, Ye Chen remarks—
"Bunch of graverobbers, these guys from the hall…"
Hearing this remark, Shao Tianming replies—
"Surnamed Ye, I've already told you before, what the dead cannot use is better off being left in the hands of the living."
"I don't give a shit about the treasures; tell me where the exit is, so I can be on my way."
Towards Ye Chen, who had been so quick to ask about the exit, Shao Tianming smiles, and replies—
"Smart, a very good question to ask, and to answer you… Well, unfortunately, I don't know either."
Twitching an eye, Ye Chen replies—
"…So, we're stuck here then?"
"I guess?"
Despite how bad the situation is, Shao Tianming doesn't seem to think much of it—almost as if it's someone else's business.
Puffing a smoke, and lowering the cigarette, Shao Tianming goes on to ask—
"Oh, I nearly forgot. How many of you had signed a contract with us in the beginning?"
"…"
"…"
As everyone looked around, a few Sinners came forward, to which, Shao Tianming advises—
"Stick close to us, then—not like we'll bite."
All of a sudden, the remaining survivors are seemingly divided into two factions—those that are contract-bound to the Ashen River Hall, and those that aren't.
And using the oasis as a divider, the two groups maintained their distance from one another.
With a headless body floating about on the waters' surface, not a single person dared to head into the oasis's waters at this point.
Walking over with his group, Teng Hao looks at Ye Chen with an expression of concern, and asks—
"Colonel Ye, any ideas?"
"Ai, hell if I know…"
Off to the side, Long Hua bandages his flesh wounds.
Similarly, Tian Cheng does the same—despite there not being a real need for it, as her made-up wounds are only there to make a convincing argument, that they had nothing to do with the duo in black.
"Why the hell did that surnamed Shao say—to stick close to their group? Do they perhaps have some other means to escape from this place—outside of a teleportation magic array?"
As soon as Qing Yue asks this aloud, Li Xue blinks her eyes, and replies—
"When we met them for the first time, didn't they use a talisman—to send us to their nightclub?"
Recalling this as well, Ye Chen mutters—
"…An alternative means to return to their own base, is it?"
Simultaneously, everyone who had heard this, turns to the Ashen River Hall's direction.
"Caught on, huh?"
Noticing the massive number of stares that they are receiving, Shao Tianming looks back at the other side with a smug expression on his face, and loudly remarks—
"Only a dumbass would think to use the teleportation magic array to get out of here when the military is outside. They'll probably attempt to gun us down the moment we appear."
"Uh…"
"…Dammit."
As soon as Shao Tianming had said this, the members of the Ashen River Hall—who are only a part of their group due to their contract, can't help but pale, as the likelihood of that happening is far too high to their liking.
"Surnamed Shao, what exactly happens to those—who go against the details on that parchment of yours?"
Towards Ye Chen's question, Shao Tianming answers—
"The papers those contracts are written on, they come from something called a contract book. Anyone who goes against the contract after signing it… Well, let's just say, they tend to suffer retribution—with a high likelihood of death."
"Ah?"
"That's…?"
Towards the Sinners, who are on his side, and have an expression of anxiety on their faces, Shao Tianming turns to them, and asks—
"What are all of you worried about? Not like you'll go against that contract now, will you?"
"…"
"…"
Just as everything begins to return to normal between the two groups—
(What a scammer that surnamed Shao is, won't you agree, *-laoban?)
"…You of all people have no right to say that, Qie."
Muttering this, and with his flesh wounds thoroughly bandaged, Long Hua stands up from the sands, and brushes the grains off.
Taking out his fishing rod, and tying a stone to its line, Long Hua draws closer to Shao Tianming's group—seemingly intent on picking a fight.
Following him—at arm's length, is Tian Cheng.
Narrowing his eyes, Long Hua shouts—
"Xiao Chen Chen! Come over here, and greet your ancestor!"
"…!"
Being called out by this name, Chen Lan's shoulders jerk.
"Xiao Chen Chen?"
"Who is that?"
"Do we have someone named that in our group?"
"...…"
Seeing Chen Lan choosing to ignore him, Long Hua raises a sigh, and says—
"What? We merely separated for a few moments, and all of a sudden, you refuse to acknowledge your ancestor? Do your balls still ache, and need something to soothe them with?"
"Uh…?"
