154: Chapter 154 Your son is truly pitiful, but you did the right thing.

After all, if Tiansha Valley obtained these five Heaven Rank Magical Artifacts, their strength would surely surge.

In the future, when Secret Realms open or blessed lands emerge, if they flaunt five Heaven Rank Magical Artifacts, which Sect would dare oppose them?

No matter how powerful the Heavenly Sovereign Alliance was, they were only strong when sticking together; they couldn't possibly send people to stand guard every day to prevent Tiansha Valley from causing trouble for other Sects in the Alliance, could they?

"Fine! This old man... will endure it!"

The two Grand Elders said through gritted teeth.

"The Elders are truly righteous!" Everyone nodded and cupped their hands, their faces full of admiration.

"As long as we endure this, that Demonic Sect will surely realize this tactic can't blackmail us and will definitely lower the price again!"

"As long as your Young Masters don't die, we will find Spirit Medicine to help them achieve Rebirth of their severed limbs later!"

"No matter what, we cannot aid the enemy!"

"Exactly! Otherwise, even if we don't fall for it this time, we will surely suffer a great loss at their hands in the future!"

"Good!"

Meanwhile, a similar scene was playing out over at Tiansha Valley.

After cursing the ancestors of the Heavenly Sovereign Alliance for eighteen generations, the high-level officials of Tiansha Valley finally gritted their teeth and decided to ignore it, continuing the cold treatment!

After all, three Heaven Rank Magical Artifacts were almost enough to bleed Tiansha Valley dry!

This was clearly a deliberate attempt to provoke them into flipping the table!

"Fine! Then we'll endure it once more!"

"Yes, yes, yes! The Grand Elders are wise!"

Everyone cupped their hands in succession, their faces full of agreement.

However, the fawning smiles on their faces, in the eyes of the two Grand Elders who were currently pained for their sons, looked more and more like they were saying:

"Your son is truly pitiful, but you did the right thing!"

Heart-wrenching!

Inside the cliff cave, Chun Xiaobai waited from night until dawn, and even when the sun was high in the sky, there was still no news from outside.

The atmosphere began to turn a bit sour.

Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhang also realized the problem and squatted next to Chun Xiaobai, whispering.

"Something's not right, Great King. When that message was sent yesterday, I could hear those Grand Elders wailing from far away. Why is it that when it's time to actually pay up, they don't even want their own sons?"

Chun Xiaobai also had to admit defeat.

These old fogies, for the sake of the Sect's interests, could be so heartless that they'd even discard their own sons as bargaining chips.

"Could it be... I asked for too much?" He stroked his chin, lost in thought.

But in his eyes, Heaven Rank Magical Artifacts weren't exactly some incredible rarity!

After all, he had easily obtained an Earth Rank Magical Artifact; although it was a bit damaged, it was enough to show that high-rank artifacts weren't that hard to come by.

Besides, wasn't the final reward for this Wanling Mountain Trial a Heaven Rank Magical Artifact?

They could just pull one out as a reward whenever they felt like it, yet now when he asked for five in exchange for their precious sons' lives, they couldn't produce them?

He suddenly realized that he had still underestimated the ruthlessness of these old fogies.

These people had truly taken the saying "Every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost" to the extreme!

"Do they have to force me to kill the Hostages?" Chun Xiaobai said fiercely.

"Ah?" Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhang were startled upon hearing this. "Great King, are we really going to kill the Hostages?"

"Nonsense!" Chun Xiaobai glared at them, then glanced at the male Hostages who were tied up like zongzi and sighed.

"Not necessarily kill them, it's just... I'm a bit disappointed."

He originally thought he could count on these Sect Second-Generation heirs to make a fortune, but he hadn't expected that these guys would turn out to be the least valuable assets on hand.

After thinking about it, Chun Xiaobai simply steeled his heart.

"It seems I need to pull out the real deal!"

Actually, he was very reluctant to use his last resort, but now he was forced into a corner with no other choice.

After all, this last resort was a bit disgraceful to talk about.

But for a hardened bandit like him who had roamed for many years, it didn't really matter, except that his reputation in the underworld might become a bit unpleasant.

So, he stood up and walked straight toward the Immortal Cave where the female Disciple Hostages were being held.

Seeing this, Bai Jiner's heart jolted. She hurried forward to grab Chun Xiaobai's arm and asked anxiously:

"Great King! Great King, what are you planning to do?!"

"Uh..."

Chun Xiaobai was taken aback by her anxious expression and replied as if it were obvious:

"What am I doing? Making a fortune, of course. What else could I be doing?"

"No! I... I, I..."

Bai Jiner suddenly began to stutter, seemingly wanting to say something but unable to get the words out, her face turning bright red.

But seeing Chun Xiaobai's already impatient expression, she could only let go sheepishly, watching him enter the Immortal Cave with eyes full of worry.

As soon as Chun Xiaobai entered the cave, his gaze swept over the three curvaceous "statues."

Tsk, tsk, tsk, they really are quite well-endowed.

Pity, the timing isn't right.

Once his mountain stronghold flourishes in the future and he establishes a harem, he might actually give them a chance.

But for now, he could only say sorry.

His gaze swept back and forth across Gu Shuangshuang, Ye Liuli, and Qin Ruoxue.

Finally, he directly settled on Ye Liuli.

After all, this woman was the smartest and knew best how to cooperate to avoid suffering.

He extended his Heaven-Sealing Finger and lightly tapped several key acupoints on Ye Liuli's body, directly undoing her Seal.

The darkness before Ye Liuli's eyes gradually dissipated, and light returned. Immediately following that, a pair of shifty eyes entered her field of vision.

Her heart skipped a beat—it was that same hardened bandit from before!

She immediately suppressed her anger and questioned him, "Didn't we agree that if I told you those conditions, you would release me? Why are you going back on your word?!"

Slap!

Chun Xiaobai delivered a backhanded slap, hitting her perky buttocks with moderate force.

This slap caused Ye Liuli to shudder violently, and a flush of shame and indignation couldn't help but rise on her exquisite face.

Chun Xiaobai immediately snapped, "What do you mean 'This Great King went back on his word'?"

He had heard Xiao Zhang mention this woman before; these high-and-mighty Sect Second-Generation heirs were even worse at exploiting Disciples than a bandit like him.

Without those low-level beasts of burden Disciples being exploited by them, how could they have their status or live such carefree lives in the Sect?

To think she dared to call him untrustworthy here.

"It's your Sect that's being untrustworthy, okay! I already reported your offers at a discount, but those Elders of yours acted like they didn't even see it and didn't say a damn word!"

"Impossible!"

Ye Liuli immediately retorted, and a hint of irrepressible panic even surfaced in her eyes.

Although she had never dealt with mountain bandits before, who hadn't heard of their brutal methods?

The reason she had been able to maintain her composure and even act indifferent about her body being seen was that she knew she absolutely could not show anger or shame.

Because these hardened bandits, who hid in dark corners year-round, rarely saw women.

A woman's struggle and resistance would only make them more excited.

The more a woman cared about something, the more they wanted to destroy it.

But things were different now.

She could clearly feel the anger radiating from the bandit in front of her for not getting any money.

He was very likely... going to vent his frustration on her!