149: Chapter 149 He Must Be Impressed

At this moment, Chun Xiaobai rubbed his chin, looking at the aggressive Bai Jiner, muttering in his heart.

"Hiss... why does it feel like this woman looks more like the Chief than This Great King does?"

Bai Jiner noticed Chun Xiaobai's scrutinizing gaze and felt a bit embarrassed, but she still stubbornly raised her snow-white neck.

She couldn't let the King look down on her now!

Her talent couldn't compare to Qin Ruoxue's, and her looks were only slightly better, but in terms of brains, she absolutely couldn't lose!

She must make him look at her in a new light!

...

Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhang turned into two streaks of light, each carrying an image-recording stone. The light of the Divine Travel Talismans on their bodies flickered constantly. In less than half an hour...

...they delivered the works meticulously directed by Chun Xiaobai into the hands of the two factions.

Right, this time they didn't use outsiders to deliver them, because the more critical the moment, the more careful they had to be.

Once reported, it would lead to them all being wiped out in one go.

When the Elders on both sides saw the three masked men in black in the image-recording stones, and the mountain-high "ransom" they demanded...

...as well as the "hostage killing" scene with flesh and blood flying everywhere, they were so angry they almost spat out a mouthful of blood on the spot.

"Outrageous! Simply outrageous!"

"They actually dare to make such an exorbitant demand!"

On the Flying Vessel, whether it was the Elders of the Righteous Alliance or the Tiansha Valley, their faces were ashen, and their fists creaked as they clenched them.

On the Righteous Alliance's side, an Elder soon spotted a flaw.

"Something's not right! Why are they wearing masks?"

"Nonsense! If they don't wear masks, are they supposed to let you see what they look like?" another Elder immediately retorted crossly.

"That's not what I meant!" the previous Elder hurriedly explained.

"Look, these three guys have different builds, but that demeanor... especially that bandit Aura, it's like they were carved from the same mold!"

Hiss!

Hearing this, everyone carefully recalled the scenes in the image-recording stone.

Especially the tone and movements of the leader; that level of proficiency in being arrogant and domineering—without having committed a thousand robberies, one would never have such skill.

"Envoy Zhang!" someone immediately shouted at Envoy Zhang.

"There's something fishy! It's very likely that some rival faction of a Sect within our Thousand Sects Alliance has snuck in, trying to fish in troubled waters and blackmail us!"

Envoy Zhang frowned; in fact, he had noticed something was wrong long ago.

However, just as he was about to speak, Lu Qingshan of the Qingyun Sect suddenly jumped out and retorted sharply.

"Bullshit! Can't you see that this is clearly a smokescreen intentionally set up by Tiansha Valley?!"

"They deliberately dressed like this and intentionally showed this bandit-like Aura so that we would suspect a third-party faction, thereby clearing Tiansha Valley of suspicion!"

"When the time comes and we pay the ransom, they'll just deny everything, and these image-recording stones in our hands will become useless scraps of iron, not worth a damn!"

With his guidance, everyone suddenly realized!

"Damn it, we almost fell for it!"

The Elders all exhaled a breath of turbid air with lingering fear, and then looked at Lu Qingshan gratefully.

Lu Qingshan stiffened his neck proudly, hands behind his back, looking like a grandmaster.

This trial was originally led by his Qingyun Sect; if this ransom was really paid and couldn't be recovered, their Qingyun Sect would definitely be held responsible!

Envoy Zhang also nodded, his eyes showing a bit more approval as he looked at Lu Qingshan.

This analysis had hit the nail right on the head.

If a third-party faction had done it, they couldn't possibly be so stupid as to dress themselves up with such a heavy bandit Aura, exposing their own characteristic clues.

One must know that the eyes and ears of their Thousand Sects Alliance were all over the Eastern Territory; as long as they found even a tiny clue, they wouldn't fear being unable to find the person.

Clearly, Tiansha Valley had grasped this point, so they deliberately had someone pretend to be like this to mislead their judgment.

"Humph!" Envoy Zhang snorted coldly, then cupped his fists toward Elder Lu.

"Elder Lu's words are reasonable. Everyone, remember, we must not fall for the tricks of those Devil Heads again!"

"Yes!" The Elders nodded one after another, clenching their fists.

Now, as long as they could confirm it was them, they would settle the score later; this debt must be repaid!

Subsequently, everyone realized another problem.

"This treasure... the count doesn't seem right?"

Previously, it was said to be a hundred Heaven Rank Magical Artifacts per Sect Second-Generation, but now it had changed to only ten Heaven Rank Magical Artifacts for all six people combined, plus ten million Spirit Stones and a pile of Talismans and Medicinal Pills.

"Hiss!" Everyone then reacted.

"This... could it be that they cut the price themselves?"

"Enough, enough, stop guessing!" Envoy Zhang directly interrupted their discussion. "We already determined it's Tiansha Valley. Since they dare to ask for an exorbitant price, can't we bargain on the spot?"

"As soon as we start bargaining with them, won't it further confirm their identity?!"

"That's right!" The Elders slapped their thighs, finally realizing.

But... ten Heaven Rank Magical Artifacts was still not a small number.

Although the Sects present each had a few, those were treasures of the Sect, not for sale!

"Humph!"

Lu Qingshan stepped forward again at the right time, letting out a cold laugh, his tone full of the arrogance of someone who had everything under control.

"They're just asking for an exorbitant price, deliberately leaving room for us to see through it. Since the mouths are on us, how the price is cut is up to us, isn't it?"

"Right, Elder Lu makes sense!"

The Elders nodded one after another, deeply agreeing.

Envoy Zhang also felt there was a way, and immediately waved his hand, giving a deep-voiced order.

"Pass down the order, reply to them—one million Spirit Stones, take it or leave it!"

"Release the people directly, otherwise, if this matter gets out, my Thousand Sects Alliance will make it so Tiansha Valley can no longer stay in the Eastern Territory!"

"Yes!" Everyone immediately took the order and sent the message out.

Meanwhile, on Tiansha Valley's side.

After a "rigorous analysis" by the Elders, the conclusion reached was exactly the same as the Righteous Alliance's side.

After all, they were all old foxes who had lived for hundreds or thousands of years; they had to turn everything over in their minds several times.

In their view, the clumsy bandit Aura in the image-recording stone was clearly a fig leaf the Hundred Sect Alliance used to cover their own sordid intentions.

Grand Elder Zheng Tianyuan sat in the head seat, his eyes gloomy.

According to the results of the discussion, they bargained even harder, directly "halving" it and then "halving it again" to five hundred thousand Spirit Stones, then sent someone to deliver the reply.

...

This back-and-forth information happened to fall into the hands of Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhang, who were waiting on the outskirts of Wanling Mountain.

The two of them received the replies, looked at each other, and breathed a long sigh of relief.

Just as the King expected, these old guys had already driven themselves into a dead end, and didn't think of them, these shrimp soldiers and crab generals, as the real kidnappers at all.

The two of them didn't dare to delay, hiding their tracks under the cover of night, taking a roundabout way, and crawling back into the deep abyss cave along the cliffs, presenting the replies to Chun Xiaobai.