Grudge
After dealing with Hawkins' entire group, Zhao Xuan did not linger at the scene.
After swiftly looting the bodies, he left immediately.
There was only one reason.
As he had said before—
He still could not expose his true strength.
Zhao Xuan wanted to delay revealing his real power for as long as possible.
After all—
He was a man who repaid every slight.
A man who was extremely petty.
During the nearly one hour he had spent searching for Hawkins' group, five different foreign ability teams had developed killing intent toward him because of his "weakness" and the bounty on his head—and had even attacked him.
The scent of all five teams had already been memorized by the Golden Rat.
Zhao Xuan's plan was simple.
After eliminating Hawkins' group—
He would deal with them one by one.
Those teams were not weak.
They were all Seventh-Rank prodigies sent in by various nations and major organizations.
If he fought them head-on—
Zhao Xuan would undoubtedly have to pay a heavy price to wipe them out, one team at a time.
That much was unquestionable.
But—
If his strength remained hidden, everything became much easier.
He could do exactly what he had done to Hawkins' group—
Feign weakness, lure them in, kill them piece by piece, and finally annihilate them all.
That was why Zhao Xuan was so unwilling to reveal his power.
And reality proved—
His choice was absolutely correct.
Not long after he left—
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
At least three foreign ability squads rushed to the battlefield.
"This… this is—?!"
"Hawkins' group! Hawkins' entire team has been wiped out?!"
"Damn—who did this? Their strength wasn't weak at all! Hawkins and Kristina both had records of escaping from Eighth-Rank Kings!"
"Didn't Hawkins have a conflict with that Kyushu kid, Zhao Xuan? Could it be the Kyushu group?"
"No! Not Kyushu! Those people are in the North City, not the South!"
"Could it be the Three Great Heretical Cults?"
"…"
While the newcomers argued endlessly over Hawkins' death—
Zhao Xuan was elsewhere, beaming, as he counted his spoils.
There was no doubt—
This harvest was enormous.
Of the eight people in Hawkins' group, six possessed Spatial Ruin Cores.
Although four of those spatial ruins were small—
They could still sell for four to five billion each without any issue.
That alone meant over ten billion in profit.
But—
To Zhao Xuan now, ten-plus billion was nothing.
What truly excited him had nothing to do with those four small ruins.
The real prize—
Came from the Spatial Ruin Cores taken from Hawkins and Kristina.
The spaces contained within their cores were massive.
Each was roughly the size of an island.
Just one of those cores alone could sell for forty to fifty billion.
And to be clear—
That price was per core, not combined.
Which meant—
Just those two cores alone were worth around one hundred billion.
And that wasn't all.
Before Zhao Xuan found Hawkins' group, they had clearly wiped out multiple squads of Silver-Armored Guards.
When Zhao Xuan gathered all the Life Stones from their spatial ruins and counted them—
He found nearly two hundred.
What did that mean?
It meant Hawkins' group had destroyed at least thirteen Silver Guard squads.
"Another two hundred billion in the bag."
Zhao Xuan's eyes gleamed as he stared at the pile of Life Stones.
He quickly did the math.
Then realized—
This operation—
Less than ten minutes of fighting—
Had earned him nearly three hundred billion.
On average—
Thirty billion per minute.
Wasn't that faster than robbing a bank?
"Based on my earlier estimates, using life energy to temper my skull and advance to Seventh-Rank Venerable requires at least ten times the life energy needed to advance from Fifth to Sixth Rank."
"No—more than ten times."
"To be safe, at least fifteen times, considering energy loss during refinement."
"When I advanced from Fifth to Sixth Rank, I consumed an entire divine medicine—worth around five hundred billion."
"That means—"
Zhao Xuan took a deep breath.
"I need 7.5 trillion to guarantee a successful breakthrough to Seventh-Rank using life energy."
"And all my current assets combined are worth around one trillion."
"…Still far from enough."
He sighed deeply.
This wasn't a small gap.
It was a six-and-a-half-trillion gap.
"One ordinary Life Stone is worth one hundred million."
"That means I'd need to kill 6,500 Silver Guards to earn enough."
A long road indeed.
Zhao Xuan shook his head.
"No, no, no—this won't work."
"Based on what I know, the Life City Ruins only stay open for three days."
"After three days, everyone will be expelled."
"If I rely solely on killing Silver Guards, earning 6.5 trillion in three days is impossible."
"Absolutely impossible."
"Gold Guards."
"To earn 6.5 trillion in three days, I must target Gold Guards."