Thoroughly confused by Long Hua's words, the members of the Ashen River Hall can't help but look to one another.
Amidst the group's self-examination, only Chen Lan is looking the other way, while keeping his head down as much as possible.
"What kind of situation is this?"
Similarly, those—who haven't signed a contract with the Ashen River Hall tilt their heads in confusion.
"…"
Walking over beside Long Hua, Yu Ji directs a look of pity towards Chen Lan.
"Wait…"
Realizing something, Li Zi Xiang slowly turns her gaze towards Chen Lan.
"Xiao Chen Chen? Chen Lan, is that…?"
"…Big sis Zi Xiang, say no more, saying anything only serves to bring me heartache…"
"…"
"…"
With an odd expression on their faces, both Shao Tianming and Wang Yongning turned their gazes towards Chen Lan.
"Don't want to acknowledge your ancestor, do you? Ai, then… I guess, I can only do things the hard way."
Extending his fishing rod fully, Long Hua swings it, causing the line—that is tied to a stone, to fly through the air.
In a swift manner, the line wraps around Chen Lan three times, and secures itself.
With his target secured, Long Hua pulls his line back—dragging Chen Lan out of the crowd.
"Noooo!"
While flying through the air, Chen Lan screams with tears in his eyes.
With how abrupt, and odd this entire situation is—not a single person thought to intervene.
"…"
Brought in front of Long Hua with his feet dangling a few inches above the sand, Chen Lan meekly says—
"An-Ancestor…"
"Hm? What did you say? Your ancestor's ears aren't what they used to be. If you've got something to say, say it at a volume that everyone can hear."
"…"
Realizing that Long Hua intends to have everyone here know that he is acknowledging them as his ancestor, Chen Lan's complexion turns pale, as he mutters—
"Why me?"
Leaning the fishing rod over to Yu Ji, Long Hua gestures for her to hold it, to which, she can only do as hinted.
In the same instance, Tian Cheng takes out a stool from her storage pouch, and places it behind Long Hua.
Taking a seat on the stool, Long Hua crosses his legs, and folds his arms, while directing a harsh glare at Chen Lan.
"Three."
Realizing that the countdown has begun, Chen Lan quickly says—
"An-Ancestor… Ancestor! You're my ancestor! Please forgive this unfilial descendant of yours for not greeting you earlier!"
"…"
"…"
Towards the oddity of this entire exchange, every single person looks on with greater confusion than before.
Raising a smile of amusement, Long Hua remarks—
"Oh? Willing to acknowledge me as your ancestor now, are you? Then… There's an item that I want. You should know what it is."
"That's…"
With a difficult expression on his face, Chen Lan answers—
"Ancestor, even if you beat me to death, I won't be able to give you a teleportation array talisman. In fact, I don't even have one on me! You can check my storage pouch if you want!"
"…"
Detecting no lies in Chen Lan's outward behavior of eyes, tone, and breath, Long Hua shifts his gaze towards Li Zi Xiang, causing her to tremble, while thinking—
(My god, what kind of gaze is that? Does he intend to make me his descendant too?)
Taking five steps back, Li Zi Xiang quickly says—
"I don't have one either."
With a frown on his face, Long Hua turns to Shao Tianming, and says—
"Surnamed Shao, you're making things really difficult for me."
"Difficult, my ass! Hurry up, and release Chen Lan!"
"How about this then? One teleportation array talisman for this descendant of mine."
Seeing this as an opportunity to sow some chaos into the Ashen River Hall, Ye Chen raises his voice, and shouts—
"Surnamed Shao, if you aren't willing to make sacrifices for one of your subordinates, what would the rest of them think?"
"Right! Surnamed Shao, don't you have an image to maintain?"
"Your reputation will go down the toilet if you keep being so stingy!"
Simultaneously, the others join in to spew out the same nonsense as Ye Chen.
Gritting his teeth, Shao Tianming glares at Long Hua, and says—
"...…Surnamed Long, you're making things really difficult for me…"
Towards Shao Tianming's repeat of his words, Long Hua chuckles, and says—
"Your Ancestor Long is just that difficult of a man. After all…"
Taking out his folding fan, Long Hua opens it to reveal the words, "number one hottie in the mortal realm."
"Being the number one hottie in the mortal realm—isn't just for show."
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