"Someone's coming?"
"Just one person?"
"And moving very fast?"
Hearing this, everyone present was momentarily stunned.
Immediately afterward—
A bold and chilling guess rose simultaneously in their minds.
"Could it be that kid?"
At that thought—
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Everyone turned their heads in unison.
Two seconds later—
A figure rapidly appeared on the distant horizon.
That person was none other than Zhao Xuan.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
In an instant, thick vigilance spread across everyone's faces.
Just like Neps—
Zhao Xuan did not approach them. Instead, he stopped far away.
"Zhao Xuan!"
Felimon stared at him intently and demanded, "What are you here for?!"
"Felimon."
Zhao Xuan locked eyes with him and said calmly, "I'm here to advise you not to ruin yourselves."
"Not ruin ourselves?"
Felimon and his five teammates all frowned.
"Yes."
Zhao Xuan cast a cold glance at Neps and said icily, "If I heard correctly, that guy was just inviting you to join them—to form an alliance and deal with me together. Am I wrong?"
At those words—
Neps and the others' expressions changed again.
During their earlier discussion, they had fully expanded their Observation Haki.
They were absolutely certain—
Zhao Xuan had not been anywhere nearby.
So how had he heard their conversation?
"Elena."
Felimon suddenly turned to the woman in his team and asked, "When you detected Zhao Xuan earlier, did he suddenly appear inside your Observation Haki range, or did he rush in from outside it?"
Suddenly appearing within Observation Haki range—
And charging in from outside the range—
These were two completely different implications.
The former meant Zhao Xuan could suppress his presence to an extreme degree—so extreme that even Grandmaster-level Observation Haki couldn't detect him.
The latter meant—
Zhao Xuan's mastery of Observation Haki surpassed Elena's.
Because only then could he use Observation Haki from outside her Grandmaster-level detection range to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"He rushed in from outside my Observation Haki range."
Elena answered.
The moment she spoke—
Everyone's expressions changed yet again.
Three words surfaced simultaneously in their minds:
Grandmaster.
"That kid's Observation Haki… could it already be at the Grandmaster level?"
Realization dawned in Neps' mind.
"No wonder. No wonder!"
"If his Observation Haki truly is Grandmaster-level, then everything makes sense—how he tracked us all the way from the West City to the East City, and why he always appears precisely when we're fighting the Gold Guards!"
Thinking this—
Neps' killing intent toward Zhao Xuan grew even stronger.
In truth—
The reason Zhao Xuan knew their conversation had nothing to do with his Observation Haki at all.
It was entirely thanks to the big golden mouse.
His own Observation Haki was only at the Master level.
Let alone Grandmaster—
He wasn't even close to reaching the standard Grandmaster threshold.
However—
Neps and the others were completely unaware of the golden mouse.
And Zhao Xuan had no intention of explaining anything to them.
Just as they were still reeling from the shock of Zhao Xuan's supposed "Grandmaster-level" Observation Haki—
Zhao Xuan's cold voice rang out again.
"Felimon, tell me your choice."
"Your answer will determine how I treat you next."
Hearing this—
Felimon's face darkened even further.
He stared coldly at Zhao Xuan and suddenly said, "Zhao Xuan, are you threatening me?"
"You can understand it that way."
Zhao Xuan grinned.
Felimon clenched his fist tightly.
Unrestrained fury surged across his face.
As a genius—
How could he lack pride?
Being threatened by someone a whole rank below him—
How could he not be furious?
But—
Anger aside—
As someone who had reached the Seventh-Rank Venerable realm at barely over twenty years old, Felimon was not someone easily blinded by rage.
He did not answer immediately.
Instead, he fell silent, weighing the pros and cons in his mind.
In that silence—
Neps, seemingly afraid that Felimon might be intimidated by Zhao Xuan, suddenly spoke up:
"Felimon, you'd better think this through!"
"That kid is a complete madman—a born butcher!"
"Even if you refuse to ally with us, there's no guarantee he'll let you go!"
At those words—
Felimon's eyes flickered sharply.
He suddenly fixed his gaze on Zhao Xuan.
Zhao Xuan smiled faintly and said:
"Everyone I killed deserved it."
"They were the ones who attacked me first."
"If they hadn't been greedy and tried to kill me, why would I have killed them?"
"Just because of my performance in the Kyushu national exam, I've already offended more than a dozen Eighth- and Ninth-Rank powerhouses."
"The trouble I face outside is already more than enough."
"I have no interest in provoking another batch of Eighth- and Ninth-Rank experts for no reason."
"So what you're saying is—"
Felimon asked hoarsely,
"As long as we don't attack you, you won't attack us?"
"Of course."
Zhao Xuan replied calmly.
"I'm not someone who delights in killing."
"As a Kyushu native, I'm very easy to talk to."
"We Kyushu people have always valued harmony."
When his words fell—
Silence returned once more.
In that brief quiet—
Neps' cold voice suddenly broke through:
"Felimon, you're not actually believing this kid's nonsense, are you?"
Felimon gave Neps a long look, then turned back to Zhao Xuan.
He was just about to speak—
When suddenly—
Neps spoke again:
"Felimon, think carefully."
"That kid has already killed no fewer than thirty people."
"Almost everyone who enters the Life City relic is bound to a spatial relic core."
"In other words—"
"That kid is carrying at least thirty relic cores on him right now."
"Not to mention the massive amount of spiritual herbs, medicines, and Life Stones he took from the dead!"
"The resources in his hands are worth at least one hundred billion!"
"If we kill him—"
"Each of us would get tens of billions!"
The moment those words were spoken—
Felimon and his five teammates' eyes turned bloodshot.
On their faces—
There was nothing left but greed.
All fear of Zhao Xuan vanished without a trace.
"Very well."
Zhao Xuan swept a cold glance over them.
"You brought this upon yourselves."
With that—
He turned and ran.
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Read Chapters ahead: [email protected] / KaiOynx