Gold Guards had a high chance of dropping high-grade Life Stones.
And a single high-grade Life Stone was worth sixty to seventy ordinary ones.
"After I deal with those five teams, I'll try challenging the Gold Guards."
"With my current strength, killing Gold Guards shouldn't be a problem."
Zhao Xuan's eyes burned with anticipation.
He swiftly stored all his spoils.
Then—
With a thought—
He opened the Desert Spatial Ruin and summoned the Golden Rat.
"Ji-ji? (What is it?)"
The Golden Rat chirped, hugging a cactus flower.
"Find the teams whose scents I had you memorize earlier. One team at a time."
Zhao Xuan spoke as he took out two cactus flowers.
"After you help me locate all five teams, these are yours."
"Ji-ji? (Only two?)"
The Golden Rat looked dissatisfied and confused.
"Yes."
Zhao Xuan nodded.
"The search range is small. The workload is light."
"If you don't believe me, sniff around right now—see if I'm lying."
The Golden Rat sniffed the air, then chirped happily.
"Ji-ji-ji! Ji-ji! (Deal!)"
Then it raised a paw and pointed in a direction.
"Ji-ji! (That way!)"
"Alright!"
Zhao Xuan grinned and surged forward.
Soon—
He found one of the foreign teams.
Five people.
All strong.
But compared to Zhao Xuan—
Still far inferior.
When Zhao Xuan arrived, they were fighting a fresh squad of Silver Guards.
Because their team included a Master-level Observation Aura user, Zhao Xuan was detected immediately.
At first, they were cautious of the "mysterious figure" approaching.
But—
When they saw that the panicked, disheveled person sprinting toward them was Zhao Xuan—
Their vigilance instantly dropped by more than half.
They instinctively assumed Zhao Xuan was being chased and had fled toward them in desperation.
Seeing Zhao Xuan rush over—
The five suddenly went all out.
In an instant—
Five of the eight Silver Guards were killed.
Only three remained.
And three Silver Guards didn't require all five of them.
So—
Two members peeled off from the fight, faces lit with excitement, rushing toward Zhao Xuan as if they'd struck gold.
The two—completely unguarded—
Had barely entered Zhao Xuan's range when—
BOOM!
Zhao Xuan erupted.
One punch.
Two punches.
Three punches.
Three punches—
And one head exploded.
Before the other could react—
Zhao Xuan was already upon him.
When he finally realized what was happening—
Zhao Xuan's fist smashed into his face.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Three more punches.
Another fresh headless corpse fell.
The entire process—
Took less than three seconds.
So fast—
It was staggering.
The remaining three were still fighting Silver Guards—
When Zhao Xuan had already killed their two teammates and arrived behind them.
Only when Zhao Xuan smashed his fist into their captain's back—sending both him and a Silver Guard flying—
Did the remaining two finally react.
But by then—
Zhao Xuan's fists were already raining down like a storm.
A few punches—
And the captain died instantly.
The remaining two were stunned.
Completely stunned.
One of them even pinched his own arm, thinking he was dreaming.
The pain told him otherwise.
This was real.
Their captain and two teammates—
Dead within seconds.
"H-how… how is this possible?!"
"No… no way… this can't be real!"
Screaming in terror, the two turned and fled.
But—
How could Zhao Xuan let them escape?
Tap!
In an instant—
He caught one.
Two punches—
And the man was smashed into the ground, dead.
Without pause, Zhao Xuan turned and charged the final survivor.
To kill him as quickly as possible—
To avoid any complications—
Even though the man was slower than Zhao Xuan's Dragon-Man form—
Zhao Xuan still maintained True Man Mode.
The next instant—
He appeared behind him.
"No! No—please don't kill me! Zhao Xuan, I know I was wrong! I shouldn't have attacked you! Please—ahhh!!!"
Amid the screams—
Zhao Xuan punched repeatedly.
The man's head was smashed apart.
"Hmph."
Zhao Xuan stared coldly at the headless corpse.
You say you know you were wrong—so I should forgive you?
You say don't kill you—so I shouldn't?
Why?
I'm not some saintly idiot.
Isn't killing you to eliminate future trouble better?
Why leave you alive—
So you can grow stronger and come back for revenge?
Only brain-dead villains in trash novels do something that stupid.
With that thought—
Zhao Xuan efficiently cleaned the battlefield.
And once finished—
He left immediately.
--------------------------------------------------
Read Chapters ahead: [email protected] / KaiOynx